Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-12-31

In America. Early III the year the Is
land of Jamaica was visited by an
earthquake which nearly destroyed the
business portion of Kingston. A sec
ond quake visited the island In June.
Chile was also visited in June by Sc
we're shocks. Calabria province, Italy.
scene OF frequent quakes. was again
shaken in October, disturbance near
" simultaneous with one in Russian
Turkestan. where 1900 lives were lost
by shocks which destroyed the town
of Karatagh.
Notable fires of the year were the
conflagration at San Francisco In
April, the Cincinnati fire OF Aug. 2
and one the same day in Pittsburg.
The losses In these fires aggregated
S5.00O,O00. Springfield. Mass; Amster-
dam, n. Y; Lancaster, Pa; 4oungs-
town, o.. and Harrisburg, Pa, also
suffered heavily from flames. The
collapse Of the cantalever bridge at
Quebec, resulting in the death of
eighty-four worknen, was among the
calamitles of the year. Many distress
ing mining accidents occurred in Amer
lea and Europe. Tie chief strike of
the year was that OF the telegraphers,
which began in August, but did not
seriously affect busintss.
The second peace conference at The
Hague was one of the events of 1907.
The final act of the congress before
adjournment In October was Il re-
capitulution of the thirteen convel-
tons actually agreed upon by that
body, none of which Is binding except
upon such powers as Sign them before
the last day of June, zoos. OF these
conventions nine refer exclusively to
warfare, three deal with the immedi
ate circumstances of wal and only one
has to do with the directprevention or
prohibition of war. Thesist appears as
follows:
First.-The peaceful regulation of in
ternational conflicts.
Seeond.-Proyiding for. an interna-
tional prize court.
Third.-Regulating the rights and du-
ties of neutrals on land.
+ Fourth Regulating the rights and
duties of neutrals at sea.
Fifth.-Covering the laying of sub
marine mines.
Sixth 1.-The bombardment of towns
from the sea.
- Seventh-The matter of The collec-
ton of contractual debts.
Eighth.-The transformation of mer.
chantmeh into warships
Ninth.-The treatment Of captured
crews.
Tenth.-The inviolabllity of fishing
boats.
Eleventh.-The inviolabiltty of the
postal service.
= Twelfth.-The application of the Ge-
neva conventionAnd the Rel Cross to
sea warfare.
Thirteenth.-The laws an6 customs
regulating land warfare
Two wars disturbed the peace of ma
tons. but We're of brief duration Trou-
BILE began In Morocco In March, when
the French troops occupied the Moroc-
can town of Oudja. Casablanca was
attacked by Noors In July and after
several conflicts between French and
Spanish ships and native land troops,
In which cavalry figured largely, the
Moors accepted terms OF peace offered
by France in September In February
Honduras declared war on Nicaragua,
and in April the Nicaraguans ended
the strife as victors, no severe battle
taking place.
In July the emperor of Korea abdi-
Gated In favor of the crown prince, and
Japan assumed full control of Korean
affairs. Russia was disturbed by nu-
merous assassinations of prominent Of
6cials, among them n chief of police al
ST. Petersburg. The car dissolved the
y second douma in June for insubordi-
nation, and u third douma elected to
cooperate with the ministry convened
IN November. Considerable war talk
resulted from the authorization of the
iispatching of fleet of United States
warships from the Atlantic to the Pa
cific, especially in view of the anti.
Japanese feeling shown in San Fran
cisco early in the year. In spite of
the rumored hostility of the mikado's
subjects toward this country, our secre
tary of war was Hospitality received by
Japanese officialdom on his visit to TO
9yo. While in the far east Secretary
Taft inaugurated the first Philippine
assembly.
Several notable balloon flights were
made during the year, the Marconi sys
tenn of wireless service across the At
iantic opened for commercial traffic
the steam turbine was demonstrated q
success for ocean travel, the three hun
aredth anniversary of the landing OF
English settlers at jamestown, Va.
was commemorated by information
al exposition, and a phenomenal fin
for receiving railway rebates was lai
against the Standard Oil companies.
The mortality list of 1907 include
many distinguished authors, artists
scientists, soldiers and celebrities i
various walks of life. Among tn
Americans who died during the yea
were Thomas Bailey Aldrich, the poet
Mary j. Holmes and A. G.. Guntel
novelists; Generals Russell A. Algel
o. B. Wilcox, NJ H. Blunt and T. e
Ruger, veterans of the civil war; job
Il. Morgan and Edmund w. Pettu:
United States senators from Alabama