Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Feb 11, 1904

— Wheat reached the dollar mark on the Chicago Board of Trade, February 3.

— It is reported that fighting has occurred between Colombian and the San Blas Indians on Panama territory.

— Forty persons were killed by the explosion of ten tons of powder in a fort in the Punjab, India, February 1.

— Discoveries of rock and ore containing radium in comparatively large quantities are reported from Colorado and Utah.

— The revolution in Uruguay seems to be gaining in strength, the revolutionists having advanced to a point where they now menace the capital.

— The giant ocean liner “Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse” came into New York harbor, February 4, two days behind her schedule time, after a voyage declared by the captain to be the roughest the boat had ever experienced.

— A destructive tidal wave swept part of the coast of Brittany, France, February 2. One third of the Commune of Penmarch was inundated, many fishing boats were wrecked, and some of their occupants were drowned. An immense amount of damage was done. The people living near the shore were obliged to flee from their homes.

— Mr. William C. Whitney, ex-secretary of the Navy and well-known figure in political and social circles in New York City, died at his home, February 2.

— Diplomatic relations between Japan and Russia are broken off, the Japanese minister at St. Petersburg and the Russian minister at Tokyo are preparing to depart for their respective countries, and the clash of arms is the next thing expected. It is feared in London that an uprising will also occur in the Balkans, and that general war may be the result.

— The possibility of a general strike in the bituminous coal fields is becoming apparent, due to the failure of a conference of miners and operators at Indianapolis, which ended February 3. Another conference may be held February 15. A prominent official of the miners’ union in Illinois is quoted as saying with reference to the possibilities involved, that “a suspension in the bituminous fields would be a national calamity, and if continued for any length of time, would in effect dwarf the anthracite strike into insignificance.”

— The following interesting example of the claims put forth by “mental science healers” is reported from Jacksonville, Fla.: “In the trial of Mrs. Helen Wilman-Post, mental science healer, it was testified that the woman had represented herself as able, by her mental treatment, to do these things: get a man out of jail; make a new set of teeth grow; make a leg grow on a stump from which the lower limb had been amputated; make hair grow on bald heads; restore the affections of persons who had become estranged; transfer the affections of persons.”

— The Moscow correspondent of the London Times reports that the state of affairs in the Caucasus shows no sign of improvement, and is little short of anarchy. Bandits make frequent raids on banks and railway stations, and usually succeed in carrying off plunder. The raids, instead of being made by night, as was formerly the case, are now made in broad daylight. The St. Petersburg authorities are considerably alarmed by anti-government demonstrations all over the empire made by the Russian “intelligents.” The cry “Down with the autocracy” is heard in assemblies of intelligent and educated men.

— A “congress of religious education” is to be held in the city of Washington, D. C., March 1-3 next. It will be the tenth national congress of the kind held in this country. It is called by the regents of the American Society of Religious Education. It is announced that “the grand theme of the congress will be ‘The Bible and the Spiritual Life;’” also that “during the congress two commissions appointed by the regents will report. One of these, composed of prominent pastors in New York City, will present a plan by which it is hoped to unite the clergy of all Protestant churches in promoting spirituality,” also that “two features will attract much attention—an address on ‘Moral Degeneracy from the Standpoint of Medical Science,’ by Dr. Brush, a specialist in nervous diseases; and a discussion by Senators Depew and Morgan on ‘The Bible and Civil Government.’ President Roosevelt will receive the congress.”