Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 31, 1907

— President Roosevelt, on October 25, set apart Thursday, November 28, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer.

— Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria continues to improve, and it is now thought he will entirely recover.

— During a gale October 17 a Danish freight steamer foundered on the rocks off Castle Point, Scotland, and twenty of her crew were drowned.

— The Atlantic steamer “Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse” broke her rudder as she neared mid-ocean last Friday, but proceeded on her voyage, steering by her screw propellers.

— The king and queen of Spain have left Madrid for a visit to England, where it is reported that they will travel incognito, and that the king will consult specialists in reference to his health. He has symptoms of tuberculosis, from which his father died.

— Nine contestants entered a balloon race at St. Louis October 21, and each made a remarkable flight. The distances covered ranged from 375 to 880 miles, while the time of flight was from about twenty-five hours to one minute less than forty-four hours. Two of the balloons landed in New Jersey.

— A run on the Knickerbocker Trust Company of New York forced that concern to close its doors one day last week, and came near resulting in a financial panic. But prompt action on the part of the Secretary of the Treasury and prominent financiers, including J. Pierpont Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, in placing about $60,000,000 at the disposal of the prominent banks of New York, resulted in restoring confidence and relieving the stringency.

— An earthquake shock, which occurred the early part of last week, destroyed several villages in the south of Italy. It develops, as investigation proceeds, that the loss of life is much more than was at first supposed. The work of rescue is hindered by the inaccessibility of the district, but it is estimated that 600 persons were killed and 1,000 injured. Continuous rains have fallen since the disaster, which occurred in the night, and adds greatly to the distress of the survivors, many of whom were but scantily clad when they fled from their falling houses.

— According to statistics of government experts less than fifty per cent of the average tree as it stands in the woods comes into the market as merchantable products; the remainder goes to waste. Although lumbermen and users of lumber gave little heed to this waste until prices seriously handicapped building operations, the government forest service early began investigations, seeking to turn to account what was thrown away. It is now reported from the laboratories that various abundant woods of which no use has been made are valuable for paper-pulp, and this will save the spruce and poplar for lumber. It has likewise been demonstrated that by a process of steam distillation a turpentine may be obtained from refuse southern pine that is equal to gum spirits which is now obtained by sacrificing the trunks of living trees.

— The government seized at Norfolk, Va., October 20, 175 cases containing 8,750,000 cigarettes, valued at $7,272.50, which were in transit to Great Britain. The seizure was made under that section of the Sherman anti-trust law which declares forfeited to the United States any property owned under contract entered into in restraint of trade, and being in course of transportation from one State to another or to a foreign country. This is the first time that proceedings have been taken to enforce this section of the Sherman law.

— Italy is afflicted with a series of strikes, which seems likely to cause a serious interruption of business and communication. The trouble began with a strike of the gas workers in Milan. In endeavoring to settle this trouble the soldiers fired into a mob, which caused the strike to extend to other occupations as well as other cities, where sympathetic strikes were ordered, and the railroad men stopped work. They endeavored to persuade the Central Committee of the Socialists at Rome to declare a general strike of all the working men in Italy, but the committee refused, believing that under the circumstances public opinion would not support them. In spite of this the railroad employees continue their strikes, and are trying to tie up all lines.

— The recent opening of stations for transatlantic commercial wireless telegraphic messages lends interest to the following statistics in reference to that method of communication: There are now over 1,550 stations engaged in regular transmission of wireless messages. A classification of these stations may be made approximately as follows: Commercial land stations, 195; merchant vessels, 170; lighthouses and other government stations, 150; naval installations, 670; military portable stations, 55; experimental stations, 310. The United States Signal Corps has maintained for four years wireless communication across Norton Sound in Alaska. During this time there has never been a day when the service was interrupted, and the speed is as high as that ordinarily obtained in telegraphy by wire.

— Occasional reports from Morocco indicate that the power of Mulai-Hafid, the pretender, is steadily increasing, one of the principal causes being the subserviency of the sultan, Abdel-Aziz, to the French. The first conflict between the forces of the rival sultans occurred October 17, when Mulai-Hafid’s troops were victorious, capturing the commander-in-chief of all his brother’s forces in the field. About the same time nearly 300,000 cartridges were taken from the customs house at Mazagan. The finances of the sultan are known to be in a desperate condition, but he has obtained temporary relief by securing a loan of $200,000 upon the imperial jewels. On the nineteenth a French reconnoitering party proceeding from Casablanca was ambushed by the Moors, and a captain and private were killed and six men wounded. The Moors lost sixty men. This has resulted in opening hostilities again on the part of the French, and it is reported that on the twenty-first forces commanded by General Drude suffered serious repulse by about 7,000 Moors who threatened Casablanca to that extent that the authorities requested aid from the Spanish war-ship in the harbor to repel the attack.