p. 20 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 12, 1907

Current Mention

— An appropriation of $39,730,800 for the Spanish navy has been recommended by the navy reform commission. This provides funds for the construction of three 15,000-ton battle-ships, three submarine boats, twenty-four torpedo-boats, and several service ships.

— An all-day's battle is reported to have raged in the streets of an Albanian town recently between the Catholic and Moslem inhabitants. The trouble began by the imprisonment of a Catholic priest, and resulted in the death of fifty persons and the wounding of 100 others.

— A remarkable evangelistic campaign, conducted by Dr. R. A. Torrey, in the city of Chicago, closed December 1. The usual attendance was 3,000 (Sundays, 8,000), and as a result of the 135 sermons preached, about 3,200 persons have professed conversion.

— Very gratifying reports of the progress in excavating the Panama Canal have been received of late; and now Colonel Goethals, the chief engineer, has cabled that five times as much earth was excavated during the month of November as during the same month last year.

— During a snow-storm December 2 the Canadian Pacific Railway's steamship “Mount Temple” went upon the rocks of the Nova Scotian coast. She was bound from Antwerp to St. John, New Brunswick, and carried 600 passengers, all of whom were safely transferred to the shore.

— In his annual report made public December 2, Secretary-of-the-Navy Victor H. Metcalf recommends the construction of war-vessels costing $69,270,000. This includes four battle-ships, four scout cruisers, ten destroyers, four submarines, one ammunition ship, one repair ship, two mine-laying ships, and four fleet colliers.

— The French war balloon “La Patrie” broke away from the soldiers who were holding it during preparations for a demonstration at Verdun, near the German border. Although the air-ship escaped November 30, no authentic report of its whereabouts has yet been received. It is feared that it was blown out to sea, and is lost.

— The worst disaster in the history of mines in this country visited Monongah, W. Va., December 6. An explosion, whose cause has not yet been determined, wrecked two mines; and of the 406 men thought to be in the mines at the time, only fifteen are known to have escaped. On account of the gases, which are even yet hindering the work of rescue, no hope is entertained for any who were in the mines when the explosion occurred.

— A terrible explosion occurred in a coal-mine at Fayette City, Pa., December 1. Although strenuous efforts were made to rescue the entombed miners, none of those entrapped were taken out alive. Thirty-two bodies have been recovered, and it is possible that there are a few more victims. The federal government made an investigation of the disaster. This is said to be the first instance of the government's investigating such an occurrence.