Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Apr 21, 1904

— Reports from St. Petersburg state that the czar’s health gives evidence of being on the decline.

— A bill making attempted bribery a misdemeanor was recently passed by the New York Legislature.

— It is reported that an Anglo-Russian arbitration treaty, which has been fostered by France, will probably be concluded within a fortnight.

— Three thousand people in a suburb of Montreal were driven to the upper stories of their houses by a flood caused by an ice jam at the Victoria bridge near that city.

— It is reported that the imperial palace in Seoul, the capital of Korea, has been burned, and that the emperor of Korea has fled. The palace was four hundred years old.

— A plot to assassinate President Loubet of France during his coming visit to Italy is alleged to have come to light in Marseilles, resulting in the arrest of three Italians.

— April 12 an attempt was made by an anarchist to assassinate the Spanish premier, Senor Maura, at Barcelona, the assailant using a dagger. The premier was only slightly injured.

— Bubonic plague is reported to be spreading in an alarming manner along the west coast of South America. It is especially prevalent at Antofagasta, one of the principal shipping ports north of Santiago, Chile.

— Present plans relating to the increase of the capital and equipment of Chicago University will, when matured, give that institution a “capital” of $50,000,000, making it the richest institution of learning in the world.

— German troops in southwest Africa are having difficult work in subduing the hostile natives. It is feared in Berlin that a German force of 350 men has been annihilated in the hostile territory, no tidings having been received from it for several weeks.

— Recently in a New York City police court testimony was given showing the existence in that city of a gang of professional murderers, known as the “Monk” Eastman gang, members of which would for fifteen dollars undertake to kill a man, or for ten dollars would maim him for life.

— The statement comes from Pittsburg that Andrew Carnegie has created a fund of $5,000,000 for the benefit of “the dependents of those losing their lives in heroic effort to save their fellow men, or for the heroes themselves if injured only. The endowment is to be known as “the hero fund.”

— It is reported from Colorado that John P. Spencer, a fruit grower in that State, has, after seven years’ experimenting, succeeded in developing a seedless apple, which in shape resembles a navel orange. The inside of the apple is entirely solid. Mr. Spencer is now preparing to graft his seedless buds on every sort of apple-tree, and asserts that he will be able to develop seedless apples of every variety. The tree on which the seedless fruit grows is unusual in that it has no blossoms.

— The Tonga, or Friendly, Islands, and the Society Islands, of the South Pacific, are soon to come under British rule, according to private advices from residents in those islands. The Society Islands will be exchanged by France for some English islands near New Caledonia. The Tahitians, it is said, will welcome British rule.

— The Catholic Church in the United States is giving much attention to the subject of missionary work in the Southern States. A press statement from Washington says: “Plans are being considered for the organization of an extensive finance committee with branches in all the Northern States, for the collection of funds to be devoted to the support of a large force of trained mission workers. The Rev. H. E. O’Grady, of Alabama, proposes that one cent a week be collected from every Catholic child in the North, the money raised to be sent South for the founding and maintenance of the Catholic missions, schools, and churches.”

— At the patent office in Washington, April 7, a patent was issued and dedicated to the people of the United States. It covers a process discovered by Dr. George T. Moore, of the Department of Agriculture, for the production of bacterial cultures employed in inoculating soils for the successful cultivation of clovers of all kinds, alfalfa, soy-beans, cow-peas, and many other similar members of the legume family. The patent is given to the people of the United States forever in effect, the object being to forestall any effort to patent such a process and by that means circumscribe the efforts of farmers to improve their soils by raising leguminous crops.

— One of the greatest of recent disasters in connection with American naval affairs took place on the battle-ship “Missouri” during target practise off the Florida coast, April 13. A charge of four hundred pounds of gunpowder which had been loaded into the breech of one of the twelve-inch guns, preparatory to firing the gun, was in some way prematurely ignited before the breech was closed, filling the turret in which the gun rests with flame and gases, and igniting four other similar charges which were near by, thus resulting in the explosion of 2,000 pounds of powder. The turret and the “handling room,” to which the force of the explosion was confined, were unfortunately full of men, all of whom were killed except five, these latter being severely injured, two of them fatally. Twenty-nine men were killed on the spot of whom five were officers, all the bodies being terribly burned. Only prompt action prevented the flames from reaching the magazine and blowing up the ship. The damage to the ship is estimated to be about $50,000.

— The progress of the Russo-Japanese war was marked by a heavy disaster to the Russian sea force, April 13, in the blowing up of the flag-ship of Admiral Makaroff at the entrance of Port Arthur, by a floating mine with which the ship came in contact. The explosion beneath the ship caused an explosion of the boilers and magazines within the ship, killing all the crew who were below the upper deck, and blowing out the side of the ship, which immediately filled with water, and sank, turning bottom up as it went down. About six hundred of the officers and crew perished, among these being Admiral Makaroff, the most conspicuous figure at the time in the Russian navy, on account of his activity, courage, and ability. The Grand Duke Cyril, heir to the Russian throne, was also seriously injured. The following day another Russian battle-ship was seriously damaged by a mine, and a Russian torpedo boat was sunk by the Japanese. Among those who perished with Admiral Makaroff, it is reported, was Verestchagin, the noted painter of war scenes, who was a guest on the admiral’s flag-ship. These disasters have caused profound gloom and depression at St. Petersburg.

— Conspicuous in Washington affairs for several days, concluding with April 15, have been a series of entertainments given to visiting Knights of Columbus, a Catholic order, representatives of which assembled in large numbers at the capital from the various States through which the membership of the order is scattered. At one of these entertainments, the following pithy statements touching on the hopes, aims, and methods which Catholics have in view in this country, were made in a speech by the national secretary of the order, Daniel Colwell: “Ours is the richest order in the world to-day, and our membership of 110,191 is a cause for pride. There are more than a million dollars in cash in our treasury, and we don’t owe anybody a cent. We have just cause for congratulation also in the fact that we have so large a representation of our order in the halls of Congress, and I predict and pray that the time will come when the orders of the Catholic Church can muster a quorum in the House of Representatives. [Applause.] “We have energy and tenacity of purpose, and when that institution on the hill [the Capitol], has given history as it ought to be written, Catholics will be given the place which has been denied to them, sometimes maliciously, for twenty-five years. In our order of the Knights of Columbus our motto has been quality first and then quantity. We are doing a great work. In New Haven we have the finest piece of land in the very heart of Puritanism, and we are going to erect there a building which shall be a landmark.”