p. 21 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 9, 1908

Current Mention

— Hon. Luke E. Wright assumed the office of Secretary of War on July 1, the position left vacant by the resignation of Hon. William H. Taft.

— The United States treasurer reports that the deficit for the year 1908 will approximate $60,000,000, an amount which has been exceeded only twice since the Civil War.

— A parcels-post agreement has been effected between the United States and France, to become effective August 15 next, under the terms of which a package under four pounds and six ounces will be carried at the rate of twelve cents a pound. Later the maximum weight of packages which can be mailed at this rate will be increased to eleven pounds.

— Plans have been filed in New York City, by the architects of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, for a new skyscraper building, which is to be sixty-two stories high, overtopping all the present lofty buildings in New York City. This new building will be 900 feet from the curb to the top of the tower, and will carry a flag-pole 150 feet higher. The structure is to cost $10,000,000.

— A vigorous campaign has begun in the French parliament against the use of absinthe. It is proposed to make the sale of absinthe a penal offense. Belgium and Switzerland have both recently adopted measures for suppressing the absinthe trade within their borders.

— In Alexandria, Va., the local authorities are putting the ban upon all kinds of Sunday activities. Fruit men, tobacco men, candy venders, and newspaper dealers are forbidden to carry on their usual occupations on that day. Drug-stores will be permitted to sell nothing but drugs on Sunday. The edict also includes butcher shops and grocery stores, but permits the sale of milk and ice during the day.

— The Japanese government has withdrawn all its objections to the building of a railroad by the Chinese in Manchuria, and has promised to give this road a connection with some road over which the Japanese hold control at some point south of Manchuria. This has been brought about by prolonged negotiations between Tokyo and Peking, and may be due in some measure to the influence of the United States.

— Secretary Straus, of the Department of Commerce and Labor, has opened a national employment bureau, the purpose of which is to bring those desiring employment into communication with those seeking employees. It is hoped by this means to send on to the farming districts a large portion of the foreign immigration which has hitherto been compelled to settle down in the congested centers of population.

— During the week the revolution in northern Mexico has assumed disquieting proportions, and the Mexican government has sent train-loads of troops to the vicinities of greatest revolutionary activity. Americans on the Mexican side of the line are moving their families to American soil, and American troops have been dispatched to the border to prevent revolutionary fugitives from taking refuge on this side the line. There have been a number of clashes between soldiers and the revolutionists, in nearly all of which there have been losses on both sides. The revolutionists claim to have captured three towns.

— Some time ago the shah of Persia felt compelled to leave his palace, and the capital of the nation because of the attitude of the Persian Parliament. On June 23, however, the shah returned to the capital with a large body of soldiers, and bombarded the parliament building. A battle ensued on that day, lasting five hours, which is said to have resulted in the loss of several hundred lives. The shah is now in control of the capital, and a state of siege has been proclaimed. It is stated that it was not the shah's purpose in bombarding parliament to abolish the new constitution, but to bring about the arrest of a number of politicians personally hostile to himself. Foreigners are said to be in no immediate danger, although their situation is admitted to be somewhat precarious. In cities and villages near the capital great danger exists on account of the activities of Kurdish tribesmen and Turkish troops. It is feared that the activities of the Turks on the Persian frontier may lead to serious international difficulties.