Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jan 18, 1906

—Mount Vesuvius and Mount Etna are reported to be in frequent eruption, and the volcanic activity within their craters appears to be on the increase.

—Earthquake shocks were felt January 7 in eastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri. Though not severe, the unusual character of the phenomena caused serious disturbance to the minds of the inhabitants.

—Dr. W. R. Harper, president of Chicago University and one of the foremost Hebrew scholars in America, died at his home in Chicago January 10, after having been a sufferer for about a year from intestinal cancer.

—Indications have appeared of a reaction in the reform movement which recently overthrew boss rule in Philadelphia, the delegates elected from that city to the State convention being mostly opposed to reform Mayor Weaver, who was a candidate for the office of governor.

—According to reports from St. Petersburg the Russian revolutionary movement is spreading in the Caucasus, where the revolutionists are seizing the railways. Martial law has been declared in the provinces of South Russia. A Siberian uprising is feared. Lithuanian peasants are devastating the country in that part of the empire.

—A novel precedent which may have considerable effect on the liquor traffic in Chicago was established in that city by a jury decision awarding $17,500 to the children of a man who has become a drunkard, to be paid by three saloonkeepers who have been instrumental in bringing him to his present condition. It is said other suits against saloonkeepers there will be started.

—Considerable publicity has been given in press reports of late to facts relating to an automobile which is being constructed by a New York millionaire, which it is said is to be of 250-horsepower, and be capable of a speed of 150 miles an hour. French manufacturers, who have heretofore taken the lead in the production of superior automobiles, are, it is stated, determined not to be outdone by anything in this country.

—The State of Missouri is conducting an examination into the business methods of the Standard Oil trust in Missouri, and for this purpose summoned one of the principal figures in the trust, Mr. H. H. Rogers, to testify on the subject in court. The latter, on the witness-stand, refused to answer all pertinent questions put to him by the attorney-general of Missouri, and it remains to be seen whether a rich man can evade and defy the law under circumstances where a poor man would be compelled to testify.

—No small degree of attention is being given by President Roosevelt and members of Congress, and by many leading American manufacturers also, to the prospect of a tariff war between this country and Germany, which will have the effect of shutting out many American products from that country. Germany, it appears, desires to be favored above other countries by a reduction in the Dingley tariff rates on imports to this country, and this being refused, she will, beginning next March, impose prohibitive tariff rates on American products imported there.

—A very serious situation due to the destruction of crops, is reported from the Mexican State of Sinaloa. A dispatch from Mexico City says: “The crops have been almost entirely destroyed by recent inundations, and the roads have been rendered impassable during the past few days. Several seismic disturbances have occurred in that part of Sinaloa. These have added to the terror of the natives, who believe that they are doomed to destruction. Many of the survivors of the inundations are suffering from malaria, and deaths are recorded daily. Thousands of cattle perished in northern Sinaloa as a result of the floods. Late reports show that the losses throughout Sinaloa amount to several million dollars.”

—How fully the United States has become a “world power,” in the sense of being concerned in world politics, appears from the fact that this nation will be a party at the coming conference of the European powers over Morocco, and it is thought may be called on to act a very important part in that gathering. The question at issue, out of which has arisen a dark and menacing war-cloud, is whether France shall have charge of the policing of Morocco, as she desires, or whether there shall be a system of international policing of that country, as Germany desires, and in which case the United States would probably take part in the work. The vote of this nation’s delegates at the conference may decide the issue, and it is felt by some that the United States is placed in an embarrassing position.