p. 21 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 13, 1906

Current Mention

— The State election of Vermont, on September 4, resulted in the election of Fletcher D. Proctor as governor by a large majority.

— A general conference of the Jesuits is now in session in Rome, for the purpose of electing a new head of that order. There is considerable talk of electing a German, as a compliment to the kaiser.

— An effort is now being put forth by professional revolutionary agitators to start a revolution in all the Central American States at the same time. Funds are being collected in this country to finance the undertaking.

— The great International Harvester Company, of Topeka, Kan., is to have its affairs investigated by the federal government to determine whether it is a trust, operating in violation of the State anti-trust laws. The business of the concern for the past three years will be brought into court.

— It is reported that the health of the sultan of Turkey is steadily failing, and that the matter of his successor is receiving earnest attention; that he and his supporters are planning that his successor shall be one that is heartily in sympathy with the present régime. To this the “Young Turks” are as ardently opposed.

— M. Santos-Dumont, after many experiments with various types of “flying-machines,” or propelled balloons, is reported to have actually produced mechanical flight in his experiments with a new type of machine at Paris on September 5. This is a flying-machine, not a balloon, and actually propelled itself through the air for a considerable distance.

— On September 2 the new Sunday law of France went into effect; but there was very little difference in the aspect of the French metropolis. Restaurants, hotels, and most of the stores were open as usual. In some quarters where stores were closed, the employees gathered and demanded pay for the day. When this was not forthcoming, they reviled their employers.

— In order to force the abolition of Sunday funerals, the Baltimore City Hack Drivers’ Association has declared a strike, and as a result undertakers all over the city are having trouble in getting drivers to take charge of hacks at funerals. Several undertakers who had funerals scheduled for Sunday found themselves in serious difficulty as a result of the strike.

— The State of Massachusetts has been making, through its meat inspectors, a quite thorough examination of the slaughter-houses in the State. The committee appointed for this work has reported that the larger packing-houses of the State are generally in as good condition as the nature of the business would permit; but, to use the words of the committee, “The great majority of the small slaughter-houses examined in the rural districts are kept in anything but a sanitary condition.” The committee specifies the conditions in each establishment examined; and in the cases of those condemned the recital is certainly appalling.

— Fifteen car-loads of strike-breakers reached San Francisco on September 3 for the purpose of operating the street-cars of that city, and thus breaking the strike inaugurated last week.

— A new departure in the labor union movement is the unionizing of the postal clerks of the government. This new union under the American Federation of Labor will be known as the National Federation of Post-office Clerks. This organization was recently accomplished at a meeting in Chicago at which postal clerks from six cities of the middle West were present.

— In spite of the presence of the governor of the State of South Carolina and an impassioned and eloquent plea for the law to take its course, a mob of his fellow citizens lynched a negro accused of criminal assault. The members of the mob cheered the governor for his speech, and as soon as it was ended, hanged their captive to a tree, and riddled his body with bullets.

— The new railway rate law is causing much confusion among the operating boards of the various railroads of this country. All are pleading for more time in which to bring their plans of operation into harmony with the law. Many protests from roads are being received by the Railway Commission, especially as to the “impracticability” of administering some of its features.

— An infernal machine was discovered on board the steamship “Eagle Point,” as the vessel lay in the Delaware River, on August 29. The bomb was thrown overboard, and exploded as it struck the water. Had it exploded on board, or while the vessel was at sea, the vessel and crew would have been destroyed. A sailor with a grievance is believed to have been responsible for the outrage.

— A new type of air-ship is being tested at Brantford, Ontario. It is the invention of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, and is denominated the “wireless aeroplane.” The machine is operated by wireless electrical energy supplied from the earth. At the test given on August 26, the machine is said to have behaved in a satisfactory manner, its machinery operating perfectly.

— The Russian government has issued another manifesto promising many liberal reforms, including the withdrawal of useless restrictions against the Jews, increased provincial autonomy, reform of the police and other public services, the establishment of zemstvos in Poland and the Baltic provinces, and the institution of an income tax. Meanwhile the government has expressed its determination to maintain order, and increases the penalties for carrying on the revolutionist propaganda. The new premier declares that notwithstanding the work of the terrorists, these reforms can not be either suspended or deferred. At the Warsaw garrison, on September 2, General Tamenoff, commander of one of the brigades, was shot by five revolutionists. He was not fatally wounded.