UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1898 (APRIL-MAY: PHILIPPINES).
"PREDOMINANT MEMBER," Remarks of Lord Rosebery on the.
See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1894-1895.
PREHISTORIC DISCOVERIES.
See (in this volume)
ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH.
PREMPEH, Overthrow of King.
See (in this volume)
ASHANTI.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES: Union in Scotland.
See (in this volume)
SCOTLAND: A. D. 1900.
PRESS, The:
Relaxation of restrictions in Poland.
See (in this volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1897.
PRESS, The:
Prosecutions in Germany.
See (in this volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1900 (OCTOBER 9).
PRETORIA: A. D. 1894.
Demonstration of British residents.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1894.
PRETORIA: A. D. 1900.
Taken by the British forces.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE FIELD OF WAR):
A. D. 1900 (MAY-JUNE).
PRIMARY ELECTION LAW.
See (in this volume)
NEW YORK STATE: A. D. 1898.
PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND.
See (in this volume)
CANADA.
{420}
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY:
Celebration of 250th anniversary.
Assumption of new name.
See (in this volume)
EDUCATION (UNITED STATES): A. D. 1896.
PRINSLOO, Commandant: Surrender.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE FIELD OF WAR):
A. D. 1900 (JUNE-DECEMBER).
PROCTOR, Senator Redfield:
Account of the condition of the Cuban Reconcentrados.
See (in this volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1897-1898 (DECEMBER-MARCH).
PROGRESSISTS,
PROGRESSIVES.
See (in this volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1897;
JAPAN: A. D. 1890-1898, and after;
SOUTH AFRICA (CAPE COLONY): A. D. 1898,
and 1898 (MARCH-OCTOBER).
PROHIBITION PARTY, The.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1896 (JUNE-NOVEMBER);
and 1900 (MAY-NOVEMBER).
PROHIBITION PLEBISCITE, Canadian.
See (in this volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1898 (SEPTEMBER).
PROTECTIVE TARIFFS.
See (in this volume)
TARIFF LEGISLATION.
PROTOCOL, for suspension of Spanish-American War.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1898 (JULY-DECEMBER).
PRUSSIA: Census, 1895.
See (in this volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1895 (JUNE-DECEMBER).
PRUSSIA: A. D. 1899-1901.
Canal projects.
See (in this volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1899 (AUGUST); and 1901 (JANUARY).
PRUSSIA: A. D. 1901.
Bicentenary celebration.
The bicentenary of the coronation of the first King of Prussia
was celebrated with much ceremony and festivity on the 18th of
January, 1901.
PULLMAN.
A decision of the Supreme Court of Illinois, rendered early in
1899, deprives the Pullman Car Company of the legal right to
own and conduct the affairs of the town of Pullman, Illinois.
The effect is understood to be that the town will be
incorporated with Chicago.
PUNJAB, Formation of a new province from districts of the.
See (in this volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1901 (FEBRUARY).
PUPIN, Dr. Michael I.:
Improvement in long-distance telephony.
See (in this volume)
SCIENCE, RECENT: ELECTRICAL.
Q.
QUEBEC, Province.
See (in this volume)
CANADA.
QUEENS COUNTY:
Incorporation in Greater New York.
See (in this volume)
NEW YORK CITY: A. D. 1896-1897.
QUEENSLAND.
See (in this volume)
AUSTRALIA; and CONSTITUTION OF AUSTRALIA.
QUINCY, Josiah:
Progressive measures as Mayor of Boston.
See (in this volume)
BOSTON: A. D. 1895-1899.
R.
RACES, European, The expansion of.
See (in this volume)
NINETEENTH CENTURY: EXPANSION.
RAILWAY, The Anatolian.
Extension to the Persian Gulf.
See (in this volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1899 (NOVEMBER).
RAILWAY, Cape to Cairo.
"A line now [1899] runs northward from Cape Town to Bulawayo,
in Rhodesia, a distance of 1,360 miles, and is being pushed
still farther northward. From Bulawayo to Lake Tanganyika is
about 1,000 miles; and this Mr. Rhodes hopes to reach by 1905.
Lake Tanganyika is 410 miles long; and it is likely that its
waters will be utilized for a time at least for transferring
northwardly the freights and passengers reaching its southern
end. Meantime the railroad from Cairo is being pushed
southwardly to meet the line which is coming from the Cape
northwardly. It has already been constructed to Atbara, where
American contractors have just finished the steel bridge in a
time which British bridge-builders considered impossible; and
the line is being pushed forward to Khartoum from that point.
Khartoum is 1,300 miles from Cairo; so that when work on the
section from Atbara to Khartoum is completed, as it will be
within a few months, the two gaps to be filled in will be from
Khartoum to the north end of Lake Tanganyika, a distance of
1,700 miles, and the 950 miles from the south end of Lake
Tanganyika to Bulawayo; i. e., 2,700 miles in all. Thus, of
the necessary land length, assuming that at least the 410
miles length of Lake Tanganyika will be at first utilized,
about one-half will be finished on the completion of the
section from Atbara to Khartoum, within the next few months.
The remaining 2,700 miles will, it is estimated, cost
$60,000,000; and Mr. Rhodes confidently predicts its
completion before the year 1910."
_O. P. Austin,
Africa: Present and Future
(Forum, December, 1899)._
See, also (in this volume)
AFRICA: A. D. 1899.
Of course, the plans and calculations of Mr. Cecil Rhodes have
been seriously interfered with by the South African War. He
may have anticipated the war, but not the length nor the
effects of it.
RAILWAY, Haifa to Damascus and Bagdad.
See (in this volume)
JEWS: A. D. 1899.
RAILWAY, The Intercontinental, or "Three Americas."
"One of the important results of the International American
Conference, held in Washington in 1889-90, was its
recommendation that an International Commission be created to
ascertain the feasibility, the cost, and the available
location for a railroad connecting the countries of South and
Central America with Mexico and the United States. This
recommendation was cordially indorsed by Secretary Blaine in
submitting the report to President Harrison, who transmitted
it to Congress, asking that an appropriation be made to
commence the surveys. In the same act which authorized the
establishment of the Bureau of the American Republics—the
Diplomatic and Consular Appropriation Act of July 14, 1890—the
Intercontinental Railway Commission was created.
{421}
In this act it was provided that three Commissioners on the
part of the United States should be appointed by the
President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, who were
to act with representatives of the other American Republics to
devise plans for carrying out the objects recommended by the
International American Conference. The Commission organized
December 4, 1890, and at once set about the equipping of the
surveying parties to make the necessary topographical
examination. The United States representatives on the
Commission were practical railroad men—A. J. Cassatt, Henry G.
Davis, and R. C. Kerens, and eleven other Republics were
represented on the Commission. The report just issued [March,
1899] is in four volumes, with four sets of maps and profiles,
exhibiting the surveys and examination of the country that
were made from Mexico through Central America to Colombia,
Ecuador, and Peru, in South America. In addition to the
personal observations in South America, the officers making
the reports also gathered from the best obtainable sources
geographical, railroad, and other information relating to
Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, and
Venezuela. The report gives the proposed distances as follows:
Central American division, from Ayutla, Guatemala, on the
Mexican border, to Rio Golfito, Colombia, 1,043 miles; from
Rio Golfito to Buenos Aires, Argentina, 5,446.76 miles;
through the United States from New York to Laredo, Texas,
2,094 miles; and from that point, through Mexico to Ayutla,
Guatemala, 1,644.3 miles; making a total of 10,228.06 miles,
including the lines already in operation in the different
countries. The extent of railway to be constructed is a little
over one-half the total, being 5,456.13 miles. An estimate is
given of the cost for grading, masonry, and bridges of that
portion of the line which must be constructed to complete the
connections, which amounts to $174,290,271.84."
_Bureau of American Republics,
Bulletin, March, 1899._
As now surveyed, from New York City to Buenos Ayres, it will
be 10,221 miles long, and to finish and equip it will cost at
least $200,000,000. This length and cost will also be
increased when the line is extended through Patagonia to the
southern limits of South America. The complete surveys … prove
that a practicable route can be found and the road built
within a reasonable time. The route of this road can be traced
on the map, while the following table shows the distances, the
miles built, and the gaps to be filled:
Built. Proposed. Total.
United States. 2,094 … 2,094
Mexico 1,183 461 1,644
Total North America. 3,277 461 3,738
---------
Guatemala. 43 126 169
San Salvador. 64 166 230
Honduras. … 71 71
Nicaragua. 103 106 209
Costa Rica. … 360 360
Total Central America. 210 829 1,039
Colombia. … 1,354 1,354
Ecuador. … 658 658
Peru. 151 1,833 1,784
Bolivia. 195 392 587
Argentina. 936 125 1,061
Total South America. 1,282 4,769 5,444
Grand total. 4,769 5,452 10,221
"The demands of trade may compel early construction of this
railroad. It is doubtful if a remunerative commerce can be
built up between North and South America by ship. The
conformation of the eastern coast of South America compels a
long detour to the east, and brings a ship almost as near to
the ports of Europe as to the ports of the United States. The
exports of South America, being mainly agricultural, will find
a readier sale in Europe than in this country, and when they
are exchanged for the cheap manufactured goods of that
continent the conditions for trade are supplied. If, for these
reasons, this country can not build up a commerce with South
America by water, a quicker means of transit must be had, such
as the Pan-American Railway would provide. The obstacles to be
overcome are great. They surpass the difficulties in the way of
the Siberian or the 'Cape to Cairo' road, but the results will
be correspondingly greater.
"South America has greater undeveloped resources than any
other continent. Its agricultural possibilities are boundless.
It has the greatest rivers in the world; its soil can produce
any crop grown on the earth, and its mines of gold, silver,
and coal have been scarcely touched. A railroad which would
traverse the coffee lands of the Central American States, pass
through the mines of Peru, and penetrate the rich pampas of
Brazil and Argentina, must have great possibilities before it.
The products of the three great valleys of the Orinoco, the
Amazon, and the Paraguay rivers would find a market by means
of it, and the riches of the mines of the Incas be shown to
surpass those of California and South Africa."
_Bureau of American Republics,
Bulletin, December, 1899._
RAILWAY, The Tehuantepec.
See (in this volume)
MEXICO: A. D. 1898-1900.
RAILWAY, The Three Americas.
See, above,
RAILWAY, INTERCONTINENTAL.
RAILWAY, Trans-Siberian.
See (in this volume)
RUSSIA IN ASIA: A. D. 1891-1900.
RAILWAY, The Uganda, or Mombasa-Victoria.
See (in this volume)
UGANDA RAILWAY.
RAILWAYS: in Africa.
See (in this volume)
AFRICA: A. D. 1899.
RAILWAYS: American Inter-State.
Arbitration of industrial disputes.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1898 (JUNE).
RAILWAYS: Concessions in China.
See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1895;
1897 (MAY-JUNE);
1897 (NOVEMBER);
1898 (FEBRUARY-DECEMBER);
1898 (MARCH);
1898 (APRIL-AuGUST);
1898 (MAY);
1899 (MARCH-APRIL).
RAILWAYS:
Russian projects in Persia.
See (in this volume)
RUSSIA IN ASIA: A. D. 1900.
{422}
RAILWAYS:
State purchase in Switzerland.
See (in this volume)
SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1894-1898.
RAINES LAW, The.
See (in this volume)
NEW YORK STATE: A. D. 1896-1897.
RAMAPO WATER CONTRACT, The.
See (in this volume)
NEW YORK CITY: A. D. 1899-1900.
RANAVALOMANJAKA, Queen.
See (in this volume)
MADAGASCAR.
RAND, Gold fields of the.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1885-1890.
RECIPROCITY:
Treaties under the Dingley Tariff Act.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1899-1901.
RECONCENTRADOS.
(See in this volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1896-1897;
and 1897-1898 (DECEMBER-MARCH).
RED CROSS SOCIETY, The:
Relief work in Armenia and Cuba.
See (in this volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1896 (JANUARY-MARCH);
and CUBA: A. D. 1896-1897.
REFERENDUM, The:
In Minnesota.
See (in this volume)
MINNESOTA: A. D. 1896.
REFERENDUM, The:
Introduction in South Dakota.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH DAKOTA: A. D. 1898.
REFERENDUM, The:
Its exercise in Switzerland.
See (in this volume)
SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1894-1898.
REID CONTRACT, The.
See (in this volume)
NEWFOUNDLAND: A. D. 1897-1900; and 1899-1901.
REITFONTEIN, Battle of.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE FIELD OF WAR):
A. D. 1899 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).
RELIGIOUS ORDERS, Bill to regulate, in France.
See (in this volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1901 (JANUARY).
REPRESENTATIVES:
Reapportionment in the Congress of the United States.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1901 (JANUARY).
REPUBLICAN PARTY, The,
in the U. S. Presidential elections, 1896 and 1900.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1896 (JUNE-NOVEMBER);
and 1900 (MAY-NOVEMBER).
RESERVOIRS, Nile.
See (in this volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1898-1901.
RHINE-ELBE CANAL PROJECT, The.
See (in this volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1899 (AUGUST);
and 1901 (JANUARY).
RHODE ISLAND: A. D. 1900.
Newport no longer a capital city.
At the election in November, 1900, a constitutional amendment
was adopted which makes Providence alone the capital city of
Rhode Island. Newport had been one of the capitals since the
colonies of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations were
united.
RHODES, Cecil John:
Founder of the British South Africa Company.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1884-1894.
RHODES, Cecil John:
Master spirit of the British South Africa Company.
His name given to its dominions.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY):
A. D. 1894-1895.
RHODES, Cecil John:
Participation in Uitlander revolutionary conspiracy at
Johannesburg, leading to Jameson Raid.
Resignation of Cape Colony premiership.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1895-1896.
RHODES, Cecil John:
Dealing with Matabele revolt.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (RHODESIA):
A. D. 1896 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER).
RHODES, Cecil John:
Resignation from the Board of the British South Africa
Company.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA
(BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY): A. D. 1896 (JUNE).
RHODES, Cecil John:
Accused by the Cape Colony Assembly of complicity in the
Jameson Raid.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (CAPE COLONY): A. D. 1896 (JULY).
RHODES, Cecil John:
Testimony before British Parliamentary Committee on the
Jameson Raid.
The Committee's report.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL):
A. D. 1897 (FEBRUARY-JULY).
RHODES, Cecil John:
In Cape Colony politics.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (CAPE COLONY): A. D. 1898.
RHODES, Cecil John:
Projection of a Cape to Cairo Railway.
See (in this volume)
RAILWAY, CAPE TO CAIRO;
and AFRICA: A. D. 1899.
RHODES, Cecil John:
Beleaguered in Kimberley.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE FIELD OF WAR):
A. D. 1899 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER).
RHODES, Cecil John:
Projection of a Cape to Cairo Telegraph.
See (in this volume)
TELEGRAPH, CAPE TO CAIRO.
RHODESIA: A. D. 1896 (March-September).
Revolt of the Matabeles.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (RHODESIA):
A. D. 1896 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER).
RHODESIA: A. D. 1896 (July).
Parliamentary investigation of British South Africa Company.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY):
A. D. 1896 (JULY).
RHODESIA: A. D. 1897.
Report on compulsory native labor.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY):
A. D. 1897 (JANUARY).
RHODESIA: A. D. 1898.
Reorganized administration.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA
(RHODESIA AND THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY):
A. D. 1898 (FEBRUARY).
RHODESIA: A. D. 1900.
Protectorate proclaimed over Barotsiland.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (RHODESIA): A. D. 1900 (SEPTEMBER).
RIO PRIETO, Engagement at the.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1898 (JULY-AUGUST; PORTO RICO).
RIZAL, Dr. José.
See (in this volume)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1896-1898.
ROBERTS, Field Marshal, Lord (Sir Frederick Sleigh):
In the South African War.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE FIELD OF WAR):
A. D. 1900 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY), and after.
ROBINSON, Sir Hercules:
British High Commissioner in South Africa.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL):
A. D. 1896 (JANUARY-APRIL).
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, The.
See PAPACY.
ROMAN CATHOLICS:
Protest of British Peers against the
Declaration required from the Sovereign.
See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1901 (FEBRUARY).
{423}
ROMAN CATHOLICS:
Victory in Belgium.
See (in this volume)
BELGIUM: A. D. 1894-1895.
ROMAN LAW:
Superseded in Germany.
See (in this volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1900 (JANUARY).
ROME:
The likeness of its early settlement shown by excavations
at Antemnæ.
See (in this volume)
ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: ITALY.
RÖNTGEN, Wilhelm Konrad:
Discovery of the X rays.
See (in this volume)
SCIENCE, RECENT: CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS.
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment of Rough Riders.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (APRIL-MAY).
ROOSEVELT, Theodore:
Elected Vice President of the United States.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1900 (MAY-NOVEMBER).
ROSEBERY, Earl of:
Prime minister.
Remarks on the "predominant member."
See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1894-1895.
ROSEBERY, Earl of:
Tribute to Mr. Gladstone.
See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1898 (MAY).
ROSEBERY, Earl of:
Tribute to Queen Victoria.
See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1901 (JANUARY).
ROUGH RIDERS, The.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1898 (APRIL-MAY).
ROUGH RIDERS, The.
At Santiago.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (JUNE-JULY).
ROUMANIA.
See (in this volume)
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES;
and TURKEY: A. D. 1899-1901.
ROYAL NIGER COMPANY, The.
See (in this volume)
NIGERIA: A. D. 1882-1899.
ROYAL NIGER COMPANY, The.
Transfer of territories to the British crown.
See (in this volume)
NIGERIA: A. D. 1899.
RUDINI, Marquis di:
Resignation of Ministry.
See (in this volume)
ITALY: A. D. 1898 (MARCH-JUNE).
RUMANIA.
See (in this volume)
BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES;
and TURKEY: A. D. 1899-1901.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1895.
Agreement with Great Britain concerning the frontier of
Afghanistan and spheres of influence in the Pamir region.
See (in this volume)
AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1895.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1895.
Alliance with France.
See (in this volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1895.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1895.
Treaty with China giving railway and other privileges and
rights in Manchuria.
See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1895.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1896 (May-June).
Coronation of the Tzar.
The Tzar Nicholas II., who succeeded his father, Alexander
III., on the death of the latter, November 1, 1894, was not
formally crowned until May 26, 1896. The splendid festivities
of the occasion lasted from May 18 until June, and were
attended by a brilliant assembly of princes and high officials
from all parts of the world. They were saddened by a frightful
calamity on the 31st of May, when an attempt was made to
distribute gifts of food and drink to a vast multitude of
nearly half a million people, on Khodynskoye plain. Adequate
measures for controlling the pressure of the crowd had not
been taken, and nearly 3,000 were suffocated or trampled to
death.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1897.
Relaxations of oppressive laws.
Several important relaxations of oppressive laws were
commanded by the Tzar in the course of the year. By one, sons
of the marriage of an orthodox Russian with one of another
creed were allowed to be brought up in the religion of the
father and daughters in that of the mother. By another, Jews
having an university education were allowed freedom of
residence in any part of the empire. By others, greater
freedom was given to the Polish press, formerly forbidden to
discuss political questions; local assemblies of Polish nobles
were organized; permission was given to restore Roman Catholic
churches in Poland, and certain special Polish taxes were
removed.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1897 (February).
Census of the Empire.
"For the first time in the history of the Hyperborean Empire,
a general, and if I may use the expression, scientific, census
has been taken of the various tongues and tribes, religions
and sects, cultured races and nomadic hordes who acknowledge
the sway of the Tsar. It was a Herculean labour, without
precedent in history and without a formula in statistics. … On
June 5, 1895, the reigning Tsar gave his sanction to a scheme
which was both conformable to the exigencies of modern
statistics and suitable to the various conditions peculiar to
Russia. … The general plan of operations was simple, and
calculated as far as possible to impose a large portion of the
task upon officials of the Administration, and obviate the
necessity of paying for it. Thus there was a Committee in
every Government or Province of the Empire, presided over by
the actual Governor; and there were sub-committees in every
district under the direction of the Marshal of the Nobility. …
The task undertaken by the Central Committee was in the
highest degree formidable: rooted prejudices had to be
overcome, inarticulate suspicions removed—the half-civilised
nomads have an insuperable dislike to answer questions of the
'Tshinovniks'—the confidence of the people gained, languages
mastered, routes studied, badges prepared for the officials,
millions upon millions of census papers printed and
distributed over the length and breadth of the Empire, &c. &c.
…
"In order that the work might be finished as early as possible
at the same time, the cantonal sections were split up into
divisions, which had to be more or less equal. In country
places the division was not usually allowed to exceed 400
households, or say, 2,600 souls; in cities 150 flats, or about
750 souls. The registrars, who were answerable for the census
in these districts, were chosen from all classes of society,
the only condition being that they must be persons of some
education, and calculated to inspire the population with
confidence—a very important consideration in Russia. Thus,
there were priests, officers, school-teachers, students,
merchants, landowners, and in some cases peasants. The
remuneration fixed for the work, which was sometimes attended
with danger and in almost every case with very disagreeable
experiences, was 12 roubles, or about £1 4s. 6d., in rural
districts, and 7 roubles in towns.
{424}
Labour is still cheap in Russia, but even there this modest
sum was found insufficient to tempt the competent persons, who
in out-of-the-way districts were few and far between. When
this had become painfully evident, it was too late to set the
clumsy machinery in motion through which alone it might have
been possible to obtain a higher rate of remuneration. As the
registrars were, in many places, not to be had, it seemed
likely that the census would prove a lamentable failure. Then
the Tsar appeared as a 'deus ex machinâ,' and instituted a
special medal for all those who should agree to undertake the
work gratis. Like most Continental peoples, Russians have a
hankering after 'ribbons to stick in their coats,' and the
moment the medal was promised for gratuitous services there
was no lack of willing workmen. Thousands of volunteers
presented themselves, and the authorities selected the most
competent. … On January 28 [Old Style, being, N. S. February
9, 1897], … at break of day an army of 150,000 individuals
left their homes to count the number of people inhabiting an
empire which occupies one-sixth of the globe. …
"The first Russian census … may be considered to have proved a
brilliant success. The results may be summed up very briefly
as follows: The population of the Russian Empire and the Grand
Duchy of Finland numbers 129,211,114 souls, of whom
94,188,750 inhabit the 50 Governments of European Russia
9,442,500 inhabit the 10 Governments of Poland
9,723,553 inhabit the 11 Governments of the Caucasus
5,731,732 inhabit the 9 Governments of Siberia
3,415,174 inhabit the 5 Governments of the Steppe regions
4,175,101 inhabit the Provinces of Transcaspia and of Turkestan.
6,413 inhabit Khiva and Boukhara
2,527,801 inhabit Finland
----------
129,211,114 Total
"Compared with the figures of former years, as given by the
partial official returns and in the tables of the statistician
Köppen, we find that the population has increased since the
year 1851 by 96.2 per cent; since 1858 by 73.2 per cent; since
1885 by 18.1 per cent. The average density of the population
is 8.8 persons to the square verst [the verst equalling
1166.66 yards], but it naturally varies a good deal in the
different districts and Provinces. Thus, in the 10 Governments
of Poland it amounts to 84.6 to the sq. verst. In the 50
Governments of European Russia it amounts to 22.2 to the sq.
verst. In the Governments of the Caucasus it amounts to 23.6
to the sq. verst. In Siberia it amounts to 0.5 to the sq.
verst. In the Steppe region it amounts to 1.6 to the sq.
verst.
"Even in the different Governments of European Russia the
density varies considerably. …
"There are 19 cities in Russia, with a population of more than
100,000 souls each, and 35 which have from 50,000 to 100,000.
In fifteen cities the number of females exceeds that of the
males, whereas in all the others it is smaller. … The natural
increase of the population is kept down to a relatively low
figure by an abnormally large death-rate, which is mainly due
to avoidable causes. Infectious diseases and insufficiency of
medical help are among the most obvious. … In no country in
the world are infectious diseases so frequently mortal as in
Russia. Children especially suffer, and diphtheria, measles,
scarlatina, smallpox, &c., literally decimate villages and
country towns. It has been stated by the statistician Ekk,
with the help of official figures, that about 1,900,000
persons, chiefly children, die every year who might, with a
little care, be preserved to the Empire. The difference which
this loss makes to the population in fifty years is enormous."
_E. J. Dillon,
The First Russian Census
(Contemporary Review, December, 1897). _
RUSSIA: A. D. 1897 (November).
Treaty with the United States and Japan, to suspend pelagic
sealing.
See (in this volume)
BERING SEA QUESTIONS.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1897 (December).
Adoption of the gold monetary standard.
See (in this volume)
MONETARY QUESTIONS: A. D. 1897 (DECEMBER).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1897-1898.
Contentions with Japan in Korea.
See (in this volume)
KOREA: A. D. 1895-1898.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1898 (March).
Increase of naval armament.
On the 10th of March an imperial ukase ordered an addition of
90,000,000 roubles to the expenditure on war ships already
provided for, the extra disbursement to be spread over seven
years.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1898 (March).
Lease of Port Arthur, Talienwan and the Liaotung Peninsula
from China.
See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1898 MARCH-JULY).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1898 (May-December).
In the Chinese "Battle of Concessions."
See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1898 (FEBRUARY-DECEMBER).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1898-1899.
The Tzar's proposal to check the increase of armaments.
The resulting Peace Conference at The Hague.
See (in this volume)
PEACE CONFERENCE.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1898-1901.
The question of sugar bounties.
United States countervailing duties and Russian retaliation.
See (in this volume)
SUGAR BOUNTIES.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1898-1901.
The Russianizing of Finland.
Overthrow of the constitutional rights of the Finns.
See (in this volume)
FINLAND: A. D. 1898-1901.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1899.
Famine.
A fearful famine in eastern Russia, within and beyond the
valley of the Volga, was caused in 1899 by an almost
unprecedented failure of crops. With the famine came typhus
fever, and the tale of suffering and death was one of the most
heart-rending of the century.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1899 (February-June.)
Disorder among the students.
For some months, the universities and most of the higher
schools of Russia were in a state of disorder, and in conflict
with the police authorities. Many of the institutions were closed
and a great number of the students were under arrest. The
students complained of the statutes of the universities, and
of the general treatment to which they were subjected, and
were bitterly hostile to the police. The Tzar seems to have
given personal attention to their grievances, which he
appointed a commission to investigate. On the report of the
commission he issued an imperial order severely censuring the
administration of the universities, and also reproving the
police, while, at the same time, he addressed some serious
admonitions to the students.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1899 (March-April).
Agreement with Great Britain concerning railway interests in
China.
See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1899 (MARCH-APRIL).
{425}
RUSSIA: A. D. 1899 (May).
Steps toward the abolition of transportation to Siberia.
On the 18th of May, the Tzar issued the following order: "A
commission of the officers of the ministry of justice and
representatives of the respective departments under the
auspices of the minister of justice shall be formed. The
commission is to work out the following: To replace
transportation of criminals by punishment by courts; to
abolish or limit administrative transportation by peasant
boards; to reorganize penal servitude and the deportation
which follows; to better the condition of the convicts now in
Siberia; to improve prisons where criminals are confined
awaiting transportation and deportation; to establish
compulsory public labor and workhouses as penal measures; to
provide means for carrying out the measures necessary for the
reorganization of the transportation of criminals and of penal
establishments. The minister of justice is to ask direct, and
not through any department, for the imperial sanction of the
committee's recommendations." The British Commercial Agent in
Russia, reporting to the Foreign Office in June, 1900, stated
in allusion to the above order: "The State Council is reported
to have just decided, by a majority of votes, to introduce at
once the necessary changes, as the Central Prisons
Administration has declared that the gaol accommodation is
sufficient. The number of exiles to Siberia from 1823 to 1898
is given as 908,266, mostly to Eastern Siberia."
RUSSIA: A. D. 1899 (May-July).
Representation in the Peace Conference at The Hague.
See (in this volume)
PEACE CONFERENCE.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1899 (December).
Adhesion to the arrangement of an "open door" commercial
policy in China.
See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1899-1900 (SEPTEMBER-FEBRUARY).
RUSSIA: A. D. 1899-1901.
Attitude towards impending revolt in Macedonia.
See (in this volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1899-1901; and BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1900.
Military and naval expenditure.
See (in this volume)
WAR BUDGETS.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1900.
Naval strength.
See (in this volume)
NAVIES OF THE SEA POWERS.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1900 (June-December).
Co-operation with the Powers in China.
See (in this volume)
CHINA.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1900 (August).
Proposal to withdraw troops from Peking.
See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1900 (AUGUST-DECEMBER.)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1900-1901.
Student outbreaks.
Serious demonstrations of discontent.
Severe measures of repression.
Action of the Tzar.
A fresh outbreak of revolt among the students in the Russian
universities, more serious in its nature, apparently, than
that of 1899 (see above; A. D. 1899, FEBRUARY-JUNE), was
started at Kieff, in December, 1900, by a remonstrance on the
part of the students against the retention of a professor whom
they deemed incompetent. The rector of the university refused
to dismiss the objectionable professor; whereupon the
governor-general of the province intervened and forbade him to
lecture. The rector and the council of the university could
not resist the authority of the governor-general, but they are
said to have revenged themselves on the students by requiring
seven of the latter to choose between three days of
imprisonment and three years of expulsion from the university.
They chose the latter and were expelled. Then the students as
a body began to be troublesome, especially after the rector
had refused to meet them for a discussion of their grievances.
Finally the police and the military authorities were called
in; a large number of the students were arrested and brought
to trial before a special court which had been created for
dealing with the student troubles of the year before.
According to subsequent reports, more than two hundred of them
were condemned to be sent into the ranks of the army—which seems
to be a punishment newly devised for such cases, and not
likely to improve the loyal spirit of the army.
This hard treatment of the students at Kieff inflamed their
sympathetic fellows in all the universities of the empire, and
became the immediate cause of disorderly demonstrations, which
began, in January or early in February, to be made at St.
Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, and elsewhere; but there cannot be
a doubt that the disturbances since occurring represent an
instigation deeper, more revolutionary, more serious, than the
resentment of students misused by their teachers. The students
persisted resolutely in attempts to hold meetings which were
prohibited as seditious; to make appeals to the people; to
circulate forbidden literature; while the authorities struck
them, at every movement they made, with a relentless hand. As
usual, the oppressive violence of government provoked
desperate crime. On the 27th of February, the Minister of
Public Instruction, Privy Councillor Bogoliepoff, was shot by
an expelled student, who approached him, in his official
apartments, under pretense of presenting a petition. He died
of the wound on the 15th of March. Meantime, the conduct of
students, at St. Petersburg and Moscow especially, became more
and more riotous and revolutionary in spirit. There were
signs, too, of an understanding between them and the
discontented workingmen of the cities, which caused anxiety. A
Vienna journal claims to have knowledge that, after the
troubles at Kieff, a widespread movement of alliance between
secret associations of students and workmen was set on foot,
and that it threatened to be the most formidable revolutionary
organization that the government had yet faced.
That the sympathy of literary circles in Russia is with the
students appears to be proved by the following manifesto,
which was published in Paris on the 22d of March, signed, it
is said, by forty-five Russian men of letters:
"We, the undersigned Russian men of letters, deprived of the
possibility of freely expressing our ideas on the needs of our
poor Fatherland, prevented by the censorship from speaking of
what happens before our eyes or indicating an outlet from the
terrible situation of our country, and conscious of our duty
towards the people, resort to our foreign brethren for the
purpose of informing the civilized world of the atrocities now
being committed among us. On March 17, in the Kazan Square at
St. Petersburg, the police fell on an inoffensive and unarmed
crowd of several thousand persons, men, women, and children,
and without any provocation showed unexampled brutality and
ferocity. Cossacks, surrounding the crowd and preventing it
from dispersing, charged without warning the compact mass,
which had mostly been drawn together by curiosity.
{426}
The police seized at random the people who fell into their
hands, striking them without mercy with their fists or swords.
Those of the public, even officers in uniform, who begged for
a cessation of the carnage, were maltreated or even arrested.
Such are the facts of which several of us have been
eye-witnesses. Similar atrocities have recently been committed
in other Russian towns. Full of terror and anguish at the
future in store for our country, thus given up to the whips of
Cossacks and the swords of the police, convinced that our
indignation is shared by those of our Russian brethren whose
signatures we have not had time to obtain, by all the
intellectual society of Russia, and by all those from whom
feelings of self-respect and humanity have not yet been
eradicated, convinced also that our foreign brethren will not
remain indifferent to what passes among us, we appeal to the
Press of the world to give the utmost publicity to the
attestation of the lamentable facts of which we have been
witnesses." A despatch from St. Petersburg on the 26th
reported that the Mutual Aid Association of Russian writers
attached to the St. Petersburg Literary Society, from which
this protest emanated, had been suppressed, as the consequence
of its publication.
A more significant expression, and one from which a more
definite idea of the nature and causes of the discontent among
the students may be obtained, is the following petition,
addressed to the Tzar by a number of Russian professors and
Senators in March. The St. Petersburg correspondent of the
"London Times," who sent a translation of the paper to that
journal on the 18th of March, remarked that "it is very
doubtful if it will have any real effect, and its contents may
very possibly be regarded by the red-tape officials into whose
hands it may fall, if not by the Emperor himself, as implying
a request for something like a Constitution. Apart from that
consideration a collective petition in Russia is illegal." The
translation of the document is as follows:
"Your Imperial Majesty,—We, the undersigned loyal subjects,
consider it our patriotic duty to address you, Sire, with the
present humble petition on the subject of the recent agitation
among the students. We desire to express in this paper the
thoughts that have long been a matter of painful reflection to
every Russian conscious of the life which he is living. This
perturbation among the students, which has been of periodical
recurrence for the last 40 years, has ruined the careers of
thousands of young men and women animated by the most ardent
aspirations for the good and happiness of their native
country. It would undoubtedly be most unjust to lay all the
blame for these disorders on the students themselves. The
causes of this state of things lie much deeper. They are
connected with many of the general conditions of the life of
our State and society; they are to a great extent rooted in
the want of organization of academical centres. This want of
organization was explained by the special commission appointed
by your Majesty's command two years ago. But the labours of that
body failed to have the practical result which was apparently
expected of it; public opinion was not permitted to take part
in its deliberations, either by means of the Press or in any
other way. The matter was treated according to the usual
official routine, and in the Ministry of Public Instruction
the magnanimous intentions of your Majesty were not only
rendered colourless, but deprived of all their real
significance. Instead of properly carrying out your Majesty's
indications in regard to closer communion between the students
and professors of the higher educational establishments, the
Ministry dismissed those among the latter whose moral
qualities and devotion to duty were calculated to exercise the
most beneficial influence over their scholars.
"Those among the students who took part in the disturbances,
and who should have been worked upon by moral persuasion, were
expelled from the Universities, and the force of inspectors,
otherwise the University police, was increased for the purpose
of controlling those who remained. The temporary law of June
29, 1899, against further disorders threatened the agitators
with the punishment of being drafted into the ranks of the
army. This measure, which has now been enforced, will, of
course, put down the movement at least for a time; but it is
impossible to ignore its moral effect. It only represses, but
does not thoroughly convince. By this means the more
hot-headed among the students, inspired by the most
respectable aspirations and feelings, will be weeded out of
the scholastic ranks, and their parents will be suddenly
deprived of all hope and consolation in their children perhaps
for years; while on the rest this measure can only have the
effect which is always produced by terror and fear for the
future. It oppresses them, extinguishes their best impulses,
and tends to bring the weaker ones beneath the influence of
those petty egotistical motives which are already so powerful
in our daily life. To bring up an entire generation in such
conditions is to create and support an oppressive state of
things in the life of the nation which must finally lead to
downfall and decay.
"The oppressiveness of this environment is felt not only by
the young, but also by their elders. Is it normal that in an
autocratic State the voice of loyal subjects should be unable
to reach their Sovereign? And yet at the present moment many
persons regard the signature of this loyal petition as almost
an act of the greatest civil courage. In order to loyally and
honestly bring their wants and traditional desires to the
notice of their Monarch (Lord), the subjects of your Majesty
are obliged to act in the dark for fear that the police will
seize hold on the petition and intercept it before it can
reach your Majesty's hands. Many who fully agree with all that
is here expressed will certainly be deterred from signing the
petition because of the unpleasant consequences to themselves
which they fear may follow. In such conditions life becomes
intolerable. A deadening apathy spreads over everyone, all
interest in public activity is lost, and in all spheres of the
Government and society there is a decided feeling of the want
of men. Put an end, Sire, by your magnanimous initiative to
this oppressive situation! Show confidence in your faithful
subjects, and, while discontinuing repression, accord us the
possibility of freely expressing the voice of public opinion,
which is now stifled. The agitation among the students will
cease of itself, and the young men will quietly turn to their
studies as soon as their youthful minds are no longer excited
by the disagreeable conditions which surround them, when they
see the prospect on finishing their education of being allowed
to take a free and useful part in the affairs of their native
land."
{427}
An attempt on the life of a Minister far more important and
more obnoxious than Mr. Bogoliepoff was made on the 22d of
March. This was M. Pobiedonostzeff, Procurator of the Holy
Synod, who has long been credited with being the master-spirit
of evil influence in Russian councils,—a Torquemada of the
nineteenth century, responsible for all the mediævalism in
Russian policy for the past twenty years. Three shots were
fired at the Procurator from the street, through the windows
of his study, and he was missed by them all. The would-be
assassin, named Lagofsky, was promptly seized, and it is
claimed to have been found that he was chosen by lot to
execute an avenging decree. On the other hand, it is reported
that he was moved to the deed by the excommunication of Count
Tolstoi, which the Russian Church had lately pronounced.
If reports are to be credited, the Tzar, at length, took the
direction of measures relating to the disturbances into his own
hands, and began by putting a stop to the forcing of condemned
students into the army. He then appointed to the Ministry of
Public Education General Vannovsky, who had investigated the
student disorders of 1899 for him, and who seems to have
recognized that the disaffection of the students was not without
grounds. It is rumored that unlimited powers for two years have
been given to the new Minister, so that he cannot be interfered
with by the powerful reactionaries who evidently stand between
the best intentions of the Tzar and their execution. The obvious
difficulty of the autocrat is to learn the truth of things and
to know what is being done by those who ostensibly obey his
commands. Apparently he is striving to be served faithfully and
intelligently in this case, and it is to be hoped that he may
have success. He addressed a rescript to General Vannovsky, in
which he said:
"The regular organization of popular education has always
formed one of the chief cares of the Russian rulers, who have
striven, surely but gradually, to perfect it in accordance
with the fundamental principles of Russian life and the
requirements of the times. The experiences of recent years,
however, have shown the existence of defects so material in
our scholastic system that I think that the time has come to
undertake an immediate and thorough revision and improvement.
Highly valuing your experience as a statesman and your
enlightenment, I have chosen you to co-operate with me in the
work of renovating and reorganizing Russian schools; and, in
appointing you to the now specially important office of
Minister of Public Instruction, I am firmly convinced that you
will unswervingly endeavour to attain the goal indicated by me,
and that you will bring into the work of educating the Russian
youth your cordial sympathy and sagacity ripened by
experience. May God bless our work, and may parents and
families, who above all are bound to care for their children,
help us in our work, and then the time will soon come when I
with all my people shall see in the young generation, with
pride and encouragement, the firm and sure hope of the
Fatherland and its strong protection for the future."
The Russian "Official Messenger," St. Petersburg, announced on
the 14th of April that "in consequence of the recent student
disturbances many of the high schools were closed before the
Easter holidays, and the young men were compelled either to
lose a year of their studies or even to leave the college
altogether. In view of the serious consequences which this
measure involved for the career of the students, a special
conference of the principals of the higher colleges was called
to deliberate, under the presidency of the Minister of Public
Instruction, upon the situation thus created. The conference
decided that the following measures were indispensably
necessary for the re-establishment of the regular course of
study at the institutions concerned:
1. Lectures to be renewed in the higher colleges in the course
of April and intermediate examinations under the direction of
the scholastic authorities to be held under the usual
regulations at the customary intervals.
2. The lectures and examinations to be continued during the
summer vacation, should they not have been completed during
the preceding term.
3. All those who without sufficient reason did not attend the
examinations or failed to pass them to be liable to all the
legal consequences thereof.
4. In particularly important cases autumn and supplementary
examinations to be permitted in the higher schools
exceptionally this year."
According to a later despatch from St. Petersburg to the
Associated Press, April 23d, the students of the university at
the capital were informed that day by the rector that "General
Vannoffsky, the Russian Minister of Public Instruction, had
refused to defer the examinations until autumn or make further
concessions to the students. Although the popular professor,
M. Petrozicky, pleaded against an action which would make it
difficult for a liberal minister to carry through his
benevolent intentions, the students decided by a vote of 684
to 649 against participating in the examinations. They
resolved, however, not to create obstruction and the minority
agreed to submit to the will of the majority. The
electro-technical, the civil engineering, the women's medical
and the women's academic institutions also will decide against
taking the examinations. The sincere friends of the students
regret the step in this respect, believing the students should
allow the recall of the absentees to come as an act of grace
from the Government and should not attempt to force
concessions."
RUSSIA: A. D. 1900-1901.
Operations in Manchuria.
Practical possession of the country.
Refusal of Chinese government to sign a demanded treaty.
See (in this volume)
MANCHURIA: A. D. 1900-1901.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1900-1901.
Strategic importance of Korea.
Ground of Japanese jealousy.
See (in this volume)
KOREA: A. D. 1900.
RUSSIA: A. D. 1901 (April).
Expulsion of Count Tolstoi.
His reply to the decree of excommunication.
A reply by Count Tolstoi to the decree of excommunication
pronounced against him by the Russian Church, some weeks
before, written at Moscow on the 13th of April, was published
in Paris on the 30th. As reported to the Associated Press, he
states in his reply that, in consequence of the decree, he has
received letters from ignorant people menacing him with death.
{428}
"He characterizes the decree as illegal or intentionally
equivocal, arbitrary, unjustified and full of falsehoods.
Moreover, he says, it constitutes an instigation to evil
sentiments and deeds. Count Tolstoi denounces the practices of
the church, and says he is convinced that the teaching of the
church, theoretically astute, is injurious, is a lie in
practice and is a compound of vulgar superstitions and
sorcery, under which entirely disappears the sense of
Christian doctrine."
By Press despatch from Vienna, April 23, it was reported that
a decree expelling Count Tolstoi from Russia had been signed
by the Tzar, and carried into execution.
RUSSIA IN ASIA: A. D. 1891-1900.
The Trans-Siberian Railway.
Resources of Siberia and the Amur country.
The following account was reported to the British Foreign
Office in June, 1900:
"For over 30 years the question of constructing this line had
been a theme of interminable discussions and reports. Finally,
the following unmistakeably emphatic note of its Imperial
founder, the Emperor Alexander III., appended to a report on
the general condition of Siberia, moved the whole project
definitely forward as a thing that was to be and at once: 'How
many of these reports of the Governors-General of Siberia have
I perused, and with sorrow and shame must own that the
Government has hitherto hardly done anything to satisfy the
demands of this rich but neglected region! It is time, indeed
time!' A further equally emphatic and still briefer note,
added to a report of the Minister of Ways with regard to the
projected Ussuri route, is to form the appropriate inscription
to the monument to be erected at Vladivostock, the terminus of
his great work, to his late Imperial Majesty: 'The
construction of this railway must be begun forthwith.' The
first stone was laid at Vladivostock on May 19, 1891, by the
then Grand Duke Nicholas, now the reigning Emperor. … A
Siberian railway committee was formed under the presidency of
the then Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich, whose duties were
(1) to construct the main and necessary feeding lines;
(2) to take measures for the general commercial and industrial
development of Siberia; and
(3) to direct and control the colonisation movement.
"Taking the direction of the route, not as it was to have
been, but as it is or will be, we see that with Moscow as the
European centre point, and the Moscow-Samara-Cheliabinsk line
as its principal feeder, the main road runs from Cheliabinsk,
whence it really starts eastward, direct through mid-Siberia
to Lake Baikal, and thence, viâ Chita, to Stretensk on the
Shilka, a navigable tributary of the Amur. At present, the
projected course of the railway viâ the Amur has been
arrested, owing on the one hand to various technical
difficulties, and on the other to the facilities, political
and otherwise, conceded by China, and another direction, in
the nature of a short cut through Manchuria, has been entered
upon. The well-known agreement with China [see, in this
volume, CHINA: A. D. 1895] and the formation of the Chinese
Eastern Railway Company, rendering the original continuation
of the line from Stretensk less urgent, it has been resolved,
instead, to construct two direct lines to the Chinese
frontiers, from Kaidalovo on the main Siberian route on the
one side, and from the Ussuri or Habarovsk-Vladivostock line
on the other. These two lines, traversing Manchuria from
opposite directions, are to meet at Khulan-Chan (Khaorbin),
thence running southwards to Dalni and Port Arthur. Thus, we
see the three lines, the main Siberian road, which, except for
the brief stoppage at Lake Baikal, will run in a practically
straight and uninterrupted course from Cheliabinsk to
Vladivostock; the Ussuri line running northward through
Russian territory from Vladivostock to Habarovsk; and the
branch section from Khulan-Chan (Khaorbin), on the main line,
striking out southward through Eastern China to Dalni and Port
Arthur.
"As far as Russia is concerned, it may be said that her
portion of the work is practically ready, though much
re-laying and reconstruction may at any time be necessary. The
main line is open for regular traffic from Cheliabinsk to Lake
Baikal, and for provisional traffic to Stretensk. According to
the latest telegrams, regular traffic from Lake Baikal to
Stretensk is to be commenced on July 1/14, 1900. Thus, there
is now a direct run (excepting only the lake crossing of 60
versts (about 40 miles), from Moscow, viâ Samara, Cheliabinsk,
Omsk, and Irkutch, to Kaidalovo (252 versts—168 miles—this
side of Stretensk), whence the rail will turn off to Nagodan
on the Chinese frontier. This latter stretch, a distance of
325 versts (216 miles), will complete the work as regards
Russia. The Ussuri line, from Habarovsk to Vladivostock, has
been open for traffic since 1897. The Circum-Baikal connecting
line, round the southern bend of the lake, a distance of 292
versts (195 miles), remains to be laid, the lake being crossed
at present by steam ferries or ice-breakers. A new
ice-breaker, built in England, is now on its way in pieces to
Lake Baikal. It is the Manchurian sections, therefore, that at
present retard the consummation of the complete overland track
to Vladivostock. Nor, from recent accounts, does it seem
likely that the Chinese engaged in the work will bring it to a
conclusion much before 1902, if then. Even now, however, goods
can make their way through Siberia to Stretensk by rail, and
thence down the Shilka and the Amur to Habarovsk, or further
on, by the Ussuri line, to Vladivostock. As regards the
railroad from Port Arthur northward, the latest news brings it
to Telin, north of Mukden, trains with workmen running this
distance, some 500 versts. The Chinese Eastern Railway Company
promise to join Port Arthur to Vladivostock by October next,
it is said, but, even on the route already temporarily in
rough working order, dwellings, stations and permanent bridges
have yet to be built. Thus, there is now direct communication
between Moscow and Stretensk by rail, a distance of 6,471
versts (4,214 miles), and from Stretensk to Habarovsk and
Nikolaieff by the Shilka and Amur rivers, a further distance
to Habarovsk of about 2,000 versts (1,332 miles), and to
Nikolaieff, the mouth of the Amur, of over 3,000 versts (2,000
miles). The Amur is navigable from May to September, but for
shallow-draft vessels only.
"Various important European feeding lines have been
constructed, and others, partaking more of the character of
huge main thoroughfares are projected. Cheliabinsk, the
starting-point eastwards, is connected with Moscow by the
Zlatoust-Samara-Moscow Railway, which, touching the Volga at
Samara, crosses it at Sisran.
{429}
Two northern branches, the Tiumen-Perm, and
Kotlass-Viatka-Perm, meeting at Ekaterinburg, the capital of
the rich Ural mineral district, run into the main Siberian
line at Cheliabinsk. From this latter point, too, a new route
has long been projected direct to St. Petersburg, via Viatka
and Vologda. So that, while the future will connect
Cheliabinsk, and with it the main Siberian railway, in a
direct line with the Baltic, not as now via Moscow, the
present joins it on the one side with that city, the business
centre of Russia, and on the other to the new northern through
route, which, via Kotlass and Archangel, is this year to bring
the cereals of Siberia to London."
_Great Britain, Parliamentary Publications
(Papers by Command: Miscellaneous Series No. 533,
1900, pages 5-7)._
"It may be a wild idea, but Russian engineers are actually
talking of a railroad from Stryetensk to Bering Strait, over a
comparatively easy route that does not enter the Arctic
Circle. This imaginary line, they hope, would connect with the
American line which is now being built to Dawson City, the
distance from which to Stryetensk is about three thousand
miles. If this road ever is completed they figure that New
York will be placed in railroad connection with London,
Calcutta and Cape Town."
_A. H. Ford,
The Warfare of Railways in Asia
(Century, March, 1900)._
"Siberia and the Amur lands are rich beyond belief. … This
vast territory, long looked upon as a barren waste, is
destined to be one of the world's richest and most productive
sections. In northern France, wheat ripens in 137 days; in
Siberia, in 107. Even heavy night frosts do not injure the
young seed. Under such conditions, the possibilities of
agriculture are practically unlimited. I may add that oats
require, in Siberia and in the Amur country, only 96 days, and
in the regions of the Yenisei only 107. The frost period lasts
only 97 days in the Irkutsk country. Transbaikalia lies
entirely within the agricultural regions; so, too, almost the
entire territory traversed by the Amur as far north as it
runs. Efforts are being made to obtain along the Amur at least
300,000 square kilometers (115,835 square miles) for the
higher forms of northern agriculture. Climatically, the best
of northern Asia's territory, for planting purposes, is the
Usuri country, which, in spite of its vast tracts of wood and
grazing lands, has 195,000 square kilometers (75,292 square
miles) of arable ground. The building of the Trans-Siberian
Railroad has already added to the Empire's wheat product.
"The mineral resources of western Siberia are vast. Between
Tomsk and Kooznesk lie 60,000 square kilometers (23,167 square
miles) of coal lands which have never been touched. The coal
is said to be excellent. In eastern Siberia, with its 280,000
square kilometers (108,112 square miles) of fruitful soil,
there are 400 places yielding gold. Rich mineral
deposits—graphite, lapis lazuli; iron mines, particularly rich
in quality (as high as 60 per cent); hard and soft coals, i.
e., black and brown coals—await hands willing to work for
them. To-day, thousands of colonists are hurrying to these
promising lands. Russia's output in gold and silver is already
very large, and is constantly increasing.
"The industries of Siberia are in their infancy; still, they
are growing and are bound to grow, so rich are the rewards
promised. Chemical, sugar, and paper mills have been put up in
several places and are paying well. Even Manchuria, a province so
vast that it might make an empire, is looking to Russia for
its future development. The wealth of this province, like that
of Siberia and all eastern Russia, is ripe for harvesting. The
traffic in Siberia and eastern Russia is increasing faster
than even the advocates of the great Trans-Siberian road
anticipated. The Ob, one of the world's big rivers, emptying
through the Gulf of Ob into the Arctic Ocean, has 102 steamers
and 200 tugs running already. On the Yenisei, 10 steamers
carry the mails regularly. The mouths of both these rivers
were visited last summer by English and Russian ships. This
proves the practicability of connecting eastern and western
Siberia with Europe by water."
_United States Consular Reports,
November, 1899, page 411._
An official publication of the year 1900 from St. Petersburg,
furnished to American journals by the Russian embassy at
Washington, is the source of the following statements relative
to the rapid development of the vast Siberian country along
the line of the great railway:
"When viewed with reference to colonization Siberia divides
itself naturally into two zones, extending east and west, and
differing essentially from one another. The first of these
embraces the region traversed by the new Siberian railway, the
more populous southern portion of Siberia, in which the
conditions of climate and soil are favorable to the
development of agriculture and colonization. The other zone
occupies the extensive, deserted northern region, the land of
tundras, or polar marshes, with a constantly frozen subsoil
and a severe climate, a dreary tract of land totally unfit for
agriculture. Between these two zones stretches a broad belt of
forests of tall trees, partly primeval pine and fir, partly
leafy trees. The wealth of these broad agricultural and timber
areas is, moreover, augmented by mineral deposits of every
conceivable nature, as abundant and diversified as those of
America, and into this whole region immigration is pouring in
volume unequalled except in the history of American
colonization. Ever since the serfs were emancipated in 1861
they have formed the bulk of the emigrants from the thickly
populated agricultural districts of European Russia, but the
great tide of settlers in the new territory is only now
assuming tremendous proportions. During the twenty years'
period of 1860 to 1880 about 110,000 persons emigrated to
Siberia, while for the thirteen years from 1880 to 1892 there
were over 440,000, and for the succeeding years since the
great railway has been building the number of immigrants of
both sexes has been as follows:
1893, 65,000;
1894, 76,000;
1895, 109,000;
1896, 203,000;
1897, 87,000;
1898, 206,000;
1899, 225,000.
Total, 971,000.
According to the census of 1897, the population of Siberia had
risen to 8,188,368 inhabitants, of which the Russian peasantry
formed over 25 per cent."
RUSSIA IN ASIA: A. D. 1899 (May).
Steps toward the abolition of transportation.
See (in this volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1899 (MAY).
{430}
RUSSIA IN ASIA: A. D. 1900.
Russian railway building and railway projects in
Persia and Afghanistan.
By several writers who seem to have knowledge of what is doing
in those parts of the eastern world, it was reported in the
spring of 1900 that an active projection, planning, and
building (to some extent) of railroads in Persia and
Afghanistan was on foot among the Russians. From Tiflis, it
was said, their plans contemplated a line of rail to Teheran;
thence to be extended by one branch, southward, via Ispahan,
to the Persian Gulf, and by another branch westward to Herat,
in Afghanistan. From their Central Asian acquisitions they had
advanced their railway to within 70 miles of Herat, and were
said to be confidently expecting to push it on, through
Kandahar and through Baluchistan, to the Arabian Sea. If these
extensive plans could be carried out, and if Russian influence
in Persia, said to be growing fast, should become actually
controlling, the Muscovite Power would have made an enormous
gain, by planting itself on the shores of the Indian Ocean.
How far Russia can continue to press forward in this line of
policy without collision with Great Britain and with
Germany—which seems to have aims in the same direction,
through Asiatic Turkey—is an interesting question for the
future.
The following is from a despatch to the "London Times" from
its correspondent at Vienna, February 24, 1901:
"According to trustworthy information from Teheran, Russia is
particularly active just now in Persia and the Persian Gulf. …
The road from Resht to Teheran, which has been built by a
Russian company, is of no value for European trade in the
absence of an agreement with Russia respecting the transit
traffic through that country. European commerce is dependent
upon the long and expensive caravan routes via Trebizond,
Bushire, Baghdad, Mochamera,&c. These occupy from four to six
months."
RUSSO-CHINESE BANK, Concessions to the.
See (in this volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1898 (FEBRUARY-DECEMBER).
S.
SAGASTA, Señor Praxedes Mateo:
Resignation from Spanish Ministry.
See (in this volume)
SPAIN: A. D. 1895-1896.
SAGASTA, Señor Praxedes Mateo:
Return to power.
See (in this volume)
SPAIN: A. D. 1897 (AUGUST-OCTOBER).
SAGASTA, Señor Praxedes Mateo:
Resignation.
See (in this volume)
SPAIN: A. D. 1899.
SAGHALIEN.
See (in this volume)
SAKHALIN.
SAHARA, The: French possessions.
See (in this volume)
NIGERIA: A. D. 1882-1899.
ST. KITTS: Industrial condition.
See (in this volume)
WEST INDIES, THE BRITISH: A. D. 1897.
ST. LOUIS: A. D. 1896.
Republican National Convention.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1896 (JUNE-NOVEMBER).
ST. VINCENT, The British colony of.
See (in this volume)
WEST INDIES, THE BRITISH: A. D. 1897.
SAKHALIN.
"Of late years … its increasing importance as a place of exile
for Russian political and criminal offenders has invested
Sakhalin with a certain interest, derived, perhaps, more from
penal associations than physical resources, which latter may,
when fully developed, materially affect trade and commerce in
the far East. The island of Sakhalin is 584 miles in length,
its breadth varying from 18 to 94 miles. The southern
extremity is separated from the island of Yezo, twenty miles
distant, by the Straits of La Perouse, and its western coast
by the shallow Gulf of Tartary (at one point barely five miles
across) from the mainland of Siberia. Although Dutch explorers
are said to have landed here in 1643, the first reliable
survey of the island was probably obtained in the year 1787 by
La Perouse. Russian fur traders followed in the early part of
the present century, but it was only in 1853 that,
disturbances having occurred with the natives, a score or so
of Cossacks were stationed at Dui on the west coast. In 1867
negotiations were entered into by the Russian and Japanese
Governments for joint occupation of Sakhalin, but the
subsequent discovery of coal, and consequent influx of Russian
convicts, rendered this arrangement highly unsatisfactory.
Further negotiations, therefore, ensued, with the result that,
in 1875, the island was formally ceded to Russia, Japan
receiving, in exchange, the entire Kurile Archipelago.
"Sakhalin is by no means easy of access. Even during the open
season (from May to September) but very few vessels visit the
island, and, with the exception of the monthly arrival of
convict-ships from Europe, and a couple of small Russian trading
steamers, there is no fixed service with Vladivostok, which, with
the exception of Nikolaefsk, is the only Siberian port whence
Sakhalin may, in three days, be reached. During the winter months
the island is completely ice-bound and unapproachable by water.
Communication with the mainland is then maintained by means of
dog-sledges, and the mails for Europe are dispatched across
the frozen Gulf of Tartary—a journey, under favourable
circumstances, of about three months. …
"Sakhalin is, for administrative purposes, divided into three
districts, viz.: Korsakovsky-Post in the south, Tymovsk in the
north, and Alexandrovsky-Post on the western coast. The
latter, which is situated in the centre of the coal district,
is a picturesque, straggling town of about 7,000 inhabitants,
consisting almost entirely of officials and convicts. This is
the most important penal settlement on the island, contains
the largest prison, and is, moreover, the residence of the
Governor of Sakhalin, a subordinate of the Governor-General of
Eastern Siberia. Alexandrovsky is garrisoned by about 1,500
men, and contains large foundries and workshops for convict
labour, but most of the prisoners are employed in the adjacent
coal mines of Dui. … Korsakovsky-Post, on the south coast, is
the next largest settlement, containing about 5,000 convicts
who are chiefly employed in agricultural pursuits. Although it
may seem a paradox, the remaining prisons in the interior of
the island, Derbynskaya, Rykovskaya, and Onor are not prisons
at all, but huge wooden barracks, innocent of bolts and bars.
Here, also, the work done is solely agricultural."
_Harry de Windt,
The Island of Sakhalin
(Fortnightly Review, May, 1897)._
SALISBURY, Lord Robert Cecil, Marquis of:
Third Ministry.
See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1894-1895.
{431}
SALISBURY, Lord Robert Cecil, Marquis of:
Correspondence with the Government of the United States
on the Venezuela boundary question.
See (in this volume)
VENEZUELA: A. D. 1895 (JULY) and (NOVEMBER).
SALISBURY, Lord Robert Cecil, Marquis of:
Fourth Ministry.
See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER).
SALISBURY, Lord Robert Cecil, Marquis of:
Tribute to Queen Victoria.
See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1901 (JANUARY).
SALISBURY PLAIN: Purchase by Government.
See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (FEBRUARY).
SALVADOR.
See (in this volume)
CENTRAL AMERICA.
SALVATION ARMY, The:
Secession of the American Volunteers.
Late account of the Army's work.
Much feeling in the American branch of the Salvation Army, and
among those who valued its work, was caused in January, 1896,
by an order from the London headquarters of the Army recalling
Mr. Ballington Booth, who had been its American Commander for
nine years. Commander Booth and Mrs. Booth had been remarkably
successful in their organization and direction of the
Salvation Army work, and had won a high place in the esteem,
not only of their own followers, but of the American public at
large. A wide and strong movement of protest against their
removal from the field failed to change the London order,
which was said to be made in obedience to a necessary rule of
the Army against long service in any one post. Miss Eva Booth,
representing her father, General Booth, with Colonel Nicol, from
London, and Commandant Herbert Booth, from Canada, came to New
York as mediators, endeavoring to heal a threatened breach in
the ranks; but their mission failed. Commander Ballington
Booth resigned his office, and withdrew from the Salvation
Army service, declining to return to London. After a time, he
and Mrs. Booth became the heads of a new organization called
the "Volunteers of America," for religious work, not in
rivalry with that of the Salvation Army, but directed more
towards the awakening of the interest of the working people,
Mr. Ballington Booth was succeeded as Commander in America by
a son-in-law of General Booth, Commissioner Frederick St.
Clair Tucker. —For an account of the origin and growth of the
Salvation Army see, under that heading, in the Supplement
(volume 5) of the original edition of this work, or in volume
4 of the revised edition.
Of results accomplished in that part of the work of the
Salvation Army known as the "Darkest England Scheme," General
Booth wrote, early in 1900, an extended account in the "Sunday
Strand." He stated that the public had subscribed altogether
for his scheme about $1,300,000. "It is a debated point," he
wrote, "with the intelligent admirers of the scheme and the
careful observers of its progress whether the benefits
bestowed on the wretched classes for whom it was originated
have been greater within than without our borders. The
copyists of our plan have been legion, both at home and
abroad, in church and state. The representatives of the
different governments specially charged with the
responsibility for the outcast classes have been gradually
coming to appreciate the principles and methods involved in
the scheme, and to show willingness to cooperate in giving it
a chance. They have done this in two ways:
(1) In attempting similar tasks themselves;
(2) in using and subsidizing the army for doing the work for
them.
Many governments make grants to our various institutions in
varying amounts toward the cost of dealing with different
classes of the submerged."
The following is a summary of the agencies which have been set
at work by the general: "We have now 158 shelters and food
depots for homeless men and women, 121 slum posts, each with
its own slum sisters, 37 labor bureaus, (10 labor factories
for the unemployed, 11 land colonies, 91 rescue homes for
women, 11 labor homes for ex-criminals, several nursing
institutions, 2 maternity hospitals for deserted women, an
institution with branches in forty-five countries and colonies
for finding lost and missing persons, together with a host of
allied and minor agencies which I am not able here to
enumerate. The total number of institutions named above is now
545, under the care of more than 2,000 trained officers and
others wholly employed, all working in harmony with the
principles I have laid down for helping the poorest and most
unfortunate of their fellows, and all more or less experts at
their work.
"Nearly 20,000 destitute men and women are in some way or
other touched by the operations of the scheme every day. No
less than 15,000 wretched and otherwise homeless people are
housed under our roofs every night, having their needs met, at
least in part, with sympathy and prayer and the opportunity
for friendly counsel. More than 300 ex-criminals are to-day in
our houses of reformation, having before them another chance
for this life, and in many cases the first they have ever had
for preparing for the life to come. More than 5,000 women
taken from lives of darkness and shame are safely sheltered in
our homes each year, on the way—as we have abundantly proved
in the case of others, in respect of a large proportion of
them—to a future of virtue, goodness, and religion. Over 1,000
men are employed on the land colonies. Many of them are working
out their own deliverance, and at the same time helping to
solve one of the most difficult problems of modern times, and
proving that many of the helpless loafers of the great cities
can be made useful producers on the soil. Over the gates of
every one of these homes, elevators, labor factories, and
colonies there might be written: 'No man or woman need starve,
or beg, or pauperize, or steal, or commit suicide. If willing
to work, apply within. Here there is hope for all.'" General
Booth adds that he has always 2,000 women in the rescue homes
of the army.
SAMOAN ISLANDS, The:
Ending of the joint control of the Islands by Germany,
England and the United States.
Partition between Germany and the United States.
Retirement of England.
Said President Cleveland, in his annual Message to the
Congress of the United States, December 4, 1893: "Led by a
desire to compose differences and contribute to the
restoration of order in Samoa, which for some years previous
had been the scene of conflicting foreign pretensions and
native strife, the United States, departing from its policy
consecrated by a century of observance, entered [in 1889] …
into the, treaty of Berlin [see, in volume 4, SAMOA], thereby
becoming jointly bound with England and Germany to establish
and maintain Malietoa Laupepa as King of Samoa.
{432}
The treaty provided for a foreign court of justice; a
municipal council for the district of Apia, with a foreign
president thereof, authorized to advise the King; a tribunal
for the settlement of native and foreign land titles, and a
revenue system for the Kingdom. It entailed upon the three
powers that part of the cost of the new Government not met by
the revenue of the islands. Early in the life of this triple
protectorate the native dissensions it was designed to quell
revived. Rivals defied the authority of the new King, refusing
to pay taxes and demanding the election of a ruler by native
suffrage. Mataafa, an aspirant to the throne, and a large
number of his native adherents were in open rebellion on one
of the islands. Quite lately, at the request of the other
powers and in fulfillment of its treaty obligation, this
Government agreed to unite in a joint military movement of
such dimensions as would probably secure the surrender of the
insurgents without bloodshed. The war ship Philadelphia was
accordingly put under orders for Samoa, but before she arrived
the threatened conflict was precipitated by King Malietoa's
attack upon the insurgent camp. Mataafa was defeated and a
number of his men killed. The British and German naval vessels
present subsequently secured the surrender of Mataafa and his
adherents. The defeated chief and ten of his principal
supporters were deported to a German island of the Marshall
group, where they are held as prisoners under the joint
responsibility and cost of the three powers. This incident and
the events leading up to it signally illustrate the impolicy
of entangling alliances with foreign powers."
_United States, Message and Documents
(Abridgment), 1893-1894._
In his next annual Message, December 3, 1894, the President
thus summarized the later situation in the islands: "The
suppression of the Mataafa insurrection by the powers and the
subsequent banishment of the leader and eleven other chiefs,
as recited in my last message, did not bring lasting peace to
the islands. Formidable uprisings continued, and finally a
rebellion broke out in the capital island, Upolu, headed in
Aana, the western district, by the younger Tamasese, and in
Atua, the eastern district, by other leaders. The insurgents
ravaged the country and fought the Government's troops up to
the very doors of Apia. The King again appealed to the powers
for help, and the combined British and German naval forces
reduced the Atuans to apparent subjection, not, however,
without considerable loss to the natives. A few days later
Tamasese and his adherents, fearing the ships and the marines,
professed submission. Reports received from our agents at Apia
do not justify the belief that the peace thus brought about
will be of long duration. It is their conviction that the
natives are at heart hostile to the present Government, that
such of them as profess loyalty to it do so from fear of the
powers, and that it would speedily go to pieces if the war
ships were withdrawn. … The present Government has utterly
failed to correct, if indeed it has not aggravated, the very
evils it was intended to prevent. It has not stimulated our
commerce with the islands. Our participation in its
establishment against the wishes of the natives was in plain
defiance of the conservative teachings and warnings of the
wise and patriotic men who laid the foundations of our free
institutions, and I invite an expression of the judgment of
Congress on the propriety of steps being taken by this
Government looking to the withdrawal from its engagements with
the other powers on some reasonable terms not prejudicial to
any of our existing rights."
_United States, Message and Documents
(Abridgment, 1894-1895)._
In the Message of 1895 the subject was again pressed on the
attention of Congress without result.
In August, 1898, Malietoa Laupepa died. By the Berlin Treaty
of 1889 "it was provided that in case any question should
arise in Samoa, respecting the rightful election of King, or
of any other Chief claiming authority over the islands, or
respecting the validity of the powers which the King or any
Chief might claim in the exercise of his office, such question
should not lead to war, but should be presented for decision
to the Chief Justice of Samoa, who should decide it in
writing, conformably to the provisions of the Act, and to the
laws and customs of Samoa not in conflict therewith, and that
the Signatory Governments would accept and abide by such
decision. After the death of Malietoa an exchange of views
took place between the Powers, and it was agreed that there
should be no interference with the right of the Samoans to
elect a King, and that the election should proceed strictly in
accordance with the provisions of the Final Act. Some time
elapsed before any action was taken, pending the completion of
certain ceremonial usages customary in Samoa on the death of a
High Chief. … As soon as the funeral ceremonies were at an end,
deliberation and discussion among the Chiefs ensued. There
were in the first instance several candidates for the
succession. Their number was eventually reduced to two:
1. Malietoa Tanu, the son of the late King.
2. The High Chief Mataafa.
This Chief had been in rebellion against Malietoa Laupepa, but
had suffered defeat, and with other Chiefs had been deported,
by agreement between the three Powers, to the Marshall
Islands. On the recommendation of the Consular officers at
Apia, the Powers, in July 1898, consented to his return. … On
the 19th September, Mataafa and the other exiled Chiefs landed
in Samoa. It does not appear that he took any overt steps to
claim the vacant throne, but a section of the natives
pronounced in his favour and announced on the 12th November to
the Consuls and to the Chief Justice that he had been duly
elected King. On the 13th November the opposing faction
declared that the real election of a King had not taken place,
and on the following day announced that their choice had
fallen upon Malietoa Tanu. Both parties appealed to Mr.
Chambers, the Chief Justice, who considered himself then in a
position to take cognisance of the matter, according to the
provisions of the Final Act, a question having arisen 'in
Samoa respecting the rightful election or appointment of
King.'"
_Great Britain, Parliamentary Publications
(Papers by Command: Samoa, Number 1, 1899)._
The decision of the Chief Justice was in favor of Malietoa
Tanu, and the adherents of Mataafa took up arms, defeating
those of the favored candidate and driving many of them to
take refuge on British and German ships of war. Subsequent
events were related by the President of the United States in
his Message to Congress, December 5, 1899, as follows: "In
this emergency a joint commission of representatives of the
United States, Germany, and Great Britain was sent to Samoa to
investigate the situation and provide a temporary remedy.
{433}
By its active efforts a peaceful solution was reached for the
time being, the kingship being abolished and a provisional
government established. Recommendations unanimously made by
the commission for a permanent adjustment of the Samoan
question were taken under consideration by the three powers
parties to the General Act. But the more they were examined
the more evident it became that a radical change was necessary
in the relations of the powers to Samoa. The inconveniences
and possible perils of the tripartite scheme of supervision
and control in the Samoan group by powers having little
interest in common in that quarter beyond commercial rivalry
had been once more emphasized by the recent events. The
suggested remedy of the Joint Commission, like the scheme it
aimed to replace, amounted to what has been styled a
'tridominium,' being the exercise of the functions of
sovereignty by an unanimous agreement of three powers. The
situation had become far more intricate and embarrassing from
every point of view than it was when my predecessor, in 1894,
summed up its perplexities and condemned the participation in
it of the United States. The arrangement under which Samoa was
administered had proved impracticable and unacceptable to all
the powers concerned. To withdraw from the agreement and
abandon the islands to Germany and Great Britain would not be
compatible with our interests in the archipelago. To
relinquish our rights in the harbor of Pago Pago, the best
anchorage in the Pacific, the occupancy of which had been
leased to the United States in 1878 by the first foreign
treaty ever concluded by Samoa, was not to be thought of
either as regards the needs of our Navy or the interests of
our growing commerce with the East. We could not have
considered any proposition for the abrogation of the
tripartite control which did not confirm us in all our rights
and safeguard all our national interests in the islands. Our
views commended themselves to the other powers. A satisfactory
arrangement was concluded between the Governments of Germany
and of England, by virtue of which England retired from Samoa
in view of compensations in other directions, and both powers
renounced in favor of the United States all their rights and
claims over and in respect to that portion of the group lying
to the east of the one hundred and seventy-first degree of
west longitude, embracing the islands of Tutuila, Ofoo,
Olosenga, and Manua."
_United States, Message and Documents (Abridgment),
1899-1900, volume 1._
The compensations to England "in other directions" were given
by Germany, in the following provisions of a treaty signed at
London, November 14, 1899:
"ARTICLE II.
Germany renounces in favour of Great Britain all her rights
over the Tonga Islands, including Vavau, and over Savage
Island, including the right of establishing a naval station
and coaling station, and the right of extra-territoriality in
the said islands. … She recognizes as falling to Great Britain
those of the Solomon Islands, at present belonging to Germany,
which are situated to the east and southeast of the Island of
Bougainville, which latter shall continue to belong to
Germany, together with the Island of Buka, which forms part of
it. The western portion of the neutral zone in West Africa, as
defined in Article V of the present Convention, shall also
fall to the share of Great Britain. …
"ARTICLE IV.
The arrangement at present existing between Germany and Great
Britain and concerning the right of Germany to freely engage
labourers in the Solomon Islands belonging to Great Britain
shall be equally extended to those of the Solomon Islands
mentioned in Article II, which fall to the share of Great
Britain.
"ARTICLE V.
In the neutral zone the frontier between the German and
English territories shall be formed by the River Daka as far
as the point of its intersection with the 9th degree of north
latitude, thence the frontier shall continue to the north,
leaving Morozugu to Great Britain, and shall be fixed on the
spot by a Mixed Commission of the two Powers, in such manner
that Gambaga and all the territories of Mamprusi shall fall to
Great Britain, and that Yendi and all the territories of Chakosi
shall fall to Germany.
"ARTICLE VI.
Germany is prepared to take into consideration, as much and as
far as possible, the wishes which the Government of Great
Britain may express with regard to the development of the
reciprocal Tariffs in the territories of Togo and of the Gold
Coast.
"ARTICLE VII.
Germany renounces her rights of extra-territoriality in
Zanzibar, but it is at the same time understood that this
renunciation shall not effectively come into force till such
time as the rights of extra-territoriality enjoyed there by
other nations shall be abolished."
To the treaty was appended the following "Declaration":
"It is clearly understood that by Article II of the Convention
signed to-day, Germany consents that the whole group of the
Howe Islands, which forms part of the Solomon Islands, shall
fall to Great Britain. It is also understood that the
stipulations of the Declaration between the two Governments
signed at Berlin on the 10th April, 1886, respecting freedom
of commerce in the Western Pacific, apply to the islands
mentioned in the aforesaid Convention. It is similarly
understood that the arrangement at present in force as to the
engagement of labourers by Germans in the Solomon Islands
permits Germans to engage those labourers on the same
conditions as those which are or which shall be imposed on
British subjects nonresident in those islands."
_Great Britain, Parliamentary Publication,
(Papers by Command: Treaty Series, Number 7, 1900)._
Article III of the general treaty between the United States,
Germany and Great Britain stipulated: "It is understood and
agreed that each of the three signatory Powers shall continue
to enjoy, in respect to their commerce and commercial vessels,
in all the islands of the Samoan group, privileges and
conditions equal to those enjoyed by the sovereign Power, in
all ports which may be open to the commerce of either of
them."
_United States, 56th Congress, 1st Session,
Senate Document Number 157._
{434}
On the 17th of April, 1900, an "instrument of cession" was
signed by the marks of twenty-two chiefs, conveying to the
United States the islands of the Samoan group lying east of
the 171st degree of west longitude, and the American flag was
raised over the naval station at Pago-Pago. From Pago-Pago,
March 27, 1901, a Press despatch announced: "The natives under
the United States Government number 5,800, according to a
census just taken, while the natives in the other islands
under German rule number 32,000. The population has increased
very slightly in the last thirty years, and the main cause of
this failure to increase is the infant mortality, due to the
violation of the simplest health principles in the care and
diet of children. … Reports from the six islands under United
States control show that the natives are improving in general
conditions, and that they show a desire to keep their houses
neat and to educate their children. Not a single native has
been arrested for drunkenness since the Americans assumed
control of Tutuila island."
SAMPSON, Rear-Admiral William T.:
Commanding North Atlantic Station.
Blockade of Cuban ports.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (APRIL-MAY: CUBA).
SAMPSON, Rear-Admiral William T.:
Operations at Santiago de Cuba.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (APRIL-JUNE).
SAMPSON, Rear-Admiral William T.:
Destruction of Spanish squadron.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (JULY 3).
SAN DOMINGO.
See (in this volume)
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.
SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1898.
New city charter.
A city charter of a quite new and experimental character was
adopted by popular vote in May, to go into effect at the
beginning of the year 1900. Its main features were described
at the time by the "New York Tribune," as follows:
"The formation of this charter is an advanced example of the
exercise of municipal home rule. The constitution of
California gives the cities of the state the uncommon
privilege of framing their own charters subject simply to the
veto power of the legislature. Exercising that right, the
people, acting through fifteen free-holders, elected for that
purpose, have drawn up the new charter. … If the legislature
approves, it will become the local constitution. The charter
provides for its own amendment by the people without appeal to
the legislature. So the present provisions of that instrument
may be only a form to be entirely remodeled by the city at its
own pleasure until it has no resemblance to the laws to which the
state authorities gave approval. That is an extreme delegation
of powers, such as we think has never before been made in an
American state. The mayor has large powers of appointment and
removal. He can suspend all elected officers except the
supervisors—the city legislators—who may remove those whom he
suspends, and he may remove at any time for cause all
appointive officers. The elective list is large, for, though
there are only eighteen supervisors, the number of places
filled by election each year is thirty. This is a great
departure from the charter-making practice recently prevalent,
which has tended to the election of only a few administrative
officers who are responsible for the selection of agents in
different departments. Attempt is made to centre
responsibility in the mayor, but the supervisors and the
people both can pass ordinances likely to interfere with that
responsibility. So the charter is as far as possible from
inaugurating the one-man power, which has been much advocated
as the cure for the ills which spring from a municipal
administration animated by no uniform purpose or
intelligence."
SAN JUAN HILL, Battle of.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (JUNE-JULY).
SAND RIVER CONVENTION, The.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1884-1894.
SANTIAGO DE CUBA: A. D. 1898(May-June).
Blockade of Spanish squadron in the Bay.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (APRIL-JUNE).
SANTIAGO DE CUBA: A. D. 1898 (June-July).
Attack and investment by American army.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (JUNE-JULY).
SANTIAGO DE CUBA: A. D. 1898 (July 3).
Destruction of Spanish fleet.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (JULY 3).
SANTIAGO DE CUBA: A. D. 1898 (July 4-17).
Surrender of the city and Spanish forces.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (JULY 4-17).
SANTIAGO DE CUBA: A. D. 1898 (August).
Sickness in the American army.
Withdrawal of troops.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1898 (JULY-AUGUST: CUBA).
SARGON OF AKKAD.
See (in this volume)
ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: BABYLONIA: AMERICAN EXPLORATION.
SAYINGS OF OUR LORD, Discovery of a fragment of the.
See (in this volume)
ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: EGYPT: DISCOVERY OF A FRAGMENT.
SCHLEY, Admiral W. S.:
In operations at Santiago de Cuba.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (APRIL-JUNE).
SCHLEY, Admiral W. S.:
Destruction of Spanish squadron.
See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (JULY 3).
SCHOOLS.
See EDUCATION.
SCHREINER, W. P.:
Resignation of the Premiership of Cape Colony.
See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (CAPE COLONY): A. D. 1900 (APRIL-JUNE).
SCHWAN, General:
Military operations in the Philippine Islands.
See (in this volume)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1899 (JANUARY-NOVEMBER).
{435}
----------SCIENCE, RECENT: Start--------
NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS.
ARCHÆOLOGICAL DISCOVERY.
See (in this volume)
ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH.
CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS:
Acetylene Gas.
Acetylene gas has been known since 1832, when it was
discovered by Edmund Davy; but it remained a mere laboratory
product until 1892, when two experimenters, in America and
France, stumbled accidentally on the production, in an
electric furnace, of calcium carbide, which water decomposes,
readily yielding the gas in question. The American discoverer
was Mr. Thomas Willson, a Canadian electrician, residing at
Spray, North Carolina; his French rival was Professor Henry
Moisson, of Paris. The priority of Mr. Willson in the
discovery, or in the announcement of it, is most generally
recognized, and he secured patents in the United States and
elsewhere. Electrical developments since 1892 have economized
the manufacture of calcium carbide, by electric heat acting on
a mixture of lime and coke, and it has become an important
commercial product, at Niagara Falls and other seats of
electric power, bringing acetylene gas into extensive use as
an illuminant. There have been dangers and difficulties in the
use, however, not easily overcome.
CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS:
Discovery of Argon and Helium.
"After Lord Rayleigh, in 1892, had proved that nitrogen
obtained from chemical combinations was about one-half per
cent lighter than that obtained from the atmosphere, a
determination that was again verified in 1894, Lord Rayleigh
and Professor Ramsay separated from atmospheric nitrogen an
elementary gas of great density which, by reason of its
chemical indifference, they called argon. They proved that
this gas formed about 0.8 or 0.9 per cent of the volume of
nitrogen, from which it could be separated either by
incandescent magnesium or by the continued action of the
electric spark. It was established beyond doubt that Cavendish
produced this gas a hundred years ago by the use of the
electric spark. Argon, either alone or accompanied by helium,
has also been found in natural waters as well as in minerals.
Its discovery in a meteorite of Augusta County, Virginia,
United States of America, may perhaps lead us to ascribe to it
an extra-terrestrial origin.
"The physical properties of argon are very distinct, and its
characteristic spectrum enables us to at once distinguish it
with certainty from any other substance, but from a chemical
point of view this gas is most extraordinarily inactive, and
we have not yet succeeded in making it form combinations as
the other elements do. This peculiarity, and also the
impossibility of finding a place in the periodic system for a
simple body having the molecular weight of argon (39.88), have
given rise to all sorts of hypotheses relative to the nature
of this gas. …
"Another most interesting discovery was that of helium, made
by Professor Ramsay. In 1891 Hillebrand showed that uranium
ore and ores of the same family when dissolved in acids or
fused with alkaline carbonates, or even merely heated in a
vacuum, may give off as much as 3 per cent of nitrogen.
Professor Ramsay obtained this gas from cleveite and by means
of spectroscopic examination demonstrated the presence of
argon; and in the course of his experiments—in March, 1895—he
observed beside the spectrum of argon another bright, yellow
line that did not belong to that spectrum, and which Crookes
recognized as identical with the line D that Lockyer had
already observed in 1868 in the spectrum of the solar
chromosphere, and which he had attributed to an element as yet
unknown upon the earth—helium. The same line had also been
distinguished in the spectra of other fixed stars,
particularly in the spectrum of Orion, so that it may be
admitted that helium exists in large quantities
extra-terrestrially. … On our planet it appears, on the
contrary, to be very rare, and may be ranked among the rarest
of elements. … "Helium is the lightest of all the gases except
hydrogen; Stoney deduces from this fact an explanation of the
existence of these two elements in but very small quantities
in a free state upon the face of the earth, while they are
distributed in enormous masses throughout the universe. The
comparatively small force of the earth's gravitation does not
form a sufficient counterpoise to the velocity of their
molecules, which therefore escape from the terrestrial
atmosphere unless restrained by chemical combination. They
then proceed to reunite around great centres of attraction,
such as the fixed stars, in whose atmospheres these elements
exist in large quantities."
_C. Winkler,
The Discovery of new Elements within the last
twenty-five years
(Annual Report of Smithsonian Institution, 1897,
page 237, translated from Revue Scientifique,
4th series, volume 8)._
CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS:
Liquefaction of Oxygen, Hydrogen and Air.
"The most remarkable recent work in refrigeration is that of
Professor James Dewar, of the Royal Institution in London. The
feat of liquefying oxygen by a succession of approaches to its
critical temperature has been thus described by him, in an
interview which appeared in 'McClure's Magazine,' November,
1893: 'The process of liquefying oxygen, briefly speaking, is
this: Into the outer chamber of that double compressor I
introduce, through a pipe, liquid nitrous oxide gas, under a
pressure of about 1,400 pounds to the square inch. I then
allow it to evaporate rapidly, and thus obtain a temperature
around the inner chamber of -90° C. Into this cooled inner
chamber I introduce liquid ethylene, which is a gas at
ordinary temperatures, under a pressure of 1,800 pounds to
the square inch. When the inner chamber is full of ethylene,
its rapid evaporation under exhaustion reduces the temperature
to -135° C. Running through this inner chamber is a tube
containing oxygen gas under a pressure of 750 pounds to the
square inch. The critical point of oxygen gas—that is, the
point above which no amount of pressure will reduce it to a
liquid—is—115° C., but this pressure, at the temperature of
-145° C., is amply sufficient to cause it to liquefy rapidly.'
{436}
"In May, 1898, Professor Dewar, by the use of liquid oxygen,
succeeded in liquefying hydrogen, producing a liquid having
but one-fourteenth the specific gravity of water; this exploit
brought him within 21° of the absolute zero of centigrade. He
afterward reduced the liquid to solid form, attaining a
temperature estimated at four to five degrees lower. Faraday
and other investigators of an earlier day surmised that
hydrogen, when solidified, would prove to be a metal; now that
the feat of solidification has been accomplished, hydrogen
astonishes the physicist by displaying itself as non-metallic.
…
"For some years the plan was to employ a series of chemical
compounds, each with a lower boiling-point than its
predecessor in the process, and all troublesome and hazardous
in manipulation. A better method has been developed by keeping
to simple air from first to last, as in the apparatus of Dr.
Linde, of Dr. Hampson, and of Mr. Charles E. Tripler.
"As the Tripler machine does its work on a bolder scale than
either of the others, let its operation be briefly outlined:
Air is first compressed to 65 pounds pressure to the square
inch; through a second pump this pressure is exalted to 400
pounds, and with a third pump the pressure is carried to 2,500
pounds. After each compression the air flows through jacketed
pipes, where it is cooled by a stream of water. At the third
condensation a valve, the secret of whose construction Mr.
Tripler keeps to himself, permits part of the compressed air
to flow into a pipe surrounding the tube through which the
remainder is flowing. This act of expansion severely chills
the imprisoned air, which at last discharges itself in liquid
form—much as water does from an ordinary city faucet."
_G. Iles,
Flame, Electricity and the Camera,
chapter 6 (New York: Doubleday, Page & Co.)._
CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS:
Smokeless Powders.
"In recent years smokeless powders have largely superseded all
others. These contain usually nitro-cellulose (gun cotton), or
nitro-glycerine, or both, made up into a plastic, coherent,
and homogeneous compound of a gluey nature, and fashioned into
horn-like sticks or rods by being forced under pressure,
through a die plate having small holes, through which the
plastic material is strained into strings like macaroni, or
else is molded into tablets, pellets, or grains of cubical
shape. Prominent among those who have contributed to this art
are the names of Turpin, Abel and Dewar, Nobel, Maxim, Munroe,
Du Pont, Bernadou and others. In the recent years of the
Nineteenth Century great activity has been manifest in this
field of invention. In the United States more than 600
different patents have been granted for explosives, the larger
portion of them being for nitro-compounds which partake in a
greater or less degree of the qualities of gun cotton or
nitro-glycerine."
_E. W. Byrn,
Progress of Invention in the 19th Century,
page 419._
CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS:
X Rays.
The Discovery of Professor Rontgen.
"Fresh proofs await us of the supreme rank of both electricity
and photography as resources of art and science as we observe
the transcendent powers evoked by their union. From this union
no issue is more extraordinary, more weighty with meaning and
promise, than the X-ray pictures due to Professor Wilhelm
Konrad Rontgen. In these pictures he has but crowned labours
which began when Sir John Herschel noticed that a peculiar
blue light was diffused from a perfectly colourless solution
of quinine sulphate. Professor (now Sir) George Stokes
explained the phenomenon by showing that this blue light
consists of vibrations originally too rapid to be visible,
which are slowed down within the limits of perceptibility as
they pass through the liquid. …
"One path of approach to the achievement of Professor Röntgen
was opened by Sir John Herschel; another, as important, was
blazed and broadened by Professor (now Sir) William Crookes.
In 1874 and 1875 he was engaged upon the researches which gave
the world the radiometer, the tiny mill whose vanes rotate
with rays of light or heat. The action of this mill depends
upon its being placed in a glass bulb almost vacuous. When
such a bulb incloses rubies, bits of phenakite, or other
suitable objects, and electrical discharges are directed upon
them, they glow with the most brilliant luminescence known to
art. Excited by a cathode ray, that is, a ray from the
negative pole of an electrical machine, a Crookes bulb itself
shines with a vivid golden green ray which reminds the
onlooker of the fluorescence of earlier experiments. … "Year
by year the list of substances excitable to luminosity in a
Crookes bulb has been lengthened, and in 1894 it was the good
fortune of Professor Philipp Lenard to discover a wonderful
power of such a bulb. Emerging from it was a cathode ray which
passed nearly as freely through a thin plate of aluminium as
common sunshine does through a pane of glass. Hertz had, a few
years previously, discovered that metals in very thin sheets
were virtually transparent (or, to use Mr. Hyndman's term,
transradiable) to his electric waves. This property was found
by Professor Lenard to extend to the cathode ray and in a much
higher degree. … The ultra-violet ray of ordinary light has
the singular power of causing the gases which it may traverse
to become conductors of electricity, with the effect of
discharging an electrified metallic plate; this property is
shared by cathode rays. Associated with them are the rays of
still more extraordinary powers, discovered by Professor
Röntgen. In his own words let his achievement be recounted, as
published in 'McClure's Magazine,' April, 1896.
"'I have been for a long time interested in the problem of the
cathode rays from a vacuum tube as studied by Hertz and
Lenard. I had followed their and other researches with great
interest, and determined, us soon as I had the time, to make
some researches of my own. This time I found at the close of
last October. I had been at work for some days when I
discovered something new.' 'What was the date?' 'The 8th of
November.' 'And what was the discovery?' 'I was working with a
Crookes tube covered by a shield of black cardboard. A piece
of barium platino-cyanide paper lay on the bench there. I had
been passing a current through the tube, and I noticed a
peculiar black line across the paper.' 'What of that?' 'The
effect was one which could only be produced, in ordinary
parlance, by the passage of light. No light could come from
the tube, because the shield which covered it was impervious
to any light known, even that of the electric arc.' 'And what
did you think?' 'I did not think; I investigated. I assumed
that the effect must have come from the tube, since its
character indicated that it could come from nowhere else. I
tested it. In a few minutes there was no doubt about it. Rays
were coming from the tube which had a luminescent effect upon
the paper.
{437}
I tried it successfully at greater and greater distances, even
at two metres. It seemed at first a new kind of invisible
light. It was clearly something new, something unrecorded.'
'Is it light?' 'No.' 'Is it electricity?' 'Not in any known
form.' 'What is it?' 'I don't know.' And the discoverer of the
X rays thus stated as calmly his ignorance of their essence as
has everybody else who has written on the phenomena thus far.
"'Having discovered the existence of a new kind of rays, I of
course began to investigate what they would do.' He took up a
series of cabinet-sized photographs. 'It soon appeared from
tests that the rays had penetrative power to a degree hitherto
unknown. They penetrated paper, wood, and cloth with ease; and
the thickness of the substance made no perceptible difference,
within reasonable limits.' He showed photographs of a box of
laboratory weights of platinum, aluminium, and brass, they and
the brass hinges all having been photographed from a closed
box, without any indication of the box. Also a photograph of a
coil of fine wire, wound on a wooden spool, the wire having
been photographed and the wood omitted.
"'The rays,' he continued, 'passed through all the metals
tested, with a facility varying, roughly speaking, with the
density of the metal. These phenomena I have discussed
carefully in my report to the Würzburg Society, and you will
find all the technical results therein stated.' He showed a
photograph of a small sheet of zinc. This was composed of
smaller plates soldered laterally with solders of different
metallic proportions. The differing lines of shadow caused by
the difference in the solders were visible evidence that a new
means of detecting flaws and chemical variations in metals had
been found. A photograph of a compass showed the needle and
dial taken through the closed brass cover. The markings of the
dial were in red metallic paint, and thus interfered with the
rays, and were reproduced. 'Since the rays had this great
penetrative power, it seemed natural that they should
penetrate flesh, and so it proved in photographing the hand,
as I showed you.'" …
"Provided with a Röntgen bulb, the photographer passes from
the exterior to the interior of an object, almost as if he
were a sorcerer with power to transmute all things to glass.
Equipped with a simple X-ray apparatus, dislocations and
fractures are detected by the surgeon, diseases of bones are
studied, and shot, needles, and bits of glass or corroding
wire within the muscles of a patient are located with
exactitude. Thanks to the work of Mr. Mackenzie Davidson, the
like detection of renal calculi can be looked forward to with
a fair degree of certainty. The same means of exploration
offers equal aid to medicine: it demonstrates the
calcification of arteries, and aneurysms of the heart or of
the first part of the aorta; with improved methods it may be
possible to study fatty degenerations of the arteries and
larger blood-vessels. Dr. C. M. Mouillin, addressing the
Röntgen Society of London as its president, states that the
fluorescent screen has now reached such a degree of perfection
that the minutest movement of the heart and lungs, and the
least change in the action of the diaphragm, can be watched
and studied at leisure in the living subject. He considers it
probable that the examination of a patient's chest with this
screen may become as much a matter of common routine as with
the stethoscope to-day. …
"Manifestly, the unseen universe which enfolds us is steadily
being brought to the light of day. The investigations of Hertz
established that the light-waves which affect the eye are but
one octave in a gamut which sweeps indefinitely far both above
and below them. In his hands, as in those of Joseph Henry long
before, electric waves found their way through the walls and
floors of a house; in the Marconi telegraph these waves pass
through the earth or a fog, a mist or a rain-storm, with
little or no hindrance. What does all this mean? Nothing less
than that, given its accordant ray, any substance whatever is
permeable, and that, therefore, to communicate between any two
places in the universe is simply a question of providing the
right means."
_G. Iles,
Flame, Electricity and the Camera,
chapter 24 (New York: Doubleday, Page & Co.)._
In an article made public in the "New York Tribune" of January
6, 1901, Professor John Trowbridge, of Harvard University,
expressed his anticipations from the further improvement of
the use of the X rays, as follows: "At present all of the
great hospitals of the world examine injuries of the
extremities of the human body by means of these rays. In some
cases the thicker portions of the body can be studied by their
means. There is, however, much to be desired in the method,
for in general the rays exhibit only the shadows of the bones
of the extremities, or reveal at most the regions of greatest
density in the body. If the muscles and tendons or the veins
and arteries could be studied by means of these rays, an
immense aid to surgery would result. Some experiments I have
conducted with currents of great strength, lead me to believe
that much can be done in this direction, for I have in certain
cases obtained unmistakable traces of muscles and tendons, and
the direction in which to advance is becoming clearer. The use
of the X rays is not confined to the examination of the body.
Together with the ultra violet rays, the X rays are used to
cure cutaneous disorders. We are realizing that electricity is
an important factor in health and disease. The investigations
which have resulted from the discovery of these rays have
opened wide vistas in the molecular world."
ELECTRICAL SCIENCE:
Power.
Lighting.
Electro-chemical and Electro-metallurgical works.
The development at Niagara Falls.
"There were perhaps not more than twenty trolley cars in
actual service in 1887, and these were of doubtful success.
There were no regularly constituted electric railways worthy
of the name. The telephone and electric-lighting wires were
largely overhead, and frequently the construction was of the
most imperfect and temporary character. … Within the past
eight or ten years much has been done in the perfection of
thoroughly practical forms of meters and other instruments for
the measurement of electric forces and quantities. While such
work resembles in its delicacy that demanded by watch
mechanism, on the other hand the large station dynamos are
examples of the heaviest machine construction. … A few years
ago a dynamo was large if it demanded 100 or 200 horsepower to
drive it, while now such machines are diminutive when compared
with those of 2,000 horsepower commonly constructed.
{438}
Dynamos are in use at Niagara of 5,000 horsepower capacity. A
single one of these would supply more than 50,000 incandescent
lights such as are ordinarily used, or would give motion to
500 trolley cars. The period since 1887 has been marked by
great extension in electric lighting by both arc and
incandescent lamps. … One of the chief factors in this great
extension has been the application of alternating electric
currents, or currents of wave-like nature, reversing their
direction many times in each second. The direct or continuous
current had previously occupied the field alone. But the
alternating current possessed the advantage of readily
permitting the sending out over a long distance of a high
pressure current with but little loss and by means of
comparatively small and inexpensive lines. This current,
relatively dangerous, could then be exchanged for a safe
low-pressure current on the house mains for working the
lights. The device which makes the exchange is called a
transformer. It is in reality a modified induction coil—a
simple structure of copper wire, sheet-iron, and insulating
materials, with no moving parts to need attention or to get
out of order. The properties and use of the transformer in an
alternating-current system were comparatively unknown before
1887, but since that time it has played a part in electric
development the importance of which cannot easily [not?] be
overestimated. It has been, furthermore, brought to a high
degree of perfection by the persistent and painstaking effort
of numerous workers. In transforming a current of high
pressure to one of lower pressure, or the reverse, only a very
slight loss of power or energy is suffered. On a large scale,
this loss is barely 3 per cent of the energy of the
transformed current. The larger sizes of transformers now in
use have capacities equivalent to considerably over 1,000
horsepower. Some of these structures are employed at Niagara
and others at Buffalo. As in the case of the apparatus just
mentioned, the effort spent in the perfection of the huge
dynamo-electric generators used in lighting and power stations
has resulted in machines so perfect as to leave but little
chance of further increase of effectiveness. They waste only a
small percentage in converting mechanical power into
electrical energy, and run for years with but little attention
or need of repairs. Along with all this improvement has gone a
like betterment in the thousand and one details and minor
devices which go to make up an electric system. …
"Perhaps … no better example of the varied application of
electric energy exists than at Niagara. Certainly no grander
exemplification of the way in which electric forces may be
called into play, to replace other and unlike agencies, can be
cited. Here at Niagara we may forcibly realize the importance
of cheap and unfailing power developed from water in its fall.
We find the power of huge water wheels delivered to the
massive dynamos for giving out electric energy. This energy is
variously employed. The electric lighting of the city of
Niagara and surroundings and the electric railways naturally
depend upon the water power. Besides these, which may be
termed the ordinary applications of electricity, there are
clustered at Niagara a number of unique industrial
establishments, the importance of which will undoubtedly
increase rapidly. In the carborundum factory we find huge
furnaces heated by the passage of electric current, and
attaining temperatures far beyond those of the ordinary
combustion of fuel. These electric furnaces produce
carborundum, a new abrasive nearly as hard as the diamond,
which is a combination of carbon and silicon, unknown before
the electric furnace gave it birth. Sand and coke are the raw
substances for its production, and these are acted upon by the
excessively high heat necessary to form the new product,
already in extensive use for grinding hard materials. The
metal aluminum, which not many years ago cost $2 an ounce, is
now produced on a large scale at Niagara, and sold at a price
which makes it, bulk for bulk, cheaper than brass. Here,
again, electricity is the agent; but in this case its power of
electrolyzing or breaking up strong chemical unions is
employed. … Works for the production of metallic sodium and
other metals similarly depend upon the decompositions effected
by the electric current. Solutions of ordinary salt or brine
are electrolyzed on a large scale in extensive works
established for the purpose. … The very high temperature which
exists in an electric arc, or between the carbons of an arc lamp,
has in recent years found application in the manufacture of
another important compound, which was formerly but slightly
known as a chemical difficult to prepare. Carbide of calcium
is the compound referred to, and large works for its
production exist at Niagara. Here again, as in the carborundum
works, raw materials of the simplest and cheapest kind are
acted upon in what may be termed an electric-arc furnace.
Coke, or carbon, and lime are mixed and charged into a furnace
in which an enormous electric arc is kept going. … The
importance of carbide of calcium rests in the fact that, by
contact with water, it produces acetylene gas. The
illuminating power of this gas, when burned, is its remarkable
property.
"It will be seen that the metallurgical and chemical
developments at Niagara are the direct outgrowth of electrical
utilization of water power. With many water powers, however,
the outlet for the application of the electrical energy exists
many miles away from the place at which the water power is
found. Even at Niagara there is an example of the beginning of
long-distance transmission, by a high-pressure line extending to
Buffalo and delivering electric energy to an electric station
there. In this case 'step-up' transformers, as they are
called, are employed at the Niagara power plant to step up or
raise the electrical pressure or potential from that given by
the dynamos to that required for the transmission to Buffalo.
This transformation is from about 2,500 up to 10,000 volts. At
the Buffalo end the reverse process is carried on by 'step-down'
transformers, and the energy is delivered to the trolley lines
at about 500 volts. … The whole Niagara plant has grown into
existence within the past five years, and as a consequence of
the technical advances within the period of the past ten
years. There are, however, in active operation, besides the
Niagara power plant, several other water-power transmissions,
some of them far exceeding in distance that between Niagara
and Buffalo, and some in which the amount of power conveyed,
as well as the pressure of the current used upon the line, is
much greater than is yet to be found at Niagara. … No limit
can as yet be definitely set as to the distance which can be
covered in an electrical transmission. … It may be said that
at present the range of distances is between 30 and 100 miles.
…
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"Electricity seems destined at no distant day to play an
important part in revolutionizing passenger traffic between
large centers of population. The facility with which electric
service may be superposed on ordinary steam roads will greatly
further this development. The work with the third-rail system,
undertaken by one of our prominent railway organizations, has
abundantly demonstrated the practicability of such
superposition. The future will witness the growing
substitution of either single motor cars or two or three
coupled cars for long, heavy trains drawn by locomotives, and
a more frequent service will result. There is an eventual
possibility of higher average speeds, since stops will not
consume much time, and the time required to recover the speed
after a stop will be much less than at present. … The heating
power of the electric current is now utilized in a variety of
ways. Electric welding machinery has been put into service
either for accomplishing results which were not possible to be
obtained before its development, or to improve the work and
lessen the cost."
_Elihu Thomson,
Electrical Advance in Ten Years
(Forum, January, 1898)._
ELECTRICAL SCIENCE:
Development of Power at Niagara Falls.
The following description of the engineering work by which
Niagara was harnessed to turbines and dynamos, for an enormous
development of electrical power, is taken from a paper read by
Mr. Thomas Commerford Martin, of New York, at a meeting of the
Royal Institution of Great Britain, June 19, 1896, and printed
in the Proceedings of the Institution, Volume 15; reprinted in
the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1896, page
223:
"Niagara is the point at which are discharged, through two
narrowing precipitous channels only 3,800 feet wide and 160
feet high, the contents of 6,000 cubic miles of water, with a
reservoir area of 90,000 square miles, draining 300,000 square
miles of territory. The ordinary overspill of this Atlantic
set on edge has been determined to be equal to about 75,000
cubic feet per second, and the quantity passing is estimated
as high as 100,000,000 tons of water per hour. The drifting of
a ship over the Horse Shoe Fall has proved it to have a
thickness at the center of the crescent of over 16 feet.
Between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario there is a total difference
of level of 300 feet, and the amount of power represented by
the water at the falls has been estimated on different bases
from 6,750,000 horsepower up to not less than 16,800,000
horsepower, the latter being a rough calculation of Sir
William Siemens, who, in 1877, was the first to suggest the
use of electricity as the modern and feasible agent of
converting into useful power some of this majestic but
squandered energy. …
"It was Mr. Thomas Evershed, an American civil engineer, who
unfolded the plan of diverting part of the stream at a
considerable distance above the falls, so that no natural
beauty would be interfered with, while an enormous amount of
power would be obtained with a very slight reduction in the
volume of the stream at the crest of the falls. Essentially
scientific and correct as the plan now shows itself to be, it
found prompt criticism and condemnation, but not less quickly
did it rally the able and influential support of Messrs. W. B.
Rankine, Francis Lynde Stetson, Edward A. Wickes, and Edward
D. Adams, who organized the corporate interests that, with an
expenditure of £1,000,000 in five years, have carried out the
present work. So many engineering problems arose early in the
enterprise that after the survey of the property in 1890 an
International Niagara Commission was established in London,
with power to investigate the best existing methods of power
development and transmission, and to select from among them,
as well as to award prizes of an aggregate of £4,400. This
body included men like Lord Kelvin, Mascart, Coleman Sellers,
Turrettini, and Dr. Unwin, and its work was of the utmost
value. Besides this the Niagara Company and the allied
Cataract Construction Company enjoyed the direct aid of other
experts, such as Prof. George Forbes, in a consultative
capacity; while it was a necessary consequence that the
manufacturers of the apparatus to be used threw upon their
work the highest inventive and constructive talent at their
command.
"The time-honored plan in water-power utilization has been to
string factories along a canal of considerable length, with
but a short tail race. At Niagara the plan now brought under
notice is that of a short canal with a very long tail race.
The use of electricity for distributing the power allows the
factories to be placed away from the canal, and in any
location that may appear specially desirable or advantageous.
The perfected and concentrated Evershed scheme comprises a
short surface canal 250 feet wide at its mouth, 1¼ miles above
the fans, far beyond the outlying Three Sisters Islands, with
an intake inclined obliquely to the Niagara River. This canal
extends inwardly 1,700 feet, and has an average depth of some
12 feet, thus holding water adequate to the development of
about 100,000 horsepower. The mouth of the canal is 600 feet
from the shore line proper, and considerable work was
necessary in its protection and excavation. The bed is now of
clay, and the side walls are of solid masonry 17 feet high, 8
feet at the base, and 3 feet at the top. The northeastern side
of the canal is occupied by a power house, and is pierced by
ten inlets guarded by sentinel gates, each being the separate
entrance to a wheel pit in the power house, where the water is
used and the power is secured. The water as quickly as used is
carried off by a tunnel to the Niagara River again. …
"The wheel pit, over which the power house is situated, is a
long, deep, cavernous slot at one side, under the floor, cut
in the rock, parallel with the canal outside. Here the water
gets a fall of about 140 feet before it smites the turbines.
The arrangement of the dynamos generating the current up in
the power house is such that each of them may be regarded as
the screw at the end of a long shaft, just as we might see it
if we stood an ocean steamer on its nose with its heel in the
air. At the lower end of the dynamo shaft is the turbine in
the wheel pit bottom, just as in the case of the steamer shaft
we find attached to it the big triple or quadruple expansion
marine steam engine. …
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The wheel pit which contains the turbines is 178 feet in
depth, and connects by a lateral tunnel with the main tunnel
running at right angles. This main tunnel is no less than
7,000 feet in length, with an average hydraulic slope of 6
feet in 1,000. It has a maximum height of 21 feet, and a width
of 18 feet 10 inches, its net section being 386 square feet.
The water rushes through it and out of its mouth of stone and
iron at a velocity of 26½ feet per second, or nearly 20 miles
an hour. More than 1,000 men were employed continuously for
more than three years in the construction of this tunnel. …
"The American Company has also pre-empted the great
utilization of the Canadian share of Niagara's energy. The
plan for this work proposes the erection of two power houses
of a total ultimate capacity of 125,000 horsepower. … With
both the Canadian and American plants fully developed, no less
than 350,000 horsepower will be available."
"Within the last five years," said the "Electrical Review," in
a "historical number" issued at the beginning of 1901, "there
have been built in many parts of the world electrical
installations of great magnitude, transmitting the power of
cataracts for considerable distances. The longest of these, in
California, operates over a distance of 115 miles. Perhaps the
largest of them is that at Niagara, where 105,000 horse power
is developed, and much of it transmitted … to the city of
Buffalo"—20 miles.
The first transmission of power from Niagara Falls to Buffalo
was made at midnight, November 15-16, 1896, when 1,000
horsepower was sent over the wires to the power-house of the
Buffalo Railway Company. The important event was signalled to
the citizens by the firing of cannon, the ringing of bells and
sounding of steam whistles.
ELECTRICAL SCIENCE:
The rotary magnetic field.
Polyphased currents.
Nikola Tesla's inventions.
"At about the same time [1888], Galileo Ferraris, in Italy,
and Nikola Tesla, in the United States, brought out motors
operating by systems of alternating currents displaced from
one another in phase by definite amounts and producing what is
known as the rotating magnetic field. This invention seems
destined to be one of the most important that has been made in
the history of electricity. The result of the introduction of
polyphase systems has been the ability to transmit power
economically for considerable distances, and, as this directly
operated to make possible the utilization of water-power in
remote places and the distribution of power over large areas,
the immediate outcome of the polyphase system was power
transmission; and the outcome of power transmission almost
surely will be the gradual supersession of coal and the
harnessing of the waste forces of Nature to do useful work."
_Electrical Review,
January 12, 1901._
The following description of Tesla's invention was given by N.
W. Perry in the "Engineering Magazine": "If the north and
south poles of a small horseshoe magnet be suspended over a
bar of soft iron free to revolve in a horizontal plane, or be
placed over an ordinary compass-needle, the latter will be
attracted at either end by the poles of the magnet and take up
a position parallel to a straight line drawn between the two
poles of the magnet. Now if the latter be revolved through any
angle the soft iron or needle will follow, being dragged
around by the magnet, and if the magnet be caused to revolve
regularly the iron will also revolve, being pulled around by
the full force of the magnet. It was not feasible, however, to
cause the magnet to revolve in this way, and Tesla's invention
consisted in obviating this trouble and, in fact, greatly
simplifying the problem. He conceived the idea that if he took
an iron ring and used two alternating currents, one of which had
its maximum value at the instant that the other had a zero
value—or, in other words, two currents whose periods were such
that one waned as the other increased—he could produce in that
iron ring by winding these circuits in alternate coils
surfaces that without any mechanical movement of the parts
would travel around that ring with a rapidity equal to the
number of changes of direction of the currents employed. He
thus had a ring, the north and south poles of which were
rapidly revolving just as would the poles of the horseshoe
magnet were it tied at its middle to a twisted string and
allowed to revolve. A piece of iron pivoted at its middle
placed concentric with this ring would therefore be dragged
around by the changing poles of the ring. He had thus
discovered what is somewhat awkwardly expressed by the
expression, 'the rotary magnetic field,' and also the use of
what have been termed 'polyphased currents'—the one referring
to the magnetism and the other to the combination of currents
by which this changing magnetism was produced. This discovery
is undoubtedly one of the most important that has ever been
made within the domain of alternating currents."
_Engineering Magazine,
volume 7, page 780._
Another of Tesla's inventions or discoveries which excited
greater popular interest was that which produced what were
called "high frequency effects," first publicly shown in
connection with a lecture at Columbia College, in the spring
of 1890. "Mr. Tesla started with the idea of setting matter
into vibration at a rate approximating that of light (some two
and a half millions a second), with the expectation that
under such violent molecular agitation it would emit light. He
has not as yet succeeded in obtaining so high a rate, but a
much lower one produced some very surprising luminous effects.
… The dynamo method for getting very high frequencies was soon
abandoned as inadequate, and the oscillatory discharge of a
Leyden jar or plate condensers was substituted. … Perhaps the
most surprising of the new facts elicited from his
investigations is that the shock due to these very high
voltage and high frequency currents can be supported by a
person without any serious inconvenience. He passes a current
of two hundred thousand volts through his body with perfect
impunity."
_F. J. Patten,
New Science Review,
volume 1, page 84._
ELECTRICAL SCIENCE:
Development of the Telephone System.
The annual report of the American Telephone and Telegraph
Company (by which the property and business of the American
Bell Telephone Company were taken over at the close of the
year 1899) for the year ending December 31, 1900, contains the
following brief review of the development and growth of the
telephone system, especially in the United States: "The year
just passed rounds out the quarter century, within which is
compassed the discovery and application of the art of
transmitting speech by telephone.
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A brief review of the development and growth of this new
industry, which has become so important a factor in commercial
and social life, seems appropriate at this time. Twenty-five
years ago the wonderful invention of Professor Bell was made
known to the world. Twenty-three years ago the first telephone
exchange in the world was established in the United States, and
from that beginning has been built up the great system of
exchanges, and the network of connecting lines over which
conversation can be held between points over a thousand miles
apart. Twenty years ago there were 47,880 telephone
subscribers in the United States, and 29,714 miles of wire in
use for telephonic purposes. At the end of last year, there
were 800,880 exchange stations equipped with our instruments,
and 1,961,801 miles of wire were employed for exchange and
toll line service. The United States has, from the beginning,
held the leading place among nations in respect not only of
the extensive development of the business, but in the
employment of modern and improved appliances, tending to
greater efficiency of service.
"In connection with the record of development of telephone
service in this country, some comparison of the systems of
foreign countries is of interest. The latest reports that can
be obtained, part of which are for the year 1899, others to
the close of 1900, show the countries next in order to the
United States, as respects the development of telephone
service, to be the German Empire, having 229,391 stations;
Great Britain, 171,660; Sweden, 73,500; France, 59,927;
Switzerland, 38,864: Austria, 32,255; Russia, 31,376;
Norway, 29,446.