Uncertainty | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Sep 11, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 37.

Uncertainty.

UNCERTAINTY is one of the striking present-day characteristics everywhere manifest. For instance, the sudden shout of a soldier, August 20, in the grand mosque at Fez, "May Allah render our master Muolai Mohammed victorious," resulted in a general panic, closing of shops and barricading of homes. The shout was received as the beginning of a revolution, as Mohammed is the sultan's brother; yet the man who did it was an irresponsible converted Jew, and was probably immediately beheaded. It is indicative, however, of what may take place any time in Mohammedan countries.

The New York World says of this nation: "There is a loss of confidence and a contraction of currency everywhere. The president of the Bowery Savings Bank declared in a World interview not long ago that down-town banks were hoarding vast sums of cash merely from a sense of apprehension. People who have borrowed money for railroad or industrial stocks or securities are met with demands for more collateral. The zone of apprehension is steadily increasing in width, and it is the business of the State to look the facts squarely in the face." The London Telegraph views conditions here, if continued, as "fatal to the prosperity of America."

Despatches also indicate that Great Britain is exceedingly nervous over the condition of things in India. The native papers teem with sedition. This also is intimated in an article from our India correspondent recently. The only thing that safeguards India is the hostile camps of natives, divided by caste and religion.

Little has come from Russia during the last few weeks, and yet a report from St. Petersburg shows that during July 274 persons were exiled for political offenses, 54 Russian officers and 95 privates were killed, and 74 officers and 52 privates wounded while maintaining order. How many people were killed, the report does not state, probably a great many more. These are some of the indications of the unrest and uncertainty in the political world.

The Hague Congress is doing a little something. A supreme International Prize Court was approved August 22, with the project as drafted by the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and France. Its acceptance was ten votes to two, Brazil and Mexico objecting. A permanent court of arbitration is still in suspense, altho some are strongly in favor of postponing the discussion until the next congress, recommending that in the meanwhile the powers study the question, a thing which they have been doing for long years. The congress as a peace promoter thus far has proved itself little better than a farce.

A recent despatch from Berlin declares that the mysterious disappearance of young women in that city is increasing to an alarming extent. Five such disappearances were reported in one day, and a number of others had occurred the same week. Most of the girls vanished without leaving any trace of their whereabouts. It is supposed that "white slave" operators are gathering them for immoral purposes and exporting them.

After a thirty-year contention, the passage of a law has at last been secured in England, recognizing the legality of marriage to a deceased wife's sister. Several times the bill has been passed by the House of Commons, but always defeated by the bishops. Thru the influence of the king it has at last become a law, and will be received by the people generally with rejoicing.

Bad Blood.—A despatch from Cripple Creek, Colo., August 22, says that the second attempt to blow up a passenger-train with dynamite was made at St. Peter's, a town midway between Cripple Creek and Colorado Springs. Every window in the car was broken. This is indicative of the bad blood that exists thruout the whole Rocky Mountain region.

A new book on wireless telegraphy announces that some of the great difficulties have been overcome. Thru late discoveries messages can be sent by vibrations which are continuous, as against the irregular, falling-off oscillations of the past; and also duplex wireless telegraphy is possible, sending and receiving two messages at the same time.

Dr. H. Henriet, a noted French chemist, declares that an atmospheric crisis threatens civilization, especially the population of our large cities, that the atmospheric air of these cities is becoming so vitiated, that unless some unforeseen remedy is operative it will affect the race, and result greatly in the increase of disease and race deterioration.

Something like four inches of space is given in a great Eastern paper to tell us that the latest styles in dog's garments come from Italy. One woman who owns an Italian dog, diminutive and ugly, has a suit for her pet for every hour of the day, with inside pockets and handkerchiefs for each one.

Dr. E. Ray Lankaster declares in "Nature" that the introduction of the tsetse fly into any other continent than Africa would work a historical catastrophe as truly as the conquest of a civilized nation by a half-civilized one.

The eighth international Zionist Congress, at The Hague, closed August 21. The principle object gained in the congress was union in support of the idea of proceeding to help the poor Jews by political action.