p. 21 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 22, 1908

Current Mention

— The city of Bisbee, Ariz., was swept by fire on the night of October 14, fifty acres of the residence and business section being destroyed. The loss is estimated at from one million to a million and a half dollars.

— The San Francisco wireless telegraph station now claims the record for the longest distance covered by a wireless telegram, this telegram having been received from the Kuhuku station on the island of Oahu, H. T., 2,200 miles from San Francisco.

— During the course of an address at Tremont Temple, Boston, on October 12, United States Senator Henry C. Lodge, of Massachusetts, made a vigorous plea for a large increase in the American navy, declaring that such a navy was the only guaranty of peace to this country.

— Eleven persons lost their lives, and six others were badly injured, as a result of the work of Italian incendiaries in New York City on October 5. Three barrels of oil were rolled into a tenement-house, and set on fire. Before firing the oil, the fire-escapes were so tampered with that they could not be used, and children were tossed down from these to the crowds below, many of them receiving bruises and broken limbs.

— A report from Caracas, Venezuela, states that Holland has at last delivered an ultimatum to Venezuela, demanding, by November 1, the revocation of the decree of May 14, which has so seriously interfered with the commerce of the Dutch island of Curacao. The report also states that it is not anticipated that Venezuela will yield to the ultimatum. The coast defense batteries are being made ready to resist an invasion.

— Soon after the arrival of the American battle-ship fleet at Manila, a hurricane, which is said to have blown at the rate of one hundred miles an hour, swept over Manila harbor and city and vicinity. There was no loss to the fleet, but much damage was done on shore. A report from Tokyo states that Japan is planning to give the battle-ship fleet a reception which will eclipse all others that have been tendered it since its departure from America.

— At Hickory, Miss., on the night of October 9, three innocent negroes were lynched by a mob bent on securing the murderer of a white planter. It was not even charged that those lynched had anything to do with the murder. A negro church and lodge hall near the scene of trouble were also destroyed by fire.

— At Youngstown, Ohio, early on the morning of October 11, union men or their sympathizers attempted to wreck a hotel in which non-union iron workers were sleeping. The wreckers attached a chain to the building, and fastened this to a freight-train which had stopped opposite the hotel. When the train started, the building was partially demolished, though its occupants escaped without serious injury.

— A destructive forest fire is raging in the northern portion of the southern peninsula of Michigan and in Marinette County, Wisconsin. In Michigan the town of Metz is destroyed, and Alpena is seriously menaced, while a number of settlements in the path of the flames have been wiped out. The loss of life is heavy, but no definite figures can be given. One relief train carrying persons from a burning town was wrecked while running through the blazing district, and seventeen perished. Many others are known to have perished.

— At a meeting of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, held in the new National Museum, at Washington, D. C., and representing organizations with a membership of over eight hundred thousand women, the representatives of these organizations pledged their individual societies to an earnest and energetic battle against the spread of tuberculosis. Their campaign will be carried on by general publicity, and by entering the homes of the people, and teaching them how to prevent infection, and how to facilitate the cure of persons already infected.

— A despatch from London, dated October 12, states that as one of the far-reaching results of the present European crisis, Great Britain will build still more ships and muster more men. Russia has never abandoned her design to secure a passage for her war-ships through the Dardanelles into the Mediterranean, and there is a possibility that she may accomplish her purpose as a result of the present developments in Europe. This determination on the part of England will stir Germany to still greater exertions, and add still greater burdens to the already overtaxed millions of Europe.

— A new grand jury has been impaneled to deal with the cases of Sunday violations at Atlantic City, N. J. Supreme Court Justice Trenchard, in a speech to this grand jury on October 13, denounced the stand taken by grand juries in the past on the Sunday-closing law in Atlantic City, and demanded that the new grand jury bring in indictments against all persons who have violated the law within the past two years, where evidence to prove the violations is presented. It was the refusal of the last grand jury to bring in such indictments that provoked some time ago a sensational proclamation from Governor Fort in reference to the use of the militia to enforce the law against those who violated the Sunday law.

— Mr. Wilbur Wright has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the French judges the practicability of his flying-machine, and is to receive $100,000 for the patent rights for France and French colonies. He has remained in the air for over an hour, with a passenger aboard. After teaching three aeronauts to navigate the air-ship, he will return to America.

— The situation in the near East has not yet assumed a peaceful aspect. Russia, England, and France seem to have come to an understanding in reference to the preliminaries of a conference without consulting Germany, and this has naturally offended the German government. It is feared that this may occasion a halt in the progress of a settlement of the difficulty. The negotiations between England, France, and Russia are reported to have resulted in the formation of a dreibund more powerful than any international combination ever created; and this adds to the unpleasantness existing among the powers, instead of helping to unravel the tangle. The basis of the proposed conference is said to be proving very unsatisfactory to Turkey, in view of the fact that only a money consideration is to be offered her for the loss of her four provinces. Montenegro is still urging Servia to join her in war upon Austria, but reports from Servia indicate less of a warlike spirit than existed last week. The latest advices from Turkey state that her troops in both Asia Minor and Europe are being mobilized; that Turkey is entirely dissatisfied with the proposed program of settlement; and that she will now depend upon her own resources. Austria is massing troops on the Montenegrin frontier, and a railway bridge between Austria, and the capital of Bosnia has been blown up, evidently by Servian sympathizers. War seems more probable than at any time since Bulgaria declared her independence. A European conference seems now improbable.