Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Mar 29, 1906

— The German war with the Hereros in German Southwest Africa has cost $150,000,000, and the last campaign against the Hereros has proved a failure.

— The smoking habit has increased to such an extent among English women that a special smoking compartment is now reserved for women smokers on some English trains.

— From Fairmont, W. Va., comes news of another terrible mining disaster caused by an explosion of gas, March 22, resulting in great loss of life, the exact number of victims having not yet been ascertained.

— The island of Formosa was recently visited by a very severe earthquake, the shocks being almost continuous for many hours. Several thousands of the inhabitants lost their lives, and the damage to property is believed to be above $40,000,000.

— The famine situation in Japan is said to be worse than has previously been reported, and it is stated that no less than 1,000,000 persons are affected by it. The American National Red Cross Society states that $16,000,000 is needed to save the victims from starvation.

— There is serious dissension in the camp of Methodism on account of the decisive stand taken by the Methodist Book Concern in favor of the open shop. Some pastors in whose charges union labor is strong are seriously opposed to the attitude of the denominational publishing house.

— The aged Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria is reported to be in a precarious condition of health, which creates a probability of his sudden demise at an early date. It has long been predicted that his death would be the signal for an upheaval among the discordant factions composing the Austrian kingdom.

— There is said to be a prospect for the formation of a new political party to represent organized labor. The American Federation of Labor has presented certain demands to the present Congress, and if these are not heeded, as it now appears likely they will not be, the federation will, it is thought, seek to gain its ends by going directly into politics.

— Ambassador Bellamy Storer, who has represented the United States at the Austrian court, has been recalled because his wife, who is an ardent Catholic, tried to induce President Roosevelt to request the pope that Archbishop Ireland be made a cardinal, and represented at the Austrian court that the President had undertaken such a mission.

— The lynching of a negro at Chattanooga, Tenn., March 20, has brought the participants into conflict with the federal government. The negro had been convicted of murder, but a stay of execution had been granted by the United States Supreme Court. The negro was lynched in defiance of the mandate of this high tribunal, and the participants will, if apprehended, be punished for contempt of court.

— Newspaper reports state that the United States is to emulate Great Britain in the construction of powerful battleships, and will construct two great naval fighting machines, each equal in fighting capacity to the famous “Dreadnaught,” which is the latest addition to the British navy, and the largest and most powerful battle-ship afloat. It is probable that Germany and France, Japan and Russia, will not be long in following suit.

— The representatives of the meat trust who were on trial in the federal court at Chicago have won on their plea of immunity claimed to have been promised them by the United States Commissioner of Corporations, and will thus personally escape punishment for having violated the law, though it is stated that the corporations which they represent will not be granted immunity. Just how men are to be granted immunity as individuals and at the same time be held liable as officials of a corporation is not explained.

— The Moroccan controversy is announced as having been definitely settled on a basis of neutral supervision of the country by French and Spanish police. By the original agreement between France, England, Italy, and Spain, France was to have a paramount interest in Morocco, which would in a short time have converted the country into a French Egypt. Germany has successfully opposed this plan, but her attitude at the conference called forth expressions of sympathy with France on the part of both Russia and Austria.

— There will be no probing of the Standard Oil trust by Congress. The House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce has handed down a unanimous decision that the Constitution does not confer upon Congress the power to regulate or control State corporations operating within the States, except so far as they may be engaged in interstate commerce. Going beyond its decision on insurance companies, the committee extends its argument to all corporations. The effect is to nullify the present Standard Oil and other corporation investigations by the Department of Commerce and Labor.