Current Mention

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 4, 1902

— It is estimated that less than ten per cent of the population of New York City belong to evangelistic churches.

— Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the well-known advocate of woman suffrage, died at her home in New York City, October 26.

— Serious floods, due to heavy rains, are reported from portions of Italy, causing great destruction of property and considerable loss of life.

— It is estimated that this year's corn, wheat, and oat crops in the United States will have a combined value of over $1,700,000,000.

— Christian socialism is making great gains in Austria, as indicated by a recent election for members of the lower house of the Austrian Diet.

— A cotton trust which will embrace all the principal cotton mills in Mexico is being formed by an English syndicate, according to a telegram from Mexico City.

— The Colombian government troops have won an important victory over the revolutionists, capturing Generals Uribe-Uribe and Castillo and their troops, at Rio Frio. It is believed that this victory will prove a death blow to the revolt.

— In five thickly populated districts of southern China the crops have entirely failed this year, as the result of a drought which has lasted five months. An appeal for help to relieve the famine-stricken inhabitants has reached Victoria, British Columbia.

— There is a hitch in the government's negotiations with Colombia for the right of way for the completion of the Panama canal, the latter government being seemingly desirous of extorting an unreasonable price for the concession sought by the United States.

— The progressive sultan of Morocco having introduced automobiles, telephones, electric lights, railroads, and other conveniences of modern civilization into his dominions, his people are much displeased, and an open revolt appears to be imminent. The anti-foreign feeling throughout Morocco is very strong.

— Serum treatment for snake bite was recently successfully employed in Philadelphia, the serum being obtained from monkeys which had been inoculated with rattlesnake virus.

— Numerous earthquake shocks have recently been felt in San Cristobal, Mexico. San Juan mountain is reported to be in eruption, marked by loud and prolonged subterranean explosions and enormous showers of ashes.

— Fighting continues between the Turkish forces in Macedonia and the inhabitants who are in rebellion against Turkish rule. A telegram dated October 28 reports that the Macedonians inflicted a severe defeat on the Turkish troops by the use of dynamite in concealed mines.

— A prominent Baptist clergyman residing near Binghamton, N. Y., has joined the Dowie church, going to “Zion City,” near Chicago, giving as his reason for this step that he recently had a vision of the second coming of Christ, and saw that the Saviour would appear first on earth at that place.

— The entry into politics of a prominent Mormon church official in Utah, “Apostle” Reed Smoot, has divided the Republican political party in that State. “Apostle” Smoot is a candidate for the United States Senate, and if nominated, will have the political support of the Mormon Church. Non-Mormon Republicans in Utah oppose him on the ground that a high church official ought not to be in politics.

— A regiment of the Pennsylvania national guard which was passing through Pittsburg, having just returned from the anthracite coal fields where it had been on duty, was assailed by workmen, who, from the top of a “skyscraper” building, threw down bricks and other missiles upon the soldiers, several of whom were injured. The rioters dispersed when the rifles of the soldiers were pointed at them.

— Telegrams from the city of Guatemala report that the volcano of Santa Maria, about one hundred miles distant, and which has been “extinct” for centuries, is in violent eruption, and heavy earthquake shocks are felt throughout Guatemala. All towns, villages, and plantations near the volcano have been abandoned, the residents being obliged to flee for their lives. So tremendous is the force of the eruption that the sound of it is audible one hundred and fifty miles away.

— Reporting on the evil effects of the cigarette habit, Mrs. E. B. Ingalls, superintendent of the anti-narcotic department of the W. C. T. U., said, before the national convention of that body in Portland, Me., October 22: “A careful statistical examination has been made by educators of boys drawn by lot. This table shows that the average efficiency of non-smokers is 95 per cent; that is, 95 out of 100 probably would acquire a good education. On the other hand, only six out of 100 cigarette smokers could hope to battle successfully against the mental inefficiency produced by the cigarette habit. Of smokers 60 per cent had poor memories; 40 per cent were untruthful; 60 per cent had bad manners; 90 per cent were slow thinkers. Our rallying cry is, ‘Five Million Boys Pledged Against the Tobacco Habit Before November, 1903.’”

— At a meeting of Baptist ministers in Denver, Colo., October 28, a heated discussion arose regarding the question of the obligation of the ten commandments, one prominent clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Gravett, declaring that the ten-commandment law was only for the ancient Israelites, and that “the spiritual grace of the people of this day comes through the epistles of the New Testament, and not through that old law.” This is the position that has been taken by most people to avoid the claims of the seventh-day Sabbath; and from opposition to the seventh-day Sabbath to the repudiation of the whole decalogue is but a short and very logical step.

— At a meeting of the State and Provincial Boards of Health of North America in New Haven, Conn., October 29, special attention was given to the matter of the bubonic plague situation in this country, which it was said had arisen out of the negligence of the health authorities in San Francisco. The sentiment of the meeting was expressed in a strongly worded resolution, thus: “That the conference of State and Provincial Boards of Health of North America views with abhorrence the irretrievable disgrace of the present State Board of Health of California, and pronounces the plague situation in California a matter of grave national concern. “That the National Conference of State and Provincial Boards of Health of North America does hereby advise the various State boards of health of the United States to consider the propriety of calling upon the surgeon general of the United States Public Health and Marine Hospital Service to arrange at the earliest possible date a joint conference for the purpose of eradicating the plague from the United States.”

— A company of Russian Doukhobors, numbering about 1,600, who have been settled in Assiniboia, Canada, recently became imbued with the idea that they must leave their farms and start out on a pilgrimage to convert the world. Being vegetarians, and believing it wrong even to wear clothing that has originated from animal life, they turned their stock loose in the hills, discarded leather shoes, caps, and all garments containing leather or skins, and set out across the country eastward, arriving at Yorkton, October 28. The Canadian authorities there refused to allow the women and children to proceed on into the wilderness, and the latter were separated from the men, who continued their journey, going toward Winnipeg. The Doukhobors would make model farmers, it is said, being thrifty and neat, were it not that they believe it to be wrong to compel beasts to do any work, thus making the cultivation of their farms and the gathering of their crops practically impossible. The sect originated in Russia about one hundred and fifty years ago, and has been subjected to severe persecution by the Russian government, many of its members having been assisted to emigrate to Canada by Count Tolstoi. The fanatical movement in which the Canadian colony is now engaged is believed to have been started by a preacher from Russia who has recently come to them.