Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Feb 23, 1905

— General Lew Wallace, conspicuous as a military figure, diplomat, and author, died at his home in Crawfordsville, Ind., February 15, aged seventy-eight years.

— President Roosevelt has instructed Commissioner Garfield, of the Department of Commerce and Labor, to begin an investigation of the Standard Oil trust, in compliance with a request embodied in a resolution unanimously adopted by the House of Representatives, February 15.

— The long-drawn-out asphalt controversy in Venezuela has reached a crisis by reason of the action of the Venezuela Supreme Court, which has ordered the sequestration of the property of the American Asphalt Company. It is now considered necessary for the United States government to interfere and bring force to bear on Venezuela.

— The State of Kansas is making war on the Standard Oil trust, and other trusts, and has authorized the establishment of a State oil refinery. To give the legislature greater power to deal with the situation, it is proposed to amend the State constitution. Measures which have already been passed by the legislature against these combines are of doubtful value on account of their alleged unconstitutionality.

— Much significance is attached to preparations for war which are observed on the part of Turkey. A recent dispatch from Sofia to the London Times says: “The rapid progress of Turkish military preparations attracts attention here. War material is being constantly dispatched from Constantinople to Salonika and Adrianople. Fifty quick-fire guns recently arrived at Monastir. Large supplies of uniforms have been ordered for the reserves.”

— Reports from Manchuria indicate the imminence of another great battle between the Russian and Japanese forces, as the weather is moderating, and gives promise of an early spring. The Japanese are employing siege guns used at Port Arthur, and are shelling the Russian fortifications. There are reports of numerous encounters between small detachments of the armies. Press reports state that there is a prospect that Washington will be selected as the place for the conclusion of peace negotiations when the time arrives.

— President Roosevelt has transmitted to the Senate a message giving the new Dominican protocol providing for the collection and disbursement by the United States of the customs revenues of San Domingo for the adjustment of all the obligations of that government. By order of the Senate in executive session, the message was made public. Few documents that have come to the Senate in relation to any of the South or Central American or West Indian republics have attracted so much attention, because of the controversy that has arisen as to the right of the executive to enter into treaty arrangements with any foreign government without the advice and consent of the Senate, as provided in the United States Constitution. The message is of nearly

4,500 words, and was read in full to the Senate. It is largely a discussion of the rights and duties of the United States under the Monroe doctrine, and the president says the protocol affords a practical test of the efficiency of the United States government in maintaining the doctrine.

— An era of terrorism appears to have been opened in Russia by the Social Revolutionary party, signalized by the assassination of the Grand Duke Sergius, uncle of the czar, who was killed at Moscow by a bomb thrown against his carriage while he was being driven through the enclosure surrounding the Kremlin palace. The bomb was filled with a high-power explosive, and part of the victim's body was blown into fragments, death being instantaneous. Others of the imperial family have been warned that they are marked for a similar fate. The only safety for them, says a Russian paper, “seems to be in seeking safety behind palace walls, and all the imperial family have been warned not to venture out.” An extraordinary sitting of the council of the empire has been summoned to consider the situation. Grand Duke Sergius was considered the foremost of the ducal party which opposed the demands of the people, and is held to be more responsible than any other for the recent massacre in St. Petersburg. At the court he wielded very great influence. It is rumored that the czar will now withdraw all opposition to the formation of a Russian representative body called the “zemsky sobor,” and that a measure of popular government will be accorded the Russian people.