Current Mention

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 23, 1902

— Six persons were killed in a railway wreck near Minneapolis, Minn., December 12.

— “Sixty-three persons in Hungary have been frozen to death in the last three days,” says a Vienna telegram dated December 17.

— About one hundred and fifty lives have been lost this season on the Great Lakes. One third of this number perished on Lake Erie.

— A petition signed by 3,500,000 Roman Catholics was presented in the Italian Parliament, December 5, opposing a divorce bill which is under consideration by the government.

— Thirty-three persons were drowned by a sudden inundation of Tamis, a village in the Cape Bon district of Algeria, December 16, consequent on heavy and long-continued rains.

— A conference of several State boards of health will be held in San Francisco during the holidays to consider the situation arising from the presence of bubonic plague in that city.

— Two volcanic craters in the Samoan Islands, which were long supposed to be extinct, broke out into eruption on November 2, following several earthquake shocks. No loss of life has been reported.

— Prohibition was defeated in Ontario, December 4, by popular vote, under the referendum system, about 200,000 votes being cast in its favor, which was 12,700 votes short of the number required for its success.

— A Havana capitalist asserts that on account of the duty on sugar and tobacco imported into the United States from Cuba, it is costing the latter country about $40,000,000 yearly to remain in a condition of independence.

— The city of Andidjan, in Asiatic Russia, was destroyed by an earthquake, December 16, all the houses being leveled to the ground. There was great loss of life, and thousands of the inhabitants are threatened with starvation.

— Two persons were killed by an explosion in the Cleveland waterworks tunnel under Lake Erie, December 14, others being severely injured. This makes fifty-nine victims of the tunnel since the first work was done in its construction.

— The great Nile reservoir at Assuan was formally opened Wednesday, December 10. It is predicted that the irrigation made possible by this dam will double the productiveness of Egypt, and make that country one of the chief granaries of Europe.

— Colombia is reported to be planning an attack on Nicaragua, for the double purpose of seizing the Mosquito strip of territory through which the projected Nicaragua canal would pass, thus obtaining control of territory necessary to either the Nicaragua or Panama route; and of giving employment to the Colombian army, within which another revolution might easily start.

— Secretary of the Treasury Shaw has notified Wall Street that the United States Treasury can loan the New York banks no more money, and whatever further funds may be required by the volume of business must be provided from another source. Many are predicting a money stringency, and some even a panic, in the near future, among the latter being J. J. Hill, the railway magnate. Meanwhile New York bankers have raised a fund of $50,000,000 to meet the anticipated emergency.

— Twelve “poison eaters” have begun a course of experiments at Washington under the direction of the Department of Agriculture to determine the effects upon the human system of the substances with which foodstuffs are commonly adulterated in this country. They will first eat wholesome food carefully prepared under a medical inspector, and the physical characteristics of each one, with the exact amount of food required for health, will be accurately determined; and after a two weeks’ diet on this plan, half of them will begin eating food which contains adulterants, preservatives, and coloring matter, such as are in general use in foods sold in the American market. After being kept on this diet for a period of sufficient length to note its effects, they will be put back on to a pure food diet, and the other six will begin their “poison” diet. The experiments will be continued about six months.

— International attention has been chiefly centered the past few days upon the hostile demonstrations on the coast of Venezuela, where German and British war vessels had gathered to await the result of the ultimatum sent to President Castro, demanding an immediate settlement of German and British claims against that country. Upon President Castro’s refusal to accede to the demands made, two Venezuelan forts at Puerto Cabello were bombarded and destroyed by the hostile naval force, the garrison of one fort being made prisoners; and several vessels of the Venezuelan navy were sunk and one captured by a German cruiser. The United States notified Germany and Great Britain that it would not consent to a war by them upon Venezuela, and United States Minister Bowen at the Venezuelan capital was instructed to do all in his power to effect an agreement between the belligerent parties. Meanwhile Italy joined with Germany and England in demanding settlement of indemnity claims against Venezuela, and the Italian consul was recalled from the Venezuelan capital. Next, France and Belgium were heard from with claims against Venezuela, France asserting that her claims antedate all others. Public sentiment in Great Britain seems to be suspicious of Germany, the impression being that the alliance is calculated to benefit Germany more than England. In some quarters the demonstration is regarded as an effort to test the Monroe doctrine, and determine to what extent acts of aggression on the lesser American republics by European powers will be permitted by the United States. On December 17 President Castro, at the instance of the leading business men of Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, authorized United States Minister Bowen to effect a settlement with the European allies, and it is hoped that on this basis an arrangement for peace will be effected.