p. 22 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 27, 1905

Current Mention

—President Roosevelt has decided to convene Congress in extra session November 11, to consider and legislate upon the Isthmian Canal and anti-rebate and other railroad questions, and perhaps upon the tariff question.

—The reign of terror for the ruling officials goes on in the Russian empire, the latest victim of the assassin’s bomb being the vice-governor of Finland, M. Deutrich, who was severely injured by the missile of his assailant, at Helsingfors, July 19, but is expected to recover. The would-be assassin escaped.

—The United States gunboat “Bennington” was the scene of the worst accident known in the history of the United States navy, at San Diego, July 21, caused by an explosion of the ship’s boilers. Over fifty of the crew were instantly killed, and about one hundred injured. The ultimate list of the killed is expected to reach eighty. The cause of the explosion is not yet known.

—The Maine Supreme Court has rendered a decision confirming the verdict of the lower court against “Elijah” Sanford, leader of the “Holy Ghost and us” body, who was convicted of cruelty to his son John. The charge on which Sanford was convicted was that of subjecting his son to compulsory and long-continued fasting and to whippings for the purpose of “driving out the devil.”

—General distress from drought and famine continue in a number of districts in Spain. At Seville and Salamanca serious disorders have occurred; at the former place, bakeries and shops were looted, and the town hall of the latter place was broken into and sacked. The republican party is endeavoring to make political capital out of the situation, and is calling mass-meetings in Madrid and other cities.

—As a result of the disclosures in connection with the government cotton crop reports, all the official crop reports have fallen under suspicion, and it is affirmed that not only government estimates on the cotton crop, but on the wheat and tobacco crops, have been likewise sold to brokers before being made public, giving the latter an opportunity to make money in the stock market through the information. The President has ordered that a searching investigation be made into the facts connected with this scandal.

—The progress of the movement for popular government in Russia was marked, July 18, by the assembling of the zemstvo congress in Moscow, with an attendance of seventy delegates out of 300 chosen for the session. Apparently from motives of public policy, no interference with the meeting was made by the police. The principal subject which will engage the attention of the congress will be that of constitutional government, the draft of a constitution having already been made. The proposed constitution provides for a congress to consist of an upper and a lower chamber, the upper one to be elected by the local government electorate, which appoints the zemstvos and dumas, and the lower one to be elected by universal suffrage. A St. Petersburg newspaper correspondent says it is stated that the government is so distrustful of the army officers that it can not wholly reject the notion that the Moscow congress might have sufficient military support to proclaim itself a constituent assembly.

—The unconditional surrender of most of the 5,000 striking teamsters in Chicago, July 20, is believed to mark the termination of the contest which has disturbed business conditions and interrupted the peace in that city for the past three months. The strike has cost the loss of thirty lives, and hundreds of citizens have suffered more or less severe injuries. No estimate of the money loss is given, but it is known to be very great. This strike is spoken of as one of the most bitterly fought and expensive that Chicago has ever experienced. It originated in a demand upon Montgomery Ward and Co. by the Garment Workers’ Association to refrain from sending out any work to non-union men,—a purely arbitrary demand to do what there was neither contract nor inherent obligation for doing.

—The prospects for immediate peace in the far East are not brightened by reports from St. Petersburg, where the opinion seems to prevail that the coming negotiations at Portsmouth will prove abortive. It is rumored that one of the Japanese demands will be for an indemnity of $2,500,000,000. M. Witte, head of the Russian peace envoy, says that Russia will not submit to humiliating terms of peace. China, meanwhile, has warned the powers that she will not recognize any peace agreement regarding Manchuria without first being consulted in the matter. The czar has left St. Petersburg on his yacht, and rumor says that he is afraid to remain at the capital on account of plots against his life; also that he has gone to meet the German emperor in Swedish waters, to ask advice of him regarding the proper course to pursue in the present emergency. There are rumors, likewise, of plots to dethrone the czar, and of an intention on his part to abdicate. The Japanese forces are now in virtual possession of Saghalin Island, and are investing Vladivostock. A large proportion of the sunken Russian ships at Port Arthur have been raised, and will be repaired and added to the Japanese navy, as it is found that their vital parts have not been greatly damaged.