History for ready reference, Volume 7
Chapter 382, Laws of 1889, to read as follows:—
‘Every person now confined in a state prison, or in the Eastern New York Reformatory, under sentence for a definite term for a felony, the maximum penalty for which is imprisonment for five years or less, exclusive of fines, who has never before been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment in a state prison shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the board of commissioners of paroled prisoners and may be paroled in the same manner and subject to the same conditions and penalties as prisoners confined under indeterminate sentences. The minimum and maximum terms of the sentences of said prisoners are hereby fixed and determined to be as follows: The definite term for which each person is sentenced shall be the maximum limit of his term, and one-third of the definite term of his sentence shall be the minimum limit of his term."
_(As amended by chapter 260, L. 1901, and by chapter 508, L. 1902.)_
"By this Act the members of the State Commission of Prisons were constituted a Board of Commissioners for Paroled Prisoners and they were to meet at each of the prisons four times a year. The Superintendent of State Prisons was authorized to appoint a parole officer for each prison.
"The other law amended the Penal Code by adding a new section. § 687 a.—A person never before convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment in a state prison, who is convicted in any court in this state of a felony, the maximum penalty for which, exclusive of fines, is imprisonment for five years or less, and sentenced to a state prison, shall be sentenced thereto under an indeterminate sentence, the minimum of which shall not be less than one year; or in case a minimum is fixed by law, not less than such minimum, and the maximum of which shall not be more than the longest period fixed by law for which the crime is punishable of which the offender is convicted. The maximum limit of such sentence shall be so fixed as to comply with the provisions of section 697 of the Penal Code."
"This Act was amended in 1902 to provide also that any first offender convicted of a felony other than murder first and second degrees, the maximum penalty for which exceeded five years, might be sentenced to an indeterminate term. Few prisoners, however, were so sentenced for crimes that carried a penalty of more than five years.
"The passage of these Acts put the parole system in active operation in 1901. Many prisoners then in the prisons whose terms thus became indeterminate were immediately eligible for parole. Others became eligible from month to month. … In the first year under this law the Board considered the applications of 583 prisoners and granted parole to 272.
{172}
"The scope of the parole system was materially enlarged and the work of the Board vastly increased by the legislation of 1907. Chapter 737, Laws of 1907, provides, that all first offenders convicted of felonies other than murder first and second degrees and sentenced to a state prison _must_ be sentenced to indeterminate terms. As a result of this law the class of prisoners subject to the jurisdiction of the Board will gradually increase to more than double the present number. …
"Chapter 738, Laws of 1907, changed the penalty for murder second degree from life imprisonment to an indeterminate term having a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life. Also, by this Act the sentences of all prisoners then in the prisons serving life sentences for murder second degree were made indeterminate terms with limits as above given [and 12, out of 17, were soon released on parole],
"Chapter 645, Laws of 1907, provides, that a person convicted for the fourth time for felony shall be sentenced to an indeterminate term, the maximum of which shall be life.
"It is the intent of this law that the man who has demonstrated the fact that he is a persistent criminal shall be kept under supervision during life. That the counties shall be saved the expense of repeatedly trying him and, more important still, that the baneful effects of his association with, and influence over, prisoners in the jails, shall be avoided. If at any time after he has served his minimum term there is a reasonable probability that he will remain at liberty without violating the law, the Board may parole him."
The Act of 1907, which became effective June 10, in that year, provides that "the board of parole for state prisons shall be composed of the superintendent of state prisons and two citizens appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate; and that said board shall meet at each of the prisons every month. It shall also make examination and report to the governor with its recommendations on all applications for pardon referred to them by the governor."
_Report of the Board of Parole for State Prisons, 1907._
To serve with the Superintendent of Prisons as the Board of Parole the Governor of New York appointed the Honorable George A. Lewis and the Honorable Albion V. Wadhams, for five years.
In the annual report of the Superintendent of Prisons for 1908 he discusses the working of the law, in part as follows:
"The results attained with State prison convicts under the indeterminate sentence law have been satisfactory so far as the term limits fixed by the courts have permitted the proper application of the parole features of the law. In many cases, however, the terms of the sentences have been so inconsistent with the evident purpose and intent of the law as to render its parole provisions wholly, or to a good degree, inoperative.
"In several sentences imposed by the courts, the maximum and minimum terms have been identical as ‘Not less than three years or more than three years.’ As will be seen, this is really a definite sentence and no parole period is provided for. In a very great number of cases, the margin between the minimum and maximum terms is but one, two or three months. While prisoners so sentenced may be paroled, the period of their probation is so limited that there is little opportunity to influence and train the man. …
"The Superintendent is satisfied that the indeterminate has many advantages over the definite sentence, but its full benefit cannot be had under the law as it now stands and is applied. It should be amended so as to provide for longer parole periods and for minimum sentences never exceeding the maximum penalty for the crime of which the prisoner is convicted less the commutation allowed on definite sentences."
In May, 1909, Governor Hughes signed a retro-active law which extends to all convicts now in prison, who, being first offenders, have been sentenced for crimes committed prior to September 1st, 1907.
CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY: Pan-American Extradition Convention.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY: Preventive Detention in Great Britain. The Borstal System of Discipline and Training for Young Offenders.
An Act entitled The Prevention of Crime Act, passed by the British Parliament in December, 1908, came into force on the 1st of August, 1909. It is described in the preamble as an "Act to make better provision for the prevention of crime, and for that purpose to provide for the reformation of young offenders, and the prolonged detention of habitual criminals, and for other purposes incidental thereto." "The principle of ‘preventive detention’ is accepted and embodied in the Act, such detention to continue until the offender gives sufficient assurance that he will take to an honest life, or until by age or infirmity he becomes physically incapable of resuming a life of crime. In no case is life imprisonment contemplated, but when a man is convicted on indictment of a crime and is sentenced to penal servitude, if the jury find that he is an habitual criminal the Court may pass a further sentence. They must first be satisfied, however, that by reason of his criminal antecedents and his mode of life it is expedient for the protection of the public that he should be kept in detention for an extended period. The jury will have to be satisfied, first that the man just convicted of an offence has been convicted of at least three serious crimes, and, secondly, that when convicted he was leading an habitually dishonest life. The charge of being an habitual criminal cannot be made except by the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The accused man will have an unqualified right of appeal. After serving his term of penal servitude he will be committed to a place of detention which will be a prison specially adapted for the purposes of the Act. The prison discipline will be less rigorous than that now prevailing, alike as regards hours, talking, recreation, occupations, and food.
"The Act provides that the Secretary of State [the Home Secretary] shall once at least in every three years during which the person is detained in custody under a sentence of preventive detention, take into consideration the condition, history, and circumstances of that person with a view to determining whether he shall be placed out on license, and if so, on what conditions. Directors of convict prisons are to report periodically to the Secretary of State upon the conduct and industry of persons undergoing preventive detention, and their prospects and probable behaviour on release. {173} For this purpose they are to be assisted by a committee at each prison, consisting of such members of the board of visitors and such other persons of either sex as the Secretary of State may from time to time appoint. Every such committee is to hold meetings at intervals of not more than six months, as may be prescribed, for the purpose of personally interviewing persons undergoing preventive detention in the prison and preparing reports for the assistance of the directors."
The part of the Act which relates to the reformation of young offenders provides for the establishment and regulation of what are named "Borstal institutions." "These are places in which young offenders may be given during their detention such industrial training and other instruction and be subjected to such disciplinary and moral influences as will conduce to their reformation and the prevention of crime. The Act will apply to persons of not less than 16 or more than 21 years of age who may be convicted on indictment of an offence for which they are liable to be sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment. In such cases … it will be lawful for the Court, instead of passing a sentence of penal servitude or imprisonment, to pass one of detention under penal discipline in a Borstal institution. Such detention will not be less than for one year or more than three years. Power is given to detain in Borstal institutions youthful offenders sentenced to detention in reformatory schools.
… Powers are also given to the Secretary of State to transfer persons in certain cases from prison to Borstal institutions.
"Subject to regulations by the Secretary of State, the Prison Commissioners may, after six months, or in the case of a female three months, from the commencement of the term of detention, if satisfied that there is reasonable probability that the offender will abstain from crime and lead a useful and industrious life, by license permit him to be discharged from the Borstal institution, on condition that he be placed under the supervision or authority of any society or person named in the license who may be willing to take charge of the case. Every person sentenced to detention in a Borstal institution shall, on the expiration of the term of his sentence, remain for a further period of six months under the supervision of the Prison Commissioners."
The introduction of this system has been brought about by the efforts of an organization which bears the name of the Borstal Association, concerning whose experimental undertakings the London _Times_ said, lately, in an editorial article:
"Those who have hitherto been sceptical as to effective treatment of the criminal classes would do well to consult the report for 1909 of the Borstal Association. They can scarcely fail to admit that new and powerful agencies for good are at work. The experiment, which has been more successful than its authors anticipated, began in a small way at Bedford Prison, and has been gradually extended. At first it was applied to selected offenders in the metropolitan prisons between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one who had been committed for six months. It was soon discovered that little good could be done with criminals under successive short sentences. This has been rectified. … Speaking lately of the Borstal methods, the Bishop of Wakefield said truly that the problem is how to combine in the treatment of young criminals ‘tenderness and strength,’ to ‘draw the line between sternness and sympathy.’ In the past the tendency was to be punctiliously severe. … To-day the tendency, the danger, is to forget that the prison is not a place of recreation; to dwell too much on the hardships of its inmates; to plead a little too much for their comforts; to ask and expect too much; to be unduly critical of prison authorities. The advocates of the Borstal system claim to have avoided these mistakes. ‘It is not,’ they say, ‘a namby-pamby system; only those who accept its strong incentive and reformative methods find it tolerable; those who do not, entreat for removal to other prisons where less development and improvement of their latent capacities are demanded.’ It seeks to inure to hard work the lads subject to its discipline; it would make them strong and fit to handle tools intelligently; it would turn them into healthy and well set-up men. The fact that they may quit Borstal with some proficiency in a trade counts for much."
CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY: Probation System, as established by recent legislation in New York.
"Probation, as authorized by the laws of New York State, is a system of discipline and correction, or, in some cases, of moral guardianship, applied by courts to suitable offenders, after conviction, for the purpose of improving their conduct and circumstances without committing them to institutions. The defendants are released conditionally on their good behavior, under suspended sentence, and under the friendly but authoritative supervision of a representative of the court, known as a probation officer. The probation law contemplates that in placing a defendant on probation certain terms and conditions shall be imposed, and it provides that if the probationer violate these conditions, his probation officer may return him to court for the execution of sentence. Besides usually requiring each probationer to report to him from time to time, the probation officer is expected to visit the probationer at frequent intervals and to do whatever seems essential to improve his surroundings and habits. The probation officer should report regularly to the court concerning the progress of each probationer. When so directed by the court, the probation officer also investigates cases, particularly with reference to the history, circumstances and character of the defendants, in order to lay before the court facts which may be important in determining whether they should be placed on probation.
"It is desirable to keep the distinction between probation and parole clearly in mind. Under the New York laws the word probation refers to the supervision of defendants who, after conviction, are released under suspended sentence. The suspension of sentence alone does not constitute probation; there must also be oversight by a probation officer. The word parole, on the other hand, is applied to two entirely different systems. In some courts before convictions are found, cases are adjourned from time to time and the defendants conditionally released; and this is called parole. There is no authority to apply the term probation to this practice, because under the New York State laws a person cannot be placed on probation until after conviction. Parole is the appropriate word to use also in connection with the conditional release of inmates from penal or reformatory institutions before the expiration of their term of commitment. …
{174}
"Twenty-seven hundred and fifty-four boys and girls, and 7,680 adults, making a total of 10,434 persons, were reported by probation officers as on probation during 1908. Of these 8,762 were placed on probation during the year. On December 31, 1908, there were 2,378 persons remaining on probation. The corresponding number for December 31, 1907, was 1,672. Three hundred and twenty probation officers supervised probationers during the year, which is more than double the number of active probation officers reported in the last report of this Commission. During 1908 the probation system was used in the courts of 26 cities as against 16 cities reported in 1907, in 8 town and village courts in 1908 as against 1 village court in 1907, in 23 county courts as against 11 in 1907, and, as far as the reports of probation officers indicate, in the Supreme Court in 6 counties as against none in 1907."
_Second Report of New York State Probation Commission, March 15, 1909._
As amended in May, 1909, "the law creates the position of county probation officer, and makes the services of such an officer available not only in the county court, but also in the Supreme Court and the courts of all towns, villages and third-class cities within the county."
CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY: The English "Probation of Offenders Act."
This Act, which became law in August, 1907, provides that, "where any person is charged before a court of summary jurisdiction with an offence punishable by such court, and the court thinks that the charge is proved, but is of opinion that, having regard to the character, antecedents, age, health, or mental condition of the person charged, or to the trivial nature of the offence, or to the extenuating circumstances under which the offence was committed, it is inexpedient to inflict any punishment or any other than a nominal punishment, or that it is expedient to release the offender on probation, the court may, without proceeding to conviction, make an order either—
(i) dismissing the information or charge; or
(ii) discharging the offender conditionally on his entering into a recognizance, with or without sureties, to be of good behaviour and to appear for conviction and sentence when called on at any time during such period, not exceeding three years, as may be specified in the order."
Similarly after conviction of the offender, when a court deems punishment inexpedient, it may, "in lieu of imposing a sentence of imprisonment, make an order discharging the offender conditionally on his entering into a recognizance, with or without sureties, to be of good behaviour and to appear for sentence when called on at any time during such period, not exceeding three years, as may be specified in the order;" and it may, in addition, order the offender to pay damages for injury or compensation for loss that is consequent on his offence.
The Act provides further that a recognizance ordered in such a case may contain a condition that the offender shall be under the supervision of such person as shall be named, during the specified period of probation; that certain persons of either sex may be appointed as probation officers,—some such, when circumstances permit, to be specially "children’s probation officers,"—and that salaries in the discretion of the courts may be paid to these officers.
See (in this Volume), also, Children, under the Law: As Offenders, and Law and its Courts.
----------CRIME AND CRIMINOLOGY: End--------
CRISES, Financial, of 1903 and 1907.
See (in this Volume) FINANCE AND TRADE: A. D. 1901-1909.
CROCKER, George: Bequest for Cancer Research.
See (in this Volume) PUBLIC HEALTH: CANCER RESEARCH.
CROMER, Sir Evelyn Baring, Viscount: Crowned King by the Sudanese.
See (in this Volume) SUDAN, THE.
CROMER, Sir Evelyn Baring, Viscount: What he saw on the Nile border of the Congo State.
See (in this Volume) CONGO STATE: A. D. 1903-1905.
CROMER, Sir Evelyn Baring, Viscount: Statement of conditions in Egypt.
See (in this Volume) EGYPT: A. D. 1907 (JANUARY).
----------CUBA: Start--------
CUBA: Gains to Spain from its loss.
See (in this Volume) SPAIN: A. D. 1898-1906.
CUBA: A. D. 1901-1902. Organization of Free Government under a Republican Constitution. Transfer of Executive Authority from the provisional Military Governor to the President-elect. Official correspondence of the occasion.
Events in and relating to Cuba, after the surrender of the island by Spain and the organization of a provisional military government by the United States are narrated in Volume VI. of this work, down to the adoption by the Congress of the United States of the stipulations known as "The Platt Amendment" (see pages 189-190 in Volume VI), which the constitutional government for Cuba then in process of formation was asked to agree to, in order to define the future relation of the proposed new republic with the United States. This enactment was approved by the President on the 2d of March, 1901, and communicated, through the provisional Military Governor of the island, General Leonard Wood, to the Cuban Constitutional Convention. Doubt as to possible interpretations of the third clause of the Platt Amendment having then arisen in the Convention, the following despatch went from Washington to the Military Governor April 3d:
"You are authorized to state officially that in view of the President the intervention described in the third clause of the Platt amendment is not synonymous with intermeddling or interference with the affairs of the Cuban Government, but the formal action of the United States, based upon just and substantial grounds, for the preservation of Cuban independence and the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and adequate for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United States."
_Elihu Root, Secretary of War._
On the 12th of June, 1901, the convention adopted an ordinance making provisions identical with those of the Platt Amendment, a part of the constitution of Cuba.
{175}
"On October 1, 1901, the convention performed its remaining duty by adopting an electoral law providing for a general election throughout the island, to be held on the 31st day of December, 1901, to choose governors of provinces, provincial councilors, members of the house of representatives, and presidential and senatorial electors. The law also provided that on the 24th day of February, 1902, the several bodies of electors thus chosen should meet and elect a president, vice-president and senators. The elections were to be held under the direct supervision of a central board of scrutiny, composed of the president of the convention and four other members selected for that purpose. The law was promulgated by a general order of the military governor on the 14th of October, 1901.
"The constitution thus adopted and perfected was treated by the United States as an acceptable basis for the formation of the new government to which, when organized and installed, the control of the island was to be transferred.
"In conformity to the Cuban constitution and electoral law, elections were held by the Cuban people on the 31st of December, 1901, and by the electoral college on the 24th of February, 1902, when a president [T. Estrada Palma], vice-president, senate, and house of representatives were chosen.
"The situation at this important juncture in the affairs of Cuba is described by Secretary Root in his annual report for 1902 as follows:
"‘The whole governmental situation in Cuba was quite unprecedented, with its curious device of a suspended sovereignty given up by Spain, but not in terms vested in anybody else, and if vested remaining dormant, while a practical working government of military occupation in time of peace, deriving its authority from the sovereignty of another country, claimed temporary allegiance, made and enforced laws, and developed a political organization of the Cuban people to take and exercise the suspended or dormant sovereignty. It was important that in inaugurating the new government there should be no break in the continuity of legal obligation, of rights of property and contract, of jurisdiction, or of administrative action. It would not do to wait for the new government to pass laws or to create offices and appoint administrative officers and vest them with powers, for the instant that the new government was created the intervening government ceased, and the period of waiting would be a period of anarchy.
"‘It was necessary, therefore, to take such steps that the new Government should be created as a going concern, every officer of which should be able to go on with his part of the business of governing under the new sovereignty without waiting for any new authority. That everything necessary to this end should be done, and that it should be done according to a consistent and maintainable legal theory, caused the Department a good deal of solicitude. It is gratifying to report that it was done, and that the Government which, until noon of May 20, was proceeding under the authority of the President of the United States, went on in the afternoon of that day and has ever since continued under the sovereignty which had been abandoned by Spain in April, 1899, without any more break or confusion than accompanies the inauguration of a new President in the United States. This could not have been done without the most perfect good understanding, mutual confidence, and sympathetic cooperation on the part of our officers who were about to retire, and the newly elected officers of Cuba, who were about to take the reins of Government.’"
One of the most interesting pages in history is that which records the peaceful withdrawal of the flag and forces of the United States from Cuba, and the inauguration of the Government of the Republic of Cuba. The story cannot be told in more interesting form or manner than as it is presented in the orders of Secretary Root and the exchange of letters between the President of the United States, the Secretary of War, and the President of the Republic of Cuba. These documents in part are as follows:
"Washington, D. C., March 24, 1902. "Brig. Gen. Leonard Wood, _Military Governor of Cuba._
"Sir: You are authorized to provide for the inauguration, on the 20th of May next, of the government elected by the people of Cuba; and, upon the establishment of said government, to leave the government and control of the island of Cuba to its people pursuant to the provisions of the act of Congress entitled ‘An act making appropriation for the Army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1902,’ approved March 2, 1901.
"Upon the transfer of government and control to the President and Congress so elected, you will advise them that such transfer is upon the express understanding and condition that the new government does thereupon, and by the acceptance thereof, pursuant to the provisions of the appendix to the constitution of Cuba, adopted by the constitutional convention on the 12th of June, 1901, assume and undertake all and several the obligations assumed by the United States with respect to Cuba by the treaty between the United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain, signed at Paris on the 10th day of December, 1898.
"It is the purpose of the United States Government, forthwith upon the inauguration of the new government of Cuba, to terminate the occupancy of the island by the United States, and to withdraw from that island the military forces now in occupancy thereof: but for the preservation and care of the coast defenses of the island, and to avoid leaving the island entirely defenseless against external attack, you may leave in the coast fortifications such small number of artillerymen as may be necessary, for such reasonable time as may be required to enable the new Government to organize and substitute therefor an adequate military force of its own: by which time it is anticipated that the naval stations referred to in the statute and in the appendix to the constitution above cited, will have been agreed upon, and the said artillerymen may be transferred thereto.
"You will convene the Congress elected by the people of Cuba in joint session at such reasonable time before the 20th of May as shall be necessary therefor, for the purpose of performing the duties of counting and rectifying the electoral vote for President and Vice-President under the fifty-eighth article of the Cuban constitution. {176} At the same time you will publish and certify to the people of Cuba the instrument adopted as the constitution of Cuba by the constitutional convention on the 21st day of February, 1901, together with the appendix added thereto and forming a part thereof adopted by the said convention on the 12th day of June, 1901. It is the understanding of the Government of the United States that the government of the island will pass to the new President and Congress of Cuba as a going concern; all the laws promulgated by the government of occupation continuing in force and effect, and all the judicial and subordinate executive and administrative officers continuing in the lawful discharge of their present functions until changed by the constitutional officers of the new government. At the same moment the responsibility of the United States for the collection and expenditure of revenues and for the proper performance of duty by the officers and employees of the insular government will end, and the responsibility of the new government of Cuba therefor will commence.
"In order to avoid any embarrassment to the new President, which might arise from his assuming executive responsibility with subordinates whom he does not know, or in whom he has not confidence, and to avoid any occasion for sweeping changes in the civil-service personnel immediately after the inauguration of the new Government, approval is given to the course which you have already proposed of consulting the President-elect, and substituting, before the 20th of May, wherever he shall so desire, for the persons now holding official positions, such persons as he may designate. This method will make it necessary that the new President and yourself should appoint representatives to count and certify the cash and cash balances and the securities for deposits transferred to the new government. The consent of the owner of the securities for deposits to the transfer thereof you will of course obtain.
"The vouchers and accounts in the office of the Auditor and elsewhere, relating to the receipt and disbursement of moneys during the government of occupation, must necessarily remain within the control, and available for the use, of this Department. Access to these papers will, however, undoubtedly be important to the officers of the new government in the conduct of their business subsequent to the 20th of May. You will accordingly appoint an agent to take possession of these papers and retain them at such place in the island of Cuba as may be agreed upon with the new government until they can be removed to the United States without detriment to the current business of the new government.
"I desire that you communicate the contents of this letter to Mr. Palma, the President-elect, and ascertain whether the course above described accords with his views and wishes. Very respectfully, ELIHU ROOT, _Secretary of War_."
On the 20th of May, 1902, the transfer of executive authority from the American Military Governor, General Wood, to President elect Palma was made in due form, and the following correspondence passed between President Palma, General Wood, President Roosevelt, and Secretary Root:
"HABANA, May 20, 1902. "Honorable General Leonard Wood.
"Sir: As President of the Republic of Cuba, I hereby receive the Government of the Island of Cuba which you transfer to me in compliance with orders communicated to you by the President of the United States, and take note that by this act the military occupation of Cuba ceases.
"Upon accepting this transfer I declare that the Government of the Republic assumes, as provided for in the constitution, each and every one of the obligations concerning Cuba imposed upon the United States by virtue of the treaty entered into on the 10th of December, 1898, between the United States and Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain.
"I understand that, as far as possible, all pecuniary responsibilities contracted by the military government up to this date have been paid; that $100,000, or such portion thereof as maybe necessary, have been set aside to cover the expenses that may be occasioned by the liquidation and finishing up of the obligations contracted by said government, and that there has been transferred to the Government of the Republic the sum of $689,191.02, which constitutes the cash balance existing to-day in favor of the State. …
"I take this solemn occasion, which marks the fulfillment of the honored promise of the Government and people of the United States in regard to the island of Cuba, and in which our country is made a ruling nation, to express to you, the worthy representative of that grand people, the immense gratitude which the people of Cuba feel toward the American nation, toward its illustrious President, Theodore Roosevelt, and toward you for the efforts you have put forth for the successful accomplishment of such a precious ideal.
T. ESTRADA PALMA."
"Habana, May 20, 1902. "Theodore Roosevelt, _President, Washington_.
"The government of the island having been just transferred, I, as Chief Magistrate of the Republic, faithfully interpreting the sentiments of the whole people of Cuba, have the honor to send you and the American people testimony of our profound gratitude and the assurance of an enduring friendship, with wishes and prayers to the Almighty for the welfare and prosperity of the United States.
T. ESTRADA PALMA."
"Washington, May 20, 1902. "President of the Republic of Cuba:
"Believe in my heartfelt congratulations upon the inauguration of the Republic which the people of Cuba and the people of the United States have fought and labored together to establish. With confidence in your unselfish patriotism and courage and in the substantial civic virtues of your people, I bid you godspeed, and on this happy day wish for Cuba for all time liberty and order, peace and prosperity. ELIHU ROOT, _Secretary of War_."
"Habana, May 21, 1902. "ELIHU ROOT, _Secretary of War_, Washington.
"I am deeply moved by your heartfelt message of congratulation on the inauguration of the Republic of Cuba, to the birth of which the people and the Government of the United States have contributed with their blood and treasure. Rest assured that the Cuban people can never forget the debt of gratitude they owe to the great Republic, with which we will always cultivate the closest relations of friendship and for the prosperity of which we pray to the Almighty. T. ESTRADA PALMA."
{177}
On the 10th of June, General Wood, at Washington, made the following report to the Adjutant-General of the United States Army:
"Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the Republic of Cuba was established at 12 o’clock noon, May 20, 1902. The transfer was made upon the lines indicated in the instructions of the honorable the Secretary of War, and the autograph letter of the President read to President Palma and presented to him. President Palma responded, expressing his sincere appreciation of the work done by the United States in Cuba, and the lasting gratitude of himself and the people of Cuba.
"The transfer was made in the main reception hall of the palace of the military governor. There were present the President-elect and his cabinet, the military governor and the officers of his staff, civil and military, the Cuban Congress, the judiciary, officers of the British and Italian navies, the captain and staff of the U. S. S. Brooklyn, and the consular representatives of foreign countries. …
"I left the palace at twenty-five minutes past 12 o’clock, accompanied by the officers of my personal and departmental staff. We were accompanied to the capitania del puerto by President Palma with his cabinet, the Cuban Congress, and all others who had been present at the ceremonies. President Palma bade us farewell at the wharf after again expressing his most sincere and lasting good will and appreciation.
"Accompanied by my personal staff, I immediately embarked upon the U. S. S. _Brooklyn_. The officers of the department staff embarked on the S . S. _Moro Castle_, which sailed at a quarter past 3. The U. S. S. _Brooklyn_ sailed at about 3.45.
LEONARD WOOD,_ Brigadier General United States Army_."
The above account of the "Establishment of Free Government in Cuba "is taken wholly from a narrative thus entitled, compiled by the Bureau of Insular Affairs, United States War Department, and published as Document Number 312, in Volume 7 of Senate Documents, 58th Congress, 2d Session.
CUBA: A. D. 1902. Tomas Estrada Palma, the First President of the Cuban Republic.
"There was such manifest propriety in the selection of General Estrada Palma to be the first president of the Cuban Republic that the attempt to bring forward another candidate was unavailing. There was no excitement at the popular election, and the voting was light, because the result was a foregone conclusion. The two most important men in the last struggle for Cuban freedom were General Maximo Gomez and General Estrada Palma. Gomez commanded the armies in the field, and employed methods which, as we have repeatedly said, entitle him to rank as one of the greatest of all modern commanders. Palma was the agent of the Cuban patriots in the United States, and he, more than any other man, is to be credited with having kept alive the military movement in Cuba by means of material aid and assistance sent from the outside. Most important of all, he addressed himself with success to bringing about that awakening of public opinion in the United States which finally took the form of an irresistible moral crusade on behalf of Cuban freedom. If these two men had died, or were otherwise ineligible, Cuba would not, indeed, have been left without trained and patriotic sons who could have filled the presidential office with ability and success. But since Gomez and Palma were both alive, and available in every sense, they were the two men to whom Cuba might naturally turn, rather than to any others, as candidates for the presidency. The military hero is always the man to be first considered, and Gomez for a time was the candidate whose name was upon all lips. But he declared that he had no ambition for political office, and in due time it appeared that Gomez was shaping things in Cuba for the nomination of Palma. …
"Tomas Estrada Palma is sixty-six years of age. His father was a wealthy planter in the easternmost province of Cuba, and the son was well educated in Cuba and in Spain, and became a lawyer, with a view not so much to the practice of his profession as to the better management of the affairs of a large estate. His patriotic sympathies led him to active service in the ten years’ struggle for independence which began in 1868 and ended in 1878, and early in that period he became a general in the insurgent army. Toward the end of the war, he became the president of the provisional government, a position which at least indicated the confidence in which he was held by the Cuban people. He was made a prisoner, taken to Spain, at the risk of his life refused to swear allegiance, witnessed, in consequence, the confiscation of his estates, and some time after the final termination of the struggle regained his personal liberty, at the loss, however, of his Cuban property and home. When he goes to Cuba, two or three months hence, to assume the duties and high honors of the presidency, it will be after an absence of twenty four years. After his release, at the end of the Ten Years War, Palma traveled in Spanish-American countries, and settled in Honduras, where he married the daughter of the president of that republic and became postmaster-general. Subsequently he came with his wife and one little child to New York, and saw an opportunity to establish a school for young people from the Spanish-American countries. His institute was located in the little town of Central Valley, in Orange County, New York, some forty miles from the metropolis. He has now lived in Central Valley for eighteen years, and his six children, five of whom were born there, have known no other home."
_American Review of Reviews, February, 1902._
CUBA: A. D. 1903. Lease of Coaling and Naval Stations to the United States. Reciprocity with the United States. Cession of the Isle of Pines.
In consonance with Article VII. of the so-called "Platt Amendment," which became an Appendix to the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, an Agreement between the United States and Cuba for the lease to the former, in Guantanamo and Bahia Honda, of lands for coaling and naval stations, was signed in February, 1903. The consequent lease was signed and ratifications exchanged in the following July and October. {178} According to the terms of the Agreement "while, on the one hand, the United States recognizes the continuance of the ultimate sovereignty of the Republic of Cuba over the above described areas of land and water, on the other hand the Republic of Cuba consents that during the period of the occupation by the United States of said areas under the terms of this agreement the United States shall exercise complete jurisdiction and control over and within said areas with the right to acquire (under conditions to be hereafter agreed upon by the two Governments) for the public purposes of the United States any land or other property therein by purchase or by exercise of eminent domain with full compensation to the owners thereof." The yearly rental to be paid for the use of the lands defined in the Agreement is $2000.
An arrangement of reciprocity between Cuba and the United States, conceding to Cuban sugar a rebate of 20 per cent. from the Dingley tariff rate, and giving 20 to 40 per cent. of reduction in Cuba on American goods, was ratified by the United States Senate in December.
A treaty ceding all claims of the United States to the Isle of Pines was signed in December, and awaited ratification by the Senate when the year closed.
CUBA: A. D. 1906. Participation in Third International Conference of American Republics.
See (in this Volume) _American Republics._
CUBA: A. D. 1906 (August-October). Outbreak of insurrection. Appeal of President Palma for American intervention. The Republic practically without a Government. Secretary Taft, sent to the Island, establishes a Provisional Government. Governor Magoon.
The first report to the Government of the United States of an outbreak of insurrection in Cuba was sent from the American Legation at Havana on the 21st of August, 1906. Between 1000 and 1500 men were then said to be in arms in Pinar del Rio, under Colonel Pino Guerra, "a Liberal member of the present Congress and a veteran of the War of Independence." The insurgents represented the political party called Liberal, hostile to the party called Moderate which controlled the Government and enjoyed the favor of President Palma. They complained of unfairness in late elections and demanded a new electoral law with a new election to be held under it. The Government had no effective armed forces to use against them, and some effort by business men of Havana and by "veterans" to mediate between the parties and pacify the revolutionists were without avail. Events, therefore, moved rapidly to the producing of a situation in which President Palma, on the 12th of September, asked for American intervention, and begged "that President Roosevelt send to Havana with rapidity 2000 or 3000 men, to avoid any catastrophe in the capital." Two days later the request was repeated with more urgency, the Consul-General at Havana stating in a telegram to the State Department at Washington:
"President Palma has resolved not to continue at the head of the Government, and is ready to present his resignation, even though the present disturbances should cease at once. The vice-president has resolved not to accept the office. Cabinet ministers have declared that they will previously resign. Under these conditions it is impossible that Congress will meet, for the lack of a proper person to convoke same to designate a new president. The consequences will be absence of legal power, and therefore the prevailing state of anarchy will continue unless the United States Government will adopt the measures necessary to avoid this danger."
The action then taken by President Roosevelt was recounted by him in his next annual Message to Congress, as follows:
"It was evident that chaos was impending, and there was every probability that if steps were not immediately taken by this Government to try to restore order, the representatives of various European nations in the island would apply to their respective governments for armed intervention in order to protect the lives and property of their citizens. Thanks to the preparedness of our Navy, I was able immediately to send enough ships to Cuba to prevent the situation from becoming hopeless; and I furthermore dispatched to Cuba the Secretary of War and the Assistant Secretary of State, in order that they might grapple with the situation on the ground. All efforts to secure an agreement between the contending factions, by which they should themselves come to an amicable understanding and settle upon some modus vivendi—some provisional government of their own—failed. Finally the President of the Republic resigned. The quorum of Congress assembled failed by deliberate purpose of its members, so that there was no power to act on his resignation, and the Government came to a halt. In accordance with the so-called Platt amendment, which was embodied in the constitution of Cuba, I thereupon proclaimed a provisional government for the island, the Secretary of War acting as provisional governor until he could be replaced by Mr. Magoon, the late minister to Panama and governor of the Canal Zone on the Isthmus; troops were sent to support them and to relieve the Navy, the expedition being handled with most satisfactory speed and efficiency. The insurgent chiefs immediately agreed that their troops should lay down their arms and disband; and the agreement was carried out."
From an "Epitome of events attendant upon the establishment of the Provisional Government of Cuba," published in Part 1 of "Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States," for 1906, the following is taken:
"On Saturday, September 29, 1906, a provisional government exercising Cuban sovereignty under the authority of the President of the United States was established, and a proclamation was issued to the Cuban people setting forth the causes for this action and defining the position of the United States toward Cuba.
"Since the American commissioners understand that the Republic of Cuba is continuous and that they are only the ad interim executives, the various departments continue to function as before with the assistant secretaries as acting heads, the only officials discharged being those taken on to meet the exigencies of the revolution.
"At the time the commissioners assumed control there were many political prisoners in the jails throughout the island. These, of whom several were prominent liberals who had several times been consulted by the commissioners while on parole, were immediately set at liberty.
"The disbanding and disarming of the rebel forces and, incidentally, the government militia, enlisted specially for the revolution, has been the chief concern of the provisional government from its establishment until now. It was carried out by a commission of American and Cuban military officers, of which General Frederick Funston was head, and has been practically completed.
{179}
"On the 10th instant [October] Provisional Governor Taft issued a general amnesty proclamation to the people of Cuba, thus indicating that quiet and peace have been restored. Save for sporadic local disturbances, the entire country is tranquil.
"On Tuesday, the 9th instant, Governor Magoon, who has succeeded Mr. Taft as provisional governor, and General Bell, who is to take command of the military forces of the United States in the island, reached Habana, and on Saturday, the 13th, Governor Taft issued a proclamation transferring the provisional governorship to Governor Magoon."
In his proclamation of September 29th, on taking possession of the Government, Secretary Taft used these clear and distinct words:
"The provisional government hereby established will be maintained only long enough to restore order, peace, and public confidence, by direction of and in the name of the President of the United States, and then to hold such elections as may be necessary to determine on those persons upon whom the permanent government of the republic should be devolved.
"In so far as is consistent with the nature of a provisional government established under the authority of the United States this will be a Cuban Government, conforming with the constitution of Cuba. The Cuban flag will be hoisted as usual over the government buildings of the island, all the executive departments and provincial and municipal governments, including that of the City of Havana, will continue to be administered as under the Cuban Republic; the courts will continue to administer justice, and all the laws not in their nature inapplicable by reason of the temporary and emergent character of the government will be in force."
CUBA: A. D. 1906-1909. Under the Provisional American Government. Election of a new Congress and a new President. Restoration of the Republic.
In his Message to Congress, December, 1907, President Roosevelt described the conditions that had prevailed in the island for two years under the provisional government, instituted by Secretary Taft and over which Governor Magoon had presided, in a few words, as follows:
"Absolute quiet and prosperity have returned to the island because of this action. We are now taking steps to provide for elections in the island and our expectation is within the coming year to be able to turn the island over again to a government chosen by the people thereof. Cuba is at our doors. It is not possible that this Nation should permit Cuba again to sink into the condition from which we rescued it. All that we ask of the Cuban people is that they be prosperous, that they govern themselves so as to bring content, order and progress to their island, the Queen of the Antilles; and our only interference has been and will be to help them achieve these results."
Provincial elections held in the following August went generally in favor of the Conservative party, and that party was accordingly expected to win the presidential election, appointed to occur in November, 1908; but such was not the result. Three parties were in the field, Conservatives, Miguelistas, and Zayistas. The Miguelistas were political followers of General José Miguel Gomez, whose middle name they took for their party designation; the Zayistas were partisans of Dr. Alfredo Zayas; the Conservatives were reputed to be substantially identical with the party known as Moderates in the politics of the First Republic. Their leader was General Menocal. The Liberals of former contests were now divided between Miguelistas and Zayistas. They were reunited in the national election of November, and swept the Moderates into the background, electing both their leaders, Gomez and Zayas, the one to be President, the other to be Vice-President, of the reconstituted Republic: electing, at the same time, an effective majority in the Congress for their support.
January 28, 1909, was the day fixed for dissolving the provisional government and reinvesting the Cubans with political independence; but the Congress was organized and held its initial session on the 13th. The President and Vice-President elect were inaugurated with simple ceremonies on the 28th. President Roosevelt, on that day, sent a message to the President and the Congress in these words:CUBA:
"Governor Magoon will, by my direction, turn over to you on the 28th of this month the control and government of the island of Cuba, and he will thereupon declare the provisional administration of the affairs of the island by the United States to be at an end. Upon the occasion of this final act, I desire to reiterate to you the sincere friendship and good wishes of the United States and our most earnest hopes for the stability and success of your government. Our fondest hope is that you may enjoy the blessing of peace, prosperity, justice, and orderly liberty, and that the friendship which has existed between the republic of the United States and the republic of Cuba, may continue for all time to come."
Governor Magoon, in his brief address, surrendering the reins of government to President Gomez, said, in part:
"It is the understanding of the United States, and it now declares that all the executive and legislative decrees and rulings of the provisional government now in force shall continue in force and effect until such time as the same shall be legally revoked by Cuba.
"All money obligations of the provisional government down to this date have been paid as far as practicable. Such claims and obligations, however, as may remain unpaid are to be regarded as claims and obligations of Cuba, and the United States understands that these claims and obligations will be so treated."
President Gomez replied:
"We receive from you the government of Cuba which you turn over to us in compliance with the instructions of the President of the United States. All acquired rights shall be respected in harmony with the principles of international law, the principles of our constitution and the provisions of the appendix of the constitution. The constitution shall be upheld in all its integrity because our chief concern will be to preserve it inviolate.
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"We are indebted to your nation for its generous aid in the maintenance of our institutions and the cordial relations existing will never grow less through any act of ours. Once again we are masters of our fate and there is not a Cuban heart but swears to maintain for all time the newly-acquired integrity of the nation, and who does not at the same time feel the profoundest gratitude towards those who, after governing them, have faithfully performed their agreement and now leave us in the full enjoyment of our sovereignty."
According to newspaper reports, however, the popular feeling was somewhat different from the sentiment expressed by President Gomez, if the coldness with which the Cuban crowd of that day watched the departure of Governor Magoon and his associates could be taken for a sign. They sailed for home immediately, on the new battleship Maine. About 3000 American troops remained on the island, under command of Major-General Thomas L. Barry, until the 1st of April following. On the departure of these, President Gomez said to General Barry:
"It is pleasing to me to acknowledge the great aptitudes and qualities of the Army of Pacification under your command, which has brought to a happy conclusion its honorable mission of watching over our country in the difficult days, now happily past, and in maintaining and reaffirming the most friendly relations with our people, in whose name I assure you your efforts have been crowned with the most flattering success. I pray you, general, to express to your valiant soldiers the extreme gratitude and admiration which the government and the people of Cuba have for them."
Of President Gomez the following account was given at the time of his inauguration by the New York _Evening Post_:
"Major-General Jose Miguel Gomez, the first President of the new Cuban Republic, is fifty-three years of age, and a native of Santa Clara province, where he has always enjoyed extraordinary popularity and influence. He participated in two Cuban revolutions against Spain, in the first of which he reached the rank of major and in the second that of major-general. He was selected as Governor of Santa Clara province by the government of intervention, and when his term expired he was elected Governor.
"In May, 1905, the general was nominated for the Presidency by the National Liberal Convention, but resigned his candidacy four months later, giving as the reason for this action that it was impossible to continue the campaign within the bounds of the law, and laying part of the blame on the United States, owing to the Platt amendment. An uprising in Cuba followed, which ended with the deposition of President Palma and the intervention of the United States.
"In August, 1906, General Gomez was arrested, charged with conspiring against the Administration of the late President Palma, but he denied the allegation, and was released from custody after a month’s imprisonment. In December of the same year Governor Magoon appointed him secretary of a commission to revise the laws of Cuba. These included the drafting of an electoral law, new provincial and municipal laws, a law defining the organization and functions of the judiciary, a civil service law, and also laws on such other subjects as may be referred to it by the provisional Governor."
CUBA: A. D. 1907. Population. Remarkable increase in eight years.
"The population of Cuba on September 30, 1907, was 2,048,980; at the census next preceding, taken under the American administration in 1899, at the close of the Spanish-American War, the population was 1,572,797. The rate of increase in these eight years is not less than 30 per cent. or at the rate of 39 per cent per decade. This is a very rapid rate of increase—greater than that of any other country with which I am acquainted. This increase has not been brought about by immigration, for in the eight years the net immigration (that is, the excess of arrivals over departures) numbered only 75,000, and the element of foreign birth increased from 11 per cent to 11.2 per cent only, but it has been brought about almost entirely by the excess of births over deaths. … One peculiar phenomenon of this increase is that the rural population has gained much more rapidly than has the urban—a condition which rarely exists, as in nearly every country in the world the drift of population is toward the cities. The urban population, including all places of 1,000 inhabitants and over, was 43.9 per cent of the total population. In 1899 it was 47.1 per cent. If the urban population be limited to towns of 8,000 inhabitants, the proportion was 30.3 per cent. The chief cities are Habana, with 297,159 inhabitants, or about one-seventh of the population of Cuba; Santiago de Cuba, 45,470; Matanzas, 36,009; Cienfuegos, 30,100; and Camaguey, 29,616. The number of inhabitants per square mile in the island as a whole was 46.5, or about the same as in Missouri, Virginia, or South Carolina. The foreign-born population formed 11.2 per cent of the total. Of this element four-fifths were born in Spain and less than three per cent in the United States; Chinese and Africans were more numerous than United States people. …
"As to color, about seven-tenths of the population were white, the remaining three-tenths being colored, including negroes, mixed, and a few thousand Chinese. As in the United States, the colored element is increasing less rapidly than is the white population."
_Henry Gannett, National Geographic Magazine, February, 1909._
As reported from Washington, nearly 57 per cent, of the population of Cuba, at least ten years of age, can read, the percentage in the large cities being 82.6 and in the rest of the island 47.9 according to figures obtained in the census recently taken. This census shows that in 1907 almost one-third of the children were attending school, as compared with less than one-sixth in 1899.
See also (in this Volume) EDUCATION: CUBA.
CUBA: A. D. 1907 (April). Decision of Supreme Court of the United States respecting the Isle of Pines.
A decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, rendered on the 8th of April, 1907, determined that the Isle of Pines is foreign territory, in the view of the United States customs laws, and, inferentially, that the United States has practically no title to the island.
CUBA: A. D. 1909 (June). Ill conditions along with material prosperity.
"What may prove to be the largest sugar crop in Cuba’s history—certainly it is the most profitable she has harvested in many along year—is almost in. It is estimated at a million and a half tons. It has obtained the very satisfactory average price of 4 5/8 reales, reckoning from January 1 to date. … Ordinarily, this condition of affairs as regards her biggest crop would be equivalent to the best of times for Cuba, especially since last year also was a good year for sugar men, and this year the tobacco crop, too, is fair in quantity and quality and going at satisfactory prices. But, so extraordinary is the present situation, times were never harder in all the history of this island than they are to-day, material evidences of prosperity to the contrary notwithstanding.
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"Yet values have not dropped. This is no panic. It is merely a standing still—a waiting for something to happen. Just what it is that is due to occur nobody will say. Asked what he is afraid of, the Spaniard, who is the business man of Cuba, shrugs his shoulders and shifts his eyes; pressed for a reply, he answers enigmatically: ‘There is no confidence.’ The feeling grows that the present government will be forced into the hands of a receiver, like any other bankrupt concern, before even its liveliest opponents can organize to end it more heroically. …
"In 1906, when Cuba’s customs receipts, which are almost her sole source of revenue, were at their maximum, her budget stood at $17,915,013.25. In 1909, weakened as she is, she is burdened with a budget of $33,825,448.53—President Gomez’s estimate of expenditure necessary in the first fiscal year of his Administration! In other words, while collections have fallen off, the governmental expenditures they must cover have increased 100 per cent."
_Havana Correspondent, New York Evening Post, June 19, 1909._
"The Senate and House abruptly adjourned this evening. This was the final day of the regular session of Congress, but no definite action was taken on the question of the approval of the budget. … The House yesterday approved the budget in its entirety, and it was expected that the Senate would approve it to-day. The latter body, however, after devoting much time to a bill legalizing cockfighting, which was passed, made sundry minor modifications in the budget, sending it again to the House, in the apparent expectation that the modifications would be accepted by the House, which, in the meantime, had adjourned. The adjournment of the House was not known until after the Senate had also adjourned."
_Havana Telegram to Associated Press, June 30, 1909._
"Owing to the failure of the Cuban Senate to pass the budget, President Gomez, early this morning, issued a decree making effective Governor Magoon’s budget of 1908-1909 amounting to $24,285,000. The deficiency to cover the cost of the army and other increased expenses of the republic, amounting to nearly $10,000,000, will be supplied by Presidential decree. This will practically repeat the conditions of the last year of the Palma regime, when, in default of a budget, the decrees to this same end issued by President Palma were declared to violate the Constitution, and precipitated the revolution of August, 1906."
_Havana Telegram, July, 1._
----------CUBA: End--------
CUNARD COMPANY: Agreements with the British Government.
See (in this Volume) COMBINATIONS, INDUSTRIAL: INTERNATIONAL.
"CURB MARKET," The, of New York: Report on its operations.
See (in this Volume) FINANCE AND TRADE: UNITED STATES. A. D. 1909.
CURIA, New Apostolic Constitution of the Roman.
See (in this Volume) PAPACY: A. D. 1908.
CURIE, Marie Sklodovska.
See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES.
CURIE, Pierre.
See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES.
CURIE, Professor and Madame: Their discovery of Radium.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE, RECENT: RADIUM; also, PHYSICAL.
CURRENCY.
See (in this Volume) FINANCE AND TRADE.
CURRY, J. L. M.: Originator of the Annual Conferences for Education in the South.
See (in this Volume) EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1898-1909.
CURTIS, Glenn H.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: AERONAUTICS.
CURZON, George N., Lord: Partition of Bengal.
See (in this Volume) INDIA: A. D. 1905-1909.
CURZON, George N., Lord: Resignation of Viceroyalty of India.
See INDIA: A. D. 1905 (AUGUST).
CURZON-WYLLIE, Sir, Assassination of.
See (in this Volume) INDIA: A. D. 1909 (JULY).
CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION: Proposals of the Conference of American Republics.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
CUSTOMS COURT OF APPEALS, UNITED STATES:
See (in this Volume) TARIFFS: UNITED STATES.
CUSTOMS SERVICE, United States: Corruptions disclosed.
See (in this Volume) UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER).
CUSTOMS UNION, Serbo-Bulgarian.
See (in this Volume) BALKAN STATES: BULGARIA AND SERVIA: A. D. 1905.
CZECHS: Struggle with Austrian Germans over the language question.
See (in this Volume) AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1902-1903, and 1904.
CZOLGOSZ, Leon: Assassin of President McKinley.
See (in this Volume) BUFFALO: A. D. 1901.
D.
DAIDO CLUB.
See (in this Volume) Japan: A. D. 1909.
DALGETY: Rejected Site for Australian Capital.
See (in this Volume) AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1905-1906.
DALNY: Russian Evacuation.
See (in this Volume) JAPAN: A. D 1904 (FEBRUARY-JULY), and 1904-1905 (MAY-JANUARY).
When Dalny, by the Treaty of Portsmouth, became the property of Japan its name was changed to Tairen.
DAMASCUS: Railway to Mecca.
See (in this Volume) RAILWAYS: TURKEY, ASIATIC: A. D. 1908.
DARWIN, Charles: Centenary Commemoration of.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION: ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS.
DARWINISM, Bearing of Mendel’s Law on.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: BIOLOGICAL.
DAVENPORT, Dr. Charles B.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: CARNEGIE INSTITUTION.
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DAVIS, General George B.: Commissioner Plenipotentiary to the Second Peace Conference.
See (in this Volume) WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.
DAVIS, Henry G.: Delegate to Second International Conference of American Republics.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
DAVIS, Jefferson: Unveiling of Monument to.
See (in this Volume) RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.
DAYANAND SARASWATI.
See (in this Volume) ARYA SAMAJ.
DAYLIGHT SAVING MOVEMENT.
What is known as the Daylight Saving Movement, which has acquired much strength in England and has gained some favor in the United States and elsewhere, is said to have been first mooted by a builder in London, Mr. Willet, who suggested the possibility of securing a most important general advantage to the whole community by establishing a legal difference between summer and winter in the numbering of the hours. The proposition is to retain the standard clock time for all the year except between a given date in April and a given date in September, within which period the clocks shall be set forward one hour, making six o’clock in the morning, for example, become seven.
At first the proposition excited little but laughter; but the more it has been considered the more advocacy it has won. A bill to realize it has been twice before Parliament, failing to be passed, but gaining votes. The main difficulty is to make people see why there should be legislation on the subject; why those who wish to begin the labors of the day an hour earlier in the summer than in the winter may not do so without any meddling of law with the clocks. The reasons why were set forth very clearly in one of the debates of Parliament on the subject. Said one speaker: "The Bill was intended to benefit town dwellers. Two-thirds, if not three-fourths, of the population dwelt in towns, and it was these who suffered from failure to take advantage of the summer daylight. It had been asked why it was necessary, in order to induce town populations to follow the example of agriculturists, to proceed by way of legislation. The answer was simple. There were 140 statutes in which various phases of town life were regulated by the clock, and if they desired those who lived in towns to take advantage of the summer daylight by beginning work earlier in the morning, it was surely easier to accomplish that end by passing a general Act of this kind than by bringing in Bills to amend each of the statutes in which particular hours were specified."
As another (Mr. Winston Churchill) explained: "It was quite impossible for an individual to make alterations in the hours at which he discharged particular duties, while every one else remained unchanged, without subjecting himself to a great deal of inconvenience, and the fact that particular firms had already adopted this early rising system, in spite of the enormous inconvenience which attended all alterations from the regular habits of the community as a whole, was not, as the honourable member for Rye suggested, an argument against the necessity of the Bill. It was, in his judgment, very good evidence of the real, natural pressure that there was behind a measure of this character. If all the world were to change clock time together, no one would be conscious that that change had occurred, except at the moment of change. But where a change of clock time came into contact with unchanged times, as in the case of the American markets or of the Continental mails and trains, there, undoubtedly, they would get friction and discordance. He was, however, not at all sure that that friction and discordance bore any sensible proportion to the interests which might be beneficially affected or that that friction and discordance could not be adjusted without any very serious inconvenience. But whether that was so or not, he was quite clear that any such change as this must be made by legislation, or it could not be made at all."
DEAKIN, Alfred: Premier of Australia.
See (in this Volume) AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1903-1904, and after.
DEAKIN, Alfred: At the Imperial Conference of 1907.
See (in this Volume) BRITISH EMPIRE: A. D. 1907.
DEAKIN, Alfred: Defeat and resignation in 1908. Recovery of the Premiership in 1909.
See (in this Volume) AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1908, and 1909 (MAY-JUNE).
DEATH DUTY, or Inheritance Tax. Defeated proposal in Germany.
See (in this Volume) GERMANY: A. D. 1908-1909.
DEATH DUTIES: Treaty between Great Britain and France, to prevent frauds in connection with Succession or Death Duties.
The following Treaty between the Governments of Great Britain and France was signed November 15, 1907, and ratified December 9:
"The Government of His Britannic Majesty and the Government of the French Republic, being desirous of preventing as far as possible frauds in connection with succession duties, have authorized the Undersigned to conclude the following Agreement:—
"ARTICLE 1. The Government of His Britannic Majesty undertake, in the case of the decease of all persons domiciled in France, to furnish an extract from the affidavit, containing the full name, domicile, date and place of death of the deceased; all information relating to his successors, and the details respecting that portion of the estate which is moveable. This extract shall be furnished, however, only in cases where the value of the moveable estate shall amount to a sum of not less than £100.
"ARTICLE 2. The Government of the French Republic undertake, in the case of the decease of all persons domiciled in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to furnish an extract from the _déclaration de mutation_ through death, containing the particulars enumerated in Article 1. This extract shall be furnished, however, only in cases where the value of the moveable estate declared shall amount to a sum of not less than 2,520 fr.
"ARTICLE 3. The extracts from affidavits or _déclarations de mutation_ shall be certified by the officers intrusted with the duty of receiving or registering these affidavits or declarations.
"In the event, however, of either of the two Governments deeming it necessary, the certifying and authentication of the signatures, as required according to the procedure customary in that country, shall, upon request and without fee, be affixed to these extracts.
"ARTICLE 4. The extracts from affidavits or declarations received or registered during each quarter shall be forwarded directly, within a period of six weeks from the last day of the quarter, by the Board of Inland Revenue to the Direction Générate de l’Enregistrement, and reciprocally.
"All correspondence respecting the said extracts shall also be conducted directly between those two Central Administrations."
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DEATH STATISTICS: Fatal Accidents to Workmen in the United States.
See (in this Volume) LABOR PROTECTION.
DEBTS, Public: Compulsory collection.
See (in this Volume) DRAGO DOCTRINE.
DEBS, Eugene V.: Nomination for President of the United States.
See (in this Volume) UNITED STATES: A. D. 1904 (MARCH-NOVEMBER), and 1908 (APRIL-NOVEMBER).
DEEP WATERWAYS, Movement for.
See (in this Volume) CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: UNITED STATES.
DE LAVAL, Gustave Patrick.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: TURBINE ENGINE.
DELAGRANGE, M.
See (in this Volume) Science and Invention, Recent: Aeronautics.
DELBRUCK, Herr.
See (in this Volume) GERMANY: A. D. 1908-1909.
DELCASSÉ, THÉOPHILE: French Minister of Foreign Affairs.
See (in this Volume) FRANCE: A. D. 1902 (APRIL-OCTOBER).
DELCASSÉ, THÉOPHILE: Resignation forced by the German Government.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1905-1906.
DELCASSÉ, THÉOPHILE: Controversy with M. Clemenceau in the Chamber of Deputies which threw the latter out of office.
See (in this Volume) FRANCE: A. D. 1909 (JULY).
DELHI: A. D. 1903. Great Durbar.
See (in this Volume). INDIA: A. D. 1903 (JANUARY).
DELYANNIS, Theodoros: Assassination.
See (in this Volume) GREECE: A. D. 1905.
DEMOCRACY, Political: Involved in the South African Labor Question.
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1903-1904.
DEMOCRACY, Political: Triumphant in Denmark.
See (in this Volume) DENMARK: A. D. 1901.
DEMOCRATAS, The. See (in this Volume)
DEMOCRISTIANA.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: ITALY.
----------DENMARK: Start--------
DENMARK: A. D. 1909. Democracy in Power after a thirty-years’ struggle with Landlordism.
Landlordism in Denmark, entrenched in the upper house of the Parliament, was dislodged from the control of Government by the Democratic party, in the elections of April, 1901, after a struggle of thirty years. A Danish correspondent of _The American Review of Reviews_ gave a spirited account of the victory to that magazine in the following October, from which the following is taken:
"At the elections of April, 1901, out of 114 members in the lower house only 5 were won by the Conservatives, with small majorities, and even the strong Conservative majority in the upper house was reduced to one vote through the rebellion of the Conservatives. The Danes are now a thoroughly radical and democratic people, with a more perfect system of self-government in politics and business than perhaps any other nation. The population has increased so much that it is now as large as the whole population of the kingdom and duchies before 1864. After England, it is also the richest country in the world per head of the population, and the excellence of its educational system is matter of common knowledge. Denmark, therefore, enters the new century steaming full speed ahead, and with the best hopes for the future.
"The victory of April 3 last was as complete over the Moderates as over the Government. Before the poll the Moderates were twenty-two strong, but Mr. Bojesen, the evil genius of the democracy, withdrew his candidature and retired into private life, while several of his supposed adherents declared during the campaign that, if reelected, they would join the Radicals. Mr. Bojesen’s constituency, which he had represented since 1869, was taken by the Radicals, and the Moderates, now reduced to twelve or thirteen—of whom about half will join the Radicals if allowed—have lost all their former importance. The premier and minister of justice is M. Deuntzer, professor of law at the university, an old Radical who in 1885 publicly opposed the government. The minister of agriculture is Mons. Ole Hansen. He is a common farmer from a village in Seeland, owner of a farm of about one hundred acres; M. P. since 1890. … The law officer of the crown is Mons. Alberti, who is a leader of many cooperative undertakings of the peasantry; M. P. since 1892.
"Mr. Jens Christian Christensen is the most important member of the new cabinet. He was born in West Jutland, in 1856, the son of a farmer, and earned his living when a boy as a shepherd. He passed the examination for village schoolmaster in Jutland, and taught till recently in the little village of Stadil, in West Jutland. In 1890 he was returned for Parliament, and in 1895 became leader of the opposition. Of late years, the Conservative Government being so utterly weak, he practically ruled the country in his capacity of president of the finance committee of the Folkething. A few months ago he resigned his post as schoolmaster, succeeded in being elected a ‘revisor of the state,’ and is now minister of religion and education. After Mr. Christensen, Mr. Harup is considered the greatest triumph for the Democrats. Born in 1841, the son of a schoolmaster in an Iceland village, he became a law student, taking his degree in 1867 at the university. … He is one of the most brilliant and best known of Danish journalists—the most brilliant, according to George Brandes."
DENMARK: A. D. 1902. Proposed sale of Danish West Indies to the United States.
Negotiations for the sale of the Danish islands in the West Indies to the United States were brought to a point of agreement between the two governments which the Danish Ministry submitted to the two chambers of the Rigsdag. The Folkething—the popular branch of the parliament—assented to the sale, while the other chamber, the Landsthing, rejected the proposed terms. The Rigsdag was then, in May, 1902, prorogued, and assembled again in the following October. Meantime an election of one half of the membership of the Landsthing had taken place, and the Conservatives had lost ground in it; notwithstanding which fact the proposition was defeated in that body again, and the projected sale came to naught.
{184}
DENMARK: A. D. 1905-1909. The Fortification and Naval-Defense Question in Danish Politics.
"That Germany within recent times has paid considerably more than passing attention to the defense plans of Denmark has not escaped the Danes, whose military astuteness is proverbial. At the instigation of the Kaiser himself, Lieutenant Colonel R. von Bieberstein inspected the quite openly exposed fortifications of Copenhagen, and what he has written regarding the vulnerability, or otherwise, of the Danish capital has been taken to heart in Denmark’s military circles. Beyond a doubt, Denmark to-day is much more favorably situated than when Prussia despoiled the country of Schleswig-Holstein, and while little apprehension exists on the score of Germany again attacking her northern neighbor, should a war break out between England and the German Empire it might prove impossible for either belligerent to keep Danish territory inviolate. Denmark’s neutrality would be thrown to the winds where the fate of empires would be at stake. Still, in her defense of such neutrality, Denmark would gain time sufficient to make any trespasser pause before advancing. Meanwhile, the Scandinavian allies of the Danes would be enabled to assert themselves effectively.
"Following the recent Danish cabinet crisis, when the portfolios of war and navy were given into the hands of a civilian, J. C. Christensen, the former minister for instruction of the Deuntzer _Régime_, a special defense commission has had under consideration ways and means best suited for the protection of the country. … The Danish Defense Commission is far from being unanimous as to what is the best plan making for a complete protection of the capital. The majority of the members are for the abandoning of the land defenses and the strengthening of Seeland’s coast line by adding more forts and introducing a mining system covering all the adjacent waters. The minority of the commission, however, and the leading military experts of the country are for the retention of the present land fortifications, in order that the capital may be securely protected against an enemy invading Seeland from the north or the west. The very circumstance that Seeland’s coast line in its entirety does not lend itself to a complete protection through either forts, mines, or torpedo equipment speaks favorably for the claim of the Danish military experts in their assertion that, apart from what is done toward protecting Copenhagen from the sea, the land fortifications must be retained. Nearly one hundred million kroner have been expended on the land defenses, which sum it would be extremely difficult to raise a second time were it a question of abandoning the forts for the present and removing the guns, and in after years restoring them to serviceable condition."
_Julius Moritzen, Denmark, the Buffer State of the North (American Review of Reviews, September, 1905)._
Since the above was written the question of defense, between land fortification and naval development, has not only been the burning one in Danish politics, but has excited much interest in Europe at large. Politically, the controversy was curiously altered in February, 1909, by a sudden change of front on the part of the Premier, M. Neergaard, of which the Copenhagen correspondent of the London Times gave the following account:
"The Premier, who represents the majority in the House, declared that he had changed his opinion and now shared the views of the small group of the Right on a question which is the most urgent of the day—namely, that of national defence, or, to speak precisely, how Denmark can be placed in a position effectively to maintain her neutrality if threatened by any Power. He adopted the opinion that Copenhagen must be fortified on the land side as well as on that of the sea, and that Denmark, in view of her difficult strategical situation, should avoid showing any favour to Russia, Germany, or Great Britain. The surprise which the Premier’s speech caused in all political circles was unbounded. M. Neergaard had kept the secret of his scheme so well that only a few persons knew that the Premier might enter into negotiations with the Right, which has its main support in the Upper House. That he would go so far as to adopt the Conservative view was wholly unexpected.
"The Defence Committee, which had been sitting for seven years, issued a report which contained no very clear recommendations. But M. Neergaard, who is, by the way, himself no soldier, working in conjunction with the Danish general staff upon the material which the committee had collected, drew up a scheme of Danish defence, based upon practical views and considerations of international law, but almost the direct contrary of the proposals which his own party, the Left, had adopted only one year ago. And this position was taken up so definitely that at the general election in May the people will have to decide definitely for or against the Premier. It is evident that M. Neergaard himself must be aware that his action will split up his party, the allied Centre groups in the Folkething, that some members will go over to the Right, and that others will approach the Radicals and Socialists. The comments of the Government Press already clearly show this.
"For land and sea fortifications, the construction of 20 torpedo-boats and six submarines, improvements in the system of mines, &c., the sum of 42,200,000 kr. (£2,344,444) is demanded immediately, while an annual increase in the military budgets of about 3,327,000 kr. (£184,833) is also proposed. This is a large amount of money for a small country with but 2,600,000 inhabitants; but, as is well known, the country is in a strong financial position—exceptionally strong, in the opinion of some observers."
In May, as the elections approached, the same correspondent wrote: "All parties unite in the view that Denmark must adhere to a policy of the strictest neutrality. But while the Conservatives urge that this policy must be observed by a system of fortifications, strong enough to show that Denmark is ready to defend her neutrality if she is threatened, the Socialists preach the gospel of disarmament as a step towards eternal peace, and urge furthermore that Denmark is too weak and small to organize any real defence, and must therefore rely upon the generosity of her stronger neighbours.
"In addition to the two main parties there are a number of political groups which are destined to play an important part in the elections and may in fact decide their issue. These groups consist of the Moderate Left, the Reform Left, and the Radical Left. The Moderate Left, the party of the present Premier, Mr. N. Neergaard, has, however, already adopted the policy of the Conservatives and needs little more than mention. The Reform Left, the party of the former Premier, Mr. F. C. Christensen, numbered until a few months ago 56, or nearly one half of the Folkething, which has 114 members. Now it has been split up on the defence question. Of its members 14 agree with Mr. Neergaard and the Conservatives, and 33 are reorganized under the leadership of Mr. Christensen, who wants Copenhagen fortified, but not on the lines of the Neergaard scheme with its new land fortifications."
{185}
The elections were held on the 25th of May and the following was reported next morning to the press:
"The election campaign has been heated. The returns up to the present show that the ministerials have elected 38 adherents, M. Christensen’s party 34, the parties of the Socialists and the Radicals, which opposed fortifications, 39, and that eleven are doubtful. The ministers of finance, justice and commerce have been unseated. Premier Neergaard and the other ministers have been re-elected."
An extraordinary session of the new Parliament was summoned by the King on the 9th of September. Premier Neergaard lacked a majority in the Folkething, and failed to arrange an agreement with ex-Premier Christensen on the defence question. He and his Ministry resigned office, accordingly, in a few weeks, and a new Cabinet was formed under Count Holstein-Ledreborg, in which M. Christensen was included as Minister of Defence. The appointment of the latter was offensive to a large part of the public, which held him responsible for gross frauds in the public service, committed by a former Minister of Justice, M. Alberti. An immense popular demonstration against the obnoxious Minister of Defence was carried out at Copenhagen on August 29th; but he stayed in office some weeks longer, until a scheme of defence had been agreed upon between ex-Premier Neergaard and himself, and carried through Parliament, September 24th. The scheme provides for strong sea fortifications for Copenhagen, while the land defences of the eighties will be maintained and somewhat strengthened by two new forts, which are, however, officially characterized as sea forts.
Three weeks after the passage of the Defence Act M. Christensen resigned, and was followed out of office by the whole Holstein-Ledreborg Ministry before the end of October. For the first time in Denmark a Radical Ministry was then formed, under M. Zahle.
DENMARK: A. D. 1906. Death of King Christian IX. Succession of Frederick VIII. Gains by Social Democrats in the elections of the spring. Visit from the Icelandic Parliament.
On the 29th of January, 1906, King Christian IX. died, at the age of eighty-eight. He was succeeded by his son, Frederick VIII., who is said to have inherited his father’s character and ability in a marked degree. He had already reached the age of sixty-three when he came to the throne. When his accession was proclaimed he spoke from the balcony of the palace at Copenhagen to the multitude of people assembled in these words:
"Our old King, my dearly beloved father, has closed his eyes. He fell asleep peacefully and calmly, having faithfully discharged his royal duties to the last. In taking over the heavy heritage placed on my shoulders, I cherish the confident hope, and offer a sincere prayer, that the Almighty may grant me strength and happiness to carry on the government in the spirit of my dearly beloved father, and that I may have the good fortune to reach an understanding with the people and their chosen representatives on all that tends to the good of the people and the happiness of our beloved fatherland. Let us join in the cry, ‘Long live the fatherland!'"
At a general election for the Folkething, the lower house of the Danish Rigsdag, in May, the Social Democrats made heavy gains, raising their representation in the chamber from sixteen to twenty-four. The Government party, known as the Left Reform party, lost three seats, the Moderate Left lost three, and the Radical Left lost four. The Conservatives gained two seats. Later, when half of the elective part of the upper house was chosen, the Social Democrats made gains there, too, of three seats, and the Government lost five.
In September, on the invitation of King Frederick, the members of the Icelandic Parliament visited Denmark, and their entertainment was an interesting event.
See (in this Volume) ICELAND.
DENMARK: A. D. 1908. Municipal Suffrage extended to Women.
See (in this Volume) ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
DENMARK: A. D. 1908. North Sea and Baltic agreements.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1908.
DENMARK: A. D. 1908 (April). Treaty with England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, for maintenance of the Status Quo on the North Sea.
See (in this Volume) EUROPE: A. D. 1907-1908
DENMARK: A. D. 1909 (June). Murder of General Beckman.
In June, 1909, during a visit of the Tsar of Russia to the Danish Court, at Copenhagen, a Swedish anarchist, Adolf Vang, who had planned an attempt at the murder of the Russian sovereign, and was enraged on being baffled by the police, fired at two officers whom he met, provoked by nothing but their uniforms, and slew one, General Beckman.
----------DENMARK: End--------
DENVER, Colorado: The Juvenile Court of Judge Lindsey.
See (in this Volume) CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW: AS OFFENDERS.
DEPEW, Chauncey M.: United States Senator from New York. Annual retainers from the Equitable Life Assurance Society.
See (in this Volume) INSURANCE, LIFE.
DES MOINES CHARTER, The.
See (in this Volume) MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: GALVESTON.
DEUNTZER, M.: Premier of Denmark.
See (in this Volume) DENMARK: A. D. 1901.
DE VRIES, Dr. Hugo: His biological discoveries.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: CARNEGIE INSTITUTION.
DEVELOPMENT AND ROAD IMPROVEMENT FUNDS ACT.
See (in this Volume) CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES: GREAT BRITAIN.
DIAMOND FIELDS: In German Southwest Africa.
See (in this Volume) AFRICA: GERMAN COLONIES.
DIAZ, Porfirio: The President of Mexico enters his seventh term.
See (in this Volume) MEXICO: A. D. 1904-1905.
DIAZ, Porfirio: Meeting with President Taft.
See (in this Volume) UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).
DICKINSON, James M.: Secretary of War.
See (in this Volume) UNITED STATES: A. D. 1909 (MARCH).
DIRECT PRIMARY.
See (in this Volume) ELECTIVE FRANCHISE: UNITED STATES.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A. D. 1908. Enactment against Race-track Gambling.
See (in this Volume) GAMBLING.
{186}
DOGGER BANK INCIDENT, of the voyage of the Russian Baltic Fleet.
See (in this Volume) JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (OCTOBER-MAY).
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.
See (in this Volume) _San Domingo._
DOMINICANS: Forbidden to teach in France.
See (in this Volume) FRANCE: A. D. 1903.
DORE, Père Le.
See (in this Volume) FRANCE: A. D. 1905-1906.
DOUGLAS, A. Akers: Home Secretary in the British Government.
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1902 (JULY).
DOUGLAS, Dr.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT: OPSONINS.
DOWAGER-EMPRESS, of China: Her death.
See (in this Volume) CHINA: A. D. 1908 (NOVEMBER).
DRAGA, Queen: Assassination.
See (in this Volume) BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: SERVIA.
DRAGO DOCTRINE, The.
So named from Dr. Luis Drago, Argentine Minister of Foreign Relations, who rallied the South American Republics to the support of it at the Rio de Janeiro Pan-American Conference and at the Second Peace Conference at The Hague.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS: THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE; and WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907 (SECOND CONVENTION).
DREADNOUGHTS.
See (in this Volume) WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR.
DREIBUND.
See TRIPLE ALLIANCE.
DREYFUS, Alfred: Justice and reparation of the great wrong done him. His reinstatement in the Army. His decoration as a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
See (in this Volume) FRANCE: A. D. 1906.
DRUDE, General: Operations in Morocco.
See (in this Volume) MOROCCO: A. D. 1907-1909.
DRY FARMING.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION: AGRICULTURE.
DRYGALSKI, Dr.: Commanding Antarctic Expedition.
See (in this Volume) POLAR EXPLORATION.
DU BOIS, PROFESSOR W. E. BURGHARDT.
See (in this Volume) RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES.
DUCOMMUM, ELIE.
See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES.
DUFF, Grant: British Minister to Persia:
See (in this Volume) Persia: A. D. 1905-1907.
DUMA, Russia: The First and Second. Their dissolution. Election of the Third.
See (in this Volume) RUSSIA: A. D. 1906 and 1907.
DUNANT, Henri.
See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES
DURBAR AT DELHI.
See (in this Volume) INDIA: A. D. 1903 (JANUARY).
DURHAM, Israel W.: Political "Boss" of Philadelphia.
See (in this Volume) MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
DWIGHT, James H. and William B.: Founders of Robert College.
See (in this Volume) EDUCATION: TURKEY.
E.
EAGLE’S NEST FORT, CAPTURE OF.
See (in this Volume) JAPAN: A. D. 1904-1905 (MAY-JANUARY).
----------EARTHQUAKES: Start--------
EARTHQUAKES: CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1906. Consequent destructive fire at San Francisco and great distress.
See (in this Volume) SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1906.
EARTHQUAKES: CHILE: A. D. 1906. Destructiveness of life and property at Valparaiso.
One of the most destructive of the many appalling earthquake shocks of the past decade was experienced in Chile on the 16th of August, 1906. It was widely felt, even to the distant Hawaiian Islands; but its most deadly effects were concentrated on the unfortunate city of Valparaiso. The wreck of buildings in the city was followed, as in San Francisco, by fires, which the disabled inhabitants were almost powerless to combat. The total loss of life, there and elsewhere, was estimated finally, when all was known that could be known, at 2000. The homeless for a time were substantially the whole population of the city. Relief was sent to the afflicted city and country from all parts of the world.
The prediction of another earthquake on the Pacific coast of America within some short time had been made by Dr. Becker, of the United States Geological Survey, in a letter to the New York _Tribune_ written the day after the shock at San Francisco. Such a severe upheaval at one point on the earthquake belt which follows the rim of the Pacific from Singapore, through Japan, the Aleutian Islands, the coast of Alaska, California, and South America to Valparaiso, was sure, he said, to be followed by sympathetic movements at other points on the circuit.
EARTHQUAKES: Formosa: A. D. 1906.
Over 6000 persons are reported to have been killed or injured by an earthquake that occurred in the island of Formosa in March, 1906.
EARTHQUAKES: France: A. D. 1909 (June). Serious convulsion along the Mediterranean coast.
A shock which ran through Southern France on the night of June 11 was most severe in the Bouches-du Rhone, but extended over a very wide area, including the whole Mediterranean coast of France, and was also felt in Spain and Portugal. Official reports stated that 55 lives were known to have been lost. A great amount of damage had been done, especially in the villages; in the towns the buildings for the most part withstood the shock, though it was sufficiently violent to cause panic among the population in Marseilles, Toulon, and other places.
{187}
EARTHQUAKES: Greece: A. D. 1909 (July). Destruction in Ellis.
An earthquake which occurred, on the 15th of July, in the province of Ellis, the seat of the most famous of the ancient Olympic games, was reported to have killed or injured over 300 persons. Despatches from Athens to Loudon made the following statements:
"At the village of Havari 400 houses have been completely destroyed. Some 30 persons are known to have perished there, while many others have been injured. The neighbouring villages have also suffered severely. All the houses of Amaliada have been rendered uninhabitable. Volcanic eruptions have occurred in the village of Ponhioti. Shocks of earthquake have also been felt at Patras, Pyrgos, Kalamas, Tripoli, and Missolonghi. People have been killed and injured in about ten villages. Assistance has been sent to the affected districts."
EARTHQUAKES: India: A. D. 1905. In the Punjab and the United Provinces.
One of the most terrific of earthquakes occurred in Northern India on the 4th of April, 1905. Its most violent and destructive effects were in the Kangra District of the Punjab, and its neighborhood; but the area of shock extended over several thousand square miles. The finally ascertained and estimated loss of human life was no less in number than 373,000. The villages destroyed numbered 409. As for the destruction of property, including houses, bridges, irrigation works, cattle, and crops, it was beyond computation. In the central region of the earthquake every habitation and human structure of any description went instantly down. The shocks, as described, were first from north to south, then immediately reversed, and followed by a horrible sinking of the earth. _The Empress_, a monthly periodical published at Calcutta, gave the following, among other personal experiences of the disaster. The narrator was a manager of large tea estates near Palampour:
"On the morning of the 4th April, at about 6 A. M., we were disturbed in our sleep by a slight earthquake, quickly followed by a severe one, and lastly by the worst shock of all, which appeared to come from the northeast and having a sudden circular action traveling toward the west. The first one I took no notice of, thinking it was one of the many slight shocks off and on experienced up here. When the second shock came, I sat up in bed and called out to my wife to come to the window. I had hardly done so when I saw the highest wall of our bedroom fall in like a torrent on my poor sleeping child; then all became dark with fearful dust from the falling walls. I felt suffocated, and pushed my hand through the panes of glass in the window into which I had crept; had I not done so I should have been killed by the wall that fell in on the head of my bed. I shall never forget those few moments that appeared like years,—the noise of the falling masonry, smashing of beams, planks, and slates. I had fully made up my mind that we should all perish. When the shock was over I opened the window and dropped into the lower veranda, rushed out, and cried out for help. No one could be seen,—all had fled to the villages to help their friends and relations. A fearful sight presented itself to my eyes. All our houses (with the exception of the mali's hut) were leveled to the ground, including a magnificent factory built of cut stone which my poor old father had lately built. All was still as death save for the wailing of a man who afterward turned out to be my head clerk. After a few minutes had elapsed I succeeded in getting a few of my household servants together and dug with bare fingers among limestone and plaster for my only child. We had to make a coffin out of planks taken from the débris, bury her without ceremony in a quiet sequestered spot on the tea estate. To look around the valley, nothing but desolation meets the eye. The once pretty little villages, with their bluish-white walls and slated roofs, mixed here and there with thatched buildings, all leveled to the ground. We have been ruined; lost tens of thousands of rupees. As for our loss in machinery, it is unknown, being all buried beneath the ruins. And this is not all. We are afraid we shall lose thousands yet, owing to our terror-stricken workmen and coolies, who believe that this picturesque valley is to be totally destroyed. They have made little thatch sheds for their families and cattle, and pass the day in sorrow and fear, refusing to return to work or even work at their own fields. A great many families have been wiped out."
The same magazine tells of the destruction of the very ancient temple of Bhowan—one of the oldest in the world—burying 2000 worshippers in its ruins:
"On the night of the 3d April, about two thousand pilgrims arrived in the small town of Bhowan, which is about three miles from Kangra town, to worship at the temple. On the morning of the 4th, at 6 o’clock, a rumbling noise was heard, and before the people could realize what it was, they felt the terrible shock, and within four seconds the whole town was destroyed. The shock lasted three minutes, but all the damage was done in the first few seconds. About two thousand people were buried beneath the ruins of the temple, and under the adjacent buildings. The Guru, or High Priest of the Temple, was dug out of the ruins and buried near the site of the Toshakhana, adjoining the temple."
EARTHQUAKES: Italy: A. D. 1905. In Calabria.
A terrible earthquake, accompanied by storms and volcanic disturbances, occurred in Calabria on September 8th. "Hundreds of dead were swallowed up, and ruin was spread far and wide in a country already sorely tried by an unfortunate system of land ownership. The public authorities, the provinces and towns of Italy, strained every nerve to soften the misery of the Calabrian population, and the King eagerly hastened to the scene of the disaster. The public mind, however, was embittered by reports that the rich Calabrian landowners had shown great want of consideration for their unhappy tenants, and that the work of restoration was greatly hindered by absurd disputes between civil and military authorities."
_Annual Register, 1905, page 278._
EARTHQUAKES: A. D. 1908 (December). In Calabria and Sicily. Destruction of Messina and Reggio. The most appalling in history.
Of all catastrophes of earthquake recorded in history, the one which has seemed most appalling to the European and American world was that which destroyed the cities of Messina and Reggio and many smaller towns in northeastern Sicily and southern Italy, on both sides of the Straits of Messina, on the early morning of Monday, December 28, 1908. The time favored an exceptionally great harvest of death. From Christmas until Twelfth Night is a period of feasting among the Southern Italians, when the members of scattered families come together as fully as they are able to do. {188} The doomed cities, accordingly, contained on the fatal day a large number of guests, and were emptied, at the same time, of large numbers of their residents; but the merry-making of the previous days had induced later slumbers, generally, on that dread Monday morning, and few had risen from their beds when the shock came which buried them in the ruins of their dwellings. It shook Messina at twenty minutes past five o’clock, long before day had begun to dawn. The late F. Marion Crawford, who wrote, three months after the occurrence, for _The Outlook_, a carefully prepared account of it, derived from personal inquiries and investigations on the spot, describes the overwhelming moment thus:
"A southwest wind was blowing and the sky was black when the fatal moment came, but it was not yet raining. Those who were awake and survived remember hearing the horrible subterranean thunder that preceded the shock and might have been a warning to many in waking hours; it seemed to begin far away and to approach very quickly, swelling to a terrific roar just before the crash. Another instant and the solid earth rose and fell in long waves, twice, three times, four times perhaps, and the houses and churches swayed from side to side, in the darkness; for the young moon had set before midnight, and it lacked more than an hour of dawn. The whole city and the towns on the opposite side of the Straits fell at once with a crash that no language can describe; then followed the long-resounding rumble of avalanches of masonry; and when those awful moments were over, nearly two hundred thousand human beings were dead, on both sides of the Straits.
"Almost at the same moment another sound was heard, almost more terrible than the first—the sound of a moving mountain of water; for the sea had risen bodily in a monstrous wave and was sweeping over the harbor, carrying away hundreds of tons of masonry from the outer pier, tearing ships and iron steamers from their moorings like mere skiffs and hurling them against the ruins of the great Palazzata that was built along the semicircular quay, only to sweep them back, keel upwards and full of dead and dying men, as the hill of water sank down and ebbed away. When it had quite subsided, the inner portion of the harbor was half full of sand and mud and stranded wrecks.
"Those who say that they ‘saw’ these things are either untruthful, or else, in vivid recollection of sensation, but without the true memory of events, they confuse what they heard and felt with what they might have felt and seen; for though some of the gaslights in the streets continued to burn for a few minutes, the darkness was almost total."
The American Vice-consul at Messina, Mr. Stuart K. Lupton, who escaped unhurt from the ruins of the hotel in which he lodged, carrying his clothing in his hands, and hastened in the darkness to give aid, if possible, to his chief, Dr. Cheney, made a report of his experiences to the Department at Washington, from which the following is taken:
"I had not proceeded more than fifty yards when I found myself walking in water up to my knees in a place which should have been eight feet above the water level. Next I came to a pile of rubbish some fifteen or twenty feet high over which I clambered on my hands and knees. By this time I began to see that the affair was much more serious than I had at first believed, but I was still in inky darkness, so I could not form any ideas as to the extent of the disaster. After three-quarters of an hour I arrived where I supposed the consulate to be and waited for daylight, which came in a few minutes. I looked for the consulate, but could see nothing that reminded me of it. Half the water front appeared to be down. Here and there the walls were standing, while the interior had collapsed. A few fires were breaking out, but owing to the solid construction of the town they made little progress.
"At the place I supposed the consulate to be there was nothing but a heap of ruins, iron beams, splintered wood, bricks, and stones in hapless confusion. I was not sure of the spot and climbed over the ruins to see if I could find anything familiar. Finally I came across a battered teapot, which I recognized as the property of Mrs. Cheney, and remembering the spot where it had stood, was able to get my bearings. I climbed directly over the spot where their room had been, and called, in the hope that if they were still alive, they would answer. I heard nothing, however, and further search revealed a piano covered to a depth of about ten feet in rubbish. I knew that the Cheneys had no piano, so it must have come down from one of the upper stories. As the shock was so strong that no one could stand, and the consulate went down almost immediately, it was absolutely an impossibility for Dr. Cheney to have opened four doors and gone down a long flight of steps which had three sections. Nothing belonging to the office could be seen except the teapot. …
"People were beginning to appear by this time, some half-clothed, others entirely naked. I gave part of my clothes away, but found I could do nothing, there were so many. People were calling from upper windows, asking that some one should aid them, but ladders and ropes were necessary, and they had to be left. Some men were trying to lower an old lady from the fourth floor, but as soon as the weight came upon the cord, it broke, precipitating the poor soul to the pavement below. Another upper window was choked with rubbish, out of which stuck a man’s arm. He was unable to call out, but rattled against the railing with a stick, trying to attract attention. Without men and tools it was impossible to do anything, so I kept on, trying to shut my ears.
"Almost all the natives were hysterical, shrieking and moaning. Some were held by their friends, as they seemed to be absolute maniacs. … Light shocks were felt every few minutes, adding to the alarm of the people. About eleven o’clock I went on board the steamer Chesapeake, belonging to the Anglo-American Oil Company, and managed to get a cup of tea and a sandwich. Captain Mort was very kind, and told me to send people in need on board, and he would do anything he could for them. I went again to the shore to see what could be done, and by that night over seventy, principally women and children, were on board. About three o’clock rain began to fall, adding to the misery of the people. Scores and hundreds of them were to be seen sitting in all the squares or wider streets, and looking as if they had abandoned all hope."
{189}
From all directions, by all communities and governments, relief to the stricken cities, for the rescue, feeding and shelter or removal of the survivors, was hastened with the greatest possible speed. War ships from many navies, Italian, French, Russian, British and German, were quickly at the scene, their sailors and marines performing heroic work in discovering and saving many still living people, who had been entombed under mountains of ruin for many days. Even after such burial for thirteen and fourteen days some victims were found alive. The rescuing forces were soon in excess of the need, and a want of systematic organization and direction among them became a subject of complaint. But the outflow of sympathy and eager generosity of helpful desire in all the world was the noblest, without doubt, that has ever been called forth.
By good fortune, when news of the disaster came, a supply ship of the United States Navy was being laden at New York with a million and a half of rations, destined for the fleet of American battle-ships then voyaging round the world. The supply-ship was to meet the fleet at Gibraltar; but orders were given immediately for dispatching it to Messina, with an added shipment of tents, clothing, blankets and medical supplies. Furthermore, from the fleet itself, which was about to enter the Suez Canal, a store ship was hastened forward to Messina for such offerings as it could make. The American Congress, reassembled on the 4th of January after the Christmas recess, by action of both Houses that day, appropriated $800,000 for further relief of the Italian need, and a large part of this sum was expended according to the following statement made public by the Secretary of the Navy, January 16:
"The Navy Department has arranged for the expenditure of approximately $500,000 in the purchase of building materials, including all articles necessary for the construction of substantial frame houses for the Italian sufferers, and the shipments will begin by the sailing of two steamers probably on Monday. This lumber is being delivered to-day in New York, and the sailing of the vessels will proceed as fast as they can be loaded. Each ship will carry all the materials for the construction of about 500 houses, and it will require not less than six steamers for the entire amount purchased. If possible, the department intends to send with each vessel several civilian house carpenters, with plans, to assist in the erection of these houses."
With this material a suburb of 1500 detached frame houses, of two or four rooms, were built at Messina; 500 were constructed at Reggio, and the remainder at other towns and villages.
The Italian Parliament appropriated 30,000,000 lire ($5,000,000) for immediate relief and for the reconstruction of the ruined cities. The plans formed by the Italian Government included measures to provide for the temporary protection of the orphaned young, the deserted, and the insane; to prosecute the recovery of personal property: to draw up official lists of the dead; to rewrite the civil registers and the records of property transfers; to reestablish, provisionally, administrative and judicial districts within the provinces of Messina and Reggio. New building regulations were to be enacted by a royal commission in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Works. To encourage the reconstruction of the ruined places, all new buildings were exempted from taxation for a period of fifteen years. Loans from state and private financial institutions to be made at a rate of interest not exceeding 4 per cent., to be repaid within thirty years in semi-annual instalments, the Government to contribute half of these periodical payments.
To the effective help and relief rendered by her Mediterranean squadron, Great Britain added large contributions of money, mainly collected as a "Mansion House Fund" by the Lord Mayor of London. There, and everywhere, the Red Cross Societies were instant in the field and untiring, receiving and expending immense funds and sending large corps of trained workers to the scene of distress. No summary has yet been made of the whole outpour of gifts and service to the suffering people, and it is impossible even to indicate what a world-feeling it expressed; but its like was never known before.
Estimates of the total destruction of life by the earthquake are still uncertain. Mr. Crawford, when he wrote, thought it doubtful whether as many as fifteen per cent. of the population of Messina were then alive, scattered in groups throughout Italy. That would mean that only about 20,000 out of 150,000 in the one city escaped. Of the loss of life on the other side of the Straits he said: "The proportion of those saved on the Calabrian side is certainly larger—principally, I think, because the houses in Reggio, Villa San Giovanni, Palmi, and the other towns destroyed were much lower than those in the city. Moreover, as will be seen before long, many persons died of hunger and thirst in Messina, where the whole water supply was cut off by the ruin of the first shock, and bread was not obtainable at any price for many days; but on the Calabrian side the survivors camped out in the orange groves, and the fruit, which is almost ripe at Christmas in that latitude, stayed their hunger and assuaged their thirst."
Generally, the total of deaths from the earthquake, in Sicily and Calabria, seems now to be estimated at 200,000.
A report from Rome, issued on the 3d of August, 1909, by the Central Relief Committee, of which the Duke of Aosta is president, announced that the receipts of the Committee to that time had been 25,100,000 lire (£1,004,000, or $5,020,000). The fund for the orphans had all been handed over to the Queen Helena Home.
For the building of shelters the sum of 4,000,000 lire had been paid over to the Minister of Public Works for the construction of 3,000 shelters. The number of persons assisted had been 14,000, but it would eventually reach 20,000.
EARTHQUAKES: A. D. 1909 (July 1). A second shock at Messina and Reggio.
During six months following the great catastrophe, Messina had been so far rebuilt and reoccupied as to have acquired a population of somewhat more than 25,000. To them, on the evening of June 30 and the morning of July 1, came once more the dread quaking of their unstable portion of the earth. The shocks as described in despatches to the Press "were similar to the fatal disturbances of December, and were accompanied by the same roaring noises. The people fled with cries of terror. They hurried to the open places of the city and the surrounding country, praying to the saints that their lives be spared. … {190} So far as is known, however. only a few people were hurt, and this undoubtedly is due to the fact that the city was only partially rebuilt. Had the walls of all the houses been standing the loss of life would have been heavy. One woman was killed by a falling wall, and a child was seriously injured." Reggio, as before, shared the experience, but there is said to have been no loss of life.
Late in the year it was reported to a London newspaper that "at Reggio a very fair advance, has been made, and the city is already acquiring some air of its former busy prosperity; but in Messina and its neighborhood, little or nothing has been done in the way of permanent work, while the temporary accommodations for the survivors still leave much to be desired."
EARTHQUAKES: Jamaica: A. D. 1907. The destruction of Kingston by earthquake and fire.
‘On Monday afternoon, the 14th January, 1907, at about 3.30 P. M., the city of Kingston and its suburbs was almost entirely destroyed by heavy earthquake shocks. There was little or no wind at the time; what little there was was from the east, and the atmospherical conditions were quite normal. The shocks apparently approached from the south at first and then from the west. They are variously estimated to have lasted from ten to thirty seconds, the latter estimate being the general opinion. On the other hand, several Englishmen who were in the open at the time and in no immediate danger from falling houses, &c., consider 20 seconds the outside limit of time taken by the shocks. During this period an enormous amount of damage was done to life and property. Large numbers of buildings at once collapsed. As is, unfortunately, usual in such cases, fires broke out in several places in the commercial portion of the town. …
"Unfortunately, the Central Fire Station was destroyed by earthquake, so the fire engine was not available. The means at hand were thus very inadequate for fighting the flames, although they were supplemented greatly by fire-extinguishing appliances from the various ships alongside the wharves, and those belonging to the wharves themselves. The fire, however, spread with terrible rapidity, and all efforts were directed towards isolating the burning area. During this time the light wind blowing was about north-east, but it later in the afternoon went round to the north and north-west, thus lending tremendous assistance to the people in their efforts to extinguish the fire. Many injured persons, buried in the falling debris, were burnt to death. Meanwhile, vast numbers of the inhabitants were flying northwards to the racecourse and open spaces outside the town, where they spent the night—small earthquake shocks being felt at frequent intervals during that time. It may be said that the whole of Kingston and its suburbs are either destroyed or in ruins. A few of the substantially built houses are still standing, but so shaken and injured by the shocks that it will be impossible to repair them. …
"It is extremely difficult to estimate the total loss of life in the earthquake and fire. The Government have called on the inhabitants to register the names of their killed and missing, but up to this date [January 29] there has been little response. On the 25th January, some eleven days after the catastrophe, the numbers recorded at the Registrar’s Office were only 121, although at least four times that number are known to have been buried or cremated. The careful opinion of prominent officials in Kingston is that the loss of life will be about 1000. Of the injured the daily number of in-patients at the hospital is about 300, mostly cases of concussions and legs amputated. …
"The large numbers of women, children, and old or disabled men encamped in the Public Gardens and racecourse, &c., were supplied with food rations daily, under the supervision of the Relief Committee. Over 3,000 people daily have been receiving this relief. At no time does there appear to have been a scarcity of food or water. A tremendous strain at once came on the staff of the hospital, the place being besieged with the injured and their relatives. Large numbers of medical men from the out districts at once proceeded to Kingston and assisted in attending to the wounded. With the aid of their ready assistance, and that of many volunteer nurses from the civil population, the hospital staff were enabled to cope with the situation, and at the present time work is proceeding there with great smoothness and regularity. The American ships ‘Indiana,’ ‘Missouri,’ and ‘Whipple,’ also, on arrival, landed their surgeons, who at once established a hospital on shore and rendered great assistance. …
"Directly after the earthquake, and while the fire was in progress, the greater portion of the black and coloured population were stupefied with terror and amazement, and lent little or no aid to the white members of the community and the troops and firemen in their rescue work. Vast numbers of them fled from the city. Some became frenzied and ran here and there declaring the end of the world had arrived, impeding the work and terrifying the workers. Others formed groups and commenced praying. At the Penitentiary, the prisoners, who remained seated in their ranks on the parade ground all night, spent the time in singing hymns without ceasing. As soon as the first panic had subsided, the black population became quite apathetic, and it was with great difficulty that the Government were able to get able-bodied men to take part in the work of demolition and clearing the streets. This, in spite of the fact that the wages offered were 25 per cent. more than the usual rate. …
"Considering the magnitude and widespread nature of the disaster, the loss of life might easily have been on a much larger scale. The earthquake came at a time of day when the labouring part of the population were at work away from their houses, and the streets in the busy commercial quarter presented the comparatively deserted appearance so usual in the afternoons in tropical places. As the streets in this quarter were very narrow and the buildings on each side of them lofty and of solid construction the loss of life must have been largely increased had the earthquake happened during the busy portion of the day. …
"Owing to the dry weather now prevailing here, the homeless population, roughly encamped on the open spaces, are suffering little or no hardship. It is to be hoped they may be permanently sheltered before the wet season commences."
_Report by Major Chown, R. M. L. I., of H. M. S. "Indefatigable" dated Kingston, January 29, 1907._
{191}
Relief to the stricken island came so swiftly and profusely from all parts of America, Europe, and almost every part of the world, that Governor Swettenham was able to telegraph on the 23d of January: "Money and provisions more than ample for relief. Except for rebuilding no funds needed." Three ships of the United States Navy, despatched by Admiral Evans from a Cuban port on the instant of receiving news of the disaster, reached Jamaica on the 17th and gave assistance in clearing the ruins, besides rendering hospital service and furnishing food and medical supplies. For the general lifting of the community from its prostration, the British Government, in May, by vote of Parliament, made a free grant to it of £150,000, and a loan to the Colonial Government of £800,000 more.
_Correspondence relating to the Earthquake at Kingston, Jamaica (Parliamentary Papers, Cd. 3560)._
EARTHQUAKES: Persia: A. D. 1909 (JANUARY). Destructive shock in Luristan.
Seismographs in many parts of the world gave token of a violent earthquake on the 23d of January, 1909; but three weeks passed before the locality of the shock was learned. It proved to have been centered in Western Persia, in the mountainous province of Luristan, and to have been heavily destructive of life. Its greatest severity was reported to have been in a region at two days journey from Burujurd. Many villages were wholly or partly destroyed, several having been completely engulfed, and the loss of life is estimated to have been between 5000 and 6000 people.
EARTHQUAKES: Portugal: A. D. 1909 (April). Lisbon and its neighborhood upheaved.
Lisbon and the country surrounding it were shaken violently on the evening of Friday, April 23d, 1909. There were no fatalities in the city, but the outlying districts suffered severely, especially the towns of Benavente, Samora, and Santo Estevan. Reports three days after the disaster announced 46 killed and 38 injured at Benavente and Samora. Both villages were completely destroyed, and their 6000 inhabitants, starving and homeless, were encamped in the fields
EARTHQUAKES: Sumatra: A. D. 1909 (June). Shocks and sea-wave in Upper Padang district.
News was received at The Hague in June, 1909, of severe shocks of earthquake, on the 3d of that month, at Korinchi, Upper Padang, Sumatra. The shocks were accompanied by an enormous sea-wave. Two hundred and thirty people were killed and many injured. Much damage was done.
----------EARTHQUAKES: End--------
ECHEGARAY, Jose.
See (in this Volume) NOBEL PRIZES.
ECONOMIC FORESTRY.
See (in this Volume) CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES.
ECUADOR: A. D. 1901-1906. From revolution to revolution.
General Eloy Alfaro, who was made President by the revolution of 1895 (see in Volume VI.), was succeeded peacefully in 1901 by General Leonidas Plaza, and the latter, in turn, by Lugardo Garcia; but in 1906 the revolutionary method was revived in favor of General Alfaro, and he ousted Senor Garcia from the presidential chair.
ECUADOR: A. D. 1901-1906. Participation in Second and Third International Conferences of American Republics, at Rio de Janeiro.
See (in this Volume) AMERICAN REPUBLICS.
ECUADOR: A. D. 1905. Arbitration of boundary question with Peru.
See (in this Volume) PERU: A. D. 1905.
EDMONTON: Capital of the Province of Alberta.
See (in this Volume) CANADA: A. D. 1905.
----------EDUCATION: Start--------
EDUCATION: AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1907. Latest Statistics of State Schools.
Statistics published in July, 1909, by the Commonwealth Government show that over £2,500,000 was spent on education by the Australian States in 1907 in 7500 State schools. The total daily average attendance at the schools for the year was 444,000. The disbursements of the States on University education amounted to £113,000.
EDUCATION: CANADA: A. D. 1905. The question of State Support to Sectarian Schools revived on the creation of two new Provinces.
See (in this Volume) CANADA: A. D. 1905.
EDUCATION: CANADA: A. D. 1907. The founding and endowment of Macdonald College.
On the 16th of October, 1907, there was opened a new college of fine character and great importance, on a noble site, overlooking the Ottawa river, at Sainte de Bellevue, twenty miles west of Montreal. It bears the name of its founder. Sir William Macdonald, from whom it received an endowment of $4,000,000. This Macdonald College is divided into three schools: The School for Teachers, the School of Agriculture, the School of Household Science. Its main purposes are announced to be:
(1) "The carrying on of research work and investigation and the dissemination of knowledge, with particular regard to the interests and needs of the population in rural districts"; and
(2) the providing of "suitable and effective training for teachers, especially for those whose work will directly affect the education in schools in rural districts." It thus appropriates to itself a field of education for the betterment of farm life and work, the important need of which, looking to everything in national character and prosperity, is only beginning to be understood.
EDUCATION: CHINA: A. D. 1887-1907. Christian Mission Schools.
"In the historical Volume presented in 1907 at the Shanghai Conference Dr. Arthur H. Smith makes the following interesting comparison of the statistics presented at the three Protestant Missionary Conferences held in China in 1887, 1890, and 1907:
See, in this Volume, MISSIONS, CHRISTIAN.
1876. 1889. 1907.
Number of societies. 29 41 82
Foreign teachers. 473 1,296 3,833
Stations and substations. 602 5,734
Pupils in schools. 4,909 16,836 57,683
"The above statistics, although incomplete, do serve as an indication of the vigorous growth of Protestant missionary educational activity in China. In this work the various missionary foundations made their most notable advance in interdenominational cooperation. In many instances several denominations have combined in union schools or colleges. … One of the chief agencies in reaching this unity and effective cooperation has been the Educational Association of China, founded as early as 1887. …
{192}
"No survey of missionary education in China would be complete without mention of the widespread, well-organized Roman Catholic activities. Of the eleven different Catholic orders having representatives in China, the Jesuits are carrying on the largest educational work. In 1907, in their five colleges and seventy-two schools, a total of 25,335 students were enrolled. All the Catholic orders together supervise the instruction of over 75,000 Chinese students; this total, it will be seen, being somewhat higher than that of Protestant missions."
_George Marvin, The American Spirit in Chinese Education (The Outlook, November, 1908)._
EDUCATION: A. D. 1901-1902. Edicts of Reform. Modernizing of Examinations for Literary Degrees and for Military Degrees. New Universities, Colleges, and Schools. Students sent abroad.
"An Edict on Reform in Education, published by the Chinese Government on the 29th of August, 1901, commanded the abolition of essays or homilies on the Chinese classics in examinations for literary degrees, and substituted for them essays and articles on modern matters, Western laws, and political economy. The same procedure was also to be observed in the future in the examination of candidates for office. By the same Edict it was ordered that as the methods in use for gaining military degrees—namely, trials of strength with stone weights, agility with the great sword, and marksmanship with the bow and arrow on foot and on horseback—were not of the slightest value in turning out men for the army, where knowledge of strategy and military science were the sine quâ non for military officers, these trials of strength, etc., should be thenceforth abolished forever.
"Another Edict for the establishment of new universities, colleges, and schools in China was published on the 12th of September, 1901. It commanded all existing colleges in the empire to be turned into schools and colleges of Western learning. Each provincial capital was to have a University like the Peking University, whilst the colleges in the prefectures and districts of the various provinces were to be schools and colleges of the second and third classes.
"Another Edict, for sending students to be educated abroad, was published on the 17th of September, 1901. It commanded the Viceroys and Governors of other provinces of the Empire to follow the example of the Viceroy Liu Kun-yi of Liangkiang, Chang Chihtung of Hukuang, and Kuei Chun (Manchu) of Szechuen, in sending young men of scholastic promise and ability abroad to study any branch of Western science or art best suited to their abilities and tastes, so that they might in time return to China and place the fruits of their knowledge at the service of the empire.
"Those who are acquainted with China know very well that many of the Edicts of the Government do not amount to much more than waste paper. In this case, however, it has not been so. The Imperial College in Shansi has been opened, with some 300 students, in the hope that it will develop into one of the provincial universities. It is divided into a Chinese and a Foreign Department. … The Edicts have not been a dead letter in the other provinces either, though there has been enormous difficulty in getting a sufficient number of professors to teach or of text-books to use. Some Chinamen who under the old system of education would not have got more than £30 per annum now get £240, and there are not enough of them. At the lowest estimate text-books and books of general knowledge of the West to the value of £25,000 must have been sold during this year alone. Books to the value of £6,000 were sold by the Society for the Diffusion of Christian Knowledge.
"I subjoin a list of the new colleges opened in ten different provinces in 1901-1902:
Provinces. Funds provided.
Chekiang 50,000 strings of cash per annum (about Taels 50,000, or over £6,000).
Honan. 30,000 Taels per annum.
Kweichow. 20,000 Taels per annum.
Fookien. 50,000 Mex. Dollars per annum. (about £5,000).
Kiangsi. over 60,000 Mex. Dollars per annum.
Kwangtung. 100,000 Taels per annum.
Soochow several tens of thousands of Taels.
Nanking —
Shantung 50,000 Taels per annum.
Shansi 50,000 Taels per annum.
Chihli —
Prefectural Colleges in Soochow. Taels 10,000.
Prefectural Colleges in Shantung under R. C. Bishop Anzer. Taels 2,000
"This comes to about half a million of Taels annually for the whole Empire for modern education. Such is the new departure, which dates from 1901-1902."
_Timothy Richard, The New Education in China (Contemporary Review, January, 1903)._
EDUCATION: A. D. 1906. Chinese Students in Japan.
The following is from a communication to the State Department at Washington from the American Legation at Tokyo, under date of January 3, 1906:
"During the past year Chinese students have come to this country in continually increasing numbers. Last summer the number was estimated at 5000, of whom 2000 had been sent at the expense of the Chinese Government. In November the number is said to have reached 8000. In addition to the supervision of the Chinese legation the students are looked after by eight superintendents sent to reside here by their Government.
"Until recently the Japanese authorities seem to have done nothing in this matter, but the magnitude of the number of Chinese students finally made a certain degree of supervision on their part seem wise. Accordingly, regulations for controlling schools open to the Chinese were promulgated by the minister for education on November 2, to go into effect from the 1st instant. … The publication of these regulations was greeted by a storm of protest. Bodies of Chinese students passed indignant resolutions, saying that their liberty was being assailed and seemed to find in the new rules an indignity to their nationality. The restriction in choosing schools and lodgings and the need of a letter of recommendation annoyed them most. The agitation was so great that over a thousand students returned to China; and no more have been coming since the trouble."
{193}
EDUCATION: A. D. 1908. The administration of the Department of Education in the Chinese Government.
Under the date of November 9, 1908, the Peking correspondent of the London _Times_ wrote of the administration of the governmental Department of Education as follows:
"The Ministry of Education is under the presidency of a learned scholar of the old type, Chang Chih-tung. The old system of examination has entirely been abolished. Education is improving, but there is little attempt at uniformity. There is no lack of desire to learn, but the teaching outside of the mission schools or of colleges under foreign control is quite unsatisfactory. No attempt is made to obtain the services of the best man. Japan engaged the best foreign teachers that money could find, with the result that the standard of education is there very high. But China seems to think any teacher good enough so long as he is a shade better educated than the pupil he has to teach."
On the other hand, Professor Thomas C. Chamberlin, of the University of Chicago, who spent four months of the past year in China, investigating educational conditions, has reported that "the old education has practically passed away, and the government is making strenuous, and on the whole remarkably successful, efforts to build up a system of education modelled on that of Europe and America. In all the larger cities of China buildings have been erected, teachers and pupils gathered, and schools of the modern type organized. In not a few cases, as, for example, at Foochow and in the far west at Chentu, the old examination halls have been torn down to make place for schools modelled on those of the west."
EDUCATION: A. D. 1908. Chinese Students in America.
"The disposition on the part of the Chinese Government to send picked students to America for their education, although interrupted formally years after the first set of twenty came in 1872, has since 1890 shown a comparatively steady growth. During the past year 155 Chinese students were maintained at various educational institutions in this country on foundations provided either by the Imperial or the Provincial Governments. Out of this number seventy-one are under the charge of the Imperial Chinese Legation at Washington; twenty-seven are under the direction of Chang-Chuan, Commissioner of Education for the Viceroyalties of Hupuh and Kiang-man; fifty-seven others have been during the past year under the direction of Dr. Tenny, at present Chinese Secretary of our Legation at Peking. These last, although coming from various parts of the Empire, all received their elementary education at the Peyang College in Tientsin, of which Dr. Tenny was formerly principal. At the request of Yuan-Shih-Kai, then Viceroy of Chihli, of which province Tientsin is the chief city, Dr. Tenny in 1906 assumed charge at Cambridge of the Peiyang candidates sent to America, including those now at Harvard and the various other colleges where, at his suggestion, they were quartered. Since Dr. Tenny’s return in July last to Peking, his position has been filled by the appointment of Mr. H. F. Merrill, for many years Commissioner of Customs at Tientsin. …
"Quite apart from this official recognition of the advantages of an American education, many Chinese families send their sons at their own expense to schools and colleges in this country. It has been impossible to procure exact statistics of the number of these privately supported students, but, according to the best advices obtainable at the Chinese Legation, there are about two hundred. …
"More important than anything that has yet taken place in this movement of Chinese education in America is the recent determination on the part of the Imperial Government to devote a sum equal to that placed at their disposal by the remission of the Boxer indemnity to the founding of an Educational Mission in this country. … According to the terms of the agreement contained in the note of Prince Ch’ing to Mr. Rockhill last July, by the end of the fourth year from the inauguration of the scheme four hundred students, sent by the Imperial Government, will be added to the large and growing number of their young fellow-countrymen already coming to America."
_George Marvin, The American Spirit in Chinese Education (The Outlook, November, 1908)._
An English correspondent, writing from Peking, September 24, 1909, reported: "This week 47 students selected by examination for proficiency in English and Chinese are leaving Peking for the United States to enter upon studies paid for by funds from the unexpended balance of the Boxer indemnity. They have been selected from nearly 500 candidates who competed for this great reward from many provinces of the Empire. An excellent body of young men, they ought to do credit to their country."
See (in this Volume) CHINA: A. D. 1901-1908.
EDUCATION: A. D. 1909. Progress in Technical Education.
The following statements were in a Press despatch from Tien-tsin, July, 1909:
"Technical education in China shows unmistakable signs of extension. A very few years ago nothing existed which was worthy of the name, while now it is not too much to say that in the course of a few years the engineering schools of China will be second only to the best in Europe and America. Engineering courses are now being given at the following institutions: Imperial Polytechnic Institute, Shanghai; Imperial University of Shansi, Tai-yuan-fu; Tangshan Engineering and Mining College, Tangshan; and Imperial Pei Yang University, Tien-tsin."
EDUCATION: A. D. 1909. Formation in Great Britain and America of the China Emergency Appeal Committee.
"Speaking at the Mansion House meeting [London] of the China Emergency Committee held under the presidency of the Lord Mayor on March 16, 1909, Sir Robert Hart, whose long work as Inspector-General of the Imperial Chinese Customs has given him the profoundest knowledge of China and its people, said: ‘We are alarmed lest Western knowledge and Western science may give the Chinese people strength without principle, and may even bring in a crude materialism without that higher teaching and higher guidance which are necessary for the best welfare of any people.’
"It is the realization of that danger, but even more a realization of the needs of China, which have led to the formation of the China Emergency Appeal Committee. … It is the object of this Committee to utilize to the full the unexampled present opportunity of establishing in China institutions through which the Chinese people may be trained to educate themselves in the Western knowledge and civilization which they have set themselves to acquire.
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"There is, first, China’s crying need of medical education—of schools and hospitals in which Chinese students will be taught and practise medicine and surgery. … Not less needed is the establishment of colleges and centres for the training of Chinese teachers for the primary and secondary schools which are being established everywhere throughout this Empire of 400,000,000 inhabitants. The China Emergency Committee appeals for £40,000 to build and equip these training colleges. Thirdly, there is a demand throughout China for translations of European books. The demand far exceeds the supply, though it is only through literature that the Chinese gentleman will acquaint himself with Western thought and learning. The books sell in vast numbers, but the work of translation involves heavy preliminary expenses. … These are the three objects for the attainment of which the China Emergency Committee has been established."
_London Times, July 17, 1909._
On the initiative of the English Committee, of which Sir Robert Hart is chairman, a proposal to move similarly in America came before a recent conference of foreign mission boards of the United States and Canada. A committee, Rev. Dr. Arthur J. Brown, chairman, to whom the proposition was referred, reported favorably. The conference approved the report, and provided that a permanent committee be appointed, to consist of those serving with Dr. Brown, together with twelve laymen, to be chosen by the committee. This new committee is "to promote a larger interest in Christian education in China." It will assist the boards and other Christian agencies and cooperate with the general education committee appointed by the Shanghai conference and with the China Educational Association.
EDUCATION: Cuba: A. D. 1899-1907. Organization of Schools during the American Occupation. Census-showing of results in 1907.
"During the American occupation of Cuba especial attention was given to the establishment of common schools and other educational institutions. The enrollment of the public schools of Cuba immediately before the last war shows 36,306 scholars, but an examination of the reports containing these figures indicates that probably less than half the names enrolled represented actual attendance. There were practically no separate school buildings, but the scholars were collected in the residences of the teachers. There were few books and practically no maps, blackboards, desks, or other school apparatus.
"The instruction consisted solely in learning by rote, the catechism being the principal textbook, and the girls occupying their time chiefly in embroidery. The teachers were allowed to eke out their unpaid salaries by accepting fees from the pupils. … At the end of the first six months of American occupation the public school enrollment of the island numbered 143,120. The schools were subjected to a constant and effective inspection and the attendance was practically identical with the enrollment. …
"All over the island the old Spanish barracks and the barracks occupied by the American troops which had been withdrawn were turned into schoolrooms after thorough renovation. The pressure for education was earnest and universal. The appropriations from the insular treasury for that purpose during the first year of American occupation amounted to four and a half millions.
"At the close of American occupation there were 121 boards of education elected by the people (the system was kept out of politics); the work of changing the old barracks throughout the island into schoolhouses had been completed; a thoroughly modern school building costing $50,000 had been erected at Santiago; one school building in Habana had 33 rooms, with a modern kindergarten, manual-training branch, two gymnasiums, and baths; large schools had been established by changes in government buildings at Guineas, Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Cieguo de Avila, and Colon; over 3600 teachers were subjected to examination, and approximately 6000 persons applied for and received examination as teachers. For six weeks during the summer vacation of 1901, 4000 teachers were collected in teachers’ institutes."
_Establishment of Free Government in Cuba (58th Congress, 2d Session, Senate Document number 312)._
"The public-school system organized under the first intervention in Cuba, is producing excellent results. Of the population 10 years of age and over, 56.6 per cent could read, showing a decided gain in that respect since 1899. Of the native whites, 58.6 per cent could read, and of the colored 45 per cent were similarly educated."
_National Geographic Magazine, February, 1909, p. 202._
EDUCATION: Egypt: A. D. 1901-1905. Recent Development of Public Primary Schools. Schools for Girls.
"Before the English occupation great masses of Egyptians remained ignorant. Over 91 per cent. of the males and almost 99½ per cent. of the females could neither read nor write. Until within the last five years public primary education for the poorer classes, aside from the mere learning of the Koran, was almost unknown. At the present time public schools are being established everywhere, and grants in aid of these schools are paid in proportion to the attendance and the records made by the pupils. Likewise, certain positions in the civil service can be filled only by those who hold certificates from schools of certain grades. As a consequence there has been a great awakening of interest. Most of the teachers of these public schools are Mohammedan, and the schools are non-Christian in their instruction. The Koran is still used as a text-book for many purposes, but the education is practical in its general nature. The children are taught, besides reading and writing, the elements of the sciences, and they choose either French or English as the foreign language which they will learn, and that in which they will receive instruction in the more advanced studies where Arabic text-books cannot readily be provided. It is a noteworthy fact that while, in the earlier days, French was the language more frequently chosen, nearly all the pupils are now selecting English. There are also provisions for training in law, medicine, agriculture, engineering, etc. The law school is the most popular, while the agricultural college—although the basis of Egyptian wealth and prosperity is and must always be agriculture—suffers from lack of pupils. Female education has not been neglected, and we may expect in the near future that instead of 99½ per cent. of the women being unable to write, a very large per cent. of the mothers of the country will be able to give their children the rudiments of education at home."
_Professor J. W. Jenks, The Egypt of To-day (International Quarterly Review, October, 1902)._
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"A revolution is a growth, not a cataclysm: the seeds of the Egyptian Revolution were sown in the autumn of 1901 when Miss Amina Hafiz Maghrabi was admitted to the Stockwell Road Training College for Teachers. Miss Amina is the daughter of one of the Officials in the Ministry of Public Instruction at Cairo, and after passing a preliminary examination was sent to England to be educated at the expense of the Egyptian Government. … Miss Amina spent nearly three years at Stockwell; then she returned to her own people; now she is a teacher at the Abbas Public Girls’ School at Cairo, and the right hand of Miss Spears, the Principal; this seed is bearing fruit. No Revolution can be a success unless the women take it up, and it is the women who are going to turn Egypt upside down; it is the Mussulman women who have already begun to do so. …
"The really astonishing work that has been going on for nearly two years is the education for the teaching profession of girls of the better class aged from about fourteen to twenty. There are two or three schools where these girls are received as boarders, and carefully tended by European mistresses; the amazing thing is that they throw aside their veils and consent to be taught by men. … In all the State schools of Egypt the Koran is taught. In one corner of the garden is a small room built to serve as a mosque; attendance is voluntary, but three times a day each girl retires there for private prayer.
"These schools have been recently founded to provide female teachers; they have not been in existence long enough for any girls to have completed the two-years’ course; it may be they will fail in their primary object; it is possible that the girls who have been educated will none of them persevere in the teaching profession; nevertheless, as Egyptian wives and mothers, they must become the leaders of the revolution."
_Edmund Verney, A Revolution in Egypt (Contemporary Review, July, 1905)._
EDUCATION: A. D. 1908. Gordon Memorial College at Khartoum.
From the eighth annual report of the Director of Education in the Sudan it appears that the Gordon Memorial College, founded at Khartoum in 1899 (see, in Volume VI. of this work, EGYPT: A. D. 1898-1899), is now composed of the following educational units:
"The primary school, which has been attended by 190 pupils, the training college—vernacular and English—by 178, of which 150 belong to the vernacular side, and the upper school for the training of engineers and surveyors by 28 students. One hundred and seventy-two are on the roll of the instructional workshops. There is, he remarks, no doubt whatever about the popularity of the military school among the inhabitants of the country, both Arab and Sudanese. Some 20 young men have now received commission in the famous black battalions, or in the new Arab levies now being raised. They have almost all been well reported on. He understood that the responsible Army authorities propose to increase this school substantially, and to render it capable of holding twice the present number of cadets." The College is reported to have "felt the strain of existing financial difficulties very keenly, and the rate of progress has hardly been maintained this year."—1908.
EDUCATION: England: A. D. 1902. The Education Act, in the interest of the Voluntary or Church Schools. Text of its provisions most obnoxious to the Nonconformists. "Passive resistance" among them to the law.
The Education Act of 1870 created in England for the first time a system of officially regulated and publicly supported elementary schools.
See in Volume I. of this work, EDUCATION: MODERN: ENGLAND: A. D. 1699-1870.
Those schools divided the work of elementary education with schools of another, older system, founded, maintained, and managed by the churches of the country,—mainly by the predominant Established Church of England. The public elementary schools, supported out of local rates and governed by locally-elected school boards were called Board Schools; the others were called Voluntary Schools. The latter received some public money from an annual Parliamentary grant, but nothing from the local taxation which supported the former. In the Voluntary Schools under church control religious teaching was prescribed and given systematically; in the Board Schools it was not. Those who held religious teaching, of their own denominational orthodoxy, to be a vital part of education, were ardent partisans of the Voluntary Schools. Those who approved the exclusion of theological differences from the teaching of the Board Schools were equally ardent champions of those. As a rule, the adherents of the Established Church and of the Roman Catholic Church were opponents of the public system, while the Dissenters or Nonconformists of all sects gave it strenuous support. Thus the two systems were mischievously antagonized, and almost from the beginning of the operation of the Act of 1870 it had been manifest that one or the other must ultimately give way to its rival.
In 1902 the Conservative party, in which the Established Church of England is most largely represented, found itself strong enough in Parliament to undertake the nationalizing of the Voluntary Schools in England and Wales, incorporating them with their rivals in one reconstructed national system, but securing their domination in it, along with equal sharing from the public purse. A Bill for the purpose was proposed to the House of Commons on the 24th of March by Mr. Balfour, then the Administration leader in the House. In his speech on a motion for leave to bring it in he spoke of the need of a single authority for education, primary, secondary, and technical; of the disadvantages of the two organizations of elementary schools, and of the absurdity of supposing that the great number of Voluntary Schools and Endowed Schools could be swept away and replaced at enormous public cost. The proposed Bill, based on these views, would extinguish the local School Boards and make the County Council in counties and the Borough Council in county boroughs the one local education authority. As introduced subsequently and enacted, after heated and long debate, the Bill accomplished its leading objects, so far as concerned elementary education, by provisions of which the following is the text:
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"Part III. Elementary Education.
5. The local education authority shall throughout their area have the powers and duties of a school board and school attendance committee under the Elementary Education Acts, 1870 to 1900, and any other Acts, including local Acts, and shall also be responsible for and have the control of all secular instruction in public elementary schools not provided by them, and school boards and school attendance committees shall be abolished.
"6. (1) All public elementary schools provided by the local education authority shall, where the local education authority are the council of a county, have a body of managers consisting of a number of managers not exceeding four appointed by that council, together with a number not exceeding two appointed by the minor local authority. Where the local education authority are the council of a borough or urban district they may, if they think fit, appoint for any school provided by them a body of managers consisting of such number of managers as they may determine.
"(2) All public elementary schools not provided by the local education authority shall, in place of the existing managers, have a body of managers consisting of a number of foundation managers not exceeding four appointed as provided by this Act, together with a number of managers not exceeding two appointed—
(_a_) where the local education authority are the council of a county, one by that council and one by the minor local authority; and
(_b_) where the local education authority are the council of a borough or urban district, both by that authority.
"(3) Notwithstanding anything in this section—
(_a_) Schools may be grouped under one body of managers in manner provided by this Act; and
(_b_) Where the local education authority consider that the circumstances of any school require a larger body of managers than that provided under this section, that authority may increase the total number of managers, so, however, that the number of each class of managers is proportionately increased.
"7.— (1) The local education authority shall maintain and keep efficient all public elementary schools within their area which are necessary, and have the control of all expenditure required for that purpose, other than expenditure for which, under this Act, provision is to be made by the managers; but, in the case of a school not provided by them, only so long as the following conditions and provisions are complied with:—
"(_a_) The managers of the school shall carry out any directions of the local education authority as to the secular instruction to be given in the school, including any directions with respect to the number and educational qualifications of the teachers to be employed for such instruction, and for the dismissal of any teacher on educational grounds, and if the managers fail to carry out any such direction the local education authority shall, in addition to their other powers, have the power themselves to carry out the direction in question as if they were the managers; but no direction given under this provision shall be such as to interfere with reasonable facilities for religious instruction during school hours:
"(_b_) The local education authority shall have power to inspect the school;
"(_c_) The consent of the local education authority shall be required to the appointment of teachers, but that consent shall not be withheld except on educational grounds; and the consent of the authority shall also be required to the dismissal of a teacher unless the dismissal be on grounds connected with the giving of religious instruction in the school. … [Here follow provisions relative to schoolhouses and teachers’ dwellings.]
"(_3_) If any question arises under this section between the local education authority and the managers of a school not provided by the authority, that question shall be determined by the Board of Education.
"(_4_) One of the conditions required to be fulfilled by an elementary school in order to obtain a parliamentary grant shall be that it is maintained under and complies with the provisions of this section.
"(_5_) In public elementary schools maintained but not provided by the local educational authority, assistant teachers and pupil teachers may be appointed, if it is thought fit, without reference to religious creed and denomination, and, in any case in which there are more candidates for the post of pupil teacher than there are places to be filled, the appointment shall be made by the local education authority, and they shall determine the respective qualifications of the candidates by examination or otherwise.
"(_6_) Religious instruction given in a public elementary school not provided by the local education authority shall, as regards its character, be in accordance with the provisions (if any) of the trust deed relating thereto, and shall be under the control of the managers: Provided that nothing in this subjection shall affect any provision in a trust deed for reference to the bishop or superior ecclesiastical or other denominational authority so far as such provision gives to the bishop or authority the power of deciding whether the character of the religious instruction is or is not in accordance with the provisions of the trust deed.
"(_7_) The managers of a school maintained but not provided by the local education authority shall have all powers of management required for the purpose of carrying out this Act, and shall (subject to the powers of the local education authority under this section) have the exclusive power of appointing and dismissing teachers.
"8.— (1) Where the local education authority or any other persons propose to provide a new public elementary school, they shall give public notice of their intention to do so, and the managers of any existing school, or the local education authority (where they are not themselves the persons proposing to provide the school), or any ten rate payers in the area for which it is proposed to provide the school, may, within three months after the notice is given, appeal to the Board of Education on the ground that the proposed school is not required, or that a school provided by the local education authority, or not so provided, as the case may be, is better suited to meet the wants of the district than the school proposed to be provided, and any school built in contravention of the decision of the Board of Education on such appeal shall be treated as unnecessary.
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"(2) If, in the opinion of the Board of Education, any enlargement of a public elementary school is such as to amount to the provision of a new school, that enlargement shall be so treated for the purposes of this section.
"(3) Any transfer of a public elementary school to or from a local education authority shall for the purposes of this section be treated as the provision of a new school.
"9. The Board of Education shall, without unnecessary delay, determine, in case of dispute, whether a school is necessary or not, and, in so determining, and also in deciding on any appeal as to the provision of a new school, shall have regard to the interest of secular instruction, to the wishes of parents as to the education of their children, and to the economy of the rates; but a school for the time being recognized as a public elementary school shall not be considered unnecessary in which the number of scholars in average attendance, as computed by the Board of Education, is not less than thirty."
The main contentions were raised by these sections of the Bill, and as soon as their bearing and effect were discerned the Nonconformist opposition was rallied in strong force. "The main ground of objection taken," says the Annual Register, "was that, while throwing the whole charge of the maintenance of denominational schools (apart from that of the fabrics) on public funds, it failed to secure to the local public any real control over the management of the schools so maintained, and amounted in effect to a new endowment of the Church of England; also that it perpetuated and enhanced the injustice of the pressure of the system of religious tests in the profession of elementary teaching, which would now, it was said, if the Bill should pass, be the permanent monopoly of Anglicans in the schools educating more than half of the children of the working classes. Denunciatory resolutions based generally on grounds of this character, were passed by the National Free Church Council, the London Congregational Union (April 8), the General Committee of the Protestant Dissenting Deputies, and other bodies; and at an early date a disposition, to which both encouragement and expression were vigorously administered by the British Weekly, was somewhat extensively shown to urge that it would be the duty of Nonconformists to refuse to pay the education rate if the Bill should become law. Dr. Parker, of the City Temple, in a letter to the _Times_ (April 5), avowed himself earnestly in favour of this policy, which was also defended by the Rev. H. Price Hughs. It was opposed by the Rev. John Watson, of Liverpool (known in the literary world as ‘Ian Maclaren’), but the voices of restraint among the Nonconformist opposition were less audible than those of indignant reproach and menace."
_Annual Register, 1902, p. 107._
The following from an article by Rev. J. Guinness Rogers shows the attitude and feeling of the Nonconformist opposition:
"Hitherto a certain proportion of the cost of these schools has been borne by Churchmen themselves, and Nonconformists have been content to regard that as fairly providing for the sectarian teaching that was given. They did not regard the arrangement as wise or salutary. But they acquiesced considering that they had no responsibility whatever for the denominational teaching that was given. The new Act altered all the conditions. The State now assumes all the responsibility for the support of these schools. The last vestige of voluntary support is swept away, and they become in every sense part of the National School system. The burden of their support is thrown upon the public funds. Only in the matter of control and of their religious teaching do they retain anything of their private character. … They are to be supported out of the public funds. But they constitute a privileged class of schools under private managers, and their chief teachers have to belong to a particular Church and to give instruction in its principles and doctrines. It is this which has stirred the indignation of Nonconformists. They conscientiously object to pay for the support of schools staffed by Anglican teachers and employed in the dissemination of Anglican doctrines. …
"For thirty years the Free Churches of England have quietly submitted to an arrangement which practically left thousands of the schools under the absolute sway of the clergy. There were thus vast districts of the country, and those the districts least open to the free play of public opinion, in which Nonconformist children were forced into the ranks of the pupils, while Non-conformist teachers were just as resolutely kept out of these favoured preserves of sectarianism. But even this did not satisfy the clergy and their friends. During almost the whole of the period in question there have been continual attempts to secure better terms for those already so highly privileged. At length came the period for decided action. … The whole character of our educational apparatus has been changed, and changed in a manner as unfavourable to constitutional liberty as to religious equality. School boards were institutions in which Nonconformists had taken a deep interest and in which in many of the large towns they had achieved conspicuous success. They have been ruthlessly swept away, and henceforth the work of education in our large towns and cities is entrusted to committees chosen by County Councils; Mr. Balfour showing here the same dislike of popular control as characterises his administration in the House of Commons. Can it be thought wonderful that Nonconformists have been goaded into resistance by a policy so high-handed and so determined? We have heard enough of the intolerable strain put upon the supporters of the voluntary schools. The strain of clerical intolerance and Tory partiality has become still more intolerable."
_J. Guinness Rogers, The Nonconformist Uprising (Nineteenth Century, October, 1903)._
A weightier and more statesman like objection to the Act was set forth by the Right Honourable James Bryce in the following:
"Of all the causes which have kept education in England, secondary as well as elementary, below the level it has reached in such countries as Switzerland and Scotland and New England, the most deep seated is the want of popular interest and popular sympathy. The people have not felt the schools to be their own, have not been associated with the management, have not realised how largely the welfare and prosperity of the nation depend on the instruction which each generation receives. Since 1870 something has been done to stimulate popular interest by the creation of School Boards (whose admirable work in the large towns is admitted even by the Ministry which proposes to destroy them), by the introduction of a large representative element upon the governing bodies of endowed secondary schools, and by entrusting County and Borough Councils with power to spend money upon technical instruction. {198} What can be plainer than that a wise statesmanship ought to follow in the same path endeavouring to create everywhere local educational authorities chosen by the people and responsible to the people, keeping these local authorities up to the mark by making a share in the imperial grant conditional upon full efficiency, but teaching them to look upon the schools as their own, and to feel that it is their own interest as parents and citizens to make their schools worthy of an advancing nation? No such idea has been present to those who framed this Bill. It reduces, instead of in creasing, the element of popular interest and popular control.
"School Boards are to be swept away, and with them those elected women members who have been so valuable and influential an element. The substituted County and Borough Councils are, no doubt, elective bodies. But they have so many functions already besides those educational functions which are now to be thrown on them that the latter will play a small part, and their discharge of those functions cannot be effectively reviewed by the people at an election. Moreover, every Council is directed to act through an Education Committee largely, or possibly entirely, consisting of persons outside their own bodies. It is certainly desirable to secure an element of special knowledge. But the policy of these committees—and policy (except as regards finance) is to rest with them—will never be subject to any review by the electors, to whom the committees are nowise responsible. The fault is still worse when we come to the local managers. Where there exist only denominational schools, there will be no popular control at all, for the permissive appointment by the Education Committee of not more than one-third of the local managers is a merely nominal concession, quite illusory for the purpose of securing any local power, any local interest, any local sympathy. In most cases this permissive right of appointment will probably be used to add to the denominational managers some person or persons recommended by them, or one of them, to the Education Committee, which sits in the distant county town and may know nothing about the locality.
"It is not from any superstitious faith in popular election or in what are called ‘democratic principles’ that I deplore these provisions of the Bill. It is because they tend to withdraw from education one of its most valuable propulsive forces. Let us hear the Schools Inquiry Commissioners of 1868, among whom were the present Archbishop of Canterbury, the late Bishop of Winchester, and another eminent ecclesiastic.
"‘No skill in organisation, no careful adaptation of the means in hand to the best ends, can do as much for education as the earnest co-operation of the people. The American schools appear to have no great excellence of method. But the schools are in the hands of the people, and from this fact they derive a force which seems to make up for all their deficiencies. … In Zurich the schools are absolutely in the hands of the people, and the complete success of the system must be largely ascribed to this cause. … It is impossible to doubt that in England also inferior management, if it were backed up by very hearty sympathy from the mass of the people, would often succeed better than much greater skill without such support.’
"These words were spoken of secondary education. They apply with even greater force to elementary. The experience of thirty-four years confirms them. But there is nothing in this Bill to give effect to their principle."
_James Bryce, A Few Words on the Few Education Bill (Nineteenth Century, May, 1902)._
The Education Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons on the 3d of December, by a vote of 246 against 123, being a majority of exactly two-thirds. In the House of Lords it received brief discussion and a few amendments, which the Commons accepted, and it was sent quickly to the King, receiving the royal assent December 18. And now there came into action the stubborn revolt which took the name of "passive resistance,"—the refusal, that is, of a considerable body of people to pay the rates levied for school purposes under a law which they held to be unjust. Their attitude, and the consequences they suffered, in imprisonment and the seizure and sale of their property, are described in the following passages from an article by one of the leaders of the movement:
"It is difficult to believe that, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Englishmen of high character and indisputable loyalty are being sent to prison for exactly the same reasons as those which were urged for committing John Bunyan to Bedford Gaol; for exposing Richard Baxter to the browbeating of Judge Jeffreys and a sentence of eighteen months incarceration; and for sending George Fox to the noisome dungeons of Carlisle and Derby, Lancaster and London. Americans cannot credit it. The colonists of Canada and Australia say, ‘Can these things be?'?; and even Englishmen would never accept the humiliating conclusion, if they were not confronted by the undeniable fact. The fact is that nearly one hundred freemen of England, respectable and God-fearing citizens, have been sentenced to different periods of imprisonment since November, 1903. …
"Imprisonment is only one phase of this advancing cause; another is that of the public sale of the furniture, pictures and books of those who refuse to submit. The first sale was at Wirksworth, in Derbyshire, on June 26th, 1903; and it has been followed by about 1,600 more in different towns and villages, all over England. … In one extremely flagrant instance, one hundred pounds’ worth of goods were taken for the sum of fifteen shillings, and in many cases fidelity to conscience has meant loss of trade and of position, … No less than 40,000 summonses have been sent forth by the overseers to compel recalcitrant rate-payers to appear before the magistrates and ‘show cause’ why they will not pay. …
"Now, it is for that process we cannot and will not pay any rate whatever. We object to many of the provisions of the Education Acts. They are anti-democratic, unfair, unjust; they are destructive of educational efficiency and social peace; but the one thing that has created the Passive Resistance movement is not the destruction of the School Board, not the loss of popular control, but this intrusion into the realm of conscience by the State. {199} That is the prime factor in this situation. To that ‘we will not submit,’ declared Mr. Fairbairn to Mr. Balfour when the Bill was before the House. In short, we say with Bunyan to our persecutors, ‘Where I cannot obey actively, there I am willing to lie down, and to suffer what they shall do unto me.’"
_John Clifford, Passive Resistance in England and Wales (North American Review, March, 1905)._
In Wales, where the Nonconformists are very strong, the resistance became more than passive. The County Councils refused generally to put the Act into operation, and Parliament, in August, 1904, passed what was described as the "Welsh Coercion Act," to compel their obedience to it. This Act authorized the central Board of Education, in the case of a county proclaimed in default to provide for Church schools and to deduct such appropriation from the Government rant for educational uses to the county. As the deficit thus caused in the sum available for the National schools would have to be made up by the county, the recalcitrant county would thus indirectly be saddled with the maintenance of the Church schools. But Welsh resistance was not so easily overcome; for a new plan was devised, according to which every proceeding under the Coercion Act would be met by the resignation of county education committees and managers of the National schools. This would paralyze the central Board, which has no power to fill the places thus vacated.
EDUCATION: A. D. 1904. Church Attendance in School Hours.
A circular issued by the Board of Education, in July, relative to the taking of children from Church schools, during school hours, to attend Church services on Saints' days, caused great dissatisfaction and complaint in Church circles. The practice had been permitted hitherto; but the Board ruled that school time-tables making provision for this must have the sanction of the local school authorities, which in many cases were opposed to the practice. A "Church Schools Emergency League" was now organized to contest the action of the Board.
EDUCATION: A. D. 1905. Underfed School Children.
An order issued by the Local Government Board, in April, directed that, in the case of school children under sixteen, found to be underfed, who were not blind, deaf or dumb, and who were living with a father not in receipt of relief, there must be application for relief made to the guardians of the poor by a teacher empowered by the managers, or by an officer authorized by the education authorities. The guardians must then investigate the case and decide whether relief should be given as a loan or in the ordinary mode, and notify the father accordingly; thus giving the parent the opportunity to make the needed provision himself. If he did not do so, the guardians were empowered to recover from him the cost of the necessary relief by county court process.
The report of the Board of Education for the year 1907-1908, published in March, 1909, states with reference to the feeding of necessitous school children that: "From December 21, 1906, when the Education (Provision of Meals) Act, 1906, came into operation, to July 31, 1908, 51 local education authorities have been authorized to spend money from the rates in providing food for school children. Of the 20 authorities referred to in last year’s report as having taken power to spend money for this purpose 14 have obtained sanction to spend money in a second year."
EDUCATION: A. D. 1906. Education Bill passed by the House of Commons and killed by amendments in the House of Lords.
The defeat of the Conservatives and Unionists in the Parliamentary elections of January, 1906, was ascribed very largely to popular dissatisfaction with the Education Act of 1902. Hence, on the resignation of the Balfour Ministry and the call of the Liberals, under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, to the administration of the Government, the new masters of legislative authority were held to have received a mandate from the people to amend the objectionable law. On the 9th of April a Bill to that end was brought forward by Augustine Birrell, President of the Board of Education and again the old disputes over denominational religious teaching in schools supported by the public at large were re-enlivened and re-heated, in Parliament and out. In December it passed the House of Commons by a majority of 192, and went to the Lords. A succinct and clear statement of the intent of the Bill, as framed by the Government, was given in an article contributed to _The Outlook_ of August 4, 1906, by Dr. Clifford Webster Barnes, Special Commissioner of the Religious Education Association to investigate moral and religious instruction in European schools. In the framing of the Bill it had been assumed that the overwhelming majority which swept the new Government into power had determined that the following principles should be enacted into law: 1. Unification of the public school system. 2. Complete local control where public funds are received. 3. Abolition of religious tests for teachers.
"The new bill by its first clause," wrote Dr. Barnes, "has virtually met these three requirements. It makes it impossible for the State, hereafter, to recognize or provide for any school unless it comes under the absolute control of the local authority; and as church boards are thus supplanted, religious tests for teachers need no longer be feared. In later clauses, also, special safeguards are arranged to protect the teachers from this sort of test. If the bill, after providing the necessary machinery with which to carry out its first clause, went no further, the extreme Nonconformist would undoubtedly have given it most hearty support, and the wrath of the Church party might possibly have been no greater. But love for fair play has prevailed in the Cabinet, and the Liberal Government has proved its right to the title by introducing, in clauses 2, 3, and 4, special provisions for leasing the denominational schools and for permitting their owners to give the religious instruction distinctive of the church to which they belong. …
"The bill, therefore, makes the following concessions:
"1. For the purpose of continuing any existing voluntary school it permits the local authority, on some arrangement being made with the owners, to take over such school, provided it is structurally fit. The State will then pay the entire cost of maintenance, keep the property in good repair, and use it only between the hours of 9 a. m. and 4 p. m., from Monday to Friday inclusive. At all other times the owners are privileged to do with it as they see fit. On two mornings of the week, between 9 and 9.45, the religious teaching peculiar to the denomination owning the property may be given, but children whose parents do not wish such teaching are to be excused during that time.
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"2. In urban areas where there is a population of five thousand or over, a Church school may remain as denominational as at present, the distinctive dogmas of the Church being taught as much as may be desired, provided the parents of four-fifths of the children vote in favor of this arrangement, and provided, also, that there are accommodations in some neighboring school for those whose parents prefer undenominational instruction. In every case that portion of the religious teaching which is distinctively denominational must be paid for by the church giving it. Statistics show that by this concession one hundred per cent. of the Jewish schools will be able to preserve their denominational character, seventy-five per cent. of the Catholic schools, fifty per cent. of the Wesleyan, and twenty-five per cent. of the Church of England. By the previous concession, of course, all the remaining schools of the various denominations will be able to give their distinctive theological teaching on two mornings of each week.
"But this denominational instruction is not the only religious education which the schools will provide. By the bill of 1870 local authorities were permitted to introduce a kind of simple Bible teaching which has been nicknamed, from the author of the act, ‘Cowper-Templeism.’ It consists of Bible lessons covering the Old and New Testaments arranged according to some well-planned syllabus, the majority of these being modeled after that of the London County Council. The exercise opens with prayer and a hymn, after which the children tell the Bible story of the day and are assisted by the teacher to draw from it some suitable moral lesson, but no creed or religious formulary distinctive of any denomination can be used. This teaching must be given in the first hour of the morning, between 9 and 9.45, and any child may be excused from attendance upon the request of its parent. It is a significant fact that the Nonconformists of 1870 were unanimously opposed to the Cowper-Temple clause, and that it was put through only by the strong and united effort of the bishops. Now it is the Nonconformists who, to a man, favor this kind of instruction, while some at least of the bishops, in their eagerness to preserve denominationalism, go so far as to say ‘this teaching undermines the foundations of Christianity.’"
In the House of Lords the Bill came under the Church influences which had dictated the Act of 1902, and it was slashed with amendments which would totally reverse its operation on all the controverted points. That procedure killed the measure, of course; and so the burning school question remains unsettled, while England gives much thought to another question,—What to do with the House of Lords?
See (in this Volume) ENGLAND: A. D. 1906 (APRIL-DECEMBER).
EDUCATION: A. D. 1907 (November). Failure to compromise the Religious Sectarian Differences concerning Public Education.
Attempts to negotiate a compromise with the religious bodies whose antagonism wrecked the Education Bill of 1906 went so far as to induce the Government, in November, 1907, to introduce a Bill embodying the points on which agreement had been reached. The outcome was stated in the report of the Board of Education for 1907-1908, as follows:
"It became apparent after some progress had been made in Committee that denominational assent could only be obtained by still further concessions, including a substantial increase in the grant to contracting-out schools. Your Majesty’s Government have always maintained that the number of schools availing themselves of the privilege of contracting-out, must be strictly limited, that the grant provided by the Bill was sufficient to afford a limited number of schools a reasonable chance of existence, and that to increase the grant beyond this sum would enable the great majority of schools to take advantage of the privilege, and would involve the establishment of a system of contracting-out as the rule instead of the exception. In view of the impossibility of obtaining agreement without such amendments as were, in the opinion of your Majesty’s Government, inadmissible, it was found necessary to withdraw the Bill."
EDUCATION: A. D. 1908. Provisions of the Children Act relating to Industrial and Reformatory Schools.
See (in this Volume) CHILDREN, UNDER THE LAW.
EDUCATION: A. D. 1908-1909. Oxford Teaching for Working People.
In 1908 the Convocation of the University of Oxford passed a statute which gave the University Extension Delegacy power to form a committee consisting of working-class representatives in equal numbers with members of the Delegacy, with the object of enabling Oxford to take its proper share in the work of providing higher education for the manual working classes. In January, 1909, the committee organized eight tutorial classes, at Chesterfield, Glossop, Littleborough, Longton, Oldham, Rochdale, Swindon and Wrexham. At the end of the first twelve weeks of the work results were reported, as follows: "The number of students enrolled was about 234, among whom were 20 women; and all of these pledged themselves to study continuously under the supervision of the tutors provided by Oxford for a period of three years. The subjects studied were industrial history and economics. … The members with few exceptions are men and women engaged in manual labour during the day. Out of 169 students 48 were engineers, 35 were engaged in the textile industries, 17 belonged to the building trades, 12 were labourers, ten were potters, seven were in the clothing trades, five were miners, and four were printers. Sixty per cent. of the 234 students were under the age of 34. Many of them were members' of working-class organizations. … Few students abandoned the classes after beginning to attend them, except for reasons such as illness, overtime or unemployment. The average attendances are about 90 per cent. of the maximum, possible. The paper work in some cases would probably compare with the work done by first-class students in the final honours schools at Oxford. … The committee consider that any movement to shorten the hours of labour would enormously increase the opportunities for higher education among work people."
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EDUCATION: A. D. 1909. Official Reports and Statements of the extent and operation of the English agencies of Public Education.
On the 2d of March, the President of the Board of Education, Mr. Runciman, received a deputation of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress, who presented a resolution passed at the Congress stating that no solution of the educational problem would be satisfactory that did not give free education from the elementary school to the University, and demanding the immediate abolition of fees in secondary schools and technical colleges. One of the speakers of the deputation complained that secondary school fees were mounting so high that working people could not afford to pay them, and that in some cases the rule as to the reservation of 25 per cent. of free places in secondary schools had not been observed. Mr. Runciman, in reply, said that the difficulties which had been raised centered around local finance. The Board of Education had not been idle during the last three years in assisting local authorities, especially for secondary education. In the year 1906-1907 the grant for this purpose amounted to £480,000; £691,000 was granted in 1907-1908; and in the estimate for 1908-1909 £802,000 was put aside for secondary education; and as far as he could see at present the amount to be granted for secondary education purposes next year would be even larger. … Of the total number of secondary schools which were now required to comply with the free places regulation, 368, or more than half, provided in 1907-1908 more than the stipulated 25 per cent., and the great majority of the whole of them provided the 25 per cent. There were, it was true, a number of cases where a smaller number of free places had been granted, but that fact was due purely to local considerations. … He should do all he could to prevent secondary schools from becoming class schools, but it was not every child who was suitable to enter a secondary school, and they must have a fairly good standard examination for the child who wished to enter. He would very much deplore indeed if the cost of secondary education were to make it prohibitive, or so to restrict to allow it to be open only to the children of well-to-do-parents. He hoped, before the new regulations were published, to clear away some of the obstacles in the direction of throwing open a larger number of free places to scholars and towards making the secondary schools as much schools for the clever poor children as for the clever rich children.
[Transcriber's note: The text between "must have a …" and "… were published" is covered with an opaque ink stain. Some words are guesses.]
A few days later in March the report of the general Board of Education for the school year 1907-1908 was issued, bringing statistical information of the English schools down to the 31st of July in the latter year. During the year then ended, the number of new public elementary schools sanctioned under the Education Act, 1902, was, in England, 215, giving accommodation for 80,351 children, and in Wales 64, accommodating 13,942 students. Enlargements, numbering 94 and 21 respectively, provided accommodation for 17,697 children in England and 3,407 in Wales. During the year ending July 31, 1907, the number of ordinary public elementary schools in England and Wales increased by 44, the council schools increasing by 223, while the number of voluntary schools decreased by 179. One hundred voluntary schools were transferred to local education authorities. During the next 12 months the number of schools grew by 47, the number of council schools having increased by 205, and the number of voluntary schools having decreased by 158.
As regards higher elementary schools, 35 schools of the new type existed on August 1, 1907, by which date there were left 26 such schools of the old type. The changes during the succeeding year brought the total number of higher elementary schools of the new type to 38, and the number of such schools of the old type to 21 by August 1, 1908. The number of scholars on the registers of elementary schools decreased during 1906-1907 by 22,584, due mainly to a continued diminution in the number of scholars under five years of age. During 1907-1908 the number of scholars on the registers increased by 12,166, a further decrease in the number of scholars under five being more than balanced by a large increase in the number of scholars between the ages of five and twelve.
The report records a growth of secondary schools receiving grants from the Board, both in the numbers of such schools and of the pupils attending them, and also in their effectiveness. The Board adds:
"There are still areas where the amount of public secondary school provision is wholly inadequate, or where its quality falls much short of any standard that can be regarded as even provisionally satisfactory. But there is no area in which the Board have to note actual retrogression."
As regards evening schools, the report says:
"The total number of students enrolled in these schools during 1906-1907 diminished from 749,491 to 736,512; but there was a considerable increase in the number of efficient students."
Statistics of the elementary schools of London for the year 1907-1908, published in March, 1909, in the annual report of the education officer of the London County Council, showed that the average number of children on the rolls of schools maintained by the Council during the year was 731,706. Of this number, 566,086 were on the rolls of London County Council schools and 165,620 on the rolls of non-provided schools. The average number of children in attendance during the year was 650,861, of whom 505,698 were at London County Council schools and 145,163 at non-provided schools. The total number of teachers engaged on March 31, 1908, was 17,562, of whom 13,030 were in London County Council schools and 4,532 in non-provided schools. The salaries of these teachers amounted to £1,820,816 and £443,468 respectively. On March 31, 1908, the average salaries of head teachers and certificated assistants (excluding teachers "on supply") were—for masters in London County Council schools, £174 13s. 4d., and for mistresses, £125 11s.; for masters in non-provided schools, £144 1s. 7d., and for mistresses, £104 6s. 3d.
With reference to the size of classes the report states that the number of pupils per class teacher was, in the case of London County Council schools, 44.8, and in the case of non-provided schools 37.5. Ten years ago the number was 55.2.
The gross expenditure on elementary schools was, approximately, £4,000,000. The cost of London County Council schools was about £3,400,000, and of non-provided schools £600,000. About £1,257,000 of Government grant was earned and of this £971,000 was in respect of London County Council schools and £286,000 in respect of non-provided schools.
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Under the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, the London County Council is empowered to provide vacation schools or classes during the holidays, or assist voluntary agencies formed for this purpose. Hitherto the council has given assistance to voluntary agencies, but in 1909 it was proposed by the Children’s Care (Central) Sub-Committee of the Education Committee of the council that the council should itself organize vacation schools.
Debate in the House of Commons on the Education Estimates was opened by the President of the Board of Education, Mr. Runciman, on the 14th of July. In the course of his speech he made the following statements:
"The Board of Education is now one of the greatest of the spending departments, and a rough estimate of the amount of public money spent on public education in this country shows that we have cognizance of an expenditure of something like £28,000,000 on elementary, secondary, and higher education, and over and above that of a sum of probably £8,000,000 to £10,000,000 spent by other authorities and other persons. These estimates affect no fewer than 3,000,000 parents and about 6,000,000 children. The improvement which has been made in the elementary education system during the last five years has been mainly machinery improvement rather than improvement in the curriculum.
"The secondary and technical branches of the work which were formerly under the control of South Kensington are now treated as two different departments. In the old days technical education was too technicalized and too little in touch with the practical affairs, necessities, and actual circumstances of life. It has been the object of the Board of Education therefore to generalize secondary education, and so far as it comes under the control of the Board to make technical education more practical with a closer bearing on the duties likely to be required from the young men and women who pass through these classes. The improvement has been led, as might have been expected, in the North of England, where classes have been definitely graded. …
"The secondary schools of England and Wales have shown a most marked improvement, both in numbers and character, during the last few years. Progress has been noted in several directions. First of all, the number of schools aided by grants and the number of pupils attending those schools have gone up year by year since 1902. The 272 secondary schools of that year have increased to 800, and even since 1905-1906 the increase has been at the same rate. I think in 1905-1906 there were only about 600 secondary schools in this country; now there are over 800. About 60 new secondary schools are being added every school year, and the number of pupils is increasing to an even greater extent. The increase during the years 1902-1905 was about 6,000 per annum, and the increase now has risen to over 10,000 per annum, so that the total number of pupils in secondary schools is now 134,000, or very nearly 135,000. The grants which have been made to secondary schools have, of course, increased very considerably. It is impossible to expect local authorities to spend much of their money on the expenses of secondary schools unless they receive a large measure of State aid. The grants have gone up during the seven years from 1902 to the present time from £129,000 per annum to over half a million; and this great increase in pupils, in the amount of money spent on the schools, and in the number of schools in the country, has been marked at the same time by a raising of the standard of the teachers employed in those schools, by an increase in the length of the school life of the pupils who attend those schools, and by an incalculable improvement in the curriculum and the efficiency of those schools. I think we may look back with satisfaction on the increase of the secondary schools over which we have control."
At the annual conference of the National Union of Teachers, held at Morecambe, in April, 1909, with about 2000 in attendance, the address of the incoming President contained some interesting statements relative to the national teaching staff.
"The character of the teaching staff in the elementary schools of England and Wales," he remarked, "as shown by the latest available return of the Board of Education, was: Of certificated teachers, 89,078, or 49 percent.; of uncertificated teachers, 40,569, or 22 per cent.; of supplementary teachers, 21,984, or 12 per cent.; and of pupil teachers, 27,227, or 15 per cent. The 22,000 so-called supplementary teachers, possessing scarcely any educational equipment, were utterly unfitted in most cases for the important duties they were called upon to perform. Their sole passports to the teaching profession were that they must be at least one year over 17 and had been successfully vaccinated; yet they were answerable for the education of nearly 600,000 children. The Board of Education proposed that in future each member of this class of teacher should count on the staff for 20 instead of 30 children, while other regulations provided for the limitation of the numbers to be employed in the schools, and for the withdrawal by the board of the recognition of a supplementary teacher at any time if not efficient. This was indeed a step in the right direction, and showed that Mr. Runciman was really solicitous that there should be an improvement in the quality of the teachers at work in the schools. There were also many young persons termed student teachers whose academic training was unexceptionable. They were really apprentices, but the Board of Education had regarded each of these young people, who might never have been in an elementary school before, or done a day’s teaching anywhere, and who were away one day out of every five, as an efficient teacher equal to educating 45 children on every occasion on which the school was opened. … There were some 500 well-equipped college-trained certificated teachers waiting to fill the gap which would be caused by the new regulations of the Board of Education, and an additional 4,000 would be seeking employment in August."
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EDUCATION: A. D. 1909 (MAY). Revival of Passive Resistance to the Act of 1902.
The defeat of the Education Bill of 1906 wakened the spirit of "passive resistance" afresh; but it was not until May, 1909, that a reorganization of the movement was undertaken. As the result of a conference then held in London, under the presidency of Dr. Clifford, resolutions were adopted for the "organizing of the whole passive resistance forces of the country into a new league," to act on the following lines:
"(1) Suffering imprisonment where the resister has no distrainable goods;
(2) suffering the distraint of goods without repurchase;
(3) suffering distraint of goods and afterwards buying them back;
(4) protesting before the magistrates and then paying, on order, the rate."
It was also resolved to urge upon the Government "the absolute necessity of encouraging from national funds the building at the earliest practicable moment of council schools in those areas in which there are no undenominational schools, and also the provision of unsectarian colleges in all parts of the country where these are needed."
To a delegation from the League which waited, subsequently, on the Head of the Board of Education, Mr. Runciman, the latter said, with reference to the Act of 1902, that it "could not be got rid of by administration. It would be a mischievous precedent for any Minister to attempt to undo what Parliament had done. He was, however, prepared to administer the Act fairly and justly, and he was not going to show any favour to any particular class of school. Dealing with the question of the improvements in the conditions governing the existence of training colleges, he said that during the past 12 months the accommodation in training colleges for Nonconformist teachers, or those who were not prepared to be bound by any denominational creed, had greatly increased. Since 1905 there had been a gradual increase, until there now existed 3,800 more places for that class of teacher than existed when the Government came into power."
EDUCATION: A. D. 1909. Educational demands of the Trade Unions.
The British Trade Union Congress, at Ipswich, in September, 1909, adopted a resolution urging workers to continue their efforts to secure Parliamentary and municipal recognition of the trade union education policy, which demanded:
"(1) The State maintenance of school children;
(2) scientific physical education, with individual medical inspection and records of the physical development of all children attending State schools, and skilled medical attendance and treatment for any requiring it; and in order to secure this:
(_a_) the development of the Medical Department at the Board of Education, the head of which should be directly responsible to the Board of Education, to whom he shall report annually;
(_b_) the payment of an adequate grant from the Imperial Exchequer for purposes of medical inspection and for the establishment under every education authority of properly equipped centres for medical treatment;
(_c_) the establishment under every education authority of scientifically organized open air recovery schools, the cost to be borne by the community as a whole and not in any part by charitable contributions;
(3) the complete dissociation of these reforms from Poor Law administration;
(4) that secondary and technical education be an integral part of every child’s education and be secured by such a reform and extension of the scholarship system as would place a maintenance scholarship within the reach of every child, and thus make it possible for all children to be full time day pupils up to the age of 16;
(5) that the best intellectual and technical training be provided for the teachers of the children, that each educational district be required to train the number of pupil teachers demanded by local needs and to establish training colleges, preferably in connexion with Universities or University colleges;
(6) that the provision of educational buildings and facilities be obligatory upon the local authority, who should always maintain administrative control of the buildings and the facilities so provided;
(7) that the cost of education be met by grants from the Imperial Exchequer and by the restoration of misappropriated educational endowments; and further, having regard to the increasing cost of popular education, and also to the increasing value and notoriously undemocratic administration of the University and public school endowments, the Congress called upon the Parliamentary Committee to press the Government to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into and report upon the educational endowments of the country."
EDUCATION: FRANCE: A. D. 1903. Execution of the Associations Law. Closing of the schools of the Religious Orders. State Monopoly of Education established.
See (in this Volume) FRANCE: A. D. 1901 (APRIL-OCTOBER), and 1903.
EDUCATION: FRANCE: A. D. 1907. Enlistment of teachers in the Syndicalist (Labor Union) Movement.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: FRANCE: A. D. 1907.
EDUCATION: France: A. D. 1909. A late awakening to the need of better technical and industrial training.
France has been slow in understanding the modern necessity of systematic industrial training and technical education, in order to keep her workmen abreast of the more alert and enterprising peoples in efficiency and skill. She has trusted too long, it seems, to the old customs of apprenticeship, and apprenticeship has decayed in her workshop practice, as it has decayed everywhere else. The situation, as brought recently to notice, was described as follows in a Paris letter to the London _Times_, in May, 1909:
"Legislative enactments of recent date, limiting the hours of labour for young people and placing under strict regulations those workshops where children and adults are employed together, have led to so much discontent among employers who take apprentices that the majority of the masters, especially those who obtain no immediate profit from the work of the apprentices, have abandoned the practice of endeavouring to train young people likely to be of use to them in the future. The consequences are that the level of professional skill and competence is becoming lowered among the rising generation of workmen, and all are now agreed that the discovery of some remedy is a matter of extreme urgency. It seems to be admitted that in a very few years this evil may become one of fatal importance in the case more especially of the art industries and of those involving mechanical skill.
"The report of the Parliamentary Commission appointed to make inquiry into this question has just been published, together with the draft of the proposed legislation on this subject, while the resolutions adopted at a Congress of Commerce and National Industries, which has just taken place at Paris, are entirely in accord with the views and suggestions of the above Commission.
"The remedies unanimously demanded are as follows:
1. That it be made compulsory for all young persons of both sexes, under 18 years of age, who may be employed either in commerce or industry, to attend courses of technical instruction (_cours de perfectionnement_).
2. These courses are to take place in the daytime, upon days and at hours determined for each locality by committees composed of representatives of the municipal authorities, the associations of manufacturers, and of the workpeople. The selection of the dates and hours in question is to be made in such a way as to accord best with the respective interests of the manufacturers and the educational requirements. Employers will be bound to enable their workpeople to set apart sufficient time to attend the classes.
3. The course of instruction is to be adapted in each district to the requirements of the local trades."
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EDUCATION: FRANCE: A. D. 1909. Clerical attack on the Secular or Neutral Schools.
Antagonism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Government was newly accentuated in October, 1909, by a clerical attack on the so-called "neutral" schools,—that is, the secular or lay schools, publicly maintained and administered. This was opened by a pastoral letter, signed by French cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, in which those faithful to the Church were warned against sending their children to these schools, whose religious neutrality was said to be in reality a bitter opposition to religion and church. The Catholic schools, it was urged, must be kept up if the Church is to be kept up. "In proportion as the schools from which religious instruction is banished keep on filling up, our churches will grow empty." The pastoral letter put the ban on more than a dozen text-books on French history and civics whose views it found pernicious. "If, therefore," the letter concluded, "parents perceive that the souls of their children are imperilled in the so-called neutral schools, they must not hesitate, under pain of forfeiting the sacraments of the church."
This roused anti-clerical extremists to demand the establishing of a State monopoly of education, making the lay school compulsory and suppressing all private schools in which religion is taught. But the sounder republicans, in public life and in journalism, gave no countenance to this. The _Petite République_ reminded its advocates that there are at present 1,122,375 children who attend private schools, and that to establish Government schools for them would cost some $75,000,000; or, if secondary schools be included, $88,000,000. In addition an annual expenditure of $15,000,000 would be necessitated for upkeep and salaries. The Temps, taking higher grounds of principle, condemned the scheme as one that would essentially parallel the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. France, it declared, is a free country; every creed has the perfect right to provide for its adherents the kind of religious education which it thinks proper. At the same time the _Temps_ pointed out that the opponents of the lay schools are not merely attacking abuses that may have crept into them, but mean to strike at the principle of religious neutrality. It admitted the existence of wrongs that need righting, saying it cannot be denied that some of the school books are disfigured by partiality on various points affecting history, patriotism, and religion, and that this is contrary both to the letter and to the spirit of the law. This evil must, the _Temps_ urges, be eradicated. But the _école laïque_, says the _Temps_, cannot be destroyed without destroying the Republic.
This, too, was the fundamental proposition of Premier Briand, in a speech of admirable tone which he made, October 30th, at a great banquet in Paris which inaugurated the new buildings of _La Ligue de l'Enseignement_. The neutral school, he declared, was the corner stone of the Republic. As reported in _The Times_ of London, he went on to say:
"It was natural that the adversaries of the Republic should attack the school—the mould in which the Republican spirit and the character of Frenchmen and Frenchwomen was formed. Certain people were pleading the dictates of conscience as the explanation of the campaign which they had just started. Why had they not attacked the school before? He would remind them that the _école laïque_ existed before the recent separation of Church and State; it had existed under the Concordat. Why did not the conscience of its opponents seek any expression till now? … The Government was determined to give the country the means of defending the 'neutral’ school, and measures to that end had been prepared by the Ministry. But the most effective defence was that which would be conducted by private initiative like that of the Ligue de l’Enseignement and by the male and female teachers themselves. The teaching in the schools, M. Briand continued, ‘ought not to be directed against any one; in order to secure the confidence of the parents it ought not to be of a polemical character; in order to be effective it must not let the passions of the street invade the schoolroom.’ Let them leave violent language to their opponents and not play the game of their opponents by indulging in violent methods."
This seems to have been the spirit in which the matter was brought officially before the Chamber of Deputies, by M. Steeg, the reporter on the Budget of Public Instruction. The following is from a summary of his remarks on this subject:
"He says that it would be difficult to come to terms with the Bishops of the disestablished Roman Catholic Church, who will never, he thinks, agree to recognize with good will the neutral school. He remarks, however, that no pretext must be furnished to the Bishops for their attacks upon the school, and that they must not be enabled to appeal against the Republican Government to the idea of ‘neutrality’ itself. As to the associations of parents, which are now being formed in accordance with the Episcopal views, M. Steeg recognizes that they are quite lawful. He only fears that they may sometimes transgress by reason of excessive zeal; but he declares that the best way of avoiding their interference is to make the management of the schools irreproachable. The objections raised against some of the school-books are, he thinks, obviously exaggerated. But he considers that scrupulous care ought to be exercised in resisting all temptation to borrow for the purposes of the neutral school the weapons of sectarian propagandism. … He continues; ‘We should not desire that the book placed in the hands of a school child should in any sense whatever contain a single proposition that is perilous or open to suspicion. Let there be no veiled proselytism supported by ingenious distortions of fact or interpretations with an object.’"
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The _Temps_ remarks; "M. Steeg’s language does him credit, and it is a pleasure to see a politician of the Extreme Left recognizing, with a strong sense of philosophic truth, that respect for the past is perfectly compatible with justice to the present and preparation for the future."
EDUCATION: FRANCE: A. D. 1909. Appointment of the Abbé Loisy, Professor of Religions in the College de France.
See (in this Volume) FRANCE: A. D. 1909 (MARCH).
EDUCATION: Germany: Technical Education. Causes of its great development and wonderful industrial results. Its influence on International Trade.
"How much Germany owes to her system it would be almost impossible to estimate. Certainly no other country has turned the education of children and young people to such enormous advantage. A good and efficient education has been made not only accessible but also compulsory in every corner of the country, and one of the most priceless features of this education has been and is the inculcation of real, personal interest in the national welfare. Further, the fullest possible use has been made of scientific investigations, and all sciences have been drawn into the service of the nation. The result of this has been truly amazing; in fact, wholly undreamt of. There can no longer be any doubt that Germany’s industrial advance is mainly due to the extent and thoroughness with which technical education is being conducted. Briefly stated, the secret of the pronounced success of the technical colleges in the Fatherland lies in the fact that they have kept pace with the ever-increasing scope of all branches of science in general, and, to the same extent, with the ever-increasing demands of the present day industrial enterprises upon scientific investigation and research."
_Louis Elkind, Germany's Commercial Relations (Fortnightly Review, July, 1906)._
What seems to be the most satisfying explanation that has been given of causes or reasons lying behind the extraordinary development of scientific training on practical lines in Germany, resulting in so wonderful a speed of industrial progress within the passing generation, was cited from a German scientist by President Pritchett, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an article contributed to the _Review of Reviews_, February, 1906.
"About a year ago, I heard a famous chemist in Germany explain the present industrial supremacy of his country in words something like these: ‘Forty years ago,’ said he, ‘the scientific men of the various German states devoted their study almost wholly to theoretical subjects. They were humorously described as given up to investigations of the dative case and similar impractical problems. In a measure this was true. The investigators of that day had a wholesome contempt for anything which promised direct utilitarian results. But the development of the spirit of research throughout the German universities trained a great army of men to be expert investigators, and when a united Germany arose to crown the labors of William I. and of Bismarck, with it came a great national spirit in which the men of science shared. They realized that to them were committed the great industrial problems which must be solved in order to make the nation strong, and scientific research, which up till then had been mainly theoretical, was turned to the immediate solution of the industrial problems of the nation. No longer the dative case alone, but the development of the chemical, electrical, and mineral resources of the country formed the avenues of scientific activity, and scientific research, which had till then been looked upon as theoretical accomplishment, became the greatest financial asset of the Fatherland.’
"There is truth in this statement. The research habit, long cultivated in German universities, had nourished a body of men trained to research, men who had acquired the research habit and the spirit of investigation. When, therefore, the problems of industrial development began to appeal strongly to the national spirit, the country had a trained body of men to call upon who threw themselves heartily and enthusiastically into these practical industrial problems."
A correspondent of the London _Times_, writing in May, 1909, draws attention to an influence on international trade exerted by the German technical schools which is generally overlooked: "In the German technical high schools," he writes, "an appreciable proportion of the students are foreigners from various countries in Europe. Among these foreign students the Russians and Poles hold the first place in Germany as regards numbers, there being about 2,000. There are also an appreciable number of Scandinavians and Dutchmen, with a few Belgians, Spaniards, Italians, South Americans, and Slavs from Austria and the Balkan States. There are very few Englishmen, Frenchmen, or Americans. … At present quite a large proportion of the engineers and manufacturers in the neutral countries on the Continent have been educated in Germany or Switzerland, and as a result there is a great bias in favour of German machinery and productions. … As the outcome of this feeling it is a difficult matter for British manufacturers of machinery to obtain a hearing when tenders are being considered on the Continent, as the prejudice in favour of German or Swiss machinery is strong."
EDUCATION: Germany: A. D. 1898-1904. Rise of Commercial Universities.
A report on Commercial Instruction in Germany by Dr. Frederic Rose, British Consul at Stuttgart, presented to Parliament in September, 1904 (Cd. 2237), gives the following account of the rise of the Commercial Universities which have been developed in Germany since 1898, carrying the process of training young men for business life to a higher point than had been aimed at in the older commercial schools:
"The commercial universities for higher commercial instruction (Handelshochschulen) have been founded within the last six years [1898-1904] and mark a further step in the development of commercial instruction in Germany. Their aim is to afford persons engaged in business and industry on a large scale (Grosskaufleute and Grossindustrielle), masters at commercial schools, administration officials, bank officials, Consular officials, secretaries to Chambers of Commerce, and so forth, a deeper and broader measure of instruction in commercial and national economical matters than that provided by the various commercial schools. The special province of the commercial universities lies less in the mere acquisition of commercial-technical knowledge and attainments for immediate practical detailed application, than in the attempt to provide a general mental schooling for the higher branches of the commercial profession. {206} They are intended to awaken and develop the mental faculties of a merchant, to enable him to grasp the inner working and meaning of national and international economy, and to understand and judge its causes and results, its temporary and permanent phenomena; as far as commercial officials are concerned they are intended to impart general knowledge and understanding of the economic conditions of commerce and industry with their manifold aims and requirements.
"This measure of university education (Akademische Bildung) is also intended to raise the social position of the mercantile profession, and to increase its political importance and influence in public life. Generally speaking the instruction is arranged to include the following subjects:—Political economy, commercial history and geography, commercial law in all its aspects, the organisation and management of commercial undertakings and their technical details, industrial law, financial science, bank, exchange, monetary, and credit operations, State and administrative law, and so forth."
At the writing of Dr. Rose’s report there were four of these commercial universities. The oldest, at Leipsic and Aix, were founded in 1898, the former in connection with the Leipsic University, the latter connected with the Aix Technical University. The other two, at Frankfort-on-the-Main and at Cologne, were opened in 1901. The Frankfort University, which bears also the name of "Academy of Social and Commercial Science," and the Cologne University, are both independently organized. "The initiative for the foundation of the commercial universities," says Dr. Rose, "has been taken by Chambers of Commerce and municipalities, and not by the governments of the German States. The latter, however, are now becoming aware of the importance of the movement. For the present their action is limited to the supervision exercised by the Ministers of Education and Industry and Commerce. …
"The foundation of the commercial universities has brought forward many opponents, who not only deny their utility but consider them actually harmful, because the persons they instruct become too old before they engage in practical business work. … The extreme opponents go further and deny that a commercial university is able to train practical business men, and assert that this can only be done by close and continual contact with actual business life, and that the acquisition of too much theoretical knowledge injures the practical faculties. …
"The whole opposition to the commercial universities seems to be based upon a narrow-minded and vague idea of the part they are destined to play in the future. … Unless industrial and commercial life in the future is to degenerate wholly into one fierce and relentless struggle for one-sided aggrandisement, to the detriment of other members of the social body, ample opportunities for the thorough comprehension of the social and economic conditions of the present day must be provided."
EDUCATION: Germany: A. D. 1906. The Language Question In the Polish Provinces. "Strike" of school children.
See (in this Volume) GERMANY: A. D. 1906-1907.
EDUCATION: INDIA: A recent report of its schools and colleges.
See (in this Volume) INDIA: A. D. 1907-1909.
EDUCATION: INDIA: A. D. 1908. American Mission Schools.
"Increasing interest is now being concentrated on Burma and India, where an illiterate population seems to need far more education than has yet been provided by Great Britain. In Burma the Baptists play the leading role, educating no less than twenty-four thousand pupils. In India, however, the Methodists lead, with a record of over thirty-seven thousand pupils. They have two colleges at Lucknow. The Baptists have a college at Ongole, and have about fifteen thousand pupils in their schools. The Congregationalists have a college at Madura, and have also about fifteen thousand pupils in India, added to their total of ten thousand in Ceylon. The Presbyterians have a college at Lahore and one at Allahabad, and are educating about ten thousand pupils in the Empire."
_American Schools Abroad (The Outlook, May 2, 1908)._
EDUCATION: International Interchanges: Of Professors. Of Students. Of Teachers’ visits.
A fund provided by Mr. James Hazen Hyde, of New York, enabled Harvard University, in 1904, to accept an invitation from the Sorbonne, at Paris, to send one of its professors to give a course of lectures at that ancient institution of learning, on subjects relating to the United States. Professor Barrett Wendell was chosen for the pleasant mission, and has been followed by others in succeeding years, who have given courses in various French universities, while the compliment has been returned, in lecturing visits from a number of the most distinguished men of letters and learning in France.
This opened what seems to have become an established and widening system of lecturing interchanges between American and European Universities, tending greatly to promote better acquaintance between nations and better understanding of each other. At about the time, or soon after, the mission of Professor Wendell to Paris, arrangements were made for a similar interchange between Harvard and the University of Berlin. In a communication to _The Outlook_ of February 18, 1905, Professor Kuno Francke, Curator of the Germanic Museum at Harvard University, gave an account of the circumstances which led to this latter. In March, 1901, as he relates, there were conferences in Berlin with Dr. Althoff, Commissioner-General of the Prussian Universities, and with other Prussian officials of eminence, having for their object the promotion of the Germanic Museum. "The upshot of these conferences," said the Professor, "was the draft of a provisional agreement between the Prussian Government and Harvard University, according to which for a period of five successive years an exchange of professors between Harvard and Berlin University was to be instituted, in such a manner that every year one member of each of the two institutions would enter for at least three months the regular teaching staff of the other institution, it being understood that in each case the visiting member represent subjects or methods distinctly peculiar to his country. {207} This scheme, which met with the hearty support of President Eliot, was discussed and approved a year later by the Harvard Faculty, and reached its consummation a few months ago, [1904] when, through the intercession of Professor Harnack, an official proposition embodying it was made by the Prussian Government to the Harvard Corporation, and adopted by the same. It is most fortunate that the German Emperor, with his quick grasp of international relations and his deep sympathy for the American people, has now given to this whole subject a much wider scope by proposing to extend the exchange of professors to other universities in America and Germany; for it seems as though such a measure could not fail to open the way toward a veritable fraternization of the moral, intellectual, and industrial leaders of both nations."
In the latter part of 1905, a Theodore Roosevelt Professorship of American History and Institutions, in the University of Berlin, was endowed with the sum of $50,000 by Mr. James Speyer, of New York, the endowment being placed in the hands of the trustees of Columbia University. The plan of this professorship had been arranged with the German Emperor by President Butler, of Columbia, at an interview in the previous summer. Nominations to it would be made by the trustees of Columbia University, subject to confirmation by the Prussian Ministry of Education and to the Emperor’s sanction; each incumbent to hold the office for one year, and the incumbents to be so chosen that in successive years the field of American history, constitutional and administrative law, economic and sociological problems and movements, education, contributions to science, technology, the arts and literature, be presented with some fullness; the professorship to be filled by members of any American institution of learning, or by scholars not connected with academic institutions. The scheme involved also the establishment at Columbia University of a similar professorship of German history and institutions, the lectures in New York to be delivered in English. The first incumbent of the new professorship in Berlin was Dr. Burgess, Professor of Political Science in Columbia University, who began his work in Berlin in the winter of 1906-1907, and took as his subject American constitutional history.
A movement looking to the establishment of similar interchanges between American and Scandinavian Universities was inaugurated in 1908 by the "Scandinavian American Solidarity," a society organized in the United States that year, with Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, of Columbia University, for its President, and Professor Carl Lorentzen, of New York University, for its Secretary. The Danes resident in New York City and Chicago arranged that President Butler of Columbia and President MacCracken of New York University should each give lectures at the University of Copenhagen that year, and raised the necessary funds. The lectures were given at Christiania, as well as at Copenhagen, and appear to have aroused a widespread interest. Norwegian and Swedish Universities and the University of Helsingfors, in Finland, have signified a wish to participate in the interchange, and it is more than likely to become permanently arranged.
An educational interchange of a different character, but equally important, was instituted in 1906 by Mr. Alfred Mosely, an English gentleman of great wealth, who invited five hundred English, Scotch, and Irish teachers to visit and inspect American schools at his expense. Between November, 1906 and March, 1907, they came in parties of twenty-five, some remaining one month in the country, some two, and some even more, visiting many parts of it and all descriptions of its schools. They were selected by an advisory committee in London, which aimed to have them fully representative of the men and women who are engaged in the work of the British and Irish schools.
A return visit of some hundreds of American teachers to Great Britain and Ireland, in similar parties, under the auspices of the National Civic Federation, was made in the fall of 1908. The schools of both countries gained, beyond question, from what each had to offer of suggestion to the other.
The organization of a "new educational movement to provide for the interchange of University students among the English-speaking peoples" was announced in England in June, 1909. "The object," it was stated, "is to provide opportunities for as many as possible of the educated youth of the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States (who, it is reasonable to suppose, will become leaders in thought, action, civic and national government in the future), to obtain some real insight into the life, customs, and progress of other nations at a time when their own opinions are forming, with a _minimum_ of inconvenience to their academic work and the least possible expense."
A great number of the most distinguished men of the time in British public and professional life were listed among the officers and committee-members of the organization, with Lord Strathcona as President for the United Kingdom. As set forth in the prospectus of the society, "the additional objects of the movement are to increase the value and efficiency of, as well as to extend, present University training by the provision of certain Travelling Scholarships for practical observation in other countries under suitable guidance. These scholarships will enable those students to benefit who might otherwise be unable to do so through financial restrictions. It also enables the administration to exercise greater power of direction in the form the travel is to take. In addition to academic qualifications, the selected candidate should be what is popularly known as an ‘all round’ man; the selection to be along the lines of the Rhodes Scholarships. …
"To afford technical and industrial students facilities to examine into questions of particular interest to them in manufactures, &c., by observation in other countries and by providing them with introductions to leaders in industrial activity.
"To promote interest in travel as an educational factor among the authorities of Universities, with a view to the possibility of some kind of such training being included in the regular curricula.
"To promote interest in other Universities, their aims and student life, the compulsory physical training, and methods of working their ways through college, for example, being valuable points for investigation.
"To promote international interchange for academic work among English-speaking Universities. …
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"It is proposed to establish two students’ travelling bureaux, one in New York and one in London; an American secretary (resident in New York) and a British secretary (resident in London), both of whom shall be college men appointed to afford every facility to any graduate or undergraduate of any University who wishes to visit the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom for the purpose of obtaining an insight into the student, national, and industrial life of those countries."
Further announcements of the plans of the organization were made in November, including the following:
"It should be pointed out that, although the scholarships proper will be reserved for undergraduates of the Universities who are already midway through their course, the provision of scholarships by no means defines the scope of the movement. The bureau will afford facilities to all _bona fide_ students—whether dons, scholars, or commoners—who wish to gain a practical insight into the work and life of other portions of the world.
"The travelling students will have the advantage of reduced rates of travel; of the special information which the bureau will be able to afford; and of the privilege of being brought as far as possible into contact with the actualities of those countries to which they go, whether persons, places, or institutions. …
"The method of election to the scholarships, which it is purposed shall number not less than 28 for each year of the experimental triennium—14 in the United Kingdom, ten in the United States, and four in Canada—will be along the lines of the Rhodes scholarships. The candidate, it is stated, shall, as far as possible, be what is popularly known as an all-round man, who plays a part in his college life and whose character makes him popular."
EDUCATION: Ireland: A. D. 1909. Organization of the two new Irish Universities.
On the 1st day of October, 1909, the two Universities created by the Irish Universities Act of 1908 came into existence. "That day also was fixed for the dissolution of the Royal University of Ireland, the duties of which are now to be distributed between the new National University in Dublin and Queen’s University, Belfast. Circumstances, however, have given the Royal University a short reprieve. It cannot be dissolved until the autumn degrees of the present year have been conferred. These degrees will be given as the result of examinations which are now in progress, and it is probable that the University’s last public function will be a conferring of degrees on the last Friday in October. It will cease to exist in the first or second week of November. …
"The National University itself consists of a Senate and officers with large powers but with no local habitation. The University has its concrete embodiment in the new University Colleges, formerly Queen’s Colleges, at Cork and Galway. University College, Dublin, is so far only concrete in the sense that its governing body has been called into existence. At the present time it has no teaching and no college buildings. The former of these wants will be supplied almost immediately. The University Commissioners will meet early next month to appoint a teaching staff, and the college will be available for students at the beginning of November. As regards staffs, the Dublin College is differently situated from those at Cork and Galway. For the latter colleges teaching staffs exist ready made in the staffs of the old Queen’s Colleges, which are to be taken over in accordance with the provisions of the Act. …
"Nothing has yet been done in connexion with the buildings of the new college in Dublin, though various sites have been suggested, including that of the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham. … The cases of Queen’s University, Belfast, and of the University Colleges at Cork and Galway present no difficulties. These institutions will have teaching staffs within a couple of weeks, and all their buildings and classrooms are in going order.
"The agitation of the Gaelic League in favour of the compulsory teaching of Irish in the National University is vigorously maintained. It is most improbable that the Senate will yield to this agitation; and the result of their firmness will be, if the league fulfils its threats, a rather serious boycott of the University."
_Dublin Correspondent London Times, September 30, 1909._
An Associated Press despatch from Dublin, October 24, announced that "among the appointments to the new National University of Ireland are Dr. Douglas Hyde, president of the Gaelic League, as professor of modern Gaelic. Dr. Henebry, formerly of Washington, D. C., has been appointed to the professorship of the Irish language in the University College, Cork."
EDUCATION: KOREA: American Mission Schools.
"In Korea the Presbyterians have the strongest representation of any religious denomination, with over three hundred schools; and, what is still more striking, practically every one of these schools is self-supporting. The Methodists follow with over a hundred schools and over forty-two hundred pupils."
_The Outlook, May 2, 1908._
EDUCATION: NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1905. New Education Law, an issue in the elections.
See (in this Volume) NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1905-1909.
EDUCATION: PORTO RICO: A. D. 1906. Schools as seen by President Roosevelt.
See (in this Volume) PORTO RICO: A. D. 1906.
EDUCATION: PRUSSIA: A. D. 1904. Denominational Education restored.
A resolution adopted by the Prussian Chamber of Deputies, in May, 1904, restored the denominational school system which the "May Laws" of the Kulturkampf, in 1873 and after had abolished.
See (in Volume II. of this work) GERMANY: A. D. 1873-1887.
Under those laws the schools were common to children of all religious beliefs; under the new system they became either Protestant or Roman Catholic according to the faith of the majority of their pupils.
EDUCATION: RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS: The Will of Cecil John Rhodes, providing Scholarships at Oxford for students from the British Colonies and the United States.
The late Cecil John Rhodes, who played an eminent part in the development of South Africa and in the extension of the British dominion in that portion of the world, died on the 26th of March, 1902, leaving a will which contained the following directions for the use to be made of one large part of the great fortune he had acquired:
See (in this Volume) SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1902-1904)
"Whereas I consider that the education of young colonists at one of the universities in the United Kingdom is of great advantage to them for giving breadth to their views, for their instruction in life and manners, and for instilling into their minds the advantage to the colonies as well as to the United Kingdom of the retention of the unity of the Empire; and
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"Whereas in the ease of young colonists studying at a university in the United Kingdom I attach very great importance to the university having a residential system, such as is in force at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; for without it those students are at the most critical period of their lives left without any supervision; and
"Whereas there are at the present time fifty or more students from South Africa studying at the University of Edinburgh, many of whom are attracted there by its excellent medical school, and I should like to establish some of the scholarships hereinafter mentioned in that university but owing to its not having such a residential system as aforesaid I feel obliged to refrain from doing so; and
"Whereas my own university, the University of Oxford, has such a system, and I suggest that it should try and extend its scope so as if possible to make its medical school at least as good as that at the University of Edinburgh; and
"Whereas I also desire to encourage and foster an appreciation of the advantages which I implicitly believe will result from the union of the English-speaking people throughout the world and to encourage in the students from the United States of North America who will benefit from the American scholarships to be established for the reason above given at the University of Oxford under this my will an attachment to the country from which they have sprung, but without, I hope, withdrawing them or their sympathies from the land of their adoption or birth.
"Now, therefore, I direct my trustees as soon as may be after my death and either simultaneously or gradually as they shall find convenient, and if gradually, then in such order as they shall think fit, to establish for male students the scholarships hereinafter directed to be established, each of which shall be of the yearly value of £300 and be tenable at any college in the University of Oxford for three consecutive academical years.
"I direct my trustees to establish certain scholarships and these scholarships I sometimes hereinafter refer to as ‘the colonial scholarships.’
"The appropriation of the colonial scholarships and the numbers to be annually filled up shall be in accordance with the following table;
[Transcribers note: "Do." probably means "ditto". https://www.acronymfinder.com/DO.html]
Total To be tenable by students of or from Number of number scholarships to appropriated. be filled up in each year.
9 Rhodesia 3 and no more
3 The South African College School in the colony of the Cape of Good Hope 1 and no more
3 The Stellenbosch College School, Do. in the same colony
3 The Diocesan College School of Do. Rondebosch, in the same colony
3 St. Andrews College School, Do. Grahamstown
3 The colony of Natal, Do. in the same colony
3 The colony of New South Wales Do.
3 The colony of Victoria Do.
3 The colony of South Australia Do.
3 The colony of Queensland Do.
3 The colony of Western Australia Do.
3 The colony of Tasmania Do.
3 The colony of New Zealand Do.
3 The Province of Ontario, Do. in the Dominion of Canada
3 The Province of Quebec, Do. in the Dominion of Canada
3 The colony or island of Do. Newfoundland and its dependencies
3 The colony or islands of the Bermudas Do.
3 The colony or island of Jamaica Do.
"I further direct my trustees to establish additional scholarships sufficient in number for the appropriation in the next following clause hereof directed, and those scholarships I sometimes hereinafter refer to as ‘the American scholarships.’
"I appropriate two of the American scholarships to each of the present States and Territories of the United States of North America, provided that if any of the said Territories shall in my lifetime be admitted as a State the scholarships appropriated to such Territory shall be appropriated to such State, and that my trustees may in their uncontrolled discretion withhold for such time as they shall think fit the appropriation of scholarships to any Territory.
"I direct that of the two scholarships appropriated to a State or Territory not more than one shall be filled up in any year, so that at no time shall more than two scholarships be held for the same State or Territory.
"The scholarships shall be paid only out of income, and in event at any time of income being insufficient for payment in full of all the scholarships for the time being payable I direct that (without prejudice to the vested interests of holders for the time being of scholarships) the following order of priority shall regulate the payment of the scholarships:
"(I) First, the scholarships of students of or from Rhodesia shall be paid;
"(II) Secondly, the scholarships of students from the said South African Stellenbosch Rondebosch and St. Andrews schools shall be paid;
"(III) Thirdly, the remainder of the colonial scholarships shall be paid, and if there shall not be sufficient income for the purpose such scholarships shall abate proportionately; and
"(IV) Fourthly, the American scholarships shall be paid, and if there shall not be sufficient income for the purpose such scholarships shall abate proportionately.
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"My desire being that the students who shall be elected to the scholarships shall not be merely bookworms, I direct that in the election of a student to a scholarship regard shall be had to
(I) his literary and scholastic attainments;
(II) his fondness of and success in manly outdoor sports, such as cricket, football, and the like;
(III) his qualities of manhood, truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for the protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness, and fellowship, and
(IV) his exhibition during school days of moral force of character and of instincts to lead and to take an interest in his schoolmates, for those latter attributes will be likely in after life to guide him to esteem the performance of public duties as his highest aim. As mere suggestions for the guidance of those who will have the choice of students for the scholarships, I record that
(I) my ideal qualified student would combine these four qualifications in the proportions of three-tenths for the first, two-tenths for the second, three-tenths for the third, and two-tenths for the fourth qualification, so that ac- cording to my ideas if the maximum number of marks for any scholarship were 200 they would be apportioned as follows: Sixty to each of the first and third qualifications, and 40 to each of the second and fourth qualifications.
(II) The marks for the several qualifications would be awarded independently, as follows (that is to say): The marks for the first qualification by examination, for the second and third qualifications, respectively, by ballot by the fellow-students of the candidates, and for the fourth qualification by the head master of the candidate’s school, and
(III) the results of the awards (that is to say the marks obtained by each candidate for each qualification) would be sent as soon as possible for consideration to the trustees or to some person or persons appointed to receive the same, and the person or persons so appointed would ascertain by averaging the marks in blocks of 20 marks each of all candidates the best ideal qualified students.
"No student shall be qualified or disqualified for election to a scholarship on account of his race or religious opinions.
"Except in the cases of the four schools hereinbefore mentioned, the election to scholarships shall be by the trustees after such (if any) consultation as they shall think fit with the minister having the control of education in such colony, province, State, or Territory.
" A qualified student who has been elected as aforesaid shall within six calendar months after his election, or as soon thereafter as he can be admitted into residence or within such extended time as my trustees shall allow, commence residence as an undergraduate at some college in the University of Oxford.
"The scholarships shall be payable to him from the time when he shall commence such residence.
"28. I desire that the scholars holding the scholarships shall be distributed among the colleges of the University of Oxford and not resort in undue numbers to one or more colleges only.
"29. Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, my trustees may in their uncontrolled discretion suspend for such time as they shall think fit or remove any scholar from his scholarship.
"30. My trustees may from time to time make, vary, and repeal regulations either general or affecting specified scholarship only with regard to all or any of the following matters, that is to say:
"(I) The election, whether after examination or otherwise, of qualified students to the scholarships, or any of them, and the method, whether by examination or otherwise, in which their qualifications are to be ascertained;
"(II) The tenure of the scholarships by scholars;
"(III) The suspension and removal of scholars from their scholarships;
"(IV) The method and times of payment of the scholarships;
"(V) The method of giving effect to my wish expressed in clause 28 hereof; and
"(VI) Any and every other matter with regard to the scholarships, or any of them, with regard to which they shall consider regulations necessary or desirable.
"31. My trustees may from time to time authorize regulations with regard to the election, whether after examination or otherwise, of qualified students for scholarships and to the method, whether by examination or otherwise, in which their qualifications are to be ascertained to be made:
"(I) By a school in respect of the scholarships tenable by its students; and
"(II) By the minister aforesaid of a colony, province, State, or Territory in respect of the scholarships tenable by students from such colony, province, State or Territory.
"32. Regulations made under the last preceding clause hereof, if and when approved of, and not before, by my trustees, shall be equivalent in all respects to regulations made by my trustees.
"No regulations made under clause 30 or made and approved of under clauses 31 and 32 hereof shall be inconsistent with any of the provisions herein contained.
"In order that the scholars past and present may have opportunities of meeting and discussing their experiences and prospects, I desire that my trustees shall annually give a dinner to the past and present scholars able and willing to attend, at which I hope my trustees, or some of them, will be able to be present, and to which they will, I hope, from time to time invite as guests persons who have shown sympathy with the views expressed by me in this, my will."
The trustees are the Earl of Rosebery, Earl Grey, Lord Milner, Mr. Alfred Beit, Dr. Leander Starr Jameson, Mr. Lewis Loyd Mitchell, and Mr. Bourchier Francis Hawksley.
EDUCATION: RUSSIA: A. D. 1909. Great Educational Projects before the Duma. Primary school-houses by the hundred thousand, and Compulsory Education. Increased opening to Jews.
A telegram from St. Petersburg, February 16, 1909, announced that the Ministry of Education had introduced that day a bill before the Duma providing for a building fund for the erection of 148,179 new primary schools throughout the empire within ten years. These schools are to be built and maintained by the provincial authorities on government subsidy. The same despatch reported that a statute providing for general compulsory education would soon be discussed in the Duma.
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On the 5th of October it was announced that the Tsar had sanctioned a resolution of the Council of Ministers permitting the admission of an increased percentage of Jews into the secondary schools of the Crown. In the capitals 5 per cent. of the total number of scholars may be Jews, in other parts of the Empire 10 per cent., and in the special Jewish settlements 15 percent.
EDUCATION: SCOTLAND: A. D. 1901. Mr. Carnegie’s great gift to the Universities and their students.
The first of Mr. Andrew Carnegie’s great gifts to other institutions of education than the public libraries, which he has assisted in such numbers, was conferred on the universities of Scotland, his native country, in 1901. It was a gift of $10,000,000 (£2,000,000), placed in the hands of trustees for two purposes, namely, to improve and expand the teaching power of the universities, on one hand, and to put their teaching, on the other hand, more within the reach of all the young in Scotland who craved it. It was said to have been the original wish of Mr. Carnegie to make the tuition of the universities free; but he found that it would be wiser to strengthen them for their work, leave it subject to proper fees, and provide for an allowance of pecuniary assistance to students, in the discretion of the trustees. The application of the gift was so arranged, one-half of the net annual income from the great fund being appropriated to buildings, equipments, endowments of professorships and lectureships, and the like uses for the betterment of the university work.
There were fears at first that the effect of so much easing of the attainment of a university education might be injurious to the spirit and character of the students who accepted the helping hand; but seven years of experience, under the working of the gift, do not seem to have justified the fear. In those seven years over 8000 of the Scottish young people had the benefit of Mr. Carnegie’s help to a college training, and the trustees of the Fund, in their annual report of 1909, pronounced the result good. "In the opinion of such men as Lord Rosebery, Lord Elgin, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Mr. Balfour, and Mr. Haldane, who are all helping to administer Mr. Carnegie’s charity," says a London correspondent of the New York _Evening Post_, "Scotland has much to thank him for."
EDUCATION: TURKEY AND THE NEAR EAST: American Mission Schools.
"At present [1909] there are about twenty-five thousand native students in American schools in this country. America can boast to-day that she has, in Turkey, nine colleges, five theological seminaries, fifty-seven boarding and high schools, and 348 public schools. And, if we accumulate the work of seventy-five years, it is a simple matter to understand how many thousands have been educated in American ways and with the American spirit.
"Missionaries came to this country to spread Protestant Christianity among the Moslems. They failed in that. The Mohammedan government was against them. They tried to make Christian Greeks, Christian Armenians, Protestants. This did not result in a marked success, but their schools, which they opened as a medium of spreading religion, were eagerly sought by young men and young girls of every race. Armenians form the majority in this country of those who have received an American education. Bulgarians and Greeks come next.
"Many I have met who have been thoroughly educated in missionary institutions. Generally they are not Protestants, neither much religiously inclined. But they are moral, independent, and broad-minded.
"The Turkish mission, as it is written about in America, is not, in fact, areal Turkish mission; not a Moslem has been Christianized; not a single Turk is a member of mission communities; yet native Christians have been widely helped by the opportunity offered for education and the growth of a spirit of civilization and humanity.
"Year after year young men graduated from American institutions in Turkey to go forward among their compatriots as teachers, journalists, and public officers. The building up of brave little Bulgaria is the work of graduates of Robert College of Constantinople. Stambouloff, who made Bulgaria what it is to-day, was an alumnus of the same institution. Among the Armenian revolutionary leaders, who worked hand-in-hand with the Young Turks to bring about a political change in Turkey, boys of Robert College and young men educated in American universities are prominent. I know young girls, graduates of the American College at Scutari, who took active part in revolutionary work during the despotic days of the old regime; and even joined in the conspiracy which led to the throwing of a bomb at the Sultan during the Selamlik ceremony a few years ago. … There are a number of Turkish girls to-day at the college in Scutari, and it is a pleasure to any one to see Turkish women discussing in fluent English politics, economics, and history."
_Special Correspondence of the New York Evening Post, Constantinople, March 20, 1909._
At Beirut is the Syrian Protestant College, under Presbyterian control, one of the most enlightened institutions abroad. Euphrates College at Harput in Asia Minor, with a thousand students, is a Congregational institution. At Tarsus, the Apostle Paul’s home, is, appropriately enough, St. Paul’s Institute. Throughout Turkey the Congregationalists have over four hundred schools, with over twenty-one thousand pupils. In Syria the Presbyterians maintain about a hundred schools. The Presbyterians (North) have no work in Egypt, but the United Presbyterians are educating there no less than fifteen thousand pupils, a total the more surprising when we recall that the Government schools in Egypt have only eighteen thousand pupils. More than four thousand have received instruction at Assiut College, the center of the United Presbyterian work. … As in Persia, the Presbyterians are the strongest denominational force. Besides Urumia College, they have about a hundred and twenty-five schools throughout the country."
_American Schools Abroad (The Outlook, May 2, 1908)_.
EDUCATION: THE INFLUENCE OF ROBERT COLLEGE.
"Two years ago one of the subjects given out for a thesis in the Russian Theological Seminary at Kiev was, ‘The Influence of Robert College in the Development of Bulgaria.’ Russia has found the influence of that College there a factor which she has had to take into serious account; indeed, it has been said by Russian as well as by high Turkish officials that Robert College really created Bulgaria. Its influence has also been abundantly recognized throughout Europe and America. In Bulgaria itself the first National Assembly, which met to adopt a constitution and to choose a Prince, passed a resolution expressing the gratitude of the new-born nation to the College. Prince Alexander conferred a high decoration on the President of the College to express his personal appreciation, and last summer Prince Ferdinand did the same. {212} Robert College has not only been the backbone of Bulgaria; it has been the greatest civilizing power in the Turkish Empire. Sir William White, who knew that Empire better than has any recent British ambassador, once remarked that the College had accomplished more for the good of the Turks than had all the representatives of the British Government; and Professor Ramsey, of St. Andrews, who has spent many years in exploring Asia Minor, says:
"‘I have come in contact with men educated in Robert College in widely separate parts of the country, men of diverse nationalities and different forms of religion—Greek, Armenian, and Protestant—and have everywhere been struck with the marvelous way in which a certain uniform type, direct, simple, honest, and lofty in tone, has been impressed upon them. Some had more of it, some less. But all had it to a certain degree, and it is diametrically opposite to the type produced by growth under the ordinary conditions of Turkish life.’
"The College is not organized for the purpose of missionary propaganda. It is not denominational. It is Christian in the broad sense in which Princeton, Yale and Harvard are Christian Colleges. In its faculty it has a Mohammedan Professor of Turkish language and literature, and an orthodox Greek Professor of Greek language and literature. … It draws students not only from Turkey, but also from Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania and Russia, and has already educated nearly twenty-six hundred. If the demands upon the College continue to increase in the future as in the past, its endowment will have to be doubled. Occupying one of the most beautiful sites on the Bosphorus, the College has at present five buildings, besides six houses for professors, a teaching staff of twelve professors and twenty-five other instructors."
_The Outlook, January 21, 1905._
Robert College was founded at Constantinople in 1863 by James H. and William B. Dwight, sons of an American missionary to Turkey, the Reverend Harrison G. O. Dwight. It was named after Christopher R. Robert, of New York, its main supporter, whose gifts to it first and last amounted to $450,000. Its first President was the Reverend Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, who presided over it until 1877, when he resigned, and was succeeded by the Reverend Dr. George Washburn.
In November, 1909, it received a bequest of $1,500,000, from the late John Stewart Kennedy, of New York, and its work will be greatly expanded.
EDUCATION: TURKEY: A. D. 1909. Constitutional Amendment.
See (in this Volume) TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (MAY-DECEMBER).
EDUCATION: UNITED STATES: The Trade Unions as a factor in the Assimilation and Education of the foreign-born.
See (in this Volume) LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES.
EDUCATION: A. D. 1898-1909. The Annual Conferences for Education in the South.
Since 1898 a series of annual Conferences for Education in the South, inspired, organized, and sustained especially by the joint efforts of J. L. M. Curry and Robert C. Ogden, have been held in various Southern cities, with notable effect. At the twelfth of these conferences, in April, 1909, at Atlanta, Mr. Ogden, presiding, said in his address:
"This conference holds its place as a part of an educational renaissance. Its work can perhaps be definitely defined only at a single point. It exists primarily to impress upon the mind of the citizen, the people, the responsibility of the individual for educational conditions, to support the claim that every child in America, native or foreign born, is entitled to a good English education, that it is the duty of the State as representing the people to provide such education, that in the words of the man that recruited me and pledged my service, such as it is, to this work, J. L. M. Curry, president of this conference in its second year, ‘Ignorance Cures Nothing.’ …
"Aside from the first mentioned special influence this conference makes no direct claim save that it has by various agencies assisted in the promotion and development of many progressive educational ideas, and through the Southern Educational Board, to which it is both mother and child, has supplied methods and incidental support that have caused many latent forces to germinate, flourish, and bring forth abundant fruit that otherwise never could have existed. We simply have planted seed that eventually produced large harvests.
"I am told, and I think the statement is accurate, that during the last seven years the public appropriations for education in the States under the influence of the Southern Education Board have increased $16,000,000 per annum. These figures are difficult of verification, but probably are greater than I have stated. We have had something to do with this result, how much may not be a subject for definite calculation. …
"The twelve years that measure the life of the conference for education in the South have been years of great originality in the development of American education."
EDUCATION: A. D. 1901. The Washington Memorial Institution.
"In almost every Government department and bureau at Washington, prolonged scientific investigations are continually carried on, in order that governmental action itself may be more intelligent and more efficient, and the general welfare of the people promoted. … While the Congress carries on this work for governmental purposes only, it indicated as long ago as 1892, in a joint resolution approved April 12 of that year, that the Government’s large collections illustrative of the various arts and sciences, and its facilities for scientific and literary research, were to be held accessible to the investigators and students of any institution of higher education then existing or thereafter established in the District of Columbia. By an almost unnoticed but most important provision incorporated in the general deficiency bill passed at the second session of the Fifty-sixth Congress, and approved March 3, 1901, the privileges given by the joint resolution of April 12, 1892, to investigators and students of institutions in the District of Columbia were extended to ‘scientific investigators and to duly qualified individuals, students, and graduates of institutions of learning in the several States and Territories, as well as in the District of Columbia, under such rules and restrictions as the heads of the departments and bureaus mentioned may prescribe.
… The new opportunities created a new need, and that need is to be met by the Washington Memorial Institution, incorporated on May 17, 1901, and formally organized on June 3.
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"The Washington Memorial Institution is the direct outcome of the activities of the Washington Academy of Sciences and of the George Washington Memorial Association, the latter body being an organization of women ‘to aid in securing in the city of Washington, D. C., the increase of opportunities for higher education, as recommended by George Washington, the first President of the United States, in his various messages to Congress.’ … The plan has been worked out in consultation with representatives of the universities and other scientific bodies, and with their hearty cooperation and approval. It has the merits of simplicity and of not duplicating any existing form of educational effort." The Institution "will ascertain, year by year, just what the opportunities for students are at Washington, and will publish them to the world; it will receive and enroll students who offer themselves, and direct them to the places which await them; it will record their work and its results, and, when requested, will certify these to any institution of learning. It will keep in touch with the universities, scientific schools, and colleges on the one hand, and with the departments and bureaus of the Government on the other. In this way it will, it may be hoped, promote the interests and the ideals of both."
_Nicholas Murray Butler, The Washington Memorial Institution (American Review of Reviews, July, 1901)._
EDUCATION: A. D. 1901-1909. Changes at the Universities.
In October, 1901, on accepting a nomination to the mayoralty of New York City, President Seth Low, of Columbia University, resigned from that post, and Professor Nicholas Murray Butler became acting President until the following January, when he was elected to the Presidency by the unanimous vote of the trustees.
For the first time in its history, the University of Virginia—Jefferson’s creation—received a President in April, 1905, when Dr. Edwin Anderson Alderman was inducted in office as its administrative head. The significance of the occurrence was expressed at the time by Professor William P. Trent, when he said: "The University of Virginia, so long, under its chairmen of the faculty, faithful to its founder’s prejudices against the concentration of executive power in the hands of an individual, has been forced by pressure from within and from without to align itself with its sister universities in this essential feature of educational government, and in this fact many will see another step in the slow but certain nationalizing of the South, as well as an indication that in the future the University of Virginia will be widely known as a national institution of high standing."
In the summer of 1902, President Francis L. Patton, who had been the successor of President McCosh at Princeton University, retired and was succeeded by Professor Woodrow Wilson, previously occupant of the chair of Jurisprudence and Politics since 1890.
The President who had organized the University of Chicago at its foundation, in 1891, and directed its successful development through fifteen years of a remarkable success, William Rainey Harper, died on the 10th of January, 1906, and was succeeded by Professor Harry Pratt Judson, previously at the head of the department of Political Science and Dean of the faculties of Arts, Literature, and Science.
President Henry Hopkins of Williams College retired in 1907 and was succeeded by Harry A. Garfield, eldest son of the former President of the United States, and lately Professor of Politics at Princeton University.
In October, 1908, President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University made known his wish to retire in the following May from the office which he had filled with so much distinction for forty years. His resignation was accepted with profound regret, and he vacated the Presidency of the great University on the 19th of May, 1909. His successor, Professor Abbott Lawrence Lowell, taken from the chair of the Science of Government, in the Harvard faculty, had been elected in the preceding January. President Lowell was inaugurated with much ceremony on the 6th of October.
Dr. Richard C. Maclaurin was called from the department of physics in Columbia University, New York, to the presidency of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in November, 1908.
President Cyrus Northrup, of the University of Minnesota, announced in 1908 his resignation to take effect the following year.
A change in the Presidency of Dartmouth College took place in June, 1909, Dr. W. J. Tucker resigning because of ill health, and Professor Ernest Fox Nichols, formerly head of the department of physics at Dartmouth, and latterly occupying a chair at Columbia University, being elected to his place.
Having passed his eightieth year of life and the thirty-eighth of his administration of the University of Michigan, President James Burrill Angell was reluctantly permitted to retire from active service to the University at the close of the academic year in 1909. The acceptance of his resignation by the Regents of the University was accompanied, however, by the tender to him of the office of Chancellor, the duties to be such as "he may be willing and able to perform; the salary for such office to be $4000 per year, with house rent, light and fuel, so long as he sees fit to occupy his present residence." Dean H. B. Hutchins, of the law department was made acting President.
EDUCATION: A. D. 1902. Founding of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, for Original Research.
See (in this Volume) SCIENCE AND INVENTION: CARNEGIE INSTITUTION.
EDUCATION: A. D. 1902-1909. The General Education Board. Its stupendous endowment by Mr. Rockefeller. Its plans and operations.
The General Education Board, destined to become so great an educational power in the United States, had its birth on the 27th of February, 1902, at a meeting in New York to which Mr. John D. Rockefeller had invited the following named gentlemen:
William H. Baldwin, Jr., Wallace Buttrick, Hon. J. L. M. Curry, Frederick T. Gates, Daniel C. Gilman, Morris K. Jessup, Robert C. Ogden, Walter H. Page, George Foster Peabody, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and Albert Shaw; with Edward M. Shepard as counsel.
A conception of the general plan and purpose of the Board had been, it is said, in Mr. Rockefeller’s thought for some time past, and his guests gave hearty approval to the project in which he asked them to join him. Then and there they became organized temporarily under the name still borne, Mr. Rockefeller pledging $1,000,000 to the support of their work, which should specially be directed at the outset to the study and improvement of educational conditions in the Southern States. {214} Offices of the Board were opened in New York April 1, 1902. It was incorporated by Act of Congress on the 12th of January, 1903, at which time a considerable number of new members was added to the Board, chosen from the heads of important universities and colleges, North and South. The Board was now in active cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture, whose work of scientific and systematic instruction in agriculture, by demonstration farms and otherwise, it found to be dealing with the most pressing of Southern needs. It found another field of useful cooperation, with Southern universities and colleges, in promotion of the founding and maintaining of high schools. Its main operations were on these lines until the summer of 1905, when, on the 30th of June, Mr. Rockefeller expanded its forces immensely by adding $10,000,000 to his original gift of $1,000,000.
In _The Independent_ of August 6, 1908, Mr. Wallace Buttrick, secretary of the Board, described the enlargement of undertakings which followed this increase of endowment, saying:
"The income of this large foundation for higher education enabled the board to extend its work throughout the whole country, as contemplated in its charter. Studies had already been made of the colleges in the Southern States, and such studies were at once made of the colleges in other parts of the United States. After such comprehensive study and the careful consideration of how best to aid in the development of an adequate system of colleges in all of the States of the Union, the board adopted the following principles as defining its general policy: To co-operate sympathetically and helpfully with the religious denominations; to choose the centers of wealth and population as the permanent pivots of an educational system; to mass its funds on endowments, securing in this work the largest possible local co-operation."
Less than two years later, on the 7th of February, 1907, Mr. Rockefeller nearly trebled his previous endowment by an enormous addition to the fund in the possession of the Board, announced in the following letter from his son, Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.:
"My father authorizes me to say that on or before April 1st, 1907, he will give to the General Education Board income-bearing securities the present market value of which is about thirty-two million dollars ($32,000,000), one-third to be added to the permanent endowment of the board; two-thirds to be applied to such specific objects within the corporate purposes of the board as either he or I may from time to time direct, any remainder not so designated at the death of the survivor to be added also to the permanent endowment of the board."
Of what was being done by the Board with this stupendous fund Mr. Buttrick gave details in The Independent as follows:
"Conditional appropriations have been made to forty colleges, in the States of Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado.
"Twenty-five of these colleges have secured subscriptions for the supplemental sums required and but one has failed. The remaining fifteen colleges report satisfactory progress. The total amount thus appropriated by the board is $2,437,500; the supplemental sums, when completed, will aggregate $10,397,000.
"From the original $1,000,000 gift to the board by Mr. Rockefeller appropriations have been made to schools in the South amounting to about $700,000, one-half of which has gone to schools for the colored people. The high school propaganda and the agricultural demonstration work have also been supported from this fund.
"From the foregoing it will be seen that, in the Northern States, the board devotes itself exclusively to the promotion of higher education, having always in view the desirability of aiding such institutions as, taken together, will constitute an adequate system of higher education for each of the several States, thus seeking to correct and prevent duplication and waste and securing the highest efficiency.
"In the Southern States its work for colleges is similar to that done in the North, and, in addition, it seeks to promote public high schools through the State universities and the State Department of Education, to promote elementary education (or common schools) by increasing the productive efficiency of rural life, and to aid in developing schools for the training of leaders among the colored people."
But Mr. Rockefeller was not yet at the end of his gifts to this great Foundation. On the 9th of July, 1909, the following announcement was published:
"John D. Rockefeller has raised the total of his contributions to the Rockefeller foundation of the general education board to $53,000,000 by a gift of $10,000,000 which will be passed to the credit of the board between now and August 1. He has gone farther than that and has intrusted to the membership of the board—as it may be constituted at some future day—the responsibility of distributing the principal of the fund among the educational institutions of the land if it shall be deemed advisable.
"Under the regulations at present obtaining, this power of final disposition would extend only to $33,000,000, inasmuch as the board holds the other $20,000,000 in trust with the power to dispose of the income, while Mr. Rockefeller and his son, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., retain the right to dispose of the principal during their lives. It was said to-day that it always has been Mr. Rockefeller’s intention to make such a provision for the final disposition.
"In making the announcement to-day, Chairman Gates said that this large addition to the permanent funds of the board was contributed because the income of the present funds immediately available for appropriation had been exhausted and it was found necessary to have an additional income in order to meet the needs of ‘present great importance.’
"He said the board made it a rule never to exceed the immediately available income—which might amount to $80,000 or $90,000 a month—in its awards to the colleges and universities, that something like 300 applications had been received by the board beyond the number which it already had acted upon, which was large.
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"Mr. Gates said that at the same meeting last Wednesday another communication had been received from Mr. Rockefeller, authorizing and empowering the board and its successors ‘whenever, in their discretion, it should seem wise to distribute the principal of funds contributed by him to the board upon the affirmative vote of two-thirds of all those who shall at the time be members of the board.’"
EDUCATION: A. D. 1905-1908. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
After the founding of the Carnegie Institution, of Washington, Mr. Carnegie’s next great gift to Education, made in 1905, was in the sum of $10,000, 000, placed in the hands of trustees as a fund the income of which may be applied "to provide retiring pensions, without respect to race, sex, creed, or color, for the teachers of universities, colleges, and technical schools in the United States, the Dominion of Canada, and Newfoundland," and "to provide for the care and maintenance of the widows and families of the said teachers." The board of trustees chosen by Mr. Carnegie for the administration of the fund is made up of eminent educators from different parts of America, with Dr. Henry S. Pritchett called from the Presidency of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to become its executive head. The board was organized in November, 1905, and in the following April it adopted a plan of administration which had been formulated meantime by a committee from its membership. It had then, by an Act of Congress, approved by the President, March 10, 1906, been incorporated under the title of "The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching." Besides using the words quoted above, in description of the authorized purpose of the Foundation, the Act of Incorporation adds furthermore that it is "in general, to do and perform all things necessary to encourage, uphold, and dignify the profession of the teacher and the cause of higher education." It is a further provision of the Act that "retiring pensions shall be paid to such teachers only as are or have been connected with institutions not under control of a sect, or which do not require their trustees, their officers, faculties, or students (or a majority thereof), to belong to any specified sect, and which do not impose any theological test as a condition of entrance therein or of connection therewith."
As explained by President Pritchett in an article published soon after the organization of their board, the Trustees had three fundamental questions to determine: "First, What is a college? second, What constitutes denominational control? and, third, Should a private agency step in between the State and one of its institutions and establish a system of retiring allowances for university professors who are officers of the State?" "The term college is used to designate, in the United States, Canada, and Newfoundland, institutions varying so widely in entrance requirements, standards of instruction, and facilities for work that the term is no description of the character of the institution. Of the seven hundred and more institutions calling themselves colleges or universities, many are such in name only." To rule their present action the Trustees adopted the definition that is "now in use under the revised ordinances of the State of New York, and which reads as follows: ‘An institution to be ranked as a college must have at least six professors giving their entire time to college and university work, a course of four full years in liberal arts and sciences, and should require for admission not less than the usual four years of academic or high school preparation, or its equivalent, in addition to the pre-academic or grammar school studies.’ The trustees will also require that an institution, to be ranked as a college and to be dealt with as a college officially, must have a productive endowment of not less than $200,000."
As for the institutions to be excluded from the benefits of the retiring pension fund because of a sectarian connection the Trustees were confronted with a still more difficult question, since "a large majority of all the colleges of the country have a connection more or less strong with denominations." In the circumstances, no hard and fast rule of exclusion could be formulated; but, said President Pritchett, "it is evident that in many cases colleges must choose between the advantages of this gift and the benefits of a denominational connection."
So far as concerned State institutions, it was the original conclusion of the Board that "the States may fairly be expected to provide a retiring pension system for their own professors, and it is certainly questionable whether such wholesale action on the part of a private agency in the endowment of State institutions might not do them an injury rather than a kindness." Trustees and officers of the State Universities appealed from this view, and submitted to the Trustees cogent reasons why these institutions should participate in the distribution of the Fund. The Trustees replied that the Fund was not large enough for such an extension of its use. That objection, however, was soon removed by Mr. Carnegie, who made it known, in April, 1908, that he would have pleasure in adding $5,000,000 to his original gift in order to furnish retiring allowances for all State Universities that may apply for them. The Carnegie Foundation is now being administered accordingly.
Retiring allowances are determined by the following rules of the Board:
"I. In reckoning the amount of the retiring allowance, the average salary for the last five years of active service shall be considered the active pay.
" II. Any person sixty-five years of age, and who has had not less than fifteen years of service as a professor, and who is at the same time a professor in an accepted institution, shall be entitled to an annual retiring allowance computed as follows:
(_a_) For an active pay of sixteen hundred dollars or less, an allowance of one thousand dollars, provided no retiring allowance shall exceed ninety per cent. of the active pay.
(_b_) For an active pay greater than sixteen hundred dollars the retiring allowance shall equal one thousand dollars, increased by fifty dollars for each one hundred dollars of active pay in excess of sixteen hundred dollars,
(_c_) No retiring allowance shall exceed three thousand dollars.
"III. Any person who has had a service of twenty-five years as a professor, and who is at the time a professor in an accepted institution, shall be entitled to a retiring allowance, computed as follows:
(_a_) For an active pay of sixteen hundred dollars or less, a retiring allowance of eight hundred dollars, provided that no retiring allowance shall exceed eighty per cent. of the active pay.
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(_b_) For an active pay greater than sixteen hundred dollars the retiring allowance shall equal eight hundred dollars, increased by forty dollars for each one hundred dollars of active pay in excess of sixteen hundred dollars,
(_c_) For each additional year of service above twenty-five, the retiring allowance shall be increased by one per cent. of the active pay.
(_d_) No retiring allowance shall exceed three thousand dollars.
"IV. Any person who has been for ten years the wife of a professor in actual service may receive during her widowhood one-half of the allowance to which her husband would have been entitled."
EDUCATION: A. D. 1906. Change in the Headship of the Bureau of Education.
Dr. William Torrey Harris, after seventeen years of distinguished service as United States Commissioner of Education, accepted the first designation of a retirement pension that was made by the trustees of the Carnegie Foundation. Professor Elmer Ellsworth Brown, professor of the Theory and Practice of Teaching in the University of California, was appointed by the President to succeed him.
EDUCATION: A. D. 1906. Celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Tuskegee Institute.
The twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, at Tuskegee, Alabama, by Booker T. Washington, was celebrated in April, 1906, and made the occasion of a notable gathering at Tuskegee of strong friends of the institution and its founder from all parts of the country. In _The North American Review_ of that month Mr. Washington gave an interesting account of the rise of the Institute from insignificant beginnings, of the aims pursued in it and of the extent of their realization. It had sought to promote among the negroes of the South an education which, as he expressed it, "not only did not educate them out of sympathy with the masses of their people, but made them actively and practically interested in constructive methods and work among their people." Its students "are expected to be able to show the farmers how to buy land, to assist them by advice in getting out of debt, and to encourage them to cease mortgaging their crops and to take active interest in the economic development of their community."
This wise leader and true statesman of his race has devoted his life to the solving of the race-problem in the South on the principle stated by him in these words: "There is nothing for the negro to do but to remain where he is and struggle on and up. The whole philosophy of the negro question can be written in three words,—patience, persistence, virtue. The really helpful thing about the situation is that on the whole the negro has done, under the circumstances, the best he could."
Of the planting and growth of Tuskegee Institute he wrote: ‘Starting in a shanty and a hen-house, with almost no property beyond a hoe and a blind mule, the school has grown up gradually, much as a town grows. We needed food for our tables; farming, therefore, was our first industry, started to meet this need. With the need for shelter for our students, courses in house-building and carpentry were added. Out of these, brick-making and brick masonry naturally grew. The increasing demand for buildings made further specialization in the industries necessary. Soon we found ourselves teaching tinsmithing, plastering, and painting. Classes in cooking were added, because we needed competent persons to prepare the food. Courses in laundering, sewing, dining-room work, and nurse-training have been added to meet the actual needs of the school community. This process of specialization has continued as the school increased in numbers, and as the more varied wants of a larger community created a demand, and instruction is now given in thirty-seven industries."
At the end of its first twenty-five years of existence, the Institute has 1500 students; 156 officers, teachers, and employees; 86 buildings; and various ramifications for extensive work.
EDUCATION: A. D. 1906. Segregation of Oriental children in the San Francisco schools.
See (in this Volume) RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1904-1909.
EDUCATION: A. D. 1907. Large gift for Rudimentary Schools for Southern Negroes.
A fund of $1,000,000 was created in the spring of 1907, by gift from Miss Anna T. Jeanes, to be devoted to rudimentary schools for Southern negroes. The fund is to be administered by Principals Frissell, of Hampton, and Booker T. Washington, of Tuskegee.
EDUCATION: A. D. 1907. Re-dedication of the enlarged Carnegie Institute, at Pittsburg.
An account of the founding of the richly housed and equipped Carnegie Library at Pittsburg, opened in 1895, is given in