[Transcriber's notes.
This work is derived from:
https://archive.org/details/historyforreadyr07larn
To provide some "foresight" on the many international
conflicts mentioned in this work, I suggest reading a review
of World War I, which commences four years after the
publication of this work. For example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I
These modifications are intended to provide
continuity of the text for ease of searching and reading.
1. To avoid breaks in the narrative, page numbers (shown in curly
brackets "{1234}") are usually placed between paragraphs. In this
case the page number is preceded and followed by an empty line.
To remove page numbers use the Regular Expression:
"^{[0-9]+}" to "" (empty string)
2. If a paragraph is exceptionally long, the page number is
placed at the nearest sentence break on its own line, but
without surrounding empty lines.
3. Blocks of unrelated text are moved to a nearby break
between subjects.
5. Use of em dashes and other means of space saving are
replaced with spaces and newlines.
6. Subjects are arranged thusly:
---------------------------------
MAIN SUBJECT TITLE IN UPPER CASE
Subheading one.
Subheading two.
Subject text.
See CROSS REFERENCE ONE.
See Also CROSS REFERENCE TWO.
_John Smith,
External Citation Title,
Chapter 3, page 89._
---------------------------------
Main titles are at the left margin, in all upper case
(as in the original) and are preceded by an empty line.
Subheadings (if any) are indented three spaces and
immediately follow the main title.
Text of the article (if any) follows the list of subtitles
(if any) and is preceded with an empty line and indented
three spaces.
References to other articles in this work are in all upper
case (as in the original) and indented six spaces. They
usually begin with "See", "Also" or "Also in". "See" is
followed by either "(in this Volume)" or the Volume number
of one of the preceding six Volumes.
Citations of works outside this book are indented six spaces
and in italics (as in the original). The bibliography in
Volume 1, APPENDIX F on page xxi provides additional details,
including URLs of available internet versions.
----------Subject: Start--------
----------Subject: End----------
indicates the start/end of a group of subheadings or other
large block.
To search for words separated by an unknown number of other
characters, use this Regular Expression to find the words
"first" and "second" separated by between 1 and 100 characters:
"first.{1,100}second"
A list of all words used in this work is found at the end of
this file as an aid for finding words with unusual spellings
that are archaic, contain non-Latin letters, or are spelled
differently by various authors. Search for:
"Word List: Start".
I use these free search tools:
Notepad++ — https://notepad-plus-plus.org
Agent Ransack or FileLocator Pro — https://www.mythicsoft.com
Several tables are best viewed using a fixed spacing font such
Courier New.
End Transcriber's Notes.]
{i}
HISTORY
FOR READY REFERENCE
FROM THE BEST
HISTORIANS, BIOGRAPHERS, AND SPECIALISTS
THEIR OWN WORDS IN A COMPLETE
SYSTEM OF HISTORY
FOR ALL USES, EXTENDING TO ALL COUNTRIES AND SUBJECTS, AND
REPRESENTING FOR BOTH READERS AND STUDENTS THE
BETTER AND NEWER LITERATURE OF HISTORY
IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
BY
J. N. LARNED
WITH NUMEROUS HISTORICAL MAPS FROM ORIGINAL STUDIES
AND DRAWINGS BY
ALAN C. REILEY
REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION
IN SEVEN VOLUMES
Volume VII.—RECENT HISTORY
(1901 TO 1910)
A to Z
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
THE C. A. NICHOLS CO., PUBLISHERS
1910
{ii}
Copyright, 1910,
BY J. N. LARNED.
_The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._
Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company
{iii}
PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH VOLUME
In the preface to the Sixth Volume of this work, published in
the spring of 1901, it was remarked that the last half-dozen
years of the Nineteenth Century, which that Volume covered,
had been filled with events so remarkable and changes so
revolutionary in political and social conditions that many
people had asked for an extension of my work to report them.
The years then reviewed disclosed only the beginnings of what
the decade since has been developing, in movements and
achievements so varied, so numerous, in such rapid succession,
with effects so profound and so problematical, that their
appeal to our interest seems the strongest that has come to us
yet from human history. That the interest in them justifies
this further extension of my compilation of "recent history"
has been made clear to me by the frequency of the suggestions
of another Volume which have come to the publisher and to
myself. In the new Volume I have striven to make a clear
exhibit of all these strangely pregnant evolutionary and
revolutionary movements of the present time, which are
traversing all divisions and institutions of all society,
occidental and oriental, along all the lines of its
organization,—international, national, municipal, political,
industrial, intellectual, moral,—leaving nothing in life
untouched.
A few indications of the subjects dealt with most extensively
in the Volume may convey some idea of its scope, and of the
aims pursued in its preparation. For example: "Railways" and
"Combinations" ("Trusts"), treated mainly as the subjects of
regulative governmental action, occupy 38 pages in all. "Labor
Organization" fills 25 pages with the incidents of its trade
unions, labor parties, strikes, mediations, arbitrations and
industrial agreements. "Labor Protection" receives 6 pages,
for the account of what has been done in various countries in
the matters of employers’ liability, industrial insurance,
hours of work, etc. "Labor Remuneration" receives 9 pages, for
the reporting of experiments in cooperation, profit-sharing,
wages-regulation, pensions, etc. Various dealings with the
problems of "Poverty and Unemployment" are set forth in 8
pages; similarly the problems of "Crime and Criminology"
receive nearly 6; those of the Liquor Traffic 9; those of the
Opium evil, 3. The development of organized work for "Social
Betterment" is traced in 5 pages; that of reform in "Municipal
Government" in 12. The "Race Problems," which are troubling
many countries and people, are depicted in 15 pages.
Twenty-six pages are given to the Educational history of the
last decade; recent "Science and Invention" are reported in
16. "Children under the Law" are the subject of 8 interesting
pages on recent legislation touching the young.
The contradictory states of temper in the world on the subject
of War are depicted under two contrasted headings—"War, The
Preparations for" and "War, The Revolt against," in
particulars which fill 35 pages. Of the one great war of the
period, between Japan and Russia, and the triumph of mediation
which brought it to a close, the narrative, in about 20 pages,
is full. The story of the late revolution in Turkey is told
authentically in 9 pages, and that of Persia in 10. The
abortive attempts at revolution in Russia, and the sham of
constitutional government conceded, have their history in 18
pages. The signs of wakened life in China are described in 12.
The discontent of India and Lord Morley’s measures of reform
in the
{iv}
British-Indian government, enlarging the native representation
in it, are set forth broadly in 15. Generally, as concerns the
British Empire, the interesting conditions that have arisen in
it very lately, adding South Africa to the group of unified
Colonial Dominions, which are young British nations in the
making, and drawing them all into a league with the "Mother
Country" for organized imperial defense, are amply portrayed.
So, too, are the agitations in recent British politics at
home, which have arisen from an increasing antagonism between
popular interests represented in the House of Commons and
class interests intrenched in the House of Lords. In American
politics, the remarkable invigoration and freshening of spirit
which characterized the administration of President Roosevelt
are made apparent in a broad exhibit of their many effective
results.
As was said of Volume VI., it can be said, I think, with even
more truth of this, that it presents "History in the
making,—the day by day evolution of events and changes as they
passed under the hands and before the eyes and were recorded
by the pens of the actual makers and witnesses of them."
As an appendix to the present Volume, a new feature, related
to the whole work, has been introduced. It offers a
considerably extensive series of systematic courses for
historical study and reading, the literature for which is
supplied in the seven Volumes of "History for Ready
Reference." This has been prepared in response to many
requests which the publishers have received. Even for casual
investigations it will be found serviceable to every possessor
and user of the work.
J. N. L.
Buffalo, New York, May, 1910.
{v}
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to the following named authors and publishers
for permission kindly given me to quote from books and
periodicals, all of which are duly referred to in connection
with the passages borrowed severally from them:
The publishers of
The American Catholic Quarterly Review,
The American Monthly Review of Reviews,
The Associated Prohibition Press,
The Atlantic Monthly Magazine,
The Boston Transcript,
The Century Magazine,
The Contemporary Review,
The Fortnightly Review,
The New York Evening Post,
The New York State Journal of Medicine,
The Nineteenth Century Review,
The North American Review,
The Outlook,
The Times (London),
Messrs. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh,
Messrs. Doubleday,
Page & Co.,
Messrs. E. P. Dutton & Co.,
Messrs. Harper & Brothers,
Messrs. Henry Holt & Co.,
Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Company,
Messrs. John Lane Company,
Messrs. Charles Scribner’s Sons;
Professors Joseph H. Beale and Bruce Wyman (as joint authors);
Mr. Frederick H. Clark, Head of History Department,
Lowell High School, San Francisco;
Mr. George Iles, author of "Inventors at Work",
Dr. James Brown Scott, Solicitor of the U. S. Department of State.
I am much indebted, furthermore, to the courtesy of many
societies and persons from whom I have received reports and
other documents that were essential to my work; and especially
do I owe much to the helpfulness of many on the staff of the
Buffalo Public Library.
{1}
HISTORY FOR READY REFERENCE
ABD EL AZIZ, Sultan of Morocco.
See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1903, and 1907-1909.
ABDUL HAMID II., Sultan of Turkey.
His forced restoration of the Constitution of 1876 .
His faithlessness to it.
His deposition.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (July-December.),
and 1909 (January-May).
ABDULLA MOHAMMED, The Mullah.
See (in this Volume)
Africa: Somaliland.
ABDURAHMAN,
Ameer of Afghanistan: Death, 1901.
See (in this Volume)
AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1901-1904.
ABERDEEN, The Earl of: Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.
ABERDEEN, Lady.
See (in this Volume)
WOMEN, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF.
"ABIR," or A. B. I. R. COMPANY, The.
See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1903-1905.
ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1902 .
The French in favor.
Their railway building and plans.
"Through Abyssinia the French hope to establish a line of
trade across Africa from east to west in opposition to our
Cape to Cairo railway from north to south. In this they have
already achieved some success. They have settled themselves
along the Gulf of Tadjoura, on the south of which they hold
the magnificent Bay of Djibouti, while on the north their flag
waves over the small port of Obok. But their real triumph in
these regions has been the establishment of a lasting
friendship with Abyssinia by judicious consignments of arms
and ammunition—which were used against Italy in the war of
1896. Finally, they are now in the act of building a French
railway from Djibouti to Addis Abeba, the capital of
Abyssinia. This railway will completely cut out the British
port of Zeila, for in the concession granted by Menelik it is
stipulated that no company is to be permitted to construct a
railroad on Abyssinian territory that shall enter into
competition with that of M. Ilg and M. Chefneux. …
"At Menelik’s capital, Addis Abeba, there is, to use the
expression of M. Hugues le Roux, a silent duel in progress
between the representatives of the various nationalities. We
are represented by Colonel Harrington. But, although Menelik
is wise enough to extend a friendly greeting to all, there is
no reason to suppose that we should enjoy as great a share of
favour as other nations. Although throughout the war we
preserved a strict neutrality, we are regarded as a powerful
and aggressive neighbour, and as the ally of Italy, whereas
the French have been the truest friends of Abyssinia. The
Russians are also in communication with the Negus, and their
efforts are, of course, seconded by France. As for the
Italians, their position seems now to be as good as that of
any European nation."
_G. F. H. Berkeley,
The Abyssinian Question and its History
(Nineteenth Century, January, 1903)._
ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1902.
Treaty with Great Britain.
A treaty between Great Britain and the Emperor Menelek, of the
kingdom of Ethiopia (Abyssinia), signed on the 15th of May,
1902, defines the boundaries between the Soudan and Ethiopia,
and contains the following important provisions:
"Article III.
His Majesty the Emperor Menelek II., King of Kings of
Ethiopia, engages himself towards the Government of his
Britannic Majesty not to construct, or allow to be
constructed, any work across the Blue Nile, Lake Tsana, or the
Sobat, which would arrest the flow of their waters into the
Nile, except in agreement with his Britannic Majesty’s
Government and the Government of the Soudan.
Article IV.
The Emperor Menelek engages himself to allow his Britannic
Majesty’s Government and the Government of the Soudan to
select in the neighborhood of Itang, on the Baro River, a
block of territory having a river frontage of not more than
2000 metres, in area not exceeding 400 hectares, which shall
be leased to the Government of the Soudan, to be administered
and occupied as a commercial station, so long as the Soudan is
under the Anglo-Egyptian Government. It is agreed between the
two high contracting parties that the territory so leased
shall not be used for any political or military purpose.
Article V.
The Emperor Menelek grants his Britannic Majesty’s Government
and the Government of the Soudan the right to construct a
railway through Abyssinian territory to connect the Soudan
with Uganda. A route for the railway will be selected by
mutual agreement between the two high contracting parties."
ACCIDENTS TO WORKMEN:
In the United States.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR PROTECTION.
ACHINESE, Dutch hostilities with the.
See (in this Volume)
NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1904.
ACRE DISPUTES, The:
Claims on the region by Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia.
Its final partition.
A considerable territory of much richness in the southwestern
part of the Amazon Valley, around the upper waters of the
Madeira, the Aquiry, and the Purus tributaries, was long in
dispute between Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, and became a cause
of serious quarrel between the two first named in 1903. The
then Brazilian President, Rodriguez Alves, in his first annual
message, May, 1903, stated the situation from the Brazilian
standpoint as follows:
"Our former relations of such cordial friendship with Bolivia
have suffered a not insignificant strain since the time when
the Government of that sister Republic, unable to maintain its
authority in the Acre region, inhabited exclusively, as you
know, by Brazilians who, many years previously, had
established themselves there in good faith, saw fit to deliver
it over to a foreign syndicate upon whom it conferred powers
almost sovereign. That concession, as dangerous for the
neighboring nations as for Bolivia itself, encountered general
disapproval in South America As the most immediately
interested, Brazil, already in the time of my illustrious
predecessor, protested against the contract to which I refer,
and entered upon the policy of reprisals, prohibiting the free
transit by the Amazon of merchandise between Bolivia and
abroad.
{2}
Neither that protest nor the counsels of friendship produced
at that time the desired effect in La Paz, and, far from
rescinding the contract or making the hoped-for modifications
therein, the Bolivian Government concluded an especial
arrangement for the purpose of hurrying the entrance of the
syndicate into the possession of the territory.
"When I assumed the government that was the situation, and in
addition the inhabitants of the Acre, who had again proclaimed
their independence, were masters of the whole country,
excepting Puerto Acre, of which they did not get possession
until the end of January. Although since January negotiations
have been initiated by us for the purpose of removing amicably
the cause of the disorders and complications which have had
their seat of action in the Acre ever since the time when for
the first time the Bolivian authorities penetrated thither, in
1899, yet the Government of La Paz has nevertheless thought
proper that its President and his minister of war should march
against that territory at the head of armed forces with the
end in view of crushing its inhabitants and then establishing
the agents of the syndicate."
The Brazilian President proceeded then to relate that he had
notified the Bolivian Government of the intention of Brazil to
"defend as its boundary the parallel of 10° 20' south," which
it held to be the line indicated by the letter and the spirit
of a treaty concluded in 1867; and that Bolivia had then
agreed to a settlement of the dispute through diplomatic
channels. "Upon the Bolivian Government agreeing to this," he
continued, "we promptly reestablished freedom of transit for
its foreign commerce by Brazilian waters. Shortly after this
the syndicate, by reason of the indemnity which we paid it,
renounced the concession which had been made it, eliminating
thus this disturbing element."
In conclusion of the subject, President Alves reported: "To
the Peruvian Government we have announced, very willingly,
since January, that we will examine, with attention, the
claims which in due time they may be pleased to make upon the
subject of the territories now in dispute between Brazil and
Bolivia."
The result of the ensuing negotiations between Brazil and
Bolivia was a treaty signed in the following November and duly
ratified, the terms of which were summarized as follows in a
despatch from the American Legation at La Paz, December 26:
"Three months after exchange of ratifications Brazil is to pay
an indemnity of £1,000,000 and in March, 1905, £1,000,000. A
small strip of territory, north Marso, Brazilero, embracing
Bahia Negra and a port opposite Coimbra, on Paraguay River,
are conceded, and all responsibilities respecting Peruvian
contentions are assumed. The disputed Acre territory is
conceded by Bolivia. A railroad for the common use of both
countries is to be built from San Antonio, on Madeira River,
to Cuajar Ameren, on Mamore River, within four years after
ratification. Free navigation on the Amazon and its Bolivian
affluents is conceded. A mixed commission, with umpire chosen
from the diplomatic representation to Brazil, will treat all
individual Acre claims."
Subsequently it was determined in Bolivia that the entire
indemnity received from Brazil should be expended on
railroads, with an additional sum of £3,500,000, to be raised
by loan.
For the settlement of the remaining question of rights in the
Acre territory, between Bolivia and Peru, a treaty of
arbitration, negotiated in December, 1902, but ratified with
modifications by the Bolivian Congress in October, 1903,
provided that "the high contracting parties submit to the
judgment and decision of the Government of the Argentine
Republic, as arbitrator and judge of rights, the question of
limits now pending between both republics, so as to obtain a
definite and unappealable sentence, in virtue of which all the
territory which in 1810 belonged to the jurisdiction or
district of the Ancient Audience of Charcas, within the limits
of the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, by acts of the ancient
sovereign, may belong to the Republic of Bolivia; and all the
territory which at the same date and by acts of equal origin
belonged to the viceroyalty of Peru may belong to the Republic
of Peru."
The case was pending until July, 1909, when judgment favorable
to the claims of Peru was pronounced by the President of the
Argentine Republic, Señor Figueroa Alcorta. According to the
award, as announced officially from Peru, the line was drawn
to "follow the rivers Heath and Madre de Dios up to the mouth
of the Toromonas and from there a straight line as far as the
intersection of the river Tehuamanu with meridian 69. It will
then run northwards along this meridian until it meets the
territorial sovereignty of another nation."
The Bolivians were enraged by the decision against them, and
riotous attacks were made on the Argentine Legation at La Paz,
the Bolivian capital, and on Argentine consulates elsewhere.
Worse than this in offensiveness was a published declaration
by President Montes of Bolivia that the arbitration award
respecting the frontiers of Bolivia and Peru had been given by
Argentina without regard to Bolivia’s petition that an actual
inspection of the territory should be made in case the
documents and titles submitted were unsatisfactory. "Had this
been done," said the President of Bolivia, "the arbitrator
would have been convinced of the respective possessions of the
two countries. It is inexplicable how the arbitrator, after
examining the titles and documents, could give such a
decision. He passed over the elementary principles of
international rights in awarding to Peru territory which had
never been questioned as belonging to Bolivia. As a
consequence Bolivia rejects the award."
The insulted Government of Argentina demanded explanations;
diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken
off, and war seemed imminent. Fortunately the term of
President Montes was near its close, and a man of evidently
cooler temper, Elidoro Villazon, succeeded him in the
Presidency on August 12th. The new President, in his message
to Congress next day, while characterizing the award as
unjust, said: "We must proceed circumspectly, and be guided by
international rights and the customs of civilized nations in
similar cases. I consider it right to avail ourselves of the
means offered by diplomacy to obtain a rectification of the
new frontier line given by arbitration, thus saving the
compromised possessions of Bolivia."
{3}
With this better spirit entering into the controversy, Bolivia
was soon able to arrange with Peru for a concession from the
latter which made her people willing to recognize the award.
This agreement was effected on the 11th of September, and its
terms, as made known in a despatch from Rio de Janeiro, were
as follows:
"Peru surrenders to Bolivia a very small extent of territory
lying between the Madre de Dios River and the Acre, traversed
by the rivers Tahuamano and Buyamaro, which together form the
river Orton, an affluent of the Beni River. This territory,
with an area of about 6,500 square kilometres, was discovered
and colonized by Bolivians, who to-day are in possession of
numerous prosperous industries there. Peru gets possession of
all the upper course of the Madre de Dios, from its head
waters to its confluence with the river Heath. Such a slight
modification as the foregoing from the decision reached by the
arbitrator in no way disturbs the Argentine Republic."
As between Peru and Brazil the boundary question was settled
by a treaty signed at Rio de Janeiro on the 8th of September,
three days before the Bolivian pacification.
This probably closes a territorial dispute which has troubled
four countries in South America for many years, and brought
quarrelling couples to the verge of war a number of times.
ADANA, Massacres at.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (January-May), and (April-December).
ADDIS ABEBA, Capital of Abyssinia.
See (in this Volume)
ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1902.
ADULTERATIONS, Laws against.
See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH: PURE FOOD LAWS.
AEHRENTHAL, Baron.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905-1906.
AERONAUTICS.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT.
AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1901-1906.
Death of Abdurahman.
Succession of his son, Habibullah.
Signs of a progressive spirit in the new Ameer.
The late Ameer, Abdurahman, died in October, 1901, and was
succeeded by his eldest son, Habibullah. Early in the third
year of his reign the new Ameer began to show signs of a wish
to have his country move a little on the lines of European
progress, in the march which so many of his Asiatic neighbors
were joining. His undertakings were disturbed for a time by
trouble with his half-brother, Omar Jan, and with the latter’s
mother, the Bibi Halima or Queen of the Harem; but he brought
the trouble to an end which does not seem to have been
tragical, and that, in itself, is a notable mark in his favor.
The Russo-Japanese War interested him immensely, and he
established a daily post between Khyber and Cabul to bring
speedy news of events. He then read the reports in public,
with expositions, to make the listening people understand the
bearing of what was happening on their own interests, and the
lessons they should learn from what the Japanese were doing.
He is said to have done much in the way of improving
agriculture and horse-breeding in Afghanistan; he has a desire
to establish a Chiefs’ College, with the English language as
the basis of instruction, but has met with strong opposition
in this undertaking; and he has introduced electric lighting,
with probably other luxuries of modern science, in Cabul. Such
things in Afghanistan mark a highly progressive man. His
political intelligence is proved by the cordiality of his
relations with the British Indian Government. An interesting
account of conditions in the Ameer’s country in 1904 was given
by Mr. D. C. Boulger, in the Fortnightly Review of December,
that year, under the title of "The Awakening of Afghanistan."
AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1905.
The Ameer becomes King.
In a new treaty between the Government of Great Britain and
the Ameer of Afghanistan, the latter was recognized as King.
AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1907.
Convention between Great Britain and Russia relative to
Afghanistan.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1907 (AUGUST).
AFRICA:
Its Colonizability by white peoples.
The regions habitable by Europeans.
"There are three obstacles to the white race from Europe
overrunning and colonising the continent of Africa as it has
overrun and colonised the two Americas and Australasia. The
first is the insalubrity of the well-watered regions and the
uninhabitability of the desert tracts; the second is the
opposition of strong indigenous races; and the third, of quite
recent growth, is a growing sentiment which is increasingly
influencing public opinion, in Europe more especially, and
which forbids the white man to do evil that good may come:
namely, to displace by force of arms pre-existing races in
order that, the white man may take the land they occupy for
his own use. It is probable that the second and third reasons
combined may in future prove the more effective checks.
Deserts, to be made habitable and cultivable, only need
irrigation, and apparently there is a subterranean water
supply underlying most African deserts which can be tapped by
artesian wells. The extreme unhealthiness of the well-watered
parts of Africa is due not so much to climate as to the
presence of malaria in the systems of the Negro inhabitants.
This malaria is conveyed from the black man to the white man
by certain gnats of the genus _Anopheles_—possibly by
other agencies. But the draining of marshes and the
sterilisation of pools, together with other measures, may
gradually bring about the extinction of the mosquito; while,
on the other hand, it seems as though the drug (_Cassia
Beareana_) obtained from the roots of a cassia bush may act
as a complete cure for malarial fever. …
"For practical purposes the only areas south of the Sahara
Desert which at the present time are favourable to white
colonisation are the following. In West Africa there can be no
white colonisation under existing conditions; the white man
can only remain there for a portion of his working life as an
educator and administrator. … In North-East Africa,
Abyssinia and Eritrea will suggest themselves as white man’s
countries—presenting, that is to say, some of the conditions
favourable to European colonisation. The actual coast of
Eritrea is extremely hot, almost the hottest country in the
world, but it is not necessarily very unhealthy. The heat,
however, apart from the existence of a fairly abundant native
population, almost precludes the idea of a European
settlement. But on the mountains of the hinterland which are
still within Italian territory there are said to be a few
small areas suited at any rate to settlement by Italians, who,
by-the-by, seem to be getting on very well with the natives in
that part of Africa. But a European colonisation of Abyssinia,
possible as it might be climatically, is out of the question
in view of the relatively abundant and warlike population
indigenous to the Ethiopian Empire. …
{4}
"Then comes Central Africa, which may be taken to range from
the northern limits of the Congo basin and the Great Lakes on
the north to the Cunenc River and the Zambesi on the south.
British East Africa and Uganda offer probably the largest
continuous area of white man’s country in the central section
of the continent. The Ankole country in the southwest of the
Uganda Protectorate and the highlands north of Tanganyika,
together with the slopes of the Ruwenzori range, offer small
tracts of land thoroughly suited to occupation by a white race
so far as climate and fertility are concerned; but these
countries have already been occupied, to a great extent, by
some of the earliest forerunners of the Caucasian (the
Bahima), as well as by sturdy Negro tribes who have become
inured to the cold. To the northeast of the Victoria Nyanza,
however, there is an area which has as its outposts the
southwest coast of Lake Rudolf, the great mountains of
Debasien and Elgon, and the snow-clad extinct volcanoes of
Kenia and Kilimanjaro. This land of plateaux and rift valleys
is not far short of 70,000 square miles in extent, and so far
as climate and other physical conditions are concerned is as
well suited for occupation by British settlers as Queensland
or New South Wales. But nearly 50,000 square miles of this
East African territory is more or less in the occupation of
sturdy Negro or Negroid races whom it would be neither just
nor easy to expel. …
"The only portion of German East Africa which is at all suited
to European settlement lies along the edge of the
Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau. Here is a district of a little more
than a thousand square miles which is not only elevated and
healthy, but very sparsely populated by Negroes. A few patches
in the Katanga district and the extreme southern part of the
Congo Free State offer similar conditions.
"In British Central Africa we have perhaps 6,000 square miles
of elevated, sparsely populated, fertile country to the
northwest of Lake Nyasa and along the road to Tanganyika.
There is also land of this description in the North-East
Rhodesian province of British Central Africa, in Manikaland,
and along the water-parting between the Congo and the Zambesi
systems. Then in the southernmost prolongation of British
Central Africa are the celebrated Shire Highlands, which,
together with a few outlying mountain districts to the
southwest of Lake Nyasa, may offer a total area of about 5,000
square miles suitable to European colonisation. A small
portion of the Mozambique province, in the interior of the
Angoche coast, might answer to the same description. Then
again, far away to the west, under the same latitudes, we
have, at the back of Mossamedes and Benguela, other patches of
white man’s country in the mountains of Bailundo and Shclla.
"In South Africa, beyond the latitudes of the Zambesi, we come
to lands which are increasingly suited to the white man’s
occupation the further we proceed south. Nearly all German
South-West Africa is arid desert, but inland there are
plateaux and mountains which sometimes exceed 8,000 feet in
altitude, and which have a sufficient rainfall to make
European agriculture possible. … About two-thirds of the
Transvaal, a third of Rhodesia, a small portion of southern
Bechuanaland, two-thirds of the Orange River Colony,
four-fifths of Cape Colony, and a third of Natal sum up the
areas attributed to the white man in South Africa. The
remainder of this part of the continent must be considered
mainly as a reserve for the black man, and to a much smaller
degree (in South-East Africa) as a field for Asiatic
colonisation, preferentially on the part of British Indians.
"Counting the white-skinned Berbers and Arabs of North Africa,
and the more or less pure-blooded, light-skinned Egyptians, as
white men, and the land they occupy as part of the white man’s
share of the Dark Continent, we may then by a rough
calculation arrive (by adding to white North Africa the other
areas enumerated in the rest of the continent) at the fol-
lowing estimate: that about 970,000 square miles of the whole
African continent may be attributed to the white man as his
legitimate share. If, however, we are merely to consider the
territory that lies open to European colonisation, then we
must considerably reduce our North African estimate."
_H. H. Johnston,
The White Man's Place in Africa
(Nineteenth Century, June, 1904)._
AFRICA:
Agreements between England and France concerning Egypt,
Morocco, Senegambia, and Madagascar.
See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1904 (APRIL).
AFRICA:
British, German, and Congo frontier agreement.
The following was telegraphed to the Press from Berlin,
November 29, 1909:
"An agreement was signed in Berlin during the summer, Reuter’s
representative learns, whereby various questions affecting the
frontier lines between British Uganda and German East Africa
and the Congo, which have been under discussion for years,
were definitely settled. The agreement is understood to be
satisfactory to both parties, but the details are not to be
published as yet."
AFRICA:
French Central: A Land-locked Empire.
"Since 1898, successive expeditions have converged from the
French Niger Territories, from South Algeria, and from the
French Congo towards Lake Tchad, which has ever exercised a
mystic charm over the minds of explorers. Rabah, the usurper
of Bornou, has been killed, and his son Fadel’allah recently
met the same fate, so that all the belt of black countries
stretching from the north of Sokoto, the north of Bornon and
Baghirmi to the confines of Wadaï, the most easterly limit of
the French sphere, are now occupied in a military sense. …
Even if we consider the French as now firmly settled in these
countries, peopled with timid blacks from whom little is to be
feared, the succeeding problem, what to do with them, presents
no seductive outlook.
"The key to the situation is the question of transport, for
here we have a vast land-locked empire, the roads to which are
long, complicated, and difficult. For the present the question
of a great Trans-Saharan railway may be left out of account,
and in all probability more mature consideration will convince
the French of the futility of such a scheme. Three roads
running through French territory are available; from the
east by the Niger, from the south by the French Congo, and
from the north, Tunis or Algeria, across the great Sahara.
{5}
Of the three, the only one which can be made of practical
utility for a long time to come is that across the Sahara.
From the centre of Africa there are several well-known caravan
routes, all capable of being commercially used, provided the
intervening tribes can be brought to acquiesce in the French
domination. All these terminate in Turkish territory."
_E. J. Wardle,
The French in Central Africa
(Contemporary Review, October, 1902)._
AFRICA:
Subjugation of Hausa Land and occupation of Sokoto.
Early in 1903 the High Commissioner of Nigeria, Sir F. Lugard,
sent an expedition against the Emir of Kano, in the northern
part of the Nigerian Protectorate, within the Sultanate of
Sokoto, which had never been made submissive to the rule which
Great Britain claimed. Kano was reached and taken by assault
on the 3d of February, the Emir and his horsemen escaping
toward Sokoto. The expedition then proceeded against Sokoto,
where feeble resistance was offered, and the seat of the
Sultanate was taken on the 15th of March. These conquests are
believed to have effected a firm establishment of British
ascendancy throughout the Niger territory, from the coast to
the Saharan sphere of the French. The possession of Kano is
important, as it is the starting point of caravan routes
eastward and northward and the chief commercial town of the
Western Sudan.
AFRICA:
Rapid development of the railway system.
See (in this Volume)
Railways: Nigeria.
AFRICA:
French Mauretanie.
See Morocco: A. D.1909.
AFRICA:
French Western: Eradication of Yellow Fever.
See PUBLIC HEALTH: A. D. 1901-1905.
AFRICA:
German Colonies: Cost to Germany.
Small number of German Colonists.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1903.
AFRICA:
Unpopularity of the Colonial Policy in Germany.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1906-1907.
AFRICA:
Wars with the Natives.
In the German Parliament, on the 12th of January, 1905, it was
stated by the Director of the Colonial Department, Dr. Stübel,
that up to that date 11,000 German troops had been employed
against the Hereros and Witbois in Southwest Africa, and that
the campaign of 1904 had cost 42,000,000 marks (about
$10,500,000). The military estimate for 1905 was 60,000,000
marks. General von Trotha, Governor of the colony, who had
been in command of operations, and who had set a price on the
heads of Morenga and other insurgent chiefs, and had
threatened the whole tribe with extermination, was to be
superseded; but the Emperor, notwithstanding, conferred on him
the Order "Pour le Merite." A similar conflict with the
natives in German East Africa was opened in August, 1905, by
the murder of Bishop Spiers and four missionaries and Sisters
of Mercy. The Wangonis are of the Zulu race, mustering about
30,000 warriors, and reinforcements of the German troops had
to be sent out.
AFRICA:
Opening of Diamond Fields.
Diamond discoveries in German Southwest Africa began to
acquire importance in 1908. As stated in a lecture on the
subject by Herr Dernburg, the German Colonial Secretary, at
Berlin, in January, 1909, these diamond deposits lie in
crescent form around Lüderitz Bay, beginning to the south of
Elizabeth Bay and extending northwards to the sea-coast in the
vicinity of Anischab. The full extent of the stretch of
diamond-bearing sand can only be ascertained by careful
measurement, but it is even now permissible to describe the
deposits as very considerable. The diamonds, which are found
mixed with small agates and other half-precious stones, vary
from one-fifth to three-quarters of a carat—the average not
exceeding one-third of a carat. They are almost perfect
octahedrons of good water. The regular exploitation may be
said to have begun in September, 1908, the total recovered
before that date only amounting to 2,720 carats. In September
the amount was 6,644 carats, in October 8,621, in November
10,228, and in December 11,549, or in all 39,762, the price of
which would be about £55,000. The administrative regulations
introduced stipulate, first, that half the net profit shall go
to the Southwest African Treasury; secondly, that measures
shall be taken to secure an adequate market for the new supply
and to prevent depreciation; thirdly, that suitable conditions
shall be established for the working of the mines; and,
fourthly, that their exploitation shall be mainly reserved for
German capital, and that increased work shall be provided for
the German diamond-cutting industry.
AFRICA: Portuguese: A. D. 1905-1908.
Continued existence of slavery.
General F. Joubert-Pienaar, one of the prominent Boer leaders
in the Boer-British War, is the authority for startling
statements concerning the continued maintenance of slavery in
Portuguese Africa. He attempted to become a settler in that
region, and related subsequently what he saw and heard during
his stay in it. Of an experience at the Island Principe he
said: "The English director of the cable office took me to
some of the cocoa plantations, with which the slopes of the
hills are covered. He told me that it was a terribly unhealthy
place to live, and that Europeans could not exist there for
more than a couple of months at a time, and that frequent
changes have to be made, therefore, in the telegraph
department. He told me, further, that the year before the
whole original population of the island had died from malarial
fever, and that the following year they imported five hundred
slaves, men and women, to repopulate the island. That was ten
months before my visit. Pointing to five women walking on the
street, he said: 'There are all that are left of the women
imported, and only about a dozen men remain.' I asked him how
they carried on the work of the plantations. He said it was
done by simply importing slaves, from time to time, to replace
those who had died."
General Joubert-Pienaar declares that he never heard of a
single case where one of these slaves had returned to his own
country, while in the coast towns the abnormal proportion of
native women and children noticeable is due to the fact that
the men have been sent as slaves to the islands. The method of
obtaining the slaves and of making the pretense of a contract
with them is thus described: "When any slaves are wanted in
the islands, the plantation owner informs the slave-traders on
the mainland. The slave-trader goes to a strong chief, inland,
and bargains with him for the number of slaves he requires,
generally paying him in rifles and ammunition.
{6}
This chief will not send any of his own men to the islands,
but, calling his braves, he goes to some weaker tribe, attacks
it, and annihilates the tribe, taking the men, women,
children, and cattle captive. The men, and as many
women as are necessary, he hands over to the
slave-trader, the rest of the women and the cattle he
keeps for himself and his people, and the children he
sells to colonists for slaves. On these slave-hunting
expeditions the most terrible cruelties are enacted and
the most gruesome atrocities perpetrated. … Arriving at
the coast, these men—and sometimes women when they are
required—are brought before an officer appointed for the
purpose. He reads the contract to them in Portuguese; and
after the contract has been read to these people, who do not
understand one word of the language, a black man, who is
stationed there for the purpose, shouts to these slaves to say
‘Yes!’ Of course they all repeat the ‘Yes’ after him, and the
Portuguese official then certifies that these men have all
agreed to go and work on the islands under the terms of the
contract read to them. He then takes a little tin box, in
which a copy of the contract is placed, and ties it around the
neck of each of the slaves."
AFRICA:
Somaliland: Troubles with the Mullah.
In 1902 the British in their Somali Coast Protectorate began
to be harassed by raids from the bordering desert region led
by a religious agitator who had assumed the character known as
that of a Mullah. Three years previously the British Consul at
Berbera had reported to London the appearance of this
personage, Muhammad Abdullah by name, in the Dolbahanta
country, and that he was said to be "collecting arms and men
with a view to establishing his authority over the
southeastern portion of the Protectorate." He had made several
pilgrimages to Mecca, and had attached himself there to a sect
which "preaches more regularity in the hours of prayer" and
"stricter attention to the forms of religion." He had begun
the use of force to compel the tribes of his region to join
his sect, and was evidently gaining power to make trouble. The
trouble was realized in due time, and became serious in 1902,
when, in October, Colonel Swayne, with a native levy of
troops, having driven the Mullah’s raiders back into the
desert, followed them thither, and suffered a serious reverse.
He was attacked and compelled to retreat, with a loss of two
officers and 70 men killed and two officers, with about 100
men wounded. Troops were then sent to the Protectorate from
India and careful preparations were made for dealing with the
Mullah in a more effectual way. He, meantime, sent demands for
political recognition and for the cession to him of a port.
Early in 1903 operations against the Mullah were renewed, with
strongly increased forces from India and from African native
levies; but the results were again disastrous. A detachment
from a column which pursued the Mullah into his own region
ventured too far in the advance and was overwhelmed, losing
nearly 200 officers and men. There appears to have been no
success during the year to counterbalance this reverse.
AFRICA:
Peace with the Mullah.
The Mullah was brought at last to an agreement with Great
Britain and Italy which established comparative peace for the
time being in Somaliland, with the promise of freedom in
trade.
Notwithstanding the pacific agreement with the Mullah,
effected in 1905, troubles on the Somali border have
continued, because of his attacks on friendly tribes. Early in
1909 it was announced that the British forces in Somaliland
were to be increased, but that there was no intention to
embark on any expedition against the Mullah. A despatch from
Bombay, India, on the 3d of January, said: "Further operations
against the Somaliland Mullah are strongly deprecated. It is
impossible to conduct a successful campaign, owing to the
difficulty of obtaining supplies, unless a light railway 200
miles long is built to Bohotle. The Mullah, who is an able
man, is not believed to be anxious to engage in fresh
hostilities with the British, but he is determined to dominate
the Hinterland. Experts consider that no new movement on the
lines of the last campaign would produce a satisfactory
result. The Mullah’s strength is unknown, but it is probably
great, as his camp sometimes covers ten square miles. His
mobility is astonishing, and he can always elude our troops.
Our present advanced outpost is Burao, 80 miles from Berbera,
where there is a small force of the King’s African Rifles. The
country is practically worthless, and the best course,
probably, is to hold the coast and to leave the far interior
severely alone. The friendly tribes cannot be further
effectively protected without permanently employing a large
force. Minor operations are now merely a waste of money."
AFRICA:
Sudan: Suppression of a new Mahdi.
A new Mahdi proclaimed himself in Southern Kordofan in
November, 1903. He was a native of Tunis, named Mahomed El
Amin, who had twice made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Colonel
Mahon, the Deputy-Governor of the Sudan, on hearing of
Mahomed’s proclamation, started instantly from Khartoum, with
200 cavalry, sending orders to El Obeid for 200 infantry, with
Maxims, to meet him near Tagalla. With this force, after a
five days march, through the desert toward the Tagalla
mountains, he caught the Mahdi, took him to El Obeid and tried
and hanged him straightway.
AFRICA:
Population.
Lord Cromer, in his annual report, 1904, estimated the
population of the Sudan, within the British-Egyptian
Condominium, at no more than 1,870,000, to which number it had
been reduced by war and disease from former estimates of
8,525,000, prior to the Mahdi domination.
See, also, ALGIERS, CONGO, EGYPT, MOROCCO,
RHODESIA, SOUTH AFRICA, etc.
AGLIPAY, Padre Gregorio:
His secession from the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines.
See (in this Volume)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1902.
AGRAM TRIALS, The.
See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1908-1909.
AGRARIAN INTEREST, in Germany:
Its triumph in 1909.
See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1908-1909.
AGRARIAN LAW, The Russian.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (APRIL).
AGRICULTURAL CRISIS IN RUSSIA.
See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905.
AGRICULTURE:
Coöperative and other unions among farmers.
See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902-1909;
AND LABOR REMUNERATION: COÖPERATIVE ORGANIZATION.
AGRICULTURE:
Dry Farming.
See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION: AGRICULTURE.
{7}
AGRICULTURE:
Germany: Decrease of agricultural population.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1907.
AGRICULTURE:
Increasing cooperative organization in Great Britain.
See LABOR REMUNERATION: COÖPERATIVE ORGANIZATION.
AGRICULTURE: International Institute:
Its origin and purpose.
Created under the auspices of the King of Italy.
Forty nations associated in its membership.
Its seat near Rome.
The idea of an international organization for systematizing
the agricultural production of the world and regulating the
markets of food products, by constant and authentic knowledge
of crops and conditions, was conceived some years ago by Mr.
David Lubin, of California. It was first expressed by him
publicly at Budapest in 1896, but was the growth of thirteen
years of thought preceding that date. As the result of Mr.
Lubin’s efforts to interest governments and peoples in the
project, King Victor Emmanuel III., of Italy, became its
hearty patron in 1903, and took the initiative step toward
effecting an organization as wide as the civilized world, by
inviting all nations to take part in a convention of delegates
for the purpose, at Rome, in May, 1905. The invitation, as
addressed to the Government of the United States by the
Italian Ambassador at Washington, on the 26th of February,
1905, was in these words: "By order of my government, I have
the honor to inform your excellency that His Majesty the King,
my august sovereign, has taken the initiative in the formation
of an international institute of agriculture to be composed of
representatives of the great agricultural societies of the
various countries and of delegates from the several
governments. This institute, being devoid of any political
intent, should tend to bring about a community of interests
among agriculturists and to protect these interests in the
markets of the world. It will study agricultural conditions in
the different countries, periodically indicating the supply
and the quality of products with accuracy and care, so as to
proportion production to demand, increase and distribute the
various crops according to the rate of consumption, render the
commerce of agricultural products less costly and more
expeditious, and suitably determine the prices thereof. Acting
in unison with the various national bureaus already existing,
it will furnish accurate information on conditions regarding
agricultural labor in various localities, and will regulate
and direct the currents of emigration. It will favor the
institution of agricultural exchanges and labor bureaus. It
will protect both producers and consumers against the excesses
of transportation and forestalling syndicates, keeping a watch
on middlemen, pointing out their abuses, and acquainting the
public with the true conditions of the market. It will foster
agreements for common defense against the diseases of plants
and live stock, against which individual defense is less
effectual. It will help to develop rural cooperation,
agricultural insurance, and agrarian credit. It will study and
propose measures of general interest, preparing international
agreements for the benefit of agriculture and the agricultural
classes.
"Carrying out the intention of His Majesty, the Italian
Government appeals to all friendly nations, each of which
ought to have its own representatives in the institute,
appointed to act as the exponents of their respective
governments, as organs of mutual relations, and as mediums of
reciprocal influence and information. It accordingly now
invites them to participate through their delegates in the
first convention, which is to be held at Rome next May for the
purpose of preparing rules for the new institute.
"The King’s Government trusts that the United States will be
willing to cooperate in the enterprise, the first inspiration
of which is due to an American citizen, and that, accepting
the invitation to the conference at Rome, it will send thither
a delegation commensurate with its importance as the foremost
agricultural nation in the world."
Gratifying responses to the invitation were made by most, if
not all, of the governments addressed, and the Conference at
Rome was held at the appointed time. It concluded its sessions
on the 7th of June by attaching the signatures of the
delegates of the Powers represented to a final Act, which
embodies the resolutions on which they had agreed. This Act of
organization was as follows:
"Article 1.
There is hereby created a permanent international institute of
agriculture, having its seat at Rome.
"Article 2.
The international institute of agriculture is to be a
government institution, in which each adhering power shall be
represented by delegates of its choice. The institute shall be
composed of a general assembly and a permanent committee, the
composition and duties of which are defined in the ensuing
articles.
"Article 3.
The general assembly of the institute shall be composed of the
representatives of the adhering governments. Each nation,
whatever be the number of its delegates, shall be entitled to
a number of votes in the assembly which shall be determined
according to the group to which it belongs, and to which
reference will be made in article 10.
"Article 4.
The general assembly shall elect for each session from among
its members a president and two vice-presidents. The sessions
shall take place on dates fixed by the last general assembly
and according to a programme proposed by the permanent
committee and adopted by the adhering governments.
"Article 5.
The general assembly shall exercise supreme control over the
international institute of agriculture. It shall approve the
projects prepared by the permanent committee regarding the
organization and internal workings of the institute. It shall
fix the total amount of expenditures and audit and approve the
accounts. It shall submit to the approval of the adhering
governments modifications of any nature involving an increase
in expenditure or an enlargement of the functions of the
institute. It shall set the date for holding the sessions. It
shall prepare its regulations. The presence at the general
assemblies of delegates representing two-thirds of the
adhering nations shall be required in order to render the
deliberations valid.
"Article 6.
The executive power of the institute is intrusted to the
permanent committee, which, under the direction and control of
the general assembly, shall carry out the decisions of the
latter and prepare propositions to submit to it.
{8}
"Article 7.
The permanent committee shall be composed of members
designated by the respective governments. Each adhering nation
shall be represented in the permanent committee by one member.
However, the representation of one nation may be intrusted to
a delegate of another adhering nation, provided that the
actual number of members shall not be less than fifteen. The
conditions of voting in the permanent committee shall be the
same as those indicated in article 3 for the general
assemblies.
"Article 8.
The permanent committee shall elect from among its
members for a period of three years a president and a
vice-president, who may be reelected. It shall prepare
its internal regulations, vote the budget of the
institute within the limits of the funds placed at its
disposal by the general assembly, and appoint and remove
the officials and employees of its office. The general
secretary of the permanent committee shall act as
secretary' of the assembly.
"Article 9.
The institute, confining its operations within an
international sphere, shall—
(a) Collect, study, and publish as promptly as possible
statistical, technical, or economic information concerning
farming, both vegetable and animal products, the commerce in
agricultural products, and the prices prevailing in the
various markets:
(b) Communicate to parties interested, also as promptly as
possible, all the information just referred to;
(c) Indicate the wages paid for farm work;
(d) Make known the new diseases of vegetables which may appear
in any part of the world, showing the territories infected,
the progress of the disease, and, if possible, the remedies
which are effective in combating them;
(e) Study questions concerning agricultural coöperation,
insurance, and credit in all their aspects; collect and
publish information which might be useful in the various
countries in the organization of works connected with
agricultural coöperation, insurance, and credit;
(f) Submit to the approval of the governments, if there is
occasion for it, measures for the protection of the common
interests of farmers and for the improvement of their
condition, after having utilized all the necessary sources of
information, such as the wishes expressed by international or
other agricultural congresses or congresses of sciences
applied to agriculture, agricultural societies, academies,
learned bodies, etc.
All questions concerning the economic interests, the
legislation, and the administration of a particular nation
shall be excluded from the consideration of the institute.
"Article 10.
The nations adhering to the institute shall be classed in five
groups, according to the place which each of them thinks it
ought to occupy. The number of votes which each nation shall
have and the number of units of assessment shall be
established according to the following gradations:
Groups of nations. Numbers of votes Units of assessment.
I 5 16
II 4 8
III 3 4
IV 2 2
V 1 1
In any event the contribution due per unit of assessment shall
never exceed a maximum of 2,500 francs. As a temporary
provision the assessment for the first two years shall not
exceed 1,500 francs per unit. Colonies may, at the request of
the nations to which they belong, be admitted to form part of
the institute on the same conditions as the independent
nations.
"Article 11.
The present convention shall be ratified and the ratifications
shall be exchanged as soon as possible by depositing them with
the Italian Government."
In communicating this Act of the Conference to the Government
of the United States, the Italian Ambassador at Washington
wrote August 9, 1905: "The final act of the conference was
signed by the delegates under reservation of the approval of
their respective governments, nor could it be otherwise. After
this approval the convention, which constitutes the essential
part of the act, shall, if approved (as the King’s Government
does not doubt it will be), assume the character of an
obligation on the part of the nations which shall have adhered
to it through the signature of plenipotentiaries appointed for
the purpose."
On March 27, 1906, he was able to announce that "the States
which were represented at the Conference of last year at Rome
… have now all sanctioned by the signature of their
plenipotentiaries the Convention drafted at that Conference."
As appears from a copy transmitted, the Convention had been
signed by the plenipotentiaries of forty nations, including
twelve American republics besides the United States. To this
gratifying announcement the Ambassador from Italy added the
following:
"His Majesty the King at the council of January 28 last signed
a decree, a few copies of which I have the honor to inclose,
by which a royal commission is established, and whose precise
duty is to carry into effect, as soon as it becomes operative,
the convention which will soon be referred to the several
contracting governments for ratification."
At the second general meeting of the Institute at Rome,
December 12, 1909, more than 100 foreign delegates were
present.
"His Majesty the King, desiring again to prove how much he has
at heart the contemplated international institute, has ordered
that the net income of the royal domains of Tombelo and
Coltano, amounting yearly to 300,000 lire, shall be turned
over to the above-mentioned royal commission from the 1st of
July next until the day when, the international institute of
agriculture being legally constituted, the administration and
usufruct of the said domains shall, in accordance with the
announcement made to the international conference at its
session of June 6, 1905, be transferred to the institute
itself.
"In obedience to His Majesty’s interest, the royal commission
has decided to apply the sum graciously placed at its disposal
for the aforesaid period to the construction of a palace,
where the international institute will have its headquarters,
and which will therefore be solely due to the munificence of
the sovereign. The new building that is to stand on the
village Umberto I., near the Porta Pinciana, and will cover
10,000 square meters of public property, will, it is fully
expected, be completed about the end of next year, which is
the time when the permanent committee of the institute will
likely be convened at Rome. This munificent act of His Majesty
the King, whereby the erection of quarters worthy of the
international institute of agriculture is provided for, thus
begins the execution of the convention of June 7, 1905."
{9}
Transmitting to the American Ambassador at Rome the
President’s ratification of the Convention, on the 11th of
July, 1906, Secretary Root made known that Congress had
appropriated $4800 as the quota of the United States to the
support of the International Institute of Agriculture for the
fiscal year 1907, and $8000 for the travelling expenses of the
delegates to be appointed to the grand assembly of the
Institute, and for the salary of one member of the permanent
committee; and to this he added: "In pursuance of the
authority thus conferred, Mr. David Lubin, of Sacramento,
California, has been selected to represent this Government on
the permanent committee, it being understood that he is
willing to serve without salary."
_Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United
States, 1905 and 1906_
AGUINALDO Y FAMY, Emilio.
See (in this Volume)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1901.
AHMED RIZA.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY-MAY).
ALASKA: A. D. 1903.
Settlement of the boundary question.
Dissatisfaction in Canada dissipated by better knowledge
of the facts.
The Alaska boundary question (see in Volume VI. of this work,
under ALASKA BOUNDARY QUESTION) was brought to a settlement in
1903 by an arrangement which submitted it to a Commission of
six, three representing the United States and three acting for
Great Britain and Canada. The American Commissioners were the
Honorable Elihu Root, Secretary of War, and senators Henry C.
Lodge and George Turner, of Massachusetts and the State of
Washington respectively. The British and Canadian members were
the Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Alverstone, Sir Louis
Jette, of Quebec, and A. B. Aylesworth, of Toronto, Ontario.
The Commission, meeting in London, arrived at its decision in
October, signing, on the 20th, an agreement on all the
questions submitted. "By this award," said President
Roosevelt, in his subsequent Message to Congress, "the right
of the United States to the control of a continuous strip or
border of the mainland shore, skirting all the tide-water
inlets and sinuosities of the coast, is confirmed; the
entrance to Portland Canal (concerning which legitimate doubt
appeared) is defined as passing by Tongass Inlet and to the
northwestward of Wales and Pearse islands: a line is drawn
from the head of Portland Canal to the fifty-sixth degree of
north latitude: and the interior border line of the strip is
fixed by lines connecting certain mountain summits lying
between Portland Canal and Mount St. Elias and running along
the crest of the divide separating the coast slope from the
inland watershed, at the only part of the frontier where the
drainage ridge approaches the coast within the distance of ten
marine leagues stipulated by the treaty as the extreme width
of the strip around the heads of Lynn Canal and its branches.
While the line so traced follows the provisional demarcation
of 1878 at the crossing of the Stikine River, and that of 1899
at the summits of the White and Chilkoot passes, it runs much
farther inland from the Klehine than the temporary line of the
later _modus vivendi_, and leaves the entire mining
district of the Porcupine River and Glacier Creek within the
jurisdiction of the United States. The result is satisfactory
in every way. It is of great material advantage to our people
in the Far Northwest. It has removed from the field of
discussion and possible danger a question liable to become
more acutely accentuated with each passing year. Finally it
has furnished a signal proof of the fairness and good will
with which two friendly nations can approach and determine
issues involving national sovereignty, and by their nature
incapable of submission to a third power for adjudication."
_Message of President Roosevelt,
December 7, 1903._
In Canada the feeling was very different from that expressed
by President Roosevelt. There, the dissatisfaction was
intense. The two Canadian Commissioners had opposed the award,
while Lord Alverstone cast his vote with the three Americans,
which provoked the accusation that his decision had been
given, at the instigation of the British Government, not
judicially, but diplomatically, for the pleasing of the United
States, at the sacrifice of Canadian interests and rights. The
groundlessness of such defamatory suspicions became plain when
Lord Alverstone made public the reasons for his vote. A recent
historian of Canada ends his account of the matter with the
following remarks:
"In vain did students and experts declare that they had felt
before the tribunal met that Canada had, in very many
respects, a weak case. It was pointed out that some of the
Canadian surveys gave the line as the Americans claimed it,
that Americans had by long occupation got a hold upon and a
right of possession to various ports and sections, and that
against this occupancy there had been no British protest
whatever. Finally one distinguished citizen reminded the
Canadians that if they had been allowed to select one man as
sole arbitrator they would have been glad to accept Lord
Alverstone. Lord Alverstone was really the one arbitrator and
judge. Had he decided against the Americans, the case would
have been deadlocked for years. In time Canadians came to a
more sober and reasonable attitude on the subject. They came
to see that Lord Alverstone could not have been prejudiced and
that his decision was really the only one that was fair and
unbiased. Some came also to see that the American case was
much the stronger, and that in this light the decision was a
just one. But they were not and are not ready to believe that
the whole scheme was anything but one contrived at Washington
to get the contest settled to the advantage of the Americans."
_F. B. Tracy,
Tercentenary History of Canada,
Volume 3, page 1044
(Macmillan Co., New York, 1908)._
A full account of the arbitration with the correspondence
preceding it, and the opinions written by the arbitrators
severally, is given in the British Parliamentary
_Papers by Command
(United States, Number 1, 1904), Cd. 1877._
ALASKA: A. D. 1906.
Convention to provide for final establishment
of the boundary line.
Final proceedings for establishing the boundary line of Alaska
were provided for in a Convention between the United States
and Great Britain, signed April 21, 1906. The need and object
of the Convention were set forth in its preamble as follows:
{10}
"Whereas by a treaty between the United States of America and
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, for the cession of
the Russian possessions in North America to the United States,
concluded March 30, 1867, the most northerly part of the
boundary line between the said Russian possessions and those
of His Britannic Majesty, as established by the prior
convention between Russia and Great Britain, of February 28/16
[sic] 1825, is defined as following the 141st degree of
longitude west from Greenwich, beginning at the point of
intersection of the said 141st degree of west longitude with a
certain line drawn parallel with the coast, and thence
continuing from the said point of intersection, upon the said
meridian of the 141st degree in its prolongation as far as the
Frozen Ocean.
"And whereas, the location of said meridian of the 141st
degree of west longitude between the terminal points thereof
defined in said treaty is dependent upon the scientific
ascertainment of convenient points along the said meridian and
the survey of the country intermediate between such points,
involving no question of interpretation of the aforesaid
treaties but merely the determination of such points and their
connecting lines by the ordinary processes of observation and
survey conducted by competent astronomers, engineers and
surveyors;
"And whereas such determination has not hitherto been made by
a joint survey as is requisite in order to give complete
effect to said treaties."
To make such determination it was agreed that each Government
should "appoint one Commissioner, with whom may be associated
such surveyors, astronomers and other assistants as each
Government may elect."
ALASKA: A. D. 1906.
Election of a delegate to Congress.
An Act to authorize the election of a Delegate to Congress
from the Territory of Alaska was approved by the President May
7, 1906.
ALASKA COAL FIELDS.
See (in this Volume)
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: UNITED STATES.
ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION.
See (in this Volume)
SEATTLE: A. D. 1909.
ALBANIA: A. D. 1904.
Hostility to the Mürzsteg programme.
See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1903-1904.
ALBERT, King of Belgium.
See (in this Volume)
BELGIUM; A. D. 1909 (DECEMBER).
ALBERT, Marcellin:
Leader of the winegrowers revolt in France.
See (in this Volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1907 (MAY-JULY).
ALBERTA:
Organized as a province of the Dominion of Canada.
See (in this Volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1905.
ALCOHOL PROBLEM.
ALCOHOL: Austria: A. D. 1903.
Resolution of the National Convention of the Social
Democratic Party against alcoholic drinks.
At a convention of the Social Democracy of the Austrian
Empire, held at Vienna, in November, 1903, Dr. Richard
Frohlich read an elaborate report against the use of
intoxicating liquors, concluding with an earnest appeal, in
these words; "We want to create a new social order: to give
the world a new face! To lay the foundations for the new
society is the task of political and industrial organization—
and there is no greater deterrent to the accomplishment of
that task than alcohol. In building the new mansion of the
future we think also of the men who are to dwell in it. Does
it not bring a blush of shame to our cheeks merely to imagine
that the men of the future society will be contented because
they are _intoxicated!_ Contentment in that new order
will arise from a sound brain and the satisfaction of the
rational desires which proceed from it. We have enough
retarding forces to contend with in our struggle for this
ideal of the future generation. One such force we are able
to-day to overcome if we will. That is alcoholism, the last
refuge of philistinism and stupid conservatism. If we really
want the new world, we must provide the new men to make it.
The program of total abstinence does not set new ideals for
us, but it gives us a new weapon, sharp and effective for the
conquest of our old ideals. The responsibility is upon us to
use this weapon. Let us do it!"
In response, the Convention adopted the following resolution:
"The convention of the party recognizes in alcohol a serious
detriment to the physical and mental power of the working man,
and a great hindrance to all efforts of organization in the
social democracy. Every means should be employed to remove the
evils which have come from it.
"The first aim in this struggle must be the economic
betterment of the proletariat. And that must be accomplished
by a clear teaching of the effects of alcohol, and by the
removal of the common toleration of drinking.
"The convention of the party, therefore, recommends that all
the party groups and brotherhoods lend their support to the
crusade against alcohol, and declares that the first step in
this direction must be the abolishment of compulsory drinking
in all of the meetings of the organization. Members of the
party who are converted to total abstinence are recommended to
form total abstinence clubs, to continue the propaganda and to
see to it that their members are true to the political and
economic duties of the party organization."
ALCOHOL: CANADA: A. D. 1906-1908.
The Canada Temperance Act.
Under what was known as the Scott Act, of 1878, the privilege
of local option had been given to counties and cities in
Canada, and had been brought into exercise by nine cities and
seventy-three counties, which prohibited the sale of
intoxicating liquors within their limits; but in most of these
the supporters of the law were gradually overcome and the
prohibition removed. In all the provinces except Quebec, a
referendum vote taken in 1898 showed majorities in favor of a
Dominion Prohibition Law; but the vote cast was so light and
the adverse majorities in cities was so large that the
government did not feel warranted in bringing forward a Bill.
In 1906, however, the demand for local option in the matter of
permitting alcoholic liquors to be sold had become strong
enough to extort from Parliament the desired legislation. As
amended in 1908, Part II. of this Canada Temperance Act (Part
I. having prescribed the proceedings for bringing Part II.
into force) provides that "from the day on which this Part
comes into force and takes effect in any county or city, and
for so long thereafter as, and while the same continues or is
in force therein, no person shall, except as in this Part
specially provided, by himself, his clerk, servant or agent,—
{11}
(a) expose or keep for sale, within such county or city, any
intoxicating liquor; or,
( b ) directly or indirectly on any pretense or upon any
device, within any such county or city, sell or barter, or, in
consideration of the purchase of any other property, give to
any other person any intoxicating liquor; or,
(c) send, ship, bring or carry or cause to be sent, shipped,
brought, or carried to or into any such county or city, any
intoxicating liquor; or,
(d) deliver to any consignee or other person, or store,
warehouse, or keep for delivery, any intoxicating liquor so
sent, shipped, brought or carried."
But these last two subsections are not to "apply to any
intoxicating liquor sent, shipped, brought or carried to any
person or persons for his or their personal or family use,
except it be so sent, shipped, brought or carried to be paid
for in such county or city to the person delivering the same,
his clerk, servant, or agent, or his master or principal, if
the person delivering it is himself a servant or agent."
To bring Part II. of the Act into force in any county or city,
not less than one-fourth of the total number of electors
therein must petition the Governor in Council for a poll of
votes on the question, and when the vote is taken there must
be an affirmative majority; failing which no similar petition
can be put to vote in the same community for three years.
On the 2d of May, 1909, the following announcement of the
operation of the law in the province of Ontario was made: "May
Day, 1909, will long be remembered by the advocates of local
option in Ontario. One hundred and forty-two bars passed out
of existence yesterday, and of the 807 municipalities in the
province 334 are now without a single license in force. The
Toronto commissioners have cut off 40 licenses, leaving only
110 in a city of nearly 400,000 people."
ALCOHOL:
Casual occurrences of saloon suppression, showing what goes
with it.
Communities in which the liquor traffic is ordinarily favored
are sometimes compelled by exigencies of circumstance to
suppress it temporarily, and are forced then to see how much
of crime and disorder goes with it. During the weeks in which
military authority cleared saloons from San Francisco, after
the calamity of 1906, every observer made note of the
conspicuous freedom of the city "from all kinds of violence
and crime," though the whole organization of life was upset.
One trustworthy journal reported conditions six months after
the calamity as follows: "During the two months and a half
after April 18 San Francisco was probably the most orderly
large city in the United States. Violence and crime were
practically unknown. During that time the saloons and liquor
stores of the city were closed tight. About the middle of July
the saloons were permitted to open again. This action of the
city government was accompanied by the expectation on the part
of many citizens of an outbreak of violence and disorder.
Clergymen, and it is said even the police, advised men and
women to carry firearms for their own protection. For the past
three months San Francisco has been living under a reign of m.
In eighty days eighty-three murders, robberies, and assaults
were registered on the police records. A despatch to
Ridgway’s, the new weekly periodical, reports the sale in San
Francisco during one week in October of over six thousand
revolvers."
When Stockholm, in the summer of 1909, was undergoing the
trials of the great general strike, and by general consent of
all concerned the sale of liquors was stopped, the same report
went out, that magistrates and police had little to do. And
that is the standing account of things from the Panama Canal
Zone, about which an English visitor, Sir Harry Johnston,
wrote in April, 1909:
"The whole of the canal zone (ten miles on either side of the
canal banks) is ‘teetotal,’ except in the actual towns of
Panama and Colon. No alcohol is sold by the Canal Commission
at its hotels or boarding-houses. And the general result of
these stern measures—the improvement in health and the absence
of crime—amply justifies this anti-alcohol policy. … There is
singularly little serious crime throughout the canal zone. One
has the sensation of being perfectly safe anywhere at any time
of day or night. Petty dishonesty among the lower classes is
common, especially at the railway stations, where one is
liable to lose small articles of baggage if they are left
unguarded. Panama in this respect is worse than the other
towns of the Isthmus, new or old. But there is no open shock
to any one’s prejudices or sentiments in the way of flagrant
immorality (as at New Orleans, for example)."
So easily can communities solve half, at least, of their most
troublesome problems, and cure half, at least, of their worst
social maladies, if they will!
ALCOHOL: ENGLAND: A. D. 1902 .
Passage of an amended licensing law.
A moderate reform.
A Licensing Bill, moderately in the interest of temperance
reform, was discussed and passed in Parliament during the
summer of 1902. It made publicans more strictly responsible
for drunkenness incurred on their premises; strengthened the
prohibition of liquor-selling to habitual drunkards; improved
measures for the suppression of public drunkenness; subjected
licenses to tradesmen for the sale of liquors off their
premises to the unqualified discretion of justices, and
facilitated the separation of husbands and wives from a
drunken mate.
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1904.
Passing of a new Licensing Bill, providing compensation for
the withdrawal of licenses on grounds of public policy.
An agitation in Great Britain which almost equalled for a time
that produced in the same period by Mr. Chamberlain’s campaign
for a preferential tariff was stirred up by a new Licensing
Bill, introduced as a Government measure on the 20th of April,
1904. The bill provided for compensation to be made, at the
expense of the liquor trade, for the taking of a license away
from any public house, on grounds of public policy, no matter
how briefly the license had been held. A fund for the
compensations was to be raised by assessment on all engaged in
the trade. Authority to refuse the renewal or transfer of
licenses on any ground other than ill conduct or character was
withdrawn from local magistrates and exercised by the courts
of quarter sessions (composed of the justices of the peace in
each county) only. When a public house was thought to be
superfluous by local magistrates they were required to report
the case to quarter sessions, where a hearing upon it would be
given.
{12}
If the Bench of quarter sessions decided to extinguish the
license, it must specify the grounds of its decision in
writing, and award a compensation, based on the estimated
difference between the value of the licensed premises and the
value of the same premises without a license. If no agreement
on this basis could be reached, the Inland Revenue
Commissioners should determine the sum.
The Bill was advocated in the interest of temperance, as being
calculated to reduce the number of public houses, and to raise
their character. Mr. Balfour upheld it as "a great temperance
measure." It should be the aim of Government, he argued, to
"encourage respectable persons to keep public houses, and with
that object they should make the trade secure." On the other
side it was opposed with exceeding bitterness as a measure
that had the backing and was in the interest of the brewers
and the whole liquor trade; that created vested interests in
the trade, rooting it to a new depth; that tended to add value
to the low class of public houses, and obstructed future
temperance reform. Repeated attempts to introduce a limit of
years after which the awarding of compensation for the
withdrawal of license would cease were defeated, and the Bill
passed both Houses in August, substantially as it came into
Parliament four months before.
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1907.
Drink in its relation to crime.
Testimony of judges.
"The following is from a newspaper report of a speech by Judge
Rentoul, delivered in the Guildhall, Cambridge, on the 15th of
October, 1907. He happened to be one of the judges of the
chief criminal courts of this country, and he said to them on
that platform that 90 per cent. of the cases that came to the
Central Criminal Court of England came directly through drink.
The late Lord Brampton, formerly Sir Henry Hawkins, perhaps
the greatest criminal judge during the past century, had also
put the figures at 90 per cent. Lord Coleridge, speaking at
one Assizes, said, ‘Every single case in my present list comes
from the use of strong drink.’ ‘If it were not,’ said his
Honour, ‘for alcohol, three fourths of our criminal courts
would be closed in this country and closed forever.’"
_H. A. Giles,
Opium and Alcohol in China
(Nineteenth Century, December, 1907)._
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1908.
Passage of a new Licensing Bill by the Commons and its
rejection by the Lords.
Nothing contributed more to the defeat of the Conservative
Ministry in the British Parliamentary elections of 1905 than
the moral repugnance of the country to the Licensing Bill of
1904 (described above); and the Liberal Government came to
power with no commission from the people more positive than
was in the demand for an amendment of that law. In 1908 it
brought into Parliament and passed through the House of
Commons a Bill which answered the demand, asserting the right
and the need and the power in Government to put limitations on
the granting of licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors,
without treating them as vested interests under a sacred
guard. The limitation, in fact, was made definite and
mandatory by the first provision of the Bill, which declared;
"Licensing justices shall, in accordance with this Act, reduce
the number of on-licenses in their district so that at the end
of a period of fourteen years from the fifth day of April
nineteen hundred and nine the number of those licenses in any
rural parish or urban area in their district shall not exceed
the scale set out in the First Schedule to this Act as applied
to that parish or area under the provisions of that schedule."
The schedule referred to was as follows:
Persons per acre.
2 or less
Exceeding 2 but not exceeding 25
Exceeding 25 but not exceeding 50
Exceeding 50 but not exceeding 75
Exceeding 75 but not exceeding 100
Exceeding 100 but not exceeding 200
Exceeding 200
Number of on-licenses.
1 to 400 persons or part of 400
1 to 500 persons or part of 500
1 to 600 persons or part of 600
1 to 700 persons or part of 700
1 to 800 persons or part of 800
1 to 900 persons or part of 900
1 to 1,000 persons or part of 1,000
The Bill provided further for local option in the matter of
granting new licenses, permitting a majority of voters in any
licensing district to prohibit further grants; and introduced
other changes of law in the interest of temperance, but not
going to any extreme. When the measure went to the House of
Lords it suffered there the same fate that had been meted out
to the Education Bill of 1906. How serious an issue between
the Commons and the Lords was raised by that occurrence is
intimated in one passage of a speech made by the Liberal Prime
Minister, Mr. Asquith, in July, 1909. He was reviewing some of
the significant incidents of recent political history, and
when he came to the Licensing Bill there was more feeling in
his remarks than he had shown before. "That," he said, "was a
Bill, as you know, which was debated for weeks and for months
and passed through the House of Commons with sustained and
unexampled majorities. When it reached ‘another place,’ what
was its fate? It was rejected without even any pretence of
consideration of its details, it was rejected in pursuance of
a preconcerted party resolution, it was rejected with every
circumstance of contumely and contempt. I will not pause to
dwell upon, certainly not to praise, the provisions of the
Licensing Bill, which, I may say, was to some extent my own
handiwork. But in regard to its rejection I will say that it
has made two things—that rejection and the circumstances
preceding, following, and attending it have made two
things—abundantly plain. The first is that it has ruined the
prospects of any really effective temperance reform on
anything like a large and comprehensive scale during the
lifetime of the present Parliament. I will say next the
circumstances of that rejection have brought into greater
prominence than ever before the fact that our constitutional
system is not, or at least that it can be made not to be, the
embodiment, but the caricature of a representative and
responsible Government. And the question of the relations
between the two Houses of Parliament must be for us Liberals,
at any rate, as I described it at the time, the dominant issue
in our programme."
{13}
The requirement of the Act of 1904 that compensation should be
paid to every license-holder whose license was withdrawn for
public reasons, put so narrow a limit on the reductions made,
that the 138,011 licensed houses in England and Wales in 1904
had only been diminished by about 3000 in 1908; whereas the
country demanded a great cutting down of the excessive number.
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1908.
Provisions of The Children Act for the Protection of Children.
See (in this Volume)
CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: AS DEPENDENTS, &C.
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1909.
Taxation of the Liquor Trade proposed in the Budget.
See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1909 (APRIL-DECEMBER).
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1909.
The Decreased Consumption of Whiskey caused by increased tax.
Speaking in Parliament of the increased whiskey tax in his
Budget, on the 29th of October, some months after it had gone
into effect and its yield was being shown, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, Mr. Lloyd-George, acknowledged that he had
greatly overestimated the revenue it would produce. He said:
"The whole point was to what extent would an addition of a
halfpenny a glass deter a man from taking his usual share of
drink. I could no more estimate that than any other member of
the House. I made a very liberal allowance for decrease in
consumption, so liberal that nobody either in or out of the
House agreed with it. Many said it was absurd. … I assumed
that people who could afford it would not regard the halfpenny
at all; that they would buy exactly the same quantity of
whisky as before. The working classes I assumed would probably
purchase a smaller quantity. Supposing a man says, I spend 2s.
6d. on drink; he would not spend more; therefore he would
consume less.
"I made a rough calculation upon such information as I had how
that would affect the consumption of whisky as a whole, but I
find the change has gone beyond that, and my information now
is not merely that there are thousands of people who drink a
percentage which is, in proportion to the increase, less, but
some of them drop it altogether. Some of them are barely
drinking half what they were before. Altogether a most
extraordinary effect has been produced upon the habits of the
people. I am not here to apologize for that at all. In some
districts, I am told, the drinking of spirits has gone down by
70 percent, in Ireland, I think. I hear that there are
districts in Scotland where it has gone down 50 per cent. I
have a communication in regard to the whisky distillers of
Glasgow saying that the decrease in Glasgow during September
has been 36 per cent.
"People have not even been driven to the consumption of beer.
It is really almost unaccountable. People have not been driven
from one form of alcohol to another, but have been driven from
alcohol altogether. The fact is very extraordinary, and has
gone beyond anything I have anticipated. … Our anticipations
now are that the consumption of spirits, both of foreign and
home manufacture, will go down by something between 20 and 25
per cent. That means that a smaller quantity of spirits will
be consumed in this country during this year by eight or nine
million gallons.’’
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1909.
Organization of "The True Temperance Association."
Its aim and appeal.
Under the name of "The True Temperance Association," a London
organization headed by Lord Halsbury made the following appeal
to the English public, in May, 1909: "Let us take what is to
hand—the publichouse; the regulated refreshment house of the
people. Let us transform that out of its present condition of
a mere drink-shop into a house of general, reasonable, and
reputable entertainment—a place where there will be other
things to consume besides beer and whisky, and other forms of
recreation besides mere drink. We should imitate the model of
the Continental café and German _bierhaus;_ the White
City and other exhibitions have shown us that they would not
be exotics in this country; and those exhibitions with their
wonderful record of sobriety also show us that there is every
ground to expect that England, with transformed publichouses,
would be as sober, and withal as bright as are Continental
countries."
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1900:
England, United States, France, and Germany.
Comparative statement of the consumption of alcoholic drink.
"The consumption of alcoholic drink in the above countries,
per ten of population, was in the year 1900 as follows:
Drink-consumption per 10 of population.
Country. Beer, spirits, Beer. Spirits. Wine.
and wine.
Gallons. Gallons. Gallons. Gallons.
France 336 62 20 254
United Kingdom 332 317 11 4
Germany 309 275 19 15
United States 147 133 11 3
"Some years agone, the late P. G. Hamerton in his book
_French and English_ mentioned the increase of drinking
in France, and we see that French drink-consumption per head
is now greater than British consumption. The French drink more
spirits, more wine, and have a larger total consumption per
head than any of these three other nations.
"The most striking fact in the above statement is the low
drink-consumption per head in the United States. The American
total per head is less than one-half of the total consumption
per head in any of the three other countries. The superior
sobriety of the American workman as compared with the
Englishman has often been noticed, and observation in social
grades higher than that of the artizan tends to show that
American superiority in this respect is a general superiority
not confined to workmen only. The developed alertness and
prompt energy of the American may, it is quite likely, be due
in some part to this relative abstinence from alcoholic drink
which is now illustrated.
"Looking back over the fifteen years 1886-1900, for the
purpose of observing the increase or the decrease in
drink-consumption per head of population, the following
results have been obtained;—
Country. Average yearly drink-consumption,
per head of population, during
1886-1890. 1891-1895. 1890-1900.
Gallons. Gallons. Gallons.
France 26.5 31.5 32.3
United Kingdom. 29.4 31.1 33.1
Germany 24.4 26.6 29.9
United States 11.8 14.3 14.2
The drink-consumption per The drink-consumption per
head during 1886-1890 head during 1896-1900 was
being taken at 100
per cent. per cent.
France 100 122
United Kingdom. 100 113
Germany 100 123
United States 100 120
{14}
"In each country the drink-consumption per head of population
has increased since 1886-1890, and, with the exception of the
United States, there has been an increase during each
five-yearly period observed,
"Comparing the period 1896-1900 with the period 1886-1890, we
see that the percentage of increase per head of population in
drink-consumption was smaller in the United Kingdom than in
any of the three other countries. Germany and France have had
the largest relative increases per head of population.
"In the United States, the increase of 20 per cent in the
drink-consumption per head of population is due to an increase
in beer-drinking—the consumption per head of wine and of
spirits has declined."
_J. H. Schooling,
Drink: in England, the United States, France, and Germany
(Fortnightly Review, January, 1902)._
ALCOHOL: France: A. D. 1907.
Revolt of the Wine Growers of Southern France against wine
adulteration.
See (in this Volume )
FRANCE: A. D. 1907 (MAY-JULY).
ALCOHOL: Germany:
Temperance requisite in railway employees.
The dangers to the traveling public that are attendant on the
use of alcoholic stimulants by railway employees were
discussed very seriously not long since by a writer in the
_Deutsche Monatsschrift_. "The constantly growing demands
upon transit service for safety and speed," he observed, "call
for an increasingly higher efficiency of the personnel, not
only as regards prudence, judgment, decision, and
clearsightedness, but a sense of duty, all which qualities
are, it has been proved, vitiated by nothing so readily and to
such a degree as by indulgence in alcoholic drinks. The chief
danger, moreover, consists not so much in excessive drink
resulting in drunkenness, which is easily recognized, as in
the more moderate but habitual use of liquor, which is harder
to control, and the after-effects of heavy drinking.
Scientific investigation has established the fact that even a
moderate use of alcoholic beverages impairs the acuteness of
sight and hearing, including the power of distinguishing
colors. Most of the violations of discipline and duty in the
German transportation service are due to indulgence in drink,
besides leading to misery and want in the home."
The writer alludes to an association of German railway
officials started by himself, whose object it is to enlighten
the public regarding the worthlessness of alcoholic drinks as
a tonic and how they may be dispensed with as a means of
refreshment. This society, he states, has been most
encouragingly successful in its efforts. He adds the important
statement that the Prussian Government, owing to recent
serious accidents, has issued an order prohibiting all railway
employees from taking any beverage containing alcohol while on
duty.
ALCOHOL: A. D. 1902.
Resolution of Socialist Congress.
The subject in Prussian schools.
The German Socialist Congress, sitting at Munich in September,
1902, adopted a resolution which warned the working classes
against the dangers from immoderate indulgence in alcoholic
drinks, but declined to make total abstinence a condition of
party membership. In the previous March the Prussian minister
of education had given instructions to the school authorities
mm of the kingdom which aimed at the enlightening of the
people as to the deleterious effects, both physical and
economical, of an excessive use of alcoholic liquors. The same
subject had been agitated in the Prussian parliament, and
there was discussion of measures of more strict regulation of
public houses.
ALCOHOL:
International Congress on Alcoholism.
For twenty-four years an International Congress on Alcoholism
has held biennial meetings in different European cities,
beginning at Antwerp in 1885, steadily demonstrating a growth
of opposition—especially of scientific opposition—even in
Continental Europe, to the use of alcoholic liquors. The
meeting of 1905 was at Budapest; that of 1907 at Stockholm;
that of 1909 at London. The delegates to the latter numbered
about 1300, coming from nearly every European country, and
from the United States, Canada, and South Africa. Of the
strong character of the discussions at the London meeting the
New York _Evening Post_ said after its adjournment:
"Men and women from every country, representing varying
conditions of society, offered evidence tending to show, by
actual figures of loss, the bad effects of drinking. From the
standpoint of education, science, medicine, society,
economics, efficiency, and law, the speakers all reached the
same conclusion, bringing strong testimony in support.
Efficiency was the keynote of papers representing public
service on the part of the post office, the railroad, the
navy, and the army of Great Britain."
An interesting figure at the Congress, it was said by an
American newspaper correspondent, was Judge William J.
Pollard, of St. Louis, who went as a representative of the
United States Government, and who was known widely as the
originator of the pledge instead of prison method of dealing
with drunkards. When he spoke on that subject he was given a
double allowance of time, on the motion of a delegate from
France, and, although under the constitution of the congress
no resolution could be put, a declaration in favor of the plan
was signed by practically every delegate in the hall. The
declaration reads as follows:
"We, the undersigned members and delegates attending the
International Congress on Alcoholism assembled in Loudon,
July, 1909, desire to record our gratification at the
recognition in statute law by Great Britain, Vermont, United
States of America, and Victoria (Australia) of the principle
of reforming drunkards by the probation on pledge method,
commonly known as the Pollard plan. The possibilities of this
wise and beneficent policy are so great that we desire to
commend its adoption throughout the world."
"Judge Pollard’s plan, established in the Saint Louis police
court nine years ago, consists in giving the drunkards a
chance of reform. Instead of sentencing them to prison or
fining them, Judge Pollard requires persons charged before him
with drunkenness to take the pledge. If they do so he suspends
sentence on them, and if the pledge is kept for a certain
period they hear no more about the matter. If it is broken the
fine or sentence is enforced."
One of the results of the Congress was the organization of a
"World’s Prohibition Confederation," "to better amalgamate the
forces in various countries working along their respective
lines towards the one common aim of the total suppression of
the liquor traffic."
{15}
Two sessions were held and the Conference finally decided by
unanimous vote upon the following outline of the purposes and
methods of the new Confederation:
"(1) Name—
The name of this association shall be 'The International
Prohibition Confederation (Confederation Prohibitioniste
Internationale—Internationaler Verbaud fuer Alkoholverbot).'
"(2) Object—
(a) To amalgamate the forces in various countries working
along their respective lines towards the one common aim of the
total suppression of the liquor traffic,
(b) To obtain notes of progress, information, and news from
all parts of the world, and send such information to all
organizations joining the Confederation and other applicants.
"(3) Membership—
The membership shall consist of representatives of temperance
organizations in all countries approving of the objects and
such officers as may be elected by the Confederation.
"(4) Finances—
The financial support shall be gained from such contributions
as the various affiliated societies and individual associate
members may subscribe."
ALCOHOL: New Zealand: A. D. 1896-1908.
Twelve years of Local Option.
Increasing majorities against the liquor traffic.
The vote of women.
Under the operation of a local option law since 1896, New
Zealand has been steadily narrowing the liquor traffic, with
what seems to be a fair prospect of extinguishing it entirely.
The law provides for the taking of a vote in each
parliamentary electoral district once in three years on three
propositions, as follows:
"1. That the number of licensed houses existing in the
district shall continue.
"2. That the number shall be reduced.
"3. That no licenses whatever shall be granted.
"Electors may vote for one of these proposals or for two of
them. The prohibitionists strike out the top line, and thus
vote for a reduction of the number of licenses, and also for
total prohibition in their district. Those who oppose
prohibition usually strike out the second and third lines, so
as to vote for the continuance of existing licensed houses;
while there are others, again, who strike out the first and
third issues, with a view simply to a reduction in the number
of licensed houses. An absolute majority of the votes carries
reduction; but it requires a three-fifths majority to carry
'no-license.' If reduction is carried the licensing committee
must then reduce the publicans’ licenses in the district by
not less than 5 per cent. or more than 25 per cent, of the
total number existing."
The local option vote has now been taken five times, with a
slow but steady increase of majorities given against the
liquor traffic, either to restrict or to end it,—as the
following table shows:
Continuance. Reduction. No-license. Valid votes.
1896 139,500 94,500 98,300 259,800
1899 142,400 107,700 118,500 281,800
1902 148,400 132,200 151,500 318,800
1905 182,800 151,000 198,700 396,400
1908 186,300 161,800 209,100 410,100
The figures here entered of the vote in 1908 are not official,
but are said to be close to accuracy.
The New Zealand correspondent of the London Times, from whose
report the above is taken, adds these particulars: "The result
of the local option poll taken in December, 1905, was to carry
'no license' in three new districts and reduction in four
districts. In 36 of the other districts a majority of the
votes polled was for ‘no license,’ though the three-fifths
majority necessary to carry the proposal was not obtained. The
results of the recent poll were very striking. In six new
districts ‘no-license ’ was carried, and in some others
‘no-license’ and ‘reduction’ were only lost by narrow margins.
The rapid advance made by the ‘no license’ party is certainly
remarkable.
"While the proportion of votes cast for continuance is
steadily declining, the proportion for ‘no-license’ is
increasing at an accelerated rate. Already there is a bare
majority of the total votes in favour of prohibition; while if
we had national instead of local option the chances are that
in a comparatively short period the necessary three-fifths
majority to secure total prohibition in the country might be
obtained. There are now indications that the ‘no-license’
party will make a bold bid, not only for a bare majority vote
on the no-license issue, but also for national option. In this
event they will alienate the sympathies of the great majority
of the moderates who now vote with them, so that the
‘no-license’ cause may receive, at least, a temporary check.
"Three important suggestions have been made to save the
trade—viz., reform from within, State control, and
municipalization. Judging from past experience, the first idea
seems hopeless. The trade has had its lessons, but has not
taken sufficient heed. State control will scarcely be
tolerated, since most people realize that the liquor trade in
the hands of a Government might be a dangerous political
engine, besides which there would always be the temptation
ever present to a Government to use it for revenue purposes.
Without very necessary reform from within, therefore, the only
chance for the liquor trade would seem to lie in the direction
of municipalization. Under municipal control, with the
abolition of the open bar in favour of the cafe system, with
better liquor, and with a thorough system of inspection and
analysis, the liquor trade in New Zealand might obtain a new
lease of life. Under the present system there is every
indication that its doom is sealed."
The importance of the vote of women, on this question
especially, appears in the following statements: "In 1902,
138,565 women, or 74.52 per cent. of those on the rolls,
voted; in 1905, 175,046, or 82.23 per cent. of those on the
rolls, voted. The proportion of females to males voting at
successive general elections also shows a gradual increase
from 69.57 per cent. in 1893 to 78.99 in 1905. Then there is
the gradual increase in the proportion of females to males in
the population of a young country to be considered. At the
foundation of the colonies the males, naturally, largely
outnumbered the females; but eventually the sexes will become
more nearly equal in number. Thus, while in 1871 the
proportion of females to males in the colony was only 70.52,
in 1906 it was 88.65. Furthermore, women are taking a keener
interest than ever in politics. They are beginning to
appreciate the franchise and to exercise it intelligently in
ever-increasing numbers."
{16}
The warning and alarming effect of the local option vote of
December, 1908, on the New Zealand liquor dealers was made
apparent by their action taken soon after, as reported in the
following Press despatch from Wellington, January 18, 1909:
"As a result of the large 'moderate' vote cast at the recent
poll on the question of total prohibition or reduction of
facilities for obtaining drink, it was unanimously resolved
to-day, at a meeting of the Auckland Brewers and Licensed
Victuallers’ Association, representing all the wholesale and
nearly every member of the retail trade, to abolish barmaids,
to abolish private bars, and to raise the age-limit of youths
who may be supplied with liquor from 18 to 20. No woman will
be supplied with liquor for consumption on the premises unless
she is boarding in the house.
"In an interview, the Mayor of Auckland, who is himself a
brewer, stated that since the trade has to ask the public
every three years for the continuance of its existence, it is
necessary for it to be conducted on lines approved by the
public at large."
ALCOHOL: United States: A. D. 1904-1909.
The progress of State, County, and Town Prohibition in the
five years.
The following exhibit of the status of state and local
prohibition in every State of the United States, on the 1st of
November, 1909, compared with the same in 1904, is reproduced,
with permission, from the latest leaflet published at the time
of this writing (January 1, 1910) by the Associated
Prohibition Press, located at 92 La Salle Street, Chicago:
"The record at Prohibition National Headquarters, Chicago,
shows that during the past four years the amount of
Prohibition territory has been doubled and 20,000,000 people
added to those living in Prohibition cities, counties and
states, making an aggregate of over 40,000,000 now by their
own choice in saloon-free districts.
"The figures below show that nearly two-thirds of the
territory and nearly one-half of the people are under
Prohibition protection:
"17,000,000 people in the South under Prohibition in 1904.
"25,000,000 people in the South under Prohibition in 1909.
"There are to-day 375 Prohibition cities in the United States,
having a population of over 5,000 each, with a total
population of more than three million and a half.
"In 1904 there were scarcely 100 Prohibition cities of 5,000
or over; there are now 90 Prohibition cities of 10,000 or
over. There are fifty-five industrial centers in fourteen
different states of 20,000 population and over, with an
aggregate of 2,000,000 population, now under Prohibition law.
"The Prohibition party is organized and at work in practically
every state in the Union.
"In 1904 the National Liquor League of the United States was
organized at Cincinnati, January 7th and 8th, to put the 'lid'
on the apparent beginnings of a Prohibition renaissance. Five
years of the 'National Liquor League of the United States' has
resulted in 20,000,000 people being added to the Prohibition
population of the country; 250 new Prohibition cities; 6 new
Prohibition states, hundreds of new Prohibition counties, and
thousands of new Prohibition towns and villages in all the
rest of the country.
"One of the most striking contrasts between 1904 and 1909 is
seen in the transformation which has been wrought in the
attitude of the daily and secular press towards the
Prohibition question. Since 1904 leading daily papers in all
parts of the country have begun to exclude liquor advertising
from their columns.
"The daily press of America is to-day giving ten times more
attention to and far more friendly treatment of the
Prohibition issue than was the case in 1904.
"On November 1st, 1909, the record of state and local
Prohibition territory in the United States, at National
Prohibition Headquarters, was as follows:
The Situation by States.
State. 1904. November 1, 1909.
Alabama 20 Prohibition State Prohibition;
counties. enforcement legislation
11 Dispensary. enacted by Legislature,
35 License. August, 1909.
Data shows business prospers,
crime decreasing.
Popular vote on Constitutional
Prohibition November 29, 1909.