Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 27, 1910

—The gathering of aviators at Los Angeles, Cal., has come to a close. The first prize for height attained in a heavier-than-air flying-machine was won by Louis Paulhan, the French aviator, who reached a height of 4,165 feet. The first prize for endurance and time, amounting to $3,000, was awarded to the same aviator. The first prize for speed, amounting to $3,000, was won by Glenn H. Curtiss. The latter also won the prize for the quickest start. The first prize for cross-country flight, amounting to $10,000, was also won by Louis Paulhan, who flew forty-seven miles over hills and ocean, landing without a mishap.

—During a fire at Philadelphia, Pa., on January 19, four girls and one man leaped to their death from fourth-story windows, and five others received injuries from which they will probably die.

—Five of the persons responsible for robbing the State of Pennsylvania through dishonest methods in the building of the new capitol have met violent deaths. The fifth, James Herbert Stevenson, committed suicide on January 17.

—A report from Birmingham, England, states that because of the impossibility of America and Japan coming to an agreement over the matter of Japanese immigration, the two countries have asked the good offices of the British government as a mediator.

—The organizers of what is known as the amnesty movement in Barcelona, Spain, plan greatly to extend their campaign, and out of this movement it is expected that a general strike will develop. In Barcelona, hotel waiters have struck, demanding one day of rest in seven.

—Negotiations between the new president of Nicaragua and the leader of the insurgents have come to an end, and the president declares that he will immediately take steps to bring the insurrection to an end. A decisive battle is expected in the near future.

—Russia and Japan have jointly decided to oppose the proposition of Secretary Knox that the railways of Manchuria be neutralized. Japan, reports state, is now taking China to task over the matter, asserting that Secretary Knox's proposal must have been inspired by China.

—The result of the elections now closing in England indicates that there will be no particular change in the upper house. The election returns up to date show Unionists, 163; Liberals, 137; Laborites, 29; and Nationalists, 53. The Unionists have made a decisive gain over the Liberals.

—Señor Joaquim Nabuco, Brazilian ambassador to the United States, died suddenly at the Brazilian embassy in Washington, D. C., on January 17. Señor Nabuco was one of the best-educated diplomats who has ever been in Washington, and was highly respected in the diplomatic service.

—Governors of thirty States arrived at Washington, D. C., on Monday, January 17, for a three-days' conference over matters of interstate interest. President Taft delivered the opening address of the convention. Aside from the uniformity of State legislation, one of the principal matters to be considered is the conservation of State rights.

—An antimeat strike was started recently in Cleveland, Ohio, which has for its purpose the reduction of the cost of meat to the consumer. This strike has been spreading rapidly over the country, and it is declared at the present time that not less than 1,000,000 families are now enlisted in this strike against the beef trust. Although the strike is being carried on largely by the labor element, there is a portion of the labor element which is doing its best to counteract it, because of its fear that the strike will lead to the reduction of wages in all the establishments where meats are prepared for consumption.

—As the earth grows older, scientists continue to declare her younger. The elder Darwin placed the earth's age at more than 300,000,000 years; his son brought it down to about 100,000,000. Prof. William Morris Davis of Harvard University now declares that the earth is only 60,000,000 years old.

—The volume of trade between Canada and the United States has been increasing rapidly during recent years. Imports into the United States from Canada during the last year amounted to $88,000,000 as against $35,500,000 ten years ago; while the exports from the United States to Canada amounted last year to $190,000,000 as against $86,000,000 ten years ago.

—At the Congress of Governors at Washington, D. C., on January 18, former Secretary of State, Elihu Root, suggested that every State ought to appoint delegates to an interstate conference to be held every year, authorized to enter into the consideration and discussion of great interstate questions. It seems quite probable that his suggestion will be carried into effect.

—Because of the increase of rents for workmen's houses in Naples, Italy, there was a riot in that city on January 16, involving about 20,000 persons. The government is promising to contribute $1,500,000 for building workmen's dwellings. This it is expected will cause a material decrease in the cost of building. The angry demonstration of the mob resulted in a number of persons being hurt, and order was restored only by the prompt arrival of troops.

—A plan is now on foot, started in the District of Columbia, to enlist at least one million heads of families in what is practically a boycott against goods sold at too high a price; particularly does this have reference to meats. It is planned to have committees appointed in each State and every city, who are to compare prices between the cities and advise members in the different cities where too much is charged for any given commodity.

—A woman physician, Dr. Louise D. Robinovitch, who has been seeking for years for an anesthetic which could be administered without the unpleasant and often dangerous results that accompany the use of ether and chloroform, claims to have been at last successful in her search. She has been experimenting for some time with electricity, and by its use, through an apparatus invented by herself, a sleep is induced, during which surgical operations can be painlessly performed, and from which the patient wakes as from an ordinary sleep.

—Thomas A. Edison has been experimenting for some years on a storage battery to be used on ordinary street-cars, and on the twentieth of January tests were made at West Orange, N. J., of the car as fitted up with the new Edison storage batteries. The test is regarded as satisfactory. It is stated that the car, which weighs only one half as much as the ordinary street-car, runs without wire cable or trolley connection, on the regular lines of the street-car system, and can travel 150 miles without recharging the batteries. The cost of operating this new electric-car is estimated by Edison to be one cent a mile.