Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 15, 1907

—The czar of Russia was entertained by Emperor William of Germany aboard a battle-ship at sea August 5.

—The first Chinese female students who have ever gone abroad sailed from Shanghai August 4. They are graduates of colleges in China, and are coming to America to enter Vassar College.

—Forty passengers and the engineer of a train were drowned August 4, near Angers, France, when the engine jumped the track and plunged into the river, taking with it tender, baggage-car, and one coach.

—Judge Landis, in the United States District Court, August 5, ordered the dissolution of the church and school furniture trust, recently punished by fines amounting to $43,000 for admitted violation of the anti-trust laws.

—A treaty has been signed at St. Petersburg which settles all questions between Japan and Russia concerning commerce, fishing rights, the junction of Manchurian railroads, the delimitation of frontiers and political relations.

—Claims for malicious damages to property during the recent strike have been filed against the city of Belfast, Ireland, to the extent of $150,000. It is reported that a settlement has been reached in which concessions were made by both strikers and employers.

—The past week there has been an epidemic of crimes of the most revolting character against women and little girls in the city of New York. Several have been killed, and mobs have attacked the assailants in some cases, and in others the supposed assailants, nearly lynching them. Special watch by the authorities does not seem to lessen the number of attacks.

—The granite stone cutters of San Francisco, out on strike three months, have come to an agreement by compromise. They were receiving $4.50 a day and demanded $5.50, but will receive $5. It is expected that the sandstone cutters will compromise on $5.50 a day. Five hundred telephone girls also resume work, gaining an eight-hour day, but no increase in wages.

—All except one of the corrupt supervisors of San Francisco have resigned, and the men appointed by Mayor Robinson have been installed. Eugene Schmitz, recently sentenced to a term of five years’ imprisonment, who claims that he is still mayor, has appointed fourteen labor union men to fill these vacancies, and the men have accepted their appointments. A decision as to Schmitz’s claims will be made by the courts in a test suit instituted by Mayor Robinson’s secretary.

—Serious riots have broken out in many parts of northwestern Italy because of newspaper attacks on the Catholic schools and monastic institutions, charging that a frightful state of immorality prevails in them. Mass-meetings denouncing the corruption of the priests have been held in many of the cities. Some churches have been pillaged, and in a suburb of Genoa, the Silesian College was attacked and burned. The government has declared that martial law will be imposed if the violence does not cease.

—More than 1,000 persons were killed last year in the coal-mines of Pennsylvania, according to the report of the department of mines.

—On account of the time needed for completing the census of Cuba, the municipal elections that were expected to take place in September or October will be deferred until January or February.

Judge Pollock of the United States Circuit Court of Kansas City, Mo., on July 5 revoked a recent order of his compelling express companies to carry C. O. D. liquor packages. He held that there is no common-law duty resting on the express companies to engage in a C. O. D. liquor business.

—Following the refusal of the Western Union Telegraph Company officers to reinstate a discharged operator, about seventy members of Los Angeles Local, Commercial Telegraphers of America, walked out on strike August 7, and the next day all the operators on the Western Union wires in Chicago, including those in the newspaper offices, went out on strike in sympathy with the Los Angeles strikers.

—A raid of 6,000 Turkish troops across the northwestern frontier of Persia is reported to have resulted in the destruction of a village and the killing of seventy-eight persons, of whom sixty were women and children, mostly Christians. Later, joined by some Persian cavalry, they are said to be threatening Urumiah, which has a population of thirty to fifty thousand and is a center of missionary activity. Russia and Great Britain will probably be called upon to bring pressure to bear upon Turkey to stop the raid.

—Arab chiefs entered Casablanca, the principal port on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, July 30, and demanded the cessation of harbor improvement work, saying that they were no longer subject to the sultan since he obeyed the Christians. Then they incited the natives to make an attempt to exterminate the Jews and Europeans. Several Europeans were killed while fleeing for refuge to the consulates and the boat. French war-ships were soon at the scene, and have bombarded the city, landing 2,000 men. The Jewish quarter of the city has been sacked. The revolt is spreading to other cities; and fanatics continue to preach a holy war. Spanish, Italian, and British war-ships are en route to Morocco.

—In the United States District Court at Chicago the Standard Oil Company of Indiana, on August 3, was fined by Judge K. M. Landis the maximum penalty of $29,240,000 for accepting unlawful rebates from the Chicago and Alton Railway. There are seven similar cases against the company yet to be tried, and in case of conviction the maximum penalty would be a fine of $88,000,000. The judge also ordered the calling of a special grand jury to consider the criminal aspect of the case, the conduct of the railroad in this matter, and the evidence of a conspiracy with reference to these unlawful rates. It is thought the Chicago and Alton Railway will be convicted on the evidence already in hand; but the end of the matter is some distance ahead, as the Standard Oil Company will appeal the case to a higher court.