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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:34:17 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:34:17 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10341-0.txt b/10341-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d191e73 --- /dev/null +++ b/10341-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15260 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10341 *** + +THE GREAT EVENTS + +BY + +FAMOUS HISTORIANS + +A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY, +EMPHASIZING THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE +NARRATIVES IN THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS + +NON-SECTARIAN NON-PARTISAN NON-SECTIONAL + +ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE MOST +DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE, INCLUDING BRIEF +INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED +NARRATIVES. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY. WITH THOROUGH INDICES. +BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF READING + + +EDITED BY + +CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D. + +_Aided by a staff of specialists_ + + +CONTENTS + + +VOLUME XXI + +_An Outline Narrative of the Great Events_ + CHARLES F. HORNE + +_The United States House of Governors_ (_A.D. 1910_) + WILLIAM S. JORDAN + THE GOVERNORS + +_Union of South Africa_ (_A.D. 1910_) + PROF. STEPHEN LEACOCK + +_Portugal Becomes a Republic_ (_A.D. 1910_) + WILLIAM ARCHER + +_The Crushing of Finland_ (_A.D. 1910_) + JOHN JACKOL + BARON SERGIUS WITTE + BARON VON PLEHVE + J.H. REUTER + +_Man's Fastest Mile_ (_A.D. 1911_) + C.F. CARTER + ISAAC MARCOSSON + +_The Fall of Diaz_ (_A.D. 1911_) + MRS. E.A. TWEEDIE + DOLORES BUTTERFIELD + +_Fall of the English House of Lords_ (_A.D. 1911) + ARTHUR PONSONBY + SYDNEY BROOKS + CAPTAIN GEORGE SWINTON + +_The Turkish-Italian War_ (_A.D. 1911_) + WILLIAM T. ELLIS + THE WAR CORRESPONDENTS + +_Woman Suffrage_ (_A.D. 1911_) + IDA HUSTED HARPER + ISRAEL ZANGWILL + JANE ADDAMS + DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE + ELBERT HUBBARD + +_Militarism_ (_A.D. 1911_) + NORMAN ANGELL + SIR MAX WAECHTER + +_Persia's Loss of Liberty_ (_A.D. 1911_) + W. MORGAN SHUSTER + +_Discovery of the South Pole_ (_A.D. 1911_) + ROALD AMUNDSEN + +_The Chinese Revolution_ (_A.D. 1912_) + ROBERT MACHRAY + R.F. JOHNSTON + TAI-CHI QUO + +_A Step Toward World Peace_ (_A.D. 1912_) + HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT + +_Tragedy of the "Titanic"_ (_A.D. 1912_) + W.A. INGLIS + +_Our Progressing Knowledge of Life Surgery_ (_A.D. 1912_) + GENEVIEVE GRANDCOURT + PROFESSOR R. LEGENDRE + +_Overthrow of Turkey by the Balkan States_ (_A.D. 1912_) + J. ELLIS BARKER + FREDERICK PALMER + PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +_Mexico Plunged Into Anarchy_ (_A.D. 1913_) + EDWIN EMERSON + WILLIAM CAROL + +_The New Democracy_ (_A.D. 1913_) + PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON + +_The Income Tax in America_ (_A.D. 1913_) + JOSEPH A. HILL + +_The Second Balkan War_ (_A.D. 1913_) + PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + CAPT. A.H. TRAPMANN + +_Opening of the Panama Canal_ (_A.D. 1914_) + COL. GEORGE W. GOETHALS + BAMPFYLDE FULLER + +_Universal Chronology_ (_1910-1914_) + + + + +AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE + +TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF + +THE GREAT EVENTS + + +THE RECENT DAYS (1910-1914) + + +CHARLES F. HORNE + +The awful, soul-searing tragedy of Europe's great war of 1914 came to +most men unexpectedly. The real progress of the world during the five +years preceding the war had been remarkable. All thinkers saw that the +course of human civilization was being changed deeply, radically; but +the changes were being accomplished so successfully that men hoped that +the old brutal ages of military destruction were at an end, and that we +were to progress henceforth by the peaceful methods of evolution rather +than the hysterical excitements and volcanic upheavals of revolution. + +Yet even in the peaceful progress of the half-decade just before 1914 +there were signs of approaching disaster, symptoms of hysteria. This +period displayed the astonishing spectacle of an English parliament, +once the high example for dignity and the model for self-control among +governing bodies, turned suddenly into a howling, shrieking mob. It +beheld the Japanese, supposedly the most extravagantly loyal among +devotees of monarchy, unearthing among themselves a conspiracy of +anarchists so wide-spread, so dangerous, that the government held their +trials in secret and has never dared reveal all that was discovered. It +beheld the women of Persia bursting from the secrecy of their harems +and with modern revolvers forcing their own democratic leaders to stand +firm in patriotic resistance to Russian tyranny. It beheld the English +suffragettes. + +Yet the movement toward universal Democracy which lay behind all these +extravagances was upon the whole a movement borne along by calm +conviction, not by burning hatreds or ecstatic devotions. A profound +sense of the inevitable trend of the world's evolution seemed to have +taken possession of the minds of the masses of men. They felt the +uselessness of opposition to this universal progress, and they showed +themselves ready, sometimes eager, to aid and direct its trend as best +they might. + +If, then, we seek to give a name to this particular five years, let us +call it the period of humanitarianism, of man's really awakened +kindliness toward his brothers of other nationalities. The universal +peace movement, which was a child in 1910, had by 1914 become a +far-reaching force to be reckoned with seriously in world politics. Any +observer who studied the attitude of the great American people in 1898 +on the eve of their war with Spain, and again in 1914 during the +trouble with Mexico, must have clearly recognized the change. There was +so much deeper sense of the tragedy of war, so much clearer +appreciation of the gap between aggressive assault and necessary +self-defense, so definite a recognition of the fact that murder remains +murder, even though it be misnamed glory and committed by wholesale, +and that any one who does not strive to stop it becomes a party to the +crime. + +While the sense of brotherhood was thus being deepened among the people +of all the world, the associated cause of Democracy also advanced. The +earlier years of the century had seen the awakening of this mighty +force in the East; these later years saw its sudden decisive renewal of +advance in the West. The center of world-progress once more shifted +back from Asia to America and to England. The center of resistance to +that progress continued, as it had been before, in eastern Europe. + +PROGRESS OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA + +Let us note first the forward movement in the United States. The +Conservation of Natural Resources, that striking step in the new +patriotism, which had been begun in the preceding decade, was carried +forward during these years with increasing knowledge. A new idea +developed from it, that of establishing a closer harmony among the +States by means of a new piece of governmental machinery, the House of +Governors.[1] This was formed in 1910. + +[Footnote 1: See _The United States House of Governors_, page 1.] + +To a nation bred as the Americans have been in an almost superstitious +reverence for a particular form of government, this change or any +change whatever becomes a matter of great moment. It is their final +recognition that the present can not be molded to fit the machinery of +the past. The nearer a Constitution comes to perfection in fitting the +needs of one century, the more wholly it is likely to fail in fitting +the needs of the next. The United States Government was not at its +beginning a genuine Democracy, though approaching it more nearly than +did any other great nation of the day. Putting aside the obvious point +that the American Constitution deliberately protected slavery, which is +the primal foe of all Democracy, the broader fact remains that the +entire trend of the Constitution was intended to keep the educated and +aristocratic classes in control and to protect them from the dangers of +ignorance and rascally demagoguery. + +The weapons of self-defense thus reserved by the thoughtful leaders +were, in the course of generations, seized upon as the readiest tools +of a shrewd plutocracy, which entrenched itself in power. Rebellion +against that plutocracy long seemed almost hopeless; but at last, in +the year 1912, the fight was carried to a successful issue. In both the +great political parties, the progressive spirit dominated. The old +party lines were violently disrupted, and President Wilson was elected +as the leader of a new era seeking new ideals of universal equality.[2] + +[Footnote 2: See _The New Democracy_, page 323.] + +Nor must we give to the President's party alone the credit of having +recognized the new spirit of the people. Even before his election, his +predecessor, Mr. Taft, had led the Republican party in its effort to +make two amendments to the Constitution, one allowing an Income Tax, +the other commanding the election of Senators by direct vote of the +people. Both of these were assaults upon entrenched "Privilege." The +Constitution had not been amended by peaceful means for over a century; +yet both of these amendments were now put through easily.[1] This +revolt against two of the most undemocratic of the features of the +ancient and honored Constitution was almost like a second declaration +of American independence. + +[Footnote 1: See _The Income Tax in America_, page 338.] + +Perhaps, too, the change in the Senate may prove a help to the cause of +universal peace. The governments of both Taft and Wilson were +persistent in their efforts to establish arbitration treaties with +other nations, and the Senate, jealous of its own treaty-making +authority, had been a frequent stumbling-block in their path. Yet, +despite the Senate's conservatism, arbitration treaties of +ever-increasing importance have been made year after year. A war +between the United States and England or France, or indeed almost any +self-ruling nation, has become practically impossible.[2] + +[Footnote 2: See _A Step Toward World Peace_, page 259.] + +In her dealing with her Spanish-American neighbors, the United States +has been less fortunate. She has, indeed, achieved a labor of +world-wide value by completing the "big ditch" between the Oceans.[3] +Yet her method of acquiring the Panama territory from Colombia had been +arbitrary and had made all her southern neighbors jealous of her power +and suspicious of her purposes. Into the midst of this era of +unfriendliness was injected the Mexican trouble. Diaz, who had ruled +Mexico with an iron hand for a generation, was overthrown.[4] President +Madero, who conquered him, was supported by the United States; and +Spanish America began to suspect the "Western Colossus" of planning a +protectorate over Mexico. + +[Footnote 3: See _Opening of the Panama Canal_, page 374.] + +[Footnote 4: See _The Fall of Diaz_, page 96.] + +Then came a counter-revolution. Madero was betrayed and slain, and the +savage and bloody Indian general, Huerta, seized the power.[1] The +antagonism of the United States Government against Huerta was so marked +that at length the anxious South American Powers urged that they be +allowed to mediate between the two; and the United States readily +accepted this happy method of proving her real devotion to arbitration +and of reestablishing the harmony of the Americas. + +[Footnote 1: See _Mexico Plunged into Anarchy_, page 300.] + +In itself the entire Mexican movement may be regarded as another great, +though confused, step in the world-wide progress of Democracy. The +upheaval has been repeatedly compared to the French Revolution. The +rule of Diaz was really like that of King Louis XVI in France, a +government by a narrow and wealthy aristocracy who had reduced the +ignorant Mexican peasants or "peons" to a state of slavery. The bloody +battles of all the recent warfare have been fought by these peons in a +blind groping for freedom. They have disgraced their cause by excesses +as barbarous as those perpetrated by the French peasantry; but they +have also fought for their ideal with a heroism unsurpassed by that of +any French revolutionist. + +DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD + +Equally notable as forming part of this unceasing march of Democracy +was the progress of both Socialism and Woman Suffrage. But with these +two movements we must look beyond America; for their advance was not +limited to any single country. It became world-wide. When Woman +Suffrage was first established in New Zealand and Australia, the fact +made little impression upon the rest of the globe; but when northern +Europe accepted the idea, and Finland and Norway granted women full +suffrage and Sweden and Denmark gave them almost as much, the movement +was everywhere recognized as important. In Asia women took an active +and heroic part in the struggles for liberty both in Persia and in +China. In England the "militant" suffragists have forced Parliament to +deal with their problem seriously, amid much embarrassment. In the +United States, the movement, regarded rather humorously at first, +became a matter of national weight and seriousness when in 1910 the +great State of California enfranchised its women, half a million of +them. Woman Suffrage now dominates the Western States of America and is +slowly moving eastward.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Woman Suffrage_, page 156.] + +Socialism, also, though some may call it a mistaken and confused dream, +is yet a manifestation of Democracy and as such will have its voice +along with other forms of the great world-spirit. It has made +considerable advance in America, where there have recently been +Socialist mayors in some cities, and even Socialist Congressmen. But +its main progress has been in Europe. There it can no longer be +discussed as an economic theory; it has become a stupendous and +unevadable fact. It is the laboring man's protest against the tyranny +of that militarism which terrorizes Europe.[2] And since military +tyranny is heaviest in Germany, Socialism has there risen to its +greatest strength. The increase of the Socialist vote in German +elections became perhaps the most impressive political phenomenon of +the past twenty years. In 1912 this vote was more than one-third of the +total vote of the Empire, and the Socialists were the largest single +party in Germany. The Socialists of France are almost equally strong; +and so are those in Italy. When war recently threatened Europe over the +Morocco dispute, the Socialists in each of these countries made solemn +protest to the world, declaring that laboring men were brothers +everywhere and had no will to fight over any governmental problem. Many +extremists among the brotherhood even went so far as to defy their +governments openly, declaring that if forced to take up arms they would +turn them against their tyrannous oppressors rather than against their +helpless brothers of another nation. Thus the burden of militarism did +by its own oppressive weight rouse the opposing force of Socialism to +curb it. + +[Footnote 2: See _Militarism_, page 186.] + +In Italy the Socialists were growing so powerful politically that it +was largely as a political move against them that the government in +1911 suddenly declared war against Turkey. + +Thus was started the series of outbreaks which recently convulsed +southeastern Europe.[1] Seldom has a war been so unjustifiable, so +obviously forced upon a weaker nation for the sake of aggrandizement, +as that of Italy against the "Young Turks" who were struggling to +reform their land. The Italians seized the last of Turkey's African +possessions, with scarce a shadow of excuse. This increase of territory +appealed to the pride and so-called "patriotism" of the Italian people. +The easy victories in Africa gratified their love of display; and many +of the ignorant poor who had been childish in their attachment to the +romantic ideals of Socialism now turned with equal childishness to +applaud and support their "glorious" government. Yet even here +Democracy made its gain; for under shelter of this popularity the +government granted a demand it had long withheld. Male suffrage, +previously very limited in Italy, was made universal. + +[Footnote 1: See _The Turkish-Italian War_, page 140.] + +The humiliation of Turkey in this Italian war led to another and far +larger contest, and to that practical elimination of Turkey from +European affairs which had been anticipated for over a century. The +Balkan peoples, half freed from Turkey in 1876, took advantage of her +weakness to form a sudden alliance and attack her all together.[2] +This, also, was a Democratic movement, a people's war against their +oppressors. The Bulgars, most recently freed of the victims of Turkish +tyranny, hated their opponents with almost a madman's frenzy. The +Servians wished to free their brother Serbs and to strengthen +themselves against the persistent encroachments of Austria. The Greeks, +defeated by the Turks in 1897, were eager for revenge, hopeful of +drawing all their race into a single united State. Never was a war +conducted with greater dash and desperation or more complete success. +The Turks were swept out of all their European possessions except for +Constantinople itself; and they yielded to a peace which left them +nothing of Europe except the mere shore line where the continents come +together. + +[Footnote 2: See _The Overthrow of Turkey_, page 282.] + +But then there followed what most of the watchers had expected, a +division among the victorious allies. Most of these were still half +savage, victims of centuries of barbarity. In their moment of triumph +they turned upon one another, snarling like wild beasts over the spoil. +Bulgaria, the largest, fiercest, and most savage of the little States, +tried to fight Greece and Servia together. She failed, in a strife +quite as bloody as that against Turkey. The neighboring State of +Roumania also took part against the Bulgars. So did the Turks, who, +seeing the helplessness of their late tigerish opponent, began +snatching back the land they had ceded to Bulgaria.[1] The exhausted +Bulgars, defeated upon every side, yielded to their many foes. + +[Footnote 1: See _The Second Balkan War_, page 350.] + +Thus we face to-day a new Balkan Peninsula, consisting of half a dozen +little independent nations, all thoroughly democratic, except Turkey. +And even Turkey, we should remember, has made a long stride toward +Democracy by substituting for the autocracy of the Sultan the +constitutional rule of the "Young Turks," These still retain their +political control, though sorely shaken in power by the calamities +their country has undergone under their brief rĂ©gime. + +From this semi-barbarity of southeastern Europe, let us turn to note +the more peaceful progress which seemed promising the West. Little +Portugal suddenly declared herself a Republic in 1910.[2] She had been +having much anarchistic trouble before, killing of kings and hurling of +bombs. Now there was a brief, almost bloodless, uprising; and the young +new king fled. Prophets freely predicted that the unpractical and +unpractised Republic could not last. But instead of destroying itself +in petty quarrels, the new government has seemed to grow more able and +assured with each passing year. + +[Footnote 2: See _Portugal Becomes a Republic_, page 28.] + +In Spain also, the party favoring a Republic grew so strong that its +leaders declared openly that they could overturn the monarchy any time +they wished. But they said the time was not ripe, they must wait until +the people had become more educated politically, and had learned more +about self-government, before they ventured to attempt it. Here, +therefore, we have Democracy taking a new and important step. To man's +claim of the right of self-government was subjoined the recognition of +the fact that until he reaches a certain level of intelligence he is +unfit to exercise that right, and with it he is likely to bring himself +more harm than happiness. + +Perhaps even more impressive was the struggle toward Democracy in +England. Here, from the year 1905 onward, a "Liberal" government in +nominal power was opposed at every turn persistently, desperately, +sometimes hysterically, by a "Conservative" opposition. The Liberals, +after years of worsted effort, saw that they could make no possible +progress unless they broke the power of the always Conservative House +of Lords. They accomplished this in 1911 amid the weeping and wailing +of all Britain's aristocracy, who are thoroughly committed to the +doctrine of the mighty teacher, Carlyle, that men should find out their +great leaders and then follow these with reverent obedience. Of course +the doctrine has in the minds of the British aristocracy the very +natural addendum that _they_ are the great leaders.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Fall of the English House of Lords_, page 133.] + +With the power of the nobles thus swept aside, the British Liberals +went on to that long-demanded extension of Democracy, the granting of +Home Rule to Ireland. Here, too, England's Conservatives fought the +Liberals desperately. And here there was a subtler issue to give the +Conservatives justification. The great majority of Irish are of the +Roman Catholic faith, and so would naturally set up a Catholic +government; but a part of northern Ireland is Protestant and bitterly +opposed to Catholic domination. These Protestants, or "Ulsterites," +demanded that if the rest of Ireland got home rule, they must get it +also, and be allowed to rule themselves by a separate Parliament of +their own. The Conservatives accepted this democratic demand as an ally +of their conservative clinging to the "good old laws." They encouraged +the Ulsterites even to the point of open rebellion. But despite every +obstacle, the Liberals continued their efforts until the Home Rule bill +was assured in 1914. + +Let us look now beyond Europe. England deserves credit for the big +forward step taken by her colonies in South Africa. All of these joined +in 1910 in a union intended to be as indissoluble as that of the United +States. Thus to the mighty English-speaking nations developing in a +united Australia and a united Canada, there was now added a third, the +nation of South Africa.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Union of South Africa_, page 17.] + +In Asia, too, there was a most surprising and notable democratic step. +China declared itself a Republic. Considerable fighting preceded this +change, warfare of a character rather vague and purposeless; for China +is so huge that a harmony of understanding among her hundreds of +millions is not easily attained. Yet, on the whole, with surprisingly +little conflict and confusion the change was made. The oldest nation in +the world joined hands with the youngest in adopting this modern form +of "government by the people."[2] The world is still watching, however, +to see whether the Chinese have passed the level of political wisdom +awaited by the Spanish republicans, and can successfully exercise the +dangerous right they have assumed. + +[Footnote 2: See _The Chinese Revolution_, page 238.] + +Turn back, for a moment, to review all the wonderful advance in popular +government these brief five years accomplished: in the United States, a +political revolution with changes of the Constitution and of the +machinery of government; in Britain, similar changes of government even +more radical in the direction of Democracy; two wholly new Republics +added to the list, one being China, the oldest and most populous +country in the world, the other little Portugal, long accounted the +most spiritless and unprogressive nation in Europe; a shift from +autocratic British rule toward democratic home rule through all the +vast region of South Africa; a similar shift in much-troubled Ireland; +Socialism reaching out toward power through all central Europe; Woman +Suffrage taking possession of northern Europe and western America and +striding on from country to country, from state to state; a bloody and +desperate people's revolution in Mexico; and a similar one of the +Balkan peoples against Turkey! Individuals may possibly feel that some +one or other of these steps was reckless, even perhaps that some may +ultimately have to be retraced in the world's progress. But of their +general glorious trend no man can doubt. + +Were there no reactionary movements to warn us of the terrible +reassertion of autocratic power so soon to deluge earth with horror? +Yes, though there were few democratic defeats to measure against the +splendid record of advance. Russia stood, as she has so long stood, the +dragon of repression. In the days of danger from her own people which +had followed the disastrous Japanese war, Russia had courted her +subject nations by granting them every species of favor. Now with her +returning strength she recommenced her unyielding purpose of +"Russianizing" them. Finland was deprived of the last spark of +independence; so that her own chief champions said of her sadly in +1910, "So ends Finland."[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _The Crushing of Finland_, page 47.] + +In southern Russia the persecutions of the Jews were recommenced, with +charges of "ritual murder" and other incitements of the ignorant +peasantry to massacre. In Asia, Russia reached out beyond her actual +territory to strangle the new-found voice of liberty in Persia. Russia +coveted the Persian territory; Persia had established a constitutional +government a few years before; this government, with American help, +seemed likely to grow strong and assured in its independence. So +Russia, in the old medieval lawlessness of power, reached out and +crushed the Persian government.[2] At this open exertion of tyranny the +world looked on, disapproving, but not resisting. England, in +particular, was almost forced into an attitude of partnership with +Russia's crime. But she submitted sooner than precipitate that +universal war the menace of which came so grimly close during the +strain of the outbreaks around Turkey. The millennium of universal +peace and brotherhood was obviously still far away. Not yet could the +burden of fleets and armaments be cast aside; though every crisis thus +overpassed without the "world war" increased our hopes of ultimately +evading its unspeakable horror. + +[Footnote 2: See _Persia's Loss of Liberty_, page 199.] + +MAN'S ADVANCE IN KNOWLEDGE + +Meanwhile, in the calm, enduring realm of scientific knowledge, there +was progress, as there is always progress. + +No matter what man's cruelty to his fellows, he has still his +curiosity. Hence he continues forever gathering more and more facts +explaining his environment. He continues also molding that environment +to his desires. Imagination makes him a magician. + +Most surprising of his recent steps in this exploration of his +surroundings was the attainment of the South Pole in 1911.[1] This came +so swiftly upon the conquest of the North Pole, that it caught the +world unprepared; it was an unexpected triumph. Yet it marks the +closing of an era. Earth's surface has no more secrets concealed from +man. For half a century past, the only remaining spaces of complete +mystery, of utter blankness on our maps, were the two Poles. And now +both have been attained. The gaze of man's insatiable wonderment must +hereafter be turned upon the distant stars. + +[Footnote 1: See _Discovery of the South Pole_, page 218.] + +But man does not merely explore his environment; he alters it. Most +widespread and important of our recent remodelings of our surroundings +has been the universal adoption of the automobile. This machine has so +increased in popularity and in practical utility that we may well call +ours the "Automobile Age." The change is not merely that one form of +vehicle is superseding another on our roads and in our streets. We face +an impressive theme for meditation in the fact that up to the present +generation man was still, as regarded his individual personal transit, +in the same position as the Romans of two thousand years ago, dependent +upon the horse as his swiftest mode of progress. With the automobile we +have suddenly doubled, quadrupled the size of our "neighborhood," the +space which a man may cover alone at will for a ramble or a call. As +for speed, we seem to have succumbed to an actual mania for +ever-increasing motion. The automobile is at present the champion +speed-maker, the fastest means of propelling himself man has yet +invented. But the aeroplane and the hydroplane are not far behind, and +even the electric locomotive has a thrill of promise for the speed +maniac.[2] + +[Footnote 2: See _Man's Fastest Mile_, page 73.] + +In thus developing his mastery over Nature man sometimes forgets his +danger, oversteps the narrow margin of safety he has left between +himself and the baffled forces of his ancient tyrants, Fire and Water, +Earth and Air. Then indeed, in his moments of weakness, the primordial +forces turn upon him and he becomes subject to tragic and terrific +punishment. Of such character was the most prominent disaster of these +years, the sinking of the ocean steamer _Titanic_. The best talent of +England and America had united to produce this monster ship, which was +hailed as the last, the biggest, the most perfect thing man could do in +shipbuilding. It was pronounced "unsinkable." Its captain was reckless +in his confidence; and Nature reached down in menace from the regions +of northern ice; and the ship perished.[1] Since then another great +ship has sunk, under almost similar conditions, and with almost equal +loss of life. + +[Footnote 1: See _Tragedy of the Titanic_, page 265.] + +Oddly enough at the very moment when we have thus had reimpressed upon +us the uncertainty of our outward mechanical defenses against the +elements, we have been making a curious addition to our knowledge of +inner means of defense. The science of medicine has taken several +impressive strides in recent years, but none more suggestive of future +possibilities of prolonging human life than the recent work done in +preserving man's internal organs and tissues to a life of their own +outside the body.[2] Already it is possible to transfer healthy tissues +thus preserved, or even some of the simpler organs, from one body to +another. Men begin to talk of the probability of rejuvenating the +entire physical form. Thus science may yet bring us to encounter as +actual fact the deep philosophic thought of old, the thought that +regards man as merely a will and a brain, and the body as but the +outward clothing of these, mere drapery, capable of being changed as +the spirit wills. There is no visible limit to this wondrous drama in +which man's patient mastering of his immediate environment is gradually +teaching him to mold to his purpose all the potent forces of the +universe. + +[Footnote 2: See _Our Progressing Knowledge of Life Surgery_, page +273.] + +In this assurance of ultimate success, let us find such consolation as +we may. Though world-war may continue its devastation, though its +increasing horrors may shake our civilization to the deepest depths, +though its wanton destruction may rob us of the hoarded wealth of +generations and the art treasures of all the past, though its beastlike +massacres may reduce the number of men fitted to bear onward the torch +of progress until of their millions only a mere pitiable handful +survive, yet the steps which science has already won cannot be lost. +Knowledge survives; and a happier generation than ours standing some +day secure against the monster of militarism shall continue to uplift +man's understanding till he dwells habitually on heights as yet +undreamed. + + + + +THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF GOVERNORS + +A NEW MACHINERY ADDED TO THE FEDERAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT + +A.D. 1910 + +WILLIAM G. JORDAN + +THE GOVERNORS + +The formal establishment of the "House of Governors," which took place +in January of 1910, marked the climax of a definite movement which has +swept onward through the entire history of the United States. + +When in 1775 the thirteen American colonies made their first effort +toward united action, they were in truth thirteen different nations, +each possessed of differing traditions and a separate history, and each +suspicious and jealous of all the others. Their widely diverging +interests made concerted action almost impossible during the +Revolutionary War. And when necessity ultimately drove them to join in +the close bond of the present United States, their constitution was +planned less for union than for the protection of each suspicious State +against the aggressions of the others. + +Gradually the spread of intercourse among the States has worn away +their more marked differential points of character and purpose. Step by +step the course of history has forced our people into closer harmony +and union. To-day the forty-eight States look to one another in true +brotherhood. And as the final bond of that brotherhood they have +established a new organization, the House of Governors. This +constitutes the only definite change made in the United States +machinery of government since the beginning. + +The House of Governors sprang first from the suggestion of William +George Jordan, who was afterward appropriately selected as its +permanent secretary. Hence we give here Mr. Jordan's own account of the +movement, as being its clearest possible elucidation. Then we give a +series of brief estimates of the importance of the new step from the +pens of those Governors who themselves took part in the gathering. In +their ringing utterances you hear the voice of North and South, +Illinois and Florida, of East and West, Massachusetts and Oregon, and +of the great central Mississippi Valley, all announcing the +fraternizing influence of the new step. + +Governor Willson, of Kentucky, chairman of the committee which arranged +the gathering, in an earnest speech to its members declared that, "If +this conference of Governors had been in existence as an institution in +1860, there would never have been a war between the States. The issues +of the day would have been settled by argument, adjustment, and +compromise." It would be hard to find stronger words for measuring the +possible importance of the new institution. + +WILLIAM G. JORDAN + +The conference of the Governors at Washington this month marks the +beginning of a new epoch in the political history of the nation. It is +the first meeting ever held of the State Executives as a body seeking, +by their united influence, to secure uniform laws on vital subjects for +the welfare of the entire country. It should not be confused with the +Roosevelt conferences of May and December, 1908. It is in no sense a +continuation of them. It is essentially different in aim, method, and +basis, and is larger, broader, and more far-reaching in its +possibilities. + +The nation to-day is facing a grave crisis in its history. Vital +problems affecting the welfare of the whole country, remaining unsolved +through the years, have at last reached an acute stage where they +_demand_ solution. This solution must come now in some form--either in +harmony with the Constitution or in defiance of it. The Federal +Government has been and still is absolutely powerless to act because of +constitutional limitation; the State governments have the sole power, +but heretofore no way has been provided for them to exercise that +power. + +Senator Elihu Root points out fairly, squarely, and relentlessly the +two great dangers confronting the Republic: the danger of the National +Government breaking down in its effective machinery through the burdens +that threaten to be cast upon it; and the danger that the local +self-government of the States may, through disuse, become inefficient. +The House of Governors plan seems to have in it possibilities of +mastering both of these evils at one stroke. + +There are three basic weaknesses in the American system of government +as we know it to-day. There are three insidious evils that are creeping +like a blood-poison through the body politic, threatening the very life +of the Republic. They are killing the soul of self-government, though +perhaps not its form; destroying its essence, though perhaps not its +name. + +These three evils, so intertwined as to be practically one, are: the +growing centralization at Washington, the shifting, undignified, +uncertain status of State rights, and the lack of uniform laws. + +It was to propose a possible cure for these three evils that the writer +sent in February, 1907, to President Roosevelt and to the Governors of +the country a pamphlet on a new idea in American politics. It was the +institution of a new House, a new representation of the people and of +the States to secure uniform legislation on those questions wherein the +Federal Governments could not act because of Constitutional limitation. +The plan proposed, so simple that it would require no Constitutional +amendment to put it into effect, was the organization of the House of +Governors. + +More than thirty Governors responded in cordial approval of the plan. +Eight months later, October, 1907, President Roosevelt invited the +State Executives to a conference at Washington in May, 1908. The writer +pointed out at that time what seemed an intrinsic weakness of the +convention, that it could have little practical result, because it +would be, after all, only a conference, where the Federal Government, +by its limitations, was powerless to carry the findings of the +conference into effect, and the Governors, acting not as a co-operative +body, but as individuals, would be equally powerless in effecting +uniform legislation. It was a conference of conflicting powers. + +The Governors were then urged to meet upon their own initiative, as a +body of peers, working out by united State action those problems where +United States action had for more than a century proved powerless. At +the close of the Roosevelt conference the Governors, at an adjourned +meeting, appointed a committee to arrange time and place for a session +of the Governors in a body of their own, independently of the +President. This movement differentiated the proposed meeting absolutely +from that with the President in every fundamental. It essentially +became more than a conference; it meant a deliberative body of the +Governors uniting to initiate, to inspire, and to influence uniform +laws. The committee then named, consisting of three members, later +increased to five, set the dates January 18, 19, and 20, 1910, for the +first session of the Governors as a separate body. + +WILLIAM G. JORDAN[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reproduced from _The Craftsman_ of October, 1910, by +permission of Gustav Stickley.] + +When a new idea or a new institution confronts the world it must answer +all challenges, show its credentials, specify its claims for +usefulness, and prove its promise by its performance. As an idea the +House of Governors has won the cordial approval of the American press +and public; as an institution it must now justify this confidence. To +grasp fully its powers and possibilities requires a clear, definite +understanding of its spirit, scope, plan, and purpose, and its attitude +toward the Federal Government. + +The House of Governors is a union of the Governors of all the States, +meeting annually in conference as a deliberative body (with no +lawmaking power) for initiative, influence, and inspiration toward a +better, higher, and more unified Statehood. Its organization will be +simple and practical, avoiding red-tape, unnecessary formality, and +elaborate rules and regulations. It will adopt the few fundamental +expressions of its principles of action and the least number of rules +that are absolutely essential to enunciate its plan and scope, to +transmute its united wisdom into united action and to guarantee the +coherence, continuity, and permanence of the organization despite the +frequent changes in its membership due to the short terms of the +Executives in many of the States. + +With the House of Governors rests the power of securing through the +cooperative action of the State legislatures uniform laws on vital +questions demanded by the whole country almost since the dawn of our +history, but heretofore impossible of enactment. The Federal Government +is powerless to pass these laws. For many decades, tight held by the +cramping bonds of Constitutional limitation, it has strained and +struggled, like Samson in the temple, to find some weak spot at which +it could free itself, and endangered the very supporting columns of the +edifice of the Republic. It was bound in its lawmaking powers to the +limitation of eighteen specific phrases, beyond which all power +remained with the States and the people. In the matter of enacting +uniform laws the States have been equally powerless, for, though their +Constitutional right to make them was absolute and unquestioned, no way +had been provided by which they could exercise that right. The States +as individuals, passing their own laws, without considering their +relation or harmony with the laws of other States, brought about a +condition of confusion and conflict. Laws that from their very nature +should be common to all of the States, in the best interests of all, +are now divergent, different, and antagonistic. We have to-day the +strange anomaly of forty-six States united in a union as integral parts +of a single nation, yet having many laws of fundamental importance as +different as though the States were forty-six distinct countries or +nationalities. + +Facing the duality of incapacity--that of the Government because it was +not permitted to act and the States because they did not know how to +exercise the power they possessed--the Federal Government sought new +power for new needs through Constitutional amendments. This effort +proved fruitless and despairing, for with more than two thousand +attempts made in over a century only three amendments were secured, and +these were merely to wind up the Civil War. The whole fifteen +amendments taken together have not added the weight of a hair of +permanent new power to the Federal Government. The people and the +States often sleep serenely on their rights, but they never willingly +surrender them, yet the surrender of a right is often the brave +recognition of a higher duty, the fine assumption of a higher +privilege. In many phases the need grew urgent, something had to be +done. By ingeniously tapping the Constitution to find a weak place and +hammering it thin by decisions, by interpretations, by liberal +readings, by technical evasions and other methods, needed laws were +passed in the interests of the people and the States. Many of these +laws would not stand the rigid scrutiny of the Supreme Court; to many +of them the Government's title may now be valid by a kind of +"squatter's sovereignty" in legislation,--merely so many years of +undisputed possession. + +This was not the work of one administration; it ran with intermittent +ebb and flow through many administrations. Then the slumbering States, +turning restlessly in their complacency, at last awoke and raised a +mighty cry of "Centralization." They claimed that the Government was +taking away their rights, which may be correct in essence but hardly +just in form; they had lost their rights, primarily, not through +usurpation but through abrogation; the Government had acted because of +the default of the States, it had practically been forced to exercise +powers limited to the States because the States lapsed through neglect +and inaction. Then the Government discovered the vulnerable spot in our +great charter, the Achilles heel of the Constitution. It was just six +innocent-looking words in section eight empowering Congress to +"regulate commerce between the several States." It was a rubber phrase, +capable of infinite stretching. It was drawn out so as to cover +antitrust legislation, control and taxation of corporations, +water-power, railroad rates, etc., pure-food law, white-slave traffic, +and a host of others. But even with the most generous extension of this +phrase, which, though it may be necessary, was surely not the original +intent of the Constitution, the greatest number of the big problems +affecting the welfare of the people are still outside the province of +the Government and are up to the States for solution. + +It was to meet this situation, wherein the Government and the States as +individuals could not act, that the simple, self-evident plan of the +House of Governors was proposed. It required no Constitutional +amendment or a single new law passed in any State to create it or to +continue it. It can not make laws; it would be unwise for it to make +them even were it possible. Its sole power is as a mighty moral +influence, as a focusing point for public opinion and as a body equal +to its opportunity of transforming public opinion into public sentiment +and inspiring legislatures to crystallize this sentiment into needed +laws. It will live only as it represents the people, as it has their +sympathy, support, and cooperation, as it seeks to make the will of the +people prevail. But this means a longer, stronger, finer life than any +mere legal authority could give it. + +The House of Governors has the dignity of simplicity. It means merely +the conference of the State Executives, the highest officers and truest +representatives of the States, on problems that are State and +Interstate, and concerted action in recommendations to their +legislatures. The fullest freedom would prevail at all meetings; no +majority vote would control the minority; there would have to be a +quorum decided upon as the number requisite for an initial impulse +toward uniform legislation. If the number approving fell below the +quorum the subject would be shown as not yet ripe for action and be +shelved. Members would be absolutely free to accept or reject, to do +exactly as they please, so no unwilling legislation could be forced on +any State. But if a sufficient number agreed these Governors would +recommend the passage of the desired law to their legislatures in their +next messages. The united effort would give it a greater importance, a +larger dynamic force, and a stronger moral influence with each. It +would be backed by the influence of the Governors, the power of public +sentiment, the leverage of the press, so that the passage of the law +should come easily and naturally. With a few States passing it, others +would fall in line; it would be kept a live issue and followed up and +in a few years we would have legislation national in scope, but not in +genesis. + +The House of Governors, in its attitude toward the Federal Government, +is one of right and dignified non-interference. It will not use its +influence with the Government, memorialize Congress, or pass +resolutions on national matters. What the Governors do or say +individually is, of course, their right and privilege, but as a body it +took its stand squarely and positively at its first conference which +met in Washington in January of this year as one of "securing greater +uniformity of State action and better State Government." Governor +Hughes expressed it in these words: "We are here in our own right as +State Executives; we are not here to accelerate or to develop opinion +with regard to matters which have been committed to Federal power." The +States in their relation to the Federal Government have all needed +representation in their Senators and Congressmen. + +The attitude of the Governors in their conferences is one of +concentration on State and Interstate problems which are outside of the +domain and Constitutional rights of the Federal Government to solve. +There can be no interference when each confines itself to its own +duties. In keeping the time of the nation the Federal Government +represents the hour-hand, the States, united, the minute-hand. There +will be correct time only as each hand confines itself strictly to its +own business, neither attempting to jog the other, but working in +accord with the natural harmony wrapped up in the mechanism. + +We need to-day to draw the sharpest clear-cut line of demarcation +between Federal and State powers. This is in no spirit of antagonism, +but in the truest harmony for the best interests of both. It means an +illumination which will show that the "twilight zone," so called, does +not exist. This dark continent of legislation belongs absolutely to the +States and to the people in the unmistakable terms of the Tenth +Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the +Constitution or prohibited by it to the States are reserved to the +States, respectively, and to the people." This buffer territory of +legislation, the domain of needed uniform laws, belongs to the States +and through the House of Governors they may enter in and possess their +own. The Federal Government and the States are parts of one great +organization, each having its specific duties, powers, and +responsibilities, and between them should be no conflict, no inharmony. + +Let the Federal Government, through Congress, make laws up to the very +maximum of its rights and duties under the Constitution; let the +States, taking up their neglected duties and privileges, relieve the +Government of those cares and responsibilities forced upon it by the +inactivity of the States and which it should never have had to assume. +With the burden thus equitably readjusted, with the dignity of the two +powers of Government working out their individual problems in the +harmony of a fuller understanding, let us face the results. If it then +seem, in the light of changed conditions from those of the time of the +writing of the Constitution, that certain control now held by the +States can not properly be exercised by them, that in final decision of +the best wisdom of the people this power should be vested in the +Federal Government, let the States not churlishly hold on to the casket +of a dead right, but surrender the living body of a responsibility and +a duty to the power best able to be its guardian. There are few, if +any, of their neglected powers of legislation that the States and the +people acting in cooperation, through the House of Governors, will not +be able to handle. + +Some of the subjects upon which free discussion tending toward uniform +laws seems desirable are: marriage and divorce, rights of married +women, corporations and trusts, insurance, child labor, capital +punishment, direct primaries, convict labor and labor in general, +prison reforms, automobile regulations, contracts, banking, +conveyancing, inheritance tax, income tax, mortgages, initiative, +referendum and recall, election reforms, tax adjustment, and similar +topics. In great questions, like Conservation, the Federal Government +has distinct problems it must carry out alone; there are some problems +that must be solved by the States alone, some that may require to be +worked out in cooperation. But the greatest part of the needed +conservation is that which belongs to the States, and which they can +manage better, more thoroughly, more judiciously, with stronger appeal +to State pride, upbuilding, and prosperity, with less conflict and +clearer recognition of local needs and conditions and harmony with them +than can the Federal Government. Four-fifths of the timber standing in +the country to-day is owned, not by the States or the Government, but +by private interests. + +The House of Governors will not seek uniformity merely for the sake of +uniformity. There are many questions whereon uniform laws would be +unnecessary, and others where it would be not only unwise, but +inconceivably foolish. Many States have purely individual problems that +do not concern the other States and do not come in conflict with them, +but even in these the Governors may gain an occasional incidental +sidelight of illumination from the informal discussion in a conference +that may make thinking clearer and action wiser. The spirit that should +inspire the States is the fullest freedom in purely State problems and +the largest unity in laws that affect important questions in Interstate +relations. + +While uniform law is an important element in the thought of the +Conference it is far from being the only one. The frank, easy +interchange of view, opinion, and experience brings the Governors +closely together in the fine fellowship of a common purpose and a +common ideal. They are broadened, stimulated, and inspired to a keener, +clearer vision on a wider outlook. The most significant, vital, and +inspiring phases of these conferences, those which really count for +most, and are the strongest guaranties of the permanence and power of +this movement, must, however, remain intangible. This fact was manifest +in every moment of that first Conference last January. + +The fading of sectional prejudice in the glow of sympathetic +understanding was clearly evident. Some of the Western Governors in +their speeches said that their people of the West had felt that they +were isolated, misrepresented, misunderstood, and misjudged; but now +these Governors could go back to their States and their people with +messages of good will and tell them of the identity of interest, the +communion of purpose, the kinship of common citizenship, and the closer +knowledge that bound them more firmly to the East, to the South, and to +the North. Other Governors spoke of the facilitating of official +business between the States because of these meetings. They would no +longer, in correspondence, write to a State Executive as a mere name +without personality, but their letters would carry with them the +memories of close contact and cordial association with those whom they +had learned to know. There was no faintest tinge of State jealousies or +rivalry. The Governors talked frankly, freely, earnestly of their +States and for them, but it was ever with the honest pride of +trusteeship, never the petty vanity of proprietorship. + +Patriotism seemed to throw down the walls of political party and +partizanship and in the three days' session the words Republican or +Democrat were never once spoken. The Governors showed themselves an +able body of men keenly alive to the importance of their work and with +a firm grasp on the essential issues. The meeting added a new dignity +to Statehood and furnished a new revelation of the power, prestige, and +possibilities of the Governor's office. The atmosphere of the session +was that of States' rights, but it was a new States' rights, a +purified, finer, higher recognition by the States of their individual +right and duty of self-government within their Constitutional +limitations. It meant no lessening of interest in the Federal +Government or of respect and honor of it. It was as a family of sons +growing closer together, strengthened as individuals and working to +solve those problems they have in common, and to make their own way +rather than to depend in weakness on the father of the household to +manage all their affairs and do their thinking for them. To him should +be left the watchfulness of the family as a whole, not the dictation of +their individual living. + +President Taft had no part in the Conference, but in an address of +welcome to the Governors at the White House showed his realization of +the vital possibility of the meeting in these words: + +"I regard this movement as of the utmost importance. The Federal +Constitution has stood the test of more than one hundred years in +supplying the powers that have been needed to make the central +Government as strong as it ought to be, and with this movement toward +uniform legislation and agreement between the States I do not see why +the Constitution may not serve our purpose always." + +AUGUSTUS E. WILLSON[1] + +Governor of Kentucky + +[Footnote 1: The following letters are reprinted by permission from a +collection of such commentaries from _Cottier's Weekly_.] + +President Roosevelt held two conferences of Governors, and as a member +of a committee chosen to do so, I have invited the Governors of all of +the States and Territories to meet at the White House in Washington, +January 18th, 19th, and 20th. + +The conference has no legal authority of any kind. At the previous +conferences, the conservation subject was the one chiefly thought of, +and it will be brought up in the next conference. The question of what +the Governors will recommend on the income-tax constitutional amendment +may come up. The matter of handling extradition papers is important. +Uniform State laws on matters of universal interest, school laws, road +laws, tax laws, commercial paper, warehouse receipts, bills of lading, +etc.; the control of corporations, of which taxation is one branch, the +action of the States in regard to water-powers within the States; +marriage, divorce, wills, schools, roads, are all within the range of +this conference, and the agreement of all of the Governors on some of +these subjects, and by many of them on any, would be of useful +influence. + +The meeting has further interest and importance in being for two days +in touch with the National Civic Federation, which will afford all of +the Governors a chance to learn what that association of many of the +most prominent men of this country is doing, and get the benefit of its +discussions and the pleasure of being acquainted with many leaders of +thought and action in the country, who will attend its sessions. + +I am sure that I speak the sentiment of all of the Governors that they +do not wish any legal power or any authority except that of the weight +of their opinion as chosen State officers. They only wish the benefit +of discussion of important subjects interesting to all of the States, +and to establish kindly and mutually helpful relations between the +Governors and the Governments of the States. + +EBEN S. DRAPER + +Governor of Massachusetts + +I believe that a meeting of Governors may accomplish much good for +every section of the country. They naturally can not legislate, nor +should they attempt to. They can discuss and can learn many things +which are now controlled by law in different States and which would be +improvements to the laws of their own States; and they can recommend to +the legislatures of their own States the enactment of laws which will +bring about these improvements. + +These Governors will be the forty-six [now forty-eight] representative +units of the States of this great nation. By coming together they will +be more than ever convinced that they are integral parts of one nation, +and I believe their meeting will tend to remove all notions of +sectionalism and will help the patriotism and solidarity of the +country. + +CHARLES S. DENEEN + +Governor of Illinois + +The conservation of natural resources often necessitates the +cooperation of neighboring States. In such cases, the discussion of +proposed conservation work by the representatives of the States +concerned is of great importance. It brings to the consideration of +these subjects the views and opinions of those most interested and best +informed in regard to the questions involved. + +The same is true in relation to many subjects of State legislation in +which uniformity is desirable. This is especially the case with regard +to industrial legislation. The great volume of domestic business is +interstate, and the industrial legislation of one State frequently +affects, and sometimes fixes, industrial conditions elsewhere. An +example of the advantage of cooperation of States in the amendment and +revision of laws affecting industry is seen in the agreement by the +commissions recently appointed by New York, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to +investigate the subjects of employers' liability and workmen's +compensation to meet for the joint discussion of these matters. The +General Assembly of Illinois is now convened in extraordinary session, +and has under consideration the appointment of a similar commission in +order that it may meet and cooperate with the commissions of the States +named. + +Along these and other similar lines it seems to me that the House of +Governors will be of practical advantage in the beneficial influence it +will exert in the promotion of joint action where that is necessary to +secure desired ends. + +FRANK W. BENSON Governor of Oregon + +President Roosevelt rendered the American people a great service when +he invited the Governors of the various States to a conference at the +White House in 1908. The subject of conservation of our natural +resources received such attention from the assembled Governors that the +conservation movement has spread to all parts of the country, and has +gained such headway that it will be of lasting benefit to our people. +This one circumstance alone proves the wisdom of the conference of +Governors, and it is my earnest hope that the organization be made +permanent, with annual meetings at our national capital. + +Such meetings can not help but have a broadening effect upon our State +Executives, for, by interchanging ideas and by learning how the +governments of other States are conducted, our Governors will gain +experience which ought to prove of great benefit, not only to +themselves, but to the commonwealths which they represent. Matters +pertaining to interstate relations, taxation, education, conservation, +irrigation, waterways, uniform legislation, and the management of State +institutions are among the subjects that the conference of Governors +will do well to discuss; and such discussions will prove of inestimable +value, not only to the people of our different States, but to our +country as a whole. + +The West is in the front rank of all progressive movements and welcomes +the conference of Governors as a step in the right direction. + +ALBERT W. GILCHRIST + +Governor of Florida + +I can only estimate the significance and importance of this conference +of Governors by my experience from such a conference in the past. It +was my good fortune to be for a week last October on the steamer +excursion down the Mississippi River. The Governors held daily +conferences. Several elucidated the manner in which some particular +governmental problems were solved in their respective States, all of +which was more or less interesting. Of the several Federal matters +discussed, it was specially interesting to me to hear the various +Republican Governors discussing State rights, disputing the right of +interference of the General Government on such lines. It "kinder" made +me smile. In formal discussions of such matters in public, in +Washington, it is probable that such expressions would not be made. + +The result of this conference made me feel as if I knew the Governors +and the people of the various States therein represented far better +than I had before. Such discussions, with the attending personal +intercourse, naturally tend to give those participating in them a +broader nationality. + +The House of Governors will convene; there will be many pleasant social +functions and many pleasant associations will be formed. Some of the +Governors will speak; all of them will resolute. They will behold +evidences of the greatness of our common country and the evidence of +the greatness of our public men, as displayed in the rollicking debates +in the House, and the "knot on the log" discussions of the Senate. +Everything will be as lovely as a Christmas tree. The House will then +adjourn. + +HERBERT S. HADLEY + +Governor of Missouri + +During recent years, the development of the National idea has carried +with it a marked tendency on the part of the people to look to the +National Government for the correction of all evils and abuses existing +in commercial, industrial, and political affairs. The importance of the +State Governments in the solution of such questions has been minimized, +and, in some cases, entirely overlooked, although Congress has been +behind, rather than in advance of, public sentiment upon many questions +of national importance. The Congressmen are elected by the people of +the different Congressional Districts, and regard their most important +duty as looking after the interests of their respective districts. The +United States Senators are elected by the legislatures of the several +States, and do not feel that sense of responsibility to the people that +is incident to an election by the people. The Governors of the various +States are elected by all of the people of the State, and they are more +directly "tribunes of the people" than any other officials, either in +our National or State Governments. These officers will thus give a +correct expression of the sentiment of the people of the States upon +public questions. + +While these expressions of opinion will naturally vary according to the +sentiments and opinions of the people of the various States +represented, yet, on the whole, they will represent more of progress +and more of actual contact with present-day problems than could be +secured from any similar number of public officials. And the addresses +and discussions will also tend to mold the opinions of the people and +have a marked influence not only upon State, but also upon National +legislation. + + + + +UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA A.D. 1910 + +PROF. STEPHEN LEACOCK + +Few historical events have been so impressive as the sudden and +complete union of the South-African States. Seldom have men's minds +progressed so rapidly, their life purposes changed so completely. In +1902 England, with the aid of her African colonists in Cape Colony and +Natal, was ending a bitter war, almost of extermination, against the +Dutch "Boers" of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. In that year +the ablest and most dreaded of England's enemies in Africa was the +Dutch General, Louis Botha, leader of the fiercest and most +irreconcilable Boers, who still waged a hopeless guerrilla warfare +against all the might of the British Empire. As one English paper +dramatically phrases it: "One used to see pictures of Botha in the +illustrated papers in those days, a gaunt, bearded, formidable figure, +with rifle and bandoliers--the most dangerous of our foes. To-day he is +the chief servant of the King in the Federation, the loyal head of the +Administration under the Crown, one of the half-dozen Prime Ministers +of the Empire, the responsible representative and virtual ruler of all +races, classes, and sects in South Africa, acclaimed by the men he led +in the battle and the rout no less than by the men who faced him across +the muzzles of the Mausers ten years ago. Was ever so strange a +transformation, so swift an oblivion of old enmities and rancors, so +rapid a growth of union and concord out of hatred and strife!" + +Necessity has in a way compelled this harmony. The old issue of Boer +independence being dead, new and equally vital issues confronted the +South-Africans. The whites there are scarcely more than a million in +number, and they dwell amid many times their number of savage blacks. +They must unite or perish. Moreover, the folly and expense of +maintaining four separate governments for so small a population were +obvious. So was the need of uniform tariffs in a land where all +sea-coast towns found their prosperity in forwarding supplies to the +rich central mining regions of Kimberley and Johannesburg. Hence all +earnest men of whatever previous opinion came to see the need of union. +And when this union had been accomplished, Lord Gladstone, the British +viceroy over South Africa, wisely selected as the fittest man for the +land's first Prime Minister, General Botha. Botha has sought to unite +all interests in the cabinet which he gathered around him. + +The clear analysis of the new nation and its situation which follows is +reproduced by permission from the _American Political Science Review_, +and is from the pen of Professor Stephen Leacock, head of the +department of Political Economy of McGill University in Montreal, +Canada. A distinguished citizen of one great British federation may +well be accepted as the ablest commentator on the foundation of +another. + +On May 31, 1910, the Union of South Africa became an accomplished fact. +The four provinces of Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange Free State (which +bears again its old-time name), and the Transvaal are henceforth +joined, one might almost say amalgamated, under a single government. +They will bear to the central government of the British Empire the same +relation as the other self-governing colonies--Canada, Newfoundland, +Australia, and New Zealand. The Empire will thus assume the appearance +of a central nucleus with four outlying parts corresponding to +geographical and racial divisions, and forming in all a ground-plan +that seems to invite a renewal of the efforts of the Imperial +Federationist. To the scientific student of government the Union of +South Africa is chiefly of interest for the sharp contrast it offers to +the federal structure of the American, Canadian, and other systems of +similar historical ground. It represents a reversion from the idea of +State rights, and balanced indestructible powers and an attempt at +organic union by which the constituent parts are to be more and more +merged in the consolidated political unit which they combine to form. + +But the Union and its making are of great interest also for the general +student of politics and history, concerned rather with the development +of a nationality than with the niceties of constitutional law. From +this point of view the Union comes as the close of a century of strife, +as the aftermath of a great war, and indicates the consummation, for +the first time in history, of what appears as a solid basis of harmony +between the two races in South Africa. In one shape or other union has +always been the goal of South-African aspiration. It was "Union" which +the "prancing proconsuls" of an earlier time--the Freres, the +Shepstones, and the Lanyons--tried to force upon the Dutch. A united +Africa was at once the dream of a Rhodes and (perhaps) the ambition of +a Kruger. It is necessary to appreciate the strength of this desire for +union on the part of both races and the intense South-African +patriotism in which it rests in order to understand how the different +sections and races of a country so recently locked in the +death-struggle of a three years' war could be brought so rapidly into +harmonious concert. + +The point is well illustrated by looking at the composition of the +convention, which, in its sessions at Durban, Cape Town, and +Bloemfontein, put together the present constitution. South Africa, from +its troubled history, has proved itself a land of strong men. But it +was reserved for the recent convention to bring together within the +compass of a single council-room the surviving leaders of the period of +conflict to work together for the making of a united state. In looking +over the list of them and reflecting on the part that they played +toward one another in the past, one realizes that we have here a grim +irony of history. Among them is General Louis Botha, Prime Minister at +the moment of the Transvaal, and now the first prime minister of South +Africa. Botha, in the days of Generals Buller and the Dugela, was the +hardest fighter of the Boer Republic. Beside him in the convention was +Dr. Jameson, whom Botha wanted to hang after the raid in 1896. Another +member is Sir George Farrar, who was sentenced to death for complicity +in the raid, and still another, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, once the +secretary of the Reform League at Johannesburg and well known as the +author of the "Transvaal from Within." One may mention in contrast +General Jan Smuts, an ex-leader of the Boer forces, and since the war +the organizing brain of the Het Volk party. There is also Mr. Merriman, +a leader of the British party of opposition to the war in 1899 and +since then a bitter enemy of Lord Milner and the new regime. + +Yet strangely enough after some four months of session the convention +accomplished the impossible by framing a constitution that met the +approval of the united delegates. Of its proceedings no official +journal was kept. The convention met first at Durban, October 12, 1908, +where it remained throughout that month; after a fortnight's interval +it met again at Capetown, and with a three weeks' interruption at +Christmas continued and completed its work at the end of the first week +of February. The constitution was then laid before the different +colonial parliaments. In the Transvaal its acceptance was a matter of +course, as the delegates of both parties had reached an agreement on +its terms. The Cape Parliament passed amendments which involved giving +up the scheme of proportional representation as adopted by the +convention. Similar amendments were offered by the Orange River Colony +in which the Dutch leader sympathized with the leader of the +Afrikanderbond at the Cape in desiring to swamp out, rather than +represent, minorities. In Natal, which as an ultra-British and +ultra-loyal colony, was generally supposed to be in fear of union, many +amendments were offered. The convention then met again at Bloemfontein, +made certain changes in the draft of the constitution, and again +submitted the document to the colonies. This time it was accepted. Only +in Natal was it thought necessary to take a popular vote, and here, +contrary to expectation, the people voted heavily in favor of union. +The logic of the situation compelled it. In the history of the movement +Natal was cast for the same role as Rhode Island in the making of the +Federal Union of the United States of America. The other colonies, once +brought together into a single system, with power to adopt arrangements +in their own interests in regard to customs duties and transportation +rates, sheer economic pressure would have compelled the adhesion of +Natal. In the constitution now put in force in South Africa the central +point of importance is that it established what is practically a +unitary and not a federal government. The underlying reason for this is +found in the economic circumstances of the country and in the situation +in which the provinces found themselves during the years after the war. +Till that event the discord of South Africa was generally thought of +rather as a matter of racial rivalry and conflicting sovereignties than +of simple questions of economic and material interests. + +But after the conclusion of the compact of Vereiniging in 1902 it was +found that many of the jealousies and difficulties of the respective +communities had survived the war, and rested rather upon economic +considerations than racial rivalries. + +To begin with, there was the question of customs relations. The +colonies were separate units, each jealous of its own industrial +prosperity. Each had the right to make its own tariff, and yet the +division of the country, with four different tariff areas, was +obviously to its general disadvantage. Since 1903 the provinces had +been held together under the Customs Union of South Africa--made by the +governments of the Cape and Natal and the Crown Colony governments of +the conquered provinces. This was but a makeshift arrangement, with a +common tariff made by treaty, and hence rigidly unalterable, and with a +pro-rata division of the proceeds. + +Worse still was the railroad problem, which has been in South Africa a +bone of contention ever since the opening of the mines of the Rand +offered a rich prize to any port and railway that could capture the +transit trade. + +The essence of the situation is simple. The center of the wealth of +South Africa is the Johannesburg mines. This may not be forever the +case, but in the present undeveloped state of agriculture and +industrial life, Johannesburg is the dominating factor of the country. + +Now, Johannesburg can not feed and supply itself. It is too busy. Its +one export is gold. Its quarter of a million people must be supplied +from the outside. But the Transvaal is an inland country dependent on +the seaports of other communities. In position Johannesburg is like the +hub of a wheel from which the railways radiate as spokes to the +seaports along the rim. The line from Cape Town to Johannesburg, a +distance of over 700 miles, was the first completed, and until 1894 the +Cape enjoyed a monopoly of carrying the whole trade of Johannesburg. +But with the completion of the tunnel through the mountains at Laing's +Nek the Natal government railway was able to connect with Johannesburg +and the port of Durban entered into competition with the Cape Ports of +Cape Town and East London over a line only 485 miles long. + +Finally, the opening of the Delagoa Bay Railway in 1894 supplied +Johannesburg with an access to the sea over a line 396 miles long, of +which 341 was in the Transvaal itself. This last line, it should be +noticed, led to a Portuguese seaport, and at the time of its building +traversed nowhere British territory. Hence it came about that in the +all-important matter of railroad communication the interests of the +Transvaal and of the seaboard colonies were diametrically opposed. + +To earn as large a revenue as possible it naturally adjusted the rates +on its lines so as to penalize the freight from the colonies and favor +the Delagoa Bay road. When the colonies tried in 1895 to haul freight +by ox-team from their rail-head at the frontier to Johannesburg +President Kruger "closed the drifts" and almost precipitated a conflict +in arms. Since the war the same situation has persisted, aggravated by +the completion of the harbor works and docks at Lorenzo Marques, which +favors more than ever the Delagoa route. The Portuguese seaport at +present receives some 67 per cent, of the traffic from the Rand, while +the Cape ports, which in 1894 had 80 per cent, of the freight, now +receive only n per cent. + +Under Lord Milner's government the unification of the railways of the +Transvaal and the Orange River colony with the Central South-African +Railways amalgamated the interests of the inland colonies, but left +them still opposed to those of the seaboard. The impossibility of +harmonizing the situation under existing political conditions has been +one of the most potent forces in creating a united government which +alone could deal with the question. + +An equally important factor has been the standing problem of the native +races, which forms the background of South-African politics. In no +civilized country is this question of such urgency. South Africa, with +a white population of only 1,133,000 people, contains nearly 7,000,000 +native and colored inhabitants, many of them, such as the Zulus and the +Basutos, fierce, warlike tribes scarcely affected by European +civilization, and wanting only arms and organization to offer a grave +menace to the welfare of the white population. The Zulus, numbering a +million, inhabiting a country of swamp and jungle impenetrable to +European troops, have not forgotten the prowess of a Cetewayo and the +victory of Isandhwana. + +It may well be that some day they will try the fortune of one more +general revolt before accepting the permanent over-lordship of their +conquerors. Natal lives in apprehension of such a day. Throughout all +South Africa, among both British and Dutch, there is a feeling that +Great Britain knows nothing of the native question. + +The British people see the native through the softly tinted spectacles +of Exeter Hall. When they have given him a Bible and a breech-cloth +they fondly fancy that he has become one of themselves, and urge that +he shall enter upon his political rights. They do not know that to a +savage, or a half-civilized black, a ballot-box and a voting-paper are +about as comprehensible as a telescope or a pocket camera--it is just a +part of the white man's magic, containing some particular kind of devil +of its own. The South-Africans think that they understand the native. +And the first tenet of their gospel is that he must be kept in his +place. They have seen the hideous tortures and mutilations inflicted in +every native war. If the native revolts they mean to shoot him into +marmalade with machine guns. Such is their simple creed. And in this +matter they want nothing of what Mr. Merriman recently called the +"damnable interference" of the mother country. But to handle the native +question there had to be created a single South-African Government +competent to deal with it. + +The constitution creates for South Africa a union entirely different +from that of the provinces of Canada or the States of the American +Republic. The government is not federal, but unitary. The provinces +become areas of local governments, with local elected councils to +administer them, but the South-African Parliament reigns supreme. It is +to know nothing of the nice division of jurisdiction set up by the +American constitution and by the British North America Act. There are, +of course, limits to its power. In the strict sense of legal theory, +the omnipotence of the British Parliament, as in the case of Canada, +remains unimpaired. Nor can it alter certain things,--for example, the +native franchise of the Cape, and the equal status of the two +languages,--without a special majority vote. But in all the ordinary +conduct of trade, industry, and economic life, its power is unhampered +by constitutional limitations. + +The constitution sets up as the government of South Africa a +legislature of two houses--a Senate and a House of Assembly--and with +it an executive of ministers on the customary tenure of cabinet +government. This government, strangely enough, is to inhabit two +capitals: Pretoria as the seat of the Executive Government and Cape +Town as the meeting-place of the Parliament. The experiment is a novel +one. The case of Simla and Calcutta, in each of which the Indian +Government does its business, and on the strength of which Lord Curzon +has defended the South-African plan, offers no real parallel. The truth +is that in South Africa, as in Australia, it proved impossible to +decide between the claims of rival cities. Cape Town is the mother city +of South Africa. Pretoria may boast the memories of the fallen +republic, and its old-time position as the capital of an independent +state. Bloemfontein has the advantage of a central position, and even +garish Johannesburg might claim the privilege of the money power. The +present arrangement stands as a temporary compromise to be altered +later at the will of the parliament. + +The making of the Senate demanded the gravest thought. It was desired +to avoid if possible the drowsy nullity of the Canadian Upper House and +the preponderating "bossiness" of the American. Nor did the example of +Australia, where the Senate, elected on a "general ticket" over huge +provincial areas, becomes thereby a sort of National Labor Convention, +give any assistance in a positive direction. The plan adopted is to +cause each present provincial parliament, and later each provincial +council, to elect eight senators. The plan of election is by +proportional representation, into the arithmetical juggle of which it +is impossible here to enter. Eight more senators will be appointed by +the Governor, making forty in all. Proportional representation was +applied also in the first draft of the constitution to the election of +the Assembly. + +It was thought that such a plan would allow for the representation of +minorities, so that both Dutch and British delegates would be returned +from all parts of the country. Unhappily, the Afrikanderbond--the +powerful political organization supporting Mr. Merriman, and holding +the bulk of the Dutch vote at the Cape--took fright at the proposal. +Even Merriman and his colleagues had to vote it down. + +Without this they could not have saved the principle of "equal rights," +which means the more or less equal (proportionate) representation of +town and country. The towns are British and the country Dutch, so the +bearing of equal rights is obvious. Proportional representation and +equal rights were in the end squared off against one another. + +South Africa will retain duality of language, both Dutch and British +being in official use. There was no other method open. The Dutch +language is probably doomed to extinction within three or four +generations. It is, in truth, not one linguistic form, but several: the +Taal, or kitchen Dutch of daily speech, the "lingua franca" of South +Africa; the School Taal, a modified form of it, and the High Dutch of +the Scriptural translations brought with the Boers from Holland. Behind +this there is no national literature, and the current Dutch of Holland +and its books varies some from all of them. English is already the +language of commerce and convenience. The only way to keep Dutch alive +is to oppose its use. Already the bitterness of the war has had this +effect, and language societies are doing their best to uphold and +extend the use of the ancestral language. It is with a full knowledge +of this that the leaders of the British parties acquiesced in the +principle of duality. + +The native franchise was another difficult question. At present neither +natives nor "colored men" (the South-African term for men of mixed +blood) can vote in the Transvaal, the Orange River, and Natal. Nor is +there the faintest possibility of the suffrage being extended to them, +both the Dutch and the British being convinced that such a policy is a +mistake. In the Cape natives and colored men, if possessed of the +necessary property and able to write their names, are allowed to vote. +The name writing is said to be a farce, the native drawing a picture of +his name under guidance of his political boss. Some 20,000 natives and +colored people thus vote at the Cape, and neither the Progressives nor +the Bond party dared to oppose the continuance of the franchise, lest +the native vote should be thrown solid against them. As a result each +province will retain its own suffrage, at least until the South-African +Parliament by a special majority of two-thirds in a joint session shall +decide otherwise. + +The future conformation of parties under the union is difficult to +forecast. At present the Dutch parties--they may be called so for lack +of a better word--have large majorities everywhere except in Natal. In +the Transvaal General Botha's party--Het Volk, the Party of the +People--is greatly in the ascendant. But it must be remembered that Het +Volk numbers many British adherents. For instance, Mr. Hull, Botha's +treasurer in the outgoing Government, is an old Johannesburg +"reformer," of the Uitlander days, and fought against the Boers in the +war. In the Orange Free State the party called the Unie (or United +party) has a large majority, while at the Cape Dr. Jameson's party of +progressives can make no stand against Mr. Merriman, Mr. Malan, Mr. +Sauer, and the powerful organization of the Afrikanderbond. + +How the new Government will be formed it is impossible to say. Botha +and Merriman will, of course, constitute its leading factors. But +whether they will attempt a coalition by taking in with them such men +as Sir Percy Fitzpatrick and Dr. Jameson, or will prefer a more united +and less universal support is still a matter of conjecture. From the +outsider's point of view, a coalition of British and Dutch leaders, +working together for the future welfare of a common country, would seem +an auspicious opening for the new era. But it must be remembered that +General Botha is under no necessity whatever to form such a coalition. +If he so wishes he can easily rule the country without it as far as a +parliamentary majority goes. Not long since an illustrious +South-African, a visitor to Montreal, voiced the opinion that Botha's +party will rule South Africa for twenty years undisturbed. But it is +impossible to do more than conjecture what will happen. _Ex Africa +semper quid novi_. + +Most important of all is the altered relation in which South Africa +will now stand to the British Empire. + +The Imperial Government may now be said to evacuate South Africa, and +to leave it to the control of its own people. It is true that for the +time being the Imperial Government will continue to control the native +protectorates of Basutoland, Bechuanaland, and Swaziland. But the +Constitution provides for the future transfer of these to the +administration of a commission appointed by the colonial Government. +Provision is also made for the future inclusion of Rhodesia within the +Union. South Africa will therefore find itself on practically the same +footing as Canada or Australia within the British Empire. What its +future fate there will be no man can yet foretell. In South Africa, as +in the other Dominions, an intense feeling of local patriotism and +"colonial nationalism" will be matched against the historic force and +the practical advantages of the Imperial connection. Even in Canada, +there is no use in denying it, there are powerful forces which, if +unchecked, would carry us to an ultimate independence. Still more is +this the case in South Africa. + +It is a land of bitter memories. The little people that fought for +their republics against a world in arms have not so soon forgotten. It +is idle for us in the other parts of the Empire to suppose that the +bitter memory of the conflict has yet passed, that the Dutch have +forgotten the independence for which they fought, the Vier Klur flag +that is hidden in their garrets still, and the twenty thousand women +and children that lie buried in South Africa as the harvest of the +conqueror. If South Africa is to stay in the Empire it will have to be +because the Empire will be made such that neither South Africa nor any +other of the dominions would wish to leave it. For this, much has +already been done. The liberation of the Transvaal and Orange River +from the thraldom of their Crown Colony Government, and the frank +acceptance of the Union Constitution by the British Government are the +first steps in this direction. Meantime that future of South Africa, as +of all the Empire, lies behind a veil. + + + + +PORTUGAL BECOMES A REPUBLIC A.D. 1910 + +WILLIAM ARCHER + +The wave of democratic revolt which had swept over Europe during the +first decade of the twentieth century was continued in 1910 by the +revolution in Portugal. This, as the result of long secret planning, +burst forth suddenly before dawn on the morning of October 4th. Before +nightfall the revolution was accomplished and the young king, Manuel, +was a fugitive from his country. + +The change had been long foreseen. The selfishness and blindness of the +Portuguese monarchs and their supporters had been such as to make +rebellion inevitable, and its ultimate success certain. Mr. William +Archer, the noted English journalist, who was sent post-haste to watch +the progress of the revolution, could not reach the scene before the +brief tumult was at an end; but he here gives a picture of the joyous +celebration of freedom that followed, and then traces with power and +historic accuracy the causes and conduct of the dramatic scene which +has added Portugal to the ever-growing list of Republics. + +When the poet Wordsworth and his friend Jones landed at Calais in 1790 +they found + + "France standing on the top of golden years + And human nature seeming born again." + +Not once, but fifty times, in Portugal these lines came back to my +mind. The parallel, it may be said, is an ominous one, in view of +subsequent manifestations of the reborn French human nature. But there +is a world of difference between Portugal and France, between the House +of Braganza and the House of Bourbon. + +It was nearly one in the morning when my train from Badajoz drew into +the Rocio station at Lisbon; yet I had no sooner passed the barrier +than I heard a band in the great hall of the station strike up an +unfamiliar but not unpleasing air, the rhythm of which plainly +announced it to be a national anthem--a conjecture confirmed by a wild +burst of cheering at the close. The reason of this midnight +demonstration I never ascertained; but, indeed, no one in Lisbon asks +for a reason for striking up "A Portugueza," the new patriotic song. +Before twenty-four hours had passed I was perfectly familiar with its +rather plaintive than martial strains, suited, no doubt, to the +sentimental character of the people. An American friend, who arrived a +day or two after me, made acquaintance with "A Portugueza" even more +immediately than I did. Soon after passing the frontier he fell into +conversation with a Portuguese fellow traveler, who, in the course of +ten minutes or so, asked him whether he would like to hear the new +national anthem, and then and there sang it to him, amid great applause +from the other occupants of the compartment. In the cafĂ©s and theaters +of Lisbon "A Portugueza" may break out at any moment, without any +apparent provocation, and you must, of course, stand up and uncover; +but there is in some quarters a movement of protest against these +observances as savoring of monarchical flunkyism. When I left Lisbon at +half-past seven A.M. there was no demonstration such as had greeted my +arrival; but at the first halting-place a man stepped out from a little +crowd on the platform and shouted "Viva Machado dos Santos! Viva a +Republica Portugueza!"--and I found that the compartment adjoining my +own was illumined by the presence of the bright particular star of the +revolt. At the next station--Torres Vedras of historic fame--the +platform was crowded and scores of red and green flags were waving. As +the train steamed in, two bands struck up "A Portugueza," and as one +had about two minutes' start of the other, the effect was more +patriotic than harmonious. The hero had no sooner alighted than he was +lifted shoulder-high by the crowd, and carried in triumph from the +station, amid the blaring of the bands and the crackling of innumerable +little detonators, which here enter freely into the ritual of +rejoicing. Next morning I read in the papers a full account of the +"Apoteose" of Machado dos Santos, which seems to have kept Torres +Vedras busy and happy all day long. + +One can not but smile at such simple-minded ebullitions of feeling; yet +I would by no means be understood to laugh at them. On the contrary, +they are so manifestly spontaneous and sincere as to be really +touching. Whatever may be the future of the Portuguese Republic, it has +given the nation some weeks of unalloyed happiness. And amid all the +shouting and waving of flags, all the manifold "homages" to this hero +and to that, there was not the slightest trace of rowdyism or of +"mafficking." I could not think without some humiliation of the +contrast between a Lisbon and a London crowd. It really seemed as +though happiness had ennobled the man in the street. I am assured that +on the day of the public funeral of Dr. Bombarda and Admiral dos Reis, +though the crowd was enormous and the police had retired into private +life, there was not the smallest approach to disorder. The +police--formerly the sworn enemies of the populace--had been reinstated +at the time of my visit, without their swords and pistols; but they +seemed to have little to do. That Lisbon had become a strictly virtuous +city it would be too much to affirm, but I believe that crime actually +diminished after the revolution. It seemed as though the nation had +awakened from a nightmare to a sunrise of health and hope. + +And the nightmare took the form of a poor bewildered boy, guilty only +of having been thrust, without a spark of genius, into a situation +which only genius could have saved. In that surface aspect of the case +there is an almost ludicrous disproportion between cause and effect. +But it is not what the young King was that matters--it is what he stood +for. Let us look a little below the surface--even, if we can, into the +soul of the people. + +Portugal is a small nation with a great history; and the pride of a +small nation which has anything to be proud of is apt to amount to a +passion. It is all the more sensitive because it can not swell and +harden into arrogance. It is all the more alert because the great +nations, in their arrogance, are apt to ignore it. + +What are the main sources of Portugal's pride? They are two: her +national independence and her achievements in discovery and +colonization. + +A small country, with no very clear natural frontier, she has +maintained her independence under the very shadow of a far larger and +at one time an enormously preponderant Power. Portugal was Portugal +long before Spain was Spain. It had its Alfred the Great in Alfonso +Henriques (born 1111--a memorable date in two senses), who drove back +the Moors as Alfred drove back the Danes. He founded a dynasty of able +and energetic kings, which, however, degenerated, as dynasties will, +until a vain weakling, Ferdinand the Handsome, did his best to wreck +the fortunes of the country. On his death in 1383, Portugal was within +an ace of falling into the clutches of Castile, but the Cortes +conferred the kingship on a bastard of the royal house, John, Master of +the Knights of Aviz; and he, aided by five hundred English archers, +inflicted a crushing defeat on the Spaniards at Aljubarrota, the +Portuguese Bannockburn. John of Aviz, known as the Great, married +Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt; and from this union +sprang a line of princes and kings under whom Portugal became one of +the leading nations of Europe. Prince Henry the Navigator, son of John +the Great, devoted his life to the furthering of maritime adventure and +discovery. Like England's First Lords of the Admiralty, he was a +navigator who did not navigate; but it was unquestionably owing to the +impulse he gave to Portuguese enterprise that Vasco da Gama discovered +the sea route to India and Pedro Alvarez Cabral secured for his country +the giant colony of Brazil. Angola, Mozambique, Diu, Goa, Macao--these +names mean as much for Portugal as Havana, Cartagena, Mexico, and Lima, +for Spain. The sixteenth century was the "heroic" age of Portuguese +history, and the "heroes"--notably the Viceroys of Portuguese +India--were, in fact, a race of fine soldiers and administrators. No +nation, moreover, possesses more conspicuous and splendid memorials of +its golden age. It was literally "golden," for Emmanuel the Fortunate, +who reaped the harvest sown by Henry the Navigator, was the wealthiest +monarch in Europe, and gave his name to the "Emmanueline" style of +architecture, a florid Gothic which achieves miracles of ostentation +and sometimes of beauty. As the glorious pile of Batalha commemorates +the victory of Aljubarrota, so the splendid church and monastery of +Belem mark the spot where Vasco da Gama spent the night before he +sailed on his epoch-making voyage. But it was not gold that raised the +noblest memorial to Portugal's greatness: it was the genius of Luis de +Camoens. If Spenser, instead of losing himself in mazes of allegoric +romance, had sung of CrĂ©cy and Agincourt, of Drake, Frobisher, and +Raleigh, he might have given us a national epic in the same sense in +which the term applies to _The Lusiads_. With such a history, so +written in stone and song, what wonder if pride of race is one of the +mainsprings of Portuguese character! + +But the House of Aviz, like the legitimate line of Affonso Henriques, +dwindled into debility. It flickered out in Dom Sebastian, who dragged +his country into a mad invasion of Morocco and vanished from human ken +on the disastrous battlefield of Alcazar-Khebir. Then, for sixty years, +not by conquest, but by intrigue, Portugal passed under the sway of +Spain, and lost to the enemies of Spain--that is to say, to England and +Holland--a large part of her colonial empire. At last, in 1640, a +well-planned and daring revolution expelled the Spanish intruders, and +placed on the throne John, Duke of Braganza. As the house of Aviz was +an illegitimate branch of the stock of Affonso Henriques, so the +Braganzas were an illegitimate branch of the House of Aviz, with none +of the Plantagenet blood in them. Only one prince of the line, Pedro +II., can be said to have attained anything like greatness. Another, +Joseph, had the sense to give a free hand to an able, if despotic, +minister, the Marquis of Pombal. But, on the whole, the history of the +Braganza rule was one of steady decadence, until the second half of the +nineteenth century found the country one of the most backward in +Europe. + +Nor was there any comfort to be found in the economic aspect of the +case. A country of glorious fertility and ideal climatic conditions, +inhabited by an industrious peasantry, Portugal was nevertheless so +poor that much of its remaining strength was year by year being drained +away by emigration. The public debt was almost as heavy per head of +population as that of England. Taxation was crushing. The barest +necessaries of life were subject to heavy imposts. Protection +protected, not industries, but monopolies and vested interests. + +In short, the material condition of the country was as distressing as +its spiritual state to any one with the smallest sense of enlightened +patriotism. + +King Charles I.--name of evil omen!--ascended the throne in 1889. His +situation was not wholly unlike that of the English Charles I., +inasmuch as--though he had not the insight to perceive it--his lot was +cast in times when Portugal was outgrowing the traditions and methods +of his family. Representative government, as it had shaped itself since +1852, was a fraud and a farce. To every municipality a Government +administrator was attached (at an annual cost to the country of +something like £70,000), whose business it was to "work" the elections +in concert with the local _caciques_ or bosses. Thus, except in the +great towns, the Government candidate was always returned. The efficacy +of the system may be judged from the fact that in a country which was +at heart Republican, as events have amply shown, the Republican party +never had more than fourteen representatives in a chamber of about 150. +For the rest, the Monarchical parties, "Regeneradores" and +"Progresistas," arranged between them a fair partition of the loaves +and fishes. This "rotative" system, as it is called, is in effect that +which prevails, or has prevailed, in Spain; but it was perfected in +Portugal by a device which enabled Ministers, in stepping out of office +under the crown, to step into well-paid posts in financial +institutions, more or less associated with the State. Anything like +real progress was manifestly impossible under so rotten a system; and +with this system the Monarchy was identified. + +Then came the scandal of the _adeantamentos_, or illegal advances made +to the King, beyond the sums voted in the civil list. It is only fair +to remember that the king of a poor country is nowadays in a very +uncomfortable position, more especially if the poor country has once +been immensely rich. The expenses of royalty, like those of all other +professions, have enormously increased of late years; and a petty king +who is to rub shoulders with emperors is very much in the position of a +man with £2,000 a year in a club of millionaires. He has always the +resource, no doubt, of declining the society of emperors, and even +fixing his domestic budget more in accord with present exigencies than +with the sumptuous traditions, the palaces and pleasure-houses, of his +millionaire predecessors. It is said of Pedro II. that "he had the +wisdom and self-restraint not to increase the taxes, preferring to +reduce the expenses of his household to the lowest possible amount." +But Dom Carlos was not a man of this kidney. Easy-going and +self-indulgent, he had no notion of appearing _in forma pauperis_ among +the royalties of Europe, or sacrificing his pleasures to the needs of +his country. Even his father, Dom Luis, and his uncle, Dom Pedro, had +not lived within their income; and expenses had gone up since their +times. The king's income, under the civil list, was a "conto of reis" a +day, or something over £80,000 a year. Additional allowances to other +members of the royal family amounted to about half as much again; and +there was, I believe, an allowance for the upkeep of palaces. One would +suppose that a reasonably frugal royal family, with no house-rent to +pay, could subsist in tolerable comfort on some £2,250 a week; but as a +matter of fact, Dom Carlos made large additional drafts on the +treasury, which servile ministries honored without protest. He had +expensive fantasies, which he was not in the habit of stinting. The +total of his "anticipations" I do not know, but it is estimated in +millions of pounds. + +These eccentricities, combined with other abuses of finance and +administration, rendered even the _cacique_-chosen Cortes unruly, and +our Charles I. looked about for a Strafford who should apply a +"thorough" remedy to what he called the parliamentary _gĂ¢chis_. He +found his man in JoĂ£o Franco. This somewhat enigmatic personage can not +as yet be estimated with any impartiality. No one accuses him of +personal corruption or of sordidly interested motives. His great +private wealth enabled him the other day to find bail, at a moment's +notice, to the amount of £40,000. On the other hand, his enemies +diagnose him after the manner of Lombroso, and find him to be a +degenerate and an epileptic, ungovernably irritable, vain, mendacious, +arrogant, sometimes quite irresponsible for his actions. A really +strong man he can scarcely be; scarcely a man of true political +insight, else he would not have tried to play the despot with no +plausible ideal to allege in defense of his usurpation. Be that as it +may, he agreed with the King that it was impossible to carry on the +work of government with a fractious Cortes in session, and that the +only way to keep things going was to try the experiment of a +dictatorship. Dom Carlos, in his genial fashion, overcame by help of an +anecdote any doubt his minister may have felt. "When the affairs of +Frederick the Great were at a low ebb," said the King, "he one day, on +the eve of a decisive battle, caught a grenadier in the act of making +off from the camp. 'What are you about?' asked Frederick. 'Your +Majesty, I am deserting,' stammered the soldier. 'Wait till to-morrow,' +replied Frederick calmly, 'and if the battle goes against us, we will +desert together.'" Thus lightly was the adventure plotted; and, in +fact, the minister did not desert until the King lay dead upon the +field of battle. + +Franco dissolved the Cortes, and on May 10, 1907, published a decree +declaring the "administration to be a dictatorship." The Press was +strictly gagged, and all the traditional weapons of despotism were +polished up. In June, the dictator went to Oporto to defend his policy +at a public banquet, and on his return a popular tumult took place in +the Rocio, the central square of Lisbon, which was repressed with +serious bloodshed. This was made the excuse for still more galling +restrictions on personal and intellectual liberty, until it was hard to +distinguish between "administrative dictatorship" and autocracy. As +regards the _adeantamentos_, Franco's declared policy was to make a +clean slate of the past, and, for the future, to augment the civil +list. In the autumn of that year, a very able Spanish journalist and +deputy, Señor Luis Morote, visited most of the leading men in Portugal, +and found among the Republicans an absolute and serene confidence that +the Monarchy was in its last ditch and that a Republic was inevitable. +Seldom have political prophecies been more completely fulfilled than +those which Morote then recorded in the _Heraldo_ of Madrid. Said +Bernardino Machado: + +"The Republic is the fatherland organized for its prosperity.... I +believe in the moral forces of Portugal, which are carrying us directly +toward the new order of things.... We shall triumph because the right +is on our side, and the moral idealism; peacefully if we can, and I +think it pretty sure that we can, since no public force can stop a +nation on the march." + +Said Guerra Junqueiro, the leading poet of the day: "Within two years +there will be no Braganzas or there will be no Portugal....The +revolution, when it comes, will be a question of hours, and it will be +almost bloodless." + +I could cite many other deliverances to the same effect, but one must +suffice. Theophilo Braga, the "grand old man" of Portugal, said: "To +stimulate the faith, conscience, will, and revolutionary energies of +the country, I have imposed on myself a plan of work, and a mandate not +to die until I see it accomplished." + +The Paris _Temps_ of November 14, 1907, published an interview with Dom +Carlos which embittered feeling and alienated many of his supporters. +"Everything is quiet in Lisbon," declared the King, echoing another +historic phase: "Only the politicasters are agitating themselves.... It +was necessary that the _gĂ¢chis_--there is no other word for it--should +one day come to an end.... I required an undaunted will which should be +equal to the task of carrying my ideas to a happy conclusion.... I am +entirely satisfied with M. Franco. _Ça marche_. And it will continue; +it must continue for the good of the country.... In no country can you +make a revolution without the army. Well, the Portuguese Army is +faithful to its King, and I shall always have it at my side.... I have +no shadow of doubt of its fidelity." Poor Charles the First! + +At the end of January, 1908, a revolutionary plot was discovered, and +was put down with severity. After signing some decrees to that end, at +one of his palaces beyond the Tagus, the King, with his whole family, +returned to Lisbon and the party drove in open carriages from the wharf +toward the Necessidades Palace. In the crowd at the corner of the great +riverside square, the Praça do Comercio, stood two men named Buiça and +Costa, with carbines concealed under their cloaks. They shot dead the +King and the Crown Prince, and slightly wounded Dom Manuel. Both the +assassins were killed on the spot. + +It is said that there was no plot, and that these men acted entirely on +their own initiative and responsibility. At any rate, none of the +Republican leaders was in any way implicated in the affair. But on All +Saints' day of 1910, Buiça's grave shared to the full in the rain of +wreaths poured upon the tombs of the martyrs of the new Republic; and +relics of the regicides hold an honored place in the historical museum +which commemorates the revolution. + +Franco vanished into space, and Dom Manuel, aged nineteen, ascended the +throne. Had he possessed strong intelligence and character, or had he +fallen into the hands of really able advisers, it is possible that the +revulsion of feeling following on so grim a tragedy might have +indefinitely prolonged the life of the Monarchy. But his mother was a +Bourbon, and what more need be said? The opinion in Lisbon, at any +rate, was that "under Dom Carlos the Jesuits entered the palace by the +back door, under Dom Manuel by the front door." The Republican +agitation in public, the revolutionary organization in secret, soon +recommenced with renewed vigor; and the discovery of new scandals in +connection with the tobacco monopoly and a financial institution, known +as the "Credito Predial," added fuel to the fire of indignation. The +Government, or rather a succession of Governments, were perfectly aware +that the foundations of the Monarchy were undermined; but they seemed +to be paralyzed by a sort of fatalistic despair. They persecuted, +indeed, just enough to make themselves doubly odious; but they always +laid hands on people who, if not quite innocent, were subordinate and +uninfluential. Not one of the real leaders of the revolution was +arrested. + +The thoroughness with which the Republican party was organized says +much for the practical ability of its leaders. The moving spirits in +the central committee were Vice-Admiral Candido dos Reis, Affonso Costa +(now Minister of Justice), Joao Chagas, and Dr. Miguel Bombarda. Simoes +Raposo spoke in the name of the Freemasons; the Carbonaria Portugueza, +a powerful secret society, was represented by Machado dos Santos, an +officer in the navy. There was a separate finance committee, and funds +were ample. The arms bought were mostly Browning pistols, which were +smuggled over the Spanish frontier by Republican railway conductors. +Bombs also were prepared in large numbers, not for purposes of +assassination, but for use in open warfare, especially against cavalry. +Meanwhile an untiring secret propaganda was going on in the army, in +the navy, and among the peasantry. Almost every seaman in the navy, and +in many regiments almost all the non-commissioned officers and men, +were revolutionaries; while commissioned officers by the score were won +over. It is marvelous that so wide-spread a propaganda was only vaguely +known to the Government, and did not beget a crowd of informers. One +man, it is true, who showed a disposition to use his secret knowledge +for purposes of blackmail, was found dead in the streets of Cascaes. On +the whole, not only secrecy but discipline was marvelously maintained. + +At last the propitious moment arrived. Three ships of war--the _Dom +Carlos_, the _Adamastor_, and the _San Raphael_--were in the Tagus to +do honor to the President-elect of Brazil, who was visiting King +Manuel; but the Government knew that their presence was dangerous, and +would certainly order them off again as soon as possible. The blow must +be struck before that occurred. At a meeting of the committee on +October 2, 1910, it was agreed that the signal should be given in the +early morning of October 4th. All the parts were cast, all the duties +were assigned: who should call this and that barrack to arms, who +should cut this and that railway line, who should take possession of +the central telegraph-office, and so forth. The whole scheme was laid +down in detail in a precious paper, in the keeping of SimĂ´es Raposo. +"You had better give it to me," said Dr. Bombarda, "for I am less +likely than you to be arrested. Even if they should think of searching +at Rilhafolles [the asylum of which he was director], I can easily hide +it in one of the books of my library." His suggestion was accepted, the +paper on which their lives and that of the Republic depended was handed +to him, and the meeting broke up. + +On the morning of Monday, October 3d, all was as quiet in Lisbon as +King Carlos himself could have desired. At about eleven o'clock Dr. +Bombarda sat in his office at the asylum, when a former patient, a +young lieutenant who had suffered from the persecution mania, was +announced to see him. Bombarda rose and asked him how he was. Without a +word the visitor produced a Browning pistol and fired point blank at +the physician, putting three bullets in his body. Bombarda had strength +enough to seize his assailant by the wrists and hand him over to the +attendants who rushed in. He then walked down-stairs unaided before he +realized how serious were his wounds. It soon appeared, however, that +he had not many hours to live; and when this became clear to him, he +took a paper from his pocketbook and insisted that it should be burned +before his eyes. What the paper was I need not say. At about six in the +evening he died. + +Bombarda was a passionate anticlerical, and his murderer was a +fanatical Catholic. The citizens, with whom he was very popular, jumped +at the conclusion that the priests had inspired the deed. As soon as +his death was announced in the transparency outside the office of _O +Seculo_, there were demonstrations of anger among the crowd and some +conflicts with the police. + +Meanwhile the Revolutionary Committee, to the number of fifty or +thereabouts, were sitting in the Rua da Esperança, discussing the +question, "To be or not to be." The military members counseled delay, +for the Government had ordered all officers to be at their quarters in +the various barracks which are scattered over the city. The intention +had been to choose a time when most of the officers were off duty and +the men could mutiny at their ease; but this plan had for the moment +been frustrated. The military view might have carried the day, but for +the determination shown by Candido dos Reis, who pointed out that it +would be madness to give the Government time to order the ships out of +the Tagus. Finally, he turned to the military group, saying, "If you +will not go out, I will go out alone with the sailors. I shall have the +honor of getting myself shot by my comrades of the army." His +insistence carried all before it, and it was decided that the signal +should be given, as previously arranged, at one o'clock in the morning. + +That evening, at the Palace of Belem, some two miles down the Tagus +from the Necessidades Palace, Marshal Hermes da Fonseca, +President-elect of Brazil, was entertaining King Manuel at a State +dinner. There was an electrical sense of disquiet in the air. Several +official guests were absent, and every few minutes there came +telephone-calls for this or that minister or general, some of whom +reappeared, while some did not. At last the tension got so much on the +nerves of the young King that he scribbled on his menu-card a request +that the banquet might be shortened; and, in fact, one or two courses +were omitted. Then followed the dreary ritual of toasts; and at last, +at half-past eleven, Dom Manuel parted from his host and set off in his +automobile, escorted by a troop of cavalry. Two bands played the royal +anthem. Had he known, poor youth, that he was never to hear it again, +there might have been a crumb of consolation in the thought. + +It would be impossible without a map to make clear the various phases +of the Battle of Lisbon. Nor would there be any great interest in so +doing. There was no particular strategy in the revolutionary plans, and +what strategy there was fell to pieces at an early point. It is not +clear that the signal was ever formally given, but about the appointed +hour mutinies broke out in several barracks. In some cases the Royalist +officers were put under arrest, in one case a colonel and two other +officers were shot. A mixed company of soldiers and civilians, with ten +or twelve guns, marched, as had been arranged, upon the Necessidades +Palace, to demand the abdication of the King; but they were met on the +heights behind the palace by a body of the "guardia municipal," and, +after a sharp skirmish, were forced to retire, leaving three of their +guns disabled behind them. They retreated to the general rallying-point +of the Republican forces, the Rotunda, at the upper end of the +mile-long Avenida da Liberdade. This avenue stands to the Rocio very +much in the relation of Charing Cross Road to Trafalgar Square: there +is a curve at their junction which prevents you from seeing--or +shooting--from the one into the other. On reaching the Rotunda, the +insurgents learned that the Rocio had been occupied by Royalist troops, +from the Citadel of St. George and another barrack, with one or two +machine guns, but no cannon. + +There, then, the two forces lay, with a short mile of sloping ground +between them, awaiting the dawn. Under cover of darkness, a body of +mounted gendarmes attempted to charge the insurgent position, but they +were repulsed by bombs. + +Meanwhile, what had become of the naval cooperation, on which so much +reliance had been placed? It had failed, through the tragic weakness of +one man. Candido dos Reis is one of the canonized saints of the +Republic; but I think it shows a good deal of generosity in the +Portuguese character that the Devil's Advocate has not made himself +heard in the case. Dos Reis had undertaken the command of the naval +side of the revolt; but oddly enough, he seems to have arranged no +method of conveyance to his post of duty. He found at the wharf a small +steamer, the captain of which agreed to take him off to the ships; but +there was some delay in getting up steam. During this pause, some one +as yet unidentified, but evidently a friend of Dos Reis, rushed down to +the wharf and shouted to him that the revolt was crushed and all was +lost. Dos Reis, who had assumed his naval uniform on board the steamer, +took it off again, and, in civilian attire, went ashore. He proceeded +to his sister's house, where he spent an hour; then he sallied forth +again, and was found next morning in a distant quarter of the city with +a bullet through his brain. + +There is no doubt that he committed suicide. The theory of foul play is +quite abandoned. As it was he who had vetoed the proposed postponement +of the rising, one can understand that the sense of responsibility lay +heavy upon him; but that, without inquiry into the alleged disaster, +without the smallest attempt to retrieve it, he should have left his +comrades in the lurch and taken the easiest way of escape, is surely a +proof of almost criminal instability. The Republic lost in him an +ardent patriot, but scarcely a great leader. + +The dawn of Tuesday, October 4th, showed the fortunes of the revolt at +rather a low ebb. The land forces were dismayed by the inaction of the +ships; the sailors imagined, from the non-appearance of their leader, +that some disaster must have occurred on land. It was in these hours of +despondency that the true heroes of the revolution showed their mettle. + +In the bivouac at the Rotunda, as the morning wore on, the Republican +officers declared that the game was up, and that there was nothing for +it but to disperse and await the consequences. They themselves actually +made off; and it was then that Machado dos Santos came to the front, +taking command of the insurgent force and reviving their drooping +spirits. The position was not really a strong one. For one thing, it is +commanded by the heights of the Misericordia; and there was, in fact, +some long-range firing between the insurgents and the Guardia Municipal +stationed on that eminence. Again, the gentle slope of the Avenida, a +hundred yards wide, is clothed by no fewer than ten rows of low trees, +acacias, and the like, five rows on each side of the comparatively +narrow roadway, which is blocked at the lower end by a massive monument +to the liberators of 1640. Thus the insurgents could not see their +adversaries even when they ventured out of their sheltered position in +the Rocio; and the artillery fire from the Rotunda did much more damage +to the hotels that flanked the narrow neck of the Avenida than to the +Royalist forces. On the other hand, it would have been comparatively +easy for the Royalists, with a little resolution, to have crept up the +Avenida under cover of the trees, and driven the insurgents from their +position. Fortunately for the revolt, there was a total lack of +leadership on the Royalist side, excusable only on the ground that the +officers could not rely on their men. + +While things were at a deadlock on the Avenida, critical events were +happening on the Tagus. On all three ships, the officers knew that the +men were only awaiting a signal to mutiny; but the signal did not come. +At this juncture, and while it seemed that the Republican cause was +lost, a piece of heroic bluff on the part of a single officer saved the +situation. Lieutenant Tito de Moraes put off in a small boat from the +naval barracks at Alcantara, rowed to the _San Raphael_, boarded it, +and calmly took possession of it in the name of the Republic! He gave +the officers a written guaranty that they had yielded to superior +force, and then sent them off under arrest to the naval barracks. He +now asked for orders from the Revolutionary Committee; and early in the +afternoon the _San Raphael_ weighed anchor and moved down the river in +the direction of the Necessidades Palace. In doing so she had to pass +the most powerful ship of the squadron, the _Dom Carlos_: would she get +past in safety? Yes; the _Dom Carlos_ made no sign. The officers were +almost all Royalists, but they knew they could do nothing with the +crew. As a matter of fact when the crew ultimately mutinied, the +captain and a lieutenant were severely wounded; but I can find no +evidence for the picturesque legend of a group of officers making a +last heroic stand on the quarter-deck, and ruthlessly mowed down by the +insurgents' fire. It is certain, at any rate, that no lives were lost. + +In the Palace, on its bluff above the river, King Manuel was +practically alone. No minister, no general, was at his side. It is +said, on what seems to be good authority, that when he saw the _San +Raphael_ moving down-stream under the Republican colors, he telephoned +to the Prime Minister, Teixeira de Sousa, to ask whether there was not +a British destroyer in the river that could be got to sink the mutinous +vessel. Even if this scheme had been otherwise feasible, it would have +demanded an effort of which the minister was no longer capable. At +about two in the afternoon the _San Raphael_, cruising slowly up and +down, opened fire upon the Palace, and her second shot brought down the +royal standard from its roof. What could the poor boy do? To sit still +and be blown to pieces would have been heroic, but useless. Had he had +the stuff of a soldier in him, he might have made his way to the Rocio +and tried to put some energy into the officers, some spirit into the +troops. But he had no one to encourage and support him. Such counselors +as he had were all for flight. He stepped into his motor-car, set off +for Cintra and Mafra, and is henceforth out of the saga. + +The flight of Dom Manuel meant the collapse of his cause. It is true +that the Royalists were reenforced by certain detachments of troops who +came in from the country, and, beaten off by the insurgents at the +Rotunda, made their way to the Rocio by a circuitous route. The Guardia +Municipal, too, were stanch, and showed fight at several points. It was +the total lack of spirited leadership that left the insurgents masters +of the field. Having done its work at the Necessidades, the _San +Raphael_ moved up stream again, and began dropping shells over the +intervening parallelogram of the "Low City" into the crowded Rocio. +They caused little loss of life, for they were skilfully timed to +explode in air; the object being, not to massacre, but to dismay. There +is nothing so trying to soldiers as to remain inactive under fire; and +as there had never been much fight in the garrison of the Rocio, the +little that was left speedily evaporated. At eleven in the morning of +Wednesday, October 5th, the Republic was proclaimed from the balcony of +the Town Hall, and before night fell all was once more quiet in Lisbon. + +The first accounts of the fighting which appeared in the European Press +were, as was only natural, greatly exaggerated. A careful enumeration +places the number of the killed at sixty-one and of the wounded at 417. +Some of the latter, indeed, died of their wounds, but the whole +death-roll certainly did not exceed a hundred. + +The Portuguese Monarchy was dead; and the causes of death, as disclosed +by the autopsy, were moral bankruptcy and intellectual inanition. It +could not point to a single service that it rendered to the country in +return for the burdens it imposed. Some of its defenders professed to +see in it a safeguard for the colonies, which would somehow fly off +into space in the event of a revolution. As yet there are no signs of +this prophecy coming true; but the prophets may cling, if they please, +to the hope of its fulfilment. For the rest, it was perfectly clear +that the monarchy had done nothing for the material or spiritual +advancement of the country, which remained as poverty-stricken and as +illiterate as it well could be. Dom Carlos had not even the common +prudence to affect, if he did not feel, a sympathy with the nation's +pride in its "heroes." The Monarchy could boast neither of good deeds +nor of good intentions. Its cynicism was not tempered by intelligence. +It drifted toward the abyss without making any reasonable effort to +save itself; for the dictatorship was scarcely an effort of reason. +"The dictatorship," said Bernardino Machado, the present Foreign +Minister, "left us only one liberty--that of hatred." And again, "The +monarchy had not even a party--it had only a _clientèle_." That one +word explains the disappearance of Royalism. + +For it has simply disappeared. Even the Royalist Press is almost +extinct. Some papers have ceased to appear, some have become +Republican, the few who stick to their colors do so rather from +clerical than from specifically Royalist conviction. All the leading +papers of the country had long been Republican; and excellent papers +they are. Both in appearance and in matter, _O Mundo_ and _A Lucta_ +("The Struggle") would do credit to the journalism of any country. In +size, in excellence of production, and in the well-considered weight of +their articles, they contrast strangely with the flimsy, ill-printed +sheets that content the Spanish public. + +The Provisional Government has been sneered at as a clique of +"intellectuals"; but it is scarcely a reproach to the Republic that it +should command the adhesion of the whole intelligence of the country. +Nor is there any sign of lack of practical sense in the admirable +organization which not only insured the success of the revolution (in +spite of certain cross accidents) but secured its absolutely peaceful +acceptance throughout the country. There are no doubt visionary and +fantastic spirits in the Republican ranks, and ridiculous proposals +have already been mooted. For instance, it has been gravely suggested +that all streets bearing the names of saints--and there are hundreds +of them--should be renamed in commemoration of Republican heroes, +dates, exploits, etc. But the common sense of the people and Press is +already on the alert, and such whimsies are being laughed out of court. + +Of the Provisional Government I saw only the President and the Foreign +Secretary. The President, an illustrious scholar, historian, and poet, +is a delightful old man of the simplest, most unassuming manners, and +eagerly communicative on the subjects which have been the study of his +life. When I asked him to explain to me the difference of national +character which made the Portuguese attitude toward the Church so +different from the Spanish, he took me right back to the Ligurians--far +out of my ethnological depth--and gave me a most interesting sketch of +the development of the two nations. But when we came to topics of more +immediate importance, he showed, if I may venture to say so, a clear +practical sense, quite remote from visionary idealism. The Foreign +Minister, Dr. Machado, is of more immediately impressive personality. +Younger than the President by at least ten years, yet little short, I +should guess, of sixty, he is extremely neat and dapper in person, +while his very handsome face has a birdlike keenness and alertness of +expression betokening not only great intelligence but high-strung +vitality. He is a copious, eloquent, and witty talker, and his +remarkable charm of manner accounts, in part at any rate, for his +immense popularity. Assuredly no monarchy could have more distinguished +representatives than this Republic. + +The desire of the Republic to "play fair" was manifested in another +little trait that interested me a good deal. In the window of every +book-shop in Spain a translation from the Portuguese, entitled _Los +Escandalos de la Corte de Portugal_, is prominently displayed. It is a +ferocious lampoon upon the royal family and upon Franco; but in Lisbon +I looked for it in vain. On inquiry I learned that it had been +prohibited under the Monarchy, as it could not fail to be; but, had +there been any demand for it, no doubt it might have been reprinted +since the revolution. There was apparently no demand. The people to +whom I spoke of it evidently regarded it as "hitting below the belt." +"We do not fight with such weapons," said a leading journalist. In no +one, in fact, did I discover the slightest desire or willingness to +retail personal gossip with respect to the hated Braganzas. + + + + +THE CRUSHING OF FINLAND + +A.D. 1910 + +JOHN JACKOL BARON VON PLEHVE +BARON SERGIUS WITTE J.N. REUTER + +In the midst of progress comes reaction. The far northern European +country of Finland had for a century been progressing in advance of its +neighbors. It was a true democracy. It had even established, first of +European lands, the full suffrage for women; and numerous women sat in +its parliament. But Finland was tributary to Russia; and Russia, as far +back as 1898, began a deliberate policy of crushing Finland, +"nationalizing" it, was the Russian phrase, by which was meant +compelling it to abandon its independence, adopt the Russian language, +and become an integral part of the empire under Russian officials and +Russian autocracy. + +Under pressure of this repressive policy, the Finns began leaving their +country as early as 1903, emigrating to America in despair of +successful resistance to Russia's tyranny. Many of them were exiled or +imprisoned by the Czar's Government. Then came the days of the Russian +Revolution; and the Czar and his advisers hurried to grant Finland +everything she had desired, under fear that her people would swell the +tide of revolution. But that danger once passed, the old policy of +oppression was soon renewed, and was carried onward until in November +of 1909 the Finnish Parliament was dismissed by imperial command. All +through 1910 repressive laws were passed, reducing Finland step by step +to a mere Russian province, so that before the close of that year the +Finlanders themselves surrendered the struggle. One of their leaders +wrote, "So ends Finland." + +We give here first the despairing cry written in 1903 by a well-known +Finn who fled to America. Then follows the official Russian statement +by the "Minister of the Interior," Von Plehve, who held control of +Finland in the early stages of the struggle, and was later slain by +Russian revolutionists. Then we give the very different Russian view +expressed by the great liberal Prime Minister, Baron Sergius Witte, who +rescued Russia from her domestic disaster after the Japanese War. The +story is then carried to its close by a well-known Finnish sympathizer. + + +JOHN JACKOL + +"Russia is the rock against which the sigh for freedom breaks," said +Kossuth, the great statesman and patriot of Hungary. Although fifty +years have passed, and sigh after sigh has broken against it, the rock +still stands like a colossal monument of bygone ages. It is pointing +toward the northern star, as if to remind one of the all-enduring +fixity. Other stars may go round as they will; there is one fixed in +its place, and under that star the shadow of despotism hopes to endure +forever. + +While yet in Finland I used to fancy Russia as a giant devil-fish, +whose arms extended from the Baltic to the Pacific, from the Black Sea +to the Arctic Ocean. Then I would think of my native land as a +beautiful mermaid, about whom the giant's cold, chilly arms were slowly +creeping, and I feared that some day those arms would crush her. That +day has come. The helpless mermaid lies prostrate in the clutch of the +octopus. Not that the constitution of Finland has been annulled, as has +been so often erroneously stated, and quite generally believed. The +Russian Government has made only a few inroads upon it. The great +grievance of the Finns is not with what has been absolutely done in +opposition to their ancient rights and privileges, nor in the number of +their rights which have in reality been curtailed, but with the fact +that they have henceforth no security. The real grievance of the Finns +is that the welfare of their country no longer rests upon an inviolable +constitution, but upon the caprice of the ministers. + +In 1898 the reactionists succeeded in getting one of their tools +appointed as Governor-General. No sooner had General Bobrikoff taken +his high office than he declared that the Finnish right to separate +political existence was an illusion; that there was no substantial +foundation for it in any of the acts or words of Alexander I. The +people were amazed, appalled. But this was not all. Pobiedonostseff, +the Procurator of the Holy Synod, and other men as reactionary as he, +discovered the fact, or gave birth to the idea, that the fundamental +rights of Finland could be interfered with if these fundamental rights +interfered with the welfare of the Russian Empire. In other words, they +discovered a loophole which they termed legal, on the principle that +the parts should suffer for the whole, and that this principle was an +integral part of the plan of Russian government. + +The abrogation of maintenance of Finland's ancient rights would seem by +this decision to rest on the arbitrary interpretation on the part of +Russia as to whether or not they interfered with the welfare of the +empire. It is possible that, according to the individual opinions of +Russian autocrats, they might all interfere with the standard of +welfare which certain individuals have arbitrarily established to fit +the occasion. + +In justice to the Russian Government it should be stated, however, that +the joy of persecution was not the motive which led to the arbitrary +acts. During the time that Finland was under Swedish control, the Finns +had learned to dislike everything Russian. These anti-Russian +tendencies were accentuated, after Finland became an appanage of the +Russian crown, by the restrictive and often reactionary policy of the +Imperial Government. Such a form of government was repugnant to the +Finns, who had learned to be governed by good laws well administered, +and by an enlightened public opinion. At the same time, owing to their +larger liberties, their higher culture, and their susceptibility to +western ideals, the Finns exerted an attractive influence over the +peoples of the Baltic provinces, and even of Russia proper. A Finn +would very seldom become Russianized, while many Russians became +Finnicized. Unlike his Russian brother, the Finn enjoyed the privileges +of free conscience, free speech, and free press. + +To the average Russian such a life was enchanting, and many were so +fascinated that they became citizens of Finland. In order to do so, +however, they were obliged to go through the formality of changing +their nationality and becoming subjects of the Grand Duchy. Doubtless +this was distasteful to the Russians, but so many and so great were the +advantages accruing from such a change that not a few renounced their +nationality. + +Such a state of affairs seemed unnatural and antagonistic to the +propaganda of the Panslavistic party. Instead of Russian ideals +pervading the province, provincial ideals, manners, and customs were +gradually spreading into the empire. But there seemed to be no +honorable way of checking the progress of the rapidly growing Finnish +nationality. The Finns maintained that their rights and privileges and +their laws rested upon an inviolable constitution, which could be +changed only by a vote of the four estates of the Landtag. That body +would never yield. + +It was at this juncture that the Procurator of the Holy Synod conceived +the idea that the fundamental rights of the Finns can be curtailed in +so far as they interfere with those of the empire. Acting according to +this new idea the Imperial Government in 1899 took for its pretext the +army service of the Finns. Heretofore, according to a hereditary +privilege, the Finns had not been called upon to serve in the Russian +Army, and their army service had been only three years to the Russian's +five. The officers of the Finnish Army were to be Finns, and this army +could not be called upon to serve outside of the Grand Duchy. This was +the first fundamental right of the Finns to be attacked by the Russian +Government. In some mysterious way the very insignificant army of +Finland "interfered with the general welfare of the Russian Empire." + +Immediately following the Czar's startling proposal for a disarmament +conference in 1899 came his call for a special session of the Finnish +Landtag to extend the laws of conscription and the time of regular +service from three to five years. Furthermore, the new law provided +that instead of serving in their own country, the Finnish soldiers were +to be scattered among the various troops of the empire. By this means +it was hoped to Russianize them. + +The representatives of the people had no time to consider the measure +before the Czar's decree was issued, February 17, 1899, declaring that +thenceforth the laws governing the Grand Duchy be made in the same +manner as those of the empire. + +It is not necessary to dwell upon the deep feeling of indignation and +grief that pervaded the country. It has found a freer expression +outside of the Grand Duchy than within its boundaries. Wherever the +human heart is beating in sympathetic harmony with universal progress, +the oppressed Finnish people have found moral support. In spite of +this, one by one the Finns have been deprived of their hereditary +rights and privileges. To the Finns this new order of things seems +appalling. It is like the drawing of the veil of the dark ages over +their beloved country. They have lost everything that is dear to the +human heart: their language, their religion, and their independence. +They can do nothing but mourn in silence and mortification, for a +strict Russian censorship prevents the expression of their just +indignation and grief. + +The present condition of Finland is apathetic. Last fall the loss of +crops was almost complete, and pestilence and famine are devastating +the country, which has been drained of its vitality by an excessive +migration and military conscription. The young men of Finland are +forced to serve five years in the Russian Army, and the country is +suffering from a lack of men to till the soil. The credit of the +country has been mined, and panic is spreading rapidly. Wholesale +migration of the more thrifty has made the already difficult problem of +readjustment more complicated. Those who remain behind are literally +suffering from physical, intellectual, and moral starvation. There is +left nothing to refresh, fertilize, and energize the nation's vitality. +The Finns are utterly helpless. In this sad extremity of their people +the best men of Finland are exerting their utmost in the endeavor to +alleviate suffering and infuse hope and inspiration among the masses. +The young Finnish party has become exasperated by the humiliation that +has been heaped upon the long-suffering people of their native land, +and its leaders have advised active resistance. The old Finnish party +has adopted the policy of passive resistance and protest. But the +inroads upon the constitution of Finland, in the form of imperial +decrees, rules, and regulations by the Governor-General and his +subordinates, have been so many and so sweeping in their character that +even the most conservative are beginning to lose patience. As long as +the unconstitutional acts affected only the political life of the +people, many were able to bear it, but when the new rules attacked the +time-honored social institutions and customs, indignation could no +longer be suppressed. For instance, the order to open private mail +caused a general protest. The postal director and his secretary refused +to sign the order and resigned. No less obnoxious was the order +forbidding public meetings and directing the governors of the different +provinces of Finland to appoint only such men to fill municipal rural +offices as will be subservient to the Governor-General. The governor of +the province of Ulrasborg resigned, while several other provinces were +already governed by pliant tools of General Bobrikoff. + +The long-suppressed anxiety of the people has changed into a +heartrending sigh of anguish. These words of a national poet express +the general sentiment, "Better far than servitude a death upon the +gallows." A vicious circle has been established. The high-handed +measures cause indignation, and the Governor-General is determined to +suppress its expression. There is no safety in Finland for honest and +patriotic men. The judiciary has been made subservient to General +Bobrikoff. Latest advices are ominous. April 24, 1903, was a black day +in the history of Finland. It witnessed the inauguration of a reign of +terror which, by the ordinance of April 2d and the rescript of April +9th, General Bobrikoff had been authorized to establish. + +Bobrikoff returned to Finland with authority, if necessary, to close +hotels, stores, and factories, to forbid general meetings, to dissolve +clubs and societies, and to banish without legal process any one whose +presence in the country he considered objectionable. + +For 700 years Finns have been free men; now they have become Russian +serfs, and it is well to make closer connections between the Finnish +railway system and the trans-Siberian road. Finns are long-suffering +and patient, but who could endure all this? + +While the expression of indignation is suppressed in Finland, outside +of the Grand Duchy, especially in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Russia's +relentless tyranny has made the highest officers of state as resentful +as the man in the street. Indeed entire Scandinavia is aflame with +indignation and apprehension. The leading journals are warning +Scandinavians "that the fate of Finland implies other tragedies of +similar character, unless Pan-Scandinavia becomes something more than a +political dream." + + +VON PLEHVE[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission from the _American Review of +Reviews_.] + +In criticizing Russian policy in Finland a distinction should be made +between its fundamental principles--_i.e.,_ the ends which it is meant +to attain, and its outward expression, which depends upon +circumstances. + +The former,--_i.e.,_ the aims and principles, remain _unalterable_; the +latter,--_i.e.,_ the way in which this policy finds expression--is of +an incidental and temporary character, and does not always depend on +the Russian authority alone. This is what should be taken into +consideration by Russia's western friends when estimating the value of +the information which reaches them from Finland. + +As to the program of the Russian Government in the Finland question, it +is substantially as follows: + +The fundamental problem of every supreme authority--the happiness and +prosperity of the governed--can be solved only by the mutual +cooperation of the government and the people. The requirements +presented to the partners in this common task are, on the one hand, +that the people should recognize the unity of state principle and +policy and the binding character of its aims; and, on the other, that +the Government should acknowledge the benefit accruing to the state +from the public activity, along the lines of individual development, of +its component elements. + +Such are the grounds on which the government and the people should +unite in the performance of their common task. The combination of +imperial unity with local autonomy, of autocracy with self-government, +forms the principle which must be taken into consideration in judging +the action of the Russian Government in the Grand Duchy of Finland. The +manifesto of February 3-15, 1899, is not a negation of such a peaceful +cooperation, but a confirmation of the aforesaid leading principle of +our Government in its full development. It decides that the issue of +imperial laws, common both to Russia and Finland, must not depend +altogether on the consent of the members of the Finland Diet, but is +the prerogative of the Imperial Council of State, with the +participation on such occasions of members of the Finland Senate. There +is nothing in this manifesto to shake the belief of Russia's friends in +the compatibility of the principles of autocracy with a large measure +of local self-government and civic liberty. The development of the +spiritual and material powers of the population by its gradual +introduction to participation in the conscious public life of +the state, as a healthy, conservative principle of government, +has always entered into the plans of the sovereign leaders of the life +of Russia as a state. These intentions were announced afresh from the +throne by the manifesto of February 26, 1903. In our country this +process takes place in accordance with the historical basis of the +empire, with the national peculiarities of its population. + +The result is that in Russia we have the organization of local +institutions which give self-government in the narrow sense of the +word--_i.e.,_ the right of the people to see to the satisfaction of +their local economic needs. In Finland the idea of local autonomy was +developed far earlier and in a far wider manner. Its present scope, +which has grown and developed under Russian rule, embraces all sides, +not only of the economic, but of the civil, life of the land. Russian +autocracy has thus given irrefragable proof of its constructive powers +in the sphere of civic development. The historian of the future will +have to note its ethical importance in a far wider sphere as well: the +greatest of social problems have found a peaceable solution in Russia, +thanks to the conditions of its political organization. + +For a full comprehension, however, of the manifesto of 1899, it must be +regarded as one of the phases in the development of Finland's relations +to Russia. It will then become evident that as a legacy of the past it +is the outcome of the natural course of events which sooner or later +must have led up to it. The initiation of Finland into the historical +destinies of the Russian Empire was bound to lead to the rise of +questions calling for a general solution common both to the empire and +to Finland. Naturally, in view of the subordinate status of the latter, +such questions could be solved only in the order appointed for imperial +legislation. At the same time, neither the fundamental laws of the +Swedish period of rule in Finland, which were completely incompatible +with its new status, nor the Statutes of the Diet, introduced by +Alexander II., and determining the order of issue of local laws, +touched, or could touch, the question of the issue of general imperial +laws. This question arose in the course of the legislative work +on the systematization of the fundamental laws of Finland. This task, +undertaken by order of the Emperor Alexander II. for the more precise +determination of the status of Finland as an indivisible part of our +state, was continued during the reign of his august successor, the +Emperor Alexander III., and led to the question of determining the +order of issue of general imperial laws. The rules drafted for this +purpose in 1893 formed the contents of the manifesto of 1899. Thus we +see that during six years they remained without application, there +being no practical necessity for their publication. When, however, this +necessity arose, owing to the lapse of the former military law, the +manifesto was issued. It was, therefore, the finishing touch to the +labor of many years at the determination of the manner in which the +principle of a united empire was to find expression within the limits +of Finland, and remained substantially true to the traditions which for +a century had reigned in the relations between Russia and Finland. It +presented a combination of the principle of autocracy with that of +local self-government without any serious limitations of the rights of +the latter. Moreover, while preserving the historical principle of +Russian empire-building, this law determined the form of the expression +of the autocratic power within the limits of the Grand Duchy in a +manner so much in accord with the conditions of life in Finland that it +did not touch the organization of a single one of the national local +institutions of the duchy. + +This law, in its application to the new conscription regulations, has +alleviated the condition of the population of Finland. The military +burden laid on the population of the land has been decreased from 2,000 +men to 500 per annum, and latterly to 280. As you will see, there is in +reality no opposition between the will of the Emperor of Russia as +announced to Finland in 1899 and his generous initiative at The Hague +Conference. But, you ask me, has not this confirmation of the ancient +principles of Russian state policy in Finland been bought at too dear a +price? I shall try to answer you. The hostility of public opinion +toward us in the West in connection with Finnish matters is much to be +regretted, but hopes may be entertained that under the influence of +better information on Finnish affairs this hostility may lose its +present bitterness. We are accustomed, moreover, to see that the West, +while welcoming the progressive development of Russia along the old +lines it, Europe, has followed itself, is not always as amicably +disposed toward the growth of the political and social +self-consciousness of Russia and toward the independent historical +process taking place in her in the shape of the concentration of her +forces for the fulfilment of her peaceful vocation in the history of +the human race. + +The attitude of the population of Finland toward Russia is not at all +so inimical as would appear on reading the articles in the foreign +press proceeding from the pen of hostile journalists. To the honor of +the best elements of the Finnish population, it must be said that the +degree of prosperity attained by Finland during the past century under +the egis of the Russian throne is perfectly evident to them; they know +that it is the Russian Government which has resuscitated the Finnish +race, systematically crushed down as it had been in the days of Swedish +power. The more prudent among the Finlanders realize that now, as +before, the characteristic local organization of Finland remains +unaltered, that the laws which guarantee the provincial autonomy of +Finland are still preserved, and that now, as before, the institutions +are active which satisfy its social and economic needs on independent +lines. + +They understand, likewise, the real causes of the increasing emigration +from Finland. If, along with them, political agitation has also played +a certain part, alarming the credulous peasantry with the specter of +military service on the distant borders of Russia, yet their emigration +was and remains an economic phenomenon. Having originated long before +the issue of the manifesto of 1899, it kept increasing under the +influence of bad harvests, industrial crises, and the demand for labor +in foreign lands. Such is also the case in Norway, where the percentage +of emigration is even greater than in Finland. + +Having elucidated the substantially unalterable aims of Russian policy +in Finland, let us proceed to the causes which have led to its present +incidental and temporary form of expression. This, undoubtedly, is +distinguished by its severity, but such are the requirements of an +utilitarian policy. By the bye, the total of these severe measures +amounts to twenty-six Finlanders expelled from the country and a few +officials dismissed the service without the right to a pension. It was +scarcely possible, however, to retain officials in the service of the +state once they refused to obey their superiors. Nor was it possible to +bear with the existence of a conspiracy which attempted to draw the +peaceful and law-abiding population into a conflict with the +Government, and that, too, at a moment when the prudent members of the +population of the duchy took the side of lawful authority, thereby +calling forth against themselves persecution on the part of the secret +leaders of the agitation party. The upholders of the necessity for a +pacific policy toward Russia were subjected to moral and sometimes +physical outrage, and their opponents were not ashamed to institute +scandalous legal processes against them for the purpose of damaging +their reputations. + +Very different is the attitude of the great mass of the population, as +the following incident shows: The president of the Abo Hofgericht, +declining to follow the instructions of the party hostile to Russia, +was, on his arrival in Helsingfors, subjected to a variety of insults +from the mob gathered at the railway station. On his return to Abo he +was, on the contrary, presented with an address from the peasantry and +local landowners, in which the following words occur: "We understand +very well that you have been led to your patriotic resolve to continue +your labors in obedience to the government by deep conviction, and do +not require gratitude either from us or from any others; but at the +important crisis our people is now experiencing it may be of some +relief to you to learn that the preponderating majority of the people, +and especially in broader classes, gratefully approve of the course you +have taken." + +It will scarcely be known to any one in the West that when signatures +were being gathered for the great mass-address of protest dispatched to +St. Petersburg in 1899, those who refused their signatures numbered +martyrs among them. There are some who for their courage in refusing +their signatures suffered ruin and disgrace and were imprisoned on +trumped-up charges. Moreover, the agitators aimed at infecting the +lower classes of the population with their intolerance and their hatred +of Russians, but, it must be said, with scant success. + +With regard to the essence of the question, I repeat that in matters of +government temporary phenomena should be distinguished from permanent +ones. The incidental expression of Russian policy, necessitated by an +open mutiny against the Government in Finland, will, undoubtedly, be +replaced by the former favor of the sovereign toward his Finnish +subjects as soon as peace is finally restored and the current of social +life in that country assumes its normal course. Then, certainly, all +repressive measures will be repealed. But the realization of the +fundamental aim which the Russian Government has set itself in +Finland--_i.e._, the confirming in that land of the principle of +imperial unity--must continue, and it would be best of all if this end +were attained with the trustful cooperation of local workers under the +guidance of the sovereign to whom Divine Providence has committed the +destinies of Russia and Finland. + + +SERGIUS WITTE + +When we talk of the means requisite for assimilating Finland we can not +help reckoning, first and foremost, with this fact, that by the will of +Russian emperors that country has lived its own particular life for +nearly a century and governed itself in quite a special manner. Another +consideration that should be taken to heart is this: the administration +of the conquered country on lines which differed from the organization +of other territories forming part of the empire, and which gave to +Finland the semblance of a separate state, was shaped by serious +causes, and did good service in the political history of the Russian +Empire. One is hardly justified, therefore, in blaming this work of +Alexander I., as is now so often done.... The annexation of Finland, +poor by nature and at that time utterly ruined by protracted wars, was +of moment to Russia, not so much from an economic or financial as from +a strategical point of view. And what in those days was important was +not its Russification, but solely the military position which it +afforded. Besides, the incorporation of Finland took place at a +calamitous juncture--for Russia. On the political horizon of Europe the +clouds were growing denser and blacker, and there was a general +foreboding of the coming events of the year 1812. If, at that time, +Czar Alexander I. had applied to Finland the methods of administration +which are wont to be employed in conquered countries, Finland would +have become a millstone round Russia's neck during the critical period +of her struggle with Napoleon, which demanded the utmost tension of our +national forces. Fear of insurrections and risings would have compelled +Russia to maintain a large army there and to spend considerable sums in +administering the country. But Alexander I. struck out a different +course. His Majesty recognized the necessity of "bestowing upon the +people, by means of internal organization, incomparably more advantages +than it had had under the sway of Sweden." And the Emperor held that an +effective means of achieving this would be to give the nation such a +status "that it should be accounted not enthralled by Russia, but +attached to her in virtue of its own manifest interests." "This valiant +and trusty people," said Czar Alexander I., when winding up the Diet of +Borgo, "will bless Providence for establishing the present order of +things. And I shall garner in the best fruits of my solicitude when I +shall see this people tranquil from without, free within, devoting +itself to agriculture and industry under the protection of the laws and +their own good conduct, and by its very prosperity rendering justice in +my intentions and blessing its destiny." + +Subsequent history justified the rosiest hopes of the Emperor. The +immediate consequence of the policy he adopted toward Finland was that +the country quickly became calmed and settled after the fierce war that +had been waged there, and that in this way Russia was enabled to +concentrate all her forces upon the contest with Napoleon. According to +the words of Alexander I. himself, the annexation of Finland "was of +the greatest advantage to Russia; without it, in 1812, we might not, +perhaps, have won success, because Napoleon had in Bernadotte his +steward, who, being within five days' march of our capital, would have +been inevitably compelled to join his forces with those of Napoleon. +Bernadotte himself told me so several times, and added that he had +Napoleon's order to declare war against Russia." And afterward, during +almost a century, Finland never occasioned any worries, political or +economic, to the Russian Government, and did not require special +sacrifices or special solicitude on its part. + +If we may judge, not by the speeches and articles of particular +Separatists, but by overt acts, during that long period of time the +Finnish people never failed in their duty as loyal subjects of their +monarch or citizens of the common fatherland, Russia. The successors of +the conqueror of Finland spoke many times from the height of the throne +"of the numerous proofs of unalterable attachment and gratitude which +the citizens of this country have given their monarchs." And in effect, +neither general insurrections against Russia's dominions, nor political +plots, nor the tumults of an ignorant rabble--such as our cholera +riots, workmen's outbreaks, Jewish pogroms, and other like +disturbances--have ever occurred in Finland; and when disorders of that +kind broke out in other parts of the empire or alarming tidings from +abroad came in they never evoked the slightest dangerous echo there. It +is a most remarkable fact that during the trying time the Russian +Government had when the Polish insurrection was going on, and later, in +the equally difficult period through which we passed at the close of +the seventies, Finland remained perfectly calm; and in the long list of +political criminals sprung from the various nationalities of Russia, we +do not find a single Finlander. + +In like manner fear of Finland's aspirations toward independence, of +her inordinate demands in the matter of military legislation, of her +turning her population into an armed nation; in a word, all the +apprehensions felt that Finland may break loose from Russia are, down +to the present moment, devoid of foundation in fact. + +"Finland under the egis of the Russian realm," our present Emperor has +said, "and strong in virtue of Russia's protection through the lapse of +almost a whole century, has advanced along the way of peaceful progress +unswervingly, and in the hearts of the Finnish people lived the +consciousness of their attachment to the Russian monarchs and to +Russia." In moments of stress and of Russia's danger, the Finnish +troops have always come forward as the fellow soldiers of our armies, +and Finland has shared with us unhesitatingly our military triumphs and +also the irksome consequences and tribulations of war-time. Thus, in +the year 1812 and in the Crimean campaign, her armies grew in number +considerably; in that eastern war almost her entire mercantile marine +was destroyed--a possession which was one of the principal sources of +the revenue of the country. During the Polish insurrection and the war +for the emancipation of Bulgaria Finnish troops took part in the +expeditions, and when in 1885 the Diet was opened, the Emperor +Alexander III., in his speech from the throne, bore witness to "the +unimpeachable way in which the population of the country had discharged +its military obligations," and he gave utterance to his conviction that +the Finnish troops would attain the object for which they existed. + +By way of proving Finland's striving to cut herself apart from Russia, +people point to the doctrine disseminated about the Finnish State, to +its unwillingness to establish military conscription on the same lines +as the empire, and to the speeches of the Deputies of the Diets of +1877-1878 and 1879. But none of these arguments carries conviction. + +The theory about the independence of Finland, as a separate realm, +which was worked out for the purpose of devising "the means of +safeguarding its idiosyncrasies," is far from proving that "Finland +aims at separation from Russia." Down to the present moment separation +has not been in her interests. She was never an independent State; her +historical traditions do not move her to play a political part in +Europe. Besides, her population is mixed. The Swedish element +constitutes only the topmost layer, and is not powerful enough to move +toward an independent existence or toward union with the Power which +belongs to the same race as that layer, while the mass of Finns, +dreading the oppression of the Swedish party, is drawn more to Russia +by the simple instinct of self-preservation. That is why the Finnish +patriot may well be a true and devoted citizen of the Russian Empire, +and being, as Alexander III. termed it, "a good Finlander," can also +"bear in mind that he is a member of the Russian family, at the head of +which stands the Russian Emperor." + +The unfavorable attitude of the Finns toward the proposal of the War +Ministry for extending to them the general regulations that deal with +the obligation to serve in the army is also intelligible. That +obligation of military service is exceedingly irksome; and it is not +only the Finns who desire to fight shy of it, nor can one discover any +specially dangerous symptom in their wish to preserve the privileged +position which they have hitherto enjoyed as to the way of discharging +their military duties. They seek to perpetuate the privileges conferred +upon them in the form of fundamental laws, and they strive to avoid +being incorporated in the Russian Army, because service there would be +very much more onerous for them than in their own Finnish regiments... + +If we now turn from the political to the economic aspect of the matter, +to the question how far the order of things as at present established +in Finland has proved advantageous to Russia from the financial point +of view, we shall search in vain for data capable of bearing out the +War Minister's opinion that, for the period of a century the Budget of +Finland has been sedulously husbanded at the cost of the Russian +people. + +Ever since Finland has had an independent State Budget, she has never +required any sacrifices on the part of Russia for her economic +development. Ill-used by nature and ruined by wars, the country, by +dint of its own efforts, has advanced toward cultural and material +prosperity. Without subsidies or guaranties from the Imperial Treasury, +the land became furrowed with a network of carriage roads and railways; +industries were created; a mercantile fleet was built, and the work of +educating the nation was so successfully organized that one can hardly +find an illiterate person throughout the length and breadth of the +principality. It is also an interesting fact worth recording that, +whereas the Russian Government has almost every year to feed a starving +population, now in one district of the empire, now in another, and is +obliged from time to time to spend enormous sums of money for the +purpose, Finland, in spite of its frequent bad harvests, has generally +dispensed with such help on the part of the State Treasury... + +Under these circumstances it is hardly fair to assert that Finland has +been living at Russia's expense. On the contrary, Finland is perhaps +the only one of our borderlands which has not required for its economic +or cultural development funds taken from the population of Russia +proper. The Caucasus, the Kingdom of Poland, Turkestan, part of +Siberia, and other portions of our border districts--nay, even the +northern provinces themselves--are sources of loss to us, or, at any +rate, they have cost the Russian Treasury very much, and some of them +still continue to cost it much, but the expenses they involve are +hidden in the totals of the Imperial Budget. A few data will throw +adequate light on this aspect of the situation. It is enough, for +instance, to call to mind what vast, what incalculable sacrifices the +pacification of the Caucasus required from Russia and what worry and +expense it still causes us. No less imposing is the expenditure which +the Kingdom of Poland with its two insurrections necessitated in the +course of last century.... And if we cast a glance at the youngest of +our borderlands--Turkestan--we shall find that here also the outlay +occasioned by the political situation of the country has already become +sharply outlined.... When we set those figures and data side by side we +shall find it hard to speak of "our expenditure on Finland" or of "the +vast privileges" we have conferred on the principality. + +It follows, then, that the system of administration established for +Finland by the Emperor Alexander I. has not yet had any harmful +political results for Russia, and that it has dispensed the Russian +Government from incurring heavy expenditure for the administration and +the well-being of the country, and in this way has enabled Russia to +concentrate her forces and her care on other parts of the empire and to +devote her attention to other State problems. + +One can not, of course, contend that the system of government adopted +in Finland satisfies, in each and all its parts, the requirements and +the needs of the present time. On the contrary, it is indubitable that +the independent existence of the principality, disconnected as it is +from the general interests of the empire, has led to a certain +estrangement between the Russian and the Finnish populations. That an +estrangement really exists can not be doubted; but the explanation of +it is to be found in the difference of the two cultures which have +their roots in history. To the protracted sway of Sweden and Finland's +continuous relations through her intermediary with Western Europe, the +circumstance is to be ascribed that the thinking spirits among the +Finns gravitate--in matters of culture--not to Russia but to the West, +and in particular to Sweden, with whom Finland is linked by bonds of +language--through her highest social class--and of religion, laws, and +literature. For that reason the views, ideas, and interests of +Western--and in particular of Scandinavian--peoples are more +thoroughly familiar and more intelligible to them than ours. That also +is why, when working out any kind of reforms and innovations, they seek +for models not among us but in Western Europe. + +It is, doubtless, impossible to look upon that state of things with +approval. It is highly desirable that a closer union should take place +between the interests, cultural and political, of the principality and +those of the empire: that is postulated by the mutual advantages of +both countries. As I have already remarked, Russians could not +contemplate otherwise than with pleasure the possible union and +assimilation--in principle--of the borderland with the other parts of +our vast fatherland: they will also be unanimous in wishing this task +as successful an issue as is possible..... + +But what is not feasible is to demolish at one swoop everything that +has been created and preserved in the course of a whole century. A +change of policy, if it is not to provoke tumults and disorganization, +must be carried out gradually and with extreme circumspection. The +assimilation of Finland can never be efficacious if achieved by +violence and constraint instead of by pacific means. The Finnish people +should be left to appreciate the benefits which would accrue to them +from union with a powerful empire: for an adequate understanding of +their own interests will, in the words of the Imperial rescript of +February 28, 1891, "inspire them with a desire to draw more closely the +bonds that link Finland with Russia." There is no doubt that even at +present a certain tendency is noticeable among the Finns in favor of +closer relations with Russia: the knowledge of the Russian tongue is +spreading more and more widely among them, and business relations +between them and us are growing brisker from year to year. The +desirable abolition of the customs cordon between the two countries is +bound to give a powerful fillip to the growth of commerce, which is the +most trustworthy and most pacific means of bringing about a better +understanding and strengthening the ties that bind Finland to Russia. + +Harsh, drastic expedients may easily loosen the threads that have begun +to get tied, foster national hate, arouse mutual distrust and +suspicion, and lead to results the reverse of those aimed at. +Assimilative measures adopted by the Government, therefore, should be +thought out carefully and applied gradually. + +J.N. REUTER + +"Might can not dominate right in Russia," said M. Stolypin, Russian +Minister of the Interior and President of the Council of Ministers, in +the speech which he delivered in the Duma on May 18, 1908, when pressed +by the various parties to declare his policy with regard to Finland. +This noble sentiment has the familiar ring of Russian officialdom. It +may, perhaps, be worth while to consider it in the light of recent +history and present-day issues. + +Alexander I., the first Russian sovereign of Finland, addressed a +Rescript to Count Steinheil on his appointment to the post of +Governor-General. Therein he wrote: "My object in Finland has been to +give the people a political existence so that they shall not regard +themselves as subject to Russia, but as attached to her by their own +obvious interests." It is not the place here to give an historical +account of subsequent events. It may, however, be briefly stated that +the political ideal expressed in the words quoted here was at times +forgotten, but was again revived, and, in such times, even resulted in +the extension of Finland's constitutional rights. Then, again, this +ideal was abandoned, and gave way to a totally different one, which +found its most acute expression in February, 1899, when the Czar, a +year after the issue of his invitations to the first Peace Conference +at The Hague, suppressed by an Imperial manifesto the constitutional +right of Finland. The arbitrary and corrupt Russian bureaucratic regime +little by little forced its way into the country, while Finlanders +watched with bitter resentment the suppression, one by one, of their +most cherished national institutions. + +This manifesto was condemned in many European countries at the time, +and a protest against it was signed by over a thousand prominent +publicists and constitutional lawyers, who presented an international +address to the Czar begging him to restore the rights of the Grand +Duchy. + +In 1905, however, it seemed at last that a new era was about to dawn. +The change was brought about by the domestic crisis through which +Russia herself was then passing. An Imperial manifesto promulgated in +October, containing the principles of a constitutional form of +government in Russia, was followed as an inevitable sequel by the +manifesto of November 4th, which practically restored to Finland its +full political rights. In 1906, a new Law of the Diet was enacted. +Instead of triennial sessions of the Estates, annual sessions of the +Diet were introduced, while an extension of the franchise to every +citizen over twenty-four years of age without distinction of sex gave +to women active electoral rights. Moreover, the door was opened to new +and far-reaching reforms, the fulfilment of which infused fresh life +into the democratic spirit of Finnish national institutions. While, +however, so much was done to improve the political, social, and +economic condition of the country, the promises which were then made +have not been fulfilled. The principal reason for this failure to +redeem their pledges lies in a change of attitude among Russian +officials and their interference in Finnish affairs. It is by +consideration of this change and of its effect upon Finland that we may +best judge how much truth there is in M. Stolypin's claim that in +Russia "might can not dominate right." + +Ominous signs of a reversal of policy had appeared before, but the +first official expression to it was given in the speech of M. Stolypin +already referred to. In this speech he claimed for Russia as the +sovereign power the right of control over Finnish administration and +legislation whenever the interests of the empire were concerned. This +claim meant practically the restoration of the old Bobrikoff rĂ©gime and +was based on the same ideas as those underlying the February manifesto +of 1899. M. Stolypin attempts to justify his attitude by arguing that +the constitutional relations between Russia and Finland are determined +only by Clause 4 of the Treaty of Peace between Russia and Sweden, +dated September 17,1809. This clause runs as follows: + +"His Majesty the King of Sweden renounces irrevocably and forever, on +behalf of himself as well as on behalf of his successors to the Swedish +throne and realm, and in favor of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia and +his successors to the Russian throne and empire, all his rights and +titles of the governments enumerated hereafter which have been +conquered by the arms of his Imperial Majesty from the Swedish Army, to +wit: the Provinces of Kymmenegard, etc. + +"These provinces, with all their inhabitants, towns, ports, forts, +villages, and islands, with their appurtenances, privileges, and +revenues, shall hereafter under full ownership and sovereignty belong +to the Russian Empire and be incorporated with the same." + +After quoting this clause, M. Stolypin exclaimed, "This is the act, the +title, by which Russia possesses Finland, the one and only act which +determines the mutual relations between Russia and Finland." + +Now this clause contains no reference whatever to the autonomy of the +Grand Duchy, and if it were the only act by which the mutual relations +of Russia and Finland were determined, then Finland would have no +constitution. The political autonomy of Finland, which has been +recognized for exactly one hundred years, would have been without legal +foundation. Even M. Stolypin admits that Finland enjoys autonomy. +"There must be no room for the suspicion," he said, "that Russia would +violate the rights of autonomy conferred on Finland by the monarch." On +what, then, does the claim to Finnish autonomy rest and how was it +conferred? Clause 6 of the Treaty of Peace contains the following +passage: + +"His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, having already given the +most manifest proofs of the clemency and justice with which he has +resolved to govern the inhabitants of the provinces which he has +acquired, by generosity and by his own spontaneous act assuring to them +the free exercise of their religion, rights, property, and privileges, +his Swedish Majesty considers himself thereby released from performing +the otherwise sacred duty of making reservations in the above respects +in favor of his former subjects." + +This entry in the Treaty of Peace refers to the settlement made at the +Borgo Diet a few months earlier, and it is under this settlement, +confirmed by deeds of a later date, that Finland claims her right to +autonomy. M. Stolypin recognizes the claim of Finland to autonomy, but +refuses to recognize the binding force of the acts of the Borgo Diet on +which alone it can legally be based. This claim gives Finland no voice +in her external relations. All international treaties, including +matters relating to the conduct of war (though laws on the liability of +Finnish citizens to military service fall under the competency of the +Finnish Diet), are matters common to Russia and Finland as one empire, +one international unit, and are dealt with by the proper Russian +authorities. This is admitted by all Finlanders. But M. Stolypin +extended Russian authority by making it paramount in all matters which +have a bearing on Russian or Imperial interests. + +The attempt to curtail Finnish constitutional liberty has taken +different forms. Early in 1908 the Russian Council of Ministers, over +which M. Stolypin presides, drew up a "Journal," or Protocol, to which +the Czar on June 2d gave his sanction. The chief provisions of this +Protocol were briefly as follows: All legislative proposals and all +administrative matters "of general importance," before being brought to +the Sovereign for his sanction, or, as is the case with Bills to be +presented to the Diet, for his preliminary approval, as well as all +reports drawn up by Finnish authorities for the Czar's inspection, must +be communicated to the Russian Council of Ministers. The Council will +then decide "which matters concerning the Grand Duchy of Finland also +have a bearing on the interests of the empire, and, consequently, call +for a fuller examination on the part of the Ministries and Government +Boards." If the Council decide that a matter has a bearing on the +interests of the empire the Council prepare a report on it, and, should +the Council differ from the views taken up by the Finnish authorities, +the Finnish Secretary of State, who alone should be the constitutional +channel for bringing Finnish matters before the Sovereign's notice, can +do so only in the presence of the President of the Council of Ministers +or another Russian Minister. But in practise it has frequently happened +that the Council send in their report beforehand, and the Czar's +decision is practically taken when the Finnish Secretary is permitted +an audience. + +This important measure was brought about by the exclusive +recommendation of Russian Ministers. Neither the Finnish Diet nor the +Senate nor the Secretary of State for Finland, who resides in St. +Petersburg, was consulted or had the slightest idea of what was going +on before the Protocol was published in Russia. It has never been +promulgated in Finland, and no Finnish authority has been officially +advised of it. The whole matter has been treated as a private affair +between the Czar and his Russian Ministers. + +The excuse has been made that the Czar must be permitted to seek +counsel with whomsoever he chooses in regard to the government of +Finland. But this is not a question of privately consulting one man or +the other. The new measure amounts to an official recognition of the +Russian Council of Ministers as an organ of government exercising a +powerful control over Finnish legislation, administration, and finance. +The center of gravity of Finnish administration has, in fact, been +shifted from the Senate for Finland, composed of Finnish men, to the +Russian Council of Ministers. + +The Finnish Senate protested to the Czar in three separate memoranda, +dated respectively June 19, 1908, December 22, 1908, and February +25,1909. The Finnish Diet adopted on October 13, 1908, a petition to +the Czar to reconsider the matter. On the occasion of the opening of +the Diet's next session the Speaker, in his reply to the Czar's +message, briefly referred to the anxiety prevailing in Finland, with +the result that the Diet was immediately punished by an order of +dissolution from the Czar. The Senate's memoranda, as well as the +Diet's petition, were rejected, the Czar acting on the exclusive +recommendation of the Russian Council of Ministers. They were not even +brought before him through the constitutional channels, the Finnish +Secretary of State having been refused a hearing. As a result all +members of the Department of Justice, or half the number of the +Senators, resigned. + +In the same year another but less successful attack was made on the +Finnish Constitution. In the autumn of 1908 the Finnish Diet adopted a +new Landlord and Tenant Bill, but before it was brought up for the +Czar's sanction the Diet was dissolved in the manner just described. +The Bill being of a pressing nature, the Council of Ministers was at +last prevailed upon to report on it to the Czar. The latter then gave +his sanction to it, but, on the recommendation of the Council, added a +rider in the preamble. This was to the effect that, though the Bill, +having been adopted by a Diet which was dissolved before the expiration +of the three years' period for which it was elected, should not have +been presented for his consideration at all, the Czar would +nevertheless make an exception from the rule and sanction it, prompted +by his regard for the welfare of the poorer part of the population. + +The Senate decided to postpone promulgation of this law in view of the +constitutional doctrine involved in the preamble. It was pointed out +that this doctrine was entirely foreign to Finnish law. The preamble +which, according to custom, should have contained nothing beyond the +formal sanction to the law in question, embodied an interpretation of +constitutional law. Such an interpretation could only legally be made +in the same manner as the enactment of a constitutional law, _i.e.,_ +through the concurrent decision of the Sovereign and the Diet. The +Senate, therefore, petitioned the Czar to modify the preamble in such a +way as to remove from it what could be construed as an interpretation +of constitutional law. + +In reply, the Czar reprimanded the Senate for delaying promulgation, +recommended it to do so immediately, but promised later on to take the +representations made by the Senate into his consideration. Five of the +Senators then voted against, while the Governor-General and five others +voted for promulgation of, the law. The minority then tendered their +resignations. The inconveniences resulting from this new constitutional +doctrine proved, however, of so serious a practical nature that the +Czar eventually, in July, 1909, issued a declaration that "the gracious +expressions in the preamble to the Landlord and Tenant Law concerning +the invalidity of the decisions of a dissolved Diet do not constitute +an interpretation of the constitutional law and shall not in the future +be binding in law." + +A third and most important encroachment by the Russian Council of +Ministers on the autonomy of Finland was also carried out at the +instigation of M. Stolypin. The Finnish Constitution makes no +distinction between matters that may have, or may not have, a bearing +on the interests of Russia. At the same time Russian interests have +never been disregarded in Finnish legislation. It had been the +practise, when a legislative proposal was brought forward in Finland, +and a Russian interest might be affected by it, to communicate with the +Russian Minister whom the matter most closely concerned, in order that +he might make his observations. This practise was confirmed by law in +1891. In its memoranda of 1908 and 1909, on the interference of the +Russian Council of Ministers in Finnish affairs, the Senate suggested +that, in case the procedure under the ordinance of 1891 were not +satisfactory, a committee of Russian and Finnish members should be +appointed to discuss a _modus procedendi_ of such a nature that the +Constitution of Finland should not be violated. On the recommendation +of the Council of Ministers, the Czar rejected these suggestions, but +the Council of Ministers took the matter in hand and summoned a +"Special Conference," consisting of several Russian Ministers, other +high Russian functionaries, the Governor-General of Finland, who is +also a Russian, with M. Stolypin as President. Their business was to +draw up a program for a joint committee to be appointed "for the +drafting of proposals for regulations concerning the procedure of +issuing laws of general Imperial interest concerning Finland." This +conference accordingly drew up a program, approved by the Czar on April +10, 1909, in which it was resolved that the joint committee should +suggest a definition of the term "laws of general Imperial interest +concerning Finland." These laws, it was proposed, should be totally +withdrawn from the competency of the Finnish Diet and should be passed +by the legislative bodies of Russia, that is, the Council of State and +the Duma. The only safeguard for the interests of Finland suggested in +the program is that a representative for Finland should be admitted to +these two bodies when Finnish questions were discussed there. + +It is impossible to say what laws concerning Finland will be defined as +being of "general interest." Having regard, however, to the wide +interpretation which Russian reactionaries are wont to put on the +expression, there is every reason to suppose that the Russian members +of the committee will insist on its extension so as to include every +important category of law. + +The Finnish members through their spokesman, Archbishop Johansson, +declared that they proceeded to work on the committee on the assumption +that in case alterations in the law of Finland should be found +necessary, having regard to Imperial interests, such alterations should +be made through modifications in the constitutional laws of Finland. +The Finlanders are prepared to do their duty by the empire, but, the +Archbishop said: "Sacrifices have been demanded from us to which no +people can consent. The Finnish people can not forego their +Constitution, which is a gift of the Most High, and which, next to the +Gospel, is their most cherished possession." + +M. Deutrich, who spoke on behalf of the Russian members, explained that +any law resulting from the labors of the committee would not be +submitted to the ratification of the Finnish Diet. + +So M. Stolypin's way was now clear. The sanction of the people will not +be required. The Finlanders have practically no other help than that +given by a consciousness of the justice of their cause. They have no +appeal. + +In November of 1909 the Finnish Diet was dissolved by a ukase of the +Czar. Since then the Russian Government has been passing decree after +decree for Finland, giving the constitutional authorities no voice even +of protest. So ends Finland. + + + + +MAN'S FASTEST MILE THE AUTOMOBILE AGE + +A.D. 1911 + +C.F. CARTER ISAAC MARCOSSON + +On April 23, 1911, an automobile was driven along the hard, smooth sand +of a Florida sea beach, covering a mile in 25-2/5 seconds. And it +continued for a second mile at the same tremendous speed. These were +the fastest two miles ever made by man. They were at the rate of a +trifle over 140 miles an hour. As this record was not equaled in the +three years that followed, it may be regarded as approaching the +maximum speed of which automobiles are capable. And as another +automobile, in endeavoring to reach such a speed, dissolved into its +separate parts, practically disintegrated, and left an astonished +driver floundering by himself upon the sand, we may assume that no +noticeably greater speed can be attained except by some wholly +different method or new invention. + +In contrast to this picture of "speed maniacs" darting more swiftly +than ever eagle swooped or lightning express-train ran, let us +contemplate for a moment that first automobile race held in Chicago in +1894. A twenty-four horse-power Panhard machine showed a speed of +thirty miles an hour and was objected to by the newspapers as a "racing +monster" likely to cause endless tragedy, menacing death to its owners +and to the public. Thus in the brief space of seventeen years did the +construction of automobiles improve and the temper of the world toward +them change. The present day may almost be called the "automobile age." +The progress by which this has come about, and the enormous development +of this new industry is here traced by two men who have followed it +most closely. The narrative of the "auto's" triumphs by Mr. C.F. Carter +appeared first in the _Outing Magazine_. The account of the industry's +growth by Mr. Isaac Marcosson appeared in _Munsey's Magazine_, of which +he was the editor. Both are given here by the permission of the +magazines. + +C.F. CARTER + +When the marine architects and engineers catch up with the automobile +makers they can build a ship capable of crossing the Atlantic in +twenty-three hours; or, if we forget to make allowance for the +difference in longitude, capable of making the run from Liverpool to +New York in the same apparent time in which the Twentieth Century +Limited makes the run from New York to Chicago. That is, the vessel +leaving Liverpool at three o'clock in the afternoon would arrive at New +York at nine o'clock the following morning, which, allowing for the +five hours' difference in time, would make twenty-three hours. + +When the railroad engineers provide improved tracks and motive power +that will enable them to parallel the feats of the automobile men, if +they ever do, the running time for the fastest trains between New York +and Chicago will be reduced to seven hours, while San Francisco will be +but a day's run from the metropolis. + +And when the airship enthusiasts are able to dart through the air at +the speed attained by the automobile, it will be time enough to think +of taking seriously the extravagant claims made in behalf of aviation. + +For the automobile is the swiftest machine ever built by human hands. +It is so much swifter than its nearest competitor that those who read +these lines to-day are likely to be some years older before its speed +is even equaled, to say nothing of being surpassed, by any other kind +of vehicle. + +So far as is known, but one human being ever traveled faster than +Robert Burman did in his racing auto on the beach at Daytona, Florida, +on April 23, 1911. This solitary exception was a Hindu carrier who +chanced to tumble off the brink of a chasm in the Himalayas. His name +has not been preserved, he never made any claim to the record, he was +not officially timed, and altogether the event has no official +standing. Still, as he is the only man who is ever alleged to have +covered so great a distance as six thousand feet in an obstructed fall, +the matter is not without interest; for, according to the accepted rule +for finding the velocity of a body falling freely from rest, he must +have been going at the rate of seven miles a second when he reached the +bottom. + +About Burman's record there can be no doubt, for it was made in the +presence of many witnesses, and it was duly timed with stop-watches by +men skilled in the art. The straightaway mile over the smooth, hard +beach was covered from a running start in the almost incredibly short +time of 25.40 seconds. + +The next fastest mile ever traveled by human beings who lived to tell +about it was made in an electric-car on the experimental track between +Berlin and Zossen, in 1902. As the engineers who achieved this record +for the advancement of scientific knowledge of the railroad considered +such speed dangerous, it is not at all likely to become standard +practise. The fastest time ever made by a steam locomotive of which +there is any record, was the run of five miles from Fleming to +Jacksonville, Florida, in two and a half minutes by a Plant system +locomotive in March, 1901. This was at the rate of 120 miles an hour. +As for steamships, the record of 30.53 miles per hour is held by the +_Mauretania_. + +These things, if borne in mind, will serve to throw into stronger +relief the things that an automobile can do, and to supply a +substantial basis for the premise that, at least in some respects, the +automobile is the most marvelous machine the world has yet seen. It can +go anywhere at any time, floundering through two feet of snow, ford any +stream that isn't deep enough to drown out the magneto, triumph over +mud axle deep, jump fences, and cavort over plowed ground at fifteen +miles an hour. It has been used with brilliant success in various kinds +of hunting, including coyote coursing on the prairies of Colorado, +where it can run all around the bronco, formerly in favor, since it +never runs any risk of breaking a leg in a prairie-dog hole. Educated +automobiles have been trained to shell corn, saw wood, pump water, +churn, plow, and, in short, do anything required of them except figure +out where the consumer gets off under the new tariff law. + +But to get back to the subject of speed, as automobile talk always +does, the supremacy of the motor-car has been established by so many +official records that any attempt to select the most striking only +results in bewilderment. The best that can be done is to recite a few +representative ones. + +That was a most interesting illustration, for instance, of the capacity +for sustained high speed made by a Stearns car on the mile track at +Brighton Beach in 1910. In twenty-four hours the car covered the +amazing distance of 1,253 miles, which was at the average speed of +52-1/5 miles per hour. This record is all the more remarkable from the +fact the car was not a racer, but a stock car which had been driven for +some months by its owner before it was borrowed for the race, and did +not have any special preparation. The men who drove it were not +notified that their services were wanted until the morning of the race. + +While this is about the average rate per hour of the fastest train +between New York and Chicago, it should be remembered that the trains +run on steel rails, that curves are comparatively few, and they are not +sharp, while the automobile was spinning around a mile track made of +plain dirt, and was obliged to negotiate 2,506 sharp curves. Besides, +the locomotives on the fast trains are changed every 120 to 150 miles, +while the entire run of 1,253 miles was made by one auto which had +already run 7,500 miles in ordinary service before it was entered in +the race. + +Unfortunately for the automobile, it has achieved so many remarkable +speed records that its name is suggestive of swiftness. If the English +language were not the stereotyped, inelastic vehicle for the +communication of thought that it is we should now be speaking of +"automobiling" a shady bill through the city council instead of +"railroading" it. There are few places where it is permissible to +attain record speed, and fewer men who, with safety to others, may be +entrusted with the attempt. The true value of the automobile to the +average man lies in its ability to keep right on going indefinitely at +moderate speed under any and all conditions. + +One of the innumerable tests in which the staying qualities of the +automobile were brought out was the trip from Pittsburg to Philadelphia +by way of Gettysburg by S.D. Waldon and four passengers in a Packard +car, September 20, 1910. This run of 303 miles over three mountain +ranges, with the usual accompaniments of steep grades, rocks, ruts, and +thank-you-ma'ms to rack the machinery and bruise the feelings of the +riders, was made in 12 hours and 51 minutes. + +A little run of three or four hundred miles, though, is scarcely worth +mentioning by way of showing what an auto can do in a real endurance +contest. A much more notable trip was the non-stop run from Jackson, +Michigan, to Bangor, Maine, in November, 1909, by E.P. Blake and Dr. +Charles Percival. The distance of 1,600 miles was covered in 123 hours, +which meant traveling at an average speed of 13 miles an hour in rain +and snow and mud over country roads at their worst. In all that time +the motor never once stopped. In the Munsey historical tour of 1910 a +Brush single-cylinder car covered the 1,550 miles of a schedule +designed for big cars and came through with a perfect score. If you +know the hill roads of Pennsylvania you'll realize what that means in +the way of car performance. + +Still more remarkable endurance tests are the transcontinental trips +which are undertaken so frequently nowadays that they no longer attract +attention. One such trip which shows what very little trouble an +automobile gives when handled with reasonable care was that made in +1909 by George C. Rew, W.H. Aldrich, Jr., R.A. Luckey, and H.G. Toney. +Traveling by daylight only, they made the journey of 2,800 miles from +San Francisco to Chicago in nineteen days in a Stearns car. They might +have done better if they had not loitered along the way. On one +occasion they stopped to haul water a distance of twenty-five miles for +some cowboys on a round-up. The motor gave no trouble whatever, while +the only trouble with tires was a single puncture caused by a spike +when they tried to avoid a bad stretch of road by running on a railroad +track. + +The time record from ocean to ocean was held by L.L. Whitman, who left +New York in a Reo four-thirty at 12.01 A.M. on Monday, August 8, 1910, +and arrived in San Francisco on the 18th, covering the 3,557 miles in +10 days 15 hours and 13 minutes. This achievement may be more fully +appreciated by comparing it with the transcontinental relay race in +which a courier carried a message from President Taft to President +Chilberg, of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, in September-October, +1909, in 10 days 5 hours, by using thirty-two cars and as many +different drivers who knew the roads over which they ran. + +Those who are fortunate enough to have friends who own cars know that +automobiles can climb hills; and that the accepted way to do it is to +throw in the extra special high gear, tear the throttle out by the +roots, advance the spark twenty minutes, and push hard on the steering +wheel. The fact that the car will overlook such treatment and go ahead +is a source of never-failing wonder. Indeed, when it comes to +hill-climbing the automobile is so far ahead of the locomotive that it +seems like wanton cruelty to drag the latter into the discussion at +all. + +The steepest grade on a railroad doing a miscellaneous transportation +business climbed by a locomotive relying on adhesion only is on the +Leopoldina system in Brazil between Bocca do Monte and Theodoso, where +there is a stretch of 8-1/3 per cent. grade with curves of 130 feet +radius. There are some logging roads in the United States with grades +of 16 per cent. How trifling this seems when compared with the feat of +a Thomas car which climbed Fillmore Street, San Francisco, which is +alleged to have a gradient of 34 per cent., with twenty-three persons +on board. As 25 per cent. is regarded as the maximum safe gradient for +an Abt rack railway, since the cog-wheel is liable to climb out of the +rack on any steeper grade, it will be seen that the strain upon the +credulity of the hearer of this story is almost as great as that upon +the car must have been. + +Enthusiasm may be expected to run high in the presence of such +astounding triumphs, and it should, therefore, not be deemed surprising +that accounts of hill-climbing contests are generally lacking in +definiteness. The name of the car and the driver are always given with +scrupulous care, but such incidental details as length of ascent, +minimum, maximum, and average gradient, maximum curvature, and so on, +are generally left to the imagination. + +Among the few exceptions to this rule was the hill-climbing contest at +Port Jefferson, Long Island, in which Ralph de Palma went up an ascent +of two thousand feet with an average gradient of 10 per cent. and a +maximum of 15 per cent. in 20.48 seconds in his 190-horse-power Fiat. A +little Hupmobile, one of the lightest cars built, reached the top in 1 +minute 10 seconds. De Palma climbed the "Giant's Despair" near +Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, an ascent six thousand feet long, with +grades varying from 10 to 22 per cent., in his big machine in 1 minute +28-2/5 seconds. A Marmon stock car reached the top in 1 minute 50-1/5 +seconds. Pike's Peak, Mount Washington, Ensign Mountain, in Utah, and +lesser mountains elsewhere have also been climbed repeatedly by +automobiles. As the mere announcement of the fact vividly exhibits the +staying powers of the auto in a long, stiff climb, the engineering +details may be disregarded. + +Next to its ability to do the exceptional things when required, the +most useful accomplishment of the automobile is its wonderful capacity +for standing up to its work day in and day out in fair weather or foul, +regardless of the condition of the roads. This is shown every year in +the spectacular Glidden tours, otherwise the National Reliability +tests, in which a number of cars of various makes cover a scheduled +route of two or three thousand miles, in which are included all the +different kinds of abominations facetiously termed "roads." Other tests +without number are constantly being evolved to demonstrate the already +established fact that an automobile can do anything required of it. + +There was the New York to Paris race, for instance. Starting from New +York on February 12, 1908, when traveling was at its worst, and +arriving in Paris July 30, the winner floundered in snow, mud, sand, +and rocks, over mountain ranges and through swamps, in eighty-eight +days' running time for the 12,116 miles of land travel. That was a +demonstration of what an automobile can do that has never been +surpassed. Yet the Thomas car that did it was restored to its original +condition at a cost of only $90 after the trip was ended. + +Another remarkable demonstration of endurance was that given by a +Chalmers-Detroit touring car, which was driven 208 miles every day for +a hundred consecutive days over average roads. When the 20,800 miles +were finished, just to show that it still felt its oats, the car which +had already covered 6,000 miles of roads through Western States before +the test began, ran over to Pontiac, Michigan, and hauled the Mayor 26 +miles to Detroit. Then it was run into the shops and taken down for +examination. Being found to be in perfect condition except for the +valves, which required some trifling adjustment to take up the wear on +the valve stems, and for the piston rings, which needed setting out, it +was reassembled and started on another test. + +But, after all, the most wonderful thing about an automobile is its +almost infinite capacity to endure cruel and inhuman treatment. No +matter whether the brutality is inflicted through ignorance or +awkwardness, or, rarest of all, through unavoidable accident, the +effect on steel and wood and rubber is the same. Yet the auto stands +it. + +In brake tests it has been demonstrated that a car traveling at the +rate of eighteen miles an hour can be stopped in a distance of +twenty-five feet. The knowledge that this can be done in an emergency +is a great comfort, but it should be equally well known that it does +not improve the car to make all stops that way. Yet how often are +drivers seen tearing up to the curb at twenty miles an hour or more to +slam on the brakes at the last instant with a violence that nearly +causes the car to turn a somersault, bringing it to a standstill in +twenty feet, when there was no earthly reason why they should not have +used four times that distance. Or if occasion arises for slowing down +in a crowded street, the same kind of driver throws out his clutch and +applies the brakes with the throttle wide open so the motor can race +unhindered. + +With the greenhorn the automobile is long-suffering. There was a new +owner in Boston, whose name is mercifully suppressed, who took his +family out for a first ride. In going down a hill on which the clay was +slippery from recent rain it became necessary to turn out for a car +coming up. The new driver made the turn so successfully that he turned +clear over the edge of the embankment. Having nothing but air to +support it, the auto turned completely over without spilling a +passenger and landed right side up and on an even keel in a marsh +fifteen feet below. It was necessary to get a team to pull the car out +of the mud, but once on the solid road the new owner simply cranked 'er +up and went on his way rejoicing. + +Another new owner could not find the key to fasten one rear wheel on +the axle when he unloaded his auto from the car in which it had been +shipped from the factory. Nevertheless, he started up the motor +according to directions and traveled twelve miles with one wheel +driving. By this time the outraged motor was red hot. Whereupon the new +owner stopped at a farm-house and dashed several buckets of cold water +on it. Then he plugged around the country a week or so before he +decided to go to the agent to lodge a complaint that his derned car +didn't "pull" well. + +Still another new owner complained that his car did not give +satisfactory service. The agent was not at all surprised that it didn't +when, upon investigation, he found that the car had been driven five +hundred miles without a single drop of oil being applied to +transmission gear and rear axle. + +George Robertson, the racing driver, in tuning up for the Vanderbilt +race, went over the embankment at the Massapequa turn on Long Island at +the rate of sixty miles an hour. The car turned over twice, but finally +stopped right side up. Robertson received a cut on one arm in the +fracas, but neither he nor the car was so badly injured but what they +could get back to New York, a distance of twenty-five miles, under +their own power. There the steering wheel was repaired at a cost of $5, +the radiator at a cost of $3, and Robertson's arm at $2. + +But the prize-winner was the Fiat racing machine which threw a tire +while going fifty-five miles an hour on the Brighton Beach track. The +flying racer, now utterly uncontrollable, dashed through two fences, +one of them pretty substantial, cut down a tree eight inches in +diameter, and finally came to a stop right side up. E.H. Parker, the +driver, and his mechanician, were somewhat surprised, but otherwise +undamaged. They put on a new tire and in twenty minutes were back in +the race again. + +What the automobile can do in the way of cheapness was shown by the +cost tests, sanctioned and confirmed by the American Automobile +Association, between a Maxwell runabout and a horse and buggy. In seven +days, in all kinds of weather and over city and country roads, the +horse and buggy traveled 197 miles at a cost per passenger mile of +2-1/2 cents. The runabout made 457 miles in the same time, and the cost +per passenger mile was 1.8 cents. This covered operation, maintenance, +and depreciation, and, incidentally, all speed laws were observed. + +The Winton Company, which conducts a sort of private Automobile Humane +Society, offers prizes for chauffeurs who can show the greatest mileage +on the lowest charge for upkeep. The first prize winner in the contest +for the eight months ending June 30, 1909, drove his car 17,003 miles +with no expense whatever for up-keep. The second prize winner drove +11,000 miles at an outlay of thirty cents, while the third man drove +10,595 miles without any expense. This makes a total of 38,598 miles by +three cars at a cost of thirty cents for repairs. And all the cars were +two years old when the contest began. + +The moral for those who really want to see what an automobile can do is +obvious. + + +ISAAC F. MARCOSSON + +Every automobile that you see is a link in a chain of steel and power +which, if stretched out, would reach from New York to St. Louis. What +was considered a freak fifteen years ago, and a costly toy within the +present decade, is now a necessity in business and pleasure. A +mechanical Cinderella, once rejected, despised, and caricatured, has +become a princess. + +Few people realize the extent of her sway. Hers is perhaps the only +industry whose statistics of to-day are obsolete to-morrow, so rapid is +its growth. In 1895 the value of the few hundred cars produced in the +United States was one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; in 1910 the +year's output of approximately two hundred thousand machines was worth +two hundred and twenty-five millions. Behind them is a stalwart +business representing, with parts and accessory makers, an investment +of more than a billion and a quarter of dollars. Four hundred thousand +men, or more than five times the strength of our standing army, depend +upon it for a livelihood, and more than five millions of people are +touched or affected by it every day. + +Through its phenomenal expansion new industries have been created and +old ones enriched. It withstood panic and rode down depression; it has +destroyed the isolation of the farm and made society more intimate. +There is a car for every one hundred and sixty persons in the United +States; twenty-five States have factories; the _honk_ of the horn on +the American car is heard around the world. + +Such, in brief, is the miracle of the motor's advance. Its development +is a real epic of action and progress. + +Before going further, it might be well to ask why and how the +automobile has achieved such a remarkable development. One reason, +perhaps, is that it appeals to vanity and stirs the imagination. A man +likes to feel that by a simple pressure of the hand he can control a +ton of quivering metal. Besides, we live, work, and have our being in a +breathless age, into which rapid transit fits naturally. So universal +is the impress of the automobile that there are in reality but two +classes of people in the United States to-day--those who own motor-cars +and those who do not. + +It must be kept in mind, too, in analyzing the causes of the +automobile's amazing expansion, that it is the first real improvement +in individual transportation since the chariot rattled around the Roman +arena. The horse had his century-old day, but when the motor came man +traded him for a gas-engine. + +Characteristic of the pace at which the automobile has traveled to +success is the somewhat astonishing fact that while it took inventive +genius nearly fifty years to develop a locomotive that would run fifty +miles an hour on a specially built track, it has taken less than ten +years to perfect an automobile that will run the same distance in less +time on a common road. + +Since this business is so invested with human interest, let us go back +for a moment to its beginnings. Here you find all the properties, +accessories, and environment to fit the launching of a great drama. + +Toward the close of the precarious nineties, a few men wrestled with +the big vision of a horseless age. Down in Ohio and Indiana were Winton +and Haynes; Duryea was in Pennsylvania; over in Michigan were Olds, +Ford, Maxwell, with the brilliant Brush, dreaming mechanical dreams; in +New York Walker kept to the faith of the motor-car. + +At that time some of the giants of to-day were outside the motor fold. +Benjamin Briscoe was making radiators and fenders; W.C. Durant was +manufacturing buggies; Walter Flanders was selling machinery on the +road; Hugh Chalmers was making a great cash-register factory hum with +system; Fred W. Haines was struggling with the problem of developing a +successful gasoline engine. + +Scarcely anybody dreamed that man was on the threshold of a new era in +human progress that would revolutionize traffic and set a new mark for +American enterprise and achievement. And yet it was little more than +ten years ago. + +Those early years were years of experimentation, packed with mistakes +and changes. Few of the cars would run long or fast. It was inevitable +that the automobile should take its place in jest and joke. Hence the +comic era. With the development of the mechanism came the speed mania, +which hardly added to the machine's popularity. + +You must remember in this connection that the automobile was a new +thing with absolutely no precedent. The makers groped in the dark, and +every step cost something. New steels had to be welded; new machinery +made; a whole new engineering system had to be created. The model of +to-day was in the junk heap to-morrow. But just as curious instinct led +the hand of man to the silver heart of the Comstock Lode, so did +circumstance, destiny, and invention combine to point the way to the +commercially successful car. + +Out of the wreck, the chaos, and the failure of the struggling days +came a cheap and serviceable car that did not require a daily renewal +of its parts. It proved to be the pathfinder to motor popularity, for +with its appearance, early in this decade, the automobile began to find +itself. + +Now began the "shoe-string" period, the most picturesque in the whole +dazzling story of the automobile. There could be no god in the car +without gold. Here, then, was the situation--on the one hand was the +enthusiastic inventor; on the other was the conservative banker. + +"We will make four thousand machines this year," said the inventor. + +"Who will buy them?" asked the banker in amazement; he refused to lend +the capital that the inventor so sorely needed. + +The idea of selling four thousand motor-cars in a year seemed +incredible. Yet within ten years they were selling fifty times as many, +and were unable to supply the demand. No fabulous gold strike ever had +more episodes of quick wealth than this business. Here is an incident +that will show what was going on: + +A Detroit engineer, who had served his apprenticeship in an +electric-light plant, evolved a car which he believed would sell for a +popular price. He tried to interest capitalists in vain. Finally, he +fell in with a stove-manufacturer, who agreed to lend him twenty-seven +thousand dollars. + +"But I can't afford to be identified with your project," said the +backer, who feared ridicule for his hardihood. + +That small investment paid a dividend as high as thirteen hundred per +cent. in a year. To-day the name of the struggling inventor is known +wherever cars are run, and his output is measured by thousands. This, +in substance, is the story of Henry Ford. + +A young machinist worked in one of the first Detroit automobile +factories, earning three dollars and fifty cents a day. One day he said +to himself: "I can build a better car than we are making here." + +He did so, and the car succeeded. Then he went to his employers, and +said: "I am worth three thousand dollars a year." + +They did not think so, and he left, to go into business on his own +account. A manufacturer staked him at the start. Later, through a +friend, some Wall Street capital was interested. Such was the start of +J.D. Maxwell, whose interests to-day are merged in a company with a +capitalization of sixteen million dollars. + +A curly haired Vermont machinery salesman, who had sweated at the +lathe, became factory manager for a Detroit automobile-maker. His +genius for production and organization made him the wonder and the +admiration of the automobile world. He was making others rich. "If I +can do this for others, why can't I do it for myself?" he reasoned one +day. + +With a stake of ninety-five thousand dollars, supplemented with a +hundred thousand dollars which he borrowed from some bankers, he built +up a business that in twenty months sold for six millions. This was the +feat of Walter E. Flanders. I might cite others. The "shoe-strings" +became golden bands that bound men to fortune. + +All the while the years were speeding on, but not quite so fast as the +development of the automobile. The production of ten thousand cars in +1903 had leaped to nearly twenty thousand in 1905. The thirty-thousand +mark was passed in 1906. Bankers began to sit up, take notice, and feed +finance to this swelling industry, which had emerged from fadhood into +the definite, serious proportions of a great national business. + +The reign of the inventor-producer became menaced, because men of +trained and organized efficiency in other activities joined the ranks +of the motor-makers. With them there came a vivifying and broadening +influence that had much to do with giving assured permanency to the +industry. + +But other things had happened which contributed to the stability of the +automobile. One was the fact that automobile-selling, from the start, +had been on a strictly cash basis. Yet how many people save those in +the business, or who have bought cars, know this interesting fact? + +No automobile-buyer has credit for a minute, and John D. Rockefeller +and the humblest clerk with savings look alike to the seller. It was +one constructive result of those early haphazard days. Every car that +is shipped has a sight draft attached to the bill of lading, and the +consignee can not get his car until he has paid the draft. + +Why was the cash idea inaugurated? Simply because there was so much +risk in a credit transaction. If a man bought a car on thirty days' +time, and had a smash-up the day after he received it, there would be +little equity left behind the debt. The owner might well reason that it +was the car's fault, and refuse to pay. Besides, the early makers +needed money badly. In addition to the cash stipulation, they compelled +all the agents to make a good-sized deposit, and these deposits on +sales gave more than one struggling manufacturer his first working +capital. + +Another reason why the business developed so tremendously was that good +machines were produced. They had to be good--first, because of the +intense rivalry, and then because the motor-buyer became the best +informed buyer in the world. + +This reveals a striking fact that few people stop to consider. If a man +owns a cash-register or an adding-machine, it never occurs to him to +wonder how, or of what, it is made. But let him buy an automobile, and +ten minutes after it is in his possession he wants to know "what is +inside." He is like a boy with his first watch. Hence the +automobile-purchaser knows all about his car, and when he buys a second +one it is impossible to fool him. + +Perhaps the first real test of the stability of the automobile business +came with the panic of 1907. It resisted the inroads of depression more +than any other industry. Most of the big factories kept full working +hours, and the only reason why some others stopped was because of their +inability to secure currency for the pay-rolls. + +Still another significant thing has happened--more important, perhaps, +than all the rest of the changes that have crowded thick and fast upon +this leaping industry. It began to be plain that certain features must +be present in every first-class car. Hence came the standardization of +the mechanism, which is a big step forward. + +What is the result to-day? The automobile has become less of a +designing proposition and more of a manufacturing proposition; less of +an engineering problem and more of a factory problem. The whole, wide +throbbing range of the business is bending to one great end--to meet a +demand which, up to the present time, has exceeded the supply. + +You have only to go to Detroit to see this pulsating drama of +production in action. Here beats the heart of the motor world; here a +mighty army is evolving a vast industrial epic. + +Its banners are the smoke that trails from a hundred soaring stacks; +its music is the clang of a thousand forges and the rattle of a maze of +machinery. + +You feel this quickening life the moment you enter the city, for the +tang of its uplift is in the air. There is an automobile for every +fifty people in Detroit. The children on the streets know the name, +make, and model of nearly all the cars produced. You can stand in front +of the Hotel Pontchartrain, in the public square, and see the whole +automobile world chug by. + +Formerly our cities were motor-mad; now, as in the case of Detroit, +they are motor-made. Ten years ago the proudest boast of the Michigan +metropolis was that she produced more pills, paint, stoves, and +freight-cars than any other American city. The volume of the largest of +these industries did not exceed eighteen million dollars a year. To-day +she leads the world in automobile production. Her twenty-five factories +turn out, in a year, more than ninety thousand cars, or more than sixty +per cent, of the total output of the United States. These cars alone +would stretch from New York to Boston. + +But these figures do not convey any adequate idea of what the motor-car +has done for Detroit. You must go to the spot to feel the galvanic and +compelling force that the industry projects. The city is like a +mining-camp in the days of a fabulous strike. Instead of new mines, +there are new factories every day, and the record of this industrial +high tide is being made in brick, stone, and mortar. Energy, resource, +and ingenuity are being pushed to the last limit to take advantage of +the golden opportunity that the overwhelming demand for the automobile +has created. It is a thrilling and distinctively American spectacle, +and it makes one feel proud and glad to be part of the people who are +achieving it. + +Some of the new plants have risen almost overnight, and on every hand +there are miracles of rapid construction. The business is overshadowing +all other activities. A leading merchant of Detroit asked a contractor +the other day if he could do some work for him. On receiving a negative +reply, he asked the reason, whereupon the man said: "These automobile +people keep me so busy that I can't do anything else. I have a year's +work ahead now." + +A visit to any one of the great automobile factories reveals an +inspiring picture of cheerful labor. As you wind through the +wildernesses of lathes, hearing a swirling industry singing its iron +song of swelling progress, you find enthusiasm blending with organized +ability in a marvelous attack on work. Plants with a daily capacity of +forty cars turn out sixty. You can behold a complete machine produced +every three minutes; you can see the evolution from steel billet to +finished car in six days. Formerly it took five months. + +While the development of the automobile business is in itself a wonder +story, no less amazing is its effect on all the allied industries. On +rubber alone it has wrought a revolution. + +Ten years ago practically all the rubber that we imported went into +boots, shoes, hose, belting, and kindred products, The introduction of +rubber tires on horse-drawn vehicles only drew slightly on the supply. +To-day more than eighty per cent. of the crude article that reaches our +shores goes into automobile tires; and the biggest problem in the whole +automobile situation is not a question of steel and output, but a fear +that we may not be able to get enough rubber to shoe the expanding host +of cars. You have only to look at the change in price to get a hint of +the growth of this feature of the business. In 1900 crude rubber sold +at sixty-five cents a pound; now it brings about two dollars and fifty +cents. + +The facts about rubber have a peculiar human interest. When you sit +back comfortably in your smooth-running car, you may not realize that +the rubber in the tire that stands between you and the jolting of the +road was carried on the back of a native for a thousand miles out of +the Amazon jungle; that for every twenty pounds of the crude juice +brought in from the wilds, one human life has been sacrificed. No crop +is garnered with so great a hazard; none takes so merciless a toll. + +The natives who gather rubber in the wilds of Brazil, in the Congo, in +Ceylon, and elsewhere must combat disease, insects, war, flood, and a +hundred hardships. The harvest is slow and costly. Only the planting of +vast new areas in Ceylon has prevented what many believe would have +been a famine in rubber, and this would have been a serious check to +the development of the whole automobile business, for as yet no man has +found a substitute for it. In such a substitute, or in a puncture-proof +tire, lies one of the unplucked fortunes of the future. + +Meanwhile, it has started a speculative mania that almost rivals the +tulip excitement in Holland. In London alone hundreds of fortunes have +been made by daring plungers in a crude article which only a few years +ago was regarded as being absolutely outside the pale of the gambling +marketplace. + +Closely allied with the rubber end of the trade is the growing demand +for sea-island cotton, which is used in the tires. A few years ago we +used only fifty thousand yards a year; now we absorb ten million yards, +worth seven and one-half millions of dollars. + +Now take machinery, and you find that the automobile business has +created a whole new phase of this time-tried industry. In many +motor-cars there are three thousand parts. In view of the extraordinary +demand for cars, the machinery to produce them must be both swift and +accurate. The old standard tools and engine lathes were inadequate to +perform the service. The automobile-makers had to have new machinery, +and have it in a hurry. + +This demand came at a heaven-sent moment for the tool-manufacturers. +They were staggering under the depression of 1907, and many were +tottering toward failure. Here came, almost out of the blue sky, a +condition that at once taxed their brains, their resource, and their +energy, and at the same time rescued them from bankruptcy. + +You have only to go to any of the great factories in Detroit, in +Cleveland, in Indianapolis, in Buffalo, in Flint, or elsewhere to see +the result of this hurry call for tools and machinery. You find +automatics cutting the finest gears by the score, while one man +operates a whole battery; you see drills doing from fifteen to twenty +operations on a piston or a flywheel; you see an almost human machine +making seventeen holes at one time without observation or care. + +Through these machines run rivers of oil. From them streams a steady +line of parts. The whole scope of the tool business is broadened. In +the old days--which means, in the automobile business, about ten years +ago--an order for ten turret-lathes was considered large; now the +motor-makers order seventy-five at a time by telegraph, and do not +regard it as more than part of the day's work. + +The whole effect of this revolution in machinery is that time is saved, +labor is economized, and it is possible to achieve quantity production. +This, in turn, enables the large manufacturer to turn out a good car at +a moderate price. + +So with steel, where likewise wonders have been wrought. Ten years ago +the great mass of the steel output in this country was in structural +metal and rails. We had to import our fine alloy and carbon steels from +Germany and France. But the automobile-makers had to have the lightest +and toughest metal, and they did not want to import it. The result was +that our mills began to produce the finer quality to meet all motor +needs, and it is now one of the biggest items in the business. + +In half a dozen other allied industries you find the same expansion as +you saw in rubber, steel, and machinery. For instance, the +automobile-makers buy twenty million dollars' worth of leather a year. +So great is the demand that a composition substitute was created, which +is used on sixty per cent. of the tops. A new industry in colored +leather for upholstery has been evolved. + +Wood, too, has had the same kind of experience. Whole forest areas in +the South have been denuded for hickory for spokes. A few years ago, +aluminum was used on ash-trays and exposition souvenirs. Now hundreds +of thousands of pounds are employed each year for sheathing and casings +on motor-cars. + +No essential of the automobile, however, is of more importance than +gasoline. Here is the life-blood of the car. It is estimated that there +are to-day three hundred thousand cars in the United States that travel +fifteen miles a day. There are fifteen miles of travel in each gallon +of gasoline. This makes the daily consumption three hundred thousand +gallons. At an average price of fourteen cents a gallon, here is an +expenditure of forty-two thousand dollars for gasoline each day, or +more than fifteen million dollars a year. To this must be added the +excess used in cars that work longer and harder, and in the host of +taxicabs that are in business almost all the time, which will probably +swell the annual expenditure for gasoline well beyond twenty millions. + +As in the case of rubber, there is beginning to be some apprehension +about the future supply of high-power gasoline, so great is the demand. +Many students of this fuel problem believe that before many years there +will be substitutes in the shape of alcohol and kerosene. The +efficiency of alcohol has been proved in commercial trucks in New York, +but its present price is prohibitive for a general automobile fuel. If +denatured alcohol can be produced cheaply and on a large scale, it will +help to solve the problem. + +This brings us to the maker of parts and accessories, who has been +termed "the father of the automobile business." Without him, there +might be no such industry; for it was he that gave the early makers +credit and materials which enabled them to get their machines together. + +Ten years ago, the parts were all turned out in the ordinary forge and +machine-shops; to-day there are six hundred manufacturers of parts and +accessories, and their investment, including plants, is more than a +billion dollars. They employ a quarter of a million people. + +No one was more surprised at the growth of the automobile business than +the parts-makers themselves. A leading Detroit manufacturer summed it +up to me as follows: + +"Ten years ago I was in the machine-shop business, making gas engines. +Along came the demand for automobile parts. I thought it would be a +pretty good and profitable specialty for a little while, but I +developed my general business so as to have something to fall back on +when it ended. To-day my whole plant works night and day to fill +automobile orders, and we can't keep up with the demand." + +What was looked upon as the tail now wags the whole dog, and is the +dog. The volume of business is so large, and the interests concerned so +wide, that the manufacturers have their own organization, called the +Motor and Accessory Manufacturers. It includes one hundred and eighty +makers, whose capitalization is three hundred millions, and whose +investment is more than half a billion dollars. + +There still remain to be discussed two phases of the automobile which +have tremendous significance for the future of the industry--its +commercial adaptability and its relation with the farmer and the farm. +Let us consider the former first. + +No matter in what town you live, something has been delivered at your +door by a motor-driven wagon or truck. These vehicles at work to-day +are only the forerunners of what many conservative makers believe will +be the great body of the business. Here is a field that is as yet +practically unscratched. Now that the pleasure-car has practically been +standardized, vast energy will be concentrated on the development of +the truck. Wherever I went on a recent trip through the +automobile-making zone, I found that the manufacturers had been +experimenting in this direction, and were laying plans for a big output +within the next few years. This year's production will be about five +thousand vehicles. + +The ability and efficiency of the commercial truck for hard city work +are undisputed. It has had its test in New York, where traffic is dense +and most difficult to handle. Here, of course, are the ideal conditions +for the successful use of the motor-truck--which are a full load, a +long haul, and a good road. In a city, a horse vehicle can make only +about five miles an hour, while a motor-truck makes twelve miles, and +carries three times the load. + +Some idea of motor-truck possibilities in New York may be gained when +it is stated that there are nearly three hundred thousand licensed +carrying vehicles there. + +The amount of work to be got out of a motor-truck is astonishing. John +Wanamaker, for instance, gets a hundred miles of travel per day out of +some of his delivery-wagons. The average five-ton truck, in a ten-hour +day, can make eighty miles, and keep constantly at work. On the other +hand, a one-horse wagon can scarcely average half that mileage. + +Already your doctor whirls around in an automobile, and he can make +five times more visits than with a horse. So, too, with the contractor +and the builder. The drummer carries his samples in a gasoline +runabout, and, in addition to seeing twice the number of customers, he +can get their goodwill by taking them for a spin. Fire-engines, +hose-wagons, and police patrols race to conflagrations propelled by +motors, and get there quicker than ever before. + +Just as practically every great American activity ultimately harks back +to the soil and has its real root there, so, in a certain sense, may +the farmer be regarded as the backbone of the automobile business. We +have six million farms, and more than forty-five millions of our +population live on the farm, or in communities of less than four +thousand people. To these dwellers in the country the automobile has +already proved an agency for uplift, progress, and prosperity. + +It began as a pleasure-car; now it is a necessity on many farms. In +Kansas you can see it hitched up to the alfalfa-stacker; in Illinois +and Iowa it is harnessed up to the corn-cutter; in Indiana it runs the +dairy machinery. But these are slight compared with the other services +it performs for the farmer. + +For years the curse of farm life was its isolation. Its workers were +removed from the shops, the theaters, the libraries, and good schools. +More farm women went insane than any other class. The horses worked in +the fields all week, and had to rest on Sunday, so that the farmer +could not go to church. + +The automobile provided a vehicle not excessive in cost, and able to +provide pleasure for the farmer's whole family. It annihilated the +distance between town and country. Contact with his coworkers and +proximity to the market made the fanner more efficient and prosperous. +More than this, the motor-car has made the whole rural life more +attractive, and offers the one inducement that will keep the boy on the +farm. + +A hundred instances could be cited of the automobile's aid to the farm. +One will suffice. In times of harvest, when a big gang is at work, the +breakdown of a thresher will stop operations for a whole day, if the +farmer has to drive to town behind a horse to get needed parts. With an +automobile, he can dash in and out in a few hours. + +No one expects the automobile to replace the horse on the farm. But for +work that the horse can not do efficiently--such as the quick transit +of milk, butter, and garden products to the markets--the motor-car has +a future of wide utility. Incidentally, the farmer may be the first to +solve the fuel problem, for by means of cooperative distilling he could +produce denatured alcohol for almost nothing. + +The more you go into the study of the automobile on the farm, the +bigger becomes its significance. In the United States, four hundred and +twenty-five million acres of land are uncultivated, largely on account +of their inaccessibility. The motor-car will make them more accessible. +Through the wide use of automobiles by the farmer we shall get, in +time, that most valuable agency for prosperity, the good road. + +One emerges from an investigation of the automobile industry in wonder +over its expansion, and with admiration for the men behind it. +Clear-cut youth, fresh vigor, compelling action galvanize it. Yet what +seems to be a miracle at the end of less than ten years of growth may +only be the prelude to a vaster era. + +Meanwhile, each day records a new chapter of its triumphant progress. + + + + +THE DOWNFALL OF DIAZ + +MEXICO PLUNGES INTO REVOLUTION + +A.D. 1911 + +MRS. E.A. TWEEDIE + +DOLORES BUTTERFIELD + +On May 25, 1911, Porfirio Diaz resigned the Presidency of Mexico, under +the compulsion of a revolution headed by Francisco Madero. This act +ended an era, the Diaz era, in Mexican history. Diaz had been President +for over thirty years. He had found Mexico an impoverished barbarism; +he raised it to be a wealthy and at least outwardly civilized state. +Some able critics, even among Europeans, had declared that Diaz, "the +grand old man," was the greatest leader of the past century. All +Mexicans honored him. But unfortunately for his fame he grew too old: +he outlived his wisdom and his power. + +Of the downfall of such a man there must naturally be conflicting +views. We give here the story from the pathetic Diaz side by a +well-known English writer upon Mexico, Mrs. Tweedie. Then we give the +warm picture of Madero's heroic struggle against tyranny, as it +appeared to Dolores Butterfield, a young lady brought up in Mexico, but +driven thence by the more recent revolution which resulted in Madero's +death. + +MRS. E. A. TWEEDIE + +Diaz has been hurled from power in his eighty-first year! The rising +against him in Mexico has the character of a national revolutionary +movement, the aims of which, perhaps, Madero himself has not clearly +understood. One thing the nation wanted apparently was the stamping out +of what the party considered political immorality, fostered and abetted +by the acts of what they called the _grupo cientifico_, or grafters, +and by the policy of the Minister of Finance, Limantour, in particular. +Therefore, when Madero stood up as the chieftain of the revolution, +inscribing on his banner the redress of this grievance, with some +Utopias, the people followed him without stopping to measure his +capabilities. His promises were enough. + +It is one of the saddest episodes in the history of great rulers, and +at the same time one of the most important in the history of a country. +Mexico, which has pushed so brilliantly ahead in finance, industry, and +agriculture, has still lagged behind in political development. The man +who made a great nation out of half-breeds and chaos was so sure of his +own position, his own strength, and I may say his own motives, that he +did not encourage antagonism at the polls, and "free voting" remained a +name only. + +A German author has said that all rulers become obsessed with the +passion of rule. They lose their balance, clearness of sight, judgment, +and only desire to rule, rule, _rule!_ He was able to quote many +examples. I thought of him and his theory when following, as closely as +one is able to do six thousand miles away, the recent course of events +in Mexico. Would he in a new edition add General Diaz to his list? + +Diaz has reached a great age. On the 15th September, 1910, he +celebrated his eightieth birthday. He has ruled Mexico, with one brief +interval of four years, since 1876. For thirty-five years, therefore, +with one short break, the country has known no other President; and +Madero, who has laid him low, was a man more or less put into office by +Diaz himself. A new generation of Mexicans has grown up under the rule +of Diaz. Time after time he has been reelected with unanimity, no other +candidate being nominated--nor even suggested. Is it to be wondered at +that, by the time his seventh term expired in 1910, he should have at +last come to regard himself as indispensable? + +That he was so persuaded permits of no doubt. "He would remain in +office so long as he thought Mexico required his services," he said in +the course of the first abortive negotiations for peace--before the +capture of the town of Juarez by the insurrectionists, and the +surrender of the Republican troops under General Navarro took the +actual settlement out of his hand. + +It was a fatal mistake, and it has shrouded in deep gloom the close of +a career of unexampled brilliancy, both in war and statesmanship. The +Spanish-American Republics have produced no man who will compare with +Porfirio Diaz. Simon Bolivar for years fought the decaying power of +Spain, and to him what are now the Republics of Colombia, Venezuela, +Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru owe their liberation. But Diaz has been more +than a soldier, and his great achievement in the redemption of modern +Mexico from bankruptcy and general decay completely overshadows his +successes in the field during the ceaseless struggles of his earlier +years. + +Had he retired in 1910 he would have done so with honor, and every +hostile voice in Mexico would have been stilled. All would have been +forgotten in remembrance of the immense debt that his country owed him. +He would have stood out as the great historic figure of a glorious era +in the national annals. It was the first time he had broken his word +with the people. Staying too long, he has been driven from office by a +movement of ideas, the strength of which it is evident that he never +realized until too late, and by a rebellion that in the days of his +vigorous autocracy he would have stamped out with his heel. + +It is a sad picture to look on, especially when I turn to that other +one of the simple palace-home in Mexico City, with the fine old +warrior, with dilating nostrils like a horse at the covert side, his +face aglow, his eyes flashing as he told me of bygone battles, escapes +from imprisonment and death, and deeds of wild adventure and romance. +These inspiriting recollections he freely gave me for the "authentic +biography" which he had given me permission to write. Up to that time +he had refused that favor to every one; and in spite of his grateful +recognition of the "honesty and veracity" of the volume I had written +about his country five years before, he was long in giving his consent. +"I have only done what I thought right," he said, "and it is my country +and my ministers who have really made Mexico what she is." In the days +of his strength, corruption was unknown in his country, and even now no +finger can point at him. He retires a poor man, to live on his wife's +little fortune. Diaz had the right to be egotistical, but he was +modesty itself. + +Yet he had risen from a barefoot lad of humble birth and little +education to the dictatorship of one of the most turbulent states in +the world, and this by powers of statesmanship for which, owing to want +of opportunity, he had shown no aptitude before he reached middle life. +Before that he seemed but a good soldier, true as steel, brave, hardy, +resourceful in the field, and nothing more. It was not until he was +actually President, when nearing fifty, that his gifts for government +asserted themselves. Such late developments are rare, although Cromwell +was forty before he made any mark. Chatham, again, was fifty before he +was heard outside his own circle, and yet a few years, barely months, +later, the world was at his feet. + +It is rather the cry nowadays that men's best work is done before +forty; and even their good work no later than sixty; but among endless +exceptions General Diaz must take high rank. + +His real career began at forty-six. Up to that time he had been an +officer in a somewhat disorganized army, and his ambition at the outset +never soared beyond a colonelcy. + +He was nearly fifty when he entered Mexico City at the head of a +revolutionary force. Romance and adventure were behind him, although +personal peril still dogged his steps. He had to forget that he was a +soldier, and to be born again as leader and politician, a maker and not +a destroyer. In that capacity he had absolutely no experience of public +affairs, but such as he had gained in a smaller way in early years +spent in Oaxaca. Yet Diaz became a ruler, and a diplomat, and assumed +the courtly manners of a prince. + +Paradoxical as it may seem, his overthrow is the result of a revolution +mainly pacific in its nature, and in substance a revolt of public +feeling against abuses that have become stereotyped in the system of +government by the too long domination of one masterful will. The +military rising was but its head, spitting fire. Behind was an immense +body of opinion, in favor of effecting the retirement of the President +by peaceful means, and with all honor to one who had served his country +well. + +In 1908 General Diaz had stated frankly, in an interview granted to an +American journalist, that he was enjoying his last term of office, and +at its expiration would spend his remaining years in private life. +There is no reason to doubt that this assurance represented his settled +intention. The announcement was extensively published in the Mexican +Press, and was never contradicted by the President himself. Then rumors +gained currency that Diaz was not unprepared to accept nomination for +the Presidency for an eighth term. The statement was at first +discredited, then repeated without contradiction in a manner that could +hardly have failed to excite alarm. At length came the fatal +announcement that the President would stand again. + +Hardly had the bell of Independence ceased ringing out in joyous clang +on September 15, 1910, in celebration of free Mexico's centenary, +hardly had the gorgeous _fĂªtes_ for the President's birthday or the +homage paid him by the whole world run their course, when the spark of +discontent became a blaze. He had mistaken the respect and regard of +his people for an invitation to remain in office. + +By the time the Presidential election approached, signs of agitation +had increased. A political party rose in direct hostility, not so much +to General Diaz himself or Limantour, as to the Vice-President, who, as +next in the succession, in the event of the demise of the President, +would have been able to rivet the autocracy on the country. + +Corral was the Vice-President. What little I saw of him I liked; but +then he had hardly taken up the reins of power. He did not make himself +popular; in fact, a large part of the country hated and distrusted him. +But for that, probably nothing would have been heard of the troubles +which ensued. As the party anxious for the introduction of new blood +into the Government increased in vigor, the people showed themselves +more and more determined to get rid of Corral. They wanted a younger +man than Diaz in the President's chair: they wanted, above all, the +prospect of a better successor. + +But the official group whose interests depended on the maintenance of +the Diaz rĂ©gime was, for the moment, too powerful, and it succeeded in +inducing the President to accept reelection. + +To the general hatred of this group on the part of the nation, Madero +owed his success. He was almost unknown, but the malcontents were +determined to act, and to act at once, and they could not afford to +pick and choose for a leader. As a proof that the country thought less +of the democratic principles invoked than of the destruction of the +official "cientificos," may be cited the fact that it at first placed +all its trust and confidence in General Reyes, who is just as despotic +and autocratic as General Diaz, but has at the same time, to them, a +redeeming quality--his avowed opposition to the gang. Reyes refused to +head the insurrection, and it was then Madero or nobody. + +In the spring of 1910 Francis I. Madero came to the front. He was a man +of education, of fortune, of courage, and a lawyer by profession. He +had written a book entitled the _Presidential Succession_, and although +without experience in the management of State affairs, he had shown +that he had the courage of his convictions. He consented to stand +against Diaz in a contest for the Presidency of the Republic. + +The malcontents had found their leader. Madero not only accepted +nomination, but began an active campaign, making speeches against the +Diaz administration, denouncing abuses, more especially the retention +of office by the Vice-President and the tactics of Limantour, and +showing the people that as General Diaz was then eighty years of age, +and his new term would not expire until 1916, Corral would almost +certainly succeed to the inheritance of the Diaz regime. + +Energetic, courageous, and outspoken, Madero had full command of the +phraseology of the demagog. His only shortcoming in the eyes of his own +party was that he had not been persecuted by the Government. The +officials, alas, soon supplied this deficiency. A few days before the +Presidential election in July, 1910, when making a speech in Monterey, +Madero was arrested as a disturber of the peace and thrown into prison, +where he was kept until the close of the poll. + +The election resulted, as usual, in a triumphant majority for General +Diaz, though votes were recorded, even in the capital itself, for the +anti-reelectionist leader. + +As soon as opportunity offered, Madero escaped to the United States, +and from that vantage-ground kept up a correspondence with his friends +and partizans. Though the election had been held in July, the +inauguration of the President did not take place until December, 1910. +A fortnight before that date, a conspiracy, at which Madero probably +connived, was discovered in Puebla. The first victim was the Chief of +the Police at Puebla. He was shot dead by a woman who at his knock had +opened the door of a house wherein the revolutionists were holding a +meeting. The revolution had begun. Risings took place in different +parts of the Republic, but were quickly quelled, with the exception of +one in the State of Chihuahua, where the rebels had a special grievance +against the all-powerful family of the great landowner, General +Terrazas. These large landed proprietors are a subject of hatred to the +new Socialist party. + +Trouble followed trouble in the north, which, be it remembered, runs to +a distance of over a thousand miles from Mexico City itself. But +nothing very serious occurred, until suddenly, in the early weeks of +1911, President Taft mobilized a force of 20,000 American troops to +watch the Mexican frontier. From that time events developed rapidly +till the end of the Diaz regime in May. One thing became clear, that +the revolution was rapidly making its way to victory, and that Diaz, +prostrate with an agonizing disease, an abscess of the jaw, was in no +condition to rally his disheartened followers in person. He saved his +honor, as the phrase goes, by a declaration that he would not retire +from office until peace was declared, and he kept his word. He was too +ill to leave his simple home in one of the chief streets of the city, +where he lived less ostentatiously than many of his fellow citizens, +but this did not prevent the mob from firing upon his home. On the +afternoon of May 25, 1911, he resigned, and Señor De La Barra, formerly +Minister at Washington, became provisional President until the next +election, fixed for October. + +Madero was the hero of the hour. He entered Mexico City in triumphal +procession, June 7, 1911. His entrance was preceded by the most severe +earthquake the capital had known in years. Many buildings were wrecked +and some hundreds of people killed. An arch of the National Palace +fell, one beneath which Diaz had often passed. + +Three days after signing his abdication, General Diaz was well enough +to leave Mexico City. In the early hours of the morning three trains +drew up filled with his own solders and friends, in the middle one of +which the ex-President, his wife, the clever and beautiful Carmelita, +Colonel Porfirio Diaz, his son, with his young wife, several children, +and their ten-days-old baby, were seated. Along the route the train +came upon a force of seven hundred rebels. A sharp encounter ensued. +The revolutionists left thirty dead upon the field; the escort, which +numbered but three hundred, lost only three men. The old fighting +spirit returned to the old lion, and, unarmed, the ex-President +descended from his car and took part in the engagement. He entered +Mexico City fighting, and he has left her shores with bullets ringing +in the air. This was but the second time that Diaz had left the land of +his birth. + +His work is now imperishable. Mexicans, I am sure, will regret the +pitiful circumstances under which his fall has come about, and he will +live long in the hearts of his countrymen. Nothing can alter the fact +that he made modern Mexico. It was no easy task; the Mexicans are a +cross-breed of Spaniards and countless Indian tribes. There are still +half a million Aztecs. Diaz has given this strange mixed race +education, and a high order of education for such a people; he has +brought his country to a financial position in which the Government +can, or could, borrow all the money it wanted at four per cent. +Railways intersect the land in every direction. The largest financial +interests are American, the next in importance are British. Except +Germany, no other foreign country has much capital invested in Mexico. + +Thus closes one of the most wild and romantic episodes of the world's +history--a peasant boy who became a soldier, a general who became a +President--a President who became a great autocrat, who raised a +country from obscurity to greatness, and was finally driven from power +by the very people he had educated, and to whom he had brought vast +blessings. + +The great Diaz in his eighty-first year has passed from power, the +power he used so well. Verily a moving spectacle from first to last. + +DOLORES BUTTERFIELD[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reproduced by permission from the _North American +Review_.] + +In contemplating the present situation in Mexico there is a tendency of +late to deplore the Madero revolution and the overthrow of Diaz, and to +overlook the fact that the Diaz regime itself not only made and forced, +by its political abuses, the revolution that overthrew it, but, by its +economic abuses, prepared the country for the anarchy now rife in it; +and also that it is the very same ring of men who surrounded Diaz and +finally rendered his rule unbearable who are now financing and +fomenting the present rebellion against a Government not in sympathy +with them nor subservient to their interests. + +Porfirio Diaz attained the presidency of Mexico thirty-five years ago +by overthrowing Lerdo de Tejada. He put an end to brigandage, which was +at that time wide-spread. Such bandits as he could not buy he +exterminated. His political opponents he also bought or exterminated, +so that without the slightest disturbance to the national peace he +could be unanimously reelected whenever his term expired. Out of +bankruptcy he established credit; he put up schools; he invited foreign +capital into his country and made it possible for foreign capital to go +in; and so he gradually built up a material progress which won him the +name of "nation-builder." There were railroads and telegraphs; the +cities were graced with beautiful edifices, with theaters and parks, +with electricity and asphalt. There was the appearance of a +civilization and progress, which, considering the time in which it was +compassed, was indeed marvelous. + +But all this was only a shell and a semblance. The economic condition +of the Mexican lower classes was not touched--the process of +"nation-building" seemed not to include them. In the shadow of a modern +civilization stalked poverty and ignorance worthy of the Middle Ages. +And it was notorious that in the capital city itself, under the very +eyes of the central Government, was where the very worst conditions and +the most glaring extremes of poverty and wealth were to be seen. On the +one hand, splendid _paseos_ lined with magnificent palaces, where, in +their automobiles, the pleasure-seeking women of the rich displayed +their raiment worth thousands of dollars; and, on the other, streets +filled with beggars, their clothes literally dropping off them in +filthy rags, reeking with the typhus which for years has been endemic +in the City of Mexico. + +Let it be said to Diaz's credit that he did try, in a measure, at first +to better those conditions. Hence the public schools which, though +inadequate for the scattered rural population, have accomplished much +in the cities. He also attempted years ago a division of the lands, but +dropped it when he saw that the great landowners were stronger than he +and that to persist might cost him the Presidency. + +It was natural and inevitable that a Government in which there was +never any change or movement should stagnate and become corrupt. +Porfirio Diaz was not a President, but, in all save the name, an +absolute monarch, and inevitably there formed about his throne a cordon +of men as unpatriotic and self-interested as he may have been patriotic +and disinterested--as to a great extent he undeniably was. These men +were the Cientificos. + +The term is, of course, not their own. It was applied to them by the +Anti-reelectionists, meaning that they were scientific grafters and +exploiters. The full-fledged Cientifico was at once a tremendous +landholder and high government official. To illustrate, the land of the +State of Chihuahua is almost entirely owned by the Terrazas family. In +the days of Diaz, Don Luis Terrazas was always the governor, being +further reenforced by his relative, Enrique C. Creel, high in the Diaz +ministry. In Sonora the land was held by Ramon Corral, Luis Torres, and +Rafael Izabal. These three gentlemen, who were called "The Trinity," +used to rotate in the government of the state until Corral was made +vice-president, when Torres and Izabal took turn about until the death +of the latter shortly before the Madero revolution. In every state +there was either one perpetual governor or a combine of them. + +Thus in each state a small group of men were the absolute masters +politically, economically, and industrially. They made and unmade the +laws at their pleasure. For instance, Terrazas imposed a prohibitory +tax upon cattle which forced the small owners to dispose of their +stock, which he, being the only purchaser, bought at his own price, +after which he repealed the law. They adjusted taxation to suit +themselves, assessing their own huge estates at figures nothing short +of ridiculous, while levying heavily upon the small farmer, and +especially upon enterprise and improvements. They practised peonage, +though peonage is contrary to the Constitution of the Republic, to the +Federal laws, and, in many cases, to the laws of the separate states as +well. They drew public salaries for perverting the government to their +private benefit and enrichment; and as the dictator grew older and +surrendered to his satellites more and more of his once absolute power, +the conditions became so intolerable, and the tyranny and greed of the +Cientificos so shameless and unbridled (infinitely more so in the +southern than in the northern states), that it would have been a +reversal of the history of the world if there had been no revolution. + +In 1910 the aged Diaz declared his intention of resigning. Perhaps he +even intended to keep that promise when he made it; but if so, the +Cientificos, who knew that his prestige and the love of the nation for +him were their only shield, induced him to think better of it. The +strongest of the opposing parties was the Anti-reelectionist party. It +embodied the best elements and the best ideals of the country and from +the first was the one of which the Diaz regime was most afraid. + +Now by its very name this party was pledged to no reelection, and yet +it so far compromised with the regime as to nominate Diaz for +President, only repudiating Corral, who was odious to the entire +nation. However, the Cientificos saw that this was to be the entering +wedge, and they promptly prepared to crush the new political faction. +Anti-reelectionists were arrested right and left; their newspapers were +suppressed, the presses wrecked, and the editors thrown into prison. +But the party's blood was up. It did not dissolve. It did not nominate +Corral. Instead it struck Porfirio Diaz's name from its ticket and +tendered to Francisco Madero, Jr., not the vice-presidential but the +presidential nomination. The bare fact that he accepted it speaks +volumes for his courage. + +Francisco Madero was born October 4, 1873. He was educated from +childhood in the United States and Europe; and upon returning to his +country, imbued with the advanced ideas of the most broad-minded men of +the most enlightened countries in the world, it was perhaps only +natural that he should resent the conditions which he saw in his own +country. The Madero family owns great tracts of land in Coahuila, +besides properties in other states. Madero introduced modern methods +and modern machinery in the management of his estates. Already a +millionaire, he made more millions, at the same time doing much toward +the betterment of conditions for his own immediate dependents among the +lower class. + +Madero first attracted attention by writing _The Presidential +Succession in 1910_. The Cientifico clique laughed at him as a +visionary. Suddenly they awoke to the fact that his book, with its +calm, dispassionate logic and democratic tone, was doing them more harm +than a thousand soldiers, and they suppressed its publication. It was +the writing of this book that led to Madero's nomination for President +by the Anti-reelectionist party when every one else had failed it. + +Madero took the attitude that he was a presidential candidate in a free +republic and began what he called his democratic campaign. He went from +city to city, delivering speeches and laying his platform before the +people. He was called "the apostle of democracy," and the multitudes +followed him like an apostle indeed. But he did not carry out his +democratic campaign without sacrifice and risk. When he passed through +Hermosillo, Sonora, the hotel-keepers closed their-doors to him. +Torres, feudal lord of the state, had given out the necessary hint and +Madero, for all his millions, could find no apartments for himself and +his wife until a Spaniard--relying upon the fact of being a foreigner-- +offered them lodgings, "not wishing to lend himself to so ignoble an +intrigue." This was but one city of many. In all places he had the most +tremendous difficulty in renting halls for his addresses. Frequently he +was reduced to speaking in tumble-down sheds or mule-yards or vacant +lots, the local authorities often hiring rowdies to create disturbances +at his meetings. He was ridiculed, he was threatened, he was +persecuted, but he went on unafraid. + +Just before and during the elections every known Maderista, from Madero +down, was arrested on charges of "sedition." Things came to such a pass +that in the city where I lived some sixty prominent Maderistas were +arrested at two o'clock one morning without warrants and on no charge, +it being noteworthy that the men arrested were almost without exception +some of the best and most honorable men in the state. And this happened +at the same hour of the same day in every city in Mexico. But in spite +of the fact that many votes were lost to Madero through intimidation or +actual imprisonment, so strong a vote was registered for the Madero +electors that fraud was resorted to to cover his gains. The result of +the elections was that Diaz and Corral were _unanimously_ +reelected--the former for his eighth term and the latter for his +second. + +The Anti-reelectionists then appealed to Congress and the Senate to +annul the elections, alleging fraud and intimidation. Without the +slightest pretense of considering or investigating these charges +Congress and Senate--long the mouthpieces of Cientificismo--ratified +the elections as just and legal. Every peaceful measure to bring about +justice in the elections and insure the free expression of the nation's +will was now exhausted. The only recourse left to the people by the +Cientifico regime was war. Their leader at the polls became their +leader in the preparations for that war. + +In the midst of this riot of tyranny, while the nation yet seethed with +indignation at the outrageous electoral farce imposed upon it, the +first Centennial of Mexican independence was being celebrated before +the foreign diplomats with unprecedented pomp and display. The +Anti-reelectionists declared that Liberty was dead and that instead of +celebrating they were going to don deep mourning. They were thus a mark +for all manner of persecutions from petty annoyances to the most +unprovoked armed attacks. Some students were fired upon by troops while +they were carrying wreaths to the monument of the boy heroes of +Chapultepec; a young lawyer was arrested for making a speech beneath +the statue of Juarez; and in Tlaxcala a procession of unarmed working +men was fired upon and ridden down by _rurales_, several men and a +woman being killed. Consecrating hypocritical hymns to liberty that did +not exist and heaping with wreaths the tombs and monuments of the +heroes of Mexico, while violating all the ideals for which those heroes +died, drunk with the power they had wielded so long, the Cientificos +pressed blindly on, following the path that Privilege has taken since +the beginning of history and which has only one end. + +These are some of the causes and circumstances that made the revolution +of 1910-11--not all of them, for there must be remembered in addition +the Yaqui slave traffic, the contract-labor system of the great +southern haciendas, and a dozen other iniquities, greater and lesser, +which also contributed to precipitating the revolt. It was fortunate +that that revolt was captained by a man of Francisco Madero's _type_--a +man who knew how to win the world's sympathy for his cause and how to +make his subordinates merit that sympathy by their observance of the +rules of civilized warfare. + +The actual armed contention of the Madero revolution was singularly +brief, culminating in the capture of Ciudad Juarez, which was followed +by the resignation of Diaz and Corral. There can be no doubt that the +dictatorship could have held together for a considerable time longer +and that Diaz surrendered before he actually had to. But he could +probably see by this time that it was inevitable in any case, and he +was willing to sacrifice his personal pride and ambition sooner than +necessary to avoid bloodshed in Mexico if he could. And also he had it +upon his conscience, and it was brought home to him by the mobs outside +his palace, that he was not the constitutional President of Mexico, but +the tool of the betrayers of her Constitution. That he had been +shamelessly deceived and played upon by the impassable cordon of +Cientificos about him is easy to judge. His message of resignation was +one to touch any heart, combining pathos with absolute dignity. + +The resignation of Diaz and Corral was taken by many to signify the +complete surrender of the old rĂ©gime and the triumph of the revolution. +Indeed, for the moment it so appeared. But although the Cientificos +were ousted from direct political control, their wealth and power and +the tremendous machinery of their domination were still to be contended +with before the revolution could follow up its political success with +the economic reforms which were its real object. + +Madero had pledged himself primarily to the division of the lands. He +realized that only by the abolition of the landed aristocracy, and an +equitable distribution among moderate holders for active development of +the huge estates, held idle in great part or worked by peons, could the +progress and prosperity of the nation be put upon a solid basis. He +knew exactly what the remedy was and, though a landed aristocrat +himself by birth and inheritance, was not afraid of it. + +As soon as he was elected to the presidency he set a committee of +competent, accredited engineers to work appraising property values in +the different states, and great tracts of hundreds of thousands and +millions of acres, previously assessed at half as many thousands as +they were worth millions, were revalued and reassessed at their true +inherent value. The _haciendados_ raised a frightful cry. They tried +threats, intrigue, and bribery. It was useless; the revaluation went +on. The new administration reclaimed as national property all that it +could of the _terrenos baldios_, or public lands, which under Diaz had +been rapidly merging into the great estates. It established a +government bank for the purpose of making loans on easy terms, and thus +assisting the poor to take up and work these public lands in small +parcels. Even before becoming President, Madero had advised the working +men to organize and demand a living wage, which they did. He attacked +the lotteries, the bull-fights, the terrible pulque trust, the +unbridled traffic of which, more than any other one factor, has +contributed to the degradation of the lower classes. He began to extend +the public-school system. + +From the first the Cientificos hampered and impeded him. To foment a +counter-revolution they took advantage of the fact that in various +parts of the country there were disorderly bands of armed men +committing numerous depredations. These men had risen up in the shadow +of the Maderista revolution, and at its close, instead of laying down +their arms, they devoted themselves to the looting of ranches and +ungarrisoned isolated towns. Of these brigands--for they were neither +more nor less, whatever they may have called themselves then or may +call themselves now--the most formidable was Emiliano Zapata. His +alleged reason for continuing in arms after the surrender of the +dictatorship was that his men had not been paid for their services. +President De la Barra paid them, but their brigandage continued. And at +the most critical moment Pascual Orozco, Jr., Madero's trusted +lieutenant, in command of the military forces of Chihuahua, issued--on +the heels of reiterated promises of fealty to the Government--a +_pronunciamiento_ in favor of the revolution and delivered the state +which had been entrusted to his keeping to the revolutionists, at whose +head he now placed himself. + +The new malcontents declared that Madero had betrayed the revolution, +and that they were going to overthrow him and themselves carry out the +promises he had made. This sounds heroic, noble, and patriotic, but +will not bear close inspection. In the first place, many of the +revolutionists with whom the new faction allied itself had been in arms +since before Madero was even elected--a trivial circumstance, however, +which did not seem to shake their logic. Moreover, as any honest, +fair-minded person must have recognized, the promises of Madero were +not such as he could fulfil with a wave of his hand or a stroke of his +pen. They were big promises and they required time and careful study +for their successful undertaking and the cooperation of the people at +large against the public enemies, whereas Madero was not given time nor +favorable circumstances nor the intelligent cooperation of any but a +small proportion of the population. + +As a matter of fact, Madero himself, far from overstating the benefits +of the revolution led by him or making unwise promises of a Utopia +impossible of realization, addressed these words to the Mexican people +at the close of that conflict: "You have won your political freedom, +but do not therefore suppose that your _economic_ and social liberty +can be won so suddenly. This can only be attained by an earnest and +sustained effort on the part of all classes of society." + +It is to be feared that for long years to come Mexico must stand judged +in the eyes of the world by the disgraceful and uncivilized conduct of +the various rebels, or so-called rebels, and simon-pure bandits who are +contributing to the revolt and running riot over the country; but there +is, nevertheless, in Mexico a class of people as educated, as refined, +as honorable as those existing anywhere. And these people--the +_obreros_ (skilled working men) and the professional middle class, as +well as the better elements of the laboring classes, are supporting +Madero--not all in the spirit of his personal adherents, but because +they realize the tremendous peril to Mexico of continued revolution. In +1911 the revolution was necessary--the peril had to be incurred, +because nothing but arms could move the existing despotism; but none of +the pretended principles of the revolution can now justify that peril +when the man attacked is the legal, constitutional, duly elected +President, overwhelmingly chosen by the people, and venomously turned +upon immediately following his election without being given even an +approach to a fair chance to prove himself. + +All the better elements of the country realize that Madero no longer +represents an individual or even a political administration. He +represents the civilization of Mexico struggling against the unreined +savagery of a population which has known no law but abject fear, and +having lost that fear and the restraint which it imposed upon it, +threatens to deliver Mexico to such a reign of anarchy, rapine, and +terror as would be without a parallel in modern history. He represents +the dignity and integrity of Mexico before the world. + +Whatever the outcome, whether it triumphs or fails, the new +administration, assailed on every side by an enemy as treacherous and +unscrupulous as it is powerful, and making a last stand--perhaps a vain +one--for Mexico's economic liberty and political independence, merits +the support and comprehension of all the progressive elements of the +world. + + + + +FALL OF THE ENGLISH HOUSE OF LORDS + +GREAT BRITAIN CHANGES HER CONSTITUTION BY RESTRICTING THE POWER OF THE +LORDS + +A.D. 1911 + +ARTHUR PONSONBY SYDNEY BROOKS CAPTAIN GEORGE SWINTON + +On August 10, 1911, the ancient British House of Lords gathered in +somber and resentful session and solemnly voted for the "Parliament +Bill," a measure which reduced their own importance in the government +to a mere shadow. This vote came as the climax of a five-year struggle. +The Lords have for generations been a Conservative body, holding back +every Liberal measure of importance in England. Of late years the +Liberal party has protested with ever-increasing vehemence against the +unfairness of this unbalanced system, by means of which the +Conservatives when elected to power by the people could legislate as +they pleased, whereas the Liberals, though they might carry elections +overwhelmingly, were yet blocked in all their chief purposes of +legislation. + +When the Liberals found themselves elected to power by a vast majority +in 1905, they were still seeking to get on peaceably with the Lords, +but this soon proved impossible. In January of 1910 the Liberals +deliberately adjourned Parliament and appealed to the people in a new +election. They were again returned to power, though by a reduced +majority; yet the Lords continued to oppose them. Again they appealed +to the people in December of 1910, this time with the distinct +announcement that if re-elected to authority they would pass the +"Parliament Bill" destroying the power of the Lords. In this third +election they were still upheld by the people. Hence when the Lords +resisted the Parliament Bill, King George stood ready to create as many +new Peers from the Liberal party as might be necessary to pass the +offensive bill through the House of Lords. It was in face of this +threat that the Lords yielded at last, and voted most unwillingly for +their own loss of power. + +Of this great step in the democratizing of England, we give three +characteristic British views--first, that of a well-known Liberal +member of Parliament, who naturally approves of it; secondly, that of a +fair-minded though despondent Conservative; and thirdly, that of a +rabid Conservative who can see nothing but shame, ruin, and the extreme +of wickedness in the change. He speaks in the tone of the "Die-hards," +the Peers who refused all surrender and held out to the last, raving at +their opponents, assailing them with curses and even with fists, and in +general aiding the rest of the world to realize that the manners of +some portion of the British Peerage needed reform quite as much as +their governmental privileges. + + +ARTHUR PONSONBY, M.P. + +A great and memorable struggle has ended with the passage of the +Parliament Bill into law. In the calm atmosphere of retrospect we may +now look back on the various stages of this prolonged conflict, from +its inception to its completion, and further, with the whole scene +before us, we may reflect on the wider meaning and real significance of +the victory which has been gained on behalf of democracy, freedom, and +popular self-government. + +In the progressive cause there can be no finality, no termination to +the combat, no truce, no rest. But we may fairly regard the conclusion +of this particular struggle as the achievement of a notable step in +advance and as the acquisition of territory that can not well be +recaptured. The admission of the Parliament Bill to the statute-book +marks an epoch and fills the hearts of those who are pursuing high +ideals in politics and sociology with great hopes for the future. The +long sequence of the events which have led up to this achievement has +not been smooth or without incident. There have been moments of +failure, of rebuff, and even of disaster. It would almost seem as if +the motive power which has carried the party of progress through the +storm and stress, and landed it in security, had been outside the +control of any one man or any set of men. Although distinguished men +have led and there have been many valiant workers in the field, a +movement that has extended over nearly a hundred years must have its +origin and energy deeper down than in any mere party policy. It is the +inevitable outcome of the steady but inexorable evolution of free +institutions among a liberty-loving people. + +In order, first of all, to trace the course of the actual controversy +as it has been carried on in the House of Commons and in the country, +it is not necessary to go further back than 1883. In that year the +Lords had rejected the Franchise Bill, and it was then that Mr. Bright, +in a speech at Leeds dealing with the deadlocks between the two Houses, +sketched a plan which was really the essence and origin of the +principle adopted in the Parliament Act that has just become law. The +Lords had rejected many Liberal measures before then; attempts had been +made to get round or overcome their opposition; but not till then was +any practical method formulated for dealing with the serious and +permanent obstruction to progressive legislation. Mr. Bright himself +had condemned the peers and declared that "their arrogance and class +selfishness had long been at war with the highest interests of the +nation," and now he advocated a specific remedy, which he declared +would be obtained by "limiting the veto which the House of Lords +exercises over the proceedings of the House of Commons." The actual +plan was that a Bill rejected by the Lords should be sent up to them +again, "but when the Bill came down to the House of Commons in the +second session, and the Commons would not agree to the amendments of +the Lords, then the Lords should be bound to accept the Bill." This +method of procedure, it will be seen, was more expeditious and drastic +than the scheme in the Parliament Act. + +Mr. Chamberlain joined vigorously in the campaign against the Peers. +Telling passages from his speeches are quoted to this day, such as when +he declared that "the House of Lords had never contributed one iota to +popular liberty and popular freedom, or done anything to advance the +common weal," but "had protected every abuse and sheltered every +privilege." + +No further mention of the Bright scheme was made for some time. Six +years of Conservative rule (1886-1892) diverted the attention of +Liberals as a party in opposition to other matters, and the Lords +subsided, as they always have done in such periods, into an entirely +innocuous, negligible, and utterly useless adjunct of the Conservative +Government. + +In the brief period between 1892-1895, the animus against the House of +Lords was kindled afresh. Several Liberal Bills were mutilated or lost, +and the rejection of the second Home Rule Bill served to fan the flames +into a dangerous blaze. The Bright plan was recalled by Lord Morley. "I +think," he said (at Newcastle on May 21, 1894), "there will have to be +some definite attempt to carry out what Mr. Bright at the Leeds +Conference of 1883 suggested, by which the power of the House of +Lords--this non-elected, this non-representative, this hereditary, this +packed Tory Chamber--by which the veto of that body shall be strictly +limited." Mr. Gladstone, too, in his last speech in the House of +Commons on the wrecking amendments which the Lords had made on the +Parish Councils Bill, dwelt on the fundamental differences between the +two Houses, and said that "a state of things had been created which +could not continue," and declared it to be "a controversy which once +raised must go forward to an issue." + +But by far the most formidable, the most vigorous, the most animated, +and, at the time, apparently sincere attack was contained in a series +of speeches delivered in 1894 by Lord Rosebery, who was then in a +position of responsibility as leader of the Liberal party. If, as +subsequent events have shown, he was unmoved by the underlying +principle and cause for which his eloquent pleading stood, anyhow we +must believe he was deeply impressed by the prospect of his personal +ambition as the leader of a party being thwarted by the contemptuous +action of an irresponsible body. His words, however, stand, and have +been quoted again and again as the most effective attack against the +partizan nature of the Second Chamber:--"What I complain of in the +House of Lords is that during the tenure of one Government it is a +Second Chamber of an inexorable kind, but while another Government is +in, it is no Second Chamber at all... Therefore the result, the effect +of the House of Lords as it at present stands, is this, that in one +case it acts as a Court of Appeal, and a packed Court of Appeal, +against the Liberal party, while in the other case, the case of the +Conservative Government, it acts not as a Second Chamber at all. In the +one case we have the two Chambers under a Liberal Government, under a +Conservative Government we have a single Chamber. Therefore, I say, we +are face to face with a great difficulty, a great danger, a great peril +to the State." So vehement and repeated were Lord Rosebery's +denunciations that grave anxiety is said to have been caused in the +highest quarters. + +But for the next ten years (1895-1905) the Conservatives were in +office, and again it was impossible to bring the matter to a head, +though the past was not forgotten. When the Liberals were returned in +1906 with their colossal majority, every Liberal was well aware that +before long the same trouble would inevitably arise, and that a +settlement of the question could not be long delayed. The record of the +House of Lords' activities during the last five years has been so +indelibly impressed on the public mind that only a very brief +recapitulation of events is necessary. + +At the outset their action was tentative. This was shown by the +conferences and negotiations to arrive at a settlement on the Education +Bill, which was the first Liberal measure in 1906. But these broke +down, and defiance was found to be completely successful. Mr. Balfour, +the leader of the Conservative party, realized that although he was in +a small minority in the House of Commons, yet he could still control +legislation, and when he saw how effectively the destructive weapon of +the veto could be used he became bolder, and, as with all vicious +habits, increased indulgence encouraged appetite. Had Mr. Balfour +played his trump-card--the Lords' veto--with greater foresight and +restraint, it may safely be said that the House of Lords might have +continued for another generation, or, at any rate, for another decade, +with its authority unimpaired, though sooner or later it was bound to +abuse its power; but the temptation was too great, and Mr. Balfour +became reckless. + +The three crucial mistakes on the part of the Opposition from the point +of view of pure tactics were: First, the destruction of the Education +Bill of 1906. In view of the historic attitude of the Lords to all +questions of religious freedom and general enlightenment, it was not +surprising that they should stand in the way of a greater equality of +opportunity for all denominations in matters of education. Six times +between 1838 and 1857 they rejected Bills for removing Jewish +disabilities; three times between 1858 and 1869 they vetoed the +abolition of Church Rates. For thirty-six years (1835-1871) the +admission of Nonconformists to the universities by the abolition of +tests was delayed by them. It was only to be expected, therefore, that +they would be deaf to the popular outcry that had been caused by the +Balfour Education Bill of 1902. But in the very first session of the +Parliament in which the Government had been returned to power by the +immense majority of 354, that they should immediately show their teeth +and claws was, from their own point of view, as events proved, a vital +error. Their second mistake was the rejection in 1908 by a body of +Peers at Lansdowne House of the Licensing Bill, which had occupied many +weeks of the time of the House of Commons. This was rightly regarded as +a gratuitous insult to the House of elected representatives. Finally, +their culminating act of folly was the rejection of the Budget in 1909. +It was an outrageous breach of acknowledged constitutional practise, +which alienated from them a large body of moderate opinion. In addition +to these three notable measures there were, of course, a number of +other Bills on land, electoral, and social reform that were either +mutilated or thrown out during this period. How could any politician in +his senses suppose that a party who possessed any degree of confidence +in the country would tamely submit to treatment such as this? While the +Lords proceeded light-heartedly with their wrecking tactics, the +Liberal Government slowly and cautiously, but with great deliberation, +took action step by step. A provocative move on the part of the Lords +was met each time by a counter-move, and thus gradually the final and +decisive phase of the dispute was reached. + +After the loss of the Education Bill of 1906, the first note of warning +was sounded by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. "The resources of the +House of Commons," he declared, "are not exhausted, and I say with +conviction that a way must be found, and a way will be found, by which +the will of the people expressed through their elected representatives +in this House will be made to prevail." + +The first mention of the subject in a King's Speech occurred in March, +1907, when this significant phrase was used: "Serious questions +affecting the working of our party system have arisen from unfortunate +differences between the two Houses. My Ministers have this important +subject under consideration with a view to the solution of the +difficulty." + +On June 24, 1907, the matter was first definitely brought before the +House. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman moved that "in order to give effect +to the will of the people as expressed by their elected +representatives, it is necessary that the power of the other House to +alter or reject Bills passed by this House should be so restricted by +law as to secure that within the limits of a single Parliament the +final decision of the Commons shall prevail." To the evident surprize +of the Opposition he sketched a definite plan for curtailing the veto +of the House of Lords. This was followed in July by the introduction of +resolutions laying down in full detail the exact procedure. In his +statement Sir Henry made it very clear that the issue was confined to +the relations between the two Houses:--"Let me point out that the plan +which I have sketched to the House does not in the least preclude or +prejudice any proposals which may be made for the reform of the House +of Lords. The constitution and composition of the House of Lords is a +question entirely independent of my subject. My resolution has nothing +to do with the relations of the two Houses to the Crown, but only with +the relations of the two Houses to each other." + +In 1908, Mr. Asquith became Prime Minister, but no further action was +taken. On the rejection of the Licensing Bill, however, he showed that +the Government were fully aware of the extreme gravity of the question, +but intended to choose their own time to deal with it. Speaking at the +National Liberal Club in December, he said: "The question I want to put +to you and to my fellow Liberals outside is this: Is this state of +things to continue? We say that it must be brought to an end, and I +invite the Liberal party to-night to treat the veto of the House of +Lords as the dominating issue in politics--the dominant issue, because +in the long run it overshadows and absorbs every other." When pressed +on the Address at the beginning of the following session by his +supporters, who were impatient for action, he explained the position of +the Government: "I repeat we have no intention to shirk or postpone the +issue we have raised.... I can give complete assurance that at the +earliest possible moment consistent with the discharge by this +Parliament of the obligations I have indicated, the issue will be +presented and submitted to the country." + +The rejection of the Budget in 1909 led to a general election, in which +the Government's method of dealing with the Lords was the main issue. +The Liberals were returned again, but when the King's Speech was read +some confusion was caused by the distinct question of the relations +between the two Houses being coupled with a suggested reform of the +Second Chamber. This was a departure from the very clear and wise +policy of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, and had it been persisted in it +might have broken up the ranks of the Liberal party--very varied and +different opinions being held as to the constitution of a Second +Chamber. But the stronger course was adopted, and the resolutions +subsequently introduced and passed in the House of Commons dealt only +with the veto and were to form the preliminary to the introduction of +the Bill itself. + +Just as matters seemed about to result in a final settlement, King +Edward died, and a conference between the leaders of both parties was +set up to tide over the awkward interval. The conference was an +experiment doomed to failure, as the Liberals had nothing to give away +and compromise could only mean a sacrifice of principle. The House met +in November to wind up the business, and the Prime Minister announced +that an appeal would be made to the country on the single issue of the +Lords' veto, the specific proposals of the Government being placed +before the electorate. A Liberal Government was returned to power for +the third time in December, 1910, with practically the same majority as +in January. The Parliament Bill was introduced and passed in all its +stages through the House of Commons with large majorities. + +Meanwhile, the Conservatives made no attempt to defend either the +action or composition of the House of Lords, but adopted an apologetic +attitude. They agreed that the Second Chamber must be reformed, and +during the second general election in 1910 some of them declared for +the Referendum as a solution of the difficulty of deadlocks between the +two Houses. But there was an entire absence of sincerity about their +proposals, which were not thought out, but obviously only superficial +expedients hurriedly grasped at by a party in distress. Their reform +scheme, introduced by Lord Lansdowne, was revolutionary, and, at the +same time, fanciful and confused. It was ridiculed by their opponents, +and received with frigid disapproval by their supporters. Still, they +acted as if they were confident that in the long run they could ward +off the final blow. They were persuaded that the Liberal Government +would neither have the courage nor the power to accomplish their +purpose. "Why waste time over abstract resolutions?" asked Mr. +Balfour. "The Liberal party," he said, "has a perfect passion for +abstract resolutions"--and again, "it is quite obvious they do not mean +business." Even when the Bill itself was introduced, they still did not +believe that its passage through the House of Lords could be forced. +The opposition to the Bill was not so much due to hatred of the actual +provisions as fear of its consequences. The prospect of a Liberal +Government being able to pass measures which for long have been part of +their program, such as Home Rule, Welsh Disestablishment, or Electoral +Reform, exasperated the party who had hitherto been secured against the +passage of measures of capital importance introduced by their +opponents. The anti-Home Rule cry and the supposed dictatorship of the +Irish Nationalist leader were utilized to the full, and were useful +when constitutional and reasoned argument failed. At the same time as +much as possible was made of the composite character of the majority +supporting the Government. + +Throughout the latter part of the controversy there is little doubt +that the Conservatives would have been in a far stronger position had +they acted as a united party with a definite policy and a strong leader +ready at a moment's notice to form an alternative Government. But they +were deplorably led, they could agree on no policy, and their warmest +supporters in the Press and in the country were the first to admit that +the formation of an alternative Conservative Administration was +unthinkable. Nevertheless, there could be no rival for the leadership. +Mr. Balfour, aloof, indifferent, without enthusiasm, and without +convictions, although discredited in the country and harassed in his +attempts to save his party from Protection, remains in ability, +Parliamentary knowledge, experience and skill, head and shoulders above +his very mediocre band of colleagues in the House of Commons. + +The Bill went up to the House of Lords, where Lord Morley, with the +tact and skill of an experienced statesman and the unflinching firmness +of a lifelong Liberal, conducted it through a very rough career. The +Lords' amendments were destructive of the principle, and therefore +equivalent to rejection. But even a few days before those amendments +were returned to the Commons the Conservatives refused to believe that +the passage of the Bill in its original form was guaranteed. When at +last it was brought home to them that, if necessary, the King would be +advised to create a sufficient number of Peers to insure the passage of +the Bill into law, a howl of indignation went up. Scenes of confusion +and unmannerly exhibitions of temper took place in the House of +Commons. A party of revolt was formed among the Peers, and the Prime +Minister was branded as a traitor who was guilty of treason and whose +advice to the King in the words of the vote of censure was "a gross +violation of constitutional liberty." + +As a matter of fact, Mr. Asquith was adhering very strictly to the +letter and spirit of the Constitution. Lord Grey, who was confronted +with a similar problem in 1832, very truly said: "If a majority of this +House (House of Lords) is to have the power whenever they please of +opposing the declared and decided wishes both of the Crown and the +people without any means of modifying that power, then this country is +placed entirely under the influence of an uncontrollable oligarchy. I +say that if a majority of this House should have the power of acting +adversely to the Crown and the Commons, and was determined to exercise +that power without being liable to check or control, the Constitution +is completely altered, and the Government of the country is not a +limited monarchy; it is no longer, my Lords, the Crown, the Lords and +Commons, but a House of Lords--a separate oligarchy--governing +absolutely the others." + +Had the Prime Minister submitted to the Lords' dictation after two +general elections, in the second of which the verdict of the country +was taken admittedly and exclusively on the actual terms of the +Parliament Bill, he would have basely betrayed the Constitution in +acknowledging by his submission that the Peers were the supreme rulers +over the Crown and over the Commons, and could without check overrule +the declared expression of the people's will. The Lord Chancellor +pointed out the danger in one sentence. "This House alone in the +Constitution is to be free of all control." No doubt the creation of +ten Peers would not have caused such a commotion as the creation of +400, but the principle is precisely the same, and it was only the +magnitude of partizan bias in the Second Chamber that made the creation +of a large number necessary in the event of there being determined +opposition. It was a most necessary and salutary lesson for the Lords +that they should be shown, in as clear and pronounced a way as +possible, that the Constitution provided a check against their attempt +at despotism, just as the marked disapproval of the electorate, as +shown, for instance, in the remarkable series of by-elections in +1903-1905, or by a reverse at a general election, is the check provided +against the arbitrary or unpopular action of any Government. The Peers +were split up into two parties, those who accepted Lord Lansdowne's +pronouncement that, as they were no longer "free agents," there was +nothing left for them but to submit to the inevitable, and those who +desired to oppose the Bill to the last and force the creation of Peers. +The view of the latter section, led by Lord Halsbury, was an expression +of the wide-spread impatience and annoyance with Mr. Balfour's weak and +vacillating leadership. All the counting of heads and the guesses as to +how each Peer would behave afforded much material for sensational press +paragraphs and rather frivolous speculation and intrigue. The action of +any Peer in any circumstance is always supposed to be of national +importance. The vision of large numbers of active Peers was a perfect +feast for the public mind, at least so the newspapers thought. But in +reality the final outcry, the violent speeches, the sectional meetings, +the vituperation and passion were quite unreal and of very little +consequence. One way or the other, the passage of the Bill was secure. + +The Vote of Censure brought against the Government afforded the Prime +Minister a convenient opportunity of frankly taking the House into his +confidence. With the King's consent, he disclosed all the +communications, hitherto kept secret, which had passed between the +Sovereign and his Ministers. He rightly claimed that all the +transactions had been "correct, considerate, and constitutional." Mr. +Asquith's brilliant and sagacious leadership impressed even his +bitterest opponents. It only remained for the Lords not to insist on +their amendments. Unparalleled excitement attended their final +decision. The uncompromising opponents among the Unionist Peers, rather +than yield at the last moment, threw over Lord Lansdowne's leadership. +They were bent on forcing a creation of Peers, although Lord Morley +warned them of the consequences. "If we are beaten on this Bill +to-night," he declared, "then his Majesty will consent to such a +creation of Peers as will safeguard the measure against all possible +combinations in this House, and the creation will be prompt." In +numbers the "Die-hards," as they were called, were known to exceed a +hundred, and it was extremely doubtful right up to the actual moment +when the division was taken if the Government would receive the support +of a sufficient number of cross-bench Peers, Unionist Peers, and +Bishops to carry the Bill. After a heated debate, chiefly taken up by +violent recriminations between the two sections of the Opposition, the +Lords decided by a narrow majority of seventeen not to insist on their +amendments, and the Bill was passed and received the Royal assent. + +Now that the smoke has cleared off the field of battle, let us state in +a few sentences what the Parliament Bill which has caused all this +uproar really is. It is by no means unnecessary to do this, as those +who take a close interest in political events are, perhaps, unaware of +the incredible ignorance which exists as to the cause and essence of +the whole controversy, especially among that class of society who read +head-lines but not articles, who never attend political meetings, but +whose strong prejudices make them active and influential. The +Parliament Bill, or rather the Act, does not even place a Liberal +Government on an equal footing with a Unionist Government. It insures +that Liberal measures, if persisted in, may become law in the course of +two years in spite of the opposition of the Second Chamber. It lays +down once and for all that finance or money Bills can not be vetoed or +amended by the House of Lords--which, after all, is only an indorsement +of what was accepted till 1909 as the constitutional practise--and it +limits the duration of Parliament to five years. The preamble of the +Bill, which is regarded with a good deal of suspicion by advanced +Radicals, indicates that the reform of the Second Chamber is to be +undertaken subsequently. + +This is the bare record of the sequence of events in the Parliamentary +struggle between the two Houses, each supported by one of the two great +political parties. In the course of the controversy the real +significance of the conflict was liable to be hidden under the mass of +detail connected with constitutional law, constitutional and political +history, and Parliamentary procedure, which had to be quoted in +speeches on every platform and referred to repeatedly in debate. The +serious deadlock between the Lords and Commons was not a mere +inconvenience in the conduct of legislation, nor was it purely a +technical constitutional problem. The issue was not between the 670 +members of the House of Commons and the 620 members of the House of +Lords, nor between the Liberal Government and the Tory Opposition. The +full purport of the contest is broader and far more vital; it must be +sought deeper down in the wider sphere of our social and national life. +In a word, the rising tide of democracy has broken down another +barrier, and the privileges and presumptions of the aristocracy have +received a shattering blow. This aspect of the case is worth studying. + +There could be no conflict of any importance between the two Houses so +long as the Commons were practically nominees of the Lords. At the end +of the eighteenth century no fewer than 306 members of the House of +Commons were virtually returned by the influence of 160 persons, +landowners and boroughmongers, most of whom were members of the other +House. Things could work smoothly enough in these circumstances, as the +two Houses represented the same interests and the same class, and the +territorial aristocracy dominated without effort over a silent and +subservient people. + +The Reform Bill of 1832 was the real beginning of the change. By its +provisions not only was the franchise extended, but fifty-six rotten +boroughs, represented by 143 members, were swept away. There was +something more in this than electoral reform. It was the first step +toward alienation between the two Houses. There was a bitter fight at +the time because the Lords foresaw that if they once lost their hold +over the Commons the eventual results might be serious for them. It was +far more convenient to have a subordinate House of nominees than an +independent House of possible antagonists. The enfranchisement and +emancipation of the people once inaugurated, however, were destined to +proceed further. The introduction of free education served more than +anything, and is still serving, to create a self-conscious democracy +fully alive to its great responsibilities, for knowledge means courage +and strength. Changes in the industrial life of the country led to +organization among the workers and the formation of trade-unions. The +extension of local government brought to the front men of ability from +all classes of society, and the franchise became further extended at +intervals. The House of Commons, now completely free and independent, +kept in close touch with the real national awakening and reflected in +its membership the changes in social development. But the House of +Lords, unlike any other institution in the country, remained unchanged +and quite unaffected by outside circumstances. Its stagnation and +immobility naturally made it increasingly hostile to democratic +advance. The number of Liberal Peers or Peers who could remain Liberal +under social pressure gradually diminished. Friction caused by +diversity of aim and interest became consequently more and more +frequent. There were times of reaction, times of stagnation, times when +the national attention was diverted by wars, but the main trend taken +by the course of events was unalterable. The aristocracy, finding that +it was losing ground, made attempts to reenforce itself with commercial +and American wealth, thereby sacrificing the last traces of its old +distinction. Money might give power of a sort--a dangerous power in its +way--but not-power to recover the loss of political domination. The +South African War and the attempt to obliterate the resentment it +caused in the country by instituting a campaign for the revival of +Protection brought about the downfall of the Tory party. The electoral +_dĂ©bĂ¢cle_ of 1906 was the consequence and served as a signal of alarm +in the easy-going Conservative world. Till then many who were +accustomed to hold the reins of government in their hands, as if by +right, had not fully realized that the control was slipping from them. +The cry went up that socialism and revolution were imminent. _The +Times_ quoted _The Clarion_. Old fogies shook their heads and declared +the country would be ruined and that a catastrophe was at hand. But it +was soon found, on the contrary, that the government of the country was +in the hands of men of great ability, enlightenment, and imagination; +trade prospered, social needs were more closely attended to, and, most +important of all, peace was maintained. The House of Commons had opened +its doors to men of moderate means, and the Labor party, consisting of +working men, miners, and those with first-hand knowledge of industrial +conditions, came into existence as an organized political force. + +The last six years have shown the desperate attempts of the ancient +order to strain every nerve against the inevitable, and to thwart and +destroy the projects and ambitions of those who represented the new +thought and the new life of the nation. Though apparently successful at +first, the rash action of the Chamber which still represented the +interest, privileges, and prejudices of the wealthier class and of +vested interests, only helped in the long run to hasten the day when +they were to be deprived of their most formidable weapon. They still +retain considerable power: their interests are guarded by one of the +political parties, and socially they hold undisputed sway. In an +amazing defense of the past action of the House of Lords, Lord +Lansdowne in 1906 said: "It is constantly assumed that the House of +Lords has always shown itself obstructive, reluctant, an opponent to +all useful measures for the amelioration of the condition of the people +of this island. Nothing is further from the truth. You will find that +in the past with which we are concerned the House of Lords has shown +itself not only tolerant of such measures but anxious to promote them +and to make them effectual to the best of its ability. _And that, I +believe, has been, and I am glad to think it, from time immemorial, the +attitude of what I suppose I may call the aristocracy toward the people +of this country_" The last sentence is a fair statement of their case. +The aristocracy are _not_ the people. They are by nature a superior +class which Providence or some unseen power has mercifully provided to +govern, to rule, and to dominate. They are kind, charitable, and +patronizing, and expect gratitude and subservience in return. As a +mid-Victorian writer puts it: "What one wants to see is a kind and +cordial condescension on the one side, and an equally cordial but still +respectful devotedness on the other." But these are voices from a time +that has passed. + +Democracy has many a fight before it. False ideals and faulty +educational systems may handicap its progress as much as the forces +that are avowedly arrayed against it. Its achievements may be arrested +by the discord of factions breaking up its ranks. Conceivably it may +have to face a severe conflict with a middle-class plutocracy. But +whatever trials democracy has to undergo it can no longer be subjected +to constant defeat at the hands of a constitutionally organized force +of hostile aristocratic opinion. At least, it may now secure expression +in legislation for its noblest ideals and its most cherished ambitions. +A check on progressive legislation is harmful to the national welfare, +especially when there is no check on the real danger of reaction. To +devise a Second Chamber which will be a check on reaction as well as on +so-called revolution is a problem for the future. For the time being, +therefore, the best security for the country against the perils of a +reactionary regime is to allow freer play to the forces of progress, +which only tend to become revolutionary when they are resisted and +suppressed. The curtailment of the veto of the Second Chamber fulfils +this purpose. Whatever further adjustment of the Constitution may be +effected in time to come, the door can no longer be closed persistently +against the wishes of the people when they entrust the work of +legislation to a Liberal Government. + + +SYDNEY BROOKS + +The first but by no means the last or most crucial stage of our +twentieth-century Revolution has now been completed; the old +Constitution, which was perhaps the most adaptable and convenient +system of government that the world has ever known, is definitely at an +end; the powers of an ancient Assembly have been truncated with a +violence that in any other land would have spelled barricades and +bloodshed long ago; and the road has been cleared, or partially +cleared, for developments that must profoundly affect, and that in all +probability will absolutely transform, the whole scheme of the British +State. + +Thus far, with their usual effective, good-humored, shortsighted common +sense, with few pauses for inquiry, and with a characteristically +indifferent grasp on the ultimate trend of things, have our politicians +brought us. Our politicians, I say, and not our people, because one of +the distinctive features of the Revolution so far is that it has been a +political rather than a popular movement. It did not originate in the +constituencies, but in the Cabinet; it was not forced upon the caucus +by an aroused and indignant country, but by the caucus upon the +country; nine-tenths of its momentum has been derived from above and +not from below; the true centers of excitement throughout its polite +and orderly progress have been the lobbies of the House and the +correspondence columns of _The Times;_ it was only at the last that the +urbanities of the struggle between the "Die-hards" and their fellow +Unionists furnished the public as a whole with material for a mild +sporting interest. When Roundheads and Cavaliers were lining up for the +battle of Edgehill a Warwickshire squire was observed between the +opposing forces placidly drawing the coverts for a fox. The British +people during the past twenty months have seemed more than once to +resemble that historic huntsman. They have answered the screaming +exhortations of the politicians with whispers of more than Delphic +ambiguity; they have gone unconcernedly about their pleasures and their +business, to all appearances unvexed by the din of Revolution in their +ears; they have presented the spectacle, more common in France than in +England, of a tranquil nation with agitated legislators. + +The Ministerial explanation of this lethargy and indifference is that +the people had no occasion to grow excited; their "mandate" was being +fulfilled, they were getting what they wanted, demonstrations were +superfluous. But no one who has read the history of the Reform Bill of +1832 or of the Chartist movement or who remembers the passions stirred +up by the Franchise agitation and the Home Rule struggle of the +eighties will swallow that explanation without mentally choking. + +The truth probably is, first, that the multiplication of cheap +distractions and enjoyments and of cheaper newspapers has not only +weakened the popular interest in politics, but has impaired that +faculty of concentrated and continuous thought which used to invest +affairs of State with an attractiveness not so greatly inferior to that +of football; secondly, that for the great masses of the democracy the +politics of bread and butter have completely ousted the politics of +ideas and abstractions; and thirdly, that the Constitutional issue was +precisely the kind of issue in which our people had had no previous +training, either actual or theoretical, and which found them therefore +without any intellectual preparation for its advent. Up till the end of +1909 we had always taken the Constitution for granted, and were for the +most part comfortably unaware that it even existed. We had never as a +nation, or never rather within living memory, troubled ourselves about +"theories of State," or whetted our minds on the fundamentals of +government. There is nothing in our educational curriculum that +corresponds with the _instruction civique_ of the French schools, nor +have we the privilege which the Americans enjoy of carrying a copy of +our organic Act of Government in our pockets, of reading it through in +twenty minutes, and of hearing it incessantly expounded in the +class-room and the Press, debated in the national legislature, and +interpreted by the highest judicial tribunal in the land. + +When, therefore, we were suddenly called upon to decide the infinitely +delicate problems of the place, powers, and composition of a Second +Chamber in our governing system, the task proved as bewildering as it +was unappetizing. Any nation which regarded its Constitution as a vital +and familiar instrument would have heavily resented so gross an +infraction of it as the Lords perpetrated in rejecting the 1909 Budget. +But our own electorate, so far from punishing the party responsible for +the outrage, sent them back to the House over a hundred stronger, a +result impossible in a country with any vivid sense, or any sense at +all, of Constitutional realities, and only possible in Great Britain +because the people adjudged the importance of the various issues +submitted to them by standards of their own, and placed the +Constitutional problem at the bottom, or near the bottom, of the list. +In no single constituency that I have ever heard of was the House of +Lords question the supreme and decisive factor at the election of +January, 1910. It deeply stirred the impartial intelligence of the +country, but it failed to move the average voter even in the towns, +while in the rural parts it fell unmistakably flat. + +Even at the election of December, 1910, when all other issues were +admittedly subordinate to the Constitutional issue, it was exceedingly +difficult to determine how far the stedfastness of the electorate to +the Liberal cause was due to a specific appreciation and approval of +the Parliament Bill and of all it involved, and how far it was an +expression of general distrust of the Unionists, of irritation with the +Lords, and of sympathy with the social and fiscal policies pursued by +the Coalition. That the Liberals were justified, by all the rules of +the party game, in treating the result of that election as, for all +political and Parliamentary purposes, a direct indorsement of their +proposals, may be freely granted. It was as near an approach to an _ad +hoc_ Referendum as we are ever likely to get under our present system. +Party exigencies, or at any rate party tactics, it is true, hurried on +the election before the country was prepared for it, before it had +recovered from the somnolence induced by the Conference, and before the +Opposition had time or opportunity to do more than sketch in their +alternative plan. But though the issue was incompletely presented, it +was undoubtedly the paramount issue put before the electorate, and the +Liberals were fairly entitled to claim that their policy in regard to +it had the backing of the majority of the voters of the United Kingdom. + +Whether, however, this backing represented a reasoned view of the +Constitutional points involved and of the position, prerogatives, and +organization of a Second Chamber in the framework of British +Government, whether it implied that our people were really interested +in and had deeply pondered the relative merits of the Single and Double +Chamber systems, is much more doubtful. "When he was told," said the +Duke of Northumberland on August 10th, "that the people of England were +very anxious to abolish the House of Lords, his reply was that they did +not understand the question, and did not care two brass farthings about +it." That perhaps is putting it somewhat too strongly. The country +within the last two years has unquestionably felt more vividly than +ever before the anomaly of an hereditary Upper Chamber embedded in +democratic institutions. It has been stirred by Mr. Lloyd-George's +rhetoric to a mood of vague exasperation with the House of Lords and of +ridicule of the order of the Peerage. It has accepted too readily the +Liberal version of the central issue as a case of Peers _versus_ +People. But while it was satisfied that something ought to be done, I +do not believe it realizes precisely what has been accomplished in its +name or the consequences that must follow from the passing of the +Parliament Bill. There are no signs that it regards the abridgment of +the powers of the Upper House as a great democratic victory. There are, +on the contrary, manifold signs that it has been bored and bewildered +by the whole struggle, and that the extraordinary lassitude with which +it watched the debates was a true reflex of its real attitude. + + +CAPTAIN GEORGE SWINTON, L.C.C. + +It has been more like a bull-fight than anything else, or perhaps the +bull-baiting, almost to the death, which went on in England in days of +old. For the Peerage is not quite dead, but sore stricken, robbed of +its high functions, propped up and left standing to flatter the fools +and the snobs, a kind of painted screen, or a cardboard fortification, +armed with cannon which can not be discharged for fear they bring it +down about the defenders' ears. And in the end it was all effected so +simply, so easily could the bull be induced to charge. A rag was waved, +first here, then there, and the dogs barked. That was all. + +It is not difficult to be wise after the event. Everybody knows now +that with the motley groups of growing strength arrayed against them it +behooved the Peers to walk warily, to look askance at the cloaks +trailed before them, to realize the danger of accepting challenges, +however righteous the cause might be. But no amount of prudence could +have postponed the catastrophe for any length of time, for indeed the +House of Lords had become an anachronism. Everything had changed since +the days when it had its origin, when its members were Peers of the +King, not only in name but almost in power, princes of principalities, +earls of earldoms, barons of baronies. Then they were in a way +enthroned, representing all the people of the territories they +dominated, the people they led in war and ruled in peace. They came +together as magnates of the land, sitting in an Upper House as Lords of +the shire, even as the Knights of the shire sat in the Commons. And +this continued long after the feudal system had passed away, carried on +not only by the force of tradition, but by a sentiment of respect and +real affection; for these feelings were common enough until designing +men laid themselves out to destroy them. + +Many things combined to make the last phase pass quickly. It was +impossible that the Peerage could long survive the Reform Bill, for it +took from the great families their pocket boroughs, and so much of +their influence. And there followed hard upon it the educational effect +of new facilities for exchange of ideas, the railway trains, the penny +post, and the halfpenny paper, together with the centralization of +general opinion and all government which has resulted therefrom. But +above all reasons were the loss of the qualifying ancestral lands, a +link with the soil; and the ennobling of landless men. Once divorced +from its influence over some countryside a peerage resting on heredity +was doomed; for no one can defend a system whereby men of no +exceptional ability, representative of nothing, are legislators by +inheritance. Should we summon to a conclave of the nations a king who +had no kingdom? But the pity of it! Not only the break with eight +centuries of history--nay, more, for when had not every king his +council of notables?--not only the loss of picturesqueness and +sentiment and lofty mien, but the certainty, the appalling certainty, +that, when an aristocracy of birth falls, it is not an aristocracy of +character or intellect, but an aristocracy--save the mark--of money, +which is bound to take its place. + +Five short years and four rejected measures. Glance back over it all. +The wild blood on both sides, and the cunning on one. The foolish +comfortable words spoken in every drawing-room throughout the United +Kingdom. "Yes, they are terrible: what a lot of harm they would do if +they could. Thank God we have a House of Lords." Think now that this +was commonplace conversation only three short years ago. And all the +time the ears of the masses were being poisoned. Week after week and +month after month some laughed but others toiled. The laughers, like +the French nobles before the Revolution, said contemptuously, "They +will not dare." Why should they not? There were men among them for whom +the Ark of the Covenant had no sanctity. And then, when the +combinations were complete, when those who stood out had been +kicked--there can be no other word--into compliance, the blows fell +quickly. A Budget was ingeniously prepared for rejection, and, the +Lords falling into the trap, the storm broke, with its hurricane of +abuse and misrepresentation. We had one election which was +inconclusive. Then befell the death of King Edward. There was a second +election, carefully engineered and prepared for, rushed upon a nation +which had been denied the opportunity of hearing the other side. The +Government had out-maneuvered the Opposition and muzzled them to the +last moment in a Conference sworn to secrecy. It was remarkably clever +and incredibly unscrupulous. They won again. They had not increased +their numbers, but they had maintained their position, and this time +their victory, however achieved, could not be gainsaid. For a moment +there was a lull, only some vague talk of "guaranties," asserted, +scoffed at and denied, for the ordinary business of the country was in +arrears, and the Coronation, with all its pomp of circumstance and +power, all its medieval splendor and appeal to history and sentiment, +turned people's thoughts elsewhere. + +And then, on the day the pageantry closed, Mr. Asquith launched his +Thunderbolt. Few men living will ever learn the true story of the +guaranties, suffice it that somehow he had secured them. Whatever the +resistance of the Second Chamber might be, it could be overcome. At his +dictation the Constitution was to fall. There was no escape; the Bill +must surely pass. It rested with the Lords themselves whether they +should bow their heads to the inevitable, humbly or proudly, +contemptuously or savagely--characterize it as you will--or whether +there should be red trouble first. + +Surely never in our time has there been a situation of higher +psychological interest, for never before have we seen a body of some +six hundred exceptional men called on to take each his individual line +upon a subject which touched him to the core. I say "individual line" +and "exceptional men." Does either adjective require defending? + +The Peers are not a regiment, they are still independent entities, with +all the faults and virtues which this implies; free gentlemen subject +to no discipline, responsible to God and their own consciences alone. +At times they may combine on questions which appeal to their sense of +right, their sentiment, perhaps some may say their self-interest; but +this was no case for combination. Here was a sword pointed at each +man's breast. What, under the circumstances, was to be his individual +line of conduct? + +And who will deny the word "exceptional"? To a seventh of them it must +perforce be applicable, for they have been specially selected to serve +in an Upper House. And to the rest, those who sit by inheritance, does +it not apply even more? It is not what they have done in life. This was +no question of capacity or achievement. By the accident of birth alone +they had been put in a position different from other men. How shall +each in his wisdom or his folly interpret that well-worn motto which +still has virtue both to quicken and control, "Noblesse oblige"? + +Very curious indeed was the result. It is useless to consider the +preliminaries, the pronouncements, the meetings, the campaign which +raged for a fortnight in the Press both by letter and leading article. +It is even useless to try and discover who, if anybody, was in favor of +the Bill which was the original bone of contention. Its merits and +defects were hardly debated. On that fateful 10th of August the House +of Lords split into three groups on quite a different point. The King's +Government had seized on the King's Prerogative and uttered threats. +Should they or should they not be constrained to make good their +threats, and use it? + +The first group said: "Yes. They have betrayed the Constitution and +disgraced their position. Let their crime be brought home to them and +to the world. All is lost for us except honor. Shall we lose that also? +To the last gasp we will insist on our amendments." + +The second group said: "No. They have indeed betrayed the Constitution +and disgraced their position, but why add to this disaster the +destruction of what remains to safeguard the Empire? We protest and +withdraw, washing our hands of the whole business for the moment. But +our time will come." + +The third group said: "No. We do not desire the King's Prerogative to +be used. We will prevent any need for its exercise. The Bill shall go +through without it." + +And, the second group abstaining, by seventeen votes the last prevailed +against the first. But whether ever before a victory was won by so +divided a host, or ever a measure carried by men who so profoundly +disapproved of it, let those judge who read the scathing Protest, +inscribed in due form in the journals of the House of Lords by one who +went into that lobby, Lord Rosebery, the only living Peer who has been +Prime Minister of England. + +It is unnecessary to print here more than the tenth and last paragraph +of this tremendous indictment. It runs--"Because the whole transaction +tends to bring discredit on our country and its institutions." + +How under these extraordinary circumstances did the Peerage take sides, +old blood and new blood, the governing families and the so-called +"backwoodsmen," they who were carving their own names, and they who +relied upon the inheritance of names carved by others? + +The first group, the "No-Surrender Peers," mustered 114 in the +division. Two Bishops were among them, Bangor and Worcester, and a +distinguished list of peers, first of their line, including Earl +Roberts and Viscount Milner. When the story of our times is written it +will be seen that there are few walks of life in which some one of +these has not borne an honorable part. + +Then at a bound we are transported to the Middle Ages. At the +Coronation, when the Abbey Church of Westminster rang to the shouts, +"God Save King George!" five Lords of Parliament knelt on the steps of +the throne, kissed the King's cheek, and did homage, each as the chief +of his rank and representing every noble of it. They are all here:-- + +The Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal and premier Peer of England, head of +the great house of Howard, a name that for five centuries has held its +own with highest honor. + +The Marquis of Winchester, head of the Paulets, representative of the +man who for three long years held Basing House for the King against all +the forces which Cromwell could muster, but descended also from that +earlier Marquis of Tudor creation, who, when he was asked how in those +troublous times he succeeded in retaining the post of Lord High +Treasurer, replied, "By being a willow and not an oak." To-day the boot +is on the other leg. + +The Earl of Shrewsbury, head of the Talbots, a race far famed alike in +camp and field from the days of the Plantagenets. + +The Viscount Falkland, representative of that noble Cavalier who fell +at Newbury. + +The Baron Mowbray and Segrave and Stourton, titles which carry us back +almost to the days of the Great Charter. + +Nor does the feudal train end there. We see also a St. Maur, Duke of +Somerset, whose family has aged since in the time of Henry VIII. men +scoffed at it as new; a Clinton, Duke of Newcastle; a Percy, Duke and +heir of Northumberland, that name of high romance; a De Burgh, Marquis +of Clanricarde; a Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, twenty-sixth Earl, and +head of a house which for eight centuries has stood on the steps of +thrones; a Courtenay, Earl of Devon; an Erskine, Earl of Mar, an +earldom whose origin is lost in the mists of antiquity, and many +another. + +And if we come to later days we have the Duke of Bedford, head of the +great Whig house of Russell; the Dukes of Marlborough and Westminster, +heirs of capacity and good fortune; Lords Bute and Salisbury, +descendants of Prime Ministers; and not only Lord Selborne, but Lords +Bathurst and Coventry, Hardwicke and Rosslyn, representatives of past +Lord Chancellors. + +These, and others such as they, inheritors of traditions bred in their +very bones, spurning the suggestion that they should purchase the +uncontamination of the Peerage by the forfeiture of their principles, +fought the question to the end. If they asked for a motto, surely +theirs would have been, "Fais ce que dois, advienne que pourra." + +And so we pass to the group who abstained, the great mass of the +Peerage, too proud to wrangle where they could not win, too wise to +knock their heads uselessly against a wall, too loyal not to do their +utmost to spare their King. More than three hundred followed Lord +Lansdowne's lead, taking for their motto, perhaps, the "Cavendo tutus" +of his son-in-law. And still there was fiery blood among them, and +strong men swelling with righteous indignation. There were Gay Gordons, +as well as a cautious Cavendish, an Irish Beresford to quicken a Dutch +Bentinck, and a Graham of Montrose as well as a Campbell of Argyll. +Three Earls, Pembroke, Powis, and Carnarvon, represented the cultured +family of Herbert, and, as a counterpoise to the Duke of +Northumberland, we see six Peers of the doughty Douglas blood. Lord +Curzon found by his side three other Curzons, and the Duke of Atholl +three Murrays from the slopes of the Grampians. There were many-acred +potentates, such as the Dukes of Beaufort and Hamilton and Rutland, +Lord Bath, Lord Leicester, and Lord Lonsdale, and names redolent of +history, a Butler, Marquis of Ormonde, a Cecil, Marquis of Exeter, the +representative of Queen Elizabeth's Lord Burleigh, and a Stanley, Earl +of Derby, a name which to this day stirs Lancashire blood. If it were a +question of tactics, then Earl Nelson agreed with the Duke of +Wellington, and they were backed by seven others whose peerages had +been won in battle on land or sea in the course of the last century; +while if the Law should be considered, there were nine descendants of +Lord Chancellors. Coming to more recent times, there was the son of +John Lawrence of the Punjab, and of Alfred Tennyson the poet, Lord St. +Aldwyn and Lord Balfour of Burleigh and Lord Lister, and Lords +Rothschild, Aldenham, and Revelstoke. What need to mention more?--for +there were men representative of every interest in every quarter; but +if we wish to close this list with two names which might seem to link +together the Constitutional history of these islands, let us note that +there was agreement as to action between Viscount Peel, the sole +surviving ex-Speaker of the House of Commons, and Lord Wrottesley, the +head of the only family which can claim as of its name and blood one of +the original Knights of the Garter. + +What more is there to say? As, nearly two years ago, we stood round the +telegraph-boards watching the election results coming in, many of us +saw that the Peerage was falling. The end has come quicker than we +expected. The Empire may repent, a new Constitution may spring into +being, and there may be raised again a Second Chamber destined to be +far stronger than that which has passed, but it will never be the proud +House of Peers far-famed in English history. + + + + +THE TURKISH-ITALIAN WAR + +EUROPE SEIZES THE LAST OF NORTHERN AFRICA A.D. 1911 + +WILLIAM T. ELLIS + +THE WAR CORRESPONDENTS + +Italy, by her sudden action in seizing possession of Tripoli in September +of 1911, established the authority and suzerainty of western Europe over +the last unclaimed strip of territory along the African shore of the +Mediterranean. + +For over a thousand years the Mohammedans, as represented by either +Arabs or Turks, held control of this southern half of the classic +Mediterranean Sea. During the past century France, England, and Spain +have been snatching this land from the helpless Turks, and +Europeanizing it. Only the barren, desert stretch between Egypt and +Tunis remained. It seemed almost too worthless for occupation. But a +few Italian colonists had settled there, and Italy resolved to annex +the land. + +Few wars have ever been so obviously forced by a determined marauder +upon a helpless victim. Italy wanted to show her strength, both to her +own people and to assembled Europe. Hence she prepared her armies and +then delivered to Turkey, the nominal suzerain of Tripoli, a sudden +ultimatum. The Turks must do exactly what Italy demanded, and +immediately, or Italy would seize Tripoli. The "Young Turks" offered +every possible concession; but Italy, hurriedly rejecting every +proposition, made the seizure she had planned. + +The strife that followed had its _opĂ©ra-bouffe_ aspect in the utter +helplessness of far-off Turkey, incapable of reaching the seat of war; +but it had also its tragic scandal in the accusation of cruelty made +against the Italian troops. It had also, in the Balkan wars and other +changes which sprang more or less directly from it, a permanent effect +upon the political affairs of Europe as well as upon those of Africa. + + +WILLIAM T. ELLIS[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission from _Lippincott's Magazine_.] + +There are conversational compensations for life in the Orient. Talk +does not grow stale when there are always the latest phases of "the +great game" of international politics to gossip about. Men do not +discuss baseball performances in the cafĂ©s of Constantinople; but the +latest story of how Von Bieberstein, the German Ambassador, bulldozed +Haaki Pasha, the Grand Vizier, and sent the latter whining among his +friends for sympathy, is far more piquant. The older residents among +the ladies of the diplomatic corps, whose visiting list extends "beyond +the curtain," have their own well-spiced tales to tell of "the great +game" as it is played behind the latticed windows of the harem. It is +not only in London and Berlin and Washington and Paris that wives and +daughters of diplomats boost the business of their men-folk. In this +mysterious, women's world of Turkey there are curious complications; as +when a Young Turk, with a Paris veneer, has taken as second or third +wife a European woman. One wonders which of these heavily veiled +figures on the Galata Bridge, clad in hideous _ezars_, is an +Englishwoman or a Frenchwoman or a Jewess. + +Night and day, year in and year out, with all kinds of chessmen, and +with an infinite variety of byplays, "the great game" is played in +Constantinople. The fortunes of the players vary, and there are +occasional--very occasional--open rumpuses; but the players and the +stakes remain the same. Nobody can read the newspaper telegrams from +Tripoli and Constantinople intelligently who has not some understanding +of the real game that is being carried on; and in which an occasional +war is only a move. + +The bespectacled professor of ancient history is best qualified to +trace the beginning of this game; for there is no other frontier on the +face of the globe over which there has been so much fighting as over +that strip of water which divides Europe from Asia, called, in its four +separate parts, the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmora, the Dardanelles, and +the Aegean Sea. Centuries before men began to date their calendars +"A.D.," the city on the Bosporus was a prize for which nations +struggled. All the old-world dominions--Greek, Macedonian, Persian, +Roman--fought here; and for hundreds of years Byzantium was the capital +of the Roman and Christian world. The Crusaders and the Saracens did a +choice lot of fighting over this battle-ground; and it was here that +the doughty warrior, Paul of Tarsus, broke into Europe, as first +invader in the greatest of conquests. Along this narrow line of +beautiful blue water the East menacingly confronts the West. Turkey's +capital, as a sort of Mr.-Facing-Both-Ways, bestrides the water; for +Scutari, in Asia, is essentially a part of Greater Constantinople. That +simple geographical fact really pictures Turkey's present condition: it +is rent by the struggle of the East with the West, Asia with Europe, in +its own body. + +"The great game" of to-day, rather than of any hoary and romantic +yesterday, holds the interest of the modern man. Player Number One, +even though he sits patiently in the background in seeming stolidity, +is big-boned, brawny, hairy, thirsty Russia. Russia wants water, both +here and in the far East. His whole being cries from parched depths for +the taste of the salt waters of the Mediterranean and the China Sea. At +present his ships may not pass through the Dardanelles: the jealous +Powers have said so. But Russia is the most patient nation on earth; +his "manifest destiny" is to sit in the ancient seat of dominion on the +Bosporus. Calmly, amid all the turbulence of international politics, he +awaits the prize that is assuredly his; but while he waits he plots and +mines and prepares for ultimate success. A past master of secret +spying, wholesale bribery, and oriental intrigue, is the nation which +calls its ruler the "Little Father" on earth, second only to the Great +Father in heaven. If one is curious and careful, one may learn which of +the Turkish statesmen are in Russian pay. + +Looming larger--apparently--than Russia amid the minarets upon the +lovely Constantinople horizon is Germany, the Marooned Nation. Restless +William shrewdly saw that Turkey offered him the likeliest open door +for German expansion and for territorial emancipation. So he played +courtier to his "good friend, Abdul Hamid," and to the Prophet Mohammed +(they still preserve at Damascus the faded remains of the wreath he +laid upon Saladin's tomb the day he made the speech which betrayed +Europe and Christendom), and in return had his vanity enormously +ministered to. His visit to Jerusalem is probably the most notable +incident in the history of the Holy City since the Crusades. Moreover, +he carried away the Bagdad Railway concession in his carpet-bag. By +this he expects to acquire the cotton and grain fields of Mesopotamia, +which he so sorely needs in his business, and also to land at the front +door of India, in case he should ever have occasion to pay a call, +social or otherwise, upon his dear English cousins. + +True, the advent of the Turkish constitution saw Germany thrown crop +and heels out of his snug place at Turkey's capital, while that +comfortable old suitor, Great Britain, which had been biting his +finger-nails on the doorstep, was welcomed smiling once more into the +parlor. Great was the rejoicing in London when Abdul Hamid's +"down-and-out" performance carried his trusted friend William along. +The glee changed to grief when, within a year--so quickly does the +appearance of the chess-board change in "the great game"--Great Britain +was once more on the doorstep, and fickle Germany was snuggling close +to Young Turkey on the divan in the dimly lighted parlor. Virtuous old +Britain professed to be shocked and horrified; he occupied himself with +talking scandal about young Germany, when he should have been busy +trying to supplant him. Few chapters in modern diplomatic history are +more surprising than the sudden downfall and restoration of Germany in +Turkish favor. With reason does the Kaiser give Ambassador von +Bieberstein, "the ablest diplomat in Europe," constant access to the +imperial ear, regardless of foreign-office red tape. During the heyday +of the Young Turk party's power, this astute old player of the game was +the dominant personality in Turkey. + +The disgruntled and disappointed Britons have comforted themselves with +prophecy--how often have I heard them at it in the cosmopolitan cafes +of Constantinople!--the burden of their melancholy lay being that some +day Turkey would learn who is her real friend. That is the British way. +They believe in their divine right to the earth and the high places +thereof. They are annoyed and rather bewildered when they see Germany +cutting in ahead of them, especially in the commerce of the Orient; any +Englishman "east of Suez" can give a dozen good reasons why Germany is +an incompetent upstart; but however satisfactory and soothing to the +English soul this line of philosophy may be, it drives no German +merchantmen from the sea and no German drummers from the land. The +supineness of the British in the face of the German inroads into their +ancient preserves is amazing to an American, who, as one of their own +poets has said, + + Turns a keen, untroubled face + Home to the instant need of things. + +In this case, however, the proverbial luck of the British has been with +them. The steady decline of their historic prestige in the near East +was suddenly arrested by Italy's declaration of war. For more than a +generation Turkey has been the pampered _enfant terrible_ of +international politics, violating the conventions and proprieties with +impunity; feeling safe amid the jealousies of the players of "the great +game." Every important nation has a bill of grievances to settle with +Turkey; America's claim, for instance, includes the death of two +native-born American citizens, Rogers and Maurer, slain in the Adana +massacre, under the constitution. Nobody has been punished for this +crime, because, forsooth, it happened in Turkey. Italy made a pretext +of a cluster of these grievances, and startled the world by her claims +upon Tripoli, accompanied by an ultimatum. Turkey tried to temporize. +Pressed, she turned to Germany with a "Now earn your wages. Get me out +of this scrape, and call off your ally." + +And Germany could not. With the taste of Morocco dirt still on his +tongue, the Kaiser had to take another unpalatable mouthful in +Constantinople. His boasted power, upon which the Turks had banked so +heavily, and for the sake of which they had borne so much humiliation, +proved unequal to the demand. He could not help his friend the Sultan. +Italy would have none of his mediation; for reasons that will +hereinafter appear. + +Then came Britain's vindication. The Turks turned to this historic and +preeminent friend for succor. The Turkish cabinet cabled frantically to +Great Britain to intercede for them; the people in mass-meeting in +ancient St. Sophia's echoed the same appeal. For grim humor, the +spectacle has scarcely an equal in modern history. Besought and +entreated, the British, who no doubt approved of Italy's move from the +first, declined to pull Turco-German chestnuts out of the fire. "Ask +Cousin William to help you," was the ironical implication of their +attitude. Well did Britain know that if the situation were saved, the +Germans would somehow manage to get the credit of it. And if the worst +should come, Great Britain could probably meet it with Christian +fortitude! For in that eventuality the Bagdad Railway concession would +be nullified, and Britain would undoubtedly take over all of the +Arabian Peninsula, which is logically hers, in the light of her Persian +Gulf and Red Sea claims. The break-up of Turkey would settle the +Egyptian question, make easy the British acquisition of southern +Persia, and put all the holy places of Islam under the strong hand of +the British power, where they would be no longer powder-magazines to +worry the dreams of Christendom. Far-sighted moves are necessary in +"the great game." + +Small wonder that Germany became furious; and that the Berlin +newspapers burst out in denunciations of Italy's wicked and piratical +land-grabbing--a morsel of rhetoric following so hard upon the heels of +the Morocco episode that it gave joy to all who delight in hearing the +pot rail at the kettle. "The great game" is not without its humors. But +the sardonic joke of the business lies deeper than all this. The Kaiser +had openly coquetted with the Sultan upon the policy of substituting +Turkey for Italy in the Triple Alliance. Turkey has a potentially great +army: the one thing the Turk can do well is to fight. With a suspicious +eye upon Neighbor Russia, the Kaiser figured it out that Turkey would +be more useful to him than Italy, especially since the Abyssinian +episode had so seriously discredited the latter. Then, of a sudden, +with a poetic justice that is delicious, Italy turns around and +humiliates the nation that was to take its place The whole comic +situation resembles nothing more nearly than a supposedly defunct +spouse rising from his death-bed to thrash the expectant second husband +of his wife. + +Here "the great game" digresses in another direction, that takes no +account of Turkey. Of course, it was more than a self-respecting desire +to avenge affronts that led Italy to declare war against Turkey; and +also more than a hunger for the territory of Tripoli. Italy needed to +solidify her national sentiment at home, in the face of growing +socialism and clever clericalism. Even more did she need to show the +world that she is still a first-class power. There has been a +disposition of late years to leave her out of the international +reckoning. Now, at one skilful jump, she is back in the game--and on +better terms than ever with the Vatican, for she will look well to all +the numerous Latin missions in the Turkish Empire, and especially in +Palestine. These once were France's special care, and are yet, to a +degree; but France is out of favor with the Church, and steadily +declining from her former place in the Levant, although French +continues to be the "_lingua franca"_ of merchandising, of polite +society, and of diplomacy, in the Near East. + +Let nobody think that this is lugging religion by the ears into "the +great game." Religion, even more than national or racial consciousness, +is one of the principal players. In America politicians try to steer +clear of religion; although even here a cherry cocktail mixed with +Methodism has been known to cost a man the possible nomination for the +Presidency. In the Levant, however, religion _is_ politics. The +ambitions and policies of Germany, Russia, and Britain are less potent +factors in the ultimate and inevitable dissolution of Turkey than the +deep-seated resolution of some tens of millions of people to see the +cross once more planted upon St. Sophia's. Ask anybody in Greece or the +Balkans or European Russia what "the great idea" is, and you will get +for an answer, "The return of the cross to St. Sophia's." Backward and +even benighted Christians these Eastern churchmen may be, but they hold +a few fundamental ideas pretty fast, and are readier to fight for them +than their occidental brethren. + +The world may as well accept, as the principal issue of "the great +game" that centers about Constantinople, the fact that the war begun +twelve hundred years ago by the dusky Arabian camel-driver is still on. +This Turco-Italian scrape is only one little skirmish in it. + + * * * * * + +The outbreak of war between Italy and Turkey came as a surprize to the +great majority of the European public, and even in Italy until the last +moment few believed that the crisis would come to a head so soon. Those +who had closely followed the course of political opinion in the country +during the past year, however, saw that a change had come over the +public spirit of Italy, and that a new attitude toward questions of +foreign policy was being adopted. It may be of interest in the present +circumstances to examine the causes and the course of this development. + +Since the completion of Italian unity with the fall of the Temporal +Power in 1870, the Italian people had devoted all its energies to +internal affairs, for everything had to be created--roads, railways, +ports, improved agriculture, industry, schools, scientific +institutions, the public services, were either totally lacking or quite +inadequate to the needs of a great modern nation. Above all, the +finances of the State, shattered by the wars of independence and by bad +administration, had to be placed on a sound footing. Consequently, +foreign affairs attracted but slight public interest. Such a state of +things was at that time inevitable owing to the precarious situation at +home, but it proved a most unfortunate necessity, as it was during this +very period that the great no-man's-lands of Asia and Africa were being +partitioned among the other nations, and vast uncultivated, +undeveloped, and thinly populated territories annexed by various +European Powers, and converted into important colonial empires offering +splendid outlets for trade and emigration. Italy had appeared last in +this field, when nearly all the best lands had been annexed and when +conquests could not be attempted, even in the still available regions, +without large, well-organized armed forces and a determined, +intelligent, and well-informed public opinion to back them up. In Italy +neither was to be found. The country was too poor to launch forth into +colonial and foreign politics with any chance of success, and the +people were too untraveled and too little acquainted with the +development of other countries to pay much attention to events outside +Italy, or, at all events, outside Europe. + +In the meanwhile, considerable progress in the economic and social +conditions of the Italian people had been achieved, and by grinding +economy and incredible sacrifices the finances were being restored. +There came a moment, however, when the need for colonial expansion +began to be felt. As a sop to public opinion, which had been +exasperated by the French occupation of Tunis, the Italian Government +decided in 1885 to occupy Massowah and the surrounding territories on +the Red Sea coast. But that country was not suited to Italian +colonization, and Italy was not yet ready to develop a purely trading +colony at so great a distance from the homeland. A long series of +errors were committed, relieved at times by the heroism and devotion of +the army fighting against huge odds in an inhospitable and unknown +land, culminating in the disaster of Adowa in 1896. What wrought the +greatest injury to Italian prestige was not so much the defeat in +itself as the fact that it was allowed to remain unavenged. There was a +fresh Italian army on the scene under an admirable leader, General +Baldissera, who enjoyed the full confidence of his men, and it was +clear that the Abyssinian forces could not hold together much longer. +The Premier, however, Signor Crispi, a man of unquestioned ability, but +who lived in advance of his time, before the nation was ready to follow +him in his Imperial policy, was overwhelmed by a storm of indignation, +and his successor, Marchese di Rudini, terrified by the riots promoted +by unscrupulous Socialist and Anarchist agitators as a protest against +the African campaign, concluded a disastrous peace with the enemy. + +In the meanwhile, Italian Socialism, which had found a suitable field +for action in the unsatisfactory condition of the working class, had +evolved a theory of government which, although common to some extent to +the Socialists of other countries, was nowhere carried to such lengths +as in Italy. Socialism in theory has everywhere adopted an attitude of +hostility to militarism, imperialism, and patriotism, and professes to +be internationalist and pacificist, and regards class hatred and civil +disorders as the only moral and praiseworthy forms of warfare. But in +countries where the masses have reached a certain degree of political +education such views, if carried to their logical conclusion, are sure +to be rejected by the majority, and even the Socialist leaders realize +that Nationalism is a vital force which has to be reckoned with, and +that a sane Imperialism and efficient military policy are as necessary +in the interests of the masses as in those of the classes. In Italy, on +the other hand, where even the bourgeoisie took but a lukewarm interest +in the wider questions of world policy, the Socialist leaders conducted +an avowedly anti-patriotic propaganda against every form of national +sentiment, against the very existence of Italy as a nation, and they +achieved considerable success. By representing patriotism and the army +as the causes of low wages, and war and colonial Imperialism as the +result of purely capitalist intrigues because it is only the +capitalists who profit by such adventures, they met with wide-spread +acceptance among a large part of the working classes. + +Thus a general feeling got possession of the Italian people that war +was played out, and that even if it were to occur Italy was sure to be +defeated by any other Power, that nothing must be done to provoke the +resentment of the foreigner, that the only form of expansion to be +encouraged was emigration to foreign lands, and even the export trade +which was growing so rapidly was looked upon askance by the Socialists +as a mere capitalist instrument. This attitude, which was certainly not +conducive to a healthy public spirit, was reflected in the conduct of +the Government, which felt that it would not be backed by the nation if +it gave signs of energy. The result was that Italy found her interests +blocked at every turn by other nations which were not imbued with such +"humanitarian" theories, and that she was subjected to countless +humiliations on the part of Governments who were convinced that under +no provocation would Italy show resentment. + +Gradually and imperceptibly a change came over public feeling, and the +necessity for a sane and vigorous patriotism began to be dimly +realized. One of the earliest symptoms of this new attitude was the +publication, in 1903, of Federigo Garlanda's _La terza Italia_; the +book professed to be written by a friendly American observer and critic +of Italian affairs, and the author regards the absence of militant +patriotism as the chief cause of Italy's weakness in comparison with +other nations. Mario Morasso, in his volume, _L'Imperialismo nel Secolo +XX,_ published in 1905, opened fire on the still predominant +Socialistic internationalism and sentimental humanitarianism, and +extolled the policy of conquest and expansion adopted by Great Britain, +Germany, France, and the United States as a means of strengthening the +fiber of the national character. + +In December, 1910, a congress of Italian Nationalists was held in +Florence, and at that gathering, which was attended by several hundred +persons, including numerous well-known names, many aspects of Italian +national life were examined and discussed. The various speakers +impressed on their hearers the importance of Nationalism as the basis +for all political thought and action. The weakness of the country, the +contempt which other nations felt for Italy, the unsatisfactory state +both of home and foreign politics, and the poverty of a large part of +the population, were all traced to the absence of a sane and vigorous +patriotism. The strengthening of the army and navy, the development of +a military spirit among the people, a radical change of direction in +the conduct of the nation's foreign policy, and the ending of the +present attitude of subservience to all other Powers, great or small, +were regarded as the first _desiderata_ of the country. The Turks, too, +who since the revolution of 1908 had become particularly truculent +toward the Italians, especially in Tripoli, also came in for rough +treatment, and various speakers demanded that the Government should +secure adequate protection for Italian citizens and trade in the +Ottoman Empire, and that a watch should be kept on Tripoli lest others +seized it before the moment for Italian occupation arrived. Signor +Corradini insisted that there were worse things for a nation than war, +and that the occasional necessity for resort to the "dread arbitrament" +must be boldly faced by any nation worthy of the name. + +The congress proved a success, and the ideas expressed in it which had +been "in the air" for some time were accepted by a considerable number +of people. The Nationalist Association was founded then and there and +soon gathered numerous adherents; a new weekly paper, _L'Idea +Nazionale_, commenced publication on March 1, 1911 (the anniversary of +Adowa), and rapidly became an important organ of public opinion, while +several dailies and reviews adopted Nationalist principles or viewed +them with sympathy. Italian Nationalism has no resemblance to the +parties of the same name in France, Ireland, or elsewhere; indeed, it +is not really a party at all, for it gathers in Liberals, +Conservatives, Radicals, Clericals, Socialists even, provided they +accept the patriotic idea and are anxious to see their country raised +to a higher place in the congress of nations even at the cost of some +sacrifice. + +Italy, according to Professor Sighele _(Il Nazionalismo ed i Partiti +politici_ p. 80 sq.), must be Imperialist in order to prevent the +closing up of all the openings whence the nation receives its oxygen, +and to prevent the Adriatic from becoming more and more an Austrian +lake, to prevent even the Mediterranean from being closed around us +like a camp guarded by hostile sentinels, and to provide a field of +activity for our emigrants wherein they will enjoy that protection +which they now lack, and which only a bold foreign policy, a thorough +preparation for war, and a clear Imperialist attitude on the part of +the rulers of the State can give them. + +For some time the Government continued to appear impervious to the +Nationalist spirit and professed to regard the movement as a +schoolboy's game. But it could not long remain indifferent to so +wide-spread a feeling. Italy's relations with Turkey were rapidly +approaching a crisis. The new Ottoman rĂ©gime, while it was proving no +better than the old in the matter of corruption, inefficiency, and +persecution of the subject-races, had one new feature--an outburst of +rabid chauvinism and of hatred for all foreigners, but especially for +Italians, whom the Young Turks regarded as the weakest of nations. +Never had Italian prestige fallen so low in the Levant as at this +period, and the Italian Government did nothing to retrieve the +situation. In Tripoli, above all, where Italy's reversionary interest +had been sanctioned by agreements with England and France, the position +of Italian citizens and firms was rendered well-nigh intolerable. +Turkish persecution reached such a point that two Italians, the monk, +Father Giustino, and the merchant, Gastone Terreni, were assassinated +at the instigation and with the complicity of the authorities, without +any redress being obtained. + +The Nationalists since the beginning of their propaganda had agitated +for a firmer attitude toward Turkey, insisting on the opening up of +Tripoli to Italian enterprise. Italy was being hemmed in on all sides +by France in Algeria and Tunisia, and by England in Egypt; Tripolitaine +alone remained as a possible outlet for her eventual expansion. The +Turkish Government did nothing for the development of that province, +but it was determined that no one else should do anything for it, and +thwarted the efforts of every Italian enterprise, the Banco di Roma +alone succeeding by ceaseless activity and untiring patience in +creating important undertakings in the African vilayet. + +Had events pursued their normal course Italy would probably have been +content to develop her commercial interests in Tripolitaine to the +advantage of its inhabitants as well as of her own, waiting for the +time when in due course the country should fall to her share. But the +persistent hostility of the Turkish authorities was bringing matters to +a head, and while the Italian Government apparently refused to regard +the state of affairs as serious, the Nationalists continued to demand +the assertion of Italy's interests in Tripoli. The Press gradually +adopted their point of view, the _Idea Nazionale_ published Corradini's +vivid letters from Tripoli, and even Ministerial organs like the +_Tribuna_ of Rome and the _Stampa_ of Turin, following the lead of +their correspondents who visited Tripolitaine during the past spring +and summer and wrote of its resources and possibilities with +enthusiasm, were soon converted. If any nation has a right to colonies +it is Italy with her rapidly increasing population, her small +territory, and her streams of emigrants. Still the Government, from +fear of international complications and of alienating its Socialist +supporters, who, of course, opposed all idea of territorial expansion, +refused to do anything. Then the Franco-German Morocco bombshell burst, +and Agadir made the Italian people realize that the question of Tripoli +called for immediate solution. The whole of the rest of Mediterranean +Africa was about to be partitioned among the Powers, and Tripoli would +certainly not be left untouched if Italy failed to make good her +claims; Germany, it is believed, had cast her eyes on it, and already +her commercial agents and prospectors were on the spot. The demands for +an occupation by Italy were insistent; all classes were calling on the +Government to act, and in Genoa there were even angry mutterings of +revolt. The nation realized that it was a case of now or never, and +every one felt that the folly of Tunis must not be repeated. + +At the same time the Turks, convinced that Italy would never fight, +continued in their overbearing attitude, and placed increasing +obstacles in the way of Italian enterprise in all parts of the Empire +while ostentatiously favoring other foreign undertakings. Incidents +such as the abduction of an Italian girl and her forcible conversion to +Islam and marriage to a Turk, and the attacks on Italian vessels in the +Red Sea, added fuel to the flame, and public opinion became more and +more excited. The Premier at last saw that the country was practically +unanimous on the question of Tripoli, and although personally averse to +all adventures in the field of foreign affairs which interfered with +his political action at home, he realized that unless he faced the +situation boldly his prestige was gone. On the 20th of September the +expedition to Tripoli was decided. Hastily and secretly military +preparations were made, and the Note concerning the sending of Turkish +reinforcements or arms to Tripoli was issued. Then followed the +ultimatum, and finally the declaration of war. The Socialist leaders, +who saw in this awakening of a national conscience and of a militant +Imperialist spirit a serious menace to their own predominance, were in +a state of frenzy, and they attempted to organize a general strike as a +protest against the Government. But the movement fizzled out miserably, +and only an insignificant number of workmen struck. + +On the other hand, the declaration of war was greeted by an outburst of +popular enthusiasm such as no one believed possible in the Italy of +to-day. The departure or passage of the troops on their way to Tripoli +gave occasion for scenes of the most intense patriotic excitement, and +the sight of some two hundred thousand people in the streets of Rome at +one A.M. on October 7th, cheering the march past of the 82d infantry +regiment, is one not easily forgotten. The heart of the whole nation +was in the enterprise. Even many prominent Socialists, casting the +shackles of party fealty to the winds, declared themselves in favor of +the Government's African policy and accepted the occupation of Tripoli +as a necessity for the country, while the Clericals were even more +enthusiastic. But there was hardly a trace of anti-Turkish feeling; it +was simply that the people, rejoiced at having awakened from the long +nightmare of political apathy and international servility, had thrown +off the grinding and degrading yoke of Socialist tyranny, and risen to +a dawn of higher ideals of national dignity. Italy had at last asserted +herself. The extraordinary efficiency, speed, and secrecy with which +the expedition was organized, shipped across the Mediterranean, and +landed in Africa, the discipline, _moral_, and gallantry which both +soldiers and sailors displayed, were a revelation to everybody and gave +the Italians new confidence in their military forces, and made them +feel that they could hold up their heads before all the world +unashamed. A new Italy was born--the Italy of the Italian nation. In +the words of Mameli's immortal hymn, which has been revived as the +war-song of the Nationalists, + + "Fratelli d'Italia, l'Italia s'è desta, + Dell' elmo di Scipio s'è cinta la testa." + +The actual operations of the war were too one-sided to be interesting +from the military viewpoint. Turkey had no navy which could compete for +a moment with that of Italy. Hence the Turks could dispatch no troops +whatever to Tripoli, and its defense devolved solely upon the native +Arab inhabitants. These wild tribes were brave and warlike and +fanatically Mohammedan in their opposition to the Christian invaders. +But they were wholly without training in modern modes of warfare and +without modern weapons. Their frenzied rushes and antiquated guns were +helpless in the face of quick-firing artillery. + +The Italians demonstrated their ability to handle their own forces, to +transport troops, land them and provision them with speed and skill. +That was about all the struggle established. On October 3d the city of +Tripoli, the only important Tripolitan harbor, was bombarded. Two days +later the soldiers landed and took possession of it. For a month +following, there were minor engagements with the Arabs of the +neighborhood, night attacks upon the Italians, rumors that they lost +their heads and shot down scores of unarmed and unresisting natives. +Then on November 5th Italy proclaimed that she had conquered and +annexed Tripoli. + +The only remaining difficulty was to get the Turkish Government to give +its formal assent to this new regime, which it had been unable to +resist. Here, however, the Italians encountered a difficulty. They had +promised the rest of Europe that they would not complicate the European +Turkish problem by attacking Turkey anywhere except in Africa. In +Africa they had now done their worst, and so the Turkish Government, +with true Mohammedan serenity, defied them to do more. Turkey +absolutely refused to acknowledge the Italian claim to Tripolitan +suzerainty. True, she could not fight, but neither would she utter any +words of surrender. Let the Italians do what they pleased in Tripoli. +Turkey still continued in her addresses to her own people to call +herself its lord. + +This course satisfied the ignorant Mohammedans of Constantinople, who +knew little of what was really happening; and so it enabled the Young +Turk party to retain control of the political situation at home. The +dissatisfaction of Italy, however, increased, until she withdrew her +earlier pledge to Europe and set her navy to the task of seizing one +after another the Turkish islands lying in the eastern Mediterranean, +After some months of this leisurely appropriation of helpless +territories, the Turks yielded the point at issue. In October of 1912 +they signed a treaty of peace with Italy granting her entire possession +of Tripoli. By this time the Turks had become involved in their far +more deadly struggle with the united Balkan States; and the Government +was able to offer this new strife to its subjects as its excuse for +yielding to the Italians. Turkey, though she still holds a nominal +authority over Egypt, ceased to have any real power over any part of +Africa. She retained only a European and Asiatic empire. + + + + +WOMAN SUFFRAGE + +THE MOVEMENT COMES TO THE FRONT BY ITS TRIUMPH IN CALIFORNIA A.D. 1911 + +IDA HUSTED HARPER JANE ADDAMS DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE ISRAEL ZANGWILL ELBERT +HUBBARD + +When future generations look for an exact event to mark the triumphal +turning-point in the progress of the woman-suffrage movement, they will +probably select the election which took place in the great American +State of California in October, 1911. Other States had given women +votes before, but they were smaller communities, where the movement +could still be regarded as an eccentricity, a mere whimsicality. When, +however, California in 1911 granted full suffrage to her women, almost +half a million in number, the movement became obviously important. The +vote of California might well turn the scale in a Presidential +election. Moreover, other States followed California's example. Woman +suffrage soon dominated the West, and began its progress eastward. The +shrewd Lincoln said that no government could continue to exist half +slave and half free; and the axiom is equally true of a divided +suffrage. There can be little question that woman suffrage will +ultimately be adopted throughout the Eastern States, not because of +force, but through the ever-increasing pressure of political +expediency. + +Hence we give here an account of the progress of the woman-suffrage +cause up to the California election as it appeared to the prominent +suffragist writer, Ida Husted Harper, and to the honored suffragist +leader, Jane Addams. The peculiarities of the movement in England seem +to necessitate separate treatment, so we present the view of its +antagonists as temperately expressed by Britain's celebrated Minister +of the Treasury, David Lloyd-George, and the defense of the "militants" +by the noted novelist, Israel Zangwill. Then comes a summary of the +entire theme by that widely known "friend of humanity," Elbert Hubbard. + +For permission to quote some of these authoritative utterances which +had been previously printed, we owe cordial thanks to the publishers or +authors. Mrs. Harper's summary appeared originally in the _American +Review of Reviews_, and Miss Addams's comments in _The Survey_ of June, +1912. Both Elbert Hubbard's words and those of Lloyd-George are +reprinted from _Hearst's Magazine_ of August, 1912, and August, 1913. + +IDA HUSTED HARPER + +A few years ago no changes in the governments of the world would have +seemed more improbable than a constitution for China, a republic in +Portugal, and a House of Lords in Great Britain without the power of +veto, and yet all these momentous changes have taken place in less than +two years. The underlying cause is unquestionably the strong spirit of +unrest among the people of all nations having any degree of +civilization, caused by their increasing freedom of speech and press, +their larger intercourse through modern methods of travel, and the +sending of the youth to be educated in the most progressive countries. + +It would be impossible for women not to be affected by this spirit of +unrest, especially as they have made greater advance during the last +few decades than any other class or body. There is none whose status +has been so revolutionized in every respect during the last +half-century. As with men everywhere, this discontent has manifested +itself in political upheaval, so it is inevitable that it should be +expressed by women in a demand for a voice in the government through +which laws are made and administered. + +In 1888, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the leaders +of this movement in the United States, where it began, attempted to +cooperate with other countries, they found that in only one--Great +Britain--had it taken organized shape. By 1902, however, it was +possible to form an International Committee, in Washington, D.C., with +representatives from five countries. Two years later, in Berlin, the +International Woman Suffrage Alliance was formed with accredited +delegates from organizations in nine countries. This Alliance held a +congress in Stockholm during the summer of 1911 with delegates from +national associations in twenty-four countries where the movement for +the enfranchisement of women has taken definite, organized form. + + +THE UNITED STATES + +At the November election, 1910, the men of Washington, by a vote of +three to one, enfranchised the women of that State. Eleven months +later, in October, 1911, a majority of the voters conferred the +suffrage on the 400,000 women of California. These two elections +doubtless marked the turning-point in this country. In 1890 Wyoming +came into the Union with suffrage for women in its constitution after +they had been voting in the Territory for twenty-one years. In 1893 the +voters of Colorado, by a majority of 6,347, gave full suffrage to +women. In 1895 the men of Utah, where as a Territory women had voted +seventeen years, by a vote of 28,618 ayes to 2,687 noes, gave them this +right in its constitution for Statehood. In 1896 Idaho, by a majority +of 5,844, fully enfranchised its women. + +It was believed then that woman suffrage would soon be carried in all +the Western States, but at this time there began a period of complete +domination of politics by the commercial interests of the country, +through whose influence the power of the party "machines" became +absolute. Temperance, tariff reform, control of monopolies, all moral +issues were relegated to the background and woman suffrage went with +the rest. To the vast wave of "insurgency" against these conditions is +due its victory in Washington and California. As many women are already +fully enfranchised in this country as would be made voters by the +suffrage bill now under consideration in Great Britain, so that +American women taken as a whole can not be put into a secondary +position as regards political rights. While women householders in Great +Britain and Ireland have the municipal franchise, a much larger number +in this country have a partial suffrage--a vote on questions of special +taxation, bonds, etc., in Louisiana, Iowa, Montana, Michigan, and in +the villages and many third-class cities in New York, and school +suffrage in over half of the States. + + +GREAT BRITAIN + +The situation in Great Britain is now at its most acute stage. There +the question never goes to the voters, but is decided by Parliament. +Seven times a woman-suffrage bill has passed its second reading in the +House of Commons by a large majority, only to be refused a third and +final reading by the Premier, who represents the Ministry, technically +known as the Government. In 1910 the bill received a majority of 110, +larger than was secured even for the budget, the Government's chief +measure. In 1911 the majority was 167, and again the last reading was +refused. The vote was wholly non-partizan--145 Liberals, 53 Unionists, +31 Nationalists (Irish), 26 Labor members. Ninety town and county +councils, including those of Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, +Dublin, and those of all the large cities sent petitions to Parliament +to grant the final vote. The Lord Mayor of Dublin in his robes of state +appeared before the House of Commons with the same plea, but the +Liberal Government was unmoved. + +In the passing years petitions aggregating over four million signatures +have been sent in. Just before the recent election the Conservative +National Association presented one signed by 300,000 voters. In their +processions and Hyde Park gatherings the women have made the largest +political demonstrations in history. There have been more meetings +held, more money raised, and more workers enlisted than to obtain +suffrage for the men of the entire world. + +From the beginning the various associations have asked for the +franchise on the same terms as granted to men, not all of whom can +vote. For political reasons it seemed impossible to obtain this, and +meanwhile the so-called "militant" movement was inaugurated by women +outraged at the way the measure had been put aside for nearly forty +years. The treatment of these women by the Government forms one of the +blackest pages in English history, and the situation finally became so +alarming that the Parliament was obliged to take action. A Conciliation +Committee was formed of sixty members from all parties, who prepared a +bill that would enfranchise only women householders, those who already +had possessed the municipal franchise since 1869. This does not mean +property-owners, but includes women who may pay rent for only one room. +The associations accepted it partly because it recognized the principle +that sex should not disqualify, but principally because it was +unquestionably all that they could get at present. This is the bill +which was denied a third reading for two years on the ground that it +was not democratic enough! A careful canvass has shown that in the +different parts of the United Kingdom from 80 to 90 per cent, of those +whom it would enfranchise are wage- or salary-earning women, and not one +Labor member of Parliament voted against it. + +Women in England have been eligible for School Boards since 1870; have +had the county franchise since 1888; have been eligible for parish and +district councils and for various boards and commissions since 1894, +and hundreds have served in the above offices. In 1907, as recommended +in the address of King Edward, women were made eligible as mayors and +county and city councilors, or aldermen. Three or four have been +elected mayors, and women are now sitting on the councils of London, +Manchester, and other cities. The municipal franchise was conferred on +the women of Scotland in 1882, and of Ireland in 1898. + +The Irishwomen's Franchise League demands that the proposed Home Rule +bill shall give to the women of Ireland the same political rights as it +gives to men. This demand is strongly supported by many of the +Nationalist members of Parliament and some of the cabinet, and it is +not impossible that after all these years of oppression the women of +Ireland may be fully enfranchised before those of England, Scotland, +and Wales. + +In the Isle of Man women property-owners have had the full suffrage +since 1881, and women rate- or rent-payers, since 1892. + + +ENGLISH COLONIES + +The Parliament of New Zealand gave school suffrage to women in 1877, +municipal in 1886, and Parliamentary in 1893. It was the first country +in the world to grant the complete universal franchise to women. + +The six States of Australia had municipal suffrage for women from the +early days of their self-government. South Australia gave them the +right to vote for its State Parliament, or legislature, in 1894, and +West Australia took similar action in 1899. The States federated in a +Commonwealth in 1902 and almost the first act of its national +Parliament was to give the suffrage for its members to all women and +make them eligible to membership. New South Wales immediately conferred +State suffrage on women, and was soon followed by Tasmania and +Queensland. Victoria yielded in 1909. Women of Australia have now +exactly the same franchise rights as men. + +In all the provinces of Canada for the last twenty years widows and +spinsters who are rate-payers or property-owners have had the school or +municipal suffrage, in some instances both, and in a few this right is +given to married women. There has been some effort to have this +extended to State and Federal suffrage, but with little force except in +Toronto, where in 1909 a thousand women stormed the House of +Parliament, with a petition signed by 100,000 names. + +When the South African Union was formed its constitution took away from +women tax-payers the fragmentary vote they possessed. Petitions to give +them the complete suffrage, signed by 4,000 men and women, were +ignored. Franchise Leagues are working in Cape Colony, Natal, and the +Transvaal, and their efforts are supported by General Botha, the +premier; General Smuts, Minister of the Interior; Mr. Cronwright, +husband of Olive Schreiner, and other members of Parliament, but the +great preponderance of Boer women over English will prevent this +English-controlled body from enfranchising women in the near future. + +There are cities in India where women property-owners have a vote in +municipal affairs. + + +SCANDINAVIA + +The Parliament of Norway in 1901 granted municipal suffrage to all +women who in the country districts pay taxes on an income of 300 crowns +(about $75), and in the cities on one of 400 crowns; and they were made +eligible to serve on councils and grand and petit juries. After +strenuous effort on the part of women the Parliament of 1907, by a vote +of 96 to 23, conferred the complete franchise on all who possessed the +municipal. This included about 300,000 of the half-million women. They +were made eligible for Parliament, and at the first election in 1909 +one was elected as alternate or deputy, and took her seat with a most +enthusiastic welcome from the other members. In 1910, by a vote of 71 +to 10, the taxpaying qualification for the municipal vote was removed. +In 1911, a bill to abolish it for the full suffrage was carried by a +large majority in Parliament, but lacked five votes of the necessary +two-thirds. More than twice as many women as voted in 1907 went to the +polls in 1910 at the municipal elections. Last year 178 women were +elected to city councils, nine to that of Christiania. This year 210 +were elected and 379 alternates to fill vacancies that may occur. + +Sweden gave municipal suffrage to tax-paying widows and spinsters in +1862. At that time and for many years afterward not one-tenth of the +men had a vote. Then came the rise of the Liberal party and the Social +Democracy, and by 1909 the new Franchise law had been enacted, which +immensely increased the number of men voters, extended the municipal +suffrage to wives, greatly reduced the tax qualification, and made +women eligible to all offices for which they could vote. At the last +election 37 were elected to the councils of 34 towns, 11 in the five +largest. The Woman Suffrage Association is said to be the best +organized body in the country, its branches extending beyond the arctic +circle. It has over 12,000 paid members and has held 1,550 meetings +within a year. In 1909 a bill to extend the full suffrage to women +passed the Second Chamber of the Parliament unanimously, but was +defeated by four to one in the First Chamber, representing the +aristocracy. This year the Suffrage Association made a strong campaign +for the Liberal and Social Democratic parties, and a large majority of +their candidates were elected. The Conservative cabinet was deposed and +the King has called for a new election of the First Chamber. As its +members are chosen by the Provincial Councils and those of the five +largest cities, and women have a vote for these bodies and are members +of them, they will greatly reduce the number of Conservative members of +the Upper House. On the final passage of a suffrage bill the two +chambers must vote jointly and it seems assured of a majority. + +Denmark's Parliament in 1908 gave the municipal suffrage to women on +the same terms as exercised by men--that is, to all over 25 years of +age who pay any taxes. Property owned by husband or wife or in common +entitles each to a vote. At the first election 68 per cent. of all the +enfranchised women in the country, and 70 per cent. in Copenhagen, +voted. Seven were elected to the city council of 42 members and one was +afterward appointed to fill a vacancy, and 127 were elected in other +places. Women serve on all committees and are chairmen of important +ones; two are city treasurers. There are two Suffrage Associations +whose combined membership makes the organization of that country in +proportion to population the largest of the kind in the world. They +have 314 local branches and one of the associations has held 1,100 +meetings during the past year. The Lower House of Parliament has passed +a bill to give women the complete franchise, which has not been acted +on by the Upper House, composed mainly of the aristocracy. The Prime +Minister and the Speakers of both houses are outspoken in advocacy of +enfranchising women, but political considerations are holding it back. +All say, however, that it will come in the near future. + +Iceland, a dependency of Denmark, with its own Parliament, gave +municipal suffrage in 1882 to all widows and spinsters who were +householders or maintained a family, or were self-supporting. In 1902 +it made these voters eligible to all municipal offices, and since then +a fourth of the council members of Reykjavik, the capital, have been +women. In 1909 this franchise was extended to all those who pay taxes. +A petition signed by a large majority of all the women in Iceland asked +for the complete suffrage, and during the present year the Parliament +voted to give this to all women over 25 years old. It must be acted +upon by a second Parliament, but its passage is assured, and Icelandic +women will vote on the same terms as men in 1913. + + +OTHER COUNTRIES + +First place must be given to the Grand Duchy of Finland, far more +advanced than any other part of the empire. In 1905, by permission of +the Czar, after a wonderful uprising of the people, they reorganized +their Government and combined the four antiquated chambers of their +Diet into one body. The next year, on demand of thousands of women, +expressed by petitions and public meetings, this new Parliament, almost +without a dissenting voice, conferred the full suffrage on all women. +Since that time from 16 to 25 have been elected to the different +Parliaments by all the political parties. + +In Russia women as well as men are struggling for political freedom. In +many of the villages wives cast the votes for their husbands when the +latter are away; women have some suffrage for the zemstvos, local +governing bodies; the Duma has tried to enlarge their franchise rights, +but at present these are submerged in the general chaos. + +In Poland an active League for Woman's Rights is cooperating with the +Democratic party of men. + +A very strong movement for woman suffrage is proceeding against great +difficulties in the seventeen provinces of Austria, where almost as +many languages are spoken and the bitterest racial feuds exist. Women +are not allowed to form political associations or hold public meetings, +but 4,000 have paraded the streets of Vienna demanding the suffrage. In +Bohemia since 1864 women have had a vote for members of the Diet and +are eligible to sit in it. In all the municipalities outside of Prague +and Liberic, women taxpayers and those of the learned professions may +vote by proxy. Women belong to all the political parties except the +Conservative and constitute 40 per cent, of the Agrarian party. They +are well organized to secure the full suffrage and are holding hundreds +of meetings and distributing thousands of pamphlets. In Bosnia and +Herzegovina women property-owners vote by proxy. + +In Hungary the National Woman Suffrage Association includes many +societies having other aims also, and it has branches in 87 towns and +cities, combining all classes of women from the aristocracy to the +peasants. Men are in a turmoil there to secure universal suffrage for +themselves and women are with them in the thick of the fight. + +Bulgaria has a Woman Suffrage Association composed of 37 auxiliaries +and it held 456 meetings during the past year. + +In Servia women have a fragmentary local vote and are now organizing to +claim the parliamentary franchise. + +In Germany it was not until 1908 that the law was changed which forbade +women to take part in political meetings, and since then the Woman +Suffrage Societies, which existed only in the Free Cities, have +multiplied rapidly. Most of them are concentrating on the municipal +franchise, which those of Prussia claim already belongs to them by an +ancient law. In a number of the States women landowners have a proxy +vote in communal matters, but have seldom availed themselves of it. In +Silesia this year, to the amazement of everybody, 2,000 exercised this +privilege. The powerful Social Democratic party stands solidly for +enfranchising women. + +A few years ago when the Liberal party in Holland was in power it +prepared to revise the constitution and make woman suffrage one of its +provisions. In 1907 the Conservatives carried the election and blocked +all further progress. Two active Suffrage Associations approximate a +membership of 8,000, with nearly 200 branches, and are building up +public sentiment. + +Belgium in 1910 gave women a vote for members of the Board of Trade, an +important tribunal, and made them eligible to serve on it. A Woman +Suffrage Society is making considerable progress. + +Switzerland has had a Woman Suffrage Association only a few years. +Geneva and Zurich in 1911 made women eligible to their boards of trade +with a vote for its members, and Geneva gave them a vote in all matters +connected with the State Church. + +Italy has a well-supported movement for woman suffrage, and a +discussion in Parliament showed a strong sentiment in favor. Mayor +Nathan, of Rome, is an outspoken advocate. In 1910 all women in trade +were made voters for boards of trade. + +The woman-suffrage movement in France differs from that of most other +countries in the number of prominent men in politics connected with it. +President Fallieres loses no opportunity to speak in favor and leading +members of the ministry and the Parliament approve it. Committees have +several times reported a bill, and that of M. Dussaussoy giving all +women a vote for Municipal, District, and General Councils was reported +with full parliamentary suffrage added. In 1910, 163 members asked to +have the bill taken up. Finally it was decided to have a committee +investigate the practical working of woman suffrage in the countries +where it existed. Its extensive and very favorable report has just been +published, and the Woman Suffrage Association states that it expects +early action by Parliament. More than one-third of the wage-earners of +France are women, and these may vote for tribunes and chambers of +commerce and boards of trade. They may be members of the last named and +serve as judges. + +The constitution of the new Republic of Portugal gave "universal" +suffrage, and Dr. Beatrice Angelo applied for registration, which was +refused. She carried her case to the courts, her demand was sustained, +and she cast her vote. It was too late for other women to register, but +an organization of 1,000 women was at once formed to secure definite +action of Parliament, with the approval of President Braga and several +members of his cabinet. + +The Spanish Chamber has proposed to give women heads of families in the +villages a vote for mayor and council. + +A bill to give suffrage to women was recently introduced in the +Parliament of Persia, but was ruled out of order by the president +because the Koran says women have no souls. + +Siam has lately adopted a constitution which gives women a municipal +vote. + +The leaders of the revolution in China have promised suffrage for women +if it is successful. + +Several women voted in place of their husbands at the recent election +in Mexico. Belize, the capital of British Honduras, has just given the +right to women to vote for town council. + +Throughout the entire world is an unmistakable tendency to accord woman +a voice in the government, and, strange to say, this is stronger in +monarchies than in republics. In Europe the republics of France and +Switzerland give almost no suffrage to women. Norway and Finland, where +they have the complete franchise; Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Great +Britain, where they have all but the parliamentary, and that close at +hand, are monarchies. New Zealand and Australia, where women are fully +enfranchised, are dependencies of a monarchical government. + + +JANE ADDAMS + +The comfortable citizen possessing a vote won for him in a previous +generation, who is so often profoundly disturbed by the cry of "Votes +for Women," seldom connects the present attempt to extend the franchise +with those former efforts, as the results of which he himself became a +member of the enfranchised class. Still less does the average voter +reflect that in order to make self-government a great instrument in the +hands of those who crave social justice, it must ever be built up anew +in relation to changing experiences, and that unless this readjustment +constantly takes place self-government itself is placed in jeopardy. + +Yet the adherents of representative government, with its foundations +laid in diversified human experiences, must concede that the value of +such government bears a definite relation to the area of its base and +that the history of its development is merely a record of new human +interests which have become the subjects of governmental action, and +the incorporation into the government itself of those classes who +represented the new interests. + +As the governing classes have been increased by the enfranchisement of +one body of men after another, the art of government has been enriched +in human interests, and at the same time as government has become thus +humanized by new interests it has inevitably become further +democratized through the accession of new classes. The two propositions +are complementary. For centuries the middle classes in every country in +Europe struggled to wrest governmental power from the nobles because +they insisted that government must consider the problems of a rising +commerce; on the other hand, the merchants claimed direct +representation because government had already begun to concern itself +with commercial affairs. When the working men of the nineteenth +century, the Chartists in England and the "men of '48" in Germany +vigorously demanded the franchise, national parliaments had already +begun to regulate the condition of mines and the labor of little +children. The working men insisted that they themselves could best +represent their own interests, but at the same time their very entrance +into government increased the volume and pressure of those interests. + +Much of the new demand for political enfranchisement arises from a +desire to remedy the unsatisfactory and degrading social conditions +which are responsible for so much wrongdoing and wretchedness. The fate +of all the unfortunate, the suffering, the criminal, is daily forced +upon public attention in painful and intimate ways. But because of the +tendency to nationalize all industrial and commercial questions, to +make the state responsible for the care of the helpless, to safeguard +by law the food we eat and the liquid we drink, to subordinate the +claim of the individual family to the health and well-being of the +community, contemporary women who are without the franchise are much +more outside the real life of the world than any set of disenfranchised +men could possibly have been in all history, unless it were the men +slaves of ancient Greece, because never before has so large an area of +life found civic expression, never has Hegel's definition of the state +been so accurate, that it is the "realization of the moral ideal." +Certain it is that the phenomenal entrance of women into governmental +responsibility in the dawn of the twentieth century is coincident with +the consideration by governmental bodies of the basic human interests +with which women have been traditionally concerned. A most advanced +German statesman recently declared in the Reichstag that it was a +reproach to the Imperial Government itself that out of two million +children born annually in Germany, 400,000 died during the first twelve +months of their existence. He proceeded to catalog various reforms +which might remedy this, such as better housing, the increase of park +areas, the erection of municipal hospitals, the provision for an +adequate milk supply, and many another, but he did not make the very +obvious suggestion that women might be of service in a situation +involving the care of children less than a year old. + +Nevertheless, in spite of this lack of perception, women all over the +world are claiming and receiving a place in representative government +because they insist that they will not cease to perform their +traditional duties, simply because these duties have been taken over by +existing governments. + +The contemporaneous "Votes for Women" movement is often amorphous and +sporadic, but always spontaneous. It not only appears simultaneously in +various countries, but manifests itself in widely separated groups in +the same country; in every city it embraces the "smart set" and the +hard-driven working women; sometimes it is sectarian and dogmatic, at +others philosophic and grandiloquent, but it is always vital and +constantly becoming more widespread. + +In certain aspects it differs from former efforts to extend the +franchise. We recall that the final entrance of the middle class into +government was characterized by two dramatic revolutions, one in +America and one in France, neither of them without bloodshed, and that +although the final efforts of the working men were more peaceful, even +in restrained England the Chartists burned hayricks and destroyed town +property. This world-wide entrance into government on the part of women +is happily a bloodless one. Although some glass has been broken in +England it is noteworthy that the movement as a whole has been without +even a semblance of violence. The creed of the movement, however, is +similar to that promulgated by the doctrinaires of the eighteenth +century: that if increasing the size of the governing body +automatically increases the variety and significance of government, +then only when all the people become the governing class can the +collective resources and organizations of the community be consistently +utilized for the common weal. + + +DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE + +I have long been a convinced advocate of woman suffrage and am now +firmer than ever in supporting it. It seems to me a necessary and +desirable consequence of the vast extension of the functions of +Government which the past century and a half has witnessed. The state, +nowadays, enters the homes of the people and insists on having a voice +in questions that individual men and women, acting together, taking +counsel together, used to settle for themselves in their own way. +Education and the training and feeding of children, the housing and +sanitation problems, provision against old age and sickness, the +prevention of disease--all these are questions that formerly were dealt +with, of course, in a very isolated and inadequate way, by cooperation +and discussion between the heads of each household. What reason is +there why the same cooperation should not continue now that these +matters have been raised to the sphere of legislative enactments and +official administration? + +Laws to-day affect the interests of women just as deeply as they do the +interests of men. Some laws--many laws--affect them more gravely and +intimately; and I do not believe you can trust the welfare of a class +or a sex entirely to another class or sex. It is not that their +interests are not identical, but that their point of view is different. +Take the housing problem. A working man leaves home in the morning +within half an hour after he wakes. He is not there all day. He turns +up in the evening and does not always remain there. If the house is a +poor, uncomfortable, dismal one, he very often seeks consolation in the +glare and warmth of the nearest public-house, but he takes very good +care that the wife shall not do as he does. She has got to stay at home +all day, however wretched her surroundings. Who can say that her +experience, her point of view, is not much better worth consulting than +her husband's on the housing problem? Up to the present the only and +the whole share of women in the housing question has been suffering. +Slums are often the punishment of the man. They are almost always the +martyrdom of the woman. Give women the vote, give them an effective +part in the framing and administration of the laws which touch not +merely their own lives but the lives of their children, and they will +soon, I believe, cleanse the land of these foul dens. + +All sorts of women's interests were affected by the National Insurance +Act, and all sorts of questions sprang up in connection with it on +which women alone could speak with real authority. But, being voteless, +there was no way in which their views could be authoritatively set +forth. Four million women workers and seven million married women have +come under the operation of the Act, yet not one of them was given the +opportunity of making their opinions known and felt through a +representative in the House of Commons. It was the experience of every +friendly society official I consulted that had it not been for the +women and their splendid self-sacrifice, the subscriptions of the men +would have lapsed long ago. Yet these women who had thus kept the +societies going were not considered worth consulting as to their status +under the Act. The House of Commons itself insisted on there being at +least one woman Commissioner. But if a woman is fit to be a +Commissioner--a very heavy and difficult position involving enormous +responsibilities and demanding great skill and judgment and +experience--how can she be said to be unfit to have a vote? + +What is the meaning of democracy? It is that the citizens who are +expected to obey the law are those who make the law. But that is not +true of Great Britain. At least half the adult citizens whose lives are +deeply affected by every law that is carried on the statute-books have +absolutely no voice in making that law. They have no more influence in +the matter than the horses that drag their lords and masters to the +polling-booth. + +The drunken loafer who has not earned a living for years is consulted +by the Constitution on questions like the training and upbringing of +children, the national settlement of religion in Wales and elsewhere, +and as to the best method of dealing with the licensing problem. But +the wife whose industry keeps him and his household from beggary, who +pays the rent and taxes which constitute him a voter, who is therefore +really responsible for his qualification to vote, is not taken into +account in the slightest degree. I came in contact not long ago with a +great girls' school in the south of England. It was founded by women, +and it is administered by women. It is one of the most marvelous +organizations in the whole country, and yet, when we had, in the year +1906, to give a national verdict on the question of education, the man +who split the firewood in that school was asked for his opinion about +it, while those ladies were deemed to be absolutely unfit to pass any +judgment on it at all. That is a preposterous and barbarous +anachronism, and so long as it lasts our democracy is one-sided and +incomplete. But it will not last long. No franchise bill can ever again +be brought forward in this country without raising the whole problem of +whether you are going to exclude more than half the citizens of the +land. Women have entered pretty nearly every sphere of commerce and +industry and professional activity and public employment; and there +never was a time when the nation stood more in need of the special +experience, instincts, and sympathy of womanhood in the management of +its affairs. When women get the vote the horizon of the home will be +both brightened and expanded, and their influence on moral and social +and educational questions, especially on the temperance question, and +possibly on the peace of nations, will be constant and humanizing. + +Those are a few of the reasons why I favor woman suffrage. But because +I favor it I do not therefore hold myself bound to either speak or vote +for any and every suffrage bill that may be introduced into Parliament. +I voted against the so-called Conciliation Bill which proposed to give +the vote to every woman of property if she chose to take the trouble to +get it, and at the same time enfranchise only about one-tenth or +one-fifteenth of the working women of the country. That was simply a +roundabout way of doubling the plural voters and no democrat could +possibly support it, so long as there remained a single alternative. +The solution that most appeals to me is the one embodied in the +Dickinson Bill, that is to say, a measure conferring the vote on women +householders and on the wives of married electors; and I believe that +it is in that form that woman suffrage will eventually come in this +country. How soon it will come depends very largely on how soon the +militants come to their senses. + +I say, unhesitatingly, that the main obstacle to women getting the vote +is militancy and nothing else. Its practitioners really seem to think +that they can terrorize and pinprick Parliament into giving it to them; +and until they learn something of the people they are dealing with, +their whole agitation, so far as the House of Commons is concerned, is +simply and utterly damned. It is perfectly astonishing to recall with +what diabolical ingenuity they have contrived to infuriate all their +opponents, to alienate all their sympathizers, and to stir up against +themselves every prejudice in the average man's breast. A few years ago +they found three-fourths of the Liberal M.P.'s on their side. They at +once proceeded to cudgel their brains as to how they could possibly +drive them into the enemy's camp. They rightly decided that this could +not be done more effectually than by insulting and assaulting the Prime +Minister, the chief of the Party, and a leader for whom all his +colleagues and followers feel an unbounded admiration, regard, and +affection. When they had thus successfully estranged the majority of +Liberals they began to study the political situation a little more +closely. They saw that the Irish Nationalists were very powerful +factors in the Ministerial Coalition. The next problem, therefore, was +how to destroy the last chance that the Irish Nationalists would +support their cause. They achieved this triumphantly first by making +trouble in Belfast where the only Nationalist member is or was a strong +Suffragist, and secondly by going to Dublin when all Nationalist +Ireland had assembled to welcome Mr. Asquith, throwing a hatchet at Mr. +Redmond, and trying to burn down a theater. That finished Ireland, but +still they were dissatisfied. There was a dangerous movement of +sympathy with their agitation in Wales, and they felt that at any cost +it had to be checked. They not only checked, but demolished, it with +the greatest ease by breaking in upon the proceedings at an Eisteddfod. +Now the Eisteddfod is not only the great national festival of Welsh +poetry and music and eloquence, it is also an oasis of peace amid the +sharp contentions of Welsh life. To bring into it any note of politics +or sectarianism or public controversy, even when these things are +rousing the most passionate emotions outside, seems to a Welshman like +the desecration of an altar. That is just what the militants did, and +Welsh interest in their cause fell dead on the spot. But even then they +were not happy. They were still encumbered by the good-will of perhaps +a hundred Tory M.P.'s. But they proved entirely equal to the task of +antagonizing them. They began smashing windows, burning country +mansions, firing race-stands, damaging golf-greens, striking as hard as +they could at the Tory idol of Property. There is really nothing more +left for them to do; they have alienated every friend they ever had; +their work is complete beyond their wildest hopes. + +Well, one can not dignify such tactics and antics by the title of +"political propaganda." The proper name for them is sheer organized +lunacy. The militants have erected militancy into a principle. I am +beginning to think that a good many of them are more concerned with the +success of their method than with the success of their cause. They +would rather not have the vote than fail to win it by the particular +brand of agitation they have pinned their faith to. They don't really +want the vote to be given them; they want to get it and to get it by +force; and they are quite unable to see that the more force they use +the stronger becomes the resolve both of Parliament and of the country +to send them away empty-handed. If they had accepted Mr. Asquith's +pledge of two years ago and thanked him for it and helped him redeem +it, woman suffrage by now would be an accomplished fact. But they +preferred their own ways, and what is the result? The result is that +working for their cause in the House of Commons to-day is like swimming +not merely against a tide but against a cataract. The real reason why +the attempts to carry woman suffrage through the House of Commons +during the past two years have failed is not merely the difficulty of +trying to combine a non-party measure with the party system; it is, +above all, the impossibility of using Parliament to pass a bill that +the opinion of the country has been fomented to condemn. The fact that +in both the principal parties there is a clean division of opinion on +this issue and that no Government, or none that is at present +conceivable, can bring forward a measure for the enfranchisement of +women as a Government, is a great, but not necessarily an insuperable +obstacle. The one barrier, there is no surmounting and no getting +round, is the decided and increasing hostility of public sentiment; and +for that the militants have only themselves to thank. + +Personally I always try to remember, first, that militancy is the work +of only a very small fraction of the women who want the vote and ought +to have it, and, secondly, that there have been crazy men just as there +are crazy women. Militancy has not affected my own individual attitude +toward the main question and never will. But I recognize that it has +killed the immediate Parliamentary prospects of any and every Suffrage +Bill, and that so long as militancy continues the House of Commons will +do nothing. Only a new movement altogether can now bring women to the +goal of political emancipation; and it will have to be a sane, +hard-headed, practical movement, as full of liveliness as you please, +but absolutely divorced from stones and bombs and torches. When it +arises the friends of the Women's cause will begin to take heart again. + + +ISRAEL ZANGWILL + +THE AWKWARD AGE OF THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT + + "And what did she get by it?" said my Uncle Toby. + "What does any woman get by it?" said my father. + "_Martyrdom_" replied the young Benedictine. + + TRISTRAM SHANDY. + +The present situation of woman suffrage in England recalls the old +puzzle: What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable +body? The irresistible force is the religious passion of myriads of +women, the fury of self-sacrifice, the righteous zeal that shrinks not +even from crime; the immovable body may be summed up as Mr. Asquith. +Almost as gross an incarnation of Tory prejudice as Squire Western, who +laid it down that women should come in with the first dish and go out +with the first glass, Mr. Asquith is all that stands between the sex +and the suffrage. + +The answer to the old puzzle, I suppose, would be that though the +immovable body does not move, yet the impact of the irresistible force +generates heat, which, as we know from Tyndall, is a mode of motion. At +any rate, heat is the only mode in which the progress of woman suffrage +can be registered to-day. The movement has come to what Mr. Henry James +might call "the awkward age": an age which has passed beyond argument +without arriving at achievement; an age for which words are too small +and blows too big. And because impatience has been the salvation of the +movement, and because the suffragette will not believe that the fiery +charger which has carried her so far can not really climb the last +ridge of the mountain, but must be replaced by a mule--that miserable +compromise between a steed and an anti-suffragist--the awkward age is +also the dangerous age. + +When the Cabinet of Clement's Inn, perceiving that if a woman suffrage +Bill did not pass this session, the last chance--under the Parliament +Act--was gone for this Parliament, resolved to rouse public opinion by +breaking tradesmen's windows, it overlooked that the English are a +nation of shopkeepers, and that the public opinion thus roused would be +for the first time almost unreservedly on the side of the Government. +And when the Cabinet of Downing Street, moved to responsive +recklessness, raided the quarters of the Women's Social and Political +Union and indicted the leaders for criminal conspiracy, it equally +overlooked an essential factor of the situation. The Cabinet of the +conspiracy was at least as much a restraint to suffragettes as an +incentive. It held in order the more violent members, the souls +naturally daring or maddened by forcible feeding. By its imposition of +minor forms of lawlessness, it checked the suggestion of major forms. +Crime was controlled by a curriculum and temper studied by a +time-table. The interruptions at meetings were distributed among the +supposed neuropaths like parts at a play, and we to the maenad who +missed her cue. With the police, too, the suffragettes lived for the +most part on terms of cordial cooperation, each side recognizing that +the other must do its duty. When the suffragettes planned a raid upon +Downing Street or the House of Commons, they gave notice of time and +place, and were provided with a sufficient force of police to prevent +it. Were the day inconvenient for the police, owing to the pressure of +social engagements, another day was fixed, politics permitting. The +_entente cordiale_ extended even in some instances to the jailers and +the bench, and, as in those early days of the Quaker persecution of +which Milton's friend, Ellwood, has left record, prisoners sometimes +left their cells for a night to attend to imperative affairs, or +good-naturedly shortened or canceled their sentences at the pressing +solicitation of perturbed magistrates. Prison was purified by all these +gentle presences, and women criminals profited by the removal of the +abuses they challenged. Holloway became a home from home, in which +beaming wardresses welcomed old offenders, and to which husbands +conducted erring wives in taxicabs, much as Ellwood and his brethren +marched of themselves from Newgate to Bridewell, explaining to the +astonished citizens of London that their word was their keeper. A +suffragette's word stood higher than consols, and the war-game was +played cards on table. True, there were brutal interludes when Home +Secretaries lost their heads, or hysterical magistrates their sense of +justice, or when the chivalrous constabulary of Westminster was +replaced by Whitechapel police, dense to the courtesies of the +situation; but even these tragedies were transfused by its humors, by +the subtle duel of woman's wit and man's lumbering legalism. The +hunger-strike itself, with all its grim horrors and heroisms, was like +the plot of a Gilbertian opera. It placed the Government on the horns +of an Irish bull. Either the law must kill or torture prisoners +condemned for mild offenses, or it must permit them to dictate their +own terms of durance. The criminal code, whose dignity generations of +male rebels could not impair, the whole array of warders, lawyers, +judges, juries, and policemen, which all the scorn of a Tolstoy could +not shrivel, shrank into a laughing-stock. And the comedy of the +situation was complicated and enhanced by the fact that the Home +Office, so far from being an Inquisition, was more or less tenanted by +sympathizers with Female Suffrage, and that a Home Secretary who +secretly admired the quixotry of the hunger-strikers was forced to feed +them forcibly. He must either be denounced by the suffragettes as a +Torquemada or by the public as an incapable. Bayard himself could not +have coped with the position. There was no place like the Home Office, +and its administrators, like the Governors of the Gold Coast, had to be +relieved at frequent intervals. As for the police, their one aim in +life became to avoid arresting suffragettes. + +Such was the situation which the Governmental _coup_ transformed to +tragedy unrelieved, giving us in the place of ordered lawlessness and +responsible leadership a guerrilla warfare against society by +irresponsive individuals, more or less unbalanced. That the heroic +incendiary Mrs. Leigh, who deserved penal servitude and a statue, had +been driven wild by forcible feeding was a fact that had given +considerable uneasiness to headquarters, but she had been kept in +comparative discipline. Now that discipline has been destroyed, it is +possible that other free-lances will catch the contagion of crime; nay, +there are signs that the leaders themselves are being infected through +the difficulty of disavowing their martyrs. The wisest course for the +Government would be to pardon Miss Pankhurst, of Paris, and officially +invite her to resume control of her followers before they have quite +controlled her. + +But even without such a crowning confession of the failure of its +_coup_, the humiliation of the Government has been sufficiently +complete. Forced to put Mrs. Pankhurst and the Pethick Lawrences into +the luxurious category of political prisoners, next to release them +altogether, and finally to liberate their humblest followers, their +hunger-strike on behalf of whose equal treatment set a new standard of +military chivalry, the Government succeeded only in investing the +vanished Christabel with a new glamour. The Women's Social and +Political Union has again baffled the Government, and come triumphantly +even through the window-breaking episode. For if that episode was +followed by the rejection of the second reading of the woman suffrage +Bill, second readings, like the oaths of the profane, had come to be +absolutely without significance, and the blocking of the Bill beyond +this stage has been assured long before by the tactics of Mr. Redmond, +whose passion for justice, like Mr. Asquith's passion for popular +government, is so curiously monosexual. The only discount from the +Union's winnings is that it gave mendacious M.P.'s, anxious to back out +of woman suffrage, a soft bed to lie on. + +One should perhaps also add to the debit side of the account a +considerable loss of popularity on the part of the suffragettes, a loss +which would become complete were window-breaking to pass into graver +crimes, and which would entirely paralyze the effect of their tactics. + +For the tactics of the prison and the hunger-strike depend for their +value upon the innocency of the prisoners. Their offense must be merely +nominal or technical. The suffragettes had rediscovered the Quaker +truth that the spirit is stronger than all the forces of Government, +and that things may really come by fasting and prayer. Even the +window-breaking, though a perilous approach to the methods of the Pagan +male, was only a damage to insensitive material for which the +window-breakers were prepared to pay in conscious suffering. But once +the injury was done to flesh and blood, the injurer would only be +paying tooth for tooth and eye for eye; and all the sympathy would go, +not to the assailant, but to the victim. Mrs. Pankhurst says the +Government must either give votes to women or "prepare to send large +numbers of women to penal servitude." That would be indeed awkward for +the Government if penal servitude were easily procurable. +Unfortunately, the women must first qualify for it, and their crimes +would disembarrass the Government. Mrs. Leigh could have been safely +left to starve had her attempted arson of that theater really come off, +especially with loss of life. Thus violence may be "militant," but it +is not "tactics." And violence against society at large is peculiarly +tactless. George Fox would hardly occupy so exalted a niche in history +if he had used his hammer to make not shoes but corpses. + +The suffragettes who run amuck have, in fact, become the victims of +their own vocabulary. Their Union was "militant," but a church +militant, not an army militant. The Salvation Army might as well +suddenly take to shooting the heathen. It was only by mob +misunderstanding that the suffragettes were conceived as viragoes, just +as it was only by mob misunderstanding that the members of the Society +of Friends were conceived as desperadoes. If it can not be said that +their proceedings were as quintessentially peaceful as some of those +absolutely mute Quaker meetings which the police of Charles II. +humorously enough broke up as "riots," yet they had a thousand +propaganda meetings (ignored by the Press) to one militant action +(recorded and magnified). Even in battle nothing could be more decorous +or constitutional than the overwhelming majority of their "pin-pricks." + +I remember a beautiful young lady, faultlessly dressed, who in soft, +musical accents interrupted Mr. Birrell at the Mansion House. Stewards +hurled themselves at her, policemen hastened from every point of the +compass; but unruffled as at the dinner-table, without turning a hair +of her exquisite _chĂ©velure_, she continued gently explaining the +wishes of womankind till she disappeared in a whirlwind of hysteric +masculinity. But in gradually succumbing to the vulgar +misunderstanding, playing up to the caricature, and finally +assimilating to the crude and obsolescent methods of men, the +suffragettes have been throwing away their own peculiar glory, their +characteristic contribution to history and politics. Rosalind in search +of a vote has supplied humanity with a new type who snatched from her +testifyings a grace beyond the reach of Arden. But Rosalind with a +revolver would be merely a reactionary. Hawthorne's Zenobia, who, for +all her emancipation, drowned herself in a fit of amorous jealousy, was +no greater backslider from the true path of woman's advancement. It is +some relief to find that Mrs. Pankhurst's latest program disavows +attacks on human life, limiting itself to destruction of property, and +that the Pethick Lawrences have grown still saner. + +There might, indeed, be--for force is not always brute--some excuse +and even admiration for the Terrorist, did the triumph of her cause +appear indefinitely remote, were even that triumph to be brought +perceptibly nearer by forcibly feeding us with horrors. But the +contrary is the case: even the epidemic of crime foreshadowed by Mrs. +Pankhurst could not appreciably delay woman suffrage. It is coming as +fast as human nature and the nature of the Parliamentary machine will +allow. To try to terrorize Mr. Asquith into bringing in a Government +measure is to credit him with a wisdom and a nobility almost divine. No +man is great enough to put himself in the right by admitting he was +wrong. And even if he were great enough to admit it under argument, he +would have to be godlike to admit it under menace. Rather than admit +it, Mr. Asquith has let himself be driven into a position more +ludicrous than perhaps any Prime Minister has occupied. For though he +declares woman suffrage to be "a political disaster of the gravest +kind," he is ready to push it through if the House of Commons wishes, +relying for its rejection upon the House of Lords, which he has +denounced and eviscerated. He is even not unwilling it shall pass if +only the disaster to the country is maximized by Adult Suffrage. It is +not that he loves woman more, but the Tory party less. + +All things considered, I am afraid the Suffrage Movement will have to +make up its mind to wait for another Parliament. There is more hope for +the premature collapse of this Parliament than for its passing of a +Suffrage Bill or clause. And at the general election, whenever it +comes, Votes for Women will be put on the program of both parties. The +Conservatives will offer a mild dose, the Liberals a democratic. +Whichever fails at the polls, the principle of woman suffrage will be +safe. + +This prognostic, it will be seen, involves the removal of the immovable +Asquith. But he must either consent to follow a plebiscite of his party +or retire, like his doorkeeper, from Downing Street, under the +intolerable burden of the suffragette. Much as his party honors and +admires him, it can not continue to repudiate the essential principles +of Liberalism, nor find refuge in his sophism that Liberalism removes +artificial barriers, but can not remove natural barriers. What natural +barrier prevents a woman from accepting or rejecting a man who proposes +to represent her in Parliament? No; after his historic innings Mr. +Asquith will sacrifice himself and retire, covered with laurels and +contradictions. Pending which event, the suffragettes, while doing +their best to precipitate it through the downfall of the Government, +may very reasonably continue their policy of pin-pricks to keep +politicians from going to sleep, but serious violence would be worse +than a crime; it would be a blunder. No general dares throw away his +men when nothing is to be gained, and our analysis shows that the +interval between women and the vote can only be shortened by bringing +on a general election. + +There are, indeed, skeptics who fear that even at the next general +election both parties may find a way of circumventing woman suffrage by +secretly agreeing to keep it off both programs; but the country itself +is too sick of the question to endure this, even if the Women's Liberal +Federation and the corresponding Conservative body permitted it. That +the parties would go so far as to pair off their women workers against +each other is unlikely. At any rate, now, when other forms of agitation +are more or less futile, is the moment for these and cognate bodies to +take up the running. + +But even if these women workers fail in backbone, and allow themselves, +as so often before, to be lulled and gulled by their male politicians, +there yet remains an ardent body to push forward their cause. Mrs. +Humphry Ward and the Anti-Suffragists may be trusted to continue +tireless and ever-inventive. Mrs. Ward's League to promote the return +of women as town and county councilors is her latest device to prove +the unfitness of women for public affairs, and since the Vegetarian +League for combating the carnivorous instincts of the tigress by +feeding her on blood, there has been no quite so happy adaptation of +means to end. If anything could add to the educative efficiency of the +new League, it is Mrs. Ward's scrupulousness in limiting it exclusively +to Anti-Suffragists. + + +ELBERT HUBBARD + +There was a time in England when all the laws were made and executed by +the King. + +Later he appointed certain favorites who acted for him, and these were +paid honors and emoluments accordingly. + +Still later, all soldiers were allowed to express their political +preferences. And that is where we got the idea about not allowing folks +to vote who could not fight. + +It was once the law in England that no Catholic should be allowed to +vote. + +It was also once the law in England that no Jew could hold real estate, +could vote at elections, could hold a public office, or serve on a +jury. + +Full rights of citizenship were not given to the Jews in Great Britain +until the year 1858. Deists, Theists, Quakers, and "Dissenters" were +not allowed to testify in courts, and their right to vote was +challenged in England up to 1885. + +For centuries, Jews occupied the position of minors, mental defectives, +or men with criminal records. + +Women now in England occupy the same position politically that the Jews +did a hundred years ago. + +Until very recent times all lawmakers disputed the fact that women have +rights. Women have privileges and duties--mostly duties. + +All the laws are made by men, and for the most part the rights only of +male citizens are considered. If the rights of women or children are +taken into consideration, it is only from a secondary point of view, or +because the attention of lawmakers is especially called to the natural +rights of women, children, and dumb animals. + +Provisions, however, have always been made in England as well as all +other civilized countries for punishing Catholics, Jews, Quakers, and +women. + +In old New England there was once a pleasing invention called a +"ducking stool," that was for "women only." For the most part, the +punishment for these individuals who were not citizens was very much +more severe than it was for the people who made and devised the +punishment for them. + +Women are admitted into the full rights of citizenship in New Zealand +and Australia, and in several States in the United States. + +There will surely come a time when we will look back and regard the +withholding of full political rights from women in the same way that we +now look back and regard the disfranchisement of Jews and Catholics. + +There is no argument that can possibly be presented against the right +of women to express their political preferences which does not in equal +degree apply to the right of male citizens to express theirs. + +Every possible logical argument has been put forward and answered. + +The protest in England by certain women who are working for equal +suffrage has taken what is called a militant form. + +These women, in many instances, have been guilty of violence. + +The particular women who have been foremost in this matter of violence +are not criminals in any sense of the word. They are not plotting and +planning the overthrow of the government. They are not guilty of +treason; and certainly they are not guilty of disorder along any other +line than that springing out of their disapproval of the failure of the +government to grant the right of political representation to women. + +"Taxation without representation" was the shibboleth of the men who +founded the government of the United States of America. + +This shibboleth, or slogan, came to them from across the sea and was +first uttered in England before the days of Magna Charta. + +That every adult individual, man or woman, possessed of normal +mentality, should be thoroughly interested in the government, and +should have the right of expressing his or her political preferences, +is beyond dispute, especially under any government that affects to +derive its powers from the governed. + +The right to govern is conferred by the governed, and this is now +admitted even in the so-called monarchies. And the governed are not +exclusively males; the governed are men and women, for women are +responsible before the law. + +So thoroughly are these facts fixed in the minds of a great many men +and women everywhere that a few men are possessed by the righteousness +of the cause to a degree that they are willing not only to live for it +and fight for it, suffer for it, but also to die for it. + +Some of these women in London, who have been throwing stones into +windows, thus destroying property, have signified as great a +willingness to injure themselves as they have to injure the property of +their fellow citizens, provided by so doing they can bring to the +attention of the men in charge of the government the absolute necessity +of recognizing the political rights of women. + +If certain people in the past had not been willing to stake their all +on individual rights, there would to-day be no liberty for any one. + +The saviors of the world are simply those who have been willing to die +that humanity might live. + +It may be hard for an individual of average purpose to understand or +comprehend this mental attitude where the individual is fired with such +zeal that he is willing to suffer physical destruction for it. + +In England, the test has come to an issue of whether these women, +intent on bringing about governmental recognition of the rights of +women, should be allowed to die for the cause or not. And from all +latest reports, John Bull does seem troubled about it. + + + + +MILITARISM + +ITS CLIMAX IN THE THREAT OF UNIVERSAL WAR OVER MOROCCO A.D. 1911 + +NORMAN ANGELL + +SIR MAX WAECHTER, D.L. + +Ever since Germany by the completeness of her military preparation won +so decisive a victory over France in 1870, Europe has plunged deeper +and deeper into Militarism. That is to say, each European state that +could possibly afford it has increased its army and its navy, until +to-day their military force is many times more powerful than it was +half a century ago. The theory on which this is done is that you can +secure peace only by showing you are ready to fight; that if one nation +is sure that it can thrash another, it will probably plan an +opportunity to do so. Such is the theory; but what is the tragic +result? Military expenditures have increased at a stupendous rate and +all Europe groans under a burden of almost unendurable taxation. +Moreover, the possession of such splendid machinery of warfare is a +constant temptation to employ it and so vindicate its staggering +expense. This was startlingly shown in the case of the Morocco +imbroglio. + +During the early part of 1911 the French government made clear its +intent to take complete possession of the semi-independent African +state of Morocco. On July 1st, Germany sent a warship to the Moroccan +port of Agadir, as a sign that she also had interests in the country, +which France must not override. Instantly Europe buzzed like an angry +bee-hive. England and France had previously made a secret treaty +agreeing that France should be allowed to take Morocco in exchange for +keeping hands off Egypt, where England was establishing herself. Hence +England now felt compelled to uphold her ally. When Germany seemed +inclined to bully the Frenchmen, England insisted that she also must be +consulted. Germany growled that this was none of England's business. +Everybody began getting out their guns and parading their armies. +Germany sought the support of Austria and Italy, her partners in the +"Triple Alliance." France and England emphasized the fact that Russia +stood with them in an antagonistic "Triple Entente." On November 4th, +France and Germany came to a peaceful agreement, France taking Morocco +and "compensating" Germany by yielding to her some territory in Eastern +Equatorial Africa. + +Thus the whole excitement passed off in rumblings; there was no war. +But it was revealed a few months later that the nations had really +approached to the very brink of a Titanic struggle, which would have +desolated the whole of Europe. + +And here is the peculiar tragedy of Militarism. The mere threat of that +great "Unfought War" cost Europe billions of dollars. Moreover, as a +result of Germany's discontent at what she rather regarded as her +defeat in this Morocco affair, she in 1913 enormously increased her +army and more than doubled her already heavy military tax upon her +people. Then France and Russia felt compelled to meet Germany's move by +increasing their armies also, extending, as she had done, the time of +compulsory military service inflicted upon their poorer classes. + +Norman Angell, an English writer, has recently stirred all thinking +people by a remarkable book of protest against Militarism. He here +discusses the Moroccan imbroglio under the title of "the Mirage of the +Map." Sir Max Waechter is an authority of international repute upon the +same subject. + + +NORMAN ANGELL + +The Press of Europe and America is very busy discussing the lessons of +the diplomatic conflict which has just ended. And the outstanding +impression which one gets from most of these essays in high +politics--whether French, Italian, or British--is that we have been and +are witnessing part of a great world movement, the setting in motion of +Titanic forces "deep-set in primordial needs and impulses." + +For months those in the secrets of the Chancelleries have spoken with +bated breath--as though in the presence of some vision of Armageddon. +On the strength of this mere talk of war by the three nations, vast +commercial interests have been embarrassed, fortunes have been lost and +won on the Bourses, banks have suspended payment, some thousands have +been ruined; while the fact that the fourth and fifth nations have +actually gone to war has raised all sorts of further possibilities of +conflict, not alone in Europe, but in Asia, with remoter danger of +religious fanaticism and all its sequelae. International bitterness and +suspicion in general have been intensified, and the one certain result +of the whole thing is that immense burdens will be added in the shape +of further taxation for armaments to the already heavy ones carried by +the five or six nations concerned. For two or three hundred millions of +people in Europe life, which with all the problems of high prices, +labor wars, unsolved social difficulties, is none too easy as it is, +will be made harder still. + +The needs, therefore, that can have provoked a conflict of these +dimensions must be "primordial" indeed. In fact, one authority assures +us that what we have seen going on is "the struggle for life among +men"--that struggle which has its parallel in the whole of sentient +existence. + +Well, I put it to you, as a matter worth just a moment or two of +consideration, that this conflict is about nothing of the sort; that it +is about a perfectly futile matter, one which the immense majority of +the German, English, French, Italian, and Turkish people could afford +to treat with the completest indifference. For, to the vast majority of +these 250,000,000 people, more or less, it does not matter two straws +whether Morocco or some vague, African swamp near the Equator is +administered by German, French, Italian, or Turkish officials, so long +as it is well administered. Or rather one should go further: if French, +German, or Italian colonization of the past is any guide, the nation +which wins in the conquest for territory of this sort has added a +wealth-draining incubus. + +This, of course, is preposterous; I am losing sight of the need for +making provision for the future expansion of the race, of each party +desiring to "find its place in the sun"; and heaven knows what. + +Well, let us for a moment get away from phrases and examine a few facts +usually ignored because they happen to be beneath our nose. + +France has got a new empire, we are told; she has won a great victory; +she is growing and expanding and is richer by something which her +rivals are the poorer for not having. + +Let us assume that she makes the same success of Morocco that she has +made of her other possessions, of, say, Tunis, which represents one of +the most successful of those operations of colonial expansion which +have marked her history during the last forty years. What has been the +precise effect on French prosperity? + +In thirty years, at a cost of many million sterling (it is part of +successful colonial administration in France never to let it be known +what the colonies really cost) France has founded in Tunis a colony, in +which to-day there are, excluding soldiers and officials, about 25,000 +genuine French colonists: just the number by which the French +population in France--the real France--is diminishing every six +months! And the value of Tunis as a market does not even amount to the +sum which France spends directly on its occupation and administration, +to say nothing of the indirect extension of military burden which its +conquest involves; and, of course, the market which it represents would +still exist in some form, though England--or even Germany--administered +the country. + +In other words, France loses twice every year in her home population +two colonies equivalent to Tunis--if we measure colonies in terms of +communities made up of the race which has sprung from the mother +country. And yet, if once in a generation her rulers and diplomats can +point to 25,000 Frenchmen living artificially and exotically under +conditions which must in the long run be inimical to their race, it is +pointed to as "expansion" and as evidence that France is maintaining +her position as a Great Power. A few years, as history goes, unless +there is some complete change of tendencies which at present seem as +strong as ever, the French race as we now know it will have ceased to +exist, swamped without the firing, may be, of a single shot, by the +Germans, Belgians, English, Italians, and Jews. There are to-day in +France more Germans than there are Frenchmen in all the colonies that +France has acquired in the last half-century, and German trade with +France outweighs enormously the trade of France with all French +colonies. France is to-day a better colony for the Germans than they +could make of any exotic colony which France owns. + +"They _tell_ me," said a French Deputy recently (in a not quite +original _mot_), "that the Germans are at Agadir. I _know_ they are in +the Champs-ElysĂ©es." Which, of course, is in reality a much more +serious matter. + +And those Frenchmen who regret this disappearance of their race, and +declare that the energy and blood and money which is now poured out so +lavishly in Africa and in Asia ought to be diverted to its arrest, to +the colonization and development of France by better social, +industrial, commercial, and political organization, to the resisting of +the exploitation of the mother country by inflowing masses of +foreigners, are declared to be bad patriots, dead to the sentiment of +the flag, dead to the call of the bugle, are silenced in fact by a +fustian as senseless and mischievous as that which in some marvelous +way the politician, hypnotized by the old formulae, has managed to make +pass as "patriotism" in most countries. + +The French, like their neighbors, are not interested in the Germans of +the Champs-ElysĂ©es, but only in the Germans at Agadir: and it is for +these latter that the diplomats fight, and the war budgets swell. + +And from that silent and pacific expansion, which means so much both +negatively and positively, attention is diverted to the banging of the +war drum, and the dancing of the patriotic dervishes. + +And on the other side we are to assume that Germany has during the +period of France's expansion--since the war--not expanded at all. That +she has been throttled and cramped--that she has not had her place in +the sun: and that is why she must fight for it and endanger the +security of her neighbors. + +Well, I put it to you again that all this in reality is false: that +Germany has not been cramped or throttled; that, on the contrary, as we +recognize when we get away from the mirage of the map, her expansion +has been the wonder of the world. She has added 20,000,000 to her +population--one-half the present population of France--during a period +in which the French population has actually diminished. Of all the +nations in Europe, she has cut the biggest swath in the development of +world trade, industry, and influence. Despite the fact that she has not +"expanded" in the sense of mere political dominion, a proportion of her +population, equivalent to the white population of the whole colonial +British Empire, make their living, or the best part of it, from the +development and exploitation of territory outside her borders. These +facts are not new, they have been made the text of thousands of +political sermons preached in England itself during the last few years; +but one side of their significance seems to have been missed. + +We get, then, this: On the one side a nation extending enormously its +political dominion and yet diminishing in national force, if by +national force we mean the growth of a sturdy, enterprising, vigorous +people. (I am not denying that France is both wealthy and comfortable, +to a greater degree it may be than her rival; but she has not her +colonies to thank for it--quite the contrary.) On the other side, we +get immense expansion expressed in terms of those things--a growing and +vigorous population and the possibility of feeding them--and yet the +political dominion, speaking practically, has hardly been extended at +all. + +Such a condition of things, if the common jargon of high politics means +anything, is preposterous. It takes nearly all meaning out of most that +we hear about "primordial needs," and the rest of it. + +As a matter of fact, we touch here one of the vital confusions, which +is at the bottom of most of the present political trouble between +nations, and shows the power of the old ideas, and the old phraseology. + +In the days of the sailing ship and the lumbering wagon dragging slowly +over all but impassable roads, for one country to derive any +considerable profit from another, it had, practically, to administer it +politically. But the compound steam engine, the railway, the telegraph, +have profoundly modified the elements of the whole problem. In the +modern world political dominion is playing a more and more effaced role +as a factor in commerce; the non-political factors have in practise +made it all but inoperative. It is the case with every modern nation +actually that the outside territories which it exploits most +successfully are precisely those of which it does not "own" a foot. +Even with the most characteristically colonial of all--Great +Britain--the greater part of her overseas trade is done with countries +which she makes no attempt to "own," control, coerce, or dominate--and +incidentally she has ceased to do any of these things with her +colonies. + +Millions of Germans in Prussia and Westphalia derive profit or make +their living out of countries to which their political dominion in no +way extends. The modern German exploits South America by remaining at +home. Where, forsaking this principle, he attempts to work through +political power, he approaches futility. German colonies are colonies +"pour rire." The Government has to bribe Germans to go to them; her +trade with them is microscopic; and if the twenty millions who have +been added to Germany's population since the war had had to depend on +their country's political conquest they would have had to starve. What +feeds them are countries which Germany has never "owned" and never +hopes to "own"; Brazil, Argentina, the United States, India, Australia, +Canada, Russia, France, and England. (Germany, which never spent a mark +on its political conquest, to-day draws more tribute from South America +than does Spain, which has poured out mountains of treasure and oceans +of blood in its conquest.) These are Germany's real colonies. Yet the +immense interests which they represent, of really primordial concern to +Germany, without which so many of her people would be actually without +food, are for the diplomats and the soldiers quite secondary ones; the +immense trade which they represent owes nothing to the diplomat, to +Agadir incidents, to Dreadnoughts; it is the unaided work of the +merchant and the manufacturer. All this diplomatic and military +conflict and rivalry, this waste of wealth, the unspeakable foulness +which Tripoli is revealing, are reserved for things which both sides to +the quarrel could sacrifice, not merely without loss, but with profit. +And Italy, whose statesmen have been faithful to all the old "axioms" +(Heaven save the mark!) will discover it rapidly enough. Even her +defenders are ceasing now to urge that she can possibly derive any real +benefit from this colossal ineptitude. + +Italy struck at Turkey for "honor," for prestige--for the purpose of +impressing Europe. And one may hope that Europe (after reading the +reports of Reuter, _The Times_, the _Daily Mirror_, and the New York +_World_ as to the methods which Italy is using in vindicating her +"honor") is duly impressed, and that Italian patriots are satisfied +with these new glories added to Italian history. It is all they will +get. + +Or rather, will they get much more: for Italy, as unhappily for the +balance of Europe, the substance will be represented by the increase of +very definite every-day difficulties--the high cost of living, the +uncertainty of employment, the very deep problems of poverty, +education, government, well-being. These remain--worsened. And +this--not the spectacular clash of arms, or even the less spectacular +killing of unarmed Arab men, women, and children--constitute the real +"struggle for life among men." But the dilettanti of "high politics" +are not interested. For those who still take their language and habits +of thought from the days of the sailing-ship, still talk of +"possessing" territory, still assume that tribute in some form is +possible, still imply that the limits of commercial and industrial +activity are dependent upon the limits of political dominion, the +struggle is represented by this futile physical collision of groups, +which, however victory may go, leaves the real solution further off +than ever. + +We know what preceded this war: if Europe had any moral conscience +left, it would have been shocked as it was never shocked before. Turkey +said: "We will submit Italy's grievance to any tribunal that Europe +cares to name, and abide by the result." Italy said: "We don't intend +to have the case judged, but to take Tripoli. Hand it over--in +twenty-four hours." The Turkish Government said: "At least make it +possible for us to face our own people. Call it a Protectorate; give us +the shadow of sovereignty. Otherwise it is not robbery--to which we +should submit--but gratuitous degradation; we should abdicate before +the eyes of our own people. We will do anything you like." "In that +case," said Italy, "we will rob; and we will go to war." + +It was not merely robbery that the Italian Government intended, but +they meant from the first that it should be war--to "dish the +Socialists," to play some sordid intrigue of internal politics. + +The ultimatum was launched from the center of Christendom--the city +which lodges the titular head of the Universal Church--to teach to the +Mohammedan world what may be expected from a modern Christian +Government with its back to eighteen centuries of Christian teaching. + +We, Christendom, spend scores of millions--hundreds of millions, it may +be--in the propagation of the Christian faith: numberless men and women +gave their lives for it, our fathers spent two centuries in unavailing +warfare for the capture of some of its symbols. Presumably, therefore, +we attach some value to its principles, deeming them of some worth in +the defense of human society. + +Or do we believe nothing of the sort? Is our real opinion that these +things at bottom don't matter--or matter so little that for the sake of +robbing the squalid belongings of a few Arab tribes, or playing some +mean game of party politics, they can be set aside in a whoop of +"patriotism"? + +Our press waxes indignant in this particular case, and that is the end +of it. But we do not see that we are to blame, that it is all the +outcome of a conception of politics which we are forever ready to do +our part to defend, to do daily our part to uphold. + +And those of us who try in our feeble way to protest against this +conception of politics and patriotism, where everything stands on its +head; where the large is made to appear the great, and the great is +made to appear the small, are derided as sentimentalists, Utopians. As +though anything could be more sentimental, more divorced from the sense +of reality, than the principles which lead us to a condition of things +like these; as though anything could be more wildly, burlesquely +Utopian than the idea that efforts of the kind that the Italian people +are now making, the energy they are now spending, could ever achieve +anything of worth. + +Is it not time that the man in the street, verily, I believe, less +deluded by diplomatic jargon than his betters, less the slave of an +obsolete phraseology, insisted that the experts in the high places +acquired some sense of the reality of things, of proportion, some sense +of figures, a little knowledge of industrial history, of the real +processes of human cooperation? + +At present Europe is quite indifferent to Italy's behavior. The +Chancelleries, which will go to enormous trouble and take enormous +risks and concoct alliances and counter-alliances when there is +territory to be seized, remain cold when crimes of this sort are +committed. And they remain cold because they believe that Turkey alone +is concerned. They do not see that Italy has attacked not Turkey, but +Europe; that we, more than Turkey, will pay the broken pots. + +And there is a further reason: We still believe in these piracies; we +believe they pay and that we may get our turn at some "swag" to-morrow. +France is envied for her possession of Morocco; Germany for her +increased authority over some pestilential African swamps. But when we +realize that in these international burglaries there is no "swag," that +the whole thing is an illusion, that there are huge costs but no +reward, we shall be on the road to a better tradition, which, while it +may not give us international policing, may do better still--render the +policing unnecessary. For when we have realized that the game is not +worth the candle, when no one desires to commit aggression, the +competition in armaments will have become a bad nightmare of the past. + + +SIR MAX WAECHTER + +It is generally admitted that the present condition of Europe is highly +unsatisfactory. To any close observer it must be evident that Europe, +as a whole, is gradually losing its position in the world. Other +nations which are rapidly coming to the front will, in course of time, +displace the European, unless the latter can pull themselves together +and abandon the vicious system which now handicaps them In the economic +rivalry of nations. + +The cause of this comparative decline is, in my opinion, to be found in +the fact that all the European countries are arming against one +another, either for defense, or for aggression, for the attack is +frequently the best form of defense. The motive for these excessive +armaments can clearly be found in the jealousy and mistrust existing +among the nations of Europe. Europe is spending on armaments something +like four hundred million pounds sterling per year, and there is a +tendency to increase this tremendous expenditure. In order to bring the +magnitude of this sacrifice more vividly before the reader, let us +assume that a European war is not likely to occur more frequently than +about every thirty years. We then find that the incredible sum of +twelve thousand million pounds sterling has been spent in peace in +preparation for this war, a sum which greatly exceeds the total of all +the European state debts. Such stupendous sums can not be raised +without imposing crushing taxation, and without neglecting the other +duties of the state, such as education, scientific research, and social +reform. + +One serious economic result of this heavy taxation is that European +industry is placed at a considerable disadvantage in competing with +that of other nations, notably the United States of America. The late +Mr. Atkinson, an American authority, declared that, compared with the +United States, we were handicapped to the extent of five per cent, in +our production. Since then the figures have changed considerably in +favor of America. I recently had an opportunity of discussing this +point with a great German authority on political economy, and he fixed +the advantage in favor of the United States at nearly ten per cent, as +regards the cost of production. + +But this is not all. The European countries withdraw permanently four +millions of men, at their best age, from productive work, thus causing +a terrible loss and waste. Besides, enterprise in Europe is crippled by +fear of war. It may break out at any time, possibly at a few hours' +notice. The present system of Europe must inevitably lead, sooner or +later, to a European war--a catastrophe which nobody can contemplate +without horror, considering the perfected means of destruction. Such a +war would leave the vanquished utterly crushed, and the victor in such +a state of exhaustion that any foreign Power could easily impose her +will upon him. + +The situation is certainly most alarming, and ought to receive the +fullest attention. What, then, can be done to save Europe from these +impending dangers? The large number of "Peace Societies" which have +been established in different countries have done excellent spade work. +Their main object has been to insure that disputes among nations should +be referred to arbitration, with a view to making more difficult their +resorting to arms. The great success of these societies demonstrates +plainly that there is a strong tendency among the peoples in favor of +peace. But no attempt has been made to reorganize the whole of Europe +on a sound basis. + +The Emperor of Russia has made a most praiseworthy effort to bring +about a different state of affairs, by originating and establishing The +Hague Conference, with a view to securing by this means the peace of +the world. This conference has done excellent service, and is likely to +be of increasing usefulness to mankind in the future; but the second +meeting of the conference has amply proved that it can not succeed in +its main object, which is the peace of the world. If the idea of +bringing the whole world into unison can ever be realized, it is only +by stages, of which the union of Europe would be the first. + +Let us look at the position. Germany has been for centuries the +battle-field of other states, and has narrowly escaped national +annihilation. She has now at length succeeded in consolidating her +strength so far as to be able to withstand attack from any probable +combination of two of her powerful neighbors. Can Germany now be +approached with a request to reduce her armaments, unless she is given +the most solid guaranty against attack? It would be almost an insult to +the German intelligence to make such a proposal without an adequate +guaranty. + +With France the case is similar. The third Republic has been eminently +peaceful, and Frenchmen have devoted their energies and brilliant +qualities principally to science, the fine arts, and social +development. Who would dare to ask them to cut down their armaments in +the present state of Europe, which makes it compulsory for every +country to arm to the fullest extent? All the other states are in a +similar position. They need not be discussed individually. + +The only hope to be found is in such a coalition of the Powers as will +make these excessive armaments unnecessary. If this can be effected, +the reduction of armaments will take place naturally, and without any +external pressure. But then the question arises, how can the permanency +of such a coalition be guaranteed? The vital requisite to give +stability to any international coalition is community of interests. +Such a community of interests exists already, in a larger or smaller +degree, among many states, though it is unknown to most people. +Besides, it is not strong enough to prevent war in times of excitement. + +In many countries definite war parties exist, and most extraordinary +opinions can be gathered from their representatives. I was assured by +some military leaders, and even by a diplomat in a responsible +position, that war is a blessing! In disproof of this theory it may be +desirable to state some plain facts. Mankind lives and exists on this +earth solely and entirely by the exploitation of our planet, and the +general average status of the peoples can be improved and raised to a +higher level only by a more complete exploitation of the forces of +nature. This process requires, in the present state of civilization, +capital, intelligence, and manual labor--the handmaid of intelligence. +War is bound to destroy an enormous amount of capital, and a great +number of the ablest workers. It is evident, therefore, that every war +must reduce the general well-being of the peoples who inhabit this +planet. Besides, there is the misery inflicted upon millions of people, +principally belonging to the poorer classes, who have always to bear +the brunt of a war, whether it be started by the personal ambition of +one man or by the misguided ambitions of a nation. + +Some people argue that, from the days of Alexander the Great to those +of Napoleon, combinations of states have always been brought about by +armed force, and they believe this to be a natural law. I do not admit +that the case of Napoleon is a proper illustration of such a law. On +the contrary, his career seems to demonstrate clearly that the world is +too far advanced to be driven into combination by force. And as to +Alexander the Great, has the world really made no progress since his +time? Force or war is a relic of a savage age, and will be relegated to +the background with the advance of civilization. + + + + +PERSIA'S LOSS OF LIBERTY A.D. 1911 + +W. MORGAN SHUSTER[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted in condensed form from the original narrative in +_Hearst's Magazine,_ by permission.] + +As told in the preceding volume, Persia in the year 1905 began a +struggle for freedom from autocratic rule. This she finally achieved in +decisive fashion and set up a parliamentary government. Her career of +liberty seemed fairly assured. She had against her, however, an +irresistible force. England and Russia had long been encroaching upon +Persian territory. Russia, in especial, had snatched away province +after province in the north. Of course Persia's revival would mean that +these territorial seizures would be stopped. Hence Russia almost openly +opposed each step in Persia's progress. In 1907, Russia and England +entered into an agreement by which each, without consulting Persia, +recognized that the other held some sort of rights over a part of +Persian territory: a "sphere of Russian influence" was thus established +in the north, and of British in the southeast. + +The climax to this antagonism against Persia came in 1911. The +desperate Persians appealed to the United States Government to send +them an honest administrator to guide them, and President Taft +recommended Mr. Shuster for the task. The work of Mr. Shuster soon won +him the enthusiastic confidence and devotion of the Persians +themselves. But in proportion as his reforms seemed more and more to +strengthen the parliamentary government and bring hope to Persia, he +found himself more and more opposed by the Russian officials. Finally +Russia made his mere presence in the land an excuse for sending her +armies to assault the Persians. Seldom has the murderous attack of a +strong country upon a weak one been so open, brazen, and void of all +moral justification. Thousands of Persians were slain by the Russian +troops, and many more have since been executed for "rebellion" against +the Russian authorities. The parliamentary government of Persia was +completely destroyed; it finally disappeared in tumult and dismay on +December 24, 1911. + +The country was reduced to helpless submission to the Russian armies. +Mr. Shuster's own account of the tragedy follows. He called it "The +Strangling of Persia." + +Of the many changing scenes during the eight months of my recent +experiences in Persia, two pictures stand out in such sharp contrast as +to deserve special mention. + +The first is a small party of Americans, of which the writer was one, +seated with their families in ancient post-chaises rumbling along the +tiresome road from Enzeli, the Persian port on the Caspian Sea, toward +Teheran. It was in the early days of May, 1911, and from these medieval +vehicles, drawn by four ratlike ponies, in heat and dust, we gained our +first physical impressions of the land where we had come to live for +some years--to mend the broken finances of the descendants of Cyrus and +Darius. We were fired with the ambition to succeed in our work, and, +viewed through such eyes, the physical discomforts became unimportant. +Hope sang loud in our hearts as the carriages crawled on through two +hundred and twenty miles of alternate mountain and desert scenery. + +The second picture is eight months later, almost to the day. On January +11, 1912, I stood in a circle of gloomy American and Persian friends in +front of the Atabak palace where we had been living, about to step into +the automobile that was to bear us back over the same road to Enzeli. +The mountains behind Teheran were white with snow, the sun shone +brightly in a clear blue sky, there was life-tonic in the air, but none +in our hearts, for our work in Persia, hardly begun, had come to a +sudden end. + +Between the two dates some things had happened--things that may be +written down, but will probably never be undone--and the hopes of a +patient, long-exploited people of reclaiming their position in the +world had been stamped out ruthlessly and unjustly by the armies of a +so-called Christian and civilized nation. + +Prior to 1906, the masses of the Persians had suffered in comparative +silence from the ever-growing tyranny and betrayal of successive +despots, the last of whom, Muhammad Ali Shah, a vice-sodden monster of +the most perverted type, openly avowed himself the tool of Russia. The +people, finally stung to a blind desperation and exhorted by their +priests, rose in the summer of 1906, and by purely passive +measures--such as taking sanctuary, or _bast_, in large numbers in +sacred places and in the grounds of the British Legation at +Teheran--succeeded in obtaining from Muzaffarn'd Din Shah, the father +of Muhammad Ali, a constitution which he granted some six months before +his death. + +The pledge given in this document his son and successor swore to fulfil +and then violated a dozen or more times, until the long-suffering +constitutionalists, who called themselves "nationalists," finally +compelled him, despite the intrigues and armed resistance of Russian +agents and officers, to abdicate in favor of his young son, Sultan +Ahmad Shah, the present constitutional monarch. This was in July, 1909. + +It was this constitutional government, recognized as sovereign by the +Powers, that had determined to set its house in order, and in practise +to replace absolute monarchy with something approaching democracy. +Whence the Persians, a strictly Oriental people, had derived their +strange confidence in the potency of a democratic form of government to +mitigate or cure their ills, no one can say. We might ask the Hindus of +India, or the "Young Turks," or to-day the "Young Chinese" the same +question. The fact is that the past ten years have witnessed a truly +marvelous transformation in the ideas of Oriental peoples, and the +East, in its capacity to assimilate Western theories of government, and +in its willingness to fight for them against everything that tradition +makes sacred, has of late years shown a phase heretofore almost +unknown. + +Persia has given a most perfect example of this struggle toward +democracy, and, considering the odds against the nationalist element, +the results accomplished have been little short of amazing. + +Filled with the desire to perform its task, the Medjlis, or national +parliament, had voted in the latter part of 1910 to obtain the services +of five American experts to undertake the work of reorganizing Persia's +finances. They applied to the American Government, and through the good +offices of our State Department, their legation at Washington was +placed in communication with men who were considered suitable for the +task. The intervention of the State Department went no further than +this, and the Persian Government, like the men finally selected, was +told that the nomination by the American Government of suitable +financial administrators indicated a mere friendly desire to aid and +was of no political significance whatsoever. + +The Persians had already tried Belgian and French functionaries and had +seen them rapidly become mere Russian political agents or, at best, +seen them lapse into a state of _dolce far niente_. Poor Persia had +been sold out so many times in the framing of tariffs and tax laws, in +loan transactions and concessions of various kinds that the nationalist +government had grown desperate and certainly most distrustful of all +foreigners coming from nations within the sphere of European diplomacy. +What they sought was a practical administration of their finances in +the interest of the Persian people and nation. + +In this way the writer found himself in Teheran on the 12th of May last +year, having agreed to serve as Treasurer-General of the Persian +Empire, and to reorganize and conduct its finances. + +It is difficult to describe the Persian political situation existing at +that time without going too deeply into history. It is true that in a +moment of temporary weakness after her defeat by Japan, Russia had +signed a solemn convention with England whereby she engaged herself, as +did England, to respect the independence and integrity of Persia. +Later, by the stipulations of 1909, these two Powers solemnly agreed to +prevent the ex-Shah, Muhammad Ali, from any political agitation against +the constitutional government. But, as the world and Persia have seen, +a trifle like a treaty or a convention never balks Russia when she has +taken the pulse of her possible adversaries and found it weak. What is +more painful to Anglo-Saxons is that the British Government has been no +better nor more scrupulous of its pledges. + +During the first half of July, we began to learn where some of the +money was supposed to come from, and we were just beginning to control +the government expenditures after a fashion when, on July 18th, late at +night, the telegraph brought the news that Muhammad Ali, the ex-Shah, +had landed with a small force at Gumesh-Teppeh, a small port on the +Caspian, very near the Russian frontier. It was the proverbial bolt +from the blue, for while rumors of such a possibility had been rife, +most persons believed that Russia would not dare to violate so openly +her solemn stipulation signed less than two years before. + + +PERSIA IS TAKEN UNAWARES + +The Persian cabinet at Teheran was panic-stricken, and for ten days +there ensued a period of confusion and terror that beggars description. +There was no Persian army except on paper. The gendarmerie and police +of the city did not number more than eighteen hundred men inadequately +armed. The Russian Turcomans on the northeast frontier were reported to +be flocking to the ex-Shah's standard, and it was commonly believed +that he would be at the gates of Teheran in a few weeks. This belief +was strengthened by the fact that his brother, Prince Salaru'd-Dawla, +had entered Persia from the direction of Bagdad and was known to have a +large gathering of Kurdish tribesmen ready to march toward Teheran. + +After a time, however, reason prevailed and steps were taken to create +an army to defend the constitutional government against the invaders. +At this time, one of the old chiefs of the Bakhtiyari tribesmen, the +Samsamu's-Saltana, was the prime minister holding the portfolio of war, +and he called to arms several thousands of his fighting men, who +promptly started for the capital. Ephraim Khan, at that time chief of +police of Teheran, was another defender of the constitution who raised +a volunteer force, and twice, acting with the Bakhtiyari forces, he +signally defeated the troops of the ex-Shah. By September 5th, Muhammad +Ali himself was in full flight through northeastern Persia toward the +friendly Russian frontier. Whatever chances he may have formerly had +were admitted to be gone. + +The hound that Russia had unleashed, with his hordes of Turcoman +brigands, upon the constitutional government of Persia had been whipped +back into his kennel. No one was more surprised than Russia, unless +indeed it was the Persians themselves. Russian officials everywhere in +Persia had openly predicted an easy victory for Muhammad Ali. They had +aided him in a hundred different ways, morally, financially, and by +actual armed force. + +They still hoped, however, that the forces of Prince Salaru'd-Dawla, +which were marching from Hamadan toward Teheran, would take the +capital. But on September 28th, the news came that Ephraim Khan, and +the Bakhtiyaris had routed the Prince and his army, and the last hope +from this source was gone. + +In the mean time, another encounter with Russia had occurred. There was +at Teheran an officer of the British-Indian army, Major Stokes, who for +four years had been military attache to the British Legation. He knew +Persia well; read, wrote, and spoke fluently the language and +thoroughly understood the habits, customs, and viewpoint of the Persian +people. He was the ideal man to assist in the formation of a +tax-collecting force under the Treasury, without which there was no +hope of collecting the internal taxes throughout the empire. Not only +was Major Stokes the ideal man for this work, but he was the _only_ man +possessing the necessary qualifications. + +I accordingly tendered Major Stokes the post of chief of the future +Treasury gendarmerie, his services as military attache having come to +an end. After some correspondence with the British Legation, I was +informed late in July that the British Foreign Office held that he must +resign his commission in the British-Indian army before accepting the +post. This Major Stokes did, by cable, on July 31st, and the matter was +regarded as settled. + +What was my surprise, therefore, to learn, on the evening of August +8th, that the British Minister, following instructions from his +Government, had that day presented a note to the Persian Foreign +Office, warning the Persian Government that any attempt to employ Major +Stokes in the "northern sphere" of Persia (which included Teheran, the +capital) would probably be followed by _retaliatory action_ (_sic_) by +Russia which England would not be in a position to deprecate. Between +individuals, such action would clearly be considered bad faith. Sir +Edward Grey, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, shortly +thereafter explained that the appointment of Major Stokes would be a +violation of what he termed the "spirit" of the Anglo-Russian +Convention of 1907. Yet just two weeks before, when he consented to +Stokes resigning to accept the post, he had never dreamed of such a +thing. + +The truth is that the semiofficial St. Petersburg press, like the +_Novoe Vremya_, had begun to bluster about the affair, egged on by the +Russian Foreign Office, and Sir Edward Grey was compelled to _invent +some pretext_ for his manifest dread of displeasing Britain's "good +friend Russia" about anything. Hence the birth of that wondrous and +fearsome child, that rubber child which could be stretched to cover any +and all things, the "spirit of the convention." It was a wonderful +discovery for the gentlemen of the so-called "forward party" of the +Russian Government, since they now beheld not only a new means of +evading the plain letter of their agreement, but gleefully found a +woful lack of spirit in their partner to the convention, Great Britain. + +The British Foreign Office pretended to believe that they had checked +Russia's march to the Gulf; they knew better then, and they know still +better now. There is but one thing on earth that will check that march, +and that thing England is apparently not in a geographical or a +policial position to furnish in sufficient numbers. The British public +now know this, and unfortunately the "forward party" in Russia knows +it, and that is why bearded faces at St. Petersburg crack open and emit +rumbles of genuine merriment every time Sir Edward Grey stands up in +the House of Commons and explains to his countrymen that he has most +ample and categorical assurances from Russia that her sole purpose in +sending two or three armies into Persia is to show her displeasure with +an American finance official. + +For that same reason, doubtless, she has recently massacred some +hundreds of Persians in Tabriz, Enzeli, and Resht, and has hanged +numbers of Islamic priests, provincial officials, and +constitutionalists whom she classifies as the "dregs of revolution." +That is why the Russian flag was hoisted over the government buildings +at Tabriz, the capital of the richest province of the empire, while a +Russian military governor dispensed justice at the bayonet-point and +with the noose. + +But to get back to events. After the crushing defeats of the ex-Shah's +two forces and his flight, Russia was still faced by a constitutional +regime in Persia--and by a somewhat solidified and more confident +government and people at that. + +Tools and puppets having dismally failed, enter the real thing. Russia +now proceeded to intervene directly and to break up the constitutional +government in Persia without risk of failure or hindrance. She did not +even intend to await a pretext--she manufactured such things as she +went along. + +The first instance is the Shu'a'us-Saltana affair. On October 9th, some +twelve days after the last defeat inflicted on the ex-Shah's forces, I +was ordered by the cabinet to seize and confiscate the properties of +Prince Shu'a'us-Saltana, another brother of the ex-Shah, who had +returned to Persia with him and was actively commanding some of his +troops. The same order was given as to the estates of Prince +Salaru'd-Dawla, the other brother in rebellion. + +Pursuant to this entirely proper and legal order, the purport of which +had been communicated by the Persian Foreign Office to the Russian and +British ministers several days previously, no objection having been +even hinted, I sent out six small parties, each consisting of a +civilian Treasury official and five Treasury gendarmes, to seize the +different properties in and about Teheran. As a matter of courtesy, the +British and Russian legations had been informed that all rights of +foreigners in these properties would be fully safeguarded and +respected. + +The principal property was the Park of Shu'a'us-Saltana, a magnificent +place in Teheran, with a palace filled with valuable furniture. When +the Treasury officials and five gendarmes arrived there, they found on +guard a number of Persian Cossacks of the Cossack Brigade. On seeing +the order of confiscation, these men retired. My men then took +possession and began making an official inventory. An hour later, two +Russian vice-consuls, in full uniform, arrived with twelve Russian +Cossacks from the Russian Consulate guard, and with imprecations, +abuse, and threats to kill, drove off my men at the point of their +rifles. Later in the day, these same vice-consuls actually arrested +other small parties of Treasury gendarmes, took them on mules through +the streets of Teheran to the Russian Consulate-General, and after +insulting and threatening them with death if they ever returned to the +confiscated property, allowed them to go. + +On hearing this, I wrote and telegraphed to my friend, M. +Poklewski-Koziell, the Russian minister, calling his attention to the +outrageous actions of his Consul-General, M. Pokhitanow, and asking the +minister to give orders to prevent any further unpleasantness on the +following day, when I would again execute the government's order. The +next day I sent a force of one hundred gendarmes in charge of two +American Treasury officials, and the order was executed. + +Two hours after we were in peaceable possession of the property, the +same two Russian vice-consuls drove up to the gate and began insulting +and abusing the Persian Treasury guards, endeavoring, of course, to +provoke the gendarmes into some act against them. In other words, +finding that they had lost in the matter of retaining possession of the +property, these Russian officials deliberately sought to provoke my +gendarmes into something that they could construe as an affront to +Russian consular authority. The men, however, had received such strict +and repeated instructions that they refused even to answer. They paid +no attention to the taunts and abuse of these two dignified Russian +officials, who thereupon drove off and perjured themselves to the +effect that they had been affronted--in other words, that the incident +which they had gone there to provoke actually had occurred. These false +statements were reported to St. Petersburg by M. Pokhitanow +independently of his minister, who, I have the strongest reason to +believe, entirely disavowed the Consul-General's actions. The Russian +government thereupon publicly discredited its minister and demanded +from the Persian government an immediate apology for something that had +never occurred. The apology, after some hesitation, was made on the +advice of the British government. It was hoped that this evident +self-abasement by Persia would appease even the Russian bureaucracy. + +But it now seems that a compliance with Russia's demand was exactly +what was not desired by her, since it removed all possible pretext for +taking more drastic steps against Persia's national existence. Hence, +at the very moment when the Persian Foreign Minister, in full uniform, +was at the Russian legation complying with this first ultimatum, based, +as it was, on absolutely false reports, the St. Petersburg cabinet was +formulating new and even more unjust and absurd demands, which, as some +of the public know, have resulted in the expulsion of the fifteen +American finance officials and in the destruction of the last vestiges +of constitutional government in the empire of Cyrus and Darius. + +Russia called for my immediate dismissal from the post of +Treasurer-General; she required that my fourteen American assistants +already in Persia should be subject to the approval of the British and +Russian legations at Teheran; that all other foreign officials in +future employed by Persia be subjected to the approval of those two +legations; that a large indemnity should be paid to Russia for the +expense of moving her troops into Persia to hasten the acceptance of +these two ultimatums; and that all other questions between Russia and +Persia should be settled to the satisfaction of the former. + +The acceptance by Persia of these demands meant, of course, a virtual +cession of her sovereignty to Russia and Great Britain. It should be +noted, also, that in this Russian ultimatum the name of the British +government was freely used, although the British minister took no part +in the presentation of the same. Sir Edward Grey was subsequently asked +in the British Parliament as to this point, and explained, in effect, +that he agreed with the Russian demands, with the possible exception of +the indemnity. + +The Russian minister informed the Persian Government that this +ultimatum was based on the following two grounds: First, that I had +appointed a certain Mr. Lecoffre, a British subject, to be a tax +collector in the Russian sphere of influence; and, second, that I had +caused to be printed and circulated in Persia a translation into +Persian of my letter to the London _Times_ of October 21, 1911, thereby +greatly injuring Russian influence in northern Persia. These grounds +might be classified as "unimportant, if true." The truth is, however, +that they are both well known to have been utterly unfounded in fact. I +did not appoint Mr. Lecoffre, a British subject, to a financial post in +northern Persia. I found him in the Finance Department at Teheran (the +capital, which is in the so-called Russian sphere) when I arrived there +last May, and he had been occupying an important position there for +nearly two years, without the slightest objection ever having been +raised by the Russian Government. I proposed to transfer him to a +somewhat less important position, but one in which I thought he could +be of greater service. + +As to the second ground or pretext, in effect, that I had caused to be +printed and circulated a Persian translation of my letter to the +_Times_, it was simply false. It was well known to be false--so well +known, in fact, that a newspaper in Teheran, the _Tamadun_ +(_Civilization_) which did print it and circulate it, publicly admitted +the fact the minute they heard that I was charged by Russia with having +done so. So these two at best rather puerile pretexts upon which to +base an ultimatum from a powerful nation to a weaker one lacked even +the merit of truth. + +This second ultimatum, despite all hypocritical attempts made to +justify it, fairly stunned the Persian people. Accustomed as they had +become in recent years to the high-handed and cynical actions of the +St. Petersburg cabinet, they had not looked for such a foul blow as +this. They had been realizing dimly that the peace of Europe was being +threatened by the open hostility of Germany and England over the +Moroccan incident, and that British foreign policy was apparently +leaving Russia absolutely free to work her will in Asia, so long, at +least, as Russia pretended to acknowledge the. Anglo-Russian _entente_ +of 1907; but the Persian people had too much, far too much, confidence +in the sacredness of treaty stipulations and the solemnly pledged words +of the great Christian nations of the world to imagine that their own +whole national existence and liberty could be jeopardized overnight, +and on a pretext so shallow and farcical as to excite world-wide +ridicule. Their disillusionment came too late. The trap had been +unwittingly set by hands that made unexpected moves on the European +chessboard, and the Bear's paw had this time been skilful enough to +spring it at the proper moment. + +The Persian statesmen and chieftains who formed the cabinet at this +time, whether because they perceived the gleaming, naked steel behind +Russia's threats more clearly than their legislative compatriots of the +Parliament or Medjlis, or whether they suffered from that abandon and +tired feeling which comes from playing an unequal and always losing +game, quickly decided that they would accept this second ultimatum with +all its future oppression and cruelty for their people. + +On December 1st, therefore, shortly before the time limit of +forty-eight hours fixed by Russia for the acceptance of the terms had +expired, the cabinet filed into the chamber of deputies to secure +legislative approval of their intended course. + +It was an hour before noon, and the Parliament grounds and buildings +were filled with eager, excited throngs, while the galleries of the +Medjlis chamber were packed with Persian notables of all ranks and with +the representatives of many of the foreign legations. At noon the fate +of Persia as a nation was to be known. + +The cabinet, having made up its mind to yield, overlooked no point that +would increase their chances of securing the approval of the Medjlis. +Believing, evidently, that the ridiculously short time to elapse before +the stroke of noon announced the expiration of the forty-eight-hour +period would effectually prevent any mature consideration or discussion +of their proposals, the premier, Samsamu's-Saltana, caused to be +presented to the deputies a resolution authorizing the cabinet to +accept Russia's demands. + +The proposal was read amid a deep silence. At its conclusion, a hush +fell upon the gathering. Seventy-six deputies, old men and young, +priests, lawyers, doctors, merchants, and princes, sat tense in their +seats. + +A venerable priest of Islam arose. Time was slipping away and at noon +the question would be beyond their vote to decide. This servant of God +spoke briefly and to the point: "It may be the will of Allah that our +liberty and our sovereignty shall be taken from us by force, but let us +not sign them away with our own hands!" One gesture of appeal with his +trembling hands, and he resumed his seat. + +Simple words, these, yet winged ones. Easy to utter in academic +discussions; hard, bitterly hard, to say under the eye of a cruel and +overpowering tyrant whose emissaries watched the speaker from the +galleries and mentally marked him down for future imprisonment, +torture, exile, or worse. + +Other deputies followed. In dignified appeals, brief because the time +was short, they upheld their country's honor and proclaimed their +hard-earned right to live and govern themselves. + +A few minutes before noon the public vote was taken; one or two +faint-hearted members sought a craven's refuge and slunk quietly from +the chamber. As each name was called, the deputy rose in his place and +gave his vote, there was no secret ballot here. + +And when the roll-call was ended, every man, priest or layman, youth or +octogenarian, had cast his own die of fate, had staked the safety of +himself and family, and hurled back into the teeth of the great Bear +from the north the unanimous answer of a desperate and downtrodden +people who preferred a future of unknown terror to the voluntary +sacrifice of their national dignity and of their recently earned right +to work out their own salvation. + +Amid tears and applause from the spectators, the crestfallen and +frightened cabinet withdrew, while the deputies dispersed to ponder on +the course which lay darkly before their people. + +By this vote, the cabinet, according to the Persian constitution, +ceased to exist as a legal entity. + +Great crowds of people thronged the "Lalezar," one of the principal +streets of Teheran, shouting death to the traitors and calling Allah to +witness that they would give up their lives for their country. + +A few days later, in a secret conference between the deputies of the +Medjlis and the members of the deposed cabinet, a similar vote was +given to reject the Russian demands. Meanwhile, thousands of Russian +troops, with cossacks and artillery, were pouring into northern Persia, +from Tiflis and Julfa by land and from Baku across the Caspian, to the +Persian port of Enzeli, whence they took up their 220-mile march over +the Elburz mountains toward Kasvin and Teheran. + +In the government at Teheran, conference followed conference. Intrigues +against the deputies gave way to threats. Through it all, with the +increasing certainty of personal injury, the members of the Medjlis +stood firmly by their vote. + +It is impossible to describe within the limits of this article the days +and nights of doubt, suspense, and anxiety that followed one another in +the capital during this dark month of December. There was a lurking +dread in the very air, and the snow-covered mountains themselves seemed +afflicted with the mournful scenes through which the country was +passing. + +A boycott was proclaimed by the priests against Russian and English +goods. In a day, the old-fashioned tramway of the city was deserted on +the mere suspicion that it was owned in Russia, while an excited +Belgian Minister rained protests and petitions on the Persian Foreign +Office in an endeavor to show that the tramway was owned by his +countrymen. Crowds of youths, students, and women filled the street, +dragging absent-minded passengers from the cars, smashing the windows +of shops that still displayed Russian goods, seeing that no one drank +tea because it came from Russia, although produced in India, and going +in processions before the gates of the foreign legations to demand +justice of the representatives of the world powers for a people in the +extremity of despair. + +One day, the rumor would come that the chief "mullahs" or priests at +Nadjef had proclaimed the "holy war" (_jihad_) against the Russians; on +another, that the Russian troops had commenced to shoot up Kasvin on +their march to Teheran. + +At one time, when rumors were thick that the Medjlis would give in +under the threats and attempted bribery which well-known Russian +proteges were employing on many of its members, three hundred veiled +and black-gowned Persian women, a large proportion with pistols +concealed under their skirts or in the folds of their sleeves, marched +suddenly to the Parliament grounds and demanded admission to the +Chamber. The president of the Medjlis consented to receive a deputation +from them. Once admitted into his presence, these honor-loving Persian +mothers, wives, and daughters exhibited their weapons, and to show the +grim seriousness of their words, they tore aside their veils, and +threatened that they would kill their own husbands and sons, and end +their own lives, if the deputies failed in their duty to uphold the +dignity and the sovereignty of their beloved country. + +When neither threats nor bribes availed against the Medjlis, Russia +decreed its destruction by force. + +In the early afternoon of December 24th, the deposed cabinet, having +been themselves duly _persuaded_ to take the step, executed a _coup +d'Ă©tat_ against the Medjlis, and by a demonstration of gendarmes and +Bakhtiyari tribesmen, succeeded in expelling all the deputies and +employees who were within the Parliament grounds; after which the gates +were locked and barred, and a strong detachment of the so-called Royal +Regiment left in charge. The deputies were threatened with death if +they attempted to return there or to meet in any other spot, and the +city of Teheran immediately passed under military control. The +self-constituted _directoire_ of seven who accomplished this dubious +feat first ascertained that the considerable force of Bakhtiyari +tribesmen, some 2,000, who had remained in the capital after the defeat +of the ex-Shah's forces in September last, had been duly "fixed" by the +same Russian agencies who had so early succeeded in persuading the +members of the ex-cabinet that their true interests lay in siding with +Russia. It is impossible to say just what proportions of fear and +cupidity decided the members of the deposed cabinet to take the aliens' +side against their country, but both emotions undoubtedly played a +part. The premier was one of the leading chiefs or "khans" of the +Bakhtiyaris, and another chief was the self-styled Minister of War. +These chieftains have always been a strange and changing mixture of +mountain patriot and city intriguer--of loyal soldier and mercenary +looter. The mercenary instincts, possibly aided by a sense of their own +comparative helplessness against Russian Cossacks and artillery, led +them to accept the stranger's gold and fair promises, and they ended +their checkered but theretofore relatively honorable careers by selling +their country for a small pile of cash and the more alluring promise +that the "grand viziership" (_i.e.,_ post of Minister of Finance) +should be perpetual in their family or clan. + +That same afternoon a large number of the "abolished" deputies came to +my office. They were men whom I had grown to know well, men of European +education, in whose courage, integrity, and patriotism I had the +fullest confidence. To them, the unlawful action of their own +countrymen was more than a political catastrophe; it was a sacrilege, a +profanation, a heinous crime. They came in tears, with broken voices, +with murder in their hearts, torn by the doubt as to whether they +should kill the members of the _directoire_ and drive out the +traitorous tribesmen who had made possible the destruction of the +government, or adopt the truly Oriental idea of killing themselves. +They asked my advice, and, hesitating somewhat as to whether I should +interfere to save the lives of notorious betrayers of their country, I +finally persuaded them to do neither the one nor the other. There +seemed to be no particular good in assassinating even their treacherous +countrymen, as it would only have given color to the pretensions of +Russia and England that the Persians were not capable of maintaining +order. + + +AN EXHIBITION OF SELF-RESTRAINT + +When the last representative element of the constitutional government, +for which so many thousands had fought, suffered, and died, was wiped +out in an hour without a drop of blood being shed, the Persian people +gave to the world an exhibition of temperance, of moderation, of stern +self-restraint, the like of which no other civilized country could show +under similar trying circumstances. + +The acceptance of Russia's terms by the Cabinet removed the last +pretext for keeping in Northern Persia the _15,000_ troops which by +that time Russia had assembled there,--at Kasvin, Resht, Enzeli, +Tabriz, Khoy, and other points in the so-called Russian sphere. Mons. +Poklewski-Koziell, the Russian Minister, had in fact given an equivocal +sort of a promise to the effect that "if no fresh incidents arose," the +Russian troops would be withdrawn when Persia accepted the conditions +of the ultimatum. + +With this in mind, it is interesting to note the truly thorough +precautions which were taken by Russia to prevent any such unfortunate +necessity as the withdrawal of her troops from coming to pass. + +December 24th, late in the evening, a message was received from the +Persian Acting Governor at Tabriz in which he declared that the Russian +troops, which had been stationed in that city since their entry during +the siege in 1909, _had suddenly started to massacre the inhabitants_. +Shortly after this the Indo-European telegraph lines stopped working, +and all news from Tabriz ceased. It was subsequently stated that the +wires had been cut by bullets. _Additional Russian troops_ were +immediately started for Tabriz from Julfa, which is some eight miles to +the north of the Russian frontier. + +The exact way in which the fighting began is not yet clear. The Persian +government reports show that a number of Russian soldiers, claiming to +be stringing a telephone wire, climbed upon the roof of the Persian +police headquarters about _ten o'clock at night_ on December 20th. When +challenged by native guards, they replied with shots. Reenforcements +were called up by both sides, and serious street fighting broke out +early the following morning and continued for several days. The Acting +Governor stated in his official reports that the Russian troops +indulged in their usual atrocities, killing women and children and +hundreds of other noncombatants on the streets and in their homes. +There were at the time about 4,000 Russian soldiers, with two batteries +of artillery, in and around the city. Nearly I,000 of the _fidais_ +("self-devoted") of Tabriz took refuge in an old citadel of stone and +mud, called the "Ark." They were without artillery or adequate +provisions, and were poorly armed, but it was certain death for one of +them to be seen on the streets. + +The Russians bombarded the "Ark" for a day or more, killing a large +proportion of its defenders. The superior numbers and the artillery of +the Russians finally conquered, and there followed a reign of terror +during which no Persian's life or honor was safe. At one time during +this period the Russian Minister at Teheran, at the request of the +members of the Persian cabinet, who were horror-stricken and in fear of +their lives for having made terms with such a barbaric nation, +telegraphed to the Russian general in command of the troops at Tabriz, +telling him to cease fighting, and that the _fidais_ would receive +orders to do likewise, as matters were being arranged at the capital. +The gallant general replied that he took his orders from the Viceroy of +the Caucasus at Tiflis, and not from any one at Teheran. The massacre +went on. + +On New Year's day, which was the 10th of _Muharram_, a day of great +mourning which is held sacred in the Persian religious calendar, the +Russian military governor, who had hoisted Russian flags over the +government buildings at Tabriz, hung the Sikutu'l-Islam, who was the +chief priest of Tabriz, two other priests, and five others, among them +several high officials of the Provincial Government. As one British +journalist put it, the effect of this outrage on the Persians was that +which would be produced on the English people by the hanging of the +Archbishop of Canterbury on Good Friday. From this time on, the +Russians at Tabriz continued to hang or shoot any Persian whom they +chose to consider guilty of the crime of being a "Constitutionalist." +When the fighting there was first reported, a high official of the +Foreign Office at St. Petersburg, in an interview to the press, made +the statement that Russia would take vengeance into her own hands until +the "revolutionary dregs" had been exterminated. + +One more significant fact: At the same time that the fighting broke out +at Tabriz, the Russian troops at Resht and Enzeli, hundreds of miles +away, shot down the Persian police and many inhabitants without warning +or provocation of any kind. And the date also happened to be just after +the Persian cabinet had definitely informed the Russian Legation that +all the demands of Russia's ultimatum were accepted--a condition which +the British Government had publicly assured the Persians would be +followed by the withdrawal of the Russian invading forces, and which +the Russian Government had officially confirmed, "_unless fresh +incidents should arise_ in the mean time to make the retention of the +troops advisable." + +I would suggest that the Powers--England and Russia--may _think_ that +they thus escape all responsibility for what goes on in Persia, but the +world has long since grown familiar with such methods. Mere cant, +however seriously put forth in official statements, no longer blinds +educated public opinion as to the facts in these acts of international +brigandage. The truth is that England and Russia are still playing a +hand in the game of medieval diplomacy. + +The puerility of talking of Persia having affronted Russian consular +officers or of Persia's Treasurer-General having appointed a British +subject to be a tax collector at Tabriz, as the reasons for Russia's +aggressive and brutal policy in Persia, is only too apparent. Volumes +would not contain the bare record of the acts of aggression, deceit, +and cruelty which Russian agents have committed against Persian +sovereignty and the constitutional government since the deposition of +Muhammad Ali in 1909. + + + + +DISCOVERY OF THE SOUTH POLE A.D. 1911 + +ROALD AMUNDSEN + +On December 16, 1911, a Norwegian exploring party headed by Captain +Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. The discovery thus followed with +surprising closeness after Peary's triumph in reaching the North Pole +in 1909. + +Antarctic exploration had never attracted so much attention as that of +the far north; partly because an almost impossible ice barrier a +hundred feet high was known to extend across the southern ocean at +about the parallel of the Antarctic Circle. In 1908, however, an +English expedition under Lieutenant Shackleton managed to penetrate +beyond this barrier in the region south of New Zealand and reached to +within less than two hundred miles of the pole. They established the +fact that in contrast to the deep waters which flow above the northern +Pole, the southern Pole is raised upon an Antarctic mountain continent +many thousand feet in height. Shackleton's success led to several other +expeditions, and in 1910 three separate parties made almost +simultaneous efforts to reach the Pole, one from Japan and one from +England, as well as the Norwegian one. + +We give here Captain Amundsen's own account of his expedition as first +explained by him before the Berlin Geographical Society and published +by the New York Geographical Society in their bulletin. + +The glowing success of Amundsen's expedition throws into sharpest +relief the tragedy of the parallel English expedition. Captain Scott, +the leader of this party, also reached the Pole after a far more +desperate struggle. But he reached it on January 18, 1912, only to find +that his Norwegian rival had preceded him, and he and his entire party +died of starvation and exhaustion on their return journey toward their +camp. + +The first aim of my expedition was the attainment of the South Pole. I +have the honor to report the accomplishment of the plan. + +I can only mention briefly here the expeditions which have worked in +the region which we had selected for our starting-point. As we wished +to reach the South Pole our first problem was to go south as far as +possible with our ship and there establish our station. Even so, the +sled journeys would be long enough. I knew that the English expedition +would again choose their old winter quarters in McMurdo Sound, South +Victoria Land, as their starting-point. From newspaper report it was +known that the Japanese had selected King Edward VII. Land. In order to +avoid these two expeditions we had to establish our station on the +Great Ice Barrier as far as possible from the starting-points of the +two other expeditions. + +The Great Ice Barrier, also called the Ross Barrier, lies between South +Victoria Land and King Edward VII. Land and has an extent of about 515 +miles. The first to reach this mighty ice formation was Sir James Clark +Ross in 1841. He did not dare approach the great ice wall, 100 feet +high, with his two sailing ships, the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, whose +progress southward was impeded by this mighty obstacle. He examined the +ice wall from a distance, however, as far as possible. His observations +showed that the Barrier is not a continuous, abrupt ice wall, but is +interrupted by bays and small channels. On Ross's map a bay of +considerable magnitude may be seen. + +The next expedition was that of the _Southern Cross_ in 1900. It is +interesting to note that this party found the bay mentioned above at +the same place where Ross had seen it in 1841, nearly sixty years +before; that this expedition also was able to land a few miles to the +east of the large bay in a small bay, named Balloon Bight, and from +there to ascend the Ice Barrier, which heretofore had been considered +an insurmountable obstacle to further advance toward the south. + +In 1901 the _Discovery_ steamed along the Barrier and confirmed in +every respect what the _Southern Cross_ had observed. Land was also +discovered in the direction indicated by Ross, namely, King Edward VII. +Land. Scott, too, landed in Balloon Bight, and, like his predecessors, +saw the large bay to the west. + +In 1908 Shackleton arrived there on the _Nimrod_. He, too, followed +along the edge of the Ice Barrier. He came to the conclusion that +disturbances had taken place in the Ice Barrier. The shore line of +Balloon Bight, he thought, had changed and merged with the large bay to +the west. This large bay, which he thought to be of recent origin, he +named Bay of Whales. He gave up his original plan of landing there, as +the Ice Barrier appeared to him too dangerous for the establishment of +winter quarters. + +It was not difficult to determine that the bay shown on Ross's map and +the so-called Bay of Whales are identical; it was only necessary to +compare the two maps. Except for a few pieces that had broken off from +the Barrier, the bay had remained the same for the last seventy years. +It was therefore possible to assume that the bay did not owe its origin +to chance and that it must be underlaid by land, either in the form of +sand banks or otherwise. + +This bay we decided upon as our base of operations. It lies 400 miles +from the English station in McMurdo Sound and 115 miles from King +Edward VII. Land. We could therefore assume that we should be far +enough from the English sphere of interest and need not fear crossing +the route of the English expedition. The reports concerning the +Japanese station on King Edward VII. Land were indefinite: we took it +for granted, however, that a distance of 115 miles would suffice. + +On August 9, 1910, we left Norway on the _Fram_, the ship that had +originally been built for Nansen. We had ninety-seven superb Eskimo +dogs and provisions for two years. The first harbor we reached was +Madeira. There the last preparations were made for our voyage on the +Ross Barrier--truly not an insignificant distance which we had to +cover, namely, 16,000 nautical miles from Norway to the Bay of Whales. +We had estimated that this trip would require five months. The _Fram_, +which has justly been called the stanchest polar ship in the world, on +this voyage across practically all of the oceans, proved herself to be +extremely seaworthy. Thus we traversed without a single mishap the +regions of the northeast and of the southeast trades, the stormy seas +of the "roaring forties," the fogs of the fifties, the ice-filled +sixties, and reached our field of work at the Ice Barrier on January +14, 1911. Everything had gone splendidly. + +The ice in the Bay of Whales had just broken up, and we were able to +advance considerably farther south than any of our predecessors had +done. We found a quiet little nook behind a projecting ice cape; from +here we could transfer our equipment to the Barrier with comparative +safety. Another great advantage was that the Barrier at this place +descended very gradually to the sea ice, so that we had the best +possible surface for our sleds. Our first undertaking was to ascend the +Barrier in order to get a general survey and to determine a suitable +place for the erection of the house which we had brought with us. The +supposition that this part of the Barrier rests on land seemed to be +confirmed immediately by our surroundings. Instead of the smooth, flat +surface which the outer wall of the Barrier presents, we here found the +surface to be very uneven. We everywhere saw sharp hills, and points +between which there were pressure-cracks and depressions filled with +large masses of drift. These features were not of recent date. On the +contrary, it was easy to see that they were very old and that they must +have had their origin at a time which long preceded the period of +Ross's visit. + +Originally we had planned to establish our station several miles from +the edge of the Barrier, in order not to subject ourselves to the +danger of an unwelcome and involuntary sea trip, which might have +occurred had the part of the Barrier on which we erected our house +broken off. This precaution, however, was not necessary, as the +features which we observed on our first examination of the area offered +a sufficient guaranty for the stability of the Barrier at this point. + +In a small valley, hardly two and a half miles from the ship's +anchorage, we therefore selected a place for our winter quarters. It +was protected from the wind on all sides. On the next day we began +unloading the ship. We had brought with us material for house-building +as well as equipment and provisions for nine men for several years. We +divided into two groups, the ship's group and the land group. The first +was composed of the commander of the ship, Captain Nilsen, and the nine +men who were to stay on board to take the _Fram_ out of the ice and to +Buenos Aires. The other group consisted of the men who were to occupy +the winter quarters and march on to the south. The ship's group had to +unload everything from the ship upon the ice. There the land group took +charge of the cargo and brought it to the building site. At first we +were rather unaccustomed to work, as we had had little exercise on the +long sea voyage. But before long we were all "broken in," and then the +transfer to the site of our home "Framheim" went on rapidly; the house +grew daily. + +When all the material had been landed our skilled carpenters, Olav +Bjaaland and Jorgen Stubberud, began building the house. It was a +ready-made house, which we had brought with us; nothing had to be done +but to put together the various numbered parts. In order that the house +might brave all storms, its bottom rested in an excavation four feet +beneath the surface. On January 28th, fourteen days after our arrival, +the house was completed, and all provisions had been landed. A gigantic +task had been performed; everything seemed to point toward a propitious +future. But no time was to be lost; we had to make use of every minute. + +The land group had in the mean time been divided into two parties, one +of which saw to it that the provisions and equipment still lacking were +taken out of the ship. The other party was to prepare for an excursion +toward the south which had in view the exploration of the immediate +environs and the establishment of a depot. + +On February 10th the latter group marched south. There were four of us +with eighteen dogs and three sleds packed with provisions. That morning +of our start is still vividly in my memory. The weather was calm, the +sky hardly overcast. Before us lay the large, unlimited snow plain, +behind us the Bay of Whales with its projecting ice capes and at its +entrance our dear ship, the _Fram_. On board the flag was hoisted; it +was the last greeting from our comrades of the ship. No one knew +whether and when we should see each other again. In all probability our +comrades would no longer be there when we returned; a year would +probably elapse before we could meet again. One more glance backward, +one more parting greeting and then--forward. + +Our first advance on the Barrier was full of excitement and suspense. +So many questions presented themselves: What will be the nature of the +region we have to cross? How will the sleds behave? Will our equipment +meet the requirements of the situation? Have we the proper hauling +power? If we were to accomplish our object, everything had to be of the +best. Our equipment was substantially different from that of our +English competitors. We placed our whole trust on Eskimo dogs and skis, +while the English, as a result of their own experience, had abandoned +dogs as well as skis, but, on the other hand, were well equipped with +motor-sleds and ponies. + +We advanced rapidly on the smooth, white snow plain. On February 14th +we reached 80° S. We had thus covered ninety-nine miles. We established +a depot here mainly of 1,300 pounds of provisions which we intended to +use on our main advance to the south in the spring. The return journey +occupied two days; on the first we covered forty miles and on the +second fifty-seven miles. When we reached our station the _Fram_ had +already left. The bay was lonely and deserted; only seals and penguins +were in possession of the place. + +The first excursion to the south, although brief, was of great +importance to us. We now knew definitely that our equipment and our +pulling power were eminently suited to the demands upon them. In their +selection no mistake had been made. It was now for us to make use of +everything to the best advantage. + +Our sojourn at the station was only a short one. On February 22d we +were ready again to carry supplies to a more southern depot. We +intended to push this depot as far south as possible. On this occasion +our expedition consisted of eight men, seven sleds, and forty-two dogs. +Only the cook remained at "Framheim." + +On February 27th, we passed the depot which we had established at 80° +S.; we found everything in the best of order. On March 4th we reached +the eighty-first parallel and deposited there 1,150 pounds of +provisions. Three men returned from here to the station while the five +others continued toward the south and reached the eighty-second +parallel on March 8th, depositing there 1,375 pounds of provisions. We +then returned, and on March 22d were again at home. Before the winter +began we made another excursion to the depot in 80° S., and added to +our supplies there 2,400 pounds of fresh salt meat and 440 pounds of +other provisions. On April 11th we returned from this excursion; this +ended all of our work connected with the establishment of depots. Up to +that date we had carried out 6,700 pounds of provisions and had +distributed these in three repositories. + +The part of the Barrier over which we had gone heretofore has an +average height of 165 feet and looked like a flat plain which continued +with slight undulations without any marked features that could have +served for orientation. It has heretofore been the opinion that on such +an endless plain no provisions can be cached without risking their +loss. If we were, however, to have the slightest chance of reaching our +goal we had to establish depots, and that to as great an extent as +possible. This question was discussed among us, and we decided to +establish signs across our route, and not along it, as has been +generally done heretofore. We therefore set up a row of signs at right +angles to our route, that is, in an east-west direction from our +depots. Two of these signs were placed on opposite sides of each of the +three depots, at a distance of 5.6 miles (9 kilometers) from them; and +between the signs and the depot two flags were erected for every +kilometer. In addition, all flags were marked so that we might know the +direction and distance of the depot to which it referred. This +provision proved entirely trustworthy; we were able to find our depots +even in dense fog. Our compasses and pedometers were tested at the +station; we knew that we could rely upon them. + +By our excursions to the depots we had gained a great deal. We had not +only carried a large amount of provisions toward the south, but we had +also gained valuable experience. That was worth more and was to be of +value to us on our final advance to the Pole. + +The lowest temperature we had observed on these depot excursions was +-50° Centigrade. The fact that it was still summer when we recorded +this temperature warned us to see that our equipment was in good +condition. We also realized that our heavy sleds were too unwieldy and +that they could easily be made much lighter. This criticism was equally +applicable to the greater part of our equipment. + +Several days before the disappearance of the sun were devoted to +hunting seal. The total weight of the seals killed amounted to 132,000 +pounds. We therefore had ample provisions for ourselves as well as for +our 115 dogs. + +Our next problem was to supply a protective roof for our dogs. We had +brought with us ten large tents in which sixteen men could easily find +room. They were set up on the Ice Barrier; the snow was then dug out to +a depth of six and a half feet inside the tents, so that each dog hut +was nearly twenty feet high. The diameter of a dog hut on the ground +was sixteen feet. We made these huts spacious so that they might be as +airy as possible, and thus avert the frost which is so injurious to +dogs. Our purpose was entirely attained, for even in the severest +weather no dogs were frozen. The tents were always warm and +comfortable. Twelve dogs were housed in each, and every man had to take +care of his own pack. + +After we had seen to the wants of the dogs we could then think of +ourselves. As early as April the house was entirely covered by snow. In +this newly drifted snow, passageways were dug connecting directly with +the dog huts. Ample room was thus at our disposal without the need on +our part of furnishing building material. We had workshops, a +blacksmith shop, a room for sewing, one for packing, a storage room for +coal, wood, and oil, a room for regular baths and one for steam baths. +The winter might be as cold and stormy as it would; it could do us no +harm. + +On April 21st the sun disappeared and the longest night began which had +ever been experienced by man in the Antarctic. We did not need to fear +the long night, for we were well equipped with provisions for years and +had a comfortable, well-ventilated, well-situated and protected house. +In addition we had our splendid bathroom where we could take a bath +every week. It really was a veritable sanatorium. + +After these arrangements had been completed we began preparations for +the main advance in the following spring. We had to improve our +equipment and make it lighter. We discarded all our sleds, for they +were too heavy and unwieldy for the smooth surface of the Ice Barrier. +Our sleds weighed 165 pounds each. Bjaaland, our ski and sledmaker, +took the sleds in hand, and when spring arrived he had entirely made +over our sledge equipment. These sleds weighed only one-third as much +as the old ones. In the same way it was possible to reduce the weight +of all other items of our equipment. Packing the provisions for the +sledge journey was of the greatest importance. Captain Johansen +attended to this work during the winter. Each of the 42,000 loaves of +hard bread had to be handled separately before it could be assigned to +its proper place. In this way the winter passed quickly and agreeably. +All of us were occupied all the time. Our house was warm, dry, light +and airy, and we all enjoyed the best of health. We had no physician +and needed none. + +Meteorological observations were taken continuously. The results were +surprising. We had thought that we should have disagreeable, stormy +weather, but this was not the case. During the whole year of our +sojourn at the station we experienced only two moderate storms. The +rest of the time light breezes prevailed, mainly from an easterly +direction. Atmospheric pressure was as a rule very low, but remained +constant. The temperature sank considerably, and I deem it probable +that the mean annual temperature which we recorded, -26° Centigrade, is +the lowest mean temperature which has ever been observed. During five +months of the year we recorded temperatures below -50° Centigrade. On +August 23d the lowest temperature was recorded, -59°. The _aurora +australis_, corresponding to the northern lights of the Arctic, was +observed frequently and in all directions and forms. This phenomenon +changed very rapidly, but, except in certain cases, was not very +intensive. + +On August 24th the sun reappeared. The winter had ended. Several days +earlier we had put everything in the best of order, and when the sun +rose over the Barrier we were ready to start. The dogs were in fine +condition. + +From now on we observed the temperature daily with great interest, for +as long as the mercury remained below -50° a start was not to be +thought of. In the first days of September all signs indicated that the +mercury would rise. We therefore resolved to start as soon as possible. +On September 8th the temperature was -30°. We started immediately, but +this march was to be short. On the next day the temperature began to +sink rapidly, and several days later the thermometer registered -55° +Centigrade. We human beings could probably have kept on the march for +some time under such a temperature, for we were protected against the +cold by our clothing; but the dogs could not have long withstood this +degree of cold. We were therefore glad when we reached the eightieth +parallel. We deposited there our provisions and equipment in the depot +which we had previously erected and returned to "Framheim." + +The weather now became very changeable for a time--the transitional +period from winter to summer; we never knew what weather the next day +would bring. Frostbites from our last march forced us to wait until we +definitely knew that spring had really come. On September 24th we saw +at last positive evidence that spring had arrived: the seals began to +clamber up on the ice. This sign was hailed with rejoicing--not a whit +less the seal meat which Bjaaland brought on the same day. The dogs, +too, enjoyed the arrival of spring. They were ravenous for fresh seal +meat. On September 29th another unrefutable sign of spring appeared in +the arrival of a flock of Antarctic petrels. They flew around our house +inquisitively to the joy of all, not only of ourselves, but also of the +dogs. The latter were wild with joy and excitement, and ran after the +birds in hopes of getting a delicate morsel. Foolish dogs! Their chase +ended with a wild fight among themselves. + +On October 20th the weather had at last become so stable that we could +start. We had, meanwhile, changed our original plan, which was that we +should all advance southward together. We realized that we could travel +with perfect safety in two groups, and thus accomplish much more. We +arranged that three men should go to the east to explore King Edward +VII. Land; the remaining five men were to carry out the main plan, the +advance on the South Pole. + +October 20th was a beautiful day. Clear, mild weather prevailed. The +temperature was 1° Centigrade above zero. Our sleds were light, and we +could advance rapidly. We did not need to hurry our dogs, for they were +eager enough themselves. We numbered five men and fifty-two dogs with +four sleds. Together with the provisions which we had left in the three +depots at the eightieth, the eighty-first, and the eighty-second +parallels we had sufficient sustenance for 120 days. + +Two days after our departure we nearly met with a serious accident. +Bjaaland's sled fell into one of the numerous crevasses. At the +critical moment we were fortunately able to come to Bjaaland's aid; had +we been a moment later the sled with its thirteen dogs would have +disappeared in the seemingly bottomless pit. + +On the fourth day we reached our depot at 80° S. We remained there two +days and gave our dogs as much seal meat as they would eat. + +Between the eightieth and the eighty-first parallel the Barrier ice +along our route was even, with the exception of a few low undulations; +dangerous hidden places were not to be found. The region between the +eighty-first and the eighty-second parallel was of a totally different +character. During the first nineteen miles we were in a veritable +labyrinth of crevasses, very dangerous to cross. At many places yawning +abysses were visible because large pieces of the surface had broken +off; the surface, therefore, presented a very unsafe appearance. We +crossed this region four times in all. On the first three times such a +dense fog prevailed that we could only recognize objects a few feet +away. Only on the fourth occasion did we have clear weather. Then we +were able to see the great difficulties to which we had been exposed. + +On November 5th we reached the depot at the eighty-second parallel and +found everything in order. For the last time our dogs were able to have +a good rest and eat their fill; and they did so thoroughly during their +two days' rest. + +Beginning at the eightieth parallel we constructed snow cairns which +should serve as sign-posts on our return. In all we erected 150 such +sign-posts, each of which required sixty snow blocks. About 9,000 snow +blocks had therefore to be cut out for this purpose. These cairns did +not disappoint us, for they enabled us to return by exactly the same +route we had previously followed. + +South of the eighty-second parallel the Barrier was, if possible, still +more even than farther north; we therefore advanced quite rapidly. At +every unit parallel which we crossed on our advance toward the south we +established a depot. We thereby doubtlessly exposed ourselves to a +certain risk, for there was no time to set up sign-posts around the +depots. We therefore had to rely on snow cairns. On the other hand, our +sleds became lighter, so that it was never hard for the dogs to pull +them. + +When we reached the eighty-third parallel we saw land in a +southwesterly direction. This could only be South Victoria Land, +probably a continuation of the mountain range which runs in a +southeasterly direction and which is shown on Shackleton's map. From +now on the landscape changed more and more from day to day: one +mountain after another loomed up, one always higher than the other. +Their average elevation was 10,000 to 16,000 feet. Their crest-line was +always sharp; the peaks were like needles. I have never seen a more +beautiful, wild, and imposing landscape. Here a peak would appear with +somber and cold outlines, its head buried in the clouds; there one +could see snow fields and glaciers thrown together in hopeless +confusion. On November 11th we saw land to the south and could soon +determine that a mountain range, whose position is about 86° S. and +163° W., crosses South Victoria Land in an easterly and northeasterly +direction. This mountain range is materially lower than the mighty +mountains of the rest of South Victoria Land. Peaks of an elevation of +1,800 to 4,000 feet were the highest. We could see this mountain chain +as far as the eighty-fourth parallel, where it disappeared below the +horizon. + +On November 17th we reached the place where the Ice Barrier ends and +the land begins. We had proceeded directly south from our winter +quarters to this point. We were now in 85° 7' S. and 165° W. The place +where we left the Barrier for the land offered no special difficulties. +A few extended undulating reaches of ice had to be crossed which were +interrupted by crevasses here and there. Nothing could impede our +advance. It was our plan to go due south from "Framheim" and not to +deviate from this direction unless we should be forced to by obstacles +which nature might place in our path. If our plan succeeded it would be +our privilege to explore completely unknown regions and thereby to +accomplish valuable geographic work. + +The immediate ascent due south into the mountainous region led us +between the high peaks of South Victoria Land. To all intents and +purposes no great difficulties awaited us here. To be sure, we should +probably have found a less steep ascent if we had gone over to the +newly discovered mountain range just mentioned. But as we maintained +the principle that direct advance due south was the shortest way to our +goal, we had to bear the consequences. + +At this place we established our principal depot and left provisions +for thirty days. On our four sleds we took provisions with us for sixty +days. And now we began the ascent to the plateau. The first part of the +way led us over snow-covered mountain slopes, which at times were quite +steep, but not so much so as to prevent any of us from hauling up his +own sled. Farther up, we found several glaciers which were not very +broad but were very steep. Indeed, they were so steep that we had to +harness twenty dogs in front of each sled. Later the glaciers became +more frequent, and they lay on slopes so steep that it was very hard to +ascend them on our skis. On the first night we camped at a spot which +lay 2,100 feet above sea level. On the second day we continued to climb +up the mountains, mainly over several small glaciers. Our next camp for +the night was at an altitude of 4,100 feet above the sea. + +On the third day we made the disagreeable discovery that we should have +to descend 2,100 feet, as between us and the higher mountains to the +south lay a great glacier which crossed our path from east to west. +This could not be helped. The expedition therefore descended with the +greatest possible speed and in an incredibly short time we were down on +the glacier, which was named Axel Heiberg Glacier. Our camp of this +night lay at about 3,100 feet above sea level. On the following day the +longest ascent began; we were forced to follow Axel Heiberg Glacier. At +several places ice blocks were heaped up so that its surface was +hummocky and cleft by crevasses. We had therefore to make detours to +avoid the wide crevasses which, below, expanded into large basins. +These latter, to be sure, were filled with snow; the glacier had +evidently long ago ceased to move. The greatest care was necessary in +our advance, for we had no inkling as to how thick or how thin the +cover of snow might be. Our camp for this night was pitched in an +extremely picturesque situation at an elevation of about 5,250 feet +above sea level. The glacier was here hemmed in by two mountains which +were named "Fridtjof Nansen" and "Don Pedro Christophersen," both +16,000 feet high. + +Farther down toward the west at the end of the glacier "Ole Engelstad +Mountain" rises to an elevation of about 13,000 feet. At this +relatively narrow place the glacier was very hummocky and rent by many +deep crevasses, so that we often feared that we could not advance +farther. On the following day we reached a slightly inclined plateau +which we assumed to be the same which Shackleton describes. Our dogs +accomplished a feat on this day which is so remarkable that it should +be mentioned here. After having already done heavy work on the +preceding days, they covered nineteen miles on this day and overcame a +difference in altitude of 5,700 feet. On the following night we camped +at a place which lay 10,800 feet above sea level. The time had now come +when we were forced to kill some of our dogs. Twenty-four of our +faithful comrades had to die. The place where this happened was named +the "Slaughter House." On account of bad weather we had to stay here +for four days. During this stay both we and the dogs had nothing except +dog meat to eat. When we could at last start again on November 26th, +the meat of ten dogs only remained. This we deposited at our camp; +fresh meat would furnish a welcome change on our return. During the +following days we had stormy weather and thick snow flurries, so that +we could see nothing of the surrounding country. We observed, however, +that we were descending rapidly. For a moment, when the weather +improved for a short time, we saw high mountains directly to the east. +During the heavy snow squall on November 28th we passed two peculiarly +shaped mountains lying in a north-south direction; they were the only +ones that we could see on our right hand. These "Helland-Hansen +Mountains" were entirely covered by snow and had an altitude of 9,200 +feet. Later they served as an excellent landmark for us. + +On the next day the clouds parted and the sun burst forth. It seemed to +us as if we had been transferred to a totally new country. In the +direction of our advance rose a large glacier, and to the east of it +lay a mountain range running from southeast to northwest. Toward the +west, impenetrable fog lay over the glacier and obscured even our +immediate surroundings. A measurement by hypsometer gave 8,200 feet for +the point lying at the foot of this, the "Devil's Glacier." We had +therefore descended 2,600 feet since leaving the "Slaughter House." +This was not an agreeable discovery, as we, no doubt, would have to +ascend as much again, if not more. We left provisions here for six days +and continued our march. + +From the camp of that night we had a superb view of the eastern +mountain range. Belonging to it we saw a mountain of more wonderful +form than I have ever seen before. The altitude of the mountain was +12,300 feet; its peaks roundabout were covered by a glacier. It looked +as if Nature, in a fit of anger, had dropped sharp cornered ice blocks +on the mountain. This mountain was christened "Helmer-Hansen Mountain," +and became our best point of reference. There we saw also the "Oscar +Wisting Mountains," the "Olav Bjaaland Mountains," the "Sverre Hassel +Mountains," which, dark and red, glittered in the rays of the midnight +sun and reflected a white and blue light. In the distance the mountains +seen before loomed up romantically; they looked very high when one saw +them through the thick clouds and masses of fog which passed over them +from time to time and occasionally allowed us to catch glimpses of +their mighty peaks and their broken glaciers. For the first time we saw +the "Thorvald Nilsen Mountain," which has a height of 16,400 feet. + +It took us three days to climb the "Devil's Glacier." On the first of +December we had left behind us this glacier with its crevasses and +bottomless pits and were now at an elevation of 9,350 feet above sea +level. In front of us lay an inclined block-covered ice plateau which, +in the fog and snow, had the appearance of a frozen lake. Traveling +over this "Devil's Ball Room," as we called the plateau, was not +particularly pleasant. Southeasterly storms and snow flurries occurred +daily, during which we could see absolutely nothing. The floor on which +we were walking was hollow beneath us; it sounded as if we were going +over empty barrels. We crossed this disagreeable and uncanny region as +quickly as was compatible with the great care we had to exercise, for +during the whole time we were thinking of the unwelcome possibility of +sinking through. + +On December 6th we reached our highest point--according to hypsometric +measurement 11,024 feet above sea level. From there on the interior +plateau remained entirely level and of the same elevation. In 88° 23' +S. we had reached the place which corresponded to Shackleton's +southernmost advance. We camped in 88° 25' S. and established there our +last--the tenth--depot, in which we left 220 pounds of provisions. Our +way now gradually led downward. The surface was in excellent condition, +entirely level, without a single hill or undulation or other obstacle. +Our sleds forged ahead to perfection; the weather was beautiful; we +daily covered seventeen miles. Nothing prevented us from increasing our +daily distance. But we had time enough and ample provisions; we thought +it wiser, also, to spare our dogs and not to work them harder than +necessary. Without a mishap we reached the eighty-ninth parallel on +December 11th. It seemed as if we had come into a region where good +weather constantly prevails. The surest sign of continued calm weather +was the absolutely level surface. We could push a tent-pole seven feet +deep into the snow without meeting with any resistance. This proved +clearly enough that the snow had fallen in equable weather; calm must +have prevailed or a slight breeze may have blown at the most. Had the +weather been variable--calms alternating with storms--snow strata of +different density would have formed, a condition which we would +immediately have noticed when driving in our tent-poles. + +Our dead reckoning had heretofore always given the same results as our +astronomical observations. During the last eight days of our march we +had continuous sunshine. Every day we stopped at noon in order to +measure the meridian altitude and every evening we made an observation +for azimuth. On December 13th the meridian altitude gave 89° 37', dead +reckoning, 89° 38'. In latitude 88° 25' we had been able to make our +last good observation of azimuth. Subsequently this method of +observation became valueless. As these last observations gave +practically the same result and the difference was almost a constant +one, we used the observation made in 88° 25' as a basis. We calculated +that we should reach our goal on December 14th. + +December 14th dawned. It seemed to me as if we slept a shorter time, as +if we ate breakfast in greater haste, and as if we started earlier on +this morning than on the preceding days. As heretofore, we had clear +weather, beautiful sunshine, and only a very light breeze. We advanced +well. Not much was said. I think that each one of us was occupied with +his own thoughts. Probably only one thought dominated us all, a thought +which caused us to look eagerly toward the south and to scan the +horizon of this unlimited plateau. Were we the first, or----? + +The distance calculated was covered. Our goal had been reached. +Quietly, in absolute silence, the mighty plateau lay stretched out +before us. No man had ever yet seen it, no man had ever yet stood on +it. In no direction was a sign to be seen. It was indeed a solemn +moment when, each of us grasping the flagpole with one hand, we all +hoisted the flag of our country on the geographical South Pole, on +"King Haakon VII Plateau." + +During the night, as our watches showed it to be, three of our men went +around the camp in a circle 10 geographical miles (11.6 statute miles) +in diameter and erected cairns, while the other two men remained in the +tent and made hourly astronomical observations of the sun. These gave +89° 55' S. We might well have been satisfied with this result, but we +had time to spare and the weather was fine. Why should we not try to +make our observations at the Pole itself? On December 16th, therefore, +we transported our tent the remaining 5-3/4 miles to the south and +camped there. We arranged everything as comfortably as possible in +order to make a round of observations during the twenty-four hours. The +altitude was measured every hour by four men with the sextant and +artificial horizon. These observations will be worked out at the +University of Christiania. This tent camp served as the center of a +circle which we drew with a radius of 5-1/6 miles [on the circumference +of which] cairns were erected. A small tent, which we had brought with +us in order to designate the South Pole, was put up here and the +Norwegian flag with the pennant of the _Fram_ was hoisted above it. +This Norwegian home received the name of "Polheim." According to the +observed weather conditions, this tent may remain there for a long +time. In it we left a letter addressed to His Majesty, King Haakon VII, +in which we reported what we had done. The next person to come there +will take the letter with him and see to its delivery. In addition, we +left there several pieces of clothing, a sextant, an artificial +horizon, and a hypsometer. + +On December 17th we were ready to return. On our journey to the Pole we +had covered 863 miles, according to the measurements of the odometer; +our mean daily marches were therefore 15 miles. When we left the Pole +we had three sleds and seventeen dogs. We now experienced the great +satisfaction of being able to increase our daily rations, a measure +which previous expeditions had not been able to carry out, as they were +all forced to reduce their rations, and that at an early date. For the +dogs, too, the rations were increased, and from time to time they +received one of their comrades as additional food. The fresh meat +revived the dogs and undoubtedly contributed to the good results of the +expedition. + +One last glance, one last adieu, we sent back to "Polheim." Then we +resumed our journey. We still see the flag; it still waves to us. +Gradually it diminishes in size and finally entirely disappears from +our sight. A last greeting to the Little Norway lying at the South +Pole! + +We left King Haakon VII Plateau, which lay there bathed in sunshine, as +we had found it on our outward journey. The mean temperature during our +sojourn there was--13° Centigrade. It seemed, however, as though the +weather was much milder. + +I shall not tire you by a detailed description of our return, but shall +limit myself to some of the interesting episodes. + +The splendid weather with which we were favored on our return displayed +to us the panorama of the mighty mountain range which is the +continuation of the two ranges which unite in 86° S. The newly +discovered range runs in a southeasterly direction and culminates in +domes of an elevation of 10,000 to over 16,000 feet. In 88° S. this +range disappears in the distance below the horizon. The whole complex +of newly discovered mountain ranges, which may extend a distance of +over 500 miles, has been named the Queen Maud Ranges. + +We found all of our ten provision depots again. The provisions, of +which we finally had a superabundance, were taken with us to the +eightieth parallel and cached there. From the eighty-sixth parallel on +we did not need to apportion our rations; every one could eat as much +as he desired. + +After an absence of ninety-nine days we reached our winter quarters, +"Framheim," on January 25th. We had, therefore, covered the journey of +864 miles in thirty-nine days, during which we did not allow ourselves +any days of rest. Our mean daily march, therefore, amounted to 22.1 +miles. At the end of our journey two of our sleds were in good +condition and eleven dogs healthy and happy. Not once had we needed to +help our dogs and to push the sleds ourselves. + +Our provisions consisted of pemmican, biscuits, desiccated milk, and +chocolate. We therefore did not have very much variety, but it was +healthful and robust nourishment which built up the body, and it was, +of course, just this that we needed. The best proof of this was that we +felt well during the whole time and never had reason to complain of our +food, a condition which has occurred so often on long sledge journeys +and must be considered a sure indication of improper nourishment. + +Simultaneously with our work on land, scientific observations were made +on board the _Fram_ by Captain Nilsen and his companions which probably +stamp this expedition as the most valuable of all. The _Fram_ made a +voyage from Buenos Aires to the coast of Africa and back, covering a +distance of 8,000 nautical miles, during which a series of +oceanographical observations was made at no less than sixty stations. +The total length of the _Fram's_ journey equaled twice the +circumnavigation of the globe. The _Fram_ has successfully braved +dangerous voyages which made high demands upon her crew. The trip out +of the ice region in the fall of 1911 was of an especially serious +character. Her whole complement then comprised only ten men. Through +night and fog, through storm and hurricane, through pack ice and +between icebergs the _Fram_ had to find her way. One may well say that +this was an achievement that can be realized only by experienced and +courageous sailors, a deed that honors the whole nation. + +In conclusion, you will allow me to say that it was these same ten men, +who on February 15, 1911, hoisted the flag of their country, the +Norwegian flag, on a more southerly point of the earth than the crew of +any other ship whose keel ever cleft the waves. This is a worthy record +in our record century. Farthest north, farthest south did our dear old +_Fram_ penetrate. + + + + +THE CHINESE REVOLUTION A.D. 1912 + +ROBERT MACHRAY R.F. JOHNSTON TAI-CHI QUO + +The story of "China's Awakening" in 1905 was told in our preceding +volume. Most startling and most important of the results of this +arousing was the sudden successful revolution by which China became a +republic. This Chinese Revolution burst into sudden blaze in October, +1911, and reached a triumphant close on February 12, 1912, when the +Royal Edict, given in the following article, was proclaimed at Peking. +In this remarkable edict the ancient sovereigns of China deliberately +abdicated, and declared the Chinese Republic established. + +We give here the account of the revolution itself and of its causes, by +the well-known English writer on Eastern affairs, Robert Machray. Then +comes a discussion of the doubtful wisdom of the movement by a European +official who has long dwelt in China, Mr. R.F. Johnston, District +Officer of Wei-hai-wei. Then a patriotic Chinaman, educated in one of +the colleges of America, gives the enthusiastic view of the +revolutionists themselves, their opinion of their victories, and their +high hopes for the future. + +ROBERT MACHRAY + +With Yuan Shih-kai acknowledged as President by both the north and the +south, by Peking and Nanking alike, "The Great Republic of China," as +it is called by those who have been mainly instrumental in bringing it +into being, appears to have established itself, or at least it enters +upon the first definite stage of its existence. Thus opens a fresh +volume, of extraordinary interest as of incalculable importance, in the +history of the Far East. + +Even in the days of the great and autocratic Dowager Empress, Tzu Hsi, +who had no love for "reform," but knew how to accept and adapt herself +to the situation, it was evident that a change, deeply influencing the +political life and destinies of China, was in process of development. +After her death, in 1908, the force and sweep of this momentous +movement were still more apparent--it took on the character of +something irresistible and inevitable; the only question was whether +the change would be accomplished by way of evolution--gradual, orderly, +and conservative--or by revolution, or a series of revolutions, +probably violent and sanguinary, and perhaps disastrous to the dynasty +and the country. The events of the last few months have supplied the +answer--at any rate, to a certain extent. A successful revolution has +taken place, in which, it is true, many thousands have been killed, but +which on the whole has not been attended by the slaughter and carnage +that might have been anticipated considering the vastness of the +country and the enormous interests involved. Actual warfare gave way to +negotiations conducted in a spirit of moderation and of give-and-take +on the part of all concerned. The Manchu dynasty has collapsed, though +the "Emperor" still remains as a quasi-sacred, priestly personage, and +the princes have been pensioned off. The Great Republic of China has +come into being, albeit it is in large measure inchoate and, as it +were, on trial. China has long been the land of rebellions and risings, +and it is hardly to be expected that the novel republican form of +government, however well constructed, intentioned, or conducted, will +escape altogether from internal attacks. And nearly everything has yet +to be done in organization. + +General surprise has been expressed at the comparative ease and speed +with which the revolutionary movement has attained success in driving +the Manchus from power and in founding a republican _rĂ©gime_. The +factor which chiefly contributed to this success was undoubtedly the +weakness of the Manchu dynasty and of the Imperial Clan, who, hated by +the Chinese and without sufficient resources of their own, were utterly +unable to offer any real resistance to the rebellious provinces of the +south, the loyalty of their troops being uncertain, and any spirit or +gift of leadership among themselves having disappeared with the passing +of the great Tzu Hsi in 1908. But it is a mistake to imagine that the +idea of a republican form of government in place of the centuries-old, +autocratic, semi-divine monarchy, was something that had never been +mooted before and was entirely unknown to the Chinese. To the great +majority, no doubt, it was, if known at all, something strange and +hardly intelligible, as it still is. But in the south, especially on +and near the coast, it has been familiar for some time; among the +possibilities of the future it was not unknown even to the "Throne." +Fourteen years ago, after the _coup d'Ă©tat_ by which Tzu Hsi smashed +the reform movement that had been patronized by the Emperor Kuang Hsu, +the then Viceroy of Canton stated in a memorial to her that among some +treasonable papers found at the birthplace of Kang Yu-wei, the leading +reformer of the time, a document had been discovered which not only +spoke of substituting a republic for the monarchy, but actually named +as its first president one of the reformers she had caused to be +executed. It must be admitted, on the other hand, that the idea has +been imported into China comparatively recently; the Chinese language +contains no word for republic, but one has been coined by putting +together the words for self and government; it must be many years +before the masses of the Chinese--the "rubbish people," as Lo Feng-lu, +a former minister to England, used to call them--have any genuine +understanding of what a republic means. + +The Manchus were in power for nearly two hundred and seventy years, and +during that period there were various risings, some of a formidable +character, against them and in favor of descendants of the native Ming +dynasty which they had displaced; powerful secret organizations, such +as the famous "Triad Society," plotted and conspired to put a Ming +prince on the throne; but all was vain. It had come to be generally +believed that the race of the Mings had died out, but a recent dispatch +from China speaks of there still being a representative in existence, +who possibly might give serious trouble to the new republic. In any +case, for a long time past the Mings had ceased to give the Manchus any +concern; the pressure upon the latter came from outside the empire, but +that in its turn reacted profoundly on the internal situation. The wars +with France and England had but a slight effect on China; though the +foreign devils beat it in war it yet despised them. The effect of the +war with Japan, in 1894, was something quite different, beginning the +real awakening of China and imparting life and vigor to the new reform +movement which had its origin in Canton, the great city of the south, +whose highly intelligent people have most quickly felt and most readily +and strongly responded to outside influences. Regarded by the Chinese +as at least partially civilized, the Japanese were placed in a higher +category than the Western barbarians, but as their triumph over China +was attributed to their adoption of Western military methods and +equipment, the more enlightened Chinese came to the conclusion that, +however contemptible the men of the Western world were, the main secret +of their success, as of that of Japan, was open enough. They decided +that Western learning and modes of government and organization must be +studied and copied, as Japan had studied and copied them, if the +Celestial Empire was to endure. It was a case on the largest scale of +self-preservation, and some part, at least, of the truth was glimpsed +by the Throne itself. + +Something, but not much, was heard of a republic while Tzu Hsi lived; +before her death the principle of a constitution, with a national +parliament and provincial assemblies, had been accepted by the +Throne--with reservations limiting the spheres of these representative +bodies, retaining the supreme power in the Throne, and in the case of +the national parliament delaying its coming into existence for a term +of years. + +By Tzu Hsi's commands, the Throne passed at her death into the hands of +a sort of commission; a child of two years of age, a nephew of Kuang +Hsu, called Pu Yi, became Emperor under the dynastic name of Hsuan +Tung; his father, Prince Chun, was nominated Regent, but was ordered to +consult the new Dowager Empress, Lung Yu, the widow of Kuang Hsu, and +to be governed by her decisions in all important matters of State. +Prince Chun, amiable in disposition but weak and vacillating in +character, and not always on the best of terms with Lung Yu, began +well; one of his first acts was to assure President Taft, who had +written entreating him to expedite reforms as making for the true +interests of China, that he was determined to pursue that policy. Among +those who had suggested reforms to Tzu Hsi, often going far beyond her +wishes or plans, but who steadily supported her in all she did in that +direction, the leading man was Yuan Shih-kai; with the possible +exception of Chang Chih-tung, the Viceroy of Hunan and Hupeh, mentioned +above, Yuan Shih-kai had become the greatest man in China, and even as +he had advised and supported Tzu Hsi, so he advised and supported +Prince Chun at the commencement of the Regency. But the prince had +received an unfortunate legacy from his brother, the Emperor Kuang Hsu, +who, believing that Yuan Shih-kai had betrayed him to Tzu Hsi at the +time of the _coup d'Ă©tat,_ had given instructions to Prince Chun that +if he came into power he was to punish Yuan for his treachery. At the +beginning of 1909 the Regent dismissed Yuan on an apparently trivial +pretext, but every one in China knew the real reason for his fall, and +not a few wondered that his life had been spared. It is idle to surmise +what might have happened if his services had been retained by the +Throne all the time, but who could have imagined that so swift and +almost incredible an instance of time's revenges was in store--that +within barely three years Yuan Shih-kai would be the acknowledged head +of the State, and Prince Chun and all the Manchus in the dust? + +Representative government of a kind started in 1909 with the +establishment of provincial assemblies; elections were held, and +assemblies met in most of the provinces. In the following year a senate +or imperial assembly was decreed by an imperial edict; its first +session was held in Peking in October of that year, and was opened by +the Regent; one of the first things the assembly did was to memorialize +the Throne for the rapid hastening on of reforms, and in response an +edict was issued announcing the formation of a national parliament, +consisting of an Upper and a Lower House, within three years. Under +further pressure the Throne in May of 1911 abolished the Grand Council +and the Grand Secretariat, and created a Cabinet of Ministers, after +the Western model. But the agitation continued and went on growing in +intensity; still it sought nothing apparently but a development of the +constitution, and at least on the surface was neither anti-dynastic nor +republican. + +An anti-dynastic outburst at Changsha, Hunan, in 1910, was easily +suppressed, and certainly gave no indication of what was so soon to +take place. So late as September of 1911 a rising on a considerable +scale in the province of Szechuan was not antidynastic, but was +declared by the rebels themselves to be directed against the railway +policy of the Government. The best hope for China lies in a wide +building of railways; the Chinese do not object to them, but, on the +contrary, make use of them to the fullest extent where they are in +existence; they do not wish, however, the lines to be constructed with +foreign money, holding that such investments of capital from without +might be regarded as setting up liens on their lands in favor of +outside Powers--how far they can do without outside capital is another +matter. Then the whole question of railway-building involved the old +quarrel between the provinces and the central government--which is +another way of saying that the provinces did not see why all the spoils +should go to Peking. + +A month after the rebellion in Szechuan had broken out, the great +revolution began, and met with the most astonishing success from the +very outset. Within a few weeks practically the whole of southern China +was in the hands of the revolutionaries, and the Throne in hot panic +summoned Yuan Shih-kai from his retirement to its assistance; after +some hesitation and delay he came--but too late to save the dynasty and +the Manchus, though there is no shadow of doubt that he did his best +and tried his utmost to save them. With Wuchang, Hankau, and +Hanyang--the three form the metropolis, as it may be termed, of +mid-China--in the possession of the revolutionaries, and other great +centers overtly disaffected or disloyal, the Regent opened the session +of the national assembly, and it forthwith proceeded to assert itself +and make imperious demands with which the Throne was compelled to +comply--this was within a fortnight after the attack on Wuchang that +had begun the revolution. On November 1st the Throne appointed Yuan +Shih-kai Prime Minister, and a week later the national assembly +confirmed him in the office; he arrived in Peking on the thirteenth of +the month, was received in semi-regal state, and immediately instituted +such measures as were possible for the security of the dynasty and the +pacification of the country. But ten days before he reached Peking the +Throne had been forced to issue an edict assenting to the principles +which the national assembly had set forth in nineteen articles as +forming the basis of the Constitution; these articles, while preserving +the dynasty and keeping sacrosanct the person of the Emperor, made the +monarchy subject to the Constitution and the Government to Parliament, +with a responsible Cabinet presided over by a Prime Minister, and gave +Parliament full control of the budget. + +Here, then, was the triumph of the constitutional cause, and Yuan +Shih-kai and most of the moderate progressive Chinese would have been +well satisfied with it if it had contented the revolutionaries of the +south. But from the beginning the southerners had made it plain that +they were determined to bring about the abdication of the dynasty, the +complete overthrow of the Manchus, and the establishment of a +republican form of government, nor would they lay down their arms on +any other terms. In a short time Yuan Shih-kai saw that the +revolutionaries were powerful enough to compel consideration and at +least partial acquiescence in their demands. It can not be thought +surprising that the proposed elimination of the hated Manchus from the +Government was popular, yet it must seem remarkable that the +revolutionary movement was so definitely republican in its aims, and as +such achieved so much success. There had been little open agitation in +favor of a republic, but the ground had been prepared for it to a +certain extent by a secret propaganda. The foreign-drilled troops of +the army were disaffected in many cases and were approached with some +result; the eager spirits of the party in the south, where practically +the whole strength of the movement lay, formed an alliance with certain +of the officers of these troops. No sooner was the revolution begun +than a military leader appeared in the person of Li Yuan-hung, a +brigadier-general, who had commanded a considerable body of these +foreign-drilled soldiers, and was supported by large numbers of such +men in the fighting in and around Wuchang-Hankau. That the +revolutionaries, who were chiefly of the student class, and not of the +"solid" people of the country, were able to enlist the active +cooperation of these officers and their troops accounts for the quick +and astonishing success of the movement. And at the outset, whatever is +the case now, many of the solid people--magistrates, gentry, and +substantial merchants--also indorsed it. + +Toward the end of November the revolutionaries captured Nanking, a +decisive blow to the imperialists, and this former capital of China +became the headquarters of a Provisional Republican Government. Soon +afterward, through the good offices of Great Britain, a truce was +arranged between the north and the south. Yuan Shih-kai was striving +with all his might to retain the dynasty as a limited monarchy, but +"coming events cast their shadows before" in the resignation of the +Regent early in December. Negotiations went on between Yuan, who was +represented at a conference held in Shanghai by Tang Shao-yi, an able +and patriotic man and a protĂ©gĂ© of his own, and the revolutionaries, +but the leaders of the latter made it clear that there could be no +peaceful solution of the situation short of the abdication of the +dynasty and the institution of some form of republic. At the end of +December Dr. Sun Yat-sen, whose striking and romantic story is well +known, was appointed Provisional President by Nanking; in January he +published a manifesto to the people of China, bitterly attacking the +dynasty, promising that the republic would recognize treaty +obligations, the foreign loans and concessions, and declaring that it +aimed at the general improvement of the country, the remodeling of the +laws, and the cultivation of better relations with the Powers. + +Meanwhile, the Dowager Empress and the Manchu princes had discussed the +position of affairs with Yuan Shih-kai, and the question of the +abdication of the dynasty was under consideration, but though the +situation was desperate there were some counsels of resistance. What +finally made opposition impossible was the presentation to the Throne +in the last days of January of a memorial, signed by the generals of +the northern army, requesting it to abandon any idea of maintaining +itself by force. This settled the matter. No other course being +practicable, terms were agreed to between Peking and Nanking, and on +February 12th imperial edicts, commencing for the last time with the +customary formula, were issued from the capital giving Yuan Shih-kai +plenary powers to establish a Provisional Republican Government, and to +confer with the Provisional Republican Government at Nanking, approving +of the arrangements which had been made for the Emperor and the +imperial family, and exhorting the people to remain tranquil under the +new rĂ©gime. These edicts will remain among the most remarkable things +in history, and it can not be said that the passing of the Manchus was +attended by any want of that ceremonious calmness and dignity for which +China is famed. Two or three days later Sun Yat-sen in a disinterested +spirit resigned, and Yuan Shih-kai was unanimously elected President by +the Nanking Assembly; Yuan accepted the office, and thus north and +south were united in "The Great Republic of China." At the end of March +progress in the settlement of affairs was seen in the formation of a +Coalition Cabinet, comprising Ministers of both the Peking and the +Nanking Governments, those selected being men with a considerable +knowledge of Western life and thought, as, for instance, Lu +Cheng-hsiang, the Foreign Minister, who has lived many years in Europe +and speaks French as well as English. A further advance took place on +April 2d, when the Nanking Assembly agreed by a large majority to +transfer the Provisional Government to Peking, which thus resumed its +position as the capital of the country and the center of its +Administration. + +Among the causes which contributed to the success of the revolution +were the inability of the north to obtain loans from outside, and the +pressure, both direct and indirect, exerted upon both parties by +foreign Powers. Both of these causes were important, the latter +especially so. The action of Russia with respect to Mongolia, and of +Japan with regard to Manchuria, alarmed patriotic Chinese, led them to +fear that foreign interference might not be confined to these +territories, and to dread that the result would be the disintegration +of the country. Under the Manchus they had seen the loss of Korea, the +Liaotung, Formosa, and, in a sense, of Manchuria itself; they were +apprehensive of German designs in Shantung, of Japanese in Fuhkien. The +feeling that the country was in danger helped both sides to be of one +mind. But the pressure from the outside was not all of this sinister +sort; friendly representations from the genuinely well-disposed Powers +did a good deal to bring the combatants to a mutual understanding. But +throughout the revolution, as in the final result, the great +outstanding, commanding figure was Yuan Shih-kai himself. Evidently a +man of great gifts, he knew how and when to yield and how and when to +be firm; the compromise which solved the situation--at all events, for +the time--was mostly his work; statesman and patriot, he saved his +country. And it will always redound to his credit that he can not be +charged with faithlessness to the Manchus, for he did all that was +possible for them, standing by them to the last. By retaining the +"Emperor" as the priestly head of the nation, _pater patriae_, +according to Chinese ideas, he has left something to the Manchus and at +the same time contrived that the republican form of government shall +bring as slight a shock to "immemorial China" as can be imagined. + +What does this "immemorial China"--meaning thereby the great bulk of +the Chinese, the un-Westernized Chinese--think of the republic? In +other words, is the republic likely to last? What sort of republic will +it probably be, viewing the situation as it stands? At one of the early +stages of the revolution Yuan Shih-kai stated that only three-tenths of +his countrymen were in favor of a republic--in itself, however, a +considerable proportion of the population; now that the republic is in +existence, will it be accepted tranquilly by the rest? The majority of +these people are the inoffensive and industrious peasants of the +interior, who have long been accustomed to bad government; as they will +scarcely find their lot harder now, they will probably quietly accept +the new order, unless some radical change is made affecting their +habits of life, which is unlikely. Some of the old conservative gentry +are opposed to the republic; but, now the Manchu dynasty is gone, whom +or what can they suggest in its place that would be received favorably +by the country? The descendant of the Mings? Or the descendant of +Confucius? + +Neither seems a likely candidate in present circumstances. For it may +very well be the case that as the revolution has been so largely +military, and parts of the army need careful handling, as the recent +riots in Peking showed, the Republican Government will assume something +of a distinctively military character, and Yuan Shih-kai, as its head, +be in a position not very different from that of a military +dictator--as Diaz was in Mexico. The republic will, of course, have its +troubles, and serious ones enough, to face, but the balance of +probabilities certainly suggests its lasting awhile. + + +R.F. JOHNSTON + +Like political upheavals in other ages and other lands, the Chinese +revolution has been the outcome of the hopes and dreams of impetuous +and indomitable youth. Herein lies one of its main sources of strength, +but herein also lies a very grave danger. Young China to-day looks to +Europe and to America for sympathy. Let her have it in full measure. +Only let us remind her that the work she has so boldly, and perhaps +light-heartedly, undertaken is not only the affair of China, not only +the affair of Asia, but that the whole world stands to gain or lose +according as the Chinese people prove themselves worthy or unworthy to +carry out the stupendous task to which they have set their hands. + +The grave peril lies, of course, in the tendency of the Chinese +"Progressives"--as of all hot-headed reformers, whether in China or in +England--to break with the traditions of past ages, and to despise what +is old, not because it is bad, but because it is out of harmony with +the latest political shibboleth. Those of us who believe in the +fundamental soundness of the character of the Chinese people, and are +aware of the high dignity and value of a large part of their inherited +civilization and culture, are awaiting with deep anxiety an answer to +this question: Is the New China about to cast herself adrift from the +Old? + +But surely, many a Western observer may exclaim, the matter is settled +already! Surely the abolition of the monarchy is in itself a proof that +the Chinese have definitely broken with tradition! Was not the Emperor +a sacred being who represented an unbroken political continuity of +thousands of years, and who ruled by divine right? Was not loyalty to +the sovereign part of the Chinese religion? + +These questions can not be answered with a simple yes or no. Reverence +for tradition has always been a prominent Chinese characteristic in +respect of both ethics and politics. We must beware of assuming too +hastily that the exhortations of a few frock-coated revolutionaries +have been sufficient to expel this reverence for tradition from Chinese +hearts and minds; yet we are obliged to admit that the national +aspirations are being directed toward a new set of ideals which in some +respects are scarcely consistent with the ideals aimed at (if rarely +attained) in the past. + +The Chinese doctrine of loyalty can not be properly understood until we +have formed a clear conception of the traditional Chinese theory +concerning the nature of Political Sovereignty. The political edifice, +no less than the social, is built on the Confucian and pre-Confucian +foundation of filial piety. The Emperor is father of his people; the +whole population of the empire forms one vast family, of which the +Emperor is the head. As a son owes obedience and reverence to his +parent, so does the subject owe reverence and obedience to his +sovereign. + +In the four thousand years and more that have elapsed since the days of +YĂ¼, over a score of dynasties have in their turn reigned over China. +The _Shu Ching_--the Chinese historical classic--gives us full accounts +of the events which led to the fall of the successive dynasties of Hsia +(1766 B.C.) and Shang (1122 B.C.). In both cases we find that the +leader of the successful rebellion lays stress on the fact that the +_T'ien-ming_ (Divine right) has been forfeited by the dynasty of the +defeated Emperor, and that he, the successful rebel, has been but an +instrument in the hands of God. Thus the rebel becomes Emperor by right +of the Divine Decree, and it remains with his descendants until by +their misdeeds they provoke heaven into bestowing it upon another +house. + +The teachings of the sages of China are in full accordance with the +view that the sovereign must rule well or not at all. Confucius +(551-479 B.C.) spent the greater part of his life in trying to instruct +negligent princes in the art of government, and we know from a +well-known anecdote that he regarded a bad government as "worse than a +tiger." We are told that when one of his disciples asked Confucius for +a definition of good statecraft, he replied that a wise ruler is one +who provides his subjects with the means of subsistence, protects the +state against its enemies, and strives to deserve the confidence of all +his people. And the most important of these three aims, said Confucius, +is the last: for without the confidence of the people no government can +be maintained. If the prince's commands are just and good, let the +people obey them, said Confucius, in reply to a question put by a +reigning duke; but if subjects render slavish obedience to the unjust +commands of a bad ruler, it is not the ruler only, but his sycophantic +subjects themselves, who will be answerable for the consequent ruin of +the state. So far from counseling perpetual docility on the part of the +governed, Confucius clearly indicates that circumstances may arise +which make opposition justifiable. The minister, he says, should not +fawn upon the ruler of whose actions he disapproves: let him show his +disapproval openly. + +Mencius, the "Second Sage" of China (372-289 B.C.), is far more +outspoken than Confucius in his denunciation of bad rulers. There was +no sycophancy in the words which he uttered during an interview with +King Hsuan of the State of Ch'i. "When the prince treats his ministers +with respect, as though they were his own hands and feet, they in their +turn look up to him as the source from which they derive nourishment; +when he treats them like his dogs and horses, they regard him as no +more worthy of reverence than one of their fellow subjects; when he +treats them as though they were dirt to be trodden on, they retaliate +by regarding him as a robber and a foe." It is interesting to learn +that this passage in Mencius so irritated the first sovereign of the +Ming dynasty (1368-1398 A.D.) that he caused the "spirit-tablet" of the +sage to be removed from the Confucian Temple, to which it had been +elevated about three centuries earlier; but the remonstrances of the +scholars of the empire soon compelled the Emperor to revoke his decree, +and the tablet of Mencius was restored to its place of honor, from +which it was never subsequently degraded. It is no matter for surprize +that the people have reverenced the "Second Sage," for he it was who +has come nearest in China to the enunciation of the somewhat doubtful +principle, _Vox populi vox Dei_. + +It was unmistakably the view of Mencius that a bad ruler may be put to +death by the subjects whom he has misgoverned. King Hsuan was once +discussing with him the successful rebellions against the last +sovereigns of the Hsia and Shang dynasties, and, with reference to the +slaying of the infamous King Chou (1122 B.C.), asked whether it was +allowable for a minister to put his sovereign to death. Mencius, in his +reply, observed that the man who outrages every principle of virtue and +good conduct is rightly treated as a mere robber and villain. "I have +heard of the killing of a robber and a villain named Chou; I have not +heard about the killing of a king." That is to say, Chou by his +rascality had already forfeited all the rights and privileges of +kingship before he was actually put to death. + +On another occasion Mencius was questioned about the duties of +ministers and royal relatives. "If the sovereign rules badly," he said, +"they should reprove him; if he persists again and again in +disregarding their advice, they should dethrone him." The prince for +whose edification the philosopher uttered these daring sentiments +looked grave. "I pray your Majesty not to take offense," said Mencius. +"You asked me for my candid opinion, and I have told you what it is." + +Several other passages of similar purport might be cited from Mencius, +but two more will suffice. "Let us suppose," said the sage, "that a man +who is about to proceed on a long journey entrusts the care of his wife +and family to a friend. On his return he finds that the faithless +friend has allowed his wife and children to suffer from cold and +hunger. What should he do with such a friend?" "He should treat him +thenceforth as a stranger," replied King Hsuan. "And suppose," +continued Mencius, "that your Majesty had a minister who was utterly +unable to control his subordinates: how would you deal with such a +one?" "I should dismiss him from my service," said the King. "And if +throughout all your realm there is no good government, what is to be +done then?" The embarrassed King, we are told, "looked this way and +that, and changed the subject." + +The last of Mencius's teachings on kingship to which we shall refer is +perhaps the most remarkable of all. "The most important element in a +State," he says emphatically, "is the people; next come the altars of +the national gods; least in importance is the king." + +These citations from the revered classics should be sufficient to prove +that the people of China are not necessarily cutting themselves adrift +from the traditions of ages and the teachings of their philosophers +when they rise in their might to overthrow an incompetent dynasty. For +it can not be denied that China has known little prosperity under the +later rulers of the Manchu line, and when the revolutionary leaders +declared that the reigning house had forfeited the _T'ien-ming_ we must +admit that they had ample justification for their belief that such was +the case. But many Western friends of China, while fully recognizing +the right of the people to remove the Manchus, entertain very grave +doubts as to the wisdom of abolishing the monarchy altogether and the +establishment of a republican government in its stead. The _T'ien-ming_ +has always passed from dynasty to dynasty, never from dynasty to +people. From the remotest days of which we have record, the Chinese +system of government has been monarchic. If the revolutionaries can +break tradition to the extent of abolishing the imperial dignity, what +guaranty have we that they will not break with tradition in every other +respect as well, and so destroy the foundations on which the whole +edifice of China's social, political, and religious life has rested +through all the centuries of her known history? + +Whether the Chinese people--as distinct from a few foreign-educated +reformers--do, as a matter of fact, honestly believe that a republican +government is adapted to the needs of the country, is a very different +question. It certainly has not been proved that "the whole nation is +now inclined toward a republic"--in spite of the admission to that +effect contained in the imperial Edict of abdication. Perhaps it would +be nearer the truth to say that the overwhelming majority of the people +of China have not the slightest idea what a republic means, and how +their lives and fortunes will be affected by its establishment, and +therefore hold no strong opinions concerning the advantages or +disadvantages of republican government. + +It can not be denied, however, that the social system under which the +Chinese people have lived for untold ages has in some ways made them +more fit for self-government than any other people in the world. It +would be well if Europeans--and especially Englishmen--would try to rid +themselves of the obsolete notion that every Oriental race, as such, is +only fit for a despotic form of government. Perhaps only those who have +lived in the interior of China and know something of the organization +of family and village, township and clan, are able to realize to how +great an extent the Chinese have already learned the arts of +self-government. It was not without reason that a Western authority +(writing before the outbreak of the revolution) described China as "the +greatest republic the world has ever seen." + +The momentous Edict in which the Manchu house signed away its imperial +heritage was issued on the twelfth day of February, 1912. It contains +many noteworthy features, but the words which are of special interest +from the constitutional point of view I translate as follows: "The +whole nation is now inclined toward a republican form of government. +The southern and central provinces first gave clear evidence of this +inclination, and the military leaders of the northern provinces have +since promised their support in the same cause. _By observing the +nature of the people's aspirations we learn the Will of Heaven +(T'ien-ming)._ It is not fitting that We should withstand the desires +of the nation merely for the sake of the glorification of Our own +House. We recognize the signs of the age, and We have tested the trend +of popular opinion; and We now, with the Emperor at Our side, invest +the Nation with the Sovereign Power and decree the establishment of a +constitutional government on a republican basis. In coming to this +decision, We are actuated not only by a hope to bring solace to Our +subjects, who long for the cessation of political tumult, but also by a +desire to follow the precepts of the Sages of old who taught that +political sovereignty rests ultimately with the people." + +Such was the dignified and yet pathetic swan-song of the dying Manchu +dynasty. Whatever our political sympathies may be, we are not obliged +to withhold our tribute of compassion for the sudden and startling +collapse of a dynasty that has ruled China--not always +inefficiently--for the last two hundred and sixty-seven years. + +The Abdication Edict can not fail to be of interest to students of the +science of politics. The Throne itself is converted into a bridge to +facilitate the transition from the monarchical to the republican form +of government. The Emperor remains absolute to the last, and the very +Republican Constitution, which involves his own disappearance from +political existence, is created by the fiat of the Emperor in his last +official utterance. Theoretically, the Republic is established not by a +people in arms acting in opposition to the imperial will, but by the +Emperor acting with august benevolence for his people's good. The cynic +may smile at the transparency of the attempt to represent the +abdication as entirely voluntary, but in this procedure we find +something more than a mere "face-saving" device intended for the +purpose of effecting a dignified retreat in the hour of disaster. + +Perhaps the greatest interest of the decree centers in its appeal to +the wisdom of the national sages, and its acceptance of their theory as +to the ultimate seat of political sovereignty. The heart of the drafter +may have quailed when he wrote the words that signified the surrender +of the imperial power, but the spirit of Mencius guided his hand. It +now remains for us to hope that the teachings of the wise men of old, +which have been obeyed to such momentous issues by the last of the +Emperors, will not be treated with contempt by his Republican +successors. + + +TAI-CHI QUO + +The entire civilized world, as well as China, is to be heartily +congratulated upon the glorious revolution which has been sweeping over +that vast ancient empire, and which is now practically assured of +success. "Just as conflagrations light up the whole city," says Victor +Hugo, "revolutions light up the whole human race." Of no revolution +recorded in the world's history can this be said with a greater degree +of truth than of the present revolution in China. It spells the +overthrow of monarchy, which has existed there for over forty +centuries, and the downfall of a dynasty which has been the enemy of +human progress for the last two hundred and seventy years. It effects +the recognition and establishment of personal liberty, the sovereignty +of man over himself, for four hundred and thirty-two million souls, +one-third of the world's total population. + +The Chinese revolution marks, in short, a great, decisive step in the +onward march of human progress. It benefits not only China, but the +whole world, for just as a given society should measure its prosperity +not by the welfare of a group of individuals, but by the welfare of the +entire community, so must humanity estimate its progress according to +the well-being of the whole human race. Society can not be considered +to be in a far advanced stage of civilization if one-third of the +globe's inhabitants are suffering under the oppression and tyranny of a +one-man rule. Democracy can not be said to exist if a great portion of +the people on the earth have not even political freedom. Real democracy +exists only when all men are free and equal. Hence, any movement which +brings about the recognition and establishment of personal liberty for +one-third of the members of the human family, as the Chinese revolution +is doing, may well be pronounced to be beneficial to mankind. + +But is it really true and credible that conservative, slumbering, and +"mysterious" China is actually having a revolution, that beautiful and +terrible thing, that angel in the garb of a monster? If it is, what is +the cause of the revolution? What will be its ultimate outcome? What +will follow its success? Will a republic be established and will it +work successfully? These and many other questions pertaining to the +Chinese situation have been asked, not only by skeptics, but also by +persons interested in China and human progress. + +There can be no doubt that China is in earnest about what she is doing. +Even the skeptics who called the revolution a "mob movement," or +another "Boxer uprising," at its early stage must now admit the truth +of the matter. The admirable order and discipline which have +characterized its proceedings conclusively prove that the revolution is +a well-organized movement, directed by men of ability, intelligence, +and humanitarian principles. Sacredness of life and its rights, for +which they are fighting, have generally guided the conduct of the +rebels. The mob element has been conspicuous by its absence from their +ranks. It is very doubtful whether a revolution involving such an +immense territory and so many millions of people as are involved in +this one could be effected with less bloodshed than has thus far marked +the Chinese revolution. If some allowance be made for exaggeration in +the newspaper reports of the loss of lives and of the disorders that +have occurred during the struggle, allowance which is always +permissible and even wise for one to make, there has been very little +unnecessary bloodshed committed by the revolutionists. + +Although anti-Manchu spirit was a prominent factor in bringing about +the uprising, it has been subordinated by the larger idea of humanity. +With the exception of a few instances of unnecessary destruction of +Manchu lives at the beginning of the outbreak, members of that tribe +have been shown great clemency. The rebel leaders have impressed upon +the minds of their followers that their first duty is to respect life +and property, and have summarily punished those having any inclination +to loot or kill. Despite the numerous outrages and acts of brutality by +the Manchus and imperial troops, the revolutionaries have been +moderate, lenient, and humane in their treatment of their prisoners and +enemies. Unnecessary bloodshed has been avoided by them as much as +possible. As Dr. Wu Ting-fang has said: "The most glorious page of +China's history is being written with a bloodless pen." Regarding the +cause of the revolution, it must be noted that the revolt was not a +sudden, sporadic movement, nor the result of any single event. It is +the outcome of a long series of events, the culmination of the friction +and contact with the Western world in the last half-century, especially +the last thirty years, and of the importation of Western ideas and +methods into China by her foreign-educated students and other agents. + +During the last decade, especially the last five years, there has been +a most wonderful awakening among the people in the empire. One could +almost see the growth of national consciousness, so rapidly has it +developed. When the people fully realized their shortcomings and their +country's deplorable weakness as it has been constantly brought out in +her dealings with foreign Powers, they fell into a state of +dissatisfaction and profound unrest. Filled with the shame of national +disgrace and imbued with democratic ideas, they have been crying for a +strong and liberal government, but their pleas and protests have been +in most cases ignored and in a few cases responded to with half-hearted +superficial reforms which are far from satisfactory to the +progressives. The Manchu government has followed its traditional +_laissez faire_ policy in the face of foreign aggressions and +threatening dangers of the empire's partition, with no thought of the +morrow. Until now it has been completely blind to the force of the +popular will and has deemed it not worth while to bother with the +common people. + +Long ago patriotic Chinese gave up hope in the Manchu government and +realized that China's salvation lay in the taking over of the +management of affairs into their own hands. For over a decade Dr. Sun +Yat-sen and other Chinese of courage and ability, mostly those with a +Western education, have been busily engaged in secretly preaching +revolutionary doctrines among their fellow countrymen and preparing for +a general outbreak. They collected numerous followers and a large sum +of money. The revolutionary propaganda was being spread country-wide, +among the gentry and soldiers, and even among enlightened government +officials, in spite of governmental persecution and strict vigilance. +Revolutionary literature was being widely circulated, notwithstanding +the rigid official censorship. + +Added to all this are the ever important economic causes. Famines and +floods in recent years have greatly intensified the already strong +feeling of discontent and unrest, and served to pile up more fuel for +the general conflagration. + +In short, the whole nation was like a forest of dry leaves which needed +but a single fire spark to make it blaze. Hence, when the revolution +broke out on the memorable 10th of October, 1911, at Wu-Chang, it +spread like a forest fire. Within the short period of two weeks +fourteen of the eighteen provinces of China proper joined in the +movement one after another with amazing rapidity. Everywhere people +welcomed the advent of the revolutionary army as the drought-stricken +would rejoice at the coming rain, or the hungry at the sight of food. +The great wave of democratic sentiment which had swept over Europe, +America, and the islands of Japan at last reached the Chinese shore, +and is now rolling along resistlessly over the immense empire toward +its final goal--a world-wide democracy. + + + + +A STEP TOWARD WORLD PEACE + +THE UNITED STATES ARBITRATION TREATIES A.D. 1912 + +HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT + +Later generations will doubtless note, as one of the main +manifestations of our present age, its progress in international +arbitration, in the substitution of justice for force as the means of +deciding disputes between nations. On March 7, 1912, the United States +Senate, after months of argument, finally agreed to ratify two +arbitration treaties which President Taft had arranged with England and +France. True, the Senate, before thus establishing the treaties, struck +out their most far-reaching article, an agreement that every +disagreement whatsoever should be referred to a Joint High Commission. +Without this clause the treaties still leave a bare possibility of +warfare over questions of "national honor" or "national policy"; but +practically they put an end to war forever as between the United States +and its two great historic rivals. + +These two treaties were the last and most important of 154 such +arbitration treaties arranged since the recent inauguration of the +great World Peace movement. They are here described by President Taft +himself in an article reprinted with his approval from the _Woman's +Home Companion._ His work as a leader in the cause of peace is likely +to be remembered as the most important of his administration. In 1913 +his purpose was carried forward by William J. Bryan as the United +States Secretary of State. Mr. Bryan evolved a general "Plan of +Arbitration," which during the first year of its suggestion was adopted +by thirty-one of the smaller nations to govern their dealings with the +United States. Thus the strong promises international justice to the +weak. + +The development of the doctrine of international arbitration, +considered from the standpoint of its ultimate benefits to the human +race, is the most vital movement of modern times. In its relation to +the well-being of the men and women of this and ensuing generations, it +exceeds in importance the proper solution of various economic problems +which are constant themes of legislative discussion or enactment. It is +engaging the attention of many of the most enlightened minds of the +civilized world. It derives impetus from the influence of churches, +regardless of denominational differences. Societies of noble-minded +women, organizations of worthy men, are giving their moral and material +support to governmental agencies in their effort to eliminate, as +causes of war, disputes which frequently have led to armed conflicts +between nations. + +The progress already made is a distinct step in the direction of a +higher civilization. It gives hope in the distant future of the end of +militarism, with its stupendous, crushing burdens upon the working +population of the leading countries of the Old World, and foreshadows a +decisive check to the tendency toward tremendous expenditures for +military purposes in the western hemisphere. It presages at least +partial disarmament by governments that have been, and still are, +piling up enormous debts for posterity to liquidate, and insures to +multitudes of men now involuntarily doing service in armies and navies +employment in peaceful, productive pursuits. + +Perhaps some wars have contributed to the uplift of organized society; +more often the benefits were utterly eclipsed by the ruthless waste and +slaughter and suffering that followed. The principle of justice to the +weak as well as to the strong is prevailing to an extent heretofore +unknown to history. Rules of conduct which govern men in their +relations to one another are being applied in an ever-increasing degree +to nations. The battle-field as a place of settlement of disputes is +gradually yielding to arbitral courts of justice. The interests of the +great masses are not being sacrificed, as in former times, to the +selfishness, ambitions, and aggrandizement of sovereigns, or to the +intrigues of statesmen unwilling to surrender their scepter of power. +Religious wars happily are specters of a medieval or ancient past, and +the Christian Church is laboring valiantly to fulfil its destiny of +"Peace on earth." + +If the United States has a mission, besides developing the principles +of the brotherhood of man into a living, palpable force, it seems to me +that it is to blaze the way to universal arbitration among the nations, +and bring them into more complete amity than ever before existed. It is +known to the world that we do not covet the territory of our neighbors, +or seek the acquisition of lands on other continents. We are free of +such foreign entanglements as frequently conduce to embarrassing +complications, and the efforts we make in behalf of international peace +can not be regarded with a suspicion of ulterior motives. The spirit of +justice governs our relations with other countries, and therefore we +are specially qualified to set a pace for the rest of the world. + +The principle and scope of international arbitration, as exemplified in +the treaties recently negotiated by the United States with Great +Britain and France, should commend itself to the American people. These +treaties go a step beyond any similar instruments which have received +the sanction of the United States, or the two foreign Powers specified. +They enlarge the field of arbitrable subjects embraced in the treaties +ratified by the three governments in 1908. They lift into the realm of +discussion and hearing, before some kind of a tribunal, many of the +causes of war which have made history such a sickening chronicle of +ravage and cruelty, bloodshed and desolation. + +After years of patient endeavor by men of various nations, and despite +many obstacles and discouragements, there has been established at The +Hague a Permanent Court of Arbitration, to which contending governments +may submit certain classes of controversies for adjudication. This +court has already justified its creation and existence by the +settlement of contentions which in other days led to disastrous wars, +and even in this enlightened age might have precipitated serious +ruptures. The United States Government, as represented by the National +Administration, is ready to utilize this method of settling +international disputes to a greater extent than ever before. That is, +we are willing to refer to this tribunal, or a similar one, questions +which heretofore have been left entirely to diplomatic negotiation. + +The treaties go further by providing for the creation of a Joint High +Commission, to which shall be referred, for impartial and conscientious +investigation, any controversy between this Government, on one hand, +and Great Britain or France, on the other hand, before such a +controversy has been submitted to an arbitral body from which there is +no appeal. + +And, assuming that governments, like individuals, do not always +display, while a dispute is in progress, that calmness of judgment and +equipoise which are so consistent with righteous deportment, provision +is made for the passion to subside and the blood to cool, by deferring +the reference of such controversy to the Joint High Commission for one +year. This affords an opportunity for diplomatic adjustment without an +appeal to the commission. + +The plan of submission to a joint high commission, composed of three +citizens or subjects of one party and the same number of another, is a +concession to the fear of being too tightly bound to an adverse +decision made manifest in the objections of the Senate committee, +because it may well be supposed that two out of three citizens or +subjects of one party would not decide that an issue was arbitrable +under the treaty against the contention of their own country unless it +were reasonably clear that the issue was justiciable under the first +clause of the treaty. + +Ultimately, I hope, we shall come to submit our quarrels to an +international arbitral court that will have power finally to decide +upon the limits of its own jurisdiction, and in which the form of +procedure by the complaining country shall be fixed, and the +obligations of the country complained of, to answer in a form +prescribed, shall be recognized and definite, and the judgment shall be +either acquiesced in, or enforced. These treaties are a substantial +step, but a step only, in that direction, and the feature of the +binding character of the decision of the Joint High Commission as to +the arbitral character of the question is the most distinctive advance +in the right direction. Do not let us give up this feature without +using every legitimate effort to retain it. + +An understanding of the term _justiciable_ may be essential to a full +comprehension of the significance and scope of these treaties. +Questions involving boundary lines, the rights of fishermen in waters +bordering upon countries with contiguous territory, the use of +water-power, the erection of structures on frontiers, outrages upon +aliens, are examples of justiciable subjects, and these are made +susceptible of adjudication and decision under these treaties. It is +now proposed to establish a permanent method of disposing of such +questions without preliminary quarrels and menaces whose result may +never be foreseen. + +Certain questions of governmental or traditional policy are by their +very nature excluded from the consideration of the Joint High +Commission, or even the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. +Such specific exemptions it is not necessary to set forth in the +treaties. Objection has been made that under the first section of the +pending pacts it might be claimed that we would be called upon to +submit to arbitration of the Monroe Doctrine, or our right to exclude +foreign peoples from our shores, or the question of the validity of +southern bonds issued in reconstruction days. + +The Monroe Doctrine is not a justiciable question, but one of purely +governmental policy which we have followed for nearly a century, and in +which the countries of Europe have generally acquiesced. With respect +to the exclusion of immigrants, it is a principle of international law +that every country may admit only those whom it chooses. This is a +subject of domestic policy in which no foreign country can interfere +unless it is covered by a treaty, and then it may become properly a +matter of treaty construction. + +With reference to the right to involve the United States in a +controversy over the obligation of certain Southern States to pay bonds +issued during reconstruction, which have been repudiated, it is +sufficient to say that the pending treaties affect only cases hereafter +arising, and the cases of the Southern bonds all arose years ago. + +After a time, if our treaties stand the test of experience and prove +useful, it is probable that all the greatest Powers on earth will come +under obligation to arbitrate their differences with other nations. +Naturally, the smaller nations will do likewise, and then universal +arbitration will be more of an actuality than an altruistic dream. + +The evil of war, and what follows in its train, I need not dwell upon. +We could not have a higher object than the adoption of any proper and +honorable means which would lessen the chance of armed conflicts. Men +endure great physical hardships in camp and on the battle-field. In our +Civil War the death-roll in the Union Army alone reached the appalling +aggregate of 359,000. But the suffering and perils of the men in the +field, distressing as they are to contemplate, are slight in comparison +with the woes and anguish of the women who are left behind. The hope +that husband, brother, father, son may be spared the tragic end which +all soldiers risk, when they respond to their country's call, buoys +them up in their privations and heart-breaking loneliness. But theirs +is the deepest pain, for the most poignant suffering is mental rather +than physical. No pension compensates for the loss of husband, son, or +father. The glory of death in battle does not feed the orphaned +children, nor does the pomp and circumstance of war clothe them. The +voice of the women of America should speak for peace. + + + + +TRAGEDY OF THE "TITANIC" + +THE SPEED CRAZE AND ITS OUTCOME A.D. 1912 + +WILLIAM INGLIS + +No other disaster at sea has ever resulted in such loss of human life +as did the sinking of the _Titanic_ on the night of April 15, 1912. +Moreover, no other disaster has ever included among its victims so many +people of high position and repute and real value to the world. The +_Titanic_ was on her first voyage, and this voyage had served to draw +together many notables. She was advertised as the largest steamer in +the world and as the safest; she was called "unsinkable." The ocean +thus struck its blow at no mean victim, but at the ship supposedly the +queen of all ships. + +Through the might of the great tragedy, man was taught two lessons. One +was against boastfulness. He has not yet conquered nature; his +"unsinkable" masterpiece was torn apart like cardboard and plunged to +the bottom. The other and more solemn teaching was against the speed +mania, which seems more and more to have possessed mankind. His autos, +his railroads, even his fragile flying-machines, have been keyed up for +record speed. The _Titanic_ was racing for a record when she perished. + +Her loss has created almost a revolution in ocean traffic. "Let us go +more slowly!" was the cry. Safety became the chief advertisement of the +big ship lines; and speed, Speed the adored, shriveled into the +dishonored god of a moment's madness. + +The wreck of the steamship _Titanic_, of the White Star Line, the +newest and biggest and presumably the safest ship in the world, is the +greatest marine disaster known in the history of ocean traffic. She ran +into an iceberg off the Banks of Newfoundland at 11.40 Sunday night, +April 14th, and at twenty minutes past two sank in two miles of ocean +depth. More than fifteen hundred lives were lost and a few more than +seven hundred saved. + +The _Titanic_ was a marvel of size and luxury. Her length was 882-1/2 +feet--far exceeding the height of the tallest buildings in the +world--her breadth of beam was 92 feet, and her depth from topmost deck +to keel was 94 feet. She was of 45,000 tons register and 66,000 tons +displacement. Her structure was the last word in size, speed, and +luxury at sea. Her interior was like that of some huge hotel, with wide +stairways and heavy balustrades, with elevators running up and down the +height of nine decks out of her twelve; with swimming-pools, Turkish +baths, saloons, and music-rooms, and a little golf-course on the +highest deck. Her master was Capt. E. J. Smith, a veteran of more than +thirty years' able and faithful service in the company's ships, whose +only mishap had occurred when the giant _Olympic_, under his command, +collided with the British cruiser _Hawke_ in the Solent last September. +He was exonerated because the great suction exerted by the _Olympic_ in +a narrow channel inevitably drew the two vessels together. + +There were over 2,200 people aboard the _Titanic_ when she left +Southampton on Wednesday for her maiden voyage--325 first-cabin +passengers, 285 second-cabin, 710 steerage, and a crew of 899. Among +that ship's company were many men and women of prominence in the arts, +the professions, and in business. Colonel John Jacob Astor and his +bride, who was Miss Madeleine Force, were among them; also Major +Archibald Butt, military aide to President Taft; Charles M. Hays, +president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad, with his family; William +T. Stead, of the London _Review of Reviews_; Benjamin Guggenheim, of +the celebrated mining family; G. D. Widener, of Philadelphia; F. D. +Millet, the noted artist; Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Straus; J. Thayer, +vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad; J. Bruce Ismay, chairman +of the White Star Line's board of directors; Henry B. Harris, +theatrical manager; Colonel Washington Roebling, the engineer; Jacques +Futrelle, the novelist; and Henry Sleeper Harper, a grandson of Joseph +Wesley Harper, one of the founders of the house of Harper & Brothers. + +As the _Titanic_ was leaving her pier at Southampton there came a sound +like the booming of artillery. The passengers thronging to the rail saw +the steamship _New York_ slowly drawing near. The movement of the +_Titanic's_ gigantic body had sucked the water away from the quay so +violently that the seven stout hawsers mooring the _New York_ to her +pier snapped like rotten twine, and she bore down on the giant ship +stern first and helpless. The _Titanic_ reversed her engines, and tugs +plucked the _New York_ away barely in time to avoid a bad smash. If any +old sailors regarded this accident as an evil omen, there is little +reason to think the thing affected the spirits of the passengers on the +great floating hotel. As the ship passed the time of day by wireless +with her distant neighbors out of sight beyond the horizon of the ocean +lanes, she reported good weather, machinery working smoothly, all going +well. + +For some reason the great fleet of icebergs which drifts south of Cape +Race every summer moved down unusually early this year. The _Carmania_, +three days in advance of the _Titanic_, ran into the ice-field on +Thursday. The ship at reduced speed dodged about, avoiding enormous +bergs along her course, while far away on every hand glinted the +shining high white sides of many more of the menacing ice mountains. +Passengers photographed the brilliant monsters. The steamship +_Niagara_, many leagues astern, reported a slight collision, with no +great harm done. That was enough. Captain Dow retraced his course to +the northeast and, after an hour's steaming, laid a new course for Fire +Island buoy. The presence of the great bergs and accompanying masses of +field-ice so very early in the season was most unusual. + +Into this desolate waste of sea came the _Titanic_ on Sunday evening. +She encountered fog, for the region is almost continuously swathed in +the mists raised by the contact of the Arctic current with the warm +waters of the Gulf Stream. Scattered far and wide in every direction +were many icebergs, shrouded in gray, invisible to the eyes of the +sharpest lookouts, lying in wait for their prey. + +Not only were the bergs invisible to the keenest eyes, but the sudden +drop in the temperature of the ocean which ordinarily is the warning of +the nearness of a berg was now of no avail; for there were so many of +the bergs and so widely scattered that the temperature of the sea was +uniformly cold. Moreover, the submarine bell, which gives warning to +navigators of the neighborhood of shoal water, does not signify the +approach of icebergs. The newest ocean giant was in deadly peril, +though probably few of her passengers guessed it, so reassuring are the +huge bulk, the skilful construction, the watertight compartments, the +able captain and crew, to the mind of the landsman. Dinner was long +past, and many of the passengers doubtless turned to thoughts of supper +after hours of talk or music or cards; for there were not many +promenading the cold, foggy decks of the onrushing steamship. + +The _Titanic_ was about eight hundred miles to the southeastward of +Halifax, three hundred and fifty miles southeast of treacherous Cape +Race, when her great body dashed, glancing, against an enormous berg. +The discipline and good order for which British captains and British +sailors have long been noted prevailed in this crisis; for it is proven +by the fact that the rescued were nearly all women and children. + +From that rich, rushing, gay, floating world, with its saloons and +baths and music-rooms and elevators, now suddenly shattered into +darkness, only one utterance came. Phillips, the wireless operator, +seized his key and telegraphed in every direction the call "S O S!" +Gossiping among telegraphers hundreds of miles apart, messages of +business import, all the scores of things that fill the ocean air with +tremulous whisperings of etheric waves, began to give over their +chattering. Again and again Phillips repeated the letters which spell +disaster until the air for a thousand miles around was electrically +silent. Then he sent his message: + +"Have struck an iceberg; badly damaged; rush aid; steamship _Titanic_; +41.46 N., 50.14 W." + +There was no other ship in sight. Far as the eye could reach no spot of +light broke the gray darkness; yet other ships could hear and read the +cry for help, and, wheeling in their courses, they drove full speed +ahead for the wreck. The _Baltic_, two hundred miles to the eastward, +bound for Europe, turned back to the rescue; the _Olympic_, still +farther away, hastened to the aid of her sister ship; the _Cincinnati, +Prince Adelbert, Amerika,_ the _Prinz Friederich Wilhelm_, and many +others, abandoned all else to fly to help those in danger. Nearest of +all was the _Carpathia_, bound from New York for Mediterranean ports, +only sixty miles away. And as they all, with forced draft and every +possible device for adding to speed, dashed through the misty night on +their errand of mercy, Phillips, of the _Titanic_, kept wafting from +his key the story of disaster. The thing he repeated oftenest was: +"Badly damaged. Rush aid." Now and then he gave the ship's position in +latitude and longitude as nearly as it could be estimated by her +officers as she was carried southward by the current that runs swiftly +in this northern sea, so that the rescuers could keep their prows +accurately pointed toward the wreck. Soon he began to announce, "We are +down by the head and sinking rapidly." About one o'clock in the morning +the last words from Phillips rippled through the heavy air, "We are +almost gone." + +The crew were summoned to their stations; the lifeboats and liferafts +were swiftly provisioned and furnished with water as well as could be +done. Yet this provision could hardly have been very extensive, since +it has long been an accepted axiom of the sea that the modern giant +ships are indestructible, or at least unsinkable. + +"Women and children first," the order long enforced among all decent +men who use the sea, was the word passed from man to man as the boats +were filled, the boatfalls rattled, and the frail little cockleshells +were lowered into the calm sea. What farewells there were on those dark +and reeking decks between husbands and wives and all other men and +women of the same family one can hardly dare think about. Steadily the +work of filling the boats and lowering away went on until the last +frail craft had been dropped upon the ocean from the sides of the liner +and the whole little fleet rose and fell on the sea beside the great +black hulk. And when the last crowded boat had come down and there was +no possibility of removing one more human being from the wreck, there +were still more than fifteen hundred men on her decks. So far had +belief in the invulnerability of the modern ship curtailed sane and +proper provision for taking care of her people in time of calamity. + +One can imagine with what frantic but impotent hope, as the sinking +decks and menacing plash of waters within told of the imminent last +plunge, those thousands of eyes strained at the misty wall of grayish +black that enclosed them on every hand. Not one gleam of light in any +quarter. The last horrible gurglings within the waterlogged shell of +steel that a little while before had been the proudest ship of all the +seas told unmistakably that the end was at hand. Down by the head went +the giant _Titanic_ at twenty minutes past two o'clock on Monday +morning, April 15th. And she took fifteen hundred people with her. + +Four hours passed before the shivering people in the small boats heard +the siren whistle that announced the approach of a steamship from the +south. There was a heavy fog and they could not see one hundred fathoms +off over the clashing and grinding ice that floated in fields on every +side. Soon after seven o'clock in the morning the ship came in sight +and presently hove to among the fleet of boats and liferafts--the +steamship _Carpathia_, out of New York on April 11th for Mediterranean +ports. She began at once to take aboard the survivors, and in a few +hours had every boat hoisted aboard. The _Olympic_ and _Baltic_, +learning by wireless that the rescues had all been effected, proceeded +on their way. + +The _Virginian_ and the _Parisian_, which arrived at the scene of the +disaster a few hours later, could find no sign of any living person +afloat, though they cruised for a long time among the wreckage before +standing away on their courses. The _Carpathia_ at first was headed for +Halifax, but upon learning by wireless that that harbor was ice-bound, +Mr. J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the Board of Directors of the White +Star Line, suggested that the ship head for New York. This was done. +The _Carpathia_, with nine hundred passengers of her own and the seven +hundred survivors, reached New York in safety. + +The sad international tragedy of the sinking of the _Titanic_ touched +men's souls more deeply than any other disaster in many years. To +English-speaking races in particular the horror of the occasion pressed +close home; for here was the best of British ships bearing many of the +most prominent of America's people. To these seasoned voyagers, +crossing the Atlantic had become a mere pleasant trifle, seeming no +more dangerous than an afternoon's shopping in town. Then suddenly +there was thrust upon all of them that ancient, awful knowledge that +"in the midst of life we are in death." + +Both American passengers and English crew lived up to the best +traditions of their race. There was no panic, no fighting for places in +the boats on the doomed ship. On the contrary, people refused to +believe in the imminence of danger. The idea that the ship was +unsinkable had been so borne in on them that even when summoned upon +deck and ordered to put on life-belts, many of them refused. In the +first boats gotten away from the ship, there were not many people. Some +refused to climb down through the deep blackness into the tiny craft. +They thought the tumult all an empty scare that would soon pass. + +When the steady, ominous settling of the huge ship's bulk broke through +this shallow confidence, there was a solemn change. Grand and tender +scenes there were on those sinking decks; of husbands and wives parting +with the utterance of a hope, turned suddenly to terror, that they +would soon meet again; of other wives who refused to leave their +husbands and deliberately stayed to share their fate. Few of the more +noted passengers were among those saved. Bruce Ismay, director of the +steamship line, was one. The captain went down with his ship, as did +most of his officers, though some of the latter saved themselves by +clinging to the wreckage which rose after the vessel's plunge. While +she was sinking her band still played "Nearer, my God, to thee," and +other earnest hymns. Death did not find the old Saxon stock cringing +from him with hysteria and frenzy. Sudden as was his coming, wholly +unexpected as was his hideous visage, he was met with the calm courage +which is the best tradition of the race. + +And what have been the consequences of this overwhelming tragedy? An +investigation was immediately begun in America by the United States +Government. Another, slower, dignified and ponderous, was afterward +undertaken by the British Government. Both of them in the end +attributed the disaster to practically the same cause, the speed mania +which has overtaken the nations, the heedlessness of man's +over-confidence which takes risks so many times successfully that it +grows to forget that risks exist. + +The _Titanic's_ captain wanted to make a record on her maiden voyage. +His directors wanted him to make a record. That would mean increased +advertisement and increased traffic for their line. So in the face of +danger, knowing there were icebergs all around him, the captain rushed +his ship blindly ahead. The chance of his actually hitting an iceberg +was scarce one in a hundred. So he took the chance. The probability +that if he did strike an iceberg it could do irreparable damage to his +stout ship, was scarce one in a hundred. So he took that chance also. +He gambled with Death, as a thousand speed-driven captains had gambled +before. This time it was Death's turn to win. + +A gamble even more reprehensible was that of the steamship companies, +who had grown so sure their ships would not sink that they no longer +provided sufficient means of escape from them. Why load a vessel down +with useless life-boats, which only hung the year in and year out, +blocking up space? Every foot of that space was valuable. It might make +room for an extra passenger, or provide an extra amusement to draw +traffic. What voyager ever counted life-boats, or worked out the awful +calculation, so obvious now, that there was only rescue space provided +for one-third of the number of souls aboard? Was not the ship +"unsinkable" after all? + +The _Titanic_ is gone. Our sorrow for her is becoming but a memory. Our +ships carry lifeboats sufficient now; they are compelled to by law. And +our sea captains run on safer lines; that, too, the law has made +compulsory. But it will be long before man's overweening +self-confidence rises from the shock which has been given to his belief +in his mechanical ability. Nature is not conquered yet. Ocean has still +a strength beyond ours. Ships are not unsinkable; and Death will still +take his toll of bold men's lives in the future as he has done in the +past. We know that cowardice costs more than courage, but it is not so +tragically costly as blind foolhardiness. + + + + +OUR PROGRESSING KNOWLEDGE OF LIFE SURGERY PERPETUATES THE BODY'S ORGANS + +A.D. 1912 + +GENEVIEVE GRANDCOURT Prof. R. LEGENDRE + +Several years ago a wealthy Swedish manufacturer of dynamite left, by +his will, a fund for the providing of a large prize to be conferred +each year upon the person who has accomplished most for the peaceful +progress of mankind. This annual sum of forty thousand dollars, which +is called from its donor the "Nobel prize," was, in October, 1912, +conferred upon a surgeon, Dr. Alexis Carrel, for his remarkable work in +the study of the life of the tissues and organs which exist in the +human body. + +Even before this public recognition of his work, Dr. Carrel had in the +summer of 1912 created a furor among the savants of Paris by the +announcement of what he had accomplished. Carrel, though a native-born +Frenchman, is an American by education and citizenship, and the French +were at first inclined to challenge the value of his work. We therefore +present here a "popular" scientific account of what he had achieved, +reprinted by permission from the _Scientific American_. Then comes the +grudging approval of Professor Legendre, the noted "Preparator of +Zoology," head of that section in the National Museum of Paris. + +Briefly stated, the impressive step which science has here taken, is +the preservation of life in the heart and other organs so that these +may be taken out of the body and yet kept alive for months. With +smaller animals Carrel has even accomplished the actual transferrence +of organs from one individual to another. As for the simpler bodily +tissues, it now seems possible to preserve these indefinitely outside +the body, not only alive but in excellent health and ready to reassume +their functions in another body. + + +GENEVIEVE GRANDCOURT + + +THE "IMMORTALITY" OF TISSUES + +A very evident disadvantage under which medical science has labored has +been the impossibility of watching the chemical process set in motion +by substances introduced into the body. For this reason various +experimenters, from time to time, have attempted to "grow tissues" +artificially, in such manner that their development, functions, and +decay--under both healthy and diseased conditions--might be studied +under the microscope. The only way in which this could be done would be +to take a piece of living tissue from the body, and cause its cells to +multiply; tissue being made up of an aggregation of cells. + +Science has failed to produce a single living cell, that is, a cell +which will undergo the process of nuclear division (growth) which is +the prime condition of its being; and it seemed equally impossible to +cause a cell already living to undergo the same process if deprived of +the circulation of the blood. Therefore, when in 1910 it was announced +that Dr. Alexis Carrel with his assistant, Dr. M. T. Burrows, had +succeeded, scientific credulity was taxed. A well-known French savant +expressed the opinion before the Society of Biology in Paris, that as +others experimenting along these lines, had witnessed only degeneration +and survival of cells, this phenomenon was all Carrel's discovery +amounted to. In view of past experience, indeed, the chances were in +favor of a mistake. In 1897, Leo Loeb said that he had produced this +artificial growth both within and without the body. Obviously, such +development within the organism where the process of utilizing the +body-fluids, etc., follows the same course as in nature, takes on the +character of grafting rather than of cultivating in a culture medium. +As to causing the external growth, it was ten years later before it +seems first to have succeeded. In 1907 Harrison, from Johns Hopkins +University, furnished details of his research in such form as to be +convincing. But his work had reference to the growth of tissues only of +coldblooded animals, he having cultivated artificially, nerve fibers +from the central nervous system of the frog. + +Carrel's work consisted in extending Harrison's method to apply to +warm-blooded animals, including, of course, mammals; he having +primarily in view at this time a more precise knowledge of the laws +governing the restoration of tissues, for example, after serious +surgical wounds. He and his assistant worked steadily to this end, and +succeeded. The tissues of the higher animals, including man, can now be +developed in a culture, and such development can be made to correspond +to a rigidly precise technique. The feat is accomplished by putting +minute pieces of living tissue into a plasmatic (blood) medium which +will coagulate. So complicated is this apparently simple matter in its +application that only the most exquisite surgical skill is proof +against incalculable modifications in results. + +Having obtained evidence that tissue can be cultivated in accordance +with a formula that may be relied upon to give definite results, the +effort was made to grow artificially the various malignant (cancerous) +tissues, in turn, of chicken, rat, dog, and human being. Cancerous +tissue invariably developed cancer, and so rapidly and extensively that +the growth could be observed with the naked eye. + +It now became evident that, under the right circumstances, the +artificial growth of tissues could be utilized in the study of many +problems; such as malignant growth of tissue; certain problems in +immunity, as, for example, the production of antitoxins of certain +organisms; the regulation of the growth of the organism, or of +different parts of the organism; rejuvenation and senility; and the +character of the internal secretions of the glands, such as the thyroid +which plays a role most important in physical and mental development. +The difficulty lay in the fact that the artificial growth was so very +short-lived. It was found that by passing the growth into a new medium, +and repeating the process, the tissues would begin to grow again; but +their life even under these circumstances was limited at the most to +twenty days. This was manifestly too short a time in which to study the +fundamental questions to which the researchers had addressed +themselves. Thereupon, study was taken up to determine the question as +to _what made these tissues die_. It was found that, apparently as +incidental to growth, there was the process of decay, due to an +_inability of the tissues to eliminate waste products._ + +On January 17, 1912, experiments were commenced to determine whether +these effects could be overcome. The observations were on the heart and +blood-vessels, artificially grown, of the chicken fetus. These growths +were put into a salt solution for a few minutes at different periods of +their growth, and then placed in a new plasmatic medium. It was found +that by following this method, the tissues could be made to live +indefinitely. When an animal is in the early stages of its development, +the growth of its tissues is necessarily greater as it matures, there +being steady diminution after a certain age until the growth altogether +ceases, and the size of the animal is determined. But it was found by +subjecting these artificial growths to washings in salt solution that +the mass was _fifteen times greater at the end of than at the +commencement of the third month, showing that they do not grow old at +all!_ In the artificial growth the problem of senility and death is +solved. + +It was the announcement of this "permanent life of tissues" that caused +such a furor in Paris last summer, and several eminent scientists to +demand ocular demonstration, because "the discovery, if true, +constituted the greatest scientific advance of a generation." + +The following summary of this interesting and vitally important and +epoch-making work of Carrel is translated from an article published in +Paris recently by Professor Pozzi, who witnessed the experiments: + +"Carrel found that the pulsations of a fragment of heart, which had +diminished in number and intensity _or ceased_, could be revived to the +normal state by a washing and a passage. In a secondary culture, two +fragments of heart, separated by a free space, beat as strongly and +regularly. The larger fragment contracted 92 times a minute and the +smaller 120 times. For three days, the number and intensity of the +pulsations varied slightly. On the fourth day, the pulsations +diminished considerably in intensity. The large fragment beat 40 times +a minute and the little fragment 90 times. The culture was washed and +placed in a new medium. An hour and a half after, the pulsations had +become very strong. The large fragment contracted 120 times a minute +and the small fragment 160 times. At the same time the fragments grew +rapidly. At the end of eight hours they were united and formed a mass +of which all the parts beat synchronically." + +Experiments to date seem to establish that the connective tissue, at +any rate, is "immortal." + +From this research, it is possible to arrive at certain logical +conclusions, which, however, it remains for the future to confirm. One, +and the most important, is that the normal circulation of the blood +does not succeed in freeing all the waste products of the tissues, and +that this is the cause of senility and death. Were science to find some +way to wash the tissues in the living organism as they have been washed +in these cultures, man's life might be indefinitely prolonged. + + +R. LEGENDRE + +The Nobel prize in medicine for 1912 has just been awarded to Dr. +Alexis Carrel, a Frenchman, of Lyon, now employed at the Rockefeller +Institute of New York, for his entire work relating to the suture of +vessels and the transplantation of organs. + +The remarkable results obtained in these fields by various +experimenters, of whom Carrel is most widely known, and also the +wonderful applications made of them by certain surgeons have already +been widely published. + +The journals have frequently spoken lately of "cultures" of tissues +detached from the organism to which they belonged; and some of them, +exaggerating the results already obtained, have stated that it is now +possible to make living tissues grow and increase when so detached. + +Having given these subjects much study I wish to state here what has +already been done and what we may hope to accomplish. As a matter of +fact we do not yet know how to construct living cells; the forms +obtained with mineral substances by Errera, Stephane Leduc, and others, +have only a remote resemblance to those of life; neither do we know how +to prevent death; but yet it is interesting to know that it is possible +to prolong for some time the life of organs, tissues, and cells after +they have been removed from the organism. + +The idea of preserving the life of greater or lesser parts of an +organism occurred at about the same time to a number of persons, and +though the ends in view have been quite different, the investigations +have led to essentially similar results. The surgeons who for a long +time have transplanted various organs and grafted different tissues, +bits of skin among others, have sought to prolong the period during +which the grafts may be preserved alive from the time they are taken +from the parent individual until they are implanted either upon the +same subject or upon another. The physiologists have attempted to +isolate certain organs and preserve them alive for some time in order +to simplify their experiments by suppressing the complex action of the +nervous system and of glands which often render difficult a proper +interpretation of the experiments. The cytologists have tried to +preserve cells alive outside the organism in more simple and +well-defined conditions. These various efforts have already given, as +we shall see, very excellent results both as regards the theoretical +knowledge of vital phenomena and for the practise of surgery. + +It has been possible to preserve for more or less time many organs in a +living condition when detached from the organism. The organ first tried +and which has been most frequently and completely investigated is the +heart. This is because of its resistance to any arrest of the +circulation and also because its survival is easily shown by its +contractility. In man the heart has been seen to beat spontaneously and +completely 25 minutes after a legal decapitation (Renard and Loye, +1887), and by massage of the organ its beating may be restored after it +has been arrested for 40 minutes (Rehn, 1909). By irrigation of the +heart and especially of its coronary vessels the period of revival may +be much prolonged. + +The first experiments with artificial circulation in the isolated heart +were made in Ludwig's laboratory, but they were limited to the frog and +the inferior vertebrates. Since then experiments on the survival of the +heart have multiplied and become classic. Artificial circulation has +kept the heart of man contracting normally for 20 hours (Kuliabko, +1902), that of the monkey for 54 hours (Hering, 1903), that of the +rabbit for 5 days (Kuliabko, 1902), etc. It has also enabled us to +study the influence upon the heart of physical factors, such as +temperature, isotonia; chemical factors, such as various salts and the +different ions; and even complex pharmaceutical products. Kuliabko +(1902) was even able to note contractions in the heart of a rabbit that +had been kept in cold storage for 18 hours, and in the heart of a cat +similarly kept after 24 hours. The other muscular organs have naturally +been investigated in a manner analogous to that which has been used for +the heart; and for the same reason, because it can be readily seen +whether or not they are alive. The striated muscles survive for quite a +long time after removal, especially if they are preserved at the +temperature of the body and care is taken to prevent their drying. By +this method many investigations have been made of muscular contractions +in isolated muscles. Landois has noted that the muscles of a man may be +made to contract two hours and a half after removal, those of the frog +and the tortoise 10 days after. Recently Burrows (1911) has noted a +slight increase in the myotomes of the embryo chick after they have +been kept for 2 to 6 days in coagulated plasma. + +Non-muscular organs may also survive a removal from the parent +organism, but the proofs of their survival are more difficult to +establish because of the absence of movements. Carrel (1906) grafted +fragments of vessels that had been in cold storage for several days +upon the course of a vessel of a living animal of the same species; in +1907 he grafted upon the abdominal aorta of a cat a segment of the +jugular vein of a dog removed 7 days previously, also a segment of the +carotid of a dog removed 20 days before; the circulation was +reestablished normally; these experiments have, however, been +criticized by Fleig, who thinks that the grafted fragments were dead +and served merely as supports and directors for the regeneration of the +vessels upon which they were set. In 1909 Carrel removed the left +kidney from a bitch, kept it out of the body for 50 minutes, and then +replaced it; the extirpation of the other kidney did not cause the +death of the animal, which remained for more than a year normal and in +good health, thus proving the success of the graft. In 1910 Carrel +succeeded with similar experiments on the spleen. + +Taken altogether, these experiments show that the greater part, if not +all, of the bodily organs are able to survive for more or less time +after removal from the organism when favorable conditions are +furnished. There is no doubt but what the observed times of survival +may be considerably prolonged when we have a better knowledge of the +serums that are most favorable and the physical and chemical conditions +that are most advantageous. + +If we can preserve the organs, we may expect to also keep alive the +tissues and cells of which they are composed. Biologists have studied +these problems, too, and have also obtained in this department some +very interesting results. + +The cells which live naturally isolated in the organism, such as the +corpuscles of the blood and spermatozoa, were the first studied. Since +1910 experiments on the survival of tissues have multiplied and at the +same time more knowledge has been obtained concerning the conditions +most favorable to survival and the microscopical appearances of the +tissues so preserved. In 1910 Harrison, having placed fragments of an +embryo frog in a drop of coagulated lymph taken from an adult, saw them +continue their development for several weeks, the muscles and the +epithelium differentiating, the nervous rudiments sending out into the +lymph filaments similar to nerve fibers. Since 1910 with the aid of Dr. +Minot, I have succeeded in preserving alive the nerve cells of the +spinal ganglia of adult dogs and rabbits by placing them in +defibrinated blood of the same animal, through which there bubbled a +current of oxygen. At zero and perhaps better at 15°-20°, the structure +of the cells and their colorable substance is preserved without notable +change for at least four days; moreover, when the temperature is raised +again to 39°, certain of the cells give a proof of their survival by +forming new prolongations, often of a monstrous character. At 39° some +of the ganglion cells which have been preserved rapidly lose their +colorability and then their structure breaks up, but a certain number +of the others form numerous outgrowths extremely varied in appearance. +We have, besides, studied the influence of isotony, of agitation, and +of oxygenation, and these experiments have enabled me to ascertain the +best physical conditions required for the survival of nervous tissue. +In 1910, Burrows, employing the technique of Harrison, obtained results +similar to his with fragments of embryonic chickens. Since 1910 Carrel +and Burrows applied the same method to what they call the "culture" of +the tissues of the adult dog and rabbit; they have thus preserved and +even multiplied cells of cartilage, of the thyroid, the kidney, the +bone marrow, the spleen, of cancer, etc. Perhaps Carrel and his +collaborators may be criticized for calling "culture" that which is +merely a survival, but there still remains in their work a great +element of real interest. + +Such are, too briefly summarized, the experiments which have been made +up to the present time. We can readily imagine the practical +consequences which we may very shortly hope to derive from them, and +the wonderful applications of them which will follow in the domain of +surgery. Without going so far as the dream of Dr. Moreau depicted by +Wells, since grafts do not succeed between animals of different +species, we may hope that soon, in many cases, the replacing of organs +will be no longer impossible, but even easy, thanks to methods of +conservation and survival which will enable us to have always at hand +material for exchange. + +The dream of to-day may be reality to-morrow. + +There are also other consequences which will follow from these +researches. I hope that they will permit us to study the physical and +chemical factors of life under much simpler conditions than heretofore, +and it is toward this end that I am directing my researches. They will +enable us to approach much nearer the solution of the old insoluble +problem of life and death. What indeed is the death of an organism all +of whose parts may yet survive for some time? + +These, then, are the researches made in this domain, fecund from every +point of view, and the great increase in the number of experts who are +taking them up, while it is a proof of their interest, gives hope for +their rapid progress. + + + + +THE OVERTHROW OF TURKEY + +THE FIRST BALKAN WAR A.D. 1912 + +J. ELLIS BARKER FREDERICK PALMER Prof. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +Turkey's _opĂ©ra-bouffe_ war with Italy in 1911 plunged her into a far +more terrible and sanguinary struggle. Seeing her weakness, the little +Balkan States seized the opportunity to unite and attack her. Each of +the Balkan allies had once been crushed by Turkey and had fought for +freedom. Each was jealous and suspicious of all the others. Each people +hoped that in the break-up of Turkey their own land would be enlarged. +Each saw members of their own race oppressed in the Macedonian region +still held by Turkey. In face of their great opportunity, however, all +the four States--Bulgaria, Greece, Servia, and Montenegro--hushed their +own quarrels and joined in attacking their common enemy. + +Of the causes of the war, Mr. J. Ellis Barker, the noted English +authority on Turkey, here gives a brief account. The tale of the first +glorious campaign, with its big battles of Kirk-Kilesseh and +Lule-Burgas, is then told by Mr. Frederick Palmer, the foremost of +American war correspondents upon the scene. The confused negotiations +for peace are then detailed by Prof. Stephen P. Duggan, our American +authority upon the Balkan States. + + +J. ELLIS BARKER + +A short time ago I read an interesting account of Sir Max Waechter's +recent journey to the capitals of Turkey and all the other Balkan +States. He had visited these towns wit the object of laying before the +Sovereigns of the Balkan States and their Ministers proposals for +abolishing war by the creation of a European Federation of States. All +the Balkan Sovereigns and Ministers whom he had seen had expressed +themselves sympathetically and favorably and had agreed to accept the +_status quo_. A month later all the Balkan States were at war; Russia, +Austria-Hungary, and Italy were arming, and people were anxiously +discussing the possibility of a world war. The sudden transition from +peace to war appears inexplicable to those unacquainted with the +realities of foreign policy. + +In July, 1908, the Turkish Revolution broke out. It was a great and +immediate success. Never in the world's history had there been so +successful a revolution or one so bloodless. As by magic, Turkey was +changed from a medieval State into a modern democracy. The Turkish +masses were rejoicing. Old feuds were forgotten. Mohammedans and +Christians fraternized. The words Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, +Parliamentarism, and Democracy were on all lips. Over night a new +Turkey had arisen. Soon the leaders of Young Turkey began to assert the +right and claims of the new-born State. We were told that European +intervention in the affairs of Turkey would no longer be tolerated, and +that those parts of the Turkish Empire which, though nominally subject +to the Sultan, were no longer under Turkish control, would have to be +handed back. Great Britain was to restore Egypt and Austria-Hungary +Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many Englishmen indorsed these claims, and told +us that a new era had opened in the East. At that time only a few +people ventured to doubt whether the Turkish Revolution would be a +lasting success. I think I was the only British publicist who +immediately and unhesitatingly foretold that Parliamentary Government +in Turkey was bound to be a failure, and that it would inevitably lead +to the formation of a Balkan Confederation which would attack Turkey. I +said then: + +"European Turkey has about 6,000,000 inhabitants, of whom only about +one-third are Turks. + +"The Young Turks have the choice of two evils. They must either follow +a Liberal or a Conservative policy. If they follow a Liberal policy, if +they introduce Parliamentary representation, self-government, and +majority rule in Turkey in general, and in Macedonia in particular, the +Christians will be the majority, and it seems likely that they will +then oust the Turkish minority and convert the ruling race into a ruled +race. A Liberal policy will, therefore, bring about the rapid +disintegration of the Turkish Empire. + +"Foreseeing the danger of allowing the alien elements to be further +strengthened, many patriotic Turks have demanded that a vigorous +Conservative policy should be pursued which will abolish the national +differences among the alien races and between the alien races and the +Turks. They demand that a Turkish national policy should be initiated, +that the aliens should be nationalized in Turkish national schools, +that Turkish shall be the language of Turkey, that the Greek, +Bulgarian, and other schools shall be closed. Will Bulgaria, Greece, +and Servia quietly look on while the work of a generation is being +undone? Will the Greeks, Serbs, and Bulgarians residing in Turkey allow +themselves to be denationalized more or less forcibly? Besides, can +they be denationalized against their will except by destroying the +Parliamentary and democratic Government, the Constitution of yesterday, +and by reintroducing the ancient absolutism in an aggravated form? Two +hundred years ago the Turks could easily have nationalized the alien +races by means of the church and the school, but it seems that it is +now too late to make an attempt at turning the subject races into +Turks. + +"In endeavoring to settle the conflicts among the alien nationalities +and between the aliens and the Turks, the path of the new Turkish +Government will scarcely be smooth. _The Balkan States_ are watching +events with attention. Although they congratulated the new Turkish +Government, they have no interest in Turkey's regeneration, and they +are bound to oppose the Ottomanization of their compatriots in Turkey. +Therefore, they _may be expected to draw the sword and to face Turkey +unitedly if they see their plans of expansion threatened by the +nationalization of the alien elements in Turkey_." + +Unfortunately, my forecast has come true in every particular. The +failure of New Turkey was natural. It was unavoidable. Ancient States +are ponderous and slow-moving bodies. Their course can be deflected and +their character be altered only by gradual evolution, by slow and +almost imperceptible changes spread over a long space of time. +Democracy, like a tree, is a thing of slow growth, and it requires a +congenial soil. It can not be created over night in Turkey, Persia, or +China. The attempt to convert an ancient Eastern despotism, firmly +established on a theocratic basis, a country in which the Koran and the +Multeka are the law of the land, into a Western democracy based on the +secular speculations of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Bentham, Mill, and +Spencer was ridiculous. The revolution effected only an outward change. +It introduced some Western innovations, but altered neither the +character of the Government nor that of the people. Turkish +Parliamentarism became a sham and a make-believe. The cruel absolutism +of Abdul Hamid was speedily followed by the scarcely less cruel +absolutism of a secret committee. + +The new rulers of the country were mostly very young men, who were +conspicuous for their enthusiasm and their daring but not for their +judgment and experience. They had picked upon the boulevards and in the +Quartier Latin of Paris and in Geneva the sonorous phrases of Western +democracy and demagogy, and with these they impressed, not only their +fellow citizens, but also the onlookers in Europe. Having obtained +power, they embarked upon a campaign of nationalization. However, +instead of trying to nationalize the non-Turkish millions slowly and +gradually by kind and just treatment coupled with a moderate amount of +nationalizing pressure, they began ruthlessly to make war upon the +language, and to suppress the churches, schools, and other institutions +of the non-Turkish citizens, whom they disarmed and deprived of their +ancient rights. The complaints and remonstrances of the persecuted were +answered with redoubled persecution, with violence, and with massacre, +and soon serious revolts broke out in all parts of the Empire. The +Young Turks followed faithfully in Abdul Hamid's footsteps. However, +Abdul Hamid was clever enough always to play off one nationality or +race against the other. In his Balkan policy, for instance, he +encouraged Greek Christians to slay Christian Bulgarians and Servians, +and allowed Bulgarian bands to make war upon Servians and Greeks, +supporting, on principle, one nationality against the other. But the +Young Turks persecuted indiscriminately and simultaneously all +non-Turkish races, Albanians, Bulgarians, Servians, and Greeks, and +thus they brought about the union of the Balkan States against +themselves. + +The outbreak of the war could scarcely have been prevented by the +European Powers. It was bound to come. It was as inevitable as was the +breakdown of the Young Turkish _rĂ©gime_. Since the earliest times the +Turks have been a race of nomadic warriors. Their policy has always +been to conquer nations, to settle among the conquered, and to rule +them, keeping them in strict and humiliating subjection. They have +always treated the subject peoples harshly and contemptuously. Unlike +other conquerors, they have never tried to create among the conquered a +great and homogeneous State which would have promised permanence, but, +nomad-like, have merely created military settlement among aliens. +Therefore, the alien subjects of the Turks have remained aliens in +Turkey. They have not become citizens of the Empire. As the Turks did +not try to convert the conquered to Islam--the Koran forbids +proselytism by force--and to nationalize them, the subjected and +ill-treated alien masses never amalgamated with the ruling Turks, but +always strove to regain their liberty by rebellion. Owing to the +mistakes made in its creation, the Turkish Empire has been for a long +time an Empire in the process of disintegration. Its later history +consists of a long series of revolts, of which the present outbreak is +the latest, but scarcely the last, instance. + +The failure of the new Turkish _rĂ©gime_ has increased to the utmost the +century-old antagonism between the ruling Turks and their Christian +subjects. The accounts of the sufferings of their brothers across the +borderline, inflicted upon them by Constitutional Turkey, which had +promised such great things, had raised the indignation of the Balkan +peoples to fever heat and had made an explosion of popular fury +inevitable. The war fever increased when it was discovered that +Servians, Bulgarians, and Greeks were at last of one mind, and that +Turkey's strength had been undermined by revolts in all parts of the +Empire and by the Turkish-Italian war. The Turks, on the other hand, +were not unnaturally indignant with the perfidy of the Christian +Powers, which, instead of supporting Turkey in her attempts at reform, +had snatched valuable territories from her immediately after her +revolution. Not unnaturally, they attributed the failure of the new +_rĂ©gime_ and the revolts of their subjects to the machinations of the +Christian States, and the Balkan troubles to the hostile policy of the +Balkan States. The tension on both sides became intolerable. If the +Balkan States had not mobilized, a revolution would have broken out in +Sofia and Belgrade, for the people demanded war. If the Turkish +Government had given way to the Balkan States, a revolution would have +broken out in Constantinople. The instinct of self-preservation forced +the Balkan Governments and Turkey into war. The passions of race-hatred +had become uncontrollable. + + +FREDERICK PALMER[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission from an article in _Everybody's +Magazine_.] + +Against any one of his little Christian neighbors the Turk had superior +numbers, and had only to concentrate on a single section of his +many-sided frontier line. It had never entered his mind that the little +neighbors would form an alliance. He had trusted to their jealousies to +keep them apart. United, they could strike him on the front and both +sides simultaneously. He was due for an attack coming down the main +street and from alleys to the right and left. + +In this situation he must temporarily accept the defensive. Meanwhile, +he foresaw the battalions of "chocolate soldiers" beating themselves to +pieces against the breastworks of his garrisons, and Greek turning on +Serb and Serb on Bulgar after a taste of real war. Against divided +counsels would be one mind, which, with reenforcements of the faithful +from Asia Minor, would send the remnants of the _opĂ©ra bouffe_ invasion +flying back over their passes. + +But the allies fully realized the danger of quarreling among +themselves, which would have been much harder to avert if their armies +had been acting together as a unit under a single command. Happily, +each army was to make a separate campaign under its own generals; each +had its own separate task; each was to strike at the force in front of +its own borders. Prompt, staggering blows before the Turkish reserves +could arrive were essential. + +The Montenegrins in the northwest, who had the side-show (while +Bulgaria, Servia, and Greece had the three rings under the main tent), +did their part when they invested the garrison of Scutari. + +Advancing northward, the Greeks, with strong odds in their favor, +easily took care of the Turkish force at Elassona and continued their +advance toward Salonika. + +Advancing southward, the Serbs, one hundred thousand strong (that is, +the army of their first line), moved on Kumanova among the hills, where +the forty thousand Turks defending the city of Uskub would make their +stand as inevitably as a board of army engineers would select Sandy +Hook as a site for some of the defenses of New York harbor. +Confidently, the Turkish commander staked all on the issue. + +The Serbs did not depend alone on mass or envelopment by flank. They +murderously and swiftly pressed the attack in the front as well as on +the sides; and the cost of victory was seven or eight thousand +casualties. Two or three fragments of the Turkish army escaped along +the road; otherwise, there was complete disintegration. + +Uskub was now undefended. It was the ancient capital of Servia; and the +feelings of the Serbs, as they marched in, approximated what ours would +be if our battalions were swinging down Pennsylvania Avenue after a +Mexican proconsul had occupied the White House for five hundred years. +Meanwhile, at Monastir were forty thousand more Turks. So far as +helping their comrades at Kumanova was concerned, they might as well +have been in jail in Kamchatka. You can imagine them sitting +cross-legged, Turkish fashion, waiting their turn. They broke the +precedent of Plevna, which the garrisons of Adrianople and Scutari +gloriously kept, by yielding rather easily. There must have been a +smile on the golden dome of the tomb of Napoleon, who thrashed the +armies of Europe in detail. + +A Servian division, immediately after Kumanova, started southwest over +the mountain passes in the snow and through the valleys in the mud to +clinch the great Servian object of the war with the nine points of +possession. To young Servia, Durazzo, the port of old Servia, is as +water to the gasping fish. It stands for unhampered trade relations +with the world; for economic freedom. When that division, ragged and +footsore, came at last in sight of the blue Adriatic--well, it may +safely be called a historic moment for one little nation. + +Now we turn from the side lines, where the Serbs and the Greeks were +occupied, to the neck of the funnel through which the Turkish +reenforcements from Asia Minor were coming. There the Bulgars had +undertaken the great, vital task of the war against the main Turkish +army. + +The Bulgarian army was little given to gaiety and laughter, but sang +the "Shuma Maritza" on the march. This is the song of big men in +boots--big white men with set faces--making the thunder of a torrent as +they charge. "Roaring Maritza" is the nearest that you can come to +putting it into English. The Maritza is the national river, and the +song pictures it swollen and rushing in the winter rains or when the +snows on the Balkans melt, on its way past the Bulgarian border into +Turkey; and the gray army was now to follow it to the Aegean, in the +spirit of its flood, and make the harbor at its mouth Bulgarian. + +Yes, a gray army, bent on a grim business in a hurry, in gray winter +weather and chill mountain mists, with the sun showing through overcast +skies--something of the kind of weather that bred the Scotch. Cromwell +or Stonewall Jackson would have felt at home, saying his prayers at the +double-quick, in such company. As mementos from home, the soldiers wore +in their caps and buttonholes withered flowers and sprigs of green +which their womenfolk had given in farewell. The women were just as +Spartan as the Spartans; perhaps more so. If any soldier lacked innate +courage, the spur of public opinion drove him forward in step with his +comrades. + +Naturally, Bulgarian generalship had to adapt its plan of campaign to +the obstacles between it and its adversary. For armies are cumbrous +affairs. In all times they have been tied down to roads and bridges. +The main highway and the main railway line from Sofia, the capital of +Bulgaria, to Constantinople both ran through Adrianople. Nature meant +this city, set in a basin among hills, for defense, and for the center +of any army defending Thrace. On the near-by hills is a circle of +permanent forts that commands all approaches for guns or infantry. In +front of it is the turbulent Maritza, and to the northeast lies the +town of Kirk-Kilesseh, partly fortified and naturally strong, which +formed the Turkish right. The left rested at Demotika, to the south of +Adrianople, in a rough country inaccessible to prompt action by a large +force. + +The Bulgars must turn one wing or the other. Foreign military experts +thought that Kirk-Kilesseh could be taken only after a long operation, +and then only by a force much larger than the Bulgars could spare for +concentration at any one point of the line. Let two weeks pass without +a definite victory, and the Turks would have numbers equal to the +Bulgars; a month, superior numbers. As it was, the Turks had +altogether, including the Adrianople garrison, a hundred and +seventy-five thousand men in strong position against the Bulgars' first +line of two hundred and eighty thousand. + +A branch of the Sofia-Constantinople railway line runs northeast to +Yamboli, on the Bulgarian frontier. Between Yamboli and Kirk-Kilesseh +is a highway--the Turkish kind of highway--and no unfordable streams or +other natural obstacles to an army's progress. At Yamboli the Bulgars +concentrated their third army corps, under General Demetrief, and a +portion of their second. The rest of the second faced Adrianople, while +the first corps operated to the south and east. + +Swinging around on Kirk-Kilesseh, the third army would not take "No!" +for an answer. The Bulgarian infantry stormed the redoubts in the +moonlight. They knew how to use the bayonet and the Turks did not. +Skilfully driven steel slaughtered Mohammedan fanaticism that fought +with clubbed guns, hands, and teeth, asking no quarter this side of +Paradise. Kirk-Kilesseh fell. The Turkish army, flanked, had to go; +Adrianople was isolated. The Bulgarian dead on the field could not +complain; the wounded were in the rear; the living had burning eyes on +the next goal. + +"_Na noj!"_ ("Fix bayonets!") had won. "_Na noj!_ Give them the steel!" +was the cry of a nation. Soldiers sang it out to one another on the +march. Children prattled it at home as if it were a new kind of game: + +"Give them the steel and they will go! Nothing can stop Bulgaria!" + +Not more than two Bulgarian soldiers out of twenty ever reached the +Turk with a bayonet. The Turk did not wait for them. So the bayonet +counted no less in the morale of the eighteen than of the two. +Frequently they fixed it at a distance of five or six hundred yards. +Their desire to use it made them press close at all points with the +grim initiative that will not be gainsaid. When they charged, the +spirit of cold steel was in their rush. + +There was a splendid audacity in General Demetrief's next move after +Kirk-Kilesseh. He did not pause to surround Adrianople. To the east was +a wide gap in the investing lines. Through this the garrison might have +made a sortie with telling effect. But Demetrief knew his enemy. He +took it for granted that the garrison was settling itself for a siege. +With twelve thousand Turkish reenforcements a day arriving from Asia, +even hours counted. + +As yet, the Turks were not decisively beaten; only the right that +fought at Kirk-Kilesseh had been really demoralized. On the line of +Bunar Hissar to LĂ¼le Burgas they formed to receive the second shock. +They were given scant time to prepare for it. "_Na noj!_" For three +days this battle, the Waterloo of the war, raged. The advancing +Bulgarian infantry went down like ninepins; but it did not give up, for +it knew that "they would go when they saw the steel." Again the turning +movement in flank crushed in the end. This time the Turkish main army +was shattered. It hardly had the cohesiveness of a large mob. It was +many little mobs, hungry, staggering on to the rear, where the ravages +of cholera awaited. + +In two weeks the Bulgars had made their dispositions and fought two +battles, each lasting three days. They had advanced seventy-five miles +over a rough country where the roads were sloughs. The loss in killed +and wounded was sixty thousand; one man out of five was down. + +When officers and men had snatched any sleep it was on the rain-soaked +earth. The bread in their haversacks was wet and moldy. When they lay +in the fire zones they were lucky if they had this to eat. By day they +had dug their way, trench by trench, up to the enemy's position, +crouching in the mud to keep clear of bullets. By night they had +charged. They were an army in a state of auto-intoxication, bent on the +one object of driving the Turkish army back to the narrow line of the +peninsula. This accomplished, all the isolated forces in European +Turkey, whether at distant Scutari or near-by Adrianople, were without +hope of relief. The neck of the funnel was closed; the war practically +won. + +All the world knows now, and the Bulgarian staff must have known at the +time, that for a week after LĂ¼le Burgas the utter demoralization of the +Turkish retreat left the way open to Constantinople. Why did not +General Demetrief go on? Why did that army which had proceeded thus far +with such impetuous and irresistible momentum suddenly turn snail? + +For the reason that the Marathon winner when he drops across the tape +is not good for another mile. The Bulgar was on his stomach in the mud, +though he was facing toward the heels of the Turk. Food and ammunition +were not up. A fresh force of fifty thousand men following up the +victory might easily have made its own terms at the door of Yildiz +Palace within three or four days; but there was not even a fresh +regiment. + +It was three weeks after LĂ¼le Burgas before Demetrief was ready to +attack; three weeks, in which the cholera scare had abated, the panic +in Constantinople had come and gone, reenforcements had arrived and +been organized into a kind of order, while they built fortifications. +The Turkish cruisers supported both of Nazim Pasha's flanks with the +fire of heavier guns than the Bulgars possessed. There was an +approachable Turkish front of only about sixteen miles. Without +silencing the Turkish batteries, Demetrief sent his infantry against +the redoubts. He lost five or six thousand men without gaining a single +fort. Against a stubborn and even semi-intelligent foe there is no +storming a narrow frontal line of fortifications when you may not turn +the ends. + +Adrianople lay across the straight line of transportation by railroad +and highway to the peninsula. All munitions for Demetrief's army had to +go around it in the miserable, antiquated ox-carts. It was the rock +splitting the flood of the Bulgarian advance. While the world was +hearing rumors of the city's fall, the truth was that it was not really +invested until a month after LĂ¼le Burgas was fought. + +For a month the garrison reported to be starving was drawing in +supplies from a big section of farming country. When the armistice was +signed it still had pasturage within the lines of defense for flocks of +sheep and herds of cattle. The problem for the Bulgars first and last +was to keep this fact masked and to check the savage sorties and spare +all the guns and men they could for the main army. Volunteers from +Macedonia still in native dress, clerks still in white collars, old men +who had perjured themselves about their age in order to get a rifle, +and the young conscripts of twenty years came to take the place of the +regular forces on the investing lines, who moved on to re-enforce +Demetrief. Fifty thousand Servians, two divisions, were spared after +Kumanova, and speeded across Bulgaria on the single-line railway with +an amazing rapidity to assist, according to plan, the Bulgars in the +investment operations. + +To the Turk, Adrianople is a holy city. Here is the most splendid +mosque in all the empire, that built by the conqueror Sultan Selim. +With the shadow of the minarets over his shoulder, the Turkish private +in a trench was ready to die for Allah. But death must come for him. He +is not going to hustle intelligently after paradise. In short, he is a +sit-and-take-it fighter. While any delay of the Bulgarian advance was +invaluable in gaining time, he made no use of his opportunities in a +country of hills and transverse valleys and ravines, which nature meant +for rear-guard action. A company of infantry posted on a hill could +force a regiment to deploy and attack, and a few miles farther on could +repeat the process. Cavalry could harass the flanks of the attacking +force. Field-guns could get a commanding position above a road, with +safe cover for retreat. + +At Mustapha Pasha, twenty miles in front of Adrianople, was a solid old +stone bridge over the Maritza, whose floods in the winter rains would +be a nightmare to engineers who had to maintain a crossing with +pontoons. If ever a corps needed a bridge the second Bulgarian corps +needed this one. They found that a small and badly placed charge of +dynamite had merely knocked out a few stones between two of the +buttresses, leaving the bridge intact enough for all the armies of +Europe to pass over it; and the Turks did not even put a mitrailleuse +behind sandbags in the streets or use field-guns from the adjacent +hills to delay the Bulgars in their crossing. + +The soldier who is good only for the defensive can never win. What beat +the Turk was the Turk himself. His army was in the chaos between +old-fashioned organization and an attempt at a modern organization. His +generals were divided in their counsels; his junior officers aped the +modern officer in form, but lacked application. They had ceased to +believe in their religion. Therefore, they did not lead their privates +who did believe. In the midst of the war, captains and lieutenants, +trustworthy observers tell me, would leave their untrained companies of +reservists to march by the road while they themselves rode by train. +They took their soldiers' pay. They neglected all the detail which is +the very essence of that preparation at the bottom without which no +generalship at the top can prevail. + +The Bulgarian officers, two-thirds of whom were reservists, enjoyed a +comradeship with their men at the same time that discipline was rigid. +They believed in their God; at least, in the god of efficiency. They +worked hard. They belong in the world of to-day and the Turk does not. +Therefore the Turk has to go. + +"We will not make peace without Adrianople!" was the cry of every +Bulgar. Its possession became a national fetish, no less than naval +superiority to the British. Adrianople stood for the real territorial +object of the war. It must be the center of any future line of defense +against the Turk. Practically its siege was set, once there was +stalemate at Tchatalja. With no hope of beating the main Bulgarian army +back, there was no hope of relieving the garrison, whose fate was only +a matter of time. + +At the London Peace Conference the allies stood firm for the possession +of Adrianople. The Turkish commissioners, after repeating for six weeks +that they would never cede it, had finally agreed to yield on orders +from Constantinople, when the young Turks killed Nazim Pasha, the +Turkish commander-in-chief, and overthrew the old cabinet. "You can +have Adrianople when you take it!" was the defiance of the new cabinet +to the allies. + +PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +The Peace Conference came to naught and hostilities were resumed on +February 14, 1913, because of the impossibility of agreement between +the allies and Turks on three important points: the status of +Adrianople, the disposal of the Aegean islands, and the payment of an +indemnity by Turkey. Bulgaria and Turkey both maintained that +Adrianople was essential to their national safety. Moreover, its +possession by Bulgaria was absolutely necessary were she to secure the +hegemony in the Balkans at which she aimed. On the other hand, to the +Turks, Adrianople is a sacred city around which cluster the most +glorious memories of their race. Thus they would yield it only as a +last necessity. The ambassadorial conference, anxious to bring to an +end a war which was threatening to embroil Austria-Hungary and Russia +and desirous also to make the settlement permanent, had already on +January 17th in its collective note to the Porte unavailingly +recommended to the Porte the cession of Adrianople to the Balkan +States. + +The question of the Aegean islands presented similar difficulties. They +are inhabited almost exclusively by Greeks who demand to be united to +the mother country; but Turkey insisted that the possession of some of +them (_e.g._, Imbros, Tenedos, and Lemnos) was necessary to her for the +protection of the Dardanelles, since they command the entrance to the +straits, while others (_e.g._, Chios and Mitylene) are part of Asiatic +Turkey. The Greeks asserted that to leave any of them to Turkey would +cause constant unrest in Greece, and subsequent uprising against +Turkey, thus merely repeating the history of Crete. Moreover, the +Greeks maintained that they must have the disputed islands because they +are the only large and profitable ones; but they expressed a +willingness to neutralize them so that the integrity of the Dardanelles +would not be endangered. The difficulty was complicated by the +retention of a number of the islands by Italy until Turkey should +fulfil all the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne arising from the +Tripolitan war. The Greeks asserted that their fleet would have taken +all the islands except for the Italian occupation. Moreover, they are +suspicious of Italian intentions, especially with regard to Rhodes. The +ambassadorial conference in its collective note to the Porte had +advised the Porte "to leave to the Powers the task of deciding upon the +fate of the islands of the Aegean Sea and the Powers would arrange a +settlement of the question which will exclude all menace to the +security of Turkey." + +The third question in dispute concerned a money indemnity. The war had +been a fearful drain upon the resources of the allies. They were +determined not to share any of the Ottoman debt and to compel Turkey, +if possible, to bear the financial burden of the war. But to yield to +this demand would absolutely destroy Turkish credit. This would result +in the financial ruin of many of the subjects of the great Powers. +Hence this demand of the allies met with scant favor in the +ambassadorial conference. + +The war dragged on during the entire month of February without changing +the relative positions of the belligerents. In the mean time, the +relations between Austria-Hungary and Russia were daily becoming more +strained. This was due to the determination of Austria-Hungary to +prevent Servia from securing a seaboard upon the Adriatic. In the +slogan of the allies, "the Balkan peninsula for the Balkan peoples," +Austria-Hungary found a principle which could be utilized against their +demands. She took the stand that the Albanians are a Balkan people +entirely distinct from Slavs and Greeks and particularly unfriendly to +the Slavs. It would be as suicidal to place any of the Albanians under +the Slavs as to put back any of the Slavs under the Turks. Albania must +be an autonomous State; that it may live in peace, it must possess its +seaboard intact. In this position Austria-Hungary was seconded by +Italy, which has interests in Albania as important as those of +Austria-Hungary. Neither State can afford to allow the other to possess +the eastern shore of the Adriatic; and both are determined that it +shall not fall into the possession of another possibly stronger power. + +As early as December 20, 1912, the ambassadors had recommended to their +governments, and the latter had accepted, the principle of Albanian +autonomy, together with a provision guaranteeing to Servia commercial +access to the Adriatic. This had aroused the intense indignation of the +Serbs, whose armies, contrary to the express prohibitions of +Austria-Hungary, had already occupied Durazzo on the Adriatic and +overrun northern Albania. The Serbs denied the right of any State to +forbid them to occupy the territory of the enemy whom they had +conquered, and Servia sent a detachment of her best troops and some of +her largest siege guns to help the Montenegrins take Scutari. Moreover, +numerous reports of outrages committed upon Albanians by the +"Liberators" in their attempts to convert both Moslem and Catholic +Albanians to the orthodox faith reached central Europe and caused great +danger in Vienna. Count Berchtold's statement to the Delegations that +Austria-Hungary would insist upon territory enough to enable +independent Albania to be a stable State with Scutari as the capital, +aroused in turn much excitement in Russia. Scutari was the chief goal +of Montenegrin ambition. To possess it had been the hope of King +Nicholas and his people during his long reign of half a century. To +forbid him to possess it would be to deprive him of the fruits of the +really heroic sacrifices his people had made during this war. Hence the +excitement in all Slavdom. On February 7th Francis Joseph sent Prince +Hohenlohe to St. Petersburg with an autograph letter to the Czar which +had the good effect of reducing the tension between the two countries. + +The ambassadorial conference at London then directed its attention +exclusively to settling the status of Albania. After more than a month +of acrimonious discussion a settlement was reached on March 26th in +which the principle of nationality which had been invoked to justify +the creation of an independent Albania was quietly ignored. The +conference agreed upon the northern and northeastern boundaries of +Albania. In order to carry her point that Scutari must be Albanian, +Austria-Hungary agreed that the almost exclusively Albanian towns of +Ipek, Djakova, Prizrend, and Dibra should go to the Serbs. On April 1st +King Nicholas was notified that the powers had unanimously agreed to +blockade his coast if he did not raise the siege of Scutari. His answer +was that the proposed action of the powers was a breach of neutrality +and that Montenegro would not alter her attitude until she had signed a +treaty of peace. At once the warships of all the powers save Russia +(which had none in the Mediterranean) engaged in the blockade. On April +15th, owing to the pressure of the powers and to the strained relations +that had arisen between Servia and Bulgaria, the Servian troops were +recalled from Scutari. Nevertheless the Montenegrins persisted alone +and Scutari fell April 22, 1913. Two days later the Austro-Hungarian +government demanded that vigorous action be undertaken by the powers to +put independent Albania in possession of Scutari according to the +agreement of March 26th. At once the greatest excitement prevailed +throughout Russia. Street demonstrations against the Austro-Hungarian +policy were held in many of the large cities. In Austria-Hungary +military preparations became active on a large scale, and on May 1st +the Dual Monarchy gave notice that it would undertake individual action +should Montenegro not agree to the ultimatum. Italy, which is +determined never to permit the Dual Monarchy individual action in +Albania, announced that she would support her ally. As the result of +all the pressure brought to bear upon him, on May 5th, King Nicholas +yielded and placed Scutari in the hands of the powers, just in time, as +Sir Edward Grey informed the English House of Commons, to prevent an +outbreak of hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Russia. + +While the chancelleries of the great powers were thus straining every +nerve to agree upon the status of Albania and thereby to prevent a +conflict between the two powers most vitally interested, the war +between the allies and Turkey was prosecuted during March with greater +vigor and with more definite results. On March 5th, Janina surrendered +to the Greeks and on March 26th Adrianople fell. The powers had already +offered to mediate between the belligerents, and their good offices had +been accepted by both sides. The allies at first insisted upon the +Rodosto-Malatra line as the western boundary of Turkey, but were +informed that the powers would not consent to giving Bulgaria a +foothold on the Dardanelles. + +After much outcry and violent denunciation by the allies, an armistice +was signed at Bulair on April 19th by representatives of all the +belligerents except Montenegro, which was thereby only incited to more +heroic efforts to capture Scutari. Nevertheless the allies had profited +so much by delay in their relations with the powers since the very +outbreak of the war that they now hoped to secure advantages by a +similar policy, and it was not until May 21st that their +representatives reassembled at London. Even then there appeared to be +no sincere desire to come to terms, and on May 27th Sir Edward Grey +informed the delegates that they would soon lose the confidence of +Europe, and that for all that was being accomplished they might as well +not be in London. The delegates were very indignant at this strong +language, but it had the desired effect, for on May 30, 1913, the +Treaty of London was signed by the representatives of all the +belligerents. Its principal provisions were those already suggested by +the powers, _viz_.: + +(1) The boundary between Turkey and the allies to be a line drawn from +Midia to Enos, to be delimited by an international commission: + +(2) The boundaries of Albania to be determined by the powers. + +(3) Turkey to cede Crete to Greece. + +(4) The powers to decide the status of the Aegean islands. + +(5) The settlement of all the financial questions arising out of the +war to be left to an international commission to meet at Paris. + +It was time for a settlement, since the problem was no longer to secure +peace between Turkey and the allies, but rather to maintain peace among +the allies. The solution of the great problem of the war, the division +of the spoils, could no longer be deferred. From the moment that +Adrianople had fallen, the troops of Bulgaria, Servia, and Greece +maneuvered for position, each state determined to secure possession of +as much territory as possible, in the hope that at the final settlement +it might retain what it had seized. + + + + +MEXICO PLUNGED INTO ANARCHY + +HUERTA SEIZES A DICTATORSHIP A.D. 1913 + +EDWIN EMERSON WILLIAM CAROL + +Mexico has loomed large in the affairs of the world during recent +years. The overthrow of Diaz in 1911 did not, as the world had hoped, +bring into power an earnest and energetic middle class capable of +guiding the downtrodden peons into the blessings of civilization. On +the contrary, the land passed from the grip of a cruel oligarchy into +that of a far more cruel anarchy. Hordes of bandits sprang up +everywhere. The new president, Madero, was a philosopher and a patriot. +But he failed wholly to get any real grasp of the situation. He was +betrayed on every side; rebellion rose all around him; and in his +extremity he entrusted his army and his personal safety to the most +savage of his secret enemies, General Huerta. Madero died because he +was too far in advance of his countrymen to be able to understand them. +After that, Huerta sought to reestablish the old Diaz regime of wealth +and terrorism; but he only succeeded in plunging the land back into +utter barbarism. + +The Mexicans are the last large section of the earth's population thus +left to rule themselves in savagery. Hence the rest of the world has +watched them with eagerness. Europe repeatedly reminded the United +States that by her Monroe Doctrine she had assumed the duty of keeping +order in America. At last she felt compelled to interfere. The picture +of those days of anarchy is here sketched by two eye-witnesses, an +Englishman and an American, both fresh from the scene of action. + + +EDWIN EMERSON + +There is a saying in Mexico that it is much easier to be a successful +general than a successful president. Inasmuch as almost all Mexican +presidents during the hundred years since Mexico became a Republic, +owed their presidency to successful generalship, this saying is +significant. At all events, no Mexican general who won his way into the +National Palace by his military prowess ever won his way out with +credit to himself or to his country. + +General Victoriano Huerta, Mexico's latest Interim-President, during +the first few months that followed his overthrow of the Madero +Government found out to his own cost how much harder it is to rule a +people than an army. + +As a matter of fact, General Huerta was pushed into his +interim-presidency before he really had a fair opportunity to learn how +to command an army. At the time he was so suddenly made Chief +Magistrate of Mexico he was not commanding the Mexican army, but was +merely a recently appointed major-general who happened to command that +small fraction of the regular army at the capital which was supposed to +have remained loyal to President Madero and his constitutional +government. Huerta had been appointed by President Madero to the +supreme command of the loyal forces at the capital, numbering barely +three thousand soldiers, only a few days before Madero's fall. Even if +he had not turned traitor to his commander-in-chief, as he did in the +end, Huerta's command of the loyal troops during the ten days' struggle +at the capital preceding the fall of the constitutional government +could not be described as anything but a dismal failure. + +Before considering General Huerta's qualifications as a President, one +should know something of his career as a soldier. During the last few +years it has repeatedly fallen to my lot to follow General Huerta in +the field, so that I have had a fair chance to view some of his +soldierly qualities at close hand. I accompanied General Huerta during +his campaign through Chihuahua, in 1912, and was present at his famous +Battle of Bachimba, near Chihuahua City, on July 3, 1912--the one +decisive victory won by General Huerta against the rebel forces of +Pascual Orozco. Before this campaign I was in Cuernavaca, in the State +of Morelos, during the time when General Huerta had his headquarters +there in his campaign against Zapata's bandit hordes in that State +after the fall of General Diaz's government. + +General Huerta then took charge of the last military escort which +accompanied General Porfirio Diaz on his midnight flight from Mexico +City to the port of Vera Cruz. During the ten hours' run down to the +coast, it may be recalled, the train on which President Diaz and his +family rode was held up by rebels in the gray of dawn, and the soldiers +of the military escort had to deploy in skirmish order, led by Generals +Diaz and Huerta in person; but the affair was over after a few minutes' +firing, with no casualties on either side. + +Before this eventful year General Huerta had but few opportunities of +winning laurels on the field of battle. Having entered the Military +Academy of Chapultepec in the early 'seventies under Lerdo de Tejada's +presidency, Victoriano Huerta was graduated in 1875, at the age of +twenty-one, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of engineers. +While still a cadet at Chapultepec he distinguished himself by his +predilection for scientific subjects, particularly mathematics and +astronomy. During the military rebellion of Oaxaca, when General Diaz +rose against President Lerdo, Lieutenant Huerta was engaged in garrison +duty, and got no opportunity to enter this campaign. + +After General Diaz had come into power and had begun his reorganization +of the Mexican army, young Huerta, lately promoted to a captaincy of +engineers, came forward with a plan for organizing a General Staff. +General Diaz approved of his plans, and Captain Huerta, accordingly, in +1879, became the founder of Mexico's present General Staff Corps. The +first work of the new General Staff was to undertake the drawing up of +a military map of Mexico on a large scale. The earliest sections of +this immense map, on which the Mexican General Staff is still hard at +work, were surveyed and drawn up in the State of Vera Cruz, where the +Mexican Military Map Commission still has its headquarters. Captain +Huerta accompanied the Commission to Jalapa, the capital of the State +of Vera Cruz, and served there through a period of eight years, +receiving his promotion to major in 1880 and to lieutenant-colonel in +1884. During this time he had charge of all the astronomical work of +the Commission, and he also led surveying and exploring parties over +the rough mountainous region that extends between the cities of Jalapa +and Orizaba. While at Jalapa he married Emilia Aguila, of Mexico City, +who bore him three sons and a daughter. + +In 1890 Huerta was promoted to a colonelcy and was recalled to Mexico +City. As a reward for Indian campaign services Huerta was promoted to +the rank of brigadier-general. In Mexico's centennial year of 1910, +when Francisco Madero rose in the north, and other parts of the +Republic gave signs of disaffection, General Huerta was ordered south +to take charge of all the detached Government force in the mountainous +State of Guerrero. Almost simultaneously with his arrival in +Chilpancingo, the capital of the State of Guerrero, almost the whole +south of Mexico rose in rebellion. The military situation there was +soon found to be so hopeless that Huerta was recalled to Mexico City. + +After General Huerta saw General Porfirio Diaz off to Europe at Vera +Cruz, he returned to the capital and placed himself at the disposition +of Don Francisco L. de la Barra, Mexico's new President _ad interim_. +President de la Barra dispatched him with a column of soldiers to +Cuernavaca to restore peace. + +Huerta placed himself at Señor Madero's complete disposition when the +latter was elected and inaugurated as President at Mexico. Madero, for +reasons that are self-evident, was anxious to propitiate the military +element, and to secure the cooperation of the more experienced officers +in the regular army for the better pacification of the country. +Accordingly, when Zapata and his bandit hordes gave signs of returning +to their old ways, refusing to "stay bought," President Madero sent +General Huerta back into Morelos, at the head of a strong force of +cavalry, mountain artillery, and machine guns, numbering altogether +3,500 men, with orders to put down Zapata's new rebellion "at any +cost." At the same time President Madero induced his former fellow +rebel, Ambrosio Figueroa, now Commander-in-Chief of Mexico's rural +guards, to cooperate with General Huerta by bringing a mounted force of +three thousand rurales from Guerrero into Morelos from the south so as +to hem in the Zapatistas between himself and Huerta at Cuernavaca. +Figueroa's men, though they had to cover three times the distance, +struck the main body of the rebels first and got badly mussed up in the +battle that followed. General Huerta's column did not get away from +Cuernavaca until the second day of the fight, and did not reach the +battlefield in the extinct crater of Mount Herradura until Figueroa's +rurales had been all but routed. In the battle that followed, General +Huerta succeeded in driving the rebels out of their strong position, +but the losses of the federals, owing to their belated arrival and +hastily taken positions, were disproportionately heavy. + +This affair caused much ill-feeling between the rurales and regulars, +and Figueroa sent word to Madero that he could not afford to sacrifice +his men by trying to cooperate with such a poor general as Huerta. The +much-heralded joint campaign accordingly fell to the ground. + +President Madero thereupon recalled General Huerta, and sent General +Robles, of the regular army, to replace him in command. This furnished +Huerta with another grievance against Madero. + +Some time afterward I heard General Huerta explain in private +conversation to some of his old army comrades that he had been recalled +from Morelos because of his sharp military measures against the +Zapatistas, owing to President Madero's sentimental preference for +dealing leniently with his old Zapatista friends. At the time when +General Huerta made this private complaint, however, it was a notorious +fact that his successor in Morelos, General Robles, had received public +instructions from Madero to deal more severely with the Morelos rebels. +General Robles did, as a matter of fact, handle the Morelos rebels far +more ruthlessly than Huerta, leading to his own subsequent recall on +charges of excessive cruelty. + +Meanwhile the Orozco rebellion had arisen in the north, and became so +threatening that General Gonzalez Salas, Madero's War Minister, felt +called upon to resign his portfolio to take the field against Orozco. +General Salas, after organizing a fairly formidable-looking force of +3,500 regulars and three batteries of field artillery at Torreon, +rushed into the fray, only to suffer a disgraceful defeat in his first +battle at Rellano, in Chihuahua, not far from Torreon. General Salas +took his defeat so much to heart that he committed suicide on his way +back to Torreon. This, together with the panic-stricken return of his +army to Torreon, caused the greatest dismay at the Capital, the +inhabitants of which already believed themselves threatened by an +irresistible advance of Orozco's rebel followers. None of the federal +generals at the front were considered strong enough to stem the tide. + +The only available federal general of high rank, who had any experience +in commanding large forces in the field, was Victoriano Huerta. +President Madero, in his extremity, called upon Huerta to reorganize +the badly disordered forces at Torreon, and to take the field against +Orozco, "cost what it may." This was toward the end of March, 1912. + +General Huerta, whom the army had come to regard as "shelved," lost no +time in getting to Torreon. There he soon found that the situation was +by no means so black as it had been painted--General Trucy Aubert, who +had been cut off with one of the columns of the army, having cleverly +extricated his force from its dangerous predicament so as to bring it +safely back to the base at Torreon without undue loss of men or +prestige. + +Thenceforth no expense was saved by General Huerta in bringing the army +to better fighting efficiency. Heavy reenforcements of regulars, +especially of field artillery, were rushed to Torreon from the Capital, +and large bodies of volunteers and irregulars were sent after them from +all parts of the Republic. + +President Madero had said: "Let it cost what it may"; so all the +preparation went forward regardless of cost. "Hang the expense!" became +the blithe motto of the army. + +When General Huerta at last took the field against Orozco, early in +May, his federal army, now swelled to more than six thousand men and +twenty pieces of field artillery, moved to the front in a column of +eleven long railway trains, each numbering from forty to sixty cars, +loaded down with army supplies and munitions of all kinds, besides a +horde of several thousand camp followers, women, sutlers, and other +non-combatants. The entire column stretched over a distance of more +than four miles. The transportation and sustenance of this unwieldy +column, which had to carry its own supply of drinking water, it was +estimated, cost the Mexican Government nearly 350,000 pesos per day. +Its progress was exasperatingly slow, owing to the fact that the +Mexican Central Railway, which was Huerta's only chosen line of +advance, had to be repaired almost rail by rail. + +After more than a fortnight's slow progress, General Huerta struck +Orozco's forces at Conejos, in Chihuahua, near the branch line running +out to the American mines at Mapimi. Orozco's forces, finding +themselves heavily outnumbered and overmatched in artillery, hastily +evacuated Conejos, retreating northward up the railway line by means of +some half-dozen railway trains. Several weeks more passed before Huerta +again struck Orozco's forces at Rellano, in Chihuahua, close to the +former battlefield, along the railway, where his predecessor, General +Gonzalez Salas, had come to grief. This was in June. + +Huerta, with nearly twice as many men and three times as much +artillery, drove Orozco back along the line of the railway after a two +days' long-range artillery bombardment, against which the rebels were +powerless. This battle, in which the combined losses in dead and +wounded on both sides were less than 200, was described in General +Huerta's official report as "more terrific than any battle that had +been fought in the Western Hemisphere during the last fifty years." In +his last triumphant bulletin from the field, General Huerta telegraphed +to President Madero that his brave men had driven the enemy from the +heights with a final fierce bayonet charge, and that their bugle blasts +of victory could be heard even then on the crest. + +Pascual Orozco, on the other hand, reported to the revolutionary Junta +in El Paso that he had ordered his men to retire before the superior +force of the federals, and that they had accomplished this without +disorder by the simple process of boarding their waiting trains and +steaming slowly off to the north, destroying the bridges and culverts +behind him as they went along. One of my fellow war correspondents, who +served on the rebel side during this battle, afterward told me that the +federals, whose bugle calls Huerta heard on the heights, did not get up +to this position until two days after the rebels had abandoned their +trenches along the crest. + +The subsequent advance of the federals from Rellano to the town of +Jimenez, Orozco's old headquarters, which had been evacuated by him +without firing a shot, lasted another week. + +Here Huerta's army camped for another week. At Jimenez the long-brewing +unpleasantness between Huerta's regular officers and some of Madero's +bandit friends, commanding forces of irregular cavalry, came to a head. +The most noted of these former guerrilla chieftains was Francisco +Villa, an old-time bandit, who now rejoiced in the honorary rank of a +Colonel. Villa had appropriated a splendid Arab stallion, originally +imported by a Spanish horse-breeder with a ranch near Chihuahua City. +General Huerta coveted this horse, and one day, after an unusually +lively carouse at general headquarters, he sent a squad of soldiers to +bring the horse out of Villa's corral to his own stable. The old bandit +took offense at this, and came stalking into headquarters to make a +personal remonstrance. He was put under arrest, and Huerta forthwith +sentenced him to be shot. That same day the sentence was to be put into +execution. Villa was already facing the firing squad, and the officer +in charge had given the command to load, when President Madero's +brother, Emilio, who was serving on Huerta's staff in an advisory +capacity, put a stop to the execution by taking Villa under his +personal protection. President Madero was telegraphed to, and +immediately replied, reprieving Villa's sentence, and ordering him to +be sent to Mexico City pending further official investigation. + +This act of interference infuriated Huerta. For the moment he had to +content himself with formulating a long string of serious charges +against Villa, ranging from military insubordination to burglary, +highway robbery, and rape. It was even given out at headquarters that +Villa had struck his commanding general. + +Huerta never forgave the Madero brothers for their part in this affair, +and his resentment was fanned to white heat, subsequently, when +Francisco Villa was allowed to escape scot-free from his prison in +Mexico City. + +Meanwhile Huerta kept telegraphing to President Madero for more +reenforcements of men, munitions, and supplies, more engines, more +railway trains and tank cars, and, above all, for more artillery. +Madero kept sending them, though it cost his Government a new loan of +forty million dollars. Every other day or so a new train, with fresh +supplies, arrived at the front. + +At the end of several more weeks, when Orozco had slowly retreated +half-way through the State of Chihuahua, and when he found that the +destruction of the big seven-span bridge over the Conchos River at +Santa Rosalia did not permanently stop Huerta's advance, he reluctantly +decided to make another stand at the deep cut of Bachimba, just south +of Chihuahua City. This was in July. + +By this time General Huerta's Federal column had swelled to 7,500 +fighting men, 20 pieces of field artillery, 30 machine guns, and some +7,500 camp-followers and women, making a total of more than 15,000 +persons of all sexes and ages, who were being carried along on more +than twenty railroad trains, stretching over a dozen miles of single +track. The column was so long that some of my companions and I, when we +climbed a high hill near the front end of the column at Bachimba, found +it impossible to discern the tail end through our field-glasses. All +the hungry people that were being carried on all those twenty railroad +trains had to be fed, of course, so that none of us were surprised to +read in the Mexican newspapers that the Chihuahua campaign was now +costing Madero's Government nearly 500,000 pesos per day. + +The battle at Bachimba must have swelled this budget. During this one +day's fight nearly two million rifle cartridges and more than 10,000 +artillery projectiles were fired away by the Federals. Huerta's twenty +pieces of field artillery, neatly posted in a straight line on the open +plain, barely half a mile away from his ammunition railway train, kept +firing at the supposed rebel positions all day long without any +appreciable interruption, and all day long the artillery caissons and +limbers kept trotting to and fro between the batteries and ammunition +cars. Orozco had but 3,000 men with two pieces of so-called artillery, +with gun barrels improvised from railroad axles, so he once more +ordered a general retreat by way of his railroad trains, waiting at a +convenient distance on a bend of the road behind the intervening hills. +As at Rellano, at Conejos, and at other places in the campaign where +the railroad swept in big bends around the hills, no attempt was made +on the Federal side to cut off the rebels' retreat by short-cut +flanking movements of cavalry, of which Huerta had more than he could +conveniently use, or chose to use. The whole ten hours' bombardment and +rifle fire resulted in but fourteen dead rebels; but it won the +campaign for the Government, and earned for Huerta his promotion to +Major-General besides the proud title of "Hero of Bachimba." + +President Madero and his anxious Government associates were more than +glad to receive the tidings of this "decisive victory." The only +trouble was that it did not decide anything in particular. Orozco and +his followers, while evacuating the capital of Chihuahua, kept on +wrecking railway property between Chihuahua City and Juarez, and the +campaign kept growing more expensive every day. + +It took Huerta from July until August to work his slow way from the +center of Chihuahua to Ciudad Juarez on the northern frontier. Before +he reached this goal, though, the rebels had split into many smaller +detachments, some of which cut his communications in the rear, while +others harried his flanks with guerrilla tactics and threatened to +carry the "war" into the neighboring State of Sonora. So far as the +trouble and expense to the Federal Government was concerned this +guerrilla warfare was far worse than the preceding slow but sure +railway campaign. General Huerta himself, who was threatened with the +loss of his eyesight from cataract, gave up trying to pursue the +fleeing rebel detachments in person, but kept close to his comfortable +headquarters in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City. This unsatisfactory +condition of affairs gave promise of enduring indefinitely, until +President Madero in Mexico City, whose Government had to bear the +financial brunt of it all, suddenly lost his patience and recalled +Huerta to the capital, leaving the command in General Rabago's hands. + +For reasons that were never quite fathomed by Madero's Government, +Huerta took his time about obeying these orders. Thus, he lingered +first at Ciudad Juarez, then at Chihuahua City, then at Santa RosalĂa, +next at Jimenez, and presently at Torreon, where he remained for over a +week, apparently sulking in his tent like Achilles. This gave rise to +grave suspicions, and rumors flew all over Mexico that Huerta was about +to make common cause with Orozco. President Madero himself, at this +time, told a friend of mine that he was afraid Huerta was going to turn +traitor. About the same time, at a diplomatic reception, President +Madero stated openly to Ambassador Wilson that he had reasons to +suspect Huerta's loyalty. At length, however, General Huerta appeared +at the capital, and after a somewhat chilly interview with the +President, obtained a suspension from duty so that he might have his +eyes treated by a specialist. + +Thus it happened that Huerta, who was nearly blind then, escaped being +drawn into the sudden military movements that grew out of General Felix +Diaz's unexpected revolt and temporary capture of the port of Vera Cruz +last October. + +General Huerta's part in Felix Diaz's second revolution, four months +later, is almost too recent to have been forgotten. He was the senior +ranking general at the capital when the rebellion broke out, and was +summoned to his post of duty by President Madero from the very first. +He accompanied Madero in his celebrated ride from Chapultepec Castle to +the National Palace on the morning of the first day of the famous "Ten +Days," and was put in supreme command of the forces of the Government +after the first hurried council of war. President Madero, totally +lacking in military professional knowledge as he was, confided the +entire conduct of the necessary war measures to General Huerta; but it +soon became apparent that the old General either could not or would not +direct any energetic offensive movement against the rebels. From the +very first the Government committed the fatal blunder of letting the +rebels slowly proceed to the Citadel--a fortified military arsenal--the +retention of which was of paramount importance, without even attempting +to intercept their roundabout march or to frustrate their belated entry +into the poorly guarded Citadel. Later, when it became clear that the +rebels could not be dislodged from this stronghold by street rushes, no +attempt was made to shell them out of their strong position by a +high-angle bombardment of plunging explosive shells. + +After it was all over General Huerta explained the ill-success of his +military measures during the ten days' street-fighting by saying that +President Madero was a madman who had spoiled all Huerta's military +plans and measures by utterly impracticable counter-orders. At the +time, though, it was given out officially that Huerta had been placed +in absolute, unrestricted command. When the American Ambassador, toward +the close of the long bombardment, appealed to President Madero to +remove some Federal batteries, the fire from which threatened the +foreign quarter of Mexico City, President Madero replied that he had +nothing to do with the military dispositions, and referred the +Ambassador to General Huerta, who promptly acceded to the request. On +another occasion, later in the bombardment, when Madero insisted that +the Federal artillery should use explosive shells against the Citadel, +General Huerta did not hesitate to take it upon himself to countermand +the President's suggestions to Colonel Navarrete, the Federal chief of +artillery. Afterward General Navarrete admitted in a speech at a +military banquet that his Federal artillery "could have reduced the +Citadel in short order had this really been desired." + +Whether General Huerta was really able to win or not is beside the +issue, since the final turn of events plainly revealed that his heart +was not in the fight, and that he was only waiting for a favorable +moment to turn against Madero. Before General Blanquet with his +supposed relief column was allowed to enter the city, General Huerta +had a private conference with Blanquet. This conference sealed Madero's +doom. Later, after Blanquet's forces had been admitted to the Palace, +on Huerta's assurances to the President that Blanquet was loyal to the +Government, it was agreed between the two generals that Blanquet should +make sure of the person of the President, while Huerta would personally +capture the President's brother, Gustavo, with whom he was to dine that +day. The plot was carried out to the letter. + +When Huerta put Gustavo Madero under arrest, still sitting at the table +where Huerta had been his guest, Huerta sought to palliate his action +by claiming that Gustavo Madero had tried to poison him by putting +"knock-out" drops into Huerta's after-dinner brandy. At the same time +Huerta claimed that President Madero had tried to have him +assassinated, on the day before, by leading Huerta to a window in the +Palace, which an instant afterward was shattered by a rifle bullet from +outside. + +Neither of the two prisoners ever had a chance to defend themselves +against these charges, for Gustavo Madero on the night following his +arrest was shot to death by a squad of soldiers in the garden of the +Citadel, and President Madero met a similar fate a few nights +afterward. General Huerta, who by this time had got himself officially +recognized as President, gave out an official statement from the Palace +pretending that Gustavo Madero had lost his life while attempting to +escape, and that his brother, the President, had been accidentally shot +by some of his own friends who were trying to rescue him from his +guard. + +Few people in Mexico were inclined to believe this official version. +Yet the murder of the two Maderos, and of Vice-President Pino Suarez, +as well as the subsequent killing of other prisoners, like Governor +Abraham Gonzalez, of Chihuahua, was condoned by many in Mexico on the +ground that these men, if allowed to remain alive, were bound to make +serious trouble for the new Government. It was generally hoped, at the +same time, even by those who condemned these murders as barbarous, that +General Huerta might still prove himself a wise and able ruler, no +matter how severe. + +These fond hopes were changed to gloomy foreboding only a few weeks +after Huerta's assumption of the presidency, when he was seen to +surround himself with notorious wasters of all kinds, and when he was +seen to fall into Madero's old error of extending the "glad hand" to +unrepentant rebels and bandits like Orozco, Cheche Campos, Tuerto +Morales, and Salgado. + +Victoriano Huerta, whether he be considered as a general or as a +president, can be expressed in one phrase: He is an Indian. + +Huerta himself proudly says that he is a pure-blooded Aztec. His +friends claim for him that he has the virtues of an Indian--courage, +patience, endurance, and dignified reserve. His enemies, on the other +hand, profess to see in him some of the vices of Indian blood. + +From what I have seen of General Huerta in the field, in private life, +and as a President, I would say that he combines in himself both the +virtues and the faults of his race. In battle I have seen him expose +himself with a courage worthy of the best Indian traditions; nor have I +ever heard it intimated by any one that he was a coward. One of his +strong points as a commander was that he was a man of few words. On the +other hand, his own soldiers at the front hailed him as a stern and +cruel leader; and some of the things that were done to his prisoners of +war at the front were enough to curdle any one's blood. + +It was during a moment of conviviality that General Huerta once +revealed his true sentiments toward the United States and ourselves. +This was during a banquet given in his honor at Mexico City on the eve +of his departure to the front in Chihuahua. On this occasion an +Englishman, who had long been on terms of intimacy with Huerta, asked +the General what he would do if northern Mexico should secede to the +United States and the Americans should take a hand in the fray. This +question aroused General Huerta to the following extemporary speech: + +"I am not afraid of the _gringoes_. Why should I be? No good Mexican +need be afraid of the _gringoes_. If it had not been for the treachery +of President Santa Anna, who sold himself to the United States in 1847, +we should have beaten the Yankees then, as we surely shall beat them +the next time. Let them cross the Rio Bravo! We will send them back +with bloody heads. + +"We Mexicans need not be afraid of any foreign nation. Did we not beat +the Spaniards? Did we not also beat the French, and the Austrians, and +the Belgians, and all the other foreign adventurers who came with +Maximilian? In the same way we would have beaten the _gringoes_ had we +had a fair chance at them. The Texans, who beat Santa Anna, at San +Jacinto, you must know, were not _gringoes_, but brother Mexicans, of +whom we have reason to be proud. + +"To my mind, there are only two real nations in the world, besides our +old Aztec nation. Those nations are England and Japan. + +"All the others can not properly be called nations; least of all the +United States, which is a mere hodge-podge of other nations. One of +these days England and Japan and Mexico will get together, and after +that there will be an end to the United States." + + +WILLIAM CAROL[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reproduced in condensed form from _The World's Work_ by +the kind permission of Doubleday, Page & Co.] + +In order to understand the situation in Mexico, it is necessary to get +firmly in our minds that there are in reality two Mexicos. One may be +called American Mexico and the other Mexican Mexico. + +The representative of the new, half-formed northern or American Mexico +was Francisco Madero--rich, educated, well mannered, honest, and +idealistically inclined. The representative of the old Mexico is +Huerta--"rough, plain, old Indian," as he describes himself, +pugnacious, crafty, ignorant of political amenities, without +understanding of any rule except the rule of blood and powder. + +By the law of 1894 Diaz changed the character of the land titles in +Mexico. Many smaller landowners, unable to prove their titles under the +new system, lost their holdings, which in large measure eventually fell +into the hands of a few rich men. In the feudal south this did not +cause so much disturbance. But in the north the growing middle class +bitterly resented it. Madero became the spokesman of this discontent. +In his books and in his program of reform, "the plan of San Luis +Potosi," he attacked the Diaz regime. And then in 1910 he joined the +rebel band organized by Pascual Orozco in the mountains of Chihuahua. +With his weakened army Diaz was unable to cope with this revolution, +and in October, 1911, Madero became President. + +The country was then at peace, except for the band of robbers led by +Zapata in the provinces of Morelos and Guerrero. These are and have +been the most atrocious of the many bandits with which Mexico is +infested. No outrage or barbarity known to savages have they left +untried. Madero attempted to buy them off, but to no avail. He then +sent military forces against them, one column commanded by General +Huerta, but with no success. + +In the mean time, Pascual Orozco, who emerged from the Madero +revolution as a great war hero in his own State, was given no post of +responsibility under the new Government, but was left as commander of +the militia in the State of Chihuahua. The adherents of the old Diaz +rĂ©gime took this opportunity to win him over to their side, for +Orozco's fighting was done purely for profit, not for principle. A +reactionary movement, with Orozco at its head, broke out in February, +1912. Five thousand men were quickly got together. The Madero +Administration--a Northern Administration in the Southern country--was +not fully organized, and, with the army not yet rehabilitated, found +itself seriously embarrassed. Had Orozco been an intelligent and +competent leader he probably could have marched straight through to +Mexico City at that time, as the only governmental troops that were +available to fight him were only about sixteen hundred, which he +defeated and nearly annihilated at Rellano in Chihuahua. Their +commander, General Gonzalez Salas, Madero's war minister, committed +suicide after the defeat. + +The only general available at the time who had had experience in +handling large forces in the field was Victoriano Huerta. Although he +had never especially distinguished himself, Huerta's record shows that +he was one of the most progressive members of the army. + +Huerta's column encountered little resistance. Chihuahua City was +occupied on July 7th, and later, Juarez. The rebels were not pursued to +any extent away from the railroads. They separated into bands, keeping +up a guerrilla warfare, raiding American mining camps and ranches, and +seizing and holding Americans and others for ransom. Prominent among +these leaders of banditti was Inez Salazar, a former rock driller in an +American mine, who raised a force in Chihuahua and declared against +Madero. Little was done to destroy these rebel bands by the Federals, +and no engagements of any size took place. In fact, it was a current +rumor that the Federals did not wish to put them down. In the first +place, the regular army was the same old Diaz organization which +considered Madero largely as a usurper and which remained with the +established Government in a rather lukewarm manner. Besides, the bands +of Orozco, Salazar, and others were instigated and supported by the +adherents of the old regime, and, although opposed to the Mexican army, +both had many ideas in common regarding the Madero Administration. +Furthermore, the officers and men of the army were receiving large +increases of pay for the campaign. + +An instance showing this disposition on the part of the Federals +occurred in the State of Sonora in October, 1912. General Obregon, now +the commander of the Sonora State forces, was at that time a colonel of +the army and had his battalion, composed largely of Maya Indians, at +Agua PrietĂ¡, just across the border from Douglas, Ariz. Salazar's band +of rebels had crossed the mountains from Chihuahua and had come into +Sonora. Popular clamor forced the Federal commander at Agua PrietĂ¡ to +do something, and accordingly he ordered Obregon to take his battalion, +proceed south, get in touch with Salazar, and "remain in observation." +Salazar was looting the ranch of a friend of Obregon's near Fronteras. +The rebel had taken no means to secure his bivouac against surprise; +his men were scattered around engaged in slaughtering cattle, cooking, +and making camp for the night. Obregon deployed his force and charged +Salazar's camp. Forty of Salazar's men were killed, and a machine gun +and a number of horses, mules, and rifles were captured; whereupon +Salazar left that part of the country. Upon Obregon's return to Agua +PrietĂ¡ he was severely reprimanded and nearly court-martialed for +disobeying his orders in not "remaining in observation" of Salazar, and +attacking him instead. Had Obregon been given a free hand, he +undoubtedly could have destroyed Salazar's force. + +After Salazar's defeat at Fronteras, he moved east again, and about a +month later appeared near Palomas, a town about three miles from the +international boundary south of Columbus, N.M. At Palomas there was a +Federal detachment of about one hundred and thirty men under an old +colonel. They had been sent there to protect various cattle interests +in that vicinity; and they had a considerable amount of money, +equipment, and ammunition for maintaining and providing rations and +forage for themselves and for some outlying detachments. Salazar, +hearing of this, demanded that the money and equipment be immediately +surrendered. Upon being refused, Salazar, with about three hundred and +fifty men, attacked. A furious battle was fought, ending in a +house-to-house fight with grenades--cans filled with dynamite, with +fuse attached, which are thrown by hand. Salazar's force captured the +town after the Federals had suffered more than 50 per cent. in +casualties, including the Federal commander, who was wounded several +times; the rebels suffered more than 30 per cent. casualties. The town, +in the mean time, was wrecked. This particular instance shows that the +Mexicans fight and fight well from a standpoint of physical courage. +The general idea that the Mexicans would not fight, which Americans +obtained during this period, was obtained because they did not care to +in the majority of cases. + +Meanwhile, General Huerta, having "finished" his Chihuahua campaign in +the autumn of 1912, was promoted to the rank of General of Division +(Major-General) and decorated for his achievement. It was rumored in +many places at that time that General Huerta was about to turn against +the Madero Government. Madero, suspecting his loyalty, ordered him back +to Mexico City. Huerta took his time about obeying this order, and, +when he reported in Mexico City, obtained a sick-leave to have his eyes +treated. Huerta was nearly blind when Felix Diaz's revolt broke out in +Vera Cruz in October, 1912, and probably thus escaped being drawn into +that unsuccessful demonstration. + +From this time until the _coup d'etat_ of February 8, 1913, there was +no large organized resistance to the Madero Administration, although +banditism increased at an alarming rate in all parts of the Republic. +The Diaz-Reyes outburst, in Mexico City on February 8, 1913, which +resulted in the death of Madero and Suarez and the elevation of Huerta +to practical military dictatorship, was brought about by the adherents +of the old regime, who looked upon Madero's extinction as a punishment +meted out to a criminal who had raised the slaves against their +masters. This view prevailed to a considerable extent in Mexico south +of San Luis Potosi. In the North, however, the people almost as a whole +(at least 90 per cent. in Sonera, and only to a slightly lesser extent +in the other provinces) saw in it the cold-blooded murder of their +political idol at the hands of unscrupulous moneyed interests and of +adherents of the old regime of the days of Porfirio Diaz. + +The resentment was general in the North--this new, largely Americanized +North, Venustiano Carranza, the governor of Coahuila, organized the +resistance in the provinces of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas, +while Maytorena, the governor of Sonora, and Pesqueira (later in +Washington, D.C., as Carranza's representative), with Obregon as the +head of their military forces, rapidly cleared that State of Federals, +with the exception of the port of Guaymas. These fights were no mere +bloodless affairs, but stubbornly contested, with heavy casualties, as +a decided principle was involved in the conflict. Villa, the old bandit +and personal enemy of Huerta, organized a force in Sonora, and Urbina +did likewise in northern Durango. Arms, and especially money to buy +them with, were hard to get. Funds were obtained from the tariff at +ports of entry, internal taxation, amounting at times to practical +confiscation, contributions, and gifts from various sources. It is said +that the Madero family put aside $1,000,000, gold, for this purpose. + +Though a few individuals went over to the Constitutionalist cause, the +Mexican regular army remained true to the _ad interim_ Government. The +revolutionists either held or rapidly possessed themselves of the great +railroad lines in the majority of cases. Huerta, who is an excellent +organizer, soon appreciated the magnitude of the revolt and rushed +troops to the north as rapidly as possible, his strategy being to hold +all railroad lines and cities with strong columns which would force the +revolutionists to operate in the intervals between the railroads. Then +Huerta, with these columns as a supporting framework, pushed out mobile +columns for the destruction of the rebel bands. + +The Carranzistas understood this plan and, to meet it, tore up all the +railroads that they could and adopted as their fixed plan never to risk +a general engagement of a large force. For the first few months, the +rebels, who had adopted the name of Constitutionalists, continued +recruiting their forces and destroying the railroads. The Federals +tried to repair the railroads and get enough troops into the north to +cope with this movement. They obtained new military equipment of all +descriptions, the army was increased, and old rebels, such as Orozco +and Salazar, sympathizers or tools of the old rĂ©gime, were taken into +the Federal forces as irregulars and given commands. + +To understand the apparent slowness of the Federals in moving from +place to place and their inability to pursue the rebels away from the +railroads, some idea must be given as to their system of operating. The +officers of the regular army are well instructed and quite competent. +The enlisted men, however, come from the lowest strata of society, and, +except in the case of a foreign war, have to be impressed into the +ranks. They bring their women with them to act as cooks and to +transport their food and camp equipage. Military transportation, that +is to say, baggage trains of four-mule wagons and excellent horses for +the artillery, does not exist in the Mexican army. In fact, when away +from a railroad, the "soldaderas," as the women are called, carry +nearly everything; and they obtain the food necessary for the soldiers' +rations. A commissariat, as we understand it, does not exist. This ties +the Federals to the railroads, as they can not carry enough ammunition +and food for any length of time. + +On the other hand, those who first saw Obregon's rebel forces in Sonora +and Villa's in Chihuahua were surprised at their organization. There +were no women taken with them. They had wagons, regular issues of +rations and ammunition, a paymaster, and the men were well mounted and +armed. + +With Obregon, also, were regiments of Yaqui Indians, who are excellent +fighting material. These forces were mobile, and could easily operate +away from the railroad. They lacked artillery, without which they were +greatly handicapped, especially in the attack on fortified places and +on stone or adobe towns. As most of the horses and mules were driven +away from the railroads, the insurgents could get all the animals they +wanted. + +The first large battle occurred on May 9-10-11-12th outside of Guaymas, +between Ojeda's Federals and Obregon's Constitutionalists, at a place +called Santa Rosa. The Federal advance north consisted of about twelve +hundred men and eighteen pieces of artillery. They were opposed by +about four thousand men under Obregon, without artillery. Eight hundred +Federals were killed and all their artillery captured. The +Constitutionalists lost two hundred and fifty men killed and wounded. +Comparatively few Federals returned to Guaymas. Each side killed all +the wounded that they found, and also all captives who refused to +enlist in the captor's force. This success was not followed up and +Guaymas remained in the hands of the Federals. The artillery captured +by the Constitutionalists had had the breech blocks removed to render +them unserviceable; new ones, however, were made in the shops at +Cananca by a German mechanician named Klaus. + +In the summer, Urbina captured the city of Durango, annihilating the +Federals. The city was given over to loot and the greatest excesses +were indulged in by the victors. Arson, rape, and the robbing of banks, +stores, and private houses were indiscriminately carried on. Horses +were stabled in the parlors of the homes of the prosperous citizens, +and many non-combatants were killed by the soldiers before order was +restored. + +At this time the only points held by the Federals on the boundary +between the United States and Mexico were Juarez, in Chihuahua, and +Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas. The railroads south of these points were +also in the physical possession of the Federals but subject to +continual interruption at the hands of the Constitutionalists. +Venustiano Carranza had established headquarters at Ciudad Porfirio +Diaz (Piedras Negras) across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Tex. He +started on a trip, during the late summer, through the northern +provinces to confer with the leaders of the Constitutionalist movement +in order to bring about better coordination of effort on their part. He +went through the States of Coahuila, Durango, Chihuahua, and Sonora and +established a new headquarters in Sonora. Since then the efforts of the +Constitutionalists have been much better coordinated, with the result +that they have had much better success. + +Jesus Carranza and Pablo Gonzalez were left in charge at Ciudad +Porfirio Diaz by Venustiano Carranza when he left on his trip. Shortly +after this a Federal column was organized under General Maas for the +capture of the railroad between Saltillo and Ciudad Porfirio Diaz. This +column slowly worked its way to Monclova and then to Ciudad Porfirio +Diaz, which it occupied on October 7th; the Constitutionalists ripped +up the railroad and destroyed everything that might be useful to the +Federals and a good deal that could not, and offered very little +resistance. Villa, in the mean time, having been reenforced by men from +Durango and some from Sonora, had been operating in Chihuahua with +considerable success. He had fallen on several small Federal columns, +destroyed them, and obtained about six pieces of artillery, besides a +fresh supply of rifles and ammunition. In September, he had interposed +his force between the Federals at Chihuahua City and Torreon, at a +place called Santa RosalĂa. Villa and the Federals each had about four +thousand men. The Federals from the south were making a determined +attempt to retake Durango and had started two columns for Torreon of +more than two thousand men each, one west from Saltillo, another north +from Zacatecas. These had to repair the railroad as they went. Torreon +was being held by about one thousand Federal soldiers. + +Villa was well informed of these movements, and also of the fact that, +in their anxiety to take Durango, a Federal force of about 800 men, +under General Alvirez, was to leave Torreon before the arrival of the +Saltillo and Zacatecas columns. Having the inner line, Villa with his +mobile force could maneuver freely against any one of these. He +accordingly left a rear guard in front of the Federals at Santa +RosalĂa, and, marching south rapidly, met and completely defeated +General Alvirez's Federal column about eighteen miles west of Torreon, +near the town of Aviles. General Alvirez and 287 of his men were +killed, fighting to the last. + +Villa then turned toward Torreon. The "soldaderas" of Alvirez's force +had escaped when the fight at Aviles began and reached Torreon, quickly +spreading the news. The Federal officer in command attempted to round +them up, but to no avail, and Torreon's weak garrison became panic +stricken, put up a feeble resistance, and evacuated the town. Villa +occupied it on the night of October 1st. He sent his mounted troops +against the Federal columns from Saltillo and Zacatecas, tearing up the +railroad around them, until they both retreated. He maintained splendid +order in Torreon; sent a detachment of one officer and twenty-five men +to the American consul to protect American interests, and stationed +patrols throughout the city with orders to shoot all looters. At first, +a few stores containing provisions and clothing were looted, and some +Spaniards who were supposed to be aiding the Federals were killed, but +the pillaging soon stopped. Villa's occupation of Torreon thus +contrasted strikingly with Urbina's occupation of Durango. + +The capture of Torreon made precarious the military position of the +Federals in Chihuahua, as Torreon was their principal supply point. +When Villa's advance reached Santa RosalĂa, the Federals evacuated +their fortified position at that place and concentrated all available +troops at Chihuahua City. They expected that a decided attempt would be +made by Villa to take it. The Federals did succeed in repelling small +attacks against Chihuahua on November 6th-9th and, to strengthen their +garrison, they reduced the troops in Juarez until only 400 remained. +Villa, while keeping up the investment of Chihuahua City, prepared a +force for a dash on Juarez, and on the night of November 14th-15th the +Federal garrison at that place was completely surprised and the city +was captured. + +These are the main events (to December 1st) that marked this chapter in +the inevitable struggle between the new Mexico and the old, before the +United States by interfering actively in the tumult changed the entire +character of the war. The Carranza practise of killing the wounded +shows that even the North has much to learn in civilized methods of +warfare. On the other hand, the self-restraint exercised, in many +cases, against looting captured towns, indicates that progress has been +made. This account also indicates that the new Mexico, in aims as well +as in material things, is getting the upper hand. + + + + +THE NEW DEMOCRACY + +THE FORCES OF CHANGE DOMINATE AMERICA A.D. 1913 + +WOODROW WILSON + +On March 4, 1913, Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as President of the +United States, and thus became the central figure of a new and +tremendously important movement. He was, it is true, elected as the +candidate of what is known as the Democratic party, which has existed +since the days of Thomas Jefferson. But the ideas advanced by President +Wilson as being democratic were so different from the original theories +and policies of Jefferson that President Wilson himself felt called on +to formulate his principles in a now celebrated work entitled "The New +Freedom." From the opening pages of this, as originally published in +_The World's Work_, we here, by permission of both the President and +the magazine, give his own statement of the ideas of the new era. + +The voting body of Americans who stand behind President Wilson are +obviously of the type now generally called progressive. In the +convention which nominated him, the conservative element of the old +Democracy struggled long and bitterly against the naming of any +"progressive" candidate. In the Republican party, the strife between +conservatism and progress was so bitter as to produce a complete split; +and the progressives nominated a candidate of their own, preferring, if +they could not control the government themselves, to hand it over to +the progressive element among the Democrats. The former political +parties in the United States seem to have been so completely disrupted +by recent events that even though they continue to hold some power +under the old names, they now stand for wholly different things. The +two parties which in the triangular presidential contest polled the +largest numbers of votes were both "progressive." + +So it seems settled that we are to "progress." But whither--and into +what? Is there any clear purpose before our new leaders, and how does +it differ from mankind's former purposes? That is what President Wilson +tries to tell us. + +There is one great basic fact which underlies all the questions that +are discussed on the political platform at the present moment. That +singular fact is that nothing is done in this country as it was done +twenty years ago. + +We are in the presence of a new organization of society. Our life has +broken away from the past. The life of America is not the life that it +was twenty years ago; it is not the life that it was ten years ago. We +have changed our economic conditions, absolutely, from top to bottom; +and, with our economic society, the organization of our life. The old +political formulae do not fit the present problems; they read now like +documents taken out of a forgotten age. The older cries sound as if +they belonged to a past age which men have almost forgotten. Things +which used to be put into the party platforms of ten years ago would +sound antiquated if put into a platform now. We are facing the +necessity of fitting a new social organization, as we did once fit the +old organization, to the happiness and prosperity of the great body of +citizens; for we are conscious that the new order of society has not +been made to fit and provide the convenience or prosperity of the +average man. The life of the nation has grown infinitely varied. It +does not center now upon questions of governmental structure or of the +distribution of governmental powers. It centers upon questions of the +very structure and operation of society itself, of which government is +only the instrument. Our development has run so fast and so far along +the line sketched in the earlier days of constitutional definition, has +so crossed and interlaced those lines, has piled upon them such novel +structures of trust and combination, has elaborated within them a life +so manifold, so full of forces which transcend the boundaries of the +country itself and fill the eyes of the world, that a new nation seems +to have been created which the old formulae do not fit or afford a +vital interpretation of. + +We have come upon a very different age from any that preceded us. We +have come upon an age when we do not do business in the way in which we +used to do business--when we do not carry on any of the operations of +manufacture, sale, transportation, or communication as men used to +carry them on. There is a sense in which in our day the individual has +been submerged. In most parts of our country men work for themselves, +not as partners in the old way in which they used to work, but as +employees--in a higher or lower grade--of great corporations. There was +a time when corporations played a very minor part in our business +affairs, but now they play the chief part, and most men are the +servants of corporations. + +You know what happens when you are the servant of a corporation. You +have in no instance access to the men who are really determining the +policy of the corporation. If the corporation is doing the things that +it ought not to do, you really have no voice in the matter and must +obey the orders, and you have, with deep mortification, to cooperate in +the doing of things which you know are against the public interest. +Your individuality is swallowed up in the individuality and purpose of +a great organization. + +It is true that, while most men are thus submerged in the corporation, +a few, a very few, are exalted to power which as individuals they could +never have wielded. Through the great organizations of which they are +the heads, a few are enabled to play a part unprecedented by anything +in history in the control of the business operations of the country and +in the determination of the happiness of great numbers of people. + +Yesterday, and ever since history began, men were related to one +another as individuals. To be sure there were the family, the Church, +and the State, institutions which associated men in certain limited +circles of relationships. But in the ordinary concerns of life, in the +ordinary work, in the daily round, men dealt freely and directly with +one another. To-day, the everyday relationships of men are largely with +great impersonal concerns, with organizations, not with other +individual men. + +Now this is nothing short of a new social age, a new era of human +relationships, a new stage-setting for the drama of life. + +In this new age we find, for instance, that our laws with regard to the +relations of employer and employee are in many respects wholly +antiquated and impossible. They were framed for another age, which +nobody now living remembers, which is, indeed, so remote from our life +that it would be difficult for many of us to understand it if it were +described to us. The employer is now generally a corporation or a huge +company of some kind; the employee is one of hundreds or of thousands +brought together, not by individual masters whom they know and with +whom they have personal relations, but by agents of one sort or +another. Working men are marshaled in great numbers for the performance +of a multitude of particular tasks under a common discipline. They +generally use dangerous and powerful machinery, over whose repair and +renewal they have no control. New rules must be devised with regard to +their obligations and their rights, their obligations to their +employers and their responsibilities to one another. New rules must be +devised for their protection, for their compensation when injured, for +their support when disabled. + +There is something very new and very big and very complex about these +new relations of capital and labor. A new economic society has sprung +up, and we must effect a new set of adjustments. We must not pit power +against weakness. The employer is generally, in our day, as I have +said, not an individual, but a powerful group; and yet the working man +when dealing with his employer is still, under our existing law, an +individual. + +Why is it that we have a labor question at all? It is for the simple +and very sufficient reason that the laboring man and the employer are +not intimate associates now, as they used to be in time past. Most of +our laws were formed in the age when employer and employees knew each +other, knew each other's characters, were associates with each other, +dealt with each other as man with man. That is no longer the case. You +not only do not come into personal contact with the men who have the +supreme command in those corporations, but it would be out of the +question for you to do it. Our modern corporations employ thousands, +and in some instances hundreds of thousands, of men. The only persons +whom you see or deal with are local superintendents or local +representatives of a vast organization, which is not like anything that +the working men of the time in which our laws were framed knew anything +about. A little group of working men, seeing their employer every day, +dealing with him in a personal way, is one thing, and the modern body +of labor engaged as employees of the huge enterprises that spread all +over the country, dealing with men of whom they can form no personal +conception, is another thing. A very different thing. You never saw a +corporation, any more than you ever saw a government. Many a working +man to-day never saw the body of men who are conducting the industry in +which he is employed. And they never saw him. What they know about him +is written in ledgers and books and letters, in the correspondence of +the office, in the reports of the superintendents. He is a long way off +from them. + +So what we have to discuss is, not wrongs which individuals +intentionally do--I do not believe there are a great many of those--but +the wrongs of the system. I want to record my protest against any +discussion of this matter which would seem to indicate that there are +bodies of our fellow citizens who are trying to grind us down and do us +injustice. There are some men of that sort. I don't know how they sleep +o' nights, but there are men of that kind. Thank God they are not +numerous. The truth is, we are all caught in a great economic system +which is heartless. The modern corporation is not engaged in business +as an individual. When we deal with it we deal with an impersonal +element, a material piece of society. A modern corporation is a means +of cooperation in the conduct of an enterprise which is so big that no +one can conduct it, and which the resources of no one man are +sufficient to finance. A company is formed; that company puts out a +prospectus; the promoters expect to raise a certain fund as capital +stock. Well, how are they going to raise it? They are going to raise it +from the public in general, some of whom will buy their stock. The +moment that begins, there is formed--what? A joint-stock corporation. +Men begin to pool their earnings, little piles, big piles. A certain +number of men are elected by the stockholders to be directors, and +these directors elect a president. This president is the head of the +undertaking, and the directors are its managers. + +Now, do the working men employed by that stock corporation deal with +that president and those directors? Not at all. Does the public deal +with that president and that board of directors? It does not. Can +anybody bring them to account? It is next to impossible to do so. If +you undertake it you will find it a game of hide and seek, with the +objects of your search taking refuge now behind the tree of their +individual personality, now behind that of their corporate +irresponsibility. + +And do our laws take note of this curious state of things? Do they even +attempt to distinguish between a man's act as a corporation director +and as an individual? They do not. Our laws still deal with us on the +basis of the old system. The law is still living in the dead past which +we have left behind. This is evident, for instance, with regard to the +matter of employers' liability for working men's injuries. Suppose that +a superintendent wants a workman to use a certain piece of machinery +which it is not safe for him to use, and that the workman is injured by +that piece of machinery. Our courts have held that the superintendent +is a fellow servant, or, as the law states it, a fellow employee, and +that, therefore, the man can not recover damages for his injury. The +superintendent who probably engaged the man is not his employer. Who is +his employer? And whose negligence could conceivably come in there? The +board of directors did not tell the employee to use that piece of +machinery; and the president of the corporation did not tell him to use +that piece of machinery. And so forth. Don't you see by that theory +that a man never can get redress for negligence on the part of the +employer? When I hear judges reason upon the analogy of the +relationships that used to exist between workmen and their employers a +generation ago, I wonder if they have not opened their eyes to the +modern world. You know, we have a right to expect that judges will have +their eyes open, even though the law which they administer hasn't +awakened. + +Yet that is but a single small detail illustrative of the difficulties +we are in because we have not adjusted the law to the facts of the new +order. + +Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me +privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field +of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of +something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so +subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that +they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in +condemnation of it. + +They know that America is not a place of which it can be said, as it +used to be, that a man may choose his own calling and pursue it just so +far as his abilities enable him to pursue it; because to-day, if he +enters certain fields, there are organizations which will use means +against him that will prevent his building up a business which they do +not want to have built up; organizations that will see to it that the +ground is cut from under him and the markets shut against him. For if +he begins to sell to certain retail dealers, to any retail dealers, the +monopoly will refuse to sell to those dealers, and those dealers will +be afraid and will not buy the new man's wares. + +And this is the country which has lifted to the admiration of the world +its ideals of absolutely free opportunity, where no man is supposed to +be under any limitation except the limitations of his character and of +his mind; where there is supposed to be no distinction of class, no +distinction of blood, no distinction of social status, but where men +win or lose on their merits. + +I lay it very close to my own conscience as a public man whether we can +any longer stand at our doors and welcome all newcomers upon those +terms. American industry is not free, as once it was free; American +enterprise is not free; the man with only a little capital is finding +it harder to get into the field, more and more impossible to compete +with the big fellow. Why? Because the laws of this country do not +prevent the strong from crushing the weak. That is the reason, and +because the strong have crushed the weak, the strong dominate the +industry and the economic life of this country. No man can deny that +the lines of endeavor have more and more narrowed and stiffened; no man +who knows anything about the development of industry in this country +can have failed to observe that the larger kinds of credit are more and +more difficult to obtain, unless you obtain them upon the terms of +uniting your efforts with those who already control the industries of +the country; and nobody can fail to observe that any man who tries to +set himself up in competition with any process of manufacture which has +been taken under the control of large combinations of capital will +presently find himself either squeezed out or obliged to sell and allow +himself to be absorbed. + +There is a great deal that needs reconstruction in the United States. I +should like to take a census of the business men--I mean the rank and +file of the business men--as to whether they think that business +conditions in this country, or rather whether the organization of +business in this country, is satisfactory or not. I know what they +would say if they dared. If they could vote secretly they would vote +overwhelmingly that the present organization of business was meant for +the big fellows and was not meant for the little fellows; that it was +meant for those who are at the top and was meant to exclude those who +are at the bottom; that it was meant to shut out beginners, to prevent +new entries in the race, to prevent the building up of competitive +enterprise that would interfere with the monopolies which the great +trusts have built up. + +What this country needs, above everything else, is a body of laws which +will look after the men who are on the make rather than the men who are +already made. Because the men who are already made are not going to +live indefinitely, and they are not always kind enough to leave sons as +able and as honest as they are. + +The originative part of America, the part of America that makes new +enterprises, the part into which the ambitious and gifted working man +makes his way up, the class that saves, that plans, that organizes, +that presently spreads its enterprises until they have a national scope +and character--that middle class is being more and more squeezed out by +the processes which we have been taught to call processes of +prosperity. Its members are sharing prosperity, no doubt; but what +alarms me is that they are not _originating_ prosperity. No country can +afford to have its prosperity originated by a small controlling class. +The treasury of America does not lie in the brains of the small body of +men now in control of the great enterprises that have been concentrated +under the direction of a very small number of persons. The treasury of +America lies in those ambitions, those energies, that can not be +restricted to a special, favored class. It depends upon the inventions +of unknown men, upon the originations of unknown men, upon the +ambitions of unknown men. Every country is renewed out of the ranks of +the unknown, not out of the ranks of those already famous and powerful +and in control. + +There has come over the land that un-American set of conditions which +enables a small number of men who control the Government to get favors +from the Government; by those favors to exclude their fellows from +equal business opportunity; by those favors to extend a network of +control that will presently drive every industry in the country, and so +make men forget the ancient time when America lay in every hamlet, when +America was to be seen on every fair valley, when America displayed her +great forces on the broad prairies, ran her fine fires of enterprise up +over the mountain sides and down into the bowels of the earth, and +eager men were everywhere captains of industry, not employees; not +looking to a distant city to find out what they might do, but looking +about among their neighbors, finding credit according to their +character, not according to their connections, finding credit in +proportion to what was known to be in them and behind them, not in +proportion to the securities they held that were approved where they +were not known. In order to start an enterprise now, you have to be +authenticated, in a perfectly impersonal way, not according to +yourself, but according to what you own that somebody else approves of +your owning. You can not begin such an enterprise as those that have +made America until you are so authenticated, until you have succeeded +in obtaining the good-will of large allied capitalists. Is that +freedom? That is dependence, not freedom. + +We used to think, in the old-fashioned days when life was very simple, +that all that government had to do was to put on a policeman's uniform +and say, "Now don't anybody hurt anybody else." We used to say that the +ideal of government was for every man to be left alone and not +interfered with, except when he interfered with somebody else; and that +the best government was the government that did as little governing as +possible. That was the idea that obtained in Jefferson's time. But we +are coming now to realize that life is so complicated that we are not +dealing with the old conditions, and that the law has to step in and +create the conditions under which we live, the conditions which will +make it tolerable for us to live. + +Let me illustrate what I mean: It used to be true in our cities that +every family occupied a separate house of its own, that every family +had its own little premises, that every family was separated in its +life from every other family. That is no longer the case in our great +cities. Families live in tenements, they live in flats, they live on +floors; they are piled layer upon layer in the great tenement houses of +our crowded districts, and not only are they piled layer upon layer, +but they are associated room by room, so that there is in every room, +sometimes, in our congested districts, a separate family. In some +foreign countries they have made much more progress than we in handling +these things. In the city of Glasgow, for example (Glasgow is one of +the model cities of the world), they have made up their minds that the +entries and the hallways of great tenements are public streets. +Therefore, the policeman goes up the stairway and patrols the +corridors; the lighting department of the city sees to it that the +halls are abundantly lighted. The city does not deceive itself into +supposing that that great building is a unit from which the police are +to keep out and the civic authority to be excluded, but it says: "These +are public highways, and light is needed in them, and control by the +authority of the city." + +I liken that to our great modern industrial enterprises. A corporation +is very like a large tenement house; it isn't the premises of a single +commercial family; it is just as much a public affair as a tenement +house is a network of public highways. + +When you offer the securities, of a great corporation to anybody who +wishes to purchase them, you must open that corporation to the +inspection of everybody who wants to purchase. There must, to follow +out the figure of the tenement house, be lights along the corridors, +there must be police patrolling the openings, there must be inspection +wherever it is known that men may be deceived with regard to the +contents of the premises. If we believe that fraud lies in wait for us, +we must have the means of determining whether our suspicions are well +founded or not. Similarly, the treatment of labor by the great +corporations is not what it was in Jefferson's time. Whenever bodies of +men employ bodies of men, it ceases to be a private relationship. So +that when courts hold that working men can not peaceably dissuade other +working men from taking employment, and base the decision upon the +analogy of domestic servants, they simply show that their minds and +understandings are lingering in an age which has passed away. This +dealing of great bodies of men with other bodies of men is a matter of +public scrutiny, and should be a matter of public regulation. + +Similarly, it was no business of the law in the time of Jefferson to +come into my house and see how I kept house. But when my house, when my +so-called private property, became a great mine, and men went along +dark corridors amidst every kind of danger in order to dig out of the +bowels of the earth things necessary for the industries of a whole +nation, and when it came about that no individual owned these mines, +that they were owned by great stock companies, then all the old +analogies absolutely collapsed, and it became the right of the +government to go down into these mines to see whether human beings were +properly treated in them or not; to see whether accidents were properly +safeguarded against; to see whether modern economical methods of using +these inestimable riches of the earth were followed or were not +followed. If somebody puts a derrick improperly secured on top of a +building or overtopping the street, then the government of the city has +the right to see that that derrick is so secured that you and I can +walk under it and not be afraid that the heavens are going to fall on +us. Likewise in these great beehives where in every corridor swarm men +of flesh and blood, it is the privilege of the government, whether of +the State or of the United States, as the case may be, to see that +human life is properly cared for, and that human lungs have something +to breathe. + +These, again, are merely illustrations of conditions. We are in a new +world, struggling under old laws. As we go inspecting our lives to-day, +surveying this new scene of centralized and complex society, we shall +find many more things out of joint. + +One of the most alarming phenomena of the time--or rather it would be +alarming if the Nation had not awakened to it and shown its +determination to control it--one of the most significant signs of the +new social era is the degree to which government has become associated +with business. I speak, for the moment, of the control over the +Government exercised by Big Business. Behind the whole subject, of +course, is the truth that, in the new order, government and business +must be associated, closely. But that association is, at present, of a +nature absolutely intolerable; the precedence is wrong, the association +is upside down. Our Government has been for the past few years under +the control of heads of great allied corporations with special +interests. It has not controlled these interests and assigned them a +proper place in the whole system of business; it has submitted itself +to their control. As a result, there have grown up vicious systems and +schemes of governmental favoritism (the most obvious being the +extravagant tariff), far-reaching in effect upon the whole fabric of +life, touching to his injury every inhabitant of the land, laying +unfair and impossible handicaps upon competitors, imposing taxes in +every direction, stifling everywhere the free spirit of American +enterprise. + +Now this has come about naturally; as we go on, we shall see how very +naturally. It is no use denouncing anybody or anything, except human +nature. Nevertheless, it is an intolerable thing that the government of +the Republic should have got so far out of the hands of the people; +should have been captured by interests which are special and not +general. In the train of this capture follow the troops of scandals, +wrongs, indecencies, with which our politics swarm. + +There are cities in America of whose government we are ashamed. There +are cities everywhere, in every part of the land, in which we feel +that, not the interests of the public, but the interests of special +privileges of selfish men, are served; where contracts take precedence +over public interest. Not only in big cities is this the case. Have you +not noticed the growth of socialistic sentiment in the smaller towns? +Not many months ago I stopped at a little town in Nebraska while my +train lingered, and I met on the platform, a very engaging young +fellow, dressed in overalls, who introduced himself to me as the mayor +of the town, and added that he was a Socialist. I said, "What does that +mean? Does that mean that this town is socialistic?" "No, sir," he +said; "I have not deceived myself; the vote by which I was elected was +about 20 per cent. socialistic and 80 per cent, protest." It was +protest against the treachery to the people and those who led both the +other parties of that town. + +All over the Union people are coming to feel that they have no control +over the course of affairs. I live in one of the greatest States in the +Union, which was at one time in slavery. Until two years ago we had +witnessed with increasing concern the growth in New Jersey of a spirit +of almost cynical despair. Men said, "We vote; we are offered the +platform we want; we elect the men who stand on that platform, and we +get absolutely nothing." So they began to ask, "What is the use of +voting? We know that the machines of both parties are subsidized by the +same persons, and therefore it is useless to turn in either direction." + +It is not confined to some of the State governments and those of some +of the towns and cities. We know that something intervenes between the +people of the United States and the control of their own affairs at +Washington. It is not the people who have been ruling there of late. + +Why are we in the presence, why are we at the threshold, of a +revolution? Because we are profoundly disturbed by the influences which +we see reigning in the determination of our public life and our public +policy. There was a time when America was blithe with self-confidence. +She boasted that she, and she alone, knew the processes of popular +government; but now she sees her sky overcast; she sees that there are +at work forces which she did not dream of in her hopeful youth. + +Don't you know that some man with eloquent tongue, without conscience, +who did not care for the Nation, could put this whole country into a +flame? Don't you know that this country from one end to another +believes that something is wrong? What an opportunity it would be for +some man without conscience to spring up and say: "This is the way. +Follow me!"--and lead in paths of destruction. + +The old order changeth--changeth under our very eyes, not quietly and +equably, but swiftly and with the noise and heat and tumult of +reconstruction. + +I suppose that all struggle for law has been conscious, that very +little of it has been blind or merely instinctive. It is the fashion to +say, as if with superior knowledge of affairs and of human weakness, +that every age has been an age of transition, and that no age is more +full of change than another; yet in very few ages of the world can the +struggle for change have been so widespread, so deliberate, or upon so +great a scale as in this in which we are taking part. + +The transition we are witnessing is no equable transition of growth and +normal alteration; no silent, unconscious unfolding of one age into +another, its natural heir and successor. Society is looking itself +over, in our day, from top to bottom; is making fresh and critical +analysis of its very elements; is questioning its oldest practises as +freely as its newest, scrutinizing every arrangement and motive of its +life; and it stands ready to attempt nothing less than a radical +reconstruction, which only frank and honest counsels and the forces of +generous cooperation can hold back from becoming a revolution. We are +in a temper to reconstruct economic society, as we were once in a +temper to reconstruct political society, and political society may +itself undergo a radical modification in the process. I doubt if any +age was ever more conscious of its task or more unanimously desirous of +radical and extended changes in its economic and political practise. + +We stand in the presence of a revolution--not a bloody revolution, +America is not given to the spilling of blood--but a silent revolution +whereby America will insist upon recovering in practise those ideals +which she has always professed, upon securing a government devoted to +the general interest and not to special interests. + +We are upon the eve of a great reconstruction. It calls for creative +statesmanship as no age has done since that great age in which we set +up the government under which we live, that government which was the +admiration of the world until it suffered wrongs to grow up under it +which have made many of our own compatriots question the freedom of our +institutions and preach revolution against them. I do not fear +revolution. I have unshaken faith in the power of America to keep its +self-possession. Revolution will come in peaceful guise, as it came +when we put aside the crude government of the Confederation, and +created the great Federal Union which governed individuals, not States, +and which has been these one hundred and thirty years our vehicle of +progress. Some radical changes we must make in our law and practise. +Some reconstructions we must push forward, which a new age and new +circumstances impose upon us. But we can do it all in calm and sober +fashion, like statesmen and patriots. + +I do not speak of these things in apprehension, because all is open and +above-board. This is not a day in which great forces rally in secret. +The whole stupendous program must be publicly planned and canvassed. +Good temper, the wisdom that comes of sober counsel, the energy of +thoughtful and unselfish men, the habit of cooperation and of +compromise which has been bred in us by long years of free government +in which reason rather than passion has been made to prevail by the +sheer virtue of candid and universal debate, will enable us to win +through to still another great age without violence. + + + + +THE INCOME TAX IN AMERICA + +THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AMENDED A.D. 1913 + +JOSEPH A. HILL + +During the year 1913 a most amazing event happened. The United States +amended its Constitution by peaceful means. Indeed the Constitution was +twice amended; for, having passed the sixteenth amendment in February, +permitting an income tax, the States, just to show what they could do +when aroused to it, passed the seventeenth amendment in May, +authorizing the direct election of United States senators by the +people. + +Amending the United States Constitution is so difficult and cumbrous a +proceeding, that it had not previously been accomplished for over a +century, except by the throes of the terrible Civil War. The original +Constitution had twelve amendments added to it before it was fully +established in running order in 1804. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and +fifteenth amendments were added after 1865 to prohibit slavery. They +were forced upon the unwilling Southern States. From 1804 to 1913 no +amendment was put through by the regular process. Yet in that time +efforts to amend were made on over one hundred and forty occasions. Men +had grown discouraged at last; they said that amendment was impossible. +The cumbrous system which has thus so long blocked all change was that +Congress must by a two-thirds vote in each House agree to submit an +amendment to the States. These must then pass upon the new law, each in +its own legislature. If three-fourths of the legislatures approved, the +amendment was to be accepted. Few of the proposed changes ever won a +two-thirds vote in both Congressional Houses; and of those few not one +had ever appealed to the necessary overwhelming majority of State +legislatures. The Senatorial amendment passed Congress several years +ago, and had long been knocking rather hopelessly at legislative doors. +Then the Income Tax amendment appeared. Congress passed it almost +hurriedly in a spasm of progressiveness in 1909. Then came the great +sweep of progressive policies to victory in the elections of 1912; and +legislatures everywhere awoke to the universal insistence on the Income +Tax. All the States but six approved the amendment; and one of the last +acts of President Taft during his administration was to proclaim its +adoption. The popular amendment swept along in its train the Senatorial +change; and the latter, though still opposed by most of the old South, +was ratified by all the rest of the States except Rhode Island and +Utah. So it also became law. + +Nothing illustrates better the "tyranny of the dead hand" in the United +States than the history of the income tax. The Constitution laid it +down that no head tax or other direct tax should be imposed except by +apportioning it among the several States on the basis of their +population. No more effective barrier to any system of direct taxation +could possibly have been devised. It would seem clear that the main +intention of this Constitutional provision was not merely to protect +the people of the smaller States, but to force the United States +Government to depend for its revenue upon indirect taxes. Such, at any +rate, has been its effect. Legal ingenuity, however, can get round +anything. The Supreme Court decided as long ago as 1789 that an income +tax was not a direct tax, and need not, therefore, be apportioned among +the States. During the Civil War, though not, curiously enough, until +every other source of taxable wealth had pretty well run dry, an income +tax was actually imposed by three separate Acts of Congress, the Act of +1864 levying a tax of 5 per cent. on all incomes between $600 and +$5,000, and of 10 per cent. on all incomes above $5,000. The tax +continued to be collected up to 1872, when it was repealed. + +The constitutional character of the tax, when levied without +apportionment among the States of the Union, was once more fully argued +out in the Supreme Court, which in 1880 reaffirmed its decision of +1789, that a tax on incomes was not a direct tax. Some fifteen years +later, however, the question emerged again, and in a crucial form. The +Democrats came into power in 1893, and proceeded to reduce the tariff, +relying upon a tax of 2 per cent. on all incomes of over $4,000 to make +good the expected loss of revenue. The Supreme Court in 1895 shattered +all their fiscal plans and policies by pronouncing the income tax to be +a direct tax, and therefore incapable of being levied, except in strict +proportion to the population of the various States, and therefore, in +effect, incapable of being levied at all. + +That decision, in all its absurdity, has stood ever since. Its +consequences were to deny to the United States Government the right to +tax incomes, to restrict it still further to customs duties as +virtually its sole source of revenue, to deprive it of a power that +might one day be vital to the safety of the Union, and to exhibit it in +a condition of feebleness that was altogether incompatible with any +rational conception of a sovereign State. It is true that the Supreme +Court has changed not only its _personnel_, but its spirit, and its +whole attitude toward questions of public policy, since 1895. It has +more and more allowed the influence of the age and the necessities of +the times and the clear demands of social and economic justice to +moderate its decisions; and had the question of an income tax been +brought before it any time in the last five years, it would probably +have reversed its judgment of 1895. But President Taft was undoubtedly +right when he urged, in 1909, that the risk of another adverse decision +was too great to be run, and that the safer course was to proceed by +way of an amendment to the Constitution. + +The mere passing of the Income Tax amendment did not, however, +establish an income tax. It merely authorized the government to do this +at will. President Wilson's administration was prompt to take the +matter up. The Democrats, in conjunction with their reduction of the +tariff, needed a new source of revenue. So in October of 1913 the +Income Tax law was passed. In theory an Income Tax is obviously the +most just of all taxes. It summons each citizen to pay for the +government in proportion to his wealth; and his wealth marks roughly +the amount of government protection that he needs. In practise, +however, the working out of an income tax is so complex that every +grumbler can find in its intricacies some cause of complaint. The +present tax is therefore described here by an expert statistician, Mr. +Joseph A. Hill, the United States Government official at the head of +the Division of Revision and Results of the Census Bureau in +Washington. + +Among the notable events of the year 1913, one of the most important in +its influence upon the national finances and constitutional development +of the United States is the adoption of an amendment to the Federal +Constitution giving Congress the power "to lay and collect taxes on +incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the +several States and without regard to any census or enumeration." The +mere fact that an amendment of any kind has been adopted is notable, +this being the first occasion on which the Constitution had undergone +any change since the period of the Civil War, and the first amendment +adopted in peaceful and normal times since the early days of the +Republic. + +It is a little remarkable, although perhaps not altogether accidental, +that the adoption of this amendment should coincide with the return to +power of the political party whose attempt to levy an income tax in +1894 was frustrated by the decision of the Supreme Court in that year. +Then as now an income tax was a component part of the program of fiscal +and commercial reform to which that party was committed. This program +included the reduction of protective tariff duties and the direct +taxation of incomes. What the Democratic party failed to accomplish in +1894, it has had a free hand to do in 1913. Indeed, the national +taxation of incomes might almost be regarded as a mandate of the people +of the United States. At any rate, it was a foregone conclusion that +the adoption of the constitutional amendment would be immediately +followed by the enactment of an income-tax law. + +The law instituting the income tax was approved October 31[?], together +with the law revising the tariff, both measures being included in one +comprehensive statute entitled "An Act to reduce tariff duties and to +provide revenue for Government, and for other purposes." It is the +object of the present article to give a general description of the +income tax. This seems to be especially well worth while because the +tax can not be readily understood from a mere perusal of the involved +and sometimes obscure phraseology of the law itself. For the same +reason, however, the task of interpretation is not easy or entirely +safe. The law has certain novel features; and some of the questions of +detail to which they give rise can not be answered until we have the +official construction placed upon the language of the act by the +executive branch of the government and possibly by the courts. At the +same time, the main features of the tax become fairly evident to any +one who makes a careful study of the provisions of the act, even though +its application to specific cases may remain doubtful. + +The law provides that incomes shall be subject to a tax of one per +cent. on the amount by which they exceed the prescribed minimum limit +of exemption. This is designated as the "normal income tax." There is, +then, an "additional tax" of one per cent, on the amount by which any +income exceeds $20,000. The rate is increased to two per cent. on the +amount above $50,000, to three per cent. above $75,000, to four per +cent. above $100,000, to five per cent. above $250,000, and to six per +cent. above $500,000. Therefore, under the normal and additional tax +combined, the first $20,000 of income, exclusive of the minimum +exemption, will be taxed one per cent.; the next $30,000, two per +cent.; the next $25,000, three per cent.; the next $25,000, four per +cent.; the next $150,000, five per cent.; the next $250,000, six per +cent.; and all income above that point seven per cent. This is a +rigorous application of the progressive principle. + +The minimum exemption, at the same time, is comparatively high,--$4,000 +for a married person and $3,000 for everybody else. The higher +exemption in case of the married is conditional upon husband and wife +living together, and applies only to their aggregate income; that is to +say, it can not be deducted from the income of each. It may be noted, +in this connection, that in England the exemption allowed under the +income tax is £160 or $800; in Prussia it is 900 marks, or $225; and in +the State of Wisconsin it is $800 for individuals and $1,200 for a +husband and wife, with a further allowance for children or dependent +members of the family. + +The sharply progressive rates and the comparatively high exemption have +given rise to the criticism that this is a rich man's income tax and +disregards the principle that all persons should contribute to the +expenses of the government in proportion to their several abilities. It +is often said that an income tax ought to reach all incomes with the +exception of those which are close to or below the minimum necessary +for subsistence, and that if people generally were called upon to +contribute directly to the government they would take greater interest +in public affairs and show more concern over any wasteful or unwise +expenditure of public money. In reply it is contended that the +limitation of the tax to the wealthy or well-to-do classes is justified +because these classes do not pay their fair share of the indirect +national taxes, or of local property taxes. These debatable questions +lie outside the scope of the present article. It is evident, however, +that the income tax should not be criticized as if it were a single tax +or formed the only source of revenue for the Federal government. From +the fiscal standpoint it occupies a subordinate position in the +national finances, being expected to yield about $125,000,000 annually +out of a total estimated tax revenue of $680,000,000. + +The normal tax of one per cent, is to be levied upon the income of +corporations. In effect this provision of the law merely continues the +corporation or "excise" tax which was already in existence. But that +tax now becomes an integral part of the income tax, covering the income +which accrues to the stockholder and is distributable in the form of +dividends. On the theory that this income is reached at the source by +the tax upon the net earnings of the corporation the dividends as such +are exempt. They are not to be included, so far as concerns the normal +tax, in the taxable incomes of the individual stockholders and the law +does not provide that the tax paid by the corporation shall be deducted +from the dividend. + +It is perhaps a question whether under these conditions income which +consists of dividends should be considered as subject to the normal tax +or as exempt. It may be contended that a tax upon the net earnings of +corporations is virtually a tax on the stockholder's income, and in +theory this is true. But so long as the tax is not actually withheld +from the dividends, or the dividends are not reduced in consequence of +the tax, the stockholder's current income is not affected. The +imposition of the tax might indeed affect his prospective income and +might depreciate the value of his stocks. It is hardly likely, however, +that such effects will be perceptible, at least as regards the stocks +of railroads and other large corporations. If, however, it be +considered that income consisting of dividends pays the tax, it follows +that the stockholder's income is taxed no matter how small it may be. +No minimum is left exempt. On the other hand, if it be considered that +all dividends are virtually exempt, the stockholder would seem to be +unduly favored under this form of taxation in comparison with people +whose incomes are derived from other sources. Doubtless in future the +investor will look upon dividends as a form of income not subject to +the normal income tax. + +In the levy of the normal income tax there is to be a limited +application of the method of assessment and collection at the source of +the income. This method is applied very completely in the taxation of +income in Great Britain. It may be well to recall summarily the +essential features of the British system. The tax is levied upon the +property or industrial enterprise which yields or produces the income. +But the person occupying the property or conducting the enterprise, and +paying the assessment in the first instance, is authorized and required +to deduct the tax from the income as it is distributed among the +persons entitled to share in it either as proprietors, landlords, +creditors, or employees. Under the English system, an industrial +corporation, for instance, pays the income tax upon its gross earnings +and then deducts it from the dividends, interest, salaries, and rents +as these payments are made. The householder pays an assessment levied +upon the annual value of his dwelling (less an allowance for repairs +and insurance) and then if he occupies the premises as tenant deducts +the tax from his rent. The income from agriculture is reached by a +similar assessment upon the farmer, based upon the annual or rental +value of the farm and with the same right of deduction from the rent if +he is a tenant farmer. + +From the standpoint of the government, the main advantage of this mode +of assessment as compared with a tax levied directly upon the +recipients of the income is the greater certainty with which it reaches +the income subject to taxation. The opportunities for evasion by +concealment of income are reduced to a minimum, partly because the +sources of income are, in general, not easily concealed and partly +because, to a considerable extent, the persons upon whom the tax is +assessed are not interested in avoiding the tax. The advantages, +however, are not all on the side of the government. The tax possesses +certain advantages from the standpoint of the taxpayer, also, assuming +him to be an honest taxpayer who is not seeking opportunities to evade +taxation. One advantage is that he is relieved in almost every case +from the necessity of revealing to the tax officials the whole of his +personal income. The tax does not pry into his personal affairs. +Another advantage is that the tax is paid out of current income, being +deducted from the income as it is received. It is therefore distributed +over the year and adjusted to the flow of income as it comes in. A tax +thus collected is less burdensome in its incidence than a tax paid in +one lump sum several months after the expiration of the year to which +it related and after the income on which it is levied has been all +received and perhaps all expended. + +The English system of assessing an income tax at the source, however, +has its disadvantages. It is admirably suited for a tax levied at a +uniform rate on all income or on all income above a small minimum. But +it is not well suited for the application of progressive taxation or +for the introduction of gradations or distinctions based upon the size +or character of the individual incomes. Nevertheless, the English +income tax, besides exempting a minimum, provides for graded reductions +or abatements in favor of the possessors of small incomes above the +minimum, and for a reduced rate on "unearned" income within certain +limits. All this, however, makes necessary a declaration or complete +statement of income from the persons claiming the benefit of those +provisions, and also necessitates refunding a large amount of the tax +collected at the source. Moreover, the progressive principle has +recently been applied by imposing a "super-tax" on incomes in excess of +£5,000, which also requires a declaration, the tax being necessarily +assessed upon the possessor of the income and not at the source. The +super-tax, it may be observed, occupies a position in the English +system similar to that of the additional tax in the United States, +serving to increase the tax upon the larger incomes in accordance with +the principle of progression. + +Considering the various provisos and exceptions in connection with the +general rule of the act, the scope of the application of the method of +collecting the tax at the source may perhaps be safely stated thus: the +normal tax is to be deducted (1) from all interest payments made by +corporations on bonds and the like, without regard to the amount; (2) +from all other interest payments when the amount is more than $3,000 in +any one year; (3) from all payments of rents, salaries, or wages +amounting in any one case to over $3,000 annually; (4) from all other +payments of over $3,000 (excepting dividends) which may be comprised +under the designations "premiums, compensations, remuneration, +emoluments, or other fixed or determinable gains, profits, or income." + +The principle of assessing income at its source, as applied in this +act, does not relieve the individual from the necessity of making a +full revelation to the tax officials of his personal income from all +sources. Though this statement needs to be qualified in one or two +particulars, the law provides in general that every person subject to +the tax and having an income of $3,000 or over shall make a true and +accurate return under oath or affirmation "setting forth specifically +the gross amount of income from all separate sources and from the total +thereof deducting the aggregate items or expenses and allowance" +authorized by the law. Although income from which the tax has been +withheld is not included in the net personal and taxable income of the +taxpayer, it must, nevertheless, be accounted for and included in his +declaration as a part of his gross income, forming one of the specified +items which are to be deducted from the gross income in arriving at the +income subject to taxation. + +As already intimated, the general requirement of the full and complete +statement of income is subject to certain exceptions. One relates to +the income from dividends, the law providing that "persons liable to +the normal tax only ... shall not be required to make return of the +income derived from dividends on the capital stock or from the net +earnings of corporations, joint-stock companies or associations, and +insurance companies taxable upon their net income." It will be noted +that this proviso is restricted to persons who are "liable for the +normal tax only," _i.e._, persons having net incomes under $20,000. It +would seem, therefore, that the taxpayer claiming and securing this +privilege must in some way, without revealing the amount received from +dividends, satisfy the tax assessors that his total net income, +including the dividends (amount not stated), does not exceed $20,000. +Of course a form of statement can easily be devised to cover the +situation. But whether the law will be administered in such a way that +this provision affords some relief from the general obligation of +making a detailed and complete statement of income remains to be seen. + +Another exception to the general requirement of a complete declaration +of income covers the case of the taxpayer whose entire income has been +assessed and the tax on it deducted at the source. The law relieves +such persons from the obligation of making any declaration of income; +although it is not certain that this privilege can be secured without +foregoing or sacrificing the benefits of any abatements to which the +individual taxpayer might be entitled on account of business expenses, +interest payments, losses, etc. It seems probable that where the income +is all assessed at the source the taxpayer may obtain the benefit of +the minimum exemption without making a declaration of income. + +It appears, therefore, that assessment at the source does not, under +this law, operate in such a way as to afford the taxpayer any +substantial relief from the necessity of making a revelation of his +income to tax officials. Whatever basis there may be for the common +criticism or complaint that an income tax is inquisitorial remains +under the operation of this law to nearly the same extent that it +would if the tax were levied wholly and directly upon the recipients +of the income, with no resort to taxation at the source. + +Regarding the assessment of the additional tax not much need be said in +the way of explanation. It is, in theory at least, a comparatively +simple matter. There is no attempt here to make any application of the +principle of collection at the source. The tax is all levied directly +upon the recipients of the individual incomes, and the assessment is +based upon the taxpayer's declaration, which for the purposes of this +tax must cover the "entire net income from all sources, corporate or +otherwise." The tax is thus largely distinct from the normal income tax +as regards both the method of assessment and the rates. It is, however, +to be administered through the same machinery, and no doubt to some +extent the information obtained as to the sources of income in +connection with the assessment of the normal tax will prove useful as a +check upon the returns of income required for assessment of the +additional tax. Every person whose income exceeds $20,000 will be +subject to both taxes, the normal and the additional, but presumably +will be required to make only one declaration. For the purposes of the +additional tax he will be required to declare his income from all +sources, and therefore any relief from the obligation of making a +complete revelation of income which may be secured to him through the +application of the principle of assessment at the source in connection +with the normal tax will be entirely sacrificed. + +The administration of a direct personal income tax--using that term to +describe a tax levied directly on individual incomes--is a +comparatively simple matter, however ineffective it may prove to be in +reaching the income subject to it. Under this method of taxation it is +easy to exempt a minimum, to apply progression in the rates, or to make +any other adjustments that may be deemed equitable with reference +either to the size or character of the income or to the circumstances +of the taxpayer. But as soon as we depart from this simple method and +resort to taxation at the source, we encounter difficulties in varying +the rates, allowing exemptions, or making any similar adjustments. In +the English income tax, these difficulties are squarely met and +surmounted. As previously explained, that tax is in the first instance +levied indiscriminately on all accessible sources of income and the +adjustments are effected by refunding the tax collected at the source +so far as may be necessary. No provision is made for forestalling the +deduction of the tax, and no returns are required of the names and +addresses of persons to whom payments of incomes are made. The +exemption, however, is small ($800), and the abatements extend only to +incomes below $3,500. Above that point the entire income is taxable. + +A tax which provides for the exemption of $3,000 or $4,000 from every +individual income places a formidable barrier in the way of a +thoroughgoing application of assessment at the source. It is evident +that with a universal exemption as high as this, a very large amount of +tax withheld and collected at the source would ultimately have to be +refunded. The law as enacted indicates an intention to secure in part +the advantage of assessment at the source and at the same time avoid in +part the attendant disadvantage of having to refund the tax. The +measure might be characterized as one which as regards the "normal tax" +applies the principle of assessment at the source to corporate income +completely and to other income in spots. The "additional tax" is simply +the direct personal tax. The normal tax will doubtless be successful in +reaching the large amount of income earned or created by enterprises +conducted under the corporate form of organization, much of which would +probably escape assessment under a direct personal income tax. But +beyond this it is questionable whether the method of assessment at the +source as here applied will be of sufficient advantage to justify the +administrative complications which it involves. + +It seems useless, however, as well as unwise, to venture any +predictions as to how successful the tax will be in reaching the income +subject to it or how well it will work in actual practise. The law will +doubtless require amendment in many particulars, even if it does not +need to be radically revised. That the income tax in some form will be +perpetuated as a permanent part of our system of national finance may +safely be predicted. Properly adjusted and wisely administered, it +should greatly strengthen the financial resources of the Government, +make possible a closer adjustment of revenue to expenditure, and secure +a more equitable distribution of the burden of taxation. + + + + +THE SECOND BALKAN WAR + +GREECE AND SERVIA CRUSH THE AMBITIONS OF BULGARIA + +A.D. 1913 + +PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +CAPT. A.H. TRAPMANN + +The crushing defeat of Turkey by the Balkan States during the winter of +1912-13 had been accomplished mainly by Bulgaria. The Bulgarians were +therefore eager to assert themselves as the chief Balkan State, the +Power which was to take the place of Turkey as ruler of the "Near +East." Naturally this roused the antagonism not only of Bulgaria's +recent allies, Greece and Servia, but also of the other neighboring +State, Roumania. Bulgaria hoped to meet and crush her two allies before +Roumania could join them. Thus she deliberately precipitated a war +which resulted in her utter defeat. From this contest Greece has +emerged as the chief State of the eastern Mediterranean, a growing +Power which at last bears some resemblance to the classic Greece of +ancient times. + +To understand this war, it should be realized that the Bulgars are +really an Asiatic race, who broke into Europe as the Hungarians had +done before them, and as the Turks did afterward. Hence their kinship +with European races or manners is really slight, though they have +something of Slavic or Russian blood. The Servians are near akin to the +Russians. The Roumanians trace their ancestry proudly, if somewhat +dubiously, back to the old Roman colonists of the days of Rome's world +empire. The Greeks are really the most ancient dwellers in the region; +and to their pride of race was now added a furious eagerness to prove +their military power. This had been much scorned after their +ineffective war against Turkey in 1897, and they had found no +opportunity to give decisive proof of their strength during the war of +1912. + +To Professor Duggan's account of the causes and results of the war, +which appeared originally in the _Political Science Quarterly_, we +append the picture of its most striking incidents by Captain Trapmann, +who was with the Greek army through its brief but brilliant campaign. + + +PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +When the secret treaty of alliance of March, 1912, between Bulgaria and +Servia against Turkey was signed, a division of the territory that +might possibly fall to the allies was agreed upon. Neither Bulgaria nor +Servia has ever published the treaty in full, but from the +denunciations and recriminations indulged in by the parliaments of +both, we know in general what the division was to be. The river +Maritza, it was hoped, would become the western boundary of Turkey, and +a line running from a point just east of Kumanova to the head of Lake +Ochrida was to divide the conquered territory between Servia and +Bulgaria. This would give Monastir, Prilip, Ochrida, and Veles to the +Bulgarians--a great concession on the part of Servia. Certain other +disputed towns were to be left to the arbitrament of the Czar of +Russia. The chief aim to be attained by this division was that Servia +should obtain a seaboard upon the Adriatic Sea, and Bulgaria upon the +Aegean. Incidentally Bulgaria would obtain western Thrace and the +greater part of Macedonia, and Servia would secure the greater part of +Albania. + +These calculations had been entirely upset by the course of events. +Bulgaria's share had been considerably increased by the unexpected +conquest of eastern Thrace, including Adrianople, whereas Servia's +portion had been greatly diminished by the creation of an independent +Albania out of her share. Moreover, M. Pashitch, the Servian prime +minister, maintained that whereas by the preliminary treaty Bulgaria +was to send detachments to assist the Servian armies operating in the +Vardar valley, the reverse had been found necessary and Adrianople had +only been taken with the help of 60,000 Servians and by means of the +Servian siege guns. Equity demanded that the new conditions which had +arisen and which had entirely altered the situation should be given +consideration and that Bulgaria should not expect the preliminary +agreement to be carried out. Now, from the outbreak of hostilities +Bulgaria's foreign affairs, in which King Ferdinand was supposed to be +supreme, were really controlled by the prime minister, Dr. Daneff. He +proved to be the evil genius of his country; for his arrogant, +unyielding attitude upon every disputed point, not only with the enemy, +but with the allies and with the Powers, destroyed all kindly feeling +for Bulgaria, and left her friendless in her hour of need. Dr. Daneff's +answer to the Servian contention was that Bulgaria bore the brunt of +the fight; that, had she not kept the main Turkish force occupied, +Servia and Greece would have been crushed; that a treaty is a treaty, +and that the additional gain of eastern Thrace in no way invalidated +the old agreement. + +The recriminations between Greeks and Bulgarians were quite as bitter. +There had been no preliminary agreement as to the division of conquered +territory between them, and this permitted each to indulge in the most +extravagant claims. The great bone of contention was the possession of +the fine port of Salonika. As soon as the war against Turkey broke out, +both states pushed forward troops to occupy that city. The Greeks +arrived first and were still in possession. Moreover, they maintained +that, except for the Jews, the population is chiefly Greek. So are the +trade and the schools. M. Venezelos, the Greek prime minister, insisted +also that the erection of an independent Albania deprived Greece of a +large part of northern Epirus, as it had deprived Servia of a great +part of Old Servia, and Montenegro of Scutari. In fact, he asserted +that Bulgaria alone would retain everything she hoped for, securing +nearly three-fifths of the conquered territory, and leaving only +two-fifths to be divided among her three allies; and this, despite the +fact that but for the activity of the Greek navy in preventing the +convoy of Turkey's best troops from Asia, Bulgaria would never have had +her rapid success at the beginning of the war. Finally, he strenuously +objected to the whole seaboard of Macedonia going to Bulgaria, as the +population where it was not Moslem was chiefly Greek. All the parties +to the dispute made much of ethnical and historical claims--"A thousand +years are as a day" in their sight. The answer of Dr. Daneff to the +Greek demands was to the effect that Greece already had one good port +on the Mediterranean, while Bulgaria had none, and that Bulgaria would +have to spend immense sums on either Kavala or Dedeagatch to make them +of any great value. Moreover, as a result of the war, Greece would get +Crete, the Aegean islands, and a good slice of the mainland. She had +suffered least in the war and was really being overpaid for her +services. + +Behind all these formal contentions were the conflicting ambitions and +the racial hatreds which no discussion could effectually resolve. +Bulgaria was determined to secure the hegemony of the Balkan peninsula. +She believed that her role was that of a Balkan Prussia, and her great +victories made her confident of her ability to play the role +successfully. To this Servia would never consent. The Servians far +outnumber the Bulgarians. Were they united under one scepter they would +be the strongest nation in the Balkans. Their policy is to maintain an +equilibrium in the peninsula until the hoped-for annexation of Bosnia +and Herzegovina will give them the preponderance. This alone would +incline Servia to make common cause with Greece. In addition, she had +the powerful motive of direct self-interest. Since she did not secure +the coveted territory on the Adriatic, Salonika would be more than ever +the natural outlet for her products. Should Bulgaria wedge in behind +Greece at Salonika, Servia would have two Powers to deal with, each of +which could pursue the policy of destroying her commerce by a +prohibitory tariff, a policy so often adopted toward her by +Austria-Hungary. M. Pashitch, therefore, was determined to have the new +southern boundary of Servia coterminous with the northern boundary of +Greece. Moreover, Greeks and Servians were aware of the relative +weakness of the Bulgarians due to their great losses and to the wide +territory occupied by their troops. The war party was in the ascendant +in each country. The Servians were anxious to avenge Slivnitza, and the +Greeks still further to redeem themselves from the reputation of 1897. +Had peace been signed in January, there is little doubt that a greater +spirit of conciliation would have prevailed. The Young Turks were +universally condemned at that time for refusing to yield; but had they +deliberately adopted Abdul Hamid's policy of playing off one people +against another, they could not have succeeded better than by their +determination to fight. + +Even before the fall of Adrianople, on March 26th, military conflicts +had taken place between Bulgarians and Servians and between Bulgarians +and Greeks. On March 12th a pitched battle occurred between the latter +at Nigrita; and though a mixed commission at once drew up a code of +regulations for use in towns occupied by joint armies, not the +slightest attention was subsequently paid to it. The Servians shortly +afterward expelled the manager of the branch of the National Bulgarian +Bank at Monastir, a step which drew forth emphatic protests from Sofia +against the policy of Serbizing districts in anticipation of the final +settlement. On April 17th, M. Pashitch informed Bulgaria that the +Government would refuse to be bound by the terms of the preliminary +treaty of March, 1912. From that date until the signing of the treaty +of peace with Turkey on May 31st, the recent allies carried on an +unofficial war, which consisted of combats of extermination marked by +inhuman rage. After that event each of the combatants strained every +nerve to push forward its armies and to possess new territories, while +each continued to accuse the other of violating every principle of +international law. + +The ambassadors of the great Powers at the capitals of the Balkan +States made urgent representations to the Balkan Governments to +restrain their armies, but without effect. On June 10th the Servian +Government dispatched a note to Sofia demanding a categorical answer to +the Servian demand for a revision of the preliminary treaty. On July +11th the Czar telegraphed to King Peter and King Ferdinand appealing to +them to avoid a fratricidal war, reminding them of his position as +arbitrator under the preliminary treaty and warning them that he would +hold responsible whichever state appealed to force. "The state which +begins war will be responsible before the Slav cause." This well-meant +action had an effect the opposite of that hoped for. In Vienna it was +looked upon as an indirect assertion of moral guardianship by Russia +over the Slav world. The Austrian press insisted that the Balkan states +were of age and could take care of themselves. If not, it was for +Europe, not for Russia, to control them. The political horizon grew +still darker when one week later Dr. Daneff answered the Servian note +in the negative. This resulted in the Servian Minister withdrawing from +Sofia on June 22d. + +What was the plan of campaign and the degree of preparedness of the +principal belligerent in the second Balkan war which was about to +commence? The plan of the Bulgarians was the only one whereby they +could hope to secure victory. It depended for success upon surprizing +the Servians by sending masses of Bulgarian troops into the home +territory of Servia by way of the passes leading directly from Sofia +westward through the mountains. This would cut off the Servian armies +operating in Macedonia from their base of supplies and require their +immediate recall for the defense of the home territory. It was an +operation attended by almost insurmountable obstacles. The major part +of the Bulgarian army was in eastern Thrace and would have to be +brought across a country unprovided with either railroads or sufficient +highways. Moreover, the army would have to rely for the transport of +provisions and equipment upon slow-moving bullock wagons. Nevertheless, +given time, secrecy, and freedom from interference, the aim might be +attained. The necessary divisions of the army were set in motion in the +beginning of May. So successful were the Bulgarians in keeping secret +the route and the progress of the army, that by the middle of June they +confidently looked forward to success. Their high hopes were destroyed +by the evil diplomacy of Dr. Daneff in his relations with Roumania. + +Russia rewarded Roumania for her splendid assistance in the +Russo-Turkish war of 1877 by depriving her of her fertile province of +Bessarabia and compelling her to take in exchange the Dobrudja, a low, +marshy district inhabited chiefly by Bulgarians and Moslems. And that +was not all. Through Russian influence the commission appointed to +delimit the boundary between Roumania and the new principality of +Bulgaria put the town of Silistria upon the Bulgarian side of the +boundary. Now the heights of Silistria command absolutely the Roumanian +territory opposite to it and the Dobrudja. The Danube directly in front +of Silistria spreads out in a marsh several miles wide, so that it is +impossible to approach Silistria from the Roumanian side by bridge. As +a result Roumania has always felt that her southern border was at the +mercy of Bulgaria and has always, as one of the chief aims of her +national existence, looked forward to the rectification of her southern +boundary. The unfriendly attitude of Russia threw Roumania into the +arms of Austria, so that from the days of the Berlin treaty to the +Balkan war, Roumania has been considered a true friend of the Triple +Alliance. She viewed with jealousy and fear the rapid growth of +Bulgaria in power and in strength. Crowded in between the two military +empires of Russia and Austria-Hungary, Roumania naturally looked upon +the development of another military state upon her southern border as a +menace to her national existence. Hence when the Macedonian question +became very acute in 1903, and it seemed that action would be +undertaken by Bulgaria and Servia against Turkey, Roumania had declared +that she would not tolerate an alteration of the _status quo_. She did +not move, however, when the allies undertook the war of liberation in +October, 1912. But when a month's campaign changed the war from one of +liberation to one of conquest, Roumania demanded from Bulgaria as the +price of neutrality Silistria and a small slice of the Black Sea coast +sufficient to satisfy strategic military demands. + +It was in his relations with Roumania that Daneff's diplomacy was most +stupid. M. Take Jonescu, one of Roumanians ablest statesmen, was sent +by the Government to the first Peace Conference at London to secure +pledges from Dr. Daneff in regard to the Roumanian demand. He could get +no answer. Daneff used every device to gain time in the hope that a +settlement with Turkey would relieve Bulgaria from the necessity of +giving anything. When the peace negotiations failed and the war between +the allies and Turkey recommenced, the relations between Roumania and +Bulgaria became very critical. However, at the Czar's suggestion, both +countries agreed to refer the dispute to a conference of the +ambassadors of the great Powers at St. Petersburg. Dr. Daneff, who +represented Bulgaria, adopted a most truculent attitude and refused to +yield on any point. As a result of the skilful diplomacy of the French +ambassador, M. DelcassĂ©, in reconciling the divergent views of the +great Powers, Roumania was awarded, on April 19th, the town of +Silistria and a three-mile zone around it, but was refused an increase +on the seaboard. The award was very unpopular in Roumania, but M. +Jonescu risked his official life by successfully urging the Roumanian +Government to accept it. But when it became perfectly evident, after +the signing of the Treaty of London on May 30th, that the former allies +were now to be enemies, the Roumanian government notified Bulgaria that +she could not rely upon its neutrality without compensation in the +interests of the equilibrium of the Balkans. + +Such was the diplomatic situation when the Czar's telegram of June 11th +was received by King Ferdinand. Nothing could have been more +inopportune for the Bulgarian cause. Though the government had no +intention of changing its plan, sufficient deference had to be paid to +the Czar's request to suspend the forward movement of troops. The delay +was fatal. The Servians, who were already aware that the Bulgarians +were in motion, now learned their direction and their actual positions. +The Servian Government hastened to fortify the passes of the Balkans +between Bulgaria and the home territory, and the Servian army in +Macedonia effected a junction with the Greek army from Salonika. There +was nothing left for the Bulgarians but to direct their offensive +movements against the southern Servian divisions in Macedonia. The +great _coup_ had failed. Instead of attacking first the Servians and +then the Greeks and overwhelming them separately, it was necessary to +fight their combined forces. + +Every element in the situation demanded the utmost caution on the part +of Bulgaria. Elementary prudence dictated that she yield to Roumanians +demand for a slice of the seaboard to Baltchik in order to prevent +Roumania from joining Servia and Greece. No doubt, had Daneff yielded +he would have been voted out of office by the opposition, for the +military party was in the ascendant at Sofia also. But a real statesman +would not have flinched. Seldom has the influence of home politics upon +the foreign affairs of a State operated so disastrously upon both. It +was determined to carry out that part of the original plan of campaign +which called for a surprise attack upon the Servians. It must be +remembered that all the engagements that had hitherto taken place +between the former allies had been unofficial, Daneff all the while +insisting that there existed no war, but "only military action to +enforce the Serbo-Bulgarian treaty." Nevertheless, on June 29th the +word went forth from Bulgarian headquarters for a general attack upon +the Servian line which, taken by surprise, yielded. + +In the mean time public opinion at Bucharest became almost +uncontrollable in its demand for the mobilization of the troops, and +the government was outraged at the continued prohibition by Russia of a +forward movement. The Roumanian Government had already appealed to +Count Berchtold for Austro-Hungarian support against Russian +interference, but Austria-Hungary, like every other great power, +expected Bulgaria to win, and she intended that Bulgaria should take +the place vacated by Turkey as a counterpoise to Russia in the Balkans. +Hence Count Berchtold informed Roumania that she could not rely upon +Austro-Hungarian support, were she to ignore the Russian veto. But in +the mean time an exaggerated report of the Servian defeat had reached +St. Petersburg on July 1st, and to save Servia, Russia lifted the +embargo on Roumanian action. + +Forty-eight hours later Europe knew that the Greeks had fought the +fearful battle of Kilchis, resulting in the utter rout of the +Bulgarians, who were in full retreat to defend the Balkan passes into +their home territory. Russia at once recalled her permission for +Roumanian mobilization, but it was too late. The army was on the march. + +The situation of Bulgaria was now truly desperate. Not only had her +_coup_ against the Servians failed, but her troops were fleeing before +the victorious Greeks up the Struma valley. On July 5th war was +officially recognized by the withdrawal of the representatives of +Greece, Montenegro, and Roumania, from Sofia. On the same day Turkey +requested the withdrawal of all Bulgarian troops east of the Enos-Midia +line. In the bloody battles which continued to be fought against Greeks +and Servians, the Bulgarians were nearly everywhere defeated, and on +July 10th Bulgaria placed herself unreservedly in the hands of Russia +with a view to a cessation of hostilities. + +This did not, however, prevent the forward movement of all her enemies. +On July 15th, Turkey, "moved by the unnatural war" existing in the +Balkan Peninsula, dispatched Enver Bey with an army to Adrianople, +which he reoccupied July 20th. By that time the Roumanians were within +twenty miles of Sofia, and the guns of the Servians and Greeks could be +heard in the Bulgarian capital. The next day King Ferdinand telegraphed +to King Charles of Roumania, asking him to intercede with the kings of +Greece, Servia, and Montenegro. He did so, and all the belligerents +agreed to send peace delegates to Bucharest. They assembled there on +July 29th and at once concluded an armistice. + +Each of the belligerent States sent its best man to the peace +conference. Greece was represented by M. Venezelos, Servia by M. +Pashitch, Roumania by M. Jonescu, Montenegro by M. Melanovitch, and +Bulgaria chiefly by General Fitcheff, who had opposed the surprise +attack upon the Servians. The policy of Bulgaria at the conference was +to satisfy the demands of Roumania at once, sign a separate treaty +which would rid her territory of Roumanian troops, and then treat with +Greece and Servia. But M. Jonescu, who controlled the situation, +insisted that peace must be restored by one treaty, not by several. At +the same time he let it be known that Roumania would not uphold +extravagant claims on the part of Greece and Servia which they could +never have advanced were her troops not at the gates of Sofia. The +moderate Roumanian demands were easily settled. Her southern boundary +was to run from Turtukai via Dobritch to Baltchik on the Black Sea. She +also secured cultural privileges for the Kutzovlachs in Bulgaria. The +Servians, who before the second Balkan war would have been satisfied +with the Vardar river as a boundary, now insisted upon the possession +of the important towns of Kotchana, Ishtib, Radovishta, and Strumnitza, +to the east of the Vardar. With the assistance of Roumania, Bulgaria +was permitted to retain Strumnitza. The Greeks were the most +unyielding. Before the war they would have been perfectly satisfied to +have secured the Struma river as their eastern boundary. Now they +demanded much more of the Aegean seacoast, including the important port +of Kavala. The Bulgarian representatives refused to sign without the +possession of Kavala, but under pressure from Roumania they had to +consent. But they would yield on nothing else. The money indemnity +demanded by Greece and Servia and the all-around grant of religious +privileges suggested by Roumania had to be dropped. The treaty was +signed August 6, 1913. + +In the mean time the Powers had not been passive onlookers. +Austria-Hungary insisted that Balkan affairs are European affairs and +that the Treaty of Bucharest should be considered as merely +provisional, to be made definitive by the great Powers. On this +proposition the members of both the Triple Alliance and the Triple +Entente divided. Austria and Italy in the one, and Russia in the other, +favored a revision. Austria fears a strong Servia, and Italy dislikes +the growth of Greek influence in the eastern Mediterranean. These two +States and Russia favored a whittling-down of the gains of Greece and +Servia and insisted upon Kavala and a bigger slice of the Aegean +seaboard for Bulgaria. But France, England, and Germany insisted upon +letting well-enough alone. King Charles of Roumania, who demanded that +the peace should be considered definitive, sent a telegram to Emperor +William containing the following sentence: "Peace is assured, and +thanks to you, will remain definitive." This gave great umbrage at +Vienna; but in the divided condition of the European Concert, no State +wanted to act alone. So the treaty stands. + +The condition of Bulgaria was indeed pitiable, but her cup was not yet +full. Immediately after occupying Adrianople on July 20th, the Turks +had made advances to the Bulgarian government looking to the settlement +of a new boundary. But Bulgaria, relying upon the intervention of the +Powers, had refused to treat at all. On August 7th the representatives +of the great Powers at Constantinople called collectively upon the +Porte to demand that it respect the Treaty of London. But the Porte had +seen Europe so frequently flouted by the little Balkan States during +the previous year, that it had slight respect for Europe as a +collective entity. In fact, Europe's prestige at Constantinople had +disappeared. _J'y suis, j'y reste_ was the answer of the Turks to the +demand to evacuate Adrianople. The recapture of that city had been a +godsend to the Young Turk party. The Treaty of London had destroyed +what little influence it had retained after the defeat of the armies, +and it grasped at the seizure of Adrianople as a means of awakening +enthusiasm and keeping office. As the days passed by, it became evident +that further delay would cost Bulgaria dear. On August 15th the Turkish +troops crossed the Maritza river and occupied western Thrace, though +the Porte had hitherto been willing to accept the Maritza as the +boundary. The Bulgarian hope of a European intervention began to fade. +The Turks were soon able to convince the Bulgarian Government that most +of the great Powers were willing to acquiesce in the retention of +Adrianople by the Turks in return for economic and political +concessions to themselves. There was nothing for Bulgaria to do but +yield, and on September 3d General Savoff and M. Tontcheff started for +Constantinople to treat with the Turkish government for a new boundary +line. They pleaded for the Maritza as the boundary between the two +States, the possession of the west bank being essential for railway +connection between Bulgaria and Dedeagatch, her only port on the +Aegean. But this plea came in conflict with the determination of the +Turks to keep a sufficient strategic area around Adrianople. Hence the +Turks demanded and secured a considerable district on the west bank, +including the important town of Dimotika. By the preliminary agreement +signed on September 18th the boundary starts at the mouth of the +Maritza river, goes up the river to Mandra, then west around Dimotika +almost to Mustafa Pasha. On the north the line starts at Sveti Stefan +and runs west so that Kirk Kilesseh is retained by Turkey. + +While the Balkan belligerents were settling upon terms of peace among +themselves, the conference of ambassadors at London was trying to bring +the settlement of the Albanian problem to a conclusion. On August 11th +the conference agreed that an international commission of control, +consisting of a representative of each of the great Powers, should +administer the affairs of Albania until the Powers should select a +prince as ruler of the autonomous State. The conference also decided to +establish a _gendarmerie_ under the command of military officers +selected from one of the small neutral States of Europe. At the same +time the conference agreed upon the southern boundary of Albania. This +line was a compromise between that demanded by Greece and that demanded +by Austria-Hungary and Italy. Unfortunately it was agreed that the +international boundary commission which was to be appointed should in +drawing the line be guided mainly by the nationality of the inhabitants +of the districts through which it would pass. At once Greeks and +Albanians began a campaign of nationalization in the disputed +territory, which resulted in sanguinary conflicts. Unrest soon spread +throughout the whole of Albania. On August 17th a committee of +Malissori chiefs visited Admiral Burney, who was in command, at +Scutari, of the marines from the international fleet, to notify him +that the Malissori would never agree to incorporation in Montenegro. +They proceeded to make good their threat by capturing the important +town of Dibra and driving the Servians from the neighborhood of Djakova +and Prizrend. Since then the greater part of northern and southern +Albania has been practically in a state of anarchy. + +The settlement of the Balkans described in this article will probably +last for at least a generation, not because all the parties to the +settlement are content, but because it will take at least a generation +for the dissatisfied States to recuperate. Bulgaria is in far worse +condition than she was before the war with Turkey. The second Balkan +war, caused by her policy of greed and arrogance, destroyed 100,000 of +the flower of her manhood, lost her all of Macedonia and eastern +Thrace, and increased her expenses enormously. Her total gains, whether +from Turkey or from her former allies, were but eighty miles of +seaboard on the Aegean, with a Thracian hinterland wofully depopulated. +Even railway communication with her one new port of Dedeagatch has been +denied her. Bulgaria is in despair, but full of hate. However, with a +reduced population and a bankrupt treasury, she will need many years to +recuperate before she can hope to upset the new arrangement. And it +will be hard even to attempt that; for the _status quo_ is founded upon +the principle of a balance of power in the Balkan peninsula; and +Roumania has definitely announced herself as a Balkan power. Servia, +and more particularly Greece, have made acquisitions beyond their +wildest dreams at the beginning of the war and have now become strong +adherents of the policy of equilibrium. + +The future of the Turks is in Asia, and Turkey in Asia just now is in a +most unhappy condition. Syria, Armenia, and Arabia are demanding +autonomy; and the former respect of the other Moslems for the governing +race, _i.e._, the Turks, has received a severe blow. Whether Turkey can +pull itself together, consolidate its resources, and develop the +immense possibilities of its Asiatic possessions remains, of course, to +be seen. But it will have no power, and probably no desire, to upset +the new arrangement in the Balkans. + +The settlement is probably a landmark in Balkan history in that it +brings to a close the period of tutelage exercised by the great Powers +over the Christian States of the Balkans. Neither Austria-Hungary nor +Russia emerges from the ordeal with prestige. The pan-Slavic idea has +received a distinct rebuff. To Roumania and Greece, another non-Slavic +State, _i.e._, Albania, has been added; and in no part of the peninsula +is Russia so detested as in Bulgaria which unreasonably protests that +Russia betrayed her. "Call us Huns, Turks, or Tatars, but not Slavs." +Twice the Austro-Hungarians, in their anxiety to maintain the balance +of power in the Balkans, made the mistake of backing the wrong +combatant. In the first war, they upheld Turkey; and in the second, +they favored Bulgaria. In encouraging Bulgarian aggression they +estranged Roumania, the faithful friend of a generation, and Bulgaria +won only debt and disgrace. Yet Austria-Hungary must now continue to +support Bulgaria as a counterpoise to a stronger Servia which they +consider a menace to their security because of Servian influence on +their southern Slavs. The Balkan states will manage their own affairs +in the future, but they will still offer abundant opportunity for the +play of Russian and Austro-Hungarian rivalry. It had been hoped that +the Balkan peninsula, when freed from the incubus of Turkish misrule, +would settle down to a period of general tranquillity. Instead of this, +the ejectment of the Turk has resulted in increased bitterness and more +dangerous hate. + + +CAPT. ALBERT H. TRAPMANN + +I doubt if history can show a more brilliant or dramatic campaign than +that which the Greeks commenced on the first of July and ended on the +last day of the same month; certainly no country has ever been drenched +with so much blood in so short a space of time as was Macedonia, and +never in the history of the human race have such enormities been +committed upon the helpless civilian inhabitants of a war-stricken +land. + +Bulgaria felt herself amply strong enough to crush the Servian and +Greek armies single-handed, provided peace with Turkey could be +assured, and the Bulgarian troops at Tchataldja set free. Thus, while +Bulgaria talked loudly about the conference at St. Petersburg, she was +making feverish haste to persuade the Allies to join with her in +concluding peace with Turkey. But the Allies were quite alive to the +dangers they ran. As peace with Turkey became daily more assured, the +Bulgarian army at Tchataldja was gradually withdrawn and transported to +face the Greek and Servian armies in Macedonia. + +But meanwhile Bulgaria had got one more preparation to make. Her plan +was to attack the Allies suddenly, but to do it in such a way that the +Czar and Europe might believe that the attack was mutual and +unpremeditated. She therefore set herself to accustom the world to +frontier incidents between the rival armies. On no fewer than four +occasions various Bulgarian generals acting under secret instructions +attacked the Greek or Servian troops in their vicinity. The last of +these incidents, which was by far the most serious, took place on the +24th of May in the Pangheion region, when the sudden attack at sunset +of 25,000 Bulgarians drove the Greek defenders back some six miles upon +their supports. On each occasion the Bulgarian Government disclaimed +all responsibility, and attributed the bloodshed to the personal +initiative of individual soldiers acting under (imaginary) provocation. + +The incident of the 24th of May cost the Bulgarians some 1,500 +casualties, while the Greeks lost about 800 men, sixteen of whom were +prisoners; two of these subsequently died from ill-treatment. In +connection with this last "incident" a circumstance arose which +demonstrates more vividly than mere adjectives the underhand methods +employed by the Sofia authorities. It was announced that the Bulgarians +had captured six Greek guns, and these were duly displayed at Sofia and +inspected by King Ferdinand. I myself was at Salonica at the time, and, +knowing that this was not true, I protested through the _Daily +Telegraph_ against the misleading rumor. A controversy arose, but it +was subsequently proved by two artillery experts who inspected the guns +in question that they were really Bulgarian guns painted gray, with +their telltale breech-blocks removed. + +On the morning of the 29th of June we at Salonica received the news +that during the night Bulgarian troops in force had attacked the Greek +outposts in the Pangheion region and driven them in. All through the +day came in fresh news of further attacks all along the line. At +Guevgheli, where the Greek and Servian armies met, the Bulgarians had +attacked fiercely, occupied the town, and cut the railway line. The two +armies were separated from each other by an interposing Bulgarian +force. On the morning of the 30th of June it was learned that all along +the line the Bulgarians had crossed the neutral line and were +advancing, while at Nigrita they had driven back a Greek detachment and +pressed some fifteen miles southward, thus threatening entirely to cut +off the Greek troops remaining in the Pangheion district. The situation +was critical and demanded prompt attention. King Constantine was away +at Athens, but he sent his instructions by wireless and hastened +hotfoot back to Salonica to place himself at the head of the army. + +At noon General Hessaptchieff (brother-in-law of M. Daneff), the +Bulgarian plenipotentiary accredited to Greek Army Headquarters, drove +to the station and with his staff left by the last train for Bulgarian +Headquarters at Serres. Orders were immediately given for all Bulgarian +troops to be confined to barracks, and the Cretan gendarmerie duly +arrested any found about the streets. Gradually as the afternoon wore +on, the civilian element retired behind closed doors and shuttered +windows; all shops were shut, and pickets of Greek soldiery were alone +to be seen in the deserted streets. At 4.30 P.M. the Bulgarian +battalion commander was invited to surrender the arms of his men, when +they would be conveyed in two special trains to Serres or anywhere else +they liked. He was given an hour to decide. Owing to the intervention +of the French Consul the time limit was extended, but the offer was +refused, and at 6.50 P.M. on the 30th of June the Greeks applied force. +Around every house occupied by Bulgarian soldiery Greek troops had been +introduced into neighboring houses, machine guns had been installed on +rooftops, companies of infantry were picketed at street corners. +Suddenly throughout the town all this hell was let loose. The streets +gave back the echo a thousandfold. The crackle of musketry and din of +machine guns was positively infernal. As evening came and darkened into +night, one after another of the Bulgarian forts Chabrol surrendered, +sometimes persuaded thereto by the deadly effect of a field-gun at +thirty yards' range, but the sun had risen ere the chief stronghold +containing five hundred Bulgarians gave up the hopeless struggle. By +nine o'clock the Bulgarian garrison of Salonica, deprived of its arms, +was safely stowed in the holds of Greek ships bound for Crete. The +casualty list was as follows: Bulgarians--prisoners: 11 officers, 1,241 +men; 11 men wounded; 51 men killed; comitadjis, 4 wounded, 11 killed. +Greeks: 11 soldiers killed; 4 Cretan gendarmes killed; 4 officers +wounded; 6 soldiers wounded; while 6 Bulgarian officers who had +deserted their men and escaped in women's clothing were not captured +until later in the day. + +All the morning of the 1st of July the Greek troops were busy rounding +up Bulgarian comitadjis and collecting hidden explosives, but at 4 P.M. +the Second Division marched out of the town. King Constantine, who had +arrived in the small hours of the morning, had given the order for a +general advance of his army. Greek patience was expended, and no +wonder. + +Meanwhile, let us consider the Bulgarian intentions as revealed by the +captured dispatch-box of the General commanding the 3d Bulgarian +Division, which contained documents likely to become historic. On the +28th of June the Bulgarian Divisional Commanders received orders from +the Commander-in-Chief to undertake a general attack upon the Allies on +the 2d of July. Unfortunately for the Bulgarians, General Ivanoff, +Commanding-in-Chief against the Greeks, could not restrain his +impatience, and instead of waiting for a sudden and general attack on +the 2d of July his troops attacked piecemeal during the nights of the +29th and 30th of June as described; thus the Greek general forward +movement on the 1st and 2d of July found the bulk of his troops +unprepared, while the 14th Bulgarian Division, scheduled to arrive at +Kilkis on the 2d of July from Tchataldja, was not available during that +day to oppose the Greek initiative, though they saved the situation on +the 3d of July by detraining partly at Kilkis and partly at Doiran. + +The two weak points of the Allies were at Guevgheli and in the +Pangheion region, and it was precisely at these points that the +Bulgarians struck. As regards numbers, on the 2d of July the respective +forces numbered: Bulgarians, 80,000; Greeks, 60,000; on the 3d of July +(not deducting losses)--Bulgarians, 115,000; Greeks, 80,000; in both +cases the troops on lines of communication are not reckoned with; these +probably amounted to--Bulgarians, 25,000; Greeks, 12,000. + +Almost immediately and at all points the opposing armies came into +contact. The Bulgarian gunners had very carefully taken all ranges on +the ground over which the Greeks had to advance, and at first their +shrapnel fire was extremely damaging. The Greeks, however, did not wait +to fight the battle out according to the usual rules of warfare--by +endeavoring to silence the enemy's artillery before launching their +infantry forward. Phenomenal rapidity characterized the Greek tactics +from the moment their troops first came under fire. Their artillery +immediately swept into action and plied the Bulgarian batteries with +shell and shrapnel, the while Greek infantry deployed into lines of +attack and pushed forward. At Kilkis so rapid was the advance of the +Greek infantry that the Bulgarian gunners could hardly alter their +ranges sufficiently fast, and every time that the Greek infantry had +made good five hundred yards the Greek artillery would gallop forward +and come into action on a new alinement. It was a running fight. By +leaps and bounds the incredible _Ă©lan_ of the Greek troops drove the +Bulgarians back toward Kilkis itself, which position had been heavily +entrenched. By 4 P.M. on the 2d of July, the Greek main army was within +three miles of the town, while the 10th Division, helped by two +battalions of Servian infantry, gradually fought its way up the Vardar +toward Guevgheli. At 4.30 P.M. (at Kilkis) the Bulgarians delivered a +furious counter-attack in which some 20,000 bayonets took part, but it +was repulsed with heavy slaughter, and the weary Greek soldiers, who +had fought their way over twenty miles of disputed country, rolled over +on their sides and slept. Toward Guevgheli the Evzone battalions had +for two hours to advance through waist-deep marshes under a heavy +artillery fire, but they struggled along through muddy waters singing +their own melancholy songs and without paying the least attention to +the heavy losses they were sustaining. On the 3d of July the Greeks +reoccupied Guevgheli, and toward evening the Bulgarian trenches at +Kilkis were taken at the bayonet's point, the town being entirely +destroyed, partly by Greek shell fire (for the Bulgarian batteries had +been located in the streets) and partly by the Bulgarians, who fired +the town as they retired. On the 3d and 4th the Bulgarians retired +sullenly northward toward Doiran, contesting every yard and putting in +the units of the 14th Division as quickly as they could be detrained; +but the Greeks never flagged for one moment in the pursuit. The 10th +and 3d Divisions, marching at tremendous speed, came up on the left, +menacing the line of retreat on Strumnitza. It was in the pass ten +miles south of this town that remnants of the Bulgarian 3d and 14th +Divisions made their last stand upon the 8th of July. Throughout the +week they had been fighting and retreating incessantly, had lost at +least 10,000 in killed and wounded, some 4,500 prisoners, and about +forty guns, while the Greeks lost about 4,500 and 5,000 men in front of +Kilkis and another 3,000 between Doiran and Strumnitza. + +Meanwhile at Lakhanas an equally sanguinary two days' conflict had been +in progress. The Greeks attacked and finally captured the Bulgarian +entrenched positions. Time after time their charges failed to reach, +but eventually their persistent courage and inimitable _Ă©lan_ won home, +and the Bulgarians fled in utter rout and panic, leaving everything, +even many of their uniforms, behind them. + +King Constantine, speaking in Germany recently, attributed the success +of the Greek armies to the courage of his men, the excellence of the +artillery, and to the soundness of the strategy, but I think he +overlooked the chief factor that made for victory--the unspeakable +horror, loathing, and rage aroused by the atrocities committed upon the +Greek wounded whenever a temporary local reverse left a few of the +gallant fellows at the mercy of the Bulgarians. I have seen an officer +and a dozen men who had had their eyes put out, and their ears, +tongues, and noses cut off, upon the field of battle during the lull +between two Greek charges. And there were other worse, but nameless, +barbarities both upon the wounded and the dead who for a brief moment +fell into Bulgarian hands. + +This was during the very first days of the war; later, when the news of +the wholesale massacres of Greek peaceable inhabitants at Nigrita, +Serres, Drama, Doxat, etc., became known to the army, it raised a +spirit which no pen can describe. The men "saw red," they were drunk +with lust for honorable revenge, from which nothing but death could +stop them. Wounds, mortal wounds, were unheeded so long as the man +still had strength to stagger on; I have seen a sergeant with a great +fragment of common shell through his lungs run forward for several +hundred yards vomiting blood, but still encouraging his men, who, truth +to tell, were as eager as he. It is impossible to describe or even +conceive the purposeful and aching desire to get to close quarters +regardless of all losses and of all consequences. The Bulgarians, in +committing those obscene atrocities, not only damned themselves forever +in the eyes of humanity, but they doubled, nay, quadrupled, the +strength of the Greek army. Nothing short of extermination could have +prevented the Greek army from victory; there was not a man who would +not have a million times rather died than have hesitated for a moment +to go forward. + +The days of those first battles were steaming hot with a pitiless +Macedonian sun. The Greek troops were in far too high a state of +spiritual excitation to require food, even if food had been able to +keep pace with their lightning advance. All that the men wanted, all +they ever asked for, was water and ammunition; and here the greatest +self-sacrifice of all to the cause was frequently seen; for a wounded +man, unable to struggle forward another yard, would, as he fell to the +ground, hastily unbuckle water-bottle and cartridge-cases and hand them +to an advancing comrade with a cheery word, "Go on and good luck, my +lad," and then as often as not he would lay him down to die with +parched lips and cleaving tongue. + +I was myself, at the pressing and personal invitation of King +Constantine, the first to visit Nigrita, where the Bulgarian General, +before leaving, had the inhabitants locked into their houses, and then +with guncotton and petroleum burned the place to the ground. Here 470 +victims were burned alive, mostly old folk, women, and children. +Serres, Drama, Kilkis, and Demir Hissar (all important towns) have +similar tales to tell, only the death-roll is longer. Small wonder that +these stories of ferocity are not given credence, for they are +incredible, and it is only when one studies the Bulgarian character +that one can understand how such orgies of carnage were possible. + +The scope of this article does not permit me to describe in detail the +minor battles and operations between the 6th of July and the 25th of +July; suffice it to say that the rapidity of the Greek advance upon +Strumnitza and up the valley of the Struma forced the Bulgarians to +beat in full retreat toward their frontier, leaving behind them all +that impeded their flight. Military stores, guns, carts, and even +uniforms strewed the line of their march, and they were only saved from +annihilation because the mountains which guarded their flanks were +impassable for the Greek artillery. By blowing up the bridges over the +Struma the impetuosity of the Greek pursuit was delayed, and it was in +the Kresna Pass that the Bulgarian rear-guard first turned at bay. The +pass is a twenty-mile gorge cut through mountains 7,000 feet high, but +the Greeks turned the Bulgarian positions by marching across the +mountains, and it was near Semitli, five miles north of the pass, that +the Bulgarians offered their last serious resistance. It was a +wonderful battle. The Greeks, at the urgent request of the Servian +General Staff, had detailed two divisions to help the Servians. On the +west bank of the Struma they pushed the 2d and 4th Divisions gently +northward, while in the narrow Struma valley (it is little better than +a gorge in most places) they had the 1st Division on the main road with +the 5th behind it in reserve; on the right, perched on the summit of +well-nigh inaccessible mountains, was the Greek 6th Division, with the +7th Division on its right, somewhat drawn back. + +It came to the knowledge of Greek headquarters that the Bulgarians +contemplated an attack upon Mehomia, a village six miles on the extreme +right and rear of the 7th Division, only held by a small detachment of +that Division; reenforcements were immediately dispatched to relieve +the pressure, and the 6th Division was called upon to reenforce the +positions of the 7th during the absence of the relief column, with the +result that on the 25th of July the 6th Division only had some 6,000 +men available. + +Meanwhile, the Bulgarians had secretly transferred the 40,000 men of +their 1st Division from facing the Servians at Kustendil to Djumaia; +20,000 of these were sent in a column to strike at the junction of the +Greek and Servian armies, where they were held by the 3d and 10th Greek +divisions after a bloody battle which lasted three days; 5,000 marched +on Mehomia and were annihilated by the Greek 7th Division; the +remaining 15,000 reenforced the troops facing the Greek 6th Division. +It was a most dramatic fight. On the 25th of July the Greeks, +unconscious of the Bulgarian reenforcements, pushed northward, and all +day long their 1st, 5th, and 6th Divisions gradually drove the enemy in +front of them. The fighting was of the most desperate nature, and at +one moment, the ammunition on both sides having given out, the troops +pelted each other with fragments of rock. At last, toward 5 P.M., the +Greek 6th Division found the enemy in front of them retiring; they +pushed onward fighting for every yard. The men were dead-weary; they +had slept for days upon bleak and waterless mountain summits--frozen at +night, they were grilled at noon, but they pushed ever onward. At last, +when victory seemed within their grasp, when their foe was seen to run, +a general advance was ordered. The men sprang forward with a last +effort of physical endurance--the Bulgars were running! They gave +chase. Suddenly, in one solid wall, 15,000 entirely new Bulgarian +troops of the 1st Division rose, as if from the ground, and delivered a +counter-attack. It was a crucial moment: some 4,000 Greeks chasing a +similar number of Bulgarians suddenly had to face 15,000 new troops. +The impact was terrible. The Greek line broke up into fragments, around +which the Bulgarians clustered and pecked like vultures at a feast. For +ten minutes it was anybody's battle. The remnants of each Greek company +formed itself into a ring and defended itself as best it could. These +rings gradually grew smaller as bullet and bayonet claimed their +victims; many of them were wiped out altogether, and when the battle +was over it was possible to find the places where these companies had +made their last stands, for there was not a single survivor--the +wounded were killed by the victors. + +But the victory was short-lived. True, the right of the 6th Division +had crumpled up, but a regiment of the 1st Division came up at the +critical moment and stiffened up the left and center, and again the +tide of battle swayed irresolute; then, ten minutes later perhaps, a +regiment from the 5th Division came up at the double on the right rear +of the Bulgarians, taking them in reverse and enfilade. The Bulgarian +right and center crumpled like a rotten egg, while their left fell +hastily back. The Bulgars had thrown their last hazard and had lost. +The carnage was appalling on both sides. The Greek 6th Division had +commenced the day with about 6,000 men; at sunset barely 2,000 +remained. Opposite the Greek positions nearly 10,000 Bulgarians were +buried next day, which speaks well for the fighting power of the Greek +when he is making his last stand. + +The holocaust of wounded beggars description, but that eminent French +painter, George Scott, told me an incident which came to his own +notice. He was riding up to the front the day after Semitli, and was +just emerging from the awesome Kresna Pass, when he and his companion +came upon a Greek dressing station. The narrow space between cliff and +river was entirely occupied by some hundreds of Greek wounded, some of +them already dead, many dying, and others fainting. They were lying +about awaiting their turn for the surgeon's knife. In the center stood +the surgeon, with the sleeves of his operating-coat turned up, his arms +red to the elbow in blood, all about him blood-stained bandages and +wads of cotton-wool. They reined in their horses and surveyed the +scene; as one patient was being removed from the packing-case that +served as operating-table, the surgeon raised his weary eyes and saw +them, the only unwounded men in all that vast and silent gathering. +"You are newspaper correspondents?" he asked. "Well, tell me, tell me +when this butchery will cease! For seventy-two hours I have been plying +my knife, and look at those who have yet to come"--he swept the circle +of wounded with an outstretched bloody hand. "O God! If you know how to +write, write to your papers and tell Europe she must stop this gruesome +war." Then, tired out and enervated, he swooned into the arms of the +medical orderly. As he came to to be apologized. "That," he said, "is +the third time I have fainted; I suppose I must waste precious time in +eating something to sustain me!" + +The battle of Semitli was fought almost contemporaneously with that of +the 3d and 10th Greek Divisions on the extreme Greek left flank, which +latter action resulted in a Bulgarian repulse after a temporary +success, and these were the last great battles of the shortest and +bloodiest campaign on record. On the 29th and 30th of July there were +some skirmishes three miles south of Djumaia. On the 31st of July the +armistice was conceded. During the month of July the Greek army had +practically wiped out the 1st, 3d, 4th, and 14th Bulgarian Divisions, +some 160,000 strong; they had marched 200 miles over terrible +mountains; they had taken 12,000 prisoners, 120 guns; and had +cheerfully sustained 27,000 casualties out of a total number of 120,000 +troops engaged. + +It is difficult to do justice to such an exploit within the scope of a +single article. The privations suffered by the troops, their +uncomplaining endurance, the fight with cholera, the appalling +atrocities perpetrated by the Bulgarians upon those who fell within +their power, furnish matter for a monumental volume. + + + + +OPENING OF THE PANAMA CANAL A.D. 1914 + +COL. GEO. W. GOETHALS BAMPFYLDE FULLER + +As was told in a previous volume, the United States acquired possession +of the Panama Canal territory in 1903. Actual work on the Canal was +begun by Americans in 1905 with the prediction that the Canal would be +finished in ten years, 1915. The engineers have been better than their +word. The difficulties with Mexico rendered the Canal suddenly useful +to the United States, and Colonel Goethals reported that he would have +the "big ditch" ready for the passage of any war-ship by May 15, 1914. +That promise he carried out. The Canal is still in danger of being +blocked by slides of mud in the deep Culebra Cut, and probably will +continue exposed to this difficulty for some years to come. But the +work is practically complete; ships passed through the Canal under +government orders in 1914. The greatest engineering work man ever +attempted, the profoundest change he has ever made in the geographical +face of the globe, has been successfully accomplished. + +Honor where honor is due! The man chiefly responsible for the success +of this great work has been Colonel Goethals. We quote here by his +special permission a portion of one of his official reports on the +Canal. We then show the work "as others see us," by giving an account +of the Canal and the impression it has made on other nations, written +by one of the most distinguished of its recent British visitors, the +Hon. Bampfylde Fuller. + + +COL. GEO. W. GOETHALS, U.S. ARMY + +A canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has occupied public +attention for upward of four centuries, during which period various +routes have been proposed, each having certain special or peculiar +advantages. It was not until the nineteenth century, however, that any +definite action was taken looking toward its accomplishment. + +In 1876 an organization was perfected in France for making surveys and +collecting data on which to base the construction of a canal across the +Isthmus of Panama, and in 1878 a concession for prosecuting the work +was secured from the Colombian Government. + +In May, 1879, an international congress was convened, under the +auspices of Ferdinand de Lesseps, to consider the question of the best +location and plan of the Canal. This congress, after a two weeks' +session, decided in favor of the Panama route and of a sea-level canal +without locks. De Lesseps's success with the Suez Canal made him a +strong advocate of the sea-level type, and his opinion had considerable +influence in the final decision. + +Immediately following this action the Panama Canal Company was +organized under the general laws of France, with Ferdinand de Lesseps +as its president. The concession granted in 1878 by Colombia was +purchased by the company, and the stock was successfully floated in +December, 1880. The two years following were devoted largely to +surveys, examinations, and preliminary work. In the first plan adopted +the Canal was to be 29.5 feet deep, with a ruling bottom width of 72 +feet. Leaving Colon, the Canal passed through low ground to the valley +of the Chagres River at Gatun, a distance of about 6 miles; thence +through this valley, for 21 miles, to Obispo, where, leaving the river, +it crossed the continental divide at Culebra by means of a tunnel, and +reached the Pacific through the valley of the Rio Grande. The +difference in the tides of the two oceans, 9 inches in either direction +from the mean in the Atlantic and from 9 to 11 feet from the same datum +in the Pacific, was to be overcome and the final currents reduced by a +proper sloping of the bottom of the Pacific portion of the Canal. No +provisions were made for the control of the Chagres River. + +In the early eighties after a study of the flow due to the tidal +differences, a tidal lock near the Pacific was provided. Various +schemes were also proposed for the control of the Chagres, the most +prominent being the construction of a dam at Gamboa. The dam as +proposed afterward proved to be impracticable, and this problem +remained, for the time being, unsolved. The tunnel through the divide +was also abandoned in favor of an open cut. + +Work was prosecuted on the sea-level canal until 1887, when a change to +the lock type was made, in order to secure the use of the Canal for +navigation as soon as possible. It was agreed at that time that the +change in plan did not contemplate abandonment of the sea-level Canal, +which was ultimately to be secured, but merely its postponement for the +time being. In this new plan the summit level was placed above the +flood line of the Chagres River, to be supplied with water from that +stream by pumps. Work was pushed forward until 1889, when the company +went into bankruptcy; and on February 4th that year a liquidator was +appointed to take charge of its affairs. Work was suspended on May 15, +1889. The new Panama Canal Company was organized in October, 1894, when +work was again resumed, on the plan recommended by a commission of +engineers. + +This plan contemplated a sea-level canal from Limon Bay to Bohio, where +a dam across the valley created a lake extending to Bas Obispo, the +difference in level being overcome by two locks; the summit level +extended from Bas Obispo to Paraiso, reached by two more locks, and was +supplied with water by a feeder from an artificial reservoir created by +a dam at Alhajuela, in the upper Chagres Valley. Four locks were +located on the Pacific side, the two middle ones at Pedro Miguel +combined in a flight. + +A second or alternative plan was proposed at the same time, by which +the summit level was to be a lake formed by the Bohio dam, fed directly +by the Chagres. Work was continued on this plan until the rights and +property of the new company were purchased by the United States. + +The United States, not unmindful of the advantages of an isthmian +canal, had from time to time made investigations and surveys of the +various routes. With a view to government ownership and control, +Congress directed an investigation of the Nicaraguan Canal, for which a +concession had been granted to a private company. The resulting report +brought about such a discussion of the advantages of the Panama route +to the Nicaraguan route that by an act of Congress, approved March 3, +1889, a commission was appointed to "make full and complete +investigation of the Isthmus of Panama, with a view to the construction +of a canal." The commission reported on November 16, 1901, in favor of +Panama, and recommended the lock type of canal. + +By act of Congress, approved June 28, 1902, the President of the United +States was authorized to acquire, at a cost not exceeding $40,000,000, +the property rights of the New Panama Canal Company on the Isthmus of +Panama, and also to secure from the Republic of Colombia perpetual +control of a strip of land not less than 6 miles wide, extending from +the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and "the right ... to excavate, +construct, and to perpetually maintain, operate, and protect thereon a +canal of such depth and capacity as will afford convenient passage of +ships of the greatest tonnage and draft now in use." + +Pursuant to the legislation, negotiations were entered into with +Colombia and with the New Panama Canal Company, with the end that a +treaty was made with the Republic of Panama granting to the United +States control of a 10-mile strip, constituting the Canal Zone, with +the right to construct, maintain, and operate a canal. This treaty was +ratified by the Republic of Panama on December 2, 1903, and by the +United States on February 23, 1904. + +The formal transfer of the property of the New Panama Canal Company on +the Isthmus was made on May 4, 1904, after which the United States +began the organization of a force for the construction of the lock type +of canal, in the mean time continuing the excavation by utilizing the +French material and equipment and such labor as was procurable on the +Isthmus. + +President Roosevelt, in a message to Congress, dated February 19, 1906, +stated: "The law now on our statute-books seems to contemplate a lock +canal. In my judgment a lock canal, as herein recommended, is +advisable. If the Congress directs that a sea-level canal be +constructed its direction will, of course, be carried out; otherwise +the Canal will be built on substantially the plan for a lock canal +outlined in the accompanying papers, such changes being made, of +course, as may be found actually necessary, including possibly the +change recommended by the Secretary of War as to the site of the dam on +the Pacific side." + +On June 29, 1906, Congress provided that a lock type of canal be +constructed across the Isthmus of Panama, of the general type proposed +by the minority of the Board of Consulting Engineers, and work has +continued along these lines. The Board of Consulting Engineers +estimated the cost of the lock type of canal at $139,705,200 and of the +sea-level canal at $247,021,000, excluding the cost of sanitation, +civil government, the purchase price, and interest on the investment. +These sums were for construction purposes only. + +I ventured a guess that the construction of the lock type of canal +would approach $300,000,000, and without stopping to consider that the +same causes which led to an increase in cost over the original +estimates for the lock canal must affect equally the sea-level type, +the advocates of the latter argued that the excess of the new estimates +was an additional reason why the lock type should be abandoned in favor +of the sea-level canal. + +The estimated cost by the present commission for completing the adopted +project, excluding the items let out by the Board of Consulting +Engineers, is placed at $297,766,000. If to this be added the estimated +cost of sanitation and civil government until the completion of the +work, and the $50,000,000 purchase price, the total cost to the United +States of the lock type of canal will amount to $375,201,000. In the +preparation of these estimates there are no unknown factors. + +The estimated cost of the sea-level canal for construction alone sums +up to $477,601,000, and if to this be added the cost of sanitation and +civil government up to the time of the completion of the canal, which +will be at least six years later than the lock canal, and the purchase +price, the total cost to the United States will aggregate $563,000,000. +In this case, however, parts of the estimate are more or less +conjectural--such as the cost of diverting the Chagres to permit the +building of the Gamboa dam and the cost of constructing the dam itself. + +Much criticism has resulted because of the excess of the present +estimates over those originally proposed, arising largely from a +failure to analyze the two estimates or to appreciate fully the actual +conditions. + +The estimates prepared and accompanying the report of the consulting +engineers were based on data less complete than are available at +present. The unit costs in the report of 1906 are identical with those +in the report of 1901, and since 1906 there has been an increase in the +wage scale and in the cost of material. On the Isthmus wages exceed +those in the United States from 40 to 80 per cent. for the same class +of labor. The original estimates were based on a ten-hour day, but +Congress imposed the eight-hour day. Subsequent surveys and the various +changes already noted have increased the quantity of work by 50 per +cent., whereas the unit costs have increased only 20 per cent.--not +such a bad showing. In addition, municipal improvements in Panama and +Colon, advances to the Panama Railroad, and moneys received and +deposited to the credit of miscellaneous receipts aggregate +$15,000,000, which amount will eventually and has in part already been +returned to the Treasury. Finally, no such system of housing and caring +for employees was ever contemplated as has been introduced and +installed, materially increasing the overhead charges and +administration. + +The idea of the sea-level canal appeals to the popular mind, which +pictures an open ditch offering free and unobstructed navigation from +sea to sea, but no such substitute is offered for the present lock +canal. As between the sea-level and the lock canal, the latter can be +constructed in less time, at less cost, will give easier and safer +navigation, and in addition secure such a control of the Chagres River +as to make a friend and aid of what remains an enemy and menace in the +sea-level type. + +In this connection attention is invited to the statement made by Mr. +Taft, when Secretary of War, in his letter transmitting the reports of +the Board of Consulting Engineers: + +"We may well concede that if we could have a sea-level canal with a +prism of 300 to 400 feet wide, with the curves that must now exist +reduced, it would be preferable to the plan of the minority, but the +time and cost of constructing such a canal are in effect prohibitive." + +We are justly proud of the organization for the prosecution of the +work. The force originally organized by Mr. John F. Stevens for the +attack upon the continental divide has been modified and enlarged as +the necessities of the situation required, until at the present time it +approaches the perfection of a huge machine, and all are working +together to a common end. The manner in which the work is being done +and the spirit of enthusiasm that is manifested by all forcibly strike +every one who visits the works. + +The main object of our being there is the construction of the Canal; +everything else is subordinate to it, and the work of every department +is directed to the accomplishment of that object. + +Too much credit can not be given to the department of sanitation, +which, in conjunction with the division of municipal engineering, has +wrought such a change in the conditions as they existed in 1904 as to +make the construction of the Canal possible. This department is +subdivided into the health department, which has charge of the +hospitals, supervision of health matters in Panama and Colon, and of +the quarantine, and into the sanitary inspection department, which +looks after the destruction of the mosquito by various methods, by +grass and brush cutting, the draining of various swampy areas, and the +oiling of unavoidable pools and stagnant streams. + +According to the statistics of the health department, based on the +death-rate, the Canal Zone is one of the healthiest communities in the +world, but in this connection it must be remembered that our population +consists of men and women in the prime of life, with few, if any, of +the aged, and that a number of the sick are returned to the United +States before death overtakes them. + + +BAMPFYLDE FULLER + +The Panama Canal stands out as one of the most noteworthy contributions +that the Teutonic race has made toward the material improvement of the +world. So regarding it, Englishmen and Germans may take some pride to +themselves from this great achievement of the Americans. The Teutonic +race has its limitations. It is deficient in the gaiety of mind, the +expansiveness of heart, which add so largely to human happiness. Its +bent has lain in directions that are, superficially at all events, less +attractive. But by its cult of cleanliness, self-control, and +efficiency, it has given a new meaning to civilization; it has invented +Puritanism, the gospel of the day's work, and the water-closet. These +reflections may not seem very apposite to the subject of the Canal; but +they will suggest themselves to one who arrives in Panama after +traveling through the Latin States of South America. + +It was, however, by some sacrifice of moral sense that the United +States gained control of the Isthmus. They offered a financial deal to +the republic of Colombia: the terms were liberal, and the Colombian +Government had in principle no objection to make money by the grant of +a perpetual lease of so much land as was needed for the Canal. But it +haggled unreasonably over the details, with the object of delaying +business until the period of the French concession had expired, so that +it might secure, not only its own share of the compensation, but the +share that was to be paid to the French investors whose rights and +achievements were taken over by the United States. A revolution +occurred: the province of Panama declared its independence of Colombia, +and at once completed the bargain. The revolution was so exceedingly +opportune in the interests of the United States, and of the French +concessionaires, that it is impossible not to suspect its instigation +in these interests. Beyond a doubt the United States assisted the +revolutionaries: they prevented the Colombian forces from attacking +them. Panama was originally independent of Colombia, and had been badly +treated by the Colombian Government, which, in its distant capital of +Bogota, was out of touch with Panamanian interests, and returned to the +province but a very small share of its taxes. But, however this may be, +we may take it, without straining facts, that the United States, being +unable to bring Colombia to terms, evicted her in favor of a more +pliable authority. This is not in accord with Christian morality. Nor +are political dealings generally. And, from a practical point of view, +it was preposterous that the cupidity of some Colombian politicians +should stand in the way of an improvement in geography. The agreement +with the newly born republic of Panama gave the United States a +perpetual lease of a strip of land, ten miles broad, across the +Isthmus. This is styled the "Canal Zone." The Latin towns of Panama and +Colon fall within its limits. But they are expressly excluded from the +United States jurisdiction. + +In substance the Canal works consist, first, of an enormous dam (at +Gatun), which holds up the water of the river Chagres so as to flood a +valley twenty-four miles long; secondly, of a channel--nine miles in +length--(the Culebra Cut)--which carries the valley on through a range +of low hills; and, thirdly, of a set of locks at each end of this +stretch of water that are connected by comparatively short approaches +with the sea. The surface of the lake will be from 79 to 85 feet above +sea-level, and vessels will be raised to this height and lowered again +by passing through a flight of three locks upward and another flight of +three locks downward. The passage of both flights of locks is not +expected to occupy more than three hours, and ships should complete the +transit of the Isthmus--a distance of about fifty miles--within twelve +hours at most. The design of the work offers nothing that is new in +principle to engineering science. Dams, cuttings, and locks are +familiar contrivances. But they are on an immensely larger scale than +anything which has previously been attempted. The area of the lake of +impounded water will be 164 square miles, and it has been doubted +whether the damming of so large a mass of water, to a height of 85 +feet, could safely be undertaken. But this portion of Central America +is apparently not liable to earthquakes. And the dam is so large as to +be a feature of the earth's surface. It is nearly half a mile broad +across its base, so that although its crest is 105 feet above sea-level +its slope is not very perceptible. Its core is formed of a mixture of +sand and clay, poured in from above by hydraulic processes. This has +set hard, and is believed to be quite impervious to water at a much +higher pressure than that to which it will be subjected. In the center +of the river valley--a mile and a half broad--across which the dam has +been flung, there very fortunately arose a low rocky hill. This is +included in the dam, and across its summit has been constructed the +escape or spill-way. During seasons of heavy rain the surplus discharge +of river water will be very heavy, and a cataract will pour over the +spill-way. But it will rush across a bed of rock, and will be unable to +erode its channel. And it will be employed to generate electrical power +which will open and shut the lock-gates and generally operate the Canal +machinery. The river Chagres will energize the Canal as well as fill +it. + +The locks are gigantic constructions of concrete. Standing within them +one is impressed as by the mass of the Pyramids. The gates are hollow +structures of steel, 7 feet thick. Their lower portions are +water-tight, so that their buoyancy in the water will relieve the +stress upon the bearings which hinge them to the lock-wall. Along the +top of each lock-wall there runs an electric railway; four small +electric locomotives will be coupled to a vessel as it enters the lock +approach, and will tow it to its place. The vessel will not use its own +steam. This will lessen the risk of its getting out of hand and ramming +the lock-gate, an accident which has occurred on the big locks that +connect Lake Superior with Lake Huron. So catastrophic would be such a +mishap, releasing as it might this immense accumulation of water, that +it seemed desirable at whatever expense to provide additional +safeguards against it. There are in the first place cross-chains, +tightening under pressure, which may be drawn across the bows of a ship +that threatens to become unmanageable. Secondly, the lock-gates are +doubled at the entrance to all the locks, and at the lower end of the +upper lock in each flight. And, thirdly, each flight of locks can be +cut off from the lake by an "emergency dam" of peculiar construction. +It is essentially a skeleton gate, which ordinarily lies uplifted along +the top of the lock-wall, but can be swung across, lowered, and +gradually closed against the water by letting down panels. In its +ordinary position it lies high above the masonry--conspicuous from some +distance out at sea as a large cantilever bridge, swung in air. + +Peculiar difficulties have been encountered in establishing the +foundations of the locks. The lowest of each flight are planted in deep +morasses, and could only be settled by removing vast masses of estuary +slime to a depth of 80 feet below sea-level. The sea was cut off and a +dredger introduced, which gradually cleared its way down to the bottom +rock. But the troubles which the American engineers will remember are +those which have presented themselves in the Culebra cutting. The +channel is nine miles long. Its average depth is between 100 +and 200 feet, but at one point it reaches 490 feet. The formation +of the ground varies extraordinarily. At some points it is +rock; at others rock gives place to contorted layers of brilliantly +colored earth which is almost as restless as quicksand. Unfortunately, +it is at places where the cutting is deepest that its banks are most +unstable. The sides of the lowest 40 feet of the excavation--the actual +water channel--are cut vertically and not to a slope; in a firm +formation this reduces the amount of excavation, but in loose material +it must apparently have increased the risk of slides. But, however this +may be, slips on a gigantic scale were inevitable. The cutting is an +endeavor to form precipitous slopes of crumbling material under a +tropical rain-fall: it may be likened to molding in brown sugar under +the rose of a watering-pot. The banks have been in a state of constant +movement, and are broken up into irregular shelves and chasms, so that +at some points the channel resembles a natural ravine rather than an +artificial cutting. One thing is certain,--that for some years to come +the channel will only be kept open by constant assiduous dredging. But +it is, of course, easier to dredge out of water than to excavate in the +dry. The material excavated from the Culebra channel will aggregate +nearly one hundred million cubic yards. Some of it has been utilized in +reclaiming land; much has been carried out to sea and heaped into a +break-water three miles long, which runs out from the Panama or +southern end of the Canal, and will check a coast-ways current that +might, if uncontrolled, silt up the approach. The Canal is a triumph, +not of man's hands, but of machinery. Regiments of steam shovels attack +the banks, exhibiting a grotesque appearance of animal intelligence in +their behavior. An iron grabber is lowered by a crane, it pauses as if +to examine the ground before it, in search of a good bite, opens a pair +of enormous jaws, takes a grab, and, swinging round, empties its +mouthful onto a railway truck. The material is loosened for the shovels +by blasts of dynamite and, all the day through, the air is shaken by +explosions. Alongside each row of shovels stands a train in waiting; +over a hundred and fifty trains run seaward each day loaded with spoil. +The bed of the Canal is ribboned with railway tracks, which are shifted +as required by special track-lifting machines. The masonry work of the +locks is laid without hands. High latticed towers--grinding mills and +cranes combined--overhang the wall that is being built up. They take up +stone and cement by the truck-load, mix them and grind them--in fact, +digest them--and, swinging the concrete out in cages, gently and +accurately deposit it between the molding boards. How sharp is the +contrast between this elaborate steam machinery and the hand-labor of +the _fellahĂn_ who patiently dug out the Suez Canal! But there are, so +to speak, edges to be trimmed: this mass of machinery is to be guided +and controlled, and there is work to employ a staff of over thirty +thousand men. Some four thousand of them are Americans, who form a +superior service, styled "gold employees" in order to avoid racial +implications. Their salaries are calculated in American dollars. The +remainder, classed as "silver employees," are paid in Panama dollars, +the value of which is half that of the American. Two series of coins +are current, one being double the value of the other; and, since the +corresponding coins of the two series are of about the same size, +newcomers are harassed by constant suspicions of their small change. +The "silver employees" number about twenty-six thousand. Some of them +are immigrants from Europe--mostly from Italy and the north of +Spain--but the great majority are negroes, British subjects from +Jamaica and Trinidad. It was foreseen that if negroes from the Southern +States were employed, the high wages rates might unsettle the American +cotton labor market: so it was decided to recruit from British +colonies, and it is not too much to say that, so far as the Canal is +hand-made, it is mainly the work of British labor. Several hundreds of +Hindus have found their way here; they are chiefly employed upon the +fortifications, because, it is said, they are unlikely to talk about +them. These British colored laborers, with their families, constitute +the bulk of the population of the Canal Zone: the town of Panama swarms +with them, and one sees few of any other class in the streets of Colon. +The American engineers have thus been working with a staff that can +claim the protection of the British Minister; and it is pleasing to an +Englishman to hear on every side the heartiest tributes to the energy, +tact, and good sense of England's representative, Sir Claude Mallet. +At the outset the negro laborers were exceedingly suspicious of the +American authorities, and were ready to strike on the smallest +provocation: they have refused to take their rations until Sir Claude +has tasted them. He possesses the complete confidence of the British +labor force, and indeed the Hindu immigrants, who deposit money at the +Consulate, will hardly wait to obtain receipts for it. + +Speaking of rations, it may be mentioned that the Canal authorities +undertake to feed all their employees, and a large commissariat +establishment, including extensive cold-storage depots at Colon, is one +of the most prominent features of their administration. Every morning a +heavy trainload of provisions leaves Colon, dropping its freight as it +passes the various labor settlements. In numerous eating-houses meals +are provided at very moderate charges, and at Panama and Colon large, +up-to-date hotels are maintained by the American Government. These are +used very extensively by the Canal staff, and give periodic dances, +which are crowded with young people. The vagaries of the one-step are +sternly barred by a puritan committee, and, to one who expects +surprises, the style of dancing is disappointingly monotonous. But +these hotels are also of great use in conciliating the American +taxpayers. Tourists come by thousands, and elaborate arrangements are +made for their education by special sight-seeing trains, by +appreciative guides, and by courses of lectures. The Canal staff is +also housed by the State--in wooden structures, built upon piles, and +protected by mosquito-proof wire screening. The accommodation for +bachelors is somewhat meager; but married couples are treated very +liberally, and their quarters are brightened by pretty little gardens. +The rates of pay are high, and there are numerous concessions which to +one of Indian experience appear exceedingly generous. But the +expenditure throughout is on a lavish scale: the Canal will not cost +much less than eighty million pounds. The money that is drawn from the +American taxpayers is, however, for the most part returned to them. +Practically the whole of the machinery is of American manufacture; the +food is American; the stores that are sold in the shops are mainly +American; and the only money that is lost to the States is that which +is saved by the foreign laborers. Very few of these have any intention +of remaining under the American flag, or will, indeed, be permitted to +remain. + +Residence within the Canal Zone, apart from the towns of Panama and +Colon, is only to be permitted to the permanent working staff of the +Canal and to the military force in occupation. It should be added that +the salaries of the American "gold employees," liberal though they may +appear, do not tempt them to remain in service. One is astonished to +learn that nearly half the American staff changes annually: young men +come to acquire a little experience and save a little money, which may +help them to a start in their own country. Service on the Canal works +leads to no pension; and the medal which is to be granted to all who +remain two years in employ is but moderately attractive to men whose +objects are severely practical. The chief controlling authorities are +all in the military service of the State. + +In the Northern States of America the British love of cleanliness has +become a gospel of life, and the sanitation of the Canal Zone is a +model of scientific and successful thoroughness. To India it is also a +model of hopeless generosity, nearly three million pounds having been +spent in improving the health conditions of this small area. The +agreement which reserves the towns of Panama and Colon to the +administration of the republic of Panama provides for American +interference in matters that may concern general health, and the Canal +authorities have taken the fullest advantage of this provision. The +streets of both towns have been paved; insanitary dwellings have been +ruthlessly demolished; water-works have been provided by loans of +American money, the water rate being collected by American officials. +The meanest house is equipped with a water-closet and a shower-bath. +Panama and Colon are now models of cleanliness, and from their +appearance might belong to a North American State. Efficiency is the +watchword, and in cleansing these towns the American health officers +have not troubled themselves with the compromises which would temper +the despotism of British officials. Americans can hardly be imagined +as stretching their consciences by such a concession as that, for +instance, which in British India exempts gentlemen of position from +appearance in the civil courts. Efficiency is not popular with those +who do not practise it, and the Latin races of Southern and Central +America have no love for their northern neighbors. The Americans, like +the Germans, would increase their popularity did they appreciate the +value of personal geniality in smoothing government. + +Within the Canal Zone the jungle has been cut back from the proximity +of dwelling-houses; surface water, whether stagnant or running, is +regularly sterilized by doses of larvicide; all inhabited buildings are +protected by mosquito-proof screening, and, in some places, a +mosquito-catching staff is maintained. At the time of my visit not a +mosquito was to be seen; but this was during the season of dry heat. +During the rainy months mosquitos are, it seems, still far from +uncommon; and the latest sanitary rules emphasize the importance of +systematically catching them. Medical experience has shown that if +houses are kept clear of mosquitos, there is very little fever, even in +places where the water pools and channels are left unsterilized. Wire +screening, supplemented by a butterfly net, is the great preventive. +But we can not attain the good without an admixture of evil: behind the +wire screening the indoor atmosphere becomes very oppressive. Yellow +fever, the scourge of the isthmus in former days, has been completely +eradicated. Admissions to hospital for malarial fever amount, it must +be confessed, to several thousands a year. But, judging from the +terrible experiences of the French Company, were it not for these +precautions fever would incapacitate for long periods the whole of the +staff. + +The hospital, a heritage from the French, is a village of wooden +buildings set upon a hill overlooking the Gulf of Panama, in the midst +of a charming study in tropical gardening. It is managed with an energy +which explores to the uttermost the medical experiences of other +tropical countries, and is not afraid of improving upon time-honored +methods. The daily dose of quinine is seldom less than forty-five +grains, and patients are not allowed to leave their beds until their +temperature has remained normal for five days at least. Complaints of +deafness are disregarded; if the patient turns of a blue color he may +be consoled by a dose of Epsom salts. It is claimed that by this +drastic treatment the relapses are prevented which, in India and +elsewhere, probably account for at least nine attacks out of ten. + +Democracies are not always fortunate in the selection of their +executives. But Mr. Roosevelt's Government was gifted with the wit to +find, in the United States Army, men who could carry out this big work, +and with the good sense to employ them. So much is told of the +commanding influence of Colonel Goethals, the chief in command; of the +administrative talents of Colonel Gorgas, the head of the sanitary +department; of the engineering skill of Colonel Sibert, the protagonist +of the Gatun dam, that an Englishman must wish to claim kinship with +these American officers who are making so large a mark upon the surface +of the earth. Devotion to the great work in hand has exorcised meaner +feelings, and you will hear little of the "boost" which we are tempted +to associate with the other side of the Atlantic. I asked Colonel +Sibert whether his initial calculations had needed much correction as +the operation developed. "Our _guesses_" he replied, "have been +remarkably fortunate." The medical staff relate with delight how a +British doctor, sent by the Indian Government to study their methods, +being left to himself for half an hour, succeeded in catching quite a +number of mosquitoes of a very noxious kind within the mosquito-proof +precincts of a hospital ward. + +New York is now divided from San Francisco by 13,135 miles of sea +travel. The Canal will reduce this distance by 7,873 miles, and will +bring New York 6,250 miles nearer Callao and 3,747 miles nearer +Valparaiso. The Pacific Ocean includes so large an extent of the +curvature of the earth that the effect of the Canal in developing trade +routes with Asia will depend very greatly upon their direction across +it. Vessels from New York which, after passing the Canal, trend +northward or southward upon the great circle, will find that the Panama +route will be much shorter than that _via_ Suez; they will save 3,281 +miles on the distance to Yokohama and 2,822 miles on the distance to +Melbourne. But if their course lies along the equator the Panama Canal +will not curtail their journey very materially. It is surprising to +find that Manila will be only forty-one miles nearer New York _via_ +Panama than it is _via_ Suez, and the saving on a journey to Hong Kong +will be no more than 245 miles. In trading with Peru, Chile, Australia, +North China, and Japan, the merchants of New York will gain very +materially by the opening of the Canal. They will gain, moreover, by +the withdrawal of the advantage which English merchants now enjoy in +trading with New Zealand, Australia, North China, and Japan _via_ the +Suez Canal. At present London is nearer to these places than New York +is by 1,000 miles or more. The Canal will not only withdraw this +advantage: it will give New York a positive advantage in distance of +2,000 to 3,000 miles. It is more than doubtful, however, whether the +Canal would ever have been constructed in the sole interests of +commerce. Its chief value to the United States is strategical; it will +mobilize their fleet and enable them to concentrate it upon either +their eastern or their western coastline. The Canal will primarily be +an instrument against war; but, like much else in this world, it will +incidentally bestow multifarious advantages. The importance of +fortifying it is manifest. It would appear that the locks at either end +are open to naval bombardment; indeed, those at Gatun are clearly +visible from the sea. Fortifications are being constructed at both +entrances, and it is probable that the Canal Zone will be garrisoned by +a force of 25,000 men. World enterprises involve world responsibilities. + + + + +CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY + +EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME A.D. 1910-1914 + +DANIEL EDWIN WHEELER + +Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals +following give volume and page. + +Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of +famous persons, will be found in the Index Volume. + +1910. The United States established an annual meeting of State +Governors as a new machinery of government. See "THE UNITED STATES +HOUSE OF GOVERNORS," XXI, 1. + +Chile and Argentina completed the first railroad crossing the Andes +Mountains. + +A naval revolt in Brazil, finally pacified. + +Mrs. Eddy, founder of Christian Science, died. + +King Edward VII of England died and was succeeded by his son, George V. + +The various British provinces in South Africa united in a single +confederation. See "UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA," XXI, 17. + +The "Labor" party gained complete control of power in Australia under +Mr. Fisher as Prime Minister. + +A Revolution made Portugal a republic. See "PORTUGAL BECOMES A +REPUBLIC," XXI, 28. + +In Paris there were unprecedented floods, and many people were killed. + +In Greece a National Assembly was called, and the Constitution was +revised. + +The new Turkish government faced revolts in Albania and other +provinces. + +Russia completed the destruction of Finnish liberty. See "THE CRUSHING +OF FINLAND," XXI, 47. + +In Egypt the native Prime Minister Boutros Pasha was assassinated; +England adopted severe repressive measures. + +In Persia, Morgan Shuster, an American, undertook the financial +administration of the new constitutional government. + +Corea was formally annexed by Japan. + +China began establishing representative assemblies in each province, +also a National Senate, in preparation for an elective government. +Tumultuous demands made for a Constitution. + +1911. Widespread use of automobiles seemed to establish an Automobile +Age; unprecedented records of speed made. See "MAN'S FASTEST MILE," +XXI, 73. + +The Woman Suffrage movement gained a most important step by its victory +in California. See "WOMAN SUFFRAGE," XXI, 156. + +A Canadian movement for trade reciprocity with the United States led to +suggestions of annexation and was then vehemently rejected. + +Renewed persecution of the Jews in Russia led the United States to +abrogate her long-standing Russian treaties. + +In Mexico President Diaz was overthrown by a revolution headed by +Francisco Madero. See "THE FALL OF DIAZ," XXI, 96. + +In England the Liberals took almost all power from the House of Lords. +See "FALL OF THE ENGLISH HOUSE OF LORDS," XXI, 113. + +Germany made Alsace-Lorraine a State of the Empire, partly +self-governing. + +A French protectorate was established over Morocco; Germany objected +and war came very close. See "MILITARISM," XXI, 186. + +Spain faced a naval mutiny and proclaimed universal martial law. + +In Italy a noted Camorrist trial was held at Viterbo, breaking the +criminal power. Italy attacked Turkey and snatched away her last +African province. See "THE TURKISH-ITALIAN WAR," XXI, 140. + +The Russian prime minister Stolypin was assassinated by revolutionists. + +In Persia the exiled Shah invaded the country and was again defeated +and expelled; Russia demanded the expulsion of Mr. Shuster. The Persian +parliament refused submission, and Russia invaded Persia, overthrew the +government, and compelled submission to all her demands. See "PERSIA'S +LOSS OF LIBERTY," XXI, 199. + +In Japan a widespread anarchistic murder plot was discovered and +suppressed. + +In China a revolt for a republic began at Wuchang in October; the +Manchu court made Yuan Shi-kai dictator; he summoned a National +Assembly. All southern China joined the republic movement under Sun Yat +Sen; Nanking captured and made capital of the Republic. See "THE +CHINESE REVOLUTION," XXI, 238. + +1912. Surgeons established the possibility of keeping human tissues and +organs alive outside the body, and even transferring them from one body +to another. See "OUR PROGRESSING KNOWLEDGE OF LIFE SURGERY," XXI, 273. + +England and France made arbitration treaties with the United States. +See "A STEP TOWARD WORLD PEACE," XXI, 259. + +New Mexico and Arizona were admitted to United States statehood; the +close of the old territorial system within the mainland of the United +States. + +The United States presidential election resulted in almost a political +revolution. Woodrow Wilson was elected to power by the "Progressive +Democrats." See "THE NEW DEMOCRACY," XXI, 323. + +In Canada the French of Ontario province made vigorous protest against +efforts to Anglicize them. + +"TRAGEDY OF THE 'TITANIC,'" XXI, 265. + +In England there were extensive coal strikes; the Liberals prepared a +Home Rule bill and Ulster threatened rebellion. + +German Socialists made such gains in the German election that they +became the strongest political party in the Empire. + +The suffrage was extended in Italy, so as to include almost all adult +males. + +In Spain, prime minister Canalejas was assassinated by anarchists. + +The Balkan States formed a league against Turkey, and Montenegro +precipitated a war in which Bulgaria, Greece, and Servia joined her. +See "THE OVERTHROW OF TURKEY," XXI, 282. + +Turkey made peace with Italy so as to meet her new foes. Turks +everywhere defeated by the Balkan League; Bulgarians defeated Turks in +chief battle of Lule-Burgas, and besieged Adrianople. + +The European Powers intervened for peace. In India England transferred +the official capital to Delhi, the ancient Mogul capital. + +In China, the north and south came to an agreement; the Manchu emperor +abdicated and Yuan Shi-kai was made temporary president. Peking was +made the capital of the new republic. See "THE CHINESE REVOLUTION," +XXI, 238. + +The great Japanese Emperor Mutsuhito died. + +1913. Two amendments were made to the United States Constitution. See +"THE INCOME TAX IN AMERICA," XXI, 338. + +The progressive Democrats under President Wilson passed a Low-Tariff +bill, an Income-Tax, law and a Currency-Revision law. Several +arbitration treaties were made with smaller nations. + +In Mexico a revolution overthrew President Madero, and Huerta became +dictator. See "MEXICO PLUNGED INTO ANARCHY," XXI, 300. + +A political strike of half a million laborers in Belgium forced the +government to abandon the "plural voting" system. + +The "Liberals" ousted the Labor party from control of the government of +Australia. + +Peace negotiations between the Balkan League and Turkey broke down; the +Bulgarians and Servians captured Adrianople and beleaguered +Constantinople; the Greeks captured Janina and their fleet captured +Turkish islands; peace left Turkey expelled from all Europe except +Constantinople. See "THE OVERTHROW OF TURKEY," XXI, 282. + +The European Powers refused to let the Balkan States take all the +conquered territory, and established the new state of Albania with a +German king; Servia especially aggrieved at Austrian interference. + +The Balkan States quarreled; Bulgaria attacked Greece and Servia; +Roumania joined them, and the three allies crushed Bulgaria. Turkey +regained a portion of her territory from Bulgaria. General peace +followed. See "THE SECOND BALKAN WAR," XXI, 350. + +King George of Greece assassinated; Greece became the chief state of +the eastern Mediterranean. + +The Arabs took advantage of the Turkish defeat to reassert complete +independence. + +In China Yuan Shi-kai was elected as the first regular president of the +republic; he had much trouble with his parliament. + +1914. "OPENING OF THE PANAMA CANAL," XXI, 374. + +The United States was forced to intervene in Mexico, and seized Vera +Cruz. + +Renewed racial bitterness in Japan against the United States because of +persistent exclusion of emigrants. + +The Canadian steamship _Empress of Ireland_ sank with loss of a +thousand lives. + +In Peru, a revolt overthrew the president and established a new and +more liberal government. + +Irish Home Rule bill passed by the English Parliament despite violent +opposition. + +Woman Suffrage voted in the Denmark parliament. + +Severe labor riots in Italy. + +The Albanians revolted against the foreign king imposed on them by the +Powers. + +The Archduke of Austria and his wife were assassinated in Bosnia by a +revengeful Serb. + +Turkey began reconstructing her navy under British guidance; and Greece +purchased warships from the United States. + +The Chinese president dissolved his parliament and assumed dictatorial +power, promising to resign it when the people were trained in political +knowledge. + +The long-threatened European War broke out at last. + +END OF VOL. XXI + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, +Vol. 21, Editor: Charles F. Horne + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10341 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 21 + The Recent Days (1910-1914) + +Author: Charles F. Horne, Editor + +Release Date: November 30, 2003 [EBook #10341] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS V21 *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Gwidon Naskrent and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +THE GREAT EVENTS + +BY + +FAMOUS HISTORIANS + +A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY, +EMPHASIZING THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE +NARRATIVES IN THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS + +NON-SECTARIAN NON-PARTISAN NON-SECTIONAL + +ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE MOST +DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE, INCLUDING BRIEF +INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED +NARRATIVES. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY. WITH THOROUGH INDICES. +BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF READING + + +EDITED BY + +CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D. + +_Aided by a staff of specialists_ + + +CONTENTS + + +VOLUME XXI + +_An Outline Narrative of the Great Events_ + CHARLES F. HORNE + +_The United States House of Governors_ (_A.D. 1910_) + WILLIAM S. JORDAN + THE GOVERNORS + +_Union of South Africa_ (_A.D. 1910_) + PROF. STEPHEN LEACOCK + +_Portugal Becomes a Republic_ (_A.D. 1910_) + WILLIAM ARCHER + +_The Crushing of Finland_ (_A.D. 1910_) + JOHN JACKOL + BARON SERGIUS WITTE + BARON VON PLEHVE + J.H. REUTER + +_Man's Fastest Mile_ (_A.D. 1911_) + C.F. CARTER + ISAAC MARCOSSON + +_The Fall of Diaz_ (_A.D. 1911_) + MRS. E.A. TWEEDIE + DOLORES BUTTERFIELD + +_Fall of the English House of Lords_ (_A.D. 1911) + ARTHUR PONSONBY + SYDNEY BROOKS + CAPTAIN GEORGE SWINTON + +_The Turkish-Italian War_ (_A.D. 1911_) + WILLIAM T. ELLIS + THE WAR CORRESPONDENTS + +_Woman Suffrage_ (_A.D. 1911_) + IDA HUSTED HARPER + ISRAEL ZANGWILL + JANE ADDAMS + DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE + ELBERT HUBBARD + +_Militarism_ (_A.D. 1911_) + NORMAN ANGELL + SIR MAX WAECHTER + +_Persia's Loss of Liberty_ (_A.D. 1911_) + W. MORGAN SHUSTER + +_Discovery of the South Pole_ (_A.D. 1911_) + ROALD AMUNDSEN + +_The Chinese Revolution_ (_A.D. 1912_) + ROBERT MACHRAY + R.F. JOHNSTON + TAI-CHI QUO + +_A Step Toward World Peace_ (_A.D. 1912_) + HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT + +_Tragedy of the "Titanic"_ (_A.D. 1912_) + W.A. INGLIS + +_Our Progressing Knowledge of Life Surgery_ (_A.D. 1912_) + GENEVIEVE GRANDCOURT + PROFESSOR R. LEGENDRE + +_Overthrow of Turkey by the Balkan States_ (_A.D. 1912_) + J. ELLIS BARKER + FREDERICK PALMER + PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +_Mexico Plunged Into Anarchy_ (_A.D. 1913_) + EDWIN EMERSON + WILLIAM CAROL + +_The New Democracy_ (_A.D. 1913_) + PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON + +_The Income Tax in America_ (_A.D. 1913_) + JOSEPH A. HILL + +_The Second Balkan War_ (_A.D. 1913_) + PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + CAPT. A.H. TRAPMANN + +_Opening of the Panama Canal_ (_A.D. 1914_) + COL. GEORGE W. GOETHALS + BAMPFYLDE FULLER + +_Universal Chronology_ (_1910-1914_) + + + + +AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE + +TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF + +THE GREAT EVENTS + + +THE RECENT DAYS (1910-1914) + + +CHARLES F. HORNE + +The awful, soul-searing tragedy of Europe's great war of 1914 came to +most men unexpectedly. The real progress of the world during the five +years preceding the war had been remarkable. All thinkers saw that the +course of human civilization was being changed deeply, radically; but +the changes were being accomplished so successfully that men hoped that +the old brutal ages of military destruction were at an end, and that we +were to progress henceforth by the peaceful methods of evolution rather +than the hysterical excitements and volcanic upheavals of revolution. + +Yet even in the peaceful progress of the half-decade just before 1914 +there were signs of approaching disaster, symptoms of hysteria. This +period displayed the astonishing spectacle of an English parliament, +once the high example for dignity and the model for self-control among +governing bodies, turned suddenly into a howling, shrieking mob. It +beheld the Japanese, supposedly the most extravagantly loyal among +devotees of monarchy, unearthing among themselves a conspiracy of +anarchists so wide-spread, so dangerous, that the government held their +trials in secret and has never dared reveal all that was discovered. It +beheld the women of Persia bursting from the secrecy of their harems +and with modern revolvers forcing their own democratic leaders to stand +firm in patriotic resistance to Russian tyranny. It beheld the English +suffragettes. + +Yet the movement toward universal Democracy which lay behind all these +extravagances was upon the whole a movement borne along by calm +conviction, not by burning hatreds or ecstatic devotions. A profound +sense of the inevitable trend of the world's evolution seemed to have +taken possession of the minds of the masses of men. They felt the +uselessness of opposition to this universal progress, and they showed +themselves ready, sometimes eager, to aid and direct its trend as best +they might. + +If, then, we seek to give a name to this particular five years, let us +call it the period of humanitarianism, of man's really awakened +kindliness toward his brothers of other nationalities. The universal +peace movement, which was a child in 1910, had by 1914 become a +far-reaching force to be reckoned with seriously in world politics. Any +observer who studied the attitude of the great American people in 1898 +on the eve of their war with Spain, and again in 1914 during the +trouble with Mexico, must have clearly recognized the change. There was +so much deeper sense of the tragedy of war, so much clearer +appreciation of the gap between aggressive assault and necessary +self-defense, so definite a recognition of the fact that murder remains +murder, even though it be misnamed glory and committed by wholesale, +and that any one who does not strive to stop it becomes a party to the +crime. + +While the sense of brotherhood was thus being deepened among the people +of all the world, the associated cause of Democracy also advanced. The +earlier years of the century had seen the awakening of this mighty +force in the East; these later years saw its sudden decisive renewal of +advance in the West. The center of world-progress once more shifted +back from Asia to America and to England. The center of resistance to +that progress continued, as it had been before, in eastern Europe. + +PROGRESS OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA + +Let us note first the forward movement in the United States. The +Conservation of Natural Resources, that striking step in the new +patriotism, which had been begun in the preceding decade, was carried +forward during these years with increasing knowledge. A new idea +developed from it, that of establishing a closer harmony among the +States by means of a new piece of governmental machinery, the House of +Governors.[1] This was formed in 1910. + +[Footnote 1: See _The United States House of Governors_, page 1.] + +To a nation bred as the Americans have been in an almost superstitious +reverence for a particular form of government, this change or any +change whatever becomes a matter of great moment. It is their final +recognition that the present can not be molded to fit the machinery of +the past. The nearer a Constitution comes to perfection in fitting the +needs of one century, the more wholly it is likely to fail in fitting +the needs of the next. The United States Government was not at its +beginning a genuine Democracy, though approaching it more nearly than +did any other great nation of the day. Putting aside the obvious point +that the American Constitution deliberately protected slavery, which is +the primal foe of all Democracy, the broader fact remains that the +entire trend of the Constitution was intended to keep the educated and +aristocratic classes in control and to protect them from the dangers of +ignorance and rascally demagoguery. + +The weapons of self-defense thus reserved by the thoughtful leaders +were, in the course of generations, seized upon as the readiest tools +of a shrewd plutocracy, which entrenched itself in power. Rebellion +against that plutocracy long seemed almost hopeless; but at last, in +the year 1912, the fight was carried to a successful issue. In both the +great political parties, the progressive spirit dominated. The old +party lines were violently disrupted, and President Wilson was elected +as the leader of a new era seeking new ideals of universal equality.[2] + +[Footnote 2: See _The New Democracy_, page 323.] + +Nor must we give to the President's party alone the credit of having +recognized the new spirit of the people. Even before his election, his +predecessor, Mr. Taft, had led the Republican party in its effort to +make two amendments to the Constitution, one allowing an Income Tax, +the other commanding the election of Senators by direct vote of the +people. Both of these were assaults upon entrenched "Privilege." The +Constitution had not been amended by peaceful means for over a century; +yet both of these amendments were now put through easily.[1] This +revolt against two of the most undemocratic of the features of the +ancient and honored Constitution was almost like a second declaration +of American independence. + +[Footnote 1: See _The Income Tax in America_, page 338.] + +Perhaps, too, the change in the Senate may prove a help to the cause of +universal peace. The governments of both Taft and Wilson were +persistent in their efforts to establish arbitration treaties with +other nations, and the Senate, jealous of its own treaty-making +authority, had been a frequent stumbling-block in their path. Yet, +despite the Senate's conservatism, arbitration treaties of +ever-increasing importance have been made year after year. A war +between the United States and England or France, or indeed almost any +self-ruling nation, has become practically impossible.[2] + +[Footnote 2: See _A Step Toward World Peace_, page 259.] + +In her dealing with her Spanish-American neighbors, the United States +has been less fortunate. She has, indeed, achieved a labor of +world-wide value by completing the "big ditch" between the Oceans.[3] +Yet her method of acquiring the Panama territory from Colombia had been +arbitrary and had made all her southern neighbors jealous of her power +and suspicious of her purposes. Into the midst of this era of +unfriendliness was injected the Mexican trouble. Diaz, who had ruled +Mexico with an iron hand for a generation, was overthrown.[4] President +Madero, who conquered him, was supported by the United States; and +Spanish America began to suspect the "Western Colossus" of planning a +protectorate over Mexico. + +[Footnote 3: See _Opening of the Panama Canal_, page 374.] + +[Footnote 4: See _The Fall of Diaz_, page 96.] + +Then came a counter-revolution. Madero was betrayed and slain, and the +savage and bloody Indian general, Huerta, seized the power.[1] The +antagonism of the United States Government against Huerta was so marked +that at length the anxious South American Powers urged that they be +allowed to mediate between the two; and the United States readily +accepted this happy method of proving her real devotion to arbitration +and of reestablishing the harmony of the Americas. + +[Footnote 1: See _Mexico Plunged into Anarchy_, page 300.] + +In itself the entire Mexican movement may be regarded as another great, +though confused, step in the world-wide progress of Democracy. The +upheaval has been repeatedly compared to the French Revolution. The +rule of Diaz was really like that of King Louis XVI in France, a +government by a narrow and wealthy aristocracy who had reduced the +ignorant Mexican peasants or "peons" to a state of slavery. The bloody +battles of all the recent warfare have been fought by these peons in a +blind groping for freedom. They have disgraced their cause by excesses +as barbarous as those perpetrated by the French peasantry; but they +have also fought for their ideal with a heroism unsurpassed by that of +any French revolutionist. + +DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD + +Equally notable as forming part of this unceasing march of Democracy +was the progress of both Socialism and Woman Suffrage. But with these +two movements we must look beyond America; for their advance was not +limited to any single country. It became world-wide. When Woman +Suffrage was first established in New Zealand and Australia, the fact +made little impression upon the rest of the globe; but when northern +Europe accepted the idea, and Finland and Norway granted women full +suffrage and Sweden and Denmark gave them almost as much, the movement +was everywhere recognized as important. In Asia women took an active +and heroic part in the struggles for liberty both in Persia and in +China. In England the "militant" suffragists have forced Parliament to +deal with their problem seriously, amid much embarrassment. In the +United States, the movement, regarded rather humorously at first, +became a matter of national weight and seriousness when in 1910 the +great State of California enfranchised its women, half a million of +them. Woman Suffrage now dominates the Western States of America and is +slowly moving eastward.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Woman Suffrage_, page 156.] + +Socialism, also, though some may call it a mistaken and confused dream, +is yet a manifestation of Democracy and as such will have its voice +along with other forms of the great world-spirit. It has made +considerable advance in America, where there have recently been +Socialist mayors in some cities, and even Socialist Congressmen. But +its main progress has been in Europe. There it can no longer be +discussed as an economic theory; it has become a stupendous and +unevadable fact. It is the laboring man's protest against the tyranny +of that militarism which terrorizes Europe.[2] And since military +tyranny is heaviest in Germany, Socialism has there risen to its +greatest strength. The increase of the Socialist vote in German +elections became perhaps the most impressive political phenomenon of +the past twenty years. In 1912 this vote was more than one-third of the +total vote of the Empire, and the Socialists were the largest single +party in Germany. The Socialists of France are almost equally strong; +and so are those in Italy. When war recently threatened Europe over the +Morocco dispute, the Socialists in each of these countries made solemn +protest to the world, declaring that laboring men were brothers +everywhere and had no will to fight over any governmental problem. Many +extremists among the brotherhood even went so far as to defy their +governments openly, declaring that if forced to take up arms they would +turn them against their tyrannous oppressors rather than against their +helpless brothers of another nation. Thus the burden of militarism did +by its own oppressive weight rouse the opposing force of Socialism to +curb it. + +[Footnote 2: See _Militarism_, page 186.] + +In Italy the Socialists were growing so powerful politically that it +was largely as a political move against them that the government in +1911 suddenly declared war against Turkey. + +Thus was started the series of outbreaks which recently convulsed +southeastern Europe.[1] Seldom has a war been so unjustifiable, so +obviously forced upon a weaker nation for the sake of aggrandizement, +as that of Italy against the "Young Turks" who were struggling to +reform their land. The Italians seized the last of Turkey's African +possessions, with scarce a shadow of excuse. This increase of territory +appealed to the pride and so-called "patriotism" of the Italian people. +The easy victories in Africa gratified their love of display; and many +of the ignorant poor who had been childish in their attachment to the +romantic ideals of Socialism now turned with equal childishness to +applaud and support their "glorious" government. Yet even here +Democracy made its gain; for under shelter of this popularity the +government granted a demand it had long withheld. Male suffrage, +previously very limited in Italy, was made universal. + +[Footnote 1: See _The Turkish-Italian War_, page 140.] + +The humiliation of Turkey in this Italian war led to another and far +larger contest, and to that practical elimination of Turkey from +European affairs which had been anticipated for over a century. The +Balkan peoples, half freed from Turkey in 1876, took advantage of her +weakness to form a sudden alliance and attack her all together.[2] +This, also, was a Democratic movement, a people's war against their +oppressors. The Bulgars, most recently freed of the victims of Turkish +tyranny, hated their opponents with almost a madman's frenzy. The +Servians wished to free their brother Serbs and to strengthen +themselves against the persistent encroachments of Austria. The Greeks, +defeated by the Turks in 1897, were eager for revenge, hopeful of +drawing all their race into a single united State. Never was a war +conducted with greater dash and desperation or more complete success. +The Turks were swept out of all their European possessions except for +Constantinople itself; and they yielded to a peace which left them +nothing of Europe except the mere shore line where the continents come +together. + +[Footnote 2: See _The Overthrow of Turkey_, page 282.] + +But then there followed what most of the watchers had expected, a +division among the victorious allies. Most of these were still half +savage, victims of centuries of barbarity. In their moment of triumph +they turned upon one another, snarling like wild beasts over the spoil. +Bulgaria, the largest, fiercest, and most savage of the little States, +tried to fight Greece and Servia together. She failed, in a strife +quite as bloody as that against Turkey. The neighboring State of +Roumania also took part against the Bulgars. So did the Turks, who, +seeing the helplessness of their late tigerish opponent, began +snatching back the land they had ceded to Bulgaria.[1] The exhausted +Bulgars, defeated upon every side, yielded to their many foes. + +[Footnote 1: See _The Second Balkan War_, page 350.] + +Thus we face to-day a new Balkan Peninsula, consisting of half a dozen +little independent nations, all thoroughly democratic, except Turkey. +And even Turkey, we should remember, has made a long stride toward +Democracy by substituting for the autocracy of the Sultan the +constitutional rule of the "Young Turks," These still retain their +political control, though sorely shaken in power by the calamities +their country has undergone under their brief régime. + +From this semi-barbarity of southeastern Europe, let us turn to note +the more peaceful progress which seemed promising the West. Little +Portugal suddenly declared herself a Republic in 1910.[2] She had been +having much anarchistic trouble before, killing of kings and hurling of +bombs. Now there was a brief, almost bloodless, uprising; and the young +new king fled. Prophets freely predicted that the unpractical and +unpractised Republic could not last. But instead of destroying itself +in petty quarrels, the new government has seemed to grow more able and +assured with each passing year. + +[Footnote 2: See _Portugal Becomes a Republic_, page 28.] + +In Spain also, the party favoring a Republic grew so strong that its +leaders declared openly that they could overturn the monarchy any time +they wished. But they said the time was not ripe, they must wait until +the people had become more educated politically, and had learned more +about self-government, before they ventured to attempt it. Here, +therefore, we have Democracy taking a new and important step. To man's +claim of the right of self-government was subjoined the recognition of +the fact that until he reaches a certain level of intelligence he is +unfit to exercise that right, and with it he is likely to bring himself +more harm than happiness. + +Perhaps even more impressive was the struggle toward Democracy in +England. Here, from the year 1905 onward, a "Liberal" government in +nominal power was opposed at every turn persistently, desperately, +sometimes hysterically, by a "Conservative" opposition. The Liberals, +after years of worsted effort, saw that they could make no possible +progress unless they broke the power of the always Conservative House +of Lords. They accomplished this in 1911 amid the weeping and wailing +of all Britain's aristocracy, who are thoroughly committed to the +doctrine of the mighty teacher, Carlyle, that men should find out their +great leaders and then follow these with reverent obedience. Of course +the doctrine has in the minds of the British aristocracy the very +natural addendum that _they_ are the great leaders.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Fall of the English House of Lords_, page 133.] + +With the power of the nobles thus swept aside, the British Liberals +went on to that long-demanded extension of Democracy, the granting of +Home Rule to Ireland. Here, too, England's Conservatives fought the +Liberals desperately. And here there was a subtler issue to give the +Conservatives justification. The great majority of Irish are of the +Roman Catholic faith, and so would naturally set up a Catholic +government; but a part of northern Ireland is Protestant and bitterly +opposed to Catholic domination. These Protestants, or "Ulsterites," +demanded that if the rest of Ireland got home rule, they must get it +also, and be allowed to rule themselves by a separate Parliament of +their own. The Conservatives accepted this democratic demand as an ally +of their conservative clinging to the "good old laws." They encouraged +the Ulsterites even to the point of open rebellion. But despite every +obstacle, the Liberals continued their efforts until the Home Rule bill +was assured in 1914. + +Let us look now beyond Europe. England deserves credit for the big +forward step taken by her colonies in South Africa. All of these joined +in 1910 in a union intended to be as indissoluble as that of the United +States. Thus to the mighty English-speaking nations developing in a +united Australia and a united Canada, there was now added a third, the +nation of South Africa.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Union of South Africa_, page 17.] + +In Asia, too, there was a most surprising and notable democratic step. +China declared itself a Republic. Considerable fighting preceded this +change, warfare of a character rather vague and purposeless; for China +is so huge that a harmony of understanding among her hundreds of +millions is not easily attained. Yet, on the whole, with surprisingly +little conflict and confusion the change was made. The oldest nation in +the world joined hands with the youngest in adopting this modern form +of "government by the people."[2] The world is still watching, however, +to see whether the Chinese have passed the level of political wisdom +awaited by the Spanish republicans, and can successfully exercise the +dangerous right they have assumed. + +[Footnote 2: See _The Chinese Revolution_, page 238.] + +Turn back, for a moment, to review all the wonderful advance in popular +government these brief five years accomplished: in the United States, a +political revolution with changes of the Constitution and of the +machinery of government; in Britain, similar changes of government even +more radical in the direction of Democracy; two wholly new Republics +added to the list, one being China, the oldest and most populous +country in the world, the other little Portugal, long accounted the +most spiritless and unprogressive nation in Europe; a shift from +autocratic British rule toward democratic home rule through all the +vast region of South Africa; a similar shift in much-troubled Ireland; +Socialism reaching out toward power through all central Europe; Woman +Suffrage taking possession of northern Europe and western America and +striding on from country to country, from state to state; a bloody and +desperate people's revolution in Mexico; and a similar one of the +Balkan peoples against Turkey! Individuals may possibly feel that some +one or other of these steps was reckless, even perhaps that some may +ultimately have to be retraced in the world's progress. But of their +general glorious trend no man can doubt. + +Were there no reactionary movements to warn us of the terrible +reassertion of autocratic power so soon to deluge earth with horror? +Yes, though there were few democratic defeats to measure against the +splendid record of advance. Russia stood, as she has so long stood, the +dragon of repression. In the days of danger from her own people which +had followed the disastrous Japanese war, Russia had courted her +subject nations by granting them every species of favor. Now with her +returning strength she recommenced her unyielding purpose of +"Russianizing" them. Finland was deprived of the last spark of +independence; so that her own chief champions said of her sadly in +1910, "So ends Finland."[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _The Crushing of Finland_, page 47.] + +In southern Russia the persecutions of the Jews were recommenced, with +charges of "ritual murder" and other incitements of the ignorant +peasantry to massacre. In Asia, Russia reached out beyond her actual +territory to strangle the new-found voice of liberty in Persia. Russia +coveted the Persian territory; Persia had established a constitutional +government a few years before; this government, with American help, +seemed likely to grow strong and assured in its independence. So +Russia, in the old medieval lawlessness of power, reached out and +crushed the Persian government.[2] At this open exertion of tyranny the +world looked on, disapproving, but not resisting. England, in +particular, was almost forced into an attitude of partnership with +Russia's crime. But she submitted sooner than precipitate that +universal war the menace of which came so grimly close during the +strain of the outbreaks around Turkey. The millennium of universal +peace and brotherhood was obviously still far away. Not yet could the +burden of fleets and armaments be cast aside; though every crisis thus +overpassed without the "world war" increased our hopes of ultimately +evading its unspeakable horror. + +[Footnote 2: See _Persia's Loss of Liberty_, page 199.] + +MAN'S ADVANCE IN KNOWLEDGE + +Meanwhile, in the calm, enduring realm of scientific knowledge, there +was progress, as there is always progress. + +No matter what man's cruelty to his fellows, he has still his +curiosity. Hence he continues forever gathering more and more facts +explaining his environment. He continues also molding that environment +to his desires. Imagination makes him a magician. + +Most surprising of his recent steps in this exploration of his +surroundings was the attainment of the South Pole in 1911.[1] This came +so swiftly upon the conquest of the North Pole, that it caught the +world unprepared; it was an unexpected triumph. Yet it marks the +closing of an era. Earth's surface has no more secrets concealed from +man. For half a century past, the only remaining spaces of complete +mystery, of utter blankness on our maps, were the two Poles. And now +both have been attained. The gaze of man's insatiable wonderment must +hereafter be turned upon the distant stars. + +[Footnote 1: See _Discovery of the South Pole_, page 218.] + +But man does not merely explore his environment; he alters it. Most +widespread and important of our recent remodelings of our surroundings +has been the universal adoption of the automobile. This machine has so +increased in popularity and in practical utility that we may well call +ours the "Automobile Age." The change is not merely that one form of +vehicle is superseding another on our roads and in our streets. We face +an impressive theme for meditation in the fact that up to the present +generation man was still, as regarded his individual personal transit, +in the same position as the Romans of two thousand years ago, dependent +upon the horse as his swiftest mode of progress. With the automobile we +have suddenly doubled, quadrupled the size of our "neighborhood," the +space which a man may cover alone at will for a ramble or a call. As +for speed, we seem to have succumbed to an actual mania for +ever-increasing motion. The automobile is at present the champion +speed-maker, the fastest means of propelling himself man has yet +invented. But the aeroplane and the hydroplane are not far behind, and +even the electric locomotive has a thrill of promise for the speed +maniac.[2] + +[Footnote 2: See _Man's Fastest Mile_, page 73.] + +In thus developing his mastery over Nature man sometimes forgets his +danger, oversteps the narrow margin of safety he has left between +himself and the baffled forces of his ancient tyrants, Fire and Water, +Earth and Air. Then indeed, in his moments of weakness, the primordial +forces turn upon him and he becomes subject to tragic and terrific +punishment. Of such character was the most prominent disaster of these +years, the sinking of the ocean steamer _Titanic_. The best talent of +England and America had united to produce this monster ship, which was +hailed as the last, the biggest, the most perfect thing man could do in +shipbuilding. It was pronounced "unsinkable." Its captain was reckless +in his confidence; and Nature reached down in menace from the regions +of northern ice; and the ship perished.[1] Since then another great +ship has sunk, under almost similar conditions, and with almost equal +loss of life. + +[Footnote 1: See _Tragedy of the Titanic_, page 265.] + +Oddly enough at the very moment when we have thus had reimpressed upon +us the uncertainty of our outward mechanical defenses against the +elements, we have been making a curious addition to our knowledge of +inner means of defense. The science of medicine has taken several +impressive strides in recent years, but none more suggestive of future +possibilities of prolonging human life than the recent work done in +preserving man's internal organs and tissues to a life of their own +outside the body.[2] Already it is possible to transfer healthy tissues +thus preserved, or even some of the simpler organs, from one body to +another. Men begin to talk of the probability of rejuvenating the +entire physical form. Thus science may yet bring us to encounter as +actual fact the deep philosophic thought of old, the thought that +regards man as merely a will and a brain, and the body as but the +outward clothing of these, mere drapery, capable of being changed as +the spirit wills. There is no visible limit to this wondrous drama in +which man's patient mastering of his immediate environment is gradually +teaching him to mold to his purpose all the potent forces of the +universe. + +[Footnote 2: See _Our Progressing Knowledge of Life Surgery_, page +273.] + +In this assurance of ultimate success, let us find such consolation as +we may. Though world-war may continue its devastation, though its +increasing horrors may shake our civilization to the deepest depths, +though its wanton destruction may rob us of the hoarded wealth of +generations and the art treasures of all the past, though its beastlike +massacres may reduce the number of men fitted to bear onward the torch +of progress until of their millions only a mere pitiable handful +survive, yet the steps which science has already won cannot be lost. +Knowledge survives; and a happier generation than ours standing some +day secure against the monster of militarism shall continue to uplift +man's understanding till he dwells habitually on heights as yet +undreamed. + + + + +THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF GOVERNORS + +A NEW MACHINERY ADDED TO THE FEDERAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT + +A.D. 1910 + +WILLIAM G. JORDAN + +THE GOVERNORS + +The formal establishment of the "House of Governors," which took place +in January of 1910, marked the climax of a definite movement which has +swept onward through the entire history of the United States. + +When in 1775 the thirteen American colonies made their first effort +toward united action, they were in truth thirteen different nations, +each possessed of differing traditions and a separate history, and each +suspicious and jealous of all the others. Their widely diverging +interests made concerted action almost impossible during the +Revolutionary War. And when necessity ultimately drove them to join in +the close bond of the present United States, their constitution was +planned less for union than for the protection of each suspicious State +against the aggressions of the others. + +Gradually the spread of intercourse among the States has worn away +their more marked differential points of character and purpose. Step by +step the course of history has forced our people into closer harmony +and union. To-day the forty-eight States look to one another in true +brotherhood. And as the final bond of that brotherhood they have +established a new organization, the House of Governors. This +constitutes the only definite change made in the United States +machinery of government since the beginning. + +The House of Governors sprang first from the suggestion of William +George Jordan, who was afterward appropriately selected as its +permanent secretary. Hence we give here Mr. Jordan's own account of the +movement, as being its clearest possible elucidation. Then we give a +series of brief estimates of the importance of the new step from the +pens of those Governors who themselves took part in the gathering. In +their ringing utterances you hear the voice of North and South, +Illinois and Florida, of East and West, Massachusetts and Oregon, and +of the great central Mississippi Valley, all announcing the +fraternizing influence of the new step. + +Governor Willson, of Kentucky, chairman of the committee which arranged +the gathering, in an earnest speech to its members declared that, "If +this conference of Governors had been in existence as an institution in +1860, there would never have been a war between the States. The issues +of the day would have been settled by argument, adjustment, and +compromise." It would be hard to find stronger words for measuring the +possible importance of the new institution. + +WILLIAM G. JORDAN + +The conference of the Governors at Washington this month marks the +beginning of a new epoch in the political history of the nation. It is +the first meeting ever held of the State Executives as a body seeking, +by their united influence, to secure uniform laws on vital subjects for +the welfare of the entire country. It should not be confused with the +Roosevelt conferences of May and December, 1908. It is in no sense a +continuation of them. It is essentially different in aim, method, and +basis, and is larger, broader, and more far-reaching in its +possibilities. + +The nation to-day is facing a grave crisis in its history. Vital +problems affecting the welfare of the whole country, remaining unsolved +through the years, have at last reached an acute stage where they +_demand_ solution. This solution must come now in some form--either in +harmony with the Constitution or in defiance of it. The Federal +Government has been and still is absolutely powerless to act because of +constitutional limitation; the State governments have the sole power, +but heretofore no way has been provided for them to exercise that +power. + +Senator Elihu Root points out fairly, squarely, and relentlessly the +two great dangers confronting the Republic: the danger of the National +Government breaking down in its effective machinery through the burdens +that threaten to be cast upon it; and the danger that the local +self-government of the States may, through disuse, become inefficient. +The House of Governors plan seems to have in it possibilities of +mastering both of these evils at one stroke. + +There are three basic weaknesses in the American system of government +as we know it to-day. There are three insidious evils that are creeping +like a blood-poison through the body politic, threatening the very life +of the Republic. They are killing the soul of self-government, though +perhaps not its form; destroying its essence, though perhaps not its +name. + +These three evils, so intertwined as to be practically one, are: the +growing centralization at Washington, the shifting, undignified, +uncertain status of State rights, and the lack of uniform laws. + +It was to propose a possible cure for these three evils that the writer +sent in February, 1907, to President Roosevelt and to the Governors of +the country a pamphlet on a new idea in American politics. It was the +institution of a new House, a new representation of the people and of +the States to secure uniform legislation on those questions wherein the +Federal Governments could not act because of Constitutional limitation. +The plan proposed, so simple that it would require no Constitutional +amendment to put it into effect, was the organization of the House of +Governors. + +More than thirty Governors responded in cordial approval of the plan. +Eight months later, October, 1907, President Roosevelt invited the +State Executives to a conference at Washington in May, 1908. The writer +pointed out at that time what seemed an intrinsic weakness of the +convention, that it could have little practical result, because it +would be, after all, only a conference, where the Federal Government, +by its limitations, was powerless to carry the findings of the +conference into effect, and the Governors, acting not as a co-operative +body, but as individuals, would be equally powerless in effecting +uniform legislation. It was a conference of conflicting powers. + +The Governors were then urged to meet upon their own initiative, as a +body of peers, working out by united State action those problems where +United States action had for more than a century proved powerless. At +the close of the Roosevelt conference the Governors, at an adjourned +meeting, appointed a committee to arrange time and place for a session +of the Governors in a body of their own, independently of the +President. This movement differentiated the proposed meeting absolutely +from that with the President in every fundamental. It essentially +became more than a conference; it meant a deliberative body of the +Governors uniting to initiate, to inspire, and to influence uniform +laws. The committee then named, consisting of three members, later +increased to five, set the dates January 18, 19, and 20, 1910, for the +first session of the Governors as a separate body. + +WILLIAM G. JORDAN[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reproduced from _The Craftsman_ of October, 1910, by +permission of Gustav Stickley.] + +When a new idea or a new institution confronts the world it must answer +all challenges, show its credentials, specify its claims for +usefulness, and prove its promise by its performance. As an idea the +House of Governors has won the cordial approval of the American press +and public; as an institution it must now justify this confidence. To +grasp fully its powers and possibilities requires a clear, definite +understanding of its spirit, scope, plan, and purpose, and its attitude +toward the Federal Government. + +The House of Governors is a union of the Governors of all the States, +meeting annually in conference as a deliberative body (with no +lawmaking power) for initiative, influence, and inspiration toward a +better, higher, and more unified Statehood. Its organization will be +simple and practical, avoiding red-tape, unnecessary formality, and +elaborate rules and regulations. It will adopt the few fundamental +expressions of its principles of action and the least number of rules +that are absolutely essential to enunciate its plan and scope, to +transmute its united wisdom into united action and to guarantee the +coherence, continuity, and permanence of the organization despite the +frequent changes in its membership due to the short terms of the +Executives in many of the States. + +With the House of Governors rests the power of securing through the +cooperative action of the State legislatures uniform laws on vital +questions demanded by the whole country almost since the dawn of our +history, but heretofore impossible of enactment. The Federal Government +is powerless to pass these laws. For many decades, tight held by the +cramping bonds of Constitutional limitation, it has strained and +struggled, like Samson in the temple, to find some weak spot at which +it could free itself, and endangered the very supporting columns of the +edifice of the Republic. It was bound in its lawmaking powers to the +limitation of eighteen specific phrases, beyond which all power +remained with the States and the people. In the matter of enacting +uniform laws the States have been equally powerless, for, though their +Constitutional right to make them was absolute and unquestioned, no way +had been provided by which they could exercise that right. The States +as individuals, passing their own laws, without considering their +relation or harmony with the laws of other States, brought about a +condition of confusion and conflict. Laws that from their very nature +should be common to all of the States, in the best interests of all, +are now divergent, different, and antagonistic. We have to-day the +strange anomaly of forty-six States united in a union as integral parts +of a single nation, yet having many laws of fundamental importance as +different as though the States were forty-six distinct countries or +nationalities. + +Facing the duality of incapacity--that of the Government because it was +not permitted to act and the States because they did not know how to +exercise the power they possessed--the Federal Government sought new +power for new needs through Constitutional amendments. This effort +proved fruitless and despairing, for with more than two thousand +attempts made in over a century only three amendments were secured, and +these were merely to wind up the Civil War. The whole fifteen +amendments taken together have not added the weight of a hair of +permanent new power to the Federal Government. The people and the +States often sleep serenely on their rights, but they never willingly +surrender them, yet the surrender of a right is often the brave +recognition of a higher duty, the fine assumption of a higher +privilege. In many phases the need grew urgent, something had to be +done. By ingeniously tapping the Constitution to find a weak place and +hammering it thin by decisions, by interpretations, by liberal +readings, by technical evasions and other methods, needed laws were +passed in the interests of the people and the States. Many of these +laws would not stand the rigid scrutiny of the Supreme Court; to many +of them the Government's title may now be valid by a kind of +"squatter's sovereignty" in legislation,--merely so many years of +undisputed possession. + +This was not the work of one administration; it ran with intermittent +ebb and flow through many administrations. Then the slumbering States, +turning restlessly in their complacency, at last awoke and raised a +mighty cry of "Centralization." They claimed that the Government was +taking away their rights, which may be correct in essence but hardly +just in form; they had lost their rights, primarily, not through +usurpation but through abrogation; the Government had acted because of +the default of the States, it had practically been forced to exercise +powers limited to the States because the States lapsed through neglect +and inaction. Then the Government discovered the vulnerable spot in our +great charter, the Achilles heel of the Constitution. It was just six +innocent-looking words in section eight empowering Congress to +"regulate commerce between the several States." It was a rubber phrase, +capable of infinite stretching. It was drawn out so as to cover +antitrust legislation, control and taxation of corporations, +water-power, railroad rates, etc., pure-food law, white-slave traffic, +and a host of others. But even with the most generous extension of this +phrase, which, though it may be necessary, was surely not the original +intent of the Constitution, the greatest number of the big problems +affecting the welfare of the people are still outside the province of +the Government and are up to the States for solution. + +It was to meet this situation, wherein the Government and the States as +individuals could not act, that the simple, self-evident plan of the +House of Governors was proposed. It required no Constitutional +amendment or a single new law passed in any State to create it or to +continue it. It can not make laws; it would be unwise for it to make +them even were it possible. Its sole power is as a mighty moral +influence, as a focusing point for public opinion and as a body equal +to its opportunity of transforming public opinion into public sentiment +and inspiring legislatures to crystallize this sentiment into needed +laws. It will live only as it represents the people, as it has their +sympathy, support, and cooperation, as it seeks to make the will of the +people prevail. But this means a longer, stronger, finer life than any +mere legal authority could give it. + +The House of Governors has the dignity of simplicity. It means merely +the conference of the State Executives, the highest officers and truest +representatives of the States, on problems that are State and +Interstate, and concerted action in recommendations to their +legislatures. The fullest freedom would prevail at all meetings; no +majority vote would control the minority; there would have to be a +quorum decided upon as the number requisite for an initial impulse +toward uniform legislation. If the number approving fell below the +quorum the subject would be shown as not yet ripe for action and be +shelved. Members would be absolutely free to accept or reject, to do +exactly as they please, so no unwilling legislation could be forced on +any State. But if a sufficient number agreed these Governors would +recommend the passage of the desired law to their legislatures in their +next messages. The united effort would give it a greater importance, a +larger dynamic force, and a stronger moral influence with each. It +would be backed by the influence of the Governors, the power of public +sentiment, the leverage of the press, so that the passage of the law +should come easily and naturally. With a few States passing it, others +would fall in line; it would be kept a live issue and followed up and +in a few years we would have legislation national in scope, but not in +genesis. + +The House of Governors, in its attitude toward the Federal Government, +is one of right and dignified non-interference. It will not use its +influence with the Government, memorialize Congress, or pass +resolutions on national matters. What the Governors do or say +individually is, of course, their right and privilege, but as a body it +took its stand squarely and positively at its first conference which +met in Washington in January of this year as one of "securing greater +uniformity of State action and better State Government." Governor +Hughes expressed it in these words: "We are here in our own right as +State Executives; we are not here to accelerate or to develop opinion +with regard to matters which have been committed to Federal power." The +States in their relation to the Federal Government have all needed +representation in their Senators and Congressmen. + +The attitude of the Governors in their conferences is one of +concentration on State and Interstate problems which are outside of the +domain and Constitutional rights of the Federal Government to solve. +There can be no interference when each confines itself to its own +duties. In keeping the time of the nation the Federal Government +represents the hour-hand, the States, united, the minute-hand. There +will be correct time only as each hand confines itself strictly to its +own business, neither attempting to jog the other, but working in +accord with the natural harmony wrapped up in the mechanism. + +We need to-day to draw the sharpest clear-cut line of demarcation +between Federal and State powers. This is in no spirit of antagonism, +but in the truest harmony for the best interests of both. It means an +illumination which will show that the "twilight zone," so called, does +not exist. This dark continent of legislation belongs absolutely to the +States and to the people in the unmistakable terms of the Tenth +Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the +Constitution or prohibited by it to the States are reserved to the +States, respectively, and to the people." This buffer territory of +legislation, the domain of needed uniform laws, belongs to the States +and through the House of Governors they may enter in and possess their +own. The Federal Government and the States are parts of one great +organization, each having its specific duties, powers, and +responsibilities, and between them should be no conflict, no inharmony. + +Let the Federal Government, through Congress, make laws up to the very +maximum of its rights and duties under the Constitution; let the +States, taking up their neglected duties and privileges, relieve the +Government of those cares and responsibilities forced upon it by the +inactivity of the States and which it should never have had to assume. +With the burden thus equitably readjusted, with the dignity of the two +powers of Government working out their individual problems in the +harmony of a fuller understanding, let us face the results. If it then +seem, in the light of changed conditions from those of the time of the +writing of the Constitution, that certain control now held by the +States can not properly be exercised by them, that in final decision of +the best wisdom of the people this power should be vested in the +Federal Government, let the States not churlishly hold on to the casket +of a dead right, but surrender the living body of a responsibility and +a duty to the power best able to be its guardian. There are few, if +any, of their neglected powers of legislation that the States and the +people acting in cooperation, through the House of Governors, will not +be able to handle. + +Some of the subjects upon which free discussion tending toward uniform +laws seems desirable are: marriage and divorce, rights of married +women, corporations and trusts, insurance, child labor, capital +punishment, direct primaries, convict labor and labor in general, +prison reforms, automobile regulations, contracts, banking, +conveyancing, inheritance tax, income tax, mortgages, initiative, +referendum and recall, election reforms, tax adjustment, and similar +topics. In great questions, like Conservation, the Federal Government +has distinct problems it must carry out alone; there are some problems +that must be solved by the States alone, some that may require to be +worked out in cooperation. But the greatest part of the needed +conservation is that which belongs to the States, and which they can +manage better, more thoroughly, more judiciously, with stronger appeal +to State pride, upbuilding, and prosperity, with less conflict and +clearer recognition of local needs and conditions and harmony with them +than can the Federal Government. Four-fifths of the timber standing in +the country to-day is owned, not by the States or the Government, but +by private interests. + +The House of Governors will not seek uniformity merely for the sake of +uniformity. There are many questions whereon uniform laws would be +unnecessary, and others where it would be not only unwise, but +inconceivably foolish. Many States have purely individual problems that +do not concern the other States and do not come in conflict with them, +but even in these the Governors may gain an occasional incidental +sidelight of illumination from the informal discussion in a conference +that may make thinking clearer and action wiser. The spirit that should +inspire the States is the fullest freedom in purely State problems and +the largest unity in laws that affect important questions in Interstate +relations. + +While uniform law is an important element in the thought of the +Conference it is far from being the only one. The frank, easy +interchange of view, opinion, and experience brings the Governors +closely together in the fine fellowship of a common purpose and a +common ideal. They are broadened, stimulated, and inspired to a keener, +clearer vision on a wider outlook. The most significant, vital, and +inspiring phases of these conferences, those which really count for +most, and are the strongest guaranties of the permanence and power of +this movement, must, however, remain intangible. This fact was manifest +in every moment of that first Conference last January. + +The fading of sectional prejudice in the glow of sympathetic +understanding was clearly evident. Some of the Western Governors in +their speeches said that their people of the West had felt that they +were isolated, misrepresented, misunderstood, and misjudged; but now +these Governors could go back to their States and their people with +messages of good will and tell them of the identity of interest, the +communion of purpose, the kinship of common citizenship, and the closer +knowledge that bound them more firmly to the East, to the South, and to +the North. Other Governors spoke of the facilitating of official +business between the States because of these meetings. They would no +longer, in correspondence, write to a State Executive as a mere name +without personality, but their letters would carry with them the +memories of close contact and cordial association with those whom they +had learned to know. There was no faintest tinge of State jealousies or +rivalry. The Governors talked frankly, freely, earnestly of their +States and for them, but it was ever with the honest pride of +trusteeship, never the petty vanity of proprietorship. + +Patriotism seemed to throw down the walls of political party and +partizanship and in the three days' session the words Republican or +Democrat were never once spoken. The Governors showed themselves an +able body of men keenly alive to the importance of their work and with +a firm grasp on the essential issues. The meeting added a new dignity +to Statehood and furnished a new revelation of the power, prestige, and +possibilities of the Governor's office. The atmosphere of the session +was that of States' rights, but it was a new States' rights, a +purified, finer, higher recognition by the States of their individual +right and duty of self-government within their Constitutional +limitations. It meant no lessening of interest in the Federal +Government or of respect and honor of it. It was as a family of sons +growing closer together, strengthened as individuals and working to +solve those problems they have in common, and to make their own way +rather than to depend in weakness on the father of the household to +manage all their affairs and do their thinking for them. To him should +be left the watchfulness of the family as a whole, not the dictation of +their individual living. + +President Taft had no part in the Conference, but in an address of +welcome to the Governors at the White House showed his realization of +the vital possibility of the meeting in these words: + +"I regard this movement as of the utmost importance. The Federal +Constitution has stood the test of more than one hundred years in +supplying the powers that have been needed to make the central +Government as strong as it ought to be, and with this movement toward +uniform legislation and agreement between the States I do not see why +the Constitution may not serve our purpose always." + +AUGUSTUS E. WILLSON[1] + +Governor of Kentucky + +[Footnote 1: The following letters are reprinted by permission from a +collection of such commentaries from _Cottier's Weekly_.] + +President Roosevelt held two conferences of Governors, and as a member +of a committee chosen to do so, I have invited the Governors of all of +the States and Territories to meet at the White House in Washington, +January 18th, 19th, and 20th. + +The conference has no legal authority of any kind. At the previous +conferences, the conservation subject was the one chiefly thought of, +and it will be brought up in the next conference. The question of what +the Governors will recommend on the income-tax constitutional amendment +may come up. The matter of handling extradition papers is important. +Uniform State laws on matters of universal interest, school laws, road +laws, tax laws, commercial paper, warehouse receipts, bills of lading, +etc.; the control of corporations, of which taxation is one branch, the +action of the States in regard to water-powers within the States; +marriage, divorce, wills, schools, roads, are all within the range of +this conference, and the agreement of all of the Governors on some of +these subjects, and by many of them on any, would be of useful +influence. + +The meeting has further interest and importance in being for two days +in touch with the National Civic Federation, which will afford all of +the Governors a chance to learn what that association of many of the +most prominent men of this country is doing, and get the benefit of its +discussions and the pleasure of being acquainted with many leaders of +thought and action in the country, who will attend its sessions. + +I am sure that I speak the sentiment of all of the Governors that they +do not wish any legal power or any authority except that of the weight +of their opinion as chosen State officers. They only wish the benefit +of discussion of important subjects interesting to all of the States, +and to establish kindly and mutually helpful relations between the +Governors and the Governments of the States. + +EBEN S. DRAPER + +Governor of Massachusetts + +I believe that a meeting of Governors may accomplish much good for +every section of the country. They naturally can not legislate, nor +should they attempt to. They can discuss and can learn many things +which are now controlled by law in different States and which would be +improvements to the laws of their own States; and they can recommend to +the legislatures of their own States the enactment of laws which will +bring about these improvements. + +These Governors will be the forty-six [now forty-eight] representative +units of the States of this great nation. By coming together they will +be more than ever convinced that they are integral parts of one nation, +and I believe their meeting will tend to remove all notions of +sectionalism and will help the patriotism and solidarity of the +country. + +CHARLES S. DENEEN + +Governor of Illinois + +The conservation of natural resources often necessitates the +cooperation of neighboring States. In such cases, the discussion of +proposed conservation work by the representatives of the States +concerned is of great importance. It brings to the consideration of +these subjects the views and opinions of those most interested and best +informed in regard to the questions involved. + +The same is true in relation to many subjects of State legislation in +which uniformity is desirable. This is especially the case with regard +to industrial legislation. The great volume of domestic business is +interstate, and the industrial legislation of one State frequently +affects, and sometimes fixes, industrial conditions elsewhere. An +example of the advantage of cooperation of States in the amendment and +revision of laws affecting industry is seen in the agreement by the +commissions recently appointed by New York, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to +investigate the subjects of employers' liability and workmen's +compensation to meet for the joint discussion of these matters. The +General Assembly of Illinois is now convened in extraordinary session, +and has under consideration the appointment of a similar commission in +order that it may meet and cooperate with the commissions of the States +named. + +Along these and other similar lines it seems to me that the House of +Governors will be of practical advantage in the beneficial influence it +will exert in the promotion of joint action where that is necessary to +secure desired ends. + +FRANK W. BENSON Governor of Oregon + +President Roosevelt rendered the American people a great service when +he invited the Governors of the various States to a conference at the +White House in 1908. The subject of conservation of our natural +resources received such attention from the assembled Governors that the +conservation movement has spread to all parts of the country, and has +gained such headway that it will be of lasting benefit to our people. +This one circumstance alone proves the wisdom of the conference of +Governors, and it is my earnest hope that the organization be made +permanent, with annual meetings at our national capital. + +Such meetings can not help but have a broadening effect upon our State +Executives, for, by interchanging ideas and by learning how the +governments of other States are conducted, our Governors will gain +experience which ought to prove of great benefit, not only to +themselves, but to the commonwealths which they represent. Matters +pertaining to interstate relations, taxation, education, conservation, +irrigation, waterways, uniform legislation, and the management of State +institutions are among the subjects that the conference of Governors +will do well to discuss; and such discussions will prove of inestimable +value, not only to the people of our different States, but to our +country as a whole. + +The West is in the front rank of all progressive movements and welcomes +the conference of Governors as a step in the right direction. + +ALBERT W. GILCHRIST + +Governor of Florida + +I can only estimate the significance and importance of this conference +of Governors by my experience from such a conference in the past. It +was my good fortune to be for a week last October on the steamer +excursion down the Mississippi River. The Governors held daily +conferences. Several elucidated the manner in which some particular +governmental problems were solved in their respective States, all of +which was more or less interesting. Of the several Federal matters +discussed, it was specially interesting to me to hear the various +Republican Governors discussing State rights, disputing the right of +interference of the General Government on such lines. It "kinder" made +me smile. In formal discussions of such matters in public, in +Washington, it is probable that such expressions would not be made. + +The result of this conference made me feel as if I knew the Governors +and the people of the various States therein represented far better +than I had before. Such discussions, with the attending personal +intercourse, naturally tend to give those participating in them a +broader nationality. + +The House of Governors will convene; there will be many pleasant social +functions and many pleasant associations will be formed. Some of the +Governors will speak; all of them will resolute. They will behold +evidences of the greatness of our common country and the evidence of +the greatness of our public men, as displayed in the rollicking debates +in the House, and the "knot on the log" discussions of the Senate. +Everything will be as lovely as a Christmas tree. The House will then +adjourn. + +HERBERT S. HADLEY + +Governor of Missouri + +During recent years, the development of the National idea has carried +with it a marked tendency on the part of the people to look to the +National Government for the correction of all evils and abuses existing +in commercial, industrial, and political affairs. The importance of the +State Governments in the solution of such questions has been minimized, +and, in some cases, entirely overlooked, although Congress has been +behind, rather than in advance of, public sentiment upon many questions +of national importance. The Congressmen are elected by the people of +the different Congressional Districts, and regard their most important +duty as looking after the interests of their respective districts. The +United States Senators are elected by the legislatures of the several +States, and do not feel that sense of responsibility to the people that +is incident to an election by the people. The Governors of the various +States are elected by all of the people of the State, and they are more +directly "tribunes of the people" than any other officials, either in +our National or State Governments. These officers will thus give a +correct expression of the sentiment of the people of the States upon +public questions. + +While these expressions of opinion will naturally vary according to the +sentiments and opinions of the people of the various States +represented, yet, on the whole, they will represent more of progress +and more of actual contact with present-day problems than could be +secured from any similar number of public officials. And the addresses +and discussions will also tend to mold the opinions of the people and +have a marked influence not only upon State, but also upon National +legislation. + + + + +UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA A.D. 1910 + +PROF. STEPHEN LEACOCK + +Few historical events have been so impressive as the sudden and +complete union of the South-African States. Seldom have men's minds +progressed so rapidly, their life purposes changed so completely. In +1902 England, with the aid of her African colonists in Cape Colony and +Natal, was ending a bitter war, almost of extermination, against the +Dutch "Boers" of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. In that year +the ablest and most dreaded of England's enemies in Africa was the +Dutch General, Louis Botha, leader of the fiercest and most +irreconcilable Boers, who still waged a hopeless guerrilla warfare +against all the might of the British Empire. As one English paper +dramatically phrases it: "One used to see pictures of Botha in the +illustrated papers in those days, a gaunt, bearded, formidable figure, +with rifle and bandoliers--the most dangerous of our foes. To-day he is +the chief servant of the King in the Federation, the loyal head of the +Administration under the Crown, one of the half-dozen Prime Ministers +of the Empire, the responsible representative and virtual ruler of all +races, classes, and sects in South Africa, acclaimed by the men he led +in the battle and the rout no less than by the men who faced him across +the muzzles of the Mausers ten years ago. Was ever so strange a +transformation, so swift an oblivion of old enmities and rancors, so +rapid a growth of union and concord out of hatred and strife!" + +Necessity has in a way compelled this harmony. The old issue of Boer +independence being dead, new and equally vital issues confronted the +South-Africans. The whites there are scarcely more than a million in +number, and they dwell amid many times their number of savage blacks. +They must unite or perish. Moreover, the folly and expense of +maintaining four separate governments for so small a population were +obvious. So was the need of uniform tariffs in a land where all +sea-coast towns found their prosperity in forwarding supplies to the +rich central mining regions of Kimberley and Johannesburg. Hence all +earnest men of whatever previous opinion came to see the need of union. +And when this union had been accomplished, Lord Gladstone, the British +viceroy over South Africa, wisely selected as the fittest man for the +land's first Prime Minister, General Botha. Botha has sought to unite +all interests in the cabinet which he gathered around him. + +The clear analysis of the new nation and its situation which follows is +reproduced by permission from the _American Political Science Review_, +and is from the pen of Professor Stephen Leacock, head of the +department of Political Economy of McGill University in Montreal, +Canada. A distinguished citizen of one great British federation may +well be accepted as the ablest commentator on the foundation of +another. + +On May 31, 1910, the Union of South Africa became an accomplished fact. +The four provinces of Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange Free State (which +bears again its old-time name), and the Transvaal are henceforth +joined, one might almost say amalgamated, under a single government. +They will bear to the central government of the British Empire the same +relation as the other self-governing colonies--Canada, Newfoundland, +Australia, and New Zealand. The Empire will thus assume the appearance +of a central nucleus with four outlying parts corresponding to +geographical and racial divisions, and forming in all a ground-plan +that seems to invite a renewal of the efforts of the Imperial +Federationist. To the scientific student of government the Union of +South Africa is chiefly of interest for the sharp contrast it offers to +the federal structure of the American, Canadian, and other systems of +similar historical ground. It represents a reversion from the idea of +State rights, and balanced indestructible powers and an attempt at +organic union by which the constituent parts are to be more and more +merged in the consolidated political unit which they combine to form. + +But the Union and its making are of great interest also for the general +student of politics and history, concerned rather with the development +of a nationality than with the niceties of constitutional law. From +this point of view the Union comes as the close of a century of strife, +as the aftermath of a great war, and indicates the consummation, for +the first time in history, of what appears as a solid basis of harmony +between the two races in South Africa. In one shape or other union has +always been the goal of South-African aspiration. It was "Union" which +the "prancing proconsuls" of an earlier time--the Freres, the +Shepstones, and the Lanyons--tried to force upon the Dutch. A united +Africa was at once the dream of a Rhodes and (perhaps) the ambition of +a Kruger. It is necessary to appreciate the strength of this desire for +union on the part of both races and the intense South-African +patriotism in which it rests in order to understand how the different +sections and races of a country so recently locked in the +death-struggle of a three years' war could be brought so rapidly into +harmonious concert. + +The point is well illustrated by looking at the composition of the +convention, which, in its sessions at Durban, Cape Town, and +Bloemfontein, put together the present constitution. South Africa, from +its troubled history, has proved itself a land of strong men. But it +was reserved for the recent convention to bring together within the +compass of a single council-room the surviving leaders of the period of +conflict to work together for the making of a united state. In looking +over the list of them and reflecting on the part that they played +toward one another in the past, one realizes that we have here a grim +irony of history. Among them is General Louis Botha, Prime Minister at +the moment of the Transvaal, and now the first prime minister of South +Africa. Botha, in the days of Generals Buller and the Dugela, was the +hardest fighter of the Boer Republic. Beside him in the convention was +Dr. Jameson, whom Botha wanted to hang after the raid in 1896. Another +member is Sir George Farrar, who was sentenced to death for complicity +in the raid, and still another, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, once the +secretary of the Reform League at Johannesburg and well known as the +author of the "Transvaal from Within." One may mention in contrast +General Jan Smuts, an ex-leader of the Boer forces, and since the war +the organizing brain of the Het Volk party. There is also Mr. Merriman, +a leader of the British party of opposition to the war in 1899 and +since then a bitter enemy of Lord Milner and the new regime. + +Yet strangely enough after some four months of session the convention +accomplished the impossible by framing a constitution that met the +approval of the united delegates. Of its proceedings no official +journal was kept. The convention met first at Durban, October 12, 1908, +where it remained throughout that month; after a fortnight's interval +it met again at Capetown, and with a three weeks' interruption at +Christmas continued and completed its work at the end of the first week +of February. The constitution was then laid before the different +colonial parliaments. In the Transvaal its acceptance was a matter of +course, as the delegates of both parties had reached an agreement on +its terms. The Cape Parliament passed amendments which involved giving +up the scheme of proportional representation as adopted by the +convention. Similar amendments were offered by the Orange River Colony +in which the Dutch leader sympathized with the leader of the +Afrikanderbond at the Cape in desiring to swamp out, rather than +represent, minorities. In Natal, which as an ultra-British and +ultra-loyal colony, was generally supposed to be in fear of union, many +amendments were offered. The convention then met again at Bloemfontein, +made certain changes in the draft of the constitution, and again +submitted the document to the colonies. This time it was accepted. Only +in Natal was it thought necessary to take a popular vote, and here, +contrary to expectation, the people voted heavily in favor of union. +The logic of the situation compelled it. In the history of the movement +Natal was cast for the same role as Rhode Island in the making of the +Federal Union of the United States of America. The other colonies, once +brought together into a single system, with power to adopt arrangements +in their own interests in regard to customs duties and transportation +rates, sheer economic pressure would have compelled the adhesion of +Natal. In the constitution now put in force in South Africa the central +point of importance is that it established what is practically a +unitary and not a federal government. The underlying reason for this is +found in the economic circumstances of the country and in the situation +in which the provinces found themselves during the years after the war. +Till that event the discord of South Africa was generally thought of +rather as a matter of racial rivalry and conflicting sovereignties than +of simple questions of economic and material interests. + +But after the conclusion of the compact of Vereiniging in 1902 it was +found that many of the jealousies and difficulties of the respective +communities had survived the war, and rested rather upon economic +considerations than racial rivalries. + +To begin with, there was the question of customs relations. The +colonies were separate units, each jealous of its own industrial +prosperity. Each had the right to make its own tariff, and yet the +division of the country, with four different tariff areas, was +obviously to its general disadvantage. Since 1903 the provinces had +been held together under the Customs Union of South Africa--made by the +governments of the Cape and Natal and the Crown Colony governments of +the conquered provinces. This was but a makeshift arrangement, with a +common tariff made by treaty, and hence rigidly unalterable, and with a +pro-rata division of the proceeds. + +Worse still was the railroad problem, which has been in South Africa a +bone of contention ever since the opening of the mines of the Rand +offered a rich prize to any port and railway that could capture the +transit trade. + +The essence of the situation is simple. The center of the wealth of +South Africa is the Johannesburg mines. This may not be forever the +case, but in the present undeveloped state of agriculture and +industrial life, Johannesburg is the dominating factor of the country. + +Now, Johannesburg can not feed and supply itself. It is too busy. Its +one export is gold. Its quarter of a million people must be supplied +from the outside. But the Transvaal is an inland country dependent on +the seaports of other communities. In position Johannesburg is like the +hub of a wheel from which the railways radiate as spokes to the +seaports along the rim. The line from Cape Town to Johannesburg, a +distance of over 700 miles, was the first completed, and until 1894 the +Cape enjoyed a monopoly of carrying the whole trade of Johannesburg. +But with the completion of the tunnel through the mountains at Laing's +Nek the Natal government railway was able to connect with Johannesburg +and the port of Durban entered into competition with the Cape Ports of +Cape Town and East London over a line only 485 miles long. + +Finally, the opening of the Delagoa Bay Railway in 1894 supplied +Johannesburg with an access to the sea over a line 396 miles long, of +which 341 was in the Transvaal itself. This last line, it should be +noticed, led to a Portuguese seaport, and at the time of its building +traversed nowhere British territory. Hence it came about that in the +all-important matter of railroad communication the interests of the +Transvaal and of the seaboard colonies were diametrically opposed. + +To earn as large a revenue as possible it naturally adjusted the rates +on its lines so as to penalize the freight from the colonies and favor +the Delagoa Bay road. When the colonies tried in 1895 to haul freight +by ox-team from their rail-head at the frontier to Johannesburg +President Kruger "closed the drifts" and almost precipitated a conflict +in arms. Since the war the same situation has persisted, aggravated by +the completion of the harbor works and docks at Lorenzo Marques, which +favors more than ever the Delagoa route. The Portuguese seaport at +present receives some 67 per cent, of the traffic from the Rand, while +the Cape ports, which in 1894 had 80 per cent, of the freight, now +receive only n per cent. + +Under Lord Milner's government the unification of the railways of the +Transvaal and the Orange River colony with the Central South-African +Railways amalgamated the interests of the inland colonies, but left +them still opposed to those of the seaboard. The impossibility of +harmonizing the situation under existing political conditions has been +one of the most potent forces in creating a united government which +alone could deal with the question. + +An equally important factor has been the standing problem of the native +races, which forms the background of South-African politics. In no +civilized country is this question of such urgency. South Africa, with +a white population of only 1,133,000 people, contains nearly 7,000,000 +native and colored inhabitants, many of them, such as the Zulus and the +Basutos, fierce, warlike tribes scarcely affected by European +civilization, and wanting only arms and organization to offer a grave +menace to the welfare of the white population. The Zulus, numbering a +million, inhabiting a country of swamp and jungle impenetrable to +European troops, have not forgotten the prowess of a Cetewayo and the +victory of Isandhwana. + +It may well be that some day they will try the fortune of one more +general revolt before accepting the permanent over-lordship of their +conquerors. Natal lives in apprehension of such a day. Throughout all +South Africa, among both British and Dutch, there is a feeling that +Great Britain knows nothing of the native question. + +The British people see the native through the softly tinted spectacles +of Exeter Hall. When they have given him a Bible and a breech-cloth +they fondly fancy that he has become one of themselves, and urge that +he shall enter upon his political rights. They do not know that to a +savage, or a half-civilized black, a ballot-box and a voting-paper are +about as comprehensible as a telescope or a pocket camera--it is just a +part of the white man's magic, containing some particular kind of devil +of its own. The South-Africans think that they understand the native. +And the first tenet of their gospel is that he must be kept in his +place. They have seen the hideous tortures and mutilations inflicted in +every native war. If the native revolts they mean to shoot him into +marmalade with machine guns. Such is their simple creed. And in this +matter they want nothing of what Mr. Merriman recently called the +"damnable interference" of the mother country. But to handle the native +question there had to be created a single South-African Government +competent to deal with it. + +The constitution creates for South Africa a union entirely different +from that of the provinces of Canada or the States of the American +Republic. The government is not federal, but unitary. The provinces +become areas of local governments, with local elected councils to +administer them, but the South-African Parliament reigns supreme. It is +to know nothing of the nice division of jurisdiction set up by the +American constitution and by the British North America Act. There are, +of course, limits to its power. In the strict sense of legal theory, +the omnipotence of the British Parliament, as in the case of Canada, +remains unimpaired. Nor can it alter certain things,--for example, the +native franchise of the Cape, and the equal status of the two +languages,--without a special majority vote. But in all the ordinary +conduct of trade, industry, and economic life, its power is unhampered +by constitutional limitations. + +The constitution sets up as the government of South Africa a +legislature of two houses--a Senate and a House of Assembly--and with +it an executive of ministers on the customary tenure of cabinet +government. This government, strangely enough, is to inhabit two +capitals: Pretoria as the seat of the Executive Government and Cape +Town as the meeting-place of the Parliament. The experiment is a novel +one. The case of Simla and Calcutta, in each of which the Indian +Government does its business, and on the strength of which Lord Curzon +has defended the South-African plan, offers no real parallel. The truth +is that in South Africa, as in Australia, it proved impossible to +decide between the claims of rival cities. Cape Town is the mother city +of South Africa. Pretoria may boast the memories of the fallen +republic, and its old-time position as the capital of an independent +state. Bloemfontein has the advantage of a central position, and even +garish Johannesburg might claim the privilege of the money power. The +present arrangement stands as a temporary compromise to be altered +later at the will of the parliament. + +The making of the Senate demanded the gravest thought. It was desired +to avoid if possible the drowsy nullity of the Canadian Upper House and +the preponderating "bossiness" of the American. Nor did the example of +Australia, where the Senate, elected on a "general ticket" over huge +provincial areas, becomes thereby a sort of National Labor Convention, +give any assistance in a positive direction. The plan adopted is to +cause each present provincial parliament, and later each provincial +council, to elect eight senators. The plan of election is by +proportional representation, into the arithmetical juggle of which it +is impossible here to enter. Eight more senators will be appointed by +the Governor, making forty in all. Proportional representation was +applied also in the first draft of the constitution to the election of +the Assembly. + +It was thought that such a plan would allow for the representation of +minorities, so that both Dutch and British delegates would be returned +from all parts of the country. Unhappily, the Afrikanderbond--the +powerful political organization supporting Mr. Merriman, and holding +the bulk of the Dutch vote at the Cape--took fright at the proposal. +Even Merriman and his colleagues had to vote it down. + +Without this they could not have saved the principle of "equal rights," +which means the more or less equal (proportionate) representation of +town and country. The towns are British and the country Dutch, so the +bearing of equal rights is obvious. Proportional representation and +equal rights were in the end squared off against one another. + +South Africa will retain duality of language, both Dutch and British +being in official use. There was no other method open. The Dutch +language is probably doomed to extinction within three or four +generations. It is, in truth, not one linguistic form, but several: the +Taal, or kitchen Dutch of daily speech, the "lingua franca" of South +Africa; the School Taal, a modified form of it, and the High Dutch of +the Scriptural translations brought with the Boers from Holland. Behind +this there is no national literature, and the current Dutch of Holland +and its books varies some from all of them. English is already the +language of commerce and convenience. The only way to keep Dutch alive +is to oppose its use. Already the bitterness of the war has had this +effect, and language societies are doing their best to uphold and +extend the use of the ancestral language. It is with a full knowledge +of this that the leaders of the British parties acquiesced in the +principle of duality. + +The native franchise was another difficult question. At present neither +natives nor "colored men" (the South-African term for men of mixed +blood) can vote in the Transvaal, the Orange River, and Natal. Nor is +there the faintest possibility of the suffrage being extended to them, +both the Dutch and the British being convinced that such a policy is a +mistake. In the Cape natives and colored men, if possessed of the +necessary property and able to write their names, are allowed to vote. +The name writing is said to be a farce, the native drawing a picture of +his name under guidance of his political boss. Some 20,000 natives and +colored people thus vote at the Cape, and neither the Progressives nor +the Bond party dared to oppose the continuance of the franchise, lest +the native vote should be thrown solid against them. As a result each +province will retain its own suffrage, at least until the South-African +Parliament by a special majority of two-thirds in a joint session shall +decide otherwise. + +The future conformation of parties under the union is difficult to +forecast. At present the Dutch parties--they may be called so for lack +of a better word--have large majorities everywhere except in Natal. In +the Transvaal General Botha's party--Het Volk, the Party of the +People--is greatly in the ascendant. But it must be remembered that Het +Volk numbers many British adherents. For instance, Mr. Hull, Botha's +treasurer in the outgoing Government, is an old Johannesburg +"reformer," of the Uitlander days, and fought against the Boers in the +war. In the Orange Free State the party called the Unie (or United +party) has a large majority, while at the Cape Dr. Jameson's party of +progressives can make no stand against Mr. Merriman, Mr. Malan, Mr. +Sauer, and the powerful organization of the Afrikanderbond. + +How the new Government will be formed it is impossible to say. Botha +and Merriman will, of course, constitute its leading factors. But +whether they will attempt a coalition by taking in with them such men +as Sir Percy Fitzpatrick and Dr. Jameson, or will prefer a more united +and less universal support is still a matter of conjecture. From the +outsider's point of view, a coalition of British and Dutch leaders, +working together for the future welfare of a common country, would seem +an auspicious opening for the new era. But it must be remembered that +General Botha is under no necessity whatever to form such a coalition. +If he so wishes he can easily rule the country without it as far as a +parliamentary majority goes. Not long since an illustrious +South-African, a visitor to Montreal, voiced the opinion that Botha's +party will rule South Africa for twenty years undisturbed. But it is +impossible to do more than conjecture what will happen. _Ex Africa +semper quid novi_. + +Most important of all is the altered relation in which South Africa +will now stand to the British Empire. + +The Imperial Government may now be said to evacuate South Africa, and +to leave it to the control of its own people. It is true that for the +time being the Imperial Government will continue to control the native +protectorates of Basutoland, Bechuanaland, and Swaziland. But the +Constitution provides for the future transfer of these to the +administration of a commission appointed by the colonial Government. +Provision is also made for the future inclusion of Rhodesia within the +Union. South Africa will therefore find itself on practically the same +footing as Canada or Australia within the British Empire. What its +future fate there will be no man can yet foretell. In South Africa, as +in the other Dominions, an intense feeling of local patriotism and +"colonial nationalism" will be matched against the historic force and +the practical advantages of the Imperial connection. Even in Canada, +there is no use in denying it, there are powerful forces which, if +unchecked, would carry us to an ultimate independence. Still more is +this the case in South Africa. + +It is a land of bitter memories. The little people that fought for +their republics against a world in arms have not so soon forgotten. It +is idle for us in the other parts of the Empire to suppose that the +bitter memory of the conflict has yet passed, that the Dutch have +forgotten the independence for which they fought, the Vier Klur flag +that is hidden in their garrets still, and the twenty thousand women +and children that lie buried in South Africa as the harvest of the +conqueror. If South Africa is to stay in the Empire it will have to be +because the Empire will be made such that neither South Africa nor any +other of the dominions would wish to leave it. For this, much has +already been done. The liberation of the Transvaal and Orange River +from the thraldom of their Crown Colony Government, and the frank +acceptance of the Union Constitution by the British Government are the +first steps in this direction. Meantime that future of South Africa, as +of all the Empire, lies behind a veil. + + + + +PORTUGAL BECOMES A REPUBLIC A.D. 1910 + +WILLIAM ARCHER + +The wave of democratic revolt which had swept over Europe during the +first decade of the twentieth century was continued in 1910 by the +revolution in Portugal. This, as the result of long secret planning, +burst forth suddenly before dawn on the morning of October 4th. Before +nightfall the revolution was accomplished and the young king, Manuel, +was a fugitive from his country. + +The change had been long foreseen. The selfishness and blindness of the +Portuguese monarchs and their supporters had been such as to make +rebellion inevitable, and its ultimate success certain. Mr. William +Archer, the noted English journalist, who was sent post-haste to watch +the progress of the revolution, could not reach the scene before the +brief tumult was at an end; but he here gives a picture of the joyous +celebration of freedom that followed, and then traces with power and +historic accuracy the causes and conduct of the dramatic scene which +has added Portugal to the ever-growing list of Republics. + +When the poet Wordsworth and his friend Jones landed at Calais in 1790 +they found + + "France standing on the top of golden years + And human nature seeming born again." + +Not once, but fifty times, in Portugal these lines came back to my +mind. The parallel, it may be said, is an ominous one, in view of +subsequent manifestations of the reborn French human nature. But there +is a world of difference between Portugal and France, between the House +of Braganza and the House of Bourbon. + +It was nearly one in the morning when my train from Badajoz drew into +the Rocio station at Lisbon; yet I had no sooner passed the barrier +than I heard a band in the great hall of the station strike up an +unfamiliar but not unpleasing air, the rhythm of which plainly +announced it to be a national anthem--a conjecture confirmed by a wild +burst of cheering at the close. The reason of this midnight +demonstration I never ascertained; but, indeed, no one in Lisbon asks +for a reason for striking up "A Portugueza," the new patriotic song. +Before twenty-four hours had passed I was perfectly familiar with its +rather plaintive than martial strains, suited, no doubt, to the +sentimental character of the people. An American friend, who arrived a +day or two after me, made acquaintance with "A Portugueza" even more +immediately than I did. Soon after passing the frontier he fell into +conversation with a Portuguese fellow traveler, who, in the course of +ten minutes or so, asked him whether he would like to hear the new +national anthem, and then and there sang it to him, amid great applause +from the other occupants of the compartment. In the cafés and theaters +of Lisbon "A Portugueza" may break out at any moment, without any +apparent provocation, and you must, of course, stand up and uncover; +but there is in some quarters a movement of protest against these +observances as savoring of monarchical flunkyism. When I left Lisbon at +half-past seven A.M. there was no demonstration such as had greeted my +arrival; but at the first halting-place a man stepped out from a little +crowd on the platform and shouted "Viva Machado dos Santos! Viva a +Republica Portugueza!"--and I found that the compartment adjoining my +own was illumined by the presence of the bright particular star of the +revolt. At the next station--Torres Vedras of historic fame--the +platform was crowded and scores of red and green flags were waving. As +the train steamed in, two bands struck up "A Portugueza," and as one +had about two minutes' start of the other, the effect was more +patriotic than harmonious. The hero had no sooner alighted than he was +lifted shoulder-high by the crowd, and carried in triumph from the +station, amid the blaring of the bands and the crackling of innumerable +little detonators, which here enter freely into the ritual of +rejoicing. Next morning I read in the papers a full account of the +"Apoteose" of Machado dos Santos, which seems to have kept Torres +Vedras busy and happy all day long. + +One can not but smile at such simple-minded ebullitions of feeling; yet +I would by no means be understood to laugh at them. On the contrary, +they are so manifestly spontaneous and sincere as to be really +touching. Whatever may be the future of the Portuguese Republic, it has +given the nation some weeks of unalloyed happiness. And amid all the +shouting and waving of flags, all the manifold "homages" to this hero +and to that, there was not the slightest trace of rowdyism or of +"mafficking." I could not think without some humiliation of the +contrast between a Lisbon and a London crowd. It really seemed as +though happiness had ennobled the man in the street. I am assured that +on the day of the public funeral of Dr. Bombarda and Admiral dos Reis, +though the crowd was enormous and the police had retired into private +life, there was not the smallest approach to disorder. The +police--formerly the sworn enemies of the populace--had been reinstated +at the time of my visit, without their swords and pistols; but they +seemed to have little to do. That Lisbon had become a strictly virtuous +city it would be too much to affirm, but I believe that crime actually +diminished after the revolution. It seemed as though the nation had +awakened from a nightmare to a sunrise of health and hope. + +And the nightmare took the form of a poor bewildered boy, guilty only +of having been thrust, without a spark of genius, into a situation +which only genius could have saved. In that surface aspect of the case +there is an almost ludicrous disproportion between cause and effect. +But it is not what the young King was that matters--it is what he stood +for. Let us look a little below the surface--even, if we can, into the +soul of the people. + +Portugal is a small nation with a great history; and the pride of a +small nation which has anything to be proud of is apt to amount to a +passion. It is all the more sensitive because it can not swell and +harden into arrogance. It is all the more alert because the great +nations, in their arrogance, are apt to ignore it. + +What are the main sources of Portugal's pride? They are two: her +national independence and her achievements in discovery and +colonization. + +A small country, with no very clear natural frontier, she has +maintained her independence under the very shadow of a far larger and +at one time an enormously preponderant Power. Portugal was Portugal +long before Spain was Spain. It had its Alfred the Great in Alfonso +Henriques (born 1111--a memorable date in two senses), who drove back +the Moors as Alfred drove back the Danes. He founded a dynasty of able +and energetic kings, which, however, degenerated, as dynasties will, +until a vain weakling, Ferdinand the Handsome, did his best to wreck +the fortunes of the country. On his death in 1383, Portugal was within +an ace of falling into the clutches of Castile, but the Cortes +conferred the kingship on a bastard of the royal house, John, Master of +the Knights of Aviz; and he, aided by five hundred English archers, +inflicted a crushing defeat on the Spaniards at Aljubarrota, the +Portuguese Bannockburn. John of Aviz, known as the Great, married +Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt; and from this union +sprang a line of princes and kings under whom Portugal became one of +the leading nations of Europe. Prince Henry the Navigator, son of John +the Great, devoted his life to the furthering of maritime adventure and +discovery. Like England's First Lords of the Admiralty, he was a +navigator who did not navigate; but it was unquestionably owing to the +impulse he gave to Portuguese enterprise that Vasco da Gama discovered +the sea route to India and Pedro Alvarez Cabral secured for his country +the giant colony of Brazil. Angola, Mozambique, Diu, Goa, Macao--these +names mean as much for Portugal as Havana, Cartagena, Mexico, and Lima, +for Spain. The sixteenth century was the "heroic" age of Portuguese +history, and the "heroes"--notably the Viceroys of Portuguese +India--were, in fact, a race of fine soldiers and administrators. No +nation, moreover, possesses more conspicuous and splendid memorials of +its golden age. It was literally "golden," for Emmanuel the Fortunate, +who reaped the harvest sown by Henry the Navigator, was the wealthiest +monarch in Europe, and gave his name to the "Emmanueline" style of +architecture, a florid Gothic which achieves miracles of ostentation +and sometimes of beauty. As the glorious pile of Batalha commemorates +the victory of Aljubarrota, so the splendid church and monastery of +Belem mark the spot where Vasco da Gama spent the night before he +sailed on his epoch-making voyage. But it was not gold that raised the +noblest memorial to Portugal's greatness: it was the genius of Luis de +Camoens. If Spenser, instead of losing himself in mazes of allegoric +romance, had sung of Crécy and Agincourt, of Drake, Frobisher, and +Raleigh, he might have given us a national epic in the same sense in +which the term applies to _The Lusiads_. With such a history, so +written in stone and song, what wonder if pride of race is one of the +mainsprings of Portuguese character! + +But the House of Aviz, like the legitimate line of Affonso Henriques, +dwindled into debility. It flickered out in Dom Sebastian, who dragged +his country into a mad invasion of Morocco and vanished from human ken +on the disastrous battlefield of Alcazar-Khebir. Then, for sixty years, +not by conquest, but by intrigue, Portugal passed under the sway of +Spain, and lost to the enemies of Spain--that is to say, to England and +Holland--a large part of her colonial empire. At last, in 1640, a +well-planned and daring revolution expelled the Spanish intruders, and +placed on the throne John, Duke of Braganza. As the house of Aviz was +an illegitimate branch of the stock of Affonso Henriques, so the +Braganzas were an illegitimate branch of the House of Aviz, with none +of the Plantagenet blood in them. Only one prince of the line, Pedro +II., can be said to have attained anything like greatness. Another, +Joseph, had the sense to give a free hand to an able, if despotic, +minister, the Marquis of Pombal. But, on the whole, the history of the +Braganza rule was one of steady decadence, until the second half of the +nineteenth century found the country one of the most backward in +Europe. + +Nor was there any comfort to be found in the economic aspect of the +case. A country of glorious fertility and ideal climatic conditions, +inhabited by an industrious peasantry, Portugal was nevertheless so +poor that much of its remaining strength was year by year being drained +away by emigration. The public debt was almost as heavy per head of +population as that of England. Taxation was crushing. The barest +necessaries of life were subject to heavy imposts. Protection +protected, not industries, but monopolies and vested interests. + +In short, the material condition of the country was as distressing as +its spiritual state to any one with the smallest sense of enlightened +patriotism. + +King Charles I.--name of evil omen!--ascended the throne in 1889. His +situation was not wholly unlike that of the English Charles I., +inasmuch as--though he had not the insight to perceive it--his lot was +cast in times when Portugal was outgrowing the traditions and methods +of his family. Representative government, as it had shaped itself since +1852, was a fraud and a farce. To every municipality a Government +administrator was attached (at an annual cost to the country of +something like £70,000), whose business it was to "work" the elections +in concert with the local _caciques_ or bosses. Thus, except in the +great towns, the Government candidate was always returned. The efficacy +of the system may be judged from the fact that in a country which was +at heart Republican, as events have amply shown, the Republican party +never had more than fourteen representatives in a chamber of about 150. +For the rest, the Monarchical parties, "Regeneradores" and +"Progresistas," arranged between them a fair partition of the loaves +and fishes. This "rotative" system, as it is called, is in effect that +which prevails, or has prevailed, in Spain; but it was perfected in +Portugal by a device which enabled Ministers, in stepping out of office +under the crown, to step into well-paid posts in financial +institutions, more or less associated with the State. Anything like +real progress was manifestly impossible under so rotten a system; and +with this system the Monarchy was identified. + +Then came the scandal of the _adeantamentos_, or illegal advances made +to the King, beyond the sums voted in the civil list. It is only fair +to remember that the king of a poor country is nowadays in a very +uncomfortable position, more especially if the poor country has once +been immensely rich. The expenses of royalty, like those of all other +professions, have enormously increased of late years; and a petty king +who is to rub shoulders with emperors is very much in the position of a +man with £2,000 a year in a club of millionaires. He has always the +resource, no doubt, of declining the society of emperors, and even +fixing his domestic budget more in accord with present exigencies than +with the sumptuous traditions, the palaces and pleasure-houses, of his +millionaire predecessors. It is said of Pedro II. that "he had the +wisdom and self-restraint not to increase the taxes, preferring to +reduce the expenses of his household to the lowest possible amount." +But Dom Carlos was not a man of this kidney. Easy-going and +self-indulgent, he had no notion of appearing _in forma pauperis_ among +the royalties of Europe, or sacrificing his pleasures to the needs of +his country. Even his father, Dom Luis, and his uncle, Dom Pedro, had +not lived within their income; and expenses had gone up since their +times. The king's income, under the civil list, was a "conto of reis" a +day, or something over £80,000 a year. Additional allowances to other +members of the royal family amounted to about half as much again; and +there was, I believe, an allowance for the upkeep of palaces. One would +suppose that a reasonably frugal royal family, with no house-rent to +pay, could subsist in tolerable comfort on some £2,250 a week; but as a +matter of fact, Dom Carlos made large additional drafts on the +treasury, which servile ministries honored without protest. He had +expensive fantasies, which he was not in the habit of stinting. The +total of his "anticipations" I do not know, but it is estimated in +millions of pounds. + +These eccentricities, combined with other abuses of finance and +administration, rendered even the _cacique_-chosen Cortes unruly, and +our Charles I. looked about for a Strafford who should apply a +"thorough" remedy to what he called the parliamentary _gâchis_. He +found his man in Joăo Franco. This somewhat enigmatic personage can not +as yet be estimated with any impartiality. No one accuses him of +personal corruption or of sordidly interested motives. His great +private wealth enabled him the other day to find bail, at a moment's +notice, to the amount of £40,000. On the other hand, his enemies +diagnose him after the manner of Lombroso, and find him to be a +degenerate and an epileptic, ungovernably irritable, vain, mendacious, +arrogant, sometimes quite irresponsible for his actions. A really +strong man he can scarcely be; scarcely a man of true political +insight, else he would not have tried to play the despot with no +plausible ideal to allege in defense of his usurpation. Be that as it +may, he agreed with the King that it was impossible to carry on the +work of government with a fractious Cortes in session, and that the +only way to keep things going was to try the experiment of a +dictatorship. Dom Carlos, in his genial fashion, overcame by help of an +anecdote any doubt his minister may have felt. "When the affairs of +Frederick the Great were at a low ebb," said the King, "he one day, on +the eve of a decisive battle, caught a grenadier in the act of making +off from the camp. 'What are you about?' asked Frederick. 'Your +Majesty, I am deserting,' stammered the soldier. 'Wait till to-morrow,' +replied Frederick calmly, 'and if the battle goes against us, we will +desert together.'" Thus lightly was the adventure plotted; and, in +fact, the minister did not desert until the King lay dead upon the +field of battle. + +Franco dissolved the Cortes, and on May 10, 1907, published a decree +declaring the "administration to be a dictatorship." The Press was +strictly gagged, and all the traditional weapons of despotism were +polished up. In June, the dictator went to Oporto to defend his policy +at a public banquet, and on his return a popular tumult took place in +the Rocio, the central square of Lisbon, which was repressed with +serious bloodshed. This was made the excuse for still more galling +restrictions on personal and intellectual liberty, until it was hard to +distinguish between "administrative dictatorship" and autocracy. As +regards the _adeantamentos_, Franco's declared policy was to make a +clean slate of the past, and, for the future, to augment the civil +list. In the autumn of that year, a very able Spanish journalist and +deputy, Señor Luis Morote, visited most of the leading men in Portugal, +and found among the Republicans an absolute and serene confidence that +the Monarchy was in its last ditch and that a Republic was inevitable. +Seldom have political prophecies been more completely fulfilled than +those which Morote then recorded in the _Heraldo_ of Madrid. Said +Bernardino Machado: + +"The Republic is the fatherland organized for its prosperity.... I +believe in the moral forces of Portugal, which are carrying us directly +toward the new order of things.... We shall triumph because the right +is on our side, and the moral idealism; peacefully if we can, and I +think it pretty sure that we can, since no public force can stop a +nation on the march." + +Said Guerra Junqueiro, the leading poet of the day: "Within two years +there will be no Braganzas or there will be no Portugal....The +revolution, when it comes, will be a question of hours, and it will be +almost bloodless." + +I could cite many other deliverances to the same effect, but one must +suffice. Theophilo Braga, the "grand old man" of Portugal, said: "To +stimulate the faith, conscience, will, and revolutionary energies of +the country, I have imposed on myself a plan of work, and a mandate not +to die until I see it accomplished." + +The Paris _Temps_ of November 14, 1907, published an interview with Dom +Carlos which embittered feeling and alienated many of his supporters. +"Everything is quiet in Lisbon," declared the King, echoing another +historic phase: "Only the politicasters are agitating themselves.... It +was necessary that the _gâchis_--there is no other word for it--should +one day come to an end.... I required an undaunted will which should be +equal to the task of carrying my ideas to a happy conclusion.... I am +entirely satisfied with M. Franco. _Ça marche_. And it will continue; +it must continue for the good of the country.... In no country can you +make a revolution without the army. Well, the Portuguese Army is +faithful to its King, and I shall always have it at my side.... I have +no shadow of doubt of its fidelity." Poor Charles the First! + +At the end of January, 1908, a revolutionary plot was discovered, and +was put down with severity. After signing some decrees to that end, at +one of his palaces beyond the Tagus, the King, with his whole family, +returned to Lisbon and the party drove in open carriages from the wharf +toward the Necessidades Palace. In the crowd at the corner of the great +riverside square, the Praça do Comercio, stood two men named Buiça and +Costa, with carbines concealed under their cloaks. They shot dead the +King and the Crown Prince, and slightly wounded Dom Manuel. Both the +assassins were killed on the spot. + +It is said that there was no plot, and that these men acted entirely on +their own initiative and responsibility. At any rate, none of the +Republican leaders was in any way implicated in the affair. But on All +Saints' day of 1910, Buiça's grave shared to the full in the rain of +wreaths poured upon the tombs of the martyrs of the new Republic; and +relics of the regicides hold an honored place in the historical museum +which commemorates the revolution. + +Franco vanished into space, and Dom Manuel, aged nineteen, ascended the +throne. Had he possessed strong intelligence and character, or had he +fallen into the hands of really able advisers, it is possible that the +revulsion of feeling following on so grim a tragedy might have +indefinitely prolonged the life of the Monarchy. But his mother was a +Bourbon, and what more need be said? The opinion in Lisbon, at any +rate, was that "under Dom Carlos the Jesuits entered the palace by the +back door, under Dom Manuel by the front door." The Republican +agitation in public, the revolutionary organization in secret, soon +recommenced with renewed vigor; and the discovery of new scandals in +connection with the tobacco monopoly and a financial institution, known +as the "Credito Predial," added fuel to the fire of indignation. The +Government, or rather a succession of Governments, were perfectly aware +that the foundations of the Monarchy were undermined; but they seemed +to be paralyzed by a sort of fatalistic despair. They persecuted, +indeed, just enough to make themselves doubly odious; but they always +laid hands on people who, if not quite innocent, were subordinate and +uninfluential. Not one of the real leaders of the revolution was +arrested. + +The thoroughness with which the Republican party was organized says +much for the practical ability of its leaders. The moving spirits in +the central committee were Vice-Admiral Candido dos Reis, Affonso Costa +(now Minister of Justice), Joao Chagas, and Dr. Miguel Bombarda. Simoes +Raposo spoke in the name of the Freemasons; the Carbonaria Portugueza, +a powerful secret society, was represented by Machado dos Santos, an +officer in the navy. There was a separate finance committee, and funds +were ample. The arms bought were mostly Browning pistols, which were +smuggled over the Spanish frontier by Republican railway conductors. +Bombs also were prepared in large numbers, not for purposes of +assassination, but for use in open warfare, especially against cavalry. +Meanwhile an untiring secret propaganda was going on in the army, in +the navy, and among the peasantry. Almost every seaman in the navy, and +in many regiments almost all the non-commissioned officers and men, +were revolutionaries; while commissioned officers by the score were won +over. It is marvelous that so wide-spread a propaganda was only vaguely +known to the Government, and did not beget a crowd of informers. One +man, it is true, who showed a disposition to use his secret knowledge +for purposes of blackmail, was found dead in the streets of Cascaes. On +the whole, not only secrecy but discipline was marvelously maintained. + +At last the propitious moment arrived. Three ships of war--the _Dom +Carlos_, the _Adamastor_, and the _San Raphael_--were in the Tagus to +do honor to the President-elect of Brazil, who was visiting King +Manuel; but the Government knew that their presence was dangerous, and +would certainly order them off again as soon as possible. The blow must +be struck before that occurred. At a meeting of the committee on +October 2, 1910, it was agreed that the signal should be given in the +early morning of October 4th. All the parts were cast, all the duties +were assigned: who should call this and that barrack to arms, who +should cut this and that railway line, who should take possession of +the central telegraph-office, and so forth. The whole scheme was laid +down in detail in a precious paper, in the keeping of Simôes Raposo. +"You had better give it to me," said Dr. Bombarda, "for I am less +likely than you to be arrested. Even if they should think of searching +at Rilhafolles [the asylum of which he was director], I can easily hide +it in one of the books of my library." His suggestion was accepted, the +paper on which their lives and that of the Republic depended was handed +to him, and the meeting broke up. + +On the morning of Monday, October 3d, all was as quiet in Lisbon as +King Carlos himself could have desired. At about eleven o'clock Dr. +Bombarda sat in his office at the asylum, when a former patient, a +young lieutenant who had suffered from the persecution mania, was +announced to see him. Bombarda rose and asked him how he was. Without a +word the visitor produced a Browning pistol and fired point blank at +the physician, putting three bullets in his body. Bombarda had strength +enough to seize his assailant by the wrists and hand him over to the +attendants who rushed in. He then walked down-stairs unaided before he +realized how serious were his wounds. It soon appeared, however, that +he had not many hours to live; and when this became clear to him, he +took a paper from his pocketbook and insisted that it should be burned +before his eyes. What the paper was I need not say. At about six in the +evening he died. + +Bombarda was a passionate anticlerical, and his murderer was a +fanatical Catholic. The citizens, with whom he was very popular, jumped +at the conclusion that the priests had inspired the deed. As soon as +his death was announced in the transparency outside the office of _O +Seculo_, there were demonstrations of anger among the crowd and some +conflicts with the police. + +Meanwhile the Revolutionary Committee, to the number of fifty or +thereabouts, were sitting in the Rua da Esperança, discussing the +question, "To be or not to be." The military members counseled delay, +for the Government had ordered all officers to be at their quarters in +the various barracks which are scattered over the city. The intention +had been to choose a time when most of the officers were off duty and +the men could mutiny at their ease; but this plan had for the moment +been frustrated. The military view might have carried the day, but for +the determination shown by Candido dos Reis, who pointed out that it +would be madness to give the Government time to order the ships out of +the Tagus. Finally, he turned to the military group, saying, "If you +will not go out, I will go out alone with the sailors. I shall have the +honor of getting myself shot by my comrades of the army." His +insistence carried all before it, and it was decided that the signal +should be given, as previously arranged, at one o'clock in the morning. + +That evening, at the Palace of Belem, some two miles down the Tagus +from the Necessidades Palace, Marshal Hermes da Fonseca, +President-elect of Brazil, was entertaining King Manuel at a State +dinner. There was an electrical sense of disquiet in the air. Several +official guests were absent, and every few minutes there came +telephone-calls for this or that minister or general, some of whom +reappeared, while some did not. At last the tension got so much on the +nerves of the young King that he scribbled on his menu-card a request +that the banquet might be shortened; and, in fact, one or two courses +were omitted. Then followed the dreary ritual of toasts; and at last, +at half-past eleven, Dom Manuel parted from his host and set off in his +automobile, escorted by a troop of cavalry. Two bands played the royal +anthem. Had he known, poor youth, that he was never to hear it again, +there might have been a crumb of consolation in the thought. + +It would be impossible without a map to make clear the various phases +of the Battle of Lisbon. Nor would there be any great interest in so +doing. There was no particular strategy in the revolutionary plans, and +what strategy there was fell to pieces at an early point. It is not +clear that the signal was ever formally given, but about the appointed +hour mutinies broke out in several barracks. In some cases the Royalist +officers were put under arrest, in one case a colonel and two other +officers were shot. A mixed company of soldiers and civilians, with ten +or twelve guns, marched, as had been arranged, upon the Necessidades +Palace, to demand the abdication of the King; but they were met on the +heights behind the palace by a body of the "guardia municipal," and, +after a sharp skirmish, were forced to retire, leaving three of their +guns disabled behind them. They retreated to the general rallying-point +of the Republican forces, the Rotunda, at the upper end of the +mile-long Avenida da Liberdade. This avenue stands to the Rocio very +much in the relation of Charing Cross Road to Trafalgar Square: there +is a curve at their junction which prevents you from seeing--or +shooting--from the one into the other. On reaching the Rotunda, the +insurgents learned that the Rocio had been occupied by Royalist troops, +from the Citadel of St. George and another barrack, with one or two +machine guns, but no cannon. + +There, then, the two forces lay, with a short mile of sloping ground +between them, awaiting the dawn. Under cover of darkness, a body of +mounted gendarmes attempted to charge the insurgent position, but they +were repulsed by bombs. + +Meanwhile, what had become of the naval cooperation, on which so much +reliance had been placed? It had failed, through the tragic weakness of +one man. Candido dos Reis is one of the canonized saints of the +Republic; but I think it shows a good deal of generosity in the +Portuguese character that the Devil's Advocate has not made himself +heard in the case. Dos Reis had undertaken the command of the naval +side of the revolt; but oddly enough, he seems to have arranged no +method of conveyance to his post of duty. He found at the wharf a small +steamer, the captain of which agreed to take him off to the ships; but +there was some delay in getting up steam. During this pause, some one +as yet unidentified, but evidently a friend of Dos Reis, rushed down to +the wharf and shouted to him that the revolt was crushed and all was +lost. Dos Reis, who had assumed his naval uniform on board the steamer, +took it off again, and, in civilian attire, went ashore. He proceeded +to his sister's house, where he spent an hour; then he sallied forth +again, and was found next morning in a distant quarter of the city with +a bullet through his brain. + +There is no doubt that he committed suicide. The theory of foul play is +quite abandoned. As it was he who had vetoed the proposed postponement +of the rising, one can understand that the sense of responsibility lay +heavy upon him; but that, without inquiry into the alleged disaster, +without the smallest attempt to retrieve it, he should have left his +comrades in the lurch and taken the easiest way of escape, is surely a +proof of almost criminal instability. The Republic lost in him an +ardent patriot, but scarcely a great leader. + +The dawn of Tuesday, October 4th, showed the fortunes of the revolt at +rather a low ebb. The land forces were dismayed by the inaction of the +ships; the sailors imagined, from the non-appearance of their leader, +that some disaster must have occurred on land. It was in these hours of +despondency that the true heroes of the revolution showed their mettle. + +In the bivouac at the Rotunda, as the morning wore on, the Republican +officers declared that the game was up, and that there was nothing for +it but to disperse and await the consequences. They themselves actually +made off; and it was then that Machado dos Santos came to the front, +taking command of the insurgent force and reviving their drooping +spirits. The position was not really a strong one. For one thing, it is +commanded by the heights of the Misericordia; and there was, in fact, +some long-range firing between the insurgents and the Guardia Municipal +stationed on that eminence. Again, the gentle slope of the Avenida, a +hundred yards wide, is clothed by no fewer than ten rows of low trees, +acacias, and the like, five rows on each side of the comparatively +narrow roadway, which is blocked at the lower end by a massive monument +to the liberators of 1640. Thus the insurgents could not see their +adversaries even when they ventured out of their sheltered position in +the Rocio; and the artillery fire from the Rotunda did much more damage +to the hotels that flanked the narrow neck of the Avenida than to the +Royalist forces. On the other hand, it would have been comparatively +easy for the Royalists, with a little resolution, to have crept up the +Avenida under cover of the trees, and driven the insurgents from their +position. Fortunately for the revolt, there was a total lack of +leadership on the Royalist side, excusable only on the ground that the +officers could not rely on their men. + +While things were at a deadlock on the Avenida, critical events were +happening on the Tagus. On all three ships, the officers knew that the +men were only awaiting a signal to mutiny; but the signal did not come. +At this juncture, and while it seemed that the Republican cause was +lost, a piece of heroic bluff on the part of a single officer saved the +situation. Lieutenant Tito de Moraes put off in a small boat from the +naval barracks at Alcantara, rowed to the _San Raphael_, boarded it, +and calmly took possession of it in the name of the Republic! He gave +the officers a written guaranty that they had yielded to superior +force, and then sent them off under arrest to the naval barracks. He +now asked for orders from the Revolutionary Committee; and early in the +afternoon the _San Raphael_ weighed anchor and moved down the river in +the direction of the Necessidades Palace. In doing so she had to pass +the most powerful ship of the squadron, the _Dom Carlos_: would she get +past in safety? Yes; the _Dom Carlos_ made no sign. The officers were +almost all Royalists, but they knew they could do nothing with the +crew. As a matter of fact when the crew ultimately mutinied, the +captain and a lieutenant were severely wounded; but I can find no +evidence for the picturesque legend of a group of officers making a +last heroic stand on the quarter-deck, and ruthlessly mowed down by the +insurgents' fire. It is certain, at any rate, that no lives were lost. + +In the Palace, on its bluff above the river, King Manuel was +practically alone. No minister, no general, was at his side. It is +said, on what seems to be good authority, that when he saw the _San +Raphael_ moving down-stream under the Republican colors, he telephoned +to the Prime Minister, Teixeira de Sousa, to ask whether there was not +a British destroyer in the river that could be got to sink the mutinous +vessel. Even if this scheme had been otherwise feasible, it would have +demanded an effort of which the minister was no longer capable. At +about two in the afternoon the _San Raphael_, cruising slowly up and +down, opened fire upon the Palace, and her second shot brought down the +royal standard from its roof. What could the poor boy do? To sit still +and be blown to pieces would have been heroic, but useless. Had he had +the stuff of a soldier in him, he might have made his way to the Rocio +and tried to put some energy into the officers, some spirit into the +troops. But he had no one to encourage and support him. Such counselors +as he had were all for flight. He stepped into his motor-car, set off +for Cintra and Mafra, and is henceforth out of the saga. + +The flight of Dom Manuel meant the collapse of his cause. It is true +that the Royalists were reenforced by certain detachments of troops who +came in from the country, and, beaten off by the insurgents at the +Rotunda, made their way to the Rocio by a circuitous route. The Guardia +Municipal, too, were stanch, and showed fight at several points. It was +the total lack of spirited leadership that left the insurgents masters +of the field. Having done its work at the Necessidades, the _San +Raphael_ moved up stream again, and began dropping shells over the +intervening parallelogram of the "Low City" into the crowded Rocio. +They caused little loss of life, for they were skilfully timed to +explode in air; the object being, not to massacre, but to dismay. There +is nothing so trying to soldiers as to remain inactive under fire; and +as there had never been much fight in the garrison of the Rocio, the +little that was left speedily evaporated. At eleven in the morning of +Wednesday, October 5th, the Republic was proclaimed from the balcony of +the Town Hall, and before night fell all was once more quiet in Lisbon. + +The first accounts of the fighting which appeared in the European Press +were, as was only natural, greatly exaggerated. A careful enumeration +places the number of the killed at sixty-one and of the wounded at 417. +Some of the latter, indeed, died of their wounds, but the whole +death-roll certainly did not exceed a hundred. + +The Portuguese Monarchy was dead; and the causes of death, as disclosed +by the autopsy, were moral bankruptcy and intellectual inanition. It +could not point to a single service that it rendered to the country in +return for the burdens it imposed. Some of its defenders professed to +see in it a safeguard for the colonies, which would somehow fly off +into space in the event of a revolution. As yet there are no signs of +this prophecy coming true; but the prophets may cling, if they please, +to the hope of its fulfilment. For the rest, it was perfectly clear +that the monarchy had done nothing for the material or spiritual +advancement of the country, which remained as poverty-stricken and as +illiterate as it well could be. Dom Carlos had not even the common +prudence to affect, if he did not feel, a sympathy with the nation's +pride in its "heroes." The Monarchy could boast neither of good deeds +nor of good intentions. Its cynicism was not tempered by intelligence. +It drifted toward the abyss without making any reasonable effort to +save itself; for the dictatorship was scarcely an effort of reason. +"The dictatorship," said Bernardino Machado, the present Foreign +Minister, "left us only one liberty--that of hatred." And again, "The +monarchy had not even a party--it had only a _clientèle_." That one +word explains the disappearance of Royalism. + +For it has simply disappeared. Even the Royalist Press is almost +extinct. Some papers have ceased to appear, some have become +Republican, the few who stick to their colors do so rather from +clerical than from specifically Royalist conviction. All the leading +papers of the country had long been Republican; and excellent papers +they are. Both in appearance and in matter, _O Mundo_ and _A Lucta_ +("The Struggle") would do credit to the journalism of any country. In +size, in excellence of production, and in the well-considered weight of +their articles, they contrast strangely with the flimsy, ill-printed +sheets that content the Spanish public. + +The Provisional Government has been sneered at as a clique of +"intellectuals"; but it is scarcely a reproach to the Republic that it +should command the adhesion of the whole intelligence of the country. +Nor is there any sign of lack of practical sense in the admirable +organization which not only insured the success of the revolution (in +spite of certain cross accidents) but secured its absolutely peaceful +acceptance throughout the country. There are no doubt visionary and +fantastic spirits in the Republican ranks, and ridiculous proposals +have already been mooted. For instance, it has been gravely suggested +that all streets bearing the names of saints--and there are hundreds +of them--should be renamed in commemoration of Republican heroes, +dates, exploits, etc. But the common sense of the people and Press is +already on the alert, and such whimsies are being laughed out of court. + +Of the Provisional Government I saw only the President and the Foreign +Secretary. The President, an illustrious scholar, historian, and poet, +is a delightful old man of the simplest, most unassuming manners, and +eagerly communicative on the subjects which have been the study of his +life. When I asked him to explain to me the difference of national +character which made the Portuguese attitude toward the Church so +different from the Spanish, he took me right back to the Ligurians--far +out of my ethnological depth--and gave me a most interesting sketch of +the development of the two nations. But when we came to topics of more +immediate importance, he showed, if I may venture to say so, a clear +practical sense, quite remote from visionary idealism. The Foreign +Minister, Dr. Machado, is of more immediately impressive personality. +Younger than the President by at least ten years, yet little short, I +should guess, of sixty, he is extremely neat and dapper in person, +while his very handsome face has a birdlike keenness and alertness of +expression betokening not only great intelligence but high-strung +vitality. He is a copious, eloquent, and witty talker, and his +remarkable charm of manner accounts, in part at any rate, for his +immense popularity. Assuredly no monarchy could have more distinguished +representatives than this Republic. + +The desire of the Republic to "play fair" was manifested in another +little trait that interested me a good deal. In the window of every +book-shop in Spain a translation from the Portuguese, entitled _Los +Escandalos de la Corte de Portugal_, is prominently displayed. It is a +ferocious lampoon upon the royal family and upon Franco; but in Lisbon +I looked for it in vain. On inquiry I learned that it had been +prohibited under the Monarchy, as it could not fail to be; but, had +there been any demand for it, no doubt it might have been reprinted +since the revolution. There was apparently no demand. The people to +whom I spoke of it evidently regarded it as "hitting below the belt." +"We do not fight with such weapons," said a leading journalist. In no +one, in fact, did I discover the slightest desire or willingness to +retail personal gossip with respect to the hated Braganzas. + + + + +THE CRUSHING OF FINLAND + +A.D. 1910 + +JOHN JACKOL BARON VON PLEHVE +BARON SERGIUS WITTE J.N. REUTER + +In the midst of progress comes reaction. The far northern European +country of Finland had for a century been progressing in advance of its +neighbors. It was a true democracy. It had even established, first of +European lands, the full suffrage for women; and numerous women sat in +its parliament. But Finland was tributary to Russia; and Russia, as far +back as 1898, began a deliberate policy of crushing Finland, +"nationalizing" it, was the Russian phrase, by which was meant +compelling it to abandon its independence, adopt the Russian language, +and become an integral part of the empire under Russian officials and +Russian autocracy. + +Under pressure of this repressive policy, the Finns began leaving their +country as early as 1903, emigrating to America in despair of +successful resistance to Russia's tyranny. Many of them were exiled or +imprisoned by the Czar's Government. Then came the days of the Russian +Revolution; and the Czar and his advisers hurried to grant Finland +everything she had desired, under fear that her people would swell the +tide of revolution. But that danger once passed, the old policy of +oppression was soon renewed, and was carried onward until in November +of 1909 the Finnish Parliament was dismissed by imperial command. All +through 1910 repressive laws were passed, reducing Finland step by step +to a mere Russian province, so that before the close of that year the +Finlanders themselves surrendered the struggle. One of their leaders +wrote, "So ends Finland." + +We give here first the despairing cry written in 1903 by a well-known +Finn who fled to America. Then follows the official Russian statement +by the "Minister of the Interior," Von Plehve, who held control of +Finland in the early stages of the struggle, and was later slain by +Russian revolutionists. Then we give the very different Russian view +expressed by the great liberal Prime Minister, Baron Sergius Witte, who +rescued Russia from her domestic disaster after the Japanese War. The +story is then carried to its close by a well-known Finnish sympathizer. + + +JOHN JACKOL + +"Russia is the rock against which the sigh for freedom breaks," said +Kossuth, the great statesman and patriot of Hungary. Although fifty +years have passed, and sigh after sigh has broken against it, the rock +still stands like a colossal monument of bygone ages. It is pointing +toward the northern star, as if to remind one of the all-enduring +fixity. Other stars may go round as they will; there is one fixed in +its place, and under that star the shadow of despotism hopes to endure +forever. + +While yet in Finland I used to fancy Russia as a giant devil-fish, +whose arms extended from the Baltic to the Pacific, from the Black Sea +to the Arctic Ocean. Then I would think of my native land as a +beautiful mermaid, about whom the giant's cold, chilly arms were slowly +creeping, and I feared that some day those arms would crush her. That +day has come. The helpless mermaid lies prostrate in the clutch of the +octopus. Not that the constitution of Finland has been annulled, as has +been so often erroneously stated, and quite generally believed. The +Russian Government has made only a few inroads upon it. The great +grievance of the Finns is not with what has been absolutely done in +opposition to their ancient rights and privileges, nor in the number of +their rights which have in reality been curtailed, but with the fact +that they have henceforth no security. The real grievance of the Finns +is that the welfare of their country no longer rests upon an inviolable +constitution, but upon the caprice of the ministers. + +In 1898 the reactionists succeeded in getting one of their tools +appointed as Governor-General. No sooner had General Bobrikoff taken +his high office than he declared that the Finnish right to separate +political existence was an illusion; that there was no substantial +foundation for it in any of the acts or words of Alexander I. The +people were amazed, appalled. But this was not all. Pobiedonostseff, +the Procurator of the Holy Synod, and other men as reactionary as he, +discovered the fact, or gave birth to the idea, that the fundamental +rights of Finland could be interfered with if these fundamental rights +interfered with the welfare of the Russian Empire. In other words, they +discovered a loophole which they termed legal, on the principle that +the parts should suffer for the whole, and that this principle was an +integral part of the plan of Russian government. + +The abrogation of maintenance of Finland's ancient rights would seem by +this decision to rest on the arbitrary interpretation on the part of +Russia as to whether or not they interfered with the welfare of the +empire. It is possible that, according to the individual opinions of +Russian autocrats, they might all interfere with the standard of +welfare which certain individuals have arbitrarily established to fit +the occasion. + +In justice to the Russian Government it should be stated, however, that +the joy of persecution was not the motive which led to the arbitrary +acts. During the time that Finland was under Swedish control, the Finns +had learned to dislike everything Russian. These anti-Russian +tendencies were accentuated, after Finland became an appanage of the +Russian crown, by the restrictive and often reactionary policy of the +Imperial Government. Such a form of government was repugnant to the +Finns, who had learned to be governed by good laws well administered, +and by an enlightened public opinion. At the same time, owing to their +larger liberties, their higher culture, and their susceptibility to +western ideals, the Finns exerted an attractive influence over the +peoples of the Baltic provinces, and even of Russia proper. A Finn +would very seldom become Russianized, while many Russians became +Finnicized. Unlike his Russian brother, the Finn enjoyed the privileges +of free conscience, free speech, and free press. + +To the average Russian such a life was enchanting, and many were so +fascinated that they became citizens of Finland. In order to do so, +however, they were obliged to go through the formality of changing +their nationality and becoming subjects of the Grand Duchy. Doubtless +this was distasteful to the Russians, but so many and so great were the +advantages accruing from such a change that not a few renounced their +nationality. + +Such a state of affairs seemed unnatural and antagonistic to the +propaganda of the Panslavistic party. Instead of Russian ideals +pervading the province, provincial ideals, manners, and customs were +gradually spreading into the empire. But there seemed to be no +honorable way of checking the progress of the rapidly growing Finnish +nationality. The Finns maintained that their rights and privileges and +their laws rested upon an inviolable constitution, which could be +changed only by a vote of the four estates of the Landtag. That body +would never yield. + +It was at this juncture that the Procurator of the Holy Synod conceived +the idea that the fundamental rights of the Finns can be curtailed in +so far as they interfere with those of the empire. Acting according to +this new idea the Imperial Government in 1899 took for its pretext the +army service of the Finns. Heretofore, according to a hereditary +privilege, the Finns had not been called upon to serve in the Russian +Army, and their army service had been only three years to the Russian's +five. The officers of the Finnish Army were to be Finns, and this army +could not be called upon to serve outside of the Grand Duchy. This was +the first fundamental right of the Finns to be attacked by the Russian +Government. In some mysterious way the very insignificant army of +Finland "interfered with the general welfare of the Russian Empire." + +Immediately following the Czar's startling proposal for a disarmament +conference in 1899 came his call for a special session of the Finnish +Landtag to extend the laws of conscription and the time of regular +service from three to five years. Furthermore, the new law provided +that instead of serving in their own country, the Finnish soldiers were +to be scattered among the various troops of the empire. By this means +it was hoped to Russianize them. + +The representatives of the people had no time to consider the measure +before the Czar's decree was issued, February 17, 1899, declaring that +thenceforth the laws governing the Grand Duchy be made in the same +manner as those of the empire. + +It is not necessary to dwell upon the deep feeling of indignation and +grief that pervaded the country. It has found a freer expression +outside of the Grand Duchy than within its boundaries. Wherever the +human heart is beating in sympathetic harmony with universal progress, +the oppressed Finnish people have found moral support. In spite of +this, one by one the Finns have been deprived of their hereditary +rights and privileges. To the Finns this new order of things seems +appalling. It is like the drawing of the veil of the dark ages over +their beloved country. They have lost everything that is dear to the +human heart: their language, their religion, and their independence. +They can do nothing but mourn in silence and mortification, for a +strict Russian censorship prevents the expression of their just +indignation and grief. + +The present condition of Finland is apathetic. Last fall the loss of +crops was almost complete, and pestilence and famine are devastating +the country, which has been drained of its vitality by an excessive +migration and military conscription. The young men of Finland are +forced to serve five years in the Russian Army, and the country is +suffering from a lack of men to till the soil. The credit of the +country has been mined, and panic is spreading rapidly. Wholesale +migration of the more thrifty has made the already difficult problem of +readjustment more complicated. Those who remain behind are literally +suffering from physical, intellectual, and moral starvation. There is +left nothing to refresh, fertilize, and energize the nation's vitality. +The Finns are utterly helpless. In this sad extremity of their people +the best men of Finland are exerting their utmost in the endeavor to +alleviate suffering and infuse hope and inspiration among the masses. +The young Finnish party has become exasperated by the humiliation that +has been heaped upon the long-suffering people of their native land, +and its leaders have advised active resistance. The old Finnish party +has adopted the policy of passive resistance and protest. But the +inroads upon the constitution of Finland, in the form of imperial +decrees, rules, and regulations by the Governor-General and his +subordinates, have been so many and so sweeping in their character that +even the most conservative are beginning to lose patience. As long as +the unconstitutional acts affected only the political life of the +people, many were able to bear it, but when the new rules attacked the +time-honored social institutions and customs, indignation could no +longer be suppressed. For instance, the order to open private mail +caused a general protest. The postal director and his secretary refused +to sign the order and resigned. No less obnoxious was the order +forbidding public meetings and directing the governors of the different +provinces of Finland to appoint only such men to fill municipal rural +offices as will be subservient to the Governor-General. The governor of +the province of Ulrasborg resigned, while several other provinces were +already governed by pliant tools of General Bobrikoff. + +The long-suppressed anxiety of the people has changed into a +heartrending sigh of anguish. These words of a national poet express +the general sentiment, "Better far than servitude a death upon the +gallows." A vicious circle has been established. The high-handed +measures cause indignation, and the Governor-General is determined to +suppress its expression. There is no safety in Finland for honest and +patriotic men. The judiciary has been made subservient to General +Bobrikoff. Latest advices are ominous. April 24, 1903, was a black day +in the history of Finland. It witnessed the inauguration of a reign of +terror which, by the ordinance of April 2d and the rescript of April +9th, General Bobrikoff had been authorized to establish. + +Bobrikoff returned to Finland with authority, if necessary, to close +hotels, stores, and factories, to forbid general meetings, to dissolve +clubs and societies, and to banish without legal process any one whose +presence in the country he considered objectionable. + +For 700 years Finns have been free men; now they have become Russian +serfs, and it is well to make closer connections between the Finnish +railway system and the trans-Siberian road. Finns are long-suffering +and patient, but who could endure all this? + +While the expression of indignation is suppressed in Finland, outside +of the Grand Duchy, especially in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Russia's +relentless tyranny has made the highest officers of state as resentful +as the man in the street. Indeed entire Scandinavia is aflame with +indignation and apprehension. The leading journals are warning +Scandinavians "that the fate of Finland implies other tragedies of +similar character, unless Pan-Scandinavia becomes something more than a +political dream." + + +VON PLEHVE[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission from the _American Review of +Reviews_.] + +In criticizing Russian policy in Finland a distinction should be made +between its fundamental principles--_i.e.,_ the ends which it is meant +to attain, and its outward expression, which depends upon +circumstances. + +The former,--_i.e.,_ the aims and principles, remain _unalterable_; the +latter,--_i.e.,_ the way in which this policy finds expression--is of +an incidental and temporary character, and does not always depend on +the Russian authority alone. This is what should be taken into +consideration by Russia's western friends when estimating the value of +the information which reaches them from Finland. + +As to the program of the Russian Government in the Finland question, it +is substantially as follows: + +The fundamental problem of every supreme authority--the happiness and +prosperity of the governed--can be solved only by the mutual +cooperation of the government and the people. The requirements +presented to the partners in this common task are, on the one hand, +that the people should recognize the unity of state principle and +policy and the binding character of its aims; and, on the other, that +the Government should acknowledge the benefit accruing to the state +from the public activity, along the lines of individual development, of +its component elements. + +Such are the grounds on which the government and the people should +unite in the performance of their common task. The combination of +imperial unity with local autonomy, of autocracy with self-government, +forms the principle which must be taken into consideration in judging +the action of the Russian Government in the Grand Duchy of Finland. The +manifesto of February 3-15, 1899, is not a negation of such a peaceful +cooperation, but a confirmation of the aforesaid leading principle of +our Government in its full development. It decides that the issue of +imperial laws, common both to Russia and Finland, must not depend +altogether on the consent of the members of the Finland Diet, but is +the prerogative of the Imperial Council of State, with the +participation on such occasions of members of the Finland Senate. There +is nothing in this manifesto to shake the belief of Russia's friends in +the compatibility of the principles of autocracy with a large measure +of local self-government and civic liberty. The development of the +spiritual and material powers of the population by its gradual +introduction to participation in the conscious public life of +the state, as a healthy, conservative principle of government, +has always entered into the plans of the sovereign leaders of the life +of Russia as a state. These intentions were announced afresh from the +throne by the manifesto of February 26, 1903. In our country this +process takes place in accordance with the historical basis of the +empire, with the national peculiarities of its population. + +The result is that in Russia we have the organization of local +institutions which give self-government in the narrow sense of the +word--_i.e.,_ the right of the people to see to the satisfaction of +their local economic needs. In Finland the idea of local autonomy was +developed far earlier and in a far wider manner. Its present scope, +which has grown and developed under Russian rule, embraces all sides, +not only of the economic, but of the civil, life of the land. Russian +autocracy has thus given irrefragable proof of its constructive powers +in the sphere of civic development. The historian of the future will +have to note its ethical importance in a far wider sphere as well: the +greatest of social problems have found a peaceable solution in Russia, +thanks to the conditions of its political organization. + +For a full comprehension, however, of the manifesto of 1899, it must be +regarded as one of the phases in the development of Finland's relations +to Russia. It will then become evident that as a legacy of the past it +is the outcome of the natural course of events which sooner or later +must have led up to it. The initiation of Finland into the historical +destinies of the Russian Empire was bound to lead to the rise of +questions calling for a general solution common both to the empire and +to Finland. Naturally, in view of the subordinate status of the latter, +such questions could be solved only in the order appointed for imperial +legislation. At the same time, neither the fundamental laws of the +Swedish period of rule in Finland, which were completely incompatible +with its new status, nor the Statutes of the Diet, introduced by +Alexander II., and determining the order of issue of local laws, +touched, or could touch, the question of the issue of general imperial +laws. This question arose in the course of the legislative work +on the systematization of the fundamental laws of Finland. This task, +undertaken by order of the Emperor Alexander II. for the more precise +determination of the status of Finland as an indivisible part of our +state, was continued during the reign of his august successor, the +Emperor Alexander III., and led to the question of determining the +order of issue of general imperial laws. The rules drafted for this +purpose in 1893 formed the contents of the manifesto of 1899. Thus we +see that during six years they remained without application, there +being no practical necessity for their publication. When, however, this +necessity arose, owing to the lapse of the former military law, the +manifesto was issued. It was, therefore, the finishing touch to the +labor of many years at the determination of the manner in which the +principle of a united empire was to find expression within the limits +of Finland, and remained substantially true to the traditions which for +a century had reigned in the relations between Russia and Finland. It +presented a combination of the principle of autocracy with that of +local self-government without any serious limitations of the rights of +the latter. Moreover, while preserving the historical principle of +Russian empire-building, this law determined the form of the expression +of the autocratic power within the limits of the Grand Duchy in a +manner so much in accord with the conditions of life in Finland that it +did not touch the organization of a single one of the national local +institutions of the duchy. + +This law, in its application to the new conscription regulations, has +alleviated the condition of the population of Finland. The military +burden laid on the population of the land has been decreased from 2,000 +men to 500 per annum, and latterly to 280. As you will see, there is in +reality no opposition between the will of the Emperor of Russia as +announced to Finland in 1899 and his generous initiative at The Hague +Conference. But, you ask me, has not this confirmation of the ancient +principles of Russian state policy in Finland been bought at too dear a +price? I shall try to answer you. The hostility of public opinion +toward us in the West in connection with Finnish matters is much to be +regretted, but hopes may be entertained that under the influence of +better information on Finnish affairs this hostility may lose its +present bitterness. We are accustomed, moreover, to see that the West, +while welcoming the progressive development of Russia along the old +lines it, Europe, has followed itself, is not always as amicably +disposed toward the growth of the political and social +self-consciousness of Russia and toward the independent historical +process taking place in her in the shape of the concentration of her +forces for the fulfilment of her peaceful vocation in the history of +the human race. + +The attitude of the population of Finland toward Russia is not at all +so inimical as would appear on reading the articles in the foreign +press proceeding from the pen of hostile journalists. To the honor of +the best elements of the Finnish population, it must be said that the +degree of prosperity attained by Finland during the past century under +the egis of the Russian throne is perfectly evident to them; they know +that it is the Russian Government which has resuscitated the Finnish +race, systematically crushed down as it had been in the days of Swedish +power. The more prudent among the Finlanders realize that now, as +before, the characteristic local organization of Finland remains +unaltered, that the laws which guarantee the provincial autonomy of +Finland are still preserved, and that now, as before, the institutions +are active which satisfy its social and economic needs on independent +lines. + +They understand, likewise, the real causes of the increasing emigration +from Finland. If, along with them, political agitation has also played +a certain part, alarming the credulous peasantry with the specter of +military service on the distant borders of Russia, yet their emigration +was and remains an economic phenomenon. Having originated long before +the issue of the manifesto of 1899, it kept increasing under the +influence of bad harvests, industrial crises, and the demand for labor +in foreign lands. Such is also the case in Norway, where the percentage +of emigration is even greater than in Finland. + +Having elucidated the substantially unalterable aims of Russian policy +in Finland, let us proceed to the causes which have led to its present +incidental and temporary form of expression. This, undoubtedly, is +distinguished by its severity, but such are the requirements of an +utilitarian policy. By the bye, the total of these severe measures +amounts to twenty-six Finlanders expelled from the country and a few +officials dismissed the service without the right to a pension. It was +scarcely possible, however, to retain officials in the service of the +state once they refused to obey their superiors. Nor was it possible to +bear with the existence of a conspiracy which attempted to draw the +peaceful and law-abiding population into a conflict with the +Government, and that, too, at a moment when the prudent members of the +population of the duchy took the side of lawful authority, thereby +calling forth against themselves persecution on the part of the secret +leaders of the agitation party. The upholders of the necessity for a +pacific policy toward Russia were subjected to moral and sometimes +physical outrage, and their opponents were not ashamed to institute +scandalous legal processes against them for the purpose of damaging +their reputations. + +Very different is the attitude of the great mass of the population, as +the following incident shows: The president of the Abo Hofgericht, +declining to follow the instructions of the party hostile to Russia, +was, on his arrival in Helsingfors, subjected to a variety of insults +from the mob gathered at the railway station. On his return to Abo he +was, on the contrary, presented with an address from the peasantry and +local landowners, in which the following words occur: "We understand +very well that you have been led to your patriotic resolve to continue +your labors in obedience to the government by deep conviction, and do +not require gratitude either from us or from any others; but at the +important crisis our people is now experiencing it may be of some +relief to you to learn that the preponderating majority of the people, +and especially in broader classes, gratefully approve of the course you +have taken." + +It will scarcely be known to any one in the West that when signatures +were being gathered for the great mass-address of protest dispatched to +St. Petersburg in 1899, those who refused their signatures numbered +martyrs among them. There are some who for their courage in refusing +their signatures suffered ruin and disgrace and were imprisoned on +trumped-up charges. Moreover, the agitators aimed at infecting the +lower classes of the population with their intolerance and their hatred +of Russians, but, it must be said, with scant success. + +With regard to the essence of the question, I repeat that in matters of +government temporary phenomena should be distinguished from permanent +ones. The incidental expression of Russian policy, necessitated by an +open mutiny against the Government in Finland, will, undoubtedly, be +replaced by the former favor of the sovereign toward his Finnish +subjects as soon as peace is finally restored and the current of social +life in that country assumes its normal course. Then, certainly, all +repressive measures will be repealed. But the realization of the +fundamental aim which the Russian Government has set itself in +Finland--_i.e._, the confirming in that land of the principle of +imperial unity--must continue, and it would be best of all if this end +were attained with the trustful cooperation of local workers under the +guidance of the sovereign to whom Divine Providence has committed the +destinies of Russia and Finland. + + +SERGIUS WITTE + +When we talk of the means requisite for assimilating Finland we can not +help reckoning, first and foremost, with this fact, that by the will of +Russian emperors that country has lived its own particular life for +nearly a century and governed itself in quite a special manner. Another +consideration that should be taken to heart is this: the administration +of the conquered country on lines which differed from the organization +of other territories forming part of the empire, and which gave to +Finland the semblance of a separate state, was shaped by serious +causes, and did good service in the political history of the Russian +Empire. One is hardly justified, therefore, in blaming this work of +Alexander I., as is now so often done.... The annexation of Finland, +poor by nature and at that time utterly ruined by protracted wars, was +of moment to Russia, not so much from an economic or financial as from +a strategical point of view. And what in those days was important was +not its Russification, but solely the military position which it +afforded. Besides, the incorporation of Finland took place at a +calamitous juncture--for Russia. On the political horizon of Europe the +clouds were growing denser and blacker, and there was a general +foreboding of the coming events of the year 1812. If, at that time, +Czar Alexander I. had applied to Finland the methods of administration +which are wont to be employed in conquered countries, Finland would +have become a millstone round Russia's neck during the critical period +of her struggle with Napoleon, which demanded the utmost tension of our +national forces. Fear of insurrections and risings would have compelled +Russia to maintain a large army there and to spend considerable sums in +administering the country. But Alexander I. struck out a different +course. His Majesty recognized the necessity of "bestowing upon the +people, by means of internal organization, incomparably more advantages +than it had had under the sway of Sweden." And the Emperor held that an +effective means of achieving this would be to give the nation such a +status "that it should be accounted not enthralled by Russia, but +attached to her in virtue of its own manifest interests." "This valiant +and trusty people," said Czar Alexander I., when winding up the Diet of +Borgo, "will bless Providence for establishing the present order of +things. And I shall garner in the best fruits of my solicitude when I +shall see this people tranquil from without, free within, devoting +itself to agriculture and industry under the protection of the laws and +their own good conduct, and by its very prosperity rendering justice in +my intentions and blessing its destiny." + +Subsequent history justified the rosiest hopes of the Emperor. The +immediate consequence of the policy he adopted toward Finland was that +the country quickly became calmed and settled after the fierce war that +had been waged there, and that in this way Russia was enabled to +concentrate all her forces upon the contest with Napoleon. According to +the words of Alexander I. himself, the annexation of Finland "was of +the greatest advantage to Russia; without it, in 1812, we might not, +perhaps, have won success, because Napoleon had in Bernadotte his +steward, who, being within five days' march of our capital, would have +been inevitably compelled to join his forces with those of Napoleon. +Bernadotte himself told me so several times, and added that he had +Napoleon's order to declare war against Russia." And afterward, during +almost a century, Finland never occasioned any worries, political or +economic, to the Russian Government, and did not require special +sacrifices or special solicitude on its part. + +If we may judge, not by the speeches and articles of particular +Separatists, but by overt acts, during that long period of time the +Finnish people never failed in their duty as loyal subjects of their +monarch or citizens of the common fatherland, Russia. The successors of +the conqueror of Finland spoke many times from the height of the throne +"of the numerous proofs of unalterable attachment and gratitude which +the citizens of this country have given their monarchs." And in effect, +neither general insurrections against Russia's dominions, nor political +plots, nor the tumults of an ignorant rabble--such as our cholera +riots, workmen's outbreaks, Jewish pogroms, and other like +disturbances--have ever occurred in Finland; and when disorders of that +kind broke out in other parts of the empire or alarming tidings from +abroad came in they never evoked the slightest dangerous echo there. It +is a most remarkable fact that during the trying time the Russian +Government had when the Polish insurrection was going on, and later, in +the equally difficult period through which we passed at the close of +the seventies, Finland remained perfectly calm; and in the long list of +political criminals sprung from the various nationalities of Russia, we +do not find a single Finlander. + +In like manner fear of Finland's aspirations toward independence, of +her inordinate demands in the matter of military legislation, of her +turning her population into an armed nation; in a word, all the +apprehensions felt that Finland may break loose from Russia are, down +to the present moment, devoid of foundation in fact. + +"Finland under the egis of the Russian realm," our present Emperor has +said, "and strong in virtue of Russia's protection through the lapse of +almost a whole century, has advanced along the way of peaceful progress +unswervingly, and in the hearts of the Finnish people lived the +consciousness of their attachment to the Russian monarchs and to +Russia." In moments of stress and of Russia's danger, the Finnish +troops have always come forward as the fellow soldiers of our armies, +and Finland has shared with us unhesitatingly our military triumphs and +also the irksome consequences and tribulations of war-time. Thus, in +the year 1812 and in the Crimean campaign, her armies grew in number +considerably; in that eastern war almost her entire mercantile marine +was destroyed--a possession which was one of the principal sources of +the revenue of the country. During the Polish insurrection and the war +for the emancipation of Bulgaria Finnish troops took part in the +expeditions, and when in 1885 the Diet was opened, the Emperor +Alexander III., in his speech from the throne, bore witness to "the +unimpeachable way in which the population of the country had discharged +its military obligations," and he gave utterance to his conviction that +the Finnish troops would attain the object for which they existed. + +By way of proving Finland's striving to cut herself apart from Russia, +people point to the doctrine disseminated about the Finnish State, to +its unwillingness to establish military conscription on the same lines +as the empire, and to the speeches of the Deputies of the Diets of +1877-1878 and 1879. But none of these arguments carries conviction. + +The theory about the independence of Finland, as a separate realm, +which was worked out for the purpose of devising "the means of +safeguarding its idiosyncrasies," is far from proving that "Finland +aims at separation from Russia." Down to the present moment separation +has not been in her interests. She was never an independent State; her +historical traditions do not move her to play a political part in +Europe. Besides, her population is mixed. The Swedish element +constitutes only the topmost layer, and is not powerful enough to move +toward an independent existence or toward union with the Power which +belongs to the same race as that layer, while the mass of Finns, +dreading the oppression of the Swedish party, is drawn more to Russia +by the simple instinct of self-preservation. That is why the Finnish +patriot may well be a true and devoted citizen of the Russian Empire, +and being, as Alexander III. termed it, "a good Finlander," can also +"bear in mind that he is a member of the Russian family, at the head of +which stands the Russian Emperor." + +The unfavorable attitude of the Finns toward the proposal of the War +Ministry for extending to them the general regulations that deal with +the obligation to serve in the army is also intelligible. That +obligation of military service is exceedingly irksome; and it is not +only the Finns who desire to fight shy of it, nor can one discover any +specially dangerous symptom in their wish to preserve the privileged +position which they have hitherto enjoyed as to the way of discharging +their military duties. They seek to perpetuate the privileges conferred +upon them in the form of fundamental laws, and they strive to avoid +being incorporated in the Russian Army, because service there would be +very much more onerous for them than in their own Finnish regiments... + +If we now turn from the political to the economic aspect of the matter, +to the question how far the order of things as at present established +in Finland has proved advantageous to Russia from the financial point +of view, we shall search in vain for data capable of bearing out the +War Minister's opinion that, for the period of a century the Budget of +Finland has been sedulously husbanded at the cost of the Russian +people. + +Ever since Finland has had an independent State Budget, she has never +required any sacrifices on the part of Russia for her economic +development. Ill-used by nature and ruined by wars, the country, by +dint of its own efforts, has advanced toward cultural and material +prosperity. Without subsidies or guaranties from the Imperial Treasury, +the land became furrowed with a network of carriage roads and railways; +industries were created; a mercantile fleet was built, and the work of +educating the nation was so successfully organized that one can hardly +find an illiterate person throughout the length and breadth of the +principality. It is also an interesting fact worth recording that, +whereas the Russian Government has almost every year to feed a starving +population, now in one district of the empire, now in another, and is +obliged from time to time to spend enormous sums of money for the +purpose, Finland, in spite of its frequent bad harvests, has generally +dispensed with such help on the part of the State Treasury... + +Under these circumstances it is hardly fair to assert that Finland has +been living at Russia's expense. On the contrary, Finland is perhaps +the only one of our borderlands which has not required for its economic +or cultural development funds taken from the population of Russia +proper. The Caucasus, the Kingdom of Poland, Turkestan, part of +Siberia, and other portions of our border districts--nay, even the +northern provinces themselves--are sources of loss to us, or, at any +rate, they have cost the Russian Treasury very much, and some of them +still continue to cost it much, but the expenses they involve are +hidden in the totals of the Imperial Budget. A few data will throw +adequate light on this aspect of the situation. It is enough, for +instance, to call to mind what vast, what incalculable sacrifices the +pacification of the Caucasus required from Russia and what worry and +expense it still causes us. No less imposing is the expenditure which +the Kingdom of Poland with its two insurrections necessitated in the +course of last century.... And if we cast a glance at the youngest of +our borderlands--Turkestan--we shall find that here also the outlay +occasioned by the political situation of the country has already become +sharply outlined.... When we set those figures and data side by side we +shall find it hard to speak of "our expenditure on Finland" or of "the +vast privileges" we have conferred on the principality. + +It follows, then, that the system of administration established for +Finland by the Emperor Alexander I. has not yet had any harmful +political results for Russia, and that it has dispensed the Russian +Government from incurring heavy expenditure for the administration and +the well-being of the country, and in this way has enabled Russia to +concentrate her forces and her care on other parts of the empire and to +devote her attention to other State problems. + +One can not, of course, contend that the system of government adopted +in Finland satisfies, in each and all its parts, the requirements and +the needs of the present time. On the contrary, it is indubitable that +the independent existence of the principality, disconnected as it is +from the general interests of the empire, has led to a certain +estrangement between the Russian and the Finnish populations. That an +estrangement really exists can not be doubted; but the explanation of +it is to be found in the difference of the two cultures which have +their roots in history. To the protracted sway of Sweden and Finland's +continuous relations through her intermediary with Western Europe, the +circumstance is to be ascribed that the thinking spirits among the +Finns gravitate--in matters of culture--not to Russia but to the West, +and in particular to Sweden, with whom Finland is linked by bonds of +language--through her highest social class--and of religion, laws, and +literature. For that reason the views, ideas, and interests of +Western--and in particular of Scandinavian--peoples are more +thoroughly familiar and more intelligible to them than ours. That also +is why, when working out any kind of reforms and innovations, they seek +for models not among us but in Western Europe. + +It is, doubtless, impossible to look upon that state of things with +approval. It is highly desirable that a closer union should take place +between the interests, cultural and political, of the principality and +those of the empire: that is postulated by the mutual advantages of +both countries. As I have already remarked, Russians could not +contemplate otherwise than with pleasure the possible union and +assimilation--in principle--of the borderland with the other parts of +our vast fatherland: they will also be unanimous in wishing this task +as successful an issue as is possible..... + +But what is not feasible is to demolish at one swoop everything that +has been created and preserved in the course of a whole century. A +change of policy, if it is not to provoke tumults and disorganization, +must be carried out gradually and with extreme circumspection. The +assimilation of Finland can never be efficacious if achieved by +violence and constraint instead of by pacific means. The Finnish people +should be left to appreciate the benefits which would accrue to them +from union with a powerful empire: for an adequate understanding of +their own interests will, in the words of the Imperial rescript of +February 28, 1891, "inspire them with a desire to draw more closely the +bonds that link Finland with Russia." There is no doubt that even at +present a certain tendency is noticeable among the Finns in favor of +closer relations with Russia: the knowledge of the Russian tongue is +spreading more and more widely among them, and business relations +between them and us are growing brisker from year to year. The +desirable abolition of the customs cordon between the two countries is +bound to give a powerful fillip to the growth of commerce, which is the +most trustworthy and most pacific means of bringing about a better +understanding and strengthening the ties that bind Finland to Russia. + +Harsh, drastic expedients may easily loosen the threads that have begun +to get tied, foster national hate, arouse mutual distrust and +suspicion, and lead to results the reverse of those aimed at. +Assimilative measures adopted by the Government, therefore, should be +thought out carefully and applied gradually. + +J.N. REUTER + +"Might can not dominate right in Russia," said M. Stolypin, Russian +Minister of the Interior and President of the Council of Ministers, in +the speech which he delivered in the Duma on May 18, 1908, when pressed +by the various parties to declare his policy with regard to Finland. +This noble sentiment has the familiar ring of Russian officialdom. It +may, perhaps, be worth while to consider it in the light of recent +history and present-day issues. + +Alexander I., the first Russian sovereign of Finland, addressed a +Rescript to Count Steinheil on his appointment to the post of +Governor-General. Therein he wrote: "My object in Finland has been to +give the people a political existence so that they shall not regard +themselves as subject to Russia, but as attached to her by their own +obvious interests." It is not the place here to give an historical +account of subsequent events. It may, however, be briefly stated that +the political ideal expressed in the words quoted here was at times +forgotten, but was again revived, and, in such times, even resulted in +the extension of Finland's constitutional rights. Then, again, this +ideal was abandoned, and gave way to a totally different one, which +found its most acute expression in February, 1899, when the Czar, a +year after the issue of his invitations to the first Peace Conference +at The Hague, suppressed by an Imperial manifesto the constitutional +right of Finland. The arbitrary and corrupt Russian bureaucratic regime +little by little forced its way into the country, while Finlanders +watched with bitter resentment the suppression, one by one, of their +most cherished national institutions. + +This manifesto was condemned in many European countries at the time, +and a protest against it was signed by over a thousand prominent +publicists and constitutional lawyers, who presented an international +address to the Czar begging him to restore the rights of the Grand +Duchy. + +In 1905, however, it seemed at last that a new era was about to dawn. +The change was brought about by the domestic crisis through which +Russia herself was then passing. An Imperial manifesto promulgated in +October, containing the principles of a constitutional form of +government in Russia, was followed as an inevitable sequel by the +manifesto of November 4th, which practically restored to Finland its +full political rights. In 1906, a new Law of the Diet was enacted. +Instead of triennial sessions of the Estates, annual sessions of the +Diet were introduced, while an extension of the franchise to every +citizen over twenty-four years of age without distinction of sex gave +to women active electoral rights. Moreover, the door was opened to new +and far-reaching reforms, the fulfilment of which infused fresh life +into the democratic spirit of Finnish national institutions. While, +however, so much was done to improve the political, social, and +economic condition of the country, the promises which were then made +have not been fulfilled. The principal reason for this failure to +redeem their pledges lies in a change of attitude among Russian +officials and their interference in Finnish affairs. It is by +consideration of this change and of its effect upon Finland that we may +best judge how much truth there is in M. Stolypin's claim that in +Russia "might can not dominate right." + +Ominous signs of a reversal of policy had appeared before, but the +first official expression to it was given in the speech of M. Stolypin +already referred to. In this speech he claimed for Russia as the +sovereign power the right of control over Finnish administration and +legislation whenever the interests of the empire were concerned. This +claim meant practically the restoration of the old Bobrikoff régime and +was based on the same ideas as those underlying the February manifesto +of 1899. M. Stolypin attempts to justify his attitude by arguing that +the constitutional relations between Russia and Finland are determined +only by Clause 4 of the Treaty of Peace between Russia and Sweden, +dated September 17,1809. This clause runs as follows: + +"His Majesty the King of Sweden renounces irrevocably and forever, on +behalf of himself as well as on behalf of his successors to the Swedish +throne and realm, and in favor of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia and +his successors to the Russian throne and empire, all his rights and +titles of the governments enumerated hereafter which have been +conquered by the arms of his Imperial Majesty from the Swedish Army, to +wit: the Provinces of Kymmenegard, etc. + +"These provinces, with all their inhabitants, towns, ports, forts, +villages, and islands, with their appurtenances, privileges, and +revenues, shall hereafter under full ownership and sovereignty belong +to the Russian Empire and be incorporated with the same." + +After quoting this clause, M. Stolypin exclaimed, "This is the act, the +title, by which Russia possesses Finland, the one and only act which +determines the mutual relations between Russia and Finland." + +Now this clause contains no reference whatever to the autonomy of the +Grand Duchy, and if it were the only act by which the mutual relations +of Russia and Finland were determined, then Finland would have no +constitution. The political autonomy of Finland, which has been +recognized for exactly one hundred years, would have been without legal +foundation. Even M. Stolypin admits that Finland enjoys autonomy. +"There must be no room for the suspicion," he said, "that Russia would +violate the rights of autonomy conferred on Finland by the monarch." On +what, then, does the claim to Finnish autonomy rest and how was it +conferred? Clause 6 of the Treaty of Peace contains the following +passage: + +"His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, having already given the +most manifest proofs of the clemency and justice with which he has +resolved to govern the inhabitants of the provinces which he has +acquired, by generosity and by his own spontaneous act assuring to them +the free exercise of their religion, rights, property, and privileges, +his Swedish Majesty considers himself thereby released from performing +the otherwise sacred duty of making reservations in the above respects +in favor of his former subjects." + +This entry in the Treaty of Peace refers to the settlement made at the +Borgo Diet a few months earlier, and it is under this settlement, +confirmed by deeds of a later date, that Finland claims her right to +autonomy. M. Stolypin recognizes the claim of Finland to autonomy, but +refuses to recognize the binding force of the acts of the Borgo Diet on +which alone it can legally be based. This claim gives Finland no voice +in her external relations. All international treaties, including +matters relating to the conduct of war (though laws on the liability of +Finnish citizens to military service fall under the competency of the +Finnish Diet), are matters common to Russia and Finland as one empire, +one international unit, and are dealt with by the proper Russian +authorities. This is admitted by all Finlanders. But M. Stolypin +extended Russian authority by making it paramount in all matters which +have a bearing on Russian or Imperial interests. + +The attempt to curtail Finnish constitutional liberty has taken +different forms. Early in 1908 the Russian Council of Ministers, over +which M. Stolypin presides, drew up a "Journal," or Protocol, to which +the Czar on June 2d gave his sanction. The chief provisions of this +Protocol were briefly as follows: All legislative proposals and all +administrative matters "of general importance," before being brought to +the Sovereign for his sanction, or, as is the case with Bills to be +presented to the Diet, for his preliminary approval, as well as all +reports drawn up by Finnish authorities for the Czar's inspection, must +be communicated to the Russian Council of Ministers. The Council will +then decide "which matters concerning the Grand Duchy of Finland also +have a bearing on the interests of the empire, and, consequently, call +for a fuller examination on the part of the Ministries and Government +Boards." If the Council decide that a matter has a bearing on the +interests of the empire the Council prepare a report on it, and, should +the Council differ from the views taken up by the Finnish authorities, +the Finnish Secretary of State, who alone should be the constitutional +channel for bringing Finnish matters before the Sovereign's notice, can +do so only in the presence of the President of the Council of Ministers +or another Russian Minister. But in practise it has frequently happened +that the Council send in their report beforehand, and the Czar's +decision is practically taken when the Finnish Secretary is permitted +an audience. + +This important measure was brought about by the exclusive +recommendation of Russian Ministers. Neither the Finnish Diet nor the +Senate nor the Secretary of State for Finland, who resides in St. +Petersburg, was consulted or had the slightest idea of what was going +on before the Protocol was published in Russia. It has never been +promulgated in Finland, and no Finnish authority has been officially +advised of it. The whole matter has been treated as a private affair +between the Czar and his Russian Ministers. + +The excuse has been made that the Czar must be permitted to seek +counsel with whomsoever he chooses in regard to the government of +Finland. But this is not a question of privately consulting one man or +the other. The new measure amounts to an official recognition of the +Russian Council of Ministers as an organ of government exercising a +powerful control over Finnish legislation, administration, and finance. +The center of gravity of Finnish administration has, in fact, been +shifted from the Senate for Finland, composed of Finnish men, to the +Russian Council of Ministers. + +The Finnish Senate protested to the Czar in three separate memoranda, +dated respectively June 19, 1908, December 22, 1908, and February +25,1909. The Finnish Diet adopted on October 13, 1908, a petition to +the Czar to reconsider the matter. On the occasion of the opening of +the Diet's next session the Speaker, in his reply to the Czar's +message, briefly referred to the anxiety prevailing in Finland, with +the result that the Diet was immediately punished by an order of +dissolution from the Czar. The Senate's memoranda, as well as the +Diet's petition, were rejected, the Czar acting on the exclusive +recommendation of the Russian Council of Ministers. They were not even +brought before him through the constitutional channels, the Finnish +Secretary of State having been refused a hearing. As a result all +members of the Department of Justice, or half the number of the +Senators, resigned. + +In the same year another but less successful attack was made on the +Finnish Constitution. In the autumn of 1908 the Finnish Diet adopted a +new Landlord and Tenant Bill, but before it was brought up for the +Czar's sanction the Diet was dissolved in the manner just described. +The Bill being of a pressing nature, the Council of Ministers was at +last prevailed upon to report on it to the Czar. The latter then gave +his sanction to it, but, on the recommendation of the Council, added a +rider in the preamble. This was to the effect that, though the Bill, +having been adopted by a Diet which was dissolved before the expiration +of the three years' period for which it was elected, should not have +been presented for his consideration at all, the Czar would +nevertheless make an exception from the rule and sanction it, prompted +by his regard for the welfare of the poorer part of the population. + +The Senate decided to postpone promulgation of this law in view of the +constitutional doctrine involved in the preamble. It was pointed out +that this doctrine was entirely foreign to Finnish law. The preamble +which, according to custom, should have contained nothing beyond the +formal sanction to the law in question, embodied an interpretation of +constitutional law. Such an interpretation could only legally be made +in the same manner as the enactment of a constitutional law, _i.e.,_ +through the concurrent decision of the Sovereign and the Diet. The +Senate, therefore, petitioned the Czar to modify the preamble in such a +way as to remove from it what could be construed as an interpretation +of constitutional law. + +In reply, the Czar reprimanded the Senate for delaying promulgation, +recommended it to do so immediately, but promised later on to take the +representations made by the Senate into his consideration. Five of the +Senators then voted against, while the Governor-General and five others +voted for promulgation of, the law. The minority then tendered their +resignations. The inconveniences resulting from this new constitutional +doctrine proved, however, of so serious a practical nature that the +Czar eventually, in July, 1909, issued a declaration that "the gracious +expressions in the preamble to the Landlord and Tenant Law concerning +the invalidity of the decisions of a dissolved Diet do not constitute +an interpretation of the constitutional law and shall not in the future +be binding in law." + +A third and most important encroachment by the Russian Council of +Ministers on the autonomy of Finland was also carried out at the +instigation of M. Stolypin. The Finnish Constitution makes no +distinction between matters that may have, or may not have, a bearing +on the interests of Russia. At the same time Russian interests have +never been disregarded in Finnish legislation. It had been the +practise, when a legislative proposal was brought forward in Finland, +and a Russian interest might be affected by it, to communicate with the +Russian Minister whom the matter most closely concerned, in order that +he might make his observations. This practise was confirmed by law in +1891. In its memoranda of 1908 and 1909, on the interference of the +Russian Council of Ministers in Finnish affairs, the Senate suggested +that, in case the procedure under the ordinance of 1891 were not +satisfactory, a committee of Russian and Finnish members should be +appointed to discuss a _modus procedendi_ of such a nature that the +Constitution of Finland should not be violated. On the recommendation +of the Council of Ministers, the Czar rejected these suggestions, but +the Council of Ministers took the matter in hand and summoned a +"Special Conference," consisting of several Russian Ministers, other +high Russian functionaries, the Governor-General of Finland, who is +also a Russian, with M. Stolypin as President. Their business was to +draw up a program for a joint committee to be appointed "for the +drafting of proposals for regulations concerning the procedure of +issuing laws of general Imperial interest concerning Finland." This +conference accordingly drew up a program, approved by the Czar on April +10, 1909, in which it was resolved that the joint committee should +suggest a definition of the term "laws of general Imperial interest +concerning Finland." These laws, it was proposed, should be totally +withdrawn from the competency of the Finnish Diet and should be passed +by the legislative bodies of Russia, that is, the Council of State and +the Duma. The only safeguard for the interests of Finland suggested in +the program is that a representative for Finland should be admitted to +these two bodies when Finnish questions were discussed there. + +It is impossible to say what laws concerning Finland will be defined as +being of "general interest." Having regard, however, to the wide +interpretation which Russian reactionaries are wont to put on the +expression, there is every reason to suppose that the Russian members +of the committee will insist on its extension so as to include every +important category of law. + +The Finnish members through their spokesman, Archbishop Johansson, +declared that they proceeded to work on the committee on the assumption +that in case alterations in the law of Finland should be found +necessary, having regard to Imperial interests, such alterations should +be made through modifications in the constitutional laws of Finland. +The Finlanders are prepared to do their duty by the empire, but, the +Archbishop said: "Sacrifices have been demanded from us to which no +people can consent. The Finnish people can not forego their +Constitution, which is a gift of the Most High, and which, next to the +Gospel, is their most cherished possession." + +M. Deutrich, who spoke on behalf of the Russian members, explained that +any law resulting from the labors of the committee would not be +submitted to the ratification of the Finnish Diet. + +So M. Stolypin's way was now clear. The sanction of the people will not +be required. The Finlanders have practically no other help than that +given by a consciousness of the justice of their cause. They have no +appeal. + +In November of 1909 the Finnish Diet was dissolved by a ukase of the +Czar. Since then the Russian Government has been passing decree after +decree for Finland, giving the constitutional authorities no voice even +of protest. So ends Finland. + + + + +MAN'S FASTEST MILE THE AUTOMOBILE AGE + +A.D. 1911 + +C.F. CARTER ISAAC MARCOSSON + +On April 23, 1911, an automobile was driven along the hard, smooth sand +of a Florida sea beach, covering a mile in 25-2/5 seconds. And it +continued for a second mile at the same tremendous speed. These were +the fastest two miles ever made by man. They were at the rate of a +trifle over 140 miles an hour. As this record was not equaled in the +three years that followed, it may be regarded as approaching the +maximum speed of which automobiles are capable. And as another +automobile, in endeavoring to reach such a speed, dissolved into its +separate parts, practically disintegrated, and left an astonished +driver floundering by himself upon the sand, we may assume that no +noticeably greater speed can be attained except by some wholly +different method or new invention. + +In contrast to this picture of "speed maniacs" darting more swiftly +than ever eagle swooped or lightning express-train ran, let us +contemplate for a moment that first automobile race held in Chicago in +1894. A twenty-four horse-power Panhard machine showed a speed of +thirty miles an hour and was objected to by the newspapers as a "racing +monster" likely to cause endless tragedy, menacing death to its owners +and to the public. Thus in the brief space of seventeen years did the +construction of automobiles improve and the temper of the world toward +them change. The present day may almost be called the "automobile age." +The progress by which this has come about, and the enormous development +of this new industry is here traced by two men who have followed it +most closely. The narrative of the "auto's" triumphs by Mr. C.F. Carter +appeared first in the _Outing Magazine_. The account of the industry's +growth by Mr. Isaac Marcosson appeared in _Munsey's Magazine_, of which +he was the editor. Both are given here by the permission of the +magazines. + +C.F. CARTER + +When the marine architects and engineers catch up with the automobile +makers they can build a ship capable of crossing the Atlantic in +twenty-three hours; or, if we forget to make allowance for the +difference in longitude, capable of making the run from Liverpool to +New York in the same apparent time in which the Twentieth Century +Limited makes the run from New York to Chicago. That is, the vessel +leaving Liverpool at three o'clock in the afternoon would arrive at New +York at nine o'clock the following morning, which, allowing for the +five hours' difference in time, would make twenty-three hours. + +When the railroad engineers provide improved tracks and motive power +that will enable them to parallel the feats of the automobile men, if +they ever do, the running time for the fastest trains between New York +and Chicago will be reduced to seven hours, while San Francisco will be +but a day's run from the metropolis. + +And when the airship enthusiasts are able to dart through the air at +the speed attained by the automobile, it will be time enough to think +of taking seriously the extravagant claims made in behalf of aviation. + +For the automobile is the swiftest machine ever built by human hands. +It is so much swifter than its nearest competitor that those who read +these lines to-day are likely to be some years older before its speed +is even equaled, to say nothing of being surpassed, by any other kind +of vehicle. + +So far as is known, but one human being ever traveled faster than +Robert Burman did in his racing auto on the beach at Daytona, Florida, +on April 23, 1911. This solitary exception was a Hindu carrier who +chanced to tumble off the brink of a chasm in the Himalayas. His name +has not been preserved, he never made any claim to the record, he was +not officially timed, and altogether the event has no official +standing. Still, as he is the only man who is ever alleged to have +covered so great a distance as six thousand feet in an obstructed fall, +the matter is not without interest; for, according to the accepted rule +for finding the velocity of a body falling freely from rest, he must +have been going at the rate of seven miles a second when he reached the +bottom. + +About Burman's record there can be no doubt, for it was made in the +presence of many witnesses, and it was duly timed with stop-watches by +men skilled in the art. The straightaway mile over the smooth, hard +beach was covered from a running start in the almost incredibly short +time of 25.40 seconds. + +The next fastest mile ever traveled by human beings who lived to tell +about it was made in an electric-car on the experimental track between +Berlin and Zossen, in 1902. As the engineers who achieved this record +for the advancement of scientific knowledge of the railroad considered +such speed dangerous, it is not at all likely to become standard +practise. The fastest time ever made by a steam locomotive of which +there is any record, was the run of five miles from Fleming to +Jacksonville, Florida, in two and a half minutes by a Plant system +locomotive in March, 1901. This was at the rate of 120 miles an hour. +As for steamships, the record of 30.53 miles per hour is held by the +_Mauretania_. + +These things, if borne in mind, will serve to throw into stronger +relief the things that an automobile can do, and to supply a +substantial basis for the premise that, at least in some respects, the +automobile is the most marvelous machine the world has yet seen. It can +go anywhere at any time, floundering through two feet of snow, ford any +stream that isn't deep enough to drown out the magneto, triumph over +mud axle deep, jump fences, and cavort over plowed ground at fifteen +miles an hour. It has been used with brilliant success in various kinds +of hunting, including coyote coursing on the prairies of Colorado, +where it can run all around the bronco, formerly in favor, since it +never runs any risk of breaking a leg in a prairie-dog hole. Educated +automobiles have been trained to shell corn, saw wood, pump water, +churn, plow, and, in short, do anything required of them except figure +out where the consumer gets off under the new tariff law. + +But to get back to the subject of speed, as automobile talk always +does, the supremacy of the motor-car has been established by so many +official records that any attempt to select the most striking only +results in bewilderment. The best that can be done is to recite a few +representative ones. + +That was a most interesting illustration, for instance, of the capacity +for sustained high speed made by a Stearns car on the mile track at +Brighton Beach in 1910. In twenty-four hours the car covered the +amazing distance of 1,253 miles, which was at the average speed of +52-1/5 miles per hour. This record is all the more remarkable from the +fact the car was not a racer, but a stock car which had been driven for +some months by its owner before it was borrowed for the race, and did +not have any special preparation. The men who drove it were not +notified that their services were wanted until the morning of the race. + +While this is about the average rate per hour of the fastest train +between New York and Chicago, it should be remembered that the trains +run on steel rails, that curves are comparatively few, and they are not +sharp, while the automobile was spinning around a mile track made of +plain dirt, and was obliged to negotiate 2,506 sharp curves. Besides, +the locomotives on the fast trains are changed every 120 to 150 miles, +while the entire run of 1,253 miles was made by one auto which had +already run 7,500 miles in ordinary service before it was entered in +the race. + +Unfortunately for the automobile, it has achieved so many remarkable +speed records that its name is suggestive of swiftness. If the English +language were not the stereotyped, inelastic vehicle for the +communication of thought that it is we should now be speaking of +"automobiling" a shady bill through the city council instead of +"railroading" it. There are few places where it is permissible to +attain record speed, and fewer men who, with safety to others, may be +entrusted with the attempt. The true value of the automobile to the +average man lies in its ability to keep right on going indefinitely at +moderate speed under any and all conditions. + +One of the innumerable tests in which the staying qualities of the +automobile were brought out was the trip from Pittsburg to Philadelphia +by way of Gettysburg by S.D. Waldon and four passengers in a Packard +car, September 20, 1910. This run of 303 miles over three mountain +ranges, with the usual accompaniments of steep grades, rocks, ruts, and +thank-you-ma'ms to rack the machinery and bruise the feelings of the +riders, was made in 12 hours and 51 minutes. + +A little run of three or four hundred miles, though, is scarcely worth +mentioning by way of showing what an auto can do in a real endurance +contest. A much more notable trip was the non-stop run from Jackson, +Michigan, to Bangor, Maine, in November, 1909, by E.P. Blake and Dr. +Charles Percival. The distance of 1,600 miles was covered in 123 hours, +which meant traveling at an average speed of 13 miles an hour in rain +and snow and mud over country roads at their worst. In all that time +the motor never once stopped. In the Munsey historical tour of 1910 a +Brush single-cylinder car covered the 1,550 miles of a schedule +designed for big cars and came through with a perfect score. If you +know the hill roads of Pennsylvania you'll realize what that means in +the way of car performance. + +Still more remarkable endurance tests are the transcontinental trips +which are undertaken so frequently nowadays that they no longer attract +attention. One such trip which shows what very little trouble an +automobile gives when handled with reasonable care was that made in +1909 by George C. Rew, W.H. Aldrich, Jr., R.A. Luckey, and H.G. Toney. +Traveling by daylight only, they made the journey of 2,800 miles from +San Francisco to Chicago in nineteen days in a Stearns car. They might +have done better if they had not loitered along the way. On one +occasion they stopped to haul water a distance of twenty-five miles for +some cowboys on a round-up. The motor gave no trouble whatever, while +the only trouble with tires was a single puncture caused by a spike +when they tried to avoid a bad stretch of road by running on a railroad +track. + +The time record from ocean to ocean was held by L.L. Whitman, who left +New York in a Reo four-thirty at 12.01 A.M. on Monday, August 8, 1910, +and arrived in San Francisco on the 18th, covering the 3,557 miles in +10 days 15 hours and 13 minutes. This achievement may be more fully +appreciated by comparing it with the transcontinental relay race in +which a courier carried a message from President Taft to President +Chilberg, of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, in September-October, +1909, in 10 days 5 hours, by using thirty-two cars and as many +different drivers who knew the roads over which they ran. + +Those who are fortunate enough to have friends who own cars know that +automobiles can climb hills; and that the accepted way to do it is to +throw in the extra special high gear, tear the throttle out by the +roots, advance the spark twenty minutes, and push hard on the steering +wheel. The fact that the car will overlook such treatment and go ahead +is a source of never-failing wonder. Indeed, when it comes to +hill-climbing the automobile is so far ahead of the locomotive that it +seems like wanton cruelty to drag the latter into the discussion at +all. + +The steepest grade on a railroad doing a miscellaneous transportation +business climbed by a locomotive relying on adhesion only is on the +Leopoldina system in Brazil between Bocca do Monte and Theodoso, where +there is a stretch of 8-1/3 per cent. grade with curves of 130 feet +radius. There are some logging roads in the United States with grades +of 16 per cent. How trifling this seems when compared with the feat of +a Thomas car which climbed Fillmore Street, San Francisco, which is +alleged to have a gradient of 34 per cent., with twenty-three persons +on board. As 25 per cent. is regarded as the maximum safe gradient for +an Abt rack railway, since the cog-wheel is liable to climb out of the +rack on any steeper grade, it will be seen that the strain upon the +credulity of the hearer of this story is almost as great as that upon +the car must have been. + +Enthusiasm may be expected to run high in the presence of such +astounding triumphs, and it should, therefore, not be deemed surprising +that accounts of hill-climbing contests are generally lacking in +definiteness. The name of the car and the driver are always given with +scrupulous care, but such incidental details as length of ascent, +minimum, maximum, and average gradient, maximum curvature, and so on, +are generally left to the imagination. + +Among the few exceptions to this rule was the hill-climbing contest at +Port Jefferson, Long Island, in which Ralph de Palma went up an ascent +of two thousand feet with an average gradient of 10 per cent. and a +maximum of 15 per cent. in 20.48 seconds in his 190-horse-power Fiat. A +little Hupmobile, one of the lightest cars built, reached the top in 1 +minute 10 seconds. De Palma climbed the "Giant's Despair" near +Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, an ascent six thousand feet long, with +grades varying from 10 to 22 per cent., in his big machine in 1 minute +28-2/5 seconds. A Marmon stock car reached the top in 1 minute 50-1/5 +seconds. Pike's Peak, Mount Washington, Ensign Mountain, in Utah, and +lesser mountains elsewhere have also been climbed repeatedly by +automobiles. As the mere announcement of the fact vividly exhibits the +staying powers of the auto in a long, stiff climb, the engineering +details may be disregarded. + +Next to its ability to do the exceptional things when required, the +most useful accomplishment of the automobile is its wonderful capacity +for standing up to its work day in and day out in fair weather or foul, +regardless of the condition of the roads. This is shown every year in +the spectacular Glidden tours, otherwise the National Reliability +tests, in which a number of cars of various makes cover a scheduled +route of two or three thousand miles, in which are included all the +different kinds of abominations facetiously termed "roads." Other tests +without number are constantly being evolved to demonstrate the already +established fact that an automobile can do anything required of it. + +There was the New York to Paris race, for instance. Starting from New +York on February 12, 1908, when traveling was at its worst, and +arriving in Paris July 30, the winner floundered in snow, mud, sand, +and rocks, over mountain ranges and through swamps, in eighty-eight +days' running time for the 12,116 miles of land travel. That was a +demonstration of what an automobile can do that has never been +surpassed. Yet the Thomas car that did it was restored to its original +condition at a cost of only $90 after the trip was ended. + +Another remarkable demonstration of endurance was that given by a +Chalmers-Detroit touring car, which was driven 208 miles every day for +a hundred consecutive days over average roads. When the 20,800 miles +were finished, just to show that it still felt its oats, the car which +had already covered 6,000 miles of roads through Western States before +the test began, ran over to Pontiac, Michigan, and hauled the Mayor 26 +miles to Detroit. Then it was run into the shops and taken down for +examination. Being found to be in perfect condition except for the +valves, which required some trifling adjustment to take up the wear on +the valve stems, and for the piston rings, which needed setting out, it +was reassembled and started on another test. + +But, after all, the most wonderful thing about an automobile is its +almost infinite capacity to endure cruel and inhuman treatment. No +matter whether the brutality is inflicted through ignorance or +awkwardness, or, rarest of all, through unavoidable accident, the +effect on steel and wood and rubber is the same. Yet the auto stands +it. + +In brake tests it has been demonstrated that a car traveling at the +rate of eighteen miles an hour can be stopped in a distance of +twenty-five feet. The knowledge that this can be done in an emergency +is a great comfort, but it should be equally well known that it does +not improve the car to make all stops that way. Yet how often are +drivers seen tearing up to the curb at twenty miles an hour or more to +slam on the brakes at the last instant with a violence that nearly +causes the car to turn a somersault, bringing it to a standstill in +twenty feet, when there was no earthly reason why they should not have +used four times that distance. Or if occasion arises for slowing down +in a crowded street, the same kind of driver throws out his clutch and +applies the brakes with the throttle wide open so the motor can race +unhindered. + +With the greenhorn the automobile is long-suffering. There was a new +owner in Boston, whose name is mercifully suppressed, who took his +family out for a first ride. In going down a hill on which the clay was +slippery from recent rain it became necessary to turn out for a car +coming up. The new driver made the turn so successfully that he turned +clear over the edge of the embankment. Having nothing but air to +support it, the auto turned completely over without spilling a +passenger and landed right side up and on an even keel in a marsh +fifteen feet below. It was necessary to get a team to pull the car out +of the mud, but once on the solid road the new owner simply cranked 'er +up and went on his way rejoicing. + +Another new owner could not find the key to fasten one rear wheel on +the axle when he unloaded his auto from the car in which it had been +shipped from the factory. Nevertheless, he started up the motor +according to directions and traveled twelve miles with one wheel +driving. By this time the outraged motor was red hot. Whereupon the new +owner stopped at a farm-house and dashed several buckets of cold water +on it. Then he plugged around the country a week or so before he +decided to go to the agent to lodge a complaint that his derned car +didn't "pull" well. + +Still another new owner complained that his car did not give +satisfactory service. The agent was not at all surprised that it didn't +when, upon investigation, he found that the car had been driven five +hundred miles without a single drop of oil being applied to +transmission gear and rear axle. + +George Robertson, the racing driver, in tuning up for the Vanderbilt +race, went over the embankment at the Massapequa turn on Long Island at +the rate of sixty miles an hour. The car turned over twice, but finally +stopped right side up. Robertson received a cut on one arm in the +fracas, but neither he nor the car was so badly injured but what they +could get back to New York, a distance of twenty-five miles, under +their own power. There the steering wheel was repaired at a cost of $5, +the radiator at a cost of $3, and Robertson's arm at $2. + +But the prize-winner was the Fiat racing machine which threw a tire +while going fifty-five miles an hour on the Brighton Beach track. The +flying racer, now utterly uncontrollable, dashed through two fences, +one of them pretty substantial, cut down a tree eight inches in +diameter, and finally came to a stop right side up. E.H. Parker, the +driver, and his mechanician, were somewhat surprised, but otherwise +undamaged. They put on a new tire and in twenty minutes were back in +the race again. + +What the automobile can do in the way of cheapness was shown by the +cost tests, sanctioned and confirmed by the American Automobile +Association, between a Maxwell runabout and a horse and buggy. In seven +days, in all kinds of weather and over city and country roads, the +horse and buggy traveled 197 miles at a cost per passenger mile of +2-1/2 cents. The runabout made 457 miles in the same time, and the cost +per passenger mile was 1.8 cents. This covered operation, maintenance, +and depreciation, and, incidentally, all speed laws were observed. + +The Winton Company, which conducts a sort of private Automobile Humane +Society, offers prizes for chauffeurs who can show the greatest mileage +on the lowest charge for upkeep. The first prize winner in the contest +for the eight months ending June 30, 1909, drove his car 17,003 miles +with no expense whatever for up-keep. The second prize winner drove +11,000 miles at an outlay of thirty cents, while the third man drove +10,595 miles without any expense. This makes a total of 38,598 miles by +three cars at a cost of thirty cents for repairs. And all the cars were +two years old when the contest began. + +The moral for those who really want to see what an automobile can do is +obvious. + + +ISAAC F. MARCOSSON + +Every automobile that you see is a link in a chain of steel and power +which, if stretched out, would reach from New York to St. Louis. What +was considered a freak fifteen years ago, and a costly toy within the +present decade, is now a necessity in business and pleasure. A +mechanical Cinderella, once rejected, despised, and caricatured, has +become a princess. + +Few people realize the extent of her sway. Hers is perhaps the only +industry whose statistics of to-day are obsolete to-morrow, so rapid is +its growth. In 1895 the value of the few hundred cars produced in the +United States was one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; in 1910 the +year's output of approximately two hundred thousand machines was worth +two hundred and twenty-five millions. Behind them is a stalwart +business representing, with parts and accessory makers, an investment +of more than a billion and a quarter of dollars. Four hundred thousand +men, or more than five times the strength of our standing army, depend +upon it for a livelihood, and more than five millions of people are +touched or affected by it every day. + +Through its phenomenal expansion new industries have been created and +old ones enriched. It withstood panic and rode down depression; it has +destroyed the isolation of the farm and made society more intimate. +There is a car for every one hundred and sixty persons in the United +States; twenty-five States have factories; the _honk_ of the horn on +the American car is heard around the world. + +Such, in brief, is the miracle of the motor's advance. Its development +is a real epic of action and progress. + +Before going further, it might be well to ask why and how the +automobile has achieved such a remarkable development. One reason, +perhaps, is that it appeals to vanity and stirs the imagination. A man +likes to feel that by a simple pressure of the hand he can control a +ton of quivering metal. Besides, we live, work, and have our being in a +breathless age, into which rapid transit fits naturally. So universal +is the impress of the automobile that there are in reality but two +classes of people in the United States to-day--those who own motor-cars +and those who do not. + +It must be kept in mind, too, in analyzing the causes of the +automobile's amazing expansion, that it is the first real improvement +in individual transportation since the chariot rattled around the Roman +arena. The horse had his century-old day, but when the motor came man +traded him for a gas-engine. + +Characteristic of the pace at which the automobile has traveled to +success is the somewhat astonishing fact that while it took inventive +genius nearly fifty years to develop a locomotive that would run fifty +miles an hour on a specially built track, it has taken less than ten +years to perfect an automobile that will run the same distance in less +time on a common road. + +Since this business is so invested with human interest, let us go back +for a moment to its beginnings. Here you find all the properties, +accessories, and environment to fit the launching of a great drama. + +Toward the close of the precarious nineties, a few men wrestled with +the big vision of a horseless age. Down in Ohio and Indiana were Winton +and Haynes; Duryea was in Pennsylvania; over in Michigan were Olds, +Ford, Maxwell, with the brilliant Brush, dreaming mechanical dreams; in +New York Walker kept to the faith of the motor-car. + +At that time some of the giants of to-day were outside the motor fold. +Benjamin Briscoe was making radiators and fenders; W.C. Durant was +manufacturing buggies; Walter Flanders was selling machinery on the +road; Hugh Chalmers was making a great cash-register factory hum with +system; Fred W. Haines was struggling with the problem of developing a +successful gasoline engine. + +Scarcely anybody dreamed that man was on the threshold of a new era in +human progress that would revolutionize traffic and set a new mark for +American enterprise and achievement. And yet it was little more than +ten years ago. + +Those early years were years of experimentation, packed with mistakes +and changes. Few of the cars would run long or fast. It was inevitable +that the automobile should take its place in jest and joke. Hence the +comic era. With the development of the mechanism came the speed mania, +which hardly added to the machine's popularity. + +You must remember in this connection that the automobile was a new +thing with absolutely no precedent. The makers groped in the dark, and +every step cost something. New steels had to be welded; new machinery +made; a whole new engineering system had to be created. The model of +to-day was in the junk heap to-morrow. But just as curious instinct led +the hand of man to the silver heart of the Comstock Lode, so did +circumstance, destiny, and invention combine to point the way to the +commercially successful car. + +Out of the wreck, the chaos, and the failure of the struggling days +came a cheap and serviceable car that did not require a daily renewal +of its parts. It proved to be the pathfinder to motor popularity, for +with its appearance, early in this decade, the automobile began to find +itself. + +Now began the "shoe-string" period, the most picturesque in the whole +dazzling story of the automobile. There could be no god in the car +without gold. Here, then, was the situation--on the one hand was the +enthusiastic inventor; on the other was the conservative banker. + +"We will make four thousand machines this year," said the inventor. + +"Who will buy them?" asked the banker in amazement; he refused to lend +the capital that the inventor so sorely needed. + +The idea of selling four thousand motor-cars in a year seemed +incredible. Yet within ten years they were selling fifty times as many, +and were unable to supply the demand. No fabulous gold strike ever had +more episodes of quick wealth than this business. Here is an incident +that will show what was going on: + +A Detroit engineer, who had served his apprenticeship in an +electric-light plant, evolved a car which he believed would sell for a +popular price. He tried to interest capitalists in vain. Finally, he +fell in with a stove-manufacturer, who agreed to lend him twenty-seven +thousand dollars. + +"But I can't afford to be identified with your project," said the +backer, who feared ridicule for his hardihood. + +That small investment paid a dividend as high as thirteen hundred per +cent. in a year. To-day the name of the struggling inventor is known +wherever cars are run, and his output is measured by thousands. This, +in substance, is the story of Henry Ford. + +A young machinist worked in one of the first Detroit automobile +factories, earning three dollars and fifty cents a day. One day he said +to himself: "I can build a better car than we are making here." + +He did so, and the car succeeded. Then he went to his employers, and +said: "I am worth three thousand dollars a year." + +They did not think so, and he left, to go into business on his own +account. A manufacturer staked him at the start. Later, through a +friend, some Wall Street capital was interested. Such was the start of +J.D. Maxwell, whose interests to-day are merged in a company with a +capitalization of sixteen million dollars. + +A curly haired Vermont machinery salesman, who had sweated at the +lathe, became factory manager for a Detroit automobile-maker. His +genius for production and organization made him the wonder and the +admiration of the automobile world. He was making others rich. "If I +can do this for others, why can't I do it for myself?" he reasoned one +day. + +With a stake of ninety-five thousand dollars, supplemented with a +hundred thousand dollars which he borrowed from some bankers, he built +up a business that in twenty months sold for six millions. This was the +feat of Walter E. Flanders. I might cite others. The "shoe-strings" +became golden bands that bound men to fortune. + +All the while the years were speeding on, but not quite so fast as the +development of the automobile. The production of ten thousand cars in +1903 had leaped to nearly twenty thousand in 1905. The thirty-thousand +mark was passed in 1906. Bankers began to sit up, take notice, and feed +finance to this swelling industry, which had emerged from fadhood into +the definite, serious proportions of a great national business. + +The reign of the inventor-producer became menaced, because men of +trained and organized efficiency in other activities joined the ranks +of the motor-makers. With them there came a vivifying and broadening +influence that had much to do with giving assured permanency to the +industry. + +But other things had happened which contributed to the stability of the +automobile. One was the fact that automobile-selling, from the start, +had been on a strictly cash basis. Yet how many people save those in +the business, or who have bought cars, know this interesting fact? + +No automobile-buyer has credit for a minute, and John D. Rockefeller +and the humblest clerk with savings look alike to the seller. It was +one constructive result of those early haphazard days. Every car that +is shipped has a sight draft attached to the bill of lading, and the +consignee can not get his car until he has paid the draft. + +Why was the cash idea inaugurated? Simply because there was so much +risk in a credit transaction. If a man bought a car on thirty days' +time, and had a smash-up the day after he received it, there would be +little equity left behind the debt. The owner might well reason that it +was the car's fault, and refuse to pay. Besides, the early makers +needed money badly. In addition to the cash stipulation, they compelled +all the agents to make a good-sized deposit, and these deposits on +sales gave more than one struggling manufacturer his first working +capital. + +Another reason why the business developed so tremendously was that good +machines were produced. They had to be good--first, because of the +intense rivalry, and then because the motor-buyer became the best +informed buyer in the world. + +This reveals a striking fact that few people stop to consider. If a man +owns a cash-register or an adding-machine, it never occurs to him to +wonder how, or of what, it is made. But let him buy an automobile, and +ten minutes after it is in his possession he wants to know "what is +inside." He is like a boy with his first watch. Hence the +automobile-purchaser knows all about his car, and when he buys a second +one it is impossible to fool him. + +Perhaps the first real test of the stability of the automobile business +came with the panic of 1907. It resisted the inroads of depression more +than any other industry. Most of the big factories kept full working +hours, and the only reason why some others stopped was because of their +inability to secure currency for the pay-rolls. + +Still another significant thing has happened--more important, perhaps, +than all the rest of the changes that have crowded thick and fast upon +this leaping industry. It began to be plain that certain features must +be present in every first-class car. Hence came the standardization of +the mechanism, which is a big step forward. + +What is the result to-day? The automobile has become less of a +designing proposition and more of a manufacturing proposition; less of +an engineering problem and more of a factory problem. The whole, wide +throbbing range of the business is bending to one great end--to meet a +demand which, up to the present time, has exceeded the supply. + +You have only to go to Detroit to see this pulsating drama of +production in action. Here beats the heart of the motor world; here a +mighty army is evolving a vast industrial epic. + +Its banners are the smoke that trails from a hundred soaring stacks; +its music is the clang of a thousand forges and the rattle of a maze of +machinery. + +You feel this quickening life the moment you enter the city, for the +tang of its uplift is in the air. There is an automobile for every +fifty people in Detroit. The children on the streets know the name, +make, and model of nearly all the cars produced. You can stand in front +of the Hotel Pontchartrain, in the public square, and see the whole +automobile world chug by. + +Formerly our cities were motor-mad; now, as in the case of Detroit, +they are motor-made. Ten years ago the proudest boast of the Michigan +metropolis was that she produced more pills, paint, stoves, and +freight-cars than any other American city. The volume of the largest of +these industries did not exceed eighteen million dollars a year. To-day +she leads the world in automobile production. Her twenty-five factories +turn out, in a year, more than ninety thousand cars, or more than sixty +per cent, of the total output of the United States. These cars alone +would stretch from New York to Boston. + +But these figures do not convey any adequate idea of what the motor-car +has done for Detroit. You must go to the spot to feel the galvanic and +compelling force that the industry projects. The city is like a +mining-camp in the days of a fabulous strike. Instead of new mines, +there are new factories every day, and the record of this industrial +high tide is being made in brick, stone, and mortar. Energy, resource, +and ingenuity are being pushed to the last limit to take advantage of +the golden opportunity that the overwhelming demand for the automobile +has created. It is a thrilling and distinctively American spectacle, +and it makes one feel proud and glad to be part of the people who are +achieving it. + +Some of the new plants have risen almost overnight, and on every hand +there are miracles of rapid construction. The business is overshadowing +all other activities. A leading merchant of Detroit asked a contractor +the other day if he could do some work for him. On receiving a negative +reply, he asked the reason, whereupon the man said: "These automobile +people keep me so busy that I can't do anything else. I have a year's +work ahead now." + +A visit to any one of the great automobile factories reveals an +inspiring picture of cheerful labor. As you wind through the +wildernesses of lathes, hearing a swirling industry singing its iron +song of swelling progress, you find enthusiasm blending with organized +ability in a marvelous attack on work. Plants with a daily capacity of +forty cars turn out sixty. You can behold a complete machine produced +every three minutes; you can see the evolution from steel billet to +finished car in six days. Formerly it took five months. + +While the development of the automobile business is in itself a wonder +story, no less amazing is its effect on all the allied industries. On +rubber alone it has wrought a revolution. + +Ten years ago practically all the rubber that we imported went into +boots, shoes, hose, belting, and kindred products, The introduction of +rubber tires on horse-drawn vehicles only drew slightly on the supply. +To-day more than eighty per cent. of the crude article that reaches our +shores goes into automobile tires; and the biggest problem in the whole +automobile situation is not a question of steel and output, but a fear +that we may not be able to get enough rubber to shoe the expanding host +of cars. You have only to look at the change in price to get a hint of +the growth of this feature of the business. In 1900 crude rubber sold +at sixty-five cents a pound; now it brings about two dollars and fifty +cents. + +The facts about rubber have a peculiar human interest. When you sit +back comfortably in your smooth-running car, you may not realize that +the rubber in the tire that stands between you and the jolting of the +road was carried on the back of a native for a thousand miles out of +the Amazon jungle; that for every twenty pounds of the crude juice +brought in from the wilds, one human life has been sacrificed. No crop +is garnered with so great a hazard; none takes so merciless a toll. + +The natives who gather rubber in the wilds of Brazil, in the Congo, in +Ceylon, and elsewhere must combat disease, insects, war, flood, and a +hundred hardships. The harvest is slow and costly. Only the planting of +vast new areas in Ceylon has prevented what many believe would have +been a famine in rubber, and this would have been a serious check to +the development of the whole automobile business, for as yet no man has +found a substitute for it. In such a substitute, or in a puncture-proof +tire, lies one of the unplucked fortunes of the future. + +Meanwhile, it has started a speculative mania that almost rivals the +tulip excitement in Holland. In London alone hundreds of fortunes have +been made by daring plungers in a crude article which only a few years +ago was regarded as being absolutely outside the pale of the gambling +marketplace. + +Closely allied with the rubber end of the trade is the growing demand +for sea-island cotton, which is used in the tires. A few years ago we +used only fifty thousand yards a year; now we absorb ten million yards, +worth seven and one-half millions of dollars. + +Now take machinery, and you find that the automobile business has +created a whole new phase of this time-tried industry. In many +motor-cars there are three thousand parts. In view of the extraordinary +demand for cars, the machinery to produce them must be both swift and +accurate. The old standard tools and engine lathes were inadequate to +perform the service. The automobile-makers had to have new machinery, +and have it in a hurry. + +This demand came at a heaven-sent moment for the tool-manufacturers. +They were staggering under the depression of 1907, and many were +tottering toward failure. Here came, almost out of the blue sky, a +condition that at once taxed their brains, their resource, and their +energy, and at the same time rescued them from bankruptcy. + +You have only to go to any of the great factories in Detroit, in +Cleveland, in Indianapolis, in Buffalo, in Flint, or elsewhere to see +the result of this hurry call for tools and machinery. You find +automatics cutting the finest gears by the score, while one man +operates a whole battery; you see drills doing from fifteen to twenty +operations on a piston or a flywheel; you see an almost human machine +making seventeen holes at one time without observation or care. + +Through these machines run rivers of oil. From them streams a steady +line of parts. The whole scope of the tool business is broadened. In +the old days--which means, in the automobile business, about ten years +ago--an order for ten turret-lathes was considered large; now the +motor-makers order seventy-five at a time by telegraph, and do not +regard it as more than part of the day's work. + +The whole effect of this revolution in machinery is that time is saved, +labor is economized, and it is possible to achieve quantity production. +This, in turn, enables the large manufacturer to turn out a good car at +a moderate price. + +So with steel, where likewise wonders have been wrought. Ten years ago +the great mass of the steel output in this country was in structural +metal and rails. We had to import our fine alloy and carbon steels from +Germany and France. But the automobile-makers had to have the lightest +and toughest metal, and they did not want to import it. The result was +that our mills began to produce the finer quality to meet all motor +needs, and it is now one of the biggest items in the business. + +In half a dozen other allied industries you find the same expansion as +you saw in rubber, steel, and machinery. For instance, the +automobile-makers buy twenty million dollars' worth of leather a year. +So great is the demand that a composition substitute was created, which +is used on sixty per cent. of the tops. A new industry in colored +leather for upholstery has been evolved. + +Wood, too, has had the same kind of experience. Whole forest areas in +the South have been denuded for hickory for spokes. A few years ago, +aluminum was used on ash-trays and exposition souvenirs. Now hundreds +of thousands of pounds are employed each year for sheathing and casings +on motor-cars. + +No essential of the automobile, however, is of more importance than +gasoline. Here is the life-blood of the car. It is estimated that there +are to-day three hundred thousand cars in the United States that travel +fifteen miles a day. There are fifteen miles of travel in each gallon +of gasoline. This makes the daily consumption three hundred thousand +gallons. At an average price of fourteen cents a gallon, here is an +expenditure of forty-two thousand dollars for gasoline each day, or +more than fifteen million dollars a year. To this must be added the +excess used in cars that work longer and harder, and in the host of +taxicabs that are in business almost all the time, which will probably +swell the annual expenditure for gasoline well beyond twenty millions. + +As in the case of rubber, there is beginning to be some apprehension +about the future supply of high-power gasoline, so great is the demand. +Many students of this fuel problem believe that before many years there +will be substitutes in the shape of alcohol and kerosene. The +efficiency of alcohol has been proved in commercial trucks in New York, +but its present price is prohibitive for a general automobile fuel. If +denatured alcohol can be produced cheaply and on a large scale, it will +help to solve the problem. + +This brings us to the maker of parts and accessories, who has been +termed "the father of the automobile business." Without him, there +might be no such industry; for it was he that gave the early makers +credit and materials which enabled them to get their machines together. + +Ten years ago, the parts were all turned out in the ordinary forge and +machine-shops; to-day there are six hundred manufacturers of parts and +accessories, and their investment, including plants, is more than a +billion dollars. They employ a quarter of a million people. + +No one was more surprised at the growth of the automobile business than +the parts-makers themselves. A leading Detroit manufacturer summed it +up to me as follows: + +"Ten years ago I was in the machine-shop business, making gas engines. +Along came the demand for automobile parts. I thought it would be a +pretty good and profitable specialty for a little while, but I +developed my general business so as to have something to fall back on +when it ended. To-day my whole plant works night and day to fill +automobile orders, and we can't keep up with the demand." + +What was looked upon as the tail now wags the whole dog, and is the +dog. The volume of business is so large, and the interests concerned so +wide, that the manufacturers have their own organization, called the +Motor and Accessory Manufacturers. It includes one hundred and eighty +makers, whose capitalization is three hundred millions, and whose +investment is more than half a billion dollars. + +There still remain to be discussed two phases of the automobile which +have tremendous significance for the future of the industry--its +commercial adaptability and its relation with the farmer and the farm. +Let us consider the former first. + +No matter in what town you live, something has been delivered at your +door by a motor-driven wagon or truck. These vehicles at work to-day +are only the forerunners of what many conservative makers believe will +be the great body of the business. Here is a field that is as yet +practically unscratched. Now that the pleasure-car has practically been +standardized, vast energy will be concentrated on the development of +the truck. Wherever I went on a recent trip through the +automobile-making zone, I found that the manufacturers had been +experimenting in this direction, and were laying plans for a big output +within the next few years. This year's production will be about five +thousand vehicles. + +The ability and efficiency of the commercial truck for hard city work +are undisputed. It has had its test in New York, where traffic is dense +and most difficult to handle. Here, of course, are the ideal conditions +for the successful use of the motor-truck--which are a full load, a +long haul, and a good road. In a city, a horse vehicle can make only +about five miles an hour, while a motor-truck makes twelve miles, and +carries three times the load. + +Some idea of motor-truck possibilities in New York may be gained when +it is stated that there are nearly three hundred thousand licensed +carrying vehicles there. + +The amount of work to be got out of a motor-truck is astonishing. John +Wanamaker, for instance, gets a hundred miles of travel per day out of +some of his delivery-wagons. The average five-ton truck, in a ten-hour +day, can make eighty miles, and keep constantly at work. On the other +hand, a one-horse wagon can scarcely average half that mileage. + +Already your doctor whirls around in an automobile, and he can make +five times more visits than with a horse. So, too, with the contractor +and the builder. The drummer carries his samples in a gasoline +runabout, and, in addition to seeing twice the number of customers, he +can get their goodwill by taking them for a spin. Fire-engines, +hose-wagons, and police patrols race to conflagrations propelled by +motors, and get there quicker than ever before. + +Just as practically every great American activity ultimately harks back +to the soil and has its real root there, so, in a certain sense, may +the farmer be regarded as the backbone of the automobile business. We +have six million farms, and more than forty-five millions of our +population live on the farm, or in communities of less than four +thousand people. To these dwellers in the country the automobile has +already proved an agency for uplift, progress, and prosperity. + +It began as a pleasure-car; now it is a necessity on many farms. In +Kansas you can see it hitched up to the alfalfa-stacker; in Illinois +and Iowa it is harnessed up to the corn-cutter; in Indiana it runs the +dairy machinery. But these are slight compared with the other services +it performs for the farmer. + +For years the curse of farm life was its isolation. Its workers were +removed from the shops, the theaters, the libraries, and good schools. +More farm women went insane than any other class. The horses worked in +the fields all week, and had to rest on Sunday, so that the farmer +could not go to church. + +The automobile provided a vehicle not excessive in cost, and able to +provide pleasure for the farmer's whole family. It annihilated the +distance between town and country. Contact with his coworkers and +proximity to the market made the fanner more efficient and prosperous. +More than this, the motor-car has made the whole rural life more +attractive, and offers the one inducement that will keep the boy on the +farm. + +A hundred instances could be cited of the automobile's aid to the farm. +One will suffice. In times of harvest, when a big gang is at work, the +breakdown of a thresher will stop operations for a whole day, if the +farmer has to drive to town behind a horse to get needed parts. With an +automobile, he can dash in and out in a few hours. + +No one expects the automobile to replace the horse on the farm. But for +work that the horse can not do efficiently--such as the quick transit +of milk, butter, and garden products to the markets--the motor-car has +a future of wide utility. Incidentally, the farmer may be the first to +solve the fuel problem, for by means of cooperative distilling he could +produce denatured alcohol for almost nothing. + +The more you go into the study of the automobile on the farm, the +bigger becomes its significance. In the United States, four hundred and +twenty-five million acres of land are uncultivated, largely on account +of their inaccessibility. The motor-car will make them more accessible. +Through the wide use of automobiles by the farmer we shall get, in +time, that most valuable agency for prosperity, the good road. + +One emerges from an investigation of the automobile industry in wonder +over its expansion, and with admiration for the men behind it. +Clear-cut youth, fresh vigor, compelling action galvanize it. Yet what +seems to be a miracle at the end of less than ten years of growth may +only be the prelude to a vaster era. + +Meanwhile, each day records a new chapter of its triumphant progress. + + + + +THE DOWNFALL OF DIAZ + +MEXICO PLUNGES INTO REVOLUTION + +A.D. 1911 + +MRS. E.A. TWEEDIE + +DOLORES BUTTERFIELD + +On May 25, 1911, Porfirio Diaz resigned the Presidency of Mexico, under +the compulsion of a revolution headed by Francisco Madero. This act +ended an era, the Diaz era, in Mexican history. Diaz had been President +for over thirty years. He had found Mexico an impoverished barbarism; +he raised it to be a wealthy and at least outwardly civilized state. +Some able critics, even among Europeans, had declared that Diaz, "the +grand old man," was the greatest leader of the past century. All +Mexicans honored him. But unfortunately for his fame he grew too old: +he outlived his wisdom and his power. + +Of the downfall of such a man there must naturally be conflicting +views. We give here the story from the pathetic Diaz side by a +well-known English writer upon Mexico, Mrs. Tweedie. Then we give the +warm picture of Madero's heroic struggle against tyranny, as it +appeared to Dolores Butterfield, a young lady brought up in Mexico, but +driven thence by the more recent revolution which resulted in Madero's +death. + +MRS. E. A. TWEEDIE + +Diaz has been hurled from power in his eighty-first year! The rising +against him in Mexico has the character of a national revolutionary +movement, the aims of which, perhaps, Madero himself has not clearly +understood. One thing the nation wanted apparently was the stamping out +of what the party considered political immorality, fostered and abetted +by the acts of what they called the _grupo cientifico_, or grafters, +and by the policy of the Minister of Finance, Limantour, in particular. +Therefore, when Madero stood up as the chieftain of the revolution, +inscribing on his banner the redress of this grievance, with some +Utopias, the people followed him without stopping to measure his +capabilities. His promises were enough. + +It is one of the saddest episodes in the history of great rulers, and +at the same time one of the most important in the history of a country. +Mexico, which has pushed so brilliantly ahead in finance, industry, and +agriculture, has still lagged behind in political development. The man +who made a great nation out of half-breeds and chaos was so sure of his +own position, his own strength, and I may say his own motives, that he +did not encourage antagonism at the polls, and "free voting" remained a +name only. + +A German author has said that all rulers become obsessed with the +passion of rule. They lose their balance, clearness of sight, judgment, +and only desire to rule, rule, _rule!_ He was able to quote many +examples. I thought of him and his theory when following, as closely as +one is able to do six thousand miles away, the recent course of events +in Mexico. Would he in a new edition add General Diaz to his list? + +Diaz has reached a great age. On the 15th September, 1910, he +celebrated his eightieth birthday. He has ruled Mexico, with one brief +interval of four years, since 1876. For thirty-five years, therefore, +with one short break, the country has known no other President; and +Madero, who has laid him low, was a man more or less put into office by +Diaz himself. A new generation of Mexicans has grown up under the rule +of Diaz. Time after time he has been reelected with unanimity, no other +candidate being nominated--nor even suggested. Is it to be wondered at +that, by the time his seventh term expired in 1910, he should have at +last come to regard himself as indispensable? + +That he was so persuaded permits of no doubt. "He would remain in +office so long as he thought Mexico required his services," he said in +the course of the first abortive negotiations for peace--before the +capture of the town of Juarez by the insurrectionists, and the +surrender of the Republican troops under General Navarro took the +actual settlement out of his hand. + +It was a fatal mistake, and it has shrouded in deep gloom the close of +a career of unexampled brilliancy, both in war and statesmanship. The +Spanish-American Republics have produced no man who will compare with +Porfirio Diaz. Simon Bolivar for years fought the decaying power of +Spain, and to him what are now the Republics of Colombia, Venezuela, +Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru owe their liberation. But Diaz has been more +than a soldier, and his great achievement in the redemption of modern +Mexico from bankruptcy and general decay completely overshadows his +successes in the field during the ceaseless struggles of his earlier +years. + +Had he retired in 1910 he would have done so with honor, and every +hostile voice in Mexico would have been stilled. All would have been +forgotten in remembrance of the immense debt that his country owed him. +He would have stood out as the great historic figure of a glorious era +in the national annals. It was the first time he had broken his word +with the people. Staying too long, he has been driven from office by a +movement of ideas, the strength of which it is evident that he never +realized until too late, and by a rebellion that in the days of his +vigorous autocracy he would have stamped out with his heel. + +It is a sad picture to look on, especially when I turn to that other +one of the simple palace-home in Mexico City, with the fine old +warrior, with dilating nostrils like a horse at the covert side, his +face aglow, his eyes flashing as he told me of bygone battles, escapes +from imprisonment and death, and deeds of wild adventure and romance. +These inspiriting recollections he freely gave me for the "authentic +biography" which he had given me permission to write. Up to that time +he had refused that favor to every one; and in spite of his grateful +recognition of the "honesty and veracity" of the volume I had written +about his country five years before, he was long in giving his consent. +"I have only done what I thought right," he said, "and it is my country +and my ministers who have really made Mexico what she is." In the days +of his strength, corruption was unknown in his country, and even now no +finger can point at him. He retires a poor man, to live on his wife's +little fortune. Diaz had the right to be egotistical, but he was +modesty itself. + +Yet he had risen from a barefoot lad of humble birth and little +education to the dictatorship of one of the most turbulent states in +the world, and this by powers of statesmanship for which, owing to want +of opportunity, he had shown no aptitude before he reached middle life. +Before that he seemed but a good soldier, true as steel, brave, hardy, +resourceful in the field, and nothing more. It was not until he was +actually President, when nearing fifty, that his gifts for government +asserted themselves. Such late developments are rare, although Cromwell +was forty before he made any mark. Chatham, again, was fifty before he +was heard outside his own circle, and yet a few years, barely months, +later, the world was at his feet. + +It is rather the cry nowadays that men's best work is done before +forty; and even their good work no later than sixty; but among endless +exceptions General Diaz must take high rank. + +His real career began at forty-six. Up to that time he had been an +officer in a somewhat disorganized army, and his ambition at the outset +never soared beyond a colonelcy. + +He was nearly fifty when he entered Mexico City at the head of a +revolutionary force. Romance and adventure were behind him, although +personal peril still dogged his steps. He had to forget that he was a +soldier, and to be born again as leader and politician, a maker and not +a destroyer. In that capacity he had absolutely no experience of public +affairs, but such as he had gained in a smaller way in early years +spent in Oaxaca. Yet Diaz became a ruler, and a diplomat, and assumed +the courtly manners of a prince. + +Paradoxical as it may seem, his overthrow is the result of a revolution +mainly pacific in its nature, and in substance a revolt of public +feeling against abuses that have become stereotyped in the system of +government by the too long domination of one masterful will. The +military rising was but its head, spitting fire. Behind was an immense +body of opinion, in favor of effecting the retirement of the President +by peaceful means, and with all honor to one who had served his country +well. + +In 1908 General Diaz had stated frankly, in an interview granted to an +American journalist, that he was enjoying his last term of office, and +at its expiration would spend his remaining years in private life. +There is no reason to doubt that this assurance represented his settled +intention. The announcement was extensively published in the Mexican +Press, and was never contradicted by the President himself. Then rumors +gained currency that Diaz was not unprepared to accept nomination for +the Presidency for an eighth term. The statement was at first +discredited, then repeated without contradiction in a manner that could +hardly have failed to excite alarm. At length came the fatal +announcement that the President would stand again. + +Hardly had the bell of Independence ceased ringing out in joyous clang +on September 15, 1910, in celebration of free Mexico's centenary, +hardly had the gorgeous _fêtes_ for the President's birthday or the +homage paid him by the whole world run their course, when the spark of +discontent became a blaze. He had mistaken the respect and regard of +his people for an invitation to remain in office. + +By the time the Presidential election approached, signs of agitation +had increased. A political party rose in direct hostility, not so much +to General Diaz himself or Limantour, as to the Vice-President, who, as +next in the succession, in the event of the demise of the President, +would have been able to rivet the autocracy on the country. + +Corral was the Vice-President. What little I saw of him I liked; but +then he had hardly taken up the reins of power. He did not make himself +popular; in fact, a large part of the country hated and distrusted him. +But for that, probably nothing would have been heard of the troubles +which ensued. As the party anxious for the introduction of new blood +into the Government increased in vigor, the people showed themselves +more and more determined to get rid of Corral. They wanted a younger +man than Diaz in the President's chair: they wanted, above all, the +prospect of a better successor. + +But the official group whose interests depended on the maintenance of +the Diaz régime was, for the moment, too powerful, and it succeeded in +inducing the President to accept reelection. + +To the general hatred of this group on the part of the nation, Madero +owed his success. He was almost unknown, but the malcontents were +determined to act, and to act at once, and they could not afford to +pick and choose for a leader. As a proof that the country thought less +of the democratic principles invoked than of the destruction of the +official "cientificos," may be cited the fact that it at first placed +all its trust and confidence in General Reyes, who is just as despotic +and autocratic as General Diaz, but has at the same time, to them, a +redeeming quality--his avowed opposition to the gang. Reyes refused to +head the insurrection, and it was then Madero or nobody. + +In the spring of 1910 Francis I. Madero came to the front. He was a man +of education, of fortune, of courage, and a lawyer by profession. He +had written a book entitled the _Presidential Succession_, and although +without experience in the management of State affairs, he had shown +that he had the courage of his convictions. He consented to stand +against Diaz in a contest for the Presidency of the Republic. + +The malcontents had found their leader. Madero not only accepted +nomination, but began an active campaign, making speeches against the +Diaz administration, denouncing abuses, more especially the retention +of office by the Vice-President and the tactics of Limantour, and +showing the people that as General Diaz was then eighty years of age, +and his new term would not expire until 1916, Corral would almost +certainly succeed to the inheritance of the Diaz regime. + +Energetic, courageous, and outspoken, Madero had full command of the +phraseology of the demagog. His only shortcoming in the eyes of his own +party was that he had not been persecuted by the Government. The +officials, alas, soon supplied this deficiency. A few days before the +Presidential election in July, 1910, when making a speech in Monterey, +Madero was arrested as a disturber of the peace and thrown into prison, +where he was kept until the close of the poll. + +The election resulted, as usual, in a triumphant majority for General +Diaz, though votes were recorded, even in the capital itself, for the +anti-reelectionist leader. + +As soon as opportunity offered, Madero escaped to the United States, +and from that vantage-ground kept up a correspondence with his friends +and partizans. Though the election had been held in July, the +inauguration of the President did not take place until December, 1910. +A fortnight before that date, a conspiracy, at which Madero probably +connived, was discovered in Puebla. The first victim was the Chief of +the Police at Puebla. He was shot dead by a woman who at his knock had +opened the door of a house wherein the revolutionists were holding a +meeting. The revolution had begun. Risings took place in different +parts of the Republic, but were quickly quelled, with the exception of +one in the State of Chihuahua, where the rebels had a special grievance +against the all-powerful family of the great landowner, General +Terrazas. These large landed proprietors are a subject of hatred to the +new Socialist party. + +Trouble followed trouble in the north, which, be it remembered, runs to +a distance of over a thousand miles from Mexico City itself. But +nothing very serious occurred, until suddenly, in the early weeks of +1911, President Taft mobilized a force of 20,000 American troops to +watch the Mexican frontier. From that time events developed rapidly +till the end of the Diaz regime in May. One thing became clear, that +the revolution was rapidly making its way to victory, and that Diaz, +prostrate with an agonizing disease, an abscess of the jaw, was in no +condition to rally his disheartened followers in person. He saved his +honor, as the phrase goes, by a declaration that he would not retire +from office until peace was declared, and he kept his word. He was too +ill to leave his simple home in one of the chief streets of the city, +where he lived less ostentatiously than many of his fellow citizens, +but this did not prevent the mob from firing upon his home. On the +afternoon of May 25, 1911, he resigned, and Señor De La Barra, formerly +Minister at Washington, became provisional President until the next +election, fixed for October. + +Madero was the hero of the hour. He entered Mexico City in triumphal +procession, June 7, 1911. His entrance was preceded by the most severe +earthquake the capital had known in years. Many buildings were wrecked +and some hundreds of people killed. An arch of the National Palace +fell, one beneath which Diaz had often passed. + +Three days after signing his abdication, General Diaz was well enough +to leave Mexico City. In the early hours of the morning three trains +drew up filled with his own solders and friends, in the middle one of +which the ex-President, his wife, the clever and beautiful Carmelita, +Colonel Porfirio Diaz, his son, with his young wife, several children, +and their ten-days-old baby, were seated. Along the route the train +came upon a force of seven hundred rebels. A sharp encounter ensued. +The revolutionists left thirty dead upon the field; the escort, which +numbered but three hundred, lost only three men. The old fighting +spirit returned to the old lion, and, unarmed, the ex-President +descended from his car and took part in the engagement. He entered +Mexico City fighting, and he has left her shores with bullets ringing +in the air. This was but the second time that Diaz had left the land of +his birth. + +His work is now imperishable. Mexicans, I am sure, will regret the +pitiful circumstances under which his fall has come about, and he will +live long in the hearts of his countrymen. Nothing can alter the fact +that he made modern Mexico. It was no easy task; the Mexicans are a +cross-breed of Spaniards and countless Indian tribes. There are still +half a million Aztecs. Diaz has given this strange mixed race +education, and a high order of education for such a people; he has +brought his country to a financial position in which the Government +can, or could, borrow all the money it wanted at four per cent. +Railways intersect the land in every direction. The largest financial +interests are American, the next in importance are British. Except +Germany, no other foreign country has much capital invested in Mexico. + +Thus closes one of the most wild and romantic episodes of the world's +history--a peasant boy who became a soldier, a general who became a +President--a President who became a great autocrat, who raised a +country from obscurity to greatness, and was finally driven from power +by the very people he had educated, and to whom he had brought vast +blessings. + +The great Diaz in his eighty-first year has passed from power, the +power he used so well. Verily a moving spectacle from first to last. + +DOLORES BUTTERFIELD[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reproduced by permission from the _North American +Review_.] + +In contemplating the present situation in Mexico there is a tendency of +late to deplore the Madero revolution and the overthrow of Diaz, and to +overlook the fact that the Diaz regime itself not only made and forced, +by its political abuses, the revolution that overthrew it, but, by its +economic abuses, prepared the country for the anarchy now rife in it; +and also that it is the very same ring of men who surrounded Diaz and +finally rendered his rule unbearable who are now financing and +fomenting the present rebellion against a Government not in sympathy +with them nor subservient to their interests. + +Porfirio Diaz attained the presidency of Mexico thirty-five years ago +by overthrowing Lerdo de Tejada. He put an end to brigandage, which was +at that time wide-spread. Such bandits as he could not buy he +exterminated. His political opponents he also bought or exterminated, +so that without the slightest disturbance to the national peace he +could be unanimously reelected whenever his term expired. Out of +bankruptcy he established credit; he put up schools; he invited foreign +capital into his country and made it possible for foreign capital to go +in; and so he gradually built up a material progress which won him the +name of "nation-builder." There were railroads and telegraphs; the +cities were graced with beautiful edifices, with theaters and parks, +with electricity and asphalt. There was the appearance of a +civilization and progress, which, considering the time in which it was +compassed, was indeed marvelous. + +But all this was only a shell and a semblance. The economic condition +of the Mexican lower classes was not touched--the process of +"nation-building" seemed not to include them. In the shadow of a modern +civilization stalked poverty and ignorance worthy of the Middle Ages. +And it was notorious that in the capital city itself, under the very +eyes of the central Government, was where the very worst conditions and +the most glaring extremes of poverty and wealth were to be seen. On the +one hand, splendid _paseos_ lined with magnificent palaces, where, in +their automobiles, the pleasure-seeking women of the rich displayed +their raiment worth thousands of dollars; and, on the other, streets +filled with beggars, their clothes literally dropping off them in +filthy rags, reeking with the typhus which for years has been endemic +in the City of Mexico. + +Let it be said to Diaz's credit that he did try, in a measure, at first +to better those conditions. Hence the public schools which, though +inadequate for the scattered rural population, have accomplished much +in the cities. He also attempted years ago a division of the lands, but +dropped it when he saw that the great landowners were stronger than he +and that to persist might cost him the Presidency. + +It was natural and inevitable that a Government in which there was +never any change or movement should stagnate and become corrupt. +Porfirio Diaz was not a President, but, in all save the name, an +absolute monarch, and inevitably there formed about his throne a cordon +of men as unpatriotic and self-interested as he may have been patriotic +and disinterested--as to a great extent he undeniably was. These men +were the Cientificos. + +The term is, of course, not their own. It was applied to them by the +Anti-reelectionists, meaning that they were scientific grafters and +exploiters. The full-fledged Cientifico was at once a tremendous +landholder and high government official. To illustrate, the land of the +State of Chihuahua is almost entirely owned by the Terrazas family. In +the days of Diaz, Don Luis Terrazas was always the governor, being +further reenforced by his relative, Enrique C. Creel, high in the Diaz +ministry. In Sonora the land was held by Ramon Corral, Luis Torres, and +Rafael Izabal. These three gentlemen, who were called "The Trinity," +used to rotate in the government of the state until Corral was made +vice-president, when Torres and Izabal took turn about until the death +of the latter shortly before the Madero revolution. In every state +there was either one perpetual governor or a combine of them. + +Thus in each state a small group of men were the absolute masters +politically, economically, and industrially. They made and unmade the +laws at their pleasure. For instance, Terrazas imposed a prohibitory +tax upon cattle which forced the small owners to dispose of their +stock, which he, being the only purchaser, bought at his own price, +after which he repealed the law. They adjusted taxation to suit +themselves, assessing their own huge estates at figures nothing short +of ridiculous, while levying heavily upon the small farmer, and +especially upon enterprise and improvements. They practised peonage, +though peonage is contrary to the Constitution of the Republic, to the +Federal laws, and, in many cases, to the laws of the separate states as +well. They drew public salaries for perverting the government to their +private benefit and enrichment; and as the dictator grew older and +surrendered to his satellites more and more of his once absolute power, +the conditions became so intolerable, and the tyranny and greed of the +Cientificos so shameless and unbridled (infinitely more so in the +southern than in the northern states), that it would have been a +reversal of the history of the world if there had been no revolution. + +In 1910 the aged Diaz declared his intention of resigning. Perhaps he +even intended to keep that promise when he made it; but if so, the +Cientificos, who knew that his prestige and the love of the nation for +him were their only shield, induced him to think better of it. The +strongest of the opposing parties was the Anti-reelectionist party. It +embodied the best elements and the best ideals of the country and from +the first was the one of which the Diaz regime was most afraid. + +Now by its very name this party was pledged to no reelection, and yet +it so far compromised with the regime as to nominate Diaz for +President, only repudiating Corral, who was odious to the entire +nation. However, the Cientificos saw that this was to be the entering +wedge, and they promptly prepared to crush the new political faction. +Anti-reelectionists were arrested right and left; their newspapers were +suppressed, the presses wrecked, and the editors thrown into prison. +But the party's blood was up. It did not dissolve. It did not nominate +Corral. Instead it struck Porfirio Diaz's name from its ticket and +tendered to Francisco Madero, Jr., not the vice-presidential but the +presidential nomination. The bare fact that he accepted it speaks +volumes for his courage. + +Francisco Madero was born October 4, 1873. He was educated from +childhood in the United States and Europe; and upon returning to his +country, imbued with the advanced ideas of the most broad-minded men of +the most enlightened countries in the world, it was perhaps only +natural that he should resent the conditions which he saw in his own +country. The Madero family owns great tracts of land in Coahuila, +besides properties in other states. Madero introduced modern methods +and modern machinery in the management of his estates. Already a +millionaire, he made more millions, at the same time doing much toward +the betterment of conditions for his own immediate dependents among the +lower class. + +Madero first attracted attention by writing _The Presidential +Succession in 1910_. The Cientifico clique laughed at him as a +visionary. Suddenly they awoke to the fact that his book, with its +calm, dispassionate logic and democratic tone, was doing them more harm +than a thousand soldiers, and they suppressed its publication. It was +the writing of this book that led to Madero's nomination for President +by the Anti-reelectionist party when every one else had failed it. + +Madero took the attitude that he was a presidential candidate in a free +republic and began what he called his democratic campaign. He went from +city to city, delivering speeches and laying his platform before the +people. He was called "the apostle of democracy," and the multitudes +followed him like an apostle indeed. But he did not carry out his +democratic campaign without sacrifice and risk. When he passed through +Hermosillo, Sonora, the hotel-keepers closed their-doors to him. +Torres, feudal lord of the state, had given out the necessary hint and +Madero, for all his millions, could find no apartments for himself and +his wife until a Spaniard--relying upon the fact of being a foreigner-- +offered them lodgings, "not wishing to lend himself to so ignoble an +intrigue." This was but one city of many. In all places he had the most +tremendous difficulty in renting halls for his addresses. Frequently he +was reduced to speaking in tumble-down sheds or mule-yards or vacant +lots, the local authorities often hiring rowdies to create disturbances +at his meetings. He was ridiculed, he was threatened, he was +persecuted, but he went on unafraid. + +Just before and during the elections every known Maderista, from Madero +down, was arrested on charges of "sedition." Things came to such a pass +that in the city where I lived some sixty prominent Maderistas were +arrested at two o'clock one morning without warrants and on no charge, +it being noteworthy that the men arrested were almost without exception +some of the best and most honorable men in the state. And this happened +at the same hour of the same day in every city in Mexico. But in spite +of the fact that many votes were lost to Madero through intimidation or +actual imprisonment, so strong a vote was registered for the Madero +electors that fraud was resorted to to cover his gains. The result of +the elections was that Diaz and Corral were _unanimously_ +reelected--the former for his eighth term and the latter for his +second. + +The Anti-reelectionists then appealed to Congress and the Senate to +annul the elections, alleging fraud and intimidation. Without the +slightest pretense of considering or investigating these charges +Congress and Senate--long the mouthpieces of Cientificismo--ratified +the elections as just and legal. Every peaceful measure to bring about +justice in the elections and insure the free expression of the nation's +will was now exhausted. The only recourse left to the people by the +Cientifico regime was war. Their leader at the polls became their +leader in the preparations for that war. + +In the midst of this riot of tyranny, while the nation yet seethed with +indignation at the outrageous electoral farce imposed upon it, the +first Centennial of Mexican independence was being celebrated before +the foreign diplomats with unprecedented pomp and display. The +Anti-reelectionists declared that Liberty was dead and that instead of +celebrating they were going to don deep mourning. They were thus a mark +for all manner of persecutions from petty annoyances to the most +unprovoked armed attacks. Some students were fired upon by troops while +they were carrying wreaths to the monument of the boy heroes of +Chapultepec; a young lawyer was arrested for making a speech beneath +the statue of Juarez; and in Tlaxcala a procession of unarmed working +men was fired upon and ridden down by _rurales_, several men and a +woman being killed. Consecrating hypocritical hymns to liberty that did +not exist and heaping with wreaths the tombs and monuments of the +heroes of Mexico, while violating all the ideals for which those heroes +died, drunk with the power they had wielded so long, the Cientificos +pressed blindly on, following the path that Privilege has taken since +the beginning of history and which has only one end. + +These are some of the causes and circumstances that made the revolution +of 1910-11--not all of them, for there must be remembered in addition +the Yaqui slave traffic, the contract-labor system of the great +southern haciendas, and a dozen other iniquities, greater and lesser, +which also contributed to precipitating the revolt. It was fortunate +that that revolt was captained by a man of Francisco Madero's _type_--a +man who knew how to win the world's sympathy for his cause and how to +make his subordinates merit that sympathy by their observance of the +rules of civilized warfare. + +The actual armed contention of the Madero revolution was singularly +brief, culminating in the capture of Ciudad Juarez, which was followed +by the resignation of Diaz and Corral. There can be no doubt that the +dictatorship could have held together for a considerable time longer +and that Diaz surrendered before he actually had to. But he could +probably see by this time that it was inevitable in any case, and he +was willing to sacrifice his personal pride and ambition sooner than +necessary to avoid bloodshed in Mexico if he could. And also he had it +upon his conscience, and it was brought home to him by the mobs outside +his palace, that he was not the constitutional President of Mexico, but +the tool of the betrayers of her Constitution. That he had been +shamelessly deceived and played upon by the impassable cordon of +Cientificos about him is easy to judge. His message of resignation was +one to touch any heart, combining pathos with absolute dignity. + +The resignation of Diaz and Corral was taken by many to signify the +complete surrender of the old régime and the triumph of the revolution. +Indeed, for the moment it so appeared. But although the Cientificos +were ousted from direct political control, their wealth and power and +the tremendous machinery of their domination were still to be contended +with before the revolution could follow up its political success with +the economic reforms which were its real object. + +Madero had pledged himself primarily to the division of the lands. He +realized that only by the abolition of the landed aristocracy, and an +equitable distribution among moderate holders for active development of +the huge estates, held idle in great part or worked by peons, could the +progress and prosperity of the nation be put upon a solid basis. He +knew exactly what the remedy was and, though a landed aristocrat +himself by birth and inheritance, was not afraid of it. + +As soon as he was elected to the presidency he set a committee of +competent, accredited engineers to work appraising property values in +the different states, and great tracts of hundreds of thousands and +millions of acres, previously assessed at half as many thousands as +they were worth millions, were revalued and reassessed at their true +inherent value. The _haciendados_ raised a frightful cry. They tried +threats, intrigue, and bribery. It was useless; the revaluation went +on. The new administration reclaimed as national property all that it +could of the _terrenos baldios_, or public lands, which under Diaz had +been rapidly merging into the great estates. It established a +government bank for the purpose of making loans on easy terms, and thus +assisting the poor to take up and work these public lands in small +parcels. Even before becoming President, Madero had advised the working +men to organize and demand a living wage, which they did. He attacked +the lotteries, the bull-fights, the terrible pulque trust, the +unbridled traffic of which, more than any other one factor, has +contributed to the degradation of the lower classes. He began to extend +the public-school system. + +From the first the Cientificos hampered and impeded him. To foment a +counter-revolution they took advantage of the fact that in various +parts of the country there were disorderly bands of armed men +committing numerous depredations. These men had risen up in the shadow +of the Maderista revolution, and at its close, instead of laying down +their arms, they devoted themselves to the looting of ranches and +ungarrisoned isolated towns. Of these brigands--for they were neither +more nor less, whatever they may have called themselves then or may +call themselves now--the most formidable was Emiliano Zapata. His +alleged reason for continuing in arms after the surrender of the +dictatorship was that his men had not been paid for their services. +President De la Barra paid them, but their brigandage continued. And at +the most critical moment Pascual Orozco, Jr., Madero's trusted +lieutenant, in command of the military forces of Chihuahua, issued--on +the heels of reiterated promises of fealty to the Government--a +_pronunciamiento_ in favor of the revolution and delivered the state +which had been entrusted to his keeping to the revolutionists, at whose +head he now placed himself. + +The new malcontents declared that Madero had betrayed the revolution, +and that they were going to overthrow him and themselves carry out the +promises he had made. This sounds heroic, noble, and patriotic, but +will not bear close inspection. In the first place, many of the +revolutionists with whom the new faction allied itself had been in arms +since before Madero was even elected--a trivial circumstance, however, +which did not seem to shake their logic. Moreover, as any honest, +fair-minded person must have recognized, the promises of Madero were +not such as he could fulfil with a wave of his hand or a stroke of his +pen. They were big promises and they required time and careful study +for their successful undertaking and the cooperation of the people at +large against the public enemies, whereas Madero was not given time nor +favorable circumstances nor the intelligent cooperation of any but a +small proportion of the population. + +As a matter of fact, Madero himself, far from overstating the benefits +of the revolution led by him or making unwise promises of a Utopia +impossible of realization, addressed these words to the Mexican people +at the close of that conflict: "You have won your political freedom, +but do not therefore suppose that your _economic_ and social liberty +can be won so suddenly. This can only be attained by an earnest and +sustained effort on the part of all classes of society." + +It is to be feared that for long years to come Mexico must stand judged +in the eyes of the world by the disgraceful and uncivilized conduct of +the various rebels, or so-called rebels, and simon-pure bandits who are +contributing to the revolt and running riot over the country; but there +is, nevertheless, in Mexico a class of people as educated, as refined, +as honorable as those existing anywhere. And these people--the +_obreros_ (skilled working men) and the professional middle class, as +well as the better elements of the laboring classes, are supporting +Madero--not all in the spirit of his personal adherents, but because +they realize the tremendous peril to Mexico of continued revolution. In +1911 the revolution was necessary--the peril had to be incurred, +because nothing but arms could move the existing despotism; but none of +the pretended principles of the revolution can now justify that peril +when the man attacked is the legal, constitutional, duly elected +President, overwhelmingly chosen by the people, and venomously turned +upon immediately following his election without being given even an +approach to a fair chance to prove himself. + +All the better elements of the country realize that Madero no longer +represents an individual or even a political administration. He +represents the civilization of Mexico struggling against the unreined +savagery of a population which has known no law but abject fear, and +having lost that fear and the restraint which it imposed upon it, +threatens to deliver Mexico to such a reign of anarchy, rapine, and +terror as would be without a parallel in modern history. He represents +the dignity and integrity of Mexico before the world. + +Whatever the outcome, whether it triumphs or fails, the new +administration, assailed on every side by an enemy as treacherous and +unscrupulous as it is powerful, and making a last stand--perhaps a vain +one--for Mexico's economic liberty and political independence, merits +the support and comprehension of all the progressive elements of the +world. + + + + +FALL OF THE ENGLISH HOUSE OF LORDS + +GREAT BRITAIN CHANGES HER CONSTITUTION BY RESTRICTING THE POWER OF THE +LORDS + +A.D. 1911 + +ARTHUR PONSONBY SYDNEY BROOKS CAPTAIN GEORGE SWINTON + +On August 10, 1911, the ancient British House of Lords gathered in +somber and resentful session and solemnly voted for the "Parliament +Bill," a measure which reduced their own importance in the government +to a mere shadow. This vote came as the climax of a five-year struggle. +The Lords have for generations been a Conservative body, holding back +every Liberal measure of importance in England. Of late years the +Liberal party has protested with ever-increasing vehemence against the +unfairness of this unbalanced system, by means of which the +Conservatives when elected to power by the people could legislate as +they pleased, whereas the Liberals, though they might carry elections +overwhelmingly, were yet blocked in all their chief purposes of +legislation. + +When the Liberals found themselves elected to power by a vast majority +in 1905, they were still seeking to get on peaceably with the Lords, +but this soon proved impossible. In January of 1910 the Liberals +deliberately adjourned Parliament and appealed to the people in a new +election. They were again returned to power, though by a reduced +majority; yet the Lords continued to oppose them. Again they appealed +to the people in December of 1910, this time with the distinct +announcement that if re-elected to authority they would pass the +"Parliament Bill" destroying the power of the Lords. In this third +election they were still upheld by the people. Hence when the Lords +resisted the Parliament Bill, King George stood ready to create as many +new Peers from the Liberal party as might be necessary to pass the +offensive bill through the House of Lords. It was in face of this +threat that the Lords yielded at last, and voted most unwillingly for +their own loss of power. + +Of this great step in the democratizing of England, we give three +characteristic British views--first, that of a well-known Liberal +member of Parliament, who naturally approves of it; secondly, that of a +fair-minded though despondent Conservative; and thirdly, that of a +rabid Conservative who can see nothing but shame, ruin, and the extreme +of wickedness in the change. He speaks in the tone of the "Die-hards," +the Peers who refused all surrender and held out to the last, raving at +their opponents, assailing them with curses and even with fists, and in +general aiding the rest of the world to realize that the manners of +some portion of the British Peerage needed reform quite as much as +their governmental privileges. + + +ARTHUR PONSONBY, M.P. + +A great and memorable struggle has ended with the passage of the +Parliament Bill into law. In the calm atmosphere of retrospect we may +now look back on the various stages of this prolonged conflict, from +its inception to its completion, and further, with the whole scene +before us, we may reflect on the wider meaning and real significance of +the victory which has been gained on behalf of democracy, freedom, and +popular self-government. + +In the progressive cause there can be no finality, no termination to +the combat, no truce, no rest. But we may fairly regard the conclusion +of this particular struggle as the achievement of a notable step in +advance and as the acquisition of territory that can not well be +recaptured. The admission of the Parliament Bill to the statute-book +marks an epoch and fills the hearts of those who are pursuing high +ideals in politics and sociology with great hopes for the future. The +long sequence of the events which have led up to this achievement has +not been smooth or without incident. There have been moments of +failure, of rebuff, and even of disaster. It would almost seem as if +the motive power which has carried the party of progress through the +storm and stress, and landed it in security, had been outside the +control of any one man or any set of men. Although distinguished men +have led and there have been many valiant workers in the field, a +movement that has extended over nearly a hundred years must have its +origin and energy deeper down than in any mere party policy. It is the +inevitable outcome of the steady but inexorable evolution of free +institutions among a liberty-loving people. + +In order, first of all, to trace the course of the actual controversy +as it has been carried on in the House of Commons and in the country, +it is not necessary to go further back than 1883. In that year the +Lords had rejected the Franchise Bill, and it was then that Mr. Bright, +in a speech at Leeds dealing with the deadlocks between the two Houses, +sketched a plan which was really the essence and origin of the +principle adopted in the Parliament Act that has just become law. The +Lords had rejected many Liberal measures before then; attempts had been +made to get round or overcome their opposition; but not till then was +any practical method formulated for dealing with the serious and +permanent obstruction to progressive legislation. Mr. Bright himself +had condemned the peers and declared that "their arrogance and class +selfishness had long been at war with the highest interests of the +nation," and now he advocated a specific remedy, which he declared +would be obtained by "limiting the veto which the House of Lords +exercises over the proceedings of the House of Commons." The actual +plan was that a Bill rejected by the Lords should be sent up to them +again, "but when the Bill came down to the House of Commons in the +second session, and the Commons would not agree to the amendments of +the Lords, then the Lords should be bound to accept the Bill." This +method of procedure, it will be seen, was more expeditious and drastic +than the scheme in the Parliament Act. + +Mr. Chamberlain joined vigorously in the campaign against the Peers. +Telling passages from his speeches are quoted to this day, such as when +he declared that "the House of Lords had never contributed one iota to +popular liberty and popular freedom, or done anything to advance the +common weal," but "had protected every abuse and sheltered every +privilege." + +No further mention of the Bright scheme was made for some time. Six +years of Conservative rule (1886-1892) diverted the attention of +Liberals as a party in opposition to other matters, and the Lords +subsided, as they always have done in such periods, into an entirely +innocuous, negligible, and utterly useless adjunct of the Conservative +Government. + +In the brief period between 1892-1895, the animus against the House of +Lords was kindled afresh. Several Liberal Bills were mutilated or lost, +and the rejection of the second Home Rule Bill served to fan the flames +into a dangerous blaze. The Bright plan was recalled by Lord Morley. "I +think," he said (at Newcastle on May 21, 1894), "there will have to be +some definite attempt to carry out what Mr. Bright at the Leeds +Conference of 1883 suggested, by which the power of the House of +Lords--this non-elected, this non-representative, this hereditary, this +packed Tory Chamber--by which the veto of that body shall be strictly +limited." Mr. Gladstone, too, in his last speech in the House of +Commons on the wrecking amendments which the Lords had made on the +Parish Councils Bill, dwelt on the fundamental differences between the +two Houses, and said that "a state of things had been created which +could not continue," and declared it to be "a controversy which once +raised must go forward to an issue." + +But by far the most formidable, the most vigorous, the most animated, +and, at the time, apparently sincere attack was contained in a series +of speeches delivered in 1894 by Lord Rosebery, who was then in a +position of responsibility as leader of the Liberal party. If, as +subsequent events have shown, he was unmoved by the underlying +principle and cause for which his eloquent pleading stood, anyhow we +must believe he was deeply impressed by the prospect of his personal +ambition as the leader of a party being thwarted by the contemptuous +action of an irresponsible body. His words, however, stand, and have +been quoted again and again as the most effective attack against the +partizan nature of the Second Chamber:--"What I complain of in the +House of Lords is that during the tenure of one Government it is a +Second Chamber of an inexorable kind, but while another Government is +in, it is no Second Chamber at all... Therefore the result, the effect +of the House of Lords as it at present stands, is this, that in one +case it acts as a Court of Appeal, and a packed Court of Appeal, +against the Liberal party, while in the other case, the case of the +Conservative Government, it acts not as a Second Chamber at all. In the +one case we have the two Chambers under a Liberal Government, under a +Conservative Government we have a single Chamber. Therefore, I say, we +are face to face with a great difficulty, a great danger, a great peril +to the State." So vehement and repeated were Lord Rosebery's +denunciations that grave anxiety is said to have been caused in the +highest quarters. + +But for the next ten years (1895-1905) the Conservatives were in +office, and again it was impossible to bring the matter to a head, +though the past was not forgotten. When the Liberals were returned in +1906 with their colossal majority, every Liberal was well aware that +before long the same trouble would inevitably arise, and that a +settlement of the question could not be long delayed. The record of the +House of Lords' activities during the last five years has been so +indelibly impressed on the public mind that only a very brief +recapitulation of events is necessary. + +At the outset their action was tentative. This was shown by the +conferences and negotiations to arrive at a settlement on the Education +Bill, which was the first Liberal measure in 1906. But these broke +down, and defiance was found to be completely successful. Mr. Balfour, +the leader of the Conservative party, realized that although he was in +a small minority in the House of Commons, yet he could still control +legislation, and when he saw how effectively the destructive weapon of +the veto could be used he became bolder, and, as with all vicious +habits, increased indulgence encouraged appetite. Had Mr. Balfour +played his trump-card--the Lords' veto--with greater foresight and +restraint, it may safely be said that the House of Lords might have +continued for another generation, or, at any rate, for another decade, +with its authority unimpaired, though sooner or later it was bound to +abuse its power; but the temptation was too great, and Mr. Balfour +became reckless. + +The three crucial mistakes on the part of the Opposition from the point +of view of pure tactics were: First, the destruction of the Education +Bill of 1906. In view of the historic attitude of the Lords to all +questions of religious freedom and general enlightenment, it was not +surprising that they should stand in the way of a greater equality of +opportunity for all denominations in matters of education. Six times +between 1838 and 1857 they rejected Bills for removing Jewish +disabilities; three times between 1858 and 1869 they vetoed the +abolition of Church Rates. For thirty-six years (1835-1871) the +admission of Nonconformists to the universities by the abolition of +tests was delayed by them. It was only to be expected, therefore, that +they would be deaf to the popular outcry that had been caused by the +Balfour Education Bill of 1902. But in the very first session of the +Parliament in which the Government had been returned to power by the +immense majority of 354, that they should immediately show their teeth +and claws was, from their own point of view, as events proved, a vital +error. Their second mistake was the rejection in 1908 by a body of +Peers at Lansdowne House of the Licensing Bill, which had occupied many +weeks of the time of the House of Commons. This was rightly regarded as +a gratuitous insult to the House of elected representatives. Finally, +their culminating act of folly was the rejection of the Budget in 1909. +It was an outrageous breach of acknowledged constitutional practise, +which alienated from them a large body of moderate opinion. In addition +to these three notable measures there were, of course, a number of +other Bills on land, electoral, and social reform that were either +mutilated or thrown out during this period. How could any politician in +his senses suppose that a party who possessed any degree of confidence +in the country would tamely submit to treatment such as this? While the +Lords proceeded light-heartedly with their wrecking tactics, the +Liberal Government slowly and cautiously, but with great deliberation, +took action step by step. A provocative move on the part of the Lords +was met each time by a counter-move, and thus gradually the final and +decisive phase of the dispute was reached. + +After the loss of the Education Bill of 1906, the first note of warning +was sounded by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. "The resources of the +House of Commons," he declared, "are not exhausted, and I say with +conviction that a way must be found, and a way will be found, by which +the will of the people expressed through their elected representatives +in this House will be made to prevail." + +The first mention of the subject in a King's Speech occurred in March, +1907, when this significant phrase was used: "Serious questions +affecting the working of our party system have arisen from unfortunate +differences between the two Houses. My Ministers have this important +subject under consideration with a view to the solution of the +difficulty." + +On June 24, 1907, the matter was first definitely brought before the +House. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman moved that "in order to give effect +to the will of the people as expressed by their elected +representatives, it is necessary that the power of the other House to +alter or reject Bills passed by this House should be so restricted by +law as to secure that within the limits of a single Parliament the +final decision of the Commons shall prevail." To the evident surprize +of the Opposition he sketched a definite plan for curtailing the veto +of the House of Lords. This was followed in July by the introduction of +resolutions laying down in full detail the exact procedure. In his +statement Sir Henry made it very clear that the issue was confined to +the relations between the two Houses:--"Let me point out that the plan +which I have sketched to the House does not in the least preclude or +prejudice any proposals which may be made for the reform of the House +of Lords. The constitution and composition of the House of Lords is a +question entirely independent of my subject. My resolution has nothing +to do with the relations of the two Houses to the Crown, but only with +the relations of the two Houses to each other." + +In 1908, Mr. Asquith became Prime Minister, but no further action was +taken. On the rejection of the Licensing Bill, however, he showed that +the Government were fully aware of the extreme gravity of the question, +but intended to choose their own time to deal with it. Speaking at the +National Liberal Club in December, he said: "The question I want to put +to you and to my fellow Liberals outside is this: Is this state of +things to continue? We say that it must be brought to an end, and I +invite the Liberal party to-night to treat the veto of the House of +Lords as the dominating issue in politics--the dominant issue, because +in the long run it overshadows and absorbs every other." When pressed +on the Address at the beginning of the following session by his +supporters, who were impatient for action, he explained the position of +the Government: "I repeat we have no intention to shirk or postpone the +issue we have raised.... I can give complete assurance that at the +earliest possible moment consistent with the discharge by this +Parliament of the obligations I have indicated, the issue will be +presented and submitted to the country." + +The rejection of the Budget in 1909 led to a general election, in which +the Government's method of dealing with the Lords was the main issue. +The Liberals were returned again, but when the King's Speech was read +some confusion was caused by the distinct question of the relations +between the two Houses being coupled with a suggested reform of the +Second Chamber. This was a departure from the very clear and wise +policy of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, and had it been persisted in it +might have broken up the ranks of the Liberal party--very varied and +different opinions being held as to the constitution of a Second +Chamber. But the stronger course was adopted, and the resolutions +subsequently introduced and passed in the House of Commons dealt only +with the veto and were to form the preliminary to the introduction of +the Bill itself. + +Just as matters seemed about to result in a final settlement, King +Edward died, and a conference between the leaders of both parties was +set up to tide over the awkward interval. The conference was an +experiment doomed to failure, as the Liberals had nothing to give away +and compromise could only mean a sacrifice of principle. The House met +in November to wind up the business, and the Prime Minister announced +that an appeal would be made to the country on the single issue of the +Lords' veto, the specific proposals of the Government being placed +before the electorate. A Liberal Government was returned to power for +the third time in December, 1910, with practically the same majority as +in January. The Parliament Bill was introduced and passed in all its +stages through the House of Commons with large majorities. + +Meanwhile, the Conservatives made no attempt to defend either the +action or composition of the House of Lords, but adopted an apologetic +attitude. They agreed that the Second Chamber must be reformed, and +during the second general election in 1910 some of them declared for +the Referendum as a solution of the difficulty of deadlocks between the +two Houses. But there was an entire absence of sincerity about their +proposals, which were not thought out, but obviously only superficial +expedients hurriedly grasped at by a party in distress. Their reform +scheme, introduced by Lord Lansdowne, was revolutionary, and, at the +same time, fanciful and confused. It was ridiculed by their opponents, +and received with frigid disapproval by their supporters. Still, they +acted as if they were confident that in the long run they could ward +off the final blow. They were persuaded that the Liberal Government +would neither have the courage nor the power to accomplish their +purpose. "Why waste time over abstract resolutions?" asked Mr. +Balfour. "The Liberal party," he said, "has a perfect passion for +abstract resolutions"--and again, "it is quite obvious they do not mean +business." Even when the Bill itself was introduced, they still did not +believe that its passage through the House of Lords could be forced. +The opposition to the Bill was not so much due to hatred of the actual +provisions as fear of its consequences. The prospect of a Liberal +Government being able to pass measures which for long have been part of +their program, such as Home Rule, Welsh Disestablishment, or Electoral +Reform, exasperated the party who had hitherto been secured against the +passage of measures of capital importance introduced by their +opponents. The anti-Home Rule cry and the supposed dictatorship of the +Irish Nationalist leader were utilized to the full, and were useful +when constitutional and reasoned argument failed. At the same time as +much as possible was made of the composite character of the majority +supporting the Government. + +Throughout the latter part of the controversy there is little doubt +that the Conservatives would have been in a far stronger position had +they acted as a united party with a definite policy and a strong leader +ready at a moment's notice to form an alternative Government. But they +were deplorably led, they could agree on no policy, and their warmest +supporters in the Press and in the country were the first to admit that +the formation of an alternative Conservative Administration was +unthinkable. Nevertheless, there could be no rival for the leadership. +Mr. Balfour, aloof, indifferent, without enthusiasm, and without +convictions, although discredited in the country and harassed in his +attempts to save his party from Protection, remains in ability, +Parliamentary knowledge, experience and skill, head and shoulders above +his very mediocre band of colleagues in the House of Commons. + +The Bill went up to the House of Lords, where Lord Morley, with the +tact and skill of an experienced statesman and the unflinching firmness +of a lifelong Liberal, conducted it through a very rough career. The +Lords' amendments were destructive of the principle, and therefore +equivalent to rejection. But even a few days before those amendments +were returned to the Commons the Conservatives refused to believe that +the passage of the Bill in its original form was guaranteed. When at +last it was brought home to them that, if necessary, the King would be +advised to create a sufficient number of Peers to insure the passage of +the Bill into law, a howl of indignation went up. Scenes of confusion +and unmannerly exhibitions of temper took place in the House of +Commons. A party of revolt was formed among the Peers, and the Prime +Minister was branded as a traitor who was guilty of treason and whose +advice to the King in the words of the vote of censure was "a gross +violation of constitutional liberty." + +As a matter of fact, Mr. Asquith was adhering very strictly to the +letter and spirit of the Constitution. Lord Grey, who was confronted +with a similar problem in 1832, very truly said: "If a majority of this +House (House of Lords) is to have the power whenever they please of +opposing the declared and decided wishes both of the Crown and the +people without any means of modifying that power, then this country is +placed entirely under the influence of an uncontrollable oligarchy. I +say that if a majority of this House should have the power of acting +adversely to the Crown and the Commons, and was determined to exercise +that power without being liable to check or control, the Constitution +is completely altered, and the Government of the country is not a +limited monarchy; it is no longer, my Lords, the Crown, the Lords and +Commons, but a House of Lords--a separate oligarchy--governing +absolutely the others." + +Had the Prime Minister submitted to the Lords' dictation after two +general elections, in the second of which the verdict of the country +was taken admittedly and exclusively on the actual terms of the +Parliament Bill, he would have basely betrayed the Constitution in +acknowledging by his submission that the Peers were the supreme rulers +over the Crown and over the Commons, and could without check overrule +the declared expression of the people's will. The Lord Chancellor +pointed out the danger in one sentence. "This House alone in the +Constitution is to be free of all control." No doubt the creation of +ten Peers would not have caused such a commotion as the creation of +400, but the principle is precisely the same, and it was only the +magnitude of partizan bias in the Second Chamber that made the creation +of a large number necessary in the event of there being determined +opposition. It was a most necessary and salutary lesson for the Lords +that they should be shown, in as clear and pronounced a way as +possible, that the Constitution provided a check against their attempt +at despotism, just as the marked disapproval of the electorate, as +shown, for instance, in the remarkable series of by-elections in +1903-1905, or by a reverse at a general election, is the check provided +against the arbitrary or unpopular action of any Government. The Peers +were split up into two parties, those who accepted Lord Lansdowne's +pronouncement that, as they were no longer "free agents," there was +nothing left for them but to submit to the inevitable, and those who +desired to oppose the Bill to the last and force the creation of Peers. +The view of the latter section, led by Lord Halsbury, was an expression +of the wide-spread impatience and annoyance with Mr. Balfour's weak and +vacillating leadership. All the counting of heads and the guesses as to +how each Peer would behave afforded much material for sensational press +paragraphs and rather frivolous speculation and intrigue. The action of +any Peer in any circumstance is always supposed to be of national +importance. The vision of large numbers of active Peers was a perfect +feast for the public mind, at least so the newspapers thought. But in +reality the final outcry, the violent speeches, the sectional meetings, +the vituperation and passion were quite unreal and of very little +consequence. One way or the other, the passage of the Bill was secure. + +The Vote of Censure brought against the Government afforded the Prime +Minister a convenient opportunity of frankly taking the House into his +confidence. With the King's consent, he disclosed all the +communications, hitherto kept secret, which had passed between the +Sovereign and his Ministers. He rightly claimed that all the +transactions had been "correct, considerate, and constitutional." Mr. +Asquith's brilliant and sagacious leadership impressed even his +bitterest opponents. It only remained for the Lords not to insist on +their amendments. Unparalleled excitement attended their final +decision. The uncompromising opponents among the Unionist Peers, rather +than yield at the last moment, threw over Lord Lansdowne's leadership. +They were bent on forcing a creation of Peers, although Lord Morley +warned them of the consequences. "If we are beaten on this Bill +to-night," he declared, "then his Majesty will consent to such a +creation of Peers as will safeguard the measure against all possible +combinations in this House, and the creation will be prompt." In +numbers the "Die-hards," as they were called, were known to exceed a +hundred, and it was extremely doubtful right up to the actual moment +when the division was taken if the Government would receive the support +of a sufficient number of cross-bench Peers, Unionist Peers, and +Bishops to carry the Bill. After a heated debate, chiefly taken up by +violent recriminations between the two sections of the Opposition, the +Lords decided by a narrow majority of seventeen not to insist on their +amendments, and the Bill was passed and received the Royal assent. + +Now that the smoke has cleared off the field of battle, let us state in +a few sentences what the Parliament Bill which has caused all this +uproar really is. It is by no means unnecessary to do this, as those +who take a close interest in political events are, perhaps, unaware of +the incredible ignorance which exists as to the cause and essence of +the whole controversy, especially among that class of society who read +head-lines but not articles, who never attend political meetings, but +whose strong prejudices make them active and influential. The +Parliament Bill, or rather the Act, does not even place a Liberal +Government on an equal footing with a Unionist Government. It insures +that Liberal measures, if persisted in, may become law in the course of +two years in spite of the opposition of the Second Chamber. It lays +down once and for all that finance or money Bills can not be vetoed or +amended by the House of Lords--which, after all, is only an indorsement +of what was accepted till 1909 as the constitutional practise--and it +limits the duration of Parliament to five years. The preamble of the +Bill, which is regarded with a good deal of suspicion by advanced +Radicals, indicates that the reform of the Second Chamber is to be +undertaken subsequently. + +This is the bare record of the sequence of events in the Parliamentary +struggle between the two Houses, each supported by one of the two great +political parties. In the course of the controversy the real +significance of the conflict was liable to be hidden under the mass of +detail connected with constitutional law, constitutional and political +history, and Parliamentary procedure, which had to be quoted in +speeches on every platform and referred to repeatedly in debate. The +serious deadlock between the Lords and Commons was not a mere +inconvenience in the conduct of legislation, nor was it purely a +technical constitutional problem. The issue was not between the 670 +members of the House of Commons and the 620 members of the House of +Lords, nor between the Liberal Government and the Tory Opposition. The +full purport of the contest is broader and far more vital; it must be +sought deeper down in the wider sphere of our social and national life. +In a word, the rising tide of democracy has broken down another +barrier, and the privileges and presumptions of the aristocracy have +received a shattering blow. This aspect of the case is worth studying. + +There could be no conflict of any importance between the two Houses so +long as the Commons were practically nominees of the Lords. At the end +of the eighteenth century no fewer than 306 members of the House of +Commons were virtually returned by the influence of 160 persons, +landowners and boroughmongers, most of whom were members of the other +House. Things could work smoothly enough in these circumstances, as the +two Houses represented the same interests and the same class, and the +territorial aristocracy dominated without effort over a silent and +subservient people. + +The Reform Bill of 1832 was the real beginning of the change. By its +provisions not only was the franchise extended, but fifty-six rotten +boroughs, represented by 143 members, were swept away. There was +something more in this than electoral reform. It was the first step +toward alienation between the two Houses. There was a bitter fight at +the time because the Lords foresaw that if they once lost their hold +over the Commons the eventual results might be serious for them. It was +far more convenient to have a subordinate House of nominees than an +independent House of possible antagonists. The enfranchisement and +emancipation of the people once inaugurated, however, were destined to +proceed further. The introduction of free education served more than +anything, and is still serving, to create a self-conscious democracy +fully alive to its great responsibilities, for knowledge means courage +and strength. Changes in the industrial life of the country led to +organization among the workers and the formation of trade-unions. The +extension of local government brought to the front men of ability from +all classes of society, and the franchise became further extended at +intervals. The House of Commons, now completely free and independent, +kept in close touch with the real national awakening and reflected in +its membership the changes in social development. But the House of +Lords, unlike any other institution in the country, remained unchanged +and quite unaffected by outside circumstances. Its stagnation and +immobility naturally made it increasingly hostile to democratic +advance. The number of Liberal Peers or Peers who could remain Liberal +under social pressure gradually diminished. Friction caused by +diversity of aim and interest became consequently more and more +frequent. There were times of reaction, times of stagnation, times when +the national attention was diverted by wars, but the main trend taken +by the course of events was unalterable. The aristocracy, finding that +it was losing ground, made attempts to reenforce itself with commercial +and American wealth, thereby sacrificing the last traces of its old +distinction. Money might give power of a sort--a dangerous power in its +way--but not-power to recover the loss of political domination. The +South African War and the attempt to obliterate the resentment it +caused in the country by instituting a campaign for the revival of +Protection brought about the downfall of the Tory party. The electoral +_débâcle_ of 1906 was the consequence and served as a signal of alarm +in the easy-going Conservative world. Till then many who were +accustomed to hold the reins of government in their hands, as if by +right, had not fully realized that the control was slipping from them. +The cry went up that socialism and revolution were imminent. _The +Times_ quoted _The Clarion_. Old fogies shook their heads and declared +the country would be ruined and that a catastrophe was at hand. But it +was soon found, on the contrary, that the government of the country was +in the hands of men of great ability, enlightenment, and imagination; +trade prospered, social needs were more closely attended to, and, most +important of all, peace was maintained. The House of Commons had opened +its doors to men of moderate means, and the Labor party, consisting of +working men, miners, and those with first-hand knowledge of industrial +conditions, came into existence as an organized political force. + +The last six years have shown the desperate attempts of the ancient +order to strain every nerve against the inevitable, and to thwart and +destroy the projects and ambitions of those who represented the new +thought and the new life of the nation. Though apparently successful at +first, the rash action of the Chamber which still represented the +interest, privileges, and prejudices of the wealthier class and of +vested interests, only helped in the long run to hasten the day when +they were to be deprived of their most formidable weapon. They still +retain considerable power: their interests are guarded by one of the +political parties, and socially they hold undisputed sway. In an +amazing defense of the past action of the House of Lords, Lord +Lansdowne in 1906 said: "It is constantly assumed that the House of +Lords has always shown itself obstructive, reluctant, an opponent to +all useful measures for the amelioration of the condition of the people +of this island. Nothing is further from the truth. You will find that +in the past with which we are concerned the House of Lords has shown +itself not only tolerant of such measures but anxious to promote them +and to make them effectual to the best of its ability. _And that, I +believe, has been, and I am glad to think it, from time immemorial, the +attitude of what I suppose I may call the aristocracy toward the people +of this country_" The last sentence is a fair statement of their case. +The aristocracy are _not_ the people. They are by nature a superior +class which Providence or some unseen power has mercifully provided to +govern, to rule, and to dominate. They are kind, charitable, and +patronizing, and expect gratitude and subservience in return. As a +mid-Victorian writer puts it: "What one wants to see is a kind and +cordial condescension on the one side, and an equally cordial but still +respectful devotedness on the other." But these are voices from a time +that has passed. + +Democracy has many a fight before it. False ideals and faulty +educational systems may handicap its progress as much as the forces +that are avowedly arrayed against it. Its achievements may be arrested +by the discord of factions breaking up its ranks. Conceivably it may +have to face a severe conflict with a middle-class plutocracy. But +whatever trials democracy has to undergo it can no longer be subjected +to constant defeat at the hands of a constitutionally organized force +of hostile aristocratic opinion. At least, it may now secure expression +in legislation for its noblest ideals and its most cherished ambitions. +A check on progressive legislation is harmful to the national welfare, +especially when there is no check on the real danger of reaction. To +devise a Second Chamber which will be a check on reaction as well as on +so-called revolution is a problem for the future. For the time being, +therefore, the best security for the country against the perils of a +reactionary regime is to allow freer play to the forces of progress, +which only tend to become revolutionary when they are resisted and +suppressed. The curtailment of the veto of the Second Chamber fulfils +this purpose. Whatever further adjustment of the Constitution may be +effected in time to come, the door can no longer be closed persistently +against the wishes of the people when they entrust the work of +legislation to a Liberal Government. + + +SYDNEY BROOKS + +The first but by no means the last or most crucial stage of our +twentieth-century Revolution has now been completed; the old +Constitution, which was perhaps the most adaptable and convenient +system of government that the world has ever known, is definitely at an +end; the powers of an ancient Assembly have been truncated with a +violence that in any other land would have spelled barricades and +bloodshed long ago; and the road has been cleared, or partially +cleared, for developments that must profoundly affect, and that in all +probability will absolutely transform, the whole scheme of the British +State. + +Thus far, with their usual effective, good-humored, shortsighted common +sense, with few pauses for inquiry, and with a characteristically +indifferent grasp on the ultimate trend of things, have our politicians +brought us. Our politicians, I say, and not our people, because one of +the distinctive features of the Revolution so far is that it has been a +political rather than a popular movement. It did not originate in the +constituencies, but in the Cabinet; it was not forced upon the caucus +by an aroused and indignant country, but by the caucus upon the +country; nine-tenths of its momentum has been derived from above and +not from below; the true centers of excitement throughout its polite +and orderly progress have been the lobbies of the House and the +correspondence columns of _The Times;_ it was only at the last that the +urbanities of the struggle between the "Die-hards" and their fellow +Unionists furnished the public as a whole with material for a mild +sporting interest. When Roundheads and Cavaliers were lining up for the +battle of Edgehill a Warwickshire squire was observed between the +opposing forces placidly drawing the coverts for a fox. The British +people during the past twenty months have seemed more than once to +resemble that historic huntsman. They have answered the screaming +exhortations of the politicians with whispers of more than Delphic +ambiguity; they have gone unconcernedly about their pleasures and their +business, to all appearances unvexed by the din of Revolution in their +ears; they have presented the spectacle, more common in France than in +England, of a tranquil nation with agitated legislators. + +The Ministerial explanation of this lethargy and indifference is that +the people had no occasion to grow excited; their "mandate" was being +fulfilled, they were getting what they wanted, demonstrations were +superfluous. But no one who has read the history of the Reform Bill of +1832 or of the Chartist movement or who remembers the passions stirred +up by the Franchise agitation and the Home Rule struggle of the +eighties will swallow that explanation without mentally choking. + +The truth probably is, first, that the multiplication of cheap +distractions and enjoyments and of cheaper newspapers has not only +weakened the popular interest in politics, but has impaired that +faculty of concentrated and continuous thought which used to invest +affairs of State with an attractiveness not so greatly inferior to that +of football; secondly, that for the great masses of the democracy the +politics of bread and butter have completely ousted the politics of +ideas and abstractions; and thirdly, that the Constitutional issue was +precisely the kind of issue in which our people had had no previous +training, either actual or theoretical, and which found them therefore +without any intellectual preparation for its advent. Up till the end of +1909 we had always taken the Constitution for granted, and were for the +most part comfortably unaware that it even existed. We had never as a +nation, or never rather within living memory, troubled ourselves about +"theories of State," or whetted our minds on the fundamentals of +government. There is nothing in our educational curriculum that +corresponds with the _instruction civique_ of the French schools, nor +have we the privilege which the Americans enjoy of carrying a copy of +our organic Act of Government in our pockets, of reading it through in +twenty minutes, and of hearing it incessantly expounded in the +class-room and the Press, debated in the national legislature, and +interpreted by the highest judicial tribunal in the land. + +When, therefore, we were suddenly called upon to decide the infinitely +delicate problems of the place, powers, and composition of a Second +Chamber in our governing system, the task proved as bewildering as it +was unappetizing. Any nation which regarded its Constitution as a vital +and familiar instrument would have heavily resented so gross an +infraction of it as the Lords perpetrated in rejecting the 1909 Budget. +But our own electorate, so far from punishing the party responsible for +the outrage, sent them back to the House over a hundred stronger, a +result impossible in a country with any vivid sense, or any sense at +all, of Constitutional realities, and only possible in Great Britain +because the people adjudged the importance of the various issues +submitted to them by standards of their own, and placed the +Constitutional problem at the bottom, or near the bottom, of the list. +In no single constituency that I have ever heard of was the House of +Lords question the supreme and decisive factor at the election of +January, 1910. It deeply stirred the impartial intelligence of the +country, but it failed to move the average voter even in the towns, +while in the rural parts it fell unmistakably flat. + +Even at the election of December, 1910, when all other issues were +admittedly subordinate to the Constitutional issue, it was exceedingly +difficult to determine how far the stedfastness of the electorate to +the Liberal cause was due to a specific appreciation and approval of +the Parliament Bill and of all it involved, and how far it was an +expression of general distrust of the Unionists, of irritation with the +Lords, and of sympathy with the social and fiscal policies pursued by +the Coalition. That the Liberals were justified, by all the rules of +the party game, in treating the result of that election as, for all +political and Parliamentary purposes, a direct indorsement of their +proposals, may be freely granted. It was as near an approach to an _ad +hoc_ Referendum as we are ever likely to get under our present system. +Party exigencies, or at any rate party tactics, it is true, hurried on +the election before the country was prepared for it, before it had +recovered from the somnolence induced by the Conference, and before the +Opposition had time or opportunity to do more than sketch in their +alternative plan. But though the issue was incompletely presented, it +was undoubtedly the paramount issue put before the electorate, and the +Liberals were fairly entitled to claim that their policy in regard to +it had the backing of the majority of the voters of the United Kingdom. + +Whether, however, this backing represented a reasoned view of the +Constitutional points involved and of the position, prerogatives, and +organization of a Second Chamber in the framework of British +Government, whether it implied that our people were really interested +in and had deeply pondered the relative merits of the Single and Double +Chamber systems, is much more doubtful. "When he was told," said the +Duke of Northumberland on August 10th, "that the people of England were +very anxious to abolish the House of Lords, his reply was that they did +not understand the question, and did not care two brass farthings about +it." That perhaps is putting it somewhat too strongly. The country +within the last two years has unquestionably felt more vividly than +ever before the anomaly of an hereditary Upper Chamber embedded in +democratic institutions. It has been stirred by Mr. Lloyd-George's +rhetoric to a mood of vague exasperation with the House of Lords and of +ridicule of the order of the Peerage. It has accepted too readily the +Liberal version of the central issue as a case of Peers _versus_ +People. But while it was satisfied that something ought to be done, I +do not believe it realizes precisely what has been accomplished in its +name or the consequences that must follow from the passing of the +Parliament Bill. There are no signs that it regards the abridgment of +the powers of the Upper House as a great democratic victory. There are, +on the contrary, manifold signs that it has been bored and bewildered +by the whole struggle, and that the extraordinary lassitude with which +it watched the debates was a true reflex of its real attitude. + + +CAPTAIN GEORGE SWINTON, L.C.C. + +It has been more like a bull-fight than anything else, or perhaps the +bull-baiting, almost to the death, which went on in England in days of +old. For the Peerage is not quite dead, but sore stricken, robbed of +its high functions, propped up and left standing to flatter the fools +and the snobs, a kind of painted screen, or a cardboard fortification, +armed with cannon which can not be discharged for fear they bring it +down about the defenders' ears. And in the end it was all effected so +simply, so easily could the bull be induced to charge. A rag was waved, +first here, then there, and the dogs barked. That was all. + +It is not difficult to be wise after the event. Everybody knows now +that with the motley groups of growing strength arrayed against them it +behooved the Peers to walk warily, to look askance at the cloaks +trailed before them, to realize the danger of accepting challenges, +however righteous the cause might be. But no amount of prudence could +have postponed the catastrophe for any length of time, for indeed the +House of Lords had become an anachronism. Everything had changed since +the days when it had its origin, when its members were Peers of the +King, not only in name but almost in power, princes of principalities, +earls of earldoms, barons of baronies. Then they were in a way +enthroned, representing all the people of the territories they +dominated, the people they led in war and ruled in peace. They came +together as magnates of the land, sitting in an Upper House as Lords of +the shire, even as the Knights of the shire sat in the Commons. And +this continued long after the feudal system had passed away, carried on +not only by the force of tradition, but by a sentiment of respect and +real affection; for these feelings were common enough until designing +men laid themselves out to destroy them. + +Many things combined to make the last phase pass quickly. It was +impossible that the Peerage could long survive the Reform Bill, for it +took from the great families their pocket boroughs, and so much of +their influence. And there followed hard upon it the educational effect +of new facilities for exchange of ideas, the railway trains, the penny +post, and the halfpenny paper, together with the centralization of +general opinion and all government which has resulted therefrom. But +above all reasons were the loss of the qualifying ancestral lands, a +link with the soil; and the ennobling of landless men. Once divorced +from its influence over some countryside a peerage resting on heredity +was doomed; for no one can defend a system whereby men of no +exceptional ability, representative of nothing, are legislators by +inheritance. Should we summon to a conclave of the nations a king who +had no kingdom? But the pity of it! Not only the break with eight +centuries of history--nay, more, for when had not every king his +council of notables?--not only the loss of picturesqueness and +sentiment and lofty mien, but the certainty, the appalling certainty, +that, when an aristocracy of birth falls, it is not an aristocracy of +character or intellect, but an aristocracy--save the mark--of money, +which is bound to take its place. + +Five short years and four rejected measures. Glance back over it all. +The wild blood on both sides, and the cunning on one. The foolish +comfortable words spoken in every drawing-room throughout the United +Kingdom. "Yes, they are terrible: what a lot of harm they would do if +they could. Thank God we have a House of Lords." Think now that this +was commonplace conversation only three short years ago. And all the +time the ears of the masses were being poisoned. Week after week and +month after month some laughed but others toiled. The laughers, like +the French nobles before the Revolution, said contemptuously, "They +will not dare." Why should they not? There were men among them for whom +the Ark of the Covenant had no sanctity. And then, when the +combinations were complete, when those who stood out had been +kicked--there can be no other word--into compliance, the blows fell +quickly. A Budget was ingeniously prepared for rejection, and, the +Lords falling into the trap, the storm broke, with its hurricane of +abuse and misrepresentation. We had one election which was +inconclusive. Then befell the death of King Edward. There was a second +election, carefully engineered and prepared for, rushed upon a nation +which had been denied the opportunity of hearing the other side. The +Government had out-maneuvered the Opposition and muzzled them to the +last moment in a Conference sworn to secrecy. It was remarkably clever +and incredibly unscrupulous. They won again. They had not increased +their numbers, but they had maintained their position, and this time +their victory, however achieved, could not be gainsaid. For a moment +there was a lull, only some vague talk of "guaranties," asserted, +scoffed at and denied, for the ordinary business of the country was in +arrears, and the Coronation, with all its pomp of circumstance and +power, all its medieval splendor and appeal to history and sentiment, +turned people's thoughts elsewhere. + +And then, on the day the pageantry closed, Mr. Asquith launched his +Thunderbolt. Few men living will ever learn the true story of the +guaranties, suffice it that somehow he had secured them. Whatever the +resistance of the Second Chamber might be, it could be overcome. At his +dictation the Constitution was to fall. There was no escape; the Bill +must surely pass. It rested with the Lords themselves whether they +should bow their heads to the inevitable, humbly or proudly, +contemptuously or savagely--characterize it as you will--or whether +there should be red trouble first. + +Surely never in our time has there been a situation of higher +psychological interest, for never before have we seen a body of some +six hundred exceptional men called on to take each his individual line +upon a subject which touched him to the core. I say "individual line" +and "exceptional men." Does either adjective require defending? + +The Peers are not a regiment, they are still independent entities, with +all the faults and virtues which this implies; free gentlemen subject +to no discipline, responsible to God and their own consciences alone. +At times they may combine on questions which appeal to their sense of +right, their sentiment, perhaps some may say their self-interest; but +this was no case for combination. Here was a sword pointed at each +man's breast. What, under the circumstances, was to be his individual +line of conduct? + +And who will deny the word "exceptional"? To a seventh of them it must +perforce be applicable, for they have been specially selected to serve +in an Upper House. And to the rest, those who sit by inheritance, does +it not apply even more? It is not what they have done in life. This was +no question of capacity or achievement. By the accident of birth alone +they had been put in a position different from other men. How shall +each in his wisdom or his folly interpret that well-worn motto which +still has virtue both to quicken and control, "Noblesse oblige"? + +Very curious indeed was the result. It is useless to consider the +preliminaries, the pronouncements, the meetings, the campaign which +raged for a fortnight in the Press both by letter and leading article. +It is even useless to try and discover who, if anybody, was in favor of +the Bill which was the original bone of contention. Its merits and +defects were hardly debated. On that fateful 10th of August the House +of Lords split into three groups on quite a different point. The King's +Government had seized on the King's Prerogative and uttered threats. +Should they or should they not be constrained to make good their +threats, and use it? + +The first group said: "Yes. They have betrayed the Constitution and +disgraced their position. Let their crime be brought home to them and +to the world. All is lost for us except honor. Shall we lose that also? +To the last gasp we will insist on our amendments." + +The second group said: "No. They have indeed betrayed the Constitution +and disgraced their position, but why add to this disaster the +destruction of what remains to safeguard the Empire? We protest and +withdraw, washing our hands of the whole business for the moment. But +our time will come." + +The third group said: "No. We do not desire the King's Prerogative to +be used. We will prevent any need for its exercise. The Bill shall go +through without it." + +And, the second group abstaining, by seventeen votes the last prevailed +against the first. But whether ever before a victory was won by so +divided a host, or ever a measure carried by men who so profoundly +disapproved of it, let those judge who read the scathing Protest, +inscribed in due form in the journals of the House of Lords by one who +went into that lobby, Lord Rosebery, the only living Peer who has been +Prime Minister of England. + +It is unnecessary to print here more than the tenth and last paragraph +of this tremendous indictment. It runs--"Because the whole transaction +tends to bring discredit on our country and its institutions." + +How under these extraordinary circumstances did the Peerage take sides, +old blood and new blood, the governing families and the so-called +"backwoodsmen," they who were carving their own names, and they who +relied upon the inheritance of names carved by others? + +The first group, the "No-Surrender Peers," mustered 114 in the +division. Two Bishops were among them, Bangor and Worcester, and a +distinguished list of peers, first of their line, including Earl +Roberts and Viscount Milner. When the story of our times is written it +will be seen that there are few walks of life in which some one of +these has not borne an honorable part. + +Then at a bound we are transported to the Middle Ages. At the +Coronation, when the Abbey Church of Westminster rang to the shouts, +"God Save King George!" five Lords of Parliament knelt on the steps of +the throne, kissed the King's cheek, and did homage, each as the chief +of his rank and representing every noble of it. They are all here:-- + +The Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal and premier Peer of England, head of +the great house of Howard, a name that for five centuries has held its +own with highest honor. + +The Marquis of Winchester, head of the Paulets, representative of the +man who for three long years held Basing House for the King against all +the forces which Cromwell could muster, but descended also from that +earlier Marquis of Tudor creation, who, when he was asked how in those +troublous times he succeeded in retaining the post of Lord High +Treasurer, replied, "By being a willow and not an oak." To-day the boot +is on the other leg. + +The Earl of Shrewsbury, head of the Talbots, a race far famed alike in +camp and field from the days of the Plantagenets. + +The Viscount Falkland, representative of that noble Cavalier who fell +at Newbury. + +The Baron Mowbray and Segrave and Stourton, titles which carry us back +almost to the days of the Great Charter. + +Nor does the feudal train end there. We see also a St. Maur, Duke of +Somerset, whose family has aged since in the time of Henry VIII. men +scoffed at it as new; a Clinton, Duke of Newcastle; a Percy, Duke and +heir of Northumberland, that name of high romance; a De Burgh, Marquis +of Clanricarde; a Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, twenty-sixth Earl, and +head of a house which for eight centuries has stood on the steps of +thrones; a Courtenay, Earl of Devon; an Erskine, Earl of Mar, an +earldom whose origin is lost in the mists of antiquity, and many +another. + +And if we come to later days we have the Duke of Bedford, head of the +great Whig house of Russell; the Dukes of Marlborough and Westminster, +heirs of capacity and good fortune; Lords Bute and Salisbury, +descendants of Prime Ministers; and not only Lord Selborne, but Lords +Bathurst and Coventry, Hardwicke and Rosslyn, representatives of past +Lord Chancellors. + +These, and others such as they, inheritors of traditions bred in their +very bones, spurning the suggestion that they should purchase the +uncontamination of the Peerage by the forfeiture of their principles, +fought the question to the end. If they asked for a motto, surely +theirs would have been, "Fais ce que dois, advienne que pourra." + +And so we pass to the group who abstained, the great mass of the +Peerage, too proud to wrangle where they could not win, too wise to +knock their heads uselessly against a wall, too loyal not to do their +utmost to spare their King. More than three hundred followed Lord +Lansdowne's lead, taking for their motto, perhaps, the "Cavendo tutus" +of his son-in-law. And still there was fiery blood among them, and +strong men swelling with righteous indignation. There were Gay Gordons, +as well as a cautious Cavendish, an Irish Beresford to quicken a Dutch +Bentinck, and a Graham of Montrose as well as a Campbell of Argyll. +Three Earls, Pembroke, Powis, and Carnarvon, represented the cultured +family of Herbert, and, as a counterpoise to the Duke of +Northumberland, we see six Peers of the doughty Douglas blood. Lord +Curzon found by his side three other Curzons, and the Duke of Atholl +three Murrays from the slopes of the Grampians. There were many-acred +potentates, such as the Dukes of Beaufort and Hamilton and Rutland, +Lord Bath, Lord Leicester, and Lord Lonsdale, and names redolent of +history, a Butler, Marquis of Ormonde, a Cecil, Marquis of Exeter, the +representative of Queen Elizabeth's Lord Burleigh, and a Stanley, Earl +of Derby, a name which to this day stirs Lancashire blood. If it were a +question of tactics, then Earl Nelson agreed with the Duke of +Wellington, and they were backed by seven others whose peerages had +been won in battle on land or sea in the course of the last century; +while if the Law should be considered, there were nine descendants of +Lord Chancellors. Coming to more recent times, there was the son of +John Lawrence of the Punjab, and of Alfred Tennyson the poet, Lord St. +Aldwyn and Lord Balfour of Burleigh and Lord Lister, and Lords +Rothschild, Aldenham, and Revelstoke. What need to mention more?--for +there were men representative of every interest in every quarter; but +if we wish to close this list with two names which might seem to link +together the Constitutional history of these islands, let us note that +there was agreement as to action between Viscount Peel, the sole +surviving ex-Speaker of the House of Commons, and Lord Wrottesley, the +head of the only family which can claim as of its name and blood one of +the original Knights of the Garter. + +What more is there to say? As, nearly two years ago, we stood round the +telegraph-boards watching the election results coming in, many of us +saw that the Peerage was falling. The end has come quicker than we +expected. The Empire may repent, a new Constitution may spring into +being, and there may be raised again a Second Chamber destined to be +far stronger than that which has passed, but it will never be the proud +House of Peers far-famed in English history. + + + + +THE TURKISH-ITALIAN WAR + +EUROPE SEIZES THE LAST OF NORTHERN AFRICA A.D. 1911 + +WILLIAM T. ELLIS + +THE WAR CORRESPONDENTS + +Italy, by her sudden action in seizing possession of Tripoli in September +of 1911, established the authority and suzerainty of western Europe over +the last unclaimed strip of territory along the African shore of the +Mediterranean. + +For over a thousand years the Mohammedans, as represented by either +Arabs or Turks, held control of this southern half of the classic +Mediterranean Sea. During the past century France, England, and Spain +have been snatching this land from the helpless Turks, and +Europeanizing it. Only the barren, desert stretch between Egypt and +Tunis remained. It seemed almost too worthless for occupation. But a +few Italian colonists had settled there, and Italy resolved to annex +the land. + +Few wars have ever been so obviously forced by a determined marauder +upon a helpless victim. Italy wanted to show her strength, both to her +own people and to assembled Europe. Hence she prepared her armies and +then delivered to Turkey, the nominal suzerain of Tripoli, a sudden +ultimatum. The Turks must do exactly what Italy demanded, and +immediately, or Italy would seize Tripoli. The "Young Turks" offered +every possible concession; but Italy, hurriedly rejecting every +proposition, made the seizure she had planned. + +The strife that followed had its _opéra-bouffe_ aspect in the utter +helplessness of far-off Turkey, incapable of reaching the seat of war; +but it had also its tragic scandal in the accusation of cruelty made +against the Italian troops. It had also, in the Balkan wars and other +changes which sprang more or less directly from it, a permanent effect +upon the political affairs of Europe as well as upon those of Africa. + + +WILLIAM T. ELLIS[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission from _Lippincott's Magazine_.] + +There are conversational compensations for life in the Orient. Talk +does not grow stale when there are always the latest phases of "the +great game" of international politics to gossip about. Men do not +discuss baseball performances in the cafés of Constantinople; but the +latest story of how Von Bieberstein, the German Ambassador, bulldozed +Haaki Pasha, the Grand Vizier, and sent the latter whining among his +friends for sympathy, is far more piquant. The older residents among +the ladies of the diplomatic corps, whose visiting list extends "beyond +the curtain," have their own well-spiced tales to tell of "the great +game" as it is played behind the latticed windows of the harem. It is +not only in London and Berlin and Washington and Paris that wives and +daughters of diplomats boost the business of their men-folk. In this +mysterious, women's world of Turkey there are curious complications; as +when a Young Turk, with a Paris veneer, has taken as second or third +wife a European woman. One wonders which of these heavily veiled +figures on the Galata Bridge, clad in hideous _ezars_, is an +Englishwoman or a Frenchwoman or a Jewess. + +Night and day, year in and year out, with all kinds of chessmen, and +with an infinite variety of byplays, "the great game" is played in +Constantinople. The fortunes of the players vary, and there are +occasional--very occasional--open rumpuses; but the players and the +stakes remain the same. Nobody can read the newspaper telegrams from +Tripoli and Constantinople intelligently who has not some understanding +of the real game that is being carried on; and in which an occasional +war is only a move. + +The bespectacled professor of ancient history is best qualified to +trace the beginning of this game; for there is no other frontier on the +face of the globe over which there has been so much fighting as over +that strip of water which divides Europe from Asia, called, in its four +separate parts, the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmora, the Dardanelles, and +the Aegean Sea. Centuries before men began to date their calendars +"A.D.," the city on the Bosporus was a prize for which nations +struggled. All the old-world dominions--Greek, Macedonian, Persian, +Roman--fought here; and for hundreds of years Byzantium was the capital +of the Roman and Christian world. The Crusaders and the Saracens did a +choice lot of fighting over this battle-ground; and it was here that +the doughty warrior, Paul of Tarsus, broke into Europe, as first +invader in the greatest of conquests. Along this narrow line of +beautiful blue water the East menacingly confronts the West. Turkey's +capital, as a sort of Mr.-Facing-Both-Ways, bestrides the water; for +Scutari, in Asia, is essentially a part of Greater Constantinople. That +simple geographical fact really pictures Turkey's present condition: it +is rent by the struggle of the East with the West, Asia with Europe, in +its own body. + +"The great game" of to-day, rather than of any hoary and romantic +yesterday, holds the interest of the modern man. Player Number One, +even though he sits patiently in the background in seeming stolidity, +is big-boned, brawny, hairy, thirsty Russia. Russia wants water, both +here and in the far East. His whole being cries from parched depths for +the taste of the salt waters of the Mediterranean and the China Sea. At +present his ships may not pass through the Dardanelles: the jealous +Powers have said so. But Russia is the most patient nation on earth; +his "manifest destiny" is to sit in the ancient seat of dominion on the +Bosporus. Calmly, amid all the turbulence of international politics, he +awaits the prize that is assuredly his; but while he waits he plots and +mines and prepares for ultimate success. A past master of secret +spying, wholesale bribery, and oriental intrigue, is the nation which +calls its ruler the "Little Father" on earth, second only to the Great +Father in heaven. If one is curious and careful, one may learn which of +the Turkish statesmen are in Russian pay. + +Looming larger--apparently--than Russia amid the minarets upon the +lovely Constantinople horizon is Germany, the Marooned Nation. Restless +William shrewdly saw that Turkey offered him the likeliest open door +for German expansion and for territorial emancipation. So he played +courtier to his "good friend, Abdul Hamid," and to the Prophet Mohammed +(they still preserve at Damascus the faded remains of the wreath he +laid upon Saladin's tomb the day he made the speech which betrayed +Europe and Christendom), and in return had his vanity enormously +ministered to. His visit to Jerusalem is probably the most notable +incident in the history of the Holy City since the Crusades. Moreover, +he carried away the Bagdad Railway concession in his carpet-bag. By +this he expects to acquire the cotton and grain fields of Mesopotamia, +which he so sorely needs in his business, and also to land at the front +door of India, in case he should ever have occasion to pay a call, +social or otherwise, upon his dear English cousins. + +True, the advent of the Turkish constitution saw Germany thrown crop +and heels out of his snug place at Turkey's capital, while that +comfortable old suitor, Great Britain, which had been biting his +finger-nails on the doorstep, was welcomed smiling once more into the +parlor. Great was the rejoicing in London when Abdul Hamid's +"down-and-out" performance carried his trusted friend William along. +The glee changed to grief when, within a year--so quickly does the +appearance of the chess-board change in "the great game"--Great Britain +was once more on the doorstep, and fickle Germany was snuggling close +to Young Turkey on the divan in the dimly lighted parlor. Virtuous old +Britain professed to be shocked and horrified; he occupied himself with +talking scandal about young Germany, when he should have been busy +trying to supplant him. Few chapters in modern diplomatic history are +more surprising than the sudden downfall and restoration of Germany in +Turkish favor. With reason does the Kaiser give Ambassador von +Bieberstein, "the ablest diplomat in Europe," constant access to the +imperial ear, regardless of foreign-office red tape. During the heyday +of the Young Turk party's power, this astute old player of the game was +the dominant personality in Turkey. + +The disgruntled and disappointed Britons have comforted themselves with +prophecy--how often have I heard them at it in the cosmopolitan cafes +of Constantinople!--the burden of their melancholy lay being that some +day Turkey would learn who is her real friend. That is the British way. +They believe in their divine right to the earth and the high places +thereof. They are annoyed and rather bewildered when they see Germany +cutting in ahead of them, especially in the commerce of the Orient; any +Englishman "east of Suez" can give a dozen good reasons why Germany is +an incompetent upstart; but however satisfactory and soothing to the +English soul this line of philosophy may be, it drives no German +merchantmen from the sea and no German drummers from the land. The +supineness of the British in the face of the German inroads into their +ancient preserves is amazing to an American, who, as one of their own +poets has said, + + Turns a keen, untroubled face + Home to the instant need of things. + +In this case, however, the proverbial luck of the British has been with +them. The steady decline of their historic prestige in the near East +was suddenly arrested by Italy's declaration of war. For more than a +generation Turkey has been the pampered _enfant terrible_ of +international politics, violating the conventions and proprieties with +impunity; feeling safe amid the jealousies of the players of "the great +game." Every important nation has a bill of grievances to settle with +Turkey; America's claim, for instance, includes the death of two +native-born American citizens, Rogers and Maurer, slain in the Adana +massacre, under the constitution. Nobody has been punished for this +crime, because, forsooth, it happened in Turkey. Italy made a pretext +of a cluster of these grievances, and startled the world by her claims +upon Tripoli, accompanied by an ultimatum. Turkey tried to temporize. +Pressed, she turned to Germany with a "Now earn your wages. Get me out +of this scrape, and call off your ally." + +And Germany could not. With the taste of Morocco dirt still on his +tongue, the Kaiser had to take another unpalatable mouthful in +Constantinople. His boasted power, upon which the Turks had banked so +heavily, and for the sake of which they had borne so much humiliation, +proved unequal to the demand. He could not help his friend the Sultan. +Italy would have none of his mediation; for reasons that will +hereinafter appear. + +Then came Britain's vindication. The Turks turned to this historic and +preeminent friend for succor. The Turkish cabinet cabled frantically to +Great Britain to intercede for them; the people in mass-meeting in +ancient St. Sophia's echoed the same appeal. For grim humor, the +spectacle has scarcely an equal in modern history. Besought and +entreated, the British, who no doubt approved of Italy's move from the +first, declined to pull Turco-German chestnuts out of the fire. "Ask +Cousin William to help you," was the ironical implication of their +attitude. Well did Britain know that if the situation were saved, the +Germans would somehow manage to get the credit of it. And if the worst +should come, Great Britain could probably meet it with Christian +fortitude! For in that eventuality the Bagdad Railway concession would +be nullified, and Britain would undoubtedly take over all of the +Arabian Peninsula, which is logically hers, in the light of her Persian +Gulf and Red Sea claims. The break-up of Turkey would settle the +Egyptian question, make easy the British acquisition of southern +Persia, and put all the holy places of Islam under the strong hand of +the British power, where they would be no longer powder-magazines to +worry the dreams of Christendom. Far-sighted moves are necessary in +"the great game." + +Small wonder that Germany became furious; and that the Berlin +newspapers burst out in denunciations of Italy's wicked and piratical +land-grabbing--a morsel of rhetoric following so hard upon the heels of +the Morocco episode that it gave joy to all who delight in hearing the +pot rail at the kettle. "The great game" is not without its humors. But +the sardonic joke of the business lies deeper than all this. The Kaiser +had openly coquetted with the Sultan upon the policy of substituting +Turkey for Italy in the Triple Alliance. Turkey has a potentially great +army: the one thing the Turk can do well is to fight. With a suspicious +eye upon Neighbor Russia, the Kaiser figured it out that Turkey would +be more useful to him than Italy, especially since the Abyssinian +episode had so seriously discredited the latter. Then, of a sudden, +with a poetic justice that is delicious, Italy turns around and +humiliates the nation that was to take its place The whole comic +situation resembles nothing more nearly than a supposedly defunct +spouse rising from his death-bed to thrash the expectant second husband +of his wife. + +Here "the great game" digresses in another direction, that takes no +account of Turkey. Of course, it was more than a self-respecting desire +to avenge affronts that led Italy to declare war against Turkey; and +also more than a hunger for the territory of Tripoli. Italy needed to +solidify her national sentiment at home, in the face of growing +socialism and clever clericalism. Even more did she need to show the +world that she is still a first-class power. There has been a +disposition of late years to leave her out of the international +reckoning. Now, at one skilful jump, she is back in the game--and on +better terms than ever with the Vatican, for she will look well to all +the numerous Latin missions in the Turkish Empire, and especially in +Palestine. These once were France's special care, and are yet, to a +degree; but France is out of favor with the Church, and steadily +declining from her former place in the Levant, although French +continues to be the "_lingua franca"_ of merchandising, of polite +society, and of diplomacy, in the Near East. + +Let nobody think that this is lugging religion by the ears into "the +great game." Religion, even more than national or racial consciousness, +is one of the principal players. In America politicians try to steer +clear of religion; although even here a cherry cocktail mixed with +Methodism has been known to cost a man the possible nomination for the +Presidency. In the Levant, however, religion _is_ politics. The +ambitions and policies of Germany, Russia, and Britain are less potent +factors in the ultimate and inevitable dissolution of Turkey than the +deep-seated resolution of some tens of millions of people to see the +cross once more planted upon St. Sophia's. Ask anybody in Greece or the +Balkans or European Russia what "the great idea" is, and you will get +for an answer, "The return of the cross to St. Sophia's." Backward and +even benighted Christians these Eastern churchmen may be, but they hold +a few fundamental ideas pretty fast, and are readier to fight for them +than their occidental brethren. + +The world may as well accept, as the principal issue of "the great +game" that centers about Constantinople, the fact that the war begun +twelve hundred years ago by the dusky Arabian camel-driver is still on. +This Turco-Italian scrape is only one little skirmish in it. + + * * * * * + +The outbreak of war between Italy and Turkey came as a surprize to the +great majority of the European public, and even in Italy until the last +moment few believed that the crisis would come to a head so soon. Those +who had closely followed the course of political opinion in the country +during the past year, however, saw that a change had come over the +public spirit of Italy, and that a new attitude toward questions of +foreign policy was being adopted. It may be of interest in the present +circumstances to examine the causes and the course of this development. + +Since the completion of Italian unity with the fall of the Temporal +Power in 1870, the Italian people had devoted all its energies to +internal affairs, for everything had to be created--roads, railways, +ports, improved agriculture, industry, schools, scientific +institutions, the public services, were either totally lacking or quite +inadequate to the needs of a great modern nation. Above all, the +finances of the State, shattered by the wars of independence and by bad +administration, had to be placed on a sound footing. Consequently, +foreign affairs attracted but slight public interest. Such a state of +things was at that time inevitable owing to the precarious situation at +home, but it proved a most unfortunate necessity, as it was during this +very period that the great no-man's-lands of Asia and Africa were being +partitioned among the other nations, and vast uncultivated, +undeveloped, and thinly populated territories annexed by various +European Powers, and converted into important colonial empires offering +splendid outlets for trade and emigration. Italy had appeared last in +this field, when nearly all the best lands had been annexed and when +conquests could not be attempted, even in the still available regions, +without large, well-organized armed forces and a determined, +intelligent, and well-informed public opinion to back them up. In Italy +neither was to be found. The country was too poor to launch forth into +colonial and foreign politics with any chance of success, and the +people were too untraveled and too little acquainted with the +development of other countries to pay much attention to events outside +Italy, or, at all events, outside Europe. + +In the meanwhile, considerable progress in the economic and social +conditions of the Italian people had been achieved, and by grinding +economy and incredible sacrifices the finances were being restored. +There came a moment, however, when the need for colonial expansion +began to be felt. As a sop to public opinion, which had been +exasperated by the French occupation of Tunis, the Italian Government +decided in 1885 to occupy Massowah and the surrounding territories on +the Red Sea coast. But that country was not suited to Italian +colonization, and Italy was not yet ready to develop a purely trading +colony at so great a distance from the homeland. A long series of +errors were committed, relieved at times by the heroism and devotion of +the army fighting against huge odds in an inhospitable and unknown +land, culminating in the disaster of Adowa in 1896. What wrought the +greatest injury to Italian prestige was not so much the defeat in +itself as the fact that it was allowed to remain unavenged. There was a +fresh Italian army on the scene under an admirable leader, General +Baldissera, who enjoyed the full confidence of his men, and it was +clear that the Abyssinian forces could not hold together much longer. +The Premier, however, Signor Crispi, a man of unquestioned ability, but +who lived in advance of his time, before the nation was ready to follow +him in his Imperial policy, was overwhelmed by a storm of indignation, +and his successor, Marchese di Rudini, terrified by the riots promoted +by unscrupulous Socialist and Anarchist agitators as a protest against +the African campaign, concluded a disastrous peace with the enemy. + +In the meanwhile, Italian Socialism, which had found a suitable field +for action in the unsatisfactory condition of the working class, had +evolved a theory of government which, although common to some extent to +the Socialists of other countries, was nowhere carried to such lengths +as in Italy. Socialism in theory has everywhere adopted an attitude of +hostility to militarism, imperialism, and patriotism, and professes to +be internationalist and pacificist, and regards class hatred and civil +disorders as the only moral and praiseworthy forms of warfare. But in +countries where the masses have reached a certain degree of political +education such views, if carried to their logical conclusion, are sure +to be rejected by the majority, and even the Socialist leaders realize +that Nationalism is a vital force which has to be reckoned with, and +that a sane Imperialism and efficient military policy are as necessary +in the interests of the masses as in those of the classes. In Italy, on +the other hand, where even the bourgeoisie took but a lukewarm interest +in the wider questions of world policy, the Socialist leaders conducted +an avowedly anti-patriotic propaganda against every form of national +sentiment, against the very existence of Italy as a nation, and they +achieved considerable success. By representing patriotism and the army +as the causes of low wages, and war and colonial Imperialism as the +result of purely capitalist intrigues because it is only the +capitalists who profit by such adventures, they met with wide-spread +acceptance among a large part of the working classes. + +Thus a general feeling got possession of the Italian people that war +was played out, and that even if it were to occur Italy was sure to be +defeated by any other Power, that nothing must be done to provoke the +resentment of the foreigner, that the only form of expansion to be +encouraged was emigration to foreign lands, and even the export trade +which was growing so rapidly was looked upon askance by the Socialists +as a mere capitalist instrument. This attitude, which was certainly not +conducive to a healthy public spirit, was reflected in the conduct of +the Government, which felt that it would not be backed by the nation if +it gave signs of energy. The result was that Italy found her interests +blocked at every turn by other nations which were not imbued with such +"humanitarian" theories, and that she was subjected to countless +humiliations on the part of Governments who were convinced that under +no provocation would Italy show resentment. + +Gradually and imperceptibly a change came over public feeling, and the +necessity for a sane and vigorous patriotism began to be dimly +realized. One of the earliest symptoms of this new attitude was the +publication, in 1903, of Federigo Garlanda's _La terza Italia_; the +book professed to be written by a friendly American observer and critic +of Italian affairs, and the author regards the absence of militant +patriotism as the chief cause of Italy's weakness in comparison with +other nations. Mario Morasso, in his volume, _L'Imperialismo nel Secolo +XX,_ published in 1905, opened fire on the still predominant +Socialistic internationalism and sentimental humanitarianism, and +extolled the policy of conquest and expansion adopted by Great Britain, +Germany, France, and the United States as a means of strengthening the +fiber of the national character. + +In December, 1910, a congress of Italian Nationalists was held in +Florence, and at that gathering, which was attended by several hundred +persons, including numerous well-known names, many aspects of Italian +national life were examined and discussed. The various speakers +impressed on their hearers the importance of Nationalism as the basis +for all political thought and action. The weakness of the country, the +contempt which other nations felt for Italy, the unsatisfactory state +both of home and foreign politics, and the poverty of a large part of +the population, were all traced to the absence of a sane and vigorous +patriotism. The strengthening of the army and navy, the development of +a military spirit among the people, a radical change of direction in +the conduct of the nation's foreign policy, and the ending of the +present attitude of subservience to all other Powers, great or small, +were regarded as the first _desiderata_ of the country. The Turks, too, +who since the revolution of 1908 had become particularly truculent +toward the Italians, especially in Tripoli, also came in for rough +treatment, and various speakers demanded that the Government should +secure adequate protection for Italian citizens and trade in the +Ottoman Empire, and that a watch should be kept on Tripoli lest others +seized it before the moment for Italian occupation arrived. Signor +Corradini insisted that there were worse things for a nation than war, +and that the occasional necessity for resort to the "dread arbitrament" +must be boldly faced by any nation worthy of the name. + +The congress proved a success, and the ideas expressed in it which had +been "in the air" for some time were accepted by a considerable number +of people. The Nationalist Association was founded then and there and +soon gathered numerous adherents; a new weekly paper, _L'Idea +Nazionale_, commenced publication on March 1, 1911 (the anniversary of +Adowa), and rapidly became an important organ of public opinion, while +several dailies and reviews adopted Nationalist principles or viewed +them with sympathy. Italian Nationalism has no resemblance to the +parties of the same name in France, Ireland, or elsewhere; indeed, it +is not really a party at all, for it gathers in Liberals, +Conservatives, Radicals, Clericals, Socialists even, provided they +accept the patriotic idea and are anxious to see their country raised +to a higher place in the congress of nations even at the cost of some +sacrifice. + +Italy, according to Professor Sighele _(Il Nazionalismo ed i Partiti +politici_ p. 80 sq.), must be Imperialist in order to prevent the +closing up of all the openings whence the nation receives its oxygen, +and to prevent the Adriatic from becoming more and more an Austrian +lake, to prevent even the Mediterranean from being closed around us +like a camp guarded by hostile sentinels, and to provide a field of +activity for our emigrants wherein they will enjoy that protection +which they now lack, and which only a bold foreign policy, a thorough +preparation for war, and a clear Imperialist attitude on the part of +the rulers of the State can give them. + +For some time the Government continued to appear impervious to the +Nationalist spirit and professed to regard the movement as a +schoolboy's game. But it could not long remain indifferent to so +wide-spread a feeling. Italy's relations with Turkey were rapidly +approaching a crisis. The new Ottoman régime, while it was proving no +better than the old in the matter of corruption, inefficiency, and +persecution of the subject-races, had one new feature--an outburst of +rabid chauvinism and of hatred for all foreigners, but especially for +Italians, whom the Young Turks regarded as the weakest of nations. +Never had Italian prestige fallen so low in the Levant as at this +period, and the Italian Government did nothing to retrieve the +situation. In Tripoli, above all, where Italy's reversionary interest +had been sanctioned by agreements with England and France, the position +of Italian citizens and firms was rendered well-nigh intolerable. +Turkish persecution reached such a point that two Italians, the monk, +Father Giustino, and the merchant, Gastone Terreni, were assassinated +at the instigation and with the complicity of the authorities, without +any redress being obtained. + +The Nationalists since the beginning of their propaganda had agitated +for a firmer attitude toward Turkey, insisting on the opening up of +Tripoli to Italian enterprise. Italy was being hemmed in on all sides +by France in Algeria and Tunisia, and by England in Egypt; Tripolitaine +alone remained as a possible outlet for her eventual expansion. The +Turkish Government did nothing for the development of that province, +but it was determined that no one else should do anything for it, and +thwarted the efforts of every Italian enterprise, the Banco di Roma +alone succeeding by ceaseless activity and untiring patience in +creating important undertakings in the African vilayet. + +Had events pursued their normal course Italy would probably have been +content to develop her commercial interests in Tripolitaine to the +advantage of its inhabitants as well as of her own, waiting for the +time when in due course the country should fall to her share. But the +persistent hostility of the Turkish authorities was bringing matters to +a head, and while the Italian Government apparently refused to regard +the state of affairs as serious, the Nationalists continued to demand +the assertion of Italy's interests in Tripoli. The Press gradually +adopted their point of view, the _Idea Nazionale_ published Corradini's +vivid letters from Tripoli, and even Ministerial organs like the +_Tribuna_ of Rome and the _Stampa_ of Turin, following the lead of +their correspondents who visited Tripolitaine during the past spring +and summer and wrote of its resources and possibilities with +enthusiasm, were soon converted. If any nation has a right to colonies +it is Italy with her rapidly increasing population, her small +territory, and her streams of emigrants. Still the Government, from +fear of international complications and of alienating its Socialist +supporters, who, of course, opposed all idea of territorial expansion, +refused to do anything. Then the Franco-German Morocco bombshell burst, +and Agadir made the Italian people realize that the question of Tripoli +called for immediate solution. The whole of the rest of Mediterranean +Africa was about to be partitioned among the Powers, and Tripoli would +certainly not be left untouched if Italy failed to make good her +claims; Germany, it is believed, had cast her eyes on it, and already +her commercial agents and prospectors were on the spot. The demands for +an occupation by Italy were insistent; all classes were calling on the +Government to act, and in Genoa there were even angry mutterings of +revolt. The nation realized that it was a case of now or never, and +every one felt that the folly of Tunis must not be repeated. + +At the same time the Turks, convinced that Italy would never fight, +continued in their overbearing attitude, and placed increasing +obstacles in the way of Italian enterprise in all parts of the Empire +while ostentatiously favoring other foreign undertakings. Incidents +such as the abduction of an Italian girl and her forcible conversion to +Islam and marriage to a Turk, and the attacks on Italian vessels in the +Red Sea, added fuel to the flame, and public opinion became more and +more excited. The Premier at last saw that the country was practically +unanimous on the question of Tripoli, and although personally averse to +all adventures in the field of foreign affairs which interfered with +his political action at home, he realized that unless he faced the +situation boldly his prestige was gone. On the 20th of September the +expedition to Tripoli was decided. Hastily and secretly military +preparations were made, and the Note concerning the sending of Turkish +reinforcements or arms to Tripoli was issued. Then followed the +ultimatum, and finally the declaration of war. The Socialist leaders, +who saw in this awakening of a national conscience and of a militant +Imperialist spirit a serious menace to their own predominance, were in +a state of frenzy, and they attempted to organize a general strike as a +protest against the Government. But the movement fizzled out miserably, +and only an insignificant number of workmen struck. + +On the other hand, the declaration of war was greeted by an outburst of +popular enthusiasm such as no one believed possible in the Italy of +to-day. The departure or passage of the troops on their way to Tripoli +gave occasion for scenes of the most intense patriotic excitement, and +the sight of some two hundred thousand people in the streets of Rome at +one A.M. on October 7th, cheering the march past of the 82d infantry +regiment, is one not easily forgotten. The heart of the whole nation +was in the enterprise. Even many prominent Socialists, casting the +shackles of party fealty to the winds, declared themselves in favor of +the Government's African policy and accepted the occupation of Tripoli +as a necessity for the country, while the Clericals were even more +enthusiastic. But there was hardly a trace of anti-Turkish feeling; it +was simply that the people, rejoiced at having awakened from the long +nightmare of political apathy and international servility, had thrown +off the grinding and degrading yoke of Socialist tyranny, and risen to +a dawn of higher ideals of national dignity. Italy had at last asserted +herself. The extraordinary efficiency, speed, and secrecy with which +the expedition was organized, shipped across the Mediterranean, and +landed in Africa, the discipline, _moral_, and gallantry which both +soldiers and sailors displayed, were a revelation to everybody and gave +the Italians new confidence in their military forces, and made them +feel that they could hold up their heads before all the world +unashamed. A new Italy was born--the Italy of the Italian nation. In +the words of Mameli's immortal hymn, which has been revived as the +war-song of the Nationalists, + + "Fratelli d'Italia, l'Italia s'è desta, + Dell' elmo di Scipio s'è cinta la testa." + +The actual operations of the war were too one-sided to be interesting +from the military viewpoint. Turkey had no navy which could compete for +a moment with that of Italy. Hence the Turks could dispatch no troops +whatever to Tripoli, and its defense devolved solely upon the native +Arab inhabitants. These wild tribes were brave and warlike and +fanatically Mohammedan in their opposition to the Christian invaders. +But they were wholly without training in modern modes of warfare and +without modern weapons. Their frenzied rushes and antiquated guns were +helpless in the face of quick-firing artillery. + +The Italians demonstrated their ability to handle their own forces, to +transport troops, land them and provision them with speed and skill. +That was about all the struggle established. On October 3d the city of +Tripoli, the only important Tripolitan harbor, was bombarded. Two days +later the soldiers landed and took possession of it. For a month +following, there were minor engagements with the Arabs of the +neighborhood, night attacks upon the Italians, rumors that they lost +their heads and shot down scores of unarmed and unresisting natives. +Then on November 5th Italy proclaimed that she had conquered and +annexed Tripoli. + +The only remaining difficulty was to get the Turkish Government to give +its formal assent to this new regime, which it had been unable to +resist. Here, however, the Italians encountered a difficulty. They had +promised the rest of Europe that they would not complicate the European +Turkish problem by attacking Turkey anywhere except in Africa. In +Africa they had now done their worst, and so the Turkish Government, +with true Mohammedan serenity, defied them to do more. Turkey +absolutely refused to acknowledge the Italian claim to Tripolitan +suzerainty. True, she could not fight, but neither would she utter any +words of surrender. Let the Italians do what they pleased in Tripoli. +Turkey still continued in her addresses to her own people to call +herself its lord. + +This course satisfied the ignorant Mohammedans of Constantinople, who +knew little of what was really happening; and so it enabled the Young +Turk party to retain control of the political situation at home. The +dissatisfaction of Italy, however, increased, until she withdrew her +earlier pledge to Europe and set her navy to the task of seizing one +after another the Turkish islands lying in the eastern Mediterranean, +After some months of this leisurely appropriation of helpless +territories, the Turks yielded the point at issue. In October of 1912 +they signed a treaty of peace with Italy granting her entire possession +of Tripoli. By this time the Turks had become involved in their far +more deadly struggle with the united Balkan States; and the Government +was able to offer this new strife to its subjects as its excuse for +yielding to the Italians. Turkey, though she still holds a nominal +authority over Egypt, ceased to have any real power over any part of +Africa. She retained only a European and Asiatic empire. + + + + +WOMAN SUFFRAGE + +THE MOVEMENT COMES TO THE FRONT BY ITS TRIUMPH IN CALIFORNIA A.D. 1911 + +IDA HUSTED HARPER JANE ADDAMS DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE ISRAEL ZANGWILL ELBERT +HUBBARD + +When future generations look for an exact event to mark the triumphal +turning-point in the progress of the woman-suffrage movement, they will +probably select the election which took place in the great American +State of California in October, 1911. Other States had given women +votes before, but they were smaller communities, where the movement +could still be regarded as an eccentricity, a mere whimsicality. When, +however, California in 1911 granted full suffrage to her women, almost +half a million in number, the movement became obviously important. The +vote of California might well turn the scale in a Presidential +election. Moreover, other States followed California's example. Woman +suffrage soon dominated the West, and began its progress eastward. The +shrewd Lincoln said that no government could continue to exist half +slave and half free; and the axiom is equally true of a divided +suffrage. There can be little question that woman suffrage will +ultimately be adopted throughout the Eastern States, not because of +force, but through the ever-increasing pressure of political +expediency. + +Hence we give here an account of the progress of the woman-suffrage +cause up to the California election as it appeared to the prominent +suffragist writer, Ida Husted Harper, and to the honored suffragist +leader, Jane Addams. The peculiarities of the movement in England seem +to necessitate separate treatment, so we present the view of its +antagonists as temperately expressed by Britain's celebrated Minister +of the Treasury, David Lloyd-George, and the defense of the "militants" +by the noted novelist, Israel Zangwill. Then comes a summary of the +entire theme by that widely known "friend of humanity," Elbert Hubbard. + +For permission to quote some of these authoritative utterances which +had been previously printed, we owe cordial thanks to the publishers or +authors. Mrs. Harper's summary appeared originally in the _American +Review of Reviews_, and Miss Addams's comments in _The Survey_ of June, +1912. Both Elbert Hubbard's words and those of Lloyd-George are +reprinted from _Hearst's Magazine_ of August, 1912, and August, 1913. + +IDA HUSTED HARPER + +A few years ago no changes in the governments of the world would have +seemed more improbable than a constitution for China, a republic in +Portugal, and a House of Lords in Great Britain without the power of +veto, and yet all these momentous changes have taken place in less than +two years. The underlying cause is unquestionably the strong spirit of +unrest among the people of all nations having any degree of +civilization, caused by their increasing freedom of speech and press, +their larger intercourse through modern methods of travel, and the +sending of the youth to be educated in the most progressive countries. + +It would be impossible for women not to be affected by this spirit of +unrest, especially as they have made greater advance during the last +few decades than any other class or body. There is none whose status +has been so revolutionized in every respect during the last +half-century. As with men everywhere, this discontent has manifested +itself in political upheaval, so it is inevitable that it should be +expressed by women in a demand for a voice in the government through +which laws are made and administered. + +In 1888, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the leaders +of this movement in the United States, where it began, attempted to +cooperate with other countries, they found that in only one--Great +Britain--had it taken organized shape. By 1902, however, it was +possible to form an International Committee, in Washington, D.C., with +representatives from five countries. Two years later, in Berlin, the +International Woman Suffrage Alliance was formed with accredited +delegates from organizations in nine countries. This Alliance held a +congress in Stockholm during the summer of 1911 with delegates from +national associations in twenty-four countries where the movement for +the enfranchisement of women has taken definite, organized form. + + +THE UNITED STATES + +At the November election, 1910, the men of Washington, by a vote of +three to one, enfranchised the women of that State. Eleven months +later, in October, 1911, a majority of the voters conferred the +suffrage on the 400,000 women of California. These two elections +doubtless marked the turning-point in this country. In 1890 Wyoming +came into the Union with suffrage for women in its constitution after +they had been voting in the Territory for twenty-one years. In 1893 the +voters of Colorado, by a majority of 6,347, gave full suffrage to +women. In 1895 the men of Utah, where as a Territory women had voted +seventeen years, by a vote of 28,618 ayes to 2,687 noes, gave them this +right in its constitution for Statehood. In 1896 Idaho, by a majority +of 5,844, fully enfranchised its women. + +It was believed then that woman suffrage would soon be carried in all +the Western States, but at this time there began a period of complete +domination of politics by the commercial interests of the country, +through whose influence the power of the party "machines" became +absolute. Temperance, tariff reform, control of monopolies, all moral +issues were relegated to the background and woman suffrage went with +the rest. To the vast wave of "insurgency" against these conditions is +due its victory in Washington and California. As many women are already +fully enfranchised in this country as would be made voters by the +suffrage bill now under consideration in Great Britain, so that +American women taken as a whole can not be put into a secondary +position as regards political rights. While women householders in Great +Britain and Ireland have the municipal franchise, a much larger number +in this country have a partial suffrage--a vote on questions of special +taxation, bonds, etc., in Louisiana, Iowa, Montana, Michigan, and in +the villages and many third-class cities in New York, and school +suffrage in over half of the States. + + +GREAT BRITAIN + +The situation in Great Britain is now at its most acute stage. There +the question never goes to the voters, but is decided by Parliament. +Seven times a woman-suffrage bill has passed its second reading in the +House of Commons by a large majority, only to be refused a third and +final reading by the Premier, who represents the Ministry, technically +known as the Government. In 1910 the bill received a majority of 110, +larger than was secured even for the budget, the Government's chief +measure. In 1911 the majority was 167, and again the last reading was +refused. The vote was wholly non-partizan--145 Liberals, 53 Unionists, +31 Nationalists (Irish), 26 Labor members. Ninety town and county +councils, including those of Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, +Dublin, and those of all the large cities sent petitions to Parliament +to grant the final vote. The Lord Mayor of Dublin in his robes of state +appeared before the House of Commons with the same plea, but the +Liberal Government was unmoved. + +In the passing years petitions aggregating over four million signatures +have been sent in. Just before the recent election the Conservative +National Association presented one signed by 300,000 voters. In their +processions and Hyde Park gatherings the women have made the largest +political demonstrations in history. There have been more meetings +held, more money raised, and more workers enlisted than to obtain +suffrage for the men of the entire world. + +From the beginning the various associations have asked for the +franchise on the same terms as granted to men, not all of whom can +vote. For political reasons it seemed impossible to obtain this, and +meanwhile the so-called "militant" movement was inaugurated by women +outraged at the way the measure had been put aside for nearly forty +years. The treatment of these women by the Government forms one of the +blackest pages in English history, and the situation finally became so +alarming that the Parliament was obliged to take action. A Conciliation +Committee was formed of sixty members from all parties, who prepared a +bill that would enfranchise only women householders, those who already +had possessed the municipal franchise since 1869. This does not mean +property-owners, but includes women who may pay rent for only one room. +The associations accepted it partly because it recognized the principle +that sex should not disqualify, but principally because it was +unquestionably all that they could get at present. This is the bill +which was denied a third reading for two years on the ground that it +was not democratic enough! A careful canvass has shown that in the +different parts of the United Kingdom from 80 to 90 per cent, of those +whom it would enfranchise are wage- or salary-earning women, and not one +Labor member of Parliament voted against it. + +Women in England have been eligible for School Boards since 1870; have +had the county franchise since 1888; have been eligible for parish and +district councils and for various boards and commissions since 1894, +and hundreds have served in the above offices. In 1907, as recommended +in the address of King Edward, women were made eligible as mayors and +county and city councilors, or aldermen. Three or four have been +elected mayors, and women are now sitting on the councils of London, +Manchester, and other cities. The municipal franchise was conferred on +the women of Scotland in 1882, and of Ireland in 1898. + +The Irishwomen's Franchise League demands that the proposed Home Rule +bill shall give to the women of Ireland the same political rights as it +gives to men. This demand is strongly supported by many of the +Nationalist members of Parliament and some of the cabinet, and it is +not impossible that after all these years of oppression the women of +Ireland may be fully enfranchised before those of England, Scotland, +and Wales. + +In the Isle of Man women property-owners have had the full suffrage +since 1881, and women rate- or rent-payers, since 1892. + + +ENGLISH COLONIES + +The Parliament of New Zealand gave school suffrage to women in 1877, +municipal in 1886, and Parliamentary in 1893. It was the first country +in the world to grant the complete universal franchise to women. + +The six States of Australia had municipal suffrage for women from the +early days of their self-government. South Australia gave them the +right to vote for its State Parliament, or legislature, in 1894, and +West Australia took similar action in 1899. The States federated in a +Commonwealth in 1902 and almost the first act of its national +Parliament was to give the suffrage for its members to all women and +make them eligible to membership. New South Wales immediately conferred +State suffrage on women, and was soon followed by Tasmania and +Queensland. Victoria yielded in 1909. Women of Australia have now +exactly the same franchise rights as men. + +In all the provinces of Canada for the last twenty years widows and +spinsters who are rate-payers or property-owners have had the school or +municipal suffrage, in some instances both, and in a few this right is +given to married women. There has been some effort to have this +extended to State and Federal suffrage, but with little force except in +Toronto, where in 1909 a thousand women stormed the House of +Parliament, with a petition signed by 100,000 names. + +When the South African Union was formed its constitution took away from +women tax-payers the fragmentary vote they possessed. Petitions to give +them the complete suffrage, signed by 4,000 men and women, were +ignored. Franchise Leagues are working in Cape Colony, Natal, and the +Transvaal, and their efforts are supported by General Botha, the +premier; General Smuts, Minister of the Interior; Mr. Cronwright, +husband of Olive Schreiner, and other members of Parliament, but the +great preponderance of Boer women over English will prevent this +English-controlled body from enfranchising women in the near future. + +There are cities in India where women property-owners have a vote in +municipal affairs. + + +SCANDINAVIA + +The Parliament of Norway in 1901 granted municipal suffrage to all +women who in the country districts pay taxes on an income of 300 crowns +(about $75), and in the cities on one of 400 crowns; and they were made +eligible to serve on councils and grand and petit juries. After +strenuous effort on the part of women the Parliament of 1907, by a vote +of 96 to 23, conferred the complete franchise on all who possessed the +municipal. This included about 300,000 of the half-million women. They +were made eligible for Parliament, and at the first election in 1909 +one was elected as alternate or deputy, and took her seat with a most +enthusiastic welcome from the other members. In 1910, by a vote of 71 +to 10, the taxpaying qualification for the municipal vote was removed. +In 1911, a bill to abolish it for the full suffrage was carried by a +large majority in Parliament, but lacked five votes of the necessary +two-thirds. More than twice as many women as voted in 1907 went to the +polls in 1910 at the municipal elections. Last year 178 women were +elected to city councils, nine to that of Christiania. This year 210 +were elected and 379 alternates to fill vacancies that may occur. + +Sweden gave municipal suffrage to tax-paying widows and spinsters in +1862. At that time and for many years afterward not one-tenth of the +men had a vote. Then came the rise of the Liberal party and the Social +Democracy, and by 1909 the new Franchise law had been enacted, which +immensely increased the number of men voters, extended the municipal +suffrage to wives, greatly reduced the tax qualification, and made +women eligible to all offices for which they could vote. At the last +election 37 were elected to the councils of 34 towns, 11 in the five +largest. The Woman Suffrage Association is said to be the best +organized body in the country, its branches extending beyond the arctic +circle. It has over 12,000 paid members and has held 1,550 meetings +within a year. In 1909 a bill to extend the full suffrage to women +passed the Second Chamber of the Parliament unanimously, but was +defeated by four to one in the First Chamber, representing the +aristocracy. This year the Suffrage Association made a strong campaign +for the Liberal and Social Democratic parties, and a large majority of +their candidates were elected. The Conservative cabinet was deposed and +the King has called for a new election of the First Chamber. As its +members are chosen by the Provincial Councils and those of the five +largest cities, and women have a vote for these bodies and are members +of them, they will greatly reduce the number of Conservative members of +the Upper House. On the final passage of a suffrage bill the two +chambers must vote jointly and it seems assured of a majority. + +Denmark's Parliament in 1908 gave the municipal suffrage to women on +the same terms as exercised by men--that is, to all over 25 years of +age who pay any taxes. Property owned by husband or wife or in common +entitles each to a vote. At the first election 68 per cent. of all the +enfranchised women in the country, and 70 per cent. in Copenhagen, +voted. Seven were elected to the city council of 42 members and one was +afterward appointed to fill a vacancy, and 127 were elected in other +places. Women serve on all committees and are chairmen of important +ones; two are city treasurers. There are two Suffrage Associations +whose combined membership makes the organization of that country in +proportion to population the largest of the kind in the world. They +have 314 local branches and one of the associations has held 1,100 +meetings during the past year. The Lower House of Parliament has passed +a bill to give women the complete franchise, which has not been acted +on by the Upper House, composed mainly of the aristocracy. The Prime +Minister and the Speakers of both houses are outspoken in advocacy of +enfranchising women, but political considerations are holding it back. +All say, however, that it will come in the near future. + +Iceland, a dependency of Denmark, with its own Parliament, gave +municipal suffrage in 1882 to all widows and spinsters who were +householders or maintained a family, or were self-supporting. In 1902 +it made these voters eligible to all municipal offices, and since then +a fourth of the council members of Reykjavik, the capital, have been +women. In 1909 this franchise was extended to all those who pay taxes. +A petition signed by a large majority of all the women in Iceland asked +for the complete suffrage, and during the present year the Parliament +voted to give this to all women over 25 years old. It must be acted +upon by a second Parliament, but its passage is assured, and Icelandic +women will vote on the same terms as men in 1913. + + +OTHER COUNTRIES + +First place must be given to the Grand Duchy of Finland, far more +advanced than any other part of the empire. In 1905, by permission of +the Czar, after a wonderful uprising of the people, they reorganized +their Government and combined the four antiquated chambers of their +Diet into one body. The next year, on demand of thousands of women, +expressed by petitions and public meetings, this new Parliament, almost +without a dissenting voice, conferred the full suffrage on all women. +Since that time from 16 to 25 have been elected to the different +Parliaments by all the political parties. + +In Russia women as well as men are struggling for political freedom. In +many of the villages wives cast the votes for their husbands when the +latter are away; women have some suffrage for the zemstvos, local +governing bodies; the Duma has tried to enlarge their franchise rights, +but at present these are submerged in the general chaos. + +In Poland an active League for Woman's Rights is cooperating with the +Democratic party of men. + +A very strong movement for woman suffrage is proceeding against great +difficulties in the seventeen provinces of Austria, where almost as +many languages are spoken and the bitterest racial feuds exist. Women +are not allowed to form political associations or hold public meetings, +but 4,000 have paraded the streets of Vienna demanding the suffrage. In +Bohemia since 1864 women have had a vote for members of the Diet and +are eligible to sit in it. In all the municipalities outside of Prague +and Liberic, women taxpayers and those of the learned professions may +vote by proxy. Women belong to all the political parties except the +Conservative and constitute 40 per cent, of the Agrarian party. They +are well organized to secure the full suffrage and are holding hundreds +of meetings and distributing thousands of pamphlets. In Bosnia and +Herzegovina women property-owners vote by proxy. + +In Hungary the National Woman Suffrage Association includes many +societies having other aims also, and it has branches in 87 towns and +cities, combining all classes of women from the aristocracy to the +peasants. Men are in a turmoil there to secure universal suffrage for +themselves and women are with them in the thick of the fight. + +Bulgaria has a Woman Suffrage Association composed of 37 auxiliaries +and it held 456 meetings during the past year. + +In Servia women have a fragmentary local vote and are now organizing to +claim the parliamentary franchise. + +In Germany it was not until 1908 that the law was changed which forbade +women to take part in political meetings, and since then the Woman +Suffrage Societies, which existed only in the Free Cities, have +multiplied rapidly. Most of them are concentrating on the municipal +franchise, which those of Prussia claim already belongs to them by an +ancient law. In a number of the States women landowners have a proxy +vote in communal matters, but have seldom availed themselves of it. In +Silesia this year, to the amazement of everybody, 2,000 exercised this +privilege. The powerful Social Democratic party stands solidly for +enfranchising women. + +A few years ago when the Liberal party in Holland was in power it +prepared to revise the constitution and make woman suffrage one of its +provisions. In 1907 the Conservatives carried the election and blocked +all further progress. Two active Suffrage Associations approximate a +membership of 8,000, with nearly 200 branches, and are building up +public sentiment. + +Belgium in 1910 gave women a vote for members of the Board of Trade, an +important tribunal, and made them eligible to serve on it. A Woman +Suffrage Society is making considerable progress. + +Switzerland has had a Woman Suffrage Association only a few years. +Geneva and Zurich in 1911 made women eligible to their boards of trade +with a vote for its members, and Geneva gave them a vote in all matters +connected with the State Church. + +Italy has a well-supported movement for woman suffrage, and a +discussion in Parliament showed a strong sentiment in favor. Mayor +Nathan, of Rome, is an outspoken advocate. In 1910 all women in trade +were made voters for boards of trade. + +The woman-suffrage movement in France differs from that of most other +countries in the number of prominent men in politics connected with it. +President Fallieres loses no opportunity to speak in favor and leading +members of the ministry and the Parliament approve it. Committees have +several times reported a bill, and that of M. Dussaussoy giving all +women a vote for Municipal, District, and General Councils was reported +with full parliamentary suffrage added. In 1910, 163 members asked to +have the bill taken up. Finally it was decided to have a committee +investigate the practical working of woman suffrage in the countries +where it existed. Its extensive and very favorable report has just been +published, and the Woman Suffrage Association states that it expects +early action by Parliament. More than one-third of the wage-earners of +France are women, and these may vote for tribunes and chambers of +commerce and boards of trade. They may be members of the last named and +serve as judges. + +The constitution of the new Republic of Portugal gave "universal" +suffrage, and Dr. Beatrice Angelo applied for registration, which was +refused. She carried her case to the courts, her demand was sustained, +and she cast her vote. It was too late for other women to register, but +an organization of 1,000 women was at once formed to secure definite +action of Parliament, with the approval of President Braga and several +members of his cabinet. + +The Spanish Chamber has proposed to give women heads of families in the +villages a vote for mayor and council. + +A bill to give suffrage to women was recently introduced in the +Parliament of Persia, but was ruled out of order by the president +because the Koran says women have no souls. + +Siam has lately adopted a constitution which gives women a municipal +vote. + +The leaders of the revolution in China have promised suffrage for women +if it is successful. + +Several women voted in place of their husbands at the recent election +in Mexico. Belize, the capital of British Honduras, has just given the +right to women to vote for town council. + +Throughout the entire world is an unmistakable tendency to accord woman +a voice in the government, and, strange to say, this is stronger in +monarchies than in republics. In Europe the republics of France and +Switzerland give almost no suffrage to women. Norway and Finland, where +they have the complete franchise; Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Great +Britain, where they have all but the parliamentary, and that close at +hand, are monarchies. New Zealand and Australia, where women are fully +enfranchised, are dependencies of a monarchical government. + + +JANE ADDAMS + +The comfortable citizen possessing a vote won for him in a previous +generation, who is so often profoundly disturbed by the cry of "Votes +for Women," seldom connects the present attempt to extend the franchise +with those former efforts, as the results of which he himself became a +member of the enfranchised class. Still less does the average voter +reflect that in order to make self-government a great instrument in the +hands of those who crave social justice, it must ever be built up anew +in relation to changing experiences, and that unless this readjustment +constantly takes place self-government itself is placed in jeopardy. + +Yet the adherents of representative government, with its foundations +laid in diversified human experiences, must concede that the value of +such government bears a definite relation to the area of its base and +that the history of its development is merely a record of new human +interests which have become the subjects of governmental action, and +the incorporation into the government itself of those classes who +represented the new interests. + +As the governing classes have been increased by the enfranchisement of +one body of men after another, the art of government has been enriched +in human interests, and at the same time as government has become thus +humanized by new interests it has inevitably become further +democratized through the accession of new classes. The two propositions +are complementary. For centuries the middle classes in every country in +Europe struggled to wrest governmental power from the nobles because +they insisted that government must consider the problems of a rising +commerce; on the other hand, the merchants claimed direct +representation because government had already begun to concern itself +with commercial affairs. When the working men of the nineteenth +century, the Chartists in England and the "men of '48" in Germany +vigorously demanded the franchise, national parliaments had already +begun to regulate the condition of mines and the labor of little +children. The working men insisted that they themselves could best +represent their own interests, but at the same time their very entrance +into government increased the volume and pressure of those interests. + +Much of the new demand for political enfranchisement arises from a +desire to remedy the unsatisfactory and degrading social conditions +which are responsible for so much wrongdoing and wretchedness. The fate +of all the unfortunate, the suffering, the criminal, is daily forced +upon public attention in painful and intimate ways. But because of the +tendency to nationalize all industrial and commercial questions, to +make the state responsible for the care of the helpless, to safeguard +by law the food we eat and the liquid we drink, to subordinate the +claim of the individual family to the health and well-being of the +community, contemporary women who are without the franchise are much +more outside the real life of the world than any set of disenfranchised +men could possibly have been in all history, unless it were the men +slaves of ancient Greece, because never before has so large an area of +life found civic expression, never has Hegel's definition of the state +been so accurate, that it is the "realization of the moral ideal." +Certain it is that the phenomenal entrance of women into governmental +responsibility in the dawn of the twentieth century is coincident with +the consideration by governmental bodies of the basic human interests +with which women have been traditionally concerned. A most advanced +German statesman recently declared in the Reichstag that it was a +reproach to the Imperial Government itself that out of two million +children born annually in Germany, 400,000 died during the first twelve +months of their existence. He proceeded to catalog various reforms +which might remedy this, such as better housing, the increase of park +areas, the erection of municipal hospitals, the provision for an +adequate milk supply, and many another, but he did not make the very +obvious suggestion that women might be of service in a situation +involving the care of children less than a year old. + +Nevertheless, in spite of this lack of perception, women all over the +world are claiming and receiving a place in representative government +because they insist that they will not cease to perform their +traditional duties, simply because these duties have been taken over by +existing governments. + +The contemporaneous "Votes for Women" movement is often amorphous and +sporadic, but always spontaneous. It not only appears simultaneously in +various countries, but manifests itself in widely separated groups in +the same country; in every city it embraces the "smart set" and the +hard-driven working women; sometimes it is sectarian and dogmatic, at +others philosophic and grandiloquent, but it is always vital and +constantly becoming more widespread. + +In certain aspects it differs from former efforts to extend the +franchise. We recall that the final entrance of the middle class into +government was characterized by two dramatic revolutions, one in +America and one in France, neither of them without bloodshed, and that +although the final efforts of the working men were more peaceful, even +in restrained England the Chartists burned hayricks and destroyed town +property. This world-wide entrance into government on the part of women +is happily a bloodless one. Although some glass has been broken in +England it is noteworthy that the movement as a whole has been without +even a semblance of violence. The creed of the movement, however, is +similar to that promulgated by the doctrinaires of the eighteenth +century: that if increasing the size of the governing body +automatically increases the variety and significance of government, +then only when all the people become the governing class can the +collective resources and organizations of the community be consistently +utilized for the common weal. + + +DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE + +I have long been a convinced advocate of woman suffrage and am now +firmer than ever in supporting it. It seems to me a necessary and +desirable consequence of the vast extension of the functions of +Government which the past century and a half has witnessed. The state, +nowadays, enters the homes of the people and insists on having a voice +in questions that individual men and women, acting together, taking +counsel together, used to settle for themselves in their own way. +Education and the training and feeding of children, the housing and +sanitation problems, provision against old age and sickness, the +prevention of disease--all these are questions that formerly were dealt +with, of course, in a very isolated and inadequate way, by cooperation +and discussion between the heads of each household. What reason is +there why the same cooperation should not continue now that these +matters have been raised to the sphere of legislative enactments and +official administration? + +Laws to-day affect the interests of women just as deeply as they do the +interests of men. Some laws--many laws--affect them more gravely and +intimately; and I do not believe you can trust the welfare of a class +or a sex entirely to another class or sex. It is not that their +interests are not identical, but that their point of view is different. +Take the housing problem. A working man leaves home in the morning +within half an hour after he wakes. He is not there all day. He turns +up in the evening and does not always remain there. If the house is a +poor, uncomfortable, dismal one, he very often seeks consolation in the +glare and warmth of the nearest public-house, but he takes very good +care that the wife shall not do as he does. She has got to stay at home +all day, however wretched her surroundings. Who can say that her +experience, her point of view, is not much better worth consulting than +her husband's on the housing problem? Up to the present the only and +the whole share of women in the housing question has been suffering. +Slums are often the punishment of the man. They are almost always the +martyrdom of the woman. Give women the vote, give them an effective +part in the framing and administration of the laws which touch not +merely their own lives but the lives of their children, and they will +soon, I believe, cleanse the land of these foul dens. + +All sorts of women's interests were affected by the National Insurance +Act, and all sorts of questions sprang up in connection with it on +which women alone could speak with real authority. But, being voteless, +there was no way in which their views could be authoritatively set +forth. Four million women workers and seven million married women have +come under the operation of the Act, yet not one of them was given the +opportunity of making their opinions known and felt through a +representative in the House of Commons. It was the experience of every +friendly society official I consulted that had it not been for the +women and their splendid self-sacrifice, the subscriptions of the men +would have lapsed long ago. Yet these women who had thus kept the +societies going were not considered worth consulting as to their status +under the Act. The House of Commons itself insisted on there being at +least one woman Commissioner. But if a woman is fit to be a +Commissioner--a very heavy and difficult position involving enormous +responsibilities and demanding great skill and judgment and +experience--how can she be said to be unfit to have a vote? + +What is the meaning of democracy? It is that the citizens who are +expected to obey the law are those who make the law. But that is not +true of Great Britain. At least half the adult citizens whose lives are +deeply affected by every law that is carried on the statute-books have +absolutely no voice in making that law. They have no more influence in +the matter than the horses that drag their lords and masters to the +polling-booth. + +The drunken loafer who has not earned a living for years is consulted +by the Constitution on questions like the training and upbringing of +children, the national settlement of religion in Wales and elsewhere, +and as to the best method of dealing with the licensing problem. But +the wife whose industry keeps him and his household from beggary, who +pays the rent and taxes which constitute him a voter, who is therefore +really responsible for his qualification to vote, is not taken into +account in the slightest degree. I came in contact not long ago with a +great girls' school in the south of England. It was founded by women, +and it is administered by women. It is one of the most marvelous +organizations in the whole country, and yet, when we had, in the year +1906, to give a national verdict on the question of education, the man +who split the firewood in that school was asked for his opinion about +it, while those ladies were deemed to be absolutely unfit to pass any +judgment on it at all. That is a preposterous and barbarous +anachronism, and so long as it lasts our democracy is one-sided and +incomplete. But it will not last long. No franchise bill can ever again +be brought forward in this country without raising the whole problem of +whether you are going to exclude more than half the citizens of the +land. Women have entered pretty nearly every sphere of commerce and +industry and professional activity and public employment; and there +never was a time when the nation stood more in need of the special +experience, instincts, and sympathy of womanhood in the management of +its affairs. When women get the vote the horizon of the home will be +both brightened and expanded, and their influence on moral and social +and educational questions, especially on the temperance question, and +possibly on the peace of nations, will be constant and humanizing. + +Those are a few of the reasons why I favor woman suffrage. But because +I favor it I do not therefore hold myself bound to either speak or vote +for any and every suffrage bill that may be introduced into Parliament. +I voted against the so-called Conciliation Bill which proposed to give +the vote to every woman of property if she chose to take the trouble to +get it, and at the same time enfranchise only about one-tenth or +one-fifteenth of the working women of the country. That was simply a +roundabout way of doubling the plural voters and no democrat could +possibly support it, so long as there remained a single alternative. +The solution that most appeals to me is the one embodied in the +Dickinson Bill, that is to say, a measure conferring the vote on women +householders and on the wives of married electors; and I believe that +it is in that form that woman suffrage will eventually come in this +country. How soon it will come depends very largely on how soon the +militants come to their senses. + +I say, unhesitatingly, that the main obstacle to women getting the vote +is militancy and nothing else. Its practitioners really seem to think +that they can terrorize and pinprick Parliament into giving it to them; +and until they learn something of the people they are dealing with, +their whole agitation, so far as the House of Commons is concerned, is +simply and utterly damned. It is perfectly astonishing to recall with +what diabolical ingenuity they have contrived to infuriate all their +opponents, to alienate all their sympathizers, and to stir up against +themselves every prejudice in the average man's breast. A few years ago +they found three-fourths of the Liberal M.P.'s on their side. They at +once proceeded to cudgel their brains as to how they could possibly +drive them into the enemy's camp. They rightly decided that this could +not be done more effectually than by insulting and assaulting the Prime +Minister, the chief of the Party, and a leader for whom all his +colleagues and followers feel an unbounded admiration, regard, and +affection. When they had thus successfully estranged the majority of +Liberals they began to study the political situation a little more +closely. They saw that the Irish Nationalists were very powerful +factors in the Ministerial Coalition. The next problem, therefore, was +how to destroy the last chance that the Irish Nationalists would +support their cause. They achieved this triumphantly first by making +trouble in Belfast where the only Nationalist member is or was a strong +Suffragist, and secondly by going to Dublin when all Nationalist +Ireland had assembled to welcome Mr. Asquith, throwing a hatchet at Mr. +Redmond, and trying to burn down a theater. That finished Ireland, but +still they were dissatisfied. There was a dangerous movement of +sympathy with their agitation in Wales, and they felt that at any cost +it had to be checked. They not only checked, but demolished, it with +the greatest ease by breaking in upon the proceedings at an Eisteddfod. +Now the Eisteddfod is not only the great national festival of Welsh +poetry and music and eloquence, it is also an oasis of peace amid the +sharp contentions of Welsh life. To bring into it any note of politics +or sectarianism or public controversy, even when these things are +rousing the most passionate emotions outside, seems to a Welshman like +the desecration of an altar. That is just what the militants did, and +Welsh interest in their cause fell dead on the spot. But even then they +were not happy. They were still encumbered by the good-will of perhaps +a hundred Tory M.P.'s. But they proved entirely equal to the task of +antagonizing them. They began smashing windows, burning country +mansions, firing race-stands, damaging golf-greens, striking as hard as +they could at the Tory idol of Property. There is really nothing more +left for them to do; they have alienated every friend they ever had; +their work is complete beyond their wildest hopes. + +Well, one can not dignify such tactics and antics by the title of +"political propaganda." The proper name for them is sheer organized +lunacy. The militants have erected militancy into a principle. I am +beginning to think that a good many of them are more concerned with the +success of their method than with the success of their cause. They +would rather not have the vote than fail to win it by the particular +brand of agitation they have pinned their faith to. They don't really +want the vote to be given them; they want to get it and to get it by +force; and they are quite unable to see that the more force they use +the stronger becomes the resolve both of Parliament and of the country +to send them away empty-handed. If they had accepted Mr. Asquith's +pledge of two years ago and thanked him for it and helped him redeem +it, woman suffrage by now would be an accomplished fact. But they +preferred their own ways, and what is the result? The result is that +working for their cause in the House of Commons to-day is like swimming +not merely against a tide but against a cataract. The real reason why +the attempts to carry woman suffrage through the House of Commons +during the past two years have failed is not merely the difficulty of +trying to combine a non-party measure with the party system; it is, +above all, the impossibility of using Parliament to pass a bill that +the opinion of the country has been fomented to condemn. The fact that +in both the principal parties there is a clean division of opinion on +this issue and that no Government, or none that is at present +conceivable, can bring forward a measure for the enfranchisement of +women as a Government, is a great, but not necessarily an insuperable +obstacle. The one barrier, there is no surmounting and no getting +round, is the decided and increasing hostility of public sentiment; and +for that the militants have only themselves to thank. + +Personally I always try to remember, first, that militancy is the work +of only a very small fraction of the women who want the vote and ought +to have it, and, secondly, that there have been crazy men just as there +are crazy women. Militancy has not affected my own individual attitude +toward the main question and never will. But I recognize that it has +killed the immediate Parliamentary prospects of any and every Suffrage +Bill, and that so long as militancy continues the House of Commons will +do nothing. Only a new movement altogether can now bring women to the +goal of political emancipation; and it will have to be a sane, +hard-headed, practical movement, as full of liveliness as you please, +but absolutely divorced from stones and bombs and torches. When it +arises the friends of the Women's cause will begin to take heart again. + + +ISRAEL ZANGWILL + +THE AWKWARD AGE OF THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT + + "And what did she get by it?" said my Uncle Toby. + "What does any woman get by it?" said my father. + "_Martyrdom_" replied the young Benedictine. + + TRISTRAM SHANDY. + +The present situation of woman suffrage in England recalls the old +puzzle: What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable +body? The irresistible force is the religious passion of myriads of +women, the fury of self-sacrifice, the righteous zeal that shrinks not +even from crime; the immovable body may be summed up as Mr. Asquith. +Almost as gross an incarnation of Tory prejudice as Squire Western, who +laid it down that women should come in with the first dish and go out +with the first glass, Mr. Asquith is all that stands between the sex +and the suffrage. + +The answer to the old puzzle, I suppose, would be that though the +immovable body does not move, yet the impact of the irresistible force +generates heat, which, as we know from Tyndall, is a mode of motion. At +any rate, heat is the only mode in which the progress of woman suffrage +can be registered to-day. The movement has come to what Mr. Henry James +might call "the awkward age": an age which has passed beyond argument +without arriving at achievement; an age for which words are too small +and blows too big. And because impatience has been the salvation of the +movement, and because the suffragette will not believe that the fiery +charger which has carried her so far can not really climb the last +ridge of the mountain, but must be replaced by a mule--that miserable +compromise between a steed and an anti-suffragist--the awkward age is +also the dangerous age. + +When the Cabinet of Clement's Inn, perceiving that if a woman suffrage +Bill did not pass this session, the last chance--under the Parliament +Act--was gone for this Parliament, resolved to rouse public opinion by +breaking tradesmen's windows, it overlooked that the English are a +nation of shopkeepers, and that the public opinion thus roused would be +for the first time almost unreservedly on the side of the Government. +And when the Cabinet of Downing Street, moved to responsive +recklessness, raided the quarters of the Women's Social and Political +Union and indicted the leaders for criminal conspiracy, it equally +overlooked an essential factor of the situation. The Cabinet of the +conspiracy was at least as much a restraint to suffragettes as an +incentive. It held in order the more violent members, the souls +naturally daring or maddened by forcible feeding. By its imposition of +minor forms of lawlessness, it checked the suggestion of major forms. +Crime was controlled by a curriculum and temper studied by a +time-table. The interruptions at meetings were distributed among the +supposed neuropaths like parts at a play, and we to the maenad who +missed her cue. With the police, too, the suffragettes lived for the +most part on terms of cordial cooperation, each side recognizing that +the other must do its duty. When the suffragettes planned a raid upon +Downing Street or the House of Commons, they gave notice of time and +place, and were provided with a sufficient force of police to prevent +it. Were the day inconvenient for the police, owing to the pressure of +social engagements, another day was fixed, politics permitting. The +_entente cordiale_ extended even in some instances to the jailers and +the bench, and, as in those early days of the Quaker persecution of +which Milton's friend, Ellwood, has left record, prisoners sometimes +left their cells for a night to attend to imperative affairs, or +good-naturedly shortened or canceled their sentences at the pressing +solicitation of perturbed magistrates. Prison was purified by all these +gentle presences, and women criminals profited by the removal of the +abuses they challenged. Holloway became a home from home, in which +beaming wardresses welcomed old offenders, and to which husbands +conducted erring wives in taxicabs, much as Ellwood and his brethren +marched of themselves from Newgate to Bridewell, explaining to the +astonished citizens of London that their word was their keeper. A +suffragette's word stood higher than consols, and the war-game was +played cards on table. True, there were brutal interludes when Home +Secretaries lost their heads, or hysterical magistrates their sense of +justice, or when the chivalrous constabulary of Westminster was +replaced by Whitechapel police, dense to the courtesies of the +situation; but even these tragedies were transfused by its humors, by +the subtle duel of woman's wit and man's lumbering legalism. The +hunger-strike itself, with all its grim horrors and heroisms, was like +the plot of a Gilbertian opera. It placed the Government on the horns +of an Irish bull. Either the law must kill or torture prisoners +condemned for mild offenses, or it must permit them to dictate their +own terms of durance. The criminal code, whose dignity generations of +male rebels could not impair, the whole array of warders, lawyers, +judges, juries, and policemen, which all the scorn of a Tolstoy could +not shrivel, shrank into a laughing-stock. And the comedy of the +situation was complicated and enhanced by the fact that the Home +Office, so far from being an Inquisition, was more or less tenanted by +sympathizers with Female Suffrage, and that a Home Secretary who +secretly admired the quixotry of the hunger-strikers was forced to feed +them forcibly. He must either be denounced by the suffragettes as a +Torquemada or by the public as an incapable. Bayard himself could not +have coped with the position. There was no place like the Home Office, +and its administrators, like the Governors of the Gold Coast, had to be +relieved at frequent intervals. As for the police, their one aim in +life became to avoid arresting suffragettes. + +Such was the situation which the Governmental _coup_ transformed to +tragedy unrelieved, giving us in the place of ordered lawlessness and +responsible leadership a guerrilla warfare against society by +irresponsive individuals, more or less unbalanced. That the heroic +incendiary Mrs. Leigh, who deserved penal servitude and a statue, had +been driven wild by forcible feeding was a fact that had given +considerable uneasiness to headquarters, but she had been kept in +comparative discipline. Now that discipline has been destroyed, it is +possible that other free-lances will catch the contagion of crime; nay, +there are signs that the leaders themselves are being infected through +the difficulty of disavowing their martyrs. The wisest course for the +Government would be to pardon Miss Pankhurst, of Paris, and officially +invite her to resume control of her followers before they have quite +controlled her. + +But even without such a crowning confession of the failure of its +_coup_, the humiliation of the Government has been sufficiently +complete. Forced to put Mrs. Pankhurst and the Pethick Lawrences into +the luxurious category of political prisoners, next to release them +altogether, and finally to liberate their humblest followers, their +hunger-strike on behalf of whose equal treatment set a new standard of +military chivalry, the Government succeeded only in investing the +vanished Christabel with a new glamour. The Women's Social and +Political Union has again baffled the Government, and come triumphantly +even through the window-breaking episode. For if that episode was +followed by the rejection of the second reading of the woman suffrage +Bill, second readings, like the oaths of the profane, had come to be +absolutely without significance, and the blocking of the Bill beyond +this stage has been assured long before by the tactics of Mr. Redmond, +whose passion for justice, like Mr. Asquith's passion for popular +government, is so curiously monosexual. The only discount from the +Union's winnings is that it gave mendacious M.P.'s, anxious to back out +of woman suffrage, a soft bed to lie on. + +One should perhaps also add to the debit side of the account a +considerable loss of popularity on the part of the suffragettes, a loss +which would become complete were window-breaking to pass into graver +crimes, and which would entirely paralyze the effect of their tactics. + +For the tactics of the prison and the hunger-strike depend for their +value upon the innocency of the prisoners. Their offense must be merely +nominal or technical. The suffragettes had rediscovered the Quaker +truth that the spirit is stronger than all the forces of Government, +and that things may really come by fasting and prayer. Even the +window-breaking, though a perilous approach to the methods of the Pagan +male, was only a damage to insensitive material for which the +window-breakers were prepared to pay in conscious suffering. But once +the injury was done to flesh and blood, the injurer would only be +paying tooth for tooth and eye for eye; and all the sympathy would go, +not to the assailant, but to the victim. Mrs. Pankhurst says the +Government must either give votes to women or "prepare to send large +numbers of women to penal servitude." That would be indeed awkward for +the Government if penal servitude were easily procurable. +Unfortunately, the women must first qualify for it, and their crimes +would disembarrass the Government. Mrs. Leigh could have been safely +left to starve had her attempted arson of that theater really come off, +especially with loss of life. Thus violence may be "militant," but it +is not "tactics." And violence against society at large is peculiarly +tactless. George Fox would hardly occupy so exalted a niche in history +if he had used his hammer to make not shoes but corpses. + +The suffragettes who run amuck have, in fact, become the victims of +their own vocabulary. Their Union was "militant," but a church +militant, not an army militant. The Salvation Army might as well +suddenly take to shooting the heathen. It was only by mob +misunderstanding that the suffragettes were conceived as viragoes, just +as it was only by mob misunderstanding that the members of the Society +of Friends were conceived as desperadoes. If it can not be said that +their proceedings were as quintessentially peaceful as some of those +absolutely mute Quaker meetings which the police of Charles II. +humorously enough broke up as "riots," yet they had a thousand +propaganda meetings (ignored by the Press) to one militant action +(recorded and magnified). Even in battle nothing could be more decorous +or constitutional than the overwhelming majority of their "pin-pricks." + +I remember a beautiful young lady, faultlessly dressed, who in soft, +musical accents interrupted Mr. Birrell at the Mansion House. Stewards +hurled themselves at her, policemen hastened from every point of the +compass; but unruffled as at the dinner-table, without turning a hair +of her exquisite _chévelure_, she continued gently explaining the +wishes of womankind till she disappeared in a whirlwind of hysteric +masculinity. But in gradually succumbing to the vulgar +misunderstanding, playing up to the caricature, and finally +assimilating to the crude and obsolescent methods of men, the +suffragettes have been throwing away their own peculiar glory, their +characteristic contribution to history and politics. Rosalind in search +of a vote has supplied humanity with a new type who snatched from her +testifyings a grace beyond the reach of Arden. But Rosalind with a +revolver would be merely a reactionary. Hawthorne's Zenobia, who, for +all her emancipation, drowned herself in a fit of amorous jealousy, was +no greater backslider from the true path of woman's advancement. It is +some relief to find that Mrs. Pankhurst's latest program disavows +attacks on human life, limiting itself to destruction of property, and +that the Pethick Lawrences have grown still saner. + +There might, indeed, be--for force is not always brute--some excuse +and even admiration for the Terrorist, did the triumph of her cause +appear indefinitely remote, were even that triumph to be brought +perceptibly nearer by forcibly feeding us with horrors. But the +contrary is the case: even the epidemic of crime foreshadowed by Mrs. +Pankhurst could not appreciably delay woman suffrage. It is coming as +fast as human nature and the nature of the Parliamentary machine will +allow. To try to terrorize Mr. Asquith into bringing in a Government +measure is to credit him with a wisdom and a nobility almost divine. No +man is great enough to put himself in the right by admitting he was +wrong. And even if he were great enough to admit it under argument, he +would have to be godlike to admit it under menace. Rather than admit +it, Mr. Asquith has let himself be driven into a position more +ludicrous than perhaps any Prime Minister has occupied. For though he +declares woman suffrage to be "a political disaster of the gravest +kind," he is ready to push it through if the House of Commons wishes, +relying for its rejection upon the House of Lords, which he has +denounced and eviscerated. He is even not unwilling it shall pass if +only the disaster to the country is maximized by Adult Suffrage. It is +not that he loves woman more, but the Tory party less. + +All things considered, I am afraid the Suffrage Movement will have to +make up its mind to wait for another Parliament. There is more hope for +the premature collapse of this Parliament than for its passing of a +Suffrage Bill or clause. And at the general election, whenever it +comes, Votes for Women will be put on the program of both parties. The +Conservatives will offer a mild dose, the Liberals a democratic. +Whichever fails at the polls, the principle of woman suffrage will be +safe. + +This prognostic, it will be seen, involves the removal of the immovable +Asquith. But he must either consent to follow a plebiscite of his party +or retire, like his doorkeeper, from Downing Street, under the +intolerable burden of the suffragette. Much as his party honors and +admires him, it can not continue to repudiate the essential principles +of Liberalism, nor find refuge in his sophism that Liberalism removes +artificial barriers, but can not remove natural barriers. What natural +barrier prevents a woman from accepting or rejecting a man who proposes +to represent her in Parliament? No; after his historic innings Mr. +Asquith will sacrifice himself and retire, covered with laurels and +contradictions. Pending which event, the suffragettes, while doing +their best to precipitate it through the downfall of the Government, +may very reasonably continue their policy of pin-pricks to keep +politicians from going to sleep, but serious violence would be worse +than a crime; it would be a blunder. No general dares throw away his +men when nothing is to be gained, and our analysis shows that the +interval between women and the vote can only be shortened by bringing +on a general election. + +There are, indeed, skeptics who fear that even at the next general +election both parties may find a way of circumventing woman suffrage by +secretly agreeing to keep it off both programs; but the country itself +is too sick of the question to endure this, even if the Women's Liberal +Federation and the corresponding Conservative body permitted it. That +the parties would go so far as to pair off their women workers against +each other is unlikely. At any rate, now, when other forms of agitation +are more or less futile, is the moment for these and cognate bodies to +take up the running. + +But even if these women workers fail in backbone, and allow themselves, +as so often before, to be lulled and gulled by their male politicians, +there yet remains an ardent body to push forward their cause. Mrs. +Humphry Ward and the Anti-Suffragists may be trusted to continue +tireless and ever-inventive. Mrs. Ward's League to promote the return +of women as town and county councilors is her latest device to prove +the unfitness of women for public affairs, and since the Vegetarian +League for combating the carnivorous instincts of the tigress by +feeding her on blood, there has been no quite so happy adaptation of +means to end. If anything could add to the educative efficiency of the +new League, it is Mrs. Ward's scrupulousness in limiting it exclusively +to Anti-Suffragists. + + +ELBERT HUBBARD + +There was a time in England when all the laws were made and executed by +the King. + +Later he appointed certain favorites who acted for him, and these were +paid honors and emoluments accordingly. + +Still later, all soldiers were allowed to express their political +preferences. And that is where we got the idea about not allowing folks +to vote who could not fight. + +It was once the law in England that no Catholic should be allowed to +vote. + +It was also once the law in England that no Jew could hold real estate, +could vote at elections, could hold a public office, or serve on a +jury. + +Full rights of citizenship were not given to the Jews in Great Britain +until the year 1858. Deists, Theists, Quakers, and "Dissenters" were +not allowed to testify in courts, and their right to vote was +challenged in England up to 1885. + +For centuries, Jews occupied the position of minors, mental defectives, +or men with criminal records. + +Women now in England occupy the same position politically that the Jews +did a hundred years ago. + +Until very recent times all lawmakers disputed the fact that women have +rights. Women have privileges and duties--mostly duties. + +All the laws are made by men, and for the most part the rights only of +male citizens are considered. If the rights of women or children are +taken into consideration, it is only from a secondary point of view, or +because the attention of lawmakers is especially called to the natural +rights of women, children, and dumb animals. + +Provisions, however, have always been made in England as well as all +other civilized countries for punishing Catholics, Jews, Quakers, and +women. + +In old New England there was once a pleasing invention called a +"ducking stool," that was for "women only." For the most part, the +punishment for these individuals who were not citizens was very much +more severe than it was for the people who made and devised the +punishment for them. + +Women are admitted into the full rights of citizenship in New Zealand +and Australia, and in several States in the United States. + +There will surely come a time when we will look back and regard the +withholding of full political rights from women in the same way that we +now look back and regard the disfranchisement of Jews and Catholics. + +There is no argument that can possibly be presented against the right +of women to express their political preferences which does not in equal +degree apply to the right of male citizens to express theirs. + +Every possible logical argument has been put forward and answered. + +The protest in England by certain women who are working for equal +suffrage has taken what is called a militant form. + +These women, in many instances, have been guilty of violence. + +The particular women who have been foremost in this matter of violence +are not criminals in any sense of the word. They are not plotting and +planning the overthrow of the government. They are not guilty of +treason; and certainly they are not guilty of disorder along any other +line than that springing out of their disapproval of the failure of the +government to grant the right of political representation to women. + +"Taxation without representation" was the shibboleth of the men who +founded the government of the United States of America. + +This shibboleth, or slogan, came to them from across the sea and was +first uttered in England before the days of Magna Charta. + +That every adult individual, man or woman, possessed of normal +mentality, should be thoroughly interested in the government, and +should have the right of expressing his or her political preferences, +is beyond dispute, especially under any government that affects to +derive its powers from the governed. + +The right to govern is conferred by the governed, and this is now +admitted even in the so-called monarchies. And the governed are not +exclusively males; the governed are men and women, for women are +responsible before the law. + +So thoroughly are these facts fixed in the minds of a great many men +and women everywhere that a few men are possessed by the righteousness +of the cause to a degree that they are willing not only to live for it +and fight for it, suffer for it, but also to die for it. + +Some of these women in London, who have been throwing stones into +windows, thus destroying property, have signified as great a +willingness to injure themselves as they have to injure the property of +their fellow citizens, provided by so doing they can bring to the +attention of the men in charge of the government the absolute necessity +of recognizing the political rights of women. + +If certain people in the past had not been willing to stake their all +on individual rights, there would to-day be no liberty for any one. + +The saviors of the world are simply those who have been willing to die +that humanity might live. + +It may be hard for an individual of average purpose to understand or +comprehend this mental attitude where the individual is fired with such +zeal that he is willing to suffer physical destruction for it. + +In England, the test has come to an issue of whether these women, +intent on bringing about governmental recognition of the rights of +women, should be allowed to die for the cause or not. And from all +latest reports, John Bull does seem troubled about it. + + + + +MILITARISM + +ITS CLIMAX IN THE THREAT OF UNIVERSAL WAR OVER MOROCCO A.D. 1911 + +NORMAN ANGELL + +SIR MAX WAECHTER, D.L. + +Ever since Germany by the completeness of her military preparation won +so decisive a victory over France in 1870, Europe has plunged deeper +and deeper into Militarism. That is to say, each European state that +could possibly afford it has increased its army and its navy, until +to-day their military force is many times more powerful than it was +half a century ago. The theory on which this is done is that you can +secure peace only by showing you are ready to fight; that if one nation +is sure that it can thrash another, it will probably plan an +opportunity to do so. Such is the theory; but what is the tragic +result? Military expenditures have increased at a stupendous rate and +all Europe groans under a burden of almost unendurable taxation. +Moreover, the possession of such splendid machinery of warfare is a +constant temptation to employ it and so vindicate its staggering +expense. This was startlingly shown in the case of the Morocco +imbroglio. + +During the early part of 1911 the French government made clear its +intent to take complete possession of the semi-independent African +state of Morocco. On July 1st, Germany sent a warship to the Moroccan +port of Agadir, as a sign that she also had interests in the country, +which France must not override. Instantly Europe buzzed like an angry +bee-hive. England and France had previously made a secret treaty +agreeing that France should be allowed to take Morocco in exchange for +keeping hands off Egypt, where England was establishing herself. Hence +England now felt compelled to uphold her ally. When Germany seemed +inclined to bully the Frenchmen, England insisted that she also must be +consulted. Germany growled that this was none of England's business. +Everybody began getting out their guns and parading their armies. +Germany sought the support of Austria and Italy, her partners in the +"Triple Alliance." France and England emphasized the fact that Russia +stood with them in an antagonistic "Triple Entente." On November 4th, +France and Germany came to a peaceful agreement, France taking Morocco +and "compensating" Germany by yielding to her some territory in Eastern +Equatorial Africa. + +Thus the whole excitement passed off in rumblings; there was no war. +But it was revealed a few months later that the nations had really +approached to the very brink of a Titanic struggle, which would have +desolated the whole of Europe. + +And here is the peculiar tragedy of Militarism. The mere threat of that +great "Unfought War" cost Europe billions of dollars. Moreover, as a +result of Germany's discontent at what she rather regarded as her +defeat in this Morocco affair, she in 1913 enormously increased her +army and more than doubled her already heavy military tax upon her +people. Then France and Russia felt compelled to meet Germany's move by +increasing their armies also, extending, as she had done, the time of +compulsory military service inflicted upon their poorer classes. + +Norman Angell, an English writer, has recently stirred all thinking +people by a remarkable book of protest against Militarism. He here +discusses the Moroccan imbroglio under the title of "the Mirage of the +Map." Sir Max Waechter is an authority of international repute upon the +same subject. + + +NORMAN ANGELL + +The Press of Europe and America is very busy discussing the lessons of +the diplomatic conflict which has just ended. And the outstanding +impression which one gets from most of these essays in high +politics--whether French, Italian, or British--is that we have been and +are witnessing part of a great world movement, the setting in motion of +Titanic forces "deep-set in primordial needs and impulses." + +For months those in the secrets of the Chancelleries have spoken with +bated breath--as though in the presence of some vision of Armageddon. +On the strength of this mere talk of war by the three nations, vast +commercial interests have been embarrassed, fortunes have been lost and +won on the Bourses, banks have suspended payment, some thousands have +been ruined; while the fact that the fourth and fifth nations have +actually gone to war has raised all sorts of further possibilities of +conflict, not alone in Europe, but in Asia, with remoter danger of +religious fanaticism and all its sequelae. International bitterness and +suspicion in general have been intensified, and the one certain result +of the whole thing is that immense burdens will be added in the shape +of further taxation for armaments to the already heavy ones carried by +the five or six nations concerned. For two or three hundred millions of +people in Europe life, which with all the problems of high prices, +labor wars, unsolved social difficulties, is none too easy as it is, +will be made harder still. + +The needs, therefore, that can have provoked a conflict of these +dimensions must be "primordial" indeed. In fact, one authority assures +us that what we have seen going on is "the struggle for life among +men"--that struggle which has its parallel in the whole of sentient +existence. + +Well, I put it to you, as a matter worth just a moment or two of +consideration, that this conflict is about nothing of the sort; that it +is about a perfectly futile matter, one which the immense majority of +the German, English, French, Italian, and Turkish people could afford +to treat with the completest indifference. For, to the vast majority of +these 250,000,000 people, more or less, it does not matter two straws +whether Morocco or some vague, African swamp near the Equator is +administered by German, French, Italian, or Turkish officials, so long +as it is well administered. Or rather one should go further: if French, +German, or Italian colonization of the past is any guide, the nation +which wins in the conquest for territory of this sort has added a +wealth-draining incubus. + +This, of course, is preposterous; I am losing sight of the need for +making provision for the future expansion of the race, of each party +desiring to "find its place in the sun"; and heaven knows what. + +Well, let us for a moment get away from phrases and examine a few facts +usually ignored because they happen to be beneath our nose. + +France has got a new empire, we are told; she has won a great victory; +she is growing and expanding and is richer by something which her +rivals are the poorer for not having. + +Let us assume that she makes the same success of Morocco that she has +made of her other possessions, of, say, Tunis, which represents one of +the most successful of those operations of colonial expansion which +have marked her history during the last forty years. What has been the +precise effect on French prosperity? + +In thirty years, at a cost of many million sterling (it is part of +successful colonial administration in France never to let it be known +what the colonies really cost) France has founded in Tunis a colony, in +which to-day there are, excluding soldiers and officials, about 25,000 +genuine French colonists: just the number by which the French +population in France--the real France--is diminishing every six +months! And the value of Tunis as a market does not even amount to the +sum which France spends directly on its occupation and administration, +to say nothing of the indirect extension of military burden which its +conquest involves; and, of course, the market which it represents would +still exist in some form, though England--or even Germany--administered +the country. + +In other words, France loses twice every year in her home population +two colonies equivalent to Tunis--if we measure colonies in terms of +communities made up of the race which has sprung from the mother +country. And yet, if once in a generation her rulers and diplomats can +point to 25,000 Frenchmen living artificially and exotically under +conditions which must in the long run be inimical to their race, it is +pointed to as "expansion" and as evidence that France is maintaining +her position as a Great Power. A few years, as history goes, unless +there is some complete change of tendencies which at present seem as +strong as ever, the French race as we now know it will have ceased to +exist, swamped without the firing, may be, of a single shot, by the +Germans, Belgians, English, Italians, and Jews. There are to-day in +France more Germans than there are Frenchmen in all the colonies that +France has acquired in the last half-century, and German trade with +France outweighs enormously the trade of France with all French +colonies. France is to-day a better colony for the Germans than they +could make of any exotic colony which France owns. + +"They _tell_ me," said a French Deputy recently (in a not quite +original _mot_), "that the Germans are at Agadir. I _know_ they are in +the Champs-Elysées." Which, of course, is in reality a much more +serious matter. + +And those Frenchmen who regret this disappearance of their race, and +declare that the energy and blood and money which is now poured out so +lavishly in Africa and in Asia ought to be diverted to its arrest, to +the colonization and development of France by better social, +industrial, commercial, and political organization, to the resisting of +the exploitation of the mother country by inflowing masses of +foreigners, are declared to be bad patriots, dead to the sentiment of +the flag, dead to the call of the bugle, are silenced in fact by a +fustian as senseless and mischievous as that which in some marvelous +way the politician, hypnotized by the old formulae, has managed to make +pass as "patriotism" in most countries. + +The French, like their neighbors, are not interested in the Germans of +the Champs-Elysées, but only in the Germans at Agadir: and it is for +these latter that the diplomats fight, and the war budgets swell. + +And from that silent and pacific expansion, which means so much both +negatively and positively, attention is diverted to the banging of the +war drum, and the dancing of the patriotic dervishes. + +And on the other side we are to assume that Germany has during the +period of France's expansion--since the war--not expanded at all. That +she has been throttled and cramped--that she has not had her place in +the sun: and that is why she must fight for it and endanger the +security of her neighbors. + +Well, I put it to you again that all this in reality is false: that +Germany has not been cramped or throttled; that, on the contrary, as we +recognize when we get away from the mirage of the map, her expansion +has been the wonder of the world. She has added 20,000,000 to her +population--one-half the present population of France--during a period +in which the French population has actually diminished. Of all the +nations in Europe, she has cut the biggest swath in the development of +world trade, industry, and influence. Despite the fact that she has not +"expanded" in the sense of mere political dominion, a proportion of her +population, equivalent to the white population of the whole colonial +British Empire, make their living, or the best part of it, from the +development and exploitation of territory outside her borders. These +facts are not new, they have been made the text of thousands of +political sermons preached in England itself during the last few years; +but one side of their significance seems to have been missed. + +We get, then, this: On the one side a nation extending enormously its +political dominion and yet diminishing in national force, if by +national force we mean the growth of a sturdy, enterprising, vigorous +people. (I am not denying that France is both wealthy and comfortable, +to a greater degree it may be than her rival; but she has not her +colonies to thank for it--quite the contrary.) On the other side, we +get immense expansion expressed in terms of those things--a growing and +vigorous population and the possibility of feeding them--and yet the +political dominion, speaking practically, has hardly been extended at +all. + +Such a condition of things, if the common jargon of high politics means +anything, is preposterous. It takes nearly all meaning out of most that +we hear about "primordial needs," and the rest of it. + +As a matter of fact, we touch here one of the vital confusions, which +is at the bottom of most of the present political trouble between +nations, and shows the power of the old ideas, and the old phraseology. + +In the days of the sailing ship and the lumbering wagon dragging slowly +over all but impassable roads, for one country to derive any +considerable profit from another, it had, practically, to administer it +politically. But the compound steam engine, the railway, the telegraph, +have profoundly modified the elements of the whole problem. In the +modern world political dominion is playing a more and more effaced role +as a factor in commerce; the non-political factors have in practise +made it all but inoperative. It is the case with every modern nation +actually that the outside territories which it exploits most +successfully are precisely those of which it does not "own" a foot. +Even with the most characteristically colonial of all--Great +Britain--the greater part of her overseas trade is done with countries +which she makes no attempt to "own," control, coerce, or dominate--and +incidentally she has ceased to do any of these things with her +colonies. + +Millions of Germans in Prussia and Westphalia derive profit or make +their living out of countries to which their political dominion in no +way extends. The modern German exploits South America by remaining at +home. Where, forsaking this principle, he attempts to work through +political power, he approaches futility. German colonies are colonies +"pour rire." The Government has to bribe Germans to go to them; her +trade with them is microscopic; and if the twenty millions who have +been added to Germany's population since the war had had to depend on +their country's political conquest they would have had to starve. What +feeds them are countries which Germany has never "owned" and never +hopes to "own"; Brazil, Argentina, the United States, India, Australia, +Canada, Russia, France, and England. (Germany, which never spent a mark +on its political conquest, to-day draws more tribute from South America +than does Spain, which has poured out mountains of treasure and oceans +of blood in its conquest.) These are Germany's real colonies. Yet the +immense interests which they represent, of really primordial concern to +Germany, without which so many of her people would be actually without +food, are for the diplomats and the soldiers quite secondary ones; the +immense trade which they represent owes nothing to the diplomat, to +Agadir incidents, to Dreadnoughts; it is the unaided work of the +merchant and the manufacturer. All this diplomatic and military +conflict and rivalry, this waste of wealth, the unspeakable foulness +which Tripoli is revealing, are reserved for things which both sides to +the quarrel could sacrifice, not merely without loss, but with profit. +And Italy, whose statesmen have been faithful to all the old "axioms" +(Heaven save the mark!) will discover it rapidly enough. Even her +defenders are ceasing now to urge that she can possibly derive any real +benefit from this colossal ineptitude. + +Italy struck at Turkey for "honor," for prestige--for the purpose of +impressing Europe. And one may hope that Europe (after reading the +reports of Reuter, _The Times_, the _Daily Mirror_, and the New York +_World_ as to the methods which Italy is using in vindicating her +"honor") is duly impressed, and that Italian patriots are satisfied +with these new glories added to Italian history. It is all they will +get. + +Or rather, will they get much more: for Italy, as unhappily for the +balance of Europe, the substance will be represented by the increase of +very definite every-day difficulties--the high cost of living, the +uncertainty of employment, the very deep problems of poverty, +education, government, well-being. These remain--worsened. And +this--not the spectacular clash of arms, or even the less spectacular +killing of unarmed Arab men, women, and children--constitute the real +"struggle for life among men." But the dilettanti of "high politics" +are not interested. For those who still take their language and habits +of thought from the days of the sailing-ship, still talk of +"possessing" territory, still assume that tribute in some form is +possible, still imply that the limits of commercial and industrial +activity are dependent upon the limits of political dominion, the +struggle is represented by this futile physical collision of groups, +which, however victory may go, leaves the real solution further off +than ever. + +We know what preceded this war: if Europe had any moral conscience +left, it would have been shocked as it was never shocked before. Turkey +said: "We will submit Italy's grievance to any tribunal that Europe +cares to name, and abide by the result." Italy said: "We don't intend +to have the case judged, but to take Tripoli. Hand it over--in +twenty-four hours." The Turkish Government said: "At least make it +possible for us to face our own people. Call it a Protectorate; give us +the shadow of sovereignty. Otherwise it is not robbery--to which we +should submit--but gratuitous degradation; we should abdicate before +the eyes of our own people. We will do anything you like." "In that +case," said Italy, "we will rob; and we will go to war." + +It was not merely robbery that the Italian Government intended, but +they meant from the first that it should be war--to "dish the +Socialists," to play some sordid intrigue of internal politics. + +The ultimatum was launched from the center of Christendom--the city +which lodges the titular head of the Universal Church--to teach to the +Mohammedan world what may be expected from a modern Christian +Government with its back to eighteen centuries of Christian teaching. + +We, Christendom, spend scores of millions--hundreds of millions, it may +be--in the propagation of the Christian faith: numberless men and women +gave their lives for it, our fathers spent two centuries in unavailing +warfare for the capture of some of its symbols. Presumably, therefore, +we attach some value to its principles, deeming them of some worth in +the defense of human society. + +Or do we believe nothing of the sort? Is our real opinion that these +things at bottom don't matter--or matter so little that for the sake of +robbing the squalid belongings of a few Arab tribes, or playing some +mean game of party politics, they can be set aside in a whoop of +"patriotism"? + +Our press waxes indignant in this particular case, and that is the end +of it. But we do not see that we are to blame, that it is all the +outcome of a conception of politics which we are forever ready to do +our part to defend, to do daily our part to uphold. + +And those of us who try in our feeble way to protest against this +conception of politics and patriotism, where everything stands on its +head; where the large is made to appear the great, and the great is +made to appear the small, are derided as sentimentalists, Utopians. As +though anything could be more sentimental, more divorced from the sense +of reality, than the principles which lead us to a condition of things +like these; as though anything could be more wildly, burlesquely +Utopian than the idea that efforts of the kind that the Italian people +are now making, the energy they are now spending, could ever achieve +anything of worth. + +Is it not time that the man in the street, verily, I believe, less +deluded by diplomatic jargon than his betters, less the slave of an +obsolete phraseology, insisted that the experts in the high places +acquired some sense of the reality of things, of proportion, some sense +of figures, a little knowledge of industrial history, of the real +processes of human cooperation? + +At present Europe is quite indifferent to Italy's behavior. The +Chancelleries, which will go to enormous trouble and take enormous +risks and concoct alliances and counter-alliances when there is +territory to be seized, remain cold when crimes of this sort are +committed. And they remain cold because they believe that Turkey alone +is concerned. They do not see that Italy has attacked not Turkey, but +Europe; that we, more than Turkey, will pay the broken pots. + +And there is a further reason: We still believe in these piracies; we +believe they pay and that we may get our turn at some "swag" to-morrow. +France is envied for her possession of Morocco; Germany for her +increased authority over some pestilential African swamps. But when we +realize that in these international burglaries there is no "swag," that +the whole thing is an illusion, that there are huge costs but no +reward, we shall be on the road to a better tradition, which, while it +may not give us international policing, may do better still--render the +policing unnecessary. For when we have realized that the game is not +worth the candle, when no one desires to commit aggression, the +competition in armaments will have become a bad nightmare of the past. + + +SIR MAX WAECHTER + +It is generally admitted that the present condition of Europe is highly +unsatisfactory. To any close observer it must be evident that Europe, +as a whole, is gradually losing its position in the world. Other +nations which are rapidly coming to the front will, in course of time, +displace the European, unless the latter can pull themselves together +and abandon the vicious system which now handicaps them In the economic +rivalry of nations. + +The cause of this comparative decline is, in my opinion, to be found in +the fact that all the European countries are arming against one +another, either for defense, or for aggression, for the attack is +frequently the best form of defense. The motive for these excessive +armaments can clearly be found in the jealousy and mistrust existing +among the nations of Europe. Europe is spending on armaments something +like four hundred million pounds sterling per year, and there is a +tendency to increase this tremendous expenditure. In order to bring the +magnitude of this sacrifice more vividly before the reader, let us +assume that a European war is not likely to occur more frequently than +about every thirty years. We then find that the incredible sum of +twelve thousand million pounds sterling has been spent in peace in +preparation for this war, a sum which greatly exceeds the total of all +the European state debts. Such stupendous sums can not be raised +without imposing crushing taxation, and without neglecting the other +duties of the state, such as education, scientific research, and social +reform. + +One serious economic result of this heavy taxation is that European +industry is placed at a considerable disadvantage in competing with +that of other nations, notably the United States of America. The late +Mr. Atkinson, an American authority, declared that, compared with the +United States, we were handicapped to the extent of five per cent, in +our production. Since then the figures have changed considerably in +favor of America. I recently had an opportunity of discussing this +point with a great German authority on political economy, and he fixed +the advantage in favor of the United States at nearly ten per cent, as +regards the cost of production. + +But this is not all. The European countries withdraw permanently four +millions of men, at their best age, from productive work, thus causing +a terrible loss and waste. Besides, enterprise in Europe is crippled by +fear of war. It may break out at any time, possibly at a few hours' +notice. The present system of Europe must inevitably lead, sooner or +later, to a European war--a catastrophe which nobody can contemplate +without horror, considering the perfected means of destruction. Such a +war would leave the vanquished utterly crushed, and the victor in such +a state of exhaustion that any foreign Power could easily impose her +will upon him. + +The situation is certainly most alarming, and ought to receive the +fullest attention. What, then, can be done to save Europe from these +impending dangers? The large number of "Peace Societies" which have +been established in different countries have done excellent spade work. +Their main object has been to insure that disputes among nations should +be referred to arbitration, with a view to making more difficult their +resorting to arms. The great success of these societies demonstrates +plainly that there is a strong tendency among the peoples in favor of +peace. But no attempt has been made to reorganize the whole of Europe +on a sound basis. + +The Emperor of Russia has made a most praiseworthy effort to bring +about a different state of affairs, by originating and establishing The +Hague Conference, with a view to securing by this means the peace of +the world. This conference has done excellent service, and is likely to +be of increasing usefulness to mankind in the future; but the second +meeting of the conference has amply proved that it can not succeed in +its main object, which is the peace of the world. If the idea of +bringing the whole world into unison can ever be realized, it is only +by stages, of which the union of Europe would be the first. + +Let us look at the position. Germany has been for centuries the +battle-field of other states, and has narrowly escaped national +annihilation. She has now at length succeeded in consolidating her +strength so far as to be able to withstand attack from any probable +combination of two of her powerful neighbors. Can Germany now be +approached with a request to reduce her armaments, unless she is given +the most solid guaranty against attack? It would be almost an insult to +the German intelligence to make such a proposal without an adequate +guaranty. + +With France the case is similar. The third Republic has been eminently +peaceful, and Frenchmen have devoted their energies and brilliant +qualities principally to science, the fine arts, and social +development. Who would dare to ask them to cut down their armaments in +the present state of Europe, which makes it compulsory for every +country to arm to the fullest extent? All the other states are in a +similar position. They need not be discussed individually. + +The only hope to be found is in such a coalition of the Powers as will +make these excessive armaments unnecessary. If this can be effected, +the reduction of armaments will take place naturally, and without any +external pressure. But then the question arises, how can the permanency +of such a coalition be guaranteed? The vital requisite to give +stability to any international coalition is community of interests. +Such a community of interests exists already, in a larger or smaller +degree, among many states, though it is unknown to most people. +Besides, it is not strong enough to prevent war in times of excitement. + +In many countries definite war parties exist, and most extraordinary +opinions can be gathered from their representatives. I was assured by +some military leaders, and even by a diplomat in a responsible +position, that war is a blessing! In disproof of this theory it may be +desirable to state some plain facts. Mankind lives and exists on this +earth solely and entirely by the exploitation of our planet, and the +general average status of the peoples can be improved and raised to a +higher level only by a more complete exploitation of the forces of +nature. This process requires, in the present state of civilization, +capital, intelligence, and manual labor--the handmaid of intelligence. +War is bound to destroy an enormous amount of capital, and a great +number of the ablest workers. It is evident, therefore, that every war +must reduce the general well-being of the peoples who inhabit this +planet. Besides, there is the misery inflicted upon millions of people, +principally belonging to the poorer classes, who have always to bear +the brunt of a war, whether it be started by the personal ambition of +one man or by the misguided ambitions of a nation. + +Some people argue that, from the days of Alexander the Great to those +of Napoleon, combinations of states have always been brought about by +armed force, and they believe this to be a natural law. I do not admit +that the case of Napoleon is a proper illustration of such a law. On +the contrary, his career seems to demonstrate clearly that the world is +too far advanced to be driven into combination by force. And as to +Alexander the Great, has the world really made no progress since his +time? Force or war is a relic of a savage age, and will be relegated to +the background with the advance of civilization. + + + + +PERSIA'S LOSS OF LIBERTY A.D. 1911 + +W. MORGAN SHUSTER[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted in condensed form from the original narrative in +_Hearst's Magazine,_ by permission.] + +As told in the preceding volume, Persia in the year 1905 began a +struggle for freedom from autocratic rule. This she finally achieved in +decisive fashion and set up a parliamentary government. Her career of +liberty seemed fairly assured. She had against her, however, an +irresistible force. England and Russia had long been encroaching upon +Persian territory. Russia, in especial, had snatched away province +after province in the north. Of course Persia's revival would mean that +these territorial seizures would be stopped. Hence Russia almost openly +opposed each step in Persia's progress. In 1907, Russia and England +entered into an agreement by which each, without consulting Persia, +recognized that the other held some sort of rights over a part of +Persian territory: a "sphere of Russian influence" was thus established +in the north, and of British in the southeast. + +The climax to this antagonism against Persia came in 1911. The +desperate Persians appealed to the United States Government to send +them an honest administrator to guide them, and President Taft +recommended Mr. Shuster for the task. The work of Mr. Shuster soon won +him the enthusiastic confidence and devotion of the Persians +themselves. But in proportion as his reforms seemed more and more to +strengthen the parliamentary government and bring hope to Persia, he +found himself more and more opposed by the Russian officials. Finally +Russia made his mere presence in the land an excuse for sending her +armies to assault the Persians. Seldom has the murderous attack of a +strong country upon a weak one been so open, brazen, and void of all +moral justification. Thousands of Persians were slain by the Russian +troops, and many more have since been executed for "rebellion" against +the Russian authorities. The parliamentary government of Persia was +completely destroyed; it finally disappeared in tumult and dismay on +December 24, 1911. + +The country was reduced to helpless submission to the Russian armies. +Mr. Shuster's own account of the tragedy follows. He called it "The +Strangling of Persia." + +Of the many changing scenes during the eight months of my recent +experiences in Persia, two pictures stand out in such sharp contrast as +to deserve special mention. + +The first is a small party of Americans, of which the writer was one, +seated with their families in ancient post-chaises rumbling along the +tiresome road from Enzeli, the Persian port on the Caspian Sea, toward +Teheran. It was in the early days of May, 1911, and from these medieval +vehicles, drawn by four ratlike ponies, in heat and dust, we gained our +first physical impressions of the land where we had come to live for +some years--to mend the broken finances of the descendants of Cyrus and +Darius. We were fired with the ambition to succeed in our work, and, +viewed through such eyes, the physical discomforts became unimportant. +Hope sang loud in our hearts as the carriages crawled on through two +hundred and twenty miles of alternate mountain and desert scenery. + +The second picture is eight months later, almost to the day. On January +11, 1912, I stood in a circle of gloomy American and Persian friends in +front of the Atabak palace where we had been living, about to step into +the automobile that was to bear us back over the same road to Enzeli. +The mountains behind Teheran were white with snow, the sun shone +brightly in a clear blue sky, there was life-tonic in the air, but none +in our hearts, for our work in Persia, hardly begun, had come to a +sudden end. + +Between the two dates some things had happened--things that may be +written down, but will probably never be undone--and the hopes of a +patient, long-exploited people of reclaiming their position in the +world had been stamped out ruthlessly and unjustly by the armies of a +so-called Christian and civilized nation. + +Prior to 1906, the masses of the Persians had suffered in comparative +silence from the ever-growing tyranny and betrayal of successive +despots, the last of whom, Muhammad Ali Shah, a vice-sodden monster of +the most perverted type, openly avowed himself the tool of Russia. The +people, finally stung to a blind desperation and exhorted by their +priests, rose in the summer of 1906, and by purely passive +measures--such as taking sanctuary, or _bast_, in large numbers in +sacred places and in the grounds of the British Legation at +Teheran--succeeded in obtaining from Muzaffarn'd Din Shah, the father +of Muhammad Ali, a constitution which he granted some six months before +his death. + +The pledge given in this document his son and successor swore to fulfil +and then violated a dozen or more times, until the long-suffering +constitutionalists, who called themselves "nationalists," finally +compelled him, despite the intrigues and armed resistance of Russian +agents and officers, to abdicate in favor of his young son, Sultan +Ahmad Shah, the present constitutional monarch. This was in July, 1909. + +It was this constitutional government, recognized as sovereign by the +Powers, that had determined to set its house in order, and in practise +to replace absolute monarchy with something approaching democracy. +Whence the Persians, a strictly Oriental people, had derived their +strange confidence in the potency of a democratic form of government to +mitigate or cure their ills, no one can say. We might ask the Hindus of +India, or the "Young Turks," or to-day the "Young Chinese" the same +question. The fact is that the past ten years have witnessed a truly +marvelous transformation in the ideas of Oriental peoples, and the +East, in its capacity to assimilate Western theories of government, and +in its willingness to fight for them against everything that tradition +makes sacred, has of late years shown a phase heretofore almost +unknown. + +Persia has given a most perfect example of this struggle toward +democracy, and, considering the odds against the nationalist element, +the results accomplished have been little short of amazing. + +Filled with the desire to perform its task, the Medjlis, or national +parliament, had voted in the latter part of 1910 to obtain the services +of five American experts to undertake the work of reorganizing Persia's +finances. They applied to the American Government, and through the good +offices of our State Department, their legation at Washington was +placed in communication with men who were considered suitable for the +task. The intervention of the State Department went no further than +this, and the Persian Government, like the men finally selected, was +told that the nomination by the American Government of suitable +financial administrators indicated a mere friendly desire to aid and +was of no political significance whatsoever. + +The Persians had already tried Belgian and French functionaries and had +seen them rapidly become mere Russian political agents or, at best, +seen them lapse into a state of _dolce far niente_. Poor Persia had +been sold out so many times in the framing of tariffs and tax laws, in +loan transactions and concessions of various kinds that the nationalist +government had grown desperate and certainly most distrustful of all +foreigners coming from nations within the sphere of European diplomacy. +What they sought was a practical administration of their finances in +the interest of the Persian people and nation. + +In this way the writer found himself in Teheran on the 12th of May last +year, having agreed to serve as Treasurer-General of the Persian +Empire, and to reorganize and conduct its finances. + +It is difficult to describe the Persian political situation existing at +that time without going too deeply into history. It is true that in a +moment of temporary weakness after her defeat by Japan, Russia had +signed a solemn convention with England whereby she engaged herself, as +did England, to respect the independence and integrity of Persia. +Later, by the stipulations of 1909, these two Powers solemnly agreed to +prevent the ex-Shah, Muhammad Ali, from any political agitation against +the constitutional government. But, as the world and Persia have seen, +a trifle like a treaty or a convention never balks Russia when she has +taken the pulse of her possible adversaries and found it weak. What is +more painful to Anglo-Saxons is that the British Government has been no +better nor more scrupulous of its pledges. + +During the first half of July, we began to learn where some of the +money was supposed to come from, and we were just beginning to control +the government expenditures after a fashion when, on July 18th, late at +night, the telegraph brought the news that Muhammad Ali, the ex-Shah, +had landed with a small force at Gumesh-Teppeh, a small port on the +Caspian, very near the Russian frontier. It was the proverbial bolt +from the blue, for while rumors of such a possibility had been rife, +most persons believed that Russia would not dare to violate so openly +her solemn stipulation signed less than two years before. + + +PERSIA IS TAKEN UNAWARES + +The Persian cabinet at Teheran was panic-stricken, and for ten days +there ensued a period of confusion and terror that beggars description. +There was no Persian army except on paper. The gendarmerie and police +of the city did not number more than eighteen hundred men inadequately +armed. The Russian Turcomans on the northeast frontier were reported to +be flocking to the ex-Shah's standard, and it was commonly believed +that he would be at the gates of Teheran in a few weeks. This belief +was strengthened by the fact that his brother, Prince Salaru'd-Dawla, +had entered Persia from the direction of Bagdad and was known to have a +large gathering of Kurdish tribesmen ready to march toward Teheran. + +After a time, however, reason prevailed and steps were taken to create +an army to defend the constitutional government against the invaders. +At this time, one of the old chiefs of the Bakhtiyari tribesmen, the +Samsamu's-Saltana, was the prime minister holding the portfolio of war, +and he called to arms several thousands of his fighting men, who +promptly started for the capital. Ephraim Khan, at that time chief of +police of Teheran, was another defender of the constitution who raised +a volunteer force, and twice, acting with the Bakhtiyari forces, he +signally defeated the troops of the ex-Shah. By September 5th, Muhammad +Ali himself was in full flight through northeastern Persia toward the +friendly Russian frontier. Whatever chances he may have formerly had +were admitted to be gone. + +The hound that Russia had unleashed, with his hordes of Turcoman +brigands, upon the constitutional government of Persia had been whipped +back into his kennel. No one was more surprised than Russia, unless +indeed it was the Persians themselves. Russian officials everywhere in +Persia had openly predicted an easy victory for Muhammad Ali. They had +aided him in a hundred different ways, morally, financially, and by +actual armed force. + +They still hoped, however, that the forces of Prince Salaru'd-Dawla, +which were marching from Hamadan toward Teheran, would take the +capital. But on September 28th, the news came that Ephraim Khan, and +the Bakhtiyaris had routed the Prince and his army, and the last hope +from this source was gone. + +In the mean time, another encounter with Russia had occurred. There was +at Teheran an officer of the British-Indian army, Major Stokes, who for +four years had been military attache to the British Legation. He knew +Persia well; read, wrote, and spoke fluently the language and +thoroughly understood the habits, customs, and viewpoint of the Persian +people. He was the ideal man to assist in the formation of a +tax-collecting force under the Treasury, without which there was no +hope of collecting the internal taxes throughout the empire. Not only +was Major Stokes the ideal man for this work, but he was the _only_ man +possessing the necessary qualifications. + +I accordingly tendered Major Stokes the post of chief of the future +Treasury gendarmerie, his services as military attache having come to +an end. After some correspondence with the British Legation, I was +informed late in July that the British Foreign Office held that he must +resign his commission in the British-Indian army before accepting the +post. This Major Stokes did, by cable, on July 31st, and the matter was +regarded as settled. + +What was my surprise, therefore, to learn, on the evening of August +8th, that the British Minister, following instructions from his +Government, had that day presented a note to the Persian Foreign +Office, warning the Persian Government that any attempt to employ Major +Stokes in the "northern sphere" of Persia (which included Teheran, the +capital) would probably be followed by _retaliatory action_ (_sic_) by +Russia which England would not be in a position to deprecate. Between +individuals, such action would clearly be considered bad faith. Sir +Edward Grey, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, shortly +thereafter explained that the appointment of Major Stokes would be a +violation of what he termed the "spirit" of the Anglo-Russian +Convention of 1907. Yet just two weeks before, when he consented to +Stokes resigning to accept the post, he had never dreamed of such a +thing. + +The truth is that the semiofficial St. Petersburg press, like the +_Novoe Vremya_, had begun to bluster about the affair, egged on by the +Russian Foreign Office, and Sir Edward Grey was compelled to _invent +some pretext_ for his manifest dread of displeasing Britain's "good +friend Russia" about anything. Hence the birth of that wondrous and +fearsome child, that rubber child which could be stretched to cover any +and all things, the "spirit of the convention." It was a wonderful +discovery for the gentlemen of the so-called "forward party" of the +Russian Government, since they now beheld not only a new means of +evading the plain letter of their agreement, but gleefully found a +woful lack of spirit in their partner to the convention, Great Britain. + +The British Foreign Office pretended to believe that they had checked +Russia's march to the Gulf; they knew better then, and they know still +better now. There is but one thing on earth that will check that march, +and that thing England is apparently not in a geographical or a +policial position to furnish in sufficient numbers. The British public +now know this, and unfortunately the "forward party" in Russia knows +it, and that is why bearded faces at St. Petersburg crack open and emit +rumbles of genuine merriment every time Sir Edward Grey stands up in +the House of Commons and explains to his countrymen that he has most +ample and categorical assurances from Russia that her sole purpose in +sending two or three armies into Persia is to show her displeasure with +an American finance official. + +For that same reason, doubtless, she has recently massacred some +hundreds of Persians in Tabriz, Enzeli, and Resht, and has hanged +numbers of Islamic priests, provincial officials, and +constitutionalists whom she classifies as the "dregs of revolution." +That is why the Russian flag was hoisted over the government buildings +at Tabriz, the capital of the richest province of the empire, while a +Russian military governor dispensed justice at the bayonet-point and +with the noose. + +But to get back to events. After the crushing defeats of the ex-Shah's +two forces and his flight, Russia was still faced by a constitutional +regime in Persia--and by a somewhat solidified and more confident +government and people at that. + +Tools and puppets having dismally failed, enter the real thing. Russia +now proceeded to intervene directly and to break up the constitutional +government in Persia without risk of failure or hindrance. She did not +even intend to await a pretext--she manufactured such things as she +went along. + +The first instance is the Shu'a'us-Saltana affair. On October 9th, some +twelve days after the last defeat inflicted on the ex-Shah's forces, I +was ordered by the cabinet to seize and confiscate the properties of +Prince Shu'a'us-Saltana, another brother of the ex-Shah, who had +returned to Persia with him and was actively commanding some of his +troops. The same order was given as to the estates of Prince +Salaru'd-Dawla, the other brother in rebellion. + +Pursuant to this entirely proper and legal order, the purport of which +had been communicated by the Persian Foreign Office to the Russian and +British ministers several days previously, no objection having been +even hinted, I sent out six small parties, each consisting of a +civilian Treasury official and five Treasury gendarmes, to seize the +different properties in and about Teheran. As a matter of courtesy, the +British and Russian legations had been informed that all rights of +foreigners in these properties would be fully safeguarded and +respected. + +The principal property was the Park of Shu'a'us-Saltana, a magnificent +place in Teheran, with a palace filled with valuable furniture. When +the Treasury officials and five gendarmes arrived there, they found on +guard a number of Persian Cossacks of the Cossack Brigade. On seeing +the order of confiscation, these men retired. My men then took +possession and began making an official inventory. An hour later, two +Russian vice-consuls, in full uniform, arrived with twelve Russian +Cossacks from the Russian Consulate guard, and with imprecations, +abuse, and threats to kill, drove off my men at the point of their +rifles. Later in the day, these same vice-consuls actually arrested +other small parties of Treasury gendarmes, took them on mules through +the streets of Teheran to the Russian Consulate-General, and after +insulting and threatening them with death if they ever returned to the +confiscated property, allowed them to go. + +On hearing this, I wrote and telegraphed to my friend, M. +Poklewski-Koziell, the Russian minister, calling his attention to the +outrageous actions of his Consul-General, M. Pokhitanow, and asking the +minister to give orders to prevent any further unpleasantness on the +following day, when I would again execute the government's order. The +next day I sent a force of one hundred gendarmes in charge of two +American Treasury officials, and the order was executed. + +Two hours after we were in peaceable possession of the property, the +same two Russian vice-consuls drove up to the gate and began insulting +and abusing the Persian Treasury guards, endeavoring, of course, to +provoke the gendarmes into some act against them. In other words, +finding that they had lost in the matter of retaining possession of the +property, these Russian officials deliberately sought to provoke my +gendarmes into something that they could construe as an affront to +Russian consular authority. The men, however, had received such strict +and repeated instructions that they refused even to answer. They paid +no attention to the taunts and abuse of these two dignified Russian +officials, who thereupon drove off and perjured themselves to the +effect that they had been affronted--in other words, that the incident +which they had gone there to provoke actually had occurred. These false +statements were reported to St. Petersburg by M. Pokhitanow +independently of his minister, who, I have the strongest reason to +believe, entirely disavowed the Consul-General's actions. The Russian +government thereupon publicly discredited its minister and demanded +from the Persian government an immediate apology for something that had +never occurred. The apology, after some hesitation, was made on the +advice of the British government. It was hoped that this evident +self-abasement by Persia would appease even the Russian bureaucracy. + +But it now seems that a compliance with Russia's demand was exactly +what was not desired by her, since it removed all possible pretext for +taking more drastic steps against Persia's national existence. Hence, +at the very moment when the Persian Foreign Minister, in full uniform, +was at the Russian legation complying with this first ultimatum, based, +as it was, on absolutely false reports, the St. Petersburg cabinet was +formulating new and even more unjust and absurd demands, which, as some +of the public know, have resulted in the expulsion of the fifteen +American finance officials and in the destruction of the last vestiges +of constitutional government in the empire of Cyrus and Darius. + +Russia called for my immediate dismissal from the post of +Treasurer-General; she required that my fourteen American assistants +already in Persia should be subject to the approval of the British and +Russian legations at Teheran; that all other foreign officials in +future employed by Persia be subjected to the approval of those two +legations; that a large indemnity should be paid to Russia for the +expense of moving her troops into Persia to hasten the acceptance of +these two ultimatums; and that all other questions between Russia and +Persia should be settled to the satisfaction of the former. + +The acceptance by Persia of these demands meant, of course, a virtual +cession of her sovereignty to Russia and Great Britain. It should be +noted, also, that in this Russian ultimatum the name of the British +government was freely used, although the British minister took no part +in the presentation of the same. Sir Edward Grey was subsequently asked +in the British Parliament as to this point, and explained, in effect, +that he agreed with the Russian demands, with the possible exception of +the indemnity. + +The Russian minister informed the Persian Government that this +ultimatum was based on the following two grounds: First, that I had +appointed a certain Mr. Lecoffre, a British subject, to be a tax +collector in the Russian sphere of influence; and, second, that I had +caused to be printed and circulated in Persia a translation into +Persian of my letter to the London _Times_ of October 21, 1911, thereby +greatly injuring Russian influence in northern Persia. These grounds +might be classified as "unimportant, if true." The truth is, however, +that they are both well known to have been utterly unfounded in fact. I +did not appoint Mr. Lecoffre, a British subject, to a financial post in +northern Persia. I found him in the Finance Department at Teheran (the +capital, which is in the so-called Russian sphere) when I arrived there +last May, and he had been occupying an important position there for +nearly two years, without the slightest objection ever having been +raised by the Russian Government. I proposed to transfer him to a +somewhat less important position, but one in which I thought he could +be of greater service. + +As to the second ground or pretext, in effect, that I had caused to be +printed and circulated a Persian translation of my letter to the +_Times_, it was simply false. It was well known to be false--so well +known, in fact, that a newspaper in Teheran, the _Tamadun_ +(_Civilization_) which did print it and circulate it, publicly admitted +the fact the minute they heard that I was charged by Russia with having +done so. So these two at best rather puerile pretexts upon which to +base an ultimatum from a powerful nation to a weaker one lacked even +the merit of truth. + +This second ultimatum, despite all hypocritical attempts made to +justify it, fairly stunned the Persian people. Accustomed as they had +become in recent years to the high-handed and cynical actions of the +St. Petersburg cabinet, they had not looked for such a foul blow as +this. They had been realizing dimly that the peace of Europe was being +threatened by the open hostility of Germany and England over the +Moroccan incident, and that British foreign policy was apparently +leaving Russia absolutely free to work her will in Asia, so long, at +least, as Russia pretended to acknowledge the. Anglo-Russian _entente_ +of 1907; but the Persian people had too much, far too much, confidence +in the sacredness of treaty stipulations and the solemnly pledged words +of the great Christian nations of the world to imagine that their own +whole national existence and liberty could be jeopardized overnight, +and on a pretext so shallow and farcical as to excite world-wide +ridicule. Their disillusionment came too late. The trap had been +unwittingly set by hands that made unexpected moves on the European +chessboard, and the Bear's paw had this time been skilful enough to +spring it at the proper moment. + +The Persian statesmen and chieftains who formed the cabinet at this +time, whether because they perceived the gleaming, naked steel behind +Russia's threats more clearly than their legislative compatriots of the +Parliament or Medjlis, or whether they suffered from that abandon and +tired feeling which comes from playing an unequal and always losing +game, quickly decided that they would accept this second ultimatum with +all its future oppression and cruelty for their people. + +On December 1st, therefore, shortly before the time limit of +forty-eight hours fixed by Russia for the acceptance of the terms had +expired, the cabinet filed into the chamber of deputies to secure +legislative approval of their intended course. + +It was an hour before noon, and the Parliament grounds and buildings +were filled with eager, excited throngs, while the galleries of the +Medjlis chamber were packed with Persian notables of all ranks and with +the representatives of many of the foreign legations. At noon the fate +of Persia as a nation was to be known. + +The cabinet, having made up its mind to yield, overlooked no point that +would increase their chances of securing the approval of the Medjlis. +Believing, evidently, that the ridiculously short time to elapse before +the stroke of noon announced the expiration of the forty-eight-hour +period would effectually prevent any mature consideration or discussion +of their proposals, the premier, Samsamu's-Saltana, caused to be +presented to the deputies a resolution authorizing the cabinet to +accept Russia's demands. + +The proposal was read amid a deep silence. At its conclusion, a hush +fell upon the gathering. Seventy-six deputies, old men and young, +priests, lawyers, doctors, merchants, and princes, sat tense in their +seats. + +A venerable priest of Islam arose. Time was slipping away and at noon +the question would be beyond their vote to decide. This servant of God +spoke briefly and to the point: "It may be the will of Allah that our +liberty and our sovereignty shall be taken from us by force, but let us +not sign them away with our own hands!" One gesture of appeal with his +trembling hands, and he resumed his seat. + +Simple words, these, yet winged ones. Easy to utter in academic +discussions; hard, bitterly hard, to say under the eye of a cruel and +overpowering tyrant whose emissaries watched the speaker from the +galleries and mentally marked him down for future imprisonment, +torture, exile, or worse. + +Other deputies followed. In dignified appeals, brief because the time +was short, they upheld their country's honor and proclaimed their +hard-earned right to live and govern themselves. + +A few minutes before noon the public vote was taken; one or two +faint-hearted members sought a craven's refuge and slunk quietly from +the chamber. As each name was called, the deputy rose in his place and +gave his vote, there was no secret ballot here. + +And when the roll-call was ended, every man, priest or layman, youth or +octogenarian, had cast his own die of fate, had staked the safety of +himself and family, and hurled back into the teeth of the great Bear +from the north the unanimous answer of a desperate and downtrodden +people who preferred a future of unknown terror to the voluntary +sacrifice of their national dignity and of their recently earned right +to work out their own salvation. + +Amid tears and applause from the spectators, the crestfallen and +frightened cabinet withdrew, while the deputies dispersed to ponder on +the course which lay darkly before their people. + +By this vote, the cabinet, according to the Persian constitution, +ceased to exist as a legal entity. + +Great crowds of people thronged the "Lalezar," one of the principal +streets of Teheran, shouting death to the traitors and calling Allah to +witness that they would give up their lives for their country. + +A few days later, in a secret conference between the deputies of the +Medjlis and the members of the deposed cabinet, a similar vote was +given to reject the Russian demands. Meanwhile, thousands of Russian +troops, with cossacks and artillery, were pouring into northern Persia, +from Tiflis and Julfa by land and from Baku across the Caspian, to the +Persian port of Enzeli, whence they took up their 220-mile march over +the Elburz mountains toward Kasvin and Teheran. + +In the government at Teheran, conference followed conference. Intrigues +against the deputies gave way to threats. Through it all, with the +increasing certainty of personal injury, the members of the Medjlis +stood firmly by their vote. + +It is impossible to describe within the limits of this article the days +and nights of doubt, suspense, and anxiety that followed one another in +the capital during this dark month of December. There was a lurking +dread in the very air, and the snow-covered mountains themselves seemed +afflicted with the mournful scenes through which the country was +passing. + +A boycott was proclaimed by the priests against Russian and English +goods. In a day, the old-fashioned tramway of the city was deserted on +the mere suspicion that it was owned in Russia, while an excited +Belgian Minister rained protests and petitions on the Persian Foreign +Office in an endeavor to show that the tramway was owned by his +countrymen. Crowds of youths, students, and women filled the street, +dragging absent-minded passengers from the cars, smashing the windows +of shops that still displayed Russian goods, seeing that no one drank +tea because it came from Russia, although produced in India, and going +in processions before the gates of the foreign legations to demand +justice of the representatives of the world powers for a people in the +extremity of despair. + +One day, the rumor would come that the chief "mullahs" or priests at +Nadjef had proclaimed the "holy war" (_jihad_) against the Russians; on +another, that the Russian troops had commenced to shoot up Kasvin on +their march to Teheran. + +At one time, when rumors were thick that the Medjlis would give in +under the threats and attempted bribery which well-known Russian +proteges were employing on many of its members, three hundred veiled +and black-gowned Persian women, a large proportion with pistols +concealed under their skirts or in the folds of their sleeves, marched +suddenly to the Parliament grounds and demanded admission to the +Chamber. The president of the Medjlis consented to receive a deputation +from them. Once admitted into his presence, these honor-loving Persian +mothers, wives, and daughters exhibited their weapons, and to show the +grim seriousness of their words, they tore aside their veils, and +threatened that they would kill their own husbands and sons, and end +their own lives, if the deputies failed in their duty to uphold the +dignity and the sovereignty of their beloved country. + +When neither threats nor bribes availed against the Medjlis, Russia +decreed its destruction by force. + +In the early afternoon of December 24th, the deposed cabinet, having +been themselves duly _persuaded_ to take the step, executed a _coup +d'état_ against the Medjlis, and by a demonstration of gendarmes and +Bakhtiyari tribesmen, succeeded in expelling all the deputies and +employees who were within the Parliament grounds; after which the gates +were locked and barred, and a strong detachment of the so-called Royal +Regiment left in charge. The deputies were threatened with death if +they attempted to return there or to meet in any other spot, and the +city of Teheran immediately passed under military control. The +self-constituted _directoire_ of seven who accomplished this dubious +feat first ascertained that the considerable force of Bakhtiyari +tribesmen, some 2,000, who had remained in the capital after the defeat +of the ex-Shah's forces in September last, had been duly "fixed" by the +same Russian agencies who had so early succeeded in persuading the +members of the ex-cabinet that their true interests lay in siding with +Russia. It is impossible to say just what proportions of fear and +cupidity decided the members of the deposed cabinet to take the aliens' +side against their country, but both emotions undoubtedly played a +part. The premier was one of the leading chiefs or "khans" of the +Bakhtiyaris, and another chief was the self-styled Minister of War. +These chieftains have always been a strange and changing mixture of +mountain patriot and city intriguer--of loyal soldier and mercenary +looter. The mercenary instincts, possibly aided by a sense of their own +comparative helplessness against Russian Cossacks and artillery, led +them to accept the stranger's gold and fair promises, and they ended +their checkered but theretofore relatively honorable careers by selling +their country for a small pile of cash and the more alluring promise +that the "grand viziership" (_i.e.,_ post of Minister of Finance) +should be perpetual in their family or clan. + +That same afternoon a large number of the "abolished" deputies came to +my office. They were men whom I had grown to know well, men of European +education, in whose courage, integrity, and patriotism I had the +fullest confidence. To them, the unlawful action of their own +countrymen was more than a political catastrophe; it was a sacrilege, a +profanation, a heinous crime. They came in tears, with broken voices, +with murder in their hearts, torn by the doubt as to whether they +should kill the members of the _directoire_ and drive out the +traitorous tribesmen who had made possible the destruction of the +government, or adopt the truly Oriental idea of killing themselves. +They asked my advice, and, hesitating somewhat as to whether I should +interfere to save the lives of notorious betrayers of their country, I +finally persuaded them to do neither the one nor the other. There +seemed to be no particular good in assassinating even their treacherous +countrymen, as it would only have given color to the pretensions of +Russia and England that the Persians were not capable of maintaining +order. + + +AN EXHIBITION OF SELF-RESTRAINT + +When the last representative element of the constitutional government, +for which so many thousands had fought, suffered, and died, was wiped +out in an hour without a drop of blood being shed, the Persian people +gave to the world an exhibition of temperance, of moderation, of stern +self-restraint, the like of which no other civilized country could show +under similar trying circumstances. + +The acceptance of Russia's terms by the Cabinet removed the last +pretext for keeping in Northern Persia the _15,000_ troops which by +that time Russia had assembled there,--at Kasvin, Resht, Enzeli, +Tabriz, Khoy, and other points in the so-called Russian sphere. Mons. +Poklewski-Koziell, the Russian Minister, had in fact given an equivocal +sort of a promise to the effect that "if no fresh incidents arose," the +Russian troops would be withdrawn when Persia accepted the conditions +of the ultimatum. + +With this in mind, it is interesting to note the truly thorough +precautions which were taken by Russia to prevent any such unfortunate +necessity as the withdrawal of her troops from coming to pass. + +December 24th, late in the evening, a message was received from the +Persian Acting Governor at Tabriz in which he declared that the Russian +troops, which had been stationed in that city since their entry during +the siege in 1909, _had suddenly started to massacre the inhabitants_. +Shortly after this the Indo-European telegraph lines stopped working, +and all news from Tabriz ceased. It was subsequently stated that the +wires had been cut by bullets. _Additional Russian troops_ were +immediately started for Tabriz from Julfa, which is some eight miles to +the north of the Russian frontier. + +The exact way in which the fighting began is not yet clear. The Persian +government reports show that a number of Russian soldiers, claiming to +be stringing a telephone wire, climbed upon the roof of the Persian +police headquarters about _ten o'clock at night_ on December 20th. When +challenged by native guards, they replied with shots. Reenforcements +were called up by both sides, and serious street fighting broke out +early the following morning and continued for several days. The Acting +Governor stated in his official reports that the Russian troops +indulged in their usual atrocities, killing women and children and +hundreds of other noncombatants on the streets and in their homes. +There were at the time about 4,000 Russian soldiers, with two batteries +of artillery, in and around the city. Nearly I,000 of the _fidais_ +("self-devoted") of Tabriz took refuge in an old citadel of stone and +mud, called the "Ark." They were without artillery or adequate +provisions, and were poorly armed, but it was certain death for one of +them to be seen on the streets. + +The Russians bombarded the "Ark" for a day or more, killing a large +proportion of its defenders. The superior numbers and the artillery of +the Russians finally conquered, and there followed a reign of terror +during which no Persian's life or honor was safe. At one time during +this period the Russian Minister at Teheran, at the request of the +members of the Persian cabinet, who were horror-stricken and in fear of +their lives for having made terms with such a barbaric nation, +telegraphed to the Russian general in command of the troops at Tabriz, +telling him to cease fighting, and that the _fidais_ would receive +orders to do likewise, as matters were being arranged at the capital. +The gallant general replied that he took his orders from the Viceroy of +the Caucasus at Tiflis, and not from any one at Teheran. The massacre +went on. + +On New Year's day, which was the 10th of _Muharram_, a day of great +mourning which is held sacred in the Persian religious calendar, the +Russian military governor, who had hoisted Russian flags over the +government buildings at Tabriz, hung the Sikutu'l-Islam, who was the +chief priest of Tabriz, two other priests, and five others, among them +several high officials of the Provincial Government. As one British +journalist put it, the effect of this outrage on the Persians was that +which would be produced on the English people by the hanging of the +Archbishop of Canterbury on Good Friday. From this time on, the +Russians at Tabriz continued to hang or shoot any Persian whom they +chose to consider guilty of the crime of being a "Constitutionalist." +When the fighting there was first reported, a high official of the +Foreign Office at St. Petersburg, in an interview to the press, made +the statement that Russia would take vengeance into her own hands until +the "revolutionary dregs" had been exterminated. + +One more significant fact: At the same time that the fighting broke out +at Tabriz, the Russian troops at Resht and Enzeli, hundreds of miles +away, shot down the Persian police and many inhabitants without warning +or provocation of any kind. And the date also happened to be just after +the Persian cabinet had definitely informed the Russian Legation that +all the demands of Russia's ultimatum were accepted--a condition which +the British Government had publicly assured the Persians would be +followed by the withdrawal of the Russian invading forces, and which +the Russian Government had officially confirmed, "_unless fresh +incidents should arise_ in the mean time to make the retention of the +troops advisable." + +I would suggest that the Powers--England and Russia--may _think_ that +they thus escape all responsibility for what goes on in Persia, but the +world has long since grown familiar with such methods. Mere cant, +however seriously put forth in official statements, no longer blinds +educated public opinion as to the facts in these acts of international +brigandage. The truth is that England and Russia are still playing a +hand in the game of medieval diplomacy. + +The puerility of talking of Persia having affronted Russian consular +officers or of Persia's Treasurer-General having appointed a British +subject to be a tax collector at Tabriz, as the reasons for Russia's +aggressive and brutal policy in Persia, is only too apparent. Volumes +would not contain the bare record of the acts of aggression, deceit, +and cruelty which Russian agents have committed against Persian +sovereignty and the constitutional government since the deposition of +Muhammad Ali in 1909. + + + + +DISCOVERY OF THE SOUTH POLE A.D. 1911 + +ROALD AMUNDSEN + +On December 16, 1911, a Norwegian exploring party headed by Captain +Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. The discovery thus followed with +surprising closeness after Peary's triumph in reaching the North Pole +in 1909. + +Antarctic exploration had never attracted so much attention as that of +the far north; partly because an almost impossible ice barrier a +hundred feet high was known to extend across the southern ocean at +about the parallel of the Antarctic Circle. In 1908, however, an +English expedition under Lieutenant Shackleton managed to penetrate +beyond this barrier in the region south of New Zealand and reached to +within less than two hundred miles of the pole. They established the +fact that in contrast to the deep waters which flow above the northern +Pole, the southern Pole is raised upon an Antarctic mountain continent +many thousand feet in height. Shackleton's success led to several other +expeditions, and in 1910 three separate parties made almost +simultaneous efforts to reach the Pole, one from Japan and one from +England, as well as the Norwegian one. + +We give here Captain Amundsen's own account of his expedition as first +explained by him before the Berlin Geographical Society and published +by the New York Geographical Society in their bulletin. + +The glowing success of Amundsen's expedition throws into sharpest +relief the tragedy of the parallel English expedition. Captain Scott, +the leader of this party, also reached the Pole after a far more +desperate struggle. But he reached it on January 18, 1912, only to find +that his Norwegian rival had preceded him, and he and his entire party +died of starvation and exhaustion on their return journey toward their +camp. + +The first aim of my expedition was the attainment of the South Pole. I +have the honor to report the accomplishment of the plan. + +I can only mention briefly here the expeditions which have worked in +the region which we had selected for our starting-point. As we wished +to reach the South Pole our first problem was to go south as far as +possible with our ship and there establish our station. Even so, the +sled journeys would be long enough. I knew that the English expedition +would again choose their old winter quarters in McMurdo Sound, South +Victoria Land, as their starting-point. From newspaper report it was +known that the Japanese had selected King Edward VII. Land. In order to +avoid these two expeditions we had to establish our station on the +Great Ice Barrier as far as possible from the starting-points of the +two other expeditions. + +The Great Ice Barrier, also called the Ross Barrier, lies between South +Victoria Land and King Edward VII. Land and has an extent of about 515 +miles. The first to reach this mighty ice formation was Sir James Clark +Ross in 1841. He did not dare approach the great ice wall, 100 feet +high, with his two sailing ships, the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, whose +progress southward was impeded by this mighty obstacle. He examined the +ice wall from a distance, however, as far as possible. His observations +showed that the Barrier is not a continuous, abrupt ice wall, but is +interrupted by bays and small channels. On Ross's map a bay of +considerable magnitude may be seen. + +The next expedition was that of the _Southern Cross_ in 1900. It is +interesting to note that this party found the bay mentioned above at +the same place where Ross had seen it in 1841, nearly sixty years +before; that this expedition also was able to land a few miles to the +east of the large bay in a small bay, named Balloon Bight, and from +there to ascend the Ice Barrier, which heretofore had been considered +an insurmountable obstacle to further advance toward the south. + +In 1901 the _Discovery_ steamed along the Barrier and confirmed in +every respect what the _Southern Cross_ had observed. Land was also +discovered in the direction indicated by Ross, namely, King Edward VII. +Land. Scott, too, landed in Balloon Bight, and, like his predecessors, +saw the large bay to the west. + +In 1908 Shackleton arrived there on the _Nimrod_. He, too, followed +along the edge of the Ice Barrier. He came to the conclusion that +disturbances had taken place in the Ice Barrier. The shore line of +Balloon Bight, he thought, had changed and merged with the large bay to +the west. This large bay, which he thought to be of recent origin, he +named Bay of Whales. He gave up his original plan of landing there, as +the Ice Barrier appeared to him too dangerous for the establishment of +winter quarters. + +It was not difficult to determine that the bay shown on Ross's map and +the so-called Bay of Whales are identical; it was only necessary to +compare the two maps. Except for a few pieces that had broken off from +the Barrier, the bay had remained the same for the last seventy years. +It was therefore possible to assume that the bay did not owe its origin +to chance and that it must be underlaid by land, either in the form of +sand banks or otherwise. + +This bay we decided upon as our base of operations. It lies 400 miles +from the English station in McMurdo Sound and 115 miles from King +Edward VII. Land. We could therefore assume that we should be far +enough from the English sphere of interest and need not fear crossing +the route of the English expedition. The reports concerning the +Japanese station on King Edward VII. Land were indefinite: we took it +for granted, however, that a distance of 115 miles would suffice. + +On August 9, 1910, we left Norway on the _Fram_, the ship that had +originally been built for Nansen. We had ninety-seven superb Eskimo +dogs and provisions for two years. The first harbor we reached was +Madeira. There the last preparations were made for our voyage on the +Ross Barrier--truly not an insignificant distance which we had to +cover, namely, 16,000 nautical miles from Norway to the Bay of Whales. +We had estimated that this trip would require five months. The _Fram_, +which has justly been called the stanchest polar ship in the world, on +this voyage across practically all of the oceans, proved herself to be +extremely seaworthy. Thus we traversed without a single mishap the +regions of the northeast and of the southeast trades, the stormy seas +of the "roaring forties," the fogs of the fifties, the ice-filled +sixties, and reached our field of work at the Ice Barrier on January +14, 1911. Everything had gone splendidly. + +The ice in the Bay of Whales had just broken up, and we were able to +advance considerably farther south than any of our predecessors had +done. We found a quiet little nook behind a projecting ice cape; from +here we could transfer our equipment to the Barrier with comparative +safety. Another great advantage was that the Barrier at this place +descended very gradually to the sea ice, so that we had the best +possible surface for our sleds. Our first undertaking was to ascend the +Barrier in order to get a general survey and to determine a suitable +place for the erection of the house which we had brought with us. The +supposition that this part of the Barrier rests on land seemed to be +confirmed immediately by our surroundings. Instead of the smooth, flat +surface which the outer wall of the Barrier presents, we here found the +surface to be very uneven. We everywhere saw sharp hills, and points +between which there were pressure-cracks and depressions filled with +large masses of drift. These features were not of recent date. On the +contrary, it was easy to see that they were very old and that they must +have had their origin at a time which long preceded the period of +Ross's visit. + +Originally we had planned to establish our station several miles from +the edge of the Barrier, in order not to subject ourselves to the +danger of an unwelcome and involuntary sea trip, which might have +occurred had the part of the Barrier on which we erected our house +broken off. This precaution, however, was not necessary, as the +features which we observed on our first examination of the area offered +a sufficient guaranty for the stability of the Barrier at this point. + +In a small valley, hardly two and a half miles from the ship's +anchorage, we therefore selected a place for our winter quarters. It +was protected from the wind on all sides. On the next day we began +unloading the ship. We had brought with us material for house-building +as well as equipment and provisions for nine men for several years. We +divided into two groups, the ship's group and the land group. The first +was composed of the commander of the ship, Captain Nilsen, and the nine +men who were to stay on board to take the _Fram_ out of the ice and to +Buenos Aires. The other group consisted of the men who were to occupy +the winter quarters and march on to the south. The ship's group had to +unload everything from the ship upon the ice. There the land group took +charge of the cargo and brought it to the building site. At first we +were rather unaccustomed to work, as we had had little exercise on the +long sea voyage. But before long we were all "broken in," and then the +transfer to the site of our home "Framheim" went on rapidly; the house +grew daily. + +When all the material had been landed our skilled carpenters, Olav +Bjaaland and Jorgen Stubberud, began building the house. It was a +ready-made house, which we had brought with us; nothing had to be done +but to put together the various numbered parts. In order that the house +might brave all storms, its bottom rested in an excavation four feet +beneath the surface. On January 28th, fourteen days after our arrival, +the house was completed, and all provisions had been landed. A gigantic +task had been performed; everything seemed to point toward a propitious +future. But no time was to be lost; we had to make use of every minute. + +The land group had in the mean time been divided into two parties, one +of which saw to it that the provisions and equipment still lacking were +taken out of the ship. The other party was to prepare for an excursion +toward the south which had in view the exploration of the immediate +environs and the establishment of a depot. + +On February 10th the latter group marched south. There were four of us +with eighteen dogs and three sleds packed with provisions. That morning +of our start is still vividly in my memory. The weather was calm, the +sky hardly overcast. Before us lay the large, unlimited snow plain, +behind us the Bay of Whales with its projecting ice capes and at its +entrance our dear ship, the _Fram_. On board the flag was hoisted; it +was the last greeting from our comrades of the ship. No one knew +whether and when we should see each other again. In all probability our +comrades would no longer be there when we returned; a year would +probably elapse before we could meet again. One more glance backward, +one more parting greeting and then--forward. + +Our first advance on the Barrier was full of excitement and suspense. +So many questions presented themselves: What will be the nature of the +region we have to cross? How will the sleds behave? Will our equipment +meet the requirements of the situation? Have we the proper hauling +power? If we were to accomplish our object, everything had to be of the +best. Our equipment was substantially different from that of our +English competitors. We placed our whole trust on Eskimo dogs and skis, +while the English, as a result of their own experience, had abandoned +dogs as well as skis, but, on the other hand, were well equipped with +motor-sleds and ponies. + +We advanced rapidly on the smooth, white snow plain. On February 14th +we reached 80° S. We had thus covered ninety-nine miles. We established +a depot here mainly of 1,300 pounds of provisions which we intended to +use on our main advance to the south in the spring. The return journey +occupied two days; on the first we covered forty miles and on the +second fifty-seven miles. When we reached our station the _Fram_ had +already left. The bay was lonely and deserted; only seals and penguins +were in possession of the place. + +The first excursion to the south, although brief, was of great +importance to us. We now knew definitely that our equipment and our +pulling power were eminently suited to the demands upon them. In their +selection no mistake had been made. It was now for us to make use of +everything to the best advantage. + +Our sojourn at the station was only a short one. On February 22d we +were ready again to carry supplies to a more southern depot. We +intended to push this depot as far south as possible. On this occasion +our expedition consisted of eight men, seven sleds, and forty-two dogs. +Only the cook remained at "Framheim." + +On February 27th, we passed the depot which we had established at 80° +S.; we found everything in the best of order. On March 4th we reached +the eighty-first parallel and deposited there 1,150 pounds of +provisions. Three men returned from here to the station while the five +others continued toward the south and reached the eighty-second +parallel on March 8th, depositing there 1,375 pounds of provisions. We +then returned, and on March 22d were again at home. Before the winter +began we made another excursion to the depot in 80° S., and added to +our supplies there 2,400 pounds of fresh salt meat and 440 pounds of +other provisions. On April 11th we returned from this excursion; this +ended all of our work connected with the establishment of depots. Up to +that date we had carried out 6,700 pounds of provisions and had +distributed these in three repositories. + +The part of the Barrier over which we had gone heretofore has an +average height of 165 feet and looked like a flat plain which continued +with slight undulations without any marked features that could have +served for orientation. It has heretofore been the opinion that on such +an endless plain no provisions can be cached without risking their +loss. If we were, however, to have the slightest chance of reaching our +goal we had to establish depots, and that to as great an extent as +possible. This question was discussed among us, and we decided to +establish signs across our route, and not along it, as has been +generally done heretofore. We therefore set up a row of signs at right +angles to our route, that is, in an east-west direction from our +depots. Two of these signs were placed on opposite sides of each of the +three depots, at a distance of 5.6 miles (9 kilometers) from them; and +between the signs and the depot two flags were erected for every +kilometer. In addition, all flags were marked so that we might know the +direction and distance of the depot to which it referred. This +provision proved entirely trustworthy; we were able to find our depots +even in dense fog. Our compasses and pedometers were tested at the +station; we knew that we could rely upon them. + +By our excursions to the depots we had gained a great deal. We had not +only carried a large amount of provisions toward the south, but we had +also gained valuable experience. That was worth more and was to be of +value to us on our final advance to the Pole. + +The lowest temperature we had observed on these depot excursions was +-50° Centigrade. The fact that it was still summer when we recorded +this temperature warned us to see that our equipment was in good +condition. We also realized that our heavy sleds were too unwieldy and +that they could easily be made much lighter. This criticism was equally +applicable to the greater part of our equipment. + +Several days before the disappearance of the sun were devoted to +hunting seal. The total weight of the seals killed amounted to 132,000 +pounds. We therefore had ample provisions for ourselves as well as for +our 115 dogs. + +Our next problem was to supply a protective roof for our dogs. We had +brought with us ten large tents in which sixteen men could easily find +room. They were set up on the Ice Barrier; the snow was then dug out to +a depth of six and a half feet inside the tents, so that each dog hut +was nearly twenty feet high. The diameter of a dog hut on the ground +was sixteen feet. We made these huts spacious so that they might be as +airy as possible, and thus avert the frost which is so injurious to +dogs. Our purpose was entirely attained, for even in the severest +weather no dogs were frozen. The tents were always warm and +comfortable. Twelve dogs were housed in each, and every man had to take +care of his own pack. + +After we had seen to the wants of the dogs we could then think of +ourselves. As early as April the house was entirely covered by snow. In +this newly drifted snow, passageways were dug connecting directly with +the dog huts. Ample room was thus at our disposal without the need on +our part of furnishing building material. We had workshops, a +blacksmith shop, a room for sewing, one for packing, a storage room for +coal, wood, and oil, a room for regular baths and one for steam baths. +The winter might be as cold and stormy as it would; it could do us no +harm. + +On April 21st the sun disappeared and the longest night began which had +ever been experienced by man in the Antarctic. We did not need to fear +the long night, for we were well equipped with provisions for years and +had a comfortable, well-ventilated, well-situated and protected house. +In addition we had our splendid bathroom where we could take a bath +every week. It really was a veritable sanatorium. + +After these arrangements had been completed we began preparations for +the main advance in the following spring. We had to improve our +equipment and make it lighter. We discarded all our sleds, for they +were too heavy and unwieldy for the smooth surface of the Ice Barrier. +Our sleds weighed 165 pounds each. Bjaaland, our ski and sledmaker, +took the sleds in hand, and when spring arrived he had entirely made +over our sledge equipment. These sleds weighed only one-third as much +as the old ones. In the same way it was possible to reduce the weight +of all other items of our equipment. Packing the provisions for the +sledge journey was of the greatest importance. Captain Johansen +attended to this work during the winter. Each of the 42,000 loaves of +hard bread had to be handled separately before it could be assigned to +its proper place. In this way the winter passed quickly and agreeably. +All of us were occupied all the time. Our house was warm, dry, light +and airy, and we all enjoyed the best of health. We had no physician +and needed none. + +Meteorological observations were taken continuously. The results were +surprising. We had thought that we should have disagreeable, stormy +weather, but this was not the case. During the whole year of our +sojourn at the station we experienced only two moderate storms. The +rest of the time light breezes prevailed, mainly from an easterly +direction. Atmospheric pressure was as a rule very low, but remained +constant. The temperature sank considerably, and I deem it probable +that the mean annual temperature which we recorded, -26° Centigrade, is +the lowest mean temperature which has ever been observed. During five +months of the year we recorded temperatures below -50° Centigrade. On +August 23d the lowest temperature was recorded, -59°. The _aurora +australis_, corresponding to the northern lights of the Arctic, was +observed frequently and in all directions and forms. This phenomenon +changed very rapidly, but, except in certain cases, was not very +intensive. + +On August 24th the sun reappeared. The winter had ended. Several days +earlier we had put everything in the best of order, and when the sun +rose over the Barrier we were ready to start. The dogs were in fine +condition. + +From now on we observed the temperature daily with great interest, for +as long as the mercury remained below -50° a start was not to be +thought of. In the first days of September all signs indicated that the +mercury would rise. We therefore resolved to start as soon as possible. +On September 8th the temperature was -30°. We started immediately, but +this march was to be short. On the next day the temperature began to +sink rapidly, and several days later the thermometer registered -55° +Centigrade. We human beings could probably have kept on the march for +some time under such a temperature, for we were protected against the +cold by our clothing; but the dogs could not have long withstood this +degree of cold. We were therefore glad when we reached the eightieth +parallel. We deposited there our provisions and equipment in the depot +which we had previously erected and returned to "Framheim." + +The weather now became very changeable for a time--the transitional +period from winter to summer; we never knew what weather the next day +would bring. Frostbites from our last march forced us to wait until we +definitely knew that spring had really come. On September 24th we saw +at last positive evidence that spring had arrived: the seals began to +clamber up on the ice. This sign was hailed with rejoicing--not a whit +less the seal meat which Bjaaland brought on the same day. The dogs, +too, enjoyed the arrival of spring. They were ravenous for fresh seal +meat. On September 29th another unrefutable sign of spring appeared in +the arrival of a flock of Antarctic petrels. They flew around our house +inquisitively to the joy of all, not only of ourselves, but also of the +dogs. The latter were wild with joy and excitement, and ran after the +birds in hopes of getting a delicate morsel. Foolish dogs! Their chase +ended with a wild fight among themselves. + +On October 20th the weather had at last become so stable that we could +start. We had, meanwhile, changed our original plan, which was that we +should all advance southward together. We realized that we could travel +with perfect safety in two groups, and thus accomplish much more. We +arranged that three men should go to the east to explore King Edward +VII. Land; the remaining five men were to carry out the main plan, the +advance on the South Pole. + +October 20th was a beautiful day. Clear, mild weather prevailed. The +temperature was 1° Centigrade above zero. Our sleds were light, and we +could advance rapidly. We did not need to hurry our dogs, for they were +eager enough themselves. We numbered five men and fifty-two dogs with +four sleds. Together with the provisions which we had left in the three +depots at the eightieth, the eighty-first, and the eighty-second +parallels we had sufficient sustenance for 120 days. + +Two days after our departure we nearly met with a serious accident. +Bjaaland's sled fell into one of the numerous crevasses. At the +critical moment we were fortunately able to come to Bjaaland's aid; had +we been a moment later the sled with its thirteen dogs would have +disappeared in the seemingly bottomless pit. + +On the fourth day we reached our depot at 80° S. We remained there two +days and gave our dogs as much seal meat as they would eat. + +Between the eightieth and the eighty-first parallel the Barrier ice +along our route was even, with the exception of a few low undulations; +dangerous hidden places were not to be found. The region between the +eighty-first and the eighty-second parallel was of a totally different +character. During the first nineteen miles we were in a veritable +labyrinth of crevasses, very dangerous to cross. At many places yawning +abysses were visible because large pieces of the surface had broken +off; the surface, therefore, presented a very unsafe appearance. We +crossed this region four times in all. On the first three times such a +dense fog prevailed that we could only recognize objects a few feet +away. Only on the fourth occasion did we have clear weather. Then we +were able to see the great difficulties to which we had been exposed. + +On November 5th we reached the depot at the eighty-second parallel and +found everything in order. For the last time our dogs were able to have +a good rest and eat their fill; and they did so thoroughly during their +two days' rest. + +Beginning at the eightieth parallel we constructed snow cairns which +should serve as sign-posts on our return. In all we erected 150 such +sign-posts, each of which required sixty snow blocks. About 9,000 snow +blocks had therefore to be cut out for this purpose. These cairns did +not disappoint us, for they enabled us to return by exactly the same +route we had previously followed. + +South of the eighty-second parallel the Barrier was, if possible, still +more even than farther north; we therefore advanced quite rapidly. At +every unit parallel which we crossed on our advance toward the south we +established a depot. We thereby doubtlessly exposed ourselves to a +certain risk, for there was no time to set up sign-posts around the +depots. We therefore had to rely on snow cairns. On the other hand, our +sleds became lighter, so that it was never hard for the dogs to pull +them. + +When we reached the eighty-third parallel we saw land in a +southwesterly direction. This could only be South Victoria Land, +probably a continuation of the mountain range which runs in a +southeasterly direction and which is shown on Shackleton's map. From +now on the landscape changed more and more from day to day: one +mountain after another loomed up, one always higher than the other. +Their average elevation was 10,000 to 16,000 feet. Their crest-line was +always sharp; the peaks were like needles. I have never seen a more +beautiful, wild, and imposing landscape. Here a peak would appear with +somber and cold outlines, its head buried in the clouds; there one +could see snow fields and glaciers thrown together in hopeless +confusion. On November 11th we saw land to the south and could soon +determine that a mountain range, whose position is about 86° S. and +163° W., crosses South Victoria Land in an easterly and northeasterly +direction. This mountain range is materially lower than the mighty +mountains of the rest of South Victoria Land. Peaks of an elevation of +1,800 to 4,000 feet were the highest. We could see this mountain chain +as far as the eighty-fourth parallel, where it disappeared below the +horizon. + +On November 17th we reached the place where the Ice Barrier ends and +the land begins. We had proceeded directly south from our winter +quarters to this point. We were now in 85° 7' S. and 165° W. The place +where we left the Barrier for the land offered no special difficulties. +A few extended undulating reaches of ice had to be crossed which were +interrupted by crevasses here and there. Nothing could impede our +advance. It was our plan to go due south from "Framheim" and not to +deviate from this direction unless we should be forced to by obstacles +which nature might place in our path. If our plan succeeded it would be +our privilege to explore completely unknown regions and thereby to +accomplish valuable geographic work. + +The immediate ascent due south into the mountainous region led us +between the high peaks of South Victoria Land. To all intents and +purposes no great difficulties awaited us here. To be sure, we should +probably have found a less steep ascent if we had gone over to the +newly discovered mountain range just mentioned. But as we maintained +the principle that direct advance due south was the shortest way to our +goal, we had to bear the consequences. + +At this place we established our principal depot and left provisions +for thirty days. On our four sleds we took provisions with us for sixty +days. And now we began the ascent to the plateau. The first part of the +way led us over snow-covered mountain slopes, which at times were quite +steep, but not so much so as to prevent any of us from hauling up his +own sled. Farther up, we found several glaciers which were not very +broad but were very steep. Indeed, they were so steep that we had to +harness twenty dogs in front of each sled. Later the glaciers became +more frequent, and they lay on slopes so steep that it was very hard to +ascend them on our skis. On the first night we camped at a spot which +lay 2,100 feet above sea level. On the second day we continued to climb +up the mountains, mainly over several small glaciers. Our next camp for +the night was at an altitude of 4,100 feet above the sea. + +On the third day we made the disagreeable discovery that we should have +to descend 2,100 feet, as between us and the higher mountains to the +south lay a great glacier which crossed our path from east to west. +This could not be helped. The expedition therefore descended with the +greatest possible speed and in an incredibly short time we were down on +the glacier, which was named Axel Heiberg Glacier. Our camp of this +night lay at about 3,100 feet above sea level. On the following day the +longest ascent began; we were forced to follow Axel Heiberg Glacier. At +several places ice blocks were heaped up so that its surface was +hummocky and cleft by crevasses. We had therefore to make detours to +avoid the wide crevasses which, below, expanded into large basins. +These latter, to be sure, were filled with snow; the glacier had +evidently long ago ceased to move. The greatest care was necessary in +our advance, for we had no inkling as to how thick or how thin the +cover of snow might be. Our camp for this night was pitched in an +extremely picturesque situation at an elevation of about 5,250 feet +above sea level. The glacier was here hemmed in by two mountains which +were named "Fridtjof Nansen" and "Don Pedro Christophersen," both +16,000 feet high. + +Farther down toward the west at the end of the glacier "Ole Engelstad +Mountain" rises to an elevation of about 13,000 feet. At this +relatively narrow place the glacier was very hummocky and rent by many +deep crevasses, so that we often feared that we could not advance +farther. On the following day we reached a slightly inclined plateau +which we assumed to be the same which Shackleton describes. Our dogs +accomplished a feat on this day which is so remarkable that it should +be mentioned here. After having already done heavy work on the +preceding days, they covered nineteen miles on this day and overcame a +difference in altitude of 5,700 feet. On the following night we camped +at a place which lay 10,800 feet above sea level. The time had now come +when we were forced to kill some of our dogs. Twenty-four of our +faithful comrades had to die. The place where this happened was named +the "Slaughter House." On account of bad weather we had to stay here +for four days. During this stay both we and the dogs had nothing except +dog meat to eat. When we could at last start again on November 26th, +the meat of ten dogs only remained. This we deposited at our camp; +fresh meat would furnish a welcome change on our return. During the +following days we had stormy weather and thick snow flurries, so that +we could see nothing of the surrounding country. We observed, however, +that we were descending rapidly. For a moment, when the weather +improved for a short time, we saw high mountains directly to the east. +During the heavy snow squall on November 28th we passed two peculiarly +shaped mountains lying in a north-south direction; they were the only +ones that we could see on our right hand. These "Helland-Hansen +Mountains" were entirely covered by snow and had an altitude of 9,200 +feet. Later they served as an excellent landmark for us. + +On the next day the clouds parted and the sun burst forth. It seemed to +us as if we had been transferred to a totally new country. In the +direction of our advance rose a large glacier, and to the east of it +lay a mountain range running from southeast to northwest. Toward the +west, impenetrable fog lay over the glacier and obscured even our +immediate surroundings. A measurement by hypsometer gave 8,200 feet for +the point lying at the foot of this, the "Devil's Glacier." We had +therefore descended 2,600 feet since leaving the "Slaughter House." +This was not an agreeable discovery, as we, no doubt, would have to +ascend as much again, if not more. We left provisions here for six days +and continued our march. + +From the camp of that night we had a superb view of the eastern +mountain range. Belonging to it we saw a mountain of more wonderful +form than I have ever seen before. The altitude of the mountain was +12,300 feet; its peaks roundabout were covered by a glacier. It looked +as if Nature, in a fit of anger, had dropped sharp cornered ice blocks +on the mountain. This mountain was christened "Helmer-Hansen Mountain," +and became our best point of reference. There we saw also the "Oscar +Wisting Mountains," the "Olav Bjaaland Mountains," the "Sverre Hassel +Mountains," which, dark and red, glittered in the rays of the midnight +sun and reflected a white and blue light. In the distance the mountains +seen before loomed up romantically; they looked very high when one saw +them through the thick clouds and masses of fog which passed over them +from time to time and occasionally allowed us to catch glimpses of +their mighty peaks and their broken glaciers. For the first time we saw +the "Thorvald Nilsen Mountain," which has a height of 16,400 feet. + +It took us three days to climb the "Devil's Glacier." On the first of +December we had left behind us this glacier with its crevasses and +bottomless pits and were now at an elevation of 9,350 feet above sea +level. In front of us lay an inclined block-covered ice plateau which, +in the fog and snow, had the appearance of a frozen lake. Traveling +over this "Devil's Ball Room," as we called the plateau, was not +particularly pleasant. Southeasterly storms and snow flurries occurred +daily, during which we could see absolutely nothing. The floor on which +we were walking was hollow beneath us; it sounded as if we were going +over empty barrels. We crossed this disagreeable and uncanny region as +quickly as was compatible with the great care we had to exercise, for +during the whole time we were thinking of the unwelcome possibility of +sinking through. + +On December 6th we reached our highest point--according to hypsometric +measurement 11,024 feet above sea level. From there on the interior +plateau remained entirely level and of the same elevation. In 88° 23' +S. we had reached the place which corresponded to Shackleton's +southernmost advance. We camped in 88° 25' S. and established there our +last--the tenth--depot, in which we left 220 pounds of provisions. Our +way now gradually led downward. The surface was in excellent condition, +entirely level, without a single hill or undulation or other obstacle. +Our sleds forged ahead to perfection; the weather was beautiful; we +daily covered seventeen miles. Nothing prevented us from increasing our +daily distance. But we had time enough and ample provisions; we thought +it wiser, also, to spare our dogs and not to work them harder than +necessary. Without a mishap we reached the eighty-ninth parallel on +December 11th. It seemed as if we had come into a region where good +weather constantly prevails. The surest sign of continued calm weather +was the absolutely level surface. We could push a tent-pole seven feet +deep into the snow without meeting with any resistance. This proved +clearly enough that the snow had fallen in equable weather; calm must +have prevailed or a slight breeze may have blown at the most. Had the +weather been variable--calms alternating with storms--snow strata of +different density would have formed, a condition which we would +immediately have noticed when driving in our tent-poles. + +Our dead reckoning had heretofore always given the same results as our +astronomical observations. During the last eight days of our march we +had continuous sunshine. Every day we stopped at noon in order to +measure the meridian altitude and every evening we made an observation +for azimuth. On December 13th the meridian altitude gave 89° 37', dead +reckoning, 89° 38'. In latitude 88° 25' we had been able to make our +last good observation of azimuth. Subsequently this method of +observation became valueless. As these last observations gave +practically the same result and the difference was almost a constant +one, we used the observation made in 88° 25' as a basis. We calculated +that we should reach our goal on December 14th. + +December 14th dawned. It seemed to me as if we slept a shorter time, as +if we ate breakfast in greater haste, and as if we started earlier on +this morning than on the preceding days. As heretofore, we had clear +weather, beautiful sunshine, and only a very light breeze. We advanced +well. Not much was said. I think that each one of us was occupied with +his own thoughts. Probably only one thought dominated us all, a thought +which caused us to look eagerly toward the south and to scan the +horizon of this unlimited plateau. Were we the first, or----? + +The distance calculated was covered. Our goal had been reached. +Quietly, in absolute silence, the mighty plateau lay stretched out +before us. No man had ever yet seen it, no man had ever yet stood on +it. In no direction was a sign to be seen. It was indeed a solemn +moment when, each of us grasping the flagpole with one hand, we all +hoisted the flag of our country on the geographical South Pole, on +"King Haakon VII Plateau." + +During the night, as our watches showed it to be, three of our men went +around the camp in a circle 10 geographical miles (11.6 statute miles) +in diameter and erected cairns, while the other two men remained in the +tent and made hourly astronomical observations of the sun. These gave +89° 55' S. We might well have been satisfied with this result, but we +had time to spare and the weather was fine. Why should we not try to +make our observations at the Pole itself? On December 16th, therefore, +we transported our tent the remaining 5-3/4 miles to the south and +camped there. We arranged everything as comfortably as possible in +order to make a round of observations during the twenty-four hours. The +altitude was measured every hour by four men with the sextant and +artificial horizon. These observations will be worked out at the +University of Christiania. This tent camp served as the center of a +circle which we drew with a radius of 5-1/6 miles [on the circumference +of which] cairns were erected. A small tent, which we had brought with +us in order to designate the South Pole, was put up here and the +Norwegian flag with the pennant of the _Fram_ was hoisted above it. +This Norwegian home received the name of "Polheim." According to the +observed weather conditions, this tent may remain there for a long +time. In it we left a letter addressed to His Majesty, King Haakon VII, +in which we reported what we had done. The next person to come there +will take the letter with him and see to its delivery. In addition, we +left there several pieces of clothing, a sextant, an artificial +horizon, and a hypsometer. + +On December 17th we were ready to return. On our journey to the Pole we +had covered 863 miles, according to the measurements of the odometer; +our mean daily marches were therefore 15 miles. When we left the Pole +we had three sleds and seventeen dogs. We now experienced the great +satisfaction of being able to increase our daily rations, a measure +which previous expeditions had not been able to carry out, as they were +all forced to reduce their rations, and that at an early date. For the +dogs, too, the rations were increased, and from time to time they +received one of their comrades as additional food. The fresh meat +revived the dogs and undoubtedly contributed to the good results of the +expedition. + +One last glance, one last adieu, we sent back to "Polheim." Then we +resumed our journey. We still see the flag; it still waves to us. +Gradually it diminishes in size and finally entirely disappears from +our sight. A last greeting to the Little Norway lying at the South +Pole! + +We left King Haakon VII Plateau, which lay there bathed in sunshine, as +we had found it on our outward journey. The mean temperature during our +sojourn there was--13° Centigrade. It seemed, however, as though the +weather was much milder. + +I shall not tire you by a detailed description of our return, but shall +limit myself to some of the interesting episodes. + +The splendid weather with which we were favored on our return displayed +to us the panorama of the mighty mountain range which is the +continuation of the two ranges which unite in 86° S. The newly +discovered range runs in a southeasterly direction and culminates in +domes of an elevation of 10,000 to over 16,000 feet. In 88° S. this +range disappears in the distance below the horizon. The whole complex +of newly discovered mountain ranges, which may extend a distance of +over 500 miles, has been named the Queen Maud Ranges. + +We found all of our ten provision depots again. The provisions, of +which we finally had a superabundance, were taken with us to the +eightieth parallel and cached there. From the eighty-sixth parallel on +we did not need to apportion our rations; every one could eat as much +as he desired. + +After an absence of ninety-nine days we reached our winter quarters, +"Framheim," on January 25th. We had, therefore, covered the journey of +864 miles in thirty-nine days, during which we did not allow ourselves +any days of rest. Our mean daily march, therefore, amounted to 22.1 +miles. At the end of our journey two of our sleds were in good +condition and eleven dogs healthy and happy. Not once had we needed to +help our dogs and to push the sleds ourselves. + +Our provisions consisted of pemmican, biscuits, desiccated milk, and +chocolate. We therefore did not have very much variety, but it was +healthful and robust nourishment which built up the body, and it was, +of course, just this that we needed. The best proof of this was that we +felt well during the whole time and never had reason to complain of our +food, a condition which has occurred so often on long sledge journeys +and must be considered a sure indication of improper nourishment. + +Simultaneously with our work on land, scientific observations were made +on board the _Fram_ by Captain Nilsen and his companions which probably +stamp this expedition as the most valuable of all. The _Fram_ made a +voyage from Buenos Aires to the coast of Africa and back, covering a +distance of 8,000 nautical miles, during which a series of +oceanographical observations was made at no less than sixty stations. +The total length of the _Fram's_ journey equaled twice the +circumnavigation of the globe. The _Fram_ has successfully braved +dangerous voyages which made high demands upon her crew. The trip out +of the ice region in the fall of 1911 was of an especially serious +character. Her whole complement then comprised only ten men. Through +night and fog, through storm and hurricane, through pack ice and +between icebergs the _Fram_ had to find her way. One may well say that +this was an achievement that can be realized only by experienced and +courageous sailors, a deed that honors the whole nation. + +In conclusion, you will allow me to say that it was these same ten men, +who on February 15, 1911, hoisted the flag of their country, the +Norwegian flag, on a more southerly point of the earth than the crew of +any other ship whose keel ever cleft the waves. This is a worthy record +in our record century. Farthest north, farthest south did our dear old +_Fram_ penetrate. + + + + +THE CHINESE REVOLUTION A.D. 1912 + +ROBERT MACHRAY R.F. JOHNSTON TAI-CHI QUO + +The story of "China's Awakening" in 1905 was told in our preceding +volume. Most startling and most important of the results of this +arousing was the sudden successful revolution by which China became a +republic. This Chinese Revolution burst into sudden blaze in October, +1911, and reached a triumphant close on February 12, 1912, when the +Royal Edict, given in the following article, was proclaimed at Peking. +In this remarkable edict the ancient sovereigns of China deliberately +abdicated, and declared the Chinese Republic established. + +We give here the account of the revolution itself and of its causes, by +the well-known English writer on Eastern affairs, Robert Machray. Then +comes a discussion of the doubtful wisdom of the movement by a European +official who has long dwelt in China, Mr. R.F. Johnston, District +Officer of Wei-hai-wei. Then a patriotic Chinaman, educated in one of +the colleges of America, gives the enthusiastic view of the +revolutionists themselves, their opinion of their victories, and their +high hopes for the future. + +ROBERT MACHRAY + +With Yuan Shih-kai acknowledged as President by both the north and the +south, by Peking and Nanking alike, "The Great Republic of China," as +it is called by those who have been mainly instrumental in bringing it +into being, appears to have established itself, or at least it enters +upon the first definite stage of its existence. Thus opens a fresh +volume, of extraordinary interest as of incalculable importance, in the +history of the Far East. + +Even in the days of the great and autocratic Dowager Empress, Tzu Hsi, +who had no love for "reform," but knew how to accept and adapt herself +to the situation, it was evident that a change, deeply influencing the +political life and destinies of China, was in process of development. +After her death, in 1908, the force and sweep of this momentous +movement were still more apparent--it took on the character of +something irresistible and inevitable; the only question was whether +the change would be accomplished by way of evolution--gradual, orderly, +and conservative--or by revolution, or a series of revolutions, +probably violent and sanguinary, and perhaps disastrous to the dynasty +and the country. The events of the last few months have supplied the +answer--at any rate, to a certain extent. A successful revolution has +taken place, in which, it is true, many thousands have been killed, but +which on the whole has not been attended by the slaughter and carnage +that might have been anticipated considering the vastness of the +country and the enormous interests involved. Actual warfare gave way to +negotiations conducted in a spirit of moderation and of give-and-take +on the part of all concerned. The Manchu dynasty has collapsed, though +the "Emperor" still remains as a quasi-sacred, priestly personage, and +the princes have been pensioned off. The Great Republic of China has +come into being, albeit it is in large measure inchoate and, as it +were, on trial. China has long been the land of rebellions and risings, +and it is hardly to be expected that the novel republican form of +government, however well constructed, intentioned, or conducted, will +escape altogether from internal attacks. And nearly everything has yet +to be done in organization. + +General surprise has been expressed at the comparative ease and speed +with which the revolutionary movement has attained success in driving +the Manchus from power and in founding a republican _régime_. The +factor which chiefly contributed to this success was undoubtedly the +weakness of the Manchu dynasty and of the Imperial Clan, who, hated by +the Chinese and without sufficient resources of their own, were utterly +unable to offer any real resistance to the rebellious provinces of the +south, the loyalty of their troops being uncertain, and any spirit or +gift of leadership among themselves having disappeared with the passing +of the great Tzu Hsi in 1908. But it is a mistake to imagine that the +idea of a republican form of government in place of the centuries-old, +autocratic, semi-divine monarchy, was something that had never been +mooted before and was entirely unknown to the Chinese. To the great +majority, no doubt, it was, if known at all, something strange and +hardly intelligible, as it still is. But in the south, especially on +and near the coast, it has been familiar for some time; among the +possibilities of the future it was not unknown even to the "Throne." +Fourteen years ago, after the _coup d'état_ by which Tzu Hsi smashed +the reform movement that had been patronized by the Emperor Kuang Hsu, +the then Viceroy of Canton stated in a memorial to her that among some +treasonable papers found at the birthplace of Kang Yu-wei, the leading +reformer of the time, a document had been discovered which not only +spoke of substituting a republic for the monarchy, but actually named +as its first president one of the reformers she had caused to be +executed. It must be admitted, on the other hand, that the idea has +been imported into China comparatively recently; the Chinese language +contains no word for republic, but one has been coined by putting +together the words for self and government; it must be many years +before the masses of the Chinese--the "rubbish people," as Lo Feng-lu, +a former minister to England, used to call them--have any genuine +understanding of what a republic means. + +The Manchus were in power for nearly two hundred and seventy years, and +during that period there were various risings, some of a formidable +character, against them and in favor of descendants of the native Ming +dynasty which they had displaced; powerful secret organizations, such +as the famous "Triad Society," plotted and conspired to put a Ming +prince on the throne; but all was vain. It had come to be generally +believed that the race of the Mings had died out, but a recent dispatch +from China speaks of there still being a representative in existence, +who possibly might give serious trouble to the new republic. In any +case, for a long time past the Mings had ceased to give the Manchus any +concern; the pressure upon the latter came from outside the empire, but +that in its turn reacted profoundly on the internal situation. The wars +with France and England had but a slight effect on China; though the +foreign devils beat it in war it yet despised them. The effect of the +war with Japan, in 1894, was something quite different, beginning the +real awakening of China and imparting life and vigor to the new reform +movement which had its origin in Canton, the great city of the south, +whose highly intelligent people have most quickly felt and most readily +and strongly responded to outside influences. Regarded by the Chinese +as at least partially civilized, the Japanese were placed in a higher +category than the Western barbarians, but as their triumph over China +was attributed to their adoption of Western military methods and +equipment, the more enlightened Chinese came to the conclusion that, +however contemptible the men of the Western world were, the main secret +of their success, as of that of Japan, was open enough. They decided +that Western learning and modes of government and organization must be +studied and copied, as Japan had studied and copied them, if the +Celestial Empire was to endure. It was a case on the largest scale of +self-preservation, and some part, at least, of the truth was glimpsed +by the Throne itself. + +Something, but not much, was heard of a republic while Tzu Hsi lived; +before her death the principle of a constitution, with a national +parliament and provincial assemblies, had been accepted by the +Throne--with reservations limiting the spheres of these representative +bodies, retaining the supreme power in the Throne, and in the case of +the national parliament delaying its coming into existence for a term +of years. + +By Tzu Hsi's commands, the Throne passed at her death into the hands of +a sort of commission; a child of two years of age, a nephew of Kuang +Hsu, called Pu Yi, became Emperor under the dynastic name of Hsuan +Tung; his father, Prince Chun, was nominated Regent, but was ordered to +consult the new Dowager Empress, Lung Yu, the widow of Kuang Hsu, and +to be governed by her decisions in all important matters of State. +Prince Chun, amiable in disposition but weak and vacillating in +character, and not always on the best of terms with Lung Yu, began +well; one of his first acts was to assure President Taft, who had +written entreating him to expedite reforms as making for the true +interests of China, that he was determined to pursue that policy. Among +those who had suggested reforms to Tzu Hsi, often going far beyond her +wishes or plans, but who steadily supported her in all she did in that +direction, the leading man was Yuan Shih-kai; with the possible +exception of Chang Chih-tung, the Viceroy of Hunan and Hupeh, mentioned +above, Yuan Shih-kai had become the greatest man in China, and even as +he had advised and supported Tzu Hsi, so he advised and supported +Prince Chun at the commencement of the Regency. But the prince had +received an unfortunate legacy from his brother, the Emperor Kuang Hsu, +who, believing that Yuan Shih-kai had betrayed him to Tzu Hsi at the +time of the _coup d'état,_ had given instructions to Prince Chun that +if he came into power he was to punish Yuan for his treachery. At the +beginning of 1909 the Regent dismissed Yuan on an apparently trivial +pretext, but every one in China knew the real reason for his fall, and +not a few wondered that his life had been spared. It is idle to surmise +what might have happened if his services had been retained by the +Throne all the time, but who could have imagined that so swift and +almost incredible an instance of time's revenges was in store--that +within barely three years Yuan Shih-kai would be the acknowledged head +of the State, and Prince Chun and all the Manchus in the dust? + +Representative government of a kind started in 1909 with the +establishment of provincial assemblies; elections were held, and +assemblies met in most of the provinces. In the following year a senate +or imperial assembly was decreed by an imperial edict; its first +session was held in Peking in October of that year, and was opened by +the Regent; one of the first things the assembly did was to memorialize +the Throne for the rapid hastening on of reforms, and in response an +edict was issued announcing the formation of a national parliament, +consisting of an Upper and a Lower House, within three years. Under +further pressure the Throne in May of 1911 abolished the Grand Council +and the Grand Secretariat, and created a Cabinet of Ministers, after +the Western model. But the agitation continued and went on growing in +intensity; still it sought nothing apparently but a development of the +constitution, and at least on the surface was neither anti-dynastic nor +republican. + +An anti-dynastic outburst at Changsha, Hunan, in 1910, was easily +suppressed, and certainly gave no indication of what was so soon to +take place. So late as September of 1911 a rising on a considerable +scale in the province of Szechuan was not antidynastic, but was +declared by the rebels themselves to be directed against the railway +policy of the Government. The best hope for China lies in a wide +building of railways; the Chinese do not object to them, but, on the +contrary, make use of them to the fullest extent where they are in +existence; they do not wish, however, the lines to be constructed with +foreign money, holding that such investments of capital from without +might be regarded as setting up liens on their lands in favor of +outside Powers--how far they can do without outside capital is another +matter. Then the whole question of railway-building involved the old +quarrel between the provinces and the central government--which is +another way of saying that the provinces did not see why all the spoils +should go to Peking. + +A month after the rebellion in Szechuan had broken out, the great +revolution began, and met with the most astonishing success from the +very outset. Within a few weeks practically the whole of southern China +was in the hands of the revolutionaries, and the Throne in hot panic +summoned Yuan Shih-kai from his retirement to its assistance; after +some hesitation and delay he came--but too late to save the dynasty and +the Manchus, though there is no shadow of doubt that he did his best +and tried his utmost to save them. With Wuchang, Hankau, and +Hanyang--the three form the metropolis, as it may be termed, of +mid-China--in the possession of the revolutionaries, and other great +centers overtly disaffected or disloyal, the Regent opened the session +of the national assembly, and it forthwith proceeded to assert itself +and make imperious demands with which the Throne was compelled to +comply--this was within a fortnight after the attack on Wuchang that +had begun the revolution. On November 1st the Throne appointed Yuan +Shih-kai Prime Minister, and a week later the national assembly +confirmed him in the office; he arrived in Peking on the thirteenth of +the month, was received in semi-regal state, and immediately instituted +such measures as were possible for the security of the dynasty and the +pacification of the country. But ten days before he reached Peking the +Throne had been forced to issue an edict assenting to the principles +which the national assembly had set forth in nineteen articles as +forming the basis of the Constitution; these articles, while preserving +the dynasty and keeping sacrosanct the person of the Emperor, made the +monarchy subject to the Constitution and the Government to Parliament, +with a responsible Cabinet presided over by a Prime Minister, and gave +Parliament full control of the budget. + +Here, then, was the triumph of the constitutional cause, and Yuan +Shih-kai and most of the moderate progressive Chinese would have been +well satisfied with it if it had contented the revolutionaries of the +south. But from the beginning the southerners had made it plain that +they were determined to bring about the abdication of the dynasty, the +complete overthrow of the Manchus, and the establishment of a +republican form of government, nor would they lay down their arms on +any other terms. In a short time Yuan Shih-kai saw that the +revolutionaries were powerful enough to compel consideration and at +least partial acquiescence in their demands. It can not be thought +surprising that the proposed elimination of the hated Manchus from the +Government was popular, yet it must seem remarkable that the +revolutionary movement was so definitely republican in its aims, and as +such achieved so much success. There had been little open agitation in +favor of a republic, but the ground had been prepared for it to a +certain extent by a secret propaganda. The foreign-drilled troops of +the army were disaffected in many cases and were approached with some +result; the eager spirits of the party in the south, where practically +the whole strength of the movement lay, formed an alliance with certain +of the officers of these troops. No sooner was the revolution begun +than a military leader appeared in the person of Li Yuan-hung, a +brigadier-general, who had commanded a considerable body of these +foreign-drilled soldiers, and was supported by large numbers of such +men in the fighting in and around Wuchang-Hankau. That the +revolutionaries, who were chiefly of the student class, and not of the +"solid" people of the country, were able to enlist the active +cooperation of these officers and their troops accounts for the quick +and astonishing success of the movement. And at the outset, whatever is +the case now, many of the solid people--magistrates, gentry, and +substantial merchants--also indorsed it. + +Toward the end of November the revolutionaries captured Nanking, a +decisive blow to the imperialists, and this former capital of China +became the headquarters of a Provisional Republican Government. Soon +afterward, through the good offices of Great Britain, a truce was +arranged between the north and the south. Yuan Shih-kai was striving +with all his might to retain the dynasty as a limited monarchy, but +"coming events cast their shadows before" in the resignation of the +Regent early in December. Negotiations went on between Yuan, who was +represented at a conference held in Shanghai by Tang Shao-yi, an able +and patriotic man and a protégé of his own, and the revolutionaries, +but the leaders of the latter made it clear that there could be no +peaceful solution of the situation short of the abdication of the +dynasty and the institution of some form of republic. At the end of +December Dr. Sun Yat-sen, whose striking and romantic story is well +known, was appointed Provisional President by Nanking; in January he +published a manifesto to the people of China, bitterly attacking the +dynasty, promising that the republic would recognize treaty +obligations, the foreign loans and concessions, and declaring that it +aimed at the general improvement of the country, the remodeling of the +laws, and the cultivation of better relations with the Powers. + +Meanwhile, the Dowager Empress and the Manchu princes had discussed the +position of affairs with Yuan Shih-kai, and the question of the +abdication of the dynasty was under consideration, but though the +situation was desperate there were some counsels of resistance. What +finally made opposition impossible was the presentation to the Throne +in the last days of January of a memorial, signed by the generals of +the northern army, requesting it to abandon any idea of maintaining +itself by force. This settled the matter. No other course being +practicable, terms were agreed to between Peking and Nanking, and on +February 12th imperial edicts, commencing for the last time with the +customary formula, were issued from the capital giving Yuan Shih-kai +plenary powers to establish a Provisional Republican Government, and to +confer with the Provisional Republican Government at Nanking, approving +of the arrangements which had been made for the Emperor and the +imperial family, and exhorting the people to remain tranquil under the +new régime. These edicts will remain among the most remarkable things +in history, and it can not be said that the passing of the Manchus was +attended by any want of that ceremonious calmness and dignity for which +China is famed. Two or three days later Sun Yat-sen in a disinterested +spirit resigned, and Yuan Shih-kai was unanimously elected President by +the Nanking Assembly; Yuan accepted the office, and thus north and +south were united in "The Great Republic of China." At the end of March +progress in the settlement of affairs was seen in the formation of a +Coalition Cabinet, comprising Ministers of both the Peking and the +Nanking Governments, those selected being men with a considerable +knowledge of Western life and thought, as, for instance, Lu +Cheng-hsiang, the Foreign Minister, who has lived many years in Europe +and speaks French as well as English. A further advance took place on +April 2d, when the Nanking Assembly agreed by a large majority to +transfer the Provisional Government to Peking, which thus resumed its +position as the capital of the country and the center of its +Administration. + +Among the causes which contributed to the success of the revolution +were the inability of the north to obtain loans from outside, and the +pressure, both direct and indirect, exerted upon both parties by +foreign Powers. Both of these causes were important, the latter +especially so. The action of Russia with respect to Mongolia, and of +Japan with regard to Manchuria, alarmed patriotic Chinese, led them to +fear that foreign interference might not be confined to these +territories, and to dread that the result would be the disintegration +of the country. Under the Manchus they had seen the loss of Korea, the +Liaotung, Formosa, and, in a sense, of Manchuria itself; they were +apprehensive of German designs in Shantung, of Japanese in Fuhkien. The +feeling that the country was in danger helped both sides to be of one +mind. But the pressure from the outside was not all of this sinister +sort; friendly representations from the genuinely well-disposed Powers +did a good deal to bring the combatants to a mutual understanding. But +throughout the revolution, as in the final result, the great +outstanding, commanding figure was Yuan Shih-kai himself. Evidently a +man of great gifts, he knew how and when to yield and how and when to +be firm; the compromise which solved the situation--at all events, for +the time--was mostly his work; statesman and patriot, he saved his +country. And it will always redound to his credit that he can not be +charged with faithlessness to the Manchus, for he did all that was +possible for them, standing by them to the last. By retaining the +"Emperor" as the priestly head of the nation, _pater patriae_, +according to Chinese ideas, he has left something to the Manchus and at +the same time contrived that the republican form of government shall +bring as slight a shock to "immemorial China" as can be imagined. + +What does this "immemorial China"--meaning thereby the great bulk of +the Chinese, the un-Westernized Chinese--think of the republic? In +other words, is the republic likely to last? What sort of republic will +it probably be, viewing the situation as it stands? At one of the early +stages of the revolution Yuan Shih-kai stated that only three-tenths of +his countrymen were in favor of a republic--in itself, however, a +considerable proportion of the population; now that the republic is in +existence, will it be accepted tranquilly by the rest? The majority of +these people are the inoffensive and industrious peasants of the +interior, who have long been accustomed to bad government; as they will +scarcely find their lot harder now, they will probably quietly accept +the new order, unless some radical change is made affecting their +habits of life, which is unlikely. Some of the old conservative gentry +are opposed to the republic; but, now the Manchu dynasty is gone, whom +or what can they suggest in its place that would be received favorably +by the country? The descendant of the Mings? Or the descendant of +Confucius? + +Neither seems a likely candidate in present circumstances. For it may +very well be the case that as the revolution has been so largely +military, and parts of the army need careful handling, as the recent +riots in Peking showed, the Republican Government will assume something +of a distinctively military character, and Yuan Shih-kai, as its head, +be in a position not very different from that of a military +dictator--as Diaz was in Mexico. The republic will, of course, have its +troubles, and serious ones enough, to face, but the balance of +probabilities certainly suggests its lasting awhile. + + +R.F. JOHNSTON + +Like political upheavals in other ages and other lands, the Chinese +revolution has been the outcome of the hopes and dreams of impetuous +and indomitable youth. Herein lies one of its main sources of strength, +but herein also lies a very grave danger. Young China to-day looks to +Europe and to America for sympathy. Let her have it in full measure. +Only let us remind her that the work she has so boldly, and perhaps +light-heartedly, undertaken is not only the affair of China, not only +the affair of Asia, but that the whole world stands to gain or lose +according as the Chinese people prove themselves worthy or unworthy to +carry out the stupendous task to which they have set their hands. + +The grave peril lies, of course, in the tendency of the Chinese +"Progressives"--as of all hot-headed reformers, whether in China or in +England--to break with the traditions of past ages, and to despise what +is old, not because it is bad, but because it is out of harmony with +the latest political shibboleth. Those of us who believe in the +fundamental soundness of the character of the Chinese people, and are +aware of the high dignity and value of a large part of their inherited +civilization and culture, are awaiting with deep anxiety an answer to +this question: Is the New China about to cast herself adrift from the +Old? + +But surely, many a Western observer may exclaim, the matter is settled +already! Surely the abolition of the monarchy is in itself a proof that +the Chinese have definitely broken with tradition! Was not the Emperor +a sacred being who represented an unbroken political continuity of +thousands of years, and who ruled by divine right? Was not loyalty to +the sovereign part of the Chinese religion? + +These questions can not be answered with a simple yes or no. Reverence +for tradition has always been a prominent Chinese characteristic in +respect of both ethics and politics. We must beware of assuming too +hastily that the exhortations of a few frock-coated revolutionaries +have been sufficient to expel this reverence for tradition from Chinese +hearts and minds; yet we are obliged to admit that the national +aspirations are being directed toward a new set of ideals which in some +respects are scarcely consistent with the ideals aimed at (if rarely +attained) in the past. + +The Chinese doctrine of loyalty can not be properly understood until we +have formed a clear conception of the traditional Chinese theory +concerning the nature of Political Sovereignty. The political edifice, +no less than the social, is built on the Confucian and pre-Confucian +foundation of filial piety. The Emperor is father of his people; the +whole population of the empire forms one vast family, of which the +Emperor is the head. As a son owes obedience and reverence to his +parent, so does the subject owe reverence and obedience to his +sovereign. + +In the four thousand years and more that have elapsed since the days of +Yü, over a score of dynasties have in their turn reigned over China. +The _Shu Ching_--the Chinese historical classic--gives us full accounts +of the events which led to the fall of the successive dynasties of Hsia +(1766 B.C.) and Shang (1122 B.C.). In both cases we find that the +leader of the successful rebellion lays stress on the fact that the +_T'ien-ming_ (Divine right) has been forfeited by the dynasty of the +defeated Emperor, and that he, the successful rebel, has been but an +instrument in the hands of God. Thus the rebel becomes Emperor by right +of the Divine Decree, and it remains with his descendants until by +their misdeeds they provoke heaven into bestowing it upon another +house. + +The teachings of the sages of China are in full accordance with the +view that the sovereign must rule well or not at all. Confucius +(551-479 B.C.) spent the greater part of his life in trying to instruct +negligent princes in the art of government, and we know from a +well-known anecdote that he regarded a bad government as "worse than a +tiger." We are told that when one of his disciples asked Confucius for +a definition of good statecraft, he replied that a wise ruler is one +who provides his subjects with the means of subsistence, protects the +state against its enemies, and strives to deserve the confidence of all +his people. And the most important of these three aims, said Confucius, +is the last: for without the confidence of the people no government can +be maintained. If the prince's commands are just and good, let the +people obey them, said Confucius, in reply to a question put by a +reigning duke; but if subjects render slavish obedience to the unjust +commands of a bad ruler, it is not the ruler only, but his sycophantic +subjects themselves, who will be answerable for the consequent ruin of +the state. So far from counseling perpetual docility on the part of the +governed, Confucius clearly indicates that circumstances may arise +which make opposition justifiable. The minister, he says, should not +fawn upon the ruler of whose actions he disapproves: let him show his +disapproval openly. + +Mencius, the "Second Sage" of China (372-289 B.C.), is far more +outspoken than Confucius in his denunciation of bad rulers. There was +no sycophancy in the words which he uttered during an interview with +King Hsuan of the State of Ch'i. "When the prince treats his ministers +with respect, as though they were his own hands and feet, they in their +turn look up to him as the source from which they derive nourishment; +when he treats them like his dogs and horses, they regard him as no +more worthy of reverence than one of their fellow subjects; when he +treats them as though they were dirt to be trodden on, they retaliate +by regarding him as a robber and a foe." It is interesting to learn +that this passage in Mencius so irritated the first sovereign of the +Ming dynasty (1368-1398 A.D.) that he caused the "spirit-tablet" of the +sage to be removed from the Confucian Temple, to which it had been +elevated about three centuries earlier; but the remonstrances of the +scholars of the empire soon compelled the Emperor to revoke his decree, +and the tablet of Mencius was restored to its place of honor, from +which it was never subsequently degraded. It is no matter for surprize +that the people have reverenced the "Second Sage," for he it was who +has come nearest in China to the enunciation of the somewhat doubtful +principle, _Vox populi vox Dei_. + +It was unmistakably the view of Mencius that a bad ruler may be put to +death by the subjects whom he has misgoverned. King Hsuan was once +discussing with him the successful rebellions against the last +sovereigns of the Hsia and Shang dynasties, and, with reference to the +slaying of the infamous King Chou (1122 B.C.), asked whether it was +allowable for a minister to put his sovereign to death. Mencius, in his +reply, observed that the man who outrages every principle of virtue and +good conduct is rightly treated as a mere robber and villain. "I have +heard of the killing of a robber and a villain named Chou; I have not +heard about the killing of a king." That is to say, Chou by his +rascality had already forfeited all the rights and privileges of +kingship before he was actually put to death. + +On another occasion Mencius was questioned about the duties of +ministers and royal relatives. "If the sovereign rules badly," he said, +"they should reprove him; if he persists again and again in +disregarding their advice, they should dethrone him." The prince for +whose edification the philosopher uttered these daring sentiments +looked grave. "I pray your Majesty not to take offense," said Mencius. +"You asked me for my candid opinion, and I have told you what it is." + +Several other passages of similar purport might be cited from Mencius, +but two more will suffice. "Let us suppose," said the sage, "that a man +who is about to proceed on a long journey entrusts the care of his wife +and family to a friend. On his return he finds that the faithless +friend has allowed his wife and children to suffer from cold and +hunger. What should he do with such a friend?" "He should treat him +thenceforth as a stranger," replied King Hsuan. "And suppose," +continued Mencius, "that your Majesty had a minister who was utterly +unable to control his subordinates: how would you deal with such a +one?" "I should dismiss him from my service," said the King. "And if +throughout all your realm there is no good government, what is to be +done then?" The embarrassed King, we are told, "looked this way and +that, and changed the subject." + +The last of Mencius's teachings on kingship to which we shall refer is +perhaps the most remarkable of all. "The most important element in a +State," he says emphatically, "is the people; next come the altars of +the national gods; least in importance is the king." + +These citations from the revered classics should be sufficient to prove +that the people of China are not necessarily cutting themselves adrift +from the traditions of ages and the teachings of their philosophers +when they rise in their might to overthrow an incompetent dynasty. For +it can not be denied that China has known little prosperity under the +later rulers of the Manchu line, and when the revolutionary leaders +declared that the reigning house had forfeited the _T'ien-ming_ we must +admit that they had ample justification for their belief that such was +the case. But many Western friends of China, while fully recognizing +the right of the people to remove the Manchus, entertain very grave +doubts as to the wisdom of abolishing the monarchy altogether and the +establishment of a republican government in its stead. The _T'ien-ming_ +has always passed from dynasty to dynasty, never from dynasty to +people. From the remotest days of which we have record, the Chinese +system of government has been monarchic. If the revolutionaries can +break tradition to the extent of abolishing the imperial dignity, what +guaranty have we that they will not break with tradition in every other +respect as well, and so destroy the foundations on which the whole +edifice of China's social, political, and religious life has rested +through all the centuries of her known history? + +Whether the Chinese people--as distinct from a few foreign-educated +reformers--do, as a matter of fact, honestly believe that a republican +government is adapted to the needs of the country, is a very different +question. It certainly has not been proved that "the whole nation is +now inclined toward a republic"--in spite of the admission to that +effect contained in the imperial Edict of abdication. Perhaps it would +be nearer the truth to say that the overwhelming majority of the people +of China have not the slightest idea what a republic means, and how +their lives and fortunes will be affected by its establishment, and +therefore hold no strong opinions concerning the advantages or +disadvantages of republican government. + +It can not be denied, however, that the social system under which the +Chinese people have lived for untold ages has in some ways made them +more fit for self-government than any other people in the world. It +would be well if Europeans--and especially Englishmen--would try to rid +themselves of the obsolete notion that every Oriental race, as such, is +only fit for a despotic form of government. Perhaps only those who have +lived in the interior of China and know something of the organization +of family and village, township and clan, are able to realize to how +great an extent the Chinese have already learned the arts of +self-government. It was not without reason that a Western authority +(writing before the outbreak of the revolution) described China as "the +greatest republic the world has ever seen." + +The momentous Edict in which the Manchu house signed away its imperial +heritage was issued on the twelfth day of February, 1912. It contains +many noteworthy features, but the words which are of special interest +from the constitutional point of view I translate as follows: "The +whole nation is now inclined toward a republican form of government. +The southern and central provinces first gave clear evidence of this +inclination, and the military leaders of the northern provinces have +since promised their support in the same cause. _By observing the +nature of the people's aspirations we learn the Will of Heaven +(T'ien-ming)._ It is not fitting that We should withstand the desires +of the nation merely for the sake of the glorification of Our own +House. We recognize the signs of the age, and We have tested the trend +of popular opinion; and We now, with the Emperor at Our side, invest +the Nation with the Sovereign Power and decree the establishment of a +constitutional government on a republican basis. In coming to this +decision, We are actuated not only by a hope to bring solace to Our +subjects, who long for the cessation of political tumult, but also by a +desire to follow the precepts of the Sages of old who taught that +political sovereignty rests ultimately with the people." + +Such was the dignified and yet pathetic swan-song of the dying Manchu +dynasty. Whatever our political sympathies may be, we are not obliged +to withhold our tribute of compassion for the sudden and startling +collapse of a dynasty that has ruled China--not always +inefficiently--for the last two hundred and sixty-seven years. + +The Abdication Edict can not fail to be of interest to students of the +science of politics. The Throne itself is converted into a bridge to +facilitate the transition from the monarchical to the republican form +of government. The Emperor remains absolute to the last, and the very +Republican Constitution, which involves his own disappearance from +political existence, is created by the fiat of the Emperor in his last +official utterance. Theoretically, the Republic is established not by a +people in arms acting in opposition to the imperial will, but by the +Emperor acting with august benevolence for his people's good. The cynic +may smile at the transparency of the attempt to represent the +abdication as entirely voluntary, but in this procedure we find +something more than a mere "face-saving" device intended for the +purpose of effecting a dignified retreat in the hour of disaster. + +Perhaps the greatest interest of the decree centers in its appeal to +the wisdom of the national sages, and its acceptance of their theory as +to the ultimate seat of political sovereignty. The heart of the drafter +may have quailed when he wrote the words that signified the surrender +of the imperial power, but the spirit of Mencius guided his hand. It +now remains for us to hope that the teachings of the wise men of old, +which have been obeyed to such momentous issues by the last of the +Emperors, will not be treated with contempt by his Republican +successors. + + +TAI-CHI QUO + +The entire civilized world, as well as China, is to be heartily +congratulated upon the glorious revolution which has been sweeping over +that vast ancient empire, and which is now practically assured of +success. "Just as conflagrations light up the whole city," says Victor +Hugo, "revolutions light up the whole human race." Of no revolution +recorded in the world's history can this be said with a greater degree +of truth than of the present revolution in China. It spells the +overthrow of monarchy, which has existed there for over forty +centuries, and the downfall of a dynasty which has been the enemy of +human progress for the last two hundred and seventy years. It effects +the recognition and establishment of personal liberty, the sovereignty +of man over himself, for four hundred and thirty-two million souls, +one-third of the world's total population. + +The Chinese revolution marks, in short, a great, decisive step in the +onward march of human progress. It benefits not only China, but the +whole world, for just as a given society should measure its prosperity +not by the welfare of a group of individuals, but by the welfare of the +entire community, so must humanity estimate its progress according to +the well-being of the whole human race. Society can not be considered +to be in a far advanced stage of civilization if one-third of the +globe's inhabitants are suffering under the oppression and tyranny of a +one-man rule. Democracy can not be said to exist if a great portion of +the people on the earth have not even political freedom. Real democracy +exists only when all men are free and equal. Hence, any movement which +brings about the recognition and establishment of personal liberty for +one-third of the members of the human family, as the Chinese revolution +is doing, may well be pronounced to be beneficial to mankind. + +But is it really true and credible that conservative, slumbering, and +"mysterious" China is actually having a revolution, that beautiful and +terrible thing, that angel in the garb of a monster? If it is, what is +the cause of the revolution? What will be its ultimate outcome? What +will follow its success? Will a republic be established and will it +work successfully? These and many other questions pertaining to the +Chinese situation have been asked, not only by skeptics, but also by +persons interested in China and human progress. + +There can be no doubt that China is in earnest about what she is doing. +Even the skeptics who called the revolution a "mob movement," or +another "Boxer uprising," at its early stage must now admit the truth +of the matter. The admirable order and discipline which have +characterized its proceedings conclusively prove that the revolution is +a well-organized movement, directed by men of ability, intelligence, +and humanitarian principles. Sacredness of life and its rights, for +which they are fighting, have generally guided the conduct of the +rebels. The mob element has been conspicuous by its absence from their +ranks. It is very doubtful whether a revolution involving such an +immense territory and so many millions of people as are involved in +this one could be effected with less bloodshed than has thus far marked +the Chinese revolution. If some allowance be made for exaggeration in +the newspaper reports of the loss of lives and of the disorders that +have occurred during the struggle, allowance which is always +permissible and even wise for one to make, there has been very little +unnecessary bloodshed committed by the revolutionists. + +Although anti-Manchu spirit was a prominent factor in bringing about +the uprising, it has been subordinated by the larger idea of humanity. +With the exception of a few instances of unnecessary destruction of +Manchu lives at the beginning of the outbreak, members of that tribe +have been shown great clemency. The rebel leaders have impressed upon +the minds of their followers that their first duty is to respect life +and property, and have summarily punished those having any inclination +to loot or kill. Despite the numerous outrages and acts of brutality by +the Manchus and imperial troops, the revolutionaries have been +moderate, lenient, and humane in their treatment of their prisoners and +enemies. Unnecessary bloodshed has been avoided by them as much as +possible. As Dr. Wu Ting-fang has said: "The most glorious page of +China's history is being written with a bloodless pen." Regarding the +cause of the revolution, it must be noted that the revolt was not a +sudden, sporadic movement, nor the result of any single event. It is +the outcome of a long series of events, the culmination of the friction +and contact with the Western world in the last half-century, especially +the last thirty years, and of the importation of Western ideas and +methods into China by her foreign-educated students and other agents. + +During the last decade, especially the last five years, there has been +a most wonderful awakening among the people in the empire. One could +almost see the growth of national consciousness, so rapidly has it +developed. When the people fully realized their shortcomings and their +country's deplorable weakness as it has been constantly brought out in +her dealings with foreign Powers, they fell into a state of +dissatisfaction and profound unrest. Filled with the shame of national +disgrace and imbued with democratic ideas, they have been crying for a +strong and liberal government, but their pleas and protests have been +in most cases ignored and in a few cases responded to with half-hearted +superficial reforms which are far from satisfactory to the +progressives. The Manchu government has followed its traditional +_laissez faire_ policy in the face of foreign aggressions and +threatening dangers of the empire's partition, with no thought of the +morrow. Until now it has been completely blind to the force of the +popular will and has deemed it not worth while to bother with the +common people. + +Long ago patriotic Chinese gave up hope in the Manchu government and +realized that China's salvation lay in the taking over of the +management of affairs into their own hands. For over a decade Dr. Sun +Yat-sen and other Chinese of courage and ability, mostly those with a +Western education, have been busily engaged in secretly preaching +revolutionary doctrines among their fellow countrymen and preparing for +a general outbreak. They collected numerous followers and a large sum +of money. The revolutionary propaganda was being spread country-wide, +among the gentry and soldiers, and even among enlightened government +officials, in spite of governmental persecution and strict vigilance. +Revolutionary literature was being widely circulated, notwithstanding +the rigid official censorship. + +Added to all this are the ever important economic causes. Famines and +floods in recent years have greatly intensified the already strong +feeling of discontent and unrest, and served to pile up more fuel for +the general conflagration. + +In short, the whole nation was like a forest of dry leaves which needed +but a single fire spark to make it blaze. Hence, when the revolution +broke out on the memorable 10th of October, 1911, at Wu-Chang, it +spread like a forest fire. Within the short period of two weeks +fourteen of the eighteen provinces of China proper joined in the +movement one after another with amazing rapidity. Everywhere people +welcomed the advent of the revolutionary army as the drought-stricken +would rejoice at the coming rain, or the hungry at the sight of food. +The great wave of democratic sentiment which had swept over Europe, +America, and the islands of Japan at last reached the Chinese shore, +and is now rolling along resistlessly over the immense empire toward +its final goal--a world-wide democracy. + + + + +A STEP TOWARD WORLD PEACE + +THE UNITED STATES ARBITRATION TREATIES A.D. 1912 + +HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT + +Later generations will doubtless note, as one of the main +manifestations of our present age, its progress in international +arbitration, in the substitution of justice for force as the means of +deciding disputes between nations. On March 7, 1912, the United States +Senate, after months of argument, finally agreed to ratify two +arbitration treaties which President Taft had arranged with England and +France. True, the Senate, before thus establishing the treaties, struck +out their most far-reaching article, an agreement that every +disagreement whatsoever should be referred to a Joint High Commission. +Without this clause the treaties still leave a bare possibility of +warfare over questions of "national honor" or "national policy"; but +practically they put an end to war forever as between the United States +and its two great historic rivals. + +These two treaties were the last and most important of 154 such +arbitration treaties arranged since the recent inauguration of the +great World Peace movement. They are here described by President Taft +himself in an article reprinted with his approval from the _Woman's +Home Companion._ His work as a leader in the cause of peace is likely +to be remembered as the most important of his administration. In 1913 +his purpose was carried forward by William J. Bryan as the United +States Secretary of State. Mr. Bryan evolved a general "Plan of +Arbitration," which during the first year of its suggestion was adopted +by thirty-one of the smaller nations to govern their dealings with the +United States. Thus the strong promises international justice to the +weak. + +The development of the doctrine of international arbitration, +considered from the standpoint of its ultimate benefits to the human +race, is the most vital movement of modern times. In its relation to +the well-being of the men and women of this and ensuing generations, it +exceeds in importance the proper solution of various economic problems +which are constant themes of legislative discussion or enactment. It is +engaging the attention of many of the most enlightened minds of the +civilized world. It derives impetus from the influence of churches, +regardless of denominational differences. Societies of noble-minded +women, organizations of worthy men, are giving their moral and material +support to governmental agencies in their effort to eliminate, as +causes of war, disputes which frequently have led to armed conflicts +between nations. + +The progress already made is a distinct step in the direction of a +higher civilization. It gives hope in the distant future of the end of +militarism, with its stupendous, crushing burdens upon the working +population of the leading countries of the Old World, and foreshadows a +decisive check to the tendency toward tremendous expenditures for +military purposes in the western hemisphere. It presages at least +partial disarmament by governments that have been, and still are, +piling up enormous debts for posterity to liquidate, and insures to +multitudes of men now involuntarily doing service in armies and navies +employment in peaceful, productive pursuits. + +Perhaps some wars have contributed to the uplift of organized society; +more often the benefits were utterly eclipsed by the ruthless waste and +slaughter and suffering that followed. The principle of justice to the +weak as well as to the strong is prevailing to an extent heretofore +unknown to history. Rules of conduct which govern men in their +relations to one another are being applied in an ever-increasing degree +to nations. The battle-field as a place of settlement of disputes is +gradually yielding to arbitral courts of justice. The interests of the +great masses are not being sacrificed, as in former times, to the +selfishness, ambitions, and aggrandizement of sovereigns, or to the +intrigues of statesmen unwilling to surrender their scepter of power. +Religious wars happily are specters of a medieval or ancient past, and +the Christian Church is laboring valiantly to fulfil its destiny of +"Peace on earth." + +If the United States has a mission, besides developing the principles +of the brotherhood of man into a living, palpable force, it seems to me +that it is to blaze the way to universal arbitration among the nations, +and bring them into more complete amity than ever before existed. It is +known to the world that we do not covet the territory of our neighbors, +or seek the acquisition of lands on other continents. We are free of +such foreign entanglements as frequently conduce to embarrassing +complications, and the efforts we make in behalf of international peace +can not be regarded with a suspicion of ulterior motives. The spirit of +justice governs our relations with other countries, and therefore we +are specially qualified to set a pace for the rest of the world. + +The principle and scope of international arbitration, as exemplified in +the treaties recently negotiated by the United States with Great +Britain and France, should commend itself to the American people. These +treaties go a step beyond any similar instruments which have received +the sanction of the United States, or the two foreign Powers specified. +They enlarge the field of arbitrable subjects embraced in the treaties +ratified by the three governments in 1908. They lift into the realm of +discussion and hearing, before some kind of a tribunal, many of the +causes of war which have made history such a sickening chronicle of +ravage and cruelty, bloodshed and desolation. + +After years of patient endeavor by men of various nations, and despite +many obstacles and discouragements, there has been established at The +Hague a Permanent Court of Arbitration, to which contending governments +may submit certain classes of controversies for adjudication. This +court has already justified its creation and existence by the +settlement of contentions which in other days led to disastrous wars, +and even in this enlightened age might have precipitated serious +ruptures. The United States Government, as represented by the National +Administration, is ready to utilize this method of settling +international disputes to a greater extent than ever before. That is, +we are willing to refer to this tribunal, or a similar one, questions +which heretofore have been left entirely to diplomatic negotiation. + +The treaties go further by providing for the creation of a Joint High +Commission, to which shall be referred, for impartial and conscientious +investigation, any controversy between this Government, on one hand, +and Great Britain or France, on the other hand, before such a +controversy has been submitted to an arbitral body from which there is +no appeal. + +And, assuming that governments, like individuals, do not always +display, while a dispute is in progress, that calmness of judgment and +equipoise which are so consistent with righteous deportment, provision +is made for the passion to subside and the blood to cool, by deferring +the reference of such controversy to the Joint High Commission for one +year. This affords an opportunity for diplomatic adjustment without an +appeal to the commission. + +The plan of submission to a joint high commission, composed of three +citizens or subjects of one party and the same number of another, is a +concession to the fear of being too tightly bound to an adverse +decision made manifest in the objections of the Senate committee, +because it may well be supposed that two out of three citizens or +subjects of one party would not decide that an issue was arbitrable +under the treaty against the contention of their own country unless it +were reasonably clear that the issue was justiciable under the first +clause of the treaty. + +Ultimately, I hope, we shall come to submit our quarrels to an +international arbitral court that will have power finally to decide +upon the limits of its own jurisdiction, and in which the form of +procedure by the complaining country shall be fixed, and the +obligations of the country complained of, to answer in a form +prescribed, shall be recognized and definite, and the judgment shall be +either acquiesced in, or enforced. These treaties are a substantial +step, but a step only, in that direction, and the feature of the +binding character of the decision of the Joint High Commission as to +the arbitral character of the question is the most distinctive advance +in the right direction. Do not let us give up this feature without +using every legitimate effort to retain it. + +An understanding of the term _justiciable_ may be essential to a full +comprehension of the significance and scope of these treaties. +Questions involving boundary lines, the rights of fishermen in waters +bordering upon countries with contiguous territory, the use of +water-power, the erection of structures on frontiers, outrages upon +aliens, are examples of justiciable subjects, and these are made +susceptible of adjudication and decision under these treaties. It is +now proposed to establish a permanent method of disposing of such +questions without preliminary quarrels and menaces whose result may +never be foreseen. + +Certain questions of governmental or traditional policy are by their +very nature excluded from the consideration of the Joint High +Commission, or even the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. +Such specific exemptions it is not necessary to set forth in the +treaties. Objection has been made that under the first section of the +pending pacts it might be claimed that we would be called upon to +submit to arbitration of the Monroe Doctrine, or our right to exclude +foreign peoples from our shores, or the question of the validity of +southern bonds issued in reconstruction days. + +The Monroe Doctrine is not a justiciable question, but one of purely +governmental policy which we have followed for nearly a century, and in +which the countries of Europe have generally acquiesced. With respect +to the exclusion of immigrants, it is a principle of international law +that every country may admit only those whom it chooses. This is a +subject of domestic policy in which no foreign country can interfere +unless it is covered by a treaty, and then it may become properly a +matter of treaty construction. + +With reference to the right to involve the United States in a +controversy over the obligation of certain Southern States to pay bonds +issued during reconstruction, which have been repudiated, it is +sufficient to say that the pending treaties affect only cases hereafter +arising, and the cases of the Southern bonds all arose years ago. + +After a time, if our treaties stand the test of experience and prove +useful, it is probable that all the greatest Powers on earth will come +under obligation to arbitrate their differences with other nations. +Naturally, the smaller nations will do likewise, and then universal +arbitration will be more of an actuality than an altruistic dream. + +The evil of war, and what follows in its train, I need not dwell upon. +We could not have a higher object than the adoption of any proper and +honorable means which would lessen the chance of armed conflicts. Men +endure great physical hardships in camp and on the battle-field. In our +Civil War the death-roll in the Union Army alone reached the appalling +aggregate of 359,000. But the suffering and perils of the men in the +field, distressing as they are to contemplate, are slight in comparison +with the woes and anguish of the women who are left behind. The hope +that husband, brother, father, son may be spared the tragic end which +all soldiers risk, when they respond to their country's call, buoys +them up in their privations and heart-breaking loneliness. But theirs +is the deepest pain, for the most poignant suffering is mental rather +than physical. No pension compensates for the loss of husband, son, or +father. The glory of death in battle does not feed the orphaned +children, nor does the pomp and circumstance of war clothe them. The +voice of the women of America should speak for peace. + + + + +TRAGEDY OF THE "TITANIC" + +THE SPEED CRAZE AND ITS OUTCOME A.D. 1912 + +WILLIAM INGLIS + +No other disaster at sea has ever resulted in such loss of human life +as did the sinking of the _Titanic_ on the night of April 15, 1912. +Moreover, no other disaster has ever included among its victims so many +people of high position and repute and real value to the world. The +_Titanic_ was on her first voyage, and this voyage had served to draw +together many notables. She was advertised as the largest steamer in +the world and as the safest; she was called "unsinkable." The ocean +thus struck its blow at no mean victim, but at the ship supposedly the +queen of all ships. + +Through the might of the great tragedy, man was taught two lessons. One +was against boastfulness. He has not yet conquered nature; his +"unsinkable" masterpiece was torn apart like cardboard and plunged to +the bottom. The other and more solemn teaching was against the speed +mania, which seems more and more to have possessed mankind. His autos, +his railroads, even his fragile flying-machines, have been keyed up for +record speed. The _Titanic_ was racing for a record when she perished. + +Her loss has created almost a revolution in ocean traffic. "Let us go +more slowly!" was the cry. Safety became the chief advertisement of the +big ship lines; and speed, Speed the adored, shriveled into the +dishonored god of a moment's madness. + +The wreck of the steamship _Titanic_, of the White Star Line, the +newest and biggest and presumably the safest ship in the world, is the +greatest marine disaster known in the history of ocean traffic. She ran +into an iceberg off the Banks of Newfoundland at 11.40 Sunday night, +April 14th, and at twenty minutes past two sank in two miles of ocean +depth. More than fifteen hundred lives were lost and a few more than +seven hundred saved. + +The _Titanic_ was a marvel of size and luxury. Her length was 882-1/2 +feet--far exceeding the height of the tallest buildings in the +world--her breadth of beam was 92 feet, and her depth from topmost deck +to keel was 94 feet. She was of 45,000 tons register and 66,000 tons +displacement. Her structure was the last word in size, speed, and +luxury at sea. Her interior was like that of some huge hotel, with wide +stairways and heavy balustrades, with elevators running up and down the +height of nine decks out of her twelve; with swimming-pools, Turkish +baths, saloons, and music-rooms, and a little golf-course on the +highest deck. Her master was Capt. E. J. Smith, a veteran of more than +thirty years' able and faithful service in the company's ships, whose +only mishap had occurred when the giant _Olympic_, under his command, +collided with the British cruiser _Hawke_ in the Solent last September. +He was exonerated because the great suction exerted by the _Olympic_ in +a narrow channel inevitably drew the two vessels together. + +There were over 2,200 people aboard the _Titanic_ when she left +Southampton on Wednesday for her maiden voyage--325 first-cabin +passengers, 285 second-cabin, 710 steerage, and a crew of 899. Among +that ship's company were many men and women of prominence in the arts, +the professions, and in business. Colonel John Jacob Astor and his +bride, who was Miss Madeleine Force, were among them; also Major +Archibald Butt, military aide to President Taft; Charles M. Hays, +president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad, with his family; William +T. Stead, of the London _Review of Reviews_; Benjamin Guggenheim, of +the celebrated mining family; G. D. Widener, of Philadelphia; F. D. +Millet, the noted artist; Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Straus; J. Thayer, +vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad; J. Bruce Ismay, chairman +of the White Star Line's board of directors; Henry B. Harris, +theatrical manager; Colonel Washington Roebling, the engineer; Jacques +Futrelle, the novelist; and Henry Sleeper Harper, a grandson of Joseph +Wesley Harper, one of the founders of the house of Harper & Brothers. + +As the _Titanic_ was leaving her pier at Southampton there came a sound +like the booming of artillery. The passengers thronging to the rail saw +the steamship _New York_ slowly drawing near. The movement of the +_Titanic's_ gigantic body had sucked the water away from the quay so +violently that the seven stout hawsers mooring the _New York_ to her +pier snapped like rotten twine, and she bore down on the giant ship +stern first and helpless. The _Titanic_ reversed her engines, and tugs +plucked the _New York_ away barely in time to avoid a bad smash. If any +old sailors regarded this accident as an evil omen, there is little +reason to think the thing affected the spirits of the passengers on the +great floating hotel. As the ship passed the time of day by wireless +with her distant neighbors out of sight beyond the horizon of the ocean +lanes, she reported good weather, machinery working smoothly, all going +well. + +For some reason the great fleet of icebergs which drifts south of Cape +Race every summer moved down unusually early this year. The _Carmania_, +three days in advance of the _Titanic_, ran into the ice-field on +Thursday. The ship at reduced speed dodged about, avoiding enormous +bergs along her course, while far away on every hand glinted the +shining high white sides of many more of the menacing ice mountains. +Passengers photographed the brilliant monsters. The steamship +_Niagara_, many leagues astern, reported a slight collision, with no +great harm done. That was enough. Captain Dow retraced his course to +the northeast and, after an hour's steaming, laid a new course for Fire +Island buoy. The presence of the great bergs and accompanying masses of +field-ice so very early in the season was most unusual. + +Into this desolate waste of sea came the _Titanic_ on Sunday evening. +She encountered fog, for the region is almost continuously swathed in +the mists raised by the contact of the Arctic current with the warm +waters of the Gulf Stream. Scattered far and wide in every direction +were many icebergs, shrouded in gray, invisible to the eyes of the +sharpest lookouts, lying in wait for their prey. + +Not only were the bergs invisible to the keenest eyes, but the sudden +drop in the temperature of the ocean which ordinarily is the warning of +the nearness of a berg was now of no avail; for there were so many of +the bergs and so widely scattered that the temperature of the sea was +uniformly cold. Moreover, the submarine bell, which gives warning to +navigators of the neighborhood of shoal water, does not signify the +approach of icebergs. The newest ocean giant was in deadly peril, +though probably few of her passengers guessed it, so reassuring are the +huge bulk, the skilful construction, the watertight compartments, the +able captain and crew, to the mind of the landsman. Dinner was long +past, and many of the passengers doubtless turned to thoughts of supper +after hours of talk or music or cards; for there were not many +promenading the cold, foggy decks of the onrushing steamship. + +The _Titanic_ was about eight hundred miles to the southeastward of +Halifax, three hundred and fifty miles southeast of treacherous Cape +Race, when her great body dashed, glancing, against an enormous berg. +The discipline and good order for which British captains and British +sailors have long been noted prevailed in this crisis; for it is proven +by the fact that the rescued were nearly all women and children. + +From that rich, rushing, gay, floating world, with its saloons and +baths and music-rooms and elevators, now suddenly shattered into +darkness, only one utterance came. Phillips, the wireless operator, +seized his key and telegraphed in every direction the call "S O S!" +Gossiping among telegraphers hundreds of miles apart, messages of +business import, all the scores of things that fill the ocean air with +tremulous whisperings of etheric waves, began to give over their +chattering. Again and again Phillips repeated the letters which spell +disaster until the air for a thousand miles around was electrically +silent. Then he sent his message: + +"Have struck an iceberg; badly damaged; rush aid; steamship _Titanic_; +41.46 N., 50.14 W." + +There was no other ship in sight. Far as the eye could reach no spot of +light broke the gray darkness; yet other ships could hear and read the +cry for help, and, wheeling in their courses, they drove full speed +ahead for the wreck. The _Baltic_, two hundred miles to the eastward, +bound for Europe, turned back to the rescue; the _Olympic_, still +farther away, hastened to the aid of her sister ship; the _Cincinnati, +Prince Adelbert, Amerika,_ the _Prinz Friederich Wilhelm_, and many +others, abandoned all else to fly to help those in danger. Nearest of +all was the _Carpathia_, bound from New York for Mediterranean ports, +only sixty miles away. And as they all, with forced draft and every +possible device for adding to speed, dashed through the misty night on +their errand of mercy, Phillips, of the _Titanic_, kept wafting from +his key the story of disaster. The thing he repeated oftenest was: +"Badly damaged. Rush aid." Now and then he gave the ship's position in +latitude and longitude as nearly as it could be estimated by her +officers as she was carried southward by the current that runs swiftly +in this northern sea, so that the rescuers could keep their prows +accurately pointed toward the wreck. Soon he began to announce, "We are +down by the head and sinking rapidly." About one o'clock in the morning +the last words from Phillips rippled through the heavy air, "We are +almost gone." + +The crew were summoned to their stations; the lifeboats and liferafts +were swiftly provisioned and furnished with water as well as could be +done. Yet this provision could hardly have been very extensive, since +it has long been an accepted axiom of the sea that the modern giant +ships are indestructible, or at least unsinkable. + +"Women and children first," the order long enforced among all decent +men who use the sea, was the word passed from man to man as the boats +were filled, the boatfalls rattled, and the frail little cockleshells +were lowered into the calm sea. What farewells there were on those dark +and reeking decks between husbands and wives and all other men and +women of the same family one can hardly dare think about. Steadily the +work of filling the boats and lowering away went on until the last +frail craft had been dropped upon the ocean from the sides of the liner +and the whole little fleet rose and fell on the sea beside the great +black hulk. And when the last crowded boat had come down and there was +no possibility of removing one more human being from the wreck, there +were still more than fifteen hundred men on her decks. So far had +belief in the invulnerability of the modern ship curtailed sane and +proper provision for taking care of her people in time of calamity. + +One can imagine with what frantic but impotent hope, as the sinking +decks and menacing plash of waters within told of the imminent last +plunge, those thousands of eyes strained at the misty wall of grayish +black that enclosed them on every hand. Not one gleam of light in any +quarter. The last horrible gurglings within the waterlogged shell of +steel that a little while before had been the proudest ship of all the +seas told unmistakably that the end was at hand. Down by the head went +the giant _Titanic_ at twenty minutes past two o'clock on Monday +morning, April 15th. And she took fifteen hundred people with her. + +Four hours passed before the shivering people in the small boats heard +the siren whistle that announced the approach of a steamship from the +south. There was a heavy fog and they could not see one hundred fathoms +off over the clashing and grinding ice that floated in fields on every +side. Soon after seven o'clock in the morning the ship came in sight +and presently hove to among the fleet of boats and liferafts--the +steamship _Carpathia_, out of New York on April 11th for Mediterranean +ports. She began at once to take aboard the survivors, and in a few +hours had every boat hoisted aboard. The _Olympic_ and _Baltic_, +learning by wireless that the rescues had all been effected, proceeded +on their way. + +The _Virginian_ and the _Parisian_, which arrived at the scene of the +disaster a few hours later, could find no sign of any living person +afloat, though they cruised for a long time among the wreckage before +standing away on their courses. The _Carpathia_ at first was headed for +Halifax, but upon learning by wireless that that harbor was ice-bound, +Mr. J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the Board of Directors of the White +Star Line, suggested that the ship head for New York. This was done. +The _Carpathia_, with nine hundred passengers of her own and the seven +hundred survivors, reached New York in safety. + +The sad international tragedy of the sinking of the _Titanic_ touched +men's souls more deeply than any other disaster in many years. To +English-speaking races in particular the horror of the occasion pressed +close home; for here was the best of British ships bearing many of the +most prominent of America's people. To these seasoned voyagers, +crossing the Atlantic had become a mere pleasant trifle, seeming no +more dangerous than an afternoon's shopping in town. Then suddenly +there was thrust upon all of them that ancient, awful knowledge that +"in the midst of life we are in death." + +Both American passengers and English crew lived up to the best +traditions of their race. There was no panic, no fighting for places in +the boats on the doomed ship. On the contrary, people refused to +believe in the imminence of danger. The idea that the ship was +unsinkable had been so borne in on them that even when summoned upon +deck and ordered to put on life-belts, many of them refused. In the +first boats gotten away from the ship, there were not many people. Some +refused to climb down through the deep blackness into the tiny craft. +They thought the tumult all an empty scare that would soon pass. + +When the steady, ominous settling of the huge ship's bulk broke through +this shallow confidence, there was a solemn change. Grand and tender +scenes there were on those sinking decks; of husbands and wives parting +with the utterance of a hope, turned suddenly to terror, that they +would soon meet again; of other wives who refused to leave their +husbands and deliberately stayed to share their fate. Few of the more +noted passengers were among those saved. Bruce Ismay, director of the +steamship line, was one. The captain went down with his ship, as did +most of his officers, though some of the latter saved themselves by +clinging to the wreckage which rose after the vessel's plunge. While +she was sinking her band still played "Nearer, my God, to thee," and +other earnest hymns. Death did not find the old Saxon stock cringing +from him with hysteria and frenzy. Sudden as was his coming, wholly +unexpected as was his hideous visage, he was met with the calm courage +which is the best tradition of the race. + +And what have been the consequences of this overwhelming tragedy? An +investigation was immediately begun in America by the United States +Government. Another, slower, dignified and ponderous, was afterward +undertaken by the British Government. Both of them in the end +attributed the disaster to practically the same cause, the speed mania +which has overtaken the nations, the heedlessness of man's +over-confidence which takes risks so many times successfully that it +grows to forget that risks exist. + +The _Titanic's_ captain wanted to make a record on her maiden voyage. +His directors wanted him to make a record. That would mean increased +advertisement and increased traffic for their line. So in the face of +danger, knowing there were icebergs all around him, the captain rushed +his ship blindly ahead. The chance of his actually hitting an iceberg +was scarce one in a hundred. So he took the chance. The probability +that if he did strike an iceberg it could do irreparable damage to his +stout ship, was scarce one in a hundred. So he took that chance also. +He gambled with Death, as a thousand speed-driven captains had gambled +before. This time it was Death's turn to win. + +A gamble even more reprehensible was that of the steamship companies, +who had grown so sure their ships would not sink that they no longer +provided sufficient means of escape from them. Why load a vessel down +with useless life-boats, which only hung the year in and year out, +blocking up space? Every foot of that space was valuable. It might make +room for an extra passenger, or provide an extra amusement to draw +traffic. What voyager ever counted life-boats, or worked out the awful +calculation, so obvious now, that there was only rescue space provided +for one-third of the number of souls aboard? Was not the ship +"unsinkable" after all? + +The _Titanic_ is gone. Our sorrow for her is becoming but a memory. Our +ships carry lifeboats sufficient now; they are compelled to by law. And +our sea captains run on safer lines; that, too, the law has made +compulsory. But it will be long before man's overweening +self-confidence rises from the shock which has been given to his belief +in his mechanical ability. Nature is not conquered yet. Ocean has still +a strength beyond ours. Ships are not unsinkable; and Death will still +take his toll of bold men's lives in the future as he has done in the +past. We know that cowardice costs more than courage, but it is not so +tragically costly as blind foolhardiness. + + + + +OUR PROGRESSING KNOWLEDGE OF LIFE SURGERY PERPETUATES THE BODY'S ORGANS + +A.D. 1912 + +GENEVIEVE GRANDCOURT Prof. R. LEGENDRE + +Several years ago a wealthy Swedish manufacturer of dynamite left, by +his will, a fund for the providing of a large prize to be conferred +each year upon the person who has accomplished most for the peaceful +progress of mankind. This annual sum of forty thousand dollars, which +is called from its donor the "Nobel prize," was, in October, 1912, +conferred upon a surgeon, Dr. Alexis Carrel, for his remarkable work in +the study of the life of the tissues and organs which exist in the +human body. + +Even before this public recognition of his work, Dr. Carrel had in the +summer of 1912 created a furor among the savants of Paris by the +announcement of what he had accomplished. Carrel, though a native-born +Frenchman, is an American by education and citizenship, and the French +were at first inclined to challenge the value of his work. We therefore +present here a "popular" scientific account of what he had achieved, +reprinted by permission from the _Scientific American_. Then comes the +grudging approval of Professor Legendre, the noted "Preparator of +Zoology," head of that section in the National Museum of Paris. + +Briefly stated, the impressive step which science has here taken, is +the preservation of life in the heart and other organs so that these +may be taken out of the body and yet kept alive for months. With +smaller animals Carrel has even accomplished the actual transferrence +of organs from one individual to another. As for the simpler bodily +tissues, it now seems possible to preserve these indefinitely outside +the body, not only alive but in excellent health and ready to reassume +their functions in another body. + + +GENEVIEVE GRANDCOURT + + +THE "IMMORTALITY" OF TISSUES + +A very evident disadvantage under which medical science has labored has +been the impossibility of watching the chemical process set in motion +by substances introduced into the body. For this reason various +experimenters, from time to time, have attempted to "grow tissues" +artificially, in such manner that their development, functions, and +decay--under both healthy and diseased conditions--might be studied +under the microscope. The only way in which this could be done would be +to take a piece of living tissue from the body, and cause its cells to +multiply; tissue being made up of an aggregation of cells. + +Science has failed to produce a single living cell, that is, a cell +which will undergo the process of nuclear division (growth) which is +the prime condition of its being; and it seemed equally impossible to +cause a cell already living to undergo the same process if deprived of +the circulation of the blood. Therefore, when in 1910 it was announced +that Dr. Alexis Carrel with his assistant, Dr. M. T. Burrows, had +succeeded, scientific credulity was taxed. A well-known French savant +expressed the opinion before the Society of Biology in Paris, that as +others experimenting along these lines, had witnessed only degeneration +and survival of cells, this phenomenon was all Carrel's discovery +amounted to. In view of past experience, indeed, the chances were in +favor of a mistake. In 1897, Leo Loeb said that he had produced this +artificial growth both within and without the body. Obviously, such +development within the organism where the process of utilizing the +body-fluids, etc., follows the same course as in nature, takes on the +character of grafting rather than of cultivating in a culture medium. +As to causing the external growth, it was ten years later before it +seems first to have succeeded. In 1907 Harrison, from Johns Hopkins +University, furnished details of his research in such form as to be +convincing. But his work had reference to the growth of tissues only of +coldblooded animals, he having cultivated artificially, nerve fibers +from the central nervous system of the frog. + +Carrel's work consisted in extending Harrison's method to apply to +warm-blooded animals, including, of course, mammals; he having +primarily in view at this time a more precise knowledge of the laws +governing the restoration of tissues, for example, after serious +surgical wounds. He and his assistant worked steadily to this end, and +succeeded. The tissues of the higher animals, including man, can now be +developed in a culture, and such development can be made to correspond +to a rigidly precise technique. The feat is accomplished by putting +minute pieces of living tissue into a plasmatic (blood) medium which +will coagulate. So complicated is this apparently simple matter in its +application that only the most exquisite surgical skill is proof +against incalculable modifications in results. + +Having obtained evidence that tissue can be cultivated in accordance +with a formula that may be relied upon to give definite results, the +effort was made to grow artificially the various malignant (cancerous) +tissues, in turn, of chicken, rat, dog, and human being. Cancerous +tissue invariably developed cancer, and so rapidly and extensively that +the growth could be observed with the naked eye. + +It now became evident that, under the right circumstances, the +artificial growth of tissues could be utilized in the study of many +problems; such as malignant growth of tissue; certain problems in +immunity, as, for example, the production of antitoxins of certain +organisms; the regulation of the growth of the organism, or of +different parts of the organism; rejuvenation and senility; and the +character of the internal secretions of the glands, such as the thyroid +which plays a role most important in physical and mental development. +The difficulty lay in the fact that the artificial growth was so very +short-lived. It was found that by passing the growth into a new medium, +and repeating the process, the tissues would begin to grow again; but +their life even under these circumstances was limited at the most to +twenty days. This was manifestly too short a time in which to study the +fundamental questions to which the researchers had addressed +themselves. Thereupon, study was taken up to determine the question as +to _what made these tissues die_. It was found that, apparently as +incidental to growth, there was the process of decay, due to an +_inability of the tissues to eliminate waste products._ + +On January 17, 1912, experiments were commenced to determine whether +these effects could be overcome. The observations were on the heart and +blood-vessels, artificially grown, of the chicken fetus. These growths +were put into a salt solution for a few minutes at different periods of +their growth, and then placed in a new plasmatic medium. It was found +that by following this method, the tissues could be made to live +indefinitely. When an animal is in the early stages of its development, +the growth of its tissues is necessarily greater as it matures, there +being steady diminution after a certain age until the growth altogether +ceases, and the size of the animal is determined. But it was found by +subjecting these artificial growths to washings in salt solution that +the mass was _fifteen times greater at the end of than at the +commencement of the third month, showing that they do not grow old at +all!_ In the artificial growth the problem of senility and death is +solved. + +It was the announcement of this "permanent life of tissues" that caused +such a furor in Paris last summer, and several eminent scientists to +demand ocular demonstration, because "the discovery, if true, +constituted the greatest scientific advance of a generation." + +The following summary of this interesting and vitally important and +epoch-making work of Carrel is translated from an article published in +Paris recently by Professor Pozzi, who witnessed the experiments: + +"Carrel found that the pulsations of a fragment of heart, which had +diminished in number and intensity _or ceased_, could be revived to the +normal state by a washing and a passage. In a secondary culture, two +fragments of heart, separated by a free space, beat as strongly and +regularly. The larger fragment contracted 92 times a minute and the +smaller 120 times. For three days, the number and intensity of the +pulsations varied slightly. On the fourth day, the pulsations +diminished considerably in intensity. The large fragment beat 40 times +a minute and the little fragment 90 times. The culture was washed and +placed in a new medium. An hour and a half after, the pulsations had +become very strong. The large fragment contracted 120 times a minute +and the small fragment 160 times. At the same time the fragments grew +rapidly. At the end of eight hours they were united and formed a mass +of which all the parts beat synchronically." + +Experiments to date seem to establish that the connective tissue, at +any rate, is "immortal." + +From this research, it is possible to arrive at certain logical +conclusions, which, however, it remains for the future to confirm. One, +and the most important, is that the normal circulation of the blood +does not succeed in freeing all the waste products of the tissues, and +that this is the cause of senility and death. Were science to find some +way to wash the tissues in the living organism as they have been washed +in these cultures, man's life might be indefinitely prolonged. + + +R. LEGENDRE + +The Nobel prize in medicine for 1912 has just been awarded to Dr. +Alexis Carrel, a Frenchman, of Lyon, now employed at the Rockefeller +Institute of New York, for his entire work relating to the suture of +vessels and the transplantation of organs. + +The remarkable results obtained in these fields by various +experimenters, of whom Carrel is most widely known, and also the +wonderful applications made of them by certain surgeons have already +been widely published. + +The journals have frequently spoken lately of "cultures" of tissues +detached from the organism to which they belonged; and some of them, +exaggerating the results already obtained, have stated that it is now +possible to make living tissues grow and increase when so detached. + +Having given these subjects much study I wish to state here what has +already been done and what we may hope to accomplish. As a matter of +fact we do not yet know how to construct living cells; the forms +obtained with mineral substances by Errera, Stephane Leduc, and others, +have only a remote resemblance to those of life; neither do we know how +to prevent death; but yet it is interesting to know that it is possible +to prolong for some time the life of organs, tissues, and cells after +they have been removed from the organism. + +The idea of preserving the life of greater or lesser parts of an +organism occurred at about the same time to a number of persons, and +though the ends in view have been quite different, the investigations +have led to essentially similar results. The surgeons who for a long +time have transplanted various organs and grafted different tissues, +bits of skin among others, have sought to prolong the period during +which the grafts may be preserved alive from the time they are taken +from the parent individual until they are implanted either upon the +same subject or upon another. The physiologists have attempted to +isolate certain organs and preserve them alive for some time in order +to simplify their experiments by suppressing the complex action of the +nervous system and of glands which often render difficult a proper +interpretation of the experiments. The cytologists have tried to +preserve cells alive outside the organism in more simple and +well-defined conditions. These various efforts have already given, as +we shall see, very excellent results both as regards the theoretical +knowledge of vital phenomena and for the practise of surgery. + +It has been possible to preserve for more or less time many organs in a +living condition when detached from the organism. The organ first tried +and which has been most frequently and completely investigated is the +heart. This is because of its resistance to any arrest of the +circulation and also because its survival is easily shown by its +contractility. In man the heart has been seen to beat spontaneously and +completely 25 minutes after a legal decapitation (Renard and Loye, +1887), and by massage of the organ its beating may be restored after it +has been arrested for 40 minutes (Rehn, 1909). By irrigation of the +heart and especially of its coronary vessels the period of revival may +be much prolonged. + +The first experiments with artificial circulation in the isolated heart +were made in Ludwig's laboratory, but they were limited to the frog and +the inferior vertebrates. Since then experiments on the survival of the +heart have multiplied and become classic. Artificial circulation has +kept the heart of man contracting normally for 20 hours (Kuliabko, +1902), that of the monkey for 54 hours (Hering, 1903), that of the +rabbit for 5 days (Kuliabko, 1902), etc. It has also enabled us to +study the influence upon the heart of physical factors, such as +temperature, isotonia; chemical factors, such as various salts and the +different ions; and even complex pharmaceutical products. Kuliabko +(1902) was even able to note contractions in the heart of a rabbit that +had been kept in cold storage for 18 hours, and in the heart of a cat +similarly kept after 24 hours. The other muscular organs have naturally +been investigated in a manner analogous to that which has been used for +the heart; and for the same reason, because it can be readily seen +whether or not they are alive. The striated muscles survive for quite a +long time after removal, especially if they are preserved at the +temperature of the body and care is taken to prevent their drying. By +this method many investigations have been made of muscular contractions +in isolated muscles. Landois has noted that the muscles of a man may be +made to contract two hours and a half after removal, those of the frog +and the tortoise 10 days after. Recently Burrows (1911) has noted a +slight increase in the myotomes of the embryo chick after they have +been kept for 2 to 6 days in coagulated plasma. + +Non-muscular organs may also survive a removal from the parent +organism, but the proofs of their survival are more difficult to +establish because of the absence of movements. Carrel (1906) grafted +fragments of vessels that had been in cold storage for several days +upon the course of a vessel of a living animal of the same species; in +1907 he grafted upon the abdominal aorta of a cat a segment of the +jugular vein of a dog removed 7 days previously, also a segment of the +carotid of a dog removed 20 days before; the circulation was +reestablished normally; these experiments have, however, been +criticized by Fleig, who thinks that the grafted fragments were dead +and served merely as supports and directors for the regeneration of the +vessels upon which they were set. In 1909 Carrel removed the left +kidney from a bitch, kept it out of the body for 50 minutes, and then +replaced it; the extirpation of the other kidney did not cause the +death of the animal, which remained for more than a year normal and in +good health, thus proving the success of the graft. In 1910 Carrel +succeeded with similar experiments on the spleen. + +Taken altogether, these experiments show that the greater part, if not +all, of the bodily organs are able to survive for more or less time +after removal from the organism when favorable conditions are +furnished. There is no doubt but what the observed times of survival +may be considerably prolonged when we have a better knowledge of the +serums that are most favorable and the physical and chemical conditions +that are most advantageous. + +If we can preserve the organs, we may expect to also keep alive the +tissues and cells of which they are composed. Biologists have studied +these problems, too, and have also obtained in this department some +very interesting results. + +The cells which live naturally isolated in the organism, such as the +corpuscles of the blood and spermatozoa, were the first studied. Since +1910 experiments on the survival of tissues have multiplied and at the +same time more knowledge has been obtained concerning the conditions +most favorable to survival and the microscopical appearances of the +tissues so preserved. In 1910 Harrison, having placed fragments of an +embryo frog in a drop of coagulated lymph taken from an adult, saw them +continue their development for several weeks, the muscles and the +epithelium differentiating, the nervous rudiments sending out into the +lymph filaments similar to nerve fibers. Since 1910 with the aid of Dr. +Minot, I have succeeded in preserving alive the nerve cells of the +spinal ganglia of adult dogs and rabbits by placing them in +defibrinated blood of the same animal, through which there bubbled a +current of oxygen. At zero and perhaps better at 15°-20°, the structure +of the cells and their colorable substance is preserved without notable +change for at least four days; moreover, when the temperature is raised +again to 39°, certain of the cells give a proof of their survival by +forming new prolongations, often of a monstrous character. At 39° some +of the ganglion cells which have been preserved rapidly lose their +colorability and then their structure breaks up, but a certain number +of the others form numerous outgrowths extremely varied in appearance. +We have, besides, studied the influence of isotony, of agitation, and +of oxygenation, and these experiments have enabled me to ascertain the +best physical conditions required for the survival of nervous tissue. +In 1910, Burrows, employing the technique of Harrison, obtained results +similar to his with fragments of embryonic chickens. Since 1910 Carrel +and Burrows applied the same method to what they call the "culture" of +the tissues of the adult dog and rabbit; they have thus preserved and +even multiplied cells of cartilage, of the thyroid, the kidney, the +bone marrow, the spleen, of cancer, etc. Perhaps Carrel and his +collaborators may be criticized for calling "culture" that which is +merely a survival, but there still remains in their work a great +element of real interest. + +Such are, too briefly summarized, the experiments which have been made +up to the present time. We can readily imagine the practical +consequences which we may very shortly hope to derive from them, and +the wonderful applications of them which will follow in the domain of +surgery. Without going so far as the dream of Dr. Moreau depicted by +Wells, since grafts do not succeed between animals of different +species, we may hope that soon, in many cases, the replacing of organs +will be no longer impossible, but even easy, thanks to methods of +conservation and survival which will enable us to have always at hand +material for exchange. + +The dream of to-day may be reality to-morrow. + +There are also other consequences which will follow from these +researches. I hope that they will permit us to study the physical and +chemical factors of life under much simpler conditions than heretofore, +and it is toward this end that I am directing my researches. They will +enable us to approach much nearer the solution of the old insoluble +problem of life and death. What indeed is the death of an organism all +of whose parts may yet survive for some time? + +These, then, are the researches made in this domain, fecund from every +point of view, and the great increase in the number of experts who are +taking them up, while it is a proof of their interest, gives hope for +their rapid progress. + + + + +THE OVERTHROW OF TURKEY + +THE FIRST BALKAN WAR A.D. 1912 + +J. ELLIS BARKER FREDERICK PALMER Prof. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +Turkey's _opéra-bouffe_ war with Italy in 1911 plunged her into a far +more terrible and sanguinary struggle. Seeing her weakness, the little +Balkan States seized the opportunity to unite and attack her. Each of +the Balkan allies had once been crushed by Turkey and had fought for +freedom. Each was jealous and suspicious of all the others. Each people +hoped that in the break-up of Turkey their own land would be enlarged. +Each saw members of their own race oppressed in the Macedonian region +still held by Turkey. In face of their great opportunity, however, all +the four States--Bulgaria, Greece, Servia, and Montenegro--hushed their +own quarrels and joined in attacking their common enemy. + +Of the causes of the war, Mr. J. Ellis Barker, the noted English +authority on Turkey, here gives a brief account. The tale of the first +glorious campaign, with its big battles of Kirk-Kilesseh and +Lule-Burgas, is then told by Mr. Frederick Palmer, the foremost of +American war correspondents upon the scene. The confused negotiations +for peace are then detailed by Prof. Stephen P. Duggan, our American +authority upon the Balkan States. + + +J. ELLIS BARKER + +A short time ago I read an interesting account of Sir Max Waechter's +recent journey to the capitals of Turkey and all the other Balkan +States. He had visited these towns wit the object of laying before the +Sovereigns of the Balkan States and their Ministers proposals for +abolishing war by the creation of a European Federation of States. All +the Balkan Sovereigns and Ministers whom he had seen had expressed +themselves sympathetically and favorably and had agreed to accept the +_status quo_. A month later all the Balkan States were at war; Russia, +Austria-Hungary, and Italy were arming, and people were anxiously +discussing the possibility of a world war. The sudden transition from +peace to war appears inexplicable to those unacquainted with the +realities of foreign policy. + +In July, 1908, the Turkish Revolution broke out. It was a great and +immediate success. Never in the world's history had there been so +successful a revolution or one so bloodless. As by magic, Turkey was +changed from a medieval State into a modern democracy. The Turkish +masses were rejoicing. Old feuds were forgotten. Mohammedans and +Christians fraternized. The words Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, +Parliamentarism, and Democracy were on all lips. Over night a new +Turkey had arisen. Soon the leaders of Young Turkey began to assert the +right and claims of the new-born State. We were told that European +intervention in the affairs of Turkey would no longer be tolerated, and +that those parts of the Turkish Empire which, though nominally subject +to the Sultan, were no longer under Turkish control, would have to be +handed back. Great Britain was to restore Egypt and Austria-Hungary +Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many Englishmen indorsed these claims, and told +us that a new era had opened in the East. At that time only a few +people ventured to doubt whether the Turkish Revolution would be a +lasting success. I think I was the only British publicist who +immediately and unhesitatingly foretold that Parliamentary Government +in Turkey was bound to be a failure, and that it would inevitably lead +to the formation of a Balkan Confederation which would attack Turkey. I +said then: + +"European Turkey has about 6,000,000 inhabitants, of whom only about +one-third are Turks. + +"The Young Turks have the choice of two evils. They must either follow +a Liberal or a Conservative policy. If they follow a Liberal policy, if +they introduce Parliamentary representation, self-government, and +majority rule in Turkey in general, and in Macedonia in particular, the +Christians will be the majority, and it seems likely that they will +then oust the Turkish minority and convert the ruling race into a ruled +race. A Liberal policy will, therefore, bring about the rapid +disintegration of the Turkish Empire. + +"Foreseeing the danger of allowing the alien elements to be further +strengthened, many patriotic Turks have demanded that a vigorous +Conservative policy should be pursued which will abolish the national +differences among the alien races and between the alien races and the +Turks. They demand that a Turkish national policy should be initiated, +that the aliens should be nationalized in Turkish national schools, +that Turkish shall be the language of Turkey, that the Greek, +Bulgarian, and other schools shall be closed. Will Bulgaria, Greece, +and Servia quietly look on while the work of a generation is being +undone? Will the Greeks, Serbs, and Bulgarians residing in Turkey allow +themselves to be denationalized more or less forcibly? Besides, can +they be denationalized against their will except by destroying the +Parliamentary and democratic Government, the Constitution of yesterday, +and by reintroducing the ancient absolutism in an aggravated form? Two +hundred years ago the Turks could easily have nationalized the alien +races by means of the church and the school, but it seems that it is +now too late to make an attempt at turning the subject races into +Turks. + +"In endeavoring to settle the conflicts among the alien nationalities +and between the aliens and the Turks, the path of the new Turkish +Government will scarcely be smooth. _The Balkan States_ are watching +events with attention. Although they congratulated the new Turkish +Government, they have no interest in Turkey's regeneration, and they +are bound to oppose the Ottomanization of their compatriots in Turkey. +Therefore, they _may be expected to draw the sword and to face Turkey +unitedly if they see their plans of expansion threatened by the +nationalization of the alien elements in Turkey_." + +Unfortunately, my forecast has come true in every particular. The +failure of New Turkey was natural. It was unavoidable. Ancient States +are ponderous and slow-moving bodies. Their course can be deflected and +their character be altered only by gradual evolution, by slow and +almost imperceptible changes spread over a long space of time. +Democracy, like a tree, is a thing of slow growth, and it requires a +congenial soil. It can not be created over night in Turkey, Persia, or +China. The attempt to convert an ancient Eastern despotism, firmly +established on a theocratic basis, a country in which the Koran and the +Multeka are the law of the land, into a Western democracy based on the +secular speculations of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Bentham, Mill, and +Spencer was ridiculous. The revolution effected only an outward change. +It introduced some Western innovations, but altered neither the +character of the Government nor that of the people. Turkish +Parliamentarism became a sham and a make-believe. The cruel absolutism +of Abdul Hamid was speedily followed by the scarcely less cruel +absolutism of a secret committee. + +The new rulers of the country were mostly very young men, who were +conspicuous for their enthusiasm and their daring but not for their +judgment and experience. They had picked upon the boulevards and in the +Quartier Latin of Paris and in Geneva the sonorous phrases of Western +democracy and demagogy, and with these they impressed, not only their +fellow citizens, but also the onlookers in Europe. Having obtained +power, they embarked upon a campaign of nationalization. However, +instead of trying to nationalize the non-Turkish millions slowly and +gradually by kind and just treatment coupled with a moderate amount of +nationalizing pressure, they began ruthlessly to make war upon the +language, and to suppress the churches, schools, and other institutions +of the non-Turkish citizens, whom they disarmed and deprived of their +ancient rights. The complaints and remonstrances of the persecuted were +answered with redoubled persecution, with violence, and with massacre, +and soon serious revolts broke out in all parts of the Empire. The +Young Turks followed faithfully in Abdul Hamid's footsteps. However, +Abdul Hamid was clever enough always to play off one nationality or +race against the other. In his Balkan policy, for instance, he +encouraged Greek Christians to slay Christian Bulgarians and Servians, +and allowed Bulgarian bands to make war upon Servians and Greeks, +supporting, on principle, one nationality against the other. But the +Young Turks persecuted indiscriminately and simultaneously all +non-Turkish races, Albanians, Bulgarians, Servians, and Greeks, and +thus they brought about the union of the Balkan States against +themselves. + +The outbreak of the war could scarcely have been prevented by the +European Powers. It was bound to come. It was as inevitable as was the +breakdown of the Young Turkish _régime_. Since the earliest times the +Turks have been a race of nomadic warriors. Their policy has always +been to conquer nations, to settle among the conquered, and to rule +them, keeping them in strict and humiliating subjection. They have +always treated the subject peoples harshly and contemptuously. Unlike +other conquerors, they have never tried to create among the conquered a +great and homogeneous State which would have promised permanence, but, +nomad-like, have merely created military settlement among aliens. +Therefore, the alien subjects of the Turks have remained aliens in +Turkey. They have not become citizens of the Empire. As the Turks did +not try to convert the conquered to Islam--the Koran forbids +proselytism by force--and to nationalize them, the subjected and +ill-treated alien masses never amalgamated with the ruling Turks, but +always strove to regain their liberty by rebellion. Owing to the +mistakes made in its creation, the Turkish Empire has been for a long +time an Empire in the process of disintegration. Its later history +consists of a long series of revolts, of which the present outbreak is +the latest, but scarcely the last, instance. + +The failure of the new Turkish _régime_ has increased to the utmost the +century-old antagonism between the ruling Turks and their Christian +subjects. The accounts of the sufferings of their brothers across the +borderline, inflicted upon them by Constitutional Turkey, which had +promised such great things, had raised the indignation of the Balkan +peoples to fever heat and had made an explosion of popular fury +inevitable. The war fever increased when it was discovered that +Servians, Bulgarians, and Greeks were at last of one mind, and that +Turkey's strength had been undermined by revolts in all parts of the +Empire and by the Turkish-Italian war. The Turks, on the other hand, +were not unnaturally indignant with the perfidy of the Christian +Powers, which, instead of supporting Turkey in her attempts at reform, +had snatched valuable territories from her immediately after her +revolution. Not unnaturally, they attributed the failure of the new +_régime_ and the revolts of their subjects to the machinations of the +Christian States, and the Balkan troubles to the hostile policy of the +Balkan States. The tension on both sides became intolerable. If the +Balkan States had not mobilized, a revolution would have broken out in +Sofia and Belgrade, for the people demanded war. If the Turkish +Government had given way to the Balkan States, a revolution would have +broken out in Constantinople. The instinct of self-preservation forced +the Balkan Governments and Turkey into war. The passions of race-hatred +had become uncontrollable. + + +FREDERICK PALMER[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission from an article in _Everybody's +Magazine_.] + +Against any one of his little Christian neighbors the Turk had superior +numbers, and had only to concentrate on a single section of his +many-sided frontier line. It had never entered his mind that the little +neighbors would form an alliance. He had trusted to their jealousies to +keep them apart. United, they could strike him on the front and both +sides simultaneously. He was due for an attack coming down the main +street and from alleys to the right and left. + +In this situation he must temporarily accept the defensive. Meanwhile, +he foresaw the battalions of "chocolate soldiers" beating themselves to +pieces against the breastworks of his garrisons, and Greek turning on +Serb and Serb on Bulgar after a taste of real war. Against divided +counsels would be one mind, which, with reenforcements of the faithful +from Asia Minor, would send the remnants of the _opéra bouffe_ invasion +flying back over their passes. + +But the allies fully realized the danger of quarreling among +themselves, which would have been much harder to avert if their armies +had been acting together as a unit under a single command. Happily, +each army was to make a separate campaign under its own generals; each +had its own separate task; each was to strike at the force in front of +its own borders. Prompt, staggering blows before the Turkish reserves +could arrive were essential. + +The Montenegrins in the northwest, who had the side-show (while +Bulgaria, Servia, and Greece had the three rings under the main tent), +did their part when they invested the garrison of Scutari. + +Advancing northward, the Greeks, with strong odds in their favor, +easily took care of the Turkish force at Elassona and continued their +advance toward Salonika. + +Advancing southward, the Serbs, one hundred thousand strong (that is, +the army of their first line), moved on Kumanova among the hills, where +the forty thousand Turks defending the city of Uskub would make their +stand as inevitably as a board of army engineers would select Sandy +Hook as a site for some of the defenses of New York harbor. +Confidently, the Turkish commander staked all on the issue. + +The Serbs did not depend alone on mass or envelopment by flank. They +murderously and swiftly pressed the attack in the front as well as on +the sides; and the cost of victory was seven or eight thousand +casualties. Two or three fragments of the Turkish army escaped along +the road; otherwise, there was complete disintegration. + +Uskub was now undefended. It was the ancient capital of Servia; and the +feelings of the Serbs, as they marched in, approximated what ours would +be if our battalions were swinging down Pennsylvania Avenue after a +Mexican proconsul had occupied the White House for five hundred years. +Meanwhile, at Monastir were forty thousand more Turks. So far as +helping their comrades at Kumanova was concerned, they might as well +have been in jail in Kamchatka. You can imagine them sitting +cross-legged, Turkish fashion, waiting their turn. They broke the +precedent of Plevna, which the garrisons of Adrianople and Scutari +gloriously kept, by yielding rather easily. There must have been a +smile on the golden dome of the tomb of Napoleon, who thrashed the +armies of Europe in detail. + +A Servian division, immediately after Kumanova, started southwest over +the mountain passes in the snow and through the valleys in the mud to +clinch the great Servian object of the war with the nine points of +possession. To young Servia, Durazzo, the port of old Servia, is as +water to the gasping fish. It stands for unhampered trade relations +with the world; for economic freedom. When that division, ragged and +footsore, came at last in sight of the blue Adriatic--well, it may +safely be called a historic moment for one little nation. + +Now we turn from the side lines, where the Serbs and the Greeks were +occupied, to the neck of the funnel through which the Turkish +reenforcements from Asia Minor were coming. There the Bulgars had +undertaken the great, vital task of the war against the main Turkish +army. + +The Bulgarian army was little given to gaiety and laughter, but sang +the "Shuma Maritza" on the march. This is the song of big men in +boots--big white men with set faces--making the thunder of a torrent as +they charge. "Roaring Maritza" is the nearest that you can come to +putting it into English. The Maritza is the national river, and the +song pictures it swollen and rushing in the winter rains or when the +snows on the Balkans melt, on its way past the Bulgarian border into +Turkey; and the gray army was now to follow it to the Aegean, in the +spirit of its flood, and make the harbor at its mouth Bulgarian. + +Yes, a gray army, bent on a grim business in a hurry, in gray winter +weather and chill mountain mists, with the sun showing through overcast +skies--something of the kind of weather that bred the Scotch. Cromwell +or Stonewall Jackson would have felt at home, saying his prayers at the +double-quick, in such company. As mementos from home, the soldiers wore +in their caps and buttonholes withered flowers and sprigs of green +which their womenfolk had given in farewell. The women were just as +Spartan as the Spartans; perhaps more so. If any soldier lacked innate +courage, the spur of public opinion drove him forward in step with his +comrades. + +Naturally, Bulgarian generalship had to adapt its plan of campaign to +the obstacles between it and its adversary. For armies are cumbrous +affairs. In all times they have been tied down to roads and bridges. +The main highway and the main railway line from Sofia, the capital of +Bulgaria, to Constantinople both ran through Adrianople. Nature meant +this city, set in a basin among hills, for defense, and for the center +of any army defending Thrace. On the near-by hills is a circle of +permanent forts that commands all approaches for guns or infantry. In +front of it is the turbulent Maritza, and to the northeast lies the +town of Kirk-Kilesseh, partly fortified and naturally strong, which +formed the Turkish right. The left rested at Demotika, to the south of +Adrianople, in a rough country inaccessible to prompt action by a large +force. + +The Bulgars must turn one wing or the other. Foreign military experts +thought that Kirk-Kilesseh could be taken only after a long operation, +and then only by a force much larger than the Bulgars could spare for +concentration at any one point of the line. Let two weeks pass without +a definite victory, and the Turks would have numbers equal to the +Bulgars; a month, superior numbers. As it was, the Turks had +altogether, including the Adrianople garrison, a hundred and +seventy-five thousand men in strong position against the Bulgars' first +line of two hundred and eighty thousand. + +A branch of the Sofia-Constantinople railway line runs northeast to +Yamboli, on the Bulgarian frontier. Between Yamboli and Kirk-Kilesseh +is a highway--the Turkish kind of highway--and no unfordable streams or +other natural obstacles to an army's progress. At Yamboli the Bulgars +concentrated their third army corps, under General Demetrief, and a +portion of their second. The rest of the second faced Adrianople, while +the first corps operated to the south and east. + +Swinging around on Kirk-Kilesseh, the third army would not take "No!" +for an answer. The Bulgarian infantry stormed the redoubts in the +moonlight. They knew how to use the bayonet and the Turks did not. +Skilfully driven steel slaughtered Mohammedan fanaticism that fought +with clubbed guns, hands, and teeth, asking no quarter this side of +Paradise. Kirk-Kilesseh fell. The Turkish army, flanked, had to go; +Adrianople was isolated. The Bulgarian dead on the field could not +complain; the wounded were in the rear; the living had burning eyes on +the next goal. + +"_Na noj!"_ ("Fix bayonets!") had won. "_Na noj!_ Give them the steel!" +was the cry of a nation. Soldiers sang it out to one another on the +march. Children prattled it at home as if it were a new kind of game: + +"Give them the steel and they will go! Nothing can stop Bulgaria!" + +Not more than two Bulgarian soldiers out of twenty ever reached the +Turk with a bayonet. The Turk did not wait for them. So the bayonet +counted no less in the morale of the eighteen than of the two. +Frequently they fixed it at a distance of five or six hundred yards. +Their desire to use it made them press close at all points with the +grim initiative that will not be gainsaid. When they charged, the +spirit of cold steel was in their rush. + +There was a splendid audacity in General Demetrief's next move after +Kirk-Kilesseh. He did not pause to surround Adrianople. To the east was +a wide gap in the investing lines. Through this the garrison might have +made a sortie with telling effect. But Demetrief knew his enemy. He +took it for granted that the garrison was settling itself for a siege. +With twelve thousand Turkish reenforcements a day arriving from Asia, +even hours counted. + +As yet, the Turks were not decisively beaten; only the right that +fought at Kirk-Kilesseh had been really demoralized. On the line of +Bunar Hissar to Lüle Burgas they formed to receive the second shock. +They were given scant time to prepare for it. "_Na noj!_" For three +days this battle, the Waterloo of the war, raged. The advancing +Bulgarian infantry went down like ninepins; but it did not give up, for +it knew that "they would go when they saw the steel." Again the turning +movement in flank crushed in the end. This time the Turkish main army +was shattered. It hardly had the cohesiveness of a large mob. It was +many little mobs, hungry, staggering on to the rear, where the ravages +of cholera awaited. + +In two weeks the Bulgars had made their dispositions and fought two +battles, each lasting three days. They had advanced seventy-five miles +over a rough country where the roads were sloughs. The loss in killed +and wounded was sixty thousand; one man out of five was down. + +When officers and men had snatched any sleep it was on the rain-soaked +earth. The bread in their haversacks was wet and moldy. When they lay +in the fire zones they were lucky if they had this to eat. By day they +had dug their way, trench by trench, up to the enemy's position, +crouching in the mud to keep clear of bullets. By night they had +charged. They were an army in a state of auto-intoxication, bent on the +one object of driving the Turkish army back to the narrow line of the +peninsula. This accomplished, all the isolated forces in European +Turkey, whether at distant Scutari or near-by Adrianople, were without +hope of relief. The neck of the funnel was closed; the war practically +won. + +All the world knows now, and the Bulgarian staff must have known at the +time, that for a week after Lüle Burgas the utter demoralization of the +Turkish retreat left the way open to Constantinople. Why did not +General Demetrief go on? Why did that army which had proceeded thus far +with such impetuous and irresistible momentum suddenly turn snail? + +For the reason that the Marathon winner when he drops across the tape +is not good for another mile. The Bulgar was on his stomach in the mud, +though he was facing toward the heels of the Turk. Food and ammunition +were not up. A fresh force of fifty thousand men following up the +victory might easily have made its own terms at the door of Yildiz +Palace within three or four days; but there was not even a fresh +regiment. + +It was three weeks after Lüle Burgas before Demetrief was ready to +attack; three weeks, in which the cholera scare had abated, the panic +in Constantinople had come and gone, reenforcements had arrived and +been organized into a kind of order, while they built fortifications. +The Turkish cruisers supported both of Nazim Pasha's flanks with the +fire of heavier guns than the Bulgars possessed. There was an +approachable Turkish front of only about sixteen miles. Without +silencing the Turkish batteries, Demetrief sent his infantry against +the redoubts. He lost five or six thousand men without gaining a single +fort. Against a stubborn and even semi-intelligent foe there is no +storming a narrow frontal line of fortifications when you may not turn +the ends. + +Adrianople lay across the straight line of transportation by railroad +and highway to the peninsula. All munitions for Demetrief's army had to +go around it in the miserable, antiquated ox-carts. It was the rock +splitting the flood of the Bulgarian advance. While the world was +hearing rumors of the city's fall, the truth was that it was not really +invested until a month after Lüle Burgas was fought. + +For a month the garrison reported to be starving was drawing in +supplies from a big section of farming country. When the armistice was +signed it still had pasturage within the lines of defense for flocks of +sheep and herds of cattle. The problem for the Bulgars first and last +was to keep this fact masked and to check the savage sorties and spare +all the guns and men they could for the main army. Volunteers from +Macedonia still in native dress, clerks still in white collars, old men +who had perjured themselves about their age in order to get a rifle, +and the young conscripts of twenty years came to take the place of the +regular forces on the investing lines, who moved on to re-enforce +Demetrief. Fifty thousand Servians, two divisions, were spared after +Kumanova, and speeded across Bulgaria on the single-line railway with +an amazing rapidity to assist, according to plan, the Bulgars in the +investment operations. + +To the Turk, Adrianople is a holy city. Here is the most splendid +mosque in all the empire, that built by the conqueror Sultan Selim. +With the shadow of the minarets over his shoulder, the Turkish private +in a trench was ready to die for Allah. But death must come for him. He +is not going to hustle intelligently after paradise. In short, he is a +sit-and-take-it fighter. While any delay of the Bulgarian advance was +invaluable in gaining time, he made no use of his opportunities in a +country of hills and transverse valleys and ravines, which nature meant +for rear-guard action. A company of infantry posted on a hill could +force a regiment to deploy and attack, and a few miles farther on could +repeat the process. Cavalry could harass the flanks of the attacking +force. Field-guns could get a commanding position above a road, with +safe cover for retreat. + +At Mustapha Pasha, twenty miles in front of Adrianople, was a solid old +stone bridge over the Maritza, whose floods in the winter rains would +be a nightmare to engineers who had to maintain a crossing with +pontoons. If ever a corps needed a bridge the second Bulgarian corps +needed this one. They found that a small and badly placed charge of +dynamite had merely knocked out a few stones between two of the +buttresses, leaving the bridge intact enough for all the armies of +Europe to pass over it; and the Turks did not even put a mitrailleuse +behind sandbags in the streets or use field-guns from the adjacent +hills to delay the Bulgars in their crossing. + +The soldier who is good only for the defensive can never win. What beat +the Turk was the Turk himself. His army was in the chaos between +old-fashioned organization and an attempt at a modern organization. His +generals were divided in their counsels; his junior officers aped the +modern officer in form, but lacked application. They had ceased to +believe in their religion. Therefore, they did not lead their privates +who did believe. In the midst of the war, captains and lieutenants, +trustworthy observers tell me, would leave their untrained companies of +reservists to march by the road while they themselves rode by train. +They took their soldiers' pay. They neglected all the detail which is +the very essence of that preparation at the bottom without which no +generalship at the top can prevail. + +The Bulgarian officers, two-thirds of whom were reservists, enjoyed a +comradeship with their men at the same time that discipline was rigid. +They believed in their God; at least, in the god of efficiency. They +worked hard. They belong in the world of to-day and the Turk does not. +Therefore the Turk has to go. + +"We will not make peace without Adrianople!" was the cry of every +Bulgar. Its possession became a national fetish, no less than naval +superiority to the British. Adrianople stood for the real territorial +object of the war. It must be the center of any future line of defense +against the Turk. Practically its siege was set, once there was +stalemate at Tchatalja. With no hope of beating the main Bulgarian army +back, there was no hope of relieving the garrison, whose fate was only +a matter of time. + +At the London Peace Conference the allies stood firm for the possession +of Adrianople. The Turkish commissioners, after repeating for six weeks +that they would never cede it, had finally agreed to yield on orders +from Constantinople, when the young Turks killed Nazim Pasha, the +Turkish commander-in-chief, and overthrew the old cabinet. "You can +have Adrianople when you take it!" was the defiance of the new cabinet +to the allies. + +PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +The Peace Conference came to naught and hostilities were resumed on +February 14, 1913, because of the impossibility of agreement between +the allies and Turks on three important points: the status of +Adrianople, the disposal of the Aegean islands, and the payment of an +indemnity by Turkey. Bulgaria and Turkey both maintained that +Adrianople was essential to their national safety. Moreover, its +possession by Bulgaria was absolutely necessary were she to secure the +hegemony in the Balkans at which she aimed. On the other hand, to the +Turks, Adrianople is a sacred city around which cluster the most +glorious memories of their race. Thus they would yield it only as a +last necessity. The ambassadorial conference, anxious to bring to an +end a war which was threatening to embroil Austria-Hungary and Russia +and desirous also to make the settlement permanent, had already on +January 17th in its collective note to the Porte unavailingly +recommended to the Porte the cession of Adrianople to the Balkan +States. + +The question of the Aegean islands presented similar difficulties. They +are inhabited almost exclusively by Greeks who demand to be united to +the mother country; but Turkey insisted that the possession of some of +them (_e.g._, Imbros, Tenedos, and Lemnos) was necessary to her for the +protection of the Dardanelles, since they command the entrance to the +straits, while others (_e.g._, Chios and Mitylene) are part of Asiatic +Turkey. The Greeks asserted that to leave any of them to Turkey would +cause constant unrest in Greece, and subsequent uprising against +Turkey, thus merely repeating the history of Crete. Moreover, the +Greeks maintained that they must have the disputed islands because they +are the only large and profitable ones; but they expressed a +willingness to neutralize them so that the integrity of the Dardanelles +would not be endangered. The difficulty was complicated by the +retention of a number of the islands by Italy until Turkey should +fulfil all the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne arising from the +Tripolitan war. The Greeks asserted that their fleet would have taken +all the islands except for the Italian occupation. Moreover, they are +suspicious of Italian intentions, especially with regard to Rhodes. The +ambassadorial conference in its collective note to the Porte had +advised the Porte "to leave to the Powers the task of deciding upon the +fate of the islands of the Aegean Sea and the Powers would arrange a +settlement of the question which will exclude all menace to the +security of Turkey." + +The third question in dispute concerned a money indemnity. The war had +been a fearful drain upon the resources of the allies. They were +determined not to share any of the Ottoman debt and to compel Turkey, +if possible, to bear the financial burden of the war. But to yield to +this demand would absolutely destroy Turkish credit. This would result +in the financial ruin of many of the subjects of the great Powers. +Hence this demand of the allies met with scant favor in the +ambassadorial conference. + +The war dragged on during the entire month of February without changing +the relative positions of the belligerents. In the mean time, the +relations between Austria-Hungary and Russia were daily becoming more +strained. This was due to the determination of Austria-Hungary to +prevent Servia from securing a seaboard upon the Adriatic. In the +slogan of the allies, "the Balkan peninsula for the Balkan peoples," +Austria-Hungary found a principle which could be utilized against their +demands. She took the stand that the Albanians are a Balkan people +entirely distinct from Slavs and Greeks and particularly unfriendly to +the Slavs. It would be as suicidal to place any of the Albanians under +the Slavs as to put back any of the Slavs under the Turks. Albania must +be an autonomous State; that it may live in peace, it must possess its +seaboard intact. In this position Austria-Hungary was seconded by +Italy, which has interests in Albania as important as those of +Austria-Hungary. Neither State can afford to allow the other to possess +the eastern shore of the Adriatic; and both are determined that it +shall not fall into the possession of another possibly stronger power. + +As early as December 20, 1912, the ambassadors had recommended to their +governments, and the latter had accepted, the principle of Albanian +autonomy, together with a provision guaranteeing to Servia commercial +access to the Adriatic. This had aroused the intense indignation of the +Serbs, whose armies, contrary to the express prohibitions of +Austria-Hungary, had already occupied Durazzo on the Adriatic and +overrun northern Albania. The Serbs denied the right of any State to +forbid them to occupy the territory of the enemy whom they had +conquered, and Servia sent a detachment of her best troops and some of +her largest siege guns to help the Montenegrins take Scutari. Moreover, +numerous reports of outrages committed upon Albanians by the +"Liberators" in their attempts to convert both Moslem and Catholic +Albanians to the orthodox faith reached central Europe and caused great +danger in Vienna. Count Berchtold's statement to the Delegations that +Austria-Hungary would insist upon territory enough to enable +independent Albania to be a stable State with Scutari as the capital, +aroused in turn much excitement in Russia. Scutari was the chief goal +of Montenegrin ambition. To possess it had been the hope of King +Nicholas and his people during his long reign of half a century. To +forbid him to possess it would be to deprive him of the fruits of the +really heroic sacrifices his people had made during this war. Hence the +excitement in all Slavdom. On February 7th Francis Joseph sent Prince +Hohenlohe to St. Petersburg with an autograph letter to the Czar which +had the good effect of reducing the tension between the two countries. + +The ambassadorial conference at London then directed its attention +exclusively to settling the status of Albania. After more than a month +of acrimonious discussion a settlement was reached on March 26th in +which the principle of nationality which had been invoked to justify +the creation of an independent Albania was quietly ignored. The +conference agreed upon the northern and northeastern boundaries of +Albania. In order to carry her point that Scutari must be Albanian, +Austria-Hungary agreed that the almost exclusively Albanian towns of +Ipek, Djakova, Prizrend, and Dibra should go to the Serbs. On April 1st +King Nicholas was notified that the powers had unanimously agreed to +blockade his coast if he did not raise the siege of Scutari. His answer +was that the proposed action of the powers was a breach of neutrality +and that Montenegro would not alter her attitude until she had signed a +treaty of peace. At once the warships of all the powers save Russia +(which had none in the Mediterranean) engaged in the blockade. On April +15th, owing to the pressure of the powers and to the strained relations +that had arisen between Servia and Bulgaria, the Servian troops were +recalled from Scutari. Nevertheless the Montenegrins persisted alone +and Scutari fell April 22, 1913. Two days later the Austro-Hungarian +government demanded that vigorous action be undertaken by the powers to +put independent Albania in possession of Scutari according to the +agreement of March 26th. At once the greatest excitement prevailed +throughout Russia. Street demonstrations against the Austro-Hungarian +policy were held in many of the large cities. In Austria-Hungary +military preparations became active on a large scale, and on May 1st +the Dual Monarchy gave notice that it would undertake individual action +should Montenegro not agree to the ultimatum. Italy, which is +determined never to permit the Dual Monarchy individual action in +Albania, announced that she would support her ally. As the result of +all the pressure brought to bear upon him, on May 5th, King Nicholas +yielded and placed Scutari in the hands of the powers, just in time, as +Sir Edward Grey informed the English House of Commons, to prevent an +outbreak of hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Russia. + +While the chancelleries of the great powers were thus straining every +nerve to agree upon the status of Albania and thereby to prevent a +conflict between the two powers most vitally interested, the war +between the allies and Turkey was prosecuted during March with greater +vigor and with more definite results. On March 5th, Janina surrendered +to the Greeks and on March 26th Adrianople fell. The powers had already +offered to mediate between the belligerents, and their good offices had +been accepted by both sides. The allies at first insisted upon the +Rodosto-Malatra line as the western boundary of Turkey, but were +informed that the powers would not consent to giving Bulgaria a +foothold on the Dardanelles. + +After much outcry and violent denunciation by the allies, an armistice +was signed at Bulair on April 19th by representatives of all the +belligerents except Montenegro, which was thereby only incited to more +heroic efforts to capture Scutari. Nevertheless the allies had profited +so much by delay in their relations with the powers since the very +outbreak of the war that they now hoped to secure advantages by a +similar policy, and it was not until May 21st that their +representatives reassembled at London. Even then there appeared to be +no sincere desire to come to terms, and on May 27th Sir Edward Grey +informed the delegates that they would soon lose the confidence of +Europe, and that for all that was being accomplished they might as well +not be in London. The delegates were very indignant at this strong +language, but it had the desired effect, for on May 30, 1913, the +Treaty of London was signed by the representatives of all the +belligerents. Its principal provisions were those already suggested by +the powers, _viz_.: + +(1) The boundary between Turkey and the allies to be a line drawn from +Midia to Enos, to be delimited by an international commission: + +(2) The boundaries of Albania to be determined by the powers. + +(3) Turkey to cede Crete to Greece. + +(4) The powers to decide the status of the Aegean islands. + +(5) The settlement of all the financial questions arising out of the +war to be left to an international commission to meet at Paris. + +It was time for a settlement, since the problem was no longer to secure +peace between Turkey and the allies, but rather to maintain peace among +the allies. The solution of the great problem of the war, the division +of the spoils, could no longer be deferred. From the moment that +Adrianople had fallen, the troops of Bulgaria, Servia, and Greece +maneuvered for position, each state determined to secure possession of +as much territory as possible, in the hope that at the final settlement +it might retain what it had seized. + + + + +MEXICO PLUNGED INTO ANARCHY + +HUERTA SEIZES A DICTATORSHIP A.D. 1913 + +EDWIN EMERSON WILLIAM CAROL + +Mexico has loomed large in the affairs of the world during recent +years. The overthrow of Diaz in 1911 did not, as the world had hoped, +bring into power an earnest and energetic middle class capable of +guiding the downtrodden peons into the blessings of civilization. On +the contrary, the land passed from the grip of a cruel oligarchy into +that of a far more cruel anarchy. Hordes of bandits sprang up +everywhere. The new president, Madero, was a philosopher and a patriot. +But he failed wholly to get any real grasp of the situation. He was +betrayed on every side; rebellion rose all around him; and in his +extremity he entrusted his army and his personal safety to the most +savage of his secret enemies, General Huerta. Madero died because he +was too far in advance of his countrymen to be able to understand them. +After that, Huerta sought to reestablish the old Diaz regime of wealth +and terrorism; but he only succeeded in plunging the land back into +utter barbarism. + +The Mexicans are the last large section of the earth's population thus +left to rule themselves in savagery. Hence the rest of the world has +watched them with eagerness. Europe repeatedly reminded the United +States that by her Monroe Doctrine she had assumed the duty of keeping +order in America. At last she felt compelled to interfere. The picture +of those days of anarchy is here sketched by two eye-witnesses, an +Englishman and an American, both fresh from the scene of action. + + +EDWIN EMERSON + +There is a saying in Mexico that it is much easier to be a successful +general than a successful president. Inasmuch as almost all Mexican +presidents during the hundred years since Mexico became a Republic, +owed their presidency to successful generalship, this saying is +significant. At all events, no Mexican general who won his way into the +National Palace by his military prowess ever won his way out with +credit to himself or to his country. + +General Victoriano Huerta, Mexico's latest Interim-President, during +the first few months that followed his overthrow of the Madero +Government found out to his own cost how much harder it is to rule a +people than an army. + +As a matter of fact, General Huerta was pushed into his +interim-presidency before he really had a fair opportunity to learn how +to command an army. At the time he was so suddenly made Chief +Magistrate of Mexico he was not commanding the Mexican army, but was +merely a recently appointed major-general who happened to command that +small fraction of the regular army at the capital which was supposed to +have remained loyal to President Madero and his constitutional +government. Huerta had been appointed by President Madero to the +supreme command of the loyal forces at the capital, numbering barely +three thousand soldiers, only a few days before Madero's fall. Even if +he had not turned traitor to his commander-in-chief, as he did in the +end, Huerta's command of the loyal troops during the ten days' struggle +at the capital preceding the fall of the constitutional government +could not be described as anything but a dismal failure. + +Before considering General Huerta's qualifications as a President, one +should know something of his career as a soldier. During the last few +years it has repeatedly fallen to my lot to follow General Huerta in +the field, so that I have had a fair chance to view some of his +soldierly qualities at close hand. I accompanied General Huerta during +his campaign through Chihuahua, in 1912, and was present at his famous +Battle of Bachimba, near Chihuahua City, on July 3, 1912--the one +decisive victory won by General Huerta against the rebel forces of +Pascual Orozco. Before this campaign I was in Cuernavaca, in the State +of Morelos, during the time when General Huerta had his headquarters +there in his campaign against Zapata's bandit hordes in that State +after the fall of General Diaz's government. + +General Huerta then took charge of the last military escort which +accompanied General Porfirio Diaz on his midnight flight from Mexico +City to the port of Vera Cruz. During the ten hours' run down to the +coast, it may be recalled, the train on which President Diaz and his +family rode was held up by rebels in the gray of dawn, and the soldiers +of the military escort had to deploy in skirmish order, led by Generals +Diaz and Huerta in person; but the affair was over after a few minutes' +firing, with no casualties on either side. + +Before this eventful year General Huerta had but few opportunities of +winning laurels on the field of battle. Having entered the Military +Academy of Chapultepec in the early 'seventies under Lerdo de Tejada's +presidency, Victoriano Huerta was graduated in 1875, at the age of +twenty-one, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of engineers. +While still a cadet at Chapultepec he distinguished himself by his +predilection for scientific subjects, particularly mathematics and +astronomy. During the military rebellion of Oaxaca, when General Diaz +rose against President Lerdo, Lieutenant Huerta was engaged in garrison +duty, and got no opportunity to enter this campaign. + +After General Diaz had come into power and had begun his reorganization +of the Mexican army, young Huerta, lately promoted to a captaincy of +engineers, came forward with a plan for organizing a General Staff. +General Diaz approved of his plans, and Captain Huerta, accordingly, in +1879, became the founder of Mexico's present General Staff Corps. The +first work of the new General Staff was to undertake the drawing up of +a military map of Mexico on a large scale. The earliest sections of +this immense map, on which the Mexican General Staff is still hard at +work, were surveyed and drawn up in the State of Vera Cruz, where the +Mexican Military Map Commission still has its headquarters. Captain +Huerta accompanied the Commission to Jalapa, the capital of the State +of Vera Cruz, and served there through a period of eight years, +receiving his promotion to major in 1880 and to lieutenant-colonel in +1884. During this time he had charge of all the astronomical work of +the Commission, and he also led surveying and exploring parties over +the rough mountainous region that extends between the cities of Jalapa +and Orizaba. While at Jalapa he married Emilia Aguila, of Mexico City, +who bore him three sons and a daughter. + +In 1890 Huerta was promoted to a colonelcy and was recalled to Mexico +City. As a reward for Indian campaign services Huerta was promoted to +the rank of brigadier-general. In Mexico's centennial year of 1910, +when Francisco Madero rose in the north, and other parts of the +Republic gave signs of disaffection, General Huerta was ordered south +to take charge of all the detached Government force in the mountainous +State of Guerrero. Almost simultaneously with his arrival in +Chilpancingo, the capital of the State of Guerrero, almost the whole +south of Mexico rose in rebellion. The military situation there was +soon found to be so hopeless that Huerta was recalled to Mexico City. + +After General Huerta saw General Porfirio Diaz off to Europe at Vera +Cruz, he returned to the capital and placed himself at the disposition +of Don Francisco L. de la Barra, Mexico's new President _ad interim_. +President de la Barra dispatched him with a column of soldiers to +Cuernavaca to restore peace. + +Huerta placed himself at Señor Madero's complete disposition when the +latter was elected and inaugurated as President at Mexico. Madero, for +reasons that are self-evident, was anxious to propitiate the military +element, and to secure the cooperation of the more experienced officers +in the regular army for the better pacification of the country. +Accordingly, when Zapata and his bandit hordes gave signs of returning +to their old ways, refusing to "stay bought," President Madero sent +General Huerta back into Morelos, at the head of a strong force of +cavalry, mountain artillery, and machine guns, numbering altogether +3,500 men, with orders to put down Zapata's new rebellion "at any +cost." At the same time President Madero induced his former fellow +rebel, Ambrosio Figueroa, now Commander-in-Chief of Mexico's rural +guards, to cooperate with General Huerta by bringing a mounted force of +three thousand rurales from Guerrero into Morelos from the south so as +to hem in the Zapatistas between himself and Huerta at Cuernavaca. +Figueroa's men, though they had to cover three times the distance, +struck the main body of the rebels first and got badly mussed up in the +battle that followed. General Huerta's column did not get away from +Cuernavaca until the second day of the fight, and did not reach the +battlefield in the extinct crater of Mount Herradura until Figueroa's +rurales had been all but routed. In the battle that followed, General +Huerta succeeded in driving the rebels out of their strong position, +but the losses of the federals, owing to their belated arrival and +hastily taken positions, were disproportionately heavy. + +This affair caused much ill-feeling between the rurales and regulars, +and Figueroa sent word to Madero that he could not afford to sacrifice +his men by trying to cooperate with such a poor general as Huerta. The +much-heralded joint campaign accordingly fell to the ground. + +President Madero thereupon recalled General Huerta, and sent General +Robles, of the regular army, to replace him in command. This furnished +Huerta with another grievance against Madero. + +Some time afterward I heard General Huerta explain in private +conversation to some of his old army comrades that he had been recalled +from Morelos because of his sharp military measures against the +Zapatistas, owing to President Madero's sentimental preference for +dealing leniently with his old Zapatista friends. At the time when +General Huerta made this private complaint, however, it was a notorious +fact that his successor in Morelos, General Robles, had received public +instructions from Madero to deal more severely with the Morelos rebels. +General Robles did, as a matter of fact, handle the Morelos rebels far +more ruthlessly than Huerta, leading to his own subsequent recall on +charges of excessive cruelty. + +Meanwhile the Orozco rebellion had arisen in the north, and became so +threatening that General Gonzalez Salas, Madero's War Minister, felt +called upon to resign his portfolio to take the field against Orozco. +General Salas, after organizing a fairly formidable-looking force of +3,500 regulars and three batteries of field artillery at Torreon, +rushed into the fray, only to suffer a disgraceful defeat in his first +battle at Rellano, in Chihuahua, not far from Torreon. General Salas +took his defeat so much to heart that he committed suicide on his way +back to Torreon. This, together with the panic-stricken return of his +army to Torreon, caused the greatest dismay at the Capital, the +inhabitants of which already believed themselves threatened by an +irresistible advance of Orozco's rebel followers. None of the federal +generals at the front were considered strong enough to stem the tide. + +The only available federal general of high rank, who had any experience +in commanding large forces in the field, was Victoriano Huerta. +President Madero, in his extremity, called upon Huerta to reorganize +the badly disordered forces at Torreon, and to take the field against +Orozco, "cost what it may." This was toward the end of March, 1912. + +General Huerta, whom the army had come to regard as "shelved," lost no +time in getting to Torreon. There he soon found that the situation was +by no means so black as it had been painted--General Trucy Aubert, who +had been cut off with one of the columns of the army, having cleverly +extricated his force from its dangerous predicament so as to bring it +safely back to the base at Torreon without undue loss of men or +prestige. + +Thenceforth no expense was saved by General Huerta in bringing the army +to better fighting efficiency. Heavy reenforcements of regulars, +especially of field artillery, were rushed to Torreon from the Capital, +and large bodies of volunteers and irregulars were sent after them from +all parts of the Republic. + +President Madero had said: "Let it cost what it may"; so all the +preparation went forward regardless of cost. "Hang the expense!" became +the blithe motto of the army. + +When General Huerta at last took the field against Orozco, early in +May, his federal army, now swelled to more than six thousand men and +twenty pieces of field artillery, moved to the front in a column of +eleven long railway trains, each numbering from forty to sixty cars, +loaded down with army supplies and munitions of all kinds, besides a +horde of several thousand camp followers, women, sutlers, and other +non-combatants. The entire column stretched over a distance of more +than four miles. The transportation and sustenance of this unwieldy +column, which had to carry its own supply of drinking water, it was +estimated, cost the Mexican Government nearly 350,000 pesos per day. +Its progress was exasperatingly slow, owing to the fact that the +Mexican Central Railway, which was Huerta's only chosen line of +advance, had to be repaired almost rail by rail. + +After more than a fortnight's slow progress, General Huerta struck +Orozco's forces at Conejos, in Chihuahua, near the branch line running +out to the American mines at Mapimi. Orozco's forces, finding +themselves heavily outnumbered and overmatched in artillery, hastily +evacuated Conejos, retreating northward up the railway line by means of +some half-dozen railway trains. Several weeks more passed before Huerta +again struck Orozco's forces at Rellano, in Chihuahua, close to the +former battlefield, along the railway, where his predecessor, General +Gonzalez Salas, had come to grief. This was in June. + +Huerta, with nearly twice as many men and three times as much +artillery, drove Orozco back along the line of the railway after a two +days' long-range artillery bombardment, against which the rebels were +powerless. This battle, in which the combined losses in dead and +wounded on both sides were less than 200, was described in General +Huerta's official report as "more terrific than any battle that had +been fought in the Western Hemisphere during the last fifty years." In +his last triumphant bulletin from the field, General Huerta telegraphed +to President Madero that his brave men had driven the enemy from the +heights with a final fierce bayonet charge, and that their bugle blasts +of victory could be heard even then on the crest. + +Pascual Orozco, on the other hand, reported to the revolutionary Junta +in El Paso that he had ordered his men to retire before the superior +force of the federals, and that they had accomplished this without +disorder by the simple process of boarding their waiting trains and +steaming slowly off to the north, destroying the bridges and culverts +behind him as they went along. One of my fellow war correspondents, who +served on the rebel side during this battle, afterward told me that the +federals, whose bugle calls Huerta heard on the heights, did not get up +to this position until two days after the rebels had abandoned their +trenches along the crest. + +The subsequent advance of the federals from Rellano to the town of +Jimenez, Orozco's old headquarters, which had been evacuated by him +without firing a shot, lasted another week. + +Here Huerta's army camped for another week. At Jimenez the long-brewing +unpleasantness between Huerta's regular officers and some of Madero's +bandit friends, commanding forces of irregular cavalry, came to a head. +The most noted of these former guerrilla chieftains was Francisco +Villa, an old-time bandit, who now rejoiced in the honorary rank of a +Colonel. Villa had appropriated a splendid Arab stallion, originally +imported by a Spanish horse-breeder with a ranch near Chihuahua City. +General Huerta coveted this horse, and one day, after an unusually +lively carouse at general headquarters, he sent a squad of soldiers to +bring the horse out of Villa's corral to his own stable. The old bandit +took offense at this, and came stalking into headquarters to make a +personal remonstrance. He was put under arrest, and Huerta forthwith +sentenced him to be shot. That same day the sentence was to be put into +execution. Villa was already facing the firing squad, and the officer +in charge had given the command to load, when President Madero's +brother, Emilio, who was serving on Huerta's staff in an advisory +capacity, put a stop to the execution by taking Villa under his +personal protection. President Madero was telegraphed to, and +immediately replied, reprieving Villa's sentence, and ordering him to +be sent to Mexico City pending further official investigation. + +This act of interference infuriated Huerta. For the moment he had to +content himself with formulating a long string of serious charges +against Villa, ranging from military insubordination to burglary, +highway robbery, and rape. It was even given out at headquarters that +Villa had struck his commanding general. + +Huerta never forgave the Madero brothers for their part in this affair, +and his resentment was fanned to white heat, subsequently, when +Francisco Villa was allowed to escape scot-free from his prison in +Mexico City. + +Meanwhile Huerta kept telegraphing to President Madero for more +reenforcements of men, munitions, and supplies, more engines, more +railway trains and tank cars, and, above all, for more artillery. +Madero kept sending them, though it cost his Government a new loan of +forty million dollars. Every other day or so a new train, with fresh +supplies, arrived at the front. + +At the end of several more weeks, when Orozco had slowly retreated +half-way through the State of Chihuahua, and when he found that the +destruction of the big seven-span bridge over the Conchos River at +Santa Rosalia did not permanently stop Huerta's advance, he reluctantly +decided to make another stand at the deep cut of Bachimba, just south +of Chihuahua City. This was in July. + +By this time General Huerta's Federal column had swelled to 7,500 +fighting men, 20 pieces of field artillery, 30 machine guns, and some +7,500 camp-followers and women, making a total of more than 15,000 +persons of all sexes and ages, who were being carried along on more +than twenty railroad trains, stretching over a dozen miles of single +track. The column was so long that some of my companions and I, when we +climbed a high hill near the front end of the column at Bachimba, found +it impossible to discern the tail end through our field-glasses. All +the hungry people that were being carried on all those twenty railroad +trains had to be fed, of course, so that none of us were surprised to +read in the Mexican newspapers that the Chihuahua campaign was now +costing Madero's Government nearly 500,000 pesos per day. + +The battle at Bachimba must have swelled this budget. During this one +day's fight nearly two million rifle cartridges and more than 10,000 +artillery projectiles were fired away by the Federals. Huerta's twenty +pieces of field artillery, neatly posted in a straight line on the open +plain, barely half a mile away from his ammunition railway train, kept +firing at the supposed rebel positions all day long without any +appreciable interruption, and all day long the artillery caissons and +limbers kept trotting to and fro between the batteries and ammunition +cars. Orozco had but 3,000 men with two pieces of so-called artillery, +with gun barrels improvised from railroad axles, so he once more +ordered a general retreat by way of his railroad trains, waiting at a +convenient distance on a bend of the road behind the intervening hills. +As at Rellano, at Conejos, and at other places in the campaign where +the railroad swept in big bends around the hills, no attempt was made +on the Federal side to cut off the rebels' retreat by short-cut +flanking movements of cavalry, of which Huerta had more than he could +conveniently use, or chose to use. The whole ten hours' bombardment and +rifle fire resulted in but fourteen dead rebels; but it won the +campaign for the Government, and earned for Huerta his promotion to +Major-General besides the proud title of "Hero of Bachimba." + +President Madero and his anxious Government associates were more than +glad to receive the tidings of this "decisive victory." The only +trouble was that it did not decide anything in particular. Orozco and +his followers, while evacuating the capital of Chihuahua, kept on +wrecking railway property between Chihuahua City and Juarez, and the +campaign kept growing more expensive every day. + +It took Huerta from July until August to work his slow way from the +center of Chihuahua to Ciudad Juarez on the northern frontier. Before +he reached this goal, though, the rebels had split into many smaller +detachments, some of which cut his communications in the rear, while +others harried his flanks with guerrilla tactics and threatened to +carry the "war" into the neighboring State of Sonora. So far as the +trouble and expense to the Federal Government was concerned this +guerrilla warfare was far worse than the preceding slow but sure +railway campaign. General Huerta himself, who was threatened with the +loss of his eyesight from cataract, gave up trying to pursue the +fleeing rebel detachments in person, but kept close to his comfortable +headquarters in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City. This unsatisfactory +condition of affairs gave promise of enduring indefinitely, until +President Madero in Mexico City, whose Government had to bear the +financial brunt of it all, suddenly lost his patience and recalled +Huerta to the capital, leaving the command in General Rabago's hands. + +For reasons that were never quite fathomed by Madero's Government, +Huerta took his time about obeying these orders. Thus, he lingered +first at Ciudad Juarez, then at Chihuahua City, then at Santa Rosalía, +next at Jimenez, and presently at Torreon, where he remained for over a +week, apparently sulking in his tent like Achilles. This gave rise to +grave suspicions, and rumors flew all over Mexico that Huerta was about +to make common cause with Orozco. President Madero himself, at this +time, told a friend of mine that he was afraid Huerta was going to turn +traitor. About the same time, at a diplomatic reception, President +Madero stated openly to Ambassador Wilson that he had reasons to +suspect Huerta's loyalty. At length, however, General Huerta appeared +at the capital, and after a somewhat chilly interview with the +President, obtained a suspension from duty so that he might have his +eyes treated by a specialist. + +Thus it happened that Huerta, who was nearly blind then, escaped being +drawn into the sudden military movements that grew out of General Felix +Diaz's unexpected revolt and temporary capture of the port of Vera Cruz +last October. + +General Huerta's part in Felix Diaz's second revolution, four months +later, is almost too recent to have been forgotten. He was the senior +ranking general at the capital when the rebellion broke out, and was +summoned to his post of duty by President Madero from the very first. +He accompanied Madero in his celebrated ride from Chapultepec Castle to +the National Palace on the morning of the first day of the famous "Ten +Days," and was put in supreme command of the forces of the Government +after the first hurried council of war. President Madero, totally +lacking in military professional knowledge as he was, confided the +entire conduct of the necessary war measures to General Huerta; but it +soon became apparent that the old General either could not or would not +direct any energetic offensive movement against the rebels. From the +very first the Government committed the fatal blunder of letting the +rebels slowly proceed to the Citadel--a fortified military arsenal--the +retention of which was of paramount importance, without even attempting +to intercept their roundabout march or to frustrate their belated entry +into the poorly guarded Citadel. Later, when it became clear that the +rebels could not be dislodged from this stronghold by street rushes, no +attempt was made to shell them out of their strong position by a +high-angle bombardment of plunging explosive shells. + +After it was all over General Huerta explained the ill-success of his +military measures during the ten days' street-fighting by saying that +President Madero was a madman who had spoiled all Huerta's military +plans and measures by utterly impracticable counter-orders. At the +time, though, it was given out officially that Huerta had been placed +in absolute, unrestricted command. When the American Ambassador, toward +the close of the long bombardment, appealed to President Madero to +remove some Federal batteries, the fire from which threatened the +foreign quarter of Mexico City, President Madero replied that he had +nothing to do with the military dispositions, and referred the +Ambassador to General Huerta, who promptly acceded to the request. On +another occasion, later in the bombardment, when Madero insisted that +the Federal artillery should use explosive shells against the Citadel, +General Huerta did not hesitate to take it upon himself to countermand +the President's suggestions to Colonel Navarrete, the Federal chief of +artillery. Afterward General Navarrete admitted in a speech at a +military banquet that his Federal artillery "could have reduced the +Citadel in short order had this really been desired." + +Whether General Huerta was really able to win or not is beside the +issue, since the final turn of events plainly revealed that his heart +was not in the fight, and that he was only waiting for a favorable +moment to turn against Madero. Before General Blanquet with his +supposed relief column was allowed to enter the city, General Huerta +had a private conference with Blanquet. This conference sealed Madero's +doom. Later, after Blanquet's forces had been admitted to the Palace, +on Huerta's assurances to the President that Blanquet was loyal to the +Government, it was agreed between the two generals that Blanquet should +make sure of the person of the President, while Huerta would personally +capture the President's brother, Gustavo, with whom he was to dine that +day. The plot was carried out to the letter. + +When Huerta put Gustavo Madero under arrest, still sitting at the table +where Huerta had been his guest, Huerta sought to palliate his action +by claiming that Gustavo Madero had tried to poison him by putting +"knock-out" drops into Huerta's after-dinner brandy. At the same time +Huerta claimed that President Madero had tried to have him +assassinated, on the day before, by leading Huerta to a window in the +Palace, which an instant afterward was shattered by a rifle bullet from +outside. + +Neither of the two prisoners ever had a chance to defend themselves +against these charges, for Gustavo Madero on the night following his +arrest was shot to death by a squad of soldiers in the garden of the +Citadel, and President Madero met a similar fate a few nights +afterward. General Huerta, who by this time had got himself officially +recognized as President, gave out an official statement from the Palace +pretending that Gustavo Madero had lost his life while attempting to +escape, and that his brother, the President, had been accidentally shot +by some of his own friends who were trying to rescue him from his +guard. + +Few people in Mexico were inclined to believe this official version. +Yet the murder of the two Maderos, and of Vice-President Pino Suarez, +as well as the subsequent killing of other prisoners, like Governor +Abraham Gonzalez, of Chihuahua, was condoned by many in Mexico on the +ground that these men, if allowed to remain alive, were bound to make +serious trouble for the new Government. It was generally hoped, at the +same time, even by those who condemned these murders as barbarous, that +General Huerta might still prove himself a wise and able ruler, no +matter how severe. + +These fond hopes were changed to gloomy foreboding only a few weeks +after Huerta's assumption of the presidency, when he was seen to +surround himself with notorious wasters of all kinds, and when he was +seen to fall into Madero's old error of extending the "glad hand" to +unrepentant rebels and bandits like Orozco, Cheche Campos, Tuerto +Morales, and Salgado. + +Victoriano Huerta, whether he be considered as a general or as a +president, can be expressed in one phrase: He is an Indian. + +Huerta himself proudly says that he is a pure-blooded Aztec. His +friends claim for him that he has the virtues of an Indian--courage, +patience, endurance, and dignified reserve. His enemies, on the other +hand, profess to see in him some of the vices of Indian blood. + +From what I have seen of General Huerta in the field, in private life, +and as a President, I would say that he combines in himself both the +virtues and the faults of his race. In battle I have seen him expose +himself with a courage worthy of the best Indian traditions; nor have I +ever heard it intimated by any one that he was a coward. One of his +strong points as a commander was that he was a man of few words. On the +other hand, his own soldiers at the front hailed him as a stern and +cruel leader; and some of the things that were done to his prisoners of +war at the front were enough to curdle any one's blood. + +It was during a moment of conviviality that General Huerta once +revealed his true sentiments toward the United States and ourselves. +This was during a banquet given in his honor at Mexico City on the eve +of his departure to the front in Chihuahua. On this occasion an +Englishman, who had long been on terms of intimacy with Huerta, asked +the General what he would do if northern Mexico should secede to the +United States and the Americans should take a hand in the fray. This +question aroused General Huerta to the following extemporary speech: + +"I am not afraid of the _gringoes_. Why should I be? No good Mexican +need be afraid of the _gringoes_. If it had not been for the treachery +of President Santa Anna, who sold himself to the United States in 1847, +we should have beaten the Yankees then, as we surely shall beat them +the next time. Let them cross the Rio Bravo! We will send them back +with bloody heads. + +"We Mexicans need not be afraid of any foreign nation. Did we not beat +the Spaniards? Did we not also beat the French, and the Austrians, and +the Belgians, and all the other foreign adventurers who came with +Maximilian? In the same way we would have beaten the _gringoes_ had we +had a fair chance at them. The Texans, who beat Santa Anna, at San +Jacinto, you must know, were not _gringoes_, but brother Mexicans, of +whom we have reason to be proud. + +"To my mind, there are only two real nations in the world, besides our +old Aztec nation. Those nations are England and Japan. + +"All the others can not properly be called nations; least of all the +United States, which is a mere hodge-podge of other nations. One of +these days England and Japan and Mexico will get together, and after +that there will be an end to the United States." + + +WILLIAM CAROL[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reproduced in condensed form from _The World's Work_ by +the kind permission of Doubleday, Page & Co.] + +In order to understand the situation in Mexico, it is necessary to get +firmly in our minds that there are in reality two Mexicos. One may be +called American Mexico and the other Mexican Mexico. + +The representative of the new, half-formed northern or American Mexico +was Francisco Madero--rich, educated, well mannered, honest, and +idealistically inclined. The representative of the old Mexico is +Huerta--"rough, plain, old Indian," as he describes himself, +pugnacious, crafty, ignorant of political amenities, without +understanding of any rule except the rule of blood and powder. + +By the law of 1894 Diaz changed the character of the land titles in +Mexico. Many smaller landowners, unable to prove their titles under the +new system, lost their holdings, which in large measure eventually fell +into the hands of a few rich men. In the feudal south this did not +cause so much disturbance. But in the north the growing middle class +bitterly resented it. Madero became the spokesman of this discontent. +In his books and in his program of reform, "the plan of San Luis +Potosi," he attacked the Diaz regime. And then in 1910 he joined the +rebel band organized by Pascual Orozco in the mountains of Chihuahua. +With his weakened army Diaz was unable to cope with this revolution, +and in October, 1911, Madero became President. + +The country was then at peace, except for the band of robbers led by +Zapata in the provinces of Morelos and Guerrero. These are and have +been the most atrocious of the many bandits with which Mexico is +infested. No outrage or barbarity known to savages have they left +untried. Madero attempted to buy them off, but to no avail. He then +sent military forces against them, one column commanded by General +Huerta, but with no success. + +In the mean time, Pascual Orozco, who emerged from the Madero +revolution as a great war hero in his own State, was given no post of +responsibility under the new Government, but was left as commander of +the militia in the State of Chihuahua. The adherents of the old Diaz +régime took this opportunity to win him over to their side, for +Orozco's fighting was done purely for profit, not for principle. A +reactionary movement, with Orozco at its head, broke out in February, +1912. Five thousand men were quickly got together. The Madero +Administration--a Northern Administration in the Southern country--was +not fully organized, and, with the army not yet rehabilitated, found +itself seriously embarrassed. Had Orozco been an intelligent and +competent leader he probably could have marched straight through to +Mexico City at that time, as the only governmental troops that were +available to fight him were only about sixteen hundred, which he +defeated and nearly annihilated at Rellano in Chihuahua. Their +commander, General Gonzalez Salas, Madero's war minister, committed +suicide after the defeat. + +The only general available at the time who had had experience in +handling large forces in the field was Victoriano Huerta. Although he +had never especially distinguished himself, Huerta's record shows that +he was one of the most progressive members of the army. + +Huerta's column encountered little resistance. Chihuahua City was +occupied on July 7th, and later, Juarez. The rebels were not pursued to +any extent away from the railroads. They separated into bands, keeping +up a guerrilla warfare, raiding American mining camps and ranches, and +seizing and holding Americans and others for ransom. Prominent among +these leaders of banditti was Inez Salazar, a former rock driller in an +American mine, who raised a force in Chihuahua and declared against +Madero. Little was done to destroy these rebel bands by the Federals, +and no engagements of any size took place. In fact, it was a current +rumor that the Federals did not wish to put them down. In the first +place, the regular army was the same old Diaz organization which +considered Madero largely as a usurper and which remained with the +established Government in a rather lukewarm manner. Besides, the bands +of Orozco, Salazar, and others were instigated and supported by the +adherents of the old regime, and, although opposed to the Mexican army, +both had many ideas in common regarding the Madero Administration. +Furthermore, the officers and men of the army were receiving large +increases of pay for the campaign. + +An instance showing this disposition on the part of the Federals +occurred in the State of Sonora in October, 1912. General Obregon, now +the commander of the Sonora State forces, was at that time a colonel of +the army and had his battalion, composed largely of Maya Indians, at +Agua Prietá, just across the border from Douglas, Ariz. Salazar's band +of rebels had crossed the mountains from Chihuahua and had come into +Sonora. Popular clamor forced the Federal commander at Agua Prietá to +do something, and accordingly he ordered Obregon to take his battalion, +proceed south, get in touch with Salazar, and "remain in observation." +Salazar was looting the ranch of a friend of Obregon's near Fronteras. +The rebel had taken no means to secure his bivouac against surprise; +his men were scattered around engaged in slaughtering cattle, cooking, +and making camp for the night. Obregon deployed his force and charged +Salazar's camp. Forty of Salazar's men were killed, and a machine gun +and a number of horses, mules, and rifles were captured; whereupon +Salazar left that part of the country. Upon Obregon's return to Agua +Prietá he was severely reprimanded and nearly court-martialed for +disobeying his orders in not "remaining in observation" of Salazar, and +attacking him instead. Had Obregon been given a free hand, he +undoubtedly could have destroyed Salazar's force. + +After Salazar's defeat at Fronteras, he moved east again, and about a +month later appeared near Palomas, a town about three miles from the +international boundary south of Columbus, N.M. At Palomas there was a +Federal detachment of about one hundred and thirty men under an old +colonel. They had been sent there to protect various cattle interests +in that vicinity; and they had a considerable amount of money, +equipment, and ammunition for maintaining and providing rations and +forage for themselves and for some outlying detachments. Salazar, +hearing of this, demanded that the money and equipment be immediately +surrendered. Upon being refused, Salazar, with about three hundred and +fifty men, attacked. A furious battle was fought, ending in a +house-to-house fight with grenades--cans filled with dynamite, with +fuse attached, which are thrown by hand. Salazar's force captured the +town after the Federals had suffered more than 50 per cent. in +casualties, including the Federal commander, who was wounded several +times; the rebels suffered more than 30 per cent. casualties. The town, +in the mean time, was wrecked. This particular instance shows that the +Mexicans fight and fight well from a standpoint of physical courage. +The general idea that the Mexicans would not fight, which Americans +obtained during this period, was obtained because they did not care to +in the majority of cases. + +Meanwhile, General Huerta, having "finished" his Chihuahua campaign in +the autumn of 1912, was promoted to the rank of General of Division +(Major-General) and decorated for his achievement. It was rumored in +many places at that time that General Huerta was about to turn against +the Madero Government. Madero, suspecting his loyalty, ordered him back +to Mexico City. Huerta took his time about obeying this order, and, +when he reported in Mexico City, obtained a sick-leave to have his eyes +treated. Huerta was nearly blind when Felix Diaz's revolt broke out in +Vera Cruz in October, 1912, and probably thus escaped being drawn into +that unsuccessful demonstration. + +From this time until the _coup d'etat_ of February 8, 1913, there was +no large organized resistance to the Madero Administration, although +banditism increased at an alarming rate in all parts of the Republic. +The Diaz-Reyes outburst, in Mexico City on February 8, 1913, which +resulted in the death of Madero and Suarez and the elevation of Huerta +to practical military dictatorship, was brought about by the adherents +of the old regime, who looked upon Madero's extinction as a punishment +meted out to a criminal who had raised the slaves against their +masters. This view prevailed to a considerable extent in Mexico south +of San Luis Potosi. In the North, however, the people almost as a whole +(at least 90 per cent. in Sonera, and only to a slightly lesser extent +in the other provinces) saw in it the cold-blooded murder of their +political idol at the hands of unscrupulous moneyed interests and of +adherents of the old regime of the days of Porfirio Diaz. + +The resentment was general in the North--this new, largely Americanized +North, Venustiano Carranza, the governor of Coahuila, organized the +resistance in the provinces of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas, +while Maytorena, the governor of Sonora, and Pesqueira (later in +Washington, D.C., as Carranza's representative), with Obregon as the +head of their military forces, rapidly cleared that State of Federals, +with the exception of the port of Guaymas. These fights were no mere +bloodless affairs, but stubbornly contested, with heavy casualties, as +a decided principle was involved in the conflict. Villa, the old bandit +and personal enemy of Huerta, organized a force in Sonora, and Urbina +did likewise in northern Durango. Arms, and especially money to buy +them with, were hard to get. Funds were obtained from the tariff at +ports of entry, internal taxation, amounting at times to practical +confiscation, contributions, and gifts from various sources. It is said +that the Madero family put aside $1,000,000, gold, for this purpose. + +Though a few individuals went over to the Constitutionalist cause, the +Mexican regular army remained true to the _ad interim_ Government. The +revolutionists either held or rapidly possessed themselves of the great +railroad lines in the majority of cases. Huerta, who is an excellent +organizer, soon appreciated the magnitude of the revolt and rushed +troops to the north as rapidly as possible, his strategy being to hold +all railroad lines and cities with strong columns which would force the +revolutionists to operate in the intervals between the railroads. Then +Huerta, with these columns as a supporting framework, pushed out mobile +columns for the destruction of the rebel bands. + +The Carranzistas understood this plan and, to meet it, tore up all the +railroads that they could and adopted as their fixed plan never to risk +a general engagement of a large force. For the first few months, the +rebels, who had adopted the name of Constitutionalists, continued +recruiting their forces and destroying the railroads. The Federals +tried to repair the railroads and get enough troops into the north to +cope with this movement. They obtained new military equipment of all +descriptions, the army was increased, and old rebels, such as Orozco +and Salazar, sympathizers or tools of the old régime, were taken into +the Federal forces as irregulars and given commands. + +To understand the apparent slowness of the Federals in moving from +place to place and their inability to pursue the rebels away from the +railroads, some idea must be given as to their system of operating. The +officers of the regular army are well instructed and quite competent. +The enlisted men, however, come from the lowest strata of society, and, +except in the case of a foreign war, have to be impressed into the +ranks. They bring their women with them to act as cooks and to +transport their food and camp equipage. Military transportation, that +is to say, baggage trains of four-mule wagons and excellent horses for +the artillery, does not exist in the Mexican army. In fact, when away +from a railroad, the "soldaderas," as the women are called, carry +nearly everything; and they obtain the food necessary for the soldiers' +rations. A commissariat, as we understand it, does not exist. This ties +the Federals to the railroads, as they can not carry enough ammunition +and food for any length of time. + +On the other hand, those who first saw Obregon's rebel forces in Sonora +and Villa's in Chihuahua were surprised at their organization. There +were no women taken with them. They had wagons, regular issues of +rations and ammunition, a paymaster, and the men were well mounted and +armed. + +With Obregon, also, were regiments of Yaqui Indians, who are excellent +fighting material. These forces were mobile, and could easily operate +away from the railroad. They lacked artillery, without which they were +greatly handicapped, especially in the attack on fortified places and +on stone or adobe towns. As most of the horses and mules were driven +away from the railroads, the insurgents could get all the animals they +wanted. + +The first large battle occurred on May 9-10-11-12th outside of Guaymas, +between Ojeda's Federals and Obregon's Constitutionalists, at a place +called Santa Rosa. The Federal advance north consisted of about twelve +hundred men and eighteen pieces of artillery. They were opposed by +about four thousand men under Obregon, without artillery. Eight hundred +Federals were killed and all their artillery captured. The +Constitutionalists lost two hundred and fifty men killed and wounded. +Comparatively few Federals returned to Guaymas. Each side killed all +the wounded that they found, and also all captives who refused to +enlist in the captor's force. This success was not followed up and +Guaymas remained in the hands of the Federals. The artillery captured +by the Constitutionalists had had the breech blocks removed to render +them unserviceable; new ones, however, were made in the shops at +Cananca by a German mechanician named Klaus. + +In the summer, Urbina captured the city of Durango, annihilating the +Federals. The city was given over to loot and the greatest excesses +were indulged in by the victors. Arson, rape, and the robbing of banks, +stores, and private houses were indiscriminately carried on. Horses +were stabled in the parlors of the homes of the prosperous citizens, +and many non-combatants were killed by the soldiers before order was +restored. + +At this time the only points held by the Federals on the boundary +between the United States and Mexico were Juarez, in Chihuahua, and +Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas. The railroads south of these points were +also in the physical possession of the Federals but subject to +continual interruption at the hands of the Constitutionalists. +Venustiano Carranza had established headquarters at Ciudad Porfirio +Diaz (Piedras Negras) across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Tex. He +started on a trip, during the late summer, through the northern +provinces to confer with the leaders of the Constitutionalist movement +in order to bring about better coordination of effort on their part. He +went through the States of Coahuila, Durango, Chihuahua, and Sonora and +established a new headquarters in Sonora. Since then the efforts of the +Constitutionalists have been much better coordinated, with the result +that they have had much better success. + +Jesus Carranza and Pablo Gonzalez were left in charge at Ciudad +Porfirio Diaz by Venustiano Carranza when he left on his trip. Shortly +after this a Federal column was organized under General Maas for the +capture of the railroad between Saltillo and Ciudad Porfirio Diaz. This +column slowly worked its way to Monclova and then to Ciudad Porfirio +Diaz, which it occupied on October 7th; the Constitutionalists ripped +up the railroad and destroyed everything that might be useful to the +Federals and a good deal that could not, and offered very little +resistance. Villa, in the mean time, having been reenforced by men from +Durango and some from Sonora, had been operating in Chihuahua with +considerable success. He had fallen on several small Federal columns, +destroyed them, and obtained about six pieces of artillery, besides a +fresh supply of rifles and ammunition. In September, he had interposed +his force between the Federals at Chihuahua City and Torreon, at a +place called Santa Rosalía. Villa and the Federals each had about four +thousand men. The Federals from the south were making a determined +attempt to retake Durango and had started two columns for Torreon of +more than two thousand men each, one west from Saltillo, another north +from Zacatecas. These had to repair the railroad as they went. Torreon +was being held by about one thousand Federal soldiers. + +Villa was well informed of these movements, and also of the fact that, +in their anxiety to take Durango, a Federal force of about 800 men, +under General Alvirez, was to leave Torreon before the arrival of the +Saltillo and Zacatecas columns. Having the inner line, Villa with his +mobile force could maneuver freely against any one of these. He +accordingly left a rear guard in front of the Federals at Santa +Rosalía, and, marching south rapidly, met and completely defeated +General Alvirez's Federal column about eighteen miles west of Torreon, +near the town of Aviles. General Alvirez and 287 of his men were +killed, fighting to the last. + +Villa then turned toward Torreon. The "soldaderas" of Alvirez's force +had escaped when the fight at Aviles began and reached Torreon, quickly +spreading the news. The Federal officer in command attempted to round +them up, but to no avail, and Torreon's weak garrison became panic +stricken, put up a feeble resistance, and evacuated the town. Villa +occupied it on the night of October 1st. He sent his mounted troops +against the Federal columns from Saltillo and Zacatecas, tearing up the +railroad around them, until they both retreated. He maintained splendid +order in Torreon; sent a detachment of one officer and twenty-five men +to the American consul to protect American interests, and stationed +patrols throughout the city with orders to shoot all looters. At first, +a few stores containing provisions and clothing were looted, and some +Spaniards who were supposed to be aiding the Federals were killed, but +the pillaging soon stopped. Villa's occupation of Torreon thus +contrasted strikingly with Urbina's occupation of Durango. + +The capture of Torreon made precarious the military position of the +Federals in Chihuahua, as Torreon was their principal supply point. +When Villa's advance reached Santa Rosalía, the Federals evacuated +their fortified position at that place and concentrated all available +troops at Chihuahua City. They expected that a decided attempt would be +made by Villa to take it. The Federals did succeed in repelling small +attacks against Chihuahua on November 6th-9th and, to strengthen their +garrison, they reduced the troops in Juarez until only 400 remained. +Villa, while keeping up the investment of Chihuahua City, prepared a +force for a dash on Juarez, and on the night of November 14th-15th the +Federal garrison at that place was completely surprised and the city +was captured. + +These are the main events (to December 1st) that marked this chapter in +the inevitable struggle between the new Mexico and the old, before the +United States by interfering actively in the tumult changed the entire +character of the war. The Carranza practise of killing the wounded +shows that even the North has much to learn in civilized methods of +warfare. On the other hand, the self-restraint exercised, in many +cases, against looting captured towns, indicates that progress has been +made. This account also indicates that the new Mexico, in aims as well +as in material things, is getting the upper hand. + + + + +THE NEW DEMOCRACY + +THE FORCES OF CHANGE DOMINATE AMERICA A.D. 1913 + +WOODROW WILSON + +On March 4, 1913, Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as President of the +United States, and thus became the central figure of a new and +tremendously important movement. He was, it is true, elected as the +candidate of what is known as the Democratic party, which has existed +since the days of Thomas Jefferson. But the ideas advanced by President +Wilson as being democratic were so different from the original theories +and policies of Jefferson that President Wilson himself felt called on +to formulate his principles in a now celebrated work entitled "The New +Freedom." From the opening pages of this, as originally published in +_The World's Work_, we here, by permission of both the President and +the magazine, give his own statement of the ideas of the new era. + +The voting body of Americans who stand behind President Wilson are +obviously of the type now generally called progressive. In the +convention which nominated him, the conservative element of the old +Democracy struggled long and bitterly against the naming of any +"progressive" candidate. In the Republican party, the strife between +conservatism and progress was so bitter as to produce a complete split; +and the progressives nominated a candidate of their own, preferring, if +they could not control the government themselves, to hand it over to +the progressive element among the Democrats. The former political +parties in the United States seem to have been so completely disrupted +by recent events that even though they continue to hold some power +under the old names, they now stand for wholly different things. The +two parties which in the triangular presidential contest polled the +largest numbers of votes were both "progressive." + +So it seems settled that we are to "progress." But whither--and into +what? Is there any clear purpose before our new leaders, and how does +it differ from mankind's former purposes? That is what President Wilson +tries to tell us. + +There is one great basic fact which underlies all the questions that +are discussed on the political platform at the present moment. That +singular fact is that nothing is done in this country as it was done +twenty years ago. + +We are in the presence of a new organization of society. Our life has +broken away from the past. The life of America is not the life that it +was twenty years ago; it is not the life that it was ten years ago. We +have changed our economic conditions, absolutely, from top to bottom; +and, with our economic society, the organization of our life. The old +political formulae do not fit the present problems; they read now like +documents taken out of a forgotten age. The older cries sound as if +they belonged to a past age which men have almost forgotten. Things +which used to be put into the party platforms of ten years ago would +sound antiquated if put into a platform now. We are facing the +necessity of fitting a new social organization, as we did once fit the +old organization, to the happiness and prosperity of the great body of +citizens; for we are conscious that the new order of society has not +been made to fit and provide the convenience or prosperity of the +average man. The life of the nation has grown infinitely varied. It +does not center now upon questions of governmental structure or of the +distribution of governmental powers. It centers upon questions of the +very structure and operation of society itself, of which government is +only the instrument. Our development has run so fast and so far along +the line sketched in the earlier days of constitutional definition, has +so crossed and interlaced those lines, has piled upon them such novel +structures of trust and combination, has elaborated within them a life +so manifold, so full of forces which transcend the boundaries of the +country itself and fill the eyes of the world, that a new nation seems +to have been created which the old formulae do not fit or afford a +vital interpretation of. + +We have come upon a very different age from any that preceded us. We +have come upon an age when we do not do business in the way in which we +used to do business--when we do not carry on any of the operations of +manufacture, sale, transportation, or communication as men used to +carry them on. There is a sense in which in our day the individual has +been submerged. In most parts of our country men work for themselves, +not as partners in the old way in which they used to work, but as +employees--in a higher or lower grade--of great corporations. There was +a time when corporations played a very minor part in our business +affairs, but now they play the chief part, and most men are the +servants of corporations. + +You know what happens when you are the servant of a corporation. You +have in no instance access to the men who are really determining the +policy of the corporation. If the corporation is doing the things that +it ought not to do, you really have no voice in the matter and must +obey the orders, and you have, with deep mortification, to cooperate in +the doing of things which you know are against the public interest. +Your individuality is swallowed up in the individuality and purpose of +a great organization. + +It is true that, while most men are thus submerged in the corporation, +a few, a very few, are exalted to power which as individuals they could +never have wielded. Through the great organizations of which they are +the heads, a few are enabled to play a part unprecedented by anything +in history in the control of the business operations of the country and +in the determination of the happiness of great numbers of people. + +Yesterday, and ever since history began, men were related to one +another as individuals. To be sure there were the family, the Church, +and the State, institutions which associated men in certain limited +circles of relationships. But in the ordinary concerns of life, in the +ordinary work, in the daily round, men dealt freely and directly with +one another. To-day, the everyday relationships of men are largely with +great impersonal concerns, with organizations, not with other +individual men. + +Now this is nothing short of a new social age, a new era of human +relationships, a new stage-setting for the drama of life. + +In this new age we find, for instance, that our laws with regard to the +relations of employer and employee are in many respects wholly +antiquated and impossible. They were framed for another age, which +nobody now living remembers, which is, indeed, so remote from our life +that it would be difficult for many of us to understand it if it were +described to us. The employer is now generally a corporation or a huge +company of some kind; the employee is one of hundreds or of thousands +brought together, not by individual masters whom they know and with +whom they have personal relations, but by agents of one sort or +another. Working men are marshaled in great numbers for the performance +of a multitude of particular tasks under a common discipline. They +generally use dangerous and powerful machinery, over whose repair and +renewal they have no control. New rules must be devised with regard to +their obligations and their rights, their obligations to their +employers and their responsibilities to one another. New rules must be +devised for their protection, for their compensation when injured, for +their support when disabled. + +There is something very new and very big and very complex about these +new relations of capital and labor. A new economic society has sprung +up, and we must effect a new set of adjustments. We must not pit power +against weakness. The employer is generally, in our day, as I have +said, not an individual, but a powerful group; and yet the working man +when dealing with his employer is still, under our existing law, an +individual. + +Why is it that we have a labor question at all? It is for the simple +and very sufficient reason that the laboring man and the employer are +not intimate associates now, as they used to be in time past. Most of +our laws were formed in the age when employer and employees knew each +other, knew each other's characters, were associates with each other, +dealt with each other as man with man. That is no longer the case. You +not only do not come into personal contact with the men who have the +supreme command in those corporations, but it would be out of the +question for you to do it. Our modern corporations employ thousands, +and in some instances hundreds of thousands, of men. The only persons +whom you see or deal with are local superintendents or local +representatives of a vast organization, which is not like anything that +the working men of the time in which our laws were framed knew anything +about. A little group of working men, seeing their employer every day, +dealing with him in a personal way, is one thing, and the modern body +of labor engaged as employees of the huge enterprises that spread all +over the country, dealing with men of whom they can form no personal +conception, is another thing. A very different thing. You never saw a +corporation, any more than you ever saw a government. Many a working +man to-day never saw the body of men who are conducting the industry in +which he is employed. And they never saw him. What they know about him +is written in ledgers and books and letters, in the correspondence of +the office, in the reports of the superintendents. He is a long way off +from them. + +So what we have to discuss is, not wrongs which individuals +intentionally do--I do not believe there are a great many of those--but +the wrongs of the system. I want to record my protest against any +discussion of this matter which would seem to indicate that there are +bodies of our fellow citizens who are trying to grind us down and do us +injustice. There are some men of that sort. I don't know how they sleep +o' nights, but there are men of that kind. Thank God they are not +numerous. The truth is, we are all caught in a great economic system +which is heartless. The modern corporation is not engaged in business +as an individual. When we deal with it we deal with an impersonal +element, a material piece of society. A modern corporation is a means +of cooperation in the conduct of an enterprise which is so big that no +one can conduct it, and which the resources of no one man are +sufficient to finance. A company is formed; that company puts out a +prospectus; the promoters expect to raise a certain fund as capital +stock. Well, how are they going to raise it? They are going to raise it +from the public in general, some of whom will buy their stock. The +moment that begins, there is formed--what? A joint-stock corporation. +Men begin to pool their earnings, little piles, big piles. A certain +number of men are elected by the stockholders to be directors, and +these directors elect a president. This president is the head of the +undertaking, and the directors are its managers. + +Now, do the working men employed by that stock corporation deal with +that president and those directors? Not at all. Does the public deal +with that president and that board of directors? It does not. Can +anybody bring them to account? It is next to impossible to do so. If +you undertake it you will find it a game of hide and seek, with the +objects of your search taking refuge now behind the tree of their +individual personality, now behind that of their corporate +irresponsibility. + +And do our laws take note of this curious state of things? Do they even +attempt to distinguish between a man's act as a corporation director +and as an individual? They do not. Our laws still deal with us on the +basis of the old system. The law is still living in the dead past which +we have left behind. This is evident, for instance, with regard to the +matter of employers' liability for working men's injuries. Suppose that +a superintendent wants a workman to use a certain piece of machinery +which it is not safe for him to use, and that the workman is injured by +that piece of machinery. Our courts have held that the superintendent +is a fellow servant, or, as the law states it, a fellow employee, and +that, therefore, the man can not recover damages for his injury. The +superintendent who probably engaged the man is not his employer. Who is +his employer? And whose negligence could conceivably come in there? The +board of directors did not tell the employee to use that piece of +machinery; and the president of the corporation did not tell him to use +that piece of machinery. And so forth. Don't you see by that theory +that a man never can get redress for negligence on the part of the +employer? When I hear judges reason upon the analogy of the +relationships that used to exist between workmen and their employers a +generation ago, I wonder if they have not opened their eyes to the +modern world. You know, we have a right to expect that judges will have +their eyes open, even though the law which they administer hasn't +awakened. + +Yet that is but a single small detail illustrative of the difficulties +we are in because we have not adjusted the law to the facts of the new +order. + +Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me +privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field +of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of +something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so +subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that +they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in +condemnation of it. + +They know that America is not a place of which it can be said, as it +used to be, that a man may choose his own calling and pursue it just so +far as his abilities enable him to pursue it; because to-day, if he +enters certain fields, there are organizations which will use means +against him that will prevent his building up a business which they do +not want to have built up; organizations that will see to it that the +ground is cut from under him and the markets shut against him. For if +he begins to sell to certain retail dealers, to any retail dealers, the +monopoly will refuse to sell to those dealers, and those dealers will +be afraid and will not buy the new man's wares. + +And this is the country which has lifted to the admiration of the world +its ideals of absolutely free opportunity, where no man is supposed to +be under any limitation except the limitations of his character and of +his mind; where there is supposed to be no distinction of class, no +distinction of blood, no distinction of social status, but where men +win or lose on their merits. + +I lay it very close to my own conscience as a public man whether we can +any longer stand at our doors and welcome all newcomers upon those +terms. American industry is not free, as once it was free; American +enterprise is not free; the man with only a little capital is finding +it harder to get into the field, more and more impossible to compete +with the big fellow. Why? Because the laws of this country do not +prevent the strong from crushing the weak. That is the reason, and +because the strong have crushed the weak, the strong dominate the +industry and the economic life of this country. No man can deny that +the lines of endeavor have more and more narrowed and stiffened; no man +who knows anything about the development of industry in this country +can have failed to observe that the larger kinds of credit are more and +more difficult to obtain, unless you obtain them upon the terms of +uniting your efforts with those who already control the industries of +the country; and nobody can fail to observe that any man who tries to +set himself up in competition with any process of manufacture which has +been taken under the control of large combinations of capital will +presently find himself either squeezed out or obliged to sell and allow +himself to be absorbed. + +There is a great deal that needs reconstruction in the United States. I +should like to take a census of the business men--I mean the rank and +file of the business men--as to whether they think that business +conditions in this country, or rather whether the organization of +business in this country, is satisfactory or not. I know what they +would say if they dared. If they could vote secretly they would vote +overwhelmingly that the present organization of business was meant for +the big fellows and was not meant for the little fellows; that it was +meant for those who are at the top and was meant to exclude those who +are at the bottom; that it was meant to shut out beginners, to prevent +new entries in the race, to prevent the building up of competitive +enterprise that would interfere with the monopolies which the great +trusts have built up. + +What this country needs, above everything else, is a body of laws which +will look after the men who are on the make rather than the men who are +already made. Because the men who are already made are not going to +live indefinitely, and they are not always kind enough to leave sons as +able and as honest as they are. + +The originative part of America, the part of America that makes new +enterprises, the part into which the ambitious and gifted working man +makes his way up, the class that saves, that plans, that organizes, +that presently spreads its enterprises until they have a national scope +and character--that middle class is being more and more squeezed out by +the processes which we have been taught to call processes of +prosperity. Its members are sharing prosperity, no doubt; but what +alarms me is that they are not _originating_ prosperity. No country can +afford to have its prosperity originated by a small controlling class. +The treasury of America does not lie in the brains of the small body of +men now in control of the great enterprises that have been concentrated +under the direction of a very small number of persons. The treasury of +America lies in those ambitions, those energies, that can not be +restricted to a special, favored class. It depends upon the inventions +of unknown men, upon the originations of unknown men, upon the +ambitions of unknown men. Every country is renewed out of the ranks of +the unknown, not out of the ranks of those already famous and powerful +and in control. + +There has come over the land that un-American set of conditions which +enables a small number of men who control the Government to get favors +from the Government; by those favors to exclude their fellows from +equal business opportunity; by those favors to extend a network of +control that will presently drive every industry in the country, and so +make men forget the ancient time when America lay in every hamlet, when +America was to be seen on every fair valley, when America displayed her +great forces on the broad prairies, ran her fine fires of enterprise up +over the mountain sides and down into the bowels of the earth, and +eager men were everywhere captains of industry, not employees; not +looking to a distant city to find out what they might do, but looking +about among their neighbors, finding credit according to their +character, not according to their connections, finding credit in +proportion to what was known to be in them and behind them, not in +proportion to the securities they held that were approved where they +were not known. In order to start an enterprise now, you have to be +authenticated, in a perfectly impersonal way, not according to +yourself, but according to what you own that somebody else approves of +your owning. You can not begin such an enterprise as those that have +made America until you are so authenticated, until you have succeeded +in obtaining the good-will of large allied capitalists. Is that +freedom? That is dependence, not freedom. + +We used to think, in the old-fashioned days when life was very simple, +that all that government had to do was to put on a policeman's uniform +and say, "Now don't anybody hurt anybody else." We used to say that the +ideal of government was for every man to be left alone and not +interfered with, except when he interfered with somebody else; and that +the best government was the government that did as little governing as +possible. That was the idea that obtained in Jefferson's time. But we +are coming now to realize that life is so complicated that we are not +dealing with the old conditions, and that the law has to step in and +create the conditions under which we live, the conditions which will +make it tolerable for us to live. + +Let me illustrate what I mean: It used to be true in our cities that +every family occupied a separate house of its own, that every family +had its own little premises, that every family was separated in its +life from every other family. That is no longer the case in our great +cities. Families live in tenements, they live in flats, they live on +floors; they are piled layer upon layer in the great tenement houses of +our crowded districts, and not only are they piled layer upon layer, +but they are associated room by room, so that there is in every room, +sometimes, in our congested districts, a separate family. In some +foreign countries they have made much more progress than we in handling +these things. In the city of Glasgow, for example (Glasgow is one of +the model cities of the world), they have made up their minds that the +entries and the hallways of great tenements are public streets. +Therefore, the policeman goes up the stairway and patrols the +corridors; the lighting department of the city sees to it that the +halls are abundantly lighted. The city does not deceive itself into +supposing that that great building is a unit from which the police are +to keep out and the civic authority to be excluded, but it says: "These +are public highways, and light is needed in them, and control by the +authority of the city." + +I liken that to our great modern industrial enterprises. A corporation +is very like a large tenement house; it isn't the premises of a single +commercial family; it is just as much a public affair as a tenement +house is a network of public highways. + +When you offer the securities, of a great corporation to anybody who +wishes to purchase them, you must open that corporation to the +inspection of everybody who wants to purchase. There must, to follow +out the figure of the tenement house, be lights along the corridors, +there must be police patrolling the openings, there must be inspection +wherever it is known that men may be deceived with regard to the +contents of the premises. If we believe that fraud lies in wait for us, +we must have the means of determining whether our suspicions are well +founded or not. Similarly, the treatment of labor by the great +corporations is not what it was in Jefferson's time. Whenever bodies of +men employ bodies of men, it ceases to be a private relationship. So +that when courts hold that working men can not peaceably dissuade other +working men from taking employment, and base the decision upon the +analogy of domestic servants, they simply show that their minds and +understandings are lingering in an age which has passed away. This +dealing of great bodies of men with other bodies of men is a matter of +public scrutiny, and should be a matter of public regulation. + +Similarly, it was no business of the law in the time of Jefferson to +come into my house and see how I kept house. But when my house, when my +so-called private property, became a great mine, and men went along +dark corridors amidst every kind of danger in order to dig out of the +bowels of the earth things necessary for the industries of a whole +nation, and when it came about that no individual owned these mines, +that they were owned by great stock companies, then all the old +analogies absolutely collapsed, and it became the right of the +government to go down into these mines to see whether human beings were +properly treated in them or not; to see whether accidents were properly +safeguarded against; to see whether modern economical methods of using +these inestimable riches of the earth were followed or were not +followed. If somebody puts a derrick improperly secured on top of a +building or overtopping the street, then the government of the city has +the right to see that that derrick is so secured that you and I can +walk under it and not be afraid that the heavens are going to fall on +us. Likewise in these great beehives where in every corridor swarm men +of flesh and blood, it is the privilege of the government, whether of +the State or of the United States, as the case may be, to see that +human life is properly cared for, and that human lungs have something +to breathe. + +These, again, are merely illustrations of conditions. We are in a new +world, struggling under old laws. As we go inspecting our lives to-day, +surveying this new scene of centralized and complex society, we shall +find many more things out of joint. + +One of the most alarming phenomena of the time--or rather it would be +alarming if the Nation had not awakened to it and shown its +determination to control it--one of the most significant signs of the +new social era is the degree to which government has become associated +with business. I speak, for the moment, of the control over the +Government exercised by Big Business. Behind the whole subject, of +course, is the truth that, in the new order, government and business +must be associated, closely. But that association is, at present, of a +nature absolutely intolerable; the precedence is wrong, the association +is upside down. Our Government has been for the past few years under +the control of heads of great allied corporations with special +interests. It has not controlled these interests and assigned them a +proper place in the whole system of business; it has submitted itself +to their control. As a result, there have grown up vicious systems and +schemes of governmental favoritism (the most obvious being the +extravagant tariff), far-reaching in effect upon the whole fabric of +life, touching to his injury every inhabitant of the land, laying +unfair and impossible handicaps upon competitors, imposing taxes in +every direction, stifling everywhere the free spirit of American +enterprise. + +Now this has come about naturally; as we go on, we shall see how very +naturally. It is no use denouncing anybody or anything, except human +nature. Nevertheless, it is an intolerable thing that the government of +the Republic should have got so far out of the hands of the people; +should have been captured by interests which are special and not +general. In the train of this capture follow the troops of scandals, +wrongs, indecencies, with which our politics swarm. + +There are cities in America of whose government we are ashamed. There +are cities everywhere, in every part of the land, in which we feel +that, not the interests of the public, but the interests of special +privileges of selfish men, are served; where contracts take precedence +over public interest. Not only in big cities is this the case. Have you +not noticed the growth of socialistic sentiment in the smaller towns? +Not many months ago I stopped at a little town in Nebraska while my +train lingered, and I met on the platform, a very engaging young +fellow, dressed in overalls, who introduced himself to me as the mayor +of the town, and added that he was a Socialist. I said, "What does that +mean? Does that mean that this town is socialistic?" "No, sir," he +said; "I have not deceived myself; the vote by which I was elected was +about 20 per cent. socialistic and 80 per cent, protest." It was +protest against the treachery to the people and those who led both the +other parties of that town. + +All over the Union people are coming to feel that they have no control +over the course of affairs. I live in one of the greatest States in the +Union, which was at one time in slavery. Until two years ago we had +witnessed with increasing concern the growth in New Jersey of a spirit +of almost cynical despair. Men said, "We vote; we are offered the +platform we want; we elect the men who stand on that platform, and we +get absolutely nothing." So they began to ask, "What is the use of +voting? We know that the machines of both parties are subsidized by the +same persons, and therefore it is useless to turn in either direction." + +It is not confined to some of the State governments and those of some +of the towns and cities. We know that something intervenes between the +people of the United States and the control of their own affairs at +Washington. It is not the people who have been ruling there of late. + +Why are we in the presence, why are we at the threshold, of a +revolution? Because we are profoundly disturbed by the influences which +we see reigning in the determination of our public life and our public +policy. There was a time when America was blithe with self-confidence. +She boasted that she, and she alone, knew the processes of popular +government; but now she sees her sky overcast; she sees that there are +at work forces which she did not dream of in her hopeful youth. + +Don't you know that some man with eloquent tongue, without conscience, +who did not care for the Nation, could put this whole country into a +flame? Don't you know that this country from one end to another +believes that something is wrong? What an opportunity it would be for +some man without conscience to spring up and say: "This is the way. +Follow me!"--and lead in paths of destruction. + +The old order changeth--changeth under our very eyes, not quietly and +equably, but swiftly and with the noise and heat and tumult of +reconstruction. + +I suppose that all struggle for law has been conscious, that very +little of it has been blind or merely instinctive. It is the fashion to +say, as if with superior knowledge of affairs and of human weakness, +that every age has been an age of transition, and that no age is more +full of change than another; yet in very few ages of the world can the +struggle for change have been so widespread, so deliberate, or upon so +great a scale as in this in which we are taking part. + +The transition we are witnessing is no equable transition of growth and +normal alteration; no silent, unconscious unfolding of one age into +another, its natural heir and successor. Society is looking itself +over, in our day, from top to bottom; is making fresh and critical +analysis of its very elements; is questioning its oldest practises as +freely as its newest, scrutinizing every arrangement and motive of its +life; and it stands ready to attempt nothing less than a radical +reconstruction, which only frank and honest counsels and the forces of +generous cooperation can hold back from becoming a revolution. We are +in a temper to reconstruct economic society, as we were once in a +temper to reconstruct political society, and political society may +itself undergo a radical modification in the process. I doubt if any +age was ever more conscious of its task or more unanimously desirous of +radical and extended changes in its economic and political practise. + +We stand in the presence of a revolution--not a bloody revolution, +America is not given to the spilling of blood--but a silent revolution +whereby America will insist upon recovering in practise those ideals +which she has always professed, upon securing a government devoted to +the general interest and not to special interests. + +We are upon the eve of a great reconstruction. It calls for creative +statesmanship as no age has done since that great age in which we set +up the government under which we live, that government which was the +admiration of the world until it suffered wrongs to grow up under it +which have made many of our own compatriots question the freedom of our +institutions and preach revolution against them. I do not fear +revolution. I have unshaken faith in the power of America to keep its +self-possession. Revolution will come in peaceful guise, as it came +when we put aside the crude government of the Confederation, and +created the great Federal Union which governed individuals, not States, +and which has been these one hundred and thirty years our vehicle of +progress. Some radical changes we must make in our law and practise. +Some reconstructions we must push forward, which a new age and new +circumstances impose upon us. But we can do it all in calm and sober +fashion, like statesmen and patriots. + +I do not speak of these things in apprehension, because all is open and +above-board. This is not a day in which great forces rally in secret. +The whole stupendous program must be publicly planned and canvassed. +Good temper, the wisdom that comes of sober counsel, the energy of +thoughtful and unselfish men, the habit of cooperation and of +compromise which has been bred in us by long years of free government +in which reason rather than passion has been made to prevail by the +sheer virtue of candid and universal debate, will enable us to win +through to still another great age without violence. + + + + +THE INCOME TAX IN AMERICA + +THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AMENDED A.D. 1913 + +JOSEPH A. HILL + +During the year 1913 a most amazing event happened. The United States +amended its Constitution by peaceful means. Indeed the Constitution was +twice amended; for, having passed the sixteenth amendment in February, +permitting an income tax, the States, just to show what they could do +when aroused to it, passed the seventeenth amendment in May, +authorizing the direct election of United States senators by the +people. + +Amending the United States Constitution is so difficult and cumbrous a +proceeding, that it had not previously been accomplished for over a +century, except by the throes of the terrible Civil War. The original +Constitution had twelve amendments added to it before it was fully +established in running order in 1804. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and +fifteenth amendments were added after 1865 to prohibit slavery. They +were forced upon the unwilling Southern States. From 1804 to 1913 no +amendment was put through by the regular process. Yet in that time +efforts to amend were made on over one hundred and forty occasions. Men +had grown discouraged at last; they said that amendment was impossible. +The cumbrous system which has thus so long blocked all change was that +Congress must by a two-thirds vote in each House agree to submit an +amendment to the States. These must then pass upon the new law, each in +its own legislature. If three-fourths of the legislatures approved, the +amendment was to be accepted. Few of the proposed changes ever won a +two-thirds vote in both Congressional Houses; and of those few not one +had ever appealed to the necessary overwhelming majority of State +legislatures. The Senatorial amendment passed Congress several years +ago, and had long been knocking rather hopelessly at legislative doors. +Then the Income Tax amendment appeared. Congress passed it almost +hurriedly in a spasm of progressiveness in 1909. Then came the great +sweep of progressive policies to victory in the elections of 1912; and +legislatures everywhere awoke to the universal insistence on the Income +Tax. All the States but six approved the amendment; and one of the last +acts of President Taft during his administration was to proclaim its +adoption. The popular amendment swept along in its train the Senatorial +change; and the latter, though still opposed by most of the old South, +was ratified by all the rest of the States except Rhode Island and +Utah. So it also became law. + +Nothing illustrates better the "tyranny of the dead hand" in the United +States than the history of the income tax. The Constitution laid it +down that no head tax or other direct tax should be imposed except by +apportioning it among the several States on the basis of their +population. No more effective barrier to any system of direct taxation +could possibly have been devised. It would seem clear that the main +intention of this Constitutional provision was not merely to protect +the people of the smaller States, but to force the United States +Government to depend for its revenue upon indirect taxes. Such, at any +rate, has been its effect. Legal ingenuity, however, can get round +anything. The Supreme Court decided as long ago as 1789 that an income +tax was not a direct tax, and need not, therefore, be apportioned among +the States. During the Civil War, though not, curiously enough, until +every other source of taxable wealth had pretty well run dry, an income +tax was actually imposed by three separate Acts of Congress, the Act of +1864 levying a tax of 5 per cent. on all incomes between $600 and +$5,000, and of 10 per cent. on all incomes above $5,000. The tax +continued to be collected up to 1872, when it was repealed. + +The constitutional character of the tax, when levied without +apportionment among the States of the Union, was once more fully argued +out in the Supreme Court, which in 1880 reaffirmed its decision of +1789, that a tax on incomes was not a direct tax. Some fifteen years +later, however, the question emerged again, and in a crucial form. The +Democrats came into power in 1893, and proceeded to reduce the tariff, +relying upon a tax of 2 per cent. on all incomes of over $4,000 to make +good the expected loss of revenue. The Supreme Court in 1895 shattered +all their fiscal plans and policies by pronouncing the income tax to be +a direct tax, and therefore incapable of being levied, except in strict +proportion to the population of the various States, and therefore, in +effect, incapable of being levied at all. + +That decision, in all its absurdity, has stood ever since. Its +consequences were to deny to the United States Government the right to +tax incomes, to restrict it still further to customs duties as +virtually its sole source of revenue, to deprive it of a power that +might one day be vital to the safety of the Union, and to exhibit it in +a condition of feebleness that was altogether incompatible with any +rational conception of a sovereign State. It is true that the Supreme +Court has changed not only its _personnel_, but its spirit, and its +whole attitude toward questions of public policy, since 1895. It has +more and more allowed the influence of the age and the necessities of +the times and the clear demands of social and economic justice to +moderate its decisions; and had the question of an income tax been +brought before it any time in the last five years, it would probably +have reversed its judgment of 1895. But President Taft was undoubtedly +right when he urged, in 1909, that the risk of another adverse decision +was too great to be run, and that the safer course was to proceed by +way of an amendment to the Constitution. + +The mere passing of the Income Tax amendment did not, however, +establish an income tax. It merely authorized the government to do this +at will. President Wilson's administration was prompt to take the +matter up. The Democrats, in conjunction with their reduction of the +tariff, needed a new source of revenue. So in October of 1913 the +Income Tax law was passed. In theory an Income Tax is obviously the +most just of all taxes. It summons each citizen to pay for the +government in proportion to his wealth; and his wealth marks roughly +the amount of government protection that he needs. In practise, +however, the working out of an income tax is so complex that every +grumbler can find in its intricacies some cause of complaint. The +present tax is therefore described here by an expert statistician, Mr. +Joseph A. Hill, the United States Government official at the head of +the Division of Revision and Results of the Census Bureau in +Washington. + +Among the notable events of the year 1913, one of the most important in +its influence upon the national finances and constitutional development +of the United States is the adoption of an amendment to the Federal +Constitution giving Congress the power "to lay and collect taxes on +incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the +several States and without regard to any census or enumeration." The +mere fact that an amendment of any kind has been adopted is notable, +this being the first occasion on which the Constitution had undergone +any change since the period of the Civil War, and the first amendment +adopted in peaceful and normal times since the early days of the +Republic. + +It is a little remarkable, although perhaps not altogether accidental, +that the adoption of this amendment should coincide with the return to +power of the political party whose attempt to levy an income tax in +1894 was frustrated by the decision of the Supreme Court in that year. +Then as now an income tax was a component part of the program of fiscal +and commercial reform to which that party was committed. This program +included the reduction of protective tariff duties and the direct +taxation of incomes. What the Democratic party failed to accomplish in +1894, it has had a free hand to do in 1913. Indeed, the national +taxation of incomes might almost be regarded as a mandate of the people +of the United States. At any rate, it was a foregone conclusion that +the adoption of the constitutional amendment would be immediately +followed by the enactment of an income-tax law. + +The law instituting the income tax was approved October 31[?], together +with the law revising the tariff, both measures being included in one +comprehensive statute entitled "An Act to reduce tariff duties and to +provide revenue for Government, and for other purposes." It is the +object of the present article to give a general description of the +income tax. This seems to be especially well worth while because the +tax can not be readily understood from a mere perusal of the involved +and sometimes obscure phraseology of the law itself. For the same +reason, however, the task of interpretation is not easy or entirely +safe. The law has certain novel features; and some of the questions of +detail to which they give rise can not be answered until we have the +official construction placed upon the language of the act by the +executive branch of the government and possibly by the courts. At the +same time, the main features of the tax become fairly evident to any +one who makes a careful study of the provisions of the act, even though +its application to specific cases may remain doubtful. + +The law provides that incomes shall be subject to a tax of one per +cent. on the amount by which they exceed the prescribed minimum limit +of exemption. This is designated as the "normal income tax." There is, +then, an "additional tax" of one per cent, on the amount by which any +income exceeds $20,000. The rate is increased to two per cent. on the +amount above $50,000, to three per cent. above $75,000, to four per +cent. above $100,000, to five per cent. above $250,000, and to six per +cent. above $500,000. Therefore, under the normal and additional tax +combined, the first $20,000 of income, exclusive of the minimum +exemption, will be taxed one per cent.; the next $30,000, two per +cent.; the next $25,000, three per cent.; the next $25,000, four per +cent.; the next $150,000, five per cent.; the next $250,000, six per +cent.; and all income above that point seven per cent. This is a +rigorous application of the progressive principle. + +The minimum exemption, at the same time, is comparatively high,--$4,000 +for a married person and $3,000 for everybody else. The higher +exemption in case of the married is conditional upon husband and wife +living together, and applies only to their aggregate income; that is to +say, it can not be deducted from the income of each. It may be noted, +in this connection, that in England the exemption allowed under the +income tax is £160 or $800; in Prussia it is 900 marks, or $225; and in +the State of Wisconsin it is $800 for individuals and $1,200 for a +husband and wife, with a further allowance for children or dependent +members of the family. + +The sharply progressive rates and the comparatively high exemption have +given rise to the criticism that this is a rich man's income tax and +disregards the principle that all persons should contribute to the +expenses of the government in proportion to their several abilities. It +is often said that an income tax ought to reach all incomes with the +exception of those which are close to or below the minimum necessary +for subsistence, and that if people generally were called upon to +contribute directly to the government they would take greater interest +in public affairs and show more concern over any wasteful or unwise +expenditure of public money. In reply it is contended that the +limitation of the tax to the wealthy or well-to-do classes is justified +because these classes do not pay their fair share of the indirect +national taxes, or of local property taxes. These debatable questions +lie outside the scope of the present article. It is evident, however, +that the income tax should not be criticized as if it were a single tax +or formed the only source of revenue for the Federal government. From +the fiscal standpoint it occupies a subordinate position in the +national finances, being expected to yield about $125,000,000 annually +out of a total estimated tax revenue of $680,000,000. + +The normal tax of one per cent, is to be levied upon the income of +corporations. In effect this provision of the law merely continues the +corporation or "excise" tax which was already in existence. But that +tax now becomes an integral part of the income tax, covering the income +which accrues to the stockholder and is distributable in the form of +dividends. On the theory that this income is reached at the source by +the tax upon the net earnings of the corporation the dividends as such +are exempt. They are not to be included, so far as concerns the normal +tax, in the taxable incomes of the individual stockholders and the law +does not provide that the tax paid by the corporation shall be deducted +from the dividend. + +It is perhaps a question whether under these conditions income which +consists of dividends should be considered as subject to the normal tax +or as exempt. It may be contended that a tax upon the net earnings of +corporations is virtually a tax on the stockholder's income, and in +theory this is true. But so long as the tax is not actually withheld +from the dividends, or the dividends are not reduced in consequence of +the tax, the stockholder's current income is not affected. The +imposition of the tax might indeed affect his prospective income and +might depreciate the value of his stocks. It is hardly likely, however, +that such effects will be perceptible, at least as regards the stocks +of railroads and other large corporations. If, however, it be +considered that income consisting of dividends pays the tax, it follows +that the stockholder's income is taxed no matter how small it may be. +No minimum is left exempt. On the other hand, if it be considered that +all dividends are virtually exempt, the stockholder would seem to be +unduly favored under this form of taxation in comparison with people +whose incomes are derived from other sources. Doubtless in future the +investor will look upon dividends as a form of income not subject to +the normal income tax. + +In the levy of the normal income tax there is to be a limited +application of the method of assessment and collection at the source of +the income. This method is applied very completely in the taxation of +income in Great Britain. It may be well to recall summarily the +essential features of the British system. The tax is levied upon the +property or industrial enterprise which yields or produces the income. +But the person occupying the property or conducting the enterprise, and +paying the assessment in the first instance, is authorized and required +to deduct the tax from the income as it is distributed among the +persons entitled to share in it either as proprietors, landlords, +creditors, or employees. Under the English system, an industrial +corporation, for instance, pays the income tax upon its gross earnings +and then deducts it from the dividends, interest, salaries, and rents +as these payments are made. The householder pays an assessment levied +upon the annual value of his dwelling (less an allowance for repairs +and insurance) and then if he occupies the premises as tenant deducts +the tax from his rent. The income from agriculture is reached by a +similar assessment upon the farmer, based upon the annual or rental +value of the farm and with the same right of deduction from the rent if +he is a tenant farmer. + +From the standpoint of the government, the main advantage of this mode +of assessment as compared with a tax levied directly upon the +recipients of the income is the greater certainty with which it reaches +the income subject to taxation. The opportunities for evasion by +concealment of income are reduced to a minimum, partly because the +sources of income are, in general, not easily concealed and partly +because, to a considerable extent, the persons upon whom the tax is +assessed are not interested in avoiding the tax. The advantages, +however, are not all on the side of the government. The tax possesses +certain advantages from the standpoint of the taxpayer, also, assuming +him to be an honest taxpayer who is not seeking opportunities to evade +taxation. One advantage is that he is relieved in almost every case +from the necessity of revealing to the tax officials the whole of his +personal income. The tax does not pry into his personal affairs. +Another advantage is that the tax is paid out of current income, being +deducted from the income as it is received. It is therefore distributed +over the year and adjusted to the flow of income as it comes in. A tax +thus collected is less burdensome in its incidence than a tax paid in +one lump sum several months after the expiration of the year to which +it related and after the income on which it is levied has been all +received and perhaps all expended. + +The English system of assessing an income tax at the source, however, +has its disadvantages. It is admirably suited for a tax levied at a +uniform rate on all income or on all income above a small minimum. But +it is not well suited for the application of progressive taxation or +for the introduction of gradations or distinctions based upon the size +or character of the individual incomes. Nevertheless, the English +income tax, besides exempting a minimum, provides for graded reductions +or abatements in favor of the possessors of small incomes above the +minimum, and for a reduced rate on "unearned" income within certain +limits. All this, however, makes necessary a declaration or complete +statement of income from the persons claiming the benefit of those +provisions, and also necessitates refunding a large amount of the tax +collected at the source. Moreover, the progressive principle has +recently been applied by imposing a "super-tax" on incomes in excess of +£5,000, which also requires a declaration, the tax being necessarily +assessed upon the possessor of the income and not at the source. The +super-tax, it may be observed, occupies a position in the English +system similar to that of the additional tax in the United States, +serving to increase the tax upon the larger incomes in accordance with +the principle of progression. + +Considering the various provisos and exceptions in connection with the +general rule of the act, the scope of the application of the method of +collecting the tax at the source may perhaps be safely stated thus: the +normal tax is to be deducted (1) from all interest payments made by +corporations on bonds and the like, without regard to the amount; (2) +from all other interest payments when the amount is more than $3,000 in +any one year; (3) from all payments of rents, salaries, or wages +amounting in any one case to over $3,000 annually; (4) from all other +payments of over $3,000 (excepting dividends) which may be comprised +under the designations "premiums, compensations, remuneration, +emoluments, or other fixed or determinable gains, profits, or income." + +The principle of assessing income at its source, as applied in this +act, does not relieve the individual from the necessity of making a +full revelation to the tax officials of his personal income from all +sources. Though this statement needs to be qualified in one or two +particulars, the law provides in general that every person subject to +the tax and having an income of $3,000 or over shall make a true and +accurate return under oath or affirmation "setting forth specifically +the gross amount of income from all separate sources and from the total +thereof deducting the aggregate items or expenses and allowance" +authorized by the law. Although income from which the tax has been +withheld is not included in the net personal and taxable income of the +taxpayer, it must, nevertheless, be accounted for and included in his +declaration as a part of his gross income, forming one of the specified +items which are to be deducted from the gross income in arriving at the +income subject to taxation. + +As already intimated, the general requirement of the full and complete +statement of income is subject to certain exceptions. One relates to +the income from dividends, the law providing that "persons liable to +the normal tax only ... shall not be required to make return of the +income derived from dividends on the capital stock or from the net +earnings of corporations, joint-stock companies or associations, and +insurance companies taxable upon their net income." It will be noted +that this proviso is restricted to persons who are "liable for the +normal tax only," _i.e._, persons having net incomes under $20,000. It +would seem, therefore, that the taxpayer claiming and securing this +privilege must in some way, without revealing the amount received from +dividends, satisfy the tax assessors that his total net income, +including the dividends (amount not stated), does not exceed $20,000. +Of course a form of statement can easily be devised to cover the +situation. But whether the law will be administered in such a way that +this provision affords some relief from the general obligation of +making a detailed and complete statement of income remains to be seen. + +Another exception to the general requirement of a complete declaration +of income covers the case of the taxpayer whose entire income has been +assessed and the tax on it deducted at the source. The law relieves +such persons from the obligation of making any declaration of income; +although it is not certain that this privilege can be secured without +foregoing or sacrificing the benefits of any abatements to which the +individual taxpayer might be entitled on account of business expenses, +interest payments, losses, etc. It seems probable that where the income +is all assessed at the source the taxpayer may obtain the benefit of +the minimum exemption without making a declaration of income. + +It appears, therefore, that assessment at the source does not, under +this law, operate in such a way as to afford the taxpayer any +substantial relief from the necessity of making a revelation of his +income to tax officials. Whatever basis there may be for the common +criticism or complaint that an income tax is inquisitorial remains +under the operation of this law to nearly the same extent that it +would if the tax were levied wholly and directly upon the recipients +of the income, with no resort to taxation at the source. + +Regarding the assessment of the additional tax not much need be said in +the way of explanation. It is, in theory at least, a comparatively +simple matter. There is no attempt here to make any application of the +principle of collection at the source. The tax is all levied directly +upon the recipients of the individual incomes, and the assessment is +based upon the taxpayer's declaration, which for the purposes of this +tax must cover the "entire net income from all sources, corporate or +otherwise." The tax is thus largely distinct from the normal income tax +as regards both the method of assessment and the rates. It is, however, +to be administered through the same machinery, and no doubt to some +extent the information obtained as to the sources of income in +connection with the assessment of the normal tax will prove useful as a +check upon the returns of income required for assessment of the +additional tax. Every person whose income exceeds $20,000 will be +subject to both taxes, the normal and the additional, but presumably +will be required to make only one declaration. For the purposes of the +additional tax he will be required to declare his income from all +sources, and therefore any relief from the obligation of making a +complete revelation of income which may be secured to him through the +application of the principle of assessment at the source in connection +with the normal tax will be entirely sacrificed. + +The administration of a direct personal income tax--using that term to +describe a tax levied directly on individual incomes--is a +comparatively simple matter, however ineffective it may prove to be in +reaching the income subject to it. Under this method of taxation it is +easy to exempt a minimum, to apply progression in the rates, or to make +any other adjustments that may be deemed equitable with reference +either to the size or character of the income or to the circumstances +of the taxpayer. But as soon as we depart from this simple method and +resort to taxation at the source, we encounter difficulties in varying +the rates, allowing exemptions, or making any similar adjustments. In +the English income tax, these difficulties are squarely met and +surmounted. As previously explained, that tax is in the first instance +levied indiscriminately on all accessible sources of income and the +adjustments are effected by refunding the tax collected at the source +so far as may be necessary. No provision is made for forestalling the +deduction of the tax, and no returns are required of the names and +addresses of persons to whom payments of incomes are made. The +exemption, however, is small ($800), and the abatements extend only to +incomes below $3,500. Above that point the entire income is taxable. + +A tax which provides for the exemption of $3,000 or $4,000 from every +individual income places a formidable barrier in the way of a +thoroughgoing application of assessment at the source. It is evident +that with a universal exemption as high as this, a very large amount of +tax withheld and collected at the source would ultimately have to be +refunded. The law as enacted indicates an intention to secure in part +the advantage of assessment at the source and at the same time avoid in +part the attendant disadvantage of having to refund the tax. The +measure might be characterized as one which as regards the "normal tax" +applies the principle of assessment at the source to corporate income +completely and to other income in spots. The "additional tax" is simply +the direct personal tax. The normal tax will doubtless be successful in +reaching the large amount of income earned or created by enterprises +conducted under the corporate form of organization, much of which would +probably escape assessment under a direct personal income tax. But +beyond this it is questionable whether the method of assessment at the +source as here applied will be of sufficient advantage to justify the +administrative complications which it involves. + +It seems useless, however, as well as unwise, to venture any +predictions as to how successful the tax will be in reaching the income +subject to it or how well it will work in actual practise. The law will +doubtless require amendment in many particulars, even if it does not +need to be radically revised. That the income tax in some form will be +perpetuated as a permanent part of our system of national finance may +safely be predicted. Properly adjusted and wisely administered, it +should greatly strengthen the financial resources of the Government, +make possible a closer adjustment of revenue to expenditure, and secure +a more equitable distribution of the burden of taxation. + + + + +THE SECOND BALKAN WAR + +GREECE AND SERVIA CRUSH THE AMBITIONS OF BULGARIA + +A.D. 1913 + +PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +CAPT. A.H. TRAPMANN + +The crushing defeat of Turkey by the Balkan States during the winter of +1912-13 had been accomplished mainly by Bulgaria. The Bulgarians were +therefore eager to assert themselves as the chief Balkan State, the +Power which was to take the place of Turkey as ruler of the "Near +East." Naturally this roused the antagonism not only of Bulgaria's +recent allies, Greece and Servia, but also of the other neighboring +State, Roumania. Bulgaria hoped to meet and crush her two allies before +Roumania could join them. Thus she deliberately precipitated a war +which resulted in her utter defeat. From this contest Greece has +emerged as the chief State of the eastern Mediterranean, a growing +Power which at last bears some resemblance to the classic Greece of +ancient times. + +To understand this war, it should be realized that the Bulgars are +really an Asiatic race, who broke into Europe as the Hungarians had +done before them, and as the Turks did afterward. Hence their kinship +with European races or manners is really slight, though they have +something of Slavic or Russian blood. The Servians are near akin to the +Russians. The Roumanians trace their ancestry proudly, if somewhat +dubiously, back to the old Roman colonists of the days of Rome's world +empire. The Greeks are really the most ancient dwellers in the region; +and to their pride of race was now added a furious eagerness to prove +their military power. This had been much scorned after their +ineffective war against Turkey in 1897, and they had found no +opportunity to give decisive proof of their strength during the war of +1912. + +To Professor Duggan's account of the causes and results of the war, +which appeared originally in the _Political Science Quarterly_, we +append the picture of its most striking incidents by Captain Trapmann, +who was with the Greek army through its brief but brilliant campaign. + + +PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +When the secret treaty of alliance of March, 1912, between Bulgaria and +Servia against Turkey was signed, a division of the territory that +might possibly fall to the allies was agreed upon. Neither Bulgaria nor +Servia has ever published the treaty in full, but from the +denunciations and recriminations indulged in by the parliaments of +both, we know in general what the division was to be. The river +Maritza, it was hoped, would become the western boundary of Turkey, and +a line running from a point just east of Kumanova to the head of Lake +Ochrida was to divide the conquered territory between Servia and +Bulgaria. This would give Monastir, Prilip, Ochrida, and Veles to the +Bulgarians--a great concession on the part of Servia. Certain other +disputed towns were to be left to the arbitrament of the Czar of +Russia. The chief aim to be attained by this division was that Servia +should obtain a seaboard upon the Adriatic Sea, and Bulgaria upon the +Aegean. Incidentally Bulgaria would obtain western Thrace and the +greater part of Macedonia, and Servia would secure the greater part of +Albania. + +These calculations had been entirely upset by the course of events. +Bulgaria's share had been considerably increased by the unexpected +conquest of eastern Thrace, including Adrianople, whereas Servia's +portion had been greatly diminished by the creation of an independent +Albania out of her share. Moreover, M. Pashitch, the Servian prime +minister, maintained that whereas by the preliminary treaty Bulgaria +was to send detachments to assist the Servian armies operating in the +Vardar valley, the reverse had been found necessary and Adrianople had +only been taken with the help of 60,000 Servians and by means of the +Servian siege guns. Equity demanded that the new conditions which had +arisen and which had entirely altered the situation should be given +consideration and that Bulgaria should not expect the preliminary +agreement to be carried out. Now, from the outbreak of hostilities +Bulgaria's foreign affairs, in which King Ferdinand was supposed to be +supreme, were really controlled by the prime minister, Dr. Daneff. He +proved to be the evil genius of his country; for his arrogant, +unyielding attitude upon every disputed point, not only with the enemy, +but with the allies and with the Powers, destroyed all kindly feeling +for Bulgaria, and left her friendless in her hour of need. Dr. Daneff's +answer to the Servian contention was that Bulgaria bore the brunt of +the fight; that, had she not kept the main Turkish force occupied, +Servia and Greece would have been crushed; that a treaty is a treaty, +and that the additional gain of eastern Thrace in no way invalidated +the old agreement. + +The recriminations between Greeks and Bulgarians were quite as bitter. +There had been no preliminary agreement as to the division of conquered +territory between them, and this permitted each to indulge in the most +extravagant claims. The great bone of contention was the possession of +the fine port of Salonika. As soon as the war against Turkey broke out, +both states pushed forward troops to occupy that city. The Greeks +arrived first and were still in possession. Moreover, they maintained +that, except for the Jews, the population is chiefly Greek. So are the +trade and the schools. M. Venezelos, the Greek prime minister, insisted +also that the erection of an independent Albania deprived Greece of a +large part of northern Epirus, as it had deprived Servia of a great +part of Old Servia, and Montenegro of Scutari. In fact, he asserted +that Bulgaria alone would retain everything she hoped for, securing +nearly three-fifths of the conquered territory, and leaving only +two-fifths to be divided among her three allies; and this, despite the +fact that but for the activity of the Greek navy in preventing the +convoy of Turkey's best troops from Asia, Bulgaria would never have had +her rapid success at the beginning of the war. Finally, he strenuously +objected to the whole seaboard of Macedonia going to Bulgaria, as the +population where it was not Moslem was chiefly Greek. All the parties +to the dispute made much of ethnical and historical claims--"A thousand +years are as a day" in their sight. The answer of Dr. Daneff to the +Greek demands was to the effect that Greece already had one good port +on the Mediterranean, while Bulgaria had none, and that Bulgaria would +have to spend immense sums on either Kavala or Dedeagatch to make them +of any great value. Moreover, as a result of the war, Greece would get +Crete, the Aegean islands, and a good slice of the mainland. She had +suffered least in the war and was really being overpaid for her +services. + +Behind all these formal contentions were the conflicting ambitions and +the racial hatreds which no discussion could effectually resolve. +Bulgaria was determined to secure the hegemony of the Balkan peninsula. +She believed that her role was that of a Balkan Prussia, and her great +victories made her confident of her ability to play the role +successfully. To this Servia would never consent. The Servians far +outnumber the Bulgarians. Were they united under one scepter they would +be the strongest nation in the Balkans. Their policy is to maintain an +equilibrium in the peninsula until the hoped-for annexation of Bosnia +and Herzegovina will give them the preponderance. This alone would +incline Servia to make common cause with Greece. In addition, she had +the powerful motive of direct self-interest. Since she did not secure +the coveted territory on the Adriatic, Salonika would be more than ever +the natural outlet for her products. Should Bulgaria wedge in behind +Greece at Salonika, Servia would have two Powers to deal with, each of +which could pursue the policy of destroying her commerce by a +prohibitory tariff, a policy so often adopted toward her by +Austria-Hungary. M. Pashitch, therefore, was determined to have the new +southern boundary of Servia coterminous with the northern boundary of +Greece. Moreover, Greeks and Servians were aware of the relative +weakness of the Bulgarians due to their great losses and to the wide +territory occupied by their troops. The war party was in the ascendant +in each country. The Servians were anxious to avenge Slivnitza, and the +Greeks still further to redeem themselves from the reputation of 1897. +Had peace been signed in January, there is little doubt that a greater +spirit of conciliation would have prevailed. The Young Turks were +universally condemned at that time for refusing to yield; but had they +deliberately adopted Abdul Hamid's policy of playing off one people +against another, they could not have succeeded better than by their +determination to fight. + +Even before the fall of Adrianople, on March 26th, military conflicts +had taken place between Bulgarians and Servians and between Bulgarians +and Greeks. On March 12th a pitched battle occurred between the latter +at Nigrita; and though a mixed commission at once drew up a code of +regulations for use in towns occupied by joint armies, not the +slightest attention was subsequently paid to it. The Servians shortly +afterward expelled the manager of the branch of the National Bulgarian +Bank at Monastir, a step which drew forth emphatic protests from Sofia +against the policy of Serbizing districts in anticipation of the final +settlement. On April 17th, M. Pashitch informed Bulgaria that the +Government would refuse to be bound by the terms of the preliminary +treaty of March, 1912. From that date until the signing of the treaty +of peace with Turkey on May 31st, the recent allies carried on an +unofficial war, which consisted of combats of extermination marked by +inhuman rage. After that event each of the combatants strained every +nerve to push forward its armies and to possess new territories, while +each continued to accuse the other of violating every principle of +international law. + +The ambassadors of the great Powers at the capitals of the Balkan +States made urgent representations to the Balkan Governments to +restrain their armies, but without effect. On June 10th the Servian +Government dispatched a note to Sofia demanding a categorical answer to +the Servian demand for a revision of the preliminary treaty. On July +11th the Czar telegraphed to King Peter and King Ferdinand appealing to +them to avoid a fratricidal war, reminding them of his position as +arbitrator under the preliminary treaty and warning them that he would +hold responsible whichever state appealed to force. "The state which +begins war will be responsible before the Slav cause." This well-meant +action had an effect the opposite of that hoped for. In Vienna it was +looked upon as an indirect assertion of moral guardianship by Russia +over the Slav world. The Austrian press insisted that the Balkan states +were of age and could take care of themselves. If not, it was for +Europe, not for Russia, to control them. The political horizon grew +still darker when one week later Dr. Daneff answered the Servian note +in the negative. This resulted in the Servian Minister withdrawing from +Sofia on June 22d. + +What was the plan of campaign and the degree of preparedness of the +principal belligerent in the second Balkan war which was about to +commence? The plan of the Bulgarians was the only one whereby they +could hope to secure victory. It depended for success upon surprizing +the Servians by sending masses of Bulgarian troops into the home +territory of Servia by way of the passes leading directly from Sofia +westward through the mountains. This would cut off the Servian armies +operating in Macedonia from their base of supplies and require their +immediate recall for the defense of the home territory. It was an +operation attended by almost insurmountable obstacles. The major part +of the Bulgarian army was in eastern Thrace and would have to be +brought across a country unprovided with either railroads or sufficient +highways. Moreover, the army would have to rely for the transport of +provisions and equipment upon slow-moving bullock wagons. Nevertheless, +given time, secrecy, and freedom from interference, the aim might be +attained. The necessary divisions of the army were set in motion in the +beginning of May. So successful were the Bulgarians in keeping secret +the route and the progress of the army, that by the middle of June they +confidently looked forward to success. Their high hopes were destroyed +by the evil diplomacy of Dr. Daneff in his relations with Roumania. + +Russia rewarded Roumania for her splendid assistance in the +Russo-Turkish war of 1877 by depriving her of her fertile province of +Bessarabia and compelling her to take in exchange the Dobrudja, a low, +marshy district inhabited chiefly by Bulgarians and Moslems. And that +was not all. Through Russian influence the commission appointed to +delimit the boundary between Roumania and the new principality of +Bulgaria put the town of Silistria upon the Bulgarian side of the +boundary. Now the heights of Silistria command absolutely the Roumanian +territory opposite to it and the Dobrudja. The Danube directly in front +of Silistria spreads out in a marsh several miles wide, so that it is +impossible to approach Silistria from the Roumanian side by bridge. As +a result Roumania has always felt that her southern border was at the +mercy of Bulgaria and has always, as one of the chief aims of her +national existence, looked forward to the rectification of her southern +boundary. The unfriendly attitude of Russia threw Roumania into the +arms of Austria, so that from the days of the Berlin treaty to the +Balkan war, Roumania has been considered a true friend of the Triple +Alliance. She viewed with jealousy and fear the rapid growth of +Bulgaria in power and in strength. Crowded in between the two military +empires of Russia and Austria-Hungary, Roumania naturally looked upon +the development of another military state upon her southern border as a +menace to her national existence. Hence when the Macedonian question +became very acute in 1903, and it seemed that action would be +undertaken by Bulgaria and Servia against Turkey, Roumania had declared +that she would not tolerate an alteration of the _status quo_. She did +not move, however, when the allies undertook the war of liberation in +October, 1912. But when a month's campaign changed the war from one of +liberation to one of conquest, Roumania demanded from Bulgaria as the +price of neutrality Silistria and a small slice of the Black Sea coast +sufficient to satisfy strategic military demands. + +It was in his relations with Roumania that Daneff's diplomacy was most +stupid. M. Take Jonescu, one of Roumanians ablest statesmen, was sent +by the Government to the first Peace Conference at London to secure +pledges from Dr. Daneff in regard to the Roumanian demand. He could get +no answer. Daneff used every device to gain time in the hope that a +settlement with Turkey would relieve Bulgaria from the necessity of +giving anything. When the peace negotiations failed and the war between +the allies and Turkey recommenced, the relations between Roumania and +Bulgaria became very critical. However, at the Czar's suggestion, both +countries agreed to refer the dispute to a conference of the +ambassadors of the great Powers at St. Petersburg. Dr. Daneff, who +represented Bulgaria, adopted a most truculent attitude and refused to +yield on any point. As a result of the skilful diplomacy of the French +ambassador, M. Delcassé, in reconciling the divergent views of the +great Powers, Roumania was awarded, on April 19th, the town of +Silistria and a three-mile zone around it, but was refused an increase +on the seaboard. The award was very unpopular in Roumania, but M. +Jonescu risked his official life by successfully urging the Roumanian +Government to accept it. But when it became perfectly evident, after +the signing of the Treaty of London on May 30th, that the former allies +were now to be enemies, the Roumanian government notified Bulgaria that +she could not rely upon its neutrality without compensation in the +interests of the equilibrium of the Balkans. + +Such was the diplomatic situation when the Czar's telegram of June 11th +was received by King Ferdinand. Nothing could have been more +inopportune for the Bulgarian cause. Though the government had no +intention of changing its plan, sufficient deference had to be paid to +the Czar's request to suspend the forward movement of troops. The delay +was fatal. The Servians, who were already aware that the Bulgarians +were in motion, now learned their direction and their actual positions. +The Servian Government hastened to fortify the passes of the Balkans +between Bulgaria and the home territory, and the Servian army in +Macedonia effected a junction with the Greek army from Salonika. There +was nothing left for the Bulgarians but to direct their offensive +movements against the southern Servian divisions in Macedonia. The +great _coup_ had failed. Instead of attacking first the Servians and +then the Greeks and overwhelming them separately, it was necessary to +fight their combined forces. + +Every element in the situation demanded the utmost caution on the part +of Bulgaria. Elementary prudence dictated that she yield to Roumanians +demand for a slice of the seaboard to Baltchik in order to prevent +Roumania from joining Servia and Greece. No doubt, had Daneff yielded +he would have been voted out of office by the opposition, for the +military party was in the ascendant at Sofia also. But a real statesman +would not have flinched. Seldom has the influence of home politics upon +the foreign affairs of a State operated so disastrously upon both. It +was determined to carry out that part of the original plan of campaign +which called for a surprise attack upon the Servians. It must be +remembered that all the engagements that had hitherto taken place +between the former allies had been unofficial, Daneff all the while +insisting that there existed no war, but "only military action to +enforce the Serbo-Bulgarian treaty." Nevertheless, on June 29th the +word went forth from Bulgarian headquarters for a general attack upon +the Servian line which, taken by surprise, yielded. + +In the mean time public opinion at Bucharest became almost +uncontrollable in its demand for the mobilization of the troops, and +the government was outraged at the continued prohibition by Russia of a +forward movement. The Roumanian Government had already appealed to +Count Berchtold for Austro-Hungarian support against Russian +interference, but Austria-Hungary, like every other great power, +expected Bulgaria to win, and she intended that Bulgaria should take +the place vacated by Turkey as a counterpoise to Russia in the Balkans. +Hence Count Berchtold informed Roumania that she could not rely upon +Austro-Hungarian support, were she to ignore the Russian veto. But in +the mean time an exaggerated report of the Servian defeat had reached +St. Petersburg on July 1st, and to save Servia, Russia lifted the +embargo on Roumanian action. + +Forty-eight hours later Europe knew that the Greeks had fought the +fearful battle of Kilchis, resulting in the utter rout of the +Bulgarians, who were in full retreat to defend the Balkan passes into +their home territory. Russia at once recalled her permission for +Roumanian mobilization, but it was too late. The army was on the march. + +The situation of Bulgaria was now truly desperate. Not only had her +_coup_ against the Servians failed, but her troops were fleeing before +the victorious Greeks up the Struma valley. On July 5th war was +officially recognized by the withdrawal of the representatives of +Greece, Montenegro, and Roumania, from Sofia. On the same day Turkey +requested the withdrawal of all Bulgarian troops east of the Enos-Midia +line. In the bloody battles which continued to be fought against Greeks +and Servians, the Bulgarians were nearly everywhere defeated, and on +July 10th Bulgaria placed herself unreservedly in the hands of Russia +with a view to a cessation of hostilities. + +This did not, however, prevent the forward movement of all her enemies. +On July 15th, Turkey, "moved by the unnatural war" existing in the +Balkan Peninsula, dispatched Enver Bey with an army to Adrianople, +which he reoccupied July 20th. By that time the Roumanians were within +twenty miles of Sofia, and the guns of the Servians and Greeks could be +heard in the Bulgarian capital. The next day King Ferdinand telegraphed +to King Charles of Roumania, asking him to intercede with the kings of +Greece, Servia, and Montenegro. He did so, and all the belligerents +agreed to send peace delegates to Bucharest. They assembled there on +July 29th and at once concluded an armistice. + +Each of the belligerent States sent its best man to the peace +conference. Greece was represented by M. Venezelos, Servia by M. +Pashitch, Roumania by M. Jonescu, Montenegro by M. Melanovitch, and +Bulgaria chiefly by General Fitcheff, who had opposed the surprise +attack upon the Servians. The policy of Bulgaria at the conference was +to satisfy the demands of Roumania at once, sign a separate treaty +which would rid her territory of Roumanian troops, and then treat with +Greece and Servia. But M. Jonescu, who controlled the situation, +insisted that peace must be restored by one treaty, not by several. At +the same time he let it be known that Roumania would not uphold +extravagant claims on the part of Greece and Servia which they could +never have advanced were her troops not at the gates of Sofia. The +moderate Roumanian demands were easily settled. Her southern boundary +was to run from Turtukai via Dobritch to Baltchik on the Black Sea. She +also secured cultural privileges for the Kutzovlachs in Bulgaria. The +Servians, who before the second Balkan war would have been satisfied +with the Vardar river as a boundary, now insisted upon the possession +of the important towns of Kotchana, Ishtib, Radovishta, and Strumnitza, +to the east of the Vardar. With the assistance of Roumania, Bulgaria +was permitted to retain Strumnitza. The Greeks were the most +unyielding. Before the war they would have been perfectly satisfied to +have secured the Struma river as their eastern boundary. Now they +demanded much more of the Aegean seacoast, including the important port +of Kavala. The Bulgarian representatives refused to sign without the +possession of Kavala, but under pressure from Roumania they had to +consent. But they would yield on nothing else. The money indemnity +demanded by Greece and Servia and the all-around grant of religious +privileges suggested by Roumania had to be dropped. The treaty was +signed August 6, 1913. + +In the mean time the Powers had not been passive onlookers. +Austria-Hungary insisted that Balkan affairs are European affairs and +that the Treaty of Bucharest should be considered as merely +provisional, to be made definitive by the great Powers. On this +proposition the members of both the Triple Alliance and the Triple +Entente divided. Austria and Italy in the one, and Russia in the other, +favored a revision. Austria fears a strong Servia, and Italy dislikes +the growth of Greek influence in the eastern Mediterranean. These two +States and Russia favored a whittling-down of the gains of Greece and +Servia and insisted upon Kavala and a bigger slice of the Aegean +seaboard for Bulgaria. But France, England, and Germany insisted upon +letting well-enough alone. King Charles of Roumania, who demanded that +the peace should be considered definitive, sent a telegram to Emperor +William containing the following sentence: "Peace is assured, and +thanks to you, will remain definitive." This gave great umbrage at +Vienna; but in the divided condition of the European Concert, no State +wanted to act alone. So the treaty stands. + +The condition of Bulgaria was indeed pitiable, but her cup was not yet +full. Immediately after occupying Adrianople on July 20th, the Turks +had made advances to the Bulgarian government looking to the settlement +of a new boundary. But Bulgaria, relying upon the intervention of the +Powers, had refused to treat at all. On August 7th the representatives +of the great Powers at Constantinople called collectively upon the +Porte to demand that it respect the Treaty of London. But the Porte had +seen Europe so frequently flouted by the little Balkan States during +the previous year, that it had slight respect for Europe as a +collective entity. In fact, Europe's prestige at Constantinople had +disappeared. _J'y suis, j'y reste_ was the answer of the Turks to the +demand to evacuate Adrianople. The recapture of that city had been a +godsend to the Young Turk party. The Treaty of London had destroyed +what little influence it had retained after the defeat of the armies, +and it grasped at the seizure of Adrianople as a means of awakening +enthusiasm and keeping office. As the days passed by, it became evident +that further delay would cost Bulgaria dear. On August 15th the Turkish +troops crossed the Maritza river and occupied western Thrace, though +the Porte had hitherto been willing to accept the Maritza as the +boundary. The Bulgarian hope of a European intervention began to fade. +The Turks were soon able to convince the Bulgarian Government that most +of the great Powers were willing to acquiesce in the retention of +Adrianople by the Turks in return for economic and political +concessions to themselves. There was nothing for Bulgaria to do but +yield, and on September 3d General Savoff and M. Tontcheff started for +Constantinople to treat with the Turkish government for a new boundary +line. They pleaded for the Maritza as the boundary between the two +States, the possession of the west bank being essential for railway +connection between Bulgaria and Dedeagatch, her only port on the +Aegean. But this plea came in conflict with the determination of the +Turks to keep a sufficient strategic area around Adrianople. Hence the +Turks demanded and secured a considerable district on the west bank, +including the important town of Dimotika. By the preliminary agreement +signed on September 18th the boundary starts at the mouth of the +Maritza river, goes up the river to Mandra, then west around Dimotika +almost to Mustafa Pasha. On the north the line starts at Sveti Stefan +and runs west so that Kirk Kilesseh is retained by Turkey. + +While the Balkan belligerents were settling upon terms of peace among +themselves, the conference of ambassadors at London was trying to bring +the settlement of the Albanian problem to a conclusion. On August 11th +the conference agreed that an international commission of control, +consisting of a representative of each of the great Powers, should +administer the affairs of Albania until the Powers should select a +prince as ruler of the autonomous State. The conference also decided to +establish a _gendarmerie_ under the command of military officers +selected from one of the small neutral States of Europe. At the same +time the conference agreed upon the southern boundary of Albania. This +line was a compromise between that demanded by Greece and that demanded +by Austria-Hungary and Italy. Unfortunately it was agreed that the +international boundary commission which was to be appointed should in +drawing the line be guided mainly by the nationality of the inhabitants +of the districts through which it would pass. At once Greeks and +Albanians began a campaign of nationalization in the disputed +territory, which resulted in sanguinary conflicts. Unrest soon spread +throughout the whole of Albania. On August 17th a committee of +Malissori chiefs visited Admiral Burney, who was in command, at +Scutari, of the marines from the international fleet, to notify him +that the Malissori would never agree to incorporation in Montenegro. +They proceeded to make good their threat by capturing the important +town of Dibra and driving the Servians from the neighborhood of Djakova +and Prizrend. Since then the greater part of northern and southern +Albania has been practically in a state of anarchy. + +The settlement of the Balkans described in this article will probably +last for at least a generation, not because all the parties to the +settlement are content, but because it will take at least a generation +for the dissatisfied States to recuperate. Bulgaria is in far worse +condition than she was before the war with Turkey. The second Balkan +war, caused by her policy of greed and arrogance, destroyed 100,000 of +the flower of her manhood, lost her all of Macedonia and eastern +Thrace, and increased her expenses enormously. Her total gains, whether +from Turkey or from her former allies, were but eighty miles of +seaboard on the Aegean, with a Thracian hinterland wofully depopulated. +Even railway communication with her one new port of Dedeagatch has been +denied her. Bulgaria is in despair, but full of hate. However, with a +reduced population and a bankrupt treasury, she will need many years to +recuperate before she can hope to upset the new arrangement. And it +will be hard even to attempt that; for the _status quo_ is founded upon +the principle of a balance of power in the Balkan peninsula; and +Roumania has definitely announced herself as a Balkan power. Servia, +and more particularly Greece, have made acquisitions beyond their +wildest dreams at the beginning of the war and have now become strong +adherents of the policy of equilibrium. + +The future of the Turks is in Asia, and Turkey in Asia just now is in a +most unhappy condition. Syria, Armenia, and Arabia are demanding +autonomy; and the former respect of the other Moslems for the governing +race, _i.e._, the Turks, has received a severe blow. Whether Turkey can +pull itself together, consolidate its resources, and develop the +immense possibilities of its Asiatic possessions remains, of course, to +be seen. But it will have no power, and probably no desire, to upset +the new arrangement in the Balkans. + +The settlement is probably a landmark in Balkan history in that it +brings to a close the period of tutelage exercised by the great Powers +over the Christian States of the Balkans. Neither Austria-Hungary nor +Russia emerges from the ordeal with prestige. The pan-Slavic idea has +received a distinct rebuff. To Roumania and Greece, another non-Slavic +State, _i.e._, Albania, has been added; and in no part of the peninsula +is Russia so detested as in Bulgaria which unreasonably protests that +Russia betrayed her. "Call us Huns, Turks, or Tatars, but not Slavs." +Twice the Austro-Hungarians, in their anxiety to maintain the balance +of power in the Balkans, made the mistake of backing the wrong +combatant. In the first war, they upheld Turkey; and in the second, +they favored Bulgaria. In encouraging Bulgarian aggression they +estranged Roumania, the faithful friend of a generation, and Bulgaria +won only debt and disgrace. Yet Austria-Hungary must now continue to +support Bulgaria as a counterpoise to a stronger Servia which they +consider a menace to their security because of Servian influence on +their southern Slavs. The Balkan states will manage their own affairs +in the future, but they will still offer abundant opportunity for the +play of Russian and Austro-Hungarian rivalry. It had been hoped that +the Balkan peninsula, when freed from the incubus of Turkish misrule, +would settle down to a period of general tranquillity. Instead of this, +the ejectment of the Turk has resulted in increased bitterness and more +dangerous hate. + + +CAPT. ALBERT H. TRAPMANN + +I doubt if history can show a more brilliant or dramatic campaign than +that which the Greeks commenced on the first of July and ended on the +last day of the same month; certainly no country has ever been drenched +with so much blood in so short a space of time as was Macedonia, and +never in the history of the human race have such enormities been +committed upon the helpless civilian inhabitants of a war-stricken +land. + +Bulgaria felt herself amply strong enough to crush the Servian and +Greek armies single-handed, provided peace with Turkey could be +assured, and the Bulgarian troops at Tchataldja set free. Thus, while +Bulgaria talked loudly about the conference at St. Petersburg, she was +making feverish haste to persuade the Allies to join with her in +concluding peace with Turkey. But the Allies were quite alive to the +dangers they ran. As peace with Turkey became daily more assured, the +Bulgarian army at Tchataldja was gradually withdrawn and transported to +face the Greek and Servian armies in Macedonia. + +But meanwhile Bulgaria had got one more preparation to make. Her plan +was to attack the Allies suddenly, but to do it in such a way that the +Czar and Europe might believe that the attack was mutual and +unpremeditated. She therefore set herself to accustom the world to +frontier incidents between the rival armies. On no fewer than four +occasions various Bulgarian generals acting under secret instructions +attacked the Greek or Servian troops in their vicinity. The last of +these incidents, which was by far the most serious, took place on the +24th of May in the Pangheion region, when the sudden attack at sunset +of 25,000 Bulgarians drove the Greek defenders back some six miles upon +their supports. On each occasion the Bulgarian Government disclaimed +all responsibility, and attributed the bloodshed to the personal +initiative of individual soldiers acting under (imaginary) provocation. + +The incident of the 24th of May cost the Bulgarians some 1,500 +casualties, while the Greeks lost about 800 men, sixteen of whom were +prisoners; two of these subsequently died from ill-treatment. In +connection with this last "incident" a circumstance arose which +demonstrates more vividly than mere adjectives the underhand methods +employed by the Sofia authorities. It was announced that the Bulgarians +had captured six Greek guns, and these were duly displayed at Sofia and +inspected by King Ferdinand. I myself was at Salonica at the time, and, +knowing that this was not true, I protested through the _Daily +Telegraph_ against the misleading rumor. A controversy arose, but it +was subsequently proved by two artillery experts who inspected the guns +in question that they were really Bulgarian guns painted gray, with +their telltale breech-blocks removed. + +On the morning of the 29th of June we at Salonica received the news +that during the night Bulgarian troops in force had attacked the Greek +outposts in the Pangheion region and driven them in. All through the +day came in fresh news of further attacks all along the line. At +Guevgheli, where the Greek and Servian armies met, the Bulgarians had +attacked fiercely, occupied the town, and cut the railway line. The two +armies were separated from each other by an interposing Bulgarian +force. On the morning of the 30th of June it was learned that all along +the line the Bulgarians had crossed the neutral line and were +advancing, while at Nigrita they had driven back a Greek detachment and +pressed some fifteen miles southward, thus threatening entirely to cut +off the Greek troops remaining in the Pangheion district. The situation +was critical and demanded prompt attention. King Constantine was away +at Athens, but he sent his instructions by wireless and hastened +hotfoot back to Salonica to place himself at the head of the army. + +At noon General Hessaptchieff (brother-in-law of M. Daneff), the +Bulgarian plenipotentiary accredited to Greek Army Headquarters, drove +to the station and with his staff left by the last train for Bulgarian +Headquarters at Serres. Orders were immediately given for all Bulgarian +troops to be confined to barracks, and the Cretan gendarmerie duly +arrested any found about the streets. Gradually as the afternoon wore +on, the civilian element retired behind closed doors and shuttered +windows; all shops were shut, and pickets of Greek soldiery were alone +to be seen in the deserted streets. At 4.30 P.M. the Bulgarian +battalion commander was invited to surrender the arms of his men, when +they would be conveyed in two special trains to Serres or anywhere else +they liked. He was given an hour to decide. Owing to the intervention +of the French Consul the time limit was extended, but the offer was +refused, and at 6.50 P.M. on the 30th of June the Greeks applied force. +Around every house occupied by Bulgarian soldiery Greek troops had been +introduced into neighboring houses, machine guns had been installed on +rooftops, companies of infantry were picketed at street corners. +Suddenly throughout the town all this hell was let loose. The streets +gave back the echo a thousandfold. The crackle of musketry and din of +machine guns was positively infernal. As evening came and darkened into +night, one after another of the Bulgarian forts Chabrol surrendered, +sometimes persuaded thereto by the deadly effect of a field-gun at +thirty yards' range, but the sun had risen ere the chief stronghold +containing five hundred Bulgarians gave up the hopeless struggle. By +nine o'clock the Bulgarian garrison of Salonica, deprived of its arms, +was safely stowed in the holds of Greek ships bound for Crete. The +casualty list was as follows: Bulgarians--prisoners: 11 officers, 1,241 +men; 11 men wounded; 51 men killed; comitadjis, 4 wounded, 11 killed. +Greeks: 11 soldiers killed; 4 Cretan gendarmes killed; 4 officers +wounded; 6 soldiers wounded; while 6 Bulgarian officers who had +deserted their men and escaped in women's clothing were not captured +until later in the day. + +All the morning of the 1st of July the Greek troops were busy rounding +up Bulgarian comitadjis and collecting hidden explosives, but at 4 P.M. +the Second Division marched out of the town. King Constantine, who had +arrived in the small hours of the morning, had given the order for a +general advance of his army. Greek patience was expended, and no +wonder. + +Meanwhile, let us consider the Bulgarian intentions as revealed by the +captured dispatch-box of the General commanding the 3d Bulgarian +Division, which contained documents likely to become historic. On the +28th of June the Bulgarian Divisional Commanders received orders from +the Commander-in-Chief to undertake a general attack upon the Allies on +the 2d of July. Unfortunately for the Bulgarians, General Ivanoff, +Commanding-in-Chief against the Greeks, could not restrain his +impatience, and instead of waiting for a sudden and general attack on +the 2d of July his troops attacked piecemeal during the nights of the +29th and 30th of June as described; thus the Greek general forward +movement on the 1st and 2d of July found the bulk of his troops +unprepared, while the 14th Bulgarian Division, scheduled to arrive at +Kilkis on the 2d of July from Tchataldja, was not available during that +day to oppose the Greek initiative, though they saved the situation on +the 3d of July by detraining partly at Kilkis and partly at Doiran. + +The two weak points of the Allies were at Guevgheli and in the +Pangheion region, and it was precisely at these points that the +Bulgarians struck. As regards numbers, on the 2d of July the respective +forces numbered: Bulgarians, 80,000; Greeks, 60,000; on the 3d of July +(not deducting losses)--Bulgarians, 115,000; Greeks, 80,000; in both +cases the troops on lines of communication are not reckoned with; these +probably amounted to--Bulgarians, 25,000; Greeks, 12,000. + +Almost immediately and at all points the opposing armies came into +contact. The Bulgarian gunners had very carefully taken all ranges on +the ground over which the Greeks had to advance, and at first their +shrapnel fire was extremely damaging. The Greeks, however, did not wait +to fight the battle out according to the usual rules of warfare--by +endeavoring to silence the enemy's artillery before launching their +infantry forward. Phenomenal rapidity characterized the Greek tactics +from the moment their troops first came under fire. Their artillery +immediately swept into action and plied the Bulgarian batteries with +shell and shrapnel, the while Greek infantry deployed into lines of +attack and pushed forward. At Kilkis so rapid was the advance of the +Greek infantry that the Bulgarian gunners could hardly alter their +ranges sufficiently fast, and every time that the Greek infantry had +made good five hundred yards the Greek artillery would gallop forward +and come into action on a new alinement. It was a running fight. By +leaps and bounds the incredible _élan_ of the Greek troops drove the +Bulgarians back toward Kilkis itself, which position had been heavily +entrenched. By 4 P.M. on the 2d of July, the Greek main army was within +three miles of the town, while the 10th Division, helped by two +battalions of Servian infantry, gradually fought its way up the Vardar +toward Guevgheli. At 4.30 P.M. (at Kilkis) the Bulgarians delivered a +furious counter-attack in which some 20,000 bayonets took part, but it +was repulsed with heavy slaughter, and the weary Greek soldiers, who +had fought their way over twenty miles of disputed country, rolled over +on their sides and slept. Toward Guevgheli the Evzone battalions had +for two hours to advance through waist-deep marshes under a heavy +artillery fire, but they struggled along through muddy waters singing +their own melancholy songs and without paying the least attention to +the heavy losses they were sustaining. On the 3d of July the Greeks +reoccupied Guevgheli, and toward evening the Bulgarian trenches at +Kilkis were taken at the bayonet's point, the town being entirely +destroyed, partly by Greek shell fire (for the Bulgarian batteries had +been located in the streets) and partly by the Bulgarians, who fired +the town as they retired. On the 3d and 4th the Bulgarians retired +sullenly northward toward Doiran, contesting every yard and putting in +the units of the 14th Division as quickly as they could be detrained; +but the Greeks never flagged for one moment in the pursuit. The 10th +and 3d Divisions, marching at tremendous speed, came up on the left, +menacing the line of retreat on Strumnitza. It was in the pass ten +miles south of this town that remnants of the Bulgarian 3d and 14th +Divisions made their last stand upon the 8th of July. Throughout the +week they had been fighting and retreating incessantly, had lost at +least 10,000 in killed and wounded, some 4,500 prisoners, and about +forty guns, while the Greeks lost about 4,500 and 5,000 men in front of +Kilkis and another 3,000 between Doiran and Strumnitza. + +Meanwhile at Lakhanas an equally sanguinary two days' conflict had been +in progress. The Greeks attacked and finally captured the Bulgarian +entrenched positions. Time after time their charges failed to reach, +but eventually their persistent courage and inimitable _élan_ won home, +and the Bulgarians fled in utter rout and panic, leaving everything, +even many of their uniforms, behind them. + +King Constantine, speaking in Germany recently, attributed the success +of the Greek armies to the courage of his men, the excellence of the +artillery, and to the soundness of the strategy, but I think he +overlooked the chief factor that made for victory--the unspeakable +horror, loathing, and rage aroused by the atrocities committed upon the +Greek wounded whenever a temporary local reverse left a few of the +gallant fellows at the mercy of the Bulgarians. I have seen an officer +and a dozen men who had had their eyes put out, and their ears, +tongues, and noses cut off, upon the field of battle during the lull +between two Greek charges. And there were other worse, but nameless, +barbarities both upon the wounded and the dead who for a brief moment +fell into Bulgarian hands. + +This was during the very first days of the war; later, when the news of +the wholesale massacres of Greek peaceable inhabitants at Nigrita, +Serres, Drama, Doxat, etc., became known to the army, it raised a +spirit which no pen can describe. The men "saw red," they were drunk +with lust for honorable revenge, from which nothing but death could +stop them. Wounds, mortal wounds, were unheeded so long as the man +still had strength to stagger on; I have seen a sergeant with a great +fragment of common shell through his lungs run forward for several +hundred yards vomiting blood, but still encouraging his men, who, truth +to tell, were as eager as he. It is impossible to describe or even +conceive the purposeful and aching desire to get to close quarters +regardless of all losses and of all consequences. The Bulgarians, in +committing those obscene atrocities, not only damned themselves forever +in the eyes of humanity, but they doubled, nay, quadrupled, the +strength of the Greek army. Nothing short of extermination could have +prevented the Greek army from victory; there was not a man who would +not have a million times rather died than have hesitated for a moment +to go forward. + +The days of those first battles were steaming hot with a pitiless +Macedonian sun. The Greek troops were in far too high a state of +spiritual excitation to require food, even if food had been able to +keep pace with their lightning advance. All that the men wanted, all +they ever asked for, was water and ammunition; and here the greatest +self-sacrifice of all to the cause was frequently seen; for a wounded +man, unable to struggle forward another yard, would, as he fell to the +ground, hastily unbuckle water-bottle and cartridge-cases and hand them +to an advancing comrade with a cheery word, "Go on and good luck, my +lad," and then as often as not he would lay him down to die with +parched lips and cleaving tongue. + +I was myself, at the pressing and personal invitation of King +Constantine, the first to visit Nigrita, where the Bulgarian General, +before leaving, had the inhabitants locked into their houses, and then +with guncotton and petroleum burned the place to the ground. Here 470 +victims were burned alive, mostly old folk, women, and children. +Serres, Drama, Kilkis, and Demir Hissar (all important towns) have +similar tales to tell, only the death-roll is longer. Small wonder that +these stories of ferocity are not given credence, for they are +incredible, and it is only when one studies the Bulgarian character +that one can understand how such orgies of carnage were possible. + +The scope of this article does not permit me to describe in detail the +minor battles and operations between the 6th of July and the 25th of +July; suffice it to say that the rapidity of the Greek advance upon +Strumnitza and up the valley of the Struma forced the Bulgarians to +beat in full retreat toward their frontier, leaving behind them all +that impeded their flight. Military stores, guns, carts, and even +uniforms strewed the line of their march, and they were only saved from +annihilation because the mountains which guarded their flanks were +impassable for the Greek artillery. By blowing up the bridges over the +Struma the impetuosity of the Greek pursuit was delayed, and it was in +the Kresna Pass that the Bulgarian rear-guard first turned at bay. The +pass is a twenty-mile gorge cut through mountains 7,000 feet high, but +the Greeks turned the Bulgarian positions by marching across the +mountains, and it was near Semitli, five miles north of the pass, that +the Bulgarians offered their last serious resistance. It was a +wonderful battle. The Greeks, at the urgent request of the Servian +General Staff, had detailed two divisions to help the Servians. On the +west bank of the Struma they pushed the 2d and 4th Divisions gently +northward, while in the narrow Struma valley (it is little better than +a gorge in most places) they had the 1st Division on the main road with +the 5th behind it in reserve; on the right, perched on the summit of +well-nigh inaccessible mountains, was the Greek 6th Division, with the +7th Division on its right, somewhat drawn back. + +It came to the knowledge of Greek headquarters that the Bulgarians +contemplated an attack upon Mehomia, a village six miles on the extreme +right and rear of the 7th Division, only held by a small detachment of +that Division; reenforcements were immediately dispatched to relieve +the pressure, and the 6th Division was called upon to reenforce the +positions of the 7th during the absence of the relief column, with the +result that on the 25th of July the 6th Division only had some 6,000 +men available. + +Meanwhile, the Bulgarians had secretly transferred the 40,000 men of +their 1st Division from facing the Servians at Kustendil to Djumaia; +20,000 of these were sent in a column to strike at the junction of the +Greek and Servian armies, where they were held by the 3d and 10th Greek +divisions after a bloody battle which lasted three days; 5,000 marched +on Mehomia and were annihilated by the Greek 7th Division; the +remaining 15,000 reenforced the troops facing the Greek 6th Division. +It was a most dramatic fight. On the 25th of July the Greeks, +unconscious of the Bulgarian reenforcements, pushed northward, and all +day long their 1st, 5th, and 6th Divisions gradually drove the enemy in +front of them. The fighting was of the most desperate nature, and at +one moment, the ammunition on both sides having given out, the troops +pelted each other with fragments of rock. At last, toward 5 P.M., the +Greek 6th Division found the enemy in front of them retiring; they +pushed onward fighting for every yard. The men were dead-weary; they +had slept for days upon bleak and waterless mountain summits--frozen at +night, they were grilled at noon, but they pushed ever onward. At last, +when victory seemed within their grasp, when their foe was seen to run, +a general advance was ordered. The men sprang forward with a last +effort of physical endurance--the Bulgars were running! They gave +chase. Suddenly, in one solid wall, 15,000 entirely new Bulgarian +troops of the 1st Division rose, as if from the ground, and delivered a +counter-attack. It was a crucial moment: some 4,000 Greeks chasing a +similar number of Bulgarians suddenly had to face 15,000 new troops. +The impact was terrible. The Greek line broke up into fragments, around +which the Bulgarians clustered and pecked like vultures at a feast. For +ten minutes it was anybody's battle. The remnants of each Greek company +formed itself into a ring and defended itself as best it could. These +rings gradually grew smaller as bullet and bayonet claimed their +victims; many of them were wiped out altogether, and when the battle +was over it was possible to find the places where these companies had +made their last stands, for there was not a single survivor--the +wounded were killed by the victors. + +But the victory was short-lived. True, the right of the 6th Division +had crumpled up, but a regiment of the 1st Division came up at the +critical moment and stiffened up the left and center, and again the +tide of battle swayed irresolute; then, ten minutes later perhaps, a +regiment from the 5th Division came up at the double on the right rear +of the Bulgarians, taking them in reverse and enfilade. The Bulgarian +right and center crumpled like a rotten egg, while their left fell +hastily back. The Bulgars had thrown their last hazard and had lost. +The carnage was appalling on both sides. The Greek 6th Division had +commenced the day with about 6,000 men; at sunset barely 2,000 +remained. Opposite the Greek positions nearly 10,000 Bulgarians were +buried next day, which speaks well for the fighting power of the Greek +when he is making his last stand. + +The holocaust of wounded beggars description, but that eminent French +painter, George Scott, told me an incident which came to his own +notice. He was riding up to the front the day after Semitli, and was +just emerging from the awesome Kresna Pass, when he and his companion +came upon a Greek dressing station. The narrow space between cliff and +river was entirely occupied by some hundreds of Greek wounded, some of +them already dead, many dying, and others fainting. They were lying +about awaiting their turn for the surgeon's knife. In the center stood +the surgeon, with the sleeves of his operating-coat turned up, his arms +red to the elbow in blood, all about him blood-stained bandages and +wads of cotton-wool. They reined in their horses and surveyed the +scene; as one patient was being removed from the packing-case that +served as operating-table, the surgeon raised his weary eyes and saw +them, the only unwounded men in all that vast and silent gathering. +"You are newspaper correspondents?" he asked. "Well, tell me, tell me +when this butchery will cease! For seventy-two hours I have been plying +my knife, and look at those who have yet to come"--he swept the circle +of wounded with an outstretched bloody hand. "O God! If you know how to +write, write to your papers and tell Europe she must stop this gruesome +war." Then, tired out and enervated, he swooned into the arms of the +medical orderly. As he came to to be apologized. "That," he said, "is +the third time I have fainted; I suppose I must waste precious time in +eating something to sustain me!" + +The battle of Semitli was fought almost contemporaneously with that of +the 3d and 10th Greek Divisions on the extreme Greek left flank, which +latter action resulted in a Bulgarian repulse after a temporary +success, and these were the last great battles of the shortest and +bloodiest campaign on record. On the 29th and 30th of July there were +some skirmishes three miles south of Djumaia. On the 31st of July the +armistice was conceded. During the month of July the Greek army had +practically wiped out the 1st, 3d, 4th, and 14th Bulgarian Divisions, +some 160,000 strong; they had marched 200 miles over terrible +mountains; they had taken 12,000 prisoners, 120 guns; and had +cheerfully sustained 27,000 casualties out of a total number of 120,000 +troops engaged. + +It is difficult to do justice to such an exploit within the scope of a +single article. The privations suffered by the troops, their +uncomplaining endurance, the fight with cholera, the appalling +atrocities perpetrated by the Bulgarians upon those who fell within +their power, furnish matter for a monumental volume. + + + + +OPENING OF THE PANAMA CANAL A.D. 1914 + +COL. GEO. W. GOETHALS BAMPFYLDE FULLER + +As was told in a previous volume, the United States acquired possession +of the Panama Canal territory in 1903. Actual work on the Canal was +begun by Americans in 1905 with the prediction that the Canal would be +finished in ten years, 1915. The engineers have been better than their +word. The difficulties with Mexico rendered the Canal suddenly useful +to the United States, and Colonel Goethals reported that he would have +the "big ditch" ready for the passage of any war-ship by May 15, 1914. +That promise he carried out. The Canal is still in danger of being +blocked by slides of mud in the deep Culebra Cut, and probably will +continue exposed to this difficulty for some years to come. But the +work is practically complete; ships passed through the Canal under +government orders in 1914. The greatest engineering work man ever +attempted, the profoundest change he has ever made in the geographical +face of the globe, has been successfully accomplished. + +Honor where honor is due! The man chiefly responsible for the success +of this great work has been Colonel Goethals. We quote here by his +special permission a portion of one of his official reports on the +Canal. We then show the work "as others see us," by giving an account +of the Canal and the impression it has made on other nations, written +by one of the most distinguished of its recent British visitors, the +Hon. Bampfylde Fuller. + + +COL. GEO. W. GOETHALS, U.S. ARMY + +A canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has occupied public +attention for upward of four centuries, during which period various +routes have been proposed, each having certain special or peculiar +advantages. It was not until the nineteenth century, however, that any +definite action was taken looking toward its accomplishment. + +In 1876 an organization was perfected in France for making surveys and +collecting data on which to base the construction of a canal across the +Isthmus of Panama, and in 1878 a concession for prosecuting the work +was secured from the Colombian Government. + +In May, 1879, an international congress was convened, under the +auspices of Ferdinand de Lesseps, to consider the question of the best +location and plan of the Canal. This congress, after a two weeks' +session, decided in favor of the Panama route and of a sea-level canal +without locks. De Lesseps's success with the Suez Canal made him a +strong advocate of the sea-level type, and his opinion had considerable +influence in the final decision. + +Immediately following this action the Panama Canal Company was +organized under the general laws of France, with Ferdinand de Lesseps +as its president. The concession granted in 1878 by Colombia was +purchased by the company, and the stock was successfully floated in +December, 1880. The two years following were devoted largely to +surveys, examinations, and preliminary work. In the first plan adopted +the Canal was to be 29.5 feet deep, with a ruling bottom width of 72 +feet. Leaving Colon, the Canal passed through low ground to the valley +of the Chagres River at Gatun, a distance of about 6 miles; thence +through this valley, for 21 miles, to Obispo, where, leaving the river, +it crossed the continental divide at Culebra by means of a tunnel, and +reached the Pacific through the valley of the Rio Grande. The +difference in the tides of the two oceans, 9 inches in either direction +from the mean in the Atlantic and from 9 to 11 feet from the same datum +in the Pacific, was to be overcome and the final currents reduced by a +proper sloping of the bottom of the Pacific portion of the Canal. No +provisions were made for the control of the Chagres River. + +In the early eighties after a study of the flow due to the tidal +differences, a tidal lock near the Pacific was provided. Various +schemes were also proposed for the control of the Chagres, the most +prominent being the construction of a dam at Gamboa. The dam as +proposed afterward proved to be impracticable, and this problem +remained, for the time being, unsolved. The tunnel through the divide +was also abandoned in favor of an open cut. + +Work was prosecuted on the sea-level canal until 1887, when a change to +the lock type was made, in order to secure the use of the Canal for +navigation as soon as possible. It was agreed at that time that the +change in plan did not contemplate abandonment of the sea-level Canal, +which was ultimately to be secured, but merely its postponement for the +time being. In this new plan the summit level was placed above the +flood line of the Chagres River, to be supplied with water from that +stream by pumps. Work was pushed forward until 1889, when the company +went into bankruptcy; and on February 4th that year a liquidator was +appointed to take charge of its affairs. Work was suspended on May 15, +1889. The new Panama Canal Company was organized in October, 1894, when +work was again resumed, on the plan recommended by a commission of +engineers. + +This plan contemplated a sea-level canal from Limon Bay to Bohio, where +a dam across the valley created a lake extending to Bas Obispo, the +difference in level being overcome by two locks; the summit level +extended from Bas Obispo to Paraiso, reached by two more locks, and was +supplied with water by a feeder from an artificial reservoir created by +a dam at Alhajuela, in the upper Chagres Valley. Four locks were +located on the Pacific side, the two middle ones at Pedro Miguel +combined in a flight. + +A second or alternative plan was proposed at the same time, by which +the summit level was to be a lake formed by the Bohio dam, fed directly +by the Chagres. Work was continued on this plan until the rights and +property of the new company were purchased by the United States. + +The United States, not unmindful of the advantages of an isthmian +canal, had from time to time made investigations and surveys of the +various routes. With a view to government ownership and control, +Congress directed an investigation of the Nicaraguan Canal, for which a +concession had been granted to a private company. The resulting report +brought about such a discussion of the advantages of the Panama route +to the Nicaraguan route that by an act of Congress, approved March 3, +1889, a commission was appointed to "make full and complete +investigation of the Isthmus of Panama, with a view to the construction +of a canal." The commission reported on November 16, 1901, in favor of +Panama, and recommended the lock type of canal. + +By act of Congress, approved June 28, 1902, the President of the United +States was authorized to acquire, at a cost not exceeding $40,000,000, +the property rights of the New Panama Canal Company on the Isthmus of +Panama, and also to secure from the Republic of Colombia perpetual +control of a strip of land not less than 6 miles wide, extending from +the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and "the right ... to excavate, +construct, and to perpetually maintain, operate, and protect thereon a +canal of such depth and capacity as will afford convenient passage of +ships of the greatest tonnage and draft now in use." + +Pursuant to the legislation, negotiations were entered into with +Colombia and with the New Panama Canal Company, with the end that a +treaty was made with the Republic of Panama granting to the United +States control of a 10-mile strip, constituting the Canal Zone, with +the right to construct, maintain, and operate a canal. This treaty was +ratified by the Republic of Panama on December 2, 1903, and by the +United States on February 23, 1904. + +The formal transfer of the property of the New Panama Canal Company on +the Isthmus was made on May 4, 1904, after which the United States +began the organization of a force for the construction of the lock type +of canal, in the mean time continuing the excavation by utilizing the +French material and equipment and such labor as was procurable on the +Isthmus. + +President Roosevelt, in a message to Congress, dated February 19, 1906, +stated: "The law now on our statute-books seems to contemplate a lock +canal. In my judgment a lock canal, as herein recommended, is +advisable. If the Congress directs that a sea-level canal be +constructed its direction will, of course, be carried out; otherwise +the Canal will be built on substantially the plan for a lock canal +outlined in the accompanying papers, such changes being made, of +course, as may be found actually necessary, including possibly the +change recommended by the Secretary of War as to the site of the dam on +the Pacific side." + +On June 29, 1906, Congress provided that a lock type of canal be +constructed across the Isthmus of Panama, of the general type proposed +by the minority of the Board of Consulting Engineers, and work has +continued along these lines. The Board of Consulting Engineers +estimated the cost of the lock type of canal at $139,705,200 and of the +sea-level canal at $247,021,000, excluding the cost of sanitation, +civil government, the purchase price, and interest on the investment. +These sums were for construction purposes only. + +I ventured a guess that the construction of the lock type of canal +would approach $300,000,000, and without stopping to consider that the +same causes which led to an increase in cost over the original +estimates for the lock canal must affect equally the sea-level type, +the advocates of the latter argued that the excess of the new estimates +was an additional reason why the lock type should be abandoned in favor +of the sea-level canal. + +The estimated cost by the present commission for completing the adopted +project, excluding the items let out by the Board of Consulting +Engineers, is placed at $297,766,000. If to this be added the estimated +cost of sanitation and civil government until the completion of the +work, and the $50,000,000 purchase price, the total cost to the United +States of the lock type of canal will amount to $375,201,000. In the +preparation of these estimates there are no unknown factors. + +The estimated cost of the sea-level canal for construction alone sums +up to $477,601,000, and if to this be added the cost of sanitation and +civil government up to the time of the completion of the canal, which +will be at least six years later than the lock canal, and the purchase +price, the total cost to the United States will aggregate $563,000,000. +In this case, however, parts of the estimate are more or less +conjectural--such as the cost of diverting the Chagres to permit the +building of the Gamboa dam and the cost of constructing the dam itself. + +Much criticism has resulted because of the excess of the present +estimates over those originally proposed, arising largely from a +failure to analyze the two estimates or to appreciate fully the actual +conditions. + +The estimates prepared and accompanying the report of the consulting +engineers were based on data less complete than are available at +present. The unit costs in the report of 1906 are identical with those +in the report of 1901, and since 1906 there has been an increase in the +wage scale and in the cost of material. On the Isthmus wages exceed +those in the United States from 40 to 80 per cent. for the same class +of labor. The original estimates were based on a ten-hour day, but +Congress imposed the eight-hour day. Subsequent surveys and the various +changes already noted have increased the quantity of work by 50 per +cent., whereas the unit costs have increased only 20 per cent.--not +such a bad showing. In addition, municipal improvements in Panama and +Colon, advances to the Panama Railroad, and moneys received and +deposited to the credit of miscellaneous receipts aggregate +$15,000,000, which amount will eventually and has in part already been +returned to the Treasury. Finally, no such system of housing and caring +for employees was ever contemplated as has been introduced and +installed, materially increasing the overhead charges and +administration. + +The idea of the sea-level canal appeals to the popular mind, which +pictures an open ditch offering free and unobstructed navigation from +sea to sea, but no such substitute is offered for the present lock +canal. As between the sea-level and the lock canal, the latter can be +constructed in less time, at less cost, will give easier and safer +navigation, and in addition secure such a control of the Chagres River +as to make a friend and aid of what remains an enemy and menace in the +sea-level type. + +In this connection attention is invited to the statement made by Mr. +Taft, when Secretary of War, in his letter transmitting the reports of +the Board of Consulting Engineers: + +"We may well concede that if we could have a sea-level canal with a +prism of 300 to 400 feet wide, with the curves that must now exist +reduced, it would be preferable to the plan of the minority, but the +time and cost of constructing such a canal are in effect prohibitive." + +We are justly proud of the organization for the prosecution of the +work. The force originally organized by Mr. John F. Stevens for the +attack upon the continental divide has been modified and enlarged as +the necessities of the situation required, until at the present time it +approaches the perfection of a huge machine, and all are working +together to a common end. The manner in which the work is being done +and the spirit of enthusiasm that is manifested by all forcibly strike +every one who visits the works. + +The main object of our being there is the construction of the Canal; +everything else is subordinate to it, and the work of every department +is directed to the accomplishment of that object. + +Too much credit can not be given to the department of sanitation, +which, in conjunction with the division of municipal engineering, has +wrought such a change in the conditions as they existed in 1904 as to +make the construction of the Canal possible. This department is +subdivided into the health department, which has charge of the +hospitals, supervision of health matters in Panama and Colon, and of +the quarantine, and into the sanitary inspection department, which +looks after the destruction of the mosquito by various methods, by +grass and brush cutting, the draining of various swampy areas, and the +oiling of unavoidable pools and stagnant streams. + +According to the statistics of the health department, based on the +death-rate, the Canal Zone is one of the healthiest communities in the +world, but in this connection it must be remembered that our population +consists of men and women in the prime of life, with few, if any, of +the aged, and that a number of the sick are returned to the United +States before death overtakes them. + + +BAMPFYLDE FULLER + +The Panama Canal stands out as one of the most noteworthy contributions +that the Teutonic race has made toward the material improvement of the +world. So regarding it, Englishmen and Germans may take some pride to +themselves from this great achievement of the Americans. The Teutonic +race has its limitations. It is deficient in the gaiety of mind, the +expansiveness of heart, which add so largely to human happiness. Its +bent has lain in directions that are, superficially at all events, less +attractive. But by its cult of cleanliness, self-control, and +efficiency, it has given a new meaning to civilization; it has invented +Puritanism, the gospel of the day's work, and the water-closet. These +reflections may not seem very apposite to the subject of the Canal; but +they will suggest themselves to one who arrives in Panama after +traveling through the Latin States of South America. + +It was, however, by some sacrifice of moral sense that the United +States gained control of the Isthmus. They offered a financial deal to +the republic of Colombia: the terms were liberal, and the Colombian +Government had in principle no objection to make money by the grant of +a perpetual lease of so much land as was needed for the Canal. But it +haggled unreasonably over the details, with the object of delaying +business until the period of the French concession had expired, so that +it might secure, not only its own share of the compensation, but the +share that was to be paid to the French investors whose rights and +achievements were taken over by the United States. A revolution +occurred: the province of Panama declared its independence of Colombia, +and at once completed the bargain. The revolution was so exceedingly +opportune in the interests of the United States, and of the French +concessionaires, that it is impossible not to suspect its instigation +in these interests. Beyond a doubt the United States assisted the +revolutionaries: they prevented the Colombian forces from attacking +them. Panama was originally independent of Colombia, and had been badly +treated by the Colombian Government, which, in its distant capital of +Bogota, was out of touch with Panamanian interests, and returned to the +province but a very small share of its taxes. But, however this may be, +we may take it, without straining facts, that the United States, being +unable to bring Colombia to terms, evicted her in favor of a more +pliable authority. This is not in accord with Christian morality. Nor +are political dealings generally. And, from a practical point of view, +it was preposterous that the cupidity of some Colombian politicians +should stand in the way of an improvement in geography. The agreement +with the newly born republic of Panama gave the United States a +perpetual lease of a strip of land, ten miles broad, across the +Isthmus. This is styled the "Canal Zone." The Latin towns of Panama and +Colon fall within its limits. But they are expressly excluded from the +United States jurisdiction. + +In substance the Canal works consist, first, of an enormous dam (at +Gatun), which holds up the water of the river Chagres so as to flood a +valley twenty-four miles long; secondly, of a channel--nine miles in +length--(the Culebra Cut)--which carries the valley on through a range +of low hills; and, thirdly, of a set of locks at each end of this +stretch of water that are connected by comparatively short approaches +with the sea. The surface of the lake will be from 79 to 85 feet above +sea-level, and vessels will be raised to this height and lowered again +by passing through a flight of three locks upward and another flight of +three locks downward. The passage of both flights of locks is not +expected to occupy more than three hours, and ships should complete the +transit of the Isthmus--a distance of about fifty miles--within twelve +hours at most. The design of the work offers nothing that is new in +principle to engineering science. Dams, cuttings, and locks are +familiar contrivances. But they are on an immensely larger scale than +anything which has previously been attempted. The area of the lake of +impounded water will be 164 square miles, and it has been doubted +whether the damming of so large a mass of water, to a height of 85 +feet, could safely be undertaken. But this portion of Central America +is apparently not liable to earthquakes. And the dam is so large as to +be a feature of the earth's surface. It is nearly half a mile broad +across its base, so that although its crest is 105 feet above sea-level +its slope is not very perceptible. Its core is formed of a mixture of +sand and clay, poured in from above by hydraulic processes. This has +set hard, and is believed to be quite impervious to water at a much +higher pressure than that to which it will be subjected. In the center +of the river valley--a mile and a half broad--across which the dam has +been flung, there very fortunately arose a low rocky hill. This is +included in the dam, and across its summit has been constructed the +escape or spill-way. During seasons of heavy rain the surplus discharge +of river water will be very heavy, and a cataract will pour over the +spill-way. But it will rush across a bed of rock, and will be unable to +erode its channel. And it will be employed to generate electrical power +which will open and shut the lock-gates and generally operate the Canal +machinery. The river Chagres will energize the Canal as well as fill +it. + +The locks are gigantic constructions of concrete. Standing within them +one is impressed as by the mass of the Pyramids. The gates are hollow +structures of steel, 7 feet thick. Their lower portions are +water-tight, so that their buoyancy in the water will relieve the +stress upon the bearings which hinge them to the lock-wall. Along the +top of each lock-wall there runs an electric railway; four small +electric locomotives will be coupled to a vessel as it enters the lock +approach, and will tow it to its place. The vessel will not use its own +steam. This will lessen the risk of its getting out of hand and ramming +the lock-gate, an accident which has occurred on the big locks that +connect Lake Superior with Lake Huron. So catastrophic would be such a +mishap, releasing as it might this immense accumulation of water, that +it seemed desirable at whatever expense to provide additional +safeguards against it. There are in the first place cross-chains, +tightening under pressure, which may be drawn across the bows of a ship +that threatens to become unmanageable. Secondly, the lock-gates are +doubled at the entrance to all the locks, and at the lower end of the +upper lock in each flight. And, thirdly, each flight of locks can be +cut off from the lake by an "emergency dam" of peculiar construction. +It is essentially a skeleton gate, which ordinarily lies uplifted along +the top of the lock-wall, but can be swung across, lowered, and +gradually closed against the water by letting down panels. In its +ordinary position it lies high above the masonry--conspicuous from some +distance out at sea as a large cantilever bridge, swung in air. + +Peculiar difficulties have been encountered in establishing the +foundations of the locks. The lowest of each flight are planted in deep +morasses, and could only be settled by removing vast masses of estuary +slime to a depth of 80 feet below sea-level. The sea was cut off and a +dredger introduced, which gradually cleared its way down to the bottom +rock. But the troubles which the American engineers will remember are +those which have presented themselves in the Culebra cutting. The +channel is nine miles long. Its average depth is between 100 +and 200 feet, but at one point it reaches 490 feet. The formation +of the ground varies extraordinarily. At some points it is +rock; at others rock gives place to contorted layers of brilliantly +colored earth which is almost as restless as quicksand. Unfortunately, +it is at places where the cutting is deepest that its banks are most +unstable. The sides of the lowest 40 feet of the excavation--the actual +water channel--are cut vertically and not to a slope; in a firm +formation this reduces the amount of excavation, but in loose material +it must apparently have increased the risk of slides. But, however this +may be, slips on a gigantic scale were inevitable. The cutting is an +endeavor to form precipitous slopes of crumbling material under a +tropical rain-fall: it may be likened to molding in brown sugar under +the rose of a watering-pot. The banks have been in a state of constant +movement, and are broken up into irregular shelves and chasms, so that +at some points the channel resembles a natural ravine rather than an +artificial cutting. One thing is certain,--that for some years to come +the channel will only be kept open by constant assiduous dredging. But +it is, of course, easier to dredge out of water than to excavate in the +dry. The material excavated from the Culebra channel will aggregate +nearly one hundred million cubic yards. Some of it has been utilized in +reclaiming land; much has been carried out to sea and heaped into a +break-water three miles long, which runs out from the Panama or +southern end of the Canal, and will check a coast-ways current that +might, if uncontrolled, silt up the approach. The Canal is a triumph, +not of man's hands, but of machinery. Regiments of steam shovels attack +the banks, exhibiting a grotesque appearance of animal intelligence in +their behavior. An iron grabber is lowered by a crane, it pauses as if +to examine the ground before it, in search of a good bite, opens a pair +of enormous jaws, takes a grab, and, swinging round, empties its +mouthful onto a railway truck. The material is loosened for the shovels +by blasts of dynamite and, all the day through, the air is shaken by +explosions. Alongside each row of shovels stands a train in waiting; +over a hundred and fifty trains run seaward each day loaded with spoil. +The bed of the Canal is ribboned with railway tracks, which are shifted +as required by special track-lifting machines. The masonry work of the +locks is laid without hands. High latticed towers--grinding mills and +cranes combined--overhang the wall that is being built up. They take up +stone and cement by the truck-load, mix them and grind them--in fact, +digest them--and, swinging the concrete out in cages, gently and +accurately deposit it between the molding boards. How sharp is the +contrast between this elaborate steam machinery and the hand-labor of +the _fellahín_ who patiently dug out the Suez Canal! But there are, so +to speak, edges to be trimmed: this mass of machinery is to be guided +and controlled, and there is work to employ a staff of over thirty +thousand men. Some four thousand of them are Americans, who form a +superior service, styled "gold employees" in order to avoid racial +implications. Their salaries are calculated in American dollars. The +remainder, classed as "silver employees," are paid in Panama dollars, +the value of which is half that of the American. Two series of coins +are current, one being double the value of the other; and, since the +corresponding coins of the two series are of about the same size, +newcomers are harassed by constant suspicions of their small change. +The "silver employees" number about twenty-six thousand. Some of them +are immigrants from Europe--mostly from Italy and the north of +Spain--but the great majority are negroes, British subjects from +Jamaica and Trinidad. It was foreseen that if negroes from the Southern +States were employed, the high wages rates might unsettle the American +cotton labor market: so it was decided to recruit from British +colonies, and it is not too much to say that, so far as the Canal is +hand-made, it is mainly the work of British labor. Several hundreds of +Hindus have found their way here; they are chiefly employed upon the +fortifications, because, it is said, they are unlikely to talk about +them. These British colored laborers, with their families, constitute +the bulk of the population of the Canal Zone: the town of Panama swarms +with them, and one sees few of any other class in the streets of Colon. +The American engineers have thus been working with a staff that can +claim the protection of the British Minister; and it is pleasing to an +Englishman to hear on every side the heartiest tributes to the energy, +tact, and good sense of England's representative, Sir Claude Mallet. +At the outset the negro laborers were exceedingly suspicious of the +American authorities, and were ready to strike on the smallest +provocation: they have refused to take their rations until Sir Claude +has tasted them. He possesses the complete confidence of the British +labor force, and indeed the Hindu immigrants, who deposit money at the +Consulate, will hardly wait to obtain receipts for it. + +Speaking of rations, it may be mentioned that the Canal authorities +undertake to feed all their employees, and a large commissariat +establishment, including extensive cold-storage depots at Colon, is one +of the most prominent features of their administration. Every morning a +heavy trainload of provisions leaves Colon, dropping its freight as it +passes the various labor settlements. In numerous eating-houses meals +are provided at very moderate charges, and at Panama and Colon large, +up-to-date hotels are maintained by the American Government. These are +used very extensively by the Canal staff, and give periodic dances, +which are crowded with young people. The vagaries of the one-step are +sternly barred by a puritan committee, and, to one who expects +surprises, the style of dancing is disappointingly monotonous. But +these hotels are also of great use in conciliating the American +taxpayers. Tourists come by thousands, and elaborate arrangements are +made for their education by special sight-seeing trains, by +appreciative guides, and by courses of lectures. The Canal staff is +also housed by the State--in wooden structures, built upon piles, and +protected by mosquito-proof wire screening. The accommodation for +bachelors is somewhat meager; but married couples are treated very +liberally, and their quarters are brightened by pretty little gardens. +The rates of pay are high, and there are numerous concessions which to +one of Indian experience appear exceedingly generous. But the +expenditure throughout is on a lavish scale: the Canal will not cost +much less than eighty million pounds. The money that is drawn from the +American taxpayers is, however, for the most part returned to them. +Practically the whole of the machinery is of American manufacture; the +food is American; the stores that are sold in the shops are mainly +American; and the only money that is lost to the States is that which +is saved by the foreign laborers. Very few of these have any intention +of remaining under the American flag, or will, indeed, be permitted to +remain. + +Residence within the Canal Zone, apart from the towns of Panama and +Colon, is only to be permitted to the permanent working staff of the +Canal and to the military force in occupation. It should be added that +the salaries of the American "gold employees," liberal though they may +appear, do not tempt them to remain in service. One is astonished to +learn that nearly half the American staff changes annually: young men +come to acquire a little experience and save a little money, which may +help them to a start in their own country. Service on the Canal works +leads to no pension; and the medal which is to be granted to all who +remain two years in employ is but moderately attractive to men whose +objects are severely practical. The chief controlling authorities are +all in the military service of the State. + +In the Northern States of America the British love of cleanliness has +become a gospel of life, and the sanitation of the Canal Zone is a +model of scientific and successful thoroughness. To India it is also a +model of hopeless generosity, nearly three million pounds having been +spent in improving the health conditions of this small area. The +agreement which reserves the towns of Panama and Colon to the +administration of the republic of Panama provides for American +interference in matters that may concern general health, and the Canal +authorities have taken the fullest advantage of this provision. The +streets of both towns have been paved; insanitary dwellings have been +ruthlessly demolished; water-works have been provided by loans of +American money, the water rate being collected by American officials. +The meanest house is equipped with a water-closet and a shower-bath. +Panama and Colon are now models of cleanliness, and from their +appearance might belong to a North American State. Efficiency is the +watchword, and in cleansing these towns the American health officers +have not troubled themselves with the compromises which would temper +the despotism of British officials. Americans can hardly be imagined +as stretching their consciences by such a concession as that, for +instance, which in British India exempts gentlemen of position from +appearance in the civil courts. Efficiency is not popular with those +who do not practise it, and the Latin races of Southern and Central +America have no love for their northern neighbors. The Americans, like +the Germans, would increase their popularity did they appreciate the +value of personal geniality in smoothing government. + +Within the Canal Zone the jungle has been cut back from the proximity +of dwelling-houses; surface water, whether stagnant or running, is +regularly sterilized by doses of larvicide; all inhabited buildings are +protected by mosquito-proof screening, and, in some places, a +mosquito-catching staff is maintained. At the time of my visit not a +mosquito was to be seen; but this was during the season of dry heat. +During the rainy months mosquitos are, it seems, still far from +uncommon; and the latest sanitary rules emphasize the importance of +systematically catching them. Medical experience has shown that if +houses are kept clear of mosquitos, there is very little fever, even in +places where the water pools and channels are left unsterilized. Wire +screening, supplemented by a butterfly net, is the great preventive. +But we can not attain the good without an admixture of evil: behind the +wire screening the indoor atmosphere becomes very oppressive. Yellow +fever, the scourge of the isthmus in former days, has been completely +eradicated. Admissions to hospital for malarial fever amount, it must +be confessed, to several thousands a year. But, judging from the +terrible experiences of the French Company, were it not for these +precautions fever would incapacitate for long periods the whole of the +staff. + +The hospital, a heritage from the French, is a village of wooden +buildings set upon a hill overlooking the Gulf of Panama, in the midst +of a charming study in tropical gardening. It is managed with an energy +which explores to the uttermost the medical experiences of other +tropical countries, and is not afraid of improving upon time-honored +methods. The daily dose of quinine is seldom less than forty-five +grains, and patients are not allowed to leave their beds until their +temperature has remained normal for five days at least. Complaints of +deafness are disregarded; if the patient turns of a blue color he may +be consoled by a dose of Epsom salts. It is claimed that by this +drastic treatment the relapses are prevented which, in India and +elsewhere, probably account for at least nine attacks out of ten. + +Democracies are not always fortunate in the selection of their +executives. But Mr. Roosevelt's Government was gifted with the wit to +find, in the United States Army, men who could carry out this big work, +and with the good sense to employ them. So much is told of the +commanding influence of Colonel Goethals, the chief in command; of the +administrative talents of Colonel Gorgas, the head of the sanitary +department; of the engineering skill of Colonel Sibert, the protagonist +of the Gatun dam, that an Englishman must wish to claim kinship with +these American officers who are making so large a mark upon the surface +of the earth. Devotion to the great work in hand has exorcised meaner +feelings, and you will hear little of the "boost" which we are tempted +to associate with the other side of the Atlantic. I asked Colonel +Sibert whether his initial calculations had needed much correction as +the operation developed. "Our _guesses_" he replied, "have been +remarkably fortunate." The medical staff relate with delight how a +British doctor, sent by the Indian Government to study their methods, +being left to himself for half an hour, succeeded in catching quite a +number of mosquitoes of a very noxious kind within the mosquito-proof +precincts of a hospital ward. + +New York is now divided from San Francisco by 13,135 miles of sea +travel. The Canal will reduce this distance by 7,873 miles, and will +bring New York 6,250 miles nearer Callao and 3,747 miles nearer +Valparaiso. The Pacific Ocean includes so large an extent of the +curvature of the earth that the effect of the Canal in developing trade +routes with Asia will depend very greatly upon their direction across +it. Vessels from New York which, after passing the Canal, trend +northward or southward upon the great circle, will find that the Panama +route will be much shorter than that _via_ Suez; they will save 3,281 +miles on the distance to Yokohama and 2,822 miles on the distance to +Melbourne. But if their course lies along the equator the Panama Canal +will not curtail their journey very materially. It is surprising to +find that Manila will be only forty-one miles nearer New York _via_ +Panama than it is _via_ Suez, and the saving on a journey to Hong Kong +will be no more than 245 miles. In trading with Peru, Chile, Australia, +North China, and Japan, the merchants of New York will gain very +materially by the opening of the Canal. They will gain, moreover, by +the withdrawal of the advantage which English merchants now enjoy in +trading with New Zealand, Australia, North China, and Japan _via_ the +Suez Canal. At present London is nearer to these places than New York +is by 1,000 miles or more. The Canal will not only withdraw this +advantage: it will give New York a positive advantage in distance of +2,000 to 3,000 miles. It is more than doubtful, however, whether the +Canal would ever have been constructed in the sole interests of +commerce. Its chief value to the United States is strategical; it will +mobilize their fleet and enable them to concentrate it upon either +their eastern or their western coastline. The Canal will primarily be +an instrument against war; but, like much else in this world, it will +incidentally bestow multifarious advantages. The importance of +fortifying it is manifest. It would appear that the locks at either end +are open to naval bombardment; indeed, those at Gatun are clearly +visible from the sea. Fortifications are being constructed at both +entrances, and it is probable that the Canal Zone will be garrisoned by +a force of 25,000 men. World enterprises involve world responsibilities. + + + + +CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY + +EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME A.D. 1910-1914 + +DANIEL EDWIN WHEELER + +Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals +following give volume and page. + +Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of +famous persons, will be found in the Index Volume. + +1910. The United States established an annual meeting of State +Governors as a new machinery of government. See "THE UNITED STATES +HOUSE OF GOVERNORS," XXI, 1. + +Chile and Argentina completed the first railroad crossing the Andes +Mountains. + +A naval revolt in Brazil, finally pacified. + +Mrs. Eddy, founder of Christian Science, died. + +King Edward VII of England died and was succeeded by his son, George V. + +The various British provinces in South Africa united in a single +confederation. See "UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA," XXI, 17. + +The "Labor" party gained complete control of power in Australia under +Mr. Fisher as Prime Minister. + +A Revolution made Portugal a republic. See "PORTUGAL BECOMES A +REPUBLIC," XXI, 28. + +In Paris there were unprecedented floods, and many people were killed. + +In Greece a National Assembly was called, and the Constitution was +revised. + +The new Turkish government faced revolts in Albania and other +provinces. + +Russia completed the destruction of Finnish liberty. See "THE CRUSHING +OF FINLAND," XXI, 47. + +In Egypt the native Prime Minister Boutros Pasha was assassinated; +England adopted severe repressive measures. + +In Persia, Morgan Shuster, an American, undertook the financial +administration of the new constitutional government. + +Corea was formally annexed by Japan. + +China began establishing representative assemblies in each province, +also a National Senate, in preparation for an elective government. +Tumultuous demands made for a Constitution. + +1911. Widespread use of automobiles seemed to establish an Automobile +Age; unprecedented records of speed made. See "MAN'S FASTEST MILE," +XXI, 73. + +The Woman Suffrage movement gained a most important step by its victory +in California. See "WOMAN SUFFRAGE," XXI, 156. + +A Canadian movement for trade reciprocity with the United States led to +suggestions of annexation and was then vehemently rejected. + +Renewed persecution of the Jews in Russia led the United States to +abrogate her long-standing Russian treaties. + +In Mexico President Diaz was overthrown by a revolution headed by +Francisco Madero. See "THE FALL OF DIAZ," XXI, 96. + +In England the Liberals took almost all power from the House of Lords. +See "FALL OF THE ENGLISH HOUSE OF LORDS," XXI, 113. + +Germany made Alsace-Lorraine a State of the Empire, partly +self-governing. + +A French protectorate was established over Morocco; Germany objected +and war came very close. See "MILITARISM," XXI, 186. + +Spain faced a naval mutiny and proclaimed universal martial law. + +In Italy a noted Camorrist trial was held at Viterbo, breaking the +criminal power. Italy attacked Turkey and snatched away her last +African province. See "THE TURKISH-ITALIAN WAR," XXI, 140. + +The Russian prime minister Stolypin was assassinated by revolutionists. + +In Persia the exiled Shah invaded the country and was again defeated +and expelled; Russia demanded the expulsion of Mr. Shuster. The Persian +parliament refused submission, and Russia invaded Persia, overthrew the +government, and compelled submission to all her demands. See "PERSIA'S +LOSS OF LIBERTY," XXI, 199. + +In Japan a widespread anarchistic murder plot was discovered and +suppressed. + +In China a revolt for a republic began at Wuchang in October; the +Manchu court made Yuan Shi-kai dictator; he summoned a National +Assembly. All southern China joined the republic movement under Sun Yat +Sen; Nanking captured and made capital of the Republic. See "THE +CHINESE REVOLUTION," XXI, 238. + +1912. Surgeons established the possibility of keeping human tissues and +organs alive outside the body, and even transferring them from one body +to another. See "OUR PROGRESSING KNOWLEDGE OF LIFE SURGERY," XXI, 273. + +England and France made arbitration treaties with the United States. +See "A STEP TOWARD WORLD PEACE," XXI, 259. + +New Mexico and Arizona were admitted to United States statehood; the +close of the old territorial system within the mainland of the United +States. + +The United States presidential election resulted in almost a political +revolution. Woodrow Wilson was elected to power by the "Progressive +Democrats." See "THE NEW DEMOCRACY," XXI, 323. + +In Canada the French of Ontario province made vigorous protest against +efforts to Anglicize them. + +"TRAGEDY OF THE 'TITANIC,'" XXI, 265. + +In England there were extensive coal strikes; the Liberals prepared a +Home Rule bill and Ulster threatened rebellion. + +German Socialists made such gains in the German election that they +became the strongest political party in the Empire. + +The suffrage was extended in Italy, so as to include almost all adult +males. + +In Spain, prime minister Canalejas was assassinated by anarchists. + +The Balkan States formed a league against Turkey, and Montenegro +precipitated a war in which Bulgaria, Greece, and Servia joined her. +See "THE OVERTHROW OF TURKEY," XXI, 282. + +Turkey made peace with Italy so as to meet her new foes. Turks +everywhere defeated by the Balkan League; Bulgarians defeated Turks in +chief battle of Lule-Burgas, and besieged Adrianople. + +The European Powers intervened for peace. In India England transferred +the official capital to Delhi, the ancient Mogul capital. + +In China, the north and south came to an agreement; the Manchu emperor +abdicated and Yuan Shi-kai was made temporary president. Peking was +made the capital of the new republic. See "THE CHINESE REVOLUTION," +XXI, 238. + +The great Japanese Emperor Mutsuhito died. + +1913. Two amendments were made to the United States Constitution. See +"THE INCOME TAX IN AMERICA," XXI, 338. + +The progressive Democrats under President Wilson passed a Low-Tariff +bill, an Income-Tax, law and a Currency-Revision law. Several +arbitration treaties were made with smaller nations. + +In Mexico a revolution overthrew President Madero, and Huerta became +dictator. See "MEXICO PLUNGED INTO ANARCHY," XXI, 300. + +A political strike of half a million laborers in Belgium forced the +government to abandon the "plural voting" system. + +The "Liberals" ousted the Labor party from control of the government of +Australia. + +Peace negotiations between the Balkan League and Turkey broke down; the +Bulgarians and Servians captured Adrianople and beleaguered +Constantinople; the Greeks captured Janina and their fleet captured +Turkish islands; peace left Turkey expelled from all Europe except +Constantinople. See "THE OVERTHROW OF TURKEY," XXI, 282. + +The European Powers refused to let the Balkan States take all the +conquered territory, and established the new state of Albania with a +German king; Servia especially aggrieved at Austrian interference. + +The Balkan States quarreled; Bulgaria attacked Greece and Servia; +Roumania joined them, and the three allies crushed Bulgaria. Turkey +regained a portion of her territory from Bulgaria. General peace +followed. See "THE SECOND BALKAN WAR," XXI, 350. + +King George of Greece assassinated; Greece became the chief state of +the eastern Mediterranean. + +The Arabs took advantage of the Turkish defeat to reassert complete +independence. + +In China Yuan Shi-kai was elected as the first regular president of the +republic; he had much trouble with his parliament. + +1914. "OPENING OF THE PANAMA CANAL," XXI, 374. + +The United States was forced to intervene in Mexico, and seized Vera +Cruz. + +Renewed racial bitterness in Japan against the United States because of +persistent exclusion of emigrants. + +The Canadian steamship _Empress of Ireland_ sank with loss of a +thousand lives. + +In Peru, a revolt overthrew the president and established a new and +more liberal government. + +Irish Home Rule bill passed by the English Parliament despite violent +opposition. + +Woman Suffrage voted in the Denmark parliament. + +Severe labor riots in Italy. + +The Albanians revolted against the foreign king imposed on them by the +Powers. + +The Archduke of Austria and his wife were assassinated in Bosnia by a +revengeful Serb. + +Turkey began reconstructing her navy under British guidance; and Greece +purchased warships from the United States. + +The Chinese president dissolved his parliament and assumed dictatorial +power, promising to resign it when the people were trained in political +knowledge. + +The long-threatened European War broke out at last. + +END OF VOL. XXI + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, +Vol. 21, Editor: Charles F. Horne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS V21 *** + +***** This file should be named 10341-8.txt or 10341-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/4/10341/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Gwidon Naskrent and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 21 + The Recent Days (1910-1914) + +Author: Charles F. Horne, Editor + +Release Date: November 30, 2003 [EBook #10341] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS V21 *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Gwidon Naskrent and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +THE GREAT EVENTS + +BY + +FAMOUS HISTORIANS + +A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY, +EMPHASIZING THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE +NARRATIVES IN THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS + +NON-SECTARIAN NON-PARTISAN NON-SECTIONAL + +ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE MOST +DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE, INCLUDING BRIEF +INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED +NARRATIVES. ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY. WITH THOROUGH INDICES. +BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF READING + + +EDITED BY + +CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D. + +_Aided by a staff of specialists_ + + +CONTENTS + + +VOLUME XXI + +_An Outline Narrative of the Great Events_ + CHARLES F. HORNE + +_The United States House of Governors_ (_A.D. 1910_) + WILLIAM S. JORDAN + THE GOVERNORS + +_Union of South Africa_ (_A.D. 1910_) + PROF. STEPHEN LEACOCK + +_Portugal Becomes a Republic_ (_A.D. 1910_) + WILLIAM ARCHER + +_The Crushing of Finland_ (_A.D. 1910_) + JOHN JACKOL + BARON SERGIUS WITTE + BARON VON PLEHVE + J.H. REUTER + +_Man's Fastest Mile_ (_A.D. 1911_) + C.F. CARTER + ISAAC MARCOSSON + +_The Fall of Diaz_ (_A.D. 1911_) + MRS. E.A. TWEEDIE + DOLORES BUTTERFIELD + +_Fall of the English House of Lords_ (_A.D. 1911) + ARTHUR PONSONBY + SYDNEY BROOKS + CAPTAIN GEORGE SWINTON + +_The Turkish-Italian War_ (_A.D. 1911_) + WILLIAM T. ELLIS + THE WAR CORRESPONDENTS + +_Woman Suffrage_ (_A.D. 1911_) + IDA HUSTED HARPER + ISRAEL ZANGWILL + JANE ADDAMS + DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE + ELBERT HUBBARD + +_Militarism_ (_A.D. 1911_) + NORMAN ANGELL + SIR MAX WAECHTER + +_Persia's Loss of Liberty_ (_A.D. 1911_) + W. MORGAN SHUSTER + +_Discovery of the South Pole_ (_A.D. 1911_) + ROALD AMUNDSEN + +_The Chinese Revolution_ (_A.D. 1912_) + ROBERT MACHRAY + R.F. JOHNSTON + TAI-CHI QUO + +_A Step Toward World Peace_ (_A.D. 1912_) + HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT + +_Tragedy of the "Titanic"_ (_A.D. 1912_) + W.A. INGLIS + +_Our Progressing Knowledge of Life Surgery_ (_A.D. 1912_) + GENEVIEVE GRANDCOURT + PROFESSOR R. LEGENDRE + +_Overthrow of Turkey by the Balkan States_ (_A.D. 1912_) + J. ELLIS BARKER + FREDERICK PALMER + PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +_Mexico Plunged Into Anarchy_ (_A.D. 1913_) + EDWIN EMERSON + WILLIAM CAROL + +_The New Democracy_ (_A.D. 1913_) + PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON + +_The Income Tax in America_ (_A.D. 1913_) + JOSEPH A. HILL + +_The Second Balkan War_ (_A.D. 1913_) + PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + CAPT. A.H. TRAPMANN + +_Opening of the Panama Canal_ (_A.D. 1914_) + COL. GEORGE W. GOETHALS + BAMPFYLDE FULLER + +_Universal Chronology_ (_1910-1914_) + + + + +AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE + +TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF + +THE GREAT EVENTS + + +THE RECENT DAYS (1910-1914) + + +CHARLES F. HORNE + +The awful, soul-searing tragedy of Europe's great war of 1914 came to +most men unexpectedly. The real progress of the world during the five +years preceding the war had been remarkable. All thinkers saw that the +course of human civilization was being changed deeply, radically; but +the changes were being accomplished so successfully that men hoped that +the old brutal ages of military destruction were at an end, and that we +were to progress henceforth by the peaceful methods of evolution rather +than the hysterical excitements and volcanic upheavals of revolution. + +Yet even in the peaceful progress of the half-decade just before 1914 +there were signs of approaching disaster, symptoms of hysteria. This +period displayed the astonishing spectacle of an English parliament, +once the high example for dignity and the model for self-control among +governing bodies, turned suddenly into a howling, shrieking mob. It +beheld the Japanese, supposedly the most extravagantly loyal among +devotees of monarchy, unearthing among themselves a conspiracy of +anarchists so wide-spread, so dangerous, that the government held their +trials in secret and has never dared reveal all that was discovered. It +beheld the women of Persia bursting from the secrecy of their harems +and with modern revolvers forcing their own democratic leaders to stand +firm in patriotic resistance to Russian tyranny. It beheld the English +suffragettes. + +Yet the movement toward universal Democracy which lay behind all these +extravagances was upon the whole a movement borne along by calm +conviction, not by burning hatreds or ecstatic devotions. A profound +sense of the inevitable trend of the world's evolution seemed to have +taken possession of the minds of the masses of men. They felt the +uselessness of opposition to this universal progress, and they showed +themselves ready, sometimes eager, to aid and direct its trend as best +they might. + +If, then, we seek to give a name to this particular five years, let us +call it the period of humanitarianism, of man's really awakened +kindliness toward his brothers of other nationalities. The universal +peace movement, which was a child in 1910, had by 1914 become a +far-reaching force to be reckoned with seriously in world politics. Any +observer who studied the attitude of the great American people in 1898 +on the eve of their war with Spain, and again in 1914 during the +trouble with Mexico, must have clearly recognized the change. There was +so much deeper sense of the tragedy of war, so much clearer +appreciation of the gap between aggressive assault and necessary +self-defense, so definite a recognition of the fact that murder remains +murder, even though it be misnamed glory and committed by wholesale, +and that any one who does not strive to stop it becomes a party to the +crime. + +While the sense of brotherhood was thus being deepened among the people +of all the world, the associated cause of Democracy also advanced. The +earlier years of the century had seen the awakening of this mighty +force in the East; these later years saw its sudden decisive renewal of +advance in the West. The center of world-progress once more shifted +back from Asia to America and to England. The center of resistance to +that progress continued, as it had been before, in eastern Europe. + +PROGRESS OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA + +Let us note first the forward movement in the United States. The +Conservation of Natural Resources, that striking step in the new +patriotism, which had been begun in the preceding decade, was carried +forward during these years with increasing knowledge. A new idea +developed from it, that of establishing a closer harmony among the +States by means of a new piece of governmental machinery, the House of +Governors.[1] This was formed in 1910. + +[Footnote 1: See _The United States House of Governors_, page 1.] + +To a nation bred as the Americans have been in an almost superstitious +reverence for a particular form of government, this change or any +change whatever becomes a matter of great moment. It is their final +recognition that the present can not be molded to fit the machinery of +the past. The nearer a Constitution comes to perfection in fitting the +needs of one century, the more wholly it is likely to fail in fitting +the needs of the next. The United States Government was not at its +beginning a genuine Democracy, though approaching it more nearly than +did any other great nation of the day. Putting aside the obvious point +that the American Constitution deliberately protected slavery, which is +the primal foe of all Democracy, the broader fact remains that the +entire trend of the Constitution was intended to keep the educated and +aristocratic classes in control and to protect them from the dangers of +ignorance and rascally demagoguery. + +The weapons of self-defense thus reserved by the thoughtful leaders +were, in the course of generations, seized upon as the readiest tools +of a shrewd plutocracy, which entrenched itself in power. Rebellion +against that plutocracy long seemed almost hopeless; but at last, in +the year 1912, the fight was carried to a successful issue. In both the +great political parties, the progressive spirit dominated. The old +party lines were violently disrupted, and President Wilson was elected +as the leader of a new era seeking new ideals of universal equality.[2] + +[Footnote 2: See _The New Democracy_, page 323.] + +Nor must we give to the President's party alone the credit of having +recognized the new spirit of the people. Even before his election, his +predecessor, Mr. Taft, had led the Republican party in its effort to +make two amendments to the Constitution, one allowing an Income Tax, +the other commanding the election of Senators by direct vote of the +people. Both of these were assaults upon entrenched "Privilege." The +Constitution had not been amended by peaceful means for over a century; +yet both of these amendments were now put through easily.[1] This +revolt against two of the most undemocratic of the features of the +ancient and honored Constitution was almost like a second declaration +of American independence. + +[Footnote 1: See _The Income Tax in America_, page 338.] + +Perhaps, too, the change in the Senate may prove a help to the cause of +universal peace. The governments of both Taft and Wilson were +persistent in their efforts to establish arbitration treaties with +other nations, and the Senate, jealous of its own treaty-making +authority, had been a frequent stumbling-block in their path. Yet, +despite the Senate's conservatism, arbitration treaties of +ever-increasing importance have been made year after year. A war +between the United States and England or France, or indeed almost any +self-ruling nation, has become practically impossible.[2] + +[Footnote 2: See _A Step Toward World Peace_, page 259.] + +In her dealing with her Spanish-American neighbors, the United States +has been less fortunate. She has, indeed, achieved a labor of +world-wide value by completing the "big ditch" between the Oceans.[3] +Yet her method of acquiring the Panama territory from Colombia had been +arbitrary and had made all her southern neighbors jealous of her power +and suspicious of her purposes. Into the midst of this era of +unfriendliness was injected the Mexican trouble. Diaz, who had ruled +Mexico with an iron hand for a generation, was overthrown.[4] President +Madero, who conquered him, was supported by the United States; and +Spanish America began to suspect the "Western Colossus" of planning a +protectorate over Mexico. + +[Footnote 3: See _Opening of the Panama Canal_, page 374.] + +[Footnote 4: See _The Fall of Diaz_, page 96.] + +Then came a counter-revolution. Madero was betrayed and slain, and the +savage and bloody Indian general, Huerta, seized the power.[1] The +antagonism of the United States Government against Huerta was so marked +that at length the anxious South American Powers urged that they be +allowed to mediate between the two; and the United States readily +accepted this happy method of proving her real devotion to arbitration +and of reestablishing the harmony of the Americas. + +[Footnote 1: See _Mexico Plunged into Anarchy_, page 300.] + +In itself the entire Mexican movement may be regarded as another great, +though confused, step in the world-wide progress of Democracy. The +upheaval has been repeatedly compared to the French Revolution. The +rule of Diaz was really like that of King Louis XVI in France, a +government by a narrow and wealthy aristocracy who had reduced the +ignorant Mexican peasants or "peons" to a state of slavery. The bloody +battles of all the recent warfare have been fought by these peons in a +blind groping for freedom. They have disgraced their cause by excesses +as barbarous as those perpetrated by the French peasantry; but they +have also fought for their ideal with a heroism unsurpassed by that of +any French revolutionist. + +DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD + +Equally notable as forming part of this unceasing march of Democracy +was the progress of both Socialism and Woman Suffrage. But with these +two movements we must look beyond America; for their advance was not +limited to any single country. It became world-wide. When Woman +Suffrage was first established in New Zealand and Australia, the fact +made little impression upon the rest of the globe; but when northern +Europe accepted the idea, and Finland and Norway granted women full +suffrage and Sweden and Denmark gave them almost as much, the movement +was everywhere recognized as important. In Asia women took an active +and heroic part in the struggles for liberty both in Persia and in +China. In England the "militant" suffragists have forced Parliament to +deal with their problem seriously, amid much embarrassment. In the +United States, the movement, regarded rather humorously at first, +became a matter of national weight and seriousness when in 1910 the +great State of California enfranchised its women, half a million of +them. Woman Suffrage now dominates the Western States of America and is +slowly moving eastward.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Woman Suffrage_, page 156.] + +Socialism, also, though some may call it a mistaken and confused dream, +is yet a manifestation of Democracy and as such will have its voice +along with other forms of the great world-spirit. It has made +considerable advance in America, where there have recently been +Socialist mayors in some cities, and even Socialist Congressmen. But +its main progress has been in Europe. There it can no longer be +discussed as an economic theory; it has become a stupendous and +unevadable fact. It is the laboring man's protest against the tyranny +of that militarism which terrorizes Europe.[2] And since military +tyranny is heaviest in Germany, Socialism has there risen to its +greatest strength. The increase of the Socialist vote in German +elections became perhaps the most impressive political phenomenon of +the past twenty years. In 1912 this vote was more than one-third of the +total vote of the Empire, and the Socialists were the largest single +party in Germany. The Socialists of France are almost equally strong; +and so are those in Italy. When war recently threatened Europe over the +Morocco dispute, the Socialists in each of these countries made solemn +protest to the world, declaring that laboring men were brothers +everywhere and had no will to fight over any governmental problem. Many +extremists among the brotherhood even went so far as to defy their +governments openly, declaring that if forced to take up arms they would +turn them against their tyrannous oppressors rather than against their +helpless brothers of another nation. Thus the burden of militarism did +by its own oppressive weight rouse the opposing force of Socialism to +curb it. + +[Footnote 2: See _Militarism_, page 186.] + +In Italy the Socialists were growing so powerful politically that it +was largely as a political move against them that the government in +1911 suddenly declared war against Turkey. + +Thus was started the series of outbreaks which recently convulsed +southeastern Europe.[1] Seldom has a war been so unjustifiable, so +obviously forced upon a weaker nation for the sake of aggrandizement, +as that of Italy against the "Young Turks" who were struggling to +reform their land. The Italians seized the last of Turkey's African +possessions, with scarce a shadow of excuse. This increase of territory +appealed to the pride and so-called "patriotism" of the Italian people. +The easy victories in Africa gratified their love of display; and many +of the ignorant poor who had been childish in their attachment to the +romantic ideals of Socialism now turned with equal childishness to +applaud and support their "glorious" government. Yet even here +Democracy made its gain; for under shelter of this popularity the +government granted a demand it had long withheld. Male suffrage, +previously very limited in Italy, was made universal. + +[Footnote 1: See _The Turkish-Italian War_, page 140.] + +The humiliation of Turkey in this Italian war led to another and far +larger contest, and to that practical elimination of Turkey from +European affairs which had been anticipated for over a century. The +Balkan peoples, half freed from Turkey in 1876, took advantage of her +weakness to form a sudden alliance and attack her all together.[2] +This, also, was a Democratic movement, a people's war against their +oppressors. The Bulgars, most recently freed of the victims of Turkish +tyranny, hated their opponents with almost a madman's frenzy. The +Servians wished to free their brother Serbs and to strengthen +themselves against the persistent encroachments of Austria. The Greeks, +defeated by the Turks in 1897, were eager for revenge, hopeful of +drawing all their race into a single united State. Never was a war +conducted with greater dash and desperation or more complete success. +The Turks were swept out of all their European possessions except for +Constantinople itself; and they yielded to a peace which left them +nothing of Europe except the mere shore line where the continents come +together. + +[Footnote 2: See _The Overthrow of Turkey_, page 282.] + +But then there followed what most of the watchers had expected, a +division among the victorious allies. Most of these were still half +savage, victims of centuries of barbarity. In their moment of triumph +they turned upon one another, snarling like wild beasts over the spoil. +Bulgaria, the largest, fiercest, and most savage of the little States, +tried to fight Greece and Servia together. She failed, in a strife +quite as bloody as that against Turkey. The neighboring State of +Roumania also took part against the Bulgars. So did the Turks, who, +seeing the helplessness of their late tigerish opponent, began +snatching back the land they had ceded to Bulgaria.[1] The exhausted +Bulgars, defeated upon every side, yielded to their many foes. + +[Footnote 1: See _The Second Balkan War_, page 350.] + +Thus we face to-day a new Balkan Peninsula, consisting of half a dozen +little independent nations, all thoroughly democratic, except Turkey. +And even Turkey, we should remember, has made a long stride toward +Democracy by substituting for the autocracy of the Sultan the +constitutional rule of the "Young Turks," These still retain their +political control, though sorely shaken in power by the calamities +their country has undergone under their brief regime. + +From this semi-barbarity of southeastern Europe, let us turn to note +the more peaceful progress which seemed promising the West. Little +Portugal suddenly declared herself a Republic in 1910.[2] She had been +having much anarchistic trouble before, killing of kings and hurling of +bombs. Now there was a brief, almost bloodless, uprising; and the young +new king fled. Prophets freely predicted that the unpractical and +unpractised Republic could not last. But instead of destroying itself +in petty quarrels, the new government has seemed to grow more able and +assured with each passing year. + +[Footnote 2: See _Portugal Becomes a Republic_, page 28.] + +In Spain also, the party favoring a Republic grew so strong that its +leaders declared openly that they could overturn the monarchy any time +they wished. But they said the time was not ripe, they must wait until +the people had become more educated politically, and had learned more +about self-government, before they ventured to attempt it. Here, +therefore, we have Democracy taking a new and important step. To man's +claim of the right of self-government was subjoined the recognition of +the fact that until he reaches a certain level of intelligence he is +unfit to exercise that right, and with it he is likely to bring himself +more harm than happiness. + +Perhaps even more impressive was the struggle toward Democracy in +England. Here, from the year 1905 onward, a "Liberal" government in +nominal power was opposed at every turn persistently, desperately, +sometimes hysterically, by a "Conservative" opposition. The Liberals, +after years of worsted effort, saw that they could make no possible +progress unless they broke the power of the always Conservative House +of Lords. They accomplished this in 1911 amid the weeping and wailing +of all Britain's aristocracy, who are thoroughly committed to the +doctrine of the mighty teacher, Carlyle, that men should find out their +great leaders and then follow these with reverent obedience. Of course +the doctrine has in the minds of the British aristocracy the very +natural addendum that _they_ are the great leaders.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Fall of the English House of Lords_, page 133.] + +With the power of the nobles thus swept aside, the British Liberals +went on to that long-demanded extension of Democracy, the granting of +Home Rule to Ireland. Here, too, England's Conservatives fought the +Liberals desperately. And here there was a subtler issue to give the +Conservatives justification. The great majority of Irish are of the +Roman Catholic faith, and so would naturally set up a Catholic +government; but a part of northern Ireland is Protestant and bitterly +opposed to Catholic domination. These Protestants, or "Ulsterites," +demanded that if the rest of Ireland got home rule, they must get it +also, and be allowed to rule themselves by a separate Parliament of +their own. The Conservatives accepted this democratic demand as an ally +of their conservative clinging to the "good old laws." They encouraged +the Ulsterites even to the point of open rebellion. But despite every +obstacle, the Liberals continued their efforts until the Home Rule bill +was assured in 1914. + +Let us look now beyond Europe. England deserves credit for the big +forward step taken by her colonies in South Africa. All of these joined +in 1910 in a union intended to be as indissoluble as that of the United +States. Thus to the mighty English-speaking nations developing in a +united Australia and a united Canada, there was now added a third, the +nation of South Africa.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Union of South Africa_, page 17.] + +In Asia, too, there was a most surprising and notable democratic step. +China declared itself a Republic. Considerable fighting preceded this +change, warfare of a character rather vague and purposeless; for China +is so huge that a harmony of understanding among her hundreds of +millions is not easily attained. Yet, on the whole, with surprisingly +little conflict and confusion the change was made. The oldest nation in +the world joined hands with the youngest in adopting this modern form +of "government by the people."[2] The world is still watching, however, +to see whether the Chinese have passed the level of political wisdom +awaited by the Spanish republicans, and can successfully exercise the +dangerous right they have assumed. + +[Footnote 2: See _The Chinese Revolution_, page 238.] + +Turn back, for a moment, to review all the wonderful advance in popular +government these brief five years accomplished: in the United States, a +political revolution with changes of the Constitution and of the +machinery of government; in Britain, similar changes of government even +more radical in the direction of Democracy; two wholly new Republics +added to the list, one being China, the oldest and most populous +country in the world, the other little Portugal, long accounted the +most spiritless and unprogressive nation in Europe; a shift from +autocratic British rule toward democratic home rule through all the +vast region of South Africa; a similar shift in much-troubled Ireland; +Socialism reaching out toward power through all central Europe; Woman +Suffrage taking possession of northern Europe and western America and +striding on from country to country, from state to state; a bloody and +desperate people's revolution in Mexico; and a similar one of the +Balkan peoples against Turkey! Individuals may possibly feel that some +one or other of these steps was reckless, even perhaps that some may +ultimately have to be retraced in the world's progress. But of their +general glorious trend no man can doubt. + +Were there no reactionary movements to warn us of the terrible +reassertion of autocratic power so soon to deluge earth with horror? +Yes, though there were few democratic defeats to measure against the +splendid record of advance. Russia stood, as she has so long stood, the +dragon of repression. In the days of danger from her own people which +had followed the disastrous Japanese war, Russia had courted her +subject nations by granting them every species of favor. Now with her +returning strength she recommenced her unyielding purpose of +"Russianizing" them. Finland was deprived of the last spark of +independence; so that her own chief champions said of her sadly in +1910, "So ends Finland."[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _The Crushing of Finland_, page 47.] + +In southern Russia the persecutions of the Jews were recommenced, with +charges of "ritual murder" and other incitements of the ignorant +peasantry to massacre. In Asia, Russia reached out beyond her actual +territory to strangle the new-found voice of liberty in Persia. Russia +coveted the Persian territory; Persia had established a constitutional +government a few years before; this government, with American help, +seemed likely to grow strong and assured in its independence. So +Russia, in the old medieval lawlessness of power, reached out and +crushed the Persian government.[2] At this open exertion of tyranny the +world looked on, disapproving, but not resisting. England, in +particular, was almost forced into an attitude of partnership with +Russia's crime. But she submitted sooner than precipitate that +universal war the menace of which came so grimly close during the +strain of the outbreaks around Turkey. The millennium of universal +peace and brotherhood was obviously still far away. Not yet could the +burden of fleets and armaments be cast aside; though every crisis thus +overpassed without the "world war" increased our hopes of ultimately +evading its unspeakable horror. + +[Footnote 2: See _Persia's Loss of Liberty_, page 199.] + +MAN'S ADVANCE IN KNOWLEDGE + +Meanwhile, in the calm, enduring realm of scientific knowledge, there +was progress, as there is always progress. + +No matter what man's cruelty to his fellows, he has still his +curiosity. Hence he continues forever gathering more and more facts +explaining his environment. He continues also molding that environment +to his desires. Imagination makes him a magician. + +Most surprising of his recent steps in this exploration of his +surroundings was the attainment of the South Pole in 1911.[1] This came +so swiftly upon the conquest of the North Pole, that it caught the +world unprepared; it was an unexpected triumph. Yet it marks the +closing of an era. Earth's surface has no more secrets concealed from +man. For half a century past, the only remaining spaces of complete +mystery, of utter blankness on our maps, were the two Poles. And now +both have been attained. The gaze of man's insatiable wonderment must +hereafter be turned upon the distant stars. + +[Footnote 1: See _Discovery of the South Pole_, page 218.] + +But man does not merely explore his environment; he alters it. Most +widespread and important of our recent remodelings of our surroundings +has been the universal adoption of the automobile. This machine has so +increased in popularity and in practical utility that we may well call +ours the "Automobile Age." The change is not merely that one form of +vehicle is superseding another on our roads and in our streets. We face +an impressive theme for meditation in the fact that up to the present +generation man was still, as regarded his individual personal transit, +in the same position as the Romans of two thousand years ago, dependent +upon the horse as his swiftest mode of progress. With the automobile we +have suddenly doubled, quadrupled the size of our "neighborhood," the +space which a man may cover alone at will for a ramble or a call. As +for speed, we seem to have succumbed to an actual mania for +ever-increasing motion. The automobile is at present the champion +speed-maker, the fastest means of propelling himself man has yet +invented. But the aeroplane and the hydroplane are not far behind, and +even the electric locomotive has a thrill of promise for the speed +maniac.[2] + +[Footnote 2: See _Man's Fastest Mile_, page 73.] + +In thus developing his mastery over Nature man sometimes forgets his +danger, oversteps the narrow margin of safety he has left between +himself and the baffled forces of his ancient tyrants, Fire and Water, +Earth and Air. Then indeed, in his moments of weakness, the primordial +forces turn upon him and he becomes subject to tragic and terrific +punishment. Of such character was the most prominent disaster of these +years, the sinking of the ocean steamer _Titanic_. The best talent of +England and America had united to produce this monster ship, which was +hailed as the last, the biggest, the most perfect thing man could do in +shipbuilding. It was pronounced "unsinkable." Its captain was reckless +in his confidence; and Nature reached down in menace from the regions +of northern ice; and the ship perished.[1] Since then another great +ship has sunk, under almost similar conditions, and with almost equal +loss of life. + +[Footnote 1: See _Tragedy of the Titanic_, page 265.] + +Oddly enough at the very moment when we have thus had reimpressed upon +us the uncertainty of our outward mechanical defenses against the +elements, we have been making a curious addition to our knowledge of +inner means of defense. The science of medicine has taken several +impressive strides in recent years, but none more suggestive of future +possibilities of prolonging human life than the recent work done in +preserving man's internal organs and tissues to a life of their own +outside the body.[2] Already it is possible to transfer healthy tissues +thus preserved, or even some of the simpler organs, from one body to +another. Men begin to talk of the probability of rejuvenating the +entire physical form. Thus science may yet bring us to encounter as +actual fact the deep philosophic thought of old, the thought that +regards man as merely a will and a brain, and the body as but the +outward clothing of these, mere drapery, capable of being changed as +the spirit wills. There is no visible limit to this wondrous drama in +which man's patient mastering of his immediate environment is gradually +teaching him to mold to his purpose all the potent forces of the +universe. + +[Footnote 2: See _Our Progressing Knowledge of Life Surgery_, page +273.] + +In this assurance of ultimate success, let us find such consolation as +we may. Though world-war may continue its devastation, though its +increasing horrors may shake our civilization to the deepest depths, +though its wanton destruction may rob us of the hoarded wealth of +generations and the art treasures of all the past, though its beastlike +massacres may reduce the number of men fitted to bear onward the torch +of progress until of their millions only a mere pitiable handful +survive, yet the steps which science has already won cannot be lost. +Knowledge survives; and a happier generation than ours standing some +day secure against the monster of militarism shall continue to uplift +man's understanding till he dwells habitually on heights as yet +undreamed. + + + + +THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF GOVERNORS + +A NEW MACHINERY ADDED TO THE FEDERAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT + +A.D. 1910 + +WILLIAM G. JORDAN + +THE GOVERNORS + +The formal establishment of the "House of Governors," which took place +in January of 1910, marked the climax of a definite movement which has +swept onward through the entire history of the United States. + +When in 1775 the thirteen American colonies made their first effort +toward united action, they were in truth thirteen different nations, +each possessed of differing traditions and a separate history, and each +suspicious and jealous of all the others. Their widely diverging +interests made concerted action almost impossible during the +Revolutionary War. And when necessity ultimately drove them to join in +the close bond of the present United States, their constitution was +planned less for union than for the protection of each suspicious State +against the aggressions of the others. + +Gradually the spread of intercourse among the States has worn away +their more marked differential points of character and purpose. Step by +step the course of history has forced our people into closer harmony +and union. To-day the forty-eight States look to one another in true +brotherhood. And as the final bond of that brotherhood they have +established a new organization, the House of Governors. This +constitutes the only definite change made in the United States +machinery of government since the beginning. + +The House of Governors sprang first from the suggestion of William +George Jordan, who was afterward appropriately selected as its +permanent secretary. Hence we give here Mr. Jordan's own account of the +movement, as being its clearest possible elucidation. Then we give a +series of brief estimates of the importance of the new step from the +pens of those Governors who themselves took part in the gathering. In +their ringing utterances you hear the voice of North and South, +Illinois and Florida, of East and West, Massachusetts and Oregon, and +of the great central Mississippi Valley, all announcing the +fraternizing influence of the new step. + +Governor Willson, of Kentucky, chairman of the committee which arranged +the gathering, in an earnest speech to its members declared that, "If +this conference of Governors had been in existence as an institution in +1860, there would never have been a war between the States. The issues +of the day would have been settled by argument, adjustment, and +compromise." It would be hard to find stronger words for measuring the +possible importance of the new institution. + +WILLIAM G. JORDAN + +The conference of the Governors at Washington this month marks the +beginning of a new epoch in the political history of the nation. It is +the first meeting ever held of the State Executives as a body seeking, +by their united influence, to secure uniform laws on vital subjects for +the welfare of the entire country. It should not be confused with the +Roosevelt conferences of May and December, 1908. It is in no sense a +continuation of them. It is essentially different in aim, method, and +basis, and is larger, broader, and more far-reaching in its +possibilities. + +The nation to-day is facing a grave crisis in its history. Vital +problems affecting the welfare of the whole country, remaining unsolved +through the years, have at last reached an acute stage where they +_demand_ solution. This solution must come now in some form--either in +harmony with the Constitution or in defiance of it. The Federal +Government has been and still is absolutely powerless to act because of +constitutional limitation; the State governments have the sole power, +but heretofore no way has been provided for them to exercise that +power. + +Senator Elihu Root points out fairly, squarely, and relentlessly the +two great dangers confronting the Republic: the danger of the National +Government breaking down in its effective machinery through the burdens +that threaten to be cast upon it; and the danger that the local +self-government of the States may, through disuse, become inefficient. +The House of Governors plan seems to have in it possibilities of +mastering both of these evils at one stroke. + +There are three basic weaknesses in the American system of government +as we know it to-day. There are three insidious evils that are creeping +like a blood-poison through the body politic, threatening the very life +of the Republic. They are killing the soul of self-government, though +perhaps not its form; destroying its essence, though perhaps not its +name. + +These three evils, so intertwined as to be practically one, are: the +growing centralization at Washington, the shifting, undignified, +uncertain status of State rights, and the lack of uniform laws. + +It was to propose a possible cure for these three evils that the writer +sent in February, 1907, to President Roosevelt and to the Governors of +the country a pamphlet on a new idea in American politics. It was the +institution of a new House, a new representation of the people and of +the States to secure uniform legislation on those questions wherein the +Federal Governments could not act because of Constitutional limitation. +The plan proposed, so simple that it would require no Constitutional +amendment to put it into effect, was the organization of the House of +Governors. + +More than thirty Governors responded in cordial approval of the plan. +Eight months later, October, 1907, President Roosevelt invited the +State Executives to a conference at Washington in May, 1908. The writer +pointed out at that time what seemed an intrinsic weakness of the +convention, that it could have little practical result, because it +would be, after all, only a conference, where the Federal Government, +by its limitations, was powerless to carry the findings of the +conference into effect, and the Governors, acting not as a co-operative +body, but as individuals, would be equally powerless in effecting +uniform legislation. It was a conference of conflicting powers. + +The Governors were then urged to meet upon their own initiative, as a +body of peers, working out by united State action those problems where +United States action had for more than a century proved powerless. At +the close of the Roosevelt conference the Governors, at an adjourned +meeting, appointed a committee to arrange time and place for a session +of the Governors in a body of their own, independently of the +President. This movement differentiated the proposed meeting absolutely +from that with the President in every fundamental. It essentially +became more than a conference; it meant a deliberative body of the +Governors uniting to initiate, to inspire, and to influence uniform +laws. The committee then named, consisting of three members, later +increased to five, set the dates January 18, 19, and 20, 1910, for the +first session of the Governors as a separate body. + +WILLIAM G. JORDAN[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reproduced from _The Craftsman_ of October, 1910, by +permission of Gustav Stickley.] + +When a new idea or a new institution confronts the world it must answer +all challenges, show its credentials, specify its claims for +usefulness, and prove its promise by its performance. As an idea the +House of Governors has won the cordial approval of the American press +and public; as an institution it must now justify this confidence. To +grasp fully its powers and possibilities requires a clear, definite +understanding of its spirit, scope, plan, and purpose, and its attitude +toward the Federal Government. + +The House of Governors is a union of the Governors of all the States, +meeting annually in conference as a deliberative body (with no +lawmaking power) for initiative, influence, and inspiration toward a +better, higher, and more unified Statehood. Its organization will be +simple and practical, avoiding red-tape, unnecessary formality, and +elaborate rules and regulations. It will adopt the few fundamental +expressions of its principles of action and the least number of rules +that are absolutely essential to enunciate its plan and scope, to +transmute its united wisdom into united action and to guarantee the +coherence, continuity, and permanence of the organization despite the +frequent changes in its membership due to the short terms of the +Executives in many of the States. + +With the House of Governors rests the power of securing through the +cooperative action of the State legislatures uniform laws on vital +questions demanded by the whole country almost since the dawn of our +history, but heretofore impossible of enactment. The Federal Government +is powerless to pass these laws. For many decades, tight held by the +cramping bonds of Constitutional limitation, it has strained and +struggled, like Samson in the temple, to find some weak spot at which +it could free itself, and endangered the very supporting columns of the +edifice of the Republic. It was bound in its lawmaking powers to the +limitation of eighteen specific phrases, beyond which all power +remained with the States and the people. In the matter of enacting +uniform laws the States have been equally powerless, for, though their +Constitutional right to make them was absolute and unquestioned, no way +had been provided by which they could exercise that right. The States +as individuals, passing their own laws, without considering their +relation or harmony with the laws of other States, brought about a +condition of confusion and conflict. Laws that from their very nature +should be common to all of the States, in the best interests of all, +are now divergent, different, and antagonistic. We have to-day the +strange anomaly of forty-six States united in a union as integral parts +of a single nation, yet having many laws of fundamental importance as +different as though the States were forty-six distinct countries or +nationalities. + +Facing the duality of incapacity--that of the Government because it was +not permitted to act and the States because they did not know how to +exercise the power they possessed--the Federal Government sought new +power for new needs through Constitutional amendments. This effort +proved fruitless and despairing, for with more than two thousand +attempts made in over a century only three amendments were secured, and +these were merely to wind up the Civil War. The whole fifteen +amendments taken together have not added the weight of a hair of +permanent new power to the Federal Government. The people and the +States often sleep serenely on their rights, but they never willingly +surrender them, yet the surrender of a right is often the brave +recognition of a higher duty, the fine assumption of a higher +privilege. In many phases the need grew urgent, something had to be +done. By ingeniously tapping the Constitution to find a weak place and +hammering it thin by decisions, by interpretations, by liberal +readings, by technical evasions and other methods, needed laws were +passed in the interests of the people and the States. Many of these +laws would not stand the rigid scrutiny of the Supreme Court; to many +of them the Government's title may now be valid by a kind of +"squatter's sovereignty" in legislation,--merely so many years of +undisputed possession. + +This was not the work of one administration; it ran with intermittent +ebb and flow through many administrations. Then the slumbering States, +turning restlessly in their complacency, at last awoke and raised a +mighty cry of "Centralization." They claimed that the Government was +taking away their rights, which may be correct in essence but hardly +just in form; they had lost their rights, primarily, not through +usurpation but through abrogation; the Government had acted because of +the default of the States, it had practically been forced to exercise +powers limited to the States because the States lapsed through neglect +and inaction. Then the Government discovered the vulnerable spot in our +great charter, the Achilles heel of the Constitution. It was just six +innocent-looking words in section eight empowering Congress to +"regulate commerce between the several States." It was a rubber phrase, +capable of infinite stretching. It was drawn out so as to cover +antitrust legislation, control and taxation of corporations, +water-power, railroad rates, etc., pure-food law, white-slave traffic, +and a host of others. But even with the most generous extension of this +phrase, which, though it may be necessary, was surely not the original +intent of the Constitution, the greatest number of the big problems +affecting the welfare of the people are still outside the province of +the Government and are up to the States for solution. + +It was to meet this situation, wherein the Government and the States as +individuals could not act, that the simple, self-evident plan of the +House of Governors was proposed. It required no Constitutional +amendment or a single new law passed in any State to create it or to +continue it. It can not make laws; it would be unwise for it to make +them even were it possible. Its sole power is as a mighty moral +influence, as a focusing point for public opinion and as a body equal +to its opportunity of transforming public opinion into public sentiment +and inspiring legislatures to crystallize this sentiment into needed +laws. It will live only as it represents the people, as it has their +sympathy, support, and cooperation, as it seeks to make the will of the +people prevail. But this means a longer, stronger, finer life than any +mere legal authority could give it. + +The House of Governors has the dignity of simplicity. It means merely +the conference of the State Executives, the highest officers and truest +representatives of the States, on problems that are State and +Interstate, and concerted action in recommendations to their +legislatures. The fullest freedom would prevail at all meetings; no +majority vote would control the minority; there would have to be a +quorum decided upon as the number requisite for an initial impulse +toward uniform legislation. If the number approving fell below the +quorum the subject would be shown as not yet ripe for action and be +shelved. Members would be absolutely free to accept or reject, to do +exactly as they please, so no unwilling legislation could be forced on +any State. But if a sufficient number agreed these Governors would +recommend the passage of the desired law to their legislatures in their +next messages. The united effort would give it a greater importance, a +larger dynamic force, and a stronger moral influence with each. It +would be backed by the influence of the Governors, the power of public +sentiment, the leverage of the press, so that the passage of the law +should come easily and naturally. With a few States passing it, others +would fall in line; it would be kept a live issue and followed up and +in a few years we would have legislation national in scope, but not in +genesis. + +The House of Governors, in its attitude toward the Federal Government, +is one of right and dignified non-interference. It will not use its +influence with the Government, memorialize Congress, or pass +resolutions on national matters. What the Governors do or say +individually is, of course, their right and privilege, but as a body it +took its stand squarely and positively at its first conference which +met in Washington in January of this year as one of "securing greater +uniformity of State action and better State Government." Governor +Hughes expressed it in these words: "We are here in our own right as +State Executives; we are not here to accelerate or to develop opinion +with regard to matters which have been committed to Federal power." The +States in their relation to the Federal Government have all needed +representation in their Senators and Congressmen. + +The attitude of the Governors in their conferences is one of +concentration on State and Interstate problems which are outside of the +domain and Constitutional rights of the Federal Government to solve. +There can be no interference when each confines itself to its own +duties. In keeping the time of the nation the Federal Government +represents the hour-hand, the States, united, the minute-hand. There +will be correct time only as each hand confines itself strictly to its +own business, neither attempting to jog the other, but working in +accord with the natural harmony wrapped up in the mechanism. + +We need to-day to draw the sharpest clear-cut line of demarcation +between Federal and State powers. This is in no spirit of antagonism, +but in the truest harmony for the best interests of both. It means an +illumination which will show that the "twilight zone," so called, does +not exist. This dark continent of legislation belongs absolutely to the +States and to the people in the unmistakable terms of the Tenth +Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the +Constitution or prohibited by it to the States are reserved to the +States, respectively, and to the people." This buffer territory of +legislation, the domain of needed uniform laws, belongs to the States +and through the House of Governors they may enter in and possess their +own. The Federal Government and the States are parts of one great +organization, each having its specific duties, powers, and +responsibilities, and between them should be no conflict, no inharmony. + +Let the Federal Government, through Congress, make laws up to the very +maximum of its rights and duties under the Constitution; let the +States, taking up their neglected duties and privileges, relieve the +Government of those cares and responsibilities forced upon it by the +inactivity of the States and which it should never have had to assume. +With the burden thus equitably readjusted, with the dignity of the two +powers of Government working out their individual problems in the +harmony of a fuller understanding, let us face the results. If it then +seem, in the light of changed conditions from those of the time of the +writing of the Constitution, that certain control now held by the +States can not properly be exercised by them, that in final decision of +the best wisdom of the people this power should be vested in the +Federal Government, let the States not churlishly hold on to the casket +of a dead right, but surrender the living body of a responsibility and +a duty to the power best able to be its guardian. There are few, if +any, of their neglected powers of legislation that the States and the +people acting in cooperation, through the House of Governors, will not +be able to handle. + +Some of the subjects upon which free discussion tending toward uniform +laws seems desirable are: marriage and divorce, rights of married +women, corporations and trusts, insurance, child labor, capital +punishment, direct primaries, convict labor and labor in general, +prison reforms, automobile regulations, contracts, banking, +conveyancing, inheritance tax, income tax, mortgages, initiative, +referendum and recall, election reforms, tax adjustment, and similar +topics. In great questions, like Conservation, the Federal Government +has distinct problems it must carry out alone; there are some problems +that must be solved by the States alone, some that may require to be +worked out in cooperation. But the greatest part of the needed +conservation is that which belongs to the States, and which they can +manage better, more thoroughly, more judiciously, with stronger appeal +to State pride, upbuilding, and prosperity, with less conflict and +clearer recognition of local needs and conditions and harmony with them +than can the Federal Government. Four-fifths of the timber standing in +the country to-day is owned, not by the States or the Government, but +by private interests. + +The House of Governors will not seek uniformity merely for the sake of +uniformity. There are many questions whereon uniform laws would be +unnecessary, and others where it would be not only unwise, but +inconceivably foolish. Many States have purely individual problems that +do not concern the other States and do not come in conflict with them, +but even in these the Governors may gain an occasional incidental +sidelight of illumination from the informal discussion in a conference +that may make thinking clearer and action wiser. The spirit that should +inspire the States is the fullest freedom in purely State problems and +the largest unity in laws that affect important questions in Interstate +relations. + +While uniform law is an important element in the thought of the +Conference it is far from being the only one. The frank, easy +interchange of view, opinion, and experience brings the Governors +closely together in the fine fellowship of a common purpose and a +common ideal. They are broadened, stimulated, and inspired to a keener, +clearer vision on a wider outlook. The most significant, vital, and +inspiring phases of these conferences, those which really count for +most, and are the strongest guaranties of the permanence and power of +this movement, must, however, remain intangible. This fact was manifest +in every moment of that first Conference last January. + +The fading of sectional prejudice in the glow of sympathetic +understanding was clearly evident. Some of the Western Governors in +their speeches said that their people of the West had felt that they +were isolated, misrepresented, misunderstood, and misjudged; but now +these Governors could go back to their States and their people with +messages of good will and tell them of the identity of interest, the +communion of purpose, the kinship of common citizenship, and the closer +knowledge that bound them more firmly to the East, to the South, and to +the North. Other Governors spoke of the facilitating of official +business between the States because of these meetings. They would no +longer, in correspondence, write to a State Executive as a mere name +without personality, but their letters would carry with them the +memories of close contact and cordial association with those whom they +had learned to know. There was no faintest tinge of State jealousies or +rivalry. The Governors talked frankly, freely, earnestly of their +States and for them, but it was ever with the honest pride of +trusteeship, never the petty vanity of proprietorship. + +Patriotism seemed to throw down the walls of political party and +partizanship and in the three days' session the words Republican or +Democrat were never once spoken. The Governors showed themselves an +able body of men keenly alive to the importance of their work and with +a firm grasp on the essential issues. The meeting added a new dignity +to Statehood and furnished a new revelation of the power, prestige, and +possibilities of the Governor's office. The atmosphere of the session +was that of States' rights, but it was a new States' rights, a +purified, finer, higher recognition by the States of their individual +right and duty of self-government within their Constitutional +limitations. It meant no lessening of interest in the Federal +Government or of respect and honor of it. It was as a family of sons +growing closer together, strengthened as individuals and working to +solve those problems they have in common, and to make their own way +rather than to depend in weakness on the father of the household to +manage all their affairs and do their thinking for them. To him should +be left the watchfulness of the family as a whole, not the dictation of +their individual living. + +President Taft had no part in the Conference, but in an address of +welcome to the Governors at the White House showed his realization of +the vital possibility of the meeting in these words: + +"I regard this movement as of the utmost importance. The Federal +Constitution has stood the test of more than one hundred years in +supplying the powers that have been needed to make the central +Government as strong as it ought to be, and with this movement toward +uniform legislation and agreement between the States I do not see why +the Constitution may not serve our purpose always." + +AUGUSTUS E. WILLSON[1] + +Governor of Kentucky + +[Footnote 1: The following letters are reprinted by permission from a +collection of such commentaries from _Cottier's Weekly_.] + +President Roosevelt held two conferences of Governors, and as a member +of a committee chosen to do so, I have invited the Governors of all of +the States and Territories to meet at the White House in Washington, +January 18th, 19th, and 20th. + +The conference has no legal authority of any kind. At the previous +conferences, the conservation subject was the one chiefly thought of, +and it will be brought up in the next conference. The question of what +the Governors will recommend on the income-tax constitutional amendment +may come up. The matter of handling extradition papers is important. +Uniform State laws on matters of universal interest, school laws, road +laws, tax laws, commercial paper, warehouse receipts, bills of lading, +etc.; the control of corporations, of which taxation is one branch, the +action of the States in regard to water-powers within the States; +marriage, divorce, wills, schools, roads, are all within the range of +this conference, and the agreement of all of the Governors on some of +these subjects, and by many of them on any, would be of useful +influence. + +The meeting has further interest and importance in being for two days +in touch with the National Civic Federation, which will afford all of +the Governors a chance to learn what that association of many of the +most prominent men of this country is doing, and get the benefit of its +discussions and the pleasure of being acquainted with many leaders of +thought and action in the country, who will attend its sessions. + +I am sure that I speak the sentiment of all of the Governors that they +do not wish any legal power or any authority except that of the weight +of their opinion as chosen State officers. They only wish the benefit +of discussion of important subjects interesting to all of the States, +and to establish kindly and mutually helpful relations between the +Governors and the Governments of the States. + +EBEN S. DRAPER + +Governor of Massachusetts + +I believe that a meeting of Governors may accomplish much good for +every section of the country. They naturally can not legislate, nor +should they attempt to. They can discuss and can learn many things +which are now controlled by law in different States and which would be +improvements to the laws of their own States; and they can recommend to +the legislatures of their own States the enactment of laws which will +bring about these improvements. + +These Governors will be the forty-six [now forty-eight] representative +units of the States of this great nation. By coming together they will +be more than ever convinced that they are integral parts of one nation, +and I believe their meeting will tend to remove all notions of +sectionalism and will help the patriotism and solidarity of the +country. + +CHARLES S. DENEEN + +Governor of Illinois + +The conservation of natural resources often necessitates the +cooperation of neighboring States. In such cases, the discussion of +proposed conservation work by the representatives of the States +concerned is of great importance. It brings to the consideration of +these subjects the views and opinions of those most interested and best +informed in regard to the questions involved. + +The same is true in relation to many subjects of State legislation in +which uniformity is desirable. This is especially the case with regard +to industrial legislation. The great volume of domestic business is +interstate, and the industrial legislation of one State frequently +affects, and sometimes fixes, industrial conditions elsewhere. An +example of the advantage of cooperation of States in the amendment and +revision of laws affecting industry is seen in the agreement by the +commissions recently appointed by New York, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to +investigate the subjects of employers' liability and workmen's +compensation to meet for the joint discussion of these matters. The +General Assembly of Illinois is now convened in extraordinary session, +and has under consideration the appointment of a similar commission in +order that it may meet and cooperate with the commissions of the States +named. + +Along these and other similar lines it seems to me that the House of +Governors will be of practical advantage in the beneficial influence it +will exert in the promotion of joint action where that is necessary to +secure desired ends. + +FRANK W. BENSON Governor of Oregon + +President Roosevelt rendered the American people a great service when +he invited the Governors of the various States to a conference at the +White House in 1908. The subject of conservation of our natural +resources received such attention from the assembled Governors that the +conservation movement has spread to all parts of the country, and has +gained such headway that it will be of lasting benefit to our people. +This one circumstance alone proves the wisdom of the conference of +Governors, and it is my earnest hope that the organization be made +permanent, with annual meetings at our national capital. + +Such meetings can not help but have a broadening effect upon our State +Executives, for, by interchanging ideas and by learning how the +governments of other States are conducted, our Governors will gain +experience which ought to prove of great benefit, not only to +themselves, but to the commonwealths which they represent. Matters +pertaining to interstate relations, taxation, education, conservation, +irrigation, waterways, uniform legislation, and the management of State +institutions are among the subjects that the conference of Governors +will do well to discuss; and such discussions will prove of inestimable +value, not only to the people of our different States, but to our +country as a whole. + +The West is in the front rank of all progressive movements and welcomes +the conference of Governors as a step in the right direction. + +ALBERT W. GILCHRIST + +Governor of Florida + +I can only estimate the significance and importance of this conference +of Governors by my experience from such a conference in the past. It +was my good fortune to be for a week last October on the steamer +excursion down the Mississippi River. The Governors held daily +conferences. Several elucidated the manner in which some particular +governmental problems were solved in their respective States, all of +which was more or less interesting. Of the several Federal matters +discussed, it was specially interesting to me to hear the various +Republican Governors discussing State rights, disputing the right of +interference of the General Government on such lines. It "kinder" made +me smile. In formal discussions of such matters in public, in +Washington, it is probable that such expressions would not be made. + +The result of this conference made me feel as if I knew the Governors +and the people of the various States therein represented far better +than I had before. Such discussions, with the attending personal +intercourse, naturally tend to give those participating in them a +broader nationality. + +The House of Governors will convene; there will be many pleasant social +functions and many pleasant associations will be formed. Some of the +Governors will speak; all of them will resolute. They will behold +evidences of the greatness of our common country and the evidence of +the greatness of our public men, as displayed in the rollicking debates +in the House, and the "knot on the log" discussions of the Senate. +Everything will be as lovely as a Christmas tree. The House will then +adjourn. + +HERBERT S. HADLEY + +Governor of Missouri + +During recent years, the development of the National idea has carried +with it a marked tendency on the part of the people to look to the +National Government for the correction of all evils and abuses existing +in commercial, industrial, and political affairs. The importance of the +State Governments in the solution of such questions has been minimized, +and, in some cases, entirely overlooked, although Congress has been +behind, rather than in advance of, public sentiment upon many questions +of national importance. The Congressmen are elected by the people of +the different Congressional Districts, and regard their most important +duty as looking after the interests of their respective districts. The +United States Senators are elected by the legislatures of the several +States, and do not feel that sense of responsibility to the people that +is incident to an election by the people. The Governors of the various +States are elected by all of the people of the State, and they are more +directly "tribunes of the people" than any other officials, either in +our National or State Governments. These officers will thus give a +correct expression of the sentiment of the people of the States upon +public questions. + +While these expressions of opinion will naturally vary according to the +sentiments and opinions of the people of the various States +represented, yet, on the whole, they will represent more of progress +and more of actual contact with present-day problems than could be +secured from any similar number of public officials. And the addresses +and discussions will also tend to mold the opinions of the people and +have a marked influence not only upon State, but also upon National +legislation. + + + + +UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA A.D. 1910 + +PROF. STEPHEN LEACOCK + +Few historical events have been so impressive as the sudden and +complete union of the South-African States. Seldom have men's minds +progressed so rapidly, their life purposes changed so completely. In +1902 England, with the aid of her African colonists in Cape Colony and +Natal, was ending a bitter war, almost of extermination, against the +Dutch "Boers" of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. In that year +the ablest and most dreaded of England's enemies in Africa was the +Dutch General, Louis Botha, leader of the fiercest and most +irreconcilable Boers, who still waged a hopeless guerrilla warfare +against all the might of the British Empire. As one English paper +dramatically phrases it: "One used to see pictures of Botha in the +illustrated papers in those days, a gaunt, bearded, formidable figure, +with rifle and bandoliers--the most dangerous of our foes. To-day he is +the chief servant of the King in the Federation, the loyal head of the +Administration under the Crown, one of the half-dozen Prime Ministers +of the Empire, the responsible representative and virtual ruler of all +races, classes, and sects in South Africa, acclaimed by the men he led +in the battle and the rout no less than by the men who faced him across +the muzzles of the Mausers ten years ago. Was ever so strange a +transformation, so swift an oblivion of old enmities and rancors, so +rapid a growth of union and concord out of hatred and strife!" + +Necessity has in a way compelled this harmony. The old issue of Boer +independence being dead, new and equally vital issues confronted the +South-Africans. The whites there are scarcely more than a million in +number, and they dwell amid many times their number of savage blacks. +They must unite or perish. Moreover, the folly and expense of +maintaining four separate governments for so small a population were +obvious. So was the need of uniform tariffs in a land where all +sea-coast towns found their prosperity in forwarding supplies to the +rich central mining regions of Kimberley and Johannesburg. Hence all +earnest men of whatever previous opinion came to see the need of union. +And when this union had been accomplished, Lord Gladstone, the British +viceroy over South Africa, wisely selected as the fittest man for the +land's first Prime Minister, General Botha. Botha has sought to unite +all interests in the cabinet which he gathered around him. + +The clear analysis of the new nation and its situation which follows is +reproduced by permission from the _American Political Science Review_, +and is from the pen of Professor Stephen Leacock, head of the +department of Political Economy of McGill University in Montreal, +Canada. A distinguished citizen of one great British federation may +well be accepted as the ablest commentator on the foundation of +another. + +On May 31, 1910, the Union of South Africa became an accomplished fact. +The four provinces of Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange Free State (which +bears again its old-time name), and the Transvaal are henceforth +joined, one might almost say amalgamated, under a single government. +They will bear to the central government of the British Empire the same +relation as the other self-governing colonies--Canada, Newfoundland, +Australia, and New Zealand. The Empire will thus assume the appearance +of a central nucleus with four outlying parts corresponding to +geographical and racial divisions, and forming in all a ground-plan +that seems to invite a renewal of the efforts of the Imperial +Federationist. To the scientific student of government the Union of +South Africa is chiefly of interest for the sharp contrast it offers to +the federal structure of the American, Canadian, and other systems of +similar historical ground. It represents a reversion from the idea of +State rights, and balanced indestructible powers and an attempt at +organic union by which the constituent parts are to be more and more +merged in the consolidated political unit which they combine to form. + +But the Union and its making are of great interest also for the general +student of politics and history, concerned rather with the development +of a nationality than with the niceties of constitutional law. From +this point of view the Union comes as the close of a century of strife, +as the aftermath of a great war, and indicates the consummation, for +the first time in history, of what appears as a solid basis of harmony +between the two races in South Africa. In one shape or other union has +always been the goal of South-African aspiration. It was "Union" which +the "prancing proconsuls" of an earlier time--the Freres, the +Shepstones, and the Lanyons--tried to force upon the Dutch. A united +Africa was at once the dream of a Rhodes and (perhaps) the ambition of +a Kruger. It is necessary to appreciate the strength of this desire for +union on the part of both races and the intense South-African +patriotism in which it rests in order to understand how the different +sections and races of a country so recently locked in the +death-struggle of a three years' war could be brought so rapidly into +harmonious concert. + +The point is well illustrated by looking at the composition of the +convention, which, in its sessions at Durban, Cape Town, and +Bloemfontein, put together the present constitution. South Africa, from +its troubled history, has proved itself a land of strong men. But it +was reserved for the recent convention to bring together within the +compass of a single council-room the surviving leaders of the period of +conflict to work together for the making of a united state. In looking +over the list of them and reflecting on the part that they played +toward one another in the past, one realizes that we have here a grim +irony of history. Among them is General Louis Botha, Prime Minister at +the moment of the Transvaal, and now the first prime minister of South +Africa. Botha, in the days of Generals Buller and the Dugela, was the +hardest fighter of the Boer Republic. Beside him in the convention was +Dr. Jameson, whom Botha wanted to hang after the raid in 1896. Another +member is Sir George Farrar, who was sentenced to death for complicity +in the raid, and still another, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, once the +secretary of the Reform League at Johannesburg and well known as the +author of the "Transvaal from Within." One may mention in contrast +General Jan Smuts, an ex-leader of the Boer forces, and since the war +the organizing brain of the Het Volk party. There is also Mr. Merriman, +a leader of the British party of opposition to the war in 1899 and +since then a bitter enemy of Lord Milner and the new regime. + +Yet strangely enough after some four months of session the convention +accomplished the impossible by framing a constitution that met the +approval of the united delegates. Of its proceedings no official +journal was kept. The convention met first at Durban, October 12, 1908, +where it remained throughout that month; after a fortnight's interval +it met again at Capetown, and with a three weeks' interruption at +Christmas continued and completed its work at the end of the first week +of February. The constitution was then laid before the different +colonial parliaments. In the Transvaal its acceptance was a matter of +course, as the delegates of both parties had reached an agreement on +its terms. The Cape Parliament passed amendments which involved giving +up the scheme of proportional representation as adopted by the +convention. Similar amendments were offered by the Orange River Colony +in which the Dutch leader sympathized with the leader of the +Afrikanderbond at the Cape in desiring to swamp out, rather than +represent, minorities. In Natal, which as an ultra-British and +ultra-loyal colony, was generally supposed to be in fear of union, many +amendments were offered. The convention then met again at Bloemfontein, +made certain changes in the draft of the constitution, and again +submitted the document to the colonies. This time it was accepted. Only +in Natal was it thought necessary to take a popular vote, and here, +contrary to expectation, the people voted heavily in favor of union. +The logic of the situation compelled it. In the history of the movement +Natal was cast for the same role as Rhode Island in the making of the +Federal Union of the United States of America. The other colonies, once +brought together into a single system, with power to adopt arrangements +in their own interests in regard to customs duties and transportation +rates, sheer economic pressure would have compelled the adhesion of +Natal. In the constitution now put in force in South Africa the central +point of importance is that it established what is practically a +unitary and not a federal government. The underlying reason for this is +found in the economic circumstances of the country and in the situation +in which the provinces found themselves during the years after the war. +Till that event the discord of South Africa was generally thought of +rather as a matter of racial rivalry and conflicting sovereignties than +of simple questions of economic and material interests. + +But after the conclusion of the compact of Vereiniging in 1902 it was +found that many of the jealousies and difficulties of the respective +communities had survived the war, and rested rather upon economic +considerations than racial rivalries. + +To begin with, there was the question of customs relations. The +colonies were separate units, each jealous of its own industrial +prosperity. Each had the right to make its own tariff, and yet the +division of the country, with four different tariff areas, was +obviously to its general disadvantage. Since 1903 the provinces had +been held together under the Customs Union of South Africa--made by the +governments of the Cape and Natal and the Crown Colony governments of +the conquered provinces. This was but a makeshift arrangement, with a +common tariff made by treaty, and hence rigidly unalterable, and with a +pro-rata division of the proceeds. + +Worse still was the railroad problem, which has been in South Africa a +bone of contention ever since the opening of the mines of the Rand +offered a rich prize to any port and railway that could capture the +transit trade. + +The essence of the situation is simple. The center of the wealth of +South Africa is the Johannesburg mines. This may not be forever the +case, but in the present undeveloped state of agriculture and +industrial life, Johannesburg is the dominating factor of the country. + +Now, Johannesburg can not feed and supply itself. It is too busy. Its +one export is gold. Its quarter of a million people must be supplied +from the outside. But the Transvaal is an inland country dependent on +the seaports of other communities. In position Johannesburg is like the +hub of a wheel from which the railways radiate as spokes to the +seaports along the rim. The line from Cape Town to Johannesburg, a +distance of over 700 miles, was the first completed, and until 1894 the +Cape enjoyed a monopoly of carrying the whole trade of Johannesburg. +But with the completion of the tunnel through the mountains at Laing's +Nek the Natal government railway was able to connect with Johannesburg +and the port of Durban entered into competition with the Cape Ports of +Cape Town and East London over a line only 485 miles long. + +Finally, the opening of the Delagoa Bay Railway in 1894 supplied +Johannesburg with an access to the sea over a line 396 miles long, of +which 341 was in the Transvaal itself. This last line, it should be +noticed, led to a Portuguese seaport, and at the time of its building +traversed nowhere British territory. Hence it came about that in the +all-important matter of railroad communication the interests of the +Transvaal and of the seaboard colonies were diametrically opposed. + +To earn as large a revenue as possible it naturally adjusted the rates +on its lines so as to penalize the freight from the colonies and favor +the Delagoa Bay road. When the colonies tried in 1895 to haul freight +by ox-team from their rail-head at the frontier to Johannesburg +President Kruger "closed the drifts" and almost precipitated a conflict +in arms. Since the war the same situation has persisted, aggravated by +the completion of the harbor works and docks at Lorenzo Marques, which +favors more than ever the Delagoa route. The Portuguese seaport at +present receives some 67 per cent, of the traffic from the Rand, while +the Cape ports, which in 1894 had 80 per cent, of the freight, now +receive only n per cent. + +Under Lord Milner's government the unification of the railways of the +Transvaal and the Orange River colony with the Central South-African +Railways amalgamated the interests of the inland colonies, but left +them still opposed to those of the seaboard. The impossibility of +harmonizing the situation under existing political conditions has been +one of the most potent forces in creating a united government which +alone could deal with the question. + +An equally important factor has been the standing problem of the native +races, which forms the background of South-African politics. In no +civilized country is this question of such urgency. South Africa, with +a white population of only 1,133,000 people, contains nearly 7,000,000 +native and colored inhabitants, many of them, such as the Zulus and the +Basutos, fierce, warlike tribes scarcely affected by European +civilization, and wanting only arms and organization to offer a grave +menace to the welfare of the white population. The Zulus, numbering a +million, inhabiting a country of swamp and jungle impenetrable to +European troops, have not forgotten the prowess of a Cetewayo and the +victory of Isandhwana. + +It may well be that some day they will try the fortune of one more +general revolt before accepting the permanent over-lordship of their +conquerors. Natal lives in apprehension of such a day. Throughout all +South Africa, among both British and Dutch, there is a feeling that +Great Britain knows nothing of the native question. + +The British people see the native through the softly tinted spectacles +of Exeter Hall. When they have given him a Bible and a breech-cloth +they fondly fancy that he has become one of themselves, and urge that +he shall enter upon his political rights. They do not know that to a +savage, or a half-civilized black, a ballot-box and a voting-paper are +about as comprehensible as a telescope or a pocket camera--it is just a +part of the white man's magic, containing some particular kind of devil +of its own. The South-Africans think that they understand the native. +And the first tenet of their gospel is that he must be kept in his +place. They have seen the hideous tortures and mutilations inflicted in +every native war. If the native revolts they mean to shoot him into +marmalade with machine guns. Such is their simple creed. And in this +matter they want nothing of what Mr. Merriman recently called the +"damnable interference" of the mother country. But to handle the native +question there had to be created a single South-African Government +competent to deal with it. + +The constitution creates for South Africa a union entirely different +from that of the provinces of Canada or the States of the American +Republic. The government is not federal, but unitary. The provinces +become areas of local governments, with local elected councils to +administer them, but the South-African Parliament reigns supreme. It is +to know nothing of the nice division of jurisdiction set up by the +American constitution and by the British North America Act. There are, +of course, limits to its power. In the strict sense of legal theory, +the omnipotence of the British Parliament, as in the case of Canada, +remains unimpaired. Nor can it alter certain things,--for example, the +native franchise of the Cape, and the equal status of the two +languages,--without a special majority vote. But in all the ordinary +conduct of trade, industry, and economic life, its power is unhampered +by constitutional limitations. + +The constitution sets up as the government of South Africa a +legislature of two houses--a Senate and a House of Assembly--and with +it an executive of ministers on the customary tenure of cabinet +government. This government, strangely enough, is to inhabit two +capitals: Pretoria as the seat of the Executive Government and Cape +Town as the meeting-place of the Parliament. The experiment is a novel +one. The case of Simla and Calcutta, in each of which the Indian +Government does its business, and on the strength of which Lord Curzon +has defended the South-African plan, offers no real parallel. The truth +is that in South Africa, as in Australia, it proved impossible to +decide between the claims of rival cities. Cape Town is the mother city +of South Africa. Pretoria may boast the memories of the fallen +republic, and its old-time position as the capital of an independent +state. Bloemfontein has the advantage of a central position, and even +garish Johannesburg might claim the privilege of the money power. The +present arrangement stands as a temporary compromise to be altered +later at the will of the parliament. + +The making of the Senate demanded the gravest thought. It was desired +to avoid if possible the drowsy nullity of the Canadian Upper House and +the preponderating "bossiness" of the American. Nor did the example of +Australia, where the Senate, elected on a "general ticket" over huge +provincial areas, becomes thereby a sort of National Labor Convention, +give any assistance in a positive direction. The plan adopted is to +cause each present provincial parliament, and later each provincial +council, to elect eight senators. The plan of election is by +proportional representation, into the arithmetical juggle of which it +is impossible here to enter. Eight more senators will be appointed by +the Governor, making forty in all. Proportional representation was +applied also in the first draft of the constitution to the election of +the Assembly. + +It was thought that such a plan would allow for the representation of +minorities, so that both Dutch and British delegates would be returned +from all parts of the country. Unhappily, the Afrikanderbond--the +powerful political organization supporting Mr. Merriman, and holding +the bulk of the Dutch vote at the Cape--took fright at the proposal. +Even Merriman and his colleagues had to vote it down. + +Without this they could not have saved the principle of "equal rights," +which means the more or less equal (proportionate) representation of +town and country. The towns are British and the country Dutch, so the +bearing of equal rights is obvious. Proportional representation and +equal rights were in the end squared off against one another. + +South Africa will retain duality of language, both Dutch and British +being in official use. There was no other method open. The Dutch +language is probably doomed to extinction within three or four +generations. It is, in truth, not one linguistic form, but several: the +Taal, or kitchen Dutch of daily speech, the "lingua franca" of South +Africa; the School Taal, a modified form of it, and the High Dutch of +the Scriptural translations brought with the Boers from Holland. Behind +this there is no national literature, and the current Dutch of Holland +and its books varies some from all of them. English is already the +language of commerce and convenience. The only way to keep Dutch alive +is to oppose its use. Already the bitterness of the war has had this +effect, and language societies are doing their best to uphold and +extend the use of the ancestral language. It is with a full knowledge +of this that the leaders of the British parties acquiesced in the +principle of duality. + +The native franchise was another difficult question. At present neither +natives nor "colored men" (the South-African term for men of mixed +blood) can vote in the Transvaal, the Orange River, and Natal. Nor is +there the faintest possibility of the suffrage being extended to them, +both the Dutch and the British being convinced that such a policy is a +mistake. In the Cape natives and colored men, if possessed of the +necessary property and able to write their names, are allowed to vote. +The name writing is said to be a farce, the native drawing a picture of +his name under guidance of his political boss. Some 20,000 natives and +colored people thus vote at the Cape, and neither the Progressives nor +the Bond party dared to oppose the continuance of the franchise, lest +the native vote should be thrown solid against them. As a result each +province will retain its own suffrage, at least until the South-African +Parliament by a special majority of two-thirds in a joint session shall +decide otherwise. + +The future conformation of parties under the union is difficult to +forecast. At present the Dutch parties--they may be called so for lack +of a better word--have large majorities everywhere except in Natal. In +the Transvaal General Botha's party--Het Volk, the Party of the +People--is greatly in the ascendant. But it must be remembered that Het +Volk numbers many British adherents. For instance, Mr. Hull, Botha's +treasurer in the outgoing Government, is an old Johannesburg +"reformer," of the Uitlander days, and fought against the Boers in the +war. In the Orange Free State the party called the Unie (or United +party) has a large majority, while at the Cape Dr. Jameson's party of +progressives can make no stand against Mr. Merriman, Mr. Malan, Mr. +Sauer, and the powerful organization of the Afrikanderbond. + +How the new Government will be formed it is impossible to say. Botha +and Merriman will, of course, constitute its leading factors. But +whether they will attempt a coalition by taking in with them such men +as Sir Percy Fitzpatrick and Dr. Jameson, or will prefer a more united +and less universal support is still a matter of conjecture. From the +outsider's point of view, a coalition of British and Dutch leaders, +working together for the future welfare of a common country, would seem +an auspicious opening for the new era. But it must be remembered that +General Botha is under no necessity whatever to form such a coalition. +If he so wishes he can easily rule the country without it as far as a +parliamentary majority goes. Not long since an illustrious +South-African, a visitor to Montreal, voiced the opinion that Botha's +party will rule South Africa for twenty years undisturbed. But it is +impossible to do more than conjecture what will happen. _Ex Africa +semper quid novi_. + +Most important of all is the altered relation in which South Africa +will now stand to the British Empire. + +The Imperial Government may now be said to evacuate South Africa, and +to leave it to the control of its own people. It is true that for the +time being the Imperial Government will continue to control the native +protectorates of Basutoland, Bechuanaland, and Swaziland. But the +Constitution provides for the future transfer of these to the +administration of a commission appointed by the colonial Government. +Provision is also made for the future inclusion of Rhodesia within the +Union. South Africa will therefore find itself on practically the same +footing as Canada or Australia within the British Empire. What its +future fate there will be no man can yet foretell. In South Africa, as +in the other Dominions, an intense feeling of local patriotism and +"colonial nationalism" will be matched against the historic force and +the practical advantages of the Imperial connection. Even in Canada, +there is no use in denying it, there are powerful forces which, if +unchecked, would carry us to an ultimate independence. Still more is +this the case in South Africa. + +It is a land of bitter memories. The little people that fought for +their republics against a world in arms have not so soon forgotten. It +is idle for us in the other parts of the Empire to suppose that the +bitter memory of the conflict has yet passed, that the Dutch have +forgotten the independence for which they fought, the Vier Klur flag +that is hidden in their garrets still, and the twenty thousand women +and children that lie buried in South Africa as the harvest of the +conqueror. If South Africa is to stay in the Empire it will have to be +because the Empire will be made such that neither South Africa nor any +other of the dominions would wish to leave it. For this, much has +already been done. The liberation of the Transvaal and Orange River +from the thraldom of their Crown Colony Government, and the frank +acceptance of the Union Constitution by the British Government are the +first steps in this direction. Meantime that future of South Africa, as +of all the Empire, lies behind a veil. + + + + +PORTUGAL BECOMES A REPUBLIC A.D. 1910 + +WILLIAM ARCHER + +The wave of democratic revolt which had swept over Europe during the +first decade of the twentieth century was continued in 1910 by the +revolution in Portugal. This, as the result of long secret planning, +burst forth suddenly before dawn on the morning of October 4th. Before +nightfall the revolution was accomplished and the young king, Manuel, +was a fugitive from his country. + +The change had been long foreseen. The selfishness and blindness of the +Portuguese monarchs and their supporters had been such as to make +rebellion inevitable, and its ultimate success certain. Mr. William +Archer, the noted English journalist, who was sent post-haste to watch +the progress of the revolution, could not reach the scene before the +brief tumult was at an end; but he here gives a picture of the joyous +celebration of freedom that followed, and then traces with power and +historic accuracy the causes and conduct of the dramatic scene which +has added Portugal to the ever-growing list of Republics. + +When the poet Wordsworth and his friend Jones landed at Calais in 1790 +they found + + "France standing on the top of golden years + And human nature seeming born again." + +Not once, but fifty times, in Portugal these lines came back to my +mind. The parallel, it may be said, is an ominous one, in view of +subsequent manifestations of the reborn French human nature. But there +is a world of difference between Portugal and France, between the House +of Braganza and the House of Bourbon. + +It was nearly one in the morning when my train from Badajoz drew into +the Rocio station at Lisbon; yet I had no sooner passed the barrier +than I heard a band in the great hall of the station strike up an +unfamiliar but not unpleasing air, the rhythm of which plainly +announced it to be a national anthem--a conjecture confirmed by a wild +burst of cheering at the close. The reason of this midnight +demonstration I never ascertained; but, indeed, no one in Lisbon asks +for a reason for striking up "A Portugueza," the new patriotic song. +Before twenty-four hours had passed I was perfectly familiar with its +rather plaintive than martial strains, suited, no doubt, to the +sentimental character of the people. An American friend, who arrived a +day or two after me, made acquaintance with "A Portugueza" even more +immediately than I did. Soon after passing the frontier he fell into +conversation with a Portuguese fellow traveler, who, in the course of +ten minutes or so, asked him whether he would like to hear the new +national anthem, and then and there sang it to him, amid great applause +from the other occupants of the compartment. In the cafes and theaters +of Lisbon "A Portugueza" may break out at any moment, without any +apparent provocation, and you must, of course, stand up and uncover; +but there is in some quarters a movement of protest against these +observances as savoring of monarchical flunkyism. When I left Lisbon at +half-past seven A.M. there was no demonstration such as had greeted my +arrival; but at the first halting-place a man stepped out from a little +crowd on the platform and shouted "Viva Machado dos Santos! Viva a +Republica Portugueza!"--and I found that the compartment adjoining my +own was illumined by the presence of the bright particular star of the +revolt. At the next station--Torres Vedras of historic fame--the +platform was crowded and scores of red and green flags were waving. As +the train steamed in, two bands struck up "A Portugueza," and as one +had about two minutes' start of the other, the effect was more +patriotic than harmonious. The hero had no sooner alighted than he was +lifted shoulder-high by the crowd, and carried in triumph from the +station, amid the blaring of the bands and the crackling of innumerable +little detonators, which here enter freely into the ritual of +rejoicing. Next morning I read in the papers a full account of the +"Apoteose" of Machado dos Santos, which seems to have kept Torres +Vedras busy and happy all day long. + +One can not but smile at such simple-minded ebullitions of feeling; yet +I would by no means be understood to laugh at them. On the contrary, +they are so manifestly spontaneous and sincere as to be really +touching. Whatever may be the future of the Portuguese Republic, it has +given the nation some weeks of unalloyed happiness. And amid all the +shouting and waving of flags, all the manifold "homages" to this hero +and to that, there was not the slightest trace of rowdyism or of +"mafficking." I could not think without some humiliation of the +contrast between a Lisbon and a London crowd. It really seemed as +though happiness had ennobled the man in the street. I am assured that +on the day of the public funeral of Dr. Bombarda and Admiral dos Reis, +though the crowd was enormous and the police had retired into private +life, there was not the smallest approach to disorder. The +police--formerly the sworn enemies of the populace--had been reinstated +at the time of my visit, without their swords and pistols; but they +seemed to have little to do. That Lisbon had become a strictly virtuous +city it would be too much to affirm, but I believe that crime actually +diminished after the revolution. It seemed as though the nation had +awakened from a nightmare to a sunrise of health and hope. + +And the nightmare took the form of a poor bewildered boy, guilty only +of having been thrust, without a spark of genius, into a situation +which only genius could have saved. In that surface aspect of the case +there is an almost ludicrous disproportion between cause and effect. +But it is not what the young King was that matters--it is what he stood +for. Let us look a little below the surface--even, if we can, into the +soul of the people. + +Portugal is a small nation with a great history; and the pride of a +small nation which has anything to be proud of is apt to amount to a +passion. It is all the more sensitive because it can not swell and +harden into arrogance. It is all the more alert because the great +nations, in their arrogance, are apt to ignore it. + +What are the main sources of Portugal's pride? They are two: her +national independence and her achievements in discovery and +colonization. + +A small country, with no very clear natural frontier, she has +maintained her independence under the very shadow of a far larger and +at one time an enormously preponderant Power. Portugal was Portugal +long before Spain was Spain. It had its Alfred the Great in Alfonso +Henriques (born 1111--a memorable date in two senses), who drove back +the Moors as Alfred drove back the Danes. He founded a dynasty of able +and energetic kings, which, however, degenerated, as dynasties will, +until a vain weakling, Ferdinand the Handsome, did his best to wreck +the fortunes of the country. On his death in 1383, Portugal was within +an ace of falling into the clutches of Castile, but the Cortes +conferred the kingship on a bastard of the royal house, John, Master of +the Knights of Aviz; and he, aided by five hundred English archers, +inflicted a crushing defeat on the Spaniards at Aljubarrota, the +Portuguese Bannockburn. John of Aviz, known as the Great, married +Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt; and from this union +sprang a line of princes and kings under whom Portugal became one of +the leading nations of Europe. Prince Henry the Navigator, son of John +the Great, devoted his life to the furthering of maritime adventure and +discovery. Like England's First Lords of the Admiralty, he was a +navigator who did not navigate; but it was unquestionably owing to the +impulse he gave to Portuguese enterprise that Vasco da Gama discovered +the sea route to India and Pedro Alvarez Cabral secured for his country +the giant colony of Brazil. Angola, Mozambique, Diu, Goa, Macao--these +names mean as much for Portugal as Havana, Cartagena, Mexico, and Lima, +for Spain. The sixteenth century was the "heroic" age of Portuguese +history, and the "heroes"--notably the Viceroys of Portuguese +India--were, in fact, a race of fine soldiers and administrators. No +nation, moreover, possesses more conspicuous and splendid memorials of +its golden age. It was literally "golden," for Emmanuel the Fortunate, +who reaped the harvest sown by Henry the Navigator, was the wealthiest +monarch in Europe, and gave his name to the "Emmanueline" style of +architecture, a florid Gothic which achieves miracles of ostentation +and sometimes of beauty. As the glorious pile of Batalha commemorates +the victory of Aljubarrota, so the splendid church and monastery of +Belem mark the spot where Vasco da Gama spent the night before he +sailed on his epoch-making voyage. But it was not gold that raised the +noblest memorial to Portugal's greatness: it was the genius of Luis de +Camoens. If Spenser, instead of losing himself in mazes of allegoric +romance, had sung of Crecy and Agincourt, of Drake, Frobisher, and +Raleigh, he might have given us a national epic in the same sense in +which the term applies to _The Lusiads_. With such a history, so +written in stone and song, what wonder if pride of race is one of the +mainsprings of Portuguese character! + +But the House of Aviz, like the legitimate line of Affonso Henriques, +dwindled into debility. It flickered out in Dom Sebastian, who dragged +his country into a mad invasion of Morocco and vanished from human ken +on the disastrous battlefield of Alcazar-Khebir. Then, for sixty years, +not by conquest, but by intrigue, Portugal passed under the sway of +Spain, and lost to the enemies of Spain--that is to say, to England and +Holland--a large part of her colonial empire. At last, in 1640, a +well-planned and daring revolution expelled the Spanish intruders, and +placed on the throne John, Duke of Braganza. As the house of Aviz was +an illegitimate branch of the stock of Affonso Henriques, so the +Braganzas were an illegitimate branch of the House of Aviz, with none +of the Plantagenet blood in them. Only one prince of the line, Pedro +II., can be said to have attained anything like greatness. Another, +Joseph, had the sense to give a free hand to an able, if despotic, +minister, the Marquis of Pombal. But, on the whole, the history of the +Braganza rule was one of steady decadence, until the second half of the +nineteenth century found the country one of the most backward in +Europe. + +Nor was there any comfort to be found in the economic aspect of the +case. A country of glorious fertility and ideal climatic conditions, +inhabited by an industrious peasantry, Portugal was nevertheless so +poor that much of its remaining strength was year by year being drained +away by emigration. The public debt was almost as heavy per head of +population as that of England. Taxation was crushing. The barest +necessaries of life were subject to heavy imposts. Protection +protected, not industries, but monopolies and vested interests. + +In short, the material condition of the country was as distressing as +its spiritual state to any one with the smallest sense of enlightened +patriotism. + +King Charles I.--name of evil omen!--ascended the throne in 1889. His +situation was not wholly unlike that of the English Charles I., +inasmuch as--though he had not the insight to perceive it--his lot was +cast in times when Portugal was outgrowing the traditions and methods +of his family. Representative government, as it had shaped itself since +1852, was a fraud and a farce. To every municipality a Government +administrator was attached (at an annual cost to the country of +something like L70,000), whose business it was to "work" the elections +in concert with the local _caciques_ or bosses. Thus, except in the +great towns, the Government candidate was always returned. The efficacy +of the system may be judged from the fact that in a country which was +at heart Republican, as events have amply shown, the Republican party +never had more than fourteen representatives in a chamber of about 150. +For the rest, the Monarchical parties, "Regeneradores" and +"Progresistas," arranged between them a fair partition of the loaves +and fishes. This "rotative" system, as it is called, is in effect that +which prevails, or has prevailed, in Spain; but it was perfected in +Portugal by a device which enabled Ministers, in stepping out of office +under the crown, to step into well-paid posts in financial +institutions, more or less associated with the State. Anything like +real progress was manifestly impossible under so rotten a system; and +with this system the Monarchy was identified. + +Then came the scandal of the _adeantamentos_, or illegal advances made +to the King, beyond the sums voted in the civil list. It is only fair +to remember that the king of a poor country is nowadays in a very +uncomfortable position, more especially if the poor country has once +been immensely rich. The expenses of royalty, like those of all other +professions, have enormously increased of late years; and a petty king +who is to rub shoulders with emperors is very much in the position of a +man with L2,000 a year in a club of millionaires. He has always the +resource, no doubt, of declining the society of emperors, and even +fixing his domestic budget more in accord with present exigencies than +with the sumptuous traditions, the palaces and pleasure-houses, of his +millionaire predecessors. It is said of Pedro II. that "he had the +wisdom and self-restraint not to increase the taxes, preferring to +reduce the expenses of his household to the lowest possible amount." +But Dom Carlos was not a man of this kidney. Easy-going and +self-indulgent, he had no notion of appearing _in forma pauperis_ among +the royalties of Europe, or sacrificing his pleasures to the needs of +his country. Even his father, Dom Luis, and his uncle, Dom Pedro, had +not lived within their income; and expenses had gone up since their +times. The king's income, under the civil list, was a "conto of reis" a +day, or something over L80,000 a year. Additional allowances to other +members of the royal family amounted to about half as much again; and +there was, I believe, an allowance for the upkeep of palaces. One would +suppose that a reasonably frugal royal family, with no house-rent to +pay, could subsist in tolerable comfort on some L2,250 a week; but as a +matter of fact, Dom Carlos made large additional drafts on the +treasury, which servile ministries honored without protest. He had +expensive fantasies, which he was not in the habit of stinting. The +total of his "anticipations" I do not know, but it is estimated in +millions of pounds. + +These eccentricities, combined with other abuses of finance and +administration, rendered even the _cacique_-chosen Cortes unruly, and +our Charles I. looked about for a Strafford who should apply a +"thorough" remedy to what he called the parliamentary _gachis_. He +found his man in Joao Franco. This somewhat enigmatic personage can not +as yet be estimated with any impartiality. No one accuses him of +personal corruption or of sordidly interested motives. His great +private wealth enabled him the other day to find bail, at a moment's +notice, to the amount of L40,000. On the other hand, his enemies +diagnose him after the manner of Lombroso, and find him to be a +degenerate and an epileptic, ungovernably irritable, vain, mendacious, +arrogant, sometimes quite irresponsible for his actions. A really +strong man he can scarcely be; scarcely a man of true political +insight, else he would not have tried to play the despot with no +plausible ideal to allege in defense of his usurpation. Be that as it +may, he agreed with the King that it was impossible to carry on the +work of government with a fractious Cortes in session, and that the +only way to keep things going was to try the experiment of a +dictatorship. Dom Carlos, in his genial fashion, overcame by help of an +anecdote any doubt his minister may have felt. "When the affairs of +Frederick the Great were at a low ebb," said the King, "he one day, on +the eve of a decisive battle, caught a grenadier in the act of making +off from the camp. 'What are you about?' asked Frederick. 'Your +Majesty, I am deserting,' stammered the soldier. 'Wait till to-morrow,' +replied Frederick calmly, 'and if the battle goes against us, we will +desert together.'" Thus lightly was the adventure plotted; and, in +fact, the minister did not desert until the King lay dead upon the +field of battle. + +Franco dissolved the Cortes, and on May 10, 1907, published a decree +declaring the "administration to be a dictatorship." The Press was +strictly gagged, and all the traditional weapons of despotism were +polished up. In June, the dictator went to Oporto to defend his policy +at a public banquet, and on his return a popular tumult took place in +the Rocio, the central square of Lisbon, which was repressed with +serious bloodshed. This was made the excuse for still more galling +restrictions on personal and intellectual liberty, until it was hard to +distinguish between "administrative dictatorship" and autocracy. As +regards the _adeantamentos_, Franco's declared policy was to make a +clean slate of the past, and, for the future, to augment the civil +list. In the autumn of that year, a very able Spanish journalist and +deputy, Senor Luis Morote, visited most of the leading men in Portugal, +and found among the Republicans an absolute and serene confidence that +the Monarchy was in its last ditch and that a Republic was inevitable. +Seldom have political prophecies been more completely fulfilled than +those which Morote then recorded in the _Heraldo_ of Madrid. Said +Bernardino Machado: + +"The Republic is the fatherland organized for its prosperity.... I +believe in the moral forces of Portugal, which are carrying us directly +toward the new order of things.... We shall triumph because the right +is on our side, and the moral idealism; peacefully if we can, and I +think it pretty sure that we can, since no public force can stop a +nation on the march." + +Said Guerra Junqueiro, the leading poet of the day: "Within two years +there will be no Braganzas or there will be no Portugal....The +revolution, when it comes, will be a question of hours, and it will be +almost bloodless." + +I could cite many other deliverances to the same effect, but one must +suffice. Theophilo Braga, the "grand old man" of Portugal, said: "To +stimulate the faith, conscience, will, and revolutionary energies of +the country, I have imposed on myself a plan of work, and a mandate not +to die until I see it accomplished." + +The Paris _Temps_ of November 14, 1907, published an interview with Dom +Carlos which embittered feeling and alienated many of his supporters. +"Everything is quiet in Lisbon," declared the King, echoing another +historic phase: "Only the politicasters are agitating themselves.... It +was necessary that the _gachis_--there is no other word for it--should +one day come to an end.... I required an undaunted will which should be +equal to the task of carrying my ideas to a happy conclusion.... I am +entirely satisfied with M. Franco. _Ca marche_. And it will continue; +it must continue for the good of the country.... In no country can you +make a revolution without the army. Well, the Portuguese Army is +faithful to its King, and I shall always have it at my side.... I have +no shadow of doubt of its fidelity." Poor Charles the First! + +At the end of January, 1908, a revolutionary plot was discovered, and +was put down with severity. After signing some decrees to that end, at +one of his palaces beyond the Tagus, the King, with his whole family, +returned to Lisbon and the party drove in open carriages from the wharf +toward the Necessidades Palace. In the crowd at the corner of the great +riverside square, the Praca do Comercio, stood two men named Buica and +Costa, with carbines concealed under their cloaks. They shot dead the +King and the Crown Prince, and slightly wounded Dom Manuel. Both the +assassins were killed on the spot. + +It is said that there was no plot, and that these men acted entirely on +their own initiative and responsibility. At any rate, none of the +Republican leaders was in any way implicated in the affair. But on All +Saints' day of 1910, Buica's grave shared to the full in the rain of +wreaths poured upon the tombs of the martyrs of the new Republic; and +relics of the regicides hold an honored place in the historical museum +which commemorates the revolution. + +Franco vanished into space, and Dom Manuel, aged nineteen, ascended the +throne. Had he possessed strong intelligence and character, or had he +fallen into the hands of really able advisers, it is possible that the +revulsion of feeling following on so grim a tragedy might have +indefinitely prolonged the life of the Monarchy. But his mother was a +Bourbon, and what more need be said? The opinion in Lisbon, at any +rate, was that "under Dom Carlos the Jesuits entered the palace by the +back door, under Dom Manuel by the front door." The Republican +agitation in public, the revolutionary organization in secret, soon +recommenced with renewed vigor; and the discovery of new scandals in +connection with the tobacco monopoly and a financial institution, known +as the "Credito Predial," added fuel to the fire of indignation. The +Government, or rather a succession of Governments, were perfectly aware +that the foundations of the Monarchy were undermined; but they seemed +to be paralyzed by a sort of fatalistic despair. They persecuted, +indeed, just enough to make themselves doubly odious; but they always +laid hands on people who, if not quite innocent, were subordinate and +uninfluential. Not one of the real leaders of the revolution was +arrested. + +The thoroughness with which the Republican party was organized says +much for the practical ability of its leaders. The moving spirits in +the central committee were Vice-Admiral Candido dos Reis, Affonso Costa +(now Minister of Justice), Joao Chagas, and Dr. Miguel Bombarda. Simoes +Raposo spoke in the name of the Freemasons; the Carbonaria Portugueza, +a powerful secret society, was represented by Machado dos Santos, an +officer in the navy. There was a separate finance committee, and funds +were ample. The arms bought were mostly Browning pistols, which were +smuggled over the Spanish frontier by Republican railway conductors. +Bombs also were prepared in large numbers, not for purposes of +assassination, but for use in open warfare, especially against cavalry. +Meanwhile an untiring secret propaganda was going on in the army, in +the navy, and among the peasantry. Almost every seaman in the navy, and +in many regiments almost all the non-commissioned officers and men, +were revolutionaries; while commissioned officers by the score were won +over. It is marvelous that so wide-spread a propaganda was only vaguely +known to the Government, and did not beget a crowd of informers. One +man, it is true, who showed a disposition to use his secret knowledge +for purposes of blackmail, was found dead in the streets of Cascaes. On +the whole, not only secrecy but discipline was marvelously maintained. + +At last the propitious moment arrived. Three ships of war--the _Dom +Carlos_, the _Adamastor_, and the _San Raphael_--were in the Tagus to +do honor to the President-elect of Brazil, who was visiting King +Manuel; but the Government knew that their presence was dangerous, and +would certainly order them off again as soon as possible. The blow must +be struck before that occurred. At a meeting of the committee on +October 2, 1910, it was agreed that the signal should be given in the +early morning of October 4th. All the parts were cast, all the duties +were assigned: who should call this and that barrack to arms, who +should cut this and that railway line, who should take possession of +the central telegraph-office, and so forth. The whole scheme was laid +down in detail in a precious paper, in the keeping of Simoes Raposo. +"You had better give it to me," said Dr. Bombarda, "for I am less +likely than you to be arrested. Even if they should think of searching +at Rilhafolles [the asylum of which he was director], I can easily hide +it in one of the books of my library." His suggestion was accepted, the +paper on which their lives and that of the Republic depended was handed +to him, and the meeting broke up. + +On the morning of Monday, October 3d, all was as quiet in Lisbon as +King Carlos himself could have desired. At about eleven o'clock Dr. +Bombarda sat in his office at the asylum, when a former patient, a +young lieutenant who had suffered from the persecution mania, was +announced to see him. Bombarda rose and asked him how he was. Without a +word the visitor produced a Browning pistol and fired point blank at +the physician, putting three bullets in his body. Bombarda had strength +enough to seize his assailant by the wrists and hand him over to the +attendants who rushed in. He then walked down-stairs unaided before he +realized how serious were his wounds. It soon appeared, however, that +he had not many hours to live; and when this became clear to him, he +took a paper from his pocketbook and insisted that it should be burned +before his eyes. What the paper was I need not say. At about six in the +evening he died. + +Bombarda was a passionate anticlerical, and his murderer was a +fanatical Catholic. The citizens, with whom he was very popular, jumped +at the conclusion that the priests had inspired the deed. As soon as +his death was announced in the transparency outside the office of _O +Seculo_, there were demonstrations of anger among the crowd and some +conflicts with the police. + +Meanwhile the Revolutionary Committee, to the number of fifty or +thereabouts, were sitting in the Rua da Esperanca, discussing the +question, "To be or not to be." The military members counseled delay, +for the Government had ordered all officers to be at their quarters in +the various barracks which are scattered over the city. The intention +had been to choose a time when most of the officers were off duty and +the men could mutiny at their ease; but this plan had for the moment +been frustrated. The military view might have carried the day, but for +the determination shown by Candido dos Reis, who pointed out that it +would be madness to give the Government time to order the ships out of +the Tagus. Finally, he turned to the military group, saying, "If you +will not go out, I will go out alone with the sailors. I shall have the +honor of getting myself shot by my comrades of the army." His +insistence carried all before it, and it was decided that the signal +should be given, as previously arranged, at one o'clock in the morning. + +That evening, at the Palace of Belem, some two miles down the Tagus +from the Necessidades Palace, Marshal Hermes da Fonseca, +President-elect of Brazil, was entertaining King Manuel at a State +dinner. There was an electrical sense of disquiet in the air. Several +official guests were absent, and every few minutes there came +telephone-calls for this or that minister or general, some of whom +reappeared, while some did not. At last the tension got so much on the +nerves of the young King that he scribbled on his menu-card a request +that the banquet might be shortened; and, in fact, one or two courses +were omitted. Then followed the dreary ritual of toasts; and at last, +at half-past eleven, Dom Manuel parted from his host and set off in his +automobile, escorted by a troop of cavalry. Two bands played the royal +anthem. Had he known, poor youth, that he was never to hear it again, +there might have been a crumb of consolation in the thought. + +It would be impossible without a map to make clear the various phases +of the Battle of Lisbon. Nor would there be any great interest in so +doing. There was no particular strategy in the revolutionary plans, and +what strategy there was fell to pieces at an early point. It is not +clear that the signal was ever formally given, but about the appointed +hour mutinies broke out in several barracks. In some cases the Royalist +officers were put under arrest, in one case a colonel and two other +officers were shot. A mixed company of soldiers and civilians, with ten +or twelve guns, marched, as had been arranged, upon the Necessidades +Palace, to demand the abdication of the King; but they were met on the +heights behind the palace by a body of the "guardia municipal," and, +after a sharp skirmish, were forced to retire, leaving three of their +guns disabled behind them. They retreated to the general rallying-point +of the Republican forces, the Rotunda, at the upper end of the +mile-long Avenida da Liberdade. This avenue stands to the Rocio very +much in the relation of Charing Cross Road to Trafalgar Square: there +is a curve at their junction which prevents you from seeing--or +shooting--from the one into the other. On reaching the Rotunda, the +insurgents learned that the Rocio had been occupied by Royalist troops, +from the Citadel of St. George and another barrack, with one or two +machine guns, but no cannon. + +There, then, the two forces lay, with a short mile of sloping ground +between them, awaiting the dawn. Under cover of darkness, a body of +mounted gendarmes attempted to charge the insurgent position, but they +were repulsed by bombs. + +Meanwhile, what had become of the naval cooperation, on which so much +reliance had been placed? It had failed, through the tragic weakness of +one man. Candido dos Reis is one of the canonized saints of the +Republic; but I think it shows a good deal of generosity in the +Portuguese character that the Devil's Advocate has not made himself +heard in the case. Dos Reis had undertaken the command of the naval +side of the revolt; but oddly enough, he seems to have arranged no +method of conveyance to his post of duty. He found at the wharf a small +steamer, the captain of which agreed to take him off to the ships; but +there was some delay in getting up steam. During this pause, some one +as yet unidentified, but evidently a friend of Dos Reis, rushed down to +the wharf and shouted to him that the revolt was crushed and all was +lost. Dos Reis, who had assumed his naval uniform on board the steamer, +took it off again, and, in civilian attire, went ashore. He proceeded +to his sister's house, where he spent an hour; then he sallied forth +again, and was found next morning in a distant quarter of the city with +a bullet through his brain. + +There is no doubt that he committed suicide. The theory of foul play is +quite abandoned. As it was he who had vetoed the proposed postponement +of the rising, one can understand that the sense of responsibility lay +heavy upon him; but that, without inquiry into the alleged disaster, +without the smallest attempt to retrieve it, he should have left his +comrades in the lurch and taken the easiest way of escape, is surely a +proof of almost criminal instability. The Republic lost in him an +ardent patriot, but scarcely a great leader. + +The dawn of Tuesday, October 4th, showed the fortunes of the revolt at +rather a low ebb. The land forces were dismayed by the inaction of the +ships; the sailors imagined, from the non-appearance of their leader, +that some disaster must have occurred on land. It was in these hours of +despondency that the true heroes of the revolution showed their mettle. + +In the bivouac at the Rotunda, as the morning wore on, the Republican +officers declared that the game was up, and that there was nothing for +it but to disperse and await the consequences. They themselves actually +made off; and it was then that Machado dos Santos came to the front, +taking command of the insurgent force and reviving their drooping +spirits. The position was not really a strong one. For one thing, it is +commanded by the heights of the Misericordia; and there was, in fact, +some long-range firing between the insurgents and the Guardia Municipal +stationed on that eminence. Again, the gentle slope of the Avenida, a +hundred yards wide, is clothed by no fewer than ten rows of low trees, +acacias, and the like, five rows on each side of the comparatively +narrow roadway, which is blocked at the lower end by a massive monument +to the liberators of 1640. Thus the insurgents could not see their +adversaries even when they ventured out of their sheltered position in +the Rocio; and the artillery fire from the Rotunda did much more damage +to the hotels that flanked the narrow neck of the Avenida than to the +Royalist forces. On the other hand, it would have been comparatively +easy for the Royalists, with a little resolution, to have crept up the +Avenida under cover of the trees, and driven the insurgents from their +position. Fortunately for the revolt, there was a total lack of +leadership on the Royalist side, excusable only on the ground that the +officers could not rely on their men. + +While things were at a deadlock on the Avenida, critical events were +happening on the Tagus. On all three ships, the officers knew that the +men were only awaiting a signal to mutiny; but the signal did not come. +At this juncture, and while it seemed that the Republican cause was +lost, a piece of heroic bluff on the part of a single officer saved the +situation. Lieutenant Tito de Moraes put off in a small boat from the +naval barracks at Alcantara, rowed to the _San Raphael_, boarded it, +and calmly took possession of it in the name of the Republic! He gave +the officers a written guaranty that they had yielded to superior +force, and then sent them off under arrest to the naval barracks. He +now asked for orders from the Revolutionary Committee; and early in the +afternoon the _San Raphael_ weighed anchor and moved down the river in +the direction of the Necessidades Palace. In doing so she had to pass +the most powerful ship of the squadron, the _Dom Carlos_: would she get +past in safety? Yes; the _Dom Carlos_ made no sign. The officers were +almost all Royalists, but they knew they could do nothing with the +crew. As a matter of fact when the crew ultimately mutinied, the +captain and a lieutenant were severely wounded; but I can find no +evidence for the picturesque legend of a group of officers making a +last heroic stand on the quarter-deck, and ruthlessly mowed down by the +insurgents' fire. It is certain, at any rate, that no lives were lost. + +In the Palace, on its bluff above the river, King Manuel was +practically alone. No minister, no general, was at his side. It is +said, on what seems to be good authority, that when he saw the _San +Raphael_ moving down-stream under the Republican colors, he telephoned +to the Prime Minister, Teixeira de Sousa, to ask whether there was not +a British destroyer in the river that could be got to sink the mutinous +vessel. Even if this scheme had been otherwise feasible, it would have +demanded an effort of which the minister was no longer capable. At +about two in the afternoon the _San Raphael_, cruising slowly up and +down, opened fire upon the Palace, and her second shot brought down the +royal standard from its roof. What could the poor boy do? To sit still +and be blown to pieces would have been heroic, but useless. Had he had +the stuff of a soldier in him, he might have made his way to the Rocio +and tried to put some energy into the officers, some spirit into the +troops. But he had no one to encourage and support him. Such counselors +as he had were all for flight. He stepped into his motor-car, set off +for Cintra and Mafra, and is henceforth out of the saga. + +The flight of Dom Manuel meant the collapse of his cause. It is true +that the Royalists were reenforced by certain detachments of troops who +came in from the country, and, beaten off by the insurgents at the +Rotunda, made their way to the Rocio by a circuitous route. The Guardia +Municipal, too, were stanch, and showed fight at several points. It was +the total lack of spirited leadership that left the insurgents masters +of the field. Having done its work at the Necessidades, the _San +Raphael_ moved up stream again, and began dropping shells over the +intervening parallelogram of the "Low City" into the crowded Rocio. +They caused little loss of life, for they were skilfully timed to +explode in air; the object being, not to massacre, but to dismay. There +is nothing so trying to soldiers as to remain inactive under fire; and +as there had never been much fight in the garrison of the Rocio, the +little that was left speedily evaporated. At eleven in the morning of +Wednesday, October 5th, the Republic was proclaimed from the balcony of +the Town Hall, and before night fell all was once more quiet in Lisbon. + +The first accounts of the fighting which appeared in the European Press +were, as was only natural, greatly exaggerated. A careful enumeration +places the number of the killed at sixty-one and of the wounded at 417. +Some of the latter, indeed, died of their wounds, but the whole +death-roll certainly did not exceed a hundred. + +The Portuguese Monarchy was dead; and the causes of death, as disclosed +by the autopsy, were moral bankruptcy and intellectual inanition. It +could not point to a single service that it rendered to the country in +return for the burdens it imposed. Some of its defenders professed to +see in it a safeguard for the colonies, which would somehow fly off +into space in the event of a revolution. As yet there are no signs of +this prophecy coming true; but the prophets may cling, if they please, +to the hope of its fulfilment. For the rest, it was perfectly clear +that the monarchy had done nothing for the material or spiritual +advancement of the country, which remained as poverty-stricken and as +illiterate as it well could be. Dom Carlos had not even the common +prudence to affect, if he did not feel, a sympathy with the nation's +pride in its "heroes." The Monarchy could boast neither of good deeds +nor of good intentions. Its cynicism was not tempered by intelligence. +It drifted toward the abyss without making any reasonable effort to +save itself; for the dictatorship was scarcely an effort of reason. +"The dictatorship," said Bernardino Machado, the present Foreign +Minister, "left us only one liberty--that of hatred." And again, "The +monarchy had not even a party--it had only a _clientele_." That one +word explains the disappearance of Royalism. + +For it has simply disappeared. Even the Royalist Press is almost +extinct. Some papers have ceased to appear, some have become +Republican, the few who stick to their colors do so rather from +clerical than from specifically Royalist conviction. All the leading +papers of the country had long been Republican; and excellent papers +they are. Both in appearance and in matter, _O Mundo_ and _A Lucta_ +("The Struggle") would do credit to the journalism of any country. In +size, in excellence of production, and in the well-considered weight of +their articles, they contrast strangely with the flimsy, ill-printed +sheets that content the Spanish public. + +The Provisional Government has been sneered at as a clique of +"intellectuals"; but it is scarcely a reproach to the Republic that it +should command the adhesion of the whole intelligence of the country. +Nor is there any sign of lack of practical sense in the admirable +organization which not only insured the success of the revolution (in +spite of certain cross accidents) but secured its absolutely peaceful +acceptance throughout the country. There are no doubt visionary and +fantastic spirits in the Republican ranks, and ridiculous proposals +have already been mooted. For instance, it has been gravely suggested +that all streets bearing the names of saints--and there are hundreds +of them--should be renamed in commemoration of Republican heroes, +dates, exploits, etc. But the common sense of the people and Press is +already on the alert, and such whimsies are being laughed out of court. + +Of the Provisional Government I saw only the President and the Foreign +Secretary. The President, an illustrious scholar, historian, and poet, +is a delightful old man of the simplest, most unassuming manners, and +eagerly communicative on the subjects which have been the study of his +life. When I asked him to explain to me the difference of national +character which made the Portuguese attitude toward the Church so +different from the Spanish, he took me right back to the Ligurians--far +out of my ethnological depth--and gave me a most interesting sketch of +the development of the two nations. But when we came to topics of more +immediate importance, he showed, if I may venture to say so, a clear +practical sense, quite remote from visionary idealism. The Foreign +Minister, Dr. Machado, is of more immediately impressive personality. +Younger than the President by at least ten years, yet little short, I +should guess, of sixty, he is extremely neat and dapper in person, +while his very handsome face has a birdlike keenness and alertness of +expression betokening not only great intelligence but high-strung +vitality. He is a copious, eloquent, and witty talker, and his +remarkable charm of manner accounts, in part at any rate, for his +immense popularity. Assuredly no monarchy could have more distinguished +representatives than this Republic. + +The desire of the Republic to "play fair" was manifested in another +little trait that interested me a good deal. In the window of every +book-shop in Spain a translation from the Portuguese, entitled _Los +Escandalos de la Corte de Portugal_, is prominently displayed. It is a +ferocious lampoon upon the royal family and upon Franco; but in Lisbon +I looked for it in vain. On inquiry I learned that it had been +prohibited under the Monarchy, as it could not fail to be; but, had +there been any demand for it, no doubt it might have been reprinted +since the revolution. There was apparently no demand. The people to +whom I spoke of it evidently regarded it as "hitting below the belt." +"We do not fight with such weapons," said a leading journalist. In no +one, in fact, did I discover the slightest desire or willingness to +retail personal gossip with respect to the hated Braganzas. + + + + +THE CRUSHING OF FINLAND + +A.D. 1910 + +JOHN JACKOL BARON VON PLEHVE +BARON SERGIUS WITTE J.N. REUTER + +In the midst of progress comes reaction. The far northern European +country of Finland had for a century been progressing in advance of its +neighbors. It was a true democracy. It had even established, first of +European lands, the full suffrage for women; and numerous women sat in +its parliament. But Finland was tributary to Russia; and Russia, as far +back as 1898, began a deliberate policy of crushing Finland, +"nationalizing" it, was the Russian phrase, by which was meant +compelling it to abandon its independence, adopt the Russian language, +and become an integral part of the empire under Russian officials and +Russian autocracy. + +Under pressure of this repressive policy, the Finns began leaving their +country as early as 1903, emigrating to America in despair of +successful resistance to Russia's tyranny. Many of them were exiled or +imprisoned by the Czar's Government. Then came the days of the Russian +Revolution; and the Czar and his advisers hurried to grant Finland +everything she had desired, under fear that her people would swell the +tide of revolution. But that danger once passed, the old policy of +oppression was soon renewed, and was carried onward until in November +of 1909 the Finnish Parliament was dismissed by imperial command. All +through 1910 repressive laws were passed, reducing Finland step by step +to a mere Russian province, so that before the close of that year the +Finlanders themselves surrendered the struggle. One of their leaders +wrote, "So ends Finland." + +We give here first the despairing cry written in 1903 by a well-known +Finn who fled to America. Then follows the official Russian statement +by the "Minister of the Interior," Von Plehve, who held control of +Finland in the early stages of the struggle, and was later slain by +Russian revolutionists. Then we give the very different Russian view +expressed by the great liberal Prime Minister, Baron Sergius Witte, who +rescued Russia from her domestic disaster after the Japanese War. The +story is then carried to its close by a well-known Finnish sympathizer. + + +JOHN JACKOL + +"Russia is the rock against which the sigh for freedom breaks," said +Kossuth, the great statesman and patriot of Hungary. Although fifty +years have passed, and sigh after sigh has broken against it, the rock +still stands like a colossal monument of bygone ages. It is pointing +toward the northern star, as if to remind one of the all-enduring +fixity. Other stars may go round as they will; there is one fixed in +its place, and under that star the shadow of despotism hopes to endure +forever. + +While yet in Finland I used to fancy Russia as a giant devil-fish, +whose arms extended from the Baltic to the Pacific, from the Black Sea +to the Arctic Ocean. Then I would think of my native land as a +beautiful mermaid, about whom the giant's cold, chilly arms were slowly +creeping, and I feared that some day those arms would crush her. That +day has come. The helpless mermaid lies prostrate in the clutch of the +octopus. Not that the constitution of Finland has been annulled, as has +been so often erroneously stated, and quite generally believed. The +Russian Government has made only a few inroads upon it. The great +grievance of the Finns is not with what has been absolutely done in +opposition to their ancient rights and privileges, nor in the number of +their rights which have in reality been curtailed, but with the fact +that they have henceforth no security. The real grievance of the Finns +is that the welfare of their country no longer rests upon an inviolable +constitution, but upon the caprice of the ministers. + +In 1898 the reactionists succeeded in getting one of their tools +appointed as Governor-General. No sooner had General Bobrikoff taken +his high office than he declared that the Finnish right to separate +political existence was an illusion; that there was no substantial +foundation for it in any of the acts or words of Alexander I. The +people were amazed, appalled. But this was not all. Pobiedonostseff, +the Procurator of the Holy Synod, and other men as reactionary as he, +discovered the fact, or gave birth to the idea, that the fundamental +rights of Finland could be interfered with if these fundamental rights +interfered with the welfare of the Russian Empire. In other words, they +discovered a loophole which they termed legal, on the principle that +the parts should suffer for the whole, and that this principle was an +integral part of the plan of Russian government. + +The abrogation of maintenance of Finland's ancient rights would seem by +this decision to rest on the arbitrary interpretation on the part of +Russia as to whether or not they interfered with the welfare of the +empire. It is possible that, according to the individual opinions of +Russian autocrats, they might all interfere with the standard of +welfare which certain individuals have arbitrarily established to fit +the occasion. + +In justice to the Russian Government it should be stated, however, that +the joy of persecution was not the motive which led to the arbitrary +acts. During the time that Finland was under Swedish control, the Finns +had learned to dislike everything Russian. These anti-Russian +tendencies were accentuated, after Finland became an appanage of the +Russian crown, by the restrictive and often reactionary policy of the +Imperial Government. Such a form of government was repugnant to the +Finns, who had learned to be governed by good laws well administered, +and by an enlightened public opinion. At the same time, owing to their +larger liberties, their higher culture, and their susceptibility to +western ideals, the Finns exerted an attractive influence over the +peoples of the Baltic provinces, and even of Russia proper. A Finn +would very seldom become Russianized, while many Russians became +Finnicized. Unlike his Russian brother, the Finn enjoyed the privileges +of free conscience, free speech, and free press. + +To the average Russian such a life was enchanting, and many were so +fascinated that they became citizens of Finland. In order to do so, +however, they were obliged to go through the formality of changing +their nationality and becoming subjects of the Grand Duchy. Doubtless +this was distasteful to the Russians, but so many and so great were the +advantages accruing from such a change that not a few renounced their +nationality. + +Such a state of affairs seemed unnatural and antagonistic to the +propaganda of the Panslavistic party. Instead of Russian ideals +pervading the province, provincial ideals, manners, and customs were +gradually spreading into the empire. But there seemed to be no +honorable way of checking the progress of the rapidly growing Finnish +nationality. The Finns maintained that their rights and privileges and +their laws rested upon an inviolable constitution, which could be +changed only by a vote of the four estates of the Landtag. That body +would never yield. + +It was at this juncture that the Procurator of the Holy Synod conceived +the idea that the fundamental rights of the Finns can be curtailed in +so far as they interfere with those of the empire. Acting according to +this new idea the Imperial Government in 1899 took for its pretext the +army service of the Finns. Heretofore, according to a hereditary +privilege, the Finns had not been called upon to serve in the Russian +Army, and their army service had been only three years to the Russian's +five. The officers of the Finnish Army were to be Finns, and this army +could not be called upon to serve outside of the Grand Duchy. This was +the first fundamental right of the Finns to be attacked by the Russian +Government. In some mysterious way the very insignificant army of +Finland "interfered with the general welfare of the Russian Empire." + +Immediately following the Czar's startling proposal for a disarmament +conference in 1899 came his call for a special session of the Finnish +Landtag to extend the laws of conscription and the time of regular +service from three to five years. Furthermore, the new law provided +that instead of serving in their own country, the Finnish soldiers were +to be scattered among the various troops of the empire. By this means +it was hoped to Russianize them. + +The representatives of the people had no time to consider the measure +before the Czar's decree was issued, February 17, 1899, declaring that +thenceforth the laws governing the Grand Duchy be made in the same +manner as those of the empire. + +It is not necessary to dwell upon the deep feeling of indignation and +grief that pervaded the country. It has found a freer expression +outside of the Grand Duchy than within its boundaries. Wherever the +human heart is beating in sympathetic harmony with universal progress, +the oppressed Finnish people have found moral support. In spite of +this, one by one the Finns have been deprived of their hereditary +rights and privileges. To the Finns this new order of things seems +appalling. It is like the drawing of the veil of the dark ages over +their beloved country. They have lost everything that is dear to the +human heart: their language, their religion, and their independence. +They can do nothing but mourn in silence and mortification, for a +strict Russian censorship prevents the expression of their just +indignation and grief. + +The present condition of Finland is apathetic. Last fall the loss of +crops was almost complete, and pestilence and famine are devastating +the country, which has been drained of its vitality by an excessive +migration and military conscription. The young men of Finland are +forced to serve five years in the Russian Army, and the country is +suffering from a lack of men to till the soil. The credit of the +country has been mined, and panic is spreading rapidly. Wholesale +migration of the more thrifty has made the already difficult problem of +readjustment more complicated. Those who remain behind are literally +suffering from physical, intellectual, and moral starvation. There is +left nothing to refresh, fertilize, and energize the nation's vitality. +The Finns are utterly helpless. In this sad extremity of their people +the best men of Finland are exerting their utmost in the endeavor to +alleviate suffering and infuse hope and inspiration among the masses. +The young Finnish party has become exasperated by the humiliation that +has been heaped upon the long-suffering people of their native land, +and its leaders have advised active resistance. The old Finnish party +has adopted the policy of passive resistance and protest. But the +inroads upon the constitution of Finland, in the form of imperial +decrees, rules, and regulations by the Governor-General and his +subordinates, have been so many and so sweeping in their character that +even the most conservative are beginning to lose patience. As long as +the unconstitutional acts affected only the political life of the +people, many were able to bear it, but when the new rules attacked the +time-honored social institutions and customs, indignation could no +longer be suppressed. For instance, the order to open private mail +caused a general protest. The postal director and his secretary refused +to sign the order and resigned. No less obnoxious was the order +forbidding public meetings and directing the governors of the different +provinces of Finland to appoint only such men to fill municipal rural +offices as will be subservient to the Governor-General. The governor of +the province of Ulrasborg resigned, while several other provinces were +already governed by pliant tools of General Bobrikoff. + +The long-suppressed anxiety of the people has changed into a +heartrending sigh of anguish. These words of a national poet express +the general sentiment, "Better far than servitude a death upon the +gallows." A vicious circle has been established. The high-handed +measures cause indignation, and the Governor-General is determined to +suppress its expression. There is no safety in Finland for honest and +patriotic men. The judiciary has been made subservient to General +Bobrikoff. Latest advices are ominous. April 24, 1903, was a black day +in the history of Finland. It witnessed the inauguration of a reign of +terror which, by the ordinance of April 2d and the rescript of April +9th, General Bobrikoff had been authorized to establish. + +Bobrikoff returned to Finland with authority, if necessary, to close +hotels, stores, and factories, to forbid general meetings, to dissolve +clubs and societies, and to banish without legal process any one whose +presence in the country he considered objectionable. + +For 700 years Finns have been free men; now they have become Russian +serfs, and it is well to make closer connections between the Finnish +railway system and the trans-Siberian road. Finns are long-suffering +and patient, but who could endure all this? + +While the expression of indignation is suppressed in Finland, outside +of the Grand Duchy, especially in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Russia's +relentless tyranny has made the highest officers of state as resentful +as the man in the street. Indeed entire Scandinavia is aflame with +indignation and apprehension. The leading journals are warning +Scandinavians "that the fate of Finland implies other tragedies of +similar character, unless Pan-Scandinavia becomes something more than a +political dream." + + +VON PLEHVE[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission from the _American Review of +Reviews_.] + +In criticizing Russian policy in Finland a distinction should be made +between its fundamental principles--_i.e.,_ the ends which it is meant +to attain, and its outward expression, which depends upon +circumstances. + +The former,--_i.e.,_ the aims and principles, remain _unalterable_; the +latter,--_i.e.,_ the way in which this policy finds expression--is of +an incidental and temporary character, and does not always depend on +the Russian authority alone. This is what should be taken into +consideration by Russia's western friends when estimating the value of +the information which reaches them from Finland. + +As to the program of the Russian Government in the Finland question, it +is substantially as follows: + +The fundamental problem of every supreme authority--the happiness and +prosperity of the governed--can be solved only by the mutual +cooperation of the government and the people. The requirements +presented to the partners in this common task are, on the one hand, +that the people should recognize the unity of state principle and +policy and the binding character of its aims; and, on the other, that +the Government should acknowledge the benefit accruing to the state +from the public activity, along the lines of individual development, of +its component elements. + +Such are the grounds on which the government and the people should +unite in the performance of their common task. The combination of +imperial unity with local autonomy, of autocracy with self-government, +forms the principle which must be taken into consideration in judging +the action of the Russian Government in the Grand Duchy of Finland. The +manifesto of February 3-15, 1899, is not a negation of such a peaceful +cooperation, but a confirmation of the aforesaid leading principle of +our Government in its full development. It decides that the issue of +imperial laws, common both to Russia and Finland, must not depend +altogether on the consent of the members of the Finland Diet, but is +the prerogative of the Imperial Council of State, with the +participation on such occasions of members of the Finland Senate. There +is nothing in this manifesto to shake the belief of Russia's friends in +the compatibility of the principles of autocracy with a large measure +of local self-government and civic liberty. The development of the +spiritual and material powers of the population by its gradual +introduction to participation in the conscious public life of +the state, as a healthy, conservative principle of government, +has always entered into the plans of the sovereign leaders of the life +of Russia as a state. These intentions were announced afresh from the +throne by the manifesto of February 26, 1903. In our country this +process takes place in accordance with the historical basis of the +empire, with the national peculiarities of its population. + +The result is that in Russia we have the organization of local +institutions which give self-government in the narrow sense of the +word--_i.e.,_ the right of the people to see to the satisfaction of +their local economic needs. In Finland the idea of local autonomy was +developed far earlier and in a far wider manner. Its present scope, +which has grown and developed under Russian rule, embraces all sides, +not only of the economic, but of the civil, life of the land. Russian +autocracy has thus given irrefragable proof of its constructive powers +in the sphere of civic development. The historian of the future will +have to note its ethical importance in a far wider sphere as well: the +greatest of social problems have found a peaceable solution in Russia, +thanks to the conditions of its political organization. + +For a full comprehension, however, of the manifesto of 1899, it must be +regarded as one of the phases in the development of Finland's relations +to Russia. It will then become evident that as a legacy of the past it +is the outcome of the natural course of events which sooner or later +must have led up to it. The initiation of Finland into the historical +destinies of the Russian Empire was bound to lead to the rise of +questions calling for a general solution common both to the empire and +to Finland. Naturally, in view of the subordinate status of the latter, +such questions could be solved only in the order appointed for imperial +legislation. At the same time, neither the fundamental laws of the +Swedish period of rule in Finland, which were completely incompatible +with its new status, nor the Statutes of the Diet, introduced by +Alexander II., and determining the order of issue of local laws, +touched, or could touch, the question of the issue of general imperial +laws. This question arose in the course of the legislative work +on the systematization of the fundamental laws of Finland. This task, +undertaken by order of the Emperor Alexander II. for the more precise +determination of the status of Finland as an indivisible part of our +state, was continued during the reign of his august successor, the +Emperor Alexander III., and led to the question of determining the +order of issue of general imperial laws. The rules drafted for this +purpose in 1893 formed the contents of the manifesto of 1899. Thus we +see that during six years they remained without application, there +being no practical necessity for their publication. When, however, this +necessity arose, owing to the lapse of the former military law, the +manifesto was issued. It was, therefore, the finishing touch to the +labor of many years at the determination of the manner in which the +principle of a united empire was to find expression within the limits +of Finland, and remained substantially true to the traditions which for +a century had reigned in the relations between Russia and Finland. It +presented a combination of the principle of autocracy with that of +local self-government without any serious limitations of the rights of +the latter. Moreover, while preserving the historical principle of +Russian empire-building, this law determined the form of the expression +of the autocratic power within the limits of the Grand Duchy in a +manner so much in accord with the conditions of life in Finland that it +did not touch the organization of a single one of the national local +institutions of the duchy. + +This law, in its application to the new conscription regulations, has +alleviated the condition of the population of Finland. The military +burden laid on the population of the land has been decreased from 2,000 +men to 500 per annum, and latterly to 280. As you will see, there is in +reality no opposition between the will of the Emperor of Russia as +announced to Finland in 1899 and his generous initiative at The Hague +Conference. But, you ask me, has not this confirmation of the ancient +principles of Russian state policy in Finland been bought at too dear a +price? I shall try to answer you. The hostility of public opinion +toward us in the West in connection with Finnish matters is much to be +regretted, but hopes may be entertained that under the influence of +better information on Finnish affairs this hostility may lose its +present bitterness. We are accustomed, moreover, to see that the West, +while welcoming the progressive development of Russia along the old +lines it, Europe, has followed itself, is not always as amicably +disposed toward the growth of the political and social +self-consciousness of Russia and toward the independent historical +process taking place in her in the shape of the concentration of her +forces for the fulfilment of her peaceful vocation in the history of +the human race. + +The attitude of the population of Finland toward Russia is not at all +so inimical as would appear on reading the articles in the foreign +press proceeding from the pen of hostile journalists. To the honor of +the best elements of the Finnish population, it must be said that the +degree of prosperity attained by Finland during the past century under +the egis of the Russian throne is perfectly evident to them; they know +that it is the Russian Government which has resuscitated the Finnish +race, systematically crushed down as it had been in the days of Swedish +power. The more prudent among the Finlanders realize that now, as +before, the characteristic local organization of Finland remains +unaltered, that the laws which guarantee the provincial autonomy of +Finland are still preserved, and that now, as before, the institutions +are active which satisfy its social and economic needs on independent +lines. + +They understand, likewise, the real causes of the increasing emigration +from Finland. If, along with them, political agitation has also played +a certain part, alarming the credulous peasantry with the specter of +military service on the distant borders of Russia, yet their emigration +was and remains an economic phenomenon. Having originated long before +the issue of the manifesto of 1899, it kept increasing under the +influence of bad harvests, industrial crises, and the demand for labor +in foreign lands. Such is also the case in Norway, where the percentage +of emigration is even greater than in Finland. + +Having elucidated the substantially unalterable aims of Russian policy +in Finland, let us proceed to the causes which have led to its present +incidental and temporary form of expression. This, undoubtedly, is +distinguished by its severity, but such are the requirements of an +utilitarian policy. By the bye, the total of these severe measures +amounts to twenty-six Finlanders expelled from the country and a few +officials dismissed the service without the right to a pension. It was +scarcely possible, however, to retain officials in the service of the +state once they refused to obey their superiors. Nor was it possible to +bear with the existence of a conspiracy which attempted to draw the +peaceful and law-abiding population into a conflict with the +Government, and that, too, at a moment when the prudent members of the +population of the duchy took the side of lawful authority, thereby +calling forth against themselves persecution on the part of the secret +leaders of the agitation party. The upholders of the necessity for a +pacific policy toward Russia were subjected to moral and sometimes +physical outrage, and their opponents were not ashamed to institute +scandalous legal processes against them for the purpose of damaging +their reputations. + +Very different is the attitude of the great mass of the population, as +the following incident shows: The president of the Abo Hofgericht, +declining to follow the instructions of the party hostile to Russia, +was, on his arrival in Helsingfors, subjected to a variety of insults +from the mob gathered at the railway station. On his return to Abo he +was, on the contrary, presented with an address from the peasantry and +local landowners, in which the following words occur: "We understand +very well that you have been led to your patriotic resolve to continue +your labors in obedience to the government by deep conviction, and do +not require gratitude either from us or from any others; but at the +important crisis our people is now experiencing it may be of some +relief to you to learn that the preponderating majority of the people, +and especially in broader classes, gratefully approve of the course you +have taken." + +It will scarcely be known to any one in the West that when signatures +were being gathered for the great mass-address of protest dispatched to +St. Petersburg in 1899, those who refused their signatures numbered +martyrs among them. There are some who for their courage in refusing +their signatures suffered ruin and disgrace and were imprisoned on +trumped-up charges. Moreover, the agitators aimed at infecting the +lower classes of the population with their intolerance and their hatred +of Russians, but, it must be said, with scant success. + +With regard to the essence of the question, I repeat that in matters of +government temporary phenomena should be distinguished from permanent +ones. The incidental expression of Russian policy, necessitated by an +open mutiny against the Government in Finland, will, undoubtedly, be +replaced by the former favor of the sovereign toward his Finnish +subjects as soon as peace is finally restored and the current of social +life in that country assumes its normal course. Then, certainly, all +repressive measures will be repealed. But the realization of the +fundamental aim which the Russian Government has set itself in +Finland--_i.e._, the confirming in that land of the principle of +imperial unity--must continue, and it would be best of all if this end +were attained with the trustful cooperation of local workers under the +guidance of the sovereign to whom Divine Providence has committed the +destinies of Russia and Finland. + + +SERGIUS WITTE + +When we talk of the means requisite for assimilating Finland we can not +help reckoning, first and foremost, with this fact, that by the will of +Russian emperors that country has lived its own particular life for +nearly a century and governed itself in quite a special manner. Another +consideration that should be taken to heart is this: the administration +of the conquered country on lines which differed from the organization +of other territories forming part of the empire, and which gave to +Finland the semblance of a separate state, was shaped by serious +causes, and did good service in the political history of the Russian +Empire. One is hardly justified, therefore, in blaming this work of +Alexander I., as is now so often done.... The annexation of Finland, +poor by nature and at that time utterly ruined by protracted wars, was +of moment to Russia, not so much from an economic or financial as from +a strategical point of view. And what in those days was important was +not its Russification, but solely the military position which it +afforded. Besides, the incorporation of Finland took place at a +calamitous juncture--for Russia. On the political horizon of Europe the +clouds were growing denser and blacker, and there was a general +foreboding of the coming events of the year 1812. If, at that time, +Czar Alexander I. had applied to Finland the methods of administration +which are wont to be employed in conquered countries, Finland would +have become a millstone round Russia's neck during the critical period +of her struggle with Napoleon, which demanded the utmost tension of our +national forces. Fear of insurrections and risings would have compelled +Russia to maintain a large army there and to spend considerable sums in +administering the country. But Alexander I. struck out a different +course. His Majesty recognized the necessity of "bestowing upon the +people, by means of internal organization, incomparably more advantages +than it had had under the sway of Sweden." And the Emperor held that an +effective means of achieving this would be to give the nation such a +status "that it should be accounted not enthralled by Russia, but +attached to her in virtue of its own manifest interests." "This valiant +and trusty people," said Czar Alexander I., when winding up the Diet of +Borgo, "will bless Providence for establishing the present order of +things. And I shall garner in the best fruits of my solicitude when I +shall see this people tranquil from without, free within, devoting +itself to agriculture and industry under the protection of the laws and +their own good conduct, and by its very prosperity rendering justice in +my intentions and blessing its destiny." + +Subsequent history justified the rosiest hopes of the Emperor. The +immediate consequence of the policy he adopted toward Finland was that +the country quickly became calmed and settled after the fierce war that +had been waged there, and that in this way Russia was enabled to +concentrate all her forces upon the contest with Napoleon. According to +the words of Alexander I. himself, the annexation of Finland "was of +the greatest advantage to Russia; without it, in 1812, we might not, +perhaps, have won success, because Napoleon had in Bernadotte his +steward, who, being within five days' march of our capital, would have +been inevitably compelled to join his forces with those of Napoleon. +Bernadotte himself told me so several times, and added that he had +Napoleon's order to declare war against Russia." And afterward, during +almost a century, Finland never occasioned any worries, political or +economic, to the Russian Government, and did not require special +sacrifices or special solicitude on its part. + +If we may judge, not by the speeches and articles of particular +Separatists, but by overt acts, during that long period of time the +Finnish people never failed in their duty as loyal subjects of their +monarch or citizens of the common fatherland, Russia. The successors of +the conqueror of Finland spoke many times from the height of the throne +"of the numerous proofs of unalterable attachment and gratitude which +the citizens of this country have given their monarchs." And in effect, +neither general insurrections against Russia's dominions, nor political +plots, nor the tumults of an ignorant rabble--such as our cholera +riots, workmen's outbreaks, Jewish pogroms, and other like +disturbances--have ever occurred in Finland; and when disorders of that +kind broke out in other parts of the empire or alarming tidings from +abroad came in they never evoked the slightest dangerous echo there. It +is a most remarkable fact that during the trying time the Russian +Government had when the Polish insurrection was going on, and later, in +the equally difficult period through which we passed at the close of +the seventies, Finland remained perfectly calm; and in the long list of +political criminals sprung from the various nationalities of Russia, we +do not find a single Finlander. + +In like manner fear of Finland's aspirations toward independence, of +her inordinate demands in the matter of military legislation, of her +turning her population into an armed nation; in a word, all the +apprehensions felt that Finland may break loose from Russia are, down +to the present moment, devoid of foundation in fact. + +"Finland under the egis of the Russian realm," our present Emperor has +said, "and strong in virtue of Russia's protection through the lapse of +almost a whole century, has advanced along the way of peaceful progress +unswervingly, and in the hearts of the Finnish people lived the +consciousness of their attachment to the Russian monarchs and to +Russia." In moments of stress and of Russia's danger, the Finnish +troops have always come forward as the fellow soldiers of our armies, +and Finland has shared with us unhesitatingly our military triumphs and +also the irksome consequences and tribulations of war-time. Thus, in +the year 1812 and in the Crimean campaign, her armies grew in number +considerably; in that eastern war almost her entire mercantile marine +was destroyed--a possession which was one of the principal sources of +the revenue of the country. During the Polish insurrection and the war +for the emancipation of Bulgaria Finnish troops took part in the +expeditions, and when in 1885 the Diet was opened, the Emperor +Alexander III., in his speech from the throne, bore witness to "the +unimpeachable way in which the population of the country had discharged +its military obligations," and he gave utterance to his conviction that +the Finnish troops would attain the object for which they existed. + +By way of proving Finland's striving to cut herself apart from Russia, +people point to the doctrine disseminated about the Finnish State, to +its unwillingness to establish military conscription on the same lines +as the empire, and to the speeches of the Deputies of the Diets of +1877-1878 and 1879. But none of these arguments carries conviction. + +The theory about the independence of Finland, as a separate realm, +which was worked out for the purpose of devising "the means of +safeguarding its idiosyncrasies," is far from proving that "Finland +aims at separation from Russia." Down to the present moment separation +has not been in her interests. She was never an independent State; her +historical traditions do not move her to play a political part in +Europe. Besides, her population is mixed. The Swedish element +constitutes only the topmost layer, and is not powerful enough to move +toward an independent existence or toward union with the Power which +belongs to the same race as that layer, while the mass of Finns, +dreading the oppression of the Swedish party, is drawn more to Russia +by the simple instinct of self-preservation. That is why the Finnish +patriot may well be a true and devoted citizen of the Russian Empire, +and being, as Alexander III. termed it, "a good Finlander," can also +"bear in mind that he is a member of the Russian family, at the head of +which stands the Russian Emperor." + +The unfavorable attitude of the Finns toward the proposal of the War +Ministry for extending to them the general regulations that deal with +the obligation to serve in the army is also intelligible. That +obligation of military service is exceedingly irksome; and it is not +only the Finns who desire to fight shy of it, nor can one discover any +specially dangerous symptom in their wish to preserve the privileged +position which they have hitherto enjoyed as to the way of discharging +their military duties. They seek to perpetuate the privileges conferred +upon them in the form of fundamental laws, and they strive to avoid +being incorporated in the Russian Army, because service there would be +very much more onerous for them than in their own Finnish regiments... + +If we now turn from the political to the economic aspect of the matter, +to the question how far the order of things as at present established +in Finland has proved advantageous to Russia from the financial point +of view, we shall search in vain for data capable of bearing out the +War Minister's opinion that, for the period of a century the Budget of +Finland has been sedulously husbanded at the cost of the Russian +people. + +Ever since Finland has had an independent State Budget, she has never +required any sacrifices on the part of Russia for her economic +development. Ill-used by nature and ruined by wars, the country, by +dint of its own efforts, has advanced toward cultural and material +prosperity. Without subsidies or guaranties from the Imperial Treasury, +the land became furrowed with a network of carriage roads and railways; +industries were created; a mercantile fleet was built, and the work of +educating the nation was so successfully organized that one can hardly +find an illiterate person throughout the length and breadth of the +principality. It is also an interesting fact worth recording that, +whereas the Russian Government has almost every year to feed a starving +population, now in one district of the empire, now in another, and is +obliged from time to time to spend enormous sums of money for the +purpose, Finland, in spite of its frequent bad harvests, has generally +dispensed with such help on the part of the State Treasury... + +Under these circumstances it is hardly fair to assert that Finland has +been living at Russia's expense. On the contrary, Finland is perhaps +the only one of our borderlands which has not required for its economic +or cultural development funds taken from the population of Russia +proper. The Caucasus, the Kingdom of Poland, Turkestan, part of +Siberia, and other portions of our border districts--nay, even the +northern provinces themselves--are sources of loss to us, or, at any +rate, they have cost the Russian Treasury very much, and some of them +still continue to cost it much, but the expenses they involve are +hidden in the totals of the Imperial Budget. A few data will throw +adequate light on this aspect of the situation. It is enough, for +instance, to call to mind what vast, what incalculable sacrifices the +pacification of the Caucasus required from Russia and what worry and +expense it still causes us. No less imposing is the expenditure which +the Kingdom of Poland with its two insurrections necessitated in the +course of last century.... And if we cast a glance at the youngest of +our borderlands--Turkestan--we shall find that here also the outlay +occasioned by the political situation of the country has already become +sharply outlined.... When we set those figures and data side by side we +shall find it hard to speak of "our expenditure on Finland" or of "the +vast privileges" we have conferred on the principality. + +It follows, then, that the system of administration established for +Finland by the Emperor Alexander I. has not yet had any harmful +political results for Russia, and that it has dispensed the Russian +Government from incurring heavy expenditure for the administration and +the well-being of the country, and in this way has enabled Russia to +concentrate her forces and her care on other parts of the empire and to +devote her attention to other State problems. + +One can not, of course, contend that the system of government adopted +in Finland satisfies, in each and all its parts, the requirements and +the needs of the present time. On the contrary, it is indubitable that +the independent existence of the principality, disconnected as it is +from the general interests of the empire, has led to a certain +estrangement between the Russian and the Finnish populations. That an +estrangement really exists can not be doubted; but the explanation of +it is to be found in the difference of the two cultures which have +their roots in history. To the protracted sway of Sweden and Finland's +continuous relations through her intermediary with Western Europe, the +circumstance is to be ascribed that the thinking spirits among the +Finns gravitate--in matters of culture--not to Russia but to the West, +and in particular to Sweden, with whom Finland is linked by bonds of +language--through her highest social class--and of religion, laws, and +literature. For that reason the views, ideas, and interests of +Western--and in particular of Scandinavian--peoples are more +thoroughly familiar and more intelligible to them than ours. That also +is why, when working out any kind of reforms and innovations, they seek +for models not among us but in Western Europe. + +It is, doubtless, impossible to look upon that state of things with +approval. It is highly desirable that a closer union should take place +between the interests, cultural and political, of the principality and +those of the empire: that is postulated by the mutual advantages of +both countries. As I have already remarked, Russians could not +contemplate otherwise than with pleasure the possible union and +assimilation--in principle--of the borderland with the other parts of +our vast fatherland: they will also be unanimous in wishing this task +as successful an issue as is possible..... + +But what is not feasible is to demolish at one swoop everything that +has been created and preserved in the course of a whole century. A +change of policy, if it is not to provoke tumults and disorganization, +must be carried out gradually and with extreme circumspection. The +assimilation of Finland can never be efficacious if achieved by +violence and constraint instead of by pacific means. The Finnish people +should be left to appreciate the benefits which would accrue to them +from union with a powerful empire: for an adequate understanding of +their own interests will, in the words of the Imperial rescript of +February 28, 1891, "inspire them with a desire to draw more closely the +bonds that link Finland with Russia." There is no doubt that even at +present a certain tendency is noticeable among the Finns in favor of +closer relations with Russia: the knowledge of the Russian tongue is +spreading more and more widely among them, and business relations +between them and us are growing brisker from year to year. The +desirable abolition of the customs cordon between the two countries is +bound to give a powerful fillip to the growth of commerce, which is the +most trustworthy and most pacific means of bringing about a better +understanding and strengthening the ties that bind Finland to Russia. + +Harsh, drastic expedients may easily loosen the threads that have begun +to get tied, foster national hate, arouse mutual distrust and +suspicion, and lead to results the reverse of those aimed at. +Assimilative measures adopted by the Government, therefore, should be +thought out carefully and applied gradually. + +J.N. REUTER + +"Might can not dominate right in Russia," said M. Stolypin, Russian +Minister of the Interior and President of the Council of Ministers, in +the speech which he delivered in the Duma on May 18, 1908, when pressed +by the various parties to declare his policy with regard to Finland. +This noble sentiment has the familiar ring of Russian officialdom. It +may, perhaps, be worth while to consider it in the light of recent +history and present-day issues. + +Alexander I., the first Russian sovereign of Finland, addressed a +Rescript to Count Steinheil on his appointment to the post of +Governor-General. Therein he wrote: "My object in Finland has been to +give the people a political existence so that they shall not regard +themselves as subject to Russia, but as attached to her by their own +obvious interests." It is not the place here to give an historical +account of subsequent events. It may, however, be briefly stated that +the political ideal expressed in the words quoted here was at times +forgotten, but was again revived, and, in such times, even resulted in +the extension of Finland's constitutional rights. Then, again, this +ideal was abandoned, and gave way to a totally different one, which +found its most acute expression in February, 1899, when the Czar, a +year after the issue of his invitations to the first Peace Conference +at The Hague, suppressed by an Imperial manifesto the constitutional +right of Finland. The arbitrary and corrupt Russian bureaucratic regime +little by little forced its way into the country, while Finlanders +watched with bitter resentment the suppression, one by one, of their +most cherished national institutions. + +This manifesto was condemned in many European countries at the time, +and a protest against it was signed by over a thousand prominent +publicists and constitutional lawyers, who presented an international +address to the Czar begging him to restore the rights of the Grand +Duchy. + +In 1905, however, it seemed at last that a new era was about to dawn. +The change was brought about by the domestic crisis through which +Russia herself was then passing. An Imperial manifesto promulgated in +October, containing the principles of a constitutional form of +government in Russia, was followed as an inevitable sequel by the +manifesto of November 4th, which practically restored to Finland its +full political rights. In 1906, a new Law of the Diet was enacted. +Instead of triennial sessions of the Estates, annual sessions of the +Diet were introduced, while an extension of the franchise to every +citizen over twenty-four years of age without distinction of sex gave +to women active electoral rights. Moreover, the door was opened to new +and far-reaching reforms, the fulfilment of which infused fresh life +into the democratic spirit of Finnish national institutions. While, +however, so much was done to improve the political, social, and +economic condition of the country, the promises which were then made +have not been fulfilled. The principal reason for this failure to +redeem their pledges lies in a change of attitude among Russian +officials and their interference in Finnish affairs. It is by +consideration of this change and of its effect upon Finland that we may +best judge how much truth there is in M. Stolypin's claim that in +Russia "might can not dominate right." + +Ominous signs of a reversal of policy had appeared before, but the +first official expression to it was given in the speech of M. Stolypin +already referred to. In this speech he claimed for Russia as the +sovereign power the right of control over Finnish administration and +legislation whenever the interests of the empire were concerned. This +claim meant practically the restoration of the old Bobrikoff regime and +was based on the same ideas as those underlying the February manifesto +of 1899. M. Stolypin attempts to justify his attitude by arguing that +the constitutional relations between Russia and Finland are determined +only by Clause 4 of the Treaty of Peace between Russia and Sweden, +dated September 17,1809. This clause runs as follows: + +"His Majesty the King of Sweden renounces irrevocably and forever, on +behalf of himself as well as on behalf of his successors to the Swedish +throne and realm, and in favor of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia and +his successors to the Russian throne and empire, all his rights and +titles of the governments enumerated hereafter which have been +conquered by the arms of his Imperial Majesty from the Swedish Army, to +wit: the Provinces of Kymmenegard, etc. + +"These provinces, with all their inhabitants, towns, ports, forts, +villages, and islands, with their appurtenances, privileges, and +revenues, shall hereafter under full ownership and sovereignty belong +to the Russian Empire and be incorporated with the same." + +After quoting this clause, M. Stolypin exclaimed, "This is the act, the +title, by which Russia possesses Finland, the one and only act which +determines the mutual relations between Russia and Finland." + +Now this clause contains no reference whatever to the autonomy of the +Grand Duchy, and if it were the only act by which the mutual relations +of Russia and Finland were determined, then Finland would have no +constitution. The political autonomy of Finland, which has been +recognized for exactly one hundred years, would have been without legal +foundation. Even M. Stolypin admits that Finland enjoys autonomy. +"There must be no room for the suspicion," he said, "that Russia would +violate the rights of autonomy conferred on Finland by the monarch." On +what, then, does the claim to Finnish autonomy rest and how was it +conferred? Clause 6 of the Treaty of Peace contains the following +passage: + +"His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, having already given the +most manifest proofs of the clemency and justice with which he has +resolved to govern the inhabitants of the provinces which he has +acquired, by generosity and by his own spontaneous act assuring to them +the free exercise of their religion, rights, property, and privileges, +his Swedish Majesty considers himself thereby released from performing +the otherwise sacred duty of making reservations in the above respects +in favor of his former subjects." + +This entry in the Treaty of Peace refers to the settlement made at the +Borgo Diet a few months earlier, and it is under this settlement, +confirmed by deeds of a later date, that Finland claims her right to +autonomy. M. Stolypin recognizes the claim of Finland to autonomy, but +refuses to recognize the binding force of the acts of the Borgo Diet on +which alone it can legally be based. This claim gives Finland no voice +in her external relations. All international treaties, including +matters relating to the conduct of war (though laws on the liability of +Finnish citizens to military service fall under the competency of the +Finnish Diet), are matters common to Russia and Finland as one empire, +one international unit, and are dealt with by the proper Russian +authorities. This is admitted by all Finlanders. But M. Stolypin +extended Russian authority by making it paramount in all matters which +have a bearing on Russian or Imperial interests. + +The attempt to curtail Finnish constitutional liberty has taken +different forms. Early in 1908 the Russian Council of Ministers, over +which M. Stolypin presides, drew up a "Journal," or Protocol, to which +the Czar on June 2d gave his sanction. The chief provisions of this +Protocol were briefly as follows: All legislative proposals and all +administrative matters "of general importance," before being brought to +the Sovereign for his sanction, or, as is the case with Bills to be +presented to the Diet, for his preliminary approval, as well as all +reports drawn up by Finnish authorities for the Czar's inspection, must +be communicated to the Russian Council of Ministers. The Council will +then decide "which matters concerning the Grand Duchy of Finland also +have a bearing on the interests of the empire, and, consequently, call +for a fuller examination on the part of the Ministries and Government +Boards." If the Council decide that a matter has a bearing on the +interests of the empire the Council prepare a report on it, and, should +the Council differ from the views taken up by the Finnish authorities, +the Finnish Secretary of State, who alone should be the constitutional +channel for bringing Finnish matters before the Sovereign's notice, can +do so only in the presence of the President of the Council of Ministers +or another Russian Minister. But in practise it has frequently happened +that the Council send in their report beforehand, and the Czar's +decision is practically taken when the Finnish Secretary is permitted +an audience. + +This important measure was brought about by the exclusive +recommendation of Russian Ministers. Neither the Finnish Diet nor the +Senate nor the Secretary of State for Finland, who resides in St. +Petersburg, was consulted or had the slightest idea of what was going +on before the Protocol was published in Russia. It has never been +promulgated in Finland, and no Finnish authority has been officially +advised of it. The whole matter has been treated as a private affair +between the Czar and his Russian Ministers. + +The excuse has been made that the Czar must be permitted to seek +counsel with whomsoever he chooses in regard to the government of +Finland. But this is not a question of privately consulting one man or +the other. The new measure amounts to an official recognition of the +Russian Council of Ministers as an organ of government exercising a +powerful control over Finnish legislation, administration, and finance. +The center of gravity of Finnish administration has, in fact, been +shifted from the Senate for Finland, composed of Finnish men, to the +Russian Council of Ministers. + +The Finnish Senate protested to the Czar in three separate memoranda, +dated respectively June 19, 1908, December 22, 1908, and February +25,1909. The Finnish Diet adopted on October 13, 1908, a petition to +the Czar to reconsider the matter. On the occasion of the opening of +the Diet's next session the Speaker, in his reply to the Czar's +message, briefly referred to the anxiety prevailing in Finland, with +the result that the Diet was immediately punished by an order of +dissolution from the Czar. The Senate's memoranda, as well as the +Diet's petition, were rejected, the Czar acting on the exclusive +recommendation of the Russian Council of Ministers. They were not even +brought before him through the constitutional channels, the Finnish +Secretary of State having been refused a hearing. As a result all +members of the Department of Justice, or half the number of the +Senators, resigned. + +In the same year another but less successful attack was made on the +Finnish Constitution. In the autumn of 1908 the Finnish Diet adopted a +new Landlord and Tenant Bill, but before it was brought up for the +Czar's sanction the Diet was dissolved in the manner just described. +The Bill being of a pressing nature, the Council of Ministers was at +last prevailed upon to report on it to the Czar. The latter then gave +his sanction to it, but, on the recommendation of the Council, added a +rider in the preamble. This was to the effect that, though the Bill, +having been adopted by a Diet which was dissolved before the expiration +of the three years' period for which it was elected, should not have +been presented for his consideration at all, the Czar would +nevertheless make an exception from the rule and sanction it, prompted +by his regard for the welfare of the poorer part of the population. + +The Senate decided to postpone promulgation of this law in view of the +constitutional doctrine involved in the preamble. It was pointed out +that this doctrine was entirely foreign to Finnish law. The preamble +which, according to custom, should have contained nothing beyond the +formal sanction to the law in question, embodied an interpretation of +constitutional law. Such an interpretation could only legally be made +in the same manner as the enactment of a constitutional law, _i.e.,_ +through the concurrent decision of the Sovereign and the Diet. The +Senate, therefore, petitioned the Czar to modify the preamble in such a +way as to remove from it what could be construed as an interpretation +of constitutional law. + +In reply, the Czar reprimanded the Senate for delaying promulgation, +recommended it to do so immediately, but promised later on to take the +representations made by the Senate into his consideration. Five of the +Senators then voted against, while the Governor-General and five others +voted for promulgation of, the law. The minority then tendered their +resignations. The inconveniences resulting from this new constitutional +doctrine proved, however, of so serious a practical nature that the +Czar eventually, in July, 1909, issued a declaration that "the gracious +expressions in the preamble to the Landlord and Tenant Law concerning +the invalidity of the decisions of a dissolved Diet do not constitute +an interpretation of the constitutional law and shall not in the future +be binding in law." + +A third and most important encroachment by the Russian Council of +Ministers on the autonomy of Finland was also carried out at the +instigation of M. Stolypin. The Finnish Constitution makes no +distinction between matters that may have, or may not have, a bearing +on the interests of Russia. At the same time Russian interests have +never been disregarded in Finnish legislation. It had been the +practise, when a legislative proposal was brought forward in Finland, +and a Russian interest might be affected by it, to communicate with the +Russian Minister whom the matter most closely concerned, in order that +he might make his observations. This practise was confirmed by law in +1891. In its memoranda of 1908 and 1909, on the interference of the +Russian Council of Ministers in Finnish affairs, the Senate suggested +that, in case the procedure under the ordinance of 1891 were not +satisfactory, a committee of Russian and Finnish members should be +appointed to discuss a _modus procedendi_ of such a nature that the +Constitution of Finland should not be violated. On the recommendation +of the Council of Ministers, the Czar rejected these suggestions, but +the Council of Ministers took the matter in hand and summoned a +"Special Conference," consisting of several Russian Ministers, other +high Russian functionaries, the Governor-General of Finland, who is +also a Russian, with M. Stolypin as President. Their business was to +draw up a program for a joint committee to be appointed "for the +drafting of proposals for regulations concerning the procedure of +issuing laws of general Imperial interest concerning Finland." This +conference accordingly drew up a program, approved by the Czar on April +10, 1909, in which it was resolved that the joint committee should +suggest a definition of the term "laws of general Imperial interest +concerning Finland." These laws, it was proposed, should be totally +withdrawn from the competency of the Finnish Diet and should be passed +by the legislative bodies of Russia, that is, the Council of State and +the Duma. The only safeguard for the interests of Finland suggested in +the program is that a representative for Finland should be admitted to +these two bodies when Finnish questions were discussed there. + +It is impossible to say what laws concerning Finland will be defined as +being of "general interest." Having regard, however, to the wide +interpretation which Russian reactionaries are wont to put on the +expression, there is every reason to suppose that the Russian members +of the committee will insist on its extension so as to include every +important category of law. + +The Finnish members through their spokesman, Archbishop Johansson, +declared that they proceeded to work on the committee on the assumption +that in case alterations in the law of Finland should be found +necessary, having regard to Imperial interests, such alterations should +be made through modifications in the constitutional laws of Finland. +The Finlanders are prepared to do their duty by the empire, but, the +Archbishop said: "Sacrifices have been demanded from us to which no +people can consent. The Finnish people can not forego their +Constitution, which is a gift of the Most High, and which, next to the +Gospel, is their most cherished possession." + +M. Deutrich, who spoke on behalf of the Russian members, explained that +any law resulting from the labors of the committee would not be +submitted to the ratification of the Finnish Diet. + +So M. Stolypin's way was now clear. The sanction of the people will not +be required. The Finlanders have practically no other help than that +given by a consciousness of the justice of their cause. They have no +appeal. + +In November of 1909 the Finnish Diet was dissolved by a ukase of the +Czar. Since then the Russian Government has been passing decree after +decree for Finland, giving the constitutional authorities no voice even +of protest. So ends Finland. + + + + +MAN'S FASTEST MILE THE AUTOMOBILE AGE + +A.D. 1911 + +C.F. CARTER ISAAC MARCOSSON + +On April 23, 1911, an automobile was driven along the hard, smooth sand +of a Florida sea beach, covering a mile in 25-2/5 seconds. And it +continued for a second mile at the same tremendous speed. These were +the fastest two miles ever made by man. They were at the rate of a +trifle over 140 miles an hour. As this record was not equaled in the +three years that followed, it may be regarded as approaching the +maximum speed of which automobiles are capable. And as another +automobile, in endeavoring to reach such a speed, dissolved into its +separate parts, practically disintegrated, and left an astonished +driver floundering by himself upon the sand, we may assume that no +noticeably greater speed can be attained except by some wholly +different method or new invention. + +In contrast to this picture of "speed maniacs" darting more swiftly +than ever eagle swooped or lightning express-train ran, let us +contemplate for a moment that first automobile race held in Chicago in +1894. A twenty-four horse-power Panhard machine showed a speed of +thirty miles an hour and was objected to by the newspapers as a "racing +monster" likely to cause endless tragedy, menacing death to its owners +and to the public. Thus in the brief space of seventeen years did the +construction of automobiles improve and the temper of the world toward +them change. The present day may almost be called the "automobile age." +The progress by which this has come about, and the enormous development +of this new industry is here traced by two men who have followed it +most closely. The narrative of the "auto's" triumphs by Mr. C.F. Carter +appeared first in the _Outing Magazine_. The account of the industry's +growth by Mr. Isaac Marcosson appeared in _Munsey's Magazine_, of which +he was the editor. Both are given here by the permission of the +magazines. + +C.F. CARTER + +When the marine architects and engineers catch up with the automobile +makers they can build a ship capable of crossing the Atlantic in +twenty-three hours; or, if we forget to make allowance for the +difference in longitude, capable of making the run from Liverpool to +New York in the same apparent time in which the Twentieth Century +Limited makes the run from New York to Chicago. That is, the vessel +leaving Liverpool at three o'clock in the afternoon would arrive at New +York at nine o'clock the following morning, which, allowing for the +five hours' difference in time, would make twenty-three hours. + +When the railroad engineers provide improved tracks and motive power +that will enable them to parallel the feats of the automobile men, if +they ever do, the running time for the fastest trains between New York +and Chicago will be reduced to seven hours, while San Francisco will be +but a day's run from the metropolis. + +And when the airship enthusiasts are able to dart through the air at +the speed attained by the automobile, it will be time enough to think +of taking seriously the extravagant claims made in behalf of aviation. + +For the automobile is the swiftest machine ever built by human hands. +It is so much swifter than its nearest competitor that those who read +these lines to-day are likely to be some years older before its speed +is even equaled, to say nothing of being surpassed, by any other kind +of vehicle. + +So far as is known, but one human being ever traveled faster than +Robert Burman did in his racing auto on the beach at Daytona, Florida, +on April 23, 1911. This solitary exception was a Hindu carrier who +chanced to tumble off the brink of a chasm in the Himalayas. His name +has not been preserved, he never made any claim to the record, he was +not officially timed, and altogether the event has no official +standing. Still, as he is the only man who is ever alleged to have +covered so great a distance as six thousand feet in an obstructed fall, +the matter is not without interest; for, according to the accepted rule +for finding the velocity of a body falling freely from rest, he must +have been going at the rate of seven miles a second when he reached the +bottom. + +About Burman's record there can be no doubt, for it was made in the +presence of many witnesses, and it was duly timed with stop-watches by +men skilled in the art. The straightaway mile over the smooth, hard +beach was covered from a running start in the almost incredibly short +time of 25.40 seconds. + +The next fastest mile ever traveled by human beings who lived to tell +about it was made in an electric-car on the experimental track between +Berlin and Zossen, in 1902. As the engineers who achieved this record +for the advancement of scientific knowledge of the railroad considered +such speed dangerous, it is not at all likely to become standard +practise. The fastest time ever made by a steam locomotive of which +there is any record, was the run of five miles from Fleming to +Jacksonville, Florida, in two and a half minutes by a Plant system +locomotive in March, 1901. This was at the rate of 120 miles an hour. +As for steamships, the record of 30.53 miles per hour is held by the +_Mauretania_. + +These things, if borne in mind, will serve to throw into stronger +relief the things that an automobile can do, and to supply a +substantial basis for the premise that, at least in some respects, the +automobile is the most marvelous machine the world has yet seen. It can +go anywhere at any time, floundering through two feet of snow, ford any +stream that isn't deep enough to drown out the magneto, triumph over +mud axle deep, jump fences, and cavort over plowed ground at fifteen +miles an hour. It has been used with brilliant success in various kinds +of hunting, including coyote coursing on the prairies of Colorado, +where it can run all around the bronco, formerly in favor, since it +never runs any risk of breaking a leg in a prairie-dog hole. Educated +automobiles have been trained to shell corn, saw wood, pump water, +churn, plow, and, in short, do anything required of them except figure +out where the consumer gets off under the new tariff law. + +But to get back to the subject of speed, as automobile talk always +does, the supremacy of the motor-car has been established by so many +official records that any attempt to select the most striking only +results in bewilderment. The best that can be done is to recite a few +representative ones. + +That was a most interesting illustration, for instance, of the capacity +for sustained high speed made by a Stearns car on the mile track at +Brighton Beach in 1910. In twenty-four hours the car covered the +amazing distance of 1,253 miles, which was at the average speed of +52-1/5 miles per hour. This record is all the more remarkable from the +fact the car was not a racer, but a stock car which had been driven for +some months by its owner before it was borrowed for the race, and did +not have any special preparation. The men who drove it were not +notified that their services were wanted until the morning of the race. + +While this is about the average rate per hour of the fastest train +between New York and Chicago, it should be remembered that the trains +run on steel rails, that curves are comparatively few, and they are not +sharp, while the automobile was spinning around a mile track made of +plain dirt, and was obliged to negotiate 2,506 sharp curves. Besides, +the locomotives on the fast trains are changed every 120 to 150 miles, +while the entire run of 1,253 miles was made by one auto which had +already run 7,500 miles in ordinary service before it was entered in +the race. + +Unfortunately for the automobile, it has achieved so many remarkable +speed records that its name is suggestive of swiftness. If the English +language were not the stereotyped, inelastic vehicle for the +communication of thought that it is we should now be speaking of +"automobiling" a shady bill through the city council instead of +"railroading" it. There are few places where it is permissible to +attain record speed, and fewer men who, with safety to others, may be +entrusted with the attempt. The true value of the automobile to the +average man lies in its ability to keep right on going indefinitely at +moderate speed under any and all conditions. + +One of the innumerable tests in which the staying qualities of the +automobile were brought out was the trip from Pittsburg to Philadelphia +by way of Gettysburg by S.D. Waldon and four passengers in a Packard +car, September 20, 1910. This run of 303 miles over three mountain +ranges, with the usual accompaniments of steep grades, rocks, ruts, and +thank-you-ma'ms to rack the machinery and bruise the feelings of the +riders, was made in 12 hours and 51 minutes. + +A little run of three or four hundred miles, though, is scarcely worth +mentioning by way of showing what an auto can do in a real endurance +contest. A much more notable trip was the non-stop run from Jackson, +Michigan, to Bangor, Maine, in November, 1909, by E.P. Blake and Dr. +Charles Percival. The distance of 1,600 miles was covered in 123 hours, +which meant traveling at an average speed of 13 miles an hour in rain +and snow and mud over country roads at their worst. In all that time +the motor never once stopped. In the Munsey historical tour of 1910 a +Brush single-cylinder car covered the 1,550 miles of a schedule +designed for big cars and came through with a perfect score. If you +know the hill roads of Pennsylvania you'll realize what that means in +the way of car performance. + +Still more remarkable endurance tests are the transcontinental trips +which are undertaken so frequently nowadays that they no longer attract +attention. One such trip which shows what very little trouble an +automobile gives when handled with reasonable care was that made in +1909 by George C. Rew, W.H. Aldrich, Jr., R.A. Luckey, and H.G. Toney. +Traveling by daylight only, they made the journey of 2,800 miles from +San Francisco to Chicago in nineteen days in a Stearns car. They might +have done better if they had not loitered along the way. On one +occasion they stopped to haul water a distance of twenty-five miles for +some cowboys on a round-up. The motor gave no trouble whatever, while +the only trouble with tires was a single puncture caused by a spike +when they tried to avoid a bad stretch of road by running on a railroad +track. + +The time record from ocean to ocean was held by L.L. Whitman, who left +New York in a Reo four-thirty at 12.01 A.M. on Monday, August 8, 1910, +and arrived in San Francisco on the 18th, covering the 3,557 miles in +10 days 15 hours and 13 minutes. This achievement may be more fully +appreciated by comparing it with the transcontinental relay race in +which a courier carried a message from President Taft to President +Chilberg, of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, in September-October, +1909, in 10 days 5 hours, by using thirty-two cars and as many +different drivers who knew the roads over which they ran. + +Those who are fortunate enough to have friends who own cars know that +automobiles can climb hills; and that the accepted way to do it is to +throw in the extra special high gear, tear the throttle out by the +roots, advance the spark twenty minutes, and push hard on the steering +wheel. The fact that the car will overlook such treatment and go ahead +is a source of never-failing wonder. Indeed, when it comes to +hill-climbing the automobile is so far ahead of the locomotive that it +seems like wanton cruelty to drag the latter into the discussion at +all. + +The steepest grade on a railroad doing a miscellaneous transportation +business climbed by a locomotive relying on adhesion only is on the +Leopoldina system in Brazil between Bocca do Monte and Theodoso, where +there is a stretch of 8-1/3 per cent. grade with curves of 130 feet +radius. There are some logging roads in the United States with grades +of 16 per cent. How trifling this seems when compared with the feat of +a Thomas car which climbed Fillmore Street, San Francisco, which is +alleged to have a gradient of 34 per cent., with twenty-three persons +on board. As 25 per cent. is regarded as the maximum safe gradient for +an Abt rack railway, since the cog-wheel is liable to climb out of the +rack on any steeper grade, it will be seen that the strain upon the +credulity of the hearer of this story is almost as great as that upon +the car must have been. + +Enthusiasm may be expected to run high in the presence of such +astounding triumphs, and it should, therefore, not be deemed surprising +that accounts of hill-climbing contests are generally lacking in +definiteness. The name of the car and the driver are always given with +scrupulous care, but such incidental details as length of ascent, +minimum, maximum, and average gradient, maximum curvature, and so on, +are generally left to the imagination. + +Among the few exceptions to this rule was the hill-climbing contest at +Port Jefferson, Long Island, in which Ralph de Palma went up an ascent +of two thousand feet with an average gradient of 10 per cent. and a +maximum of 15 per cent. in 20.48 seconds in his 190-horse-power Fiat. A +little Hupmobile, one of the lightest cars built, reached the top in 1 +minute 10 seconds. De Palma climbed the "Giant's Despair" near +Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, an ascent six thousand feet long, with +grades varying from 10 to 22 per cent., in his big machine in 1 minute +28-2/5 seconds. A Marmon stock car reached the top in 1 minute 50-1/5 +seconds. Pike's Peak, Mount Washington, Ensign Mountain, in Utah, and +lesser mountains elsewhere have also been climbed repeatedly by +automobiles. As the mere announcement of the fact vividly exhibits the +staying powers of the auto in a long, stiff climb, the engineering +details may be disregarded. + +Next to its ability to do the exceptional things when required, the +most useful accomplishment of the automobile is its wonderful capacity +for standing up to its work day in and day out in fair weather or foul, +regardless of the condition of the roads. This is shown every year in +the spectacular Glidden tours, otherwise the National Reliability +tests, in which a number of cars of various makes cover a scheduled +route of two or three thousand miles, in which are included all the +different kinds of abominations facetiously termed "roads." Other tests +without number are constantly being evolved to demonstrate the already +established fact that an automobile can do anything required of it. + +There was the New York to Paris race, for instance. Starting from New +York on February 12, 1908, when traveling was at its worst, and +arriving in Paris July 30, the winner floundered in snow, mud, sand, +and rocks, over mountain ranges and through swamps, in eighty-eight +days' running time for the 12,116 miles of land travel. That was a +demonstration of what an automobile can do that has never been +surpassed. Yet the Thomas car that did it was restored to its original +condition at a cost of only $90 after the trip was ended. + +Another remarkable demonstration of endurance was that given by a +Chalmers-Detroit touring car, which was driven 208 miles every day for +a hundred consecutive days over average roads. When the 20,800 miles +were finished, just to show that it still felt its oats, the car which +had already covered 6,000 miles of roads through Western States before +the test began, ran over to Pontiac, Michigan, and hauled the Mayor 26 +miles to Detroit. Then it was run into the shops and taken down for +examination. Being found to be in perfect condition except for the +valves, which required some trifling adjustment to take up the wear on +the valve stems, and for the piston rings, which needed setting out, it +was reassembled and started on another test. + +But, after all, the most wonderful thing about an automobile is its +almost infinite capacity to endure cruel and inhuman treatment. No +matter whether the brutality is inflicted through ignorance or +awkwardness, or, rarest of all, through unavoidable accident, the +effect on steel and wood and rubber is the same. Yet the auto stands +it. + +In brake tests it has been demonstrated that a car traveling at the +rate of eighteen miles an hour can be stopped in a distance of +twenty-five feet. The knowledge that this can be done in an emergency +is a great comfort, but it should be equally well known that it does +not improve the car to make all stops that way. Yet how often are +drivers seen tearing up to the curb at twenty miles an hour or more to +slam on the brakes at the last instant with a violence that nearly +causes the car to turn a somersault, bringing it to a standstill in +twenty feet, when there was no earthly reason why they should not have +used four times that distance. Or if occasion arises for slowing down +in a crowded street, the same kind of driver throws out his clutch and +applies the brakes with the throttle wide open so the motor can race +unhindered. + +With the greenhorn the automobile is long-suffering. There was a new +owner in Boston, whose name is mercifully suppressed, who took his +family out for a first ride. In going down a hill on which the clay was +slippery from recent rain it became necessary to turn out for a car +coming up. The new driver made the turn so successfully that he turned +clear over the edge of the embankment. Having nothing but air to +support it, the auto turned completely over without spilling a +passenger and landed right side up and on an even keel in a marsh +fifteen feet below. It was necessary to get a team to pull the car out +of the mud, but once on the solid road the new owner simply cranked 'er +up and went on his way rejoicing. + +Another new owner could not find the key to fasten one rear wheel on +the axle when he unloaded his auto from the car in which it had been +shipped from the factory. Nevertheless, he started up the motor +according to directions and traveled twelve miles with one wheel +driving. By this time the outraged motor was red hot. Whereupon the new +owner stopped at a farm-house and dashed several buckets of cold water +on it. Then he plugged around the country a week or so before he +decided to go to the agent to lodge a complaint that his derned car +didn't "pull" well. + +Still another new owner complained that his car did not give +satisfactory service. The agent was not at all surprised that it didn't +when, upon investigation, he found that the car had been driven five +hundred miles without a single drop of oil being applied to +transmission gear and rear axle. + +George Robertson, the racing driver, in tuning up for the Vanderbilt +race, went over the embankment at the Massapequa turn on Long Island at +the rate of sixty miles an hour. The car turned over twice, but finally +stopped right side up. Robertson received a cut on one arm in the +fracas, but neither he nor the car was so badly injured but what they +could get back to New York, a distance of twenty-five miles, under +their own power. There the steering wheel was repaired at a cost of $5, +the radiator at a cost of $3, and Robertson's arm at $2. + +But the prize-winner was the Fiat racing machine which threw a tire +while going fifty-five miles an hour on the Brighton Beach track. The +flying racer, now utterly uncontrollable, dashed through two fences, +one of them pretty substantial, cut down a tree eight inches in +diameter, and finally came to a stop right side up. E.H. Parker, the +driver, and his mechanician, were somewhat surprised, but otherwise +undamaged. They put on a new tire and in twenty minutes were back in +the race again. + +What the automobile can do in the way of cheapness was shown by the +cost tests, sanctioned and confirmed by the American Automobile +Association, between a Maxwell runabout and a horse and buggy. In seven +days, in all kinds of weather and over city and country roads, the +horse and buggy traveled 197 miles at a cost per passenger mile of +2-1/2 cents. The runabout made 457 miles in the same time, and the cost +per passenger mile was 1.8 cents. This covered operation, maintenance, +and depreciation, and, incidentally, all speed laws were observed. + +The Winton Company, which conducts a sort of private Automobile Humane +Society, offers prizes for chauffeurs who can show the greatest mileage +on the lowest charge for upkeep. The first prize winner in the contest +for the eight months ending June 30, 1909, drove his car 17,003 miles +with no expense whatever for up-keep. The second prize winner drove +11,000 miles at an outlay of thirty cents, while the third man drove +10,595 miles without any expense. This makes a total of 38,598 miles by +three cars at a cost of thirty cents for repairs. And all the cars were +two years old when the contest began. + +The moral for those who really want to see what an automobile can do is +obvious. + + +ISAAC F. MARCOSSON + +Every automobile that you see is a link in a chain of steel and power +which, if stretched out, would reach from New York to St. Louis. What +was considered a freak fifteen years ago, and a costly toy within the +present decade, is now a necessity in business and pleasure. A +mechanical Cinderella, once rejected, despised, and caricatured, has +become a princess. + +Few people realize the extent of her sway. Hers is perhaps the only +industry whose statistics of to-day are obsolete to-morrow, so rapid is +its growth. In 1895 the value of the few hundred cars produced in the +United States was one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; in 1910 the +year's output of approximately two hundred thousand machines was worth +two hundred and twenty-five millions. Behind them is a stalwart +business representing, with parts and accessory makers, an investment +of more than a billion and a quarter of dollars. Four hundred thousand +men, or more than five times the strength of our standing army, depend +upon it for a livelihood, and more than five millions of people are +touched or affected by it every day. + +Through its phenomenal expansion new industries have been created and +old ones enriched. It withstood panic and rode down depression; it has +destroyed the isolation of the farm and made society more intimate. +There is a car for every one hundred and sixty persons in the United +States; twenty-five States have factories; the _honk_ of the horn on +the American car is heard around the world. + +Such, in brief, is the miracle of the motor's advance. Its development +is a real epic of action and progress. + +Before going further, it might be well to ask why and how the +automobile has achieved such a remarkable development. One reason, +perhaps, is that it appeals to vanity and stirs the imagination. A man +likes to feel that by a simple pressure of the hand he can control a +ton of quivering metal. Besides, we live, work, and have our being in a +breathless age, into which rapid transit fits naturally. So universal +is the impress of the automobile that there are in reality but two +classes of people in the United States to-day--those who own motor-cars +and those who do not. + +It must be kept in mind, too, in analyzing the causes of the +automobile's amazing expansion, that it is the first real improvement +in individual transportation since the chariot rattled around the Roman +arena. The horse had his century-old day, but when the motor came man +traded him for a gas-engine. + +Characteristic of the pace at which the automobile has traveled to +success is the somewhat astonishing fact that while it took inventive +genius nearly fifty years to develop a locomotive that would run fifty +miles an hour on a specially built track, it has taken less than ten +years to perfect an automobile that will run the same distance in less +time on a common road. + +Since this business is so invested with human interest, let us go back +for a moment to its beginnings. Here you find all the properties, +accessories, and environment to fit the launching of a great drama. + +Toward the close of the precarious nineties, a few men wrestled with +the big vision of a horseless age. Down in Ohio and Indiana were Winton +and Haynes; Duryea was in Pennsylvania; over in Michigan were Olds, +Ford, Maxwell, with the brilliant Brush, dreaming mechanical dreams; in +New York Walker kept to the faith of the motor-car. + +At that time some of the giants of to-day were outside the motor fold. +Benjamin Briscoe was making radiators and fenders; W.C. Durant was +manufacturing buggies; Walter Flanders was selling machinery on the +road; Hugh Chalmers was making a great cash-register factory hum with +system; Fred W. Haines was struggling with the problem of developing a +successful gasoline engine. + +Scarcely anybody dreamed that man was on the threshold of a new era in +human progress that would revolutionize traffic and set a new mark for +American enterprise and achievement. And yet it was little more than +ten years ago. + +Those early years were years of experimentation, packed with mistakes +and changes. Few of the cars would run long or fast. It was inevitable +that the automobile should take its place in jest and joke. Hence the +comic era. With the development of the mechanism came the speed mania, +which hardly added to the machine's popularity. + +You must remember in this connection that the automobile was a new +thing with absolutely no precedent. The makers groped in the dark, and +every step cost something. New steels had to be welded; new machinery +made; a whole new engineering system had to be created. The model of +to-day was in the junk heap to-morrow. But just as curious instinct led +the hand of man to the silver heart of the Comstock Lode, so did +circumstance, destiny, and invention combine to point the way to the +commercially successful car. + +Out of the wreck, the chaos, and the failure of the struggling days +came a cheap and serviceable car that did not require a daily renewal +of its parts. It proved to be the pathfinder to motor popularity, for +with its appearance, early in this decade, the automobile began to find +itself. + +Now began the "shoe-string" period, the most picturesque in the whole +dazzling story of the automobile. There could be no god in the car +without gold. Here, then, was the situation--on the one hand was the +enthusiastic inventor; on the other was the conservative banker. + +"We will make four thousand machines this year," said the inventor. + +"Who will buy them?" asked the banker in amazement; he refused to lend +the capital that the inventor so sorely needed. + +The idea of selling four thousand motor-cars in a year seemed +incredible. Yet within ten years they were selling fifty times as many, +and were unable to supply the demand. No fabulous gold strike ever had +more episodes of quick wealth than this business. Here is an incident +that will show what was going on: + +A Detroit engineer, who had served his apprenticeship in an +electric-light plant, evolved a car which he believed would sell for a +popular price. He tried to interest capitalists in vain. Finally, he +fell in with a stove-manufacturer, who agreed to lend him twenty-seven +thousand dollars. + +"But I can't afford to be identified with your project," said the +backer, who feared ridicule for his hardihood. + +That small investment paid a dividend as high as thirteen hundred per +cent. in a year. To-day the name of the struggling inventor is known +wherever cars are run, and his output is measured by thousands. This, +in substance, is the story of Henry Ford. + +A young machinist worked in one of the first Detroit automobile +factories, earning three dollars and fifty cents a day. One day he said +to himself: "I can build a better car than we are making here." + +He did so, and the car succeeded. Then he went to his employers, and +said: "I am worth three thousand dollars a year." + +They did not think so, and he left, to go into business on his own +account. A manufacturer staked him at the start. Later, through a +friend, some Wall Street capital was interested. Such was the start of +J.D. Maxwell, whose interests to-day are merged in a company with a +capitalization of sixteen million dollars. + +A curly haired Vermont machinery salesman, who had sweated at the +lathe, became factory manager for a Detroit automobile-maker. His +genius for production and organization made him the wonder and the +admiration of the automobile world. He was making others rich. "If I +can do this for others, why can't I do it for myself?" he reasoned one +day. + +With a stake of ninety-five thousand dollars, supplemented with a +hundred thousand dollars which he borrowed from some bankers, he built +up a business that in twenty months sold for six millions. This was the +feat of Walter E. Flanders. I might cite others. The "shoe-strings" +became golden bands that bound men to fortune. + +All the while the years were speeding on, but not quite so fast as the +development of the automobile. The production of ten thousand cars in +1903 had leaped to nearly twenty thousand in 1905. The thirty-thousand +mark was passed in 1906. Bankers began to sit up, take notice, and feed +finance to this swelling industry, which had emerged from fadhood into +the definite, serious proportions of a great national business. + +The reign of the inventor-producer became menaced, because men of +trained and organized efficiency in other activities joined the ranks +of the motor-makers. With them there came a vivifying and broadening +influence that had much to do with giving assured permanency to the +industry. + +But other things had happened which contributed to the stability of the +automobile. One was the fact that automobile-selling, from the start, +had been on a strictly cash basis. Yet how many people save those in +the business, or who have bought cars, know this interesting fact? + +No automobile-buyer has credit for a minute, and John D. Rockefeller +and the humblest clerk with savings look alike to the seller. It was +one constructive result of those early haphazard days. Every car that +is shipped has a sight draft attached to the bill of lading, and the +consignee can not get his car until he has paid the draft. + +Why was the cash idea inaugurated? Simply because there was so much +risk in a credit transaction. If a man bought a car on thirty days' +time, and had a smash-up the day after he received it, there would be +little equity left behind the debt. The owner might well reason that it +was the car's fault, and refuse to pay. Besides, the early makers +needed money badly. In addition to the cash stipulation, they compelled +all the agents to make a good-sized deposit, and these deposits on +sales gave more than one struggling manufacturer his first working +capital. + +Another reason why the business developed so tremendously was that good +machines were produced. They had to be good--first, because of the +intense rivalry, and then because the motor-buyer became the best +informed buyer in the world. + +This reveals a striking fact that few people stop to consider. If a man +owns a cash-register or an adding-machine, it never occurs to him to +wonder how, or of what, it is made. But let him buy an automobile, and +ten minutes after it is in his possession he wants to know "what is +inside." He is like a boy with his first watch. Hence the +automobile-purchaser knows all about his car, and when he buys a second +one it is impossible to fool him. + +Perhaps the first real test of the stability of the automobile business +came with the panic of 1907. It resisted the inroads of depression more +than any other industry. Most of the big factories kept full working +hours, and the only reason why some others stopped was because of their +inability to secure currency for the pay-rolls. + +Still another significant thing has happened--more important, perhaps, +than all the rest of the changes that have crowded thick and fast upon +this leaping industry. It began to be plain that certain features must +be present in every first-class car. Hence came the standardization of +the mechanism, which is a big step forward. + +What is the result to-day? The automobile has become less of a +designing proposition and more of a manufacturing proposition; less of +an engineering problem and more of a factory problem. The whole, wide +throbbing range of the business is bending to one great end--to meet a +demand which, up to the present time, has exceeded the supply. + +You have only to go to Detroit to see this pulsating drama of +production in action. Here beats the heart of the motor world; here a +mighty army is evolving a vast industrial epic. + +Its banners are the smoke that trails from a hundred soaring stacks; +its music is the clang of a thousand forges and the rattle of a maze of +machinery. + +You feel this quickening life the moment you enter the city, for the +tang of its uplift is in the air. There is an automobile for every +fifty people in Detroit. The children on the streets know the name, +make, and model of nearly all the cars produced. You can stand in front +of the Hotel Pontchartrain, in the public square, and see the whole +automobile world chug by. + +Formerly our cities were motor-mad; now, as in the case of Detroit, +they are motor-made. Ten years ago the proudest boast of the Michigan +metropolis was that she produced more pills, paint, stoves, and +freight-cars than any other American city. The volume of the largest of +these industries did not exceed eighteen million dollars a year. To-day +she leads the world in automobile production. Her twenty-five factories +turn out, in a year, more than ninety thousand cars, or more than sixty +per cent, of the total output of the United States. These cars alone +would stretch from New York to Boston. + +But these figures do not convey any adequate idea of what the motor-car +has done for Detroit. You must go to the spot to feel the galvanic and +compelling force that the industry projects. The city is like a +mining-camp in the days of a fabulous strike. Instead of new mines, +there are new factories every day, and the record of this industrial +high tide is being made in brick, stone, and mortar. Energy, resource, +and ingenuity are being pushed to the last limit to take advantage of +the golden opportunity that the overwhelming demand for the automobile +has created. It is a thrilling and distinctively American spectacle, +and it makes one feel proud and glad to be part of the people who are +achieving it. + +Some of the new plants have risen almost overnight, and on every hand +there are miracles of rapid construction. The business is overshadowing +all other activities. A leading merchant of Detroit asked a contractor +the other day if he could do some work for him. On receiving a negative +reply, he asked the reason, whereupon the man said: "These automobile +people keep me so busy that I can't do anything else. I have a year's +work ahead now." + +A visit to any one of the great automobile factories reveals an +inspiring picture of cheerful labor. As you wind through the +wildernesses of lathes, hearing a swirling industry singing its iron +song of swelling progress, you find enthusiasm blending with organized +ability in a marvelous attack on work. Plants with a daily capacity of +forty cars turn out sixty. You can behold a complete machine produced +every three minutes; you can see the evolution from steel billet to +finished car in six days. Formerly it took five months. + +While the development of the automobile business is in itself a wonder +story, no less amazing is its effect on all the allied industries. On +rubber alone it has wrought a revolution. + +Ten years ago practically all the rubber that we imported went into +boots, shoes, hose, belting, and kindred products, The introduction of +rubber tires on horse-drawn vehicles only drew slightly on the supply. +To-day more than eighty per cent. of the crude article that reaches our +shores goes into automobile tires; and the biggest problem in the whole +automobile situation is not a question of steel and output, but a fear +that we may not be able to get enough rubber to shoe the expanding host +of cars. You have only to look at the change in price to get a hint of +the growth of this feature of the business. In 1900 crude rubber sold +at sixty-five cents a pound; now it brings about two dollars and fifty +cents. + +The facts about rubber have a peculiar human interest. When you sit +back comfortably in your smooth-running car, you may not realize that +the rubber in the tire that stands between you and the jolting of the +road was carried on the back of a native for a thousand miles out of +the Amazon jungle; that for every twenty pounds of the crude juice +brought in from the wilds, one human life has been sacrificed. No crop +is garnered with so great a hazard; none takes so merciless a toll. + +The natives who gather rubber in the wilds of Brazil, in the Congo, in +Ceylon, and elsewhere must combat disease, insects, war, flood, and a +hundred hardships. The harvest is slow and costly. Only the planting of +vast new areas in Ceylon has prevented what many believe would have +been a famine in rubber, and this would have been a serious check to +the development of the whole automobile business, for as yet no man has +found a substitute for it. In such a substitute, or in a puncture-proof +tire, lies one of the unplucked fortunes of the future. + +Meanwhile, it has started a speculative mania that almost rivals the +tulip excitement in Holland. In London alone hundreds of fortunes have +been made by daring plungers in a crude article which only a few years +ago was regarded as being absolutely outside the pale of the gambling +marketplace. + +Closely allied with the rubber end of the trade is the growing demand +for sea-island cotton, which is used in the tires. A few years ago we +used only fifty thousand yards a year; now we absorb ten million yards, +worth seven and one-half millions of dollars. + +Now take machinery, and you find that the automobile business has +created a whole new phase of this time-tried industry. In many +motor-cars there are three thousand parts. In view of the extraordinary +demand for cars, the machinery to produce them must be both swift and +accurate. The old standard tools and engine lathes were inadequate to +perform the service. The automobile-makers had to have new machinery, +and have it in a hurry. + +This demand came at a heaven-sent moment for the tool-manufacturers. +They were staggering under the depression of 1907, and many were +tottering toward failure. Here came, almost out of the blue sky, a +condition that at once taxed their brains, their resource, and their +energy, and at the same time rescued them from bankruptcy. + +You have only to go to any of the great factories in Detroit, in +Cleveland, in Indianapolis, in Buffalo, in Flint, or elsewhere to see +the result of this hurry call for tools and machinery. You find +automatics cutting the finest gears by the score, while one man +operates a whole battery; you see drills doing from fifteen to twenty +operations on a piston or a flywheel; you see an almost human machine +making seventeen holes at one time without observation or care. + +Through these machines run rivers of oil. From them streams a steady +line of parts. The whole scope of the tool business is broadened. In +the old days--which means, in the automobile business, about ten years +ago--an order for ten turret-lathes was considered large; now the +motor-makers order seventy-five at a time by telegraph, and do not +regard it as more than part of the day's work. + +The whole effect of this revolution in machinery is that time is saved, +labor is economized, and it is possible to achieve quantity production. +This, in turn, enables the large manufacturer to turn out a good car at +a moderate price. + +So with steel, where likewise wonders have been wrought. Ten years ago +the great mass of the steel output in this country was in structural +metal and rails. We had to import our fine alloy and carbon steels from +Germany and France. But the automobile-makers had to have the lightest +and toughest metal, and they did not want to import it. The result was +that our mills began to produce the finer quality to meet all motor +needs, and it is now one of the biggest items in the business. + +In half a dozen other allied industries you find the same expansion as +you saw in rubber, steel, and machinery. For instance, the +automobile-makers buy twenty million dollars' worth of leather a year. +So great is the demand that a composition substitute was created, which +is used on sixty per cent. of the tops. A new industry in colored +leather for upholstery has been evolved. + +Wood, too, has had the same kind of experience. Whole forest areas in +the South have been denuded for hickory for spokes. A few years ago, +aluminum was used on ash-trays and exposition souvenirs. Now hundreds +of thousands of pounds are employed each year for sheathing and casings +on motor-cars. + +No essential of the automobile, however, is of more importance than +gasoline. Here is the life-blood of the car. It is estimated that there +are to-day three hundred thousand cars in the United States that travel +fifteen miles a day. There are fifteen miles of travel in each gallon +of gasoline. This makes the daily consumption three hundred thousand +gallons. At an average price of fourteen cents a gallon, here is an +expenditure of forty-two thousand dollars for gasoline each day, or +more than fifteen million dollars a year. To this must be added the +excess used in cars that work longer and harder, and in the host of +taxicabs that are in business almost all the time, which will probably +swell the annual expenditure for gasoline well beyond twenty millions. + +As in the case of rubber, there is beginning to be some apprehension +about the future supply of high-power gasoline, so great is the demand. +Many students of this fuel problem believe that before many years there +will be substitutes in the shape of alcohol and kerosene. The +efficiency of alcohol has been proved in commercial trucks in New York, +but its present price is prohibitive for a general automobile fuel. If +denatured alcohol can be produced cheaply and on a large scale, it will +help to solve the problem. + +This brings us to the maker of parts and accessories, who has been +termed "the father of the automobile business." Without him, there +might be no such industry; for it was he that gave the early makers +credit and materials which enabled them to get their machines together. + +Ten years ago, the parts were all turned out in the ordinary forge and +machine-shops; to-day there are six hundred manufacturers of parts and +accessories, and their investment, including plants, is more than a +billion dollars. They employ a quarter of a million people. + +No one was more surprised at the growth of the automobile business than +the parts-makers themselves. A leading Detroit manufacturer summed it +up to me as follows: + +"Ten years ago I was in the machine-shop business, making gas engines. +Along came the demand for automobile parts. I thought it would be a +pretty good and profitable specialty for a little while, but I +developed my general business so as to have something to fall back on +when it ended. To-day my whole plant works night and day to fill +automobile orders, and we can't keep up with the demand." + +What was looked upon as the tail now wags the whole dog, and is the +dog. The volume of business is so large, and the interests concerned so +wide, that the manufacturers have their own organization, called the +Motor and Accessory Manufacturers. It includes one hundred and eighty +makers, whose capitalization is three hundred millions, and whose +investment is more than half a billion dollars. + +There still remain to be discussed two phases of the automobile which +have tremendous significance for the future of the industry--its +commercial adaptability and its relation with the farmer and the farm. +Let us consider the former first. + +No matter in what town you live, something has been delivered at your +door by a motor-driven wagon or truck. These vehicles at work to-day +are only the forerunners of what many conservative makers believe will +be the great body of the business. Here is a field that is as yet +practically unscratched. Now that the pleasure-car has practically been +standardized, vast energy will be concentrated on the development of +the truck. Wherever I went on a recent trip through the +automobile-making zone, I found that the manufacturers had been +experimenting in this direction, and were laying plans for a big output +within the next few years. This year's production will be about five +thousand vehicles. + +The ability and efficiency of the commercial truck for hard city work +are undisputed. It has had its test in New York, where traffic is dense +and most difficult to handle. Here, of course, are the ideal conditions +for the successful use of the motor-truck--which are a full load, a +long haul, and a good road. In a city, a horse vehicle can make only +about five miles an hour, while a motor-truck makes twelve miles, and +carries three times the load. + +Some idea of motor-truck possibilities in New York may be gained when +it is stated that there are nearly three hundred thousand licensed +carrying vehicles there. + +The amount of work to be got out of a motor-truck is astonishing. John +Wanamaker, for instance, gets a hundred miles of travel per day out of +some of his delivery-wagons. The average five-ton truck, in a ten-hour +day, can make eighty miles, and keep constantly at work. On the other +hand, a one-horse wagon can scarcely average half that mileage. + +Already your doctor whirls around in an automobile, and he can make +five times more visits than with a horse. So, too, with the contractor +and the builder. The drummer carries his samples in a gasoline +runabout, and, in addition to seeing twice the number of customers, he +can get their goodwill by taking them for a spin. Fire-engines, +hose-wagons, and police patrols race to conflagrations propelled by +motors, and get there quicker than ever before. + +Just as practically every great American activity ultimately harks back +to the soil and has its real root there, so, in a certain sense, may +the farmer be regarded as the backbone of the automobile business. We +have six million farms, and more than forty-five millions of our +population live on the farm, or in communities of less than four +thousand people. To these dwellers in the country the automobile has +already proved an agency for uplift, progress, and prosperity. + +It began as a pleasure-car; now it is a necessity on many farms. In +Kansas you can see it hitched up to the alfalfa-stacker; in Illinois +and Iowa it is harnessed up to the corn-cutter; in Indiana it runs the +dairy machinery. But these are slight compared with the other services +it performs for the farmer. + +For years the curse of farm life was its isolation. Its workers were +removed from the shops, the theaters, the libraries, and good schools. +More farm women went insane than any other class. The horses worked in +the fields all week, and had to rest on Sunday, so that the farmer +could not go to church. + +The automobile provided a vehicle not excessive in cost, and able to +provide pleasure for the farmer's whole family. It annihilated the +distance between town and country. Contact with his coworkers and +proximity to the market made the fanner more efficient and prosperous. +More than this, the motor-car has made the whole rural life more +attractive, and offers the one inducement that will keep the boy on the +farm. + +A hundred instances could be cited of the automobile's aid to the farm. +One will suffice. In times of harvest, when a big gang is at work, the +breakdown of a thresher will stop operations for a whole day, if the +farmer has to drive to town behind a horse to get needed parts. With an +automobile, he can dash in and out in a few hours. + +No one expects the automobile to replace the horse on the farm. But for +work that the horse can not do efficiently--such as the quick transit +of milk, butter, and garden products to the markets--the motor-car has +a future of wide utility. Incidentally, the farmer may be the first to +solve the fuel problem, for by means of cooperative distilling he could +produce denatured alcohol for almost nothing. + +The more you go into the study of the automobile on the farm, the +bigger becomes its significance. In the United States, four hundred and +twenty-five million acres of land are uncultivated, largely on account +of their inaccessibility. The motor-car will make them more accessible. +Through the wide use of automobiles by the farmer we shall get, in +time, that most valuable agency for prosperity, the good road. + +One emerges from an investigation of the automobile industry in wonder +over its expansion, and with admiration for the men behind it. +Clear-cut youth, fresh vigor, compelling action galvanize it. Yet what +seems to be a miracle at the end of less than ten years of growth may +only be the prelude to a vaster era. + +Meanwhile, each day records a new chapter of its triumphant progress. + + + + +THE DOWNFALL OF DIAZ + +MEXICO PLUNGES INTO REVOLUTION + +A.D. 1911 + +MRS. E.A. TWEEDIE + +DOLORES BUTTERFIELD + +On May 25, 1911, Porfirio Diaz resigned the Presidency of Mexico, under +the compulsion of a revolution headed by Francisco Madero. This act +ended an era, the Diaz era, in Mexican history. Diaz had been President +for over thirty years. He had found Mexico an impoverished barbarism; +he raised it to be a wealthy and at least outwardly civilized state. +Some able critics, even among Europeans, had declared that Diaz, "the +grand old man," was the greatest leader of the past century. All +Mexicans honored him. But unfortunately for his fame he grew too old: +he outlived his wisdom and his power. + +Of the downfall of such a man there must naturally be conflicting +views. We give here the story from the pathetic Diaz side by a +well-known English writer upon Mexico, Mrs. Tweedie. Then we give the +warm picture of Madero's heroic struggle against tyranny, as it +appeared to Dolores Butterfield, a young lady brought up in Mexico, but +driven thence by the more recent revolution which resulted in Madero's +death. + +MRS. E. A. TWEEDIE + +Diaz has been hurled from power in his eighty-first year! The rising +against him in Mexico has the character of a national revolutionary +movement, the aims of which, perhaps, Madero himself has not clearly +understood. One thing the nation wanted apparently was the stamping out +of what the party considered political immorality, fostered and abetted +by the acts of what they called the _grupo cientifico_, or grafters, +and by the policy of the Minister of Finance, Limantour, in particular. +Therefore, when Madero stood up as the chieftain of the revolution, +inscribing on his banner the redress of this grievance, with some +Utopias, the people followed him without stopping to measure his +capabilities. His promises were enough. + +It is one of the saddest episodes in the history of great rulers, and +at the same time one of the most important in the history of a country. +Mexico, which has pushed so brilliantly ahead in finance, industry, and +agriculture, has still lagged behind in political development. The man +who made a great nation out of half-breeds and chaos was so sure of his +own position, his own strength, and I may say his own motives, that he +did not encourage antagonism at the polls, and "free voting" remained a +name only. + +A German author has said that all rulers become obsessed with the +passion of rule. They lose their balance, clearness of sight, judgment, +and only desire to rule, rule, _rule!_ He was able to quote many +examples. I thought of him and his theory when following, as closely as +one is able to do six thousand miles away, the recent course of events +in Mexico. Would he in a new edition add General Diaz to his list? + +Diaz has reached a great age. On the 15th September, 1910, he +celebrated his eightieth birthday. He has ruled Mexico, with one brief +interval of four years, since 1876. For thirty-five years, therefore, +with one short break, the country has known no other President; and +Madero, who has laid him low, was a man more or less put into office by +Diaz himself. A new generation of Mexicans has grown up under the rule +of Diaz. Time after time he has been reelected with unanimity, no other +candidate being nominated--nor even suggested. Is it to be wondered at +that, by the time his seventh term expired in 1910, he should have at +last come to regard himself as indispensable? + +That he was so persuaded permits of no doubt. "He would remain in +office so long as he thought Mexico required his services," he said in +the course of the first abortive negotiations for peace--before the +capture of the town of Juarez by the insurrectionists, and the +surrender of the Republican troops under General Navarro took the +actual settlement out of his hand. + +It was a fatal mistake, and it has shrouded in deep gloom the close of +a career of unexampled brilliancy, both in war and statesmanship. The +Spanish-American Republics have produced no man who will compare with +Porfirio Diaz. Simon Bolivar for years fought the decaying power of +Spain, and to him what are now the Republics of Colombia, Venezuela, +Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru owe their liberation. But Diaz has been more +than a soldier, and his great achievement in the redemption of modern +Mexico from bankruptcy and general decay completely overshadows his +successes in the field during the ceaseless struggles of his earlier +years. + +Had he retired in 1910 he would have done so with honor, and every +hostile voice in Mexico would have been stilled. All would have been +forgotten in remembrance of the immense debt that his country owed him. +He would have stood out as the great historic figure of a glorious era +in the national annals. It was the first time he had broken his word +with the people. Staying too long, he has been driven from office by a +movement of ideas, the strength of which it is evident that he never +realized until too late, and by a rebellion that in the days of his +vigorous autocracy he would have stamped out with his heel. + +It is a sad picture to look on, especially when I turn to that other +one of the simple palace-home in Mexico City, with the fine old +warrior, with dilating nostrils like a horse at the covert side, his +face aglow, his eyes flashing as he told me of bygone battles, escapes +from imprisonment and death, and deeds of wild adventure and romance. +These inspiriting recollections he freely gave me for the "authentic +biography" which he had given me permission to write. Up to that time +he had refused that favor to every one; and in spite of his grateful +recognition of the "honesty and veracity" of the volume I had written +about his country five years before, he was long in giving his consent. +"I have only done what I thought right," he said, "and it is my country +and my ministers who have really made Mexico what she is." In the days +of his strength, corruption was unknown in his country, and even now no +finger can point at him. He retires a poor man, to live on his wife's +little fortune. Diaz had the right to be egotistical, but he was +modesty itself. + +Yet he had risen from a barefoot lad of humble birth and little +education to the dictatorship of one of the most turbulent states in +the world, and this by powers of statesmanship for which, owing to want +of opportunity, he had shown no aptitude before he reached middle life. +Before that he seemed but a good soldier, true as steel, brave, hardy, +resourceful in the field, and nothing more. It was not until he was +actually President, when nearing fifty, that his gifts for government +asserted themselves. Such late developments are rare, although Cromwell +was forty before he made any mark. Chatham, again, was fifty before he +was heard outside his own circle, and yet a few years, barely months, +later, the world was at his feet. + +It is rather the cry nowadays that men's best work is done before +forty; and even their good work no later than sixty; but among endless +exceptions General Diaz must take high rank. + +His real career began at forty-six. Up to that time he had been an +officer in a somewhat disorganized army, and his ambition at the outset +never soared beyond a colonelcy. + +He was nearly fifty when he entered Mexico City at the head of a +revolutionary force. Romance and adventure were behind him, although +personal peril still dogged his steps. He had to forget that he was a +soldier, and to be born again as leader and politician, a maker and not +a destroyer. In that capacity he had absolutely no experience of public +affairs, but such as he had gained in a smaller way in early years +spent in Oaxaca. Yet Diaz became a ruler, and a diplomat, and assumed +the courtly manners of a prince. + +Paradoxical as it may seem, his overthrow is the result of a revolution +mainly pacific in its nature, and in substance a revolt of public +feeling against abuses that have become stereotyped in the system of +government by the too long domination of one masterful will. The +military rising was but its head, spitting fire. Behind was an immense +body of opinion, in favor of effecting the retirement of the President +by peaceful means, and with all honor to one who had served his country +well. + +In 1908 General Diaz had stated frankly, in an interview granted to an +American journalist, that he was enjoying his last term of office, and +at its expiration would spend his remaining years in private life. +There is no reason to doubt that this assurance represented his settled +intention. The announcement was extensively published in the Mexican +Press, and was never contradicted by the President himself. Then rumors +gained currency that Diaz was not unprepared to accept nomination for +the Presidency for an eighth term. The statement was at first +discredited, then repeated without contradiction in a manner that could +hardly have failed to excite alarm. At length came the fatal +announcement that the President would stand again. + +Hardly had the bell of Independence ceased ringing out in joyous clang +on September 15, 1910, in celebration of free Mexico's centenary, +hardly had the gorgeous _fetes_ for the President's birthday or the +homage paid him by the whole world run their course, when the spark of +discontent became a blaze. He had mistaken the respect and regard of +his people for an invitation to remain in office. + +By the time the Presidential election approached, signs of agitation +had increased. A political party rose in direct hostility, not so much +to General Diaz himself or Limantour, as to the Vice-President, who, as +next in the succession, in the event of the demise of the President, +would have been able to rivet the autocracy on the country. + +Corral was the Vice-President. What little I saw of him I liked; but +then he had hardly taken up the reins of power. He did not make himself +popular; in fact, a large part of the country hated and distrusted him. +But for that, probably nothing would have been heard of the troubles +which ensued. As the party anxious for the introduction of new blood +into the Government increased in vigor, the people showed themselves +more and more determined to get rid of Corral. They wanted a younger +man than Diaz in the President's chair: they wanted, above all, the +prospect of a better successor. + +But the official group whose interests depended on the maintenance of +the Diaz regime was, for the moment, too powerful, and it succeeded in +inducing the President to accept reelection. + +To the general hatred of this group on the part of the nation, Madero +owed his success. He was almost unknown, but the malcontents were +determined to act, and to act at once, and they could not afford to +pick and choose for a leader. As a proof that the country thought less +of the democratic principles invoked than of the destruction of the +official "cientificos," may be cited the fact that it at first placed +all its trust and confidence in General Reyes, who is just as despotic +and autocratic as General Diaz, but has at the same time, to them, a +redeeming quality--his avowed opposition to the gang. Reyes refused to +head the insurrection, and it was then Madero or nobody. + +In the spring of 1910 Francis I. Madero came to the front. He was a man +of education, of fortune, of courage, and a lawyer by profession. He +had written a book entitled the _Presidential Succession_, and although +without experience in the management of State affairs, he had shown +that he had the courage of his convictions. He consented to stand +against Diaz in a contest for the Presidency of the Republic. + +The malcontents had found their leader. Madero not only accepted +nomination, but began an active campaign, making speeches against the +Diaz administration, denouncing abuses, more especially the retention +of office by the Vice-President and the tactics of Limantour, and +showing the people that as General Diaz was then eighty years of age, +and his new term would not expire until 1916, Corral would almost +certainly succeed to the inheritance of the Diaz regime. + +Energetic, courageous, and outspoken, Madero had full command of the +phraseology of the demagog. His only shortcoming in the eyes of his own +party was that he had not been persecuted by the Government. The +officials, alas, soon supplied this deficiency. A few days before the +Presidential election in July, 1910, when making a speech in Monterey, +Madero was arrested as a disturber of the peace and thrown into prison, +where he was kept until the close of the poll. + +The election resulted, as usual, in a triumphant majority for General +Diaz, though votes were recorded, even in the capital itself, for the +anti-reelectionist leader. + +As soon as opportunity offered, Madero escaped to the United States, +and from that vantage-ground kept up a correspondence with his friends +and partizans. Though the election had been held in July, the +inauguration of the President did not take place until December, 1910. +A fortnight before that date, a conspiracy, at which Madero probably +connived, was discovered in Puebla. The first victim was the Chief of +the Police at Puebla. He was shot dead by a woman who at his knock had +opened the door of a house wherein the revolutionists were holding a +meeting. The revolution had begun. Risings took place in different +parts of the Republic, but were quickly quelled, with the exception of +one in the State of Chihuahua, where the rebels had a special grievance +against the all-powerful family of the great landowner, General +Terrazas. These large landed proprietors are a subject of hatred to the +new Socialist party. + +Trouble followed trouble in the north, which, be it remembered, runs to +a distance of over a thousand miles from Mexico City itself. But +nothing very serious occurred, until suddenly, in the early weeks of +1911, President Taft mobilized a force of 20,000 American troops to +watch the Mexican frontier. From that time events developed rapidly +till the end of the Diaz regime in May. One thing became clear, that +the revolution was rapidly making its way to victory, and that Diaz, +prostrate with an agonizing disease, an abscess of the jaw, was in no +condition to rally his disheartened followers in person. He saved his +honor, as the phrase goes, by a declaration that he would not retire +from office until peace was declared, and he kept his word. He was too +ill to leave his simple home in one of the chief streets of the city, +where he lived less ostentatiously than many of his fellow citizens, +but this did not prevent the mob from firing upon his home. On the +afternoon of May 25, 1911, he resigned, and Senor De La Barra, formerly +Minister at Washington, became provisional President until the next +election, fixed for October. + +Madero was the hero of the hour. He entered Mexico City in triumphal +procession, June 7, 1911. His entrance was preceded by the most severe +earthquake the capital had known in years. Many buildings were wrecked +and some hundreds of people killed. An arch of the National Palace +fell, one beneath which Diaz had often passed. + +Three days after signing his abdication, General Diaz was well enough +to leave Mexico City. In the early hours of the morning three trains +drew up filled with his own solders and friends, in the middle one of +which the ex-President, his wife, the clever and beautiful Carmelita, +Colonel Porfirio Diaz, his son, with his young wife, several children, +and their ten-days-old baby, were seated. Along the route the train +came upon a force of seven hundred rebels. A sharp encounter ensued. +The revolutionists left thirty dead upon the field; the escort, which +numbered but three hundred, lost only three men. The old fighting +spirit returned to the old lion, and, unarmed, the ex-President +descended from his car and took part in the engagement. He entered +Mexico City fighting, and he has left her shores with bullets ringing +in the air. This was but the second time that Diaz had left the land of +his birth. + +His work is now imperishable. Mexicans, I am sure, will regret the +pitiful circumstances under which his fall has come about, and he will +live long in the hearts of his countrymen. Nothing can alter the fact +that he made modern Mexico. It was no easy task; the Mexicans are a +cross-breed of Spaniards and countless Indian tribes. There are still +half a million Aztecs. Diaz has given this strange mixed race +education, and a high order of education for such a people; he has +brought his country to a financial position in which the Government +can, or could, borrow all the money it wanted at four per cent. +Railways intersect the land in every direction. The largest financial +interests are American, the next in importance are British. Except +Germany, no other foreign country has much capital invested in Mexico. + +Thus closes one of the most wild and romantic episodes of the world's +history--a peasant boy who became a soldier, a general who became a +President--a President who became a great autocrat, who raised a +country from obscurity to greatness, and was finally driven from power +by the very people he had educated, and to whom he had brought vast +blessings. + +The great Diaz in his eighty-first year has passed from power, the +power he used so well. Verily a moving spectacle from first to last. + +DOLORES BUTTERFIELD[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reproduced by permission from the _North American +Review_.] + +In contemplating the present situation in Mexico there is a tendency of +late to deplore the Madero revolution and the overthrow of Diaz, and to +overlook the fact that the Diaz regime itself not only made and forced, +by its political abuses, the revolution that overthrew it, but, by its +economic abuses, prepared the country for the anarchy now rife in it; +and also that it is the very same ring of men who surrounded Diaz and +finally rendered his rule unbearable who are now financing and +fomenting the present rebellion against a Government not in sympathy +with them nor subservient to their interests. + +Porfirio Diaz attained the presidency of Mexico thirty-five years ago +by overthrowing Lerdo de Tejada. He put an end to brigandage, which was +at that time wide-spread. Such bandits as he could not buy he +exterminated. His political opponents he also bought or exterminated, +so that without the slightest disturbance to the national peace he +could be unanimously reelected whenever his term expired. Out of +bankruptcy he established credit; he put up schools; he invited foreign +capital into his country and made it possible for foreign capital to go +in; and so he gradually built up a material progress which won him the +name of "nation-builder." There were railroads and telegraphs; the +cities were graced with beautiful edifices, with theaters and parks, +with electricity and asphalt. There was the appearance of a +civilization and progress, which, considering the time in which it was +compassed, was indeed marvelous. + +But all this was only a shell and a semblance. The economic condition +of the Mexican lower classes was not touched--the process of +"nation-building" seemed not to include them. In the shadow of a modern +civilization stalked poverty and ignorance worthy of the Middle Ages. +And it was notorious that in the capital city itself, under the very +eyes of the central Government, was where the very worst conditions and +the most glaring extremes of poverty and wealth were to be seen. On the +one hand, splendid _paseos_ lined with magnificent palaces, where, in +their automobiles, the pleasure-seeking women of the rich displayed +their raiment worth thousands of dollars; and, on the other, streets +filled with beggars, their clothes literally dropping off them in +filthy rags, reeking with the typhus which for years has been endemic +in the City of Mexico. + +Let it be said to Diaz's credit that he did try, in a measure, at first +to better those conditions. Hence the public schools which, though +inadequate for the scattered rural population, have accomplished much +in the cities. He also attempted years ago a division of the lands, but +dropped it when he saw that the great landowners were stronger than he +and that to persist might cost him the Presidency. + +It was natural and inevitable that a Government in which there was +never any change or movement should stagnate and become corrupt. +Porfirio Diaz was not a President, but, in all save the name, an +absolute monarch, and inevitably there formed about his throne a cordon +of men as unpatriotic and self-interested as he may have been patriotic +and disinterested--as to a great extent he undeniably was. These men +were the Cientificos. + +The term is, of course, not their own. It was applied to them by the +Anti-reelectionists, meaning that they were scientific grafters and +exploiters. The full-fledged Cientifico was at once a tremendous +landholder and high government official. To illustrate, the land of the +State of Chihuahua is almost entirely owned by the Terrazas family. In +the days of Diaz, Don Luis Terrazas was always the governor, being +further reenforced by his relative, Enrique C. Creel, high in the Diaz +ministry. In Sonora the land was held by Ramon Corral, Luis Torres, and +Rafael Izabal. These three gentlemen, who were called "The Trinity," +used to rotate in the government of the state until Corral was made +vice-president, when Torres and Izabal took turn about until the death +of the latter shortly before the Madero revolution. In every state +there was either one perpetual governor or a combine of them. + +Thus in each state a small group of men were the absolute masters +politically, economically, and industrially. They made and unmade the +laws at their pleasure. For instance, Terrazas imposed a prohibitory +tax upon cattle which forced the small owners to dispose of their +stock, which he, being the only purchaser, bought at his own price, +after which he repealed the law. They adjusted taxation to suit +themselves, assessing their own huge estates at figures nothing short +of ridiculous, while levying heavily upon the small farmer, and +especially upon enterprise and improvements. They practised peonage, +though peonage is contrary to the Constitution of the Republic, to the +Federal laws, and, in many cases, to the laws of the separate states as +well. They drew public salaries for perverting the government to their +private benefit and enrichment; and as the dictator grew older and +surrendered to his satellites more and more of his once absolute power, +the conditions became so intolerable, and the tyranny and greed of the +Cientificos so shameless and unbridled (infinitely more so in the +southern than in the northern states), that it would have been a +reversal of the history of the world if there had been no revolution. + +In 1910 the aged Diaz declared his intention of resigning. Perhaps he +even intended to keep that promise when he made it; but if so, the +Cientificos, who knew that his prestige and the love of the nation for +him were their only shield, induced him to think better of it. The +strongest of the opposing parties was the Anti-reelectionist party. It +embodied the best elements and the best ideals of the country and from +the first was the one of which the Diaz regime was most afraid. + +Now by its very name this party was pledged to no reelection, and yet +it so far compromised with the regime as to nominate Diaz for +President, only repudiating Corral, who was odious to the entire +nation. However, the Cientificos saw that this was to be the entering +wedge, and they promptly prepared to crush the new political faction. +Anti-reelectionists were arrested right and left; their newspapers were +suppressed, the presses wrecked, and the editors thrown into prison. +But the party's blood was up. It did not dissolve. It did not nominate +Corral. Instead it struck Porfirio Diaz's name from its ticket and +tendered to Francisco Madero, Jr., not the vice-presidential but the +presidential nomination. The bare fact that he accepted it speaks +volumes for his courage. + +Francisco Madero was born October 4, 1873. He was educated from +childhood in the United States and Europe; and upon returning to his +country, imbued with the advanced ideas of the most broad-minded men of +the most enlightened countries in the world, it was perhaps only +natural that he should resent the conditions which he saw in his own +country. The Madero family owns great tracts of land in Coahuila, +besides properties in other states. Madero introduced modern methods +and modern machinery in the management of his estates. Already a +millionaire, he made more millions, at the same time doing much toward +the betterment of conditions for his own immediate dependents among the +lower class. + +Madero first attracted attention by writing _The Presidential +Succession in 1910_. The Cientifico clique laughed at him as a +visionary. Suddenly they awoke to the fact that his book, with its +calm, dispassionate logic and democratic tone, was doing them more harm +than a thousand soldiers, and they suppressed its publication. It was +the writing of this book that led to Madero's nomination for President +by the Anti-reelectionist party when every one else had failed it. + +Madero took the attitude that he was a presidential candidate in a free +republic and began what he called his democratic campaign. He went from +city to city, delivering speeches and laying his platform before the +people. He was called "the apostle of democracy," and the multitudes +followed him like an apostle indeed. But he did not carry out his +democratic campaign without sacrifice and risk. When he passed through +Hermosillo, Sonora, the hotel-keepers closed their-doors to him. +Torres, feudal lord of the state, had given out the necessary hint and +Madero, for all his millions, could find no apartments for himself and +his wife until a Spaniard--relying upon the fact of being a foreigner-- +offered them lodgings, "not wishing to lend himself to so ignoble an +intrigue." This was but one city of many. In all places he had the most +tremendous difficulty in renting halls for his addresses. Frequently he +was reduced to speaking in tumble-down sheds or mule-yards or vacant +lots, the local authorities often hiring rowdies to create disturbances +at his meetings. He was ridiculed, he was threatened, he was +persecuted, but he went on unafraid. + +Just before and during the elections every known Maderista, from Madero +down, was arrested on charges of "sedition." Things came to such a pass +that in the city where I lived some sixty prominent Maderistas were +arrested at two o'clock one morning without warrants and on no charge, +it being noteworthy that the men arrested were almost without exception +some of the best and most honorable men in the state. And this happened +at the same hour of the same day in every city in Mexico. But in spite +of the fact that many votes were lost to Madero through intimidation or +actual imprisonment, so strong a vote was registered for the Madero +electors that fraud was resorted to to cover his gains. The result of +the elections was that Diaz and Corral were _unanimously_ +reelected--the former for his eighth term and the latter for his +second. + +The Anti-reelectionists then appealed to Congress and the Senate to +annul the elections, alleging fraud and intimidation. Without the +slightest pretense of considering or investigating these charges +Congress and Senate--long the mouthpieces of Cientificismo--ratified +the elections as just and legal. Every peaceful measure to bring about +justice in the elections and insure the free expression of the nation's +will was now exhausted. The only recourse left to the people by the +Cientifico regime was war. Their leader at the polls became their +leader in the preparations for that war. + +In the midst of this riot of tyranny, while the nation yet seethed with +indignation at the outrageous electoral farce imposed upon it, the +first Centennial of Mexican independence was being celebrated before +the foreign diplomats with unprecedented pomp and display. The +Anti-reelectionists declared that Liberty was dead and that instead of +celebrating they were going to don deep mourning. They were thus a mark +for all manner of persecutions from petty annoyances to the most +unprovoked armed attacks. Some students were fired upon by troops while +they were carrying wreaths to the monument of the boy heroes of +Chapultepec; a young lawyer was arrested for making a speech beneath +the statue of Juarez; and in Tlaxcala a procession of unarmed working +men was fired upon and ridden down by _rurales_, several men and a +woman being killed. Consecrating hypocritical hymns to liberty that did +not exist and heaping with wreaths the tombs and monuments of the +heroes of Mexico, while violating all the ideals for which those heroes +died, drunk with the power they had wielded so long, the Cientificos +pressed blindly on, following the path that Privilege has taken since +the beginning of history and which has only one end. + +These are some of the causes and circumstances that made the revolution +of 1910-11--not all of them, for there must be remembered in addition +the Yaqui slave traffic, the contract-labor system of the great +southern haciendas, and a dozen other iniquities, greater and lesser, +which also contributed to precipitating the revolt. It was fortunate +that that revolt was captained by a man of Francisco Madero's _type_--a +man who knew how to win the world's sympathy for his cause and how to +make his subordinates merit that sympathy by their observance of the +rules of civilized warfare. + +The actual armed contention of the Madero revolution was singularly +brief, culminating in the capture of Ciudad Juarez, which was followed +by the resignation of Diaz and Corral. There can be no doubt that the +dictatorship could have held together for a considerable time longer +and that Diaz surrendered before he actually had to. But he could +probably see by this time that it was inevitable in any case, and he +was willing to sacrifice his personal pride and ambition sooner than +necessary to avoid bloodshed in Mexico if he could. And also he had it +upon his conscience, and it was brought home to him by the mobs outside +his palace, that he was not the constitutional President of Mexico, but +the tool of the betrayers of her Constitution. That he had been +shamelessly deceived and played upon by the impassable cordon of +Cientificos about him is easy to judge. His message of resignation was +one to touch any heart, combining pathos with absolute dignity. + +The resignation of Diaz and Corral was taken by many to signify the +complete surrender of the old regime and the triumph of the revolution. +Indeed, for the moment it so appeared. But although the Cientificos +were ousted from direct political control, their wealth and power and +the tremendous machinery of their domination were still to be contended +with before the revolution could follow up its political success with +the economic reforms which were its real object. + +Madero had pledged himself primarily to the division of the lands. He +realized that only by the abolition of the landed aristocracy, and an +equitable distribution among moderate holders for active development of +the huge estates, held idle in great part or worked by peons, could the +progress and prosperity of the nation be put upon a solid basis. He +knew exactly what the remedy was and, though a landed aristocrat +himself by birth and inheritance, was not afraid of it. + +As soon as he was elected to the presidency he set a committee of +competent, accredited engineers to work appraising property values in +the different states, and great tracts of hundreds of thousands and +millions of acres, previously assessed at half as many thousands as +they were worth millions, were revalued and reassessed at their true +inherent value. The _haciendados_ raised a frightful cry. They tried +threats, intrigue, and bribery. It was useless; the revaluation went +on. The new administration reclaimed as national property all that it +could of the _terrenos baldios_, or public lands, which under Diaz had +been rapidly merging into the great estates. It established a +government bank for the purpose of making loans on easy terms, and thus +assisting the poor to take up and work these public lands in small +parcels. Even before becoming President, Madero had advised the working +men to organize and demand a living wage, which they did. He attacked +the lotteries, the bull-fights, the terrible pulque trust, the +unbridled traffic of which, more than any other one factor, has +contributed to the degradation of the lower classes. He began to extend +the public-school system. + +From the first the Cientificos hampered and impeded him. To foment a +counter-revolution they took advantage of the fact that in various +parts of the country there were disorderly bands of armed men +committing numerous depredations. These men had risen up in the shadow +of the Maderista revolution, and at its close, instead of laying down +their arms, they devoted themselves to the looting of ranches and +ungarrisoned isolated towns. Of these brigands--for they were neither +more nor less, whatever they may have called themselves then or may +call themselves now--the most formidable was Emiliano Zapata. His +alleged reason for continuing in arms after the surrender of the +dictatorship was that his men had not been paid for their services. +President De la Barra paid them, but their brigandage continued. And at +the most critical moment Pascual Orozco, Jr., Madero's trusted +lieutenant, in command of the military forces of Chihuahua, issued--on +the heels of reiterated promises of fealty to the Government--a +_pronunciamiento_ in favor of the revolution and delivered the state +which had been entrusted to his keeping to the revolutionists, at whose +head he now placed himself. + +The new malcontents declared that Madero had betrayed the revolution, +and that they were going to overthrow him and themselves carry out the +promises he had made. This sounds heroic, noble, and patriotic, but +will not bear close inspection. In the first place, many of the +revolutionists with whom the new faction allied itself had been in arms +since before Madero was even elected--a trivial circumstance, however, +which did not seem to shake their logic. Moreover, as any honest, +fair-minded person must have recognized, the promises of Madero were +not such as he could fulfil with a wave of his hand or a stroke of his +pen. They were big promises and they required time and careful study +for their successful undertaking and the cooperation of the people at +large against the public enemies, whereas Madero was not given time nor +favorable circumstances nor the intelligent cooperation of any but a +small proportion of the population. + +As a matter of fact, Madero himself, far from overstating the benefits +of the revolution led by him or making unwise promises of a Utopia +impossible of realization, addressed these words to the Mexican people +at the close of that conflict: "You have won your political freedom, +but do not therefore suppose that your _economic_ and social liberty +can be won so suddenly. This can only be attained by an earnest and +sustained effort on the part of all classes of society." + +It is to be feared that for long years to come Mexico must stand judged +in the eyes of the world by the disgraceful and uncivilized conduct of +the various rebels, or so-called rebels, and simon-pure bandits who are +contributing to the revolt and running riot over the country; but there +is, nevertheless, in Mexico a class of people as educated, as refined, +as honorable as those existing anywhere. And these people--the +_obreros_ (skilled working men) and the professional middle class, as +well as the better elements of the laboring classes, are supporting +Madero--not all in the spirit of his personal adherents, but because +they realize the tremendous peril to Mexico of continued revolution. In +1911 the revolution was necessary--the peril had to be incurred, +because nothing but arms could move the existing despotism; but none of +the pretended principles of the revolution can now justify that peril +when the man attacked is the legal, constitutional, duly elected +President, overwhelmingly chosen by the people, and venomously turned +upon immediately following his election without being given even an +approach to a fair chance to prove himself. + +All the better elements of the country realize that Madero no longer +represents an individual or even a political administration. He +represents the civilization of Mexico struggling against the unreined +savagery of a population which has known no law but abject fear, and +having lost that fear and the restraint which it imposed upon it, +threatens to deliver Mexico to such a reign of anarchy, rapine, and +terror as would be without a parallel in modern history. He represents +the dignity and integrity of Mexico before the world. + +Whatever the outcome, whether it triumphs or fails, the new +administration, assailed on every side by an enemy as treacherous and +unscrupulous as it is powerful, and making a last stand--perhaps a vain +one--for Mexico's economic liberty and political independence, merits +the support and comprehension of all the progressive elements of the +world. + + + + +FALL OF THE ENGLISH HOUSE OF LORDS + +GREAT BRITAIN CHANGES HER CONSTITUTION BY RESTRICTING THE POWER OF THE +LORDS + +A.D. 1911 + +ARTHUR PONSONBY SYDNEY BROOKS CAPTAIN GEORGE SWINTON + +On August 10, 1911, the ancient British House of Lords gathered in +somber and resentful session and solemnly voted for the "Parliament +Bill," a measure which reduced their own importance in the government +to a mere shadow. This vote came as the climax of a five-year struggle. +The Lords have for generations been a Conservative body, holding back +every Liberal measure of importance in England. Of late years the +Liberal party has protested with ever-increasing vehemence against the +unfairness of this unbalanced system, by means of which the +Conservatives when elected to power by the people could legislate as +they pleased, whereas the Liberals, though they might carry elections +overwhelmingly, were yet blocked in all their chief purposes of +legislation. + +When the Liberals found themselves elected to power by a vast majority +in 1905, they were still seeking to get on peaceably with the Lords, +but this soon proved impossible. In January of 1910 the Liberals +deliberately adjourned Parliament and appealed to the people in a new +election. They were again returned to power, though by a reduced +majority; yet the Lords continued to oppose them. Again they appealed +to the people in December of 1910, this time with the distinct +announcement that if re-elected to authority they would pass the +"Parliament Bill" destroying the power of the Lords. In this third +election they were still upheld by the people. Hence when the Lords +resisted the Parliament Bill, King George stood ready to create as many +new Peers from the Liberal party as might be necessary to pass the +offensive bill through the House of Lords. It was in face of this +threat that the Lords yielded at last, and voted most unwillingly for +their own loss of power. + +Of this great step in the democratizing of England, we give three +characteristic British views--first, that of a well-known Liberal +member of Parliament, who naturally approves of it; secondly, that of a +fair-minded though despondent Conservative; and thirdly, that of a +rabid Conservative who can see nothing but shame, ruin, and the extreme +of wickedness in the change. He speaks in the tone of the "Die-hards," +the Peers who refused all surrender and held out to the last, raving at +their opponents, assailing them with curses and even with fists, and in +general aiding the rest of the world to realize that the manners of +some portion of the British Peerage needed reform quite as much as +their governmental privileges. + + +ARTHUR PONSONBY, M.P. + +A great and memorable struggle has ended with the passage of the +Parliament Bill into law. In the calm atmosphere of retrospect we may +now look back on the various stages of this prolonged conflict, from +its inception to its completion, and further, with the whole scene +before us, we may reflect on the wider meaning and real significance of +the victory which has been gained on behalf of democracy, freedom, and +popular self-government. + +In the progressive cause there can be no finality, no termination to +the combat, no truce, no rest. But we may fairly regard the conclusion +of this particular struggle as the achievement of a notable step in +advance and as the acquisition of territory that can not well be +recaptured. The admission of the Parliament Bill to the statute-book +marks an epoch and fills the hearts of those who are pursuing high +ideals in politics and sociology with great hopes for the future. The +long sequence of the events which have led up to this achievement has +not been smooth or without incident. There have been moments of +failure, of rebuff, and even of disaster. It would almost seem as if +the motive power which has carried the party of progress through the +storm and stress, and landed it in security, had been outside the +control of any one man or any set of men. Although distinguished men +have led and there have been many valiant workers in the field, a +movement that has extended over nearly a hundred years must have its +origin and energy deeper down than in any mere party policy. It is the +inevitable outcome of the steady but inexorable evolution of free +institutions among a liberty-loving people. + +In order, first of all, to trace the course of the actual controversy +as it has been carried on in the House of Commons and in the country, +it is not necessary to go further back than 1883. In that year the +Lords had rejected the Franchise Bill, and it was then that Mr. Bright, +in a speech at Leeds dealing with the deadlocks between the two Houses, +sketched a plan which was really the essence and origin of the +principle adopted in the Parliament Act that has just become law. The +Lords had rejected many Liberal measures before then; attempts had been +made to get round or overcome their opposition; but not till then was +any practical method formulated for dealing with the serious and +permanent obstruction to progressive legislation. Mr. Bright himself +had condemned the peers and declared that "their arrogance and class +selfishness had long been at war with the highest interests of the +nation," and now he advocated a specific remedy, which he declared +would be obtained by "limiting the veto which the House of Lords +exercises over the proceedings of the House of Commons." The actual +plan was that a Bill rejected by the Lords should be sent up to them +again, "but when the Bill came down to the House of Commons in the +second session, and the Commons would not agree to the amendments of +the Lords, then the Lords should be bound to accept the Bill." This +method of procedure, it will be seen, was more expeditious and drastic +than the scheme in the Parliament Act. + +Mr. Chamberlain joined vigorously in the campaign against the Peers. +Telling passages from his speeches are quoted to this day, such as when +he declared that "the House of Lords had never contributed one iota to +popular liberty and popular freedom, or done anything to advance the +common weal," but "had protected every abuse and sheltered every +privilege." + +No further mention of the Bright scheme was made for some time. Six +years of Conservative rule (1886-1892) diverted the attention of +Liberals as a party in opposition to other matters, and the Lords +subsided, as they always have done in such periods, into an entirely +innocuous, negligible, and utterly useless adjunct of the Conservative +Government. + +In the brief period between 1892-1895, the animus against the House of +Lords was kindled afresh. Several Liberal Bills were mutilated or lost, +and the rejection of the second Home Rule Bill served to fan the flames +into a dangerous blaze. The Bright plan was recalled by Lord Morley. "I +think," he said (at Newcastle on May 21, 1894), "there will have to be +some definite attempt to carry out what Mr. Bright at the Leeds +Conference of 1883 suggested, by which the power of the House of +Lords--this non-elected, this non-representative, this hereditary, this +packed Tory Chamber--by which the veto of that body shall be strictly +limited." Mr. Gladstone, too, in his last speech in the House of +Commons on the wrecking amendments which the Lords had made on the +Parish Councils Bill, dwelt on the fundamental differences between the +two Houses, and said that "a state of things had been created which +could not continue," and declared it to be "a controversy which once +raised must go forward to an issue." + +But by far the most formidable, the most vigorous, the most animated, +and, at the time, apparently sincere attack was contained in a series +of speeches delivered in 1894 by Lord Rosebery, who was then in a +position of responsibility as leader of the Liberal party. If, as +subsequent events have shown, he was unmoved by the underlying +principle and cause for which his eloquent pleading stood, anyhow we +must believe he was deeply impressed by the prospect of his personal +ambition as the leader of a party being thwarted by the contemptuous +action of an irresponsible body. His words, however, stand, and have +been quoted again and again as the most effective attack against the +partizan nature of the Second Chamber:--"What I complain of in the +House of Lords is that during the tenure of one Government it is a +Second Chamber of an inexorable kind, but while another Government is +in, it is no Second Chamber at all... Therefore the result, the effect +of the House of Lords as it at present stands, is this, that in one +case it acts as a Court of Appeal, and a packed Court of Appeal, +against the Liberal party, while in the other case, the case of the +Conservative Government, it acts not as a Second Chamber at all. In the +one case we have the two Chambers under a Liberal Government, under a +Conservative Government we have a single Chamber. Therefore, I say, we +are face to face with a great difficulty, a great danger, a great peril +to the State." So vehement and repeated were Lord Rosebery's +denunciations that grave anxiety is said to have been caused in the +highest quarters. + +But for the next ten years (1895-1905) the Conservatives were in +office, and again it was impossible to bring the matter to a head, +though the past was not forgotten. When the Liberals were returned in +1906 with their colossal majority, every Liberal was well aware that +before long the same trouble would inevitably arise, and that a +settlement of the question could not be long delayed. The record of the +House of Lords' activities during the last five years has been so +indelibly impressed on the public mind that only a very brief +recapitulation of events is necessary. + +At the outset their action was tentative. This was shown by the +conferences and negotiations to arrive at a settlement on the Education +Bill, which was the first Liberal measure in 1906. But these broke +down, and defiance was found to be completely successful. Mr. Balfour, +the leader of the Conservative party, realized that although he was in +a small minority in the House of Commons, yet he could still control +legislation, and when he saw how effectively the destructive weapon of +the veto could be used he became bolder, and, as with all vicious +habits, increased indulgence encouraged appetite. Had Mr. Balfour +played his trump-card--the Lords' veto--with greater foresight and +restraint, it may safely be said that the House of Lords might have +continued for another generation, or, at any rate, for another decade, +with its authority unimpaired, though sooner or later it was bound to +abuse its power; but the temptation was too great, and Mr. Balfour +became reckless. + +The three crucial mistakes on the part of the Opposition from the point +of view of pure tactics were: First, the destruction of the Education +Bill of 1906. In view of the historic attitude of the Lords to all +questions of religious freedom and general enlightenment, it was not +surprising that they should stand in the way of a greater equality of +opportunity for all denominations in matters of education. Six times +between 1838 and 1857 they rejected Bills for removing Jewish +disabilities; three times between 1858 and 1869 they vetoed the +abolition of Church Rates. For thirty-six years (1835-1871) the +admission of Nonconformists to the universities by the abolition of +tests was delayed by them. It was only to be expected, therefore, that +they would be deaf to the popular outcry that had been caused by the +Balfour Education Bill of 1902. But in the very first session of the +Parliament in which the Government had been returned to power by the +immense majority of 354, that they should immediately show their teeth +and claws was, from their own point of view, as events proved, a vital +error. Their second mistake was the rejection in 1908 by a body of +Peers at Lansdowne House of the Licensing Bill, which had occupied many +weeks of the time of the House of Commons. This was rightly regarded as +a gratuitous insult to the House of elected representatives. Finally, +their culminating act of folly was the rejection of the Budget in 1909. +It was an outrageous breach of acknowledged constitutional practise, +which alienated from them a large body of moderate opinion. In addition +to these three notable measures there were, of course, a number of +other Bills on land, electoral, and social reform that were either +mutilated or thrown out during this period. How could any politician in +his senses suppose that a party who possessed any degree of confidence +in the country would tamely submit to treatment such as this? While the +Lords proceeded light-heartedly with their wrecking tactics, the +Liberal Government slowly and cautiously, but with great deliberation, +took action step by step. A provocative move on the part of the Lords +was met each time by a counter-move, and thus gradually the final and +decisive phase of the dispute was reached. + +After the loss of the Education Bill of 1906, the first note of warning +was sounded by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. "The resources of the +House of Commons," he declared, "are not exhausted, and I say with +conviction that a way must be found, and a way will be found, by which +the will of the people expressed through their elected representatives +in this House will be made to prevail." + +The first mention of the subject in a King's Speech occurred in March, +1907, when this significant phrase was used: "Serious questions +affecting the working of our party system have arisen from unfortunate +differences between the two Houses. My Ministers have this important +subject under consideration with a view to the solution of the +difficulty." + +On June 24, 1907, the matter was first definitely brought before the +House. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman moved that "in order to give effect +to the will of the people as expressed by their elected +representatives, it is necessary that the power of the other House to +alter or reject Bills passed by this House should be so restricted by +law as to secure that within the limits of a single Parliament the +final decision of the Commons shall prevail." To the evident surprize +of the Opposition he sketched a definite plan for curtailing the veto +of the House of Lords. This was followed in July by the introduction of +resolutions laying down in full detail the exact procedure. In his +statement Sir Henry made it very clear that the issue was confined to +the relations between the two Houses:--"Let me point out that the plan +which I have sketched to the House does not in the least preclude or +prejudice any proposals which may be made for the reform of the House +of Lords. The constitution and composition of the House of Lords is a +question entirely independent of my subject. My resolution has nothing +to do with the relations of the two Houses to the Crown, but only with +the relations of the two Houses to each other." + +In 1908, Mr. Asquith became Prime Minister, but no further action was +taken. On the rejection of the Licensing Bill, however, he showed that +the Government were fully aware of the extreme gravity of the question, +but intended to choose their own time to deal with it. Speaking at the +National Liberal Club in December, he said: "The question I want to put +to you and to my fellow Liberals outside is this: Is this state of +things to continue? We say that it must be brought to an end, and I +invite the Liberal party to-night to treat the veto of the House of +Lords as the dominating issue in politics--the dominant issue, because +in the long run it overshadows and absorbs every other." When pressed +on the Address at the beginning of the following session by his +supporters, who were impatient for action, he explained the position of +the Government: "I repeat we have no intention to shirk or postpone the +issue we have raised.... I can give complete assurance that at the +earliest possible moment consistent with the discharge by this +Parliament of the obligations I have indicated, the issue will be +presented and submitted to the country." + +The rejection of the Budget in 1909 led to a general election, in which +the Government's method of dealing with the Lords was the main issue. +The Liberals were returned again, but when the King's Speech was read +some confusion was caused by the distinct question of the relations +between the two Houses being coupled with a suggested reform of the +Second Chamber. This was a departure from the very clear and wise +policy of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, and had it been persisted in it +might have broken up the ranks of the Liberal party--very varied and +different opinions being held as to the constitution of a Second +Chamber. But the stronger course was adopted, and the resolutions +subsequently introduced and passed in the House of Commons dealt only +with the veto and were to form the preliminary to the introduction of +the Bill itself. + +Just as matters seemed about to result in a final settlement, King +Edward died, and a conference between the leaders of both parties was +set up to tide over the awkward interval. The conference was an +experiment doomed to failure, as the Liberals had nothing to give away +and compromise could only mean a sacrifice of principle. The House met +in November to wind up the business, and the Prime Minister announced +that an appeal would be made to the country on the single issue of the +Lords' veto, the specific proposals of the Government being placed +before the electorate. A Liberal Government was returned to power for +the third time in December, 1910, with practically the same majority as +in January. The Parliament Bill was introduced and passed in all its +stages through the House of Commons with large majorities. + +Meanwhile, the Conservatives made no attempt to defend either the +action or composition of the House of Lords, but adopted an apologetic +attitude. They agreed that the Second Chamber must be reformed, and +during the second general election in 1910 some of them declared for +the Referendum as a solution of the difficulty of deadlocks between the +two Houses. But there was an entire absence of sincerity about their +proposals, which were not thought out, but obviously only superficial +expedients hurriedly grasped at by a party in distress. Their reform +scheme, introduced by Lord Lansdowne, was revolutionary, and, at the +same time, fanciful and confused. It was ridiculed by their opponents, +and received with frigid disapproval by their supporters. Still, they +acted as if they were confident that in the long run they could ward +off the final blow. They were persuaded that the Liberal Government +would neither have the courage nor the power to accomplish their +purpose. "Why waste time over abstract resolutions?" asked Mr. +Balfour. "The Liberal party," he said, "has a perfect passion for +abstract resolutions"--and again, "it is quite obvious they do not mean +business." Even when the Bill itself was introduced, they still did not +believe that its passage through the House of Lords could be forced. +The opposition to the Bill was not so much due to hatred of the actual +provisions as fear of its consequences. The prospect of a Liberal +Government being able to pass measures which for long have been part of +their program, such as Home Rule, Welsh Disestablishment, or Electoral +Reform, exasperated the party who had hitherto been secured against the +passage of measures of capital importance introduced by their +opponents. The anti-Home Rule cry and the supposed dictatorship of the +Irish Nationalist leader were utilized to the full, and were useful +when constitutional and reasoned argument failed. At the same time as +much as possible was made of the composite character of the majority +supporting the Government. + +Throughout the latter part of the controversy there is little doubt +that the Conservatives would have been in a far stronger position had +they acted as a united party with a definite policy and a strong leader +ready at a moment's notice to form an alternative Government. But they +were deplorably led, they could agree on no policy, and their warmest +supporters in the Press and in the country were the first to admit that +the formation of an alternative Conservative Administration was +unthinkable. Nevertheless, there could be no rival for the leadership. +Mr. Balfour, aloof, indifferent, without enthusiasm, and without +convictions, although discredited in the country and harassed in his +attempts to save his party from Protection, remains in ability, +Parliamentary knowledge, experience and skill, head and shoulders above +his very mediocre band of colleagues in the House of Commons. + +The Bill went up to the House of Lords, where Lord Morley, with the +tact and skill of an experienced statesman and the unflinching firmness +of a lifelong Liberal, conducted it through a very rough career. The +Lords' amendments were destructive of the principle, and therefore +equivalent to rejection. But even a few days before those amendments +were returned to the Commons the Conservatives refused to believe that +the passage of the Bill in its original form was guaranteed. When at +last it was brought home to them that, if necessary, the King would be +advised to create a sufficient number of Peers to insure the passage of +the Bill into law, a howl of indignation went up. Scenes of confusion +and unmannerly exhibitions of temper took place in the House of +Commons. A party of revolt was formed among the Peers, and the Prime +Minister was branded as a traitor who was guilty of treason and whose +advice to the King in the words of the vote of censure was "a gross +violation of constitutional liberty." + +As a matter of fact, Mr. Asquith was adhering very strictly to the +letter and spirit of the Constitution. Lord Grey, who was confronted +with a similar problem in 1832, very truly said: "If a majority of this +House (House of Lords) is to have the power whenever they please of +opposing the declared and decided wishes both of the Crown and the +people without any means of modifying that power, then this country is +placed entirely under the influence of an uncontrollable oligarchy. I +say that if a majority of this House should have the power of acting +adversely to the Crown and the Commons, and was determined to exercise +that power without being liable to check or control, the Constitution +is completely altered, and the Government of the country is not a +limited monarchy; it is no longer, my Lords, the Crown, the Lords and +Commons, but a House of Lords--a separate oligarchy--governing +absolutely the others." + +Had the Prime Minister submitted to the Lords' dictation after two +general elections, in the second of which the verdict of the country +was taken admittedly and exclusively on the actual terms of the +Parliament Bill, he would have basely betrayed the Constitution in +acknowledging by his submission that the Peers were the supreme rulers +over the Crown and over the Commons, and could without check overrule +the declared expression of the people's will. The Lord Chancellor +pointed out the danger in one sentence. "This House alone in the +Constitution is to be free of all control." No doubt the creation of +ten Peers would not have caused such a commotion as the creation of +400, but the principle is precisely the same, and it was only the +magnitude of partizan bias in the Second Chamber that made the creation +of a large number necessary in the event of there being determined +opposition. It was a most necessary and salutary lesson for the Lords +that they should be shown, in as clear and pronounced a way as +possible, that the Constitution provided a check against their attempt +at despotism, just as the marked disapproval of the electorate, as +shown, for instance, in the remarkable series of by-elections in +1903-1905, or by a reverse at a general election, is the check provided +against the arbitrary or unpopular action of any Government. The Peers +were split up into two parties, those who accepted Lord Lansdowne's +pronouncement that, as they were no longer "free agents," there was +nothing left for them but to submit to the inevitable, and those who +desired to oppose the Bill to the last and force the creation of Peers. +The view of the latter section, led by Lord Halsbury, was an expression +of the wide-spread impatience and annoyance with Mr. Balfour's weak and +vacillating leadership. All the counting of heads and the guesses as to +how each Peer would behave afforded much material for sensational press +paragraphs and rather frivolous speculation and intrigue. The action of +any Peer in any circumstance is always supposed to be of national +importance. The vision of large numbers of active Peers was a perfect +feast for the public mind, at least so the newspapers thought. But in +reality the final outcry, the violent speeches, the sectional meetings, +the vituperation and passion were quite unreal and of very little +consequence. One way or the other, the passage of the Bill was secure. + +The Vote of Censure brought against the Government afforded the Prime +Minister a convenient opportunity of frankly taking the House into his +confidence. With the King's consent, he disclosed all the +communications, hitherto kept secret, which had passed between the +Sovereign and his Ministers. He rightly claimed that all the +transactions had been "correct, considerate, and constitutional." Mr. +Asquith's brilliant and sagacious leadership impressed even his +bitterest opponents. It only remained for the Lords not to insist on +their amendments. Unparalleled excitement attended their final +decision. The uncompromising opponents among the Unionist Peers, rather +than yield at the last moment, threw over Lord Lansdowne's leadership. +They were bent on forcing a creation of Peers, although Lord Morley +warned them of the consequences. "If we are beaten on this Bill +to-night," he declared, "then his Majesty will consent to such a +creation of Peers as will safeguard the measure against all possible +combinations in this House, and the creation will be prompt." In +numbers the "Die-hards," as they were called, were known to exceed a +hundred, and it was extremely doubtful right up to the actual moment +when the division was taken if the Government would receive the support +of a sufficient number of cross-bench Peers, Unionist Peers, and +Bishops to carry the Bill. After a heated debate, chiefly taken up by +violent recriminations between the two sections of the Opposition, the +Lords decided by a narrow majority of seventeen not to insist on their +amendments, and the Bill was passed and received the Royal assent. + +Now that the smoke has cleared off the field of battle, let us state in +a few sentences what the Parliament Bill which has caused all this +uproar really is. It is by no means unnecessary to do this, as those +who take a close interest in political events are, perhaps, unaware of +the incredible ignorance which exists as to the cause and essence of +the whole controversy, especially among that class of society who read +head-lines but not articles, who never attend political meetings, but +whose strong prejudices make them active and influential. The +Parliament Bill, or rather the Act, does not even place a Liberal +Government on an equal footing with a Unionist Government. It insures +that Liberal measures, if persisted in, may become law in the course of +two years in spite of the opposition of the Second Chamber. It lays +down once and for all that finance or money Bills can not be vetoed or +amended by the House of Lords--which, after all, is only an indorsement +of what was accepted till 1909 as the constitutional practise--and it +limits the duration of Parliament to five years. The preamble of the +Bill, which is regarded with a good deal of suspicion by advanced +Radicals, indicates that the reform of the Second Chamber is to be +undertaken subsequently. + +This is the bare record of the sequence of events in the Parliamentary +struggle between the two Houses, each supported by one of the two great +political parties. In the course of the controversy the real +significance of the conflict was liable to be hidden under the mass of +detail connected with constitutional law, constitutional and political +history, and Parliamentary procedure, which had to be quoted in +speeches on every platform and referred to repeatedly in debate. The +serious deadlock between the Lords and Commons was not a mere +inconvenience in the conduct of legislation, nor was it purely a +technical constitutional problem. The issue was not between the 670 +members of the House of Commons and the 620 members of the House of +Lords, nor between the Liberal Government and the Tory Opposition. The +full purport of the contest is broader and far more vital; it must be +sought deeper down in the wider sphere of our social and national life. +In a word, the rising tide of democracy has broken down another +barrier, and the privileges and presumptions of the aristocracy have +received a shattering blow. This aspect of the case is worth studying. + +There could be no conflict of any importance between the two Houses so +long as the Commons were practically nominees of the Lords. At the end +of the eighteenth century no fewer than 306 members of the House of +Commons were virtually returned by the influence of 160 persons, +landowners and boroughmongers, most of whom were members of the other +House. Things could work smoothly enough in these circumstances, as the +two Houses represented the same interests and the same class, and the +territorial aristocracy dominated without effort over a silent and +subservient people. + +The Reform Bill of 1832 was the real beginning of the change. By its +provisions not only was the franchise extended, but fifty-six rotten +boroughs, represented by 143 members, were swept away. There was +something more in this than electoral reform. It was the first step +toward alienation between the two Houses. There was a bitter fight at +the time because the Lords foresaw that if they once lost their hold +over the Commons the eventual results might be serious for them. It was +far more convenient to have a subordinate House of nominees than an +independent House of possible antagonists. The enfranchisement and +emancipation of the people once inaugurated, however, were destined to +proceed further. The introduction of free education served more than +anything, and is still serving, to create a self-conscious democracy +fully alive to its great responsibilities, for knowledge means courage +and strength. Changes in the industrial life of the country led to +organization among the workers and the formation of trade-unions. The +extension of local government brought to the front men of ability from +all classes of society, and the franchise became further extended at +intervals. The House of Commons, now completely free and independent, +kept in close touch with the real national awakening and reflected in +its membership the changes in social development. But the House of +Lords, unlike any other institution in the country, remained unchanged +and quite unaffected by outside circumstances. Its stagnation and +immobility naturally made it increasingly hostile to democratic +advance. The number of Liberal Peers or Peers who could remain Liberal +under social pressure gradually diminished. Friction caused by +diversity of aim and interest became consequently more and more +frequent. There were times of reaction, times of stagnation, times when +the national attention was diverted by wars, but the main trend taken +by the course of events was unalterable. The aristocracy, finding that +it was losing ground, made attempts to reenforce itself with commercial +and American wealth, thereby sacrificing the last traces of its old +distinction. Money might give power of a sort--a dangerous power in its +way--but not-power to recover the loss of political domination. The +South African War and the attempt to obliterate the resentment it +caused in the country by instituting a campaign for the revival of +Protection brought about the downfall of the Tory party. The electoral +_debacle_ of 1906 was the consequence and served as a signal of alarm +in the easy-going Conservative world. Till then many who were +accustomed to hold the reins of government in their hands, as if by +right, had not fully realized that the control was slipping from them. +The cry went up that socialism and revolution were imminent. _The +Times_ quoted _The Clarion_. Old fogies shook their heads and declared +the country would be ruined and that a catastrophe was at hand. But it +was soon found, on the contrary, that the government of the country was +in the hands of men of great ability, enlightenment, and imagination; +trade prospered, social needs were more closely attended to, and, most +important of all, peace was maintained. The House of Commons had opened +its doors to men of moderate means, and the Labor party, consisting of +working men, miners, and those with first-hand knowledge of industrial +conditions, came into existence as an organized political force. + +The last six years have shown the desperate attempts of the ancient +order to strain every nerve against the inevitable, and to thwart and +destroy the projects and ambitions of those who represented the new +thought and the new life of the nation. Though apparently successful at +first, the rash action of the Chamber which still represented the +interest, privileges, and prejudices of the wealthier class and of +vested interests, only helped in the long run to hasten the day when +they were to be deprived of their most formidable weapon. They still +retain considerable power: their interests are guarded by one of the +political parties, and socially they hold undisputed sway. In an +amazing defense of the past action of the House of Lords, Lord +Lansdowne in 1906 said: "It is constantly assumed that the House of +Lords has always shown itself obstructive, reluctant, an opponent to +all useful measures for the amelioration of the condition of the people +of this island. Nothing is further from the truth. You will find that +in the past with which we are concerned the House of Lords has shown +itself not only tolerant of such measures but anxious to promote them +and to make them effectual to the best of its ability. _And that, I +believe, has been, and I am glad to think it, from time immemorial, the +attitude of what I suppose I may call the aristocracy toward the people +of this country_" The last sentence is a fair statement of their case. +The aristocracy are _not_ the people. They are by nature a superior +class which Providence or some unseen power has mercifully provided to +govern, to rule, and to dominate. They are kind, charitable, and +patronizing, and expect gratitude and subservience in return. As a +mid-Victorian writer puts it: "What one wants to see is a kind and +cordial condescension on the one side, and an equally cordial but still +respectful devotedness on the other." But these are voices from a time +that has passed. + +Democracy has many a fight before it. False ideals and faulty +educational systems may handicap its progress as much as the forces +that are avowedly arrayed against it. Its achievements may be arrested +by the discord of factions breaking up its ranks. Conceivably it may +have to face a severe conflict with a middle-class plutocracy. But +whatever trials democracy has to undergo it can no longer be subjected +to constant defeat at the hands of a constitutionally organized force +of hostile aristocratic opinion. At least, it may now secure expression +in legislation for its noblest ideals and its most cherished ambitions. +A check on progressive legislation is harmful to the national welfare, +especially when there is no check on the real danger of reaction. To +devise a Second Chamber which will be a check on reaction as well as on +so-called revolution is a problem for the future. For the time being, +therefore, the best security for the country against the perils of a +reactionary regime is to allow freer play to the forces of progress, +which only tend to become revolutionary when they are resisted and +suppressed. The curtailment of the veto of the Second Chamber fulfils +this purpose. Whatever further adjustment of the Constitution may be +effected in time to come, the door can no longer be closed persistently +against the wishes of the people when they entrust the work of +legislation to a Liberal Government. + + +SYDNEY BROOKS + +The first but by no means the last or most crucial stage of our +twentieth-century Revolution has now been completed; the old +Constitution, which was perhaps the most adaptable and convenient +system of government that the world has ever known, is definitely at an +end; the powers of an ancient Assembly have been truncated with a +violence that in any other land would have spelled barricades and +bloodshed long ago; and the road has been cleared, or partially +cleared, for developments that must profoundly affect, and that in all +probability will absolutely transform, the whole scheme of the British +State. + +Thus far, with their usual effective, good-humored, shortsighted common +sense, with few pauses for inquiry, and with a characteristically +indifferent grasp on the ultimate trend of things, have our politicians +brought us. Our politicians, I say, and not our people, because one of +the distinctive features of the Revolution so far is that it has been a +political rather than a popular movement. It did not originate in the +constituencies, but in the Cabinet; it was not forced upon the caucus +by an aroused and indignant country, but by the caucus upon the +country; nine-tenths of its momentum has been derived from above and +not from below; the true centers of excitement throughout its polite +and orderly progress have been the lobbies of the House and the +correspondence columns of _The Times;_ it was only at the last that the +urbanities of the struggle between the "Die-hards" and their fellow +Unionists furnished the public as a whole with material for a mild +sporting interest. When Roundheads and Cavaliers were lining up for the +battle of Edgehill a Warwickshire squire was observed between the +opposing forces placidly drawing the coverts for a fox. The British +people during the past twenty months have seemed more than once to +resemble that historic huntsman. They have answered the screaming +exhortations of the politicians with whispers of more than Delphic +ambiguity; they have gone unconcernedly about their pleasures and their +business, to all appearances unvexed by the din of Revolution in their +ears; they have presented the spectacle, more common in France than in +England, of a tranquil nation with agitated legislators. + +The Ministerial explanation of this lethargy and indifference is that +the people had no occasion to grow excited; their "mandate" was being +fulfilled, they were getting what they wanted, demonstrations were +superfluous. But no one who has read the history of the Reform Bill of +1832 or of the Chartist movement or who remembers the passions stirred +up by the Franchise agitation and the Home Rule struggle of the +eighties will swallow that explanation without mentally choking. + +The truth probably is, first, that the multiplication of cheap +distractions and enjoyments and of cheaper newspapers has not only +weakened the popular interest in politics, but has impaired that +faculty of concentrated and continuous thought which used to invest +affairs of State with an attractiveness not so greatly inferior to that +of football; secondly, that for the great masses of the democracy the +politics of bread and butter have completely ousted the politics of +ideas and abstractions; and thirdly, that the Constitutional issue was +precisely the kind of issue in which our people had had no previous +training, either actual or theoretical, and which found them therefore +without any intellectual preparation for its advent. Up till the end of +1909 we had always taken the Constitution for granted, and were for the +most part comfortably unaware that it even existed. We had never as a +nation, or never rather within living memory, troubled ourselves about +"theories of State," or whetted our minds on the fundamentals of +government. There is nothing in our educational curriculum that +corresponds with the _instruction civique_ of the French schools, nor +have we the privilege which the Americans enjoy of carrying a copy of +our organic Act of Government in our pockets, of reading it through in +twenty minutes, and of hearing it incessantly expounded in the +class-room and the Press, debated in the national legislature, and +interpreted by the highest judicial tribunal in the land. + +When, therefore, we were suddenly called upon to decide the infinitely +delicate problems of the place, powers, and composition of a Second +Chamber in our governing system, the task proved as bewildering as it +was unappetizing. Any nation which regarded its Constitution as a vital +and familiar instrument would have heavily resented so gross an +infraction of it as the Lords perpetrated in rejecting the 1909 Budget. +But our own electorate, so far from punishing the party responsible for +the outrage, sent them back to the House over a hundred stronger, a +result impossible in a country with any vivid sense, or any sense at +all, of Constitutional realities, and only possible in Great Britain +because the people adjudged the importance of the various issues +submitted to them by standards of their own, and placed the +Constitutional problem at the bottom, or near the bottom, of the list. +In no single constituency that I have ever heard of was the House of +Lords question the supreme and decisive factor at the election of +January, 1910. It deeply stirred the impartial intelligence of the +country, but it failed to move the average voter even in the towns, +while in the rural parts it fell unmistakably flat. + +Even at the election of December, 1910, when all other issues were +admittedly subordinate to the Constitutional issue, it was exceedingly +difficult to determine how far the stedfastness of the electorate to +the Liberal cause was due to a specific appreciation and approval of +the Parliament Bill and of all it involved, and how far it was an +expression of general distrust of the Unionists, of irritation with the +Lords, and of sympathy with the social and fiscal policies pursued by +the Coalition. That the Liberals were justified, by all the rules of +the party game, in treating the result of that election as, for all +political and Parliamentary purposes, a direct indorsement of their +proposals, may be freely granted. It was as near an approach to an _ad +hoc_ Referendum as we are ever likely to get under our present system. +Party exigencies, or at any rate party tactics, it is true, hurried on +the election before the country was prepared for it, before it had +recovered from the somnolence induced by the Conference, and before the +Opposition had time or opportunity to do more than sketch in their +alternative plan. But though the issue was incompletely presented, it +was undoubtedly the paramount issue put before the electorate, and the +Liberals were fairly entitled to claim that their policy in regard to +it had the backing of the majority of the voters of the United Kingdom. + +Whether, however, this backing represented a reasoned view of the +Constitutional points involved and of the position, prerogatives, and +organization of a Second Chamber in the framework of British +Government, whether it implied that our people were really interested +in and had deeply pondered the relative merits of the Single and Double +Chamber systems, is much more doubtful. "When he was told," said the +Duke of Northumberland on August 10th, "that the people of England were +very anxious to abolish the House of Lords, his reply was that they did +not understand the question, and did not care two brass farthings about +it." That perhaps is putting it somewhat too strongly. The country +within the last two years has unquestionably felt more vividly than +ever before the anomaly of an hereditary Upper Chamber embedded in +democratic institutions. It has been stirred by Mr. Lloyd-George's +rhetoric to a mood of vague exasperation with the House of Lords and of +ridicule of the order of the Peerage. It has accepted too readily the +Liberal version of the central issue as a case of Peers _versus_ +People. But while it was satisfied that something ought to be done, I +do not believe it realizes precisely what has been accomplished in its +name or the consequences that must follow from the passing of the +Parliament Bill. There are no signs that it regards the abridgment of +the powers of the Upper House as a great democratic victory. There are, +on the contrary, manifold signs that it has been bored and bewildered +by the whole struggle, and that the extraordinary lassitude with which +it watched the debates was a true reflex of its real attitude. + + +CAPTAIN GEORGE SWINTON, L.C.C. + +It has been more like a bull-fight than anything else, or perhaps the +bull-baiting, almost to the death, which went on in England in days of +old. For the Peerage is not quite dead, but sore stricken, robbed of +its high functions, propped up and left standing to flatter the fools +and the snobs, a kind of painted screen, or a cardboard fortification, +armed with cannon which can not be discharged for fear they bring it +down about the defenders' ears. And in the end it was all effected so +simply, so easily could the bull be induced to charge. A rag was waved, +first here, then there, and the dogs barked. That was all. + +It is not difficult to be wise after the event. Everybody knows now +that with the motley groups of growing strength arrayed against them it +behooved the Peers to walk warily, to look askance at the cloaks +trailed before them, to realize the danger of accepting challenges, +however righteous the cause might be. But no amount of prudence could +have postponed the catastrophe for any length of time, for indeed the +House of Lords had become an anachronism. Everything had changed since +the days when it had its origin, when its members were Peers of the +King, not only in name but almost in power, princes of principalities, +earls of earldoms, barons of baronies. Then they were in a way +enthroned, representing all the people of the territories they +dominated, the people they led in war and ruled in peace. They came +together as magnates of the land, sitting in an Upper House as Lords of +the shire, even as the Knights of the shire sat in the Commons. And +this continued long after the feudal system had passed away, carried on +not only by the force of tradition, but by a sentiment of respect and +real affection; for these feelings were common enough until designing +men laid themselves out to destroy them. + +Many things combined to make the last phase pass quickly. It was +impossible that the Peerage could long survive the Reform Bill, for it +took from the great families their pocket boroughs, and so much of +their influence. And there followed hard upon it the educational effect +of new facilities for exchange of ideas, the railway trains, the penny +post, and the halfpenny paper, together with the centralization of +general opinion and all government which has resulted therefrom. But +above all reasons were the loss of the qualifying ancestral lands, a +link with the soil; and the ennobling of landless men. Once divorced +from its influence over some countryside a peerage resting on heredity +was doomed; for no one can defend a system whereby men of no +exceptional ability, representative of nothing, are legislators by +inheritance. Should we summon to a conclave of the nations a king who +had no kingdom? But the pity of it! Not only the break with eight +centuries of history--nay, more, for when had not every king his +council of notables?--not only the loss of picturesqueness and +sentiment and lofty mien, but the certainty, the appalling certainty, +that, when an aristocracy of birth falls, it is not an aristocracy of +character or intellect, but an aristocracy--save the mark--of money, +which is bound to take its place. + +Five short years and four rejected measures. Glance back over it all. +The wild blood on both sides, and the cunning on one. The foolish +comfortable words spoken in every drawing-room throughout the United +Kingdom. "Yes, they are terrible: what a lot of harm they would do if +they could. Thank God we have a House of Lords." Think now that this +was commonplace conversation only three short years ago. And all the +time the ears of the masses were being poisoned. Week after week and +month after month some laughed but others toiled. The laughers, like +the French nobles before the Revolution, said contemptuously, "They +will not dare." Why should they not? There were men among them for whom +the Ark of the Covenant had no sanctity. And then, when the +combinations were complete, when those who stood out had been +kicked--there can be no other word--into compliance, the blows fell +quickly. A Budget was ingeniously prepared for rejection, and, the +Lords falling into the trap, the storm broke, with its hurricane of +abuse and misrepresentation. We had one election which was +inconclusive. Then befell the death of King Edward. There was a second +election, carefully engineered and prepared for, rushed upon a nation +which had been denied the opportunity of hearing the other side. The +Government had out-maneuvered the Opposition and muzzled them to the +last moment in a Conference sworn to secrecy. It was remarkably clever +and incredibly unscrupulous. They won again. They had not increased +their numbers, but they had maintained their position, and this time +their victory, however achieved, could not be gainsaid. For a moment +there was a lull, only some vague talk of "guaranties," asserted, +scoffed at and denied, for the ordinary business of the country was in +arrears, and the Coronation, with all its pomp of circumstance and +power, all its medieval splendor and appeal to history and sentiment, +turned people's thoughts elsewhere. + +And then, on the day the pageantry closed, Mr. Asquith launched his +Thunderbolt. Few men living will ever learn the true story of the +guaranties, suffice it that somehow he had secured them. Whatever the +resistance of the Second Chamber might be, it could be overcome. At his +dictation the Constitution was to fall. There was no escape; the Bill +must surely pass. It rested with the Lords themselves whether they +should bow their heads to the inevitable, humbly or proudly, +contemptuously or savagely--characterize it as you will--or whether +there should be red trouble first. + +Surely never in our time has there been a situation of higher +psychological interest, for never before have we seen a body of some +six hundred exceptional men called on to take each his individual line +upon a subject which touched him to the core. I say "individual line" +and "exceptional men." Does either adjective require defending? + +The Peers are not a regiment, they are still independent entities, with +all the faults and virtues which this implies; free gentlemen subject +to no discipline, responsible to God and their own consciences alone. +At times they may combine on questions which appeal to their sense of +right, their sentiment, perhaps some may say their self-interest; but +this was no case for combination. Here was a sword pointed at each +man's breast. What, under the circumstances, was to be his individual +line of conduct? + +And who will deny the word "exceptional"? To a seventh of them it must +perforce be applicable, for they have been specially selected to serve +in an Upper House. And to the rest, those who sit by inheritance, does +it not apply even more? It is not what they have done in life. This was +no question of capacity or achievement. By the accident of birth alone +they had been put in a position different from other men. How shall +each in his wisdom or his folly interpret that well-worn motto which +still has virtue both to quicken and control, "Noblesse oblige"? + +Very curious indeed was the result. It is useless to consider the +preliminaries, the pronouncements, the meetings, the campaign which +raged for a fortnight in the Press both by letter and leading article. +It is even useless to try and discover who, if anybody, was in favor of +the Bill which was the original bone of contention. Its merits and +defects were hardly debated. On that fateful 10th of August the House +of Lords split into three groups on quite a different point. The King's +Government had seized on the King's Prerogative and uttered threats. +Should they or should they not be constrained to make good their +threats, and use it? + +The first group said: "Yes. They have betrayed the Constitution and +disgraced their position. Let their crime be brought home to them and +to the world. All is lost for us except honor. Shall we lose that also? +To the last gasp we will insist on our amendments." + +The second group said: "No. They have indeed betrayed the Constitution +and disgraced their position, but why add to this disaster the +destruction of what remains to safeguard the Empire? We protest and +withdraw, washing our hands of the whole business for the moment. But +our time will come." + +The third group said: "No. We do not desire the King's Prerogative to +be used. We will prevent any need for its exercise. The Bill shall go +through without it." + +And, the second group abstaining, by seventeen votes the last prevailed +against the first. But whether ever before a victory was won by so +divided a host, or ever a measure carried by men who so profoundly +disapproved of it, let those judge who read the scathing Protest, +inscribed in due form in the journals of the House of Lords by one who +went into that lobby, Lord Rosebery, the only living Peer who has been +Prime Minister of England. + +It is unnecessary to print here more than the tenth and last paragraph +of this tremendous indictment. It runs--"Because the whole transaction +tends to bring discredit on our country and its institutions." + +How under these extraordinary circumstances did the Peerage take sides, +old blood and new blood, the governing families and the so-called +"backwoodsmen," they who were carving their own names, and they who +relied upon the inheritance of names carved by others? + +The first group, the "No-Surrender Peers," mustered 114 in the +division. Two Bishops were among them, Bangor and Worcester, and a +distinguished list of peers, first of their line, including Earl +Roberts and Viscount Milner. When the story of our times is written it +will be seen that there are few walks of life in which some one of +these has not borne an honorable part. + +Then at a bound we are transported to the Middle Ages. At the +Coronation, when the Abbey Church of Westminster rang to the shouts, +"God Save King George!" five Lords of Parliament knelt on the steps of +the throne, kissed the King's cheek, and did homage, each as the chief +of his rank and representing every noble of it. They are all here:-- + +The Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal and premier Peer of England, head of +the great house of Howard, a name that for five centuries has held its +own with highest honor. + +The Marquis of Winchester, head of the Paulets, representative of the +man who for three long years held Basing House for the King against all +the forces which Cromwell could muster, but descended also from that +earlier Marquis of Tudor creation, who, when he was asked how in those +troublous times he succeeded in retaining the post of Lord High +Treasurer, replied, "By being a willow and not an oak." To-day the boot +is on the other leg. + +The Earl of Shrewsbury, head of the Talbots, a race far famed alike in +camp and field from the days of the Plantagenets. + +The Viscount Falkland, representative of that noble Cavalier who fell +at Newbury. + +The Baron Mowbray and Segrave and Stourton, titles which carry us back +almost to the days of the Great Charter. + +Nor does the feudal train end there. We see also a St. Maur, Duke of +Somerset, whose family has aged since in the time of Henry VIII. men +scoffed at it as new; a Clinton, Duke of Newcastle; a Percy, Duke and +heir of Northumberland, that name of high romance; a De Burgh, Marquis +of Clanricarde; a Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, twenty-sixth Earl, and +head of a house which for eight centuries has stood on the steps of +thrones; a Courtenay, Earl of Devon; an Erskine, Earl of Mar, an +earldom whose origin is lost in the mists of antiquity, and many +another. + +And if we come to later days we have the Duke of Bedford, head of the +great Whig house of Russell; the Dukes of Marlborough and Westminster, +heirs of capacity and good fortune; Lords Bute and Salisbury, +descendants of Prime Ministers; and not only Lord Selborne, but Lords +Bathurst and Coventry, Hardwicke and Rosslyn, representatives of past +Lord Chancellors. + +These, and others such as they, inheritors of traditions bred in their +very bones, spurning the suggestion that they should purchase the +uncontamination of the Peerage by the forfeiture of their principles, +fought the question to the end. If they asked for a motto, surely +theirs would have been, "Fais ce que dois, advienne que pourra." + +And so we pass to the group who abstained, the great mass of the +Peerage, too proud to wrangle where they could not win, too wise to +knock their heads uselessly against a wall, too loyal not to do their +utmost to spare their King. More than three hundred followed Lord +Lansdowne's lead, taking for their motto, perhaps, the "Cavendo tutus" +of his son-in-law. And still there was fiery blood among them, and +strong men swelling with righteous indignation. There were Gay Gordons, +as well as a cautious Cavendish, an Irish Beresford to quicken a Dutch +Bentinck, and a Graham of Montrose as well as a Campbell of Argyll. +Three Earls, Pembroke, Powis, and Carnarvon, represented the cultured +family of Herbert, and, as a counterpoise to the Duke of +Northumberland, we see six Peers of the doughty Douglas blood. Lord +Curzon found by his side three other Curzons, and the Duke of Atholl +three Murrays from the slopes of the Grampians. There were many-acred +potentates, such as the Dukes of Beaufort and Hamilton and Rutland, +Lord Bath, Lord Leicester, and Lord Lonsdale, and names redolent of +history, a Butler, Marquis of Ormonde, a Cecil, Marquis of Exeter, the +representative of Queen Elizabeth's Lord Burleigh, and a Stanley, Earl +of Derby, a name which to this day stirs Lancashire blood. If it were a +question of tactics, then Earl Nelson agreed with the Duke of +Wellington, and they were backed by seven others whose peerages had +been won in battle on land or sea in the course of the last century; +while if the Law should be considered, there were nine descendants of +Lord Chancellors. Coming to more recent times, there was the son of +John Lawrence of the Punjab, and of Alfred Tennyson the poet, Lord St. +Aldwyn and Lord Balfour of Burleigh and Lord Lister, and Lords +Rothschild, Aldenham, and Revelstoke. What need to mention more?--for +there were men representative of every interest in every quarter; but +if we wish to close this list with two names which might seem to link +together the Constitutional history of these islands, let us note that +there was agreement as to action between Viscount Peel, the sole +surviving ex-Speaker of the House of Commons, and Lord Wrottesley, the +head of the only family which can claim as of its name and blood one of +the original Knights of the Garter. + +What more is there to say? As, nearly two years ago, we stood round the +telegraph-boards watching the election results coming in, many of us +saw that the Peerage was falling. The end has come quicker than we +expected. The Empire may repent, a new Constitution may spring into +being, and there may be raised again a Second Chamber destined to be +far stronger than that which has passed, but it will never be the proud +House of Peers far-famed in English history. + + + + +THE TURKISH-ITALIAN WAR + +EUROPE SEIZES THE LAST OF NORTHERN AFRICA A.D. 1911 + +WILLIAM T. ELLIS + +THE WAR CORRESPONDENTS + +Italy, by her sudden action in seizing possession of Tripoli in September +of 1911, established the authority and suzerainty of western Europe over +the last unclaimed strip of territory along the African shore of the +Mediterranean. + +For over a thousand years the Mohammedans, as represented by either +Arabs or Turks, held control of this southern half of the classic +Mediterranean Sea. During the past century France, England, and Spain +have been snatching this land from the helpless Turks, and +Europeanizing it. Only the barren, desert stretch between Egypt and +Tunis remained. It seemed almost too worthless for occupation. But a +few Italian colonists had settled there, and Italy resolved to annex +the land. + +Few wars have ever been so obviously forced by a determined marauder +upon a helpless victim. Italy wanted to show her strength, both to her +own people and to assembled Europe. Hence she prepared her armies and +then delivered to Turkey, the nominal suzerain of Tripoli, a sudden +ultimatum. The Turks must do exactly what Italy demanded, and +immediately, or Italy would seize Tripoli. The "Young Turks" offered +every possible concession; but Italy, hurriedly rejecting every +proposition, made the seizure she had planned. + +The strife that followed had its _opera-bouffe_ aspect in the utter +helplessness of far-off Turkey, incapable of reaching the seat of war; +but it had also its tragic scandal in the accusation of cruelty made +against the Italian troops. It had also, in the Balkan wars and other +changes which sprang more or less directly from it, a permanent effect +upon the political affairs of Europe as well as upon those of Africa. + + +WILLIAM T. ELLIS[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission from _Lippincott's Magazine_.] + +There are conversational compensations for life in the Orient. Talk +does not grow stale when there are always the latest phases of "the +great game" of international politics to gossip about. Men do not +discuss baseball performances in the cafes of Constantinople; but the +latest story of how Von Bieberstein, the German Ambassador, bulldozed +Haaki Pasha, the Grand Vizier, and sent the latter whining among his +friends for sympathy, is far more piquant. The older residents among +the ladies of the diplomatic corps, whose visiting list extends "beyond +the curtain," have their own well-spiced tales to tell of "the great +game" as it is played behind the latticed windows of the harem. It is +not only in London and Berlin and Washington and Paris that wives and +daughters of diplomats boost the business of their men-folk. In this +mysterious, women's world of Turkey there are curious complications; as +when a Young Turk, with a Paris veneer, has taken as second or third +wife a European woman. One wonders which of these heavily veiled +figures on the Galata Bridge, clad in hideous _ezars_, is an +Englishwoman or a Frenchwoman or a Jewess. + +Night and day, year in and year out, with all kinds of chessmen, and +with an infinite variety of byplays, "the great game" is played in +Constantinople. The fortunes of the players vary, and there are +occasional--very occasional--open rumpuses; but the players and the +stakes remain the same. Nobody can read the newspaper telegrams from +Tripoli and Constantinople intelligently who has not some understanding +of the real game that is being carried on; and in which an occasional +war is only a move. + +The bespectacled professor of ancient history is best qualified to +trace the beginning of this game; for there is no other frontier on the +face of the globe over which there has been so much fighting as over +that strip of water which divides Europe from Asia, called, in its four +separate parts, the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmora, the Dardanelles, and +the Aegean Sea. Centuries before men began to date their calendars +"A.D.," the city on the Bosporus was a prize for which nations +struggled. All the old-world dominions--Greek, Macedonian, Persian, +Roman--fought here; and for hundreds of years Byzantium was the capital +of the Roman and Christian world. The Crusaders and the Saracens did a +choice lot of fighting over this battle-ground; and it was here that +the doughty warrior, Paul of Tarsus, broke into Europe, as first +invader in the greatest of conquests. Along this narrow line of +beautiful blue water the East menacingly confronts the West. Turkey's +capital, as a sort of Mr.-Facing-Both-Ways, bestrides the water; for +Scutari, in Asia, is essentially a part of Greater Constantinople. That +simple geographical fact really pictures Turkey's present condition: it +is rent by the struggle of the East with the West, Asia with Europe, in +its own body. + +"The great game" of to-day, rather than of any hoary and romantic +yesterday, holds the interest of the modern man. Player Number One, +even though he sits patiently in the background in seeming stolidity, +is big-boned, brawny, hairy, thirsty Russia. Russia wants water, both +here and in the far East. His whole being cries from parched depths for +the taste of the salt waters of the Mediterranean and the China Sea. At +present his ships may not pass through the Dardanelles: the jealous +Powers have said so. But Russia is the most patient nation on earth; +his "manifest destiny" is to sit in the ancient seat of dominion on the +Bosporus. Calmly, amid all the turbulence of international politics, he +awaits the prize that is assuredly his; but while he waits he plots and +mines and prepares for ultimate success. A past master of secret +spying, wholesale bribery, and oriental intrigue, is the nation which +calls its ruler the "Little Father" on earth, second only to the Great +Father in heaven. If one is curious and careful, one may learn which of +the Turkish statesmen are in Russian pay. + +Looming larger--apparently--than Russia amid the minarets upon the +lovely Constantinople horizon is Germany, the Marooned Nation. Restless +William shrewdly saw that Turkey offered him the likeliest open door +for German expansion and for territorial emancipation. So he played +courtier to his "good friend, Abdul Hamid," and to the Prophet Mohammed +(they still preserve at Damascus the faded remains of the wreath he +laid upon Saladin's tomb the day he made the speech which betrayed +Europe and Christendom), and in return had his vanity enormously +ministered to. His visit to Jerusalem is probably the most notable +incident in the history of the Holy City since the Crusades. Moreover, +he carried away the Bagdad Railway concession in his carpet-bag. By +this he expects to acquire the cotton and grain fields of Mesopotamia, +which he so sorely needs in his business, and also to land at the front +door of India, in case he should ever have occasion to pay a call, +social or otherwise, upon his dear English cousins. + +True, the advent of the Turkish constitution saw Germany thrown crop +and heels out of his snug place at Turkey's capital, while that +comfortable old suitor, Great Britain, which had been biting his +finger-nails on the doorstep, was welcomed smiling once more into the +parlor. Great was the rejoicing in London when Abdul Hamid's +"down-and-out" performance carried his trusted friend William along. +The glee changed to grief when, within a year--so quickly does the +appearance of the chess-board change in "the great game"--Great Britain +was once more on the doorstep, and fickle Germany was snuggling close +to Young Turkey on the divan in the dimly lighted parlor. Virtuous old +Britain professed to be shocked and horrified; he occupied himself with +talking scandal about young Germany, when he should have been busy +trying to supplant him. Few chapters in modern diplomatic history are +more surprising than the sudden downfall and restoration of Germany in +Turkish favor. With reason does the Kaiser give Ambassador von +Bieberstein, "the ablest diplomat in Europe," constant access to the +imperial ear, regardless of foreign-office red tape. During the heyday +of the Young Turk party's power, this astute old player of the game was +the dominant personality in Turkey. + +The disgruntled and disappointed Britons have comforted themselves with +prophecy--how often have I heard them at it in the cosmopolitan cafes +of Constantinople!--the burden of their melancholy lay being that some +day Turkey would learn who is her real friend. That is the British way. +They believe in their divine right to the earth and the high places +thereof. They are annoyed and rather bewildered when they see Germany +cutting in ahead of them, especially in the commerce of the Orient; any +Englishman "east of Suez" can give a dozen good reasons why Germany is +an incompetent upstart; but however satisfactory and soothing to the +English soul this line of philosophy may be, it drives no German +merchantmen from the sea and no German drummers from the land. The +supineness of the British in the face of the German inroads into their +ancient preserves is amazing to an American, who, as one of their own +poets has said, + + Turns a keen, untroubled face + Home to the instant need of things. + +In this case, however, the proverbial luck of the British has been with +them. The steady decline of their historic prestige in the near East +was suddenly arrested by Italy's declaration of war. For more than a +generation Turkey has been the pampered _enfant terrible_ of +international politics, violating the conventions and proprieties with +impunity; feeling safe amid the jealousies of the players of "the great +game." Every important nation has a bill of grievances to settle with +Turkey; America's claim, for instance, includes the death of two +native-born American citizens, Rogers and Maurer, slain in the Adana +massacre, under the constitution. Nobody has been punished for this +crime, because, forsooth, it happened in Turkey. Italy made a pretext +of a cluster of these grievances, and startled the world by her claims +upon Tripoli, accompanied by an ultimatum. Turkey tried to temporize. +Pressed, she turned to Germany with a "Now earn your wages. Get me out +of this scrape, and call off your ally." + +And Germany could not. With the taste of Morocco dirt still on his +tongue, the Kaiser had to take another unpalatable mouthful in +Constantinople. His boasted power, upon which the Turks had banked so +heavily, and for the sake of which they had borne so much humiliation, +proved unequal to the demand. He could not help his friend the Sultan. +Italy would have none of his mediation; for reasons that will +hereinafter appear. + +Then came Britain's vindication. The Turks turned to this historic and +preeminent friend for succor. The Turkish cabinet cabled frantically to +Great Britain to intercede for them; the people in mass-meeting in +ancient St. Sophia's echoed the same appeal. For grim humor, the +spectacle has scarcely an equal in modern history. Besought and +entreated, the British, who no doubt approved of Italy's move from the +first, declined to pull Turco-German chestnuts out of the fire. "Ask +Cousin William to help you," was the ironical implication of their +attitude. Well did Britain know that if the situation were saved, the +Germans would somehow manage to get the credit of it. And if the worst +should come, Great Britain could probably meet it with Christian +fortitude! For in that eventuality the Bagdad Railway concession would +be nullified, and Britain would undoubtedly take over all of the +Arabian Peninsula, which is logically hers, in the light of her Persian +Gulf and Red Sea claims. The break-up of Turkey would settle the +Egyptian question, make easy the British acquisition of southern +Persia, and put all the holy places of Islam under the strong hand of +the British power, where they would be no longer powder-magazines to +worry the dreams of Christendom. Far-sighted moves are necessary in +"the great game." + +Small wonder that Germany became furious; and that the Berlin +newspapers burst out in denunciations of Italy's wicked and piratical +land-grabbing--a morsel of rhetoric following so hard upon the heels of +the Morocco episode that it gave joy to all who delight in hearing the +pot rail at the kettle. "The great game" is not without its humors. But +the sardonic joke of the business lies deeper than all this. The Kaiser +had openly coquetted with the Sultan upon the policy of substituting +Turkey for Italy in the Triple Alliance. Turkey has a potentially great +army: the one thing the Turk can do well is to fight. With a suspicious +eye upon Neighbor Russia, the Kaiser figured it out that Turkey would +be more useful to him than Italy, especially since the Abyssinian +episode had so seriously discredited the latter. Then, of a sudden, +with a poetic justice that is delicious, Italy turns around and +humiliates the nation that was to take its place The whole comic +situation resembles nothing more nearly than a supposedly defunct +spouse rising from his death-bed to thrash the expectant second husband +of his wife. + +Here "the great game" digresses in another direction, that takes no +account of Turkey. Of course, it was more than a self-respecting desire +to avenge affronts that led Italy to declare war against Turkey; and +also more than a hunger for the territory of Tripoli. Italy needed to +solidify her national sentiment at home, in the face of growing +socialism and clever clericalism. Even more did she need to show the +world that she is still a first-class power. There has been a +disposition of late years to leave her out of the international +reckoning. Now, at one skilful jump, she is back in the game--and on +better terms than ever with the Vatican, for she will look well to all +the numerous Latin missions in the Turkish Empire, and especially in +Palestine. These once were France's special care, and are yet, to a +degree; but France is out of favor with the Church, and steadily +declining from her former place in the Levant, although French +continues to be the "_lingua franca"_ of merchandising, of polite +society, and of diplomacy, in the Near East. + +Let nobody think that this is lugging religion by the ears into "the +great game." Religion, even more than national or racial consciousness, +is one of the principal players. In America politicians try to steer +clear of religion; although even here a cherry cocktail mixed with +Methodism has been known to cost a man the possible nomination for the +Presidency. In the Levant, however, religion _is_ politics. The +ambitions and policies of Germany, Russia, and Britain are less potent +factors in the ultimate and inevitable dissolution of Turkey than the +deep-seated resolution of some tens of millions of people to see the +cross once more planted upon St. Sophia's. Ask anybody in Greece or the +Balkans or European Russia what "the great idea" is, and you will get +for an answer, "The return of the cross to St. Sophia's." Backward and +even benighted Christians these Eastern churchmen may be, but they hold +a few fundamental ideas pretty fast, and are readier to fight for them +than their occidental brethren. + +The world may as well accept, as the principal issue of "the great +game" that centers about Constantinople, the fact that the war begun +twelve hundred years ago by the dusky Arabian camel-driver is still on. +This Turco-Italian scrape is only one little skirmish in it. + + * * * * * + +The outbreak of war between Italy and Turkey came as a surprize to the +great majority of the European public, and even in Italy until the last +moment few believed that the crisis would come to a head so soon. Those +who had closely followed the course of political opinion in the country +during the past year, however, saw that a change had come over the +public spirit of Italy, and that a new attitude toward questions of +foreign policy was being adopted. It may be of interest in the present +circumstances to examine the causes and the course of this development. + +Since the completion of Italian unity with the fall of the Temporal +Power in 1870, the Italian people had devoted all its energies to +internal affairs, for everything had to be created--roads, railways, +ports, improved agriculture, industry, schools, scientific +institutions, the public services, were either totally lacking or quite +inadequate to the needs of a great modern nation. Above all, the +finances of the State, shattered by the wars of independence and by bad +administration, had to be placed on a sound footing. Consequently, +foreign affairs attracted but slight public interest. Such a state of +things was at that time inevitable owing to the precarious situation at +home, but it proved a most unfortunate necessity, as it was during this +very period that the great no-man's-lands of Asia and Africa were being +partitioned among the other nations, and vast uncultivated, +undeveloped, and thinly populated territories annexed by various +European Powers, and converted into important colonial empires offering +splendid outlets for trade and emigration. Italy had appeared last in +this field, when nearly all the best lands had been annexed and when +conquests could not be attempted, even in the still available regions, +without large, well-organized armed forces and a determined, +intelligent, and well-informed public opinion to back them up. In Italy +neither was to be found. The country was too poor to launch forth into +colonial and foreign politics with any chance of success, and the +people were too untraveled and too little acquainted with the +development of other countries to pay much attention to events outside +Italy, or, at all events, outside Europe. + +In the meanwhile, considerable progress in the economic and social +conditions of the Italian people had been achieved, and by grinding +economy and incredible sacrifices the finances were being restored. +There came a moment, however, when the need for colonial expansion +began to be felt. As a sop to public opinion, which had been +exasperated by the French occupation of Tunis, the Italian Government +decided in 1885 to occupy Massowah and the surrounding territories on +the Red Sea coast. But that country was not suited to Italian +colonization, and Italy was not yet ready to develop a purely trading +colony at so great a distance from the homeland. A long series of +errors were committed, relieved at times by the heroism and devotion of +the army fighting against huge odds in an inhospitable and unknown +land, culminating in the disaster of Adowa in 1896. What wrought the +greatest injury to Italian prestige was not so much the defeat in +itself as the fact that it was allowed to remain unavenged. There was a +fresh Italian army on the scene under an admirable leader, General +Baldissera, who enjoyed the full confidence of his men, and it was +clear that the Abyssinian forces could not hold together much longer. +The Premier, however, Signor Crispi, a man of unquestioned ability, but +who lived in advance of his time, before the nation was ready to follow +him in his Imperial policy, was overwhelmed by a storm of indignation, +and his successor, Marchese di Rudini, terrified by the riots promoted +by unscrupulous Socialist and Anarchist agitators as a protest against +the African campaign, concluded a disastrous peace with the enemy. + +In the meanwhile, Italian Socialism, which had found a suitable field +for action in the unsatisfactory condition of the working class, had +evolved a theory of government which, although common to some extent to +the Socialists of other countries, was nowhere carried to such lengths +as in Italy. Socialism in theory has everywhere adopted an attitude of +hostility to militarism, imperialism, and patriotism, and professes to +be internationalist and pacificist, and regards class hatred and civil +disorders as the only moral and praiseworthy forms of warfare. But in +countries where the masses have reached a certain degree of political +education such views, if carried to their logical conclusion, are sure +to be rejected by the majority, and even the Socialist leaders realize +that Nationalism is a vital force which has to be reckoned with, and +that a sane Imperialism and efficient military policy are as necessary +in the interests of the masses as in those of the classes. In Italy, on +the other hand, where even the bourgeoisie took but a lukewarm interest +in the wider questions of world policy, the Socialist leaders conducted +an avowedly anti-patriotic propaganda against every form of national +sentiment, against the very existence of Italy as a nation, and they +achieved considerable success. By representing patriotism and the army +as the causes of low wages, and war and colonial Imperialism as the +result of purely capitalist intrigues because it is only the +capitalists who profit by such adventures, they met with wide-spread +acceptance among a large part of the working classes. + +Thus a general feeling got possession of the Italian people that war +was played out, and that even if it were to occur Italy was sure to be +defeated by any other Power, that nothing must be done to provoke the +resentment of the foreigner, that the only form of expansion to be +encouraged was emigration to foreign lands, and even the export trade +which was growing so rapidly was looked upon askance by the Socialists +as a mere capitalist instrument. This attitude, which was certainly not +conducive to a healthy public spirit, was reflected in the conduct of +the Government, which felt that it would not be backed by the nation if +it gave signs of energy. The result was that Italy found her interests +blocked at every turn by other nations which were not imbued with such +"humanitarian" theories, and that she was subjected to countless +humiliations on the part of Governments who were convinced that under +no provocation would Italy show resentment. + +Gradually and imperceptibly a change came over public feeling, and the +necessity for a sane and vigorous patriotism began to be dimly +realized. One of the earliest symptoms of this new attitude was the +publication, in 1903, of Federigo Garlanda's _La terza Italia_; the +book professed to be written by a friendly American observer and critic +of Italian affairs, and the author regards the absence of militant +patriotism as the chief cause of Italy's weakness in comparison with +other nations. Mario Morasso, in his volume, _L'Imperialismo nel Secolo +XX,_ published in 1905, opened fire on the still predominant +Socialistic internationalism and sentimental humanitarianism, and +extolled the policy of conquest and expansion adopted by Great Britain, +Germany, France, and the United States as a means of strengthening the +fiber of the national character. + +In December, 1910, a congress of Italian Nationalists was held in +Florence, and at that gathering, which was attended by several hundred +persons, including numerous well-known names, many aspects of Italian +national life were examined and discussed. The various speakers +impressed on their hearers the importance of Nationalism as the basis +for all political thought and action. The weakness of the country, the +contempt which other nations felt for Italy, the unsatisfactory state +both of home and foreign politics, and the poverty of a large part of +the population, were all traced to the absence of a sane and vigorous +patriotism. The strengthening of the army and navy, the development of +a military spirit among the people, a radical change of direction in +the conduct of the nation's foreign policy, and the ending of the +present attitude of subservience to all other Powers, great or small, +were regarded as the first _desiderata_ of the country. The Turks, too, +who since the revolution of 1908 had become particularly truculent +toward the Italians, especially in Tripoli, also came in for rough +treatment, and various speakers demanded that the Government should +secure adequate protection for Italian citizens and trade in the +Ottoman Empire, and that a watch should be kept on Tripoli lest others +seized it before the moment for Italian occupation arrived. Signor +Corradini insisted that there were worse things for a nation than war, +and that the occasional necessity for resort to the "dread arbitrament" +must be boldly faced by any nation worthy of the name. + +The congress proved a success, and the ideas expressed in it which had +been "in the air" for some time were accepted by a considerable number +of people. The Nationalist Association was founded then and there and +soon gathered numerous adherents; a new weekly paper, _L'Idea +Nazionale_, commenced publication on March 1, 1911 (the anniversary of +Adowa), and rapidly became an important organ of public opinion, while +several dailies and reviews adopted Nationalist principles or viewed +them with sympathy. Italian Nationalism has no resemblance to the +parties of the same name in France, Ireland, or elsewhere; indeed, it +is not really a party at all, for it gathers in Liberals, +Conservatives, Radicals, Clericals, Socialists even, provided they +accept the patriotic idea and are anxious to see their country raised +to a higher place in the congress of nations even at the cost of some +sacrifice. + +Italy, according to Professor Sighele _(Il Nazionalismo ed i Partiti +politici_ p. 80 sq.), must be Imperialist in order to prevent the +closing up of all the openings whence the nation receives its oxygen, +and to prevent the Adriatic from becoming more and more an Austrian +lake, to prevent even the Mediterranean from being closed around us +like a camp guarded by hostile sentinels, and to provide a field of +activity for our emigrants wherein they will enjoy that protection +which they now lack, and which only a bold foreign policy, a thorough +preparation for war, and a clear Imperialist attitude on the part of +the rulers of the State can give them. + +For some time the Government continued to appear impervious to the +Nationalist spirit and professed to regard the movement as a +schoolboy's game. But it could not long remain indifferent to so +wide-spread a feeling. Italy's relations with Turkey were rapidly +approaching a crisis. The new Ottoman regime, while it was proving no +better than the old in the matter of corruption, inefficiency, and +persecution of the subject-races, had one new feature--an outburst of +rabid chauvinism and of hatred for all foreigners, but especially for +Italians, whom the Young Turks regarded as the weakest of nations. +Never had Italian prestige fallen so low in the Levant as at this +period, and the Italian Government did nothing to retrieve the +situation. In Tripoli, above all, where Italy's reversionary interest +had been sanctioned by agreements with England and France, the position +of Italian citizens and firms was rendered well-nigh intolerable. +Turkish persecution reached such a point that two Italians, the monk, +Father Giustino, and the merchant, Gastone Terreni, were assassinated +at the instigation and with the complicity of the authorities, without +any redress being obtained. + +The Nationalists since the beginning of their propaganda had agitated +for a firmer attitude toward Turkey, insisting on the opening up of +Tripoli to Italian enterprise. Italy was being hemmed in on all sides +by France in Algeria and Tunisia, and by England in Egypt; Tripolitaine +alone remained as a possible outlet for her eventual expansion. The +Turkish Government did nothing for the development of that province, +but it was determined that no one else should do anything for it, and +thwarted the efforts of every Italian enterprise, the Banco di Roma +alone succeeding by ceaseless activity and untiring patience in +creating important undertakings in the African vilayet. + +Had events pursued their normal course Italy would probably have been +content to develop her commercial interests in Tripolitaine to the +advantage of its inhabitants as well as of her own, waiting for the +time when in due course the country should fall to her share. But the +persistent hostility of the Turkish authorities was bringing matters to +a head, and while the Italian Government apparently refused to regard +the state of affairs as serious, the Nationalists continued to demand +the assertion of Italy's interests in Tripoli. The Press gradually +adopted their point of view, the _Idea Nazionale_ published Corradini's +vivid letters from Tripoli, and even Ministerial organs like the +_Tribuna_ of Rome and the _Stampa_ of Turin, following the lead of +their correspondents who visited Tripolitaine during the past spring +and summer and wrote of its resources and possibilities with +enthusiasm, were soon converted. If any nation has a right to colonies +it is Italy with her rapidly increasing population, her small +territory, and her streams of emigrants. Still the Government, from +fear of international complications and of alienating its Socialist +supporters, who, of course, opposed all idea of territorial expansion, +refused to do anything. Then the Franco-German Morocco bombshell burst, +and Agadir made the Italian people realize that the question of Tripoli +called for immediate solution. The whole of the rest of Mediterranean +Africa was about to be partitioned among the Powers, and Tripoli would +certainly not be left untouched if Italy failed to make good her +claims; Germany, it is believed, had cast her eyes on it, and already +her commercial agents and prospectors were on the spot. The demands for +an occupation by Italy were insistent; all classes were calling on the +Government to act, and in Genoa there were even angry mutterings of +revolt. The nation realized that it was a case of now or never, and +every one felt that the folly of Tunis must not be repeated. + +At the same time the Turks, convinced that Italy would never fight, +continued in their overbearing attitude, and placed increasing +obstacles in the way of Italian enterprise in all parts of the Empire +while ostentatiously favoring other foreign undertakings. Incidents +such as the abduction of an Italian girl and her forcible conversion to +Islam and marriage to a Turk, and the attacks on Italian vessels in the +Red Sea, added fuel to the flame, and public opinion became more and +more excited. The Premier at last saw that the country was practically +unanimous on the question of Tripoli, and although personally averse to +all adventures in the field of foreign affairs which interfered with +his political action at home, he realized that unless he faced the +situation boldly his prestige was gone. On the 20th of September the +expedition to Tripoli was decided. Hastily and secretly military +preparations were made, and the Note concerning the sending of Turkish +reinforcements or arms to Tripoli was issued. Then followed the +ultimatum, and finally the declaration of war. The Socialist leaders, +who saw in this awakening of a national conscience and of a militant +Imperialist spirit a serious menace to their own predominance, were in +a state of frenzy, and they attempted to organize a general strike as a +protest against the Government. But the movement fizzled out miserably, +and only an insignificant number of workmen struck. + +On the other hand, the declaration of war was greeted by an outburst of +popular enthusiasm such as no one believed possible in the Italy of +to-day. The departure or passage of the troops on their way to Tripoli +gave occasion for scenes of the most intense patriotic excitement, and +the sight of some two hundred thousand people in the streets of Rome at +one A.M. on October 7th, cheering the march past of the 82d infantry +regiment, is one not easily forgotten. The heart of the whole nation +was in the enterprise. Even many prominent Socialists, casting the +shackles of party fealty to the winds, declared themselves in favor of +the Government's African policy and accepted the occupation of Tripoli +as a necessity for the country, while the Clericals were even more +enthusiastic. But there was hardly a trace of anti-Turkish feeling; it +was simply that the people, rejoiced at having awakened from the long +nightmare of political apathy and international servility, had thrown +off the grinding and degrading yoke of Socialist tyranny, and risen to +a dawn of higher ideals of national dignity. Italy had at last asserted +herself. The extraordinary efficiency, speed, and secrecy with which +the expedition was organized, shipped across the Mediterranean, and +landed in Africa, the discipline, _moral_, and gallantry which both +soldiers and sailors displayed, were a revelation to everybody and gave +the Italians new confidence in their military forces, and made them +feel that they could hold up their heads before all the world +unashamed. A new Italy was born--the Italy of the Italian nation. In +the words of Mameli's immortal hymn, which has been revived as the +war-song of the Nationalists, + + "Fratelli d'Italia, l'Italia s'e desta, + Dell' elmo di Scipio s'e cinta la testa." + +The actual operations of the war were too one-sided to be interesting +from the military viewpoint. Turkey had no navy which could compete for +a moment with that of Italy. Hence the Turks could dispatch no troops +whatever to Tripoli, and its defense devolved solely upon the native +Arab inhabitants. These wild tribes were brave and warlike and +fanatically Mohammedan in their opposition to the Christian invaders. +But they were wholly without training in modern modes of warfare and +without modern weapons. Their frenzied rushes and antiquated guns were +helpless in the face of quick-firing artillery. + +The Italians demonstrated their ability to handle their own forces, to +transport troops, land them and provision them with speed and skill. +That was about all the struggle established. On October 3d the city of +Tripoli, the only important Tripolitan harbor, was bombarded. Two days +later the soldiers landed and took possession of it. For a month +following, there were minor engagements with the Arabs of the +neighborhood, night attacks upon the Italians, rumors that they lost +their heads and shot down scores of unarmed and unresisting natives. +Then on November 5th Italy proclaimed that she had conquered and +annexed Tripoli. + +The only remaining difficulty was to get the Turkish Government to give +its formal assent to this new regime, which it had been unable to +resist. Here, however, the Italians encountered a difficulty. They had +promised the rest of Europe that they would not complicate the European +Turkish problem by attacking Turkey anywhere except in Africa. In +Africa they had now done their worst, and so the Turkish Government, +with true Mohammedan serenity, defied them to do more. Turkey +absolutely refused to acknowledge the Italian claim to Tripolitan +suzerainty. True, she could not fight, but neither would she utter any +words of surrender. Let the Italians do what they pleased in Tripoli. +Turkey still continued in her addresses to her own people to call +herself its lord. + +This course satisfied the ignorant Mohammedans of Constantinople, who +knew little of what was really happening; and so it enabled the Young +Turk party to retain control of the political situation at home. The +dissatisfaction of Italy, however, increased, until she withdrew her +earlier pledge to Europe and set her navy to the task of seizing one +after another the Turkish islands lying in the eastern Mediterranean, +After some months of this leisurely appropriation of helpless +territories, the Turks yielded the point at issue. In October of 1912 +they signed a treaty of peace with Italy granting her entire possession +of Tripoli. By this time the Turks had become involved in their far +more deadly struggle with the united Balkan States; and the Government +was able to offer this new strife to its subjects as its excuse for +yielding to the Italians. Turkey, though she still holds a nominal +authority over Egypt, ceased to have any real power over any part of +Africa. She retained only a European and Asiatic empire. + + + + +WOMAN SUFFRAGE + +THE MOVEMENT COMES TO THE FRONT BY ITS TRIUMPH IN CALIFORNIA A.D. 1911 + +IDA HUSTED HARPER JANE ADDAMS DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE ISRAEL ZANGWILL ELBERT +HUBBARD + +When future generations look for an exact event to mark the triumphal +turning-point in the progress of the woman-suffrage movement, they will +probably select the election which took place in the great American +State of California in October, 1911. Other States had given women +votes before, but they were smaller communities, where the movement +could still be regarded as an eccentricity, a mere whimsicality. When, +however, California in 1911 granted full suffrage to her women, almost +half a million in number, the movement became obviously important. The +vote of California might well turn the scale in a Presidential +election. Moreover, other States followed California's example. Woman +suffrage soon dominated the West, and began its progress eastward. The +shrewd Lincoln said that no government could continue to exist half +slave and half free; and the axiom is equally true of a divided +suffrage. There can be little question that woman suffrage will +ultimately be adopted throughout the Eastern States, not because of +force, but through the ever-increasing pressure of political +expediency. + +Hence we give here an account of the progress of the woman-suffrage +cause up to the California election as it appeared to the prominent +suffragist writer, Ida Husted Harper, and to the honored suffragist +leader, Jane Addams. The peculiarities of the movement in England seem +to necessitate separate treatment, so we present the view of its +antagonists as temperately expressed by Britain's celebrated Minister +of the Treasury, David Lloyd-George, and the defense of the "militants" +by the noted novelist, Israel Zangwill. Then comes a summary of the +entire theme by that widely known "friend of humanity," Elbert Hubbard. + +For permission to quote some of these authoritative utterances which +had been previously printed, we owe cordial thanks to the publishers or +authors. Mrs. Harper's summary appeared originally in the _American +Review of Reviews_, and Miss Addams's comments in _The Survey_ of June, +1912. Both Elbert Hubbard's words and those of Lloyd-George are +reprinted from _Hearst's Magazine_ of August, 1912, and August, 1913. + +IDA HUSTED HARPER + +A few years ago no changes in the governments of the world would have +seemed more improbable than a constitution for China, a republic in +Portugal, and a House of Lords in Great Britain without the power of +veto, and yet all these momentous changes have taken place in less than +two years. The underlying cause is unquestionably the strong spirit of +unrest among the people of all nations having any degree of +civilization, caused by their increasing freedom of speech and press, +their larger intercourse through modern methods of travel, and the +sending of the youth to be educated in the most progressive countries. + +It would be impossible for women not to be affected by this spirit of +unrest, especially as they have made greater advance during the last +few decades than any other class or body. There is none whose status +has been so revolutionized in every respect during the last +half-century. As with men everywhere, this discontent has manifested +itself in political upheaval, so it is inevitable that it should be +expressed by women in a demand for a voice in the government through +which laws are made and administered. + +In 1888, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the leaders +of this movement in the United States, where it began, attempted to +cooperate with other countries, they found that in only one--Great +Britain--had it taken organized shape. By 1902, however, it was +possible to form an International Committee, in Washington, D.C., with +representatives from five countries. Two years later, in Berlin, the +International Woman Suffrage Alliance was formed with accredited +delegates from organizations in nine countries. This Alliance held a +congress in Stockholm during the summer of 1911 with delegates from +national associations in twenty-four countries where the movement for +the enfranchisement of women has taken definite, organized form. + + +THE UNITED STATES + +At the November election, 1910, the men of Washington, by a vote of +three to one, enfranchised the women of that State. Eleven months +later, in October, 1911, a majority of the voters conferred the +suffrage on the 400,000 women of California. These two elections +doubtless marked the turning-point in this country. In 1890 Wyoming +came into the Union with suffrage for women in its constitution after +they had been voting in the Territory for twenty-one years. In 1893 the +voters of Colorado, by a majority of 6,347, gave full suffrage to +women. In 1895 the men of Utah, where as a Territory women had voted +seventeen years, by a vote of 28,618 ayes to 2,687 noes, gave them this +right in its constitution for Statehood. In 1896 Idaho, by a majority +of 5,844, fully enfranchised its women. + +It was believed then that woman suffrage would soon be carried in all +the Western States, but at this time there began a period of complete +domination of politics by the commercial interests of the country, +through whose influence the power of the party "machines" became +absolute. Temperance, tariff reform, control of monopolies, all moral +issues were relegated to the background and woman suffrage went with +the rest. To the vast wave of "insurgency" against these conditions is +due its victory in Washington and California. As many women are already +fully enfranchised in this country as would be made voters by the +suffrage bill now under consideration in Great Britain, so that +American women taken as a whole can not be put into a secondary +position as regards political rights. While women householders in Great +Britain and Ireland have the municipal franchise, a much larger number +in this country have a partial suffrage--a vote on questions of special +taxation, bonds, etc., in Louisiana, Iowa, Montana, Michigan, and in +the villages and many third-class cities in New York, and school +suffrage in over half of the States. + + +GREAT BRITAIN + +The situation in Great Britain is now at its most acute stage. There +the question never goes to the voters, but is decided by Parliament. +Seven times a woman-suffrage bill has passed its second reading in the +House of Commons by a large majority, only to be refused a third and +final reading by the Premier, who represents the Ministry, technically +known as the Government. In 1910 the bill received a majority of 110, +larger than was secured even for the budget, the Government's chief +measure. In 1911 the majority was 167, and again the last reading was +refused. The vote was wholly non-partizan--145 Liberals, 53 Unionists, +31 Nationalists (Irish), 26 Labor members. Ninety town and county +councils, including those of Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, +Dublin, and those of all the large cities sent petitions to Parliament +to grant the final vote. The Lord Mayor of Dublin in his robes of state +appeared before the House of Commons with the same plea, but the +Liberal Government was unmoved. + +In the passing years petitions aggregating over four million signatures +have been sent in. Just before the recent election the Conservative +National Association presented one signed by 300,000 voters. In their +processions and Hyde Park gatherings the women have made the largest +political demonstrations in history. There have been more meetings +held, more money raised, and more workers enlisted than to obtain +suffrage for the men of the entire world. + +From the beginning the various associations have asked for the +franchise on the same terms as granted to men, not all of whom can +vote. For political reasons it seemed impossible to obtain this, and +meanwhile the so-called "militant" movement was inaugurated by women +outraged at the way the measure had been put aside for nearly forty +years. The treatment of these women by the Government forms one of the +blackest pages in English history, and the situation finally became so +alarming that the Parliament was obliged to take action. A Conciliation +Committee was formed of sixty members from all parties, who prepared a +bill that would enfranchise only women householders, those who already +had possessed the municipal franchise since 1869. This does not mean +property-owners, but includes women who may pay rent for only one room. +The associations accepted it partly because it recognized the principle +that sex should not disqualify, but principally because it was +unquestionably all that they could get at present. This is the bill +which was denied a third reading for two years on the ground that it +was not democratic enough! A careful canvass has shown that in the +different parts of the United Kingdom from 80 to 90 per cent, of those +whom it would enfranchise are wage- or salary-earning women, and not one +Labor member of Parliament voted against it. + +Women in England have been eligible for School Boards since 1870; have +had the county franchise since 1888; have been eligible for parish and +district councils and for various boards and commissions since 1894, +and hundreds have served in the above offices. In 1907, as recommended +in the address of King Edward, women were made eligible as mayors and +county and city councilors, or aldermen. Three or four have been +elected mayors, and women are now sitting on the councils of London, +Manchester, and other cities. The municipal franchise was conferred on +the women of Scotland in 1882, and of Ireland in 1898. + +The Irishwomen's Franchise League demands that the proposed Home Rule +bill shall give to the women of Ireland the same political rights as it +gives to men. This demand is strongly supported by many of the +Nationalist members of Parliament and some of the cabinet, and it is +not impossible that after all these years of oppression the women of +Ireland may be fully enfranchised before those of England, Scotland, +and Wales. + +In the Isle of Man women property-owners have had the full suffrage +since 1881, and women rate- or rent-payers, since 1892. + + +ENGLISH COLONIES + +The Parliament of New Zealand gave school suffrage to women in 1877, +municipal in 1886, and Parliamentary in 1893. It was the first country +in the world to grant the complete universal franchise to women. + +The six States of Australia had municipal suffrage for women from the +early days of their self-government. South Australia gave them the +right to vote for its State Parliament, or legislature, in 1894, and +West Australia took similar action in 1899. The States federated in a +Commonwealth in 1902 and almost the first act of its national +Parliament was to give the suffrage for its members to all women and +make them eligible to membership. New South Wales immediately conferred +State suffrage on women, and was soon followed by Tasmania and +Queensland. Victoria yielded in 1909. Women of Australia have now +exactly the same franchise rights as men. + +In all the provinces of Canada for the last twenty years widows and +spinsters who are rate-payers or property-owners have had the school or +municipal suffrage, in some instances both, and in a few this right is +given to married women. There has been some effort to have this +extended to State and Federal suffrage, but with little force except in +Toronto, where in 1909 a thousand women stormed the House of +Parliament, with a petition signed by 100,000 names. + +When the South African Union was formed its constitution took away from +women tax-payers the fragmentary vote they possessed. Petitions to give +them the complete suffrage, signed by 4,000 men and women, were +ignored. Franchise Leagues are working in Cape Colony, Natal, and the +Transvaal, and their efforts are supported by General Botha, the +premier; General Smuts, Minister of the Interior; Mr. Cronwright, +husband of Olive Schreiner, and other members of Parliament, but the +great preponderance of Boer women over English will prevent this +English-controlled body from enfranchising women in the near future. + +There are cities in India where women property-owners have a vote in +municipal affairs. + + +SCANDINAVIA + +The Parliament of Norway in 1901 granted municipal suffrage to all +women who in the country districts pay taxes on an income of 300 crowns +(about $75), and in the cities on one of 400 crowns; and they were made +eligible to serve on councils and grand and petit juries. After +strenuous effort on the part of women the Parliament of 1907, by a vote +of 96 to 23, conferred the complete franchise on all who possessed the +municipal. This included about 300,000 of the half-million women. They +were made eligible for Parliament, and at the first election in 1909 +one was elected as alternate or deputy, and took her seat with a most +enthusiastic welcome from the other members. In 1910, by a vote of 71 +to 10, the taxpaying qualification for the municipal vote was removed. +In 1911, a bill to abolish it for the full suffrage was carried by a +large majority in Parliament, but lacked five votes of the necessary +two-thirds. More than twice as many women as voted in 1907 went to the +polls in 1910 at the municipal elections. Last year 178 women were +elected to city councils, nine to that of Christiania. This year 210 +were elected and 379 alternates to fill vacancies that may occur. + +Sweden gave municipal suffrage to tax-paying widows and spinsters in +1862. At that time and for many years afterward not one-tenth of the +men had a vote. Then came the rise of the Liberal party and the Social +Democracy, and by 1909 the new Franchise law had been enacted, which +immensely increased the number of men voters, extended the municipal +suffrage to wives, greatly reduced the tax qualification, and made +women eligible to all offices for which they could vote. At the last +election 37 were elected to the councils of 34 towns, 11 in the five +largest. The Woman Suffrage Association is said to be the best +organized body in the country, its branches extending beyond the arctic +circle. It has over 12,000 paid members and has held 1,550 meetings +within a year. In 1909 a bill to extend the full suffrage to women +passed the Second Chamber of the Parliament unanimously, but was +defeated by four to one in the First Chamber, representing the +aristocracy. This year the Suffrage Association made a strong campaign +for the Liberal and Social Democratic parties, and a large majority of +their candidates were elected. The Conservative cabinet was deposed and +the King has called for a new election of the First Chamber. As its +members are chosen by the Provincial Councils and those of the five +largest cities, and women have a vote for these bodies and are members +of them, they will greatly reduce the number of Conservative members of +the Upper House. On the final passage of a suffrage bill the two +chambers must vote jointly and it seems assured of a majority. + +Denmark's Parliament in 1908 gave the municipal suffrage to women on +the same terms as exercised by men--that is, to all over 25 years of +age who pay any taxes. Property owned by husband or wife or in common +entitles each to a vote. At the first election 68 per cent. of all the +enfranchised women in the country, and 70 per cent. in Copenhagen, +voted. Seven were elected to the city council of 42 members and one was +afterward appointed to fill a vacancy, and 127 were elected in other +places. Women serve on all committees and are chairmen of important +ones; two are city treasurers. There are two Suffrage Associations +whose combined membership makes the organization of that country in +proportion to population the largest of the kind in the world. They +have 314 local branches and one of the associations has held 1,100 +meetings during the past year. The Lower House of Parliament has passed +a bill to give women the complete franchise, which has not been acted +on by the Upper House, composed mainly of the aristocracy. The Prime +Minister and the Speakers of both houses are outspoken in advocacy of +enfranchising women, but political considerations are holding it back. +All say, however, that it will come in the near future. + +Iceland, a dependency of Denmark, with its own Parliament, gave +municipal suffrage in 1882 to all widows and spinsters who were +householders or maintained a family, or were self-supporting. In 1902 +it made these voters eligible to all municipal offices, and since then +a fourth of the council members of Reykjavik, the capital, have been +women. In 1909 this franchise was extended to all those who pay taxes. +A petition signed by a large majority of all the women in Iceland asked +for the complete suffrage, and during the present year the Parliament +voted to give this to all women over 25 years old. It must be acted +upon by a second Parliament, but its passage is assured, and Icelandic +women will vote on the same terms as men in 1913. + + +OTHER COUNTRIES + +First place must be given to the Grand Duchy of Finland, far more +advanced than any other part of the empire. In 1905, by permission of +the Czar, after a wonderful uprising of the people, they reorganized +their Government and combined the four antiquated chambers of their +Diet into one body. The next year, on demand of thousands of women, +expressed by petitions and public meetings, this new Parliament, almost +without a dissenting voice, conferred the full suffrage on all women. +Since that time from 16 to 25 have been elected to the different +Parliaments by all the political parties. + +In Russia women as well as men are struggling for political freedom. In +many of the villages wives cast the votes for their husbands when the +latter are away; women have some suffrage for the zemstvos, local +governing bodies; the Duma has tried to enlarge their franchise rights, +but at present these are submerged in the general chaos. + +In Poland an active League for Woman's Rights is cooperating with the +Democratic party of men. + +A very strong movement for woman suffrage is proceeding against great +difficulties in the seventeen provinces of Austria, where almost as +many languages are spoken and the bitterest racial feuds exist. Women +are not allowed to form political associations or hold public meetings, +but 4,000 have paraded the streets of Vienna demanding the suffrage. In +Bohemia since 1864 women have had a vote for members of the Diet and +are eligible to sit in it. In all the municipalities outside of Prague +and Liberic, women taxpayers and those of the learned professions may +vote by proxy. Women belong to all the political parties except the +Conservative and constitute 40 per cent, of the Agrarian party. They +are well organized to secure the full suffrage and are holding hundreds +of meetings and distributing thousands of pamphlets. In Bosnia and +Herzegovina women property-owners vote by proxy. + +In Hungary the National Woman Suffrage Association includes many +societies having other aims also, and it has branches in 87 towns and +cities, combining all classes of women from the aristocracy to the +peasants. Men are in a turmoil there to secure universal suffrage for +themselves and women are with them in the thick of the fight. + +Bulgaria has a Woman Suffrage Association composed of 37 auxiliaries +and it held 456 meetings during the past year. + +In Servia women have a fragmentary local vote and are now organizing to +claim the parliamentary franchise. + +In Germany it was not until 1908 that the law was changed which forbade +women to take part in political meetings, and since then the Woman +Suffrage Societies, which existed only in the Free Cities, have +multiplied rapidly. Most of them are concentrating on the municipal +franchise, which those of Prussia claim already belongs to them by an +ancient law. In a number of the States women landowners have a proxy +vote in communal matters, but have seldom availed themselves of it. In +Silesia this year, to the amazement of everybody, 2,000 exercised this +privilege. The powerful Social Democratic party stands solidly for +enfranchising women. + +A few years ago when the Liberal party in Holland was in power it +prepared to revise the constitution and make woman suffrage one of its +provisions. In 1907 the Conservatives carried the election and blocked +all further progress. Two active Suffrage Associations approximate a +membership of 8,000, with nearly 200 branches, and are building up +public sentiment. + +Belgium in 1910 gave women a vote for members of the Board of Trade, an +important tribunal, and made them eligible to serve on it. A Woman +Suffrage Society is making considerable progress. + +Switzerland has had a Woman Suffrage Association only a few years. +Geneva and Zurich in 1911 made women eligible to their boards of trade +with a vote for its members, and Geneva gave them a vote in all matters +connected with the State Church. + +Italy has a well-supported movement for woman suffrage, and a +discussion in Parliament showed a strong sentiment in favor. Mayor +Nathan, of Rome, is an outspoken advocate. In 1910 all women in trade +were made voters for boards of trade. + +The woman-suffrage movement in France differs from that of most other +countries in the number of prominent men in politics connected with it. +President Fallieres loses no opportunity to speak in favor and leading +members of the ministry and the Parliament approve it. Committees have +several times reported a bill, and that of M. Dussaussoy giving all +women a vote for Municipal, District, and General Councils was reported +with full parliamentary suffrage added. In 1910, 163 members asked to +have the bill taken up. Finally it was decided to have a committee +investigate the practical working of woman suffrage in the countries +where it existed. Its extensive and very favorable report has just been +published, and the Woman Suffrage Association states that it expects +early action by Parliament. More than one-third of the wage-earners of +France are women, and these may vote for tribunes and chambers of +commerce and boards of trade. They may be members of the last named and +serve as judges. + +The constitution of the new Republic of Portugal gave "universal" +suffrage, and Dr. Beatrice Angelo applied for registration, which was +refused. She carried her case to the courts, her demand was sustained, +and she cast her vote. It was too late for other women to register, but +an organization of 1,000 women was at once formed to secure definite +action of Parliament, with the approval of President Braga and several +members of his cabinet. + +The Spanish Chamber has proposed to give women heads of families in the +villages a vote for mayor and council. + +A bill to give suffrage to women was recently introduced in the +Parliament of Persia, but was ruled out of order by the president +because the Koran says women have no souls. + +Siam has lately adopted a constitution which gives women a municipal +vote. + +The leaders of the revolution in China have promised suffrage for women +if it is successful. + +Several women voted in place of their husbands at the recent election +in Mexico. Belize, the capital of British Honduras, has just given the +right to women to vote for town council. + +Throughout the entire world is an unmistakable tendency to accord woman +a voice in the government, and, strange to say, this is stronger in +monarchies than in republics. In Europe the republics of France and +Switzerland give almost no suffrage to women. Norway and Finland, where +they have the complete franchise; Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Great +Britain, where they have all but the parliamentary, and that close at +hand, are monarchies. New Zealand and Australia, where women are fully +enfranchised, are dependencies of a monarchical government. + + +JANE ADDAMS + +The comfortable citizen possessing a vote won for him in a previous +generation, who is so often profoundly disturbed by the cry of "Votes +for Women," seldom connects the present attempt to extend the franchise +with those former efforts, as the results of which he himself became a +member of the enfranchised class. Still less does the average voter +reflect that in order to make self-government a great instrument in the +hands of those who crave social justice, it must ever be built up anew +in relation to changing experiences, and that unless this readjustment +constantly takes place self-government itself is placed in jeopardy. + +Yet the adherents of representative government, with its foundations +laid in diversified human experiences, must concede that the value of +such government bears a definite relation to the area of its base and +that the history of its development is merely a record of new human +interests which have become the subjects of governmental action, and +the incorporation into the government itself of those classes who +represented the new interests. + +As the governing classes have been increased by the enfranchisement of +one body of men after another, the art of government has been enriched +in human interests, and at the same time as government has become thus +humanized by new interests it has inevitably become further +democratized through the accession of new classes. The two propositions +are complementary. For centuries the middle classes in every country in +Europe struggled to wrest governmental power from the nobles because +they insisted that government must consider the problems of a rising +commerce; on the other hand, the merchants claimed direct +representation because government had already begun to concern itself +with commercial affairs. When the working men of the nineteenth +century, the Chartists in England and the "men of '48" in Germany +vigorously demanded the franchise, national parliaments had already +begun to regulate the condition of mines and the labor of little +children. The working men insisted that they themselves could best +represent their own interests, but at the same time their very entrance +into government increased the volume and pressure of those interests. + +Much of the new demand for political enfranchisement arises from a +desire to remedy the unsatisfactory and degrading social conditions +which are responsible for so much wrongdoing and wretchedness. The fate +of all the unfortunate, the suffering, the criminal, is daily forced +upon public attention in painful and intimate ways. But because of the +tendency to nationalize all industrial and commercial questions, to +make the state responsible for the care of the helpless, to safeguard +by law the food we eat and the liquid we drink, to subordinate the +claim of the individual family to the health and well-being of the +community, contemporary women who are without the franchise are much +more outside the real life of the world than any set of disenfranchised +men could possibly have been in all history, unless it were the men +slaves of ancient Greece, because never before has so large an area of +life found civic expression, never has Hegel's definition of the state +been so accurate, that it is the "realization of the moral ideal." +Certain it is that the phenomenal entrance of women into governmental +responsibility in the dawn of the twentieth century is coincident with +the consideration by governmental bodies of the basic human interests +with which women have been traditionally concerned. A most advanced +German statesman recently declared in the Reichstag that it was a +reproach to the Imperial Government itself that out of two million +children born annually in Germany, 400,000 died during the first twelve +months of their existence. He proceeded to catalog various reforms +which might remedy this, such as better housing, the increase of park +areas, the erection of municipal hospitals, the provision for an +adequate milk supply, and many another, but he did not make the very +obvious suggestion that women might be of service in a situation +involving the care of children less than a year old. + +Nevertheless, in spite of this lack of perception, women all over the +world are claiming and receiving a place in representative government +because they insist that they will not cease to perform their +traditional duties, simply because these duties have been taken over by +existing governments. + +The contemporaneous "Votes for Women" movement is often amorphous and +sporadic, but always spontaneous. It not only appears simultaneously in +various countries, but manifests itself in widely separated groups in +the same country; in every city it embraces the "smart set" and the +hard-driven working women; sometimes it is sectarian and dogmatic, at +others philosophic and grandiloquent, but it is always vital and +constantly becoming more widespread. + +In certain aspects it differs from former efforts to extend the +franchise. We recall that the final entrance of the middle class into +government was characterized by two dramatic revolutions, one in +America and one in France, neither of them without bloodshed, and that +although the final efforts of the working men were more peaceful, even +in restrained England the Chartists burned hayricks and destroyed town +property. This world-wide entrance into government on the part of women +is happily a bloodless one. Although some glass has been broken in +England it is noteworthy that the movement as a whole has been without +even a semblance of violence. The creed of the movement, however, is +similar to that promulgated by the doctrinaires of the eighteenth +century: that if increasing the size of the governing body +automatically increases the variety and significance of government, +then only when all the people become the governing class can the +collective resources and organizations of the community be consistently +utilized for the common weal. + + +DAVID LLOYD-GEORGE + +I have long been a convinced advocate of woman suffrage and am now +firmer than ever in supporting it. It seems to me a necessary and +desirable consequence of the vast extension of the functions of +Government which the past century and a half has witnessed. The state, +nowadays, enters the homes of the people and insists on having a voice +in questions that individual men and women, acting together, taking +counsel together, used to settle for themselves in their own way. +Education and the training and feeding of children, the housing and +sanitation problems, provision against old age and sickness, the +prevention of disease--all these are questions that formerly were dealt +with, of course, in a very isolated and inadequate way, by cooperation +and discussion between the heads of each household. What reason is +there why the same cooperation should not continue now that these +matters have been raised to the sphere of legislative enactments and +official administration? + +Laws to-day affect the interests of women just as deeply as they do the +interests of men. Some laws--many laws--affect them more gravely and +intimately; and I do not believe you can trust the welfare of a class +or a sex entirely to another class or sex. It is not that their +interests are not identical, but that their point of view is different. +Take the housing problem. A working man leaves home in the morning +within half an hour after he wakes. He is not there all day. He turns +up in the evening and does not always remain there. If the house is a +poor, uncomfortable, dismal one, he very often seeks consolation in the +glare and warmth of the nearest public-house, but he takes very good +care that the wife shall not do as he does. She has got to stay at home +all day, however wretched her surroundings. Who can say that her +experience, her point of view, is not much better worth consulting than +her husband's on the housing problem? Up to the present the only and +the whole share of women in the housing question has been suffering. +Slums are often the punishment of the man. They are almost always the +martyrdom of the woman. Give women the vote, give them an effective +part in the framing and administration of the laws which touch not +merely their own lives but the lives of their children, and they will +soon, I believe, cleanse the land of these foul dens. + +All sorts of women's interests were affected by the National Insurance +Act, and all sorts of questions sprang up in connection with it on +which women alone could speak with real authority. But, being voteless, +there was no way in which their views could be authoritatively set +forth. Four million women workers and seven million married women have +come under the operation of the Act, yet not one of them was given the +opportunity of making their opinions known and felt through a +representative in the House of Commons. It was the experience of every +friendly society official I consulted that had it not been for the +women and their splendid self-sacrifice, the subscriptions of the men +would have lapsed long ago. Yet these women who had thus kept the +societies going were not considered worth consulting as to their status +under the Act. The House of Commons itself insisted on there being at +least one woman Commissioner. But if a woman is fit to be a +Commissioner--a very heavy and difficult position involving enormous +responsibilities and demanding great skill and judgment and +experience--how can she be said to be unfit to have a vote? + +What is the meaning of democracy? It is that the citizens who are +expected to obey the law are those who make the law. But that is not +true of Great Britain. At least half the adult citizens whose lives are +deeply affected by every law that is carried on the statute-books have +absolutely no voice in making that law. They have no more influence in +the matter than the horses that drag their lords and masters to the +polling-booth. + +The drunken loafer who has not earned a living for years is consulted +by the Constitution on questions like the training and upbringing of +children, the national settlement of religion in Wales and elsewhere, +and as to the best method of dealing with the licensing problem. But +the wife whose industry keeps him and his household from beggary, who +pays the rent and taxes which constitute him a voter, who is therefore +really responsible for his qualification to vote, is not taken into +account in the slightest degree. I came in contact not long ago with a +great girls' school in the south of England. It was founded by women, +and it is administered by women. It is one of the most marvelous +organizations in the whole country, and yet, when we had, in the year +1906, to give a national verdict on the question of education, the man +who split the firewood in that school was asked for his opinion about +it, while those ladies were deemed to be absolutely unfit to pass any +judgment on it at all. That is a preposterous and barbarous +anachronism, and so long as it lasts our democracy is one-sided and +incomplete. But it will not last long. No franchise bill can ever again +be brought forward in this country without raising the whole problem of +whether you are going to exclude more than half the citizens of the +land. Women have entered pretty nearly every sphere of commerce and +industry and professional activity and public employment; and there +never was a time when the nation stood more in need of the special +experience, instincts, and sympathy of womanhood in the management of +its affairs. When women get the vote the horizon of the home will be +both brightened and expanded, and their influence on moral and social +and educational questions, especially on the temperance question, and +possibly on the peace of nations, will be constant and humanizing. + +Those are a few of the reasons why I favor woman suffrage. But because +I favor it I do not therefore hold myself bound to either speak or vote +for any and every suffrage bill that may be introduced into Parliament. +I voted against the so-called Conciliation Bill which proposed to give +the vote to every woman of property if she chose to take the trouble to +get it, and at the same time enfranchise only about one-tenth or +one-fifteenth of the working women of the country. That was simply a +roundabout way of doubling the plural voters and no democrat could +possibly support it, so long as there remained a single alternative. +The solution that most appeals to me is the one embodied in the +Dickinson Bill, that is to say, a measure conferring the vote on women +householders and on the wives of married electors; and I believe that +it is in that form that woman suffrage will eventually come in this +country. How soon it will come depends very largely on how soon the +militants come to their senses. + +I say, unhesitatingly, that the main obstacle to women getting the vote +is militancy and nothing else. Its practitioners really seem to think +that they can terrorize and pinprick Parliament into giving it to them; +and until they learn something of the people they are dealing with, +their whole agitation, so far as the House of Commons is concerned, is +simply and utterly damned. It is perfectly astonishing to recall with +what diabolical ingenuity they have contrived to infuriate all their +opponents, to alienate all their sympathizers, and to stir up against +themselves every prejudice in the average man's breast. A few years ago +they found three-fourths of the Liberal M.P.'s on their side. They at +once proceeded to cudgel their brains as to how they could possibly +drive them into the enemy's camp. They rightly decided that this could +not be done more effectually than by insulting and assaulting the Prime +Minister, the chief of the Party, and a leader for whom all his +colleagues and followers feel an unbounded admiration, regard, and +affection. When they had thus successfully estranged the majority of +Liberals they began to study the political situation a little more +closely. They saw that the Irish Nationalists were very powerful +factors in the Ministerial Coalition. The next problem, therefore, was +how to destroy the last chance that the Irish Nationalists would +support their cause. They achieved this triumphantly first by making +trouble in Belfast where the only Nationalist member is or was a strong +Suffragist, and secondly by going to Dublin when all Nationalist +Ireland had assembled to welcome Mr. Asquith, throwing a hatchet at Mr. +Redmond, and trying to burn down a theater. That finished Ireland, but +still they were dissatisfied. There was a dangerous movement of +sympathy with their agitation in Wales, and they felt that at any cost +it had to be checked. They not only checked, but demolished, it with +the greatest ease by breaking in upon the proceedings at an Eisteddfod. +Now the Eisteddfod is not only the great national festival of Welsh +poetry and music and eloquence, it is also an oasis of peace amid the +sharp contentions of Welsh life. To bring into it any note of politics +or sectarianism or public controversy, even when these things are +rousing the most passionate emotions outside, seems to a Welshman like +the desecration of an altar. That is just what the militants did, and +Welsh interest in their cause fell dead on the spot. But even then they +were not happy. They were still encumbered by the good-will of perhaps +a hundred Tory M.P.'s. But they proved entirely equal to the task of +antagonizing them. They began smashing windows, burning country +mansions, firing race-stands, damaging golf-greens, striking as hard as +they could at the Tory idol of Property. There is really nothing more +left for them to do; they have alienated every friend they ever had; +their work is complete beyond their wildest hopes. + +Well, one can not dignify such tactics and antics by the title of +"political propaganda." The proper name for them is sheer organized +lunacy. The militants have erected militancy into a principle. I am +beginning to think that a good many of them are more concerned with the +success of their method than with the success of their cause. They +would rather not have the vote than fail to win it by the particular +brand of agitation they have pinned their faith to. They don't really +want the vote to be given them; they want to get it and to get it by +force; and they are quite unable to see that the more force they use +the stronger becomes the resolve both of Parliament and of the country +to send them away empty-handed. If they had accepted Mr. Asquith's +pledge of two years ago and thanked him for it and helped him redeem +it, woman suffrage by now would be an accomplished fact. But they +preferred their own ways, and what is the result? The result is that +working for their cause in the House of Commons to-day is like swimming +not merely against a tide but against a cataract. The real reason why +the attempts to carry woman suffrage through the House of Commons +during the past two years have failed is not merely the difficulty of +trying to combine a non-party measure with the party system; it is, +above all, the impossibility of using Parliament to pass a bill that +the opinion of the country has been fomented to condemn. The fact that +in both the principal parties there is a clean division of opinion on +this issue and that no Government, or none that is at present +conceivable, can bring forward a measure for the enfranchisement of +women as a Government, is a great, but not necessarily an insuperable +obstacle. The one barrier, there is no surmounting and no getting +round, is the decided and increasing hostility of public sentiment; and +for that the militants have only themselves to thank. + +Personally I always try to remember, first, that militancy is the work +of only a very small fraction of the women who want the vote and ought +to have it, and, secondly, that there have been crazy men just as there +are crazy women. Militancy has not affected my own individual attitude +toward the main question and never will. But I recognize that it has +killed the immediate Parliamentary prospects of any and every Suffrage +Bill, and that so long as militancy continues the House of Commons will +do nothing. Only a new movement altogether can now bring women to the +goal of political emancipation; and it will have to be a sane, +hard-headed, practical movement, as full of liveliness as you please, +but absolutely divorced from stones and bombs and torches. When it +arises the friends of the Women's cause will begin to take heart again. + + +ISRAEL ZANGWILL + +THE AWKWARD AGE OF THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT + + "And what did she get by it?" said my Uncle Toby. + "What does any woman get by it?" said my father. + "_Martyrdom_" replied the young Benedictine. + + TRISTRAM SHANDY. + +The present situation of woman suffrage in England recalls the old +puzzle: What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable +body? The irresistible force is the religious passion of myriads of +women, the fury of self-sacrifice, the righteous zeal that shrinks not +even from crime; the immovable body may be summed up as Mr. Asquith. +Almost as gross an incarnation of Tory prejudice as Squire Western, who +laid it down that women should come in with the first dish and go out +with the first glass, Mr. Asquith is all that stands between the sex +and the suffrage. + +The answer to the old puzzle, I suppose, would be that though the +immovable body does not move, yet the impact of the irresistible force +generates heat, which, as we know from Tyndall, is a mode of motion. At +any rate, heat is the only mode in which the progress of woman suffrage +can be registered to-day. The movement has come to what Mr. Henry James +might call "the awkward age": an age which has passed beyond argument +without arriving at achievement; an age for which words are too small +and blows too big. And because impatience has been the salvation of the +movement, and because the suffragette will not believe that the fiery +charger which has carried her so far can not really climb the last +ridge of the mountain, but must be replaced by a mule--that miserable +compromise between a steed and an anti-suffragist--the awkward age is +also the dangerous age. + +When the Cabinet of Clement's Inn, perceiving that if a woman suffrage +Bill did not pass this session, the last chance--under the Parliament +Act--was gone for this Parliament, resolved to rouse public opinion by +breaking tradesmen's windows, it overlooked that the English are a +nation of shopkeepers, and that the public opinion thus roused would be +for the first time almost unreservedly on the side of the Government. +And when the Cabinet of Downing Street, moved to responsive +recklessness, raided the quarters of the Women's Social and Political +Union and indicted the leaders for criminal conspiracy, it equally +overlooked an essential factor of the situation. The Cabinet of the +conspiracy was at least as much a restraint to suffragettes as an +incentive. It held in order the more violent members, the souls +naturally daring or maddened by forcible feeding. By its imposition of +minor forms of lawlessness, it checked the suggestion of major forms. +Crime was controlled by a curriculum and temper studied by a +time-table. The interruptions at meetings were distributed among the +supposed neuropaths like parts at a play, and we to the maenad who +missed her cue. With the police, too, the suffragettes lived for the +most part on terms of cordial cooperation, each side recognizing that +the other must do its duty. When the suffragettes planned a raid upon +Downing Street or the House of Commons, they gave notice of time and +place, and were provided with a sufficient force of police to prevent +it. Were the day inconvenient for the police, owing to the pressure of +social engagements, another day was fixed, politics permitting. The +_entente cordiale_ extended even in some instances to the jailers and +the bench, and, as in those early days of the Quaker persecution of +which Milton's friend, Ellwood, has left record, prisoners sometimes +left their cells for a night to attend to imperative affairs, or +good-naturedly shortened or canceled their sentences at the pressing +solicitation of perturbed magistrates. Prison was purified by all these +gentle presences, and women criminals profited by the removal of the +abuses they challenged. Holloway became a home from home, in which +beaming wardresses welcomed old offenders, and to which husbands +conducted erring wives in taxicabs, much as Ellwood and his brethren +marched of themselves from Newgate to Bridewell, explaining to the +astonished citizens of London that their word was their keeper. A +suffragette's word stood higher than consols, and the war-game was +played cards on table. True, there were brutal interludes when Home +Secretaries lost their heads, or hysterical magistrates their sense of +justice, or when the chivalrous constabulary of Westminster was +replaced by Whitechapel police, dense to the courtesies of the +situation; but even these tragedies were transfused by its humors, by +the subtle duel of woman's wit and man's lumbering legalism. The +hunger-strike itself, with all its grim horrors and heroisms, was like +the plot of a Gilbertian opera. It placed the Government on the horns +of an Irish bull. Either the law must kill or torture prisoners +condemned for mild offenses, or it must permit them to dictate their +own terms of durance. The criminal code, whose dignity generations of +male rebels could not impair, the whole array of warders, lawyers, +judges, juries, and policemen, which all the scorn of a Tolstoy could +not shrivel, shrank into a laughing-stock. And the comedy of the +situation was complicated and enhanced by the fact that the Home +Office, so far from being an Inquisition, was more or less tenanted by +sympathizers with Female Suffrage, and that a Home Secretary who +secretly admired the quixotry of the hunger-strikers was forced to feed +them forcibly. He must either be denounced by the suffragettes as a +Torquemada or by the public as an incapable. Bayard himself could not +have coped with the position. There was no place like the Home Office, +and its administrators, like the Governors of the Gold Coast, had to be +relieved at frequent intervals. As for the police, their one aim in +life became to avoid arresting suffragettes. + +Such was the situation which the Governmental _coup_ transformed to +tragedy unrelieved, giving us in the place of ordered lawlessness and +responsible leadership a guerrilla warfare against society by +irresponsive individuals, more or less unbalanced. That the heroic +incendiary Mrs. Leigh, who deserved penal servitude and a statue, had +been driven wild by forcible feeding was a fact that had given +considerable uneasiness to headquarters, but she had been kept in +comparative discipline. Now that discipline has been destroyed, it is +possible that other free-lances will catch the contagion of crime; nay, +there are signs that the leaders themselves are being infected through +the difficulty of disavowing their martyrs. The wisest course for the +Government would be to pardon Miss Pankhurst, of Paris, and officially +invite her to resume control of her followers before they have quite +controlled her. + +But even without such a crowning confession of the failure of its +_coup_, the humiliation of the Government has been sufficiently +complete. Forced to put Mrs. Pankhurst and the Pethick Lawrences into +the luxurious category of political prisoners, next to release them +altogether, and finally to liberate their humblest followers, their +hunger-strike on behalf of whose equal treatment set a new standard of +military chivalry, the Government succeeded only in investing the +vanished Christabel with a new glamour. The Women's Social and +Political Union has again baffled the Government, and come triumphantly +even through the window-breaking episode. For if that episode was +followed by the rejection of the second reading of the woman suffrage +Bill, second readings, like the oaths of the profane, had come to be +absolutely without significance, and the blocking of the Bill beyond +this stage has been assured long before by the tactics of Mr. Redmond, +whose passion for justice, like Mr. Asquith's passion for popular +government, is so curiously monosexual. The only discount from the +Union's winnings is that it gave mendacious M.P.'s, anxious to back out +of woman suffrage, a soft bed to lie on. + +One should perhaps also add to the debit side of the account a +considerable loss of popularity on the part of the suffragettes, a loss +which would become complete were window-breaking to pass into graver +crimes, and which would entirely paralyze the effect of their tactics. + +For the tactics of the prison and the hunger-strike depend for their +value upon the innocency of the prisoners. Their offense must be merely +nominal or technical. The suffragettes had rediscovered the Quaker +truth that the spirit is stronger than all the forces of Government, +and that things may really come by fasting and prayer. Even the +window-breaking, though a perilous approach to the methods of the Pagan +male, was only a damage to insensitive material for which the +window-breakers were prepared to pay in conscious suffering. But once +the injury was done to flesh and blood, the injurer would only be +paying tooth for tooth and eye for eye; and all the sympathy would go, +not to the assailant, but to the victim. Mrs. Pankhurst says the +Government must either give votes to women or "prepare to send large +numbers of women to penal servitude." That would be indeed awkward for +the Government if penal servitude were easily procurable. +Unfortunately, the women must first qualify for it, and their crimes +would disembarrass the Government. Mrs. Leigh could have been safely +left to starve had her attempted arson of that theater really come off, +especially with loss of life. Thus violence may be "militant," but it +is not "tactics." And violence against society at large is peculiarly +tactless. George Fox would hardly occupy so exalted a niche in history +if he had used his hammer to make not shoes but corpses. + +The suffragettes who run amuck have, in fact, become the victims of +their own vocabulary. Their Union was "militant," but a church +militant, not an army militant. The Salvation Army might as well +suddenly take to shooting the heathen. It was only by mob +misunderstanding that the suffragettes were conceived as viragoes, just +as it was only by mob misunderstanding that the members of the Society +of Friends were conceived as desperadoes. If it can not be said that +their proceedings were as quintessentially peaceful as some of those +absolutely mute Quaker meetings which the police of Charles II. +humorously enough broke up as "riots," yet they had a thousand +propaganda meetings (ignored by the Press) to one militant action +(recorded and magnified). Even in battle nothing could be more decorous +or constitutional than the overwhelming majority of their "pin-pricks." + +I remember a beautiful young lady, faultlessly dressed, who in soft, +musical accents interrupted Mr. Birrell at the Mansion House. Stewards +hurled themselves at her, policemen hastened from every point of the +compass; but unruffled as at the dinner-table, without turning a hair +of her exquisite _chevelure_, she continued gently explaining the +wishes of womankind till she disappeared in a whirlwind of hysteric +masculinity. But in gradually succumbing to the vulgar +misunderstanding, playing up to the caricature, and finally +assimilating to the crude and obsolescent methods of men, the +suffragettes have been throwing away their own peculiar glory, their +characteristic contribution to history and politics. Rosalind in search +of a vote has supplied humanity with a new type who snatched from her +testifyings a grace beyond the reach of Arden. But Rosalind with a +revolver would be merely a reactionary. Hawthorne's Zenobia, who, for +all her emancipation, drowned herself in a fit of amorous jealousy, was +no greater backslider from the true path of woman's advancement. It is +some relief to find that Mrs. Pankhurst's latest program disavows +attacks on human life, limiting itself to destruction of property, and +that the Pethick Lawrences have grown still saner. + +There might, indeed, be--for force is not always brute--some excuse +and even admiration for the Terrorist, did the triumph of her cause +appear indefinitely remote, were even that triumph to be brought +perceptibly nearer by forcibly feeding us with horrors. But the +contrary is the case: even the epidemic of crime foreshadowed by Mrs. +Pankhurst could not appreciably delay woman suffrage. It is coming as +fast as human nature and the nature of the Parliamentary machine will +allow. To try to terrorize Mr. Asquith into bringing in a Government +measure is to credit him with a wisdom and a nobility almost divine. No +man is great enough to put himself in the right by admitting he was +wrong. And even if he were great enough to admit it under argument, he +would have to be godlike to admit it under menace. Rather than admit +it, Mr. Asquith has let himself be driven into a position more +ludicrous than perhaps any Prime Minister has occupied. For though he +declares woman suffrage to be "a political disaster of the gravest +kind," he is ready to push it through if the House of Commons wishes, +relying for its rejection upon the House of Lords, which he has +denounced and eviscerated. He is even not unwilling it shall pass if +only the disaster to the country is maximized by Adult Suffrage. It is +not that he loves woman more, but the Tory party less. + +All things considered, I am afraid the Suffrage Movement will have to +make up its mind to wait for another Parliament. There is more hope for +the premature collapse of this Parliament than for its passing of a +Suffrage Bill or clause. And at the general election, whenever it +comes, Votes for Women will be put on the program of both parties. The +Conservatives will offer a mild dose, the Liberals a democratic. +Whichever fails at the polls, the principle of woman suffrage will be +safe. + +This prognostic, it will be seen, involves the removal of the immovable +Asquith. But he must either consent to follow a plebiscite of his party +or retire, like his doorkeeper, from Downing Street, under the +intolerable burden of the suffragette. Much as his party honors and +admires him, it can not continue to repudiate the essential principles +of Liberalism, nor find refuge in his sophism that Liberalism removes +artificial barriers, but can not remove natural barriers. What natural +barrier prevents a woman from accepting or rejecting a man who proposes +to represent her in Parliament? No; after his historic innings Mr. +Asquith will sacrifice himself and retire, covered with laurels and +contradictions. Pending which event, the suffragettes, while doing +their best to precipitate it through the downfall of the Government, +may very reasonably continue their policy of pin-pricks to keep +politicians from going to sleep, but serious violence would be worse +than a crime; it would be a blunder. No general dares throw away his +men when nothing is to be gained, and our analysis shows that the +interval between women and the vote can only be shortened by bringing +on a general election. + +There are, indeed, skeptics who fear that even at the next general +election both parties may find a way of circumventing woman suffrage by +secretly agreeing to keep it off both programs; but the country itself +is too sick of the question to endure this, even if the Women's Liberal +Federation and the corresponding Conservative body permitted it. That +the parties would go so far as to pair off their women workers against +each other is unlikely. At any rate, now, when other forms of agitation +are more or less futile, is the moment for these and cognate bodies to +take up the running. + +But even if these women workers fail in backbone, and allow themselves, +as so often before, to be lulled and gulled by their male politicians, +there yet remains an ardent body to push forward their cause. Mrs. +Humphry Ward and the Anti-Suffragists may be trusted to continue +tireless and ever-inventive. Mrs. Ward's League to promote the return +of women as town and county councilors is her latest device to prove +the unfitness of women for public affairs, and since the Vegetarian +League for combating the carnivorous instincts of the tigress by +feeding her on blood, there has been no quite so happy adaptation of +means to end. If anything could add to the educative efficiency of the +new League, it is Mrs. Ward's scrupulousness in limiting it exclusively +to Anti-Suffragists. + + +ELBERT HUBBARD + +There was a time in England when all the laws were made and executed by +the King. + +Later he appointed certain favorites who acted for him, and these were +paid honors and emoluments accordingly. + +Still later, all soldiers were allowed to express their political +preferences. And that is where we got the idea about not allowing folks +to vote who could not fight. + +It was once the law in England that no Catholic should be allowed to +vote. + +It was also once the law in England that no Jew could hold real estate, +could vote at elections, could hold a public office, or serve on a +jury. + +Full rights of citizenship were not given to the Jews in Great Britain +until the year 1858. Deists, Theists, Quakers, and "Dissenters" were +not allowed to testify in courts, and their right to vote was +challenged in England up to 1885. + +For centuries, Jews occupied the position of minors, mental defectives, +or men with criminal records. + +Women now in England occupy the same position politically that the Jews +did a hundred years ago. + +Until very recent times all lawmakers disputed the fact that women have +rights. Women have privileges and duties--mostly duties. + +All the laws are made by men, and for the most part the rights only of +male citizens are considered. If the rights of women or children are +taken into consideration, it is only from a secondary point of view, or +because the attention of lawmakers is especially called to the natural +rights of women, children, and dumb animals. + +Provisions, however, have always been made in England as well as all +other civilized countries for punishing Catholics, Jews, Quakers, and +women. + +In old New England there was once a pleasing invention called a +"ducking stool," that was for "women only." For the most part, the +punishment for these individuals who were not citizens was very much +more severe than it was for the people who made and devised the +punishment for them. + +Women are admitted into the full rights of citizenship in New Zealand +and Australia, and in several States in the United States. + +There will surely come a time when we will look back and regard the +withholding of full political rights from women in the same way that we +now look back and regard the disfranchisement of Jews and Catholics. + +There is no argument that can possibly be presented against the right +of women to express their political preferences which does not in equal +degree apply to the right of male citizens to express theirs. + +Every possible logical argument has been put forward and answered. + +The protest in England by certain women who are working for equal +suffrage has taken what is called a militant form. + +These women, in many instances, have been guilty of violence. + +The particular women who have been foremost in this matter of violence +are not criminals in any sense of the word. They are not plotting and +planning the overthrow of the government. They are not guilty of +treason; and certainly they are not guilty of disorder along any other +line than that springing out of their disapproval of the failure of the +government to grant the right of political representation to women. + +"Taxation without representation" was the shibboleth of the men who +founded the government of the United States of America. + +This shibboleth, or slogan, came to them from across the sea and was +first uttered in England before the days of Magna Charta. + +That every adult individual, man or woman, possessed of normal +mentality, should be thoroughly interested in the government, and +should have the right of expressing his or her political preferences, +is beyond dispute, especially under any government that affects to +derive its powers from the governed. + +The right to govern is conferred by the governed, and this is now +admitted even in the so-called monarchies. And the governed are not +exclusively males; the governed are men and women, for women are +responsible before the law. + +So thoroughly are these facts fixed in the minds of a great many men +and women everywhere that a few men are possessed by the righteousness +of the cause to a degree that they are willing not only to live for it +and fight for it, suffer for it, but also to die for it. + +Some of these women in London, who have been throwing stones into +windows, thus destroying property, have signified as great a +willingness to injure themselves as they have to injure the property of +their fellow citizens, provided by so doing they can bring to the +attention of the men in charge of the government the absolute necessity +of recognizing the political rights of women. + +If certain people in the past had not been willing to stake their all +on individual rights, there would to-day be no liberty for any one. + +The saviors of the world are simply those who have been willing to die +that humanity might live. + +It may be hard for an individual of average purpose to understand or +comprehend this mental attitude where the individual is fired with such +zeal that he is willing to suffer physical destruction for it. + +In England, the test has come to an issue of whether these women, +intent on bringing about governmental recognition of the rights of +women, should be allowed to die for the cause or not. And from all +latest reports, John Bull does seem troubled about it. + + + + +MILITARISM + +ITS CLIMAX IN THE THREAT OF UNIVERSAL WAR OVER MOROCCO A.D. 1911 + +NORMAN ANGELL + +SIR MAX WAECHTER, D.L. + +Ever since Germany by the completeness of her military preparation won +so decisive a victory over France in 1870, Europe has plunged deeper +and deeper into Militarism. That is to say, each European state that +could possibly afford it has increased its army and its navy, until +to-day their military force is many times more powerful than it was +half a century ago. The theory on which this is done is that you can +secure peace only by showing you are ready to fight; that if one nation +is sure that it can thrash another, it will probably plan an +opportunity to do so. Such is the theory; but what is the tragic +result? Military expenditures have increased at a stupendous rate and +all Europe groans under a burden of almost unendurable taxation. +Moreover, the possession of such splendid machinery of warfare is a +constant temptation to employ it and so vindicate its staggering +expense. This was startlingly shown in the case of the Morocco +imbroglio. + +During the early part of 1911 the French government made clear its +intent to take complete possession of the semi-independent African +state of Morocco. On July 1st, Germany sent a warship to the Moroccan +port of Agadir, as a sign that she also had interests in the country, +which France must not override. Instantly Europe buzzed like an angry +bee-hive. England and France had previously made a secret treaty +agreeing that France should be allowed to take Morocco in exchange for +keeping hands off Egypt, where England was establishing herself. Hence +England now felt compelled to uphold her ally. When Germany seemed +inclined to bully the Frenchmen, England insisted that she also must be +consulted. Germany growled that this was none of England's business. +Everybody began getting out their guns and parading their armies. +Germany sought the support of Austria and Italy, her partners in the +"Triple Alliance." France and England emphasized the fact that Russia +stood with them in an antagonistic "Triple Entente." On November 4th, +France and Germany came to a peaceful agreement, France taking Morocco +and "compensating" Germany by yielding to her some territory in Eastern +Equatorial Africa. + +Thus the whole excitement passed off in rumblings; there was no war. +But it was revealed a few months later that the nations had really +approached to the very brink of a Titanic struggle, which would have +desolated the whole of Europe. + +And here is the peculiar tragedy of Militarism. The mere threat of that +great "Unfought War" cost Europe billions of dollars. Moreover, as a +result of Germany's discontent at what she rather regarded as her +defeat in this Morocco affair, she in 1913 enormously increased her +army and more than doubled her already heavy military tax upon her +people. Then France and Russia felt compelled to meet Germany's move by +increasing their armies also, extending, as she had done, the time of +compulsory military service inflicted upon their poorer classes. + +Norman Angell, an English writer, has recently stirred all thinking +people by a remarkable book of protest against Militarism. He here +discusses the Moroccan imbroglio under the title of "the Mirage of the +Map." Sir Max Waechter is an authority of international repute upon the +same subject. + + +NORMAN ANGELL + +The Press of Europe and America is very busy discussing the lessons of +the diplomatic conflict which has just ended. And the outstanding +impression which one gets from most of these essays in high +politics--whether French, Italian, or British--is that we have been and +are witnessing part of a great world movement, the setting in motion of +Titanic forces "deep-set in primordial needs and impulses." + +For months those in the secrets of the Chancelleries have spoken with +bated breath--as though in the presence of some vision of Armageddon. +On the strength of this mere talk of war by the three nations, vast +commercial interests have been embarrassed, fortunes have been lost and +won on the Bourses, banks have suspended payment, some thousands have +been ruined; while the fact that the fourth and fifth nations have +actually gone to war has raised all sorts of further possibilities of +conflict, not alone in Europe, but in Asia, with remoter danger of +religious fanaticism and all its sequelae. International bitterness and +suspicion in general have been intensified, and the one certain result +of the whole thing is that immense burdens will be added in the shape +of further taxation for armaments to the already heavy ones carried by +the five or six nations concerned. For two or three hundred millions of +people in Europe life, which with all the problems of high prices, +labor wars, unsolved social difficulties, is none too easy as it is, +will be made harder still. + +The needs, therefore, that can have provoked a conflict of these +dimensions must be "primordial" indeed. In fact, one authority assures +us that what we have seen going on is "the struggle for life among +men"--that struggle which has its parallel in the whole of sentient +existence. + +Well, I put it to you, as a matter worth just a moment or two of +consideration, that this conflict is about nothing of the sort; that it +is about a perfectly futile matter, one which the immense majority of +the German, English, French, Italian, and Turkish people could afford +to treat with the completest indifference. For, to the vast majority of +these 250,000,000 people, more or less, it does not matter two straws +whether Morocco or some vague, African swamp near the Equator is +administered by German, French, Italian, or Turkish officials, so long +as it is well administered. Or rather one should go further: if French, +German, or Italian colonization of the past is any guide, the nation +which wins in the conquest for territory of this sort has added a +wealth-draining incubus. + +This, of course, is preposterous; I am losing sight of the need for +making provision for the future expansion of the race, of each party +desiring to "find its place in the sun"; and heaven knows what. + +Well, let us for a moment get away from phrases and examine a few facts +usually ignored because they happen to be beneath our nose. + +France has got a new empire, we are told; she has won a great victory; +she is growing and expanding and is richer by something which her +rivals are the poorer for not having. + +Let us assume that she makes the same success of Morocco that she has +made of her other possessions, of, say, Tunis, which represents one of +the most successful of those operations of colonial expansion which +have marked her history during the last forty years. What has been the +precise effect on French prosperity? + +In thirty years, at a cost of many million sterling (it is part of +successful colonial administration in France never to let it be known +what the colonies really cost) France has founded in Tunis a colony, in +which to-day there are, excluding soldiers and officials, about 25,000 +genuine French colonists: just the number by which the French +population in France--the real France--is diminishing every six +months! And the value of Tunis as a market does not even amount to the +sum which France spends directly on its occupation and administration, +to say nothing of the indirect extension of military burden which its +conquest involves; and, of course, the market which it represents would +still exist in some form, though England--or even Germany--administered +the country. + +In other words, France loses twice every year in her home population +two colonies equivalent to Tunis--if we measure colonies in terms of +communities made up of the race which has sprung from the mother +country. And yet, if once in a generation her rulers and diplomats can +point to 25,000 Frenchmen living artificially and exotically under +conditions which must in the long run be inimical to their race, it is +pointed to as "expansion" and as evidence that France is maintaining +her position as a Great Power. A few years, as history goes, unless +there is some complete change of tendencies which at present seem as +strong as ever, the French race as we now know it will have ceased to +exist, swamped without the firing, may be, of a single shot, by the +Germans, Belgians, English, Italians, and Jews. There are to-day in +France more Germans than there are Frenchmen in all the colonies that +France has acquired in the last half-century, and German trade with +France outweighs enormously the trade of France with all French +colonies. France is to-day a better colony for the Germans than they +could make of any exotic colony which France owns. + +"They _tell_ me," said a French Deputy recently (in a not quite +original _mot_), "that the Germans are at Agadir. I _know_ they are in +the Champs-Elysees." Which, of course, is in reality a much more +serious matter. + +And those Frenchmen who regret this disappearance of their race, and +declare that the energy and blood and money which is now poured out so +lavishly in Africa and in Asia ought to be diverted to its arrest, to +the colonization and development of France by better social, +industrial, commercial, and political organization, to the resisting of +the exploitation of the mother country by inflowing masses of +foreigners, are declared to be bad patriots, dead to the sentiment of +the flag, dead to the call of the bugle, are silenced in fact by a +fustian as senseless and mischievous as that which in some marvelous +way the politician, hypnotized by the old formulae, has managed to make +pass as "patriotism" in most countries. + +The French, like their neighbors, are not interested in the Germans of +the Champs-Elysees, but only in the Germans at Agadir: and it is for +these latter that the diplomats fight, and the war budgets swell. + +And from that silent and pacific expansion, which means so much both +negatively and positively, attention is diverted to the banging of the +war drum, and the dancing of the patriotic dervishes. + +And on the other side we are to assume that Germany has during the +period of France's expansion--since the war--not expanded at all. That +she has been throttled and cramped--that she has not had her place in +the sun: and that is why she must fight for it and endanger the +security of her neighbors. + +Well, I put it to you again that all this in reality is false: that +Germany has not been cramped or throttled; that, on the contrary, as we +recognize when we get away from the mirage of the map, her expansion +has been the wonder of the world. She has added 20,000,000 to her +population--one-half the present population of France--during a period +in which the French population has actually diminished. Of all the +nations in Europe, she has cut the biggest swath in the development of +world trade, industry, and influence. Despite the fact that she has not +"expanded" in the sense of mere political dominion, a proportion of her +population, equivalent to the white population of the whole colonial +British Empire, make their living, or the best part of it, from the +development and exploitation of territory outside her borders. These +facts are not new, they have been made the text of thousands of +political sermons preached in England itself during the last few years; +but one side of their significance seems to have been missed. + +We get, then, this: On the one side a nation extending enormously its +political dominion and yet diminishing in national force, if by +national force we mean the growth of a sturdy, enterprising, vigorous +people. (I am not denying that France is both wealthy and comfortable, +to a greater degree it may be than her rival; but she has not her +colonies to thank for it--quite the contrary.) On the other side, we +get immense expansion expressed in terms of those things--a growing and +vigorous population and the possibility of feeding them--and yet the +political dominion, speaking practically, has hardly been extended at +all. + +Such a condition of things, if the common jargon of high politics means +anything, is preposterous. It takes nearly all meaning out of most that +we hear about "primordial needs," and the rest of it. + +As a matter of fact, we touch here one of the vital confusions, which +is at the bottom of most of the present political trouble between +nations, and shows the power of the old ideas, and the old phraseology. + +In the days of the sailing ship and the lumbering wagon dragging slowly +over all but impassable roads, for one country to derive any +considerable profit from another, it had, practically, to administer it +politically. But the compound steam engine, the railway, the telegraph, +have profoundly modified the elements of the whole problem. In the +modern world political dominion is playing a more and more effaced role +as a factor in commerce; the non-political factors have in practise +made it all but inoperative. It is the case with every modern nation +actually that the outside territories which it exploits most +successfully are precisely those of which it does not "own" a foot. +Even with the most characteristically colonial of all--Great +Britain--the greater part of her overseas trade is done with countries +which she makes no attempt to "own," control, coerce, or dominate--and +incidentally she has ceased to do any of these things with her +colonies. + +Millions of Germans in Prussia and Westphalia derive profit or make +their living out of countries to which their political dominion in no +way extends. The modern German exploits South America by remaining at +home. Where, forsaking this principle, he attempts to work through +political power, he approaches futility. German colonies are colonies +"pour rire." The Government has to bribe Germans to go to them; her +trade with them is microscopic; and if the twenty millions who have +been added to Germany's population since the war had had to depend on +their country's political conquest they would have had to starve. What +feeds them are countries which Germany has never "owned" and never +hopes to "own"; Brazil, Argentina, the United States, India, Australia, +Canada, Russia, France, and England. (Germany, which never spent a mark +on its political conquest, to-day draws more tribute from South America +than does Spain, which has poured out mountains of treasure and oceans +of blood in its conquest.) These are Germany's real colonies. Yet the +immense interests which they represent, of really primordial concern to +Germany, without which so many of her people would be actually without +food, are for the diplomats and the soldiers quite secondary ones; the +immense trade which they represent owes nothing to the diplomat, to +Agadir incidents, to Dreadnoughts; it is the unaided work of the +merchant and the manufacturer. All this diplomatic and military +conflict and rivalry, this waste of wealth, the unspeakable foulness +which Tripoli is revealing, are reserved for things which both sides to +the quarrel could sacrifice, not merely without loss, but with profit. +And Italy, whose statesmen have been faithful to all the old "axioms" +(Heaven save the mark!) will discover it rapidly enough. Even her +defenders are ceasing now to urge that she can possibly derive any real +benefit from this colossal ineptitude. + +Italy struck at Turkey for "honor," for prestige--for the purpose of +impressing Europe. And one may hope that Europe (after reading the +reports of Reuter, _The Times_, the _Daily Mirror_, and the New York +_World_ as to the methods which Italy is using in vindicating her +"honor") is duly impressed, and that Italian patriots are satisfied +with these new glories added to Italian history. It is all they will +get. + +Or rather, will they get much more: for Italy, as unhappily for the +balance of Europe, the substance will be represented by the increase of +very definite every-day difficulties--the high cost of living, the +uncertainty of employment, the very deep problems of poverty, +education, government, well-being. These remain--worsened. And +this--not the spectacular clash of arms, or even the less spectacular +killing of unarmed Arab men, women, and children--constitute the real +"struggle for life among men." But the dilettanti of "high politics" +are not interested. For those who still take their language and habits +of thought from the days of the sailing-ship, still talk of +"possessing" territory, still assume that tribute in some form is +possible, still imply that the limits of commercial and industrial +activity are dependent upon the limits of political dominion, the +struggle is represented by this futile physical collision of groups, +which, however victory may go, leaves the real solution further off +than ever. + +We know what preceded this war: if Europe had any moral conscience +left, it would have been shocked as it was never shocked before. Turkey +said: "We will submit Italy's grievance to any tribunal that Europe +cares to name, and abide by the result." Italy said: "We don't intend +to have the case judged, but to take Tripoli. Hand it over--in +twenty-four hours." The Turkish Government said: "At least make it +possible for us to face our own people. Call it a Protectorate; give us +the shadow of sovereignty. Otherwise it is not robbery--to which we +should submit--but gratuitous degradation; we should abdicate before +the eyes of our own people. We will do anything you like." "In that +case," said Italy, "we will rob; and we will go to war." + +It was not merely robbery that the Italian Government intended, but +they meant from the first that it should be war--to "dish the +Socialists," to play some sordid intrigue of internal politics. + +The ultimatum was launched from the center of Christendom--the city +which lodges the titular head of the Universal Church--to teach to the +Mohammedan world what may be expected from a modern Christian +Government with its back to eighteen centuries of Christian teaching. + +We, Christendom, spend scores of millions--hundreds of millions, it may +be--in the propagation of the Christian faith: numberless men and women +gave their lives for it, our fathers spent two centuries in unavailing +warfare for the capture of some of its symbols. Presumably, therefore, +we attach some value to its principles, deeming them of some worth in +the defense of human society. + +Or do we believe nothing of the sort? Is our real opinion that these +things at bottom don't matter--or matter so little that for the sake of +robbing the squalid belongings of a few Arab tribes, or playing some +mean game of party politics, they can be set aside in a whoop of +"patriotism"? + +Our press waxes indignant in this particular case, and that is the end +of it. But we do not see that we are to blame, that it is all the +outcome of a conception of politics which we are forever ready to do +our part to defend, to do daily our part to uphold. + +And those of us who try in our feeble way to protest against this +conception of politics and patriotism, where everything stands on its +head; where the large is made to appear the great, and the great is +made to appear the small, are derided as sentimentalists, Utopians. As +though anything could be more sentimental, more divorced from the sense +of reality, than the principles which lead us to a condition of things +like these; as though anything could be more wildly, burlesquely +Utopian than the idea that efforts of the kind that the Italian people +are now making, the energy they are now spending, could ever achieve +anything of worth. + +Is it not time that the man in the street, verily, I believe, less +deluded by diplomatic jargon than his betters, less the slave of an +obsolete phraseology, insisted that the experts in the high places +acquired some sense of the reality of things, of proportion, some sense +of figures, a little knowledge of industrial history, of the real +processes of human cooperation? + +At present Europe is quite indifferent to Italy's behavior. The +Chancelleries, which will go to enormous trouble and take enormous +risks and concoct alliances and counter-alliances when there is +territory to be seized, remain cold when crimes of this sort are +committed. And they remain cold because they believe that Turkey alone +is concerned. They do not see that Italy has attacked not Turkey, but +Europe; that we, more than Turkey, will pay the broken pots. + +And there is a further reason: We still believe in these piracies; we +believe they pay and that we may get our turn at some "swag" to-morrow. +France is envied for her possession of Morocco; Germany for her +increased authority over some pestilential African swamps. But when we +realize that in these international burglaries there is no "swag," that +the whole thing is an illusion, that there are huge costs but no +reward, we shall be on the road to a better tradition, which, while it +may not give us international policing, may do better still--render the +policing unnecessary. For when we have realized that the game is not +worth the candle, when no one desires to commit aggression, the +competition in armaments will have become a bad nightmare of the past. + + +SIR MAX WAECHTER + +It is generally admitted that the present condition of Europe is highly +unsatisfactory. To any close observer it must be evident that Europe, +as a whole, is gradually losing its position in the world. Other +nations which are rapidly coming to the front will, in course of time, +displace the European, unless the latter can pull themselves together +and abandon the vicious system which now handicaps them In the economic +rivalry of nations. + +The cause of this comparative decline is, in my opinion, to be found in +the fact that all the European countries are arming against one +another, either for defense, or for aggression, for the attack is +frequently the best form of defense. The motive for these excessive +armaments can clearly be found in the jealousy and mistrust existing +among the nations of Europe. Europe is spending on armaments something +like four hundred million pounds sterling per year, and there is a +tendency to increase this tremendous expenditure. In order to bring the +magnitude of this sacrifice more vividly before the reader, let us +assume that a European war is not likely to occur more frequently than +about every thirty years. We then find that the incredible sum of +twelve thousand million pounds sterling has been spent in peace in +preparation for this war, a sum which greatly exceeds the total of all +the European state debts. Such stupendous sums can not be raised +without imposing crushing taxation, and without neglecting the other +duties of the state, such as education, scientific research, and social +reform. + +One serious economic result of this heavy taxation is that European +industry is placed at a considerable disadvantage in competing with +that of other nations, notably the United States of America. The late +Mr. Atkinson, an American authority, declared that, compared with the +United States, we were handicapped to the extent of five per cent, in +our production. Since then the figures have changed considerably in +favor of America. I recently had an opportunity of discussing this +point with a great German authority on political economy, and he fixed +the advantage in favor of the United States at nearly ten per cent, as +regards the cost of production. + +But this is not all. The European countries withdraw permanently four +millions of men, at their best age, from productive work, thus causing +a terrible loss and waste. Besides, enterprise in Europe is crippled by +fear of war. It may break out at any time, possibly at a few hours' +notice. The present system of Europe must inevitably lead, sooner or +later, to a European war--a catastrophe which nobody can contemplate +without horror, considering the perfected means of destruction. Such a +war would leave the vanquished utterly crushed, and the victor in such +a state of exhaustion that any foreign Power could easily impose her +will upon him. + +The situation is certainly most alarming, and ought to receive the +fullest attention. What, then, can be done to save Europe from these +impending dangers? The large number of "Peace Societies" which have +been established in different countries have done excellent spade work. +Their main object has been to insure that disputes among nations should +be referred to arbitration, with a view to making more difficult their +resorting to arms. The great success of these societies demonstrates +plainly that there is a strong tendency among the peoples in favor of +peace. But no attempt has been made to reorganize the whole of Europe +on a sound basis. + +The Emperor of Russia has made a most praiseworthy effort to bring +about a different state of affairs, by originating and establishing The +Hague Conference, with a view to securing by this means the peace of +the world. This conference has done excellent service, and is likely to +be of increasing usefulness to mankind in the future; but the second +meeting of the conference has amply proved that it can not succeed in +its main object, which is the peace of the world. If the idea of +bringing the whole world into unison can ever be realized, it is only +by stages, of which the union of Europe would be the first. + +Let us look at the position. Germany has been for centuries the +battle-field of other states, and has narrowly escaped national +annihilation. She has now at length succeeded in consolidating her +strength so far as to be able to withstand attack from any probable +combination of two of her powerful neighbors. Can Germany now be +approached with a request to reduce her armaments, unless she is given +the most solid guaranty against attack? It would be almost an insult to +the German intelligence to make such a proposal without an adequate +guaranty. + +With France the case is similar. The third Republic has been eminently +peaceful, and Frenchmen have devoted their energies and brilliant +qualities principally to science, the fine arts, and social +development. Who would dare to ask them to cut down their armaments in +the present state of Europe, which makes it compulsory for every +country to arm to the fullest extent? All the other states are in a +similar position. They need not be discussed individually. + +The only hope to be found is in such a coalition of the Powers as will +make these excessive armaments unnecessary. If this can be effected, +the reduction of armaments will take place naturally, and without any +external pressure. But then the question arises, how can the permanency +of such a coalition be guaranteed? The vital requisite to give +stability to any international coalition is community of interests. +Such a community of interests exists already, in a larger or smaller +degree, among many states, though it is unknown to most people. +Besides, it is not strong enough to prevent war in times of excitement. + +In many countries definite war parties exist, and most extraordinary +opinions can be gathered from their representatives. I was assured by +some military leaders, and even by a diplomat in a responsible +position, that war is a blessing! In disproof of this theory it may be +desirable to state some plain facts. Mankind lives and exists on this +earth solely and entirely by the exploitation of our planet, and the +general average status of the peoples can be improved and raised to a +higher level only by a more complete exploitation of the forces of +nature. This process requires, in the present state of civilization, +capital, intelligence, and manual labor--the handmaid of intelligence. +War is bound to destroy an enormous amount of capital, and a great +number of the ablest workers. It is evident, therefore, that every war +must reduce the general well-being of the peoples who inhabit this +planet. Besides, there is the misery inflicted upon millions of people, +principally belonging to the poorer classes, who have always to bear +the brunt of a war, whether it be started by the personal ambition of +one man or by the misguided ambitions of a nation. + +Some people argue that, from the days of Alexander the Great to those +of Napoleon, combinations of states have always been brought about by +armed force, and they believe this to be a natural law. I do not admit +that the case of Napoleon is a proper illustration of such a law. On +the contrary, his career seems to demonstrate clearly that the world is +too far advanced to be driven into combination by force. And as to +Alexander the Great, has the world really made no progress since his +time? Force or war is a relic of a savage age, and will be relegated to +the background with the advance of civilization. + + + + +PERSIA'S LOSS OF LIBERTY A.D. 1911 + +W. MORGAN SHUSTER[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted in condensed form from the original narrative in +_Hearst's Magazine,_ by permission.] + +As told in the preceding volume, Persia in the year 1905 began a +struggle for freedom from autocratic rule. This she finally achieved in +decisive fashion and set up a parliamentary government. Her career of +liberty seemed fairly assured. She had against her, however, an +irresistible force. England and Russia had long been encroaching upon +Persian territory. Russia, in especial, had snatched away province +after province in the north. Of course Persia's revival would mean that +these territorial seizures would be stopped. Hence Russia almost openly +opposed each step in Persia's progress. In 1907, Russia and England +entered into an agreement by which each, without consulting Persia, +recognized that the other held some sort of rights over a part of +Persian territory: a "sphere of Russian influence" was thus established +in the north, and of British in the southeast. + +The climax to this antagonism against Persia came in 1911. The +desperate Persians appealed to the United States Government to send +them an honest administrator to guide them, and President Taft +recommended Mr. Shuster for the task. The work of Mr. Shuster soon won +him the enthusiastic confidence and devotion of the Persians +themselves. But in proportion as his reforms seemed more and more to +strengthen the parliamentary government and bring hope to Persia, he +found himself more and more opposed by the Russian officials. Finally +Russia made his mere presence in the land an excuse for sending her +armies to assault the Persians. Seldom has the murderous attack of a +strong country upon a weak one been so open, brazen, and void of all +moral justification. Thousands of Persians were slain by the Russian +troops, and many more have since been executed for "rebellion" against +the Russian authorities. The parliamentary government of Persia was +completely destroyed; it finally disappeared in tumult and dismay on +December 24, 1911. + +The country was reduced to helpless submission to the Russian armies. +Mr. Shuster's own account of the tragedy follows. He called it "The +Strangling of Persia." + +Of the many changing scenes during the eight months of my recent +experiences in Persia, two pictures stand out in such sharp contrast as +to deserve special mention. + +The first is a small party of Americans, of which the writer was one, +seated with their families in ancient post-chaises rumbling along the +tiresome road from Enzeli, the Persian port on the Caspian Sea, toward +Teheran. It was in the early days of May, 1911, and from these medieval +vehicles, drawn by four ratlike ponies, in heat and dust, we gained our +first physical impressions of the land where we had come to live for +some years--to mend the broken finances of the descendants of Cyrus and +Darius. We were fired with the ambition to succeed in our work, and, +viewed through such eyes, the physical discomforts became unimportant. +Hope sang loud in our hearts as the carriages crawled on through two +hundred and twenty miles of alternate mountain and desert scenery. + +The second picture is eight months later, almost to the day. On January +11, 1912, I stood in a circle of gloomy American and Persian friends in +front of the Atabak palace where we had been living, about to step into +the automobile that was to bear us back over the same road to Enzeli. +The mountains behind Teheran were white with snow, the sun shone +brightly in a clear blue sky, there was life-tonic in the air, but none +in our hearts, for our work in Persia, hardly begun, had come to a +sudden end. + +Between the two dates some things had happened--things that may be +written down, but will probably never be undone--and the hopes of a +patient, long-exploited people of reclaiming their position in the +world had been stamped out ruthlessly and unjustly by the armies of a +so-called Christian and civilized nation. + +Prior to 1906, the masses of the Persians had suffered in comparative +silence from the ever-growing tyranny and betrayal of successive +despots, the last of whom, Muhammad Ali Shah, a vice-sodden monster of +the most perverted type, openly avowed himself the tool of Russia. The +people, finally stung to a blind desperation and exhorted by their +priests, rose in the summer of 1906, and by purely passive +measures--such as taking sanctuary, or _bast_, in large numbers in +sacred places and in the grounds of the British Legation at +Teheran--succeeded in obtaining from Muzaffarn'd Din Shah, the father +of Muhammad Ali, a constitution which he granted some six months before +his death. + +The pledge given in this document his son and successor swore to fulfil +and then violated a dozen or more times, until the long-suffering +constitutionalists, who called themselves "nationalists," finally +compelled him, despite the intrigues and armed resistance of Russian +agents and officers, to abdicate in favor of his young son, Sultan +Ahmad Shah, the present constitutional monarch. This was in July, 1909. + +It was this constitutional government, recognized as sovereign by the +Powers, that had determined to set its house in order, and in practise +to replace absolute monarchy with something approaching democracy. +Whence the Persians, a strictly Oriental people, had derived their +strange confidence in the potency of a democratic form of government to +mitigate or cure their ills, no one can say. We might ask the Hindus of +India, or the "Young Turks," or to-day the "Young Chinese" the same +question. The fact is that the past ten years have witnessed a truly +marvelous transformation in the ideas of Oriental peoples, and the +East, in its capacity to assimilate Western theories of government, and +in its willingness to fight for them against everything that tradition +makes sacred, has of late years shown a phase heretofore almost +unknown. + +Persia has given a most perfect example of this struggle toward +democracy, and, considering the odds against the nationalist element, +the results accomplished have been little short of amazing. + +Filled with the desire to perform its task, the Medjlis, or national +parliament, had voted in the latter part of 1910 to obtain the services +of five American experts to undertake the work of reorganizing Persia's +finances. They applied to the American Government, and through the good +offices of our State Department, their legation at Washington was +placed in communication with men who were considered suitable for the +task. The intervention of the State Department went no further than +this, and the Persian Government, like the men finally selected, was +told that the nomination by the American Government of suitable +financial administrators indicated a mere friendly desire to aid and +was of no political significance whatsoever. + +The Persians had already tried Belgian and French functionaries and had +seen them rapidly become mere Russian political agents or, at best, +seen them lapse into a state of _dolce far niente_. Poor Persia had +been sold out so many times in the framing of tariffs and tax laws, in +loan transactions and concessions of various kinds that the nationalist +government had grown desperate and certainly most distrustful of all +foreigners coming from nations within the sphere of European diplomacy. +What they sought was a practical administration of their finances in +the interest of the Persian people and nation. + +In this way the writer found himself in Teheran on the 12th of May last +year, having agreed to serve as Treasurer-General of the Persian +Empire, and to reorganize and conduct its finances. + +It is difficult to describe the Persian political situation existing at +that time without going too deeply into history. It is true that in a +moment of temporary weakness after her defeat by Japan, Russia had +signed a solemn convention with England whereby she engaged herself, as +did England, to respect the independence and integrity of Persia. +Later, by the stipulations of 1909, these two Powers solemnly agreed to +prevent the ex-Shah, Muhammad Ali, from any political agitation against +the constitutional government. But, as the world and Persia have seen, +a trifle like a treaty or a convention never balks Russia when she has +taken the pulse of her possible adversaries and found it weak. What is +more painful to Anglo-Saxons is that the British Government has been no +better nor more scrupulous of its pledges. + +During the first half of July, we began to learn where some of the +money was supposed to come from, and we were just beginning to control +the government expenditures after a fashion when, on July 18th, late at +night, the telegraph brought the news that Muhammad Ali, the ex-Shah, +had landed with a small force at Gumesh-Teppeh, a small port on the +Caspian, very near the Russian frontier. It was the proverbial bolt +from the blue, for while rumors of such a possibility had been rife, +most persons believed that Russia would not dare to violate so openly +her solemn stipulation signed less than two years before. + + +PERSIA IS TAKEN UNAWARES + +The Persian cabinet at Teheran was panic-stricken, and for ten days +there ensued a period of confusion and terror that beggars description. +There was no Persian army except on paper. The gendarmerie and police +of the city did not number more than eighteen hundred men inadequately +armed. The Russian Turcomans on the northeast frontier were reported to +be flocking to the ex-Shah's standard, and it was commonly believed +that he would be at the gates of Teheran in a few weeks. This belief +was strengthened by the fact that his brother, Prince Salaru'd-Dawla, +had entered Persia from the direction of Bagdad and was known to have a +large gathering of Kurdish tribesmen ready to march toward Teheran. + +After a time, however, reason prevailed and steps were taken to create +an army to defend the constitutional government against the invaders. +At this time, one of the old chiefs of the Bakhtiyari tribesmen, the +Samsamu's-Saltana, was the prime minister holding the portfolio of war, +and he called to arms several thousands of his fighting men, who +promptly started for the capital. Ephraim Khan, at that time chief of +police of Teheran, was another defender of the constitution who raised +a volunteer force, and twice, acting with the Bakhtiyari forces, he +signally defeated the troops of the ex-Shah. By September 5th, Muhammad +Ali himself was in full flight through northeastern Persia toward the +friendly Russian frontier. Whatever chances he may have formerly had +were admitted to be gone. + +The hound that Russia had unleashed, with his hordes of Turcoman +brigands, upon the constitutional government of Persia had been whipped +back into his kennel. No one was more surprised than Russia, unless +indeed it was the Persians themselves. Russian officials everywhere in +Persia had openly predicted an easy victory for Muhammad Ali. They had +aided him in a hundred different ways, morally, financially, and by +actual armed force. + +They still hoped, however, that the forces of Prince Salaru'd-Dawla, +which were marching from Hamadan toward Teheran, would take the +capital. But on September 28th, the news came that Ephraim Khan, and +the Bakhtiyaris had routed the Prince and his army, and the last hope +from this source was gone. + +In the mean time, another encounter with Russia had occurred. There was +at Teheran an officer of the British-Indian army, Major Stokes, who for +four years had been military attache to the British Legation. He knew +Persia well; read, wrote, and spoke fluently the language and +thoroughly understood the habits, customs, and viewpoint of the Persian +people. He was the ideal man to assist in the formation of a +tax-collecting force under the Treasury, without which there was no +hope of collecting the internal taxes throughout the empire. Not only +was Major Stokes the ideal man for this work, but he was the _only_ man +possessing the necessary qualifications. + +I accordingly tendered Major Stokes the post of chief of the future +Treasury gendarmerie, his services as military attache having come to +an end. After some correspondence with the British Legation, I was +informed late in July that the British Foreign Office held that he must +resign his commission in the British-Indian army before accepting the +post. This Major Stokes did, by cable, on July 31st, and the matter was +regarded as settled. + +What was my surprise, therefore, to learn, on the evening of August +8th, that the British Minister, following instructions from his +Government, had that day presented a note to the Persian Foreign +Office, warning the Persian Government that any attempt to employ Major +Stokes in the "northern sphere" of Persia (which included Teheran, the +capital) would probably be followed by _retaliatory action_ (_sic_) by +Russia which England would not be in a position to deprecate. Between +individuals, such action would clearly be considered bad faith. Sir +Edward Grey, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, shortly +thereafter explained that the appointment of Major Stokes would be a +violation of what he termed the "spirit" of the Anglo-Russian +Convention of 1907. Yet just two weeks before, when he consented to +Stokes resigning to accept the post, he had never dreamed of such a +thing. + +The truth is that the semiofficial St. Petersburg press, like the +_Novoe Vremya_, had begun to bluster about the affair, egged on by the +Russian Foreign Office, and Sir Edward Grey was compelled to _invent +some pretext_ for his manifest dread of displeasing Britain's "good +friend Russia" about anything. Hence the birth of that wondrous and +fearsome child, that rubber child which could be stretched to cover any +and all things, the "spirit of the convention." It was a wonderful +discovery for the gentlemen of the so-called "forward party" of the +Russian Government, since they now beheld not only a new means of +evading the plain letter of their agreement, but gleefully found a +woful lack of spirit in their partner to the convention, Great Britain. + +The British Foreign Office pretended to believe that they had checked +Russia's march to the Gulf; they knew better then, and they know still +better now. There is but one thing on earth that will check that march, +and that thing England is apparently not in a geographical or a +policial position to furnish in sufficient numbers. The British public +now know this, and unfortunately the "forward party" in Russia knows +it, and that is why bearded faces at St. Petersburg crack open and emit +rumbles of genuine merriment every time Sir Edward Grey stands up in +the House of Commons and explains to his countrymen that he has most +ample and categorical assurances from Russia that her sole purpose in +sending two or three armies into Persia is to show her displeasure with +an American finance official. + +For that same reason, doubtless, she has recently massacred some +hundreds of Persians in Tabriz, Enzeli, and Resht, and has hanged +numbers of Islamic priests, provincial officials, and +constitutionalists whom she classifies as the "dregs of revolution." +That is why the Russian flag was hoisted over the government buildings +at Tabriz, the capital of the richest province of the empire, while a +Russian military governor dispensed justice at the bayonet-point and +with the noose. + +But to get back to events. After the crushing defeats of the ex-Shah's +two forces and his flight, Russia was still faced by a constitutional +regime in Persia--and by a somewhat solidified and more confident +government and people at that. + +Tools and puppets having dismally failed, enter the real thing. Russia +now proceeded to intervene directly and to break up the constitutional +government in Persia without risk of failure or hindrance. She did not +even intend to await a pretext--she manufactured such things as she +went along. + +The first instance is the Shu'a'us-Saltana affair. On October 9th, some +twelve days after the last defeat inflicted on the ex-Shah's forces, I +was ordered by the cabinet to seize and confiscate the properties of +Prince Shu'a'us-Saltana, another brother of the ex-Shah, who had +returned to Persia with him and was actively commanding some of his +troops. The same order was given as to the estates of Prince +Salaru'd-Dawla, the other brother in rebellion. + +Pursuant to this entirely proper and legal order, the purport of which +had been communicated by the Persian Foreign Office to the Russian and +British ministers several days previously, no objection having been +even hinted, I sent out six small parties, each consisting of a +civilian Treasury official and five Treasury gendarmes, to seize the +different properties in and about Teheran. As a matter of courtesy, the +British and Russian legations had been informed that all rights of +foreigners in these properties would be fully safeguarded and +respected. + +The principal property was the Park of Shu'a'us-Saltana, a magnificent +place in Teheran, with a palace filled with valuable furniture. When +the Treasury officials and five gendarmes arrived there, they found on +guard a number of Persian Cossacks of the Cossack Brigade. On seeing +the order of confiscation, these men retired. My men then took +possession and began making an official inventory. An hour later, two +Russian vice-consuls, in full uniform, arrived with twelve Russian +Cossacks from the Russian Consulate guard, and with imprecations, +abuse, and threats to kill, drove off my men at the point of their +rifles. Later in the day, these same vice-consuls actually arrested +other small parties of Treasury gendarmes, took them on mules through +the streets of Teheran to the Russian Consulate-General, and after +insulting and threatening them with death if they ever returned to the +confiscated property, allowed them to go. + +On hearing this, I wrote and telegraphed to my friend, M. +Poklewski-Koziell, the Russian minister, calling his attention to the +outrageous actions of his Consul-General, M. Pokhitanow, and asking the +minister to give orders to prevent any further unpleasantness on the +following day, when I would again execute the government's order. The +next day I sent a force of one hundred gendarmes in charge of two +American Treasury officials, and the order was executed. + +Two hours after we were in peaceable possession of the property, the +same two Russian vice-consuls drove up to the gate and began insulting +and abusing the Persian Treasury guards, endeavoring, of course, to +provoke the gendarmes into some act against them. In other words, +finding that they had lost in the matter of retaining possession of the +property, these Russian officials deliberately sought to provoke my +gendarmes into something that they could construe as an affront to +Russian consular authority. The men, however, had received such strict +and repeated instructions that they refused even to answer. They paid +no attention to the taunts and abuse of these two dignified Russian +officials, who thereupon drove off and perjured themselves to the +effect that they had been affronted--in other words, that the incident +which they had gone there to provoke actually had occurred. These false +statements were reported to St. Petersburg by M. Pokhitanow +independently of his minister, who, I have the strongest reason to +believe, entirely disavowed the Consul-General's actions. The Russian +government thereupon publicly discredited its minister and demanded +from the Persian government an immediate apology for something that had +never occurred. The apology, after some hesitation, was made on the +advice of the British government. It was hoped that this evident +self-abasement by Persia would appease even the Russian bureaucracy. + +But it now seems that a compliance with Russia's demand was exactly +what was not desired by her, since it removed all possible pretext for +taking more drastic steps against Persia's national existence. Hence, +at the very moment when the Persian Foreign Minister, in full uniform, +was at the Russian legation complying with this first ultimatum, based, +as it was, on absolutely false reports, the St. Petersburg cabinet was +formulating new and even more unjust and absurd demands, which, as some +of the public know, have resulted in the expulsion of the fifteen +American finance officials and in the destruction of the last vestiges +of constitutional government in the empire of Cyrus and Darius. + +Russia called for my immediate dismissal from the post of +Treasurer-General; she required that my fourteen American assistants +already in Persia should be subject to the approval of the British and +Russian legations at Teheran; that all other foreign officials in +future employed by Persia be subjected to the approval of those two +legations; that a large indemnity should be paid to Russia for the +expense of moving her troops into Persia to hasten the acceptance of +these two ultimatums; and that all other questions between Russia and +Persia should be settled to the satisfaction of the former. + +The acceptance by Persia of these demands meant, of course, a virtual +cession of her sovereignty to Russia and Great Britain. It should be +noted, also, that in this Russian ultimatum the name of the British +government was freely used, although the British minister took no part +in the presentation of the same. Sir Edward Grey was subsequently asked +in the British Parliament as to this point, and explained, in effect, +that he agreed with the Russian demands, with the possible exception of +the indemnity. + +The Russian minister informed the Persian Government that this +ultimatum was based on the following two grounds: First, that I had +appointed a certain Mr. Lecoffre, a British subject, to be a tax +collector in the Russian sphere of influence; and, second, that I had +caused to be printed and circulated in Persia a translation into +Persian of my letter to the London _Times_ of October 21, 1911, thereby +greatly injuring Russian influence in northern Persia. These grounds +might be classified as "unimportant, if true." The truth is, however, +that they are both well known to have been utterly unfounded in fact. I +did not appoint Mr. Lecoffre, a British subject, to a financial post in +northern Persia. I found him in the Finance Department at Teheran (the +capital, which is in the so-called Russian sphere) when I arrived there +last May, and he had been occupying an important position there for +nearly two years, without the slightest objection ever having been +raised by the Russian Government. I proposed to transfer him to a +somewhat less important position, but one in which I thought he could +be of greater service. + +As to the second ground or pretext, in effect, that I had caused to be +printed and circulated a Persian translation of my letter to the +_Times_, it was simply false. It was well known to be false--so well +known, in fact, that a newspaper in Teheran, the _Tamadun_ +(_Civilization_) which did print it and circulate it, publicly admitted +the fact the minute they heard that I was charged by Russia with having +done so. So these two at best rather puerile pretexts upon which to +base an ultimatum from a powerful nation to a weaker one lacked even +the merit of truth. + +This second ultimatum, despite all hypocritical attempts made to +justify it, fairly stunned the Persian people. Accustomed as they had +become in recent years to the high-handed and cynical actions of the +St. Petersburg cabinet, they had not looked for such a foul blow as +this. They had been realizing dimly that the peace of Europe was being +threatened by the open hostility of Germany and England over the +Moroccan incident, and that British foreign policy was apparently +leaving Russia absolutely free to work her will in Asia, so long, at +least, as Russia pretended to acknowledge the. Anglo-Russian _entente_ +of 1907; but the Persian people had too much, far too much, confidence +in the sacredness of treaty stipulations and the solemnly pledged words +of the great Christian nations of the world to imagine that their own +whole national existence and liberty could be jeopardized overnight, +and on a pretext so shallow and farcical as to excite world-wide +ridicule. Their disillusionment came too late. The trap had been +unwittingly set by hands that made unexpected moves on the European +chessboard, and the Bear's paw had this time been skilful enough to +spring it at the proper moment. + +The Persian statesmen and chieftains who formed the cabinet at this +time, whether because they perceived the gleaming, naked steel behind +Russia's threats more clearly than their legislative compatriots of the +Parliament or Medjlis, or whether they suffered from that abandon and +tired feeling which comes from playing an unequal and always losing +game, quickly decided that they would accept this second ultimatum with +all its future oppression and cruelty for their people. + +On December 1st, therefore, shortly before the time limit of +forty-eight hours fixed by Russia for the acceptance of the terms had +expired, the cabinet filed into the chamber of deputies to secure +legislative approval of their intended course. + +It was an hour before noon, and the Parliament grounds and buildings +were filled with eager, excited throngs, while the galleries of the +Medjlis chamber were packed with Persian notables of all ranks and with +the representatives of many of the foreign legations. At noon the fate +of Persia as a nation was to be known. + +The cabinet, having made up its mind to yield, overlooked no point that +would increase their chances of securing the approval of the Medjlis. +Believing, evidently, that the ridiculously short time to elapse before +the stroke of noon announced the expiration of the forty-eight-hour +period would effectually prevent any mature consideration or discussion +of their proposals, the premier, Samsamu's-Saltana, caused to be +presented to the deputies a resolution authorizing the cabinet to +accept Russia's demands. + +The proposal was read amid a deep silence. At its conclusion, a hush +fell upon the gathering. Seventy-six deputies, old men and young, +priests, lawyers, doctors, merchants, and princes, sat tense in their +seats. + +A venerable priest of Islam arose. Time was slipping away and at noon +the question would be beyond their vote to decide. This servant of God +spoke briefly and to the point: "It may be the will of Allah that our +liberty and our sovereignty shall be taken from us by force, but let us +not sign them away with our own hands!" One gesture of appeal with his +trembling hands, and he resumed his seat. + +Simple words, these, yet winged ones. Easy to utter in academic +discussions; hard, bitterly hard, to say under the eye of a cruel and +overpowering tyrant whose emissaries watched the speaker from the +galleries and mentally marked him down for future imprisonment, +torture, exile, or worse. + +Other deputies followed. In dignified appeals, brief because the time +was short, they upheld their country's honor and proclaimed their +hard-earned right to live and govern themselves. + +A few minutes before noon the public vote was taken; one or two +faint-hearted members sought a craven's refuge and slunk quietly from +the chamber. As each name was called, the deputy rose in his place and +gave his vote, there was no secret ballot here. + +And when the roll-call was ended, every man, priest or layman, youth or +octogenarian, had cast his own die of fate, had staked the safety of +himself and family, and hurled back into the teeth of the great Bear +from the north the unanimous answer of a desperate and downtrodden +people who preferred a future of unknown terror to the voluntary +sacrifice of their national dignity and of their recently earned right +to work out their own salvation. + +Amid tears and applause from the spectators, the crestfallen and +frightened cabinet withdrew, while the deputies dispersed to ponder on +the course which lay darkly before their people. + +By this vote, the cabinet, according to the Persian constitution, +ceased to exist as a legal entity. + +Great crowds of people thronged the "Lalezar," one of the principal +streets of Teheran, shouting death to the traitors and calling Allah to +witness that they would give up their lives for their country. + +A few days later, in a secret conference between the deputies of the +Medjlis and the members of the deposed cabinet, a similar vote was +given to reject the Russian demands. Meanwhile, thousands of Russian +troops, with cossacks and artillery, were pouring into northern Persia, +from Tiflis and Julfa by land and from Baku across the Caspian, to the +Persian port of Enzeli, whence they took up their 220-mile march over +the Elburz mountains toward Kasvin and Teheran. + +In the government at Teheran, conference followed conference. Intrigues +against the deputies gave way to threats. Through it all, with the +increasing certainty of personal injury, the members of the Medjlis +stood firmly by their vote. + +It is impossible to describe within the limits of this article the days +and nights of doubt, suspense, and anxiety that followed one another in +the capital during this dark month of December. There was a lurking +dread in the very air, and the snow-covered mountains themselves seemed +afflicted with the mournful scenes through which the country was +passing. + +A boycott was proclaimed by the priests against Russian and English +goods. In a day, the old-fashioned tramway of the city was deserted on +the mere suspicion that it was owned in Russia, while an excited +Belgian Minister rained protests and petitions on the Persian Foreign +Office in an endeavor to show that the tramway was owned by his +countrymen. Crowds of youths, students, and women filled the street, +dragging absent-minded passengers from the cars, smashing the windows +of shops that still displayed Russian goods, seeing that no one drank +tea because it came from Russia, although produced in India, and going +in processions before the gates of the foreign legations to demand +justice of the representatives of the world powers for a people in the +extremity of despair. + +One day, the rumor would come that the chief "mullahs" or priests at +Nadjef had proclaimed the "holy war" (_jihad_) against the Russians; on +another, that the Russian troops had commenced to shoot up Kasvin on +their march to Teheran. + +At one time, when rumors were thick that the Medjlis would give in +under the threats and attempted bribery which well-known Russian +proteges were employing on many of its members, three hundred veiled +and black-gowned Persian women, a large proportion with pistols +concealed under their skirts or in the folds of their sleeves, marched +suddenly to the Parliament grounds and demanded admission to the +Chamber. The president of the Medjlis consented to receive a deputation +from them. Once admitted into his presence, these honor-loving Persian +mothers, wives, and daughters exhibited their weapons, and to show the +grim seriousness of their words, they tore aside their veils, and +threatened that they would kill their own husbands and sons, and end +their own lives, if the deputies failed in their duty to uphold the +dignity and the sovereignty of their beloved country. + +When neither threats nor bribes availed against the Medjlis, Russia +decreed its destruction by force. + +In the early afternoon of December 24th, the deposed cabinet, having +been themselves duly _persuaded_ to take the step, executed a _coup +d'etat_ against the Medjlis, and by a demonstration of gendarmes and +Bakhtiyari tribesmen, succeeded in expelling all the deputies and +employees who were within the Parliament grounds; after which the gates +were locked and barred, and a strong detachment of the so-called Royal +Regiment left in charge. The deputies were threatened with death if +they attempted to return there or to meet in any other spot, and the +city of Teheran immediately passed under military control. The +self-constituted _directoire_ of seven who accomplished this dubious +feat first ascertained that the considerable force of Bakhtiyari +tribesmen, some 2,000, who had remained in the capital after the defeat +of the ex-Shah's forces in September last, had been duly "fixed" by the +same Russian agencies who had so early succeeded in persuading the +members of the ex-cabinet that their true interests lay in siding with +Russia. It is impossible to say just what proportions of fear and +cupidity decided the members of the deposed cabinet to take the aliens' +side against their country, but both emotions undoubtedly played a +part. The premier was one of the leading chiefs or "khans" of the +Bakhtiyaris, and another chief was the self-styled Minister of War. +These chieftains have always been a strange and changing mixture of +mountain patriot and city intriguer--of loyal soldier and mercenary +looter. The mercenary instincts, possibly aided by a sense of their own +comparative helplessness against Russian Cossacks and artillery, led +them to accept the stranger's gold and fair promises, and they ended +their checkered but theretofore relatively honorable careers by selling +their country for a small pile of cash and the more alluring promise +that the "grand viziership" (_i.e.,_ post of Minister of Finance) +should be perpetual in their family or clan. + +That same afternoon a large number of the "abolished" deputies came to +my office. They were men whom I had grown to know well, men of European +education, in whose courage, integrity, and patriotism I had the +fullest confidence. To them, the unlawful action of their own +countrymen was more than a political catastrophe; it was a sacrilege, a +profanation, a heinous crime. They came in tears, with broken voices, +with murder in their hearts, torn by the doubt as to whether they +should kill the members of the _directoire_ and drive out the +traitorous tribesmen who had made possible the destruction of the +government, or adopt the truly Oriental idea of killing themselves. +They asked my advice, and, hesitating somewhat as to whether I should +interfere to save the lives of notorious betrayers of their country, I +finally persuaded them to do neither the one nor the other. There +seemed to be no particular good in assassinating even their treacherous +countrymen, as it would only have given color to the pretensions of +Russia and England that the Persians were not capable of maintaining +order. + + +AN EXHIBITION OF SELF-RESTRAINT + +When the last representative element of the constitutional government, +for which so many thousands had fought, suffered, and died, was wiped +out in an hour without a drop of blood being shed, the Persian people +gave to the world an exhibition of temperance, of moderation, of stern +self-restraint, the like of which no other civilized country could show +under similar trying circumstances. + +The acceptance of Russia's terms by the Cabinet removed the last +pretext for keeping in Northern Persia the _15,000_ troops which by +that time Russia had assembled there,--at Kasvin, Resht, Enzeli, +Tabriz, Khoy, and other points in the so-called Russian sphere. Mons. +Poklewski-Koziell, the Russian Minister, had in fact given an equivocal +sort of a promise to the effect that "if no fresh incidents arose," the +Russian troops would be withdrawn when Persia accepted the conditions +of the ultimatum. + +With this in mind, it is interesting to note the truly thorough +precautions which were taken by Russia to prevent any such unfortunate +necessity as the withdrawal of her troops from coming to pass. + +December 24th, late in the evening, a message was received from the +Persian Acting Governor at Tabriz in which he declared that the Russian +troops, which had been stationed in that city since their entry during +the siege in 1909, _had suddenly started to massacre the inhabitants_. +Shortly after this the Indo-European telegraph lines stopped working, +and all news from Tabriz ceased. It was subsequently stated that the +wires had been cut by bullets. _Additional Russian troops_ were +immediately started for Tabriz from Julfa, which is some eight miles to +the north of the Russian frontier. + +The exact way in which the fighting began is not yet clear. The Persian +government reports show that a number of Russian soldiers, claiming to +be stringing a telephone wire, climbed upon the roof of the Persian +police headquarters about _ten o'clock at night_ on December 20th. When +challenged by native guards, they replied with shots. Reenforcements +were called up by both sides, and serious street fighting broke out +early the following morning and continued for several days. The Acting +Governor stated in his official reports that the Russian troops +indulged in their usual atrocities, killing women and children and +hundreds of other noncombatants on the streets and in their homes. +There were at the time about 4,000 Russian soldiers, with two batteries +of artillery, in and around the city. Nearly I,000 of the _fidais_ +("self-devoted") of Tabriz took refuge in an old citadel of stone and +mud, called the "Ark." They were without artillery or adequate +provisions, and were poorly armed, but it was certain death for one of +them to be seen on the streets. + +The Russians bombarded the "Ark" for a day or more, killing a large +proportion of its defenders. The superior numbers and the artillery of +the Russians finally conquered, and there followed a reign of terror +during which no Persian's life or honor was safe. At one time during +this period the Russian Minister at Teheran, at the request of the +members of the Persian cabinet, who were horror-stricken and in fear of +their lives for having made terms with such a barbaric nation, +telegraphed to the Russian general in command of the troops at Tabriz, +telling him to cease fighting, and that the _fidais_ would receive +orders to do likewise, as matters were being arranged at the capital. +The gallant general replied that he took his orders from the Viceroy of +the Caucasus at Tiflis, and not from any one at Teheran. The massacre +went on. + +On New Year's day, which was the 10th of _Muharram_, a day of great +mourning which is held sacred in the Persian religious calendar, the +Russian military governor, who had hoisted Russian flags over the +government buildings at Tabriz, hung the Sikutu'l-Islam, who was the +chief priest of Tabriz, two other priests, and five others, among them +several high officials of the Provincial Government. As one British +journalist put it, the effect of this outrage on the Persians was that +which would be produced on the English people by the hanging of the +Archbishop of Canterbury on Good Friday. From this time on, the +Russians at Tabriz continued to hang or shoot any Persian whom they +chose to consider guilty of the crime of being a "Constitutionalist." +When the fighting there was first reported, a high official of the +Foreign Office at St. Petersburg, in an interview to the press, made +the statement that Russia would take vengeance into her own hands until +the "revolutionary dregs" had been exterminated. + +One more significant fact: At the same time that the fighting broke out +at Tabriz, the Russian troops at Resht and Enzeli, hundreds of miles +away, shot down the Persian police and many inhabitants without warning +or provocation of any kind. And the date also happened to be just after +the Persian cabinet had definitely informed the Russian Legation that +all the demands of Russia's ultimatum were accepted--a condition which +the British Government had publicly assured the Persians would be +followed by the withdrawal of the Russian invading forces, and which +the Russian Government had officially confirmed, "_unless fresh +incidents should arise_ in the mean time to make the retention of the +troops advisable." + +I would suggest that the Powers--England and Russia--may _think_ that +they thus escape all responsibility for what goes on in Persia, but the +world has long since grown familiar with such methods. Mere cant, +however seriously put forth in official statements, no longer blinds +educated public opinion as to the facts in these acts of international +brigandage. The truth is that England and Russia are still playing a +hand in the game of medieval diplomacy. + +The puerility of talking of Persia having affronted Russian consular +officers or of Persia's Treasurer-General having appointed a British +subject to be a tax collector at Tabriz, as the reasons for Russia's +aggressive and brutal policy in Persia, is only too apparent. Volumes +would not contain the bare record of the acts of aggression, deceit, +and cruelty which Russian agents have committed against Persian +sovereignty and the constitutional government since the deposition of +Muhammad Ali in 1909. + + + + +DISCOVERY OF THE SOUTH POLE A.D. 1911 + +ROALD AMUNDSEN + +On December 16, 1911, a Norwegian exploring party headed by Captain +Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. The discovery thus followed with +surprising closeness after Peary's triumph in reaching the North Pole +in 1909. + +Antarctic exploration had never attracted so much attention as that of +the far north; partly because an almost impossible ice barrier a +hundred feet high was known to extend across the southern ocean at +about the parallel of the Antarctic Circle. In 1908, however, an +English expedition under Lieutenant Shackleton managed to penetrate +beyond this barrier in the region south of New Zealand and reached to +within less than two hundred miles of the pole. They established the +fact that in contrast to the deep waters which flow above the northern +Pole, the southern Pole is raised upon an Antarctic mountain continent +many thousand feet in height. Shackleton's success led to several other +expeditions, and in 1910 three separate parties made almost +simultaneous efforts to reach the Pole, one from Japan and one from +England, as well as the Norwegian one. + +We give here Captain Amundsen's own account of his expedition as first +explained by him before the Berlin Geographical Society and published +by the New York Geographical Society in their bulletin. + +The glowing success of Amundsen's expedition throws into sharpest +relief the tragedy of the parallel English expedition. Captain Scott, +the leader of this party, also reached the Pole after a far more +desperate struggle. But he reached it on January 18, 1912, only to find +that his Norwegian rival had preceded him, and he and his entire party +died of starvation and exhaustion on their return journey toward their +camp. + +The first aim of my expedition was the attainment of the South Pole. I +have the honor to report the accomplishment of the plan. + +I can only mention briefly here the expeditions which have worked in +the region which we had selected for our starting-point. As we wished +to reach the South Pole our first problem was to go south as far as +possible with our ship and there establish our station. Even so, the +sled journeys would be long enough. I knew that the English expedition +would again choose their old winter quarters in McMurdo Sound, South +Victoria Land, as their starting-point. From newspaper report it was +known that the Japanese had selected King Edward VII. Land. In order to +avoid these two expeditions we had to establish our station on the +Great Ice Barrier as far as possible from the starting-points of the +two other expeditions. + +The Great Ice Barrier, also called the Ross Barrier, lies between South +Victoria Land and King Edward VII. Land and has an extent of about 515 +miles. The first to reach this mighty ice formation was Sir James Clark +Ross in 1841. He did not dare approach the great ice wall, 100 feet +high, with his two sailing ships, the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, whose +progress southward was impeded by this mighty obstacle. He examined the +ice wall from a distance, however, as far as possible. His observations +showed that the Barrier is not a continuous, abrupt ice wall, but is +interrupted by bays and small channels. On Ross's map a bay of +considerable magnitude may be seen. + +The next expedition was that of the _Southern Cross_ in 1900. It is +interesting to note that this party found the bay mentioned above at +the same place where Ross had seen it in 1841, nearly sixty years +before; that this expedition also was able to land a few miles to the +east of the large bay in a small bay, named Balloon Bight, and from +there to ascend the Ice Barrier, which heretofore had been considered +an insurmountable obstacle to further advance toward the south. + +In 1901 the _Discovery_ steamed along the Barrier and confirmed in +every respect what the _Southern Cross_ had observed. Land was also +discovered in the direction indicated by Ross, namely, King Edward VII. +Land. Scott, too, landed in Balloon Bight, and, like his predecessors, +saw the large bay to the west. + +In 1908 Shackleton arrived there on the _Nimrod_. He, too, followed +along the edge of the Ice Barrier. He came to the conclusion that +disturbances had taken place in the Ice Barrier. The shore line of +Balloon Bight, he thought, had changed and merged with the large bay to +the west. This large bay, which he thought to be of recent origin, he +named Bay of Whales. He gave up his original plan of landing there, as +the Ice Barrier appeared to him too dangerous for the establishment of +winter quarters. + +It was not difficult to determine that the bay shown on Ross's map and +the so-called Bay of Whales are identical; it was only necessary to +compare the two maps. Except for a few pieces that had broken off from +the Barrier, the bay had remained the same for the last seventy years. +It was therefore possible to assume that the bay did not owe its origin +to chance and that it must be underlaid by land, either in the form of +sand banks or otherwise. + +This bay we decided upon as our base of operations. It lies 400 miles +from the English station in McMurdo Sound and 115 miles from King +Edward VII. Land. We could therefore assume that we should be far +enough from the English sphere of interest and need not fear crossing +the route of the English expedition. The reports concerning the +Japanese station on King Edward VII. Land were indefinite: we took it +for granted, however, that a distance of 115 miles would suffice. + +On August 9, 1910, we left Norway on the _Fram_, the ship that had +originally been built for Nansen. We had ninety-seven superb Eskimo +dogs and provisions for two years. The first harbor we reached was +Madeira. There the last preparations were made for our voyage on the +Ross Barrier--truly not an insignificant distance which we had to +cover, namely, 16,000 nautical miles from Norway to the Bay of Whales. +We had estimated that this trip would require five months. The _Fram_, +which has justly been called the stanchest polar ship in the world, on +this voyage across practically all of the oceans, proved herself to be +extremely seaworthy. Thus we traversed without a single mishap the +regions of the northeast and of the southeast trades, the stormy seas +of the "roaring forties," the fogs of the fifties, the ice-filled +sixties, and reached our field of work at the Ice Barrier on January +14, 1911. Everything had gone splendidly. + +The ice in the Bay of Whales had just broken up, and we were able to +advance considerably farther south than any of our predecessors had +done. We found a quiet little nook behind a projecting ice cape; from +here we could transfer our equipment to the Barrier with comparative +safety. Another great advantage was that the Barrier at this place +descended very gradually to the sea ice, so that we had the best +possible surface for our sleds. Our first undertaking was to ascend the +Barrier in order to get a general survey and to determine a suitable +place for the erection of the house which we had brought with us. The +supposition that this part of the Barrier rests on land seemed to be +confirmed immediately by our surroundings. Instead of the smooth, flat +surface which the outer wall of the Barrier presents, we here found the +surface to be very uneven. We everywhere saw sharp hills, and points +between which there were pressure-cracks and depressions filled with +large masses of drift. These features were not of recent date. On the +contrary, it was easy to see that they were very old and that they must +have had their origin at a time which long preceded the period of +Ross's visit. + +Originally we had planned to establish our station several miles from +the edge of the Barrier, in order not to subject ourselves to the +danger of an unwelcome and involuntary sea trip, which might have +occurred had the part of the Barrier on which we erected our house +broken off. This precaution, however, was not necessary, as the +features which we observed on our first examination of the area offered +a sufficient guaranty for the stability of the Barrier at this point. + +In a small valley, hardly two and a half miles from the ship's +anchorage, we therefore selected a place for our winter quarters. It +was protected from the wind on all sides. On the next day we began +unloading the ship. We had brought with us material for house-building +as well as equipment and provisions for nine men for several years. We +divided into two groups, the ship's group and the land group. The first +was composed of the commander of the ship, Captain Nilsen, and the nine +men who were to stay on board to take the _Fram_ out of the ice and to +Buenos Aires. The other group consisted of the men who were to occupy +the winter quarters and march on to the south. The ship's group had to +unload everything from the ship upon the ice. There the land group took +charge of the cargo and brought it to the building site. At first we +were rather unaccustomed to work, as we had had little exercise on the +long sea voyage. But before long we were all "broken in," and then the +transfer to the site of our home "Framheim" went on rapidly; the house +grew daily. + +When all the material had been landed our skilled carpenters, Olav +Bjaaland and Jorgen Stubberud, began building the house. It was a +ready-made house, which we had brought with us; nothing had to be done +but to put together the various numbered parts. In order that the house +might brave all storms, its bottom rested in an excavation four feet +beneath the surface. On January 28th, fourteen days after our arrival, +the house was completed, and all provisions had been landed. A gigantic +task had been performed; everything seemed to point toward a propitious +future. But no time was to be lost; we had to make use of every minute. + +The land group had in the mean time been divided into two parties, one +of which saw to it that the provisions and equipment still lacking were +taken out of the ship. The other party was to prepare for an excursion +toward the south which had in view the exploration of the immediate +environs and the establishment of a depot. + +On February 10th the latter group marched south. There were four of us +with eighteen dogs and three sleds packed with provisions. That morning +of our start is still vividly in my memory. The weather was calm, the +sky hardly overcast. Before us lay the large, unlimited snow plain, +behind us the Bay of Whales with its projecting ice capes and at its +entrance our dear ship, the _Fram_. On board the flag was hoisted; it +was the last greeting from our comrades of the ship. No one knew +whether and when we should see each other again. In all probability our +comrades would no longer be there when we returned; a year would +probably elapse before we could meet again. One more glance backward, +one more parting greeting and then--forward. + +Our first advance on the Barrier was full of excitement and suspense. +So many questions presented themselves: What will be the nature of the +region we have to cross? How will the sleds behave? Will our equipment +meet the requirements of the situation? Have we the proper hauling +power? If we were to accomplish our object, everything had to be of the +best. Our equipment was substantially different from that of our +English competitors. We placed our whole trust on Eskimo dogs and skis, +while the English, as a result of their own experience, had abandoned +dogs as well as skis, but, on the other hand, were well equipped with +motor-sleds and ponies. + +We advanced rapidly on the smooth, white snow plain. On February 14th +we reached 80 deg. S. We had thus covered ninety-nine miles. We established +a depot here mainly of 1,300 pounds of provisions which we intended to +use on our main advance to the south in the spring. The return journey +occupied two days; on the first we covered forty miles and on the +second fifty-seven miles. When we reached our station the _Fram_ had +already left. The bay was lonely and deserted; only seals and penguins +were in possession of the place. + +The first excursion to the south, although brief, was of great +importance to us. We now knew definitely that our equipment and our +pulling power were eminently suited to the demands upon them. In their +selection no mistake had been made. It was now for us to make use of +everything to the best advantage. + +Our sojourn at the station was only a short one. On February 22d we +were ready again to carry supplies to a more southern depot. We +intended to push this depot as far south as possible. On this occasion +our expedition consisted of eight men, seven sleds, and forty-two dogs. +Only the cook remained at "Framheim." + +On February 27th, we passed the depot which we had established at 80 deg. +S.; we found everything in the best of order. On March 4th we reached +the eighty-first parallel and deposited there 1,150 pounds of +provisions. Three men returned from here to the station while the five +others continued toward the south and reached the eighty-second +parallel on March 8th, depositing there 1,375 pounds of provisions. We +then returned, and on March 22d were again at home. Before the winter +began we made another excursion to the depot in 80 deg. S., and added to +our supplies there 2,400 pounds of fresh salt meat and 440 pounds of +other provisions. On April 11th we returned from this excursion; this +ended all of our work connected with the establishment of depots. Up to +that date we had carried out 6,700 pounds of provisions and had +distributed these in three repositories. + +The part of the Barrier over which we had gone heretofore has an +average height of 165 feet and looked like a flat plain which continued +with slight undulations without any marked features that could have +served for orientation. It has heretofore been the opinion that on such +an endless plain no provisions can be cached without risking their +loss. If we were, however, to have the slightest chance of reaching our +goal we had to establish depots, and that to as great an extent as +possible. This question was discussed among us, and we decided to +establish signs across our route, and not along it, as has been +generally done heretofore. We therefore set up a row of signs at right +angles to our route, that is, in an east-west direction from our +depots. Two of these signs were placed on opposite sides of each of the +three depots, at a distance of 5.6 miles (9 kilometers) from them; and +between the signs and the depot two flags were erected for every +kilometer. In addition, all flags were marked so that we might know the +direction and distance of the depot to which it referred. This +provision proved entirely trustworthy; we were able to find our depots +even in dense fog. Our compasses and pedometers were tested at the +station; we knew that we could rely upon them. + +By our excursions to the depots we had gained a great deal. We had not +only carried a large amount of provisions toward the south, but we had +also gained valuable experience. That was worth more and was to be of +value to us on our final advance to the Pole. + +The lowest temperature we had observed on these depot excursions was +-50 deg. Centigrade. The fact that it was still summer when we recorded +this temperature warned us to see that our equipment was in good +condition. We also realized that our heavy sleds were too unwieldy and +that they could easily be made much lighter. This criticism was equally +applicable to the greater part of our equipment. + +Several days before the disappearance of the sun were devoted to +hunting seal. The total weight of the seals killed amounted to 132,000 +pounds. We therefore had ample provisions for ourselves as well as for +our 115 dogs. + +Our next problem was to supply a protective roof for our dogs. We had +brought with us ten large tents in which sixteen men could easily find +room. They were set up on the Ice Barrier; the snow was then dug out to +a depth of six and a half feet inside the tents, so that each dog hut +was nearly twenty feet high. The diameter of a dog hut on the ground +was sixteen feet. We made these huts spacious so that they might be as +airy as possible, and thus avert the frost which is so injurious to +dogs. Our purpose was entirely attained, for even in the severest +weather no dogs were frozen. The tents were always warm and +comfortable. Twelve dogs were housed in each, and every man had to take +care of his own pack. + +After we had seen to the wants of the dogs we could then think of +ourselves. As early as April the house was entirely covered by snow. In +this newly drifted snow, passageways were dug connecting directly with +the dog huts. Ample room was thus at our disposal without the need on +our part of furnishing building material. We had workshops, a +blacksmith shop, a room for sewing, one for packing, a storage room for +coal, wood, and oil, a room for regular baths and one for steam baths. +The winter might be as cold and stormy as it would; it could do us no +harm. + +On April 21st the sun disappeared and the longest night began which had +ever been experienced by man in the Antarctic. We did not need to fear +the long night, for we were well equipped with provisions for years and +had a comfortable, well-ventilated, well-situated and protected house. +In addition we had our splendid bathroom where we could take a bath +every week. It really was a veritable sanatorium. + +After these arrangements had been completed we began preparations for +the main advance in the following spring. We had to improve our +equipment and make it lighter. We discarded all our sleds, for they +were too heavy and unwieldy for the smooth surface of the Ice Barrier. +Our sleds weighed 165 pounds each. Bjaaland, our ski and sledmaker, +took the sleds in hand, and when spring arrived he had entirely made +over our sledge equipment. These sleds weighed only one-third as much +as the old ones. In the same way it was possible to reduce the weight +of all other items of our equipment. Packing the provisions for the +sledge journey was of the greatest importance. Captain Johansen +attended to this work during the winter. Each of the 42,000 loaves of +hard bread had to be handled separately before it could be assigned to +its proper place. In this way the winter passed quickly and agreeably. +All of us were occupied all the time. Our house was warm, dry, light +and airy, and we all enjoyed the best of health. We had no physician +and needed none. + +Meteorological observations were taken continuously. The results were +surprising. We had thought that we should have disagreeable, stormy +weather, but this was not the case. During the whole year of our +sojourn at the station we experienced only two moderate storms. The +rest of the time light breezes prevailed, mainly from an easterly +direction. Atmospheric pressure was as a rule very low, but remained +constant. The temperature sank considerably, and I deem it probable +that the mean annual temperature which we recorded, -26 deg. Centigrade, is +the lowest mean temperature which has ever been observed. During five +months of the year we recorded temperatures below -50 deg. Centigrade. On +August 23d the lowest temperature was recorded, -59 deg.. The _aurora +australis_, corresponding to the northern lights of the Arctic, was +observed frequently and in all directions and forms. This phenomenon +changed very rapidly, but, except in certain cases, was not very +intensive. + +On August 24th the sun reappeared. The winter had ended. Several days +earlier we had put everything in the best of order, and when the sun +rose over the Barrier we were ready to start. The dogs were in fine +condition. + +From now on we observed the temperature daily with great interest, for +as long as the mercury remained below -50 deg. a start was not to be +thought of. In the first days of September all signs indicated that the +mercury would rise. We therefore resolved to start as soon as possible. +On September 8th the temperature was -30 deg.. We started immediately, but +this march was to be short. On the next day the temperature began to +sink rapidly, and several days later the thermometer registered -55 deg. +Centigrade. We human beings could probably have kept on the march for +some time under such a temperature, for we were protected against the +cold by our clothing; but the dogs could not have long withstood this +degree of cold. We were therefore glad when we reached the eightieth +parallel. We deposited there our provisions and equipment in the depot +which we had previously erected and returned to "Framheim." + +The weather now became very changeable for a time--the transitional +period from winter to summer; we never knew what weather the next day +would bring. Frostbites from our last march forced us to wait until we +definitely knew that spring had really come. On September 24th we saw +at last positive evidence that spring had arrived: the seals began to +clamber up on the ice. This sign was hailed with rejoicing--not a whit +less the seal meat which Bjaaland brought on the same day. The dogs, +too, enjoyed the arrival of spring. They were ravenous for fresh seal +meat. On September 29th another unrefutable sign of spring appeared in +the arrival of a flock of Antarctic petrels. They flew around our house +inquisitively to the joy of all, not only of ourselves, but also of the +dogs. The latter were wild with joy and excitement, and ran after the +birds in hopes of getting a delicate morsel. Foolish dogs! Their chase +ended with a wild fight among themselves. + +On October 20th the weather had at last become so stable that we could +start. We had, meanwhile, changed our original plan, which was that we +should all advance southward together. We realized that we could travel +with perfect safety in two groups, and thus accomplish much more. We +arranged that three men should go to the east to explore King Edward +VII. Land; the remaining five men were to carry out the main plan, the +advance on the South Pole. + +October 20th was a beautiful day. Clear, mild weather prevailed. The +temperature was 1 deg. Centigrade above zero. Our sleds were light, and we +could advance rapidly. We did not need to hurry our dogs, for they were +eager enough themselves. We numbered five men and fifty-two dogs with +four sleds. Together with the provisions which we had left in the three +depots at the eightieth, the eighty-first, and the eighty-second +parallels we had sufficient sustenance for 120 days. + +Two days after our departure we nearly met with a serious accident. +Bjaaland's sled fell into one of the numerous crevasses. At the +critical moment we were fortunately able to come to Bjaaland's aid; had +we been a moment later the sled with its thirteen dogs would have +disappeared in the seemingly bottomless pit. + +On the fourth day we reached our depot at 80 deg. S. We remained there two +days and gave our dogs as much seal meat as they would eat. + +Between the eightieth and the eighty-first parallel the Barrier ice +along our route was even, with the exception of a few low undulations; +dangerous hidden places were not to be found. The region between the +eighty-first and the eighty-second parallel was of a totally different +character. During the first nineteen miles we were in a veritable +labyrinth of crevasses, very dangerous to cross. At many places yawning +abysses were visible because large pieces of the surface had broken +off; the surface, therefore, presented a very unsafe appearance. We +crossed this region four times in all. On the first three times such a +dense fog prevailed that we could only recognize objects a few feet +away. Only on the fourth occasion did we have clear weather. Then we +were able to see the great difficulties to which we had been exposed. + +On November 5th we reached the depot at the eighty-second parallel and +found everything in order. For the last time our dogs were able to have +a good rest and eat their fill; and they did so thoroughly during their +two days' rest. + +Beginning at the eightieth parallel we constructed snow cairns which +should serve as sign-posts on our return. In all we erected 150 such +sign-posts, each of which required sixty snow blocks. About 9,000 snow +blocks had therefore to be cut out for this purpose. These cairns did +not disappoint us, for they enabled us to return by exactly the same +route we had previously followed. + +South of the eighty-second parallel the Barrier was, if possible, still +more even than farther north; we therefore advanced quite rapidly. At +every unit parallel which we crossed on our advance toward the south we +established a depot. We thereby doubtlessly exposed ourselves to a +certain risk, for there was no time to set up sign-posts around the +depots. We therefore had to rely on snow cairns. On the other hand, our +sleds became lighter, so that it was never hard for the dogs to pull +them. + +When we reached the eighty-third parallel we saw land in a +southwesterly direction. This could only be South Victoria Land, +probably a continuation of the mountain range which runs in a +southeasterly direction and which is shown on Shackleton's map. From +now on the landscape changed more and more from day to day: one +mountain after another loomed up, one always higher than the other. +Their average elevation was 10,000 to 16,000 feet. Their crest-line was +always sharp; the peaks were like needles. I have never seen a more +beautiful, wild, and imposing landscape. Here a peak would appear with +somber and cold outlines, its head buried in the clouds; there one +could see snow fields and glaciers thrown together in hopeless +confusion. On November 11th we saw land to the south and could soon +determine that a mountain range, whose position is about 86 deg. S. and +163 deg. W., crosses South Victoria Land in an easterly and northeasterly +direction. This mountain range is materially lower than the mighty +mountains of the rest of South Victoria Land. Peaks of an elevation of +1,800 to 4,000 feet were the highest. We could see this mountain chain +as far as the eighty-fourth parallel, where it disappeared below the +horizon. + +On November 17th we reached the place where the Ice Barrier ends and +the land begins. We had proceeded directly south from our winter +quarters to this point. We were now in 85 deg. 7' S. and 165 deg. W. The place +where we left the Barrier for the land offered no special difficulties. +A few extended undulating reaches of ice had to be crossed which were +interrupted by crevasses here and there. Nothing could impede our +advance. It was our plan to go due south from "Framheim" and not to +deviate from this direction unless we should be forced to by obstacles +which nature might place in our path. If our plan succeeded it would be +our privilege to explore completely unknown regions and thereby to +accomplish valuable geographic work. + +The immediate ascent due south into the mountainous region led us +between the high peaks of South Victoria Land. To all intents and +purposes no great difficulties awaited us here. To be sure, we should +probably have found a less steep ascent if we had gone over to the +newly discovered mountain range just mentioned. But as we maintained +the principle that direct advance due south was the shortest way to our +goal, we had to bear the consequences. + +At this place we established our principal depot and left provisions +for thirty days. On our four sleds we took provisions with us for sixty +days. And now we began the ascent to the plateau. The first part of the +way led us over snow-covered mountain slopes, which at times were quite +steep, but not so much so as to prevent any of us from hauling up his +own sled. Farther up, we found several glaciers which were not very +broad but were very steep. Indeed, they were so steep that we had to +harness twenty dogs in front of each sled. Later the glaciers became +more frequent, and they lay on slopes so steep that it was very hard to +ascend them on our skis. On the first night we camped at a spot which +lay 2,100 feet above sea level. On the second day we continued to climb +up the mountains, mainly over several small glaciers. Our next camp for +the night was at an altitude of 4,100 feet above the sea. + +On the third day we made the disagreeable discovery that we should have +to descend 2,100 feet, as between us and the higher mountains to the +south lay a great glacier which crossed our path from east to west. +This could not be helped. The expedition therefore descended with the +greatest possible speed and in an incredibly short time we were down on +the glacier, which was named Axel Heiberg Glacier. Our camp of this +night lay at about 3,100 feet above sea level. On the following day the +longest ascent began; we were forced to follow Axel Heiberg Glacier. At +several places ice blocks were heaped up so that its surface was +hummocky and cleft by crevasses. We had therefore to make detours to +avoid the wide crevasses which, below, expanded into large basins. +These latter, to be sure, were filled with snow; the glacier had +evidently long ago ceased to move. The greatest care was necessary in +our advance, for we had no inkling as to how thick or how thin the +cover of snow might be. Our camp for this night was pitched in an +extremely picturesque situation at an elevation of about 5,250 feet +above sea level. The glacier was here hemmed in by two mountains which +were named "Fridtjof Nansen" and "Don Pedro Christophersen," both +16,000 feet high. + +Farther down toward the west at the end of the glacier "Ole Engelstad +Mountain" rises to an elevation of about 13,000 feet. At this +relatively narrow place the glacier was very hummocky and rent by many +deep crevasses, so that we often feared that we could not advance +farther. On the following day we reached a slightly inclined plateau +which we assumed to be the same which Shackleton describes. Our dogs +accomplished a feat on this day which is so remarkable that it should +be mentioned here. After having already done heavy work on the +preceding days, they covered nineteen miles on this day and overcame a +difference in altitude of 5,700 feet. On the following night we camped +at a place which lay 10,800 feet above sea level. The time had now come +when we were forced to kill some of our dogs. Twenty-four of our +faithful comrades had to die. The place where this happened was named +the "Slaughter House." On account of bad weather we had to stay here +for four days. During this stay both we and the dogs had nothing except +dog meat to eat. When we could at last start again on November 26th, +the meat of ten dogs only remained. This we deposited at our camp; +fresh meat would furnish a welcome change on our return. During the +following days we had stormy weather and thick snow flurries, so that +we could see nothing of the surrounding country. We observed, however, +that we were descending rapidly. For a moment, when the weather +improved for a short time, we saw high mountains directly to the east. +During the heavy snow squall on November 28th we passed two peculiarly +shaped mountains lying in a north-south direction; they were the only +ones that we could see on our right hand. These "Helland-Hansen +Mountains" were entirely covered by snow and had an altitude of 9,200 +feet. Later they served as an excellent landmark for us. + +On the next day the clouds parted and the sun burst forth. It seemed to +us as if we had been transferred to a totally new country. In the +direction of our advance rose a large glacier, and to the east of it +lay a mountain range running from southeast to northwest. Toward the +west, impenetrable fog lay over the glacier and obscured even our +immediate surroundings. A measurement by hypsometer gave 8,200 feet for +the point lying at the foot of this, the "Devil's Glacier." We had +therefore descended 2,600 feet since leaving the "Slaughter House." +This was not an agreeable discovery, as we, no doubt, would have to +ascend as much again, if not more. We left provisions here for six days +and continued our march. + +From the camp of that night we had a superb view of the eastern +mountain range. Belonging to it we saw a mountain of more wonderful +form than I have ever seen before. The altitude of the mountain was +12,300 feet; its peaks roundabout were covered by a glacier. It looked +as if Nature, in a fit of anger, had dropped sharp cornered ice blocks +on the mountain. This mountain was christened "Helmer-Hansen Mountain," +and became our best point of reference. There we saw also the "Oscar +Wisting Mountains," the "Olav Bjaaland Mountains," the "Sverre Hassel +Mountains," which, dark and red, glittered in the rays of the midnight +sun and reflected a white and blue light. In the distance the mountains +seen before loomed up romantically; they looked very high when one saw +them through the thick clouds and masses of fog which passed over them +from time to time and occasionally allowed us to catch glimpses of +their mighty peaks and their broken glaciers. For the first time we saw +the "Thorvald Nilsen Mountain," which has a height of 16,400 feet. + +It took us three days to climb the "Devil's Glacier." On the first of +December we had left behind us this glacier with its crevasses and +bottomless pits and were now at an elevation of 9,350 feet above sea +level. In front of us lay an inclined block-covered ice plateau which, +in the fog and snow, had the appearance of a frozen lake. Traveling +over this "Devil's Ball Room," as we called the plateau, was not +particularly pleasant. Southeasterly storms and snow flurries occurred +daily, during which we could see absolutely nothing. The floor on which +we were walking was hollow beneath us; it sounded as if we were going +over empty barrels. We crossed this disagreeable and uncanny region as +quickly as was compatible with the great care we had to exercise, for +during the whole time we were thinking of the unwelcome possibility of +sinking through. + +On December 6th we reached our highest point--according to hypsometric +measurement 11,024 feet above sea level. From there on the interior +plateau remained entirely level and of the same elevation. In 88 deg. 23' +S. we had reached the place which corresponded to Shackleton's +southernmost advance. We camped in 88 deg. 25' S. and established there our +last--the tenth--depot, in which we left 220 pounds of provisions. Our +way now gradually led downward. The surface was in excellent condition, +entirely level, without a single hill or undulation or other obstacle. +Our sleds forged ahead to perfection; the weather was beautiful; we +daily covered seventeen miles. Nothing prevented us from increasing our +daily distance. But we had time enough and ample provisions; we thought +it wiser, also, to spare our dogs and not to work them harder than +necessary. Without a mishap we reached the eighty-ninth parallel on +December 11th. It seemed as if we had come into a region where good +weather constantly prevails. The surest sign of continued calm weather +was the absolutely level surface. We could push a tent-pole seven feet +deep into the snow without meeting with any resistance. This proved +clearly enough that the snow had fallen in equable weather; calm must +have prevailed or a slight breeze may have blown at the most. Had the +weather been variable--calms alternating with storms--snow strata of +different density would have formed, a condition which we would +immediately have noticed when driving in our tent-poles. + +Our dead reckoning had heretofore always given the same results as our +astronomical observations. During the last eight days of our march we +had continuous sunshine. Every day we stopped at noon in order to +measure the meridian altitude and every evening we made an observation +for azimuth. On December 13th the meridian altitude gave 89 deg. 37', dead +reckoning, 89 deg. 38'. In latitude 88 deg. 25' we had been able to make our +last good observation of azimuth. Subsequently this method of +observation became valueless. As these last observations gave +practically the same result and the difference was almost a constant +one, we used the observation made in 88 deg. 25' as a basis. We calculated +that we should reach our goal on December 14th. + +December 14th dawned. It seemed to me as if we slept a shorter time, as +if we ate breakfast in greater haste, and as if we started earlier on +this morning than on the preceding days. As heretofore, we had clear +weather, beautiful sunshine, and only a very light breeze. We advanced +well. Not much was said. I think that each one of us was occupied with +his own thoughts. Probably only one thought dominated us all, a thought +which caused us to look eagerly toward the south and to scan the +horizon of this unlimited plateau. Were we the first, or----? + +The distance calculated was covered. Our goal had been reached. +Quietly, in absolute silence, the mighty plateau lay stretched out +before us. No man had ever yet seen it, no man had ever yet stood on +it. In no direction was a sign to be seen. It was indeed a solemn +moment when, each of us grasping the flagpole with one hand, we all +hoisted the flag of our country on the geographical South Pole, on +"King Haakon VII Plateau." + +During the night, as our watches showed it to be, three of our men went +around the camp in a circle 10 geographical miles (11.6 statute miles) +in diameter and erected cairns, while the other two men remained in the +tent and made hourly astronomical observations of the sun. These gave +89 deg. 55' S. We might well have been satisfied with this result, but we +had time to spare and the weather was fine. Why should we not try to +make our observations at the Pole itself? On December 16th, therefore, +we transported our tent the remaining 5-3/4 miles to the south and +camped there. We arranged everything as comfortably as possible in +order to make a round of observations during the twenty-four hours. The +altitude was measured every hour by four men with the sextant and +artificial horizon. These observations will be worked out at the +University of Christiania. This tent camp served as the center of a +circle which we drew with a radius of 5-1/6 miles [on the circumference +of which] cairns were erected. A small tent, which we had brought with +us in order to designate the South Pole, was put up here and the +Norwegian flag with the pennant of the _Fram_ was hoisted above it. +This Norwegian home received the name of "Polheim." According to the +observed weather conditions, this tent may remain there for a long +time. In it we left a letter addressed to His Majesty, King Haakon VII, +in which we reported what we had done. The next person to come there +will take the letter with him and see to its delivery. In addition, we +left there several pieces of clothing, a sextant, an artificial +horizon, and a hypsometer. + +On December 17th we were ready to return. On our journey to the Pole we +had covered 863 miles, according to the measurements of the odometer; +our mean daily marches were therefore 15 miles. When we left the Pole +we had three sleds and seventeen dogs. We now experienced the great +satisfaction of being able to increase our daily rations, a measure +which previous expeditions had not been able to carry out, as they were +all forced to reduce their rations, and that at an early date. For the +dogs, too, the rations were increased, and from time to time they +received one of their comrades as additional food. The fresh meat +revived the dogs and undoubtedly contributed to the good results of the +expedition. + +One last glance, one last adieu, we sent back to "Polheim." Then we +resumed our journey. We still see the flag; it still waves to us. +Gradually it diminishes in size and finally entirely disappears from +our sight. A last greeting to the Little Norway lying at the South +Pole! + +We left King Haakon VII Plateau, which lay there bathed in sunshine, as +we had found it on our outward journey. The mean temperature during our +sojourn there was--13 deg. Centigrade. It seemed, however, as though the +weather was much milder. + +I shall not tire you by a detailed description of our return, but shall +limit myself to some of the interesting episodes. + +The splendid weather with which we were favored on our return displayed +to us the panorama of the mighty mountain range which is the +continuation of the two ranges which unite in 86 deg. S. The newly +discovered range runs in a southeasterly direction and culminates in +domes of an elevation of 10,000 to over 16,000 feet. In 88 deg. S. this +range disappears in the distance below the horizon. The whole complex +of newly discovered mountain ranges, which may extend a distance of +over 500 miles, has been named the Queen Maud Ranges. + +We found all of our ten provision depots again. The provisions, of +which we finally had a superabundance, were taken with us to the +eightieth parallel and cached there. From the eighty-sixth parallel on +we did not need to apportion our rations; every one could eat as much +as he desired. + +After an absence of ninety-nine days we reached our winter quarters, +"Framheim," on January 25th. We had, therefore, covered the journey of +864 miles in thirty-nine days, during which we did not allow ourselves +any days of rest. Our mean daily march, therefore, amounted to 22.1 +miles. At the end of our journey two of our sleds were in good +condition and eleven dogs healthy and happy. Not once had we needed to +help our dogs and to push the sleds ourselves. + +Our provisions consisted of pemmican, biscuits, desiccated milk, and +chocolate. We therefore did not have very much variety, but it was +healthful and robust nourishment which built up the body, and it was, +of course, just this that we needed. The best proof of this was that we +felt well during the whole time and never had reason to complain of our +food, a condition which has occurred so often on long sledge journeys +and must be considered a sure indication of improper nourishment. + +Simultaneously with our work on land, scientific observations were made +on board the _Fram_ by Captain Nilsen and his companions which probably +stamp this expedition as the most valuable of all. The _Fram_ made a +voyage from Buenos Aires to the coast of Africa and back, covering a +distance of 8,000 nautical miles, during which a series of +oceanographical observations was made at no less than sixty stations. +The total length of the _Fram's_ journey equaled twice the +circumnavigation of the globe. The _Fram_ has successfully braved +dangerous voyages which made high demands upon her crew. The trip out +of the ice region in the fall of 1911 was of an especially serious +character. Her whole complement then comprised only ten men. Through +night and fog, through storm and hurricane, through pack ice and +between icebergs the _Fram_ had to find her way. One may well say that +this was an achievement that can be realized only by experienced and +courageous sailors, a deed that honors the whole nation. + +In conclusion, you will allow me to say that it was these same ten men, +who on February 15, 1911, hoisted the flag of their country, the +Norwegian flag, on a more southerly point of the earth than the crew of +any other ship whose keel ever cleft the waves. This is a worthy record +in our record century. Farthest north, farthest south did our dear old +_Fram_ penetrate. + + + + +THE CHINESE REVOLUTION A.D. 1912 + +ROBERT MACHRAY R.F. JOHNSTON TAI-CHI QUO + +The story of "China's Awakening" in 1905 was told in our preceding +volume. Most startling and most important of the results of this +arousing was the sudden successful revolution by which China became a +republic. This Chinese Revolution burst into sudden blaze in October, +1911, and reached a triumphant close on February 12, 1912, when the +Royal Edict, given in the following article, was proclaimed at Peking. +In this remarkable edict the ancient sovereigns of China deliberately +abdicated, and declared the Chinese Republic established. + +We give here the account of the revolution itself and of its causes, by +the well-known English writer on Eastern affairs, Robert Machray. Then +comes a discussion of the doubtful wisdom of the movement by a European +official who has long dwelt in China, Mr. R.F. Johnston, District +Officer of Wei-hai-wei. Then a patriotic Chinaman, educated in one of +the colleges of America, gives the enthusiastic view of the +revolutionists themselves, their opinion of their victories, and their +high hopes for the future. + +ROBERT MACHRAY + +With Yuan Shih-kai acknowledged as President by both the north and the +south, by Peking and Nanking alike, "The Great Republic of China," as +it is called by those who have been mainly instrumental in bringing it +into being, appears to have established itself, or at least it enters +upon the first definite stage of its existence. Thus opens a fresh +volume, of extraordinary interest as of incalculable importance, in the +history of the Far East. + +Even in the days of the great and autocratic Dowager Empress, Tzu Hsi, +who had no love for "reform," but knew how to accept and adapt herself +to the situation, it was evident that a change, deeply influencing the +political life and destinies of China, was in process of development. +After her death, in 1908, the force and sweep of this momentous +movement were still more apparent--it took on the character of +something irresistible and inevitable; the only question was whether +the change would be accomplished by way of evolution--gradual, orderly, +and conservative--or by revolution, or a series of revolutions, +probably violent and sanguinary, and perhaps disastrous to the dynasty +and the country. The events of the last few months have supplied the +answer--at any rate, to a certain extent. A successful revolution has +taken place, in which, it is true, many thousands have been killed, but +which on the whole has not been attended by the slaughter and carnage +that might have been anticipated considering the vastness of the +country and the enormous interests involved. Actual warfare gave way to +negotiations conducted in a spirit of moderation and of give-and-take +on the part of all concerned. The Manchu dynasty has collapsed, though +the "Emperor" still remains as a quasi-sacred, priestly personage, and +the princes have been pensioned off. The Great Republic of China has +come into being, albeit it is in large measure inchoate and, as it +were, on trial. China has long been the land of rebellions and risings, +and it is hardly to be expected that the novel republican form of +government, however well constructed, intentioned, or conducted, will +escape altogether from internal attacks. And nearly everything has yet +to be done in organization. + +General surprise has been expressed at the comparative ease and speed +with which the revolutionary movement has attained success in driving +the Manchus from power and in founding a republican _regime_. The +factor which chiefly contributed to this success was undoubtedly the +weakness of the Manchu dynasty and of the Imperial Clan, who, hated by +the Chinese and without sufficient resources of their own, were utterly +unable to offer any real resistance to the rebellious provinces of the +south, the loyalty of their troops being uncertain, and any spirit or +gift of leadership among themselves having disappeared with the passing +of the great Tzu Hsi in 1908. But it is a mistake to imagine that the +idea of a republican form of government in place of the centuries-old, +autocratic, semi-divine monarchy, was something that had never been +mooted before and was entirely unknown to the Chinese. To the great +majority, no doubt, it was, if known at all, something strange and +hardly intelligible, as it still is. But in the south, especially on +and near the coast, it has been familiar for some time; among the +possibilities of the future it was not unknown even to the "Throne." +Fourteen years ago, after the _coup d'etat_ by which Tzu Hsi smashed +the reform movement that had been patronized by the Emperor Kuang Hsu, +the then Viceroy of Canton stated in a memorial to her that among some +treasonable papers found at the birthplace of Kang Yu-wei, the leading +reformer of the time, a document had been discovered which not only +spoke of substituting a republic for the monarchy, but actually named +as its first president one of the reformers she had caused to be +executed. It must be admitted, on the other hand, that the idea has +been imported into China comparatively recently; the Chinese language +contains no word for republic, but one has been coined by putting +together the words for self and government; it must be many years +before the masses of the Chinese--the "rubbish people," as Lo Feng-lu, +a former minister to England, used to call them--have any genuine +understanding of what a republic means. + +The Manchus were in power for nearly two hundred and seventy years, and +during that period there were various risings, some of a formidable +character, against them and in favor of descendants of the native Ming +dynasty which they had displaced; powerful secret organizations, such +as the famous "Triad Society," plotted and conspired to put a Ming +prince on the throne; but all was vain. It had come to be generally +believed that the race of the Mings had died out, but a recent dispatch +from China speaks of there still being a representative in existence, +who possibly might give serious trouble to the new republic. In any +case, for a long time past the Mings had ceased to give the Manchus any +concern; the pressure upon the latter came from outside the empire, but +that in its turn reacted profoundly on the internal situation. The wars +with France and England had but a slight effect on China; though the +foreign devils beat it in war it yet despised them. The effect of the +war with Japan, in 1894, was something quite different, beginning the +real awakening of China and imparting life and vigor to the new reform +movement which had its origin in Canton, the great city of the south, +whose highly intelligent people have most quickly felt and most readily +and strongly responded to outside influences. Regarded by the Chinese +as at least partially civilized, the Japanese were placed in a higher +category than the Western barbarians, but as their triumph over China +was attributed to their adoption of Western military methods and +equipment, the more enlightened Chinese came to the conclusion that, +however contemptible the men of the Western world were, the main secret +of their success, as of that of Japan, was open enough. They decided +that Western learning and modes of government and organization must be +studied and copied, as Japan had studied and copied them, if the +Celestial Empire was to endure. It was a case on the largest scale of +self-preservation, and some part, at least, of the truth was glimpsed +by the Throne itself. + +Something, but not much, was heard of a republic while Tzu Hsi lived; +before her death the principle of a constitution, with a national +parliament and provincial assemblies, had been accepted by the +Throne--with reservations limiting the spheres of these representative +bodies, retaining the supreme power in the Throne, and in the case of +the national parliament delaying its coming into existence for a term +of years. + +By Tzu Hsi's commands, the Throne passed at her death into the hands of +a sort of commission; a child of two years of age, a nephew of Kuang +Hsu, called Pu Yi, became Emperor under the dynastic name of Hsuan +Tung; his father, Prince Chun, was nominated Regent, but was ordered to +consult the new Dowager Empress, Lung Yu, the widow of Kuang Hsu, and +to be governed by her decisions in all important matters of State. +Prince Chun, amiable in disposition but weak and vacillating in +character, and not always on the best of terms with Lung Yu, began +well; one of his first acts was to assure President Taft, who had +written entreating him to expedite reforms as making for the true +interests of China, that he was determined to pursue that policy. Among +those who had suggested reforms to Tzu Hsi, often going far beyond her +wishes or plans, but who steadily supported her in all she did in that +direction, the leading man was Yuan Shih-kai; with the possible +exception of Chang Chih-tung, the Viceroy of Hunan and Hupeh, mentioned +above, Yuan Shih-kai had become the greatest man in China, and even as +he had advised and supported Tzu Hsi, so he advised and supported +Prince Chun at the commencement of the Regency. But the prince had +received an unfortunate legacy from his brother, the Emperor Kuang Hsu, +who, believing that Yuan Shih-kai had betrayed him to Tzu Hsi at the +time of the _coup d'etat,_ had given instructions to Prince Chun that +if he came into power he was to punish Yuan for his treachery. At the +beginning of 1909 the Regent dismissed Yuan on an apparently trivial +pretext, but every one in China knew the real reason for his fall, and +not a few wondered that his life had been spared. It is idle to surmise +what might have happened if his services had been retained by the +Throne all the time, but who could have imagined that so swift and +almost incredible an instance of time's revenges was in store--that +within barely three years Yuan Shih-kai would be the acknowledged head +of the State, and Prince Chun and all the Manchus in the dust? + +Representative government of a kind started in 1909 with the +establishment of provincial assemblies; elections were held, and +assemblies met in most of the provinces. In the following year a senate +or imperial assembly was decreed by an imperial edict; its first +session was held in Peking in October of that year, and was opened by +the Regent; one of the first things the assembly did was to memorialize +the Throne for the rapid hastening on of reforms, and in response an +edict was issued announcing the formation of a national parliament, +consisting of an Upper and a Lower House, within three years. Under +further pressure the Throne in May of 1911 abolished the Grand Council +and the Grand Secretariat, and created a Cabinet of Ministers, after +the Western model. But the agitation continued and went on growing in +intensity; still it sought nothing apparently but a development of the +constitution, and at least on the surface was neither anti-dynastic nor +republican. + +An anti-dynastic outburst at Changsha, Hunan, in 1910, was easily +suppressed, and certainly gave no indication of what was so soon to +take place. So late as September of 1911 a rising on a considerable +scale in the province of Szechuan was not antidynastic, but was +declared by the rebels themselves to be directed against the railway +policy of the Government. The best hope for China lies in a wide +building of railways; the Chinese do not object to them, but, on the +contrary, make use of them to the fullest extent where they are in +existence; they do not wish, however, the lines to be constructed with +foreign money, holding that such investments of capital from without +might be regarded as setting up liens on their lands in favor of +outside Powers--how far they can do without outside capital is another +matter. Then the whole question of railway-building involved the old +quarrel between the provinces and the central government--which is +another way of saying that the provinces did not see why all the spoils +should go to Peking. + +A month after the rebellion in Szechuan had broken out, the great +revolution began, and met with the most astonishing success from the +very outset. Within a few weeks practically the whole of southern China +was in the hands of the revolutionaries, and the Throne in hot panic +summoned Yuan Shih-kai from his retirement to its assistance; after +some hesitation and delay he came--but too late to save the dynasty and +the Manchus, though there is no shadow of doubt that he did his best +and tried his utmost to save them. With Wuchang, Hankau, and +Hanyang--the three form the metropolis, as it may be termed, of +mid-China--in the possession of the revolutionaries, and other great +centers overtly disaffected or disloyal, the Regent opened the session +of the national assembly, and it forthwith proceeded to assert itself +and make imperious demands with which the Throne was compelled to +comply--this was within a fortnight after the attack on Wuchang that +had begun the revolution. On November 1st the Throne appointed Yuan +Shih-kai Prime Minister, and a week later the national assembly +confirmed him in the office; he arrived in Peking on the thirteenth of +the month, was received in semi-regal state, and immediately instituted +such measures as were possible for the security of the dynasty and the +pacification of the country. But ten days before he reached Peking the +Throne had been forced to issue an edict assenting to the principles +which the national assembly had set forth in nineteen articles as +forming the basis of the Constitution; these articles, while preserving +the dynasty and keeping sacrosanct the person of the Emperor, made the +monarchy subject to the Constitution and the Government to Parliament, +with a responsible Cabinet presided over by a Prime Minister, and gave +Parliament full control of the budget. + +Here, then, was the triumph of the constitutional cause, and Yuan +Shih-kai and most of the moderate progressive Chinese would have been +well satisfied with it if it had contented the revolutionaries of the +south. But from the beginning the southerners had made it plain that +they were determined to bring about the abdication of the dynasty, the +complete overthrow of the Manchus, and the establishment of a +republican form of government, nor would they lay down their arms on +any other terms. In a short time Yuan Shih-kai saw that the +revolutionaries were powerful enough to compel consideration and at +least partial acquiescence in their demands. It can not be thought +surprising that the proposed elimination of the hated Manchus from the +Government was popular, yet it must seem remarkable that the +revolutionary movement was so definitely republican in its aims, and as +such achieved so much success. There had been little open agitation in +favor of a republic, but the ground had been prepared for it to a +certain extent by a secret propaganda. The foreign-drilled troops of +the army were disaffected in many cases and were approached with some +result; the eager spirits of the party in the south, where practically +the whole strength of the movement lay, formed an alliance with certain +of the officers of these troops. No sooner was the revolution begun +than a military leader appeared in the person of Li Yuan-hung, a +brigadier-general, who had commanded a considerable body of these +foreign-drilled soldiers, and was supported by large numbers of such +men in the fighting in and around Wuchang-Hankau. That the +revolutionaries, who were chiefly of the student class, and not of the +"solid" people of the country, were able to enlist the active +cooperation of these officers and their troops accounts for the quick +and astonishing success of the movement. And at the outset, whatever is +the case now, many of the solid people--magistrates, gentry, and +substantial merchants--also indorsed it. + +Toward the end of November the revolutionaries captured Nanking, a +decisive blow to the imperialists, and this former capital of China +became the headquarters of a Provisional Republican Government. Soon +afterward, through the good offices of Great Britain, a truce was +arranged between the north and the south. Yuan Shih-kai was striving +with all his might to retain the dynasty as a limited monarchy, but +"coming events cast their shadows before" in the resignation of the +Regent early in December. Negotiations went on between Yuan, who was +represented at a conference held in Shanghai by Tang Shao-yi, an able +and patriotic man and a protege of his own, and the revolutionaries, +but the leaders of the latter made it clear that there could be no +peaceful solution of the situation short of the abdication of the +dynasty and the institution of some form of republic. At the end of +December Dr. Sun Yat-sen, whose striking and romantic story is well +known, was appointed Provisional President by Nanking; in January he +published a manifesto to the people of China, bitterly attacking the +dynasty, promising that the republic would recognize treaty +obligations, the foreign loans and concessions, and declaring that it +aimed at the general improvement of the country, the remodeling of the +laws, and the cultivation of better relations with the Powers. + +Meanwhile, the Dowager Empress and the Manchu princes had discussed the +position of affairs with Yuan Shih-kai, and the question of the +abdication of the dynasty was under consideration, but though the +situation was desperate there were some counsels of resistance. What +finally made opposition impossible was the presentation to the Throne +in the last days of January of a memorial, signed by the generals of +the northern army, requesting it to abandon any idea of maintaining +itself by force. This settled the matter. No other course being +practicable, terms were agreed to between Peking and Nanking, and on +February 12th imperial edicts, commencing for the last time with the +customary formula, were issued from the capital giving Yuan Shih-kai +plenary powers to establish a Provisional Republican Government, and to +confer with the Provisional Republican Government at Nanking, approving +of the arrangements which had been made for the Emperor and the +imperial family, and exhorting the people to remain tranquil under the +new regime. These edicts will remain among the most remarkable things +in history, and it can not be said that the passing of the Manchus was +attended by any want of that ceremonious calmness and dignity for which +China is famed. Two or three days later Sun Yat-sen in a disinterested +spirit resigned, and Yuan Shih-kai was unanimously elected President by +the Nanking Assembly; Yuan accepted the office, and thus north and +south were united in "The Great Republic of China." At the end of March +progress in the settlement of affairs was seen in the formation of a +Coalition Cabinet, comprising Ministers of both the Peking and the +Nanking Governments, those selected being men with a considerable +knowledge of Western life and thought, as, for instance, Lu +Cheng-hsiang, the Foreign Minister, who has lived many years in Europe +and speaks French as well as English. A further advance took place on +April 2d, when the Nanking Assembly agreed by a large majority to +transfer the Provisional Government to Peking, which thus resumed its +position as the capital of the country and the center of its +Administration. + +Among the causes which contributed to the success of the revolution +were the inability of the north to obtain loans from outside, and the +pressure, both direct and indirect, exerted upon both parties by +foreign Powers. Both of these causes were important, the latter +especially so. The action of Russia with respect to Mongolia, and of +Japan with regard to Manchuria, alarmed patriotic Chinese, led them to +fear that foreign interference might not be confined to these +territories, and to dread that the result would be the disintegration +of the country. Under the Manchus they had seen the loss of Korea, the +Liaotung, Formosa, and, in a sense, of Manchuria itself; they were +apprehensive of German designs in Shantung, of Japanese in Fuhkien. The +feeling that the country was in danger helped both sides to be of one +mind. But the pressure from the outside was not all of this sinister +sort; friendly representations from the genuinely well-disposed Powers +did a good deal to bring the combatants to a mutual understanding. But +throughout the revolution, as in the final result, the great +outstanding, commanding figure was Yuan Shih-kai himself. Evidently a +man of great gifts, he knew how and when to yield and how and when to +be firm; the compromise which solved the situation--at all events, for +the time--was mostly his work; statesman and patriot, he saved his +country. And it will always redound to his credit that he can not be +charged with faithlessness to the Manchus, for he did all that was +possible for them, standing by them to the last. By retaining the +"Emperor" as the priestly head of the nation, _pater patriae_, +according to Chinese ideas, he has left something to the Manchus and at +the same time contrived that the republican form of government shall +bring as slight a shock to "immemorial China" as can be imagined. + +What does this "immemorial China"--meaning thereby the great bulk of +the Chinese, the un-Westernized Chinese--think of the republic? In +other words, is the republic likely to last? What sort of republic will +it probably be, viewing the situation as it stands? At one of the early +stages of the revolution Yuan Shih-kai stated that only three-tenths of +his countrymen were in favor of a republic--in itself, however, a +considerable proportion of the population; now that the republic is in +existence, will it be accepted tranquilly by the rest? The majority of +these people are the inoffensive and industrious peasants of the +interior, who have long been accustomed to bad government; as they will +scarcely find their lot harder now, they will probably quietly accept +the new order, unless some radical change is made affecting their +habits of life, which is unlikely. Some of the old conservative gentry +are opposed to the republic; but, now the Manchu dynasty is gone, whom +or what can they suggest in its place that would be received favorably +by the country? The descendant of the Mings? Or the descendant of +Confucius? + +Neither seems a likely candidate in present circumstances. For it may +very well be the case that as the revolution has been so largely +military, and parts of the army need careful handling, as the recent +riots in Peking showed, the Republican Government will assume something +of a distinctively military character, and Yuan Shih-kai, as its head, +be in a position not very different from that of a military +dictator--as Diaz was in Mexico. The republic will, of course, have its +troubles, and serious ones enough, to face, but the balance of +probabilities certainly suggests its lasting awhile. + + +R.F. JOHNSTON + +Like political upheavals in other ages and other lands, the Chinese +revolution has been the outcome of the hopes and dreams of impetuous +and indomitable youth. Herein lies one of its main sources of strength, +but herein also lies a very grave danger. Young China to-day looks to +Europe and to America for sympathy. Let her have it in full measure. +Only let us remind her that the work she has so boldly, and perhaps +light-heartedly, undertaken is not only the affair of China, not only +the affair of Asia, but that the whole world stands to gain or lose +according as the Chinese people prove themselves worthy or unworthy to +carry out the stupendous task to which they have set their hands. + +The grave peril lies, of course, in the tendency of the Chinese +"Progressives"--as of all hot-headed reformers, whether in China or in +England--to break with the traditions of past ages, and to despise what +is old, not because it is bad, but because it is out of harmony with +the latest political shibboleth. Those of us who believe in the +fundamental soundness of the character of the Chinese people, and are +aware of the high dignity and value of a large part of their inherited +civilization and culture, are awaiting with deep anxiety an answer to +this question: Is the New China about to cast herself adrift from the +Old? + +But surely, many a Western observer may exclaim, the matter is settled +already! Surely the abolition of the monarchy is in itself a proof that +the Chinese have definitely broken with tradition! Was not the Emperor +a sacred being who represented an unbroken political continuity of +thousands of years, and who ruled by divine right? Was not loyalty to +the sovereign part of the Chinese religion? + +These questions can not be answered with a simple yes or no. Reverence +for tradition has always been a prominent Chinese characteristic in +respect of both ethics and politics. We must beware of assuming too +hastily that the exhortations of a few frock-coated revolutionaries +have been sufficient to expel this reverence for tradition from Chinese +hearts and minds; yet we are obliged to admit that the national +aspirations are being directed toward a new set of ideals which in some +respects are scarcely consistent with the ideals aimed at (if rarely +attained) in the past. + +The Chinese doctrine of loyalty can not be properly understood until we +have formed a clear conception of the traditional Chinese theory +concerning the nature of Political Sovereignty. The political edifice, +no less than the social, is built on the Confucian and pre-Confucian +foundation of filial piety. The Emperor is father of his people; the +whole population of the empire forms one vast family, of which the +Emperor is the head. As a son owes obedience and reverence to his +parent, so does the subject owe reverence and obedience to his +sovereign. + +In the four thousand years and more that have elapsed since the days of +Yue, over a score of dynasties have in their turn reigned over China. +The _Shu Ching_--the Chinese historical classic--gives us full accounts +of the events which led to the fall of the successive dynasties of Hsia +(1766 B.C.) and Shang (1122 B.C.). In both cases we find that the +leader of the successful rebellion lays stress on the fact that the +_T'ien-ming_ (Divine right) has been forfeited by the dynasty of the +defeated Emperor, and that he, the successful rebel, has been but an +instrument in the hands of God. Thus the rebel becomes Emperor by right +of the Divine Decree, and it remains with his descendants until by +their misdeeds they provoke heaven into bestowing it upon another +house. + +The teachings of the sages of China are in full accordance with the +view that the sovereign must rule well or not at all. Confucius +(551-479 B.C.) spent the greater part of his life in trying to instruct +negligent princes in the art of government, and we know from a +well-known anecdote that he regarded a bad government as "worse than a +tiger." We are told that when one of his disciples asked Confucius for +a definition of good statecraft, he replied that a wise ruler is one +who provides his subjects with the means of subsistence, protects the +state against its enemies, and strives to deserve the confidence of all +his people. And the most important of these three aims, said Confucius, +is the last: for without the confidence of the people no government can +be maintained. If the prince's commands are just and good, let the +people obey them, said Confucius, in reply to a question put by a +reigning duke; but if subjects render slavish obedience to the unjust +commands of a bad ruler, it is not the ruler only, but his sycophantic +subjects themselves, who will be answerable for the consequent ruin of +the state. So far from counseling perpetual docility on the part of the +governed, Confucius clearly indicates that circumstances may arise +which make opposition justifiable. The minister, he says, should not +fawn upon the ruler of whose actions he disapproves: let him show his +disapproval openly. + +Mencius, the "Second Sage" of China (372-289 B.C.), is far more +outspoken than Confucius in his denunciation of bad rulers. There was +no sycophancy in the words which he uttered during an interview with +King Hsuan of the State of Ch'i. "When the prince treats his ministers +with respect, as though they were his own hands and feet, they in their +turn look up to him as the source from which they derive nourishment; +when he treats them like his dogs and horses, they regard him as no +more worthy of reverence than one of their fellow subjects; when he +treats them as though they were dirt to be trodden on, they retaliate +by regarding him as a robber and a foe." It is interesting to learn +that this passage in Mencius so irritated the first sovereign of the +Ming dynasty (1368-1398 A.D.) that he caused the "spirit-tablet" of the +sage to be removed from the Confucian Temple, to which it had been +elevated about three centuries earlier; but the remonstrances of the +scholars of the empire soon compelled the Emperor to revoke his decree, +and the tablet of Mencius was restored to its place of honor, from +which it was never subsequently degraded. It is no matter for surprize +that the people have reverenced the "Second Sage," for he it was who +has come nearest in China to the enunciation of the somewhat doubtful +principle, _Vox populi vox Dei_. + +It was unmistakably the view of Mencius that a bad ruler may be put to +death by the subjects whom he has misgoverned. King Hsuan was once +discussing with him the successful rebellions against the last +sovereigns of the Hsia and Shang dynasties, and, with reference to the +slaying of the infamous King Chou (1122 B.C.), asked whether it was +allowable for a minister to put his sovereign to death. Mencius, in his +reply, observed that the man who outrages every principle of virtue and +good conduct is rightly treated as a mere robber and villain. "I have +heard of the killing of a robber and a villain named Chou; I have not +heard about the killing of a king." That is to say, Chou by his +rascality had already forfeited all the rights and privileges of +kingship before he was actually put to death. + +On another occasion Mencius was questioned about the duties of +ministers and royal relatives. "If the sovereign rules badly," he said, +"they should reprove him; if he persists again and again in +disregarding their advice, they should dethrone him." The prince for +whose edification the philosopher uttered these daring sentiments +looked grave. "I pray your Majesty not to take offense," said Mencius. +"You asked me for my candid opinion, and I have told you what it is." + +Several other passages of similar purport might be cited from Mencius, +but two more will suffice. "Let us suppose," said the sage, "that a man +who is about to proceed on a long journey entrusts the care of his wife +and family to a friend. On his return he finds that the faithless +friend has allowed his wife and children to suffer from cold and +hunger. What should he do with such a friend?" "He should treat him +thenceforth as a stranger," replied King Hsuan. "And suppose," +continued Mencius, "that your Majesty had a minister who was utterly +unable to control his subordinates: how would you deal with such a +one?" "I should dismiss him from my service," said the King. "And if +throughout all your realm there is no good government, what is to be +done then?" The embarrassed King, we are told, "looked this way and +that, and changed the subject." + +The last of Mencius's teachings on kingship to which we shall refer is +perhaps the most remarkable of all. "The most important element in a +State," he says emphatically, "is the people; next come the altars of +the national gods; least in importance is the king." + +These citations from the revered classics should be sufficient to prove +that the people of China are not necessarily cutting themselves adrift +from the traditions of ages and the teachings of their philosophers +when they rise in their might to overthrow an incompetent dynasty. For +it can not be denied that China has known little prosperity under the +later rulers of the Manchu line, and when the revolutionary leaders +declared that the reigning house had forfeited the _T'ien-ming_ we must +admit that they had ample justification for their belief that such was +the case. But many Western friends of China, while fully recognizing +the right of the people to remove the Manchus, entertain very grave +doubts as to the wisdom of abolishing the monarchy altogether and the +establishment of a republican government in its stead. The _T'ien-ming_ +has always passed from dynasty to dynasty, never from dynasty to +people. From the remotest days of which we have record, the Chinese +system of government has been monarchic. If the revolutionaries can +break tradition to the extent of abolishing the imperial dignity, what +guaranty have we that they will not break with tradition in every other +respect as well, and so destroy the foundations on which the whole +edifice of China's social, political, and religious life has rested +through all the centuries of her known history? + +Whether the Chinese people--as distinct from a few foreign-educated +reformers--do, as a matter of fact, honestly believe that a republican +government is adapted to the needs of the country, is a very different +question. It certainly has not been proved that "the whole nation is +now inclined toward a republic"--in spite of the admission to that +effect contained in the imperial Edict of abdication. Perhaps it would +be nearer the truth to say that the overwhelming majority of the people +of China have not the slightest idea what a republic means, and how +their lives and fortunes will be affected by its establishment, and +therefore hold no strong opinions concerning the advantages or +disadvantages of republican government. + +It can not be denied, however, that the social system under which the +Chinese people have lived for untold ages has in some ways made them +more fit for self-government than any other people in the world. It +would be well if Europeans--and especially Englishmen--would try to rid +themselves of the obsolete notion that every Oriental race, as such, is +only fit for a despotic form of government. Perhaps only those who have +lived in the interior of China and know something of the organization +of family and village, township and clan, are able to realize to how +great an extent the Chinese have already learned the arts of +self-government. It was not without reason that a Western authority +(writing before the outbreak of the revolution) described China as "the +greatest republic the world has ever seen." + +The momentous Edict in which the Manchu house signed away its imperial +heritage was issued on the twelfth day of February, 1912. It contains +many noteworthy features, but the words which are of special interest +from the constitutional point of view I translate as follows: "The +whole nation is now inclined toward a republican form of government. +The southern and central provinces first gave clear evidence of this +inclination, and the military leaders of the northern provinces have +since promised their support in the same cause. _By observing the +nature of the people's aspirations we learn the Will of Heaven +(T'ien-ming)._ It is not fitting that We should withstand the desires +of the nation merely for the sake of the glorification of Our own +House. We recognize the signs of the age, and We have tested the trend +of popular opinion; and We now, with the Emperor at Our side, invest +the Nation with the Sovereign Power and decree the establishment of a +constitutional government on a republican basis. In coming to this +decision, We are actuated not only by a hope to bring solace to Our +subjects, who long for the cessation of political tumult, but also by a +desire to follow the precepts of the Sages of old who taught that +political sovereignty rests ultimately with the people." + +Such was the dignified and yet pathetic swan-song of the dying Manchu +dynasty. Whatever our political sympathies may be, we are not obliged +to withhold our tribute of compassion for the sudden and startling +collapse of a dynasty that has ruled China--not always +inefficiently--for the last two hundred and sixty-seven years. + +The Abdication Edict can not fail to be of interest to students of the +science of politics. The Throne itself is converted into a bridge to +facilitate the transition from the monarchical to the republican form +of government. The Emperor remains absolute to the last, and the very +Republican Constitution, which involves his own disappearance from +political existence, is created by the fiat of the Emperor in his last +official utterance. Theoretically, the Republic is established not by a +people in arms acting in opposition to the imperial will, but by the +Emperor acting with august benevolence for his people's good. The cynic +may smile at the transparency of the attempt to represent the +abdication as entirely voluntary, but in this procedure we find +something more than a mere "face-saving" device intended for the +purpose of effecting a dignified retreat in the hour of disaster. + +Perhaps the greatest interest of the decree centers in its appeal to +the wisdom of the national sages, and its acceptance of their theory as +to the ultimate seat of political sovereignty. The heart of the drafter +may have quailed when he wrote the words that signified the surrender +of the imperial power, but the spirit of Mencius guided his hand. It +now remains for us to hope that the teachings of the wise men of old, +which have been obeyed to such momentous issues by the last of the +Emperors, will not be treated with contempt by his Republican +successors. + + +TAI-CHI QUO + +The entire civilized world, as well as China, is to be heartily +congratulated upon the glorious revolution which has been sweeping over +that vast ancient empire, and which is now practically assured of +success. "Just as conflagrations light up the whole city," says Victor +Hugo, "revolutions light up the whole human race." Of no revolution +recorded in the world's history can this be said with a greater degree +of truth than of the present revolution in China. It spells the +overthrow of monarchy, which has existed there for over forty +centuries, and the downfall of a dynasty which has been the enemy of +human progress for the last two hundred and seventy years. It effects +the recognition and establishment of personal liberty, the sovereignty +of man over himself, for four hundred and thirty-two million souls, +one-third of the world's total population. + +The Chinese revolution marks, in short, a great, decisive step in the +onward march of human progress. It benefits not only China, but the +whole world, for just as a given society should measure its prosperity +not by the welfare of a group of individuals, but by the welfare of the +entire community, so must humanity estimate its progress according to +the well-being of the whole human race. Society can not be considered +to be in a far advanced stage of civilization if one-third of the +globe's inhabitants are suffering under the oppression and tyranny of a +one-man rule. Democracy can not be said to exist if a great portion of +the people on the earth have not even political freedom. Real democracy +exists only when all men are free and equal. Hence, any movement which +brings about the recognition and establishment of personal liberty for +one-third of the members of the human family, as the Chinese revolution +is doing, may well be pronounced to be beneficial to mankind. + +But is it really true and credible that conservative, slumbering, and +"mysterious" China is actually having a revolution, that beautiful and +terrible thing, that angel in the garb of a monster? If it is, what is +the cause of the revolution? What will be its ultimate outcome? What +will follow its success? Will a republic be established and will it +work successfully? These and many other questions pertaining to the +Chinese situation have been asked, not only by skeptics, but also by +persons interested in China and human progress. + +There can be no doubt that China is in earnest about what she is doing. +Even the skeptics who called the revolution a "mob movement," or +another "Boxer uprising," at its early stage must now admit the truth +of the matter. The admirable order and discipline which have +characterized its proceedings conclusively prove that the revolution is +a well-organized movement, directed by men of ability, intelligence, +and humanitarian principles. Sacredness of life and its rights, for +which they are fighting, have generally guided the conduct of the +rebels. The mob element has been conspicuous by its absence from their +ranks. It is very doubtful whether a revolution involving such an +immense territory and so many millions of people as are involved in +this one could be effected with less bloodshed than has thus far marked +the Chinese revolution. If some allowance be made for exaggeration in +the newspaper reports of the loss of lives and of the disorders that +have occurred during the struggle, allowance which is always +permissible and even wise for one to make, there has been very little +unnecessary bloodshed committed by the revolutionists. + +Although anti-Manchu spirit was a prominent factor in bringing about +the uprising, it has been subordinated by the larger idea of humanity. +With the exception of a few instances of unnecessary destruction of +Manchu lives at the beginning of the outbreak, members of that tribe +have been shown great clemency. The rebel leaders have impressed upon +the minds of their followers that their first duty is to respect life +and property, and have summarily punished those having any inclination +to loot or kill. Despite the numerous outrages and acts of brutality by +the Manchus and imperial troops, the revolutionaries have been +moderate, lenient, and humane in their treatment of their prisoners and +enemies. Unnecessary bloodshed has been avoided by them as much as +possible. As Dr. Wu Ting-fang has said: "The most glorious page of +China's history is being written with a bloodless pen." Regarding the +cause of the revolution, it must be noted that the revolt was not a +sudden, sporadic movement, nor the result of any single event. It is +the outcome of a long series of events, the culmination of the friction +and contact with the Western world in the last half-century, especially +the last thirty years, and of the importation of Western ideas and +methods into China by her foreign-educated students and other agents. + +During the last decade, especially the last five years, there has been +a most wonderful awakening among the people in the empire. One could +almost see the growth of national consciousness, so rapidly has it +developed. When the people fully realized their shortcomings and their +country's deplorable weakness as it has been constantly brought out in +her dealings with foreign Powers, they fell into a state of +dissatisfaction and profound unrest. Filled with the shame of national +disgrace and imbued with democratic ideas, they have been crying for a +strong and liberal government, but their pleas and protests have been +in most cases ignored and in a few cases responded to with half-hearted +superficial reforms which are far from satisfactory to the +progressives. The Manchu government has followed its traditional +_laissez faire_ policy in the face of foreign aggressions and +threatening dangers of the empire's partition, with no thought of the +morrow. Until now it has been completely blind to the force of the +popular will and has deemed it not worth while to bother with the +common people. + +Long ago patriotic Chinese gave up hope in the Manchu government and +realized that China's salvation lay in the taking over of the +management of affairs into their own hands. For over a decade Dr. Sun +Yat-sen and other Chinese of courage and ability, mostly those with a +Western education, have been busily engaged in secretly preaching +revolutionary doctrines among their fellow countrymen and preparing for +a general outbreak. They collected numerous followers and a large sum +of money. The revolutionary propaganda was being spread country-wide, +among the gentry and soldiers, and even among enlightened government +officials, in spite of governmental persecution and strict vigilance. +Revolutionary literature was being widely circulated, notwithstanding +the rigid official censorship. + +Added to all this are the ever important economic causes. Famines and +floods in recent years have greatly intensified the already strong +feeling of discontent and unrest, and served to pile up more fuel for +the general conflagration. + +In short, the whole nation was like a forest of dry leaves which needed +but a single fire spark to make it blaze. Hence, when the revolution +broke out on the memorable 10th of October, 1911, at Wu-Chang, it +spread like a forest fire. Within the short period of two weeks +fourteen of the eighteen provinces of China proper joined in the +movement one after another with amazing rapidity. Everywhere people +welcomed the advent of the revolutionary army as the drought-stricken +would rejoice at the coming rain, or the hungry at the sight of food. +The great wave of democratic sentiment which had swept over Europe, +America, and the islands of Japan at last reached the Chinese shore, +and is now rolling along resistlessly over the immense empire toward +its final goal--a world-wide democracy. + + + + +A STEP TOWARD WORLD PEACE + +THE UNITED STATES ARBITRATION TREATIES A.D. 1912 + +HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT + +Later generations will doubtless note, as one of the main +manifestations of our present age, its progress in international +arbitration, in the substitution of justice for force as the means of +deciding disputes between nations. On March 7, 1912, the United States +Senate, after months of argument, finally agreed to ratify two +arbitration treaties which President Taft had arranged with England and +France. True, the Senate, before thus establishing the treaties, struck +out their most far-reaching article, an agreement that every +disagreement whatsoever should be referred to a Joint High Commission. +Without this clause the treaties still leave a bare possibility of +warfare over questions of "national honor" or "national policy"; but +practically they put an end to war forever as between the United States +and its two great historic rivals. + +These two treaties were the last and most important of 154 such +arbitration treaties arranged since the recent inauguration of the +great World Peace movement. They are here described by President Taft +himself in an article reprinted with his approval from the _Woman's +Home Companion._ His work as a leader in the cause of peace is likely +to be remembered as the most important of his administration. In 1913 +his purpose was carried forward by William J. Bryan as the United +States Secretary of State. Mr. Bryan evolved a general "Plan of +Arbitration," which during the first year of its suggestion was adopted +by thirty-one of the smaller nations to govern their dealings with the +United States. Thus the strong promises international justice to the +weak. + +The development of the doctrine of international arbitration, +considered from the standpoint of its ultimate benefits to the human +race, is the most vital movement of modern times. In its relation to +the well-being of the men and women of this and ensuing generations, it +exceeds in importance the proper solution of various economic problems +which are constant themes of legislative discussion or enactment. It is +engaging the attention of many of the most enlightened minds of the +civilized world. It derives impetus from the influence of churches, +regardless of denominational differences. Societies of noble-minded +women, organizations of worthy men, are giving their moral and material +support to governmental agencies in their effort to eliminate, as +causes of war, disputes which frequently have led to armed conflicts +between nations. + +The progress already made is a distinct step in the direction of a +higher civilization. It gives hope in the distant future of the end of +militarism, with its stupendous, crushing burdens upon the working +population of the leading countries of the Old World, and foreshadows a +decisive check to the tendency toward tremendous expenditures for +military purposes in the western hemisphere. It presages at least +partial disarmament by governments that have been, and still are, +piling up enormous debts for posterity to liquidate, and insures to +multitudes of men now involuntarily doing service in armies and navies +employment in peaceful, productive pursuits. + +Perhaps some wars have contributed to the uplift of organized society; +more often the benefits were utterly eclipsed by the ruthless waste and +slaughter and suffering that followed. The principle of justice to the +weak as well as to the strong is prevailing to an extent heretofore +unknown to history. Rules of conduct which govern men in their +relations to one another are being applied in an ever-increasing degree +to nations. The battle-field as a place of settlement of disputes is +gradually yielding to arbitral courts of justice. The interests of the +great masses are not being sacrificed, as in former times, to the +selfishness, ambitions, and aggrandizement of sovereigns, or to the +intrigues of statesmen unwilling to surrender their scepter of power. +Religious wars happily are specters of a medieval or ancient past, and +the Christian Church is laboring valiantly to fulfil its destiny of +"Peace on earth." + +If the United States has a mission, besides developing the principles +of the brotherhood of man into a living, palpable force, it seems to me +that it is to blaze the way to universal arbitration among the nations, +and bring them into more complete amity than ever before existed. It is +known to the world that we do not covet the territory of our neighbors, +or seek the acquisition of lands on other continents. We are free of +such foreign entanglements as frequently conduce to embarrassing +complications, and the efforts we make in behalf of international peace +can not be regarded with a suspicion of ulterior motives. The spirit of +justice governs our relations with other countries, and therefore we +are specially qualified to set a pace for the rest of the world. + +The principle and scope of international arbitration, as exemplified in +the treaties recently negotiated by the United States with Great +Britain and France, should commend itself to the American people. These +treaties go a step beyond any similar instruments which have received +the sanction of the United States, or the two foreign Powers specified. +They enlarge the field of arbitrable subjects embraced in the treaties +ratified by the three governments in 1908. They lift into the realm of +discussion and hearing, before some kind of a tribunal, many of the +causes of war which have made history such a sickening chronicle of +ravage and cruelty, bloodshed and desolation. + +After years of patient endeavor by men of various nations, and despite +many obstacles and discouragements, there has been established at The +Hague a Permanent Court of Arbitration, to which contending governments +may submit certain classes of controversies for adjudication. This +court has already justified its creation and existence by the +settlement of contentions which in other days led to disastrous wars, +and even in this enlightened age might have precipitated serious +ruptures. The United States Government, as represented by the National +Administration, is ready to utilize this method of settling +international disputes to a greater extent than ever before. That is, +we are willing to refer to this tribunal, or a similar one, questions +which heretofore have been left entirely to diplomatic negotiation. + +The treaties go further by providing for the creation of a Joint High +Commission, to which shall be referred, for impartial and conscientious +investigation, any controversy between this Government, on one hand, +and Great Britain or France, on the other hand, before such a +controversy has been submitted to an arbitral body from which there is +no appeal. + +And, assuming that governments, like individuals, do not always +display, while a dispute is in progress, that calmness of judgment and +equipoise which are so consistent with righteous deportment, provision +is made for the passion to subside and the blood to cool, by deferring +the reference of such controversy to the Joint High Commission for one +year. This affords an opportunity for diplomatic adjustment without an +appeal to the commission. + +The plan of submission to a joint high commission, composed of three +citizens or subjects of one party and the same number of another, is a +concession to the fear of being too tightly bound to an adverse +decision made manifest in the objections of the Senate committee, +because it may well be supposed that two out of three citizens or +subjects of one party would not decide that an issue was arbitrable +under the treaty against the contention of their own country unless it +were reasonably clear that the issue was justiciable under the first +clause of the treaty. + +Ultimately, I hope, we shall come to submit our quarrels to an +international arbitral court that will have power finally to decide +upon the limits of its own jurisdiction, and in which the form of +procedure by the complaining country shall be fixed, and the +obligations of the country complained of, to answer in a form +prescribed, shall be recognized and definite, and the judgment shall be +either acquiesced in, or enforced. These treaties are a substantial +step, but a step only, in that direction, and the feature of the +binding character of the decision of the Joint High Commission as to +the arbitral character of the question is the most distinctive advance +in the right direction. Do not let us give up this feature without +using every legitimate effort to retain it. + +An understanding of the term _justiciable_ may be essential to a full +comprehension of the significance and scope of these treaties. +Questions involving boundary lines, the rights of fishermen in waters +bordering upon countries with contiguous territory, the use of +water-power, the erection of structures on frontiers, outrages upon +aliens, are examples of justiciable subjects, and these are made +susceptible of adjudication and decision under these treaties. It is +now proposed to establish a permanent method of disposing of such +questions without preliminary quarrels and menaces whose result may +never be foreseen. + +Certain questions of governmental or traditional policy are by their +very nature excluded from the consideration of the Joint High +Commission, or even the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. +Such specific exemptions it is not necessary to set forth in the +treaties. Objection has been made that under the first section of the +pending pacts it might be claimed that we would be called upon to +submit to arbitration of the Monroe Doctrine, or our right to exclude +foreign peoples from our shores, or the question of the validity of +southern bonds issued in reconstruction days. + +The Monroe Doctrine is not a justiciable question, but one of purely +governmental policy which we have followed for nearly a century, and in +which the countries of Europe have generally acquiesced. With respect +to the exclusion of immigrants, it is a principle of international law +that every country may admit only those whom it chooses. This is a +subject of domestic policy in which no foreign country can interfere +unless it is covered by a treaty, and then it may become properly a +matter of treaty construction. + +With reference to the right to involve the United States in a +controversy over the obligation of certain Southern States to pay bonds +issued during reconstruction, which have been repudiated, it is +sufficient to say that the pending treaties affect only cases hereafter +arising, and the cases of the Southern bonds all arose years ago. + +After a time, if our treaties stand the test of experience and prove +useful, it is probable that all the greatest Powers on earth will come +under obligation to arbitrate their differences with other nations. +Naturally, the smaller nations will do likewise, and then universal +arbitration will be more of an actuality than an altruistic dream. + +The evil of war, and what follows in its train, I need not dwell upon. +We could not have a higher object than the adoption of any proper and +honorable means which would lessen the chance of armed conflicts. Men +endure great physical hardships in camp and on the battle-field. In our +Civil War the death-roll in the Union Army alone reached the appalling +aggregate of 359,000. But the suffering and perils of the men in the +field, distressing as they are to contemplate, are slight in comparison +with the woes and anguish of the women who are left behind. The hope +that husband, brother, father, son may be spared the tragic end which +all soldiers risk, when they respond to their country's call, buoys +them up in their privations and heart-breaking loneliness. But theirs +is the deepest pain, for the most poignant suffering is mental rather +than physical. No pension compensates for the loss of husband, son, or +father. The glory of death in battle does not feed the orphaned +children, nor does the pomp and circumstance of war clothe them. The +voice of the women of America should speak for peace. + + + + +TRAGEDY OF THE "TITANIC" + +THE SPEED CRAZE AND ITS OUTCOME A.D. 1912 + +WILLIAM INGLIS + +No other disaster at sea has ever resulted in such loss of human life +as did the sinking of the _Titanic_ on the night of April 15, 1912. +Moreover, no other disaster has ever included among its victims so many +people of high position and repute and real value to the world. The +_Titanic_ was on her first voyage, and this voyage had served to draw +together many notables. She was advertised as the largest steamer in +the world and as the safest; she was called "unsinkable." The ocean +thus struck its blow at no mean victim, but at the ship supposedly the +queen of all ships. + +Through the might of the great tragedy, man was taught two lessons. One +was against boastfulness. He has not yet conquered nature; his +"unsinkable" masterpiece was torn apart like cardboard and plunged to +the bottom. The other and more solemn teaching was against the speed +mania, which seems more and more to have possessed mankind. His autos, +his railroads, even his fragile flying-machines, have been keyed up for +record speed. The _Titanic_ was racing for a record when she perished. + +Her loss has created almost a revolution in ocean traffic. "Let us go +more slowly!" was the cry. Safety became the chief advertisement of the +big ship lines; and speed, Speed the adored, shriveled into the +dishonored god of a moment's madness. + +The wreck of the steamship _Titanic_, of the White Star Line, the +newest and biggest and presumably the safest ship in the world, is the +greatest marine disaster known in the history of ocean traffic. She ran +into an iceberg off the Banks of Newfoundland at 11.40 Sunday night, +April 14th, and at twenty minutes past two sank in two miles of ocean +depth. More than fifteen hundred lives were lost and a few more than +seven hundred saved. + +The _Titanic_ was a marvel of size and luxury. Her length was 882-1/2 +feet--far exceeding the height of the tallest buildings in the +world--her breadth of beam was 92 feet, and her depth from topmost deck +to keel was 94 feet. She was of 45,000 tons register and 66,000 tons +displacement. Her structure was the last word in size, speed, and +luxury at sea. Her interior was like that of some huge hotel, with wide +stairways and heavy balustrades, with elevators running up and down the +height of nine decks out of her twelve; with swimming-pools, Turkish +baths, saloons, and music-rooms, and a little golf-course on the +highest deck. Her master was Capt. E. J. Smith, a veteran of more than +thirty years' able and faithful service in the company's ships, whose +only mishap had occurred when the giant _Olympic_, under his command, +collided with the British cruiser _Hawke_ in the Solent last September. +He was exonerated because the great suction exerted by the _Olympic_ in +a narrow channel inevitably drew the two vessels together. + +There were over 2,200 people aboard the _Titanic_ when she left +Southampton on Wednesday for her maiden voyage--325 first-cabin +passengers, 285 second-cabin, 710 steerage, and a crew of 899. Among +that ship's company were many men and women of prominence in the arts, +the professions, and in business. Colonel John Jacob Astor and his +bride, who was Miss Madeleine Force, were among them; also Major +Archibald Butt, military aide to President Taft; Charles M. Hays, +president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad, with his family; William +T. Stead, of the London _Review of Reviews_; Benjamin Guggenheim, of +the celebrated mining family; G. D. Widener, of Philadelphia; F. D. +Millet, the noted artist; Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Straus; J. Thayer, +vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad; J. Bruce Ismay, chairman +of the White Star Line's board of directors; Henry B. Harris, +theatrical manager; Colonel Washington Roebling, the engineer; Jacques +Futrelle, the novelist; and Henry Sleeper Harper, a grandson of Joseph +Wesley Harper, one of the founders of the house of Harper & Brothers. + +As the _Titanic_ was leaving her pier at Southampton there came a sound +like the booming of artillery. The passengers thronging to the rail saw +the steamship _New York_ slowly drawing near. The movement of the +_Titanic's_ gigantic body had sucked the water away from the quay so +violently that the seven stout hawsers mooring the _New York_ to her +pier snapped like rotten twine, and she bore down on the giant ship +stern first and helpless. The _Titanic_ reversed her engines, and tugs +plucked the _New York_ away barely in time to avoid a bad smash. If any +old sailors regarded this accident as an evil omen, there is little +reason to think the thing affected the spirits of the passengers on the +great floating hotel. As the ship passed the time of day by wireless +with her distant neighbors out of sight beyond the horizon of the ocean +lanes, she reported good weather, machinery working smoothly, all going +well. + +For some reason the great fleet of icebergs which drifts south of Cape +Race every summer moved down unusually early this year. The _Carmania_, +three days in advance of the _Titanic_, ran into the ice-field on +Thursday. The ship at reduced speed dodged about, avoiding enormous +bergs along her course, while far away on every hand glinted the +shining high white sides of many more of the menacing ice mountains. +Passengers photographed the brilliant monsters. The steamship +_Niagara_, many leagues astern, reported a slight collision, with no +great harm done. That was enough. Captain Dow retraced his course to +the northeast and, after an hour's steaming, laid a new course for Fire +Island buoy. The presence of the great bergs and accompanying masses of +field-ice so very early in the season was most unusual. + +Into this desolate waste of sea came the _Titanic_ on Sunday evening. +She encountered fog, for the region is almost continuously swathed in +the mists raised by the contact of the Arctic current with the warm +waters of the Gulf Stream. Scattered far and wide in every direction +were many icebergs, shrouded in gray, invisible to the eyes of the +sharpest lookouts, lying in wait for their prey. + +Not only were the bergs invisible to the keenest eyes, but the sudden +drop in the temperature of the ocean which ordinarily is the warning of +the nearness of a berg was now of no avail; for there were so many of +the bergs and so widely scattered that the temperature of the sea was +uniformly cold. Moreover, the submarine bell, which gives warning to +navigators of the neighborhood of shoal water, does not signify the +approach of icebergs. The newest ocean giant was in deadly peril, +though probably few of her passengers guessed it, so reassuring are the +huge bulk, the skilful construction, the watertight compartments, the +able captain and crew, to the mind of the landsman. Dinner was long +past, and many of the passengers doubtless turned to thoughts of supper +after hours of talk or music or cards; for there were not many +promenading the cold, foggy decks of the onrushing steamship. + +The _Titanic_ was about eight hundred miles to the southeastward of +Halifax, three hundred and fifty miles southeast of treacherous Cape +Race, when her great body dashed, glancing, against an enormous berg. +The discipline and good order for which British captains and British +sailors have long been noted prevailed in this crisis; for it is proven +by the fact that the rescued were nearly all women and children. + +From that rich, rushing, gay, floating world, with its saloons and +baths and music-rooms and elevators, now suddenly shattered into +darkness, only one utterance came. Phillips, the wireless operator, +seized his key and telegraphed in every direction the call "S O S!" +Gossiping among telegraphers hundreds of miles apart, messages of +business import, all the scores of things that fill the ocean air with +tremulous whisperings of etheric waves, began to give over their +chattering. Again and again Phillips repeated the letters which spell +disaster until the air for a thousand miles around was electrically +silent. Then he sent his message: + +"Have struck an iceberg; badly damaged; rush aid; steamship _Titanic_; +41.46 N., 50.14 W." + +There was no other ship in sight. Far as the eye could reach no spot of +light broke the gray darkness; yet other ships could hear and read the +cry for help, and, wheeling in their courses, they drove full speed +ahead for the wreck. The _Baltic_, two hundred miles to the eastward, +bound for Europe, turned back to the rescue; the _Olympic_, still +farther away, hastened to the aid of her sister ship; the _Cincinnati, +Prince Adelbert, Amerika,_ the _Prinz Friederich Wilhelm_, and many +others, abandoned all else to fly to help those in danger. Nearest of +all was the _Carpathia_, bound from New York for Mediterranean ports, +only sixty miles away. And as they all, with forced draft and every +possible device for adding to speed, dashed through the misty night on +their errand of mercy, Phillips, of the _Titanic_, kept wafting from +his key the story of disaster. The thing he repeated oftenest was: +"Badly damaged. Rush aid." Now and then he gave the ship's position in +latitude and longitude as nearly as it could be estimated by her +officers as she was carried southward by the current that runs swiftly +in this northern sea, so that the rescuers could keep their prows +accurately pointed toward the wreck. Soon he began to announce, "We are +down by the head and sinking rapidly." About one o'clock in the morning +the last words from Phillips rippled through the heavy air, "We are +almost gone." + +The crew were summoned to their stations; the lifeboats and liferafts +were swiftly provisioned and furnished with water as well as could be +done. Yet this provision could hardly have been very extensive, since +it has long been an accepted axiom of the sea that the modern giant +ships are indestructible, or at least unsinkable. + +"Women and children first," the order long enforced among all decent +men who use the sea, was the word passed from man to man as the boats +were filled, the boatfalls rattled, and the frail little cockleshells +were lowered into the calm sea. What farewells there were on those dark +and reeking decks between husbands and wives and all other men and +women of the same family one can hardly dare think about. Steadily the +work of filling the boats and lowering away went on until the last +frail craft had been dropped upon the ocean from the sides of the liner +and the whole little fleet rose and fell on the sea beside the great +black hulk. And when the last crowded boat had come down and there was +no possibility of removing one more human being from the wreck, there +were still more than fifteen hundred men on her decks. So far had +belief in the invulnerability of the modern ship curtailed sane and +proper provision for taking care of her people in time of calamity. + +One can imagine with what frantic but impotent hope, as the sinking +decks and menacing plash of waters within told of the imminent last +plunge, those thousands of eyes strained at the misty wall of grayish +black that enclosed them on every hand. Not one gleam of light in any +quarter. The last horrible gurglings within the waterlogged shell of +steel that a little while before had been the proudest ship of all the +seas told unmistakably that the end was at hand. Down by the head went +the giant _Titanic_ at twenty minutes past two o'clock on Monday +morning, April 15th. And she took fifteen hundred people with her. + +Four hours passed before the shivering people in the small boats heard +the siren whistle that announced the approach of a steamship from the +south. There was a heavy fog and they could not see one hundred fathoms +off over the clashing and grinding ice that floated in fields on every +side. Soon after seven o'clock in the morning the ship came in sight +and presently hove to among the fleet of boats and liferafts--the +steamship _Carpathia_, out of New York on April 11th for Mediterranean +ports. She began at once to take aboard the survivors, and in a few +hours had every boat hoisted aboard. The _Olympic_ and _Baltic_, +learning by wireless that the rescues had all been effected, proceeded +on their way. + +The _Virginian_ and the _Parisian_, which arrived at the scene of the +disaster a few hours later, could find no sign of any living person +afloat, though they cruised for a long time among the wreckage before +standing away on their courses. The _Carpathia_ at first was headed for +Halifax, but upon learning by wireless that that harbor was ice-bound, +Mr. J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the Board of Directors of the White +Star Line, suggested that the ship head for New York. This was done. +The _Carpathia_, with nine hundred passengers of her own and the seven +hundred survivors, reached New York in safety. + +The sad international tragedy of the sinking of the _Titanic_ touched +men's souls more deeply than any other disaster in many years. To +English-speaking races in particular the horror of the occasion pressed +close home; for here was the best of British ships bearing many of the +most prominent of America's people. To these seasoned voyagers, +crossing the Atlantic had become a mere pleasant trifle, seeming no +more dangerous than an afternoon's shopping in town. Then suddenly +there was thrust upon all of them that ancient, awful knowledge that +"in the midst of life we are in death." + +Both American passengers and English crew lived up to the best +traditions of their race. There was no panic, no fighting for places in +the boats on the doomed ship. On the contrary, people refused to +believe in the imminence of danger. The idea that the ship was +unsinkable had been so borne in on them that even when summoned upon +deck and ordered to put on life-belts, many of them refused. In the +first boats gotten away from the ship, there were not many people. Some +refused to climb down through the deep blackness into the tiny craft. +They thought the tumult all an empty scare that would soon pass. + +When the steady, ominous settling of the huge ship's bulk broke through +this shallow confidence, there was a solemn change. Grand and tender +scenes there were on those sinking decks; of husbands and wives parting +with the utterance of a hope, turned suddenly to terror, that they +would soon meet again; of other wives who refused to leave their +husbands and deliberately stayed to share their fate. Few of the more +noted passengers were among those saved. Bruce Ismay, director of the +steamship line, was one. The captain went down with his ship, as did +most of his officers, though some of the latter saved themselves by +clinging to the wreckage which rose after the vessel's plunge. While +she was sinking her band still played "Nearer, my God, to thee," and +other earnest hymns. Death did not find the old Saxon stock cringing +from him with hysteria and frenzy. Sudden as was his coming, wholly +unexpected as was his hideous visage, he was met with the calm courage +which is the best tradition of the race. + +And what have been the consequences of this overwhelming tragedy? An +investigation was immediately begun in America by the United States +Government. Another, slower, dignified and ponderous, was afterward +undertaken by the British Government. Both of them in the end +attributed the disaster to practically the same cause, the speed mania +which has overtaken the nations, the heedlessness of man's +over-confidence which takes risks so many times successfully that it +grows to forget that risks exist. + +The _Titanic's_ captain wanted to make a record on her maiden voyage. +His directors wanted him to make a record. That would mean increased +advertisement and increased traffic for their line. So in the face of +danger, knowing there were icebergs all around him, the captain rushed +his ship blindly ahead. The chance of his actually hitting an iceberg +was scarce one in a hundred. So he took the chance. The probability +that if he did strike an iceberg it could do irreparable damage to his +stout ship, was scarce one in a hundred. So he took that chance also. +He gambled with Death, as a thousand speed-driven captains had gambled +before. This time it was Death's turn to win. + +A gamble even more reprehensible was that of the steamship companies, +who had grown so sure their ships would not sink that they no longer +provided sufficient means of escape from them. Why load a vessel down +with useless life-boats, which only hung the year in and year out, +blocking up space? Every foot of that space was valuable. It might make +room for an extra passenger, or provide an extra amusement to draw +traffic. What voyager ever counted life-boats, or worked out the awful +calculation, so obvious now, that there was only rescue space provided +for one-third of the number of souls aboard? Was not the ship +"unsinkable" after all? + +The _Titanic_ is gone. Our sorrow for her is becoming but a memory. Our +ships carry lifeboats sufficient now; they are compelled to by law. And +our sea captains run on safer lines; that, too, the law has made +compulsory. But it will be long before man's overweening +self-confidence rises from the shock which has been given to his belief +in his mechanical ability. Nature is not conquered yet. Ocean has still +a strength beyond ours. Ships are not unsinkable; and Death will still +take his toll of bold men's lives in the future as he has done in the +past. We know that cowardice costs more than courage, but it is not so +tragically costly as blind foolhardiness. + + + + +OUR PROGRESSING KNOWLEDGE OF LIFE SURGERY PERPETUATES THE BODY'S ORGANS + +A.D. 1912 + +GENEVIEVE GRANDCOURT Prof. R. LEGENDRE + +Several years ago a wealthy Swedish manufacturer of dynamite left, by +his will, a fund for the providing of a large prize to be conferred +each year upon the person who has accomplished most for the peaceful +progress of mankind. This annual sum of forty thousand dollars, which +is called from its donor the "Nobel prize," was, in October, 1912, +conferred upon a surgeon, Dr. Alexis Carrel, for his remarkable work in +the study of the life of the tissues and organs which exist in the +human body. + +Even before this public recognition of his work, Dr. Carrel had in the +summer of 1912 created a furor among the savants of Paris by the +announcement of what he had accomplished. Carrel, though a native-born +Frenchman, is an American by education and citizenship, and the French +were at first inclined to challenge the value of his work. We therefore +present here a "popular" scientific account of what he had achieved, +reprinted by permission from the _Scientific American_. Then comes the +grudging approval of Professor Legendre, the noted "Preparator of +Zoology," head of that section in the National Museum of Paris. + +Briefly stated, the impressive step which science has here taken, is +the preservation of life in the heart and other organs so that these +may be taken out of the body and yet kept alive for months. With +smaller animals Carrel has even accomplished the actual transferrence +of organs from one individual to another. As for the simpler bodily +tissues, it now seems possible to preserve these indefinitely outside +the body, not only alive but in excellent health and ready to reassume +their functions in another body. + + +GENEVIEVE GRANDCOURT + + +THE "IMMORTALITY" OF TISSUES + +A very evident disadvantage under which medical science has labored has +been the impossibility of watching the chemical process set in motion +by substances introduced into the body. For this reason various +experimenters, from time to time, have attempted to "grow tissues" +artificially, in such manner that their development, functions, and +decay--under both healthy and diseased conditions--might be studied +under the microscope. The only way in which this could be done would be +to take a piece of living tissue from the body, and cause its cells to +multiply; tissue being made up of an aggregation of cells. + +Science has failed to produce a single living cell, that is, a cell +which will undergo the process of nuclear division (growth) which is +the prime condition of its being; and it seemed equally impossible to +cause a cell already living to undergo the same process if deprived of +the circulation of the blood. Therefore, when in 1910 it was announced +that Dr. Alexis Carrel with his assistant, Dr. M. T. Burrows, had +succeeded, scientific credulity was taxed. A well-known French savant +expressed the opinion before the Society of Biology in Paris, that as +others experimenting along these lines, had witnessed only degeneration +and survival of cells, this phenomenon was all Carrel's discovery +amounted to. In view of past experience, indeed, the chances were in +favor of a mistake. In 1897, Leo Loeb said that he had produced this +artificial growth both within and without the body. Obviously, such +development within the organism where the process of utilizing the +body-fluids, etc., follows the same course as in nature, takes on the +character of grafting rather than of cultivating in a culture medium. +As to causing the external growth, it was ten years later before it +seems first to have succeeded. In 1907 Harrison, from Johns Hopkins +University, furnished details of his research in such form as to be +convincing. But his work had reference to the growth of tissues only of +coldblooded animals, he having cultivated artificially, nerve fibers +from the central nervous system of the frog. + +Carrel's work consisted in extending Harrison's method to apply to +warm-blooded animals, including, of course, mammals; he having +primarily in view at this time a more precise knowledge of the laws +governing the restoration of tissues, for example, after serious +surgical wounds. He and his assistant worked steadily to this end, and +succeeded. The tissues of the higher animals, including man, can now be +developed in a culture, and such development can be made to correspond +to a rigidly precise technique. The feat is accomplished by putting +minute pieces of living tissue into a plasmatic (blood) medium which +will coagulate. So complicated is this apparently simple matter in its +application that only the most exquisite surgical skill is proof +against incalculable modifications in results. + +Having obtained evidence that tissue can be cultivated in accordance +with a formula that may be relied upon to give definite results, the +effort was made to grow artificially the various malignant (cancerous) +tissues, in turn, of chicken, rat, dog, and human being. Cancerous +tissue invariably developed cancer, and so rapidly and extensively that +the growth could be observed with the naked eye. + +It now became evident that, under the right circumstances, the +artificial growth of tissues could be utilized in the study of many +problems; such as malignant growth of tissue; certain problems in +immunity, as, for example, the production of antitoxins of certain +organisms; the regulation of the growth of the organism, or of +different parts of the organism; rejuvenation and senility; and the +character of the internal secretions of the glands, such as the thyroid +which plays a role most important in physical and mental development. +The difficulty lay in the fact that the artificial growth was so very +short-lived. It was found that by passing the growth into a new medium, +and repeating the process, the tissues would begin to grow again; but +their life even under these circumstances was limited at the most to +twenty days. This was manifestly too short a time in which to study the +fundamental questions to which the researchers had addressed +themselves. Thereupon, study was taken up to determine the question as +to _what made these tissues die_. It was found that, apparently as +incidental to growth, there was the process of decay, due to an +_inability of the tissues to eliminate waste products._ + +On January 17, 1912, experiments were commenced to determine whether +these effects could be overcome. The observations were on the heart and +blood-vessels, artificially grown, of the chicken fetus. These growths +were put into a salt solution for a few minutes at different periods of +their growth, and then placed in a new plasmatic medium. It was found +that by following this method, the tissues could be made to live +indefinitely. When an animal is in the early stages of its development, +the growth of its tissues is necessarily greater as it matures, there +being steady diminution after a certain age until the growth altogether +ceases, and the size of the animal is determined. But it was found by +subjecting these artificial growths to washings in salt solution that +the mass was _fifteen times greater at the end of than at the +commencement of the third month, showing that they do not grow old at +all!_ In the artificial growth the problem of senility and death is +solved. + +It was the announcement of this "permanent life of tissues" that caused +such a furor in Paris last summer, and several eminent scientists to +demand ocular demonstration, because "the discovery, if true, +constituted the greatest scientific advance of a generation." + +The following summary of this interesting and vitally important and +epoch-making work of Carrel is translated from an article published in +Paris recently by Professor Pozzi, who witnessed the experiments: + +"Carrel found that the pulsations of a fragment of heart, which had +diminished in number and intensity _or ceased_, could be revived to the +normal state by a washing and a passage. In a secondary culture, two +fragments of heart, separated by a free space, beat as strongly and +regularly. The larger fragment contracted 92 times a minute and the +smaller 120 times. For three days, the number and intensity of the +pulsations varied slightly. On the fourth day, the pulsations +diminished considerably in intensity. The large fragment beat 40 times +a minute and the little fragment 90 times. The culture was washed and +placed in a new medium. An hour and a half after, the pulsations had +become very strong. The large fragment contracted 120 times a minute +and the small fragment 160 times. At the same time the fragments grew +rapidly. At the end of eight hours they were united and formed a mass +of which all the parts beat synchronically." + +Experiments to date seem to establish that the connective tissue, at +any rate, is "immortal." + +From this research, it is possible to arrive at certain logical +conclusions, which, however, it remains for the future to confirm. One, +and the most important, is that the normal circulation of the blood +does not succeed in freeing all the waste products of the tissues, and +that this is the cause of senility and death. Were science to find some +way to wash the tissues in the living organism as they have been washed +in these cultures, man's life might be indefinitely prolonged. + + +R. LEGENDRE + +The Nobel prize in medicine for 1912 has just been awarded to Dr. +Alexis Carrel, a Frenchman, of Lyon, now employed at the Rockefeller +Institute of New York, for his entire work relating to the suture of +vessels and the transplantation of organs. + +The remarkable results obtained in these fields by various +experimenters, of whom Carrel is most widely known, and also the +wonderful applications made of them by certain surgeons have already +been widely published. + +The journals have frequently spoken lately of "cultures" of tissues +detached from the organism to which they belonged; and some of them, +exaggerating the results already obtained, have stated that it is now +possible to make living tissues grow and increase when so detached. + +Having given these subjects much study I wish to state here what has +already been done and what we may hope to accomplish. As a matter of +fact we do not yet know how to construct living cells; the forms +obtained with mineral substances by Errera, Stephane Leduc, and others, +have only a remote resemblance to those of life; neither do we know how +to prevent death; but yet it is interesting to know that it is possible +to prolong for some time the life of organs, tissues, and cells after +they have been removed from the organism. + +The idea of preserving the life of greater or lesser parts of an +organism occurred at about the same time to a number of persons, and +though the ends in view have been quite different, the investigations +have led to essentially similar results. The surgeons who for a long +time have transplanted various organs and grafted different tissues, +bits of skin among others, have sought to prolong the period during +which the grafts may be preserved alive from the time they are taken +from the parent individual until they are implanted either upon the +same subject or upon another. The physiologists have attempted to +isolate certain organs and preserve them alive for some time in order +to simplify their experiments by suppressing the complex action of the +nervous system and of glands which often render difficult a proper +interpretation of the experiments. The cytologists have tried to +preserve cells alive outside the organism in more simple and +well-defined conditions. These various efforts have already given, as +we shall see, very excellent results both as regards the theoretical +knowledge of vital phenomena and for the practise of surgery. + +It has been possible to preserve for more or less time many organs in a +living condition when detached from the organism. The organ first tried +and which has been most frequently and completely investigated is the +heart. This is because of its resistance to any arrest of the +circulation and also because its survival is easily shown by its +contractility. In man the heart has been seen to beat spontaneously and +completely 25 minutes after a legal decapitation (Renard and Loye, +1887), and by massage of the organ its beating may be restored after it +has been arrested for 40 minutes (Rehn, 1909). By irrigation of the +heart and especially of its coronary vessels the period of revival may +be much prolonged. + +The first experiments with artificial circulation in the isolated heart +were made in Ludwig's laboratory, but they were limited to the frog and +the inferior vertebrates. Since then experiments on the survival of the +heart have multiplied and become classic. Artificial circulation has +kept the heart of man contracting normally for 20 hours (Kuliabko, +1902), that of the monkey for 54 hours (Hering, 1903), that of the +rabbit for 5 days (Kuliabko, 1902), etc. It has also enabled us to +study the influence upon the heart of physical factors, such as +temperature, isotonia; chemical factors, such as various salts and the +different ions; and even complex pharmaceutical products. Kuliabko +(1902) was even able to note contractions in the heart of a rabbit that +had been kept in cold storage for 18 hours, and in the heart of a cat +similarly kept after 24 hours. The other muscular organs have naturally +been investigated in a manner analogous to that which has been used for +the heart; and for the same reason, because it can be readily seen +whether or not they are alive. The striated muscles survive for quite a +long time after removal, especially if they are preserved at the +temperature of the body and care is taken to prevent their drying. By +this method many investigations have been made of muscular contractions +in isolated muscles. Landois has noted that the muscles of a man may be +made to contract two hours and a half after removal, those of the frog +and the tortoise 10 days after. Recently Burrows (1911) has noted a +slight increase in the myotomes of the embryo chick after they have +been kept for 2 to 6 days in coagulated plasma. + +Non-muscular organs may also survive a removal from the parent +organism, but the proofs of their survival are more difficult to +establish because of the absence of movements. Carrel (1906) grafted +fragments of vessels that had been in cold storage for several days +upon the course of a vessel of a living animal of the same species; in +1907 he grafted upon the abdominal aorta of a cat a segment of the +jugular vein of a dog removed 7 days previously, also a segment of the +carotid of a dog removed 20 days before; the circulation was +reestablished normally; these experiments have, however, been +criticized by Fleig, who thinks that the grafted fragments were dead +and served merely as supports and directors for the regeneration of the +vessels upon which they were set. In 1909 Carrel removed the left +kidney from a bitch, kept it out of the body for 50 minutes, and then +replaced it; the extirpation of the other kidney did not cause the +death of the animal, which remained for more than a year normal and in +good health, thus proving the success of the graft. In 1910 Carrel +succeeded with similar experiments on the spleen. + +Taken altogether, these experiments show that the greater part, if not +all, of the bodily organs are able to survive for more or less time +after removal from the organism when favorable conditions are +furnished. There is no doubt but what the observed times of survival +may be considerably prolonged when we have a better knowledge of the +serums that are most favorable and the physical and chemical conditions +that are most advantageous. + +If we can preserve the organs, we may expect to also keep alive the +tissues and cells of which they are composed. Biologists have studied +these problems, too, and have also obtained in this department some +very interesting results. + +The cells which live naturally isolated in the organism, such as the +corpuscles of the blood and spermatozoa, were the first studied. Since +1910 experiments on the survival of tissues have multiplied and at the +same time more knowledge has been obtained concerning the conditions +most favorable to survival and the microscopical appearances of the +tissues so preserved. In 1910 Harrison, having placed fragments of an +embryo frog in a drop of coagulated lymph taken from an adult, saw them +continue their development for several weeks, the muscles and the +epithelium differentiating, the nervous rudiments sending out into the +lymph filaments similar to nerve fibers. Since 1910 with the aid of Dr. +Minot, I have succeeded in preserving alive the nerve cells of the +spinal ganglia of adult dogs and rabbits by placing them in +defibrinated blood of the same animal, through which there bubbled a +current of oxygen. At zero and perhaps better at 15 deg.-20 deg., the structure +of the cells and their colorable substance is preserved without notable +change for at least four days; moreover, when the temperature is raised +again to 39 deg., certain of the cells give a proof of their survival by +forming new prolongations, often of a monstrous character. At 39 deg. some +of the ganglion cells which have been preserved rapidly lose their +colorability and then their structure breaks up, but a certain number +of the others form numerous outgrowths extremely varied in appearance. +We have, besides, studied the influence of isotony, of agitation, and +of oxygenation, and these experiments have enabled me to ascertain the +best physical conditions required for the survival of nervous tissue. +In 1910, Burrows, employing the technique of Harrison, obtained results +similar to his with fragments of embryonic chickens. Since 1910 Carrel +and Burrows applied the same method to what they call the "culture" of +the tissues of the adult dog and rabbit; they have thus preserved and +even multiplied cells of cartilage, of the thyroid, the kidney, the +bone marrow, the spleen, of cancer, etc. Perhaps Carrel and his +collaborators may be criticized for calling "culture" that which is +merely a survival, but there still remains in their work a great +element of real interest. + +Such are, too briefly summarized, the experiments which have been made +up to the present time. We can readily imagine the practical +consequences which we may very shortly hope to derive from them, and +the wonderful applications of them which will follow in the domain of +surgery. Without going so far as the dream of Dr. Moreau depicted by +Wells, since grafts do not succeed between animals of different +species, we may hope that soon, in many cases, the replacing of organs +will be no longer impossible, but even easy, thanks to methods of +conservation and survival which will enable us to have always at hand +material for exchange. + +The dream of to-day may be reality to-morrow. + +There are also other consequences which will follow from these +researches. I hope that they will permit us to study the physical and +chemical factors of life under much simpler conditions than heretofore, +and it is toward this end that I am directing my researches. They will +enable us to approach much nearer the solution of the old insoluble +problem of life and death. What indeed is the death of an organism all +of whose parts may yet survive for some time? + +These, then, are the researches made in this domain, fecund from every +point of view, and the great increase in the number of experts who are +taking them up, while it is a proof of their interest, gives hope for +their rapid progress. + + + + +THE OVERTHROW OF TURKEY + +THE FIRST BALKAN WAR A.D. 1912 + +J. ELLIS BARKER FREDERICK PALMER Prof. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +Turkey's _opera-bouffe_ war with Italy in 1911 plunged her into a far +more terrible and sanguinary struggle. Seeing her weakness, the little +Balkan States seized the opportunity to unite and attack her. Each of +the Balkan allies had once been crushed by Turkey and had fought for +freedom. Each was jealous and suspicious of all the others. Each people +hoped that in the break-up of Turkey their own land would be enlarged. +Each saw members of their own race oppressed in the Macedonian region +still held by Turkey. In face of their great opportunity, however, all +the four States--Bulgaria, Greece, Servia, and Montenegro--hushed their +own quarrels and joined in attacking their common enemy. + +Of the causes of the war, Mr. J. Ellis Barker, the noted English +authority on Turkey, here gives a brief account. The tale of the first +glorious campaign, with its big battles of Kirk-Kilesseh and +Lule-Burgas, is then told by Mr. Frederick Palmer, the foremost of +American war correspondents upon the scene. The confused negotiations +for peace are then detailed by Prof. Stephen P. Duggan, our American +authority upon the Balkan States. + + +J. ELLIS BARKER + +A short time ago I read an interesting account of Sir Max Waechter's +recent journey to the capitals of Turkey and all the other Balkan +States. He had visited these towns wit the object of laying before the +Sovereigns of the Balkan States and their Ministers proposals for +abolishing war by the creation of a European Federation of States. All +the Balkan Sovereigns and Ministers whom he had seen had expressed +themselves sympathetically and favorably and had agreed to accept the +_status quo_. A month later all the Balkan States were at war; Russia, +Austria-Hungary, and Italy were arming, and people were anxiously +discussing the possibility of a world war. The sudden transition from +peace to war appears inexplicable to those unacquainted with the +realities of foreign policy. + +In July, 1908, the Turkish Revolution broke out. It was a great and +immediate success. Never in the world's history had there been so +successful a revolution or one so bloodless. As by magic, Turkey was +changed from a medieval State into a modern democracy. The Turkish +masses were rejoicing. Old feuds were forgotten. Mohammedans and +Christians fraternized. The words Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, +Parliamentarism, and Democracy were on all lips. Over night a new +Turkey had arisen. Soon the leaders of Young Turkey began to assert the +right and claims of the new-born State. We were told that European +intervention in the affairs of Turkey would no longer be tolerated, and +that those parts of the Turkish Empire which, though nominally subject +to the Sultan, were no longer under Turkish control, would have to be +handed back. Great Britain was to restore Egypt and Austria-Hungary +Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many Englishmen indorsed these claims, and told +us that a new era had opened in the East. At that time only a few +people ventured to doubt whether the Turkish Revolution would be a +lasting success. I think I was the only British publicist who +immediately and unhesitatingly foretold that Parliamentary Government +in Turkey was bound to be a failure, and that it would inevitably lead +to the formation of a Balkan Confederation which would attack Turkey. I +said then: + +"European Turkey has about 6,000,000 inhabitants, of whom only about +one-third are Turks. + +"The Young Turks have the choice of two evils. They must either follow +a Liberal or a Conservative policy. If they follow a Liberal policy, if +they introduce Parliamentary representation, self-government, and +majority rule in Turkey in general, and in Macedonia in particular, the +Christians will be the majority, and it seems likely that they will +then oust the Turkish minority and convert the ruling race into a ruled +race. A Liberal policy will, therefore, bring about the rapid +disintegration of the Turkish Empire. + +"Foreseeing the danger of allowing the alien elements to be further +strengthened, many patriotic Turks have demanded that a vigorous +Conservative policy should be pursued which will abolish the national +differences among the alien races and between the alien races and the +Turks. They demand that a Turkish national policy should be initiated, +that the aliens should be nationalized in Turkish national schools, +that Turkish shall be the language of Turkey, that the Greek, +Bulgarian, and other schools shall be closed. Will Bulgaria, Greece, +and Servia quietly look on while the work of a generation is being +undone? Will the Greeks, Serbs, and Bulgarians residing in Turkey allow +themselves to be denationalized more or less forcibly? Besides, can +they be denationalized against their will except by destroying the +Parliamentary and democratic Government, the Constitution of yesterday, +and by reintroducing the ancient absolutism in an aggravated form? Two +hundred years ago the Turks could easily have nationalized the alien +races by means of the church and the school, but it seems that it is +now too late to make an attempt at turning the subject races into +Turks. + +"In endeavoring to settle the conflicts among the alien nationalities +and between the aliens and the Turks, the path of the new Turkish +Government will scarcely be smooth. _The Balkan States_ are watching +events with attention. Although they congratulated the new Turkish +Government, they have no interest in Turkey's regeneration, and they +are bound to oppose the Ottomanization of their compatriots in Turkey. +Therefore, they _may be expected to draw the sword and to face Turkey +unitedly if they see their plans of expansion threatened by the +nationalization of the alien elements in Turkey_." + +Unfortunately, my forecast has come true in every particular. The +failure of New Turkey was natural. It was unavoidable. Ancient States +are ponderous and slow-moving bodies. Their course can be deflected and +their character be altered only by gradual evolution, by slow and +almost imperceptible changes spread over a long space of time. +Democracy, like a tree, is a thing of slow growth, and it requires a +congenial soil. It can not be created over night in Turkey, Persia, or +China. The attempt to convert an ancient Eastern despotism, firmly +established on a theocratic basis, a country in which the Koran and the +Multeka are the law of the land, into a Western democracy based on the +secular speculations of Rousseau, Montesquieu, Bentham, Mill, and +Spencer was ridiculous. The revolution effected only an outward change. +It introduced some Western innovations, but altered neither the +character of the Government nor that of the people. Turkish +Parliamentarism became a sham and a make-believe. The cruel absolutism +of Abdul Hamid was speedily followed by the scarcely less cruel +absolutism of a secret committee. + +The new rulers of the country were mostly very young men, who were +conspicuous for their enthusiasm and their daring but not for their +judgment and experience. They had picked upon the boulevards and in the +Quartier Latin of Paris and in Geneva the sonorous phrases of Western +democracy and demagogy, and with these they impressed, not only their +fellow citizens, but also the onlookers in Europe. Having obtained +power, they embarked upon a campaign of nationalization. However, +instead of trying to nationalize the non-Turkish millions slowly and +gradually by kind and just treatment coupled with a moderate amount of +nationalizing pressure, they began ruthlessly to make war upon the +language, and to suppress the churches, schools, and other institutions +of the non-Turkish citizens, whom they disarmed and deprived of their +ancient rights. The complaints and remonstrances of the persecuted were +answered with redoubled persecution, with violence, and with massacre, +and soon serious revolts broke out in all parts of the Empire. The +Young Turks followed faithfully in Abdul Hamid's footsteps. However, +Abdul Hamid was clever enough always to play off one nationality or +race against the other. In his Balkan policy, for instance, he +encouraged Greek Christians to slay Christian Bulgarians and Servians, +and allowed Bulgarian bands to make war upon Servians and Greeks, +supporting, on principle, one nationality against the other. But the +Young Turks persecuted indiscriminately and simultaneously all +non-Turkish races, Albanians, Bulgarians, Servians, and Greeks, and +thus they brought about the union of the Balkan States against +themselves. + +The outbreak of the war could scarcely have been prevented by the +European Powers. It was bound to come. It was as inevitable as was the +breakdown of the Young Turkish _regime_. Since the earliest times the +Turks have been a race of nomadic warriors. Their policy has always +been to conquer nations, to settle among the conquered, and to rule +them, keeping them in strict and humiliating subjection. They have +always treated the subject peoples harshly and contemptuously. Unlike +other conquerors, they have never tried to create among the conquered a +great and homogeneous State which would have promised permanence, but, +nomad-like, have merely created military settlement among aliens. +Therefore, the alien subjects of the Turks have remained aliens in +Turkey. They have not become citizens of the Empire. As the Turks did +not try to convert the conquered to Islam--the Koran forbids +proselytism by force--and to nationalize them, the subjected and +ill-treated alien masses never amalgamated with the ruling Turks, but +always strove to regain their liberty by rebellion. Owing to the +mistakes made in its creation, the Turkish Empire has been for a long +time an Empire in the process of disintegration. Its later history +consists of a long series of revolts, of which the present outbreak is +the latest, but scarcely the last, instance. + +The failure of the new Turkish _regime_ has increased to the utmost the +century-old antagonism between the ruling Turks and their Christian +subjects. The accounts of the sufferings of their brothers across the +borderline, inflicted upon them by Constitutional Turkey, which had +promised such great things, had raised the indignation of the Balkan +peoples to fever heat and had made an explosion of popular fury +inevitable. The war fever increased when it was discovered that +Servians, Bulgarians, and Greeks were at last of one mind, and that +Turkey's strength had been undermined by revolts in all parts of the +Empire and by the Turkish-Italian war. The Turks, on the other hand, +were not unnaturally indignant with the perfidy of the Christian +Powers, which, instead of supporting Turkey in her attempts at reform, +had snatched valuable territories from her immediately after her +revolution. Not unnaturally, they attributed the failure of the new +_regime_ and the revolts of their subjects to the machinations of the +Christian States, and the Balkan troubles to the hostile policy of the +Balkan States. The tension on both sides became intolerable. If the +Balkan States had not mobilized, a revolution would have broken out in +Sofia and Belgrade, for the people demanded war. If the Turkish +Government had given way to the Balkan States, a revolution would have +broken out in Constantinople. The instinct of self-preservation forced +the Balkan Governments and Turkey into war. The passions of race-hatred +had become uncontrollable. + + +FREDERICK PALMER[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission from an article in _Everybody's +Magazine_.] + +Against any one of his little Christian neighbors the Turk had superior +numbers, and had only to concentrate on a single section of his +many-sided frontier line. It had never entered his mind that the little +neighbors would form an alliance. He had trusted to their jealousies to +keep them apart. United, they could strike him on the front and both +sides simultaneously. He was due for an attack coming down the main +street and from alleys to the right and left. + +In this situation he must temporarily accept the defensive. Meanwhile, +he foresaw the battalions of "chocolate soldiers" beating themselves to +pieces against the breastworks of his garrisons, and Greek turning on +Serb and Serb on Bulgar after a taste of real war. Against divided +counsels would be one mind, which, with reenforcements of the faithful +from Asia Minor, would send the remnants of the _opera bouffe_ invasion +flying back over their passes. + +But the allies fully realized the danger of quarreling among +themselves, which would have been much harder to avert if their armies +had been acting together as a unit under a single command. Happily, +each army was to make a separate campaign under its own generals; each +had its own separate task; each was to strike at the force in front of +its own borders. Prompt, staggering blows before the Turkish reserves +could arrive were essential. + +The Montenegrins in the northwest, who had the side-show (while +Bulgaria, Servia, and Greece had the three rings under the main tent), +did their part when they invested the garrison of Scutari. + +Advancing northward, the Greeks, with strong odds in their favor, +easily took care of the Turkish force at Elassona and continued their +advance toward Salonika. + +Advancing southward, the Serbs, one hundred thousand strong (that is, +the army of their first line), moved on Kumanova among the hills, where +the forty thousand Turks defending the city of Uskub would make their +stand as inevitably as a board of army engineers would select Sandy +Hook as a site for some of the defenses of New York harbor. +Confidently, the Turkish commander staked all on the issue. + +The Serbs did not depend alone on mass or envelopment by flank. They +murderously and swiftly pressed the attack in the front as well as on +the sides; and the cost of victory was seven or eight thousand +casualties. Two or three fragments of the Turkish army escaped along +the road; otherwise, there was complete disintegration. + +Uskub was now undefended. It was the ancient capital of Servia; and the +feelings of the Serbs, as they marched in, approximated what ours would +be if our battalions were swinging down Pennsylvania Avenue after a +Mexican proconsul had occupied the White House for five hundred years. +Meanwhile, at Monastir were forty thousand more Turks. So far as +helping their comrades at Kumanova was concerned, they might as well +have been in jail in Kamchatka. You can imagine them sitting +cross-legged, Turkish fashion, waiting their turn. They broke the +precedent of Plevna, which the garrisons of Adrianople and Scutari +gloriously kept, by yielding rather easily. There must have been a +smile on the golden dome of the tomb of Napoleon, who thrashed the +armies of Europe in detail. + +A Servian division, immediately after Kumanova, started southwest over +the mountain passes in the snow and through the valleys in the mud to +clinch the great Servian object of the war with the nine points of +possession. To young Servia, Durazzo, the port of old Servia, is as +water to the gasping fish. It stands for unhampered trade relations +with the world; for economic freedom. When that division, ragged and +footsore, came at last in sight of the blue Adriatic--well, it may +safely be called a historic moment for one little nation. + +Now we turn from the side lines, where the Serbs and the Greeks were +occupied, to the neck of the funnel through which the Turkish +reenforcements from Asia Minor were coming. There the Bulgars had +undertaken the great, vital task of the war against the main Turkish +army. + +The Bulgarian army was little given to gaiety and laughter, but sang +the "Shuma Maritza" on the march. This is the song of big men in +boots--big white men with set faces--making the thunder of a torrent as +they charge. "Roaring Maritza" is the nearest that you can come to +putting it into English. The Maritza is the national river, and the +song pictures it swollen and rushing in the winter rains or when the +snows on the Balkans melt, on its way past the Bulgarian border into +Turkey; and the gray army was now to follow it to the Aegean, in the +spirit of its flood, and make the harbor at its mouth Bulgarian. + +Yes, a gray army, bent on a grim business in a hurry, in gray winter +weather and chill mountain mists, with the sun showing through overcast +skies--something of the kind of weather that bred the Scotch. Cromwell +or Stonewall Jackson would have felt at home, saying his prayers at the +double-quick, in such company. As mementos from home, the soldiers wore +in their caps and buttonholes withered flowers and sprigs of green +which their womenfolk had given in farewell. The women were just as +Spartan as the Spartans; perhaps more so. If any soldier lacked innate +courage, the spur of public opinion drove him forward in step with his +comrades. + +Naturally, Bulgarian generalship had to adapt its plan of campaign to +the obstacles between it and its adversary. For armies are cumbrous +affairs. In all times they have been tied down to roads and bridges. +The main highway and the main railway line from Sofia, the capital of +Bulgaria, to Constantinople both ran through Adrianople. Nature meant +this city, set in a basin among hills, for defense, and for the center +of any army defending Thrace. On the near-by hills is a circle of +permanent forts that commands all approaches for guns or infantry. In +front of it is the turbulent Maritza, and to the northeast lies the +town of Kirk-Kilesseh, partly fortified and naturally strong, which +formed the Turkish right. The left rested at Demotika, to the south of +Adrianople, in a rough country inaccessible to prompt action by a large +force. + +The Bulgars must turn one wing or the other. Foreign military experts +thought that Kirk-Kilesseh could be taken only after a long operation, +and then only by a force much larger than the Bulgars could spare for +concentration at any one point of the line. Let two weeks pass without +a definite victory, and the Turks would have numbers equal to the +Bulgars; a month, superior numbers. As it was, the Turks had +altogether, including the Adrianople garrison, a hundred and +seventy-five thousand men in strong position against the Bulgars' first +line of two hundred and eighty thousand. + +A branch of the Sofia-Constantinople railway line runs northeast to +Yamboli, on the Bulgarian frontier. Between Yamboli and Kirk-Kilesseh +is a highway--the Turkish kind of highway--and no unfordable streams or +other natural obstacles to an army's progress. At Yamboli the Bulgars +concentrated their third army corps, under General Demetrief, and a +portion of their second. The rest of the second faced Adrianople, while +the first corps operated to the south and east. + +Swinging around on Kirk-Kilesseh, the third army would not take "No!" +for an answer. The Bulgarian infantry stormed the redoubts in the +moonlight. They knew how to use the bayonet and the Turks did not. +Skilfully driven steel slaughtered Mohammedan fanaticism that fought +with clubbed guns, hands, and teeth, asking no quarter this side of +Paradise. Kirk-Kilesseh fell. The Turkish army, flanked, had to go; +Adrianople was isolated. The Bulgarian dead on the field could not +complain; the wounded were in the rear; the living had burning eyes on +the next goal. + +"_Na noj!"_ ("Fix bayonets!") had won. "_Na noj!_ Give them the steel!" +was the cry of a nation. Soldiers sang it out to one another on the +march. Children prattled it at home as if it were a new kind of game: + +"Give them the steel and they will go! Nothing can stop Bulgaria!" + +Not more than two Bulgarian soldiers out of twenty ever reached the +Turk with a bayonet. The Turk did not wait for them. So the bayonet +counted no less in the morale of the eighteen than of the two. +Frequently they fixed it at a distance of five or six hundred yards. +Their desire to use it made them press close at all points with the +grim initiative that will not be gainsaid. When they charged, the +spirit of cold steel was in their rush. + +There was a splendid audacity in General Demetrief's next move after +Kirk-Kilesseh. He did not pause to surround Adrianople. To the east was +a wide gap in the investing lines. Through this the garrison might have +made a sortie with telling effect. But Demetrief knew his enemy. He +took it for granted that the garrison was settling itself for a siege. +With twelve thousand Turkish reenforcements a day arriving from Asia, +even hours counted. + +As yet, the Turks were not decisively beaten; only the right that +fought at Kirk-Kilesseh had been really demoralized. On the line of +Bunar Hissar to Luele Burgas they formed to receive the second shock. +They were given scant time to prepare for it. "_Na noj!_" For three +days this battle, the Waterloo of the war, raged. The advancing +Bulgarian infantry went down like ninepins; but it did not give up, for +it knew that "they would go when they saw the steel." Again the turning +movement in flank crushed in the end. This time the Turkish main army +was shattered. It hardly had the cohesiveness of a large mob. It was +many little mobs, hungry, staggering on to the rear, where the ravages +of cholera awaited. + +In two weeks the Bulgars had made their dispositions and fought two +battles, each lasting three days. They had advanced seventy-five miles +over a rough country where the roads were sloughs. The loss in killed +and wounded was sixty thousand; one man out of five was down. + +When officers and men had snatched any sleep it was on the rain-soaked +earth. The bread in their haversacks was wet and moldy. When they lay +in the fire zones they were lucky if they had this to eat. By day they +had dug their way, trench by trench, up to the enemy's position, +crouching in the mud to keep clear of bullets. By night they had +charged. They were an army in a state of auto-intoxication, bent on the +one object of driving the Turkish army back to the narrow line of the +peninsula. This accomplished, all the isolated forces in European +Turkey, whether at distant Scutari or near-by Adrianople, were without +hope of relief. The neck of the funnel was closed; the war practically +won. + +All the world knows now, and the Bulgarian staff must have known at the +time, that for a week after Luele Burgas the utter demoralization of the +Turkish retreat left the way open to Constantinople. Why did not +General Demetrief go on? Why did that army which had proceeded thus far +with such impetuous and irresistible momentum suddenly turn snail? + +For the reason that the Marathon winner when he drops across the tape +is not good for another mile. The Bulgar was on his stomach in the mud, +though he was facing toward the heels of the Turk. Food and ammunition +were not up. A fresh force of fifty thousand men following up the +victory might easily have made its own terms at the door of Yildiz +Palace within three or four days; but there was not even a fresh +regiment. + +It was three weeks after Luele Burgas before Demetrief was ready to +attack; three weeks, in which the cholera scare had abated, the panic +in Constantinople had come and gone, reenforcements had arrived and +been organized into a kind of order, while they built fortifications. +The Turkish cruisers supported both of Nazim Pasha's flanks with the +fire of heavier guns than the Bulgars possessed. There was an +approachable Turkish front of only about sixteen miles. Without +silencing the Turkish batteries, Demetrief sent his infantry against +the redoubts. He lost five or six thousand men without gaining a single +fort. Against a stubborn and even semi-intelligent foe there is no +storming a narrow frontal line of fortifications when you may not turn +the ends. + +Adrianople lay across the straight line of transportation by railroad +and highway to the peninsula. All munitions for Demetrief's army had to +go around it in the miserable, antiquated ox-carts. It was the rock +splitting the flood of the Bulgarian advance. While the world was +hearing rumors of the city's fall, the truth was that it was not really +invested until a month after Luele Burgas was fought. + +For a month the garrison reported to be starving was drawing in +supplies from a big section of farming country. When the armistice was +signed it still had pasturage within the lines of defense for flocks of +sheep and herds of cattle. The problem for the Bulgars first and last +was to keep this fact masked and to check the savage sorties and spare +all the guns and men they could for the main army. Volunteers from +Macedonia still in native dress, clerks still in white collars, old men +who had perjured themselves about their age in order to get a rifle, +and the young conscripts of twenty years came to take the place of the +regular forces on the investing lines, who moved on to re-enforce +Demetrief. Fifty thousand Servians, two divisions, were spared after +Kumanova, and speeded across Bulgaria on the single-line railway with +an amazing rapidity to assist, according to plan, the Bulgars in the +investment operations. + +To the Turk, Adrianople is a holy city. Here is the most splendid +mosque in all the empire, that built by the conqueror Sultan Selim. +With the shadow of the minarets over his shoulder, the Turkish private +in a trench was ready to die for Allah. But death must come for him. He +is not going to hustle intelligently after paradise. In short, he is a +sit-and-take-it fighter. While any delay of the Bulgarian advance was +invaluable in gaining time, he made no use of his opportunities in a +country of hills and transverse valleys and ravines, which nature meant +for rear-guard action. A company of infantry posted on a hill could +force a regiment to deploy and attack, and a few miles farther on could +repeat the process. Cavalry could harass the flanks of the attacking +force. Field-guns could get a commanding position above a road, with +safe cover for retreat. + +At Mustapha Pasha, twenty miles in front of Adrianople, was a solid old +stone bridge over the Maritza, whose floods in the winter rains would +be a nightmare to engineers who had to maintain a crossing with +pontoons. If ever a corps needed a bridge the second Bulgarian corps +needed this one. They found that a small and badly placed charge of +dynamite had merely knocked out a few stones between two of the +buttresses, leaving the bridge intact enough for all the armies of +Europe to pass over it; and the Turks did not even put a mitrailleuse +behind sandbags in the streets or use field-guns from the adjacent +hills to delay the Bulgars in their crossing. + +The soldier who is good only for the defensive can never win. What beat +the Turk was the Turk himself. His army was in the chaos between +old-fashioned organization and an attempt at a modern organization. His +generals were divided in their counsels; his junior officers aped the +modern officer in form, but lacked application. They had ceased to +believe in their religion. Therefore, they did not lead their privates +who did believe. In the midst of the war, captains and lieutenants, +trustworthy observers tell me, would leave their untrained companies of +reservists to march by the road while they themselves rode by train. +They took their soldiers' pay. They neglected all the detail which is +the very essence of that preparation at the bottom without which no +generalship at the top can prevail. + +The Bulgarian officers, two-thirds of whom were reservists, enjoyed a +comradeship with their men at the same time that discipline was rigid. +They believed in their God; at least, in the god of efficiency. They +worked hard. They belong in the world of to-day and the Turk does not. +Therefore the Turk has to go. + +"We will not make peace without Adrianople!" was the cry of every +Bulgar. Its possession became a national fetish, no less than naval +superiority to the British. Adrianople stood for the real territorial +object of the war. It must be the center of any future line of defense +against the Turk. Practically its siege was set, once there was +stalemate at Tchatalja. With no hope of beating the main Bulgarian army +back, there was no hope of relieving the garrison, whose fate was only +a matter of time. + +At the London Peace Conference the allies stood firm for the possession +of Adrianople. The Turkish commissioners, after repeating for six weeks +that they would never cede it, had finally agreed to yield on orders +from Constantinople, when the young Turks killed Nazim Pasha, the +Turkish commander-in-chief, and overthrew the old cabinet. "You can +have Adrianople when you take it!" was the defiance of the new cabinet +to the allies. + +PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +The Peace Conference came to naught and hostilities were resumed on +February 14, 1913, because of the impossibility of agreement between +the allies and Turks on three important points: the status of +Adrianople, the disposal of the Aegean islands, and the payment of an +indemnity by Turkey. Bulgaria and Turkey both maintained that +Adrianople was essential to their national safety. Moreover, its +possession by Bulgaria was absolutely necessary were she to secure the +hegemony in the Balkans at which she aimed. On the other hand, to the +Turks, Adrianople is a sacred city around which cluster the most +glorious memories of their race. Thus they would yield it only as a +last necessity. The ambassadorial conference, anxious to bring to an +end a war which was threatening to embroil Austria-Hungary and Russia +and desirous also to make the settlement permanent, had already on +January 17th in its collective note to the Porte unavailingly +recommended to the Porte the cession of Adrianople to the Balkan +States. + +The question of the Aegean islands presented similar difficulties. They +are inhabited almost exclusively by Greeks who demand to be united to +the mother country; but Turkey insisted that the possession of some of +them (_e.g._, Imbros, Tenedos, and Lemnos) was necessary to her for the +protection of the Dardanelles, since they command the entrance to the +straits, while others (_e.g._, Chios and Mitylene) are part of Asiatic +Turkey. The Greeks asserted that to leave any of them to Turkey would +cause constant unrest in Greece, and subsequent uprising against +Turkey, thus merely repeating the history of Crete. Moreover, the +Greeks maintained that they must have the disputed islands because they +are the only large and profitable ones; but they expressed a +willingness to neutralize them so that the integrity of the Dardanelles +would not be endangered. The difficulty was complicated by the +retention of a number of the islands by Italy until Turkey should +fulfil all the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne arising from the +Tripolitan war. The Greeks asserted that their fleet would have taken +all the islands except for the Italian occupation. Moreover, they are +suspicious of Italian intentions, especially with regard to Rhodes. The +ambassadorial conference in its collective note to the Porte had +advised the Porte "to leave to the Powers the task of deciding upon the +fate of the islands of the Aegean Sea and the Powers would arrange a +settlement of the question which will exclude all menace to the +security of Turkey." + +The third question in dispute concerned a money indemnity. The war had +been a fearful drain upon the resources of the allies. They were +determined not to share any of the Ottoman debt and to compel Turkey, +if possible, to bear the financial burden of the war. But to yield to +this demand would absolutely destroy Turkish credit. This would result +in the financial ruin of many of the subjects of the great Powers. +Hence this demand of the allies met with scant favor in the +ambassadorial conference. + +The war dragged on during the entire month of February without changing +the relative positions of the belligerents. In the mean time, the +relations between Austria-Hungary and Russia were daily becoming more +strained. This was due to the determination of Austria-Hungary to +prevent Servia from securing a seaboard upon the Adriatic. In the +slogan of the allies, "the Balkan peninsula for the Balkan peoples," +Austria-Hungary found a principle which could be utilized against their +demands. She took the stand that the Albanians are a Balkan people +entirely distinct from Slavs and Greeks and particularly unfriendly to +the Slavs. It would be as suicidal to place any of the Albanians under +the Slavs as to put back any of the Slavs under the Turks. Albania must +be an autonomous State; that it may live in peace, it must possess its +seaboard intact. In this position Austria-Hungary was seconded by +Italy, which has interests in Albania as important as those of +Austria-Hungary. Neither State can afford to allow the other to possess +the eastern shore of the Adriatic; and both are determined that it +shall not fall into the possession of another possibly stronger power. + +As early as December 20, 1912, the ambassadors had recommended to their +governments, and the latter had accepted, the principle of Albanian +autonomy, together with a provision guaranteeing to Servia commercial +access to the Adriatic. This had aroused the intense indignation of the +Serbs, whose armies, contrary to the express prohibitions of +Austria-Hungary, had already occupied Durazzo on the Adriatic and +overrun northern Albania. The Serbs denied the right of any State to +forbid them to occupy the territory of the enemy whom they had +conquered, and Servia sent a detachment of her best troops and some of +her largest siege guns to help the Montenegrins take Scutari. Moreover, +numerous reports of outrages committed upon Albanians by the +"Liberators" in their attempts to convert both Moslem and Catholic +Albanians to the orthodox faith reached central Europe and caused great +danger in Vienna. Count Berchtold's statement to the Delegations that +Austria-Hungary would insist upon territory enough to enable +independent Albania to be a stable State with Scutari as the capital, +aroused in turn much excitement in Russia. Scutari was the chief goal +of Montenegrin ambition. To possess it had been the hope of King +Nicholas and his people during his long reign of half a century. To +forbid him to possess it would be to deprive him of the fruits of the +really heroic sacrifices his people had made during this war. Hence the +excitement in all Slavdom. On February 7th Francis Joseph sent Prince +Hohenlohe to St. Petersburg with an autograph letter to the Czar which +had the good effect of reducing the tension between the two countries. + +The ambassadorial conference at London then directed its attention +exclusively to settling the status of Albania. After more than a month +of acrimonious discussion a settlement was reached on March 26th in +which the principle of nationality which had been invoked to justify +the creation of an independent Albania was quietly ignored. The +conference agreed upon the northern and northeastern boundaries of +Albania. In order to carry her point that Scutari must be Albanian, +Austria-Hungary agreed that the almost exclusively Albanian towns of +Ipek, Djakova, Prizrend, and Dibra should go to the Serbs. On April 1st +King Nicholas was notified that the powers had unanimously agreed to +blockade his coast if he did not raise the siege of Scutari. His answer +was that the proposed action of the powers was a breach of neutrality +and that Montenegro would not alter her attitude until she had signed a +treaty of peace. At once the warships of all the powers save Russia +(which had none in the Mediterranean) engaged in the blockade. On April +15th, owing to the pressure of the powers and to the strained relations +that had arisen between Servia and Bulgaria, the Servian troops were +recalled from Scutari. Nevertheless the Montenegrins persisted alone +and Scutari fell April 22, 1913. Two days later the Austro-Hungarian +government demanded that vigorous action be undertaken by the powers to +put independent Albania in possession of Scutari according to the +agreement of March 26th. At once the greatest excitement prevailed +throughout Russia. Street demonstrations against the Austro-Hungarian +policy were held in many of the large cities. In Austria-Hungary +military preparations became active on a large scale, and on May 1st +the Dual Monarchy gave notice that it would undertake individual action +should Montenegro not agree to the ultimatum. Italy, which is +determined never to permit the Dual Monarchy individual action in +Albania, announced that she would support her ally. As the result of +all the pressure brought to bear upon him, on May 5th, King Nicholas +yielded and placed Scutari in the hands of the powers, just in time, as +Sir Edward Grey informed the English House of Commons, to prevent an +outbreak of hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Russia. + +While the chancelleries of the great powers were thus straining every +nerve to agree upon the status of Albania and thereby to prevent a +conflict between the two powers most vitally interested, the war +between the allies and Turkey was prosecuted during March with greater +vigor and with more definite results. On March 5th, Janina surrendered +to the Greeks and on March 26th Adrianople fell. The powers had already +offered to mediate between the belligerents, and their good offices had +been accepted by both sides. The allies at first insisted upon the +Rodosto-Malatra line as the western boundary of Turkey, but were +informed that the powers would not consent to giving Bulgaria a +foothold on the Dardanelles. + +After much outcry and violent denunciation by the allies, an armistice +was signed at Bulair on April 19th by representatives of all the +belligerents except Montenegro, which was thereby only incited to more +heroic efforts to capture Scutari. Nevertheless the allies had profited +so much by delay in their relations with the powers since the very +outbreak of the war that they now hoped to secure advantages by a +similar policy, and it was not until May 21st that their +representatives reassembled at London. Even then there appeared to be +no sincere desire to come to terms, and on May 27th Sir Edward Grey +informed the delegates that they would soon lose the confidence of +Europe, and that for all that was being accomplished they might as well +not be in London. The delegates were very indignant at this strong +language, but it had the desired effect, for on May 30, 1913, the +Treaty of London was signed by the representatives of all the +belligerents. Its principal provisions were those already suggested by +the powers, _viz_.: + +(1) The boundary between Turkey and the allies to be a line drawn from +Midia to Enos, to be delimited by an international commission: + +(2) The boundaries of Albania to be determined by the powers. + +(3) Turkey to cede Crete to Greece. + +(4) The powers to decide the status of the Aegean islands. + +(5) The settlement of all the financial questions arising out of the +war to be left to an international commission to meet at Paris. + +It was time for a settlement, since the problem was no longer to secure +peace between Turkey and the allies, but rather to maintain peace among +the allies. The solution of the great problem of the war, the division +of the spoils, could no longer be deferred. From the moment that +Adrianople had fallen, the troops of Bulgaria, Servia, and Greece +maneuvered for position, each state determined to secure possession of +as much territory as possible, in the hope that at the final settlement +it might retain what it had seized. + + + + +MEXICO PLUNGED INTO ANARCHY + +HUERTA SEIZES A DICTATORSHIP A.D. 1913 + +EDWIN EMERSON WILLIAM CAROL + +Mexico has loomed large in the affairs of the world during recent +years. The overthrow of Diaz in 1911 did not, as the world had hoped, +bring into power an earnest and energetic middle class capable of +guiding the downtrodden peons into the blessings of civilization. On +the contrary, the land passed from the grip of a cruel oligarchy into +that of a far more cruel anarchy. Hordes of bandits sprang up +everywhere. The new president, Madero, was a philosopher and a patriot. +But he failed wholly to get any real grasp of the situation. He was +betrayed on every side; rebellion rose all around him; and in his +extremity he entrusted his army and his personal safety to the most +savage of his secret enemies, General Huerta. Madero died because he +was too far in advance of his countrymen to be able to understand them. +After that, Huerta sought to reestablish the old Diaz regime of wealth +and terrorism; but he only succeeded in plunging the land back into +utter barbarism. + +The Mexicans are the last large section of the earth's population thus +left to rule themselves in savagery. Hence the rest of the world has +watched them with eagerness. Europe repeatedly reminded the United +States that by her Monroe Doctrine she had assumed the duty of keeping +order in America. At last she felt compelled to interfere. The picture +of those days of anarchy is here sketched by two eye-witnesses, an +Englishman and an American, both fresh from the scene of action. + + +EDWIN EMERSON + +There is a saying in Mexico that it is much easier to be a successful +general than a successful president. Inasmuch as almost all Mexican +presidents during the hundred years since Mexico became a Republic, +owed their presidency to successful generalship, this saying is +significant. At all events, no Mexican general who won his way into the +National Palace by his military prowess ever won his way out with +credit to himself or to his country. + +General Victoriano Huerta, Mexico's latest Interim-President, during +the first few months that followed his overthrow of the Madero +Government found out to his own cost how much harder it is to rule a +people than an army. + +As a matter of fact, General Huerta was pushed into his +interim-presidency before he really had a fair opportunity to learn how +to command an army. At the time he was so suddenly made Chief +Magistrate of Mexico he was not commanding the Mexican army, but was +merely a recently appointed major-general who happened to command that +small fraction of the regular army at the capital which was supposed to +have remained loyal to President Madero and his constitutional +government. Huerta had been appointed by President Madero to the +supreme command of the loyal forces at the capital, numbering barely +three thousand soldiers, only a few days before Madero's fall. Even if +he had not turned traitor to his commander-in-chief, as he did in the +end, Huerta's command of the loyal troops during the ten days' struggle +at the capital preceding the fall of the constitutional government +could not be described as anything but a dismal failure. + +Before considering General Huerta's qualifications as a President, one +should know something of his career as a soldier. During the last few +years it has repeatedly fallen to my lot to follow General Huerta in +the field, so that I have had a fair chance to view some of his +soldierly qualities at close hand. I accompanied General Huerta during +his campaign through Chihuahua, in 1912, and was present at his famous +Battle of Bachimba, near Chihuahua City, on July 3, 1912--the one +decisive victory won by General Huerta against the rebel forces of +Pascual Orozco. Before this campaign I was in Cuernavaca, in the State +of Morelos, during the time when General Huerta had his headquarters +there in his campaign against Zapata's bandit hordes in that State +after the fall of General Diaz's government. + +General Huerta then took charge of the last military escort which +accompanied General Porfirio Diaz on his midnight flight from Mexico +City to the port of Vera Cruz. During the ten hours' run down to the +coast, it may be recalled, the train on which President Diaz and his +family rode was held up by rebels in the gray of dawn, and the soldiers +of the military escort had to deploy in skirmish order, led by Generals +Diaz and Huerta in person; but the affair was over after a few minutes' +firing, with no casualties on either side. + +Before this eventful year General Huerta had but few opportunities of +winning laurels on the field of battle. Having entered the Military +Academy of Chapultepec in the early 'seventies under Lerdo de Tejada's +presidency, Victoriano Huerta was graduated in 1875, at the age of +twenty-one, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of engineers. +While still a cadet at Chapultepec he distinguished himself by his +predilection for scientific subjects, particularly mathematics and +astronomy. During the military rebellion of Oaxaca, when General Diaz +rose against President Lerdo, Lieutenant Huerta was engaged in garrison +duty, and got no opportunity to enter this campaign. + +After General Diaz had come into power and had begun his reorganization +of the Mexican army, young Huerta, lately promoted to a captaincy of +engineers, came forward with a plan for organizing a General Staff. +General Diaz approved of his plans, and Captain Huerta, accordingly, in +1879, became the founder of Mexico's present General Staff Corps. The +first work of the new General Staff was to undertake the drawing up of +a military map of Mexico on a large scale. The earliest sections of +this immense map, on which the Mexican General Staff is still hard at +work, were surveyed and drawn up in the State of Vera Cruz, where the +Mexican Military Map Commission still has its headquarters. Captain +Huerta accompanied the Commission to Jalapa, the capital of the State +of Vera Cruz, and served there through a period of eight years, +receiving his promotion to major in 1880 and to lieutenant-colonel in +1884. During this time he had charge of all the astronomical work of +the Commission, and he also led surveying and exploring parties over +the rough mountainous region that extends between the cities of Jalapa +and Orizaba. While at Jalapa he married Emilia Aguila, of Mexico City, +who bore him three sons and a daughter. + +In 1890 Huerta was promoted to a colonelcy and was recalled to Mexico +City. As a reward for Indian campaign services Huerta was promoted to +the rank of brigadier-general. In Mexico's centennial year of 1910, +when Francisco Madero rose in the north, and other parts of the +Republic gave signs of disaffection, General Huerta was ordered south +to take charge of all the detached Government force in the mountainous +State of Guerrero. Almost simultaneously with his arrival in +Chilpancingo, the capital of the State of Guerrero, almost the whole +south of Mexico rose in rebellion. The military situation there was +soon found to be so hopeless that Huerta was recalled to Mexico City. + +After General Huerta saw General Porfirio Diaz off to Europe at Vera +Cruz, he returned to the capital and placed himself at the disposition +of Don Francisco L. de la Barra, Mexico's new President _ad interim_. +President de la Barra dispatched him with a column of soldiers to +Cuernavaca to restore peace. + +Huerta placed himself at Senor Madero's complete disposition when the +latter was elected and inaugurated as President at Mexico. Madero, for +reasons that are self-evident, was anxious to propitiate the military +element, and to secure the cooperation of the more experienced officers +in the regular army for the better pacification of the country. +Accordingly, when Zapata and his bandit hordes gave signs of returning +to their old ways, refusing to "stay bought," President Madero sent +General Huerta back into Morelos, at the head of a strong force of +cavalry, mountain artillery, and machine guns, numbering altogether +3,500 men, with orders to put down Zapata's new rebellion "at any +cost." At the same time President Madero induced his former fellow +rebel, Ambrosio Figueroa, now Commander-in-Chief of Mexico's rural +guards, to cooperate with General Huerta by bringing a mounted force of +three thousand rurales from Guerrero into Morelos from the south so as +to hem in the Zapatistas between himself and Huerta at Cuernavaca. +Figueroa's men, though they had to cover three times the distance, +struck the main body of the rebels first and got badly mussed up in the +battle that followed. General Huerta's column did not get away from +Cuernavaca until the second day of the fight, and did not reach the +battlefield in the extinct crater of Mount Herradura until Figueroa's +rurales had been all but routed. In the battle that followed, General +Huerta succeeded in driving the rebels out of their strong position, +but the losses of the federals, owing to their belated arrival and +hastily taken positions, were disproportionately heavy. + +This affair caused much ill-feeling between the rurales and regulars, +and Figueroa sent word to Madero that he could not afford to sacrifice +his men by trying to cooperate with such a poor general as Huerta. The +much-heralded joint campaign accordingly fell to the ground. + +President Madero thereupon recalled General Huerta, and sent General +Robles, of the regular army, to replace him in command. This furnished +Huerta with another grievance against Madero. + +Some time afterward I heard General Huerta explain in private +conversation to some of his old army comrades that he had been recalled +from Morelos because of his sharp military measures against the +Zapatistas, owing to President Madero's sentimental preference for +dealing leniently with his old Zapatista friends. At the time when +General Huerta made this private complaint, however, it was a notorious +fact that his successor in Morelos, General Robles, had received public +instructions from Madero to deal more severely with the Morelos rebels. +General Robles did, as a matter of fact, handle the Morelos rebels far +more ruthlessly than Huerta, leading to his own subsequent recall on +charges of excessive cruelty. + +Meanwhile the Orozco rebellion had arisen in the north, and became so +threatening that General Gonzalez Salas, Madero's War Minister, felt +called upon to resign his portfolio to take the field against Orozco. +General Salas, after organizing a fairly formidable-looking force of +3,500 regulars and three batteries of field artillery at Torreon, +rushed into the fray, only to suffer a disgraceful defeat in his first +battle at Rellano, in Chihuahua, not far from Torreon. General Salas +took his defeat so much to heart that he committed suicide on his way +back to Torreon. This, together with the panic-stricken return of his +army to Torreon, caused the greatest dismay at the Capital, the +inhabitants of which already believed themselves threatened by an +irresistible advance of Orozco's rebel followers. None of the federal +generals at the front were considered strong enough to stem the tide. + +The only available federal general of high rank, who had any experience +in commanding large forces in the field, was Victoriano Huerta. +President Madero, in his extremity, called upon Huerta to reorganize +the badly disordered forces at Torreon, and to take the field against +Orozco, "cost what it may." This was toward the end of March, 1912. + +General Huerta, whom the army had come to regard as "shelved," lost no +time in getting to Torreon. There he soon found that the situation was +by no means so black as it had been painted--General Trucy Aubert, who +had been cut off with one of the columns of the army, having cleverly +extricated his force from its dangerous predicament so as to bring it +safely back to the base at Torreon without undue loss of men or +prestige. + +Thenceforth no expense was saved by General Huerta in bringing the army +to better fighting efficiency. Heavy reenforcements of regulars, +especially of field artillery, were rushed to Torreon from the Capital, +and large bodies of volunteers and irregulars were sent after them from +all parts of the Republic. + +President Madero had said: "Let it cost what it may"; so all the +preparation went forward regardless of cost. "Hang the expense!" became +the blithe motto of the army. + +When General Huerta at last took the field against Orozco, early in +May, his federal army, now swelled to more than six thousand men and +twenty pieces of field artillery, moved to the front in a column of +eleven long railway trains, each numbering from forty to sixty cars, +loaded down with army supplies and munitions of all kinds, besides a +horde of several thousand camp followers, women, sutlers, and other +non-combatants. The entire column stretched over a distance of more +than four miles. The transportation and sustenance of this unwieldy +column, which had to carry its own supply of drinking water, it was +estimated, cost the Mexican Government nearly 350,000 pesos per day. +Its progress was exasperatingly slow, owing to the fact that the +Mexican Central Railway, which was Huerta's only chosen line of +advance, had to be repaired almost rail by rail. + +After more than a fortnight's slow progress, General Huerta struck +Orozco's forces at Conejos, in Chihuahua, near the branch line running +out to the American mines at Mapimi. Orozco's forces, finding +themselves heavily outnumbered and overmatched in artillery, hastily +evacuated Conejos, retreating northward up the railway line by means of +some half-dozen railway trains. Several weeks more passed before Huerta +again struck Orozco's forces at Rellano, in Chihuahua, close to the +former battlefield, along the railway, where his predecessor, General +Gonzalez Salas, had come to grief. This was in June. + +Huerta, with nearly twice as many men and three times as much +artillery, drove Orozco back along the line of the railway after a two +days' long-range artillery bombardment, against which the rebels were +powerless. This battle, in which the combined losses in dead and +wounded on both sides were less than 200, was described in General +Huerta's official report as "more terrific than any battle that had +been fought in the Western Hemisphere during the last fifty years." In +his last triumphant bulletin from the field, General Huerta telegraphed +to President Madero that his brave men had driven the enemy from the +heights with a final fierce bayonet charge, and that their bugle blasts +of victory could be heard even then on the crest. + +Pascual Orozco, on the other hand, reported to the revolutionary Junta +in El Paso that he had ordered his men to retire before the superior +force of the federals, and that they had accomplished this without +disorder by the simple process of boarding their waiting trains and +steaming slowly off to the north, destroying the bridges and culverts +behind him as they went along. One of my fellow war correspondents, who +served on the rebel side during this battle, afterward told me that the +federals, whose bugle calls Huerta heard on the heights, did not get up +to this position until two days after the rebels had abandoned their +trenches along the crest. + +The subsequent advance of the federals from Rellano to the town of +Jimenez, Orozco's old headquarters, which had been evacuated by him +without firing a shot, lasted another week. + +Here Huerta's army camped for another week. At Jimenez the long-brewing +unpleasantness between Huerta's regular officers and some of Madero's +bandit friends, commanding forces of irregular cavalry, came to a head. +The most noted of these former guerrilla chieftains was Francisco +Villa, an old-time bandit, who now rejoiced in the honorary rank of a +Colonel. Villa had appropriated a splendid Arab stallion, originally +imported by a Spanish horse-breeder with a ranch near Chihuahua City. +General Huerta coveted this horse, and one day, after an unusually +lively carouse at general headquarters, he sent a squad of soldiers to +bring the horse out of Villa's corral to his own stable. The old bandit +took offense at this, and came stalking into headquarters to make a +personal remonstrance. He was put under arrest, and Huerta forthwith +sentenced him to be shot. That same day the sentence was to be put into +execution. Villa was already facing the firing squad, and the officer +in charge had given the command to load, when President Madero's +brother, Emilio, who was serving on Huerta's staff in an advisory +capacity, put a stop to the execution by taking Villa under his +personal protection. President Madero was telegraphed to, and +immediately replied, reprieving Villa's sentence, and ordering him to +be sent to Mexico City pending further official investigation. + +This act of interference infuriated Huerta. For the moment he had to +content himself with formulating a long string of serious charges +against Villa, ranging from military insubordination to burglary, +highway robbery, and rape. It was even given out at headquarters that +Villa had struck his commanding general. + +Huerta never forgave the Madero brothers for their part in this affair, +and his resentment was fanned to white heat, subsequently, when +Francisco Villa was allowed to escape scot-free from his prison in +Mexico City. + +Meanwhile Huerta kept telegraphing to President Madero for more +reenforcements of men, munitions, and supplies, more engines, more +railway trains and tank cars, and, above all, for more artillery. +Madero kept sending them, though it cost his Government a new loan of +forty million dollars. Every other day or so a new train, with fresh +supplies, arrived at the front. + +At the end of several more weeks, when Orozco had slowly retreated +half-way through the State of Chihuahua, and when he found that the +destruction of the big seven-span bridge over the Conchos River at +Santa Rosalia did not permanently stop Huerta's advance, he reluctantly +decided to make another stand at the deep cut of Bachimba, just south +of Chihuahua City. This was in July. + +By this time General Huerta's Federal column had swelled to 7,500 +fighting men, 20 pieces of field artillery, 30 machine guns, and some +7,500 camp-followers and women, making a total of more than 15,000 +persons of all sexes and ages, who were being carried along on more +than twenty railroad trains, stretching over a dozen miles of single +track. The column was so long that some of my companions and I, when we +climbed a high hill near the front end of the column at Bachimba, found +it impossible to discern the tail end through our field-glasses. All +the hungry people that were being carried on all those twenty railroad +trains had to be fed, of course, so that none of us were surprised to +read in the Mexican newspapers that the Chihuahua campaign was now +costing Madero's Government nearly 500,000 pesos per day. + +The battle at Bachimba must have swelled this budget. During this one +day's fight nearly two million rifle cartridges and more than 10,000 +artillery projectiles were fired away by the Federals. Huerta's twenty +pieces of field artillery, neatly posted in a straight line on the open +plain, barely half a mile away from his ammunition railway train, kept +firing at the supposed rebel positions all day long without any +appreciable interruption, and all day long the artillery caissons and +limbers kept trotting to and fro between the batteries and ammunition +cars. Orozco had but 3,000 men with two pieces of so-called artillery, +with gun barrels improvised from railroad axles, so he once more +ordered a general retreat by way of his railroad trains, waiting at a +convenient distance on a bend of the road behind the intervening hills. +As at Rellano, at Conejos, and at other places in the campaign where +the railroad swept in big bends around the hills, no attempt was made +on the Federal side to cut off the rebels' retreat by short-cut +flanking movements of cavalry, of which Huerta had more than he could +conveniently use, or chose to use. The whole ten hours' bombardment and +rifle fire resulted in but fourteen dead rebels; but it won the +campaign for the Government, and earned for Huerta his promotion to +Major-General besides the proud title of "Hero of Bachimba." + +President Madero and his anxious Government associates were more than +glad to receive the tidings of this "decisive victory." The only +trouble was that it did not decide anything in particular. Orozco and +his followers, while evacuating the capital of Chihuahua, kept on +wrecking railway property between Chihuahua City and Juarez, and the +campaign kept growing more expensive every day. + +It took Huerta from July until August to work his slow way from the +center of Chihuahua to Ciudad Juarez on the northern frontier. Before +he reached this goal, though, the rebels had split into many smaller +detachments, some of which cut his communications in the rear, while +others harried his flanks with guerrilla tactics and threatened to +carry the "war" into the neighboring State of Sonora. So far as the +trouble and expense to the Federal Government was concerned this +guerrilla warfare was far worse than the preceding slow but sure +railway campaign. General Huerta himself, who was threatened with the +loss of his eyesight from cataract, gave up trying to pursue the +fleeing rebel detachments in person, but kept close to his comfortable +headquarters in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City. This unsatisfactory +condition of affairs gave promise of enduring indefinitely, until +President Madero in Mexico City, whose Government had to bear the +financial brunt of it all, suddenly lost his patience and recalled +Huerta to the capital, leaving the command in General Rabago's hands. + +For reasons that were never quite fathomed by Madero's Government, +Huerta took his time about obeying these orders. Thus, he lingered +first at Ciudad Juarez, then at Chihuahua City, then at Santa Rosalia, +next at Jimenez, and presently at Torreon, where he remained for over a +week, apparently sulking in his tent like Achilles. This gave rise to +grave suspicions, and rumors flew all over Mexico that Huerta was about +to make common cause with Orozco. President Madero himself, at this +time, told a friend of mine that he was afraid Huerta was going to turn +traitor. About the same time, at a diplomatic reception, President +Madero stated openly to Ambassador Wilson that he had reasons to +suspect Huerta's loyalty. At length, however, General Huerta appeared +at the capital, and after a somewhat chilly interview with the +President, obtained a suspension from duty so that he might have his +eyes treated by a specialist. + +Thus it happened that Huerta, who was nearly blind then, escaped being +drawn into the sudden military movements that grew out of General Felix +Diaz's unexpected revolt and temporary capture of the port of Vera Cruz +last October. + +General Huerta's part in Felix Diaz's second revolution, four months +later, is almost too recent to have been forgotten. He was the senior +ranking general at the capital when the rebellion broke out, and was +summoned to his post of duty by President Madero from the very first. +He accompanied Madero in his celebrated ride from Chapultepec Castle to +the National Palace on the morning of the first day of the famous "Ten +Days," and was put in supreme command of the forces of the Government +after the first hurried council of war. President Madero, totally +lacking in military professional knowledge as he was, confided the +entire conduct of the necessary war measures to General Huerta; but it +soon became apparent that the old General either could not or would not +direct any energetic offensive movement against the rebels. From the +very first the Government committed the fatal blunder of letting the +rebels slowly proceed to the Citadel--a fortified military arsenal--the +retention of which was of paramount importance, without even attempting +to intercept their roundabout march or to frustrate their belated entry +into the poorly guarded Citadel. Later, when it became clear that the +rebels could not be dislodged from this stronghold by street rushes, no +attempt was made to shell them out of their strong position by a +high-angle bombardment of plunging explosive shells. + +After it was all over General Huerta explained the ill-success of his +military measures during the ten days' street-fighting by saying that +President Madero was a madman who had spoiled all Huerta's military +plans and measures by utterly impracticable counter-orders. At the +time, though, it was given out officially that Huerta had been placed +in absolute, unrestricted command. When the American Ambassador, toward +the close of the long bombardment, appealed to President Madero to +remove some Federal batteries, the fire from which threatened the +foreign quarter of Mexico City, President Madero replied that he had +nothing to do with the military dispositions, and referred the +Ambassador to General Huerta, who promptly acceded to the request. On +another occasion, later in the bombardment, when Madero insisted that +the Federal artillery should use explosive shells against the Citadel, +General Huerta did not hesitate to take it upon himself to countermand +the President's suggestions to Colonel Navarrete, the Federal chief of +artillery. Afterward General Navarrete admitted in a speech at a +military banquet that his Federal artillery "could have reduced the +Citadel in short order had this really been desired." + +Whether General Huerta was really able to win or not is beside the +issue, since the final turn of events plainly revealed that his heart +was not in the fight, and that he was only waiting for a favorable +moment to turn against Madero. Before General Blanquet with his +supposed relief column was allowed to enter the city, General Huerta +had a private conference with Blanquet. This conference sealed Madero's +doom. Later, after Blanquet's forces had been admitted to the Palace, +on Huerta's assurances to the President that Blanquet was loyal to the +Government, it was agreed between the two generals that Blanquet should +make sure of the person of the President, while Huerta would personally +capture the President's brother, Gustavo, with whom he was to dine that +day. The plot was carried out to the letter. + +When Huerta put Gustavo Madero under arrest, still sitting at the table +where Huerta had been his guest, Huerta sought to palliate his action +by claiming that Gustavo Madero had tried to poison him by putting +"knock-out" drops into Huerta's after-dinner brandy. At the same time +Huerta claimed that President Madero had tried to have him +assassinated, on the day before, by leading Huerta to a window in the +Palace, which an instant afterward was shattered by a rifle bullet from +outside. + +Neither of the two prisoners ever had a chance to defend themselves +against these charges, for Gustavo Madero on the night following his +arrest was shot to death by a squad of soldiers in the garden of the +Citadel, and President Madero met a similar fate a few nights +afterward. General Huerta, who by this time had got himself officially +recognized as President, gave out an official statement from the Palace +pretending that Gustavo Madero had lost his life while attempting to +escape, and that his brother, the President, had been accidentally shot +by some of his own friends who were trying to rescue him from his +guard. + +Few people in Mexico were inclined to believe this official version. +Yet the murder of the two Maderos, and of Vice-President Pino Suarez, +as well as the subsequent killing of other prisoners, like Governor +Abraham Gonzalez, of Chihuahua, was condoned by many in Mexico on the +ground that these men, if allowed to remain alive, were bound to make +serious trouble for the new Government. It was generally hoped, at the +same time, even by those who condemned these murders as barbarous, that +General Huerta might still prove himself a wise and able ruler, no +matter how severe. + +These fond hopes were changed to gloomy foreboding only a few weeks +after Huerta's assumption of the presidency, when he was seen to +surround himself with notorious wasters of all kinds, and when he was +seen to fall into Madero's old error of extending the "glad hand" to +unrepentant rebels and bandits like Orozco, Cheche Campos, Tuerto +Morales, and Salgado. + +Victoriano Huerta, whether he be considered as a general or as a +president, can be expressed in one phrase: He is an Indian. + +Huerta himself proudly says that he is a pure-blooded Aztec. His +friends claim for him that he has the virtues of an Indian--courage, +patience, endurance, and dignified reserve. His enemies, on the other +hand, profess to see in him some of the vices of Indian blood. + +From what I have seen of General Huerta in the field, in private life, +and as a President, I would say that he combines in himself both the +virtues and the faults of his race. In battle I have seen him expose +himself with a courage worthy of the best Indian traditions; nor have I +ever heard it intimated by any one that he was a coward. One of his +strong points as a commander was that he was a man of few words. On the +other hand, his own soldiers at the front hailed him as a stern and +cruel leader; and some of the things that were done to his prisoners of +war at the front were enough to curdle any one's blood. + +It was during a moment of conviviality that General Huerta once +revealed his true sentiments toward the United States and ourselves. +This was during a banquet given in his honor at Mexico City on the eve +of his departure to the front in Chihuahua. On this occasion an +Englishman, who had long been on terms of intimacy with Huerta, asked +the General what he would do if northern Mexico should secede to the +United States and the Americans should take a hand in the fray. This +question aroused General Huerta to the following extemporary speech: + +"I am not afraid of the _gringoes_. Why should I be? No good Mexican +need be afraid of the _gringoes_. If it had not been for the treachery +of President Santa Anna, who sold himself to the United States in 1847, +we should have beaten the Yankees then, as we surely shall beat them +the next time. Let them cross the Rio Bravo! We will send them back +with bloody heads. + +"We Mexicans need not be afraid of any foreign nation. Did we not beat +the Spaniards? Did we not also beat the French, and the Austrians, and +the Belgians, and all the other foreign adventurers who came with +Maximilian? In the same way we would have beaten the _gringoes_ had we +had a fair chance at them. The Texans, who beat Santa Anna, at San +Jacinto, you must know, were not _gringoes_, but brother Mexicans, of +whom we have reason to be proud. + +"To my mind, there are only two real nations in the world, besides our +old Aztec nation. Those nations are England and Japan. + +"All the others can not properly be called nations; least of all the +United States, which is a mere hodge-podge of other nations. One of +these days England and Japan and Mexico will get together, and after +that there will be an end to the United States." + + +WILLIAM CAROL[1] + +[Footnote 1: Reproduced in condensed form from _The World's Work_ by +the kind permission of Doubleday, Page & Co.] + +In order to understand the situation in Mexico, it is necessary to get +firmly in our minds that there are in reality two Mexicos. One may be +called American Mexico and the other Mexican Mexico. + +The representative of the new, half-formed northern or American Mexico +was Francisco Madero--rich, educated, well mannered, honest, and +idealistically inclined. The representative of the old Mexico is +Huerta--"rough, plain, old Indian," as he describes himself, +pugnacious, crafty, ignorant of political amenities, without +understanding of any rule except the rule of blood and powder. + +By the law of 1894 Diaz changed the character of the land titles in +Mexico. Many smaller landowners, unable to prove their titles under the +new system, lost their holdings, which in large measure eventually fell +into the hands of a few rich men. In the feudal south this did not +cause so much disturbance. But in the north the growing middle class +bitterly resented it. Madero became the spokesman of this discontent. +In his books and in his program of reform, "the plan of San Luis +Potosi," he attacked the Diaz regime. And then in 1910 he joined the +rebel band organized by Pascual Orozco in the mountains of Chihuahua. +With his weakened army Diaz was unable to cope with this revolution, +and in October, 1911, Madero became President. + +The country was then at peace, except for the band of robbers led by +Zapata in the provinces of Morelos and Guerrero. These are and have +been the most atrocious of the many bandits with which Mexico is +infested. No outrage or barbarity known to savages have they left +untried. Madero attempted to buy them off, but to no avail. He then +sent military forces against them, one column commanded by General +Huerta, but with no success. + +In the mean time, Pascual Orozco, who emerged from the Madero +revolution as a great war hero in his own State, was given no post of +responsibility under the new Government, but was left as commander of +the militia in the State of Chihuahua. The adherents of the old Diaz +regime took this opportunity to win him over to their side, for +Orozco's fighting was done purely for profit, not for principle. A +reactionary movement, with Orozco at its head, broke out in February, +1912. Five thousand men were quickly got together. The Madero +Administration--a Northern Administration in the Southern country--was +not fully organized, and, with the army not yet rehabilitated, found +itself seriously embarrassed. Had Orozco been an intelligent and +competent leader he probably could have marched straight through to +Mexico City at that time, as the only governmental troops that were +available to fight him were only about sixteen hundred, which he +defeated and nearly annihilated at Rellano in Chihuahua. Their +commander, General Gonzalez Salas, Madero's war minister, committed +suicide after the defeat. + +The only general available at the time who had had experience in +handling large forces in the field was Victoriano Huerta. Although he +had never especially distinguished himself, Huerta's record shows that +he was one of the most progressive members of the army. + +Huerta's column encountered little resistance. Chihuahua City was +occupied on July 7th, and later, Juarez. The rebels were not pursued to +any extent away from the railroads. They separated into bands, keeping +up a guerrilla warfare, raiding American mining camps and ranches, and +seizing and holding Americans and others for ransom. Prominent among +these leaders of banditti was Inez Salazar, a former rock driller in an +American mine, who raised a force in Chihuahua and declared against +Madero. Little was done to destroy these rebel bands by the Federals, +and no engagements of any size took place. In fact, it was a current +rumor that the Federals did not wish to put them down. In the first +place, the regular army was the same old Diaz organization which +considered Madero largely as a usurper and which remained with the +established Government in a rather lukewarm manner. Besides, the bands +of Orozco, Salazar, and others were instigated and supported by the +adherents of the old regime, and, although opposed to the Mexican army, +both had many ideas in common regarding the Madero Administration. +Furthermore, the officers and men of the army were receiving large +increases of pay for the campaign. + +An instance showing this disposition on the part of the Federals +occurred in the State of Sonora in October, 1912. General Obregon, now +the commander of the Sonora State forces, was at that time a colonel of +the army and had his battalion, composed largely of Maya Indians, at +Agua Prieta, just across the border from Douglas, Ariz. Salazar's band +of rebels had crossed the mountains from Chihuahua and had come into +Sonora. Popular clamor forced the Federal commander at Agua Prieta to +do something, and accordingly he ordered Obregon to take his battalion, +proceed south, get in touch with Salazar, and "remain in observation." +Salazar was looting the ranch of a friend of Obregon's near Fronteras. +The rebel had taken no means to secure his bivouac against surprise; +his men were scattered around engaged in slaughtering cattle, cooking, +and making camp for the night. Obregon deployed his force and charged +Salazar's camp. Forty of Salazar's men were killed, and a machine gun +and a number of horses, mules, and rifles were captured; whereupon +Salazar left that part of the country. Upon Obregon's return to Agua +Prieta he was severely reprimanded and nearly court-martialed for +disobeying his orders in not "remaining in observation" of Salazar, and +attacking him instead. Had Obregon been given a free hand, he +undoubtedly could have destroyed Salazar's force. + +After Salazar's defeat at Fronteras, he moved east again, and about a +month later appeared near Palomas, a town about three miles from the +international boundary south of Columbus, N.M. At Palomas there was a +Federal detachment of about one hundred and thirty men under an old +colonel. They had been sent there to protect various cattle interests +in that vicinity; and they had a considerable amount of money, +equipment, and ammunition for maintaining and providing rations and +forage for themselves and for some outlying detachments. Salazar, +hearing of this, demanded that the money and equipment be immediately +surrendered. Upon being refused, Salazar, with about three hundred and +fifty men, attacked. A furious battle was fought, ending in a +house-to-house fight with grenades--cans filled with dynamite, with +fuse attached, which are thrown by hand. Salazar's force captured the +town after the Federals had suffered more than 50 per cent. in +casualties, including the Federal commander, who was wounded several +times; the rebels suffered more than 30 per cent. casualties. The town, +in the mean time, was wrecked. This particular instance shows that the +Mexicans fight and fight well from a standpoint of physical courage. +The general idea that the Mexicans would not fight, which Americans +obtained during this period, was obtained because they did not care to +in the majority of cases. + +Meanwhile, General Huerta, having "finished" his Chihuahua campaign in +the autumn of 1912, was promoted to the rank of General of Division +(Major-General) and decorated for his achievement. It was rumored in +many places at that time that General Huerta was about to turn against +the Madero Government. Madero, suspecting his loyalty, ordered him back +to Mexico City. Huerta took his time about obeying this order, and, +when he reported in Mexico City, obtained a sick-leave to have his eyes +treated. Huerta was nearly blind when Felix Diaz's revolt broke out in +Vera Cruz in October, 1912, and probably thus escaped being drawn into +that unsuccessful demonstration. + +From this time until the _coup d'etat_ of February 8, 1913, there was +no large organized resistance to the Madero Administration, although +banditism increased at an alarming rate in all parts of the Republic. +The Diaz-Reyes outburst, in Mexico City on February 8, 1913, which +resulted in the death of Madero and Suarez and the elevation of Huerta +to practical military dictatorship, was brought about by the adherents +of the old regime, who looked upon Madero's extinction as a punishment +meted out to a criminal who had raised the slaves against their +masters. This view prevailed to a considerable extent in Mexico south +of San Luis Potosi. In the North, however, the people almost as a whole +(at least 90 per cent. in Sonera, and only to a slightly lesser extent +in the other provinces) saw in it the cold-blooded murder of their +political idol at the hands of unscrupulous moneyed interests and of +adherents of the old regime of the days of Porfirio Diaz. + +The resentment was general in the North--this new, largely Americanized +North, Venustiano Carranza, the governor of Coahuila, organized the +resistance in the provinces of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas, +while Maytorena, the governor of Sonora, and Pesqueira (later in +Washington, D.C., as Carranza's representative), with Obregon as the +head of their military forces, rapidly cleared that State of Federals, +with the exception of the port of Guaymas. These fights were no mere +bloodless affairs, but stubbornly contested, with heavy casualties, as +a decided principle was involved in the conflict. Villa, the old bandit +and personal enemy of Huerta, organized a force in Sonora, and Urbina +did likewise in northern Durango. Arms, and especially money to buy +them with, were hard to get. Funds were obtained from the tariff at +ports of entry, internal taxation, amounting at times to practical +confiscation, contributions, and gifts from various sources. It is said +that the Madero family put aside $1,000,000, gold, for this purpose. + +Though a few individuals went over to the Constitutionalist cause, the +Mexican regular army remained true to the _ad interim_ Government. The +revolutionists either held or rapidly possessed themselves of the great +railroad lines in the majority of cases. Huerta, who is an excellent +organizer, soon appreciated the magnitude of the revolt and rushed +troops to the north as rapidly as possible, his strategy being to hold +all railroad lines and cities with strong columns which would force the +revolutionists to operate in the intervals between the railroads. Then +Huerta, with these columns as a supporting framework, pushed out mobile +columns for the destruction of the rebel bands. + +The Carranzistas understood this plan and, to meet it, tore up all the +railroads that they could and adopted as their fixed plan never to risk +a general engagement of a large force. For the first few months, the +rebels, who had adopted the name of Constitutionalists, continued +recruiting their forces and destroying the railroads. The Federals +tried to repair the railroads and get enough troops into the north to +cope with this movement. They obtained new military equipment of all +descriptions, the army was increased, and old rebels, such as Orozco +and Salazar, sympathizers or tools of the old regime, were taken into +the Federal forces as irregulars and given commands. + +To understand the apparent slowness of the Federals in moving from +place to place and their inability to pursue the rebels away from the +railroads, some idea must be given as to their system of operating. The +officers of the regular army are well instructed and quite competent. +The enlisted men, however, come from the lowest strata of society, and, +except in the case of a foreign war, have to be impressed into the +ranks. They bring their women with them to act as cooks and to +transport their food and camp equipage. Military transportation, that +is to say, baggage trains of four-mule wagons and excellent horses for +the artillery, does not exist in the Mexican army. In fact, when away +from a railroad, the "soldaderas," as the women are called, carry +nearly everything; and they obtain the food necessary for the soldiers' +rations. A commissariat, as we understand it, does not exist. This ties +the Federals to the railroads, as they can not carry enough ammunition +and food for any length of time. + +On the other hand, those who first saw Obregon's rebel forces in Sonora +and Villa's in Chihuahua were surprised at their organization. There +were no women taken with them. They had wagons, regular issues of +rations and ammunition, a paymaster, and the men were well mounted and +armed. + +With Obregon, also, were regiments of Yaqui Indians, who are excellent +fighting material. These forces were mobile, and could easily operate +away from the railroad. They lacked artillery, without which they were +greatly handicapped, especially in the attack on fortified places and +on stone or adobe towns. As most of the horses and mules were driven +away from the railroads, the insurgents could get all the animals they +wanted. + +The first large battle occurred on May 9-10-11-12th outside of Guaymas, +between Ojeda's Federals and Obregon's Constitutionalists, at a place +called Santa Rosa. The Federal advance north consisted of about twelve +hundred men and eighteen pieces of artillery. They were opposed by +about four thousand men under Obregon, without artillery. Eight hundred +Federals were killed and all their artillery captured. The +Constitutionalists lost two hundred and fifty men killed and wounded. +Comparatively few Federals returned to Guaymas. Each side killed all +the wounded that they found, and also all captives who refused to +enlist in the captor's force. This success was not followed up and +Guaymas remained in the hands of the Federals. The artillery captured +by the Constitutionalists had had the breech blocks removed to render +them unserviceable; new ones, however, were made in the shops at +Cananca by a German mechanician named Klaus. + +In the summer, Urbina captured the city of Durango, annihilating the +Federals. The city was given over to loot and the greatest excesses +were indulged in by the victors. Arson, rape, and the robbing of banks, +stores, and private houses were indiscriminately carried on. Horses +were stabled in the parlors of the homes of the prosperous citizens, +and many non-combatants were killed by the soldiers before order was +restored. + +At this time the only points held by the Federals on the boundary +between the United States and Mexico were Juarez, in Chihuahua, and +Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas. The railroads south of these points were +also in the physical possession of the Federals but subject to +continual interruption at the hands of the Constitutionalists. +Venustiano Carranza had established headquarters at Ciudad Porfirio +Diaz (Piedras Negras) across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Tex. He +started on a trip, during the late summer, through the northern +provinces to confer with the leaders of the Constitutionalist movement +in order to bring about better coordination of effort on their part. He +went through the States of Coahuila, Durango, Chihuahua, and Sonora and +established a new headquarters in Sonora. Since then the efforts of the +Constitutionalists have been much better coordinated, with the result +that they have had much better success. + +Jesus Carranza and Pablo Gonzalez were left in charge at Ciudad +Porfirio Diaz by Venustiano Carranza when he left on his trip. Shortly +after this a Federal column was organized under General Maas for the +capture of the railroad between Saltillo and Ciudad Porfirio Diaz. This +column slowly worked its way to Monclova and then to Ciudad Porfirio +Diaz, which it occupied on October 7th; the Constitutionalists ripped +up the railroad and destroyed everything that might be useful to the +Federals and a good deal that could not, and offered very little +resistance. Villa, in the mean time, having been reenforced by men from +Durango and some from Sonora, had been operating in Chihuahua with +considerable success. He had fallen on several small Federal columns, +destroyed them, and obtained about six pieces of artillery, besides a +fresh supply of rifles and ammunition. In September, he had interposed +his force between the Federals at Chihuahua City and Torreon, at a +place called Santa Rosalia. Villa and the Federals each had about four +thousand men. The Federals from the south were making a determined +attempt to retake Durango and had started two columns for Torreon of +more than two thousand men each, one west from Saltillo, another north +from Zacatecas. These had to repair the railroad as they went. Torreon +was being held by about one thousand Federal soldiers. + +Villa was well informed of these movements, and also of the fact that, +in their anxiety to take Durango, a Federal force of about 800 men, +under General Alvirez, was to leave Torreon before the arrival of the +Saltillo and Zacatecas columns. Having the inner line, Villa with his +mobile force could maneuver freely against any one of these. He +accordingly left a rear guard in front of the Federals at Santa +Rosalia, and, marching south rapidly, met and completely defeated +General Alvirez's Federal column about eighteen miles west of Torreon, +near the town of Aviles. General Alvirez and 287 of his men were +killed, fighting to the last. + +Villa then turned toward Torreon. The "soldaderas" of Alvirez's force +had escaped when the fight at Aviles began and reached Torreon, quickly +spreading the news. The Federal officer in command attempted to round +them up, but to no avail, and Torreon's weak garrison became panic +stricken, put up a feeble resistance, and evacuated the town. Villa +occupied it on the night of October 1st. He sent his mounted troops +against the Federal columns from Saltillo and Zacatecas, tearing up the +railroad around them, until they both retreated. He maintained splendid +order in Torreon; sent a detachment of one officer and twenty-five men +to the American consul to protect American interests, and stationed +patrols throughout the city with orders to shoot all looters. At first, +a few stores containing provisions and clothing were looted, and some +Spaniards who were supposed to be aiding the Federals were killed, but +the pillaging soon stopped. Villa's occupation of Torreon thus +contrasted strikingly with Urbina's occupation of Durango. + +The capture of Torreon made precarious the military position of the +Federals in Chihuahua, as Torreon was their principal supply point. +When Villa's advance reached Santa Rosalia, the Federals evacuated +their fortified position at that place and concentrated all available +troops at Chihuahua City. They expected that a decided attempt would be +made by Villa to take it. The Federals did succeed in repelling small +attacks against Chihuahua on November 6th-9th and, to strengthen their +garrison, they reduced the troops in Juarez until only 400 remained. +Villa, while keeping up the investment of Chihuahua City, prepared a +force for a dash on Juarez, and on the night of November 14th-15th the +Federal garrison at that place was completely surprised and the city +was captured. + +These are the main events (to December 1st) that marked this chapter in +the inevitable struggle between the new Mexico and the old, before the +United States by interfering actively in the tumult changed the entire +character of the war. The Carranza practise of killing the wounded +shows that even the North has much to learn in civilized methods of +warfare. On the other hand, the self-restraint exercised, in many +cases, against looting captured towns, indicates that progress has been +made. This account also indicates that the new Mexico, in aims as well +as in material things, is getting the upper hand. + + + + +THE NEW DEMOCRACY + +THE FORCES OF CHANGE DOMINATE AMERICA A.D. 1913 + +WOODROW WILSON + +On March 4, 1913, Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as President of the +United States, and thus became the central figure of a new and +tremendously important movement. He was, it is true, elected as the +candidate of what is known as the Democratic party, which has existed +since the days of Thomas Jefferson. But the ideas advanced by President +Wilson as being democratic were so different from the original theories +and policies of Jefferson that President Wilson himself felt called on +to formulate his principles in a now celebrated work entitled "The New +Freedom." From the opening pages of this, as originally published in +_The World's Work_, we here, by permission of both the President and +the magazine, give his own statement of the ideas of the new era. + +The voting body of Americans who stand behind President Wilson are +obviously of the type now generally called progressive. In the +convention which nominated him, the conservative element of the old +Democracy struggled long and bitterly against the naming of any +"progressive" candidate. In the Republican party, the strife between +conservatism and progress was so bitter as to produce a complete split; +and the progressives nominated a candidate of their own, preferring, if +they could not control the government themselves, to hand it over to +the progressive element among the Democrats. The former political +parties in the United States seem to have been so completely disrupted +by recent events that even though they continue to hold some power +under the old names, they now stand for wholly different things. The +two parties which in the triangular presidential contest polled the +largest numbers of votes were both "progressive." + +So it seems settled that we are to "progress." But whither--and into +what? Is there any clear purpose before our new leaders, and how does +it differ from mankind's former purposes? That is what President Wilson +tries to tell us. + +There is one great basic fact which underlies all the questions that +are discussed on the political platform at the present moment. That +singular fact is that nothing is done in this country as it was done +twenty years ago. + +We are in the presence of a new organization of society. Our life has +broken away from the past. The life of America is not the life that it +was twenty years ago; it is not the life that it was ten years ago. We +have changed our economic conditions, absolutely, from top to bottom; +and, with our economic society, the organization of our life. The old +political formulae do not fit the present problems; they read now like +documents taken out of a forgotten age. The older cries sound as if +they belonged to a past age which men have almost forgotten. Things +which used to be put into the party platforms of ten years ago would +sound antiquated if put into a platform now. We are facing the +necessity of fitting a new social organization, as we did once fit the +old organization, to the happiness and prosperity of the great body of +citizens; for we are conscious that the new order of society has not +been made to fit and provide the convenience or prosperity of the +average man. The life of the nation has grown infinitely varied. It +does not center now upon questions of governmental structure or of the +distribution of governmental powers. It centers upon questions of the +very structure and operation of society itself, of which government is +only the instrument. Our development has run so fast and so far along +the line sketched in the earlier days of constitutional definition, has +so crossed and interlaced those lines, has piled upon them such novel +structures of trust and combination, has elaborated within them a life +so manifold, so full of forces which transcend the boundaries of the +country itself and fill the eyes of the world, that a new nation seems +to have been created which the old formulae do not fit or afford a +vital interpretation of. + +We have come upon a very different age from any that preceded us. We +have come upon an age when we do not do business in the way in which we +used to do business--when we do not carry on any of the operations of +manufacture, sale, transportation, or communication as men used to +carry them on. There is a sense in which in our day the individual has +been submerged. In most parts of our country men work for themselves, +not as partners in the old way in which they used to work, but as +employees--in a higher or lower grade--of great corporations. There was +a time when corporations played a very minor part in our business +affairs, but now they play the chief part, and most men are the +servants of corporations. + +You know what happens when you are the servant of a corporation. You +have in no instance access to the men who are really determining the +policy of the corporation. If the corporation is doing the things that +it ought not to do, you really have no voice in the matter and must +obey the orders, and you have, with deep mortification, to cooperate in +the doing of things which you know are against the public interest. +Your individuality is swallowed up in the individuality and purpose of +a great organization. + +It is true that, while most men are thus submerged in the corporation, +a few, a very few, are exalted to power which as individuals they could +never have wielded. Through the great organizations of which they are +the heads, a few are enabled to play a part unprecedented by anything +in history in the control of the business operations of the country and +in the determination of the happiness of great numbers of people. + +Yesterday, and ever since history began, men were related to one +another as individuals. To be sure there were the family, the Church, +and the State, institutions which associated men in certain limited +circles of relationships. But in the ordinary concerns of life, in the +ordinary work, in the daily round, men dealt freely and directly with +one another. To-day, the everyday relationships of men are largely with +great impersonal concerns, with organizations, not with other +individual men. + +Now this is nothing short of a new social age, a new era of human +relationships, a new stage-setting for the drama of life. + +In this new age we find, for instance, that our laws with regard to the +relations of employer and employee are in many respects wholly +antiquated and impossible. They were framed for another age, which +nobody now living remembers, which is, indeed, so remote from our life +that it would be difficult for many of us to understand it if it were +described to us. The employer is now generally a corporation or a huge +company of some kind; the employee is one of hundreds or of thousands +brought together, not by individual masters whom they know and with +whom they have personal relations, but by agents of one sort or +another. Working men are marshaled in great numbers for the performance +of a multitude of particular tasks under a common discipline. They +generally use dangerous and powerful machinery, over whose repair and +renewal they have no control. New rules must be devised with regard to +their obligations and their rights, their obligations to their +employers and their responsibilities to one another. New rules must be +devised for their protection, for their compensation when injured, for +their support when disabled. + +There is something very new and very big and very complex about these +new relations of capital and labor. A new economic society has sprung +up, and we must effect a new set of adjustments. We must not pit power +against weakness. The employer is generally, in our day, as I have +said, not an individual, but a powerful group; and yet the working man +when dealing with his employer is still, under our existing law, an +individual. + +Why is it that we have a labor question at all? It is for the simple +and very sufficient reason that the laboring man and the employer are +not intimate associates now, as they used to be in time past. Most of +our laws were formed in the age when employer and employees knew each +other, knew each other's characters, were associates with each other, +dealt with each other as man with man. That is no longer the case. You +not only do not come into personal contact with the men who have the +supreme command in those corporations, but it would be out of the +question for you to do it. Our modern corporations employ thousands, +and in some instances hundreds of thousands, of men. The only persons +whom you see or deal with are local superintendents or local +representatives of a vast organization, which is not like anything that +the working men of the time in which our laws were framed knew anything +about. A little group of working men, seeing their employer every day, +dealing with him in a personal way, is one thing, and the modern body +of labor engaged as employees of the huge enterprises that spread all +over the country, dealing with men of whom they can form no personal +conception, is another thing. A very different thing. You never saw a +corporation, any more than you ever saw a government. Many a working +man to-day never saw the body of men who are conducting the industry in +which he is employed. And they never saw him. What they know about him +is written in ledgers and books and letters, in the correspondence of +the office, in the reports of the superintendents. He is a long way off +from them. + +So what we have to discuss is, not wrongs which individuals +intentionally do--I do not believe there are a great many of those--but +the wrongs of the system. I want to record my protest against any +discussion of this matter which would seem to indicate that there are +bodies of our fellow citizens who are trying to grind us down and do us +injustice. There are some men of that sort. I don't know how they sleep +o' nights, but there are men of that kind. Thank God they are not +numerous. The truth is, we are all caught in a great economic system +which is heartless. The modern corporation is not engaged in business +as an individual. When we deal with it we deal with an impersonal +element, a material piece of society. A modern corporation is a means +of cooperation in the conduct of an enterprise which is so big that no +one can conduct it, and which the resources of no one man are +sufficient to finance. A company is formed; that company puts out a +prospectus; the promoters expect to raise a certain fund as capital +stock. Well, how are they going to raise it? They are going to raise it +from the public in general, some of whom will buy their stock. The +moment that begins, there is formed--what? A joint-stock corporation. +Men begin to pool their earnings, little piles, big piles. A certain +number of men are elected by the stockholders to be directors, and +these directors elect a president. This president is the head of the +undertaking, and the directors are its managers. + +Now, do the working men employed by that stock corporation deal with +that president and those directors? Not at all. Does the public deal +with that president and that board of directors? It does not. Can +anybody bring them to account? It is next to impossible to do so. If +you undertake it you will find it a game of hide and seek, with the +objects of your search taking refuge now behind the tree of their +individual personality, now behind that of their corporate +irresponsibility. + +And do our laws take note of this curious state of things? Do they even +attempt to distinguish between a man's act as a corporation director +and as an individual? They do not. Our laws still deal with us on the +basis of the old system. The law is still living in the dead past which +we have left behind. This is evident, for instance, with regard to the +matter of employers' liability for working men's injuries. Suppose that +a superintendent wants a workman to use a certain piece of machinery +which it is not safe for him to use, and that the workman is injured by +that piece of machinery. Our courts have held that the superintendent +is a fellow servant, or, as the law states it, a fellow employee, and +that, therefore, the man can not recover damages for his injury. The +superintendent who probably engaged the man is not his employer. Who is +his employer? And whose negligence could conceivably come in there? The +board of directors did not tell the employee to use that piece of +machinery; and the president of the corporation did not tell him to use +that piece of machinery. And so forth. Don't you see by that theory +that a man never can get redress for negligence on the part of the +employer? When I hear judges reason upon the analogy of the +relationships that used to exist between workmen and their employers a +generation ago, I wonder if they have not opened their eyes to the +modern world. You know, we have a right to expect that judges will have +their eyes open, even though the law which they administer hasn't +awakened. + +Yet that is but a single small detail illustrative of the difficulties +we are in because we have not adjusted the law to the facts of the new +order. + +Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me +privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field +of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of +something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so +subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that +they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in +condemnation of it. + +They know that America is not a place of which it can be said, as it +used to be, that a man may choose his own calling and pursue it just so +far as his abilities enable him to pursue it; because to-day, if he +enters certain fields, there are organizations which will use means +against him that will prevent his building up a business which they do +not want to have built up; organizations that will see to it that the +ground is cut from under him and the markets shut against him. For if +he begins to sell to certain retail dealers, to any retail dealers, the +monopoly will refuse to sell to those dealers, and those dealers will +be afraid and will not buy the new man's wares. + +And this is the country which has lifted to the admiration of the world +its ideals of absolutely free opportunity, where no man is supposed to +be under any limitation except the limitations of his character and of +his mind; where there is supposed to be no distinction of class, no +distinction of blood, no distinction of social status, but where men +win or lose on their merits. + +I lay it very close to my own conscience as a public man whether we can +any longer stand at our doors and welcome all newcomers upon those +terms. American industry is not free, as once it was free; American +enterprise is not free; the man with only a little capital is finding +it harder to get into the field, more and more impossible to compete +with the big fellow. Why? Because the laws of this country do not +prevent the strong from crushing the weak. That is the reason, and +because the strong have crushed the weak, the strong dominate the +industry and the economic life of this country. No man can deny that +the lines of endeavor have more and more narrowed and stiffened; no man +who knows anything about the development of industry in this country +can have failed to observe that the larger kinds of credit are more and +more difficult to obtain, unless you obtain them upon the terms of +uniting your efforts with those who already control the industries of +the country; and nobody can fail to observe that any man who tries to +set himself up in competition with any process of manufacture which has +been taken under the control of large combinations of capital will +presently find himself either squeezed out or obliged to sell and allow +himself to be absorbed. + +There is a great deal that needs reconstruction in the United States. I +should like to take a census of the business men--I mean the rank and +file of the business men--as to whether they think that business +conditions in this country, or rather whether the organization of +business in this country, is satisfactory or not. I know what they +would say if they dared. If they could vote secretly they would vote +overwhelmingly that the present organization of business was meant for +the big fellows and was not meant for the little fellows; that it was +meant for those who are at the top and was meant to exclude those who +are at the bottom; that it was meant to shut out beginners, to prevent +new entries in the race, to prevent the building up of competitive +enterprise that would interfere with the monopolies which the great +trusts have built up. + +What this country needs, above everything else, is a body of laws which +will look after the men who are on the make rather than the men who are +already made. Because the men who are already made are not going to +live indefinitely, and they are not always kind enough to leave sons as +able and as honest as they are. + +The originative part of America, the part of America that makes new +enterprises, the part into which the ambitious and gifted working man +makes his way up, the class that saves, that plans, that organizes, +that presently spreads its enterprises until they have a national scope +and character--that middle class is being more and more squeezed out by +the processes which we have been taught to call processes of +prosperity. Its members are sharing prosperity, no doubt; but what +alarms me is that they are not _originating_ prosperity. No country can +afford to have its prosperity originated by a small controlling class. +The treasury of America does not lie in the brains of the small body of +men now in control of the great enterprises that have been concentrated +under the direction of a very small number of persons. The treasury of +America lies in those ambitions, those energies, that can not be +restricted to a special, favored class. It depends upon the inventions +of unknown men, upon the originations of unknown men, upon the +ambitions of unknown men. Every country is renewed out of the ranks of +the unknown, not out of the ranks of those already famous and powerful +and in control. + +There has come over the land that un-American set of conditions which +enables a small number of men who control the Government to get favors +from the Government; by those favors to exclude their fellows from +equal business opportunity; by those favors to extend a network of +control that will presently drive every industry in the country, and so +make men forget the ancient time when America lay in every hamlet, when +America was to be seen on every fair valley, when America displayed her +great forces on the broad prairies, ran her fine fires of enterprise up +over the mountain sides and down into the bowels of the earth, and +eager men were everywhere captains of industry, not employees; not +looking to a distant city to find out what they might do, but looking +about among their neighbors, finding credit according to their +character, not according to their connections, finding credit in +proportion to what was known to be in them and behind them, not in +proportion to the securities they held that were approved where they +were not known. In order to start an enterprise now, you have to be +authenticated, in a perfectly impersonal way, not according to +yourself, but according to what you own that somebody else approves of +your owning. You can not begin such an enterprise as those that have +made America until you are so authenticated, until you have succeeded +in obtaining the good-will of large allied capitalists. Is that +freedom? That is dependence, not freedom. + +We used to think, in the old-fashioned days when life was very simple, +that all that government had to do was to put on a policeman's uniform +and say, "Now don't anybody hurt anybody else." We used to say that the +ideal of government was for every man to be left alone and not +interfered with, except when he interfered with somebody else; and that +the best government was the government that did as little governing as +possible. That was the idea that obtained in Jefferson's time. But we +are coming now to realize that life is so complicated that we are not +dealing with the old conditions, and that the law has to step in and +create the conditions under which we live, the conditions which will +make it tolerable for us to live. + +Let me illustrate what I mean: It used to be true in our cities that +every family occupied a separate house of its own, that every family +had its own little premises, that every family was separated in its +life from every other family. That is no longer the case in our great +cities. Families live in tenements, they live in flats, they live on +floors; they are piled layer upon layer in the great tenement houses of +our crowded districts, and not only are they piled layer upon layer, +but they are associated room by room, so that there is in every room, +sometimes, in our congested districts, a separate family. In some +foreign countries they have made much more progress than we in handling +these things. In the city of Glasgow, for example (Glasgow is one of +the model cities of the world), they have made up their minds that the +entries and the hallways of great tenements are public streets. +Therefore, the policeman goes up the stairway and patrols the +corridors; the lighting department of the city sees to it that the +halls are abundantly lighted. The city does not deceive itself into +supposing that that great building is a unit from which the police are +to keep out and the civic authority to be excluded, but it says: "These +are public highways, and light is needed in them, and control by the +authority of the city." + +I liken that to our great modern industrial enterprises. A corporation +is very like a large tenement house; it isn't the premises of a single +commercial family; it is just as much a public affair as a tenement +house is a network of public highways. + +When you offer the securities, of a great corporation to anybody who +wishes to purchase them, you must open that corporation to the +inspection of everybody who wants to purchase. There must, to follow +out the figure of the tenement house, be lights along the corridors, +there must be police patrolling the openings, there must be inspection +wherever it is known that men may be deceived with regard to the +contents of the premises. If we believe that fraud lies in wait for us, +we must have the means of determining whether our suspicions are well +founded or not. Similarly, the treatment of labor by the great +corporations is not what it was in Jefferson's time. Whenever bodies of +men employ bodies of men, it ceases to be a private relationship. So +that when courts hold that working men can not peaceably dissuade other +working men from taking employment, and base the decision upon the +analogy of domestic servants, they simply show that their minds and +understandings are lingering in an age which has passed away. This +dealing of great bodies of men with other bodies of men is a matter of +public scrutiny, and should be a matter of public regulation. + +Similarly, it was no business of the law in the time of Jefferson to +come into my house and see how I kept house. But when my house, when my +so-called private property, became a great mine, and men went along +dark corridors amidst every kind of danger in order to dig out of the +bowels of the earth things necessary for the industries of a whole +nation, and when it came about that no individual owned these mines, +that they were owned by great stock companies, then all the old +analogies absolutely collapsed, and it became the right of the +government to go down into these mines to see whether human beings were +properly treated in them or not; to see whether accidents were properly +safeguarded against; to see whether modern economical methods of using +these inestimable riches of the earth were followed or were not +followed. If somebody puts a derrick improperly secured on top of a +building or overtopping the street, then the government of the city has +the right to see that that derrick is so secured that you and I can +walk under it and not be afraid that the heavens are going to fall on +us. Likewise in these great beehives where in every corridor swarm men +of flesh and blood, it is the privilege of the government, whether of +the State or of the United States, as the case may be, to see that +human life is properly cared for, and that human lungs have something +to breathe. + +These, again, are merely illustrations of conditions. We are in a new +world, struggling under old laws. As we go inspecting our lives to-day, +surveying this new scene of centralized and complex society, we shall +find many more things out of joint. + +One of the most alarming phenomena of the time--or rather it would be +alarming if the Nation had not awakened to it and shown its +determination to control it--one of the most significant signs of the +new social era is the degree to which government has become associated +with business. I speak, for the moment, of the control over the +Government exercised by Big Business. Behind the whole subject, of +course, is the truth that, in the new order, government and business +must be associated, closely. But that association is, at present, of a +nature absolutely intolerable; the precedence is wrong, the association +is upside down. Our Government has been for the past few years under +the control of heads of great allied corporations with special +interests. It has not controlled these interests and assigned them a +proper place in the whole system of business; it has submitted itself +to their control. As a result, there have grown up vicious systems and +schemes of governmental favoritism (the most obvious being the +extravagant tariff), far-reaching in effect upon the whole fabric of +life, touching to his injury every inhabitant of the land, laying +unfair and impossible handicaps upon competitors, imposing taxes in +every direction, stifling everywhere the free spirit of American +enterprise. + +Now this has come about naturally; as we go on, we shall see how very +naturally. It is no use denouncing anybody or anything, except human +nature. Nevertheless, it is an intolerable thing that the government of +the Republic should have got so far out of the hands of the people; +should have been captured by interests which are special and not +general. In the train of this capture follow the troops of scandals, +wrongs, indecencies, with which our politics swarm. + +There are cities in America of whose government we are ashamed. There +are cities everywhere, in every part of the land, in which we feel +that, not the interests of the public, but the interests of special +privileges of selfish men, are served; where contracts take precedence +over public interest. Not only in big cities is this the case. Have you +not noticed the growth of socialistic sentiment in the smaller towns? +Not many months ago I stopped at a little town in Nebraska while my +train lingered, and I met on the platform, a very engaging young +fellow, dressed in overalls, who introduced himself to me as the mayor +of the town, and added that he was a Socialist. I said, "What does that +mean? Does that mean that this town is socialistic?" "No, sir," he +said; "I have not deceived myself; the vote by which I was elected was +about 20 per cent. socialistic and 80 per cent, protest." It was +protest against the treachery to the people and those who led both the +other parties of that town. + +All over the Union people are coming to feel that they have no control +over the course of affairs. I live in one of the greatest States in the +Union, which was at one time in slavery. Until two years ago we had +witnessed with increasing concern the growth in New Jersey of a spirit +of almost cynical despair. Men said, "We vote; we are offered the +platform we want; we elect the men who stand on that platform, and we +get absolutely nothing." So they began to ask, "What is the use of +voting? We know that the machines of both parties are subsidized by the +same persons, and therefore it is useless to turn in either direction." + +It is not confined to some of the State governments and those of some +of the towns and cities. We know that something intervenes between the +people of the United States and the control of their own affairs at +Washington. It is not the people who have been ruling there of late. + +Why are we in the presence, why are we at the threshold, of a +revolution? Because we are profoundly disturbed by the influences which +we see reigning in the determination of our public life and our public +policy. There was a time when America was blithe with self-confidence. +She boasted that she, and she alone, knew the processes of popular +government; but now she sees her sky overcast; she sees that there are +at work forces which she did not dream of in her hopeful youth. + +Don't you know that some man with eloquent tongue, without conscience, +who did not care for the Nation, could put this whole country into a +flame? Don't you know that this country from one end to another +believes that something is wrong? What an opportunity it would be for +some man without conscience to spring up and say: "This is the way. +Follow me!"--and lead in paths of destruction. + +The old order changeth--changeth under our very eyes, not quietly and +equably, but swiftly and with the noise and heat and tumult of +reconstruction. + +I suppose that all struggle for law has been conscious, that very +little of it has been blind or merely instinctive. It is the fashion to +say, as if with superior knowledge of affairs and of human weakness, +that every age has been an age of transition, and that no age is more +full of change than another; yet in very few ages of the world can the +struggle for change have been so widespread, so deliberate, or upon so +great a scale as in this in which we are taking part. + +The transition we are witnessing is no equable transition of growth and +normal alteration; no silent, unconscious unfolding of one age into +another, its natural heir and successor. Society is looking itself +over, in our day, from top to bottom; is making fresh and critical +analysis of its very elements; is questioning its oldest practises as +freely as its newest, scrutinizing every arrangement and motive of its +life; and it stands ready to attempt nothing less than a radical +reconstruction, which only frank and honest counsels and the forces of +generous cooperation can hold back from becoming a revolution. We are +in a temper to reconstruct economic society, as we were once in a +temper to reconstruct political society, and political society may +itself undergo a radical modification in the process. I doubt if any +age was ever more conscious of its task or more unanimously desirous of +radical and extended changes in its economic and political practise. + +We stand in the presence of a revolution--not a bloody revolution, +America is not given to the spilling of blood--but a silent revolution +whereby America will insist upon recovering in practise those ideals +which she has always professed, upon securing a government devoted to +the general interest and not to special interests. + +We are upon the eve of a great reconstruction. It calls for creative +statesmanship as no age has done since that great age in which we set +up the government under which we live, that government which was the +admiration of the world until it suffered wrongs to grow up under it +which have made many of our own compatriots question the freedom of our +institutions and preach revolution against them. I do not fear +revolution. I have unshaken faith in the power of America to keep its +self-possession. Revolution will come in peaceful guise, as it came +when we put aside the crude government of the Confederation, and +created the great Federal Union which governed individuals, not States, +and which has been these one hundred and thirty years our vehicle of +progress. Some radical changes we must make in our law and practise. +Some reconstructions we must push forward, which a new age and new +circumstances impose upon us. But we can do it all in calm and sober +fashion, like statesmen and patriots. + +I do not speak of these things in apprehension, because all is open and +above-board. This is not a day in which great forces rally in secret. +The whole stupendous program must be publicly planned and canvassed. +Good temper, the wisdom that comes of sober counsel, the energy of +thoughtful and unselfish men, the habit of cooperation and of +compromise which has been bred in us by long years of free government +in which reason rather than passion has been made to prevail by the +sheer virtue of candid and universal debate, will enable us to win +through to still another great age without violence. + + + + +THE INCOME TAX IN AMERICA + +THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AMENDED A.D. 1913 + +JOSEPH A. HILL + +During the year 1913 a most amazing event happened. The United States +amended its Constitution by peaceful means. Indeed the Constitution was +twice amended; for, having passed the sixteenth amendment in February, +permitting an income tax, the States, just to show what they could do +when aroused to it, passed the seventeenth amendment in May, +authorizing the direct election of United States senators by the +people. + +Amending the United States Constitution is so difficult and cumbrous a +proceeding, that it had not previously been accomplished for over a +century, except by the throes of the terrible Civil War. The original +Constitution had twelve amendments added to it before it was fully +established in running order in 1804. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and +fifteenth amendments were added after 1865 to prohibit slavery. They +were forced upon the unwilling Southern States. From 1804 to 1913 no +amendment was put through by the regular process. Yet in that time +efforts to amend were made on over one hundred and forty occasions. Men +had grown discouraged at last; they said that amendment was impossible. +The cumbrous system which has thus so long blocked all change was that +Congress must by a two-thirds vote in each House agree to submit an +amendment to the States. These must then pass upon the new law, each in +its own legislature. If three-fourths of the legislatures approved, the +amendment was to be accepted. Few of the proposed changes ever won a +two-thirds vote in both Congressional Houses; and of those few not one +had ever appealed to the necessary overwhelming majority of State +legislatures. The Senatorial amendment passed Congress several years +ago, and had long been knocking rather hopelessly at legislative doors. +Then the Income Tax amendment appeared. Congress passed it almost +hurriedly in a spasm of progressiveness in 1909. Then came the great +sweep of progressive policies to victory in the elections of 1912; and +legislatures everywhere awoke to the universal insistence on the Income +Tax. All the States but six approved the amendment; and one of the last +acts of President Taft during his administration was to proclaim its +adoption. The popular amendment swept along in its train the Senatorial +change; and the latter, though still opposed by most of the old South, +was ratified by all the rest of the States except Rhode Island and +Utah. So it also became law. + +Nothing illustrates better the "tyranny of the dead hand" in the United +States than the history of the income tax. The Constitution laid it +down that no head tax or other direct tax should be imposed except by +apportioning it among the several States on the basis of their +population. No more effective barrier to any system of direct taxation +could possibly have been devised. It would seem clear that the main +intention of this Constitutional provision was not merely to protect +the people of the smaller States, but to force the United States +Government to depend for its revenue upon indirect taxes. Such, at any +rate, has been its effect. Legal ingenuity, however, can get round +anything. The Supreme Court decided as long ago as 1789 that an income +tax was not a direct tax, and need not, therefore, be apportioned among +the States. During the Civil War, though not, curiously enough, until +every other source of taxable wealth had pretty well run dry, an income +tax was actually imposed by three separate Acts of Congress, the Act of +1864 levying a tax of 5 per cent. on all incomes between $600 and +$5,000, and of 10 per cent. on all incomes above $5,000. The tax +continued to be collected up to 1872, when it was repealed. + +The constitutional character of the tax, when levied without +apportionment among the States of the Union, was once more fully argued +out in the Supreme Court, which in 1880 reaffirmed its decision of +1789, that a tax on incomes was not a direct tax. Some fifteen years +later, however, the question emerged again, and in a crucial form. The +Democrats came into power in 1893, and proceeded to reduce the tariff, +relying upon a tax of 2 per cent. on all incomes of over $4,000 to make +good the expected loss of revenue. The Supreme Court in 1895 shattered +all their fiscal plans and policies by pronouncing the income tax to be +a direct tax, and therefore incapable of being levied, except in strict +proportion to the population of the various States, and therefore, in +effect, incapable of being levied at all. + +That decision, in all its absurdity, has stood ever since. Its +consequences were to deny to the United States Government the right to +tax incomes, to restrict it still further to customs duties as +virtually its sole source of revenue, to deprive it of a power that +might one day be vital to the safety of the Union, and to exhibit it in +a condition of feebleness that was altogether incompatible with any +rational conception of a sovereign State. It is true that the Supreme +Court has changed not only its _personnel_, but its spirit, and its +whole attitude toward questions of public policy, since 1895. It has +more and more allowed the influence of the age and the necessities of +the times and the clear demands of social and economic justice to +moderate its decisions; and had the question of an income tax been +brought before it any time in the last five years, it would probably +have reversed its judgment of 1895. But President Taft was undoubtedly +right when he urged, in 1909, that the risk of another adverse decision +was too great to be run, and that the safer course was to proceed by +way of an amendment to the Constitution. + +The mere passing of the Income Tax amendment did not, however, +establish an income tax. It merely authorized the government to do this +at will. President Wilson's administration was prompt to take the +matter up. The Democrats, in conjunction with their reduction of the +tariff, needed a new source of revenue. So in October of 1913 the +Income Tax law was passed. In theory an Income Tax is obviously the +most just of all taxes. It summons each citizen to pay for the +government in proportion to his wealth; and his wealth marks roughly +the amount of government protection that he needs. In practise, +however, the working out of an income tax is so complex that every +grumbler can find in its intricacies some cause of complaint. The +present tax is therefore described here by an expert statistician, Mr. +Joseph A. Hill, the United States Government official at the head of +the Division of Revision and Results of the Census Bureau in +Washington. + +Among the notable events of the year 1913, one of the most important in +its influence upon the national finances and constitutional development +of the United States is the adoption of an amendment to the Federal +Constitution giving Congress the power "to lay and collect taxes on +incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the +several States and without regard to any census or enumeration." The +mere fact that an amendment of any kind has been adopted is notable, +this being the first occasion on which the Constitution had undergone +any change since the period of the Civil War, and the first amendment +adopted in peaceful and normal times since the early days of the +Republic. + +It is a little remarkable, although perhaps not altogether accidental, +that the adoption of this amendment should coincide with the return to +power of the political party whose attempt to levy an income tax in +1894 was frustrated by the decision of the Supreme Court in that year. +Then as now an income tax was a component part of the program of fiscal +and commercial reform to which that party was committed. This program +included the reduction of protective tariff duties and the direct +taxation of incomes. What the Democratic party failed to accomplish in +1894, it has had a free hand to do in 1913. Indeed, the national +taxation of incomes might almost be regarded as a mandate of the people +of the United States. At any rate, it was a foregone conclusion that +the adoption of the constitutional amendment would be immediately +followed by the enactment of an income-tax law. + +The law instituting the income tax was approved October 31[?], together +with the law revising the tariff, both measures being included in one +comprehensive statute entitled "An Act to reduce tariff duties and to +provide revenue for Government, and for other purposes." It is the +object of the present article to give a general description of the +income tax. This seems to be especially well worth while because the +tax can not be readily understood from a mere perusal of the involved +and sometimes obscure phraseology of the law itself. For the same +reason, however, the task of interpretation is not easy or entirely +safe. The law has certain novel features; and some of the questions of +detail to which they give rise can not be answered until we have the +official construction placed upon the language of the act by the +executive branch of the government and possibly by the courts. At the +same time, the main features of the tax become fairly evident to any +one who makes a careful study of the provisions of the act, even though +its application to specific cases may remain doubtful. + +The law provides that incomes shall be subject to a tax of one per +cent. on the amount by which they exceed the prescribed minimum limit +of exemption. This is designated as the "normal income tax." There is, +then, an "additional tax" of one per cent, on the amount by which any +income exceeds $20,000. The rate is increased to two per cent. on the +amount above $50,000, to three per cent. above $75,000, to four per +cent. above $100,000, to five per cent. above $250,000, and to six per +cent. above $500,000. Therefore, under the normal and additional tax +combined, the first $20,000 of income, exclusive of the minimum +exemption, will be taxed one per cent.; the next $30,000, two per +cent.; the next $25,000, three per cent.; the next $25,000, four per +cent.; the next $150,000, five per cent.; the next $250,000, six per +cent.; and all income above that point seven per cent. This is a +rigorous application of the progressive principle. + +The minimum exemption, at the same time, is comparatively high,--$4,000 +for a married person and $3,000 for everybody else. The higher +exemption in case of the married is conditional upon husband and wife +living together, and applies only to their aggregate income; that is to +say, it can not be deducted from the income of each. It may be noted, +in this connection, that in England the exemption allowed under the +income tax is L160 or $800; in Prussia it is 900 marks, or $225; and in +the State of Wisconsin it is $800 for individuals and $1,200 for a +husband and wife, with a further allowance for children or dependent +members of the family. + +The sharply progressive rates and the comparatively high exemption have +given rise to the criticism that this is a rich man's income tax and +disregards the principle that all persons should contribute to the +expenses of the government in proportion to their several abilities. It +is often said that an income tax ought to reach all incomes with the +exception of those which are close to or below the minimum necessary +for subsistence, and that if people generally were called upon to +contribute directly to the government they would take greater interest +in public affairs and show more concern over any wasteful or unwise +expenditure of public money. In reply it is contended that the +limitation of the tax to the wealthy or well-to-do classes is justified +because these classes do not pay their fair share of the indirect +national taxes, or of local property taxes. These debatable questions +lie outside the scope of the present article. It is evident, however, +that the income tax should not be criticized as if it were a single tax +or formed the only source of revenue for the Federal government. From +the fiscal standpoint it occupies a subordinate position in the +national finances, being expected to yield about $125,000,000 annually +out of a total estimated tax revenue of $680,000,000. + +The normal tax of one per cent, is to be levied upon the income of +corporations. In effect this provision of the law merely continues the +corporation or "excise" tax which was already in existence. But that +tax now becomes an integral part of the income tax, covering the income +which accrues to the stockholder and is distributable in the form of +dividends. On the theory that this income is reached at the source by +the tax upon the net earnings of the corporation the dividends as such +are exempt. They are not to be included, so far as concerns the normal +tax, in the taxable incomes of the individual stockholders and the law +does not provide that the tax paid by the corporation shall be deducted +from the dividend. + +It is perhaps a question whether under these conditions income which +consists of dividends should be considered as subject to the normal tax +or as exempt. It may be contended that a tax upon the net earnings of +corporations is virtually a tax on the stockholder's income, and in +theory this is true. But so long as the tax is not actually withheld +from the dividends, or the dividends are not reduced in consequence of +the tax, the stockholder's current income is not affected. The +imposition of the tax might indeed affect his prospective income and +might depreciate the value of his stocks. It is hardly likely, however, +that such effects will be perceptible, at least as regards the stocks +of railroads and other large corporations. If, however, it be +considered that income consisting of dividends pays the tax, it follows +that the stockholder's income is taxed no matter how small it may be. +No minimum is left exempt. On the other hand, if it be considered that +all dividends are virtually exempt, the stockholder would seem to be +unduly favored under this form of taxation in comparison with people +whose incomes are derived from other sources. Doubtless in future the +investor will look upon dividends as a form of income not subject to +the normal income tax. + +In the levy of the normal income tax there is to be a limited +application of the method of assessment and collection at the source of +the income. This method is applied very completely in the taxation of +income in Great Britain. It may be well to recall summarily the +essential features of the British system. The tax is levied upon the +property or industrial enterprise which yields or produces the income. +But the person occupying the property or conducting the enterprise, and +paying the assessment in the first instance, is authorized and required +to deduct the tax from the income as it is distributed among the +persons entitled to share in it either as proprietors, landlords, +creditors, or employees. Under the English system, an industrial +corporation, for instance, pays the income tax upon its gross earnings +and then deducts it from the dividends, interest, salaries, and rents +as these payments are made. The householder pays an assessment levied +upon the annual value of his dwelling (less an allowance for repairs +and insurance) and then if he occupies the premises as tenant deducts +the tax from his rent. The income from agriculture is reached by a +similar assessment upon the farmer, based upon the annual or rental +value of the farm and with the same right of deduction from the rent if +he is a tenant farmer. + +From the standpoint of the government, the main advantage of this mode +of assessment as compared with a tax levied directly upon the +recipients of the income is the greater certainty with which it reaches +the income subject to taxation. The opportunities for evasion by +concealment of income are reduced to a minimum, partly because the +sources of income are, in general, not easily concealed and partly +because, to a considerable extent, the persons upon whom the tax is +assessed are not interested in avoiding the tax. The advantages, +however, are not all on the side of the government. The tax possesses +certain advantages from the standpoint of the taxpayer, also, assuming +him to be an honest taxpayer who is not seeking opportunities to evade +taxation. One advantage is that he is relieved in almost every case +from the necessity of revealing to the tax officials the whole of his +personal income. The tax does not pry into his personal affairs. +Another advantage is that the tax is paid out of current income, being +deducted from the income as it is received. It is therefore distributed +over the year and adjusted to the flow of income as it comes in. A tax +thus collected is less burdensome in its incidence than a tax paid in +one lump sum several months after the expiration of the year to which +it related and after the income on which it is levied has been all +received and perhaps all expended. + +The English system of assessing an income tax at the source, however, +has its disadvantages. It is admirably suited for a tax levied at a +uniform rate on all income or on all income above a small minimum. But +it is not well suited for the application of progressive taxation or +for the introduction of gradations or distinctions based upon the size +or character of the individual incomes. Nevertheless, the English +income tax, besides exempting a minimum, provides for graded reductions +or abatements in favor of the possessors of small incomes above the +minimum, and for a reduced rate on "unearned" income within certain +limits. All this, however, makes necessary a declaration or complete +statement of income from the persons claiming the benefit of those +provisions, and also necessitates refunding a large amount of the tax +collected at the source. Moreover, the progressive principle has +recently been applied by imposing a "super-tax" on incomes in excess of +L5,000, which also requires a declaration, the tax being necessarily +assessed upon the possessor of the income and not at the source. The +super-tax, it may be observed, occupies a position in the English +system similar to that of the additional tax in the United States, +serving to increase the tax upon the larger incomes in accordance with +the principle of progression. + +Considering the various provisos and exceptions in connection with the +general rule of the act, the scope of the application of the method of +collecting the tax at the source may perhaps be safely stated thus: the +normal tax is to be deducted (1) from all interest payments made by +corporations on bonds and the like, without regard to the amount; (2) +from all other interest payments when the amount is more than $3,000 in +any one year; (3) from all payments of rents, salaries, or wages +amounting in any one case to over $3,000 annually; (4) from all other +payments of over $3,000 (excepting dividends) which may be comprised +under the designations "premiums, compensations, remuneration, +emoluments, or other fixed or determinable gains, profits, or income." + +The principle of assessing income at its source, as applied in this +act, does not relieve the individual from the necessity of making a +full revelation to the tax officials of his personal income from all +sources. Though this statement needs to be qualified in one or two +particulars, the law provides in general that every person subject to +the tax and having an income of $3,000 or over shall make a true and +accurate return under oath or affirmation "setting forth specifically +the gross amount of income from all separate sources and from the total +thereof deducting the aggregate items or expenses and allowance" +authorized by the law. Although income from which the tax has been +withheld is not included in the net personal and taxable income of the +taxpayer, it must, nevertheless, be accounted for and included in his +declaration as a part of his gross income, forming one of the specified +items which are to be deducted from the gross income in arriving at the +income subject to taxation. + +As already intimated, the general requirement of the full and complete +statement of income is subject to certain exceptions. One relates to +the income from dividends, the law providing that "persons liable to +the normal tax only ... shall not be required to make return of the +income derived from dividends on the capital stock or from the net +earnings of corporations, joint-stock companies or associations, and +insurance companies taxable upon their net income." It will be noted +that this proviso is restricted to persons who are "liable for the +normal tax only," _i.e._, persons having net incomes under $20,000. It +would seem, therefore, that the taxpayer claiming and securing this +privilege must in some way, without revealing the amount received from +dividends, satisfy the tax assessors that his total net income, +including the dividends (amount not stated), does not exceed $20,000. +Of course a form of statement can easily be devised to cover the +situation. But whether the law will be administered in such a way that +this provision affords some relief from the general obligation of +making a detailed and complete statement of income remains to be seen. + +Another exception to the general requirement of a complete declaration +of income covers the case of the taxpayer whose entire income has been +assessed and the tax on it deducted at the source. The law relieves +such persons from the obligation of making any declaration of income; +although it is not certain that this privilege can be secured without +foregoing or sacrificing the benefits of any abatements to which the +individual taxpayer might be entitled on account of business expenses, +interest payments, losses, etc. It seems probable that where the income +is all assessed at the source the taxpayer may obtain the benefit of +the minimum exemption without making a declaration of income. + +It appears, therefore, that assessment at the source does not, under +this law, operate in such a way as to afford the taxpayer any +substantial relief from the necessity of making a revelation of his +income to tax officials. Whatever basis there may be for the common +criticism or complaint that an income tax is inquisitorial remains +under the operation of this law to nearly the same extent that it +would if the tax were levied wholly and directly upon the recipients +of the income, with no resort to taxation at the source. + +Regarding the assessment of the additional tax not much need be said in +the way of explanation. It is, in theory at least, a comparatively +simple matter. There is no attempt here to make any application of the +principle of collection at the source. The tax is all levied directly +upon the recipients of the individual incomes, and the assessment is +based upon the taxpayer's declaration, which for the purposes of this +tax must cover the "entire net income from all sources, corporate or +otherwise." The tax is thus largely distinct from the normal income tax +as regards both the method of assessment and the rates. It is, however, +to be administered through the same machinery, and no doubt to some +extent the information obtained as to the sources of income in +connection with the assessment of the normal tax will prove useful as a +check upon the returns of income required for assessment of the +additional tax. Every person whose income exceeds $20,000 will be +subject to both taxes, the normal and the additional, but presumably +will be required to make only one declaration. For the purposes of the +additional tax he will be required to declare his income from all +sources, and therefore any relief from the obligation of making a +complete revelation of income which may be secured to him through the +application of the principle of assessment at the source in connection +with the normal tax will be entirely sacrificed. + +The administration of a direct personal income tax--using that term to +describe a tax levied directly on individual incomes--is a +comparatively simple matter, however ineffective it may prove to be in +reaching the income subject to it. Under this method of taxation it is +easy to exempt a minimum, to apply progression in the rates, or to make +any other adjustments that may be deemed equitable with reference +either to the size or character of the income or to the circumstances +of the taxpayer. But as soon as we depart from this simple method and +resort to taxation at the source, we encounter difficulties in varying +the rates, allowing exemptions, or making any similar adjustments. In +the English income tax, these difficulties are squarely met and +surmounted. As previously explained, that tax is in the first instance +levied indiscriminately on all accessible sources of income and the +adjustments are effected by refunding the tax collected at the source +so far as may be necessary. No provision is made for forestalling the +deduction of the tax, and no returns are required of the names and +addresses of persons to whom payments of incomes are made. The +exemption, however, is small ($800), and the abatements extend only to +incomes below $3,500. Above that point the entire income is taxable. + +A tax which provides for the exemption of $3,000 or $4,000 from every +individual income places a formidable barrier in the way of a +thoroughgoing application of assessment at the source. It is evident +that with a universal exemption as high as this, a very large amount of +tax withheld and collected at the source would ultimately have to be +refunded. The law as enacted indicates an intention to secure in part +the advantage of assessment at the source and at the same time avoid in +part the attendant disadvantage of having to refund the tax. The +measure might be characterized as one which as regards the "normal tax" +applies the principle of assessment at the source to corporate income +completely and to other income in spots. The "additional tax" is simply +the direct personal tax. The normal tax will doubtless be successful in +reaching the large amount of income earned or created by enterprises +conducted under the corporate form of organization, much of which would +probably escape assessment under a direct personal income tax. But +beyond this it is questionable whether the method of assessment at the +source as here applied will be of sufficient advantage to justify the +administrative complications which it involves. + +It seems useless, however, as well as unwise, to venture any +predictions as to how successful the tax will be in reaching the income +subject to it or how well it will work in actual practise. The law will +doubtless require amendment in many particulars, even if it does not +need to be radically revised. That the income tax in some form will be +perpetuated as a permanent part of our system of national finance may +safely be predicted. Properly adjusted and wisely administered, it +should greatly strengthen the financial resources of the Government, +make possible a closer adjustment of revenue to expenditure, and secure +a more equitable distribution of the burden of taxation. + + + + +THE SECOND BALKAN WAR + +GREECE AND SERVIA CRUSH THE AMBITIONS OF BULGARIA + +A.D. 1913 + +PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +CAPT. A.H. TRAPMANN + +The crushing defeat of Turkey by the Balkan States during the winter of +1912-13 had been accomplished mainly by Bulgaria. The Bulgarians were +therefore eager to assert themselves as the chief Balkan State, the +Power which was to take the place of Turkey as ruler of the "Near +East." Naturally this roused the antagonism not only of Bulgaria's +recent allies, Greece and Servia, but also of the other neighboring +State, Roumania. Bulgaria hoped to meet and crush her two allies before +Roumania could join them. Thus she deliberately precipitated a war +which resulted in her utter defeat. From this contest Greece has +emerged as the chief State of the eastern Mediterranean, a growing +Power which at last bears some resemblance to the classic Greece of +ancient times. + +To understand this war, it should be realized that the Bulgars are +really an Asiatic race, who broke into Europe as the Hungarians had +done before them, and as the Turks did afterward. Hence their kinship +with European races or manners is really slight, though they have +something of Slavic or Russian blood. The Servians are near akin to the +Russians. The Roumanians trace their ancestry proudly, if somewhat +dubiously, back to the old Roman colonists of the days of Rome's world +empire. The Greeks are really the most ancient dwellers in the region; +and to their pride of race was now added a furious eagerness to prove +their military power. This had been much scorned after their +ineffective war against Turkey in 1897, and they had found no +opportunity to give decisive proof of their strength during the war of +1912. + +To Professor Duggan's account of the causes and results of the war, +which appeared originally in the _Political Science Quarterly_, we +append the picture of its most striking incidents by Captain Trapmann, +who was with the Greek army through its brief but brilliant campaign. + + +PROF. STEPHEN P. DUGGAN + +When the secret treaty of alliance of March, 1912, between Bulgaria and +Servia against Turkey was signed, a division of the territory that +might possibly fall to the allies was agreed upon. Neither Bulgaria nor +Servia has ever published the treaty in full, but from the +denunciations and recriminations indulged in by the parliaments of +both, we know in general what the division was to be. The river +Maritza, it was hoped, would become the western boundary of Turkey, and +a line running from a point just east of Kumanova to the head of Lake +Ochrida was to divide the conquered territory between Servia and +Bulgaria. This would give Monastir, Prilip, Ochrida, and Veles to the +Bulgarians--a great concession on the part of Servia. Certain other +disputed towns were to be left to the arbitrament of the Czar of +Russia. The chief aim to be attained by this division was that Servia +should obtain a seaboard upon the Adriatic Sea, and Bulgaria upon the +Aegean. Incidentally Bulgaria would obtain western Thrace and the +greater part of Macedonia, and Servia would secure the greater part of +Albania. + +These calculations had been entirely upset by the course of events. +Bulgaria's share had been considerably increased by the unexpected +conquest of eastern Thrace, including Adrianople, whereas Servia's +portion had been greatly diminished by the creation of an independent +Albania out of her share. Moreover, M. Pashitch, the Servian prime +minister, maintained that whereas by the preliminary treaty Bulgaria +was to send detachments to assist the Servian armies operating in the +Vardar valley, the reverse had been found necessary and Adrianople had +only been taken with the help of 60,000 Servians and by means of the +Servian siege guns. Equity demanded that the new conditions which had +arisen and which had entirely altered the situation should be given +consideration and that Bulgaria should not expect the preliminary +agreement to be carried out. Now, from the outbreak of hostilities +Bulgaria's foreign affairs, in which King Ferdinand was supposed to be +supreme, were really controlled by the prime minister, Dr. Daneff. He +proved to be the evil genius of his country; for his arrogant, +unyielding attitude upon every disputed point, not only with the enemy, +but with the allies and with the Powers, destroyed all kindly feeling +for Bulgaria, and left her friendless in her hour of need. Dr. Daneff's +answer to the Servian contention was that Bulgaria bore the brunt of +the fight; that, had she not kept the main Turkish force occupied, +Servia and Greece would have been crushed; that a treaty is a treaty, +and that the additional gain of eastern Thrace in no way invalidated +the old agreement. + +The recriminations between Greeks and Bulgarians were quite as bitter. +There had been no preliminary agreement as to the division of conquered +territory between them, and this permitted each to indulge in the most +extravagant claims. The great bone of contention was the possession of +the fine port of Salonika. As soon as the war against Turkey broke out, +both states pushed forward troops to occupy that city. The Greeks +arrived first and were still in possession. Moreover, they maintained +that, except for the Jews, the population is chiefly Greek. So are the +trade and the schools. M. Venezelos, the Greek prime minister, insisted +also that the erection of an independent Albania deprived Greece of a +large part of northern Epirus, as it had deprived Servia of a great +part of Old Servia, and Montenegro of Scutari. In fact, he asserted +that Bulgaria alone would retain everything she hoped for, securing +nearly three-fifths of the conquered territory, and leaving only +two-fifths to be divided among her three allies; and this, despite the +fact that but for the activity of the Greek navy in preventing the +convoy of Turkey's best troops from Asia, Bulgaria would never have had +her rapid success at the beginning of the war. Finally, he strenuously +objected to the whole seaboard of Macedonia going to Bulgaria, as the +population where it was not Moslem was chiefly Greek. All the parties +to the dispute made much of ethnical and historical claims--"A thousand +years are as a day" in their sight. The answer of Dr. Daneff to the +Greek demands was to the effect that Greece already had one good port +on the Mediterranean, while Bulgaria had none, and that Bulgaria would +have to spend immense sums on either Kavala or Dedeagatch to make them +of any great value. Moreover, as a result of the war, Greece would get +Crete, the Aegean islands, and a good slice of the mainland. She had +suffered least in the war and was really being overpaid for her +services. + +Behind all these formal contentions were the conflicting ambitions and +the racial hatreds which no discussion could effectually resolve. +Bulgaria was determined to secure the hegemony of the Balkan peninsula. +She believed that her role was that of a Balkan Prussia, and her great +victories made her confident of her ability to play the role +successfully. To this Servia would never consent. The Servians far +outnumber the Bulgarians. Were they united under one scepter they would +be the strongest nation in the Balkans. Their policy is to maintain an +equilibrium in the peninsula until the hoped-for annexation of Bosnia +and Herzegovina will give them the preponderance. This alone would +incline Servia to make common cause with Greece. In addition, she had +the powerful motive of direct self-interest. Since she did not secure +the coveted territory on the Adriatic, Salonika would be more than ever +the natural outlet for her products. Should Bulgaria wedge in behind +Greece at Salonika, Servia would have two Powers to deal with, each of +which could pursue the policy of destroying her commerce by a +prohibitory tariff, a policy so often adopted toward her by +Austria-Hungary. M. Pashitch, therefore, was determined to have the new +southern boundary of Servia coterminous with the northern boundary of +Greece. Moreover, Greeks and Servians were aware of the relative +weakness of the Bulgarians due to their great losses and to the wide +territory occupied by their troops. The war party was in the ascendant +in each country. The Servians were anxious to avenge Slivnitza, and the +Greeks still further to redeem themselves from the reputation of 1897. +Had peace been signed in January, there is little doubt that a greater +spirit of conciliation would have prevailed. The Young Turks were +universally condemned at that time for refusing to yield; but had they +deliberately adopted Abdul Hamid's policy of playing off one people +against another, they could not have succeeded better than by their +determination to fight. + +Even before the fall of Adrianople, on March 26th, military conflicts +had taken place between Bulgarians and Servians and between Bulgarians +and Greeks. On March 12th a pitched battle occurred between the latter +at Nigrita; and though a mixed commission at once drew up a code of +regulations for use in towns occupied by joint armies, not the +slightest attention was subsequently paid to it. The Servians shortly +afterward expelled the manager of the branch of the National Bulgarian +Bank at Monastir, a step which drew forth emphatic protests from Sofia +against the policy of Serbizing districts in anticipation of the final +settlement. On April 17th, M. Pashitch informed Bulgaria that the +Government would refuse to be bound by the terms of the preliminary +treaty of March, 1912. From that date until the signing of the treaty +of peace with Turkey on May 31st, the recent allies carried on an +unofficial war, which consisted of combats of extermination marked by +inhuman rage. After that event each of the combatants strained every +nerve to push forward its armies and to possess new territories, while +each continued to accuse the other of violating every principle of +international law. + +The ambassadors of the great Powers at the capitals of the Balkan +States made urgent representations to the Balkan Governments to +restrain their armies, but without effect. On June 10th the Servian +Government dispatched a note to Sofia demanding a categorical answer to +the Servian demand for a revision of the preliminary treaty. On July +11th the Czar telegraphed to King Peter and King Ferdinand appealing to +them to avoid a fratricidal war, reminding them of his position as +arbitrator under the preliminary treaty and warning them that he would +hold responsible whichever state appealed to force. "The state which +begins war will be responsible before the Slav cause." This well-meant +action had an effect the opposite of that hoped for. In Vienna it was +looked upon as an indirect assertion of moral guardianship by Russia +over the Slav world. The Austrian press insisted that the Balkan states +were of age and could take care of themselves. If not, it was for +Europe, not for Russia, to control them. The political horizon grew +still darker when one week later Dr. Daneff answered the Servian note +in the negative. This resulted in the Servian Minister withdrawing from +Sofia on June 22d. + +What was the plan of campaign and the degree of preparedness of the +principal belligerent in the second Balkan war which was about to +commence? The plan of the Bulgarians was the only one whereby they +could hope to secure victory. It depended for success upon surprizing +the Servians by sending masses of Bulgarian troops into the home +territory of Servia by way of the passes leading directly from Sofia +westward through the mountains. This would cut off the Servian armies +operating in Macedonia from their base of supplies and require their +immediate recall for the defense of the home territory. It was an +operation attended by almost insurmountable obstacles. The major part +of the Bulgarian army was in eastern Thrace and would have to be +brought across a country unprovided with either railroads or sufficient +highways. Moreover, the army would have to rely for the transport of +provisions and equipment upon slow-moving bullock wagons. Nevertheless, +given time, secrecy, and freedom from interference, the aim might be +attained. The necessary divisions of the army were set in motion in the +beginning of May. So successful were the Bulgarians in keeping secret +the route and the progress of the army, that by the middle of June they +confidently looked forward to success. Their high hopes were destroyed +by the evil diplomacy of Dr. Daneff in his relations with Roumania. + +Russia rewarded Roumania for her splendid assistance in the +Russo-Turkish war of 1877 by depriving her of her fertile province of +Bessarabia and compelling her to take in exchange the Dobrudja, a low, +marshy district inhabited chiefly by Bulgarians and Moslems. And that +was not all. Through Russian influence the commission appointed to +delimit the boundary between Roumania and the new principality of +Bulgaria put the town of Silistria upon the Bulgarian side of the +boundary. Now the heights of Silistria command absolutely the Roumanian +territory opposite to it and the Dobrudja. The Danube directly in front +of Silistria spreads out in a marsh several miles wide, so that it is +impossible to approach Silistria from the Roumanian side by bridge. As +a result Roumania has always felt that her southern border was at the +mercy of Bulgaria and has always, as one of the chief aims of her +national existence, looked forward to the rectification of her southern +boundary. The unfriendly attitude of Russia threw Roumania into the +arms of Austria, so that from the days of the Berlin treaty to the +Balkan war, Roumania has been considered a true friend of the Triple +Alliance. She viewed with jealousy and fear the rapid growth of +Bulgaria in power and in strength. Crowded in between the two military +empires of Russia and Austria-Hungary, Roumania naturally looked upon +the development of another military state upon her southern border as a +menace to her national existence. Hence when the Macedonian question +became very acute in 1903, and it seemed that action would be +undertaken by Bulgaria and Servia against Turkey, Roumania had declared +that she would not tolerate an alteration of the _status quo_. She did +not move, however, when the allies undertook the war of liberation in +October, 1912. But when a month's campaign changed the war from one of +liberation to one of conquest, Roumania demanded from Bulgaria as the +price of neutrality Silistria and a small slice of the Black Sea coast +sufficient to satisfy strategic military demands. + +It was in his relations with Roumania that Daneff's diplomacy was most +stupid. M. Take Jonescu, one of Roumanians ablest statesmen, was sent +by the Government to the first Peace Conference at London to secure +pledges from Dr. Daneff in regard to the Roumanian demand. He could get +no answer. Daneff used every device to gain time in the hope that a +settlement with Turkey would relieve Bulgaria from the necessity of +giving anything. When the peace negotiations failed and the war between +the allies and Turkey recommenced, the relations between Roumania and +Bulgaria became very critical. However, at the Czar's suggestion, both +countries agreed to refer the dispute to a conference of the +ambassadors of the great Powers at St. Petersburg. Dr. Daneff, who +represented Bulgaria, adopted a most truculent attitude and refused to +yield on any point. As a result of the skilful diplomacy of the French +ambassador, M. Delcasse, in reconciling the divergent views of the +great Powers, Roumania was awarded, on April 19th, the town of +Silistria and a three-mile zone around it, but was refused an increase +on the seaboard. The award was very unpopular in Roumania, but M. +Jonescu risked his official life by successfully urging the Roumanian +Government to accept it. But when it became perfectly evident, after +the signing of the Treaty of London on May 30th, that the former allies +were now to be enemies, the Roumanian government notified Bulgaria that +she could not rely upon its neutrality without compensation in the +interests of the equilibrium of the Balkans. + +Such was the diplomatic situation when the Czar's telegram of June 11th +was received by King Ferdinand. Nothing could have been more +inopportune for the Bulgarian cause. Though the government had no +intention of changing its plan, sufficient deference had to be paid to +the Czar's request to suspend the forward movement of troops. The delay +was fatal. The Servians, who were already aware that the Bulgarians +were in motion, now learned their direction and their actual positions. +The Servian Government hastened to fortify the passes of the Balkans +between Bulgaria and the home territory, and the Servian army in +Macedonia effected a junction with the Greek army from Salonika. There +was nothing left for the Bulgarians but to direct their offensive +movements against the southern Servian divisions in Macedonia. The +great _coup_ had failed. Instead of attacking first the Servians and +then the Greeks and overwhelming them separately, it was necessary to +fight their combined forces. + +Every element in the situation demanded the utmost caution on the part +of Bulgaria. Elementary prudence dictated that she yield to Roumanians +demand for a slice of the seaboard to Baltchik in order to prevent +Roumania from joining Servia and Greece. No doubt, had Daneff yielded +he would have been voted out of office by the opposition, for the +military party was in the ascendant at Sofia also. But a real statesman +would not have flinched. Seldom has the influence of home politics upon +the foreign affairs of a State operated so disastrously upon both. It +was determined to carry out that part of the original plan of campaign +which called for a surprise attack upon the Servians. It must be +remembered that all the engagements that had hitherto taken place +between the former allies had been unofficial, Daneff all the while +insisting that there existed no war, but "only military action to +enforce the Serbo-Bulgarian treaty." Nevertheless, on June 29th the +word went forth from Bulgarian headquarters for a general attack upon +the Servian line which, taken by surprise, yielded. + +In the mean time public opinion at Bucharest became almost +uncontrollable in its demand for the mobilization of the troops, and +the government was outraged at the continued prohibition by Russia of a +forward movement. The Roumanian Government had already appealed to +Count Berchtold for Austro-Hungarian support against Russian +interference, but Austria-Hungary, like every other great power, +expected Bulgaria to win, and she intended that Bulgaria should take +the place vacated by Turkey as a counterpoise to Russia in the Balkans. +Hence Count Berchtold informed Roumania that she could not rely upon +Austro-Hungarian support, were she to ignore the Russian veto. But in +the mean time an exaggerated report of the Servian defeat had reached +St. Petersburg on July 1st, and to save Servia, Russia lifted the +embargo on Roumanian action. + +Forty-eight hours later Europe knew that the Greeks had fought the +fearful battle of Kilchis, resulting in the utter rout of the +Bulgarians, who were in full retreat to defend the Balkan passes into +their home territory. Russia at once recalled her permission for +Roumanian mobilization, but it was too late. The army was on the march. + +The situation of Bulgaria was now truly desperate. Not only had her +_coup_ against the Servians failed, but her troops were fleeing before +the victorious Greeks up the Struma valley. On July 5th war was +officially recognized by the withdrawal of the representatives of +Greece, Montenegro, and Roumania, from Sofia. On the same day Turkey +requested the withdrawal of all Bulgarian troops east of the Enos-Midia +line. In the bloody battles which continued to be fought against Greeks +and Servians, the Bulgarians were nearly everywhere defeated, and on +July 10th Bulgaria placed herself unreservedly in the hands of Russia +with a view to a cessation of hostilities. + +This did not, however, prevent the forward movement of all her enemies. +On July 15th, Turkey, "moved by the unnatural war" existing in the +Balkan Peninsula, dispatched Enver Bey with an army to Adrianople, +which he reoccupied July 20th. By that time the Roumanians were within +twenty miles of Sofia, and the guns of the Servians and Greeks could be +heard in the Bulgarian capital. The next day King Ferdinand telegraphed +to King Charles of Roumania, asking him to intercede with the kings of +Greece, Servia, and Montenegro. He did so, and all the belligerents +agreed to send peace delegates to Bucharest. They assembled there on +July 29th and at once concluded an armistice. + +Each of the belligerent States sent its best man to the peace +conference. Greece was represented by M. Venezelos, Servia by M. +Pashitch, Roumania by M. Jonescu, Montenegro by M. Melanovitch, and +Bulgaria chiefly by General Fitcheff, who had opposed the surprise +attack upon the Servians. The policy of Bulgaria at the conference was +to satisfy the demands of Roumania at once, sign a separate treaty +which would rid her territory of Roumanian troops, and then treat with +Greece and Servia. But M. Jonescu, who controlled the situation, +insisted that peace must be restored by one treaty, not by several. At +the same time he let it be known that Roumania would not uphold +extravagant claims on the part of Greece and Servia which they could +never have advanced were her troops not at the gates of Sofia. The +moderate Roumanian demands were easily settled. Her southern boundary +was to run from Turtukai via Dobritch to Baltchik on the Black Sea. She +also secured cultural privileges for the Kutzovlachs in Bulgaria. The +Servians, who before the second Balkan war would have been satisfied +with the Vardar river as a boundary, now insisted upon the possession +of the important towns of Kotchana, Ishtib, Radovishta, and Strumnitza, +to the east of the Vardar. With the assistance of Roumania, Bulgaria +was permitted to retain Strumnitza. The Greeks were the most +unyielding. Before the war they would have been perfectly satisfied to +have secured the Struma river as their eastern boundary. Now they +demanded much more of the Aegean seacoast, including the important port +of Kavala. The Bulgarian representatives refused to sign without the +possession of Kavala, but under pressure from Roumania they had to +consent. But they would yield on nothing else. The money indemnity +demanded by Greece and Servia and the all-around grant of religious +privileges suggested by Roumania had to be dropped. The treaty was +signed August 6, 1913. + +In the mean time the Powers had not been passive onlookers. +Austria-Hungary insisted that Balkan affairs are European affairs and +that the Treaty of Bucharest should be considered as merely +provisional, to be made definitive by the great Powers. On this +proposition the members of both the Triple Alliance and the Triple +Entente divided. Austria and Italy in the one, and Russia in the other, +favored a revision. Austria fears a strong Servia, and Italy dislikes +the growth of Greek influence in the eastern Mediterranean. These two +States and Russia favored a whittling-down of the gains of Greece and +Servia and insisted upon Kavala and a bigger slice of the Aegean +seaboard for Bulgaria. But France, England, and Germany insisted upon +letting well-enough alone. King Charles of Roumania, who demanded that +the peace should be considered definitive, sent a telegram to Emperor +William containing the following sentence: "Peace is assured, and +thanks to you, will remain definitive." This gave great umbrage at +Vienna; but in the divided condition of the European Concert, no State +wanted to act alone. So the treaty stands. + +The condition of Bulgaria was indeed pitiable, but her cup was not yet +full. Immediately after occupying Adrianople on July 20th, the Turks +had made advances to the Bulgarian government looking to the settlement +of a new boundary. But Bulgaria, relying upon the intervention of the +Powers, had refused to treat at all. On August 7th the representatives +of the great Powers at Constantinople called collectively upon the +Porte to demand that it respect the Treaty of London. But the Porte had +seen Europe so frequently flouted by the little Balkan States during +the previous year, that it had slight respect for Europe as a +collective entity. In fact, Europe's prestige at Constantinople had +disappeared. _J'y suis, j'y reste_ was the answer of the Turks to the +demand to evacuate Adrianople. The recapture of that city had been a +godsend to the Young Turk party. The Treaty of London had destroyed +what little influence it had retained after the defeat of the armies, +and it grasped at the seizure of Adrianople as a means of awakening +enthusiasm and keeping office. As the days passed by, it became evident +that further delay would cost Bulgaria dear. On August 15th the Turkish +troops crossed the Maritza river and occupied western Thrace, though +the Porte had hitherto been willing to accept the Maritza as the +boundary. The Bulgarian hope of a European intervention began to fade. +The Turks were soon able to convince the Bulgarian Government that most +of the great Powers were willing to acquiesce in the retention of +Adrianople by the Turks in return for economic and political +concessions to themselves. There was nothing for Bulgaria to do but +yield, and on September 3d General Savoff and M. Tontcheff started for +Constantinople to treat with the Turkish government for a new boundary +line. They pleaded for the Maritza as the boundary between the two +States, the possession of the west bank being essential for railway +connection between Bulgaria and Dedeagatch, her only port on the +Aegean. But this plea came in conflict with the determination of the +Turks to keep a sufficient strategic area around Adrianople. Hence the +Turks demanded and secured a considerable district on the west bank, +including the important town of Dimotika. By the preliminary agreement +signed on September 18th the boundary starts at the mouth of the +Maritza river, goes up the river to Mandra, then west around Dimotika +almost to Mustafa Pasha. On the north the line starts at Sveti Stefan +and runs west so that Kirk Kilesseh is retained by Turkey. + +While the Balkan belligerents were settling upon terms of peace among +themselves, the conference of ambassadors at London was trying to bring +the settlement of the Albanian problem to a conclusion. On August 11th +the conference agreed that an international commission of control, +consisting of a representative of each of the great Powers, should +administer the affairs of Albania until the Powers should select a +prince as ruler of the autonomous State. The conference also decided to +establish a _gendarmerie_ under the command of military officers +selected from one of the small neutral States of Europe. At the same +time the conference agreed upon the southern boundary of Albania. This +line was a compromise between that demanded by Greece and that demanded +by Austria-Hungary and Italy. Unfortunately it was agreed that the +international boundary commission which was to be appointed should in +drawing the line be guided mainly by the nationality of the inhabitants +of the districts through which it would pass. At once Greeks and +Albanians began a campaign of nationalization in the disputed +territory, which resulted in sanguinary conflicts. Unrest soon spread +throughout the whole of Albania. On August 17th a committee of +Malissori chiefs visited Admiral Burney, who was in command, at +Scutari, of the marines from the international fleet, to notify him +that the Malissori would never agree to incorporation in Montenegro. +They proceeded to make good their threat by capturing the important +town of Dibra and driving the Servians from the neighborhood of Djakova +and Prizrend. Since then the greater part of northern and southern +Albania has been practically in a state of anarchy. + +The settlement of the Balkans described in this article will probably +last for at least a generation, not because all the parties to the +settlement are content, but because it will take at least a generation +for the dissatisfied States to recuperate. Bulgaria is in far worse +condition than she was before the war with Turkey. The second Balkan +war, caused by her policy of greed and arrogance, destroyed 100,000 of +the flower of her manhood, lost her all of Macedonia and eastern +Thrace, and increased her expenses enormously. Her total gains, whether +from Turkey or from her former allies, were but eighty miles of +seaboard on the Aegean, with a Thracian hinterland wofully depopulated. +Even railway communication with her one new port of Dedeagatch has been +denied her. Bulgaria is in despair, but full of hate. However, with a +reduced population and a bankrupt treasury, she will need many years to +recuperate before she can hope to upset the new arrangement. And it +will be hard even to attempt that; for the _status quo_ is founded upon +the principle of a balance of power in the Balkan peninsula; and +Roumania has definitely announced herself as a Balkan power. Servia, +and more particularly Greece, have made acquisitions beyond their +wildest dreams at the beginning of the war and have now become strong +adherents of the policy of equilibrium. + +The future of the Turks is in Asia, and Turkey in Asia just now is in a +most unhappy condition. Syria, Armenia, and Arabia are demanding +autonomy; and the former respect of the other Moslems for the governing +race, _i.e._, the Turks, has received a severe blow. Whether Turkey can +pull itself together, consolidate its resources, and develop the +immense possibilities of its Asiatic possessions remains, of course, to +be seen. But it will have no power, and probably no desire, to upset +the new arrangement in the Balkans. + +The settlement is probably a landmark in Balkan history in that it +brings to a close the period of tutelage exercised by the great Powers +over the Christian States of the Balkans. Neither Austria-Hungary nor +Russia emerges from the ordeal with prestige. The pan-Slavic idea has +received a distinct rebuff. To Roumania and Greece, another non-Slavic +State, _i.e._, Albania, has been added; and in no part of the peninsula +is Russia so detested as in Bulgaria which unreasonably protests that +Russia betrayed her. "Call us Huns, Turks, or Tatars, but not Slavs." +Twice the Austro-Hungarians, in their anxiety to maintain the balance +of power in the Balkans, made the mistake of backing the wrong +combatant. In the first war, they upheld Turkey; and in the second, +they favored Bulgaria. In encouraging Bulgarian aggression they +estranged Roumania, the faithful friend of a generation, and Bulgaria +won only debt and disgrace. Yet Austria-Hungary must now continue to +support Bulgaria as a counterpoise to a stronger Servia which they +consider a menace to their security because of Servian influence on +their southern Slavs. The Balkan states will manage their own affairs +in the future, but they will still offer abundant opportunity for the +play of Russian and Austro-Hungarian rivalry. It had been hoped that +the Balkan peninsula, when freed from the incubus of Turkish misrule, +would settle down to a period of general tranquillity. Instead of this, +the ejectment of the Turk has resulted in increased bitterness and more +dangerous hate. + + +CAPT. ALBERT H. TRAPMANN + +I doubt if history can show a more brilliant or dramatic campaign than +that which the Greeks commenced on the first of July and ended on the +last day of the same month; certainly no country has ever been drenched +with so much blood in so short a space of time as was Macedonia, and +never in the history of the human race have such enormities been +committed upon the helpless civilian inhabitants of a war-stricken +land. + +Bulgaria felt herself amply strong enough to crush the Servian and +Greek armies single-handed, provided peace with Turkey could be +assured, and the Bulgarian troops at Tchataldja set free. Thus, while +Bulgaria talked loudly about the conference at St. Petersburg, she was +making feverish haste to persuade the Allies to join with her in +concluding peace with Turkey. But the Allies were quite alive to the +dangers they ran. As peace with Turkey became daily more assured, the +Bulgarian army at Tchataldja was gradually withdrawn and transported to +face the Greek and Servian armies in Macedonia. + +But meanwhile Bulgaria had got one more preparation to make. Her plan +was to attack the Allies suddenly, but to do it in such a way that the +Czar and Europe might believe that the attack was mutual and +unpremeditated. She therefore set herself to accustom the world to +frontier incidents between the rival armies. On no fewer than four +occasions various Bulgarian generals acting under secret instructions +attacked the Greek or Servian troops in their vicinity. The last of +these incidents, which was by far the most serious, took place on the +24th of May in the Pangheion region, when the sudden attack at sunset +of 25,000 Bulgarians drove the Greek defenders back some six miles upon +their supports. On each occasion the Bulgarian Government disclaimed +all responsibility, and attributed the bloodshed to the personal +initiative of individual soldiers acting under (imaginary) provocation. + +The incident of the 24th of May cost the Bulgarians some 1,500 +casualties, while the Greeks lost about 800 men, sixteen of whom were +prisoners; two of these subsequently died from ill-treatment. In +connection with this last "incident" a circumstance arose which +demonstrates more vividly than mere adjectives the underhand methods +employed by the Sofia authorities. It was announced that the Bulgarians +had captured six Greek guns, and these were duly displayed at Sofia and +inspected by King Ferdinand. I myself was at Salonica at the time, and, +knowing that this was not true, I protested through the _Daily +Telegraph_ against the misleading rumor. A controversy arose, but it +was subsequently proved by two artillery experts who inspected the guns +in question that they were really Bulgarian guns painted gray, with +their telltale breech-blocks removed. + +On the morning of the 29th of June we at Salonica received the news +that during the night Bulgarian troops in force had attacked the Greek +outposts in the Pangheion region and driven them in. All through the +day came in fresh news of further attacks all along the line. At +Guevgheli, where the Greek and Servian armies met, the Bulgarians had +attacked fiercely, occupied the town, and cut the railway line. The two +armies were separated from each other by an interposing Bulgarian +force. On the morning of the 30th of June it was learned that all along +the line the Bulgarians had crossed the neutral line and were +advancing, while at Nigrita they had driven back a Greek detachment and +pressed some fifteen miles southward, thus threatening entirely to cut +off the Greek troops remaining in the Pangheion district. The situation +was critical and demanded prompt attention. King Constantine was away +at Athens, but he sent his instructions by wireless and hastened +hotfoot back to Salonica to place himself at the head of the army. + +At noon General Hessaptchieff (brother-in-law of M. Daneff), the +Bulgarian plenipotentiary accredited to Greek Army Headquarters, drove +to the station and with his staff left by the last train for Bulgarian +Headquarters at Serres. Orders were immediately given for all Bulgarian +troops to be confined to barracks, and the Cretan gendarmerie duly +arrested any found about the streets. Gradually as the afternoon wore +on, the civilian element retired behind closed doors and shuttered +windows; all shops were shut, and pickets of Greek soldiery were alone +to be seen in the deserted streets. At 4.30 P.M. the Bulgarian +battalion commander was invited to surrender the arms of his men, when +they would be conveyed in two special trains to Serres or anywhere else +they liked. He was given an hour to decide. Owing to the intervention +of the French Consul the time limit was extended, but the offer was +refused, and at 6.50 P.M. on the 30th of June the Greeks applied force. +Around every house occupied by Bulgarian soldiery Greek troops had been +introduced into neighboring houses, machine guns had been installed on +rooftops, companies of infantry were picketed at street corners. +Suddenly throughout the town all this hell was let loose. The streets +gave back the echo a thousandfold. The crackle of musketry and din of +machine guns was positively infernal. As evening came and darkened into +night, one after another of the Bulgarian forts Chabrol surrendered, +sometimes persuaded thereto by the deadly effect of a field-gun at +thirty yards' range, but the sun had risen ere the chief stronghold +containing five hundred Bulgarians gave up the hopeless struggle. By +nine o'clock the Bulgarian garrison of Salonica, deprived of its arms, +was safely stowed in the holds of Greek ships bound for Crete. The +casualty list was as follows: Bulgarians--prisoners: 11 officers, 1,241 +men; 11 men wounded; 51 men killed; comitadjis, 4 wounded, 11 killed. +Greeks: 11 soldiers killed; 4 Cretan gendarmes killed; 4 officers +wounded; 6 soldiers wounded; while 6 Bulgarian officers who had +deserted their men and escaped in women's clothing were not captured +until later in the day. + +All the morning of the 1st of July the Greek troops were busy rounding +up Bulgarian comitadjis and collecting hidden explosives, but at 4 P.M. +the Second Division marched out of the town. King Constantine, who had +arrived in the small hours of the morning, had given the order for a +general advance of his army. Greek patience was expended, and no +wonder. + +Meanwhile, let us consider the Bulgarian intentions as revealed by the +captured dispatch-box of the General commanding the 3d Bulgarian +Division, which contained documents likely to become historic. On the +28th of June the Bulgarian Divisional Commanders received orders from +the Commander-in-Chief to undertake a general attack upon the Allies on +the 2d of July. Unfortunately for the Bulgarians, General Ivanoff, +Commanding-in-Chief against the Greeks, could not restrain his +impatience, and instead of waiting for a sudden and general attack on +the 2d of July his troops attacked piecemeal during the nights of the +29th and 30th of June as described; thus the Greek general forward +movement on the 1st and 2d of July found the bulk of his troops +unprepared, while the 14th Bulgarian Division, scheduled to arrive at +Kilkis on the 2d of July from Tchataldja, was not available during that +day to oppose the Greek initiative, though they saved the situation on +the 3d of July by detraining partly at Kilkis and partly at Doiran. + +The two weak points of the Allies were at Guevgheli and in the +Pangheion region, and it was precisely at these points that the +Bulgarians struck. As regards numbers, on the 2d of July the respective +forces numbered: Bulgarians, 80,000; Greeks, 60,000; on the 3d of July +(not deducting losses)--Bulgarians, 115,000; Greeks, 80,000; in both +cases the troops on lines of communication are not reckoned with; these +probably amounted to--Bulgarians, 25,000; Greeks, 12,000. + +Almost immediately and at all points the opposing armies came into +contact. The Bulgarian gunners had very carefully taken all ranges on +the ground over which the Greeks had to advance, and at first their +shrapnel fire was extremely damaging. The Greeks, however, did not wait +to fight the battle out according to the usual rules of warfare--by +endeavoring to silence the enemy's artillery before launching their +infantry forward. Phenomenal rapidity characterized the Greek tactics +from the moment their troops first came under fire. Their artillery +immediately swept into action and plied the Bulgarian batteries with +shell and shrapnel, the while Greek infantry deployed into lines of +attack and pushed forward. At Kilkis so rapid was the advance of the +Greek infantry that the Bulgarian gunners could hardly alter their +ranges sufficiently fast, and every time that the Greek infantry had +made good five hundred yards the Greek artillery would gallop forward +and come into action on a new alinement. It was a running fight. By +leaps and bounds the incredible _elan_ of the Greek troops drove the +Bulgarians back toward Kilkis itself, which position had been heavily +entrenched. By 4 P.M. on the 2d of July, the Greek main army was within +three miles of the town, while the 10th Division, helped by two +battalions of Servian infantry, gradually fought its way up the Vardar +toward Guevgheli. At 4.30 P.M. (at Kilkis) the Bulgarians delivered a +furious counter-attack in which some 20,000 bayonets took part, but it +was repulsed with heavy slaughter, and the weary Greek soldiers, who +had fought their way over twenty miles of disputed country, rolled over +on their sides and slept. Toward Guevgheli the Evzone battalions had +for two hours to advance through waist-deep marshes under a heavy +artillery fire, but they struggled along through muddy waters singing +their own melancholy songs and without paying the least attention to +the heavy losses they were sustaining. On the 3d of July the Greeks +reoccupied Guevgheli, and toward evening the Bulgarian trenches at +Kilkis were taken at the bayonet's point, the town being entirely +destroyed, partly by Greek shell fire (for the Bulgarian batteries had +been located in the streets) and partly by the Bulgarians, who fired +the town as they retired. On the 3d and 4th the Bulgarians retired +sullenly northward toward Doiran, contesting every yard and putting in +the units of the 14th Division as quickly as they could be detrained; +but the Greeks never flagged for one moment in the pursuit. The 10th +and 3d Divisions, marching at tremendous speed, came up on the left, +menacing the line of retreat on Strumnitza. It was in the pass ten +miles south of this town that remnants of the Bulgarian 3d and 14th +Divisions made their last stand upon the 8th of July. Throughout the +week they had been fighting and retreating incessantly, had lost at +least 10,000 in killed and wounded, some 4,500 prisoners, and about +forty guns, while the Greeks lost about 4,500 and 5,000 men in front of +Kilkis and another 3,000 between Doiran and Strumnitza. + +Meanwhile at Lakhanas an equally sanguinary two days' conflict had been +in progress. The Greeks attacked and finally captured the Bulgarian +entrenched positions. Time after time their charges failed to reach, +but eventually their persistent courage and inimitable _elan_ won home, +and the Bulgarians fled in utter rout and panic, leaving everything, +even many of their uniforms, behind them. + +King Constantine, speaking in Germany recently, attributed the success +of the Greek armies to the courage of his men, the excellence of the +artillery, and to the soundness of the strategy, but I think he +overlooked the chief factor that made for victory--the unspeakable +horror, loathing, and rage aroused by the atrocities committed upon the +Greek wounded whenever a temporary local reverse left a few of the +gallant fellows at the mercy of the Bulgarians. I have seen an officer +and a dozen men who had had their eyes put out, and their ears, +tongues, and noses cut off, upon the field of battle during the lull +between two Greek charges. And there were other worse, but nameless, +barbarities both upon the wounded and the dead who for a brief moment +fell into Bulgarian hands. + +This was during the very first days of the war; later, when the news of +the wholesale massacres of Greek peaceable inhabitants at Nigrita, +Serres, Drama, Doxat, etc., became known to the army, it raised a +spirit which no pen can describe. The men "saw red," they were drunk +with lust for honorable revenge, from which nothing but death could +stop them. Wounds, mortal wounds, were unheeded so long as the man +still had strength to stagger on; I have seen a sergeant with a great +fragment of common shell through his lungs run forward for several +hundred yards vomiting blood, but still encouraging his men, who, truth +to tell, were as eager as he. It is impossible to describe or even +conceive the purposeful and aching desire to get to close quarters +regardless of all losses and of all consequences. The Bulgarians, in +committing those obscene atrocities, not only damned themselves forever +in the eyes of humanity, but they doubled, nay, quadrupled, the +strength of the Greek army. Nothing short of extermination could have +prevented the Greek army from victory; there was not a man who would +not have a million times rather died than have hesitated for a moment +to go forward. + +The days of those first battles were steaming hot with a pitiless +Macedonian sun. The Greek troops were in far too high a state of +spiritual excitation to require food, even if food had been able to +keep pace with their lightning advance. All that the men wanted, all +they ever asked for, was water and ammunition; and here the greatest +self-sacrifice of all to the cause was frequently seen; for a wounded +man, unable to struggle forward another yard, would, as he fell to the +ground, hastily unbuckle water-bottle and cartridge-cases and hand them +to an advancing comrade with a cheery word, "Go on and good luck, my +lad," and then as often as not he would lay him down to die with +parched lips and cleaving tongue. + +I was myself, at the pressing and personal invitation of King +Constantine, the first to visit Nigrita, where the Bulgarian General, +before leaving, had the inhabitants locked into their houses, and then +with guncotton and petroleum burned the place to the ground. Here 470 +victims were burned alive, mostly old folk, women, and children. +Serres, Drama, Kilkis, and Demir Hissar (all important towns) have +similar tales to tell, only the death-roll is longer. Small wonder that +these stories of ferocity are not given credence, for they are +incredible, and it is only when one studies the Bulgarian character +that one can understand how such orgies of carnage were possible. + +The scope of this article does not permit me to describe in detail the +minor battles and operations between the 6th of July and the 25th of +July; suffice it to say that the rapidity of the Greek advance upon +Strumnitza and up the valley of the Struma forced the Bulgarians to +beat in full retreat toward their frontier, leaving behind them all +that impeded their flight. Military stores, guns, carts, and even +uniforms strewed the line of their march, and they were only saved from +annihilation because the mountains which guarded their flanks were +impassable for the Greek artillery. By blowing up the bridges over the +Struma the impetuosity of the Greek pursuit was delayed, and it was in +the Kresna Pass that the Bulgarian rear-guard first turned at bay. The +pass is a twenty-mile gorge cut through mountains 7,000 feet high, but +the Greeks turned the Bulgarian positions by marching across the +mountains, and it was near Semitli, five miles north of the pass, that +the Bulgarians offered their last serious resistance. It was a +wonderful battle. The Greeks, at the urgent request of the Servian +General Staff, had detailed two divisions to help the Servians. On the +west bank of the Struma they pushed the 2d and 4th Divisions gently +northward, while in the narrow Struma valley (it is little better than +a gorge in most places) they had the 1st Division on the main road with +the 5th behind it in reserve; on the right, perched on the summit of +well-nigh inaccessible mountains, was the Greek 6th Division, with the +7th Division on its right, somewhat drawn back. + +It came to the knowledge of Greek headquarters that the Bulgarians +contemplated an attack upon Mehomia, a village six miles on the extreme +right and rear of the 7th Division, only held by a small detachment of +that Division; reenforcements were immediately dispatched to relieve +the pressure, and the 6th Division was called upon to reenforce the +positions of the 7th during the absence of the relief column, with the +result that on the 25th of July the 6th Division only had some 6,000 +men available. + +Meanwhile, the Bulgarians had secretly transferred the 40,000 men of +their 1st Division from facing the Servians at Kustendil to Djumaia; +20,000 of these were sent in a column to strike at the junction of the +Greek and Servian armies, where they were held by the 3d and 10th Greek +divisions after a bloody battle which lasted three days; 5,000 marched +on Mehomia and were annihilated by the Greek 7th Division; the +remaining 15,000 reenforced the troops facing the Greek 6th Division. +It was a most dramatic fight. On the 25th of July the Greeks, +unconscious of the Bulgarian reenforcements, pushed northward, and all +day long their 1st, 5th, and 6th Divisions gradually drove the enemy in +front of them. The fighting was of the most desperate nature, and at +one moment, the ammunition on both sides having given out, the troops +pelted each other with fragments of rock. At last, toward 5 P.M., the +Greek 6th Division found the enemy in front of them retiring; they +pushed onward fighting for every yard. The men were dead-weary; they +had slept for days upon bleak and waterless mountain summits--frozen at +night, they were grilled at noon, but they pushed ever onward. At last, +when victory seemed within their grasp, when their foe was seen to run, +a general advance was ordered. The men sprang forward with a last +effort of physical endurance--the Bulgars were running! They gave +chase. Suddenly, in one solid wall, 15,000 entirely new Bulgarian +troops of the 1st Division rose, as if from the ground, and delivered a +counter-attack. It was a crucial moment: some 4,000 Greeks chasing a +similar number of Bulgarians suddenly had to face 15,000 new troops. +The impact was terrible. The Greek line broke up into fragments, around +which the Bulgarians clustered and pecked like vultures at a feast. For +ten minutes it was anybody's battle. The remnants of each Greek company +formed itself into a ring and defended itself as best it could. These +rings gradually grew smaller as bullet and bayonet claimed their +victims; many of them were wiped out altogether, and when the battle +was over it was possible to find the places where these companies had +made their last stands, for there was not a single survivor--the +wounded were killed by the victors. + +But the victory was short-lived. True, the right of the 6th Division +had crumpled up, but a regiment of the 1st Division came up at the +critical moment and stiffened up the left and center, and again the +tide of battle swayed irresolute; then, ten minutes later perhaps, a +regiment from the 5th Division came up at the double on the right rear +of the Bulgarians, taking them in reverse and enfilade. The Bulgarian +right and center crumpled like a rotten egg, while their left fell +hastily back. The Bulgars had thrown their last hazard and had lost. +The carnage was appalling on both sides. The Greek 6th Division had +commenced the day with about 6,000 men; at sunset barely 2,000 +remained. Opposite the Greek positions nearly 10,000 Bulgarians were +buried next day, which speaks well for the fighting power of the Greek +when he is making his last stand. + +The holocaust of wounded beggars description, but that eminent French +painter, George Scott, told me an incident which came to his own +notice. He was riding up to the front the day after Semitli, and was +just emerging from the awesome Kresna Pass, when he and his companion +came upon a Greek dressing station. The narrow space between cliff and +river was entirely occupied by some hundreds of Greek wounded, some of +them already dead, many dying, and others fainting. They were lying +about awaiting their turn for the surgeon's knife. In the center stood +the surgeon, with the sleeves of his operating-coat turned up, his arms +red to the elbow in blood, all about him blood-stained bandages and +wads of cotton-wool. They reined in their horses and surveyed the +scene; as one patient was being removed from the packing-case that +served as operating-table, the surgeon raised his weary eyes and saw +them, the only unwounded men in all that vast and silent gathering. +"You are newspaper correspondents?" he asked. "Well, tell me, tell me +when this butchery will cease! For seventy-two hours I have been plying +my knife, and look at those who have yet to come"--he swept the circle +of wounded with an outstretched bloody hand. "O God! If you know how to +write, write to your papers and tell Europe she must stop this gruesome +war." Then, tired out and enervated, he swooned into the arms of the +medical orderly. As he came to to be apologized. "That," he said, "is +the third time I have fainted; I suppose I must waste precious time in +eating something to sustain me!" + +The battle of Semitli was fought almost contemporaneously with that of +the 3d and 10th Greek Divisions on the extreme Greek left flank, which +latter action resulted in a Bulgarian repulse after a temporary +success, and these were the last great battles of the shortest and +bloodiest campaign on record. On the 29th and 30th of July there were +some skirmishes three miles south of Djumaia. On the 31st of July the +armistice was conceded. During the month of July the Greek army had +practically wiped out the 1st, 3d, 4th, and 14th Bulgarian Divisions, +some 160,000 strong; they had marched 200 miles over terrible +mountains; they had taken 12,000 prisoners, 120 guns; and had +cheerfully sustained 27,000 casualties out of a total number of 120,000 +troops engaged. + +It is difficult to do justice to such an exploit within the scope of a +single article. The privations suffered by the troops, their +uncomplaining endurance, the fight with cholera, the appalling +atrocities perpetrated by the Bulgarians upon those who fell within +their power, furnish matter for a monumental volume. + + + + +OPENING OF THE PANAMA CANAL A.D. 1914 + +COL. GEO. W. GOETHALS BAMPFYLDE FULLER + +As was told in a previous volume, the United States acquired possession +of the Panama Canal territory in 1903. Actual work on the Canal was +begun by Americans in 1905 with the prediction that the Canal would be +finished in ten years, 1915. The engineers have been better than their +word. The difficulties with Mexico rendered the Canal suddenly useful +to the United States, and Colonel Goethals reported that he would have +the "big ditch" ready for the passage of any war-ship by May 15, 1914. +That promise he carried out. The Canal is still in danger of being +blocked by slides of mud in the deep Culebra Cut, and probably will +continue exposed to this difficulty for some years to come. But the +work is practically complete; ships passed through the Canal under +government orders in 1914. The greatest engineering work man ever +attempted, the profoundest change he has ever made in the geographical +face of the globe, has been successfully accomplished. + +Honor where honor is due! The man chiefly responsible for the success +of this great work has been Colonel Goethals. We quote here by his +special permission a portion of one of his official reports on the +Canal. We then show the work "as others see us," by giving an account +of the Canal and the impression it has made on other nations, written +by one of the most distinguished of its recent British visitors, the +Hon. Bampfylde Fuller. + + +COL. GEO. W. GOETHALS, U.S. ARMY + +A canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has occupied public +attention for upward of four centuries, during which period various +routes have been proposed, each having certain special or peculiar +advantages. It was not until the nineteenth century, however, that any +definite action was taken looking toward its accomplishment. + +In 1876 an organization was perfected in France for making surveys and +collecting data on which to base the construction of a canal across the +Isthmus of Panama, and in 1878 a concession for prosecuting the work +was secured from the Colombian Government. + +In May, 1879, an international congress was convened, under the +auspices of Ferdinand de Lesseps, to consider the question of the best +location and plan of the Canal. This congress, after a two weeks' +session, decided in favor of the Panama route and of a sea-level canal +without locks. De Lesseps's success with the Suez Canal made him a +strong advocate of the sea-level type, and his opinion had considerable +influence in the final decision. + +Immediately following this action the Panama Canal Company was +organized under the general laws of France, with Ferdinand de Lesseps +as its president. The concession granted in 1878 by Colombia was +purchased by the company, and the stock was successfully floated in +December, 1880. The two years following were devoted largely to +surveys, examinations, and preliminary work. In the first plan adopted +the Canal was to be 29.5 feet deep, with a ruling bottom width of 72 +feet. Leaving Colon, the Canal passed through low ground to the valley +of the Chagres River at Gatun, a distance of about 6 miles; thence +through this valley, for 21 miles, to Obispo, where, leaving the river, +it crossed the continental divide at Culebra by means of a tunnel, and +reached the Pacific through the valley of the Rio Grande. The +difference in the tides of the two oceans, 9 inches in either direction +from the mean in the Atlantic and from 9 to 11 feet from the same datum +in the Pacific, was to be overcome and the final currents reduced by a +proper sloping of the bottom of the Pacific portion of the Canal. No +provisions were made for the control of the Chagres River. + +In the early eighties after a study of the flow due to the tidal +differences, a tidal lock near the Pacific was provided. Various +schemes were also proposed for the control of the Chagres, the most +prominent being the construction of a dam at Gamboa. The dam as +proposed afterward proved to be impracticable, and this problem +remained, for the time being, unsolved. The tunnel through the divide +was also abandoned in favor of an open cut. + +Work was prosecuted on the sea-level canal until 1887, when a change to +the lock type was made, in order to secure the use of the Canal for +navigation as soon as possible. It was agreed at that time that the +change in plan did not contemplate abandonment of the sea-level Canal, +which was ultimately to be secured, but merely its postponement for the +time being. In this new plan the summit level was placed above the +flood line of the Chagres River, to be supplied with water from that +stream by pumps. Work was pushed forward until 1889, when the company +went into bankruptcy; and on February 4th that year a liquidator was +appointed to take charge of its affairs. Work was suspended on May 15, +1889. The new Panama Canal Company was organized in October, 1894, when +work was again resumed, on the plan recommended by a commission of +engineers. + +This plan contemplated a sea-level canal from Limon Bay to Bohio, where +a dam across the valley created a lake extending to Bas Obispo, the +difference in level being overcome by two locks; the summit level +extended from Bas Obispo to Paraiso, reached by two more locks, and was +supplied with water by a feeder from an artificial reservoir created by +a dam at Alhajuela, in the upper Chagres Valley. Four locks were +located on the Pacific side, the two middle ones at Pedro Miguel +combined in a flight. + +A second or alternative plan was proposed at the same time, by which +the summit level was to be a lake formed by the Bohio dam, fed directly +by the Chagres. Work was continued on this plan until the rights and +property of the new company were purchased by the United States. + +The United States, not unmindful of the advantages of an isthmian +canal, had from time to time made investigations and surveys of the +various routes. With a view to government ownership and control, +Congress directed an investigation of the Nicaraguan Canal, for which a +concession had been granted to a private company. The resulting report +brought about such a discussion of the advantages of the Panama route +to the Nicaraguan route that by an act of Congress, approved March 3, +1889, a commission was appointed to "make full and complete +investigation of the Isthmus of Panama, with a view to the construction +of a canal." The commission reported on November 16, 1901, in favor of +Panama, and recommended the lock type of canal. + +By act of Congress, approved June 28, 1902, the President of the United +States was authorized to acquire, at a cost not exceeding $40,000,000, +the property rights of the New Panama Canal Company on the Isthmus of +Panama, and also to secure from the Republic of Colombia perpetual +control of a strip of land not less than 6 miles wide, extending from +the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and "the right ... to excavate, +construct, and to perpetually maintain, operate, and protect thereon a +canal of such depth and capacity as will afford convenient passage of +ships of the greatest tonnage and draft now in use." + +Pursuant to the legislation, negotiations were entered into with +Colombia and with the New Panama Canal Company, with the end that a +treaty was made with the Republic of Panama granting to the United +States control of a 10-mile strip, constituting the Canal Zone, with +the right to construct, maintain, and operate a canal. This treaty was +ratified by the Republic of Panama on December 2, 1903, and by the +United States on February 23, 1904. + +The formal transfer of the property of the New Panama Canal Company on +the Isthmus was made on May 4, 1904, after which the United States +began the organization of a force for the construction of the lock type +of canal, in the mean time continuing the excavation by utilizing the +French material and equipment and such labor as was procurable on the +Isthmus. + +President Roosevelt, in a message to Congress, dated February 19, 1906, +stated: "The law now on our statute-books seems to contemplate a lock +canal. In my judgment a lock canal, as herein recommended, is +advisable. If the Congress directs that a sea-level canal be +constructed its direction will, of course, be carried out; otherwise +the Canal will be built on substantially the plan for a lock canal +outlined in the accompanying papers, such changes being made, of +course, as may be found actually necessary, including possibly the +change recommended by the Secretary of War as to the site of the dam on +the Pacific side." + +On June 29, 1906, Congress provided that a lock type of canal be +constructed across the Isthmus of Panama, of the general type proposed +by the minority of the Board of Consulting Engineers, and work has +continued along these lines. The Board of Consulting Engineers +estimated the cost of the lock type of canal at $139,705,200 and of the +sea-level canal at $247,021,000, excluding the cost of sanitation, +civil government, the purchase price, and interest on the investment. +These sums were for construction purposes only. + +I ventured a guess that the construction of the lock type of canal +would approach $300,000,000, and without stopping to consider that the +same causes which led to an increase in cost over the original +estimates for the lock canal must affect equally the sea-level type, +the advocates of the latter argued that the excess of the new estimates +was an additional reason why the lock type should be abandoned in favor +of the sea-level canal. + +The estimated cost by the present commission for completing the adopted +project, excluding the items let out by the Board of Consulting +Engineers, is placed at $297,766,000. If to this be added the estimated +cost of sanitation and civil government until the completion of the +work, and the $50,000,000 purchase price, the total cost to the United +States of the lock type of canal will amount to $375,201,000. In the +preparation of these estimates there are no unknown factors. + +The estimated cost of the sea-level canal for construction alone sums +up to $477,601,000, and if to this be added the cost of sanitation and +civil government up to the time of the completion of the canal, which +will be at least six years later than the lock canal, and the purchase +price, the total cost to the United States will aggregate $563,000,000. +In this case, however, parts of the estimate are more or less +conjectural--such as the cost of diverting the Chagres to permit the +building of the Gamboa dam and the cost of constructing the dam itself. + +Much criticism has resulted because of the excess of the present +estimates over those originally proposed, arising largely from a +failure to analyze the two estimates or to appreciate fully the actual +conditions. + +The estimates prepared and accompanying the report of the consulting +engineers were based on data less complete than are available at +present. The unit costs in the report of 1906 are identical with those +in the report of 1901, and since 1906 there has been an increase in the +wage scale and in the cost of material. On the Isthmus wages exceed +those in the United States from 40 to 80 per cent. for the same class +of labor. The original estimates were based on a ten-hour day, but +Congress imposed the eight-hour day. Subsequent surveys and the various +changes already noted have increased the quantity of work by 50 per +cent., whereas the unit costs have increased only 20 per cent.--not +such a bad showing. In addition, municipal improvements in Panama and +Colon, advances to the Panama Railroad, and moneys received and +deposited to the credit of miscellaneous receipts aggregate +$15,000,000, which amount will eventually and has in part already been +returned to the Treasury. Finally, no such system of housing and caring +for employees was ever contemplated as has been introduced and +installed, materially increasing the overhead charges and +administration. + +The idea of the sea-level canal appeals to the popular mind, which +pictures an open ditch offering free and unobstructed navigation from +sea to sea, but no such substitute is offered for the present lock +canal. As between the sea-level and the lock canal, the latter can be +constructed in less time, at less cost, will give easier and safer +navigation, and in addition secure such a control of the Chagres River +as to make a friend and aid of what remains an enemy and menace in the +sea-level type. + +In this connection attention is invited to the statement made by Mr. +Taft, when Secretary of War, in his letter transmitting the reports of +the Board of Consulting Engineers: + +"We may well concede that if we could have a sea-level canal with a +prism of 300 to 400 feet wide, with the curves that must now exist +reduced, it would be preferable to the plan of the minority, but the +time and cost of constructing such a canal are in effect prohibitive." + +We are justly proud of the organization for the prosecution of the +work. The force originally organized by Mr. John F. Stevens for the +attack upon the continental divide has been modified and enlarged as +the necessities of the situation required, until at the present time it +approaches the perfection of a huge machine, and all are working +together to a common end. The manner in which the work is being done +and the spirit of enthusiasm that is manifested by all forcibly strike +every one who visits the works. + +The main object of our being there is the construction of the Canal; +everything else is subordinate to it, and the work of every department +is directed to the accomplishment of that object. + +Too much credit can not be given to the department of sanitation, +which, in conjunction with the division of municipal engineering, has +wrought such a change in the conditions as they existed in 1904 as to +make the construction of the Canal possible. This department is +subdivided into the health department, which has charge of the +hospitals, supervision of health matters in Panama and Colon, and of +the quarantine, and into the sanitary inspection department, which +looks after the destruction of the mosquito by various methods, by +grass and brush cutting, the draining of various swampy areas, and the +oiling of unavoidable pools and stagnant streams. + +According to the statistics of the health department, based on the +death-rate, the Canal Zone is one of the healthiest communities in the +world, but in this connection it must be remembered that our population +consists of men and women in the prime of life, with few, if any, of +the aged, and that a number of the sick are returned to the United +States before death overtakes them. + + +BAMPFYLDE FULLER + +The Panama Canal stands out as one of the most noteworthy contributions +that the Teutonic race has made toward the material improvement of the +world. So regarding it, Englishmen and Germans may take some pride to +themselves from this great achievement of the Americans. The Teutonic +race has its limitations. It is deficient in the gaiety of mind, the +expansiveness of heart, which add so largely to human happiness. Its +bent has lain in directions that are, superficially at all events, less +attractive. But by its cult of cleanliness, self-control, and +efficiency, it has given a new meaning to civilization; it has invented +Puritanism, the gospel of the day's work, and the water-closet. These +reflections may not seem very apposite to the subject of the Canal; but +they will suggest themselves to one who arrives in Panama after +traveling through the Latin States of South America. + +It was, however, by some sacrifice of moral sense that the United +States gained control of the Isthmus. They offered a financial deal to +the republic of Colombia: the terms were liberal, and the Colombian +Government had in principle no objection to make money by the grant of +a perpetual lease of so much land as was needed for the Canal. But it +haggled unreasonably over the details, with the object of delaying +business until the period of the French concession had expired, so that +it might secure, not only its own share of the compensation, but the +share that was to be paid to the French investors whose rights and +achievements were taken over by the United States. A revolution +occurred: the province of Panama declared its independence of Colombia, +and at once completed the bargain. The revolution was so exceedingly +opportune in the interests of the United States, and of the French +concessionaires, that it is impossible not to suspect its instigation +in these interests. Beyond a doubt the United States assisted the +revolutionaries: they prevented the Colombian forces from attacking +them. Panama was originally independent of Colombia, and had been badly +treated by the Colombian Government, which, in its distant capital of +Bogota, was out of touch with Panamanian interests, and returned to the +province but a very small share of its taxes. But, however this may be, +we may take it, without straining facts, that the United States, being +unable to bring Colombia to terms, evicted her in favor of a more +pliable authority. This is not in accord with Christian morality. Nor +are political dealings generally. And, from a practical point of view, +it was preposterous that the cupidity of some Colombian politicians +should stand in the way of an improvement in geography. The agreement +with the newly born republic of Panama gave the United States a +perpetual lease of a strip of land, ten miles broad, across the +Isthmus. This is styled the "Canal Zone." The Latin towns of Panama and +Colon fall within its limits. But they are expressly excluded from the +United States jurisdiction. + +In substance the Canal works consist, first, of an enormous dam (at +Gatun), which holds up the water of the river Chagres so as to flood a +valley twenty-four miles long; secondly, of a channel--nine miles in +length--(the Culebra Cut)--which carries the valley on through a range +of low hills; and, thirdly, of a set of locks at each end of this +stretch of water that are connected by comparatively short approaches +with the sea. The surface of the lake will be from 79 to 85 feet above +sea-level, and vessels will be raised to this height and lowered again +by passing through a flight of three locks upward and another flight of +three locks downward. The passage of both flights of locks is not +expected to occupy more than three hours, and ships should complete the +transit of the Isthmus--a distance of about fifty miles--within twelve +hours at most. The design of the work offers nothing that is new in +principle to engineering science. Dams, cuttings, and locks are +familiar contrivances. But they are on an immensely larger scale than +anything which has previously been attempted. The area of the lake of +impounded water will be 164 square miles, and it has been doubted +whether the damming of so large a mass of water, to a height of 85 +feet, could safely be undertaken. But this portion of Central America +is apparently not liable to earthquakes. And the dam is so large as to +be a feature of the earth's surface. It is nearly half a mile broad +across its base, so that although its crest is 105 feet above sea-level +its slope is not very perceptible. Its core is formed of a mixture of +sand and clay, poured in from above by hydraulic processes. This has +set hard, and is believed to be quite impervious to water at a much +higher pressure than that to which it will be subjected. In the center +of the river valley--a mile and a half broad--across which the dam has +been flung, there very fortunately arose a low rocky hill. This is +included in the dam, and across its summit has been constructed the +escape or spill-way. During seasons of heavy rain the surplus discharge +of river water will be very heavy, and a cataract will pour over the +spill-way. But it will rush across a bed of rock, and will be unable to +erode its channel. And it will be employed to generate electrical power +which will open and shut the lock-gates and generally operate the Canal +machinery. The river Chagres will energize the Canal as well as fill +it. + +The locks are gigantic constructions of concrete. Standing within them +one is impressed as by the mass of the Pyramids. The gates are hollow +structures of steel, 7 feet thick. Their lower portions are +water-tight, so that their buoyancy in the water will relieve the +stress upon the bearings which hinge them to the lock-wall. Along the +top of each lock-wall there runs an electric railway; four small +electric locomotives will be coupled to a vessel as it enters the lock +approach, and will tow it to its place. The vessel will not use its own +steam. This will lessen the risk of its getting out of hand and ramming +the lock-gate, an accident which has occurred on the big locks that +connect Lake Superior with Lake Huron. So catastrophic would be such a +mishap, releasing as it might this immense accumulation of water, that +it seemed desirable at whatever expense to provide additional +safeguards against it. There are in the first place cross-chains, +tightening under pressure, which may be drawn across the bows of a ship +that threatens to become unmanageable. Secondly, the lock-gates are +doubled at the entrance to all the locks, and at the lower end of the +upper lock in each flight. And, thirdly, each flight of locks can be +cut off from the lake by an "emergency dam" of peculiar construction. +It is essentially a skeleton gate, which ordinarily lies uplifted along +the top of the lock-wall, but can be swung across, lowered, and +gradually closed against the water by letting down panels. In its +ordinary position it lies high above the masonry--conspicuous from some +distance out at sea as a large cantilever bridge, swung in air. + +Peculiar difficulties have been encountered in establishing the +foundations of the locks. The lowest of each flight are planted in deep +morasses, and could only be settled by removing vast masses of estuary +slime to a depth of 80 feet below sea-level. The sea was cut off and a +dredger introduced, which gradually cleared its way down to the bottom +rock. But the troubles which the American engineers will remember are +those which have presented themselves in the Culebra cutting. The +channel is nine miles long. Its average depth is between 100 +and 200 feet, but at one point it reaches 490 feet. The formation +of the ground varies extraordinarily. At some points it is +rock; at others rock gives place to contorted layers of brilliantly +colored earth which is almost as restless as quicksand. Unfortunately, +it is at places where the cutting is deepest that its banks are most +unstable. The sides of the lowest 40 feet of the excavation--the actual +water channel--are cut vertically and not to a slope; in a firm +formation this reduces the amount of excavation, but in loose material +it must apparently have increased the risk of slides. But, however this +may be, slips on a gigantic scale were inevitable. The cutting is an +endeavor to form precipitous slopes of crumbling material under a +tropical rain-fall: it may be likened to molding in brown sugar under +the rose of a watering-pot. The banks have been in a state of constant +movement, and are broken up into irregular shelves and chasms, so that +at some points the channel resembles a natural ravine rather than an +artificial cutting. One thing is certain,--that for some years to come +the channel will only be kept open by constant assiduous dredging. But +it is, of course, easier to dredge out of water than to excavate in the +dry. The material excavated from the Culebra channel will aggregate +nearly one hundred million cubic yards. Some of it has been utilized in +reclaiming land; much has been carried out to sea and heaped into a +break-water three miles long, which runs out from the Panama or +southern end of the Canal, and will check a coast-ways current that +might, if uncontrolled, silt up the approach. The Canal is a triumph, +not of man's hands, but of machinery. Regiments of steam shovels attack +the banks, exhibiting a grotesque appearance of animal intelligence in +their behavior. An iron grabber is lowered by a crane, it pauses as if +to examine the ground before it, in search of a good bite, opens a pair +of enormous jaws, takes a grab, and, swinging round, empties its +mouthful onto a railway truck. The material is loosened for the shovels +by blasts of dynamite and, all the day through, the air is shaken by +explosions. Alongside each row of shovels stands a train in waiting; +over a hundred and fifty trains run seaward each day loaded with spoil. +The bed of the Canal is ribboned with railway tracks, which are shifted +as required by special track-lifting machines. The masonry work of the +locks is laid without hands. High latticed towers--grinding mills and +cranes combined--overhang the wall that is being built up. They take up +stone and cement by the truck-load, mix them and grind them--in fact, +digest them--and, swinging the concrete out in cages, gently and +accurately deposit it between the molding boards. How sharp is the +contrast between this elaborate steam machinery and the hand-labor of +the _fellahin_ who patiently dug out the Suez Canal! But there are, so +to speak, edges to be trimmed: this mass of machinery is to be guided +and controlled, and there is work to employ a staff of over thirty +thousand men. Some four thousand of them are Americans, who form a +superior service, styled "gold employees" in order to avoid racial +implications. Their salaries are calculated in American dollars. The +remainder, classed as "silver employees," are paid in Panama dollars, +the value of which is half that of the American. Two series of coins +are current, one being double the value of the other; and, since the +corresponding coins of the two series are of about the same size, +newcomers are harassed by constant suspicions of their small change. +The "silver employees" number about twenty-six thousand. Some of them +are immigrants from Europe--mostly from Italy and the north of +Spain--but the great majority are negroes, British subjects from +Jamaica and Trinidad. It was foreseen that if negroes from the Southern +States were employed, the high wages rates might unsettle the American +cotton labor market: so it was decided to recruit from British +colonies, and it is not too much to say that, so far as the Canal is +hand-made, it is mainly the work of British labor. Several hundreds of +Hindus have found their way here; they are chiefly employed upon the +fortifications, because, it is said, they are unlikely to talk about +them. These British colored laborers, with their families, constitute +the bulk of the population of the Canal Zone: the town of Panama swarms +with them, and one sees few of any other class in the streets of Colon. +The American engineers have thus been working with a staff that can +claim the protection of the British Minister; and it is pleasing to an +Englishman to hear on every side the heartiest tributes to the energy, +tact, and good sense of England's representative, Sir Claude Mallet. +At the outset the negro laborers were exceedingly suspicious of the +American authorities, and were ready to strike on the smallest +provocation: they have refused to take their rations until Sir Claude +has tasted them. He possesses the complete confidence of the British +labor force, and indeed the Hindu immigrants, who deposit money at the +Consulate, will hardly wait to obtain receipts for it. + +Speaking of rations, it may be mentioned that the Canal authorities +undertake to feed all their employees, and a large commissariat +establishment, including extensive cold-storage depots at Colon, is one +of the most prominent features of their administration. Every morning a +heavy trainload of provisions leaves Colon, dropping its freight as it +passes the various labor settlements. In numerous eating-houses meals +are provided at very moderate charges, and at Panama and Colon large, +up-to-date hotels are maintained by the American Government. These are +used very extensively by the Canal staff, and give periodic dances, +which are crowded with young people. The vagaries of the one-step are +sternly barred by a puritan committee, and, to one who expects +surprises, the style of dancing is disappointingly monotonous. But +these hotels are also of great use in conciliating the American +taxpayers. Tourists come by thousands, and elaborate arrangements are +made for their education by special sight-seeing trains, by +appreciative guides, and by courses of lectures. The Canal staff is +also housed by the State--in wooden structures, built upon piles, and +protected by mosquito-proof wire screening. The accommodation for +bachelors is somewhat meager; but married couples are treated very +liberally, and their quarters are brightened by pretty little gardens. +The rates of pay are high, and there are numerous concessions which to +one of Indian experience appear exceedingly generous. But the +expenditure throughout is on a lavish scale: the Canal will not cost +much less than eighty million pounds. The money that is drawn from the +American taxpayers is, however, for the most part returned to them. +Practically the whole of the machinery is of American manufacture; the +food is American; the stores that are sold in the shops are mainly +American; and the only money that is lost to the States is that which +is saved by the foreign laborers. Very few of these have any intention +of remaining under the American flag, or will, indeed, be permitted to +remain. + +Residence within the Canal Zone, apart from the towns of Panama and +Colon, is only to be permitted to the permanent working staff of the +Canal and to the military force in occupation. It should be added that +the salaries of the American "gold employees," liberal though they may +appear, do not tempt them to remain in service. One is astonished to +learn that nearly half the American staff changes annually: young men +come to acquire a little experience and save a little money, which may +help them to a start in their own country. Service on the Canal works +leads to no pension; and the medal which is to be granted to all who +remain two years in employ is but moderately attractive to men whose +objects are severely practical. The chief controlling authorities are +all in the military service of the State. + +In the Northern States of America the British love of cleanliness has +become a gospel of life, and the sanitation of the Canal Zone is a +model of scientific and successful thoroughness. To India it is also a +model of hopeless generosity, nearly three million pounds having been +spent in improving the health conditions of this small area. The +agreement which reserves the towns of Panama and Colon to the +administration of the republic of Panama provides for American +interference in matters that may concern general health, and the Canal +authorities have taken the fullest advantage of this provision. The +streets of both towns have been paved; insanitary dwellings have been +ruthlessly demolished; water-works have been provided by loans of +American money, the water rate being collected by American officials. +The meanest house is equipped with a water-closet and a shower-bath. +Panama and Colon are now models of cleanliness, and from their +appearance might belong to a North American State. Efficiency is the +watchword, and in cleansing these towns the American health officers +have not troubled themselves with the compromises which would temper +the despotism of British officials. Americans can hardly be imagined +as stretching their consciences by such a concession as that, for +instance, which in British India exempts gentlemen of position from +appearance in the civil courts. Efficiency is not popular with those +who do not practise it, and the Latin races of Southern and Central +America have no love for their northern neighbors. The Americans, like +the Germans, would increase their popularity did they appreciate the +value of personal geniality in smoothing government. + +Within the Canal Zone the jungle has been cut back from the proximity +of dwelling-houses; surface water, whether stagnant or running, is +regularly sterilized by doses of larvicide; all inhabited buildings are +protected by mosquito-proof screening, and, in some places, a +mosquito-catching staff is maintained. At the time of my visit not a +mosquito was to be seen; but this was during the season of dry heat. +During the rainy months mosquitos are, it seems, still far from +uncommon; and the latest sanitary rules emphasize the importance of +systematically catching them. Medical experience has shown that if +houses are kept clear of mosquitos, there is very little fever, even in +places where the water pools and channels are left unsterilized. Wire +screening, supplemented by a butterfly net, is the great preventive. +But we can not attain the good without an admixture of evil: behind the +wire screening the indoor atmosphere becomes very oppressive. Yellow +fever, the scourge of the isthmus in former days, has been completely +eradicated. Admissions to hospital for malarial fever amount, it must +be confessed, to several thousands a year. But, judging from the +terrible experiences of the French Company, were it not for these +precautions fever would incapacitate for long periods the whole of the +staff. + +The hospital, a heritage from the French, is a village of wooden +buildings set upon a hill overlooking the Gulf of Panama, in the midst +of a charming study in tropical gardening. It is managed with an energy +which explores to the uttermost the medical experiences of other +tropical countries, and is not afraid of improving upon time-honored +methods. The daily dose of quinine is seldom less than forty-five +grains, and patients are not allowed to leave their beds until their +temperature has remained normal for five days at least. Complaints of +deafness are disregarded; if the patient turns of a blue color he may +be consoled by a dose of Epsom salts. It is claimed that by this +drastic treatment the relapses are prevented which, in India and +elsewhere, probably account for at least nine attacks out of ten. + +Democracies are not always fortunate in the selection of their +executives. But Mr. Roosevelt's Government was gifted with the wit to +find, in the United States Army, men who could carry out this big work, +and with the good sense to employ them. So much is told of the +commanding influence of Colonel Goethals, the chief in command; of the +administrative talents of Colonel Gorgas, the head of the sanitary +department; of the engineering skill of Colonel Sibert, the protagonist +of the Gatun dam, that an Englishman must wish to claim kinship with +these American officers who are making so large a mark upon the surface +of the earth. Devotion to the great work in hand has exorcised meaner +feelings, and you will hear little of the "boost" which we are tempted +to associate with the other side of the Atlantic. I asked Colonel +Sibert whether his initial calculations had needed much correction as +the operation developed. "Our _guesses_" he replied, "have been +remarkably fortunate." The medical staff relate with delight how a +British doctor, sent by the Indian Government to study their methods, +being left to himself for half an hour, succeeded in catching quite a +number of mosquitoes of a very noxious kind within the mosquito-proof +precincts of a hospital ward. + +New York is now divided from San Francisco by 13,135 miles of sea +travel. The Canal will reduce this distance by 7,873 miles, and will +bring New York 6,250 miles nearer Callao and 3,747 miles nearer +Valparaiso. The Pacific Ocean includes so large an extent of the +curvature of the earth that the effect of the Canal in developing trade +routes with Asia will depend very greatly upon their direction across +it. Vessels from New York which, after passing the Canal, trend +northward or southward upon the great circle, will find that the Panama +route will be much shorter than that _via_ Suez; they will save 3,281 +miles on the distance to Yokohama and 2,822 miles on the distance to +Melbourne. But if their course lies along the equator the Panama Canal +will not curtail their journey very materially. It is surprising to +find that Manila will be only forty-one miles nearer New York _via_ +Panama than it is _via_ Suez, and the saving on a journey to Hong Kong +will be no more than 245 miles. In trading with Peru, Chile, Australia, +North China, and Japan, the merchants of New York will gain very +materially by the opening of the Canal. They will gain, moreover, by +the withdrawal of the advantage which English merchants now enjoy in +trading with New Zealand, Australia, North China, and Japan _via_ the +Suez Canal. At present London is nearer to these places than New York +is by 1,000 miles or more. The Canal will not only withdraw this +advantage: it will give New York a positive advantage in distance of +2,000 to 3,000 miles. It is more than doubtful, however, whether the +Canal would ever have been constructed in the sole interests of +commerce. Its chief value to the United States is strategical; it will +mobilize their fleet and enable them to concentrate it upon either +their eastern or their western coastline. The Canal will primarily be +an instrument against war; but, like much else in this world, it will +incidentally bestow multifarious advantages. The importance of +fortifying it is manifest. It would appear that the locks at either end +are open to naval bombardment; indeed, those at Gatun are clearly +visible from the sea. Fortifications are being constructed at both +entrances, and it is probable that the Canal Zone will be garrisoned by +a force of 25,000 men. World enterprises involve world responsibilities. + + + + +CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY + +EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME A.D. 1910-1914 + +DANIEL EDWIN WHEELER + +Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals +following give volume and page. + +Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of +famous persons, will be found in the Index Volume. + +1910. The United States established an annual meeting of State +Governors as a new machinery of government. See "THE UNITED STATES +HOUSE OF GOVERNORS," XXI, 1. + +Chile and Argentina completed the first railroad crossing the Andes +Mountains. + +A naval revolt in Brazil, finally pacified. + +Mrs. Eddy, founder of Christian Science, died. + +King Edward VII of England died and was succeeded by his son, George V. + +The various British provinces in South Africa united in a single +confederation. See "UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA," XXI, 17. + +The "Labor" party gained complete control of power in Australia under +Mr. Fisher as Prime Minister. + +A Revolution made Portugal a republic. See "PORTUGAL BECOMES A +REPUBLIC," XXI, 28. + +In Paris there were unprecedented floods, and many people were killed. + +In Greece a National Assembly was called, and the Constitution was +revised. + +The new Turkish government faced revolts in Albania and other +provinces. + +Russia completed the destruction of Finnish liberty. See "THE CRUSHING +OF FINLAND," XXI, 47. + +In Egypt the native Prime Minister Boutros Pasha was assassinated; +England adopted severe repressive measures. + +In Persia, Morgan Shuster, an American, undertook the financial +administration of the new constitutional government. + +Corea was formally annexed by Japan. + +China began establishing representative assemblies in each province, +also a National Senate, in preparation for an elective government. +Tumultuous demands made for a Constitution. + +1911. Widespread use of automobiles seemed to establish an Automobile +Age; unprecedented records of speed made. See "MAN'S FASTEST MILE," +XXI, 73. + +The Woman Suffrage movement gained a most important step by its victory +in California. See "WOMAN SUFFRAGE," XXI, 156. + +A Canadian movement for trade reciprocity with the United States led to +suggestions of annexation and was then vehemently rejected. + +Renewed persecution of the Jews in Russia led the United States to +abrogate her long-standing Russian treaties. + +In Mexico President Diaz was overthrown by a revolution headed by +Francisco Madero. See "THE FALL OF DIAZ," XXI, 96. + +In England the Liberals took almost all power from the House of Lords. +See "FALL OF THE ENGLISH HOUSE OF LORDS," XXI, 113. + +Germany made Alsace-Lorraine a State of the Empire, partly +self-governing. + +A French protectorate was established over Morocco; Germany objected +and war came very close. See "MILITARISM," XXI, 186. + +Spain faced a naval mutiny and proclaimed universal martial law. + +In Italy a noted Camorrist trial was held at Viterbo, breaking the +criminal power. Italy attacked Turkey and snatched away her last +African province. See "THE TURKISH-ITALIAN WAR," XXI, 140. + +The Russian prime minister Stolypin was assassinated by revolutionists. + +In Persia the exiled Shah invaded the country and was again defeated +and expelled; Russia demanded the expulsion of Mr. Shuster. The Persian +parliament refused submission, and Russia invaded Persia, overthrew the +government, and compelled submission to all her demands. See "PERSIA'S +LOSS OF LIBERTY," XXI, 199. + +In Japan a widespread anarchistic murder plot was discovered and +suppressed. + +In China a revolt for a republic began at Wuchang in October; the +Manchu court made Yuan Shi-kai dictator; he summoned a National +Assembly. All southern China joined the republic movement under Sun Yat +Sen; Nanking captured and made capital of the Republic. See "THE +CHINESE REVOLUTION," XXI, 238. + +1912. Surgeons established the possibility of keeping human tissues and +organs alive outside the body, and even transferring them from one body +to another. See "OUR PROGRESSING KNOWLEDGE OF LIFE SURGERY," XXI, 273. + +England and France made arbitration treaties with the United States. +See "A STEP TOWARD WORLD PEACE," XXI, 259. + +New Mexico and Arizona were admitted to United States statehood; the +close of the old territorial system within the mainland of the United +States. + +The United States presidential election resulted in almost a political +revolution. Woodrow Wilson was elected to power by the "Progressive +Democrats." See "THE NEW DEMOCRACY," XXI, 323. + +In Canada the French of Ontario province made vigorous protest against +efforts to Anglicize them. + +"TRAGEDY OF THE 'TITANIC,'" XXI, 265. + +In England there were extensive coal strikes; the Liberals prepared a +Home Rule bill and Ulster threatened rebellion. + +German Socialists made such gains in the German election that they +became the strongest political party in the Empire. + +The suffrage was extended in Italy, so as to include almost all adult +males. + +In Spain, prime minister Canalejas was assassinated by anarchists. + +The Balkan States formed a league against Turkey, and Montenegro +precipitated a war in which Bulgaria, Greece, and Servia joined her. +See "THE OVERTHROW OF TURKEY," XXI, 282. + +Turkey made peace with Italy so as to meet her new foes. Turks +everywhere defeated by the Balkan League; Bulgarians defeated Turks in +chief battle of Lule-Burgas, and besieged Adrianople. + +The European Powers intervened for peace. In India England transferred +the official capital to Delhi, the ancient Mogul capital. + +In China, the north and south came to an agreement; the Manchu emperor +abdicated and Yuan Shi-kai was made temporary president. Peking was +made the capital of the new republic. See "THE CHINESE REVOLUTION," +XXI, 238. + +The great Japanese Emperor Mutsuhito died. + +1913. Two amendments were made to the United States Constitution. See +"THE INCOME TAX IN AMERICA," XXI, 338. + +The progressive Democrats under President Wilson passed a Low-Tariff +bill, an Income-Tax, law and a Currency-Revision law. Several +arbitration treaties were made with smaller nations. + +In Mexico a revolution overthrew President Madero, and Huerta became +dictator. See "MEXICO PLUNGED INTO ANARCHY," XXI, 300. + +A political strike of half a million laborers in Belgium forced the +government to abandon the "plural voting" system. + +The "Liberals" ousted the Labor party from control of the government of +Australia. + +Peace negotiations between the Balkan League and Turkey broke down; the +Bulgarians and Servians captured Adrianople and beleaguered +Constantinople; the Greeks captured Janina and their fleet captured +Turkish islands; peace left Turkey expelled from all Europe except +Constantinople. See "THE OVERTHROW OF TURKEY," XXI, 282. + +The European Powers refused to let the Balkan States take all the +conquered territory, and established the new state of Albania with a +German king; Servia especially aggrieved at Austrian interference. + +The Balkan States quarreled; Bulgaria attacked Greece and Servia; +Roumania joined them, and the three allies crushed Bulgaria. Turkey +regained a portion of her territory from Bulgaria. General peace +followed. See "THE SECOND BALKAN WAR," XXI, 350. + +King George of Greece assassinated; Greece became the chief state of +the eastern Mediterranean. + +The Arabs took advantage of the Turkish defeat to reassert complete +independence. + +In China Yuan Shi-kai was elected as the first regular president of the +republic; he had much trouble with his parliament. + +1914. "OPENING OF THE PANAMA CANAL," XXI, 374. + +The United States was forced to intervene in Mexico, and seized Vera +Cruz. + +Renewed racial bitterness in Japan against the United States because of +persistent exclusion of emigrants. + +The Canadian steamship _Empress of Ireland_ sank with loss of a +thousand lives. + +In Peru, a revolt overthrew the president and established a new and +more liberal government. + +Irish Home Rule bill passed by the English Parliament despite violent +opposition. + +Woman Suffrage voted in the Denmark parliament. + +Severe labor riots in Italy. + +The Albanians revolted against the foreign king imposed on them by the +Powers. + +The Archduke of Austria and his wife were assassinated in Bosnia by a +revengeful Serb. + +Turkey began reconstructing her navy under British guidance; and Greece +purchased warships from the United States. + +The Chinese president dissolved his parliament and assumed dictatorial +power, promising to resign it when the people were trained in political +knowledge. + +The long-threatened European War broke out at last. + +END OF VOL. XXI + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, +Vol. 21, Editor: Charles F. Horne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT EVENTS V21 *** + +***** This file should be named 10341.txt or 10341.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/4/10341/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Gwidon Naskrent and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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