History for ready reference, Volume 7

by J. N. Larned

[Transcriber's notes.
This work is derived from:
https://archive.org/details/historyforreadyr07larn
To provide some "foresight" on the many international
conflicts mentioned in this work, I suggest reading a review
of World War I, which commences four years after the
publication of this work. For example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I
These modifications are intended to provide
continuity of the text for ease of searching and reading.
1. To avoid breaks in the narrative, page numbers (shown in curly
brackets "{1234}") are usually placed between paragraphs. In this
case the page number is preceded and followed by an empty line.
To remove page numbers use the Regular Expression:
"^{[0-9]+}" to "" (empty string)
2. If a paragraph is exceptionally long, the page number is
placed at the nearest sentence break on its own line, but
without surrounding empty lines.
3. Blocks of unrelated text are moved to a nearby break
between subjects.
5. Use of em dashes and other means of space saving are
replaced with spaces and newlines.
6. Subjects are arranged thusly:
---------------------------------
MAIN SUBJECT TITLE IN UPPER CASE
Subheading one.
Subheading two.
Subject text.
See CROSS REFERENCE ONE.
See Also CROSS REFERENCE TWO.
John Smith,
External Citation Title,
Chapter 3, page 89.---------------------------------
Main titles are at the left margin, in all upper case
(as in the original) and are preceded by an empty line.
Subheadings (if any) are indented three spaces and
immediately follow the main title.
Text of the article (if any) follows the list of subtitles
(if any) and is preceded with an empty line and indented
three spaces.
References to other articles in this work are in all upper
case (as in the original) and indented six spaces. They
usually begin with "See", "Also" or "Also in". "See" is
followed by either "(in this Volume)" or the Volume number
of one of the preceding six Volumes.
Citations of works outside this book are indented six spaces
and in italics (as in the original). The bibliography in
Volume 1, APPENDIX F on page xxi provides additional details,
including URLs of available internet versions.
----------Subject: Start--------
----------Subject: End----------
indicates the start/end of a group of subheadings or other
large block.
To search for words separated by an unknown number of other
characters, use this Regular Expression to find the words
"first" and "second" separated by between 1 and 100 characters:
"first.{1,100}second"
A list of all words used in this work is found at the end of
this file as an aid for finding words with unusual spellings
that are archaic, contain non-Latin letters, or are spelled
differently by various authors. Search for:
"Word List: Start".
I use these free search tools:
Notepad++ — https://notepad-plus-plus.org
Agent Ransack or FileLocator Pro — https://www.mythicsoft.com
Several tables are best viewed using a fixed spacing font such
Courier New.
End Transcriber's Notes.]
{i}
HISTORY
FOR READY REFERENCE
FROM THE BEST
HISTORIANS, BIOGRAPHERS, AND SPECIALISTS
THEIR OWN WORDS IN A COMPLETE
SYSTEM OF HISTORY
FOR ALL USES, EXTENDING TO ALL COUNTRIES AND SUBJECTS, AND
REPRESENTING FOR BOTH READERS AND STUDENTS THE
BETTER AND NEWER LITERATURE OF HISTORY
IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
BY
J. N. LARNED
WITH NUMEROUS HISTORICAL MAPS FROM ORIGINAL STUDIES
AND DRAWINGS BY
ALAN C. REILEY
REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION
IN SEVEN VOLUMES
Volume VII.—RECENT HISTORY
(1901 TO 1910)
A to Z
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
THE C. A. NICHOLS CO., PUBLISHERS
1910
{ii}
Copyright, 1910,
BY J. N. LARNED.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company
{iii}
PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH VOLUME
In the preface to the Sixth Volume of this work, published in
the spring of 1901, it was remarked that the last half-dozen
years of the Nineteenth Century, which that Volume covered,
had been filled with events so remarkable and changes so
revolutionary in political and social conditions that many
people had asked for an extension of my work to report them.
The years then reviewed disclosed only the beginnings of what
the decade since has been developing, in movements and
achievements so varied, so numerous, in such rapid succession,
with effects so profound and so problematical, that their
appeal to our interest seems the strongest that has come to us
yet from human history. That the interest in them justifies
this further extension of my compilation of "recent history"
has been made clear to me by the frequency of the suggestions
of another Volume which have come to the publisher and to
myself. In the new Volume I have striven to make a clear
exhibit of all these strangely pregnant evolutionary and
revolutionary movements of the present time, which are
traversing all divisions and institutions of all society,
occidental and oriental, along all the lines of its
organization,—international, national, municipal, political,
industrial, intellectual, moral,—leaving nothing in life
untouched.
A few indications of the subjects dealt with most extensively
in the Volume may convey some idea of its scope, and of the
aims pursued in its preparation. For example: "Railways" and
"Combinations" ("Trusts"), treated mainly as the subjects of
regulative governmental action, occupy 38 pages in all. "Labor
Organization" fills 25 pages with the incidents of its trade
unions, labor parties, strikes, mediations, arbitrations and
industrial agreements. "Labor Protection" receives 6 pages,
for the account of what has been done in various countries in
the matters of employers’ liability, industrial insurance,
hours of work, etc. "Labor Remuneration" receives 9 pages, for
the reporting of experiments in cooperation, profit-sharing,
wages-regulation, pensions, etc. Various dealings with the
problems of "Poverty and Unemployment" are set forth in 8
pages; similarly the problems of "Crime and Criminology"
receive nearly 6; those of the Liquor Traffic 9; those of the
Opium evil, 3. The development of organized work for "Social
Betterment" is traced in 5 pages; that of reform in "Municipal
Government" in 12. The "Race Problems," which are troubling
many countries and people, are depicted in 15 pages.
Twenty-six pages are given to the Educational history of the
last decade; recent "Science and Invention" are reported in
16. "Children under the Law" are the subject of 8 interesting
pages on recent legislation touching the young.
The contradictory states of temper in the world on the subject
of War are depicted under two contrasted headings—"War, The
Preparations for" and "War, The Revolt against," in
particulars which fill 35 pages. Of the one great war of the
period, between Japan and Russia, and the triumph of mediation
which brought it to a close, the narrative, in about 20 pages,
is full. The story of the late revolution in Turkey is told
authentically in 9 pages, and that of Persia in 10. The
abortive attempts at revolution in Russia, and the sham of
constitutional government conceded, have their history in 18
pages. The signs of wakened life in China are described in 12.
The discontent of India and Lord Morley’s measures of reform
in the
{iv}
British-Indian government, enlarging the native representation
in it, are set forth broadly in 15. Generally, as concerns the
British Empire, the interesting conditions that have arisen in
it very lately, adding South Africa to the group of unified
Colonial Dominions, which are young British nations in the
making, and drawing them all into a league with the "Mother
Country" for organized imperial defense, are amply portrayed.
So, too, are the agitations in recent British politics at
home, which have arisen from an increasing antagonism between
popular interests represented in the House of Commons and
class interests intrenched in the House of Lords. In American
politics, the remarkable invigoration and freshening of spirit
which characterized the administration of President Roosevelt
are made apparent in a broad exhibit of their many effective
results.
As was said of Volume VI., it can be said, I think, with even
more truth of this, that it presents "History in the
making,—the day by day evolution of events and changes as they
passed under the hands and before the eyes and were recorded
by the pens of the actual makers and witnesses of them."
As an appendix to the present Volume, a new feature, related
to the whole work, has been introduced. It offers a
considerably extensive series of systematic courses for
historical study and reading, the literature for which is
supplied in the seven Volumes of "History for Ready
Reference." This has been prepared in response to many
requests which the publishers have received. Even for casual
investigations it will be found serviceable to every possessor
and user of the work.
J. N. L.
Buffalo, New York, May, 1910.
{v}
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to the following named authors and publishers
for permission kindly given me to quote from books and
periodicals, all of which are duly referred to in connection
with the passages borrowed severally from them:
The publishers of
The American Catholic Quarterly Review,
The American Monthly Review of Reviews,
The Associated Prohibition Press,
The Atlantic Monthly Magazine,
The Boston Transcript,
The Century Magazine,
The Contemporary Review,
The Fortnightly Review,
The New York Evening Post,
The New York State Journal of Medicine,
The Nineteenth Century Review,
The North American Review,
The Outlook,
The Times (London),
Messrs. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh,
Messrs. Doubleday,
Page & Co.,
Messrs. E. P. Dutton & Co.,
Messrs. Harper & Brothers,
Messrs. Henry Holt & Co.,
Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Company,
Messrs. John Lane Company,
Messrs. Charles Scribner’s Sons;
Professors Joseph H. Beale and Bruce Wyman (as joint authors);
Mr. Frederick H. Clark, Head of History Department,
Lowell High School, San Francisco;
Mr. George Iles, author of "Inventors at Work",
Dr. James Brown Scott, Solicitor of the U. S. Department of State.
I am much indebted, furthermore, to the courtesy of many
societies and persons from whom I have received reports and
other documents that were essential to my work; and especially
do I owe much to the helpfulness of many on the staff of the
Buffalo Public Library.
{1}
HISTORY FOR READY REFERENCE
ABD EL AZIZ, Sultan of Morocco.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1903, and 1907-1909.
ABDUL HAMID II., Sultan of Turkey.
His forced restoration of the Constitution of 1876 .
His faithlessness to it.
His deposition.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (July-December.),
and 1909 (January-May).
ABDULLA MOHAMMED, The Mullah.
See (in this Volume)
Africa: Somaliland.
ABDURAHMAN,
Ameer of Afghanistan: Death, 1901.
See (in this Volume)
AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1901-1904.
ABERDEEN, The Earl of: Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.
ABERDEEN, Lady.
See (in this Volume)
WOMEN, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF.
"ABIR," or A. B. I. R. COMPANY, The.
See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1903-1905.
ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1902 .
The French in favor.
Their railway building and plans.
"Through Abyssinia the French hope to establish a line of
trade across Africa from east to west in opposition to our
Cape to Cairo railway from north to south. In this they have
already achieved some success. They have settled themselves
along the Gulf of Tadjoura, on the south of which they hold
the magnificent Bay of Djibouti, while on the north their flag
waves over the small port of Obok. But their real triumph in
these regions has been the establishment of a lasting
friendship with Abyssinia by judicious consignments of arms
and ammunition—which were used against Italy in the war of
1896. Finally, they are now in the act of building a French
railway from Djibouti to Addis Abeba, the capital of
Abyssinia. This railway will completely cut out the British
port of Zeila, for in the concession granted by Menelik it is
stipulated that no company is to be permitted to construct a
railroad on Abyssinian territory that shall enter into
competition with that of M. Ilg and M. Chefneux. …
"At Menelik’s capital, Addis Abeba, there is, to use the
expression of M. Hugues le Roux, a silent duel in progress
between the representatives of the various nationalities. We
are represented by Colonel Harrington. But, although Menelik
is wise enough to extend a friendly greeting to all, there is
no reason to suppose that we should enjoy as great a share of
favour as other nations. Although throughout the war we
preserved a strict neutrality, we are regarded as a powerful
and aggressive neighbour, and as the ally of Italy, whereas
the French have been the truest friends of Abyssinia. The
Russians are also in communication with the Negus, and their
efforts are, of course, seconded by France. As for the
Italians, their position seems now to be as good as that of
any European nation."
G. F. H. Berkeley,
The Abyssinian Question and its History
(Nineteenth Century, January, 1903).
ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1902.
Treaty with Great Britain.
A treaty between Great Britain and the Emperor Menelek, of the
kingdom of Ethiopia (Abyssinia), signed on the 15th of May,
1902, defines the boundaries between the Soudan and Ethiopia,
and contains the following important provisions:
"Article III.
His Majesty the Emperor Menelek II., King of Kings of
Ethiopia, engages himself towards the Government of his
Britannic Majesty not to construct, or allow to be
constructed, any work across the Blue Nile, Lake Tsana, or the
Sobat, which would arrest the flow of their waters into the
Nile, except in agreement with his Britannic Majesty’s
Government and the Government of the Soudan.
Article IV.
The Emperor Menelek engages himself to allow his Britannic
Majesty’s Government and the Government of the Soudan to
select in the neighborhood of Itang, on the Baro River, a
block of territory having a river frontage of not more than
2000 metres, in area not exceeding 400 hectares, which shall
be leased to the Government of the Soudan, to be administered
and occupied as a commercial station, so long as the Soudan is
under the Anglo-Egyptian Government. It is agreed between the
two high contracting parties that the territory so leased
shall not be used for any political or military purpose.
Article V.
The Emperor Menelek grants his Britannic Majesty’s Government
and the Government of the Soudan the right to construct a
railway through Abyssinian territory to connect the Soudan
with Uganda. A route for the railway will be selected by
mutual agreement between the two high contracting parties."
ACCIDENTS TO WORKMEN:
In the United States.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR PROTECTION.
ACHINESE, Dutch hostilities with the.
See (in this Volume)
NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1904.
ACRE DISPUTES, The:
Claims on the region by Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia.
Its final partition.
A considerable territory of much richness in the southwestern
part of the Amazon Valley, around the upper waters of the
Madeira, the Aquiry, and the Purus tributaries, was long in
dispute between Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, and became a cause
of serious quarrel between the two first named in 1903. The
then Brazilian President, Rodriguez Alves, in his first annual
message, May, 1903, stated the situation from the Brazilian
standpoint as follows:
"Our former relations of such cordial friendship with Bolivia
have suffered a not insignificant strain since the time when
the Government of that sister Republic, unable to maintain its
authority in the Acre region, inhabited exclusively, as you
know, by Brazilians who, many years previously, had
established themselves there in good faith, saw fit to deliver
it over to a foreign syndicate upon whom it conferred powers
almost sovereign. That concession, as dangerous for the
neighboring nations as for Bolivia itself, encountered general
disapproval in South America As the most immediately
interested, Brazil, already in the time of my illustrious
predecessor, protested against the contract to which I refer,
and entered upon the policy of reprisals, prohibiting the free
transit by the Amazon of merchandise between Bolivia and
abroad.
{2}
Neither that protest nor the counsels of friendship produced
at that time the desired effect in La Paz, and, far from
rescinding the contract or making the hoped-for modifications
therein, the Bolivian Government concluded an especial
arrangement for the purpose of hurrying the entrance of the
syndicate into the possession of the territory.
"When I assumed the government that was the situation, and in
addition the inhabitants of the Acre, who had again proclaimed
their independence, were masters of the whole country,
excepting Puerto Acre, of which they did not get possession
until the end of January. Although since January negotiations
have been initiated by us for the purpose of removing amicably
the cause of the disorders and complications which have had
their seat of action in the Acre ever since the time when for
the first time the Bolivian authorities penetrated thither, in
1899, yet the Government of La Paz has nevertheless thought
proper that its President and his minister of war should march
against that territory at the head of armed forces with the
end in view of crushing its inhabitants and then establishing
the agents of the syndicate."
The Brazilian President proceeded then to relate that he had
notified the Bolivian Government of the intention of Brazil to
"defend as its boundary the parallel of 10° 20' south," which
it held to be the line indicated by the letter and the spirit
of a treaty concluded in 1867; and that Bolivia had then
agreed to a settlement of the dispute through diplomatic
channels. "Upon the Bolivian Government agreeing to this," he
continued, "we promptly reestablished freedom of transit for
its foreign commerce by Brazilian waters. Shortly after this
the syndicate, by reason of the indemnity which we paid it,
renounced the concession which had been made it, eliminating
thus this disturbing element."
In conclusion of the subject, President Alves reported: "To
the Peruvian Government we have announced, very willingly,
since January, that we will examine, with attention, the
claims which in due time they may be pleased to make upon the
subject of the territories now in dispute between Brazil and
Bolivia."
The result of the ensuing negotiations between Brazil and
Bolivia was a treaty signed in the following November and duly
ratified, the terms of which were summarized as follows in a
despatch from the American Legation at La Paz, December 26:
"Three months after exchange of ratifications Brazil is to pay
an indemnity of £1,000,000 and in March, 1905, £1,000,000. A
small strip of territory, north Marso, Brazilero, embracing
Bahia Negra and a port opposite Coimbra, on Paraguay River,
are conceded, and all responsibilities respecting Peruvian
contentions are assumed. The disputed Acre territory is
conceded by Bolivia. A railroad for the common use of both
countries is to be built from San Antonio, on Madeira River,
to Cuajar Ameren, on Mamore River, within four years after
ratification. Free navigation on the Amazon and its Bolivian
affluents is conceded. A mixed commission, with umpire chosen
from the diplomatic representation to Brazil, will treat all
individual Acre claims."
Subsequently it was determined in Bolivia that the entire
indemnity received from Brazil should be expended on
railroads, with an additional sum of £3,500,000, to be raised
by loan.
For the settlement of the remaining question of rights in the
Acre territory, between Bolivia and Peru, a treaty of
arbitration, negotiated in December, 1902, but ratified with
modifications by the Bolivian Congress in October, 1903,
provided that "the high contracting parties submit to the
judgment and decision of the Government of the Argentine
Republic, as arbitrator and judge of rights, the question of
limits now pending between both republics, so as to obtain a
definite and unappealable sentence, in virtue of which all the
territory which in 1810 belonged to the jurisdiction or
district of the Ancient Audience of Charcas, within the limits
of the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, by acts of the ancient
sovereign, may belong to the Republic of Bolivia; and all the
territory which at the same date and by acts of equal origin
belonged to the viceroyalty of Peru may belong to the Republic
of Peru."
The case was pending until July, 1909, when judgment favorable
to the claims of Peru was pronounced by the President of the
Argentine Republic, Señor Figueroa Alcorta. According to the
award, as announced officially from Peru, the line was drawn
to "follow the rivers Heath and Madre de Dios up to the mouth
of the Toromonas and from there a straight line as far as the
intersection of the river Tehuamanu with meridian 69. It will
then run northwards along this meridian until it meets the
territorial sovereignty of another nation."
The Bolivians were enraged by the decision against them, and
riotous attacks were made on the Argentine Legation at La Paz,
the Bolivian capital, and on Argentine consulates elsewhere.
Worse than this in offensiveness was a published declaration
by President Montes of Bolivia that the arbitration award
respecting the frontiers of Bolivia and Peru had been given by
Argentina without regard to Bolivia’s petition that an actual
inspection of the territory should be made in case the
documents and titles submitted were unsatisfactory. "Had this
been done," said the President of Bolivia, "the arbitrator
would have been convinced of the respective possessions of the
two countries. It is inexplicable how the arbitrator, after
examining the titles and documents, could give such a
decision. He passed over the elementary principles of
international rights in awarding to Peru territory which had
never been questioned as belonging to Bolivia. As a
consequence Bolivia rejects the award."
The insulted Government of Argentina demanded explanations;
diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken
off, and war seemed imminent. Fortunately the term of
President Montes was near its close, and a man of evidently
cooler temper, Elidoro Villazon, succeeded him in the
Presidency on August 12th. The new President, in his message
to Congress next day, while characterizing the award as
unjust, said: "We must proceed circumspectly, and be guided by
international rights and the customs of civilized nations in
similar cases. I consider it right to avail ourselves of the
means offered by diplomacy to obtain a rectification of the
new frontier line given by arbitration, thus saving the
compromised possessions of Bolivia."
{3}
With this better spirit entering into the controversy, Bolivia
was soon able to arrange with Peru for a concession from the
latter which made her people willing to recognize the award.
This agreement was effected on the 11th of September, and its
terms, as made known in a despatch from Rio de Janeiro, were
as follows:
"Peru surrenders to Bolivia a very small extent of territory
lying between the Madre de Dios River and the Acre, traversed
by the rivers Tahuamano and Buyamaro, which together form the
river Orton, an affluent of the Beni River. This territory,
with an area of about 6,500 square kilometres, was discovered
and colonized by Bolivians, who to-day are in possession of
numerous prosperous industries there. Peru gets possession of
all the upper course of the Madre de Dios, from its head
waters to its confluence with the river Heath. Such a slight
modification as the foregoing from the decision reached by the
arbitrator in no way disturbs the Argentine Republic."
As between Peru and Brazil the boundary question was settled
by a treaty signed at Rio de Janeiro on the 8th of September,
three days before the Bolivian pacification.
This probably closes a territorial dispute which has troubled
four countries in South America for many years, and brought
quarrelling couples to the verge of war a number of times.
ADANA, Massacres at.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (January-May), and (April-December).
ADDIS ABEBA, Capital of Abyssinia.
See (in this Volume)
ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1902.
ADULTERATIONS, Laws against.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH: PURE FOOD LAWS.
AEHRENTHAL, Baron.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905-1906.
AERONAUTICS.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT.
AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1901-1906.
Death of Abdurahman.
Succession of his son, Habibullah.
Signs of a progressive spirit in the new Ameer.
The late Ameer, Abdurahman, died in October, 1901, and was
succeeded by his eldest son, Habibullah. Early in the third
year of his reign the new Ameer began to show signs of a wish
to have his country move a little on the lines of European
progress, in the march which so many of his Asiatic neighbors
were joining. His undertakings were disturbed for a time by
trouble with his half-brother, Omar Jan, and with the latter’s
mother, the Bibi Halima or Queen of the Harem; but he brought
the trouble to an end which does not seem to have been
tragical, and that, in itself, is a notable mark in his favor.
The Russo-Japanese War interested him immensely, and he
established a daily post between Khyber and Cabul to bring
speedy news of events. He then read the reports in public,
with expositions, to make the listening people understand the
bearing of what was happening on their own interests, and the
lessons they should learn from what the Japanese were doing.
He is said to have done much in the way of improving
agriculture and horse-breeding in Afghanistan; he has a desire
to establish a Chiefs’ College, with the English language as
the basis of instruction, but has met with strong opposition
in this undertaking; and he has introduced electric lighting,
with probably other luxuries of modern science, in Cabul. Such
things in Afghanistan mark a highly progressive man. His
political intelligence is proved by the cordiality of his
relations with the British Indian Government. An interesting
account of conditions in the Ameer’s country in 1904 was given
by Mr. D. C. Boulger, in the Fortnightly Review of December,
that year, under the title of "The Awakening of Afghanistan."
AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1905.
The Ameer becomes King.
In a new treaty between the Government of Great Britain and
the Ameer of Afghanistan, the latter was recognized as King.
AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1907.
Convention between Great Britain and Russia relative to
Afghanistan.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1907 (AUGUST).
AFRICA:
Its Colonizability by white peoples.
The regions habitable by Europeans.
"There are three obstacles to the white race from Europe
overrunning and colonising the continent of Africa as it has
overrun and colonised the two Americas and Australasia. The
first is the insalubrity of the well-watered regions and the
uninhabitability of the desert tracts; the second is the
opposition of strong indigenous races; and the third, of quite
recent growth, is a growing sentiment which is increasingly
influencing public opinion, in Europe more especially, and
which forbids the white man to do evil that good may come:
namely, to displace by force of arms pre-existing races in
order that, the white man may take the land they occupy for
his own use. It is probable that the second and third reasons
combined may in future prove the more effective checks.
Deserts, to be made habitable and cultivable, only need
irrigation, and apparently there is a subterranean water
supply underlying most African deserts which can be tapped by
artesian wells. The extreme unhealthiness of the well-watered
parts of Africa is due not so much to climate as to the
presence of malaria in the systems of the Negro inhabitants.
This malaria is conveyed from the black man to the white man
by certain gnats of the genus Anopheles—possibly by
other agencies. But the draining of marshes and the
sterilisation of pools, together with other measures, may
gradually bring about the extinction of the mosquito; while,
on the other hand, it seems as though the drug (Cassia
Beareana) obtained from the roots of a cassia bush may act
as a complete cure for malarial fever. …
"For practical purposes the only areas south of the Sahara
Desert which at the present time are favourable to white
colonisation are the following. In West Africa there can be no
white colonisation under existing conditions; the white man
can only remain there for a portion of his working life as an
educator and administrator. … In North-East Africa,
Abyssinia and Eritrea will suggest themselves as white man’s
countries—presenting, that is to say, some of the conditions
favourable to European colonisation. The actual coast of
Eritrea is extremely hot, almost the hottest country in the
world, but it is not necessarily very unhealthy. The heat,
however, apart from the existence of a fairly abundant native
population, almost precludes the idea of a European
settlement. But on the mountains of the hinterland which are
still within Italian territory there are said to be a few
small areas suited at any rate to settlement by Italians, who,
by-the-by, seem to be getting on very well with the natives in
that part of Africa. But a European colonisation of Abyssinia,
possible as it might be climatically, is out of the question
in view of the relatively abundant and warlike population
indigenous to the Ethiopian Empire. …
{4}
"Then comes Central Africa, which may be taken to range from
the northern limits of the Congo basin and the Great Lakes on
the north to the Cunenc River and the Zambesi on the south.
British East Africa and Uganda offer probably the largest
continuous area of white man’s country in the central section
of the continent. The Ankole country in the southwest of the
Uganda Protectorate and the highlands north of Tanganyika,
together with the slopes of the Ruwenzori range, offer small
tracts of land thoroughly suited to occupation by a white race
so far as climate and fertility are concerned; but these
countries have already been occupied, to a great extent, by
some of the earliest forerunners of the Caucasian (the
Bahima), as well as by sturdy Negro tribes who have become
inured to the cold. To the northeast of the Victoria Nyanza,
however, there is an area which has as its outposts the
southwest coast of Lake Rudolf, the great mountains of
Debasien and Elgon, and the snow-clad extinct volcanoes of
Kenia and Kilimanjaro. This land of plateaux and rift valleys
is not far short of 70,000 square miles in extent, and so far
as climate and other physical conditions are concerned is as
well suited for occupation by British settlers as Queensland
or New South Wales. But nearly 50,000 square miles of this
East African territory is more or less in the occupation of
sturdy Negro or Negroid races whom it would be neither just
nor easy to expel. …
"The only portion of German East Africa which is at all suited
to European settlement lies along the edge of the
Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau. Here is a district of a little more
than a thousand square miles which is not only elevated and
healthy, but very sparsely populated by Negroes. A few patches
in the Katanga district and the extreme southern part of the
Congo Free State offer similar conditions.
"In British Central Africa we have perhaps 6,000 square miles
of elevated, sparsely populated, fertile country to the
northwest of Lake Nyasa and along the road to Tanganyika.
There is also land of this description in the North-East
Rhodesian province of British Central Africa, in Manikaland,
and along the water-parting between the Congo and the Zambesi
systems. Then in the southernmost prolongation of British
Central Africa are the celebrated Shire Highlands, which,
together with a few outlying mountain districts to the
southwest of Lake Nyasa, may offer a total area of about 5,000
square miles suitable to European colonisation. A small
portion of the Mozambique province, in the interior of the
Angoche coast, might answer to the same description. Then
again, far away to the west, under the same latitudes, we
have, at the back of Mossamedes and Benguela, other patches of
white man’s country in the mountains of Bailundo and Shclla.
"In South Africa, beyond the latitudes of the Zambesi, we come
to lands which are increasingly suited to the white man’s
occupation the further we proceed south. Nearly all German
South-West Africa is arid desert, but inland there are
plateaux and mountains which sometimes exceed 8,000 feet in
altitude, and which have a sufficient rainfall to make
European agriculture possible. … About two-thirds of the
Transvaal, a third of Rhodesia, a small portion of southern
Bechuanaland, two-thirds of the Orange River Colony,
four-fifths of Cape Colony, and a third of Natal sum up the
areas attributed to the white man in South Africa. The
remainder of this part of the continent must be considered
mainly as a reserve for the black man, and to a much smaller
degree (in South-East Africa) as a field for Asiatic
colonisation, preferentially on the part of British Indians.
"Counting the white-skinned Berbers and Arabs of North Africa,
and the more or less pure-blooded, light-skinned Egyptians, as
white men, and the land they occupy as part of the white man’s
share of the Dark Continent, we may then by a rough
calculation arrive (by adding to white North Africa the other
areas enumerated in the rest of the continent) at the fol-
lowing estimate: that about 970,000 square miles of the whole
African continent may be attributed to the white man as his
legitimate share. If, however, we are merely to consider the
territory that lies open to European colonisation, then we
must considerably reduce our North African estimate."
H. H. Johnston,
The White Man's Place in Africa
(Nineteenth Century, June, 1904).
AFRICA:
Agreements between England and France concerning Egypt,
Morocco, Senegambia, and Madagascar.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1904 (APRIL).
AFRICA:
British, German, and Congo frontier agreement.
The following was telegraphed to the Press from Berlin,
November 29, 1909:
"An agreement was signed in Berlin during the summer, Reuter’s
representative learns, whereby various questions affecting the
frontier lines between British Uganda and German East Africa
and the Congo, which have been under discussion for years,
were definitely settled. The agreement is understood to be
satisfactory to both parties, but the details are not to be
published as yet."
AFRICA:
French Central: A Land-locked Empire.
"Since 1898, successive expeditions have converged from the
French Niger Territories, from South Algeria, and from the
French Congo towards Lake Tchad, which has ever exercised a
mystic charm over the minds of explorers. Rabah, the usurper
of Bornou, has been killed, and his son Fadel’allah recently
met the same fate, so that all the belt of black countries
stretching from the north of Sokoto, the north of Bornon and
Baghirmi to the confines of Wadaï, the most easterly limit of
the French sphere, are now occupied in a military sense. …
Even if we consider the French as now firmly settled in these
countries, peopled with timid blacks from whom little is to be
feared, the succeeding problem, what to do with them, presents
no seductive outlook.
"The key to the situation is the question of transport, for
here we have a vast land-locked empire, the roads to which are
long, complicated, and difficult. For the present the question
of a great Trans-Saharan railway may be left out of account,
and in all probability more mature consideration will convince
the French of the futility of such a scheme. Three roads
running through French territory are available; from the
east by the Niger, from the south by the French Congo, and
from the north, Tunis or Algeria, across the great Sahara.
{5}
Of the three, the only one which can be made of practical
utility for a long time to come is that across the Sahara.
From the centre of Africa there are several well-known caravan
routes, all capable of being commercially used, provided the
intervening tribes can be brought to acquiesce in the French
domination. All these terminate in Turkish territory."
E. J. Wardle,
The French in Central Africa
(Contemporary Review, October, 1902).
AFRICA:
Subjugation of Hausa Land and occupation of Sokoto.
Early in 1903 the High Commissioner of Nigeria, Sir F. Lugard,
sent an expedition against the Emir of Kano, in the northern
part of the Nigerian Protectorate, within the Sultanate of
Sokoto, which had never been made submissive to the rule which
Great Britain claimed. Kano was reached and taken by assault
on the 3d of February, the Emir and his horsemen escaping
toward Sokoto. The expedition then proceeded against Sokoto,
where feeble resistance was offered, and the seat of the
Sultanate was taken on the 15th of March. These conquests are
believed to have effected a firm establishment of British
ascendancy throughout the Niger territory, from the coast to
the Saharan sphere of the French. The possession of Kano is
important, as it is the starting point of caravan routes
eastward and northward and the chief commercial town of the
Western Sudan.
AFRICA:
Rapid development of the railway system.
See (in this Volume)
Railways: Nigeria.
AFRICA:
French Mauretanie.
See Morocco: A. D.1909.
AFRICA:
French Western: Eradication of Yellow Fever.
See PUBLIC HEALTH: A. D. 1901-1905.
AFRICA:
German Colonies: Cost to Germany.
Small number of German Colonists.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1903.
AFRICA:
Unpopularity of the Colonial Policy in Germany.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1906-1907.
AFRICA:
Wars with the Natives.
In the German Parliament, on the 12th of January, 1905, it was
stated by the Director of the Colonial Department, Dr. Stübel,
that up to that date 11,000 German troops had been employed
against the Hereros and Witbois in Southwest Africa, and that
the campaign of 1904 had cost 42,000,000 marks (about
$10,500,000). The military estimate for 1905 was 60,000,000
marks. General von Trotha, Governor of the colony, who had
been in command of operations, and who had set a price on the
heads of Morenga and other insurgent chiefs, and had
threatened the whole tribe with extermination, was to be
superseded; but the Emperor, notwithstanding, conferred on him
the Order "Pour le Merite." A similar conflict with the
natives in German East Africa was opened in August, 1905, by
the murder of Bishop Spiers and four missionaries and Sisters
of Mercy. The Wangonis are of the Zulu race, mustering about
30,000 warriors, and reinforcements of the German troops had
to be sent out.
AFRICA:
Opening of Diamond Fields.
Diamond discoveries in German Southwest Africa began to
acquire importance in 1908. As stated in a lecture on the
subject by Herr Dernburg, the German Colonial Secretary, at
Berlin, in January, 1909, these diamond deposits lie in
crescent form around Lüderitz Bay, beginning to the south of
Elizabeth Bay and extending northwards to the sea-coast in the
vicinity of Anischab. The full extent of the stretch of
diamond-bearing sand can only be ascertained by careful
measurement, but it is even now permissible to describe the
deposits as very considerable. The diamonds, which are found
mixed with small agates and other half-precious stones, vary
from one-fifth to three-quarters of a carat—the average not
exceeding one-third of a carat. They are almost perfect
octahedrons of good water. The regular exploitation may be
said to have begun in September, 1908, the total recovered
before that date only amounting to 2,720 carats. In September
the amount was 6,644 carats, in October 8,621, in November
10,228, and in December 11,549, or in all 39,762, the price of
which would be about £55,000. The administrative regulations
introduced stipulate, first, that half the net profit shall go
to the Southwest African Treasury; secondly, that measures
shall be taken to secure an adequate market for the new supply
and to prevent depreciation; thirdly, that suitable conditions
shall be established for the working of the mines; and,
fourthly, that their exploitation shall be mainly reserved for
German capital, and that increased work shall be provided for
the German diamond-cutting industry.
AFRICA: Portuguese: A. D. 1905-1908.
Continued existence of slavery.
General F. Joubert-Pienaar, one of the prominent Boer leaders
in the Boer-British War, is the authority for startling
statements concerning the continued maintenance of slavery in
Portuguese Africa. He attempted to become a settler in that
region, and related subsequently what he saw and heard during
his stay in it. Of an experience at the Island Principe he
said: "The English director of the cable office took me to
some of the cocoa plantations, with which the slopes of the
hills are covered. He told me that it was a terribly unhealthy
place to live, and that Europeans could not exist there for
more than a couple of months at a time, and that frequent
changes have to be made, therefore, in the telegraph
department. He told me, further, that the year before the
whole original population of the island had died from malarial
fever, and that the following year they imported five hundred
slaves, men and women, to repopulate the island. That was ten
months before my visit. Pointing to five women walking on the
street, he said: 'There are all that are left of the women
imported, and only about a dozen men remain.' I asked him how
they carried on the work of the plantations. He said it was
done by simply importing slaves, from time to time, to replace
those who had died."
General Joubert-Pienaar declares that he never heard of a
single case where one of these slaves had returned to his own
country, while in the coast towns the abnormal proportion of
native women and children noticeable is due to the fact that
the men have been sent as slaves to the islands. The method of
obtaining the slaves and of making the pretense of a contract
with them is thus described: "When any slaves are wanted in
the islands, the plantation owner informs the slave-traders on
the mainland. The slave-trader goes to a strong chief, inland,
and bargains with him for the number of slaves he requires,
generally paying him in rifles and ammunition.
{6}
This chief will not send any of his own men to the islands,
but, calling his braves, he goes to some weaker tribe, attacks
it, and annihilates the tribe, taking the men, women,
children, and cattle captive. The men, and as many
women as are necessary, he hands over to the
slave-trader, the rest of the women and the cattle he
keeps for himself and his people, and the children he
sells to colonists for slaves. On these slave-hunting
expeditions the most terrible cruelties are enacted and
the most gruesome atrocities perpetrated. … Arriving at
the coast, these men—and sometimes women when they are
required—are brought before an officer appointed for the
purpose. He reads the contract to them in Portuguese; and
after the contract has been read to these people, who do not
understand one word of the language, a black man, who is
stationed there for the purpose, shouts to these slaves to say
‘Yes!’ Of course they all repeat the ‘Yes’ after him, and the
Portuguese official then certifies that these men have all
agreed to go and work on the islands under the terms of the
contract read to them. He then takes a little tin box, in
which a copy of the contract is placed, and ties it around the
neck of each of the slaves."
AFRICA:
Somaliland: Troubles with the Mullah.
In 1902 the British in their Somali Coast Protectorate began
to be harassed by raids from the bordering desert region led
by a religious agitator who had assumed the character known as
that of a Mullah. Three years previously the British Consul at
Berbera had reported to London the appearance of this
personage, Muhammad Abdullah by name, in the Dolbahanta
country, and that he was said to be "collecting arms and men
with a view to establishing his authority over the
southeastern portion of the Protectorate." He had made several
pilgrimages to Mecca, and had attached himself there to a sect
which "preaches more regularity in the hours of prayer" and
"stricter attention to the forms of religion." He had begun
the use of force to compel the tribes of his region to join
his sect, and was evidently gaining power to make trouble. The
trouble was realized in due time, and became serious in 1902,
when, in October, Colonel Swayne, with a native levy of
troops, having driven the Mullah’s raiders back into the
desert, followed them thither, and suffered a serious reverse.
He was attacked and compelled to retreat, with a loss of two
officers and 70 men killed and two officers, with about 100
men wounded. Troops were then sent to the Protectorate from
India and careful preparations were made for dealing with the
Mullah in a more effectual way. He, meantime, sent demands for
political recognition and for the cession to him of a port.
Early in 1903 operations against the Mullah were renewed, with
strongly increased forces from India and from African native
levies; but the results were again disastrous. A detachment
from a column which pursued the Mullah into his own region
ventured too far in the advance and was overwhelmed, losing
nearly 200 officers and men. There appears to have been no
success during the year to counterbalance this reverse.
AFRICA:
Peace with the Mullah.
The Mullah was brought at last to an agreement with Great
Britain and Italy which established comparative peace for the
time being in Somaliland, with the promise of freedom in
trade.
Notwithstanding the pacific agreement with the Mullah,
effected in 1905, troubles on the Somali border have
continued, because of his attacks on friendly tribes. Early in
1909 it was announced that the British forces in Somaliland
were to be increased, but that there was no intention to
embark on any expedition against the Mullah. A despatch from
Bombay, India, on the 3d of January, said: "Further operations
against the Somaliland Mullah are strongly deprecated. It is
impossible to conduct a successful campaign, owing to the
difficulty of obtaining supplies, unless a light railway 200
miles long is built to Bohotle. The Mullah, who is an able
man, is not believed to be anxious to engage in fresh
hostilities with the British, but he is determined to dominate
the Hinterland. Experts consider that no new movement on the
lines of the last campaign would produce a satisfactory
result. The Mullah’s strength is unknown, but it is probably
great, as his camp sometimes covers ten square miles. His
mobility is astonishing, and he can always elude our troops.
Our present advanced outpost is Burao, 80 miles from Berbera,
where there is a small force of the King’s African Rifles. The
country is practically worthless, and the best course,
probably, is to hold the coast and to leave the far interior
severely alone. The friendly tribes cannot be further
effectively protected without permanently employing a large
force. Minor operations are now merely a waste of money."
AFRICA:
Sudan: Suppression of a new Mahdi.
A new Mahdi proclaimed himself in Southern Kordofan in
November, 1903. He was a native of Tunis, named Mahomed El
Amin, who had twice made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Colonel
Mahon, the Deputy-Governor of the Sudan, on hearing of
Mahomed’s proclamation, started instantly from Khartoum, with
200 cavalry, sending orders to El Obeid for 200 infantry, with
Maxims, to meet him near Tagalla. With this force, after a
five days march, through the desert toward the Tagalla
mountains, he caught the Mahdi, took him to El Obeid and tried
and hanged him straightway.
AFRICA:
Population.
Lord Cromer, in his annual report, 1904, estimated the
population of the Sudan, within the British-Egyptian
Condominium, at no more than 1,870,000, to which number it had
been reduced by war and disease from former estimates of
8,525,000, prior to the Mahdi domination.
See, also, ALGIERS, CONGO, EGYPT, MOROCCO,
RHODESIA, SOUTH AFRICA, etc.
AGLIPAY, Padre Gregorio:
His secession from the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines.
See (in this Volume)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1902.
AGRAM TRIALS, The.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1908-1909.
AGRARIAN INTEREST, in Germany:
Its triumph in 1909.
See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1908-1909.
AGRARIAN LAW, The Russian.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (APRIL).
AGRICULTURAL CRISIS IN RUSSIA.
See (in this Volume)

RUSSIA: A. D. 1905.
AGRICULTURE:
Coöperative and other unions among farmers.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902-1909;
AND LABOR REMUNERATION: COÖPERATIVE ORGANIZATION.
AGRICULTURE:
Dry Farming.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION: AGRICULTURE.
{7}
AGRICULTURE:
Germany: Decrease of agricultural population.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1907.
AGRICULTURE:
Increasing cooperative organization in Great Britain.
See LABOR REMUNERATION: COÖPERATIVE ORGANIZATION.
AGRICULTURE: International Institute:
Its origin and purpose.
Created under the auspices of the King of Italy.
Forty nations associated in its membership.
Its seat near Rome.
The idea of an international organization for systematizing
the agricultural production of the world and regulating the
markets of food products, by constant and authentic knowledge
of crops and conditions, was conceived some years ago by Mr.
David Lubin, of California. It was first expressed by him
publicly at Budapest in 1896, but was the growth of thirteen
years of thought preceding that date. As the result of Mr.
Lubin’s efforts to interest governments and peoples in the
project, King Victor Emmanuel III., of Italy, became its
hearty patron in 1903, and took the initiative step toward
effecting an organization as wide as the civilized world, by
inviting all nations to take part in a convention of delegates
for the purpose, at Rome, in May, 1905. The invitation, as
addressed to the Government of the United States by the
Italian Ambassador at Washington, on the 26th of February,
1905, was in these words: "By order of my government, I have
the honor to inform your excellency that His Majesty the King,
my august sovereign, has taken the initiative in the formation
of an international institute of agriculture to be composed of
representatives of the great agricultural societies of the
various countries and of delegates from the several
governments. This institute, being devoid of any political
intent, should tend to bring about a community of interests
among agriculturists and to protect these interests in the
markets of the world. It will study agricultural conditions in
the different countries, periodically indicating the supply
and the quality of products with accuracy and care, so as to
proportion production to demand, increase and distribute the
various crops according to the rate of consumption, render the
commerce of agricultural products less costly and more
expeditious, and suitably determine the prices thereof. Acting
in unison with the various national bureaus already existing,
it will furnish accurate information on conditions regarding
agricultural labor in various localities, and will regulate
and direct the currents of emigration. It will favor the
institution of agricultural exchanges and labor bureaus. It
will protect both producers and consumers against the excesses
of transportation and forestalling syndicates, keeping a watch
on middlemen, pointing out their abuses, and acquainting the
public with the true conditions of the market. It will foster
agreements for common defense against the diseases of plants
and live stock, against which individual defense is less
effectual. It will help to develop rural cooperation,
agricultural insurance, and agrarian credit. It will study and
propose measures of general interest, preparing international
agreements for the benefit of agriculture and the agricultural
classes.
"Carrying out the intention of His Majesty, the Italian
Government appeals to all friendly nations, each of which
ought to have its own representatives in the institute,
appointed to act as the exponents of their respective
governments, as organs of mutual relations, and as mediums of
reciprocal influence and information. It accordingly now
invites them to participate through their delegates in the
first convention, which is to be held at Rome next May for the
purpose of preparing rules for the new institute.
"The King’s Government trusts that the United States will be
willing to cooperate in the enterprise, the first inspiration
of which is due to an American citizen, and that, accepting
the invitation to the conference at Rome, it will send thither
a delegation commensurate with its importance as the foremost
agricultural nation in the world."
Gratifying responses to the invitation were made by most, if
not all, of the governments addressed, and the Conference at
Rome was held at the appointed time. It concluded its sessions
on the 7th of June by attaching the signatures of the
delegates of the Powers represented to a final Act, which
embodies the resolutions on which they had agreed. This Act of
organization was as follows:
"Article 1.
There is hereby created a permanent international institute of
agriculture, having its seat at Rome.
"Article 2.
The international institute of agriculture is to be a
government institution, in which each adhering power shall be
represented by delegates of its choice. The institute shall be
composed of a general assembly and a permanent committee, the
composition and duties of which are defined in the ensuing
articles.
"Article 3.
The general assembly of the institute shall be composed of the
representatives of the adhering governments. Each nation,
whatever be the number of its delegates, shall be entitled to
a number of votes in the assembly which shall be determined
according to the group to which it belongs, and to which
reference will be made in article 10.
"Article 4.
The general assembly shall elect for each session from among
its members a president and two vice-presidents. The sessions
shall take place on dates fixed by the last general assembly
and according to a programme proposed by the permanent
committee and adopted by the adhering governments.
"Article 5.
The general assembly shall exercise supreme control over the
international institute of agriculture. It shall approve the
projects prepared by the permanent committee regarding the
organization and internal workings of the institute. It shall
fix the total amount of expenditures and audit and approve the
accounts. It shall submit to the approval of the adhering
governments modifications of any nature involving an increase
in expenditure or an enlargement of the functions of the
institute. It shall set the date for holding the sessions. It
shall prepare its regulations. The presence at the general
assemblies of delegates representing two-thirds of the
adhering nations shall be required in order to render the
deliberations valid.
"Article 6.
The executive power of the institute is intrusted to the
permanent committee, which, under the direction and control of
the general assembly, shall carry out the decisions of the
latter and prepare propositions to submit to it.
{8}
"Article 7.
The permanent committee shall be composed of members
designated by the respective governments. Each adhering nation
shall be represented in the permanent committee by one member.
However, the representation of one nation may be intrusted to
a delegate of another adhering nation, provided that the
actual number of members shall not be less than fifteen. The
conditions of voting in the permanent committee shall be the
same as those indicated in article 3 for the general
assemblies.
"Article 8.
The permanent committee shall elect from among its
members for a period of three years a president and a
vice-president, who may be reelected. It shall prepare
its internal regulations, vote the budget of the
institute within the limits of the funds placed at its
disposal by the general assembly, and appoint and remove
the officials and employees of its office. The general
secretary of the permanent committee shall act as
secretary' of the assembly.
"Article 9.
The institute, confining its operations within an
international sphere, shall—
(a) Collect, study, and publish as promptly as possible
statistical, technical, or economic information concerning
farming, both vegetable and animal products, the commerce in
agricultural products, and the prices prevailing in the
various markets:
(b) Communicate to parties interested, also as promptly as
possible, all the information just referred to;
(c) Indicate the wages paid for farm work;
(d) Make known the new diseases of vegetables which may appear
in any part of the world, showing the territories infected,
the progress of the disease, and, if possible, the remedies
which are effective in combating them;
(e) Study questions concerning agricultural coöperation,
insurance, and credit in all their aspects; collect and
publish information which might be useful in the various
countries in the organization of works connected with
agricultural coöperation, insurance, and credit;
(f) Submit to the approval of the governments, if there is
occasion for it, measures for the protection of the common
interests of farmers and for the improvement of their
condition, after having utilized all the necessary sources of
information, such as the wishes expressed by international or
other agricultural congresses or congresses of sciences
applied to agriculture, agricultural societies, academies,
learned bodies, etc.
All questions concerning the economic interests, the
legislation, and the administration of a particular nation
shall be excluded from the consideration of the institute.
"Article 10.
The nations adhering to the institute shall be classed in five
groups, according to the place which each of them thinks it
ought to occupy. The number of votes which each nation shall
have and the number of units of assessment shall be
established according to the following gradations:
Groups of nations. Numbers of votes Units of assessment.
I 5 16
II 4 8
III 3 4
IV 2 2
V 1 1
In any event the contribution due per unit of assessment shall
never exceed a maximum of 2,500 francs. As a temporary
provision the assessment for the first two years shall not
exceed 1,500 francs per unit. Colonies may, at the request of
the nations to which they belong, be admitted to form part of
the institute on the same conditions as the independent
nations.
"Article 11.
The present convention shall be ratified and the ratifications
shall be exchanged as soon as possible by depositing them with
the Italian Government."
In communicating this Act of the Conference to the Government
of the United States, the Italian Ambassador at Washington
wrote August 9, 1905: "The final act of the conference was
signed by the delegates under reservation of the approval of
their respective governments, nor could it be otherwise. After
this approval the convention, which constitutes the essential
part of the act, shall, if approved (as the King’s Government
does not doubt it will be), assume the character of an
obligation on the part of the nations which shall have adhered
to it through the signature of plenipotentiaries appointed for
the purpose."
On March 27, 1906, he was able to announce that "the States
which were represented at the Conference of last year at Rome
… have now all sanctioned by the signature of their
plenipotentiaries the Convention drafted at that Conference."
As appears from a copy transmitted, the Convention had been
signed by the plenipotentiaries of forty nations, including
twelve American republics besides the United States. To this
gratifying announcement the Ambassador from Italy added the
following:
"His Majesty the King at the council of January 28 last signed
a decree, a few copies of which I have the honor to inclose,
by which a royal commission is established, and whose precise
duty is to carry into effect, as soon as it becomes operative,
the convention which will soon be referred to the several
contracting governments for ratification."
At the second general meeting of the Institute at Rome,
December 12, 1909, more than 100 foreign delegates were
present.
"His Majesty the King, desiring again to prove how much he has
at heart the contemplated international institute, has ordered
that the net income of the royal domains of Tombelo and
Coltano, amounting yearly to 300,000 lire, shall be turned
over to the above-mentioned royal commission from the 1st of
July next until the day when, the international institute of
agriculture being legally constituted, the administration and
usufruct of the said domains shall, in accordance with the
announcement made to the international conference at its
session of June 6, 1905, be transferred to the institute
itself.
"In obedience to His Majesty’s interest, the royal commission
has decided to apply the sum graciously placed at its disposal
for the aforesaid period to the construction of a palace,
where the international institute will have its headquarters,
and which will therefore be solely due to the munificence of
the sovereign. The new building that is to stand on the
village Umberto I., near the Porta Pinciana, and will cover
10,000 square meters of public property, will, it is fully
expected, be completed about the end of next year, which is
the time when the permanent committee of the institute will
likely be convened at Rome. This munificent act of His Majesty
the King, whereby the erection of quarters worthy of the
international institute of agriculture is provided for, thus
begins the execution of the convention of June 7, 1905."
{9}
Transmitting to the American Ambassador at Rome the
President’s ratification of the Convention, on the 11th of
July, 1906, Secretary Root made known that Congress had
appropriated $4800 as the quota of the United States to the
support of the International Institute of Agriculture for the
fiscal year 1907, and $8000 for the travelling expenses of the
delegates to be appointed to the grand assembly of the
Institute, and for the salary of one member of the permanent
committee; and to this he added: "In pursuance of the
authority thus conferred, Mr. David Lubin, of Sacramento,
California, has been selected to represent this Government on
the permanent committee, it being understood that he is
willing to serve without salary."
Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United
States, 1905 and 1906
AGUINALDO Y FAMY, Emilio.
See (in this Volume)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1901.
AHMED RIZA.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-MAY).
ALASKA: A. D. 1903.
Settlement of the boundary question.
Dissatisfaction in Canada dissipated by better knowledge
of the facts.
The Alaska boundary question (see in Volume VI. of this work,
under ALASKA BOUNDARY QUESTION) was brought to a settlement in
1903 by an arrangement which submitted it to a Commission of
six, three representing the United States and three acting for
Great Britain and Canada. The American Commissioners were the
Honorable Elihu Root, Secretary of War, and senators Henry C.
Lodge and George Turner, of Massachusetts and the State of
Washington respectively. The British and Canadian members were
the Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Alverstone, Sir Louis
Jette, of Quebec, and A. B. Aylesworth, of Toronto, Ontario.
The Commission, meeting in London, arrived at its decision in
October, signing, on the 20th, an agreement on all the
questions submitted. "By this award," said President
Roosevelt, in his subsequent Message to Congress, "the right
of the United States to the control of a continuous strip or
border of the mainland shore, skirting all the tide-water
inlets and sinuosities of the coast, is confirmed; the
entrance to Portland Canal (concerning which legitimate doubt
appeared) is defined as passing by Tongass Inlet and to the
northwestward of Wales and Pearse islands: a line is drawn
from the head of Portland Canal to the fifty-sixth degree of
north latitude: and the interior border line of the strip is
fixed by lines connecting certain mountain summits lying
between Portland Canal and Mount St. Elias and running along
the crest of the divide separating the coast slope from the
inland watershed, at the only part of the frontier where the
drainage ridge approaches the coast within the distance of ten
marine leagues stipulated by the treaty as the extreme width
of the strip around the heads of Lynn Canal and its branches.
While the line so traced follows the provisional demarcation
of 1878 at the crossing of the Stikine River, and that of 1899
at the summits of the White and Chilkoot passes, it runs much
farther inland from the Klehine than the temporary line of the
later modus vivendi, and leaves the entire mining
district of the Porcupine River and Glacier Creek within the
jurisdiction of the United States. The result is satisfactory
in every way. It is of great material advantage to our people
in the Far Northwest. It has removed from the field of
discussion and possible danger a question liable to become
more acutely accentuated with each passing year. Finally it
has furnished a signal proof of the fairness and good will
with which two friendly nations can approach and determine
issues involving national sovereignty, and by their nature
incapable of submission to a third power for adjudication."
Message of President Roosevelt,
December 7, 1903.
In Canada the feeling was very different from that expressed
by President Roosevelt. There, the dissatisfaction was
intense. The two Canadian Commissioners had opposed the award,
while Lord Alverstone cast his vote with the three Americans,
which provoked the accusation that his decision had been
given, at the instigation of the British Government, not
judicially, but diplomatically, for the pleasing of the United
States, at the sacrifice of Canadian interests and rights. The
groundlessness of such defamatory suspicions became plain when
Lord Alverstone made public the reasons for his vote. A recent
historian of Canada ends his account of the matter with the
following remarks:
"In vain did students and experts declare that they had felt
before the tribunal met that Canada had, in very many
respects, a weak case. It was pointed out that some of the
Canadian surveys gave the line as the Americans claimed it,
that Americans had by long occupation got a hold upon and a
right of possession to various ports and sections, and that
against this occupancy there had been no British protest
whatever. Finally one distinguished citizen reminded the
Canadians that if they had been allowed to select one man as
sole arbitrator they would have been glad to accept Lord
Alverstone. Lord Alverstone was really the one arbitrator and
judge. Had he decided against the Americans, the case would
have been deadlocked for years. In time Canadians came to a
more sober and reasonable attitude on the subject. They came
to see that Lord Alverstone could not have been prejudiced and
that his decision was really the only one that was fair and
unbiased. Some came also to see that the American case was
much the stronger, and that in this light the decision was a
just one. But they were not and are not ready to believe that
the whole scheme was anything but one contrived at Washington
to get the contest settled to the advantage of the Americans."
F. B. Tracy,
Tercentenary History of Canada,
Volume 3, page 1044
(Macmillan Co., New York, 1908).
A full account of the arbitration with the correspondence
preceding it, and the opinions written by the arbitrators
severally, is given in the British Parliamentary
Papers by Command
(United States, Number 1, 1904), Cd. 1877.
ALASKA: A. D. 1906.
Convention to provide for final establishment
of the boundary line.
Final proceedings for establishing the boundary line of Alaska
were provided for in a Convention between the United States
and Great Britain, signed April 21, 1906. The need and object
of the Convention were set forth in its preamble as follows:
{10}
"Whereas by a treaty between the United States of America and
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, for the cession of
the Russian possessions in North America to the United States,
concluded March 30, 1867, the most northerly part of the
boundary line between the said Russian possessions and those
of His Britannic Majesty, as established by the prior
convention between Russia and Great Britain, of February 28/16
[sic] 1825, is defined as following the 141st degree of
longitude west from Greenwich, beginning at the point of
intersection of the said 141st degree of west longitude with a
certain line drawn parallel with the coast, and thence
continuing from the said point of intersection, upon the said
meridian of the 141st degree in its prolongation as far as the
Frozen Ocean.
"And whereas, the location of said meridian of the 141st
degree of west longitude between the terminal points thereof
defined in said treaty is dependent upon the scientific
ascertainment of convenient points along the said meridian and
the survey of the country intermediate between such points,
involving no question of interpretation of the aforesaid
treaties but merely the determination of such points and their
connecting lines by the ordinary processes of observation and
survey conducted by competent astronomers, engineers and
surveyors;
"And whereas such determination has not hitherto been made by
a joint survey as is requisite in order to give complete
effect to said treaties."
To make such determination it was agreed that each Government
should "appoint one Commissioner, with whom may be associated
such surveyors, astronomers and other assistants as each
Government may elect."
ALASKA: A. D. 1906.
Election of a delegate to Congress.
An Act to authorize the election of a Delegate to Congress
from the Territory of Alaska was approved by the President May
7, 1906.
ALASKA COAL FIELDS.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: UNITED STATES.
ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION.
See (in this Volume)
SEATTLE: A. D. 1909.
ALBANIA: A. D. 1904.
Hostility to the Mürzsteg programme.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1903-1904.
ALBERT, King of Belgium.
See (in this Volume)
BELGIUM; A. D. 1909 (DECEMBER).
ALBERT, Marcellin:
Leader of the winegrowers revolt in France.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1907 (MAY-JULY).
ALBERTA:
Organized as a province of the Dominion of Canada.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1905.
ALCOHOL PROBLEM.
ALCOHOL: Austria: A. D. 1903.
Resolution of the National Convention of the Social
Democratic Party against alcoholic drinks.
At a convention of the Social Democracy of the Austrian
Empire, held at Vienna, in November, 1903, Dr. Richard
Frohlich read an elaborate report against the use of
intoxicating liquors, concluding with an earnest appeal, in
these words; "We want to create a new social order: to give
the world a new face! To lay the foundations for the new
society is the task of political and industrial organization—
and there is no greater deterrent to the accomplishment of
that task than alcohol. In building the new mansion of the
future we think also of the men who are to dwell in it. Does
it not bring a blush of shame to our cheeks merely to imagine
that the men of the future society will be contented because
they are intoxicated! Contentment in that new order
will arise from a sound brain and the satisfaction of the
rational desires which proceed from it. We have enough
retarding forces to contend with in our struggle for this
ideal of the future generation. One such force we are able
to-day to overcome if we will. That is alcoholism, the last
refuge of philistinism and stupid conservatism. If we really
want the new world, we must provide the new men to make it.
The program of total abstinence does not set new ideals for
us, but it gives us a new weapon, sharp and effective for the
conquest of our old ideals. The responsibility is upon us to
use this weapon. Let us do it!"
In response, the Convention adopted the following resolution:
"The convention of the party recognizes in alcohol a serious
detriment to the physical and mental power of the working man,
and a great hindrance to all efforts of organization in the
social democracy. Every means should be employed to remove the
evils which have come from it.
"The first aim in this struggle must be the economic
betterment of the proletariat. And that must be accomplished
by a clear teaching of the effects of alcohol, and by the
removal of the common toleration of drinking.
"The convention of the party, therefore, recommends that all
the party groups and brotherhoods lend their support to the
crusade against alcohol, and declares that the first step in
this direction must be the abolishment of compulsory drinking
in all of the meetings of the organization. Members of the
party who are converted to total abstinence are recommended to
form total abstinence clubs, to continue the propaganda and to
see to it that their members are true to the political and
economic duties of the party organization."
ALCOHOL: CANADA: A. D. 1906-1908.
The Canada Temperance Act.
Under what was known as the Scott Act, of 1878, the privilege
of local option had been given to counties and cities in
Canada, and had been brought into exercise by nine cities and
seventy-three counties, which prohibited the sale of
intoxicating liquors within their limits; but in most of these
the supporters of the law were gradually overcome and the
prohibition removed. In all the provinces except Quebec, a
referendum vote taken in 1898 showed majorities in favor of a
Dominion Prohibition Law; but the vote cast was so light and
the adverse majorities in cities was so large that the
government did not feel warranted in bringing forward a Bill.
In 1906, however, the demand for local option in the matter of
permitting alcoholic liquors to be sold had become strong
enough to extort from Parliament the desired legislation. As
amended in 1908, Part II. of this Canada Temperance Act (Part
I. having prescribed the proceedings for bringing Part II.
into force) provides that "from the day on which this Part
comes into force and takes effect in any county or city, and
for so long thereafter as, and while the same continues or is
in force therein, no person shall, except as in this Part
specially provided, by himself, his clerk, servant or agent,—
{11}
(a) expose or keep for sale, within such county or city, any
intoxicating liquor; or,
( b ) directly or indirectly on any pretense or upon any
device, within any such county or city, sell or barter, or, in
consideration of the purchase of any other property, give to
any other person any intoxicating liquor; or,
(c) send, ship, bring or carry or cause to be sent, shipped,
brought, or carried to or into any such county or city, any
intoxicating liquor; or,
(d) deliver to any consignee or other person, or store,
warehouse, or keep for delivery, any intoxicating liquor so
sent, shipped, brought or carried."
But these last two subsections are not to "apply to any
intoxicating liquor sent, shipped, brought or carried to any
person or persons for his or their personal or family use,
except it be so sent, shipped, brought or carried to be paid
for in such county or city to the person delivering the same,
his clerk, servant, or agent, or his master or principal, if
the person delivering it is himself a servant or agent."
To bring Part II. of the Act into force in any county or city,
not less than one-fourth of the total number of electors
therein must petition the Governor in Council for a poll of
votes on the question, and when the vote is taken there must
be an affirmative majority; failing which no similar petition
can be put to vote in the same community for three years.
On the 2d of May, 1909, the following announcement of the
operation of the law in the province of Ontario was made: "May
Day, 1909, will long be remembered by the advocates of local
option in Ontario. One hundred and forty-two bars passed out
of existence yesterday, and of the 807 municipalities in the
province 334 are now without a single license in force. The
Toronto commissioners have cut off 40 licenses, leaving only
110 in a city of nearly 400,000 people."
ALCOHOL:
Casual occurrences of saloon suppression, showing what goes
with it.
Communities in which the liquor traffic is ordinarily favored
are sometimes compelled by exigencies of circumstance to
suppress it temporarily, and are forced then to see how much
of crime and disorder goes with it. During the weeks in which
military authority cleared saloons from San Francisco, after
the calamity of 1906, every observer made note of the
conspicuous freedom of the city "from all kinds of violence
and crime," though the whole organization of life was upset.
One trustworthy journal reported conditions six months after
the calamity as follows: "During the two months and a half
after April 18 San Francisco was probably the most orderly
large city in the United States. Violence and crime were
practically unknown. During that time the saloons and liquor
stores of the city were closed tight. About the middle of July
the saloons were permitted to open again. This action of the
city government was accompanied by the expectation on the part
of many citizens of an outbreak of violence and disorder.
Clergymen, and it is said even the police, advised men and
women to carry firearms for their own protection. For the past
three months San Francisco has been living under a reign of m.
In eighty days eighty-three murders, robberies, and assaults
were registered on the police records. A despatch to
Ridgway’s, the new weekly periodical, reports the sale in San
Francisco during one week in October of over six thousand
revolvers."
When Stockholm, in the summer of 1909, was undergoing the
trials of the great general strike, and by general consent of
all concerned the sale of liquors was stopped, the same report
went out, that magistrates and police had little to do. And
that is the standing account of things from the Panama Canal
Zone, about which an English visitor, Sir Harry Johnston,
wrote in April, 1909:
"The whole of the canal zone (ten miles on either side of the
canal banks) is ‘teetotal,’ except in the actual towns of
Panama and Colon. No alcohol is sold by the Canal Commission
at its hotels or boarding-houses. And the general result of
these stern measures—the improvement in health and the absence
of crime—amply justifies this anti-alcohol policy. … There is
singularly little serious crime throughout the canal zone. One
has the sensation of being perfectly safe anywhere at any time
of day or night. Petty dishonesty among the lower classes is
common, especially at the railway stations, where one is
liable to lose small articles of baggage if they are left
unguarded. Panama in this respect is worse than the other
towns of the Isthmus, new or old. But there is no open shock
to any one’s prejudices or sentiments in the way of flagrant
immorality (as at New Orleans, for example)."
So easily can communities solve half, at least, of their most
troublesome problems, and cure half, at least, of their worst
social maladies, if they will!
ALCOHOL: ENGLAND: A. D. 1902 .
Passage of an amended licensing law.
A moderate reform.
A Licensing Bill, moderately in the interest of temperance
reform, was discussed and passed in Parliament during the
summer of 1902. It made publicans more strictly responsible
for drunkenness incurred on their premises; strengthened the
prohibition of liquor-selling to habitual drunkards; improved
measures for the suppression of public drunkenness; subjected
licenses to tradesmen for the sale of liquors off their
premises to the unqualified discretion of justices, and
facilitated the separation of husbands and wives from a
drunken mate.
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1904.
Passing of a new Licensing Bill, providing compensation for
the withdrawal of licenses on grounds of public policy.
An agitation in Great Britain which almost equalled for a time
that produced in the same period by Mr. Chamberlain’s campaign
for a preferential tariff was stirred up by a new Licensing
Bill, introduced as a Government measure on the 20th of April,
1904. The bill provided for compensation to be made, at the
expense of the liquor trade, for the taking of a license away
from any public house, on grounds of public policy, no matter
how briefly the license had been held. A fund for the
compensations was to be raised by assessment on all engaged in
the trade. Authority to refuse the renewal or transfer of
licenses on any ground other than ill conduct or character was
withdrawn from local magistrates and exercised by the courts
of quarter sessions (composed of the justices of the peace in
each county) only. When a public house was thought to be
superfluous by local magistrates they were required to report
the case to quarter sessions, where a hearing upon it would be
given.
{12}
If the Bench of quarter sessions decided to extinguish the
license, it must specify the grounds of its decision in
writing, and award a compensation, based on the estimated
difference between the value of the licensed premises and the
value of the same premises without a license. If no agreement
on this basis could be reached, the Inland Revenue
Commissioners should determine the sum.
The Bill was advocated in the interest of temperance, as being
calculated to reduce the number of public houses, and to raise
their character. Mr. Balfour upheld it as "a great temperance
measure." It should be the aim of Government, he argued, to
"encourage respectable persons to keep public houses, and with
that object they should make the trade secure." On the other
side it was opposed with exceeding bitterness as a measure
that had the backing and was in the interest of the brewers
and the whole liquor trade; that created vested interests in
the trade, rooting it to a new depth; that tended to add value
to the low class of public houses, and obstructed future
temperance reform. Repeated attempts to introduce a limit of
years after which the awarding of compensation for the
withdrawal of license would cease were defeated, and the Bill
passed both Houses in August, substantially as it came into
Parliament four months before.
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1907.
Drink in its relation to crime.
Testimony of judges.
"The following is from a newspaper report of a speech by Judge
Rentoul, delivered in the Guildhall, Cambridge, on the 15th of
October, 1907. He happened to be one of the judges of the
chief criminal courts of this country, and he said to them on
that platform that 90 per cent. of the cases that came to the
Central Criminal Court of England came directly through drink.
The late Lord Brampton, formerly Sir Henry Hawkins, perhaps
the greatest criminal judge during the past century, had also
put the figures at 90 per cent. Lord Coleridge, speaking at
one Assizes, said, ‘Every single case in my present list comes
from the use of strong drink.’ ‘If it were not,’ said his
Honour, ‘for alcohol, three fourths of our criminal courts
would be closed in this country and closed forever.’"
H. A. Giles,
Opium and Alcohol in China
(Nineteenth Century, December, 1907).
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1908.
Passage of a new Licensing Bill by the Commons and its
rejection by the Lords.
Nothing contributed more to the defeat of the Conservative
Ministry in the British Parliamentary elections of 1905 than
the moral repugnance of the country to the Licensing Bill of
1904 (described above); and the Liberal Government came to
power with no commission from the people more positive than
was in the demand for an amendment of that law. In 1908 it
brought into Parliament and passed through the House of
Commons a Bill which answered the demand, asserting the right
and the need and the power in Government to put limitations on
the granting of licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors,
without treating them as vested interests under a sacred
guard. The limitation, in fact, was made definite and
mandatory by the first provision of the Bill, which declared;
"Licensing justices shall, in accordance with this Act, reduce
the number of on-licenses in their district so that at the end
of a period of fourteen years from the fifth day of April
nineteen hundred and nine the number of those licenses in any
rural parish or urban area in their district shall not exceed
the scale set out in the First Schedule to this Act as applied
to that parish or area under the provisions of that schedule."
The schedule referred to was as follows:
Persons per acre.
2 or less
Exceeding 2 but not exceeding 25
Exceeding 25 but not exceeding 50
Exceeding 50 but not exceeding 75
Exceeding 75 but not exceeding 100
Exceeding 100 but not exceeding 200
Exceeding 200
Number of on-licenses.
1 to 400 persons or part of 400
1 to 500 persons or part of 500
1 to 600 persons or part of 600
1 to 700 persons or part of 700
1 to 800 persons or part of 800
1 to 900 persons or part of 900
1 to 1,000 persons or part of 1,000
The Bill provided further for local option in the matter of
granting new licenses, permitting a majority of voters in any
licensing district to prohibit further grants; and introduced
other changes of law in the interest of temperance, but not
going to any extreme. When the measure went to the House of
Lords it suffered there the same fate that had been meted out
to the Education Bill of 1906. How serious an issue between
the Commons and the Lords was raised by that occurrence is
intimated in one passage of a speech made by the Liberal Prime
Minister, Mr. Asquith, in July, 1909. He was reviewing some of
the significant incidents of recent political history, and
when he came to the Licensing Bill there was more feeling in
his remarks than he had shown before. "That," he said, "was a
Bill, as you know, which was debated for weeks and for months
and passed through the House of Commons with sustained and
unexampled majorities. When it reached ‘another place,’ what
was its fate? It was rejected without even any pretence of
consideration of its details, it was rejected in pursuance of
a preconcerted party resolution, it was rejected with every
circumstance of contumely and contempt. I will not pause to
dwell upon, certainly not to praise, the provisions of the
Licensing Bill, which, I may say, was to some extent my own
handiwork. But in regard to its rejection I will say that it
has made two things—that rejection and the circumstances
preceding, following, and attending it have made two
things—abundantly plain. The first is that it has ruined the
prospects of any really effective temperance reform on
anything like a large and comprehensive scale during the
lifetime of the present Parliament. I will say next the
circumstances of that rejection have brought into greater
prominence than ever before the fact that our constitutional
system is not, or at least that it can be made not to be, the
embodiment, but the caricature of a representative and
responsible Government. And the question of the relations
between the two Houses of Parliament must be for us Liberals,
at any rate, as I described it at the time, the dominant issue
in our programme."
{13}
The requirement of the Act of 1904 that compensation should be
paid to every license-holder whose license was withdrawn for
public reasons, put so narrow a limit on the reductions made,
that the 138,011 licensed houses in England and Wales in 1904
had only been diminished by about 3000 in 1908; whereas the
country demanded a great cutting down of the excessive number.
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1908.
Provisions of The Children Act for the Protection of Children.
See (in this Volume)
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: AS DEPENDENTS, &C.
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1909.
Taxation of the Liquor Trade proposed in the Budget.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1909 (APRIL-DECEMBER).
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1909.
The Decreased Consumption of Whiskey caused by increased tax.
Speaking in Parliament of the increased whiskey tax in his
Budget, on the 29th of October, some months after it had gone
into effect and its yield was being shown, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, Mr. Lloyd-George, acknowledged that he had
greatly overestimated the revenue it would produce. He said:
"The whole point was to what extent would an addition of a
halfpenny a glass deter a man from taking his usual share of
drink. I could no more estimate that than any other member of
the House. I made a very liberal allowance for decrease in
consumption, so liberal that nobody either in or out of the
House agreed with it. Many said it was absurd. … I assumed
that people who could afford it would not regard the halfpenny
at all; that they would buy exactly the same quantity of
whisky as before. The working classes I assumed would probably
purchase a smaller quantity. Supposing a man says, I spend 2s.
6d. on drink; he would not spend more; therefore he would
consume less.
"I made a rough calculation upon such information as I had how
that would affect the consumption of whisky as a whole, but I
find the change has gone beyond that, and my information now
is not merely that there are thousands of people who drink a
percentage which is, in proportion to the increase, less, but
some of them drop it altogether. Some of them are barely
drinking half what they were before. Altogether a most
extraordinary effect has been produced upon the habits of the
people. I am not here to apologize for that at all. In some
districts, I am told, the drinking of spirits has gone down by
70 percent, in Ireland, I think. I hear that there are
districts in Scotland where it has gone down 50 per cent. I
have a communication in regard to the whisky distillers of
Glasgow saying that the decrease in Glasgow during September
has been 36 per cent.
"People have not even been driven to the consumption of beer.
It is really almost unaccountable. People have not been driven
from one form of alcohol to another, but have been driven from
alcohol altogether. The fact is very extraordinary, and has
gone beyond anything I have anticipated. … Our anticipations
now are that the consumption of spirits, both of foreign and
home manufacture, will go down by something between 20 and 25
per cent. That means that a smaller quantity of spirits will
be consumed in this country during this year by eight or nine
million gallons.’’
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1909.
Organization of "The True Temperance Association."
Its aim and appeal.
Under the name of "The True Temperance Association," a London
organization headed by Lord Halsbury made the following appeal
to the English public, in May, 1909: "Let us take what is to
hand—the publichouse; the regulated refreshment house of the
people. Let us transform that out of its present condition of
a mere drink-shop into a house of general, reasonable, and
reputable entertainment—a place where there will be other
things to consume besides beer and whisky, and other forms of
recreation besides mere drink. We should imitate the model of
the Continental café and German bierhaus; the White
City and other exhibitions have shown us that they would not
be exotics in this country; and those exhibitions with their
wonderful record of sobriety also show us that there is every
ground to expect that England, with transformed publichouses,
would be as sober, and withal as bright as are Continental
countries."
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1900:
England, United States, France, and Germany.
Comparative statement of the consumption of alcoholic drink.
"The consumption of alcoholic drink in the above countries,
per ten of population, was in the year 1900 as follows:
Drink-consumption per 10 of population.
Country. Beer, spirits, Beer. Spirits. Wine.
and wine.
Gallons. Gallons. Gallons. Gallons.
France 336 62 20 254
United Kingdom 332 317 11 4
Germany 309 275 19 15
United States 147 133 11 3
"Some years agone, the late P. G. Hamerton in his book
French and English mentioned the increase of drinking
in France, and we see that French drink-consumption per head
is now greater than British consumption. The French drink more
spirits, more wine, and have a larger total consumption per
head than any of these three other nations.
"The most striking fact in the above statement is the low
drink-consumption per head in the United States. The American
total per head is less than one-half of the total consumption
per head in any of the three other countries. The superior
sobriety of the American workman as compared with the
Englishman has often been noticed, and observation in social
grades higher than that of the artizan tends to show that
American superiority in this respect is a general superiority
not confined to workmen only. The developed alertness and
prompt energy of the American may, it is quite likely, be due
in some part to this relative abstinence from alcoholic drink
which is now illustrated.
"Looking back over the fifteen years 1886-1900, for the
purpose of observing the increase or the decrease in
drink-consumption per head of population, the following
results have been obtained;—
Country. Average yearly drink-consumption,
per head of population, during
1886-1890. 1891-1895. 1890-1900.
Gallons. Gallons. Gallons.
France 26.5 31.5 32.3
United Kingdom. 29.4 31.1 33.1
Germany 24.4 26.6 29.9
United States 11.8 14.3 14.2
The drink-consumption per The drink-consumption per
head during 1886-1890 head during 1896-1900 was
being taken at 100
per cent. per cent.
France 100 122
United Kingdom. 100 113
Germany 100 123
United States 100 120
{14}
"In each country the drink-consumption per head of population
has increased since 1886-1890, and, with the exception of the
United States, there has been an increase during each
five-yearly period observed,
"Comparing the period 1896-1900 with the period 1886-1890, we
see that the percentage of increase per head of population in
drink-consumption was smaller in the United Kingdom than in
any of the three other countries. Germany and France have had
the largest relative increases per head of population.
"In the United States, the increase of 20 per cent in the
drink-consumption per head of population is due to an increase
in beer-drinking—the consumption per head of wine and of
spirits has declined."
J. H. Schooling,
Drink: in England, the United States, France, and Germany
(Fortnightly Review, January, 1902).
ALCOHOL: France: A. D. 1907.
Revolt of the Wine Growers of Southern France against wine
adulteration.
See (in this Volume )
FRANCE: A. D. 1907 (MAY-JULY).
ALCOHOL: Germany:
Temperance requisite in railway employees.
The dangers to the traveling public that are attendant on the
use of alcoholic stimulants by railway employees were
discussed very seriously not long since by a writer in the
Deutsche Monatsschrift. "The constantly growing demands
upon transit service for safety and speed," he observed, "call
for an increasingly higher efficiency of the personnel, not
only as regards prudence, judgment, decision, and
clearsightedness, but a sense of duty, all which qualities
are, it has been proved, vitiated by nothing so readily and to
such a degree as by indulgence in alcoholic drinks. The chief
danger, moreover, consists not so much in excessive drink
resulting in drunkenness, which is easily recognized, as in
the more moderate but habitual use of liquor, which is harder
to control, and the after-effects of heavy drinking.
Scientific investigation has established the fact that even a
moderate use of alcoholic beverages impairs the acuteness of
sight and hearing, including the power of distinguishing
colors. Most of the violations of discipline and duty in the
German transportation service are due to indulgence in drink,
besides leading to misery and want in the home."
The writer alludes to an association of German railway
officials started by himself, whose object it is to enlighten
the public regarding the worthlessness of alcoholic drinks as
a tonic and how they may be dispensed with as a means of
refreshment. This society, he states, has been most
encouragingly successful in its efforts. He adds the important
statement that the Prussian Government, owing to recent
serious accidents, has issued an order prohibiting all railway
employees from taking any beverage containing alcohol while on
duty.
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1902.
Resolution of Socialist Congress.
The subject in Prussian schools.
The German Socialist Congress, sitting at Munich in September,
1902, adopted a resolution which warned the working classes
against the dangers from immoderate indulgence in alcoholic
drinks, but declined to make total abstinence a condition of
party membership. In the previous March the Prussian minister
of education had given instructions to the school authorities
mm of the kingdom which aimed at the enlightening of the
people as to the deleterious effects, both physical and
economical, of an excessive use of alcoholic liquors. The same
subject had been agitated in the Prussian parliament, and
there was discussion of measures of more strict regulation of
public houses.
ALCOHOL:
International Congress on Alcoholism.
For twenty-four years an International Congress on Alcoholism
has held biennial meetings in different European cities,
beginning at Antwerp in 1885, steadily demonstrating a growth
of opposition—especially of scientific opposition—even in
Continental Europe, to the use of alcoholic liquors. The
meeting of 1905 was at Budapest; that of 1907 at Stockholm;
that of 1909 at London. The delegates to the latter numbered
about 1300, coming from nearly every European country, and
from the United States, Canada, and South Africa. Of the
strong character of the discussions at the London meeting the
New York Evening Post said after its adjournment:
"Men and women from every country, representing varying
conditions of society, offered evidence tending to show, by
actual figures of loss, the bad effects of drinking. From the
standpoint of education, science, medicine, society,
economics, efficiency, and law, the speakers all reached the
same conclusion, bringing strong testimony in support.
Efficiency was the keynote of papers representing public
service on the part of the post office, the railroad, the
navy, and the army of Great Britain."
An interesting figure at the Congress, it was said by an
American newspaper correspondent, was Judge William J.
Pollard, of St. Louis, who went as a representative of the
United States Government, and who was known widely as the
originator of the pledge instead of prison method of dealing
with drunkards. When he spoke on that subject he was given a
double allowance of time, on the motion of a delegate from
France, and, although under the constitution of the congress
no resolution could be put, a declaration in favor of the plan
was signed by practically every delegate in the hall. The
declaration reads as follows:

"We, the undersigned members and delegates attending the
International Congress on Alcoholism assembled in Loudon,
July, 1909, desire to record our gratification at the
recognition in statute law by Great Britain, Vermont, United
States of America, and Victoria (Australia) of the principle
of reforming drunkards by the probation on pledge method,
commonly known as the Pollard plan. The possibilities of this
wise and beneficent policy are so great that we desire to
commend its adoption throughout the world."
"Judge Pollard’s plan, established in the Saint Louis police
court nine years ago, consists in giving the drunkards a
chance of reform. Instead of sentencing them to prison or
fining them, Judge Pollard requires persons charged before him
with drunkenness to take the pledge. If they do so he suspends
sentence on them, and if the pledge is kept for a certain
period they hear no more about the matter. If it is broken the
fine or sentence is enforced."
One of the results of the Congress was the organization of a
"World’s Prohibition Confederation," "to better amalgamate the
forces in various countries working along their respective
lines towards the one common aim of the total suppression of
the liquor traffic."
{15}
Two sessions were held and the Conference finally decided by
unanimous vote upon the following outline of the purposes and
methods of the new Confederation:
"(1) Name—
The name of this association shall be 'The International
Prohibition Confederation (Confederation Prohibitioniste
Internationale—Internationaler Verbaud fuer Alkoholverbot).'
"(2) Object—
(a) To amalgamate the forces in various countries working
along their respective lines towards the one common aim of the
total suppression of the liquor traffic,
(b) To obtain notes of progress, information, and news from
all parts of the world, and send such information to all
organizations joining the Confederation and other applicants.
"(3) Membership—
The membership shall consist of representatives of temperance
organizations in all countries approving of the objects and
such officers as may be elected by the Confederation.
"(4) Finances—
The financial support shall be gained from such contributions
as the various affiliated societies and individual associate
members may subscribe."
ALCOHOL: New Zealand: A. D. 1896-1908.
Twelve years of Local Option.
Increasing majorities against the liquor traffic.
The vote of women.
Under the operation of a local option law since 1896, New
Zealand has been steadily narrowing the liquor traffic, with
what seems to be a fair prospect of extinguishing it entirely.
The law provides for the taking of a vote in each
parliamentary electoral district once in three years on three
propositions, as follows:
"1. That the number of licensed houses existing in the
district shall continue.
"2. That the number shall be reduced.
"3. That no licenses whatever shall be granted.
"Electors may vote for one of these proposals or for two of
them. The prohibitionists strike out the top line, and thus
vote for a reduction of the number of licenses, and also for
total prohibition in their district. Those who oppose
prohibition usually strike out the second and third lines, so
as to vote for the continuance of existing licensed houses;
while there are others, again, who strike out the first and
third issues, with a view simply to a reduction in the number
of licensed houses. An absolute majority of the votes carries
reduction; but it requires a three-fifths majority to carry
'no-license.' If reduction is carried the licensing committee
must then reduce the publicans’ licenses in the district by
not less than 5 per cent. or more than 25 per cent, of the
total number existing."
The local option vote has now been taken five times, with a
slow but steady increase of majorities given against the
liquor traffic, either to restrict or to end it,—as the
following table shows:
Continuance. Reduction. No-license. Valid votes.
1896 139,500 94,500 98,300 259,800
1899 142,400 107,700 118,500 281,800
1902 148,400 132,200 151,500 318,800
1905 182,800 151,000 198,700 396,400
1908 186,300 161,800 209,100 410,100
The figures here entered of the vote in 1908 are not official,
but are said to be close to accuracy.
The New Zealand correspondent of the London Times, from whose
report the above is taken, adds these particulars: "The result
of the local option poll taken in December, 1905, was to carry
'no license' in three new districts and reduction in four
districts. In 36 of the other districts a majority of the
votes polled was for ‘no license,’ though the three-fifths
majority necessary to carry the proposal was not obtained. The
results of the recent poll were very striking. In six new
districts ‘no-license ’ was carried, and in some others
‘no-license’ and ‘reduction’ were only lost by narrow margins.
The rapid advance made by the ‘no license’ party is certainly
remarkable.
"While the proportion of votes cast for continuance is
steadily declining, the proportion for ‘no-license’ is
increasing at an accelerated rate. Already there is a bare
majority of the total votes in favour of prohibition; while if
we had national instead of local option the chances are that
in a comparatively short period the necessary three-fifths
majority to secure total prohibition in the country might be
obtained. There are now indications that the ‘no-license’
party will make a bold bid, not only for a bare majority vote
on the no-license issue, but also for national option. In this
event they will alienate the sympathies of the great majority
of the moderates who now vote with them, so that the
‘no-license’ cause may receive, at least, a temporary check.
"Three important suggestions have been made to save the
trade—viz., reform from within, State control, and
municipalization. Judging from past experience, the first idea
seems hopeless. The trade has had its lessons, but has not
taken sufficient heed. State control will scarcely be
tolerated, since most people realize that the liquor trade in
the hands of a Government might be a dangerous political
engine, besides which there would always be the temptation
ever present to a Government to use it for revenue purposes.
Without very necessary reform from within, therefore, the only
chance for the liquor trade would seem to lie in the direction
of municipalization. Under municipal control, with the
abolition of the open bar in favour of the cafe system, with
better liquor, and with a thorough system of inspection and
analysis, the liquor trade in New Zealand might obtain a new
lease of life. Under the present system there is every
indication that its doom is sealed."
The importance of the vote of women, on this question
especially, appears in the following statements: "In 1902,
138,565 women, or 74.52 per cent. of those on the rolls,
voted; in 1905, 175,046, or 82.23 per cent. of those on the
rolls, voted. The proportion of females to males voting at
successive general elections also shows a gradual increase
from 69.57 per cent. in 1893 to 78.99 in 1905. Then there is
the gradual increase in the proportion of females to males in
the population of a young country to be considered. At the
foundation of the colonies the males, naturally, largely
outnumbered the females; but eventually the sexes will become
more nearly equal in number. Thus, while in 1871 the
proportion of females to males in the colony was only 70.52,
in 1906 it was 88.65. Furthermore, women are taking a keener
interest than ever in politics. They are beginning to
appreciate the franchise and to exercise it intelligently in
ever-increasing numbers."
{16}
The warning and alarming effect of the local option vote of
December, 1908, on the New Zealand liquor dealers was made
apparent by their action taken soon after, as reported in the
following Press despatch from Wellington, January 18, 1909:
"As a result of the large 'moderate' vote cast at the recent
poll on the question of total prohibition or reduction of
facilities for obtaining drink, it was unanimously resolved
to-day, at a meeting of the Auckland Brewers and Licensed
Victuallers’ Association, representing all the wholesale and
nearly every member of the retail trade, to abolish barmaids,
to abolish private bars, and to raise the age-limit of youths
who may be supplied with liquor from 18 to 20. No woman will
be supplied with liquor for consumption on the premises unless
she is boarding in the house.
"In an interview, the Mayor of Auckland, who is himself a
brewer, stated that since the trade has to ask the public
every three years for the continuance of its existence, it is
necessary for it to be conducted on lines approved by the
public at large."
ALCOHOL: United States: A. D. 1904-1909.
The progress of State, County, and Town Prohibition in the
five years.
The following exhibit of the status of state and local
prohibition in every State of the United States, on the 1st of
November, 1909, compared with the same in 1904, is reproduced,
with permission, from the latest leaflet published at the time
of this writing (January 1, 1910) by the Associated
Prohibition Press, located at 92 La Salle Street, Chicago:
"The record at Prohibition National Headquarters, Chicago,
shows that during the past four years the amount of
Prohibition territory has been doubled and 20,000,000 people
added to those living in Prohibition cities, counties and
states, making an aggregate of over 40,000,000 now by their
own choice in saloon-free districts.
"The figures below show that nearly two-thirds of the
territory and nearly one-half of the people are under
Prohibition protection:
"17,000,000 people in the South under Prohibition in 1904.
"25,000,000 people in the South under Prohibition in 1909.
"There are to-day 375 Prohibition cities in the United States,
having a population of over 5,000 each, with a total
population of more than three million and a half.
"In 1904 there were scarcely 100 Prohibition cities of 5,000
or over; there are now 90 Prohibition cities of 10,000 or
over. There are fifty-five industrial centers in fourteen
different states of 20,000 population and over, with an
aggregate of 2,000,000 population, now under Prohibition law.
"The Prohibition party is organized and at work in practically
every state in the Union.
"In 1904 the National Liquor League of the United States was
organized at Cincinnati, January 7th and 8th, to put the 'lid'
on the apparent beginnings of a Prohibition renaissance. Five
years of the 'National Liquor League of the United States' has
resulted in 20,000,000 people being added to the Prohibition
population of the country; 250 new Prohibition cities; 6 new
Prohibition states, hundreds of new Prohibition counties, and
thousands of new Prohibition towns and villages in all the
rest of the country.
"One of the most striking contrasts between 1904 and 1909 is
seen in the transformation which has been wrought in the
attitude of the daily and secular press towards the
Prohibition question. Since 1904 leading daily papers in all
parts of the country have begun to exclude liquor advertising
from their columns.
"The daily press of America is to-day giving ten times more
attention to and far more friendly treatment of the
Prohibition issue than was the case in 1904.
"On November 1st, 1909, the record of state and local
Prohibition territory in the United States, at National
Prohibition Headquarters, was as follows:
The Situation by States.
State. 1904. November 1, 1909.
Alabama 20 Prohibition State Prohibition;
counties. enforcement legislation
11 Dispensary. enacted by Legislature,
35 License. August, 1909.
Data shows business prospers,
crime decreasing.
Popular vote on Constitutional
Prohibition November 29, 1909.
Arizona No Prohibition New county Prohibition law bare
territory. two-thirds requirement.
Two-thirds Four-fifths of Territory "dry"
majority required. in 12 months is prediction.
Arkansas 44 Prohibition 57 Prohibition counties.
counties. State certain in next
29 License. Legislature.
2 Partially
license.
California 175 Prohibition 250 "dry" towns.
towns. Sentiment rapidly growing
for State Prohibition.
Colorado Few Prohibition towns. 100 towns "dry."
No local-option law. Stricter law enforcement.
Prohibition sentiment growing.
Connecticut Half of State Large increase in no-license
local Prohibition. vote. Legislature passed
several important restrictive
measures.
Delaware Few small Two-thirds of State Prohibition.
Prohibition towns.
{17}
District of
Columbia Apathy dominant. New high license law.
Sentiment for Prohibition
organizing.
Stricter enforcement.
Florida 30 Prohibition 35 counties "dry."
counties. Popular vote State
Prohibition November, 1910.
Georgia 104 Prohibition State Prohibition.
counties out Supporting sentiment grows.
of 134. Atlanta elects law-enforcement
Large cities Mayor. Crime largely decreasing.
all license.
Idaho No Prohibition County law passed.
territory. Seven vote "dry."
"Wide-open" State. State Prohibition campaign on.
Illinois 8 Prohibition 36 "dry" counties.
counties. 2500 "dry" towns.
500 Prohibition 23 "dry" cities.
towns. No license fight on in Chicago.
"Wide open" Sunday.
Indiana 140 Prohibition 70 Counties "dry."
townships. "Net Prohibition majority 67,025.
Three-fourths of the
State population under Prohibition.
Sentiment for State Prohibition
very active;
1,780,839 or 65 per cent of
State population in "dry"
territory;
32 "dry" cities (5,000 and over).
Iowa 25 License counties. Campaign for State Prohibition
Lax enforcement developing great enthusiasm.
of law.
Kansas STATE PROHIBITION. Legislature passed 1909
Lax enforcement. important additions to
Law enforcement State law.
crusade at Kansas The sale of alcohol in any
City, Kan., form absolutely prohibited.
a "fizzle." Strict enforcement the rule.
Kentucky 47 Prohibition 96 Prohibition counties;
counties. 1,541,613 or 66 per cent of
Legislature defeated total population in "dry"
very moderate territory.
local option bill. State Prohibition campaign
launched in earnest.
Louisiana 20 Prohibition Prohibition sentiment grows.
parishes out of 54. Local Prohibition proves
notable success in
33 "dry" parishes.
Maine STATE PROHIBITION. Move for resubmission
Lax enforcement. emphatically defeated
by State Legislature.
Sentiment for law enforcement
growing steadily.
Maryland 15 Prohibition Some locals gains.
counties. New high-license
law for Baltimore.
Massachusetts. 250 Prohibition Some local gains.
towns and cities. Twenty-five thousand
State majority against license.
Definite campaign for State
Prohibition;
261 towns "dry" out of 321;
20 cities "dry" out of 33;
26,297 State majority
against license.
Michigan 2 Prohibition Thirty Prohibition counties.
counties. Important new restrictive
400 Prohibition towns. legislation took effect
September 1, 1909.
State Prohibition campaign on.
Minnesota 400 Prohibition 1,611 "dry" towns.
towns. State wide union
of Prohibition forces.
Mississippi 65 Prohibition Enforcement of State-wide
counties. law passed February, 1908.
Legislature defeated Governor Noel a vigorous
State Prohibition prohibitionist.
amendment.
Missouri 3 Prohibition 77 'dry' counties.
counties 1905. State Prohibition
campaign definitely under way.
Vote November, 1910.
Montana No Prohibition Prohibition sentiment
territory. growing with notable increase
of party vote in several
districts.
Nebraska 200 Prohibition 26 Prohibition counties.
towns. Many local gains.
State capital Lincoln, 50,000,
voted "dry."
State Prohibition campaign on;
48 "dry" county seats.
Nevada No Prohibition Sentiment against gambling
territory. and liquor selling growing.
State Prohibition of gambling
effective October 1, 1910.
New Hampshire. State Prohibition 183 "dry" towns.
repealed 1903.
New Jersey "Wide-open" State. Whole year of 1909 filled
with agitation.
Law-defying Atlantic City
ring provokes widespread
public sentiment.
County option expected.
{18}
New Mexico Nothing. Prohibition forces very
active at legislative
session. Strong sentiment for
State Prohibition growing.
New York 285 Prohibition towns. Few changes. Concerted State
Cities all license wide campaign on in 300 local
by State law. Prohibition contests.
North Carolina. Local-option passed 1903. Success of State
Raleigh, capital, had Prohibition shown by
dispensary run by church official statistics.
deacons. In force January, 1908.
North Dakota STATE PROHIBITION. Same law. Sentiment
Lax enforcement in back of Prohibition
some sections. law overwhelming
throughout State.
Strong supplementary
legislation passed 1909.
Ohio First State 61 counties "dry."
local-option law Campaigns in largest
passed. cities, and State
Prohibition scheduled
for near future.
Net Prohibition majority
in 70 county contests,
66,132.
Oklahoma Few Prohibition towns. Enforcement of State
Prohibition law
steadily growing success.
Governor Haskell heartily
supporting it.
Prohibition Party
organized September 27,
1909.
Oregon No Prohibition State Prohibition vote
territory. November, 1910.
No local-option law. 21 counties "dry."
Pennsylvania Prohibition sentiment County option defeated
apathetic. 1909 but sentiment
rapidly growing.
Confident of advanced
legislation at next
session.
Rhode Island 20 Prohibition towns. Little change
South Carolina State dispensary. 37 Prohibition counties
(Abolished 1908.) out of 42.
Sweeping Prohibition
victories August 17, 1909.
State campaign definitely on.
South Dakota Scattering Prohibition Few local changes.
towns. Sentiment for State
Prohibition campaign
developing.
Tennessee* 8 License cities. State Prohibition passed
Liquor men threatened January, 1909.
repeal of Adams Effective July 1, 1909.
local-option law. Liquor manufacture
prohibition.
Law effective
January 1, 1910.
Remarkably beneficial
effects of Prohibition
immediately shown in
Nashville and other
cities.
* A proposal to embody state-wide prohibition in a constitutional
amendment was voted down heavily in Tennessee on the 29th of
November, 1909.
Texas 140 Prohibition 154 Prohibition counties.
counties. State Prohibition
referendum narrowly
defeated by Legislature,
only increased agitation
for that object.
Vote expected within
two years.
Utah No Prohibition County Prohibition and
territory. State referendum
defeated in Legislature,
expected at next session.
Vermont Prohibition 216 towns "dry."
repealed 1903. Demand for resubmission
138 Prohibition of State Prohibition growing.
towns out of Prohibition majority
240 in 1904. of 8,819 in whole State.
Virginia Local-option law 71 Prohibition counties.
passed 1903. Democratic primary being
fought out on Prohibition
issue.
Washington Few Prohibition towns. Compromise local
Prohibition law,
passed Legislature, 1909.
Prohibition sentiment
growing. Alaska-Yukon
Exposition, Seattle,
first big "dry" exposition.
West Virginia. 40 out of 54 Some local gains.
counties "dry" Charleston, state capital
"dry" since July 1.
Only three wholly "wet"
counties.
State campaign on.
Wisconsin 300 Prohibition towns 789 towns "dry."
Prohibition sentiment
growing rapidly;
4,000 business men
cheer argument for
Prohibition in great
debate at Milwaukee
March, 1909.
Wyoming No Prohibition New law effective
territory. January, 1910, puts
whole State under
Prohibition outside
of incorporated towns.
{19}
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1908-1909.
Diminished consumption of whiskey and beer.
According to the annual report of the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909, there were
about 5,000,000 less gallons of whiskey contributing to the
Federal revenue than in the fiscal year preceding, and
something like 2,500,000 fewer barrels of beer and ale. "This
seems clearly to mirror the effect of the prohibition movement
which has lately gained such headway in certain sections of
the South and West. Ordinarily, the consumption of spirits and
malt liquor is fairly steady in times of depression; and when
an industrial revival is under way, their use increases and
reflects itself in larger revenue returns. The absolute
shrinkage in consumption in the past fiscal year, therefore,
is doubly significant."
----------ALCOHOL: End--------
ALCORTA, Jose Figueroa:
President of Argentine Republic.
See (in this Volume)
ACRE DISPUTES.
ALDERMAN, Edward Anderson:
President of the University of Virginia.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1909.
ALDRICH, Nelson W.:
Work on the Payne-Aldrich Tariff.
See (in this Volume)
TARIFFS: UNITED STATES.
ALEXANDER, King of Servia:
His murder.
See (in this Volume)
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: SERVIA.
ALEXEIEFF, Admiral:
Appointed Viceroy in Manchuria, 1903.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1901-1904.
ALFARO, General Elroy:
Made President of Ecuador by a revolution.
See (in this Volume)
ECUADOR: A. D. 1905-1906.
ALFONSO XIII.:
His Coronation.
See (in this Volume)
SPAIN: A. D. 1901-1904.
ALFONSO XIII.:
Marriage.
Attempted assassination.
See (in this Volume)
Spain: A. D. 1905-1906.
ALGECIRAS CONFERENCE, and Act.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906, and
MOROCCO: A. D. 1907-1909.
ALGIERS: A. D. 1896-1906.
Encroachments on the Moroccan boundary.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1895-1906.
ALIENS ACT, The English.
See (in this Volume)
IMMIGRATION: ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1909.
ALIENS, Rights of:
Pan-American Convention.
See (in this Volume)
American Republics.
ALI RIZA PASHA.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-MAY).
ALL INDIA MOSLEM LEAGUE.
See (in this Volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1907 (DECEMBER), and 1907-1909.
ALLIANCES:
Franco-Russian.
Effect of Russo-Japanese War.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1904-1909.
ALLIANCES:
Great Britain with Japan.
See Japan: A. D. 1902, and 1905 (August).
ALLIANCES:
The Triple Alliance.
See TRIPLE ALLIANCE.
ALMENARA, Dr. Domingo.
See (in this Volume)
PERU.
ALSOP CLAIM, The.
See (in this Volume)
CHILE: A. D. 1909.
ALVERSTONE, Sir Richard Everard Webster, Lord Chief Justice:
On the Alaska Boundary Commission.
See (in this Volume)
ALASKA: A. D. 1903.
ALVES, Rodriquez.
See (in this Volume)
ACRE DISPUTES.
AMADE, General d’:
Operations in Morocco.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1907-1909, and 1909.
AMADOR, Manuel:
President of Panama.
See (in this Volume)
PANAMA.
AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION, of Iron, Steel, and Tin Plate Workers:
Its strike in 1901.
See (in this Volume)
Labor Organization, &c.: United States: A. D. 1901.
AMALGAMATED SOCIETY OF RAILWAY SERVANTS, British:
In Taff Vale case.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION, &c.: ENGLAND: A. D. 1900-1906.
AMALGAMATED SOCIETY OF RAILWAY SERVANTS, British:
In strike of 1907
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION, &c.: ENGLAND: A. D. 1907-1909.
AMARAL, Admiral Ferreira do.
See (in this Volume)
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1906-1909.
AMBAN, Chinese.
See (in this Volume)
TIBET: A. D. 1902-1904.
AMERICAN CIVIC ASSOCIATION.
See (in this Volume)
SOCIAL BETTERMENT: UNITED STATES.
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION, &c.: UNITED STATES.
"AMERICAN INVASION" OF CANADA, The.
See (in this Volume) CANADA: A. D. 1896-1909.
----------AMERICAN REPUBLICS: Start--------
AMERICAN REPUBLICS:
The South and Central American nations:
Their recent rapid advance in character, dignity, and importance.
Among the astonishing. changes that have come upon the
political face of the world within a few years past, producing
new arrangements of rank or standing and new distributions of
influence in the great family of nations, the emergence of the
South American republics from generally chronic disorder and
obscure unimportance to a position, almost suddenly
recognized, of present weight and dignity and great promise to
the future, is far from the least.
In 1890, when Mr. Blaine, as Secretary of State, opened the
first well-planned endeavor of our government to put itself
into such relations with them, of friendly influence, as the
elder and stronger in the family of American republics ought
to hold, there was little appreciation of the importance of
the movement. Even Mr. Blaine did not seem to be fully earnest
and fully sanguine in it, or else his chief and his colleagues
in the government were not heartily with him; for his
admirable scheme of policy was almost wrecked in the second
year of its working, by the unaccountable impatience and
harshness with which President Harrison wrung humiliating
apologies from Chili for a trifling offense in 1892. The
seeming arrogance of power then manifested cast a reasonable
suspicion on the motives with which the great republic of
North America had made overtures of fraternity to the
republics of the South, and it freshened an old distrust in
their minds.
{20}
Happily, however, Mr. Blaine, in 1890, had brought about the
creation of a harmonizing and unifying agency which needed
only time to effect great results. This was the Bureau of the
American Republics, established at Washington, by a vote of
the delegates from eighteen North, South, and Central American
governments, at an International American Conference, held in
that city in March of the year named. Its immediate purpose
was the promotion of commercial intercourse; but the
information spread with that object, through all the countries
concerned, has carried with it every kind of pacific
understanding and stimulation. The common action with common
interests thus organized must have had more than anything else
to do with the generating of a public spirit, lately, in the
Spanish-American countries, very different from any ever
manifested before. It has wakened national ambitions in them
and sobered the factious temper which kept them in political
disorder so long.
Ten years ago, the Central and South American republics had so
little standing among the nations that few of them were
invited to the Peace Conference of 1900, and the invitation
was accepted by none. Spanish America was represented by
Mexico alone. At the conference of 1907 at The Hague there
were delegates from all, and several among their delegates
took a notably important part, giving a marked distinction to
the peoples they represent. It was by a special effort on the
part of our then Secretary of State that they were brought
thus into the council of nations.
Mr. Root has had wonderful success, indeed, in realizing the
aim of the policy projected and initiated by Mr. Blaine. He
has cleared away the distrust and won the confidence of our
fellow Americans at the middle and south of the continent,
bringing them to a friendly acceptance of the leading which
goes naturally with the power and the experience of these
United States. The resulting weight in world politics of what
may be called the Concert of America, paralleling the Concert
of Europe, is one of the greater products of the present
extraordinary time.
AMERICAN REPUBLICS:
Their Second International Conference, at the City of
Mexico, in 1901-1902.
Its proceedings, conventions, resolutions, etc.
The First International Conference of American Republics was
held at Washington in the winter and spring of 1889-1890,
attended by delegates from eighteen Governments of the New
World.
See, in Volume VI. of this work,
American Republics.
On the suggestion of President McKinley, ten years later, and
on the invitation of President Diaz, of Mexico, a second
Conference was convened at the City of Mexico, on the 23d of
October, 1901. The sessions of this Conference were prolonged
until the 31st of January, 1902. It was attended by delegates
from every independent nation then existing in America, being
twenty in number; but the delegation of Venezuela was
withdrawn by the Government of that State on the 14th of
January, and the withdrawal was made retroactive to and from
the preceding 31st of December. The delegation from the United
States was composed of ex-United States Senator Henry G.
Davis; Mr. William I. Buchanan, formerly Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Argentine Republic; Mr.
John Barrett, formerly Minister Resident of the United States
to Siam; and Messrs. Charles M. Pepper and Volney W. Foster.
The following account of the work of the Conference and its
results is compiled from the report made by the delegates of
the United States to the Department of State:
"Señor Raigosa, chairman of the Mexican delegation, was chosen
temporary president, and the Conference then preceded to its
permanent organization by the election of his excellency Señor
Lic. Don Ignacio Mariscal, minister of foreign affairs of
Mexico, and Honorable John Hay, Secretary of State of the
United States, honorary presidents; Senor Lic. Don Genaro
Raigosa, of Mexico, president; Senhor Don José Hygino Duarte
Pereira, of Brazil, first vice-president, and Señor Doctor Don
Baltasar Estupinian, of Salvador, second vice-president. …
Under the rules adopted 19 committees were appointed and the
work of the conference was apportioned among them. …
"Discussion between the representatives of the Republics that
would constitute the conference began months previous to its
opening upon the subject of arbitration, and while every
desire was manifested then and thereafter by all to see a
conclusion reached by the conference in which all might join,
unsettled questions existed between some of the Republics that
would participate in the conference of a character that made
their avoidance difficult in any general discussion of the
subject. … This difficulty became more apparent as the
conference proceeded with its work. … It was tacitly agreed
between delegations, therefore, that the discussion of the
subject should be confined, so far as possible, to a
committee. … There was at no time any difficulty with regard
to securing a unanimous report favoring a treaty covering
merely arbitration as a principle; all delegations were in
favor of that. The point of discussion was as to the extent to
which the principle should be applied. Concerning this, three
views were supported in the conference:
(a) Obligatory arbitration, covering all questions pending or
future when they did not affect either independence or the
national honor of a country;
(b) Obligatory arbitration covering future questions only and
defining what questions shall constitute those to be excepted
from arbitration; and
(c) Facultative or voluntary arbitration, as best expressed by
The Hague convention. …
"A plan was finally suggested providing that all delegations
should sign the protocol for adhesion to the convention of The
Hague, as originally suggested by the United States
delegation, and that the advocates of obligatory arbitration
sign, between themselves, a project of treaty obligating their
respective governments to submit to the permanent court at The
Hague all questions arising or in existence, between
themselves, which did not affect their independence or their
national honor. Both the protocol and treaty were then to be
brought before the conference, incorporated in the minutes
without debate or action, and sent to the minister of foreign
relations of Mexico, to be officially certified and
transmitted by that official to the several signatory
governments. After prolonged negotiations this plan was
adopted and carried out as outlined above, all of the
delegations in the conference, excepting those of Chile and
Ecuador, signing the protocol covering adherence to The Hague
convention before its submission to the conference.
{21}
These, after a protracted debate on a point of order involving
the plan adopted, later accepted in open conference a solution
which made them—as they greatly desired to be, in another
form than that adopted—parties to the protocol. The project of
treaty of compulsory arbitration was signed by the delegations
of the Argentine Republic, Bolivia, Santo Domingo, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and
Venezuela. …
"By the above plan the conference attained the highest
possible end, and for the first time each of the American
Republics, as a result of that action, takes her place by the
side of the other countries of the world in favor of
international arbitration; more than this, by the unanimous
acceptance thus of The Hague convention on the part of the 19
Republics represented in the conference, it is given that
force and character which places it to-day as the formal
expression of the governments of the entire civilized world in
favor of peace. The delegates of the United States believe,
hence, that substantial progress and a noteworthy and historic
step in advance has been taken in the interests of peace, and
that means have been provided by which wars will be rendered
less frequent, if not wholly avoided, between the countries of
the Western Hemisphere. The opening of the doors of the
permanent tribunal of The Hague to all of the Republics of
America, as this protocol has done, is of itself an
achievement of the greatest importance. As a result of this
action the American Republics now have at their command the
machinery of that great international body for the pacific
settlement of any dispute they may desire to refer to
arbitration. Beyond this the obligations imposed by their
adhesion to the convention to have recourse, as far as
circumstances allow, to the good offices or mediation of any
one or more friendly powers, and to permit these offers to be
made without considering them unfriendly, is certainly a point
of great value gained by all.
"In addition to accepting The Hague convention the conference
went further. It accepted the three Hague conventions as
principles of public American international law, and
authorized and requested the President of the Mexican
Republic, as heretofore explained, to enter upon negotiations
with the several American Governments looking toward the most
unrestricted application of arbitration possible should the
way for such a step appear open. In addition to the protocol
and treaty referred to, another step was taken in the
direction of the settlement of international controversies by
the adoption and signing, on the part of every country
represented in the conference, of a project of treaty covering
the arbitration of pecuniary claims. Under this the several
republics obligate themselves for a period of five years to
submit to the arbitration of the court at The Hague all claims
for pecuniary loss or damage which may be presented by their
respective citizens and which cannot be amicably adjusted
through diplomatic channels, when such claims are of
sufficient importance to warrant the expense of arbitration.
Should both parties prefer that a special jurisdiction be
organized, according to article 21 of the convention of The
Hague this may be done, and if the permanent court of The
Hague shall not be open to one or more of the signatory
republics for any cause, they obligate themselves to stipulate
then in a special treaty the rules under which a tribunal
shall be established for the adjustment of the matter in
dispute and the form of procedure to be followed in such
arbitration. As a supplement to the protocol and treaty above
referred to, this project of treaty is of great importance and
will most certainly be of wide benefit to the good relations
and intercourse between the United States and her sister
republics of this Hemisphere." …
"Among the most important recommendations made by the First
International American Conference, held in Washington in
1889-1890, with a view to facilitating trade and communication
between the American Republics, was that looking to the
construction of an intercontinental railway, by which all of
the republics on the American continent would be put into rail
communication with each other. In pursuance of the
recommendations of that conference, an international railway
commission was organized, and under its direction surveys were
made which showed that it would be entirely practicable, by
using, as far as possible, existing railway systems and
filling in the gaps between them. … The report of the
intercontinental railway commission showed that the distance
between New York and Buenos Ayres by way of the proposed line
would be 10,471 miles, of which a little less than one-half
had then been constructed, leaving about 5,456 miles to be
built. Following up the work of the first conference and the
intercontinental railway commission, the present conference
adopted a strong report and a series of carefully considered
recommendations on this subject. …
"The resolution … providing for the meeting of an
international American customs congress in the city of New
York within a year, to consider customs administrative
matters, is one of the subjects on which early action should
be taken by our Government if the success of the congress is
to be assured. The governing board of the International Bureau
of the American Republics is to fix the date for the meeting
of this congress. … This congress will have nothing whatever
to do with the subject of tariff rates in any of the countries
represented. Its functions … briefly stated, are to consider
means for bringing about, as far as may be practicable, the
adoption by the several republics of uniform and simple
methods of custom-house procedure and a uniform and simple
system of port regulations and charges; measures to secure the
adoption and use in customs schedules and laws of a common
nomenclature of the products and merchandise of the American
republics, to be issued in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and
French, and that it may become the basis for the statistical
data of exports and imports; to provide for the organization
of a permanent customs committee or commission, composed of
persons having technical and expert knowledge, which, as a
dependency of the International Bureau of the American
Republics, or otherwise, shall be charged with the execution
of the resolutions and decisions of the congress and the study
of the customs laws of the American republics, in order to
suggest to the several governments the adoption of laws and
measures which, with regard to custom house formalities, may
tend to simplify and facilitate mercantile traffic. …
{22}
"Another resolution which contemplates that early action must
be taken by the several Governments is that regarding
quarantine and sanitary matters. In dealing with this subject
the object of the conference was to make sanitation take the
place of quarantine. When the ideal had in view by the
conference shall have been realized, the cities of the Western
Hemisphere will have been put in such perfect sanitary
condition that the propagation of disease germs in them will
be impossible and quarantine restrictions upon travel and
commerce, with their vexations and burdensome delays and
expenses, will be unnecessary.
"The conference fully recognized the value and importance to
all the Republics of the International Bureau of the American
Republics, which was established in Washington in pursuance of
the action of the First International American Conference. …
With a view to rendering the Bureau still more useful to all
the countries represented in its administration, and making it
still more valuable in establishing and maintaining closer
relations between them, the conference adopted a plan of
reorganization, or rather of broadening and expanding the
existing organization. … The new regulations adopted provide
that the Bureau shall be under the management of a governing
board to be composed of the Secretary of State of the United
States, who is to be its chairman, and the diplomatic
representatives in Washington of all the other governments
represented in the Bureau. This governing board is to meet
regularly once a month, excepting in June, July, and August of
each year. …
"In order that the archæological and ethnological remains
existing in the territory of the several Republics of the
Western Hemisphere might be systematically studied and
preserved, the conference adopted a resolution providing for
the meeting of an American international archæological
commission in the city of Washington, D. C., within two years
from the date of the adoption of the resolution. …
"The conference gave its most hearty indorsement to the
project for the construction of an interoceanic canal by the
Government of the United States." …
"The recommendation of the conference that there be
established in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans,
Buenos Ayres, or any other important mercantile center, a bank
with branches in the principal cities in the American
republics, is in line with the similar resolution adopted by
the First International American Conference in Washington in
1889-1890."
"In addition to the protocol for the adhesion of the American
Republics to the Convention of The Hague, the treaty of
compulsory arbitration signed by nine delegations, and the
treaty for the arbitration of pecuniary claims, the Conference
agreed to and signed a treaty for the extradition of
criminals, … including a clause making anarchy an extraditable
offense when it shall have been defined by the legislation of
the respective countries; a convention on the practice of the
learned professions, providing for the reciprocal recognition
of the professional diplomas and titles granted in the several
Republics; a convention for the formation of codes of public
and private international law; … a convention on literary and
artistic copyrights; … a convention for the exchange of
official, scientific, literary, and industrial publications; …
a treaty on patents of invention, etc.; … and a convention on
the rights of aliens." The treaty on patents and the
convention on the rights of aliens could not be signed by the
delegates of the United States, for reasons set forth in their
report.
"The delegates desire especially to express their most
grateful appreciation of the courtesy extended by the Mexican
Government in preparing for the comfort of delegates and in
all the arrangements for the conference. Every convenience at
the command of that Government was placed at the disposal of
delegates to assist them in the discharge of their labors. …
"It is the belief of the delegates of the United States that
the results of the Second International American Conference
will be of great and lasting benefit to the nations
participating in its deliberations. … That the relations
between the American Republics have been improved as a result
of the conference cannot be doubted. The intimate daily
association for nearly four months, of leading men from every
American Republic of itself tended toward this result.
Delegates learned that, while existing international relations
made differences of opinion inevitable between the
representatives of some of the countries, they all had many
interests in common. As a result, toleration for the opinions
of others was shown by delegates to a marked degree, and the
sessions of the conference were remarkably free from
acrimonious debates and reflections on the policies of
delegations or their Governments."
57th Congress, 1st Session 1901-1902,
Senate Document 330.
AMERICAN REPUBLICS:
Their Third International Conference,
at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1906.
Proceedings, conventions, resolutions.
The Third International Conference of American Republics was
held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 21st to August 26th,
1906. It was attended by delegates from each of the 21
American Republics, excepting only Hayti and Venezuela. The
delegates from the United States of America were the Honorable
William I. Buchanan, chairman, formerly Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Argentine Republic; Dr. L.
S. Rowe, Professor of Political Science, University of
Pennsylvania; Honorable A. J. Montague, ex-Governor of
Virginia; Mr. Tulio Larrinaga, Resident Commissioner from
Porto Rico in Washington; Mr. Paul S. Reinsch, Professor of
Political Science, University of Wisconsin; Mr. Van Leer Polk,
ex-Consul-General; with a staff of secretaries, etc., from
several departments of the public service at Washington.
The Conference was attended also by the Secretary of State of
the United States, the Honorable Elihu Root, incidentally to
an important tour through many parts of South America which he
made in the months of that summer. In the course of his
journey he visited, on invitation, not only Brazil, but
Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Panama, and Colombia; and, as
stated in the next annual Message of President Roosevelt, "he
refrained from visiting Paraguay, Bolivia, and Ecuador only
because the distance of their capitals from the seaboard made
it impracticable with the time at his disposal. He carried
with him a message of peace and friendship, and of strong
desire for good understanding and mutual helpfulness; and he
was everywhere received in the spirit of his message."
{23}
In the instructions to the delegates from the United States,
prepared by Secretary Root, this wise admonition was
conveyed:—
"It is important that you should keep in mind and, as occasion
serves, impress upon your colleagues, that such a conference
is not an agency for compulsion or a tribunal for
adjudication; it is not designed to compel States to make
treaties or to observe treaties; it should not sit in judgment
upon the conduct of any State, or undertake to redress alleged
wrongs, or to settle controverted questions of right. A
successful attempt to give such a character to the Conference
would necessarily be fatal to the Conference itself, for few
if any of the States represented in it would be willing to
submit their sovereignty to the supervision which would be
exercised by a body thus arrogating to itself supreme and
indefinite powers. The true function of such a conference is
to deal with matters of common interest which are not really
subjects of controversy, but upon which comparison of views

and friendly discussion may smooth away differences of detail,
develop substantial agreement and lead to coöperation along
common lines for the attainment of objects which all really
desire. It follows from this view of the functions of the
Conference that it is not expected to accomplish any striking
or spectacular final results; but is to deal with many matters
which, not being subjects of controversy, attract little
public attention, yet which, taken together, are of great
importance for the development of friendly intercourse among
nations; and it is to make such progress as may now be
possible toward the acceptance of ideals, the full realization
of which may be postponed to a distant future. All progress
toward the complete reign of justice and peace among nations
is accomplished by long and patient effort and by many
successive steps; and it is confidently hoped that this
Conference will mark some substantial advancement by all the
American States in this process of developing Christian
civilization. Not the least of the benefits anticipated from
the Conference will be the establishment of agreeable personal
relations, the removal of misconceptions and prejudices, and
the habit of temperate and kindly discussion among the
representatives of so many Republics."
The following account of the Conference and its action is
derived from the subsequent official report of the Delegates
of the United States:—
"The sessions of the Conference were held in a spacious and
ornate building, erected especially for this purpose by the
Brazilian Government, and situated on the superb new boulevard
that for nearly four miles follows the shore of the Bay of
Rio, and at the end of the new Avenida Central. The building
is a permanent one, reproduced in granite and marble from the
plans of the palace erected by Brazil at the Louisiana
Purchase Exposition, at St. Louis. It is surrounded by an
exquisite garden, and, facing as it does the entrance to the
wonderfully beautiful Bay of Rio, the building is a notable
landmark. It was christened 'The Monroe Palace' by special
action of the Brazilian Government. The Brazilian Government
installed in the palace a complete telegraph, mail, and
telephone service, and telegrams, cables, and mail of the
different delegations and of individual delegates were
transmitted free. Recognition is due in this connection to the
governments of the Argentine Republic, Paraguay, Uruguay, and
Chili, which officially extended, through the director of
telegraphs of Brazil, the courtesy of free transit for all
telegrams sent by delegates over the telegraph lines of their
respective countries. This marked courtesy on the part of
Brazil and of the Republics mentioned was greatly appreciated
by the delegates. In connection with the work of the
Conference, the Brazilian Government organized and maintained
at its expense an extensive and competent corps of
translators, stenographers, and clerical assistants, whose
services were at all times at the command of the delegates. A
buffet lunch, for the convenience and comfort of delegates and
their guests, was maintained in the palace throughout the
period of the Conference. The palace was elaborately lighted
and was the center of attraction day and night for great
crowds of people, and nothing in connection with its equipment
and administration or that concerned the comfort or
convenience of delegates was left undone by the Brazilian
Government. The Monroe Palace now becomes a national meeting
place for the people of Brazil. It will remain as an adornment
of the splendid new Rio that has risen from the old city during
the past two or three years, and as an evidence of the
progress and energy of the Brazilian people.
"The Conference was formally opened in the presence of a large
and distinguished audience on the evening of July 23, 1906, by
His Excellency the Baron do Rio Branco, the distinguished
Brazilian minister for foreign affairs. The approaches to the
palace were lined with troops, the public grounds and avenues
of the city brilliantly illuminated and packed with people. …
The Conference unanimously chose as its president, His
Excellency Señor Dr. Joaquim Nabuco, the Brazilian Ambassador
to the United States; as honorary vice-presidents, His
Excellency the Baron do Rio Branco, and the Honorable Elihu
Root, Secretary of State of the United States, and as its
Secretary-General, His Excellency, Señor Dr. J. F. de
Assis-Brasil, the Brazilian envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary to the Argentine Republic. The latter selected
as his assistants one of the most competent and distinguished
groups of men that has served any of the preceding
conferences. … These officers left nothing undone toward
aiding and facilitating the work of delegates, and to them the
United States delegation feels greatly indebted for the many
courtesies and the great kindness extended on all occasions.
"The conference was attended by delegates from each of the 21
American Republics, with the exception of Haiti and
Venezuela." …
{24}
"The distinguishing note of the Conference was the
extraordinary session convened to receive the Secretary of
State of the United States, Honorable Elihu Root, who, as
stated earlier in this report, had been named one of the two
honorary presidents of the Conference. The reception accorded
the Secretary of State by the Conference was one of the most
notable political events that has taken place in our relations
with Central and South America, and manifested the feeling of
good fellowship and sympathy that exists between the American
Republics. We believe the visit of the Secretary of State to
South America has resulted in greater good to our relations
with Central and South America than any one thing that has
heretofore taken place in our diplomatic history with them.
The extraordinary session of the Conference to receive the
Secretary of State was held on the evening of July 31 and was
one of great brilliancy. In introducing the Secretary of State
to the Conference, His Excellency Dr. Joaquim Nabuco, the
Brazilian Ambassador to the United States and President of the
Conference, delivered a notable address, to which the
Secretary of State replied."
It was, indeed, a notable utterance of pregnant and impressive
thought which Mr. Root addressed to this important congress of
the American Republics, and it well deserved the distinction
that was accorded to it by the President of the United States,
when he appended it to his Message to Congress the following
December. A considerable part of the brief but richly filled
address may fitly be quoted here:
"I bring from my country," said the Secretary, "a special
greeting to her elder sisters in the civilization of America.
Unlike as we are in many respects, we are alike in this, that
we are all engaged under new conditions, and free from the
traditional forms and limitations of the Old World in working
out the same problem of popular self-government.
"It is a difficult and laborious task for each of us. Not in
one generation nor in one century can the effective control of
a superior sovereign, so long deemed necessary to government,
be rejected and effective self-control by the governed be
perfected in its place. The first fruits of democracy are many
of them crude and unlovely; its mistakes are many, its partial
failures many, its sins not few. Capacity for self-government
does not come to man by nature. It is an art to be learned,
and it is also an expression of character to be developed
among all the thousands of men who exercise popular
sovereignty.
"To reach the goal toward which we are pressing forward, the
governing multitude must first acquire knowledge that comes
from universal education, wisdom that follows practical
experience, personal independence and self-respect befitting
men who acknowledge no superior, self-control to replace that
external control which a democracy rejects, respect for law,
obedience to the lawful expressions of the public will,
consideration for the opinions and interests of others equally
entitled to a voice in the state, loyalty to that abstract
conception—one’s country—as inspiring as that loyalty to
personal sovereigns which has so illumined the pages of
history, subordination of personal interests to the public
good, love of justice and mercy, of liberty and order. All
these we must seek by slow and patient effort; and of how many
shortcomings in his own land and among his own people each one
of us is conscious!
"Yet no student of our times can fail to see that not America
alone but the whole civilized world is swinging away from its
old governmental moorings and intrusting the fate of its
civilization to the capacity of the popular mass to govern. By
this pathway mankind is to travel, whithersoever it leads.
Upon the success of this our great undertaking the hope of
humanity depends. Nor can we fail to see that the world makes
substantial progress towards more perfect popular
self-government. …
"It is not by national isolation that these results have been
accomplished or that this progress can be continued. No nation
can live unto itself alone and continue to live. Each nation’s
growth is a part of the development of the race. There may be
leaders and there may be laggards, but no nation can long
continue very far in advance of the general progress of
mankind, and no nation that is not doomed to extinction can
remain very far behind. It is with nations as with individual
men; intercourse, association, correction of egotism by the
influence of others' judgment, broadening of views by the
experience and thought of equals, acceptance of the moral
standards of a community the desire for whose good opinion
lends a sanction to the rules of right conduct—these are the
conditions of growth in civilization. …
"To promote this mutual interchange and assistance between the
American republics, engaged in the same great task, inspired
by the same purpose, and professing the same principles, I
understand to be the function of the American Conference now
in session. There is not one of all our countries that cannot
benefit the others; there is not one that cannot receive
benefit from the others; there is not one that will not gain
by the prosperity, the peace, the happiness of all. …
"The association of so many eminent men from all the
Republics, leaders of opinion in their own homes; the
friendships that will arise among you; the habit of temperate
and kindly discussion of matters of common interest; the
ascertainment of common sympathies and aims; the dissipation
of misunderstandings; the exhibition to all the American
peoples of this peaceful and considerate method of conferring
upon international questions—this alone, quite irrespective of
the resolutions you may adopt and the conventions you may
sign, will mark a substantial advance in the direction of
international good understanding.
"These beneficent results the Government and the people of the
United States of America greatly desire. We wish for no
victories but those of peace; for no territory except our own;
for no sovereignty except the sovereignty over ourselves. We
deem the independence and equal rights of the smallest and
weakest member of the family of nations entitled to as much
respect as those of the greatest empire, and we deem the
observance of that respect the chief guaranty of the weak
against the oppression of the strong. We neither claim nor
desire any rights, or privileges, or powers that we do not
freely concede to every American republic. We wish to increase
our prosperity, to expand our trade, to grow in wealth, in
wisdom, and in spirit, but our conception of the true way to
accomplish this is not to pull down others and profit by their
ruin, but to help all friends to a common prosperity and a
common growth, that we may all become greater and stronger
together.
{25}
"Within a few months, for the first time the recognized
possessors of every foot of soil upon the American continents
can be and I hope will be represented with the acknowledged
rights of equal sovereign states in the great World Congress
at The Hague. This will be the world’s formal and final
acceptance of the declaration that no part of the American
continents is to be deemed subject to colonization. Let us
pledge ourselves to aid each other in the full performance of
the duty to humanity which that accepted declaration implies;
so that in time the weakest and most unfortunate of our
republics may come to march with equal step by the side of the
stronger and more fortunate. Let us help each other to show
that for all the races of men the liberty for which we have
fought and labored is the twin sister of justice and peace.
Let us unite in creating and maintaining and making effective
an all-American public opinion, whose power shall influence
international conduct and prevent international wrong, and
narrow the causes of war, and forever preserve our free lands
from the burden of such armaments as are massed behind the
frontiers of Europe, and bring us ever nearer to the
perfection of ordered liberty. So shall come security and
prosperity, production and trade, wealth, learning, the arts,
and happiness for us all."
The fruits of the Conference were embodied in four conventions
and a number of important resolutions. The text of a
convention agreed to, which establishes between the States
signing it the status of naturalized citizens who again take
up their residence in the country of their origin, will be
found elsewhere in this Volume, under the subject-heading
Naturalization. Another, which amends and extends the
operation of a treaty signed at the Second Conference, at
Mexico, in 1902 (see above) is as follows:—
"Sole article.
The treaty on pecuniary claims signed at Mexico January
thirtieth, nineteen hundred and two, shall continue in force,
with the exception of the third article, which is hereby
abolished, until the thirty-first day of December, nineteen
hundred and twelve, both for the nations which have already
ratified it, and for those which may hereafter ratify it."
The third Convention signed was a modification and extension
of another of the agreements of the Second Conference, at
Mexico, having relation to patents of invention, literary
property, etc. The fourth Convention provides for an
"international Commission of Jurists, composed of one
representative from each of the signatory States, appointed by
their respective Governments, which Commission shall meet for
the purpose of preparing a draft of a code of Private
International Law and one of Public International Law,
regulating the relations between the nations of America." The
more important of the resolutions adopted were the following:
"To ratify adherence to the principle of arbitration; and, to
the end that so high a purpose may be rendered practicable, to
recommend to the Nations represented at this Conference that
instructions be given to their Delegates to the Second
Conference to be held at The Hague, to endeavor to secure by
the said Assembly, of world-wide character, the celebration of
a General Arbitration Convention, so effective and definite
that, meriting the approval of the civilized world, it shall
be accepted and put in force by every nation."
"To recommend to the Governments represented therein that they
consider the point of inviting the Second Peace Conference, at
The Hague, to examine the question of the compulsory
collection of public debts, and, in general, means tending to
diminish between Nations conflicts having an exclusively
pecuniary origin."
Other resolutions of the Conference were directed to a
broadening of the work and an enlargement of the influence of
the International Bureau of the American Republics; to the
erection of a building for that Bureau and for the
contemplated Library in Memory of Columbus; to the creation in
the Bureau of a section having "as its chief object a special
study of the customs legislation, consular regulations and
commercial statistics of the Republics of America," with a
view to bringing them into more harmony, and to securing the
greatest development and amplification of commercial relations
between American Republics; to promote the establishment and
maintenance of navigation lines connecting the principal ports
of the American continent; to bring about more effective
cooperation in international sanitary measures; to advance the
construction of lines that shall form, connectedly, the
desired Pan-American Railway, extending through the two
continents.
The time and place of future conferences are to be determined
by the Governing Board of the Bureau of American Republics.
AMERICAN REPUBLICS: The International Bureau:
Its increased efficiency.
The gift of a building to it by Mr. Carnegie.
The International Bureau of the American Republics, instituted
at Washington in 1890 (see in Volume VI. of this work),
assumed larger functions and increased importance in 1906,
after the return of Mr. Root, United States Secretary of
State, from his tour of visits to the South American States.
The Honorable John Barrett, who had successively represented
the Government of the United States in Panama, in Argentina
and in Colombia, as well as at the Second Pan-American
Conference, in Mexico, was made Director of the Bureau, and
entered upon its duties with an exalted belief in the
possibilities of good to be done in the American hemisphere by
an energetic promotion of more intimate relations between its
peoples. At the same time a new dignity was given to the
International Union of the American Republics, embodied in the
work of the Bureau, by the provision of a stately building for
its use. Mr. Root had persuaded Congress to appropriate
$200,000 for the site and building of such a home, to be
offered to the Union, and this inadequate sum was supplemented
by a generous private gift. It was easy to interest Mr. Andrew
Carnegie in a project which bore so directly on the promotion
of international friendliness and peace, and he offered an
addition of $750,000 to the fund for the Pan-American
Building.
The site secured for the structure is that of the old Van Ness
mansion, about half-way between the State, War and Navy
Building and the Potomac River. It covers a tract of five
acres, facing public parks on two sides. There the corner
stone of a central seat of Pan-American coöperations and
influences was laid in May, 1908, in the presence of official
representatives from twenty-one American republics, and under
their assembled flags.
{26}
AMERICAN SCHOOL PEACE LEAGUE, The.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1908.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF EQUITY.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION, &c.:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902-1909.
AMERICAN SUGAR REFINING COMPANY (the "Sugar Trust").
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1907-1909, and 1909.
AMSTERDAM: A. D. 1907.
Meeting of International Woman Suffrage Alliance.
See (in this Volume)
Elective Franchise: Woman Suffrage.
AMUNDSEN, Roald: Arctic Exploration.
Magnetic Pole Researches.
See (in this Volume)
POLAR EXPLORATION.
ANAM: Deposition of the King.
Toward the end of 1906, France asserted sovereignty over Anam,
which had been a French Protectorate for many years, by
adjudging its king to be insane, placing him in confinement,
and thus ending his reign. He was accused of almost incredible
atrocities, in torturing and murdering his wives and other
subjects within his reach. Even cannibalism was included among
his alleged crimes.
ANARCHISM IN INDIA.
See (in this Volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1907-1908, and 1907-1909.
ANATOLIAN RAILWAY.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: TURKEY: A. D. 1899-1909.
ANDERSON, Judge A. B.:
Acquittal of the Standard Oil Company.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1904-1909.
ANDRASSY, Count.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905-1906.
ANGELL, James Burrill:
Retirement from Presidency of University of Michigan.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1909.
ANGLE HILL, Capture of.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (MAY-JANUARY).
ANJUMAN,
ENJUMEN.
A term which seems to signify in Persia either a local
assembly or a political association of any nature.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
ANNUITIES, for Workingmen.
See POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF.
ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.
See POLAR EXPLORATION.
ANTHRACITE COAL:
The Railroad Monopoly.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1906-1909.
ANTHRACITE COAL STRIKES.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES.
ANTI-REBATE LEGISLATION.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1870-1908,
and 1903 (FEBRUARY).
ANTI-SEMITIC DEMONSTRATIONS.
See (in this Volume)
JEWS.
ANTI-TRUST, or Sherman Act, of 1890 .
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1890-1902.
ANTI-TRUST DECISIONS, in United States Courts.
See (in this Volume)
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.
ANTUNG: Opened to Foreign Trade.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1903 (MAY-OCTOBER).
ANTUNG-MUKDEN RAILWAY QUESTION, between Japan and China.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1905-1909
APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION OF THE CURIA.
See (in this Volume)
PAPACY: A. D. 1908.
APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN FORESTS, Preservation of the.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: UNITED STATES.
APPONYI, Count Albert.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1904; 1905-1906; 1908-1909.
ARABIA: A. D. 1903-1905.
"Holy War" with the Sultan opened by the Sheik Hamid
Eddin, of the Hadramaut, claiming the Caliphate.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1903-1905.
ARBITRATION, INDUSTRIAL.
See LABOR ORGANIZATION.
ARBITRATION, INTERNATIONAL:
General Treaties, since the First Peace Conference, of 1899.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1899-1909.
ARBITRATION, SPECIAL:
Of the Pious Fund Dispute between Mexico and the
United States.
See (in this Volume)
MEXICO: A. D. 1902 (MAY).
ARBITRATION, OF CLAIMS AGAINST VENEZUELA.
See (in this Volume)
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1902-1904.
ARBITRATION, Of Alaska Boundary, between the United
States and Great Britain.
See (in this Volume)
ALASKA: A. D. 1903.
ARBITRATION, Of Brazil and British Guiana:
Boundary Dispute.
See (in this Volume)
BRAZIL: A. D. 1904.
ARBITRATION, Of Great Britain and Russia:
The Dogger Bank Incident.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (OCTOBER-MAY).
ARBITRATION, Of Fisheries Questions between the United
States and Great Britain.
See (in this Volume)
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1905-1909.
ARBITRATION, Central American Court of Justice.
See (in this Volume)
CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1907.
ARBITRATION, Of Casablanca Incident, between Germany and France,
at The Hague.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1907-1909.
ARCTIC EXPLORATION.
See (in this Volume)
POLAR EXPLORATION.
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1901-1906.
Participation in Second and Third International Conferences
of American Republics, at Rio de Janeiro.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1902.
Noble ending of naval rivalries with Chile.
A model arbitration treaty.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1902.
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1903.
The Foreign Population.
"Statistics of 1903 showed 1,000,000 foreigners in Argentina
in a total of 5,000,000. Of these 500,000 were Italians,
200,000 Spaniards, 100,000 French, 25,000 English, 18,000
Germans, 15,000 Swiss, 13,000 Austrians, and the remainder of
many nationalities. The number of Americans did not exceed
1,500, although many are coming now, to go into cattle-raising
and farming in the country or into all kinds of business in
Buenos Ayres. English influence is very strong, especially in
financial circles, with the Germans almost equally active."
John Barret,
Argentina
(American Review of Reviews, July, 1905).
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1904.
Inauguration of President Quintana.
Dr. Manuel Quintana, elected President of the Republic, was
inaugurated on the 12th of October, 1904, and entered on an
administration which promised much good to the country.
{27}
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1905.
A revolutionary movement promptly suppressed.
A revolutionary undertaking, in Buenos Aires and several
provinces, had its outbreak on the 4th of February, but was
suppressed so promptly that the public disturbance by it was
very brief. Particulars of the affair were reported by the
American Minister at Buenos Aires, Mr. Beaupré, as follows:
"On the afternoon of the 3d instant rumors of an intended
movement subversive of the established government of this
country came to the Federal authorities from various parts of
the Republic. These rumors were at first discredited, but
finally proved so persistent that the President and heads of
the various departments of the government proceeded to take
measures of precaution. In the early hours of the morning of
the next day, the 4th instant, the anticipated outbreak came
simultaneously in the capital, Rosario, Mendoza, Cordoba, and
Bahia Blanca, these being the largest cities of the Republic
and the principal political and military centers.
"In the capital the plan of the revolutionists seems to have
been to attack the police stations and military arsenal, with
a view perhaps of forcing the police of the capital into their
ranks and of supplying themselves with arms and munitions. At
the arsenal, by a simple stratagem of the minister of war, the
malcontents were lured into the building and arrested. About
the police stations there was some fighting, particularly at
Station No. 14; but the insurgents proved unprepared and
insufficiently organized, so that by dawn the movement had
completely failed in this city. Except that many of the shops
remained closed throughout the day of the 4th, and except for
the presence of armed police in the streets, there were no
evidences of any revolutionary effort. Some half dozen
fatalities are reported.
"The prompt and effective suppression of the revolution in
this city is due in large measure to the energy and judgment
displayed by the President and his ministers, who spent the
entire night in the Government House in council. Following up
the precautionary measures of the 3d instant and the active
measures of the night of the 3d and 4th, the President
proceeded at 8 A. M. of the 4th to declare the Republic in a
state of siege for a period of thirty days, to call out the
reserves and to establish a censorship of the press and of the
telegraph service.
"The movement in Rosario was about as brief and unsuccessful
as that in the capital, so that by the forenoon of the 4th it
was known to have failed in the two principal cities of the
Republic. Here there was also some blood shed.
"In the meantime the real center of the movement was the city
of Cordoba, while serious trouble seemed in view in the city
of Mendoza, where the revolutionists were said to be in a
strong position, and in the province of Buenos Aires, where
troops and marines were already in movement from Bahia Blanca
upon the capital."
Forces despatched to those points made as quick an ending of
the revolt there as at the capital. "The revolutionary forces
at Cordoba had made prisoners of the vice-president of the
Republic, Dr. Figueroa Alcorta, and other prominent citizens.
These prominent men they are reported to have proposed putting
in their vanguard unless concessions were made to them. This
and the conditions of the revolutionists the vice-president
telegraphed to the Executive, who did not allow himself to be
moved by threats or even by sympathy for his colleague.
Consequently the revolutionists, finding threats and
resistance vain, fled yesterday before the government troops
arrived. With the failure of the movement in Cordoba the
revolution is considered at an end and the country has
returned to its former condition of peace and tranquillity."
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1906.
Death of its President.
Dr. Manuel Quintana, the much esteemed President of the
Argentine Republic, died in March, 1906, and was succeeded by
the Vice-President, Dr. Figuero Alcorta, who will fill the
office until 1910.
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1908.
Dreadnought building.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR.
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1909.
Assassination of Colonel Falcon.
As Colonel Falcon, Prefect of Police at Buenos Ayres, was
returning from a funeral, with his secretary, on the 14th of
November, a bomb was thrown into the carriage and exploded,
with fatal effects to both. The assassin, a youth of nineteen
years, was captured. The murder had been preceded by a number
of bomb explosions in the past six months, all attributed to
anarchists from Europe, of whom large numbers were said to
have been collected in Buenos Ayres.
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1909.
Chief food supply to Great Britain.
"How many readers of The Times (said a special
correspondent of the London Times writing from Buenos
Aires, October 15, 1909), if asked to name the country which
supplied the United Kingdom last year with the largest
quantity of wheat, of maize, and of refrigerated and frozen
cattle, would unhesitatingly award the first place to the
Argentine Republic? How many English people realize that this
South American Republic is changing places with the North
American Republic in the exporting of these and other food
products to the United Kingdom? The Argentine Republic last
year occupied, and may in the future occupy, the first, whilst
the United States may have to be content with the second,
place in the exportation of foodstuffs. The change is partly
due to the shortage of meat in America, and partly to the fact
that with their increasing population the United States will
have less and less surplus provisions with which to supply the
world. Last year, the Argentine Republic sent England three
times more maize than the United States did, something like
four and a half million cwt. more wheat, and considerably over
twice the amount of refrigerated and frozen cattle. The
shipments of meat are considerably heavier for the first nine
months of 1909, so the proportion shipped by the Argentine
Republic is not likely to be less for the present year."
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1909.
Arbitration of the Acre boundary dispute between
Bolivia and Peru.
See (in this Volume)
ACRE DISPUTES.
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1909.
Building of the Transandine Railway Tunnel.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: ARGENTINA-CHILE.
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1910.
Agreement with Uruguay concerning the River Plate.
The following message came from Buenos Ayres on the 6th of
January, 1910: "A burning question between Argentina and
Uruguay, which for two years was seemingly insoluble and
possibly involved Brazil, has been settled by Señor Roque
Saenz-Peña.
{28}
As Argentine Plenipotentiary he signed a Protocol at
Montevideo yesterday, of which the following is a summary:
Recognizing the reciprocal desire for friendly relations,
fortified by the common origin of the two nations, the parties
agree to declare that past differences are not capable of
being regarded as a cause of offence and shall not be allowed
to continue. The navigation and use of the waters of the River
Plate will continue as heretofore without alteration, and
differences which may arise in the future will be removed and
settled in the same spirit of cordiality."
ARICA-LA PAZ RAILWAY.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: CHILE-BOLIVIA.
ARICA QUESTION.
See (in this Volume)
CHILE: A. I). 1907.
ARID LANDS, Reclamation of.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES.
ARIZONA:
Refusal of statehood in union with New Mexico.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1906.
ARMENIANS: A. D. 1903-1904.
Incursions of Armenian revolutionists from Russia and Persia.
Exaggerated accounts of massacre.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1903-1904.
ARMENIANS: A. D. 1905.
Massacre by Tartars in the Caucasus.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER).
ARMENIANS: A. D. 1909.
Massacre at Adana and vicinity.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-MAY) and (APRIL-DECEMBER).
ARMAMENTS.
Armies.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATION FOR.
ARMOUR & CO.,et al.,
The case of the United States against.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1903-1906.
ARMOUR PACKING COMPANY:
Decision against in rebating case.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908.
ARMSTRONG, Vice-Consul J. P.:
Reports on affairs in the Congo State.
See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1906-1909.
ARMSTRONG INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE.
See (in this Volume)
INSURANCE, LIFE.
ARNOLDSEN, K. P.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
ARRHENIUS, SVANTE AUGUST.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
ARYA SAMAJ, The:
This is "an organization founded in Bombay more than 30 years
ago by a devout Gujerati Brahmin who was born in Kathiawar. So
far as I am aware, it has few followers in Bombay nowadays:
but in the last few years it has waxed very strong in the
Punjab. Originally it was a purely religious movement, based
upon the teaching of the Vedas. It promotes the abolition of
caste and idolatry, condemns early marriages, and permits the
remarriage of widows. At the same time it is violently hostile
to Christianity. There can be no question that large numbers
of members of the Arya Samaj are only concerned with its
spiritual side; but there can be equally no question that the
organization, as a whole, has developed marked political
tendencies subversive of British rule. …
"In the United Provinces it is believed that there are now
about 40,000 members of the Arya Samaj. I have entirely failed
to secure any trustworthy estimate of the number of its
members in this province [the Punjab], but there are
flourishing branches of the Samaj in every large town and in
many of the important villages, and proselytism is being
actively pursued with marked success. The members of the Samaj
strenuously deny that their organization has a political side.
The literature of the sect, and particularly the writings of
their founder, the ardent ascetic Dayanand Saraswati, who came
from Kathiawar, show no trace of any interest in mundane
politics. Dayanand was an enthusiast who denounced the
idolatrous tendencies of modern Hinduism, and advocated a
return to the earlier, purer faith. … Dayanand’s clarion call
of "Back to the Vedas" produced a complete revulsion of
feeling, and he made the Punjab a stronghold of the new creed.
For that reason, the Arya Samaj is to this day the bitterest
opponent of Christianity in India; and Punjabi Mahomedans
declare that it is also their most formidable foe."
India correspondence of The Times.
ASHOKAN RESERVOIR.
See (in this Volume)
NEW YORK CITY: A. D. 1905-1909.
ASIATIC IMMIGRATION:
The resistance to it in South Africa, Australia,
America, and elsewhere.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS.
ASQUITH, Mr. Herbert Henry, Chancellor of the Exchequer.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1905 (DECEMBER), and 1905-1906.
ASQUITH, Mr. Herbert Henry:
On the German attitude toward an international reduction of
naval armaments.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR.
ASQUITH, Mr. Herbert Henry:
Address at the Imperial Conference of 1907
on Preferential Trade.
See (in this Volume)
BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1907.
ASQUITH, Mr. Herbert Henry:
Prime Minister.
See
ENGLAND: A. D. 1908 (APRIL).
ASQUITH, Mr. Herbert Henry:
On the rejection of the Licensing Bill by the House of Lords.
See (in this Volume)
Alcohol Problem: England: A. D. 1908.
ASQUITH, Mr. Herbert Henry:
On the Budget of 1909.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1909 (APRIL-DECEMBER).
ASIA:
The Asiatic future of Russia as it appeared at the beginning
of the twentieth century.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA.
ASSAM:
United with Eastern Bengal.
See (in this Volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1905-1909.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of King Alexander, Queen Draga, and others of the Servian
Court.
See (in this Volume)
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: SERVIA.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Count Alexei Ignatief.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1906.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Ali Akbar Khan, the Atabek Azam.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1907.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Ashutosh Biswas.
See (in this Volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1907-1908.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of the Atabeg-i-Azam.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1907 (JANUARY-SEPTEMBER).
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of General Beckman.
See (in this Volume)
DENMARK: A. D. 1909 (JUNE).
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Governor-General Bobrikoff.
See (in this Volume)
FINLAND: A. D. 1904.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of M. Bogoliepoff, Russian Minister of Instruction.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A D. 1901-1904.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of King Carlos I. and Crown Prince Luiz Felipe.
See (in this Volume)
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1906-1909.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Sir Curzon-Wyllie.
See (in this Volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1909 (JULY).
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Premier Delyannis.
See (in this Volume)
GREECE: A. D. 1905.
{29}
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Colonel Falcon.
See (in this Volume)
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D). 1909.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Fehim Pasha.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER),
and 1909 (JANUARY-MAY).
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Prince Ito.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1909 (OCTOBER).
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Colonel Karpoff.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (DECEMBER).
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of President McKinley.
See (in this Volume)
BUFFALO: A. D. 1901;
and UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901 (SEPTEMBER).
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of General Min.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1906 (AUGUST).
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of M. Plehve.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1901-1904.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of General Sakharoff.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Count Schouvaloff.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER).
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Grand Duke Sergius.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of Shemsi Pasha.
See TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER).
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of M. Sipiagin.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1901-1904.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of ex-Governor Steunenberg, of Idaho.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES. A. D. 1899-1907.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Of D. W. Stevens.
See KOREA: A. D. 1905-1909.
ASSASSINATIONS:
Attempted murder of Minister Stolypin.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1906 (AUGUST).
ASSINIBOIA:
Absorbed in the Province of Saskatchewan.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1905.
ASSIS-BRAZIL, Dr. J. F.:
Secretary-general of Third International Conference of
American Republics.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
ASSOCIATIONS, Law: French.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1902 (APRIL-OCTOBER), and 1903.
ASSOCIATIONS, Law: German.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1908 (APRIL).
ASSUAN DAM, Completion of.
See (in this Volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1902 (DECEMBER).
ASTRONOMY OF THE INVISIBLE.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION.
ATABEG-I-AZAM: Premier of Persia.
His assassination.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1907 (JANUARY-SEPTEMBER).
ATABEGS,
ATABEKS.
See (in this Volume)
Persia: A. D. 1905-1906.
ATCHINESE, Dutch hostilities with the.
See (in this Volume)
NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1904.
ATHABASCA:
Absorbed in the Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1905.
ATLANTA: A. D. 1906.
Anti-Negro Riot.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1906.
ATWATER, Professor W. O.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: CARNEGIE INSTITUTION.
AUSGLEICH, Austro-Hungarian.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1902-1903, and 1907.
----------AUSTRALIA: Start--------
AUSTRALIA:
The Race Problem.
Reasons for dread of Asiatic immigration.
The demand for a white Australia.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS.
AUSTRALIA:
Woman Suffrage.
See (in this Volume)
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
AUSTRALIA:
Government ownership of railways.
Disconnecting gauges in the several states.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: AUSTRALIA.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1901-1902.
The Tariff Question in the First
Parliament of the Commonwealth.
Issue between the Senate and the Representative Chamber.
"The tariff originally proposed by the government was framed
on lines of extreme protection, with special reference to the
languishing industries of Victoria; it was inevitable that the
opposition, mainly representing New South Wales, should fight
tooth and nail to prevent its becoming law. The result of the
struggle, which lasted almost without a serious interruption
for nine months, has been a compromise which leaves the tariff
of the commonwealth neither one thing nor the other. There can
be little doubt that in debating power and political
generalship the victory lay generally with the opposition; but
after all the result, so far as it was a victory for the party
of free trade, was due to the action of the Senate.
"To many, and apparently not least to the cabinet, the prompt
and effective interference of the Senate in a question of
taxation, which was generally supposed to be practically
placed by the constitution almost as much beyond their control
as custom has placed it beyond that of the House of Lords in
England, was a great surprise, and as the first test of the
respective powers of the two chambers of the legislature it
can hardly fail to be of great political importance. It was
provided by the constitution not only that all bills involving
the taxation of the people, directly or indirectly, should, as
in this country, originate in the representative chamber of
the legislature, but further that such bills should not be
altered or amended in their passage through the Senate. As a
concession to the less populous states, it was agreed when the
constitution was framed that while only the chamber, elected
on a strict basis of population, should impose or control
taxation, the Senate, in which all the states enjoy, as in
America, equal representation, should have the right to
suggest, for the consideration of the other chamber, any
amendments it thought desirable in any money bill sent on for
its assent. This provision, mild and inoffensive as it was
supposed to be, has now been used in a way to upset the policy
of the government, and practically to compel the assent of the
representative chamber to the views of a Senate majority. The
tariff bill as passed by the government majority was subjected
to an exhaustive criticism by the Senate, and finally fully
fifty items of the schedule imposing duties were referred back
to the representative chamber, with a request for their
reconsideration and reduction or excision.
{30}
"The government attempted to meet the difficulty by agreeing
to a few trifling amendments on the lines suggested, and got
the chamber peremptorily to reject all the others, sending the
bill back in effect as it was. To this the Senate replied by
calmly adhering to the views it had already expressed, and
sending the bill back again for further consideration,
allowing it to be pretty plainly understood that, in the event
of their views being ignored, they would place their reasons
on record and reject the bill altogether, thus preventing any
uniform tariff being established during the session. Face to
face with so grave a difficulty the cabinet gave way, and
agreed to a compromise which they would not have dreamed of
doing but for the action of the Senate, with its free-trade

majority of two votes. The immediate result of the long
struggle has been the passing of a tariff act which pleases
neither party, but will apparently raise the required revenue
of $40,000,000, needed to meet the wants of the federal and
state governments."
Hugh H. Lusk,
The First Parliament of Australia
(American Review of Reviews, March, 1903).
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1902.
The "States Rights" temper.
Question of constitutional relations between Commonwealth
and States in external affairs, as raised by South Australia.
Decision of the Imperial Government.
"State-rights" questions and the provincialistic spirit behind
them made a prompt appearance in the Australian Commonwealth
after its federation was accomplished. One of the first
wrangles to occur between the General Government and that of a
State was appealed necessarily to the Imperial Government at
London, because it arose out of a call from the latter, in
September, 1902, for information about an incident which
concerned a Dutch ship. The request for information went from
London to the Commonwealth Government, and from the latter to
the Government of South Australia, where the incident in
question occurred, involving some act of its officials. The
South Australian Ministry declined to pass the desired
information through the channel of the Commonwealth Ministry,
but would give it to the British Colonial Office, direct. A
long triangular argumentative correspondence ensued, in the
course of which much that seems like a repetition of the early
history of the United States of America appears. Such as this,
for example, in one of the letters of the Acting Premier of
South Australia to the Lieutenant-Governor of that State: "The
importance to the States, especially to the smaller States, of
strictly maintaining the lines of demarcation between
Commonwealth and State power is manifest. Already a movement
has begun to destroy the Federal element in the Constitution.
A remarkable indication of this may be gathered from a speech
made by Sir William Lyne, the Commonwealth Minister for Home
Affairs, at Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia, on the 2nd day
of the present month. Speaking of the Constitution, Sir
William Lyne said: 'If the population increased in the States
as he expected, he did not think three of the larger States
would still consent to be governed by four of the smaller
ones. He hoped that when the time came there would not be
bloodshed, but that things would settle themselves in a manner
worthy of the records of the first Parliament.’
"Believing, as Ministers do, that the peaceful and successful
working of the Constitution depends upon the strict
maintenance of the lines of demarcation between the powers of
the Commonwealth and those of the States, and that that line
is drawn clearly in the Constitution, they cannot agree to the
opinions of the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for
the Colonies, which increase, by implication, the power of the
Commonwealth, and which seem to Ministers to tend to
Unification, and to a sacrifice of the Federal to the National
principle."
This communication, transmitted to London, drew from the then
Colonial Secretary, Mr. Chamberlain, an unanswerable reply,
addressed to the Lieutenant-Governor and dated April 15, 1903,
in part as follows:
"Your Ministers contend ‘that the grant of power to the
Commonwealth, notwithstanding the general terms of Section 3
of the Act, is strictly limited to the Departments
transferred, and to matters upon which the Commonwealth
Parliament has power to make laws and has made laws,’ and that
‘in the distribution of legislative and consequently of
executive power, made by the Constitution, all powers not
specifically ceded to the Commonwealth remain in the States.’
"They are unable to agree ‘with the contention that there does
not appear to be anything in the Constitution to justify this
limitation,’ and argue that the validity of any claim of the
Commonwealth to any particular power, should be tested by
enquiring:—Does the Constitution specifically confer the
power?
"The view of the Act which I take is that it is a Constitution
Act, and creates a new political community. It expressly
declares that ‘the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South
Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania, and also, if Her Majesty
is satisfied that the people of Western Australia have agreed
thereto, of Western Australia, shall be united in a Federal
Commonwealth under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia.’
The object and scope of the Act is defined and declared by the
preamble to be to give effect to the agreement of the people
of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and
Tasmania 'to unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth
under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, and under the Constitution hereby established.’
"The whole Act must be read in the light of this declaration
and the provisions of Section 3. So far as other communities
in the Empire or foreign nations are concerned, the people of
Australia form one political community for which the
Government of the Commonwealth alone can speak, and for
everything affecting external states or communities, which
takes place within its boundaries, that Government is
responsible. The distribution of powers between the Federal
and State Authorities is a matter of purely internal concern
of which no external country or community can take any
cognizance. It is to the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth
alone that, through the Imperial Government, they must look,
for remedy or relief for any action affecting them done within
the bounds of the Commonwealth, whether it is the act of a
private individual, of a State official, or of a State
government. The Commonwealth is, through His Majesty’s
Government, just as responsible for any action of South
Australia affecting an external community as the United States
of America are for the action of Louisiana or any other State
of the Union.
{31}
"The Crown undoubtedly remains part of the constitution of the
State of South Australia and, in matters affecting it in that
capacity, the proper channel of communication is between the
Secretary of State and the State Governor. But in matters
affecting the Crown in its capacity as the central authority
of the Empire, the Secretary of State can, since the people of
Australia have become one political community, look only to
the Governor-General, as the representative of the Crown in
that community."
The published correspondence ends with this, and it is to be
assumed that South Australia had no more to say.
Correspondence respecting the Constitutional Relations
of the Australian Commonwealth and States in regard to
External Affairs
(Parliamentary Papers, Cd. 1587).
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1902.
British Colonial Conference at London.
See (in this Volume)
BRITISH EMPIRE.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1902.
The Governor-Generalship.
The office of Governor-General was resigned by Lord Hopetoun
in the summer, and he was succeeded by Lord Tennyson.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1902-1909.
Undertakings of irrigation and forestry.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: AUSTRALIA.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1903.
The Governor-Generalship.
In August, Lord Northcote, previously Governor of the
Presidency of Bombay, was appointed Governor-General of
Australia, succeeding Lord Tennyson.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1903-1904.
Resignation of Premier Barton.
The Deakin Ministry.
Four months of power for the Labor Party.
Its influence in the Commonwealth.
Sir Edmund Barton, who had been the Prime Minister of the
Australian Commonwealth since its Union in 1900 (see Australia
in Volume VI. of this work), resigned in 1903 to accept a
place on the bench of the High Federal Court, and was
succeeded by Mr. Alfred Deakin, previously Attorney-General in
the Federal Cabinet. The most important occurrence of the year
in the Commonwealth was the election of a new House of
Representatives in the Federal Parliament and of one third of
its Senate. These were the first federal elections occurring
since those of 1900 which constituted the original Parliament,
opened in May, 1901, and the first in which women went to the
polls. The main issue in the elections was between the Labor
Party and its opponents, and the rising power of the former
was shown by its gain of six seats in each House, four from
the Ministry and two from the opposition in the Senate, and
all six from the Ministry in the lower House. This threw the
balance of power into its hands in both branches of
Parliament. Naturally, in these circumstances, labor questions
became dominant in Australian politics, with Socialistic
tendencies very strong.
The Deakin Ministry was defeated in April, 1904, on an
industrial arbitration bill which excluded State railway
employés and other civil servants from its provisions,
contrary to the demands of the Labor Party. The adverse
majority was made up of 23 Labor representatives, 13 opponents
of the protectionist policy of the Government, and 4 from the
ranks of its own ordinary supporters. The ministry resigned,
and the leader of the Labor Party, Mr. J. C. Watson, a young
compositor by trade, was called to form a Government, which he
did, drawing all but its Law Officer from the Labor Party. It
is creditable to the capability of this Labor Ministry that,
with so precarious a backing in the House, it should have held
the management of Government, with apparently good
satisfaction to the public, for about four months. It was
defeated in August on another labor question, and gave way to
a coalition Ministry of Free Traders and Moderate
Protectionists, formed under Mr. George Houston Reid.
An account of the Labor Ministry and its leader, from which
the following facts are taken, was given by The Review of
Reviews for Australasia at the time of its ascendancy: The
average age of the members is only forty-three years, while in
England sixty is the average age at which corresponding rank
is attained. The nationalities of the members are as follows:
One, the prime minister, is a New Zealander, two are
Australian-born, two are Irish, two are Scotch, and one is
Welsh. There is not one who was born in England.
Mr. John Christian Watson, the premier, is but thirty-seven
years of age. He was born in Valparaiso, where his parents
were on a visit, but was only a few months old when they
returned to New Zealand. At an early age he began his
apprenticeship as a compositor, joining the Typographical
Union. When nineteen, he came to Sydney and joined the
composing staff of the Star. Then he became president
of the Sydney Trades and Labor Council, and president of the
Political Labor League of New South Wales. In 1894, he was
returned to a New South Wales Parliament, and took the leading
place among the Labor members. In 1901, he was returned to the
first federal Parliament. He was selected to lead the Labor
party in the federal House, and has won golden opinions in
that position. He is a born leader of men, and has rare tact.
He overcame the apprehension caused by his youth. He curbed
the extremists of his party. Power came to him at once. He
seized the advantage of leading a third party between two
opponents. It was he, rather than Sir Edmund Barton or Mr.
Deakin, who decided what should pass and what not.
The situation developed in this period is described by an
American writer, whose sympathies are ardently with the Labor
Party, as follows:
"Protectionists and Free Traders (so called) were so divided
in the Australian Parliament that neither could gain a
majority without the Labor Party. A succession of governments
bowled over by labor votes drove this hard fact into the
political intelligence. The Labor Party was then invited to
take the government. For five months men that had been
carpenters, bricklayers, and painters administered the
nation’s affairs. No convulsion of nature followed, no
upheavals and no disasters. It is even admitted that the
government of these men was conspicuously wise, able, and
successful. But having a minority party, their way was
necessarily precarious, and on the chance blow of an adverse
vote they resigned. Some scene shifting followed, but in the
end the present arrangement was reached, by which the
government is in the hands of the Protectionists that follow
Mr. Deakin, and the ministry is supported by the Labor Party
on condition that the Government adopt certain legislation.
And that is the extent of the ‘absolute rule of the Labor
gang.’ The Deakin Government does not greatly care for the
Labor Party, nor for the Labor Party’s ideas, but it rules by
reason of the Labor Party’s support, and in return therefor
has passed certain moderate and well-intentioned measures of
reform.
{32}
Indeed the sum-total of the ‘revolutionary, radical, and
socialistic laws’ passed by the Labor Party, directly or by
bargaining with the Deakin or other ministries, indicates an
exceedingly gentle order of revolution. It has done much in
New South Wales and elsewhere to mitigate the great estate
evil by enacting graduated land taxes; it has passed humane
and reasonable laws regulating employers’ liability for
accidents to workmen and laws greatly bettering the hard
conditions of labor in mines and factories. It has passed a
law to exclude trusts from Australian soil. It has stood for
equal rights for men and women. In New South Wales it has
enormously bettered conditions for toilers by regulating hours
of employment even in department and other stores and by
instituting a weekly half-holiday the year around for
everybody. It has tried with a defective Arbitration and
Conciliation Act to abolish strikes. To guard Australia
against the sobering terrors of the race problem that
confronts America, it has succeeded in keeping out colored
aliens. It has agitated for a Henry George land tax and for
the national ownership of public services and obvious
monopolies. And with one exception this is the full catalogue
of its misdeeds." [The "one exception" is the abolition of
coolie labor.]
Charles E. Russell,
The Uprising of the Many,
chapter 24
(Doubleday, Page and Company, New York, 1907).
See, also, (in this Volume)
Labor Organization: Australia.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1905-1906.
Mr. Deakin’s precarious ministry.
Power of the Labor Party without responsibility.
Its principles and its "Fighting Platform."
Important legislation of 1905.
The Federal Capital question.
General election of 1906.
Mr. Reid, the Free Trade Premier, had taken office on an
agreement with Mr. Deakin, the Protectionist leader, that the
tariff question should not be opened during the term of the
existing Parliament. But the truce became broken early in
1905, each party attributing the breach to the other, and the
Reid Ministry, beaten on an amendment to the address replying
to the Governor-General’s speech, resigned. The
Protectionists, in provisional alliance with the Labor Party,
then came back to power, with Mr. Deakin at their head.
Of the political situation in 1905 it was said by a writer in
one of the English reviews: "The Labour Party can dictate
terms to the Ministry, and ensure that its own policy is
carried out by others. It is strongest whilst it sits on the
cross benches. During the few months it was in office it was
at the mercy of Parliament; it left most of the planks of its
platform severely alone, and it had, during that time, less
real power than it has had either before or since. It is not
likely again to take office, unless it can command an absolute
majority of its own members to give effect to its own ideas,
and, indeed, it perhaps would be better for Australia that it
had responsibility as well as power, rather than as at present
power without responsibility. However, if not at the next
general election, the party is bound ere long to get the clear
Parliamentary majority it seeks. Under these circumstances,
great importance attaches to its aims and organisation. …
"To quote from the official report of the decisions of the
last Triennial Conference of the Political Labour
organisations of the Commonwealth, which sat in Melbourne last
July, the objective of the Federal Labour party is as follows:
"(a) The cultivation of an Australian sentiment, based upon
the maintenance of racial purity, and the development in
Australia of an enlightened and self-reliant community,
(b) The security of the full results of their industry to all
producers by the collective ownership of monopolies, and the
extension of the industrial and economic functions of the
State and Municipality. The Labour party seek to achieve this
objective by means of a policy that they invariably refer to
as their platform. The planks of what is called the ‘Fighting
Platform’ are as follows:
"(1) The maintenance of a white Australia.
(2) The nationalisation of monopolies.
(3) Old age pensions.
(4) A tariff referendum.
(5) A progressive tax on unimproved land values.
(6) The restriction of public borrowing.
(7) Navigation laws.
(8) A citizen defence force.
(9) Arbitration amendment."
J. W. Kirwan,
The Australian Labour Party
(Nineteenth Century, November, 1905).
A strike in one of the coal mines of New South Wales during
1905 brought the Arbitration Act of that province to an
unsatisfactory test. The dispute, concerning wages, went to
the Arbitration Court and was decided against the miners. They
refused to accept the decision, abandoning work, and the
court, when appealed to by the employers, found itself
powerless to enforce the decision it had made. The judge
resigned in consequence, and there was difficulty in finding
another to take his seat.
The Labor Party secured the passage of an Act which gives the
trades-union label the force of a trade mark. Another
important Act of 1905 modified the Immigration Restriction
Act, so far as to admit Asiatic and other alien students and
merchants, whose stay in the country was not likely to be
permanent, and which, furthermore, permitted the introduction
of white labor under contract, subject to conditions that were
expected to prevent any lowering of standard wages.
The location of a federal capital became a subject of positive
quarrel between the Government of the Commonwealth and that of
New South Wales. By agreements which preceded the federation,
the Commonwealth capital was to be in New South Wales, but not
less than a hundred miles from Sydney. This hundred-mile
avoidance of Sydney was considerably exceeded by the Federal
Government when it chose a site, to be called Dalgety, about
equidistant from Sydney and Melbourne. New South Wales
objected to the site and objected to the extent of territory
demanded for it. Mr. Deakin proposed a survey of 900 square
miles for the Federal District. New South Wales saw no reason
for federal jurisdiction over more than 100 square miles.
Ultimately Dalgety was rejected and a site named
Yass-Canberra, or Canberra, was agreed upon and the choice
confirmed by legislation. It is in the Murray district, about
200 miles southwest of Sydney.
A general election in the Commonwealth, near the close of
1906, gave the Protectionists a small increase of strength in
Parliament, and the Labor Party gained one seat, raising its
representation from 25 to 26. The losers were the so-called
Free Traders, or opponents of protective tariff-making. Their
leader, Mr. Reid, in the canvass, dropped the tariff issue and
made war on the State Socialism of the Labor Party. He held in
the new Parliament a considerably larger following than the
Protectionist Premier, Mr. Deakin, could muster, but it
contained more Protectionists than Free Traders.
{33}
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1906.
Developing the water supply.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: AUSTRALIA.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1907.
The "New Protection," under the Tariff Excise Act.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR REMUNERATION: THE "NEW PROTECTION."
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1907.
Statistics of state schools.
See EDUCATION: AUSTRALIA.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1907 (April-May).
Imperial Conference at London.
See BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1907.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1908 (December).
Population of the Commonwealth.
According to a letter to the London Times, from Sydney,
"the population of Australia on December 31, 1908, was
estimated at 4,275,304 (exclusive of full-blooded blacks),
showing an increase of 509,965, or of 13.5 per cent. in the
eight years of federation. That," said the writer, "is not a
satisfactory expansion, and we should have fared better. New
South Wales gained 231,367, or 17 per cent. and Western
Australia 87,143, or 48.4 per cent. but all the other States
fared indifferently. There is reason to hope that in the
change of fashion, Australia will again grow into some favour
with the emigrant from home."
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1908.
Change of Ministry.
Late in the year, the Ministry of Mr. Deakin lost the
provisional support of the Labor party, which had kept it in
control of the Government for nearly four years, and suffered
a defeat in Parliament which threw it out. For the second time
a short-lived Labor Ministry was formed, under Mr. Andrew
Fisher.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1908.
The Governor-Generalship.
After five years of service as Governor-General, Lord
Northcote returned to England in the fall of 1908 and was
succeeded by Lord Dudley.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1909.
Attitude of the people toward immigration.
Land-locking against settlement.
See (in this Volume)
Immigration: AUSTRALIA.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1909.
A summary of sixty years of growth and progress.
Sir John Forrest, Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia,
in his Budget Speech to the Federal House of Representatives,
in August, 1909, surveyed the position of Australia as part of
the British nation,—a continent, he observed, containing two
billion acres, with a coast line of 12,000 miles, no other
nation having right or title to any part of this splendid
heritage of the Southern Hemisphere, which was another home
for the British race. Sixty years ago, said Sir John, the
population of Australia was 400,000 and there were no
railways. Now the inhabitants numbered nearly four-and-a-half
millions, of whom 96 per cent were British. They had
£112,000,000 deposited in banks and deposits in savings banks
to the amount of over £46,000,000, the depositors in these
being one-third of the entire population. They had produced
minerals to the value of £713,000,000. Ten million acres were
under crop. During last year Australia had produced 62,000,000
bushels of wheat. It had exported butter of the value of
£2,387,000 and wool of the value of £23,000,000. Australia had
90,000,000 sheep, 10,000,000 cattle, and 2,000,000 horses. The
oversea trade in 1908 represented £114,000,000.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1909.
Proposed federalization of state debts.
On the 8th of September, 1909, the Government introduced a
Bill in the House of Representatives for the amendment of the
Constitution so as to enable the Commonwealth to federalize
the State debts incurred since the inauguration of the
Commonwealth, in addition to those then existing. The Premier
urged that if the agreement was carried out the Commonwealth
would be freed financially, and if the debts were taken over
the per capita payments would be appropriated to meet the
interest on the debts, the States making up any deficiency.
The Bill was passed by the House on the 7th of October.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1909.
Federal acquisition of the Northern Territory.
A Bill providing for the transfer to the Commonwealth of the
vast unpopulated Northern Territory of the Australian
Continent was before the Parliament of the Commonwealth during
the last summer. In advocating its passage, the Minister for
External Affairs explained that "the area to be transferred
under the Bill was equal to France, Germany, Belgium,
Switzerland, and Italy together. Port Darwin was nearer to
Hongkong than to Sydney, and while the Northern Territory
remained unpeopled it was a perpetual menace to Australia. The
military authorities, Sir George Le Hunte, formerly Governor
of South Australia, and Lord Northcote, formerly
Governor-General of the Commonwealth, had all strongly urged
its effective occupation, and Mr. Roosevelt had advised the
Commonwealth to fill its ‘empty north.’
"By the terms of the agreement the Commonwealth would assume
responsibility for the debt of the territory, amounting to
£2,725,000, and the accumulated deficit of the past
administration, amounting to £600,000. The measure provided
for the taking over of the Port Augusta-Oodnadatta Railway at
a price of £2,240,000, and for the Commonwealth to undertake
the construction of a trans continental line connecting the
territory with South Australia, at an estimated cost of
£4,500,000. The latest reports showed that the interior of the
territory was a fertile and well-watered white man’s country,
the healthiest in the tropical world, and that it was capable
of carrying a large population."
Despatch from Melbourne to The Times, London.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1909 (May-June).
Opening of the session of Parliament.
Programme of business proposed.
The political situation.
Coalition under Mr. Deakin against the ministry.
Its success.
Resignation of Premier Fisher and Cabinet.
Return of Mr. Deakin to power.
His programme.
The Federal Parliament was opened at Melbourne on the 26th of
May. In the speech of the Governor-General, Lord Dudley, as
reported to the English Press, he stated that "notwithstanding
a decrease in the Customs and postal revenue, arrangements had
been made to pay old-age pensions from July 1. Large financial
obligations would be incurred in the near future and would
demand careful attention. Parliament would be invited to
consider the financial relations between the Commonwealth and
the States, with a view to an equitable adjustment of them.
Proposals would be submitted for the establishment of a
Commonwealth silver and paper currency.
{34}
"The Governor-General went on to refer to the coming Imperial
Defence Conference and the establishment of a General Staff
for the Empire. Engagements had, he said, been entered into
for the building of three destroyers, and Parliament would be
asked to approve a policy of naval construction including the
building of similar vessels in Australia and the training of
the necessary crews. A measure providing for an effective
citizens’ defence force would be introduced at an early stage.
"It being recognized that the effective defence of Australia
required a vast increase in the population, it was proposed to
introduce a measure of progressive taxation on unimproved land
values, leading to a subdivision of large estates, so as to
offer immigrants the inducement necessary to attract them in
large numbers.
"Proposals would be submitted for the amendment of the
Constitution, so as to enable Parliament to protect the
interests of the consumer while ensuring a fair and reasonable
wage to every worker to extend the jurisdiction of Parliament
in regard to trusts and combinations, and to provide for the
nationalization of monopolies."
See (in this Volume),
LABOR REMUNERATION: THE ‘NEW PROTECTION’.
In an editorial article on the situation at this juncture in
Australia, which was, it remarked, "as interesting as it is
obscure," the London Times rehearsed the main facts of
it as follows:
"It will be remembered that towards the close of last year the
withdrawal of its support by the Labour party led somewhat
unexpectedly to the defeat and resignation of Mr. Deakin’s
Cabinet. A Labour Ministry was subsequently formed, and was
enabled by Mr. Deakin’s refusal to combine with the Opposition
against it to prorogue Parliament and get into recess. It has
since elaborated a programme, announced by Mr. Fisher, the
Prime Minister, to his constituents at Gympie, a few weeks
ago, and recapitulated yesterday in the Governor-General's
speech, which strongly resembles in most particulars the
national policy advocated by Mr. Deakin when in power, and
includes besides one or two additional proposals, such as ‘the
nationalization of monopolies,’ more exclusively the property
of the Labour party itself. These latter aspirations are
probably more pious than practical, and are certainly not the
issues on which the Labour Ministry is now to stand or fall.
It will stand or fall by its proposals for the readjustment of
the financial relations between the Commonwealth and the
States, the establishment of a local flotilla designed for
coastal defence, the creation of a citizen army based on
universal training, and the imposition of a progressive land
tax calculated to bring about the subdivision of large
estates.
"This latter proposal is the only one in which the Labour
party cannot claim to be carrying out the spirit, if not the
letter, of Mr. Deakin’s own programme; but, curiously enough,
it does not seem to be the question on which Mr. Deakin has
taken immediate issue with them. He is taking issue, we
gather, first and foremost on the question of defence. The
Labour Ministry is to be censured for refusing to make the
offer of the Australian Dreadnought in the name of the
Commonwealth. In taking this line Mr. Deakin has already made
it clear that he has not in any way modified his previous
views on the necessity of providing immediately for the
creation of an Australian flotilla, but he considers that this
necessity should in no way prevent Australia from adding in
emergency to the strength of the British fleet. Speaking at
Sydney last month, he said: ‘Our defence needs not only our
own flotilla but a fleet on the high seas as well. It is for
us to recognize that by joining New Zealand and making our
offer of a Dreadnought for the Imperial Navy … the
Commonwealth must do its share to prove the reality of
Australia’s federal unity, to prove the unity of the Empire,
to stand beside the stock from which we came.’
"On this point there is no obscurity. It presents a clear
difference of view dividing Mr. Deakin and the two sections of
the Opposition with which he has now coalesced from the policy
of the Ministry in power. But while it provides a rallying
ground from which the coalition may defeat the Ministry, it
provides no subsequent line of united advance. The terms on
which the coalition has been formed seem indeed to contemplate
no definite policy at all."
The coalition against the Ministry of Mr. Fisher, referred to
in the above, accomplished its purpose on the day after the
opening of Parliament, by carrying a vote of adjournment which
the Ministry accepted as a vote of want of confidence, and
resigned. The former Premier, Mr. Deakin, then resumed the
reins of Government, with a following that does not seem to
have been expected to hold together very long. On the
reassembling of Parliament, June 23, the Prime Minister made a
statement of the business to be submitted to the House,
including along with other measures the following: "A Bill
would be introduced establishing an inter-State commission
which, in addition to the powers conferred by the
Constitution, would undertake many of the functions of the
British Board of Trade. It would also undertake the duties of
a Federal Labour Bureau, which would comprise the study of the
question of unemployment and a scheme for insurance against
unemployment. The commission would also assist in the
supervision of the working of the existing Customs tariff. …
An active policy of immigration would be undertaken, it was
hoped with the cooperation of all the States. … The
appointment of a High Commissioner in London with a
well-equipped office was necessary to take charge of the
financial interests of the Commonwealth, to supervise
immigration, and to foster trade and commerce. … The Old Age
Pensions Act was to be amended in the direction of simplifying
the conditions for obtaining the pensions. … The policy of the
Government in the matter of land defence would be founded on
universal training, commencing in youth and continuing towards
manhood. A military college, a school of musketry, and
probably a primary naval college would be established to train
officers. The counsel of one of the most experienced
commanders of the British Army would be sought for with regard
to the general development and disposition of Australia’s
adult citizen soldiers.
"In view of the approaching termination of the ten year period
of the distribution of the Customs revenue provided for in the
Constitution, a temporary arrangement was being prepared,
pending a satisfactory permanent settlement of the financial
relation between the State and the Commonwealth."
{35}
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1909 (June).
Federal High Court decision on Anti-Trust Law.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.: AUSTRALIA.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1909 (July-September).
The Imperial Defense Conference.
Defense Bill in Parliament.
Proposed compulsory military training.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: MILITARY AND NAVAL.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1909 (September).
Coal Miners strike in New South Wales.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1905-1909.
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1909 (September).
Meeting at Sydney of Empire Congress of Chambers of Commerce.
See (in this Volume)
BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1909 (SEPTEMBER).
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1910.
The last year of a troublesome Constitutional Requirement.
Article 87 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of
Australia (see in Volume VI. of this work), reads as follows:
"During a period of ten years after the establishment of the
Commonwealth, and thereafter until the Parliament otherwise
provides, of the net revenue of the Commonwealth from duties
of custom and of excise not more than one fourth shall be
applied annually by the Commonwealth towards its expenditure.
The balance shall, in accordance with this Constitution, be
paid to the several States, or applied toward the payment of
interest on debts of the several States taken over by the
Commonwealth." This, which has been known as the Braddon
section, has imposed a serious handicap on the Federal
Government. As its working was described recently by an
English Press correspondent, "it made the Commonwealth raise
four pounds whenever it wanted to spend one. It made the
States begrudge the Commonwealth every penny it spent, even
out of its own quarter—for every penny saved out of that
quarter was an extra penny for the States. And it prevented
every State Treasurer from knowing, until the Federal
Treasurer had delivered his Budget speech, how much money he
was likely to get from Federal sources for his own spending."
At the end of the year 1910 the requirement of the Article
will cease to be obligatory, and the Federal Parliament will
be free to make a different appropriation of the revenue from
customs and excise. Meantime the subject is under discussion,
and in August, 1909, it was announced that a conference of the
State Governments had come to an agreement—subject to
ratification by the Federal Government—which provides for the
annual per capita payment of 25s. in lieu of the three-fourths
of the Customs revenue which has hitherto been returned to
them. Western Australia to receive a special extra
contribution of £250,000, decreasing by £10,000 annually until
it ceases. Until the arrangement becomes operative, the
Commonwealth may deduct from the statutory payments to the
States £600,000 annually towards the cost of old-age pensions.
The readjustment of State shares in the Customs revenue is
said to involve an annual loss to New South Wales of
£1,000,000. According to a London newspaper correspondent,
"the main effects to the Commonwealth are the abolition of the
book-keeping system between the States, the power to issue
Australian stamps, telegrams, &c., and the securing of about
£2,300,000 a year, or more, additional revenue. The States
lose revenue to a similar amount, but there is a transfer of
old-age pensions to the amount of nearly £1,000,000, of which
they are relieved. In three of the States, all of which suffer
little by the change, the pensions are new, and a considerable
boon to the people. But more than half the money sacrifice
falls upon New South Wales, and it goes to relieve her less
prosperous neighbours. Well, that is true Federation!
Naturally the Southern States would have nothing but a per
capita distribution from the Commonwealth, and the New
South Wales Ministers agreed to it with their eyes open. At
present the Commonwealth Government secures the further
revenue needed. But whether this agreement will so distinctly
suit that Government as the State populations grow is another
matter."
A Bill for the required amendment of the Federal Constitution
was introduced in the House of Representatives by the Prime
Minister, Mr. Deakin, on the 8th of September. On the 4th of
November, in opposition to the Government, an amendment to the
Bill, limiting the duration of the agreement, instead of
giving it force in perpetuity, was carried in committee of the
whole by the casting vote of the chairman. On the 1st of
December the Bill had its third reading in the Senate.
----------AUSTRALIA: End--------
----------AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: Start--------
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1870-1905.
Increase of population compared
with other European countries.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1870-1905.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1902 (June).
Renewal of the Triple Alliance.
See (in this Volume)
TRIPLE ALLIANCE.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1902-1903.
Notice by Austria of intention to end, in 1904, the
Customs Union which formed part of the Ausgleich, or
Federation Compact of 1867.
Language struggle in Austria.
The difficulties between Austria and Hungary, concerning a
renewal of the Ausgleich, or federation compact of 1867, which
created the dual empire,—some account of which is given in
Volume VI. of this work,—were compromised in 1900 by an
agreement which extended the Ausgleich temporarily until 1907.
See, in Volume VI.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1899-1900.
It was stipulated, however, in the agreement, that if no
permanent settlement of the questions involved should have
been reached by the end of the year 1902, either party to the
Ausgleich should be free to dissolve the Customs Union
that formed part of it after 1904, provided that said party
should have formally denounced the compact prior to January 1,
1902. The formal notice or denunciation was given accordingly
by Austria, whose government gave notice that it would end the
Customs Union unless better terms from Hungary could be
secured. In Hungary the Independence party led by Ferencz
Kossuth, the son of Louis Kossuth, was eager for the break,
desiring no union with Austria beyond that of the two crowns
on one head. The tariff question seemed insoluble, because
Hungary wanted protection for its agriculture, which Austria
believed to be greatly disadvantageous to herself.
{36}
The prime ministers of the two Governments came to an
agreement which was submitted to the two parliaments early in
1903, but obstruction in both bodies prevented any effective
action. On other questions the antagonism was no less
pronounced. The Hungarian Independence party was resolute in
determining to separate the Hungarian from the Austrian army,
making it distinctly Hungarian, under Hungarian officers and
using the Hungarian word of command. This drew from the
Emperor, in September, a public announcement that he must and
would hold fast to the existing organization of the army. At
length, in December, Kossuth agreed, for his party, to abandon
obstruction on condition that Parliament should proclaim, as a
principle, that "in Hungary the source of every right, and in
the army the source of rights appertaining to the language of
service and command, is the will of the nation as expressed
through the legislature." But though obstruction from the
Independence party ceased then it was continued by a Catholic
party, on grounds of personal hostility to the Protestant
Premier, Count Tisza, and the Government, deprived of
authority to recruit the army, kept in service the men whose
term had expired.
An almost equal deadlock of legislation prevailed in Austria,
where the struggle over language questions between Czechs and
Germans went fiercely on; while Croatia was full of rebellious
spirit, excited by the Magyarizing policy of its Hungarian
governor.
Twice, during 1903, the Hungarian administration underwent a
change, the Szell Ministry giving way in June to one headed by
Count Kuen Hedervary, he, in turn, being displaced by Count
Tisza in October. The latter was a son of Koloman Tisza, who
had formerly held the reins in Hungary for many years.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1903-1904.
Concert with Russia in submitting the Mürzsteg Programme
of reform in Macedonia to Turkey.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1903-1904.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1904.
Paralysis of Government in both divisions of the dual empire.
Legislation in both Austria and Hungary was paralyzed
throughout 1904 by obstructive oppositions which nothing could
pacify. In Austria it was the battle of Czech against German
for language rights; but, in the end, the German Premier, Dr.
Körber, lost the support of his own race, by allowing Italian
law-classes to be formed in the University at Innsprück, with
a faculty of their own. He resigned on the last day of the
year, and was succeeded by Baron Gautsch.
In Hungary the obstruction was maintained by a combination of
three parties,—the Independence Party of Ferencz Kossuth,
which is irreconcilable in its repudiation of the union with
Austria, the Liberal-Conservative Separatists, so-called, led
by Count Apponyi, and a Catholic People’s Party, under Count
Zichy. The extraordinary attitude of these practical
anarchists, as they would seem to be, is indicated by a
performance at the opening of the session of the Hungarian
Parliament on the 13th of December, 1904, which is described
in the Annual Register, as follows:
"They entered the House before the usual time of meeting,
assaulted the police when they endeavored to prevent some of
the members from mounting the President’s platform, tore down
the woodwork, destroyed the furniture, and finally had
themselves photographed, with the ex-Premier Baron Banffy at
their head, in the midst of the ruin they had wrought. This
extraordinary scene was described by M. Kossuth as ‘a symbol
of the political maturity of the Magyars, who, after asserting
their rights, refrain from excesses;’ and by Count Apponyi as
‘an evidence of the importance attached to continuity of legal
right in Hungary.’ When the broken furniture was removed and
the House was restored to something like its former
appearance, the members returned; but all the attempts of the
Government to speak were howled down by the Opposition." The
Opposition which accomplished this paralysis of Government in
Hungary numbered, in its three divisions, only 190 members,
out of 451.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1904-1909.
Effects in Europe and on the Triple Alliance of the
Russo-Japanese War.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1904-1909.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905.
Action with other Powers in forcing financial reforms
in Macedonia on Turkey.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1905-1908.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905.
Hostility to the Serbo-Bulgarian Customs Union.
See (in this Volume)
BALKAN STATES: BULGARIA AND SERVIA: A. D. 1902.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905-1906.
Continued deadlock, seated mainly in Hungary.
Resignation of Count Tisza.
The Fejervary Ministry.
Dissolution of the Hungarian Parliament.
Kossuth and his allies take office.
Universal male suffrage adopted in Austria.
The deadlock of political forces in the Dual Empire was
prolonged through another year, Hungary being the main seat of
the block. Elections for the Hungarian Diet, in January, went
heavily against the Ministry of Count Tisza and strongly in
favor of that section of the Opposition which bore the name of
the Independence Party and which was led by Ferencz Kossuth.
Count Tisza resigned, and the Emperor-King endeavored to make
terms with Kossuth, Apponyi, and Andrassy under which the
Government might be carried on with parliamentary support.
This proved impracticable, especially by reason of the
insistent demand of the Opposition for a separation of the
Hungarian from the Austrian part of the imperial army, and the
determination of the sovereign not to yield to that demand.
Count Tisza and his colleagues were kept in office until June,
despite a heavy vote of censure in the Diet, and then the
Emperor appointed as Premier General Baron Fejervary, who
commanded no more support than his predecessor had done. The
majority in the representative chamber denounced the Ministry
as unconstitutional, and issued a manifesto, calling on the
people to withhold taxes and military service from this
simulacrum of Government, which had no lawful claim to either.
This was accepted as good counsel by great numbers of people,
and grave embarrassments resulted from the non-payment of
taxes.
{37}
In the August number (1905) of The American Review of
Reviews Count Albert Apponyi, leader of one of the parties
united more or less in the Hungarian Opposition, gave the
Hungarian side of the political issues with Austria. In part,
he wrote: "The writer had the honor of delivering at St.
Louis, at the Arts and Science Congress of last year, a short
historical account of our relation with the Austrian dynasty.
There are to be found the chief facts, which show:
(1) That our forefathers called that dynasty to the Hungarian
throne, not in order to get Hungary absorbed into an Austrian
or any other sort of empire, but, on the contrary, under the
express condition of keeping the independence and the
constitution of the Hungarian kingdom unimpaired;
(2) that this condition has been accepted and sworn to by all
those members of the dynasty (Joseph II. alone excepted) who
ascended the Hungarian throne;
(3) that, nevertheless, practical encroachments on our
independence, followed by conflicts and reconciliations, have
been at all epochs frequent;
(4) but that a juridical fact never occurred which could be
construed into a modification of that fundamental condition of
the dynasty’s title to Hungary. …
The physical person of the ruler is, in truth, the same in
both countries, but the juridical personality of the King of
Hungary is distinct and, as to the contents of its
prerogative, widely different from the juridical personality
of the Emperor of Austria. Hungary is the oldest
constitutional country on the European Continent. The royal
prerogative in her case is an emanation of the
constitution,—not prior to it,—and consists in such rights as
the nation has thought fit to vest in her king. In Austria, on
the other hand, the existing constitution is a free gift of
the Emperor, and has conferred on the people of Austria such
rights as the Emperor has thought fit to grant to them. The
title of ‘Emperor of Austria-Hungary’ … [sometimes used] is
simply nonsense. The time-hallowed old Hungarian crown has not
been melted into the brand-new Austrian imperial diadem. That
imperial title does not contain, to any extent, the Hungarian
royal title. The Emperor of Austria, as such, has just as much
legal power in Hungary as the President of the United States
has. He is, juridically speaking, a foreign potentate to us.
"On these fundamental truths, no Hungarian—to whatever party
he may belong—admits discussion. … The Liberal party,
vanquished at the last elections, does not in the least differ
from the victorious opposition as to the principles laid down
in these pages; it only advocated a greater amount of
forbearance against the petty encroachments which practically
obscured them. That policy of forbearance became gradually
distasteful to the country; seeing it shaken in the public
mind, the recent prime minister, Count Tisza, formed the
unhappy idea of gaining a new lease of power on its behalf by
a parliamentary coup d’état. The rules of the House
were broken, in order to prevent future obstruction, chiefly
against military bills. This brought matters to an acute
crisis. The parliament in which that breach of the rules had
taken place became unfit for work of any sort, the country had
to be consulted, and down went the Liberal party and the
half-hearted policy it represented with no hope for revival.
"The army question, with its ever-recurring difficulties, is a
highly characteristic feature of the chronic latent conflict
between the Austrian and the Hungarian mentality. It amounts
to this, that, as we are a nation, we mean to have an armed
force corresponding to our national individuality, commanded
in our language, and serving under our flags and emblems. It
would be unnatural for any nation, and would be, in fact, an
abdication of the title of ‘nation,’ to renounce such a
national claim. The Austrians, on the other hand,—and,
unhappily, their influence is still prevalent in this
question,—not yet having abandoned the idea of a pan-Austrian
empire, uncompromisingly adhere to the present military
organization, which makes the German language and the imperial
emblems prevalent throughout the whole army, its Hungarian
portion included."
In September, 1905, the Emperor-King summoned the chiefs of
the opposing coalition to Vienna and renewed his endeavor to
make terms with them; but his own conditions, relative to the
army, to the language of command and service in it, to the
tariff relations between Austria and Hungary, and to other
matters of dispute, were apparently as uncompromisable as
theirs, and only intensified the bad feeling in the country.
A little later the Fejervary Ministry announced a programme of
policy which offered concessions and many excellent measures,
but all save one of them were scorned. That one was a proposal
of universal suffrage, with direct secret balloting, which in
both Hungary and Austria had now become a subject of wide
popular demand. The agitation for it became clamorous in the
later months of the year, especially in the Austrian towns.
But the leaders of the Hungarian Opposition were supposed to
be personally hostile to universal suffrage. "As
representatives of the most educated, wealthy, and powerful
race in the kingdom, they have long enjoyed absolute political
control. But universal suffrage," says a contemporary
journalist, "would so increase the non-Magyar elements in
Parliament as to deprive the Magyar leaders of much of their
ascendency. At present these leaders are strong enough to
defeat the King’s magnificent programme, announced by Baron
Fejervary. But such a defeat would place them in an
embarrassing position. They would have definitely assumed an
attitude which belies their name of Liberal."
The Fejervary programme was well planned to be troublesome to
the opponents of the Government. While not surrendering to
their demand for the Magyar language of command in the
Hungarian part of the Imperial army, it proposed that the men
who do not speak that language should be trained in it as far
as possible. And it included a number of other most important
measures: for compulsory free education; for compulsory
insurance of workmen; for small farm grants to the peasantry;

for the conversion of mortgage debts that weigh on small
landowners, and for various taxation reforms. Evidently the
Opposition endeavored to keep public attention and public
feeling focused on the claim for a distinct Hungarian army,
with the Magyar language for its word of command. Kossuth, the
dominating leader of the coalition against the Government,
defined the argument for this claim. No mention, he said, is
made of any common army in the agreement on which the Dual
Empire is founded. The Hungarian Constitution vests in the
Emperor of Austria, as King of Hungary, "all those things
which refer to the commanding and administration … of the
Hungarian army."
{38}
But the Constitution does not hint that the Hungarian army
should be commanded in German. It has not specifically
forbidden such a thing, but in another part of the
Constitution it is provided that the language of public
services in Hungary shall be Hungarian. And is not the army a
"public service"? he asked. Besides, he explained: "A century
ago the Hungarian magnates, generally, paid for their own
soldiers, and ours was not, in the beginning, a State army.
When the combination with Austria came about, the officers
were of all nations, and the Austrians brought in many of
their own. To tell the truth, our own Hungarians were too
lazy—there is no other word for it—to take the trouble to
reorganize and start a Hungarian army, so they left it to the
Austrians for the time being. It was for this reason, and with
the consciousness of this defect, that Article XI. expressly
left the language of command to be determined,
constitutionally, later. But we also expressly confined it
within the limits of our own Constitution … and we spoke of a
Hungarian army, not a common one."
The year 1906 opened with the discords of the situation in
Hungary rather heightened than lessened, and on the 19th of
February the Emperor dissolved the Hungarian Parliament,
announcing that he did so for the reason that the parties of
the Opposition had "persistently refused to take over the
Government on an acceptable basis without violating the Royal
rights as by law guaranteed." Disturbances on the occasion
were prevented by strong forces of soldiery and police. Two
days later the Austro-Hungarian tariff and a commercial
treaty, both of which had been refused ratification in
Hungary, were promulgated as of force, pending future action;
and by various other arbitrary measures the Emperor-King
assumed the right to prevent a governmental collapse. This
attitude on the part of the sovereign appears to have produced
a change of attitude among his opponents; for early in April
M. Kossuth and Count Andrassy entered into an arrangement with
him for the formation of a Ministry by themselves and their
associates of the Coalition, with the understanding that the
army question should be put aside until after the election of
a new Parliament, to meet in May. At that session they
promised to pass the budget, the new international commercial
treaties, to maintain in every way the existing condition of
things between Austria and Hungary, to permit the passage of a
bill providing for universal manhood suffrage, and then for
Parliament to terminate its labors, allowing the election of a
new one under the universal suffrage system, the Cabinet to be
re-formed conformably to the desires of the parliamentary
majority. Thereupon the Emperor-King requested Dr. Alexander
Wekerle, a former Hungarian Prime Minister, to form a Cabinet,
including in it Kossuth, Apponyi, Andrassy, and Zichy. At the
election, held soon after, the Independence party won about
250 out of 400 seats. The new Parliament was opened on the 22d
of May.
In Austria, the grand event of 1906 was the franchise reform,
which extinguished the whole system of class representation
and established a representative Parliament on the broad basis
of a manhood vote. "Every male citizen who had completed his
twenty-fourth year and was not under any legal disability was
entitled to be registered as a voter after one year’s
residence. Every male, including members of the Upper House,
who had possessed Austrian citizenship for at least three
years and had completed his thirtieth year, was eligible for
election as a deputy; but members of the Upper House elected
to the Lower could not sit in both at once. Voting was to be
direct in all provinces. In Galicia, however, every
constituency would return two deputies, each voter having one
vote, so as to permit of the representation of racial
minorities, the population being composed of Poles and
Ruthenians. Voting was to be obligatory under penalty of a
fine wherever a provincial Diet should so decide. This Bill
was passed, in the face of the opposition of the Conservative
and aristocratic members of both Houses and of the extreme
representatives of the various nationalities, mainly through
the influence of the Emperor. He regarded it as the only way
to get rid of Parliamentary obstruction, and the best means of
stimulating loyalty to the dynasty."
Two changes of Ministry occurred in Austria during 1906, Baron
Gautsch, as Premier, giving way to Prince Hohenlohe in April,
and the latter resigning in June, to be succeeded by Baron
Beck. Count Goluchowski, who had been Austro-Hungarian
Minister of Foreign Affairs since 1895, resigned in October,
because of ill-feeling against him in Hungary, and was
succeeded by Baron Aehrenthal.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1906 (January-April).
At the Algeciras Conference on the Morocco question.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1907.
Effects of universal and equalized suffrage in Austria.
Elections were held in Austria a few months after the passage
of the law which introduced equal and universal male suffrage,
and the character and disposition of the elected Reichsrath,
which met in June, 1907, afforded indications of some
remarkable effects from the extension and equalizing of the
franchise. It was expected, of course, to popularize the
Reichsrath, and break the domination of the upper classes in
that body; but, according to reports, it has done much more.
Prior to 1896, the members of the Abgeordncten or lower house
of the Reichsrath, then numbering 353, were all divided into
four sections, elected by four classes of people, as follows:
85 elected by the owners of large landed estates, 22 by
chambers of commerce and manufactures; 115 by town taxpayers
assessed for five florins of annual tax, and by doctors of
universities; 131 by country taxpayers assessed for five
florins yearly. In that year the membership was enlarged by an
addition of 72, who were to be representatives of the whole
people, elected by universal male suffrage, while the old
classified representation remained as before. The new law has
swept away the whole system of a classified representation,
and the representative house is now leveled to one footing, as
a body of deputies from the people at large.
The most conspicuous effect of this in the elections appears
to have been a sudden break of the power which the German
element in the much-mixed population of the Austrian dominion
has been able to exercise hitherto. Hence, it must be the fact
that the Germans hold far more than their proportion of the
property which the old system represented, and derived from
that, formerly, a weight in the Reichsrath which their numbers
cannot give them on the equalized vote.
{39}
Altogether, in the various Cisleithan states—the two Austrias
proper, Bohemia, Moravia, Galicia, Silesia, Salzburg, Tyrol,
Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Istria, Dalmatia—they form a
little more than one third of the total population, the other
two thirds being mainly Slavonic, in many divisions,
principally Czech, Polish, and Slovene.
Ten years ago the Austrian Reichsrath was offering a spectacle
of factious disorder so violent that it drew the attention of
the world, and was made entertaining as well as interesting by
Mark Twain, then a resident for some months at Vienna and
writing descriptions of the scenes of tumult that went on
before his eyes.
See in Volume VI. of this work
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1897 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).
The specially bitter race quarrel was over a language question
between the Germans and the Czechs. The Czechs had succeeded
in forcing the government to give their own tongue its
rightful public use in Bohemia, where the German had displaced
it officially for along time past. The determination of the
Germans in the Reichsrath to undo this change practically
paralyzed that legislature for a number of years, and seemed
to be driving the realm of the House of Austria to inevitable
wreck.
Indeed, some factions of the Germans made no concealment of
their wish for such a wreckage, out of which the German Kaiser
at Berlin might pick the pieces that it pleased him to take.
They have never doubted the sympathy and countenance of their
kinsmen in the neighboring empire, and that has emboldened
them to an attitude which a minority, in other circumstances,
would hardly take.
Within the last few years there has been a quieting of the
antagonism; but most observers of the state of things in
Austria have looked for serious troubles to arise, whenever
the great personal influence of the present Emperor is
withdrawn by his death. The imperial dominion of the Austrian
archdukes could not be dissolved and its parts redistributed
without subjecting the peace of Europe to such a trial as it
never yet has gone unbrokenly through. If the Germans lose
disturbing power in the Reichsrath, as the late elections are
said to indicate that they will, and if racial factions give
place to political parties, as a consequence of the equalized
and universalized suffrage, then Austria may possibly be
welded into a nation, and her neighbors may not be tempted to
quarrel over her dismembered remains.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1907.
Final negotiation of a new financial Ausgleich.
Adjustment of the vexed questions of tariff, joint debt,
and revenue quotas.
The long struggle toward a readjustment of the
Ausgleich or Agreement of 1866 between Austria and
Hungary, on its financial side, was brought to a close on the
8th of October, 1907, by the signing of a new agreement that
day. It continued the common customs arrangement until 1917,
and provided that commercial treaties concluded with foreign
powers must be signed by the representatives of both Austria
and Hungary—a concession by Austria to Hungary. Hitherto the
Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs had conducted such
negotiations. On its part, Hungary made the minor concession
of conforming its stock exchange laws to those of Austria.
Previously, excise duties had been common to both states;
henceforth they were to be left to each state to be determined
and levied. In the joint fiscal burden, Hungary’s contribution
was increased from 34.4 per cent to 36.4 per cent. Provision
was made for a court of arbitration, composed of four Austrian
and four Hungarian members, who must chose a ninth member as
chairman.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1908-1909.
Hungarian politics.
The State Bank question.
Split in the Independence party.
M. de Justh, a new party leader.
Attitude of M. Kossuth.
Deadlock returned.
The complete deadlock of legislation in Hungary from 1904 into
1906 was overcome but partially, and not for long, by the
patched-up coalition which started the wheels of Government
anew, under Dr. Wekerle, in April, 1906, as related above. In
the course of the next two years the Wekerle Ministry
accomplished some useful legislation, besides achieving the
ratification of the important tariff and commerce agreement
which settled long-troublesome disputes with Austria; but its
very slight coherent energy was exhausted soon,—too soon for
its promise of universal suffrage to be fulfilled.
Practically, it seems to have been at the end of its
capabilities for some time before the spring of 1909, when, in
April, it resolved to resign, and began an effort to escape
from office which went on through the year without success.
The Crown could induce no one to take from Dr. Wekerle the
impossible task of government, and kept that unfortunate
gentleman in his powerless place.
In Austro-Hungarian politics a new contention had now been
developed, which divided the Independence party, led hitherto
by M. Kossuth and Count Apponyi, so that it acquired on the
new question a third more extreme sectional chief, in the
person of the President of the Chamber, M. de Justh. The
followers of M. de Justh were demanding the transformation of
the existing joint State Bank into two autonomous banks,
connected in operation, but distinctly Hungarian in one
organization and Austrian in the other. This demand was
opposed in Austria as determinedly as the obnoxious demand for
army use of the Hungarian language in Hungarian regiments, and
the Crown would give sanction to neither. Apparently, neither
Kossuth nor Apponyi would act with M. de Justh on the bank
question, and the Independence party lost, consequently, its
advantage as the largest of the various parties in the
Chamber.
In November, when a test of numbers occurred at a conference
of the party, the following of M. de Justh was found to be
largely in the majority. A resolution demanding the separate
Hungarian State Bank was adopted by 120 votes against 74,
despite a declaration by M. Kossuth that he would quit the
party if it took that stand. According to a Press report of
what occurred at the conference, the burden of Kossuth’s
speech to the conference was "that without his name and his
leadership the party would never have obtained the majority,
and that many of those who were about to vote against him owed
their seats in Parliament to his recommendation. His speech
was indeed a scarcely-veiled threat that when deprived of the
support of his name his opponents would find themselves
forsaken by their constituents. The defeated minority
proceeded forthwith to constitute itself as the ‘Independence,
1848, and Kossuth party,’ as distinguished from the
‘Independence and 1848 party,’ over which M. de Justh now
reigns supreme."
{40}
Immediately after his triumph at the party conference M. de
Justh resigned the presidency of the Hungarian Chamber and
presented himself for reelection. In that test he suffered
defeat, the combined forces of the Andrassy Liberals, the
Clerical People’s party, and the Kossuth group casting 201
votes against 157. The Croatian Deputies abstained, owing, it
is said, to a promise made to them by Dr. Wekerle that, if
they remained neutral, he would deliver Croatia from the
oppressive rule of the Ban, Baron Rauch. The political
situation in Hungary was thus more than ever confused.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1908-1909.
The "Greater Servia Conspiracy."
Alleged treasonable movement of Servians in Croatia.
The Agram trials.
The following telegram to the newspaper press, from Agram,
Austria, October 5, 1909, reported the conclusion and the
result of a long prosecution which had drawn wide attention
and excited deep feeling in many parts of Europe for a full
year:
"After a trial lasting seven months, sentences were handed
down to-day in the cases of fifty-two school teachers,
priests, and other persons charged with connection with what
is known as the ‘Greater Servia conspiracy.’ The prisoners
were accused of high treason in participating in a movement
for the union of Croatia, Slavonia, and Bosnia to Servia, even
carrying the propaganda among the troops of the
Austro-Hungarian army. Thirty of the accused are condemned to
terms of rigorous imprisonment varying from four to twelve
years, and twenty-two were acquitted. The persons condemned
have given notification of appeal."
On the 31st of December it was announced from Vienna that all
but two of the condemned had been set at liberty pending their
appeal, this being consequent on the revelations of forgery in
the documents on which they were convicted.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH)
at close of article.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1908-1909.
Arbitrary annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Violence to the Treaty of Berlin.
The European disturbance and its settlement.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1808-1809 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1909.
The language quarrel in Austria.
"Amid deafening uproar from the Czech Radicals, the Austrian
premier has submitted to the Chamber [February 3, 1909] two
bills for the regulation of the Bohemian language question.
The bills, which in present circumstances appear to have
little chance of becoming law, divide Bohemia into 239
judicial and 20 administrative districts. Of the former, 95
are German, 138 Czech, and the remainder mixed, while of the
administrative districts five are German, 10 Czech, and five
mixed. In the German districts German is to be the predominant
language, and in the Czech districts Czech, while in the mixed
districts, which include Prague, the two languages are placed
on an equal footing. Provision is, however, made for the use
of either language if necessary throughout the whole
province."
NEW YORK EVENING POST.
A telegram to the same journal from Vienna, March 10,
reported:
"The Lower House of the Austrian Parliament, which closed on
February 5, after a scene of extraordinary turbulence arising
from old racial ill-feeling between the Germans and the
Czechs, reopened to-day with every promise of a continuance of
the disorders. The galleries of the House were crowded with
partisans of the two factions, and as soon as the ministers
appeared hostile shouts came from the Czech and radical
benches, drowning the cheers of the members of the Left party
and the Poles.
"Premier von Bienerth, amid an incessant tumult, declared the
nineteenth session opened, saying he hoped the work would be
crowned with success and the proceedings not disturbed. His
statement sounded ironical in face of the unbroken uproar."
The following is a later Press despatch, November 2, from
Vienna:
"The Emperor has accepted the resignations of the two Czech
Ministers in the Austrian Cabinet, and has sanctioned the laws
adopted by the Diets of Upper and Lower Austria, Salzburg and
Vorarlberg, to establish the unilingual German character of
those provinces. In the name of the Czech people the Czech
National Council addressed yesterday a telegram to the Emperor
begging that the laws might not be sanctioned, since, runs the
telegram, they affect the honour of the Czech people and must
cause constant racial strife both in the provinces and in
Vienna, ‘which is not only the capital of Lower Austria, but
is also the capital of the whole empire and of all its races.
These laws are a dangerous beginning of constitutional changes
in your Majesty’s glorious empire.’ A copy of the telegram was
sent to the Polish leader, Dr. Glombinski, with an 'expression
of the deepest regret that members of the Polish party should
have supported as Ministers these anti-Slav laws.’"
A revival of turbulent obstruction to legislative proceedings
in the lower house of the Austrian Reichsrath led, at last, in
December, to the enactment of rules which so enlarge the
powers of the speaker as to enable him to suppress factious
obstruction and to suspend deputies who outrage the decencies
of behavior in the Chamber. The measure was limited in its
operation to a year, but is expected to be prolonged.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1909 (December).
Alleged plan of a Federated Triple Monarchy.
"There has been circulated in Paris a curious document, full
of figures, supposed to be based on authentic information.
This document relates to the plan attributed to Prince Lentur
and Count d’Aehrenthal to change the dual monarchy of
Austria-Hungary into a triple monarchy. Croatia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Dalmatia, according to the scheme,
would be united into an independent and constitutional
kingdom, corresponding to the old Illyria. The double state,
Austria-Hungary, would be changed into a three-fold
Austria-Hungary-Illyria. A Slav nation would thus stand side
by side with the Teutonic nation of Austria and the Magyar
nation of Hungary. Its extent would be a good deal smaller, a
little more than one-third, of the other two, and its
population about a quarter of the Hungarian and one-sixth of
the Austrian. According to this document, which is declared to
have strong claims to be considered authentic, this change
would no doubt be followed by a further one. Bohemia and
Moravia would also want home rule. The monarchy would thus
become a kind of Federal state. Hungary alone would remain
standing strong and united as the centre and leader of this
federation."
New York Evening Post,
December 29, 1909.
{41}
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1909-1910.
The Hungarian situation.
Late in December, Dr. de Lukacs, who had served in the former
Szell Ministry, was persuaded by the Crown to undertake the
formation of a Government which might hope to secure some
measure of parliamentary support, and on the 4th of January he
was formally appointed Prime Minister; but his undertaking
ended on the 11th, when he resigned, and Count Khuen Hedervary
was heroic enough to accept the apparently hopeless task. The
Hedervary Ministry suffered defeat on the 28th of January,
when a vote of no confidence was carried by M. de Justh, and
the King thereupon prorogued the chamber until March 24. A
majority of the members, however, remained in session until
they had adopted a resolution declaring the Government to be
unconstitutional and forbidding the payment of taxes to it.
Such is the Hungarian situation at the time this record of
events goes to print—February, 1910.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1910.
The Archduke Franz Ferdinand,
Heir Apparent to the thrones.
Since the tragically mysterious death (January 30, 1889) of
the Emperor’s only son, Rudolph, the heir apparent to the
several Hapsburgh crowns has been the Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, son of the Emperor’s brother, the late Archduke
Karl Ludwig. In order to contract a morganatic marriage, some
years ago, he renounced the right of his children to the
imperial and regal succession; but it is believed that he will
force the regularizing of his marriage and the annulling of
his renunciation, as he is reputed to be a man of strenuous
will. According to report, also, he is strongly
anti-democratic and reactionary, and extremely likely to give
trouble as a sovereign to this democratic generation.
----------AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: End--------
AUTOCRAT:
Title denied to the Czar by the Third Duma.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1906-1907.
AZAD-UL-MULK.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1905-1907.
AZEFF:
The Russian police spy and agent provocateur.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-JULY).
AZUL, Party of the.
See (in this Volume)
PARAGUAY.
B.
BABISM.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
BACON, Robert:
Secretary of State.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1909.
BADEN: A. D. 1906.
Introduction of universal suffrage.
See (in this Volume)
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: GERMANY: A. D. 1906.
BAEYER, Adolf von.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
BAGDAD RAILWAY, The.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: TURKEY: A. D. 1899-1909.
BA HAMED, Late Grand Wazeer of Morocco.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1903.
BAHIA HONDA:
Coaling and naval station leased to the United States.
See (in this Volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1903.
BAHIMA, The.
See (in this Volume)
AFRICA: ITS COLONIZABILITY.
BAILEY, L. H.:
On Country Life Commission.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908-1909 (AUGUST-FEBRUARY).
BAKHMETIEFF, Madame:
Her humane work in Macedonia.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1902-1903.
BAKHTIARI, The.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
BAKU: Destruction of Oil Industry.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER).
BALDWIN ARCTIC EXPEDITION.
See (in this Volume)
Polar Exploration.
BALFOUR, Arthur J.:
Becomes Prime Minister of England.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1902 (JULY).
BALFOUR, Arthur J.:
His puzzling attitude on Mr. Chamberlain’s declaration for
preferential trade with the Colonies.
Correspondence on Mr. Chamberlain’s resignation.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1903 (MAY-SEPTEMBER).
BALFOUR, Arthur J.:
In the "Dreadnought" debate of 1909.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL.
BALFOUR MINISTRY:
Its resignation.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.
----------BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Start--------
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1903-1907.
Complaint of European non-action by Christian subjects
of Turkey.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1903-1907.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Bosnia: A. D. 1908.
Arbitrary annexation to Austria-Hungary.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Bulgaria:
The influence of Robert College.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: TURKEY, &c.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1901.
The Bulgarian committee which directs revolutionary operations
and assassinations in Macedonia.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1901.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1903.
Alleged promotion of revolt in Macedonia.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1902-1903.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1905-1908.
Barbarities of Bulgarian bands in Macedonia.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1905-1908.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1908.
The race struggle in Macedonia.
See TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1908-1909.
Independence of Turkey declared and won.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1909.
Prince Ferdinand assumes the title of King.
On the acquisition of complete Bulgarian independence, Prince
Ferdinand was said at first to be intending to assume the
title of Tsar; but that intention, if it had been formed, was
changed, and he took the title of King.
{42}
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Bulgaria and Servia: A.D. 1905.
Customs Union Convention between the two States.
Anger and Hostility of Austria.
Dictatorial demands on Servia.
The frontier closed to trade.
"Servia and Bulgaria, in July, 1905, signed a Customs
Convention, creating a customs union and breaking down the
tariff barriers between the two countries. The age is the age
of union in business, in finance, in every department in life.
… Not only has the Customs Convention between the two
countries, which is, after all, but the first step towards a
real zollverein, demonstrated the trend of international
development, but it has enabled the world to see clearly the
relations existing between the small Balkan States—unprotected
by any guarantee of neutrality—and their great neighbours. It
has been made clear that, despite all the many protestations
in Vienna of goodwill to the Balkan States, Austria does not
wish to see real progress in that part of Europe. And what is
true of Austria is true also of Russia. …
"True to her unvarying policy, Austria no sooner heard of the
Customs Convention than she set to work to destroy it,
claiming that it damaged her commercial interests. By her
unjust attempts at coercion, plain and undisguised, Austria
brought into being a political bond between Bulgaria and
Servia which was not in existence at the time of the signature
of the Customs Convention. …
"In the past Servia has fallen more and more completely under
the domination of Austria; her geographical position and her
internal troubles made her an easy prey for Vienna, and had it
not been for the desire of Russia to share the dainty morsel,
Servia would in all probability have gone ere this to join the
Servian provinces of Bosnia and Hersegovina as an integral
part of the Austrian Empire. Her commerce is almost solely
with Austria or Hungary, and her finances are under the
control of a French-Austrian syndicate. It might therefore
well seem incredible that the small State, bound thus hand and
foot to the oppressor, should dare to oppose her desire for
liberty to the Austrian desire for gain, political,
commercial, or financial. But just as under the Turkish rule
the Servians began to fight for freedom in small bands, so the
Customs Convention with Bulgaria represents the first blow for
economic and political freedom. … While the Convention
represents an effort on Servia’s part to free herself from the
thrall of Austria, it was not directed against that country.
It seeks rather to open up new markets and new means of
export, for which there was sufficient reason in the fact that
there was no increase in the export of Servian goods to
Austria during the last few years, some of which even showed a
decrease. Commercial development demanded that new markets
should be sought and a new route via Bulgaria to the Black Sea
ports be opened up. …
"On January 8th the Austrian Minister in Belgrade presented a
note from his Government making it a condition that in order
that the negotiations for a commercial treaty should not be
suspended, the Servian Government should engage not to bring
the Customs Union before the Skouptchina before the conclusion
of the treaty. At the same time he indicated the disastrous
results of refusal on Servia’s part. The Servian Cabinet
accepted the Austrian proposals as to the postponement of the
presentation of the Customs Union to the Skouptchina, and
promised also to consider the modification of the Convention
in so far as these modifications were not contrary to the
nature of the Customs Union. The Austrian Minister recommended
a change of the reply, because his Government would not accept
it as it stood. On the Servians refusing to make any change,
he gave them till the afternoon of the next day to repent,
with the alternative that the treaty negotiations would be
broken off and the frontiers closed. … Servia insisted upon
maintaining her dignity as a nation, while expressing her
readiness to meet Austria in every possible economic way.
Furious at the Servian refusal, the Viennese authorities
ordered the closing of the frontiers to Servian cattle, pigs,
and even fowls. This last restriction was contrary to the
existing treaty of commerce between the two countries which
does not expire till March 1st, 1906. The cattle and pigs were
excluded under the arbitrary veterinary convention, it having
been found that a pig had died of ‘diplomatic swine fever,’ a
contagious disease, prevalent when Servia opposes Austrian
desires. The cool indifference with which Austria ignored her
treaty obligations with Servia led to a profound feeling that
it was hardly worth making sacrifices in order to obtain a new
commercial treaty, which could be as equally well ignored.
Patriotic fervour waxed great in Servia, and the people
prepared to make a good fight for their liberty. But it was
never overlooked that the relations with Austria were of great
and vital importance."
Alfred Stead,
The Serbo-Bulgarian Convention and its Results
(Fortnightly Review, March, 1906).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Herzegovina: A. D. 1908.
Annexation to Austria.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Montenegro: A. D. 1905.
Prince Nicholas’s Constitution, and his operation of it.
"When Prince Nicholas heard that the Czar had promised his
people a Constitution, he, disciple of Russia in all things,
determined to outdo Nicholas II., and, as a matter of fact,
granted his little country [December, 1905] a more liberal
Constitution than that which Russia enjoys. In Russia certain
things were not to be discussed in the Duma. In Montenegro,
everything could be discussed. When this principle began to be
put in practice, however, although in the most loyal and
respectful manner, the Prince took offence and began to
imprison politicians who dared to ask for information about
the financial condition of the principality. As a consequence,
he made himself unpopular among what in Russia would be called
the ‘intelligencia,’ but, being a man of far stronger
personality and more striking genius than the Czar of Russia,
he is still feared and obeyed. He is, in fact, an old soldier
with all the old soldier’s preference for barrack discipline
as the only method of rule, and in thinking that he understood
what is meant by the words ‘constitutional government’ he
deceived himself, for he does not understand, and being an old
man surrounded by flatterers, he is perhaps less able to
understand now than he would have been thirty years ago.
"If he had been more adaptable, and had taken greater pains to
instruct his people in the methods of parliamentary
government, the constitutionalist movement might have been a
success, but unfortunately he withdrew from Cettinje in a
‘huff’ when the Skupschina passed some criticisms on the
government, and declined to coöperate with the deputies,
though they were all very anxious to have his advice. It is
stated, on the other hand, however, that the Skupschina
interpreted in too large a sense the Constitution that had
been granted to them."
Special Correspondent New York Evening Post,
Cettinje, December 15, 1908.
{43}
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1908-1909.
With Servia against Austrian annexation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1809 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Roumania: A. D. 1866-1906.
Development of the country under King Charles I. and
his admirable Queen.
"The efforts of King Charles have been principally devoted
towards internal improvement. Railways have increased and
improved since the State purchased them in 1886, at an outlay
of 237,500,000 francs. Then there were 1,407 kilometres; in
1903 these had increased to 3,177. In the Dobrudja, given to
Roumania after the war with Turkey, the King has created a
great commercial port at Constantza, whence the grain and
petroleum of Roumania can flood the market. From here will
radiate a Roumanian merchant marine, which will bear the
Roumanian flag to all parts of the world. Agriculture has been
carefully cherished, and to-day the country is one of the
principal grain-exporting countries of the world, and the lot
of the peasant, formerly so low, has been improved. An
educational system has sprung into being, owing much to the
direct support and inspiration of the Royal family. The
finances have been put on a stable footing, and although the
nation has already acquired a sufficiency of debt, the future
is not at all dangerously beset. Thanks to the discovery of
extensive petroleum fields, Roumania has been strengthened and
raised from the position of a country relying solely on the
rain and sun for its prosperity; while thanks to the King’s
indefatigable efforts and unceasing watchfulness, the
petroleum industry has been protected from becoming the
monopoly either of the ruthless Standard Oil Trust or of the
politically guided and government-supported German Bank. Had
King Charles done nothing else for Roumania, his determined
and wise action in this question would have earned him all
praise. But whether it be in the question of the Danube, with
its international Commission, or of the transformation of the
twelve enormous Crown lands, dispersed over the kingdom, into
national and social models, to see and follow—a work due
principally to M. Kalindero—the King’s interest in all things
which directly or indirectly touch Roumania is unabated.
"And what manner of man is this, who has thus created a
European State out of the remnants of a land cursed by a
Turkish rule and Phanariot sway? First and foremost he is
always a Hohenzollern, swayed by his obedience to duty, and
based upon that Hohenzollern saying: 'It is not enough to be
born a prince, you must show that you are worthy of the
title,' and second, he is ever a true Roumanian, who has
caught much of the inspiration of those great former Roumanian
leaders and warriors. His youth was one of discipline and
healthy education, while the influence of his father on his
character can never be overestimated. Every inch a king, he
never forgets that he is always also a man—personal
animosities never cloud his national judgment. An
indefatigable worker and on an organised plan tending towards
definite ends, King Charles devotes his whole time to his
never-ceasing task. By his marriage to Princess Elizabeth of
Wied’ [known in literature as Carmen Sylva] ‘a marriage so
non-political as to make it a political event of the first
importance,’ he brought to Roumania a queen who made herself
beloved of all, and speedily became the centre of all
charitable ideas and works."
Alfred Stead,
King Charles I. of Roumania
(Fortnightly Review, July, 1906).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1902.
Oppression of the Jews.
Appeal of the United States to the signatories
of the Treaty of Berlin.
On the 11th of August, 1902, Mr. John Hay, Secretary of State
in the Government of the United States, addressed a
communication to the American Ambassadors and Ministers in
Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia,
Italy, and Turkey, whose governments were parties to the
Berlin Treaty of 1878, directing that it be read to the proper
ministers in the governments of those countries. The
communication related to the treatment of the Jews in
Roumania, which had long been a matter of deep concern to the
United States, not only from sympathy with the persecuted
people, but also because of the state in which it drove them
as emigrants to this land. An abridgment of Secretary Hay’s
despatch, published at the time, renders its substance as
follows:
"As long ago as in 1872 this country protested against the
oppression of these Jews under Turkish rule. The Treaty of
Berlin it was supposed would cure this wrong by the provisions
of its forty-fourth article, which prescribed that ‘in
Roumania the difference of religious creeds and confessions
shall not be alleged against any person as a ground for
exclusion or incapacity in matters relating to the enjoyment
of civil and political rights, admission to public
employments, functions and honors, or the exercise of the
various professions and industries in any locality whatsoever.
These prescriptions, however, have, in the lapse of time, been
rendered nugatory as regards the native Jews of Roumania.
Apart from the political disabilities of the Jews in that
country, and their exclusion from the liberal professions,
they are denied the inherent rights of man as a breadwinner in
the ways of agriculture and trade. They are prohibited from
owning land or from cultivating it as common laborers; they
are debarred from residing in the rural districts, and many
branches of petty trade and manual production are closed to
them in the cities. They have become reduced to a state of
wretched misery. The experience of the United States shows
that the Jews possess in a high degree the qualities of good
citizenhood. No class of immigrants is more welcome to our
shores when coming equipped in mind and body, but when they
come as outcasts, made doubly paupers by physical and mental
oppression in their native land, their migration lacks the
essential conditions which make alien immigration either
acceptable or beneficial. Many of these Roumanian Jews are
forced to quit their native country, and the United States is
almost the only refuge left to them. They come hither unfitted
by the conditions of their exile to take part in the new life
of this land, and they are objects of charity for a long time.
Therefore the right of remonstrance against the acts of the
Roumanian Government is fairly established in favor of this
Government. This Government cannot be a tacit party to what it
regards as an international wrong. It is constrained to
protest against the treatment to which the Jews of Roumania
are subjected. The United States is not a signatory to the
Treaty of Berlin, and cannot, therefore, appeal
authoritatively to the stipulations of that treaty, but it
does earnestly appeal to the principles consigned therein,
because they are the principles of international law and
eternal justice."
{44}
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1907.
Agrarian and anti-Semitic riots.
Serious riotings of the peasants of Roumania, in both Moldavia
and Wallachia, occurred in April, 1907. Before the rising
could be suppressed more than 100,000 troops were employed;
the capital, Bucharest, was in a state of siege, and martial
law was proclaimed throughout the country. At first the
character of the uprising seems to have been purely agrarian.
The peasants demanded land at low prices and tried to throw
off the yoke of the middlemen, who are mostly Jews. As the
revolt spread, villages, farms, and even some towns were
plundered and destroyed by wholesale. Hundreds of peasants
were killed, and in several sections a state of real war
existed for more than a week. King Charles issued a
proclamation to his people promising the redress of their
grievances. The Conservative ministry resigned on March 24 and
a Liberal government was at once formed under the presidency
of Dr. Sturdza.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Servia: A. D. 1901-1903.
Royal Constitution-making and unmaking.
The character of the Servian monarchy, and the value to the
nation of its king-made Constitution, may be judged from the
following report, May 12, 1903, to the State Department of the
United States Government, by its Minister at Athens, who has
the care of American interests at Belgrade: "The Servian
constitution now in force is that which was granted the
country by King Alexander on April 6-19, 1901. Under this
constitution the influence of the radical party had gradually
increased to such an extent that the King thought it was
dangerous to the welfare of the country. For some time there
were rumors to the effect that a new constitution was in
contemplation and would probably be put into force on the
anniversary of its predecessor. More or less excitement was
caused by these reports, and in consequence the King
determined to act at once.
"On the afternoon of March 24—April 6 last [1903] a royal
proclamation was issued to the Servian people, explaining the
King’s views of the situation, suspending the constitution
referred to above, annulling the ukase of April 6, 1901, and
all subsequent ukases relating to the election of senators,
retiring all the members of the council of state, dissolving
the Skupshtina (national chamber of deputies), annulling the
election of all senators chosen for the period 1901-1906,
annulling various laws relating to the liberty of the press,
the election of deputies, etc., and putting into force certain
laws which had previously been repealed.
"The next morning a second proclamation was issued, putting
the same constitution in force again, and directing the life
senators to elaborate a provisional law for the election of
senators and deputies, who should hold office, respectively,
until September, 1909, and May, 1907.
"The date for the elections has been fixed for the first part
of June. It is considered probable that the Radical members of
the Government (four ministers, I believe) will soon withdraw
from the cabinet."
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1903.
The murder of King Alexander, Queen Draga, her brothers,
and two ministers of state.
The military plot.
King Alexander, who received the Servian crown, as a mere boy,
by the abdication of his father, the erratic King Milan, in
1889, began his reign autocratically, but attempted twelve
years later, to propitiate popular favor by the grant of a
liberal constitution, in 1901.
See, in Volume I. of this work,
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1879-1889.
This failed, however, to win the good will of his subjects,
and he annulled it in April, 1903, with much of the
legislation it had produced. This intensified public feeling
against him, and against his unpopular Queen,—the former
lady-in-waiting at his mother’s court, Madame Draga Maschin.
This marriage in 1900 is related in:
See in Volume VI. of this work
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: SERVIA.
There were fears of an intention to force recognition of Queen
Draga's brother as heir apparent to the crown, and feeling in
the army became especially bitter against both king and queen.
The outcome was an awful tragedy of murder on the night of
June 11, 1903, when a party of officers broke into the palace
and slew, with barbaric ferocity, the King, the Queen, the
Queen’s brothers, the Prime Minister, and the Minister for
War. The following account of the horrible tragedy appeared in
the next issue of The Contemporary Review:
"All traces of the midnight carnage in the palace of Belgrade
have been cleared away. The Pretender for whose benefit it was
perpetrated comes in. First proclaimed in the midst of the
still warm corpses, the title of military acclamation has been
ratified by a National Assembly, convened by the Pretorians
almost simultaneously with the massacre to meet three days
after that event, and in the palace where Colonel Maschine and
his lieutenants, acting in the names of outraged national
dignity and social purity, put to shame human nature,
Karageorgevich, whose career as a Pretender in some points
resembles that of Louis Napoleon, accepts the proffered crown.
The telegraphic agencies have informed us that order reigns at
Belgrade, and that Peter I. has entered his capital amid
demonstrations of public joy. The representatives of the Press
of Europe, numbering about a hundred, were, through the
civility of a palace official who witnessed the nocturnal
invasion, taken through the theatre of one of the most
revolting crimes of modern history. They were minutely
informed of the circumstances connected with it, saw the
smashed doors and floors where dynamite tubes had exploded,
the pistol shots in walls and ceilings; the timepieces shaken
by the explosion had stopped at five minutes past one on the
morning of the 12th June. The palace official took them into
the little wardrobe room in which the King and Queen had
hidden themselves, and, when found, met their doom, unshriven,
offering no resistance. …
{45}
"Officers who had studied in the Zurich Polytechnic school
knew how to use dynamite without injury to themselves when
they wanted to break in doors massive as those of a church.
Those who had been told off to cut the electric wires
communicating with lamps had indiarubber gloves. They searched
by the light of composite candles they had brought in their
pockets for the hiding-place of the King and Queen. When they
discovered the fugitives, some of the officers held high the
candles for their comrades to lay on and not spare the
unfortunate pair. There was no attempt to resist. All
Alexander wanted was ‘to die with Draga,’ and this elevated
him into the region of romance. It may hereafter furnish a
theme to Servian bards. Another modern circumstance makes
one’s flesh creep. The bodies, flung out of a window, lay on a
garden walk until dawn, when a soldier received an order to
wash them there with a fireman’s hydrant, and when they had
been cleansed to lay them on the tables of the palace kitchen
for dissection. The surgeons had been requisitioned to come
there at five o’clock. …
"At the post-mortem in the palace kitchen at Belgrade, the
surgeons counted in the body of Alexander six revolver wounds,
each deadly, and forty-two sword wounds. Draga received two
pistol balls and sixty-two sword cuts and slashes. She had
been cut to pieces, but they left her face unmutilated.
And—still more frightful—her corpse bore black and blue marks
that testified to a merciless pounding with strong fists. The
regicides gave so many conflicting accounts of their adventure
that one did not know what to believe. It is now certain that
the King and Queen were defenceless, that they at once on
being aroused by the dynamite took refuge in her wardrobe
room, and that they never sought to escape by the roof, and
did not run through a long suite of rooms, slamming the doors
after them. They had not a moment’s time to utter a prayer.
"Draga’s brothers received a five minutes’ respite to make
their souls. Nicodemus, the eldest, for whom Mademoiselle Pach
mourns in Brussels, asked for cigars and for leave to embrace
his brother. He and Nicholas faced unflinchingly a firing
party, casting away the cigar ends as they stood before a
wall. …
"Colonel Maschine, who figures as the ringleader in the
conspiracy, had been in the inner circle of King Milan, who
thought him a valuable officer. Milan, a man with considerable
ability and without his match in playing an intricate and
difficult diplomatic game, had been educated in his mother’s
fast set in Vienna, and at a Paris lycée. … Military force as
a means of government recommended itself to his barbarous
mind. It may be that he saw in Maschine a man suitable for
coup d’état work. An ostensible reason for taking him
into favour was Maschine’s bravery in the campaign against
Bulgaria and his personal fidelity to Milan, as twice evinced
in saving his life. The partiality of the King buoyed up
Maschine’s hopes of a brilliant military career. Death
overtook Milan, who so often had escaped poison and assassin’s
bullets, on his way to Belgrade, where he was to have set
Alexander aside and remounted the throne. His unexpected
decease blighted the colonel’s prospects, inasmuch as Draga
gained thereby uncontrolled influence over the King. She and
the Maschines had long kept up a bitter feud. Barbarians like
to brood over their grievances, real or imaginary. Colonel
Maschine could not forget or forgive, and his pride prevented
him from trying to propitiate her when she let him know that
he thought her more intractable than she really was. He had
set about the slander that she poisoned her first husband, and
then made believe he committed suicide. This story had been
told by the Colonel to Milan. Alexander, when his father
repeated it to him, called it a ‘machination,’ the name he
ever after gave to slanders and libels that came to his
knowledge about Draga. He refused to hear calumnious tales,

but could not prevent anonymous letters passing into the hands
of his secretary, and spoke of the Court of Russia as being
stupidly turned against his wife by ‘machinations.’ One can
understand from this why Colonel Maschine became the soul of
the horrible conspiracy, and bent his whole mind to carry out
a plan which has succeeded, through his perfect generalship as
to ensemble, the minutest attention to details, the
widest prescience, the coolest head and an utter
unscrupulousness."
Ivanovich,
The Servian Massacre
(Contemporary Review, July, 1903).
In the same issue of The Contemporary, Dr. Dillon
wrote: "A graphic version of one scene of the tragedy, which
was given to me by one of the murderers, Adjutant N., is as
follows:
‘We were wild with passion, trembling with excitement,
incapable of receiving any impressions from the things and
people around us. Hence we cannot say who shot the King in the
head, who in the heart. But I have a vivid recollection of
some things. I remember turning out the electric light and
going to fetch candles to light my comrades on the way. That
done I remained together with them to the end. I remember our
breaking into the King’s bedroom, finding it empty, and then
looking into the Queen’s wardrobe room, where we found the
pair. Who fired first? I don’t know; nobody knows. At first we
did not fire at all. We drew our sabres and cut off the
fingers of the King and Queen; four fingers were hewn from the
King’s hand. Then we fired.’"
E. J. Dillon,
Servia and the Rival Dynasties
(Contemporary Review, July, 1903).
The hideous crime which ended the reign of King Alexander
excited horror everywhere except in Servia. There it seemed to
be approved and rejoiced over universally, even the head of
the national Servian Church, the Metropolitan of Belgrade,
officiating at a thanksgiving service and commending the army
for what it had done. Senators and Deputies of the Skupstchina
filled the vacant throne by the election of Prince Peter
Karageorgievitch, descendant of Kara Georg (Black George), the
primary hero of the later struggle of the Servians with the
Turk. King Alexander had been of the house of Milosh
Obrenovitch, founder of the Obrenovitch dynasty, which
supplanted that of Kara Georg.
See in Volume I. of this work,
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES:
14TH-19TH CENTURIES: SERVIA.
Prince Peter, then in exile at Geneva, accepted the
blood-stained crown, and was welcomed at Belgrade on the 24th
of June. Foreign governments, except those of Russia and
Austria-Hungary, gave no recognition to the new sovereign for
some time; but, said a writer in The Fortnightly Review of the next month, "no thrill of horror has been manifested by
the ‘dear brothers ’ and ‘cousins’ of the royal victims; on
the very day of the holocaust, when the mangled corpses of a
King and Queen were being exposed to the outrages of frenzied
fiends, there was never a pause in the pomp and circumstance
and revelry of European Courts.
{46}
But the ghastly details of the deed have appealed to the
melodramatic instincts of the vulgar, arousing a morbid
indignation throughout every land. What honest person could
fail to be stirred by the story of the conspirators, sitting
over their wine under the verandah of the Srbski Kruna,
uproariously urging the gipsy band to play Queen Draga’s March
before they sallied forth to hack her to pieces with their
swords; by the airy apologies of the baffled murderers when
they roused a citizen for axes and candles, wherewith to track
down their victims in the sleeping palace; by the thought of
the ill-starred young Sovereigns lying in their own gardens,
riddled with bullets, sighing through the small hours for the
long-delayed relief of death? In the pages of ancient or
mediaeval history, even in sensational fiction, such hellish
horrors could not fail to arouse intense emotion; in the cold
glare of the twentieth century they are brought home so
vividly that we are almost eye-witnesses."
Herbert Vivian,
A ‘Glorious Revolution’ in Servia
(Fortnightly Review, July, 1903).
A general election in September gave the Radicals a decisive
majority in the Skupstchina, and a Radical Ministry under
General Gruiteh was formed.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1904.
Coronation of King Peter.
King Peter was anointed and crowned with due ceremony, at
Zicha, on the 9th of October, 1904. Representatives of all the
Powers in Europe except Great Britain did honor to the
occasion by their presence; thus condoning the foul crime
which smeared the new King’s crown with blood. The officers
who committed the crime had been dismissed from their palace
posts, but rewarded by military promotion.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1908-1909.
Attitude toward Austria on the annexation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1908-1909.
The alleged "Greater Servia Conspiracy."
The Agram Trials.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1908-1909.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1909.
Renunciation of the crown by the Crown Prince.
The following note was addressed to the Prime Minister of
Servia by the Crown Prince, George, on the 25th of March,
1909: "Driven by unjustified insinuations based on an
unfortunate occurrence, I beg in defence of my honour, as well
as of my conscience, to declare that I renounce all claims to
the Throne, as well as any other privileges to which I am
entitled. I beg you to take note of this, and to take the
necessary steps that this action may receive the necessary
sanction. I place my services as a soldier and citizen at the
disposal of my King and Fatherland, ready to give my life for
them.
—George."
The "unfortunate occurrence" alluded to was the death of one
of the Prince’s servants from injuries which the Prince was
believed by the public to have inflicted, as he was reputed to
have a brutal temper.
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: Servia and Bulgaria: A.D. 1905.
Customs Union Convention.
See above:
BULGARIA AND SERVIA.
----------BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: End--------
BALLINGER, Richard A.:
Secretary of the Interior, United States.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909 (MARCH).
BALLINGER, Richard A.:
Action against Water Power Monopoly.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909.
BALLOONS, Dirigible.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT.
BALTIC FLEET, The Russian:
Its voyage and destruction.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (OCTOBER-MAY).
BALTIC PROVINCES:
Peasant insurrection.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER).
BALTIMORE: A. D. 1904.
Destructive fire.
Next to that at Chicago in 1871, the most destructive fire
among the many that have devastated the cities of the United
States occurred at Baltimore on February 7th and 8th, 1904. It
burned for thirty hours, in the heart of the city, the center
of its business, destroying some 2600 buildings and consuming
property to the estimated value of $75,000,000.
BAMBAATA.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: NATAL: A. D. 1906-1907.
BANNARD, Otto T.:
See (in this Volume)
NEW YORK CITY: A. D. 1909.
BARCELONA: A. D. 1902.
General strike and battle with soldiery.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: SPAIN.
BARCELONA: A. D. 1909.
Revolutionary outbreak.
Trial and execution of Professor Ferrer.
See (in this Volume)
SPAIN: A. D. 1907-1909.
BARCELONA: A. D. 1909.
Riotous hostility to war in Morocco.
See MOROCCO: A. D. 1909.
BARGE (ERIE) CANAL, The.
See (in this Volume)
NEW YORK STATE: A. D. 1898-1909.
BARNATO, Harry.
Bequest for cancer research.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH.
BARRETT, Charles Simon:
President of the National Farmers’ Union.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902-1909.
BARRETT, John.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS, INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF.
BARRETT, John.
Delegate to Second International Conference of
American Republics.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
BARTHOLDT, Richard.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1904-1909, and 1907.
BARTON, Sir Edmund:
Premier of Australia.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1903-1904.
BAST, The taking of.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1905-1907.
BASUTOLAND:
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1904, and 1909.
BAVARIA: A. D. 1906.
Introduction of direct voting.
See (in this Volume)
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: GERMANY: A. D. 1906.
BEATIFICATION OF JOAN OF ARC.
See (in this Volume)
PAPACY: A. D. 1909 (APRIL).
BECHUANALAND: A. D. 1904.
Census.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1904, and 1909.
BECK, Baron.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905-1906.
BECQUEREL, Henri.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE, RECENT: RADIUM;
also, NOBEL PRIZES.
"BEEF TRUST," The:
Investigations and prosecutions by the U. S. Government.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL: UNITED STATES:
A. D. 1901-1906; 1903-1906; and 1910.
{47}
BEERNAERT, M.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES
BEHRING, Emil Adolf von.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
BEIRUT:
Joy over the restored constitution of Turkey.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D). 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER).
----------BELGIUM: Start--------
BELGIUM: A. D. 1870-1905.
Increase of population compared with other European countries.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1870-1905.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1900-1904.
Municipal systems of insurance against unemployment.
See (in this Volume)
POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF: UNEMPLOYMENT.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1902.
Popular opposition to the plural vote.
Demand for constitutional revision defeated.
General strike in the country.
Substantially universal but not equal suffrage is given to the
male citizens of Belgium by the Constitution of the kingdom as
revised in 1893.
See in Volume I. of this work,
CONSTITUTION OF BELGIUM.
All have one vote, but certain classes of persons, qualified
by property ownership, tax-payments, education, office-holding
or professional dignity, are given one or two supplementary
votes. Opposition to this political inequality had been
growing from the first, until it united the Socialist and
Liberal parties in a demand for the revision of the
Constitution, not only to abolish the plural suffrage, but to
introduce proportional representation and compulsory
education. The agitation attending this demand brought about,
in April, a general strike throughout the country of workmen
in all departments of industry, to the extent of 350,000. The
Government resisted the demand, maintaining that the system of
plural voting had not been sufficiently tried, and the bill
for constitutional revision was defeated in the Chamber of
Representatives, after a bitter debate, by 84 votes to 64.
The situation was described as follows by Mr. Townsend, the
American Minister to Belgium, in a despatch of April 19:
"The struggle between labor and capital in Belgium has become
extremely acute in the past few years. A large industrial
population, confined to a small superficial area, with long
hours of labor and small wages, have combined to produce a
feeling of discontent among the working classes, who, perhaps
unjustly, blame the existing Government for a condition of
affairs which may be due to economic conditions rather than
political. This is a factor which may be largely responsible
for the rapid growth of Socialism in Belgium during the past
few years. Liberals and Socialists have combined to fight for
universal suffrage, and have raised the cry ‘one man one vote’
as a panacea for the existing ills.
"The Clericals maintain that the existing system of plural
voting meets the present requirements of the country; that it
places a premium on education, and acts as a check to the
power of the ignorant, who are prone to resort to violence and
disorder. The more moderate Liberals in the House of
Representatives expressed a willingness to accept a compromise
in the shape of a total abolition of the triple vote, granting
one vote at 25 years and a second vote to married men of 35 or
40 years, with legitimate issue. The Clericals, however, would
not consider a compromise and opposed revision in any form.
"During the past fortnight, while the debates on the subject
of revision were being held in the House of Representatives,
the socialists and workingmen have held nightly meetings at
the Maison du Peuple, and have frequently paraded the streets
shouting for universal suffrage and ‘one man one vote.’ The
Liberal members, as well as some of the socialist leaders in
the House, have cautioned the paraders to be calm, to avoid
violence and disorder. But the ranks of the paraders have been
swelled by the addition of the representatives of the very
lowest and criminal classes of the population, the result
being a conflict with the police followed by the breaking of
windows and other damages to property. Shots were exchanged
between the gendarmes and rioters, several of the latter being
killed and wounded. Similar scenes were at the same time
enacted in other towns in Belgium, consequently the Government
called out the troops. Order has been restored, but the
streets of Brussels, as well as the large towns, are lined
with soldiers. A general strike has taken place in all the
industrial centers of Belgium, with the avowed object of
forcing the Government to grant universal suffrage, but
without success. The feeling of unrest is very general all
over the country."
Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of
the United States, 1902, page 85.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1903.
Enactment to compensate workmen for injurious accidents.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: BELGIUM: A. D. 1903.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1903.
Agreement for settlement of claims against Venezuela.
See (in this Volume)
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1902-1904.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1903-1905.
King Leopold’s administration of the Congo State.
See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1903-1905.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1904.
Liberal gains in the elections, at the expense of the
Catholics and Socialists.
Belgian elections, in May, reduced the majority by which the
Clericals still retained control of the Government, and took
six seats in the representative chamber from the Socialists,
adding in all nine to the representation of the Liberal party.
The latter continued, with no success, its demand for a
revision of the Constitution, especially for the abolition of
the plural vote, which gives the Church party its majority in
Parliament, while its voters are an actual minority of the
nation.
Belgian feeling on the subject of the charges of brutal
oppression in the Congo Free State was deeply stirred, and its
current ran strongly against the accusers of the King. The
public in general appears to have been fully persuaded that
interested motives were actuating the whole criticism of Congo
administration, and that the stories of inhumanity to the
natives were wholly false.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1906.
At the Algeciras Conference on the Morocco question.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1908.
North Sea and Baltic agreements.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1908.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1908 (October).
Annexation of the Congo State.
See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1906-1909.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1909.
New military law.
Compulsory service with no substitution.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: BELGIAN.
BELGIUM: A. D. 1909 (October).
The Government’s programme of reforms in the Congo State.
See CONGO STATE: A. D. 1909 (OCTOBER).
{47}
BELGIUM: A. D. 1909 (December).
Death of King Leopold.
Accession of King Albert.
On the 17th of December, 1909, King Leopold died. He was
succeeded on the throne by Prince Albert, son of his brother,
the Count of Flanders. Of the new King, who was born in 1875,
it was said by The Times, of London: "The happiest
expectations are cherished in Belgium for the new King’s
reign. He has shown, together with his gracious Consort, that
desire to identify himself with the interests of the humblest
of his subjects which we are accustomed to admire among the
characteristic merits of our own Royal Family. He was
naturally precluded by his position from taking any part in
the controversies connected with the Congo, but it may
reasonably be thought that if his uncle’s life had been less
prolonged the constitutional difficulties raised by the ‘Congo
question’ would have been avoided. He is known to have been
painfully impressed by the need of reform during his recent
visit to the colony."
----------BELGIUM: End--------
BELL, Richard:
Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: ENGLAND: A. D. 1907-1909.
BENEDICTINES: Forbidden to teach in France.
See (in this Volume)
France: A. D. 1908.
BENGAL: A. D. 1905.
Partition of the Province.
See (in this Volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1905-1909.
BEQUESTS.
See GIFTS.
BERESFORD, Admiral Lord Charles:
On the "Dreadnought."
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: DREADNOUGHT ERA.
BERKELEY, California:
Perfect example of the "Commission Plan" of Government.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: CALIFORNIA.
BERLIN: A. D. 1903.
Sweeping victory of Socialists in Imperial election.
See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1903.
BERLIN: A. D. 1905.
Strike in electrical industries.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: GERMANY.
BERLIN TREATY OF 1878, Violations of the.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BETHMANN-HOLLWEG, Dr. von:
Appointed Chancellor of the German Empire.
See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1908-1909, AND 1909 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).
"BIG SIX," The.
See (in this Volume)
Combinations, Industrial: United States: A. D. 1903-1906.
The "Beef Trust."
BIRRELL, Augustine,
President of the Board of Education.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1905 (DECEMBER), and 1905-1906.
BIRRELL, Augustine,
Chief Secretary for Ireland.
Proposed Councils Bill for Ireland.
See (in this Volume)
IRELAND: A. D. 1907 (MAY).
BISWAS, Ashutosh, Assassination of.
See (in this Volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1907-1908.
BITUMINOUS COAL STRIKES.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES.
BJORNSON, Bjornstjerne.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
BLACK HAND, The.
See (in this Volume)
CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY.
BLERIOT, Louis.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: AERONAUTICS.
BLIND, Karl:
On the "Young Turks."
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER).
"BLOC," Chancellor Bülow’s:
Incongruous coalition in the German Reichstag.
See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1906-1907.
Its break.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1908-1909.
"BLOODY SUNDAY."
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905.
BOARDS OF CONCILIATION.
See Labor Organization:
GERMANY: A. D. 1905-1906.
BOBRIKOFF, Governor-General of Finland:
His assassination.
See (in this Volume)
FINLAND: A. D. 1904.
BOER-BRITISH WAR, Last year of the.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1901-1902.
BOERS, The:
Repatriation and resettlement.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1902-1903.
BOERS, The:
Active in movement for South African Union.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1908-1909.
BOGOLIEPOFF, M.,
Assassination of.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1901-1904.
BOLIVIA: A. D. 1901-1906.
Participation in Second and Third International Conferences
of American Republics, at Rio de Janeiro.
See (in this Volume)
American Republics.
BOLIVIA: A. D. 1901.
Broad Treaty of Arbitration with Peru.
See (in this Volume)
ARBITRATION, INTERNATIONAL: A. D. 1902 (NOVEMBER).
BOLIVIA: A. D. 1903-1909.
Boundary disputes in the Acre region with Brazil and Peru.
See (in this Volume)
ACRE DISPUTES.
BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, The Bubonic Plague in.
See (in this Volume)
Public Health: Bubonic Plague.
BONAPARTE, Charles J.:
Secretary of the Navy and Attorney-General.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1909.
BOND, Sir Robert: Premier of Newfoundland.
Negotiation of the Hay-Bond Reciprocity Treaty.
See (in this Volume)
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1902-1905.
BOND, Sir Robert:
At the Imperial Conference of 1907.
See (in this Volume)
British Empire: A. D. 1907.
BOND, Sir Robert:
Resignation and defeat at election.
See (in this Volume)
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1908-1909.
BONHAM, Captain W. F.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1902-1903.
BONILLA, General Manuel:
Revolutionary President of Honduras.
See (in this Volume)
CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1903, and 1907.
BONUS SYSTEM, The.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR REMUNERATION: THE BONUS SYSTEM.
"BOODLERS," so called, in municipal government.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
BORSTAL SYSTEM, The.
See (in this Volume)
CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY: PREVENTIVE DETENTION.
BOSHIN CLUB.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1909.
BOSNIA.
See (in this Volume)
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES.
BOSTON: A. D. 1904.
International Peace Congress.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1904.
BOSTON: A. D. 1909.
New plan of city government chosen by popular vote.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
{49}
BOTHA, GENERAL LOUIS:
In the closing year of the Boer-British War.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1901-1902.
BOTHA, GENERAL LOUIS:
Premier of the Transvaal.
At the Imperial Conference of 1907.
See BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1907.
BOTHA, GENERAL LOUIS:
Leader in movement for South African Union.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1908-1909.
BOURGEOIS, Leon:
President of the French Chamber of Deputies.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1902. (APRIL-OCTOBER).
BOURGEOIS, Leon:
President of Chamber of Deputies.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1903.
BOURGEOIS, Leon:
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1906.
BOURSE LAW, German:
Revision of it.
See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1908.
BOURSES DU TRAVAIL.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: France: A. D.1884-1909.
BOXER OUTBREAK, The:
Penalty paid by China for it.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1901-1908.
BOXER OUTBREAK, The:
Recurrence of.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1902.
BOYCOTTING: In China:
The boycotting of the United States in 1905.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1908.
BOYCOTTING: In India.
See INDIA: A. D. 1905-1906.
BOYCOTTING: In Ireland:
The recent practice.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1902-1908.
BOYCOTTING: In Turkey, of Austrian commodities.
See EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
BOYCOTTING: In the United States:
By Trade Unions.
Decisions of courts.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908-1909.
BRADDON SECTION, The.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1910.
BRANCO, Baron do Rio.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS: THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE.
BRAUN, Ferdinand.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1901-1902.
Participation in Second International Conference of
American Republics.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1902.
Inauguration of President Alves.
Dr. Rodriguez Alves was inducted in office as President of the
United States of Brazil on the 15th of November, 1902,
succeeding Dr. Campos Salles.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1903.
Settlement of boundary dispute with Bolivia.
See (in this Volume)
ACRE DISPUTES.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1904.
An impromptu Revolt that became a comedy of errors.
"To the American who is under the impression that all South
America is continually in the throes of one or another
revolution it will come as a surprise to learn that this vast
district, comprising one half the territory and almost two
thirds the population of the whole continent, has known no
revolution since the founding of the Republic. The revolts of
1893, 1897, and 1904, menacing in varying degree, were
outbursts fostered by a centralization of national vitality
which inspired the belief in each insurrectionist that it was
but necessary to strike the head,—the body would lie dormant.
The justification of this belief lay in the historical fact
that the vast majority of successful revolts throughout South
America have consisted merely in coups d'état. The
masses have lain dormant, and the fighting, if any, has
generally come after the somersault.
"The revolt of November of last year in Brazil was so typical
of South American revolutions, and so elementary, that it
affords a lucid illustration. Owing to the prompt and
efficient measures taken by the government to suppress true
reports of the disturbance, and owing, too, to its signal
failure, this revolt was scarcely mentioned by the American
press. Nevertheless, it missed by little causing international
commotion. …
"A great epidemic of smallpox led the government to require of
Congress a law making vaccination compulsory. Long and heated
debate on the constitutionality of the measure went on, while
the epidemic assumed alarming proportions. The Executive’s
patience being worn out, arbitrary pressure was brought to
bear, and the law passed. This intervention brought down the
general censure of the press, and the opposition seized the
handle with disproportionate avidity. On the eleventh of
November a mass meeting was held in one of the central squares
of Rio Janeiro. … The mounted police broke up the meeting with
the flat of the sword: no lives were lost. On the following
day the scene was duplicated, several people injured, and a
life lost. By night riots had broken out in various parts of
the city.
"Up to the fourteenth of November, revolution was not even
rumored. … Toward evening city and government were genuinely
surprised by the news that General Travassos, who was to have
commanded a battalion in the review, immediately upon the
announcement of its postponement had proceeded to the Military
Academy on the outskirts of the city, and, before the student
body, had demanded of the officer in charge transfer of his
command. Frightened by the attitude of the cadets, the
commanding officer made a puerile protest, and surrendered. He
and his staff were allowed to withdraw, and carried the news
of the revolt to the city. It was soon confirmed: the cadets
were advancing on the President’s palace, under the leadership
of General Travassos. …
"The shortest line of march was along the bay front, and to
repulse the attack were sent by land a battalion of the line
reinforced by police, and by sea two gunboats under the play
of searchlights from an armored cruiser. The cadets marched
under the assurance that no soldier of the line would fire on
them, as the army was back of the movement. … They were met by
an armed force, indistinguishable owing to the destruction of
all the lamps by rioters. The force was the advancing
battalion, and it is generally believed that it fired on the
cadets, mistaking them for the returning body of police which
had followed the water front. Brisk fighting ensued, when
suddenly the cry arose among the cadets that they had been
betrayed, and were attacked by soldiers of the line. They
broke and made a disorderly retreat to the Academy. Almost
simultaneously the soldiers learned their mistake, and that
they had opposed a commanding officer; and they turned in
precipitous flight. General Travassos was mortally wounded in
the engagement. …
{50}
"Meanwhile the detachment of police dispatched from the city
had advanced along the bay front to the stone quarry, where
they awaited the rebels. Drawn up at this spot under close
formation, they were mistaken by the gunboats for the cadets,
and were made the target of a disastrous hail of bullets from
quick-firing guns. Their retreat also was precipitous.
"Such was the comedy of errors which will be known as the
Revolt of 1904. Its net results were a rude but salutary
recall of the government to watchfulness; added prestige
abroad for the government, vouched by a rise in its bonds;
and, most significant of all, spontaneous and immediate
support of the Chief Executive from neighboring states. And
yet the credit was not due to the government, which avowedly
had been caught napping, but to the Goddess of Chance, the
arbiter of every coup d'état."
G. A. Chamberlain,
The Cause of South American Revolutions
(Atlantic Monthly, June, 1905).
BRAZIL: A. D. 1904.
Settlement of boundary between Brazil and British Guiana.
By the decision of the King of Italy, to whom the boundary
question in dispute between Brazil and British Guiana had been
referred, the line separating the territories of the two
states was defined, as drawn by Nature, along the watershed,
starting from Mount Yakontipu and running easterly to the
source of the river Mahu, thence down that river to the Tacuta
and up the latter to its source, where it touches the boundary
already determined. Both countries to have free navigation of
the rivers in question.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1906.
Presidential Election.
The quadrennial presidential election occurring in Brazil in
the spring of 1906 raised Dr. Alfonso Moreira Penna from the
Vice-Presidency to the Presidency of the Republic, with no
disturbance of its quiet.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1906.
German Colonies.
"Already 500,000 Germans, emigrants and their offspring, are
resident in Brazil. The great majority of them, it is true,
have embraced Brazilian citizenship, but their ideals and ties
are essentially and inviolably German. In the south, where
they are thickest, they have become the ruling element. German
factories, warehouses, shops, farms, schools and churches dot
the country everywhere. German has superseded Portuguese, the
official language of Brazil, in scores of communities. Twenty
million pounds of vested interests—banking, street railroads,
electric works, mines, coffee-plantations, and a great variety
of business undertakings—claim the protection of the Kaiser’s
flag. A cross-country railway and a still more extensive
projected system are in the hands of German capitalists. The
country’s vast ocean traffic, the Amazon river shipping, and
much of the coasting trade are dominated by Germans.
"Over and above this purely commercial conquest, however,
looms a factor of more vital importance to North American
susceptibilities—namely, the creation of a nation of Germans
in Brazil. That is the avowed purpose of three German
colonising concerns, which have become lords and masters over
8,000 square miles of Brazilian territory, an area
considerably larger than the kingdom of Saxony, and capable of
dwarfing half-a-dozen German Grand Duchies. It is the object
of these territorial syndicates to people their lands with
immigrants willing to be ‘kept German’—a race of transplanted
men and women who will find themselves amid conditions
deliberately designed to perpetuate ‘Deutschthum,’ which means
the German language, German customs, and unyielding loyalty to
German economic hopes."
F. W. Wile,
German Colonisation in Brazil
(Fortnightly Review, January, 1906).
"The talk about German exploitation of Brazil for colonization
purposes is pure buncombe. The writer has visited the southern
Brazilian provinces of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catharina, and
Parana, where most of the Germans reside, and he has seen no
more reason for Brazil to fear ulterior purposes on the part
of Germany than has the United States because Germans form a
large percentage of the population of New York, Chicago, and
Milwaukee. The Germans make excellent Brazilian citizens,
while loving the Fatherland from association and respecting
the Emperor for his great personality."
John Barrett,
The United States and Latin America
(North American Review, September 21, 1906).
See (in this Volume), also,
GERMANY: A. D. 1904.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1906.
Third International Conference of American Republics
at Rio de Janeiro.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1907.
Adoption of obligatory military service.
By a law enacted in 1907 military service was made obligatory.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1908.
Dreadnought building.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1908-1909.
Increasing immigration.
See (in this Volume)
IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION.
BRAZIL: A. D. 1909.
Frontier agreements and demarcations.
The Message of President Penna to Congress, May 3, 1909,
contained the following announcements:
"On September 15 last, a treaty between Brazil and Holland was
finally approved at The Hague, to determine the limits of our
frontier with the Colony of Surinam or Dutch Guiana. The
demarcation of the new frontier line between Brazil and
Bolivia in Matto Grosso is now completed, and awaits only the
approval of the two Governments interested. The same mixed
commission to which was intrusted this survey will now proceed
to reconnoitre the head-waters of the Rio Verde. The
Government of the French Republic proposes the appointment of
a mixed commission for the demarcation of the common boundary
established on December 1, 1900, by arbitration of the Swiss
Federal Council. An agreement will shortly be arrived at with
Great Britain to determine the frontier of Brazil with British
Guiana."
BRAZIL: A. D. 1909.
Death of President Penna.
Accession of the Vice-President.
Dr. Alfonso Penna, President of Brazil, died suddenly on the
14th of June, 1909, and was succeeded in the office by the
Vice-President, Señor Nilo Pecanha, who will fill out the
presidential term, ending November 15, 1910. Meantime an
active canvass of candidates for the succeeding term has been
in progress, the names most discussed being those of General
Hermes de Fonseca, Baron Rio Branco, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, and Señor Ruy Barbosa, a prominent advocate.
----------BRAZIL: End--------
BRENNAN MONO-RAIL SYSTEM.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION: RAILWAYS.
BRIAND, Aristide:
in the Ministry of France as Minister of Public
Instruction and Public Worship.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1906.
{51}
BRIAND, Aristide:
Prime Minister of France.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1909 (JULY).
BRIAND, Aristide:
On the French secular or neutral schools and the clerical
attack on them.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: FRANCE: A. D. 1909.
BRENT, Bishop:
Service on International Opium Commission and on
Philippine Committee.
See (in this Volume)
Opium Problem.
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA:
Its parts suitable for European Settlement.
See (in this Volume)
AFRICA.
BRITISH COLUMBIA: A. D. 1901-1902.
Census.
Increased representation in Parliament.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1901-1902.
BRITISH EAST AFRICA:
Its habitability by whites.
See (in this Volume)
AFRICA.
----------THE BRITISH EMPIRE: Start--------
THE BRITISH EMPIRE:
A Census of the Empire.
In March, 1906, a "Census of the British Empire"—the first
ever undertaken—was published as a Parliamentary Blue Book.
Its preparation had been proposed by Mr. Chamberlain, who
suggested, while Colonial Secretary, that the figures of the
census of the United Kingdom in 1901 should be collated with
those of other portions of the empire, to be analyzed,
tabulated, and published as a whole. A full realization of the
plan of collation had been found impracticable, owing to the
wide differences of circumstance and of the forms of
census-taking in different parts of the Empire; but many
summings up of highly interesting and important facts were
obtained.
The territory covered by the British Empire was shown to be
11,908,378 square miles, being an increase of 40 per cent.
since 1861, and embracing more than a fifth of the land
surface of the globe. This exceeds the area of the Russian
Empire (European and Asiatic) by more than three millions of
square miles. It is nearly three times the area of the Chinese
Empire, and more than three times that of the United States
and their exterior possessions. An exact count of population
in all regions of the Empire was impossible, but the estimated
total is 400,000,000, of which 300,000,000 is assigned to Asia
and 43,000,000 to Africa. The United Kingdom contains
41,500,000, British America 7,500,000, Australasia, 5,000,000,
the Mediterranean possessions 500,000, and there are 150,000
in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Classified by
religion, there 208,000,000 Hindus, 94,000,000 Mohammedans,
58,000,000 Christians, 12,000,000 Buddhists, and 23,000,000 of
other religions—Parsees, Confucians, Jews, Sikhs, and Jains,
over whom Edward VII. of England reigns as Emperor or King.
His Asiatic subjects alone are three-fourths as many as the
Emperor of China is supposed to rule, and considerable more
than twice the number that live within the whole sweep of the
scepter of the Tsar.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1902.
Conference at London with the Prime Ministers
of the self-governing Colonies.
Address of the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Chamberlain.
Results of the Conference.
Taking advantage of the presence in London of the Prime
Ministers of the various self-governing colonies of Britain,
on the occasion of the coronation of King Edward VII., a
Conference with them, touching questions of general interest,
was arranged by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr.
Chamberlain, in meetings which extended from June to August,
1902. The proceedings were confidential, and no report of
discussions made public; but the resulting resolutions,
together with the opening address of the Colonial Secretary,
and certain statements on subjects considered, are printed in
a Parliamentary paper (Cd. 1299) from which the following
account of the Conference is derived:
Mr. Chamberlain in his address argued strongly and with
feeling for a political federation of the Empire. He said: "I
may be considered, perhaps, to be a dreamer, or too
enthusiastic, but I do not hesitate to say that, in my
opinion, the political federation of the Empire is within the
limits of possibility. I recognize as fully as any one can do
the difficulties which would attend such a great change in
our constitutional system. I recognise the variety of
interests that are concerned: the immense disproportion in
wealth and the population of the different members of the
Empire, and above all, the distances which still separate
them, and the lack of sufficient communication. These are
difficulties which at one time appeared to be, and indeed
were, insurmountable. But now I cannot but recollect that
similar difficulties almost, if not quite as great, have been
surmounted in the case of the United States of America. And
difficulties, perhaps not quite so great, but still very
considerable, have been surmounted in the federation of the
Dominion of Canada. … We have no right to put by our action
any limit to the Imperial patriotism of the future; and it is
my opinion that, as time goes on, there will be a continually
growing sense of the common interests which unite us, and
also, perhaps, which is equally important, of the common
dangers which threaten us. At the same time I would be the
last to suggest that we should do anything which could by any
possibility be considered premature. We have had, within the
last few years, a most splendid evidence of the results of a
voluntary union without any formal obligations, in the great
crisis of the war through which we have now happily passed.
The action of the self-governing Colonies in the time of
danger of the motherland has produced here a deep and a
lasting impression. … I feel, therefore, in view of this it
would be a fatal mistake to transform the spontaneous
enthusiasm which has been so readily shown throughout the
Empire into anything in the nature of an obligation which
might be at this time unwillingly assumed or only formally
accepted. The link which unites us, almost invisible as it is
sentimental in its character, is one which we would gladly
strengthen, but at the same time it has proved itself to be so
strong that certainly we would not wish to substitute for it a
chain which might be galling in its incidence. And, therefore,
upon this point of the political relations between the
Colonies and ourselves. His Majesty’s Government, while they
would welcome any approach which might be made to a more
definite and a closer union, feel that it is not for them to
press this upon you. The demand, if it comes, and when it
comes, must come from the Colonies. If it comes it will be
enthusiastically received in this country.
{52}
"And in this connection I would venture to refer to an
expression in an eloquent speech of my right honorable friend,
the Premier of the Dominion of Canada—an expression which has
called forth much appreciation in this country, although I
believe that Sir Wilfrid Laurier has himself in subsequent
speeches explained that it was not quite correctly understood.
But the expression was, ‘If you want our aid call us to your
councils.’ Gentlemen, we do want your aid. We do require your
assistance in the administration of the vast Empire, which is
yours as well as ours. The weary Titan staggers under the too
vast orb of its fate. We have borne the burden for many years.
We think it is time our children should assist us to support
it, and whenever you make the request to us, be very sure that
we shall hasten gladly to call you to our councils. If you are
prepared at any time to take any share, any proportionate
share, in the burdens of the Empire, we are prepared to meet
you with any proposal for giving to you a corresponding voice
in the policy of the Empire. And the object, if I may point
out to you, may be achieved in various ways. Suggestions have
been made that representation should be given to the Colonies
in either, or in both, Houses of Parliament. There is no
objection in principle to any such proposal. If it comes to
us, it is a proposal which His Majesty’s Government would
certainly feel justified in favourably considering, but I have
always felt myself that the most practical form in which we
could achieve our object would be the establishment or the
creation of a real council of the Empire, to which all

questions of Imperial interest might be referred, and if it
were desired to proceed gradually, as probably would be our
course—we are all accustomed to the slow ways in which our
Constitutions have been worked out—if it be desired to
proceed gradually, the Council might in the first instance be
merely an advisory council. But, although that would be a
preliminary step, it is clear that the object would not be
completely secured until there had been conferred upon such a
Council executive functions, and perhaps also legislative
powers, and it is for you to say, gentlemen, whether you think
the time has come when any progress whatever can be made in
this direction."
Turning naturally from this to the subject of imperial
defence, Mr. Chamberlain gave the substance of a paper which
would be submitted to the Conference, exhibiting comparatively
the naval and military expenditure of the United Kingdom and
of the different self-governing colonies. The cost of the
armaments of the United Kingdom had increased enormously since
1897, and "that increase," he said, "is not entirely due to
our initiative, but it is forced upon us by the action of
other Powers who have made great advances, especially in
connection with the Navy, which we have found it to be our
duty and necessity to equal. But the net result is
extraordinary. At the present moment the estimates for the
present year for naval and military expenditure in the United
Kingdom—not including the extraordinary war expenses, but the
normal estimates—involve an expenditure per head of the
population of the United Kingdom of 29s. 3d. per annum. In
Canada the same items involve an expenditure of only 2s. per
head of the population, about one-fifteenth of that incurred
by the United Kingdom. In New South Wales—I have not the
figures for the Commonwealth as a whole, but I am giving those
as illustrations—and I find that in New South Wales the
expenditure is 3s. 5d.; in Victoria, 3s. 3d.; in New Zealand,
3s. 4d.; and in the Cape and Natal, I think it is between 2s.
and 3s. Now, no one, I think, will pretend that that is a fair
distribution of the burdens of Empire. No one will believe
that the United Kingdom can, for all time, make this
inordinate sacrifice. … I think, therefore, you will agree
with me that it is not unreasonable for us to call your
serious attention to a state of things which cannot be
permanent. We hope that we are not likely to make upon you any
demand that would seem to you to be excessive. We know
perfectly well your difficulties, as you probably are
acquainted with ours."
The speaker passed next to the question of commercial
relations between the mother land and its colonies. "Two
salient facts" he set with emphasis before his colonial
audience. "The first is this. That if we chose—that is to say,
if those whom we represent chose—the Empire might be
self-sustaining. It is so wide; its products are so various;
its climates so different, that there is absolutely nothing
which is necessary to our existence, hardly anything which is
desirable as a luxury, which can not be produced within the
borders of the Empire itself. And the second salient fact is
that the Empire at the present time, and especially the United
Kingdom—which is the great market of the world—derives the
greater part of its necessaries from foreign countries, and
that it exports the largest part of its available produce
—surplus produce—also to foreign countries. This trade might
be the trade, the inter-imperial trade, of the Empire. It is
at the present time, as I say, a trade largely between the
Empire and foreign countries. Now, I confess, that to my mind
that is not a satisfactory state of things, and I hope that
you will agree with me that everything which can possibly tend
to increase the interchange of products between the different
parts of the Empire is deserving of our cordial encouragement.
What we desire, what His Majesty’s Government has publicly
stated to be the object for which they would most gladly
strive, is a free interchange. If you are unable to accept
that as a principle, then I ask you how far can you approach
to it? If a free interchange between the different parts of
the Empire could be secured it would then be a matter for
separate consideration altogether what should be the attitude
of the Empire as a whole or of its several parts towards
foreign nations? …
"Three proposals have been made for the consideration of the
present Conference, on the initiative of New Zealand. The
first and the most important one is that a preferential tariff
should be arranged in favour of British goods which are now
taxable in the respective Colonies and in the United Kingdom.
And although no proposal comes to us from Canada, I am, of
course, aware that similar questions have been recently
specially discussed very actively and very intelligently in
the Dominion, and that a strong opinion prevails there that
the time is ripe for something of this kind."
{53}
Thereupon Mr. Chamberlain examined the results of the Canadian
preferential tariff, showing that England derived very little
commercial benefit from it, and continued: "I think the very
valuable experience, somewhat disappointing and discouraging
as I have already pointed out, but the very valuable
experience which we have derived from the history of the
Canadian tariff, shows that while we may most readily and most
gratefully accept from you any preference which you may be
willing voluntarily to accord to us, we cannot bargain with
you for it; we cannot pay for it unless you go much further
and enable us to enter your home market on terms of greater
equality."
On the subject of imperial defence, the result of the
Conference was an agreement from Australia and New Zealand to
increase their contribution towards an improved Australasian
squadron and the establishment of a branch of the Royal Naval
Reserve to £200,000 a year for the former and £40,000 for the
latter; an agreement from Cape Colony and Natal to contribute
£50,000 and £35,000 per annum respectively toward the general
maintenance of the Navy, and a pledge from Newfoundland of
£3000 per annum toward a branch of the Royal Naval Reserve.
From Canada no agreement was reported. In a "Memorandum by the
First Lord of the Admiralty" of interviews held with the
several Premiers it is said: "Sir Wilfrid Laurier informed me
that His Majesty’s Government of the Dominion of Canada are
contemplating the establishment of a local Naval force in the
waters of Canada, but that they were not able to make any
offer of assistance analogous to those enumerated above."
Concerning preferential trade, the following resolutions were
adopted:
"1. That this Conference recognises that the principle of
preferential trade between the United Kingdom and His
Majesty’s Dominions beyond the seas would stimulate and
facilitate mutual commercial intercourse, and would, by
promoting the development of the resources and industries of
the several parts, strengthen the Empire.
"2. That this Conference recognises that, in the present
circumstances of the Colonies, it is not practicable to adopt
a general system of Free Trade as between the Mother Country
and the British Dominions beyond the seas.
"3. That with a view, however, to promoting the increase of
trade within the Empire, it is desirable that those Colonies
which have not already adopted such a policy should, as far as
their circumstances permit, give substantial preferential
treatment to the products and manufactures of the United
Kingdom.
"4. That the Prime Ministers of the Colonies respectfully urge
on His Majesty’s Government the expediency of granting in the
United Kingdom preferential treatment to the products and
manufactures of the Colonies either by exemption from or
reduction of duties now or hereafter imposed.
"5. That the Prime Ministers present at the Conference
undertake to submit to their respective Governments at the
earliest opportunity the principle of the resolution and to
request them to take such measures as may be necessary to give
effect to it."
The Prime Ministers of the Colonies also stated the extent to
which they were prepared to recommend to their several
Parliaments a preferential treatment of British goods: The
Premier of Canada would propose to continue the existing
preference of 33 1/3 per cent., and an additional preference
on lists of selected articles—
(a) by further reducing the duties in favor of the United
Kingdom;
(b) by raising the duties against foreign imports;
(c) by imposing duties on certain foreign imports now on the
free list.
In New Zealand the recommendation would be of a general
preference by 10 per cent., or an equivalent in respect of
lists of selected articles on the lines proposed by Canada. At
the Cape and Natal a preference of 25 per cent. would be
advised, or its equivalent given by increasing duties on
foreign imports. The recommendation in Australia would be of a
preferential treatment not yet defined.
A resolution was adopted favoring future Conferences at
intervals not exceeding four years. Other resolutions
recommended that a preference be given to products of the
Empire in all Government contracts, Imperial or Colonial; that
the privileges of coastwise trade within the Empire be refused
to countries in which the corresponding trade is confined to
ships of their own nationality; that a mutual protection of
patents within the Empire be devised; that the principle of
cheap postage between the different parts of the Empire on all
newspapers and periodicals published therein be adopted; that
the metric system of weights and measures be adopted
throughout the Empire. These were the mainly important
conclusions derived from the Conference, and it was difficult
to regard them as quite satisfactory.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1903.
Mr. Chamberlain’s declaration for preferential trade
with the Colonies.
Its political effects in Great Britain.
His resignation from the Cabinet.
Disclosures of the correspondence.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1903 (MAY-SEPTEMBER).
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1907.
Conference of Imperial and Colonial Ministers at London.
Formulation of the Constitution of the Conference, to be
known as the Imperial Conference.
Discussion of preferential trade, imperial defence,
and other subjects.
Resolutions adopted.
According to the resolution adopted by the Colonial Conference
of 1902, the next Conference should have been held in 1906,
but by agreement of all parties it was deferred until the
following year. In the interval, a protracted correspondence
occurred between the Colonial Office and the Governments of
the several States federated in the Commonwealth of Australia,
each of which claimed representation in the Conference by its
own Ministers, and protested against the sufficiency of the
representation that would be given to it by the General
Government of the Commonwealth. The "State Rights" doctrine
received no encouragement, however, and only the Premier of
the Commonwealth, Mr. Deakin, and one of the members of his
Cabinet, took part in the Conference, which held its first
meeting in London on the 15th of April and its final one on
the 14th of May.
{54}
At the first meeting there were present, as representatives of
the Imperial Government, the Prime Minister, Sir Henry
Campbell-Bannerman, the Secretary of State for the Colonies,
the Earl of Elgin, in the Chair, and several other Members of
the Cabinet and officials of the Administration. The Premiers
of the self-governing colonies, excepting Sir Robert Bond, of
Newfoundland, who arrived a few days later, were all in
attendance,—namely, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, of Canada, the
Honorable Alfred Deakin, of Australia, the Honorable Sir J. G.
Ward, of New Zealand, Dr. L. S. Jameson, of Cape Colony, the
Honorable F. R. Moor, of Natal, and General Louis Botha, of
the Transvaal. The Conference was first addressed by the Prime
Minister, and responses to his remarks were made by the
several colonial premiers. It was then agreed that the
constitution of the Conference and the question of military
defence should be the subjects first considered. Before ending
this preliminary sitting it was decided, as one ruling on the
constitution of the Conference, that any Ministers
accompanying their Prime Ministers, should be at liberty to
attend its meetings.
At the second session of the Conference resolutions brought
forward by the Governments of Australia and New Zealand,
proposing to give the character of an Imperial Council to the
Conference, and a resolution from the Government of Cape
Colony on the subject of Imperial Defence, together with a
draft resolution concerning the constitution of the Conference
which the Chairman, Lord Elgin, submitted, were discussed,
without action taken. The discussion was continued at the
third and fourth meetings, and the resolution proposed by the
Secretary of State for the Colonies, being amended in some
particulars, was adopted at the end, as follows:
"That it will be to the advantage of the Empire if a
Conference to be called the Imperial Conference is held every
four years at which questions of common interest may be
discussed and considered as between His Majesty’s Government
and his Governments of the self-governing Dominions beyond the
seas. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will be ex
officio President, and the Prime Ministers of the
self-governing Dominions ex officio members of the
Conference. The Secretary of State for the Colonies will be an
ex officio member of the Conference and will take the
chair in the absence of the President. He will arrange for
such Imperial Conferences after communication with the Prime
Ministers of the respective Dominions.
"Such other Ministers as the respective Governments may
appoint will also be members of the Conference—it being
understood that, except by special permission of the
Conference, each discussion will be conducted by not more than
two representatives from each Government, and that each
Government will have only one vote.
"That it is desirable to establish a system by which the
several Governments represented shall be kept informed during
the periods between the Conferences in regard to matters which
have been or may be subjects for discussion, by means of a
permanent secretarial staff charged under the direction of the
Secretary of State for the Colonies with the duty of obtaining
information for the use of the Conference, of attending to its
resolutions, and of conducting correspondence on matters
relating to its affairs.
"That upon matters of importance requiring consultation
between two or more Governments which cannot conveniently be
postponed until the next Conference, or involving subjects of
a minor character or such as call for detailed consideration,
subsidiary conferences should be held between representatives
of the Governments concerned specially chosen for the
purpose."
On the subject of Imperial Defence, which was then taken up,
and in the discussion of which the Secretary of State for War
took part, the following resolutions were approved:
"That the Colonies be authorized to refer to the Committee of
Imperial Defence through the Secretary of State for advice any
local questions in regard to which expert assistance is deemed
desirable.
"That whenever so desired, a representative of the colony
which may wish for advice should be summoned to attend as a
member of the Committee during the discussion of the questions
raised.
"That this Conference welcomes and cordially approves the
exposition of general principles embodied in the statement of
the Secretary of State for War, and, without wishing to commit
any of the Governments represented, recognizes and affirms the
need of developing for the service of the Empire a General
Staff, selected from the forces of the Empire as a whole,
which shall study military science in all its branches, shall
collect and disseminate to the various Governments military
information and intelligence, shall undertake the preparation
of schemes of defence on a common principle, and without in
the least interfering in questions connected with command and
administration, shall at the request of the respective
Governments advise as to the training, education, and war
organization of the military forces of the Crown in every part
of the Empire."
At subsequent meetings the following resolutions were adopted
or accepted:
On the subject of Emigration: "That it is desirable to
encourage British emigrants to proceed to British colonies
rather than foreign countries. That the Imperial Government be
requested to cooperate with any colonies desiring immigrants
in assisting suitable persons to emigrate."
On the subject of Judicial Appeals: The Conference "agreed to
the following finding: The resolution of the Commonwealth of
Australia, ‘That it is desirable to establish an Imperial
Court of Appeal,’ was submitted and fully discussed.
"The resolution submitted by the Government of Cape Colony was
accepted, amended as follows:
‘This Conference, recognizing the importance to all parts of
the Empire of the appellate jurisdiction of His Majesty the
King in Council, desires to place upon record its opinion—
"‘(1) That in the interests of His Majesty’s subjects beyond
the seas it is expedient that the practice and procedure of
the Right Honourable the Lords of the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council be definitely laid down in the form of a
code of rules and regulations.
"‘(2) That in the codification of the rules regard should be
had to the necessity for the removal of anachronisms and
anomalies, the possibility of the curtailment of expense, and
the desirability of the establishment of courses of procedure
which would minimize delays.
{55}
"‘(3) That, with a view to the extension of uniform rights of
appeal to all colonial subjects of His Majesty, the various
Orders in Council, instructions to Governors, charters of
justice, ordinances and proclamations upon the subject of the
appellate jurisdiction of the Sovereign should be taken into
consideration for the purpose of determining the desirability
of equalizing the conditions which gave right of appeal to His
Majesty.
"‘(4) That much uncertainty, expense, and delay would be
avoided if some portion of His Majesty’s prerogative to grant
special leave to appeal in cases where there exists no right
of appeal were exercised under definite rules and
restrictions.’
"The following resolutions, presented to the Conference by
General Botha and supported by the representatives of Cape
Colony and Natal, were accepted:
"‘(1) That when a Court of Appeal has been established for any
group of colonies geographically connected, whether federated
or not, to which appeals lie from the decisions of the Supreme
Courts of such colonies, it shall be competent for the
Legislature of each such colony to abolish any existing right
of appeal from its Supreme Court to the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council.
"‘(2) That the decisions of such Court of Appeal shall be
final, but leave to appeal from such decisions may be granted
by the said Court in certain cases prescribed by the statute
under which it is established.
"‘(3) That the right of any person to apply to the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council for leave to appeal to it from
the decision of such Appeal Court shall not be curtailed.’"
And now, at last, on the 30th of April, the Conference came to
the discussion of the question which had been dominant in all
minds from the first,—the question of preferential trade.
Essentially it was a settled question already,—settled, that
is, by the voters of the United Kingdom a year and a half
before, when they took the administration of their Government
away from the party which had approved the fiscal proposals of
Mr. Chamberlain. The commercial negotiation of the colonies
now was with a Ministry that stood pledged against the
preferential tariff arrangements they desired. On their side
they had committed their fortunes to the stimulant working of
protective tariffs, against which the judgment and experience
of England was still firm. The preferential tariffs which
preferential trade involved were in the line of their policy,
but directly antagonistic to hers. How impossible this made an
arrangement of reciprocity on that line was intimated gently
by the Prime Minister when he spoke to the Conference at its
first sitting, but set forth later in plain words by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Asquith, and by the President
of the Board of Trade, Mr. David Lloyd-George. "If the
Colonies," said Mr. Asquith, "thought it their duty to foster
industries by protective tariffs their action would not evoke
remonstrance or even criticism from him. He noted that various
self-governing Colonies gave preference to the Mother Country,
but it was a fact that these preferential tariffs did not
admit the manufactures of the Mother Country to compete on
equal terms with the local product. Doubtless the Colonies
held this to be vital to their interests, and in the same way
His Majesty’s Government held that free trade was vital in the
interests of the United Kingdom. Reference had been made to
the fact that Cobden advocated free trade here as a part of a
universal system of free trade, but the official author of the
policy, Sir Robert Peel, defended it on the ground of its
necessity to this country alone. His Majesty’s Government held
that it was more necessary now than it was in his day. He
pointed out the position now existing. We had a population of
44,000,000 bearing the whole weight of an enormous debt
largely contracted in building up the Empire, and of the cost
of Imperial diplomacy and Imperial defence. That population
was dependent for food and raw materials on external sources
of supply. This is the essential point for consideration. He
asked how the supremacy of Great Britain was maintained. He
thought it must be attributed to our special productive
activity, to the profits which we obtain from keeping the
biggest open market in the world, and to the enormous earnings
of our shipping. All these were based in the long run on
keeping our food and our raw materials on the same basis and
as nearly as possible at the same price. Free trade was no
shibboleth, but a principle maintained because it was a matter
of vital national interest. He drew attention to the tariff
reform campaign, and observed that, after the fullest
examination and discussion, the people of England had declared
in favour of free trade by a majority of unexampled size. As
spokesman for the people, His Majesty’s Government could not
accept any infringement of that policy, even by way of such an
experiment as Dr. Jameson had suggested. It was necessary to
state that fact fully and frankly at the outset. …
"For these reasons His Majesty’s Government, speaking for the
people of this country, could not accept the principle of
preferential trade by way of tariff preference. He thought,
however, that the discussion had thrown light on other methods
by which inter-imperial trade relations might be improved.
Reference had been made to the improvement of means of
communication, especially steamer services, to the increase in
the number of commercial agents in the Colonies, to the
desirability of removing or reducing the Suez Canal dues, and
of establishing mail communication with the Australasian
Colonies via Canada. All these were matters on which His
Majesty’s Government would be fully ready to consider and
cooperate with any practical proposals, and he said this the
more earnestly as he felt that in the performance of his duty
it had been necessary for him to enunciate a general policy
which was not in accord with the views of the Colonial
representatives."
Mr. Lloyd-George was equally plain spoken. "He had hoped," he
said, "it might have been possible for those present,
acknowledging the limitations imposed on them by the
convictions they respectively held on fiscal issues, to see
whether it might not be possible to find other means of
attaining the object in view. The Colonies regard a tax on our
foods as necessary both for raising revenue and also for the
protection of their own industries. Mr. Deakin acknowledged
that the late election in Australia was fought on the issue of
protection and preference. It was open for the representatives
of the Imperial Government to have ignored the mandate given to
Mr. Deakin and to have endeavoured to commit their colleagues
here to a policy of free trade within the Empire, to which
those colleagues would not assent without being false to the
trust reposed in them by their own people. Sir William Lyne
the other day had urged the commercial union of the whole
Empire, quoting the consolidation of the United Kingdom, the
United States, and the Federation of South Africa and
Australia. In these cases all tolls and tariffs were removed.
{56}
"Had a free-trade resolution been pressed by His Majesty’s
Government and refused, it might have been said by the Press
that the Colonies had refused to listen to the appeal of the
Mother Country to be put on equal terms with her children, and
later that the door had been slammed in the old mother’s face
by her ungrateful progeny. His Majesty’s Government had not
taken this course, recognizing the unfairness of ignoring
local conditions and exigencies. They were not here to attempt
to manoeuvre each other into false positions, but to discharge
the practical business of the Empire. They were in perfect
accord as to the objects they could strive to promote. His
Majesty’s Government were in favour of any scheme for the
development of inter-imperial trade which did not inflict
sacrifices on any individual community so as to create a sense
of grievance deep enough to introduce the elements of
discontent and discord, and thus impair the true unity of the
Empire. …
"He agreed that this federation of free commonwealths is worth
making some sacrifice for. He differed only on ways and means.
He was convinced that to tax the food of our people is to cast
an undue share of sacrifice on the poorest part of the
population, and that a tax on raw material would fetter us in
the severe struggle with our foreign competitors. This,
therefore, was a sacrifice which would weaken our power to
make further sacrifices, and we ought not to be called upon to
make it. In Mr. Deakin’s resolution the Government were asked
to do what no protectionist country in the world would
do—viz., to tax necessaries of either life or livelihood which
we cannot produce ourselves, and of which the Colonies cannot
supply us with a sufficiency for many years.
"He wished to acknowledge the considerable advantage conferred
upon the British manufacturer by the preference recently given
to him in colonial markets. The Canadian tariff had produced a
satisfactory effect on our export trade, and apparently had
also benefited Canada, for our purchases from Canada had also
increased. The South African and New Zealand tariffs had not
yet been put to, the test by much actual experience, but would
no doubt have a similarly happy result. The same applied to
Australia, and Great Britain felt grateful, not merely for the
actual concessions, but for the spirit of comradeship and
affection which inspired the policy. But it was said, ‘What
are you prepared to do in return?’ His first answer was that
Great Britain was the best customer the Colonies have got for
their products. To illustrate this he gave the following
figures: In 1905, the last year for which the information was
available, the exports from the self-governing Colonies to all
foreign countries only amounted to 40½ millions, while the
exports to the United Kingdom amounted to 65¾ millions,
exclusive of bullion and specie (21¾ millions)."
The outcome of the discussion was a simple reaffirmation of
the five resolutions on the subject that were adopted at the
Conference of 1902, and which will be found in the report of
that Conference, preceding this. Before putting those
resolutions to vote Lord Elgin stated that His Majesty’s
Government could not assent to them so far as they implied
that it is necessary or expedient to alter the fiscal system
of the United Kingdom. They were agreed to, subject to that
reservation. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who moved their readoption,
said in doing so: "Free trade within the Empire had been
suggested, just as there was free trade within the boundaries
of the United States, Germany, and France. For the British
Empire this was impossible for two reasons—the United Kingdom
was not prepared to limit free trade to the Empire, and the
Colonies were not prepared to accept free trade even within
its boundaries. In Canada the policy of free trade within the
Empire was impracticable, as it was necessary for her to have
Customs duties as a main source of revenue. Canada had given
the British preference deliberately, and had no cause to
regret it; she had from time to time increased it, and in the
last tariff had maintained it generally at the increased
amount of 33 1/3 per cent. Canadian opinion had been almost
unanimous in favour of preference, for Canada felt that she
would as a result of the preference sell more to Great Britain
and buy more from her. Mr. Asquith had not given Canada all
the credit to which he thought she was entitled in making a
comparison which showed no great advantage to British goods.
He dwelt on the effect of the proximity of a nation like the
United States, of their own stock, enormous in numbers, and
most enterprising in trade; it was not a matter for surprise
that their trade with that country had increased. But, so far
as they could, they had done everything to keep trade within
the Empire. They had built canals and railways from east to
west of Canada, and they had taken care to assist the
principle of mutual trade so far as legislation could do it. …
He explained that in the recent revision of the Canadian
tariff they had adopted a new principle in providing an
intermediate tariff for negotiation. They were prepared to
negotiate with nations like France or Italy on the basis of
that tariff, but their lower preference tariff remained
reserved for the British Empire."
Other resolutions adopted or accepted during the last two
sessions of the Conference were as follows:
"That it is desirable that the attention of the Governments of
the Colonies and the United Kingdom should be called to the
present state of the navigation laws in the Empire, and in
other countries, and to the advisability of refusing the
privileges of coastwise trade, including trade between the
Mother Country and its Colonies and possessions, and between
one colony or possession and another, to countries in which
the corresponding trade is confined to ships of their own
nationality, and also to the laws affecting shipping, with a
view of seeing whether any other steps should be taken to
promote Imperial trade in British vessels." (This was voted by
the representatives of the Colonies only, "His Majesty’s
Government dissenting.")
{57}
"That it is desirable that His Majesty’s Government, after
full consultation with the Colonies, should endeavour to
provide for such uniformity as may be practicable in the
granting and protection of trade marks and patents."
"That it is desirable, so far as circumstances permit, to
secure greater uniformity in the trade statistics of the
Empire, and that the Note prepared on this subject by the
Imperial Government be commended to the consideration of the
various Governments represented at this Conference."
"That it is desirable, so far as circumstances permit, to
secure greater uniformity in Company Laws of the Empire, and
that the memorandum and analysis prepared on this subject by
the Imperial Government be commended to the consideration of
the various Governments represented at this Conference."
"That, in view of the social and political advantages and the
material commercial advantages to accrue from a system of
international penny postage, this Conference recommends to His
Majesty’s Government the advisability, if and when a suitable
opportunity occurs, of approaching the Governments of other
States, members of the Universal Postal Union, in order to
obtain further reductions of postage rates, with a view to a
more general and if possible a universal adoption of the penny
rate."
"That, with a view to attain uniformity so far as practicable,
an inquiry should be held to consider further the question of
naturalization, and in particular to consider how far, and
under what conditions, naturalization in one part of His
Majesty’s dominions should be effective in other parts of
those dominions, a subsidiary conference to be held, if
necessary, under the terms of the resolution adopted by this
Conference on April 20 last."
"That in the opinion of this Conference the interests of the
Empire demand that in so far as practicable its different
portions should be connected by the best possible means of
mail communication, travel, and transportation; That to this
end it is advisable that Great Britain should be connected
with Canada, and through Canada with Australia and New Zealand
by the best service available within reasonable cost; That for
the purpose of carrying the above project into effect such
financial support as may be necessary should be contributed by
Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in equitable
proportions."
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1909.
The total of its prospective Military Strength when present
Imperial plans are carried out.
In a speech made in March, 1909, Mr. Haldane, Minister for
War, summed up the total of defensive military strength which
the Empire might count on when recent plans for Imperial
defence are carried out. He said: "With the divisions between
the Cape and Malta and those which Lord Kitchener had in
India, the Regular Army had for overseas work 16 divisions,
equivalent to eight army corps, which was larger than any
other nation had for overseas work, the reason being that we,
unlike others, were responsible for 12 million square miles
and 400 millions of human beings. The second line, what one
might call the local line of home defence, consisted of the 14
divisions of the Territorial Army. Supposing Canada, the
population of which was very rapidly increasing, were to build
on the foundations laid at the Conference, by the new
proposals which Canada had accepted she might easily add five
or six Territorial divisions of her own. Those would be for
her own defence, but they knew that in 1899, when a supreme
emergency arose, she did not scruple to send forth her
strength to help the Mother Country. In Australia there was a
remarkable movement for the organization of the forces of the
Crown, which might easily produce five Australian Territorial
divisions. New Zealand might produce another division, and
South Africa could rapidly produce four or five. … If they
could add to the 14 second line divisions at home 16 for the
second line Army of the Empire there would be 30 divisions
altogether, and these, added to the 16 Regular first line
divisions for use overseas, would give us an army for war
conceivably and practicably of 46 divisions, equivalent to 23
army corps. The army of Germany had 23 army corps, and no
other army in the world had an organization so great. He was
speaking of possibilities."
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1909 (June).
The Imperial Press Conference in England.
Among the many endeavors of late years in England to draw the
distant peoples of the great British Empire into closer
relations with its sovereign Mother Country, and into the
feeling of stronger ties of unity among themselves and with
her, none seems to have been wiser or more surely of effect
than that which brought about the Imperial Press Conference of
June, 1909. It assembled sixty representatives of the
Newspaper Press of every part of the Empire and of every shade
of political opinion. It entertained them delightfully and
impressively for three weeks. It made all England and its
colonies and dependencies listen to their discussion of many
questions, all bearing on the fundamental desire to make the
most and best that can be made of the great political organism
which extends its law to every continent and its influence to
all the world. It brought before them its most distinguished
and eloquent men to address them at meetings and feasts. It
assembled at Spithead its stupendous central fleet of
battleships, to pass it in review before them. It filled their
minds with an undoubtedly new realization of what the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland—the sovereign, the seat,
the center of greatness in their Empire—is to it; and they
went back to Canada, to Australia, to South Africa, to New
Zealand, even to India, to propagate that realization in other
minds.
A Western Australian editor, speaking at one of the banquets
of the Conference, referred to this result, saying: "The
influence that had been brought to bear upon the overseas
delegates could not fail to have very great effects upon their
writings in the future. Coming as they did from isolated parts
of the Empire, it was an agreeable surprise to them to find
that they had all been thinking Imperially, and thinking in
much the same way. While the spirit of nationalism was growing
up very strongly, they felt that the spirit of nationalism was
in no way out of harmony with the true spirit of Imperialism;
and it had been a revelation to the delegates to find the
unanimity that existed, not only among the English-speaking
people of the Empire, but among those who came from different
races. They had been helped to strengthen that feeling of
Imperial unity in the certain hope that eventually the highest
ideals of the best form of Imperialism would be realized. That
form of Imperialism was not associated with a policy of
aggrandisement, but was associated with the policy that would
tend to promote the peace of the world, and the prosperity and
the betterment of humanity generally."
{58}
A writer in The Times, reviewing the Conference after
it closed, quoted the above and added: "The speaker just
quoted travelled for seven days across Australia before he
reached the capital of the State where he joined his
fellow-delegates from the Commonwealth. The Australian party,
when once it had left Sydney, was three weeks on the ocean
before it reached the Pacific coast of Canada. A Canadian
delegate, speaking at a banquet in Glasgow, declared that when
at home he was as remote from one of his Canadian colleagues
as Egypt is from London, and as remote from another, in the
opposite direction, as London is from Russia. It might have
been supposed that distances like those just indicated would
have had the effect of causing some estrangement between men
so widely separated; but the contrary proved to be the case.
The Australians, following the All-Red route, which was
defined as the official route, were greeted on their arrival
on Canadian soil with an enthusiasm which both surprised and
touched them. Wherever they went they found themselves among
friends, anxious and eager to exchange views and ideas on all
sorts of subjects affecting the common interests of the two
peoples. They were banqueted by many representative men, from
the Governor-General downwards, and, having been welcomed with
the utmost heartiness at Victoria on the Pacific coast, were
given a not less hearty ‘God-speed’ from Quebec on the St.
Lawrence.
"Among the indirect results of the Conference must be
mentioned the knowledge gained from such experiences. When in
Canada the Australians were able to see how far their own
trade interests were identical with those of the people among
whom they had come, how the Canadians are facing the same
problems both of politics and material development, of
commerce and agriculture. And when, the feastings over, they
found themselves on board the steamer with their Canadian
fellow-delegates, a community of interests was at once
established, and lasting friendships were formed.
"Similarly, when the delegates had all assembled in England
there arose a spirit of comradeship which subsisted without a
jarring note from the beginning of the Conference to the end.
Nor must it be forgotten that the men who formed part of this
company of editors and writers of the overseas Press were not
wholly of British race. From Canada came representatives of
the French-Canadians, from South Africa some of Boer and Dutch
extraction, from India one delegate at least of Indian blood.
The welding together of all these men in a spirit of loyalty
to the Empire in which they as well as we have a share has
been one of the most significant features of the Conference."
The practical object for which the Press Conference strove
most earnestly was a cheapening of telegraphic communication,
by cable or wireless, between the distant parts of the Empire,
to the end that there may be an ampler publication of news
from each division of it in every other. It received strong
assurances of coöperation from the Imperial Government in its
efforts to accomplish this end. To a deputation which waited
on him, the Premier, Mr. Asquith, said: "Your Conference, if I
may venture to say so, has very wisely appointed a standing
committee to deal with that matter. The Post Office and other
Government departments concerned will be anxious to assist and
to keep themselves in touch with this committee by information
and intercommunication and in all other ways that may be
practicable. I think it will be the solid and substantial
result of your deliberations on this very great Imperial
necessity that in regard to the development of electric
communication between different parts of the Empire we shall
now have on the side of the Press a body formally organized
and constantly existing with which we can enter into necessary
communication, and by mutual discussion and reference, having
regard to the various considerations to which I have already
adverted, we may accelerate the developments of what we all
agree to be one of the first requisites of an Empire such as
ours—a cheap, a certain, a constant, a convenient, and a
universally accessible system of electric communication."
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1909 (July-August).
Imperial Defence Conference.
See (in this Volume)
War, The Preparations for: Military and Naval.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1909 (September).
Congress of Empire Chambers of Commerce.
A Congress of Chambers of Commerce, representing all parts of
the Empire, which was assembled at Sydney, New South Wales, on
the 14th of September, 1909, gave much of its discussion to
the proposition that the several parts of the Empire should
afford preferential treatment to each other in their several
markets, on a basis of reciprocity, and adopted resolutions to
the effect that the Congress "urges upon the Governments of
the Empire that they should treat this matter as of present
practical importance, and that the organizations represented
at this Congress pledge themselves to press their respective
Governments to take such action at the next Imperial
Conference as will give effect to the principle advocated in
this resolution." This was carried on individual voting, by 81
votes to 31. On voting by chambers, the resolution was passed
with 60 for, 8 against, and 11 neutral.
Among the other resolutions of the Congress were the
following: "That this Congress urges upon his Majesty’s
Government and upon the Governments of the Colonies the
appointment of an Advisory Imperial Council to consider
questions of Imperial interest, especially those tending to
promote trade between the various parts of the Empire."
"That the settlement in adequate Volume of the Anglo-Saxon
race in the British Dominions is deserving of the constant
solicitude of the Home and Colonial Governments, who are
hereby urged to consider what further or better steps than
those at present existing should be taken to elaborate a
general State-aided scheme at reduced rates to encourage
emigration of suitable settlers under well-considered
conditions."
"This Congress is of opinion that it is desirable to complete
the Imperial route between the Motherland, Canada, Australia
and New Zealand by State-owned electric communication across
Canada to Great Britain and that the postal departments of the
various Governments of the Empire should be requested to frame
a combined scheme of substantial reductions in telegraphic
rates."
{59}
BRITISH GUIANA: A. D. 1904.
Settlement of Brazilian boundary dispute.
See (in this Volume)
Brazil: A. D. 1904.
BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA.
See SOUTH AFRICA
BROWNSVILLE AFFAIR, The.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1906 (August).
BRYAN, William Jennings:
Suggestion at the Peace Congress in New York.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
BRYAN, William Jennings:
Nominated for President of the United States.
See UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908(April-November).
BROTHERHOODS OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN AND OF RAILWAY TRAINMEN.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES.
BRUSSELS: A. D. 1902-1907.
Sugar Bounty Conference and Convention, 1902,
and Additional Act, 1907.
See (in this Volume)
SUGAR BOUNTY CONFERENCE.
BRYCE, James:
Chief Secretary for Ireland.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.
BUBONIC PLAGUE.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH.
BUCHANAN, William I.:
Delegate to Second and Third International Conferences
of American Republics.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
BUCHANAN, William I.:
Diplomatic Service in Venezuela.
See VENEZUELA: A. D. 1907-1909.
BUCHANAN, William I.:
Commissioner Plenipotentiary to the Second Peace Conference.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
BUCHANAN, William I.:
Death, October 16, 1909.
BUCHNER, Eduard.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
BUCKS STOVE COMPANY CASE.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908-1909.
BUDGET OF 1909, The British.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1909 (April-December).
BUFFALO: A. D. 1901.
The Pan-American Exposition.
Assassination of President McKinley.
Vice-President Roosevelt becomes President of the United States.
In Volume VI. of this work, which went to press in the spring
of 1901, an account was given of the plan and preparations
made for the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, then just at
the point of being opened, on the 1st of May. The following
characterization of the Exposition by a visitor is sufficient
to add what was then said of it:
"They have staged electricity at Buffalo this summer, and they
call it the Pan-American Exposition. It took a rectangle of
350 acres for the stage, and over $10,000,000 for the
settings. The result, baldly stated, is the most glorious
night scene the world has ever had the fortune to witness. The
staging of Niagara is the one unforgettable thing about the
affair. The Pan-American is, however, much more than this. …
"It may be well to say that the original generic scheme for
the Exposition, that of joining the three Americas in a
unified attempt to show one another their trade resources,
seems to be in results far less prominent than was hoped at
first. For one reason or another,—I have heard European
influences in South America given as a chief cause,—the Latin
Americas did not cooperate as was expected. The great trade
idea upon which the Pan-American was originally based
gradually faded, and gave place to the idea of an electrical
beatification—for which the spectator will perhaps be
thankful. There are exhibits, to be sure, from most of the
South American countries, but the United States occupies
industrially foreground, background, and middle distance. The
other countries fill in the odd corners. The ardent patriot
will see no lack of proportion in this; and as there is a hint
of Mexico and the Argentine, and very creditable exhibits by
Chile and Honduras, we have enough of the sister continent to
justify the name. Most of the southern republics are
represented in one way or another. It is hard, however, to
explain the insufficiency of Canada’s exhibit. It is upon much
too small a scale to do credit to her great resources. It is
worthy of note that when the other countries realized the
importance and beauty of the Pan-American, they set about
vigorously to retrieve themselves.
"So the staging of electricity was undertaken. There was
Buffalo to start with, and Buffalo is backed in the great race
of American cities by the power of Niagara and the commerce of
the Lakes. It is delightfully accessible and pleasing. Here
was the psychological place. It was also the psychological
moment,—a period of general prosperity, a time when America
had set about her great task of making commercial vassals of
the Old World countries. The psychological idea came with
electricity, and under this happy triad of influences
conspiring for success the work was begun.
"The managers took a big rectangle of unused land to the north
of a beautiful park, and welded with it the most attractive
portion of that park for their groundwork. Then they charted
an effect. They put millions into an attempt to please, and
did more, for they have both pleased and startled,—an effect
peculiarly delightful to Americans."
E. R. White,
Aspects of the Pan-American Exposition
(Atlantic Monthly, July, 1901).
The Pan-American Exposition may be said to have been paralyzed
in the first week of its fifth month by the awful tragedy of
the wanton murder of President McKinley, while it entertained
him as its guest. Mr. McKinley, with Mrs. McKinley, had
arrived in Buffalo on the 4th of September, for a long planned
visit to the Exposition, and had accepted the hospitality of
its President, Mr. John G. Milburn. On the afternoon of the
6th he held a public reception in the Temple of Music, on the
Exposition grounds, and it was there that the brutal assassin
found his opportunity for the deed. The following graphic
narrative of the tragedy is from the pen of Mr. Walter Wellman
in the American Review of Reviews:
"Usually a secret-service agent is stationed by the
President’s side when he receives the public, but on this
occasion President Milburn stood at the President’s left.
Secretary Cortelyou was at his right, and a little to the
rear. Opposite the President was Secret-Service Officer
Ireland.
{60}
Eight or ten feet away was Officer Foster. When all was ready,
the line of people was permitted to move, each one pausing to
shake the hand of the President. He beamed upon them all in
his courtly way. When one stranger timidly permitted himself
to be pushed along without a greeting, the President called
out, smilingly, ‘Hold on, there; give me your hand.’ Mr.
McKinley would never permit any one to go past him without a
handshake. He was particularly gracious to the children and to
timid women. Here, as we have often seen him in Washington and
elsewhere, he patted little girls or boys on the head or cheek
and smiled at them in his sweet way. A woman and a little girl
had just passed, and were looking back at the President, proud
of the gracious manner in which he had greeted them. Next came
a tall, powerful negro—Parker. After Parker, a slight, boyish
figure, a face bearing marks of foreign descent, a smooth,
youthful face, with nothing sinister to be detected in it. No
one had suspected this innocent-looking boy of a murderous
purpose. He had his right hand bound up in a handkerchief, and
this had been noticed by both of the secret-service men as
well as by others. But the appearance in a reception line of
men with wounded and bandaged hands is not uncommon. In fact,
one had already passed along the line. Many men carried
handkerchiefs in their hands, for the day was warm.
"So this youth approached. He was met with a smile. The
President held out his hand; but it was not grasped.
Supporting his bandaged right hand with his left, the assassin
fired two bullets at the President. The first passed through
the stomach and lodged in the back. The second, it is

believed, struck a button on the President’s waistcoat and
glanced therefrom, making an abrasion upon the sternum. The
interval between the two shots was so short as to be scarcely
measurable. As the second shot rang out, Detective Foster
sprang forward and intercepted the hand of the assassin, who
was endeavoring to fire a third bullet into his victim. The
President did not fall. He was at once supported by Mr.
Milburn, by Detective Geary, and by Secretary Cortelyou.
Before turning, he raised himself on tiptoe and cast upon the
miserable wretch before him, who was at that moment in the
clutches of a number of men, a look which none who saw it can
ever forget. It appeared to say, ‘You miserable, why should
you shoot me? What have I done to you?’ It was the indignation
of a gentleman, of a great soul, when attacked by a ruffian. A
few drops of blood spurted out and fell on the President’s
waistcoat. At once the wounded man was led to a chair, into
which he sank. His collar was removed and his shirt opened at
the front. Those about him fanned him with their hats.
Secretary Cortelyou bent over his chief, and Mr. McKinley
whispered, ‘Cortelyou, be careful. Tell Mrs. McKinley gently.’
"A struggle ensued immediately between the assassin and those
about him. Detective Foster not only intercepted the arm of
the murderer, and prevented the firing of a third shot from
the revolver concealed in the handkerchief, but he planted a
blow square upon the assassin’s face. Even after he fell,
Czolgosz endeavored to twist about and fire again at the
President. Mr. Foster threw himself upon the wretch. Parker,
the colored man, struck him almost at the same instant that
Foster did. Indeed, a half-dozen men were trying to beat and
strike the murderer, and they were so thick about him that
they struck one another in their excitement. A private of the
artillery corps at one moment had a bayonet-sword at the neck
of Czolgosz, and would have driven it home had not Detective
Ireland held his arm and begged him not to shed blood there
before the President. Just then the President raised his eyes,
saw what was going on, and with a slight motion of his right
hand toward his assailant, exclaimed: ‘Let no one hurt him.’"
As soon as possible, the wounded President was removed to the
Exposition Hospital, and surgeons were quickly in attendance.
The medical director of the Exposition, Dr. Roswell Park,
President of the American Society of Surgeons, chanced to be
absent, at Niagara Falls, where he was performing an operation
at the time. The necessary operation upon the President was
performed by Dr. Matthew D. Mann, assisted by Dr. Herman
Mynter, Dr. Eugene Wasdin, of the Marine Hospital service, and
others. The one fatal bullet of the two that were fired was
found to have passed through both walls of the stomach, and
its further progress was not traced. Dr. Park arrived on the
scene before the operation was finished and took part in the
subsequent consultations.
From the hospital Mr. McKinley was removed to Mr. Milburn’s
house, where Mrs. McKinley, being an invalid, had remained
that day. There he received all possible care during the eight
days in which the nation hoped against hope that he might be
saved. Dr. Charles McBurney was called from New York to join
the attending physicians and surgeons, and approved all that
had been done. For a week there seemed good ground for
believing that the sound constitution of the President would
defeat the assassin’s attempt; but on Friday the 13th the
signs underwent a rapid change, and at fifteen minutes past
two o’clock of the morning of Saturday he breathed his last.
Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt, who was then at a camp in
the Adirondacks, was summoned at once, and arrived in the city
that afternoon. At the house of Mr. Ansley Wilcox (whose guest
he became), in the presence of the members of the late
President’s cabinet and of a few friends and newspaper
correspondents, he took the oath of office as President,
administered by Judge Hazel, of the United States District
Court. Before taking the oath he said: "I wish to say that it
shall be my aim to continue, absolutely unbroken, the policies
of President McKinley for the peace, the prosperity, and the
honor of our beloved country."
The assassin, who called himself Nieman at first, was
identified as Leon Czolgosz, a Pole, having reputable parents
at Cleveland, Ohio. He had come under anarchist influences and
been taught to believe that all heads of government were
enemies of the people and ought to be slain. There was no
other motive discoverable for his crime. He was arraigned in
the County Court, before Justice Emory, on the 17th of
September, three days after his victim’s death, and, having no
counsel, two former Justices of the Supreme Court of the
State, Loran L. Lewis and Robert C. Titus, consented to be
assigned for his defence.
{61}
On the 23d he was tried in the Supreme Court, Justice Truman
C. White presiding, the only defence possible being that on
the question of sanity, and his guilt was pronounced by the
verdict of the jury. On the 26th he was sentenced to be
executed, in the State Prison at Auburn, within the week
beginning October 28.
See, also, (in this Volume) under
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901 (SEPTEMBER).
BU HAMARA, the Mahdi.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1903-1904, and 1909.
BULGARIA.
See (in this Volume)
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES.
BÜLOW, Bernhard, Count von: Chancellor of the German Empire:
Action on the Morocco question.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906.
BÜLOW, Bernhard, Count von:
On German Navy-building.
See WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL.
BÜLOW, Bernhard, Count von:
Defeat in the Reichstag on attempted financial reform.
His resignation.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1908-1909.
BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS, INTERNATIONAL.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL RESEARCH.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: NEW YORK CITY.
BURGER, SCHALK W.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1901-1902.
BURLEY TOBACCO SOCIETY.
See (in this Volume)
KENTUCKY: A. D. 1905-1909.
BURNS, John:
President of the Local Government Board.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906, 1905-1909, and 1909.
BURNS, William J.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: SAN FRANCISCO.
BURTON, Joseph R.:
United States Senator.
Convicted of having received $2500 from a fraudulent concern,
which had been debarred from using the United States mails, in
return for his efforts to have embargo removed; sentenced to a
fine of $2500 and nine months imprisonment, May, 1909.
BUTLER, Charles Henry:
Technical delegate to the Second Peace Conference.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
BUTLER, Edward:
Political "Boss" of St. Louis, as seen in the confessions of
Charles F. Kelly.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
BUTLER, Nicholas Murray:
President of Columbia University.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1909.
BUTLER, Nicholas Murray:
Arrangement of professorial interchanges
with German universities.
See EDUCATION: INTERNATIONAL INTERCHANGES.
BUXTON, Sidney C.:
Postmaster-General (British).
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.
C.
CACERES, Ramon.
See (in this Volume)
SAN DOMINGO: A. D. 1904-1907.
CADETS, Russian.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905-1907.
CAJAL, Ramon y.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
CALABRIA:
Destructive earthquake in 1905.
See (in this Volume)
EARTHQUAKES.
CALAMITIES, Recent extraordinary.
See (in this Volume)
EARTHQUAKES, FAMINES, FIRE, FLOODS, VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS.
CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1900-1909.
Growth.
Industries.
Products.
Railway facilities, etc.
"Within the past decade numerous events have tended to direct
the attention of the United States and of the world to the
importance of the Pacific ocean and the lands bordering upon
it, as the field of great activities in the near future. The
Spanish-American war, and particularly the voyage of the
battleship Oregon around South America hastened the movement
for an inter-oceanic canal. The development of the Alaskan
gold fields gave a great impetus to shipping and trade in
staple supplies in Pacific coast cities. The war between
Russia and Japan revealed the maritime enterprise and
established the naval prestige of Japan.
"Since the earliest days of American occupation California has
been steadily filling up with people. These later movements in
Pacific coast history, together with the steady development of
natural resources, have greatly accelerated the advance in
population, especially in cities as the centers of industrial
and commercial activity. The census of 1900 showed a total
population of 1,485,053. At the beginning of 1909 the number
is estimated by the State Board of Trade at 2,564,363. The
growth of cities in the same period is shown by the following
instances,—the first figure being the population by the
census of 1900, the second the State Board of Trade estimate
for 1909.
1900. 1909.
Alameda 16,464 25,000
Berkeley 13,214 40,000
Fresno 12,470 32,000
Los Angeles 102,479 305,000
Oakland 66,960 200,000
Sacramento 29,282 55,000
San Francisco 342,782 500,000
San Jose 21,500 45,000
Stockton 17,506 25,000
"Two features characterize the recent development of
California agriculture,—the increased value of the products,
and a greater variety of crops. Originally wheat was the
staple crop, but now sugar beets, hops, beans, alfalfa, and
garden seeds must be added to the common cereals to make the
list of staples. In 1908 the wheat crop was valued at
$18,894,961, and the barley at $26,841,394.
"Orchards and vineyards furnish one of the best records of
advancing wealth. Shipments out of the state by rail and by
sea are given by the State Board of Trade as follows:
1898. 1908.
Tons. Tons.
Green Deciduous Fruits 69,732 161,224
Citrus Fruits 180,658 399,094
Dried Fruits 76,662 133,846
Raisins 47,796 29,601
Nuts 5,815 10,887
Canned Fruits 52,219 85,135
{62}
"About ninety per cent of all the citrus fruits go from the
southern part of the State (south of Tehachapi mountains) and
substantially all the fresh deciduous fruits go from the
northern and central portions, Sacramento being one of the
largest shipping points. Nearly all the dried fruits, raisins,
canned fruits, wine and brandy, go from the northern and
central portions. Most of the walnuts are grown in the south,
and most of the almonds in the northern and central parts of
the state. Olives are grown in about equal quantities, north
and south. General farming, including stock raising, is much
more widely pursued north of Tehachapi than south, and the
same is true of the mining industry. The principal forests of
the state are in the Sierra region and in the Coast Range
Mountains north of Sonoma county.
"Formerly wool was an important product of California. The
industry reached its maximum about thirty years ago,—the wool
clip of 1876 amounting to 56,550,973 pounds. Since that date
the wool product steadily declined till 1906, when the total
amount was 24,000,000 pounds. Since 1906 the decline has been
swift, as shown by the total of 15,000,000 pounds for 1908.
"In the production of the precious metals the record of
California is very steady in recent years,—the gold output for
1900 being valued at $15,863,355, and for 1907 at $16,727,928.
On the other hand the oil industry shows a marvelous advance.
The output of petroleum from California oil wells was
4,000,000 barrels in 1900, and 48,300,758 barrels in 1908.
Since 1906 the oil product of California has amounted to over
twenty-five per cent of the total production of the United
States. California petroleum now exceeds in value the output
of her gold mines.
"For a long time the high cost of fuel retarded the growth of
manufactures in California. Recently, however, the production
of fuel oil and the introduction of electrical power developed
from the water power in the streams of the Sierras have given
a great impetus to manufacturing industries. The use of
electricity is certain to be greatly increased in the near
future and for this reason the people of California are
tremendously interested in the policy of the federal government
in the preservation of the mountain streams and in the
disposition of water-power sites. The value of the products of
manufacturing enterprises in the state for 1908 is estimated
at about $500,000,000, of which the sum of $175,000,000 is
credited to San Francisco, $62,000,000 to Los Angeles,
$52,000,000, to Oakland, with Sacramento, San Jose, Stockton
and Fresno following in the order of naming.
"California is a state of magnificent dimensions and it is
quite in keeping with the size of the state to find that in
1907, with but two per cent, of the total population of the
United States she had three per cent. of the total railway
mileage of the country. New construction was almost entirely
suspended in 1908, but has been resumed in 1909. The most
important new road is the Western Pacific which enters the
state by the Beckwith Pass to the north of the line of the
Central Pacific route, from Sacramento to Ogden, and with the
advantage of crossing the Sierras at 2000 feet less elevation.
It reaches the Sacramento Valley by the canyon of the Feather
River and opens up a large area of rich country to railway
communication. It will be completed through to San Francisco
in 1910, and will be the fifth trans continental line
terminating on San Francisco Bay.
"Another great work of railway construction in progress in
1909 is the rebuilding upon an improved grade of the Central
Pacific road through the Sierras. The extreme elevation of the
present road at the summit of the range (7000 feet) is to be
diminished by a lengthy tunnel. Other work of construction
soon to be brought to completion is the extension of the
Northwestern Pacific, a coast road north from San Francisco
Bay to Eureka on Humboldt Bay, and the extension of the Ocean
Shore Railway south along the coast to Santa Cruz.
"The records of the State Railroad Commission show in 1909 a
total mileage in the state of 6744.54 miles.
"The lines operated by the principal companies measure up as
follows:
MILES.
Southern Pacific System. 3,582
Santa Fé System. 978
Northwestern Pacific. 404
San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake. 341
Western Pacific. 237
Yosemite Valley Railroad. 79
"Suburban electric railways have reached a high stage of
development and utility in Southern California, in the Santa
Clara Valley, connecting numerous cities and towns in the
vicinity of San Francisco Bay, and in the Sacramento Valley.
The increase of electric power by the further utilization of
the water power of the Sierra Nevada streams will certainly
bring about in the near future a great extension of electrical
transportation for freighting as well as in passenger
traffic."
Frederick H. Clark,
Head of History Department,
Lowell High School, San Francisco.
CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1900-1909.
Constitutional changes.
"Amendments to the state constitution originate with the
legislature, and are placed before the voters of the state at
the biennial state elections. Dissatisfaction with parts of
the state constitution is manifested by an increasing number
of proposed amendments. So long as property interests are not
antagonized, the voters show a willingness to make changes by
ratifying a large majority of the amendments proposed. Among
the important subjects upon which amendments have been adopted
within the past ten years are the following:
authorization of legislation for the control of
primary elections;
providing for the use of voting machines;
the establishment of a system of state highways;
increasing the salaries of judges and of state
executive officers;
changing the pay of members of the legislature from
$8.00 per diem for a period not to exceed 60 days to
the sum of $1000 for the regular session;
authorizing the legislature to provide a state tax for the
support of high schools;
permitting exemption from taxation of various forms of
property, such as buildings used exclusively for religious
purposes and the endowments of the Leland Stanford Junior
University, the California School of Mechanical Arts,
and the Cogswell Polytechnical College,
—also personal property at the will of the owner
to the amount of $100;
eight hours made a legal day’s work on all public work
throughout the state;
authorization for the depositing of public funds in banks.
{63}
An important change in the state judiciary was made in 1904 by
the creation of district courts of appeal for the relief of
the congested condition of the business of the State Supreme
Court. The state was divided into three judicial districts, in
each of which was established a court of appeal consisting of
three judges elected from within the district for a term of
twelve years.
"A plan for the reorganization of the revenue system of the
state was placed before the voters in 1908, but failed of
adoption. The proposed amendment was the outcome of a movement
that began in 1905 with the appointment of a special
commission on taxation. This commission employed expert
assistance and made a thorough study of the subject of public
revenues. Its work was placed before the next meeting of the
legislature from which came the proposed amendment. Its
central object was to discover new sources of revenue for the
state treasury, leaving the direct property tax for the
maintenance of local government alone."
Frederick H. Clark, Head of History Department,
Lowell, High School, San Francisco.
CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1904-1909.
Anti-Japanese agitation.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1904-1909.
CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1906.
The earthquake of April 18.
Destruction at San Francisco by fire following the shock.
Cause of the occurrence.
See (in this Volume)
SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1906.
CALIPHATE, The Mohammedan:
The Turkish Sultan’s title disputed.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1903-1905.
CAMPBELL, H. W.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION: AGRICULTURE.
CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, SIR HENRY:
Prime Minister of the British Government.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.
CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, SIR HENRY:
Address at Colonial Conference.
See BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1907.
CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, SIR HENRY:
DEATH, April 22, 1908.
----------CANADA: Start--------
CANADA: A. D. 1896-1909.
The interchange of people between Canada and the United States.
The "American Invasion."
Rapid settlement of the Canadian Northwest.
Immigration in the last decade.
"Nature is healing the schism of the race by her own slow but
efficacious methods. Hundreds of families of the United Empire
stock have gone back to the United States, in some instances
to the very place of their origin. Upwards of a million native
Canadians are now living in the States, the great majority as
naturalised Americans; whilst American farmers, attracted by
cheap land and good laws, are entering the Canadian North-West
at the rate of 50,000 a year. The exodus, as migration across
the line is called, is a heavy drain on Canada; like an
ancient conqueror, it sweeps away the flower of both sexes,
leaving the unfittest to survive. During the last 30 years we
have spent $10,000,000 on immigration work in Europe, yet our
population has not held its natural increase, has not, that
is, grown as fast as the population of an old and over-crowded
country like England. The Canadian lad thinks no more of
transferring himself to Buffalo or Chicago than a Scotch youth
of going up to London, perhaps not so much. On the other hand,
American tourists, ‘drummers,’ lecturers, sportsmen and
investors come and go in Canada precisely as if this were a
State of the Union. When we produce a champion athlete, a
clever journalist or eloquent divine, they annex him and
advertise him next day as a Yankee. Marrying and giving in
marriage is going on without the slightest regard for the
doctrines of the Loyalists. There are said to be 200 college
professors of Canadian birth in the United States. I am
acquainted with some of them, and in their opinion, whatever
it may be worth, Canada can best serve herself by becoming
politically independent, and could best serve England by
joining the American Union, where her presence and vote would
offset the Anglophobia latent or active in other elements.
"The influence of the Canadian-Americans, to say nothing of
that of the Americans proper, is visible on every side in
English Canada; they are constantly visiting the old home, in
many cases paying the interest of the mortgage on it. The
French Canadians in New England have taught those in Quebec
that the priest has no business to interfere unduly in
elections, or to make war on Liberalism; that the Press ought
to be free, and the State, not the Church, supreme within the
sphere she defines as her own. Every day the French Canadian
papers publish columns of correspondence from the French
settlements in the factory towns across the line, but of
British affairs editors and readers know little, and,
apparently, care less. I mention this not to sneer at the
French Canadian Press, but to show those Englishmen who urge
us to cultivate the Imperialist spirit how difficult it would
be for Mrs. Partington to keep out the Atlantic.
"In English Canada, our newspapers supply us with British news
filtered through American channels; we read American books,
are interested in American politics, frequent their
watering-places and race tracks, imitate their tariffs, play
baseball and poker, live under local institutions fashioned
after theirs, think like them, speak like them, eat like them,
dress like them; when we visit England, we find ourselves
taken for them and treated well in consequence, better than if
we confessed ourselves Colonials."
E. Farrer,
Canada and the new Imperialism
(Contemporary Review, December, 1903).
"Some ten years since there began to trickle into the vast
wastes of the West the tiny rivulet of immigration which has
now become a great stream. Many influences have gone toward
widening this current of immigration, but the initial impulse
which set it in motion came from the courage of one man. In
1896 Clifford Sifton, a young man, thirty-five years of age,
who had already played a considerable rôle in the
politics of Manitoba, became Minister of the Interior in the
Dominion Government. He was equipped with a genius for
organization, an almost unequaled capacity for persistent hard
work, and, above all, a faith in the West which knew neither
wavering nor questioning.
{64}
He threw himself with immense energy into the task of
advertising the Canadian West to the world and inducing
immigration. His conception of the problem and its solution
was Napoleonic; for he saw what others could not see and even
scouted as absurd, that the people who could be induced most
easily to lead the procession into the vacant prairies lived
in the adjoining States of the American Union. A new
generation had grown up in these States on the farms secured
as free grants by their fathers in the ’70's, and he saw that
when they looked for lands for themselves there would be none
available at all comparable with those of Western Canada.
Therefore, he argued, to acquaint them with the opportunities
and possibilities of the new land to the north would be to
insure such a migration as he desired, and if the stream once
began flowing it would widen by its own velocity. This was the
great idea which, given effect to by an organization called
into being by first-class executive talent, operating with
limitless resources, broke forever the great silence of the
prairies and made them the Mecca of the world’s landless folk.
"There had been for years Canadian immigration agencies at
various places in the United States, but they had been
administered in a spirit of perfunctory hopelessness. These
offices were reorganized; new ones opened; tens of thousands
of dollars were expended in advertising and in the
distribution of printed literature; enterprising drummers were
sent abroad throughout the Western States to preach up the
opportunities of Western Canada; representative farmers were
induced to take trips through the Canadian West, all expenses
paid by the government,—in fact, everything that trained
business talent could suggest was done.
"The result? In the first year of the new order of things 2412
Americans came to Canada, and thereafter the number mounted
yearly. By 1899 the figures had reached 11,945; 1901, 17,987;
1902, 26,388; 1903, 49,473; 1904, 45,171; 1905, 43,652; 1906,
57,919. During the ten years ending June 30, 1906, no less
than 272,609 persons left the United States to become
residents of Western Canada. These people came from all parts
of the United States. The government homestead records for
1906 show applications from persons coming from every State
and Territory of the United States, including the District of
Columbia and Alaska. North Dakota led in the applications,
with Minnesota a close second; then came Iowa, Michigan,
Washington, Wisconsin, Illinois, tapering to two from Alabama
and one from Georgia. …
"It has given Canada over a quarter of a million of settlers
with the highest average of efficiency. They, almost without
exception, have sufficient capital to make a good start, a
most important consideration in a new country where money is
scarce and dear. Akin to the Canadians in race, language,
political and social customs, they become a part of the
community just as naturally as one stream flows into another
at the same level. These settlers have also brought with them
fifty years’ experience in prairie farming, and by their
example have enormously affected agricultural methods. …
"More important, however, was the advertisement which the
‘American invasion’ gave Western Canada. It was precisely what
the country needed—indeed there could have been no substitute
for it in effectiveness. The Eastern Canadian was rather out
of conceit with his own West; and if a migratory instinct
drove him onward he went to the United States. In Great
Britain Western Canada could get no hearing at all,—her
emigrants went to Australia, the United States, New Zealand,
or even to alien lands in preference to Canada. It is doubtful
whether any possible exertions by the Government could have
turned the attention of these people to Canada had not the
influx of Americans to the prairies, loudly announced by all
controllable agencies of publicity, challenged their attention
and pricked their national pride. Once the fact was driven
into their consciousness they began to hold that if Western
Canada was good enough for ‘Yankees’ it was good enough for
them. British newspapers in particular showed a belated but
very real interest.
"The result has been a heavily increasing immigration from the
British Isles, until it now exceeds by many thousands every
year the arrivals from the United States. For the ten-year
period specified above there were 311,747 immigrants from
Great Britain, compared with 272,609 from the United States;
with 248,250 from ‘other countries,’ chiefly continental
Europe. The Scandinavian, Teutonic, and Slavic peoples are all
strongly represented in Western Canada. The most numerous
non-British people are the Ruthenians, or little Russians. In
addition there is a large yearly influx of Canadian settlers
from the older provinces, of whom there is no record excepting
in the homestead applications. These figures showed that out
of 41,869 applications for homesteads last year 27 per cent.
were Canadians, 29 per cent. Americans, 20 per cent. from the
British Isles, while the remaining 24 per cent. comprised
persons of eighteen different nationalities. These statistics
show that Western Canada is overwhelmingly English-speaking."
John W. Dafoe,
Western Canada: Its Resources and Possibilities
(American Review of Reviews, June, 1907).
Writing from Toronto, June 24, 1909, the regular Correspondent
of the London Times took the subject of Canadian
immigration, especially that from the United States, for
extended treatment. Part of his remarks were as follows:
"So long as the American States had free, fertile lands, it
was natural that population should flow into the Republic.
America, in the mind of Europe, was the land of promise and
the home of freedom, and the United States was America. Canada
was but a fringe of inhospitable British territory, where the
spring came late and summer was brief, and winter was long and
stern. The first great impulse to settlement came with the
construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, but an even more
material factor in Canadian development was the comparative
exhaustion of the free land of the Western States and the
increasing reputation of the Canadian West as a wheat-growing
country. If the 20th century belongs to Canada, as Sir Wilfrid
Laurier has said, it is primarily because the American
Republic has become a far less formidable competitor for
British and European immigration, and because thousands of
American farmers have discovered that they can sell their
improved farms at good prices and secure lands of equal value
in Canada for themselves and their sons with a very small
investment of capital.
{65}
"The total immigration since 1901 is estimated at 1,200,000.
In that year it was 49,149. It rose in 1902 to 67,379. Thence
there was a steady increase until 1907, when the figures were
262,469. In 1908 the total immigration was between 140, 000
and 142,000, and for this year the estimate is 200,000.
British immigrants began to come in considerable Volume in
1901, when there were 17,269 arrivals. The best year was 1907,
when the number reported was 120,182, as compared with 83,975
from the Continent of Europe and 58,312 from the United
States. The decline in 1908 was chiefly in British and
European immigration. Between 50,000 and 55,000 came from
across the border, which was a greater number than came from
either Britain or Europe. This year it is estimated that
70,000 Americans will come into the country. They will take up
between 20,000 and 25,000 homesteads, and as it is considered
that they bring property to the average value of $1,000 each
this would give a total new capital of $70,000,000. In 1907,
the year in which we had our greatest Volume of immigration,
there were 178,500 British and Americans as compared with
84,000 from the Continent of Europe. For the last year there
were 100,000 British and Americans and not a third as many
from Europe.
"It is apparent that, even with the best business management
the Empire can apply to the direction of its population, the
American immigration to Canada will continue to exceed that
from Great Britain. One of the most careful and soberminded of
our public men with whom I talked a few days ago, a man who
knows the West and for years has had intimate official
knowledge of the movements of population on both sides of the
border, believes that in the next ten or twelve years five
millions of Americans will come into Canada. Upon this I
pronounce no opinion, save to agree that the overflow from the
United States is bound to increase in Volume. Naturally there
are those amongst us who regard ‘the American invasion’ with
uneasiness, and fear the ultimate effect upon our institutions
and upon the relation of Canada to the Empire. In this
connexion I can only say that for some years I have been at
pains to consult men from all parts of the West who should
know the mind of these American settlers and their general
disposition towards the social and political institutions of
the country, and as yet I have not found a single Western
Canadian to express apprehension. They all agree that, while
the Americans have a natural affection for ‘Old Glory’ and as
yet may confuse the Fourth with the First of July, they pay
ready allegiance to the flag under which they have come to
live, and very generally agree that the impartial and
inflexible administration of justice in Canada is in itself
sufficient reason for the permanence of the British allegiance
and an honest loyalty to Canadian institutions. What may be
hidden in the womb of the future, when many of these Americans
sit in the Legislatures and in the Federal Parliament, and
become powerful in moulding public policy, we cannot know, but
at least it is seldom that the seeds of revolution thrive
amongst a prosperous agricultural population.
"But it is to one particular phase of the movement of
population that I desire chiefly to call attention. The
migration to the West has had a marked effect on the older
Canadian provinces. Many farms in the long settled districts
have been almost deserted. The old remain; the young have
gone. The only compensation is that the sons prosper in the
West."
According to a despatch from Ottawa in September, 1909, "the
annual Immigration Report states that the total arrivals in
Canada during the last fiscal year were 146,908. For the first
time in Canadian history immigrants from the United States
exceeded those from the United Kingdom; the figures are
respectively 59,832 and 52,901. The total immigration during
the 13 years which the present Government has been in office
was 1,366,658. American immigrants in that period have brought
to Canada £12,000,000 in cash and effects. Immigration from
France and Belgium declined last year and Japanese immigration
fell off by 7,106. Only six Hindus entered Canada, compared
with 2,623 in the previous year; 3,803 immigrants were
rejected at ocean ports, of whom 1,748 were deported. The
total deportations since 1902, when the system was first
inaugurated, were 3,149, of whom 2,607 were English."
Two months later it was reported from Ottawa that during the
first six months of 1909 "homestead entries were made by
27,296 bona fide settlers, representing free grants of
Dominion lands of 4,367,360 acres. This is an increase of 939
entries and of 150,200 acres as compared with the
corresponding period of 1908. In September the total number of
homestead entries was 2,902; of these 926 were American, 325
English, 109 Scotch, 54 Irish, 336 Canadians from Ontario, and
83 Canadians from Quebec."
Previously, in August, it had been stated that "German
capitalists have interested Toronto men in a big plan to
colonize the lands of Alberta and Saskatchewan on a
time-payment system. The scheme includes advances to settlers
for the purchase of implements and for help in house building.
The expectation is that 20,000 Germans will avail themselves
of the scheme."
CANADA: A. D. 1898-1903.
German retaliation for the tariff discrimination
in favor of British goods.
See (in this Volume)
TARIFFS.
CANADA: A. D. 1901-1902.
The Census of the Dominion.
New apportionment of parliamentary representation.
The census of the Dominion, taken in 1901, showed
a total population of 5,370,000,
of which
Ontario contained 2,182,947;
Quebec, 1,648,898;
Nova Scotia, 459,574;
New Brunswick, 331,120;
Manitoba, 254,947;
British Columbia, 177,272;
Prince Edward Island, 103,259;
The Northwest Territories,
Yukon included, 211,649.
The new distribution of parliamentary representation,
determined this year, gave the House of Commons a total
membership of 214, apportioned as follows; Quebec 65 (as
guaranteed by the Confederation Act); Ontario 86; Nova Scotia
18; New Brunswick 13; Manitoba 10; British Columbia 7;
Northwest Territories 10; Prince Edward Island 4; the Yukon 1.
The basis was one representative for each 2500 people. Ontario
lost 6 seats, Nova Scotia 2, New Brunswick and Prince Edward
Island 1 each; all the other provinces gained, British
Columbia to the extent of 7 seats, the Northwest Territories
4, and Manitoba 3.
CANADA: A. D. 1902.
Colonial Conference at London.
See (in this Volume)
BRITISH EMPIRE.
{66}
CANADA: A. D. 1903.
Discovery of the cobalt silver mines in Ontario.
Ore bodies carrying values in silver, cobalt, nickel, and
arsenic were discovered in 1903, during the building of the
Temiskaming and North Ontario Railway near the town of
Haileybury, at a distance of about 103 miles from North Bay.
The railway line ran over the most important vein that has
been found, and signs of the latter were noticed in the spring
of the year named. Prospecting was begun in the fall with
quick results of important discovery, and the rapid attraction
of a large mining population to what has become famous as the
Cobalt District. The production of silver in the district
increased from $111,887 in 1904 to $9,500,000 in 1908. The
ores are said to be unique among those of North America.
16th Annual Report of Ontario Bureau of Mines.
CANADA: A. D. 1903 (May).
Adoption of "Empire Day" in Great Britain.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1903 (May).
CANADA: A. D. 1903 (October).
Settlement of the Alaskan boundary question.
See (in this Volume)
ALASKA: A. D. 1903.
CANADA: A. D. 1903-1904.
Measures to establish sovereignty over land and sea
of Hudson Bay region.
"The agreement by Britain and America to arbitrate at The
Hague the Newfoundland Fishery Question will probably pave the
way for a similar solution of another entanglement, as
threatening and complicated as that respecting the Alaskan
Boundary, apparently now imminent between Canada and the
United States over the sovereignty of Hudson Bay. This has a
special relation to the Newfoundland problem, being also based
on the treaty of 1818. The Canadian Government in August,
1903, despatched the Newfoundland sealing steamer ‘Neptune’
(one of the type of wood-built ships suited for the work) to
the region, with an official expedition whose three-fold
object was:
(1) to reassert British sovereignty over all the land and seas
there;
(2) to expel or subject to Canadian authority the United
States whalers who fish there, illegally, it is held; and
(3) to secure further data tending to determine the
navigability of the waters for an ocean grain route and
justify subsidising or discouraging the construction of
railways from the north-west to the shores of Hudson Bay.
"In the summer of 1904, in anticipation of the ‘Neptune’s’
return, the Canadian Government purchased from Germany the
Antarctic exploring steamer ‘Gauss,’ re-named her the
‘Arctic,’ and sent her to Hudson Bay as an official cruiser,
she conveying also Major Moodie, of the North-West Mounted
Police, who was commissioned as ‘Governor of Hudson Bay ’ and
was accompanied by a body of that famous force, to assist him
in the administration of this extensive province, they to
build posts there and establish themselves at the most
important points. … The undisguised purpose of the Dominion is
to take all possible steps to prevent the United States from
securing any advantage, territorial or diplomatic, which would
enable her to put forward pretensions such as have been
advanced by her with respect to the Alaskan Boundary.
"The similarity of this question to that of the Alaskan
Boundary is quite striking. Geographically, the Hudson Bay
region is to the Northeastern portion of the continent what
Alaska is to the North-western. In the variety and value of
natural resources both have much in common. The development of
the Hudson Bay region, while not as advanced as that of
Alaska, seems destined to be much accelerated in the near
future in every department of industrial endeavour. The United
States whalers, voyaging from New Bedford into Hudson Bay, and
from San Francisco into Alaskan seas, penetrate to the very
confines of the Arctic zone itself. To proceed against them
now, after their having enjoyed for over seventy years an
unrestricted access to Hudson Bay, whether entitled thereto or
not, is a step which may provoke a repetition of the
difficulties which were recently experienced over the Alaskan
Boundary. …
"[Canada] contends that from the entrance to Hudson Strait,
which she says is in a line drawn from Cape Chidley, the
northern projection of Labrador, to Resolution Island, the
southern extremity of Baffin Land, all the waters and lands to
the west, including the numerous islands of Arctic America,
are her exclusive possession. She bases this contention on the
following grounds:—
"1. Discovery (the waters, coastline and hinterland having
been discovered and charted by British explorers).
"2. Occupation (the region having been occupied only by the
Hudson Bay Company).
"3. Treaty cession (the British rights to the region having
been admitted by the French in 1713).
"4. Acquiescence (the United States having acknowledged the
Hudson Bay Company’s rights in 1818).
"5. Purchase (Canada having bought out the Company in 1870).
"But Americans are indisposed to acquiesce in any such
conclusion as regards the waters of the Bay. They contend that
the British had originally no rights beyond the three-mile
limit, that the French in 1713 could cede them no more, and
that the American concurrence in 1818 could apply only to the
same territorial waters. In other words, they question the
right of the British Monarch to grant such a Charter as he
did, and it may be observed here that the same point has
frequently been made in England also in the past by opponents
of the Company and by legal critics."
P. T. McGrath,
The Hudson Bay Dispute
(Fortnightly Review, January, 1908).
CANADA: A. D. 1903-1905.
Attitude of the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association toward
Great Britain and the United States on the Tariff question.
"The attitude of the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association
toward both the United States and Britain has been very
frequently misrepresented by opponents of tariff reform in
Canada and England. … The views of the Association were
clearly set forth in the recommendations made by the Tariff
Committee at the annual meeting in September, 1903, and
adopted by the Association after full discussion. The
attendance was very large, and the meeting was practically
unanimous, only one member dissenting. The resolutions were as
follows:
{67}
"'(1) That we reaffirm the tariff resolution passed at the
last annual meeting in Halifax, as follows: Resolved, That in
the opinion of this Association, the changed conditions which
now obtain in Canada demand the immediate and thorough
revision of the tariff, upon lines which will more effectually
transfer to the workshops of our Dominion the manufacture of
many of the goods which we now import from other countries;
that, in any such revision, the interests of all sections of
the community, whether of agriculture, mining, fishing, or
manufacturing, should be fully considered, with a view, not
only to the preservation, but to the further development, of
all these great natural industries; that, while such a tariff
should primarily be framed for Canadian interests, it should
nevertheless give a substantial preference to the Mother
Country, and also to any other part of the British Empire with
which reciprocal preferential trade can be arranged,
recognizing always that under any conditions the minimum
tariff must afford adequate protection to all Canadian
producers.
(2) That, except in very special cases, we are opposed to the
granting of bounties in Canada as a substitute for a policy of
reasonable and permanent protection.
(3) That we are strongly opposed to any reciprocity treaty
with the United States affecting the manufacturing industries
of Canada.
(4) We recommend that the Dominion Government establish in
Canada a permanent tariff commission of experts, who shall
have constant supervision of tariff policy and changes, and
shall follow closely the workings of the Canadian tariff with
a view to making such recommendations to the Government as
will best conserve and advance the interests of the Dominion.’
"These resolutions were reaffirmed at the annual conventions
in 1904 and 1905, meeting with no opposition."
Watson Griffin,
Canadian Manufacturers' Tariff Campaign
(North American Review, August, 1906).
CANADA: A. D. 1903-1909.
New transcontinental railway project.
The Grand Trunk Pacific.
"The project for a new transcontinental railway made the year
1903 industrially significant. The scheme when finally
presented to Parliament by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, on July 31st,
provided for the building of a new line from Moncton, New
Brunswick, through Quebec to Winnipeg and the Pacific Coast at
a terminus then not fixed, but now known to be Prince Rupert.
The road is to be divided into two parts; the Eastern from
Moncton to Winnipeg, which is to be built by the Government,
and the Western from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, to be built by
the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company. Provision was made
for a lease of the Eastern section by the company and its
purchase after fifty years. This company is practically the
same as the Grand Trunk Railway Company. Sir Wilfrid estimated
the cost at $13,000,000. There were provisions for Government
assistance in the guaranteeing of the bonds of the new
company."
F. B. Tracy,
Tercentenary History of Canada,
Volume 3, page 1034 (Macmillan Company, New York, 1908).
At the half yearly meeting of the Grand Trunk Company in
London, October 21, 1909, the President, Sir C. Rivers Wilson,
who had recently returned from Canada, spoke of the present
state and prospects of the transcontinental line, partly as
follows:
"They were, he remarked, under an obligation to complete their
road through to Prince Rupert by December 1, 1911, but, owing
to the want of labour, he feared there was very little chance
of their succeeding in doing so. … They had built through to
Winnipeg on the one hand and to Lake Superior on the other,
but there remained an unfortunate link of 245 miles to
complete their junction with Lake Superior. … After what had
happened he was very chary of making any prediction, but he
should think that, after all that had taken place, and after
the great pressure which was now being put on the contractors,
the road would be finished by next summer. Their great object,
of course, was to link up the west with their eastern system.
That would be done during the summer by the road coming down
to Lake Superior, which would enable them to communicate by
water with their Georgian Bay port, and during the winter,
when navigation was closed, by way of land north of Lake
Superior by the line the Government was to build to a place
called Cochrane, about 540 miles distant, where they would
obtain communication with North Bay and put themselves in
contact with their own Ontario road."
CANADA: A. D. 1904.
General Election.
Continuance of the Laurier Ministry.
The Earl of Minto succeeded as Governor-General by Earl Grey.
The general election in 1904 resulted in a parliamentary
majority of 64 for the Liberals, thus firmly reseating the
Laurier Ministry. The Conservatives carried Ontario, but were
beaten heavily in the Maritime Provinces, in Quebec, and in
the West. The general prosperity of the country gave a backing
to the Liberals which no political criticism could overcome.
The Earl of Minto was succeeded as Governor-General, in 1904,
by Earl Grey, grandson of the Earl Grey who, as Prime Minister
of England in 1832, carried through the first Reform of
Parliament, extinguishing the "rotten boroughs," transferring
political power from the land-owning aristocracy to the middle
class of English people, and beginning the democratizing of
government, which two later reforms have made nearly complete.
"There can be no doubt," said a Canadian correspondent of one
of the London journals lately, "that the present
Governor-General is more widely popular in Canada than any of
his predecessors in that high office were, or could have been.
Happy in his personality, happier still in his opportunities,
he is known and liked by all sorts and conditions of Canadians
in every part of the country; whereas more than one of those
who have represented the Sovereign there since the creation of
the Canadian Confederacy were regarded as august functionaries
forming the ‘dignified part’ of the constitutional mechanism
(to use Bagehot’s phrase), and as sedulously avoiding close
contact with the people at large."
Within the past year it has been announced officially from
Ottawa that Lord Grey will fill out his full period of six
years in the office of Governor-General, expiring in December,
1910.
CANADA: A. D. 1904.
Creation of the Board of Railway Commissioners.
Its large regulative powers.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: CANADA.
CANADA: A. D. 1904-1909.
Race problems.
Restriction of Chinese Immigration.
Labor hostility.
Riotous attacks on Japanese, Chinese, and Hindu laborers.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: CANADA.
{68}
CANADA: A. D. 1905.
New Provinces created.
Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Revival of the Separate School controversy.
The compromise settlement.
By Bills brought into the Dominion Parliament by the Premier,
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, on the 21st of February, 1905, and
subsequently passed, the four Northwest Territories ceded to
the Dominion by Great Britain in 1870 were reorganized as two
provinces, and admitted to membership in the Canadian Federal
Union, bearing the names of Alberta and Saskatchewan, with
Edmonton for the capital of the former and Regina for the
latter.
See, in Volume IV. of this work,
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES OF CANADA.
Saskatchewan includes the territories of Saskatchewan,
Assiniboia, and one-half of Athabasca, and Alberta the
territory of Alberta and the remainder of Athabasca. The

entire area of the two provinces is 550,345 square miles, and
it extends from Manitoba west to the 110th meridian, and from
the United States boundary to 60 north latitude. The
population of each province was reckoned at 250,000, and was
rapidly increasing. The Dominion Government retains control of
the public lands. Each of the new provinces received at the
beginning five representatives in the Dominion House of
Commons and four in the Senate. A single Legislative Chamber
of twenty-five members was provided for each; each has a
Lieutenant-Governor, with a Cabinet of responsible Ministers.
The Dominion Treasury contributes $250,000 yearly to the
revenue of each.
A provision in these bills for conceding separate schools to
religious minorities revived the controversy which raged in
Canada for many years, after the Province of Manitoba, in
1890, had abolished denominational schools and established a
free, compulsory, unsectarian school system.
See, in Volume VI. of this work,
CANADA: A. D. 1890-1896, and A. D, 1898 (JANUARY).
The Government was forced to amend the provision, devising a
compromise which cannot be said to have satisfied either party
to the dispute, but which saved the Government from a probable
defeat. This affords a half hour of religious teaching, by
denominational teachers, at the end of school hours, the
denominational character of the instruction determined by the
majority in attendance, and its reception to be optional. As
explained at the time by a writer in The Outlook, the working
of the system is as follows. "The half-hour is the only
noteworthy feature of the separate schools. They are liable
for no other school taxation than that which is necessary to
support those schools. In all other respects, in every detail
of government control and oversight, they are exactly like the
schools of the majority. From nine o’clock in the morning
until three o’clock in the afternoon the order of lessons is
the same for all; so are the textbooks, the standards of
efficiency, and the qualifications of the teachers. There
cannot be any control of the school by any clerical or
sectarian body. There cannot be any sectarian teaching between
nine o’clock in the morning and three o’clock in the
afternoon. The Normal schools of the new provinces will give a
uniform normal training for all teachers, and there will be
uniform curricula and courses of study for all schools of the
same grade. There will be complete and absolute control of all
schools as to their government and conduct by the central
school authority created by the new provincial Legislature.
The distribution of the legislative grant to all schools will
be according to educational efficiency, a wise provision which
did not apply to separate schools of the old type. To
recapitulate, all the schools are alike, except that where the
trustees are Protestant there is Protestant religious teaching
from half-past three to four, and where the trustees are Roman
Catholic there is Roman Catholic teaching during the
half-hour. That is the only distinction, and neither
Protestant nor Roman Catholic children, when they are in the
minority, need remain to hear any religious teaching against
their parents’ wishes."
CANADA: A. D. 1906.
Dominion Forest Reserves Act.
See (in this Volume)
Conservation of Natural Resources.
CANADA: A. D. 1906.
Passage of the "Lord’s Day Act."
See (in this Volume)
SUNDAY OBSERVANCE.
CANADA: A. D. 1906.
Prisons and Reformatory Act.
See (in this Volume)
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: AS OFFENDERS.
CANADA: A. D. 1906 (May).
Departure of the last British garrison.
On the 1st of May, 1906, the last British garrison in the
Dominion was withdrawn from Esquimault, in British Columbia,
under an arrangement which leaves the Canadian Government in
undivided control of all military posts.
CANADA: A. D. 1906-1907.
Political experiments in Ontario.
Broadening the functions of government.
The Canadians of their Middle West, who used to be the most
conservative of Britons, have manifested lately a new spirit,
wafted, perhaps, from adventuresome New Zealand, and are
trying governmental experiments that would stagger
Oklahoma,—trying them, too, with what looks like success.
For the development of the rich cobalt and silver mining
region on its eastern border, and for the encouragement of
colonization farther northward on the same border, the Ontario
Government has not hesitated to construct and own and operate
officially an important line of railway, the Temiskaming and
Northern Ontario, which is reported to have been profitable
from the start. The road may possibly be extended to James
Bay, the southward projection of Hudson Bay.
The progressive government of Ontario has also undertaken to
work for its own benefit the mines in a large lately opened
block of the Cobalt mining territory, covering about 100
square miles. In somewhat the same line of economic policy, it
determined in 1906 to control the development and transmission
of electric power at and from Niagara Falls, and accomplished
its purpose by a contract with the Ontario Power Company,
which secures power to municipalities in Ontario at an
extremely reasonable rate.
This adventurous policy in economic directions is less
surprising, however, than an absolutely novel experiment in
the officializing of political parties, as agencies in
representative government, which has been put on trial in
Ontario during two parliamentary sessions. For the first time
in constitutional history, the opposition leader in a
legislature has been made a recognized functionary and
salaried by the Government to the extent of $7,000 a year.
Theoretically, the importance of an effectively critical
opposition to the majority party in a legislature is always
acknowledged. Is there not good sense, then, theoretically at
least, in a policy of government which aims to increase the
efficiency of that criticism and give it a responsible
character, in the mode which the Ontarians are trying?
{69}
After between two and three years trial of this last named
experiment, with a salaried leader of the Opposition, the
Toronto correspondent of the London Times wrote, in
June, 1909, to that paper as follows:
"This is an experiment in Parliamentary government which has
not been attempted elsewhere. It has both advantages and
disadvantages. There are few men of wealth or leisure in
Canadian public life, and generally a private party fund has
been provided for the support of the leader of the Opposition.
The charge was commonly made that as this fund was likely to
be provided by the few wealthy men of the party they would
exact compensation in the form of official appointment or
legislative favour when the Opposition leader became the head
of the Government. It was decided, therefore, to give a
salary, equal to the emoluments of a Minister of the Crown, to
the leader of the Opposition. Mr. Borden [leader of the
Opposition in Ontario for some time past] sanctioned this
legislation and accepted the remuneration provided. It was
argued that he thus became a pensioner on the Government, and
that a servile consideration for his salary would affect his
independence and restrain his criticism of the paymasters on
the Treasury benches. Mr. Borden, while disposed more than
once to relinquish the salary, felt that this criticism was
unjust, and, knowing the grave financial distresses which some
of his predecessors had experienced, waited patiently for the
attack to exhaust itself and for opportunity to prove that he
was not a dependent of the Treasury. At length his course
seems to be justified, and the appropriation of a salary for
the leader of the Opposition seems likely to become a settled
feature of the Canadian Parliamentary system. The real test
will come, however, if the system of Parliamentary groups
should ever replace the established two-party system in
Canada. But for the time the experiment has been justified,
and under the conditions which so often obtain in Canada it
may even be said that the official salary enhances the
independence and dignity of the Opposition leader in
Parliament."
CANADA: A. D. 1906-1908.
The Canada Temperance Act.
See (in this Volume)
ALCOHOL PROBLEM: CANADA.
CANADA: A. D. 1907.
The founding of Macdonald College.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: CANADA: A. D. 1907.
CANADA: A. D. 1907 (March).
The "Industrial Disputes Investigation Act," to aid in the
prevention and settlement of Strikes and Lockouts.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: CANADA: A. D. 1907-1908.
CANADA: A. D. 1907 (April-May).
Imperial Conference at London.
See (in this Volume)
British Empire: A. D. 1907.
CANADA: A. D. 1907-1909.
Convention respecting commercial relations with France
and its amendment.
A Convention which greatly liberalized the tariff regulations
affecting trade between Canada and France was concluded
between the British and French Governments and signed at Paris
on the 19th of September, 1907. It gave "the benefit of the
minimum tariff and of the lowest rates of customs duty
applicable to like products of other foreign origin,"
reciprocally, in each country to certain enumerated products
of the other; with mutual pledges that every reduction granted
by either to any foreign country should apply to similar
products of the other.
In January, 1909, an amended Convention was negotiated which
liberalized still further this commercial agreement, enlarging
the schedules of favored products, especially the agricultural
schedules, giving important advantages to Canada in the French
market. The amended Convention was ratified in France on the
13th of July, and in Canada early in December.
CANADA: A. D. 1908.
Child Labor legislation.
See (in this Volume)
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: AS WORKERS.
CANADA: A. D. 1908.
Governmental undertaking of a railway to Hudson Bay.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: CANADA: A. D. 1908-1909.
CANADA: A. D. 1908 (April).
Convention for the preservation and propagation of Food
Fishes in waters contiguous to the United States and Canada.
See (in this Volume)
FOOD FISHES.
CANADA: A. D. 1908 (April).
Treaty respecting the demarcation of the International
Boundary between the United States and Canada.
A Treaty "providing for the more complete definition and
demarcation of the international boundary between the United
States and the Dominion of Canada," negotiated by Ambassador
Bryce and Secretary Root, appointed Plenipotentiaries of the
Governments of Great Britain and the United States,
respectively, was signed at Washington on the 4th of June,
1908. The Treaty provides for parcelling the boundary line in
eight sections, for the determination in each of which each
Government "shall appoint, without delay, an expert geographer
or surveyor to serve as Commissioner." Its first article
prescribes with minuteness the procedure to be followed and
the consideration to be given to former surveys and
determinations of the boundary line "in the waters of
Passamaquoddy Bay from the mouth of the St. Croix River to the
Bay of Fundy." The second article defines similarly the task
appointed to the Commissioners who shall determine the "line
drawn along the middle of the River St. Croix from its mouth
in the Bay of Fundy to its source." The third article
instructs the Commissioners who shall fix the line from the
source of the St. Croix to the St. Lawrence. The fourth deals
in like manner with the next section of the line, from "the
point of its intersection with the St. Lawrence River near the
forty-fifth parallel of north latitude, as determined under
articles I. and VI. of the Treaty of August 9, 1842, between
Great Britain and the United States, and thence through the
Great Lakes and communicating waterways to the mouth of Pigeon
River, at the western shore of Lake Superior." The fifth
pursues the line from "the mouth of Pigeon River to the
northwestern-most point of the Lake of the Woods." The sixth
traces the work to be done on the line from that point of the
Lake of the Woods to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. The
seventh relates to the section of boundary "along the
forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, from the summit of the
Rocky Mountains westward to the eastern shore of the Gulf of
Georgia, as defined in article I. of the Treaty of June 15,
1846, between Great Britain and the United States and as
marked by monuments along its course,"—for the renewing and
completing of which monuments commissioners were appointed by
concurrent action of the two Governments in 1902 and 1903. The
eighth article has to do with the western terminal section of
the task, carrying the boundary line "from the forty-ninth
parallel of north latitude along the middle of the channel
which separates Vancouver’s Island from the mainland and the
Haro Channel and of Fuca’s Straits to the Pacific Ocean, as
defined in article I. of the Treaty of June 15, 1846, between
Great Britain and the United States, and as determined by the
award made on October 21, 1872, by the Emperor of Germany as
arbitrator.
{70}
In articles one and two there are provisions for the
arbitration of disagreements; and the concluding article
contains the following:
"If a dispute or difference should arise about the location or
demarcation of any portion of the boundary covered by the
provisions of this Treaty and an agreement with respect
thereto is not reached by the Commissioners charged herein
with locating and marking such portion of the line, they shall
make a report in writing jointly to both Governments, or
severally each to his own Government, setting out fully the
questions in dispute and the differences between them, but
such Commissioners shall, nevertheless, proceed to carry on
and complete as far as possible the work herein assigned to
them with respect to the remaining portions of the line.
"In case of such a disagreement between the Commissioners, the
two Governments shall endeavor to agree upon an adjustment of
the questions in dispute, and if an agreement is reached
between the two Governments it shall be reduced to writing in
the form of a protocol, and shall be communicated to the said
Commissioners, who shall proceed to lay down and mark the
boundary in accordance therewith, and as herein provided, but
without prejudice to the special provisions contained in
Articles I and II regarding arbitration.
"It is understood that under the foregoing articles the same
persons will be appointed to carry out the delimitation of
boundaries in the several sections aforesaid, other than the
section covered by Article IV, unless either of the
Contracting Powers finds it expedient for some reason which it
may think sufficient to appoint some other person to be
Commissioner for any one of the above-mentioned sections."
CANADA: A. D. 1908 (July).
Tercentenary Celebration of the Founding of Quebec.
The three hundredth anniversary of the founding of Quebec by
Champlain was celebrated at that city in July, 1908, with
remarkable spirit and success. The Government of the Dominion
took an active and important part in the preparations,
nationalizing the battle-field of Wolfe’s victory over
Montcalm, on the Plains of Abraham, and converting it into a
park, where the principal pageants and ceremonies of the
occasion were performed. The Imperial Government interested
itself warmly in the undertaking, the Prince of Wales, Lord
Roberts, the Duke of Norfolk, and other distinguished
personages from Great Britain coming as guests of the
festivity and to bear a part. Living descendants of Wolfe and
Montcalm were also invited guests, and the Governments of
France and the United States were officially represented.
Battleships from the fleets of these nations and from Germany,
Italy, Spain, Japan and the Argentine Republic were brought to
a friendly concourse in the harbor of Quebec, for
participation in the brilliant spectacles of the féte. These
included a military representation of the armies of Wolfe and
Montcalm, on the field where they fought; a representation of
the landing of Champlain, from a ship which duplicated the
structure and equipment of his own, and a number of other
historical pageants, all admirably planned and executed, and
offering a rare entertainment to the many thousands of
visitors who were attracted to Quebec from all parts of the
Dominion and the United States.
The celebration began on the 19th of July and continued
through two weeks.
CANADA: A. D. 1908 (September).
Act to amend Civil Service Act.
See (in this Volume)
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: CANADA.
CANADA: A. D. 1909.
The projected Georgian Bay Canal.
Present state of the project.
"The scheme for a canal to give through transport for
ocean-going steamers from Montreal to the Great Lakes may now
be said to have emerged from the field of idealism into that
of practical politics, the need for such a waterway having
been generally recognized by Canadian politicians. In
commercial circles there is the strongest feeling that the
canal works should be put in hand at once, and at the end of
April last a powerful deputation representing 20 Canadian
Boards of Trade and 54 municipalities pressed this point of
view upon the Government. At the present time questions of
finance alone prohibit the practical adoption of the
enterprise. … When the work is started, it will probably be
found that the contract will be entrusted to private
enterprise under Government supervision.
… The present position of the negotiations between the
Government and the canal company is that the latter
corporation having matured its scheme, the Government
engineers have made a report, and a compromise has now to be
effected on those points where the recommendations of the
Government engineers differ from the scheme of construction
drawn up by the Georgian Bay Canal Company.
"The total distance of the route planned by the canal company
engineers between Georgian Bay on Lake Huron to Montreal, the
head of ocean navigation on the St. Lawrence River, is 440
miles. The project is essentially a river and lake
canalization scheme, and for the greater part of its course
the projected route follows the course of the French River and
the Ottawa. River and its lakes. From Georgian Bay to the
summit level it is proposed to utilize the middle channel of
French River to Lake Nipissing. From the northern side of this
lake to the summit level, a distance of over 80 miles from
Georgian Bay, it would be mainly an artificial waterway. From
the summit level, 677 ft. above sea level, there is a long
fall to Montreal, and the route proposed by the canal company
engineers is via Trout and Turtle Lakes, the little
Mattawa River into Talon Lake to Sand Bay, a distance of 21
miles. A canal three miles long would carry the waterway to
the Mattawa River, 13 miles of which would be utilized, and a
short canal cut would give access to the Ottawa River, which
would then be followed for a distance of 293 miles. Thence the
St. Lawrence River or a branch of the Ottawa River, known as
the Back River, would form the new waterway for the last 25
miles. The difference in elevation of 659 ft. between Montreal
and the summit level, and 99 ft. between the summit and
Georgian Bay would be bridged by 27 locks, ranging in lift
from 5 ft. to 50 ft. These locks would be designed for a
length of 940 ft., with a width of 70 ft. and with 22 ft. of
water upon the lock sills, the proposed depth of the canal
being 24 ft.
{71}
The total length of canal cutting for the route is estimated
at from 28 to 34 miles, and in all about 108 miles out of the
total length of 440 miles would require excavation work for
lock approaches, canals, and submerged channels.
"The plans of the Government engineers, as embodied in a
report to the Department Of Public Works, do not differ
materially from those of the canal company. The latter
proposes a 24 ft. waterway, with 22 ft. upon the lock sills;
the Government plans provide for a 22 ft. waterway, which, it
is pointed out, would more than equal the conditions as they
exist to-day in the channels connecting the waters of the
Great Lakes, which govern the draught of boats on the Lakes. …
The opening up of the Great Lakes for the first time to
ocean-going traffic would be an event of the first commercial
magnitude. It is not generally recognized that the trade of
the Lakes is greater than the coasting trade of England, of
France, and of Germany put together. The statistical reports
of Lake commerce passing through the canals at Sault Ste.
Marie, Michigan and Ontario, show that the tonnage passing
through these canals increased during 1897 to 1907 from
18,982,755 to 58,217,214.
"Reference should also be made to the water powers which would
be created by the present plans for the construction of the
canal. The report of the Government engineers states that
nearly 1,000,000 h. p. could be secured along the Ottawa and
French rivers and it is estimated that 100,000 h. p. would be
available within almost a mile of the city of Montreal.
"The question yet to be decided is when can the country afford
to start the work. Sir Robert Perks, M. P., who has been
intimately associated with the scheme, recently submitted an
offer to the Government on behalf of the canal company, who
own the charter, to provide £5,000,000 at a 3 per cent.
guarantee, with ½ per cent. sinking fund, for the construction
of the French River section of the canal, a distance of about
86 miles, and to build docks and warehouses at North Bay on
Lake Nipissing. … It is estimated that it would take ten years
from the inception of the work before the canal would be open
for navigation, and that the total cost would be about
£20,000,000."
Engineering Correspondence London Times,
August 18, 1909.
CANADA: A. D. 1909.
The Great Mackenzie Basin.
The Newest Canadian West.
A report on the agricultural possibilities of the great
Mackenzie Basin, prepared by a select committee of the
Dominion Senate, was made public in the summer of 1909.
"Basing their calculations upon the testimony of witnesses,
the Committee calculate that some two million square miles
between the northern limits of Saskatchewan and Alberta and
the Arctic Circle can be used for pasturage and for the
cultivation of wheat, barley, potatoes, and other vegetables.
Until a few years ago not only the Mackenzie basin but the
valley of Peace rivers were on account of their high latitudes
considered to be unfit for cultivation. The comparatively mild
climate, which, as the report shows, they in reality enjoy, is
said to be due to the proximity of large bodies of water such
as the Great Slave and Great Bear lakes and to the
chinook wind, the warm current of air that blows across
the Rocky Mountains from the Pacific. The shortness of the
sub-Arctic summer appears to be offset by the proportionate
length of the days and by the clearness of the air. In regard
to the future of the district with which it deals the report
points out that in 1870 the representatives of the people of
Eastern Canada were anxious to obtain in regard to what is now
the prosperous province of Manitoba exactly the same
information as the Committee has been engaged in collecting
about Canada’s ‘newest west.’"
CANADA: A. D. 1909.
The opposition in Newfoundland to union with the Dominion.
See (in this Volume)
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1909.
CANADA: A. D. 1909 (January).
The Waterways Treaty between the United States and Great
Britain, concerning the waters between the former and Canada.
Resulting from the labors of an International Waterways
Commission, appointed four years before, a Waterways Treaty,
having reference to the lakes and rivers that lie along the
boundary between Canada and the United States, was concluded
by Ambassador Bryce, on the part of the British Government,
and Secretary of State Root, on the part of the United States,
in January, 1909. The Treaty was ratified by the Senate of the
United States in the closing hours of the Congressional
session which ended March 4, but with a proviso, in the form
of a resolution attached. The following is a summary of the
provisions of the Treaty as it went to the Senate:
"A preliminary article defines the Canadian and American
boundary waters.
"Article I. enacts that the navigation of these waters,
including Lake Michigan and the canals connecting them, shall
for ever continue free and open for the purposes of commerce
to the inhabitants of both countries. Regulations affecting
canals in the territory of either country shall apply equally
to inhabitants of the other who may wish to make use thereof.
"Article II. reserves to the signatories and to the State and
provincial Governments exclusive control over the use,
diversion, &c., of such waters in their territory as flow into
the boundary waters or across the frontier. Any inhabitant of
either country injured by the use of this privilege will be
entitled to the legal remedies he would have if he were a
native of the defendant country. The contracting parties,
however, reserve the right of objection whenever navigation on
their own side of the boundary is imperilled by any diversion
of water across it.
"Articles III. and IV. provide that no works shall be
undertaken on either side of the line, if such works would be
likely to affect the level of the waters on the other side,
without agreement between the contracting parties and the
sanction of the Joint Commission. Pollution of the waters is
also forbidden.
"Article V., which relates to the diversion of the waters of
Niagara, the control of the level of Lake Erie, and the flow
of the Niagara River, has a clause which states that it is the
desire of both parties to accomplish these objects with the
least possible injury to the investments which have already
been made in the construction of power plants on the United
States side of the Niagara River under grants of authority
from the State of New York, and on the Canadian side of the
river under licenses authorized by the Dominion of Canada and
the Province of Ontario.
{72}
"Article VI. apportions the uses of the St. Mary’s and Milk
rivers and their tributaries in the west.
"Article VII. provides for the creation of an International
Joint Commission, consisting of three representatives of
Canada and three of the United States.
"Article VIII. provides that the Commission shall have
jurisdiction over, and shall decide all cases involving, the
waterways where, under articles III. and IV., their approval
is required, and gives principles for their guidance. The
contracting parties are to have equal and similar rights. The
uses of the water are to be considered in the following
order:—First, domestic and sanitary purposes; secondly,
purposes of navigation; third, purposes of power and
irrigation. The Commission is invested with some discretion
with regard to departure from the principle of equal division,
&c. In case of a tie vote each Commissioner is to make a
separate report to his Government; whereupon the two
Governments shall attempt to reach an agreement.
"The two following articles, IX. and X., requiring that all
disputes shall be referred to the Commission, stand out as the
most important provisions of the treaty. Article IX., after
stating that matters of difference shall be referred to the
Commission whenever either Government desires, goes on to
authorize the Commission in each case so referred to examine
into and report upon the facts and circumstances of the
particular questions referred, together with such conclusions
and recommendations as may be appropriate, subject, however,
to any restrictions or exceptions which may be imposed with
respect thereto by the terms of reference. Such reports of the
Commission are in no way to have the character of an arbitral
award. The Commission shall make joint report to both
Governments in all cases wherein all or a majority of the
Commissioners agree, and in case of disagreement the minority
may make joint report to both Governments, or separate reports
to their respective Governments. In case the Commission is
evenly divided upon any question referred to it, separate
reports shall be made by the Commissioners, one on each side
to their own Government.
"Article X. extends the powers of the Commission by providing
that other matters of difference affecting the rights of
either country may be referred to the Commission. In each case
so referred the Commission is authorized to examine into and
report upon the facts and circumstances of the particular
questions and matters referred, together with such conclusions
and recommendations as may be appropriate, subject, however,
to any restrictions or exceptions which may be imposed with
respect thereto by the terms of reference. A majority of the
Commission shall have power to render a decision or finding
upon any of the questions or matters so referred.
"In the event of a failure of the Commission to agree upon the
issues submitted to them for decision or report, the article
requires the Commissioners to make a joint report to both
Governments, or separate reports to their respective
Governments, showing the different conclusions arrived at with
regard to matters or questions so referred, which shall
thereupon be submitted for decision by the high contracting
parties to an umpire chosen in accordance with procedure
prescribed in the fourth, fifth, and sixth paragraphs of
Article XLV. of The Hague Convention for the pacific
settlement of international disputes, dated October 18, 1907.
Such umpire, the article concludes, shall have power to render
a final decision on matters whereon the Commission have failed
to agree."
The resolution attached to the Treaty by the Senate of the
United States related to the use of waters flowing at the
rapids of St. Mary’s River at Sault Ste. Marie, and was
introduced by Senator Smith of Michigan. It is as follows:
"Resolved—As part of this ratification, the United States
approves this treaty, with the understanding that nothing in
the treaty shall be construed as affecting or changing any
existing territorial or riparian right in the water, or the
rights of owners of lands under water, on either side of the
international boundary, at the rapids of St. Mary’s River at
Sault Ste. Marie, in the use of waters flowing over such
lands, subject to the requirements of navigation in the
boundary waters and of the navigation of canals, and without
prejudice to the existing right of the United States and
Canada, each to use the waters of St. Mary’s River within its
own territory; and that this interpretation will be mentioned
in the ratification of this treaty as conveying the true
meaning of the treaty, and will in effect form part of the
treaty."
This stipulation was objectionable to Canada, and the consent
of the Dominion Government to a ratification of the Treaty on
the part of Great Britain was withheld. It has been
understood, however, that the objection will be substantially
removed if the Government of the United States acquires
possession of the lands and riparian property concerned, which
was provided for by an Act of Congress passed in March. The
necessary proceedings will consume some time.
CANADA: A. D. 1909 (February).
The institution of a Department of External Affairs.
An Associated Press despatch from Ottawa, on the 18th of
February, 1909, made known that "the Canadian Government has
announced its intention of creating a portfolio of external
affairs. Heretofore all of the foreign business of Canada has
been carried on through the channel of the British colonial
and foreign office. Even after the external affairs branch is
created by Canada this will be the principal avenue for such
business. That method is cumbersome. In the case of
negotiations with the United States, papers have to cross the
Atlantic twice in passing from Washington to Ottawa, being
sent first to the colonial office and then back to Canada. The
process has been much criticised and both the prime minister
and the opposition leader have declared themselves in favor of
a modification. The creation of the external department is
regarded as the first step. The most radical proposal is the
intimation that in negotiations with the United States there
will hereafter be direct communication between Washington and
Canada, through the medium of the British Ambassador."
{73}
In the British Parliament, on the 4th of March, the Prime
Minister, Mr. Asquith, replied to a question on the subject,
as follows:
"It is understood that the Canadian Government propose to
establish a Department of External Affairs. This department is
merely intended—like the corresponding department of the Com
[Commonwealth?] wealth Government—to conduct correspondence
with the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and his
Majesty’s Ambassador at Washington, and with the several
departments of the Canadian Government. At present delay
occurs in dealing with the correspondence, as there is no
department to conduct the work. No suggestion has been made by
the Canadian Government for the increase of their powers in
dealing with external affairs."
CANADA: A. D. 1909 (February).
Participation in a North American Conference on the
Conservation of Natural Resources.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: NORTH AMERICA.
CANADA: A. D. 1909 (April).
Statistics of the Budget speech.
Revenue.
Trade.
No increase of taxation.
The following was reported in a despatch from Ottawa, April
20, 1909:
"Notwithstanding the financial stringency of the past year,
which reduced the revenue of Canada by $11,500,000, Mr.
Fielding, Minister of Finance, in his Budget speech today made
the gratifying announcement that there was a surplus of
$1,500,000 for the year ended March 31. The increase in the
net debt was $46,029,000, of which $32,000,000 was for the
National Transcontinental Railway and the Quebec Bridge. The
total trade of the country during the past year was
$553,737,000, a decrease of $97,000,000, principally in
imports. The estimated expenditures for the current year were
$80,078,624. In the judgment of the Government there was no
necessity for increased taxation, but the situation should be
met by a substantial reduction in expenditures."
CANADA: A. D. 1909 (June).
Important ruling by the Railway Commission affecting
American Railways.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: CANADA: A. D. 1909.
CANADA: A. D. 1909 (July-August).
Imperial Defence Conference.
Its agreements.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: MILITARY AND NAVAL.
CANADA: A. D. 1909 (August).
Meeting of the British Association for
the Advancement of Science.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: PHYSICAL.
CANADA: A. D. 1909 (August).
Proposed union of the Maritime Provinces.
A Press despatch of August 19, from Ottawa, reported:
"At a conference of the Boards of Trade of the Maritime
Provinces at Charlottetown a resolution was adopted in favour
of the union of the Maritime Provinces. The Governments of
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island were
asked to appoint a committee to draft terms of union. The
general opinion is that only union can avert the overwhelming
influence of the West in future."
CANADA: A. D. 1909 (December).
Convention relating to obstructions in the St. John River.
"Commissioners have been appointed on the part of the United
States to act jointly with commissioners on the part of Canada
in examining into the question of obstructions in the St. John
River, between Maine and New Brunswick, and to make
recommendations for the regulation of the uses thereof, and
are now engaged in this work."
Message of the President of the United States to Congress,
December 6, 1909.
CANADA: A. D. 1909-1910.
As affected by the new tariff of the United States.
See (in this Volume)
TARIFFS: UNITED STATES.
CANADA: A. D. 1910.
Anti-Trust Bill in the Dominion Parliament.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.: CANADA.
CANADA: A. D. 1910 (January).
Announcement of naval programme.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL.
----------CANADA: End--------
CANADA STEEL CORPORATION.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.: CANADA: A. D. 1909.
CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY STRIKE, 1908.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: CANADA: A. D. 1907-1908.
CANAL ZONE.
See (in this Volume)
PANAMA CANAL.
CANALS.
See (in this Volume)
PANAMA, GEORGIAN BAY,
and (for Barge Canal) NEW YORK STATE: A. D. 1898-1909.
CAMPANILE OF ST. MARK’S, at Venice.
Its fall.
See (in this Volume)
VENICE: A. D. 1902.
CANBERRA,
YASS-CANBERRA.
Chosen site of the Capital of Australia.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1905-1906.
CANCER RESEARCH.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH.
CANDAMO, PRESIDENT MANUEL.
See (in this Volume)
PERU.
CAPE COLONY.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA.
CAPITALISTIC COMBINATIONS.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.;
also RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES.
CAPUCHINS:
Forbidden to teach in France.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1903.
CARDUCCI, Giosue.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
CARLOS I., King of Portugal.
His assassination.
See (in this Volume)
Portugal: A. D. 1906-1909.
CARMEN SYLVA: Queen of Roumania.
See (in this Volume)
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: ROUMANIA: A. D. 1866-1906.
CARNEGIE, ANDREW:
Gift to Scottish universities and students.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: SCOTLAND: A. D. 1901.
CARNEGIE, ANDREW:
Gift of a building at Washington for the
Bureau of the American Republics.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS, INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF.
CARNEGIE, ANDREW:
Gift of a court house and library for the Permanent Court of
Arbitration at The Hague.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1903.
CARNEGIE, ANDREW:
At Peace Congress in New York.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
CARNEGIE FOUNDATION, FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1908.
CARNEGIE HERO FUNDS.
April 15, 1904, a letter from Andrew Carnegie was made public
announcing that he had set apart a fund of $5,000,000 to be
known as "The Hero Fund." In this letter Mr. Carnegie said:
"We live in an heroic age. Not seldom are we thrilled by deeds
of heroism where men or women are injured or lose their lives
in attempting to preserve or rescue their fellows; such are
the heroes of civilization.
{74}
The heroes of barbarism maimed or killed. I have long felt
that the heroes and those dependent upon them should be freed
from pecuniary cares resulting from their heroism and as a
fund for this purpose I have transferred to a commission
$5,000,000 of collateral 5 per cent bonds of the United States
Steel Corporation." Only such as follow peaceful vocations on
sea or land in the United States or Canada are eligible to
receive money or medals for heroic deeds. The commission which
has charge of the fund has its headquarters in Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania. A similar fund in Great Britain was created soon
afterward by Mr. Carnegie, and in May, 1909, he placed, for
the same purpose, $1,000,000 of the bonds of the United States
Steel Corporation in the hands of trustees in France, under
the sanction of the French Government.
CARNEGIE INSTITUTE, The, at Pittsburg:
Its enlargement and re-dedication.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1907.
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION: CARNEGIE INSTITUTION.
CARTAGO, COSTA RICA:
Institution of the Central American Court of Justice.
Gift of a building by Mr. Carnegie.
See (in this Volume)
Central America: A. D. 1908.
CARTELS.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL (IN GERMANY).
CASABLANCA:
Bombardment by French and Spanish fleets.
The Casablanca incident.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1907-1909.
CASEMENT, ROGER: British consul in the Congo State.
His reports.
See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1903-1905.
CASTRO, CIPRIANO:
President of Venezuela.
See in this Volume)
VENEZUELA,
also COLOMBIA: 1898-1902.
CASTRO, Luciano de.
See (in this Volume)
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1906-1909.
CATALONIA: A. D. 1902.
Disorders.
See (in this Volume)
SPAIN: A. D. 1905-1906, and 1907-1909.
CATHOLIC DISABILITIES, IN ENGLAND:
Majority vote in Commons for removing.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1909 (May).
CATHOLIC PEOPLE’S PARTY.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1904.
CATSKILL AQUEDUCT.
See (in this Volume)
NEW YORK CITY: A. D. 1905-1909.
CATTLE DRIVING.
See (in this Volume)
IRELAND: A. D. 1902-1908.
CAUCASUS, The:
Conflict of Tartars and Armenians.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (February-November).
CENSORSHIP.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909.
CENSUS BILL, PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S VETO OF THE.
See (in this Volume)
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: UNITED STATES.
CENSUS BUREAU, CREATION OF A PERMANENT.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902 (March).
CENTER, or CENTRUM PARTY.
See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1906-1907.
----------CENTRAL AMERICA: Start--------
CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1901-1906.
Participation of all the states in the Second and Third
International Conferences of American republics.
Their signature of an obligatory arbitration convention.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1902.
Treaty of compulsory arbitration and obligatory peace
between the five republics.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1902.
CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1903.
Honduras: Revolution, establishing General Bonilla
in the Presidency.
In the spring of 1903 a rising in Honduras against the
Government was reported to be in progress, under General
Bonilla. Early in March the situation was stated by the
American consular agent at Amapala as follows:
"A great part of the members of the Congress that was in
session in Tegucigalpa, amongst them the President of the
Congress, fled from the capital to the frontier of Salvador
the 30th of January, so that Congress was de facto dissolved
on that date. It seems that the council of ministers formed a
new Congress out of the remaining deputies and the substitutes
of the fugitives. The new Congress proclaimed Dr. Juan Angel
Arias president, and General Maximo B. Rosales vice-president
of the Republic. The new Government was recognized by
Nicaragua, but I do not know if it was recognized by the other
Central American Republics. In the meantime General Bonilla
has gone ahead with his military operations against the new
government. His forces have taken the fortified towns of
Ocotepeque, Santa Rosa, and Gracias, near the frontier of
Nicaragua. On the 22d of February General Bonilla was as
attacked in El Aceituno by General Sierra, the ex-president,
who was completely defeated and escaped with several hundred
men, the remainder of his troops, to the fortified town of
Nacaome, where he still is. General Bonilla has now an army of
about 4,500 men."
In despatches of the 15th and 24th of April, Minister Combs,
who represented the United States in transactions with both
Guatemala and Honduras, advised the State Department that
General Bonilla was in possession of Tegucigalpa; that
ex-President Arias was a prisoner; that peace was restored,
and that Bonilla should be recognized as President.
Accordingly the recognition was given.
CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1904.
Nicaragua, Honduras, Salvador, and Guatemala: Peace Conference.
A despatch, August 31, 1904, from the American Minister at San
José, Costa Rica, to the State Department at Washington, was
as follows:
"I have the honor to advise that on the 21st instant, at
Corinto, Nicaragua, the Presidents of Nicaragua, Honduras, and
El Salvador, and a special delegate representing the President
of Guatemala, held a conference ostensibly for the purpose of
securing the peace of Central America. … The parties holding
the conference have issued a lengthy manifesto, which
indicates nothing of interest to our Government except that
the four governments represented are controlled by parties who
will aid each other by military force, if necessary, in
maintaining the status quo, and that the peace of Central
America is thus reasonably assured by making revolutionary
efforts more difficult and less liable to achieve success."
{75}
CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1904. Nicaragua and Honduras:
Agreement to arbitrate boundary dispute.
In October, 1904, the United States Government was informed
that Nicaragua and Honduras had agreed to submit a boundary
dispute to the King of Spain.
CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1905. Nicaragua:
Treaty with Great Britain concerning the Mosquito Territory.
The following treaty between Great Britain and the Republic of
Nicaragua was signed at Managua, Nicaragua, April 19, 1905:
Article I.
The High Contracting Parties agree that the Treaty of Managua
of January 28, 1860, is and shall remain abrogated.
Article II.
His Britannic Majesty agrees to recognize the absolute
sovereignty of Nicaragua over the territory that constituted
the former Mosquito Reserve, as defined in the aforesaid
Treaty of Managua.
Article III.
In consideration of the fact that the Mosquito Indians were at
one time under the protection of Great Britain, and in view of
the interest that His Majesty’s Government and the Nicaraguan
Government take in their welfare, the Nicaraguan Government
agree to grant them the following concessions:
(a) The Government will submit to the National Assembly a law
exempting, for fifty years from the date of the ratification
of this Treaty, all the Mosquito Indians and the Creoles born
before the year 1894, from military service, and from all
direct taxation on their persons, property, possessions,
animals, and means of subsistence.
(b) The Government will allow the Indians to live in their
villages enjoying the concessions granted by this Convention,
and following their own customs, in so far as they are not
opposed to the laws of the country and to public morality.
(c) The Nicaraguan Government will concede a further period of
two years for them to legalize their rights to the property
acquired in conformity with the Regulations in force before
1894 in the Reserve. The Government will make no charge to the
said inhabitants either for the lands or the measurement
thereof, or for the grant of title-deeds. For this purpose the
title-deeds in the possession of the said Indians and Creoles
before 1894 will be renewed in conformity with the laws, and,
in cases where no such title-deeds exist, the Government will
give to each family, at their place of residence, eight
manzanas of land, if the members of the family do not exceed
four in number, and two manzanas for each person if the family
exceeds that number.
(d) Public pasture lands will be reserved for the use of the
inhabitants in the neighbourhood of each Indian village.
(e) In the event of any Mosquito Indians or Creoles proving
that the lands which they held in conformity with the
Regulations in force before 1894 have been claimed by and
allotted to other persons, the Government will indemnify them
by the grant of suitable public lands of approximate value as
near as possible to their present residences.
Article IV.
The ex-Chief of the Mosquito Indians, Robert Henry Clarence,
will be permitted by the Nicaraguan Government to reside in
the Republic of Nicaragua and to enjoy full protection so long
as he does not transgress the laws, and provided his acts do
not tend to incite the Indians against Nicaragua.