Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jan 26, 1905

— The German coal miners’ strike is spreading, and the number engaged in it are now more than twice the number participating in any previous strike. A tremendous disturbance of the country’s trade is anticipated.

— President Castro of Venezuela has severed diplomatic relations with the United States, this action being an outcome of the long-standing controversy over the asphalt industry, in which certain American interests are involved. It is expected the United States will take measures to force President Castro to a speedy settlement.

— Reports from Macedonia state that affairs in that country are in a condition bordering on anarchy, notwithstanding the Austro-Russian reform measures decided on some time ago. These having proved a complete failure, it is now said that Great Britain will urge upon the European powers a program of sweeping reforms for Macedonia, among which will be the appointment of a Christian governor-general, who is to be responsible to the powers, and not to the sultan. Up to the present Italy alone has signified her willingness to co-operate with Great Britain in demanding more effectual methods. There is some doubt concerning the position which France will take, and Austria and Russia are expected to oppose the plan. It is to be noted that French and German financiers are arranging to supply Turkey with a loan of $25,000,000, the largest part of which will be devoted to fitting out the Turkish army with new batteries of quick-firing guns, orders for which have been placed with French and German manufacturers. Similar orders recently have been placed by Bulgaria.

— A seeming victory for the papacy in France has occurred in the resignation of Premier Combes, under whose administration France has been brought to the verge of the abolition of the concordat. Finding that he controlled a majority of but ten votes in the French Chamber, Premier Combes resigned rather than face the prospect of being forced out. The chief cause of the waning popularity of his administration was the system of espionage maintained under it, to which recently much publicity has been given by his enemies.

— Interest in the conflict in the far East centers just now in a note addressed by Russia to the powers, including the United States, stating that China has failed to maintain neutrality, and that consequently Russia reserves liberty to act toward China as she thinks best,—that is, to make war on China. It is conjectured by some that Russia is meditating an invasion of Mongolia, to make good by conquest there what she has lost in Manchuria. Others see in the Russian note an indication that Russia is preparing to seize a Chinese port as a base of operations for her fleet in Asiatic waters. European governments are strenuously seeking to avoid complications in the matter.

— A strike of iron workers began in St. Petersburg, Russia, January 20, which spread until it reached the proportions of a popular uprising, and 400,000 disaffected persons were parading the streets, causing serious rioting, and necessitating the use of troops to save life and property. All the government industries, including the shipbuilding plants, were forced to close. The strikers first demanded recognition of their union by their employers, the reinstatement of four men who were recently dismissed for belonging to the union, an eight-hour work-day, a minimum wage of fifty cents per day for unskilled male labor, and of thirty-five cents for unskilled female labor, and other things in line with the general demands of labor unions in other countries. But while the strike is ostensibly a labor union demonstration, the real significance of the outbreak is political, and it aims at securing relief from the burdens of autocratic government. The strikers demanded an opportunity to present their grievances to the czar, and drew up a petition which in the strongest terms denounced the bureaucracy for bringing on the war with Japan. An event which greatly augmented the general tension and disturbance was a narrow escape of the czar from death in connection with the ceremony of “blessing the waters,” January 20, from the firing of a “grape” shot by a gun in the artillery which was giving salutes. The bullets of which the shot was composed struck in close proximity to the czar and royal family, passing over their heads at so slight a distance that had the gun been aimed a little lower, the whole Romanoff family might have been extinguished. One policeman was killed, and several other persons were injured. Whether the loaded shot was in the gun by accident or design is a question which the authorities are bending every energy to solve. It is considered significant that the particular gun which contained such possibilities of damage should have been trained directly on the royal chapel. London papers express the opinion that the occurrence was a premeditated attempt upon the life of the czar, and indicates in connection with the strike, that the country is on the verge of revolution.