p. 22 | Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Oct 29, 1903

Current Mention

—A new feature in higher education is announced. A department of dress-making has been established at Ruskin University in Glen Ellyn, near Chicago.

—Four persons are known to have been killed, eight more are supposed to have perished, and 150 buildings, including the opera house, hotel, two banks, and one hundred business houses, were destroyed in a fire in Aberdeen, Wash., October 16.

—The Cunard Line steamship “Etruria,” which sailed from New York, October 10, encountered a tidal wave on the first day of her voyage. Several passengers were injured, and one who suffered from weak heart died a few days later as the result of the shock.

—A farmers’ trust has been organized in Nebraska, taking the name of the Farmers’ Co-operative Shipping Association. The purpose of the organization, as announced, is to handle grain and live stock, and to eliminate the middlemen. It has about 800 stockholders in Kansas.

—On October 18 Dr. August Greth made his initial trip in an air-ship constructed by him in San Francisco; and though he finally landed in the bay, he succeeded in sailing about over the city for nearly two hours. His failure to make the trip a complete success was due to faults in the construction and operation, and not to any error of principle. His apparatus had sufficient lifting capacity, it was under perfect control, so far as steering apparatus was concerned, but it failed to make the headway desired against the air currents, owing to a lack of sufficient driving power in the engine.

—The most important plans of campaign prepared by the General Board of the Navy since its organization are being perfected with reference to the prospect of war between Russia and Japan over Manchuria and Corea. Not only do they provide for the conduct of the American fleet on the Asiatic station in the event of such a conflict, but go to the extreme of contemplating the contingency that the United States, on account of its material interests in Manchuria, may be drawn into hostilities in the far East. In the preparation of these plans the president and the State Department have been consulted, and the conclusions of the general board have the approval of the administration. It is evident from what has been determined that the president and his advisers are willing to go to extremes in maintaining the right to trade freely with Manchuria, secured under the new commercial treaty between the United States and China.

—Hawaii’s famous volcano, Mauna Loa, is in eruption, and presents a magnificent spectacle, three columns of fire rising to a height of two miles above the snow-covered lava beds on the mountain’s summit, which is 13,650 feet above sea level.

—Rumors are current of approaching hostilities between Russia and Japan. One report states, however, that Japan does not insist on the evacuation of Manchuria by Russia, and this concession by Japan, if it has been made, is expected to avert hostilities for the present.

—The dispute between the United States and Canada over the question of the Alaskan boundary has been settled by the commission appointed to determine the question, which held its sessions in London. The boundary agreed on is that claimed by the United States, with the exception that the Portland Canal is awarded to Canada. There is much dissatisfaction in Canada over this result.

—Incendiary fires in the town of Montgomery, Ind., have created a reign of terror, and some of its inhabitants are said to be preparing to leave the place. Several fires have occurred which destroyed business houses and residences, in each case following a demand made by letter for $2,000, which was to be left at a designated spot, threat being made in the letters to burn the town in case of non-compliance.

—Pope Pius X’s first general Encyclical “E supremi apostolatus cathedra,” directed to the archbishops, bishops, and other heads of the hierarchy, under date of October 4, is an exposition of the pope’s views on the needs of the church, and deals almost exclusively with religious matters. Political subjects are touched upon only incidentally, and little light is shed on the pope’s attitude toward various disputed matters.

—The convention of the Iowa State W. C. T. U., in session at Sioux City, October 20, listened to a denunciation of soda fountains by the corresponding secretary of the State union, who declared them to be largely responsible for the increase of intemperance among women, and other speeches denouncing Sunday ball games, Sunday mail service, fermented wine at communion, child labor, and demanding the expulsion from Congress of the Mormon “apostle,” Reed Smoot.

—The pope has appointed Mgr. Merry del Val papal secretary of state. He is about forty-one years old, and is the son of Don Merry del Val, who was at one time Spanish ambassador at the court of St. James. He was brought up and educated in England, and in appearance is much more like an English than a Latin ecclesiastic. He speaks fluently, besides English, French, Spanish, and Italian; is well known as a preacher, and is an expert in ecclesiastical law. In 1897 he was appointed papal delegate to Canada. The papal secretaryship of state is in reality the office which forms the medium of communication between the papacy and foreign courts.