Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Aug 18, 1904

— A formidable insurrection is reported to be in progress in Kwang province of China.

— A severe drought is reported in Germany. All crops are suffering, and navigation on the Elbe has been suspended.

— Eight men lost their lives in the Barringer gold mine, in Rowan County, N. C., August 11, by the sudden flooding of the mine with water. A broken dam is given as the cause of the accident.

— The sultan of Turkey has promised United States Minister Leishman that he will grant the demand for recognition of the rights of American citizens in Turkish territory, made by the United States government.

— The heart of Tibet has been pierced by the British military expedition to that country, the Tibetan capital, Lhassa, being now occupied by the British troops, which entered the place on August 3. The dalai-lama fled to a monastery some miles distant, where he keeps himself in strict seclusion, which, according to report, he intends to maintain for three years.

— A report from Rome states that the papal secretary of state, Cardinal Merry del Val, is communicating with Don Carlos, the pretender to the Spanish throne, with a view to giving him assistance in his efforts to secure the crown, in return for a pledge on his part to restore the former privileges enjoyed by the Catholic Church in Spain. Don Carlos is said to be a personal friend of Pope Pius.

— While the attention of the world has been directed to the war in the far East, affairs in Armenia have reached another crisis, and the inhabitants are subjected to all the horrors of the most barbarous warfare. Frequent fighting has occurred between the Armenian revolutionary bands and the Turkish forces, in which hundreds of the combatants have been killed or wounded. Armenia is making another appeal to the powers.

— An effort is being made by the striking employees of the meat-packing houses to force President Roosevelt to order the attorney-general of the United States to proceed against the packing companies under the perpetual injunction held by the government against the meat trust. The step is said to have been taken with legal advice, and an action will be begun by a striker who holds stock in one of the large packing concerns, who will allege that an illegal combination exists which is detrimental to the shareholders, and by this means compel the packers to produce their books and contracts in open court. This the strikers believe would bring the packers to terms.

— New statistics of the different religions of the world are furnished by a Jesuit authority, Father Krose, and are printed in the London Tablet. According to this authority, the total number of Christians in the world is 549,017,341; of Jews, 11,037,000; of Mohammedans, 202,048,240; of Brahmans or Hindus, 210,100,000; of old Indian religions, 12,113,756; of Buddhists, 120,250,000; of Confucians and ancestor worshipers, 253,000,000; of Taoists, 52,000,000; of Shintoists, 17,000,000; of fetish worshipers and other pagans, 144,700,000; of other religionists, 2,844,482. Out of the total population of the world (estimated at 1,539,600,000) 762,102,000 are monotheists, against 776,000,000 who are polytheists. That is, “nearly half the population of the world believe in one God.”

— The worst railway accident in point of loss of life that ever occurred in this country took place on the Denver & Rio Grande Railway near Eden, Colo., the evening of August 7. The “World’s Fair Flyer” fell through a bridge which spans an “arroyo,” or gulch, which communicates a short distance below with Mountain Creek. The “arroyo” had been filled with water by a cloudburst, which had weakened the bridge, and the train fell into a deep and swift torrent, which swept the cars away, and drowned all but a few of their occupants before any could make their escape. Many bodies were recovered a long distance from the scene of the wreck. The latest reports from the scene stated that seventy-three bodies had been recovered, and that about forty were missing. It is stated that the train was running across the trestle at a much higher rate of speed than conditions of safety would warrant.

— A movement for Sunday closing of grocery and meat stores has been started in Alexandria, Va., growing out of a resolution passed July 11 by the Retail Merchants’ Association requesting the mayor to enforce Sunday closing in those lines of trade. The activity of the “International Reform Bureau,” conducted in Washington by Rev. W. F. Crafts, in promoting Sunday enforcement, is shown by the following, which appeared in the Washington Post of August 12: “President A. J. Cassatt, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, in reply to a letter recently sent to him by the International Reform Bureau, 206 Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast, requesting that Sunday work on the new union station be stopped, has stated that if the employees or contractors have been engaged in Sunday work in connection with the new station building at Washington, directions will be given to have this immediately stopped.” An appeal has been made by the bureau to have the War Department stop Sunday work on the filtration plant.

— Important if not decisive battles have occurred the past week between the Russian and Japanese forces in the far East. The Russian army under General Kouropatkin has retreated before the Japanese armies under Generals Kuroki and Oku, near Liao Yang, after severe fighting, in which the advantage has been with the Japanese. The most important battle, however, was a naval engagement which occurred August 10, caused by a sortie of the Russian fleet from Port Arthur, with the evident intention of escaping to some other port. The battle between the Russian and Japanese fleets continued for several hours, and was terminated by the return of the Russian ships to Port Arthur, but a number of Russian cruisers escaped, the Japanese fleet concentrating the most of its attack on the Russian battle-ships. The reason for the sortie from Port Arthur appears to be that the Japanese land forces which are forcing the siege of Port Arthur have advanced so near that the Russian ships are now under the fire of the siege guns, and must either escape or be destroyed. An incident which has assumed great international importance occurred at the Chinese port of Cheefoo, where a Russian torpedo-boat which had entered and been disarmed and dismantled according to international rules of neutrality, was seized and towed out of the port by Japanese ships, the act being apparently in plain violation of Chinese neutrality, which all the powers are trying to preserve. Russia is doing all possible, aided by France, to involve Japan in trouble with the powers through this affair.