p. 21 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 7, 1910

Current Mention

— What is virtually a strike on the part of tug captains in New York harbor occurred on March 31.

— As the result of a hurricane which occurred off the Japanese coast on March 13, 1,100 Japanese fishermen lost their lives.

— The volcano of Mt. Etna is again in active eruption, and streams of lava flowing down its sides are threatening the towns of Borello and Pelpasso.

— While the United States cruiser “Charleston” was at target practise near Olongapo, P. I., on March 27, a three-inch gun burst, killing eight men.

— Conditions in Liberia continue to be of a threatening nature, and liable to result in the intervention of France and England as well as of the United States. Another United States cruiser has been ordered to Liberia.

— The threatened tariff war between the United States and Canada has been happily averted through concessions on the part of both countries. Great credit for this is due Earl Grey and Minister Fielding of Canada, and President Taft and Secretary of State Knox.

— Two Japanese soldiers were arrested in Manila on March 29, accused of being spies of the Japanese government. It is claimed that they were seeking photographs of the American fortifications. The government is still holding the arrested Japanese for further investigation.

— Supreme Court Justice David J. Brewer died suddenly at his home in Washington on March 28. Justice Brewer was quite generally looked upon as one of the most eminent jurists of the country. His death comes at a time when a number of very important issues were before the United States Supreme Court for decision.

— The United Mine Workers of North America having presented a demand to the operators of the coal-mines in which they work for an increase in wages, and the demand having been denied, have gone on a strike. The number who quit work on March 31 is about 300,000. Of these 100,000 are in Pennsylvania, and 72,000 in Illinois. The operators claim that this will not cause a coal famine, as a large quantity of coal has been stored up in anticipation of such a condition.

— A despatch from Rome, Italy, dated March 26, states that Colonel Roosevelt’s audiences with the king and the Pope have been arranged without arousing the susceptibility of either the Italian government or the Pope. The Pope imposed a condition in granting the audience; viz., that Mr. Roosevelt should not lecture or address the Methodists of Rome. It was such a condition as this that Mr. Fairbanks refused to accede to. Mr. Roosevelt will accept the condition and call upon the Pope. Mr. Roosevelt will call upon the king of Italy before visiting the Pope. This the Pope permits because Mr. Roosevelt is a Protestant. If he were a Catholic, he would have to call upon the Pope first, or not be received by him at all.

— Peru and Chile have broken off diplomatic relations over the Chilean government’s declaration of intentions to retain the two provinces of Tacna and Arica.

— St. Luke’s Hospital, Baltimore, Md., reports a new and successful treatment for cancer, which consists of applying to the affected flesh hot sterilized air and electricity after hypodermic injections of a certain serum.

— The revolution in Nicaragua has not yet been settled. General Estrada, of the revolutionists, has recently received further supplies of ammunition, and declares himself able to hold the Atlantic coast against any number of the government forces.

— A committee representing the conductors, trainmen, and yardmen of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, is now submitting to these employees the question of whether they will continue with the company on the present schedule of wages or agree to strike for a settlement of their wage demands.

— Because the municipal government of Valencia, Spain, had authorized the use of carriages in the streets on Good Friday, there was a riot between Catholic and anticlerical forces. The police found it necessary to charge upon the quarreling crowds, injuring many persons, and making a large number of arrests.

— A report recently made by the League for the Protection of Immigrants in this country states that within the last eighteen months 2,161 girls and women immigrants destined for Chicago from the various ports of entry of this country have disappeared on the way to Chicago, or in the city itself immediately after arrival.

— Gov. Walter R. Stubbs of Kansas, in a speech at Chicago on March 27, refuted in an emphatic manner the charge of the liquor interests, that prohibition would result in the injury of business. He declares that the people of Kansas are better fed, better clothed, have finer homes, larger families, and bigger bank accounts as a result of the operation of the prohibitory law; that the city of Wichita has in three years since the wiping out of its forty-seven saloons, doubled its population, more than doubled its bank account, and has better people, less crime, more schools, and more intelligence.

— The Bureau of Indian Affairs in the United States has revised its regulations governing religious worship and instruction of pupils in the government Indian schools. The superintendents of the schools have been enjoined to hold the balances equally among all denominations, and proselytizing among pupils by pastors, employees, or other pupils, has been strictly forbidden. Pupils who belong to no church are encouraged to affiliate with some denomination. In the General Assembly exercises conducted by the superintendent, the Revised Version of the Bible will be substituted for the King James Version for Scriptural reading, the readings to be confined to the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Either form of the Lord’s prayer as given in the Revised Version may be used.

— There is prospect of a strike of the trainmen and conductors of the New York Central Railroad. The men are demanding the same terms and wages as recently were granted on the Baltimore and Ohio.

— There has recently been established what is known as “the Rockefeller Foundation,” through which many of the Rockefeller millions are to be distributed for various philanthropic enterprises. John D. Rockefeller’s son has recently retired from his position in his father’s business to take charge of the disbursing of these funds. The purpose of the Rockefeller Foundation is expressed in these words: “To promote the well-being and to advance the civilization of the people of the United States and its territories and possessions, and of foreign lands, in the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge; in the prevention and relief of suffering, and in the promotion of any and all of the elements of human progress.”