p. 22 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jul 20, 1905

Current Mention

— Several Mormons of Apache County, Arizona, are to be prosecuted by the federal authorities on the charge of polygamy.

— A dispatch from Cardiff, Wales, reports the loss of 126 lives by an explosion in a pit of the United National Colliery Company at Wattstown, in the Rhondda Valley, July 11.

— Word has been received from Samoa that a gale of hurricane violence swept over the islands June 12, doing great damage to the plantations, especially in German Samoa.

— A great sensation has been created in English military circles by a declaration from Field Marshal Lord Roberts that the British army is inadequate, imperfectly trained, and totally unfit to uphold Great Britain as a first-class power.

— A Berlin dispatch dated July 10, says: “It is reported here that Prince Ferdinand has resolved to take advantage of Russia’s weakness and proclaim himself king of Bulgaria on August 2. He has, according to the report, persuaded Germany, Great Britain, and Austria not to oppose his action. If Turkey forcibly opposes it, he is determined to fight for the independence of Bulgaria.”

— Reports from Manchuria state that the Japanese are investing Vladivostock, and that disaffection is spreading among the Russian troops. The latter fact is used by the Russian generals as an argument against peace, on the ground that it would be dangerous to the government to let the disaffected troops return to their homes. Meanwhile military operations are held in check, partly by heavy rains, and partly, it is believed, to await the outcome of the peace negotiations.

— The substitution of M. Witte for Count Muravieff as head of the Russian envoy to discuss peace terms with the Japanese representatives at Portsmouth, N. H., next August, is regarded as a strong guaranty that peace is at hand in the far East, M. Witte being known as a strong peace advocate. The uprisings in Poland and other parts of the Russian empire appear to have mostly subsided, though reports of burning and looting on the part of peasants have come from the neighborhood of Odessa, and there have been rumors of a mutiny of four regiments of grenadiers at Moscow. Twenty-four of the leaders in the recent rioting at Odessa have been hung, and seventeen others are expected to meet a similar fate.

— A projected system of parliamentary government for Russia is reported to have been drawn up by Minister-of-the-Interior Bouligin, the principal provisions of which are stated as follows: “The question of the election of members to the lower house of the legislative assembly is settled, not on the basis of property, but on that of the suffrage of men and women, the latter voting by proxy. The classes absolutely debarred are Jews, the nomadic races, persons not of Russian nationality, governors, and other imperial and local administrators, and all persons connected with the police. It is provided that the disability of the Jews shall only continue until their status shall have been defined by the popular assembly. Persons convicted of crime, etc., are also deprived of suffrage. The emperor possesses the right of absolute veto as well as the power to procure the assembly. The presidents of the respective chambers are to be chosen by the emperor, and he will have the right to suspend the sittings.” A sensational rumor is current that an ultimatum will shortly be presented to the czar, demanding political rights in behalf of the army.

— The twenty-second international convention of the United Society of Christian Endeavor was concluded in Baltimore, July 10. A message from President Clark, who was absent on account of sickness, was read at the close of the session, presenting the following as the aims of the society for the new era following the completion of the first quarter century of its existence: “A million new members brought into our societies. A million people brought to church, or prayer-meeting, or Sunday-school. A million young people brought into membership in the church of the living God. A million dollars for missions at home and abroad, given through our denominational boards.” The present membership of the society is now, in round numbers, 4,000,000.

— A district in New York City stretching from Fifty-seventh Street to Sixty-eighth Street, between Amsterdam and West End Avenues, was the scene of a race riot July 14, which continued for more than an hour, and required a police force of two hundred and fifty men to quell. Many shots were fired, and stones, bricks, and bottles were thrown from roofs by the combatants, many of whom received severe injuries. For a half-hour cars were blocked on Amsterdam Avenue, some of which had every window broken by the rioters, the passengers being obliged to flee to neighboring houses for safety. Eleven arrests were made, and the report states that a “regular arsenal of weapons” was taken from the prisoners, showing that the rougher element in the city are allowed to carry arms.

— An American squadron bearing the supposed remains of Admiral John Paul Jones, the hero of the first notable sea fight under the American flag, is expected to arrive at Annapolis from France July 22, where the body will be placed in a chapel which is to be built for it. From testimony given by medical men who performed an autopsy on the remains, it appears that no reasonable doubt is entertained of the identity of the remains, which were in a fair state of preservation, the body having been embalmed before burial. The body was found on the site of a small Protestant cemetery in Paris, which had been abandoned and was covered with buildings, some of which were torn down to facilitate the search, which was being conducted by Ambassador Porter under the authority of the French and American governments. An imposing military funeral in Paris preceded the transfer of the admiral’s body to the ship.