p. 21 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Dec 8, 1904

Current Mention

—A report from Cape Town states that fifty Dutch settlers have been massacred by Hottentots in German Southwest Africa.

—A state of terrible destitution is reported to prevail among the inhabitants in the northern part of the State of Mazatlan, Mexico, owing to a failure of crops and an epidemic of malaria, caused by torrential rains. From thirty to forty deaths occur daily, and the authorities are unable to cope with the situation.

—The strike in the Telluride mining district of Colorado, which was begun September 1 last year, was ended November 30 by action of the District Miners' Association, the miners having obtained an agreement from the operators to grant an eight-hour day after December 1, and a minimum wage of three dollars a day.

—The eight-hour law of New York, enacted in 1897, which prohibits a contractor from employing his men more than eight hours in a day on city, county, or State work, has been declared unconstitutional by the New York State Court of Appeals, on the ground that it deprives an individual of property without due process of law.

—Reports of frequent small engagements between forces of the Russian and Japanese armies in Manchuria are received by the press agencies, but the great battle which some have anticipated has not yet occurred, and, as winter has now set in, it is thought likely that no decided move will be made by either army for some time, or at least until after the fall of Port Arthur. That fortress still holds out, though press reports have for a long time represented that it was on the point of surrender or of capture by assault. The Russian fleet in the harbor is said to have been stripped of its heavy guns, these having been mounted for use in the defenses of the city, and their crews have been drawn upon for men to replenish the ranks of the defenders.

—Church federation is taking definite shape among Presbyterians in this country, according to a press telegram dated at Pittsburg, Pa., November 30, which says: 'The commission representing the seven branches of the Presbyterian Church in this country, meeting here, decided to-day on a plan of federation for the various churches, and the most important step yet taken toward the ultimate goal of organic union was determined upon definitely. Rev. Dr. J. D. Steel, secretary of the commission, says the plan provides for the establishment of a council, which will be called the ‘Federal Council of Reformed Churches in America Holding the Presbyterian System.’ The council will have no power over the worship, creed, or government of the churches, which will remain the same as they always have been.'

—The mining town of Zeigler, Ill., is beset by a condition of affairs which parallels that under which martial law was proclaimed not long ago in certain districts of Colorado. A strike has been in progress at the mine since July 10, and the contest has culminated in a state of siege in which firearms are used almost as freely as between opposing military forces. On one side are the miners, armed with rifles, and opposed to them, guarding the mine, is a stockade with a military blockhouse at each corner, and in each a Gatling gun, while a powerful search-light, mounted in the center, illuminates the surrounding country. The miners surround the town, and fire into it during the night, and the Gatling guns, in reply, rain bullets upon the places from which the shots appear to come. Thus far the shooting seems to have been unproductive of serious results. Mr. Joseph Leiter, a young Chicago millionaire who is chief owner of the mine, has been indicted on a charge of bringing armed men into the State contrary to law.