Chapter II: Preface: To the Seventh Volume (1)

In the preface to the Sixth Volume of this work, published in
the spring of 1901, it was remarked that the last half-dozen
years of the Nineteenth Century, which that Volume covered,
had been filled with events so remarkable and changes so
revolutionary in political and social conditions that many
people had asked for an extension of my work to report them.
The years then reviewed disclosed only the beginnings of what
the decade since has been developing, in movements and
achievements so varied, so numerous, in such rapid succession,
with effects so profound and so problematical, that their
appeal to our interest seems the strongest that has come to us
yet from human history. That the interest in them justifies
this further extension of my compilation of "recent history"
has been made clear to me by the frequency of the suggestions
of another Volume which have come to the publisher and to
myself. In the new Volume I have striven to make a clear
exhibit of all these strangely pregnant evolutionary and
revolutionary movements of the present time, which are
traversing all divisions and institutions of all society,
occidental and oriental, along all the lines of its
organization,—international, national, municipal, political,
industrial, intellectual, moral,—leaving nothing in life
untouched.

A few indications of the subjects dealt with most extensively
in the Volume may convey some idea of its scope, and of the
aims pursued in its preparation. For example: "Railways" and
"Combinations" ("Trusts"), treated mainly as the subjects of
regulative governmental action, occupy 38 pages in all. "Labor
Organization" fills 25 pages with the incidents of its trade
unions, labor parties, strikes, mediations, arbitrations and
industrial agreements. "Labor Protection" receives 6 pages,
for the account of what has been done in various countries in
the matters of employers’ liability, industrial insurance,
hours of work, etc. "Labor Remuneration" receives 9 pages, for
the reporting of experiments in cooperation, profit-sharing,
wages-regulation, pensions, etc. Various dealings with the
problems of "Poverty and Unemployment" are set forth in 8
pages; similarly the problems of "Crime and Criminology"
receive nearly 6; those of the Liquor Traffic 9; those of the
Opium evil, 3. The development of organized work for "Social
Betterment" is traced in 5 pages; that of reform in "Municipal
Government" in 12. The "Race Problems," which are troubling
many countries and people, are depicted in 15 pages.
Twenty-six pages are given to the Educational history of the
last decade; recent "Science and Invention" are reported in
16. "Children under the Law" are the subject of 8 interesting
pages on recent legislation touching the young.

The contradictory states of temper in the world on the subject
of War are depicted under two contrasted headings—"War, The
Preparations for" and "War, The Revolt against," in
particulars which fill 35 pages. Of the one great war of the
period, between Japan and Russia, and the triumph of mediation
which brought it to a close, the narrative, in about 20 pages,
is full. The story of the late revolution in Turkey is told
authentically in 9 pages, and that of Persia in 10. The
abortive attempts at revolution in Russia, and the sham of
constitutional government conceded, have their history in 18
pages. The signs of wakened life in China are described in 12.
The discontent of India and Lord Morley’s measures of reform
in the

{iv}

British-Indian government, enlarging the native representation
in it, are set forth broadly in 15. Generally, as concerns the
British Empire, the interesting conditions that have arisen in
it very lately, adding South Africa to the group of unified
Colonial Dominions, which are young British nations in the
making, and drawing them all into a league with the "Mother
Country" for organized imperial defense, are amply portrayed.
So, too, are the agitations in recent British politics at
home, which have arisen from an increasing antagonism between
popular interests represented in the House of Commons and
class interests intrenched in the House of Lords. In American
politics, the remarkable invigoration and freshening of spirit
which characterized the administration of President Roosevelt
are made apparent in a broad exhibit of their many effective
results.

As was said of Volume VI., it can be said, I think, with even
more truth of this, that it presents "History in the
making,—the day by day evolution of events and changes as they
passed under the hands and before the eyes and were recorded
by the pens of the actual makers and witnesses of them."

As an appendix to the present Volume, a new feature, related
to the whole work, has been introduced. It offers a
considerably extensive series of systematic courses for
historical study and reading, the literature for which is
supplied in the seven Volumes of "History for Ready
Reference." This has been prepared in response to many
requests which the publishers have received. Even for casual
investigations it will be found serviceable to every possessor
and user of the work.

J. N. L.
Buffalo, New York, May, 1910.

{v}

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am indebted to the following named authors and publishers
for permission kindly given me to quote from books and
periodicals, all of which are duly referred to in connection
with the passages borrowed severally from them:

The publishers of
The American Catholic Quarterly Review,
The American Monthly Review of Reviews,
The Associated Prohibition Press,
The Atlantic Monthly Magazine,
The Boston Transcript,
The Century Magazine,
The Contemporary Review,
The Fortnightly Review,
The New York Evening Post,
The New York State Journal of Medicine,
The Nineteenth Century Review,
The North American Review,
The Outlook,
The Times (London),
Messrs. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh,
Messrs. Doubleday,
Page & Co.,
Messrs. E. P. Dutton & Co.,
Messrs. Harper & Brothers,
Messrs. Henry Holt & Co.,
Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Company,
Messrs. John Lane Company,
Messrs. Charles Scribner’s Sons;
Professors Joseph H. Beale and Bruce Wyman (as joint authors);
Mr. Frederick H. Clark, Head of History Department,
Lowell High School, San Francisco;
Mr. George Iles, author of "Inventors at Work",
Dr. James Brown Scott, Solicitor of the U. S. Department of State.

I am much indebted, furthermore, to the courtesy of many
societies and persons from whom I have received reports and
other documents that were essential to my work; and especially
do I owe much to the helpfulness of many on the staff of the
Buffalo Public Library.

{1}

HISTORY FOR READY REFERENCE

ABD EL AZIZ, Sultan of Morocco.

See (in this Volume)
MOROCCO: A. D. 1903, and 1907-1909.

ABDUL HAMID II., Sultan of Turkey.
His forced restoration of the Constitution of 1876 .
His faithlessness to it.
His deposition.

See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1908 (July-December.),
and 1909 (January-May).

ABDULLA MOHAMMED, The Mullah.

See (in this Volume)
Africa: Somaliland.

ABDURAHMAN,
Ameer of Afghanistan: Death, 1901.

See (in this Volume)
AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1901-1904.

ABERDEEN, The Earl of: Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

See (in this Volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1905-1906.

ABERDEEN, Lady.

See (in this Volume)
WOMEN, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF.

"ABIR," or A. B. I. R. COMPANY, The.

See (in this Volume)
CONGO STATE: A. D. 1903-1905.

ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1902 .
The French in favor.
Their railway building and plans.

"Through Abyssinia the French hope to establish a line of
trade across Africa from east to west in opposition to our
Cape to Cairo railway from north to south. In this they have
already achieved some success. They have settled themselves
along the Gulf of Tadjoura, on the south of which they hold
the magnificent Bay of Djibouti, while on the north their flag
waves over the small port of Obok. But their real triumph in
these regions has been the establishment of a lasting
friendship with Abyssinia by judicious consignments of arms
and ammunition—which were used against Italy in the war of
1896. Finally, they are now in the act of building a French
railway from Djibouti to Addis Abeba, the capital of
Abyssinia. This railway will completely cut out the British
port of Zeila, for in the concession granted by Menelik it is
stipulated that no company is to be permitted to construct a
railroad on Abyssinian territory that shall enter into
competition with that of M. Ilg and M. Chefneux. …

"At Menelik’s capital, Addis Abeba, there is, to use the
expression of M. Hugues le Roux, a silent duel in progress
between the representatives of the various nationalities. We
are represented by Colonel Harrington. But, although Menelik
is wise enough to extend a friendly greeting to all, there is
no reason to suppose that we should enjoy as great a share of
favour as other nations. Although throughout the war we
preserved a strict neutrality, we are regarded as a powerful
and aggressive neighbour, and as the ally of Italy, whereas
the French have been the truest friends of Abyssinia. The
Russians are also in communication with the Negus, and their
efforts are, of course, seconded by France. As for the
Italians, their position seems now to be as good as that of
any European nation."

_G. F. H. Berkeley,
The Abyssinian Question and its History
(Nineteenth Century, January, 1903)._

ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1902.
Treaty with Great Britain.

A treaty between Great Britain and the Emperor Menelek, of the
kingdom of Ethiopia (Abyssinia), signed on the 15th of May,
1902, defines the boundaries between the Soudan and Ethiopia,
and contains the following important provisions:

"Article III.
His Majesty the Emperor Menelek II., King of Kings of
Ethiopia, engages himself towards the Government of his
Britannic Majesty not to construct, or allow to be
constructed, any work across the Blue Nile, Lake Tsana, or the
Sobat, which would arrest the flow of their waters into the
Nile, except in agreement with his Britannic Majesty’s
Government and the Government of the Soudan.

Article IV.
The Emperor Menelek engages himself to allow his Britannic
Majesty’s Government and the Government of the Soudan to
select in the neighborhood of Itang, on the Baro River, a
block of territory having a river frontage of not more than
2000 metres, in area not exceeding 400 hectares, which shall
be leased to the Government of the Soudan, to be administered
and occupied as a commercial station, so long as the Soudan is
under the Anglo-Egyptian Government. It is agreed between the
two high contracting parties that the territory so leased
shall not be used for any political or military purpose.

Article V.
The Emperor Menelek grants his Britannic Majesty’s Government
and the Government of the Soudan the right to construct a
railway through Abyssinian territory to connect the Soudan
with Uganda. A route for the railway will be selected by
mutual agreement between the two high contracting parties."

ACCIDENTS TO WORKMEN:
In the United States.

See (in this Volume)
LABOR PROTECTION.

ACHINESE, Dutch hostilities with the.

See (in this Volume)
NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1904.

ACRE DISPUTES, The:
Claims on the region by Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia.
Its final partition.

A considerable territory of much richness in the southwestern
part of the Amazon Valley, around the upper waters of the
Madeira, the Aquiry, and the Purus tributaries, was long in
dispute between Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, and became a cause
of serious quarrel between the two first named in 1903. The
then Brazilian President, Rodriguez Alves, in his first annual
message, May, 1903, stated the situation from the Brazilian
standpoint as follows:

"Our former relations of such cordial friendship with Bolivia
have suffered a not insignificant strain since the time when
the Government of that sister Republic, unable to maintain its
authority in the Acre region, inhabited exclusively, as you
know, by Brazilians who, many years previously, had
established themselves there in good faith, saw fit to deliver
it over to a foreign syndicate upon whom it conferred powers
almost sovereign. That concession, as dangerous for the
neighboring nations as for Bolivia itself, encountered general
disapproval in South America As the most immediately
interested, Brazil, already in the time of my illustrious
predecessor, protested against the contract to which I refer,
and entered upon the policy of reprisals, prohibiting the free
transit by the Amazon of merchandise between Bolivia and
abroad.
{2}
Neither that protest nor the counsels of friendship produced
at that time the desired effect in La Paz, and, far from
rescinding the contract or making the hoped-for modifications
therein, the Bolivian Government concluded an especial
arrangement for the purpose of hurrying the entrance of the
syndicate into the possession of the territory.

"When I assumed the government that was the situation, and in
addition the inhabitants of the Acre, who had again proclaimed
their independence, were masters of the whole country,
excepting Puerto Acre, of which they did not get possession
until the end of January. Although since January negotiations
have been initiated by us for the purpose of removing amicably
the cause of the disorders and complications which have had
their seat of action in the Acre ever since the time when for
the first time the Bolivian authorities penetrated thither, in
1899, yet the Government of La Paz has nevertheless thought
proper that its President and his minister of war should march
against that territory at the head of armed forces with the
end in view of crushing its inhabitants and then establishing
the agents of the syndicate."

The Brazilian President proceeded then to relate that he had
notified the Bolivian Government of the intention of Brazil to
"defend as its boundary the parallel of 10° 20' south," which
it held to be the line indicated by the letter and the spirit
of a treaty concluded in 1867; and that Bolivia had then
agreed to a settlement of the dispute through diplomatic
channels. "Upon the Bolivian Government agreeing to this," he
continued, "we promptly reestablished freedom of transit for
its foreign commerce by Brazilian waters. Shortly after this
the syndicate, by reason of the indemnity which we paid it,
renounced the concession which had been made it, eliminating
thus this disturbing element."

In conclusion of the subject, President Alves reported: "To
the Peruvian Government we have announced, very willingly,
since January, that we will examine, with attention, the
claims which in due time they may be pleased to make upon the
subject of the territories now in dispute between Brazil and
Bolivia."

The result of the ensuing negotiations between Brazil and
Bolivia was a treaty signed in the following November and duly
ratified, the terms of which were summarized as follows in a
despatch from the American Legation at La Paz, December 26:
"Three months after exchange of ratifications Brazil is to pay
an indemnity of £1,000,000 and in March, 1905, £1,000,000. A
small strip of territory, north Marso, Brazilero, embracing
Bahia Negra and a port opposite Coimbra, on Paraguay River,
are conceded, and all responsibilities respecting Peruvian
contentions are assumed. The disputed Acre territory is
conceded by Bolivia. A railroad for the common use of both
countries is to be built from San Antonio, on Madeira River,
to Cuajar Ameren, on Mamore River, within four years after
ratification. Free navigation on the Amazon and its Bolivian
affluents is conceded. A mixed commission, with umpire chosen
from the diplomatic representation to Brazil, will treat all
individual Acre claims."

Subsequently it was determined in Bolivia that the entire
indemnity received from Brazil should be expended on
railroads, with an additional sum of £3,500,000, to be raised
by loan.

For the settlement of the remaining question of rights in the
Acre territory, between Bolivia and Peru, a treaty of
arbitration, negotiated in December, 1902, but ratified with
modifications by the Bolivian Congress in October, 1903,
provided that "the high contracting parties submit to the
judgment and decision of the Government of the Argentine
Republic, as arbitrator and judge of rights, the question of
limits now pending between both republics, so as to obtain a
definite and unappealable sentence, in virtue of which all the
territory which in 1810 belonged to the jurisdiction or
district of the Ancient Audience of Charcas, within the limits
of the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, by acts of the ancient
sovereign, may belong to the Republic of Bolivia; and all the
territory which at the same date and by acts of equal origin
belonged to the viceroyalty of Peru may belong to the Republic
of Peru."

The case was pending until July, 1909, when judgment favorable
to the claims of Peru was pronounced by the President of the
Argentine Republic, Señor Figueroa Alcorta. According to the
award, as announced officially from Peru, the line was drawn
to "follow the rivers Heath and Madre de Dios up to the mouth
of the Toromonas and from there a straight line as far as the
intersection of the river Tehuamanu with meridian 69. It will
then run northwards along this meridian until it meets the
territorial sovereignty of another nation."

The Bolivians were enraged by the decision against them, and
riotous attacks were made on the Argentine Legation at La Paz,
the Bolivian capital, and on Argentine consulates elsewhere.
Worse than this in offensiveness was a published declaration
by President Montes of Bolivia that the arbitration award
respecting the frontiers of Bolivia and Peru had been given by
Argentina without regard to Bolivia’s petition that an actual
inspection of the territory should be made in case the
documents and titles submitted were unsatisfactory. "Had this
been done," said the President of Bolivia, "the arbitrator
would have been convinced of the respective possessions of the
two countries. It is inexplicable how the arbitrator, after
examining the titles and documents, could give such a
decision. He passed over the elementary principles of
international rights in awarding to Peru territory which had
never been questioned as belonging to Bolivia. As a
consequence Bolivia rejects the award."

The insulted Government of Argentina demanded explanations;
diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken
off, and war seemed imminent. Fortunately the term of
President Montes was near its close, and a man of evidently
cooler temper, Elidoro Villazon, succeeded him in the
Presidency on August 12th. The new President, in his message
to Congress next day, while characterizing the award as
unjust, said: "We must proceed circumspectly, and be guided by
international rights and the customs of civilized nations in
similar cases. I consider it right to avail ourselves of the
means offered by diplomacy to obtain a rectification of the
new frontier line given by arbitration, thus saving the
compromised possessions of Bolivia."

{3}

With this better spirit entering into the controversy, Bolivia
was soon able to arrange with Peru for a concession from the
latter which made her people willing to recognize the award.
This agreement was effected on the 11th of September, and its
terms, as made known in a despatch from Rio de Janeiro, were
as follows:

"Peru surrenders to Bolivia a very small extent of territory
lying between the Madre de Dios River and the Acre, traversed
by the rivers Tahuamano and Buyamaro, which together form the
river Orton, an affluent of the Beni River. This territory,
with an area of about 6,500 square kilometres, was discovered
and colonized by Bolivians, who to-day are in possession of
numerous prosperous industries there. Peru gets possession of
all the upper course of the Madre de Dios, from its head
waters to its confluence with the river Heath. Such a slight
modification as the foregoing from the decision reached by the
arbitrator in no way disturbs the Argentine Republic."

As between Peru and Brazil the boundary question was settled
by a treaty signed at Rio de Janeiro on the 8th of September,
three days before the Bolivian pacification.

This probably closes a territorial dispute which has troubled
four countries in South America for many years, and brought
quarrelling couples to the verge of war a number of times.

ADANA, Massacres at.

See (in this Volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1909 (January-May), and (April-December).

ADDIS ABEBA, Capital of Abyssinia.

See (in this Volume)
ABYSSINIA: A. D. 1902.

ADULTERATIONS, Laws against.

See (in this Volume)
PUBLIC HEALTH: PURE FOOD LAWS.

AEHRENTHAL, Baron.

See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1905-1906.

AERONAUTICS.

See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION, RECENT.

AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1901-1906.
Death of Abdurahman.
Succession of his son, Habibullah.
Signs of a progressive spirit in the new Ameer.

The late Ameer, Abdurahman, died in October, 1901, and was
succeeded by his eldest son, Habibullah. Early in the third
year of his reign the new Ameer began to show signs of a wish
to have his country move a little on the lines of European
progress, in the march which so many of his Asiatic neighbors
were joining. His undertakings were disturbed for a time by
trouble with his half-brother, Omar Jan, and with the latter’s
mother, the Bibi Halima or Queen of the Harem; but he brought
the trouble to an end which does not seem to have been
tragical, and that, in itself, is a notable mark in his favor.
The Russo-Japanese War interested him immensely, and he
established a daily post between Khyber and Cabul to bring
speedy news of events. He then read the reports in public,
with expositions, to make the listening people understand the
bearing of what was happening on their own interests, and the
lessons they should learn from what the Japanese were doing.
He is said to have done much in the way of improving
agriculture and horse-breeding in Afghanistan; he has a desire
to establish a Chiefs’ College, with the English language as
the basis of instruction, but has met with strong opposition
in this undertaking; and he has introduced electric lighting,
with probably other luxuries of modern science, in Cabul. Such
things in Afghanistan mark a highly progressive man. His
political intelligence is proved by the cordiality of his
relations with the British Indian Government. An interesting
account of conditions in the Ameer’s country in 1904 was given
by Mr. D. C. Boulger, in the Fortnightly Review of December,
that year, under the title of "The Awakening of Afghanistan."

AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1905.
The Ameer becomes King.

In a new treaty between the Government of Great Britain and
the Ameer of Afghanistan, the latter was recognized as King.

AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1907.
Convention between Great Britain and Russia relative to
Afghanistan.

See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1907 (AUGUST).

AFRICA:
Its Colonizability by white peoples.
The regions habitable by Europeans.

"There are three obstacles to the white race from Europe
overrunning and colonising the continent of Africa as it has
overrun and colonised the two Americas and Australasia. The
first is the insalubrity of the well-watered regions and the
uninhabitability of the desert tracts; the second is the
opposition of strong indigenous races; and the third, of quite
recent growth, is a growing sentiment which is increasingly
influencing public opinion, in Europe more especially, and
which forbids the white man to do evil that good may come:
namely, to displace by force of arms pre-existing races in
order that, the white man may take the land they occupy for
his own use. It is probable that the second and third reasons
combined may in future prove the more effective checks.
Deserts, to be made habitable and cultivable, only need
irrigation, and apparently there is a subterranean water
supply underlying most African deserts which can be tapped by
artesian wells. The extreme unhealthiness of the well-watered
parts of Africa is due not so much to climate as to the
presence of malaria in the systems of the Negro inhabitants.
This malaria is conveyed from the black man to the white man
by certain gnats of the genus _Anopheles_—possibly by
other agencies. But the draining of marshes and the
sterilisation of pools, together with other measures, may
gradually bring about the extinction of the mosquito; while,
on the other hand, it seems as though the drug (_Cassia
Beareana_) obtained from the roots of a cassia bush may act
as a complete cure for malarial fever. …

"For practical purposes the only areas south of the Sahara
Desert which at the present time are favourable to white
colonisation are the following. In West Africa there can be no
white colonisation under existing conditions; the white man
can only remain there for a portion of his working life as an
educator and administrator. … In North-East Africa,
Abyssinia and Eritrea will suggest themselves as white man’s
countries—presenting, that is to say, some of the conditions
favourable to European colonisation. The actual coast of
Eritrea is extremely hot, almost the hottest country in the
world, but it is not necessarily very unhealthy. The heat,
however, apart from the existence of a fairly abundant native
population, almost precludes the idea of a European
settlement. But on the mountains of the hinterland which are
still within Italian territory there are said to be a few
small areas suited at any rate to settlement by Italians, who,
by-the-by, seem to be getting on very well with the natives in
that part of Africa. But a European colonisation of Abyssinia,
possible as it might be climatically, is out of the question
in view of the relatively abundant and warlike population
indigenous to the Ethiopian Empire. …

{4}

"Then comes Central Africa, which may be taken to range from
the northern limits of the Congo basin and the Great Lakes on
the north to the Cunenc River and the Zambesi on the south.
British East Africa and Uganda offer probably the largest
continuous area of white man’s country in the central section
of the continent. The Ankole country in the southwest of the
Uganda Protectorate and the highlands north of Tanganyika,
together with the slopes of the Ruwenzori range, offer small
tracts of land thoroughly suited to occupation by a white race
so far as climate and fertility are concerned; but these
countries have already been occupied, to a great extent, by
some of the earliest forerunners of the Caucasian (the
Bahima), as well as by sturdy Negro tribes who have become
inured to the cold. To the northeast of the Victoria Nyanza,
however, there is an area which has as its outposts the
southwest coast of Lake Rudolf, the great mountains of
Debasien and Elgon, and the snow-clad extinct volcanoes of
Kenia and Kilimanjaro. This land of plateaux and rift valleys
is not far short of 70,000 square miles in extent, and so far
as climate and other physical conditions are concerned is as
well suited for occupation by British settlers as Queensland
or New South Wales. But nearly 50,000 square miles of this
East African territory is more or less in the occupation of
sturdy Negro or Negroid races whom it would be neither just
nor easy to expel. …

"The only portion of German East Africa which is at all suited
to European settlement lies along the edge of the
Nyasa-Tanganyika Plateau. Here is a district of a little more
than a thousand square miles which is not only elevated and
healthy, but very sparsely populated by Negroes. A few patches
in the Katanga district and the extreme southern part of the
Congo Free State offer similar conditions.

"In British Central Africa we have perhaps 6,000 square miles
of elevated, sparsely populated, fertile country to the
northwest of Lake Nyasa and along the road to Tanganyika.
There is also land of this description in the North-East
Rhodesian province of British Central Africa, in Manikaland,
and along the water-parting between the Congo and the Zambesi
systems. Then in the southernmost prolongation of British
Central Africa are the celebrated Shire Highlands, which,
together with a few outlying mountain districts to the
southwest of Lake Nyasa, may offer a total area of about 5,000
square miles suitable to European colonisation. A small
portion of the Mozambique province, in the interior of the
Angoche coast, might answer to the same description. Then
again, far away to the west, under the same latitudes, we
have, at the back of Mossamedes and Benguela, other patches of
white man’s country in the mountains of Bailundo and Shclla.

"In South Africa, beyond the latitudes of the Zambesi, we come
to lands which are increasingly suited to the white man’s
occupation the further we proceed south. Nearly all German
South-West Africa is arid desert, but inland there are
plateaux and mountains which sometimes exceed 8,000 feet in
altitude, and which have a sufficient rainfall to make
European agriculture possible. … About two-thirds of the
Transvaal, a third of Rhodesia, a small portion of southern
Bechuanaland, two-thirds of the Orange River Colony,
four-fifths of Cape Colony, and a third of Natal sum up the
areas attributed to the white man in South Africa. The
remainder of this part of the continent must be considered
mainly as a reserve for the black man, and to a much smaller
degree (in South-East Africa) as a field for Asiatic
colonisation, preferentially on the part of British Indians.

"Counting the white-skinned Berbers and Arabs of North Africa,
and the more or less pure-blooded, light-skinned Egyptians, as
white men, and the land they occupy as part of the white man’s
share of the Dark Continent, we may then by a rough
calculation arrive (by adding to white North Africa the other
areas enumerated in the rest of the continent) at the fol-
lowing estimate: that about 970,000 square miles of the whole
African continent may be attributed to the white man as his
legitimate share. If, however, we are merely to consider the
territory that lies open to European colonisation, then we
must considerably reduce our North African estimate."

_H. H. Johnston,
The White Man's Place in Africa
(Nineteenth Century, June, 1904)._

AFRICA:
Agreements between England and France concerning Egypt,
Morocco, Senegambia, and Madagascar.

See (in this Volume)
EUROPE: A. D. 1904 (APRIL).

AFRICA:
British, German, and Congo frontier agreement.

The following was telegraphed to the Press from Berlin,
November 29, 1909:

"An agreement was signed in Berlin during the summer, Reuter’s
representative learns, whereby various questions affecting the
frontier lines between British Uganda and German East Africa
and the Congo, which have been under discussion for years,
were definitely settled. The agreement is understood to be
satisfactory to both parties, but the details are not to be
published as yet."

AFRICA:
French Central: A Land-locked Empire.

"Since 1898, successive expeditions have converged from the
French Niger Territories, from South Algeria, and from the
French Congo towards Lake Tchad, which has ever exercised a
mystic charm over the minds of explorers. Rabah, the usurper
of Bornou, has been killed, and his son Fadel’allah recently
met the same fate, so that all the belt of black countries
stretching from the north of Sokoto, the north of Bornon and
Baghirmi to the confines of Wadaï, the most easterly limit of
the French sphere, are now occupied in a military sense. …
Even if we consider the French as now firmly settled in these
countries, peopled with timid blacks from whom little is to be
feared, the succeeding problem, what to do with them, presents
no seductive outlook.

"The key to the situation is the question of transport, for
here we have a vast land-locked empire, the roads to which are
long, complicated, and difficult. For the present the question
of a great Trans-Saharan railway may be left out of account,
and in all probability more mature consideration will convince
the French of the futility of such a scheme. Three roads
running through French territory are available; from the
east by the Niger, from the south by the French Congo, and
from the north, Tunis or Algeria, across the great Sahara.
{5}
Of the three, the only one which can be made of practical
utility for a long time to come is that across the Sahara.
From the centre of Africa there are several well-known caravan
routes, all capable of being commercially used, provided the
intervening tribes can be brought to acquiesce in the French
domination. All these terminate in Turkish territory."

_E. J. Wardle,
The French in Central Africa
(Contemporary Review, October, 1902)._

AFRICA:
Subjugation of Hausa Land and occupation of Sokoto.

Early in 1903 the High Commissioner of Nigeria, Sir F. Lugard,
sent an expedition against the Emir of Kano, in the northern
part of the Nigerian Protectorate, within the Sultanate of
Sokoto, which had never been made submissive to the rule which
Great Britain claimed. Kano was reached and taken by assault
on the 3d of February, the Emir and his horsemen escaping
toward Sokoto. The expedition then proceeded against Sokoto,
where feeble resistance was offered, and the seat of the
Sultanate was taken on the 15th of March. These conquests are
believed to have effected a firm establishment of British
ascendancy throughout the Niger territory, from the coast to
the Saharan sphere of the French. The possession of Kano is
important, as it is the starting point of caravan routes
eastward and northward and the chief commercial town of the
Western Sudan.

AFRICA:
Rapid development of the railway system.

See (in this Volume)
Railways: Nigeria.

AFRICA:
French Mauretanie.

See Morocco: A. D.1909.

AFRICA:
French Western: Eradication of Yellow Fever.

See PUBLIC HEALTH: A. D. 1901-1905.

AFRICA:
German Colonies: Cost to Germany.
Small number of German Colonists.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1903.

AFRICA:
Unpopularity of the Colonial Policy in Germany.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1906-1907.

AFRICA:
Wars with the Natives.

In the German Parliament, on the 12th of January, 1905, it was
stated by the Director of the Colonial Department, Dr. Stübel,
that up to that date 11,000 German troops had been employed
against the Hereros and Witbois in Southwest Africa, and that
the campaign of 1904 had cost 42,000,000 marks (about
$10,500,000). The military estimate for 1905 was 60,000,000
marks. General von Trotha, Governor of the colony, who had
been in command of operations, and who had set a price on the
heads of Morenga and other insurgent chiefs, and had
threatened the whole tribe with extermination, was to be
superseded; but the Emperor, notwithstanding, conferred on him
the Order "Pour le Merite." A similar conflict with the
natives in German East Africa was opened in August, 1905, by
the murder of Bishop Spiers and four missionaries and Sisters
of Mercy. The Wangonis are of the Zulu race, mustering about
30,000 warriors, and reinforcements of the German troops had
to be sent out.

AFRICA:
Opening of Diamond Fields.

Diamond discoveries in German Southwest Africa began to
acquire importance in 1908. As stated in a lecture on the
subject by Herr Dernburg, the German Colonial Secretary, at
Berlin, in January, 1909, these diamond deposits lie in
crescent form around Lüderitz Bay, beginning to the south of
Elizabeth Bay and extending northwards to the sea-coast in the
vicinity of Anischab. The full extent of the stretch of
diamond-bearing sand can only be ascertained by careful
measurement, but it is even now permissible to describe the
deposits as very considerable. The diamonds, which are found
mixed with small agates and other half-precious stones, vary
from one-fifth to three-quarters of a carat—the average not
exceeding one-third of a carat. They are almost perfect
octahedrons of good water. The regular exploitation may be
said to have begun in September, 1908, the total recovered
before that date only amounting to 2,720 carats. In September
the amount was 6,644 carats, in October 8,621, in November
10,228, and in December 11,549, or in all 39,762, the price of
which would be about £55,000. The administrative regulations
introduced stipulate, first, that half the net profit shall go
to the Southwest African Treasury; secondly, that measures
shall be taken to secure an adequate market for the new supply
and to prevent depreciation; thirdly, that suitable conditions
shall be established for the working of the mines; and,
fourthly, that their exploitation shall be mainly reserved for
German capital, and that increased work shall be provided for
the German diamond-cutting industry.

AFRICA: Portuguese: A. D. 1905-1908.
Continued existence of slavery.

General F. Joubert-Pienaar, one of the prominent Boer leaders
in the Boer-British War, is the authority for startling
statements concerning the continued maintenance of slavery in
Portuguese Africa. He attempted to become a settler in that
region, and related subsequently what he saw and heard during
his stay in it. Of an experience at the Island Principe he
said: "The English director of the cable office took me to
some of the cocoa plantations, with which the slopes of the
hills are covered. He told me that it was a terribly unhealthy
place to live, and that Europeans could not exist there for
more than a couple of months at a time, and that frequent
changes have to be made, therefore, in the telegraph
department. He told me, further, that the year before the
whole original population of the island had died from malarial
fever, and that the following year they imported five hundred
slaves, men and women, to repopulate the island. That was ten
months before my visit. Pointing to five women walking on the
street, he said: 'There are all that are left of the women
imported, and only about a dozen men remain.' I asked him how
they carried on the work of the plantations. He said it was
done by simply importing slaves, from time to time, to replace
those who had died."

General Joubert-Pienaar declares that he never heard of a
single case where one of these slaves had returned to his own
country, while in the coast towns the abnormal proportion of
native women and children noticeable is due to the fact that
the men have been sent as slaves to the islands. The method of
obtaining the slaves and of making the pretense of a contract
with them is thus described: "When any slaves are wanted in
the islands, the plantation owner informs the slave-traders on
the mainland. The slave-trader goes to a strong chief, inland,
and bargains with him for the number of slaves he requires,
generally paying him in rifles and ammunition.
{6}
This chief will not send any of his own men to the islands,
but, calling his braves, he goes to some weaker tribe, attacks
it, and annihilates the tribe, taking the men, women,
children, and cattle captive. The men, and as many
women as are necessary, he hands over to the
slave-trader, the rest of the women and the cattle he
keeps for himself and his people, and the children he
sells to colonists for slaves. On these slave-hunting
expeditions the most terrible cruelties are enacted and
the most gruesome atrocities perpetrated. … Arriving at
the coast, these men—and sometimes women when they are
required—are brought before an officer appointed for the
purpose. He reads the contract to them in Portuguese; and
after the contract has been read to these people, who do not
understand one word of the language, a black man, who is
stationed there for the purpose, shouts to these slaves to say
‘Yes!’ Of course they all repeat the ‘Yes’ after him, and the
Portuguese official then certifies that these men have all
agreed to go and work on the islands under the terms of the
contract read to them. He then takes a little tin box, in
which a copy of the contract is placed, and ties it around the
neck of each of the slaves."

AFRICA:
Somaliland: Troubles with the Mullah.

In 1902 the British in their Somali Coast Protectorate began
to be harassed by raids from the bordering desert region led
by a religious agitator who had assumed the character known as
that of a Mullah. Three years previously the British Consul at
Berbera had reported to London the appearance of this
personage, Muhammad Abdullah by name, in the Dolbahanta
country, and that he was said to be "collecting arms and men
with a view to establishing his authority over the
southeastern portion of the Protectorate." He had made several
pilgrimages to Mecca, and had attached himself there to a sect
which "preaches more regularity in the hours of prayer" and
"stricter attention to the forms of religion." He had begun
the use of force to compel the tribes of his region to join
his sect, and was evidently gaining power to make trouble. The
trouble was realized in due time, and became serious in 1902,
when, in October, Colonel Swayne, with a native levy of
troops, having driven the Mullah’s raiders back into the
desert, followed them thither, and suffered a serious reverse.
He was attacked and compelled to retreat, with a loss of two
officers and 70 men killed and two officers, with about 100
men wounded. Troops were then sent to the Protectorate from
India and careful preparations were made for dealing with the
Mullah in a more effectual way. He, meantime, sent demands for
political recognition and for the cession to him of a port.

Early in 1903 operations against the Mullah were renewed, with
strongly increased forces from India and from African native
levies; but the results were again disastrous. A detachment
from a column which pursued the Mullah into his own region
ventured too far in the advance and was overwhelmed, losing
nearly 200 officers and men. There appears to have been no
success during the year to counterbalance this reverse.

AFRICA:
Peace with the Mullah.

The Mullah was brought at last to an agreement with Great
Britain and Italy which established comparative peace for the
time being in Somaliland, with the promise of freedom in
trade.

Notwithstanding the pacific agreement with the Mullah,
effected in 1905, troubles on the Somali border have
continued, because of his attacks on friendly tribes. Early in
1909 it was announced that the British forces in Somaliland
were to be increased, but that there was no intention to
embark on any expedition against the Mullah. A despatch from
Bombay, India, on the 3d of January, said: "Further operations
against the Somaliland Mullah are strongly deprecated. It is
impossible to conduct a successful campaign, owing to the
difficulty of obtaining supplies, unless a light railway 200
miles long is built to Bohotle. The Mullah, who is an able
man, is not believed to be anxious to engage in fresh
hostilities with the British, but he is determined to dominate
the Hinterland. Experts consider that no new movement on the
lines of the last campaign would produce a satisfactory
result. The Mullah’s strength is unknown, but it is probably
great, as his camp sometimes covers ten square miles. His
mobility is astonishing, and he can always elude our troops.
Our present advanced outpost is Burao, 80 miles from Berbera,
where there is a small force of the King’s African Rifles. The
country is practically worthless, and the best course,
probably, is to hold the coast and to leave the far interior
severely alone. The friendly tribes cannot be further
effectively protected without permanently employing a large
force. Minor operations are now merely a waste of money."

AFRICA:
Sudan: Suppression of a new Mahdi.

A new Mahdi proclaimed himself in Southern Kordofan in
November, 1903. He was a native of Tunis, named Mahomed El
Amin, who had twice made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Colonel
Mahon, the Deputy-Governor of the Sudan, on hearing of
Mahomed’s proclamation, started instantly from Khartoum, with
200 cavalry, sending orders to El Obeid for 200 infantry, with
Maxims, to meet him near Tagalla. With this force, after a
five days march, through the desert toward the Tagalla
mountains, he caught the Mahdi, took him to El Obeid and tried
and hanged him straightway.

AFRICA:
Population.

Lord Cromer, in his annual report, 1904, estimated the
population of the Sudan, within the British-Egyptian
Condominium, at no more than 1,870,000, to which number it had
been reduced by war and disease from former estimates of
8,525,000, prior to the Mahdi domination.

See, also, ALGIERS, CONGO, EGYPT, MOROCCO,
RHODESIA, SOUTH AFRICA, etc.

AGLIPAY, Padre Gregorio:
His secession from the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines.

See (in this Volume)
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1902.

AGRAM TRIALS, The.

See (in this Volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1908-1909.

AGRARIAN INTEREST, in Germany:
Its triumph in 1909.

See (in this Volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1908-1909.

AGRARIAN LAW, The Russian.

See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1909 (APRIL).

AGRICULTURAL CRISIS IN RUSSIA.

See (in this Volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1905.

AGRICULTURE:
Coöperative and other unions among farmers.

See (in this Volume)
LABOR ORGANIZATION: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1902-1909;
AND LABOR REMUNERATION: COÖPERATIVE ORGANIZATION.

AGRICULTURE:
Dry Farming.

See (in this Volume)
SCIENCE AND INVENTION: AGRICULTURE.

{7}

AGRICULTURE:
Germany: Decrease of agricultural population.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1907.

AGRICULTURE:
Increasing cooperative organization in Great Britain.

See LABOR REMUNERATION: COÖPERATIVE ORGANIZATION.

AGRICULTURE: International Institute:
Its origin and purpose.
Created under the auspices of the King of Italy.
Forty nations associated in its membership.
Its seat near Rome.

The idea of an international organization for systematizing
the agricultural production of the world and regulating the
markets of food products, by constant and authentic knowledge
of crops and conditions, was conceived some years ago by Mr.
David Lubin, of California. It was first expressed by him
publicly at Budapest in 1896, but was the growth of thirteen
years of thought preceding that date. As the result of Mr.
Lubin’s efforts to interest governments and peoples in the
project, King Victor Emmanuel III., of Italy, became its
hearty patron in 1903, and took the initiative step toward
effecting an organization as wide as the civilized world, by
inviting all nations to take part in a convention of delegates
for the purpose, at Rome, in May, 1905. The invitation, as
addressed to the Government of the United States by the
Italian Ambassador at Washington, on the 26th of February,
1905, was in these words: "By order of my government, I have
the honor to inform your excellency that His Majesty the King,
my august sovereign, has taken the initiative in the formation
of an international institute of agriculture to be composed of
representatives of the great agricultural societies of the
various countries and of delegates from the several
governments. This institute, being devoid of any political
intent, should tend to bring about a community of interests
among agriculturists and to protect these interests in the
markets of the world. It will study agricultural conditions in
the different countries, periodically indicating the supply
and the quality of products with accuracy and care, so as to
proportion production to demand, increase and distribute the
various crops according to the rate of consumption, render the
commerce of agricultural products less costly and more
expeditious, and suitably determine the prices thereof. Acting
in unison with the various national bureaus already existing,
it will furnish accurate information on conditions regarding
agricultural labor in various localities, and will regulate
and direct the currents of emigration. It will favor the
institution of agricultural exchanges and labor bureaus. It
will protect both producers and consumers against the excesses
of transportation and forestalling syndicates, keeping a watch
on middlemen, pointing out their abuses, and acquainting the
public with the true conditions of the market. It will foster
agreements for common defense against the diseases of plants
and live stock, against which individual defense is less
effectual. It will help to develop rural cooperation,
agricultural insurance, and agrarian credit. It will study and
propose measures of general interest, preparing international
agreements for the benefit of agriculture and the agricultural
classes.

"Carrying out the intention of His Majesty, the Italian
Government appeals to all friendly nations, each of which
ought to have its own representatives in the institute,
appointed to act as the exponents of their respective
governments, as organs of mutual relations, and as mediums of
reciprocal influence and information. It accordingly now
invites them to participate through their delegates in the
first convention, which is to be held at Rome next May for the
purpose of preparing rules for the new institute.

"The King’s Government trusts that the United States will be
willing to cooperate in the enterprise, the first inspiration
of which is due to an American citizen, and that, accepting
the invitation to the conference at Rome, it will send thither
a delegation commensurate with its importance as the foremost
agricultural nation in the world."

Gratifying responses to the invitation were made by most, if
not all, of the governments addressed, and the Conference at
Rome was held at the appointed time. It concluded its sessions
on the 7th of June by attaching the signatures of the
delegates of the Powers represented to a final Act, which
embodies the resolutions on which they had agreed. This Act of
organization was as follows:

"Article 1.
There is hereby created a permanent international institute of
agriculture, having its seat at Rome.

"Article 2.
The international institute of agriculture is to be a
government institution, in which each adhering power shall be
represented by delegates of its choice. The institute shall be
composed of a general assembly and a permanent committee, the
composition and duties of which are defined in the ensuing
articles.

"Article 3.
The general assembly of the institute shall be composed of the
representatives of the adhering governments. Each nation,
whatever be the number of its delegates, shall be entitled to
a number of votes in the assembly which shall be determined
according to the group to which it belongs, and to which
reference will be made in article 10.

"Article 4.
The general assembly shall elect for each session from among
its members a president and two vice-presidents. The sessions
shall take place on dates fixed by the last general assembly
and according to a programme proposed by the permanent
committee and adopted by the adhering governments.

"Article 5.
The general assembly shall exercise supreme control over the
international institute of agriculture. It shall approve the
projects prepared by the permanent committee regarding the
organization and internal workings of the institute. It shall
fix the total amount of expenditures and audit and approve the
accounts. It shall submit to the approval of the adhering
governments modifications of any nature involving an increase
in expenditure or an enlargement of the functions of the
institute. It shall set the date for holding the sessions. It
shall prepare its regulations. The presence at the general
assemblies of delegates representing two-thirds of the
adhering nations shall be required in order to render the
deliberations valid.

"Article 6.
The executive power of the institute is intrusted to the
permanent committee, which, under the direction and control of
the general assembly, shall carry out the decisions of the
latter and prepare propositions to submit to it.

{8}

"Article 7.
The permanent committee shall be composed of members
designated by the respective governments. Each adhering nation
shall be represented in the permanent committee by one member.
However, the representation of one nation may be intrusted to
a delegate of another adhering nation, provided that the
actual number of members shall not be less than fifteen. The
conditions of voting in the permanent committee shall be the
same as those indicated in article 3 for the general
assemblies.

"Article 8.
The permanent committee shall elect from among its
members for a period of three years a president and a
vice-president, who may be reelected. It shall prepare
its internal regulations, vote the budget of the
institute within the limits of the funds placed at its
disposal by the general assembly, and appoint and remove
the officials and employees of its office. The general
secretary of the permanent committee shall act as
secretary' of the assembly.

"Article 9.
The institute, confining its operations within an
international sphere, shall—

(a) Collect, study, and publish as promptly as possible
statistical, technical, or economic information concerning
farming, both vegetable and animal products, the commerce in
agricultural products, and the prices prevailing in the
various markets:

(b) Communicate to parties interested, also as promptly as
possible, all the information just referred to;

(c) Indicate the wages paid for farm work;

(d) Make known the new diseases of vegetables which may appear
in any part of the world, showing the territories infected,
the progress of the disease, and, if possible, the remedies
which are effective in combating them;

(e) Study questions concerning agricultural coöperation,
insurance, and credit in all their aspects; collect and
publish information which might be useful in the various
countries in the organization of works connected with
agricultural coöperation, insurance, and credit;

(f) Submit to the approval of the governments, if there is
occasion for it, measures for the protection of the common
interests of farmers and for the improvement of their
condition, after having utilized all the necessary sources of
information, such as the wishes expressed by international or
other agricultural congresses or congresses of sciences
applied to agriculture, agricultural societies, academies,
learned bodies, etc.

All questions concerning the economic interests, the
legislation, and the administration of a particular nation
shall be excluded from the consideration of the institute.

"Article 10.
The nations adhering to the institute shall be classed in five
groups, according to the place which each of them thinks it
ought to occupy. The number of votes which each nation shall
have and the number of units of assessment shall be
established according to the following gradations:

Groups of nations. Numbers of votes Units of assessment.

I 5 16
II 4 8
III 3 4
IV 2 2
V 1 1

In any event the contribution due per unit of assessment shall
never exceed a maximum of 2,500 francs. As a temporary
provision the assessment for the first two years shall not
exceed 1,500 francs per unit. Colonies may, at the request of
the nations to which they belong, be admitted to form part of
the institute on the same conditions as the independent
nations.

"Article 11.
The present convention shall be ratified and the ratifications
shall be exchanged as soon as possible by depositing them with
the Italian Government."