History for ready reference, Volume 7

by J. N. Larned

Outlook inquiry was that there was nothing in the
situation that could not have been met by simpler remedies
than the attempted segregation, and that the underlying motive
in the whole matter was a desire to win the political support
of the labor unions.
"The great fire in San Francisco in 1906 drove the Japanese
from their established quarters. Their attempts to gain new
locations in districts previously occupied wholly by white
residents tended to draw attention to them. For a time the
policing of the city was inadequate, and cases of bodily
violence toward Japanese were not infrequent. Anything like
organized action took the form of boycotts directed against
Japanese restaurants that sought white patronage and
subsequently against the Japanese laundries.
"The biennial sessions of the legislature since 1905 have
regularly furnished a large supply of anti-Japanese
resolutions and bills, introduced for effect and without
sufficient support for enactment. However, in 1909 legislation
was attempted looking toward prohibiting Japanese from
becoming owners of real property. It was only the strenuous
protests of President Roosevelt actively supported by the
governor of the state that prevented for this session the
enactment of some such measure. The legislature finally
contented itself with making an appropriation for a state
census of Japanese.
"This census was intrusted to the state commissioner of labor,
and is now (July, 1909) in progress. It may be regarded as a
step toward an authoritative inquiry as to facts upon which
later action may be based, if deemed necessary.
"The Japanese on the Pacific Coast uniformly exercise a most
commendable self-restraint, and their officials take advantage
of every opportunity to display a spirit of friendliness. This
is illustrated by liberal contributions to the city’s fund for
the entertainment of the sailors of the Atlantic Fleet during
its visit to San Francisco in May, 1908, and by an invitation
extended by the Chambers of Commerce of the large cities of
Japan in July, 1908, to similar bodies in the Pacific Coast
states to visit Japan as guests of the country. This
invitation was accepted by numerous commercial representatives
of the cities from Los Angeles northward to Seattle."
Frederick H. Clark,
Head of History Department,
Lowell High School, San Francisco.
"'If you provide a system of education which includes alien
children you must not exclude these particular alien
children.'"
Inasmuch as the Constitution and the laws of the United States
made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made under the
authority of the United States, are declared to be the supreme
law of the land, and that the judges in every State shall be
bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any
State to the contrary notwithstanding, this prohibitory power
was shown to be incontestable.
{541}
The common-sense ground of opinion and feeling on the whole
subject in America could not be set forth more indisputably
than it was by Mr. Roosevelt, after he had ceased to be
President, when he wrote as a private citizen, in his
editorial connection with The Outlook, on the 8th of
May, 1909, this:
"The Japanese are a highly civilized people of extraordinary
military, artistic, and industrial development; they are
proud, warlike, and sensitive. I believe that our people have,
what I personally certainly have, a profound and hearty
admiration for them; an admiration for their great deeds and
great qualities, an ungrudging respect for their national
character. But this admiration and respect is accompanied by
the firm conviction that it is not for the advantage of either
people that emigrants from either country should settle in
mass in the other country. The understanding between the two
countries on this point should be on a basis of entire
mutuality, and therefore on a basis which will preserve
unimpaired the self-respect of each country, and permit each
to continue to feel friendly good will for the other. Japan
would certainly object to the incoming of masses of American
farmers, laborers, and small traders; indeed, the Japanese
would object to this at least as strongly as the men of the
Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain States object to the incoming
in mass of Japanese workmen, agricultural laborers, and men
engaged in small trades. The Japanese certainly object to
Americans acquiring land in Japan at least as much as the
Americans of the far Western States object to the Japanese
acquiring land on our soil. The Americans who go to Japan and
the Japanese who come to America should be of the same general
class—that is, they should be travelers, students, teachers,
scientific investigators, men engaged in international
business, men sojourning in the land for pleasure or study. As
long as the emigration from each side is limited to classes
such as these, there will be no settlement in mass, and
therefore no difficulty."
That the emigration from Japan has been thus closely limited
was shown in September, 1909, by the issue of a statistical
circular from the office of the Japanese Consul-General at San
Francisco, dealing in tabulated form with the arrivals and
departures from Japan for the year 1908 and for the first six
months of the year 1909. It shows that the number of the
excess arrivals in Japan over the departures for 1908 was
1807, and for the first six months of the present year 737,
making a total excess of arrivals in Japan over departures for
the 18 months of 2544. The circular states that "no new
labourers are now leaving Japan for American territory," and
this may be taken as the official Japanese reply to the
continued assertions of the California labour unions that
large numbers of coolies are still reaching the country by way
of the Canadian and Mexican frontiers.
RACE PROBLEMS:
Exclusion of Chinese.
The Law and its Administration.
The Chinese Resentment expressed in a Boycott.
President Roosevelt’s Vain Appeal to Congress.
Opinion of Secretary Straus.
Resentful feeling aroused in China by the immigration and
exclusion laws of the United States, in their special
application to incoming Chinese and in the harshness of their
administration, began to have expression at Shanghai in May,
1905, when resolutions were adopted at a meeting of the
merchant guilds of that city which initiated an extensive
boycotting of American goods and of everything connected with
America. A report of the meeting and of its recommendations
was sent to all parts of the Empire and elicited a quick and
general response. The undertaking of the movement was to stop
the buying of American goods; to socially ostracise tradesmen
who continue to handle them, and to render no service to
Americans in China, except for higher pay than is demanded
from others. This boycotting attitude of large numbers in
China was persisted in throughout the year, and not only made
itself felt seriously in commercial circles, but impressed the
American public with a proper sense of the indignities they
were allowing to be imposed on a people who deserve their
respect. The President, in his Message to Congress at the
opening of the session in December, dealt justly with the
subject, as follows:
"The conditions in China are such that the entire Chinese
coolie class, that is, the class of Chinese laborers, skilled
and unskilled, legitimately come under the head of undesirable
immigrants to this country, because of their numbers, the low
wages for which they work, and their low standard of living.
Not only is it to the interest of this country to keep them
out, but the Chinese authorities do not desire that they
should be admitted. At present their entrance is prohibited by
laws amply adequate to accomplish this purpose. These laws
have been, are being, and will be, thoroughly enforced. …
But in the effort to carry out the policy of excluding Chinese
laborers, Chinese coolies, grave injustice and wrong have been
done by this Nation to the people of China, and therefore
ultimately to this Nation itself. Chinese students, business
and professional men of all kinds—not only merchants, but
bankers, doctors, manufacturers, professors, travelers, and
the like—should be encouraged to come here and treated on
precisely the same footing that we treat students, business
men, travelers, and the like of other nations. Our law's and
treaties should be framed, not so as to put these people in
the excepted classes, but to state that we will admit all
Chinese, except Chinese of the coolie class, Chinese skilled
or unskilled laborers. There would not be the least danger
that any such provision would result in any relaxation of the
law about laborers. These will, under all conditions, be kept
out absolutely. But it will be more easy to see that both
justice and courtesy are shown, as they ought to be shown, to
other Chinese, if the law or treaty is framed as above
suggested. Examinations should be completed at the port of
departure from China. For this purpose there should be
provided a more adequate consular service in China than we now
have. The appropriations, both for the offices of the consuls
and for the office forces in the consulates, should be
increased.
{542}
"As a people we have talked much of the open door in China,
and we expect, and quite rightly intend to insist upon,
justice being shown us by the Chinese. But we can not expect
to receive equity unless we do equity. We can not ask the
Chinese to do to us what we are unwilling to do to them. They
would have a perfect right to exclude our laboring men if our
laboring men threatened to come into their country in such
numbers as to jeopardize the well being of the Chinese
population; and as, mutatis mutandis, these were the
conditions with which Chinese immigration actually brought
this people face to face, we had and have a perfect right,
which the Chinese Government in no way contests, to act as we
have acted in the matter of restricting coolie immigration.
That this right exists for each country was explicitly
acknowledged in the last treaty between the two countries. But
we must treat the Chinese student, traveler, and business man
in a spirit of the broadest justice and courtesy if we expect
similar treatment to be accorded to our own people of similar
rank who go to China."
President's Message to Congress,
December 5, 1905.
No effective impression on the moral sense or the rationality
of Congress was made by the President’s appeal, and the laws
which are contemptuous of national treaties and indifferent to
the national honor remain on the statute books unchanged. That
others than the President in the Federal Administration felt
the wrong and the shame of the law which it had to administer,
was shown by an article from the pen of the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor, published in the spring of 1908. The
following are some passages from the article:
"It is not the policy of the Government with reference to
Chinese immigration, but the manner in which it is, of
necessity, carried out, by reason of the way in which the laws
are framed, that causes constant friction and dissatisfaction.
… The attitude of the Chinese Government may be inferred from
the fact that in 1904, after the convention of 1894 had been
in force ten years, China availed herself of her reserved
right and formally denounced the treaty, refusing longer to be
a party to an arrangement which, as carried into effect, was
offensive to her national pride. …
"For proof of the feeling of the Chinese people it is only
necessary to refer to the boycott of American goods,
inaugurated by various trade guilds and business and
commercial associations of the Empire during the summer of
1905. At that time China held first rank among Oriental
countries as a consumer of American products. In that year,
her total commerce amounted to $497,000,000, of which
$329,000,000 were imports; $57,000,000, or more than seventeen
per cent., being supplied by the United States. The exports
from the United States to China had grown to these proportions
by rapid strides. They were less than $3,000,000 in the
seventies. They only reached $7,500,000 in 1886, $12,000,000
in 1897, $15,000,000 in 1900, $24,000,000 in 1902, $57,000,000
in 1905. It was reasonable to believe that American trade
would continue to progress in something like the same ratio,
and a larger and larger share of the foreign trade of China
accrue to the United States. Instead of that, the exports of
the United States to China, according to our statistics, fell
to $44,000,000 in 1906, and to $26,000,000 in 1907.
"It is not necessary to attribute the decline wholly to the
boycott of 1905, but a drop in our exportations to that
country of fifty per cent. in two years is sufficiently
startling to challenge attention. But on higher grounds than
those of mere commercial interest should the frame of the laws
be changed. …
"I would not suggest a change in the established policy of
rigidly excluding Chinese laborers of every description, both
skilled and unskilled. The policy has been and will continue
to be as effectively enforced as circumstances will permit.
But, at a time when this policy of exclusion has been so
thoroughly applied that there remain in the United States only
about 70,000 Chinese—less than one-tenth of one per cent, of
our population—little danger need be apprehended from a full
and fair reconsideration of the subject and a recasting of the
laws upon a juster basis. …
"By making admission the rule, and exclusion the exception, we
could easily preserve the present policy in all its integrity,
and even strengthen the real prohibitory features thereof, at
the same time entirely removing a material cause of friction,
dissatisfaction and unnecessary humiliation to the people of a
friendly nation."
Oscar S. Straus
(Secretary of Commerce and Labor),
The Spirit and Letter of Exclusion
(The North American Review, April, 1908).
A much stronger expression was given to the shamed feeling of
honorable Americans on this subject by the veteran diplomatist
and former Secretary of State, Honorable John W. Foster, in an
article written in 1906. The following is a passage from the
article:
"I do not know how I can better illustrate the kind of
protection, or want of protection, extended to the Chinese, as
guaranteed by the Constitution, the treaties, and the solemn
promises of the government of the United States, than by
recalling a notorious case which occurred, not on the sand
lots of California, not under the auspices of labor agitators,
but in the enlightened city of Boston and under the conduct of
Federal officials.
"The following narrative is condensed from the newspapers of
that city. At about half past seven o’clock on the evening of
Sunday, October 11, 1902, a number of United States officials
of Boston, New York, and other cities charged with the
administration of the Chinese exclusion laws, assisted by a
force of the local police, made a sudden and unexpected
descent upon the Chinese quarter of Boston. The raid was timed
with a refinement of cruelty which did greater credit to the
shrewdness of the officials than to their humanity. It was on
the day and at the hour when the Chinese of Boston and its
vicinity were accustomed to congregate in the quarter named
for the purpose of meeting friends and enjoying themselves
after a week of steady and honest toil. The police and
immigration officials fell upon their victims without giving a
word of warning. The clubs, restaurants, other public places
where Chinese congregated, and private houses were surrounded.
Every avenue of escape was blocked. To those seized no warrant
for arrest or other paper was read or shown.
"Every Chinese who did not at once produce his certificate of
residence was taken in charge, and the unfortunate ones were
rushed off to the Federal Building without further ceremony.
There was no respect of persons with the officials; they
treated merchants and laborers alike. In many cases no demand
was made for certificates, the captives were dragged off to
imprisonment, and in some instances the demand was not made
till late at night or the next morning, when the certificates
were in the possession of the victims at the time of their
seizure.
{543}
"In the raid no mercy was shown by the government officials.
The frightened Chinese who had sought to escape were dragged
from their hiding-places, and stowed like cattle upon wagons
or other vehicles, to be conveyed to the designated place of
detention. On one of these wagons or trucks from seventy to
eighty persons were thrown, and soon after it moved it was
overturned. A scene of indescribable confusion followed, in
which the shrieks of those attempting to escape mingled with
the groans of those who were injured. …
"About two hundred and fifty Chinese were thus arrested and
carried off to the Federal Building. Here they were crowded
into two small rooms where only standing space could be had,
from eight o’clock in the evening, all through the night, and
many of them till late in the afternoon of the next day. There
was no sleep for any of them that night, though some of them
were so exhausted that they sank to the floor where they
stood. Their captors seemed to think that they had to do with
animals, not human beings. Some of them were released during
the night, when relatives brought their certificates or
merchants were identified. But the greater part were kept till
the next day, when the publicity of the press brought friends,
or relief through legal proceedings. …
"So strong was the indignation of the respectable citizens of
Boston, that a large public meeting was held in Faneuil Hall
to denounce the action of the immigration officials and the
police. … It was announced by the immigration officials that
their raid was organized under the belief that there were a
number of Chinese in Boston and its vicinity unlawfully in the
United States, and this method was adopted for discovering
them. The official report of the chief officer soon after the
event showed that two hundred and thirty-four Chinese were
imprisoned, that one hundred and twenty-one were released
without trial or requirement of bail, and that only five had
so far been deported, but that he hoped that he might secure
the conviction and deportation of fifty; as a matter of fact,
however, the deportations fell much below that number."
J. W. Foster,
The Chinese Boycott
(Atlantic Monthly, January, 1906).
In the same article Mr. Foster recalled facts connected with
the negotiation of the Treaty of 1880 which deepen the shame
to the United States of what followed: "In communicating to
the Secretary of State," he said, "the signature of the treaty
of 1880, the American commissioners wrote: ‘In conclusion, we
deem it our duty to say to you that during the whole of this
negotiation the representatives of the Chinese Government have
met us in the fairest and most friendly spirit. They have
been, in their personal intercourse, most courteous, and have
given to all our communications, verbal as well as written,
the promptest and most respectful consideration. After a free
and able exposition of their own views, we are satisfied that
in yielding to the request of the United States they have been
actuated by a sincere friendship and an honorable confidence
that the large powers recognized by them as belonging to the
United States, and bearing directly upon the interests of
their own people, will be exercised by our government with a
wise discretion, in a spirit of reciprocal and sincere
friendship, and with entire justice.’
"But even this treaty, which had been obtained from China so
reluctantly, yet with the generous exhibition of friendship on
her part just described, did not prove satisfactory to the
increasing demands of the labor unions. Before ten years were
passed, under the spur and excitement of the presidential
campaign of 1888, and upon the hesitation of the Chinese
government to make a further treaty modification, the Scott
Act was passed by Congress, which was a deliberate violation
of the treaty of 1880, and was so declared by the Supreme
Court; but under our peculiar system it became the law of the
land. Our government had thus flagrantly disregarded its
solemn treaty obligations. Senator Sherman, then chairman of
the Committee on Foreign Relations, stated in the Senate that
we had furnished China a just cause for war."
----------RACE PROBLEMS: End--------
RACE-TRACK GAMBLING.
See (in this Volume)
GAMBLING.
RADIO-TELEGRAPHY.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION: ELECTRICAL: TELEGRAPHY, WIRELESS.
RADIUM, and Radio-activity.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE, RECENT: RADIUM;
See also
PHYSICAL.
RADOLIN, Prince de:
Arrangement with France for the Algeciras Conference.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906.
RAIGOSA, Don Genaro:
President of Second International Conference
of American Republics.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
----------RAILWAYS: Start--------
RAILWAYS
RAILWAYS: Abyssinia:
French Projects.
See (in this Volume)
ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1902.
RAILWAYS: Africa: A. D. 1909.
Progress of the Cape to Cairo Line.
A telegram from Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia, November 10,
1909, announced that the Cape-to-Cairo Railroad had reached
the Congo frontier on the 16th.
RAILWAYS: Argentina-Chile: A. D. 1909.
The Transandine Railway Tunnel.
The great work, of boring a tunnel through the chain of the
Andes at an altitude of over 10,000 feet above sea level for
the trains of the Transandine Railway was practically
completed in the fall of 1909. "Early in April next the rails
will be laid, and from then onward the journey from Buenos
Ayres, on the eastern side of the South American continent, to
Valparaiso, on the Pacific Coast, may be undertaken in comfort
in a railway carriage all the year round. Up to the present
time passengers from the east have had to leave the rail at
Las Cuevas and proceed by a zigzag road over the mountains on
mule-back or in coaches to Caracoles, the rail head on the
Chilian side—a journey which occupies about two hours; but
this route is only open during the summer months. In the
winter, when the pass is closed by snow, travellers have to go
round by sea. The route under the Andes will effect a saving
of about twelve days. The work of boring the two-mile tunnel
was begun four years ago and has presented exceptional
difficulties."
{544}
RAILWAYS: Australia:
Government Ownership.
Difference of Gauge.
Each State having its own.
"Warfare against monopoly is easier in Australia than in some
other countries for the reason that in Australia the close
relation between monopoly and transportation is generally
understood and is not an issue. Some few and for the most part
small railroad projects, including mining and timber lines,
are still in private hands. All the other railroads are
publicly owned and publicly operated. So far the ownership is
vested in the several states, each having its own system. In
the good old conservative days before the Labor demon raised
its head, there was much childish jealousy among the different
governments. In the conservative view the destiny of Australia
was not to be a nation but a handful of nice little colonies
vying with one another in expressing loyalty to the
monarchical idea and the established order. When these came to
build railroads each colony established its own gauge and
stuck thereto. A more preposterous notion never bewitched the
human mind, but the truth is that a gauge of 4 feet 8½ inches
in New South Wales actually seemed a reason (to the
conservative intellect) for a gauge of 5 feet 3 inches in
Victoria and a gauge of 3 feet 6 inches in Western Australia.
The annoyance, delay, and expense resulting to through traffic
make the thing seem like a section of Bedlam. Between
Melbourne and Sydney, for instance, a line with an immense
business and with otherwise excellent accommodations, you must
change cars on the frontier and all the freight must be
transferred. Eventually the federal Government is to take over
and unify the systems of the different states. Considering the
multiplicities of systems and gauges, the task that will then
confront the federal Government will not be for a holiday."
Charles E. Russell,
The Uprising of the Many, chapter 27
(Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1907).
RAILWAYS: Canada: A. D. 1903-1909.
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1903-1909.
RAILWAYS: Canada: A. D. 1904.
Establishment of the Board of Railway Commissioners
with large Regulative Powers.
In Moody’s Magazine of January, 1906, the Honorable
Robert Bickerdike, M. P., of Montreal, gave a favorable
account of the operation of the Canadian Act of two years
before which created a Board of Railway Commissioners, taking
the place of the former Railway Committee of the Privy
Council, and exercising large powers of control over rates,
construction of road, and speed of trains. "No toll" (that is,
freight rate), he said, "may be charged which unjustly
discriminates between different localities. The board shall
not approve any toll which for like goods or passengers,
carried under substantially similar conditions in the same
direction over the same line, is greater for a shorter than a
longer distance, unless the board is satisfied that, owing to
competition, it is expedient to do so. Where carriage is
partly by rail and partly by water, and the tolls in a single
sum, the board may require the company to declare, or may
determine, what portion is charged in respect of carriage by
rail, to prevent discrimination. Freight tariffs are governed
by a classification which the board must approve, and the
object is to have this classification uniform. Railways shall,
when directed by the board, place any specified goods in any
stated class. Tariffs shall be in such form and give such
details as the board may prescribe. The maximum mileage tariff
shall be filed with the board and be subject to its approval;
when approved, the company shall publish it in the Canadian
Gazette, the official publication. As respects this act,
the board is invested with the rights, privileges, and powers
of a superior court. None, therefore, may oppose it."
RAILWAYS: Canada: A. D. 1906.
Government Ownership and Operation of a Railway Line.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1906-1907.
RAILWAYS: Canada: A. D. 1908-1909.
Projected Railway from the Canadian Northwest to Hudson Bay.
In a speech at Niagara Falls, in September, 1908, the Canadian
premier, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, announced positively that his
government had undertaken the construction of a railway from
the Canadian Northwest to Hudson Bay; that surveyors are in
the field determining the route, and that plans for the
construction of the road are being prepared. For a few weeks
in the year this will give another outlet to the greatest
wheat region of the continent for its harvests; and even a few
weeks will afford important relief, no doubt, to the pressure
of its need. Unfortunately, the passage from Hudson Bay to the
ocean, through Hudson Strait, is sealed up with ice during
much the greater part of the year. Quite recently there were
reports of the return of a vessel from the strait which had
found it blocked in July.
Notwithstanding the limit thus put on the usefulness of the
Hudson Bay route, the Northwest is counting on immediate
advantages from it. The Manitoba Free Press exclaims:
"To bring uncounted millions of acres of wheat in Western
Canada a thousand miles nearer to the market in Europe, and
make a saving of many millions of dollars every year in
transportation charges, thereby ensuring higher prices to the
farmers of the Prairie Provinces—this is what the opening up
of the Hudson Bay outlet will achieve. It will mean a
revolution in traffic routes and traffic rates. The immense
amount of territory within the cost-saving reach of Hudson
Bay, the New-World Mediterranean, will make this route one of
the greatest trade arteries of the world. It will place the
grain-growers of Western Canada in control of the markets of
the world by making possible a great reduction in the cost of
transportation. This saving will be brought about because the
Hudson Bay route is by a very considerable distance the
shortest route, and the saving is in the rail haul. … The
total cultivable area in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta is
some 175,000,000 acres. Even estimating the as yet
uncultivated area as being only one-half as productive as that
which has already come under the plow, a tenfold increase of
the present production is to be counted upon."
{545}
"Roughly speaking," says a magazine article on the subject,
"Churchill [one of the proposed Hudson Bay terminals] is just
1000 miles from the grain areas of Hill’s roads. New York is
2000 miles. Churchill is 1500 miles from Oregon. New York is
nearly 3000. … The harbor itself could not have been better if
it had been made to order. It is a direct 550-mile plain, open
deep-water sailing from the west end of the Straits,—no
shoals, no reefs, deep enough for the deepest-draft keel that
ever sailed the sea."
Tentative surveys of two routes from Winnipeg were undertaken
in October, 1908, and a report of them made in the following
spring. They were favorable to the project on either line.
That to Fort Churchill would have 465 miles of length and its
cost was estimated at $11,608,000. The alternative line, to
Fort Nelson, at the mouth of Nelson River, would be 397
miles long, and have an estimated cost of $8,677,000; but
harbor construction at Fort Nelson would cost heavily. The
report, however, recommended the latter route. Moreover,
abundant water power is waiting development along the Nelson
River, which might result in an economical electrification of
the road. Furthermore, the report suggested possibilities of a
canal along the river from Hudson Bay to Lake Winnipeg, and
from the latter to Winnipeg city, through which ocean craft
might ultimately reach the Manitoba metropolis.
In connection with this projected opening of a commercial
route from America to Europe through Hudson Bay, a Danish
writer has lately urged the Danish Government to bring
Greenland into touch with it.
RAILWAYS: Canada: A. D. 1909.
Important Ruling by the Railway Commission,
affecting American Railways.
In June, 1909, an important decision of the Canadian Railway
Commission was announced, "in the case of the Dawson Board of
Trade against the Yukon and White Pass Railway Company, an
English Corporation, laying down that by the amendment of the
Railway Act passed last session all railways, whether
originating in the United States or not, are under the
jurisdiction of the Canadian board. The point involved is the
question of rates on the White Pass, as to which counsel
asserted that if ordinary rates were ordered to prevail it
would be impossible to pay dividends. The board takes time to
consider the question of rates in view of the details
involved, but orders both the American and Canadian sections
of the line to file figures before the board. It is probable
that the rates of all American railways crossing Canada will
by this decision come under the jurisdiction of the board.
This will affect the Vanderbilt lines, which cross the Niagara
peninsula, also the Hill lines, which enter Canada from
Washington, Oregon, and other States. Railway men regard the
decision as the most important in the history of Canada,
because it gives the Canadian Commission power to regulate
rates on American railways entering Canada."
RAILWAYS: Central Africa: A. D. 1909.
Lines to Katanga.
In March, 1909, the Temps, of Paris, published
information according to which the work of constructing the
railway from the Upper Congo to the great Central African
lakes was making such progress that communication with the
Katanga mine fields would probably be established by the end
of 1910. The British South Africa lines, also, are being
pushed toward Katanga.
RAILWAYS: Chile-Bolivia: A. D. 1909.
The Arica-La Paz Railway.
According to a Press despatch from Santiago de Chile, April 5,
1909, a contract for the great railway to be made across the
Andes from Arica, in Chile, to La Paz, in Bolivia, attaining
an elevation of upwards of 12,000 ft. and having a length of a
little over 300 miles, had just been given to an English firm.
The actual money voted for the scheme was said to be
£3,000,000.
RAILWAYS: China:
Extent of Railway Travel.
Unused Concessions.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1904.
RAILWAYS: China: A. D. 1904-1909.
The Hankau-Sze-chuan Railway Loan.
American participation.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1904-1909.
RAILWAYS: China: A. D. 1909.
The Fa-ku-menn Railway and the Antung-Mukden Railway
questions between China and Japan.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1905-1909.
RAILWAYS: China: A. D. 1909.
The Chinese Eastern Railway.
New Russo-Chinese Agreement.
Municipalities on the Line.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1909 (MAY).
RAILWAYS: China: A. D. 1909.
Opening of the Peking-Kalgan Line.
A purely Chinese undertaking.
The opening, October 2d, 1909, with grand ceremonies, of the
Peking-Kalgan Railway, was an event of especial pride and
satisfaction to the Chinese people. It has been, wrote a
newspaper correspondent, "a purely Chinese undertaking, the
chief engineer of which, Jeme Tienyow, a member of the
Institute of Civil Engineers, and every employé are Chinese;
but the rails and rolling stock are foreign. It has been paid
for from the earnings of the Northern Railways, without
foreign financial assistance.
"The line, the length of which is 122 miles, joins Peking with
the important trade mart of Kalgan, piercing the Nankau Pass
by four tunnels, the longest, under the Great Wall, being
3,580 ft. It taps extensive coalfields and is well and
economically laid. Already the traffic is astonishing and will
add to the wealth of the province and increase the earnings of
the Northern Railways.
"The construction of the line has given training and
experience to a body of young Chinese engineers, who will find
ready employment in the future. The line will now be continued
westwards through populous country to Kwei-hua-cheng and the
Yellow River, a distance of 275 miles, the route for which was
surveyed last year. This line will also be paid for from the
earnings of the Northern Railways."
RAILWAYS: China: A. D. 1909-1910.
Proposal to neutralize Manchurian Railways and
to internationally finance a Chinchow-Aigun Line.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1909-1910.
RAILWAYS: England: A. D. 1907-1909.
Adopted System in Great Britain for pacific Settlement
of Labor Disputes in the Railway Service.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: ENGLAND: A. D. 1907-1909.
RAILWAYS: England: A. D. 1908.
No Passengers killed by Train Accidents.
The British public had the happiness of being informed that no
passenger was killed by a train accident on the railways of
Great Britain in 1908, and also that the number of passengers
injured—283—was not only 251 less than in 1907 and 345 less
than in 1906, but, like the number of killed, was less than
any previously recorded.
{546}
RAILWAYS: France: A. D. 1908.
Government purchase of the Western Railway.
In June, 1908, the French Government secured legislation
authorizing it to purchase the Western Railway of France,
which adds 3100 miles to the previous 2500 miles of
State-owned railways. The purchase is said to have been made
with the expectation "that sufficient pressure will be brought
on the other railway companies to make them adopt the methods
of management applied by the State to its railways."
RAILWAYS: France: A. D. 1909.
The Pensioning of State Railway Employés.
See (in this Volume)
POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT: FRANCE.
RAILWAYS: Mexico: A. D. 1906.
Nationalizing of the Mexican Railway System.
Opening of the Tehuantepec Railway.
"1906 was a year of railway consolidations in Mexico. In March
last, the National Railway of Mexico bought the Hidalgo
Railway, which starts from the capital, passes through the
important mining camp of Pachuca, and will ultimately reach
the port of Tuxpam on the Gulf of Mexico. But by far the most
important operation of the year along these lines was
announced by Finance Minister Limantour on December 14. The
Minister, in an address to Congress, informed that body that
the negotiations, which for some time past had been in
progress, for the reorganization of the finances of the
Mexican Central Railway, had culminated in a plan for the
consolidation of that property with the Mexican National, and
the incorporation of a new company, with headquarters in the
City of Mexico, to own and operate the merged system.
Moreover, the Minister informed the legislature that the
Mexican government, which had owned a controlling interest in
the Mexican National, would hold an absolute majority of the
stock of the new corporation.
"The transaction is an important one, as by it the Mexican
government gains unquestioned control of the transportation
system of the Republic."
F. R. Guernsey,
The Year in Mexico
(Atlantic Monthly, March, 1907).
Early in November, 1906, President Diaz formally opened the
Tehuantepec Railway. The event marks the completion of the
plan first proposed by Cortez four hundred years ago, when he
wrote to the king of Spain concerning the feasibility of a
canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific by this route, though
he little dreamt of a railway.
RAILWAYS: Mexico: A. D. 1909.
Extended Governmental Control of Railways.
"The most important step ever taken by the Mexican Government
in connexion with transportation was completed on February 1,
when the amalgamation of the National lines and the Mexican
Central Railway became operative. With this achievement the
Government secured control of 7,012 miles of railway, thus
possessing a majority of the stock of the national lines and
70 per cent. of the stock of the Mexican Central. The
combination includes, apart from the Mexican Central, the
National, International and Interoceanic lines. The Government
likewise controls the Vera Cruz and Pacific Railroad, with 265
miles, and the Tehuantepec National, with 206 miles."
Correspondence London Times,
July 16, 1909.
RAILWAYS: Mono-Rail System, The Brennan Gyroscopic.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION: RAILWAYS.
RAILWAYS: Netherlands:
Laws against Railway Strikes.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1903.
RAILWAYS: New York: A. D. 1907.
The Public Service Commissions Act.
See (in this Volume)
NEW YORK STATE: A. D. 1906-1910; and
PUBLIC UTILITIES.
RAILWAYS: New Zealand: A. D. 1909.
No more building by the Government of Railways not
likely to pay Interest on Cost.
A despatch from Wellington, New Zealand, to the English Press,
October 18, 1909, reported that "the Premier has made an
important announcement regarding his future railway
construction policy. He said that the Government would not
undertake the building of any more lines that were likely not
to pay. If the people wanted such lines they would have to
guarantee their earnings up to 3 per cent."
RAILWAYS: Nigeria: A. D. 1909.
Rapid development of the Railway System.
Early in 1909 Press despatches to London announced that "a
junction had been effected between the rails proceeding
northwards from Lagos and the rails proceeding southward from
Jebba on the Niger River. This places the Niger River, at a
point some 500 miles from its mouth, in direct communication
by rail with the town of Lagos, the capital of Southern
Nigeria, and fulfils the wishes of the inhabitants of Lagos
that ‘the iron horse should drink of the waters of the
Niger.’"
"The completion of the southern branch of the Nigerian railway
system," said a correspondent, "as far as Jebba on the Niger
is an event of considerable significance in the history of
British action in West Africa. The Anglo-French Agreement of
1898 secured us in the possession of what is undoubtedly the
most interesting portion of West Africa; interesting above all
from the character of its varied inhabitants—the agricultural
Yoruba, the keen Hausa trader and manufacturer, the Fulani, by
turn statesman and ruler or wandering herdsman. To this
region—to many parts of it at least—Islam has brought its
schools, its literature, and an effective system of
administration."
RAILWAYS: Rhodesia:
Rapid Extension of Railways.
See (in this Volume)
RHODESIA.
RAILWAYS: Switzerland: A. D. 1905.
Completion of the Tunnel under the Simplon Pass.
The tunnel under the Simplon Pass, between Brigue,
Switzerland, and Iselle, Italy, was finished February 24th,
1905, after seven years work and at a cost of $14,000,000. It
is twelve miles long,—two and three-quarters miles longer than
the St. Gothard tunnel. It opens direct railway communication
between Paris and Milan.
RAILWAYS: Switzerland: A. D. 1909.
Government Purchase of the St. Gothard Railway.
The St. Gothard Tunnel and Railway were built under an
agreement (1879) with the Swiss Government under which the
latter reserved the right of buying the St. Gothard within
thirty years, and the price arranged was twenty-five times the
amount of the net profits of the line during the last ten
years of working. The right was exercised in the spring of
1909, and thus the last of the principal Swiss lines passed
into the possession of the Government. The St. Gothard Company
at first demanded 215,800,000 francs, but eventually accepted
212,500,000 francs. The Confederation took over the debt of
the company--117,090,000 francs ($23,418,000) with 3½ per
cent. interest, and paid six million francs for expenses of
the issue of the company’s loans.
{547}
RAILWAYS: Turkey: A. D. 1899-1909.
The Bagdad Railway.
In January, 1902, the Turkish Sultan signed a convention which
provides a guarantee, to the extent of 12,000 francs per
kilometre for the undertaking of the Bagdad Railway, to build
which a concession had been obtained by a German syndicate in
1899.
See, in Volume VI. of this work,
TURKEY: A. D. 1899--NOVEMBER).
The new railway was to be an extension of the existing
Anatolian Railway, starting from the terminus of the latter at
Konieh and running, via Bagdad, to some point on the Persian
Gulf, the selection of which was left for future arrangement.
The line, with its branches, was to have a length of 2,500
kilometres or about 1550 miles.
A further convention respecting this project was signed in
March, 1903, concerning which the following statement was made
in the British Parliament on the 23d of that month by the
Premier, Mr. Balfour: "A copy of the convention, concluded
March 5, 1903, between the Turkish Government and the
Anatolian Railway Company is in our possession. It leaves the
whole scheme of railway development through Asia Minor to the
Persian Gulf entirely in the hands of a company under German
control. To such a convention we have never been asked to
assent, and we could not in any case be a party to it."
Mr. David Fraser, a young traveller of experience, was
commissioned by the Times of India in 1907 to follow
the proposed route of the Bagdad Railway and report on its
prospects. He started from Constantinople, and traversed the
completed portion of the line to where it breaks off suddenly
some ten kilometres east of Eregli, "with its pair of rails,"
he wrote, "gauntly projecting from the permanent way and
pointing in dumb amazement where the Taurus shares the horizon
with the very skies." "They have now," said the London
Times not long since, "been pointing thus for nearly five
years, to the bewilderment of those who, not knowing the
country, imagined, in 1904, that with Germany determined and
Turkey desirous to push ahead, the Bagdad line would go
forward with inevitable march towards its distant goal."
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1908.
Damascus to Mecca.
The Pilgrims’ Road.
"The Damascus to Mecca Railway has many remarkable features
which distinguish it from other lines. Its principal object is
to provide a means for faithful Moslems to perform their
pilgrimage to the holy places of Mecca and Medina with a
greater degree of comfort than formerly. Its inception is due
to the initiative of the present Sultan, and the enthusiasm
created by its first announcement brought in subscriptions
from the faithful in all parts of the Islamic world."
The length of the line from Damascus to Mecca is 1097 miles.
"The gauge of the line is the somewhat curious one of 1.05
meter (3 feet 5¼ inches), which was necessary, when the line
was first commenced, to correspond with the gauge of the
Beirut-Damascus line, over which the rolling stock had to be
brought."
Colonel F. R. Maunsell,
National Geographic Magazine,
February, 1909.
The line was opened to Medina early in the autumn of 1908.
RAILWAYS: United States of America: A. D. 1870-1908.
Railway Rate Regulation.
Its slow Development.
"Granger" Legislation in the Middle West.
State Commissions.
Defiant Rebating.
Tardy Federal Legislation.
The Interstate Commerce Act, 1887, 1906.
President Roosevelt on the subject.
The creation of largely capitalized and therefore powerful
corporations was first developed in a rapid and extensive way
by the modern enterprise of railway building; and the railways
became soon so essentially related to every kind of interest,
personal or general, that they naturally gave rise to the
earliest of the specially modern problems of public policy
concerning corporations which required to be solved. For a
long period society had no call to defend itself against
monopolistic combinations among its railway corporations;
because it was long before seriously competitive lines of rail
could be built. Each served its own belt of country; but each
company owning and managing a line held therefore, in itself,
a monopoly of the transportation agency it had created, and
could, in an unchecked management of that agency, either wrong
its whole clientele by excessive rates of charge, or wrong one
part of it by some favoritism of unequal rates. Those were the
original abuses of opportunity and power which provoked
defensive measures of law. Naturally the earlier undertakings
of defence in the United States were by State legislation,
since nearly all charters of incorporation for business
purposes have been derived from the States. Wherever the
operations of business conducted under such charters extend
over more than a single State, the constitutional power of
Congress to "regulate commerce … among the several States"
gives it an undoubted right to take part in the regulation of
them; but it was slow to exercise that right. The following
abridgment of an excellent sketch of the slow development of
railway-rate regulation gives the essential facts. It is
quoted from extensively by kind permission of its authors and
of The Boston Evening Transcript for which it was
prepared:
"Perhaps the most remarkable fact in the whole history of
interstate transportation is that, despite flagrant abuses,
Federal regulation was held off until 1887. Within the States
themselves railroad rates had been often subjected to severe
regulation: yet even the public excitement which accompanied
the ‘granger’ legislation between 1870 and 1880 did not result
in Federal legislation. In several States, notably in the
Middle West, during that epoch, detailed statutes were passed
fixing maximum rates which by no present standard could be
said to be anything but outrageous. In those times the Federal
courts held that they would not consider legislation as
confiscatory if it left to the railroad one cent of net profit
above operating expenses. But even with this rule, now almost
incredible, it was found in the next decade that much of the
rate-fixing under the State statutes was unconstitutional.
{548}
Nor was the situation much ameliorated by the later
establishment of State commissions, for many of them,
according to the present standards, flagrantly abused their
powers. … After the first outburst more conservative counsels
generally prevailed. The movement met much opposition in its
progress throughout the country, and although commissions were
generally created in the East, they were given no final powers
over rates. Then a reaction set in, due in part to the
prostration of the Western roads. … Much wise legislation
dates from this period, and many State commissions acted in a
moderate spirit. The history of railroad legislation in these
seventeen years illustrated, however, the slow process by
which a popular movement culminates in Federal legislation;
and good law or bad, proper action or improper action, the
legislation of the States supplied experience in view of which
Congress could act wisely when, in 1887, Federal legislation
became inevitable. That this legislation had become inevitable
was due very largely to the continued abuse of their
commercial power by the railroad managers. For several years
public opinion as to railroad discrimination had become so
well settled as to work a real change in the common law, yet
the railroad officials persistently defied it. Rebating,
which, as late as 1875, was at common law merely a doubtful
practice, by 1885 had become generally accepted as an illegal
business; but this change the railroads refused to recognize
in any other way than to make their practices more secret. It
was public indignation against long continued illegal
discrimination and undue preference which brought down upon
the railways the inter-State commerce legislation in 1887. The
wonder is, in view of the railway practices, that it did not
come sooner. But however well behaved the railways might have
been, Federal regulation would have come inevitably long
before the end of the nineteenth century, in accordance with
the general current of public opinion that public services
could no longer go without governmental regulation. Still the
act itself as finally passed was really very conservative,
when the nature of the crisis is considered. … By the
principal provisions of the Interstate Commerce act the
railways were forbidden: (1) To charge unreasonable rates; (2)
To discriminate between persons; (8) To give preference
between localities; (4) To charge less for a long haul than
for a shorter haul included within it ‘under substantially
similar circumstances.’ These provisions were undoubtedly
intended by the majority of those who framed the act as rather
radical legislation, which should materially affect the
practice of the railroads; but the conservative force of
judicial decision soon modified the intended force of the act.
From the outset the commission claimed that it not merely had
power under the act to forbid any unreasonable rate upon

complaint made, but that also, in giving relief, it might
indicate to the railroad what should be the reasonable rate
thenceforth. But within ten years the Supreme Court decided
that the commission had no power to fix rates at all. This was
a famous victory for the railroad bar, for without an
authoritative statement by the commission of what rate it
would regard as reasonable, even a railroad which yielded
obedience to the decree of the commission without appeal to
the courts, could make a slight reduction in the rate, and any
dissatisfied shipper would be obliged to enter again into an
expensive and dilatory litigation. In this way the railroads
tired out objecting shippers; but in the process they
stimulated a widespread demand for a power in the commission
to fix rates similar to that given to many State commissions
and to the corresponding body in Great Britain. The long and
short haul clause provided that exceptions to it must be by
special dispensation from the commission. … But tucked away in
the section was the vague phrase, ‘under substantially similar
circumstances,’ which proved its destruction. At first the
commission began to enforce the act according to its obvious
reading, and to grant dispensations from its operation on
petition of the railroad in proper cases. But the whole effort
of the railway counsel was concentrated upon the courts, and
it was finally held that wherever there was competition at the
distant points, the conditions were dissimilar with those at
the intervening points of any benefit from the clause. Water
competition was first held an excuse for a lower rate for the
longer haul. Then rail competition was recognized. Next
potential competition over existing routes was held enough.
But finally the courts refused to consider the mere
possibility of new routes. … Commercial cities and towns were
left at the mercy of the railways, as they had been before the
act, and the long and short-haul clause became a dead letter.
This was a cause of most bitter complaint; yet, singularly
enough, when the amendments of 1906 were adopted, no attempt
was made to amend this clause. … Further action by the Federal
Government was foreshowed as before by a very considerable
body of legislation throughout the United States, between 1900
and 1905. In many States there was an unfortunate
recrudescence of the ill-advised ‘granger’ legislation, by the
passing of statutes fixing maximum rates; but this time it was
passenger rates which were chiefly attacked, while before it
had been freight rates. The two-cent fare was a popular
programme in this period, and it all but swept the country.
Some legislatures, however, defied it, and some governors
stood out against the legislatures. … The legislation of this
period had, however, another branch which was well-advised. It
is the general characteristic of this legislation that it
confers on the railroad commission the power, while setting
aside unreasonable rates, of fixing a maximum rate. The giving
of such power to the interstate Commission was the principal
point in the programme for further Federal legislation. One
other general power that has been given to State commissions
in the legislation since 1900 is the authority to compel
railroads to furnish proper facilities, together with power of
supervision of management in other respects, which is adopted in
the Federal legislation of 1906 in an experimental way. Those
who would understand the Federal legislation in its latest
form should study the most recent railroad regulation in
Minnesota and Wisconsin, Indiana and New York. … As finally
adopted, the act of 1906 [known as the Hepburn Act] is in form
of a series of amendments to the original act of 1887. … The
main object in most of the legislation was to strengthen still
further the power of the commission over rates and rebates.
{549}
In regard to these, the amendments affected change chiefly
along these two lines. (1) Power is given to the commission to
fix maximum rates in cases where, upon complaint, the rates
fixed by the railroad were found to be excessive. This
includes the power to fix joint through rates. (2) Rebating is
forbidden under heavy penalties, civil and criminal, both to
the railroad and to the shipper; and the cases in which a
reduced rate can be given are enumerated."
Joseph H. Beale and Bruce Wyman,
Two Years of the Railroad Rate Law
(Boston Evening Transcript, October 10, 1908).
It was through no fault of the President that effective
legislation to suppress secret rebates and other practices of
favoritism to large shippers by the railways came so tardily
from Congress, as appears above. In his first Message, of
December, 1901, he began urging the needed amendments to the
Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, saying:
"That law was largely an experiment. Experience has shown the
wisdom of its purposes, but has also shown, possibly, that
some of its requirements are wrong, certainly that the means
devised for the enforcement of its provisions are defective. …
The act should be amended. The railway is a public servant.
Its rates should be just to and open to all shippers alike.
The Government should see to it that within its jurisdiction
this is so and should provide a speedy, inexpensive, and
effective remedy to that end. At the same time it must not be
forgotten that our railways are the arteries through which the
commercial life-blood of this Nation flows. Nothing could be
more foolish than the enactment of legislation which would
unnecessarily interfere with the development and operation of
these commercial agencies. The subject is one of great
importance and calls for the earnest attention of the
Congress."
For five years after this reasonable and most just
recommendation was addressed to Congress, the special
interests opposed to public interests in the matter were
represented so controllingly in that body that the impotences
of the law remained uncured. In the Presidential Message of
1904 a more imperative language on the subject was used. "It
is necessary," said the Chief Magistrate, "to put a complete
stop to all rebates. Whether the shipper or the railroad is to
blame makes no difference; the rebate must be stopped, the
abuses of the private car and private terminal-track and
side-track systems must be stopped, and the legislation of the
Fifty-eighth Congress which declares it to be unlawful for any
person or corporation to offer, grant, give, solicit, accept,
or receive any rebate, concession, or discrimination in
respect of the transportation of any property in interstate or
foreign commerce whereby such property shall by any device
whatever be transported at a less rate than that named in the
tariffs published by the earner must be enforced. … The
Government must in increasing degree supervise and regulate
the workings of the railways engaged in interstate commerce;
and such increased supervision is the only alternative to an
increase of the present evils on the one hand or a still more
radical policy on the other. In my judgment the most important
legislative act now needed as regards the regulation of
corporations is this act to confer on the Interstate Commerce
Commission the power to revise rates and regulations, the
revised rate to at once go into effect, and to stay in effect
unless and until the court of review reverses it."
Still Congress did nothing in response to this demand, which
was the demand of the American public, uttered by its chief
and truest representative. Another year passed, and when the
next annual communication of counsel from the national
executive to the national legislature came forth, all other
topics in it were overshadowed by this. The force of argument,
admonition, and pleading in the Message was fairly
overpowering, and it went to a newly chosen Congress in which
the people had represented themselves with somewhat better
effect. The result was the amending act of 1906.
In the energy of the President’s advocacy of this legislation
there was nothing of animosity to the railway corporations.
His most impressive arguments, for example, were such as
these: "I believe that on the whole our railroads have done
well and not ill; but the railroad men who wish to do well
should not be exposed to competition with those who have no
such desire, and the only way to secure this end is to give to
some government tribunal the power to see that justice is done
by the unwilling exactly as it is gladly done by the willing.
Moreover, if some Government body is given increased power the
effect will be to furnish authoritative answer on behalf of
the railroad whenever irrational clamor against it is raised,
or whenever charges made against it are disproved. I ask this
legislation not only in the interest of the public but in the
interest of the honest railroad man and the honest shipper
alike, for it is they who are chiefly jeoparded by the
practices of their dishonest competitors."
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1890-1902.
Application of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law of 1890 to
Railway Combinations and Poolings of Rates.
The Trans-Missouri Freight Association Case.
Decision of the Supreme Court.
Remarks of the Industrial Commission.
In the period between 1870 and 1880 the widening of
combination and organization in all fields of heavily
capitalized industry began, especially in America, to attain
proportions that could be dangerous to social interests in
many ways, by its concentration of the power that money
commands. Alarming possibilities of monopoly, of oppression to
labor, of political corruption, of commercial tyranny
exercised in many forms, were all involved. At the same time
the processes working in this matter were wholly those of a
natural evolution, and were shaping human industry, very
plainly and surely, to perfected economic conditions and
results. Serious problems in government were thus pressed on
public attention for the first time. How to realize the
economic benefits which industrial organization on the large
scale can produce, and which are unattainable without it, and
be at the same time securely defended in all social and common
interests against selfishly hostile uses of the power so
engendered, became then a subject of anxious debate, and the
satisfying answer to it has not yet been found.
{550}
Railway companies were now no longer alone, as corporations
that challenge the exercise of public authority to control
their performance of the public service for which they were
chartered. The growth of mammoth organisms of business in
other fields—such, for example, as the Standard Oil
Company—had reached startling proportions, and the power of
oppression in them was being displayed. Economists, jurists,
and thoughtful legislators were giving earnest study to the
problems they raised. The difficulty of the problem, in the
United States more than in other countries, because of the
divided jurisdictions in government under the federal system,
is made plain by Mr. E. Parmalee Prentice, in the seventh
chapter of his treatise on "The Federal Power over Carriers
and Corporations." Before Congress attempted legislation for a
general control of commercial combinations that were operative
in the country at large, there was much searching for an
adequate ground of constitutional power. In the first instance
it was sought for, not in the authority to regulate commerce,
but in the taxing power, or the right of government to protect
itself from injury to the operation of its revenue laws. When
this was given up there were efforts to frame an act "in
restraint of competition in the production, manufacture or
sale of goods ‘that in due course of trade shall be
transported from one State’ to another." But, says Mr.
Prentice, "a statute of this nature could be sustained only on
the ground of an anticipating and continuing jurisdiction over
every article which, at any period in its history—from
production commenced to consumption completed—had ever
crossed, or would cross, State lines, and over every buyer and
every seller of such article." This, too, was abandoned, as
"an attempt to do the impossible." "The clause relating to
diversity of citizenship was stricken out, and the bill once
more rested upon the narrow power to regulate commerce." As it
finally passed the two houses of Congress and was approved by
the President, July 2d, 1890, this much discussed and much
litigated piece of legislation, known as the Sherman Act,
embodied its purpose in the first two sections, which read as
follows:
"Section 1.
Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise,
or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the
several States, or with foreign nations, is hereby declared to
be illegal. Every person who shall make any such contract or
engage in any such combination or conspiracy, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be
punished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by
imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said
punishments, in the discretion of the court.
"Section 2.
Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize,
or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to
monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several
States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by
fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment
not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, in the
discretion of the court."
"In a number of early cases," says the writer already quoted,
"the act was applied to combinations of laborers to interrupt
the free passage from State to State, the defendants in most
instances being railroad employees. At this point in the
process of judicial construction the case of the Freight
Association [United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight
Association] presented to the Supreme Court the question
whether the act applied to interstate carriers. Of the
intention of Congress there is probably little doubt. Railroad
transportation had been covered in 1887 by the Interstate
Commerce Act. The Sherman Act of 1890 was intended to cover
not transportation, but trade."
The suit of the United States against the Trans-Missouri
Freight Association, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
Railroad Co., and others, was brought for the dissolution of
an association or combination alleged to be in restraint of
trade, and in violation therefore of the Act of July 2, 1890,
called the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. It was tried originally in
November, 1892, before United States District Judge Riner, of
the Kansas District, who ruled that the law did not apply, and
dismissed the case. On appeal it was tried again with the same
result the next year before Circuit Judge Sanborn and District
Judges Shiras and Thayer. Judges Sanborn and Thayer affirmed
the judgment of the District Court, while Judge Shiras
dissented. The question then went for final adjudication to
the Supreme Court, where it was argued on the 8th and 9th of
December, 1896, and decided on the 22d of March, 1897. The
opinion of the Court, delivered by Justice Peckham, reversed
the judgment of the courts below, affirming that the
Anti-Trust Act applies to railroads, and that it renders
illegal all agreements which are in restraint of trade. The
case was accordingly remanded to the Circuit Court "for
further proceedings in conformity with this opinion." Justices
White, Field, Gray, and Shiras dissented from the opinion of
the majority.
"In the Final Report (transmitted to Congress in February,
1902), of the Industrial Commission, created by Act of
Congress in 1898, this case of the Trans-Missouri Freight
Association, and the general status at that time of questions
involved in it, are discussed at length, and partly as
follows:
"It is of peculiar interest to note that this leading case was
decided, not upon interpretation of the interstate commerce
act itself, but under the provisions of the Sherman anti-trust
law of 1890. … Two questions were plainly before the court:
First whether the Sherman anti-trust law applied to and
covered common carriers by railroad; and secondly, whether the
Trans-Missouri Freight Association violated any provision of
that act by being an unreasonable restraint upon trade. The
court itself acknowledged that it was doubtful whether
Congress originally intended to include railroads under the
prohibitory provisions of the anti-trust law. Counsel for the
carriers showed, it would seem conclusively, that an amendment
proposed by Mr. Bland to include railroads in the prohibition
was rejected. The dissenting Supreme Court justices maintained
that in the absence of a specific application of the
anti-trust law to railroads, inasmuch as the anti-trust law
was a general act, while the act to regulate commerce,
antedating it by three years, was specific, the latter
exempted the railroads, in any case, from the drastic
provisions of the Sherman Act against combinations in
restraint of trade. The court refused to consider other than
mere questions of law, holding that if pooling were excepted
it was the province of Congress to take appropriate action. …
{551}
"It has very frequently been asserted that a primary cause of
the notable tendency toward railroad consolidation since 1898
was the definitive prohibition of all varieties of traffic
contracts or agreements by the Trans-Missouri Freight
Association decision of 1897. This decision, as has already
been indicated, was rendered upon the basis of the Sherman
anti-trust law, without contemplation of the prohibitive
provision of the Act to regulate commerce of 1887. According
to the opinion of many jurists, in fact, the latter act could
not reasonably have been construed to prohibit many of the
traffic agreements which have been customary between carriers.
It has been urged with great force that coöperation among the
railroads having been finally adjudged illegal, it became
necessary to have recourse to a more drastic remedy, namely,
consolidation in some of its various forms. … The first
difference to be noted between pooling and consolidation is
that the latter is much more comprehensive in its scope. …
Agreements for the division of traffic constitute but the mere
machinery by which a certain result is to be attained. …
Experience has abundantly shown that it is possible for
railroads to maintain a large part of their identity, even
reserving to themselves the power to make rates independently,
under a pool, in exceptional cases, without thereby entirely
nullifying the steadying influences of such traffic
agreements. Consolidation, however, necessarily involves the
unification of all interests as between railroads. … In brief,
pooling may still permit competition in respect to facilities.
It may merely eliminate the ruinous phases of competition in
rates, leaving still in force the healthful influences of
reasonable rivalry. Consolidation proceeds to the uttermost to
stifle competition of all kinds, whether in respect of rates
or of facilities. … A second point to be kept in mind as
between the effects of consolidation and pooling lies in the
fact that consolidation can never hope to accomplish the
steadying influence upon rates which is claimed for railroad
pools, until such time as every railroad within a given
competitive territory shall have been bought up and absorbed.
… A division of territory into a number of specific groups,
each absolutely monopolized by one interest, seems to be the
only logical outcome of the consolidations which have been
already accomplished. …
"Pools and pooling still exist: although outwardly called
gentlemen’s agreement or disguised in some other way, it is
incontestable that in every case where consolidation has not
proceeded to its uttermost limits, as in New England, traffic
agreements exist. Railroad men are almost unanimous in the
expression of their desire to have the inhibition removed.
Representatives of commercial interests have, in the main,
acceded to this opinion. As has been shown, the prohibition
was not contemplated originally. It was included in the act
only as a concession to certain opponents of pooling in the
House of Representatives. … On the other hand, it is
universally recognized that certain dangers to the shipper are
incident to such action. Railroad pools may, and certainly
have, in some instances, operated either to raise rates, or to
maintain them in face of a tendency to decline. As a
consequence, the majority of these appeals for remedial
legislation are accompanied by a demand that pooling, if once
more permitted by law, shall be subject to governmental
approval and supervision."
Final Report of the Industrial Commission,
pages 338-348.
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1901-1905.
The Northern Securities Case.
Another test of the Sherman Act.
The question of the Legality of Combination
between Corporations through a "Holding Company."
At about the time when the Industrial Commission was producing
its final report, from which the above is taken, the courts of
the United States were called on to give attention to another
mode, distinctly different from either "pooling" agreements or
corporate consolidation, by which an effective combination of
railway lines could be secured. It came to the consideration
of the courts in the case of the Northern Securities Company,
which was famous in its day. Briefly related, the case arose
as follows:
Although the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific
Railway traverse the same Northwestern section of the United
States, from the Mississippi River and the western extremity
of the Great Lakes to the Pacific Coast, at no great distance
apart, there was not rivalry, but a community of interest
between them, in 1901, when the corporations to which they
belong became joint purchasers of the Chicago, Burlington and
Quincy Railway system, in order to secure for each of them a
direct connection with Chicago, under their joint control.
This achievement of the powerful railway interests controlled
by James J. Hill was followed by what is known in Wall Street
as a "raid" on the stock of the Northern Pacific, by the Union
Pacific interests, headed by E. H. Harriman, with the object
of securing votes to elect the next board of directors in that
corporation, and thus control the whole Northern
transcontinental combination. The outcome of the fierce
struggle was a compromise, from which issued the famous
"holding company" known as the Northern Securities Company,
incorporated on the 12th of November, 1901, under the
accommodating laws of the State of New Jersey. The term
"holding company" describes precisely the function which this
corporation was created to perform. In the language of its
charter, "the objects for which the corporation is formed are:
To acquire by purchase, subscription or otherwise, and to hold
as investment, any bonds or other securities or evidences of
indebtedness. … To purchase, hold, sell, assign, transfer,
mortgage, pledge, or otherwise dispose of, any bonds or other
securities or evidences of indebtedness created or issued by
any other corporation. … To purchase, hold … etc., shares of
capital stock of any other corporation … and, while owner of
such stock, to exercise all the rights, powers and privileges
of ownership, including the right to vote thereon."
{552}
The specific plan of operation was set forth in a circular
issued by the Northern Securities Company, on the 22d of
November, 1901, to holders of the stock of the Great Northern
Railway Company, which said: "The Northern Securities Company,
incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey, with
an authorized capital stock of $400,000,000, and with power to
invest in and hold the securities of other companies, has
commenced business, and has acquired from several large
holders of stock of the Great Northern Railway Company a
considerable amount of that stock. A uniform price has been
paid of $180 per share, in the fully paid stock of this
company, at par. This company is ready to purchase additional
shares of the same stock at the same price, payable in the
same manner, and will accept offers made on that basis if made
within the next sixty days."
"It seems," says Professor Meyer, in his "History of the
Northern Securities Case," "that the capitalization of
$400,000,000 was fixed at that figure in order to cover
approximately the combined capital stock of the Northern
Pacific and Great Northern at an agreed price apparently based
upon earning capacity. The par value of the outstanding
capital stock of the Great Northern was $123,880,400, and that
of the Northern Pacific amounted to $155,000,000. The Northern
Securities Company purchased about seventy-six per cent. of
the former and ninety-six per cent. of the latter, on the
basis of $115 per share of $100 of Northern Pacific and $180
per share of $100 of the Great Northern."
From the side of the railway interests concerned, this holding
together of the stocks of the two corporations which owned
between them the connecting Burlington line to Chicago was a
necessary business transaction. Their view of it was stated
subsequently by Mr. Hill, in testimony given during
proceedings which tested the legality of the holding company,
when he said: "With the Northern Pacific as a half-owner in
the shares of the Burlington and responsibility for one-half
of the purchase price of these shares, the transfers of the
shares of the Northern Pacific or the control of the Northern
Pacific to an interest that was adverse or an interest that
had greater investments in other directions, the control being
in the hands of companies whose interests would be injured by
the growth and development of this country would, of course,
put the Great Northern in a position where it would be almost
helpless, because we would be, as it were, fenced out of the
territory south which produces the tonnage we want to take
west and which consumes the tonnage we want to bring east, and
the Great Northern would be in a position where it would have
to make a hard fight—either survive or perish, or else sell
out to the other interests. The latter would be the most
business-like proceeding."
On the other hand, from the standpoint of public interests,
the combination looked dangerous to the Northwestern States,
as being a suppression of competition and a creation of
monopoly in railway transportation, and it was quickly
announced that the Governor of Minnesota had determined to
invite the Governors of States affected by the transaction to
a conference, for the purpose of considering "the best methods
of fighting the Northern Securities Company’s propositions in
the courts and by new legislation, if necessary." The result
of the conference was a suit undertaken by the State of
Minnesota, at first in the Supreme Court of the United States,
where it was found to be impracticable, but finally begun in
the United States Circuit Court. This State action was soon
followed by proceedings taken by the Federal Government.
Attorney-General Knox was asked by the President for an
opinion as to the legality of the procedure involved in the
formation of the Northern Securities Company, and replied
that, in his judgment it violated the provisions of the
Sherman Act of 1890. The President then "directed that
suitable action should be taken to have the question
judicially determined." Suit was begun accordingly on the 10th
of March, 1902, by the United States, in the United States
Circuit Court at St. Paul, against the three companies,
—Northern Securities, Great Northern, and Northern Pacific.
Testimony was taken in St. Paul and New York, and the case was
argued in March, 1903, at St. Louis, before a special trial
court, composed of four circuit judges. The decision rendered
by this court, the four judges concurring, declared the
transaction illegal, and enjoined the Northern Securities
Company from performing the acts that it was intended to
perform. This decision was contradicted, however, by one given
at about the same time in the suit of the State of Minnesota,
which had its trial in the United States Circuit Court for the
District of Minnesota. There the legality of the formation of
the Northern Securities Company was affirmed.
Appeals from both decisions were taken to the Supreme Court,
and that of the special trial court, in the suit of the
Federal Government, which declared the procedure involved in
the formation of the Northern Securities Company to be in
violation of the Sherman Act of 1890, was fully sustained by a
majority of the Court, in March, 1904. In the opinion of the
majority of the justices, "if Congress has not, by the words
used in the Act, described this and like cases, it would, we
apprehend, be impossible to find words that would describe
them."
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1906.
The Court below was authorized accordingly to execute its
decree against the Securities Company. A little later the
Supreme Court decided in the Minnesota State suit that it had
no jurisdiction, and sent the case back, to be remanded to the
State court from which it had been originally removed. With
this case nothing further was done.
In connection with the undoing of the Northern Securities
Company’s operations, to reconvey the property for which it
had issued its stock, fresh litigation arose, over questions
that touched the construction to be put on the court’s decree.
This, too, went up to the Supreme Court of the United States,
and was decided there in March, 1905; but it has no important
bearing on the questions involved in the original case.
{553}
In the final chapter of his history of the case, Professor
Meyer has this to say of it: "The chief interest of the
Northern Securities case lies in the magnitude of the
interests involved and in the variety of the economic and
legal problems which were incidentally drawn into the
controversy. From the point of view of railway organization
the case presents little of consequence, except that railway
corporate organization, in the process of metamorphosis or
evolution, must, avoid the technicality of the particular type
of holding company which the Northern Securities Company
represented. From the point of view of railway regulation and
the relations between the general public interests and private
railway management, the case has no significance whatsoever,
in spite of the fact that action against the Securities
Company arose out of alleged injurious consequences to the
public. It was assumed that competition had been stifled,
without first asking the question whether competition had
actually existed; and whether, if competition could be
perpetuated, the public would profit by it."
Balthazer Henry Meyer,
A History of the Northern Securities Case
(Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, Number 142).
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1901-1909.
The Harriman System.
Its Creation.
Its Magnitude.
The Rapid Rise of the late E. H. Harriman to Financial Power.
On the death of the late Edward H. Harriman, which occurred on
the 9th of September, 1909, it was said that he was the
absolute dictator of 75,000 miles of railroad in the United
States—about one-third of the country’s total mileage of
railways—besides being a leading director in four ocean
steamship lines, two trust companies, and three banks. Some
time previously the Interstate Commerce Commission, in the
report of its investigation of the Union Pacific Railroad
management, said of him: "Mr. Harriman may journey by
steamship from New York to New Orleans, thence by rail to San
Francisco, across the Pacific Ocean to China, and, returning
by another route to the United States, may go to Ogden by any
one of three rail lines, and thence to Kansas City or Omaha,
without leaving the deck or platform of a carrier which he
controls, and without duplicating any part of his journey."
In the same report, referring to one of the most questionable
of Harriman’s financial operations, the Commission remarked
that it was "rich in illustrations of various methods of
indefensible financing," but added that it was no part of the
Harriman policy to permit the properties under the Union
Pacific control to degenerate. "As railroads," it was said,
"they are better properties to-day, with lower grades,
straighter tracks, and more ample equipment than they were
when they came under that control. Large sums have been
generously expended in the carrying on of engineering works
and betterments which make for the improvement of the service
and the permanent value of the property."
On the occasion of Mr. Harriman’s death, the New York
Evening Post, reviewing his career, said of him that
"his worst enemies are forced to admit that as a railroad
executive he had no peer. What he found on taking charge of
the Union Pacific was two dirt ballasted streaks of rust. The
stations along the mountain grades were tumbled-down shacks,
and most of the equipment was fit only for the scrap pile.
Moreover, there was no organization. From top to bottom of the
staff the men had lost heart. In 1898 the Union Pacific was
suffering from bankruptcy, brought on by years of political
and financial intrigue. But when Harriman got his grip on the
property he said to his associates: ‘We will rebuild it and do
it right away.’
Harriman’s plans called for hundreds of millions of dollars
for new rails, lower grades, and modern cars, locomotives, and
terminals. After a struggle the Union Pacific directors came
around to his way of thinking."
"It is necessary to remember," said the Post, in
another article, "in summing up the Wall Street side of Mr.
Harriman’s history, that fifteen years ago he was hardly
known, even in railway circles; that ten years ago, his name
would have conveyed no meaning or association to the general
public; that even at the inception of the celebrated Northern
Pacific fight of 1901 [see above, under date of 1901-1905], in
which he was actually a chief protagonist, Wall Street
mentioned his name only incidentally in connection with it.
The fight, as the Stock Exchange and the newspapers then saw
it, was waged between the ‘Standard Oil interest,’ and the
‘Morgan interest,’ and the Union Pacific’s chairman cut little
individual figure in the public view."
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1903 (February).
Act of Congress to Further Regulate Commerce with Foreign
Nations and among the States, known commonly
as "the Elkins Law."
The following are the essential provisions of the Act,
approved February 19, 1903, which is commonly referred to as
the Elkins Anti-Rebate Law:
"The willful failure upon the part of any carrier subject to
said Acts to file and publish the tariffs or rates and charges
as required by said Acts or strictly to observe such tariffs
until changed according to law, shall be a misdemeanor, and
upon conviction thereof the corporation offending shall be
subject to a fine not less than one thousand dollars nor more
than twenty thousand dollars for each offense; and it shall be
unlawful for any person, persons, or corporation to offer,
grant, or give or to solicit, accept, or receive any rebate,
concession, or discrimination in respect of the transportation
of any property in interstate or foreign commerce by any
common carrier subject to said Act to regulate commerce and
the Acts amendatory thereto whereby any such property shall by
any device whatever be transported at a less rate than that
named in the tariffs published and filed by such carrier, as
is required by said Act to regulate commerce and the Acts
amendatory thereto, or whereby any other advantage is given or
discrimination is practiced. Every person or corporation who
shall offer, grant, or give or solicit, accept or receive any
such rebates, concession, or discrimination shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be
punished by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars nor
more than twenty thousand dollars. In all convictions
occurring after the passage of this Act for offences under
said Acts to regulate commerce, whether committed before or
after the passage of this Act, or for offenses under this
section, no penalty shall be imposed on the convicted party
other than the fine prescribed by law, imprisonment wherever
now prescribed as part of the penalty being hereby abolished.
Every violation of this section shall be prosecuted in any
court of the United States having jurisdiction of crimes
within the district in which such violation was committed or
through which the transportation may have been conducted; and
whenever the offense is begun in one jurisdiction and
completed in another it may be dealt with, inquired of, tried,
determined, and punished in either jurisdiction in the same
manner as if the offense had been actually and wholly
committed therein.
{554}
"In construing and enforcing the provisions of this section
the act, omission, or failure of any officer, agent, or other
person acting for or employed by any common carrier acting
within the scope of his employment shall in every case be also
deemed to be the act, omission, or failure of such carrier as
well as that of the person. Whenever any carrier files with
the Interstate Commerce Commission or publishes a particular
rate under the provisions of the Act to regulate commerce or
Acts amendatory thereto, or participates in any rates so filed
or published, that rate as against such carrier, its officers
or agents in any prosecution begun under this Act shall be
conclusively deemed to be the legal rate, and any departure
from such rate, or any offer to depart therefrom, shall be
deemed to be an offense under this section of this Act."
Statutes at Large of the United States,
Fifty-seventh Congress, Session II, chapter 708.
In comment on the above Act, Professor Ripley wrote, sometime
after its passage:
"Two years ago, at the instance of the railways, which were
desirous of stopping large leakages of revenue due to rate
cutting, Congress enacted the so-called Elkins law. This was
distinctly a railway measure. Hence the ease and quiet of its
passage. It roused none of the corporate watch dogs of the
Senate, ostensibly guardians of the public welfare. Nor was it
a compromise. There was no need of compromise. Both railways
and shippers were agreed in the wish to eliminate rebates.
Section 3 of this law of 1903 recites ‘that whenever the
Interstate Commerce Commission shall have reasonable ground
for belief that any common carrier is engaged in the carriage
of passenger or freight traffic between given points at less
than the published rates on file, or is committing any
discriminations forbidden by law’ (our italics), it may
petition any circuit judge for the issuance of an injunction
summarily prohibiting the practice. Such a remedy would seem
to be prompt, efficient, and adequate. It is the basis of the
universal railway testimony that no further legislation on the
subject is needed, but that the Interstate Commerce Commission
should quit talking and get down to business. …
"That the Elkins law adds nothing to the original statute of
1887 is indisputable. It deals with means, not ends. It
provides motive power, but not intelligent direction, for the
wheels of justice. The law remains absolutely unchanged in its
definition of rights and wrongs."
W. Z. Ripley,
President Roosevelt’s Railway Policy
(Atlantic Monthly, September, 1905).
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1905.
International Railway Congress.
The International Railway Congress had its meeting of 1905 at
Washington, on the invitation of the American Railroad
Association. Between three and four hundred American railroad
men were in attendance during the Congress, which lasted from
May 4 to May 13. The delegates from oversea numbered three
hundred and twenty, and included representatives from every
country in the world. Germany, for the first time, was
adequately represented in the Congress; while at no previous
Congress were there so many delegates from Great Britain and
from British colonies.
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1906.
Reconstruction of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
See (in this Volume)
INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION.
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1906-1909.
Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on
the Constitutionality of the "Commodities Clause" of
the Hepburn Act.
The Railroad Monopoly of the Anthracite Coal Trade.
The Act of 1906 (known commonly as the Hepburn Act) which
amended the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 (see above, under
date of 1870-1908), contains an important provision which was
specially intended to dissolve the monopolistic combination by
which a group of railroads operating in Pennsylvania have
established control of the mining and marketing, as well as
the transportation of anthracite coal. This was inserted in
the Act on motion of Senator Elkins and is sometimes referred
to as the "Elkins Clause," sometimes as the "Commodities
Clause" of the Railway Rebate Act. This clause declared it to
be unlawful "for any railroad company to transport from any
State to any other State or to any foreign country any article
or commodity other than timber manufactured, mined, or
produced by it, or under its authority, or which it may own in
whole or in part, or in which it may have any interest, direct
or indirect, except such articles or commodities as may be
necessary and intended for its use in the conduct of its
business as a common carrier."
Since 1874 the Constitution of Pennsylvania had declared that
"no incorporated company doing the business of a common
carrier shall, directly or indirectly, prosecute or engage in
mining or manufacturing articles for transportation over its
works; nor shall such company directly or indirectly engage in
any other business than that of common carrier, or hold or
acquire lands, freehold or leasehold, directly or indirectly,
except such as shall be necessary to carry on its business."
But this constitutional prohibition had not sufficed to
restrain the owners of the railways which tap the anthracite
coal district from acquiring practical ownership of so large a
part of its mines as to be able, by combinations and
understandings among their managers, to monopolize the market
of that most important commodity. It was thought that the
power vested in the General Government to regulate the
commerce in coal between Pennsylvania and other States might
be brought into exercise against this anthracite monopoly with
more effect.
On the 1st of May, 1908, the "commodities clause" of the
Hepburn Act became operative, and soon thereafter a suit was
brought in the United Slates Circuit Court for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania, to test its constitutionality. In
this trial of the question the Government met defeat. Two of
the three Judges of the Court, namely Gray and Dallas, filed
opinions against the constitutionality of the enactment, their
colleague, Judge Buffington, dissenting. The case went then on
appeal to the Supreme Court, and there, by a judgment so
nearly unanimous that Judge Harlan alone dissented on a single
point, the decision of the Circuit Court was reversed and the
constitutionality of the law upheld.
{555}
The following summary of its opinion was given out by the
Supreme Court at the time of the announcement, May 3, 1909:
"(1.) The claim of the government that the provision contained
in the Hepburn act, approved June 29, 1906, commonly called
the Commodities Clause, prohibits a railway company from
moving commodities in interstate commerce because the company
has manufactured, mined, or produced them, or owned them in
whole or in part, or has had an interest direct or indirect in
them, wholly irrespective of the relation or connection of the
carrier with the commodities at the time of transportation, is
decided to be untenable. It is also decided that the provision
of the commodities clause relating to interest, direct or
indirect, does not embrace an interest which a carrier may
have in a producing corporation as the result of the ownership
by the carrier of stock in such corporation irrespective of
the amount of stock which the carrier may own in such
corporation, provided the corporation has been organized in
good faith.
"(2.) Rejecting the construction placed by the government upon
the commodities clause, it is decided that that clause, when
all its provisions are harmoniously construed, has solely for
its object to prevent carriers engaged in interstate commerce
from being associated in interest at the time of
transportation with the commodities transported, and therefore
the commodities clause only prohibits railroad companies
engaged in interstate commerce from transporting in such
commerce commodities under the following circumstances and
conditions:
"(a) When the commodity has been manufactured, mined, or
produced by a railway company, or under its authority, and at
the time of transportation the railway company has not in good
faith before the act of transportation parted with its
interest in such commodity;
"(b) When the railway company owns the commodity to be
transported in whole or in part;
"(c) When the railway company at the time of transportation
has an interest direct or indirect in a legal sense in the
commodity, which last prohibition does not apply to
commodities manufactured, mined, produced, owned, etc., by a
corporation because a railway company is a stockholder in such
corporation.
"Such ownership of stock in a producing company by a railway
company does not cause it as the owner of the stock to have a
legal interest in the commodity manufactured, etc., by the
producing corporation.
"(3.) As thus construed the commodities clause is a regulation
of commerce within the power of Congress to enact. The
contentions elaborately argued for the railroad companies that
the clause, if applied to preexisting rights, will operate to
take property of railroad companies and therefore violate the
due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, were all based upon
the assumption that the clause prohibited and restricted in
accordance with the construction which the government gave
that clause and for the purpose of enforcing which
prohibitions these suits were brought.
"As the construction which the government placed upon the act
and seeks to enforce is now held to be unsound, and as none of
the contentions relied upon are applicable to the act as now
construed, because under such construction the act merely
enforces a regulation of commerce by which carriers are
compelled to dissociate themselves from the products which
they carry and does not prohibit where the carrier is not
associated with the commodity carried, it follows that the
contentions on the subject of the Fifth Amendment are without
merit.
"(4.) The exemption as to timber, etc., contained in the
clause is not repugnant to the Constitution.
"(5.) The provision as to penalties is separable from the
other provisions of the act. As no recovery of penalties was
prayed, no issue concerning them is here presented. It will be
time enough to consider whether the right to recover penalties
exists when an attempt to collect penalties is made.
"(6.) As the construction now given the act differs so widely
from the construction which the government gave to the act,
and which it was the purpose of these suits to enforce, it is
held that it is not necessary, in reversing and remanding, to
direct the character of decrees which shall be entered, but
simply to reverse and remand the case with instructions to
enforce and apply the statute as it is now construed.
"(7.) As the Delaware and Hudson Company is engaged as a
common carrier by rail in the transportation of coal in the
channels of interstate commerce, it is a railroad company
within the purview of the commodities clause, and is subject
to the provisions of that clause as they are now construed."
Six railway companies, namely, the Delaware and Hudson, the
Erie, the Central of New Jersey, the Lackawanna, the
Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley, were involved in the test
suit on which this decision was given; but the ruling will
affect all roads engaged in coal mining. Justice Harlan
dissented from that part of the decision which relates to the
ownership of stock in a producing company; otherwise the
opinion, announced by Justice White, was the opinion of the
entire Bench.
By ruling that "ownership of stock in a producing company by a
railway company does not cause it as the owner of the stock to
have a legal interest in the commodity manufactured, etc., by
the producing company," the court appears to have made further
legislation necessary, if the companies are to be barred from
controlling the production and marketing of the coal through
subsidiary corporations.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &C.:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1907-1909.
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1907.
Regulative Legislation in the States.
"Never in the history of railroad legislation have our
transportation systems run counter to a campaign so
comprehensive, wide-spread, and disturbing as the general
trend of ‘regulation’ in almost every State Legislature in
session during 1907. It seems as if a legislative tempest
against the railroads had been unloosed simultaneously in more
than thirty States upon a given signal. The welcome accorded
it by our lawmakers is inexplicable, unless we are prepared to
admit that our Government, as has been charged frequently, is
one of impulse. On this hypothesis it is readily understood.
{556}
"Thirty-five States, in all, attempted to enact laws reducing
freight or passenger rates, establishing railroad commissions,
increasing the powers of existing commissions, regulating car
service, demurrage, safety appliances, block signals, free
passes, capitalization, liability for accidents to employees,
hours of labor, blacklisting, strikes, etc. … Uniformity was
sought without discrimination or foresight. Railroads in
densely populated districts and those in sparsely settled
rural localities were given alike a two-cent rate. Worse than
this: roads of different earning power in the same State were
assigned a level rate. The prosperous and well-established
road and the struggling pioneer were bracketed,—to sink or
swim.
"But all of their work was not wasted. Real constructive
legislation was enacted in many States in regard to corporate
control, safety appliances, block signals, working hours,
rights of employees, railroad mergers, valuation,
capitalization, publication of rate schedules, etc., while in
the States of South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and
Wisconsin the rate question was given fair and temperate
consideration. …
"An analysis of the general results shows that passenger fares
were either actually reduced or affected in twenty-one States:
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas,
Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, West Virginia, and
Wisconsin. Two-cent rates now prevail in Arkansas, Indiana,
Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and
Wisconsin; and in Ohio, since 1906; two-and-one-half-cent
rates in Alabama and North Dakota. North Carolina has
established a two-and one-quarter-cent rate; West Virginia, a
two-cent rate for railroads over fifty miles in length; Iowa,
a sliding scale of from two to three cents per mile; Michigan,
a two, three, and four cent rate; Kansas, Maryland, and
Mississippi, two-cent rates for mileage books; the railroad
commissions of Georgia and South Dakota have been authorized
to establish a two-cent and a two-and-one-half-cent rate,
respectively; and Oklahoma specifies in its new constitution a
maximum charge of two cents for passenger fare. Virginia’s
Corporation Commission has adopted a two-cent rate for trunk
lines, a three-cent rate for minor roads and a
three-and-one-half-cent rate on one or two lines.
"Freight charges were lowered in many States. The Commodity
Freight Rate law of Minnesota is probably the most scientific
and equitable, and is being used by many Western roads as a
basis. Commissions in other States have adopted it as a model.
"Laws prohibiting free passes were enacted in Alabama,
Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, and
Texas.
"Eleven States created railroad commissions: Colorado,
Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Sixteen others
gave increased power to existing commissions, apart from rate
regulation: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Iowa,
Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North
Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and
Wisconsin."
Robert Emmett Ireton,
The Legislatures and the Railways
(Review of Reviews, August, 1907).
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1907.
Limitation of Working Hours for Trainmen.
An Act of Congress passed in January, 1907, prohibits railways
engaged in interstate and foreign commerce from requiring or
permitting those of their employés who have to do with the
movement of trains to work more than sixteen hours
consecutively, or more than an aggregate of sixteen in each
twenty-four hours, and requires that when an employé shall
have worked for sixteen hours there shall follow a period of
rest of not less than ten hours before he shall resume his
duties. Certain exceptions are made to provide for accidents,
the failure of trains to make their regular schedules,
connections, etc. Violation of the act is declared to be a

misdemeanor punishable by a fine of from $100 to $1,000, and
the Interstate Commerce Commission is charged with the duty of
enforcing the law.
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1907.
Strike on roads west of Chicago averted
by Federal Intermediation.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1907 (APRIL).
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1907-1908.
Limitation of State Authority in matters
of Interstate Commerce.
Serious collisions between Federal and State authority which
occurred in 1907, in the States of Alabama, North Carolina,
and Minnesota, on questions relating to interstate railways
and their commerce, were cleared by important decisions of the
Supreme Court of the United States, rendered in the spring of
1908. The States in question had enacted laws which had the
effect of intimidating railway companies and their agents from
appealing to Federal courts, by the severity of the penalties
they imposed. Suits undertaken in consequence against the
State officials acting under these laws raised the question
which was carried to the Federal Supreme Court. The bearing of
the judgment rendered by that Court in the Minnesota case,
Justice Harlan alone dissenting, is indicated by two passages
from it, as follows:
"The provisions of the acts relating to the enforcement of the
rates, either for freight or passengers, by imposing such
enormous fines and possible imprisonment as a result of an
unsuccessful effort to test the validity of the laws
themselves, are unconstitutional on their face, without regard
to the question of the insufficiency of those rates."
"If the act which the State Attorney-General seeks to enforce
be a violation of the Federal Constitution, the officer in
proceeding under such enactment comes into conflict with the
superior authority of that Constitution, and he is in that
case stripped of his official or representative character and
is subjected in his person to the consequences of his
individual conduct. The State has no power to impart to him
any immunity from responsibility to the supreme authority of
the United States."
{557}
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1908.
Decision in Armour Packing Company Case.
A decision by the United States Supreme Court in the case of
the United States vs. the Armour Packing Company covered cases
in which identical proceedings were pending against three
other packing companies and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
Railroad Company. The packing company had contracted with the
railway company for a rate from the Mississippi to New York,
to continue for seven months, soon after which the railway
company filed, published, and posted a much higher rate,
continuing, however, to give transportation to the packing
company, on through bills of lading to foreign ports for the
lower rate of the contract. The Supreme Court sustained the
Circuit Court in deciding this to be in violation of the law
against discrimination in rates, since that law, being in
force when the contract was made, was necessarily "read into
the contract" and "became part of it."
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1908 (April).
Passage of Act relating to the Liability of Common Carriers
by Railroad to their Employés in Certain Cases.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR PROTECTION: EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY.
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1908 (November).
Supreme Court Decision in Case of Virginia Railroads
vs. the State Corporation Commission of Virginia.
"Justice Holmes today [November 30, 1908] announced the
decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case
of the Virginia railroads versus the state corporation
commission of Virginia, calling into question the order of the
commission fixing a uniform rate of two cents a mile for
carrying passengers in the state. The decision reversed the
decision of the United States circuit court for the eastern
division of Virginia on the technical ground that the
railroads should have appealed from the commission’s order to
the supreme court of Virginia before seeking the intervention
of the federal courts. In effect the court directs that the
railroad companies take their case to the state court of last
resort and that in order to prevent injustices through the
possible application of the statute of limitations, the case
be retained on the docket of the United States circuit court,
by which it was originally decided favorably to the roads."
Washington Despatch to the Associated Press.
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1908-1909.
The Missouri River Rate Case.
Permanent Injunction against
the Interstate Commerce Commission.
By an order made on the 24th of June, 1908, the Interstate
Commerce Commission forbade the charging of a through rate on
first class matter, by the railroads, from the Atlantic
seaboard to the Missouri River ($1.47 per hundred pounds),
which equalled the rate charged from the Atlantic to the
Mississippi (87 cents) plus the rate from the Mississippi to
the Missouri (60 cents). In other words, the Commission sought
to impose a through rate to the Missouri which would be nine
cents per hundred pounds less than the sum of the rates
charged on two parts of the same distance. The western railway
companies affected by the order applied to the United States
Circuit Court, at Chicago, for a permanent injunction to
restrain its enforcement. The injunction was granted on the
24th of August, 1909, Judges Grosscup and Kohlsaat
concurring in the decision, Judge Baker dissenting.
"The question raised," said Judge Grosscup, in rendering the
opinion, "in its larger aspects is not so much a question
between the shippers and the railroads as between the
commercial and manufacturing interests of Denver and of the
territory east of the Mississippi River on the one side, and
the commercial and manufacturing interests of the Missouri
River cities on the other. …
"We are not prepared to say the commission has not the power
to enter upon a plan looking toward a system of rates wherein
the rates for longer and shorter hauls will taper downward
according to distance, providing such tapering is both
comprehensively and symmetrically applied—applied with a
design of carrying out what may be the economic fact, that, on
the whole, it is worth something less per mile to carry
freight long distances than shorter distances.
"But it does not follow that power of that character includes
power, by the use of differentials, to artificially divide the
country into trade zones tributary to given trade and
manufacturing centres, the commission in such cases having as
a result to predetermine what the trade and manufacturing
centres shall be; for such power, vaster than any one body of
men has heretofore exercised, though wisely exerted in
specific instances, would be putting into the hands of the
commission the general power of life and death over every
trade and manufacturing centre in the United States."
In the dissenting opinion of Judge Baker he said: "The
question is not whether a lawful power or authority has been
shown to have been wrongly exercised, but whether there is any
law at all for the power or authority claimed and exercised."
He found the necessary law, and added: "If Congress cannot
constitutionally make a general declaration that the rates
shall be reasonable and not unjustly discriminatory and then
trust an executive body to hear evidence and decide questions
of fact respecting reasonableness and just discrimination, the
power of Congress over rates would be worthless."
In September it was announced that the Commission would appeal
from the injunction to the Supreme Court.
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1909.
The Seventh Transcontinental Line.
The seventh transcontinental line of railway in America, the
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul system, was announced as
completed on the 1st of April, 1909. As its name indicates, it
is an extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul system
by a line fourteen hundred miles long from Mobridge, South
Dakota, to Seattle and Tacoma, in the State of Washington.
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1909.
Fines imposed on the New York Central Railroad Company.
Fines aggregating $134,000, imposed on the New York Central
Railway Company by the United States Circuit Court for the
Southern District of New York for rebates granted to the
American Sugar Refining Company in violation of law, were
affirmed in February, 1909, by the Supreme Court of the United
States, and were paid on the 12th of May.
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1909 (May-June).
The Georgia Railroad Strike.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909.
{558}
RAILWAYS: A. D. 1910.
Special Message of President Taft
touching Interstate Commerce.
The important Special Message addressed to Congress by
President Taft on the 7th of January, 1910, recommending
amendatory legislation on the two subjects of interstate
commerce and the combinations called "trusts," opened with the
following statement:
"In the annual report of the Interstate Commerce Commission
for the year 1908 attention is called to the fact that between
July 1, 1908, and the close of that year sixteen suits had
been begun to set aside orders of the commission (besides one
commenced before that date), and that few orders of much
consequence had been permitted to go without protest; that the
questions presented by these various suits were fundamental,
as the constitutionality of the act itself was in issue, and
the right of Congress to delegate to any tribunal authority to
establish an interstate rate was denied; but that perhaps the
most serious practical question raised concerned the extent of
the right of the courts to review the orders of the
commission; and it was pointed out that if the contention of
the carriers in this latter respect alone were sustained, but
little progress had been made in the Hepburn act toward the
effective regulation of interstate transportation charges. In
twelve of the cases referred to, it was stated, preliminary
injunctions were prayed for, being granted in six and refused
in six.
"‘It has from the first been well understood,’ says the
commission, ‘that the success of the present act as a
regulating measure depended largely upon the facility with
which temporary injunctions could be obtained. If a railroad
company, by mere allegation in its bill of complaint,
supported by ex-parte affidavits, can overturn the results of
days of patient investigation, no very satisfactory result can
be expected. The railroad loses nothing by these proceedings,
since if they fail it can only be required to establish the
rate and to pay to shippers the difference between the higher
rate collected and the rate which is finally held to be
reasonable. In point of fact it usually profits, because it
can seldom be required to return more than a fraction of the
excess charges collected.’
"In its report for the year 1909 the commission shows that of
the seventeen cases referred to in its 1908 report, only one
had been decided in the Supreme Court of the United States,
although five other cases had been argued and submitted to
that tribunal in October, 1909.
"Of course, every carrier affected by an order of the
commission has a constitutional right to appeal to a Federal
Court to protect it from the enforcement of an order which it
may show to be prima facie confiscatory or unjustly
discriminatory in its effect; and as this application may be
made to a court in any district of the United States, not only
does delay result in the enforcement of the order, but great
uncertainty is caused by contrariety of decision. The
questions presented by these applications are too often
technical in their character and require a knowledge of the
business and the mastery of a great Volume of conflicting
evidence which is tedious to examine and troublesome to
comprehend. It would not be proper to attempt to deprive any
corporation of the right to review by a court of any order or
decree which, if undisturbed, would rob it of a reasonable
return upon its investment or would subject it to burdens
which would unjustly discriminate against it and in favor of
other carriers similarly situated. What is, however, of
supreme importance is that the decision of such questions
shall be as speedy as the nature of the circumstances will
admit, and that a uniformity of decision be secured so as to
bring about an effective, systematic, and scientific
enforcement of the commerce law, rather than conflicting
decisions and uncertainty of final result.
"For this purpose I recommend the establishment of a court of
the United States composed of five judges designated for such
purpose from among the circuit judges of the United States, to
be known as the ‘United States Court of Commerce,’ which court
shall be clothed with exclusive original jurisdiction over the
following classes of cases:
"(1.) All cases for the enforcement, otherwise than by
adjudication and collection of a forfeiture or penalty, or by
infliction of criminal punishment, of any order of the
Interstate Commerce Commission other than for the payment of
money.
"(2.) All cases brought to enjoin, set aside, annul, or
suspend any order or requirement of the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
"(3.) All such cases as under section 3 of the act of February
19, 1903, known as the ‘Elkins Act,’ are authorized to be
maintained in a circuit court of the United States.
"(4.) All such mandamus proceedings as under the provisions of
section 20 or section 23 of the Interstate Commerce law are
authorized to be maintained in a circuit court of the United
States.
"Reasons precisely analogous to those which induced the
Congress to create the Court of Customs Appeals by the
provisions in the tariff act of August 5, 1909, may be urged
in support of the creation of the Commerce Court."
Further recommendations of the Message are summarized in the
following:
Pooling arrangements as to rates to be allowed under direct
supervision of the commission.
The commission to be empowered to pass upon freight
classifications.
The commission to be empowered to hold up new rates or
classifications by railroads until an inquiry can be made as
to their reasonableness. If found to be unreasonable, the
commission may forbid the increase.
Shippers to be given the choice of established routes on
through freight.
From and after the passage of the amendments, it is provided
that no railroad shall acquire any stock or interest in a
competing line, except that where a road already owns 50 per
cent, or more of the stock of another road, it may complete
the purchase of all the stock. Also in cases where one road is
operating another under a lease of more than twenty-five
years’ duration, it shall have a right to acquire the demised
road. Allowing these acquisitions of stock does not exempt any
road from prosecution under the Anti-Trust law.
Stocks must be issued at par value for money paid in or for
property or services, rates at full value, under an inquiry by
the Federal authority, who shall supervise all stock and bond
issues.
----------RAILWAYS: End--------
RAISULI, The Moorish Brigand.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1904-1909.
RALLIÉS.
A political party in France said to be made from fragments
from the former Bonapartists, Orleanists, and Boulangerists.
RAMSAY, Sir William.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE, RECENT: RADIUM; also,
NOBEL PRIZES.
RATE REGULATION, Railway.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1870-1908.
{559}
RAYLEIGH, Lord.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
REBATE RESTRICTION, Railway.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1870-1908,
and 1903 (February).
RECIPROCITY TREATY: United States and Newfoundland:
The Hay-Bond Treaty.
Its Amendment to Death by the United States Senate.
See (in this Volume)
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1902-1905.
RECLAMATION OF ARID LANDS.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: UNITED STATES.
RED CROSS SOCIETY, The American National.
By an Act of Congress passed in 1904, the American National
Red Cross was incorporated under the laws of the District of
Columbia and brought directly under Government supervision.
Its charter provided that five members of its Board of
Incorporators were to be chosen from the Departments of State,
War, Navy, Treasury, and Justice. Its accounts were to be
audited by the disbursing officer of the War Department. The
entire support, however, aside from the income from a small
endowment, comes from the dues of individual members and
voluntary contributions. The election of Mr. Taft, then
Secretary of War, as the first president of the reorganized
Red Cross, emphasized its new relationship to the Federal
Government and its new position as a body of really National
scope. At the annual meeting of the Society in December, 1908,
Mr. Taft, then President-elect of the United States, consented
to be reelected to the presidency of the Red Cross
organization in the United States.
Throughout all the many calamities of the past decade, from
earthquake, volcanic eruption, fire, flood, war, famine, and
pestilence, the Red Cross Society has always been instant in
readiness for effective humane service, from almost every
civilized country of the world, and for any call to any
quarter of the globe. In the United States it has lately
undertaken a continuous and permanent service in connection
with the anti-tuberculosis crusade.
RED CROSS SOCIETY:
In Japan, before and during the Russo-Japanese War.
"The Red Cross Society of Japan is by no means merely a copy
of the Red Cross societies of Europe, as its name would seem
to indicate; for the idea of assisting the wounded soldiers
and allaying the suffering caused by war arose spontaneously
in Japan. …
"In 1867, two years before the Restoration, when Japan was
considered a savage country by the West, and when she
possessed neither railways nor telegraphs, machinery, etc.,
Count Sano, an enthusiastic humanitarian, was sent by the
Shogun to the Exhibition in Paris, where he had the
opportunity of studying the Red Cross societies of various
countries. Again, in 1873, when this gentleman was ambassador
in Vienna, he carefully observed the Red Cross Society, and
especially its activity during the Franco-German War of 1870.
When the Civil War of 1877 broke out in Japan, Count Sano was
back in his native country, and he conceived the idea of
forming a society after the model of the European Red Cross
societies. The nobility of Japan received his ideas most
favourably, and a society was founded which was called
Hakuaisha (Benevolent Society). …
"The Mikado countenanced the objects of the Society and
assisted it in every way. From 1887 onward he gave it a yearly
contribution of 5,000 yen, to which in 1888 a gift of 100,000
yen was added. After the Chino-Japanese War, the Mikado’s
yearly contribution was increased to 10,000 yen, in
recognition of the progress which the Society had made and of
the great assistance which it had given during that campaign.
Besides this sum he contributes yearly 5,000 yen to the Red
Cross Society for the patients, and from time to time makes
generous gifts to the Society. The motto of the Japanese Red
Cross Society is ‘Pay your debt to your country by helping its
soldiers’; and this motto has quickly made the Society
immensely popular throughout the country. …
"The war with China of 1894-1895 demonstrated the excellence
of the Japanese Red Cross Society, and proved at the same time
its best advertisement, for at the end of 1895 there were more
than 160,000 members. Since the Society had proved its immense
practical utility, the number of its members rose by leaps and
bounds, and at the end of 1898 there were 570,000 members, and
the yearly receipts had reached 1,582,622 yen; at present it
must count about 1,000,000 members, and must have an income of
at least 3,000,000 yen, or about £300,000 per annum, a truly
enormous sum for a country like Japan, where a yen goes about
as far as ten shillings go in Great Britain. The latest
available figures give the following record: Number of
members, 920,000; funds in hand, £794,000; annual income,
£231,000."
O. Eltzbacher,
The Red Gross Society of Japan
(Contemporary Review, September, 1904).
REDEMPTORISTS: Forbidden to teach in France.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1903.
REFERENDUM, Initiative and Recall:
In Switzerland.
According to a report on the subject made to the State
Department at Washington, in June, 1902, by the United States
Minister to Switzerland, the Honorable Arthur S. Hardy, down
to that time, "since the referendum has been in force, 226
Federal laws and resolutions have been enacted, of which 40
were submitted to the people, 14 by the compulsory and 26 by
the optional referendum. The people have exercised the
initiative five times since its adoption in 1891, rejecting
the measures proposed four out of five times."
REFERENDUM, Initiative and Recall:
In the United States.
"The first State to adopt a constitutional amendment providing
for the initiative and referendum was South Dakota in 1898.
Next came Utah (1900) with an amendment which is not
self-executing, and the Legislature has not so far passed the
necessary enabling act. Oregon followed in 1902, Montana in
1906, and Oklahoma in 1907. South Dakota, Oregon, and Oklahoma
have also extended the constitutional amendments so as to
provide for the initiative and referendum in municipal
corporations. Maine, Missouri, and North Dakota are soon to
vote upon constitutional amendments embodying the initiative
and referendum for State matters; and Maine proposes to extend
this right to municipal corporations concerning their local
affairs.
{560}
In 1907 Iowa and South Dakota each enacted a general law under
which cities may, if they so choose, have charters embodying
the general features of the ‘commission plan of government,’
and acquire with them the right to have the initiative, the
referendum, and the recall. In South Dakota the Constitution
specifically gives to the people the right of the initiative
and referendum, but in Iowa no mention thereof is made in the
Constitution. The Supreme Court of Iowa, however, has held
that the statute conferring the right upon cities of a certain
class to adopt a commission plan of government which included
the initiative, referendum, and recall was constitutional, as
the State Constitution did not specifically forbid the
granting of these rights. In Texas cities of a designated size
can be incorporated by special act, and since Galveston
obtained its new form of government several cities of Texas
have been given charters by special acts, some embodying the
initiative, referendum, and recall, others one or two of these
rights, and some none of them or only in a modified form. The
recall is the most recent of the three new measures of relief.
Los Angeles in 1903 seems to have been the first city to have
made the recall a part of its city charter. In 1905 San Diego,
San Bernardino, Pasadena, and Fresno, California, followed. In
1906 Seattle joined the list, and in 1907 there were added
Everett, in Washington, and six other California cities—Santa
Monica, Alameda, Long Beach, Vallejo, Riverside and San
Francisco. No State has a constitutional provision for the
recall."
The Outlook,
August 15, 1908.
On the 25th of May, 1908, the Initiative and Referendum League
of America addressed a memorial to Congress, asking for the
passage of a Bill which had been introduced in the Senate
(Senate Bill No. 7208), "For a modern system whereby the
voters of the United States may instruct their National
Representatives," and, further, for the passage of Senate
Joint Resolution No. 94, "asking the States to establish the
machinery for taking a referendum vote on national issues
whenever Congress shall so direct."
REGENERADORES.
See (in this Volume)
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1906-1909.
REGGIO:
Its Destruction by Earthquake.
See (in this Volume)
EARTHQUAKES: ITALY.
REGIE, The San Domingo.
See (in this Volume)
SAN DOMINGO: A. D. 1901-1905.
REGINA:
Capital of the Province of Saskatchewan.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1905.
REID, George Houston:
Premier of Australia.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1903-1904.
REID, Sir Robert T.:
Lord Chancellor of England.
See (in this Volume)
England: A. D. 1905-1906.
REINSCH, Paul S.:
Delegate to Third International Conference
of American Republics.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM:
Its Limitations in Russia.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA. A. D. 1905 (APRIL-AUGUST), and 1909 (JUNE).
RELIGIOUS TEACHING, in State Supported Schools:
The Controversy.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1903;
CANADA: A. D. 1905;
EDUCATION: ENGLAND: A. D. 1902 and 1906.
RENAULT, Louis.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
RENNENKAMPF, General.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (SEPTEMBER-MARCH).
REPATRIATION OF THE BOERS.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1902-1903.
REPUBLIC, The Rescue of the Steamship.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION: ELECTRICAL.
RESCHAD, Mohammed:
Raised to the Turkish Throne.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-MAY).
RESEARCH, Original.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION: CARNEGIE INSTITUTION.
RESOURCES, Conservation of Natural.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES.
REVAL, Disorders in.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER).
REVOLUTION, Persia.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA.
REVOLUTION, Turkish.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER), and after.
REYES, Rafael:
President of Colombia.
See (in this Volume)
COLOMBIA: A. D. 1905-1906, and 1906-1909.
RHODES, CECIL J.:
His death.
His continued Influence in South Africa.
His Policy carried on by Dr. Jameson.
See(in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1902-1904.
RHODES, CECIL J.:
His Will, endowing Scholarships at Oxford for Students in the
British Colonies and the United States.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS.
RHODESIA: A. D. 1908.
Report of the British South Africa Company.
The annual report of the directors of the British South Africa
Company, presented at a meeting of shareholders in London in
February, 1909, contained the following statements:
"During 1908 there has been a remarkable improvement in the
circumstances of Rhodesia. This improvement has been evident
in every department of trade and industry, and is reflected in
the returns of administrative receipts, railways, mines and
land. It was pointed out last year what an important effect
even a slight increase in general prosperity would exercise
upon the whole financial position, and the figures now
available show that this view was correct. The administrative
revenue of Southern Rhodesia during the year 1908-1909 will
suffice to cover administrative expenditure without any call
whatever upon the commercial income of the company; the
shortages of the railway companies in respect of the same
period will be less by £100,000 than in 1907-1908; during the
year ending 31st March, 1910, large additional revenue will be
derived from the carriage from the port of Beira of the
materials and stores for the extension of the railway into the
Congo territory. … The negotiations for the extension
northwards of the Rhodesian Railway system have been brought
to a successful conclusion. With the coöperation of the
Tanganyika Concessions (Limited) a company has been formed
called the Rhodesia-Kantanga Junction Railway and Mineral
Company (Limited), which will construct a standard gauge line
from the present terminus at Broken Hill to a point on the
frontier of the Congo Free State; from the frontier to the
Star of the Congo Mine the line will be constructed by the
Couipaguie du Chemin de Fer du Kantanga. … On the completion
of the first section to the frontier, Rhodesia will be
traversed by a trunk line from south to north.
{561}
"The European population shows a net increase of over 1,100
since the intermediate census, in September, 1907, when it
numbered 14,018. An area of 1,169,305 acres of land has been
settled and occupied during the past year. The output of gold
has increased from £2,178,886 in 1907 to £2,526,037 in 1908.
Imports have increased by about £100,000 during the past
year."
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1904.
RIBEIRO, HINTZE.
See (in this Volume)
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1906-1909.
RICHMOND, Virginia: A. D. 1907.
Great Reunion of Confederate War Veterans.
Unveiling of Monument to Jefferson Davis.
A great gathering of the surviving veterans of the
Confederacy, to the number of about 15,000, at Richmond, late
in May and early in June, was brought about in connection with
the unveiling of an impressive monument to Jefferson Davis. An
equestrian statue of General J. E. B. Stuart was also unveiled
on one of the days of the reunion.
RIFF, The.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1904-1909.
RIGA, Disorders in.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER).
RIKKEN SEIYU-KAI.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1903 (JUNE).
RIO DE JANEIRO: A. D. 1903-1905.
Eradication of Yellow Fever.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH: YELLOW FEVER.
RIO DE JANEIRO: A. D. 1906.
Third International Conference of American Republics.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
RITCHIE, C. T.:
Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Government.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1902 (JULY).
ROBERT, CHRISTOPHER R.:
Benefactor of Robert College.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: TURKEY, &C.
ROBERT COLLEGE:
Its Influence in Turkey and the Balkan States.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: TURKEY, &C.
ROBERTS, SIR FREDERICK SLEIGH ROBERTS, FIRST EARL:
On the British Territorial Force and the need
of Compulsory Military Training.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: MILITARY.
ROCHAMBEAU MONUMENT:
The unveiling at Washington.
Representatives of the families of Rochambeau and
Lafayette invited Guests of the Nation.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902 (MAY).
ROCKEFELLER, John D.:
Stupendous Endowment of the General Education Board.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902-1909.
ROCKEFELLER, John D.:
Gift for the eradication of the Hookworm Disease.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH: THE HOOKWORM DISEASE.
ROCKEFELLER, John D., Jr.:
Investing in a Concession in the Congo State.
See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1906-1909.
ROCKHILL, W. W.:
Minister to China.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1901-1908.
ROENTGEN.
See (in this Volume)
RONTGEN.
ROGHI, EL.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1909.
ROJESVENSKY,
ROZHDESTVENSKY, ADMIRAL.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (OCTOBER-MAY).
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
See (in this Volume and Volume IV.)
PAPACY.
ROMAÑA, PRESIDENT EDUARDO DE.
See (in this Volume)
PERU.
ROME: A. D. 1903.
General Strike of Workmen.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: ITALY.
ROME: A. D. 1908.
Election of Ernesto Nathan to be Mayor.
See (in this Volume)
ITALY: A. D. 1909.
RONTGEN, Wilhelm Conrad:
Recipient of Nobel Prize.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
----------ROOSEVELT, Theodore: Start--------
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Becomes President of the United States on
the Assassination of President McKinley.
See (in this Volume)
BUFFALO: A. D. 1901.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
On the Federal Control of Corporations engaged in
Interstate Trade.
See (in this Volume)
Combinations, Industrial, &c.:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1903.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
On Railway Rate Regulation.
SEE
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1870-1908.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
His intermediation in the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902-1903.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Message recounting the Circumstances of the Secession from
Colombia and recognized Independence of Panama, and the Treaty
with Panama for the Building of the Isthmian Canal.
See (in this volume)
PANAMA CANAL.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
On the Wrong done to the Chinese.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1908.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
On the Strike of the Teamsters’ Union at Chicago.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905 (APRIL-JULY).
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Elected President of the United States.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1904 (MARCH-NOVEMBER ).
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Mediation between Russia and Japan.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1905 (JUNE-OCTOBER).
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Initial Invitation to the holding of the Second Peace
Conference.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Account of Visit to Porto Rico.
See (in this Volume)
PORTO RICO: A. D. 1906.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
On the Rendering of Aid to San Domingo.
See (in this Volume)
SAN DOMINGO: A. D. 1904-1907.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
On the Progressive Taxation of Fortunes.
See (in this Volume)
WEALTH, THE PROBLEMS OF.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Defense of Japanese Treaty Rights.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Recommends remission of part of Boxer Indemnity to China.
See CHINA: A. D. 1901-1908.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
On the Conservation of Natural Resources.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: UNITED STATES.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Appointment of Country Life Commission,
and Message on its Report.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908-1909 (AUGUST-FEBRUARY).
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
On the Japanese Question in California.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1904-1909.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Recipient of Nobel Prize for Promotion of Peace.
Its devotion to the Creation of a Foundation for
the Promotion of Industrial Peace.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1907.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Veto of the Census Bill.
See (in this Volume)
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: UNITED STATES.
{562}
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Renunciation of Third Term Candidacy.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1904 (NOVEMBER).
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Progress of Civil Service Reform under his Administration.
See (in this Volume)
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM: UNITED STATES.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
After leaving the White House.
Shortly before the ending, March 4, 1909, of his second term
in the Presidency of the United States, Mr. Roosevelt became
connected, as "Contributing Editor," with The Outlook,
and began the discussion of current topics in signed articles,
published in that weekly magazine. For some time it had been
known that Mr. Roosevelt intended, when released from office,
to enjoy a long vacation in Central Africa, hunting wild game.
His preparations were made before he left the White House, and
on the 20th of March, to correct misunderstandings as to the
recreation he contemplated, he published the following
announcement in The Outlook:
"I am about to go to Africa as the head of the Smithsonian
expedition. It is a scientific expedition. We shall collect
birds and mammals for the National Museum at Washington, and
nothing will be shot unless for food, or for preservation as a
specimen, or unless, of course, the animal is of a noxious
kind. There will be no wanton destruction whatever.
"I very earnestly hope that no representative of any newspaper
or magazine will try to accompany me or to interview me during
any portion of my trip. Until I actually get to the wilderness
my trip will be precisely like any other conventional trip on
a steamboat or railway. It will afford nothing to write about,
and will afford no excuse or warrant for any one sending to
any newspaper a line in reference thereto. After I reach the
wilderness of course no one outside of my own party will be
with me, and if any one pretends to be with me or pretends to
write as to what I do, his statements should be accepted as on
their face not merely false but ludicrous. Any statement
purporting to have been made by me, or attributed to me, which
may be sent to newspapers should be accepted as certainly
false and as calling for no denial from me. So far as possible
I shall avoid seeing any representative of the press, and
shall not knowingly have any conversation on any subject
whatever with any representative of the press beyond
exchanging the ordinary civilities or courtesies. I am a
private citizen, and I am entitled to enjoy the privacy that
should be the private citizen’s right. My trip will have no
public bearing of any kind or description. It is undertaken
for the National Museum at Washington, and is simply a
collecting trip for the Museum. It will be extremely
distasteful to me and of no possible benefit to any human
being to try to report or exploit the trip, or to send any one
with me, or to have any one try to meet me or see me with a
view to such reporting or exploitation. Let me repeat that
while I am on steamer or railway there will be nothing
whatever to report; that when I leave the railway for the
wilderness no persons will have any knowledge which will
enable them to report anything, and that any report is to be
accepted as presumably false."
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
The ex-President took steamer from New York on the 30th of
March, and one of the journals which had been among the
sharpest of his critics and opponents for years, the New York
Times, had this to say of him that day:
"There is no need to tell him that he will carry with him
wherever he goes the abiding affection of nearly 80,000,000 of
people. They who dislike Colonel Roosevelt, or think they do,
scarcely count in the Census. Wherever he goes he will make
friends among human beings, and impress everybody with a
reasonably high yet easily appreciable ideal of the American
citizen. Courage, energy, quick co-ordination of muscle and
brain, persistent alertness, boundless sympathy, and good
fellowship are characteristics of Colonel Roosevelt. Everybody
likes such a man."
Returning from his African expedition in the spring of 1910,
the ex-President accepted invitations in Europe which took him
to Naples, Rome, Vienna, Paris, Brussels, The Hague,
Christiania, Berlin, London, and was received with
extraordinary honors at every capital.
----------ROOSEVELT, Theodore: End--------
----------ROOT, ELIHU: Start--------
ROOT, ELIHU:
Secretary of War and Secretary of State.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1905, and 1905-1909.
ROOT, ELIHU:
Correspondence relating to the establishment of the
Republic of Cuba.
See (in this Volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1901-1902.
ROOT, Elihu:
On the Alaska Boundary Commission.
See (in this Volume)
ALASKA: A. D. 1903.
ROOT, Elihu:
Correspondence on American Fishing Rights on the
Newfoundland Coast.
See (in this Volume)
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1905-1909.
ROOT, Elihu:
Visit to South American Republics, 1906.
Address at the Third International Conference
of American Republics in Rio de Janeiro.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
ROOT, Elihu:
Speech in 1906 summarizing recent Governmental Action
against Corporate Wrong-doers.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1906.
ROOT, Elihu:
Address to Central American Peace Conference at Washington.
See (in this Volume)
CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1907.
ROOT, Elihu:
At Peace Congress in New York.
See (in this Volume)
WAR: THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
ROOT, Elihu:
On the Japanese Question in California.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1904-1909.
ROOT, Elihu:
Exchange of Notes with Japan, embodying a Declaration
of Common Policy in the East.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1908 (NOVEMBER).
ROOT, Elihu:
On National Duty in State Legislation.
See (in this Volume)
LAW AND ITS COURTS: UNITED STATES.
----------ROOT, ELIHU: End--------
ROSE, URIAH M.:
Commissioner Plenipotentiary to the Second Peace Conference.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
ROSEBERY, ARCHIBALD F. PRIMROSE, EARL:
Opposition to Home Rule for Ireland.
See (in this Volume)
England: A. D. 1905-1906.
ROSEBERY, ARCHIBALD F. PRIMROSE, EARL:
On the State of Peace in Europe and the Preparations for War.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR.
ROSEBERY, ARCHIBALD F. PRIMROSE, EARL:
To the House of Lords on the Budget of 1909.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1909 (APRIL-DECEMBER).
ROSEN, BARON ROMAN:
Russian Ambassador at Washington and Plenipotentiary
for negotiating Treaty of Peace with Japan.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1905 (JUNE-JULY).
ROSS, Dr. Ronald.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
{563}
ROTA, The.
See (in this Volume)
PAPACY: A. D. 1908.
ROTATIVOS.
See (in this Volume)
PORTUGAL: A. D. 1906-1909.
ROUMANIA: A. D. 1902.
Oppression of the Jews.
Remonstrance of the United States.
See (in this Volume)
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: ROUMANIA.
ROUVIER, Maurice:
Prime Minister of France.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1905-1906.
ROUVIER, Maurice:
Agreement with Germany for the Conference at Algeciras.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906.
ROUVIER, Maurice:
Fall of his Ministry.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1906.
ROWE, Dr. L. S.:
Delegate to Third International Conference
of American Republics.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
ROZHDESTVENSKY,
ROJESVENSKY, ADMIRAL.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (OCTOBER-MAY).
RUEF, ABRAHAM.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: SAN FRANCISCO.
RUNCIMAN, Mr.:
President of the English Board of Education.
Statements.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: ENGLAND: A. D. 1909.
----------RUSSIA: Start--------
RUSSIA: A. D. 1870-1905.
Increase of Population compared with other European Countries.
See (in this Volume)
[Other countries or regions]: A. D. 1870-1905.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1901 (July).
Russianizing of the Finnish Army.
Autocratic Violation of the Constitution of Finland.
See (in this Volume)
FINLAND: A. D. 1901.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1901-1904.
Persistent Occupation of Manchuria, despite Treaty with China.
Japanese Complaints and Demands.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1901-1904,
CHINA: A. D. 1901-1902.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1901-1904.
The Disaffection among the Students of the Universities.
Famine in Eastern Districts, and Industrial Depression
in the Cities.
Assassination of Sipiagin.
Advent of Plehve to Power.
Atrocities of his Administration.
Witte, Minister of Finance.
Assassination of Plehve.

In Volume VI. of this work, which went to press in the spring
of 1901, the record of events in Russia was brought down to
March and April of that year. The revolutionary temper, then
rapidly rising in heat throughout the Empire, found its most
active manifestation among the students of the universities,
whose outbreaks of disaffection were punished mercilessly, by
Siberian exile, by draft into the army, or more summarily by
the Cossacks’ knout. The Tsar, however, had seemed at last to
recognize the special grievances of the students and to wish
to have remedies found for them. To succeed M. Bogoliepoff,
the late Minister of Instruction, whom a student had shot on
the 27th of February, the Tsar appointed to that office a
General Vannovsky, who was credited with having a clear and
sympathetic understanding of the wrongs to the student body
which provoked their disorderly conduct. It was believed, too,
that full powers had been given to him for reforming the
government of the universities. But, whatever may have been
the excellence of disposition in General Vannovsky and in the
Tsar, the projected reforms were so obstructed, in some
manner, that the students became more and more openly
revolutionary in their action, and the new minister resigned
in the second year of his endeavors.
A number of immediate causes of misery in the Empire were now
added to the many causes which a despotic and corrupt
government kept always in operation. Harvests in large parts
of Eastern Russia had failed, bringing the horrors of famine
on some 24,000,000 people. Simultaneously with this, an
industrial crisis came, to close great numbers of factories
and shops and to create a vast army of the unemployed. M.
Witte, as Minister of Finance, had been extraordinarily
skilful and successful in developing new industries in Russia;
but had done so by measures of unnatural stimulation which had
this unfortunate result. High tariffs for the protection of
home manufactures from foreign competition, and the offer of
attractive inducements to foreign capital, had brought about
many investments which proved to be unprofitable, and the time
had come, as happens always and everywhere in such cases, when
the unsound structure of productive enterprise must collapse.
Thus the country, having all of its industrial centers filled
with suffering unemployed workmen and many of its rural
districts filled with starving peasants, was a field most
perfectly prepared for the seed of insurgent passion which
countless agents were now busied in sowing.
Students and workmen became associated in flagrant
revolutionary demonstrations, flaunting the red flag of
rebellion and singing seditious songs, at St. Petersburg,
Moscow, Kieff, Kharkoff, Odessa, and other cities, fighting
vain battles with savage Cossacks and police. To excite the
peasantry to action, a forged ukase was circulated among them,
in the districts of Poltava and Kharkoff, announcing that the
land, held wrongly by the nobles, had been restored to them by
the Tsar; that they could take possession of it, and, with it,
the present contents of granaries and barns. They proceeded
accordingly to strip many estates (see below, Russia: A. D.
1902), and suffered piteously from the soldiery that came in
haste to stop their deluded work. It was at this time that M.
Witte set on foot an extensive inquiry into agricultural
conditions, the important political outcome of which will be
spoken of later on.
On the 15th of April, 1902, the Minister of the Interior, M.
Sipiagin, was killed by a student named Belmatcheff. This
murderous exploit of the revolutionary terrorists brought a
man into power who gave Russia an experience in the next two
years, of heartlessness and foulness in despotism which
surpassed all that it had known before.
{564}
"Sipiagin, when Minister of the Interior, had already brought
matters so far by his reactionary policy of violence that the
news of his assassination at the hands of Belmatcheff was
received with unmixed joy in all classes of Russian society.
But the fullest proof of the irreconcilableness of autocracy
with things like improvement and progress was furnished by the
successor of Sipiagin, Von Plehve, who soon proved himself to
be the complete personification of all evil, heartlessness,
and corruption. … The attention of the highest circles was
drawn to his person when, after the assassination of Alexander
II., he conducted the prosecution at the arraignment of the
participators in the deed. Later, on being appointed State
Secretary, he was able, by his persistent zeal in the service
of the reaction, to place himself on a good footing with those
in power, particularly with the Procurator of the Holy Synod,
Pobiedonostseff, who, when the policy of destroying the
Finnish constitution was determined upon, found a good tool in
Von Plehve. In the anti-Finn coup d’état he played a
considerable part, particularly as member of the secret
committee which drafted the plan for the Russification of the
Finnish Grand Duchy, and drew up the manifesto; while, still
later, as Secretary for Finland, together with the then
Governor-General Bobrikoff, he conducted and carried out the
well-known policy of suppression.
"As Minister of the Interior, Von Plehve lost no time in
showing what policy he intended to follow, as he declared the
general dissatisfaction in Russia to be solely the result of
the conspiracy and machinations of a handful of evil disposed
persons, who could easily be rendered incapable of harm if
only the police were sufficiently strengthened and received
extensive powers. … The Minister came into conflict, shortly
after his appointment, with a number of his colleagues,
especially with the Finance Minister, De Witte, who had
previously been practically omnipotent, and with the Minister
of Justice, Muravieff. The difference with the latter hinged
on the question of the treatment of 'political criminals,' the
trials of whom Von Plehve wished to allocate to a special
court-martial, the proceedings being conducted with closed
doors, whilst the Minister of Justice required a public trial
before the ordinary courts. The Tsar, as usual, followed the
most reactionary counsel. … Of deeper significance and more
far-reaching effects was the conflict with the Finance
Minister, who, indeed was far more menacing to Von Plehve’s
exalted position. Without being imbued with really liberal
views, but being possessed of intelligence and a clear view as
regards all social phenomena, De Witte, doubtless one of the
most able statesmen Russia has possessed in recent times,
recognized that, if matters in the Empire continued much
longer in the same way, a catastrophe was unavoidable. …
"De Witte obtained the consent of the Tsar to the formation of
committees, in the different parts of the country, consisting
of representatives of agriculture, and including both large
estate owners and men of the people, to whom was allotted the
task of declaring their views as to the cause of the decline
of Russian agriculture, and of indicating steps for the
improvement of agricultural conditions. De Witte himself urged
the committees to express themselves freely and openly as to
the causes of the prevailing misery, and as to the means of
remedying it. But in all probability he hardly expected that
these utterances would go so far in their openness as they
really did. Quite a number of committees were perspicacious
enough to deal not merely with the economical, but likewise
with the general political position, though recognising that
the former was very closely connected with the latter. In this
way the ice was broken. One committee after the other
criticised the existing system of government with astonishing
boldness, and required an unconditional and radical change
therein. … it was the representatives of the zemtsvo assemblies who played the chief part in the agricultural
committees, and consequently hopes began to be cherished more
or less everywhere that these assemblies would now receive
amplified rights, and that in this way the basis would be laid
for the future and for the constitution dreamt of by all. Such
hopes were, however, not to the taste of Von Plehve, the new
Minister of the Interior. … Finally they [the committees] were
dissolved, without having achieved any other result than a
number of reports which had been drawn up by them, and which
ended by being pigeon-holed in one record office or the other.
Von Plehve had conquered the Finance Minister. But his success
was a Pyrrhic victory. At one stroke he converted a large
number of liberal friends of reform into radical adherents of
the emancipation movement, while to all others who had
followed the proceedings of the agricultural committees with
interest and expectancy he brought home a clear apprehension
of the fact that a régime, under which the will or the whim of
an irresponsible official could bring to naught plans having
for their object the amendment of the conditions of life of
many millions of people, could never contribute to the
promotion of national development. Similar fruits were borne
by Von Plehve’s policy in many other directions. …
"Never have the police been so numerous or so powerful as
under Von Plehve’s regime; never were such trifling causes
sufficient to deprive both sexes of citizens of their liberty,
to expose them to ill-treatment, and to send them into exile.
But never, on the other hand, have such means proved to be
more powerless. … The so-called ‘Organisation of the
Struggle,’ the same that had slain the previous Minister of
the Interior, Sipiagin, also sentenced to death the Governor
of Ulfa, Bogdanovitch. … At last Von Plehve, too, was
overtaken by his fate. On the 28th of July, 1904, a member of
the ‘Organisation of the Struggle’ threw a bomb into the
carriage of the Minister as he was driving towards the Warsaw
railway station in St. Petersburg, on his way to an audience
with the Tsar. He was killed instantaneously; while the
assassin, Sasonov, and a second terrorist, Sickocki, who had
lent him assistance, were arrested and condemned to twenty and
eleven years respectively of penal servitude."
K. Zilliacus,
The Russian Revolutionary Movement,
chapter 16 (New York, Dutton and Company).
{565}
RUSSIA: A. D. 1902.
The Political Awakening of the Common People.
Ideas of the Stundists.
Peasants taking Possession of the Granaries.
Floggings and Butcheries in Progress.
"The discontented crowds are unarmed, their only weapons are,
so far, shouts, banners and martyrdom for Liberty, while the
auto-bureaucratic regime meets these with the infliction of
wounds and death. Still there are features in this uneven
struggle which are of very ill-omen for auto-bureaucracy. Such
is, in the first place, the hearty compact between the factory
workers and the masses of the towns on the one hand, and the
forward elements of the classes, mainly represented by
students of the different higher educational institutions, on
the other. Secondly, there is the persistency with which the
cries ‘Down with Autocracy!’ ‘Long live Liberty,’ are now
resounding throughout the Empire of the Tzars. The shooters
are invariably beaten down, even shot down, as we shall see
later on; but the cry is raised again and again. Revolutions
are, unfortunately, not accomplished by shouts alone; but does
not the Tzar’s Government take all possible pains to teach the
population this simple truth? …
"Merciless wholesale flogging goes on in the Poltava province.
Rifles have also been used; and a number of women and children
have been wounded and several peasants shot dead. One of the
bodies had fourteen bullets in it. In the Kharkov province
‘peace and order’ has been enforced with a still greater
‘respect to uniform and arms.’ The soldiers themselves state
that the number of blows doled out with the bundles of birch
to the peasants amounted at times to 250 per person. When
fleeing from the torture eight peasants hit on a patrol. The
commanding officer being drunk ordered ‘fire!’ and all the
eight unarmed and helpless victims fell dead!
"But do these ‘energetic measures’ produce the desired effect?
In the village of Kourlak, Province of Voronezh, the same
merciless flogging was to be administered to all its
inhabitants. When the thirty-seventh peasant received his
portion of the torture, the villagers, after consultation,
declared that they submitted. But they collected carefully
all the birch-bundles which served for the execution.
‘ They will be of use to us,’ said the peasants, ‘when
we shall flog you!’ All the official
explanations given them by the authorities on this occasion
led them to the conclusion that the administration
acknowledged the righteousness of their claims on the land,
and flogged them only for using wrong means for its
recovery;—that therefore they would soon have the upper hand
over the officials and landlords, and would then flog them in
their turn.
"Nor does the movement in the Poltava Province (see above,
Russia. A. D. 1901-1904) show any sign of abatement. According
to the latest private information, which dates from the last
day of April, the peasant movement there does not at all bear
the character of devastation; although the landlords are
undoubtedly ruined by the quiet doings of the villagers. There
is no pillaging. The peasants, headed by their elective
elders, open the granaries of the landlords and distribute the
grain among themselves according to the needs of each family
(the well-to-do receiving nothing), while the remaining grain,
if any, is transferred to the communal stores. Part of this
appropriated grain has already been used by the peasants for
sowing their own fields, as well as those they have
appropriated from the gentry. As soon as the troops are
marched into the rebellious locality, they take possession
of the appropriated grain still remaining in the communal
granaries, and return it to its former owners. But as soon as
the soldiery, after wholesale flogging of the peasantry, leave
the locality, the peasants again take possession of the
landlords’ grain. The prison at Poltava is crammed with
peasants and students, and yet clandestine manifestoes are
published with the regularity of the local official paper, and
are distributed even among the soldiery. …
"The present peasant movement is not confined to the three
provinces already mentioned. In these it originated simply on
the ground of starvation, and similar events are reported from
the provinces of Koursk, Ekaterinoslav and Podolia; also in
those of Tomsk, Tobolsk, etc., in distant Siberia, where
governmental grain stores suffered the fate of the landlords’
granaries in Europe. But the tension of the peasants’ spirit,
their utter distrust of the present Government, and their
readiness to take justice into their own hands may be said to
be universal throughout the Empire.
"At the beginning of the Social Democratic movement in Russia
no hopes of the Russian peasant were cherished by its leaders.
But powerful agrarian organisations have since sprung up."
Felix Volkhovsky,
The Russian Awakening
(Contemporary Review, June, 1902).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1902.
Russo-Chinese Treaty concerning Tibet.
See (in this Volume)
TIBET: A. D. 1902.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1903 (April).
The Massacre of Jews at Kishineff.
The British Vice-Consul at Odessa, Mr. Bosanquet, visited
Kishineff in July, to learn the facts of the barbarous attack
on the Jewish population of that town, which had been made by
a mob in the previous April. The following particulars are
taken from his official report, published soon afterward as a
Parliamentary Paper:
"The riots began on Easter Sunday (O. S.), (the 19th April, N.
S.), in the afternoon, in the eastern extremity of the town …
and on that day were confined to the ordinary acts of a
turbulent crowd—e. g., the smashing of windows and
door-panels in Jewish houses. The area of Sunday’s disturbance
was comparatively small." Early the next morning they began
afresh in the same quarter, and spread to other parts of the
town. "They were directed entirely against the Jews." "Monday
was the day when the worst crimes were committed, and these
were perpetrated by bands of rioters in different parts of the
town. Many people believe the riots to be the work of
organized companies."
"Besides the murders committed, the interiors of houses were
utterly dismantled, pillows ripped up, Jewish Scriptures torn,
floors destroyed, and furniture thrown into the street; while
at an early stage wine was broached, that which was not drunk
pouring into the street. The local authorities took no
effective step to stop the riots, which continued unabated
till 4 P. M., or later, the soldiers meanwhile being passive,
if not sympathetic, spectators, and the police contenting
themselves with the arrest of minor criminals; then the
Governor, who had remained at home giving orders by telephone,
which were disregarded, at length ventured to sign the
necessary order for the troops to be employed.
{566}
The only case I heard of in which the latter used their
weapons occurred shortly after the issue of the Governor’s
order, when a Christian boy, pursuing a Jew with a stone, and
refusing to desist, was knocked down and bayoneted by
soldiers. An eye-witness of the scene related the facts to me.
This boy (with one doubtful exception) was the only Christian
killed in the disturbances. If resolute action had been taken
by the authorities, it is believed that the riots could have
been checked at an early stage. The more usual opinion seems
to be that all the murders occurred on Monday. It is certain
that none were perpetrated on Sunday, and very doubtful
whether any took place after the order to employ the troops
had come into effect. The disorders did not entirely cease, as
next day (21st April) houses in the outskirts were pillaged;
but, roughly speaking, the riots may be said to have ended on
Monday. Some students are said to have taken part in the
riots."
"Apparently a feeling existed among the lower classes that the
Jews ought not to be in a majority at Kishineff. The fact is
that they form about 50 per cent. of the population, which
amounts to some 115,000 inhabitants, the other half consisting
two-thirds of Moldavians, and after them of Russians, Greeks,
Armenians, Poles, Germans, &c."
The victims of these melancholy occurrences are officially
estimated at 41 Jews killed, or who died subsequently of
wounds, 3 severely, and 300 slightly, wounded. Among the
killed was one child accidentality suffocated by its mother. The
deaths are placed by another (Jewish) authority at 43,
including 2 young children, and by some even as high as 47,
but this figure seems to include persons who died from shock,
and not directly from violence. The official estimate of
deaths is identical with the figure communicated to me at the
Jewish hospital.
"Three hundred and eight persons have already been convicted
of thefts and other minor offenses [in connection with the
riots], and have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment
ranging from one week to three months. … The accused still
awaiting trial number 360. … Of the above prisoners 260 are
accused of participation in the riots without actual violence
and are out on bail in sums ranging from 200 to 300 roubles.
Those in this category who are found guilty will be sentenced
to imprisonment without hard labour in the Maison
Correctionnelle, where the discipline is more severe than in
prison. The remaining 100 are charged with murder in addition
to other crimes, and those found guilty will be transported to
undergo penal servitude in the Island of Sakhalin."
RUSSIA: A. D. 1903 (May-October).
Intrigues against Opening Ports in Manchuria to Foreign Trade.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1903 (May-October).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1903-1904.
Concert with Austria-Hungary in submitting the Mürzsteg
Programme of Reform in Macedonia to Turkey.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1903-1904.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904 (February-July).
Opening of the War with Japan.
Battles at the Yalu.
First operations in Manchuria.
First movements against Port Arthur.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (FEBRUARY-JULY).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904 (July-September).
War with Japan:
Japanese Success in Manchuria.
The great battle of Liao-Yang.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905.
Reforming attempts of Prince Mirsky.
Meeting of Zemstvo presidents.
The Revolutionary Workman.
Father Gapon.
The Appeal to the Tsar.
The answering Massacre of "Bloody Sunday."
Assassination of Grand Duke Sergius.
Witte’s practical premiership.
The Call of the First Duma.
The General Strike on the Railways.
The Great General Strike.
The Ukase of October 30, called the Constitution of Russia.
Beginning of Reaction.
The Postal Strike.
Fatal Rising at Moscow.
The hated Plehve was succeeded by Prince Svyatopolk Mirsky, a
broad-minded statesman, who began earnest efforts to set the
government on a different course. One of the first measures of
the prince was to win authority from the Tsar for a meeting of
the presidents of the zemstvos, or provincial councils, which
are bodies of a considerably representative character,
exercising a limited power in their rural districts over
matters of sanitation, public roads, and common schools.
Ostensibly, the meeting was to concert measures of relief for
the wounded in the war with Japan; but everybody knew that
political questions could not escape discussion if such a
meeting was held.
All the interests that uphold autocracy, aristocracy, and
bureaucracy in Russia were quick to scent danger, and had no
difficulty in persuading the weak-willed sovereign to recall
his consent to the meeting. In his feeble, half-way manner of
doing things, he forbade it as a public assembly, but allowed
its members to meet unofficially and privately, in November,
with no publication of their discussions or acts. They adopted
resolutions setting forth a bold demand for a representation
of the people in their government, and these were laid before
the Tsar. He gave a public reply to them on the 26th of
December, ignoring the demand for representative institutions,
declaring that the government must remain autocratic, but
making vague promises of reform in the laws, with especial
assurances of liberty to the press and in religion; but
everything granted must flow by gracious favor from the
autocracy, through the channels of the bureaucracy, where it
could not by any possibility run true and clear. The words of
the Tsar, vague as they were, produced some encouragement, and
a feeling of trust in his good intentions; but the effect was
soon destroyed.
It was at about this time that Prince Trubetskoi, in authority
at Moscow, addressed a letter to Prince Mirsky, from which the
following was published in translation soon after:
"Through this letter I wish to explain myself to you, and ask
you not to refuse me the privilege of representing to the
Emperor, most humbly, the motives which prompted me to give
the zemstvo permission to assert itself. According to public
opinion, in which I concur unreservedly, Russia is, at
present, facing an epoch of anarchy and revolutionary
movement. What is going on is, by far, no mere agitation by
the youth. The youth stands forth only as a reflection of the
general state prevailing in society. This state is most
dangerous and terrible for our entire country, as well as for
all of us, and particularly so for the holy person of the
Emperor. It is, therefore, the duty of every truly loyal
subject to ward off the disastrous calamity with any and all
means at his disposal.
{567}
A short time ago, I had the good fortune to be received by the
Emperor, and to tell him, straightforwardly and truly, to the
best of my effort and knowledge, about the present state of
society. I endeavored to explain to him that what is going on
is not a riot, but a revolution; that the Russian people is
thus being drawn into a revolution, which it does not desire,
and which can be forestalled by the Emperor. Yet there is but
one way out of it, just one, and that is by the Emperor
placing confidence in the strength of society and of the
masses. In the depths of my soul I am firmly convinced that if
the Emperor only wanted to confidently group these powers
around himself, Russia would free itself from all the terrors
of the impending disturbance, and would support its Czar, his
will, and his absolute sovereignty. In view of the state of
mind of all the people, who are filled with fear and horror
over the things referred to above, it is really beyond human
power to refuse them to speak about that which is vexing and
tormenting everybody so fearfully."
"The opening of the next year (1905) was marked by the
appearance of a new element in revolution. Certainly, there
had been strikes and riots in the great cities before; there
had been peasant risings and other forms of economic agitation
in various parts. But as a whole the revolutionary movement as
such had been inspired, directed, and even carried out by the
educated classes—the students, the journalists, the doctors,
barristers, and other professional men. It had been almost
limited to that great division of society which in Russia is
called ‘The Intelligence.’ … It was ‘the Intelligence’ who
hitherto had fought for the revolution. … At length the
first-fruits of their toilsome propaganda, continued through
forty years, were seen, and the revolutionary workman
appeared.
"He was ushered in by Father George Gapon, at that time a
rather simple-hearted priest, with a rather childlike faith in
God and the Tsar, and a certain genius for organization. His
personal hold upon the working classes was probably due to
their astonishment that a priest should take any interest in
their affairs, outside their fees. … Father Gapon, with his
thin line of genius for organization, had gathered the
workmen’s groups or trade unions of St. Petersburg into a
fairly compact body, called ‘The Russian Workmen’s Union,’ of
which he was President as well as founder. In the third week
in January the men at the Putiloff iron works struck because
two of their number had been dismissed for belonging to their
union. At once the Neva iron and ship-building works, the
Petroffsky cotton works, the Alexander engine works, the
Thornton cloth works, and other great factories on the banks
of the river or upon the industrial islands joined in the
strike, and in two days some 100,000 work-people were ‘out.’
"With his rather childlike faith in God and the Tsar, Father
Gapon organized a dutiful appeal of the Russian workmen to the
tender-hearted autocrat whose benevolence was only thwarted by
evil counsellors and his ignorance of the truth. The petition
ran, in part, as follows:—
"‘We workmen come to you for truth and protection. We have
reached the extreme limits of endurance. We have been
exploited, and shall continue to be exploited under your
bureaucracy. The bureaucracy has brought the country to the
verge of ruin and by a shameful war is bringing it to its
downfall. We have no voice in the heavy burdens imposed on us.
We do not even know for whom or why this money is wrung from
the impoverished people, and we do not know how it is
expended. This is contrary to the Divine laws, and renders
life impossible. It is better that we should all perish, we
workmen and all Russia. Then good luck to the capitalists and
exploiters of the poor, the corrupt officials and robbers of
the Russian people!
"‘Throw down the wall that separates you from your people.
Russia is too great and her needs are too various for
officials to rule. National representation is essential, for
the people alone know their own needs. Direct that elections
for a constituent assembly be held by general secret ballot.
That is our chief petition. Everything is contained in that.
If you do not reply to our prayer, we will die in this square
before your palace. We have nowhere else to go. Only two paths
are open to us—to liberty and happiness or to the grave.
Should our lives serve as the offering of suffering Russia, we
shall not regret the sacrifice, but endure it willingly.’
"On the morning of Sunday, January 22, 1905, about 15,000
working men and women formed into a procession to carry this
petition to the Tsar in his Winter Palace upon the great
square of government buildings. They were all in their Sunday
clothes; many peasants had come up from the country in their
best embroideries; they took their children with them. In
front marched Father Gapon and two other priests wearing
vestments. With them went the ikons, or holy pictures of
shining brass and silver, and a portrait of the Tsar. As the
procession moved along, they sang, ‘God save our people. God
give our orthodox Tsar the victory.’
"So the Russian workmen made their last appeal to the autocrat
whom they called their father. They would lay their griefs
before him, they would see him face to face, they would hear
his comforting words. But the father of his people had
disappeared into space. As the procession entered the square,
the soldiers fired volley after volley upon them from three
sides. The estimate of the killed and wounded was about 1500.
That Sunday—January 9th in Russian style—is known as Bloody
Sunday or Vladimir’s Day, after the Grand Duke Vladimir who
was supposed to have given the orders. Next morning Father
Gapon wrote to his Union: ‘There is no Tsar now. Innocent
blood has flowed between him and the people.’"
Henry W. Nevinson,
The Dawn in Russia, Introduction.
(Harper’s, New York).
If the atrocity of the 9th of January was intended to
terrorize and paralyze the opposition to absolutism it failed.
It maddened the more violent revolutionists, and increasingly
desperate enterprises of assassination were provoked. The
provocation was made greater by the appointment of Trepoff,
notorious for brutality of temper, to a newly created office,
of Governor-General of St. Petersburg. On the 17th of February
the Grand Duke Sergius, uncle to the Tsar, Governor-General of
Moscow, and conspicuously heartless and foul in his exercise
of power, was assassinated as he drove through the streets.
Strikes and riotous outbreaks were of constant occurrence in
the industrial cities, especially violent in Warsaw, Lodz, and
other Polish towns.
{568}
The Tsar issued a piteous manifesto on the 3d of March,
appealing for a "rally round the throne" by all "who, true to
Russia’s past, honestly and conscientiously have a care for
all the affairs of the state such as we have ourselves." On
the same day he published a rescript in which he said: "I am
resolved henceforth, with the help of God, to convene the
worthiest men, possessing the confidence of the people and
elected by them, to participate in the elaboration and
consideration of legislative measures." But, even if this
expressed the personal disposition of the weak-willed
sovereign, it promised nothing to correspond to it in the
action of government; as was shown by the promotion of Trepoff
to be Assistant-Minister of the Interior and Chief of Police.
Prince Mirsky, baffled in his undertakings and hopeless of
good from his service, had resigned the Ministry of the
Interior, and his successor, M. Buliguine, held the office but
a short time. M. Serguei Yulievitch Witte, former Minister of
Finance, and latterly President of the Imperial Ministers, now
acquired a substantial premiership in the administration,
which does not seem to have belonged to his office before.
Nothing of satisfaction came from the December promises of
reformed law. Bureaucratic commissions were understood to be
working on measures to make good the Tsar’s word, but months
passed with no result. There were fitful relaxations of the
censorship of the press, so capricious that no editor could
know what he might and might not say.
In April, religious liberty was proclaimed, with special
rights and privileges reserved to the Russian orthodox church.
M. Witte had advocated a separation of the church from the
state; but that was beyond hope. There must, however, have
been an important weakening of church influence in the
government, since the long despotic procurator-general of the
Holy Synod, M. Pobiedonostzeff, resigned before the close of
the year.
Early in the summer the heads of provincial zemstvos held
another meeting, and discussed the popular demand for a
constitutional and representative government without
restraint. Then the Czar gave them a friendly audience, and
declared to them that "the admission of elected
representatives to works of state will be regularly
accomplished"; but this was followed speedily by an official
explanation that his majesty’s remarks must not be understood
as containing "any indication of the possibility of modifying
the fundamental law of the empire." This was to check an eager
leaping of the public mind to high hopes.
On the 19th of August the long wavering imperial mind seemed
brought to a definite intention at last, in a proclamation
which summoned a national assembly, or duma, to meet "not
later than the middle of January, 1906."
"The Empire of Russia," said the Tsar in his preamble, "is
formed and strengthened by the indestructible solidarity of
the Tsar with the people and the people with the Tsar. The
concord and union of the people and the Tsar are a great moral
force, which has created Russia in the course of centuries by
protecting her from all misfortunes and all attacks, and has
constituted up to the present time a pledge of unity,
independence, integrity, material well-being, and intellectual
development. Autocratic Tsars, our ancestors, constantly had
that object in view, and the time has come to follow out their
good intentions, and to summon elected representatives from
the whole of Russia to take a constant and active part in the
elaboration of laws, attaching for this purpose to the higher
state institutions a special consultative body, entrusted with
the preliminary elaboration and discussion of measures, and
with the examination of the state budget. It is for this
reason that, while preserving the fundamental law regarding
autocratic power, we have deemed it well to form a State Duma,
and to approve regulations for the elections to this Duma."
By the terms of the call it will be seen, "the fundamental law
regarding autocratic power" was preserved with care. And, said
the proclamation, "we reserve to ourselves entirely the care
of perfecting the organization of the duma." It was to have no
power to initiate legislation, but only to discuss and pass
judgment upon measures brought before it by the ministers of
the Tsar, who thus held fast to the substance of his
autocratic power.
The Duma was to consist of 412 members, representing 50
governments and the military province of the Don, and only 28
members representing towns. It was to be elected for five
years, unless dissolved sooner by the Tsar. Its meetings were
to be secret, except as the president, in his discretion,
might admit the reporters of the Press.
The limited functions proposed for the Duma, and the
indefinite prescription of procedure in its election, left not
much in the Tsar’s project of a national assembly to satisfy
the nation. In September a large meeting of representatives of
the zemstvos, from all parts of the Empire, was held privately
at Moscow, and it was there agreed that they should exert
themselves to secure as many seats in the coming Duma as
possible, with a view to making it instrumental in the
movement for something better. The ultimate aim of present
endeavor was defined in a programme which included: a
representative national legislature; a systematic budget
system; freedom of conscience, speech, press, meeting and
association; inviolability of person and home; equal rights of
all citizens; equal responsibility of all officials and
citizens under the law; the abolition of passports.
In October, on the 21st, the workingmen organized their first
great general strike, on the railways, which paralyzed travel
and traffic, except as the government could operate some
military trains. The strikers made bold demands, presented to
Witte on the 24th: "The claims of the working classes," they
said, "must be settled by laws constituted by the will of the
people and sanctioned by all Russia. The only solution is to
announce political guarantees for freedom and the convocation
of a Constituent Assembly, elected by direct, universal and
secret suffrage. Otherwise the country will be forced into
rebellion." Witte replied: "A Constituent Assembly is for the
present impossible.
{569}
Universal suffrage would, in fact, only give preëminence to
the richest classes, because they could influence all the
voting by their money. Liberty of the press and of public
meeting will be granted very shortly. I am myself strongly
opposed to all persecution and bloodshed, and I am willing to
support the greatest amount of liberty possible. … But there
is not in the entire world a single cultivated man who is in
favor of universal suffrage." Two days after receiving this
reply the Council of Labor Delegates, or "Strike Committee,"
declared a general strike of workmen throughout Russia, and
about a million workingmen are said to have taken the risk of
starvation by dropping work.
No doubt it was that evidence of determination in the
revolutionary spirit of the country which drew from the Tsar,
on the 30th of October, the famous ukase which was
characterized hastily at the time as "the Magna Charta of
Russia," "the surrender of autocracy," the founding of
constitutional government. In reality, the document was no
more than an injunction to the ministers of the autocrat to
carry out his "absolute will" in certain matters, most of
which were set forth with characteristic vagueness of terms.
The following is a translation of the entire manifesto, as
communicated to the Government of the United States from its
embassy at St. Petersburg:
By the grace of God we, Nicholas Second, Emperor and Autocrat
of all the Russias, Tsar of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland,
etc.
The rioting and agitation in the capitals and in many
localities of our Empire has filled our heart with great and
deep affliction. The welfare of the Russian Emperor is united
with the welfare of the people, and its troubles are his
troubles. The agitation which has broken out may bring
confusion among the people and threaten the entirety and unity
of our Empire.
The solemn vow of the imperial service commands us, with all
the strength of intelligence and of our power, to endeavor to
stop as quickly as possible agitations so dangerous to the
Empire. In ordering the competent authorities to take measures
to avert the disorders, the troubles, and violence, and to
guard peaceful people who are eager to fulfill quietly the
duties placed upon them, we have found it necessary, in order
to insure the proper execution of the general measures marked
out by us, to unify the action of the supreme government.
We lay upon the government the fulfillment of our absolute
will:
1. To grant to the population the inviolable basis of free
citizenship, on the ground of actual inviolable personality,
freedom of conscience, speech, meeting, and unions;
2. Without stopping the intended elections for the State Duma,
to include now in the participation of the Duma as far as
possible, in view of the corresponding short term which
remains before the convocation of the Duma, those classes of
the population which up to now were entirely deprived of the
right to vote and to allow in future the further development
of the element of a general right of election which is to be
established by new legislation; and
3. To establish as an inviolable rule that no law shall take
effect without its confirmation by the State Duma and that the
persons elected by the population should be guaranteed the
possibility of actual control over the legal activity of the
persons appointed by us.
We call on all the true sons of Russia to remember their
duties toward their fatherland, to assist in combating these
unheard-of agitations, and together with us to unite all their
strength in establishing quietness and peace in their country.
Given in Peterhof on the 17th day of October in the year of
our Lord 1905 and the eleventh year of our reign.
(Signed in his own hand.)
NICHOLAS.
At the same time, the ministers of the autocrat were enjoined
to "abstain from any interference in the elections of the
duma;" they were to "maintain the prestige of the duma and
confidence in its labors, and not resist its decisions so long
as they are not inconsistent with the historic greatness of
Russia." In the exercise of executive power they should embody
"(1) straightforwardness and sincerity in the confirmation of
civil liberty;"
"(2), a tendency toward the abolition of exclusive laws;"
"(3), the coordination of the activity of all the organs of
government;"
"(4), the avoidance of repressive measures in respect to
proceedings which do not openly menace society or the state."
These orders and injunctions from the autocracy to the
bureaucracy were to be the constitution of government for
which Russia had made demands. They did not satisfy the
demand—or satisfied only the small party who were afterwards
called "Octobrists," because they asked for no more than was
granted in this ukase of October 30, 1905. The general strike
was not called off, but demands for a Constituent Assembly
were reiterated persistently. Agitation was kept alive, and
with it the murderous warfare waged by revolutionists against
high officials and the police. At the same time, reactionary
officials and army officers, enraged by what the Tsar had
done, stirred up mobs in various parts of the country to
attack the Jews, and add to the state of public disorder, thus
furnishing arguments for a fresh resort to repressive measures
by the military arm. Presently there were serious outbreaks of
mutiny in army and navy, at Odessa, Kronstadt, and Sevastopol,
and all the foundations of public order seemed really, for a
time, to be breaking up.
It is evident there was serious alarm in the circles of the
autocracy. Pobiedonostzeff, the bigoted Procurator of the Holy
Synod, and Trepoff, the savage head of the police, resigned.
On the 4th of November an amnesty to political offenders was
proclaimed, and the ancient liberties of Finland were
restored, by a decree which abolished that of February, 1899
(see, in Volume VI., FINLAND), and that also annulled a later
military law, of 1901, by which the Finnish army had been put
on the Russian footing.
These signs of yielding to the claims "of the nation soon gave
place, however, to symptoms on the reactionary side of revived
courage and obstinacy among the keepers and masters of the
Tsar’s mind and will. A manifesto on the 12th of November
declared that reforms would not be possible till the country
was quieted. Another on the 13th proclaimed martial law in
Poland; whereat the "strike committee" called another strike
in sympathy with Poland.
{570}
On the 14th Witte published an appeal to the workmen, saying:
"Brothers! Workmen! Go back to your work and cease from
disorder. Have pity on your wives and children, and turn a
deaf ear to mischievous counsels. The Tsar commands us to
devote special attention to the labor question, and to that
end has appointed a Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which
will establish just relations between masters and men. Only
give us time, and I will do all that is possible for you. Pay
attention to the advice of a man who loves you and wishes you
well." The renewed strike was not successful. Not many of the
workingmen would face the suffering from non-employment which
they had gone through already. The attempt was ended on the
20th; but the Committee which called it, in annulling the
order, enjoined the workers of the Empire to organize "for the
final encounter between all Russia and the bloody monarchy now
dragging out its last days."
Meantime, on the 17th, the Tsar sought to conciliate the
peasants by reducing for one year the payments on land that
were due under the land distribution which went with
emancipation in 1861, and remitting them entirely after
January, 1907.
See (in Volume IV.)
SLAVERY, MEDIEVAL AND MODERN: RUSSIA.
On the 20th of November a Peasants’ Congress of 300 delegates
met in Moscow and formulated demands for the nationalization
of land and for a constituent assembly. The delegates were
arrested. An alarming mutiny in the fleet and army at
Sevastopol broke out on the 26th, but it was soon suppressed.
Two days later the whole body of employees in the postal and
telegraphic service at Moscow began a most troublesome strike,
which spread from there and was continued for some weeks. Mr.
Nevinson, who was in Moscow at the time, describes it in one
of his chapters:
"In those happy weeks when freedom still was young and living,
two things ruled the country—speech and the strike, the word
and the blow. The strike was everywhere felt. No letter or
telegram went or came. Each town in Russia was isolated, and
the whole Empire stood severed from the world. … In Moscow the
cooks struck, and paraded the streets with songs never heard
in the drawing-room. The waiters struck, and heavy proprietors
lumbered about with their own plates and dishes. The
nursemaids struck for Sundays out. The housemaids struck for
rooms with windows, instead of cupboards under the stairs, or
sections from the water closets. Schoolboys struck for more
democratic masters and pleasanter lessons. Teachers struck for
higher pay. … But at the back of the strikes and all the
revolutionary movement lay the motive force of speech. … After
these centuries of suppression, all Russia was revelling in a
spiritual debauch of words."
On the 6th of December General Sakharoff, formerly Minister of
War and now Governor-General of a district on the Volga, was
shot by a woman, to avenge the sufferings he had caused to the
peasants. On the 7th the Strike Committee called on the
workpeople to withdraw their money from the savings-banks;
and, a little later, a joint manifesto, issued by that
committee and committees of Peasants, Social Democrats, and
Social Revolutionists, appealed generally to the people, not
only to withdraw money from the savings banks, but "to refuse
to pay taxes, or to take bank-notes, or to subscribe to
loans," as a means of crippling the government financially.
All papers which published this manifesto were suppressed and
their editors arrested.
Then, in the last twelve days of December, came the fatal
rising at Moscow, which the government, forewarned by its
spies, precipitated, while the revolutionists’ preparations
were but half made, and which it crushed mercilessly, with
ease. From a diary of the occurrences of these tragical days
at Moscow, given in the report of the resident American Consul
to Ambassador Meyer, at St. Petersburg, the following entries
are taken:
"December 24.
Barricades were continually built during days and nights. The
revolutionists were in hope that about 20,000 or 30,000
workmen from the factories in the suburbs would enter the city
and join them, but this was not accomplished, as the military
forces were sufficient to prevent this. The revolutionists
spread a rumor amongst the workmen that the soldiers were in
sympathy with the strikers and that they would not fire on the
mob and would join their ranks, but this rumor turned out to
be untrue, as the troops were loyal to the Government. …
"December 27.
At 6 o’clock P. M. the house where the chief of the secret
police, Mr. Voilochenkoff, resides, was surrounded by a
revolutionary party and by their insistent demands the front
door was opened. Six men rushed into his apartments and
arrested the chief, and read the death sentence of the
revolutionary party to him. His wife and three children
pleaded to the revolutionists for mercy, but the
revolutionists would not listen to their pleading, and they
gave Mr. Voilochenkoff a short time to prepare for death and
then took him out into a side street where he was shot to
death, and his body left in the street. Disturbances and
shooting were carried on in the different parts of the city,
and new barricades erected.
"December 31.
The troops bombarded the large Prochoroff spinning mills,
where a large number of revolutionists made their last stand.
Many houses in the vicinity of the mill were either burnt down
or wrecked by cannon balls. Many of the revolutionists and
strikers were killed, wounded, or captured and the weapons
confiscated. The general strike has been called off."
This was practically the end of the abortive rising. On the
5th of January, 1906, Ambassador Meyer wrote to the State
Department at Washington:
"In my cable of December 25 I stated that although fighting
had been stubborn and gatling guns had been used, I believed
that the estimates so far given out as to loss of life were
much exaggerated. It appears now that I was correct in my
surmise, for in a semi-official statement given by one of the
papers, from statistics taken at all the hospitals and
accident bureaus, the deaths were given as about 750 and the
wounded as a little over a thousand.
"I am glad to state that as yet I have heard of no injuries
occurring to American citizens in Moscow; in fact in all these
disturbances that have taken place in the various cities the
revolutionists and strikers have refrained in all instances
from attacking foreign consulates, and I believe this also
applies to the property of foreign individuals."
{571}
On the 29th of January Ambassador Meyer wrote to Washington:
"The revolutionary party seems to have spent its force for the
time being. Instead of aiding reforms, they have greatly
hampered them. By the attempted capture of Moscow, by their
riots and rebellions in other parts of the country, followed
by destruction of life and property, they have forced the
Government into repression and reactionary methods in order to
restore law and order. All this has necessarily caused a delay
in the classification of the newly enfranchised voters and has
given an excuse for a continued waste of precious time due to
bureaucratic formality.
"Some of the factions are finally waking up to the necessity
of giving attention to registration and a better comprehension
of the coming elections. The Constitutional-Democratic party
have decided by a large majority to take part in the elections
and the Douma. The Social Democrats have also decided to
participate. On the other hand, the Russian
Social-Revolutionaries, at their first meeting in Finland,
lately, voted in favor of a boycott of the elections.
"At its last meeting, the Constitutional-Democratic party, in
view of obstacles to free election campaigning which the local
authorities are using against all opposing parties, voted to
protest against the government policy, which in any way
impeded free elections to the Imperial Douma, and further
urged the most energetic participation of its members in the
approaching elections.
"At a meeting of the marshals of the nobility, held at Moscow
last week, the following resolutions were adopted: 1.That the
final settlement of the agrarian question should be made the
first task of the Douma. 2. That in deciding the agrarian
question, it should be based on the principle of inviolability
of private property."
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905. War with Japan:
Siege and Surrender of Port Arthur.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (FEBRUARY-AUGUST) and
1904-1905 (MAY-JANUARY)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905 (October-May).--War with Japan:
Voyage of the Baltic Fleet.
Its Destruction in the Battle of Tsushima.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (OCTOBER-MAY).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905 (September-March).
War with Japan: Campaign in Manchuria.
From the Battle of Liao-Yang to the end
of the Battle of Mukden.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (SEPTEMBER-MARCH).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1909.
General Consequences in Europe of the Weakening of Russian
Prestige and Power by the Russo-Japanese War.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1904-1909.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905.
Action with other Powers in forcing Financial Reforms
in Macedonia on Turkey.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1905-1908.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (February-November).
Naval Mutiny.
Army Revolt.

Peasant Risings.
Conflict in the Caucasus.
The most serious of the revolutionary outbreaks of the year
was that of mutiny in the navy. "Already in February the
sailors of the Black Sea fleet, instigated by the
revolutionary propaganda, had burned down the barracks at
Sebastopol and assaulted their officers, and on June 27 the
crew of the ‘Kniaz Potemkin,’ the principal battle-ship of the
Black Sea fleet, mutinied at sea while the squadron of which
it formed part was manoeuvring, and killed nearly all its
officers. The mutineers were in league with the working men at
Odessa, who at the same time invaded the harbor, and,
accompanied by a riotous mob, plundered and burnt in all
directions. Property of immense value was consumed, and some
of the troops refused to fire on the rioters. Ultimately fresh
troops were brought up, the ‘Kniaz Potemkin’ sailed away to
the Roumanian port of Constanza, where it was surrendered to
the Roumanian authorities, who gave up the ship to the
Russians, and the crew was landed and disarmed. The crew of
another battle-ship, the ‘Georgei Pobiedonosets,’ took part in
the mutiny, but surrendered to the Russian authorities at
Odessa. Riots also took place at the same time at the seaports
of Reval, Riga, Libau, and Kronstadt, where the dockers were
joined by the navy men and struck for an increase of wages. …
On July 10 Count Schouvaloff, Prefect of Police at Moscow, was
assassinated, and a general strike was proclaimed at Minsk. …
In the Baltic provinces the peasants, who are Letts,
constantly attacked the landed proprietors, who are German in
race and speech; many of the latter were killed, the municipal
buildings at Reval, Riga and Mittau were sacked. … In
September the conflict which had been going on between the
Tartars and the Armenians in the Caucasus culminated in a
series of horrible massacres, accompanied by much destruction
of property. At Baku most of the naphtha wells were destroyed
by incendiary fires, and very much of the oil industry was
ruined. The Tartars, carrying green banners, proclaimed a holy
war against the Armenians, many thousands of whom were killed.
… On November 25 an organized revolt took place of the
soldiers, sailors and workmen of Sebastopol. There was no
rioting, but several officers were killed, and for some days
the town was in the hands of the rebels. The revolt was only
suppressed on November 30, when a regular battle took place
between the rebels and 20,000 troops that had been brought up
against them. Forts and loyal ships fired on mutinous ships,
and the barracks held by the rebels had to be bombarded before
they were forced to surrender. … Other mutinies of troops took
place at the same time at Warsaw and in other places."
The Annual Register 1905,
pages 313-323.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (April-August).
The Tsar’s Decree of Religious Liberty.
Minister Witte’s enlightened Memorial.
The Emptiness of Results.
Early in May, 1905, there was announcement that the Tsar, on
the morning of the Russian Easter Day, had published a decree
proclaiming absolute religious liberty to all his subjects.
Previous tolerance of all religions in Russia had been subject
to important limitations. No member of the state church could
leave it to enter another without losing all his civil rights,
and no church other than the Orthodox could proselyte.
Furthermore, when members of the Russian Church and those of
any other church married, it was necessary to have the
ceremony performed by an Orthodox priest, and the law insisted
that the children of such marriages be brought up in the
Orthodox faith. These restrictions were particularly hard on
the Old Believers, as they are called,—a body which separated
from the Orthodox Church two and a half centuries ago and has
suffered all kinds of persecution. The new ukase recognized
the various orders of priesthood among the Old Believers, and
gave them the right to celebrate marriage. To all the
dissenting sects—Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, and
others—is accorded the right to erect houses of worship
without restriction.
{572}
The Tsar’s decree of entire religious freedom was known soon
to have been the fruit of a remarkably broad minded memorial
addressed to him by M. Witte, the President of his Council of
Ministers, and a translation of that memorial was published in
the May issue of The Contemporary Review. It pictured a
state of paralysis in the Russian Church, consequent on its
bondage to the State. "Both the ecclesiastical and the secular
press," said the writer, "remark with equal emphasis upon the
prevailing lukewarmness of the inner life of the Church,—upon
the alienation of the flock, particularly of the educated
classes of society, from its spiritual guides; the absence in
sermons of a living word; the lack of pastoral activity on the
part of the clergy, who in the majority of instances confine
themselves to the conduct of divine service and the
fulfillment of ritual observances; the entire collapse of the
ecclesiastical parish community, with its educational and
benevolent institutions; the red-tapism in the conduct of
diocesan or consistorial business, and the narrowly
bureaucratic character of the institutions grouped about the
Synod. It was from Dostoyevski that we first heard that word
of evil omen, ‘The Russian Church is suffering from
paralysis.’"
This condition M. Witte attributes to the position in which
the Church was placed by Peter the Great. "The chief aim of
the ecclesiastical reforms of Peter I. was to reduce the
Church to the level of a mere government institution pursuing
purely political ends. And, as a matter of fact, the
government of the Church speedily became merely one of the
numerous wheels of the complicated government machine. On the
soil of an ecclesiastical government robbed by bureaucratism
of all personal elements the dry scholastic life-shunning
school arose spontaneously. This policy of coercing the mind
of the Church, though it may have been attended for the moment
by a certain measure of political gain, subsequently inflicted
a terrible loss. Hence that decline in ecclesiastical life
with which we now have to deal."
The wise President of the Tsar’s Council made so much
impression on the mind of his master as to draw from him the
ukase of general religious freedom; but three months later, in
the August number of The American Review of Reviews,
Dr. E. J. Dillon, whose intimate knowledge of Russian affairs
is well known, described how effectually the decree had been
smothered by the bureaucracy, which is stronger than the Tsar.
He wrote: "The most welcome of all the concessions emanating
from the throne was that which Nicholas II. bestowed upon his
subjects last Easter Sunday. Inspired and drafted by M. Witte,
it was at first spoken of as liberty of conscience, but was
soon afterward seen to amount to nothing more than religious
toleration. And since then the bureaucracy has touched and
killed it."
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (June-October).
Ending of the War with Japan.
Mediation by the President cf the United States.
The Peace Treaty of Portsmouth.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1905 (JUNE-OCTOBER).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905-1907.
The Recent Russian Political Parties.
As explained by Mr. Maurice Baring in his interesting book
entitled A Year in Russia, the crystallization of
political parties in Russia began after the issue of the
Manifesto of October, 1905. The most important was that of the
Constitutional Democrats, nicknamed the "Cadets," a name
formed from the letters "K. D." Similarly the party called
Social Revolutionaries are nicknamed "S. R’s." and the Social
Democrats "S. D’s." The party of the Constitutional Democrats
was the product of a combination of Zemstvo members who had
previously been united in a "League of Liberation" with the
professional classes, whom Professor Milioukov had brought
together in a "Union of Unions," which represented the great
mass of educated Russia—the "Intelligenzia." This combination
of the professional class with the Zemstvoists, who had more
political experience than others could enjoy in Russia, was
mainly the important work of Professor Milioukov.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1906.
The First Duma.
Election of Representatives.
Its Conflict with the Government and its Dissolution.
Rise of M. Stolypin.
The Instigated Massacres (Pogroms).
In January, 1906, when the Duma promised by the Tsar on the
19th of the previous August should have met, the conditions in
the country were such that the Government dared not permit the
meeting to be held, and it was postponed without date. After
some weeks a more submissive state of order was restored, and
the meeting was appointed for the 10th of the following May.
The elections were held in March, and Ambassador Meyer
described the system on which they were conducted in an
extended despatch to the State Department at Washington, from
which the following is borrowed:
"The total number of members of the Duma, when the elections
shall have finally been completed, will be 501. The elections
are, however, not carried on the same day throughout the
country. Governors and vice-governors, prefects of cities and
their lieutenants cannot vote in their departments, nor can
members of the army or navy who are on active service, or
persons doing police duty in governments or cities when
elections are taking place.
"The voters are divided into classes, and that it may be
more clearly shown I have made the following table;
------------------------------------------------------------
Peasants.
Clergy
Cities not in special list
Volosts
Workmen
-------------------------> Delegates -> Electors -> Duma Members
Landed proprietors
and special cities.
-------------------------------------> Electors -> Duma Members
------------------------------------------------------------
{573}
"From this it will be seen that the peasants are in a class by
themselves and, as a matter of fact, in the present elections
are not given an opportunity of expression, as it is the volosts
(elected at the mir, in most instances, before the Duma was
even granted) that choose the delegates. The volosts, workmen,
clergy (not lauded proprietors), voters of cities (not in
special list), and class C of lauded proprietors, all choose
delegates. These delegates, in turn, select electors, as do
also landed proprietors, and qualified voters of cities on the
special list. The electors vote for Duma members in their
appropriate electoral college, and their choice is confined to
a member of their own body. Therefore in every instance, in
order to become a member of the Duma, a candidate must be an
elector and previous to that a delegate, except in the case of
landed proprietors and voters of special cities. …
"It is noticeable that the large cities in European Russia are
limited to one member of the Duma, with the exception of
Moscow and St. Petersburg, the former having an allotment of
four and the latter of six.
"There is an exceptional provision with regard to the
procedure of the peasant electors. … Elections to the Duma,
with the exception cited as to the privilege of peasant
electors, are finally effected in the governments and
territories by the government electoral college, and in the
cities by the municipal electoral college."
Mr. Meyer reported further that an imperial manifesto had
announced that the Council of the Empire would in future
"consist of an equal number of elective members and members
nominated by the Emperor. It will be convoked annually by an
imperial ukase at the same time with the Duma. The two
assemblies will have equal legislative powers, and each can
exercise the same initiative in introducing bills or
interrogations. Every bill must be passed by both houses
before being sent to the Tsar for his signature and approval.
The elected members of the Council will be eligible for nine
years, a third being reelected every three years." Of the 98
elective members of the Council (one half of the body), 18
were to be chosen from the nobles, 50 from the zemstvo of each
government, 6 from the Orthodox Church, 6 from the
universities, 12 from the representatives of the Council of
Commerce and Industry, and 6 from representatives of the
Polish landed proprietors.
On the 7th of April Ambassador Meyer wrote to Washington
concerning the result of the elections: "The success of the
Constitutional Democrats has made a great impression on the
Government and created considerable nervousness. Witte is
really anxious to resign and go out of the country for a
much-needed rest. But he assured a mutual friend that he would
stay and serve the Emperor as long as His Majesty desired. The
elections so far have impressed upon his mind the want of
confidence which exists among the people as to his
administration. As he is without any supporters among the
elected members of the Duma, it is difficult to believe that
the Emperor will be able or even desirous of having him
continue to serve as premier after the Duma is organized."
This anticipation proved correct. M. Witte had withdrawn from
the ministerial premiership when the Duma assembled on the
10th of May, and M. Goremykin had taken his place.
There was conflict between the Duma and the Government from
the moment that the former adopted its reply to the opening
speech of the Tsar. With unanimity it demanded general amnesty
for past political offenses, abolition of the death penalty,
suspension of martial law, full civil liberty, universal
suffrage, abolition of the council of the empire, a review of
the fundamental law, responsibility of ministers and right of
interpellation, a forced expropriation of land, and a
guarantee of rights to trade unions.
M. Stolypin, Minister of the Interior, now coming to the front
of ministerial leadership, made his first speech in the Duma
on the 21st of June, and was assailed with cries of "Murderer"
and "Assassin" when he defended illegal acts of police officials
and provincial governors, in the suppression of disorder, and
declared his determination to maintain order. Among the
replies to him was one by Prince Urussoff, former Assistant
Minister of the Interior, who made a powerful attack on the
sinister methods of the Government—the "policy of massacre,"
as he named it—declaring that massacres were always organized
by secret forces. "Any investigation," he said, "of the
so-called ‘pogroms’ (massacres) will bring the investigator
face to face with the following certain symptoms; they are
identical in all cases; Firstly, a massacre is always preceded
by reports of its preparation, accompanied by the circulation
of appeals exciting the population and of one constant kind in
form and substance. They are accompanied by a certain kind of
stormy petrels in the person of little known representatives
of the dregs of the population. Then, too, the cause of the
massacre as officially announced is afterwards always without
exception found to be false. Furthermore, in these massacres
there is always to be found a certain similarity of plan which
gives these actions the character of chance. The murderers act
on the assumption of some kind of right, as though conscious
that they will not be punished, and only continue to act as
long as this confidence remains unshaken—after which the
massacre stops extraordinarily quickly and easily."
What Prince Urussoff had intimated, as to the instigation of
the massacres from high circles was declared most distinctly
and positively, three years later, by Prince Kropotkin, in a
letter to the London Times of July 29, 1909. He wrote:
"Something which never has happened anywhere in Western Europe
happened then in Russia, as M. Obninsky, a member of the first
Duma, says in a terrible book of statistics he has published
in 1906 at Moscow, under the title, ‘A Half-Year of the
Russian Revolution.’ In a hundred different cities men of the
so-called ‘Black Hundreds’ came together on some public
square, received there the benediction of the clergy, sent
telegrams to the Palace circles in St. Petersburg, received
answers from them, and then went on killing the Jews, the
Armenians, the Poles, the Russian members of the Zemstvos, and
Russian ‘Intellectuals’ altogether, under the protection of
the military, the local police, and the local governors.
{574}
"For some time I could not believe that such pogroms could have been organized from St. Petersburg by the
authorities. Now the evidence is overwhelming. We know that
proclamations inciting to pogroms were printed by the
gendarmes in the Secret Police offices, we know from the
revelations of these gendarmes themselves that men and
officers were sent to the provinces with proclamations and
arms to organize the pogroms; and we know how the leaders of
the Union of Russian Men were petted and given money by the
Tsar and how they organized murders, wholesale and retail,
with the aid of members of the Secret Police; and here is the
net result which I have before me in a long, very long, list
compiled by the Law Review Pravo.
"This list is simply horrifying. The Constitution manifesto
was signed on October 30. The same day took place the
pogrom at Tver; the Zemstvo house was burnt, and 24
persons were wounded. At Moscow, November 2, 30 wounded;
Odessa, October 31-November 3, more than 1,000 killed and
5,000 wounded; Kieff, October 31, 150 killed, 100 wounded;
Tomsk, November 3, 150 killed and burned, 76 heavily wounded
(all these, by the way, and many others are Russian towns);
Minsk, 100 killed, 400 wounded; Tiflis, November 2, more than
100 killed; and so on, and so on. … The result of similar
campaigns in different parts of Russia for twelve months only
in 1905-1906 was—killed, more than 14,000; executed, about
1,000; wounded and partly died from wounds, about 20,000;
arrested and imprisoned, mostly without judgment, 75,000. This
last figure was given in the Duma by Professor Kovalevsky on
May 2, 1906, in the presence of M. Stolypin, who did not
contest it."
On the 22d of July the Duma was dissolved by imperial command,
and the following manifesto to the people was published by the
Autocrat on the following day:
"Persons selected by the people were called to the
legislature. Trusting in the goodness of God, believing in the
happy and grand future of our people, we were expecting from
their labors the happiness and interest of the country. Great
reforms had been indicated by us in all that concerns the life
of the people, and our greatest care, which is to substitute
education for the ignorance of the people and to lessen the
difficulties of its life by improving the conditions under
which it cultivates the ground, was foremost. A painful ordeal
was reserved to our hopes. The elected of the nation, instead
of turning their attention to legislative labors, have entered
a field that was closed to them, and have begun to investigate
the doings of authorities established by us, to indicate to us
the imperfections of fundamental laws that can only be altered
by our imperial will, and to commit illegal acts, such as the
appeal addressed to the people of the Duma.
"The peasants, dazed by these disorders, without waiting for
the legal improvement to their position, gave themselves up,
in a great number of governments, to pillage and theft,
refusing to submit to the law or to legal authorities. …
"By dissolving the actual Duma of the Empire we testify to our
unalterable intention of maintaining, in all their force, the
laws concerning the establishment of that institution, and,
consequently, we have fixed, by our ukase given to the ruling
Senate on the 8th July instant, the convocation of the new
Duma on the 20th of February, 1907."
About two hundred members of the dissolved Duma went
immediately from St. Petersburg to Viborg, in Finland, and
held a meeting there, from which they published an address to
the "Citizens of all the Russias," signed by one hundred and
sixty of their number, protesting against the opposition which
the Duma had encountered from the Government in all its
undertakings, and practically refusing submission to its
dissolution. "In the place of the present Duma," they said,
"the Government promises to convoke a new one in seven months.
… For seven months the Government will act as it likes, will
wrestle with the movement of the people in order to obtain a
submissive and desirable Duma, and if it succeeds in entirely
crushing the movement of the people it will not convoke any
Duma at all. Citizens, stand firmly by the trampled rights of
the representatives of the people. Stand for the Duma of the
Empire. Russia must not remain one day without representatives
from the people. We have the means of obtaining this. The
Government has not the right without our consent to collect
taxes from the people, nor to call the people to military
service, and therefore, now, when the Government has dissolved
the Duma of the Empire, it is your right to refuse to supply
it with soldiers or money. If the Government, in order to
secure resources, makes loans, such loans, made without
consent of the representatives of the people, will henceforth
be invalid, and the Russian people will not recognize them and
will not pay for them. Consequently, until the representatives
of the people are convoked, do not pay a kopeck into the
treasury nor send a man to the army. Be firm in your refusal;
stand for your rights, all as one man. Against the united and
absolute will of the people no power whatever can resist.
Citizens, in this compulsory but inevitable struggle your
representatives will be with you."
This proved to be futile action. The Government was prompt in
arresting and imprisoning most of the signers of the appeal to
the people, and none of them was allowed to be returned to the
Second Duma when the new elections were held. Pending that
election, some very substantial gifts of imperial favor were
made to the peasants, to win their good will, but nothing
appears to have been remembered of the October injunctions of
the Tsar concerning the "confirmation of civil liberty." In
August, 4,500,000 acres of crown lauds were transferred by an
imperial ukase to the Peasants’ Bank, for sale to the peasants
on easy terms; and on the 18th of October another ukase
released them to a large extent from the restraints of the
communal system, and decreed the equality of all citizens
before the law. The following is part of the text of this
important decree, as communicated in translation to the
American government by Ambassador Meyer, and published in the
report of 1906 on Foreign Relations.
"The Czar orders, on the basis of the fundamental law of 1906,
that the following reforms be made:
"1. To accord all Russian subjects, without distinction of
origin, with exception of the aborigines, equal rights with
regard to the state service with persons of noble blood, and
at the same time to abolish all special privileges of dress
due either to official position or to the origin of the
wearer.
{575}
"2. Peasants and members of other classes formerly taxable are
freed (a) from the presentation of discharge papers on
entering an educational institution or the civil service;
further, from personal payment in kind and the performance of
communal duties during the whole time the persons in question
may be either in the educational institution or civil service;
(b) from the necessity of demanding for entry into holy
orders or a monastery the permission of the commune.
"3. The compulsory exclusion of peasant and other classes
formally taxable from the following ranks and careers is
abolished;
(a) From entering the civil service;
(b) from receiving rank;
(c) from receiving orders and other distinctions;
(d) from attaining learned grades and honors;
(e) from completing educational courses and
particularly from winning higher class rights.
"In all these cases the persons in question are allowed to
retain all the rights arising from their connections with
their commune, as well as the responsibilities thereof, until
they have freely withdrawn from the commune or entered into
other corporations of standing. With regard to the legal
standing of the persons in question, there shall serve as a
basis the regulations of the rank or profession which these
persons have won."
See, also, below,
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (APRIL).
Meantime, extensive plans of insurrection, with naval and
military mutiny, in five cities, had been formed and had
miscarried. The outbreak was premature at Sveaborg, late in
July, and the sailors who started it were quickly overcome.
The same failure occurred at Kronstadt, where the
revolutionists and mutinous troops took Fort Constantine and
the arsenal, but found no ammunition in the latter, and were
defenseless when surrounded by loyal forces. At Libau, Odessa,
and Sevastopol the intended rising was given up.
On the 25th of August a desperate plot of wholesale murder,
intended to include M. Stolypin among its victims, was carried
out by the explosion of a horribly destructive bomb at the
country house of that Minister, on Aptekarsky Island. M.
Stolypin was holding a reception, and the rooms were crowded
with officials and others, when four conspirators, three of
them dressed as gendarmes, drove up boldly, and were able,
either to enter the house with a bomb or to throw it through a
window. The effect of the explosion was so horribly
destructive that the house was torn to pieces and thirty
people were killed outright or injured mortally, besides an
equal number that received curable wounds. Two of the
Minister’s children were among the latter, and he himself
received slight injuries. The Governor of Penza, M. Koshoff,
who stood near him, was instantly killed. Two of the assassins
were among the killed and the other two were wounded and
captured. On the following day a young woman of the terrorist
organization slew General Min, at Peterhof railway station, by
shots from a revolver. He had been active in suppressing the
insurrection at Moscow.
In October Ambassador Meyer, after a trip into Poland and to
Odessa, reported as the result of his observations:
"On the whole, the revolutionary movement, for the time being,
has lost its momentum. A year ago it was on the crest of the
wave. Then a strike could be ordered and put in force without
any difficulty, but now the workmen refuse to be used for
political purposes or respond to the whims of the agitator.
The present conditions are liable to continue until the next
Duma, March 5. Yesterday, which was the first anniversary of
October 17 (Russian Style), it had to be given out by some of
the revolutionists that there would be strikes, uprisings, and
agitations throughout the country. But the day passed off
quietly. Mr. Stolypin is facing with much courage and
resolution the stupendous task which confronts him. He is
endeavoring to deal fairly, while at the same time it is
necessary to reestablish law and order."
On the 21st of December Count Alexei Ignatieff was
assassinated at Tver, while attending a meeting of the
provincial zemstvo, the assassin stating that he had acted
under orders of the Socialist revolutionary committee.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1906 (April).
Invitation of the Nations to a Second Peace Conference
by the Tsar.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST; A. D. 1907.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1906 (April).
At the Algeciras Conference on the Morocco Question.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE A. D. 1905-1906.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1907 (August).
Convention with Great Britain containing Arrangements on
the subject of Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet.
See EUROPE: A. D. 1907 (AUGUST).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1907.
The Second Duma and its Early Dissolution.
Increase of Radicalism among its Members.
The New Electoral Law, under which a "Workable" Third Duma
was elected.
M. Stolypin’s Policy.
The promise that a second Duma would be summoned to meet in
March, 1907, was fulfilled. Between the 21st of January and
the end of February elections were held, with results that
were exceedingly disappointing and irritating to the imperial
government. It strove hard, by arbitrary measures and vigorous
working of its police, to suppress the Constitutional
Democrats,—the party which it fears the most. It pursued their
leaders into exile or imprisonment, broke up their meetings,
harassed them so in the canvass and the election that the
return of deputies by the party was reduced from 185 in the
First Duma to 108; but, on the other hand, the Socialist
representation in the Second Duma was raised above that in the
First from 17 to 77, and the Octobrists elected 31 deputies,
gaining 18 more seats than they had filled before. On the
whole, as a consequence, the Second Duma held more radicalism
in its make-up, with less intelligence, than the First.
Its meetings were opened on the 6th of March, and soon gave
evidence that the antagonisms in the body were too extreme for
any influential political work. In June M. Stolypin accused
most of the Socialist members of being parties to the
revolutionary propaganda in the army and navy, and demanded
their suspension by the Duma. It refused to suspend them
without an investigation of the truth of the charge, and
appointed a committee to receive such evidence as the
government could bring. Thereupon the Tsar, by a manifesto
published on the 16th of June, dissolved the Second Duma as
summarily as he had dissolved the First, ordered new
elections, to begin on the 14th of September, and summoned the
Third Duma, then elected, to meet on November 14th.
{576}
At the same time a new electoral law was proclaimed, in
flagrant violation of the so-called Constitution of October
30, 1905, which had declared, as an "immutable rule,"
established by the "inflexible will" of the Tsar, that "no law
can ever come into force without the approval of the State
Duma." The new law was planned carefully and skilfully to
disfranchise great numbers in the classes of people which
autocracy fears; to add weight to the votes of the classes on
which it leans; to diminish the representation of industrial
cities, as well as of non-Russian districts,—Poland, Siberia,
etc.,—and, generally, to make a farce of the pretended
concession of representative and constitutional government
which the autocratic court had been playing for the amusement
of the country during the past two years.
The new electoral law accomplished its purpose of securing a
Duma that would keep workable relations with M. Stolypin. A
very intelligent English publicist, Dr. Dillon, who discusses
Foreign Politics every month in the Contemporary
Review, whose views are broadly liberal as a rule, and
whose acquaintance with Russian affairs seems to be specially
intimate, inclines to justify the measure on this practical
ground, or, rather, to accept it as approved by this result.
When the make-up of the Third Duma had become known he wrote,
in the Contemporary Review of December, 1907, as
follows:
"M. Stolypin’s electoral law has been criticised severely.
And, to be frank, one must admit that from the point of view
of men who advocate universal manhood suffrage it is a mere
mockery. For it suspended the right of election in some
places, arbitrarily lessened the number of representatives in
certain provinces, created groups of electors, and authorised
Government officials to decide how they should be formed; in a
word, it is a means of manipulating the elections for the
avowed purpose of having a certain stamp of men returned and
another type of men eliminated. To say that the Chamber which
has resulted from these expedients is not the elect of the
nation is, of course, a truism. It is not, and was not, meant
to be this. … The data respecting the intellectual and social
status of the newly elected are still very defective and
untrustworthy. But so far as they go, they show that among the
men who are about to rescue Russia from ruin there are:—
Members of the nobility 157
Priests 51
Merchants 22
Peasants 77
Petty tradesmen 6
Working-men 15
Honorary burghers 8
Ex-officers 20
Officials 56
Zemstvo workers 27
Employees of municipalities 23
Marshals of nobility 36
Cantonal elders and secretaries 21
Men who have been educated in high schools 167
Men who have been educated in intermediate schools 82
Men who have been educated in primary schools 61
Members educated at home 23
Between the ages of 25-30 19
Between the ages of 30-40 81
Between the ages of 40-50 87
Between the ages of 50-00 47
Between the ages of 60-70 13
Between the ages of 70-80 l
Members of the Second Duma 59
Members of the First Duma 7
Members of the Council of the Empire 3
A month later the same writer said:
"The Third Duma is already a month old, and has as yet done no
work, has not even organised itself. Festina lente is
evidently its maxim, with the accent on the second word.
Debates there have been not a few, but they were as the noise
of sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. The first discussion
took place on the motion to thank the Tsar for the October
Manifesto, which created the Legislative Chamber. A great
majority of the deputies—including the Constitutional
Democrats, who are adjusting themselves to their
environment—were in favour of expressing their gratitude, but
they could not agree how to call the institution for which
they felt grateful. Some wanted to name it a Constitution,
others ‘a renovated order of things.’ If it is a Constitution,
then there is no Autocrat, the Octobrists argued, and
consequently that title of the Emperor must be dropped. ‘If we
are bent on thanking the Tsar,’ replied the Conservatives,
‘let us do it with a good grace. Whatever name we may give to
the present régime, the title of the ruler has
undergone no change. He was an Autocrat when he ascended the
throne, and he is an Autocrat to day. Proofs? They are as
plentiful as blackberries.’ …
"But the Constitutionalists—and among them the Octobrists
favoured by M. Stolypin—insisted. ‘By the Manifesto,’ they
argued, ‘the Tsar limited his authority and curtailed his
prerogatives. Thus it is no longer in his power to issue laws
without the approval of the Duma; neither can he abrogate any
of the Organic Statutes.’ ‘You are mistaken,’ answered the
Monarchists. ‘Have the Organic Statutes not been already
altered? Has the "immutable" electoral franchise not been
changed?’ … But the Octobrists stood their ground, and the
address was voted with a flaw in the Tsar’s title. That was
the work of one whole day and part of a night—an unlucky
day—the 13th November Russian style. In this way the Duma
offered the Sovereign a pot of honey mingled with wormwood.
The Premier was upset, the Tsar offended, and the Monarchists
indignant. ‘This, then,’ the Monarchists exclaimed, ‘is M.
Stolypin’s Duma, the areopagus which is to prescribe remedies
for the Russian nation now at death’s door?’
"Three days later came the Premier in a quos ego mood.
And he was at his best. Ever since his first appearance as a
public orator, M. Stolypin has kept the high place he then
won. His eloquence, like his character, is manly, and his
utterance impressive. His look, his accents, his gestures,
betoken sincerity, and his manner is warm with the heat of
subdued enthusiasm. On this historic day he simply electrified
the House, captivated his adversaries, and extorted applause
from his bitter enemies. And yet he was battling with the
Duma, swimming against the current. He spoke of the Autocratic
power and of the Autocratic Sovereign, and had the
satisfaction of being interrupted by enthusiastic cheers. …
{577}
"Happily M. Stolypin is a man of steadfast purpose rather than
brilliant intellect, for his moral qualities may stand him in
better stead, during the revolutionary crisis than would rare
mental gifts. At bottom his temper is Liberal rather than
Conservative, and mainly for that reason he would seem to have
been chosen to be sexton of the old epoch and harbinger of the
new. …
"No fair-minded man can doubt the sincerity of M. Stolypin’s
Liberalism. It has withstood the test of time and the pressure
of unfavourable circumstance. His faith in Liberal specifics
is so firm that he declines to diagnose any diseases that call
for more drastic remedies. … M. Stolypin is at present the
only influential politician in Russia who is working
efficaciously for the Liberal cause. He is systematically
removing hindrances to Constitutionalism which are most
formidable at the outset. …
"But the greatest service which any Minister could render a
cause was performed by M. Stolypin for Liberalism at a time
when it depended on him either to lay the groundwork for a
Constitutional fabric or to establish firm Monarchical
government. And for that service he deserves, and may yet
receive, a public monument from Democratic Russia. He advised
the Tsar to summon the Third Duma soon after the Second, and
to issue no laws in the meanwhile. That was really the turning
point in the history of Russia’s Constitution, the magnum
opus of M. Stolypin’s political life. And he followed it
up with a step more extraordinary and decisive still. He
himself had recourse to the Autocratic power which it is the
tendency of his policy to annihilate, and he used it for the
purpose of destroying Autocracy. That surely was a coup de
maître which entitled the Minister to the undying
gratitude of all Liberal Russia. But not a Liberal uttered a
word of thanks. This deadly blow was struck at the Autocracy
in the following way:
"The Electoral Law opened the portals of the Duma chiefly to
Democrats and other irreconcilable enemies of the Monarchy,
and so long as it remained in force, no Duma acceptable to the
Government was possible. Yet it could not be abrogated. For,
together with the Organic Statutes, it had been declared part
of the unchangeable Constitution. The Tsar’s hands, therefore,
were tied, his word was pledged, and the result was a
deadlock. Autocratic power could not be wielded anew without
effecting a perilous coup d'état. Well, the Premier
advised the Crown to seize once more the sword of the
Autocracy, and with it to hew off the branch on which the
Autocrat was sitting. That was the true significance of the
measure against which the enemies of the Autocracy still cry
out. For the object directly aimed at and immediately attained
by this coup d'état was the creation of the Octobrist
Party, whose first work in the Duma was to declare that the
Autocracy had gone forever."
E. J. Dillon,
Foreign Affairs
(Contemporary Renew, January, 1908).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1907 (November).
Treaty with Great Britain, France, Germany, and Norway,
guaranteeing the Integrity of Norway.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1907-1908.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1907-1909.
Action in Persia during the Constitutional Revolution.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1908.
Evasion of the Conscription.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1908.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1908.
North Sea and Baltic Agreements.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1908.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1908.
Proxy Parliamentary Vote given to Women of Property.
See (in this Volume)
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1908.
Policy of Prussia in her Polish Provinces dictated by
her relations to Russia.
See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1908 (JANUARY).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1908 (September).
Withdrawal from Intervention in Macedonia.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
Attitude toward the Austrian Annexation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina.
Was the Government coerced by German Threats?
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1908-1909 (OCTOBER-MARCH).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
Exercise of Disputed Authority in Northern Manchuria.
The Kharbin question.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1909 (MAY).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
Measures for the Destruction of the Constitutional Autonomy
of Finland.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909.
Oppressions continued.
Executions, Imprisonment, Exile, Torture, Persecution.
On the 1st of August, 1909, a letter was addressed to the
British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs by one hundred
and eighty men of distinction in Great Britain,—Members of
Parliament, Peers, Bishops and other clergymen, University
professors, authors, editors,—asking the Government to exert
such influence as might be possible with that of Russia, to
induce a relaxation of the system of repression still
maintained in that unhappy country, and to ameliorate the
dreadful barbarities which go with imprisonment there. "We
know," said these memorialists, "how slow has been our own
progress in the past, and how many points in our present
condition are open to independent criticism. We are conscious
of the difficulties that attend all reforms, and we desire
that no feeling of impatience should cause us to withhold our
sympathy from every sincere attempt to promote good government
among a friendly people.
"It is in no spirit of ungenerous remonstrance that we are
constrained to observe that for four years a system of
repression has been maintained in Russia, which has not
relaxed its severity though the evidences of any organized
revolutionary movement have dwindled and disappeared. There
has recently been an announcement of some relaxation in
particular districts, but the greater portion of the Empire
remains, in time of peace, under some form of martial law. The
number of capital sentences on civilians for the period
between October, 1905, and December, 1908, has reached 4,002,
and the number of executions was officially stated to be
2,118. These sentences were passed, moreover, not by ordinary
civil process, but by exceptional military Courts. The number
of persons in exile in Siberia and Northern Russia, mostly
punished without trial by administrative process, under a
system of exile, which involves much physical suffering and
privation, was officially reckoned in October last at 74,000.
{578}
"The number of persons exiled without trial under
administrative decree cannot be realized without a serious
protest, but the evidence which has reached us through the
Press, from trustworthy witnesses, and above all from the
reports of the debates in the Duma, has persuaded us that the
sufferings of those who remain in prison justify, nay,
require, a stronger remonstrance. Over 180,000 persons—a total
which has more than doubled since 1905—criminals and political
offenders, are crowded together in prisons built to hold
107,000. In most of these prisons epidemic diseases, and
especially typhus, are prevalent; the sick and the whole lie
together—their fetters even in cases of fever are not removed.
In some prisons the warders systematically beat and maltreat
the sick and the whole alike. There is also evidence of more
deliberate tortures, employed to punish the defiant or to
extract confession from the suspect.
"Such excesses would move our indignation were all the victims
ordinary criminals. We desire to base our protest on the
ground of simple humanity; but it is none the less important
to remember that many of these prisoners, if guilty at all,
are suffering for acts or words which in any constitutional
country would be lawful, or even praiseworthy.
"Our object in addressing you is to draw your attention to
these facts and to place on record the impression which we
have formed of them. That no direct intervention is possible
we fully realize, nor do we wish to enlarge the area of
international controversy. But there are probably means by
which a friendly Government may exert an influence to
ameliorate the lot of those who are suffering under the evils
which we have described. The infliction of such wrongs upon
Russians and the indignation which they excite among
ourselves, are relevant and important factors in our mutual
relations, of which the two Governments should be fully
informed."
Later and more specific facts, illustrative of the arbitrary
and barbarous oppression under which the Russian people are
still suffering, were given in The Outlook of October
9, 1909, from which the following is taken:
"In the first seven months of 1909 military courts sentenced
841 persons to death in Russia and up to the 1st of August 381
of the persons so sentenced had been hanged or shot. Nearly
all were civil or political offenders, who, in a
constitutional country, would have been tried with proper
legal forms and guarantees in the regular civil tribunals. In
these same seven months the publishers of 109 periodicals in
Russia were fined in the aggregate sum of 54,425 rubles for
publishing news or expressing opinions obnoxious to the
Government, and in addition to these pecuniary punishments
whole editions of papers and magazines were seized and
destroyed, printing offices were closed, editors were arrested
and employees were exiled—all by administrative process. In
the month of June, 1909, three newspapers were suppressed
altogether, and in August, 1909, the St. Petersburg journal
Reitch (Speech), the organ of the Constitutional Democrats,
was fined 500 rubles for printing a signed article entitled
‘Suicide in the Army,’ which was based wholly on reports of
the Ministry of War.
"On the 28th of May, 1909, Mr. Selden, a St. Petersburg
publisher, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment in a
fortress for publishing one of Count Tolstoy’s books, and on
the 17th of August, 1909, the Count’s private secretary, Mr.
N. N. Gusef, was exiled by administrative process to the
province of Perm for distributing the venerable author’s
brochure entitled ‘Thou Shalt Do No Murder.’ In July, 1909,
Mr. W. Bogoras, author of Volume eleven of the Memoirs of the
American Museum of Natural History (one of the Volumes
containing the scientific results of the Jessup North Pacific
Expedition), was sentenced to two months' imprisonment for
describing the beating of citizens of Tver by dragoons in
1905, a thing that he had personally witnessed. …
"In August, 1909, the ‘Authors’ and Scientists’ Mutual Benefit
Society,’ a benevolent organization which had been in
existence for eighteen years, which had eight hundred members,
and which included most of the writers and scholars of Russia,
was suppressed by order of Premier Stolypin, for the
ostensible reason that it had given pecuniary aid to an
indigent author named Vitashefski—a man of advanced age who
had once, twenty years earlier, been sent to Siberia for
political crime. It is believed, however, that the real reason
for the suppression of the Society is the fact that most of
its members are liberals. The existing Government is extremely
intolerant toward social organizations that take an
independent or critical attitude toward the reactionary policy
now in force. On the 21st of July, 1909, the severest form of
martial law, the so-called ‘law of extraordinary defense,’ was
proclaimed in St. Petersburg for the seventh consecutive time.
The city has been under some form of martial law ever since
the assassination of Alexander II. in 1881. Almost the only
encouraging feature of the present situation in Russia is the
fact that the members of the Duma are still allowed to talk,
and the newspapers are still permitted to publish verbatim
reports of the debates. The lower house of the so-called
Parliament has no independent power, and no real control even
over the finances of the Empire; but it can criticise,
interpellate the Czar’s Ministers, and promote to some extent
the political education of the people.
"Three years ago Premier Stolypin defined his policy as
‘progressive reform, with the restoration of order.’ He has
partly restored order, by hanging, imprisoning, or exiling to
Siberia a large part of the disorderly population; but his
reforms have ‘progressed’ as the land-crab is popularly
supposed to walk—backward. Whether he is wholly to blame for
the reactionary policy that he is enforcing, or whether he
acts more or less under compulsion, we shall not know,
perhaps, until he retires from office and follows the example
of General Kuropatkin and General Linevitch by writing his
memoirs."
On the trial, in May, of M. Selden, for publishing and
distributing Count Tolstoi’s pamphlets, "Thou shalt not Kill,"
"A Letter to Liberals," "Christianity and Patriotism," the
venerable writer addressed a note to the court, challenging
the prosecution of himself, instead of the publisher. "As
these pamphlets," he wrote, "were written by me and published
by one of my friends, not only with my consent but at my
desire, M. Selden taking a purely passive part in the affair,
all the measures which are being taken against M. Selden
should logically and in equity be directed against me,
especially because I have repeatedly declared, and now declare
again, that I consider it my duty to my conscience to
disseminate, so far as lies in my power, the pamphlets in
question as well as my other works, and shall continue doing
so as long as I am able. I feel constrained to inform you of
this, and ask you to take whatever measures may devolve from
my present statement."
{579}
But the magistrate did not venture to institute proceedings
against the principal in the offense, and the Government took
no notice of the challenge.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909.
Revived Censorship of the Press.
Its Stupidity.
Gains for Free Speech notwithstanding.
"At the present time, the liberties granted less than four
years ago are mutilated. The censor is busy once more. The
Russian journalist is again compelled to practice the arts of
half-meaning, insinuation, and innuendo, which made his
predecessors of a generation ago marvels of subtle expression.
But that is only when a writer would say everything he wants
to say. Undoubtedly, the range of the permissible has grown
immensely since the early days of even Nicholas II. To write
of labor wars, of conspiracies, of constitutional liberties,
Russian newspapers need no longer confine themselves to
telegraphic reports of foreign strikes, conspiracies, and
constitutions. They need only print what the radicals in the
Duma utter. Not even the full Duma’s reports may be privileged
at present, but, after all, the Russian censor is a stupid
fellow. The censorship, like the autocracy in general, is
inefficient, spasmodic, allowing to-day what it prohibited
yesterday, or even allowing in one column what it strikes out
from another. St. Petersburg and Moscow in 1890 had eleven
daily papers, and twenty weeklies. In 1900 the number had
risen to twenty-four dailies and thirty-three weeklies. In all
Russia there were then 287 periodical publications. In August,
1905, the number had risen to 1,630, of which St. Petersburg
alone had 534. There were fifty daily papers at St. Petersburg
and twenty-five at Moscow in those short days of freedom, when
the pent-up speech of ages burst out in Russia. This, of
course, was inflation. Periodicals were born and died with the
rising and setting of the sun. The numerical strength of the
press must be far smaller now. But much that was gained for
freedom of speech in those stormy days has not been lost."
New York Evening Post,
March 23, 1909.

RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (January-July).
Dark Secrets of the Russian Police and Spy System brought
to Light.
The first in a series of startling disclosures of the dark
secrets of the Russian espionage and police system was made in
January, 1909, when it came to public knowledge that the head
and front of the Revolutionary Socialists of the Empire, one
Azeff by name, had been discovered by his associates to be a
secret agent of the police; had been tried and condemned by a
tribunal of their party, at Paris, and had escaped into some
hiding place, with avenging emissaries in pursuit, to take his
life. A little later it appeared that a former Director of the
Police in the Department of the Russian Ministry of the
Interior, M. Lopukhin, had been arrested for treason, on the
charge of having betrayed Azeff to the Revolutionists, by
making known to them the double part that the latter played,
as a so-called agent provocateur, drawing them into
criminal plots of which he kept the police informed.
The preliminary trial of Lopukhin occurred in April, and it
was stated in the indictment then published that Azeff had
penetrated into the very centre of the Social Revolutionary
machinations, and that part of his great services to the
Secret Police were rendered during the period that M. Lopukhin
occupied the post of Director of the Police Department in the
Ministry of the Interior—i.e., from May, 1902, to
March, 1905. It was affirmed that M. Lopukhin not only knew of
the existence and activity of Azeff, but met the latter more
than once both at his (M. Lopukhin's) house and at one of the
conspiratorial headquarters in St. Petersburg. The indictment
paid a warm tribute to Azeff’s ability in so long maintaining
his connexion with the police without awakening the suspicions
of the Social Revolutionaries as to his true character. It was
eventually remarked, however, that the plots in which Azeff
was concerned invariably failed, whereas many of the others
succeeded, and accusations of treachery began to be levelled
against him. In October, 1908, a commission of inquiry was
appointed by the Social Revolutionaries in Paris to inquire
into the charges brought against Azeff. Burtzeff, editor of a
revolutionary organ, stated before this tribunal that he had
seen M. Lopukhin, who had informed him of Azeff’s relations
with the Russian police.
M. Lopukhin, on his trial, admitted having given this
information to Burtzeff, but explained that it was in
consequence of what the latter had told him of the
revolutionist designs, including a pending plot against the
life of the Tsar. He then felt it his duty to unmask Azeff,
lest the murders which might otherwise have followed should
lie on his conscience, and when the revolutionaries came to
him for confirmation of what he had told Burtzeff he found it
impossible to retract his words. He was convicted, however, on
the 13th of May, and sentenced to five years of imprisonment
at hard labor, with the loss of civil rights. The sentence was
mitigated subsequently, and he was sent to exile at
Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, his family being allowed to accompany
him.
Prince Urussoff, whose bold speech in the First Duma on the
instigation of massacres is quoted from above (A. D. 1906), is
a brother-in-law of M. Lopukhin, and derived from him, no
doubt, the information on which he spoke.
In July, a new disclosure of the character of the Russian
secret service police was made, as revolting as that in the
Azeff case. A personage known as M. Harting, chief of that
Russian service in Paris, and so favorably regarded in the
French capital that he was about to be made an officer of the
Legion of Honor, was discovered to have been the leader of a
plot to assassinate the Tsar Alexander III. in 1890, during
that monarch’s visit to Paris; that he then bore the name of
Landesen; that he had escaped arrest and was condemned by
default to imprisonment for five years; that he subsequently,
under the new name, secured secret service employment in the
Russian police. All this was quickly proved to be fact by the
French Government, and officially announced.
{580}
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (April).
The Agrarian Law.
On the basis of the decree relative to the communes which is
partly described above (see A. D. 1906), a law was brought
into force by the Government in 1906, known as the law of
November 9, which supposedly was provisional and subject to
ultimate ratification by the Duma. Writing of it in the New
York Evening Post of May 28, 1909, S. N. Harper says:
"This law of November 9 aims directly at the destruction of
the commune. Before this law a two-thirds vote of the commune
was necessary for the granting of the petition of a member to
divide out. Now a local police official, whom by the way
another project of reform abolishes as irresponsible and a
source of abuse, can override the vote of a commune and grant
the petition. A peasant who divides out receives that portion
which he is using if there has been no redistribution for
twenty-four years. If there has been a redistribution within
twenty-four years, he receives what he would receive on the
basis of a new redistribution—what this would be is again
decided by the official. As we saw, no equitable reckoning is
possible here.
"The peasant can sell this land which he receives from the
commune, for it is now his private property. In one province
which I visited this summer, in over one-half of the cases of
dividing out the peasant had sold his land immediately—usually
to the village ‘fist’—the prosperous village usurer and boss
who holds his neighbors in his fist."
The law was operative for more than two years before it
received the sanction of the Duma, in April, 1909. Of the
parliamentary enactment then given to it the above writer
says:
"The outcome of the debates was certain. It had been secured
by the change of the electoral law for the third Duma, whereby
the landed gentry had been given the predominant vote. … No
more important than the vote of this assembly is the attitude
of the country at large toward this law. The landed gentry are
naturally for this measure. The village system is a source of
danger to them. The law will establish ‘peasant’ landlords,
whose interests will be much the same as theirs. But the
peasants have shown quite plainly their hostile attitude
toward this law. Only those peasants who are economically
provided for and those who, for one reason or another, have
become mere hangers-on of the local police officials are in
favor of the law. It is these that have taken advantage of the
law, with the support of the local official. But they have
done so in spite of the protest of the other peasants, only
their economic position making it possible, and their friend
the official has not been able to prevent, therefore, the
other peasants from giving a violent character to their
protest. Those who have insisted on dividing out have in many
instances been burned out the next week."
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (April-July).
Advance of Russian Troops into Persia.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (May).
New Russo-Chinese Agreement, establishing Municipalities on
the Line of the Chinese Eastern Railway.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1909 (MAY).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (June).
"Dreadnought" building.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL: RUSSIAN.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (June).
Stringent Orthodoxy of the Tsar.
A Press despatch from St. Petersburg, June 4, 1909, reported:
"Premier Stolypin spoke in the Duma to-day in defence of the
government’s draft of a law dealing with the matter of
changing from one faith to another and against the
modifications removing all restrictions introduced in
committee. He said that the Emperor, as head of the Orthodox
Church, could not suffer backsliding from the orthodox to
non-Christian beliefs, and that if such amendments were
incorporated the bill would be vetoed. Continuing he defined
the relations between church and state. He conceded that the
church enjoyed full independence in matters of creed and
dogma, but insisted on state control. The speech was a
brilliant effort, but it fell upon cold ears, and brought out
no applause. The premier, for the first time in the history of
the third Duma, found himself fighting for a lost cause before
an adverse house."
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (October-November).
Differing Accounts of Political Conditions, of the work of
the Duma, and of the Disposition of the Government.
The last weeks of 1909 brought from observers in Russia quite
differing impressions and representations of the existing
political conditions. Late in October a St. Petersburg
correspondent of The Evening Post, New York, wrote:
"Stolypin has given Russia a packed Duma, the predominant
party in which is elected by 130,000 rural gentry, who were
unable to get many more than a dozen members into the first
two Dumas. As might have been expected, this Duma has done
nothing for Russia. Its Land law has not been accepted by the
peasantry, its Religions law remains a dead letter, because,
according to the premier, the Tsar refuses to sign it. There
will be a deficit of about one hundred million in the new
budget, and the country is faced by bankruptcy.
"But, to return to the Duma, it has been proved during the
last session that the people have no control over the purse,
thanks to a ‘rule’ made by Count Witte before the meeting of
the first Legislature. This ‘rule’ says that if the Duma and
the Council of Empire fail to agree on the budget, then the
figures of the former year’s budget remain in force. As the
Council of Empire (or Russian upper house) must always have a
reactionary and bureaucratic majority, the Duma has no control
of the national expenditure and never can have. This was
brought home very forcibly to the lower house during the last
session, when a humble suggestion which it made about
including a sum of 350 million rubles in the extraordinary
expenditure account was rejected by the Council of Empire,
which thus taught the Duma that it has no control over even
the most important loan operations. When the Duma (with the
strong approval of even such conservative papers as the
Novoe Vremya) refused to sanction the naval budget
until the notoriously corrupt Ministry of Marine—the ministry
accountable for Tsushima—had been reformed, the government
laughed at it, and got the necessary money over the deputies’
heads."
Two weeks later than the above another St. Petersburg
correspondent was writing to London:
"To judge from to-day’s proceedings the present session of the
Duma bids fair to surpass the most sanguine hopes. Having
disposed of the last of the Agrarian Bills and of the First
Offenders Act, the Duma began the debate on the Bill reforming
the local Courts. This measure represents the foundation of
all political reform in Russia.
{581}
"The Duma Committee, after 35 sittings, adopted a proposal
considerably extending the scope of the Government Bill
besides providing for the re-establishment of elective
justices of the peace, introduced in 1804, but repealed in
1889 in favour of the arbitrary jurisdiction of the Communal
Court and the Zemsky Natchalnik--both long ago discredited
institutions. Just as the Agrarian reforms are calculated to
promote the private ownership of land and respect for the
rights of property, so the reform of the local Courts will
inculcate respect for the law.
"The details of the Bill may possibly give rise to differences
with the Government and the Upper House, but its substantial
features will be doubtless retained in the ultimate form which
will receive the Imperial sanction."
The writer of this had communicated to his journal, a few days
previously, the following report of an interview with "a
leading member of the Government," and apparently gave credit
to the sentiment it expressed. Said the Minister interviewed:
"You ask me what are the Government’s intentions regarding
Poland. I can only repeat what I said before the Joint
Commission on the Polish Municipal Reform Bill, which is to be
laid before the Duma. We have decided to give Poland the full
benefits of local government consistent with the interests of
the Empire, but not autonomy. We cannot trust the Poles to
that extent. We shall introduce a Bill creating a separate
province of Holm, where the great majority of the population
is of Russian stock, and extend to it the system of mixed
Russian and Polish Zemstvos to be introduced in the
south-western provinces.
"I am satisfied with the progress of agrarian reform. You have
seen from the speech of M. Krivoshein in the Duma that one
million peasant households (about 5,000,000 souls) have
already abandoned the communal system.
"The continuance of executions is, I know, a source of
criticism. You know that the Emperor has given orders that
death sentences should be confirmed only in the worst cases.
Unhappily, I know of no constitutional method for putting down
revolution. Russia is so vast. It has taken a long time to
bring all the guilty to trial. I am also criticized for the
arbitrary acts of our local authorities, but, I ask you, does
the Government derive any interest from these arbitrary acts?
"Political reforms? Yes, they have been delayed. But what, for
instance, is the good of hurrying through a Bill on the
liberty of the person until we have first reformed the local
Courts?
"You have heard and read the statements that the Octobrists
have quarrelled with the Government; you have also been told
that Russia is on the eve of a reaction. Believe neither. The
Octobrists are taking a more advanced position. That is as it
should be. It is better for the Duma and by no means
disagreeable to the Government."
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (December).
Assassination of the Chief of the Secret Police.
On the 22d of December Colonel Karpoff, Chief of the Secret
Police, was killed by an infernal machine at a suburban
lodging occupied by a certain Voskresensky, who is supposed to
be a revolutionary and a police spy like Azeff.
----------RUSSIA: End--------
RUSSO-CHINESE BANK.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1901-1902.
RUTHERFORD, Professor Ernest.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE, RECENT: RADIUM; also
NOBEL PRIZES.
RYAN, Thomas F.:
Investing in a Concession in the Congo State.
See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1906-1909.
RYAN, Thomas F.:
Purchase of Controlling Stock of Equitable Life
Assurance Society.
See (in this Volume)
INSURANCE, LIFE.
RYAN, Thomas F.:
Sale of interests to Morgan & Co.
See (in this Volume)
FINANCE AND TRADE: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909-1910.
S.
SADR AZAM, The.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1905-1907.
SAGASTA, Praxedes Mateo:
Prime Minister of Spain.
His Death.
See (in this Volume)
SPAIN: A. D. 1901-1904.
SAGE FOUNDATION, The:
For the Improvement of Social and Living Conditions
in the United States.
See (in this Volume)
SOCIAL BETTERMENT: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1907.
SAGE, Mrs. Russell:
Gift to Yale University.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1910.
ST. GOTHARD RAILWAY:
Acquisition by the Swiss Government.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: SWITZERLAND.
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: A. D. 1900-1904.
The Unearthing of Thievery and Corruption by Attorney Folk.
Prosecutions, Confessions and Convictions.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: A. D. 1904.
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
Except the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago, in 1893,
the most important of the industrial exhibitions that have
been organized in America was that of 1904, at St. Louis,
which commemorated the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase
from France. The Exposition was opened on the 30th of April
and closed December 1st. An estimated total of $44,500,000 was
expended upon it in structures and management, of which sum
about $22,000,000 was raised by the Exposition Company. The
remainder was the expenditure of governments, Federal, State
and Foreign, and of concessionaires. The total attendance,
from first to last, was 18,741,073. The receipts fell far
short of the expenditure, and subscribers to the undertaking
can have had no returns; but the public gain from it was very
great. About sixty foreign countries and colonies and nearly
every State and Territory of the Union were represented in the
exhibits.
{582}
A distinguished feature of the Exposition was the remarkable
number and character of the gatherings, international and
national, that were brought about in connection with it. The
most notable of these was the International Congress of Arts
and Sciences, which opened September 19th. "This Congress,"
said President Nicholas Murray Butler, of Columbia University,
in an article describing its plan, "is not such a series of
gatherings as took place at Chicago and at Paris, but is
rather a carefully elaborated plan to educate public opinion,
and the world of scholarship itself, to an appreciation of the
underlying unity of knowledge and the necessary
inter-dependence of the host of specialties that have sprung
up during the past century. … For participation in this
congress there will assemble a large body of the world’s
greatest scholars. They will come from all parts of the world
to contribute surveys of their several departments of
knowledge, planning those surveys so as to emphasize the
mutual relations of all the separate arts and sciences."
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: A. D. 1904.
Meeting of the Interparliamentary Union.
See (in this Volume)
WAR: THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1904-1909.
ST. MARK’S CATHEDRAL, at Venice:
Fall of the Campanile.
See (in this Volume)
VENICE: A. D. 1902.
ST. PETERSBURG: DISTURBANCES IN.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA.
ST. PIERRE:
Volcanic Destruction of the City.
See (in this Volume)
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS: WEST INDIES.
ST. VINCENT ISLAND:
Volcanic Eruption of La Souffrière.
See (in this Volume)
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS: WEST INDIES.
SAKHAROFF, General:
Assassination of.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905.
SAKURAI, Lieutenant Tadayoshi, The story of.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (MAY-JANUARY).
SALISBURY, Lord Robert Cecil, Marquis of:
Resignation of the Premiership in the British Government.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1902 (JULY).
SALONIKA: A. D. 1903.
Dynamite Explosion by Insurgents.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1902-1903.
SALONIKA: A. D. 1903.
Center of the "Young Turk" organization.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER), and after.
SALOON QUESTION.
See (in this Volume)
ALCOHOL PROBLEM.
SALT TRUST, Dissolution of the.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1906.
SALTON SEA, The.
At a point not far from where it runs into Mexican territory
the Colorado River, for a long recent period, has been
deflected by bordering sand deposits from a great depression
in the neighboring desert, known as the Salton Sink. In 1901
an irrigation company began works for supplying water from the
Colorado to lands in that vicinity, and seems to have taken no
proper precautions for controlling the flow through its
canals. The result was a break through the sand hills, into
the Salton Sink, which converted it for the time being into
the "Salton Sea,"—so described in all accounts of the
catastrophe. For nearly two years the flood of the Colorado
was poured into the Sink, forming a sea or lake which covered
an area of about 400 square miles. It was not until February,
1907, that the combined exertions of the Southern Pacific
Railway Company, the California Development Co. (whose works
produced the trouble) and the engineers of the United States
Reclamation Service, succeeded in returning the Colorado to
the channel it had escaped from. Since that was done
evaporation has been steadily emptying the Sink, at the rate
of five or six feet annually, according to the Chief of the
Weather Bureau, which has maintained a station there. At the
end of a year of observations he was reported as saying: "We
will get the data we want within another year probably and
then we can cut off the Salton Sea station. The evaporation
data we expect to obtain will be valuable for calculations on
irrigation works and reservoirs."
SALVADOR.
See (in this Volume)
CENTRAL AMERICA.
SAM, Theresias Simon: President.
See (in this Volume)
HAITI: A. D. 1902.
SANBORN, Judge Walter H.:
Opinion in Suit for the Dissolution of the Standard Oil Company.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &C.:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1906-1909.
SANTIAGO, Chile:
First Pan-American Scientific Congress.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION: INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSES.
SAN DOMINGO: A. D. 1901-1905.
Financial Conditions.
Dissipation of Revenues.
"Many years ago the government, being unable to raise money on
ordinary security, adopted the practice of vesting the power
of collection in its creditors. Duties are settled in
pagarés, or promissory notes, duly indorsed, and
payable usually in a month or two months. In order to secure
loans, these pagarés were handed over to the creditor,
who collected the money directly from the importer or
exporter. This expedient, which was designed to protect the
creditor against the government itself as well as against its
enemies, was in vogue when the government in 1888 sought
financial relief in Europe. Such relief was obtained from
Westendorp & Company, bankers, of Amsterdam, who in that year
underwrote and issued, at 83½ per cent., 6 per cent. gold
bonds of the Dominican government to the amount of £770,000
sterling, the government creating a first lien on all its
customs revenues, and authorizing the Westendorps to collect
and receive at the custom-houses all the customs revenues of
the republic. Under this contract, which was ratified by the
Dominican Congress, the Westendorps created in Santo Domingo
an establishment, commonly called the ‘Regie,’ which collected
the duties directly from the importer and exporter and
disbursed them, the Westendorps sending out from Europe the
necessary agents and employees. It was further stipulated that
the Westendorps should, in case of necessity, have the right
to constitute a European commission, which it was understood
was to be international in character. The power of collection
and disbursement was exercised by the Westendorps down to
1893, when it was transferred to the San Domingo Improvement
Company, of New York, which continued to exercise it till
January, 1901, when the company was, by an arbitrary executive
decree issued by President Jimenez, excluded from its function
of collecting the revenues, though its employees were
permitted to remain in the custom-houses till the end of the
year.
{583}
"As an assurance to the foreign creditor, whose legal security
was thus destroyed, Jimenez constituted in the same decree a
‘Commission of Honorables,’ with whom the sums due to foreign
creditors, including the American companies, were to be
deposited; but their capacity as depositaries was not destined
to be tested. Late in 1901, it became known that out of the
reported revenues of the year, amounting to $2,126,453, the
percentages for the domestic debt had not been set aside, and
that no payment had been made on the floating interior debt,
but that the Jimenez ‘revolutionary’ claims had been paid
without previous warrant of law, and that there existed a
deficit. Since that time, with the exception of comparatively
small amounts, nothing whatever has been paid to the foreign
creditor. The omission, however, has not been due to lack of
revenues. It has been due to conditions which, if all the
debts of the republic were with one stroke wiped out, would
continue to prevent the government from meeting its ordinary
expenses. The revenues have been seized and dissipated by the
government and its enemies in ‘war expenses,’ and in the
payment of 'asignaciones' and ‘revolutionary claims.’ …
That foreign governments will stand by and permit such
conditions to continue cannot be expected. They have already
manifested their desire to intervene."
John Bassett Moore,
Santo Domingo and the United States
(American Review of Reviews, March, 1905).
SAN DOMINGO: A. D. 1901-1906.
Participation in Second and Third International Conferences of
American Republics.
See (in this Volume)
AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
SAN DOMINGO: A. D. 1904-1907.
Years of almost Incessant Disorder and repeated Revolutions.
Jimenez, Vasques, Wos y Gil, Morales and Caceres in
succession at the Head of Government.
Menace from the Creditors of the Republic.
Appeal to the United States.
American Treaty.
President Roosevelt on the Situation.
The assassination of President Heureaux and the election of
President Jimenez are related in Volume VI. of this work (see
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC). Jimenez’s rule was not long, and he gave
way to a provisional government, under General Vasques, which
was upset by a revolt that broke out in March, 1903, and which
planted General Wos y Gil so obviously in power that his
Government was recognized by the United States in October. But
the rapidly revolving wheel of political events seems to have
soon whirled Wos y Gil out and brought Jimenez back, to be
tossed into private life again in 1904 by General Carlos F.
Morales, of whom Mr. Sigimund Krausz gave a most favorable
account in The Outlook, of September 17, 1904. "The
common idea," said Mr. Krausz, "that the population of Santo
Domingo consists exclusively of a horde of savages, and that
the generals and politicians causing the kaleidoscopic
sequence of revolutions are of the same class, and, without
exception, uneducated brutes and degenerates, is quite
erroneous, and has been created for the sake of
sensationalism, largely by journalists and magazine writers
without personal knowledge of Dominican conditions, or by
native exiles who, naturally, are always enemies of the party
in power. … While it is true that the vast majority of the
Dominican people in the interior of the island live in a
fearful state of ignorance, superstition, and even barbarism,
caused by many decades of internal warfare, there is, however,
also a class of natives who certainly ought not to be thrown
in the same pot with them. These are the better citizens of
the capital and the larger coast towns, among whom are many
intelligent and educated men who had the advantage of fairly
good schools and intercourse with foreigners. Among this class
are a number who have received all or part of their education
abroad, who speak two or three languages, and who, in their
social intercourse and manners, may safely be pronounced
gentlemen. They follow the occupations of merchants, planters,
lawyers, physicians, etc., and while, as a rule, they keep
aloof from politics, it is from their strata of society that
spring most of the military and political leaders of Santo
Domingo. There are few of these men who, by their appearance,
betray the strain of negro blood in them, and the type is
hardly distinguishable from that of Latin-Americans in
general.
"Carlos M. Morales belongs to the better class of Dominicans
mentioned before, masters French, English, and Spanish
fluently, and has the advantage of an ecclesiastical education
in a seminary of Santo Domingo City. He was, in fact, for
eight years a priest, before disagreement with various dogmas
of the Church and the desire to take an active part in the
political affairs of his country induced him to throw aside
the cassock. He is a close student of West Indian conditions,
and well acquainted with the affairs of the world in general.
While being an ardent admirer of the United States and its
institutions, and sincerely desiring its political friendship,
he is at the same time the strongest opponent of any policy
that would tend to make Santo Domingo a political dependency
of Uncle Sam, either in the form of annexation or a
protectorate."
Morales was soon beset with claims from insistent foreign
creditors, on account of debts which his predecessors had
incurred, and which they had left nothing to satisfy. Several
European governments were threatening forcible measures to
secure payment for their subjects, and Morales asked for help
from the United States. The situation and its outcome were
reported subsequently to Congress by President Roosevelt, as
follows:
"The conditions in Santo Domingo have for a number of years
grown from bad to worse until a year ago all society was on
the verge of dissolution. Fortunately, just at this time a
ruler sprang up in Santo Domingo, who, with his colleagues,
saw the dangers threatening their country and appealed to the
friendship of the only great and powerful neighbor who
possessed the power, and as they hoped also the will, to help
them. There was imminent danger of foreign intervention. The
previous rulers of Santo Domingo had recklessly incurred
debts, and owing to her internal disorders she had ceased to
be able to provide means of paying the debts. The patience of
her foreign creditors had become exhausted, and at least two
foreign nations were on the point of intervention, and were
only prevented from intervening by the unofficial assurance of
this Government that it would itself strive to help Santo
Domingo in her hour of need.
{584}
In the case of one of these nations, only the actual opening
of negotiations to this end by our Government prevented the
seizure of territory in Santo Domingo by a European power. Of
the debts incurred some were just, while some were not of a
character which really renders it obligatory on, or proper
for, Santo Domingo to pay them in full. But she could not pay
any of them unless some stability was assured her Government
and people.
"Accordingly the Executive Department of our Government
negotiated a treaty under which we are to try to help the
Dominican people to straighten out their finances. This treaty
is pending before the Senate. In the meantime a temporary
arrangement has been made which will last until the Senate has
had time to take action upon the treaty. Under this
arrangement the Dominican Government has appointed Americans
to all the important positions in the customs service, and
they are seeing to the honest collection of the revenues,
turning over 45 per cent to the Government for running
expenses and putting the other 55 per cent into a safe
depositary for equitable division in case the treaty shall be
ratified, among the various creditors, whether European or
American. …
"Under the course taken, stability and order and all the
benefits of peace are at last coming to Santo Domingo, danger
of foreign intervention has been suspended, and there is at
last a prospect that all creditors will get justice, no more
and no less. If the arrangement is terminated by the failure
of the treaty chaos will follow; and if chaos follows, sooner
or later this Government may be involved in serious
difficulties with foreign governments over the island, or else
may be forced itself to intervene in the island in some
unpleasant fashion. Under the proposed treaty the independence
of the island is scrupulously respected, the danger of
violation of the Monroe Doctrine by the intervention of
foreign powers vanishes, and the interference of our
Government is minimized, so that we shall only act in
conjunction with the Santo Domingo authorities to secure the
proper administration of the customs, and therefore to secure
the payment of just debts and to secure the Dominican
Government against demands for unjust debts. The proposed
method will give the people of Santo Domingo the same chance
to move onward and upward which we have already given to the
people of Cuba. It will be doubly to our discredit as a nation
if we fail to take advantage of this chance; for it will be of
damage to ourselves, and it will be of incalculable damage to
Santo Domingo."
President’s Message to Congress,
December 5, 1905.
Twenty days after the above was sent to Congress President
Morales was a fugitive from his capital, expelled by a sudden
revolutionary movement in which Vice-President Caceres and
most of the Morales Cabinet appear to have taken a leading
part. Some fighting occurred; but the Morales forces were
beaten decisively in the first week of January, 1906, and
their General, Rodrigues, was killed. Morales, wounded, sought
protection at the American Legation and resigned the
Presidency, January 12. Caceres succeeded to the office, and a
treaty of peace between the contending parties was signed on
the 17th, on board an United States vessel of war. The new
Government of San Domingo adhered to the arrangement made by
Morales with the United States.
As ratified ultimately, in the spring of 1907, by the United
States Senate and the Dominican Congress, the treaty provided
for the conversion of the embarrassed republic’s debt and the
floating of a new issue of bonds, through the agency of a firm
of New York bankers which had undertaken the management of the
affair; while the Government of the United States, by its
agents, was to continue its supervision of the collection of
revenue.
SAN DOMINGO: A. D. 1905-1907.
The American Receivership of Dominican Revenues.
The Modus Vivendi of 1905 and the Treaty of 1907.
The working of the Arrangement.
"By the modus vivendi of March 31, 1905, it was
provided that until the Dominican Congress and the Senate of
the United States should act upon the convention of February
7, 1905, the President of the Dominican Republic, on the
nomination of the President of the United States, should
appoint a person to receive the revenues of all the
custom-houses of the Republic. Of the net revenues collected,
45 per cent was to be turned over to the Dominican Government,
and used in administrative expenses. The remainder, less the
expenses of collection, was to be deposited in a bank in New
York to be designated by the President of the United States,
and to remain there for the benefit of all creditors of the
Republic, Dominican as well as foreign, and not to be
withdrawn before the Dominican Congress and the Senate of the
United States should have acted upon the convention then
pending. During the operation of the modus vivendi all
payments were to be suspended, without, however, in any way
interfering with or changing the substantial rights of
creditors. This modus vivendi went into effect on April
1, 1905. Under the receivership created by this modus
vivendi there has been collected, to August 31, 1907,
$7,183,397.56. Of this amount 45 per cent was turned over to
the Dominican Government, and $3,318,946.97, to bear interest
while on deposit, has been remitted to New York. This is in
striking contrast with the results of the customs operations
of former years, when, having control of the entire revenues
of the Republic, the Dominican Government had not only been
unable to pay its current expenses, but found its apparent
public debt increased at an average rate of almost $1,000,000
a year for some thirty odd years. The convention between the
United States and the Dominican Republic, signed at Santo
Domingo City on February 8, 1907, was transmitted to the
United States Senate on February 19, 1907, by the President,
for ratification, and was ratified on the 25th of the same
month. After formal ratification by the President of the
United States and the Dominican Republic, ratifications were
exchanged July 8, 1907, and formal proclamation made by the
President on the 25th of the same month. Regulations have been
drawn up for the application of its provisions. The treaty
sets forth that the debts of the Dominican Republic amount to
more than $30,000,000, nominal or face value, which have been
scaled down by a conditional adjustment and agreement to some
$17,000,000, including interest, in the payment of which the
Government has requested the assistance of the United States.
{585}
The latter agrees to give this assistance subject to certain
conditions set out in the treaty, the principal among which
are
(a) the President of the United States shall appoint the
general receiver of the Dominican customs and his assistants;
and
(b) that the Dominican Government shall provide by law for the
payment to such general receiver of all the customs duties of
the Republic.
The money collected is to be applied as follows:
(1) To paying the expenses of the receivership;
(2) to the payment of interest on bonds issued by the
Dominican Government in connection with the settlement of its
debts;
(3) to the payment of the annual sums provided for
amortization of said bonds, including interest upon all bonds
held in the sinking fund;
(4) to the purchase and cancellation or the retirement and
cancellation, pursuant to the terms thereof, of any of said
bonds as may be directed by the Dominican Government, and
(5) the remainder to be paid to the Dominican Government.
On the 1st day of each calendar month the sum of $100,000 is
to be paid over by the receiver to the fiscal agent of the
loan, and the remaining collection of the last preceding month
paid over to the Dominican Government, or applied to the
sinking fund for the purchase or redemption of bonds, as the
Dominican Government shall direct. Should the revenues thus
collected exceed $3,000,000 for any one year, one-half of the
surplus is to be applied to the sinking fund for the
redemption of bonds."
Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs,
October 31, 1907
(Abridgment, Message and Documents, 1907, page 797).
----------SAN DOMINGO: End--------
SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1901-1909.
Water Supply.
The Hetch Hetchy Project.
"Under this name is designated a plan for obtaining a water
supply for the city of San Francisco from the head waters of
the Tuolumne River in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The Hetch
Hetchy Valley is one of the most widely known regions of the
high Sierras, second only to Yosemite in scenic interest. It
is formed by a widening of the gorge of the Tuolumne River,
about 30 miles westerly from the crest of the Sierras. It is
thus described in the United States Geological Survey, 21st
Annual Report.
"‘The valley proper is about three and one-half miles long and
of a width varying from one-quarter to three-quarters of a
mile. The rugged granite walls, crowned with spires and upon
battlements, seem to rise almost perpendicular upon all sides
to a height of 2500 feet above this beautiful emerald meadow.
"‘The Tuolumne River leaves this valley in a very narrow
granite gorge, the sides of which rise precipitously for 800
or more feet, thus providing naturally a most favorable site
for a masonry dam.’ As the result of exhaustive
investigations, in 1901, having reference to the procuring of
an adequate water supply for the City of San Francisco, that
city, through its proper officers, selected, surveyed, filed
upon and made application for the reservoir rights of way in
the Hetch Hetchy Valley and Lake Eleanor, which lie within the
reservation known as Yosemite National Park. These reservoir
sites were recognized and surveyed as such by the United
States Geological Survey, in 1891, and the survey filings and
application were made in conformity with the act of Congress
of February 15, 1901, relating to rights of way through
certain parks, reservations and other public lands.
"Lake Eleanor is situated 136 miles east of San Francisco on
the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It is about 300
acres in extent and lies in a broad, flat valley enclosed by
precipitous walls of granite, narrowing at the lower end of
the valley. It is 4,700 feet above sea level and receives the
direct drainage from 83 square miles, and by a diverting canal
6 miles long from 103 square miles additional of uninhabitable
mountain slopes which reach an altitude of 11,000 feet, and
receive a mean annual precipitation of from 40 to 50 inches,
most of which is snow. About a mile and a quarter below the
lake, the valley closes into a granite walled gorge and offers
an excellent site and material for a dam. …
"Hetch Hetchy reservoir (site) is about 140 miles from San
Francisco on the main fork of the Tuolumne River and is about
3,700 feet above sea level. It receives the drainage from 452
square miles of the uninhabitable slopes of the Sierra Nevada,
reaching to elevations of over 13,000 feet. …
"The Hetch Hetchy project proposes to conduct the water
liberated from these reservoirs by way of the gorge of the
Tuolumne River 16 miles and thence by canals, tunnels and
pipes."
Frederick H. Clark,
Head of History Department, Lowell High School.
The application of the City to the United States Government
for the Lake Eleanor and Hetch Hetchy reservoir sites was
denied, in the first instance (1903), by the Secretary of the
Interior, the Honorable A. E. Hitchcock, but subsequently
granted, on a reopening of the case and a rehearing, by
Secretary James R. Garfield, in whose decision, rendered May
11, 1908, the considerations for and against the proposed use
of these famous seats of natural beauty and sublimity were
discussed at length and concluded to have the greater weight
in favor of the application.
One stipulation made by Secretary Garfield was that within two
years the City should submit the question of water supply to
the vote of its citizens, as contemplated in its Charter. This
was done on November 11, 1908, and the voters of San
Francisco, notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of the
private water company, recorded their approval of the Hetch
Hetchy Project by the overwhelming vote of 34,950 for, to 5708
against the proposition. At the same election a sale of
municipal bonds to the amount of $600,000 was authorized in
order to enable the City to proceed to perfect its titles.
These bonds have been sold and at this date (June, 1909) the
acquisition of the required land is under way.
Almost passionate protests and pleadings against this use of
the beautiful Hetch Hetchy Valley have been uttered by John
Muir, the word-painter of "The Mountains of California," and
many earnest voices from all parts of the country have been
joined to his in the expostulation. Mr. Muir writes: "It is
impossible to overestimate the value of wild mountains and
mountain temples. They are the greatest of our natural
resources, God's best gifts; but none, however high and holy,
is beyond reach of the spoiler. These temple destroyers,
devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect
contempt for Nature, and instead of lifting their eyes to the
mountains, lift them to dams and town skyscrapers. Dam Hetch
Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people’s cathedrals
and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated
by the heart of man.
{586}
"Excepting only Yosemite, Hetch Hetchy is the most attractive
and wonderful valley within the bounds of the great Yosemite
National Park and the best of all the campgrounds. People are
now flocking to it in ever-increasing numbers for health and
recreation of body and mind. Though the walls are less sublime
in height than those of Yosemite, its groves, gardens, and
broad spacious meadows are more beautiful and picturesque. It
is many years since sheep and cattle were pastured in it, and
the vegetation now shows scarce a trace of their ravages. Last
year in October I visited the valley with Mr. William Keith,
the artist. He wandered about from view to view, enchanted,
made thirty-eight sketches, and enthusiastically declared that
in varied picturesque beauty Hetch Hetchy greatly surpassed
Yosemite. It is one of God’s best gifts, and ought to be
faithfully guarded."
When this work went to press, in May, 1910, Secretary
Ballinger was giving hearings on the question of revoking the
permit to San Francisco.
SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1901 1909.
The Struggle with Political Corruption.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: SAN FRANCISCO.
SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1902.
The Chinese Highbinder Associations.
Report of the Industrial Commission on their Criminal
and Dangerous Character.
"Investigations made under the directions of the Industrial
Commission reveal the dangerous importance to be attached to
the existence of the so-called associations of ‘highbinders’
among the Chinese population of San Francisco. It is variously
estimated that of the total number of Chinese in that city,
amounting to 25,000 or 30,000, there are about 1,000 members
of the highbinder associations who represent the worst class
of criminals. Many of them have been compelled to flee from
their native country on account of crimes committed there.
They are organized under the semblance of benefit societies,
but for the purpose of blackmail and violation of the
immigration laws. They impose fines arbitrarily upon the
hard-working and prosperous Chinese, and enforce their decrees
through criminal violence and even assassination. They nullify
the judgment of American courts through their own secret
tribunals and their paid assassins; they make a business of
bringing to the United States slave girls and coolie laborers,
and through their system of intimidation it is difficult, and
often impossible, to secure witnesses who will testify to the
truth. It is generally believed by those who have given
attention to this matter, that if the country could be rid of
this criminal class of Chinese, and the highbinders societies
be permanently suppressed, one of the greatest factors in the
commission of fraud in the administration of the Chinese
exclusion laws would be eliminated. An eminent authority
asserts that fully 75 per cent of all the frauds committed at
the present time against the exclusion law can be traced
directly to the highbinder associations. So perfect is the
organization of these societies, and so thorough their reign
of terrorism, that the efforts of the authorities to suppress
them have never been successful. The only thing which they
fear above all others, holding it in greater dread than our
laws, our courts, and jails, is deportation to China. The only
decisive remedy in that case is legislation through Congress,
which should render aliens who are members of such societies,
or any society having for its purpose the commission of crime
or the violation of our laws, liable to deportation. What is
true of the highbinders of San Francisco is probably true also
of certain anarchistic societies which are recruited from
Europe."
Final Report (1902) of the Industrial Commission,
page 1009.
SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1906.
The Earthquake Shock of April 18, 1906.
The Geological Explanation.
Stupendous Destruction by Fire following the Earth Tremor.
Conditions produced by the Fire.
Relief Measures.
"On the morning of April 18, 1906, the coastal region of
Middle California was shaken by an earthquake of unusual
severity. The time of the shock and its duration varied
slightly in different localities, depending upon their
position with reference to the seat of the disturbance in the
earth’s crust; but in general the time of the occurrence may
be stated to be 5h 12m A. M., Pacific standard time, or the
time of the meridian of longitude 120° west of Greenwich;
and the sensible duration of the shock was about one minute.
"The shock was violent in the region about the Bay of San
Francisco, and with few exceptions inspired all who felt it
with alarm and consternation. In the cities many people were
injured or killed, and in some cases persons became mentally
deranged, as a result of the disasters which immediately
ensued from the commotion of the earth. The manifestations of
the earthquake were numerous and varied. … Springs were
affected either temporarily or permanently, some being
diminished, others increased in flow. Landslides were caused
on steep slopes, and on the bottom lands of the streams the
soft alluvium was in many places caused to crack and to lurch,
producing often very considerable deformations of the surface.
This deformation of the soil was an important cause of damage
and wreckage of buildings situated in such tracts. Railway
tracks were buckled and broken. In timbered areas in the zone
of maximum disturbance many large trees were thrown to the
ground and in some cases they were snapped off above the
ground.
"The most disastrous of the effects of the earthquake were the
breaking out of fires and, at the same time, the destruction
of the pipe systems which supplied the water necessary to
combat them. Such fires caused the destruction of a large
portion of San Francisco, as all the world knows; and they
also intensified the calamity due to the earthquake at Santa
Rosa and Fort Bragg. The degree of intensity with which the
earthquake made itself felt by these various manifestations
diminished with the distance from the seat of disturbance, and
at the more remote points near the limits of its sensibility
it was perceived only by a feeble vibration of buildings
during a brief period.
{587}
"The area over which the shock was perceptible to the senses
extends from Coos Bay, Oregon, on the north, to Los Angeles on
the south, a distance of about 730 miles; and easterly as far
as Winnemucca, Nevada, a distance of about 300 miles from the
coast. The territory thus affected has an extent, inland from
the coast, of probably 175,000 square miles. If we assume that
(he sea-bottom to the west of the coast was similarly
affected, which is very probably true, the total area which
was caused to vibrate to such an extent as to be perceptible
to the senses was 372,700 square miles. Beyond the limits at
which the vibrations were sufficiently sharp to appeal to the
senses, earth waves were propagated entirely around the globe
and were recorded instrumentally at all the more important
seismological stations in civilized countries.
"Various manifestations of the earthquake above cited,
including the cracking and deformation of the soil and
incoherent surface formations, were the results of the earth

jar, or commotion of the earth’s crust. The cause of the
earthquake, as will be more fully set forth in the body of
this report, was the sudden rupture of the earth's crust along
a line or lines extending from the vicinity of Point Delgada
to a point in San Benito County near San Juan; a distance in a
nearly straight course, of about 270 miles. For a distance of
190 miles from Point Arena to San Juan, the fissure formed by
this rupture is known to be practically continuous. Beyond
Point Arena it passes out to sea, so that its continuity with
the similar crack near Point Delgada is open to doubt; and the
latter may possibly be an independent, tho associated, rupture
parallel to the main one south of Point Arena. It is most
probable, however, that there is but one continuous rupture.
The course of the fissure for the 190 miles thru which it has
been followed is nearly straight, with a bearing of from North
30° to 40° West, but with a slight general curvature, the
concavity being toward the. northeast, and minor local
curvatures. The fissure for the extent indicated follows the
old line of seismic disturbance which extends thru California
from Humboldt County to San Benito County, and thence
southerly obliquely across the Coast Ranges thru the Tejon
Pass and the Cajon Pass into the Colorado Desert."
Report of the California State Earthquake Investigation
Commission, Volume 1, pages 1-2.
SAN FRANCISCO:
The Great Conflagration.
General Frederick Funston, commanding the United States troops
at San Francisco, lost no time in ordering them out for
service in the emergency, and his report gives many
interesting particulars of the struggle with outbreaking and
spreading fires, in which they took an heroic part.
"By 9 A. M.," he wrote, "the various fires were merging into
one great conflagration, and were approaching the Palace
Hotel, Grand Hotel, Call Building, Emporium, and other large
buildings from the south. … By the morning of the 19th the
fire had destroyed the main portion of the wholesale and
retail section of the city, and was actively burning on a line
from about the corner of Montgomery avenue and Montgomery
street southwest on an irregular line to Van Ness avenue at
Golden Gate avenue. … The progress of the fire was very slow.
It averaged not more than one block in two hours. … By the
night of the 19th about 250,000 people or more must have been
encamped or sleeping out in the open in the various military
reservations, parks, and open spaces of the city.
"On the night of the 19th, when the fire reached Van Ness
avenue, Colonel Charles Morris, Artillery Corps, in command of
the troops in that portion of the city, authorized Captain Le
Vert Coleman to destroy a number of buildings far enough ahead
of the fire to make a clearing along Broadway, Franklin and
Gough streets, which space the fire was unable to bridge, and
in this manner was stopped after it had crossed Van Ness
avenue and the fire department seemed powerless. It is my
opinion that if it had not been for the work done at this
place the entire Western Addition of the city would have been
destroyed.
"By the morning of the 20th the Western Addition, as that part
of the city lying west of Van Ness avenue is called, was
considered safe, except from the danger arising from a very
threatening conflagration working along the slopes of Russian
Hill toward that part of Van Ness avenue lying north of
Broadway. All day of the 20th an heroic fight was made by the
soldiers, sailors, firemen, and citizens to stop this fire,
which had a frontage of about half a mile, and was working its
way slowly against the wind. A number of buildings were
destroyed here by high explosives, and back firing was
resorted to. The fight, at this place was greatly aided by
water pumped from the bay at Fort Mason. …
"By the most tremendous exertions the flames were prevented
from crossing Van Ness avenue between that port (Fort Mason)
and the point where they had once crossed and been fought out.
By the morning of the 21st the Western Addition was considered
safe, and the advancing flames south from the Mission district
had been stayed; but a rising wind caused the fire to turn
northeastward from Russian Hill and destroy a portion of the
city along the bay shore that had hitherto been spared."
Of the work of dynamiting that was done, mainly by the
soldiers, Major General A. W. Greeley, in a special report,
says: "The authority for demolitions was in every case derived
from the Mayor or his representatives. During all of the 18th
and until the afternoon of the 19th the city authorities
withheld their permission to blow up any buildings, except
those in immediate contact with others already ablaze.
Consequently, although we were able to check the fire at
certain points, it outflanked us time and again, and all our
work had to be begun over in front of the fire. … By
[afternoon of April 19th] the Mayor gave permission to take
more drastic measures to stop the fire."
SAN FRANCISCO:
After the Fire.
Of conditions after the fire General Greeley gives a vivid
description, partly as follows:
"On April 18 this was a city of 500,000 inhabitants, the
commercial emporium of the Pacific coast, a great industrial
and manufacturing center, adorned with magnificent buildings,
equipped with extensive local transportation, provided with
the most sanitary appliances, and having an abundant water
supply. On April 21 these triumphs of human effort, this
center of civilization, had become a scene of indescribable
desolation, more than 200,000 residents having fled from the
burnt district alone, leaving several hundred dead under its
smoldering ashes. …
{588}
"The burnt area covered 3,400 acres, as against 2,100 in
Chicago and 50 in Boston. … Even buildings spared by the fire
were damaged as to chimneys, so that all food of the entire
city was cooked over camp fires in the open streets.
"Two hundred and twenty-five thousand people were not only
homeless, losing homes and all personal property, but also
were deprived of their means of present sustenance and future
livelihood. Food, water, shelter, clothing, medicines, and
sewerage were all lacking. Failing even for drinking purposes,
water had to be brought long distances. Every large bakery was
destroyed or interrupted. While milk and country produce were
plentiful in the suburbs, local transportation was entirely
interrupted so that even people of great wealth could obtain
food only by charity or public relief."
SAN FRANCISCO:
Loss of Life and Property.
General Greeley "gives the loss of life in San Francisco,
including some who subsequently died from injuries received,
as 304 known and 194 unknown. In addition, 415 persons were
seriously injured. Estimates of the value of property
destroyed made up from the reports of settlements by the
insurance companies are given as follows in Best’s Special
Report on San Francisco Losses and Settlement, published in
New York, February 25, 1907:
‘The total loss to insurance institutions throughout the world
was from $220,000,000 to $225,000,000. It is probable that the
sound value of the property represented by this loss was
nearly or quite $100,000,000 greater than the last named
figure, so that this conflagration takes rank as the largest
in history in point of values destroyed. The loss fell on 243
insurance institutions, plus those foreign companies (twenty
or more in number) which have made no report to us.’"
SAN FRANCISCO:
Maintenance of Order.
"After the arrival of state troops ordered into service by the
governor of California, five separate organizations were
maintaining order in San Francisco—the municipal police, the
national guard of California, the United States navy,
citizens’ committees, and the United States army. Under this
multiplied control it was inevitable that some clashes of
authority should occur, and that citizens should at times feel
hampered by excess of regulation. ‘It bears testimony,’ says
General Greeley, ‘to the judgment and forbearance of the
personnel enforcing order and to the sensible, law-abiding
qualities of the people of San Francisco, that during such
prolonged and desperate condition of affairs there should have
been but nine deaths by violence. All killed were men, and
four of the cases have been the subject of investigation under
the civil law.’
SAN FRANCISCO:
Relief Measures.
"Invaluable service of relief was rendered by the railway
companies, the Southern Pacific, under the personal direction
of President E. T. Harriman, and the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe, giving free transportation over their lines from
April 18th to the 26th, and affording every possible facility
for the forwarding of relief supplies. The ferries and
suburban lines did the same.
"Food, clothing and tents furnished by Pacific coast cities
began to pour in, followed quickly by similar supplies from
more distant points and by the War Department of the United
States under special appropriation promptly made by Congress.
The proper handling and distribution of these vast quantities
of material and the control of the refugee camps that filled
the public parks devolved upon the military authorities.
Relief service was promptly systematized by the army officers,
ably assisted after the opening week by Dr. Edward T. Devine,
special representative of the National Red Cross. After July 2
the army was withdrawn from the refugee camps and the relief
work passed under the control of the Red Cross and citizens’
organizations. Mr. J. D. Phelan of San Francisco, chairman of
the Finance Committee of the Relief and Red Cross Funds, thus
commends the services of the army in its management of the
relief operations: ‘As citizens we feel that the army in time
of peace has demonstrated its efficiency and usefulness as it
has in our days of trouble signalized its splendid qualities
on the field of battle.’
SAN FRANCISCO:
Behavior of the People.
"General A. W. Greeley in his special report thus
characterizes the behavior of the people of San Francisco.
‘It is safe to say that nearly 200,000 persons were brought to
a state of complete destitution, beyond the clothing they wore
or carried in their arms. The majority of the community was
reduced from conditions of comfort to dependence upon public
charity, yet in all my experiences I have never seen a woman
in tears, nor heard a man whining over his losses. Besides
this spirit of cheerful courage, they exhibited qualities of
resourcefulness and self-respect which must command the
admiration of the world. Within two months the bread line,
which at first exceeded 300,000, was reduced to a comparative
handful—less than 5 per cent. of the original number.’"
Frederick H. Clark,
Head of History Department, Lowell High School.
SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1906.
Segregation of Oriental Children in Public Schools.
Resentment of Japanese.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1904-1909.
SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1906 (April-October).
During and after the Suppression of Saloons.
See (in this Volume)
ALCOHOL PROBLEM: CASUAL OCCURRENCES.
SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1906-1909.
The Rebuilding of the Shattered and Burned City.
Improvements in the Reconstruction.
"The great fire of April, 1906, practically obliterated the
business section of San Francisco. Vast heaps of brick and
stone and iron beams, twisted and bent, filled the area where
the great hotels, banks and mercantile establishments,
wholesale and retail, had stood. The opportunity to correct
original errors and to make improvements in the ground plan of
this portion of the city was at once recognized. People said
to one another: ‘ London, Chicago, and Baltimore have bitterly
regretted, since their great fires, that they did not improve
their streets. Are we to fail to take advantage of their
mistakes?’ A Citizens’ Committee on Reconstruction was
appointed; many valuable suggestions were brought together;
and an expert engineer was directed to study the plans and
make practical estimates of the cost of the more important
improvements. A set of most commendable changes was thus
brought to the point of authoritative adoption. These changes
included, particularly, the widening of streets needed for
main thoroughfares, extension of a few main streets so as to
facilitate the distribution of traffic, the extension of
shipping facilities along the water front, and improving the
thoroughfares leading thereto. The opportunity of making these
improvements while the whole area was destitute of buildings
was, of course, never likely to recur.
{589}
"At this point the whole matter came to a standstill. It was
the misfortune of San Francisco at this critical moment to be
under a municipal administration, wholly incompetent and
corrupt. Private enterprise was strained to the utmost in the
effort to recover from the great losses, and from the want of
governmental initiative, all projects of municipal improvement
failed for the time. Under a reformed city-government after
1907, a great deal of municipal work was undertaken which will
be indicated below.
"Rebuilding of private structures is a wonderful record of
courage, energy and resourcefulness. The first stage was the
rushing up of temporary wooden structures,—any sort of a
building that would afford shelter and permit the resumption
of business. For the most part the lumber yards of San
Francisco were untouched by the fire, and thus the city had a
considerable stock of material for immediate operations. Van
Ness Avenue and other former residence streets were soon lined
with one-story wooden buildings over which appeared the
well-known names of down-town firms.
"The second stage in reconstruction was the removal of the
ruins left by earthquake and fire. The business section of the
former city was constructed mainly of brick. Whether from
ignorance or prejudice the former building laws of San
Francisco did not permit the use of concrete except for floors
and foundations. Only a few of the more recently constructed
buildings were of steel. Thus the first great problem was
presented by the standing brick walls.
"For a few days the use of dynamite for the overthrow of
standing walls was permitted, and in this way much additional
damage was done to buildings not wholly ruined by the
earthquake and fire. Subsequently it was found to be far more
systematic and advantageous as well as safer to pull down the
standing walls by means of wire cables and stationary engines.
Pulling down old walls became for a time a trade in itself.
"Thousands of men found employment in cleaning the old bricks
and stacking them up for use in rebuilding. For the removal of
the vast quantities of debris,—twisted pipe and beams, broken
brick and crumbled plaster, temporary railways were
constructed over the level down-town district, and elaborate
plans were made for a wholesale business by steam
transportation. There was trouble over loading facilities,
however, and the greater quantity was carried away by two
horse dump-wagons, the material being used for filling in low
lands along the water front and elsewhere. All California felt
the demand for horses and wagons that this great work created.
"Immediately after the fire the work of revising the building
laws was taken up. Fortunately this task received the
intelligent guidance of a citizens’ committee composed of
local builders, architects and engineers. The building
regulations were rescued from their contradictions and
confusion, and a clear, systematic ordinance was secured. The
most notable forward step was the authorization of reinforced
concrete buildings.
"Architects and engineers interested in the problems of
reconstruction organized a ‘Structural Association’ as a
clearing-house for improved building methods. The utmost pains
were taken to study the effects of the earthquake and the
conflagration in order to secure every possible advantage from
the lessons inculcated. The results of this study may be
summarized as follows.
"Steel frame buildings (Class A) were perfectly able to resist
the effects of earthquake shock of the severity of the
disturbance of 1906, and when properly protected, to endure
the test of conflagration as well. Concrete, both plain and
reinforced, rose rapidly in favor as structural material.
Opinion as to the continued use of brick in construction was
divided, but on account of the need of brick in the cheaper
buildings, there was no tendency toward its falling into
disuse. Wired glass, that is, plate glass in which a mesh of
fine wire netting is embedded has been brought into favor, the
idea being that when this glass is subjected to great heat it
may crack, but will not fall.
"Along with the improved methods of construction, the
rebuilding of office and business structures afforded an
opportunity of modernizing them. Merchants went so far as to
form a ‘Down-Town Association’ which held weekly meetings for
the purpose of studying the problems of rehabilitation and of
taking advantage of every suggestion for improvement. The new
buildings have been perfected in lighting and sanitation and
in exterior finish and interior arrangements have been brought
up to the standard of the world’s best types. Thus the
business district of the new city has been made immeasurably
superior in durability, cleanliness and appearance, to what it
was before the fire.
"The amount of reconstruction that has been done is shown in
the following table taken from the San Francisco
Chronicle of April 18, 1909, which summarizes the work
done in three years. The table was compiled from the municipal
records.
"Private building operations, April 18, 1906 to April 18, 1909:
Number. Cost.
Class A 82 $19,391,982
Class B 109 8,042,831
Class C 1,369 42,416,072
Frame 12,352 50,962,813
Alterations 6,334 9,528,310
Total $130,344,008

"Class A
buildings having steel frames;
stone, brick or concrete facing, fire-proof floors.
Completely fire-proof.
"Class B
buildings of reinforced concrete,
brick or stone, with steel beams entering into the main walls,
fire-proof.
"Class C
brick, stone or concrete buildings
with floors and floor-framework of wood.
"As the actual cost usually exceeds the estimate that goes
into the public record by about 15 per cent. it would be
proper to estimate the cost of all this construction at
$150,000,000. Of this amount it is estimated that less than
$10,000,000 has been furnished from outside of San
Francisco,—local capital having proven itself sufficient for
this vast work. Within this same period the public service
corporations have expended nearly $20,000,000 in
reconstruction,—the greatest work being the practical
rebuilding of the street-car lines. For municipal
reconstruction the city has repaved nearly all of the business
streets and has voted bonds for $18,200,000. From the funds
thus provided permanent improvements of great importance are
now (August, 1909) in progress.
{590}
"The election authorizing the sale of bonds was held on May
11, 1908. The purposes for which these bonds were issued are
thus announced by the Public Utilities Committee of the Board
of Supervisors:
"‘Fire Protection Bonds, $5,200,000, for the installation of
an extensive high pressure water system which will give
superior fire protection to the greater part of the thickly
built portion of the city, and designed to be the most
serviceable of its kind in the world. With this installed it
will be almost impossible for a conflagration to ever again
visit the city.
"‘Sewer Bonds, $4,000,000, for the construction of a complete
sewer system which will discharge the sewage in a manner that
will perfectly safeguard the health of the city.
"‘School Bonds, $5,000,000, for the construction of
school-houses to the number of more than thirty, replacing
those destroyed by fire in April, 1906, and providing sites
and additional structures in districts now inadequately
supplied.
"‘Hospital Bonds, $2,000,000, for the construction of modern
hospitals.
"‘Hall of Justice Bonds, $1,000,000, for the construction of
buildings for the police and other departments of the city
government.
"‘Garbage System Bonds, $1,000,000, for the construction of
modern works for the disposal of the city’s waste in a
sanitary manner.
"‘With these improvements the City of San Francisco will be
equipped with public works that will insure it a prominent
place in the cities of the world in respect to all things that
go to make stability and give permanence to the community as a
great trade and industrial center.’ The rapid recovery of San
Francisco from the losses of the great fire is further shown
by the following comparison of values from the Assessors
Reports:
Value of Taxable Property.
1905. 1906. 1908.
Real Estate $304,136,185 $237,082,752 $258,642,215
Buildings 97,830,165 50,250,480 90,996,500
Personal Property 122,264,596 88,805,510 103,912,469
Total $524,230,946 $376,138,742 $453,551,184
Frederick H. Clark,
Head of History Department,
Lowell High School.
SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1908 (July).
Visit of the Battleship Fleet.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL.
SANITARY UNDERTAKINGS.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH.
SANTOS-DUMONT, A.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: AERONAUTICS.
SARRIEN-CLEMENCEAU MINISTRY.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1906.
SARTO, Giuseppe, Cardinal:
Elected Pope.
See (in this Volume)
PAPACY: A. D. 1903 (JULY-AUGUST).
SASKATCHEWAN:
Organized as a Province of the Dominion of Canada.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1905.
SAXONY: A. D. 1906.
Political Reform.
See (in this Volume)
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: GERMANY: A. D. 1906.
SCANDINAVIAN-AMERICAN SOLIDARITY.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: INTERNATIONAL INTERCHANGES.
SCHMITZ, EUGENE E.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: SAN FRANCISCO.
SCHOOL CHILDREN, UNDERFED.
See (in this Volume)
POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF.
SCHOOL PEACE LEAGUE,
The American.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1908.
SCHOOLS.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION.
SCHOUVALOFF, COUNT, ASSASSINATION OF.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER).
SCHREINER, W. P.:
Opposition to Disfranchisement of Colored Natives
in South Africa.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1908-1909.
----------SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: Start--------
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: Aeronautics:
The Development of the Aeroplane and the Dirigible Balloon.
To be lifted from the earth by an inflated sack of gas lighter
than air, and be drifted with it by the winds, was an
interesting experience for a few adventurous people, after the
Mongolfiers, in 1783, had found it could be done; but the
practical advantages from it were slight, so long as the
voyager of the air had no slightest control of his journeying.
The possibility of such control only came within the range of
inventors’ dreams when motor enginery had been carried far
towards the promise of much power with little weight. The
promise was half a century behind its fulfilment, however,
when Henri Giffard, the notable French engineer, is said to
have constructed a balloon which lacked nothing but the
adequately light and vigorous motor in order to be as [much a]
dirigible as any of the present day. But the needed motor
began to take form, and success in the propulsion of balloons
on steered courses, with some independence of the winds, began
to be realized, in the experiments of Count Zeppelin, in
Germany, and of M. Santos-Dumont in France, beginning about
1898.
Before that date, however, invention had been started on
bolder lines, seeking independence of the clumsy gas-bag, and
striving to mount the air as the bird does, by pushing against
it the inclined planes of his wings. Otto Lilienthal, in
Germany, began experiments to that end in 1893. He had no
motor; but starting from a height, and "making judicious use
of the movement of the wind," he accomplished gliding flights
of about 1200 feet, and the machines he constructed were
suggestive of ideas to the experimenters who followed him. He
was killed by a fall in 1896. Many were then working at the
problem of aerial flight without the lifting force of light
gases.
{591}
Some studied it scientifically and some attacked it in the
rough manner of sheer empiricism. Of the former, in the United
States, were Octave Chanute, the engineer, and Professor
Samuel P. Langley, the astronomer and physicist of the
Smithsonian Institution; in England there was Sir Hiram Maxim.
These gentlemen arrived at no practical success in their own
experimenting, but they furnished good guidance to the work of
their more fortunate successors. A little later the scientific
students of the problem were joined by the inventor of the
telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. And then came the two
workers who advanced from empiricism to science in their
undertaking, and who won the first great successes by a happy
combination of the two.
The brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright have told, in an
article contributed to The Century Magazine, how they
were stirred to serious interest in the aviation problem in
1896 and began to read what Langley, Chanute, Mouillard and
others had written on it. Entering, purely as a sport, on
experiments in gliding flight, on Lilienthal’s lines, they
became fascinated by the pursuit. From the first they appear
to have chosen what is known as the biplane structure for
their machines, the invention of which they credit to a
previous inventor, Wenham, whose design of it had been
improved by Stringfellow and Chanute. To this construction, of
two planes, one above the other, for supporting surfaces, they
have steadfastly adhered.
At the outset of their experimenting the Wrights found a
difficulty in the balancing of "flyers" which previous workers
did not seem to have treated seriously enough, and they
settled themselves to the conquest of it at once. This and
other problems soon carried them from empirical testing into
scientific studies, which occupied several years. They found
that the accepted measurements of wind pressure, on given
plane surfaces exposed at different angles, were unreliable,
and they applied themselves to the making and tabulating of
measurements of their own. It was not until this work had
given them "accurate data for making calculations, and a
system of balance effective in winds as well as in calms," as
well as the necessary data for designing an effective screw
propeller, that they felt themselves prepared "to build a
successful power-flyer."
So far, these thorough-going workers at the problems of
aviation had been experimenting with a machine designed, as
they said, "to be flown as a kite, with a man on board," or
without the man, "operating the levers through cords from the
ground." Their active experimenting began in October, 1900, at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In 1901 they made the acquaintance
of Mr. Chanute, and he spent some weeks with them, observing
and encouraging their work. In September and October, they
say, "nearly one thousand gliding flights were made, several
of which covered distances of over 600 feet. Some, made
against a wind of thirty-six miles an hour, gave proof of the
effectiveness of the devices for control." Late in 1903 they
had reached the point of testing a power-machine, and sailed
into the air with it for the first time on the 17th of
December in the presence of five lookers-on. "The first
flight," they tell us, "lasted only twelve seconds: a flight
very modest compared with that of birds; but it was,
nevertheless, the first in the history of the world in which a
machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into
the air in free flight, had sailed forward on a level course,
without reduction of speed, and had finally landed without
being wrecked. The second and third flights were a little
longer, and the fourth lasted fifty-nine seconds, covering a
distance of 852 feet over the ground against a twenty-mile
wind."
In the spring of 1904 the experimenting of the Wright Brothers
was transferred from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to a prairie
not far from their home, at Dayton, Ohio. There they overcame
final difficulties in the maintaining of equilibrium when
turning their machine in circles of flight; and then, at the
end of September, 1905, they suspended experiments for more
than two years, which they spent in business negotiations and
in the construction of new machines. Their experimenting was
not resumed until May, 1908 (again at Kitty Hawk). At this
time it was directed to the testing of the ability of their
machine to meet the requirements of a contract with the United
States Government to furnish a flyer capable of carrying two
men and sufficient fuel supplies for a flight of 25 miles,
with a speed of forty miles an hour.
Meantime, during the two years of suspended experimenting by
the Wrights, other workers in Europe and America had been
approaching their successes, so far as to be competitors for
the important prizes now offered very plainly for winning in
the aviation field. M. Santos-Dumont, turning his attention
from dirigible balloons to aeroplanes, had made, at Paris, the
first public flight on that side of the ocean; and though he
covered no more than 220 yards, it was a long stride in
practical success. Henry Farman, Louis Bleriot, M. Delagrange,
in France, Glenn H. Curtiss and A. M. Herring, in the United
States, were making ready to dispute honors with the Dayton
aviators, of whose actual achievements the public knew little,
as yet.
On all sides there was readiness for surprising and
astonishing the public in 1908. Farman, at Paris, in March,
exceeded a flight of two miles; Delagrange, at Milan, in June,
covered ten miles, and more; Farman, in July, raised his
record to eleven miles, and Delagrange carried his to fifteen
and a half in September. The Wrights had made flights that
ranged from eleven to twenty-four miles in the fall of 1905;
and now, in their renewed trials of 1908, these distances were
more than doubled. Wilbur Wright went abroad, to exhibit their
machine in France and elsewhere, while Orville, in September,
submitted it to official tests at Fort Myer, near Washington.
There, on different days in that month, rounding circuits of
the parade ground, he made time records of continuous flight
that ran from 56 to 74 minutes, travelling estimated distances
that stretched in one instance over fifty-one and a third
miles. These trials at Fort Myer were interrupted sadly by an
accident, from the breaking of a propeller-blade, which caused
the machine to drop to the ground while in flight. Lieutenant
T. E. Selfridge, U. S. A., who rode with Mr. Wright at the
time, was killed, and Mr. Wright suffered a broken leg.
{592}
Wilbur Wright, meantime, was entering on great triumphs in
France. At Le Mans, on the 21st of September, he traversed 68
miles in a continuous flight of a little more than an hour and
a half. This achievement was far surpassed by him on the 18th
of December, when 95 miles were travelled in an hour and
fifty-four minutes, and again, on the 31st of December, when
the stay in the air was prolonged to two hours, nine minutes
and some seconds, and the distance covered was 76½ miles.
These records of the Wrights for time of continuous flight
were beaten by a number of European competitors, as will be
shown below. Otherwise, the records of 1909 show no very
marked advance beyond those of 1908; but the year had
excitements in aviation, connected especially with attempted
flights over the English Channel. Hubert Latham, a recent
French practitioner in aviation, was the first to venture this
leap through the air from France to England. His machine was
described as being an Antoinette monoplane, designed by M.
Levevasseur. He launched it from Calais in the early morning
of July 19, and traversed about six miles of the passage when
his motor failed and he fell to the water, unhurt, and was
rescued by an attendant steamer. Six days after Latham's
failure, on the 25th of July, Louis Bleriot, using another
monoplane machine, made the crossing with brilliant success,
flying from Calais to Dover, 21 miles, in 23 minutes, and
winning the prize of £1000 which the Daily Mail, of London,
had offered for the performance of the feat. M. Latham then
repeated his attempt and was unfortunate again, his motor
giving out after it had carried him within two miles of the
Dover shore.
Orville Wright, at this time, July 27, was demonstrating at
Fort Myer the ability of his aeroplane to carry two persons in
a well-sustained flight. With Lieutenant Frank P. Lahm, of the
Signal Corps, as a passenger, and having President Taft among
his spectators, he made a flight of an hour, twelve minutes
and forty seconds, accomplishing upwards of fifty miles at an
average speed of forty miles an hour. A day or two afterwards
he carried Lieutenant Benjamin D. Foulois over the ten mile
course from Fort Myer to Alexandria at a speed of more than
forty-two miles an hour.
In the last week of August the first race meeting for
heavier-than air flying machines occurred at Rheims, France,
and a dozen aviators from France, England and America competed
for large prizes in long distance and duration flights. A
number of new records was made, and new names acquired note.
Louis Paulhan kept the air for two hours and forty-three
minutes with a Voisin biplane, covering 83 miles. Hubert
Latham surpassed this in distance and speed, making 96 miles
in two hours and eighteen minutes; and this again was beaten
by Henri Farman, who travelled 118 miles, remaining in the air
over three hours. M. Latham used the Antoinette monoplane, and
M. Farman a biplane of his own design. Mr. Glenn H. Curtiss
won the prize for speed, doing 18 miles in twenty-five minutes
and forty-five seconds.
Orville Wright had now gone abroad and his brother had
returned to America. In August and September the former gave
exhibitions at Berlin, breaking some of his own records,
carrying a passenger in his machine for an hour and
thirty-five minutes, on the 18th of September, and rising, on
the 1st of October, to an unexampled height, believed to have
exceeded 1000 feet. This, however, was greatly exceeded in
January, 1910, by Hubert Latham, at Mourmelon, France, who
rose to 3280 feet, and by Louis Paulhan, at Los Angeles,
California, 4165 ft. On the 3d of October the Crown Prince of
Germany was his companion in a short flight.
Meantime Wilbur Wright, in America, had endeavored to supply
one of the spectacles arranged for the Hudson-Fulton
celebration at New York; but the intended programme of
aviation was spoiled by forbidding winds. He did, however,
make one astonishing flight, on the 4th of October, from
Governor’s Island, up the Hudson to Grant’s tomb, and, on his
return, passing over the British battle-ships then lying in
the river. The distance travelled was about twenty miles and
the time of the journey thirty-three minutes and a half.
Unfortunately it was unexpected, and was seen by a small part
only of the millions who had been watching several days for a
flight. On the next day Mr. Wright made the statement that no
more public exhibitions would be given by his brother or
himself. "Hereafter," he said, "we shall devote all our
efforts to the commercial exploitation of our machines, and
fly only as a matter of experiment, to test the value of
whatever changes we decide to make in the construction."
Turning now back to the development of the motor-propelled and
dirigible balloon, we find that field of aeronautics very
nearly monopolized at the beginning of the twentieth century,
so far as the public saw it, by the Brazilian millionaire, A.
Santos-Dumont, who spent his time and his wealth at Paris in
ballooning. The French Government had been authorizing army
experiments in dirigible ballooning since 1884, and a
motor-driven air-ship of that description, designed by Captain
Renard, and named "La France," had made a trip from
Chalais-Meudon to Paris and return in September, 1885, being
the first balloon ever navigated back to its starting point;
but not much in the same line to excite public interest
appears to have been done in the next sixteen years. Then, on
the 19th of October, 1901, a lively stir of interest
everywhere was excited by the exploit of Santos-Dumont, in
navigating his balloon from St. Cloud to and around the Eiffel
Tower and back to the starting point. He had done the same
privately three months before, at a very early morning hour of
July 12, on which occasion he broke his rudder at an early
stage of the journey, descended in the Trocadero Gardens, made
repairs and then went on doing the whole round in an hour and
six minutes, including the stop.
Expectation, however, that controllable navigation of the air,
in average conditions of wind, might really be an approaching
and not very distant fact, cannot be said to have had much
awakening in the world until the performances, in 1908, of
Count Zeppelin’s huge airship, 440 feet in length, called
Zeppelin No. IV., which enclosed numerous envelopes of gas in
a rigid aluminum frame. On the 2d of July, 1908, he drove this
great balloon from Friedrichshafen, on Lake Constance, to
Luzerne, 248 miles, within twelve hours. Starting again from
Friedrichshafen, August 4, intending a 500 mile trip, he made
a lauding at Oppenheim, 260 miles distant, returned thence to
Stuttgart, and finally to Echterdingen, where a hurricane
storm wrecked his airship completely, causing its motor to
explode. Public sympathy with the veteran aeronaut and public
faith in his work were so strong that a fund was raised
promptly by subscription for the building of another of his
costly balloons.
{593}
With this he was ready for new voyages in the spring of 1909,
and started from Friedrichshafen on the 30th of May, carrying
two engineers and a crew of seven, travelled 456 miles to
Bitterfield, where, without landing, he turned back; but
landed later near Goeppingen, receiving a slight injury to the
balloon in landing by contact with a tree. The whole distance
travelled was about 850 miles, in 37 hours. Late in August the
Count accomplished a long desired voyage from his headquarters
on Lake Constance to Berlin; but was forced to land at
Nuremberg for repairs, and again at Bitterfield, disappointing
the great crowds which waited at Berlin, till late at night on
the 29th, with the Emperor, to welcome his arrival. When he
came, the next day, however, the public enthusiasm showed no
cooling. "He was received," says a despatch from Berlin, "with
all the honours which the Court and capital could pay him, and
his triumphal entry into the city this afternoon as the
honoured guest of the Emperor, was not merely a dramatic
success but a national demonstration." And now, from this
glancing survey of achievement thus far in the navigation of
the air, with and without help from the levitation of gas,
what expectations of further achievement can we reasonably
indulge? Here is one answer, from a notably scientific
mind,—that of the late Simon Newcomb, the astronomer:
"It would seem that, at the present time, the public is more
hopeful of the flying-machine than of the dirigible balloon.
The idea that because such a machine has at last been
constructed which will carry a man through the air, there is
no limit to progress, is a natural one. But to judge of
possibilities, we must advert to the distinction already
pointed out between obstacles interposed by nature, which
cannot be surmounted by any invention, and those which we may
hope to overcome by possible mechanical appliances. The
mathematical relations between speed, sustaining power,
strength of material, efficiency of engine, and other elements
of success are fixed and determinate, and cannot be changed
except by new scientific discoveries, quite outside the power
of the inventor to make. That the gravitation of matter can in
any way be annulled seems out of the question. Should any
combination of metals or other substances be discovered of
many times the stiffness and tensile strength of the fabrics
and alloys with which we are now acquainted, then might one
element of success be at our command. But, with the metals
that we actually have, there is a limit to the weight of an
engine with a given driving power, and it may be fairly
assumed that this limit is nearly reached in the motors now in
use. … Owing to the levity of the air, the supporting surface
must have a wide area. We cannot set any exact limit to the
necessary spread of sail, because the higher the speed the
less the spread required. But, as we increase the speed, we
also increase the resistance, and therefore we must have a
more powerful and necessarily heavier motor. … Bearing in mind
that no limit is to be set to the possible discovery of new
laws of nature or new combinations of the chemical elements,
it must be understood that I disclaim any positive prediction
that men will never fly from place to place at will. The claim
I make is that they will not do this until some epoch-making
discovery is made of which we have now no conception, and that
mere invention has nearly reached its limit. It is very
natural to reason that men have done hundreds of things which
formerly seemed impossible, and therefore they may fly. But
for every one thing seemingly impossible that they have
succeeded in doing there are ten which they would like to do
but which no one believes that they can do. No one thinks of
controlling wind or weather, of making the sun shine when we
please, of building a railroad across the Atlantic, of
changing the ocean level to suit the purposes of commerce, of
building bridges of greater extent than engineers tell us is
possible with the strength of the material that we have at
command, or of erecting buildings so high that they would be
crushed by their own weight. Why are we hopeless as to all
these achievements, and yet hopeful that the flying-machine
may be the vehicle of the future, which shall transport us
more rapidly than a railroad train now does? It is simply
because we all have so clear a mental view of the obstacles in
the way of reaching such ends as those just enumerated that we
do not waste time in attempting to surmount them, and we are
hopeful of the flying-machine only because we do not clearly
see that the difficulties are of the same nature as those we
should encounter in erecting a structure which would not be
subject to the laws of mechanics.
"I have said nothing of the possible success of the
flying-machine for the purposes of military reconnaissance or
any other operations requiring the observer to command a wide
view of all that is on the landscape. This is a technical
subject which, how great soever may be its national
importance, does not affect our daily life."
Simon Newcomb,
The Prospect of Aerial Navigation
(North American Review, March, 1908).
Here is another, from Thomas A. Edison, the inventor:
"In ten years flying machines will be used to carry mails.
They will carry passengers, too, and they will go at a speed
of 100 miles an hour. There is no doubt of this."
These are the words of Mr. Edison in an interview published in
the New York Times, August 1st, 1909. But while he is
sure that the "flying machine has got to come," he is not at
all sure that it will come along the lines pursued in the
present experiments. "The flying problem now consists of 75
per cent. machine and 25 per cent, man," he said, "while to be
commercially successful the flying machine must leave little
to the peculiar skill of the operator and must be able to go
out in all weathers." He continued:
"If I were to build a flying machine I would plan to sustain
it by means of a number of rapidly revolving inclined planes,
the effect of which would be to raise the machine by
compressing the air between the planes and the earth. Such a
machine would rise from the ground as a bird does. Then I
would drive the machine ahead with a propeller."
{594}
Mr. Edison believes it is a question of power. "Is it not
thinkable that a method will be discovered of wirelessly
transmitting electrical energy from the earth to the motor of
the machine in mid-air?" He asked and answered his own
question, saying:—"There is no reason to disbelieve that it
can and will be done." He added, however, that there was great
room for improvement in explosive engines. "Any day we are
likely to read that somebody has made picric acid or something
else work—done some little thing that will transform the
flying machine from a toy into a commercial success." And when
it is perfected, he says, the flying machine may end war by
becoming a means of attack that cannot be resisted.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Agriculture: Dry Farming in the West.
For twenty consecutive years, in scores of places from the
James River to the Arkansas, Mr. H. W. Campbell, of Lincoln,
Nebraska, the pioneer "dry farmer" of Arid America, "has been
uniformly successful in producing without irrigation the same
results that are expected with irrigation, with comparatively
little additional expense, but not without a great deal more
watchfulness and labor. What Western people have become
accustomed to calling the ‘Campbell system of dry farming’
consists simply in the exercise of intelligence, care,
patience, and tireless industry. It differs in details from
the ‘good-farming’ methods practised and taught at the various
agricultural experiment stations; but the underlying
principles are the same.
"These principles are two in number. First to keep the surface
of the land under cultivation loose and finely pulverized.
This forms a soil mulch that permits the rains and melting
snows to percolate readily through to the compacted soil
beneath; and that at the same time prevents the moisture
stored in the ground from being brought to the surface by
capillary attraction, to be absorbed by the hot, dry air. The
second is to keep the sub-soil finely pulverized and firmly
compacted, increasing its water-holding capacity and its
capillary attraction and placing it in the best possible
physical condition for the germination of seed and the
development of plant roots. The ‘dry farmer’ thus stores water
not in dams and artificial reservoirs, but right where it can
be reached by the roots of growing crops.
"Through these principles, a rainfall of twelve inches can be
conserved so effectively that it will produce better results
than are usually expected of an annual precipitation of
twenty-four inches in humid America. The discoverer and
demonstrator of these principles deserves to rank among the
greatest of national benefactors."
John L. Cowan,
Dry Farming the Hope of the West
(Century Magazine, July, 1906).
"It is difficult for one who is used to the commonplace
methods of tilling the soil which obtained a quarter of a
century ago to believe that a new method has been discovered
which will triple and quadruple the results of the old system
in those parts of the country in which the rainfall is
somewhat restricted. The imagination cannot immediately grasp
the statement that dry farming methods would lift the Kansas
wheat crop from 75,000,000 to 216,000,000 bushels. Yet this is
a fact.
"If the mind of the eastern farmer can grasp this tremendous
fact he will be ready to credit the statement that there are
millions of acres in the western country which were until a
few years ago regarded as utterly worthless, but which are now
cheap at $25 an acre. To the wheat industry alone of the
western country the proved fact of the value of dry farming
means more than any other development fact in the agricultural
history of this country. What is true of increased yields in
dry farming is equally true, and in a larger degree, perhaps,
with respect to irrigation. For years the government has been
warning the country that the increased production of wheat is
not keeping pace with the increased consumption.
"Should this continue it would mean that ere long the United
States would be compelled to draw a part of its wheat supply
from the Canadian Northwest. It would also mean that the
United States would lose the export wheat trade with the
Orient, which is bound to increase rapidly. It is not
generally known that the 400,000,000 people in China are being
educated to the use of wheat and other cereals than rice, and
that, therefore, the demand for wheat will continue to
increase. …
"One of the facts which Mr. Harriman realized far in advance
of any one else and which was an important factor in his
transportation plans was the possibilities of dry farming as
well as irrigation. Before he began to talk much about these
subjects he set about to prepare his system to reap the first
and most substantial part of the results of dry farming and of
irrigation. Other railroad builders are now beginning to
realize that Mr. Harriman is prepared to transport the
products of the West, of the Northwest and the Southwest
between almost any parts of this country, as well as through
many ports from San Francisco to the South Atlantic ports,
including one or two on the western coast of Old Mexico.
Although he and former President Roosevelt were at war in many
respects, it was Mr. Harriman that gave the former President
much of the information he acquired regarding the boundless
resources of the West. By doing so he caused the government to
work even more energetically than it had been working for the
conservation of the nation’s resources."
Chicago Record-Herald,
July 11, 1909.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Anniversary Celebrations.
The eightieth birthday of Dr. Rudolph Virchow, founder of
cellular pathology, was celebrated on the 13th of October,
1901, by a remarkable assemblage of distinguished physicians
and surgeons from many countries, who made pilgrimages to
Berlin to do him honor.
The centenary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and the
semi-centennial year of the publication, in 1859, of his work
on "The Origin of Species," were commemorated in every part of
the world; but the great collective demonstration of honor to
Darwin’s memory, organized by the University of Cambridge, his
alma mater, was a tribute of surpassing impressiveness.
As described by the London Times, on the opening day of
this extraordinary celebration, June 22, 1909, "the whole
learned world, from Chile to Japan," was joined in the homage
paid. "Some of those who will be present," said The
Times, "were his comrades, most of them have been in some
measure his working contemporaries.
{595}
Two hundred and thirty-five universities, academies, and
learned bodies at home and abroad have nominated delegates to
represent them; and of these 107 are situated in foreign
countries and British dominions outside the United Kingdom.
Thirty of the most famous institutions in Germany, thirty in
the United States, fourteen in France, ten in Austria-Hungary,
eight in Italy, as many in Sweden, seven in Russia, and lesser
numbers in seven other foreign countries have honoured the
occasion by naming some of their most distinguished members to
take part in it. The distant seats of learning in the younger
British countries have responded with not less cordiality;
seven in Canada, seven in Australia, five in New Zealand, and
the same number in South Africa have appointed delegates;
India and Ceylon are represented by eight. Within the United
Kingdom 68 universities and societies are lending their

support; and, in addition to the appointed delegates, there
are some 200 invited guests, who include men eminent in every
walk of life. … No such academic tribute as the present
festival has ever been paid to the memory of an individual
within so short a time of his own life."
The commemorative exercises of the occasion were continued
through three days.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Astronomy: The Astronomy of the Invisible.
"The discovery of double and multiple stars from the effects
of the gravitational attraction on their luminous components
is known as the ‘Astronomy of the Invisible.’ It was first
suggested by the illustrious Bessel about 1840. … The greatest
extension of the Astronomy of the Invisible has been made by
Professor Campbell, of the Lick Observatory. In the course of
the regular work on the motion of stars in the line of sight,
carried out with a powerful spectroscopic apparatus presented
to the Observatory by Honorable D. O. Mills, of New York, he
has investigated during the past five years the motion of
several hundred of the brighter stars of the northern heavens.
… With such unprecedented telescopic power and a degree of
precision in the spectrograph which can be safely depended
upon, it is not unnatural that some new and striking phenomena
should be disclosed. These consisted of a large number of
spectra with double lines, which undergo a periodic
displacement, showing that the stars in question were in
reality double, made up of two components, moving in opposite
directions,—one approaching, the other receding from the
Earth. There were thus disclosed spectroscopic binary stars,
systems with components so close together that they could not
be separated in any existing telescope, yet known to be real
binary stars by the periodic behaviour of the lines of the
spectra so faithfully registered on different days. …
"Campbell’s work at the Lick Observatory derives increased
importance from its systematic character, which enables us to
draw some general conclusions of the greatest interest. He has
thus far made known the results of his study of the spectra of
two hundred and eighty of the brighter stars of the northern
heavens. Out of this number he finds thirty-one spectroscopic
binaries, or one ninth of the whole number of objects studied.
… It seems certain that a more thorough study will materially
increase the number of spectroscopic binaries; and Professor
Campbell thinks one sixth, or even one fifth, of all the
objects studied may eventually prove to be binary or multiple
systems. Such an extraordinary generalization opens up to our
contemplation an entirely new view of the sidereal universe. …
"If we accept the conclusion that with our finest telescopes,
in the best climates, on the average one star in twenty-five
is visually double, it will follow from Campbell’s work on
some three hundred stars that five times that number are
spectroscopically double. Thus, although over a million stars
have been examined visually, and some five thousand
interesting systems disclosed by powerful telescopes, the
concluded ratio would give us, at last analysis, four million
visual systems among the hundred million objects assumed to
compose the stellar universe. On the other hand, the large
ratio of spectroscopic binaries to the total number of stars
examined by Campbell would lead us to conclude that in the
celestial spaces there exist in reality no less than twenty
million spectroscopic binary stars! Could anything be more
impressive than the view thus opened to the human mind? …
"It may indeed well be that the dark and unseen portion of the
universe is even greater than that which is indicated by our
most powerful telescopes. Half a century ago Bessel remarked:
‘There is no reason to suppose luminosity an essential quality
of cosmical bodies. The visibility of countless stars is no
argument against the invisibility of countless others.’"
T. J. J. See,
Recent Progress in Astronomy
(Atlantic Monthly, January, 1902).
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: Biological:
Mendel’s Law of Variation in Species.
"Gregor Mendel was Abbot of Brünn in Moravia when Darwin was
at work on the Origin. He does not appear to have had any
unusual interest in the problem of evolution; indeed, his main
concern was with an essentially pre-Darwinian question,—the
nature of plant hybrids. With this problem as an avocation
from his serious clerical duties, the abbot busied himself in
the garden of his cloister; a leisurely, clear-headed,
middle-aged churchman in whom a great scientist was spoiled.
For eight years he experimented with varieties of the common
pea, and in 1865 communicated to the Society of Naturalists in
Brünn the substance of the discovery which is hereafter to be
known as Mendel’s law, ‘the greatest discovery in biology
since Darwin.’ Unfortunately, at that time, the Brünn Society,
like the rest of the world, had other things on its mind. …
Somehow or other, Mendel’s discovery escaped attention until
four years ago [1900], when De Vries reached it independently.
Two years later Mr. Bateson, who had been among the first to
realize its significance, made a translation of the two
original papers. … Since then, Mendel’s Law has been found to
hold for a considerable number of cases, both among animals
and plants, but most unaccountably not to work for a few
others; so that, as yet, no one knows how nearly universal it
may prove to be, nor how it is to be reconciled with the older
Law of Ancestral Heredity of Galton. …
{596}
"One illustration will serve to make clear the practical
workings of Mendel’s principle. If a single rough-coated
guinea-pig of either sex be introduced into a colony of normal
smooth-coated individuals, all its offspring of the first
generation will be rough-coated like itself. In the next
generation, if one of the parents is smooth and the other
rough, the young will be half of one sort and half of the
other, but if both parents are rough, three quarters will take
the ‘dominant’ rough coat. In the next, and all subsequent
generations, one half of these rough-coated individuals which
had one smooth-coated grandparent, and one-third of those
which had two smooth-coated grandparents, which were not
mated, will drop out the 'recessive' smooth-coatedness, and
become, in all respects, like their original rough-coated
progenitor, even to having only rough-coated young, no matter
what their mates may have. Thus Mendel’s law, though by no
means simple, is very precise. The essential part of his great
discovery is that in each generation of plants or animals of
mixed ancestry, a definite proportion lose one half of their
mingled heritage, and revert, in equal numbers, to one or
other of the pure types."
E. T. Brewster,
Some Recent Aspects of Darwinism
(Atlantic Monthly, April, 1904).
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Promotion of Original Research.
The following information relative to the founding, the plan
and the work of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is
derived from the, authorities of the Institution:
The Institution was founded by Mr. Andrew Carnegie, January
28, 1902, when he gave to a board of trustees $10,000,000 in
registered bonds, yielding 5 per cent annual interest. To this
endowment fund an addition of $2,000,000 was made by Mr.
Carnegie on December 10, 1907. The Institution was originally
organized under the laws of the District of Columbia as the
Carnegie Institution. Subsequently, however, it was
incorporated by an act of Congress, approved April 28, 1904,
under the title of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The
articles of incorporation declare, in general, "that the
objects of the corporation shall be to encourage in the
broadest and most liberal manner investigation, research, and
discovery, and the application of knowledge to the improvement
of mankind." By the act of incorporation the Institution was
placed under the control of a board of twenty-four trustees,
all of whom had been members of the original board referred to
above.
The President of the Institution is Dr. Robert S. Woodward,
formerly of the faculty of Columbia University. The Chairman
of its Board of Trustees is Dr. John S. Billings, Director of
the New York Public Library. The Board includes such notable
members as William H. Taft, Elihu Root, Seth Low, Andrew D.
White, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, Henry L. Higginson and President
Henry S. Pritchett.
Since the object of the Institution is the promotion of
investigation "in the broadest and most liberal manner," many
projects in widely different fields of inquiry have been
considered, or are under consideration, by the Executive
Committee. These projects are chiefly of three classes,
namely:
First, large projects or departments of work whose execution
requires continuous research by a corps of investigators
during a series of years. Ten such departments have been
established by the Institution. …
Secondly, minor projects which may be carried out by
individual experts in a limited period of time. Many grants in
aid of this class of projects have been made.
Thirdly, research associates and assistants. Under this head
aid has been given to a considerable number of investigators
possessing exceptional abilities and opportunities for
research work.
An annual appropriation is made for the purpose of publishing
the results of investigations made under the auspices of the
Institution, and for certain works which would not otherwise
be readily printed. Its publications are not distributed
gratis, except to a limited list of the greater libraries of
the world. Other copies are offered for sale at prices only
sufficient to cover the cost of publication and transportation
to purchasers. Lists are furnished on application.
Since its organization in 1902, about one thousand individuals
have been engaged in investigations under the auspices of the
Institution and there are at present nearly five hundred so
engaged. Ten independent departments of research, each with
its staff of investigators and assistants, have been
established. In addition to these larger departments of work,
organized by the Institution itself, numerous special
researches, carried on by individuals, have been subsidized.
Seven laboratories and observatories, for as many different
fields of investigation and in widely separated localities,
have been constructed and equipped. A building in Washington,
D. C., for administrative offices and for storage of records
and publications, is now approaching completion. A specially
designed ship for ocean magnetic work has just been completed
and started on her first voyage.
Mr. George Iles, in his "Inventors at Work," describes and
characterizes the aims and guiding principles of the
Institution as follows: "In its grants for widely varied
purposes the policy of the Institution is clear: only those
inquiries are aided which give promise of fruit, and in every
case the grantee requires to be a man of proved ability, care
being taken not to duplicate work already in hand elsewhere,
or to essay tasks of an industrial character. Experience has
already shown it better to confine research to a few large
projects rather than to aid many minor investigations with
grants comparatively small.
"One branch of work reminds us of Mr. Carnegie’s method in
establishing public libraries—the supplementing of local
public spirit by a generous gift. In many cases a university
or an observatory launches an inquiry which soon broadens out
beyond the range of its own small funds; then it is that aid
from the Carnegie Institution brings to port a ship that
otherwise might remain at sea indefinitely. Let a few typical
examples of this kind be mentioned;—Dudley Observatory,
Albany, New York, and Lick Observatory, California, have
received aid toward their observations and computations;
Yerkes Observatory, Wisconsin, has been helped in measuring
the distance of fixed stars. Among other investigations
promoted have been the study of the rare earths and the
heat-treatment of some high-carbon steels. The adjacent field
of engineering has not been neglected: funds have been granted
for experiments on ship resistance and propulsion, for
determining the value of high pressure steam in locomotive
service.
{597}
In geology an investigation of fundamental principles has been
furthered, as also the specific problem of the flow of rocks
under severe pressure. In his remarkable inquiry into the
economy of foods, Professor W. O. Atwater, of Wesleyan
University, Middletown, Connecticut, has had liberal help. In
the allied science of preventive medicine a grant is advancing
the study of snake venoms and defeating inoculations.
"At a later day the Institution may possibly adopt plans
recommended by eminent advisers of the rank of Professor Simon
Newcomb, who points out that analysis and generalization are
to-day much more needed than further observations of a routine
kind. He has also had a weighty word to say regarding the
desirability of bringing together for mutual attrition and
discussion men in contiguous fields of work, who take the
bearings of a great problem from different, points of view."
George Iles,
Inventors at Work
Chapter XIX, page 276
Doubleday, Page & Co., New York
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48454
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: Electrical:
A New Electric Phenomenon.
Writing recently in the London Times, Professor
Silvanus P. Thompson has described a discovery of effects
which "appear to point to a true electric momentum." "To two
men, Professor Nipher, of St. Louis, and Dr. Mathias Cantor,
of Würzburg, the question seems to have occurred whether, if a
flow of electricity is caused abruptly to turn its path round
a sharp corner, anything is observable in the neighbourhood of
the sharp corner, that would suggest a momentum of the
electric corpuscles. Nipher employed as conductor a
sharply-bent splinter of bamboo, carrying a high-tension
discharge from a large influence machine. Cantor used a thin
metallic film of gold or platinum formed by deposition on the
faces of a glass plate bevelled to a sharp edge; the current
being provided by a battery. Nipher, investigating by photographic
plates, discovered that the current passing the sharp
corner emitted radiations akin to the X-rays, and capable of
giving shadow pictures, even through ebonite 3/16 of an inch
thick. He has also used thin metal wires bent into a series of
sharp corners, and finds that at every corner some of the
electrons leave the wire, tending to persevere in their
original direction of movement rather than undergo a sudden
change of direction. Cantor, exploring electrically with a
wire attached to a charged insulated electrometer, found the
electrometer discharged by the emanations (or radiations) from
the acute angle of his conducting film. Later, but without
knowledge of what Nipher had accomplished, Cantor also exposed
a photographic plate to the angle of the film, and found it
marked with streaks as if charged particles had left the angle
in a particular direction. Both experimenters had already made
numerous observations under different circumstances before
publishing their results. Nipher’s discovery was communicated
to the American Philosophical Society in the early summer, and
an account of his work appeared in Science of July 17
last [1909] . Cantor’s observations were announced to the
German ‘Naturforscher’ meeting at Cologne on September 23.
"If," remarks Professor Thompson, "we accept the modern
doctrine that all inertia in what we call matter is due to the
magnetic field surrounding a moving charge of electricity,
this newly-discovered effect takes its natural place beside
the other known effects."
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: TELEGRAPHY:
The Printer System.
The Electrical Review of January 2, 1909, gave the
following account of the extent to which the "printer system"
of telegraphy had then come into use in the United States:
"Over fifty printer circuits are now in regular operation on
the Western Union lines, between leading business centres of
the United States, and additional wires are being equipped as
fast as the printer apparatus can be installed. This is a
system of rapid automatic telegraphy by which telegrams are
transmitted at a high rate of speed and received at their
destination printed on the regular message forms by a
typewriter automatically operated by the electrical impulses
transmitted over the wire. The appearance of the message as
received is identical with a message turned out by the most
expert typewriter operator on Morse circuits. The messages are
ready for delivery as soon as they come off the wire, and the
only attention required by the typewriter as it receives the
messages from the wire is that of removing the blank when the
message is completed and supplying a fresh, sheet to the
machine for the next message."
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: Wireless Telegraphy.
Statement from Marconi.
"Up to the commencement of 1902 the only receivers that could
be practically employed for the purposes of wireless
telegraphy were based on what may be called the coherer
principle—that is, the detector, the principle of which is
based on the discoveries and observations made by S. A.
Varley, Professor Hughes, Calsecchi Onesti, and Professor
Branly. Early in that year the author was fortunate enough to
succeed in constructing a practical receiver of electric
waves, based on a principle different from that of the
coherer. … The action of this receiver is in the author’s
opinion based upon the decrease of magnetic hysteresis, which
takes place in iron when under certain conditions this metal
is exposed to high frequency oscillations of Hertzian waves. …
"This detector is and has been successfully employed for both
long and short distance work. It is used on the ships of the
Royal Navy and on all trans-Atlantic liners which are carrying
on a long-distance news service. It has also been used to a
large extent in the tests across the Atlantic Ocean. … The
adoption of this magnetic receiver was the means of bringing
about a great improvement in the practical working conditions
of wireless telegraphy by making it possible to do away with
the troublesome adjustments necessary when using coherers, and
also by considerably increasing the speed at which it is
possible to receive, the speed depending solely on the ability
of the individual operators. Thus a speed of over 30 words a
minute has been easily attained. …
"In the spring of 1903 the transmission of news messages from
America to the London Times was attempted, and the
first messages were correctly received and published in that
newspaper. A breakdown in the insulation of the apparatus at
Cape Breton made it necessary, however, to suspend the
service, and, unfortunately, further accidents made the
transmission of messages unreliable, especially during the
spring and summer.
{598}
In consequence of this, the author’s company decided not to
attempt the transmission of any more public messages until
such time as a reliable and continuous service could be
maintained and guaranteed under all ordinary conditions. … In
October, 1903, it was found possible to supply the Cunard
steamship Lucania during her entire crossing from New
York to Liverpool with news transmitted direct to that ship
from Poldhu and Cape Breton."
G. Marconi,
Recent Advances in Wireless Telegraphy
(Annual Report Smithsonian Institution, 1905-1906,
pages 137-142).
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Real Problem.
"It is well to remember that the year 1903 is the earliest
date at which radio-telegraphy could be regarded as really
workable, and of material practical utility. Previous to then,
‘wireless ’ working was very uncertain, but in that year tuning
devices were introduced, the principle of which was originally
due to Sir Oliver Lodge; and it is these that have made so much
difference in the application of Hertzian waves for the
purposes of telegraphy. Practical success in radio-telegraphy
should not, in fact, be judged from the point of view of the
distance at which signals can be sent—or received—but rather
from the standpoint of non-interference and secrecy. The
essential element in wireless telegraphy—above all others—is,
indeed, a discriminating or selective method. For the main
purposes of radio-telegraphy, immunity from interference by
syntony is essential. Thus a selective system in time of war
would be invaluable; a non-selective system almost worse than
useless. Syntonic wireless telegraphy entails in the first
place, a similar rate of oscillation, or time—i. e., a similar
wave length—at the sending and receiving ends. Indeed, the
real problem in wireless telegraphy is to arrange the
receiving apparatus so that it is alive to notes of one
definite frequency, or pitch, but deaf to any other notes,
even though of but slightly different pitch. This is effected
by the proper adjustment of inductance and capacity, as first
shown by Sir Oliver Lodge. … It is, however, at present,
impossible to secure really complete secrecy from any method
of open wave radiation. A radio-telegraphist, with the right
apparatus and a knowledge of the tune, could upset any system
of Hertzian wave telegraphy. It should, therefore, be clearly
understood that there are, as yet, definite limits to the
practical results of tuning for securing absolute selectivity
and secrecy."
Charles Bright,
The Useful Sphere for Radio-Telegraphy
(Westminster Review, April, 1908).
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Singular Unexplained Phenomena.
Speaking at Stockholm, Sweden, on the occasion of his
receiving the Nobel Prize, in December, 1909, Mr. Marconi gave
the following account of some unexplained phenomena that are
experienced in the working of radio-telegraphy. He said that
"a result of scientific interest which he first noticed during
the tests on the steamship Philadelphia and which was a
most important factor in long distance radio-telegraphy was
the very marked and detrimental effect of daylight on the
propagation of electric waves at great distances, the range by
night being usually more than double that attainable during
daytime. He did not think that this effect had yet been
satisfactorily investigated or explained. … He was now
inclined to believe that the absorption of electric waves
during the daytime was due to the ionization of the gaseous
molecules of the air effected by ultra-violet light, and as
the ultra-violet rays which emanated from the sun were largely
absorbed in the upper atmosphere of the earth, it was probable
that the portion of the earth’s atmosphere which was facing
the sun would contain more ions or electrons than that portion
which was in darkness, and therefore, as Sir J. J. Thomson had
shown, this illuminated and ionized air would absorb some of
the energy of the electric waves. Apparently the length of
wave and amplitude of the electrical oscillations had much to
do with this interesting phenomenon, long waves and small
amplitudes being subject to the effect of daylight to a much
smaller degree than short waves and large amplitudes. …
"For comparatively short waves, such as were used for ship
communication, clear sunlight and blue skies, though
transparent to light, acted as a kind of fog to these waves. …
It often occurred that a ship failed to communicate with a
near-by station, but could correspond with perfect ease with a
distant one. … Although high power stations were now used for
communicating across the Atlantic, and messages could be sent
by day as well as by night, there still existed short periods
of daily occurrence during which transmission from England to
America, or vice versa, was difficult."
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Transatlantic Service.
"The Transatlantic wireless service was inaugurated in
October, 1907, between Ireland and Canada, the charges being
reduced from 1s. per word for business and private messages
and 5d. per word for Press messages to 5d. and 2½d.
respectively, these charges not including the land line
charges on both sides of the Atlantic. …
"The first wireless messages across the Atlantic were sent
from the Canadian station at Table Head, in Cape Breton, in
1902. This station was afterwards removed to its present site,
five miles inland, and there greatly enlarged. Ever since 1902
Mr. Marconi has been conducting experiments and making new
discoveries and improvements until, at the present day,
wireless telegraphy across the Atlantic, over a distance of
2000 miles, is an assured success. … Press traffic … was
started on October 17, 1907. On February 3, 1908, the service
was extended to private and business telegrams between
Montreal and London. The number of words transmitted during
the past year is in the neighbourhood of 300,000."
Correspondence of the London Times,
June 25, 1909.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Equipments at Sea.
Extent of the Service.
Compulsory Legislation Pending.
"Although an installation was carried on the St. Paul for one
trip in 1899, the credit of being the pioneers in the use of
wireless telegraphy on the ocean belongs to the North-German
Lloyd and Cunard Companies. The first vessel fitted was the
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, and the lead of the Germans was
immediately followed by the English company. Both vessels were
fitted by the Marconi Company, which has the distinction of
being the first company to equip vessels on a commercial
basis. … The Marconi Company alone has up to the present
fitted nearly 200 merchant ships, while the United Wireless
Telegraph Company has fitted nearly 170 ships. …
{599}
"A very large number of vessels engaged in the coasting trade
of America and on the Great Lakes are fitted with wireless
telegraphy; the American list shows that 133 vessels are
equipped, while a statement issued by the United Wireless
Telegraph Company shows 31 other vessels to have been fitted
up to April 2, besides 15 Great Lake steamers either fitted or
in course of equipment. …
"Nearly 500 warships belonging to nine different countries
have been fitted, or are in course of equipment, with
radio-telegraphy. According to the American list the United
States Navy has been foremost among the navies of the world in
the use of ‘wireless.’ On October 1 last 173 United States
warships were fitted with various systems. The Berne lists,
issued up to May 1 last, show Great Britain to have 157
vessels equipped, Germany 80, Netherlands 11, Denmark 9, and
Spain 5.
"In February last the United States House of Representatives
passed a Bill providing that ‘every ocean passenger steamer
certified to carry 50 passengers or more, before being granted
a clearance for a foreign or domestic port 100 miles or more
distant from the port of her departure from the United States,
shall be equipped with an efficient radio-telegraph
installation, and shall have in her employ and on board an
efficient radio-telegrapher.’ … The Bill, it is understood,
will be considered by the Senate in the autumn, and will it is
thought be passed after it has undergone some slight
modification. Following the example of the United States
Congress a Bill has been introduced in the Canadian House of
Commons. … An Italian Royal Decree dated March 14 last
provides that all vessels of whatever nationality clearing
from Italian ports with emigrants shall carry a wireless
installation. So far as this country [Great Britain] is
concerned no legislative action is likely to take place, at
least for the present."
Correspondence of the London Times,
July 2, 1909.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Cry that brought Help to the Steamship "Republic."
On the 23d of January, 1909, the service of the wireless
telegraph to imperilled ships was illustrated by an incident
which thrilled the world. In a dense fog, off the island of
Nantucket, 26 miles distant, the steamship "Republic," of the
White Star Line, was struck amidships by an Italian liner, the
"Florida." Two passengers on the former were killed and two
were seriously injured, while four sailors of the other were
killed. Both steamers were shattered to the sinking point, but
the state of the "Republic" was the worse. Fortunately she was
equipped with the wireless apparatus for telegraphy, and its
operator, "Jack" Binns, was a man equal to the emergency. His
appealing signals, "C. Q. D." ("Come Quick! Danger"), were
flashed out into all surrounding space, and brought many
responses from sea and shore; but then came the difficulty of
finding the sinking ships in the black fog. The first rescuing
vessel to reach their vicinity was the "Baltic" of the "White
Star Line," and she was helped in her groping to them, not
only by the ceaseless exchange of wireless messages, but by
the sounding of the submarine bell of the Nantucket lightship.
The "Baltic" was fitted with receivers for taking guidance
from these bells, as her Captain described afterwards in a
published account of his search. "On my ship," he said, "there
are two apertures on either side of the bow, which you might
call submarine ears. They are connected by wires with a
telephone receiver on the bridge. By listening at this
telephone and switching the instrument from the starboard
‘ear’ to the port ‘ear’ and back again, you can hear the faint
tones of the lightship’s submarine bell when you get in range
of it. If the tone is louder through the starboard ‘ear’ than
through the port ‘ear,’ you know the lightship is on your
starboard side. If the tone is exactly the same through both
‘ears,’ you know the lightship is dead ahead. This apparatus
helped me greatly."
Nevertheless, the "Baltic’s" search for the "Republic" went on
through twelve hours, like that of "a hound on the scent," as
the Captain described it. Meantime, the passengers of the
"Republic" had been transferred to the "Florida," which seemed
well afloat, and the "Baltic" now took everybody from both,
the total exceeding 1500. The "Republic" was then towed toward
Martha’s Vineyard, but sank a few miles from land, her Captain
remaining until the last minute on board. The conduct of all
connected with the peril and the rescue was fine, and none
more so than that of the sleepless and tireless operator of
the wireless telegraph.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Marconi Coast Stations in Great Britain taken over by
the British Government.
The following announcement was made by the British Postmaster
General in the House of Commons on the 30th of September,
1909:
"I am glad to say that arrangements have been completed with
the Marconi Company for the transfer to the Post Office of all
their coast stations for communication with ships, including
all plant, machinery, buildings, land, and leases, &c., and
for the surrender of the rights which they enjoy under their
agreement with the Post Office of August, 1904, for licences
or facilities in respect of coast stations intended for such
communication.
"In addition, the Post Office secures the right of using, free
of royalty, the existing Marconi patents and any future
patents or improvements, for a term of 14 years, for the
following purposes:—Communication for all purposes between
stations in the United Kingdom and ships, and between stations
on the mainland of Great Britain and Ireland on the one hand
and outlying islands on the other hand, or between any two
outlying islands; and (except for the transmission of public
telegrams) between any two stations on the mainland; and on
board Post Office cable ships. The inclusive consideration to
be paid to the company is £15,000.
"The arrangement is in no sense an exclusive one. All the
stations will, under the International Radio-Telegraphic
Convention, be open for communication equally to all ships,
whatever system of wireless telegraphy they may carry; and the
Post Office will be free to use or to experiment with any
system of wireless telegraphy at its discretion. All inland
communication of messages by wireless telegraphy will be
entirely under the control of the Post Office. The company
will retain the licence for their long-distance stations at
Poldhu and Clifden, which are primarily intended for
shore-to-shore communication with America. Arrangements have
also been made with Lloyd’s for the transfer to the Post
Office of their wireless stations for communication with
ships, and for the surrender of all claims to licences for
such communication."
{600}
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Notes of Recent Progress.
A despatch from Seattle, March 5, 1909, reported that "the
steamship Aki Maru of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha fleet
accomplished her recent passage from Yokohama, Japan, to Puget
Sound, a distance of 4,240 miles, without losing communication
with wireless stations on either the Japanese or American
coasts. The accomplishment was made possible by relaying
messages through other vessels of the company, which were
picked up between the Aki Maru and the coast. The Aki Maru was
able to communicate directly with the Japanese coast stations,
when she was 1,400 miles away."
According to Paris correspondence of the London Daily
Telegraph, quoted in the New York Evening Post of
August 21, "wireless messages from New York are now received
or intercepted almost daily by the military station on the
Eiffel Tower. Occasionally radio telegrams have also been
received from Canada, which, it is believed, forms a record in
wireless telegraphy. The communications are at present only of
a desultory nature, but the officer, Commandant Ferie, who is
in charge of the station, hopes to be able soon to organize a
regular service for government, and, perhaps, also for
commercial, purposes. The new apparatus which is now being set
up in the underground office on the Champ de Mars will be more
powerful than any preceding ones, and will be ready probably
by the end of next month. Wireless messages will then be
exchanged regularly between Paris and the eastern coast of the
United States, and perhaps also with Canada."
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Electro-Chemistry: The Study of the Infinitely Little.
"A new branch of physical chemistry has lately been developed
from the study of the infinitely little which promises to be
the most important science of the future; for it deals most
intimately with the problems of life. This subject is called
electro-chemistry. It is based upon the effect of electricity
in revealing the important reactions and motions of the
smallest particles of matter. The literature of this subject
in current periodicals already exceeds that of any other
department of physical science. Until a comparatively late
day, heat and light were considered the principal agents which
chemists employed to study the reactions of matter. In the new
subject of electro-chemistry, electricity occupies the first
place, as a destroyer and a readjuster; and heat and light are
merely subordinate parts of its manifestations, differing from
it only in length of waves in the ether. The to-and-fro
motion, which is our incontestable fact, is an electrical
vibration. When we consider the investigations in
electro-chemistry, we perceive that the most important actions
of electricity are not those we are conscious of in their
great practical applications; it is rather in subtle and
silent effects that it works its greatest changes on life and
matter."
John Trowbridge,
The Study of the Infinitely Small
(Atlantic Monthly, May, 1902).
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Entomological Study: What we Owe to it?
Practical Affairs.
"The insect friends and enemies of the farmer are getting
attention. The enemy of the San José scale was found near the
Great Wall of China, and is now cleaning up all our orchards.
The fig-fertilizing insect imported from Turkey has helped to
establish an industry in California that amounts to from fifty
to one hundred tons of dried figs annually, and is extending
over the Pacific coast. A parasitic fly from South Africa is
keeping in subjection the black scale, the worst pest of the
orange and lemon industry in California."
Message of President Roosevelt to Congress, 1904.
"The business man, always on the outlook for a dividend, has
sometimes complained that some of our inquiries do not seem to
him practical, but he must have patience and faith. A few
years ago no knowledge could seem so useless to the practical
man, no research more futile than that which sought to
distinguish between one species of a gnat or tick and another;
yet to-day we know that this knowledge has rendered it
possible to open up Africa and to cut the Panama canal."
A. E. Shipley,
on Research in Zoology, at Meeting of
British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1909.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Esperanto.
Dr. Zamenhof, a Russian physician, inventor of the proposed
international language called Esperanto, published his first
pamphlet on the subject in 1887; but it was not until ten
years later that the prospect of its extensive use as such
began to be realized. "It was well received, first in Russia,
then in Norway and Sweden. Then it was taken up in France, by
M. de Beaufront. The latter had himself invented an artificial
language, but gave it up as soon as he became acquainted with
the admirable work of his Russian competitor. He is the man
who forced the world at large to stop and seriously consider
Esperanto as the solution of the great problem proposed by men
like Roger Bacon, Descartes, Pascal, Leibnitz, Locke,
Condillac, Voltaire, Diderot, and so many others. From France
it went to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and finally
to England, where thirty societies of Esperantists were
created within a little over a year. …
"The general principle upon which Dr. Zamenhof has worked is
this: to eliminate all that is accidental in our national
languages, and to keep what is common to all. In consequence,
and strictly speaking, he invents nothing; he builds entirely
with material that has been in existence for a long time.
Here, then, is the way in which he proceeds regarding the
various elements that are necessary to the formation of a
language.
"The Sounds.
Sounds that are peculiar to one language are eliminated. The
English th and w are not found in French or
German, therefore they are dropped. On the other hand, the
French u, the German ü, and the French nasals do
not exist in English; they too are dropped. The Spanish
ñ and j, and the German ch, have the same
fate. Thus, only sounds which are found everywhere are kept,
and no one will have any difficulty about pronunciation, no
matter to what country he belongs. Spelling is of course
phonetic: one and the same sound for one letter. There are no
mute letters, as in French; neither are there double letters.
…
{601}
"The Accent is always on the penultimate syllable.
Esperanto reminds one of Italian, when spoken, and has proved
extremely melodious for singing.
"The Vocabulary. The principle of internationalism is
applied here in a most ingenious fashion. Dr. Zamenhof
proceeded thus: he compared the dictionaries of the different
languages, and picked out first those words which are common
to them all. He spelled them according to the phonetic system,
dropped the special endings in each idiom, and adopted them as
root-words in his proposed language. … Then he picked out
those which appear in most languages, although not in all. …
For the remaining words,—and there are comparatively few
left,—which are never the same in the different languages, Dr.
Zamenhof selected them in such a manner as to make the task of
acquiring Esperanto equally difficult or equally easy for all
concerned."
A. Schinz,
Esperanto: the Proposed Universal Language
(Atlantic Monthly, January, 1906).
The sixth international Congress of teachers and promoters of
Esperanto is appointed to be held at Washington in 1910. An
influential Esperanto Association has been organized in the
United States, under the presidency of Dr. D. O. S. Lowell, of
the Boston Latin School.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Eugenics: The Science and Art of being Well-born.
"We know that the old rule, ‘Increase and multiply,’ meant a
vast amount of infant mortality, of starvation, of chronic
disease, of widespread misery. In abandoning that rule, as we
have been forced to do, are we not now left free to seek that
our children, though few, should be at all events fit, the
finest, alike in physical and psychical constitution, that the
world has seen?
"Thus has come about the recent expansion of that conception
of eugenics—or the science and art of being well-born,
and of breeding the human race a step nearer towards
perfection—which a few among us, and more especially Mr.
Francis Galton, have been developing for some years past.
Eugenics is beginning to be felt to possess a living actuality
which it was not felt to possess before. Instead of being a
benevolent scientific fad, it begins to present itself as the
goal to which we are inevitably moving. … Human eugenics need
not be, and is not likely to be, a cold-blooded selection of
partners by some outside scientific authority. But it may be,
and is very likely to be, a slowly growing conviction—first
among the more intelligent members of the community, and then
by imitation and fashion among the less intelligent
members—that our children, the future race, the torch-bearers
of civilisation for succeeding ages, are not the mere result
of chance or Providence, but that, in a very real sense, it is
within our grasp to mould them, that the salvation or
damnation of many future generations lies in our hands, since
it depends on our wise and sane choice of a mate. …
"Eventually, it seems evident, a general system, whether
private or public, whereby all personal facts, biological and
mental, normal and morbid, are duly and systematically
registered, must become inevitable if we are to have a real
guide as to those persons who are most fit or least fit to
carry on the race. Unless they are full and frank, such
records are useless. But it is obvious that for a long time to
come such a system of registration must be private. … Through
the munificence of Mr. Galton and the co-operation of the
University of London the beginning of the attainment of these
eugenic ideals has at length been rendered possible. The
senate of the University has this year appointed Mr. Edgar
Schuster, of New College, Oxford, to the Francis Galton
Research Scholarship in Natural Eugenics. It will be Mr.
Schuster’s duty to carry out investigations into the history
of classes and of families, and to deliver lectures and
publish memoirs on the subject of his investigations. It is a
beginning only, but the end no man can foresee."
Havelock Ellis,
Eugenics and St. Valentine
(Nineteenth Century, May, 1906).
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Gasoline Engine.
Writing in 1905, in an article entitled "The Age of Gasoline,"
contributed to the American Review of Reviews, Mr. F.
K. Grain, M. E., gave this brief account of the rapid
development of its use as a producer of power, threatening to
supersede coal: "About fifteen years ago we first began to
hear much of the gasoline engine, which was then in a very
crude state. Its possibilities, however, were so attractive,
and the field for its use so large,—practically
unlimited,—that inventors and manufacturers at once bent their
energies to its development, with the result that the gasoline
engine has reached a degree of perfection in the past few years
that is surprising in view of the fact that the designers were
working out a new problem in a practically unknown field, and
consequently had no data, theoretical or practical, of any value
to assist. … As a motive power, utilized by means of the
internal-combustion engine, gasoline is at this time
revolutionizing travel, through the automobile. The
automobile, in turn, has been the means of adapting gasoline
to propulsion of railway trains, as this form of power is
found especially useful on short lines where the traffic is
light. Several railroads are now building gasoline motor cars
of considerable size. …
"The gasoline engine as now made is an adaptation of the steam
engine, employing the gas produced by gasoline as a means of
energy. Contrary to the general understanding, the gas or
gasoline engine is but a high-pressure caloric motor. The
power in the gasoline motor is derived by igniting the gas
produced in the cylinder, which in turn by its heat expands,
the atmosphere imparting energy to the piston by its
expansion. A common error is the supposition that the
explosion of the gas produces the power, the same as a blow
from a hammer, whereas it is the heat generated by the
ignition of the compressed gases acting expansively."
One of the speakers at a Congress of Applied Chemistry held in
London in May, 1909, said that it seemed almost certain that
for most purposes on land the internal combustion engine would
before long replace the steam engine, at any rate for moderate
powers; for whereas the best types of the latter furnish only
about 12 per cent, of the energy of the fuel in the form of
work, the former can ordinarily be made to yield 25 per cent.,
and in the case of the Diesel engine the return is as much as
37 per cent.
{602}
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: Interferometer, The:
Principle of the Invention of Professor Michelson for
Infinitesimal Measurements.
Suggestion of an Unvarying Unit of Measurement.
"In the measurement of length or motion a most refined
instrument is the interferometer, devised by Professor A. A.
Michelson, of the University of Chicago. It enables an
observer to detect a movement through one five-millionth of an
inch. The principle involved is illustrated in a simple
experiment. If by dropping a pebble at each of two centres,
say a yard apart, in a still pond, we send out two systems of
waves, each system will ripple out in a series of concentric
circles. If, when the waves meet, the crests from one set of
waves coincide with the depressions from the other set, the
water in that particular spot becomes smooth because one set
of waves destroys the other. In this case we may say that the
waves interfere. If, on the other hand, the crests of waves
from two sources should coincide, they would rise to twice
their original height. Light-waves sent out in a similar mode
from two points may in like manner either interfere, and
produce darkness, or unite to produce light of double
brilliancy. These alternate dark and bright bands are called
interference fringes. When one of the two sources of light is
moved through a very small space, the interference fringes at
a distance move through a space so much larger as to be easily
observed and measured, enabling an observer to compute the
short path through which a light-source has moved. … Many
diverse applications of the interferometer have been
developed, as, for example, in thermometry. The warmth of a
hand held near a pencil of light is enough to cause a wavering
of the fringes. A lighted match shows contortions. … When the
air is heated its density and refractive power diminish: it
follows that if this experiment is tried under conditions
which show a regular and measurable displacement of the
fringes, their movement will indicate the temperature of the
air. This method has been applied to ascertain very high
temperatures, such as those of the blast furnace. Most metals
expand one or two parts in 100,000 for a rise in temperature
of one degree centigrade. When a small specimen is examined
the whole change to be measured may be only about 1/10000
inch, a space requiring a good microscope to perceive, but
readily measured by an interferometer. It means a displacement
amounting to several fringes, and this may be measured to
within of a fringe or less; so that the whole displacement may
be measured to within a fraction of one per cent. Of course,
with long bars the accuracy attainable is much greater.
"The interferometer has much refined the indications of the
balance. In a noteworthy experiment Professor Michelson found
the amount of attraction which a sphere of lead exerted on a
small sphere hung on an arm of a delicate balance. The amount
of this attraction when two such spheres touch is proportional
to the diameter of the large sphere, which in this case was
about eight inches. The attraction on the small ball on the
end of the balance was thus the same fraction of its weight as
the diameter of the large ball was of the diameter of the
earth,—something like one twenty-millionth. So the force to be
measured was one twenty-millionth of the weight of this small
ball. In the interferometer the approach of the small ball to
the large one produced a displacement of seven whole fringes."
George Iles,
Inventors at Work,
pages 214-218 (Doubleday, Page & Co., New York).
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
International Congresses of Science.
The most notable of the gatherings at St. Louis in 1904,
connected with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, was the
Congress of Arts and Science.
See (in this Volume)
ST. LOUIS: A. D. 1904.
Hardly less important from some points of view was the meeting
of the First Pan-American Scientific Congress, at Santiago,
Chile, beginning on the 25th of December, 1908. It had been
preceded by three scientific congresses of the Latin-American
states, at Buenos Aires in 1898, at Montevideo in 1901, and at
Rio de Janeiro in 1905. The Pan-American comprehensiveness was
given to a fourth one by an official invitation from the
Chilean Government to the Government of the United States to
send delegates to the meeting, and a further invitation from
the Chilean Committee of Organization to fifteen of the
prominent universities of the United States to do the same.
The response to the invitation was cordial, and both of the
American continents were well represented at the Congress. The
programme of topics for discussion included a number of
historically and politically scientific questions of specially
American interest, such, for example, as the following:
"An explanation of the reasons why the colonies of English
America were able to unite into a single state after they had
attained their independence, while those of Spanish America
never succeeded in establishing a permanent union.
"The extent to which America has come to possess a
civilization, as well as interests and problems, different
from those of Europe.
"Given the special circumstances of the states of the New
World, would it be feasible to create an American
international law? and if so, upon what bases should it rest,
and how should it be composed?"
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: The Moving Picture Show.
The Millions entertained by it in the United States.
In 1908, in the United States, "the moving-picture show drew
an attendance of 4,000,000 daily, a total attendance of more
than a billion; or an average of one visit a month to this
form of amusement for every man, woman, and child in the whole
country. Already this infant industry has developed to a point
where $50,000,000 is invested in it, and 7,000 moving-picture
houses are scattered over the country. Of the larger cities,
Chicago has at present 313 moving-picture shows, and probably
will have 500 before the end of the present year. New York has
300, St. Louis 205, Philadelphia 186, San Francisco 131,
Pittsburgh 90, and Boston 31. Hundreds of smaller cities and
towns have from one to a dozen, and the craze has extended to
Mexico, Central and South America, and the Panama Canal Zone.
Nearly 1,000,000 feet, or 190 miles, of films are shown every
day in the United States. … Making of these films is in itself
an enormous business. The organization which controls them not
only has agents photographing scenes in every part of the
world, but maintains theatres and out-of-door establishments,
where complete plays and all sorts of other activities are
presented before the camera."
New York Evening Post.
{603}
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: Opsonins:
A remarkable new Discovery in Biology.
Discovery of the functions of the white corpuscles found in
the blood of animals was begun, it is said, by Dr. Augustus
Waller, in 1843, and continued in much later years by
Professor Metchnikoff, who was associated with the work of
Pasteur. The latter determined the surprising and extremely
important fact that the white corpuscles or cells are
essentially minute living creatures, which serve the larger

creature they inhabit as a sanitary guard, defending it
against the invasion of microbes that are hostile to its
health. They pursue and devour these malignant invaders;
whence the name that has been given to them, of "phagocytes,"
or "eating cells."
"When we study the process familiarly known as ‘inflammation,’
we find the most perfect illustration at once of the duties of
the white blood-cells and of the new phase and meaning of a
common occurrence which are revealed by research.
‘Inflammation’ is a process which follows upon a large variety
of injuries, and which marks the onset and course of many
diseases, from a scratch on the finger to an inflammation of
the lungs. … Given a simple scratch and the phagocytes
stimulated by the injury to the tissues will come hurrying to
the scene of the accident like ambulance men, eager to assist
in the removal of any deleterious matter, and to give their
aid in the healing process and in the formation of the new
tissue, the production of which will complete the cure. But
given a scratch that inoculates the finger with ‘dirt,’ which
is only another name for microbes, and the nature of
inflammation becomes clearer to us. In a few hours the finger
will begin to feel painful; its temperature will rise; it will
appear red and ‘inflamed,’ and it will exhibit swelling. Later
on, if we puncture the swelling, we shall find a yellow fluid,
which we name ‘pus,’ or ‘matter,’ escaping from the puncture.
Now to what are the symptoms of inflammation due? The plain
answer is, that they represent the results of a great
migration of phagocytes from the blood-vessels, destined to
attack, and if possible remove, the infective particles which
threaten to do us injury. The inflammation, in this view, is
the evidence of a battle being fought in our favour, and often
with very long odds against us. If our phagocytes gain a
complete victory, we escape the suppuration which we saw to
result in the shape of the ‘festering’ finger. If, on the
other hand, they sustain defeat, they will fight on, leaving
their dead behind. It is the dead white blood-cells, which
have fallen in the fray, which constitute the ‘pus’ or
‘matter’ we find in wounds. … These dead cells, like the
corpses of soldiers who fall in battle, later become hurtful
to the organism they in their lifetime were anxious to protect
from harm, for they are fertile sources of septicaemia and
pyaemia (blood-poisoning)—the pestilence and scourge so much
dreaded by operative surgeons.
"Such is the story which forms the natural prologue to the
history of ‘Opsonins.’ For many a day after the publication of
Metchnikoff’s discoveries regarding the germ-killing power of
the phagocytes, it was held that these living cells alone
accomplished the duty of disposing of troublesome invaders.
Later on, other opinions were advanced to the effect that
while the phagocytes did undoubtedly accomplish their work in
the direction indicated, they demanded aid to that end from an
outside source. This source was indicated and represented by
the plasma or blood-fluid itself. The fluid part of the blood
had long been known to possess germ-killing properties, but
the extent of its powers in this direction had not been duly
determined, nor had the important point been settled whether
the plasma as a whole or only part thereof aided the white
blood-cells in their forays on microbes. … Researches made
prior to the year 1903 gave cause for the belief in the
importance of the blood-plasma in whole or in part, but it was
in the year just named that very important investigations were
undertaken with the view to determining the exact status of
the blood-fluid in work of bactericidal kind. Drs. Wright and
Douglas of St. Mary’s Hospital, London, undertook a piece of
research conducted on lines somewhat different from those on
which previous work of this nature had been carried on. They
proceeded first of all by the aid of delicate processes to
separate the blood-corpuscles from the blood-fluid. The white
blood-cells were thus kept in a medium or fluid of neutral
kind, while the blood-fluid itself on the other hand was
obtained free from its corpuscles. Next in order an emulsion
of certain microbes capable of producing disease was made in a
solution of salt. When the phagocytes, alive, of course, in
their neutral fluid, were allowed access to the germs they did
not attack them. It was as if two contending armies had been
brought face to face, waiting to attack, but restrained by
some negotiations proceeding between the commanders. The case
was at once altered, and the battle began, when the
experimenters brought the separated blood-fluid into the
field. Added to the germs and to the phagocytes these
elements, which had been ‘spoiling for a fight,’ joined issue,
and the white blood-cells performed their normal work of
microbe-baiting. There was but one inference to be drawn from
these facts. Clearly, the addition of the blood-fluid supplied
some condition or other, necessary for the development of the
fighting powers of the cells. … Our investigators are of the
opinion that the real source of the power possessed by the
blood-fluid or ‘plasma’ is to be sought and found in
substances contained therein and called ‘Opsonins.’ We can now
appreciate the meaning of this term. It is derived from the
classic verb for catering, for preparing food or for providing
food. The view taken of opsonic action justifies the use of
the word, for it is believed that these substances perform
their share of the germ-destroying work, not by urging on or
stimulating the phagocytes to the attack, but, on the
contrary, by acting on the microbes, by weakening their powers
of resistance and by rendering them the easy prey of the white
blood-cells. The ‘Opsonins’ are carried by the blood-stream
everywhere, and it is when they come in contact with any
microbe-colonies in the body that they exert their specific
action on the germs. … The idea that the more active our white
blood-cells are, and the more extensive and complete their
work, the greater the amount of ‘Opsonins’ present, is one
which seems to be founded on a rational basis. This view
regards these substances as the real cause of phagocytic
activity. That ‘Opsonins’ furthermore appear to possess
definite degrees of power seems proved by the observation that
a person’s blood may contain sufficient to deal with one
disease in the way of stimulating the phagocytes to work,
while the same quantity would not equal half that required to
effect a satisfactory attack on another and different disease.
What has been called the ‘opsonic index ’ of a person is the
standard, if so we may call it, or measure of his germ-killing
power, in so far as the amount of ‘Opsonins’ contained in his
blood is concerned. By a technical procedure and calculation
the experimenter can compute the opsonic power of a given
specimen of blood."
Andrew Wilson,
About Opsonins
(Cornhill, January, 1907).
{604}
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: Medical.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: Physical:
The New Conceptions of Electricity, Matter and Ether.
Statement by Madame Curie.
Sir Joseph Thomson’s Address to the British Association
at Winnipeg.
Sir Oliver Lodge on the Ether of Space.
"One point which appears to-day to be definitely settled is a
view of atomic structure of electricity, which goes to confirm
and complete the idea that we have long held regarding the
atomic structure of matter, which constitutes the basis of
chemical theories. At the same time that the existence of
electric atoms, indivisible by our present means of research,
appears to be established with certainty, the important
properties of these atoms are also shown. The atoms of
negative electricity which we call electrons, are found to
exist in a free state, independent of all material atoms, and
not having any properties in common with them. In this state
they possess certain dimensions in space, and are endowed with
a certain inertia, which has suggested the idea of attributing
to them a corresponding mass.
"Experiments have shown that their dimensions are very small
compared with those of material molecules, and that their mass
is only a small fraction, not exceeding one one-thousandth of
the mass of an atom of hydrogen. They show also that if these
atoms can exist isolated, they may also exist in all ordinary
matter, and may be in certain cases emitted by a substance
such as a metal without its properties being changed in a
manner appreciable by us.
"If, then, we consider the electrons as a form of matter, we
are led to put the division of them beyond atoms and to admit
the existence of a kind of extremely small particles able to
enter into the composition of atoms, but not necessarily by
their departure involving atomatic destruction. Looking at it
in this light, we are led to consider every atom as a
complicated structure, and this supposition is rendered
probable by the complexity of the emission spectra which
characterize the different atoms. We have thus a conception
sufficiently exact of the atoms of negative electricity.
"It is not the same for positive electricity, for a great
dissimilarity appears to exist between the two electricities.
Positive electricity appears always to be found in connection
with material atoms, and we have no reason, thus far, to
believe that they can be separated. Our knowledge relative to
matter is also increased by an important fact. A new property
of matter has been discovered which has received the name of
radioactivity. Radioactivity is the property which the atoms
of certain substances possess of shooting off particles, some
of which have a mass comparable to that of the atoms
themselves, while the others are the electrons. This property,
which uranium and thorium possess in a slight degree, has led
to the discovery of a new chemical element, radium, whose
radioactivity is very great. Among the particles expelled by
radium are some which are ejected with great velocity, and
their expulsion is accompanied with a considerable evolution
of heat. A radioactive body constitutes, then, a source of
energy.
"According to the theory which best accounts for the phenomena
of radioactivity, a certain proportion of the atoms of a
radioactive body is transformed in a given time, with the
production of atoms of less atomic weight, and in some cases
with the expulsion of electrons. This is a theory of the
transmutation of elements, but differs from the dreams of the
alchemists in that we declare ourselves, for the present at
least, unable to induce or influence the transmutation.
Certain facts go to show that radioactivity appertains in a
slight degree to all kinds of matter. It may be, therefore,
that matter is far from being as unchangeable or inert as it
was formerly thought; and is, on the contrary, in continual
transformation, although this transformation escapes our
notice by its relative slowness."
Madame Curie,
Modern Theories of Electricity and Matter
(Annual Report, Smithsonian Institution, 1905-1906,
pages 103-104).
A remarkable summary of recent advances in physical science,
by Sir Joseph Thomson, in his presidential address at the
opening (August 25, 1909) of the seventy-ninth annual meeting
of the British Association for the Advancement of Science,
held at Winnipeg, Canada, contains what is, without doubt, the
most successful of endeavors to give some understanding of the
new conceptions of matter, ether and electricity, with which
scientists are now working, to minds that have not been
scientifically trained. Sir Joseph treats the subject at more
length than can be given to it here, but abridgment seems
possible without robbing it of the more important parts of its
rich content of information:
"The period which has elapsed since the Association last met
in Canada [1897] has been," said the President, "one of almost
unparalleled activity in many branches of physics, and many
new and unsuspected properties of matter and electricity have
been discovered. The history of this period affords a
remarkable illustration of the effect which may be produced by
a single discovery; for it is, I think, to the discovery of
the Röntgen rays that we owe the rapidity of the progress
which has recently been made in physics. A striking discovery
like that of the Röntgen rays acts much like the discovery of
gold in a sparsely populated country; it attracts workers who
come in the first place for the gold, but who may find that
the country has other products, other charms, perhaps even
more valuable than the gold itself. The country in which the
gold was discovered in the case of the Röntgen rays was the
department of physics dealing with the discharge of
electricity through gases, a subject which, almost from the
beginning of electrical science, had attracted a few
enthusiastic workers, who felt convinced that the key to
unlock the secret of electricity was to be found in a vacuum
tube.
{605}
Röntgen, in 1895, showed that when electricity passed through
such a tube the tube emitted rays which could pass through
bodies opaque to ordinary light; which could, for example,
pass through the flesh of the body and throw a shadow of the
bones on a suitable screen. … It is not, however, to the power
of probing dark places, important though this is, that the
influence of Röntgen rays on the progress of science has
mainly been due; it is rather because these rays make gases,
and, indeed, solids and liquids, through which they pass,
conductors of electricity. … The study of gases exposed to
Röntgen rays has revealed in such gases the presence of
particles charged with electricity; some of these particles
are charged with positive, others with negative, electricity.
The properties of these particles have been investigated; we
know the charge they carry, the speed with which they move
under an electric force, the rate at which the oppositely
charged ones recombine, and these investigations have thrown a
new light, not only on electricity, but also on the structure
of matter. We know from these investigations that electricity,
like matter, is molecular in structure, that just as a
quantity of hydrogen is a collection of an immense number of
small particles called molecules, so a charge of electricity
is made up of a great number of small charges, each of a
perfectly definite and known amount. … Nay, further, the
molecular theory of matter is indebted to the molecular theory
of electricity for the most accurate determination of its
fundamental quantity, the number of molecules in any given
quantity of an elementary substance.
"The great advantage of the electrical methods for the study
of the properties of matter is due to the fact that whenever a
particle is electrified it is very easily identified, whereas
an uncharged molecule is most elusive; and it is only when
these are present in immense numbers that we are able to
detect them. …
"We have already made considerable progress in the task of
discovering what the structure of electricity is. We have
known for some time that of one kind of electricity—the
negative—and a very interesting one it is. We know that
negative electricity is made up of units all of which are of
the same kind; that these units are exceedingly small compared
with even the smallest atom. … The size of these corpuscles is
on an altogether different scale from that of atoms; the
Volume of a corpuscle bears to that of the atom about the same
relation as that of a speck of dust to the Volume of this
room. Under suitable conditions they move at enormous speeds,
which approach in some instances the velocity of light. The
discovery of these corpuscles is an interesting example of the
way Nature responds to the demands made upon her by
mathematicians. Some years before the discovery of corpuscles
it had been shown by a mathematical investigation that the
mass of a body must be increased by a charge of electricity.
This increase, however, is greater for small bodies than for
large ones, and even bodies as small as atoms are hopelessly
too large to show any appreciable effect; thus the result
seemed entirely academic. After a time corpuscles were
discovered, and these are so much smaller than the atom that
the increase in mass due to the charge becomes not merely
appreciable, but so great that, as the experiments of Kaufmann
and Bucherer have shown, the whole of the mass of the
corpuscle arises from its charge.
"We know a great deal about negative electricity; what do we
know about positive electricity? Is positive electricity
molecular in structure? Is it made up into units, each unit
carrying a charge equal in magnitude though opposite in sign
to that carried by a corpuscle? … The investigations made on
the unit of positive electricity show that it is of quite a
different kind from the unit of negative; the mass of the
negative unit is exceedingly small compared with any atom; the
only positive units that up to the present have been detected
are quite comparable in mass with the mass of an atom of
hydrogen; in fact they seem equal to it. This makes it more
difficult to be certain that the unit of positive electricity
has been isolated, for we have to be on our guard against its
being a much smaller body attached to the hydrogen atoms which
happen to be present in the vessel. … At present the smallest
positive electrified particles of which we have direct
experimental evidence have masses comparable with that of an
atom of hydrogen.
"A knowledge of the mass and size of the two units of
electricity, the positive and the negative, would give us the
material for constructing what may be called a molecular
theory of electricity, and would be a starting point for a
theory of the structure of matter; for the most natural view
to take, as a provisional hypothesis, is that matter is just a
collection of positive and negative units of electricity, and
that the forces which hold atoms and molecules together, the
properties which differentiate one kind of matter from
another, all have their origin in the electrical forces
exerted by positive and negative units of electricity, grouped
together in different ways in the atoms of the different
elements. As it would seem that the units of positive and
negative electricity are of very different sizes, we must
regard matter as a mixture containing systems of very
different types, one type corresponding to the small
corpuscle, the other to the large positive unit. Since the
energy associated with a given charge is greater the smaller
the body on which the charge is concentrated, the energy
stored up in the negative corpuscles will be far greater than
that stored up by the positive. The amount of energy which is
stored up in ordinary matter in the form of the electrostatic
potential energy of its corpuscles is, I think, not generally
realized. … This energy is fortunately kept fast bound by the
corpuscles; if at any time an appreciable fraction were to get
free the earth would explode and become a gaseous nebula. The
matter of which I have been speaking so far is the material
which builds up the earth, the sun, and the stars, the matter
studied by the chemist, and which he can represent by a
formula; this matter occupies, however, but an insignificant
fraction of the universe; it forms but minute islands in the
great ocean of the ether, the substance with which the whole
universe is filled.
{606}
"The ether is not a fantastic creation of the speculative
philosopher; it is as essential to us as the air we breathe.
For we must remember that we on this earth are not living on
our own resources; we are dependent from minute to minute upon
what we are getting from the sun, and the gifts of the sun are
conveyed to us by the ether. It is to the sun that we owe not
merely night and day, springtime and harvest, but it is the
energy of the sun, stored up in coal, in waterfalls, in food,
that practically does all the work of the world. … On the
electro-magnetic theory of light, now universally accepted,
the energy streaming to the earth travels through the ether in
electric waves; thus practically the whole of the energy at
our disposal has at one time or another been electrical
energy. The ether must, then, be the seat of electrical and
magnetic forces. We know, thanks to the genius of Clerk
Maxwell, the founder and inspirer of modern electrical theory,
the equations which express the relation between these forces,
and although for some purposes these are all we require, yet
they do not tell us very much about the nature of the ether.
"Let us consider some of the facts known about the ether. When
light falls on a body and is absorbed by it, the body is
pushed forward in the direction in which the light is
travelling, and if the body is free to move it is set in
motion by the light. Now it is a fundamental principle of
dynamics that when a body is set moving in a certain
direction, or, to use the language of dynamics, acquires
momentum in that direction, some other mass must lose the same
amount of momentum; in other words, the amount of momentum in
the universe is constant. Thus, when the body is pushed
forward by the light, some other system must have lost the
momentum the body acquires, and the only other system
available is the wave of light falling on the body; hence we
conclude that there must have been momentum in the wave in the
direction in which it is travelling. Momentum, however,
implies mass in motion. We conclude, then, that in the ether
through which the wave is moving there is mass moving with the
velocity of light. The experiments made on the pressure due to
light enable us to calculate this mass. …
"The place where the density of the ether carried along by an
electric field rises to its highest value is close to a
corpuscle, for round the corpuscles are by far the strongest
electric fields of which we have any knowledge. We know the
mass of the corpuscle, we know from Kaufmann’s experiments
that this arises entirely from the electric charge, and is
therefore due to the ether carried along with the corpuscle by
the lines of force attached to it. … Around the corpuscle
ether must have an extravagant density; whether the density is
as great as this in other places depends upon whether the
ether is compressible or not. If it is compressible, then it
may be condensed round the corpuscles, and there have an
abnormally great density; if it is not compressible, then the
density in free space cannot be less than the number I have
just mentioned. With respect to this point we must remember
that the forces acting on the ether close to the corpuscle are
prodigious. … I do not know at present of any effect which
would enable us to determine whether ether is compressible or
not. And although at first sight the idea that we are immersed
in a medium almost infinitely denser than lead might seem
inconceivable, it is not so if we remember that in all
probability matter is composed mainly of holes. We may, in
fact, regard matter as possessing a bird-cage kind of
structure in which the Volume of the ether disturbed by the
wires when the structure is moved is infinitesimal in
comparison with the Volume enclosed by them. If we do this, no
difficulty arises from the great density of the ether; all we
have to do is to increase the distance between the wires in
proportion as we increase the density of the ether."
Some English journals, in discussing Sir Joseph Thomson’s
address at Winnipeg, spoke doubtingly of its scientific
soundness, regarding it as too speculative, representing
conclusions in advance of what physical science had obtained a
real warrant to draw. These newspaper critics were called
sharply to account by Sir Oliver Lodge, and told that they
were suspicious of Sir Joseph’s statements only because they
knew nothing of the data on which he founded them.
In a magazine article of the previous year, Sir Oliver Lodge
had already traversed part of the ground covered by the
impressive review of Sir Joseph Thomson. In that article he
said of the present conception of the ether of space, as
accepted among the leaders of physical science:
"When a steel spring is bent or distorted, what is it that is
really strained? Not the atoms—the atoms are only displaced;
it is the connecting links that are strained—the connecting
medium—the ether. Distortion of a spring is really distortion
of the ether. All strain exists in the ether. Matter can only
be moved. Contact does not exist between the atoms of matter
as we know them; it is doubtful if a piece of matter ever
touches another piece, any more than a comet touches the sun
when it appears to rebound from it; but the atoms are
connected, as the planets, the comets and the sun are
connected, by a continuous plenum without break or
discontinuity of any kind. Matter acts on matter solely
through the ether. But whether matter is a thing utterly
distinct and separate from the ether, or whether it is a
specifically modified portion of it—modified in such a way as
to be susceptible of locomotion, and yet continuous with all
the rest of the ether,—which can be said to extend everywhere,
far beyond the bounds of the modified and tangible portion
called matter—are questions demanding, and I may say in
process of receiving, answers.
"Every such answer involves some view of the universal, and
possibly infinite, uniform, omnipresent connecting medium, the
ether of space."
Oliver Lodge,
The Ether of Space
(North American Review, May, 1908).
[Transcriber's Note: The Michelson-Morley experiment 21
years earlier had cast doubt on the ether concept.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70888]
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: Radium and Radio-activity:
The Discovery by Professor and Madame Curie.
The Light it throws on many Scientific Problems.
Faraday’s Prophetic Anticipation.
The Dissolution of Atoms.
"In his first treatise on the X-rays, Röntgen [see in Volume
VI.] drew attention to the fact that they proceeded from those
parts of the Röntgen tubes where the glass, under the
influence of the impinging cathode rays, showed the most
fluorescence. It therefore seemed possible that the existence
of these mysterious rays was in some way dependent on
previously acquired fluorescence, and many physicists tried to
ascertain with the well-known Balmain dyes, which become
luminous after exposure to the light, if results could be
obtained resembling those with a Röntgen tube.
{607}
"Similar attempts by the French physicist, Henri Becquerel,
were crowned with success in an unexpected direction. He
exposed a uranium salt to the light, and then placing it in a
dark room on a photographic plate covered with opaque paper he
demonstrated the action of these rays on the plate through the
paper, thin sheets of metal, etc. But the supposed and
sought-for relation of the rays to the previous fluorescence
was not evident, for Becquerel obtained precisely the same
results with preparations of uranium which had not only not
been previously exposed directly to the light, but had
purposely been kept some time in darkness and could therefore
display no stored-up luminescence. He had, however, discovered
the uranium or Becquerel rays. …
"At Becquerel’s suggestion Madame Curie undertook a systematic
investigation of all the chemical elements and established the
fact that with none of them, excepting uranium and thorium,
could an appreciable effect indicating rays be obtained with
her apparatus. On the other hand, she found that many of the
minerals investigated showed noticeable action in this
direction. The fact that a few of them, the uranium
pitchblende, for example, from Joachimsthal, Bohemia, emitted
rays three or four times stronger than those of pure uranium,
and which could not therefore be announced as uranium rays,
led her to suppose that in the pitchblende itself, apart from
the uranium, there must exist a still more powerful
radioactive substance. It is a matter of record how, in this
research, which might serve as a model for such work, she and
her husband, so soon afterwards to lose his life by a
deplorable accident, succeeded in tracing this supposed
substance more and more accurately, and finally in obtaining
it pure. Madame Curie thus became the discoverer of radium, a
new element possessed of wonderful, of fabulous qualities.
"Besides Madame Curie no other investigator but Professor
Braunschweig, so far as I know, has yet succeeded in obtaining
pure radium."
Franz Himstedt,
Radioactivity (Annual Report, Smithsonian Institution,
1905-1906, pages 117-118).
"The phenomena of radio-activity revive interest in the
prophetic views of Michael Faraday. In 1816, when he was but
twenty-four years of age, he delivered a lecture at the Royal
Institution in London on Radiant Matter. In the course of his
remarks there occurs this passage:—‘If we now conceive a
change as far beyond vaporization as that is above fluidity,
and then take into account the proportional increased extent
of alteration as the changes arise, we shall perhaps, if we
can form any conception at all, not fall short of radiant
matter; and as in the last conversion many qualities were
lost, so here also many more would disappear. It was the
opinion of Newton, and of many other distinguished
philosophers, that this conversion was possible, and
continually going on in the processes of nature, and they
found that the idea would bear without injury the applications
of mathematical reasoning—as regards heat, for instance. If
assumed, we must also assume the simplicity of matter; for it
would follow that all the variety of substances with which we
are acquainted could be converted into one of three kinds of
radiant matter; which again may differ from each other only in
the size of their particles or their form. The properties of
known bodies would then be supposed to arise from the varied
arrangements of their ultimate atoms, and belong to substances
only as long as their compound nature existed; and thus
variety of matter and variety of properties would be found
co-essential.’"
George Iles,
Inventors at Work,
pages 204-205 (Doubleday, Page & Co., New York).
"An ascertained commercial value of £4 per milligramme
(equivalent to £114,000 per ounce) has been placed upon radium
by a contract just entered into between the British
Metalliferous Mines (Limited) and Lord Iveagh and Sir Ernest
Cassel for the supply of 7½ grammes (rather more than a
quarter of an ounce) of pure radium bromide. This very large
order for radium will be supplied from the above named
company’s mine near Grampound Road in Cornwall."
London Times, June 21, 1909.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Mono-Rail Gyroscopic System.
A mechanical invention not yet developed, but which seems more
than likely to count among the most important of the next few
years, is that known as the Brennan mono-rail system, which
balances cars and trains of cars on a single rail by use of
the principle of the gyroscope. It was first exhibited by its
English inventor, Mr. Louis Brennan, in model form, before the
Royal Society, in 1907, and won so much confidence in its
possibilities that the British War Office and the India Office
gave financial assistance to meet the cost of the long
experiments that were necessary for adapting the system to
service on a large practical scale. The result of these
experiments was exhibited in public trials at New Brompton,
England, and, subsequently, at New York, in the later part of
1909. The following account of the exhibition at New Brompton
was given by The Times:
"The car with which the test runs were carried out is 40 ft.
in length and 10 ft. in width; its weight is 22 tons, and it
is designed for a load of 10 to 15 tons. The weight of the
gyroscopes, of which there are two, is 1½ tons, each having a
diameter of 3 ft. 6 in. The speed of rotation is 3,000 r. p.
m., or considerably less than it was in the 6 ft. model
exhibited before the Royal Society. It would be possible for
the car to obtain the necessary power by collecting current
from an overhead wire with a consequent saving of weight, but
in the present example the motive power is provided by two
Wolseley petrol engines, one of 80 h. p., and the other of 20
h. p., driving two direct-current shunt-wound motors of the
Siemens type. It is not necessary that the car should be
propelled electrically, and steam or other motive power could
be employed; but in any case it would be necessary to spin the
gyroscopes electrically, this method being ideal for the
purpose. The air is exhausted from the gyroscope cases, the
pressure in them being equivalent to from ½ in. to 5/8 in. of
mercury. It is hoped in future installations to design the
gyroscopes for higher speeds, and in that case it would be
possible to reduce the size and weight of the equipment. In
this first car the gyroscopes run in the vertical plane, but
that is merely for convenience, the essential feature being
that the trunnions should be at right angles to the track. …
{608}
"Several experimental trips were made on the factory circular
track as well as on the straight, and the car travelled with
remarkable steadiness throughout. It is not likely that the
Brennan mono-rail will find any wide field of application in
this country, but there would appear to be great advantages in
the system for mountain railways in India and elsewhere, and,
indeed, it seems suitable for adoption in any country where
new railways are being planned. The inventor lays stress on
the absolute safety of the system at speeds ranging up to
about 150 miles per hour."
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Sanitary.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
Submarine Signal Bells.
In May, 1909, it was announced from Washington that "the
Government, recognizing the substantial service rendered to
shipping by submarine bells, has decided to extend their
installation from time to time to light vessels and stations
on both coasts and upon the great lakes. At present forty-six
of the light vessels are thus equipped, and the signals which
they send out are of undoubted aid to deep-water navigation.
Canada, England, Germany, Holland, France, Sweden, and Denmark
are following suit. The bells operate during fogs and at night
and the sound waves emitted by the bell under water have been
known to travel as far as twenty-seven miles. These sound
waves are picked up by the receiving microphones on board
ships, and by the code signal of each station the vessel’s
navigator is able to tell where he is."
See (in this Volume) above,
ELECTRICAL: WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY:
THE CRY THAT BROUGHT HELP.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Turbine Steam Engine.
Its Successful Development.
First Use on Ocean Steamers.
The "Lusitania" and "Mauretania."
"For a long time and well into the nineteenth century, water
was lifted by pistons moving in cylindrical pumps. Meantime
the turbine grew steadily in favor as a water motor, arriving
at last at high efficiency. This gave designers a hint to
reverse the turbine and use it as a water lifter or pump: this
machine, duly built, with a continuous instead of an
intermittent motion, showed much better results than the
old-fashioned pump. The turbine-pump is accordingly adopted
for many large waterworks, deep mines and similar
installations. This advance from to-and-fro to rotary action
extended irresistibly to steam as a motive power. It was clear
that if steam could be employed in a turbine somewhat as water
is, much of the complexity and loss inherent in reciprocating
engines would be brushed aside. A pioneer inventor in this
field was Gustave Patrich De Laval, of Stockholm, who
constructed his first steam turbine along the familiar lines
of the Barker mill. Steam is so light that for its utmost
utilization as a jet a velocity of about 2,000 feet a second
is required, a rate which no material is strong enough to
allow. De Laval by using the most tenacious metal for his
turbines is able to give their swiftest parts a speed of as
much as 1400 feet a second. His apparatus is cheap, simple and
efficient; it is limited to about 300 horse-power. Its chief
feature is its divergent nozzle, which permits the outflowing
steam to expand fully with all the effect realized in a steam
cylinder provided with expansion valve gear. Another device of
De Laval which makes his turbine a safe and desirable prime
mover is the flexible shaft which has a little, self-righting
play under the extreme pace of its rotation.
"Of direct action turbines the De Laval is the chief; of
compound turbines, in which the steam is expanded in
successive stages, the first and most widely adopted was
invented by the Honourable Charles A. Parsons of
Newcastle-on-Tyne. … In 1894 Mr. Parsons launched his
Turbinia, the first steamer to be driven by a turbine. Her
record was so gratifying that a succession of vessels,
similarly equipped, were year by year built for excursion
lines, for transit across the British Channel, for the British
Royal Navy, and for mercantile marine service. The
thirty-fifth of these ships, the Victorian of the Allan
Line, was the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean, arriving at
Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 18, 1905. She was followed by the
Virginian of the same line which arrived at Quebec, May
8, 1905. Not long afterward the Cunard Company sent from
Liverpool to New York the Carmania equipped with steam
turbines, and in every other respect like the Caronia of the
same owners, which is driven by reciprocating engines of the
best model. Thus far the comparison between these two ships is
in favor of the Carmania. The new monster Cunarders, the
Lusitania and the Mauretania, each of 70,000
horse power, are to be propelled by steam turbines. The
principal reasons for this preference are thus given by
Professor Carl C. Thomas:—Decreased cost of operation as
regards fuel, labor, oil, and repairs. Vibration due to
machinery is avoided. Less weight of machinery and coal to be
carried, resulting in greater speed. Greater simplicity of
machinery in construction and operation, causing less
liability to accident and breakdown. Smaller and more deeply
immersed propellers, decreasing the tendency of the machinery
to race in rough weather. Lower centre of gravity of the
machinery as a whole, and increased headroom above the
machinery. According to recent reports, decreased first cost
of machinery."
George Iles,
Inventors at Work,
pages 452-456
(Doubleday, Page & Co., New York).
In August, 1908, the Lusitania made the voyage from
Queenstown to New York in 4 days and 15 hours; again in
February, 1909, in 4 days, 17 hours and 6 minutes. In
September, 1909, the Mauretania crossed from New York
to Queenstown in 4 days, 13 hours and 41 minutes.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Washington Memorial Institution.
Extension of the Usefulness of Scientific Work in Departments
of the Government.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT:
The Nobel Prizes.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
See also
EARTHQUAKES.
----------SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: End--------
----------SCOTLAND: Start--------
SCOTLAND: A. D. 1901 (March).
Census.
According to the returns of the decennial enumeration made on
the night of the 31st of March, 1901, the population of
Scotland that day, "including those in the Royal Navy, and
belonging to the Mercantile shipping in Scottish Ports or on
Scottish waters, number 4,472,000 persons, of whom 2,173,151
are males, and 2,298,849 females.
"When compared with the corresponding population as enumerated
at the Census of 1891, a total increase of 446,353 is found to
have occurred; the male increase being 230,434, and the female
215,919.
{609}
The percentage rate of increase of both sexes during the
decennial period is 11.09—that of the males being 11.86, and
of the females 10.37. The corresponding total rate of increase
during the preceding decennium, 1881-1891, was 7.77 per cent.
… The rate at the present Census for Scotland is, with the
exception of that at 1881, the highest since the decennial
period 1821-1831. …
"In 19 Counties an increase in the population has taken place,
in 14 a decrease. The highest rate of increase—both sexes
combined—is in Linlithgow, 24.4 per cent.; followed by Lanark
with an increase of 21.1 per cent.; Stirling with one of 20.6
per cent.; Renfrew with one of 16.5 per cent.; Dumbarton with
one of 16.2 per cent.; Kincardine with one of 15.3 per cent.;
Fife with one of 15.0 per cent. The greatest falling off
occurs in Berwick, 4.6 per cent.; in Orkney, 5.7 per cent.; in
Roxburgh, 8.8 per cent.; in Caithness 8.9 per cent.; in
Wigtown, 9.4 per cent.; and in Selkirk 15.8 percent. Inverness
stands almost as it was, having increased but 0.1 per cent.,
and the minimum rate of falling off as to population is in
Banff, 0.3 per cent., and Argyll, 0.6 per cent. …
"Among the larger Burghs the increase of population varies not
a little. Thus, in Motherwell, which heads the list, the
increase during the decennial period 1891-1901, is at the rate
of 62.5 per cent. Partick follows with a rate of increase of
48.6 per cent.; Wishaw with one of 36.8 percent.; Hamilton
with one of 31.8 per cent.; Kirkcaldy with one of 25.5
percent.; Falkirk with one of 24.3 per cent.; Govan with one
of 24.2 per cent.; Coatbridge with one of 21.3 per cent.;
Aberdeen with one of 22.9 per cent.; Kilmarnock with one of
20.1 per cent.; Paisley with one of 19.5 per cent.; Airdrie
with one of 16.5 per cent.; Glasgow with one of 15.5 per
cent.; Ayr with one of 15.1 per cent.; Edinburgh with one of
14.8 per cent.; Dunfermline with one of 14.1 percent.; Leith
with one of 12.6 per cent.; Inverness with one of 10.3 per
cent.; Perth with one of 9.9 per cent.; Greenock with one of
7.4 per cent.; and Dundee with one of 4.5 percent.; while
Arbroath indicates a decrease at the rate of 1.9 per cent."
Preliminary Report to Parliament.
The division of population between town districts and rural
districts is shown in the following table:
Groups of Districts. Males. Females. Total.
Town Districts 1,404,382 1,520,698 2,925,080
(Pop. 2,000 and upwards)
Mainland-Rural Districts 479,009 495,172 974,841
Insular-Rural Districts 58,666 67,060 125,726
Total 1,942,717 2,082,930 4,025,647

SCOTLAND: A. D. 1901.
Mr. Carnegie’s great Gift to Universities and Students.
See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: SCOTLAND: A. D. 1901.
SCOTLAND: A. D. 1904-1905.
Decision of the House of Lords against the Union, in 1900,
of the Free Church with the United Presbyterian.
All Property given to the Opposing Remnant.
"In 1900, the United Free Church was formed by the union of
the majority of the Free Church with the entire body of the
United Presbyterians, …
See, in Volume VI. of this work,
SCOTLAND: A. D. 1900)
A new organisation placed in the field of Church politics in
Scotland almost equals in respect of numbers and resources to
the Established Church. The small minority opposed to this
union inside the Free Church seceded, held some of the
churches and manses by force, defying authority to the extent,
in one instance, of a month’s imprisonment, and retained the
denomination of ‘The Free Church of Scotland.’ As their
fathers left a ‘vitiated’ Establishment on purpose to preserve
the freedom and purity of the National Church, so they refused to
enter the new union, in order, by standing out, to save the
principles, doctrines, and purposes identified with the
Disruption of 1843. This minority of not more than
twenty-seven ministers and as many congregations, mostly
located in fastnesses beyond the Grampians, is now the Free
Church of Scotland, with Presbytery, Assembly, Moderator—in
short, with the offices and institutions, on a condensed
scale, which are essential in Presbyterian polity. These few
determined people claim to be the faithful remnant of the
Disruptionists. Like Milton’s Abdiel, ‘unshaken, unseduced,
unterrified,’ nor moved to ‘swerve from truth’ or ‘change
their constant mind,’ they claim to have kept their loyalty,
their love, their zeal in the cause of the Disruption through
all the temptations of an age in thought Pyrrhonist, in
morality lax, and in religion Latitudinarian. On the
assumption that they alone were the Free Church, they invoked
the aid of the Civil Courts in their defence. The Court of
Session—both the Ordinary and the Inner Courts—decided in
favour of the United Free Church. Home-made law could not
satisfy the minority, and, on appeal, the House of Lords
reversed the judgment of the Court of Session, declaring the
remnant to be the Free Church of Scotland, and finding that
the United Free Church was a modern composite body which, on
the evidence of its ambidextrous and Latitudinarian
constitution, had abandoned the fundamental doctrines and
principles held by the Disruptionists. In consequence of this
decision, the property of the Free Church, as it existed prior
to the union of 1900, now belongs to the remnant of the
Disruptionists.
"From the side of the losing United Free Church a bitter cry
has arisen against this finality in law. The decision is
formally accepted, yet denounced as unjust and incompetent, as
denying toleration and the right to change its creed to an
autonomous body; and there are murmurs about of the necessity
of an appeal to Parliament. … It seems the rankest injustice
to transfer more than one million in invested funds, nearly a
thousand church buildings, three superior colleges devoted to
the training of Divinity students (one in Edinburgh, another
in Glasgow, and a third in Aberdeen), the magnificent Assembly
Hall in Edinburgh, with the offices attached, probably also
much property in foreign missions, from the United Free Church
to this remnant of Disruptionists, the custodians of the dying
embers of Obscurantism in Scotland."
J. M. Sloan,
The Scottish Free Church
(Fortnightly Review, September, 1904).
{610}
To consider the situation created by the decision of the House
of Lords, a Royal Commission was appointed, which investigated
all the questions involved and reported its findings in April,
1905. In the judgment of the Commission, the Free Church (the
"Wee Frees," as that body was now commonly dubbed) had neither
the numbers nor the resources for putting to their proper use
the enormous endowment which it claimed. At the same time
there would be no justice in delivering those endowments
unconditionally to the United Free Church. It was recommended,
accordingly, that a Commission be constituted by Act of
Parliament to take charge of the whole property and funds
involved, and to arrange for the allocation of the same, to
the end of securing "adequate provision for the due
performance of the purposes for which the funds were raised
and the trusts on which they are held." A Bill in accordance
with this recommendation was passed during the next session of
Parliament.
On the request of the General Assembly of the Church of
Scotland, the same Act enabled the Church to change the
formula of subscription required from its ministers, under the
Act of 1693, so that, on being ordained, a minister shall only
make a "declaration of his faith in the sum and substance of
the doctrine of the Reformed Churches therein contained,
according to such formula as may from time to time be
prescribed by the General Assembly."
SCOTLAND: A. D. 1904-1909.
Peace followed by Threatened Conflict in
the Coal Mining Industry.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: SCOTLAND.
SCOTLAND: A. D. 1909.
Working of the Old Age Pensions Act.
See (in this Volume)
POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF: PENSIONS.
----------SCOTLAND: End--------
SCOTT, James Brown:
Technical Delegate to the Second Peace Conference.
See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
SCOTT, Captain K. T.:
Commander of Antarctic Expedition.
See (in this Volume)
POLAR EXPLORATION.
SEAL FISHERY NEGOTIATIONS.
"Negotiations for an international conference to consider and
reach an arrangement providing for the preservation and
protection of the fur seals in the North Pacific are in
progress with the governments of Great Britain, Japan, and
Russia. The attitude of the governments interested leads me to
hope for a satisfactory settlement of this question as the
ultimate outcome of the negotiations."
Message of the President of the United States to Congress,
December 6, 1909.
SEATTLE: A. D. 1909.
The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.
"The fair at Seattle," said The World's Work of August,
1909, "is beautiful; that goes without saying, for the best of
man’s art is fitted to the best of Nature’s workmanship to
make a balanced and blended picture never excelled in the long
list of great exhibitions. But better than that, the fair at
Seattle is a definite commercial lesson—and lessons in
commerce last forever. Primarily, the fair is teaching the
people of the United States to know the Pacific coast;
secondarily, it is teaching them a little of Alaska, a little
of Japan, and a little of the Philippines. And the distinctive
feature of this particular fair is the determined effort to
make those lessons true." This seems to describe the
impression which the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition made
generally on the visitors who went to it with an intelligent
purpose in going. It gave them what they went to see, with
fidelity, with fulness, and in most attractive forms of
display. Like its Northwestern predecessor, at Portland, four
years before, it was an almost startling revelation of the
possibilities of planting and ripening in cities, states, and
their social institutions, that lie within trivial spaces of
time in this wonderful present age.
The Exposition was on the grounds of Washington University,
and seven of the principal buildings erected for it were of
permanent construction and remain for the use of the
University. Again, as at Portland, the most interesting of
these buildings architecturally was that for the forestry
exhibit, built of logs and other timber in a state as nearly
natural as it could be kept.
The Exposition was open from June 1st until October 16, and
registered about 3,740,000 visitors.
SEBAHEDDIN.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-MAY).
SECTARIAN SCHOOL QUESTION.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1903;
also
CANADA: A. D. 1905.
SEDDON, Richard J.: Prime Minister of New Zealand.
His Death.
See (in this Volume)
NEW ZEALAND: A. D. 1906-1909.
SEGNATURA, The.
See (in this Volume)
PAPACY: A. D. 1908.
SEIYU-KAI.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1902 (August); 1903 (June), and 1909.
SELFRIDGE, Lieutenant T. E.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: AERONAUTICS.
SENATORS, United States:
Proposed Election by Direct Popular Vote.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES SENATORS.
SENEGAMBIA: A. D. 1904.
Cession of a portion of territory by England to France.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1904 (APRIL).
SENUSSIA,
SENOUSSI:
The Pan-Islamic Movement in Africa.
Sidi Mahomed bin Ali es Senussia and his Sect.
His Doctrine and its Aim.
"We have recently heard, principally apropos of the
disturbances in Egypt, a considerable amount concerning
Pan-Islamism. Taking into consideration how much has been
written on this subject, it is surprising to find how little
has been said concerning one of the principal organisations
for the propagation of Pan-Islamism. I refer to the sect known
as Senussia. … At this present moment there is throughout
Africa very general discontent among the native population,
not only in Mohammedan countries, but universally over the
length and breadth of the entire continent. …

"It is a comparatively easy matter to so influence any warlike
Moslem people to religious enthusiasm that they are instantly
ready in arms to strike a blow for the faith. But the most
significant and sinister symptom of this anti-Christian
crusade is that the message carried by the Senussia agents is,
‘Wait, for the time is not yet ripe. Rest now, but when the
hour arrives, rise, slay, and spare not.’ Taking into
consideration the fact that the Senussia sect was founded in
1835, that its rise has been enormously rapid, and that its
propaganda has been actively and diligently preached in
British possessions for many years past, with scarcely one
definite item of intelligence concerning it being known, it
shows clearly that the motive power and organising
intelligence must be something considerably above the average.
…
{611}
"The sect was founded in 1835 by Sidi Mahomed bin Ali es
Senussia, otherwise known as Sheikh Senussi, an Algerian Arab
born near Mostaganem towards the end of the Turkish dominion.
A lineal descendant of the prophet Mahomed, he first gained a
reputation for sanctity at Fez. He then proceeded to Mecca,
where he commenced preaching. However his success, which was
remarkably rapid, caused great local jealousy and he had
perforce to fly to Egypt. He started a zawia or monastery at
Alexandria, but being excommunicated by the Sheikh el Islam at
Cairo, he was again compelled to seek safety in flight. This
time he fled across the Lybian desert to Jebel el Akhdar near
Benghazi on the north coast, where he again established a
zawia, and in a short time had obtained a considerable
following. There he lived and preached, and died in 1859 or
1860, having firmly established the Senussia sect. He was
succeeded by his son Mahomed.
"The doctrine preached by the Sheikh Senussi, and which still
comprises the doctrines and aims of his disciples, was as
follows: To free the Mahommedan religion from the many abuses
which have crept into it. To restore, under one universal
leader, the former purity of faith. Finally, and most
especially, to free all Moslem countries, more particularly
those in Africa, from the dominion of the infidel."
H. A. Wilson,
The Moslem Menace
(Nineteenth Century, September, 1907).
"The growth of the Senoussi has been one of the most striking
developments of modern Islam. They have adopted an active
missionary policy and have spread southwards through heathen
Africa, while their organization has been framed with the idea
of including and coordinating all existing brotherhoods. The
Senoussi have established in all countries where the Moslem is
governed by an alien race a system of occult government side
by side, and coinciding in its boundaries, with the state
administration. This occult government exists in Algeria,
Egypt, and India, and its emissaries are at work in Nigeria.
The Senoussi now include within their brotherhood practically
all the Sunnis, that is the majority of Moslems in Arabia,
Turkey, North Africa, Turkestan, Afghanistan and East Asia.
The Shiites, who predominate in Persia, are alone prevented by
their conception of orthodoxy from being Senoussi.
"The Senoussi had their headquarters at Djarboub, but some
twenty years ago it was decided to send their official
representative to Constantinople, and the venerable Mokkadem
who occupies this position is even more powerful in councils
than the Sheik ul Islam, who, nominated by the Sultan,
occupies in the hierarchy the place of Expounder of the Law,
second only to that of the Caliph, the ‘Shadow of God on
Earth.’"
A. R. Colquhoun,
Pan-Islam
(North American Review, June, 1906).
See, also, in Volume VI., page 835.
SERGIUS, Grand Duke,
Assassination of.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1904-1905.
SERVIA.
See (in this Volume)
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: SERVIA.
SEVASTOPOL:
Riot and Naval Mutiny.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905 (FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER).
SHACKLETON, LIEUTENANT ERNEST H.:
Antarctic Explorations.
See (in this Volume)
POLAR EXPLORATION.
SHA-HO, BATTLE OF THE.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (SEPTEMBER-MARCH).
SHANGHAI: A. D. 1902.
Withdrawal of Foreign Troops.
See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1902.
SHANGHAI: A. D. 1905.
Boycott of Americans and American Goods.
See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1908.
SHANGHAI: A. D. 1909.
International Opium Commission.
See (in this Volume)
OPIUM PROBLEM.
SHAW, LESLIE M.:
Secretary of the Treasury.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1905, and 1905-1909.
SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM, The:
His Authority and Function at Constantinople.
See (in this Volume)
SENUSSIA.
SHEIKH-UL-ISLAM, The:
His Part in the Turkish Constitutional Revolution.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY; A. D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER), and after.
SHEMSI PASHA,
Assassination of.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (JULY-DECEMBER).
SHERIAT, The.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-MAY).
SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT, of 1890.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1890-1902.
SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT, of 1890.
Action of National Civic Federation on its Amendment.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL, &c.:
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908-1909.
SHERMAN, James S.:
Elected Vice-President of the United States.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1908 (APRIL-NOVEMBER).
SHEVKET PASHA, Mahmud:
Commander of the Turkish Constitutional Forces.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-MAY).
SHIPBUILDING AGREEMENT (BRITISH) OF 1908, THE.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: ENGLAND: A. D. 1908.
SHIPPING COMBINATION, North Atlantic.
See (in this Volume)
COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL: INTERNATIONAL.
SHIRÉ HIGHLANDS:
Their Suitability for European Colonization.
See (in this Volume)
AFRICA.
SHIRTWAIST-MAKERS’ STRIKE, THE.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909-1910.
SHONTS, Theodore P.:
Chairman of the Panama Canal Commission.
See (in this Volume)
PANAMA CANAL: A. D. 1905-1909.
SHOOA-ES-SULTANEH.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1905-1907.
SHORT BALLOT REFORM.
See (in this Volume)
ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: UNITED STATES.
SIA-GU-SHAN HILL, CAPTURE OF.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (May-January).
SIAM: A. D. 1902.
Treaty with France.
By a fresh treaty with Siam, secured in October, 1902, France
won from that kingdom another piece of territory to add to her
Indo-China domain. The new acquisition is between the Rolnos
and Piek Kompong Tiam rivers, on the Great Lake. In return
France restores the port of Chantabun, which she has held for
a long time without right, and which she agreed to restore in
1899.
See (in Volume VI.)
SIAM.
{612}
SIAM: A. D. 1904.
Declaration of England and France touching Influence in Siam.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1904 (APRIL).
SIAM: A. D. 1905.
Suppression of Gambling and Edict for
the Extinction of Slavery.
An official notification of the suppression of gambling and a
royal edict decreeing the abolition of the last remnants of
slavery in the Kingdom of Siam were communicated to the
American Government, through its Minister at Bangkok, in March
and April, 1905. In part, the former stated:
"His Majesty has long been impressed by the fact that although
the revenue derived from gambling is an important factor in
the finances of the Kingdom the evils resulting therefrom are
much greater than the benefits. People expend in gambling not
only their own wealth but the wealth of others. They devote to
gambling time during which they should be attending to their
work. Under present conditions large sums of money which come
into the hands of the gambling farmers are sent out of the
kingdom. Gambling is also responsible for much of the crime
that is committed. The abolition of gambling would, therefore,
not only result in an improvement in the morals of the people
and in increased industry, but money now expended therein
would remain in circulation within the country, thereby adding
to the wealth of the community. In order, however, to replace
the loss of the revenue derived from gambling, some taxes must
be increased and new taxes devised. In the increase of certain
of these taxes it will be necessary to enter upon negotiations
with foreign powers. Gambling cannot, therefore, be suppressed
at once, but must be gradually abolished. His Majesty,
therefore, has been pleased to order the abolition of gambling
within the period of three years."
The decree concerning slavery opens thus:
"Although slavery in our realm is very different from slavery
as it has existed in many other countries—most slaves being
persons who have become so voluntarily and not by force and
the powers of the master over the slaves being strictly
limited—yet we have always considered that the institution,
even in this modified form, is an impediment to the progress
of our country. We have, therefore, from the commencement of
our reign, taken steps, by the enactment of laws and
otherwise, for the abolition of slavery. … We now deem it time
to take more sweeping measures which will gradually result in
the entire disappearance of slavery from Siam." Accordingly, a
law is decreed as follows: "All children born of parents who
are slaves shall be free without the execution of the
condition stated in the law of Pee Chau. No person now free
can be made a slave. If any person now a slave shall hereafter
become free he cannot thereafter again become a slave.
Wherever any person is now held a debt slave, the master shall
credit upon the principal of the debt for which he is held a
slave the sum of four (4) tieals for each month after the 1st
of April, 124, provided that no credit shall be allowed for
any time during which the slave may desert his master. If a
slave changes his master, no increase shall be made in the
debt for which he is actually held."
SIAM: A. D. 1909.
Treaty with Great Britain, Ceding three States
in the Malay Peninsula.
By a treaty with Siam, signed on the 10th of March, 1909,
Great Britain added 15,000 square miles to her dominion in the
Malay Peninsula. Siam renounced, in favour of Great Britain,
her suzerain rights over the native States of Kelantan,
Trengganu, and Kedah, and perhaps other districts, in the
Peninsula. In return the British Government consented to
certain modifications in the extra-territorial rights enjoyed
by British subjects in Siam. The Government of the Federated
Malay States will advance to Siam the capital, about
£4,000,000, required for the construction of railways in
Southern Siam, by which it is hoped that direct railway
communication will soon be established between Bangkok and
Singapore. Kelantan lies 374 miles distant from Singapore and
about 500 from Bangkok, on the shore of the China Sea. It is a
purely Malay State under the rule of a Rajah, who has not,
like his predecessors, adopted the higher title of Sultan, but
who claims to be an independent Sovereign, though he has been
compelled to acknowledge the King of Siam as his suzerain.
This condition of affairs has led to the transfer of his
allegiance, very much, it is said, against his wish.
SIENKIEWICZ, HENRY K.
See (in this Volume)
NOBEL PRIZES.
SIFTON, CLIFFORD: CANADIAN MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR.
How he started the "American Invasion"
of the Canadian Northwest.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1896-1909.
SIGANANDA.
See (in this Volume)
SOUTH AFRICA: NATAL: A. D. 1906-1907.
SILVER:
Suspension of Free Coinage in Mexico.
See (in this Volume)
MEXICO: A. D. 1904-1905.
SILVER EXCHANGE, WITH THE ORIENT.
See (in this Volume)
FINANCE AND TRADE: ASIA: A. D. 1909.
SIMON, GENERAL ANTOINE:
President of Haiti.
See (in this Volume)
HAITI: A. D. 1908.
SIMPLON TUNNEL.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1903.
SINHA, Satyendra Prasanna:
Appointment as a Member of the Executive Council
of the Viceroy of India.
See (in this Volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
SINN FEIN, THE.
See (in this Volume)
IRELAND: A. D. 1905.
SIOUX INDIANS:
Colony in Nicaragua.
See (in this Volume)
CENTRAL AMERICA: NICARAGUA.
SIPAHDAR, The.
See (in this Volume)
PERSIA: A. D. 1908-1909.
SIPIAGIN, M.:
Assassination of.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1901-1904.
SLAVERY:
In Portuguese Africa.
See (in this Volume)
AFRICA: PORTUGUESE: A. D. 1905-1908.
SLAVERY:
Abolition in Siam.
See (in this Volume)
SIAM: A. D. 1909.
SLAVERY:
Legal, but not Practical Ending in Zanzibar.
See (in this Volume)
ZANZIBAR: A. D. 1905.
SLEEPING SICKNESS.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH.
SLOCUM, CONSUL-GENERAL C. R.:
Report on Affairs in the Congo State.
See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1906-1909.
"SLOCUM," BURNING OF THE.
See (in this Volume)
"GENERAL SLOCUM."
SMALL HOLDINGS ACT.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1907-1908.
{613}
SMIRNOFF, GENERAL.
See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1904 (FEBRUARY-AUGUST).
SMITH, CHARLES E.:
Postmaster-General.
See (in this Volume)
UNITED STATES: A. D. 1901-1905.
SMITH, GOLDWIN:
On Discontent in India.
See (in this Volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1907-1909.
SMITH, CONSUL-GENERAL JAMES A.:
Report on Affairs in the Congo State.
See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1906-1909.
SMITH, JAMES F.:
Governor-General of the Philippine Islands.
See (in this Volume)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1906-1907.
SYNDER, R. M.:
Municipal "Boodler" of St. Louis.
See (in this Volume)
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: ST. LOUIS.
SOCIAL BETTERMENT: ENGLAND: A. D. 1909.
The Housing and Town-Planning Act.
A Housing and Town Planning Bill, brought over from the
previous session of Parliament, was introduced anew in April,
1909, by Mr. John Burns, President of the Local Government
Board. It passed the Commons and went in November to the
Lords, who gave it amendments which were thought to have
brought it to wreck. The House of Commons would not accept
them; but many in both Houses were keenly anxious for
legislation on the subject, and private negotiation brought
about a compromise of their differences, securing the
enactment in a fairly satisfactory form.
The first part of the Act aims at improving the dwelling
accommodation of the working classes, both by making it
obligatory on all local authorities to provide new housing
where required, and also by elaborate provisions for sanitary
inspection. Every county council is required to appoint a
public health and housing committee and also a medical officer
of health, who shall devote his whole time to the supervision
of the county area. Almost all working class dwellings in the
country are covered by provisions ensuring that they shall be
kept fit for human habitation throughout their tenancy.
Enlarged powers of compulsory purchase, of closing and of
demolition are also conferred upon local authorities or their
authorized agents.
The provisions of the Act relating to town-planning are
commended by The Times as marking "a new departure in
legislation in this country. Hitherto new centres of
population have been allowed to grow up, and existing urban
areas have been allowed to expand, without control or
prevision. The result has too often been that the haphazard
development of land in the vicinity of urban centres has
produced slums, prevented the orderly growth of towns, and
involved enormous expenditure in clearing sites, widening
streets, and providing necessary open spaces. The Bill aims at
securing in the future sanitary conditions, amenity, and
convenience by enabling schemes to be made under which
building land will be developed with due regard to future
requirements. With this end in view the Local Government Board
are empowered to authorize local authorities to prepare town
planning schemes in connexion with land likely to be used for
building purposes, or to adopt any such schemes proposed by
owners of land. The schemes are to have effect, however, only
if approved by the Local Government Board. The Bill provides
for the payment of compensation to any person whose property
is injuriously affected by the making of a town planning
scheme, and, on the other hand, the local authority is
empowered to recover from any person whose land is increased
in value by the making of the scheme a proportion of the
amount of that increase."
In anticipation of the passage of this important Act, a party
of eighty representatives of municipalities and other bodies
in Great Britain who would be concerned in its administration
passed the Easter holidays of 1909 in some of the German
cities which are most famous for the manner in which they have
dealt with the problems of town-growth. The four cities
selected were Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, and Wiesbaden,
each of which has formulated its own way of dealing with the
problem and offers a different point of view.
SOCIAL BETTERMENT: PRUSSIA: A. D. 1905.
A Government Bureau of Charities.
In 1905 a law passed by the Prussian Diet created a national
Charity Bureau, the duties of which are stated as follows:
(1) To follow the development of charity work and keep the
government informed of this development;
(2) to advise the state of conditions which justify change in
existing laws or the passing of new laws, or which suggest
change in government methods;
(3) to draw up opinions and make proposals which will help in
framing laws for the benefit of the people;
(4) to take general control of relief stations in case of
great calamities.
It will also be the duty of the department
(1) to establish relations between different charity
organizations, suggest improvements in the methods of these
organizations, and economize the forces of the various bodies;
(2) to follow the progress of charitable work and make an
index and collection of all literature relating to the
subject;
(3) to give information and advice in reference to
philanthropic endeavor when requested to do so;
(4) to make reports to the state at short intervals in
reference to the development and progress of the work in the
nation at large;
(5) to draw up opinions and make proposals for the improvement
or better organization of the charity propaganda in part or as
a whole;
(6) to take charge of the development of the work in any
section;
(7) to assist in putting in operation any suggestions or plans
which may be made or worked out for the improvement of social
conditions.
SOCIAL BETTERMENT: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1900-1909.
The National Civic Federation.
Its Origin.
Its Purposes.
Its Organization.
Its Work.
The Federation was organized in 1900, in Chicago, after a
succession of national conferences had been held upon such
subjects as Primary Election Reform, Foreign Policy and Trusts
and Combinations. It consisted of an advisory council of five
hundred members and an Executive Committee. On the Executive
Committee were several of the members of the present National
Executive Committee, including Franklin MacVeagh, Archbishop
Ireland, Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell, D. J. Keefe, John W.
Stahl, and Benjamin Ide Wheeler. The prospectus, published at
the time, stated the purpose of the organization to be as
follows:
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"… To organize the best brains of the nation in an educational
movement toward the solution of some of the great problems
related to social and industrial progress; to provide for
study and discussion of questions of national import; to aid
thus in the crystallization of the most enlightened public
opinion; and, when desirable, to promote legislation in
accordance therewith."
"Fifteen national subjects were named, and it was expected
that from time to time the formation of committees would
result having as their special province the consideration of
the subjects suggested.
"By vote, it was decided to take up for discussion, through
national conferences, the three subjects of industrial
arbitration, taxation and municipal ownership. The first
conference, that on industrial arbitration, was held at
Chicago, in December, 1900, and resulted in the organization
of the Industrial Department, with A. C. Bartlett, of Chicago,
chairman. In the following June a national conference on
taxation was held in Buffalo, resulting in the formation of
the Department on Taxation, with Edwin R. A. Seligman as
chairman. It was the intention to hold the Conference on
Municipal Ownership in New York the following December, but in
the meantime a number of large strikes, especially the Steel
Strike, the National Machinists’ strike and a threatened
Anthracite Coal Strike absorbed so much of the energy and
attention of the active members of the Federation at that time
that the Public Ownership Conference was postponed for the
time being.
"Through the work done by the committee in connection with the
coal and steel strikes, Senator Hanna became interested in the
organization, and in December of that year was made President
of the organization. His selection for that office, together
with the appointment of other men of national reputation on
the committee, attracted the attention of the country to the
organization. For two years following that department was the
only one prominent before the public, and its work in the
prevention of strikes and lockouts was naturally regarded as
the only purpose of the organization. The conferences held
during this period were naturally confined to the subject of
conciliation and collateral phases of the work. As national
labor disturbances then became less frequent after two years
of this special work the organization was able to resume its
original programme, holding itself, however, in readiness to
concentrate its energies on the industrial work at any time
the need might arise.
"It was at this time that the national conference on
immigration was called, and the Department of Immigration
organized. After that a national commission on Municipal
Ownership was formed, and by that time the public began to
take interest in the broader aspects of the organization.
Later came the establishment of the Industrial Economics
Department, which has taken up some of the most important
problems of the day, including Socialism and Trusts and
Combinations. The holding of a national conference on
Political Reform resulted in the organization of a department
especially devoted to these subjects.
"While the subjects to be taken up by the organization are
determined by the Executive Committee, the fact is here
emphasized that in devoting itself to other matters than
questions relating to strikes and lockouts, the organization
has not deviated from, but has returned to, its original
lines."
The National Civic Federation Review,
March, 1909.
The following additional particulars of the organization and
operations of the Federation are drawn from a pamphlet
statement of 1909:
"The membership of the Federation is drawn from practical men
of affairs, whose acknowledged leadership in thought and
action makes them typical representatives of the various
elements that voluntarily work together for the general good.
Its National Executive Committee is constituted of three
factors: the general public, represented by the church, the
bar, the press, statesmanship and finance; employers,
represented by large manufacturers and the heads of great
corporations, and employers’ organizations; and labor,
represented by the principal officials of national and
international organizations of wage-earners in every important
industry.
"There are useful organizations of farmers, manufacturers,
wage-earners, bankers, merchants, lawyers, economists and
other distinct but interacting elements of society, which hold
meetings for discussion of affairs peculiar to their own
pursuits and callings. The Federation, in addition to its
Departments for the accomplishment of specific purposes,
provides a forum where representatives of all these elements
of society may meet to discuss national problems in which they
have a common interest.
"Twelve national conferences have thus been held upon such
subjects as Primary Election and Ballot Reforms, Foreign
Policy, Trusts, Conciliation and Arbitration, Taxation, and
Immigration. These conferences have usually been attended by
delegates appointed by Governors of States and by
representatives selected by various commercial, industrial,
and educational bodies.
"The present activities of the Federation are exercised
through the following agencies:
"Trade Agreement Department,
"Industrial Conciliation Department,
"Industrial Economics Department,
"Industrial Welfare Department,
"Public Employés’ Welfare Department,
"The Woman’s Department,
"Public Ownership Commission,
"Immigration Department,
"Political Reform Department.
"The Trade Agreement Department [John Mitchell, Chairman]
consists of employers and representatives of workingmen, who
make agreements as to hours, wages and conditions of
employment. The membership of the department is equally
divided between employers and labor leaders, the employers
being officers of steam and street railway companies, coal
operators, the publishers of large daily papers, building
contractors, brewers, stove manufacturers, shippers’
associations, while labor is represented by officials in
corresponding crafts. …
"The Conciliation Department [Seth Low, Chairman] deals
entirely with strikes, lock-outs and arbitration. The services
of this department have been enlisted in about five hundred
cases, involving every conceivable phase of a problem
interwoven with or underlying an industrial controversy. Its
membership extends to every industrial centre, and includes
representatives of leading organizations of employers and of
wage-earners. Through this membership information of any
threatened trouble between capital and labor usually reaches
the headquarters, from one side or the other, in advance of
any public rupture. …
{615}
"The Department of Industrial Economics [Nicholas Murray
Butler, Chairman] was formed to promote discussion of
practical economic problems. Its membership is composed of
leading economists, including the heads of the departments of
political economy in universities, lecturers and economic and
legal authors; editors of the daily press, of politico-social
magazines, of trade papers and of labor journals;
representatives of the pulpit; large employers and
representatives of labor. This department has arranged a
programme for the discussion, by the ablest experts to be
procured, of each of the vital and frequently irritating
questions that arise in the Conciliation Department in
connection with the prevention or settlement of controversies.
…
"The Industrial Welfare Department [the work of which is
conducted by a number of sub-committees, at the head of one of
which is the President of the United States, William H. Taft,
as Chairman of the committee which studies the welfare of the
Public Employés of the country, and the general Chairman of
which is William H. Willcox] is composed of employers of labor
in stores, factories, mines and on railroads. It is devoted to
interesting employers in improving the conditions under which
employés in all industries work and live. In extending the
practice of Welfare Work the department has found of especial
value conferences of employers, held under its auspices in
different parts of the country, for the interchange of
experiences. Illustrated literature is widely distributed, and
stereopticon lectures are given. A bureau of exchange is
maintained at headquarters, where descriptive matter, plans
and photographs relating to betterments in different
industries may be obtained by employers.
"Some of the subjects involved are;
"Sanitary Work Places:
Systems for providing pure drinking water;
for ventilation, including the cooling of super heated
places, and devices for exhausting dust and removing gases;
for lighting work places;
and for guarding machinery;
wash rooms with hot and cold water, towels and soap;
shower baths for molders and stationary firemen;
emergency hospitals;
locker rooms;
seats for women;
laundries for men’s overalls or women’s uniforms;
the use of elevators for women, and luncheon rooms.
"Recreation:
The social hall for dancing parties, concerts, theatricals,
billiards, pool or bowling;
the gymnasium, athletic field, roof garden, vacations and
summer excursions for employés, and rest rooms or
trainmen’s rest houses.
"Educational:
Classes for apprentices;
in cooking, dressmaking, millinery;
first aid to the injured;
night classes for technical training;
kindergartens and libraries.
"Housing:
Homes rented or sold to employés, and boarding houses.
"Provident Funds:
For insurance, pensions, savings or lending money in
times of stress.
"The Woman’s Department [of which Mrs. William H. Taft is
Honorary Chairman, Mrs. Horace Brock, Chairman, and which has
a strong corps of other officers] "is composed largely of
women who are themselves stockholders or who are financially
interested in industrial organizations (including railroads,
mills, factories, mines, stores and other work places) through
family relationships, and who therefore naturally should be
interested in the welfare of workers in enterprises from which
they draw their incomes; there are also, among other
influential members, the wives of public officials.
"The object of this department is: ‘To use its influence in
securing needed improvements in the working and living
conditions of women and men wage-earners in the various
industries and governmental institutions, and to co-operate,
when practicable, in the general work of the Federation.’ …
"The Public Ownership Commission [Melville E. Ingalls,
Chairman], appointed by the Executive Council of the
Federation, is composed of one hundred prominent men
representing practically every shade of opinion on the
subject. …
"The Department of Immigration [Franklin MacVeagh, Chairman]
is composed of men selected to represent every locality in the
Union affected by the admission of aliens.
"This Department was organized at the request of the National
Immigration Conference, held in New York City, December 6-8,
1905, this conference being attended by more than five hundred
delegates appointed by Governors of States, leading
commercial, agricultural, manufacturing, labor and economic
organizations, and by prominent ecclesiastical and educational
institutions. It undertook an investigation of all important
phases of the immigration problem, the Department being
organized into seven distinct committees. …
"Largely through the work of the Immigration Department,
Congress was induced to appoint a Commission on Immigration,
which commission has, with unlimited funds at its disposal,
undertaken a large part of the work that had been planned by
the Federation’s department. In fact, two members of that
department are on the commission and have utilized all the
material gathered by the Federation’s experts, relating to
both white and Oriental immigration. …
"The organization of a Political Reform Department was the
practical outcome of a National Conference on that subject
held in New York City, March 6 and 7, 1906, under the auspices
of The National Civic Federation. The Conference was attended
by delegates from all parts of the country, appointed by
congressmen, governors, mayors, municipal and political reform
bodies, and representing all shades of political opinion.
"It is the purpose of the Political Reform Department to teach
practical politics, and especially to organize the young men
of the country and induce them to participate actively,
through their respective party organizations, in governmental
affairs--Federal, State and municipal."
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SOCIAL BETTERMENT: A. D. 1904-1909.
The American Civic Association.
"Organized effort for the systematic making of a beautiful
America did not manifest itself until within comparatively
recent years. Prior to 1904 there had been various short-lived
state associations, a few interstate societies and two
national organizations, working with the same general objects
in view. But at St. Louis, in 1904, the year of the great
exposition, a merger of the two national organizations brought
forth the American Civic Association which, since that time,
has carried on with increasing success and popular support the
greatly needed work for a 'More Beautiful America’; and since
that time it has been recognized as the one great national
agency for the furtherance of that work. With its purpose as
stated in its constitution clearly before it, it has
constantly widened the circle of its usefulness until recently
they were grouped under fifteen general departments, each
department headed by an expert in his or her particular
specialty.
"In classifying its varied activities, the Association
announces that it aims ‘to make American living conditions
clean, healthful, attractive; to extend the making of public
parks; to promote the opening of gardens and playgrounds for
children and recreation centers for adults; to abate public
nuisances—including objectionable signs, unnecessary poles and
wires, unpleasant and wasteful smoking factory chimneys; to
make the buildings and the surroundings of railway stations
and factories attractive; to extend the practical influence of
schools; to protect existing trees and to encourage
intelligent tree planting; to preserve great scenic wonders
(such as Niagara Falls and the White Mountains) from
commercial spoliation.’
"So vigorously has it pursued these activities that it has
seen some of them develop to such proportions that they were
ready to swing off from the parent circle into spheres of
their own. Such was the case with the playground movement,
which for years was fostered most energetically by the
American Civic Association until it grew into an independent
organization known as the National Playground Association, and
which is now an agency of splendid achievements in its one
specialized function."
Richard B. Watrous,
The American Civic Association
(The American City, October, 1909).
SOCIAL BETTERMENT: A. D. 1907.
The Sage Foundation for the Improvement of Social
and Living Conditions.
One of the most notable of gifts from private wealth for the
endowment of undertakings to promote the general welfare of
mankind was made by Mrs. Russell Sage, in 1907, when she
placed a fund of $10,000,000 in the hands of trustees, to be
administered under the name of The Russell Sage Foundation. On
the announcement of this endowment, Mrs. Sage, through her
counsel, Mr. Henry W. de Forest, authorized the following
statement, which explains clearly and fully the purposes
contemplated:
"I have set aside $10,000,000 for the endowment of this
foundation. Its object is ‘the improvement of social and
living conditions in the United States.’ The means to that end
will include research, publication, education, the
establishment and maintenance of charitable and beneficial
activities, agencies, and institutions, and the aid of any
such activities, agencies and institutions already
established.
"It will be within the scope of such a foundation to
investigate and study the causes of adverse social conditions,
including ignorance, poverty and vice, to suggest how these
conditions can be remedied or ameliorated, and to put in
operation any appropriate means to that end. It will also be
within the scope of such a foundation to establish any new
agency necessary to carry out any of its conclusions, and
equally to contribute to the resources of any existing
agencies which are doing efficient and satisfactory work, just
as the present General Education Board, organized to promote
higher education, is aiding existing colleges and
universities. While its scope is broad, it should preferably
not undertake to do within that scope what is now being done
or is likely to be effectively done by other individuals or by
other agencies with less resources. It will be its aim to take
up the larger and more difficult problems, and to take them up
so far as possible in such a manner as to secure co-operation
and aid in their solution. In some instances it may wisely
initiate movements with the expectation of having them
maintain themselves unaided after once being started. In other
instances it may start movements with the expectation of
carrying them on itself. Income only will be used for its
charitable purposes, because the foundation is to be permanent
and its action continuous. It may, however, make investments
for social betterment, which themselves produce income.
"While having headquarters in New York city, where I and my
husband have lived and where social problems are most pressing
and complicated, partly by reason of its extent and partly
because it is the port of entry for about a million immigrants
a year, the foundation will be national in its scope and in
its activities. I have sought to select as my trustees men and
women who are familiar with social problems and who can bring
to their solution not only zeal and interest, but experience
and judgment.
"The bill for incorporation of the endowment further provides:
The corporation hereby formed shall have power to take and
hold, both by bequest, devise, gift, purchase, or lease,
either absolutely or in trust, for any of its purposes, any
property, real or personal, without limitation as to amount or
value, except such limitation, if any, as the legislature
shall hereinafter impose, to convey such property and to
invest and reinvest any principal, and deal with, and expend
the income of the corporation in such manner as in the
judgment of the trustees will best promote its objects."
SOCIAL BETTERMENT: A. D. 1907-1908.
The Pittsburg Survey.
A remarkable Investigation of Living Conditions in
a great Industrial Center.
"Under the name of the Pittsburgh Survey, Charities
Publication Committee has carried on a group of social
investigations in this great steel district. In a sense we
have been blue-printing Pittsburgh. Our findings will be
published in a series of special numbers … covering in order:
"I.—The People;
"II.—The Place;
"III.—The Work.
"Full reports are to be published later in a series of Volumes
by the Russell Sage Foundation, and, throughout, the text will
be reinforced with such photographs, pastel, maps, charts,
diagrams and tables as will help give substance and reality to
our presentations of fact. …
{617}
"The Pittsburgh Survey has been a rapid, close range
investigation of living conditions in the Pennsylvania steel
district. It has been carried on by a special staff organized
under the national publication committee which prints this
magazine. It has been financed chiefly by three grants, of
moderate amount, from the Russell Sage Foundation for the
Improvement of Living Conditions. It has been made practicable
by co-operation from two quarters,—from a remarkable group of
leaders and organizations in social and sanitary movements in
different parts of the United States, who entered upon the
field work as a piece of national good citizenship; and from
men, women and organizations in Pittsburgh who were
large-minded enough to regard their local situation as not
private and peculiar, but a part of the American problem of
city building.
"The outcome has been a spirited piece of interstate
co-operation in getting at the urban fact in a new way. …
"The main work was set under way in September, 1807, when a
company of men and women of established reputation as students
of social and industrial problems spent the month in
Pittsburgh. On the basis of their diagnosis, a series of
specialized investigations was projected along a few of the
lines which promised significant results. The staff has
included not only trained investigators but also
representatives of the different races who make up so large a
share of the working population dealt with. Limitations of
time and money set definite bounds to the work, which will
become clear as the findings are presented. The experimental
nature of the undertaking, and the unfavorable trade
conditions which during the past year have reacted upon
economic life in all its phases, have set other limits. Our
inquiries have dealt with the wage-earners of Pittsburgh (a)
in their relations to the community as a whole, and (b) in
their relation to industry. Under the former we have studied
the genesis and racial make-up of the population; its physical
setting and its social institutions; under the latter we have
studied the general labor situation; hours, wages, and labor
control in the steel industry; child labor, industrial
education, women in industry, the cost of living, and
industrial accidents.
"From the first, the work of the investigations has been
directed to the service of local movements for improvement.
For, as stated in a mid-year announcement of the Survey, we
have been studying the community at a time when nascent social
forces are asserting themselves. Witness the election of an
independent mayor three years ago, and Mr. Guthrie’s present
fight to clear councils of graft. Within the field of the
Survey and within one year, the Pittsburgh Associated
Charities has been organized; the force of tenement inspectors
has been doubled and has carried out a first general housing
census, and a scientific inquiry, under the name of the
Pittsburgh Typhoid Commission, has been instituted into the
disease which has been endemic in the district for over a
quarter of a century. A civic improvement commission,
representative in membership and perhaps broader in scope than
any similar body in the country, is now in process of
formation.
"A display of wall maps, enlarged photographs, housing plans,
and other graphic material was the chief feature of a civic
exhibit held in Carnegie Institute in November and December,
following the joint conventions in Pittsburgh of the American
Civic Association and the National Municipal League. The local
civic bearings of the Survey were the subject of the opening
session of these conventions. Its economic aspects were
brought forward at a joint session of the American Economic
Association and the American Sociological Society at Atlantic
City in December."
P. U. Kellogg,
The Pittsburgh Survey
(Charities and the Commons, January 2, 1909).
See (in this Volume),
CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY;
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW;
LABOR PROTECTION, ETC.;
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT;
PUBLIC HEALTH;
POVERTY, PROBLEMS OF;
ENGLAND: A. D. 1907-1908.
SOCIAL DEMOCRATS.
See (in this Volume)
SOCIALISM: ENGLAND, AND FRANCE;
also GERMANY: A. D. 1903;
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905-1907;
DENMARK: A. D. 1906.
SOCIAL REVOLUTIONISTS.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905-1907, and 1906-1907.
SOCIALISM: AT LARGE: A. D. 1909.
The Socialist Press in all Countries.
According to a list of the Socialist Press, in the world at
large, published in November, 1909, by the International
Bureau of Socialists, at Brussels, fifty-seven Socialist daily
newspapers are published in Germany. English Socialists have
three weekly publications, and one that appears monthly. There
is a daily Socialist journal in the Argentine Republic, a
weekly review in Australia, and in Austria two daily
publications and a bi-weekly review. The Socialists in Belgium
publish four daily organs; those of Bulgaria support two
bi-weekly reviews; and those of Canada one weekly review. One
daily Socialist newspaper circulates in Denmark, and four
weekly publications in Spain. In the United States there are
four daily and eight weekly publications and a monthly
magazine. France has two daily Socialist newspapers and ten
weekly Socialist periodicals. In Greece the Socialists support
a weekly publication, in Holland a daily one, and in Hungary
both a daily and a weekly one. In Italy there are four daily
Socialist newspapers; and a single one in Norway, Poland, and
Sweden respectively. Socialists living in Switzerland have
three daily and three weekly organs; while those in Russia
have 20 monthly or bi-monthly ones, most of which are
published secretly. In Rumania and Sweden there are also
Socialist publications.
SOCIALISM: AUSTRALIA:
Government Ownership of Railways.
See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: AUSTRALIA.
SOCIALISM: AUSTRIA: A. D. 1903.
Adoption of a Resolution against Alcoholic Drinking by
the National Convention of the Social Democracy.
See (in this Volume)
ALCOHOL PROBLEM: AUSTRIA.
SOCIALISM: BELGIUM: A. D. 1904.
Socialist Losses in the Belgium Elections.
See (in this volume)
BELGIUM: A.D. 1904.
SOCIALISM: DENMARK: A. D. 1905-1909.
Socialists Contending for Disarmament.
See (in this Volume)
DENMARK: A. D. 1905-1909.
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SOCIALISM: ENGLAND: A. D. 1909.
The Principal Socialist Organizations of the Present Day. --
"There are four principal organizations actively engaged in
gaining adherents to the cause of Collectivism as a practical
policy, all over the kingdom. They are:
(1) The Social Democratic Party, formerly Social Democratic
Federation, and familiarly known as S. D. F.;
(2) the Fabian Society;
(3) the Independent Labour Party or I. L. P.;
(4) the Clarion Fellowship and Scouts.
There are several others of minor importance, though not to be
ignored, for they all represent the spread of the central idea
of Socialism. Among them is the Church Socialist League, which
is significant as being a society of convinced Socialists
within the Church of England holding that the ‘community
should own the land and capital collectively and use them
co-operatively for the good of all.’"
The oldest organization "began as the Democratic Federation in
1881, became the Social Democratic Federation in 1883, and has
recently changed its name to the Social Democratic Party. Its
object, according to the programme as revised in 1906, is:
"‘The socialization of the means of production, distribution,
and exchange, to be controlled by a democratic State in the
interests of the entire community, and the complete
emancipation of labour from the domination of capitalism and
landlordism, with the establishment of social and economic
equality between the sexes.’
"It demands a large number of ‘immediate reforms,’ including
the following:
"Abolition of the Monarchy.
Abolition of the House of Lords.
Payment of members of Parliament and administrative
bodies.
Adult suffrage.
Referendum.