Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 28, 1907

—For the second time this season floods in southern France have been doing much damage, and a mountain near Montpellier is reported to be changing its position, having been undermined by the floods.

—The Central American Peace Conference is in session at Washington; but its meetings are secret, so no definite knowledge of the progress being made is obtainable. The general impression prevails, however, that some satisfactory agreement will be reached.

—Severe earthquake shocks were again experienced in the province of Calabria, Italy, on November 18. Many of the people who had summoned courage to return to their homes after the shocks of October 27 again became panic-stricken and fled to the country. The inclement weather added to their sufferings.

—Following the reading of the proclamation of President Roosevelt admitting Oklahoma to statehood, the newly elected officers were inaugurated November 16. The constitution adopted by the new State has been the subject of much comment, on account of its novel features, which include the prohibition of the liquor traffic.

—The captain of a whaling vessel which recently arrived from the Arctic, reports that a terrific earthquake occurred at Unalaska about a month ago, and that Mount McCulloch, which was created by an earthquake nearly a year ago, and extended 3,400 feet above the sea, has dwindled to almost nothing, as a result of submarine disturbances.

—In hope of relieving the financial stringency, the Treasury Department offered to the public, on November 18, $50,000,000 of the bonds of the Panama Canal loan, payable in from ten to thirty years at two per cent interest; and certificates of indebtedness for $100,000,000, payable in one year at three per cent interest. These issues are authorized by former acts of Congress, and are generally regarded by financiers as a solution of the present difficulties.

—A great solar disturbance was noticed November 15. A huge spot called a solar cyclone and estimated to cover an area of over 2,000,000,000 square miles could be seen with the naked eye toward sunset. The director of Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, England, reports having observed at 11:45 on this day a flame suddenly leaping up from the sun at the rate of 10,000 miles a minute until it reached the height of 325,000 miles, when it broke into fragments and disappeared.

—The passage by the Alabama Legislature of a prohibition bill has been accomplished. The people have taken a great interest in the matter, and many delegations have waited upon the legislators. The principal opposition to the bill seems to have come from Mobile, where all the money from licenses is used in the interest of education. Five thousand women, said to be from the best classes of society, signed a petition to the senate not to pass the bill. By compromise the law will not become operative until Jan. 1, 1909. The bill now waits the governor's signature.