Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Nov 16, 1905

— Recent speeches made by Emperor William at Dresden and Berlin indicate that in the emperor's mind there is a strong probability that Germany will soon be involved in war.

— It is stated in official circles in London that an agreement has been arrived at between the powers concerning a naval demonstration against Turkey, owing to the porte's continual refusal to agree to the financial reforms proposed for Macedonia.

— A St. Petersburg dispatch says: "Practically all the powers have now accepted the invitation of Emperor Nicholas to be represented at the second peace conference, and the program which Russia will submit for the consideration of the delegates at The Hague is being elaborated at the foreign office. The date of the conference has been tentatively fixed for May next."

— The apparently successful movement for representative government in Russia is having great effect upon socialists and others in Austria, and a strong demand has been made for the such immediate assembling of the Reichsrath for the purpose of granting manhood suffrage in the place of the present "parliament of privilege." A general strike is threatened if this demand is not immediately granted.

— The chief questions pertaining to the construction of the Panama Canal are still involved in great uncertainty, according to reports from the isthmus. It appears that the difficulties attending the undertaking are found to be greater than was at first supposed, and estimates made by experts affirm that from ten to twenty years will be required to complete the work, with an outlay of $300,000,000. Engineers at the isthmus are also reported to favor letting out most of the work to private contractors.

— A Seoul, Korea, dispatch dated November 10 says: "The arrival of Marquis Ito to-night marks one of the most important events in the history of Korea. During his visit, the Hermit Kingdom, once an independent state, will probably become a Japanese protectorate. Marquis Ito, after investigating conditions and formulating his policy, will present the program of Japan. It is said that Marquis Ito hopes that the confidence displayed in him by the emperor of Japan will have its effect on the emperor of Korea, and induce a graceful submission to the inevitable loss of Korea's independence. The plans of Japan will be backed by army occupation and the presence of two cruisers at Chemulpo. Korean officers and people are anxiously waiting the developments of last month, and several secret agents have been dispatched to secure American and European intervention."

— The overthrow of the old regime of repression in Russia has brought anarchy and chaos in many places, and in the Baltic provinces riot and massacre have continued for days without restraint. Over that vast section of Russia hangs the shadow of one of the greatest horrors of modern times. The full force of the lust for blood and plunder was directed against the Jews, no Christians being molested, save as they sought to interfere with the work of the mob. No estimate of the number of victims is possible in the present chaotic condition of affairs, but it is known that many thousands have been massacred in the most barbarous fashion, without regard to sex or age. There is evidence that the police and troops made no effort to interfere with the mobs, presumably in obedience to orders from officials who desired an outburst of anarchy as an argument in favor of the continuance of autocratic government. November 8 a mutiny broke out at Kronstadt, a suburb of St. Petersburg, 3,000 sailors and a battalion of artillery from one of the forts joining together in revolt. The mutiny was quelled by troops hastily sent from St. Petersburg, but there is great fear of the effect it may have upon the morale of the troops, which has been greatly shaken by the revolutionary propaganda. Another concession has come from the czar, in the shape of immediate universal suffrage, and the removal of Governor-General Trepoff from his powerful position, this official now being assigned only to the duty of guarding the life of the czar. A late St. Petersburg dispatch says: "Amid the virtual chaos now existing in the Russia, there is beginning to develop certain ominous features which leave little hope of averting a general political cataclysm. The contending forces are divided into four camps: First, the reactionaries, including the court party, some military leaders and some bureaucrats, who for the past ten days have been inciting the dregs of the population to murder and outrage in order to frighten the czar into a withdrawal of the recent concessions; second, Count Witte and his followers, including many bureaucrats, and some upper class Liberals; third, the whole commercial class and the moderate reformers, who are best described as zemstvoists; and fourth, the socialistic workmen, who created the present situation by a general strike. The peasantry do not figure in the problem as yet, and the rank and file of the army is still an uncertain quantity." Count Witte has completely failed to secure the co-operation of the zemstvoists and of the socialistic workmen in his program of government, and his downfall is considered among the possibilities. The reactionaries boldly talk of naming a successor to the czar, and St. Petersburg is in a panic of apprehension. Poland is attempting to follow the example of Finland, which has demanded and has seemingly gained autonomy, but the Russian government, though shaken as it is to its foundations, has determined that Poland must be held, and martial law has been proclaimed in that country. This may lead to an armed uprising on the part of the Poles, in which event it would be a question whether Russia could send troops to suppress it without fatally weakening itself at home.

— The recent elections in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maryland, were of more than ordinary significance, since they represent the triumph of a popular uprising against political "machine" control and "boss" domination. In New York City District Attorney Jerome, who has achieved national fame as the active and relentless foe of the evils which usually find shelter under "boss" rule in the large cities, though without a party or an organization behind him, was re-elected to office by a strong majority against the candidate of the "Tammany" machine, which has so regularly controlled elections in New York City, while William Randolph Hearst, Municipal Ownership League candidate for mayor, fell but a few thousand votes behind the number sufficient for election, and is contesting the election of the "Tammany" candidate, George B. McClellan, with some prospect of securing a reversal of the result. Whether he succeeds or not, the vote is a great blow to the machine, and indicates that the people of the metropolis are bent on trying the experiment of municipal ownership and control of public utilities. Still more effectively broken is the Philadelphia machine, which has long been the bulwark of "graft" and public plunder in that city. The vote in Maryland gave an overwhelming defeat to the Poe suffrage amendment, the purpose of which was to disfranchise the negro. The vote in Ohio, which elected a Democratic governor, the first to be chosen there in fifteen years, is taken as a revolt of the people against the Republican State machine with its State "boss."