Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Oct 4, 1906

— Since January 1 fines to the amount of $283,075 have been collected from railroads for granting, or conspiring to grant, rebates on freight shipments.

— In a recent battle between the Dutch and Malays on an island east of Java, 400 of the Malays were slain, and the city they were defending was captured.

— By an explosion of a car-load of dynamite at Jellico, Tenn., on September 21, twenty-two persons lost their lives, and about 200 were more or less seriously injured. The property damage is estimated at about $500,000.

— The typhoon in Hongkong, reported last week, destroyed property amounting to about $20,000,000. The reports still state that the number of the dead will reach 10,000. Among those who lost their lives was Bishop Hoare, who has for many years been identified with gospel work in China.

— The Common Council of Fond du Lac, Wis., has passed a resolution that pictures of habitual drunkards shall be posted. Those who serve such customers thus lay themselves liable to prosecution in serving such customers, and it is expected to act as a deterrent to all who are inclined to squander their wages at the bar.

— The Secretary of Agriculture has issued an order that henceforth all canned meats must bear labels that will indicate the true contents of the can. From the reasons given for the issuing of this order it is learned that the people have been eating very unsavory and unpalatable morsels of various animals under the label of potted chicken, highly seasoned.

— Advices from St. Petersburg, Russia, under date of September 20, state that M. Stolypin, the new Russian premier, is soon to publish a ukase granting absolute religious liberty to all religious sects in the Russian empire. These sects, unless they indulge in criminal or immoral practises, will receive upon application, the sanction of the government. This will confer upon the clergy of these different religious bodies the same freedom as now enjoyed by the orthodox Russian priests. The various religious bodies will have the right to erect churches and schools, and to receive proselytes from any other religious body in Russia.

— Senator Reed Smoot, of Utah, whose seat in Congress has so long been contested, announces that as soon as Congress opens, he will introduce a bill repealing the anti-canteen law. This course of the Utah senator is believed to be due to the fact that the W. C. T. U. of the country has so strenuously opposed his right to a seat in Congress. The temperance forces of the country are already mapping out a plan of campaign to meet this move of the Utah senator.

— In view of the action recently taken by the British government, to the effect that it would no longer insist upon the continuance of the opium trade with China, the Chinese government has issued an edict ordering the abolition of the use of opium, both foreign and native, within a decade. The edict strongly condemns the vice, and commands the council of state to devise regulations for the enforcement of the prohibition against opium smoking and the cultivation of the poppy in China.

— The outcome of the Cuban situation is still a matter of conjecture. The American commissioners are still conferring with the representatives of the two parties, and it is reported that President Roosevelt has set a date when articles of peace must be agreed upon, or American intervention will immediately follow. The members of the Cuban cabinet resigned, and the Cuban president and vice-president were to present their resignation to the Cuban Congress on September 28. It is thought that this move was made for the purpose of embarrassing the commissioners or forcing intervention. Additional American war-vessels have been dispatched to Cuba, and arrangements have been made for moving the United States regular army to Cuba at once if the peace plans of the American commissioners fail. A strong force of marines is now in Cuban waters, and would be landed at Havana immediately upon the proclamation of intervention by President Roosevelt.

— One of the most terrible race riots in the history of the country occurred in Atlanta, Ga., September 23-25. An unusually large number of assaults by negroes upon white women during the past month in that city had stirred the whites to madness. On the twenty-third four assaults were reported within an hour. Immediately several mobs were organized in different parts of the city, and negroes were attacked and beaten wherever found. Ten negroes were killed on the first day of the trouble, and by the close of the third day eighteen colored and one white person had been slain. Many more deaths would have occurred but for the prompt action of the governor in calling out a strong body of troops. Terrified negroes fled from the city in all directions. One man was chased into a hotel and shot down, others were pulled off street-cars and beaten to death. These mobs were made up of boys and young men, and there is little reason to suppose that any of their victims were guilty of any of the crimes that stirred up the rioting. A strong semblance of martial law was enforced before order was restored. Reports state that it is probable that a hundred negroes were severely beaten by the mobs.