Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Aug 3, 1905

— A fire which began in the Humble oil fields, Texas, July 23, caused the loss of twelve lives and the destruction of property valued at $650,000.

— It is reported that Chile is about to begin the building of a new navy, starting with the construction of four ironclads of 12,000 tons each.

— The sultan of Turkey is vigorously endeavoring to probe the mystery of the identity of his late would-be murderers. He has offered a reward of £10,000 for their apprehension, and has caused the arrest of 1,000 suspects.

— Western crop reports tell of a great wheat harvest in Kansas, a claim of ninety bushels to the acre coming from Ford County, while many places report over fifty bushels to the acre. The heaviest yield and the finest quality of wheat is in western Kansas. In many places the wheat crop is worth several times the present value of the land.

— The city of Nijni Novgorod, central Russia, which is celebrated for the annual fairs held there, was the scene on July 23 of a terrible riot in which a hundred or more women and children were killed. The rioting appears from reports to have taken the form of an indiscriminate attack by the ruffianly element upon people of the respectable class.

— Yellow fever has gotten a firm hold on the city of New Orleans, but the authorities are taking vigorous measures to stamp out the disease. Sanitary measures are being rigidly enforced in all quarters, and a campaign for the extermination of the mosquito is being vigorously waged. Every cistern is required to be screened, and every body of stagnant water covered with oil. Up to July 30 there had been 256 cases reported, with fifty-four deaths.

— In the testimony taken at a divorce suit in New York City recently, an account was given of the practise of women residents of a fashionable section of Brooklyn, of meeting together at one another’s homes to drink and smoke cigarettes. A lawyer in the case is quoted as saying: “I don’t wish to generalize too much, but from the evidence we have obtained it seems a fair inference that all the women of the so-called smart set that Mrs. —— went with smoked cigarettes and drank habitually.”

— A special committee of the Swedish Riksdag, appointed to consider a bill which had been drafted to serve as a basis of separation between Sweden and Norway, presented a report that the bill in its present form was not acceptable; whereupon the Swedish cabinet tendered its resignation. The terms of separation proposed were, “first, the establishment of a zone on each side of the frontier separating the kingdoms, within which the existing fortifications shall be razed, and new fortifications may not be erected; second, the right of pasturing reindeer belonging to Swedish Laplanders in North Norway; third, that the transit trade through both countries shall be secured against unjustifiable obstruction ; fourth, that the status of Sweden in respect to foreign powers as established by treaty shall be clearly defined, so that Sweden shall be completely freed from responsibility for Norway to other states.” The question of separation from Sweden was to be submitted to a vote of the people of Norway August 1.

— The Japanese forces in Manchuria are reported to be moving against Kirin, with an evident purpose of getting between Vladivostock and the Russian army. The significance of the czar’s recent meeting with Emperor William is believed to be that the latter is seeking a readjustment of the political equilibrium of Europe, a feature of which would be, in the kaiser’s program, a Scandinavian dreibund with a Hohenzollern prince on the throne of Norway, and an ice-free port in Norway as a compensation to Russia. England and Germany are known to be playing against each other in the game of political alliances and preferments in Europe, but in this game the kaiser is the master figure, and all Europe is kept in suspense awaiting a new move on his part. Under such a situation European politics will not soon settle down to a quiescent state.