Current Mention

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 30, 1902

— It is reported that bubonic plague has made its appearance at four seaports in Mexico.

— Twenty-five hundred people were killed by the recent earthquake in Russian Turkestan, which destroyed the city of Andidjan.

— The Supreme Court at Washington has decided that a life-insurance company is not liable for insurance on an individual who loses his life through legal execution for crime.

— London newspapers accuse Germany of plotting against England and the United States, in putting the two latter countries in a position of antagonism with regard to Venezuela.

— President Roosevelt has received from all parts of the United States protests against his agreement to act as arbitrator between Venezuela and the European powers. The president's action in the matter was taken, it is said, with a view of avoiding a probable war.

— It is reported that 9,000 Boers are preparing to settle in New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas.

— The Bertillon system for the identification of criminals is to be adopted by the United States in the enforcement of the Chinese exclusion law. It will go into effect January 1.

— The steamship “Silverton,” which is laying the Pacific cable between San Francisco and Honolulu, sent a message over the cable, Christmas, reporting 7,109 knots of cable laid.

— The slot-machine invention has now been carried to the point where it is made to do a restaurant business, serving food and drink to patrons in exchange for nickels and dimes.

— A passenger train on the Southern Pacific Railway was wrecked at Byron Springs, Cal., by a rear-end collision, December 21, eighteen passengers being killed and many others seriously hurt.

— Crown Princess Louise of Saxony mysteriously disappeared from Salzburg castle, December 11, and was missing for nearly two weeks. Finally it was discovered that she had eloped and gone to Switzerland.

— In a desperate conflict between Cossack troops and strikers in the Russian town of Bostoff, three hundred persons were killed, and a thousand others wounded. Many women fought on the side of the strikers.

— The Italian inventor, Marconi, affirms that messages have been sent from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to England and Italy and answers received, by wireless telegraphy, and commercial messages can be transmitted shortly.

— An effort is to be made in Congress at an early date to secure legislation prohibiting the liquor trade in the District of Columbia, the Territories, and the Philippines. The National Anti-saloon League is the chief promoter of this undertaking.

— Another Chinese revolt is reported to be in progress in the province of Kansu, Prince Tuan, the well-known hater of foreigners, being concerned in the movement. Friendly officials have warned the missionaries and other foreigners to leave that province.

— There seems to be almost an epidemic of attempts at murder by sending poisoned candy through the mails. The latest case occurred near North Adams, Mass., the mail carrier delivering a box of bonbons over which arsenic had been sprinkled. A woman named Beers was the intended victim.

— The Russian government is preparing to feed vast numbers of peasants in European Russia and Siberia who are menaced with starvation. In Finland, also, the situation is very critical, no less than 400,000 people, according to a recent estimate, being now without the means of sustenance.

— Two schooners collided at sea in the night off Cape Cod, December 17, and sank a few moments after the accident. Six men of the crews went down with the ships, and the remaining men, fifteen in number, managed to escape in boats, where for over three days they remained without provisions or shelter, drenched by spray which froze upon their clothing, and driven before the gale out into the Atlantic. Some died from exposure, others went insane, and ten were finally rescued alive, but in a critical condition, by a passing vessel.

— Prof. Elmer Gates, of Washington, D. C., claims to have discovered that every thought of the human brain has its color, and says he has devised an apparatus by means of which he can detect the nature of a person's thoughts. He affirms that it will be of great practical utility in the practice of medicine and the discovery of crime.

— A scene of wild disorder marked the opening of the “boule” or Greek legislative chamber at Athens, December 25. Rival factions fought over the nomination of a president, blows were exchanged, and bottles hurled across the room. The increasing frequency of scenes of this character in the legislative halls of the nations shows how the spirit of strife and disorder is taking possession to-day of the world's leading men.

— Passengers on the Atlantic liner “Deutschland” were badly frightened by an accident to the ship's machinery at half-past one o'clock in the morning, December 21. A cylinder of one of the engines burst, and the shock of the explosion and noise of the escaping steam threw the awakened passengers into a brief panic, which was increased by the extinguishing of the lights. One engineer was badly burned by escaping steam.

— Hypnotism is now seriously advocated as an accomplishment of utility in the work of clergymen. At a Methodist ministers’ meeting in New York City recently Professor J. D. Quackenbos spoke to the assembly on the value of being able to hypnotize a congregation; and the Rev. W. H. Lawrence, in reply, said that it was well known that many of the modern revivalists accomplish their conversions by the use of hypnotic power.

— One of the most important subjects before the present Congress is that of legislation to provide for a Philippine currency, the recent fall in the price of silver having brought a crisis at Manila, which demands immediate action. The currency in the Philippines is on a silver basis, and in making a change it is regarded as absolutely essential that the United States should have the co-operation of China, Mexico, India, and other silver-using countries. It is believed that the ultimate result of the action that will be taken in the matter will be the adoption of the gold standard by all silver-using countries on the globe.

— The growing power of trades unionism has received a serious check in England, by the outcome of an action brought by the Taff Vale Railway against the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants for conspiracy, in ordering a strike against this railway in 1900. The case was brought before a jury, who returned a verdict for the railway company, under which it will collect from this society as damages the sum of $140,000. It is established in England by this decision that labor unions must assume the responsibility for financial loss caused by strikes, when such loss is due to intimidation of employees or “picketing” by the strikers, or by inducing workmen to break their contracts. The officials of the labor union contended that they were not responsible for acts of violence which they had not ordered, but the jury refused to sustain this claim. This decision will undoubtedly have its effect in shaping the views of American courts in similar cases; and actions for damages against labor unions may now be looked for on the part of business corporations as a sequel to every important strike. This may result in curbing the power of the labor unions, but it can scarcely tend to promote peace between capital and labor.

— The secret history of the looting of Mexican cathedrals by United States soldiers during the Mexican war, was made public December 25 by W. J. Warren, secretary of a masonic relief association at Toledo, Ohio. Mr. Baker and one of his companions in camp broke into some of the richest cathedrals in Mexico City, and looted them of valuable stones and golden images, which they buried under flag stones in a cathedral yard. A friend of Mr. Baker's who wrote to the Mexican government asking if a disclosure of the location of the treasure would be rewarded by a share of the spoils, received warning that he would better forget all he knew about it.