Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Mar 17, 1904

— News was received from Paris, March 9, of the loss of the French steamer “Cambodge” in a recent storm off the coast of Cochin China. About fifty Anamese on board were drowned.

— A cablegram from Rome, Italy, reports the recent destruction of six villages in the Abruzzo, by earthquakes, which are almost continuous in that section, though slight. There was no loss of life.

— An early dissolution of the present British Parliament is looked for, owing to the unstable condition of the government under the leadership of Mr. Balfour. Neither Mr. Balfour nor Mr. Chamberlain is expected to be in power after the next elections.

— A tale of religious frenzy induced by ministers of the “Holiness Society,” and threatening to lead to the slaughter of children as sacrifices, comes from Beal’s Island, Maine. The timely interference of the sheriff, who banished the Society’s agents from the island, is said to have prevented the taking of life.

— The Pacific coast from Vancouver Island to San Diego, Cal., was swept by a severe storm, March 10, described as being the worst known in twenty-five years. So great was the force of the wind at Alameda, Cal., that a train of cars was blown from the track. Great damage was done to telegraph and telephone lines.

— The railway tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting New York City and Jersey City, which has been in process of construction for about thirty years, was completed March 11 by the joining of the ends of the tunnel under the river, after which the president of the construction company with a party passed through the tunnel from the Jersey shore to Manhattan. It will be about a year longer before the approaches to the tunnel are finished and trains running under the river.

— Monday, March 7, a negro murderer in jail at Springfield, Ohio, was taken from his cell and hanged by a mob which battered down the doors of the jail. The affair led to a race riot in which the negro quarter of the town was burned. It finally became necessary to call out the militia to quell the riot, and restore order. The effect of such lawlessness upon the minds of the young in Springfield was shown a few days later in an attempt by white children to lynch an innocent negro boy, merely to follow the example of their elders. The negro was dragged some distance with a rope around his neck, but was rescued before he had received serious injury.

— Testimony given March 10 before the Senate committee at Washington having in charge the case of Senator-elect Smoot, of Utah, showed that the Mormon Church has at times interfered directly in politics in that State. Mormon voters being instructed by the church authorities as to what sort of vote was demanded by “the will of the Lord.” Testimony was given also that any person disobeying the mandate of the church in political affairs became subject to church discipline. The consent of the president of the church is necessary before any church official can be a candidate for political office.

— A very disastrous flood in the Susquehanna River valley began at the end of the first week in March, and continued for nearly a week, doing damage to the extent of over a million dollars. Thousands of families were made homeless. Industries along the river from Pittston to Nanticoke were closed by the high water, and many mines were flooded. The business section of Plymouth was submerged, and the sudden backing up of the water by an ice gorge at that place cut off the escape of many families from their homes, compelling them to live on the upper floors. The worst effects of the flood were felt by residents in the Wyoming Valley.

— The policy of strict secrecy maintained by the Japanese military authorities prevents much reliable news of events in the Russo-Japanese war from reaching the outside world, the published news consisting mostly of unconfirmed rumors. According to these the Russian forces in Korea and Manchuria are on the defensive, and some successes have been gained by the Japanese on land. Port Arthur and Vladivostok will, it is said, be taken at all cost by the Japanese forces, with the intention of fortifying and retaining them. A naval battle at Port Arthur was reported to have occurred March 10, which resulted in the loss of a torpedo-boat by each of the opposing fleets. *

— Investigation into the scandals connected with the affairs of the Post-Office Department of the government has reached a point where it has cast suspicion upon a large number of members of Congress, who are alleged to have been guilty of “graft” in calling for increased appropriations for post-offices in their home districts when there was nothing to justify an increase. No less than one hundred and fifty members of both houses of Congress, including men of the highest standing and reputation, are named in the list of those charged with stealing money from the government. At the beginning of the present session of Congress, when hints had come from the Post-Office Department implicating members of Congress in the crookedness connected with that branch of the government service, an investigation was proposed by Democratic members of the House, and opposed by the Republicans, who defeated it at the time, but later on agreed to the step, a committee being chosen to do the work. It is the report of this committee that has put so many members of Congress, chiefly Republicans, under suspicion of dishonesty, and aroused a violent storm of indignation and protested innocence. It is feared that the result will be unfavorable to the interests of the Republican party at the next elections.