p. 21 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 16, 1908

Current Mention

— In the recent elections local option has succeeded to a certain extent in three States. In Michigan fourteen counties voted on the question, and nine of them voted to prohibit the sale of intoxicants. But one county had previously declared for prohibition. It is reported that the vote in Illinois will close fully 1,000 saloons, and nine of the ninety counties of Nebraska have now declared for prohibition.

— Advices from General d’Amade, the commander of the French forces in Morocco, report that a small detachment of cavalry has been surprised by 300 tribesmen, and suffered the loss of eight men killed, including two officers, and twelve wounded. From the interior it is reported that an army of 5,000 men in service of the sultan, Abdul-Aziz, with twenty pieces of artillery, on April 4 began its march on Fez, which at present is in the possession of the adherents of Mulai Hafid, the usurping sultan of the south.

— Columbian troops have occupied the town of Jurado which is in Panama territory about twenty-five miles from the border. Some indignation is expressed by Panamans because of the reported deeds of the troops who say they are acting under instructions of President Reyes, who, in turn, claims that he is acting in accordance with the knowledge of Secretary-of-State Root. The government of Panama has instructed its representative at Washington to suspend further action toward a treaty with Columbia, until the settlement of the question at issue.

— Following the recommendation of Governor Hughes that the legal protection of gambling at race-tracks in the State of New York be abolished, bills to this effect have been introduced in both houses of the legislature. The house bill passed, but the vote of the senate was a tie, with the president of the senate unwilling to cast the deciding vote. Although thus defeated for the present, friends of the measure, including the governor, promise to continue the agitation, and hope for success a little later. There is likewise before Congress a bill to stop race-track gambling in the District of Columbia. The bill has passed the House, and is waiting in the Senate committee, to which it was referred.

— Because of the continued shipment of liquors into prohibition States and counties that have voted against intoxicants in local option territory, many bills looking toward remedying this evil have been introduced into Congress. As these bills involve the question of the right of the federal government to interfere in such matters, they have all been referred to sub-committees of the judiciary committee. The Senate committee had finally agreed to report a bill which provides that there shall be no “collect on delivery” packages of liquor shipped in interstate commerce; and that the name of the consignor and consignee shall be plainly marked and not fictitious. The latter provision is intended to prevent the express companies from acting as agents, and disposing of the liquor to any one who will pay the express charges. As some members of the committee think all such laws are unconstitutional, and will likely make a minority report, there is prospect that the measure will meet much opposition on the floor of the Senate.

— The boycott against Japanese goods instituted as a result of the “Tatsu Maru” incident is spreading in China. Merchants in many cities are ordering their agents not to ship goods in Japanese vessels. Thus far the boycott is peaceful, as every effort is being made to prevent anything that would give Japan a chance for governmental interference. It is reported that there is a movement on foot to continue the boycott until the loss to Japan amounts to at least $300,000,000.

— An employers’ liability bill has passed both houses of Congress which is expected to meet the objection of the United States Supreme Court to the common carrier law of 1896, recently declared by the court to be unconstitutional. The bill holds that railroads engaged in interstate commerce are responsible for personal injuries received by employees in such service. It changes the strict common law rules of liability which makes contributory negligence of the injured party or a fellow servant a defense for injuries, and makes each party responsible, and requires each to bear the burden of his negligence. In other words the injured party can not recover in full for injury, if his own negligence was partly responsible for the injury; neither can the railroad wholly escape responsibility because of such negligence.

— Serious election riots occurred in different parts of Lisbon, Portugal, on April 5, during the counting of the ballots. The balloting was done quietly, the churches being used, in accordance with ancient custom, as polling-places; but during the counting of the votes contention between the tellers spread to the crowds; and before the soldiers had restored order, seven persons were killed, and about one hundred seriously injured. The election returns indicate a complete victory for the monarchists, although the number of republicans in the parliament is increased from two to twenty. Although the city of Lisbon was practically under martial law for a few days, it is generally conceded that the sweeping victory of the royalists at the polls throughout the country has greatly strengthened the monarchy.

— Dr. Lee de Forrest on March 31 conducted the final test of his wireless telephone system in the Eiffel Tower of Paris. Messages were satisfactorily exchanged with the government wireless stations throughout France. It is said that the system will soon be tested by the Italian navy. It has been proposed in the French Academy of Sciences that the Eiffel Tower be equipped with apparatus of sufficient force to send the Hertzian waves entirely around the world. By means of a prearranged signal all ships equipped with wireless apparatus would receive, once in twenty-four hours, the exact Greenwich time, thereby being able to tell their longitude without taking observations by the sun. Experiment will first be made with the French ships in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Eminent scientists, including Simon Newcomb, regard the proposal with favor.