Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · May 10, 1906

—A dispute between Colombia and Venezuela over the navigation of certain rivers in that section of South America bids fair to result in war between those countries.

—The anthracite coal strike is ended, the miners, on the advice of President Mitchell, voting to return to work on the basis of the award of the commission which settled the former strike.

—There is a serious dispute between Turkey and Persia over the boundary line between the two countries. Persia claims that Turkish troops are occupying Persian territory, and demands their withdrawal.

—An examination of the safes and vaults in the fire-swept district of San Francisco revealed the fact that in hardly more than half the number had the contents escaped destruction from the intense heat of the flames. Gold and silver had been melted and diamonds burned. A mass of melted gold and silver valued at $3,500 was found in a street in the Chinatown district. Coroner Walsh, of San Francisco, estimates that the loss of life in that city will amount to fully 1,000 persons, and that it may be as high as 1,500.

—A report on the business methods of the Standard Oil trust, made by Commissioner-of-Corporations Garfield, was used by President Roosevelt to greatly strengthen his message to Congress, transmitted May 4, calling for governmental regulation of railway freight rates. Commissioner Garfield’s report charges the Standard Oil officials with unfair and unlawful methods in dealing with competitors, receiving rebates from the railroads, deliberate lying, etc. The Department of Justice has taken action toward prosecuting the Standard Oil trust and the railroads that are involved with it.

—The problem of providing for the victims of the California earthquake is still a very serious one, notwithstanding the great outflow of charity from all parts of the country for their relief. The number of destitute persons dependent upon outside assistance is still, according to late reports, above 150,000. Typhoid fever has broken out in San Francisco, the water-supply being polluted. An Oakland dispatch dated May 5, explains the absence of news from Healdsburg after the earthquake by the statement that communication with Healdsburg had just been re-established that day.

—Political progress in Russia is still far from having reached the point of separating church and state in governmental affairs, according to the following statement from St. Petersburg regarding the Parliament which is about to assemble: “The religious features of Parliament, which will open May 10, will not be neglected. Like all the state institutions of ‘Holy Russia,’ the Tauride Palace, where Parliament will assemble, has now been equipped with a profusion of ikons. These sacred pictures, before each of which burns a taper, hang in the corners of the lower house and in the various committee rooms; and most of the Russian saints, all of those who are credited with working miracles of some sort, are represented. About one third of the sixty-eight images are of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker. Besides these there are twenty portraits of the virgin, which are supposed to have been painted by superhuman hands.”

—Archbishop Ireland is about to return to this country from his visit to the pope. He will, press dispatches state, bring back the information that the Vatican is very well informed about affairs in America, and is “animated by the friendliest feeling” toward this country. Pope Leo XIII was wont to express himself to American prelates in about this way. It is stated that Archbishop Ireland is now in favor at the Vatican, notwithstanding his “Americanism,” or supposed sympathy with American ideals and institutions. The carefully fostered impression that this papal lieutenant is in sympathy with American principles and institutions makes him the more dangerous as an enemy of republican government. The principles of republican government are Protestant.

—An English journal of recent date prints the following regarding military activity in China: “During the present month the creation of a mighty army in China is to begin in earnest. General Yin Tchang, who has been representing China at the kaiser’s court, and who is considered as China’s greatest soldier, is now leaving Berlin to take up his work at home. The new army is to number 1,250,000, and will be modeled after the German army, in which General Yin Tchang served seven years. Seven other young Chinese soldiers, destined for high rank in the new army, have been also serving an apprenticeship in the kaiser’s army. That they will have practically unlimited funds to draw upon is evident, and that the Chinese government enters into the scheme of army reorganization in no half-hearted fashion is shown by the interest which both the empress and court took in the recent maneuvers, and the fact that royal personages were appointed to attend them.”

—The determination of the labor unions to enter politics presages an extensive breaking up of political party lines in this country at coming elections. Among the signs indicative of this change is the following statement, which comes from Chicago: “With the declaration that wide-spread graft in civic life and the domination of political bosses have produced a condition more dangerous to the republic than that which led to the Civil War, representatives of sixty-three labor and reform organizations met yesterday [April 8] in convention and launched a new political party. The new party is to be known as the Chicago Progressive Alliance, and it plans to capture the primaries and nominate men to office who will be free from the influence of any of the old political party machines. To carry out this program, the platform favors legislation requiring the suspension of all business on primary and election days, that the working people may fully and rationally exercise their suffrage. It also provides for the nomination of all candidates for elective office by direct vote of the people at the primaries.”