p. 20 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 18, 1909

Current Mention

—The total of public gifts and bequests for 1908, according to compilations made at Chicago, on January 2, amounted to ninety million nine hundred thirty-two thousand dollars.

—A report from New Zealand states that the steamer “Penguin” was wrecked on the New Zealand coast on February 12, and that sixty-seven of her passengers and crew were drowned.

—The Mexican volcano, Colima, is reported to be in a state of violent activity, sending up pillars of flames, and spouting great quantities of lava. The people of that district are fleeing for safety.

—Heavy earthquake shocks were experienced in southern Italy and eastern Sicily on February 13, throwing down many of the ruined walls left standing in Reggio and Messina, and terrorizing the inhabitants.

—The special representative of the United States now in Venezuela has finally succeeded in effecting a satisfactory basis of agreement between the two countries, and diplomatic relations will be resumed.

—Reports are reaching Constantinople of wide-spread distress in many parts of Asia Minor, due to the failure of last year’s crops. Appeals are being made to other nations to send contributions to the relief of the sufferers.

—The chief engineer of the Cape-to-Cairo Railroad is now in the United States, and has expressed it as his belief that within three years this great African railway will be completed, covering a distance of about 6,400 miles.

—A report from Chicago, dated February 7, stated that the federal grand jury on the following day would take up the case of the alleged fraudulent transactions of the beef trust, and would seek to bring indictments against prominent officials of that concern.

—The Senate Committee has approved of the House provision for two monster battle-ships of 26,000 tons displacement. The Senate Committee has also restored to the naval bill the original provision for the purchase of three submarines. The bill now carries a total appropriation of $136,825,199.

—An illustration of the persistency of Catholic officials in appearing at public functions with high officials of the government is seen in the trip taken by Cardinal Gibbons, of Baltimore, to New Orleans, to be present at the reception and dinner tendered President-Elect Taft on his return from Panama.

—The agitation in this country over the Japanese question, and the fact that the Japanese are granted favors not granted to the Chinese, have stirred up the Chinese to make demands for better treatment. This seems quite likely to add to the difficulties of the present situation.

—The government of Belgium has begun legal proceedings against certain missionaries in the Kongo country, whose reports of the cruelties of Belgian officials toward the Kongo natives have been printed in many countries. The Belgian government denies the charges, and in its turn charges the missionaries with “calumnious denunciation.” If the trials result in bringing to light the true conditions in that country, it will no doubt result in great good to the long-mistreated natives.

—A report from London states that the British cabinet ministers have come to an agreement to authorize the building of six new Dreadnaught battle-ships.

—A report from Gardiner, Mass., states that Howard S. Hill, of that place, has succeeded in producing a cross between the cucumber and the orange, resulting in a new vegetable of delicious flavor.

—The cordial reception given to the king and queen of England at Berlin, Germany, on February 9, is giving much satisfaction in England, and is relieving to some extent the feeling of bitterness against the Germans on the part of the British people.

—Dr. J. D. O’Brien, of Massillon, Ohio, in an address before a medical society of that place on February 9, reported the discovery of a serum which cures the disease known as paresis, and exhibited patients cured through the new treatment. Paresis is an incomplete paralysis affecting motion, but not sensation.

—The California school bill, which has caused so much comment in the press of this country and Japan for the past several weeks, and which was intended to prevent Japanese children in California from attending schools designed for white children, came up for final action in the California Legislature on February 10, and was defeated by a vote of 41 to 37. This disposes of all the California measures which were objectionable to Japan.

—Senator P. C. Knox, who had been selected by Mr. Taft for the office of Secretary of State in the new administration, is believed to be estopped from holding that office by the fact that he was a member of Congress at the time the vote was taken to increase the salary of the Secretary of State along with the salaries of other officials. There is a provision of the Constitution which expressly forbids any member of Congress being appointed to any office, the remuneration for which has been increased during that member’s congressional term.

—The new Turkish government is facing a crisis at the present time. In order to hold his position as grand vizier, the present occupant of that position, Kiamil Pasha, dismissed the minister of war and the minister of marine. The members of the legislature at once took up the matter, and by a vote of one hundred ninety-eight to eight demanded of the sultan the appointment of another grand vizier. As a result of the vote, Kiamil Pasha has surrendered the seals of the government. European powers look upon the situation as very grave.

—Some time ago reports were published in the daily papers to the effect that the well-known inventor, Hiram P. Maxim, had invented an apparatus which would eliminate the sound of the discharge of any firearm to which it might be attached. Mr. Maxim on February 9 gave a demonstration of the effectiveness of his invention before a company of scientists and sportsmen in New York City. The invention did all that was claimed for it, eliminating all sound save the click of the weapon and the swish of the bullet through the air. It would seem that the evil uses to which such an instrument could be put should have deterred the inventor from perfecting it.