Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 2, 1906

— By the collapse of a large building in process of construction at South Framingham, Mass., on July 23, between thirty-five and forty workmen were buried under the débris. At last account eleven dead had been taken from the wrecked building, and others were known to be missing.

— Fifteen indictments on charges of restraint of trade in the matter of advancing the price of ice were returned by the grand jury at Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 23, ten against persons and five against firms, and all being members of the ice dealers’ exchange. Similar action is being taken against the ice trusts of Jacksonville, Fla.

— Because of the terrible persecutions to which Jews are subjected in Russia, a plan has been adopted in this country for a systematic collection of money to purchase lands in Syria which shall belong to the Jewish people in common. There seems to be practically no abatement of the unreasoning hatred of the Russian mass against the Hebrew race.

— Order is not yet restored in the Philippines. A report from the island of Leyte, dated July 25, states that a battle had just occurred between the American soldiers and constabulary on the one side and a force of Pulajanes on the other. The latter lost fifty killed and more than sixty wounded. The soldiers and native constabulary were in search of this force which had defeated two constabulary detachments, causing a loss of twenty-seven.

— Through the intervention of the representatives of the United States and Mexico, the Central American states, recently at war, have agreed to disarm their forces and resume friendly relations. Within two months from the date of signing the treaty the parties concerned will sign a general treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce. In case of any dispute arising over the articles of the proposed treaty, the questions in disagreement will be submitted to the president of the United States and the president of Mexico for arbitration.

— On July 11 an assault was committed upon three special policemen who were guarding non-union workmen on the new Plaza Hotel in New York City. It was claimed that non-union men at work on the structure had been killed by union men’s throwing missiles of iron and steel down upon them. The policemen were attacked by the union men and thrown from an upper story to the floors below, one of them dying from his injuries. At the coroner’s inquest the men guilty of the assault were exonerated, though positively identified by one of the policemen. Four of the union men were immediately rearrested on a charge of felonious assault. None of the union men at work upon the building would admit having seen the policemen thrown from their stations.

— Russia at the present time might well be likened to a tremendous volcano whose disruptive forces have about reached the point of explosion. In some provinces the peasantry are either starving or rapidly approaching starvation conditions, and a growing wave of discontent and disloyalty is sweeping over the people. In very many districts the peasants have attacked and looted the estates of the nobility and the large landholders. A member of the czar’s household recently appealed for military protection against such an attack which was then going on upon his estate near the capital, but the military authorities dared not withdraw a force from the capital sufficient to cope with the disturbance. The secret organization known as the Reds is actively extending its propaganda in spite of the most repressive measures. The result of the czar’s decree dissolving the Parliament elected by the people seems slow in manifesting itself. It was thought by many that this would be the signal for a general uprising; but the leaders of the people feel that they are not yet prepared to act with any assurance of success. The censorship of the press is so strict that it is doubtful if the people generally have yet learned the true situation. The government has readopted its policy of repression, and house-to-house searches are being made by the police to secure all documentary evidence possible against the enemies of the present régime. Many are questioning the sincerity of the czar’s promise to convene another Parliament if he is able to control the present troublous situation. The last admonition of the Russian Parliament to the people was to pay no taxes and to furnish no more men for the army. This has caused Russian securities abroad to drop rapidly, and that at a time when Russia is sorely in need of funds. A general strike of the railway employees is threatened, which would seriously handicap the government in the movement of troops.