p. 22 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Nov 10, 1904

Current Mention

— A revolution is threatened in the republic of Guatemala, and a disquieting state of affairs is reported also from Colombia.

— The collapsing of a reservoir at Winston Salem, N. C., November 2, caused the drowning of nine persons and the injury of eight others. Eight houses were wrecked.

— Fifty thousand men employed in Illinois coal mines are idle by reason of a strike of hoisting engineers. There is nothing to indicate how long the strike may continue.

— Forty persons were hurt, some fatally, by the explosion of a ton of dynamite at Mount Vernon, N. Y., November 2. A large hole was torn in the ground by the explosion.

— Assistant State Entomologist Smith, of Georgia, has made a report in which he calls attention to the rapid spread eastward of the Mexican boll weevil, which he says threatens inestimable loss to cotton growers in the Eastern cotton belt.

— The relations between Italy and Austria have recently become greatly strained. Rioting between Italians and Germans is reported at Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol, growing out of the establishment of an Italian university in Austria.

— Ten men were killed in a coal mine near Wilkesbarre, Pa., November 2, by an accident to the hoisting engine, which caused it to get beyond control, wrecking the cages with which it was connected, one of which was filled with men, who, by the breaking out of the bottom of the cage, were precipitated several hundred feet into deep water at the bottom of the shaft.

— A letter recently received at Mobile, Ala., from Georgetown, Grand Cayman, gives details of a great storm which swept over that island about two weeks ago. The schooner “Albatross” has not been heard from since the storm. The people are suffering from the direst poverty. There is not a pound of foodstuff in the whole island for sale, and hundreds of persons have nothing to eat.

— According to the Portland Oregonian, the “Chinese Reform Association, which has a large membership in every city on the Pacific Coast, is preparing to start a revolution against the present empress of China during the celebration of the next Chinese New-year, which occurs in February. The article says that as an insult to the Empress Tsi Ann, the members of the association have been ordered to cut off their queues. The queue is a mark of submission to the reigning power.”

— A circular note proposing a second peace conference at The Hague, to consider questions not settled at the previous conference, has been addressed to the powers of Europe by Secretary Hay. The note not only contemplates the reassembling of The Hague conference for the consideration of questions specifically mentioned by the original conference as demanding further attention, such as the rights and duties of neutrals, the inviolability of private property in naval warfare, and the bombardment of ports by naval force, but goes further by practically indorsing the project of a general system of arbitration treaties, and the establishment of an international congress to meet periodically in the interests of peace.

— A seismograph, or instrument for recording earthquake shocks of slight intensity by tracings on photographic films, one of which has been in use for some time at Johns Hopkins University, was found, on October 21, to have recorded fifteen earthquakes since last April, which is said to be the largest number on record during a period of equal length. The longest shock ever recorded also was shown, this having occurred on August 27, beginning at 4 P. M. and continuing three and one-half hours.

— That once great institution in European politics, the Triple Alliance, is said to be about ready to fall, and this change has been brought about, it is said, by the influence of the Vatican. There has come a gradual estrangement between Italy and Austria, and between Italy and Germany, the latter being the outgrowth of Emperor William’s overfriendly attitude toward the Vatican, which was construed as antagonistic to the Quirinal. A leading official in Paris is quoted as saying: “The heart of the Triple Alliance is already dead. All that remains of the once famous compact is an inanimate skeleton.”

— Interest in the war in the far East has centered the past week in the situation at Port Arthur, the siege of which, it was believed, might be terminated on the birthday of the Japanese emperor, November 3, by the surrender of the fortress. It seems, however, that despite desperate assaults and the capture of several outlying forts, the city has held out beyond that date, but it is not believed, even in Russia, that the defense can be maintained many days longer, as the Japanese now hold positions which enable their siege guns to dominate the town and harbor. The city is reported to be in ruins, and the inhabitants are living in bomb-proof caves. The Russian fleet in the harbor is reported to have been sunk, with the exception of the battle-ship “Pobieda.” The supply of anesthetics is exhausted, and the food supply is scarce and of poor quality. The Baltic fleet, meanwhile, continues its apparently useless journey toward its distant Asiatic goal.