Current Events

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 12, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 7.

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—King Edward VII will open Parliament, in person, February 14.

—Lotteries were abolished in Canada by a law, which went into effect January 1.

—Count Gourko, the Russian field marshal, died January 29, at Scharow, near Iver, Russia.

—Last week $4,000 was stolen from an Adams Express car, between Philadelphia and New York.

—The Boers have won another victory at Modderfontein, and are said to have 10,000 men in the field.

—Helen Gould has just given $400,000 for a home for the Young Men's Christian Association at the Brooklyn navy yard.

—It is said that about three fourths of the cadets at West Point Academy are members of the Y. M. C. A. of the school.

—“Crazy Snake” and seventeen other Creek Indians have been placed in jail in Muskogee, I. T., and are to be tried for treason.

—M. de Giers, Russian Minister at Peking, China, states that Russia will not consent to the execution of Prince Tuan, the Boxer leader.

—The Prussian authorities have arrested many members of Polish secret societies in Posen, accusing them of abetting a revolutionary uprising.

—The faculty of the University of Iowa have suspended ten members of the sophomore class, for hazing H. W. Stiles, the president of the freshman class.

—Mrs. Carrie Nation, the saloon-smasher, has accepted an invitation to deliver a lecture in the Auditorium Theater, Chicago, under the auspices of the Chicago Press Club.

—The United States Senate has consented to the payment of $100,000 to Spain, for the two islands of the Philippine Archipelago, Cagayan and Cibitu, that were not included in the treaty of peace agreements.

—Brig. Gens. James F. Wade and William Ludlow are to be sent to Manila, Philippine Islands “for duty under General MacArthur, relieving two of the general officers who have been in service there.”

—Five fanatic females have just raided five Chicago drug-stores, à la Mrs. Nation, smashing doors, sweeping the counters clear of pills and medicines, breaking bottles, etc. They have not yet been caught.

—The United States army reorganization bill having become law by the President’s signature, the recruiting of men for the army is going on throughout the country. Many men are wanted for the Philippines.

—Cablegrams from Cape Town, South Africa, state that “the British are trying to sweep the enemy toward Cape Colony, along an extensive frontage, with cavalry at each end, clearing everything in their advance.”

—Governor Nash, of Ohio, will go to the full extent of his executive power to stop the Jeffries-Ruhlin prize fight at Cincinnati. He means business, and will use State troops if necessary, having, in fact, at his disposal $50,000 for the expenses of the militia.

—Mrs. Carrie Nation addressed each house of the Kansas Legislature, at Topeka, the evening of the 7th inst., and “scored the lawmakers roundly.” The morning of the same day the case against her, for smashing saloons, was dismissed in court. The officials see that they can not legally stop her in her work.

—The commissioner at Kroonstad, South Africa, “reports that Andries Wessels, one of the peace envoys, was shot at Klipfontein, January 28, by order of General De Wet.” For a time De Wet was honored and respected even by the English, but such inhuman conduct as this is fast disgusting the world—even his heretofore zealous supporters.

—A Philadelphia theater now employs young women as ushers.

—The German emperor will present to the city of Paris the German building at the late exposition.

—Pretorius, a Boer leader, has been captured by the British in South Africa. He says that the Boers will not give up the fight.

—The treasurer of Cleveland, Ohio, reports that nearly 500 saloons there have gone out of business within the last six months.

—According to the Jewish calendar, the year of the world 5,662 begins on Saturday, September 14, 1901, the day known as Rosh Hashonah.

—Sunday, January 13, a mass-meeting was held at Barcelona, Spain, “for the purpose of preparing a memorial to the Spanish government, asking for the abolition of bull fights.”

—The Hungarian Independent Party recently issued “a manifesto denouncing the continuance of the Austro-Hungary union, and asserting that one third of the Austrian House of Deputies are in the pay of foreign Powers.”

—The Seattle branch of the International Council of the World, a colored organization, recently decided to “offer $500 reward for the arrest and conviction of each and every person implicated in the lynching at Leavenworth, Kan.,” the 17th ult.

—The Peking correspondent of the London Daily Mail says that “Belgian capital has acquired a controlling interest in the American undertaking to construct the railroad from Canton to Hankow.” He then adds: “Belgium in China now practically means Russia.”

—From Bombay, India, come reports of a battle between the sheiks of Koweit, and Binrashid, who calls himself the king of Arabia. The forces of the latter were completely routed, though 20,000 in number. The sheiks had but 10,000 men; but they were much better armed.

—January 23, the candy makers of six States “entered into an agreement at Sioux City, Iowa, affecting more than 10,000 girls employed in a score of cities. They decided not to introduce a chocolate-drop manufacturing machine, which can do the work of forty girls. Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota are in the agreement.”

—Announcement is made of the death, at Constantinople, Turkey, of Dr. Elias Riggs, “one of the best-known missionaries and linguists ever sent out from America. Dr. Riggs was ninety-three years old, and had been a missionary for sixty-nine years. He had translated the Bible into Bulgarian, Armenian, and Turkish, and had written many poems and hymns in modern Greek.”

—Speaking of the present struggle in France between the Roman Catholic Church and the government, Premier Waldeck-Rousseau said that “the bill would be a test of whether civil power or religious authority was to have supremacy in France.” At the end of a long speech upon the matter, the Chamber of Deputies, by a vote of 298 to 226, directed that his speech be posted throughout France.

—A dispatch from Auburn, Ind., dated February 7, says that “the Mrs. Nation saloon-smashing crusade has reached Indiana, and this afternoon one little woman, Mrs. Tom Creal, completely demolished the handsome new plate-glass front of Peter Behler’s saloon, situated on Main Street. A hatchet was used to do the work. She has repeatedly warned Behler not to sell liquor to her husband, who was in jail at the time.”

—Queen Wilhelmina, of Holland, was married to Duke Henry, of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, at The Hague, Thursday the 7th inst. The ceremony was notable for its simplicity. The young queen, of the houses of Orange and Nassau, was born at The Hague, Aug. 31, 1880; succeeded to the throne, Aug. 31, 1898; was crowned at The Hague, Sept. 6, 1898. Duke Henry, her husband, was born in Schwerin, Prussia, April 19, 1875, and was lieutenant in the Prussian guards. Unlike many royal mates, these two are really in love.

—England devoted Friday and Saturday, the 1st and 2d inst., to the obsequies of her late Queen Victoria. Friday the casket was taken by sea from Cowes (Isle of Wight) to Portsmouth. “The sea power of England as embodied in her great war-vessels, joined by ships from the navies of other nations, formed a double line of more than ten miles long, through which, amid the booming of minute guns, the funeral yacht slowly steamed. The body remained all night on the ship. On Saturday morning the ceremonies were resumed, the cortege passing by rail to London, through its streets in a splendid but mournful pageant, military and civic, and thence on to Windsor.” On Monday, the 4th inst., the casket was deposited in the mausoleum containing the remains of her husband.

—Lord Curzon, viceroy of India, may resign, owing to the ill-health of his wife.

—The new United States battle-ship “Wisconsin” is now ready for business.

—It is said that Count Tolstoi’s latest book, “The Slavery of Our Times,” is “in essence a plea for anarchy.”

—An uprising is threatened by 600 Creek Indians near Bristow, I. T. It is feared the Choctaws will join in the revolt.

—Two British war-ships have been ordered to Chinese waters, on account of the dispute with Russia over two islands.

—The plant of the National Wire Company, near New Haven, Conn., was recently destroyed by fire. The loss was over $300,000.

—Over 1,000 Filipinos at Vigan, and about 400 near Malabon, have recently taken the oath of allegiance to the United States government.

—A Portuguese court recently upheld “the right of Protestants to circulate Protestant tracts assailing Roman Catholicism, which is the State religion.”

—Monday, February 4, was celebrated as John Marshall day throughout the United States. One hundred years ago Marshall assumed the office of chief justice of the United States Supreme Court.

—Emperor William, of Germany, has made King Edward VII, of England, an admiral of the German navy. King Edward has made Emperor William a field marshal of the British army. Things would be quite complicated in case of a war between England and Germany.

—Venezuela is angry with the United States because the latter is disposed to protect an American asphalt trust which Venezuela is trying to drive out. Venezuelan troops are about to dispossess the Americans at Pitch (or asphalt) Lake, and serious complications are likely to result.

—Five Chinese slave girls were sold “in public, at midday, in the heart of Chinatown,” San Francisco, Cal., January 19, to the highest bidder, “precisely as if they had been in Canton.” The girls were the property of Gong Chow, who wanted to return to China, and took this method of raising the desired money. No one protested against the sale.

—Last week a Philadelphia firm shipped ten railway locomotives to France and eight to Spain. Another company in this country “has recently taken an order from Spain for 520 cars, has sold 100 cars in Wales, and expects to supply 2,000 cars to the Paris, Lyons, and Mediterranean road, in addition to 600 already forwarded for use on that railway.”

—Official memorial services in honor of Queen Victoria were held at Washington, D. C., simultaneously with those held over the body of the Queen, at Windsor Castle, February 2. The services were attended by President McKinley, the prominent officials of the government, and the entire diplomatic corps, being held at St. John’s Protestant Episcopal church.

—Richard Delafield, president of the National Park Bank, of New York, has been voted an increase of salary from $25,000 to $40,000 per annum. It is said that he is now paid the highest salary of any bank president in the country. The National Park Bank has a capital of $2,000,000, and its present deposits aggregate $65,000,000; and its loans amount to more than $47,000,000.

—The Laurier administration in Canada prevented a State ceremonial on the day of the burial of Victoria. Everything was ready for the imposing ceremonial, to be held at Christ church, Ottawa, when the government administration objected, and refused to appropriate any money therefor, the refusal being “based on the fact that Canada has no State Church, and that the holding of the proposed State service in the Anglican cathedral might be regarded in the light of a recognition of the Church of England as the State Church of the Dominion; and also because of the great offense such a service would give to the numerous other religious denominations of Canada.”

—The American Friend states that the reason for the dismissal of Professor Ross, of Stanford University, Cal., was that “in a public address he had attacked the management of a street railroad and other corporations in which Mrs. Stanford is interested. On the day following Professor Ross’s enforced retirement from the chair of economics, Professor Howard, head of the history department, severely scored this attempt to down free speech, in an address to his class. He said, ‘I do not worship Market Street. I do not reverence holy Standard Oil, nor do I doff my hat to the Celestial Six Companies.’ These remarks resulted in Professor Howard’s enforced resignation.”