p. 22 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 7, 1904

Current Mention

— A forest fire in the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona has destroyed thousands of acres of fine timber.

— A severe wind-storm, accompanied by hail and torrential rain, has done damage amounting to several million lira in eastern Sicily, besides causing some loss of life.

— Reports from Mexico City state that the national presidential campaign in that country is passing off very quietly, and that President Diaz will be re-elected without opposition.

— Two hundred persons are reported killed by a tornado which visited Moscow, Russia, and neighboring villages, June 29. It is stated that hailstones weighing three quarters of a pound fell during the storm, cutting down trees in great numbers.

— Severe forest fires in the interior of Newfoundland have destroyed large lumber mills and the railway stations in the lumbering settlements. Hundreds of people are destitute. The area of destruction is wider than that affected by any previous conflagration in the interior. The fires continue to rage, and there have been no rains for weeks. The extent of the money loss so far is estimated at $160,000.

— A Kingston, Jamaica, telegram dated June 27, says: “Thirty-four men were drowned, and seventeen are missing, as the result of the accidental flooding of a large pipe leading from the electric power-house at Bogwalk to-day. Sixty-seven men were engaged in cleaning the pipe, when, through some accident, water was turned into it, and the men were washed into the river. Sixteen of them are known to have escaped.”

— The final bulletin of the negro population of the United States, has just been issued by the Census Bureau. The report shows that the number of negroes in the United States, including the entire area covered by the twelfth census (continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii, and Porto Rico) is 9,204,531, perhaps a larger number than is found in any other country outside of Africa. The report indicates that between eleven and sixteen per cent of the negro population have or are believed by the enumerators to have some degree of white blood. The center of the negro population is in De Kalb County, Ala., about four miles from the western boundary of Georgia, having moved from Dinwiddie County, Va., 476 miles northeast, since 1790. More than seventy-seven per cent of the negroes live in the country, against over fifty-seven per cent of the whites. Almost ninety per cent of the negroes in continental United States are in the Southern States, and three tenths of them are in Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. Negroes constitute about one fifteenth of the city population and about one seventh of the country population of continental United States. There was an increase among the negroes of 1,345,318, or eighteen per cent, in continental United States, but the rate of increase declined steadily through the nineteenth century. The negroes, unlike the Indians and the native white, have a slight excess of females. Illiteracy among them is about seven times greater than among the whites. There are 3,992,337 negroes in the United States engaged in gainful occupations. Their death rate approximates thirty per cent, while that of whites, under the same calculation, is seventeen per cent.

— Mr. W. T. Forster, who has attained to considerable prominence in this country as a weather prophet, declares that storms of hurricane violence will sweep over great sections of the United States, coming from the south and west, in the months of August, September, and October.

— The so-called Mad Mullah of British Somaliland is again on the war-path. He is encamped south of Nogal with 6,000 followers, 2,000 of whom are armed with rifles, and has large supplies of ammunition and transport. Some of the tribes hitherto friendly to the British are reported to have joined the mullah since the British forces were withdrawn from the country.

— The federal grand jury at New York has begun an investigation into the “Slocum” disaster. Warrants have been sworn out for the arrest of all the directors of the company owning the “Slocum,” including the president, and the latter, together with the “Slocum’s” captain and mate, and United States Steamboat Inspector Lundberg, have given bail for their appearance in court.

— The list of calamities due to careless smokers was increased June 27 by an explosion in the Diamond Fireworks Company’s store in Philadelphia. Girl employees in the store assert that a man lighted a cigar in the store, and threw the match on the floor among some fireworks, which were ignited. A general explosion of fireworks followed, by which three persons were killed and eight severely injured.

— Numerous fights in which the Japanese are generally victors continue to be reported from the scene of the far Eastern war, and a general battle between the opposing armies may occur at any time. The Vladivostock squadron is reported to have made another raid in which the Korean town of Gensan was visited and shelled, and two small Japanese vessels in the harbor sunk. The Japanese forces around Port Arthur are said to be making considerable progress in the siege of that place. The latest reports indicate a general retrograde movement of the Japanese forces in the north, the reason for which is not yet understood, but is thought to indicate an intention to suspend active operations during the rainy season.

— The following estimate has been made of the yearly damage to agricultural interests in this country due to insects: Twelve bugs, according to reliable statistics, do an estimated damage to farm products of $363,000,000 per annum. The chinch bug heads the list, with $100,000,000 a year; grasshopper, $90,000,000; Hessian fly (a reminder of the Revolution, since the mercenaries hired by King George brought its eggs over in the straw for their horses), $50,000,000; cotton worm and boll worm (cotton), $25,000,000 apiece; cotton boll weevil, apple worm, and army worm, $10,000,000 apiece; potato bug, $8,000,000; and cabbage worm, $5,000,000.

— A truce has been proclaimed in the Tibetan war, the Tibetans, it is said, desiring peace. An envoy from the dalai-lama presenting this request has been received by the British commander, Colonel Younghusband.