p. 21 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 11, 1909

Current Mention

— The price of radium has lately been increased so that a single ounce is now valued at $2,500,000.

— A rebellion has recently broken out in the republic of Ecuador; but the rebels, finding the government forces ready for their attack, have been disconcerted, and no engagement has thus far occurred.

— A report from Madrid, dated October 26, states that it is to be the policy of the new Spanish government not to push the campaign in Africa against the Moroccan tribesmen, but merely to guarantee the safety of Melilla by a system of fortified positions.

— State troops were called out in Jackson, Ky., on November 1, to prevent riot and bloodshed during the election at that place. Troops were also called out at Gassaway, W. Va., on November 4, to hold in check a mob of 150 mounted men bent on lynching two Negroes, accused of a serious criminal offense.

— John D. Rockefeller has recently set apart a fund of $1,000,000 to be used in eradicating the hookworm disease in the South.

— Rufus W. Peckham, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, died at his home at Altamont, N. Y., October 24. His successor has not yet been appointed.

— A gigantic federation of ship owners was formed in London, England, October 26. This international federation is intended to embrace ultimately all ship-owning federations of the world. Its object is to enable ship owners to resist unreasonable attacks of trade-unions and others.

— Oscar S. Strauss, the American ambassador to Turkey, has cabled to the New York branch of the National Red Cross to the effect that there is still great need in Asia Minor of relief for the victims of the Turkish massacre. He states that with the approach of winter fully 60,000 women and children in Cilicia, whose husbands and fathers were massacred in April, are sorely in need of shelter and the necessaries of life.

— Marquis Hirobumi Ito, president of the Privy Council of Japan, was assassinated at Harbin, Manchuria, by a Korean, October 25. Marquis Ito had been known for two years as “the uncrowned ruler of Korea.”

— The Standard Oil Company has compromised its controversy with the State of Oklahoma by organizing a pipe line company which will build an eight-inch pipe line to carry oil from Oklahoma to Baton Rouge, La.

— There is an organization now in existence in London whose purpose is to educate workingmen to combat Socialism. Classes are formed to educate and drill speakers who are to go throughout the country lecturing against the doctrines of the Socialists.

— The steamer “Hestia” struck a ledge off Seal Cove, Grand Manan Island, at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, on October 25, and all her passengers and crew, except six, were lost. Seventeen bodies were washed upon the beach some days after the wreck. The total loss of life is placed at thirty-five.

— The decision of the district court of Washington, D. C., by which Messrs. Gompers, Mitchell, and Morrison of the American Federation of Labor were pronounced guilty of contempt of court, and sentenced to imprisonment, has been upheld by the decision of the court of appeals of this District. These officials of the Federation of Labor have decided to take an appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

— The Congress of Catholics in session in Toulouse, France, on October 30, adopted resolutions outlining a political program, urging Catholic priests throughout that country to enter politics. A boycott was declared against the public schools of France. On the other hand, French deputies are appealing to republicans of all shades of opinion to defend the public school system against the Catholic boycott.

— In the Belgian Chamber of Deputies, on October 26, the minister of colonies, in replying to a socialist leader, admitted that officials of the rubber companies in the Kongo had tortured and killed many of the natives, and committed other atrocities. He stated, however, that the charges appeared somewhat exaggerated. This statement, coming from the government itself, is a virtual admission of all that the missionaries have claimed in their accusations against the officials of the rubber companies in the Kongo.

— The American battle-ship “North Dakota,” of the “Dreadnaught” type, at her speed test off the harbor of Rockland, Maine, on November 4, developed a maximum speed of 22¼ knots, and an average speed of nearly 22 knots. Both these speed records are said to be in excess of the best performances of either her sister ship, the “Delaware,” or the “Bellerophon,” the leading “Dreadnaught” of the British navy. The vessel at her highest speed developed a maximum of 35,150 horsepower, which is declared to be the greatest amount of power ever developed in a battle-ship. These two vessels, the “North Dakota” and the “Delaware,” are the first of America’s battle-ships of the “Dreadnaught” pattern.