p. 21 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 25, 1908

Current Mention

— A new tuberculosis hospital was opened by the commissioners of the District of Columbia in the city of Washington on June 16.

— Reports from Japan state that on June 15, 50 fishing-boats were wrecked off the coast of Kagoshima, and 350 men of the crews of the fishing fleet have been drowned.

— On June 16 Postmaster-General Meyer concluded a postal convention, or agreement, with Italy, to take effect August 1, by which parcels of merchandise may be sent from one country to the other at the rate of twelve cents a pound in packages up to eleven pounds in weight.

— A disease believed to be bubonic plague is reported to have broken out recently on the Isthmus of Panama among the Indians, one tribe having moved its camping place three times in succession to get rid of the disease. This report is made by Dr. J. M. Thomas, traveling inspector of the Marine Hospital Service.

— On June 17 the Federal Grand Jury at New York City found a third indictment against the president and vice-president of the National Bank of North America, charging them with making false entries in reports to the Comptroller of the Currency and a misapplication of funds for speculative purposes amounting to $1,250,000.

— Judge William Howard Taft, present Secretary of War, was nominated at Chicago, on June 18, as the candidate of the Republican party for president of the United States. Four hundred ninety-one votes were necessary for a choice, but Mr. Taft received 702 on the first ballot. The nomination was then made unanimous. On the following day Hon. J. S. Sherman, a member of the House of Representatives from New York, was nominated for the office of vice-president.

— Much interest has been manifested recently in the expected action of the Louisiana Legislature on the question of State prohibition, but a report from the capital of Louisiana on June 15 states that action upon the matter has been indefinitely postponed. The temperance element desired that a bill should be passed at this session of the legislature providing for a referendum on State prohibition. The legislature has taken action, making the minimum local license $500, and the minimum State license $200.

— The teachers and principals of the city of New York have formed an organization known as the “Children’s Relief Society,” whose purpose is to see that children who come to the schools hungry are provided with substantial meals. It has been ascertained that hundreds of pupils, especially in the East Side schools, come to school without breakfast, and some who have been examined have had nothing to eat for two days. One of the school superintendents states that frequently such children faint in their classes. The school authorities of London have a similar condition to deal with, the destitution of the families making it impossible for the children to be properly nourished.

— The press of the world has had much to say during the past few weeks in reference to the recent invention of H. P. Maxim. This is a rifle whose discharge creates no sound. A trial of the invention has demonstrated the inventor’s claims of noiselessness in discharge. Such a weapon as this in the hands of desperate or irresponsible individuals will doubtless add greatly to the mortality statistics of this generation. It is also believed that the introduction of these, or similar, weapons into the armies of the various nations will greatly add to the terrors of war and the loss of human life.

— Demonstrations in behalf of woman suffrage in England continue with increasing enthusiasm. On June 13 there was an extraordinary demonstration of what are termed the “Suffragettes,” when 10,000 women, including titled ladies, novelists, artists, teachers, and representatives of all the feminine professions, marched through the streets to Albert Hall, where a large meeting was held, demanding the abolition of legal disqualification preventing women from voting for the election of members of Parliament. There were eighteen bands in the procession and a thousand banners.

— The remains of M. Emile Zola, the French novelist who defended Dreyfus during that French captain’s famous trial, were reinterred at Paris on June 4 in the Pantheon. The ceremony was an affair of state, and the representatives of foreign governments were invited. The American ambassador, however, was the only foreign representative who was present. At the close of the ceremony a French militarist fired two shots at Captain Dreyfus, wounding him in the arm. The affair has created a sensation in Paris, as the would-be assassin was a man of considerable influence.