Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 19, 1907

— Several fires have recently occurred in the mines at Musquiz, Mexico. At the one which occurred September 7, twenty-seven men lost their lives, and others were injured. Fire-damp is supposed to be the cause.

— Reports come of a serious engagement between the Chinese insurgents and the troops of the empire, in which the insurgents were routed with a loss of 100 killed and twenty taken prisoners. The authorities are affording protection to the missionaries.

— All attempts at settlement of the telegraphers’ strike have so far been unavailing, even President Gompers of the American Federation of Labor was not successful. Conflicting reports are current as to a compromise, but it is thought another week will see the end.

— After conferring with the imperial authorities, Canada has consented to refer her interest in the Newfoundland fisheries dispute with the United States to The Hague Conference. Some hope is still entertained that the matter may be settled without referring to The Hague.

— The czar of Russia and his family were imperiled by the stranding of the royal yacht on the rocks off the coast of Finland, September 11. They left the boat the following day. The cruise was undertaken because of newly discovered plots against the life of the czar, which intensified the fears of the royal family for the safety of the heir to the throne, who is now a little over three years of age.

— Recently there was a call for a short armistice by the chief of the tribes in the immediate vicinity of Casablanca, Morocco, which was granted by General Drude, but it failed to produce any result, as the tribesmen from the interior were unwilling to join in the negotiations. Because the troops at Casablanca have not taken the aggressive, the Moors have seemed to believe that they were unable to do so, and have kept up their intermittent attacks. Premier Clemenceau instructed General Drude to make a decisive attack upon the tribesmen whenever in his judgment it was expedient. A sudden attack was made upon the Moors massed at Taddert on the eleventh. This was entirely successful, the camp being destroyed, and the Moors fleeing with many killed and wounded, while the loss to the Franco-Spanish forces was one killed and six wounded.

— Serious anti-Asiatic outbreaks occurred at Vancouver, British Columbia, September 8. In four distinct raids upon the Asiatic quarter fully fifty stores of different kinds were more or less damaged. The Japanese resisted, and many of them were injured. The day following hundreds of Orientals went on strike in retaliation, and many vessels were unable to leave port, because of the desertions. At the urgent request of the Japanese consul, the mayor telegraphed for the militia to be held in readiness. Many of the Orientals armed themselves before the dealers were forbidden to sell them weapons. They have threatened to burn the whole city if the foreign quarters are destroyed. Baron Ishii, who was spending a few days preparatory to sailing for Japan, and who narrowly escaped injury in one of the mobs, immediately cabled the affair to Japan, and sent word to the consul-general at Ottawa. Canada has promised to apologize.

— The Pennsylvania two-cent railroad-fare law has been pronounced unconstitutional in the common pleas court of Philadelphia. The case will be at once taken to the State Supreme Court. The railroads of Michigan have all agreed to adopt the two-cent passenger rate when it takes effect, September 28. Only the lines of the Upper Peninsula and a few hundred miles in the lower are exempt.