p. 21 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 11, 1907

Current Mention

— On March 30 the public debt, less cash in the treasury, was $909,106,566, having decreased during March $11,538,288.

— On September 5, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Carnegie held a reception for about three hundred representative laborers, capitalists, and publicists in the interests of industrial peace.

— Commander Robert E. Peary has secured $200,000 to defray the expenses of another expedition to the far north, and expects to start about the last of June. He believes he will reach his goal if the summer of 1908 is a normal arctic summer.

— Within a month two unsuccessful attempts have been made to wreck the Chicago Limited train, the former at Turtle Creek, Pa., and the latter, April 4, at Penns Station, Pa. The method employed in both instances was the same as that noted in these columns last week.

— A score of persons were killed April 5 by a tornado which swept for 300 miles across parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Parts of four towns were devastated, with damage exceeding $500,000. One of the freaks of the storm was the rolling over and over of an empty passenger-train.

— Representatives of the independent watch manufacturers of the country have memorialized the President, alleging that the Waltham and Elgin companies have violated the Sherman Anti-trust act. The Department of Justice has not completed the investigation of the so-called trust begun some months ago.

— The Cubans seem displeased with the decision of Secretary Taft to pay the Catholic Church $1,932,143 for certain property in Havana, which has been used continuously since 1901 for government purposes under lease. They believe the price much too high, and think it will injure American prestige.

— Another attempt to wreck a Pennsylvania railroad express near Tacony, a suburb of Philadelphia, on the third, was discovered by a track walker in time to prevent a disaster. On the previous day at Wingerton, Pa., a freight engineer of the Western Maryland Railroad noticed an obstruction clamped to the rails. He had sufficient time to bring his train to a stop.

— From present indications the international arbitration and peace congress to be held in Carnegie Hall, April 14, will bring together a large and representative body of lawmakers from all over the United States. Nine governors of States are serving on its legislative committee, nineteen members of the House of Representatives, and ten United States senators.

— Japanese shipyards being crowded with work, that government has decided to have built in England for her navy, the largest battle-ship in the world, at a cost of about eleven and one-fourth million dollars.

— The attitude of the Southern Pacific toward labor unions is revealed by the fact that over a year ago the general manager instructed “that no dispatcher or employee of any description could expect promotion to an official position as long as he retained his connection with a labor organization.”

— A London paper publishes the report that the czar of Russia will soon abdicate the throne, and his brother Grand Duke Michael will be appointed regent during the minority of the czarowitch. It further says that the douma will be abolished, and a military dictatorship formed, with the idea of stamping out the revolution.

— The differences between the Western railroads and the trainmen that have threatened a strike, have been adjusted by concessions from both parties. The agreement was reached mainly through the efforts of Chairman Knapp of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and Commissioner Neill, of the United States Bureau of Labor, who formulated the final proposition. These men then telegraphed President Roosevelt, “Complete settlement effected, result highly satisfactory, a distinct triumph for government mediation.”

— The French minister at Havana, Cuba, has informed his government that there will be no certainty of protection of property if the republic is re-established, and the Cubans are placed in control. The provisional government officials are not in accord with this view. It is also learned that certain British interests have asked the foreign office, in London, to request permission from the United States to station three British war-ships in Cuban waters when the Americans leave. Great Britain, however, is not likely to make any such request, but these two instances show the feelings of unrest, and indicate that sooner or later the American government will meet with pressure from abroad regarding the Cuban situation. Both politicians and business interests hope for a declaration of policy from Secretary Taft during his visit.

— President Bonilla of Honduras has taken refuge in Amapala, Honduras, which the Nicaraguans began to bombard. Philip I. Brown, secretary of the American legation to Honduras, secured a twenty-four-hour cessation of the attack, in the hope of securing some agreement from Bonilla. In this he was unsuccessful, but brought back word that further bombardment of the town would be considered by the Salvadoreans as a declaration of war against them by Nicaragua. This Nicaragua resents as an unwarranted interference on the part of the United States. On the sixth a conference of the ministers of the three neutral Central American states, was held with Secretary Root and the Mexican ambassador. It is believed that a few days will bring about important developments, and that either peace will be declared or a general war will follow between Nicaragua on one side and the remaining four states on the other.