Current Mention

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 31, 1906

— A revolution is under way in Santo Domingo.

— An earthquake shock was felt in the vicinity of Ogden, Utah, May 24.

— Henrik Ibsen, Norway's most noted poet and dramatist, died at Christiania, May 23.

— General Stoessel, who commanded Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War, has been condemned to death by the Russian government because of his surrender to the Japanese.

— There is a dispute between Turkey and Persia over the location of the boundary line between those countries. Turkish troops have seized positions alleged to be in Persian territory, and Turkey refuses to order their removal.

— The General Conference of the M. E. Church South, which was recently in session at Birmingham, Ala., has been considering the question of revising the church creed. A resolution was adopted striking out the paragraph in the church discipline relating to worldly amusements, and directing the college of bishops to prepare another one to be put in its place.

— The creation of a new church society composed of men belonging to the Presbyterian church, was decided on by the Presbyterian General Assembly in session at Des Moines, Iowa, May 21. The new society will take the name, “Presbyterian Brotherhood,” and its purpose is to bring about “spiritual development, fraternal relations, denominational fealty, the strengthening of fellowship, and the engagement in works of Christian usefulness.”

— The subject of religious freedom came up for consideration recently in the German reichstag, on a motion by the Roman Catholic party demanding abolition of “restrictive laws” against Catholics. A Berlin dispatch states: “The House adopted the first paragraph with a radical amendment, which gives religious freedom throughout the empire to every one, irrespective of creed, and a socialistic amendment forbidding religious education or church attendance against the wishes of parents.”

— A real union of churches was accomplished at Des Moines, Iowa, May 24, the uniting bodies being the Cumberland Presbyterian church and the parent Presbyterian body out of which the former church arose. It was a reunion of these two churches. Opponents of the union sought to secure a court injunction restraining it, but the petition for an injunction was denied by the court, the judge stating that such an action was without precedent, and that the civil courts could not interfere to control the action of a church in ecclesiastical affairs.

— A Salt Lake City telegram of recent date states the following: “The Mormon Church is going out of business, according to a local morning paper. Its principal holding in Salt Lake, the Utah Light and Railway Company, is to be taken over by a $25,000,000 corporation, composed of English and American capitalists. Simultaneously, the announcement is made that the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railroad, another church property, has been sold to a local syndicate for $500,000. If this policy is completely carried out, it will be nothing less than a commercial revolution, which will profoundly affect the political and social life of the State.”

— Russia is apparently on the verge of civil war, in which the people represented by the Douma will be opposed to the bureaucracy represented by the czar and his advisers. The czar has refused the reforms demanded by the Douma, upon two of which—the granting of amnesty to all prisoners held in Siberia and elsewhere for political offenses, and the expropriation of land for the use of the peasants—the Douma lays special emphasis. The only reform granted by the czar is that of universal suffrage. The czar's refusal of the demands of the Douma were received by that body with the strongest expressions of disapproval, and a vote was taken expressing want of confidence in the government, and demanding the formation of a new ministry which will be representative of the people. It is expected that an attempt will be made to dissolve the Douma by force.