Current Mention

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 29, 1902

— Catholic church property to the value of $45,000,000 was held in the name of the late Archbishop Feehan, of Chicago.

— A Kentucky feud which involves many of the officials and citizens of Jackson, Ky., has been revived by a recent murder, and the town is reported to be in a state of terror, some of the residents preferring to move away until the trouble is over.

— From statistics compiled by the “grand secretary” of a leading lodge of Freemasons in New Jersey, says a Trenton dispatch, it appears that this secret order has a membership of 881,531 in the United States and Canada, and that 54,309 new members were taken in during the past year.

— The suppression of the religious schools in France has been attended in some places, notably in Paris, with disturbances caused by Catholic opponents of the government. A Paris dispatch says: “The determined firmness with which the government is carrying out the law against unauthorized congregations is lashing the clericals to fury, which culminated in to-day’s disorderly demonstrations in Paris. Similar, though less violent, scenes accompanied the closing of the schools and the departure of the teachers at other places.” From all parts of France resolutions of municipal councils approving the government’s action, and urging it to continue firm in its present policy, are being sent to the French premier.

— The healthiest town in the United States, judged by the death rate, is Ellsworth, Wis. In 1901 there were only two deaths there in a population of 1,500.

— Cardinal Ledochowski, who figured prominently in the struggle between the Vatican and the Prussian government in the days of Prince Bismarck, and has held a leading office at the Vatican since 1892, died at Rome, July 22.

— From Pana, Ill., it is announced that the Assumption Independent, a weekly newspaper, will begin the publication of the Bible in serial form, covering the entire book. About fifty years will be required to complete the work.

— Seven continuous years of drought in Australia have swept that country of a great portion of its cattle and sheep, about 38,000,000 sheep having perished from this cause since 1891, according to figures published by the London Chronicle. The number of cattle lost also runs into the millions.

— Dr. Garnault, a Paris physician, some time ago inoculated himself with tubercular germs taken from a cow, to test the truth of Dr. Koch’s assertion that tuberculosis could not be transmitted from cattle to a human being. He now announces to the Temps that tuberculous tumors have developed on his body as the result.

— From recently published statistics relative to the Philippine war, it appears that a total of 123,800 men and 4,135 officers were transported to the Philippines during the period of hostilities, and that the deaths from all causes during this time were 4,255, of which 2,582 were due to disease. The number of wounded men amounts to 2,897.

— The Russian government has proposed to the European powers an international conference to deal with the question of the trust form of industrial combinations. The United States has not been invited to the conference, and it is thought by some that the proposed action is aimed against the progress of this country toward commercial supremacy.

— The strike in the anthracite coal mines of Pennsylvania still continues, and no settlement of the trouble is in sight. The public, meanwhile, are getting along as best they can without this fuel, the obligations of mine owners to the public in this respect having no weight at all with them so far as concerns any efforts to reopen the mines, which the New York Times asserts could be done in two weeks’ time if the operators cared to do it. The strikers are receiving $500,000 a month from the fund raised by the miners’ union, but are losing $3,000,000 a month in wages.

— Archbishop Ireland, who instigated the Taft mission to Rome, expresses himself as being highly pleased with the outcome of the negotiations at the Vatican, which proved so abortive as regards any settlement of the question of the removal of the friars. He is quoted as saying: “With a little time, certain matters, now seeming to offer great difficulties, will be made, by quiet, skillful touches of pontifical diplomacy, to work themselves out without friction or excitement; and so when in Manila final conclusions are to be reached, things will have been ripe, and will turn out all right.” (Italics ours.)

— A date for the coronation of King Edward VII—August 9—has been officially announced at London.

— There is an outbreak of the cholera plague at Mousha, in Egypt, 107 cases with fifty deaths being reported since July 15. The cause is attributed to the Mohammedan pilgrimages to Mecca.

— The famous Egyptian sphinx is reported to be rapidly decaying, from the effects of the altered climate which has resulted from the extensive system of irrigation established by the British government.

— By the sinking of an excursion boat in the Elbe River, near Hamburg, Germany, July 21, shortly after midnight, one hundred and four persons lost their lives by drowning. The accident was caused by a collision.

— A great fire has devastated Guayaquil, in Ecuador. It broke out in the evening of July 16, and raged for a day, destroying ninety city blocks. The estimated loss on buildings and merchandise is $5,000,000.

— An attempt to stop a Sunday ball game at Memphis, Tenn., July 20, resulted in a collision between two deputy sheriffs, the one who sought to prevent the Sunday playing being arrested for drawing a weapon, and locked up at police headquarters.

— Santos Dumont, the Brazilian aeronaut, has come to New York City, and announces that he will sail around the Statue of Liberty in an air ship which is now being prepared at Brighton Beach. The Aero Club of New York City has offered a prize of $25,000 to any person who will accomplish this feat.

— Thirteen persons were killed at Baltimore, July 20, by a hurricane which swept over that city, unroofing many buildings, and doing damage to the extent of more than a million dollars. The storm came suddenly and almost without warning, and most of the fatalities were due to the overturning of pleasure boats in the bay.

— The lowlands on the Missouri shore of the Mississippi River for a distance of nearly a hundred miles below Keokuk, Iowa, have been submerged by the Mississippi flood, causing the complete destruction of immense fields of extraordinarily promising crops, the estimated damage amounting to $6,600,000. Many well-to-do farmers have lost all their possessions. Levees saved the country on the Illinois side of the river.

— The following dispatch is sent out from the headquarters of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, Mo., dated July 22: “Concerning the latest fulmination of the Rev. Wilbur T. Crafts as to the Sunday closing of the world’s fair, the officials of that organization claim that they have nothing further to say, and that his charges that there was an attempt to leave a loophole for violation of the law are gratuitous and untrue, and that, in fact, it has never been the intention to have the fair open on Sunday.” An attorney of Mr. Craft’s “reform bureau,” it is stated from Washington, called at the office of the Secretary of the Treasury and demanded to see the contract for Sunday closing of the fair, but “was politely but firmly told that his advice and assistance were not needed nor desired.”