Current Mention

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 1, 1902

— While a funeral was in progress in a church at Pinerio, Spain, June 24, lightning struck the edifice, killing twenty-five persons and injuring thirty-five more.

— A steerage passenger on the “Kronprinz Wilhelm” who attempted to drink two liters of brandy daily during the voyage to New York, to win a bet he had made on his abilities as an imbiber, died of delirium tremens two days after the ship left port.

— A bill admitting Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico into the Union, is before Congress, and is being pressed for immediate consideration.

— The Chinese cruiser “Kai Chih” blew up June 22, on the Yangtse-kiang River, only two out of one hundred and fifty on board being saved.

— Cholera continues to spread in the island of Luzon, in spite of all efforts by American physicians. The reported deaths number over 200 daily.

— A concession made by Bolivia to an Anglo-American syndicate has caused a protest from Brazil and Peru, and according to report may lead to war.

— The Venezuelan revolutionists appear to be gaining steadily against the government forces, and the prospect is that the revolution will be successful.

— There is a prospect of war in the island of Mindanao, the inhabitants of which are Mohammedans. The dattos are disinclined to recognize American authority.

— The White House at Washington is undergoing extensive repairs and alterations, and President Roosevelt and his family have moved to other quarters in the city.

— A new constitution which was submitted to the people of Connecticut, June 16, after a constitutional convention had spent four months’ time in its preparation, was voted down by a large majority.

— Notwithstanding a recent advance in pay, Chicago freight handlers are demanding more money for their work, threatening in case of refusal to tie up all railroad freight business, July 1. The contest involves 10,000 men.

— The Boxer movement is still alive in some parts of China, as evidenced by a report which comes from Cheng-tu-Foo, on the western frontier, stating that a Methodist chapel there has been destroyed by the Boxers, and ten Chinese converts killed.

— Hundreds of acres of wheat in Kansas are reported to be going to ruin for want of harvest hands. Near Wichita fifty tramps are said to have been captured by farmers, and forced to work in the fields under shotgun guard, getting two dollars a day for their labor.

— Six amateur musical composers, three of whom were Protestant clergymen, recently composed a mass for use in St. Patrick’s Cathedral at Newark, N. J. The New York Sun mentions this as “an interesting and somewhat significant incident of this time of religious liberality.”

— Violent wind storms in central Indiana, northwestern Iowa, and southern South Dakota, June 25, did damage estimated at $3,000,000, and caused the death of at least half a dozen persons. The heaviest loss was in Indiana, where thousands of buildings were wrecked, and tens of thousands of trees blown down.

— A professional nurse living in Boston, Jane Toppan by name, who has been suspected of having murdered several patients under her care, has confessed that no less than thirty-one persons for whom her services as nurse had been employed have met death at her hands, usually by the administration of morphine.

— A Michigan statute forbidding the sale of oleomargarine colored in imitation of butter, has been declared valid by the State supreme court.

— The great volcano, Kilauea, in Hawaii Island, has been in eruption since June 3, and a report from the city of Hilo, which is thirty-one miles distant, states that the eruption has been steadily growing greater, and now constitutes a magnificent spectacle of fire by night and cloud by day. As yet there has been no flow of lava.

— The coronation of King Edward VII has been indefinitely postponed by reason of a sudden illness which seized upon the monarch a short time ago, culminating in a condition which necessitated a surgical operation, the report being that the king was suffering from appendicitis. All London was thrown into consternation and gloom; all preparations for the coronation festivities were discontinued, and almost on the same day that the finishing touches had been put on the stands and various temporary structures erected along the route of the coronation procession, the workmen began tearing them down. Many persons who had invested their money in these have been brought to the verge of bankruptcy. It is said that it will be months before the coronation can take place in the event of the king’s recovery, and that the pomp and display arranged for on this occasion will not be attempted a second time.

— From reports that come from Rome concerning the Taft mission to the Vatican, it appears that a serious hitch has occurred in the progress of the negotiations, which at first were thought to be proceeding with exceptional ease and smoothness. The Vatican’s reply to the propositions submitted by Governor Taft proposes certain conditions to be accepted by the United States in making the transfer of the friars’ lands, among these conditions being one giving to Roman Catholics the control of primary education in the islands. Governor Taft has sent to Washington for further instructions. This proposition made by Rome, to give her control of primary education in the Philippines, thus providing for the placing of a papal stamp and mold upon every child, by the sanction and under the control of the United States government, is of course totally contrary in every way to the American principle of the separation of church and state, and is one which this government naturally could not be expected to consider for a moment. But why has Rome, which very well understands American principles of government made such a proposition? Is there any connection between this and the announcement by Roman Catholic papers here that the great Catholic Federation in this country is now completed and ready to do business with political parties and with the government? Will the administration venture to hold out against Rome’s demands, in the face of the political opposition of this powerful federation, which may be able to seat a rival political party in power at the next election? Such questions as these naturally present themselves when the existing situation is fully considered. It is certain that Rome cares very little about the Philippine property in dispute, but she cares much for the political advantage she may be able to reap from successful diplomacy at this time.