Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · May 17, 1906

—A report from Zion City, Ill., states that John Alexander Dowie is suffering from disease of the heart, and can not long survive.

—Carl Schurz, the distinguished German-American, who was a member of President Hayes' cabinet, is reported to be dying at his home in New York City.

—The crater of Vesuvius showed renewed activity on May 8, sending up dense clouds of smoke, and discharging sand and ashes, with loud explosions. The crater is several hundred feet lower than before the recent eruption.

—A strike of 20,000 men engaged in the freight-carrying trade on the Great Lakes, was terminated by an agreement being reached between strikers and employers, after having lasted nine days, with a direct loss to these parties of $2,500,000.

—President Roosevelt's recent “muck rake” speech is credited with having caused a change in the management and policy of McClure's Magazine, which will exclude from it hereafter such writers as Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, and Lincoln Steffens.

—A large district in northwestern Nebraska was shaken by an earthquake May 9. A dispatch from Cody states: “At 6:25 o'clock last night an earthquake shock, lasting nearly one minute, passed through the Elkhorn Valley, the earth seeming to move north and south. Towns in all directions for a radius of sixty miles have reported feeling the shock.” Shocks have also been reported from Indiana and Connecticut.

—Not for many years have crowned heads been so fully entitled to uneasy repose as at the present. Attempts are reported on the lives of the czar, Emperor William, and King Alfonso, and the increasing ease with which assassination is accomplished, with the present wide-spread knowledge of high-power explosives and devices for their effective use, makes it necessary to guard the lives of European monarchs with the most elaborate precautions. Less important personages who can not afford the expensive luxury of a military bodyguard, are, under the terrorist régime in Russia, assassinated almost daily.

—The Douma, or national parliament of Russia, is now in session. The strongest body in the Douma are the “constitutional Democrats,” besides which there are peasants, nationalists, Letts, Tartars, and others. The Constitutional Democrats and peasants seem to be working together. Among the first acts of the new assembly was the passing without a dissenting voice of a resolution demanding amnesty for past political and military offenses, and the abolition of the death penalty for crimes of any sort. The peasant members insist on holding Sunday sessions in order to expedite the urgent business before the Douma. Upon the decision of the czar regarding the demand for amnesty, depends the issue of war or peace between the Douma and the crown. Many persons anticipate a great struggle before the issue is decided.

—Secretary Metcalf of the Department of Commerce and Labor, who has returned from the Pacific Coast, whither he went at the President's request to investigate the conditions caused by the earthquake, makes this statement: “Although the relief work has been immense, the country at large must not forget that necessity will require its maintenance for some time to come. Scattered throughout the vicinity of San Francisco are 300,000 men, women, and children, who are homeless and with no means. These must be aided until an opportunity is afforded them to become self-supporting.” The secretary adds that the restoration of former conditions in the stricken city is proceeding with hopeful rapidity, and speaks in high terms of the philanthropic efforts of millionaire E. H. Harriman, who gave free transportation over the Southern Pacific Railroad to all who applied for it, and offers capital to aid in the reconstruction of the city. He makes also this observation on the subject of the most reliable building materials for structures to replace those destroyed: “The earthquake and fire offer to architects, builders, and contractors a great opportunity for the study of building materials to be used in the reconstruction of the city. It has been found that granite and marble will not stand heat, and only modernly constructed steel buildings and wooden frame buildings withstood the shock.” Undoubtedly brick and stone will be very sparingly used in building the new San Francisco.