Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Aug 17, 1905

—A cure for leprosy by the use of X-rays is alleged to have been discovered by American surgeons at Manila, P. I.

—A recent dispatch from Peking states that a thousand Lama priests have killed and wounded many French missionaries and other Catholics in the province of Honan. M. Dubail, the French minister had made a strong complaint to the Chinese government.

—The collapse of the John G. Meyers Department store at Albany, N. Y., August 8, while alterations in the building were in progress, resulted in the death of thirteen employees of the store, and injuries to many others, which in several cases are believed to be fatal.

—President Roosevelt, in an address before the Chautauqua assembly at Chautauqua, N. Y., August 11, made what is considered a veiled threat of employing force against Venezuela in connection with the asphalt controversy in that country, and also declared that leniency in the case of the beef packers’ trust had been nearly exhausted.

—The yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans and vicinity continues to progress with varying degrees of rapidity, nearly a thousand cases having been reported up to August 13, with about one hundred and fifty deaths. The federal government now has charge of the situation at New Orleans.

—The feelings of Frenchmen have been stirred by the discovery that a German loan of $2,500,000 has been made to the sultan of Morocco, contrary to an understanding that, pending the coming conference to settle Moroccan relations with the European powers, the existing conditions in that country should be left undisturbed. The effect of this loan would naturally be to increase German prestige in Morocco.

—Great disturbances are reported at Warsaw, Poland, and vicinity, alleged to be caused by Jewish Socialists. A dispatch dated August 10 states: “Gangs of revolutionists, armed with revolvers and bombs, attacked the government treasuries in the three district towns of Opatow, Lubartow, and Wengrow, resulting in stiff fighting with the police, several of whom were killed or wounded. Peasants destroyed the palace of Count Krasinski at Tykocin, near Byelostok.”

—A recent Berlin dispatch quotes Emperor William as having said in an address at Gnesen, Prussia, alluding to the subject of Polish discontent: “In my last visit to the Vatican, the great Leo XIII, as I took my leave, held me with both hands, and, notwithstanding that I am a Protestant, gave me his blessing, with this promise: ‘I pledge and promise your majesty, in the name of all Catholics who are your subjects, of whatever race or position, that they will be faithful subjects of the German Emperor and the king of Prussia.’”

—It is reported that the Japanese terms of peace submitted at the conference of the peace envoys at Portsmouth, N. H., include the payment by Russia of the cost of the war to Japan, which up to this date is about $660,000,000; the cession of Sakhalin Island; fishing rights for Japan on the Siberian coast; and the limitation of Russia’s naval power in the far East. These terms have been submitted to the czar for his decision. Late reports from the conference indicate that little hope of peace between the belligerent powers is to be entertained at present, Russia having refused to consider the demand for an indemnity and the cession of Sakhalin Island.

—A St. Petersburg dispatch dated August 8 says: “The Russian national assembly, the first gathering of the representatives of the Muscovite people since Emperor Alexei Michaelovitch, the second of the Romanoffs, summoned the last zemsky sobor in the seventeenth century, will be proclaimed on Saturday next. The final session of the special commission which has been considering the project as drafted by Minister of the Interior Bouligin and elaborated by the council of ministers, was held at Peterhof to-day. Its verdict upon the project as a whole was favorable, and at the conclusion of the session, before the assembled grand dukes, ministers, senators, and other members of the commission, Emperor Nicholas set the seal of his approval thereto.”