Great Events from History
1901-1940
Great Events from History
1901-1940
Editor
Robert F. Gorman Southwest Texas S...
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Great Events from History
1901-1940
Great Events from History
1901-1940
Editor
Robert F. Gorman Southwest Texas State University
Salem Press Pasadena, California
Hackensack, New Jersey
Editor in Chief: Dawn P. Dawson Editorial Director: Christina J. Moose Production Editor: Andrea E. Miller Acquisitions Editor: Mark Rehn Design, Layout, and Graphics: James Hutson Research Supervisor: Jeffry Jensen Additional Layout and Graphics: William Zimmerman Manuscript Editors: Judy Selhorst, Photo Editor: Cynthia Breslin Beres Andy Perry, Anna A. Moore Editorial Assistant: Dana Garey Research Assistant Editor: Tim Tiernan Cover photos (pictured clockwise, from top left): Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel, 1930. (The Granger Collection, New York); Orville Wright in flight, 1909. (The Granger Collection, New York); Hammer and Sickle. (The Granger Collection, New York); Gold coffin of King Tut, photographed in 1922. (The Granger Collection, New York); Picasso’s Guernica. (The Granger Collection, New York); American troops landing in France, 1918. (The Granger Collection, New York) Copyright © 2007, by Salem Press, Inc. All rights in this book are reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews or in the copying of images deemed to be freely licensed or in the public domain. For information address the publisher, Salem Press, Inc., P.O. Box 50062, Pasadena, California 91115. ∞ The paper used in these volumes conforms to the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48-1992 (R1997). Some of the essays in this work originally appeared in the following Salem Press sets: Chronology of European History: 15,000 b.c. to 1997 (1997, edited by John Powell; associate editors, E. G. Weltin, José M. Sánchez, Thomas P. Neill, and Edward P. Keleher); Great Events from History: North American Series, Revised Edition (1997, edited by Frank N. Magill); Great Events from History II: Science and Technology (1991, edited by Frank N. Magill); Great Events from History II: Human Rights (1992, edited by Frank N. Magill); Great Events from History II: Arts and Culture (1993, edited by Frank N. Magill); Great Events from History II: Business and Commerce (1994, edited by Frank N. Magill), and Great Events from History II: Ecology and the Environment (1995, edited by Frank N. Magill). New material has been added. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Great events from history. The 20th century, 1901-1940 / editor, Robert F. Gorman. p. cm. Some of the essays in this work originally appeared in various Salem Press publications. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-58765-324-7 (set : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-58765-325-4 (v. 1: alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-58765-3261 (v. 2 : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-58765-327-8 (v. 3 : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-58765-328-5 (v. 4 : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-58765-329-2 (v. 5 : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-58765-330-8 (v. 6 : alk. paper) 1. Twentieth century. I. Gorman, Robert F. II. Title: 20th century, 1901-1940. III. Title: Twentieth century, 1901-1940. D421.G629 2007 909.82'1—dc22 2007001930 First Printing printed in the united states of america
Contents, VOLUME 1: 1901-1907 Publisher’s Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv Keyword List of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv List of Maps, Tables, and Sidebars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxxxi Maps of 1914 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xci
1901 Early 20th century, Elster and Geitel Study Radioactivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Early 20th century, Mahler Directs the Vienna Court Opera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1901, Creation of the First Synthetic Vat Dye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1901, Discovery of Human Blood Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1901, Grijns Suggests the Cause of Beriberi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1901, Hewitt Invents the Mercury-Vapor Lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 1901, Hopkins Announces the Discovery of Tryptophan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 1901, Ivanov Develops Artificial Insemination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 1901-1904, Kipping Discovers Silicones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 1901-1911, China Allows Some Western Reforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 1901-1925, Teletype Is Developed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 January, 1901, American Bowling Club Hosts Its First Tournament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 January 1, 1901, Commonwealth of Australia Is Formed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 January 10, 1901, Discovery of Oil at Spindletop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 February 4, 1901, Reed Reports That Mosquitoes Transmit Yellow Fever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 February 26, 1901, Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 May 27, 1901, Insular Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 July 1, 1901, Canada Claims the Arctic Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 August 30, 1901, Booth Receives Patent for the Vacuum Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 September 14, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 December 10, 1901, First Nobel Prizes Are Awarded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 December 10, 1901, Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X Rays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 December 12, 1901, First Transatlantic Telegraphic Radio Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 December 19, 1901, Completion of the Mombasa-Lake Victoria Railway. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
1902 1902, Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity . . . . 1902, Carrel Rejoins Severed Blood Vessels . . . . . . . . . . . 1902, Cement Manufacturers Agree to Cooperate on Pricing . . 1902, Heart of Darkness Critiques Imperialism . . . . . . . . . 1902, Hobson Critiques Imperialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1902, James Proposes a Rational Basis for Religious Experience 1902, Johnson Duplicates Disc Recordings . . . . . . . . . . . . v
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77 81 84 87 91 94 96
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 1902, Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in Set Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 1902, McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 1902, Philippines Ends Its Uprising Against the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 1902, Zsigmondy Invents the Ultramicroscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 1902-1903, Pavlov Develops the Concept of Reinforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 1902-1913, Tiffany Leads the Art Nouveau Movement in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 January, 1902, French Expedition at Susa Discovers Hammurabi’s Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 January 1, 1902, First Rose Bowl Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 January 30, 1902, Anglo-Japanese Treaty Brings Japan into World Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 February 17, 1902, Stieglitz Organizes the Photo-Secession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 March and June, 1902, Kennelly and Heaviside Theorize Existence of the Ionosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 March 4, 1902, American Automobile Association Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 April, 1902, Rhodes Scholarships Are Instituted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 April-June, 1902, Bayliss and Starling Establish the Role of Hormones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 April 11, 1902, Caruso Records for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 May 8, 1902, Mount Pelée Erupts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 May 12-October 23, 1902, Anthracite Coal Strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 May 31, 1902, Treaty of Vereeniging Ends the Boer War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 June 2, 1902-May 31, 1913, Expansion of Direct Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 June 12, 1902, Australia Extends Suffrage to Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 June 16, 1902, Russell Discovers the “Great Paradox” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 June 17, 1902, Reclamation Act Promotes Western Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 August, 1902, A Trip to the Moon Introduces Special Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 August 12, 1902, Founding of International Harvester Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 September 27, 1902, Tobacco Companies Unite to Split World Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 December, 1902, Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 December 2-5, 1902, Founding of the International Sanitary Bureau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
1903 1903, Delaware Revises Corporation Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903, Hoffmann and Moser Found the Wiener Werkstätte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903, Scott Publishes The Theory of Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903, Shaw Articulates His Philosophy in Man and Superman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903, Tsiolkovsky Proposes Using Liquid Oxygen for Space Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903-1904, Hale Establishes Mount Wilson Observatory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903-1906, Pogroms in Imperial Russia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903-1957, Vaughan Williams Composes His Nine Symphonies . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 5, 1903, Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 14, 1903, Creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor . . . . . . . February 23, 1903, U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce. March 14, 1903, First U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . May, 1903, Roosevelt and Muir Visit Yosemite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 22, 1903, Platt Amendment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 23, 1903, Wisconsin Adopts the First Primary Election Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 6, 1903, Founding of the Weekly Indian Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 1, 1903, First Tour de France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 2-September, 1903, Ilinden Uprising in Macedonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
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188 192 195 199 203 206 210 213 217 219 222 226 230 234 237 239 242 244
Contents August 9, 1903, Pius X Becomes Pope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall, 1903, Gillette Markets the First Razor with a Disposable Blade. . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall, 1903, The Great Train Robbery Introduces New Editing Techniques . . . . . . . . . . October 1-13, 1903, Baseball Holds Its First World Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 10, 1903, Pankhursts Found the Women’s Social and Political Union . . . . . . . November, 1903, Henry James’s The Ambassadors Is Published . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 3, 1903, Panama Declares Independence from Colombia . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 18, 1903, U.S. Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 10, 1903, Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity December 17, 1903, Wright Brothers’ First Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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247 250 253 256 259 264 268 271 275 278
1904 1904, Canadian Cultivation of Marquis Wheat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904, First Practical Photoelectric Cell Is Developed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904, Freud Advances the Psychoanalytic Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904, Hartmann Discovers the First Evidence of Interstellar Matter . . . . . . . 1904, Kapteyn Discovers Two Star Streams in the Galaxy . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904-1905, Bartók and Kodály Collect Hungarian Folk Songs . . . . . . . . . . 1904-1905, Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control . . . . . . 1904-1905, Weber Posits the “Protestant Ethic” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1904-1907, Brouwer Develops Intuitionist Foundations of Mathematics . . . . . 1904-1908, Haber Develops Process for Extracting Nitrogen from the Air. . . . 1904-1908, Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive Axiomatization of Set Theory. 1904-1912, Brandenberger Invents Cellophane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January, 1904-1905, Herero and Nama Revolts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 9, 1904-September 5, 1905, Russo-Japanese War. . . . . . . . . . . . March 14, 1904, U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities . . . . April-May, 1904, Sherrington Clarifies the Role of the Nervous System . . . . . April 8, 1904, Entente Cordiale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 18, 1904, L’Humanité Gives Voice to French Socialist Politics . . . . . . May 18, 1904, International Agreement Targets White Slave Trade . . . . . . . Summer, 1904, Construction Begins on the Panama Canal . . . . . . . . . . . . September 7, 1904, Lhasa Convention Is Signed in Tibet. . . . . . . . . . . . . October 31, 1904-1906, Welsh Revival Spreads Pentecostalism . . . . . . . . . November 7, 1904, Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones Premieres . . . . . . . . . . . November 16, 1904, Fleming Patents the First Vacuum Tube . . . . . . . . . . December 26, 1904, Duncan Interprets Chopin in Her Russian Debut . . . . . . December 27, 1904, Abbey Theatre Heralds the Celtic Revival . . . . . . . . .
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281 283 286 288 291 295 298 302 305 308 311 314 317 320 323 327 331 334 336 340 344 346 348 352 355 359
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362 365 369 372
1905 1905, Baker Establishes the 47 Workshop at Harvard. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905, Einthoven Begins Clinical Studies with Electrocardiography . . . . . 1905, Hertzsprung Notes Relationship Between Star Color and Luminosity . 1905, Hoffmann Designs the Palais Stoclet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 1905, Introduction of the First Injectable Anesthetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905, Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity . . . . . . . . . 1905, Singer Begins Manufacturing Sewing Machines in Russia . . . . . . . . . . 1905-1907, Baekeland Invents Bakelite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905-1907, Boltwood Uses Radioactivity to Determine Ages of Rocks . . . . . . January 3, 1905, Pinchot Becomes Head of the U.S. Forest Service . . . . . . . . January 5, 1905, National Audubon Society Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 22, 1905, Bloody Sunday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 30, 1905, U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust . . February 23, 1905, First American Service Organization Is Founded . . . . . . . March, 1905, Einstein Describes the Photoelectric Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 31, 1905, Tangier Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 17, 1905, U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law . . . . . June, 1905, First Nickelodeon Film Theater Opens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summer, 1905, Avant-Garde Artists Form Die Brücke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 27, 1905, Founding of Industrial Workers of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . July 11, 1905, Founding of the Niagara Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August, 1905, Lowell Predicts the Existence of Pluto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August-December, 1905, Armstrong Committee Examines the Insurance Industry Fall, 1905, Einstein States His Theory of Special Relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . Fall, 1905, Stein Holds Her First Paris Salons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October, 1905, Fauves Exhibit at the Salon d’Automne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 26, 1905, Norway Becomes Independent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 30, 1905, October Manifesto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 24, 1905, Reinhardt Becomes Director of the Deutsches Theater . . . . November 28, 1905, Sinn Féin Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December, 1905, Crile Performs the First Direct Blood Transfusion . . . . . . . . December 9, 1905, Strauss’s Salome Shocks Audiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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376 378 382 385 388 392 396 399 402 406 408 411 413 417 421 425 428 432 436 440 443 447 450 452 456 459 462 465
1906, Anschütz-Kaempfe Invents the First Practical Gyrocompass. . . . . . . . . . 1906, Barkla Discovers the Characteristic X Rays of the Elements . . . . . . . . . . 1906, Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906, Cottrell Invents the Electrostatic Precipitation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906, Fréchet Introduces the Concept of Abstract Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906, Hopkins Postulates the Presence of Vitamins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906, Markov Discovers the Theory of Linked Probabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906, Pareto Analyzes the Distribution of Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906, Publication of The English Hymnal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906-1907, Artists Find Inspiration in African Tribal Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906-1910, Oldham and Mohorovi5i6 Determine the Earth’s Interior Structure . . . 1906-1913, Willstätter Discovers the Composition of Chlorophyll . . . . . . . . . . January 11, 1906, Founding of the Monist League Leads to the Eugenics Movement January 12, 1906, American College Football Allows the Forward Pass . . . . . . . February, 1906, Sinclair Publishes The Jungle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 12, 1906, Establishment of the British Labour Party . . . . . . . . . . . . Spring, 1906, Lee Establishes the Field of Public Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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468 471 474 478 481 484 487 490 492 494 497 500 504 507 509 513 516
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Contents April, 1906-1908, Azusa Street Revival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 18, 1906, San Francisco Earthquake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 10-July 21, 1906, First Meeting of the Duma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 26-27, 1906, First Grand Prix Auto Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 27-29, 1906, International Association for the Prevention of Smoke Is Founded . . . . . . June 30, 1906, Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 20, 1906, Finland Grants Women Suffrage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 4, 1906, First German U-Boat Is Launched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 19, 1906, Bern Convention Prohibits Night Work for Women . . . . . . . . . . . . October, 1906-October, 1907, Persia Adopts a Constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 6, 1906, Launching of the Dreadnought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 25, 1906, Japan Protests Segregation of Japanese in California Schools . . . . . . . . December 10, 1906, Thomson Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering the Electron . . . . . . . December 24, 1906, Fessenden Pioneers Radio Broadcasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 30, 1906, Muslim League Protests Government Abuses of Minority Rights in India .
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520 522 526 529 531 534 538 541 545 549 552 555 558 561 564
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567 570 573 576 579 582 584
1907 1907, Bergson’s Creative Evolution Inspires Artists and Thinkers . . 1907, Famine Strikes Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1907, Haldane Develops Stage Decompression for Deep-Sea Divers. 1907, Hertzsprung Describes Giant and Dwarf Stellar Divisions . . . 1907, Lumières Develop Color Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1907, Meinecke Advances the Analytic Method in History . . . . . . 1907, Plague Kills 1.2 Million in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Contents, VOLUME 2: 1907-1915
1907 (continued) 1907, Publication of Busoni’s Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1907, Publication of James’s Pragmatism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 16, 1907-February 14, 1912, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona Become U.S. States. January 26, 1907, The Playboy of the Western World Offends Irish Audiences . . . . . . . . . . March, 1907, Romanian Peasant Revolt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 14, 1907, Gentlemen’s Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 19, 1907-April, 1914, Publication of The Catholic Encyclopedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spring, 1907, Development of Nerve Fibers Is Observed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 14, 1907, Formation of the Plunket Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August, 1907, Baden-Powell Establishes the Boy Scouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 31, 1907, Formation of the Triple Entente . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October, 1907, Deutscher Werkbund Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October-November, 1907, Panic of 1907 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 18, 1907, Second Hague Peace Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 22, 1907, Ringling Bros. Buys Barnum and Bailey Circus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 22, 1907, Pavlova Performs The Dying Swan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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587 591 594 597 600 603 606 608 611 613 616 618 622 625 629 632
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635 638 642 644 648 651 654 657 661 664 667 670 674 677 681 683 686
1908 1908, Chlorination of the U.S. Water Supply Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1908, Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics . . . . . . . 1908, Hughes Revolutionizes Oil Well Drilling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1908-1909, Schoenberg Breaks with Tonality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1908-1915, Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory . . . . . . . . . . January 11, 1908, Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from Mining Claims January 21, 1908, The Ghost Sonata Influences Modern Theater and Drama . . January 27, 1908, U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows Yellow-Dog Contracts . . February 3, 1908, Danbury Hatters Decision Constrains Secondary Boycotts . . February 11, 1908, Geiger and Rutherford Develop a Radiation Counter . . . . February 24, 1908, Muller v. Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 29, 1908, Cadillac Demonstrates Interchangeable Parts . . . . . . . . April 8, 1908, Harvard University Founds a Business School . . . . . . . . . . May 13-15, 1908, Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources . . . . May 26, 1908, Oil Is Discovered in Persia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summer, 1908, Salon d’Automne Rejects Braque’s Cubist Works . . . . . . . . June 26, 1908, Hale Discovers Strong Magnetic Fields in Sunspots . . . . . . . 2-v
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 July 24, 1908, Young Turks Stage a Coup in the Ottoman Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 26, 1908, Bureau of Investigation Begins Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 3, 1908, First Issue of Pravda Appears. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 7, 1908, Austria Annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November-December, 1908, Ehrlich and Metchnikoff Conduct Pioneering Immunity Research November 1, 1908, Belgium Annexes the Congo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 28, 1908, Christian Science Monitor Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December, 1908, Boule Reconstructs the First Neanderthal Skeleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 3, 1908, Elgar’s First Symphony Premieres to Acclaim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 21, 1908, Cairo University Is Inaugurated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 26, 1908, First Black Heavyweight Boxing Champion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 28, 1908, Earthquake and Tsunami Devastate Sicily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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689 692 695 697 699 703 707 710 713 716 719 721
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723 726 729 731 734 737 741 744 747 751 753 756 759 762 766 769 772 776 778 781
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784 786 790 792 796 800 803 807
1909 1909, First Kibbutz Is Established in Palestine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909, Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype” . . . . . . . . . . . 1909, Mecklenburg-Schwerin Admits Women to University Education . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909, Steinitz Inaugurates Modern Abstract Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909-1913, United States Begins “Dollar Diplomacy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909-1929, Pickford Reigns as “America’s Sweetheart” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January-August, 1909, Millikan Conducts His Oil-Drop Experiment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 12, 1909, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Is Founded February 20, 1909, Marinetti Issues the Futurist Manifesto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March, 1909-1912, Republican Congressional Insurgency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 4, 1909, U.S. Congress Updates Copyright Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April, 1909-August, 1911, Parliament Act Redefines British Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . April 6, 1909, Peary and Henson Reach the North Pole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 19, 1909, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Astounds Paris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2, 1909, Fokine’s Les Sylphides Introduces Abstract Ballet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 25, 1909, First Airplane Flight Across the English Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 5, 1909, Tariff Act of 1909 Limits Corporate Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 19, 1909, First Auto Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway . . . . . . . . . . . . October, 1909, Canada Cement Affair Prompts Legislative Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October, 1909, Completion of the AEG Turbine Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1910 1910’s, Garbage Industry Introduces Reforms . . . . . . . . . . . 1910’s, Handy Ushers in the Commercial Blues Era . . . . . . . . 1910, Angell Advances Pacifism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1910, Electric Washing Machine Is Introduced . . . . . . . . . . . 1910, Euthenics Calls for Pollution Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1910, Gaudí Completes the Casa Milá Apartment House . . . . . . 1910, Rous Discovers That Some Cancers Are Caused by Viruses . 1910, Steinmetz Warns of Pollution in “The Future of Electricity” . 2-vi
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Contents 1910, Thomson Confirms the Possibility of Isotopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1910-1913, Principia Mathematica Defines the Logistic Movement . . . . . . . . 1910-1930, Great Northern Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spring, 1910, Poiret’s Hobble Skirt Becomes the Rage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April, 1910, Ehrlich Introduces Salvarsan as a Cure for Syphilis . . . . . . . . . . April 5, 1910, First Morris Plan Bank Opens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 31, 1910, Formation of the Union of South Africa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 25, 1910, The Firebird Premieres in Paris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 1, 1910, U.S. Bureau of Mines Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 22, 1910, Japanese Annexation of Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 5, 1910, Republic of Portugal Is Proclaimed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mid-October, 1910-December 1, 1920, Mexican Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . November 25, 1910, Carnegie Establishes the Endowment for International Peace
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811 814 818 820 823 827 830 833 836 838 841 843 847
1911, Boas Publishes The Mind of Primitive Man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1911, Hashimoto Founds the Nissan Motor Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1911-1912, Italy Annexes Libya. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1911-1920, Borden Leads Canada Through World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1911-1923, Rilke’s Duino Elegies Redefines Poetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 15, 1911, Scriabin’s Prometheus Premieres in Moscow . . . . . . . . . . . . March 25, 1911, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 28, 1911, Baro-Kano Railroad Begins Operation in Nigeria. . . . . . . . . . April 3, 1911, Sibelius Conducts the Premiere of His Fourth Symphony . . . . . . . April 14, 1911, Lever Acquires Land Concession in the Belgian Congo . . . . . . . May 15, 1911, U.S. Supreme Court Establishes the “Rule of Reason” . . . . . . . . May 29, 1911, U.S. Supreme Court Breaks Up the American Tobacco Company . . July 1, 1911, Agadir Crisis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 24, 1911, Bingham Discovers Machu Picchu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September, 1911, Der Blaue Reiter Abandons Representation in Art . . . . . . . . . September 4-15, 1911, Students Challenge Corporal Punishment in British Schools. September 14, 1911, Assassination of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin. . . . . . . . . . Fall, 1911, Sturtevant Produces the First Chromosome Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 10, 1911, Sun Yixian Overthrows the Qing Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . November 20, 1911, Mahler’s Masterpiece Das Lied von der Erde Premieres . . . . December 2, 1911, Australasian Antarctic Expedition Commences . . . . . . . . . December 14, 1911, Amundsen Reaches the South Pole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 31, 1911, Parliament Nationalizes the British Telephone System . . . . .
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849 852 856 859 862 865 868 873 876 879 882 886 890 892 897 900 904 906 909 913 916 919 922
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925 928 932 935
1911
1912 1912, Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage Launches the Western Genre 1912, Jung Publishes The Psychology of the Unconscious . . . . . . 1912, Kandinsky Publishes His Theory of Abstract Art. . . . . . . . 1912, Slipher Obtains the Spectrum of a Distant Galaxy . . . . . . . 2-vii
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 1912-1913, Bohr Uses Quantum Theory to Identify Atomic Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938 1912-1914, Abel Develops the First Artificial Kidney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942 1912-1915, X-Ray Crystallography Is Developed by the Braggs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945 1912-1929, Wahh3btism Strengthens in Saudi Arabia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948 January, 1912, Wegener Proposes the Theory of Continental Drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950 January 8, 1912, South African Native National Congress Meets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 954 February 23, 1912, International Opium Convention Is Signed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956 March 3, 1912, Leavitt Discovers How to Measure Galactic Distances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959 March 7, 1912, Rutherford Describes the Atomic Nucleus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962 Spring, 1912, Pound Announces the Birth of the Imagist Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965 April 9, 1912, Children’s Bureau Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968 April 14-15, 1912, Sinking of the Titanic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 972 May 5-July 27, 1912, Stockholm Hosts the Summer Olympics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 May 29, 1912, L’Après-midi d’un faune Scandalizes Parisian Audiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977 June 4, 1912, Massachusetts Adopts the First Minimum Wage Law in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . 980 June 7, 1912, Pope Pius X Condemns Slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 983 July 10, 1912, Massey Is Elected Prime Minister of New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986 August, 1912, Sennett Defines Slapstick Comedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988 August 4-November, 1912, U.S. Intervention in Nicaragua. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991 August 7 and 12, 1912, Hess Discovers Cosmic Rays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995 August 14, 1912, U.S. Public Health Service Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998 October, 1912, Harriet Monroe Founds Poetry Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001 October 12, 1912, First Conference of the Society of American Indians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005 October 18, 1912-August 10, 1913, Balkan Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008 November 5, 1912, Wilson Is Elected U.S. President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011
1913 1913, Apollinaire Defines Cubism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1913, Duchamp’s “Readymades” Redefine Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1913, Edison Shows the First Talking Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1913, First Geothermal Power Plant Begins Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1913, Fuller Brush Company Is Incorporated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1913, Gutenberg Discovers Earth’s Mantle-Outer Core Boundary . . . . . . . 1913, Hertzsprung Uses Cepheid Variables to Calculate Distances to the Stars. 1913, Husserl Advances Phenomenology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1913, Salomon Develops Mammography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1913, Schick Introduces a Test for Diphtheria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1913-1927, Proust Publishes Remembrance of Things Past . . . . . . . . . . . January, 1913, Burton Refines Petroleum with Thermal Cracking . . . . . . . January 17, 1913, Fabry Quantifies Ozone in the Upper Atmosphere . . . . . . February 17-March 15, 1913, Armory Show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 25, 1913, U.S. Federal Income Tax Is Authorized . . . . . . . . . . . March 1, 1913, Ford Assembly Line Begins Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 4, 1913, Migratory Bird Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 31, 1913, Webern’s Six Pieces for Large Orchestra Premieres. . . . . . May 14, 1913, Rockefeller Foundation Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 20, 1913, Passage of the First Alien Land Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-viii
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1015 1019 1022 1025 1028 1031 1034 1037 1040 1043 1045 1049 1053 1056 1059 1063 1067 1070 1074 1076
Contents May 29, 1913, The Rite of Spring Stuns Audiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August, 1913, Advertisers Adopt a Truth-in-Advertising Code . . . . . . . . September, 1913, Anti-Defamation League Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . November 5, 1913, Completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct . . . . . . . . December, 1913, Russell Announces His Theory of Stellar Evolution . . . . December 19, 1913, U.S. Congress Approves a Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley December 23, 1913, Federal Reserve Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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1079 1082 1085 1088 1092 1095 1099
1914, Rutherford Discovers the Proton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1914, U.S. Government Begins Using Cost-Plus Contracts . . . . . . . . . . . January 5, 1914, Ford Announces a Five-Dollar, Eight-Hour Workday . . . . . February 13, 1914, ASCAP Forms to Protect Writers and Publishers of Music . March, 1914, Gilbreth Publishes The Psychology of Management . . . . . . . June 28-August 4, 1914, Outbreak of World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 28, 1914-November 11, 1918, World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 15, 1914, Panama Canal Opens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 1, 1914, Last Passenger Pigeon Dies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 5-9, 1914, First Battle of the Marne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 15, 1914, Irish Home Rule Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 22, 1914, Germany Begins Extensive Submarine Warfare. . . . . . September 26, 1914, Federal Trade Commission Is Organized . . . . . . . . . October 15, 1914, Clayton Antitrust Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 15, 1914, Labor Unions Win Exemption from Antitrust Laws . . . . . October 30, 1914, Spain Declares Neutrality in World War I . . . . . . . . . . November 5, 1914, British Mount a Second Front Against the Ottomans . . . . November 7, 1914, Lippmann Helps to Establish The New Republic . . . . . .
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1103 1106 1110 1114 1118 1121 1124 1130 1133 1137 1140 1143 1145 1149 1153 1156 1158 1161
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1164 1168 1171 1174 1177 1180 1183 1188 1192
1914
1915 1915, Merrill Lynch & Company Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1915, The Metamorphosis Anticipates Modern Feelings of Alienation . . 1915-1919, National Birth Control League Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 19, 1915, Germany Launches the First Zeppelin Bombing Raids. January 25, 1915, First Transcontinental Telephone Call Is Made. . . . . February 19, 1915-January 9, 1916, Gallipoli Campaign Falters . . . . . March, 1915, Defense of India Act Impedes the Freedom Struggle . . . . March 3, 1915, Griffith Releases The Birth of a Nation . . . . . . . . . . April 22-27, 1915, Germany Uses Poison Gas Against Allied Troops. . .
2-ix
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Contents, VOLUME 3: 1915-1923
1915 (continued) April 24, 1915, Armenian Genocide Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 28-May 1, 1915, International Congress of Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May, 1915, Fokker Aircraft Are Equipped with Machine Guns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 7, 1915, German Torpedoes Sink the Lusitania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 20, 1915, Corning Glass Works Trademarks Pyrex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summer, 1915, Denishawn School of Dance Opens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September, 1915-February, 1916, McLean Discovers the Natural Anticoagulant Heparin September 5-8, 1915, and April 24-30, 1916, Zimmerwald and Kienthal Conferences . . September 11, 1915, Women’s Institutes Are Founded in Great Britain . . . . . . . . . October, 1915-March, 1917, Langevin Develops Active Sonar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 21, 1915, First Demonstration of Transatlantic Radiotelephony . . . . . . . . . November 25, 1915, Einstein Completes His Theory of General Relativity. . . . . . . . December 8, 1915, Poppies Become a Symbol for Fallen Soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . . December 17, 1915, Malevich Introduces Suprematism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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1195 1199 1202 1206 1209 1211 1215 1217 1220 1223 1227 1230 1233 1235
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1239 1242 1245 1247 1250 1253 1256 1259 1262 1266 1269 1272 1276 1279 1282 1285 1288 1292 1295 1299
1916 1916, Completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1916, Dada Movement Emerges at the Cabaret Voltaire. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1916, Dewey Applies Pragmatism to Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1916, Ives Completes His Fourth Symphony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1916, Schwarzschild Solves the Equations of General Relativity . . . . . . . . January-June, 1916, Lenin Critiques Modern Capitalism . . . . . . . . . . . . February 21-December 18, 1916, Battle of Verdun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 15, 1916-February 5, 1917, Pershing Expedition . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 24-29, 1916, Easter Rebellion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 31-June 1, 1916, Battle of Jutland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 5, 1916, Brandeis Becomes the First Jewish Supreme Court Justice . . . . July, 1916, Fayol Publishes General and Industrial Management . . . . . . . . July, 1916, New York City Institutes a Comprehensive Zoning Law . . . . . . August, 1916, Hindenburg Program Militarizes the German Economy . . . . . August 25, 1916, National Park Service Is Created . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 8, 1916, United States Establishes a Permanent Tariff Commission. September 11, 1916, First Self-Service Grocery Store Opens . . . . . . . . . . September 19, 1916, American Institute of Accountants Is Founded . . . . . . October 16, 1916, First American Birth Control Clinic Opens . . . . . . . . . November 7, 1916, First Woman Is Elected to the U.S. Congress . . . . . . . . 3-v
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1917 1917, American Farmers Increase Insecticide Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1917, Birdseye Invents Quick-Frozen Foods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1917, National Woman’s Party Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1917, De StijlAdvocates Mondrian’s Neoplasticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1917, Yeats Publishes The Wild Swans at Coole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1917-1918, Bolsheviks Suppress the Russian Orthodox Church . . . . . . . . . . 1917-1920, Ukrainian Nationalists Struggle for Independence . . . . . . . . . . . 1917-1924, Russian Communists Inaugurate the Red Terror . . . . . . . . . . . . 1917-1970, Pound’s Cantos Is Published . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 31, 1917, Mexican Constitution Establishes an Advanced Labor Code . . February 5, 1917, Immigration Act of 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 26, 1917, Mount McKinley National Park Is Created . . . . . . . . . . . March-November, 1917, Lenin Leads the Russian Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . March 2, 1917, Jones Act of 1917 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 6, 1917, United States Enters World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 13, 1917, U.S. Curtails Civil Liberties During World War I . . . . . . . . . April 30, 1917, Formation of the American Friends Service Committee . . . . . . May, 1917, Universal Negro Improvement Association Establishes a U.S. Chapter May 13-October 17, 1917, Marian Apparitions in Fátima, Portugal . . . . . . . . . June, 1917, First Pulitzer Prizes Are Awarded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 15, 1917, and May 16, 1918, Espionage and Sedition Acts . . . . . . . . . . July 8, 1917, United States Establishes the War Industries Board . . . . . . . . . . September 15, 1917, Forbes Magazine Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 20, 1917, Canadian Women Gain the Vote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 3, 1917, U.S. Congress Imposes a Wartime Excess-Profits Tax . . . . . . October 15, 1917, France Executes Mata Hari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November, 1917, Hooker Telescope Is Installed on Mount Wilson . . . . . . . . . November 2, 1917, Balfour Declaration Supports a Jewish Homeland in Palestine. November 6-7, 1917, Bolsheviks Mount the October Revolution . . . . . . . . . . December 6, 1917, Halifax Explosion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 6, 1917-October 14, 1920, Finland Gains Independence . . . . . . . . .
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1303 1306 1309 1312 1315 1318 1321 1324 1328 1332 1336 1339 1343 1347 1349 1353 1356 1358 1360 1363 1367 1371 1374 1377 1379 1383 1385 1389 1393 1397 1399
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1403 1406 1409 1412 1416 1419 1422 1425 1428 1431 1434
1918 1918, Cather’s My Ántonia Promotes Regional Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1918, Noether Shows the Equivalence of Symmetry and Conservation . . . . . . . 1918-1919, Germans Revolt and Form a Socialist Government . . . . . . . . . . . 1918-1919, Rietveld Designs the Red-Blue Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1918-1921, Russian Civil War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 8, 1918, Shapley Proves the Sun Is Distant from the Center of Our Galaxy February 6, 1918, British Women Gain the Vote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 24, 1918-August 11, 1920, Baltic States Gain Independence . . . . . . . March, 1918-1919, Influenza Epidemic Strikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 3, 1918, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summer, 1918, Rise of Cultural Relativism Revises Historiography . . . . . . . . 3-vi
Contents July 3, 1918, Migratory Bird Treaty Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 26-November 11, 1918, Meuse-Argonne Offensive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November, 1918-June, 1920, Demobilization of U.S. Forces After World War I . . . . . . . . . November 5, 1918-November 2, 1920, Republican Resurgence Ends America’s Progressive Era December 1, 1918, Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes Declares Independence . . . . December 21, 1918, Birth of Czechoslovakia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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1437 1440 1444 1447 1450 1453
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1546 1549 1551 1555 1558
1919 1919, Aston Builds the First Mass Spectrograph and Discovers Isotopes . . . . . . . . . . . . 1919, Founding of the World Christian Fundamentals Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1919, German Artists Found the Bauhaus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1919, Mises Develops the Frequency Theory of Probability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1919, Principles of Shortwave Radio Communication Are Discovered . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1919-1920, Ponzi Cheats Thousands in an Investment Scheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1919-1921, Bjerknes Discovers Fronts in Atmospheric Circulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1919-1933, Racist Theories Aid Nazi Rise to Political Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 15, 1919, Assassination of Rosa Luxemburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 19-21, 1919, Paris Peace Conference Addresses Protection for Minorities . . . . . . . February 1, 1919, Lenin Approves the First Soviet Nature Preserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 2-6, 1919, Lenin Establishes the Comintern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 15-May 9, 1919, Formation of the American Legion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spring, 1919, Frisch Discovers That Bees Communicate Through Body Movements . . . . . April 13, 1919, British Soldiers Massacre Indians at Amritsar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 28, 1919, League of Nations Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 4, 1919, May Fourth Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 15-June 26, 1919, Winnipeg General Strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 19, 1919-September 11, 1922, Greco-Turkish War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 20, 1919, National Parks and Conservation Association Is Founded. . . . . . . . . . . . June 28, 1919, International Labor Organization Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 28, 1919, Treaty of Versailles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 31, 1919, Weimar Constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August, 1919-May, 1920, Red Scare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 10, 1919, Saint-Germain-en-Laye Convention Attempts to Curtail Slavery. . . . . September 22, 1919-January 8, 1920, Steelworkers Strike for Improved Working Conditions . October 1-9, 1919, Black Sox Scandal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 6, 1919, Einstein’s Theory of Gravitation Is Confirmed over Newton’s Theory . . November 16, 1919, Horthy Consolidates Power in Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1920 Early 1920’s, Slipher Presents Evidence of Redshifts in Galactic Spectra 1920’s, Chanel Defines Modern Women’s Fashion . . . . . . . . . . . . 1920’s, Donham Promotes the Case Study Teaching Method at Harvard . 1920’s, Harlem Renaissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1920’s, Jantzen Popularizes the One-Piece Bathing Suit . . . . . . . . . 3-vii
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 1920’s, Radio Develops as a Mass Broadcast Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Early 1920, Britain Represses Somali Rebellion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1920, Advisory Councils Give Botswana Natives Limited Representation . . . . . . . . . . . 1920, The Mysterious Affair at Styles Introduces Hercule Poirot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1920, Premiere of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1920-1921, Ireland Is Granted Home Rule and Northern Ireland Is Created . . . . . . . . . . 1920-1922, Gandhi Leads a Noncooperation Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1920-1924, Melville Is Rediscovered as a Major American Novelist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1920-1925, Great Britain Establishes Unemployment Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1920-1930, Millikan Investigates Cosmic Rays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 3, 1920, New York Yankees Acquire Babe Ruth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 16, 1920, Formation of Les Six . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 16, 1920-December 5, 1933, Prohibition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 19, 1920, American Civil Liberties Union Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 14, 1920, League of Women Voters Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 25, 1920, Mineral Act Regulates Public Lands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 1, 1920, United States v. United States Steel Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 26, 1920, Great Britain and France Sign the San Remo Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . May-November, 1920, Great Iraqi Revolt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 7, 1920, Group of Seven Exhibition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 16, 1920, Canonization of Joan of Arc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July, 1920, Procter & Gamble Announces Plans to Sell Directly to Retailers . . . . . . . . . . July 10, 1920-September, 1926, Meighen Era in Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 20-September 17, 1920, Formation of the American Professional Football Association August 20-November 2, 1920, Radio Broadcasting Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 26, 1920, U.S. Women Gain the Right to Vote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 8, 1920, U.S. Post Office Begins Transcontinental Airmail Delivery . . . . . . . . November 20, 1920, Formation of Qantas Airlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 13, 1920, Michelson Measures the Diameter of a Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 13, 1920, Permanent Court of International Justice Is Established . . . . . . . . . . December 29, 1920, General Motors Institutes a Multidivisional Structure . . . . . . . . . . . December 29, 1920, Rise of the French Communist Party. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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1562 1566 1568 1571 1575 1578 1583 1587 1590 1594 1597 1601 1604 1607 1610 1614 1618 1621 1625 1628 1630 1633 1636 1638 1641 1644 1648 1652 1654 1657 1659 1663
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1665 1669 1671 1673 1677 1680 1683 1686 1689 1692 1695 1698 1701
1921 1921, Boulanger Takes Copland as a Student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921, First Woman Elected to Australian Parliament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921, Larson Constructs the First Modern Polygraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921, Man Ray Creates the Rayograph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921, Noether Publishes the Theory of Ideals in Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921, Sweden Abolishes Capital Punishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921, Tuberculosis Vaccine BCG Is Developed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921, Wittgenstein Emerges as an Important Philosopher . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921-1922, Banting and Best Isolate the Hormone Insulin . . . . . . . . . . . 1921-1923, Famine in Russia Claims Millions of Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921-1923, Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk Reflects Postwar Disillusionment 1921-1923, Scandals of the Harding Administration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921-1923, Schoenberg Develops His Twelve-Tone System . . . . . . . . . . 3-viii
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Contents 1921-1924, Ku Klux Klan Spreads Terror in the American South. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921-1948, King Era in Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March, 1921, Lenin Announces the New Economic Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 18, 1921, Poland Secures Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 20, 1921, Plebiscite Splits Upper Silesia Between Poland and Germany . . . . . . . . . . May 10, 1921, Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author Premieres . . . . . . . . . . . May 19, 1921, Emergency Quota Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August, 1921, Moplah Rebellion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 8, 1921, First Miss America Is Crowned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 11, 1921, Harding Eulogizes the Unknown Soldier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 11-13, 1921, and March 25-31, 1925, Sanger Organizes Conferences on Birth Control November 12, 1921-February 6, 1922, Washington Disarmament Conference . . . . . . . . . . . November 23, 1921-June 30, 1929, Sheppard-Towner Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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1705 1709 1711 1715 1719 1721 1725 1728 1730 1734 1737 1741 1745
1922 1922, Eliot Publishes The Waste Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1922, First Major U.S. Shopping Center Opens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1922, First Meeting of the Vienna Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1922, McCollum Names Vitamin D and Pioneers Its Use Against Rickets January, 1922, Izaak Walton League Is Formed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February, 1922, Reader’s Digest Is Founded. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 2, 1922, Joyce’s Ulysses Redefines Modern Fiction . . . . . . . April 16, 1922, Treaty of Rapallo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June, 1922, New Wimbledon Tennis Stadium Is Dedicated . . . . . . . . July 24, 1922, League of Nations Establishes Mandate for Palestine . . . September 22, 1922, Cable Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 24-30, 1922, Mussolini’s “March on Rome” . . . . . . . . . . . November 4, 1922, Carter Discovers the Tomb of Tutankhamen . . . . . November 13, 1922, Ozawa v. United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 10, 1922, Nansen Wins the Nobel Peace Prize . . . . . . . . . December 14, 1922, Oil Is Discovered in Venezuela . . . . . . . . . . .
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1748 1751 1754 1757 1760 1763 1767 1772 1775 1777 1779 1782 1784 1788 1790 1794
1923, A. C. Nielsen Company Pioneers in Marketing and Media Research . 1923, Andrews Expedition Discovers the First Fossilized Dinosaur Eggs. . 1923, Buber Breaks New Ground in Religious Philosophy . . . . . . . . . 1923, De Broglie Explains the Wave-Particle Duality of Light . . . . . . .
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1796 1798 1802 1804
1923
3-ix
Contents, VOLUME 4: 1923-1930
1923 (continued) 1923, Discovery of the Compton Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1923, Federal Power Commission Disallows Kings River Dams . . . . . . . . . . 1923, Germans Barter for Goods in Response to Hyperinflation . . . . . . . . . . 1923, Kahn Develops a Modified Syphilis Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1923, The Ten Commandments Advances American Film Spectacle . . . . . . . . 1923-1939, Cambridge Ancient History Appears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 11, 1923-August 16, 1924, France Occupies the Ruhr . . . . . . . . . . . February 15, 1923, Bessie Smith Records “Downhearted Blues” . . . . . . . . . . March 3, 1923, Luce Founds Time Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 5, 1923, Nevada and Montana Introduce Old-Age Pensions . . . . . . . . . March 14, 1923, American Management Association Is Established . . . . . . . . April 9, 1923, U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Minimum Wage Laws . . . . . Summer, 1923, Zdansky Discovers Peking Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 26, 1923, Oklahoma Imposes Martial Law in Response to KKK Violence . . August 27-September 29, 1923, Corfu Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 1, 1923, Earthquake Rocks Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October, 1923, Teapot Dome Scandal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 1, 1923, Great Britain Grants Self-Government to Southern Rhodesia . . . October 18, 1923, Stravinsky Completes His Wind Octet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 8, 1923, Beer Hall Putsch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 10, 1923, Proposal of the Equal Rights Amendment . . . . . . . . . . . December 29, 1923, Zworykin Applies for Patent on an Early Type of Television .
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1807 1810 1814 1817 1820 1824 1826 1830 1833 1838 1840 1844 1847 1850 1853 1855 1857 1862 1865 1869 1871 1873
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1877 1880 1884 1887 1889 1892 1896 1899 1903 1905 1909
1924 1924, Hubble Determines the Distance to the Andromeda Nebula . . . . 1924, Mann’s The Magic Mountain Reflects European Crisis . . . . . . . 1924, Soviets Establish a Society for the Protection of Nature . . . . . . 1924, Steenbock Discovers Sunlight Increases Vitamin D in Food . . . . 1924, Svedberg Develops the Ultracentrifuge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1924, U.S. Government Loses Its Suit Against Alcoa . . . . . . . . . . . 1924-1932, Hawthorne Studies Examine Human Productivity . . . . . . 1924-1976, Howard Hughes Builds a Business Empire . . . . . . . . . . January 25-February 5, 1924, First Winter Olympic Games . . . . . . . . February, 1924, IBM Changes Its Name and Product Line . . . . . . . . February 12, 1924, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue Premieres in New York 4-v
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 March, 1924, Eddington Formulates the Mass-Luminosity Law for Stars. . . . . . . . March 31, 1924, Formation of the Blue Four Advances Abstract Painting . . . . . . . May 21, 1924, Farmers Dynamite the Los Angeles Aqueduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 26, 1924, Immigration Act of 1924 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 28, 1924, U.S. Congress Establishes the Border Patrol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2, 1924, Indian Citizenship Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 3, 1924, Gila Wilderness Area Is Designated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 7, 1924, Oil Pollution Act Sets Penalties for Polluters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summer, 1924, Dart Discovers the First Australopithecine Fossil. . . . . . . . . . . . September 1, 1924, Dawes Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October, 1924, Surrealism Is Born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 21, 1924, Halibut Treaty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 4, 1924, Coolidge Is Elected U.S. President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December, 1924, Hubble Shows That Other Galaxies Are Independent Systems . . . . December 4, 1924, Von Stroheim’s Silent Masterpiece Greed Premieres . . . . . . . . December 10, 1924, Hoover Becomes the Director of the U.S. Bureau of Investigation
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1912 1915 1918 1922 1926 1929 1931 1935 1938 1941 1943 1947 1949 1953 1956 1959
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1962 1965 1968 1972 1976 1980 1983 1987 1990 1993 1997 2001 2004 2007 2011 2014 2017 2020 2024 2027 2030 2033 2037 2040 2042 2044 2047 2050 2054
1925 1925, The City Initiates the Study of Urban Ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925, Cranbrook Academy Promotes the Arts and Crafts Movement . . . . . . 1925, Eisenstein’s Potemkin Introduces New Film Editing Techniques . . . . . 1925, Gide’s The Counterfeiters Questions Moral Absolutes . . . . . . . . . . 1925, Hamilton Publishes Industrial Poisons in the United States . . . . . . . 1925, McKinsey Founds a Management Consulting Firm . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925, New Objectivity Movement Is Introduced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925, Sears, Roebuck Opens Its First Retail Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925, Whipple Discovers Importance of Iron for Red Blood Cells . . . . . . . 1925, Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway Explores Women’s Consciousness . . . . . . . 1925-1926, Mussolini Seizes Dictatorial Powers in Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . 1925-1927, Gance’s Napoléon Revolutionizes Filmmaking Techniques . . . . 1925-1935, Women’s Rights in India Undergo a Decade of Change . . . . . . 1925-1979, Pahlavi Shahs Attempt to Modernize Iran. . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 1, 1925, Bell Labs Is Formed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 5, 1925, First Female Governor in the United States . . . . . . . . . . February 2, 1925, U.S. Congress Authorizes Private Carriers for Airmail . . . February 21, 1925, Ross Founds The New Yorker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 28, 1925, Corrupt Practices Act Limits Political Contributions . . . . Spring, 1925, Pauli Formulates the Exclusion Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . April, 1925-May, 1927, German Expedition Discovers the Mid-Atlantic Ridge April 10, 1925, Fitzgerald Captures the Roaring Twenties in The Great Gatsby May-June, 1925, Paris Exhibition Defines Art Deco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 1, 1925, Cyprus Becomes a British Crown Colony. . . . . . . . . . . . . May 5, 1925, Japan Introduces Suffrage for Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 17, 1925, Thérèse of Lisieux Is Canonized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 17, 1925, Geneva Protocol Is Signed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 26, 1925, Chaplin Produces His Masterpiece The Gold Rush . . . . . . . July 10-21, 1925, Scopes Trial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-vi
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Contents July 18, 1925-December 11, 1926, Mein Kampf Outlines Nazi Thought . . . . . August 7, 1925, West African Student Union Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 14, 1925, Norway Annexes Svalbard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 30, 1925, Chesterton Critiques Modernism and Defends Christianity . October, 1925, Germany Attempts to Restructure the Versailles Treaty . . . . . October-December, 1925, Baker Dances in La Revue Nègre . . . . . . . . . . . October 23, 1925, Greece Invades Bulgaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November, 1925, Armstrong Records with the Hot Five . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 28, 1925, WSM Launches The Grand Ole Opry . . . . . . . . . . . . December 14, 1925, Berg’s Wozzeck Premieres in Berlin . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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2058 2062 2064 2066 2069 2073 2076 2079 2082 2086
1926, Vernadsky Publishes The Biosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1926-1927, Mail-Order Clubs Revolutionize Book Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1926-1949, Chinese Civil War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 16, 1926, Launching of the First Liquid-Fueled Rocket . . . . . . . . . . . . May, 1926, Durant Publishes The Story of Philosophy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 3-12, 1926, British Workers Launch General Strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 12-15, 1926, Piusudski Seizes Power in Poland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 20, 1926, Air Commerce Act Creates a Federal Airways System . . . . . . . . May 20, 1926, Railway Labor Act Provides for Mediation of Labor Disputes . . . . July, 1926, Eddington Publishes The Internal Constitution of the Stars . . . . . . . . July 18, 1926, Treaty of Ankara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August, 1926-September, 1928, Warner Bros. Introduces Talking Motion Pictures . August 6, 1926, Ederle Swims the English Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 9, 1926, National Broadcasting Company Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . September 25, 1926, League of Nations Adopts International Slavery Convention . . October 22, 1926, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises Speaks for the Lost Generation December, 1926, Keaton’s The General Is Released. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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2089 2092 2096 2099 2102 2105 2109 2112 2115 2119 2122 2124 2129 2132 2135 2139 2142
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2146 2148 2152 2155 2158 2161 2164 2168 2172 2175 2179 2182 2186
1926
1927 1927, Heidegger Publishes Being and Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1927, Kuleshov and Pudovkin Introduce Montage to Filmmaking . . . . . . . . . . 1927, Lang Expands the Limits of Filmmaking with Metropolis . . . . . . . . . . . 1927, Lemaître Proposes the Big Bang Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1927, Number of U.S. Automakers Falls to Forty-Four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1927, Oort Proves the Spiral Structure of the Milky Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1927, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 1, 1927, British Broadcasting Corporation Is Chartered . . . . . . . . . . . February-March, 1927, Heisenberg Articulates the Uncertainty Principle . . . . . . February 21, 1927, Eastman Kodak Is Found to Be in Violation of the Sherman Act. February 25, 1927, McFadden Act Regulates Branch Banking . . . . . . . . . . . . May, 1927, Indiana Dunes Are Preserved as a State Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 17, 1927, Monet’s Water Lilies Are Shown at the Musée de L’Orangerie . . . . 4-vii
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 May 20, 1927, Lindbergh Makes the First Nonstop Transatlantic Flight . . . . . July 17, 1927, Brecht and Weill Collaborate on the Mahagonny Songspiel . . . . August 4, 1927, Rodgers Cuts His First Record for RCA Victor . . . . . . . . . August 23, 1927, Sacco and Vanzetti Are Executed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 6, 1927, The Jazz Singer Premieres as the First “Talkie” . . . . . . . . . December 4, 1927, Ellington Begins Performing at the Cotton Club . . . . . . . December 27, 1927, Show Boat Is the First American Musical to Emphasize Plot
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2189 2193 2196 2199 2202 2206 2210
1928, Buñuel and Dalí Champion Surrealism in An Andalusian Dog . . . . . . . . . . 1928, Bush Builds the First Differential Analyzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1928, Smith-Hoover Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1928-1932, Szent-Györgyi Discovers Vitamin C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January, 1928, Papanicolaou Develops a Test for Diagnosing Uterine Cancer . . . . . March, 1928, Muslim Brotherhood Is Founded in Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 19, 1928, Amos ’n’ Andy Radio Show Goes on the Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 11, 1928, Sound Technology Revolutionizes the Motion-Picture Industry. . . . . May 15, 1928, Australia Begins the Flying Doctor Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 18, 1928, Shakhty Case Debuts Show Trials in Moscow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summer, 1928, Gamow Explains Radioactive Alpha Decay with Quantum Tunneling . July 2, 1928, Great Britain Lowers the Voting Age for Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . August, 1928, Mead Publishes Coming of Age in Samoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 27, 1928, Kellogg-Briand Pact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September, 1928, Fleming Discovers Penicillin in Molds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 17, 1928, Oil Companies Cooperate in a Cartel Covering the Middle East . October 1, 1928, Stalin Introduces Central Planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 10, 1928, Undset Accepts the Nobel Prize in Literature . . . . . . . . . . .
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2213 2216 2219 2222 2225 2228 2230 2234 2238 2240 2242 2246 2249 2252 2256 2259 2263 2267
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2269 2273 2276 2279 2282 2285 2288 2292 2295 2298 2301 2304 2306 2309 2311
1928
1929 1929, Baylor Plan Introduces Prepaid Hospital Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1929, Hallelujah Is the First Important Black Musical Film . . . . . . . . . . . 1929, Hubble Confirms the Expanding Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1929, Loewy Pioneers American Industrial Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1929-1930, The Bedbug and The Bathhouse Exemplify Revolutionary Theater 1929-1938, Berger Studies the Human Electroencephalogram . . . . . . . . . 1929-1940, Maginot Line Is Built . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January, 1929, All Quiet on the Western Front Stresses the Futility of War . . . January, 1929, Trotsky Is Sent into Exile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 11, 1929, Lateran Treaty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 14, 1929, Valentine’s Day Massacre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 17, 1929, League of United Latin American Citizens Is Founded . . . May 16, 1929, First Academy Awards Honor Film Achievement . . . . . . . . June 3-August 28, 1929, Tacna-Arica Compromise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 15, 1929, Agricultural Marketing Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-viii
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Contents July, 1929, Drinker and Shaw Develop a Mechanical Respirator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July, 1929-July, 1931, Gödel Proves Incompleteness-Inconsistency for Formal Systems. . . . . . August 23, 1929, Western Wall Riots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September, 1929-January, 1930, The Maltese Falcon Introduces the Hard-Boiled Detective Novel October 7, 1929, The Sound and the Fury Launches Faulkner’s Career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 24-29, 1929, U.S. Stock Market Crashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 29, 1929-1939, Great Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 8, 1929, New York’s Museum of Modern Art Opens to the Public . . . . . . . . . . . November 19, 1929, Serengeti Game Reserve Is Created . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Winter, 1929-1930, Schmidt Invents the Corrector for the Schmidt Camera and Telescope . . . .
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2314 2317 2321 2323 2327 2331 2335 2340 2343 2347
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2350 2352 2356 2360 2364 2368 2370 2373 2376 2380 2383 2386 2389 2394 2396 2400 2403
1930 Early 1930’s, Mass Deportations of Mexicans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930’s, Americans Embrace Radio Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930’s, Guthrie’s Populist Songs Reflect the Depression-Era United States . . 1930’s, Hindemith Advances Music as a Social Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930’s, Hollywood Enters Its Golden Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930’s, Invention of the Slug Rejector Spreads Use of Vending Machines . . . 1930’s, Jung Develops Analytical Psychology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930’s, Wolman Begins Investigating Water and Sewage Systems . . . . . . . 1930’s-1940’s, Studio System Dominates Hollywood Filmmaking . . . . . . . 1930, Dutch Elm Disease Arrives in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930, Lyot’s Coronagraph Allows Observation of the Sun’s Outer Atmosphere 1930, Zinsser Develops an Immunization Against Typhus . . . . . . . . . . . 1930-1931, Pauling Develops His Theory of the Chemical Bond . . . . . . . . 1930-1932, Jansky’s Experiments Lead to Radio Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . 1930-1935, Von Sternberg Makes Dietrich a Superstar . . . . . . . . . . . . . February, 1930, Crane Publishes The Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February, 1930, Luce Founds Fortune Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4-ix
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Contents, VOLUME 5: 1930-1937
1930 (continued) February 18, 1930, Tombaugh Discovers Pluto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 12-April 5, 1930, Gandhi Leads the Salt March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 31, 1930-1931, Hawk’s Nest Tunnel Construction Leads to Disaster . . . April, 1930, Midgley Introduces Dichlorodifluoromethane as a Refrigerant Gas . April 2, 1930, Haile Selassie Is Crowned Emperor of Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . May 30, 1930, Canadian National Parks Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 6, 1930-August 27, 1934, First Manned Bathysphere Dives . . . . . . . . . June 17, 1930, Hoover Signs the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act . . . . . . . . . . . . Summer, 1930, Nation of Islam Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August, 1930, Lambeth Conference Allows Artificial Contraception . . . . . . . August, 1930-1935, Bennett Era in Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 29, 1930, Japanese American Citizens League Is Founded . . . . . . . . September, 1930, Auden’s Poems Speak for a Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . September 8, 1930, Canada Enacts Depression-Era Relief Legislation . . . . . . September 27, 1930, First Grand Slam of Golf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December, 1930, Du Pont Introduces Freon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 11, 1930, Bank of United States Fails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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2407 2410 2414 2418 2421 2424 2427 2430 2434 2437 2440 2442 2445 2448 2452 2454 2457
1931, Karloff and Lugosi Become Kings of Horror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1931, Ultramares Case Establishes Liability for Auditors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1931-1932, Gangster Films Become Popular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1931-1935, Chandrasekhar Calculates the Upper Limit of a White Dwarf Star’s Mass . 1931-1941, The Group Theatre Flourishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 2, 1931, Lawrence Develops the Cyclotron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 5, 1931, India Signs the Delhi Pact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 19, 1931, Nevada Legalizes Gambling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spring, 1931, Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye Exemplifies Functionalist Architecture . . March 25, 1931-July, 1937, Scottsboro Trials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April, 1931, First Electron Microscope Is Constructed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 14, 1931, Second Spanish Republic Is Proclaimed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 1, 1931, Empire State Building Opens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 8, 1931, Credit-Anstalt Bank of Austria Fails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 27, 1931, Piccard Travels to the Stratosphere by Balloon . . . . . . . . . . . . . July, 1931, Yellow River Flood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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2461 2464 2467 2471 2474 2477 2480 2483 2486 2490 2493 2496 2499 2503 2506 2509
1931
5-v
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 July 26, 1931, International Bible Students Association Becomes Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2512 November 17, 1931, Whitney Museum of American Art Opens in New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2514 December 11, 1931, Formation of the British Commonwealth of Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2517
1932 1932, Berle and Means Discuss Corporate Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1932, Céline’s Journey to the End of the Night Expresses Interwar Cynicism . . . 1932, Gilson’s Spirit of Medieval Philosophy Reassesses Christian Thought . . . . 1932-1935, Domagk Discovers That Sulfonamides Can Save Lives . . . . . . . . 1932-1940, Development of Negritude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January-February, 1932, El Salvador’s Military Massacres Civilians . . . . . . . . January 7, 1932, Stimson Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 22, 1932, Reconstruction Finance Corporation Is Created . . . . . . . . . February, 1932, Chadwick Discovers the Neutron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 9, 1932, De Valera Is Elected President of the Irish Dáil. . . . . . . . . . . March 19, 1932, Dedication of the Sydney Harbour Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 23, 1932, Norris-La Guardia Act Strengthens Labor Organizations . . . . . April, 1932, Cockcroft and Walton Split the Atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 23, 1932, Stalin Restricts Soviet Composers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 23, 1932-August, 1934, Socialist Realism Is Mandated in Soviet Literature . May 20-21, 1932, First Transatlantic Solo Flight by a Woman . . . . . . . . . . . July 3, 1932, Jooss’s Antiwar Dance The Green Table Premieres . . . . . . . . . . July 18, 1932, St. Lawrence Seaway Treaty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 21-August 21, 1932, Ottawa Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 28, 1932, Bonus March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 1, 1932, Canada’s First Major Socialist Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . September, 1932, Anderson Discovers the Positron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 25, 1932, Poona Pact Grants Representation to India’s Untouchables. . October, 1932, Wright Founds the Taliesin Fellowship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November, 1932, Antitrust Prosecution Forces RCA to Restructure . . . . . . . . November 8, 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt Is Elected U.S. President . . . . . . . . December, 1932-Spring, 1934, Great Famine Strikes the Soviet Union . . . . . . . Winter, 1932, Huxley’s Brave New World Forecasts Technological Totalitarianism
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2521 2524 2527 2529 2532 2535 2538 2540 2544 2547 2549 2552 2555 2558 2562 2566 2569 2572 2575 2578 2581 2583 2586 2589 2593 2596 2599 2601
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2605 2608 2612 2615 2618 2622 2625 2628 2632
1933 1933, Billie Holiday Begins Her Recording Career . . . . . . . . . . 1933, Forty-Second Street Defines 1930’s Film Musicals . . . . . . . 1933, Kallet and Schlink Publish 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs . . . . . . 1933-1934, First Artificial Radioactive Element Is Developed . . . . January 2, 1933, Coward’s Design for Living Epitomizes the 1930’s . January 23, 1933, Italy Creates the Industrial Reconstruction Institute January 30, 1933, Hitler Comes to Power in Germany . . . . . . . . February 24, 1933, Japan Withdraws from the League of Nations . . February 27, 1933, Reichstag Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-vi
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Contents February 28, 1933, Perkins Becomes First Woman Secretary of Labor . . . . . . March, 1933, Nazi Concentration Camps Begin Operating . . . . . . . . . . . . March 4, 1933-1945, Good Neighbor Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 9-June 16, 1933, The Hundred Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 23, 1933, Enabling Act of 1933. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 5, 1933, U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps Is Established . . . . . . . . . . May 18, 1933, Tennessee Valley Authority Is Created . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 16, 1933, Banking Act of 1933 Reorganizes the American Banking System June 16, 1933, Roosevelt Signs the National Industrial Recovery Act . . . . . . July 6, 1933, First Major League Baseball All-Star Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 2, 1933, Soviets Open the White Sea-Baltic Canal . . . . . . . . . . . . August 11-13, 1933, Iraqi Army Slaughters Assyrian Christians . . . . . . . . . September, 1933, Marshall Writes The People’s Forests . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 8, 1933, Work Begins on the Grand Coulee Dam . . . . . . . . . . . Fall, 1933-October 20, 1949, Lewis Convenes the Inklings . . . . . . . . . . . . October 18, 1933, Roosevelt Creates the Commodity Credit Corporation . . . . November-December, 1933, Fermi Proposes the Neutrino Theory of Beta Decay November 16, 1933, United States Recognizes Russia’s Bolshevik Regime . . . December 8, 1933, Canonization of Bernadette Soubirous . . . . . . . . . . . . December 17, 1933, End of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s Rule . . . . . . . . . .
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2637 2640 2644 2646 2649 2652 2656 2659 2663 2667 2670 2672 2674 2678 2681 2683 2687 2690 2693 2695
1934, Benedict Publishes Patterns of Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934, Discovery of the Cherenkov Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934, Lubitsch’s The Merry Widow Opens New Vistas for Film Musicals . . . . . 1934, Soviet Union Bans Abstract Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934, Squier Founds Muzak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934, Toynbee’s Metahistorical Approach Sparks Debate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934, Zwicky and Baade Propose a Theory of Neutron Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934-1935, Hitchcock Becomes Synonymous with Suspense . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934-1938, Production Code Gives Birth to Screwball Comedy . . . . . . . . . . 1934-1939, Dust Bowl Devastates the Great Plains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1934-1945, Radar Is Developed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February, 1934, Rivera’s Rockefeller Center Mural Is Destroyed . . . . . . . . . . February 6, 1934, Stavisky Riots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 16, 1934, Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act. . . . . . . March 24, 1934, Philippine Independence Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 23, 1934, Police Apprehend Bonnie and Clyde. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 6, 1934, Securities and Exchange Commission Is Established . . . . . . . . . June 10, 1934, Federal Communications Commission Is Established by Congress . June 18, 1934, Indian Reorganization Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 26, 1934, Federal Credit Union Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 28, 1934, Taylor Grazing Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 30-July 2, 1934, Great Blood Purge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 1, 1934, Miller’s Tropic of Cancer Stirs Controversy . . . . . . . . . . Fall, 1934-May 6, 1953, Gibbon Develops the Heart-Lung Machine . . . . . . . . October 16, 1934-October 18, 1935, Mao’s Long March . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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2697 2701 2705 2709 2713 2716 2718 2722 2725 2730 2734 2736 2740 2742 2745 2748 2750 2754 2757 2761 2764 2767 2770 2773 2777
1934
5-vii
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 October 19, 1934, Marshall and Leopold Form the Wilderness Society . . November, 1934, Yukawa Proposes the Existence of Mesons. . . . . . . December, 1934, Stalin Begins the Purge Trials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 1, 1934, Goodman Begins His Let’s Dance Broadcasts . . . . December 6, 1934, Balanchine’s Serenade Inaugurates American Ballet . December 29, 1934, Japan Renounces Disarmament Treaties . . . . . . .
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2780 2784 2786 2790 2794 2797
1935, Chapman Determines the Lunar Atmospheric Tide at Moderate Latitudes . . . . . . . . . 1935, Penguin Develops a Line of Paperback Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1935-1936, Turing Invents the Universal Turing Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January, 1935, Richter Develops a Scale for Measuring Earthquake Strength . . . . . . . . . . January, 1935, Schiaparelli’s Boutique Mingles Art and Fashion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February, 1935-October 27, 1938, Carothers Invents Nylon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 12, 1935, Exhibition of American Abstract Painting Opens in New York . . . . . . . February 19, 1935, Odets’s Awake and Sing! Becomes a Model for Protest Drama. . . . . . . . February 27, 1935, Temple Receives a Special Academy Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 8, 1935, Works Progress Administration Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 15, 1935, Arbitration Affirms National Responsibility for Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . April 27, 1935, Soil Conservation Service Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 27, 1935, Black Monday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 10, 1935, Formation of Alcoholics Anonymous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July, 1935, Tansley Proposes the Term “Ecosystem” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 5, 1935, Wagner Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 14, 1935, Roosevelt Signs the Social Security Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 23, 1935, Banking Act of 1935 Centralizes U.S. Monetary Control . . . . . . . . . . . August 29, 1935-June 30, 1939, Federal Theatre Project Promotes Live Theater . . . . . . . . . August 31, 1935-November 4, 1939, Neutrality Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 6, 1935, Top Hat Establishes the Astaire-Rogers Dance Team . . . . . . . . . . . . October 10, 1935, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess Opens in New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 11, 1935-July 15, 1936, League of Nations Applies Economic Sanctions Against Italy . October 23, 1935-November 15, 1948, King Returns to Power in Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . November-December, 1935, Egas Moniz Develops the Prefrontal Lobotomy . . . . . . . . . . November 5, 1935, Armstrong Demonstrates FM Radio Broadcasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 10, 1935, Congress of Industrial Organizations Is Founded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 27, 1935, New Zealand’s First Labour Party Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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2799 2802 2806 2809 2813 2816 2820 2823 2827 2830 2834 2837 2841 2843 2846 2850 2853 2857 2860 2865 2868 2871 2875 2879 2882 2885 2888 2891
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1935
1936 1936, Lehmann Discovers the Earth’s Inner Core . . . . . . . . . . . . 1936, Müller Invents the Field Emission Microscope . . . . . . . . . . 1936-1946, France Nationalizes Its Banking and Industrial Sectors . . . January-March, 1936, Consumers Union of the United States Emerges. January 1, 1936, Ford Foundation Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . January 26, 1936, Tudor’s Jardin aux lilas Premieres in London . . . . 5-viii
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Contents January 28, 1936, Soviets Condemn Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District February 4, 1936, Darling Founds the National Wildlife Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . February 4, 1936, Keynes Proposes Government Management of the Economy . . . . . . February 17, 1936, Corporatism Comes to Paraguay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 7, 1936, German Troops March into the Rhineland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 11, 1936, Boulder Dam Is Completed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 15, 1936-1939, Great Uprising of Arabs in Palestine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 19, 1936, Robinson-Patman Act Restricts Price Discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . June 25, 1936, The DC-3 Opens a New Era of Air Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 17, 1936, Spanish Civil War Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 1-16, 1936, Germany Hosts the Summer Olympics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 2-18, 1936, Claretian Martyrs Are Executed in Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November, 1936, Carnegie Redefines Self-Help Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 2, 1936, BBC Airs the First High-Definition Television Program . . . . . . . . November 11, 1936, Reciprocal Trade Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 23, 1936, Fluorescent Lighting Is Introduced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 23, 1936, Luce Launches Life Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 25, 1936, Germany and Japan Sign the Anti-Comintern Pact . . . . . . . . . . December, 1936, Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace . . . . . . . . December 10, 1936, Edward VIII Abdicates the British Throne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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2911 2915 2919 2923 2927 2930 2935 2937 2941 2945 2948 2951 2953 2956 2960 2963 2966 2969 2971 2973
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1937 1937, Dreyfuss Designs the Bell 300 Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1937, Prouvé Pioneers Architectural Prefabrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1937-1938, Aalto Designs Villa Mairea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1937-1939, Renoir’s Films Explore Social and Political Themes . . . . . . . . . . . January-September, 1937, Segrè Identifies the First Artificial Element . . . . . . . . January, 1937-February, 1940, Adams Lobbies Congress to Preserve Kings Canyon. January 6, 1937, Embargo on Arms to Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5-ix
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Contents, VOLUME 6: 1937-1940
1937 (continued) February 5-July 22, 1937, Supreme Court-Packing Fight . . . . . . . . . . . . . March, 1937, Delaware River Project Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March, 1937, Krebs Describes the Citric Acid Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 14, 1937, Pius XI Urges Resistance Against Nazism. . . . . . . . . . . . April 1, 1937, Britain Separates Burma from India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 26, 1937, Raids on Guernica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 6, 1937, Hindenburg Dirigible Bursts into Flames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 26, 1937, Egypt Joins the League of Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 27, 1937, Golden Gate Bridge Opens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June, 1937, Theiler Develops a Treatment for Yellow Fever . . . . . . . . . . . June-September, 1937, Reber Builds the First Intentional Radio Telescope. . . . June 2, 1937, Berg’s Lulu Opens in Zurich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July, 1937, Picasso Exhibits Guernica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 7, 1937, China Declares War on Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 19-November 30, 1937, Nazi Germany Hosts the Degenerate Art Exhibition August 17, 1937, Miller-Tydings Act Legalizes Retail Price Maintenance . . . . September, 1937, Tolkien Redefines Fantasy Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 2, 1937, Pittman-Robertson Act Provides State Wildlife Funding . . . Fall, 1937-Winter, 1938, Weidenreich Reconstructs the Face of Peking Man . . . October, 1937, The Diary of a Country Priest Inspires American Readers . . . . December, 1937-February, 1938, Rape of Nanjing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 21, 1937, Disney Releases Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . . . . .
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3066 3069 3072 3076 3079 3083 3087 3090 3093 3096 3098
1938 1938, Barnard Publishes The Functions of the Executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1938, Callendar Connects Industry with Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide 1938, Hofmann Synthesizes the Potent Psychedelic Drug LSD-25 . . . . . . . . 1938, John Muir Trail Is Completed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1938-1950, Golden Age of American Science Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January, 1938, Kapitsa Explains Superfluidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 4, 1938, Our Town Opens on Broadway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 10, 1938, Fannie Mae Promotes Home Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . February 12-April 10, 1938, The Anschluss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 3, 1938, Rise of Commercial Oil Industry in Saudi Arabia . . . . . . . . March 18, 1938, Mexico Nationalizes Foreign Oil Properties . . . . . . . . . . . 6-v
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 March 21, 1938, Wheeler-Lea Act Broadens FTC Control over Advertising . . April, 1938, Cerletti and Bini Use Electroshock to Treat Schizophrenia . . . . April 5, 1938, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo Debuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 26, 1938, HUAC Is Established . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 7, 1938, Chinese Forces Break Yellow River Levees . . . . . . . . . . . June 21, 1938, Natural Gas Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 25, 1938, Fair Labor Standards Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 25, 1938, Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 6-15, 1938, Evian Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 17, 1938, First Grand Slam of Tennis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 29-30, 1938, Munich Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 5, 1938, Death of Maria Faustina Kowalska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 22, 1938, Carlson and Kornei Make the First Xerographic Photocopy . October 30, 1938, Welles Broadcasts The War of the Worlds . . . . . . . . . . November 9-10, 1938, Kristallnacht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December, 1938, Hahn Splits the Uranium Atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 10, 1938, Buck Receives the Nobel Prize in Literature. . . . . . . .
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3149 3152 3156 3159 3163 3166 3170 3173 3176 3180 3184 3186 3190 3193 3195 3198 3201 3205 3209 3213 3215 3219 3223
1939 1939, Bourbaki Group Publishes Éléments de mathématique . . . . . . . . 1939, Ford Defines the Western in Stagecoach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1939, Müller Discovers the Insecticidal Properties of DDT . . . . . . . . . 1939-1945, Nazi Extermination of the Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1939-1949, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys Define Bluegrass Music. January 2, 1939, Marian Anderson Is Barred from Constitution Hall . . . . February 15, 1939, Oppenheimer Calculates the Nature of Black Holes . . March 2, 1939, Pius XII Becomes Pope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 31, 1939, Sherlock Holmes Film Series Begins . . . . . . . . . . . April, 1939, The Grapes of Wrath Portrays Depression-Era America . . . . April 7, 1939, Italy Invades and Annexes Albania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 30, 1939, American Television Debuts at the World’s Fair . . . . . . May 16, 1939, First U.S. Food Stamp Program Begins . . . . . . . . . . . June 12, 1939, Dedication of the Baseball Hall of Fame. . . . . . . . . . . Summer, 1939, Stalin Suppresses the Russian Orthodox Church . . . . . . August, 1939, United States Begins Mobilization for World War II . . . . August 17, 1939, The Wizard of Oz Premieres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 23-24, 1939, Nazi-Soviet Pact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 1, 1939, Germany Invades Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 10, 1939, Canada Enters World War II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 1, 1939, Rockefeller Center Is Completed . . . . . . . . . . . . November 30, 1939-March 12, 1940, Russo-Finnish War . . . . . . . . . . December 15, 1939, Gone with the Wind Premieres . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6-vi
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Contents
1940 1940, García Lorca’s Poet in New York Is Published . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1940, Wright’s Native Son Depicts Racism in America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1940-1941, Moore’s Subway Sketches Record War Images. . . . . . . . . . . . April-May, 1940, Soviets Massacre Polish Prisoners of War . . . . . . . . . . . April 9, 1940, Germany Invades Norway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May, 1940, Florey and Chain Develop Penicillin as an Antibiotic . . . . . . . . May, 1940, Roosevelt Uses Business Leaders for World War II Planning . . . . May 10-June 22, 1940, Collapse of France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 16, 1940-1944, Gypsies Are Exterminated in Nazi Death Camps . . . . . . May 26-June 4, 1940, Evacuation of Dunkirk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 14, 1940, United States Begins Building a Two-Ocean Navy . . . . . . . . June 30, 1940, Congress Centralizes Regulation of U.S. Commercial Air Traffic July 1, 1940, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Is Formed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 10-October 31, 1940, Battle of Britain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August, 1940, Japan Announces the Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere . . . August 3, 1940-March, 1941, Italy Invades British Somaliland . . . . . . . . . . August 16, 1940, Ogdensburg Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September, 1940, Japan Occupies Indochinese Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 1, 1940, First Color Television Broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 12, 1940, Lascaux Cave Paintings Are Discovered . . . . . . . . . . September 13, 1940, Italy Invades Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 7, 1940, Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 13, 1940, Disney’s Fantasia Premieres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December, 1940, Koestler Examines the Dark Side of Communism . . . . . . . December 30, 1940, Arroyo Seco Freeway Opens in Los Angeles . . . . . . . .
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Appendixes Bibliography . . . . . . . . . Electronic Resources . . . . . Chronological List of Entries . Geographical Index . . . . . . Category Index . . . . . . . .
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Indexes Personages Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XXXVIII
6-vii
Publisher’s Note cluded, plus new appendixes, numerous sidebars, quotations from primary source documents, lists, maps, and illustrations.
Great Events from History: The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940, is the eighth installment in Salem Press’s ongoing Great Events from History series, which was initiated in 2004 with the two-volume Great Events from History: The Ancient World, Prehistory-476, followed by The Middle Ages, 477-1453 (2 vols., 2005), The Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600 (2 vols., 2005), The Seventeenth Century, 1601-1700 (2 vols., 2006), The Eighteenth Century, 1701-1800 (2 vols., 2006), The Nineteenth Century, 1801-1900 (4 vols., 2007), and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Events (2 vols., Fall 2007). In 2008, twelve more volumes will join the series: The 20th Century, 1941-1970 and The 20th Century, 1971-2000—bringing the total number of events covered to more than 5,000.
Scope of Coverage The early twentieth century receives worldwide coverage with the priority of meeting the needs of history students at the high school and undergraduate levels. The events covered include the curriculum-oriented geopolitical events of the era—from World War I (1914-1918) and the Russian Revolution (1917) to the rise of the German Nazi Party , the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and the eruption of World War II in Europe (1939). Essays also address important social and cultural developments in daily life: major literary movements, significant developments in art and music, trends in immigration, and landmark social legislation. Among the many broad subjects that receive extensive coverage are Europe’s changing political divisions and shifting alliances, the struggles of women around the world to gain the right to vote, the development of trade unionism and the labor movement, and the global impacts of the Great Depression. The early twentieth century was also a time of immense advances in science and technology—discoveries and innovations that rival those of later years for the fundamental changes they brought to daily lives. At the beginning of the century, aviation was in its infancy and the automotive industry was just beginning. By 1940, passenger air travel was safe and increasingly affordable, and automobiles had become reliable and ubiquitous. The drudgery of housework was lightened with the invention of such appliances as the vacuum cleaner and the electric washing machine, and the development of radio broadcasting and talking motion pictures changed how many people spent their leisure time. Advances in medicine during this period were groundbreaking: In addition to the discovery of penicillin, scientists learned the causes of and developed vaccines, treatments, and tests for numerous diseases, including yellow fever, diphtheria, tuberculosis, syphilis, and diabetes. Discoveries in astronomy led to a greater understanding of the universe and Earth’s place within it, and physicists such as Albert Einstein developed theories that pointed the way to the nuclear age.
Expanded Coverage Like the rest of the series, the six current volumes represent both a revision and a significant expansion of the material on the early twentieth century in the twelvevolume Great Events from History (1972-1980). The present set incorporates virtually all the essays on the early twentieth century from the Chronology of European History: 15,000 B.C. to 1997 (3 vols., 1997); Great Events from History: North American Series, Revised Edition (4 vols., 1997); and Great Events from History II (20 vols., 1991-1995). These volumes form the foundation on which the new and greatly expanded series is built. However, that foundation now forms only a fraction of the whole. Across the entire new series, more than one-third of the text will be completely new. In addition, the new series adds hundreds of illustrations, tables, primary source documents, lists, appendixes, and finding aids in the form of keyword, geographic, categorized, personage, and subject indexes. The new content in the current installment, The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940, constitutes one-quarter of the original set: To the 830 original essays we have added 207 completely new essays—commissioned especially for the new series and appearing here for the first time— for a total of 1,037 essays. Bibliographies for all the old essays have been expanded and updated, and all essays are cross-referenced internally. A section containing maps of world regions in the early twentieth century is inxi
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 dia (12), Indochina (1), Indonesia (1), Iran (4), Iraq (3), Ireland (12), Italy (28), Japan (12), Java (1), Kenya (1), Korea (2), Laos (1), Latin America (20), Latvia (1), Libya (1), Lithuania (2), Macedonia (2), Manchuria (2), Martinique (2), Mexico (6), Moldovia (1), Mongolia (1), Montenegro (1), Morocco (3), Namibia (1), Netherlands (11), New Zealand (5), Nicaragua (1), Nigeria (2), North Pole (1), Norway (6), Ottoman Empire (8), Palestine (4), Panama (5), Paraguay (1), Peru (2), Philippines (2), Poland (9), Portugal (3), Rhodesia (1), Romania (1), Russia (54), Saudi Arabia (2), Scotland (3), Senegal (1), Serbia (2), Sierra Leone (1), Slovenia (1), Somalia (2), South Africa (6), South Asia (12), South Pole (1), Southeast Asia (6), Soviet Union (4), Spain (7), Sweden (9), Switzerland (18), Tanganyika (1), Tibet (2), Turkey (8), Uganda (1), Ukraine (4), United States (487), Venezuela (1), Vietnam (1), Wales (4), Worldwide (2), Yugoslavia (1), and Zimbabwe (1).
By category, the contents of the set include events that fall into one or more of the following areas (many essays are counted under more than one category): Agriculture (12 essays), Anthropology (8), Archaeology (6), Architecture (13), Arts (37), Astronomy (32), Atrocities and war crimes (23), Banking and finance (18), Biology (32), Business and labor (72), Chemistry (26), Civil rights and liberties (54), Colonialism and occupation (41), Communications and media (20), Computers and computer science (3), Crime and scandal (14), Dance (15), Diplomacy and international relations (100), Disasters (14), Earth science (23), Economics (38), Education (12), Energy (13), Engineering (15), Entertainment (25), Environmental issues (59), Expansion and land acquisition (26), Exploration and discovery (5), Fashion and design (12), Genetics (10), Geography (2), Geology (9), Government and politics (173), Health and medicine (58), Historiography (5), Human rights (18), Humanitarianism and philanthropy (8), Immigration, emigration, and relocation (12), Independence movements (20), Indigenous peoples’ rights (20), Inventions (50), Laws, acts, and legal history (109), Literature (52), Manufacturing and industry (18), Marketing and advertising (10), Mathematics (16), Military history (28), Monuments (2), Motion pictures (41), Music (47), Natural resources (30), Organizations and institutions (102), Philosophy (15), Photography (5), Physics (52), Prehistory and ancient cultures (9), Psychology and psychiatry (8), Publishing and journalism (61), Radio and television (20), Religion, theology, and ethics (28), Science and technology (194), Social issues and reform (69), Sociology (5), Space and aviation (17), Sports (20), Terrorism (8), Theater (22), Trade and commerce (80), Transportation (32), Travel and recreation (3), Urban planning (7), Wars, uprisings, and civil unrest (100), Women’s issues (33), World War I (24), and World War II (22). The scope of this set is equally broad geographically, with essays on events associated with these modern countries and world regions: Africa (27 essays), Albania (1), Antarctica (2), Arctic (1), Argentina (1), Armenia (1), Atlantic Ocean (3), Australia (9), Austria (19), Balkans (8), Belarus (2), Belgium (4), Bohemia (1), Bolivia (1), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2), Botswana (1), Bulgaria (2), Burma (1), Cambodia (1), Canada (30), Caribbean (4), Chile (1), China (12), Congo (1), Corfu (1), Croatia (2), Cuba (2), Cyprus (1), Czechoslovakia (3), Denmark (7), Djibouti (1), East Asia (25), Egypt (5), El Salvador (1), England (104), Estonia (1), Ethiopia (1), Europe (5), Finland (5), France (92), French Guiana (1), Gambia (1), Germany (104), Ghana (1), Greece (3), Hungary (4), In-
Essay Length and Format The essays have an average length of 2,000 words (2-4 pages) and adhere to a uniform format. The readyreference top matter of every essay prominently displays the following information: • the most precise date (or date range) of the event • the common name of the event • a summary paragraph that identifies the event and encapsulates its significance • where appropriate, any also-known-as name for the event • the locale, or where the event occurred, including both early twentieth century and, as relevant, modern placenames • the categories, or the type of event covered, from Arts to Government and Politics to Military History to Transportation • Key Figures, a list of the major people involved in the event, with birth and death dates, brief descriptors, and regnal dates or terms of office where applicable The text of each essay is divided into these sections: • Summary of Event, devoted to a chronological description of the facts of the event • Significance, assessing the event’s historical impact • Further Reading, an annotated list of sources for further study • See also, cross-references to other essays within this Great Events set xii
Publisher’s Note Special Features A section of historical maps appears in the front matter of each volume, displaying world regions in the early twentieth century to assist readers in placing the events’ locales. Accompanying the individual essays are an additional 80 maps, quotations from primary source documents, lists, and time lines—as well as more than 500 illustrations: images of artworks, battles, buildings, people, and other icons of the period. Because the set is ordered chronologically, a Keyword List of Contents appears in the front matter to each volume that lists all essays alphabetically, permuted by all keywords in the essays’ titles, to assist readers in locating events by name. In addition, several research aids appear as appendixes at the end of Volume 6:
words in this set follow the American Library Association and Library of Congress (ALA-LC) transliteration format for that language. However, if another form of a name or word is judged to be more familiar to the general audience, it is used instead. Pinyin transliterations are used for Chinese topics, with Wade-Giles variants provided for major names and dynasties; in a few cases, common names that are not Pinyin are used. Sanskrit and other South Asian names generally follow the ALA-LC transliteration rules, although more familiar forms of names are used when deemed appropriate for general readers. Titles of books and other literature appear, upon first mention in each essay, with their full publication and translation data as known: an indication of the first date of publication or appearance, followed by the English title in translation and its first date of appearance in English. If no translation has been published in English, and if the context of the discussion does not make the meaning of the title obvious, a “literal translation” appears in roman type. In the listing of Key Figures and in parenthetical material within the text, “r.” stands for “reigned,” “b.” for “born,” “d.” for “died,” and “fl.” for flourished. Wherever date ranges, such as “1823-1877,” appear appended to names with none of these designators, readers may assume that they signify birth and death dates or, where the contexts indicate, terms of office not considered “reigns.”
• The Bibliography cites major sources on the period. • Electronic Resources provides URLs and descriptions of Web sites and other online resources devoted to period studies. • The Chronological List of Entries organizes the contents chronologically in one place for ease of reference. Four indexes round out the set: • The Geographical Index lists essays by regions and countries. • The Category Index lists essays by types of event, such as Agriculture, Architecture, and Arts. • The Personages Index includes major personages discussed throughout. • The Subject Index includes persons, concepts, terms, battles, works of literature, inventions, organizations, artworks, musical compositions, and many other topics of discussion.
The Contributors Salem Press would like to extend its appreciation to all who have been involved in the development and production of this work. Special thanks go to Professor Robert F. Gorman at Southwest Texas State University, who developed the contents list and coverage notes for contributing writers to ensure the set’s relevance to the high school and undergraduate curricula. The essays were written and signed by 568 historians, political scientists, and scholars of regional studies as well as independent scholars. Without their expert contributions, a project of this nature would not be possible. A full list of their names and affiliations appears in the front matter of this volume.
Usage Notes The worldwide scope of Great Events from History often results in the inclusion of names and words that must be transliterated from languages that do not use the Roman alphabet, and in some cases more than one system of transliteration exists. In many cases, transliterated
xiii
Contributors Wayne Ackerson
JoAnn Balingit
S. Carol Berg
Salisbury State University
Bancroft Intermediate School
College of St. Benedict
Michael Adams
Mary Pat Balkus
Jack Bermingham
CUNY Graduate Center
Radford University
Pacific Lutheran University
Bland Addison
Jane L. Ball
Christopher J. Biermann
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Wilberforce University
Oregon State University
Richard Adler
Grace A. Banks
John W. Biles
University of Michigan—Dearborn
Chestnut Hill College
Sam Houston State University
Peggy E. Alford
Art Barbeau
Robert E. Biles
Eastern Oregon University
West Liberty State College
Sam Houston State University
Patricia Alkema
Russell J. Barber
Cynthia A. Bily
Independent Scholar
California State University, San Bernardino
Adrian College
Craig W. Allin Cornell College
Nicholas Birns David Barratt
New School University
Independent Scholar
Emily Alward Henderson, NV District Libraries
Michael S. Bisesi Carole A. Barrett
Medical College of Ohio
University of Mary
Michael S. Ameigh SUNY, College at Oswego
Kent Blaser Richard Barrett
Wayne State University
University College of the Cariboo
James H. Anderson Somerset Community College
Wayne M. Bledsoe Thomas F. Barry
University of Missouri, Rolla
Himeji Dokkyo University
Madeline C. Archer Duquesne University
Devon Boan Kathleen M. Bartlett
Belmont University
Florida Institute of Technology
Christina Ashton Independent Scholar
Paul R. Boehlke Rose A. Bast
Wisconsin Lutheran College
Mount Mary College
Mary Welek Atwell Radford University
Nathaniel Boggs Jonathan Bean
Alabama State University
Southern Illinois University
James A. Baer Northern Virginia Community College
James J. Bolner Bruce Andre Beaubouef University of Houston
Louisiana State University, New Orleans
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
Erving E. Beauregard
Margaret F. Boorstein
University of Dayton
C. W. Post College of Long Island University
Sue Bailey
Richard P. Benton
Tennessee Technological University
Trinity College
Nancy R. Bain
Charles Merrell Berg
Ohio University
University of Kansas
Siva Balasubramanian
Meredith William Berg
Southern Illinois University
Valparaiso University
Amanda J. Bahr-Evola
Lucy Jayne Botscharow Northeastern Illinois University
Gordon L. Bowen Mary Baldwin College
John Boyd Appalachian State University
xv
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 William Boyle
Michael H. Burchett
Dennis Chamberland
SUNY, College at New Paltz
Limestone College
Independent Scholar
Michael R. Bradley
John T. Burns
Frederick B. Chary
Motlow State Community College
Bethany College
Indiana University Northwest
John Braeman
William H. Burnside
John Dennis Chasse
University of Nebraska
John Brown University
SUNY, College at Brockport
Anthony D. Branch
Susan Butterworth
Victor W. Chen
Golden Gate University
Salem State College
Chabot College
Cynthia L. Breslin
Joseph P. Byrne
David L. Chesemore
Independent Scholar
Belmont University
California State University, Fresno
Thomas C. Breslin
Sherry Cable
Judy Arlis Chesen
California State University, Northridge
University of Tennessee
Capital University
Charles Cameron
S. M. Chiu
Independent Scholar
Temple University
Gary A. Campbell
Lawrence I. Clark
Michigan Technological University
Independent Scholar
Edmund J. Campion
Richard H. Collin
University of Tennessee
Louisiana State University, New Orleans
Elise M. Bright University of Texas at Arlington
John A. Britton Francis Marion University
William S. Brockington, Jr. University of South Carolina—Aiken
Byron D. Cannon Alan Brown
University of Utah
Jaime S. Colome
Richard K. Caputo
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Livingston University
Daniel Brown
Yeshiva University
James J. Cooke
California State University, Fullerton
Jon R. Carpenter Kenneth H. Brown
University of South Dakota
Northwestern Oklahoma State University
Brian J. Carroll
University of Mississippi
Richard G. Cormack Independent Scholar
California Baptist College
Robert W. Brown Pembroke State University
Albert B. Costa James A. Carroll
Duquesne University
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Dallas L. Browne
Maureen Needham Costonis
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
Fred V. Carstensen
Laura R. Broyles
P. John Carter
Independent Scholar
St. Cloud University
Michael L. Broyles
Nicholas A. Casner
Collin County Community College
Boise State University
Susan J. Buck
Gilbert T. Cave
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Lakeland Community College
Vanderbilt University
University of Connecticut
John K. Cox Wheeling Jesuit University
Mark S. Coyne University of Kentucky
John R. Crawford Kent State University
Norma Crews Elisabeth A. Cawthon
Mary Louise Buley-Meissner
Independent Scholar
University of Texas at Arlington
Richard A. Crooker
University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee
E. L. Cerroni-Long Eastern Michigan University
xvi
Kutztown University
Contributors LouAnn Faris Culley
Marcia B. Dinneen
Chiarella Esposito
Kansas State University
Bridgewater State College
University of Mississippi
Marsha Daigle-Williamson
Daniel D. DiPiazza
James Feast
Spring Arbor University
University of Wisconsin
Baruch College, CUNY
Frederick E. Danker
J. R. Donath
Elizabeth Fee
University of Massachusetts, Boston
California State University, Sacramento
The Johns Hopkins University
Sudipta Das Southern University at New Orleans
Randall Fegley Georgie Donovan
Pennsylvania State University
Appalachian State University
Edward J. Davies II University of Utah
John W. Fiero Daniel J. Doyle
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Pennsylvania College of Technology
Jennifer Davis University of Dayton
K. Thomas Finley John Duffy
SUNY, College at Brockport
University of Maryland
Mary Virginia Davis University of California, Davis
Patrick Fisher Joyce Duncan
Seton Hall University
East Tennessee State University
Nathaniel Davis Harvey Mudd College
Nancy Elizabeth Fitch John P. Dunn
Randolph Macon Woman’s College
Valdosta State University
Scott A. Davis Mansfield University
Richard D. Fitzgerald Steven I. Dutch
Onondaga Community College
University of Wisconsin—Green Bay
Frank Day Clemson University
Dale L. Flesher Jennifer Eastman
University of Mississippi
Clark University
Dennis R. Dean University of Wisconsin—Parkside
Donald W. Floyd Robert R. Ebert
SUNY—ESF
Baldwin-Wallace College
John H. DeBerry Memphis State University
George J. Flynn Samuel K. Eddy
SUNY, College at Plattsburgh
Syracuse University
Bruce J. DeHart
George Q. Flynn
University of North Carolina at Pembroke
David G. Egler
David L. DeHart
George R. Ehrhardt
Appalachian State University
Elon University
Bill Delaney
Satch Ejike
Independent Scholar
Independent Scholar
Joseph Dewey
Eric Elder
University of Pittsburgh—Johnstown
Northwestern College
Tom Dewey II
Corinne Elliott
University of Mississippi—Oxford
Montana Institute of the Arts
Jeffrey R. DiLeo
Robert P. Ellis
Indiana University
Worcester State College
Lesa Dill
Peter C. Engelman
Western Kentucky University
New York University
Univesity of Miami
Western Illinois University
William B. Folkestad Central Washington University
Robert G. Font Font Geosciences Consulting
Michael J. Fontenot Southern University at Baton Rouge
John M. Foran Independent Scholar
Robert J. Frail Centenary College
David Francis University of Washington
Ronald K. Frank Pace University
xvii
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 John K. Franklin
Nancy M. Gordon
Gillian Greenhill Hannum
Graceland University
Independent Scholar
Manhattanville College
Gregory Freeland
Robert F. Gorman
Claude Hargrove
California Lutheran University
Southwest Texas State University
Fayetteville State University
Susan Frischer
Margaret Bozenna Goscilo
Stephen A. Harmon
Independent Scholar
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburg State University
John F. Gamber, Jr.
Lewis L. Gould
William Harrigan
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
University of Texas at Austin
Canisius College
Hans G. Graetzer
Jasper L. Harris
South Dakota State University
North Carolina Central University
Noreen A. Grice
Fred R. van Hartesveldt
You Can Do Astronomy LLC
Fort Valley State College
Jimmie F. Gross
Baban Hasnat
Armstrong State College
SUNY, College at Brockport
Gershon B. Grunfeld
David Haugen
Southern Illinois University
Western Illinois University
Scot M. Guenter
Robert M. Hawthorne, Jr.
San Jose State University
Unity College in Miami
Daniel L. Guillory
James Hayes-Bohanan
Millikin University
Bridgewater State College
Lonnie J. Guralnick
Hans Heilbronner
Western Oregon University
University of New Hampshire
Robert E. Haag
Bernadette Zbicki Heiney
Naugatuck Valley Community College
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania
Eugene Garaventa CUNY, College of Staten Island
John C. Gardner Delaware State College
Keith Garebian Independent Scholar
Thomas P. Gariepy Stonehill College
Mitchel Gerber Southeast Missouri State University
Judith R. Gibber New York University
Karl Giberson Eastern Nazarene College
Paul Giles Portland State University
Lawrence W. Haapanen Jane M. Gilliland
Lewis-Clark State College
Butler County Community College
John A. Heitmann University of Dayton
James M. Haas K. Fred Gillum
Southern Illinois University
Colby College
Peter B. Heller Manhattan College
Cathy Moran Hajo Donald Gilman
New York University
Ball State University
Terry Heller Coe College
Irwin Halfond Richard Goedde
McKendree College
St. Olaf College
Arthur W. Helweg Western Michigan University
Celia Hall-Thur Sheldon Goldfarb
Wenatchee Valley College
University of British Columbia
Michael F. Hembree Florida State University
Glenn S. Hamilton Harold Goldwhite
University of Central Oklahoma
California State University, Los Angeles
Susan E. Hamilton
New Mexico State University University of Hawaii at Hilo
Douglas Gomery University of Maryland
Diane Lise Hendrix Howard M. Hensel USAF—Air War College
Mark D. Hanna Miami University
xviii
Contributors Charles E. Herdendorf
Julapa Jagtiani
Joseph C. Kiger
Ohio State University
Syracuse University
University of Mississippi
Mark C. Herman
Duncan R. Jamieson
Leigh Husband Kimmel
Edison College
Ashland University
Independent Scholar
Kay Hively
Elizabeth Jarnagin
Richard D. King
Independent Scholar
Drew University
Ursinus College
Carl W. Hoagstrom
Albert C. Jensen
Vernon N. Kisling, Jr.
Ohio Northern University
Central Florida Community College
University of Florida
David Wason Hollar, Jr.
Jeffrey A. Joens
Benjamin J. Klebaner
Rockingham Community College
Florida International University
City College of CUNY
Donald Holley
Richard C. Jones
Jim Kline
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Texas Woman’s University
Independent Scholar
Thomas W. Judd
Robert T. Klose
SUNY, College at Oswego
University College of Bangor
Pamela R. Justice
Douglas Knerr
Collin County Community College
University of Cincinnati
Richard C. Kagan
John P. Koch
Hamline University
Independent Scholar
Rajiv Kalra
Grove Koger
Minnesota State University, Moorhead
Boise Public Library, Idaho
Mathew Kanjirathinkal
Kevin B. Korb
Park University
Indiana University
Burton Kaufman
Ludwik Kowalski
Kansas State University
Montclair State University
Edward P. Keleher
Gregory C. Kozlowski
Purdue University—Calumet
DePaul University
Timothy Kelly
Robin M. Krause
Chatham College
Clark University
Dan Kennedy
Sai Felicia Krishna-Hensel
Independent Scholar
Auburn University at Montgomery
William B. Kennedy
Lynn Kronzek
Clarion University
University of Judaism
John P. Kenny
Rebecca Kuzins
Bradley University
Independent Scholar
Christine Kiebuzinska
Marc J. LaFountain
Virginia Tech
State University of West Georgia
Diann S. Kiesel
Craig B. Lagrone
University of Wisconsin Center— Baraboo/Sauk County
O.I. Analytical, CMS Field Products
Kimberley M. Holloway King College
John R. Holmes Franciscan University of Steubenville
Earl G. Hoover Independent Scholar
Glenn Hopp Howard Payne University
Ruth H. Howes Ball State University
Mary Hrovat Indiana University
David Hsu Boston University
Marsha M. Huber Otterbein College
Ronald K. Huch Eastern Kentucky University
Raymond Pierre Hylton Virginia Union University
John Quinn Imholte University of Minnesota, Morris
Margot Irvine University of Guelph
John Jacob Northwestern University
Gary Land Andrews University
xix
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Linda Rochell Lane
R. M. Longyear
V. L. Madhyastha
Tuskegee University
University of Kentucky
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Ralph L. Langenheim, Jr.
Janet Lorenz
Paul D. Mageli
University of Illinois—Urbana
Independent Scholar
Independent Scholar
Karl G. Larew
Renée Love
Frank N. Magill
Towson University
Lander University
University of Southern California
Caroline Godwin Larson
Robert Lovely
David W. Maguire
Independent Scholar
University of Wisconsin—Madison
C. S. Mott Community College
Eugene Larson
David C. Lukowitz
Joseph T. Malloy
Los Angeles Pierce College
Hamline University
Hamilton College
William Laskowski
R. C. Lutz
Laura Gray Malloy
Jamestown College
CII
Bates College
Donald L. Layton
Robert G. Lynch
Nancy Malloy
Indiana State University
University of Dallas
Smithsonian Institution
Douglas A. Lea
Judith N. McArthur
Nancy Farm Mannikko
Kutztown University
University of Houston—Victoria
National Park Service
Katherine Lederer
Michael McAsey
Gregory P. Marchildon
Southwest Missouri State University
Bradley University
The Johns Hopkins University
Daniel Y. Lee
William M. McBride
Carl Henry Marcoux
Shippensburg University
U. S. Naval Academy
University of California, Riverside
Douglas A. Lee
Janet McCann
S. A. Marino
Vanderbilt University
Texas A&M University
SUNY, Westchester Community College
Jim Lee
Sandra C. McClain
Fort Hays State University
James Madison University
Joseph Edward Lee
Branden C. McCullough
Winthrop University
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
James D. Matthews
Richard D. McGhee
Laurence W. Mazzeno
Arkansas State University
Alvernia College
Roderick McGillis
Barbara J. Messamore
University of Calgary
University College of the Fraser Valley
Renée Marlin-Bennett American University Lynn University
Jean-Robert Leguey-Feilleux St. Louis University
Saul Lerner Purdue University—Calumet
Leon Lewis Appalachian State University
James Edward McGoldrick Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Michael W. Messmer
Thomas Tandy Lewis
William J. McKinney
Hwa Soon Choi Meyer
Indiana University
Seton Hall University
John L. McLean
Andre Millard
Missouri Valley College
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Paul Madden
Ken Millen-Penn
Hardin-Simmons University
Fairmont State University
Virginia Commonwealth University
St. Cloud State University
Guoli Liu College of Charleston
James Livingston Northern Michigan University
Roger D. Long Eastern Michigan University
xx
Contributors Gordon L. Miller
Anthony J. Nicastro
William E. Pemberton
Independent Scholar
West Chester University
University of Wisconsin—La Crosse
Liesel Ashley Miller
Terry Nienhuis
Robert T. Pennock
Mississippi State University
Western Carolina University
University of Pittsburgh
Randall L. Milstein
Joseph L. Nogee
Louis G. Perez
Oregon State University
University of Houston
Illinois State University
George R. Mitchell
Burl L. Noggle
Toni A. Perrine
Purdue University
Louisiana State University
Grand Valley State University
Ellen F. Mitchum
Edward B. Nuhfer
Marilyn Elizabeth Perry
Space Center
University of Wisconsin—Platteville
Independent Scholar
Rex O. Mooney
Anthony Patrick O’Brien
Nis Petersen
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Lehigh University
New Jersey City University
Charles H. O’Brien
Alan Prescott Peterson
Western Illinois University
Gordon College
George O’Brien
John R. Phillips
Georgetown University
Purdue University—Calumet
John F. O’Connell
Donald K. Pickens
College of the Holy Cross
University of North Texas
Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie
Steven L. Piott
Oklahoma Baptist University
Clarion University
Robert J. Paradowski
Troy Place
Rochester Institute of Technology
Western Michigan University
Gordon A. Parker
Marguerite R. Plummer
University of Michigan—Dearborn
Louisiana State University, Shreveport
David B. Parsell
Marjorie J. Podolsky
Furman University
Penn State—Erie, The Behrend College
Christina J. Moose Independent Scholar
Otto H. Muller Alfred University
Turhon A. Murad California State University, Chico
Charles Murphy Independent Scholar
Alice Myers Simon’s Rock College of Bard
John Myers Simon’s Rock College of Bard
Robert A. Nagy University of Wisconsin—Green Bay
Judith A. Parsons Indira Nair
Sul Ross State University
Carnegie Mellon
Francis Poole University of Delaware
Steven K. Paulson William T. Neese
University of North Florida
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Laurence M. Porter Michigan State University
D. G. Paz William Nelles
University of North Texas
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
P. Ann Peake
North Central University East Tennessee State University
Byron Nelson West Virginia University
Auburn University
Victoria Price
King College
Lamar University
Constance A. Pedoto James W. Pringle
Miles College
Peter Neushul California Institute of Technology
Edmund Dickenson Potter
Thomas P. Peake
Bryan Ness Pacific Union College
Josephine K. Portillo
Purdue University
William A. Pelz Institute of Working Class History
xxi
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Carolyn V. Prorok
Russell Roberts
José M. Sánchez
Slippery Rock University
Independent Scholar
Saint Louis University
George F. Putnam
Charles W. Rogers
Vicki A. Sanders
University of Missouri—Saint Louis
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Riverside Military Academy
Wen-yuan Qian Blackburn College
Richard Sax Daniel W. Rogers
Fort Lewis College
Somerset Community College
Edna B. Quinn Salisbury University
Daniel C. Scavone Deborah L. Rogers
University of Southern Indiana
University of Maine
Gregory P. Rabb Jamestown Community College
Jean Owens Schaefer Karl A. Roider
University of Wyoming
Louisiana State University
Nancy J. Rabolt San Francisco State University
Elizabeth D. Schafer Douglas Rollins
Independent Scholar
Dawson College
Srinivasan Ragothaman University of South Dakota
William J. Scheick Jill Rollins
University of Texas at Austin
Trafalgar College
Cat Rambo Independent Scholar
Rosemary Scheirer Carl Rollyson
Chestnut Hill College
Baruch College, CUNY
Steven J. Ramold Eastern Michigan University
Beverly Schneller Evelyn Romig
Millersville University
Howard Payne University
R. Kent Rasmussen Independent Scholar
Harold A. Schofield Robert E. Rosacker
Colorado Women’s College
University of South Dakota
Eugene L. Rasor Emory & Henry College
Joseph A. Schufle Paul Rosefeldt
New Mexico Highlands University
Delgado Community College
Kevin B. Reid
Larry Schweikart
Henderson Community College
Courtney B. Ross
University of Dayton
Rosemary M. Canfield Reisman
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Elizabeth L. Scully
Charleston Southern University
University of Texas at Arlington
John K. Roth Ralf Erik Remshardt
Claremont McKenna College
University of Florida
Robert W. Seidel Los Alamos National Laboratory
René R. Roth H. William Rice
University of Western Ontario
Shorter College
Nancy J. Sell University of Wisconsin—Green Bay
Emanuel D. Rudolph Betty Richardson
Ohio State University
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
Joseph R. Rudolph, Jr.
University of Wisconsin Towson University
Douglas W. Richmond University of Texas at Arlington
Indiana University Indiana University at Kokomo
Arthur G. Sharp Independent Scholar
Virginia L. Salmon Northeast State Community College
Brian L. Roberts Northeast Louisiana University
Roger Sensenbaugh
Allen Safianow
Edward J. Rielly Saint Joseph’s College of Maine
Alfred Erich Senn
Martha A. Sherwood University of Oregon
M. David Samson Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Paul A. Shoemaker University of Nebraska
xxii
Contributors Thomas E. Shriver
Christy Jo Snider
Irene Struthers
University of Tennessee
Berry College
Independent Scholar
Stephen J. Shulik
Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Taylor Stults
Clarion University
Independent Scholar
Muskingum College
R. Baird Shuman
A. J. Sobczak
Susan A. Stussy
University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
Independent Scholar
Independent Scholar
Robert Sobel
Donald Sullivan
New College of Hofstra University
University of New Mexico
John A. Sondey
James Sullivan
South Dakota State University
California State University, Los Angeles
Patricia J. Siegel SUNY, College at Brockport
Catherine Sim College of Marin—Kentfield
Sonia Sorrell Donald C. Simmons, Jr.
Pepperdine University
South Dakota Humanities Council
Timothy E. Sullivan Towson University
Ronald N. Spector Sanford S. Singer
Office of the Chief of Military History
University of Dayton
Cynthia J. W. Svoboda Bridgewater State College
Joseph L. Spradley Paul P. Sipiera
Wheaton College
William Rainey Harper College
Frederic Svoboda University of Michigan—Flint
Michael A. Steele Shumet Sishagne
Wilkes University
Christopher Newport University
J. K. Sweeney South Dakota State University
Leon Stein Amy Sisson
Roosevelt University
University of Houston—Clear Lake
Robert M. Swerdlow New York University
James H. Steinel Andrew C. Skinner
St. John’s University, New York
Brigham Young University
Glenn L. Swygart Tennessee Temple University
David L. Sterling Claudena M. Skran
University of Cincinnati
Lawrence University
Larry N. Sypolt West Virginia University
Joan C. Stevenson Genevieve Slomski
Western Washington University
Renée Taft
Martin V. Stewart
Council for the International Exchange of Scholars
Independent Scholar
Clyde Curry Smith
Middle Tennessee State University
Robert D. Talbott
University of Wisconsin
Paul Stewart
University of Northern Iowa
Clyde J. Smith
Southern Connecticut State University
South Carolina Governor’s School for Science & Mathematics
Ruby L. Stoner
Joyce Tang University of California, Berkeley
Independent Scholar
Gary Scott Smith Grove City College
Gerardo G. Tango Carmen Stonge
Consulting Geophysicist
Duquesne University
Harold L. Smith University of Houston—Victoria
Eric R. Taylor Gerald H. Strauss
University of Southern Louisiana
Bloomsburg University
Steven Smith University of Virginia
Nancy Conn Terjesen Geralyn Strecker
Kent State University
Ball State University
Thomas M. Smith University of Oklahoma
Wilfred Theisen Fred Strickert
St. John’s Abbey
Wartburg College
xxiii
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Terry Theodore
Harry E. Wade
Cynthia J. Williams
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
East Texas State University
Hobart & William Smith Colleges
Thomas J. Edward Walker
Philip F. Williams
Pennsylvania College of Technology
Arizona State University
William T. Walker
Bradley R. A. Wilson
Chestnut Hill College
University of Cincinnati
Theodore O. Wallin
John Wilson
Syracuse University
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Peter J. Walsh
Nathan Wilson
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Independent Scholar
Shawncey Webb
Raymond Wilson
Taylor University
Fort Hays State University
Ivan Weinel
Theodore A. Wilson
Independent Scholar
University of Kansas
Henry G. Weisser
John D. Windhausen
Colorado State University
St. Anselm College
T. K. Welliver
Michael Witkoski
Clarion University of Pennsylvania
University of South Carolina
James M. Welsh
Shawn Woodyard
Salisbury State University
Independent Scholar
Winifred O. Whelan
Scott Wright
St. Bonaventure University
University of St. Thomas
Thomas L. Whigham
Cynthia Gwynne Yaudes
University of Georgia
Indiana University
D. Anthony White
Rassoul Yazdipour
Sonoma State University
Academy of Entrepreneurial Finance, Los Angeles
Maxine S. Theodoulou The Union Institute
Ann Thompson Independent Scholar
Eric Thompson Universite du Quebec a Chicoutimi
H. Christian Thorup Cuesta College
Leslie V. Tischauser Prairie State College
Ryan M. Touhey University of Waterloo
Alecia C. Townsend Price Waterhouse
Anh Tran Wichita State University
Paul B. Trescott Southern Illinois University
Anne Trotter Rosemont College
William M. Tuttle University of Kansas
Mary S. Tyler University of Maine
Nancy A. White Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur
Mississippi State University
Eastern Michigan University
Clifton K. Yearley SUNY at Buffalo
Richard Whitworth Charles F. Urbanowicz
Ball State University
California State University, Chico
Ivan L. Zabilka Lexington, Kentucky Public Schools
Garrett L. Van Wicklen George Vascik
University of Georgia
Miami University
Loretta E. Zimmerman University of Portland
Thomas A. Wikle Mary E. Virginia
Oklahoma State University
Independent Scholar
Edward A. Zivich Calumet College
Clarke Wilhelm Denison University
xxiv
Keyword List of Contents Act, Hoover Signs the Hawley-Smoot Tariff (June 17, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2430 Act, Indian Citizenship (June 2, 1924). . . . . . . . 1929 Act, Indian Reorganization (June 18, 1934) . . . . . 2757 Act, Migratory Bird (Mar. 4, 1913) . . . . . . . . . 1067 Act, Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (Mar. 16, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2742 Act, Migratory Bird Treaty (July 3, 1918) . . . . . . 1437 Act, Natural Gas (June 21, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . 3116 Act, Philippine Independence (Mar. 24, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2745 Act, Reciprocal Trade (Nov. 11, 1936) . . . . . . . 2960 Act, Roosevelt Signs the National Industrial Recovery (June 16, 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . 2663 Act, Roosevelt Signs the Social Security (Aug. 14, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2853 Act, Sheppard-Towner (Nov. 23, 1921-June 30, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . 1745 Act, Taylor Grazing (June 28, 1934). . . . . . . . . 2764 Act, Wagner (July 5, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2850 Act and Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug (June 30, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 Act Broadens FTC Control over Advertising, Wheeler-Lea (Mar. 21, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . 3101 Act Creates a Federal Airways System, Air Commerce (May 20, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112 Act Impedes the Freedom Struggle, Defense of India (Mar., 1915). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1183 Act Legalizes Retail Price Maintenance, Miller-Tydings (Aug. 17, 1937). . . . . . . . . . 3044 Act Limits Political Contributions, Corrupt Practices (Feb. 28, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2024 Act of 1909 Limits Corporate Privacy, Tariff (Aug. 5, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772 Act of 1917, Immigration (Feb. 5, 1917) . . . . . . 1336 Act of 1917, Jones (Mar. 2, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . 1347 Act of 1924, Immigration (May 26, 1924) . . . . . . 1922 Act of 1933, Enabling (Mar. 23, 1933) . . . . . . . 2649 Act of 1933 Reorganizes the American Banking System, Banking (June 16, 1933). . . . . . . . . 2659 Act of 1935 Centralizes U.S. Monetary Control, Banking (Aug. 23, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2857 Act Promotes Western Agriculture, Reclamation (June 17, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Act Provides for Mediation of Labor Disputes, Railway Labor (May 20, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . 2115
A. C. Nielsen Company Pioneers in Marketing and Media Research (1923). . . . . . . . . . . . 1796 Aalto Designs Villa Mairea (1937-1938) . . . . . . 2982 Abbey Theatre Heralds the Celtic Revival (Dec. 27, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 Abdicates the British Throne, Edward VIII (Dec. 10, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2973 Abel Develops the First Artificial Kidney (1912-1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942 Absolutes, Gide’s The Counterfeiters Questions Moral (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1972 Abstract Algebra, Steinitz Inaugurates Modern (1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731 Abstract Art, Kandinsky Publishes His Theory of (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932 Abstract Art, Soviet Union Bans (1934) . . . . . . . 2709 Abstract Ballet, Fokine’s Les Sylphides Introduces (June 2, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766 Abstract Painting, Formation of the Blue Four Advances (Mar. 31, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1915 Abstract Painting Opens in New York, Exhibition of American (Feb. 12, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . 2820 Abstract Space, Fréchet Introduces the Concept of (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 Abuses of Minority Rights in India, Muslim League Protests Government (Dec. 30, 1906) . . . . . . . 564 Academy Award, Temple Receives a Special (Feb. 27, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2827 Academy Awards Honor Film Achievement, First (May 16, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2306 Accountants Is Founded, American Institute of (Sept. 19, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1292 Acid Cycle, Krebs Describes the Citric (Mar., 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3005 Act, Agricultural Marketing (June 15, 1929) . . . . 2311 Act, Cable (Sept. 22, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1779 Act, Canadian National Parks (May 30, 1930) . . . 2424 Act, Clayton Antitrust (Oct. 15, 1914) . . . . . . . . 1149 Act, Eastman Kodak Is Found to Be in Violation of the Sherman (Feb. 21, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . 2175 Act, Emergency Quota (May 19, 1921) . . . . . . . 1725 Act, Fair Labor Standards (June 25, 1938). . . . . . 3119 Act, Federal Credit Union (June 26, 1934) . . . . . 2761 Act, Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (June 25, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3122 Act, Federal Reserve (Dec. 23, 1913) . . . . . . . . 1099
xxv
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Air Travel, The DC-3 Opens a New Era of (June 25, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2941 Aircraft Are Equipped with Machine Guns, Fokker (May, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1202 Airlines, Formation of Qantas (Nov. 20, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1652 Airmail, U.S. Congress Authorizes Private Carriers for (Feb. 2, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2017 Airmail Delivery, U.S. Post Office Begins Transcontinental (Sept. 8, 1920) . . . . . . . . . 1648 Airplane Flight Across the English Channel, First (July 25, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769 Airways System, Air Commerce Act Creates a Federal (May 20, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112 Albania, Italy Invades and Annexes (Apr. 7, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3184 Alcoa, U.S. Government Loses Its Suit Against (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1892 Alcoholics Anonymous, Formation of (June 10, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2843 Algebra, Steinitz Inaugurates Modern Abstract (1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731 Alien Land Law, Passage of the First (May 20, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076 Alienation, The Metamorphosis Anticipates Modern Feelings of (1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168 All Quiet on the Western Front Stresses the Futility of War (Jan., 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2292 All-Star Game, First Major League Baseball (July 6, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2667 Allied Troops, Germany Uses Poison Gas Against (Apr. 22-27, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192 Alpha Decay with Quantum Tunneling, Gamow Explains Radioactive (Summer, 1928) . . . . . . 2242 Ambassadors Is Published, Henry James’s The (Nov., 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 Amendment, Platt (May 22, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . 234 Amendment, Proposal of the Equal Rights (Dec. 10, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871 America, The Grapes of Wrath Portrays Depression-Era (Apr., 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . 3180 America, Wright’s Native Son Depicts Racism in (1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3230 America Is Crowned, First Miss (Sept. 8, 1921). . . 1730 American Abstract Painting Opens in New York, Exhibition of (Feb. 12, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . 2820 American Art Opens in New York, Whitney Museum of (Nov. 17, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . 2514 American Automobile Association Is Established (Mar. 4, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 American Ballet, Balanchine’s Serenade Inaugurates (Dec. 6, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2794
Act Provides State Wildlife Funding, Pittman-Robertson (Sept. 2, 1937) . . . . . . . . 3050 Act Redefines British Democracy, Parliament (Apr., 1909-Aug., 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756 Act Regulates Branch Banking, McFadden (Feb. 25, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2179 Act Regulates Public Lands, Mineral (Feb. 25, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1614 Act Restricts Price Discrimination, Robinson-Patman (June 19, 1936) . . . . . . . . 2937 Act Sets Penalties for Polluters, Oil Pollution (June 7, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1935 Act Strengthens Labor Organizations, Norris-La Guardia (Mar. 23, 1932) . . . . . . . . 2552 Active Sonar, Langevin Develops (Oct., 1915-Mar., 1917). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223 Acts, Espionage and Sedition (June 15, 1917, and May 16, 1918) . . . . . . . . 1367 Acts, Neutrality (Aug. 31, 1935-Nov. 4, 1939) . . . 2865 Adams Lobbies Congress to Preserve Kings Canyon (Jan., 1937-Feb., 1940) . . . . . . . . . 2992 Advertisers Adopt a Truth-in-Advertising Code (Aug., 1913). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082 Advertising, Wheeler-Lea Act Broadens FTC Control over (Mar. 21, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . 3101 Advisory Councils Give Botswana Natives Limited Representation (1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1568 AEG Turbine Factory, Completion of the (Oct., 1909). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781 Africa, Formation of the Union of South (May 31, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830 African Native National Congress Meets, South (Jan. 8, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 954 African Student Union Is Founded, West (Aug. 7, 1925). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2062 African Tribal Art, Artists Find Inspiration in (1906-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494 Agadir Crisis (July 1, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890 Age for Women, Great Britain Lowers the Voting (July 2, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2246 Ages of Rocks, Boltwood Uses Radioactivity to Determine (1905-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 Agreement, Ogdensburg (Aug. 16, 1940) . . . . . . 3276 Agricultural Marketing Act (June 15, 1929) . . . . . 2311 Agriculture, Reclamation Act Promotes Western (June 17, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Air, Haber Develops Process for Extracting Nitrogen from the (1904-1908) . . . . . . . . . . 308 Air Commerce Act Creates a Federal Airways System (May 20, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112 Air Traffic, Congress Centralizes Regulation of U.S. Commercial (June 30, 1940) . . . . . . . . 3262
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Keyword List of Contents Analytic Method in History, Meinecke Advances the (1907). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 Analytical Psychology, Jung Develops (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2370 Andalusian Dog, Buñuel and Dalí Champion Surrealism in An (1928). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2213 Anderson Discovers the Positron (Sept., 1932) . . . 2583 Anderson Is Barred from Constitution Hall, Marian (Jan. 2, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3166 Andrews Expedition Discovers the First Fossilized Dinosaur Eggs (1923). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1798 Andromeda Nebula, Hubble Determines the Distance to the (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1877 Anesthetic, Introduction of the First Injectable (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 Angell Advances Pacifism (1910). . . . . . . . . . . 790 Anglo-Japanese Treaty Brings Japan into World Markets (Jan. 30, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Ankara, Treaty of (July 18, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . 2122 Annexation of Korea, Japanese (Aug. 22, 1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838 Annexes Albania, Italy Invades and (Apr. 7, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3184 Annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria (Oct. 7, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697 Annexes Libya, Italy (1911-1912) . . . . . . . . . . 856 Annexes Svalbard, Norway (Aug. 14, 1925) . . . . 2064 Annexes the Congo, Belgium (Nov. 1, 1908) . . . . . 703 Anschluss, The (Feb. 12-Apr. 10, 1938) . . . . . . . 3093 Anschütz-Kaempfe Invents the First Practical Gyrocompass (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 Antarctic Expedition Commences, Australasian (Dec. 2, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916 Anthracite Coal Strike (May 12-Oct. 23, 1902). . . . 152 Anti-Comintern Pact, Germany and Japan Sign the (Nov. 25, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2969 Anti-Defamation League Is Founded (Sept., 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1085 Antibiotic, Florey and Chain Develop Penicillin as an (May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3243 Anticoagulant Heparin, McLean Discovers the Natural (Sept., 1915-Feb., 1916) . . . . . . . . . 1215 Antitrust Act, Clayton (Oct. 15, 1914) . . . . . . . . 1149 Antitrust Laws, Labor Unions Win Exemption from (Oct. 15, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153 Antitrust Prosecution Forces RCA to Restructure (Nov., 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2593 Antiwar Dance The Green Table Premieres, Jooss’s (July 3, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2569 Apartment House, Gaudí Completes the Casa Milá (1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800 Apollinaire Defines Cubism (1913) . . . . . . . . . 1015
American Banking System, Banking Act of 1933 Reorganizes the (June 16, 1933) . . . . . . . . . 2659 American Bowling Club Hosts Its First Tournament (Jan., 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 American Civil Liberties Union Is Founded (Jan. 19, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1607 American College Football Allows the Forward Pass (Jan. 12, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 American Farmers Increase Insecticide Use (1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1303 American Film Spectacle, The Ten Commandments Advances (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1820 American Friends Service Committee, Formation of the (Apr. 30, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356 American Indians, First Conference of the Society of (Oct. 12, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005 American Industrial Design, Loewy Pioneers (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2279 American Institute of Accountants Is Founded (Sept. 19, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1292 American Legion, Formation of the (Mar. 15-May 9, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1493 American Management Association Is Established (Mar. 14, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1840 American Musical to Emphasize Plot, Show Boat Is the First (Dec. 27, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2210 American Novelist, Melville Is Rediscovered as a Major (1920-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1587 American Professional Football Association, Formation of the (Aug. 20-Sept. 17, 1920) . . . . 1638 American Science Fiction, Golden Age of (1938-1950) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3079 American Service Organization Is Founded, First (Feb. 23, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 American South, Ku Klux Klan Spreads Terror in the (1921-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1705 American Television Debuts at the World’s Fair (Apr. 30, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3186 American Tobacco Company, U.S. Supreme Court Breaks Up the (May 29, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . 886 Americans Embrace Radio Entertainment (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2352 America’s Progressive Era, Republican Resurgence Ends (Nov. 5, 1918-Nov. 2, 1920) . . . . . . . . 1447 “America’s Sweetheart,” Pickford Reigns as (1909-1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 Amos ’n’ Andy Radio Show Goes on the Air (Mar. 19, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2230 Amritsar, British Soldiers Massacre Indians at (Apr. 13, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1497 Amundsen Reaches the South Pole (Dec. 14, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919
xxvii
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Art Nouveau Movement in the United States, Tiffany Leads the (1902-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Art Opens in New York, Whitney Museum of American (Nov. 17, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2514 Art Opens to the Public, New York’s Museum of Modern (Nov. 8, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2340 Artificial Contraception, Lambeth Conference Allows (Aug., 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2437 Artificial Element, Segrè Identifies the First (Jan.-Sept., 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2989 Artificial Insemination, Ivanov Develops (1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Artificial Kidney, Abel Develops the First (1912-1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942 Artificial Radioactive Element Is Developed, First (1933-1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2615 Artists Find Inspiration in African Tribal Art (1906-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494 Artists Form Die Brücke, Avant-Garde (Summer, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 Artists Found the Bauhaus, German (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1460 Arts and Crafts Movement, Cranbrook Academy Promotes the (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1965 ASCAP Forms to Protect Writers and Publishers of Music (Feb. 13, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114 Asia Coprosperity Sphere, Japan Announces the Greater East (Aug., 1940). . . . . . . . . . . . . 3272 Assassination of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin (Sept. 14, 1911). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904 Assassination of Rosa Luxemburg (Jan. 15, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1479 Assembly Line Begins Operation, Ford (Mar. 1, 1913). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063 Assyrian Christians, Iraqi Army Slaughters (Aug. 11-13, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2672 Astaire-Rogers Dance Team, Top Hat Establishes the (Sept. 6, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2868 Aston Builds the First Mass Spectrograph and Discovers Isotopes (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1455 Astronomy, Jansky’s Experiments Lead to Radio (1930-1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2394 Atlantic Ridge, German Expedition Discovers the Mid- (Apr., 1925-May, 1927). . . . . . . . . . . 2030 Atmosphere, Fabry Quantifies Ozone in the Upper (Jan. 17, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053 Atmosphere, Lyot’s Coronagraph Allows Observation of the Sun’s Outer (1930) . . . . . . 2383 Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, Callendar Connects Industry with Increased (1938) . . . . . . . . . . 3069 Atmospheric Circulation, Bjerknes Discovers Fronts in (1919-1921). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1474
Apparitions in Fátima, Portugal, Marian (May 13-Oct. 17, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1360 Aqueduct, Completion of the Los Angeles (Nov. 5, 1913). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088 Aqueduct, Farmers Dynamite the Los Angeles (May 21, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1918 Arabia, Rise of Commercial Oil Industry in Saudi (Mar. 3, 1938). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3096 Arabia, Wahh3btism Strengthens in Saudi (1912-1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948 Arabs in Palestine, Great Uprising of (Apr. 15, 1936-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2935 Arbitration Affirms National Responsibility for Pollution (Apr. 15, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2834 Architectural Prefabrication, Prouvé Pioneers (1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2979 Architecture, Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye Exemplifies Functionalist (Spring, 1931). . . . . 2486 Arctic Islands, Canada Claims the (July 1, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Argonne Offensive, Meuse(Sept. 26-Nov. 11, 1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1440 Arica Compromise, Tacna(June 3-Aug. 28, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2309 Arizona Become U.S. States, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and (Jan. 16, 1907-Feb. 14, 1912) . . . . 594 Armenian Genocide Begins (Apr. 24, 1915). . . . . 1195 Armory Show (Feb. 17-Mar. 15, 1913) . . . . . . . 1056 Arms to Spain, Embargo on (Jan. 6, 1937) . . . . . 2996 Armstrong Committee Examines the Insurance Industry (Aug.-Dec., 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 Armstrong Demonstrates FM Radio Broadcasting (Nov. 5, 1935). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2885 Armstrong Records with the Hot Five (Nov., 1925). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2079 Arroyo Seco Freeway Opens in Los Angeles (Dec. 30, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3301 Art, Artists Find Inspiration in African Tribal (1906-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494 Art, Der Blaue Reiter Abandons Representation in (Sept., 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897 Art, Duchamp’s “Readymades” Redefine (1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019 Art, Kandinsky Publishes His Theory of Abstract (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932 Art, Soviet Union Bans Abstract (1934) . . . . . . . 2709 Art and Fashion, Schiaparelli’s Boutique Mingles (Jan., 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2813 Art Deco, Paris Exhibition Defines (May-June, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2037 Art Exhibition, Nazi Germany Hosts the Degenerate (July 19-Nov. 30, 1937) . . . . . . . 3040
xxviii
Keyword List of Contents Baade Propose a Theory of Neutron Stars, Zwicky and (1934). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2718 Babe Ruth, New York Yankees Acquire (Jan. 3, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1597 Baden-Powell Establishes the Boy Scouts (Aug., 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613 Baekeland Invents Bakelite (1905-1907) . . . . . . . 385 Bailey Circus, Ringling Bros. Buys Barnum and (Oct. 22, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629 Bakelite, Baekeland Invents (1905-1907) . . . . . . . 385 Baker Dances in La Revue nègre (Oct.-Dec., 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2073 Baker Establishes the 47 Workshop at Harvard (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362 Balanchine’s Serenade Inaugurates American Ballet (Dec. 6, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2794 Balfour Declaration Supports a Jewish Homeland in Palestine (Nov. 2, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1389 Balkan Wars (Oct. 18, 1912-Aug. 10, 1913). . . . . 1008 Ballet, Balanchine’s Serenade Inaugurates American (Dec. 6, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2794 Ballet, Fokine’s Les Sylphides Introduces Abstract (June 2, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766 Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo Debuts (Apr. 5, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3107 Ballets Russes Astounds Paris, Diaghilev’s (May 19, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762 Balloon, Piccard Travels to the Stratosphere by (May 27, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2506 Baltic Canal, Soviets Open the White Sea(Aug. 2, 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2670 Baltic States Gain Independence (Feb. 24, 1918-Aug. 11, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . 1425 Bank of Austria Fails, Credit-Anstalt (May 8, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2503 Bank of United States Fails (Dec. 11, 1930) . . . . . 2457 Bank Opens, First Morris Plan (Apr. 5, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827 Banking, McFadden Act Regulates Branch (Feb. 25, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2179 Banking Act of 1933 Reorganizes the American Banking System (June 16, 1933) . . . . . . . . . 2659 Banking Act of 1935 Centralizes U.S. Monetary Control (Aug. 23, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2857 Banking and Industrial Sectors, France Nationalizes Its (1936-1946) . . . . . . . . . . . 2899 Banking System, Banking Act of 1933 Reorganizes the American (June 16, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . 2659 Banting and Best Isolate the Hormone Insulin (1921-1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1689 Barkla Discovers the Characteristic X Rays of the Elements (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Atmospheric Tide at Moderate Latitudes, Chapman Determines the Lunar (1935) . . . . . . . . . . . 2799 Atom, Cockcroft and Walton Split the (Apr., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2555 Atom, Hahn Splits the Uranium (Dec., 1938) . . . . 3143 Atomic Nucleus, Rutherford Describes the (Mar. 7, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962 Atomic Structure, Bohr Uses Quantum Theory to Identify (1912-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938 Auden’s Poems Speak for a Generation (Sept., 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2445 Auditors, Ultramares Case Establishes Liability for (1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2464 Audubon Society Is Established, National (Jan. 5, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 Australasian Antarctic Expedition Commences (Dec. 2, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916 Australia Begins the Flying Doctor Service (May 15, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2238 Australia Extends Suffrage to Women (June 12, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Australia Is Formed, Commonwealth of (Jan. 1, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Australian Parliament, First Woman Elected to (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1669 Australopithecine Fossil, Dart Discovers the First (Summer, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1938 Austria Annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina (Oct. 7, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697 Austria Fails, Credit-Anstalt Bank of (May 8, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2503 Auto Race, First Grand Prix (June 26-27, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529 Auto Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, First (Aug. 19, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776 Automakers Falls to Forty-Four, Number of U.S. (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2158 Automobile Association Is Established, American (Mar. 4, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Avant-Garde Artists Form Die Brücke (Summer, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 Awake and Sing! Becomes a Model for Protest Drama, Odets’s (Feb. 19, 1935). . . . . . . . . . 2823 Award, Temple Receives a Special Academy (Feb. 27, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2827 Awards Honor Film Achievement, First Academy (May 16, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2306 Axiom of Choice in Set Theory, Levi Recognizes the (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Axiomatization of Set Theory, Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive (1904-1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Azusa Street Revival (Apr., 1906-1908) . . . . . . . 520
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Bell Labs Is Formed (Jan. 1, 1925) . . . . . . . . . 2011 Bell 300 Telephone, Dreyfuss Designs the (1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2976 Benedict Publishes Patterns of Culture (1934) . . . 2697 Benefits, Great Britain Establishes Unemployment (1920-1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1590 Bennett Era in Canada (Aug., 1930-1935) . . . . . . 2440 Berger Studies the Human Electroencephalogram (1929-1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2285 Berg’s Lulu Opens in Zurich (June 2, 1937) . . . . . 3031 Berg’s Wozzeck Premieres in Berlin (Dec. 14, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2086 Bergson’s Creative Evolution Inspires Artists and Thinkers (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567 Beriberi, Grijns Suggests the Cause of (1901) . . . . . 14 Berle and Means Discuss Corporate Control (1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2521 Berlin, Berg’s Wozzeck Premieres in (Dec. 14, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2086 Bern Convention Prohibits Night Work for Women (Sept. 19, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 Bernadette Soubirous, Canonization of (Dec. 8, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2693 Bessie Smith Records “Downhearted Blues” (Feb. 15, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1830 Best Isolate the Hormone Insulin, Banting and (1921-1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1689 Beta Decay, Fermi Proposes the Neutrino Theory of (Nov.-Dec., 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . 2687 Bible Students Association Becomes Jehovah’s Witnesses, International (July 26, 1931) . . . . . 2512 Big Bang Theory, Lemaître Proposes the (1927) . . . 2155 Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys Define Bluegrass Music (1939-1949) . . . . . . . . . . 3163 Billie Holiday Begins Her Recording Career (1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2605 Bingham Discovers Machu Picchu (July 24, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892 Bini Use Electroshock to Treat Schizophrenia, Cerletti and (Apr., 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3104 Biosphere, Vernadsky Publishes The (1926). . . . . 2089 Bird Act, Migratory (Mar. 4, 1913) . . . . . . . . . 1067 Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act, Migratory (Mar. 16, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2742 Bird Treaty Act, Migratory (July 3, 1918) . . . . . . 1437 Birdseye Invents Quick-Frozen Foods (1917) . . . . 1306 Birth Control, Sanger Organizes Conferences on (Nov. 11-13, 1921, and Mar. 25-31, 1925) . . . . 1737 Birth Control Clinic Opens, First American (Oct. 16, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1295 Birth Control League Forms, National (1915-1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171
Barnard Publishes The Functions of the Executive (1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3066 Barnum and Bailey Circus, Ringling Bros. Buys (Oct. 22, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629 Baro-Kano Railroad Begins Operation in Nigeria (Mar. 28, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873 Barter for Goods in Response to Hyperinflation, Germans (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1814 Bartók and Kodály Collect Hungarian Folk Songs (1904-1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Baseball All-Star Game, First Major League (July 6, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2667 Baseball Hall of Fame, Dedication of the (June 12, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3193 Baseball Holds Its First World Series (Oct. 1-13, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Bathhouse Exemplify Revolutionary Theater, The Bedbug and The (1929-1930) . . . . . . . . . . . 2282 Bathing Suit, Jantzen Popularizes the One-Piece (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1558 Bathysphere Dives, First Manned (June 6, 1930-Aug. 27, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . 2427 Battle of Britain (July 10-Oct. 31, 1940). . . . . . . 3267 Battle of Jutland (May 31-June 1, 1916). . . . . . . 1266 Battle of the Marne, First (Sept. 5-9, 1914) . . . . . 1137 Battle of Verdun (Feb. 21-Dec. 18, 1916) . . . . . . 1256 Bauhaus, German Artists Found the (1919) . . . . . 1460 Bayliss and Starling Establish the Role of Hormones (Apr.-June, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Baylor Plan Introduces Prepaid Hospital Care (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2269 BBC Airs the First High-Definition Television Program (Nov. 2, 1936). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2956 BCG Is Developed, Tuberculosis Vaccine (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1683 Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity (Dec. 10, 1903) . . . . . . . 275 Bedbug and The Bathhouse Exemplify Revolutionary Theater, The (1929-1930) . . . . . 2282 Beef Trust, U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the (Jan. 30, 1905) . . . . . . . . . 402 Beer Hall Putsch (Nov. 8, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . 1869 Bees Communicate Through Body Movements, Frisch Discovers That (Spring, 1919) . . . . . . 1495 Being and Time, Heidegger Publishes (1927) . . . . 2146 Belgian Congo, Lever Acquires Land Concession in the (Apr. 14, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879 Belgium Annexes the Congo (Nov. 1, 1908) . . . . . 703
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Keyword List of Contents Bombing Raids, Germany Launches the First Zeppelin (Jan. 19, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174 Bond, Pauling Develops His Theory of the Chemical (1930-1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2389 Bonnie and Clyde, Police Apprehend (May 23, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2748 Bonus March (July 28, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2578 Book Sales, Mail-Order Clubs Revolutionize (1926-1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2092 Books, Penguin Develops a Line of Paperback (1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2802 Booth Receives Patent for the Vacuum Cleaner (Aug. 30, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Borden Leads Canada Through World War I (1911-1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859 Border Patrol, U.S. Congress Establishes the (May 28, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1926 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria Annexes (Oct. 7, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697 Botswana Natives Limited Representation, Advisory Councils Give (1920). . . . . . . . . . 1568 Boulanger Takes Copland as a Student (1921) . . . 1665 Boulder Dam Is Completed (Mar. 11, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2930 Boule Reconstructs the First Neanderthal Skeleton (Dec., 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710 Bourbaki Group Publishes Éléments de mathématique (1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3149 Boutique Mingles Art and Fashion, Schiaparelli’s (Jan., 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2813 Bowling Club Hosts Its First Tournament, American (Jan., 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Boxing Champion, First Black Heavyweight (Dec. 26, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 Boy Scouts, Baden-Powell Establishes the (Aug., 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613 Boycotts, Danbury Hatters Decision Constrains Secondary (Feb. 3, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661 Braggs, X-Ray Crystallography Is Developed by the (1912-1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945 Branch Banking, McFadden Act Regulates (Feb. 25, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2179 Brandeis Becomes the First Jewish Supreme Court Justice (June 5, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269 Brandenberger Invents Cellophane (1904-1912) . . . 314 Braque’s Cubist Works, Salon d’Automne Rejects (Summer, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 Brave New World Forecasts Technological Totalitarianism, Huxley’s (Winter, 1932) . . . . 2601 Brecht and Weill Collaborate on the Mahagonny Songspiel (July 17, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2193 Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of (Mar. 3, 1918) . . . . . . . 1431
Birth of a Nation, Griffith Releases The (Mar. 3, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188 Birth of Czechoslovakia (Dec. 21, 1918) . . . . . . 1453 Bjerknes Discovers Fronts in Atmospheric Circulation (1919-1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1474 Black Heavyweight Boxing Champion, First (Dec. 26, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 Black Holes, Oppenheimer Calculates the Nature of (Feb. 15, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3170 Black Monday (May 27, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . 2841 Black Musical Film, Hallelujah Is the First Important (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2273 Black Sox Scandal (Oct. 1-9, 1919) . . . . . . . . . 1538 Blade, Gillette Markets the First Razor with a Disposable (Fall, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 Blaue Reiter Abandons Representation in Art, Der (Sept., 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897 Blood Cells, Whipple Discovers Importance of Iron for Red (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1990 Blood Groups, Discovery of Human (1901) . . . . . . 10 Blood Purge, Great (June 30-July 2, 1934) . . . . . 2767 Blood Transfusion, Crile Performs the First Direct (Dec., 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 Blood Vessels, Carrel Rejoins Severed (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Bloody Sunday (Jan. 22, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 Blue Four Advances Abstract Painting, Formation of the (Mar. 31, 1924). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1915 Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys Define (1939-1949) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3163 Blues,” Bessie Smith Records “Downhearted (Feb. 15, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1830 Blues Era, Handy Ushers in the Commercial (1910’s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786 Boas Publishes The Mind of Primitive Man (1911). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 Boat Is Launched, First German U(Aug. 4, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 Body Movements, Frisch Discovers That Bees Communicate Through (Spring, 1919) . . . . . . 1495 Boer War, Treaty of Vereeniging Ends the (May 31, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Bohr Uses Quantum Theory to Identify Atomic Structure (1912-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938 Bolshevik Regime, United States Recognizes Russia’s (Nov. 16, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2690 Bolsheviks Mount the October Revolution (Nov. 6-7, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1393 Bolsheviks Suppress the Russian Orthodox Church (1917-1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1318 Boltwood Uses Radioactivity to Determine Ages of Rocks (1905-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Broadcasting, Fessenden Pioneers Radio (Dec. 24, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 Broadcasting Begins, Radio (Aug. 20-Nov. 2, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1641 Broadcasting Company Is Founded, National (Sept. 9, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2132 Broadcasting Corporation Is Chartered, British (Jan. 1, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2168 Broadcasts The War of the Worlds, Welles (Oct. 30, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3137 Broadway, Our Town Opens on (Feb. 4, 1938) . . . 3087 Brouwer Develops Intuitionist Foundations of Mathematics (1904-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Brush Company Is Incorporated, Fuller (1913) . . . 1028 Buber Breaks New Ground in Religious Philosophy (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1802 Buck Receives the Nobel Prize in Literature (Dec. 10, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3147 Building Opens, Empire State (May 1, 1931) . . . . 2499 Bulgaria, Greece Invades (Oct. 23, 1925) . . . . . . 2076 Buñuel and Dalí Champion Surrealism in An Andalusian Dog (1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2213 Bureau of Investigation, Hoover Becomes the Director of the U.S. (Dec. 10, 1924) . . . . . . . 1959 Bureau of Investigation Begins Operation (July 26, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692 Bureau of Mines Is Established, U.S. (July 1, 1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836 Burma from India, Britain Separates (Apr. 1, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3012 Burton Refines Petroleum with Thermal Cracking (Jan., 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049 Bush Builds the First Differential Analyzer (1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2216 Business Empire, Howard Hughes Builds a (1924-1976) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1899 Business Leaders for World War II Planning, Roosevelt Uses (May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . 3246 Business School, Harvard University Founds a (Apr. 8, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674 Busoni’s Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music, Publication of (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
Briand Pact, Kellogg- (Aug. 27, 1928) . . . . . . . 2252 Bridge, Crane Publishes The (Feb., 1930) . . . . . . 2400 Bridge, Dedication of the Sydney Harbour (Mar. 19, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2549 Bridge Collapses, Tacoma Narrows (Nov. 7, 1940). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3292 Bridge Opens, Golden Gate (May 27, 1937). . . . . 3022 Britain, Battle of (July 10-Oct. 31, 1940) . . . . . . 3267 Britain, Women’s Institutes Are Founded in Great (Sept. 11, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220 Britain and France Sign the San Remo Agreement, Great (Apr. 26, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1621 Britain Establishes Unemployment Benefits, Great (1920-1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1590 Britain Grants Self-Government to Southern Rhodesia, Great (Oct. 1, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . 1862 Britain Lowers the Voting Age for Women, Great (July 2, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2246 Britain Represses Somali Rebellion (Early 1920). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1566 Britain Separates Burma from India (Apr. 1, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3012 British Broadcasting Corporation Is Chartered (Jan. 1, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2168 British Commonwealth of Nations, Formation of the (Dec. 11, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2517 British Crown Colony, Cyprus Becomes a (May 1, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2040 British Democracy, Parliament Act Redefines (Apr., 1909-Aug., 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756 British Labour Party, Establishment of the (Feb. 12, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513 British Mount a Second Front Against the Ottomans (Nov. 5, 1914). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158 British Schools, Students Challenge Corporal Punishment in (Sept. 4-15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . 900 British Soldiers Massacre Indians at Amritsar (Apr. 13, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1497 British Somaliland, Italy Invades (Aug. 3, 1940-Mar., 1941) . . . . . . . . . . . . 3274 British Telephone System, Parliament Nationalizes the (Dec. 31, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . 922 British Throne, Edward VIII Abdicates the (Dec. 10, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2973 British Women Gain the Vote (Feb. 6, 1918) . . . . 1422 British Workers Launch General Strike (May 3-12, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2105 Broadcast, First Color Television (Sept. 1, 1940). . . 3282 Broadcast Medium, Radio Develops as a Mass (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1562 Broadcasting, Armstrong Demonstrates FM Radio (Nov. 5, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2885
C, Szent-Györgyi Discovers Vitamin (1928-1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2222 Cabaret Voltaire, Dada Movement Emerges at the (1916). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1242 Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Premiere of The (1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1575 Cable Act (Sept. 22, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1779 Cadillac Demonstrates Interchangeable Parts (Feb. 29, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
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Keyword List of Contents Canyon, Adams Lobbies Congress to Preserve Kings (Jan., 1937-Feb., 1940) . . . . . . . . . . 2992 Canyon from Mining Claims, Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand (Jan. 11, 1908) . . . . . . . 651 Capital Punishment, Sweden Abolishes (1921) . . . 1680 Capitalism, Lenin Critiques Modern (Jan.-June, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253 Carbon Dioxide, Callendar Connects Industry with Increased Atmospheric (1938) . . . . . . . 3069 Carlson and Kornei Make the First Xerographic Photocopy (Oct. 22, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . 3134 Carnegie Establishes the Endowment for International Peace (Nov. 25, 1910) . . . . . . . . 847 Carnegie Redefines Self-Help Literature (Nov., 1936). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2953 Carothers Invents Nylon (Feb., 1935-Oct. 27, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2816 Carrel Rejoins Severed Blood Vessels (1902) . . . . . 81 Carriers for Airmail, U.S. Congress Authorizes Private (Feb. 2, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2017 Cartel Covering the Middle East, Oil Companies Cooperate in a (Sept. 17, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . 2259 Carter Discovers the Tomb of Tutankhamen (Nov. 4, 1922). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1784 Caruso Records for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company (Apr. 11, 1902) . . . . . . . 146 Casa Milá Apartment House, Gaudí Completes the (1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800 Case Study Teaching Method at Harvard, Donham Promotes the (1920’s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1551 Cather’s My Ántonia Promotes Regional Literature (1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1403 Catholic Encyclopedia, Publication of The (Mar. 19, 1907-Apr., 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 Cave Paintings Are Discovered, Lascaux (Sept. 12, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3285 Céline’s Journey to the End of the Night Expresses Interwar Cynicism (1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . 2524 Cellophane, Brandenberger Invents (1904-1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314 Cells, Whipple Discovers Importance of Iron for Red Blood (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1990 Celtic Revival, Abbey Theatre Heralds the (Dec. 27, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 Cement Affair Prompts Legislative Reform, Canada (Oct., 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778 Cement Manufacturers Agree to Cooperate on Pricing (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Central Planning, Stalin Introduces (Oct. 1, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2263 Cepheid Variables to Calculate Distances to the Stars, Hertzsprung Uses (1913) . . . . . . . . . . 1034
Cairo University Is Inaugurated (Dec. 21, 1908) . . . 716 California Schools, Japan Protests Segregation of Japanese in (Oct. 25, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . 555 Callendar Connects Industry with Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (1938) . . . . . . . 3069 Cambridge Ancient History Appears (1923-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1824 Camera and Telescope, Schmidt Invents the Corrector for the Schmidt (Winter, 1929-1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2347 Campaign, Smith-Hoover (1928) . . . . . . . . . . 2219 Camps, Gypsies Are Exterminated in Nazi Death (May 16, 1940-1944) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3253 Camps Begin Operating, Nazi Concentration (Mar., 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2640 Canada, Bennett Era in (Aug., 1930-1935) . . . . . 2440 Canada, King Era in (1921-1948) . . . . . . . . . . 1709 Canada, King Returns to Power in (Oct. 23, 1935-Nov. 15, 1948) . . . . . . . . . . 2879 Canada, Meighen Era in (July 10, 1920-Sept., 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1636 Canada Cement Affair Prompts Legislative Reform (Oct., 1909). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778 Canada Claims the Arctic Islands (July 1, 1901) . . . . 54 Canada Enacts Depression-Era Relief Legislation (Sept. 8, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2448 Canada Enters World War II (Sept. 10, 1939) . . . . 3213 Canada Through World War I, Borden Leads (1911-1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859 Canada’s First Major Socialist Movement (Aug. 1, 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2581 Canadian Cultivation of Marquis Wheat (1904) . . . 281 Canadian National Parks Act (May 30, 1930) . . . . 2424 Canadian Women Gain the Vote (Sept. 20, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1377 Canal, Construction Begins on the Panama (Summer, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 Canal, Soviets Open the White Sea-Baltic (Aug. 2, 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2670 Canal Opens, Panama (Aug. 15, 1914) . . . . . . . 1130 Canal Zone, U.S. Acquisition of the Panama (Nov. 18, 1903). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Cancer, Papanicolaou Develops a Test for Diagnosing Uterine (Jan., 1928) . . . . . . . . . 2225 Cancers Are Caused by Viruses, Rous Discovers That Some (1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803 Canonization of Bernadette Soubirous (Dec. 8, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2693 Canonization of Joan of Arc (May 16, 1920) . . . . 1630 Canonized, Thérèse of Lisieux Is (May 17, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2044 Cantos Is Published, Pound’s (1917-1970) . . . . . 1328
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Chromosome Map, Sturtevant Produces the First (Fall, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906 Chromosome Theory, Morgan Develops the Gene(1908-1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648 Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits, Sutton Proposes That (Dec., 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Church, Bolsheviks Suppress the Russian Orthodox (1917-1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1318 Church, Stalin Suppresses the Russian Orthodox (Summer, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3195 Circulation, Bjerknes Discovers Fronts in Atmospheric (1919-1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1474 Circus, Ringling Bros. Buys Barnum and Bailey (Oct. 22, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629 Citizenship Act, Indian (June 2, 1924). . . . . . . . 1929 Citric Acid Cycle, Krebs Describes the (Mar., 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3005 City Initiates the Study of Urban Ecology, The (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1962 Civil Liberties During World War I, U.S. Curtails (Apr. 13, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1353 Civil Liberties Union Is Founded, American (Jan. 19, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1607 Civil War, Chinese (1926-1949) . . . . . . . . . . . 2096 Civil War, Russian (1918-1921) . . . . . . . . . . . 1416 Civil War Begins, Spanish (July 17, 1936) . . . . . 2945 Civilian Conservation Corps Is Established, U.S. (Apr. 5, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2652 Civilians, El Salvador’s Military Massacres (Jan.-Feb., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2535 Claretian Martyrs Are Executed in Spain (Aug. 2-18, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2951 Clayton Antitrust Act (Oct. 15, 1914) . . . . . . . . 1149 Clinic Opens, First American Birth Control (Oct. 16, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1295 Clinical Studies with Electrocardiography, Einthoven Begins (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 Clyde, Police Apprehend Bonnie and (May 23, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2748 Coal Strike, Anthracite (May 12-Oct. 23, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Cockcroft and Walton Split the Atom (Apr., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2555 Code, Advertisers Adopt a Truth-in-Advertising (Aug., 1913). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082 Code Gives Birth to Screwball Comedy, Production (1934-1938). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2725 Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones Premieres (Nov. 7, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 Collapse of France (May 10-June 22, 1940) . . . . . 3250 College Football Allows the Forward Pass, American (Jan. 12, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
Cerletti and Bini Use Electroshock to Treat Schizophrenia (Apr., 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . 3104 Chadwick Discovers the Neutron (Feb., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2544 Chain Develop Penicillin as an Antibiotic, Florey and (May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3243 Chair, Rietveld Designs the Red-Blue (1918-1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1412 Chandrasekhar Calculates the Upper Limit of a White Dwarf Star’s Mass (1931-1935) . . . . . . 2471 Chanel Defines Modern Women’s Fashion (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1549 Channel, Ederle Swims the English (Aug. 6, 1926). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2129 Channel, First Airplane Flight Across the English (July 25, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769 Chaplin Produces His Masterpiece The Gold Rush (June 26, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2050 Chapman Determines the Lunar Atmospheric Tide at Moderate Latitudes (1935) . . . . . . . . . . . 2799 Chemical Bond, Pauling Develops His Theory of the (1930-1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2389 Cherenkov Effect, Discovery of the (1934) . . . . . 2701 Chesterton Critiques Modernism and Defends Christianity (Sept. 30, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . 2066 Children’s Bureau Is Founded (Apr. 9, 1912). . . . . 968 China Allows Some Western Reforms (1901-1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 China Declares War on Japan (July 7, 1937) . . . . 3037 Chinese Civil War (1926-1949) . . . . . . . . . . . 2096 Chinese Forces Break Yellow River Levees (June 7, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3114 Chlorination of the U.S. Water Supply Begins (1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635 Chlorophyll, Willstätter Discovers the Composition of (1906-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 Choice in Set Theory, Levi Recognizes the Axiom of (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Chopin in Her Russian Debut, Duncan Interprets (Dec. 26, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 Christian Fundamentals Association, Founding of the World (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1458 Christian Science Monitor Is Founded (Nov. 28, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 Christian Thought, Gilson’s Spirit of Medieval Philosophy Reassesses (1932) . . . . . . . . . . 2527 Christianity, Chesterton Critiques Modernism and Defends (Sept. 30, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . 2066 Christians, Iraqi Army Slaughters Assyrian (Aug. 11-13, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2672 Chromosome, McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
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Keyword List of Contents Completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad (1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239 Composers, Stalin Restricts Soviet (Apr. 23, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2558 Comprehensive Axiomatization of Set Theory, Zermelo Undertakes (1904-1908) . . . . . . . . . 311 Compromise, Tacna-Arica (June 3-Aug. 28, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2309 Compton Effect, Discovery of the (1923) . . . . . . 1807 Concentration Camps Begin Operating, Nazi (Mar., 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2640 Conference, Evian (July 6-15, 1938). . . . . . . . . 3125 Conference, Munich (Sept. 29-30, 1938) . . . . . . 3129 Conference, Second Hague Peace (Oct. 18, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 Conference, Washington Disarmament (Nov. 12, 1921-Feb. 6, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . 1741 Conference Addresses Protection for Minorities, Paris Peace (Jan. 19-21, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . 1483 Conference Allows Artificial Contraception, Lambeth (Aug., 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2437 Conference for the Maintenance of Peace, Inter-American (Dec., 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . 2971 Conference of the Society of American Indians, First (Oct. 12, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005 Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources (May 13-15, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . 677 Conferences, Zimmerwald and Kienthal (Sept. 5-8, 1915, and Apr. 24-30, 1916) . . . . . 1217 Conferences on Birth Control, Sanger Organizes (Nov. 11-13, 1921, and Mar. 25-31, 1925) . . . . 1737 Congo, Belgium Annexes the (Nov. 1, 1908) . . . . . 703 Congo, Lever Acquires Land Concession in the Belgian (Apr. 14, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879 Congress, Federal Communications Commission Is Established by (June 10, 1934). . . . . . . . . 2754 Congress, First Woman Is Elected to the U.S. (Nov. 7, 1916). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1299 Congress Approves a Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley, U.S. (Dec. 19, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . 1095 Congress Authorizes Private Carriers for Airmail, U.S. (Feb. 2, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2017 Congress Centralizes Regulation of U.S. Commercial Air Traffic (June 30, 1940) . . . . . 3262 Congress Establishes the Border Patrol, U.S. (May 28, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1926 Congress Imposes a Wartime Excess-Profits Tax, U.S. (Oct. 3, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1379 Congress of Industrial Organizations Is Founded (Nov. 10, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2888 Congress of Women, International (Apr. 28-May 1, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199
Colombia, Panama Declares Independence from (Nov. 3, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Colony, Cyprus Becomes a British Crown (May 1, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2040 Color and Luminosity, Hertzsprung Notes Relationship Between Star (1905) . . . . . . . . . 369 Color Photography, Lumières Develop (1907) . . . . 579 Color Television Broadcast, First (Sept. 1, 1940). . . 3282 Comedy, Production Code Gives Birth to Screwball (1934-1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2725 Comedy, Sennett Defines Slapstick (Aug., 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 988 Coming of Age in Samoa, Mead Publishes (Aug., 1928). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2249 Comintern, Lenin Establishes the (Mar. 2-6, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1490 Commerce, U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate (Feb. 23, 1903) . . . . . . . . 222 Commerce Act Creates a Federal Airways System, Air (May 20, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . 2112 Commerce and Labor, Creation of the U.S. Department of (Feb. 14, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Commercial Air Traffic, Congress Centralizes Regulation of U.S. (June 30, 1940) . . . . . . . . 3262 Commission, United States Establishes a Permanent Tariff (Sept. 8, 1916) . . . . . . . . . 1285 Commission Is Established, Securities and Exchange (June 6, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2750 Commission Is Established by Congress, Federal Communications (June 10, 1934). . . . . . . . . 2754 Commodity Credit Corporation, Roosevelt Creates the (Oct. 18, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2683 Commonwealth of Australia Is Formed (Jan. 1, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Commonwealth of Nations, Formation of the British (Dec. 11, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2517 Communication Are Discovered, Principles of Shortwave Radio (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1466 Communications Commission Is Established by Congress, Federal (June 10, 1934) . . . . . . . . 2754 Communism, Koestler Examines the Dark Side of (Dec., 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3298 Communist Party, Rise of the French (Dec. 29, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1663 Communists Inaugurate the Red Terror, Russian (1917-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1324 Completion of the AEG Turbine Factory (Oct., 1909). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781 Completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct (Nov. 5, 1913). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088 Completion of the Mombasa-Lake Victoria Railway (Dec. 19, 1901). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Convention Prohibits Night Work for Women, Bern (Sept. 19, 1906). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 Coolidge Is Elected U.S. President (Nov. 4, 1924). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1949 Copland as a Student, Boulanger Takes (1921) . . . 1665 Coprosperity Sphere, Japan Announces the Greater East Asia (Aug., 1940) . . . . . . . . . . 3272 Copyright Law, U.S. Congress Updates (Mar. 4, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 Cordiale, Entente (Apr. 8, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . 331 Core, Lehmann Discovers the Earth’s Inner (1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2893 Core Boundary, Gutenberg Discovers Earth’s Mantle-Outer (1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031 Corfu Crisis (Aug. 27-Sept. 29, 1923) . . . . . . . . 1853 Corning Glass Works Trademarks Pyrex (May 20, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1209 Coronagraph Allows Observation of the Sun’s Outer Atmosphere, Lyot’s (1930) . . . . . . . . 2383 Corporal Punishment in British Schools, Students Challenge (Sept. 4-15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 Corporate Control, Berle and Means Discuss (1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2521 Corporate Privacy, Tariff Act of 1909 Limits (Aug. 5, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772 Corporation, Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest (Feb. 26, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Corporation Laws, Delaware Revises (1903) . . . . . 188 Corporatism Comes to Paraguay (Feb. 17, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2923 Corrector for the Schmidt Camera and Telescope, Schmidt Invents the (Winter, 1929-1930) . . . . 2347 Corrupt Practices Act Limits Political Contributions (Feb. 28, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . 2024 Cosmetic Act, Federal Food, Drug, and (June 25, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3122 Cosmic Rays, Hess Discovers (Aug. 7 and 12, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995 Cosmic Rays, Millikan Investigates (1920-1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1594 Cost-Plus Contracts, U.S. Government Begins Using (1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106 Cotton Club, Ellington Begins Performing at the (Dec. 4, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2206 Cottrell Invents the Electrostatic Precipitation Process (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478 Coulee Dam, Work Begins on the Grand (Sept. 8, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2678 Counterfeiters Questions Moral Absolutes, Gide’s The (1925). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1972 Coup in the Ottoman Empire, Young Turks Stage a (July 24, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
Congress to Preserve Kings Canyon, Adams Lobbies (Jan., 1937-Feb., 1940) . . . . . . . . . 2992 Congress Updates Copyright Law, U.S. (Mar. 4, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 Congressional Insurgency, Republican (Mar., 1909-1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 Conservation, Noether Shows the Equivalence of Symmetry and (1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1406 Conservation Association Is Founded, National Parks and (May 20, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1514 Conservation Corps Is Established, U.S. Civilian (Apr. 5, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2652 Conservation of Natural Resources, Conference on the (May 13-15, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677 Conservation Service Is Established, Soil (Apr. 27, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2837 Conservation Stamp Act, Migratory Bird Hunting and (Mar. 16, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2742 Constitution, Persia Adopts a (Oct., 1906-Oct., 1907). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 Constitution, Weimar (July 31, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1525 Constitution Establishes an Advanced Labor Code, Mexican (Jan. 31, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . 1332 Constitution Hall, Marian Anderson Is Barred from (Jan. 2, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3166 Construction Begins on the Panama Canal (Summer, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 Construction Leads to Disaster, Hawk’s Nest Tunnel (Mar. 31, 1930-1931) . . . . . . . . . . . 2414 Consulting Firm, McKinsey Founds a Management (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1980 Consumers Union of the United States Emerges (Jan.-Mar., 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2902 Continental Drift, Wegener Proposes the Theory of (Jan., 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950 Contraception, Lambeth Conference Allows Artificial (Aug., 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2437 Contracts, U.S. Government Begins Using Cost-Plus (1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106 Contracts, U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows Yellow-Dog (Jan. 27, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . 657 Contributions, Corrupt Practices Act Limits Political (Feb. 28, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2024 Convention, League of Nations Adopts International Slavery (Sept. 25, 1926) . . . . . . 2135 Convention Attempts to Curtail Slavery, Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Sept. 10, 1919) . . . . . 1531 Convention Is Signed, International Opium (Feb. 23, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956 Convention Is Signed in Tibet, Lhasa (Sept. 7, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
xxxvi
Keyword List of Contents Court Breaks Up the American Tobacco Company, U.S. Supreme (May 29, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . 886 Court Establishes the “Rule of Reason,” U.S. Supreme (May 15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882 Court Justice, Brandeis Becomes the First Jewish Supreme (June 5, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269 Court of International Justice Is Established, Permanent (Dec. 13, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1657 Court-Packing Fight, Supreme (Feb. 5-July 22, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2999 Court Rules Against Minimum Wage Laws, U.S. Supreme (Apr. 9, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . 1844 Court Rules Against Northern Securities, U.S. Supreme (Mar. 14, 1904). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 Court Ruling Allows Yellow-Dog Contracts, U.S. Supreme (Jan. 27, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657 Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law, U.S. Supreme (Apr. 17, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce, U.S. Supreme (Feb. 23, 1903). . . . . 222 Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust, U.S. Supreme (Jan. 30, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . 402 Coward’s Design for Living Epitomizes the 1930’s (Jan. 2, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2618 Cracking, Burton Refines Petroleum with Thermal (Jan., 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049 Crafts Movement, Cranbrook Academy Promotes the Arts and (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1965 Cranbrook Academy Promotes the Arts and Crafts Movement (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1965 Crane Publishes The Bridge (Feb., 1930) . . . . . . 2400 Crashes, U.S. Stock Market (Oct. 24-29, 1929) . . . 2331 Creation of the First Synthetic Vat Dye (1901) . . . . . 8 Creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor (Feb. 14, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Creative Evolution Inspires Artists and Thinkers, Bergson’s (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567 Credit-Anstalt Bank of Austria Fails (May 8, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2503 Credit Corporation, Roosevelt Creates the Commodity (Oct. 18, 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . 2683 Credit Union Act, Federal (June 26, 1934) . . . . . 2761 Crile Performs the First Direct Blood Transfusion (Dec., 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 Croats, and Slovenes Declares Independence, Kingdom of the Serbs, (Dec. 1, 1918) . . . . . . 1450 Crystallography Is Developed by the Braggs, X-Ray (1912-1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945 Cubism, Apollinaire Defines (1913) . . . . . . . . . 1015 Cubist Works, Salon d’Automne Rejects Braque’s (Summer, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 Cultivation of Marquis Wheat, Canadian (1904) . . . 281
Cultural Relativism Revises Historiography, Rise of (Summer, 1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1434 Cure for Syphilis, Ehrlich Introduces Salvarsan as a (Apr., 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823 Cycle, Krebs Describes the Citric Acid (Mar., 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3005 Cyclotron, Lawrence Develops the (Jan. 2, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2477 Cynicism, Céline’s Journey to the End of the Night Expresses Interwar (1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2524 Cyprus Becomes a British Crown Colony (May 1, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2040 Czechoslovakia, Birth of (Dec. 21, 1918) . . . . . . 1453 D and Pioneers Its Use Against Rickets, McCollum Names Vitamin (1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1757 D in Food, Steenbock Discovers Sunlight Increases Vitamin (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1887 Dada Movement Emerges at the Cabaret Voltaire (1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1242 Dáil, De Valera Is Elected President of the Irish (Mar. 9, 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2547 Dalai Lama’s Rule, End of the Thirteenth (Dec. 17, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2695 Dalí Champion Surrealism in An Andalusian Dog, Buñuel and (1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2213 Dam, Work Begins on the Grand Coulee (Sept. 8, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2678 Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley, U.S. Congress Approves a (Dec. 19, 1913). . . . . . . . . . . . 1095 Dam Is Completed, Boulder (Mar. 11, 1936) . . . . 2930 Dams, Federal Power Commission Disallows Kings River (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1810 Danbury Hatters Decision Constrains Secondary Boycotts (Feb. 3, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661 Dance Opens, Denishawn School of (Summer, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211 Dance Team, Top Hat Establishes the Astaire-Rogers (Sept. 6, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . 2868 Dance The Green Table Premieres, Jooss’s Antiwar (July 3, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2569 Dances in La Revue nègre, Baker (Oct.-Dec., 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2073 Darling Founds the National Wildlife Federation (Feb. 4, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2915 Dart Discovers the First Australopithecine Fossil (Summer, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1938 Dawes Plan (Sept. 1, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1941 DC-3 Opens a New Era of Air Travel, The (June 25, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2941 DDT, Müller Discovers the Insecticidal Properties of (1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3156
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 De Broglie Explains the Wave-Particle Duality of Light (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1804 De Stijl Advocates Mondrian’s Neoplasticism (1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1312 De Valera Is Elected President of the Irish Dáil (Mar. 9, 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2547 Death Camps, Gypsies Are Exterminated in Nazi (May 16, 1940-1944) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3253 Death of Maria Faustina Kowalska (Oct. 5, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3133 Deco, Paris Exhibition Defines Art (May-June, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2037 Decompression for Deep-Sea Divers, Haldane Develops Stage (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 Dedication of the Baseball Hall of Fame (June 12, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3193 Dedication of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (Mar. 19, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2549 Deep-Sea Divers, Haldane Develops Stage Decompression for (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 Defense of India Act Impedes the Freedom Struggle (Mar., 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1183 Degenerate Art Exhibition, Nazi Germany Hosts the (July 19-Nov. 30, 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . 3040 Delaware Revises Corporation Laws (1903) . . . . . 188 Delaware River Project Begins (Mar., 1937) . . . . 3002 Delhi Pact, India Signs the (Mar. 5, 1931). . . . . . 2480 Demobilization of U.S. Forces After World War I (Nov., 1918-June, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1444 Democracy, Expansion of Direct (June 2, 1902-May 31, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Democracy, Parliament Act Redefines British (Apr., 1909-Aug., 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756 Denishawn School of Dance Opens (Summer, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211 Department of Commerce and Labor, Creation of the U.S. (Feb. 14, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Deportations of Mexicans, Mass (Early 1930’s) . . . 2350 Depression, Great (Oct. 29, 1929-1939) . . . . . . . 2335 Depression-Era America, The Grapes of Wrath Portrays (Apr., 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3180 Depression-Era Relief Legislation, Canada Enacts (Sept. 8, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2448 Depression-Era United States, Guthrie’s Populist Songs Reflect the (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2356 Design, Loewy Pioneers American Industrial (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2279 Design for Living Epitomizes the 1930’s, Coward’s (Jan. 2, 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2618 Detective Novel, The Maltese Falcon Introduces the Hard-Boiled (Sept., 1929-Jan., 1930). . . . . 2323 Deutscher Werkbund Is Founded (Oct., 1907) . . . . 618
Deutsches Theater, Reinhardt Becomes Director of the (Nov. 24, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 Development of Negritude (1932-1940) . . . . . . . 2532 Development of Nerve Fibers Is Observed (Spring, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608 Dewey Applies Pragmatism to Education (1916). . . 1245 Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Astounds Paris (May 19, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762 Diagnosing Uterine Cancer, Papanicolaou Develops a Test for (Jan., 1928) . . . . . . . . . 2225 Diagrams Showing Heredity, Punnett’s Mendelism Includes (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 Diary of a Country Priest Inspires American Readers, The (Oct., 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . . 3056 Dichlorodifluoromethane as a Refrigerant Gas, Midgley Introduces (Apr., 1930) . . . . . . . . . 2418 Dictatorial Powers in Italy, Mussolini Seizes (1925-1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1997 Die Brücke, Avant-Garde Artists Form (Summer, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 Dietrich a Superstar, Von Sternberg Makes (1930-1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2396 Differential Analyzer, Bush Builds the First (1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2216 Dinosaur Eggs, Andrews Expedition Discovers the First Fossilized (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1798 Diphtheria, Schick Introduces a Test for (1913) . . . 1043 Diplomacy,” United States Begins “Dollar (1909-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734 Direct Democracy, Expansion of (June 2, 1902-May 31, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Dirigible Bursts into Flames, Hindenburg (May 6, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3017 Disarmament Conference, Washington (Nov. 12, 1921-Feb. 6, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . 1741 Disarmament Treaties, Japan Renounces (Dec. 29, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2797 Disaster, Hawk’s Nest Tunnel Construction Leads to (Mar. 31, 1930-1931) . . . . . . . . . . 2414 Disc Recordings, Johnson Duplicates (1902). . . . . . 96 Discovery of Human Blood Groups (1901) . . . . . . 10 Discovery of Oil at Spindletop (Jan. 10, 1901). . . . . 40 Discovery of the Cherenkov Effect (1934) . . . . . 2701 Discovery of the Compton Effect (1923) . . . . . . 1807 Discrimination, Robinson-Patman Act Restricts Price (June 19, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2937 Disease Arrives in the United States, Dutch Elm (1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2380 Disillusionment, Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk Reflects Postwar (1921-1923) . . . . . . . . . . 1695 Disney Releases Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Dec. 21, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3063
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Keyword List of Contents Dust Bowl Devastates the Great Plains (1934-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2730 Dutch Elm Disease Arrives in the United States (1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2380 Dwarf Star’s Mass, Chandrasekhar Calculates the Upper Limit of a White (1931-1935) . . . . . . . 2471 Dwarf Stellar Divisions, Hertzsprung Describes Giant and (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 Dye, Creation of the First Synthetic Vat (1901) . . . . . 8 Dying Swan, Pavlova Performs The (Dec. 22, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
Disney’s Fantasia Premieres (Nov. 13, 1940) . . . . 3295 Disposable Blade, Gillette Markets the First Razor with a (Fall, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 Distribution of Wealth, Pareto Analyzes the (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 Divers, Haldane Develops Stage Decompression for Deep-Sea (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 Dives, First Manned Bathysphere (June 6, 1930-Aug. 27, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . 2427 Doctor Service, Australia Begins the Flying (May 15, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2238 “Dollar Diplomacy,” United States Begins (1909-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734 Domagk Discovers That Sulfonamides Can Save Lives (1932-1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2529 Donham Promotes the Case Study Teaching Method at Harvard (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . 1551 “Downhearted Blues,” Bessie Smith Records (Feb. 15, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1830 Drama, Odets’s Awake and Sing! Becomes a Model for Protest (Feb. 19, 1935) . . . . . . . . 2823 Drama, The Ghost Sonata Influences Modern Theater and (Jan. 21, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . 654 Dreadnought, Launching of the (Oct. 6, 1906) . . . . 552 Dreyfuss Designs the Bell 300 Telephone (1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2976 Drilling, Hughes Revolutionizes Oil Well (1908). . . 642 Drinker and Shaw Develop a Mechanical Respirator (July, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2314 Drug, and Cosmetic Act, Federal Food, (June 25, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3122 Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and (June 30, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 Drug Administration Is Established, U.S. Food and (1927). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2164 Drug LSD-25, Hofmann Synthesizes the Potent Psychedelic (1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3072 Du Pont Introduces Freon (Dec., 1930) . . . . . . . 2454 Duality of Light, De Broglie Explains the Wave-Particle (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1804 Duchamp’s “Readymades” Redefine Art (1913) . . . 1019 Duino Elegies Redefines Poetics, Rilke’s (1911-1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862 Duma, First Meeting of the (May 10-July 21, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526 Duncan Interprets Chopin in Her Russian Debut (Dec. 26, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 Dunes Are Preserved as a State Park, Indiana (May, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2182 Dunkirk, Evacuation of (May 26-June 4, 1940) . . . 3256 Durant Publishes The Story of Philosophy (May, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2102
Earthquake, San Francisco (Apr. 18, 1906) . . . . . . 522 Earthquake and Tsunami Devastate Sicily (Dec. 28, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721 Earthquake Rocks Japan (Sept. 1, 1923). . . . . . . 1855 Earthquake Strength, Richter Develops a Scale for Measuring (Jan., 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2809 Earth’s Inner Core, Lehmann Discovers the (1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2893 Earth’s Interior Structure, Oldham and Mohorovi5i6 Determine the (1906-1910) . . . . . 497 Earth’s Mantle-Outer Core Boundary, Gutenberg Discovers (1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031 East Asia Coprosperity Sphere, Japan Announces the Greater (Aug., 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3272 Easter Rebellion (Apr. 24-29, 1916) . . . . . . . . . 1262 Eastman Kodak Is Found to Be in Violation of the Sherman Act (Feb. 21, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . 2175 Ecology, The City Initiates the Study of Urban (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1962 Economic Policy, Lenin Announces the New (Mar., 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1711 Economic Sanctions Against Italy, League of Nations Applies (Oct. 11, 1935-July 15, 1936) . . . . . . 2875 Economy, Hindenburg Program Militarizes the German (Aug., 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1279 Economy, Keynes Proposes Government Management of the (Feb. 4, 1936) . . . . . . . . 2919 “Ecosystem,” Tansley Proposes the Term (July, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2846 Eddington Formulates the Mass-Luminosity Law for Stars (Mar., 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1912 Eddington Publishes The Internal Constitution of the Stars (July, 1926). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2119 Ederle Swims the English Channel (Aug. 6, 1926). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2129 Edison Shows the First Talking Pictures (1913) . . . 1022 Editing Techniques, Eisenstein’s Potemkin Introduces New Film (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . 1968 Editing Techniques, The Great Train Robbery Introduces New (Fall, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Element Is Developed, First Artificial Radioactive (1933-1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2615 Elements, Barkla Discovers the Characteristic X Rays of the (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 Éléments de mathématique, Bourbaki Group Publishes (1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3149 Elgar’s First Symphony Premieres to Acclaim (Dec. 3, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713 Eliot Publishes The Waste Land (1922) . . . . . . . 1748 Ellington Begins Performing at the Cotton Club (Dec. 4, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2206 Elm Disease Arrives in the United States, Dutch (1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2380 Elster and Geitel Study Radioactivity (Early 20th cent.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Embargo on Arms to Spain (Jan. 6, 1937) . . . . . . 2996 Emergency Quota Act (May 19, 1921) . . . . . . . 1725 Emission Microscope, Müller Invents the Field (1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2896 Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie Is Crowned (Apr. 2, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2421 Empire State Building Opens (May 1, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2499 Enabling Act of 1933 (Mar. 23, 1933) . . . . . . . . 2649 Encyclopedia, Publication of The Catholic (Mar. 19, 1907-Apr., 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 End of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s Rule (Dec. 17, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2695 Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Establishes the (Nov. 25, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . 847 English Channel, Ederle Swims the (Aug. 6, 1926). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2129 English Channel, First Airplane Flight Across the (July 25, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769 English Hymnal, Publication of The (1906). . . . . . 492 Entente, Formation of the Triple (Aug. 31, 1907). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616 Entente Cordiale (Apr. 8, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 Entertainment, Americans Embrace Radio (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2352 Epidemic Strikes, Influenza (Mar., 1918-1919) . . . 1428 Equal Rights Amendment, Proposal of the (Dec. 10, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871 Equations of General Relativity, Schwarzschild Solves the (1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250 Erupts, Mount Pelée (May 8, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . 149 Espionage and Sedition Acts (June 15, 1917, and May 16, 1918) . . . . . . . . 1367 Establishment of the British Labour Party (Feb. 12, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513 Ethiopia, Haile Selassie Is Crowned Emperor of (Apr. 2, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2421
Education, Dewey Applies Pragmatism to (1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1245 Education, Mecklenburg-Schwerin Admits Women to University (1909). . . . . . . . . . . . 729 Edward VIII Abdicates the British Throne (Dec. 10, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2973 Egas Moniz Develops the Prefrontal Lobotomy (Nov.-Dec., 1935). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2882 Egypt, Italy Invades (Sept. 13, 1940) . . . . . . . . 3289 Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood Is Founded in (Mar., 1928). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2228 Egypt Joins the League of Nations (May 26, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3020 Ehrlich and Metchnikoff Conduct Pioneering Immunity Research (Nov.-Dec., 1908) . . . . . . 699 Ehrlich Introduces Salvarsan as a Cure for Syphilis (Apr., 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823 Eight-Hour Workday, Ford Announces a Five-Dollar, (Jan. 5, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110 Einstein Completes His Theory of General Relativity (Nov. 25, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1230 Einstein Describes the Photoelectric Effect (Mar., 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 Einstein States His Theory of Special Relativity (Fall, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 Einstein’s Theory of Gravitation Is Confirmed over Newton’s Theory (Nov. 6, 1919) . . . . . . 1541 Einthoven Begins Clinical Studies with Electrocardiography (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 Eisenstein’s Potemkin Introduces New Film Editing Techniques (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1968 El Salvador’s Military Massacres Civilians (Jan.-Feb., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2535 Election Law, Wisconsin Adopts the First Primary (May 23, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Electric Washing Machine Is Introduced (1910) . . . 792 Electricity,” Steinmetz Warns of Pollution in “The Future of (1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 Electrocardiography, Einthoven Begins Clinical Studies with (1905). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 Electroencephalogram, Berger Studies the Human (1929-1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2285 Electron, Thomson Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering the (Dec. 10, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . 558 Electron Microscope Is Constructed, First (Apr., 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2493 Electroshock to Treat Schizophrenia, Cerletti and Bini Use (Apr., 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3104 Electrostatic Precipitation Process, Cottrell Invents the (1906). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478 Element, Segrè Identifies the First Artificial (Jan.-Sept., 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2989
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Keyword List of Contents Fair Labor Standards Act (June 25, 1938) . . . . . . 3119 Famine in Russia Claims Millions of Lives (1921-1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1692 Famine Strikes Russia (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570 Famine Strikes the Soviet Union, Great (Dec., 1932-Spring, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2599 Fannie Mae Promotes Home Ownership (Feb. 10, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3090 Fantasia Premieres, Disney’s (Nov. 13, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3295 Fantasy Literature, Tolkien Redefines (Sept., 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3047 Farmers Dynamite the Los Angeles Aqueduct (May 21, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1918 Farmers Increase Insecticide Use, American (1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1303 Fashion, Chanel Defines Modern Women’s (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1549 Fashion, Schiaparelli’s Boutique Mingles Art and (Jan., 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2813 Fátima, Portugal, Marian Apparitions in (May 13-Oct. 17, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1360 Faulkner’s Career, The Sound and the Fury Launches (Oct. 7, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2327 Fauves Exhibit at the Salon d’Automne (Oct., 1905). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 Fayol Publishes General and Industrial Management (July, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272 Federal Airways System, Air Commerce Act Creates a (May 20, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2112 Federal Communications Commission Is Established by Congress (June 10, 1934). . . . . 2754 Federal Credit Union Act (June 26, 1934) . . . . . . 2761 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (June 25, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3122 Federal Income Tax Is Authorized, U.S. (Feb. 25, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059 Federal Power Commission Disallows Kings River Dams (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1810 Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce, U.S. Supreme Court Upholds (Feb. 23, 1903). . . . . . 222 Federal Reserve Act (Dec. 23, 1913) . . . . . . . . 1099 Federal Theatre Project Promotes Live Theater (Aug. 29, 1935-June 30, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . 2860 Federal Trade Commission Is Organized (Sept. 26, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145 Fellowship, Wright Founds the Taliesin (Oct., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2589 Female Governor in the United States, First (Jan. 5, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2014 Fermi Proposes the Neutrino Theory of Beta Decay (Nov.-Dec., 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2687
Eugenics Movement, Founding of the Monist League Leads to the (Jan. 11, 1906) . . . . . . . . 504 Euthenics Calls for Pollution Control (1910) . . . . . 796 Evacuation of Dunkirk (May 26-June 4, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3256 Evian Conference (July 6-15, 1938) . . . . . . . . . 3125 Excess-Profits Tax, U.S. Congress Imposes a Wartime (Oct. 3, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1379 Exchange Commission Is Established, Securities and (June 6, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2750 Exclusion Principle, Pauli Formulates the (Spring, 1925). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2027 Executed, Sacco and Vanzetti Are (Aug. 23, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2199 Executes Mata Hari, France (Oct. 15, 1917). . . . . 1383 Exhibition, Group of Seven (May 7, 1920) . . . . . 1628 Exhibition, Nazi Germany Hosts the Degenerate Art (July 19-Nov. 30, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . 3040 Exhibition Defines Art Deco, Paris (May-June, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2037 Exhibition of American Abstract Painting Opens in New York (Feb. 12, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . 2820 Exhibits Guernica, Picasso (July, 1937) . . . . . . . 3034 Exile, Trotsky Is Sent into (Jan., 1929) . . . . . . . 2295 Expanding Universe, Hubble Confirms the (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2276 Expansion of Direct Democracy (June 2, 1902-May 31, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Expedition, Pershing (Mar. 15, 1916-Feb. 5, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . 1259 Expedition at Susa Discovers Hammurabi’s Code, French (Jan., 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Expedition Commences, Australasian Antarctic (Dec. 2, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 916 Expedition Discovers the First Fossilized Dinosaur Eggs, Andrews (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1798 Expedition Discovers the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, German (Apr., 1925-May, 1927) . . . . . . . . . 2030 Experiment, Millikan Conducts His Oil-Drop (Jan.-Aug., 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741 Explosion, Halifax (Dec. 6, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . 1397 Exterminated in Nazi Death Camps, Gypsies Are (May 16, 1940-1944) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3253 Extermination of the Jews, Nazi (1939-1945) . . . . 3159 Extracting Nitrogen from the Air, Haber Develops Process for (1904-1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 Fabry Quantifies Ozone in the Upper Atmosphere (Jan. 17, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053 Factory, Completion of the AEG Turbine (Oct., 1909). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781 Factory Fire, Triangle Shirtwaist (Mar. 25, 1911) . . . 868
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 First Airplane Flight Across the English Channel (July 25, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769 First Alien Land Law, Passage of the (May 20, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076 First American Birth Control Clinic Opens (Oct. 16, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1295 First American Musical to Emphasize Plot, Show Boat Is the (Dec. 27, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2210 First American Service Organization Is Founded (Feb. 23, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 First Artificial Element, Segrè Identifies the (Jan.-Sept., 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2989 First Artificial Kidney, Abel Develops the (1912-1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942 First Artificial Radioactive Element Is Developed (1933-1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2615 First Australopithecine Fossil, Dart Discovers the (Summer, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1938 First Auto Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Aug. 19, 1909). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776 First Battle of the Marne (Sept. 5-9, 1914) . . . . . 1137 First Black Heavyweight Boxing Champion (Dec. 26, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 First Chromosome Map, Sturtevant Produces the (Fall, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906 First Color Television Broadcast (Sept. 1, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3282 First Conference of the Society of American Indians (Oct. 12, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005 First Demonstration of Transatlantic Radiotelephony (Oct. 21, 1915) . . . . . . . . . 1227 First Differential Analyzer, Bush Builds the (1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2216 First Direct Blood Transfusion, Crile Performs the (Dec., 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 First Electron Microscope Is Constructed (Apr., 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2493 First Female Governor in the United States (Jan. 5, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2014 First Flight, Wright Brothers’ (Dec. 17, 1903) . . . . 278 First Fossilized Dinosaur Eggs, Andrews Expedition Discovers the (1923) . . . . . . . . . 1798 First Geothermal Power Plant Begins Operation (1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025 First German U-Boat Is Launched (Aug. 4, 1906) . . . 541 First Grand Prix Auto Race (June 26-27, 1906). . . . 529 First Grand Slam of Golf (Sept. 27, 1930) . . . . . . 2452 First Grand Slam of Tennis (Sept. 17, 1938) . . . . 3127 First High-Definition Television Program, BBC Airs the (Nov. 2, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2956 First Important Black Musical Film, Hallelujah Is the (1929). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2273
Fessenden Pioneers Radio Broadcasting (Dec. 24, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 Fever, Theiler Develops a Treatment for Yellow (June, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3025 Fiction, Golden Age of American Science (1938-1950) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3079 Fiction, Joyce’s Ulysses Redefines Modern (Feb. 2, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1767 Field Emission Microscope, Müller Invents the (1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2896 Fight, Supreme Court-Packing (Feb. 5-July 22, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2999 Film, Hallelujah Is the First Important Black Musical (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2273 Film Achievement, First Academy Awards Honor (May 16, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2306 Film Editing Techniques, Eisenstein’s Potemkin Introduces New (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1968 Film Musicals, Forty-Second Street Defines 1930’s (1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2608 Film Musicals, Lubitsch’s The Merry Widow Opens New Vistas for (1934) . . . . . . . . . . . 2705 Film Series Begins, Sherlock Holmes (Mar. 31, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3176 Film Spectacle, The Ten Commandments Advances American (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1820 Film Theater Opens, First Nickelodeon (June, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 Filmmaking, Kuleshov and Pudovkin Introduce Montage to (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2148 Filmmaking, Studio System Dominates Hollywood (1930’s-1940’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2376 Filmmaking Techniques, Gance’s Napoléon Revolutionizes (1925-1927) . . . . . . . . . . . 2001 Filmmaking with Metropolis, Lang Expands the Limits of (1927). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2152 Films Become Popular, Gangster (1931-1932) . . . 2467 Films Explore Social and Political Themes, Renoir’s (1937-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2985 Finance Corporation Is Created, Reconstruction (Jan. 22, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2540 Finland Gains Independence (Dec. 6, 1917-Oct. 14, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . 1399 Finland Grants Women Suffrage (July 20, 1906) . . . 538 Finnish War, Russo(Nov. 30, 1939-Mar. 12, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . 3219 Fire, Reichstag (Feb. 27, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . 2632 Fire, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory (Mar. 25, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868 Firebird Premieres in Paris, The (June 25, 1910) . . . 833 First Academy Awards Honor Film Achievement (May 16, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2306
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Keyword List of Contents First Soviet Nature Preserve, Lenin Approves the (Feb. 1, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1486 First Symphony Premieres to Acclaim, Elgar’s (Dec. 3, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713 First Synthetic Vat Dye, Creation of the (1901) . . . . . 8 First “Talkie,” The Jazz Singer Premieres as the (Oct. 6, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2202 First Talking Pictures, Edison Shows the (1913) . . . 1022 First Tour de France (July 1, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . 242 First Tournament, American Bowling Club Hosts Its (Jan., 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 First Transatlantic Solo Flight by a Woman (May 20-21, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2566 First Transatlantic Telegraphic Radio Transmission (Dec. 12, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 First Transcontinental Telephone Call Is Made (Jan. 25, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177 First U.S. Food Stamp Program Begins (May 16, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3190 First U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established (Mar. 14, 1903). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 First Vacuum Tube, Fleming Patents the (Nov. 16, 1904). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 First Winter Olympic Games (Jan. 25-Feb. 5, 1924). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903 First Woman Elected to Australian Parliament (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1669 First Woman Is Elected to the U.S. Congress (Nov. 7, 1916). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1299 First Woman Secretary of Labor, Perkins Becomes (Feb. 28, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2637 First World Series, Baseball Holds Its (Oct. 1-13, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 First Xerographic Photocopy, Carlson and Kornei Make the (Oct. 22, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3134 First Zeppelin Bombing Raids, Germany Launches the (Jan. 19, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174 Fish and Wildlife Service Is Formed, U.S. (July 1, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3265 Fitzgerald Captures the Roaring Twenties in The Great Gatsby (Apr. 10, 1925). . . . . . . . . . . 2033 Five-Dollar, Eight-Hour Workday, Ford Announces a (Jan. 5, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110 Flames, Hindenburg Dirigible Bursts into (May 6, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3017 Fleming Discovers Penicillin in Molds (Sept., 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2256 Fleming Patents the First Vacuum Tube (Nov. 16, 1904). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 Flight, Lindbergh Makes the First Nonstop Transatlantic (May 20, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . 2189 Flight, Wright Brothers’ First (Dec. 17, 1903) . . . . 278
First Injectable Anesthetic, Introduction of the (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 First Intentional Radio Telescope, Reber Builds the (June-Sept., 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3028 First Issue of Pravda Appears (Oct. 3, 1908) . . . . . 695 First Jewish Supreme Court Justice, Brandeis Becomes the (June 5, 1916). . . . . . . . . . . . 1269 First Kibbutz Is Established in Palestine (1909) . . . 723 First Labour Party Administration, New Zealand’s (Nov. 27, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2891 First Liquid-Fueled Rocket, Launching of the (Mar. 16, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2099 First Major League Baseball All-Star Game (July 6, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2667 First Major Socialist Movement, Canada’s (Aug. 1, 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2581 First Major U.S. Shopping Center Opens (1922) . . . 1751 First Manned Bathysphere Dives (June 6, 1930-Aug. 27, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . 2427 First Mass Spectrograph and Discovers Isotopes, Aston Builds the (1919). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1455 First Meeting of the Duma (May 10-July 21, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526 First Meeting of the Vienna Circle (1922) . . . . . . 1754 First Minimum Wage Law in the United States, Massachusetts Adopts the (June 4, 1912) . . . . . 980 First Miss America Is Crowned (Sept. 8, 1921) . . . 1730 First Modern Polygraph, Larson Constructs the (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1671 First Morris Plan Bank Opens (Apr. 5, 1910) . . . . . 827 First Neanderthal Skeleton, Boule Reconstructs the (Dec., 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710 First Nickelodeon Film Theater Opens (June, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 First Nobel Prizes Are Awarded (Dec. 10, 1901) . . . 62 First Nonstop Transatlantic Flight, Lindbergh Makes the (May 20, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2189 First Paris Salons, Stein Holds Her (Fall, 1905) . . . 443 First Practical Gyrocompass, Anschütz-Kaempfe Invents the (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 First Practical Photoelectric Cell Is Developed (1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 First Primary Election Law, Wisconsin Adopts the (May 23, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 First Pulitzer Prizes Are Awarded (June, 1917) . . . 1363 First Razor with a Disposable Blade, Gillette Markets the (Fall, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 First Record for RCA Victor, Rodgers Cuts His (Aug. 4, 1927). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2196 First Rose Bowl Game (Jan. 1, 1902) . . . . . . . . . 124 First Self-Service Grocery Store Opens (Sept. 11, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1288
xliii
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Formation of the American Friends Service Committee (Apr. 30, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356 Formation of the American Legion (Mar. 15-May 9, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1493 Formation of the American Professional Football Association (Aug. 20-Sept. 17, 1920) . . . . . . 1638 Formation of the Blue Four Advances Abstract Painting (Mar. 31, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1915 Formation of the British Commonwealth of Nations (Dec. 11, 1931). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2517 Formation of the Plunket Society (May 14, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 Formation of the Triple Entente (Aug. 31, 1907) . . . 616 Formation of the Union of South Africa (May 31, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830 Fortune Magazine, Luce Founds (Feb., 1930) . . . . 2403 Forty-Four, Number of U.S. Automakers Falls to (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2158 Forty-Second Street Defines 1930’s Film Musicals (1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2608 47 Workshop at Harvard, Baker Establishes the (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362 Forward Pass, American College Football Allows the (Jan. 12, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 Fossil, Dart Discovers the First Australopithecine (Summer, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1938 Fossilized Dinosaur Eggs, Andrews Expedition Discovers the First (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1798 Founding of Industrial Workers of the World (June 27, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 Founding of International Harvester Company (Aug. 12, 1902). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Founding of the International Sanitary Bureau (Dec. 2-5, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Founding of the Monist League Leads to the Eugenics Movement (Jan. 11, 1906) . . . . . . . . 504 Founding of the Niagara Movement (July 11, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 Founding of the Weekly Indian Opinion (June 6, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Founding of the World Christian Fundamentals Association (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1458 Fourth Symphony, Ives Completes His (1916) . . . 1247 Fourth Symphony, Sibelius Conducts the Premiere of His (Apr. 3, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876 France, Collapse of (May 10-June 22, 1940) . . . . 3250 France, First Tour de (July 1, 1903). . . . . . . . . . 242 France Executes Mata Hari (Oct. 15, 1917) . . . . . 1383 France Nationalizes Its Banking and Industrial Sectors (1936-1946) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2899 France Occupies the Ruhr (Jan. 11, 1923-Aug. 16, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . 1826
Flight Across the English Channel, First Airplane (July 25, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769 Flight by a Woman, First Transatlantic Solo (May 20-21, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2566 Flood, Yellow River (July, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . 2509 Florey and Chain Develop Penicillin as an Antibiotic (May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3243 Fluorescent Lighting Is Introduced (Nov. 23, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2963 Flying Doctor Service, Australia Begins the (May 15, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2238 FM Radio Broadcasting, Armstrong Demonstrates (Nov. 5, 1935). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2885 Fokine’s Les Sylphides Introduces Abstract Ballet (June 2, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766 Fokker Aircraft Are Equipped with Machine Guns (May, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1202 Folk Songs, Bartók and Kodály Collect Hungarian (1904-1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Food, Steenbock Discovers Sunlight Increases Vitamin D in (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1887 Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act, Pure (June 30, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 Food and Drug Administration Is Established, U.S. (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2164 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, Federal (June 25, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3122 Food Stamp Program Begins, First U.S. (May 16, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3190 Foods, Birdseye Invents Quick-Frozen (1917) . . . 1306 Football Allows the Forward Pass, American College (Jan. 12, 1906). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 Football Association, Formation of the American Professional (Aug. 20-Sept. 17, 1920) . . . . . . 1638 Forbes Magazine Is Founded (Sept. 15, 1917) . . . 1374 Ford Announces a Five-Dollar, Eight-Hour Workday (Jan. 5, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110 Ford Assembly Line Begins Operation (Mar. 1, 1913). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1063 Ford Defines the Western in Stagecoach (1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3152 Ford Foundation Is Established (Jan. 1, 1936). . . . 2906 Forest Service, Pinchot Becomes Head of the U.S. (Jan. 3, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 Forests, Marshall Writes The People’s (Sept., 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2674 Formal Systems, Gödel Proves IncompletenessInconsistency for (July, 1929-July, 1931) . . . . 2317 Formation of Alcoholics Anonymous (June 10, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2843 Formation of Les Six (Jan. 16, 1920) . . . . . . . . 1601 Formation of Qantas Airlines (Nov. 20, 1920) . . . 1652
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Keyword List of Contents Galaxy, Shapley Proves the Sun Is Distant from the Center of Our (Jan. 8, 1918) . . . . . . . . . 1419 Galaxy, Slipher Obtains the Spectrum of a Distant (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935 Gallipoli Campaign Falters (Feb. 19, 1915-Jan. 9, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . 1180 Gambling, Nevada Legalizes (Mar. 19, 1931) . . . . 2483 Game, First Major League Baseball All-Star (July 6, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2667 Game, First Rose Bowl (Jan. 1, 1902) . . . . . . . . 124 Game Reserve Is Created, Serengeti (Nov. 19, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2343 Games, First Winter Olympic (Jan. 25-Feb. 5, 1924). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903 Gamow Explains Radioactive Alpha Decay with Quantum Tunneling (Summer, 1928). . . . . . . 2242 Gance’s Napoléon Revolutionizes Filmmaking Techniques (1925-1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2001 Gandhi Leads a Noncooperation Movement (1920-1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1583 Gandhi Leads the Salt March (Mar. 12-Apr. 5, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2410 Gangster Films Become Popular (1931-1932). . . . 2467 Garbage Industry Introduces Reforms (1910’s). . . . 784 García Lorca’s Poet in New York Is Published (1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3226 Gas, Midgley Introduces Dichlorodifluoromethane as a Refrigerant (Apr., 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . 2418 Gas Act, Natural (June 21, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . 3116 Gas Against Allied Troops, Germany Uses Poison (Apr. 22-27, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192 Gaudí Completes the Casa Milá Apartment House (1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800 Geiger and Rutherford Develop a Radiation Counter (Feb. 11, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664 Geitel Study Radioactivity, Elster and (Early 20th cent.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Gene-Chromosome Theory, Morgan Develops the (1908-1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648 “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype,” Johannsen Coins the Terms (1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726 Gene Linkage, Bateson and Punnett Observe (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 General and Industrial Management, Fayol Publishes (July, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272 General Is Released, Keaton’s The (Dec., 1926) . . . 2142 General Motors Institutes a Multidivisional Structure (Dec. 29, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1659 General Relativity, Einstein Completes His Theory of (Nov. 25, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1230 General Relativity, Schwarzschild Solves the Equations of (1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250
France Sign the San Remo Agreement, Great Britain and (Apr. 26, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1621 Franklin D. Roosevelt Is Elected U.S. President (Nov. 8, 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2596 Fréchet Introduces the Concept of Abstract Space (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 Freedom Struggle, Defense of India Act Impedes the (Mar., 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1183 Freeway Opens in Los Angeles, Arroyo Seco (Dec. 30, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3301 French Communist Party, Rise of the (Dec. 29, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1663 French Expedition at Susa Discovers Hammurabi’s Code (Jan., 1902). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 French Socialist Politics, L’Humanité Gives Voice to (Apr. 18, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 Freon, Du Pont Introduces (Dec., 1930) . . . . . . . 2454 Frequency Theory of Probability, Mises Develops the (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1463 Freud Advances the Psychoanalytic Method (1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 Friends Service Committee, Formation of the American (Apr. 30, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1356 Frisch Discovers That Bees Communicate Through Body Movements (Spring, 1919) . . . . . . . . . 1495 Fronts in Atmospheric Circulation, Bjerknes Discovers (1919-1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1474 Frozen Foods, Birdseye Invents Quick- (1917) . . . 1306 FTC Control over Advertising, Wheeler-Lea Act Broadens (Mar. 21, 1938). . . . . . . . . . . . . 3101 Fuller Brush Company Is Incorporated (1913) . . . 1028 Functionalist Architecture, Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye Exemplifies (Spring, 1931). . . . . . . . 2486 Functions of the Executive, Barnard Publishes The (1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3066 Fundamentals Association, Founding of the World Christian (1919). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1458 Funding, Pittman-Robertson Act Provides State Wildlife (Sept. 2, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3050 Future of Electricity,” Steinmetz Warns of Pollution in “The (1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 Futurist Manifesto, Marinetti Issues the (Feb. 20, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747 Galactic Distances, Leavitt Discovers How to Measure (Mar. 3, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959 Galactic Spectra, Slipher Presents Evidence of Redshifts in (Early 1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1546 Galaxies Are Independent Systems, Hubble Shows That Other (Dec., 1924). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1953 Galaxy, Kapteyn Discovers Two Star Streams in the (1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue Premieres in New York (Feb. 12, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909 Ghost Sonata Influences Modern Theater and Drama, The (Jan. 21, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . 654 Giant and Dwarf Stellar Divisions, Hertzsprung Describes (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 Gibbon Develops the Heart-Lung Machine (Fall, 1934-May 6, 1953) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2773 Gide’s The Counterfeiters Questions Moral Absolutes (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1972 Gila Wilderness Area Is Designated (June 3, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1931 Gilbreth Publishes The Psychology of Management (Mar., 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118 Gillette Markets the First Razor with a Disposable Blade (Fall, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 Gilson’s Spirit of Medieval Philosophy Reassesses Christian Thought (1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2527 Glass Works Trademarks Pyrex, Corning (May 20, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1209 Gödel Proves Incompleteness-Inconsistency for Formal Systems (July, 1929-July, 1931) . . . . . 2317 Gold Rush, Chaplin Produces His Masterpiece The (June 26, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2050 Golden Age, Hollywood Enters Its (1930’s). . . . . 2364 Golden Age of American Science Fiction (1938-1950) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3079 Golden Gate Bridge Opens (May 27, 1937) . . . . . 3022 Golf, First Grand Slam of (Sept. 27, 1930) . . . . . 2452 Gone with the Wind Premieres (Dec. 15, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3223 Good Neighbor Policy (Mar. 4, 1933-1945) . . . . . 2644 Good Soldier Švejk Reflects Postwar Disillusionment, Hašek’s The (1921-1923). . . . 1695 Goodman Begins His Let’s Dance Broadcasts (Dec. 1, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2790 Goods in Response to Hyperinflation, Germans Barter for (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1814 Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control (1904-1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 Government Abuses of Minority Rights in India, Muslim League Protests (Dec. 30, 1906) . . . . . 564 Government Management of the Economy, Keynes Proposes (Feb. 4, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2919 Government to Southern Rhodesia, Great Britain Grants Self- (Oct. 1, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1862 Governor in the United States, First Female (Jan. 5, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2014 Gramophone and Typewriter Company, Caruso Records for the (Apr. 11, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . 146 Grand Canyon from Mining Claims, Roosevelt Withdraws the (Jan. 11, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . 651
General Strike, British Workers Launch (May 3-12, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2105 General Strike, Winnipeg (May 15-June 26, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1509 Genetics, Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population (1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638 Geneva Protocol Is Signed (June 17, 1925) . . . . . 2047 Genocide Begins, Armenian (Apr. 24, 1915) . . . . 1195 “Genotype,” and “Phenotype,” Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” (1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726 Genre, Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage Launches the Western (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925 Gentlemen’s Agreement (Mar. 14, 1907) . . . . . . . 603 Geothermal Power Plant Begins Operation, First (1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025 German Artists Found the Bauhaus (1919) . . . . . 1460 German Economy, Hindenburg Program Militarizes the (Aug., 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . 1279 German Expedition Discovers the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Apr., 1925-May, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . 2030 German Torpedoes Sink the Lusitania (May 7, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206 German Troops March into the Rhineland (Mar. 7, 1936). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2927 German U-Boat Is Launched, First (Aug. 4, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 Germans Barter for Goods in Response to Hyperinflation (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1814 Germans Revolt and Form a Socialist Government (1918-1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1409 Germany, Hitler Comes to Power in (Jan. 30, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2625 Germany, Plebiscite Splits Upper Silesia Between Poland and (Mar. 20, 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1719 Germany and Japan Sign the Anti-Comintern Pact (Nov. 25, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2969 Germany Attempts to Restructure the Versailles Treaty (Oct., 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2069 Germany Begins Extensive Submarine Warfare (Sept. 22, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1143 Germany Hosts the Degenerate Art Exhibition, Nazi (July 19-Nov. 30, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . 3040 Germany Hosts the Summer Olympics (Aug. 1-16, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2948 Germany Invades Norway (Apr. 9, 1940) . . . . . . 3240 Germany Invades Poland (Sept. 1, 1939) . . . . . . 3209 Germany Launches the First Zeppelin Bombing Raids (Jan. 19, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174 Germany Uses Poison Gas Against Allied Troops (Apr. 22-27, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192 Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess Opens in New York (Oct. 10, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2871
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Keyword List of Contents Grocery Store Opens, First Self-Service (Sept. 11, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1288 Group of Seven Exhibition (May 7, 1920). . . . . . 1628 Group Theatre Flourishes, The (1931-1941). . . . . 2474 Guernica, Picasso Exhibits (July, 1937) . . . . . . . 3034 Guernica, Raids on (Apr. 26, 1937) . . . . . . . . . 3014 Guns, Fokker Aircraft Are Equipped with Machine (May, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1202 Gutenberg Discovers Earth’s Mantle-Outer Core Boundary (1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031 Guthrie’s Populist Songs Reflect the Depression-Era United States (1930’s) . . . . . . 2356 Gypsies Are Exterminated in Nazi Death Camps (May 16, 1940-1944) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3253 Gyrocompass, Anschütz-Kaempfe Invents the First Practical (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Grand Coulee Dam, Work Begins on the (Sept. 8, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2678 Grand Ole Opry, WSM Launches The (Nov. 28, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2082 Grand Prix Auto Race, First (June 26-27, 1906) . . . 529 Grand Slam of Golf, First (Sept. 27, 1930) . . . . . 2452 Grand Slam of Tennis, First (Sept. 17, 1938) . . . . 3127 Grapes of Wrath Portrays Depression-Era America, The (Apr., 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3180 Gravitation Is Confirmed over Newton’s Theory, Einstein’s Theory of (Nov. 6, 1919) . . . . . . . 1541 Grazing Act, Taylor (June 28, 1934). . . . . . . . . 2764 Great Blood Purge (June 30-July 2, 1934) . . . . . . 2767 Great Britain, Women’s Institutes Are Founded in (Sept. 11, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220 Great Britain and France Sign the San Remo Agreement (Apr. 26, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1621 Great Britain Establishes Unemployment Benefits (1920-1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1590 Great Britain Grants Self-Government to Southern Rhodesia (Oct. 1, 1923). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1862 Great Britain Lowers the Voting Age for Women (July 2, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2246 Great Depression (Oct. 29, 1929-1939) . . . . . . . 2335 Great Famine Strikes the Soviet Union (Dec., 1932-Spring, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2599 Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald Captures the Roaring Twenties in The (Apr. 10, 1925) . . . . . . . . . 2033 Great Iraqi Revolt (May-Nov., 1920) . . . . . . . . 1625 Great Northern Migration (1910-1930) . . . . . . . . 818 “Great Paradox,” Russell Discovers the (June 16, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Great Plains, Dust Bowl Devastates the (1934-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2730 Great Train Robbery Introduces New Editing Techniques, The (Fall, 1903). . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Great Uprising of Arabs in Palestine (Apr. 15, 1936-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2935 Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere, Japan Announces the (Aug., 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . 3272 Greco-Turkish War (May 19, 1919-Sept. 11, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . 1511 Greece Invades Bulgaria (Oct. 23, 1925) . . . . . . 2076 Greed Premieres, Von Stroheim’s Silent Masterpiece (Dec. 4, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1956 Green Table Premieres, Jooss’s Antiwar Dance The (July 3, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2569 Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage Launches the Western Genre (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925 Griffith Releases The Birth of a Nation (Mar. 3, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1188 Grijns Suggests the Cause of Beriberi (1901) . . . . . 14
Haber Develops Process for Extracting Nitrogen from the Air (1904-1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 Hague Peace Conference, Second (Oct. 18, 1907) . . . 625 Hahn Splits the Uranium Atom (Dec., 1938) . . . . 3143 Haile Selassie Is Crowned Emperor of Ethiopia (Apr. 2, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2421 Haldane Develops Stage Decompression for Deep-Sea Divers (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 Hale Discovers Strong Magnetic Fields in Sunspots (June 26, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686 Hale Establishes Mount Wilson Observatory (1903-1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Halibut Treaty (Oct. 21, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1947 Halifax Explosion (Dec. 6, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . 1397 Hall of Fame, Dedication of the Baseball (June 12, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3193 Hallelujah Is the First Important Black Musical Film (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2273 Hamilton Publishes Industrial Poisons in the United States (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1976 Hammurabi’s Code, French Expedition at Susa Discovers (Jan., 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Handy Ushers in the Commercial Blues Era (1910’s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786 Harbour Bridge, Dedication of the Sydney (Mar. 19, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2549 Hard-Boiled Detective Novel, The Maltese Falcon Introduces the (Sept., 1929-Jan., 1930) . . . . . . 2323 Harding Administration, Scandals of the (1921-1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1698 Harding Eulogizes the Unknown Soldier (Nov. 11, 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1734 Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics (1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638 Harlem Renaissance (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1555
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Hertzsprung Describes Giant and Dwarf Stellar Divisions (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 Hertzsprung Notes Relationship Between Star Color and Luminosity (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . 369 Hertzsprung Uses Cepheid Variables to Calculate Distances to the Stars (1913) . . . . . . . . . . . 1034 Herzegovina, Austria Annexes Bosnia and (Oct. 7, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697 Hess Discovers Cosmic Rays (Aug. 7 and 12, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995 Hetch Hetchy Valley, U.S. Congress Approves a Dam in (Dec. 19, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095 Hewitt Invents the Mercury-Vapor Lamp (1901). . . . 17 High-Definition Television Program, BBC Airs the First (Nov. 2, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2956 Hindemith Advances Music as a Social Activity (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2360 Hindenburg Dirigible Bursts into Flames (May 6, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3017 Hindenburg Program Militarizes the German Economy (Aug., 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1279 Historiography, Rise of Cultural Relativism Revises (Summer, 1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1434 History, Meinecke Advances the Analytic Method in (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 Hitchcock, Lone Wolf v. (Jan. 5, 1903) . . . . . . . . 217 Hitchcock Becomes Synonymous with Suspense (1934-1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2722 Hitler Comes to Power in Germany (Jan. 30, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2625 Hobble Skirt Becomes the Rage, Poiret’s (Spring, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820 Hobson Critiques Imperialism (1902) . . . . . . . . . 91 Hoffmann and Moser Found the Wiener Werkstätte (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Hoffmann Designs the Palais Stoclet (1905) . . . . . 372 Hofmann Synthesizes the Potent Psychedelic Drug LSD-25 (1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3072 Holiday Begins Her Recording Career, Billie (1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2605 Hollywood Enters Its Golden Age (1930’s) . . . . . 2364 Hollywood Filmmaking, Studio System Dominates (1930’s-1940’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2376 Holmes Film Series Begins, Sherlock (Mar. 31, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3176 Home Ownership, Fannie Mae Promotes (Feb. 10, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3090 Home Rule and Northern Ireland Is Created, Ireland Is Granted (1920-1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1578 Home Rule Bill, Irish (Sept. 15, 1914). . . . . . . . 1140 Homeland in Palestine, Balfour Declaration Supports a Jewish (Nov. 2, 1917). . . . . . . . . 1389
Harriet Monroe Founds Poetry Magazine (Oct., 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001 Hartmann Discovers the First Evidence of Interstellar Matter (1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 Harvard, Baker Establishes the 47 Workshop at (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362 Harvard University Founds a Business School (Apr. 8, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674 Harvester Company, Founding of International (Aug. 12, 1902). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk Reflects Postwar Disillusionment (1921-1923) . . . . . . . . . . . 1695 Hashimoto Founds the Nissan Motor Company (1911). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 Hatters Decision Constrains Secondary Boycotts, Danbury (Feb. 3, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661 Hawk’s Nest Tunnel Construction Leads to Disaster (Mar. 31, 1930-1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2414 Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, Hoover Signs the (June 17, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2430 Hawthorne Studies Examine Human Productivity (1924-1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1896 Health Service Is Established, U.S. Public (Aug. 14, 1912). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998 Heart-Lung Machine, Gibbon Develops the (Fall, 1934-May 6, 1953) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2773 Heart of Darkness Critiques Imperialism (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Heaviside Theorize Existence of the Ionosphere, Kennelly and (Mar. and June, 1902) . . . . . . . . 134 Heavyweight Boxing Champion, First Black (Dec. 26, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719 Heidegger Publishes Being and Time (1927) . . . . 2146 Heisenberg Articulates the Uncertainty Principle (Feb.-Mar., 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2172 Help Literature, Carnegie Redefines Self(Nov., 1936). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2953 Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises Speaks for the Lost Generation (Oct. 22, 1926) . . . . . . . . . 2139 Henry James’s The Ambassadors Is Published (Nov., 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 Henson Reach the North Pole, Peary and (Apr. 6, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 Heparin, McLean Discovers the Natural Anticoagulant (Sept., 1915-Feb., 1916) . . . . . 1215 Hercule Poirot, The Mysterious Affair at Styles Introduces (1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1571 Hereditary Traits, Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry (Dec., 1902) . . . . . . . . . 180 Heredity, Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 Herero and Nama Revolts (Jan., 1904-1905) . . . . . 317
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Keyword List of Contents Huxley’s Brave New World Forecasts Technological Totalitarianism (Winter, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . 2601 Hymnal, Publication of The English (1906). . . . . . 492 Hyperinflation, Germans Barter for Goods in Response to (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1814
Hooker Telescope Is Installed on Mount Wilson (Nov., 1917). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1385 Hoover Becomes the Director of the U.S. Bureau of Investigation (Dec. 10, 1924) . . . . . . . . . 1959 Hoover Campaign, Smith- (1928) . . . . . . . . . . 2219 Hoover Signs the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act (June 17, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2430 Hopkins Announces the Discovery of Tryptophan (1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Hopkins Postulates the Presence of Vitamins (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484 Hormone Insulin, Banting and Best Isolate the (1921-1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1689 Hormones, Bayliss and Starling Establish the Role of (Apr.-June, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Horror, Karloff and Lugosi Become Kings of (1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2461 Horthy Consolidates Power in Hungary (Nov. 16, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1544 Hospital Care, Baylor Plan Introduces Prepaid (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2269 Hot Five, Armstrong Records with the (Nov., 1925). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2079 Hours Law, U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum (Apr. 17, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 Howard Hughes Builds a Business Empire (1924-1976) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1899 HUAC Is Established (May 26, 1938) . . . . . . . . 3111 Hubble Confirms the Expanding Universe (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2276 Hubble Determines the Distance to the Andromeda Nebula (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1877 Hubble Shows That Other Galaxies Are Independent Systems (Dec., 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1953 Hughes Builds a Business Empire, Howard (1924-1976) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1899 Hughes Revolutionizes Oil Well Drilling (1908) . . . 642 Human Blood Groups, Discovery of (1901) . . . . . . 10 Human Electroencephalogram, Berger Studies the (1929-1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2285 Human Productivity, Hawthorne Studies Examine (1924-1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1896 Humanité Gives Voice to French Socialist Politics, L’ (Apr. 18, 1904). . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 Hundred Days, The (Mar. 9-June 16, 1933) . . . . . 2646 Hungarian Folk Songs, Bartók and Kodály Collect (1904-1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Hungary, Horthy Consolidates Power in (Nov. 16, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1544 Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act, Migratory Bird (Mar. 16, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2742 Husserl Advances Phenomenology (1913) . . . . . 1037
IBM Changes Its Name and Product Line (Feb., 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1905 Ideals in Rings, Noether Publishes the Theory of (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1677 Ilinden Uprising in Macedonia (Aug. 2-Sept., 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Imagist Movement, Pound Announces the Birth of the (Spring, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965 Immigration Act of 1917 (Feb. 5, 1917) . . . . . . . 1336 Immigration Act of 1924 (May 26, 1924) . . . . . . 1922 Immunity Research, Ehrlich and Metchnikoff Conduct Pioneering (Nov.-Dec., 1908) . . . . . . 699 Immunization Against Typhus, Zinsser Develops an (1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2386 Imperial Russia, Pogroms in (1903-1906) . . . . . . 210 Imperialism, Heart of Darkness Critiques (1902) . . . 87 Imperialism, Hobson Critiques (1902) . . . . . . . . . 91 Income Tax Is Authorized, U.S. Federal (Feb. 25, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059 Incompleteness-Inconsistency for Formal Systems, Gödel Proves (July, 1929-July, 1931) . . . . . . 2317 Inconsistency for Formal Systems, Gödel Proves Incompleteness- (July, 1929-July, 1931) . . . . . 2317 Independence, Baltic States Gain (Feb. 24, 1918-Aug. 11, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . 1425 Independence, Finland Gains (Dec. 6, 1917-Oct. 14, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . 1399 Independence, Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes Declares (Dec. 1, 1918). . . . . . . . . 1450 Independence, Poland Secures (Mar. 18, 1921) . . . 1715 Independence, Ukrainian Nationalists Struggle for (1917-1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1321 Independence Act, Philippine (Mar. 24, 1934) . . . 2745 Independence from Colombia, Panama Declares (Nov. 3, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Independent, Norway Becomes (Oct. 26, 1905) . . . 450 India, Britain Separates Burma from (Apr. 1, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3012 India, Muslim League Protests Government Abuses of Minority Rights in (Dec. 30, 1906) . . . . . . . 564 India, Plague Kills 1.2 Million in (1907) . . . . . . . 584 India Act Impedes the Freedom Struggle, Defense of (Mar., 1915). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1183 India Signs the Delhi Pact (Mar. 5, 1931) . . . . . . 2480 India Undergo a Decade of Change, Women’s Rights in (1925-1935). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2004
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Insular Cases (May 27, 1901). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Insulin, Banting and Best Isolate the Hormone (1921-1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1689 Insurance Industry, Armstrong Committee Examines the (Aug.-Dec., 1905) . . . . . . . . . . 436 Insurgency, Republican Congressional (Mar., 1909-1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 Intentional Radio Telescope, Reber Builds the First (June-Sept., 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3028 Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace (Dec., 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2971 Interchangeable Parts, Cadillac Demonstrates (Feb. 29, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670 Internal Constitution of the Stars, Eddington Publishes The (July, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2119 International Agreement Targets White Slave Trade (May 18, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 International Association for the Prevention of Smoke Is Founded (June 27-29, 1906). . . . . . . 531 International Bible Students Association Becomes Jehovah’s Witnesses (July 26, 1931) . . . . . . . 2512 International Congress of Women (Apr. 28-May 1, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199 International Harvester Company, Founding of (Aug. 12, 1902). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 International Justice Is Established, Permanent Court of (Dec. 13, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1657 International Labor Organization Is Established (June 28, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1517 International Opium Convention Is Signed (Feb. 23, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956 International Sanitary Bureau, Founding of the (Dec. 2-5, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 International Slavery Convention, League of Nations Adopts (Sept. 25, 1926) . . . . . . . . . 2135 Interstellar Matter, Hartmann Discovers the First Evidence of (1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 Intervention in Nicaragua, U.S. (Aug. 4-Nov., 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991 Interwar Cynicism, Céline’s Journey to the End of the Night Expresses (1932). . . . . . . . . . . 2524 Introduction of the First Injectable Anesthetic (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 Intuitionist Foundations of Mathematics, Brouwer Develops (1904-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Invades and Annexes Albania, Italy (Apr. 7, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3184 Invades British Somaliland, Italy (Aug. 3, 1940-Mar., 1941) . . . . . . . . . . . . 3274 Invades Bulgaria, Greece (Oct. 23, 1925) . . . . . . 2076 Invades Egypt, Italy (Sept. 13, 1940) . . . . . . . . 3289 Invades Norway, Germany (Apr. 9, 1940). . . . . . 3240
Indian Citizenship Act (June 2, 1924) . . . . . . . . 1929 Indian Opinion, Founding of the Weekly (June 6, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Indian Reorganization Act (June 18, 1934) . . . . . 2757 Indiana Dunes Are Preserved as a State Park (May, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2182 Indianapolis Motor Speedway, First Auto Race at the (Aug. 19, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776 Indians, First Conference of the Society of American (Oct. 12, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005 Indians at Amritsar, British Soldiers Massacre (Apr. 13, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1497 India’s Untouchables, Poona Pact Grants Representation to (Sept. 25, 1932) . . . . . . . . 2586 Indochinese Ports, Japan Occupies (Sept., 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3279 Industrial Design, Loewy Pioneers American (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2279 Industrial Organizations Is Founded, Congress of (Nov. 10, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2888 Industrial Poisons in the United States, Hamilton Publishes (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1976 Industrial Reconstruction Institute, Italy Creates the (Jan. 23, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2622 Industrial Recovery Act, Roosevelt Signs the National (June 16, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2663 Industrial Sectors, France Nationalizes Its Banking and (1936-1946) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2899 Industrial Workers of the World, Founding of (June 27, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 Industries Board, United States Establishes the War (July 8, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371 Industry with Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, Callendar Connects (1938) . . . . . . . 3069 Influenza Epidemic Strikes (Mar., 1918-1919) . . . 1428 Injectable Anesthetic, Introduction of the First (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 Inklings, Lewis Convenes the (Fall, 1933-Oct. 20, 1949) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2681 Inner Core, Lehmann Discovers the Earth’s (1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2893 Insecticidal Properties of DDT, Müller Discovers the (1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3156 Insecticide Use, American Farmers Increase (1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1303 Insemination, Ivanov Develops Artificial (1901). . . . 23 Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat (June 30, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 Institute of Accountants Is Founded, American (Sept. 19, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1292 Institutes Are Founded in Great Britain, Women’s (Sept. 11, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220
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Keyword List of Contents Ives Completes His Fourth Symphony (1916) . . . . 1247 Izaak Walton League Is Formed (Jan., 1922) . . . . 1760
Invades Poland, Germany (Sept. 1, 1939) . . . . . . 3209 Invention of the Slug Rejector Spreads Use of Vending Machines (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . 2368 Invents Bakelite, Baekeland (1905-1907) . . . . . . . 385 Invents Cellophane, Brandenberger (1904-1912) . . . 314 Invents Nylon, Carothers (Feb., 1935-Oct. 27, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2816 Invents the Mercury-Vapor Lamp, Hewitt (1901) . . . 17 Invents the Ultramicroscope, Zsigmondy (1902) . . . 110 Investigation, Hoover Becomes the Director of the U.S. Bureau of (Dec. 10, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . 1959 Investigation Begins Operation, Bureau of (July 26, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692 Investment Scheme, Ponzi Cheats Thousands in an (1919-1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1470 Ionosphere, Kennelly and Heaviside Theorize Existence of the (Mar. and June, 1902) . . . . . . 134 Iran, Pahlavi Shahs Attempt to Modernize (1925-1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2007 Iraqi Army Slaughters Assyrian Christians (Aug. 11-13, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2672 Iraqi Revolt, Great (May-Nov., 1920) . . . . . . . . 1625 Ireland Is Created, Ireland Is Granted Home Rule and Northern (1920-1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1578 Ireland Is Granted Home Rule and Northern Ireland Is Created (1920-1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1578 Irish Audiences, The Playboy of the Western World Offends (Jan. 26, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 Irish Dáil, De Valera Is Elected President of the (Mar. 9, 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2547 Irish Home Rule Bill (Sept. 15, 1914) . . . . . . . . 1140 Iron for Red Blood Cells, Whipple Discovers Importance of (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1990 Islam Is Founded, Nation of (Summer, 1930) . . . . 2434 Islands, Canada Claims the Arctic (July 1, 1901) . . . 54 Isotopes, Aston Builds the First Mass Spectrograph and Discovers (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1455 Isotopes, Thomson Confirms the Possibility of (1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811 Italy, League of Nations Applies Economic Sanctions Against (Oct. 11, 1935-July 15, 1936) . . . . . . 2875 Italy, Mussolini Seizes Dictatorial Powers in (1925-1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1997 Italy Annexes Libya (1911-1912) . . . . . . . . . . . 856 Italy Creates the Industrial Reconstruction Institute (Jan. 23, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2622 Italy Invades and Annexes Albania (Apr. 7, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3184 Italy Invades British Somaliland (Aug. 3, 1940-Mar., 1941) . . . . . . . . . . . . 3274 Italy Invades Egypt (Sept. 13, 1940). . . . . . . . . 3289 Ivanov Develops Artificial Insemination (1901) . . . . 23
James Proposes a Rational Basis for Religious Experience (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 James’s Pragmatism, Publication of (1907). . . . . . 591 James’s The Ambassadors Is Published, Henry (Nov., 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 Jansky’s Experiments Lead to Radio Astronomy (1930-1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2394 Jantzen Popularizes the One-Piece Bathing Suit (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1558 Japan, China Declares War on (July 7, 1937) . . . . 3037 Japan, Earthquake Rocks (Sept. 1, 1923) . . . . . . 1855 Japan Announces the Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere (Aug., 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3272 Japan into World Markets, Anglo-Japanese Treaty Brings (Jan. 30, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Japan Introduces Suffrage for Men (May 5, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2042 Japan Occupies Indochinese Ports (Sept., 1940). . . 3279 Japan Protests Segregation of Japanese in California Schools (Oct. 25, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555 Japan Renounces Disarmament Treaties (Dec. 29, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2797 Japan Sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, Germany and (Nov. 25, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2969 Japan Withdraws from the League of Nations (Feb. 24, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2628 Japanese American Citizens League Is Founded (Aug. 29, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2442 Japanese Annexation of Korea (Aug. 22, 1910) . . . 838 Japanese in California Schools, Japan Protests Segregation of (Oct. 25, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . 555 Japanese War, Russo(Feb. 9, 1904-Sept. 5, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Jardin aux lilas Premieres in London, Tudor’s (Jan. 26, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2908 Jazz Singer Premieres as the First “Talkie,” The (Oct. 6, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2202 Jehovah’s Witnesses, International Bible Students Association Becomes (July 26, 1931) . . . . . . 2512 Jewish Homeland in Palestine, Balfour Declaration Supports a (Nov. 2, 1917). . . . . . . . . . . . . 1389 Jewish Supreme Court Justice, Brandeis Becomes the First (June 5, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269 Jews, Nazi Extermination of the (1939-1945) . . . . 3159 Joan of Arc, Canonization of (May 16, 1920) . . . . 1630 Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype” (1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726 John Muir Trail Is Completed (1938) . . . . . . . . 3076 Johnson Duplicates Disc Recordings (1902) . . . . . . 96
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Klan Spreads Terror in the American South, Ku Klux (1921-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1705 Kodak Is Found to Be in Violation of the Sherman Act, Eastman (Feb. 21, 1927). . . . . . 2175 Kodály Collect Hungarian Folk Songs, Bartók and (1904-1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Koestler Examines the Dark Side of Communism (Dec., 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3298 Korea, Japanese Annexation of (Aug. 22, 1910) . . . 838 Kornei Make the First Xerographic Photocopy, Carlson and (Oct. 22, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . 3134 Kowalska, Death of Maria Faustina (Oct. 5, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3133 Krebs Describes the Citric Acid Cycle (Mar., 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3005 Kristallnacht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3141 Ku Klux Klan Spreads Terror in the American South (1921-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1705 Kuleshov and Pudovkin Introduce Montage to Filmmaking (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2148
Jones Act of 1917 (Mar. 2, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . 1347 Jooss’s Antiwar Dance The Green Table Premieres (July 3, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2569 Journey to the End of the Night Expresses Interwar Cynicism, Céline’s (1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2524 Joyce’s Ulysses Redefines Modern Fiction (Feb. 2, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1767 Jung Develops Analytical Psychology (1930’s) . . . 2370 Jung Publishes The Psychology of the Unconscious (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 928 Jungle, Sinclair Publishes The (Feb., 1906). . . . . . 509 Justice, Brandeis Becomes the First Jewish Supreme Court (June 5, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . 1269 Justice Is Established, Permanent Court of International (Dec. 13, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . 1657 Jutland, Battle of (May 31-June 1, 1916) . . . . . . 1266 Kahn Develops a Modified Syphilis Test (1923) . . . 1817 Kallet and Schlink Publish 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs (1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2612 Kandinsky Publishes His Theory of Abstract Art (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932 Kapitsa Explains Superfluidity (Jan., 1938) . . . . . 3083 Kapteyn Discovers Two Star Streams in the Galaxy (1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Karloff and Lugosi Become Kings of Horror (1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2461 Keaton’s The General Is Released (Dec., 1926) . . . 2142 Kellogg-Briand Pact (Aug. 27, 1928) . . . . . . . . 2252 Kennelly and Heaviside Theorize Existence of the Ionosphere (Mar. and June, 1902) . . . . . . . . . 134 Keynes Proposes Government Management of the Economy (Feb. 4, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2919 Kibbutz Is Established in Palestine, First (1909) . . . 723 Kidney, Abel Develops the First Artificial (1912-1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 942 Kienthal Conferences, Zimmerwald and (Sept. 5-8, 1915, and Apr. 24-30, 1916) . . . . . 1217 King Era in Canada (1921-1948) . . . . . . . . . . 1709 King Returns to Power in Canada (Oct. 23, 1935-Nov. 15, 1948) . . . . . . . . . . 2879 Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes Declares Independence (Dec. 1, 1918) . . . . . . 1450 Kings Canyon, Adams Lobbies Congress to Preserve (Jan., 1937-Feb., 1940) . . . . . . . . . 2992 Kings of Horror, Karloff and Lugosi Become (1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2461 Kings River Dams, Federal Power Commission Disallows (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1810 Kipping Discovers Silicones (1901-1904) . . . . . . . 26 KKK Violence, Oklahoma Imposes Martial Law in Response to (June 26, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . 1850
La Guardia Act Strengthens Labor Organizations, Norris- (Mar. 23, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2552 La Revue nègre, Baker Dances in (Oct.-Dec., 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2073 Labor, Creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and (Feb. 14, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . 219 Labor, Perkins Becomes First Woman Secretary of (Feb. 28, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2637 Labor Act Provides for Mediation of Labor Disputes, Railway (May 20, 1926) . . . . . . . . 2115 Labor Code, Mexican Constitution Establishes an Advanced (Jan. 31, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1332 Labor Disputes, Railway Labor Act Provides for Mediation of (May 20, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . 2115 Labor Organization Is Established, International (June 28, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1517 Labor Organizations, Norris-La Guardia Act Strengthens (Mar. 23, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . 2552 Labor Standards Act, Fair (June 25, 1938). . . . . . 3119 Labor Unions Win Exemption from Antitrust Laws (Oct. 15, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153 Labour Party, Establishment of the British (Feb. 12, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513 Labour Party Administration, New Zealand’s First (Nov. 27, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2891 Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Soviets Condemn Shostakovich’s (Jan. 28, 1936) . . . . 2911 Lake Victoria Railway, Completion of the Mombasa(Dec. 19, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Lambeth Conference Allows Artificial Contraception (Aug., 1930). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2437
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Keyword List of Contents League of Nations, Egypt Joins the (May 26, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3020 League of Nations, Japan Withdraws from the (Feb. 24, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2628 League of Nations Adopts International Slavery Convention (Sept. 25, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . 2135 League of Nations Applies Economic Sanctions Against Italy (Oct. 11, 1935-July 15, 1936) . . . 2875 League of Nations Establishes Mandate for Palestine (July 24, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1777 League of Nations Is Established (Apr. 28, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1501 League of United Latin American Citizens Is Founded (Feb. 17, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2304 League of Women Voters Is Founded (Feb. 14, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1610 Leavitt Discovers How to Measure Galactic Distances (Mar. 3, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959 Lee Establishes the Field of Public Relations (Spring, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 Legislation, Canada Enacts Depression-Era Relief (Sept. 8, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2448 Legislative Reform, Canada Cement Affair Prompts (Oct., 1909). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778 Lehmann Discovers the Earth’s Inner Core (1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2893 Lemaître Proposes the Big Bang Theory (1927). . . 2155 Lenin Announces the New Economic Policy (Mar., 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1711 Lenin Approves the First Soviet Nature Preserve (Feb. 1, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1486 Lenin Critiques Modern Capitalism (Jan.-June, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1253 Lenin Establishes the Comintern (Mar. 2-6, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1490 Lenin Leads the Russian Revolution (Mar.-Nov., 1917). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1343 Leopold Form the Wilderness Society, Marshall and (Oct. 19, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2780 Les Six, Formation of (Jan. 16, 1920) . . . . . . . . 1601 Let’s Dance Broadcasts, Goodman Begins His (Dec. 1, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2790 Levees, Chinese Forces Break Yellow River (June 7, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3114 Lever Acquires Land Concession in the Belgian Congo (Apr. 14, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879 Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in Set Theory (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Lewis Convenes the Inklings (Fall, 1933-Oct. 20, 1949) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2681 Lhasa Convention Is Signed in Tibet (Sept. 7, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Lamp, Hewitt Invents the Mercury-Vapor (1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Land Concession in the Belgian Congo, Lever Acquires (Apr. 14, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879 Land Law, Passage of the First Alien (May 20, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076 Lands, Mineral Act Regulates Public (Feb. 25, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1614 Lang Expands the Limits of Filmmaking with Metropolis (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2152 Langevin Develops Active Sonar (Oct., 1915-Mar., 1917). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223 L’Après-midi d’un faune Scandalizes Parisian Audiences (May 29, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977 Larson Constructs the First Modern Polygraph (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1671 Lascaux Cave Paintings Are Discovered (Sept. 12, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3285 Last Passenger Pigeon Dies (Sept. 1, 1914) . . . . . 1133 Lateran Treaty (Feb. 11, 1929). . . . . . . . . . . . 2298 Latin American Citizens Is Founded, League of United (Feb. 17, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2304 Latitudes, Chapman Determines the Lunar Atmospheric Tide at Moderate (1935) . . . . . . 2799 Launching of the Dreadnought (Oct. 6, 1906) . . . . 552 Launching of the First Liquid-Fueled Rocket (Mar. 16, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2099 Law, New York City Institutes a Comprehensive Zoning (July, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1276 Law, Passage of the First Alien Land (May 20, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076 Law, U.S. Congress Updates Copyright (Mar. 4, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 Law, U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours (Apr. 17, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 Law, Wisconsin Adopts the First Primary Election (May 23, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Law in Response to KKK Violence, Oklahoma Imposes Martial (June 26, 1923) . . . . . . . . . 1850 Law in the United States, Massachusetts Adopts the First Minimum Wage (June 4, 1912). . . . . . 980 Lawrence Develops the Cyclotron (Jan. 2, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2477 Laws, Delaware Revises Corporation (1903) . . . . . 188 Laws, Labor Unions Win Exemption from Antitrust (Oct. 15, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153 Laws, U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Minimum Wage (Apr. 9, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1844 Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye Exemplifies Functionalist Architecture (Spring, 1931) . . . . 2486 Lea Act Broadens FTC Control over Advertising, Wheeler- (Mar. 21, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3101
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 London, Tudor’s Jardin aux lilas Premieres in (Jan. 26, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2908 Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock (Jan. 5, 1903) . . . . . . . . 217 Long March, Mao’s (Oct. 16, 1934-Oct. 18, 1935). . . . . . . . . . . 2777 L’Orangerie, Monet’s Water Lilies Are Shown at the Musée de (May 17, 1927) . . . . . . . . . 2186 Los Angeles, Arroyo Seco Freeway Opens in (Dec. 30, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3301 Los Angeles Aqueduct, Completion of the (Nov. 5, 1913). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1088 Los Angeles Aqueduct, Farmers Dynamite the (May 21, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1918 Lost Generation, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises Speaks for the (Oct. 22, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . 2139 Lowell Predicts the Existence of Pluto (Aug., 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 LSD-25, Hofmann Synthesizes the Potent Psychedelic Drug (1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3072 Lubitsch’s The Merry Widow Opens New Vistas for Film Musicals (1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2705 Luce Founds Fortune Magazine (Feb., 1930) . . . . 2403 Luce Founds Time Magazine (Mar. 3, 1923) . . . . 1833 Luce Launches Life Magazine (Nov. 23, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2966 Lugosi Become Kings of Horror, Karloff and (1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2461 Lulu Opens in Zurich, Berg’s (June 2, 1937) . . . . 3031 Lumières Develop Color Photography (1907) . . . . 579 Luminosity, Hertzsprung Notes Relationship Between Star Color and (1905) . . . . . . . . . . 369 Luminosity Law for Stars, Eddington Formulates the Mass- (Mar., 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1912 Lunar Atmospheric Tide at Moderate Latitudes, Chapman Determines the (1935) . . . . . . . . . 2799 Lung Machine, Gibbon Develops the Heart(Fall, 1934-May 6, 1953) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2773 Lusitania, German Torpedoes Sink the (May 7, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206 Luxemburg, Assassination of Rosa (Jan. 15, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1479 Lyot’s Coronagraph Allows Observation of the Sun’s Outer Atmosphere (1930) . . . . . . . . . 2383
L’Humanité Gives Voice to French Socialist Politics (Apr. 18, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 Liability for Auditors, Ultramares Case Establishes (1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2464 Liberties During World War I, U.S. Curtails Civil (Apr. 13, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1353 Liberties Union Is Founded, American Civil (Jan. 19, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1607 Libya, Italy Annexes (1911-1912) . . . . . . . . . . 856 Lied von der Erde Premieres, Mahler’s Masterpiece Das (Nov. 20, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913 Life Magazine, Luce Launches (Nov. 23, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2966 Light, De Broglie Explains the Wave-Particle Duality of (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1804 Lighting Is Introduced, Fluorescent (Nov. 23, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2963 Lindbergh Makes the First Nonstop Transatlantic Flight (May 20, 1927). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2189 Linkage, Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 Linked Probabilities, Markov Discovers the Theory of (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487 Lippmann Helps to Establish The New Republic (Nov. 7, 1914). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1161 Liquid-Fueled Rocket, Launching of the First (Mar. 16, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2099 Liquid Oxygen for Space Travel, Tsiolkovsky Proposes Using (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Lisieux Is Canonized, Thérèse of (May 17, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2044 Literature, Buck Receives the Nobel Prize in (Dec. 10, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3147 Literature, Carnegie Redefines Self-Help (Nov., 1936). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2953 Literature, Cather’s My Ántonia Promotes Regional (1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1403 Literature, Socialist Realism Is Mandated in Soviet (Apr. 23, 1932-Aug., 1934) . . . . . . . . 2562 Literature, Tolkien Redefines Fantasy (Sept., 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3047 Literature, Undset Accepts the Nobel Prize in (Dec. 10, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2267 Litovsk, Treaty of Brest- (Mar. 3, 1918). . . . . . . 1431 Little Johnny Jones Premieres, Cohan’s (Nov. 7, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 Lobotomy, Egas Moniz Develops the Prefrontal (Nov.-Dec., 1935). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2882 Loewy Pioneers American Industrial Design (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2279 Logistic Movement, Principia Mathematica Defines the (1910-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 McCollum Names Vitamin D and Pioneers Its Use Against Rickets (1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1757 Macedonia, Ilinden Uprising in (Aug. 2-Sept., 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 McFadden Act Regulates Branch Banking (Feb. 25, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2179
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Keyword List of Contents Man, Zdansky Discovers Peking (Summer, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1847 Man and Superman, Shaw Articulates His Philosophy in (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Man Ray Creates the Rayograph (1921) . . . . . . . 1673 Management, Fayol Publishes General and Industrial (July, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272 Management, Gilbreth Publishes The Psychology of (Mar., 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118 Management Association Is Established, American (Mar. 14, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1840 Management Consulting Firm, McKinsey Founds a (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1980 Manned Bathysphere Dives, First (June 6, 1930-Aug. 27, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . 2427 Mann’s The Magic Mountain Reflects European Crisis (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1880 Mantle-Outer Core Boundary, Gutenberg Discovers Earth’s (1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031 Manufacturers Agree to Cooperate on Pricing, Cement (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Mao’s Long March (Oct. 16, 1934-Oct. 18, 1935). . . . . . . . . . . 2777 March, Bonus (July 28, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2578 March, Gandhi Leads the Salt (Mar. 12-Apr. 5, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2410 March, Mao’s Long (Oct. 16, 1934-Oct. 18, 1935). . . . . . . . . . . 2777 “March on Rome,” Mussolini’s (Oct. 24-30, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1782 Maria Faustina Kowalska, Death of (Oct. 5, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3133 Marian Anderson Is Barred from Constitution Hall (Jan. 2, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3166 Marian Apparitions in Fátima, Portugal (May 13-Oct. 17, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1360 Marinetti Issues the Futurist Manifesto (Feb. 20, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747 Market Crashes, U.S. Stock (Oct. 24-29, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2331 Marketing Act, Agricultural (June 15, 1929) . . . . 2311 Marketing and Media Research, A. C. Nielsen Company Pioneers in (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . 1796 Markets, Anglo-Japanese Treaty Brings Japan into World (Jan. 30, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Markets, Tobacco Companies Unite to Split World (Sept. 27, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Markets the First Razor with a Disposable Blade, Gillette (Fall, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 Markov Discovers the Theory of Linked Probabilities (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487 Marne, First Battle of the (Sept. 5-9, 1914) . . . . . 1137
Machine, Gibbon Develops the Heart-Lung (Fall, 1934-May 6, 1953) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2773 Machine, Turing Invents the Universal Turing (1935-1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2806 Machine Guns, Fokker Aircraft Are Equipped with (May, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1202 Machine Is Introduced, Electric Washing (1910) . . . 792 Machines, Invention of the Slug Rejector Spreads Use of Vending (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2368 Machines in Russia, Singer Begins Manufacturing Sewing (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 Machu Picchu, Bingham Discovers (July 24, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 892 McKinley National Park Is Created, Mount (Feb. 26, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339 McKinsey Founds a Management Consulting Firm (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1980 McLean Discovers the Natural Anticoagulant Heparin (Sept., 1915-Feb., 1916) . . . . . . . . . 1215 Magazine, Harriet Monroe Founds Poetry (Oct., 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001 Magazine, Luce Founds Fortune (Feb., 1930) . . . . 2403 Magazine, Luce Founds Time (Mar. 3, 1923) . . . . 1833 Magazine, Luce Launches Life (Nov. 23, 1936) . . . 2966 Magazine Is Founded, Forbes (Sept. 15, 1917) . . . 1374 Magic Mountain Reflects European Crisis, Mann’s The (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1880 Maginot Line Is Built (1929-1940) . . . . . . . . . 2288 Magnetic Fields in Sunspots, Hale Discovers Strong (June 26, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686 Mahagonny Songspiel, Brecht and Weill Collaborate on the (July 17, 1927) . . . . . . . . 2193 Mahler Directs the Vienna Court Opera (Early 20th cent.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Mahler’s Masterpiece Das Lied von der Erde Premieres (Nov. 20, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913 Mail-Order Clubs Revolutionize Book Sales (1926-1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2092 Maintenance, Miller-Tydings Act Legalizes Retail Price (Aug. 17, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3044 Mairea, Aalto Designs Villa (1937-1938) . . . . . . 2982 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, First (July 6, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2667 Malevich Introduces Suprematism (Dec. 17, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235 Maltese Falcon Introduces the Hard-Boiled Detective Novel, The (Sept., 1929-Jan., 1930) . . . . . . . 2323 Mammography, Salomon Develops (1913) . . . . . 1040 Man, Boas Publishes The Mind of Primitive (1911). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 Man, Weidenreich Reconstructs the Face of Peking (Fall, 1937-Winter, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3053
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Media Research, A. C. Nielsen Company Pioneers in Marketing and (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1796 Mediation of Labor Disputes, Railway Labor Act Provides for (May 20, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . 2115 Meighen Era in Canada (July 10, 1920-Sept., 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1636 Mein Kampf Outlines Nazi Thought (July 18, 1925-Dec. 11, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . 2058 Meinecke Advances the Analytic Method in History (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 Melville Is Rediscovered as a Major American Novelist (1920-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1587 Men, Japan Introduces Suffrage for (May 5, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2042 Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity, Punnett’s (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 Mendel’s Principles of Heredity, Bateson Publishes (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Mercury-Vapor Lamp, Hewitt Invents the (1901) . . . 17 Merrill Lynch & Company Is Founded (1915) . . . 1164 Merry Widow Opens New Vistas for Film Musicals, Lubitsch’s The (1934). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2705 Mesons, Yukawa Proposes the Existence of (Nov., 1934). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2784 Metahistorical Approach Sparks Debate, Toynbee’s (1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2716 Metamorphosis Anticipates Modern Feelings of Alienation, The (1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1168 Metchnikoff Conduct Pioneering Immunity Research, Ehrlich and (Nov.-Dec., 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . 699 Metropolis, Lang Expands the Limits of Filmmaking with (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2152 Meuse-Argonne Offensive (Sept. 26-Nov. 11, 1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1440 Mexican Constitution Establishes an Advanced Labor Code (Jan. 31, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1332 Mexican Revolution (Mid-Oct., 1910-Dec. 1, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . 843 Mexicans, Mass Deportations of (Early 1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2350 Mexico Nationalizes Foreign Oil Properties (Mar. 18, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3098 Michelson Measures the Diameter of a Star (Dec. 13, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1654 Microscope, Müller Invents the Field Emission (1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2896 Microscope Is Constructed, First Electron (Apr., 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2493 Mid-Atlantic Ridge, German Expedition Discovers the (Apr., 1925-May, 1927) . . . . . . 2030 Middle East, Oil Companies Cooperate in a Cartel Covering the (Sept. 17, 1928) . . . . . . . 2259
Marquis Wheat, Canadian Cultivation of (1904) . . . 281 Marshall and Leopold Form the Wilderness Society (Oct. 19, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2780 Marshall Writes The People’s Forests (Sept., 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2674 Martial Law in Response to KKK Violence, Oklahoma Imposes (June 26, 1923) . . . . . . . 1850 Martyrs Are Executed in Spain, Claretian (Aug. 2-18, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2951 Mass, Chandrasekhar Calculates the Upper Limit of a White Dwarf Star’s (1931-1935). . . . . . . 2471 Mass Broadcast Medium, Radio Develops as a (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1562 Mass Deportations of Mexicans (Early 1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2350 Mass-Luminosity Law for Stars, Eddington Formulates the (Mar., 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . 1912 Mass Spectrograph and Discovers Isotopes, Aston Builds the First (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1455 Massachusetts Adopts the First Minimum Wage Law in the United States (June 4, 1912) . . . . . . 980 Massacre, Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14, 1929) . . . . . 2301 Massacre Indians at Amritsar, British Soldiers (Apr. 13, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1497 Massacre Polish Prisoners of War, Soviets (Apr.-May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3236 Massacres Civilians, El Salvador’s Military (Jan.-Feb., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2535 Massey Is Elected Prime Minister of New Zealand (July 10, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986 Mata Hari, France Executes (Oct. 15, 1917). . . . . 1383 Mathematica Defines the Logistic Movement, Principia (1910-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814 Mathematics, Brouwer Develops Intuitionist Foundations of (1904-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Mathématique, Bourbaki Group Publishes Éléments de (1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3149 Maximum Hours Law, U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down (Apr. 17, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 May Fourth Movement (May 4, 1919). . . . . . . . 1506 Mead Publishes Coming of Age in Samoa (Aug., 1928). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2249 Means Discuss Corporate Control, Berle and (1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2521 Measuring Earthquake Strength, Richter Develops a Scale for (Jan., 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2809 Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act and (June 30, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 Mechanical Respirator, Drinker and Shaw Develop a (July, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2314 Mecklenburg-Schwerin Admits Women to University Education (1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
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Keyword List of Contents Mondrian’s Neoplasticism, De Stijl Advocates (1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1312 Monetary Control, Banking Act of 1935 Centralizes U.S. (Aug. 23, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2857 Monet’s Water Lilies Are Shown at the Musée de L’Orangerie (May 17, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . 2186 Monist League Leads to the Eugenics Movement, Founding of the (Jan. 11, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . 504 Monitor Is Founded, Christian Science (Nov. 28, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys Define Bluegrass Music, Bill (1939-1949) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3163 Monroe Founds Poetry Magazine, Harriet (Oct., 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001 Montage to Filmmaking, Kuleshov and Pudovkin Introduce (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2148 Montana Introduce Old-Age Pensions, Nevada and (Mar. 5, 1923). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1838 Monte Carlo Debuts, Ballet Russe de (Apr. 5, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3107 Moore’s Subway Sketches Record War Images (1940-1941) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3233 Moplah Rebellion (Aug., 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . 1728 Moral Absolutes, Gide’s The Counterfeiters Questions (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1972 Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation (Feb. 26, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory (1908-1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648 Morris Plan Bank Opens, First (Apr. 5, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827 Moscow, Scriabin’s Prometheus Premieres in (Mar. 15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865 Moscow, Shakhty Case Debuts Show Trials in (May 18, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2240 Moser Found the Wiener Werkstätte, Hoffmann and (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Mosquito Control, Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of (1904-1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 Mosquitoes Transmit Yellow Fever, Reed Reports That (Feb. 4, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Motion-Picture Industry, Sound Technology Revolutionizes the (May 11, 1928) . . . . . . . . 2234 Motion Pictures, Warner Bros. Introduces Talking (Aug., 1926-Sept., 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2124 Motor Company, Hashimoto Founds the Nissan (1911). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 Motor Speedway, First Auto Race at the Indianapolis (Aug. 19, 1909). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776 Mount McKinley National Park Is Created (Feb. 26, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339 Mount Pelée Erupts (May 8, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . 149
Midgley Introduces Dichlorodifluoromethane as a Refrigerant Gas (Apr., 1930). . . . . . . . . 2418 Migration, Great Northern (1910-1930). . . . . . . . 818 Migratory Bird Act (Mar. 4, 1913). . . . . . . . . . 1067 Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act (Mar. 16, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2742 Migratory Bird Treaty Act (July 3, 1918) . . . . . . 1437 Militarizes the German Economy, Hindenburg Program (Aug., 1916). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1279 Military Massacres Civilians, El Salvador’s (Jan.-Feb., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2535 Milky Way, Oort Proves the Spiral Structure of the (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2161 Miller-Tydings Act Legalizes Retail Price Maintenance (Aug. 17, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . 3044 Miller’s Tropic of Cancer Stirs Controversy (Sept. 1, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2770 Millikan Conducts His Oil-Drop Experiment (Jan.-Aug., 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741 Millikan Investigates Cosmic Rays (1920-1930) . . . 1594 Mind of Primitive Man, Boas Publishes The (1911). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 Mineral Act Regulates Public Lands (Feb. 25, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1614 Mines Is Established, U.S. Bureau of (July 1, 1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836 Minimum Wage Law in the United States, Massachusetts Adopts the First (June 4, 1912) . . . 980 Minimum Wage Laws, U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against (Apr. 9, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1844 Mining Claims, Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from (Jan. 11, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . 651 Minorities, Paris Peace Conference Addresses Protection for (Jan. 19-21, 1919) . . . . . . . . . 1483 Minority Rights in India, Muslim League Protests Government Abuses of (Dec. 30, 1906) . . . . . . 564 Mises Develops the Frequency Theory of Probability (1919). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1463 Miss America Is Crowned, First (Sept. 8, 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1730 Mobilization for World War II, United States Begins (Aug., 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3198 Modern Art Opens to the Public, New York’s Museum of (Nov. 8, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2340 Modernism and Defends Christianity, Chesterton Critiques (Sept. 30, 1925). . . . . . . . . . . . . 2066 Mohorovi5i6 Determine the Earth’s Interior Structure, Oldham and (1906-1910) . . . . . . . . 497 Molds, Fleming Discovers Penicillin in (Sept., 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2256 Mombasa-Lake Victoria Railway, Completion of the (Dec. 19, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Nama Revolts, Herero and (Jan., 1904-1905) . . . . . 317 Nanjing, Rape of (Dec., 1937-Feb., 1938) . . . . . . 3059 Nansen Wins the Nobel Peace Prize (Dec. 10, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1790 Napoléon Revolutionizes Filmmaking Techniques, Gance’s (1925-1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2001 Nation of Islam Is Founded (Summer, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2434 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Is Founded (Feb. 12, 1909) . . . . 744 National Audubon Society Is Established (Jan. 5, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 National Birth Control League Forms (1915-1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1171 National Broadcasting Company Is Founded (Sept. 9, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2132 National Industrial Recovery Act, Roosevelt Signs the (June 16, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2663 National Park Is Created, Mount McKinley (Feb. 26, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339 National Park Service Is Created (Aug. 25, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1282 National Parks Act, Canadian (May 30, 1930) . . . 2424 National Parks and Conservation Association Is Founded (May 20, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1514 National Wildlife Federation, Darling Founds the (Feb. 4, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2915 National Wildlife Refuge Is Established, First U.S. (Mar. 14, 1903). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 National Woman’s Party Is Founded (1917). . . . . 1309 Nationalists Struggle for Independence, Ukrainian (1917-1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1321 Native Son Depicts Racism in America, Wright’s (1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3230 Natural Gas Act (June 21, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . 3116 Natural Radioactivity, Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering (Dec. 10, 1903) . . . . . . . 275 Natural Resources, Conference on the Conservation of (May 13-15, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677 Nature, Soviets Establish a Society for the Protection of (1924). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1884 Nature Preserve, Lenin Approves the First Soviet (Feb. 1, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1486 Navy, United States Begins Building a Two-Ocean (June 14, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3258 Nazi Concentration Camps Begin Operating (Mar., 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2640 Nazi Death Camps, Gypsies Are Exterminated in (May 16, 1940-1944) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3253 Nazi Extermination of the Jews (1939-1945) . . . . 3159 Nazi Germany Hosts the Degenerate Art Exhibition (July 19-Nov. 30, 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3040
Mount Wilson, Hooker Telescope Is Installed on (Nov., 1917). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1385 Mount Wilson Observatory, Hale Establishes (1903-1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Mrs. Dalloway Explores Women’s Consciousness, Woolf’s (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1993 Muir Trail Is Completed, John (1938) . . . . . . . . 3076 Muir Visit Yosemite, Roosevelt and (May, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 Müller Discovers the Insecticidal Properties of DDT (1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3156 Müller Invents the Field Emission Microscope (1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2896 Muller v. Oregon (Feb. 24, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . 667 Munich Conference (Sept. 29-30, 1938) . . . . . . . 3129 Mural Is Destroyed, Rivera’s Rockefeller Center (Feb., 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2736 Musée de L’Orangerie, Monet’s Water Lilies Are Shown at the (May 17, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . 2186 Museum of American Art Opens in New York, Whitney (Nov. 17, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2514 Museum of Modern Art Opens to the Public, New York’s (Nov. 8, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2340 Music, ASCAP Forms to Protect Writers and Publishers of (Feb. 13, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . 1114 Music, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys Define Bluegrass (1939-1949) . . . . . . . . . . 3163 Music, Publication of Busoni’s Sketch for a New Aesthetic of (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Music as a Social Activity, Hindemith Advances (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2360 Musical Film, Hallelujah Is the First Important Black (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2273 Musical to Emphasize Plot, Show Boat Is the First American (Dec. 27, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2210 Musicals, Forty-Second Street Defines 1930’s Film (1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2608 Musicals, Lubitsch’s The Merry Widow Opens New Vistas for Film (1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2705 Muslim Brotherhood Is Founded in Egypt (Mar., 1928). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2228 Muslim League Protests Government Abuses of Minority Rights in India (Dec. 30, 1906) . . . . . 564 Mussolini Seizes Dictatorial Powers in Italy (1925-1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1997 Mussolini’s “March on Rome” (Oct. 24-30, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1782 Muzak, Squier Founds (1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2713 My Ántonia Promotes Regional Literature, Cather’s (1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1403 Mysterious Affair at Styles Introduces Hercule Poirot, The (1920). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1571
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Keyword List of Contents New Yorker, Ross Founds The (Feb. 21, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2020 New York’s Museum of Modern Art Opens to the Public (Nov. 8, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2340 New Zealand, Massey Is Elected Prime Minister of (July 10, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986 New Zealand’s First Labour Party Administration (Nov. 27, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2891 Newton’s Theory, Einstein’s Theory of Gravitation Is Confirmed over (Nov. 6, 1919) . . . . . . . . 1541 Niagara Movement, Founding of the (July 11, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 Nicaragua, U.S. Intervention in (Aug. 4-Nov., 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991 Nickelodeon Film Theater Opens, First (June, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 Nielsen Company Pioneers in Marketing and Media Research, A. C. (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1796 Nigeria, Baro-Kano Railroad Begins Operation in (Mar. 28, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873 Night Work for Women, Bern Convention Prohibits (Sept. 19, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 Nissan Motor Company, Hashimoto Founds the (1911). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 Nitrogen from the Air, Haber Develops Process for Extracting (1904-1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 Nobel Peace Prize, Nansen Wins the (Dec. 10, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1790 Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity, Becquerel Wins the (Dec. 10, 1903) . . . . . . . . 275 Nobel Prize for Discovering the Electron, Thomson Wins the (Dec. 10, 1906). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X Rays, Röntgen Wins the (Dec. 10, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Nobel Prize in Literature, Buck Receives the (Dec. 10, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3147 Nobel Prize in Literature, Undset Accepts the (Dec. 10, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2267 Nobel Prizes Are Awarded, First (Dec. 10, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Noether Publishes the Theory of Ideals in Rings (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1677 Noether Shows the Equivalence of Symmetry and Conservation (1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1406 Noncooperation Movement, Gandhi Leads a (1920-1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1583 Nonstop Transatlantic Flight, Lindbergh Makes the First (May 20, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2189 Norris-La Guardia Act Strengthens Labor Organizations (Mar. 23, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . 2552 North Pole, Peary and Henson Reach the (Apr. 6, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
Nazi Rise to Political Power, Racist Theories Aid (1919-1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1476 Nazi-Soviet Pact (Aug. 23-24, 1939) . . . . . . . . 3205 Nazi Thought, Mein Kampf Outlines (July 18, 1925-Dec. 11, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . 2058 Nazism, Pius XI Urges Resistance Against (Mar. 14, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3009 Neanderthal Skeleton, Boule Reconstructs the First (Dec., 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710 Nebula, Hubble Determines the Distance to the Andromeda (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1877 Negritude, Development of (1932-1940) . . . . . . 2532 Neoplasticism, De Stijl Advocates Mondrian’s (1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1312 Nerve Fibers Is Observed, Development of (Spring, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608 Nervous System, Sherrington Clarifies the Role of the (Apr.-May, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Neutrality Acts (Aug. 31, 1935-Nov. 4, 1939). . . . 2865 Neutrality in World War I, Spain Declares (Oct. 30, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156 Neutrino Theory of Beta Decay, Fermi Proposes the (Nov.-Dec., 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2687 Neutron, Chadwick Discovers the (Feb., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2544 Neutron Stars, Zwicky and Baade Propose a Theory of (1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2718 Nevada and Montana Introduce Old-Age Pensions (Mar. 5, 1923). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1838 Nevada Legalizes Gambling (Mar. 19, 1931) . . . . 2483 New Economic Policy, Lenin Announces the (Mar., 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1711 New Mexico, and Arizona Become U.S. States, Oklahoma (Jan. 16, 1907-Feb. 14, 1912) . . . . . 594 New Objectivity Movement Is Introduced (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1983 New Republic, Lippmann Helps to Establish The (Nov. 7, 1914). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1161 New Wimbledon Tennis Stadium Is Dedicated (June, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1775 New York, Exhibition of American Abstract Painting Opens in (Feb. 12, 1935) . . . . . . . . 2820 New York, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess Opens in (Oct. 10, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2871 New York, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue Premieres in (Feb. 12, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909 New York, Whitney Museum of American Art Opens in (Nov. 17, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2514 New York City Institutes a Comprehensive Zoning Law (July, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1276 New York Yankees Acquire Babe Ruth (Jan. 3, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1597
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Oklahoma Imposes Martial Law in Response to KKK Violence (June 26, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . 1850 Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona Become U.S. States (Jan. 16, 1907-Feb. 14, 1912) . . . . . . . . 594 Old-Age Pensions, Nevada and Montana Introduce (Mar. 5, 1923). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1838 Oldham and Mohorovi5i6 Determine the Earth’s Interior Structure (1906-1910) . . . . . . . . . . . 497 Olympic Games, First Winter (Jan. 25-Feb. 5, 1924). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903 Olympics, Germany Hosts the Summer (Aug. 1-16, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2948 Olympics, Stockholm Hosts the Summer (May 5-July 27, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs, Kallet and Schlink Publish (1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2612 One-Piece Bathing Suit, Jantzen Popularizes the (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1558 Oort Proves the Spiral Structure of the Milky Way (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2161 Opera, Mahler Directs the Vienna Court (Early 20th cent.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Opium Convention Is Signed, International (Feb. 23, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 956 Oppenheimer Calculates the Nature of Black Holes (Feb. 15, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3170 Opry, WSM Launches The Grand Ole (Nov. 28, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2082 Orangerie, Monet’s Water Lilies Are Shown at the Musée de L’ (May 17, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . 2186 Orchestra Premieres, Webern’s Six Pieces for Large (Mar. 31, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070 Oregon, Muller v. (Feb. 24, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . 667 Orthodox Church, Bolsheviks Suppress the Russian (1917-1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1318 Orthodox Church, Stalin Suppresses the Russian (Summer, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3195 Ottawa Agreements (July 21-Aug. 21, 1932) . . . . 2575 Ottoman Empire, Young Turks Stage a Coup in the (July 24, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 Ottomans, British Mount a Second Front Against the (Nov. 5, 1914). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1158 Our Town Opens on Broadway (Feb. 4, 1938) . . . 3087 Outbreak of World War I (June 28-Aug. 4, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1121 Ownership, Fannie Mae Promotes Home (Feb. 10, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3090 Oxygen for Space Travel, Tsiolkovsky Proposes Using Liquid (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Ozawa v. United States (Nov. 13, 1922) . . . . . . . 1788 Ozone in the Upper Atmosphere, Fabry Quantifies (Jan. 17, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053
Northern Ireland Is Created, Ireland Is Granted Home Rule and (1920-1921) . . . . . . . . . . . 1578 Northern Migration, Great (1910-1930). . . . . . . . 818 Northern Securities, U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against (Mar. 14, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 Norway, Germany Invades (Apr. 9, 1940). . . . . . 3240 Norway Annexes Svalbard (Aug. 14, 1925) . . . . . 2064 Norway Becomes Independent (Oct. 26, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 Novel, The Maltese Falcon Introduces the Hard-Boiled Detective (Sept., 1929-Jan., 1930) . . . . . . . . 2323 Novelist, Melville Is Rediscovered as a Major American (1920-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1587 Nucleus, Rutherford Describes the Atomic (Mar. 7, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962 Number of U.S. Automakers Falls to Forty-Four (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2158 Nylon, Carothers Invents (Feb., 1935-Oct. 27, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2816 Objectivity Movement Is Introduced, New (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1983 Observatory, Hale Establishes Mount Wilson (1903-1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Ocean Navy, United States Begins Building a Two(June 14, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3258 Octet, Stravinsky Completes His Wind (Oct. 18, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1865 October Manifesto (Oct. 30, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . 452 October Revolution, Bolsheviks Mount the (Nov. 6-7, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1393 Odets’s Awake and Sing! Becomes a Model for Protest Drama (Feb. 19, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . 2823 Offensive, Meuse-Argonne (Sept. 26-Nov. 11, 1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1440 Ogdensburg Agreement (Aug. 16, 1940) . . . . . . 3276 Oil at Spindletop, Discovery of (Jan. 10, 1901) . . . . 40 Oil Companies Cooperate in a Cartel Covering the Middle East (Sept. 17, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . 2259 Oil-Drop Experiment, Millikan Conducts His (Jan.-Aug., 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741 Oil Industry in Saudi Arabia, Rise of Commercial (Mar. 3, 1938). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3096 Oil Is Discovered in Persia (May 26, 1908). . . . . . 681 Oil Is Discovered in Venezuela (Dec. 14, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1794 Oil Pollution Act Sets Penalties for Polluters (June 7, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1935 Oil Properties, Mexico Nationalizes Foreign (Mar. 18, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3098 Oil Well Drilling, Hughes Revolutionizes (1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642
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Keyword List of Contents Paris Peace Conference Addresses Protection for Minorities (Jan. 19-21, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . 1483 Paris Salons, Stein Holds Her First (Fall, 1905) . . . 443 Parisian Audiences, L’Après-midi d’un faune Scandalizes (May 29, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . 977 Park, Indiana Dunes Are Preserved as a State (May, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2182 Park Is Created, Mount McKinley National (Feb. 26, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339 Park Service Is Created, National (Aug. 25, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1282 Parks Act, Canadian National (May 30, 1930) . . . 2424 Parks and Conservation Association Is Founded, National (May 20, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1514 Parliament, First Woman Elected to Australian (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1669 Parliament Act Redefines British Democracy (Apr., 1909-Aug., 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756 Parliament Nationalizes the British Telephone System (Dec. 31, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 922 Particle Duality of Light, De Broglie Explains the Wave- (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1804 Parts, Cadillac Demonstrates Interchangeable (Feb. 29, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670 Party, Establishment of the British Labour (Feb. 12, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513 Party, Rise of the French Communist (Dec. 29, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1663 Party Administration, New Zealand’s First Labour (Nov. 27, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2891 Party Is Founded, National Woman’s (1917) . . . . 1309 Pass, American College Football Allows the Forward (Jan. 12, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 Passage of the First Alien Land Law (May 20, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1076 Passenger Pigeon Dies, Last (Sept. 1, 1914) . . . . . 1133 Patent for the Vacuum Cleaner, Booth Receives (Aug. 30, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Patent on an Early Type of Television, Zworykin Applies for (Dec. 29, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1873 Patrol, U.S. Congress Establishes the Border (May 28, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1926 Patterns of Culture, Benedict Publishes (1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2697 Pauli Formulates the Exclusion Principle (Spring, 1925). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2027 Pauling Develops His Theory of the Chemical Bond (1930-1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2389 Pavlov Develops the Concept of Reinforcement (1902-1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Pavlova Performs The Dying Swan (Dec. 22, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
Pacifism, Angell Advances (1910) . . . . . . . . . . 790 Packing Fight, Supreme Court(Feb. 5-July 22, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2999 Pact, Germany and Japan Sign the Anti-Comintern (Nov. 25, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2969 Pact, India Signs the Delhi (Mar. 5, 1931). . . . . . 2480 Pact, Kellogg-Briand (Aug. 27, 1928) . . . . . . . . 2252 Pact, Nazi-Soviet (Aug. 23-24, 1939) . . . . . . . . 3205 Pact Grants Representation to India’s Untouchables, Poona (Sept. 25, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2586 Pahlavi Shahs Attempt to Modernize Iran (1925-1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2007 Painting, Formation of the Blue Four Advances Abstract (Mar. 31, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1915 Painting Opens in New York, Exhibition of American Abstract (Feb. 12, 1935) . . . . . . . . 2820 Paintings Are Discovered, Lascaux Cave (Sept. 12, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3285 Palais Stoclet, Hoffmann Designs the (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 Palestine, Balfour Declaration Supports a Jewish Homeland in (Nov. 2, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . 1389 Palestine, First Kibbutz Is Established in (1909) . . . 723 Palestine, Great Uprising of Arabs in (Apr. 15, 1936-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2935 Palestine, League of Nations Establishes Mandate for (July 24, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1777 Panama Canal, Construction Begins on the (Summer, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 Panama Canal Opens (Aug. 15, 1914) . . . . . . . . 1130 Panama Canal Zone, U.S. Acquisition of the (Nov. 18, 1903). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Panama Declares Independence from Colombia (Nov. 3, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Panic of 1907 (Oct.-Nov., 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . 622 Pankhursts Found the Women’s Social and Political Union (Oct. 10, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Papanicolaou Develops a Test for Diagnosing Uterine Cancer (Jan., 1928). . . . . . . . . . . . 2225 Paperback Books, Penguin Develops a Line of (1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2802 Paradox,” Russell Discovers the “Great (June 16, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Paraguay, Corporatism Comes to (Feb. 17, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2923 Pareto Analyzes the Distribution of Wealth (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 Paris, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Astounds (May 19, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762 Paris, The Firebird Premieres in (June 25, 1910) . . . 833 Paris Exhibition Defines Art Deco (May-June, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2037
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Philosophy in Man and Superman, Shaw Articulates His (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Photo-Secession, Stieglitz Organizes the (Feb. 17, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Photocopy, Carlson and Kornei Make the First Xerographic (Oct. 22, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . 3134 Photoelectric Cell Is Developed, First Practical (1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 Photoelectric Effect, Einstein Describes the (Mar., 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 Photography, Lumières Develop Color (1907) . . . . 579 Picasso Exhibits Guernica (July, 1937) . . . . . . . 3034 Piccard Travels to the Stratosphere by Balloon (May 27, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2506 Pickford Reigns as “America’s Sweetheart” (1909-1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 737 Pigeon Dies, Last Passenger (Sept. 1, 1914) . . . . . 1133 Piusudski Seizes Power in Poland (May 12-15, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2109 Pinchot Becomes Head of the U.S. Forest Service (Jan. 3, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author Premieres (May 10, 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1721 Pittman-Robertson Act Provides State Wildlife Funding (Sept. 2, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3050 Pius X Becomes Pope (Aug. 9, 1903) . . . . . . . . . 247 Pius X Condemns Slavery, Pope (June 7, 1912) . . . 983 Pius XI Urges Resistance Against Nazism (Mar. 14, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3009 Pius XII Becomes Pope (Mar. 2, 1939) . . . . . . . 3173 Plague Kills 1.2 Million in India (1907) . . . . . . . 584 Plains, Dust Bowl Devastates the Great (1934-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2730 Planning, Stalin Introduces Central (Oct. 1, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2263 Platt Amendment (May 22, 1903). . . . . . . . . . . 234 Playboy of the Western World Offends Irish Audiences, The (Jan. 26, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . 597 Plebiscite Splits Upper Silesia Between Poland and Germany (Mar. 20, 1921) . . . . . . . . . . 1719 Plot, Show Boat Is the First American Musical to Emphasize (Dec. 27, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . 2210 Plunket Society, Formation of the (May 14, 1907). . . 611 Pluto, Lowell Predicts the Existence of (Aug., 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 Pluto, Tombaugh Discovers (Feb. 18, 1930). . . . . 2407 Poems Speak for a Generation, Auden’s (Sept., 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2445 Poet in New York Is Published, García Lorca’s (1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3226 Poetics, Rilke’s Duino Elegies Redefines (1911-1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862
Peace, Carnegie Establishes the Endowment for International (Nov. 25, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . 847 Peace, Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of (Dec., 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . 2971 Peace Conference, Second Hague (Oct. 18, 1907) . . . 625 Peace Conference Addresses Protection for Minorities, Paris (Jan. 19-21, 1919) . . . . . . . 1483 Peace Prize, Nansen Wins the Nobel (Dec. 10, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1790 Peary and Henson Reach the North Pole (Apr. 6, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 Peasant Revolt, Romanian (Mar., 1907) . . . . . . . 600 Peking Man, Weidenreich Reconstructs the Face of (Fall, 1937-Winter, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3053 Peking Man, Zdansky Discovers (Summer, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1847 Pelée Erupts, Mount (May 8, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . 149 Penguin Develops a Line of Paperback Books (1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2802 Penicillin as an Antibiotic, Florey and Chain Develop (May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3243 Penicillin in Molds, Fleming Discovers (Sept., 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2256 Pensions, Nevada and Montana Introduce Old-Age (Mar. 5, 1923). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1838 Pentecostalism, Welsh Revival Spreads (Oct. 31, 1904-1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346 People’s Forests, Marshall Writes The (Sept., 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2674 Perkins Becomes First Woman Secretary of Labor (Feb. 28, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2637 Permanent Court of International Justice Is Established (Dec. 13, 1920). . . . . . . . . . . . 1657 Pershing Expedition (Mar. 15, 1916-Feb. 5, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . 1259 Persia, Oil Is Discovered in (May 26, 1908) . . . . . 681 Persia Adopts a Constitution (Oct., 1906-Oct., 1907). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 Petroleum with Thermal Cracking, Burton Refines (Jan., 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049 Phenomenology, Husserl Advances (1913) . . . . . 1037 “Phenotype,” Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and (1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726 Philippine Independence Act (Mar. 24, 1934) . . . . 2745 Philippines Ends Its Uprising Against the United States (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Philosopher, Wittgenstein Emerges as an Important (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1686 Philosophy, Buber Breaks New Ground in Religious (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1802 Philosophy, Durant Publishes The Story of (May, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2102
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Keyword List of Contents Population Genetics, Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of (1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638 Populist Songs Reflect the Depression-Era United States, Guthrie’s (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2356 Porgy and Bess Opens in New York, Gershwin’s (Oct. 10, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2871 Ports, Japan Occupies Indochinese (Sept., 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3279 Portugal, Marian Apparitions in Fátima, (May 13-Oct. 17, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1360 Portugal Is Proclaimed, Republic of (Oct. 5, 1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841 Positron, Anderson Discovers the (Sept., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2583 Post Office Begins Transcontinental Airmail Delivery, U.S. (Sept. 8, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . 1648 Postwar Disillusionment, Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk Reflects (1921-1923) . . . . . . . . 1695 Potemkin Introduces New Film Editing Techniques, Eisenstein’s (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1968 Pound Announces the Birth of the Imagist Movement (Spring, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965 Pound’s Cantos Is Published (1917-1970). . . . . . 1328 Power Plant Begins Operation, First Geothermal (1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025 Pragmatism, Publication of James’s (1907). . . . . . 591 Pragmatism to Education, Dewey Applies (1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1245 Pravda Appears, First Issue of (Oct. 3, 1908). . . . . 695 Precipitation Process, Cottrell Invents the Electrostatic (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478 Prefabrication, Prouvé Pioneers Architectural (1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2979 Prefrontal Lobotomy, Egas Moniz Develops the (Nov.-Dec., 1935). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2882 Premiere of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). . . 1575 Prepaid Hospital Care, Baylor Plan Introduces (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2269 Preserve, Lenin Approves the First Soviet Nature (Feb. 1, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1486 Preserve Kings Canyon, Adams Lobbies Congress to (Jan., 1937-Feb., 1940) . . . . . . . 2992 President, Coolidge Is Elected U.S. (Nov. 4, 1924). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1949 President, Franklin D. Roosevelt Is Elected U.S. (Nov. 8, 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2596 President, Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. (Sept. 14, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 President, Wilson Is Elected U.S. (Nov. 5, 1912). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011 President of the Irish Dáil, De Valera Is Elected (Mar. 9, 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2547
Poetry Magazine, Harriet Monroe Founds (Oct., 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001 Pogroms in Imperial Russia (1903-1906) . . . . . . . 210 Poiret’s Hobble Skirt Becomes the Rage (Spring, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820 Poirot, The Mysterious Affair at Styles Introduces Hercule (1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1571 Poison Gas Against Allied Troops, Germany Uses (Apr. 22-27, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192 Poland, Germany Invades (Sept. 1, 1939) . . . . . . 3209 Poland, Piusudski Seizes Power in (May 12-15, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2109 Poland and Germany, Plebiscite Splits Upper Silesia Between (Mar. 20, 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1719 Poland Secures Independence (Mar. 18, 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1715 Pole, Amundsen Reaches the South (Dec. 14, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919 Pole, Peary and Henson Reach the North (Apr. 6, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759 Police Apprehend Bonnie and Clyde (May 23, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2748 Polish Prisoners of War, Soviets Massacre (Apr.-May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3236 Political Contributions, Corrupt Practices Act Limits (Feb. 28, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2024 Political Power, Racist Theories Aid Nazi Rise to (1919-1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1476 Political Themes, Renoir’s Films Explore Social and (1937-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2985 Politics, L’Humanité Gives Voice to French Socialist (Apr. 18, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 Polluters, Oil Pollution Act Sets Penalties for (June 7, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1935 Pollution, Arbitration Affirms National Responsibility for (Apr. 15, 1935) . . . . . . . . 2834 Pollution Act Sets Penalties for Polluters, Oil (June 7, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1935 Pollution Control, Euthenics Calls for (1910). . . . . 796 Pollution in “The Future of Electricity,” Steinmetz Warns of (1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807 Polygraph, Larson Constructs the First Modern (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1671 Ponzi Cheats Thousands in an Investment Scheme (1919-1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1470 Poona Pact Grants Representation to India’s Untouchables (Sept. 25, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . 2586 Pope, Pius X Becomes (Aug. 9, 1903) . . . . . . . . 247 Pope, Pius XII Becomes (Mar. 2, 1939) . . . . . . . 3173 Pope Pius X Condemns Slavery (June 7, 1912). . . . 983 Poppies Become a Symbol for Fallen Soldiers (Dec. 8, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1233
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Proposal of the Equal Rights Amendment (Dec. 10, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871 Protection of Nature, Soviets Establish a Society for the (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1884 “Protestant Ethic,” Weber Posits the (1904-1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Proton, Rutherford Discovers the (1914) . . . . . . 1103 Proust Publishes Remembrance of Things Past (1913-1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045 Prouvé Pioneers Architectural Prefabrication (1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2979 Psychedelic Drug LSD-25, Hofmann Synthesizes the Potent (1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3072 Psychoanalytic Method, Freud Advances the (1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 Psychology, Jung Develops Analytical (1930’s) . . . 2370 Psychology of Management, Gilbreth Publishes The (Mar., 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118 Psychology of the Unconscious, Jung Publishes The (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 928 Public, New York’s Museum of Modern Art Opens to the (Nov. 8, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . 2340 Public Health Service Is Established, U.S. (Aug. 14, 1912). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998 Public Lands, Mineral Act Regulates (Feb. 25, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1614 Public Relations, Lee Establishes the Field of (Spring, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 Publication of Busoni’s Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music (1907). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Publication of James’s Pragmatism (1907) . . . . . . 591 Publication of The Catholic Encyclopedia (Mar. 19, 1907-Apr., 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 Publication of The English Hymnal (1906) . . . . . . 492 Publish 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs, Kallet and Schlink (1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2612 Published, García Lorca’s Poet in New York Is (1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3226 Published, Henry James’s The Ambassadors Is (Nov., 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 Published, Pound’s Cantos Is (1917-1970) . . . . . 1328 Publishers of Music, ASCAP Forms to Protect Writers and (Feb. 13, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114 Publishes Being and Time, Heidegger (1927) . . . . 2146 Publishes Coming of Age in Samoa, Mead (Aug., 1928). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2249 Publishes Éléments de mathématique, Bourbaki Group (1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3149 Publishes General and Industrial Management, Fayol (July, 1916). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272 Publishes His Theory of Abstract Art, Kandinsky (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 932
Prevention of Smoke Is Founded, International Association for the (June 27-29, 1906) . . . . . . 531 Price Discrimination, Robinson-Patman Act Restricts (June 19, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2937 Price Maintenance, Miller-Tydings Act Legalizes Retail (Aug. 17, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3044 Pricing, Cement Manufacturers Agree to Cooperate on (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Primary Election Law, Wisconsin Adopts the First (May 23, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Prime Minister of New Zealand, Massey Is Elected (July 10, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 986 Primitive Man, Boas Publishes The Mind of (1911). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 Principia Mathematica Defines the Logistic Movement (1910-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814 Principles of Shortwave Radio Communication Are Discovered (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1466 Prisoners of War, Soviets Massacre Polish (Apr.-May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3236 Privacy, Tariff Act of 1909 Limits Corporate (Aug. 5, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772 Prize, Nansen Wins the Nobel Peace (Dec. 10, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1790 Prize in Literature, Buck Receives the Nobel (Dec. 10, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3147 Prize in Literature, Undset Accepts the Nobel (Dec. 10, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2267 Prizes Are Awarded, First Nobel (Dec. 10, 1901) . . . 62 Prizes Are Awarded, First Pulitzer (June, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1363 Probabilities, Markov Discovers the Theory of Linked (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487 Probability, Mises Develops the Frequency Theory of (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1463 Procter & Gamble Announces Plans to Sell Directly to Retailers (July, 1920) . . . . . . . . . 1633 Production Code Gives Birth to Screwball Comedy (1934-1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2725 Productivity, Hawthorne Studies Examine Human (1924-1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1896 Professional Football Association, Formation of the American (Aug. 20-Sept. 17, 1920) . . . . 1638 Profits Tax, U.S. Congress Imposes a Wartime Excess- (Oct. 3, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1379 Progressive Era, Republican Resurgence Ends America’s (Nov. 5, 1918-Nov. 2, 1920) . . . . . 1447 Prohibition (Jan. 16, 1920-Dec. 5, 1933) . . . . . . 1604 Prometheus Premieres in Moscow, Scriabin’s (Mar. 15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865 Properties of DDT, Müller Discovers the Insecticidal (1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3156
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Keyword List of Contents Quick-Frozen Foods, Birdseye Invents (1917) . . . 1306 Quota Act, Emergency (May 19, 1921) . . . . . . . 1725
Publishes Industrial Poisons in the United States, Hamilton (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1976 Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity, Bateson (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Publishes Patterns of Culture, Benedict (1934) . . . 2697 Publishes Remembrance of Things Past, Proust (1913-1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045 Publishes The Biosphere, Vernadsky (1926). . . . . 2089 Publishes The Bridge, Crane (Feb., 1930) . . . . . . 2400 Publishes The Functions of the Executive, Barnard (1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3066 Publishes The Internal Constitution of the Stars, Eddington (July, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2119 Publishes The Jungle, Sinclair (Feb., 1906). . . . . . 509 Publishes The Mind of Primitive Man, Boas (1911). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 Publishes The Psychology of Management, Gilbreth (Mar., 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118 Publishes The Psychology of the Unconscious, Jung (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 928 Publishes The Story of Philosophy, Durant (May, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2102 Publishes The Theory of Advertising, Scott (1903) . . . 195 Publishes the Theory of Ideals in Rings, Noether (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1677 Publishes The Waste Land, Eliot (1922) . . . . . . . 1748 Publishes The Wild Swans at Coole, Yeats (1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1315 Pudovkin Introduce Montage to Filmmaking, Kuleshov and (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2148 Pulitzer Prizes Are Awarded, First (June, 1917). . . 1363 Punishment in British Schools, Students Challenge Corporal (Sept. 4-15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 Punnett Observe Gene Linkage, Bateson and (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act (June 30, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 Purge, Great Blood (June 30-July 2, 1934) . . . . . 2767 Purge Trials, Stalin Begins the (Dec., 1934). . . . . 2786 Putsch, Beer Hall (Nov. 8, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . 1869 Pyrex, Corning Glass Works Trademarks (May 20, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1209
Race, First Grand Prix Auto (June 26-27, 1906) . . . 529 Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, First Auto (Aug. 19, 1909). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776 Racism in America, Wright’s Native Son Depicts (1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3230 Racist Theories Aid Nazi Rise to Political Power (1919-1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1476 Radar Is Developed (1934-1945) . . . . . . . . . . 2734 Radiation Counter, Geiger and Rutherford Develop a (Feb. 11, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664 Radio Astronomy, Jansky’s Experiments Lead to (1930-1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2394 Radio Broadcasting, Armstrong Demonstrates FM (Nov. 5, 1935). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2885 Radio Broadcasting, Fessenden Pioneers (Dec. 24, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 Radio Broadcasting Begins (Aug. 20-Nov. 2, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1641 Radio Communication Are Discovered, Principles of Shortwave (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1466 Radio Develops as a Mass Broadcast Medium (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1562 Radio Entertainment, Americans Embrace (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2352 Radio Show Goes on the Air, Amos ’n’ Andy (Mar. 19, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2230 Radio Telescope, Reber Builds the First Intentional (June-Sept., 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3028 Radio Transmission, First Transatlantic Telegraphic (Dec. 12, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Radioactive Alpha Decay with Quantum Tunneling, Gamow Explains (Summer, 1928) . . . . . . . . 2242 Radioactive Element Is Developed, First Artificial (1933-1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2615 Radioactivity, Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural (Dec. 10, 1903) . . . . . . . 275 Radioactivity, Elster and Geitel Study (Early 20th cent.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Radioactivity to Determine Ages of Rocks, Boltwood Uses (1905-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 Radiotelephony, First Demonstration of Transatlantic (Oct. 21, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . 1227 Raids on Guernica (Apr. 26, 1937) . . . . . . . . . 3014 Railroad, Completion of the Trans-Siberian (1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239 Railroad Begins Operation in Nigeria, Baro-Kano (Mar. 28, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873 Railway, Completion of the Mombasa-Lake Victoria (Dec. 19, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Qantas Airlines, Formation of (Nov. 20, 1920) . . . 1652 Qing Dynasty, Sun Yixian Overthrows the (Oct. 10, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909 Quantum Theory to Identify Atomic Structure, Bohr Uses (1912-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938 Quantum Tunneling, Gamow Explains Radioactive Alpha Decay with (Summer, 1928). . . . . . . . 2242
lxv
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Reforms, China Allows Some Western (1901-1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Reforms, Garbage Industry Introduces (1910’s) . . . 784 Refrigerant Gas, Midgley Introduces Dichlorodifluoromethane as a (Apr., 1930) . . . 2418 Refuge Is Established, First U.S. National Wildlife (Mar. 14, 1903). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Regional Literature, Cather’s My Ántonia Promotes (1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1403 Regulation of U.S. Commercial Air Traffic, Congress Centralizes (June 30, 1940) . . . . . . 3262 Reichstag Fire (Feb. 27, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2632 Reinforcement, Pavlov Develops the Concept of (1902-1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Reinhardt Becomes Director of the Deutsches Theater (Nov. 24, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 Rejector Spreads Use of Vending Machines, Invention of the Slug (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . 2368 Relativism Revises Historiography, Rise of Cultural (Summer, 1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1434 Relativity, Einstein Completes His Theory of General (Nov. 25, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1230 Relativity, Einstein States His Theory of Special (Fall, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 Relativity, Schwarzschild Solves the Equations of General (1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250 Relief Legislation, Canada Enacts Depression-Era (Sept. 8, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2448 Religious Experience, James Proposes a Rational Basis for (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Religious Philosophy, Buber Breaks New Ground in (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1802 Remembrance of Things Past, Proust Publishes (1913-1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1045 Renaissance, Harlem (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1555 Renoir’s Films Explore Social and Political Themes (1937-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2985 Reorganization Act, Indian (June 18, 1934) . . . . . 2757 Representation, Advisory Councils Give Botswana Natives Limited (1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1568 Representation in Art, Der Blaue Reiter Abandons (Sept., 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897 Representation to India’s Untouchables, Poona Pact Grants (Sept. 25, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2586 Republic Is Proclaimed, Second Spanish (Apr. 14, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2496 Republic of Portugal Is Proclaimed (Oct. 5, 1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841 Republican Congressional Insurgency (Mar., 1909-1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 Republican Resurgence Ends America’s Progressive Era (Nov. 5, 1918-Nov. 2, 1920) . . . . . . . . . 1447
Railway Labor Act Provides for Mediation of Labor Disputes (May 20, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2115 Rapallo, Treaty of (Apr. 16, 1922). . . . . . . . . . 1772 Rape of Nanjing (Dec., 1937-Feb., 1938) . . . . . . 3059 Rayograph, Man Ray Creates the (1921) . . . . . . 1673 Rays, Hess Discovers Cosmic (Aug. 7 and 12, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995 Rays, Millikan Investigates Cosmic (1920-1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1594 Rays, Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X (Dec. 10, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Rays of the Elements, Barkla Discovers the Characteristic X (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 Razor with a Disposable Blade, Gillette Markets the First (Fall, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 RCA to Restructure, Antitrust Prosecution Forces (Nov., 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2593 RCA Victor, Rodgers Cuts His First Record for (Aug. 4, 1927). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2196 Reader’s Digest Is Founded (Feb., 1922) . . . . . . 1763 “Readymades” Redefine Art, Duchamp’s (1913). . . 1019 Reason,” U.S. Supreme Court Establishes the “Rule of (May 15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882 Rebellion, Britain Represses Somali (Early 1920). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1566 Rebellion, Easter (Apr. 24-29, 1916) . . . . . . . . 1262 Rebellion, Moplah (Aug., 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . 1728 Reber Builds the First Intentional Radio Telescope (June-Sept., 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3028 Reciprocal Trade Act (Nov. 11, 1936) . . . . . . . . 2960 Reclamation Act Promotes Western Agriculture (June 17, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Reconstruction Finance Corporation Is Created (Jan. 22, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2540 Record for RCA Victor, Rodgers Cuts His First (Aug. 4, 1927). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2196 Recording Career, Billie Holiday Begins Her (1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2605 Recordings, Johnson Duplicates Disc (1902). . . . . . 96 Red Blood Cells, Whipple Discovers Importance of Iron for (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1990 Red-Blue Chair, Rietveld Designs the (1918-1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1412 Red Scare (Aug., 1919-May, 1920) . . . . . . . . . 1527 Red Terror, Russian Communists Inaugurate the (1917-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1324 Redshifts in Galactic Spectra, Slipher Presents Evidence of (Early 1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1546 Reed Reports That Mosquitoes Transmit Yellow Fever (Feb. 4, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Reform, Canada Cement Affair Prompts Legislative (Oct., 1909). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778
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Keyword List of Contents Right to Vote, U.S. Women Gain the (Aug. 26, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1644 Rights Amendment, Proposal of the Equal (Dec. 10, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871 Rights in India, Muslim League Protests Government Abuses of Minority (Dec. 30, 1906) . . . . . . . . 564 Rights in India Undergo a Decade of Change, Women’s (1925-1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2004 Rilke’s Duino Elegies Redefines Poetics (1911-1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 862 Ringling Bros. Buys Barnum and Bailey Circus (Oct. 22, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629 Rings, Noether Publishes the Theory of Ideals in (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1677 Riots, Stavisky (Feb. 6, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2740 Riots, Western Wall (Aug. 23, 1929) . . . . . . . . 2321 Rise of Commercial Oil Industry in Saudi Arabia (Mar. 3, 1938). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3096 Rise of Cultural Relativism Revises Historiography (Summer, 1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1434 Rise of the French Communist Party (Dec. 29, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1663 Rite of Spring Stuns Audiences, The (May 29, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079 River Flood, Yellow (July, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . 2509 River Levees, Chinese Forces Break Yellow (June 7, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3114 River Project Begins, Delaware (Mar., 1937) . . . . 3002 Rivera’s Rockefeller Center Mural Is Destroyed (Feb., 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2736 Roaring Twenties in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald Captures the (Apr. 10, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . 2033 Robinson-Patman Act Restricts Price Discrimination (June 19, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2937 Rockefeller Center Is Completed (Nov. 1, 1939) . . . 3215 Rockefeller Center Mural Is Destroyed, Rivera’s (Feb., 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2736 Rockefeller Foundation Is Founded (May 14, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1074 Rocket, Launching of the First Liquid-Fueled (Mar. 16, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2099 Rocks, Boltwood Uses Radioactivity to Determine Ages of (1905-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 Rodgers Cuts His First Record for RCA Victor (Aug. 4, 1927). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2196 Roebuck Opens Its First Retail Outlet, Sears, (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1987 Rogers Dance Team, Top Hat Establishes the Astaire- (Sept. 6, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2868 Romanian Peasant Revolt (Mar., 1907) . . . . . . . . 600 Rome,” Mussolini’s “March on (Oct. 24-30, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1782
Research, A. C. Nielsen Company Pioneers in Marketing and Media (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . 1796 Research, Ehrlich and Metchnikoff Conduct Pioneering Immunity (Nov.-Dec., 1908). . . . . . 699 Reserve Act, Federal (Dec. 23, 1913) . . . . . . . . 1099 Reserve Is Created, Serengeti Game (Nov. 19, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2343 Resistance Against Nazism, Pius XI Urges (Mar. 14, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3009 Resources, Conference on the Conservation of Natural (May 13-15, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . . . 677 Respirator, Drinker and Shaw Develop a Mechanical (July, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2314 Retail Outlet, Sears, Roebuck Opens Its First (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1987 Retail Price Maintenance, Miller-Tydings Act Legalizes (Aug. 17, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . 3044 Retailers, Procter & Gamble Announces Plans to Sell Directly to (July, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . 1633 Revolt, Great Iraqi (May-Nov., 1920) . . . . . . . . 1625 Revolt, Romanian Peasant (Mar., 1907) . . . . . . . 600 Revolt and Form a Socialist Government, Germans (1918-1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1409 Revolts, Herero and Nama (Jan., 1904-1905) . . . . . 317 Revolution, Bolsheviks Mount the October (Nov. 6-7, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1393 Revolution, Lenin Leads the Russian (Mar.-Nov., 1917). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1343 Revolution, Mexican (Mid-Oct., 1910-Dec. 1, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . 843 Revolutionary Theater, The Bedbug and The Bathhouse Exemplify (1929-1930) . . . . . . . . 2282 Revue nègre, Baker Dances in La (Oct.-Dec., 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2073 Rhapsody in Blue Premieres in New York, Gershwin’s (Feb. 12, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1909 Rhineland, German Troops March into the (Mar. 7, 1936). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2927 Rhodes Scholarships Are Instituted (Apr., 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Rhodesia, Great Britain Grants Self-Government to Southern (Oct. 1, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1862 Richter Develops a Scale for Measuring Earthquake Strength (Jan., 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2809 Rickets, McCollum Names Vitamin D and Pioneers Its Use Against (1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1757 Riders of the Purple Sage Launches the Western Genre, Grey’s (1912). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925 Ridge, German Expedition Discovers the Mid-Atlantic (Apr., 1925-May, 1927) . . . . . . 2030 Rietveld Designs the Red-Blue Chair (1918-1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1412
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Rutherford Describes the Atomic Nucleus (Mar. 7, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 962 Rutherford Develop a Radiation Counter, Geiger and (Feb. 11, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664 Rutherford Discovers the Proton (1914) . . . . . . . 1103
Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X Rays (Dec. 10, 1901). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Roosevelt and Muir Visit Yosemite (May, 1903) . . . 230 Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President, Theodore (Sept. 14, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Roosevelt Creates the Commodity Credit Corporation (Oct. 18, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . 2683 Roosevelt Is Elected U.S. President, Franklin D. (Nov. 8, 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2596 Roosevelt Signs the National Industrial Recovery Act (June 16, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2663 Roosevelt Signs the Social Security Act (Aug. 14, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2853 Roosevelt Uses Business Leaders for World War II Planning (May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3246 Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from Mining Claims (Jan. 11, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . 651 Rose Bowl Game, First (Jan. 1, 1902) . . . . . . . . 124 Ross Founds The New Yorker (Feb. 21, 1925) . . . . 2020 Rous Discovers That Some Cancers Are Caused by Viruses (1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803 Ruhr, France Occupies the (Jan. 11, 1923-Aug. 16, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . 1826 “Rule of Reason,” U.S. Supreme Court Establishes the (May 15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . 882 Russell Announces His Theory of Stellar Evolution (Dec., 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1092 Russell Discovers the “Great Paradox” (June 16, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Russia, Famine Strikes (1907). . . . . . . . . . . . . 570 Russia, Pogroms in Imperial (1903-1906) . . . . . . 210 Russia, Singer Begins Manufacturing Sewing Machines in (1905). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 Russia Claims Millions of Lives, Famine in (1921-1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1692 Russian Civil War (1918-1921) . . . . . . . . . . . 1416 Russian Communists Inaugurate the Red Terror (1917-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1324 Russian Orthodox Church, Bolsheviks Suppress the (1917-1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1318 Russian Orthodox Church, Stalin Suppresses the (Summer, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3195 Russian Revolution, Lenin Leads the (Mar.-Nov., 1917). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1343 Russia’s Bolshevik Regime, United States Recognizes (Nov. 16, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . 2690 Russo-Finnish War (Nov. 30, 1939-Mar. 12, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . 3219 Russo-Japanese War (Feb. 9, 1904-Sept. 5, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Ruth, New York Yankees Acquire Babe (Jan. 3, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1597
Sacco and Vanzetti Are Executed (Aug. 23, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2199 Saint-Germain-en-Laye Convention Attempts to Curtail Slavery (Sept. 10, 1919) . . . . . . . . . 1531 St. Lawrence Seaway Treaty (July 18, 1932) . . . . 2572 Sales, Mail-Order Clubs Revolutionize Book (1926-1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2092 Salome Shocks Audiences, Strauss’s (Dec. 9, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 Salomon Develops Mammography (1913) . . . . . 1040 Salon d’Automne, Fauves Exhibit at the (Oct., 1905). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 Salon d’Automne Rejects Braque’s Cubist Works (Summer, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 Salons, Stein Holds Her First Paris (Fall, 1905) . . . 443 Salt March, Gandhi Leads the (Mar. 12-Apr. 5, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2410 Salvarsan as a Cure for Syphilis, Ehrlich Introduces (Apr., 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823 San Francisco Earthquake (Apr. 18, 1906) . . . . . . 522 San Remo Agreement, Great Britain and France Sign the (Apr. 26, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1621 Sanctions Against Italy, League of Nations Applies Economic (Oct. 11, 1935-July 15, 1936) . . . . . 2875 Sanger Organizes Conferences on Birth Control (Nov. 11-13, 1921, and Mar. 25-31, 1925) . . . . 1737 Sanitary Bureau, Founding of the International (Dec. 2-5, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Saudi Arabia, Rise of Commercial Oil Industry in (Mar. 3, 1938). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3096 Saudi Arabia, Wahh3btism Strengthens in (1912-1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . 948 Savoye Exemplifies Functionalist Architecture, Le Corbusier’s Villa (Spring, 1931) . . . . . . . 2486 Scale for Measuring Earthquake Strength, Richter Develops a (Jan., 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2809 Scandal, Black Sox (Oct. 1-9, 1919) . . . . . . . . . 1538 Scandal, Teapot Dome (Oct., 1923) . . . . . . . . . 1857 Scandals of the Harding Administration (1921-1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1698 Scheme, Ponzi Cheats Thousands in an Investment (1919-1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1470 Schiaparelli’s Boutique Mingles Art and Fashion (Jan., 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2813 Schick Introduces a Test for Diphtheria (1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1043
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Keyword List of Contents Segregation of Japanese in California Schools, Japan Protests (Oct. 25, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . 555 Self-Government to Southern Rhodesia, Great Britain Grants (Oct. 1, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . 1862 Self-Help Literature, Carnegie Redefines (Nov., 1936). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2953 Self-Service Grocery Store Opens, First (Sept. 11, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1288 Sennett Defines Slapstick Comedy (Aug., 1912) . . . 988 Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes Declares Independence, Kingdom of the (Dec. 1, 1918) . . . . . . . . . . 1450 Serenade Inaugurates American Ballet, Balanchine’s (Dec. 6, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . 2794 Serengeti Game Reserve Is Created (Nov. 19, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2343 Service Organization Is Founded, First American (Feb. 23, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 Set Theory, Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Set Theory, Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive Axiomatization of (1904-1908) . . . . . . . . . . 311 Sewage Systems, Wolman Begins Investigating Water and (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2373 Sewing Machines in Russia, Singer Begins Manufacturing (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 Sex Chromosome, McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Shahs Attempt to Modernize Iran, Pahlavi (1925-1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2007 Shakhty Case Debuts Show Trials in Moscow (May 18, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2240 Shapley Proves the Sun Is Distant from the Center of Our Galaxy (Jan. 8, 1918) . . . . . . . . . . . 1419 Shaw Articulates His Philosophy in Man and Superman (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Shaw Develop a Mechanical Respirator, Drinker and (July, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2314 Sheppard-Towner Act (Nov. 23, 1921-June 30, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . 1745 Sherlock Holmes Film Series Begins (Mar. 31, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3176 Sherman Act, Eastman Kodak Is Found to Be in Violation of the (Feb. 21, 1927) . . . . . . . . . 2175 Sherrington Clarifies the Role of the Nervous System (Apr.-May, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Triangle (Mar. 25, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868 Shopping Center Opens, First Major U.S. (1922). . . 1751 Shortwave Radio Communication Are Discovered, Principles of (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1466 Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Soviets Condemn (Jan. 28, 1936) . . . . 2911
Schizophrenia, Cerletti and Bini Use Electroshock to Treat (Apr., 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3104 Schlink Publish 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs, Kallet and (1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2612 Schmidt Camera and Telescope, Schmidt Invents the Corrector for the (Winter, 1929-1930) . . . . 2347 Schmidt Invents the Corrector for the Schmidt Camera and Telescope (Winter, 1929-1930) . . . 2347 Schoenberg Breaks with Tonality (1908-1909) . . . . 644 Schoenberg Develops His Twelve-Tone System (1921-1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1701 Scholarships Are Instituted, Rhodes (Apr., 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 School, Harvard University Founds a Business (Apr. 8, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674 School of Dance Opens, Denishawn (Summer, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1211 Schools, Japan Protests Segregation of Japanese in California (Oct. 25, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . 555 Schools, Students Challenge Corporal Punishment in British (Sept. 4-15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 Schwarzschild Solves the Equations of General Relativity (1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250 Science Fiction, Golden Age of American (1938-1950) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3079 Scopes Trial (July 10-21, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . 2054 Scott Publishes The Theory of Advertising (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Scottsboro Trials (Mar. 25, 1931-July, 1937) . . . . 2490 Scouts, Baden-Powell Establishes the Boy (Aug., 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613 Screwball Comedy, Production Code Gives Birth to (1934-1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2725 Scriabin’s Prometheus Premieres in Moscow (Mar. 15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865 Sea Divers, Haldane Develops Stage Decompression for Deep- (1907) . . . . . . . . . 573 Sears, Roebuck Opens Its First Retail Outlet (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1987 Seaway Treaty, St. Lawrence (July 18, 1932) . . . . 2572 Second Hague Peace Conference (Oct. 18, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 Second Spanish Republic Is Proclaimed (Apr. 14, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2496 Secretary of Labor, Perkins Becomes First Woman (Feb. 28, 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2637 Securities and Exchange Commission Is Established (June 6, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2750 Sedition Acts, Espionage and (June 15, 1917, and May 16, 1918) . . . . . . . . 1367 Segrè Identifies the First Artificial Element (Jan.-Sept., 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2989
lxix
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Smoot Tariff Act, Hoover Signs the Hawley(June 17, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2430 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney Releases (Dec. 21, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3063 Social Activity, Hindemith Advances Music as a (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2360 Social and Political Themes, Renoir’s Films Explore (1937-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2985 Social and Political Union, Pankhursts Found the Women’s (Oct. 10, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Social Security Act, Roosevelt Signs the (Aug. 14, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2853 Socialist Government, Germans Revolt and Form a (1918-1919). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1409 Socialist Movement, Canada’s First Major (Aug. 1, 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2581 Socialist Politics, L’Humanité Gives Voice to French (Apr. 18, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 Socialist Realism Is Mandated in Soviet Literature (Apr. 23, 1932-Aug., 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2562 Society for the Protection of Nature, Soviets Establish a (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1884 Society of American Indians, First Conference of the (Oct. 12, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005 Soil Conservation Service Is Established (Apr. 27, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2837 Soldier, Harding Eulogizes the Unknown (Nov. 11, 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1734 Soldiers, Poppies Become a Symbol for Fallen (Dec. 8, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1233 Solo Flight by a Woman, First Transatlantic (May 20-21, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2566 Somali Rebellion, Britain Represses (Early 1920). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1566 Somaliland, Italy Invades British (Aug. 3, 1940-Mar., 1941) . . . . . . . . . . . . 3274 Sonar, Langevin Develops Active (Oct., 1915-Mar., 1917). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223 Songs, Bartók and Kodály Collect Hungarian Folk (1904-1905). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Soubirous, Canonization of Bernadette (Dec. 8, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2693 Sound and the Fury Launches Faulkner’s Career, The (Oct. 7, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2327 Sound Technology Revolutionizes the Motion-Picture Industry (May 11, 1928) . . . . . 2234 South, Ku Klux Klan Spreads Terror in the American (1921-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1705 South Africa, Formation of the Union of (May 31, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830 South African Native National Congress Meets (Jan. 8, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 954
Show Boat Is the First American Musical to Emphasize Plot (Dec. 27, 1927) . . . . . . . . . 2210 Show Trials in Moscow, Shakhty Case Debuts (May 18, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2240 Sibelius Conducts the Premiere of His Fourth Symphony (Apr. 3, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876 Sicily, Earthquake and Tsunami Devastate (Dec. 28, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721 Silent Masterpiece Greed Premieres, Von Stroheim’s (Dec. 4, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1956 Silesia Between Poland and Germany, Plebiscite Splits Upper (Mar. 20, 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . 1719 Silicones, Kipping Discovers (1901-1904) . . . . . . . 26 Sinclair Publishes The Jungle (Feb., 1906) . . . . . . 509 Singer Begins Manufacturing Sewing Machines in Russia (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 Sinking of the Titanic (Apr. 14-15, 1912). . . . . . . 972 Sinn Féin Is Founded (Nov. 28, 1905) . . . . . . . . 459 Six, Formation of Les (Jan. 16, 1920) . . . . . . . . 1601 Six Characters in Search of an Author Premieres, Pirandello’s (May 10, 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . 1721 Six Pieces for Large Orchestra Premieres, Webern’s (Mar. 31, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070 Skeleton, Boule Reconstructs the First Neanderthal (Dec., 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710 Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music, Publication of Busoni’s (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Skirt Becomes the Rage, Poiret’s Hobble (Spring, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 820 Slapstick Comedy, Sennett Defines (Aug., 1912). . . 988 Slaughters Assyrian Christians, Iraqi Army (Aug. 11-13, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2672 Slave Trade, International Agreement Targets White (May 18, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 Slavery, Pope Pius X Condemns (June 7, 1912) . . . 983 Slavery, Saint-Germain-en-Laye Convention Attempts to Curtail (Sept. 10, 1919) . . . . . . . 1531 Slavery Convention, League of Nations Adopts International (Sept. 25, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . 2135 Slipher Obtains the Spectrum of a Distant Galaxy (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935 Slipher Presents Evidence of Redshifts in Galactic Spectra (Early 1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1546 Slovenes Declares Independence, Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and (Dec. 1, 1918) . . . . . . . . . 1450 Slug Rejector Spreads Use of Vending Machines, Invention of the (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2368 Smith-Hoover Campaign (1928) . . . . . . . . . . . 2219 Smith Records “Downhearted Blues,” Bessie (Feb. 15, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1830 Smoke Is Founded, International Association for the Prevention of (June 27-29, 1906) . . . . . . . 531
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Keyword List of Contents Squier Founds Muzak (1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2713 Stadium Is Dedicated, New Wimbledon Tennis (June, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1775 Stage Decompression for Deep-Sea Divers, Haldane Develops (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 Stagecoach, Ford Defines the Western in (1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3152 Stalin Begins the Purge Trials (Dec., 1934) . . . . . 2786 Stalin Introduces Central Planning (Oct. 1, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2263 Stalin Restricts Soviet Composers (Apr. 23, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2558 Stalin Suppresses the Russian Orthodox Church (Summer, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3195 Stamp Act, Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation (Mar. 16, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . 2742 Star, Michelson Measures the Diameter of a (Dec. 13, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1654 Star Color and Luminosity, Hertzsprung Notes Relationship Between (1905) . . . . . . . . . . . 369 Star Streams in the Galaxy, Kapteyn Discovers Two (1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Starling Establish the Role of Hormones, Bayliss and (Apr.-June, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Stars, Eddington Formulates the Mass-Luminosity Law for (Mar., 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1912 Stars, Eddington Publishes The Internal Constitution of the (July, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2119 Stars, Hertzsprung Uses Cepheid Variables to Calculate Distances to the (1913). . . . . . . . . 1034 Stars, Zwicky and Baade Propose a Theory of Neutron (1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2718 Star’s Mass, Chandrasekhar Calculates the Upper Limit of a White Dwarf (1931-1935) . . . . . . . 2471 State Park, Indiana Dunes Are Preserved as a (May, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2182 State Wildlife Funding, Pittman-Robertson Act Provides (Sept. 2, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3050 States, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona Become U.S. (Jan. 16, 1907-Feb. 14, 1912) . . . . 594 Stavisky Riots (Feb. 6, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2740 Steel Corporation, United States v. United States (Mar. 1, 1920). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1618 Steelworkers Strike for Improved Working Conditions (Sept. 22, 1919-Jan. 8, 1920) . . . . . 1535 Steenbock Discovers Sunlight Increases Vitamin D in Food (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1887 Stein Holds Her First Paris Salons (Fall, 1905) . . . . 443 Steinitz Inaugurates Modern Abstract Algebra (1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731 Steinmetz Warns of Pollution in “The Future of Electricity” (1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807
South Pole, Amundsen Reaches the (Dec. 14, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 919 Southern Rhodesia, Great Britain Grants SelfGovernment to (Oct. 1, 1923). . . . . . . . . . . 1862 Soviet Composers, Stalin Restricts (Apr. 23, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2558 Soviet Literature, Socialist Realism Is Mandated in (Apr. 23, 1932-Aug., 1934) . . . . . . . . . . 2562 Soviet Nature Preserve, Lenin Approves the First (Feb. 1, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1486 Soviet Pact, Nazi- (Aug. 23-24, 1939) . . . . . . . . 3205 Soviet Union, Great Famine Strikes the (Dec., 1932-Spring, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2599 Soviet Union Bans Abstract Art (1934) . . . . . . . 2709 Soviets Condemn Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (Jan. 28, 1936) . . . . . . 2911 Soviets Establish a Society for the Protection of Nature (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1884 Soviets Massacre Polish Prisoners of War (Apr.-May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3236 Soviets Open the White Sea-Baltic Canal (Aug. 2, 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2670 Space, Fréchet Introduces the Concept of Abstract (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 Space Travel, Tsiolkovsky Proposes Using Liquid Oxygen for (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Spain, Claretian Martyrs Are Executed in (Aug. 2-18, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2951 Spain, Embargo on Arms to (Jan. 6, 1937) . . . . . 2996 Spain Declares Neutrality in World War I (Oct. 30, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156 Spanish Civil War Begins (July 17, 1936) . . . . . . 2945 Spanish Republic Is Proclaimed, Second (Apr. 14, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2496 Special Effects, A Trip to the Moon Introduces (Aug., 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Special Relativity, Einstein States His Theory of (Fall, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 Spectra, Slipher Presents Evidence of Redshifts in Galactic (Early 1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1546 Spectrum of a Distant Galaxy, Slipher Obtains the (1912). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 935 Speedway, First Auto Race at the Indianapolis Motor (Aug. 19, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776 Spindletop, Discovery of Oil at (Jan. 10, 1901) . . . . 40 Spiral Structure of the Milky Way, Oort Proves the (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2161 Spirit of Medieval Philosophy Reassesses Christian Thought, Gilson’s (1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2527 Split the Atom, Cockcroft and Walton (Apr., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2555 Splits the Uranium Atom, Hahn (Dec., 1938) . . . . 3143
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Suit Against Alcoa, U.S. Government Loses Its (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1892 Sulfonamides Can Save Lives, Domagk Discovers That (1932-1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2529 Summer Olympics, Germany Hosts the (Aug. 1-16, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2948 Summer Olympics, Stockholm Hosts the (May 5-July 27, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 Sun Also Rises Speaks for the Lost Generation, Hemingway’s The (Oct. 22, 1926) . . . . . . . . 2139 Sun Is Distant from the Center of Our Galaxy, Shapley Proves the (Jan. 8, 1918) . . . . . . . . 1419 Sun Yixian Overthrows the Qing Dynasty (Oct. 10, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 909 Sunday, Bloody (Jan. 22, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 Sunlight Increases Vitamin D in Food, Steenbock Discovers (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1887 Sun’s Outer Atmosphere, Lyot’s Coronagraph Allows Observation of the (1930) . . . . . . . . 2383 Sunspots, Hale Discovers Strong Magnetic Fields in (June 26, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686 Superfluidity, Kapitsa Explains (Jan., 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3083 Superstar, Von Sternberg Makes Dietrich a (1930-1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2396 Suprematism, Malevich Introduces (Dec. 17, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1235 Supreme Court Breaks Up the American Tobacco Company, U.S. (May 29, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . 886 Supreme Court Establishes the “Rule of Reason,” U.S. (May 15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882 Supreme Court Justice, Brandeis Becomes the First Jewish (June 5, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269 Supreme Court Rules Against Minimum Wage Laws, U.S. (Apr. 9, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1844 Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities, U.S. (Mar. 14, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 Supreme Court Ruling Allows Yellow-Dog Contracts, U.S. (Jan. 27, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . 657 Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law, U.S. (Apr. 17, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 Supreme Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce, U.S. (Feb. 23, 1903). . . . . . . . . . 222 Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust, U.S. (Jan. 30, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 Supreme Court-Packing Fight (Feb. 5-July 22, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2999 Surrealism in An Andalusian Dog, Buñuel and Dalí Champion (1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2213 Surrealism Is Born (Oct., 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . 1943 Susa Discovers Hammurabi’s Code, French Expedition at (Jan., 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Stellar Divisions, Hertzsprung Describes Giant and Dwarf (1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 Stellar Evolution, Russell Announces His Theory of (Dec., 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1092 Stieglitz Organizes the Photo-Secession (Feb. 17, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Stimson Doctrine (Jan. 7, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . 2538 Stock Market Crashes, U.S. (Oct. 24-29, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2331 Stockholm Hosts the Summer Olympics (May 5-July 27, 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 975 Stoclet, Hoffmann Designs the Palais (1905) . . . . . 372 Stolypin, Assassination of Pyotr Arkadyevich (Sept. 14, 1911). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 904 Store Opens, First Self-Service Grocery (Sept. 11, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1288 Story of Philosophy, Durant Publishes The (May, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2102 Stratosphere by Balloon, Piccard Travels to the (May 27, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2506 Strauss’s Salome Shocks Audiences (Dec. 9, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 Stravinsky Completes His Wind Octet (Oct. 18, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1865 Strike, Anthracite Coal (May 12-Oct. 23, 1902) . . . 152 Strike, British Workers Launch General (May 3-12, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2105 Strike, Winnipeg General (May 15-June 26, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1509 Strike for Improved Working Conditions, Steelworkers (Sept. 22, 1919-Jan. 8, 1920). . . . 1535 Student, Boulanger Takes Copland as a (1921) . . . 1665 Student Union Is Founded, West African (Aug. 7, 1925). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2062 Students Association Becomes Jehovah’s Witnesses, International Bible (July 26, 1931) . . . . . . . . 2512 Students Challenge Corporal Punishment in British Schools (Sept. 4-15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 Studio System Dominates Hollywood Filmmaking (1930’s-1940’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2376 Sturtevant Produces the First Chromosome Map (Fall, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906 Submarine Warfare, Germany Begins Extensive (Sept. 22, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1143 Subway Sketches Record War Images, Moore’s (1940-1941) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3233 Suffrage, Finland Grants Women (July 20, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538 Suffrage for Men, Japan Introduces (May 5, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2042 Suffrage to Women, Australia Extends (June 12, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
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Keyword List of Contents Tax, U.S. Congress Imposes a Wartime Excess-Profits (Oct. 3, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . 1379 Tax Is Authorized, U.S. Federal Income (Feb. 25, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059 Taylor Grazing Act (June 28, 1934) . . . . . . . . . 2764 Teaching Method at Harvard, Donham Promotes the Case Study (1920’s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1551 Teapot Dome Scandal (Oct., 1923) . . . . . . . . . 1857 Technological Totalitarianism, Huxley’s Brave New World Forecasts (Winter, 1932) . . . . . . . 2601 Telegraphic Radio Transmission, First Transatlantic (Dec. 12, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Telephone, Dreyfuss Designs the Bell 300 (1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2976 Telephone Call Is Made, First Transcontinental (Jan. 25, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177 Telephone System, Parliament Nationalizes the British (Dec. 31, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 922 Telescope, Reber Builds the First Intentional Radio (June-Sept., 1937). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3028 Telescope, Schmidt Invents the Corrector for the Schmidt Camera and (Winter, 1929-1930) . . . . 2347 Telescope Is Installed on Mount Wilson, Hooker (Nov., 1917). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1385 Teletype Is Developed (1901-1925) . . . . . . . . . . 32 Television, Zworykin Applies for Patent on an Early Type of (Dec. 29, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . 1873 Television Broadcast, First Color (Sept. 1, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3282 Television Debuts at the World’s Fair, American (Apr. 30, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3186 Television Program, BBC Airs the First High-Definition (Nov. 2, 1936). . . . . . . . . . 2956 Temple Receives a Special Academy Award (Feb. 27, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2827 Ten Commandments Advances American Film Spectacle, The (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1820 Tennessee Valley Authority Is Created (May 18, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2656 Tennis, First Grand Slam of (Sept. 17, 1938) . . . . 3127 Tennis Stadium Is Dedicated, New Wimbledon (June, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1775 Terror, Russian Communists Inaugurate the Red (1917-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1324 Terror in the American South, Ku Klux Klan Spreads (1921-1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1705 Theater, Federal Theatre Project Promotes Live (Aug. 29, 1935-June 30, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . 2860 Theater, Reinhardt Becomes Director of the Deutsches (Nov. 24, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 Theater, The Bedbug and The Bathhouse Exemplify Revolutionary (1929-1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2282
Suspense, Hitchcock Becomes Synonymous with (1934-1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2722 Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits (Dec., 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Svalbard, Norway Annexes (Aug. 14, 1925) . . . . 2064 Svedberg Develops the Ultracentrifuge (1924) . . . 1889 Swan, Pavlova Performs The Dying (Dec. 22, 1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632 Sweden Abolishes Capital Punishment (1921) . . . 1680 Swims the English Channel, Ederle (Aug. 6, 1926). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2129 Sydney Harbour Bridge, Dedication of the (Mar. 19, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2549 Sylphides Introduces Abstract Ballet, Fokine’s Les (June 2, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766 Symmetry and Conservation, Noether Shows the Equivalence of (1918) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1406 Symphonies, Vaughan Williams Composes His Nine (1903-1957) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Symphony, Ives Completes His Fourth (1916) . . . 1247 Symphony, Sibelius Conducts the Premiere of His Fourth (Apr. 3, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876 Symphony Premieres to Acclaim, Elgar’s First (Dec. 3, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713 Synthetic Vat Dye, Creation of the First (1901) . . . . . 8 Syphilis, Ehrlich Introduces Salvarsan as a Cure for (Apr., 1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823 Syphilis Test, Kahn Develops a Modified (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1817 Szent-Györgyi Discovers Vitamin C (1928-1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2222 Tacna-Arica Compromise (June 3-Aug. 28, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2309 Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapses (Nov. 7, 1940). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3292 Taliesin Fellowship, Wright Founds the (Oct., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2589 “Talkie,” The Jazz Singer Premieres as the First (Oct. 6, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2202 Talking Motion Pictures, Warner Bros. Introduces (Aug., 1926-Sept., 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2124 Talking Pictures, Edison Shows the First (1913) . . . 1022 Tangier Crisis (Mar. 31, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 Tansley Proposes the Term “Ecosystem” (July, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2846 Tariff Act, Hoover Signs the Hawley-Smoot (June 17, 1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2430 Tariff Act of 1909 Limits Corporate Privacy (Aug. 5, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772 Tariff Commission, United States Establishes a Permanent (Sept. 8, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1285
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Towner Act, Sheppard(Nov. 23, 1921-June 30, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . 1745 Toynbee’s Metahistorical Approach Sparks Debate (1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2716 Trade, International Agreement Targets White Slave (May 18, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 Trade Act, Reciprocal (Nov. 11, 1936) . . . . . . . 2960 Trade Commission Is Organized, Federal (Sept. 26, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1145 Traffic, Congress Centralizes Regulation of U.S. Commercial Air (June 30, 1940) . . . . . . . . . 3262 Trail Is Completed, John Muir (1938) . . . . . . . . 3076 Traits, Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary (Dec., 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Trans-Siberian Railroad, Completion of the (1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1239 Transatlantic Flight, Lindbergh Makes the First Nonstop (May 20, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2189 Transatlantic Radiotelephony, First Demonstration of (Oct. 21, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1227 Transatlantic Solo Flight by a Woman, First (May 20-21, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2566 Transatlantic Telegraphic Radio Transmission, First (Dec. 12, 1901). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Transcontinental Airmail Delivery, U.S. Post Office Begins (Sept. 8, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1648 Transcontinental Telephone Call Is Made, First (Jan. 25, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177 Transfusion, Crile Performs the First Direct Blood (Dec., 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 Travel, The DC-3 Opens a New Era of Air (June 25, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2941 Treaties, Japan Renounces Disarmament (Dec. 29, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2797 Treatment for Yellow Fever, Theiler Develops a (June, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3025 Treaty, Germany Attempts to Restructure the Versailles (Oct., 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2069 Treaty, Halibut (Oct. 21, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . 1947 Treaty, Lateran (Feb. 11, 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . 2298 Treaty, St. Lawrence Seaway (July 18, 1932) . . . . 2572 Treaty Act, Migratory Bird (July 3, 1918) . . . . . . 1437 Treaty Brings Japan into World Markets, Anglo-Japanese (Jan. 30, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . 127 Treaty of Ankara (July 18, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . 2122 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Mar. 3, 1918) . . . . . . . 1431 Treaty of Rapallo (Apr. 16, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . 1772 Treaty of Vereeniging Ends the Boer War (May 31, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Treaty of Versailles (June 28, 1919) . . . . . . . . . 1521 Trial, Scopes (July 10-21, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . 2054 Trials, Scottsboro (Mar. 25, 1931-July, 1937) . . . . 2490
Theater and Drama, The Ghost Sonata Influences Modern (Jan. 21, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654 Theater Opens, First Nickelodeon Film (June, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 Theatre Flourishes, The Group (1931-1941). . . . . 2474 Theatre Heralds the Celtic Revival, Abbey (Dec. 27, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 Theiler Develops a Treatment for Yellow Fever (June, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3025 Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President (Sept. 14, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Theory of Advertising, Scott Publishes The (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Thérèse of Lisieux Is Canonized (May 17, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2044 Thermal Cracking, Burton Refines Petroleum with (Jan., 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1049 Thomson Confirms the Possibility of Isotopes (1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811 Thomson Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering the Electron (Dec. 10, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 Throne, Edward VIII Abdicates the British (Dec. 10, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2973 Tibet, Lhasa Convention Is Signed in (Sept. 7, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 Tide at Moderate Latitudes, Chapman Determines the Lunar Atmospheric (1935) . . . . . . . . . . 2799 Tiffany Leads the Art Nouveau Movement in the United States (1902-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Time Magazine, Luce Founds (Mar. 3, 1923) . . . . 1833 Titanic, Sinking of the (Apr. 14-15, 1912) . . . . . . 972 Tobacco Companies Unite to Split World Markets (Sept. 27, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Tobacco Company, U.S. Supreme Court Breaks Up the American (May 29, 1911) . . . . . . . . . 886 Tolkien Redefines Fantasy Literature (Sept., 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3047 Tomb of Tutankhamen, Carter Discovers the (Nov. 4, 1922). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1784 Tombaugh Discovers Pluto (Feb. 18, 1930) . . . . . 2407 Tonality, Schoenberg Breaks with (1908-1909) . . . 644 Tone System, Schoenberg Develops His Twelve(1921-1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1701 Top Hat Establishes the Astaire-Rogers Dance Team (Sept. 6, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2868 Torpedoes Sink the Lusitania, German (May 7, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206 Totalitarianism, Huxley’s Brave New World Forecasts Technological (Winter, 1932) . . . . . 2601 Tour de France, First (July 1, 1903). . . . . . . . . . 242 Tournament, American Bowling Club Hosts Its First (Jan., 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
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Keyword List of Contents Typewriter Company, Caruso Records for the Gramophone and (Apr. 11, 1902) . . . . . . . . . 146 Typhus, Zinsser Develops an Immunization Against (1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2386
Trials, Stalin Begins the Purge (Dec., 1934). . . . . 2786 Trials in Moscow, Shakhty Case Debuts Show (May 18, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2240 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Mar. 25, 1911) . . . 868 Tribal Art, Artists Find Inspiration in African (1906-1907) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494 Trip to the Moon Introduces Special Effects A (Aug., 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Triple Entente, Formation of the (Aug. 31, 1907) . . . 616 Troops, Germany Uses Poison Gas Against Allied (Apr. 22-27, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1192 Troops March into the Rhineland, German (Mar. 7, 1936). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2927 Tropic of Cancer Stirs Controversy, Miller’s (Sept. 1, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2770 Trotsky Is Sent into Exile (Jan., 1929). . . . . . . . 2295 Trust, U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef (Jan. 30, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 Truth-in-Advertising Code, Advertisers Adopt a (Aug., 1913). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1082 Tryptophan, Hopkins Announces the Discovery of (1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Tsiolkovsky Proposes Using Liquid Oxygen for Space Travel (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Tsunami Devastate Sicily, Earthquake and (Dec. 28, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721 Tuberculosis Vaccine BCG Is Developed (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1683 Tudor’s Jardin aux lilas Premieres in London (Jan. 26, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2908 Tunnel Construction Leads to Disaster, Hawk’s Nest (Mar. 31, 1930-1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2414 Tunneling, Gamow Explains Radioactive Alpha Decay with Quantum (Summer, 1928) . . . . . . 2242 Turbine Factory, Completion of the AEG (Oct., 1909). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781 Turing Invents the Universal Turing Machine (1935-1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2806 Turing Machine, Turing Invents the Universal (1935-1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2806 Turkish War, Greco(May 19, 1919-Sept. 11, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . 1511 Turks Stage a Coup in the Ottoman Empire, Young (July 24, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 Tutankhamen, Carter Discovers the Tomb of (Nov. 4, 1922). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1784 Twelve-Tone System, Schoenberg Develops His (1921-1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1701 Twenties in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald Captures the Roaring (Apr. 10, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . 2033 Two-Ocean Navy, United States Begins Building a (June 14, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3258
U-Boat Is Launched, First German (Aug. 4, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 Ukrainian Nationalists Struggle for Independence (1917-1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1321 Ultracentrifuge, Svedberg Develops the (1924) . . . 1889 Ultramares Case Establishes Liability for Auditors (1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2464 Ultramicroscope, Zsigmondy Invents the (1902) . . . 110 Ulysses Redefines Modern Fiction, Joyce’s (Feb. 2, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1767 Uncertainty Principle, Heisenberg Articulates the (Feb.-Mar., 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2172 Unconscious, Jung Publishes The Psychology of the (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 928 Undset Accepts the Nobel Prize in Literature (Dec. 10, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2267 Unemployment Benefits, Great Britain Establishes (1920-1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1590 Union, Pankhursts Found the Women’s Social and Political (Oct. 10, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Union Is Founded, West African Student (Aug. 7, 1925). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2062 Union of South Africa, Formation of the (May 31, 1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830 Unions Win Exemption from Antitrust Laws, Labor (Oct. 15, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153 United States, Dutch Elm Disease Arrives in the (1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2380 United States, First Female Governor in the (Jan. 5, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2014 United States, Guthrie’s Populist Songs Reflect the Depression-Era (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2356 United States, Massachusetts Adopts the First Minimum Wage Law in the (June 4, 1912) . . . . 980 United States, Ozawa v. (Nov. 13, 1922) . . . . . . 1788 United States, Philippines Ends Its Uprising Against the (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 United States, Tiffany Leads the Art Nouveau Movement in the (1902-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . 117 United States Begins Building a Two-Ocean Navy (June 14, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3258 United States Begins “Dollar Diplomacy” (1909-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734 United States Begins Mobilization for World War II (Aug., 1939). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3198 United States Emerges, Consumers Union of the (Jan.-Mar., 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2902
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 U.S. Congress, First Woman Is Elected to the (Nov. 7, 1916). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1299 U.S. Congress Approves a Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley (Dec. 19, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1095 U.S. Congress Authorizes Private Carriers for Airmail (Feb. 2, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2017 U.S. Congress Establishes the Border Patrol (May 28, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1926 U.S. Congress Imposes a Wartime Excess-Profits Tax (Oct. 3, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1379 U.S. Congress Updates Copyright Law (Mar. 4, 1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753 U.S. Curtails Civil Liberties During World War I (Apr. 13, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1353 U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor, Creation of the (Feb. 14, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 U.S. Federal Income Tax Is Authorized (Feb. 25, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1059 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Is Formed (July 1, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3265 U.S. Food and Drug Administration Is Established (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2164 U.S. Food Stamp Program Begins, First (May 16, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3190 U.S. Forces After World War I, Demobilization of (Nov., 1918-June, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1444 U.S. Forest Service, Pinchot Becomes Head of the (Jan. 3, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 U.S. Government Begins Using Cost-Plus Contracts (1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106 U.S. Government Loses Its Suit Against Alcoa (1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1892 U.S. Intervention in Nicaragua (Aug. 4-Nov., 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991 U.S. Monetary Control, Banking Act of 1935 Centralizes (Aug. 23, 1935). . . . . . . . . . . . 2857 U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established, First (Mar. 14, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 U.S. Post Office Begins Transcontinental Airmail Delivery (Sept. 8, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1648 U.S. President, Coolidge Is Elected (Nov. 4, 1924). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1949 U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt Is Elected (Nov. 8, 1932). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2596 U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt Becomes (Sept. 14, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 U.S. President, Wilson Is Elected (Nov. 5, 1912). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011 U.S. Public Health Service Is Established (Aug. 14, 1912). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998 U.S. Shopping Center Opens, First Major (1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1751
United States Enters World War I (Apr. 6, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1349 United States Establishes a Permanent Tariff Commission (Sept. 8, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . 1285 United States Establishes the War Industries Board (July 8, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371 United States Fails, Bank of (Dec. 11, 1930) . . . . 2457 United States Recognizes Russia’s Bolshevik Regime (Nov. 16, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2690 United States v. United States Steel Corporation (Mar. 1, 1920). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1618 Universal Negro Improvement Association Establishes a U.S. Chapter (May, 1917) . . . . . 1358 Universal Turing Machine, Turing Invents the (1935-1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2806 Universe, Hubble Confirms the Expanding (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2276 University Education, Mecklenburg-Schwerin Admits Women to (1909) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729 University Founds a Business School, Harvard (Apr. 8, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674 University Is Inaugurated, Cairo (Dec. 21, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716 Unknown Soldier, Harding Eulogizes the (Nov. 11, 1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1734 Untouchables, Poona Pact Grants Representation to India’s (Sept. 25, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2586 Upper Atmosphere, Fabry Quantifies Ozone in the (Jan. 17, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1053 Upper Silesia Between Poland and Germany, Plebiscite Splits (Mar. 20, 1921) . . . . . . . . . 1719 Uprising Against the United States, Philippines Ends Its (1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Uprising in Macedonia, Ilinden (Aug. 2-Sept., 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Uprising of Arabs in Palestine, Great (Apr. 15, 1936-1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2935 Uranium Atom, Hahn Splits the (Dec., 1938) . . . . 3143 Urban Ecology, The City Initiates the Study of (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1962 U.S. Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone (Nov. 18, 1903). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 U.S. Automakers Falls to Forty-Four, Number of (1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2158 U.S. Bureau of Investigation, Hoover Becomes the Director of the (Dec. 10, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . 1959 U.S. Bureau of Mines Is Established (July 1, 1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836 U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps Is Established (Apr. 5, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2652 U.S. Commercial Air Traffic, Congress Centralizes Regulation of (June 30, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . 3262
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Keyword List of Contents Vienna Circle, First Meeting of the (1922) . . . . . 1754 Vienna Court Opera, Mahler Directs the (Early 20th cent.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Villa Mairea, Aalto Designs (1937-1938) . . . . . . 2982 Villa Savoye Exemplifies Functionalist Architecture, Le Corbusier’s (Spring, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . 2486 Violation of the Sherman Act, Eastman Kodak Is Found to Be in (Feb. 21, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . 2175 Violence, Oklahoma Imposes Martial Law in Response to KKK (June 26, 1923) . . . . . . . . 1850 Viruses, Rous Discovers That Some Cancers Are Caused by (1910). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803 Vitamin C, Szent-Györgyi Discovers (1928-1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2222 Vitamin D and Pioneers Its Use Against Rickets, McCollum Names (1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1757 Vitamin D in Food, Steenbock Discovers Sunlight Increases (1924). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1887 Vitamins, Hopkins Postulates the Presence of (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484 Voltaire, Dada Movement Emerges at the Cabaret (1916) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1242 Von Sternberg Makes Dietrich a Superstar (1930-1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2396 Von Stroheim’s Silent Masterpiece Greed Premieres (Dec. 4, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1956 Vote, British Women Gain the (Feb. 6, 1918) . . . . 1422 Vote, Canadian Women Gain the (Sept. 20, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1377 Vote, U.S. Women Gain the Right to (Aug. 26, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1644 Voters Is Founded, League of Women (Feb. 14, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1610 Voting Age for Women, Great Britain Lowers the (July 2, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2246
U.S. States, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona Become (Jan. 16, 1907-Feb. 14, 1912). . . . . . . 594 U.S. Stock Market Crashes (Oct. 24-29, 1929) . . . 2331 U.S. Supreme Court Breaks Up the American Tobacco Company (May 29, 1911) . . . . . . . . 886 U.S. Supreme Court Establishes the “Rule of Reason” (May 15, 1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882 U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Minimum Wage Laws (Apr. 9, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1844 U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities (Mar. 14, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows Yellow-Dog Contracts (Jan. 27, 1908). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657 U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law (Apr. 17, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce (Feb. 23, 1903). . . . . . . . 222 U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust (Jan. 30, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 U.S. Water Supply Begins, Chlorination of the (1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635 U.S. Women Gain the Right to Vote (Aug. 26, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1644 Uterine Cancer, Papanicolaou Develops a Test for Diagnosing (Jan., 1928). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2225 Vaccine BCG Is Developed, Tuberculosis (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1683 Vacuum Cleaner, Booth Receives Patent for the (Aug. 30, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Vacuum Tube, Fleming Patents the First (Nov. 16, 1904). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 Valentine’s Day Massacre (Feb. 14, 1929) . . . . . 2301 Vanzetti Are Executed, Sacco and (Aug. 23, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2199 Vapor Lamp, Hewitt Invents the Mercury(1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Variables to Calculate Distances to the Stars, Hertzsprung Uses Cepheid (1913) . . . . . . . . 1034 Vaughan Williams Composes His Nine Symphonies (1903-1957) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Vending Machines, Invention of the Slug Rejector Spreads Use of (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2368 Venezuela, Oil Is Discovered in (Dec. 14, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1794 Verdun, Battle of (Feb. 21-Dec. 18, 1916). . . . . . 1256 Vereeniging Ends the Boer War, Treaty of (May 31, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Vernadsky Publishes The Biosphere (1926) . . . . . 2089 Versailles, Treaty of (June 28, 1919) . . . . . . . . 1521 Versailles Treaty, Germany Attempts to Restructure the (Oct., 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . 2069
Wage Law in the United States, Massachusetts Adopts the First Minimum (June 4, 1912) . . . . . 980 Wage Laws, U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Minimum (Apr. 9, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1844 Wagner Act (July 5, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2850 Wahh3btism Strengthens in Saudi Arabia (1912-1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 948 Walton League Is Formed, Izaak (Jan., 1922) . . . . 1760 Walton Split the Atom, Cockcroft and (Apr., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2555 War, All Quiet on the Western Front Stresses the Futility of (Jan., 1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2292 War, Chinese Civil (1926-1949) . . . . . . . . . . . 2096 War, Greco-Turkish (May 19, 1919-Sept. 11, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . 1511 War, Russian Civil (1918-1921) . . . . . . . . . . . 1416
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 War, Russo-Finnish (Nov. 30, 1939-Mar. 12, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . 3219 War, Russo-Japanese (Feb. 9, 1904-Sept. 5, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 War, Soviets Massacre Polish Prisoners of (Apr.-May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3236 War, Treaty of Vereeniging Ends the Boer (May 31, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 War Begins, Spanish Civil (July 17, 1936) . . . . . 2945 War I, Borden Leads Canada Through World (1911-1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859 War I, Demobilization of U.S. Forces After World (Nov., 1918-June, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1444 War I, Outbreak of World (June 28-Aug. 4, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1121 War I, Spain Declares Neutrality in World (Oct. 30, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156 War I, United States Enters World (Apr. 6, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1349 War I, U.S. Curtails Civil Liberties During World (Apr. 13, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1353 War I, World (June 28, 1914-Nov. 11, 1918) . . . . 1124 War II, Canada Enters World (Sept. 10, 1939) . . . 3213 War II, United States Begins Mobilization for World (Aug., 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3198 War II Planning, Roosevelt Uses Business Leaders for World (May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3246 War Images, Moore’s Subway Sketches Record (1940-1941) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3233 War Industries Board, United States Establishes the (July 8, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371 War of the Worlds, Welles Broadcasts The (Oct. 30, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3137 War on Japan, China Declares (July 7, 1937) . . . . 3037 Warfare, Germany Begins Extensive Submarine (Sept. 22, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1143 Warner Bros. Introduces Talking Motion Pictures (Aug., 1926-Sept., 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2124 Wars, Balkan (Oct. 18, 1912-Aug. 10, 1913) . . . . 1008 Wartime Excess-Profits Tax, U.S. Congress Imposes a (Oct. 3, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1379 Washing Machine Is Introduced, Electric (1910) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792 Washington Disarmament Conference (Nov. 12, 1921-Feb. 6, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . 1741 Waste Land, Eliot Publishes The (1922) . . . . . . . 1748 Water and Sewage Systems, Wolman Begins Investigating (1930’s). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2373 Water Lilies Are Shown at the Musée de L’Orangerie, Monet’s (May 17, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2186 Water Supply Begins, Chlorination of the U.S. (1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
Wave-Particle Duality of Light, De Broglie Explains the (1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1804 Wealth, Pareto Analyzes the Distribution of (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490 Weber Posits the “Protestant Ethic” (1904-1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Webern’s Six Pieces for Large Orchestra Premieres (Mar. 31, 1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1070 Weekly Indian Opinion, Founding of the (June 6, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Wegener Proposes the Theory of Continental Drift (Jan., 1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950 Weidenreich Reconstructs the Face of Peking Man (Fall, 1937-Winter, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3053 Weill Collaborate on the Mahagonny Songspiel, Brecht and (July 17, 1927) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2193 Weimar Constitution (July 31, 1919) . . . . . . . . 1525 Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics, Hardy and (1908). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638 Well Drilling, Hughes Revolutionizes Oil (1908) . . . 642 Welles Broadcasts The War of the Worlds (Oct. 30, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3137 Welsh Revival Spreads Pentecostalism (Oct. 31, 1904-1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346 Werkbund Is Founded, Deutscher (Oct., 1907) . . . . 618 West African Student Union Is Founded (Aug. 7, 1925). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2062 Western Genre, Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage Launches the (1912) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 925 Western in Stagecoach, Ford Defines the (1939) . . . 3152 Western Reforms, China Allows Some (1901-1911) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Western Wall Riots (Aug. 23, 1929). . . . . . . . . 2321 Wheat, Canadian Cultivation of Marquis (1904) . . . 281 Wheeler-Lea Act Broadens FTC Control over Advertising (Mar. 21, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . 3101 Whipple Discovers Importance of Iron for Red Blood Cells (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1990 White Dwarf Star’s Mass, Chandrasekhar Calculates the Upper Limit of a (1931-1935) . . . . . . . . 2471 White Sea-Baltic Canal, Soviets Open the (Aug. 2, 1933). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2670 White Slave Trade, International Agreement Targets (May 18, 1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 Whitney Museum of American Art Opens in New York (Nov. 17, 1931) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2514 Wiener Werkstätte, Hoffmann and Moser Found the (1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Wild Swans at Coole, Yeats Publishes The (1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1315 Wilderness Area Is Designated, Gila (June 3, 1924) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1931
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Keyword List of Contents Women Gain the Vote, Canadian (Sept. 20, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1377 Women Suffrage, Finland Grants (July 20, 1906) . . . 538 Women to University Education, Mecklenburg-Schwerin Admits (1909) . . . . . . 729 Women Voters Is Founded, League of (Feb. 14, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1610 Women’s Consciousness, Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway Explores (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1993 Women’s Fashion, Chanel Defines Modern (1920’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1549 Women’s Institutes Are Founded in Great Britain (Sept. 11, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220 Women’s Rights in India Undergo a Decade of Change (1925-1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2004 Women’s Social and Political Union, Pankhursts Found the (Oct. 10, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway Explores Women’s Consciousness (1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1993 Work Begins on the Grand Coulee Dam (Sept. 8, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2678 Work for Women, Bern Convention Prohibits Night (Sept. 19, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 Workday, Ford Announces a Five-Dollar, Eight-Hour (Jan. 5, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1110 Workers Launch General Strike, British (May 3-12, 1926) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2105 Workers of the World, Founding of Industrial (June 27, 1905) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 Working Conditions, Steelworkers Strike for Improved (Sept. 22, 1919-Jan. 8, 1920) . . . . . 1535 Works Progress Administration Is Established (Apr. 8, 1935) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2830 World Christian Fundamentals Association, Founding of the (1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1458 World Series, Baseball Holds Its First (Oct. 1-13, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 World War I, Borden Leads Canada Through (1911-1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859 World War I, Demobilization of U.S. Forces After (Nov., 1918-June, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1444 World War I, Outbreak of (June 28-Aug. 4, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1121 World War I, Spain Declares Neutrality in (Oct. 30, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1156 World War I, United States Enters (Apr. 6, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1349 World War I, U.S. Curtails Civil Liberties During (Apr. 13, 1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1353 World War I (June 28, 1914-Nov. 11, 1918). . . . . 1124 World War II, Canada Enters (Sept. 10, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3213
Wilderness Society, Marshall and Leopold Form the (Oct. 19, 1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2780 Wildlife Federation, Darling Founds the National (Feb. 4, 1936) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2915 Wildlife Funding, Pittman-Robertson Act Provides State (Sept. 2, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3050 Wildlife Refuge Is Established, First U.S. National (Mar. 14, 1903). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Wildlife Service Is Formed, U.S. Fish and (July 1, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3265 Willstätter Discovers the Composition of Chlorophyll (1906-1913) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 Wilson, Hooker Telescope Is Installed on Mount (Nov., 1917). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1385 Wilson Is Elected U.S. President (Nov. 5, 1912) . . . 1011 Wilson Observatory, Hale Establishes Mount (1903-1904) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Wimbledon Tennis Stadium Is Dedicated, New (June, 1922) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1775 Wind Octet, Stravinsky Completes His (Oct. 18, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1865 Winnipeg General Strike (May 15-June 26, 1919) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1509 Winter Olympic Games, First (Jan. 25-Feb. 5, 1924). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1903 Wisconsin Adopts the First Primary Election Law (May 23, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Wittgenstein Emerges as an Important Philosopher (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1686 Wizard of Oz Premieres, The (Aug. 17, 1939) . . . . 3201 Wolman Begins Investigating Water and Sewage Systems (1930’s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2373 Woman, First Transatlantic Solo Flight by a (May 20-21, 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2566 Woman Elected to Australian Parliament, First (1921) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1669 Woman Is Elected to the U.S. Congress, First (Nov. 7, 1916). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1299 Woman Secretary of Labor, Perkins Becomes First (Feb. 28, 1933) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2637 Woman’s Party Is Founded, National (1917) . . . . 1309 Women, Australia Extends Suffrage to (June 12, 1902) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Women, Bern Convention Prohibits Night Work for (Sept. 19, 1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 Women, Great Britain Lowers the Voting Age for (July 2, 1928) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2246 Women, International Congress of (Apr. 28-May 1, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199 Women Gain the Right to Vote, U.S. (Aug. 26, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1644 Women Gain the Vote, British (Feb. 6, 1918) . . . . 1422
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Yellow Fever, Reed Reports That Mosquitoes Transmit (Feb. 4, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Yellow Fever, Theiler Develops a Treatment for (June, 1937) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3025 Yellow River Flood (July, 1931). . . . . . . . . . . 2509 Yellow River Levees, Chinese Forces Break (June 7, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3114 Yosemite, Roosevelt and Muir Visit (May, 1903) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 Young Turks Stage a Coup in the Ottoman Empire (July 24, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689 Yukawa Proposes the Existence of Mesons (Nov., 1934). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2784
World War II, United States Begins Mobilization for (Aug., 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3198 World War II Planning, Roosevelt Uses Business Leaders for (May, 1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3246 World’s Fair, American Television Debuts at the (Apr. 30, 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3186 Wozzeck Premieres in Berlin, Berg’s (Dec. 14, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2086 Wright Brothers’ First Flight (Dec. 17, 1903). . . . . 278 Wright Founds the Taliesin Fellowship (Oct., 1932) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2589 Wright’s Native Son Depicts Racism in America (1940) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3230 Writers and Publishers of Music, ASCAP Forms to Protect (Feb. 13, 1914) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114 WSM Launches The Grand Ole Opry (Nov. 28, 1925) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2082
Zdansky Discovers Peking Man (Summer, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1847 Zeppelin Bombing Raids, Germany Launches the First (Jan. 19, 1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1174 Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive Axiomatization of Set Theory (1904-1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Zimmerwald and Kienthal Conferences (Sept. 5-8, 1915, and Apr. 24-30, 1916) . . . . . 1217 Zinsser Develops an Immunization Against Typhus (1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2386 Zoning Law, New York City Institutes a Comprehensive (July, 1916) . . . . . . . . . . . 1276 Zsigmondy Invents the Ultramicroscope (1902). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Zurich, Berg’s Lulu Opens in (June 2, 1937) . . . . 3031 Zwicky and Baade Propose a Theory of Neutron Stars (1934) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2718 Zworykin Applies for Patent on an Early Type of Television (Dec. 29, 1923) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1873
X-Ray Crystallography Is Developed by the Braggs (1912-1915) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 945 X Rays, Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of (Dec. 10, 1901) . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 X Rays of the Elements, Barkla Discovers the Characteristic (1906) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 Xerographic Photocopy, Carlson and Kornei Make the First (Oct. 22, 1938) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3134 Yankees Acquire Babe Ruth, New York (Jan. 3, 1920) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1597 Yeats Publishes The Wild Swans at Coole (1917) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1315 Yellow-Dog Contracts, U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows (Jan. 27, 1908) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
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List of Maps, Tables, and Sidebars AA’s Twelve Steps (primary source). . . . . . . 2844 Adair v. United States Ruling, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659 ADL’s Mission, The (primary source) . . . . . . 1086 Africa, 1914 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xci Agreement, Text of the Munich (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3131 Albania, 1939 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3184 All Quiet on the Western Front, From (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2293 All-Star Game Winners, 1933-1955 (table) . . . 2668 Allied Offensives on the Western Front, 1918, World War I (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1441 Allied War Effort, Canada Joins the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3214 Ambassadors, The Narrator’s Viewpoint in The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Amelia Earhart’s Final Flight, 1937 (map) . . . . 2567 Amendment, The Eighteenth (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1605 Americans in Panama, Observations on the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Angell’s Psychological Case for Peace (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791 Anschluss, Chamberlain on the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3095 Anschluss, 1938, Germany After the (map) . . . 3094 Antarctica (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917 Anti-Jewish Pogroms, Lenin Speaks Out Against (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Apollinaire on Art (primary source) . . . . . . . 1017 Appeal of June 18, De Gaulle’s (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3252 Aqueduct, 1913, Los Angeles (map) . . . . . . . 1089 Arctic, The Canadian (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Art, Apollinaire on (primary source) . . . . . . . 1017 Art Nouveau Movement, Notable Figures of the (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Artist, The Freedom of the (primary source) . . . 933 Asia, 1904, Japan and Eastern (map). . . . . . . . 321 Asia and Australasia, 1914 (map) . . . . . . . . . xciii Asiatic Law Amendment Act, Gandhi Protests the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Assassin, McKinley’s (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Australasia, 1914, Asia and (map). . . . . . . . . xciii Awards, 1928-1940, Best Picture (table) . . . . . 2308
Balfour Declaration, The (primary source) . . . . 1390 Balkans After the Treaty of Bucharest, 1913, The (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010 Ballets Russes, The Paris Seasons of the (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763 Baltic Canal, White Sea- (map) . . . . . . . . . . 2671 Barkla and the Nobel Prize (primary source) . . . 473 Basque Response to the Attack on Guernica (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3016 Battle of Jutland, 1916 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . 1267 Beer Hall Putsch, Casualties of the (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1870 Before the Firing Squad (primary source) . . . . 1384 Belgian Congo (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705 Berg on Wozzeck (primary source) . . . . . . . . 2087 Best Picture Awards, 1928-1940 (table) . . . . . 2308 Birth Control, The Case for (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1738 Birth of an Industry, Sarnoff Announces the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3188 Birthday Call, The Lincoln’s (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745 Borah Argues Against European Involvement (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2866 Boulanger’s Famous Students (sidebar) . . . . . 1666 Boulder Dam (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2932 Brandeis Brief, The Impact of the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669 Brave Postnuclear World, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2603 Breton’s Definition of Surrealism (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1944 British India, 1914 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1184 British Isles, 1922, The (map) . . . . . . . . . . 1579 British Somaliland, 1940 (map). . . . . . . . . . 3275 Bucharest, 1913, The Balkans After the Treaty of (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010 Bulgaria, 1925 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2077 Bureau of Investigation, 1908-1972, Directors of the (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693 California, Kings Canyon (map) . . . . . . . . . 1811 Calls for Socialism (primary source) . . . . . . . 2354 Canada Joins the Allied War Effort (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3214 Canadian Arctic, The (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 lxxxi
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Canal, White Sea-Baltic (map) . . . . . . . . . . 2671 Capitalism Around the World, The Spirit of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 Carnegie’s “Six Ways to Make People Like You” (primary source). . . . . . . . . . . . . 2955 “Carriers of Negative Electricity” (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 Case for Birth Control, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1738 Casualties of the Beer Hall Putsch (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1870 Cather’s Prairie (primary source). . . . . . . . . 1404 Causes of Revolt, The (primary source) . . . . . 3181 Chadwick: From Neutrons to Cyclotrons (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2545 Chamberlain on the Anschluss (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3095 Champion v. Ames Ruling, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 China, Nanjing (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3060 Chinese Civil War (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2097 City, Human Nature and the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1963 Civil War, 1918-1921, Russian . . . . . . . . . . 1417 Clansman, Preface to The (primary source) . . . 1189 Class Distinctions, Mao Draws (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2779 Code, The Hays (primary source) . . . . . . . . 2706 Comintern, Lenin on the Founding of the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1491 Commerce and Labor, Secretaries of (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Commissioners of Reclamation (sidebar) . . . . . 167 Confession, Jackson’s (primary source) . . . . . 1539 Congo, Belgian (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705 Conservation, Pinchot’s Fight for (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 Continental Drift (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951 Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land (primary source). . . . . . . . 626 Coolidge’s Inaugural Address (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1951 Country Priest’s Despair, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3057 Covenant, The League of Nations (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1503 Coward Comments (primary source) . . . . . . . 2620 Creating the Nobel Prizes (primary source). . . . . 64 Croats, and Slovenes, Kingdom of the Serbs, (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1451
Cultures, The Diversity of (primary source) . . . 2699 Cyprus (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2041 Danger and Promise of Nuclear Fission, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3145 Dart and the Fossilized Brain (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1939 Darwinism, Social (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Day 7 of the Scopes Trial (primary source) . . . 2056 Debs Speaks Out Against War (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1369 Decline of the West, Politics and The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1435 Defending Mendel (primary source) . . . . . . . . 79 De Gaulle’s Appeal of June 18 (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3252 DeMille’s Filmography (sidebar). . . . . . . . . 1822 Democracy, Trotsky on Dictatorship and (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1325 Deporting the “Reds” (primary source) . . . . . 1529 Development, Leopold on (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1932 Diabetes, Hormones and (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . 144 Dictatorship and Democracy, Trotsky on (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1325 Diet, Thiamine in the (table) . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Digestion, Pavlov, Dogs, and (sidebar) . . . . . . 114 “Dilemma in Philosophy, The Present” (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 Directors of the Bureau of Investigation, 1908-1972 (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693 Discovery, The Moment of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 894 Diversity of Cultures, The (primary source) . . . 2699 Division of Spain, 1936 (map) . . . . . . . . . . 2946 Doctor’s Interest in Industrial Disease, A (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1977 Duke of Windsor Addresses the Nation, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2974 Dunkirk, Evacuation of (map) . . . . . . . . . . 3256 Dust Bowl, The (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2731 Dust Bowl Explained, The (sidebar) . . . . . . . 2732 Earhart Sets the Record Straight (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . Earhart’s Final Flight, 1937, Amelia (map). Eastern Europe, 1919 (map) . . . . . . . . “Ecosystem,” The First Use of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editor, A Letter to the (primary source) . . lxxxii
. . . 2567 . . . 2567 . . . 1716 . . . 2847 . . . 1769
List of Maps, Tables, and Sidebars Egypt, 1940 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3290 Eighteenth Amendment, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1605 Einstein, Young (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 Electoral Vote, 1912, U.S. (map) . . . . . . . . . 1012 Electoral Vote, 1928, U.S. (map) . . . . . . . . . 2221 Electoral Vote, 1932, U.S. (map) . . . . . . . . . 2597 Empire State: Facts and Figures, The (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2500 “End of the world had come, I thought the” (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524 English Channel, The (map) . . . . . . . . . . . 2130 Epidemic’s Toll, The Flu (primary source). . . . 1430 Equal Rights Amendment, Text of the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871 Ernest Rutherford, Modern Alchemist (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104 Ethiopia, 1930 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2422 Eulogy for the Passenger Pigeon (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1135 Europe, 1914 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xcii Europe, 1919, Eastern (map) . . . . . . . . . . . 1716 European Involvement, Borah Argues Against (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . 2866 Evacuation of Dunkirk (map) . . . . . . . . . . . 3256 Everlasting Man, From The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2067 Exposing the Klan (primary source) . . . . . . . 1706 Extermination Camps, Nazi (table) . . . . . . . . 2642 Fantasia, The Music of (sidebar). . . . . . . . . 3296 Fard?, Who Was Wallace D. (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2435 Fascism, Franco’s (primary source) . . . . . . . 2947 Filmography, DeMille’s (sidebar) . . . . . . . . 1822 Fine Philosophies (primary source) . . . . . . . . 2141 Finnish Soldiers, Mannerheim’s Speech to (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3221 Fireside Chat, Roosevelt’s First (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2647 Firing Squad, Before the (primary source) . . . . 1384 First Battle of the Marne, 1914 (map) . . . . . . 1137 First Use of “Ecosystem,” The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2847 Flight, 1937, Amelia Earhart’s Final (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2567 Flu Epidemic’s Toll, The (primary source). . . . 1430 Fossilized Brain, Dart and the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1939 Foundering Position, Titanic’s (map) . . . . . . . 973
Four-Way Test, Rotary’s (primary source) . . . . 407 France, Lascaux (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3286 France, 1903, Tour de (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Franco’s Fascism (primary source) . . . . . . . . 2947 Free Enterprise, Scarface and (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2303 Freedom of the Artist, The (primary source) . . . 933 From All Quiet on the Western Front (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2293 From Heart of Darkness (primary source) . . . . . 88 From Mein Kampf (primary source) . . . . . . . 2059 From Riders of the Purple Sage (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926 From The Everlasting Man (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2067 From The General Theory (primary source) . . . 2920 From The Junius Pamphlet (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1481 From The Psychology of Management (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119 From The Sound and the Fury (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2329 From The Story of Philosophy (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2103 From The Waste Land (primary source) . . . . . 1749 From Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1687 Führer Makes a Surprise Visit, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2768 Future of Imperialism, The (primary source) . . . . 92 Futurists’ Intentions, The (primary source) . . . . 748 Gallipoli, A Soldier’s Memories of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1182 Gallipoli, 1915 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181 Gamow: Physicist, Cosmologist, Geneticist, George (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2243 Gandhi on Noncooperation (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1584 Gandhi Protests the Asiatic Law Amendment Act (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Gatsby’s First Appearance (primary source) . . . 2035 General Pact for the Renunciation of War (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2254 General Theory, From The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2920 George Gamow: Physicist, Cosmologist, Geneticist (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2243 Geothermal Power Plants (sidebar). . . . . . . . 1026 German Invasion of Poland, The (map) . . . . . 3210
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Germany After the Anschluss, 1938 (map) . . . . 3094 Germany and the Soviet Union Reach an Accord (primary source). . . . . . . . . . . . 1773 Germany’s Warning to Lusitania Passengers (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1208 Gertrude Stein on Gertrude Stein (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 Gestapo, Heydrich and the (sidebar) . . . . . . . 3161 God, The Temptations of (primary source). . . . 3299 Goebbels on World Propaganda (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1478 Göring Calls for the Removal of Jewish Influence (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . 3142 Grand Coulee Dam (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . 2679 Greco-Turkish War, 1919-1922 (map) . . . . . . 1512 Gregor Samsa Awoke, When (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169 Group Theatre, Odets and the (sidebar) . . . . . 2475 Guernica, Basque Response to the Attack on (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3016 Halifax Disaster, Responding to the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1398 Hammurabi’s Code (primary source) . . . . . . . 122 Hays Code, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . 2706 Haywood on Industrial Unionism (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 Health and Life, A Menace to (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2613 Heart of Darkness, From (primary source) . . . . . 88 Henson’s Expedition, Peary and (map) . . . . . . 760 Heydrich and the Gestapo (sidebar) . . . . . . . 3161 Hofmann on LSD (primary source) . . . . . . . 3074 Hollywood, Hughes and (sidebar) . . . . . . . . 1901 Hormones and Diabetes (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . 144 Horst Wessel Song, The (primary source) . . . . 2949 How Far Are the Stars? (sidebar). . . . . . . . . 1035 Hughes and Hollywood (sidebar). . . . . . . . . 1901 Human Evolution, Instinct and (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569 Human Nature and the City (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1963 Humanist, The Jesuit and the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1882 Humanité: Our Goal, L’ (primary source) . . . . . 335 “I-Thou,” The Power of the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1803 “I thought the end of the world had come” (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
Impact of the Brandeis Brief, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669 Imperialism, Lenin on (primary source) . . . . . 1254 Imperialism, The Future of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 In Flanders Fields (primary source) . . . . . . . 1233 Inaugural Address, Coolidge’s (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1951 Income Tax, Whitney on the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060 India, 1914, British Indiana Dunes State Park (map) . . . . . . . . . 2183 Industrial Disease, A Doctor’s Interest in (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1977 Industrial Unionism, Haywood on (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 Influence of a Journalist, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 Instinct and Human Evolution (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569 Introducing Sam Spade (primary source). . . . . 2324 Invaders from Mars (primary source) . . . . . . 3139 Italian Libya (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857 Ives on the Nature of Music (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249 Jackson’s Confession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1539 Japan and Eastern Asia, 1904 (map) . . . . . . . . 321 Jesuit and the Humanist, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1882 Jewish Influence, Göring Calls for the Removal of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3142 Jewish Question, The (primary source) . . . . . . 724 Joan of Arc’s Condemnation (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1631 John Muir Trail, The (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . 3077 Journalist, The Influence of a (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 June 18, De Gaulle’s Appeal of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3252 Junius Pamphlet, From The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1481 Jutland, 1916, Battle of (map) . . . . . . . . . . 1267 Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kings, Valley of the (map) . . . . . . . . . . Kings Canyon, California (map) . . . . . . . Klan, Exposing the (primary source) . . . . . Kudos for Ponzi’s Scheme (primary source) .
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1451 1785 1811 1706 1471
List of Maps, Tables, and Sidebars Labor, Secretaries of Commerce and (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Lacrimabili Statu (primary source) . . . . . . . . 984 Lake Victoria Railway, 1901, Mombasa(map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Landing at Le Bourget (primary source) . . . . . 2190 Landsteiner’s Famous Footnote (sidebar) . . . . . . 12 Lascaux, France (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3286 Lawrence on Melville (primary source) . . . . . 1588 Laws and Customs of War on Land, Convention Respecting the (primary source) . . . . . . . . 626 League of Nations Covenant, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1503 “Leave it as it is . . .” (primary source) . . . . . . 652 Leavitt, Shapley, and the Period-Luminosity Scale (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2277 Le Bourget, Landing at (primary source). . . . . 2190 Lenin, Trotsky’s Advice to (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1693 Lenin on Imperialism (primary source) . . . . . 1254 Lenin on the Founding of the Comintern (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1491 Lenin Speaks Out Against Anti-Jewish Pogroms (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Lenin’s Last View of Soviet Government (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1345 Leopold on Development (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1932 Letter to the Editor, A (primary source) . . . . . 1769 Libya, Italian (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857 Life, A Menace to Health and (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2613 Lincoln’s Birthday Call, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745 Little Johnny Jones, One Critic’s Reaction to (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 Little Neanderthal in Some of Us?, A (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712 Living Conditions, A Plea for Better (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798 Lloyd George’s Mansion House Speech of 1911 (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891 Lochner v. New York Decision, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 Long March, Mao’s (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2778 Los Angeles Aqueduct, 1913 (map) . . . . . . . 1089 Louse, Pity the Poor (primary source) . . . . . . 2387 LSD, Hofmann on (primary source) . . . . . . . 3074 Lusitania Passengers, Germany’s Warning to (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1208
Machu Picchu (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893 McKinley’s Assassin (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Madness, Products of (primary source). . . . . . 3041 Maginot Line (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2289 Major Participants in the Mexican Revolution (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844 Major Sites of Russian Pogroms, 1903-1906 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Making of Sausage, The (primary source) . . . . . 511 Making the World “Safe for Democracy” (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1351 Malevich on Color (primary source) . . . . . . . 1236 Mannerheim’s Speech to Finnish Soldiers (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3221 Mansion House Speech of 1911, Lloyd George’s (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . 891 Mao Draws Class Distinctions (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2779 Mao’s Long March (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . 2778 Marconi’s Vision (primary source) . . . . . . . . . 72 Marne, 1914, First Battle of the (map) . . . . . . 1137 Marriage, Shaw on (primary source). . . . . . . . 200 Mars, Invaders from (primary source) . . . . . . 3139 Martinique, West Indies (map) . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Martyr’s Last Letter, A (primary source) . . . . . 2952 Masjed Soleym3n, Persia (map) . . . . . . . . . . 682 Mawson’s Love of Adventure (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918 Mead Describes a Samoan Morning (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2251 Meet Hercule Poirot (primary source) . . . . . . 1572 Mein Kampf, From (primary source) . . . . . . . 2059 Melville, Lawrence on (primary source) . . . . . 1588 Memorable Screwball Comedies (sidebar) . . . . 2727 Menace to Health and Life, A (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2613 Mendel, Defending (primary source) . . . . . . . . 79 Mexican Revolution, Major Participants in the (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844 Miller’s Philosophical Reflections (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2771 Miss America, 1921-1940 (sidebar) . . . . . . . 1732 Mit brennender Sorge (primary source) . . . . . 3010 Mombasa-Lake Victoria Railway, 1901 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Moment of Discovery, The (primary source) . . . 894 Monism Explained (primary source). . . . . . . . 505 Mosul Province (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2123 Mount McKinley National Park (map) . . . . . . 1340 Muckraker’s Testimony, A (primary source) . . . 970 lxxxv
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Muir, Roosevelt on (primary source) . . . . . . . 232 Muir Opposes the Dam (primary source). . . . . 1097 Muir Trail, The John (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . 3077 Munich Agreement, Text of the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3131 Music, Ives on the Nature of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249 Music of Fantasia, The (sidebar). . . . . . . . . 3296 Nanjing, China (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3060 Nansen on Understanding (primary source) . . . 1791 Narrator’s Viewpoint in The Ambassadors, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 National Football League Champions, 1920-1950 (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1639 Nature of Music, Ives on the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249 Nazi Extermination Camps (table) . . . . . . . . 2642 Neanderthal in Some of Us?, A Little (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 712 “Negative Electricity, Carriers of” (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 Neutrons to Cyclotrons, Chadwick: From (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2545 “Never . . . Was So Much Owed by So Many to So Few” (primary source) . . . . . . . . . 3271 New Freedom, Wilson Articulates the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1013 Niagara Movement, Principles of the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429 Nicaragua, Private Property (sidebar) . . . . . . . 993 Nickelodeons, The Success of the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 Nobel Prize, Barkla and the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 Nobel Prizes, Creating the (primary source) . . . . 64 Noncooperation, Gandhi on (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1584 Nonpartisan League, The (primary source). . . . 1612 North America, 1914 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . xciv Norway, 1940 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3241 Notable Figures of the Art Nouveau Movement (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Nuclear Fission, The Danger and Promise of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3145 Observations on the Americans in Panama (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 October Manifesto, The (primary source) . . . . . 453 Odets and the Group Theatre (sidebar) . . . . . . 2475
One Critic’s Reaction to Little Johnny Jones (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 Opium in the Modern World (time line) . . . . . . 957 Our Town, Wilder on (primary source). . . . . . 3089 Pact for the Renunciation of War, General (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2254 PAHO Member Countries (sidebar) . . . . . . . . 186 Palestine and Transjordan, 1922 (map) . . . . . . 1778 Panama, Observations on the Americans in (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Panama Canal Zone (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Pankhurst’s Prophetic Words (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 Paperback Titles, Penguin’s First (sidebar). . . . 2803 Paraguay, 1936 (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2924 Paris Seasons of the Ballets Russes, The (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763 Park, Indiana Dunes State (map) . . . . . . . . . 2183 Park, Mount McKinley National (map). . . . . . 1340 Pascendi Dominici gregis (primary source) . . . . 248 Passenger Pigeon, Eulogy for the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1135 Pavlov, Dogs, and Digestion (sidebar). . . . . . . 114 Peary and Henson’s Expedition (map) . . . . . . . 760 Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Penguin’s First Paperback Titles (sidebar) . . . . 2803 Period-Luminosity Scale, Leavitt, Shapley, and the (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2277 Permanent Revolution (primary source) . . . . . 2296 Pershing Expedition, 1916-1917 (map). . . . . . 1261 Persia, Masjed Soleym3n (map) . . . . . . . . . . 682 Persia, Susa (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Philippines (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Philosophies, Fine (primary source) . . . . . . . 2141 “Philosophy, The Present Dilemma in” (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 Photo-Secession, The (primary source) . . . . . . 131 Pickford’s Press (primary source) . . . . . . . . . 739 Pinchot’s Fight for Conservation (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 Pirandello’s Vivid Characters (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1723 Pity the Poor Louse (primary source) . . . . . . 2387 Pixley ka Isaka Seme on the SANNC (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955 Plague Outbreaks, Twentieth Century (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 Planet X, Searching for (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . 2408
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List of Maps, Tables, and Sidebars Plea for Better Living Conditions, A (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798 Pogroms, 1903-1906, Major Sites of Russian (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Poirot, Meet Hercule (primary source) . . . . . . 1572 Poland, The German Invasion of (map) . . . . . 3210 Politics and The Decline of the West (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1435 Ponzi’s Scheme, Kudos for (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1471 Poona Pact, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . 2587 Portsmouth, The Treaty of (primary source). . . . 322 Postnuclear World, The Brave (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2603 Pound Offers His Help (primary source) . . . . . 1002 Power of the “I-Thou,” The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1803 Power Plants, Geothermal (sidebar) . . . . . . . 1026 Preface to The Clansman (primary source). . . . 1189 “Present Dilemma in Philosophy, The” (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 Principles of the Niagara Movement (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429 Prize Categories, Pulitzer (sidebar). . . . . . . . 1364 Products of Madness (primary source) . . . . . . 3041 Promoting Vitaphone (primary source). . . . . . 2126 Propaganda, Goebbels on World (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1478 Propaganda Battle, The (primary source) . . . . 1354 Proust’s Madeleine Moment (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1047 Psychology of Management, From The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1119 Pulitzer Prize Categories (sidebar) . . . . . . . . 1364 Radioactive Romance (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . 2616 Railway, 1901, Mombasa-Lake Victoria (map) . . . 75 Reclamation, Commissioners of (sidebar) . . . . . 167 “Reds,” Deporting the (primary source) . . . . . 1529 Reed’s Triumph (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . 45 Renunciation of War, General Pact for the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2254 Research, X Rays and (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Reserve, Serengeti Game (map) . . . . . . . . . 2344 Resolution 15 (primary source). . . . . . . . . . 2438 Responding to the Halifax Disaster (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1398 Revolt, The Causes of (primary source) . . . . . 3181 Revolution, Permanent (primary source) . . . . . 2296 Rhineland, The (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2927
Rhodes Scholars, Some American (sidebar) . . . . 141 Rhodesia, Southern (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1863 Rickets on the Rise? (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . 1758 Riders of the Purple Sage, From (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 926 Romance, Radioactive (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . 2616 Romania, 1907 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 Roosevelt on Muir (primary source) . . . . . . . . 232 Roosevelt Reassures the Nation (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2338 Roosevelt Solves a Problem (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Roosevelt’s First Fireside Chat (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2647 Rose Bowl Scores, 1902-1940 (sidebar) . . . . . . 125 Ross, Thurber on (primary source) . . . . . . . . 2022 Rotary’s Four-Way Test (primary source) . . . . . 407 Route of the Salt March, 1930 (map) . . . . . . . 2411 Ruhr Valley, The (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1827 Russell’s Task, Whitehead and (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815 Russian Civil War, 1918-1921 (map). . . . . . . 1417 Russo-Finnish War (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . 3220 Rutherford, Modern Alchemist, Ernest (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1104 Sacco and Vanzetti on Trial (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2200 “Safe for Democracy,” Making the World (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1351 Salt March, 1930, Route of the (map) . . . . . . 2411 Sam Spade, Introducing (primary source) . . . . 2324 Samoan Morning, Mead Describes a (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2251 San Remo Agreement, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1622 Sanger Argues for Sex Education (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297 Sanger’s Defiance (primary source) . . . . . . . 1172 SANNC, Pixley ka Isaka Seme on the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955 Sarnoff Announces the Birth of an Industry (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3188 Sausage, The Making of (primary source) . . . . . 511 Scandinavia, 1905 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 Scarface and Free Enterprise (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2303 Scientist, The Work of the (primary source) . . . 3157 Scopes Trial, Day 7 of the (primary source) . . . 2056 Scout Law, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . 614
lxxxvii
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Screwball Comedies, Memorable (sidebar) . . . 2727 Searching for Planet X (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . 2408 Secretaries of Commerce and Labor (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Seme on the SANNC, Pixley ka Isaka (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955 Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, Kingdom of the (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1451 Serengeti Game Reserve (map) . . . . . . . . . . 2344 Seven Sisters, The (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . 883 Sex Education, Sanger Argues for (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1297 Shapley, and the Period-Luminosity Scale, Leavitt (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2277 Shaw on Marriage (primary source) . . . . . . . . 200 Silesia, Upper (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1720 Silicones, Some of the Many Uses for (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Sinn Féin’s Leaders (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . 460 “Six Ways to Make People Like You,” Carnegie’s (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . 2955 Slave Narrative, A (primary source) . . . . . . . 2832 Slovenes, Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1451 Social Darwinism (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Socialism, Calls for (primary source) . . . . . . 2354 Soldier’s Memories of Gallipoli, A (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1182 Some American Rhodes Scholars (sidebar) . . . . 141 Some of the Many Uses for Silicones (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Sound and the Fury, From The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2329 South Africa, 1910, Union of (map) . . . . . . . . 831 South America, 1914 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . xcv Southern Rhodesia (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1863 Soviet Government, Lenin’s Last View of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1345 Soviet Ukraine, The (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1322 Soviet Union Reach an Accord, Germany and the (primary source). . . . . . . . . . . . 1773 Spain, 1936, Division of (map) . . . . . . . . . . 2946 Spindletop, Texas (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Spirit of Capitalism Around the World, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 Stars?, How Far Are the (sidebar) . . . . . . . . 1035 Statute of Westminster, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2519 Steelworkers’ Strike Call, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1536
Stein on Gertrude Stein, Gertrude (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 Storting Votes for Dissolution, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 Story of Philosophy, From The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2103 Stravinsky’s Recollection (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1080 Strike Call, The Steelworkers’ (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1536 Students, Boulanger’s Famous (sidebar) . . . . . 1666 Success of the Nickelodeons, The (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 Summi Pontificatus (primary source). . . . . . . 3174 Supporting Theater in Hard Times (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2862 Surprising Snub, A (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . 2472 Surrealism, Breton’s Definition of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1944 Susa, Persia (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Sweden, Undset’s Homage to (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2268 Synge’s Earthy Poetry (primary source) . . . . . . 599 Team “Wonder Drug” (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . 3244 Temptations of God, The (primary source). . . . 3299 Texas, Spindletop (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Text of the Equal Rights Amendment (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871 Text of the Munich Agreement (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3131 Theater in Hard Times, Supporting (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2862 Theiler’s Contribution (primary source) . . . . . 3026 Thiamine in the Diet (table) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Thubten Gyatso’s Prediction (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2696 Thurber on Ross (primary source) . . . . . . . . 2022 Time Line of World War I (time line) . . . . . . 1126 Titanic Survivor’s Story, A (primary source) . . . 974 Titanic’s Foundering Position (map) . . . . . . . . 973 Tour de France, 1903 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, From (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1687 Transjordan, 1922, Palestine and (map) . . . . . 1778 Trans-Siberian Railroad (map) . . . . . . . . . . 1240 Treaty of Portsmouth, The (primary source). . . . 322 Trial, Day 7 of the Scopes (primary source) . . . 2056 Trotsky on Dictatorship and Democracy (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1325
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List of Maps, Tables, and Sidebars Trotsky’s Advice to Lenin (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1693 Tutankhamen’s Wonderful Things (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1786 Twelve Steps, AA’s (primary source) . . . . . . 2844 Twentieth Century Plague Outbreaks (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 Ukraine, The Soviet (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1322 Understanding, Nansen on (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1791 Undset’s Homage to Sweden (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2268 Union of South Africa, 1910 (map) . . . . . . . . 831 Unionism, Haywood on Industrial (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 Upper Silesia (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1720 U.S. Electoral Vote, 1912 (map) . . . . . . . . . 1012 U.S. Electoral Vote, 1928 (map) . . . . . . . . . 2221 U.S. Electoral Vote, 1932 (map) . . . . . . . . . 2597 Valley of the Kings (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1785 Vanzetti on Trial, Sacco and (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2200 Vatican City, 1929 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2299 Vitaphone, Promoting (primary source) . . . . . 2126 Voice for the Workers, A (primary source) . . . . 870 War, Debs Speaks Out Against (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1369 War, General Pact for the Renunciation of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2254 War on Land, Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of (primary source) . . . . . . . . 626 Waste Land, From The (primary source) . . . . . 1749 “We bid you be of hope!” (primary source) . . . . 338 Wessel Song, The Horst (primary source) . . . . 2949 West Indies, Martinique (map) . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Western Front, 1918, World War I Allied Offensives on the (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . 1441
Western-Front Offensives, 1915-1917, World War I (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1127 Westminster, The Statute of (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2519 When Gregor Samsa Awoke (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1169 White Sea-Baltic Canal (map) . . . . . . . . . . 2671 Whitehead and Russell’s Task (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815 Whitney on the Income Tax (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060 Who Was Wallace D. Fard? (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2435 Wilder on Our Town (primary source) . . . . . . 3089 Wildlife Refuge, Pelican Island National (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Wilson Articulates the New Freedom (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1013 Woman’s Consciousness, A (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1994 “Wonder Drug,” Team (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . 3244 Work of the Scientist, The (primary source) . . . 3157 Workers, A Voice for the (primary source) . . . . 870 World Propaganda, Goebbels on (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1478 World “Safe for Democracy,” Making the (primary source) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1351 World Series Results, 1903-1940 (table). . . . . . 258 World War I, Time Line of (time line) . . . . . . 1126 World War I Allied Offensives on the Western Front, 1918 (map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1441 World War I Western-Front Offensives, 1915-1917 (map). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1127 Wozzeck, Berg on (primary source). . . . . . . . 2087 X Rays and Research (sidebar) . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Yangtze Rivers, The Yellow and (map) . . . . . 2510 Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, The (map) . . . . . 2510 Young Einstein (sidebar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
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Africa, 1914 Tunis Algiers Constantine Oran
Tangier Marrakesh
H
S
AR AH
A
TUNISIA
O
ALGERIA
Alexandria Cairo Suez
LIBYA
EGYPT
SPA
NI
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OCC OR
ERITREA
EQ
MBINI MIDDLE CONGO
AL IL AN D
(ETHIOPIA)
Stanleyville
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SO M
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C AME
ABYSSINIA
TO
Lagos
BRITISH SOMALILAND
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Great Events from History
1901-1940
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Elster and Geitel Study Radioactivity
Early 20th century
Elster and Geitel Study Radioactivity
Locale: Wolfenbüttel, Germany Categories: Science and technology; earth science; physics Key Figures Julius Elster (1854-1920), German physicist Hans Friedrich Geitel (1855-1923), German physicist Antoine-Henri Becquerel (1852-1908), French physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), English physicist Marie Curie (1867-1934), Polish French physicist Pierre Curie (1859-1906), French chemist Summary of Event The late 1890’s and early 1900’s were a fertile period for discoveries in radioactivity, which is the emission of energetic particles and radiant energy by certain atomic nuclei. These early discoveries were the building blocks for nuclear physics and the nuclear age, which began in the mid-1940’s. Radioactivity was first observed in 1896 by the French physicist Antoine-Henri Becquerel. He found that uranium ore emitted radiation strong enough to blacken covered photographic plates and to discharge a charged electroscope, a device for detecting the presence of electricity and whether it is positive or negative by means of electric attraction and repulsion. In 1898, Pierre and Marie Curie, French physicists and chemists, announced the discovery of two new radiation-emitting elements: polonium and radium. In 1903, Ernest Rutherford, an English physicist born in New Zealand, made the discovery that radiation from such elements is composed of three different kinds of energetic rays: alpha rays with a positive charge, which were shown to be ionized helium atoms; beta particles with a negative charge, which were shown to be highenergy electrons; and gamma rays with no charge, which were found to be high-energy photons. Electrons are extremely small, negatively charged particles, whereas photons are a quantum of light that is proportional to the frequency of the radiation. Natural radioactivity is the property—possessed by roughly fifty elements, including radium, thorium, and uranium—of spontaneously emitting alpha or beta rays
and sometimes gamma rays through the disintegration of the nuclei of atoms. Naturally radioactive elements are called radioelements. During the disintegration process, a radioelement emits alpha or beta particles and atoms of a new element are formed. This new element is lighter than the predecessor and possesses chemical and physical properties quite different from those of the parent. The disintegration proceeds from stage to stage with measurable velocities in each case. The existence of radioactivity cannot be discerned without the aid of instruments. The most useful procedures for the detection and measurement of alpha and beta particles and gamma-ray photons are based on the fact that gases become electrical conductors as the result of exposure to radiation from radioactive substances. Because there is a strong electrical field in its immediate vicinity, a rapidly moving charged particle ejects orbital electrons from the atoms or molecules of a gas through which it passes, thus converting them into positive ions. The expelled electrons usually remain free for some time, although a few may attach themselves to other atoms or molecules to form negative ions. The passage of a charged particle through a gas results in the formation of a number of ion pairs and free electrons. The study of radioactivity and the successful use of radiation as a research tool or for other purposes depends on its quantitative detection and measurement. The quantities most often needed are the numbers of particles (electrons, photons, beta) arriving at a detector per unit time and their energies. When a charged particle passes through matter, it causes excitation and ionization of the molecules of the material. This ionization is the basis of nearly all instruments used for the detection of such particles and the measurement of their energies. German physicists Julius Elster and Hans Friedrich Geitel discovered a method of counting alpha particles from the visible scintillations the particles produced on a zinc sulfide screen. Radiation of alpha particles can produce luminescence in zinc sulfide. This luminescence is not uniform; rather, it consists of a large number of individual flashes, which can be seen under a magnifying glass. Each alpha particle produces one scintillation, so the number of alpha particles that fall on a detecting screen per unit time is given directly by the number of scintillations counted per unit time. The screen is dusted with small crystals of zinc sulfide containing a very small amount of copper impurity. The counting is done with 1
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Julius Elster and Hans Friedrich Geitel pioneered research in ion conduction in gases, atmospheric electricity, photoelectric effects, and radioactivity.
Elster and Geitel Study Radioactivity the use of a microscope with a magnification of about thirty. This method works well for counting alpha particles in the presence of other radiations because the zinc sulfide screen is comparatively insensitive to beta and gamma rays. During this period of major discovery, Elster and Geitel were actively conducting research on radioactivity in rocks, springs, and air. Elster was on the faculty of the Gymnasium, Wolfenbüttel, Germany, from 1881 to 1919. Geitel was a teacher at Strosse Schule in Wolfenbüttel. Their joint research concerned ion conduction in gases, atmospheric electricity, photoelectric effects, and radioactivity. Elster, in addition to his work with Geitel, built the first photoelectric cell, the first photometer, and the Tesla transformer. Also, he was the first to determine the electrical charge on falling raindrops in 1899. Elster demonstrated that lead is not radioactive of itself, and he also discovered the presence of radioactive substances in the atmosphere that easily break down into unstable elements, which are responsible for atmospheric conductivity. Geitel built the first cathode tube and discovered selective photoelectric effect free energy left in an atom after the transformation of radioactive elements. He built a photometer, invented the photocell with Elster, formulated a law of radioactive fallout, and originated the concept of atomic energy. One of Elster and Geitel’s first collaborations took place in 1880, when they carried out a systematic study of the electrification of hot bodies. From this early work and their perfection of instruments for detection and measurement, Elster and Geitel moved to a determination of other sources of radiation. A basic fact is that the earth is heated from within by the energy released when uranium, thorium, and other radioactive elements naturally undergo nuclear disintegration. As this disintegration takes place, radioactive elements find their way into rocks, soil, water, and air. The total energy released through nuclear disintegration over the earth’s history is more than one hundred calories per gram of earth material. Elster and Geitel discovered in 1901 that it is possible to produce excited radioactivity from the atmosphere, without further agency, simply by exposing a highly charged wire to a negative potential in the atmosphere for many hours. They found that the radioactivity may dissolve with exposure to acids and that the wire would be left unchanged. This discovery, according to Elster and Geitel, had important bearing on the theory of atmospheric electricity. In 1903, Elster and Geitel discovered a property of al2
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Julius Elster (left) and Hans Friedrich Geitel.
pha rays that proved of great importance in radioactive measurement. If a screen coated with small crystals of phosphorescent zinc sulfide is exposed to alpha rays, a brilliant luminosity is observed. Further, the study of penetrating radiation had its origin in their observations that there was a definite transport of charge to the insulated system even after all possible precautions had been taken to reduce electrical leakage over the insulators. The order of magnitude of this residual ionization corresponded to the production of about twenty pairs of ions per cubic centimeter. Elster and Geitel’s discoveries—although less heralded than those of some of their contemporaries— constituted major contributions to nuclear physics and particularly to the understanding and detection of the omnipresence of radioactive elements in the environment. Significance Elster and Geitel’s discoveries led to the realization that not all nuclei are stable. Radioactive nuclei disintegrate spontaneously, releasing energy in the process. Understanding why this takes place was one of the great advances in physics during the first half of the twentieth
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
The early work of Elster and Geitel led to the discovery in the second decade of the twentieth century that the atomic nucleus is a source of large quantities of energy. Humans have learned to make nuclear energy available in many different ways: for medical therapy, for power in industry, for energy to propel submarines and ships, for research in biological sciences, and for weapons with great destructive power. —Earl G. Hoover Further Reading Badash, Lawrence. “Becquerel’s Blunder.” Social Research 72 (Spring, 2005). This article, part of an issue devoted to “fruitful errors,” describes Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity. Curie, Marie. Radioactive Substances. 1904. Reprint. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 2002. A translation from the French of Curie’s classic thesis presented to the Faculty of Science in Paris. Very informative on the early days in the study of detection and discovery of radioactive bodies by one of the researchers of the time. Accessible to advanced high school students with a background in science. Mann, Wilfred B., R. L. Ayres, and S. B. Garfinkel. Radioactivity and Its Measurement. 2d ed. Elmsford, N.Y.: Pergamon Press, 1980. Chronicles the discoveries concerning radioactivity. An ideal source for advanced high school and lower-level college students as well as interested lay readers with some background in physics. Presents mathematical computations in an easy-to-follow format. Includes illustrations and reference list. Rayner-Canham, Marelene F., and Geoffrey W. RaynerCanham. A Devotion to Their Science: Pioneer Women of Radioactivity. Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Foundation, 2005. Acollection of biographical essays on twenty-three women involved in atomic science research in the early part of the twentieth century, including Marie Curie as well as many lesserknown scientists whose stories are rarely told. Romer, Alfred. The Discovery of Radioactivity and Transmutation. Vol. 2 in Classics of Science. New York: Dover, 1964. Collection of essays and original articles in various areas of radioactivity taken from scientific writings by Becquerel, Rutherford, Pierre and Marie Curie, and others. Includes illustrations, photographs, and footnotes. Rutherford, Ernest, James Chadwick, and C. D. Ellis. Radiations from Radioactive Substances. Reprint. London: Cambridge University Press, 1951. Schol3
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century. The field of geology was particularly affected. In natural radioactivity, the unstable nucleus emits several types of high-energy particles and also releases energy in the form of electromagnetic waves similar to light energy. This process results in radioactive decay, whereby an atom is changed to an atom of another element. This means that the number of atoms of a radioactive element decreases with the passage of time. If the rate of disintegration is known, then one can use the measurement of the amounts of the parent and daughter elements to calculate the age of the mineral containing the parent. This is the principle of radiometric dating. One of the more important early discoveries stemming from Elster and Geitel’s work was made by Bertram Borden Boltwood, an American physicist. In 1907, Boltwood discovered that the age of a mineral crystal containing uranium could be determined chemically through ascertainment of the ratio between the number of uranium atoms and the number of uranium atoms plus lead. If the crystal was part of an igneous intrusion, its date could be determined as the time of solidification of the magma. The date of a crystal in metamorphosed sediments was found to be the time of metamorphism, not the time of deposition of the sediment. Only a few of the natural radioactive isotopes are of geologic importance. Some are useful in determining the ages of objects; others are sources of radioactive heating of the earth. Those that have proved most useful are carbon 14, potassium 87, uranium 235, uranium 238, and thorium 232. The requirements for use in dating are a reasonable rate of decay (half-life), retention of daughter isotopes, and the existence of common minerals containing the parent element. The ability to detect radiation also made possible the location of uranium ores. The early work by Elster, Geitel, Becquerel, the Curies, and Rutherford resulted in the development of the most widely used radiation detection instrument, the Geiger-Müller counter (also known as the Geiger counter). This device consists of a metal cylinder enclosed in a glass tube filled with a gas at low pressure. The entrance of a charged particle ionizes the gas enough to cause a current flow, but the current is quenched immediately by the high resistance placed in the circuit. As in an ionization chamber, an entering particle causes a momentary pulse of voltage. Geiger counters are equipped with special cylinders for counting alpha, beta, and gamma particles. The first such counter was invented by German physicist Hans Geiger in 1913 and then perfected in 1926 by Walther Müller. The Geiger-Müller counter is still widely used.
Elster and Geitel Study Radioactivity
Mahler Directs the Vienna Court Opera arly text suited for college students and historians of science. Includes illustrations and references. Taton, René. Science in the Twentieth Century. New York: Basic Books, 1966. A very good reference for both lower- and upper-level college students. Features sections devoted to mathematics, physical science, earth science, the universe, biology, and medicine. Copiously illustrated. Includes references in each section.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: Dec. 10, 1903: Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity; 1904: First Practical Photoelectric Cell Is Developed; 19051907: Boltwood Uses Radioactivity to Determine Ages of Rocks; Feb. 11, 1908: Geiger and Rutherford Develop a Radiation Counter; Summer, 1928: Gamow Explains Radioactive Alpha Decay with Quantum Tunneling; 1933-1934: First Artificial Radioactive Element Is Developed.
Early 20th century
Mahler Directs the Vienna Court Opera Gustav Mahler established a concept of operatic performance with the Vienna Court Opera that has been widely described as the outstanding musical achievement of the era and was, in the eyes of many, the last artistic gasp of a great but crumbling empire. Locale: Vienna, Austria Categories: Music; theater Key Figures Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), Austrian conductor and composer Alfred Roller (1864-1935), Austrian stage designer Hans Richter (1843-1916), German conductor Summary of Event As the seat of the declining Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vienna had long been a center of musical influence by the beginning of the twentieth century, and nothing held the attention of the Viennese, and the broader musical community in general, more securely than the opera. Performances were built around familiar stars, and the easygoing attitude for which the Viennese were famous carried over to the operatic stage in the form of pleasant exhibitions of vocal skill. Gustav Mahler first appeared at the opera in Vienna as assistant conductor for a performance of Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin (1848, pr. 1850) on May 11, 1897; his extraordinary musical success with that and subsequent performances led to his appointment as director on October 8, 1897. He brought to the royal opera a new concept that each work should be viewed as a complete entity in itself, one in which all operatic elements—orchestra, singers, staging, and scenery—were to be focused on achieving a unified whole. His approach was marked by rigorous standards of technical execution. No detail was too small to receive his careful atten4
tion. For example, in the “Norns” scene from a production of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (1874, pr. 1876; the twilight of the gods), the players were required to pay out rope for an extended period, but with no actual rope present; Mahler insisted that the performers practice for hours with an actual rope, although none was used during the public performance. Mahler collaborated with Alfred Roller in achieving new stage designs that were based on light and symbolism rather than on the stereotypical painted backdrops that had for so long inhibited attempts to create the illusions necessary in opera. Roller’s first stage design, for a production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (1859, pr. 1865), bathed the stage in deep red for the passions of the first act, in deep purple to suggest night in the second, and in a pervasive gray for the extended death scene of the closing—all innovative effects for the time. Mahler insisted on complete accuracy from the singers and orchestra in matters of text and tempo; the vocal cadenzas that had accrued to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s scores were deleted, and the Wagner operas were performed without the usual cuts, extending some performances by as much as an hour. Singers were expected to follow exactly Mahler’s sometimes tyrannical directions in matters of interpretation in order to achieve his concept of the complete work. Within a fairly short time following his arrival at the opera, many of the established singers left, as did a significant portion of the orchestra. Those who remained, however, stated repeatedly that the musical ideas they encountered with Mahler compensated for the heavy demands he placed on them. Mahler used his position to encourage many new singing talents. He was constantly searching for new singers, and he often favored performers whose voices might be less than the most beautiful if the singers could sustain the ele-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
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ments of dramatic acting that fit with his idea of the whole. This was a marked departure from the reigning tradition of bel canto and all that it implied. Mahler’s attention extended to audience conduct as well, a fact reflected in a published list of rules he established for visitors to the opera. Cannons were to be fired in the city to inform the citizens of the appropriate time they should depart their homes for each evening’s performance; late arrivals, be they aristocrats or not, were refused admission until the first intermission. Mahler also forced each singer to sign an agreement eliminating claques (fans whom singers paid to applaud their individual entries and solos). Persons of both sexes entering the opera house as couples might be required to give proof of their marital status, and strikingly beautiful ladies, who might attract the attention of gentlemen, could be refused admission (a response to the social intercourse for which the Vienna Court Opera had become famous). Those who enjoyed bringing musical scores to the opera were forbidden to turn the pages of their scores because of the distracting noise. Although he continued much of the traditional Italian repertory, Mahler became most famous for the attention he gave to the operas of Wagner, establishing complete performance of the four operas of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (1874; The Ring of the Nibelungs) and insisting that these and all other works be presented without cuts. Here he came into conflict with the locally revered conductor Hans Richter, who had worked with Wagner at the festival in Bayreuth, Bavaria, and who, presumably, had been anointed by that master as interpreter of his works. Mahler himself, however, was very much a champion of Wagner’s idea of the total work of art; he announced within a short time that he would assume responsibility for all Wagner performances, and soon after, Richter, one of the most celebrated interpreters of German Romanticism, left for London. Mahler came to be recognized as a spokesman for the “music of the future” movement as it had been championed by Wagner, and his uncut performances of Wagnerian music dramas were considered to be among the highlights of his tenure as director. Clearly, Mahler was in control; he imposed his extraordinary talents and musical concepts not only on the performers but on the audience as well. The resulting intensity led to a level of performance acknowledged by all who attended the opera as the outstanding musical achievement of the age—the crescendo of criticism notwithstanding. The impact on Mahler’s own career as a conductor
Mahler Directs the Vienna Court Opera
Gustav Mahler. (Library of Congress)
and composer was at least twofold. As a conductor, he achieved international recognition as a leading virtuoso of the baton and was invited to appear at many major musical centers, including New York’s Metropolitan Opera. As a composer, he may have had limited productivity, given that his activities with the opera relegated his own composing to the relatively short months of summer, yet his work toward achieving an operatic performance that represents a totality of the composer’s intent also appears in his symphonies, large-scale works that are self-sufficient musical entities, creations that extend well beyond the traditional four-movement sequence. Many of these works carry autobiographical connotations, which may also reflect Mahler’s total and personal immersion in each of his operatic endeavors. Certainly, his awareness of the problems of words and music would have figured in both activities, and a significant portion of Mahler’s compositions call for the combination of orchestra and voices, either solo or chorus. The intensity of his personal involvement with any work he addressed as either conductor or composer may have contributed to Mahler’s personal problems, condi5
Mahler Directs the Vienna Court Opera tions sufficiently disturbing to lead him to a consultation with Sigmund Freud in 1910. The similarity between Freud’s approach to his new science of psychoanalysis and Mahler’s approach to his creative processes, either as opera conductor or as composer, attracted the attention of many. Significance Although Mahler alienated many with his uncompromising standards and dictatorial musical administration, he also brought to fruition a type of operatic performance that united all facets of the musical theater into the service of one entity: the conception of the composer as interpreted by Mahler. The performance of an opera as a unified whole, one into which all musical elements were cohesively bound, stood as the hallmark of the productions for which Mahler was responsible as director, even when he was not on the podium himself. This was in striking contrast to most existing operatic traditions of the early twentieth century, and the Vienna Court Opera came to be identified as a crucible for new musical ideas and as the center of Viennese cultural life. It was said that Mahler was the second-best-known person in the city, his eminence surpassed only by that of the emperor. Mahler’s fidelity to the composer’s intent, although with some noted exceptions, set the tone for musicians in many other areas, a quality reflected in practices of notation and performance that endured well beyond the middle of the twentieth century. With Mahler as a model, composers annotated their scores with great attention to the nuances of articulation, dynamics, fluctuations in tempo, and similar matters. Performers were expected to respond in kind through the careful and accurate realization of such notation. Gone was the element of change through free additions, inserted improvisations, and “creative” interpretations dominated by performers’ individual personalities. Mahler’s collaborations with Roller in matters of stage design broke with the past and established procedures that were emulated at Bayreuth and in most other opera houses of the twentieth century. Mahler and Roller established the principle of using light instead of fixed lines, symbolism instead of literal and inherently limited statement, to project desired illusions. Mahler’s concern for the whole ensemble led him to place the conductor’s desk on the far side of the orchestra, between the instrumentalists and the audience, the better to command the attention of the orchestra as well as that of the performers on stage. Previously the conductor had worked from an area near the stage where he 6
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 could address the singers directly, with the orchestra seated between the conductor and the audience. Like Mahler’s other innovations, this ensued from his concern for the whole ensemble—orchestra as well as singers. Through his extraordinary musical achievements in the opera house, Mahler restored to Vienna some of the musical glory the city had lost with the passing of Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert. The opera had symbolized all that was great and glorious in the principal city of the AustroHungarian Empire, and the declining political fortunes of that city made these musical developments all the more notable in the eyes of the Viennese. Whether they approved of Mahler or vilified him, there was no question that he was the major artistic and intellectual force in the city. Mahler’s elevation of the complete dramatic concept above the merely musical led to the emergence of a new type of singer, one who above all could project the illusion of the drama. Although this emphasis led to the departure of several prominent stars—many of whom were probably ready to depart for vocal reasons under any circumstances—it also led to the establishment of several new and important operatic careers. Anna von Mildenburg, Leo Slezak, Marie Gutheil-Schoder, and Richard Mayr were among the singers who came forth during Mahler’s tenure, and they dominated the German operatic repertory until well into the twentieth century. Through the process of careful selection of his own singers and painstaking training through many rehearsals, Mahler developed one of the most renowned operatic ensembles of all time. Mahler’s central position on the musical scene and his forceful musical intellect brought him to the forefront among young musicians, such as Alexander von Zemlinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton von Webern, and Alban Berg, who were champions of new styles in music. Although not always in accord with their views, Mahler and his work as composer and conductor nevertheless stood for what many of these musicians thought was needed to free music from the encrustation of nineteenth century Romanticism. It was from the creative work of these composers, particularly Schoenberg and Webern, that the music of the twentieth century received much of its impetus. —Douglas A. Lee Further Reading Banks, Paul. “Fin-de-siècle Vienna: Politics and Modernism.” In The Late Romantic Era, edited by Jim
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
ten traditions of the house and the differences among directors. Includes many color plates of the opera house’s interior. La Grange, Henry-Louis de la. Gustav Mahler: Vienna, the Years of Challenge, 1897-1904. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Biographical study depicts the society of prewar Vienna, the range of artists among whom Mahler lived and worked, and Mahler’s engagement and turbulent marriage to Alma Schindler. _______. Mahler. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1973. Extensive biographical study of Mahler through 1902, presumably based, at least in part, on the original text of Natalie Bauer-Lechner. Much of the text derives from personal correspondence, which is quoted liberally, but the contexts of many quotations are not clearly identified. Many photographic plates, annotations, and an extended bibliography. Newlin, Dika. Bruckner, Mahler, Schoenberg. Morningside Heights, N.Y.: King’s Crown Press, 1947. A cornerstone for studies concerning musical developments in Vienna around the beginning of the twentieth century. Gives much attention to the relationships among the three composers named and to musical traditions in Vienna; a short chapter addresses Mahler’s tenure as director of the opera. Prawy, Michael. The Vienna Opera. New York: Praeger, 1970. A valuable documentary study of the Vienna Opera, its productions, traditions, famous performers, and conductors. Includes many photographic plates, playbills, and other documents that illustrate the history of this famous institution. See also: 1908-1909: Schoenberg Breaks with Tonality; Nov. 20, 1911: Mahler’s Masterpiece Das Lied von der Erde Premieres; Mar. 31, 1913: Webern’s Six Pieces for Large Orchestra Premieres.
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Samson. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1991. A study of the broader cultural forces at work in Vienna during the last years of the nineteenth century. Reviews Mahler’s work within the context of the political and cultural firmament of which it was a part. Bauer-Lechner, Natalie. Recollections of Gustav Mahler. Translated by Dika Newlin. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980. An account of personal associations with Mahler from childhood through his years in Vienna. Aside from many items of purely personal interest, offers much information concerning Mahler’s musical development and the sources of his ideas. Feder, Stuart. Gustav Mahler: A Life in Crisis. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004. Psychoanalytic biography addresses emotional themes in Mahler’s life and compositions, connecting particular crises with musical themes and works. Discusses Mahler’s consultation with Freud in 1910. Gartenberg, Egon. Mahler: The Man and His Music. New York: Schirmer Books, 1978. One of the most accessible biographical studies of Mahler. Includes frequent references to and quotations of source materials, an extensive list of photographs of Mahler and his associates supplemented by biographical sketches, and an extensive bibliography. Kennedy, Michael. Mahler. 2d ed. London: J. M. Dent, 1990. This brief and accessible work is primarily biographical and analytic, but it is supplemented by a calendar of Mahler’s life and activities, a catalog of works, a sketch of Mahler’s associates, and a select bibliography. Kralik, Heinrich. The Vienna Opera House. Translated by Michael H. Law. Vienna: Brüder Rosenbaum, 1955. A useful history of the physical structure known as the Vienna Opera. Addresses many of the unwrit-
Mahler Directs the Vienna Court Opera
Creation of the First Synthetic Vat Dye
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1901
Creation of the First Synthetic Vat Dye After centuries of efforts to create dyes with the brilliant colors of nature as well as permanence and functionality, success marked the dawn of the age of synthesis. Locale: Ludwigshafen, Germany Categories: Science and technology; chemistry Key Figures René Bohn (1862-1922), German synthetic organic chemist Karl Heumann (1850-1894), German chemist Roland Scholl (1865-1945), Swiss chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1818-1892), German organic chemist Sir William Henry Perkin (1838-1907), English chemist and student in Hofmann’s laboratory Summary of Event Today, the presence of color in living spaces and daily utensils is largely taken for granted. The precise date when the search began for ways to make human surroundings attractive through the use of color is unknown. By contrast, humankind’s search for the means to obtain and improve on nature’s colors has been recorded and analyzed in great detail. One of many possible critical turning points in this research was the introduction of the first vat dye by a chemist at the German firm Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (BASF) in 1901. The term “vat dye” is used to describe a method of applying the dye, but it also serves to characterize the structure of the dye, because all currently useful vat dyes share a common unit. One fundamental problem in dyeing relates to the extent to which the dye is water-soluble. A beautifully colored molecule that is easily soluble in water might seem attractive given the ease with which it binds with fiber; however, this same solubility will lead to the dye’s rapid loss in daily use. Vat dyes are designed to solve this concern with molecules that can be made water-soluble, but only during the dyeing or vatting process. The structural unit that can be changed chemically and then re-formed involves two groups of a carbon and an oxygen atom connected by two pairs of electrons. Such a carbon-oxygen double bond, or carbonyl group, is easily reduced through the addition of a molecule of hydrogen. After the reduced (or leucodye) crystals are safely trapped within the fibers, they are reoxidized, usually with air. 8
The excellent water-fastness of vat dyes is complemented by the fact that many of them have a very simple chemical structure, which results in great chemical stability and particularly in light-fastness. One modern textbook of dye chemistry asserts that “the fastness properties of vat dyes are surpassed by no other class of dyestuffs.” From prehistoric times until the mid-nineteenth century, all dyes were derived from natural sources. With a few important exceptions, these coloring materials came from plants. Over thousands of years, only about a dozen dyes proved to be of lasting practical importance. Among the most lasting dyes in nature are the red and blue dyes such as those found in alizarin and indigo. Both of these substances have the carbonyl groups characteristic of vat dyes, and both played central roles in the earliest commercially significant synthesis of a vat dye. The development of modern chemistry and that of dye chemistry are closely linked. The early years of the nineteenth century found chemists beginning to study the natural world in a scientific way. In France, AntoineLaurent Lavoisier made chemistry a science by insisting that accurate nomenclature and analysis were essential to progress. In England, John Dalton stated the basic foundation by bringing the Greek atomos, or atoms, into modern form. In Germany, Justus von Liebig promoted intensive laboratory education for analysis and publication of results in scholarly journals. There was great growth, but fundamental problems remained. Organic chemistry, which deals with the compounds of the element carbon and is associated with living matter, hardly existed. Synthesis of carbon compounds simply was not attempted. Considerable amounts of data had accumulated showing that organic or living matter is basically different from the compounds of the mineral world. In general, organic material was considered to be fragile and difficult to work with. Carbon compounds did not fit easily into the well-established electrical picture of rocks, metals, and salts. Researchers neatly, if unproductively, solved this problem by stating that these molecules contained carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and “vital force.” It was widely believed that although one could work with various kinds of organic matter in physical ways and even analyze their composition, such matter could be produced only in a living organism. In 1828, Friedrich Wöhler found that it was possible to synthesize the clearly organic compound urea from
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Significance Bohn’s discovery led to the development of many new and useful dyes. The list of patents issued in his name fills several pages in Chemical Abstracts indexes. The true importance of this work, however, is to be found in a consideration of all synthetic chemistry, which may perhaps be represented by this particular event. By the end of the twentieth century, more than two hundred dyes related to Indanthrene were in commercial use. The colors represented by these substances are a rainbow, making nature’s finest hues available to all. The dozen or so natural dyes have been synthesized into more than seven thousand superior products through the creativity of the chemist. Despite these desirable outcomes, some observers doubt that there is any real benefit to society from the development of new dyes. This must be considered, given the fact that natural resources are limited. With so many urgent problems to be solved, scientists are not sure whether they should devote their time to a search for greater luxury. A more germane question, however, may be whether scientists can afford not to continue the search. If the field of dye synthesis reveals a single theme, it must be that one should expect the unexpected. Time after time, the effort to reach one goal has led to the achievement of something quite different. No one can say with any certainty where the crucial clue to the solution of a problem will be found. Certainly no one would predict that cancer will be cured through dye research. On the other hand, improvements in dyes used for staining tissue are always needed. It is perhaps noteworthy in this context that fifty years after Bohn’s discovery, an English team headed by Professor William Bradley began a long series of studies aimed at determining how Indanthrene is formed. Their efforts were directed not at the synthesis of new dyes but at obtaining a fundamental understanding applicable in other fields of research. Several textbooks on dye chemistry have pointed to the importance of knowledge of that field to other sciences—one more assertion that basic research often reveals the unexpected. —K. Thomas Finley and Patricia J. Siegel Further Reading Fieser, Louis F., and Mary Fieser. Current Topics in Organic Chemistry. New York: Reinhold, 1963. Excellent historical perspective and a clear explanation of the chemistry and backgrounds of the people involved. Gordon, P. E., and P. Gregory. Organic Chemistry in 9
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clearly mineral compounds. The concept of “vitalism” began to fade as more chemists reported the successful preparation of compounds previously isolated only from plants or animals. One especially rich field ripe for exploration was that of coal tar, and August Wilhelm von Hofmann was an active worker in this area. He and his students made careful studies of this complex mixture. The high-quality stills they designed allowed the isolation of pure samples of important compounds for further study. Of greater importance was the collection of able students Hofmann attracted. Among them was Sir William Henry Perkin, who today is regarded as the founder of the dyestuffs industry. In 1856, Perkin undertook the task of synthesizing quinine from a nitrogen-containing coal tar material called toluidine. Luck played a decisive role in the outcome of his experiment. The sticky compound Perkin obtained contained no quinine, so he turned to investigate the simpler related compound, aniline. A small amount of the impurity toluidine in his aniline gave Perkin the first synthetic dye, Mauveine. From this beginning, the great dye industries of Europe, particularly Germany, grew. Trial-and-error methods gave way to more systematic searches as the structural theory of organic chemistry was formulated. The academic and the industrial, the theoretical and the synthetic advanced in large measure through mutual stimulation. As the twentieth century began, great progress had been made, and German firms dominated the industry. BASF was incorporated at Ludwigshafen in 1865 and undertook extensive explorations of both alizarin and indigo. René Bohn, a chemist, had made important discoveries in 1888 that helped the company recover lost ground in the alizarin field. Bohn was well trained, having earned his doctorate at the University of Zurich in studies with Karl Heumann, who had developed two successful syntheses of indigo. In 1901, Bohn undertook the synthesis of a dye he hoped would combine the desirable attributes of both alizarin and indigo. As so often happens in science, nothing like the expected occurred. Bohn realized that the beautiful blue crystals he produced represented a far more important product than he had been seeking. Not only had he created the first synthetic vat dye, Indanthrene, but also, by studying the reaction at higher temperature, he produced a useful yellow dye, Flavanthrone. By 1907, Swiss chemist Roland Scholl had shown unambiguously that the structure proposed by Bohn for Indanthrene was correct, and a major new area of theoretical and practical importance was opened in the field of organic chemistry.
Creation of the First Synthetic Vat Dye
Discovery of Human Blood Groups Colour. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983. Contains an excellent historical introduction to the general field, along with a specific description of Bohn’s work on several dyes. Ihde, Aaron J. The Development of Modern Chemistry. 1964. Reprint. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 1984. Through superb writing, provides access to this highly technical world for the nonchemist. Gives authoritative information on the scientific and commercial aspects of the dye industry. Rys, P., and H. Zollinger. Fundamentals of the Chemistry and Application of Dyes. New York: WileyInterscience, 1972. Some historical material and an adequate presentation of Bohn’s synthetic efforts. Brief but effective; pays unusual attention to the central idea and general properties. Thorpe, Jocelyn Field, and Christopher Kelk Ingold. Synthetic Colouring Matters: Vat Colours. London: Longmans, Green, 1923. An extremely detailed and
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 valuable history of the entire field published only a few years after it became well established. Especially important historically in showing the close relationship between organic and dye chemistry as seen through the eyes of Thorpe’s student Ingold. Zollinger, Heinrich. Color Chemistry: Syntheses, Properties, and Applications of Organic Dyes and Pigments. 3d ed. Zurich: VHCA, 2003. A brief historical introduction coupled with an extensive and technical discussion of a wide range of modern chemical ideas as illustrated by dye chemistry. Written for the specialist, but contains many insights of interest to anyone attempting to see dye chemistry in the historical perspective of developing modern chemistry. See also: 1901-1904: Kipping Discovers Silicones; 1905-1907: Baekeland Invents Bakelite; Jan., 1913: Burton Refines Petroleum with Thermal Cracking; Feb., 1935-Oct. 27, 1938: Carothers Invents Nylon.
1901
Discovery of Human Blood Groups Karl Landsteiner investigated the chemistry of the immune response and discovered the A-B-O blood groups, the most significant advance toward safe blood transfusions. Locale: Vienna, Austria Categories: Health and medicine; biology Key Figures Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943), Austrian pathologist and immunologist Philip A. Levine (1900-1987), Russian-born American physician, immunoserologist, and Landsteiner student Alexander S. Weiner (1907-1976), Austrian immunoserologist Summary of Event In the late 1800’s, immunology was developing rapidly as scientists examined the various physiological changes associated with bacterial infection. Some pathologists studied the way cells helped the body fight disease; others favored a central role for noncellular, or humoral, factors. In 1886, George Nuttall showed how serum (the fluid remaining after a clot is removed from blood) can be toxic to microorganisms. Others obtained similar re10
sults, and although debate continued regarding cellular versus humoral immunity, most researchers focused on the humoral response to disease. It was during this period that the term “antigen” was used to refer to any substance inducing a reaction against itself by the host organism. “Antibody” referred to the factor in the serum that could react with the foreign substance. In 1894, Richard Friedrich Johannes Pfeiffer of the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin injected cholera into guinea pigs and observed a series of changes in the cholera organisms: loss of mobility, clumping, loss of stainability, and eventual disappearance. His work inspired others. Max von Gruber, a bacteriologist at the Hygiene Institute in Vienna, was particularly interested in the clumping, or agglutination, of foreign cells. He and his student Herbert Edward Durham discovered that antibodies cause the agglutination of disease organisms and that particular antibodies react only with like or closely related microorganisms. Also influenced by Pfeiffer, Jules Bordet of the Pasteur Institute demonstrated in the late 1890’s that agglutination and hemolysis occurred after red blood cells from one species were injected into another. He pointed out that this response was similar to the body’s reaction to foreign microorganisms.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Karl Landsteiner. (The Nobel Foundation)
Karl Landsteiner synthesized the results of all the experiments noted above and provided a simple but correct explanation. He joined the University Hospital in Vienna and began advanced study in organic chemistry. At the age of twenty-eight, he joined Gruber at the Hygiene Institute in Vienna and soon began a lifelong interest in immunology. Almost two years later, he transferred to the Institute of Pathological Anatomy of Anton Weichselbaum. Landsteiner recognized early the chemical nature of the serological reactions that make immune processes visible. He used Bordet’s work as his model. He made antibodies by injecting harmless forms of bacteria into a variety of animals, and, like Bordet, he independently produced antibodies to the blood cells of another species by injecting guinea pig blood into rabbits. Landsteiner withdrew his manuscript that he had already submitted for publication when Bordet’s article was published in 1898. In 1900, before Ehrlich and Morgenroth had published their work on goats, Landsteiner commented in a footnote that serums from healthy humans agglutinated animal red cells and cells from other humans (the first mention of human isoantibodies). He did not believe there was sufficient evidence to tell whether agglutination was solely a function of disease or a result of individual differences; however, by late 1901, he had elaborated on his footnote and provided the supporting experimental evidence. Pauline M. H. Mazumdar considers Landsteiner’s 1901 paper a logical extension of Ehrlich’s goat studies. Landsteiner took blood samples from his colleagues, separated the cells from the serum, and suspended the red blood cells in a saline solution. He then mixed each person’s serum individually with a sample from every cell suspension. Agglutination occurred in some cases; there was no reaction in others. From the pattern he observed, he hypothesized that there were two types of red blood cells, A and B, whose serum agglutinated the other type of red cell. There was another group, C (in later papers, group O), whose serum agglutinated red blood cells of both types A and B, but whose red cells were not agglutinated by serum from individuals with either blood type A or type B. He concluded that there were two types of antibodies, now called anti-A and anti-B, found in persons of blood types B and A, respectively, and together in persons with blood type C. The absence of antibodies to one’s own antigens was referred to later as Landsteiner’s rule. In 1902, two students of Landsteiner, Alfred von Decastello and Adriano Sturli, working at Medical 11
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Paul Ehrlich, a German physician and brilliant biologist, along with his coworker, Julius Morgenroth, injected blood from goats into other goats and discovered that the goats produced “isoantibodies,” a term that Bordet coined to describe antibodies to cells of the same species. Ehrlich could discern no pattern and barely missed discovering goat blood groups, but he interpreted his results to signify biochemical differences between individuals. He inferred from the artificial nature of the experiment that the reaction may not have any obvious function for the animal. Rather, it might be an unrelated effect of another physiological process and not part of the body’s response to disease. Samuel Shattock, an English pathologist, almost discovered the human blood groups. In 1899 and 1900, he described the clumping of red cells by serum from patients with acute pneumonia and certain other diseases. He could not find the clumping in the serums of normal persons because of his small sample size, and he concluded that his results reflected a disease process.
Discovery of Human Blood Groups
Discovery of Human Blood Groups
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
came the “father of blood groups.” Louis Klein Diamond points out that Landsteiner’s experiments were Karl Landsteiner studied medicine at the University of Vienna from 1885 to performed at room temperature in 1891, during a time frequently described as the golden age of microbiology. dilute saline suspensions, which This period—from about 1876 to 1906—saw a great number of significant dismade possible the agglutination recoveries concerning the causes of disease and the functions of the immune sysaction of anti-A and anti-B antibodtem. Shortly after his graduation in 1891, the twenty-three-year-old physician left Vienna to begin work in biochemistry under the direction of Emil Fischer. ies to antigens on red cells but hid the Landsteiner returned to Vienna in 1896 to work at Vienna’s Hygienic Instireaction of warm “incomplete antitute under Max von Gruber, one of the discoverers of agglutination. There he bodies” (small antibodies that coat developed his interest in immunity and the nature of antibodies, worked in the antigen but require a third submorbid physiology, and in 1900 discovered the human blood groups. In his pastance before agglutination occurs) per announcing this discovery is one of the most famous footnotes in the histo other, yet undetected, antigens tory of medicine: such as the rhesus antigens, which are so important for understanding The serum of healthy humans not only has an aging effect on animal hemolytic disease of the newborn. blood corpuscles, but also on human blood corpuscles from different inFurther developments in blood groupdividuals. It remains to be decided whether this phenomenon is due to ing did not take place for another original individual differences or to the influence of injuries and possible bacterial infections. thirty years. Landsteiner made his discovery Landsteiner’s subsequent experiments proved that the differences were not of the A-B-O blood groups early in the result of some pathology, as previously thought, but were quite normal inhis career. His later contributions to dividual differences, which he was able to categorize into the three basic blood immunology and medicine are nugroups A, B, and O. merous. He was particularly interested in how an antibody reacts with a particular antigen—and only that antigen—and demonstrated that the Clinic II in Vienna with more subjects, tested blood samspecificity is dependent on the chemical structure of ples with the three kinds of cells. Out of 155 individuals, blood factors (usually more than one) present on an anti4 had no antibodies in their serums (2.5 percent), but gen. His extensive investigations in this area are pretheir cells were clumped by the other types of serums. sented in his monograph Die Spezifität der serologischen This fourth rare kind of blood was called type AB, beReaktionen (1933; The Specificity of Serological Reaccause both A and B substances are present on red cells. tions, 1936). Decastello and Sturli proved also that the red cell substances were not part of a disease process when they Significance found the markers equally distributed in 121 patients and Landsteiner’s blood group work was initially ignored. 34 healthy subjects. Others eventually rediscovered the A-B-O blood groups In Landsteiner’s 1901 paper, he anticipated forensic and provided new classifications, which led to confusion uses of the blood when he observed that serum extracted over nomenclature and credit for the discovery. In 1908, from fourteen-day-old blood that had dried on cloth Albert A. Epstein and Reuben Ottenberg suggested that would still cause agglutination. He suggested that the reblood groups are inherited, but the exact mode of inheriaction could be used to identify blood. He noted also that tance remained controversial until the work of Felix his results could explain the devastating reactions that Bernstein in 1924. Results of tests for the A-B-O groups occurred after some blood transfusions. Human-to-human were soon admitted as evidence in paternity cases, and transfusions had replaced animal-to-human transfustate legislation followed that permitted courts to order such tests. sions, but cell agglutination and hemolysis still resulted Ludwik Hirszfeld and Hanna Hirszfeld, army doctors after some transfusions using human donors. In a brief in the Balkans during World War I, tested many soldiers paper, Landsteiner interpreted agglutination as a physiofrom different countries and showed that racial and ethlogical and not a pathological process. He laid the basis nic groups differed in their A-B-O blood type frequenfor safe transfusions and forensic serology, and he be-
Landsteiner’s Famous Footnote
12
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Further Reading Diamond, Louis Klein. “The Story of Our Blood Groups.” In Blood, Pure and Eloquent, edited by Maxwell M. Wintrobe. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. An excellent, very readable discussion (by a knowledgeable insider) of the people involved in the study of blood groups, their ideas, and methodological advances in this area. See also the preceding chapter, also by Diamond, titled “A History of Blood Transfusion.” Erskine, Addine G., and Wladyslaw Socha. The Principles and Practice of Blood Grouping. 2d ed. St. Louis: C. V. Mosby, 1978. The first chapter, titled “History of Blood Transfusion and Blood Grouping,” is recommended; it discusses Weiner’s work more than Levine’s. The text also includes a selective bibliography after each chapter and a helpful glossary. Giangrande, Paul L. F. “The History of Blood Transfusion.” British Journal of Haematology 110 (2000): 758-767. Focuses on the key developments in the early history of transfusion medicine, including Landsteiner’s work on blood types. Includes illustrations and references. Lechevalier, Hubert A., and Morris Solotorovsky. Three Centuries of Microbiology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965. Details the various related discoveries that preceded and followed Landsteiner’s work. The connectedness of the scientific ideas is broken up by minibiographies of all the major personalities. Includes a limited bibliography. Mazumdar, Pauline M. H. “The Purpose of Immunity: Landsteiner’s Interpretation of the Human Isoantibodies.” Journal of the History of Biology 8 (Spring, 1975): 115-133. A detailed discussion of the relevant ideas and experiments that set the stage for Landsteiner’s work. Emphasizes the elegant simplicity of Landsteiner’s explanation. Race, R. R., and R. Sanger. Blood Groups in Man. 6th ed. Oxford, England: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1975. Known as the “blood groupers bible,” this text (the first edition of which was published in 1950) describes all the blood group antigens. Speiser, Paul, and Ferdinand Smekal. Karl Landsteiner. Translated by Richard Rickett. Vienna, Austria: Hollinek Brothers, 1975. A revision and translation of the 1961 German edition written solely by Speiser. A comprehensive and fascinating description of Landsteiner’s personal life and each of his many scientific achievements. Includes a complete bibliography. Starr, Douglas P. Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. A 13
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cies. Much later, William C. Boyd, an immunochemist, convinced anthropologists to use blood marker distributions in inferring population histories (a practice that is now routine). The most important practical outcome of the discovery of blood groups was the increased safety of blood transfusions, something that, initially, few were able to appreciate. In 1907, Ottenberg was the first to apply Landsteiner’s discovery by matching blood types for a transfusion. Citrate had been discovered to be an anticoagulant in 1890, but it was not until 1914 that it was used in a blood transfusion. Richard Weil, a New York pathologist, discussed this breakthrough in an influential article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1915. He was also familiar with Landsteiner’s work and argued for testing blood to ensure compatibility. Anticoagulants and “cross-matching” were soon part of standard practice. Subgroups of blood type A were discovered in 1911, but it was not until 1927 that Landsteiner, now working at the Rockefeller Institute in New York, and his student Philip A. Levine discovered additional blood group systems. They injected different human red cells into rabbits and eventually obtained an antibody that could distinguish human blood independently from A-B-O differences. The new M, N, and P factors were not important for blood transfusion but were used for resolving cases of disputed parentage. More scientists became aware of the multiple applications of Landsteiner’s blood group research, and in 1930 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Transfusion reactions between A-B-O-compatible people still occurred, and finally, in 1940, Landsteiner and Alexander S. Weiner reported an antibody to another antigen, the rhesus factor, responsible for most of the adverse transfusion reactions and hemolytic disease of the newborn. This and Levine’s work reawakened interest in blood groups, and new methods developed in the 1940’s that led to discoveries of many more antigens. The addition of new antigens has facilitated population analysis and individual identification in paternity and criminal cases, and two world wars and additional methodological advances have hastened the acceptance of the use of blood transfusions for the treatment of injuries and sickness. In 1980, Diamond estimated that more than ten million blood transfusions were being given yearly in the United States. —Joan C. Stevenson
Discovery of Human Blood Groups
Grijns Suggests the Cause of Beriberi study of the role blood has played throughout human history. The chapter titled “A Strange Agglutination” includes discussion of the discovery of blood types and the effect of that discovery on blood transfusions.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: 1902: Carrel Rejoins Severed Blood Vessels; Dec., 1905: Crile Performs the First Direct Blood Transfusion.
1901
Grijns Suggests the Cause of Beriberi Gerrit Grijns’s proposal that beriberi is caused by a nutritional deficiency in a diet of polished rice led to the concept of vitamins. Locale: Javanese Medical School, Batavia, Java Category: Health and medicine Key Figures Gerrit Grijns (1865-1944), Dutch physician Christiaan Eijkman (1858-1930), Dutch physician Robert Koch (1843-1910), German physician and bacteriologist Summary of Event Beriberi is a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin B1, thiamine, in the diet. The name of the disease, which is Sinhalese for “I cannot,” came from the fact that people afflicted with severe beriberi are too sick to do even the simplest things. Beriberi was endemic to the Far East in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its symptoms include stiffness of the lower limbs, paralysis, severe pain, gradual breakdown of the muscles, anemia, mental confusion, enlargement of the heart, and death resulting from heart failure. By the end of the twentieth century, the incidence of severe beriberi was much lower; the disease was found mostly in undernourished people in the rice-eating nations of Asia, Indonesia, and Africa. In industrialized nations, beriberi is seen most often in chronic alcoholics because their limited diets—which consist mostly of alcohol—are deficient in vitamins in general, including thiamine. Very severe thiamine deficiency in alcoholics results in Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, an irreversible disease that causes psychosis and memory loss and requires hospitalization. Despite the fact that the human body’s need for thiamine has been known for many years, a significant proportion of Americans are believed to ingest barely enough thiamine in their daily diets. By the end of the twentieth century, manufacturers enriched many foods inherently low in thiamine (such as white bread, break14
fast cereal, pasta, and white flour) with the vitamin as a health precaution. The best natural sources of thiamine are whole-grain cereals, nuts, and cooked fish (raw fish contains an enzyme that can destroy thiamine). Excessive consumption of tea can lead to thiamine-deficiency symptoms because tea contains a chemical that antagonizes the actions of this vitamin. Beriberi has been known for thousands of years. For example, reference to a disease with its symptoms is found in the Chinese medical literature of 2700 b.c.e. The Orient is the main beriberi zone because of the population’s dietary combination of high tea consumption, use of rice as the main cereal grain, and the common practice of eating raw fish. In 1887, an important early observation on the dietary origin of beriberi was reported by Takagi Kanehiro, director-general of the Japanese navy. Kanehiro became interested in beriberi because one-third of all Japanese sailors had the disease. After careful study, Kanehiro became convinced that the cause of the beriberi was the standard navy diet—polished rice and fish—which was low in protein. He ordered the addition of red meat, vegetables, and whole-grain wheat to the sailors’ diet. After the changes were made, beriberi became rare in the navy. Around the same time, the work of Christiaan Eijkman and his assistant, Gerrit Grijns, began. The Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) was becoming a dangerous beriberi zone. The disease was spreading in epidemic proportions in the armed forces, prisons, and general population. Conditions were so bad in Javanese prisons, for example, that a jail sentence was considered to be almost a death sentence. In some afflicted people, cardiac insufficiency and massive edema (swelling) of the legs, symptoms of “wet beriberi,” predominated. In patients with “dry beriberi,” the main problem was progressive paralysis of the legs. Because of the apparent epidemic nature of the disease, a bacterial origin was suspected. Consequently, the Dutch government appointed a commission composed of two physicians, Cornelius Pekelharing and Clemens Winkler, to study beriberi
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Grijns Suggests the Cause of Beriberi
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firsthand. A third commissioner, Eijkman, was apGrijns proposed that the disease results from the lack of pointed after Winkler and Pekelharing asked Robert some natural nutrient substance that is found in unpolKoch to join their expedition. Koch demurred but sugished rice and in other foods (that is, a nutritional defigested the substitution of Eijkman, a physician who had ciency). Many scientists now view the work that Eijkjust completed training in bacteriology with him. man began and Grijns continued as the basis for the The commissioners arrived in the East Indies in 1886 modern theory of vitamins. and immediately began their studies. Within two years, In 1917, Grijns likewise returned to the Netherlands. they had shown that beriberi is a result of inflammation By 1921, he had become a professor of animal physiolof the nerves (polyneuritis). Because they isolated a bacogy at the State University in Wagenigen. In 1940, he terium from the blood of beriberi victims, the commiswas awarded the Swammerdam Medal for his developsioners were satisfied that the disease was of bacterial ment of the concept of nutritional deficiency. origin. Winkler and Pekelharing returned to the NetherEijkman was appointed professor of public health at lands, and Eijkman stayed behind to continue the rethe University of Utrecht in 1898. He retained that posisearch and to direct the Javanese Medical School. tion for thirty years and completed many other important Fortuitously, Eijkman observed a disease similar to research efforts during his tenure at the university. In beriberi in chickens. The diseased animals developed 1929, Eijkman and Frederick Hopkins shared the Nobel spontaneously all the symptoms of beriberi. Eijkman Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their roles in the named the disease polyneuritis gallinarum. In the course discovery of vitamins. Eijkman was a member of the of studying the birds, Eijkman had them moved to new Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and a foreign quarters. Strangely, the disease disappeared inexplicaassociate of the American National Academy of Scibly. Upon examination, reflection, and study, Eijkman ences. His other honors included orders of knighthood determined that the food given to the birds after they were moved had changed in one important respect: Thiamin in the Diet Originally, the birds had been fed on Gerrit Grijns proved that thiamin is an essential part of a balanced diet. In the leftover boiled white rice from the ofUnited States, the recommended dietary allowance for children between the ficers’ ward in the military hospital, ages of nine and thirteen is 0.9 milligram per day. For adolescents between but after their relocation they were fourteen and eighteen years old, the allowance is higher: 1.2 milligrams per given unpolished rice because the day for males and 1.0 milligram per day for females. Adult males should concook at the new site “refused to give sume 1.2 milligrams per day, and adult females should consume 1.1 milligrams any military rice to civilian fowl.” per day. The list below gives levels of thiamin found in common foods. On the strength of this observaFood Serving Thiamin (mg) tion, Eijkman set out to determine whether the polished rice was the Lentils (cooked) ½ cup 0.17 cause of the disease. He found this to Peas (cooked) ½ cup 0.21 Long-grain brown rice (cooked) 1 cup 0.19 be the case, because the feedings of Long-grain white rice, enriched (cooked) 1 cup 0.26 unpolished rice cured the disease. Long-grain white rice, unenriched (cooked) 1 cup 0.03 Eijkman postulated that a chemical— Whole wheat bread 1 slice 0.10 perhaps a toxin from intestinal bacteWhite bread, enriched 1 slice 0.12 ria—was the actual causative agent. Fortified breakfast cereal 1 cup 0.5-2.0 Although this concept was not corWheat germ breakfast cereal 1 cup 1.89 rect, Eijkman’s efforts began the sciPork, lean (cooked) 3 ounces 0.74 entific research that later showed that Brazil nuts 1 ounce 0.28 thiamine taken from the outer layer Pecans 1 ounce 0.13 (the pericarp) of unpolished rice proSpinach (cooked) ½ cup 0.09 tected against beriberi. Orange 1 fruit 0.11 Cantaloupe ½ fruit 0.10 In 1896, Eijkman left Java and reMilk 1 cup 0.10 turned to the Netherlands because of Egg (cooked) 1 large 0.03 ill health. At that time, Grijns took over the study of beriberi. In 1901,
Grijns Suggests the Cause of Beriberi and the establishment of an Eijkman medal by the Dutch government. Significance Eijkman’s observations that beriberi was caused by excessive dietary use of polished rice and that it could be cured by the feeding of unpolished rice were extremely important to the understanding of nutrition. His work set into motion a sequence of events that led to the development of many aspects of modern nutrition theory, the evolution of biochemical explanations for several very serious nutritional diseases, and the virtual eradication of beriberi. Eijkman believed incorrectly, however, that a curative material in unpolished rice prevented the action of toxins present in the polished grain. In 1901, Grijns was the first to interpret correctly the action of this unknown substance. Grijns proposed that beriberi developed because diets that used polished rice only lacked an essential substance that was required for the appropriate function of the nervous system. Grijns and other researchers soon showed that many foods contain the antiberiberi factor and proved that these foods could be used to treat beriberi. Further studies were conducted in an effort to identify the chemical nature of the substance involved. In 1912, Casimir Funk proposed that beriberi and other nutritional diseases, such as scurvy and rickets, are deficiency diseases caused by the lack of certain substances, each of which is a “vitamine.” Funk coined the term because, he said, it “would sound well and serve as a catch word.” Others, including Elmer McCollum and Hopkins, had similar beliefs. Soon the term was both accepted and shortened to its current spelling, “vitamin.” Subsequently, researchers isolated several types of vitamins and named them A, B, C, D, and so on, in order of their discovery. A key event was the preparation of a pure antiberiberi factor, thiamine (or vitamin B1), and determination of its structure by Robert R. Williams starting in 1935. This effort led to the commercial synthesis of the vitamin by pharmaceutical companies and to its current wide dissemination. The availability of the pure vitamin allowed examination of its metabolic rate and actions. It soon became clear that thiamine is an essential component (coenzyme) required for the biological action of a great many important enzymes (biological catalysts). The lack of function of these catalysts was shown eventually to be the cause of beriberi. Very similar results with other vitamins led to the concept that vitamins are coenzymes 16
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 or parts of coenzymes and that the deficiency diseases produced by their absence are diseases resulting from enzyme inactivation. Thus Eijkman’s and Grijns’s endeavors to understand beriberi led eventually to the establishment of many basic precepts of nutrition and to the current understanding of the roles of vitamins. — Sanford S. Singer Further Reading Bicknell, Franklin, and Frederick Prescott. The Vitamins in Medicine. 3d ed. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1953. Chapter 3 describes concisely the history, the chemistry, and many medical aspects of thiamine up to 1952. A valuable source for readers who desire historical perspective on thiamine and its medicinal attributes. Includes pictures of beriberi victims and 953 references on the vitamin, its isolation, and its use. Carpenter, Kenneth J. Beriberi, White Rice, and Vitamin B: A Disease, a Cause, a Cure. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Provides a comprehensive account of the history and treatment of beriberi. Includes appendixes, illustrations, and references. Lehninger, Albert L. Biochemistry. 2d ed. New York: Worth, 1975. Chapter 13 of this college textbook contains a summary of the chemistry and biochemistry of thiamine and describes briefly aspects of thiamine enzymology, production of thiamine deficiency, and thiamine isolation. Several useful references appear at the end of the chapter. Lindeboom, Gerritt A. “Christiaan Eijkman.” In Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971. This brief biographical sketch is one of the few sources of information on Eijkman written in the English language. It focuses on his career, providing some insight into his life and his impact on both medicine and the science of nutrition. Includes information on some Dutch sources of biographical information. McCollum, Elmer V. A History of Nutrition. Boston: Houghton Muffin, 1957. Chapter 16 of this interesting book is especially valuable to readers who wish to trace the evolution of the understanding of the chemical nature of the vitamin and the biochemical basis for its actions. Twenty-eight references are cited. _______. The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition. 2d ed. New York: Macmillan, 1922. Chapters 9 and 10 contain useful information on thiamine and beriberi, including the history, symptoms, and treatment of the disease. These chapters discuss the work of Kanehiro, Grijns, and Eijkman; Funk’s isolation of thiamine;
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Williams, Robert R. “The Chemistry of Thiamine (Vitamin B1).” In The Vitamins, a Symposium, edited by Morris Fishbein. Chicago: American Medical Association, 1939. This article describes the synthesis and chemical characterization of thiamine, credits isolation of the vitamin from natural sources, describes Williams’s chemical synthesis and characterization of thiamine, and inventories several aspects of the first evidence for the coenzymatic nature of the vitamin. Includes forty-six references. See also: 1906: Hopkins Postulates the Presence of Vitamins; 1922: McCollum Names Vitamin D and Pioneers Its Use Against Rickets; 1924: Steenbock Discovers Sunlight Increases Vitamin D in Food; 1928-1932: Szent-Györgyi Discovers Vitamin C.
1901
Hewitt Invents the Mercury-Vapor Lamp Peter Cooper Hewitt developed a lamp based on gaseous discharge, leading to significant developments such as the fluorescent light. Locale: Ringwood Manor, New Jersey Categories: Science and technology; inventions Key Figures Peter Cooper Hewitt (1861-1921), American electrical engineer Heinrich Geissler (1814-1879), German instrument maker Julius Plücker (1801-1868), German physicist Summary of Event For all of recorded history, humankind has possessed the desire to bring light into enclosed spaces and to banish darkness with sources of artificial light. Artificial light was first provided in the form of controlled flame, beginning with simple torches and wood fires. Devices such as oil lamps and candles were more effective, and indeed these are often still used today. In the nineteenth century, dramatic advances were made in the field of artificial lighting. The first of these was the development of gas lighting. Flammable gases for use as fuel could be derived from a multitude of sources. By the 1850’s, the streets of several urban areas were illuminated by gaslight. In modern times, light generated in some fashion by
electricity has all but supplanted other sources for everyday use. People have long been familiar with electricity in the form of lightning and static electricity, and such notables as Benjamin Franklin performed experiments to discover the nature of electricity. Luigi Galvani, an Italian physicist, made a critical observation in 1780 when he noticed that an electrical spark caused a frog leg to twitch. Alessandro Volta studied this phenomenon, and his work resulted in a man-made battery, or voltaic cell, for the production of an electrical current in 1794. The battery simplified the construction of a reliable source of electrical current and prompted an outpouring of research involving electricity. The first commercially successful electric light was the electric arc lamp, in which an electrical discharge between the slightly separated tips of two electrodes produces a very strong light. Arc lights were not practical for indoor use, but they were very effective for outdoor applications, particularly street lighting. The light produced was of good quality; however, maintaining the network required a fairly elaborate and labor-intensive support system. In particular, arc lights gave a very favorable appearance to the exteriors of buildings, which led the governing bodies of some cities to dictate their continued use even after suitable alternative systems were available. Of course, construction of these lighting systems was possible only after the development of machinery to provide reliable electric current. 17
1901
and aspects of the work of Williams (who later synthesized thiamine). Smith, Emil L., et al. Principles of Biochemistry. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983. Chapter 21 of this excellent biochemistry text contains a brief description of thiamine and beriberi. Aspects of thiamine biochemistry, metabolism, deficiency, and distribution are addressed. Several references to more technical sources are included. Sure, Barnett. Vitamins in Health and Disease. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1922. Chapter 21 of this basic nutrition text describes the symptoms of different types of beriberi and their treatment as well as aspects of the nutrition, distribution, and medicinal properties of vitamin B1. A useful source for readers who desire a simple approach.
Hewitt Invents the Mercury-Vapor Lamp
Hewitt Invents the Mercury-Vapor Lamp Thomas Alva Edison envisioned a complete system of electrical supply—municipal and residential lighting—and electrical power for other applications. Although Edison is recognized, along with Joseph Wilson Swan, as the developer of the incandescent lightbulb, it is important to realize that he saw this invention as part of a larger picture. It was his determination that fostered public awareness of and desire for electric lighting, leading to the mammoth electrical generating facilities in existence today. Edison’s electric light relied on the passage of a current through a filament, which became heated to incandescence. For most domestic uses, the incandescent bulb is still the lighting of choice today, even though it is relatively inefficient. Much of the energy provided to a lightbulb is lost as heat. While Edison struggled with the electric light and development of power transmission, other researchers were exploring areas of physics and chemistry that
Peter Cooper Hewitt. (Library of Congress)
18
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 would lead to the development of another type of lighting device. As early as 1675, the French astronomer Jean Picard had observed a discharge of light from a mercury barometer. Subsequently, it was understood that this kind of discharge was stimulated by static electricity, although the cause of the flash of greenish-blue light was unknown. The mercury barometer, invented by Evangelista Torricelli, was simply a long glass tube sealed at one end, filled with mercury, and then placed open end down in a vat of mercury. When such an instrument is prepared properly, the mercury in the tube drops down to a height that is supported by air pressure. Above the mercury in the sealed end of the tube, a good vacuum is created that contains only a slight amount of mercury vapor. This type of vacuum is isolated and thus not easily studied. In 1855, the German inventor Heinrich Geissler developed a simple pump that used a moving column of mercury to generate a good vacuum in a tube. This development came at an opportune time for Geissler, as many physicists were investigating the possibility of forcing electricity through a vacuum. Julius Plücker, a German physicist and contemporary of Geissler, performed a key experiment in this field. Plücker succeeded in passing current through one of these tubes, and in 1858 reported what came to be known as cathode rays. Other physicists studied these rays, including Sir William Crookes, who proposed that the charge flowed through the tube because of movement of some sort of charged particle. Joseph John Thomson conclusively proved this postulate in the late 1890’s and thus is credited with proving the existence of the electron. It was therefore known by the beginning of the twentieth century that in a near vacuum, current in the form of electrons can flow between two electrodes and that electricity can cause a discharge of light in a near vacuum, as Picard had observed. Armed with this knowledge, Peter Cooper Hewitt tried to devise a way to establish a discharge in a glass tube containing mercury vapor at very low pressure. Plücker had shown that when an element is stimulated, it emits only certain characteristic wavelengths of light, or what is commonly known as a line spectrum. This is in contrast to the light of an incandescent bulb, which is a continuous spectrum. Hewitt hoped to use the electrical discharge through the mercury vapor to generate light. In principle, the electrons traveling through the
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Significance Hewitt’s invention of the mercury-vapor lamp represented an attempt to use a novel means of obtaining light. Initially, practical applications of the lamp were limited, primarily because of the quality of the light produced. Hewitt developed the mercury rectifier to convert alternating current to direct current and refined the lamp to improve its color characteristics. Many factories used this improved model as a source of illumination. One property of the mercury lamp is that in addition to certain wavelengths of visible light, it emits large quantities of ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light does not pass through ordinary glass, but quartz is transparent to it. By produc-
ing a light with a quartz tube, Hewitt marketed a source of ultraviolet light that was found to be of great utility in biological applications. A related modern use of similar quartz tube lamps is in tanning beds. Placing the electrodes closer together and increasing the pressure of vapor result in the generation of more intense light. This type of lamp commonly utilizes either mercury or sodium. The sodium vapor lamp, developed in the early 1930’s, produces a distinctly yellow light. This type of lamp was widely used as an external source of illumination, especially in streetlights, all but supplanting mercury lamps until refined models became available. Modern city lighting often includes mercury lamps in the vicinity of downtown areas, where the light produced seems to enhance the appearance of buildings, and sodium lights in rural areas and at intersections, where the main concern is visibility of the road and motor vehicles. A related and equally familiar development in the field of gas discharge lighting was introduced in 1910 by Georges Claude, a French chemist who placed various types of gases in tubes. He found that certain elements produced distinct colors. In particular, neon produced a very attractive discharge. By altering the mixture of gases, one could produce a wide variety of colors. The application of these lights, commonly called neon lights, introduced a minor revolution in advertising that is still in evidence in some cities, such as Las Vegas. In the 1930’s, another major development in the lowpressure mercury-vapor lamp took advantage of the fact that mercury emits ultraviolet light when stimulated. Materials known as phosphors undergo fluorescence when they absorb ultraviolet light. In the process of fluorescence, the ultraviolet light energy absorbed by a phosphor is subsequently emitted in the form of visible light. This discovery prompted development of the fluorescent light, in which the interior of a gas discharge tube, very similar to that developed by Hewitt, is coated with a phosphor. The result is a uniform emission of light from the phosphor when the light is turned on. Manipulation of the chemical nature of the phosphor allows for variation in the light produced. Since their initial development, fluorescent lights have become widely used for illumination in office and factory environments, while their domestic use has been somewhat restricted to utility areas in the home. As further refinements to mercurydischarge lamps are introduced, such lamps may become the predominant source of external and internal artificial lighting. —Craig B. Lagrone 19
1901
tube would collide with mercury atoms. This collision would contribute energy to the mercury atoms, causing an electron in each atom to become energized and move to a high-energy state. When the electron returned to its original energy level, light would be emitted with an energy characteristic of the transition. A benefit of this type of light would be that only visible light would be emitted, so the light source would generate very little heat. The tube that Hewitt marketed commercially was 2.5 centimeters (almost 1 inch) in diameter and about 127 centimeters (49.5 inches) in length and was very similar in appearance to modern fluorescent lights. In Hewitt’s original lamp, the glass tube was hung at a slight angle and contained a small amount of liquid mercury. To activate the light, the user tilted the tube so that a stream of mercury stretched from one electrode to the other. The current flow vaporized the mercury, and the mercury vapor was then stimulated by the current to produce light. Hewitt’s first lamp was a direct-current lamp. One of the major obstacles to a discharge lamp was that a large potential was needed to start the discharge, although a much lower voltage sufficed to maintain the discharge once established. This was why Hewitt developed the starting system. Changes that Hewitt incorporated into subsequent versions of his lamp included the addition of an electromagnet to tilt the lamp and an induction coil that provided high voltage to start the lamp. One of the major drawbacks of the light generated was that it produced distortions in the appearance of objects because of the lack of red light in the mercury spectrum. The quality of light was quite useful in photography, however. Further developments would make the light compatible with alternating current and in subsequent years other inventors developed commercially successful lights based on the principle of electrical discharge through a vapor.
Hewitt Invents the Mercury-Vapor Lamp
Hopkins Announces the Discovery of Tryptophan Further Reading Bowers, Brian. Lengthening the Day: A History of Lighting Technology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Presents a concise history of lighting technologies, including fluorescent lighting. Discusses both technical aspects of different lighting technologies and the societal effects of advances in such technologies. Well illustrated, with exploded diagrams and reproductions of etchings. Burke, James. Connections. London: Macmillan, 1978. Excellent volume describes how different innovations are often related to one another through subsequent development. Of interest in the context of lighting is an excellent discussion of gas lighting and the production of fuel for gas lighting. Coaton, J. R., and A. M. Marsden, eds. Lamps and Lighting. 4th ed. London: Edward Arnold, 1997. Comprehensive textbook includes chapters on lowpressure mercury lamps, fluorescent lamps, sodium lamps, and the like. A wealth of theoretical material makes this a challenging work for the layperson, but most chapters are well written. Includes diagrams of the designs of various types of lamps, specifications, and construction techniques. Hall, Stephen S. “The Age of Electricity.” In Inventors and Discoverers, edited by Elizabeth L. Newhouse. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society,
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 1988. Presents a history of the development of electricity, including discussion of the monumental battle concerning alternating versus direct current. Also offers a good biography of Edison. Well illustrated, with both photographs and artwork. Kane, Raymond, and Heinz Sell, eds. Revolution in Lamps: A Chronicle of Fifty Years of Progress. 2d ed. New York: Fairmont Press, 2001. Written for designers, engineers, and architects as well as lay readers, this book provides a history of the progress made in lamps and lighting as well as information on new lighting technologies. Includes a chapter on lamp phosphors and one on fluorescent lamps. Schroeder, Henry. History of Electric Light. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1923. Written only a few years after Hewitt’s discovery, this source includes an excellent drawing of Hewitt’s lamp. Also provides an excellent history of the development of other types of lights in use at the beginning of the twentieth century. Although obviously dated, contains a wealth of information that cannot be found in more recent texts. See also: Dec. 10, 1901: Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X Rays; Nov. 23, 1936: Fluorescent Lighting Is Introduced.
1901
Hopkins Announces the Discovery of Tryptophan Frederick Hopkins’s discovery of tryptophan, an essential amino acid in human diets, led to a better understanding of diet and nutrition in humans. Locale: Cambridge, England Categories: Science and technology; biology Key Figures Frederick Hopkins (1861-1947), English biochemist Sydney W. Cole (1877-1952), student of Hopkins William Cumming Rose (1887-1985), American biochemist Summary of Event In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the field of biochemistry was relatively new. Sir Frederick Hopkins brought new insight into this area of thought when he was able to visualize cells as biochemical machines and piece together the significance of isolated 20
chemical processes on the workings of cells. This research was a result of the background with which Hopkins entered the biochemical field. He had originally been trained in the field of analytic chemistry and soon became an assistant to Sir Thomas Stevenson, the medical jurist at Guy’s Hospital. Hopkins became involved in the investigation of several murder cases, and his analytic chemistry skills helped to gain convictions. Hopkins worked in the medical school by day and in a clinical research laboratory by night. At the invitation of Michael Foster, he began teaching chemical physiology at Cambridge University in September, 1898. Hopkins had no special training in biochemistry. Hopkins’s background in the area of biochemistry and the cell started with protein chemistry. Proteins are long chains of amino acids that are linked together. There are many types of amino acids, but only twenty of them
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
source of protein in a rat’s diet. It was later found that gelatin is deficient in the amino acids tyrosine and tryptophan. Hopkins also published two papers in 1906 on the dietary role of individual amino acids. The first proposed the role of tryptophan as a precursor (starter molecule) for the synthesis of adrenalin. The second paper, published in the Journal of Physiology, alluded to the concept of the “essential amino acid” and was titled “The Importance of Individual Amino-Acids in Metabolism: Observations on the Effect of Adding Tryptophane to a Dietary in Which Zein Is the Sole Nitrogenous Constituent.” The research used zein—a protein from corn—that was made deficient in the amino acid tryptophan. Young mice fed a diet of this protein were unable to maintain growth. Addition of tryptophan enabled the mice to prolong their survival, but they were still unable to maintain growth. In comparison, the addition of tyrosine, an amino acid present in zein, did not prolong survival. Hopkins concluded from this that tryptophan is an important dietary constituent. The following passage shows the scope of Hopkins’s research: “A deficiency in a nitrogenous dietary need not necessarily be one of quantity; the form in which the nitrogen is supplied may determine its efficiency.” Hopkins thus realized that not only the quantity of protein but also the quality of the protein is important. Further research that Hopkins conducted with Harold Ackroyd in 1916 showed that other amino acids were also essential in the diet. This work with the amino acids arginine and histidine indicated that they were important in nucleic acid metabolism (the genetic material). Exclusion from the diet resulted in nutritive failure. When either one or the other was restored to the diet, normal bodily maintenance and growth of the organism occurred. Hopkins reviewed this research in a lecture presented to the chemical society in which he discussed the fate of protein in the body. As the father of biochemistry in England, Hopkins was gratified to deliver a lecture on the chemistry of animals. Hopkins remained active in his career. In 1914, he became the first professor in the new department of biochemistry at Cambridge University. After World War I, biochemistry began to be taught at the entry level in colleges throughout the English university system. In 1925, Hopkins was knighted and awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society. His most impressive distinction came in 1929, when he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Christiaan Eijkman for what became known as the vitamin concept. 21
1901
are used to build proteins in humans. Of these twenty amino acids, ten are essential to the diet of humans because humans are unable to synthesize them. These ten essential amino acids are phenylalanine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, threonine, tryptophan, cysteine, arginine, valine, and histidine (in infants). Hopkins’s initial work with proteins dealt primarily with the pure chemical properties of the proteins. In his initial research he was concerned with the isolation and crystallization of proteins. His keen analytic background enabled him to devise a new technique to crystallize pure albumin protein from egg white, and this was the topic of his first published work from Cambridge University. This led to his joint work with Sydney W. Cole, which led to the isolation of tryptophan. A paper that reported on their research in 1901 dealt with purely chemical techniques that showed the Adamkiewicz “acetic acid” reaction resulted from an impurity in the acetic acid. This was proposed because Hopkins had obtained a sample of acetic acid that gave no Adamkiewicz reaction. Hopkins obtained many samples of acetic acid and compared them to determine whether they would react with the protein. Hopkins and Cole concluded eventually that glyoxylic acid was the impurity in the acetic acid and that it was responsible for the Adamkiewicz reaction. In a second paper published in 1901, Cole and Hopkins discussed an undescribed product of protein digestion that was responsible for the Adamkiewicz reaction. Again, Hopkins’s analytic chemistry skills played a large role in the isolation of this product. After the researchers isolated this product, they tested it and found that it gave the tryptophane reaction; thus it was the product that was giving the Adamkiewicz reaction. Cole and Hopkins concluded, then, that the product of the protein digestion was, indeed, tryptophan. The final paper in the series, published in 1903, described the structure of the tryptophan molecule. Hopkins and Cole concluded that the structure was a skatole-amido-acetic acid (later researchers revised this in 1907 to indole-amido-acetic acid structure). This paper was important because it described the first research to employ bacterial decomposition as an aid in determining the structure of a chemical molecule. This, in turn, led to the start of bacterial biochemistry, which was pursued by Marjorie Stephenson, a student of Hopkins. Hopkins subsequently published several papers on proteins, but then his interest turned from the purely chemical nature of proteins to nutritional studies of proteins. In the nineteenth century, it was known that gelatin, a protein, would not support life if it was the only
Hopkins Announces the Discovery of Tryptophan
Hopkins Announces the Discovery of Tryptophan Hopkins performed research studies in many other fields of biochemistry and physiology. His research with Walter Fletcher showed that muscle activity and lactic acid production are correlated with each other. Hopkins later worked to discover sulfur-containing vitamins and discovered a tripeptide (three amino acids linked together) called glutathione. He then published a series of papers on the structure and function of the molecule. Hopkins’s impact on the field of biochemistry was immense; at the time of his death in 1947, seventy-five of his students occupied professorial positions around the world. Significance Knowledge concerning the “essentiality of amino acids” has been important in the history of diet and nutrition throughout the world, and Hopkins’s work was at the forefront of this area of research. Hopkins realized that proteins differ and that the differences lie in the amino acid building blocks. By 1935, the last of the essential amino acids (threonine) was isolated by an American biochemist, William Cumming Rose. In continuing the research that Hopkins had begun, Rose found that of the twenty amino acids found in proteins, ten were essential to the diet of rats. He then utilized graduate students in his nutritional experiments, feeding them isolated amino acids. He found only eight amino acids to be essential and then calculated the minimum daily requirement for each amino acid. Rose thus firmly established what Hopkins had begun regarding the essentiality of amino acids. The findings from Hopkins’s pioneering work have been refined greatly since the beginning of the twentieth century. It is now known that human adults require nine essential amino acids and infants require ten essential amino acids in their diet. The nutritional quality of a protein depends on the content of the amino acids found in the protein (as Hopkins suggested) and how well it is digested. Most animal proteins have high nutritional quality in that they are easily digestible and contain all the essential amino acids. On the other hand, plant proteins may lack essential amino acids or may be only partially digestible. Proteins of wheat and other grains may be partially digested only because they are surrounded by husks that cannot be digested. Thus an adult male would have to consume approximately seventy-three slices of wheat bread to meet the daily allowance of protein recommended for the diet. Although plant proteins alone, such as corn protein, may not provide an adequate supply of amino acids, some combinations of plant proteins can provide an ade22
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 quate and balanced mixture of amino acids. For example, the mixture of beans (which are low in tryptophan but high in lysine) and corn (which is low in lysine but contains enough tryptophan) called succotash, used by New World Indians, provides a nutritionally adequate supply of amino acids. Another combination used by Asian populations is soybeans and rice. These combinations provide the essential amino acids required in a diet and can be almost equivalent to milk protein. High-quality nutrition is a worldwide problem because in most parts of the world animal protein is not readily available, and the plants contain low amounts of protein and are usually lacking in essential amino acids. In areas of the world where population growth is outstripping food production, chronic protein deficiencies (called kwashiorkor, or “weaning disease,” in Africa) are occurring. In Central and South America, where protein deficiency is common, an international nutrition board has introduced caparina, a mixture of corn, sorghum, and cottonseed meal. Separately, these plant proteins are poor, but together they have the protein value of milk. Much research continues in the area of nutrition in the early twenty-first century. The pioneering work of Hopkins was only one step toward a better understanding of diet and nutrition. — Lonnie J. Guralnick Further Reading Asimov, Isaac. “Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins.” In Asimov’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 2d ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1982. Useful contribution to a volume containing brief, easy-to-read biographies of more than fifteen hundred scientists from ancient times to the early 1980’s. Some of the biographies are cross-referenced to major advances in the subjects’ fields. Baldwin, Ernest. “Frederick Gowland Hopkins.” In Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie. Vol. 6. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972. Well-written, detailed biography of Hopkins for nontechnical readers. Includes references. Carpenter, Kenneth J. “A Short History of Nutritional Science: Part 2 (1885-1912).” Journal of Nutrition 133 (April, 2003): 975-984. This second part of a four-part series examines the period in the history of nutritional science when Hopkins was conducting his groundbreaking research. Places Hopkins’s work in the context of nutritional science in general. Needham, Joseph, and Ernest Baldwin, eds. Hopkins and Biochemistry. Cambridge, England: W. Heffer &
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
See also: 1906: Hopkins Postulates the Presence of Vitamins; 1922: McCollum Names Vitamin D and Pioneers Its Use Against Rickets; 1924: Steenbock Discovers Sunlight Increases Vitamin D in Food; 1928-1932: Szent-Györgyi Discovers Vitamin C.
1901
Ivanov Develops Artificial Insemination Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov developed practical techniques for the artificial insemination of farm animals, revolutionizing livestock breeding practices throughout the world. Locale: Russia Categories: Science and technology; biology; health and medicine; genetics Key Figures Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov (1870-1932), Russian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799), Italian physiologist R. W. Kunitsky (fl. early twentieth century), Russian veterinarian Summary of Event A tale is told of a fourteenth century Arabian chieftain who sought to improve his mediocre breed of horses. Sneaking into the territory of a neighboring hostile tribe, he stimulated a prize stallion to ejaculate into a piece of cotton. Quickly returning home, he inserted this cotton into the vagina of one of his own mares, who subsequently gave birth to a high-quality horse. This may have been the first case of artificial insemination, the technique by which semen is introduced into the female reproductive tract without sexual contact. The first scientific record of artificial insemination comes from Italy in the 1770’s. Lazzaro Spallanzani was one of the foremost physiologists of his time, well known for having disproved the theory of spontaneous generation. There was some disagreement at that time about the basic requirements for reproduction in animals. It was unclear if the sex act was necessary for an embryo to develop, or if it was sufficient that the sperm and eggs come into contact. Spallanzani was familiar with the work of Jacobi, who had suggested in 1742 that the sex act was not necessary for reproduction. Jacobi had been able to breed young fish by combining the sex cells of male and female fish in a glass dish. Spallanzani also began by studying animals in which union of the sperm and egg
normally takes place outside the body of the female. He stimulated males and females to release their sperm and eggs, then mixed these sex cells in a glass dish. In this way, he produced young frogs, toads, salamanders, and silkworms. Next, Spallanzani asked whether the sex act was also unnecessary for reproduction in those species in which fertilization normally takes place inside the body of the female. He collected semen that had been ejaculated by a male spaniel and, using a syringe, injected the semen into the vagina of a female spaniel in heat. Two months later, the female delivered a litter of three pups that bore some resemblance to both the mother and the male from which Spallanzani had collected the sperm. Spallanzani was justifiably proud of this accomplishment, but despite his obvious pleasure at the results, he apparently did no other work in this field. British surgeon John Hunter reported that he had used Spallanzani’s technique to impregnate a woman whose husband could not ejaculate directly into her vagina, but he was not uniformly believed. In an era when obstetrical care was provided by midwives, the idea of a male physician in the bedchamber sounded suspicious. James Marion Sims, who tried this technique on an infertile patient in 1866, was likewise discouraged by his American colleagues. It was in animal breeding that Spallanzani’s technique was to have its most dramatic application. In the 1880’s, an English dog breeder, Sir Everett Millais, conducted several experiments on artificial insemination. He was interested mainly in obtaining progeny from dogs that would not normally mate with each other because of differences in size. He followed Spallanzani’s method to produce a cross between the short-legged basset hound and the much larger bloodhound. At about the same time, several French and American horse breeders were using artificial insemination sporadically to overcome certain types of infertility in their mares. Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov was a Russian biologist who 23
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Sons, 1949. This book for the general reader contains Hopkins’s uncompleted autobiography as well as selected addresses and excerpts from his papers, with commentaries. Gives the reader a good overview of Hopkins’s accomplishments.
Ivanov Develops Artificial Insemination
Ivanov Develops Artificial Insemination had conducted postgraduate research on the accessory sex glands of animals. He may have heard of the successful artificial insemination of horses when he worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris from 1897 to 1898. Upon returning to Russia, he published a historical essay titled “Artificial Impregnation in Mammals,” which showed his familiarity with the work of Spallanzani as well as that of contemporary animal breeders. Although these techniques were widely used for fish breeding in Russia at the time, they were not used at all in the breeding of farm animals. Ivanov saw the potential to increase the efficiency of horse breeding, and he was commissioned by the government to investigate the use of artificial insemination with horses. Unlike previous researchers and breeders who had used artificial insemination to circumvent certain anatomical barriers to fertilization, Ivanov began using artificial insemination to propagate thoroughbred horses more effectively. His assistant in this work was the veterinarian R. W. Kunitsky. In 1901, Ivanov founded the Experimental Station for the Artificial Insemination of Horses in Dolgoe village in the province of Orlovskaya. As the station’s director, he embarked on a series of experiments to devise the most efficient techniques for breeding these animals. Not content with demonstrating that the technique was scientifically feasible, he wished to ensure further that it could be practiced by Soviet farmers. If sperm from a male were to be used to impregnate females in another location, potency would have to be maintained for a long time. Ivanov first showed that the secretions from the accessory sex glands are not required for successful insemination; only the sperm itself is necessary. He demonstrated further that if a testis is removed from a bull and kept cold, the sperm remain alive. More useful than preservation of testes, however, would be preservation of the ejaculated sperm. By adding certain salts to the sperm-containing fluids and keeping these at cold temperatures, Ivanov was able to preserve sperm for long periods. With sperm preserved in this way, Ivanov was able to impregnate a female with sperm from a male living at another location. Because of the novelty of this technique, Ivanov was concerned that the offspring of such artificial breeding might be abnormal. His subsequent observations eliminated this worry; the offspring of artificial breeding grew and developed at the same rates as did normally bred animals. Ivanov also developed instruments to inject the sperm, to hold the vagina open during insemination, and to hold 24
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 the horse in place during the procedure. In 1910, Ivanov wrote a practical textbook with technical instructions for the artificial insemination of horses. He also trained some three hundred veterinary technicians in the use of artificial insemination, and the knowledge he developed was quickly disseminated throughout the Soviet Union. Artificial insemination became the major means of breeding horses. An experiment begun in 1901 was to have even farther-reaching effects. In that year, Ivanov petitioned the Department of Agriculture for permission to attempt artificial insemination of cows. Initially turned down, Ivanov eventually obtained permission to purchase ten cows, which he housed at the Moscow College of Agriculture. The following year, he produced two calves by artificial insemination of these cows. At the Moscow Zoo, he obtained two sheep, which were also artificially inseminated the same year. In 1910, Ivanov had the opportunity to embark on a large-scale study of sheep breeding by artificial insemination in Askania-Nova. Over the next twenty years, more than one million ewes were artificially inseminated using the techniques he developed. Until his death in 1932, Ivanov was active in researching many aspects of the reproductive biology of animals. He developed methods to treat reproductive diseases of farm animals and refined methods of obtaining, evaluating, diluting, preserving, and disinfecting sperm. He also began to produce hybrids of wild and domestic animals in the hope of producing new breeds that would be better able to withstand extreme climatic conditions and that would be more resistant to disease. His crosses included hybrids of ordinary cows with aurochs, bison, and yaks, as well as some more exotic crosses of zebras with Przhevalsky’s horses. He hoped to use artificial insemination to help preserve species that were in danger of becoming extinct. In 1926, he led an expedition to West Africa to experiment with the hybridization of different species of anthropoid apes. Significance Although Ivanov worked on the artificial insemination of a variety of species, his work on cattle and sheep had the greatest impact. By 1936, more than six million cattle and sheep had been artificially inseminated in the Soviet Union. Despite the success of the technique, several decades elapsed before artificial insemination was used on a large scale in other countries. In the United States, Enos J. Perry began the first large-scale facility for artificial insemination in New Jersey in 1938, having learned the techniques while on a tour of Denmark.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Further Reading Asdell, S. A. “Historical Introduction.” In Reproduction in Domestic Animals, edited by H. H. Cole and P. T. Cupps. 3d ed. New York: Academic Press, 1977. A brief overview of the development of the knowledge of reproductive biology over the centuries. Includes mention of Ivanov and others involved in the advancement of artificial insemination. Includes extensive references to the scientific literature. Bearden, H. Joe, and John W. Fuquay. Applied Animal Reproduction. 2d ed. Reston, Va.: Reston, 1984. Pro-
vides an in-depth explanation of the modern techniques used to manipulate reproduction in farm animals. Particularly useful for its liberal illustrations, including photographs of the instruments and techniques used in the artificial insemination of cattle. Includes references. Foote, Robert H. Artificial Insemination to Cloning: Tracing Fifty Years of Research. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University, 1998. Covers the tremendous changes that have taken place in animal reproduction technologies since artificial insemination was first developed. Provides information from 489 abstracts covering research on artificial insemination in dairy cattle, rabbits, horses, sheep, and other animals as well as humans. _______. “The History of Artificial Insemination: Selected Notes and Notables.” Journal of Animal Science 80, e-supp. 2 (2002). http://www.asas.org/ symposia/esupp2/Footehist.pdf. Reviews the history of artificial insemination, particularly in dairy cattle. Cites major landmarks in development of the technique and notes the people most closely associated with those landmarks. References cited include many classic studies. Perry, Enos J. The Artificial Insemination of Farm Animals. 4th ed. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1968. Perry published this volume thirty years after he began the first organization in the United States to perform artificial insemination on a large scale. In addition to chapters on the techniques current at that time, a chapter is devoted to the historical background of artificial insemination. References are given to original papers, most of which are not in English. Polge, C. “Increasing Reproductive Potential in Farm Animals.” In Artificial Control of Reproduction. Book 5 in Reproduction in Mammals, edited by C. R. Austin and R. V. Short. London: Cambridge University Press, 1972. Contains clear descriptions of the technique of artificial insemination as well as drawings of the procedure being carried out on farm animals. Emphasizes the advances in artificial insemination since the time of Ivanov, including methods for long-term preservation of sperm, which were pioneered by Polge. Poynter, F. N. L. “Hunter, Spallanzani, and the History of Artificial Insemination.” In Medicine, Science, and Culture, edited by L. G. Stevenson and R. P. Multhauf. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1968. An engaging sketch of early workers in 25
1901
Research subsequent to Ivanov’s work has improved further the methods used to collect sperm and to preserve it. The greatest beneficiaries of these techniques have been dairy farmers. Some bulls are able to sire genetically superior cows that produce exceptionally large volumes of milk. Under natural conditions, such a bull could father at most a few hundred offspring in its lifetime. Using artificial insemination, a prize bull can inseminate ten to fifteen thousand cows each year. This use of superior sperm can continue even after a male’s death if the semen is kept frozen. Artificial insemination also prevents the possibility that a female infected with a venereal disease will spread the infection to a prize male. For dairy farmers, artificial insemination also means that they no longer need to keep dangerous bulls on the farm; frozen sperm may be purchased through the mail. Artificial insemination has become the main method of reproduction of dairy cows. In the 1980’s, artificial insemination gained added importance as a method of breeding rare animals. Animals living in zoos often lack the behavioral repertoire necessary for normal mating, but males may still produce normal sperm that can be used to inseminate females artificially. Some species require specific conditions of housing or diet for breeding to occur, conditions not available in all zoos. Such animals can still reproduce using artificial insemination. Elephants also are frequently artificially inseminated, allowing zoos to house only females and their offspring and not the more difficult-tohandle males. Artificial insemination has also proved effective in treating various types of infertility in humans. Although it had been used occasionally before Ivanov’s time, the widespread use of artificial insemination in the human species was possible only after it was clear that it was successful in animals and that the offspring so conceived were not abnormal in any way. —Judith R. Gibber
Ivanov Develops Artificial Insemination
Kipping Discovers Silicones the field of artificial insemination. Includes biographical material on Spallanzani and Hunter as well as a discussion of the controversy engendered in the United States by the work of James Marion Sims. See also: 1902: Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity; 1902: McClung Contributes to the
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Discovery of the Sex Chromosome; Dec., 1902: Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits; 1905: Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity; 1906: Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage; 1908-1915: Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory.
1901-1904
Kipping Discovers Silicones Frederic Stanley Kipping discovered silicones, which nearly fifty years later found widespread markets because of their unique properties. Locale: Nottingham, England Categories: Science and technology; chemistry Key Figures Frederic Stanley Kipping (1863-1949), Scottish chemist and professor Eugene G. Rochow (1909-2002), American research chemist James F. Hyde (1903-1999), American organic chemist Summary of Event Silicones are examples of what chemists call polymers— at the molecular level, they consist of long repeating chains of atoms. In this molecular characteristic, silicones resemble polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which are familiar plastics in everyday use. Whereas polyethylene and PVC have chains of carbon atoms, silicone molecules have chains composed of alternate silicon and oxygen atoms. Each silicon atom bears two organic groups as substituents, and the oxygens serve to link the silicon atoms into a chain. The silicon-oxygen backbone of the silicones is responsible for their unique and useful properties, such as the ability of a silicone oil to remain liquid over an extremely wide temperature range and to resist oxidative and thermal breakdown at high temperatures. A fundamental scientific consideration with a silicone, as with any polymer, is how to obtain the desired physical and chemical properties in a product through close control of its chemical structure and molecular weight. Oily silicones with thousands of alternating silicon and oxygen atoms have been prepared. The average length of the molecular chain determines the flow characteristics (viscosity) of the oil. In samples with very 26
long chains, rubberlike elasticity can be achieved through the cross-linking of the silicone chains in a controlled manner and the addition of a filler such as silica. High degrees of cross-linking could produce a hard, intractable material instead of a rubberlike one. In the first four decades of the twentieth century, Frederic Stanley Kipping made an extensive study of the organic chemistry of silicon. He had a distinguished academic career, and he summarized his silicon work in a 1937 lecture before the Royal Society of London titled “Organic Derivatives of Silicon.” Because Kipping did not have available to him any naturally occurring compounds with chemical bonds between carbon and silicon atoms (organosilicon compounds), he needed to find methods of establishing such bonds. In this quest, Kipping drew on the discoveries of his predecessors. Previous syntheses of compounds with siliconcarbon links involved the intermediacy of carbon derivatives of other elements. For example, Charles Friedel and James M. Crafts, who prepared the first organosilicon compound in 1863, used diethyl zinc as a reagent for transferring ethyl groups to silicon, replacing the chlorine atoms in silicon tetrachloride. Alfred Stock used dimethyl zinc to form silicon-to-carbon bonds and prepared a small sample of methylsilicone oil in 1919 but did not investigate the polymer further. Albert Ladenburg, who was a student of Friedel, used silicate esters as starting materials and employed sodium metal in some of his procedures. A. Polis also used sodium in a procedure to prepare tetraphenyl silicon. Kipping, in his earliest work, used sodium metal to activate organic halogen compounds, forming organosodium derivatives that could be used to replace the chlorine in silicon tetrachloride by organic groups. In 1901, the French organic chemist Victor Grignard reported on the synthetic uses of organomagnesium compounds—the famous “Grignard reagents”—and Kipping soon realized that these reagents were ideal for organosilicon synthesis (indeed,
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Kipping Discovers Silicones
27
1901
alysts. Wilton I. Patnode of G.E. and James F. Hyde of they are probably unsurpassed for this application even Dow-Corning made important advances in this area. today). Hyde’s discovery of the use of traces of potassium hyAlthough Kipping was probably the first to prepare a droxide as a polymerization catalyst for D4 made possisilicone and was certainly the first to use the term “silible the manufacture of silicone rubber, which became cone,” he regarded silicones as a side issue and did not one of the most commercially valuable of all the silipursue their commercial possibilities. His careful expericones. mental work was a valuable starting point for all subsequent workers in organosilicon chemistry, however, inSignificance cluding those who later developed the silicone industry. Although Kipping’s discovery and naming of silicones A few years after Kipping’s lecture before the Royal occurred from 1901 to 1904, the practical use and impact Society, important research was initiated at the General of silicones started in 1940 with Rochow’s discovery of Electric (G.E.) Company’s corporate research laborathe direct synthesis. General Electric constructed a silitory in Schenectady, New York. On May 10, 1940, cone plant at Waterford, New York, and Dow-Corning G.E. chemist Eugene G. Rochow discovered that when began production in Midland, Michigan. They were methyl chloride gas was passed over a heated mixture of joined by Union Carbide in 1957 and Stauffer Chemical elemental silicon and copper, it reacted to form organochlorosilane compounds with siliconcarbon bonds. Kipping had shown that these silicon compounds react Some of the Many Uses for Silicones with water to form silicones. The • In aerospace: fabrics for space suits; windshield and canopy gasket sealimportance of Rochow’s discovery ants; rubber tooling for radome fabrication; optical interlayer laminates; was that it opened the way to a conabrasion-resistant coatings; adhesives, seals, and gaskets; tooling materials tinuous process that did not consume • In construction: glazing adhesives/sealants and elastomers; silicone/polyexpensive metals such as magnesium urethane foam roof coatings; fire-stop foams and sealants; architectural or the flammable ether solvents recoatings and water repellents; concrete pavement joint sealants quired in the Grignard method. The • In electronics: silicone-impregnated electrical insulating tapes; silicone copper acted as a catalyst, and the derubber; adhesives and sealants; elastoplastic resins for coating circuit sired silicon compounds were formed boards; compounds for protecting semiconductor devices; high-purity coatwith only minor quantities of byings, varnishes, and resins; specialty lubricants products. This “direct synthesis,” as • In industrial maintenance and production: elastomers; adhesives; sealants and varnishes; release agents; surfactants; maintenance lubricants it has come to be called, is now real• In medical products and pharmaceuticals: temporomandibular joint ized commercially on a large scale (jaw) implants; small- and large-joint orthopedic implants; long-term and is the most important source of implantable contraceptives; tubing; adhesives; defoamers; fluids; emulsilicone precursors. sions The action of water on the organo• In motor vehicle manufacture and maintenance: heat-, oil-, and fuelchlorosilanes from Rochow’s direct resistant silicone rubbers for molding into a variety of durable parts; spesynthesis is a rapid method of obtaincialty lubricants and materials for noise, vibration, and thermal management ing silicones, but it does not pro• In paints and coatings: additives for high-performance paints, enamels, vide much control of the molecular and finishes; abrasion-resistant coatings for plastics; compounds for temweight. Further development work perature- and chemical-resistant printing equipment components; release at G.E. and at Dow-Corning showed coatings for backings on tapes, labels, stamps, stickers, decals, and food packaging that the best procedure for controlled • In personal and household care products: surfactants, emulsions, fluids, formation of silicone polymers inand powder treatments for use in skin and suntan lotions, antiperspirants, volves treating the crude silicones hair care products, shaving creams, cosmetics, fabric treatments, and launwith acid to produce a mixture from dry products which high yields of an intermediate • In plastics: mold-release additives; catalyst modifiers; chemicals for highcalled D4 can be obtained by distillaperformance applications tion. The intermediate D4 can be • In textiles: waterproofing treatments; fiber chemicals polymerized in a controlled manner through the use of acidic or basic cat-
Kipping Discovers Silicones in 1965. The German companies Wacker-Chemie and Farbenfabriken Bayer, A.G., offered silicones beginning in the 1950’s; by 1968, silicones were being produced also in Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, England, Japan, and the Soviet Union. Production of pure silicones rose from about 1,000 tons per year in 1950 to 14,000 tons in 1965 in the United States. World production in the late 1980’s was estimated at more than 500,000 tons. The major forms of silicone are oils, resins, and elastomers. Approximate percentages of the total production consumed in various industries are as follows: paper and textiles, 30 percent; electrical and electronics, 25 percent; construction, 15 percent; automobiles, 10 percent; office equipment, 10 percent; and medical and food processing, 10 percent. In the United States, production of silicones was rapid enough to permit them to have some influence on military supplies for World War II. In aircraft communication equipment, use of silicones for extensive waterproofing of parts resulted in greater reliability of radios under tropical conditions of humidity, where condensing water could be destructive. Silicone rubber, because of its stability to heat, was used in gaskets for high-temperature use, such as in searchlights and in the superchargers on B-29 bomber engines. Silicone grease applied to aircraft engines also helped to protect spark plugs from moisture and promoted easier starting. After World War II, the uses for silicones multiplied. Silicone rubber appeared in many products, from caulking compounds to wire insulation to breast implants for cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. Silicone is also an excellent material for joint implants and is a component of medical tubing. Silicone rubber boot soles walked on the Moon, where ordinary rubber would have failed. Ordinary materials failed in the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986; it is possible to speculate that if silicone rubber O-rings had been used, the accident might have been averted. Silicone oils continue to find a multitude of specialized uses, from lubricating recording tape to preventing tires from sticking in the molds in which they are made. Silicone oils are used in hydraulic fluids and transformer oils, for waterproofing paper and cloth, and for foam reduction in paper mills. They are also used as surface films for automobile finishes and razor blades. Silicone resins were originally developed to serve as binders for glass fibers to produce a composite material for electrical insulation. Their additional uses now include heatresistant coatings for mufflers and catalytic converters on automobiles and electrically insulating varnish. Foamed silicone resins have been used for heat insula28
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tion and as components of sandwich-type composite materials. The discovery of silicones cannot be isolated in time to a single day or even a single year. Moreover, silicones as we now know them owe much to years of patient developmental work in industrial laboratories. Basic research such as that conducted by Kipping, Stock, and others served to point the way and catalyzed the process of silicones’ commercialization. — John R. Phillips Further Reading Challenger, F. “Frederic Stanley Kipping.” In Great Chemists, edited by Eduard Farber. New York: Interscience, 1961. This biography was written by one of Kipping’s collaborators. Hyde, James F. “Chemical Background of the Silicones.” Science 147 (1965): 829-836. This short article summarizes some of the chemistry involved in making silicones and focuses on the achievements of Dow-Corning researchers. Kipping, F. S. “Organic Derivatives of Silicon.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A159 (1937): 139-148. Kipping summarizes his work on silicon and places it in context with that of other workers. Many historical accounts draw on this lecture. Kipping ends on a note of pessimism, stating that “the prospect of any immediate and important advance in this section of organic chemistry does not seem to be very hopeful.” Leyson, Burr W. Marvels of Industrial Science. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1955. Leyson, an army officer, was impressed by the uses of silicones in the military. Discusses waterproofing of communication equipment and rubber for low-temperature applications. Liebhafsky, H. A. Silicones Under the Monogram. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1978. This rambling and entertaining book is enriched with many photographs of individual scientists, laboratories, and samples of silicones. Includes extensive discussion of the commercial development of silicones and the patent litigation relating to it. The annotated bibliography is extensive and varied and could serve as an entry into the study of twentieth century industrial chemistry research. McGregor, Rob Roy. Silicones and Their Uses. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1954. McGregor prepared this monograph at the suggestion of Dow-Corning. Discusses physiological responses to silicones, applications of silicones in various industries, and the chem-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
the Silicones. 2d ed. New: York: John Wiley & Sons, 1951. This book appeared before any other on the subject and was translated into five languages. This edition contains a complete listing of Kipping’s publications on silicon chemistry as well as a wealth of information on the properties and uses of organosilicon compounds. Rochow, Eugene G., and Éduard Krahé. Perkin, Kipping, Lapworth: Success Through Sisterhood. New York: Springer, 2001. Biographical historical novel about the marriages of three sisters to the three chemists named in the title. Provides a factually accurate account of the influence these three women had on the work of their famous husbands. See also: 1901: Creation of the First Synthetic Vat Dye; 1905-1907: Baekeland Invents Bakelite; Jan., 1913: Burton Refines Petroleum with Thermal Cracking; Feb., 1935-Oct. 27, 1938: Carothers Invents Nylon.
1901-1911
China Allows Some Western Reforms Beginning in 1901, Dowager Empress Cixi authorized a series of reforms intended to modernize China and preserve the Qing Dynasty. Locale: Beijing, China Categories: Government and politics; social issues and reform Key Figures Cixi (1835-1908), dowager empress of China, r. 18611908 Guangxu (Kuang-Hsü; 1871-1908), Chinese emperor, r. 1875-1908 Zhang Zhidong (Chang Chih-tung; 1837-1909), viceroy of Liangjiang and minister of military affairs Liu Kunyi (Liu K’un-i; 1830-1902), major government adviser after the Taiping Rebellion Puyi (P’u-i; 1906-1967), imperial China’s last emperor, r. 1908-1912 Summary of Event In the early 1900’s, China’s Qing (Ch’ing) government initiated a series of political, economic, and social reforms in order to modernize the nation and preserve the ruling dynasty. The reform program was only reluctantly
embraced by Dowager Empress Cixi, the dominant figure at court, and other Qing officials, and was a reaction to a century of disasters. In the Opium War of the 1840’s, China had been forced to open its ports to Great Britain and then to other foreign nations; it also had to grant extraterritoriality to foreigners. Beijing was captured and the Summer Palace destroyed by British and French troops in the 1860’s. Millions died during the Taiping Rebellion, which almost brought down the regime in the 1850’s. In the period 1894-1895, China was defeated by Japan, which resulted in the loss of Taiwan, and by the late 1890’s, Germany, Britain, France, Japan, and Russia had carved out “spheres of influence” in China. Although the Qing had been ruling China since the seventeenth century, many Han Chinese opposed the Qing because of its foreign origins. Other Chinese traveled and studied abroad, comparing backward China with more modernized nations, and some, such as Yan Fu, translated into Chinese such Western works as Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations (1776) and John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty (1859). Some Chinese, including Kang Youwei, a leading advocate of earlier abortive reforms, were harshly critical of the reactionary Qing government. Sun Yixian (Sun Yat-sen) had established the Hsing-chung Hui (Revive China Society), which sought 29
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istry of silicone preparation in simple language. Many of the individual products mentioned are produced by Dow-Corning. Mueller, Richard. “One Hundred Years of Organosilicon Chemistry.” Translated from the German by E. G. Rochow. Journal of Chemical Education 42 (1965): 41-47. This article originally appeared in a German periodical and takes the form of a lecture presented March 27, 1963, in Dresden, Germany. Includes photographs of organosilicon pioneers and contains fiftysix references to their work. _______. Silicon and Silicones. New York: SpringerVerlag, 1987. Relates the story of silicon for the general reader. Tells the history of silicones along with several personal vignettes, including how Rochow treated his own house with silicone coatings to preserve the wooden siding. Discusses silicones within the wider context of silicon chemistry in general. Rochow, Eugene G. An Introduction to the Chemistry of
China Allows Some Western Reforms
China Allows Some Western Reforms
Dowager Empress Cixi. (Library of Congress)
to replace the Qing (also called the Manchus) with a republican form of government. Previous reform efforts had responded to the challenges facing a weakened and weakening China. In the 1870’s, the government launched a “self-strengthening” movement, which was an attempt to reform the military, improve the communications system, and further industrialization, but it was not strong enough to change China’s conservative Confucian society. In the aftermath of China’s defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), in 1898 Emperor Guangxu gave his support to reforming China’s educational system, the military, and the bureaucracy, but Cixi had several of the 30
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 reformers arrested and executed, and removed the emperor, her nephew, from any real power. The Boxer Rebellion of 1900, in which foreigners, including Christian missionaries, were persecuted, led to another Chinese defeat and the payment of a huge monetary indemnity. As foreign troops were capturing Beijing, Cixi and Guangxu had fled west to Xi’an (Sian). They returned only in January, 1902. Cixi, always the dominating figure, accepted the necessity of reform and modernization, but only within certain assumed parameters. She insisted that the Manchu/Qing Dynasty be preserved and that all reforms must come from and be implemented and controlled by the central government. She also ordered senior bureaucrats to suggest ideas for reform, and so Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi put forth a series of reforms under the rubric of the “new policies.” Fundamental changes in the educational system were at the center: Primary and middle schools were to be established throughout China, with a Western curriculum based in part upon recent Japanese educational reforms. Graduates would take the traditional civil service examination, which encompassed the writings of Confucius and the other ancient sages. It was not successful, because the modern curriculum was too challenging and most students chose the traditional schools. The unanticipated result was that in 1905 Cixi abolished the classical examination system, which had been in existence for almost two millennia. If education and its subject matter subsequently became more relevant to the modern industrialized urban world, they also lost the moral center of gravity that Confucianism had so long provided. After China’s defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, the need for military reforms was obvious. The first steps were taken in 1901 in the creation of the new national and modern army in which the officers adopted Westernstyle khaki uniforms instead of traditional Chinese dress, but Manchus held most of the high-level positions. Inde-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
were also waning in the early twentieth century. The queue, the Manchu custom of males shaving their foreheads and braiding the remaining hair in the back, had been imposed upon the native Chinese as a symbol of Chinese inferiority when the Qing Dynasty was established in the 1640’s. By the early twentieth century, many young male Chinese were cutting off their queues, in part because of the influence of Western customs but also as an act of nationalist rebellion against the foreign Qing rule. Long before the arrival of the Manchus, it had been customary to bind the feet of young Chinese women, supposedly to make them more attractive but also to establish the superior position of Chinese males. Manchu women did not customarily bind their feet, and amid all the other changes taking place, foot binding was outlawed in 1911. Finally, in 1902, laws forbidding intermarriage between Manchus and the Han Chinese majority were rescinded. Significance The Qing government’s attempts at reform and modernization in the early twentieth century were a classic example of too little, too late. Many endeavors were underfunded, and some of the administrative and educational reforms created new dissatisfied and impatient elites rather than supporters of the dynasty and government. Cixi died in November, 1908, a day after the death of the reigning (but not ruling) Emperor Guangxu. Cixi had chosen her three-year-old grandnephew, Puyi, as the new emperor. With his conservative father as regent, Puyi ruled for three years. In October, 1911, a rebellion broke out in China’s new army, and Puyi, the Qing Dynasty, and imperial China were quickly pushed aside. A republic was proclaimed, but the 1911 revolution was only a partial revolution, and the new republican government faced many of the same challenges that brought down the Qing. — Eugene Larson Further Reading Cameron, Meribeth. The Reform Movement in China, 1898-1912. New York: AMS Press, 1974. First published in 1931, the work is a comprehensive study of the reform era under Cixi. Fairbank, John King, and Merle Goldman. China: A New History. Rev. ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998. One of the most respected histories of China, with an excellent discussion of the postBoxer Rebellion reforms. Laidler, Keith. The Last Empress. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2003. A well-written biography of Cixi that discusses her responses to reform demands. Paludan, Ann. Chronicles of the Chinese Emperors. New 31
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pendently from any government decisions, other urban and professional segments of the population were also adopting Western clothes and customs. A number of professional organizations in banking, law, education, and other venues, such as chambers of commerce, were also established. Government reformers and bureaucrats planned to subject these organizations to government control and regulation, and they issued a commercial code to this effect. At the same time, a ministry of commerce was established and placed in charge of construction of a new railroad. The Qing government was also forced to accept the concept of constitutionalism. Mere administrative reform established through despotism, however enlightened and well-intentioned, was insufficient to modernize China. Many Chinese viewed any autocratic government as unacceptable. Japan, with its new constitutional monarchy, had mobilized the power of the nation, defeating China and then Russia in 1904-1905. In late 1905, the Chinese government dispatched two delegations to study foreign governments and their constitutions. They visited Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States, and in the fall of 1906, Dowager Empress Cixi promised political reforms, inspired mainly by the successful Meiji reforms in Japan, that would lead to the creation of a constitutional monarchy. Cixi’s constitutional reforms, however, initially envisioned only an advisory popular assembly rather than a legislative body with independent authority, a measure that satisfied few. In August of 1908, she announced a nine-year program that would eventually result in the establishment of constitutional self-government and the convening of a national parliament in 1917. First, she ordered the creation of provincial assemblies, which first met in 1909 with only consultative powers. Their electors were required to meet educational and property qualifications that would eliminate the vast majority of citizens from participation: One study has estimated that only 0.4 percent of the Chinese population qualified to vote. In addition, if the government desired to modernize by centralizing power in Beijing, there were countervailing tendencies that encouraged reform on the provincial and local levels. As urbanization increased during the nineteenth century, particularly in the coastal treaty ports, many of the rural gentry, the traditional elite, had migrated to the growing cities, where new elites were also emerging. There they attempted to expand their economic possibilities and became active in politics. As a result, they were less inclined to give automatic allegiance to the Qing. Several long-standing imperial Chinese traditions
China Allows Some Western Reforms
Teletype Is Developed York: Thames and Hudson, 1998. Includes a discussion of Cixi and Emperor Guangxu. Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China. New York: W. W. Norton, 1990. Includes a descriptive analysis of Cixi’s reforms by one of the preeminent historians of modern China.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: Oct. 10, 1911: Sun Yixian Overthrows the Qing Dynasty; May 4, 1919: May Fourth Movement; 1926-1949: Chinese Civil War; Oct. 16, 1934-Oct. 18, 1935: Mao’s Long March; July 7, 1937: China Declares War on Japan.
1901-1925
Teletype Is Developed The telegraphic transmission of recorded messages enabled speedy communication of news and other essential information. Locale: United States and Europe Categories: Communications and media; science and technology; inventions Key Figures Jean-Maurice-Émile Baudot (1845-1903), French engineer and inventor Kent Cooper (1880-1965), traffic manager for the Associated Press news agency Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), American inventor Edward Ernest Kleinschmidt (1875-1940), German American inventor Howard Lewis Krum (1885-1961), American engineer Joy Morton (1855-1934), financial backer of the Morkrum Company Summary of Event The nineteenth century origins of the teletype, also known as the teletypewriter and occasionally as the teleprinter, proved to be less important than the device’s twentieth century technical development, which brought it into worldwide use. The teletype—a form of electric telegraph, which it replaced in part—was the outcome of designs and the subject of patent claims on both sides of the Atlantic for many decades. It became identified as an instrument increasingly essential to business, government, and social communication. Although by the late twentieth century the teletype was rapidly being replaced in the newswire services by computerized satellite transmissions that relayed information directly to newsroom computers, the teletype continued to be in demand in areas where printed records of messages were also important. As Samuel F. B. Morse conceived of the telegraph when he developed it in the middle of the nineteenth cen32
tury, it was a device that converted electric pulses coming in over the telegraph wire into written dots and dashes that a human operator could translate at leisure into letters and words. However, before the beginning of the twentieth century, the volume of information being conveyed by telegraph in the pursuit of financial, commercial, administrative, governmental, news, social, and business affairs raised the need for both a practical machine to record incoming messages directly in letter form and a transmitting unit that would convert letters to electric pulses to be telegraphed. Although that need was recognized, a general solution was not immediately at hand. Instead, alternative, partial solutions were brought together before a practical system was developed in 1914 that could send and receive messages using teletypewriters. One of the first of these partial solutions was the duplex technique of transmitting two messages simultaneously, in opposite directions, over the same wire. First put into practice in the United States in 1872, this method was followed in 1874 by inventor Thomas Alva Edison’s quadruplex system. In that same year in Europe, Jean-Maurice-Émile Baudot devised his five-pulse code, later modified by Donald Murray, which Edison used in his famous glass-domed stock market “ticker” that came into use in 1870. The ticker reported stock market quotations in a coded pattern of holes punched in paper tape. Users could structure the five-pulse code into thirtytwo different patterns, either by omitting one or more pulses in the sequence of the group of five generated within a fraction of a second or by reversing the polarity of one or more of the pulses. Twenty-six of these patterns were assigned to the letters of the alphabet, and the others were used for such functions as introducing spaces between words and conveying numbers, question marks, and other symbols. The pulse patterns were punched into paper tape, where they could either be deciphered by trained eyes or fed into a machine that would respond to
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Significance The teletype’s role in communications in Europe and the United States was influenced by the growing popularity of the telephone and by the economics of the communications industry, both private (in the United States) and public (in Europe). Wire, cable, wireless, and automatic-
circuit systems continued to multiply during the second quarter of the twentieth century. During this period, these economic and technical developments extended the teletype’s use to major centers of news and of business and government activities worldwide. In 1931, AT&T introduced in the United States the Teletypewriter Exchange Service (TWX), which enabled subscribers to link up their teletypes by telephone lines. In 1932, Western Union introduced a telex network utilizing the telegraph lines, and Europe had its own telex, which spread worldwide after World War II. By 1940, nearly fifteen thousand U.S. teletype stations were tied together by the TWX network, and by 1950 there were more than twenty-eight thousand. During the 1960’s, the number passed fifty thousand, and service was extended to Canada. In 1962, TWX converted to automatic dialing, and subsequently telex absorbed TWX to provide a global network. The service came into widespread use by industry and various governmental agencies. Typically, news reports, administrative messages, and business orders and records were transmitted. The inventors’ dream of 1900 had demonstrated its practicality to all doubters by 1925. By midcentury, it was the major vehicle for written-message transmission and was being incorporated into computercontrolled information networks. The early plateau of sixty words per minute gave way to speeds of one hundred words per minute and then the higher magnitudes afforded by computerized operation. Although the teletypewriter had originated as a communications machine in its own right, it became one of the components—along with the telephone, the teletypesetter, the television screen, and the computer—of numerous and increasingly elaborate worldwide integrated electronic communications systems during the latter part of the twentieth century. By the late twentieth century, special lines connecting several teletypewriters on a continuous basis had become commonplace. Although the costs of such lines were high, methods of sending a number of messages over a single line at the same time became widely used. Mechanical methods enabling five or six teletypewriters to share a single wire in the early part of the century were largely replaced by electronic systems that simultaneously sent signals from as many as twenty-four teletypewriters over a single channel of an ordinary telephone network. During the 1990’s, with the spectacular advances in electronic mail, development of the Internet, and advances in wireless technologies, including cellular 33
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the patterns by typing the corresponding letters. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the state of the art of typewriter engineering and design was not sufficiently advanced to provide practical keyboard machines that would utilize the five-pulse code or the later seven-pulse code introduced by Howard Lewis Krum, which added clarity between transmitter and receiver by using the first and last pulses as “pattern-start” and “pattern-stop” symbols to keep the sender and the receiver synchronized on the same message. Letter-wheel and letter-hammer machines were tried without practical success at first. In 1900, the idea of using a typewriter to send and receive telegraph messages was still a dream of inventors. Then Joy Morton of the Morton Salt family provided financial backing to Howard Krum, a mechanical engineer who brought his son Charles into the enterprise. The Morkrum Company was organized under Krum’s engineering leadership early in the 1900’s and produced a number of encouraging teletype designs. At the start, the company used the five-pulse code, a rotating typewheel, and a stationary roller to hold the paper. The Morkrum teletypewriter slowly came into increasingly widespread use. Under the impetus of Kent Cooper, at that time traffic manager of the Associated Press wire service, teletypewritten reports were being transmitted to the press by 1915. In 1917, the United Press, Associated Press’s competitor, signed the first contract for three private-line teletypewriter services. By 1923, the Morkrum Company had become successful enough with its machines to combine with the Kleinschmidt Electric Company (founded by the developer of the teletype and the high-speed teletypewriter, Edward Ernest Kleinschmidt) to form the Teletype Corporation, which later was acquired by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). Western Union also switched to the teletype and by 1927 had more than six thousand units on line. On the other side of the Atlantic, Britain’s nationalized telegraph service began using British-built Creed teleprinters, expanding their use rapidly as part of an effort to counteract the shrinking use of the telegraph as the telephone grew more popular.
Teletype Is Developed
American Bowling Club Hosts Its First Tournament phones, telegraph and teletype technologies were largely superseded by faster and more efficient electronic systems for communication. —Thomas M. Smith and Peter B. Heller Further Reading Fagen, M. D., ed. A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: The Early Years, 1875-1925. Murray Hill, N.J.: Bell Telephone Laboratories, 1975. The teletype is only one of several nonvoice communications covered in one chapter of this thousand-page survey, but the numerous historical tidbits, technical information, and evaluation make it useful even to the lay reader. Fang, Irving. A History of Mass Communication: Six Information Revolutions. Burlington, Mass.: Focal Press, 1997. Traces common themes in the complex history of mass communication and examines how various means of communicating have developed out of particular societies and in turn influenced those societies. Includes bibliography, time line of communication developments, and index. Gramling, Oliver. AP: The Story of News. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1940. The story of the largest U.S. news agency, which was the first enterprise after the stock market to make significant use of the teletype. Martin, James. Telecommunications and the Computer. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976. Pro-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 vides technical detail and places the teletype in historical perspective. Mott, Frank L. The News in America. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1962. Examines the technical, ethical, and professional factors of the mass media facilitated by the use of the teletype and electronics. U.S. Naval Electronic Systems Command. Principles of Telegraphy, Teletypewriter. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1967. Provides technical details and places the teletype in historical perspective. Winston, Brian. Media Technology and Society: A History—From the Telegraph to the Internet. New York: Routledge, 1998. Examines the history of communication technologies from the printing press to the Internet. Emphasizes the influences of social necessity and suppression of potential societal disruption in the development of new media and discusses the roles played by particular individuals in the introduction of new technologies. Includes references and index. See also: Dec. 12, 1901: First Transatlantic Telegraphic Radio Transmission; Dec. 24, 1906: Fessenden Pioneers Radio Broadcasting; Jan. 25, 1915: First Transcontinental Telephone Call Is Made; Oct. 21, 1915: First Demonstration of Transatlantic Radiotelephony; 1919: Principles of Shortwave Radio Communication Are Discovered.
January, 1901
American Bowling Club Hosts Its First Tournament In 1901, the American Bowling Congress held its first tournament, which led to the game’s increasing popularity. The establishment of the American Bowling Congress’s rules and tournament standards propelled bowling from its slightly disreputable beginnings in pubs and drinking establishments to its position in mainstream American culture. Also known as: American Bowling Congress; National Bowling Championships Locale: Chicago, Illinois Categories: Sports; organizations and institutions Key Figures Thomas Curtis (1827-1905), first president of the American Bowling Congress Joseph Thum (1858-1937), influential bowling organizer 34
Frank Briell (1864-1944), first national bowling champion and winner of the 1901 National Bowling Championships singles competition Albert Goodwill Spalding (1850-1915), writer of the rules used by the American Bowling Congress John Brunswick (1819-1896), founder of Brunswick Corporation, industry leader in manufacturing bowling equipment and establishing bowling alleys Summary of Event Bowling is considered to be one of the oldest sports in world history. Its roots reach back as far as ancient Egypt, and the first written record of a sport similar to modern bowling occurred in 1366, when King Edward III reportedly made playing the game illegal so that his troops would concentrate on skills such as archery. Bowling was, however, well established in England by
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
These attempts, however, were not successful until late in the nineteenth century, when a new ideology became associated with the game. Encouraged by Joseph Thum, owner of one of the first modern bowling alleys in the United States, members of the bowling community first attempted to standardize bowling rules and regulations in organizations such as the United Bowling Clubs and the National Bowling Association. Albert Goodwill Spalding also added to these efforts by writing a set of standards for bowling rules in the United States. With the sport’s growing popularity and widespread influence, the number of bowling clubs increased significantly; there were more than four hundred clubs in New York alone. Because of the number of bowlers involved in the sport, however, it was difficult for the differing factions within the bowling community to reach an agreement on all aspects of the rules and regulations, and several attempts to organize the nation’s bowlers failed. On September 9, 1895, at New York City’s Beethoven Hall, the American Bowling Congress was born, and it brought
Bowlers participate in an American Bowling Congress tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1905. (Library of Congress)
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the reign of Henry VIII. The game first entered written culture in the United States when author Washington Irving had his character Rip Van Winkle wake from his long nap to the sounds of the traditional British game of ninepins. By the end of the nineteenth century, Americans had added a pin, giving birth to the American version of the game initially known as tenpin, which developed into modern bowling. By the middle of the nineteenth century, bowling had acquired a reputation as a workingman’s sport, and it was linked to taverns, drinking, immorality, and gambling. Because of its reputation, New York and Connecticut outlawed the game of ninepins in the early years of the nineteenth century, and tradition held that American bowling’s tenth pin was added in an attempt to circumvent the law. After the American Civil War, many club owners, especially German immigrants, attempted to rehabilitate bowling’s image and establish clean and honest clubs with bowling lanes. They hoped to attract families to the sport and to discourage its association with gambling and drinking.
American Bowling Club Hosts Its First Tournament
American Bowling Club Hosts Its First Tournament not only rules and regulations but also a more respectable reputation to the sport. As a result of Thum’s influence, the establishment of the American Bowling Congress, and the leadership of the organization’s first president, Thomas Curtis, standardized rules of the game and regulation lanes and equipment were ready to be implemented in sanctioned, national tournaments by 1901. Curtis was the first to suggest introducing the tournament concept to the sport, and his influence eventually led to the first organized bowling tournament in the United States. Because there was now a governing body that standardized the sport’s rules and offered prize money to tournament winners, the gambling industry’s grip on the sport also diminished, and bowling’s reputation was redeemed. The National Bowling Championship tournament, held in Chicago, Illinois, in January, 1901, was so successful that it became an annual event: The first tournament in Chicago was followed by tournaments in Buffalo, New York, in 1902; in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1903; and in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1904. Even though the sport had been popular for many years and companies such as John Brunswick’s Brunswick Corporation were working to develop superior bowling equipment, records from the first of these tournaments show that the competitors were still using older equipment, such as wooden balls or “loaded” (off-balance) balls. However, after the first years of tournaments, this situation changed and better equipment became widely available. The first tournament was particularly successful in its attempts to gain significant numbers of participants. It hosted both amateur and professional competitors, and this tradition continued. More than forty teams, representing nine states and seventeen cities, competed in the first tournament, and organizers opened the competition to both singles and doubles competitions. More than 100 singles players and 78 doubles participants sought the first national title. Frank Briell became the first national bowling champion after he won the 1901 National Bowling Championship tournament’s singles events and numerous other competitions. Since their inception, American Bowling Congress tournaments have typically lasted from twelve to sixteen hours a day and have extended through more than one hundred consecutive days. Significance Bowling’s popularity increased rapidly following its first successful tournament, and gambling, the main drawback to the sport’s credibility, was all but banished by serious bowlers and leagues when the American 36
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Bowling Congress became the official sanctioning body. The congress took over efforts to run the major competitions, gain sponsors and prize money, and standardize rules and regulations. Following the success of the American Bowling Congress, other groups formed their own organizations. African American and women’s organizations soon joined the ranks of professional and competitive bowling, and women’s teams were added to the competitive bowling community shortly after the 1901 tournament. This breakthrough was largely due to the sport’s new “clean” reputation, which grew with each tournament. Although women had been actively bowling since the late nineteenth century, their first organized association was not recognized until 1917, when the Women’s National Bowling Association was established in St. Louis, Missouri. This association for women bowlers held its first tournament in 1918. Although bowling’s golden age took place largely from the 1940’s through the 1960’s, the popularity of bowling as both a participant sport and a spectator sport continued into the twenty-first century. —Kimberley M. Holloway Further Reading Baker, William J. Sports in the Western World. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988. Discusses the influence of a variety of sports, including bowling, on the development of Western cultures. Luby, Mort. The History of Bowling. Chicago: Luby, 1983. Gives a thorough overview of the development of bowling from its origins through the twentieth century. Mitchell, Elmer D., ed. Sports for Recreation and How to Play Them. New York: A. S. Barnes, 1952. Contains a chapter on bowling that recounts a brief history of bowling as a sport as well as a detailed discussion of the rules of bowling. Pendergast, Tom, and Sara Pendergast, eds. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. 5 vols. Farmington Hills, Mich.: St. James Press, 2000. An A-Z reference work that includes an excellent, concise discussion of the history and significance of bowling. See also: Jan. 1, 1902: First Rose Bowl Game; July 1, 1903: First Tour de France; Oct. 1-13, 1903: Baseball Holds Its First World Series; June 26-27, 1906: First Grand Prix Auto Race; Aug. 19, 1909: First Auto Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; Aug. 20Sept. 17, 1920: Formation of the American Professional Football Association; July 6, 1933: First Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Commonwealth of Australia Is Formed
January 1, 1901
Commonwealth of Australia Is Formed
Locale: Australia Categories: Government and politics; laws, acts, and legal history; independence movements Key Figures Edmund Barton (1849-1920), first prime minister of the Commonwealth of Australia Sir Samuel Walker Griffith (1845-1920), Queensland premier who drafted most of the Australian constitution Sir Henry Parkes (1815-1896), New South Wales politician who crystallized pro-Federation opinion through his 1889 Tenterfield Oration George Houston Reid (1845-1918), first leader of the Opposition of the Commonwealth of Australia and advocate for New South Wales’s interests Jules François Archibald (1856-1919), Sydney journalist who edited The Bulletin, the principal organ of Australian nationalism Summary of Event The Australian continent’s path to federation was not an inevitable one: Australia’s geography made it somewhat self-contained, but its common language and geographic area did not guarantee cohesiveness. The colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania were founded at different times and for different purposes, and they had different positions on the legacy of transporting convicts. Furthermore, New Zealand’s close cultural ties to Australia meant that it might become part of a larger Australian federation, and the essentially ceremonial Federated Council of Australasia, set up in 1885, included Fiji, which also could have become part of the federation. (The Federated Council also included Queensland and Tasmania, although it omitted New South Wales and Victoria, the two most powerful and populous colonies actually on the Australia continent.) In particular, New South Wales had always considered itself large enough to be an independent state. In the
late 1880’s, however, New South Wales communities such as Tenterfield (in the New England region in the north-central part of the colony) began to feel increasingly distanced from the colony’s capital, Sydney. The distance meant that in logistical terms, Sydney was not able to provide the administrative services that Tenterfield needed. Tenterfield was far closer to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, but since the colonies were separate, Queensland could not provide any assistance. The veteran New South Wales politician Sir Henry Parkes addressed this situation in 1889 with his famous Tenterfield Oration. Parkes criticized the tariffs that made free trade between Queensland and northern New South Wales practically impossible. This barrier seemed especially significant given the advances in technology: The telegraph’s dissemination meant that Perth, on the west coast, could be in touch with Sydney almost instantly, thus reducing the psychological distance between them despite the thousands of miles separating the two cities. The main focus of the Tenterfield Oration, however, was national defense. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, British command of the seas had seemed secure, but a number of international issues began to threaten the Australian continent. The French presence in New Caledonia (an issue resolved by the 1904 Entente Cordiale) and the German acquisition of South Pacific possessions in Samoa, Micronesia, and especially New Guinea made Australians nervous and accelerated an awareness of the need for a strong common defense. Furthermore, the emergence of Japan after the Meiji Restoration and the decisive defeat Japan inflicted on China in the countries’ 1894-1895 war made Japan a threat. Beyond the immediate military threat that Japan posed, Australians were anxious—at times to the point of paranoia—about the “yellow peril” represented by Asian people; some Australians imagined that hordes of people from Asia were waiting to swarm across Australia’s shores. Thus, although the Australian federation movement had anticolonial aspects, it also proceeded from ethnic unease and often from outright racism. Parkes died in 1896, seven years after his Tenterfield Oration. Before he died, however, he helped convene national congresses in 1890 and 1891 that made the federation’s forward movement possible. These congresses created the federation’s basic framework, but implementation was delayed for ten years by debate about the federated government’s mechanics. Early on, negotiators 37
1901
Spurred by anxiety over German and Japanese expansion, rising nationalist public opinion, and awareness of the logistical and administrative challenges of remaining separate, the Australian colonies agreed to join together as a federation, which assumed authority as the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.
Commonwealth of Australia Is Formed
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
Crowds attend a parade in Sydney’s Centennial Park in celebration of the creation of the Australian commonwealth. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
decided to adopt the British parliamentary model rather than the separate legislative and executive branches used in the United States, but the nature of the legislature and the basis on which legislators would be chosen remained issues of sharp contention. Public opinion was deeply influenced by the period’s journalism and imaginative literature, two factors that played crucial roles in accelerating the development of Australia’s nationalist sentiment. In the 1890’s, balladeers such as Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson and novelists such as Miles Franklin and the original and idiosyncratic Joseph Furphy made distinctly Australian contributions to world literature. Even obscure poets such as Christopher Brennan, who emulated the French Symbolists, contributed to the 1890’s climate by not aping British models. The single most dynamic force in the cultural arena was Jules François Archibald, editor of the Sydney journal the Bulletin, who promoted nationalist sentiment and popularized the egalitarian image of the Australian male, full of fellowship and brimming with 38
vernacular vigor, that soon became a stereotype. Although the commonwealth’s basic components were in place, the federation’s formation continued to be delayed. New Zealand dropped out less because of its geographic distance than because of the radical direction—and separate political identity—it had taken under the leadership of William Pember Reeves and Richard John Seddon. The smaller colonies, especially South Australia, still held out for a popularly elected senate that would represent their interests and prevent a dual hegemony between New South Wales and Victoria. Sir Samuel Walker Griffith of Queensland became the principal deviser of the constitution’s language, and he reconciled the diverging views of leaders from Victoria who wanted a strong lower house of the legislature and a ceremonial senate, and figures such as Edmund Barton, who, although from New South Wales, recognized that a reasonably strong senate was a prerequisite for successful federation. Barton’s economic concession to other states that wanted special tariffs and other trade protections af-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Significance It is important to note that the Australian federation was a nationalist movement, not a true independence movement. Australia’s foreign policy still remained in the hands of Britain, and the British sovereign remained the sovereign of Australia, even after federation had been achieved. Compared with the establishment of the U.S. Constitution or even Britain’s Constitution Acts of 1867 (which created the Dominion of Canada), the process of Australian federation was relatively dry and lacking drama. Still, federation was the product of the convergence of many very complex factors, and although it produced a strong, united Australia, such an outcome was not an obvious result of inevitable historical forces. —Nicholas Birns Further Reading Birrell, Robert. Federation: The Secret Story. Sydney: Duffy & Snellgrove, 2001. Not quite as revelatory as
the title promises, but a dramatic treatment of the subject that casts the historical material in an entertaining fashion. Clark, Manning. The People Make Laws, 1888-1915. Vol. 5 in A History of Australia. Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 1981. Australia’s greatest historian operates as both sage and storyteller in depicting the convergence of the Australian colonies; Clark’s treatment of Henry Parkes is particularly detailed and thorough. Fitzgerald, Ross. The Federation Mirror: Queensland 1901-2001. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 2001. An innovative piece of historiography by the leading historian of Queensland that contrasts Queensland in 1901 and 2001. Looks at both the relative controversy occasioned by federation in 1901 and the variety and differing tenor of the commemorative events held in 2001. Howell, Peter. South Australia and Federation. Kent Town, S.Aust.: Airlift, 2002. Discusses the oftenneglected story of how South Australia became a crucial force in reviving the idea of federation in the late nineteenth century. Russell, Roslyn. One Destiny! The Federation Story— How Australia Became a Nation. Ringwood, Vic.: Penguin Books, 1998. A well-researched and lively depiction of the federation process that does not commit the mistake, frequent in Australian historical writing, of being excessively anti-British. See also: June 12, 1902: Australia Extends Suffrage to Women; Nov. 20, 1920: Formation of Qantas Airlines; 1921: First Woman Elected to Australian Parliament; May 15, 1928: Australia Begins the Flying Doctor Service; Dec. 11, 1931: Formation of the British Commonwealth of Nations; Mar. 19, 1932: Dedication of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
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ter the federation’s creation led to accusations that he was not a sufficiently strong advocate for New South Wales’s interests. In contrast, George Houston Reid was in principle an advocate of federation, but he assumed an equivocal stance toward unity until he was convinced that New South Wales’s concerns were sufficiently safeguarded. Starting in 1898, each colony held a referendum on the draft constitution. In 1900, the British parliament approved the constitution, and the Commonwealth of Australia was officially proclaimed in Sydney on January 1, 1901. Barton became the first prime minister, and Reid was the first leader of the Opposition. The largest city in the new nation, Sydney, was not chosen as its capital; that role went to Melbourne, the second-largest city, until a permanent capital was established in the new city of Canberra in 1908.
Commonwealth of Australia Is Formed
Discovery of Oil at Spindletop
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
January 10, 1901
Discovery of Oil at Spindletop The discovery of oil at the Spindletop field began the Texas oil boom and led to the growth of a number of important oil corporations. Locale: Texas Categories: Science and technology; geology; trade and commerce; energy; natural resources Key Figures Patillo Higgins (1862-1955), amateur geologist and Beaumont, Texas, resident Anthony F. Lucas (1855-1921), Austrian geologist and engineer James M. Guffey (1839-1930), wildcatter from Pennsylvania John H. Galey (1840-1918), wildcatter from Pennsylvania William L. Mellon (1868-1949), American investment banker Joseph S. Cullinan (1860-1937), manager of a Standard Oil pipeline subsidiary Summary of Event On January 10, 1901, at 10:30 a.m., the first major “gusher” came in at the Spindletop oil field near the town of Beaumont in southeastern Texas. (Spindletop was named for the salt dome just south of Beaumont, which was also known as the “Big Hill.”) This first major oil well at Spindletop initially produced 75,000 to 100,000 barrels per day, approximately 800,000 barrels before it was brought under control nine days after oil was struck. This dramatic discovery made the Spindletop area the first major oil “boomtown” of Texas and shifted the focus of petroleum entrepreneurs to Texas. For much of the twentieth century, Texas was the leading petroleumproducing state in the United States and was one of the fastest-growing areas in terms of population. The Spindletop discovery also led to the formation and development of a number of important oil corporations. Prior to the discovery of oil in Texas, the primary and best-known oil fields in the United States were in Pennsylvania. Officials of the Standard Oil Company believed that few, if any, productive oil fields existed west of the Mississippi River. By 1890, however, evidence of petroleum had been found in Texas, primarily in Corsicana, just south of Dallas. The opportunity to develop the Corsicana oil fields brought two Pennsylvania wildcatters, James M. Guffey and John H. Galey, to 40
Texas. The need to provide pipeline transportation facilities in the area also brought Joseph S. Cullinan, head of one of Standard Oil’s pipeline subsidiaries, from Pennsylvania to Corsicana. With the Spindletop discovery, which would dwarf the production at Corsicana, these three men and many others arrived at the oil fields of southeastern Texas. Guffey, Galey, and Cullinan would form the oil-producing and -refining companies that would eventually become Gulf Oil Company and the Texas Company (Texaco). Patillo Higgins, a Beaumont resident and self-taught geologist, was the first to find evidence of petroleum reserves at the Spindletop salt dome. Despite the ridicule he received for believing that commercial quantities of petroleum were to be found in the Spindletop hill, Higgins formed the Gladys City Oil, Gas, and Manufacturing Company in 1892 to exploit the oil and gas reserves. He ran out of funds before he had drilled deep enough to reach the oil, however, and in 1899 he placed an advertisement in a trade journal to lease the field. Anthony F. Lucas, an Austrian mining engineer and consultant, answered the advertisement. In his work as a consultant, Lucas had traveled through the Texas and Louisiana Gulf coast plains. He had often found seepages of petroleum in and around the salt dome formations that occurred throughout the region, and he believed that the salt domes were associated with vast reservoirs of petroleum. Lucas drilled a well on Spindletop in 1899. Although he reached some crude oil, he too ran out of funds for the project. He had difficulty obtaining additional financial backing, because there was no proof in any of the other oil fields of the world to back up his belief in a connection between salt domes and petroleum reservoirs. Through associates in the University of Texas geology department, Lucas came into contact with Galey, who by that time was a partner in the J. M. Guffey Petroleum Company of Pittsburgh. With $400,000 borrowed from the Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh, Guffey, Galey, and Lucas renewed efforts to find oil at Spindletop. On January 10, 1901, these efforts reached fruition. After weeks of continual drilling problems, the drilling crew reached a depth of 1,160 feet (about 340 meters). At 10:30 a.m., an oil gusher erupted that could be seen three miles away. In contrast to the first major oil discovery in Pennsylvania in 1859, which flowed at a rate of 20 barrels per day with the aid of a pump, the first Spindletop
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Discovery of Oil at Spindletop
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realized that a greater level of financial and personal involvement was necessary to maintain profitability and expansion. The Mellons bought Oklahoma out Guffey’s interests and in 1907 removed Guffey as president of the J. M. Guffey Petroleum Company. New Mexico as William L. Mellon was subsequently named president of the company, which was renamed the Gulf Oil Dallas Company. Cullinan also realized that the opTexas portunities at Spindletop were much greater than those at Corsicana. In January, 1902, Cullinan formed the Austin Beaumont Texas Fuel Company to refine and Houston market the vast amounts of crude oil San Antonio Galveston being produced in the area. Cullinan also formed the Producers Oil ComSpindletop pany to ensure that the Texas Fuel Company would have a continual Mexico source of supply. The Texas Fuel Gulf of Company proved too small to meet Mexico the increasingly immense task of refining all the crude produced, however, and in March, 1902, its assets were transferred to a new corporation, the Texas Company, capitalgusher spewed 75,000 to 100,000 barrels per day. In ized at three million dollars. Cullinan’s renown from his 1902, the Spindletop field produced more than 18 mildays with Standard Oil led to the continual growth and lion barrels of crude oil, which amounted to 20 percent of success of the Texas Company at a time when approxiall oil production in the United States. This was 93 permately two hundred competitors and other entrepreneurs cent of the year’s national increase in production. By the at Spindletop were failing. end of 1902, almost four hundred wells were bunched toOther major petroleum corporations were born or gether at Spindletop. By 1904, that number had reached grew stronger at Spindletop. Shell Oil Company had its nearly twelve hundred. origins at Spindletop. The Shell Transport and Trading The first six oil wells drilled at Spindletop accounted Company of London had signed a twenty-year contract for more oil than all the other oil wells in the world at that for Guffey’s operations to produce oil for the British time. The rapid and massive exploitation of Spindletop’s navy. Shell’s petroleum transportation investments later petroleum resources, accompanied often by extravagant led it to engage in the other major functions of the oil inwaste, meant that the petroleum reservoirs in the Spindustry. The Sun Oil Company, another Pennsylvania ordletop field were rapidly depleted between 1902 and ganization, grew much stronger at Spindletop. The Mag1904. The exhaustion of petroleum resources, at Spinnolia Oil Company, a Standard Oil affiliate, had its dletop and later elsewhere in Texas and throughout the origins at Spindletop. It later became part of the Mobil Oil nation, eventually led to concerns about conservation. Company. The group of Texas oilmen who ultimately In the very early twentieth century, however, at a time formed the Humble Oil and Refining Company got their of economic opportunity and prosperity, such concerns starts individually at Spindletop. After the Humble Oil were rare. and Refining Company merged with Standard Oil of William L. Mellon, whose family bank had substanNew Jersey, the Humble organization later became the tially funded the Guffey operations at Spindletop, soon Texas branch of Exxon, a Standard Oil subsidiary.
Discovery of Oil at Spindletop Significance The discovery of oil at Spindletop had a number of important long-run consequences. It proved that there were vast reservoirs of petroleum west of the Mississippi River and that petroleum was not limited to the eastern half of the United States. It also spurred other research and discoveries in the Texas and Louisiana salt dome fields, establishing the area as an oil region of permanent importance. This new research in turn propelled further oil-seeking activities and development of oil fields in northern and western Texas, making Texas the leading petroleum state in the nation for much of the twentieth century. By 1929, Texas was the leading U.S. producer of petroleum, producing 35 to 45 percent of the national total, and it became one of the leading oil-producing areas in the world. Texas held the position of the top oilproducing U.S. state until the 1970’s, when Alaska and Texas each produced approximately 30 percent of the national total. The progress of the oil industry in Texas led to the rapid growth of highly lucrative associated industries. In their very first oil strike at Spindletop, Lucas and his team used new techniques—such as rotary drilling, drilling mud, and airlift of oil—that afterward became standard operating procedures for oil producers. All these methods created demand for an industry to produce drill bits and other tools and supplies. The most prominent of the companies supplying this equipment was the Hughes Tool Company, the success of which was the source of the initial fortune of Howard Hughes. The growth of petroleum transportation pipelines created demand for firms to service and supply the pipelines. These organizations, which grew in a symbiotic relationship with the large oil corporations and many other smaller independent oil-producing organizations, were all crucial to the rapid growth of Texas beginning especially in the 1920’s and continuing into the 1950’s and 1960’s. Urban areas such as Houston and the SpindletopBeaumont-Port Arthur-Orange complex, with ports giving access to the Gulf of Mexico, became the sites of many large refining and petrochemical plants. Because of its location on the Trinity River and its proximity to the highly productive oil fields of northern Texas, the Dallas-Fort Worth area grew dramatically beginning in the middle of the twentieth century. The Spindletop discovery opened up economic opportunity in an industry that previously had been monopolized by John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. The Texas Company, Gulf Oil Company, and Shell Oil Company were born at Spindletop, and the Sun Oil Com42
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 pany grew stronger there. All of these would later provide competition to Standard Oil. Although these growing oil companies remained independent of Standard Oil, practically all had ties to that company, whether selling crude oil to be refined or refined oil to be marketed and sold to the general public. The growth of these corporations, however, transformed the oil industry from one characterized by monopoly (Standard Oil) to one that was more oligopolistic in nature. The dramatic discovery at Spindletop, by proving that major untapped petroleum reserves existed in the United States, opened the door for other opportunistic, risktaking entrepreneurs and organizations. This led to the formation of the aforementioned major corporations as well as many smaller independents that helped boost the economy of Texas and the Gulf coast region. —Bruce Andre Beaubouef Further Reading Clark, James A., and Michel T. Halbouty. Spindletop. 1952. Special centennial ed. Lanham, Md.: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2002. Effectively captures the drama and impact of the birth of the Texas oil industry at Spindletop. Good for those seeking an introduction to the Spindletop discovery and the early Texas oil industry. Written in a popular style, without footnotes or documentation. Goodwyn, Lawrence. Texas Oil, American Dreams: A Study of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association. Austin, Tex.: Center for American History, 1996. Examines the Texas oil industry from its beginnings, focusing on the relationship between individual enterprise and corporate enterprise. Includes illustrations and index. King, John O. Joseph Stephen Cullinan: A Study of Leadership in the Texas Petroleum Industry, 1897-1937. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1970. An excellent account of Cullinan’s life, his establishment of the Texas Company, and the early Texas oil industry in general. Larson, Henrietta M., and Kenneth Wiggins Porter. History of Humble Oil and Refining Company: A Study in Industrial Growth. New York: Harper, 1959. A thorough, encyclopedic study of a small Texas company whose founders started at Spindletop and later merged with Standard Oil of New Jersey. Excellent analysis of intraindustry relationships. Melosi, Martin V. “Oil Strike! The Birth of the Petroleum Industry.” In Coping with Abundance: Energy and Environment in Industrial America. Philadelphia: Temple
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Spellman, Paul N. Spindletop Boom Days. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2001. History of the discovery of oil at Spindletop and its aftermath focuses on the colorful figures and boomtown atmosphere in southeastern Texas. Includes illustrations, bibliography, and index. See also: 1908: Hughes Revolutionizes Oil Well Drilling; May 26, 1908: Oil Is Discovered in Persia; May 15, 1911: U.S. Supreme Court Establishes the “Rule of Reason”; Dec. 14, 1922: Oil Is Discovered in Venezuela; Oct., 1923: Teapot Dome Scandal; Sept. 17, 1928: Oil Companies Cooperate in a Cartel Covering the Middle East; Mar. 3, 1938: Rise of Commercial Oil Industry in Saudi Arabia.
February 4, 1901
Reed Reports That Mosquitoes Transmit Yellow Fever Walter Reed established that yellow fever was caused by an unknown infectious agent being transmitted by the Aëdes mosquito, thereby laying the basis for experimental medicine in the twentieth century. Locale: Quemados, near Havana, Cuba Category: Health and medicine Key Figures Walter Reed (1851-1902), American physician, bacteriologist, and major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps Jesse William Lazear (1866-1900), American physician and bacteriologist who served as an entomologist on the Yellow Fever Board James Carroll (1854-1907), American physician who served as a bacteriologist on the Yellow Fever Board Aristides Agramonte y Simoni (1869-1931), Cuban physician who served as a pathologist on the Yellow Fever Board William Crawford Gorgas (1854-1920), American physician, colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, and chief sanitary officer of Havana Summary of Event During the last thirty years of the nineteenth century, a new understanding of the role of microorganisms in disease, along with improvements in personal hygiene and public sanitation, led to a dramatic decrease in the inci-
dence of diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Yellow fever, however, had foiled all attempts at control. The disease had been known for centuries along the west coast of Africa, where it showed little effect in the native population, probably because generations of exposure had resulted in a high degree of inherent resistance. Europeans, however, had virtually no resistance to yellow fever, and thousands died of the disease during efforts to develop the natural resources of Africa. So deadly was yellow fever to Europeans that the continent of Africa became known as the white man’s grave. The Western Hemisphere remained free of yellow fever until the seventeenth century, when it was probably introduced as a result of the slave trade from western Africa. The first documented epidemics in the New World struck Barbados in 1647 and Yucatán in 1649. The first epidemic in the American colonies took place in New York in 1668. Severe epidemics continued periodically, with 135 major epidemics striking American port cities between 1668 and 1893. Yellow fever was a particularly frightening disease. It attacked suddenly, causing a high fever, headache, and nausea. The eyes became inflamed and the skin took on a yellow pallor. Many victims hemorrhaged internally, producing a black vomit. The mortality rate ranged from 30 percent to 70 percent, with most deaths occurring on the sixth or seventh day after infection. During the Philadelphia epidemic of 1793, more than seventeen thousand cases were reported, with more than five thousand 43
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University Press, 1985. Concisely details the events and impact of Spindletop as well as the early oil industry in Pennsylvania and California. The book as a whole is an excellent study of industrial-governmental relationships in the twentieth century United States. Pratt, Joseph A. The Growth of a Refining Region. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 1980. A good comprehensive study of the growth of the oil organizations in the Texas-Louisiana Gulf coast region. _______. “The Petroleum Industry in Transition: Antitrust and the Decline of Monopoly Control in Oil.” Journal of Economic History 40 (December, 1980): 815-837. Good, concise analysis of the growth of the oil firms at Spindletop that challenged Standard Oil’s control of the oil industry.
Reed Reports That Mosquitoes Transmit Yellow Fever
Reed Reports That Mosquitoes Transmit Yellow Fever deaths. In 1802, an epidemic in Santo Domingo killed twenty-nine thousand of the thirty-three thousand troops sent there by Napoleon Bonaparte for a planned invasion of the United States up the Mississippi River. As a result of these devastating losses, Napoleon changed his plans and the next year negotiated the Louisiana Purchase with President Thomas Jefferson. An epidemic in the Mississippi Valley in 1878 caused the deaths of about thirteen thousand people. More than fifty-two hundred of these deaths were in Memphis, Tennessee, and the financial impact caused the city to lose its charter temporarily in 1879. Two theories developed as to the cause and spread of yellow fever. Some considered it to be a contagious disease that could be spread directly from one person to another. Others believed it to be caused by a miasma, by filth, or by rotting vegetables. The Philadelphia epidemic of 1793 was attributed to a shipment of spoiled coffee
Walter Reed. (Library of Congress)
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 beans. In 1881, Carlos Juan Finlay, a Cuban physician, became a strong advocate of the mosquito transmission theory that Josiah Nott had proposed in 1848. Finlay went as far as to state that it was probably the Culex mosquito (the name was later changed to Aëdes) that was spreading an unknown infectious agent. He performed experiments in which some individuals were bitten by mosquitoes and came down with yellow fever. His unsophisticated experiments, however, were easily discounted by his detractors. In 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, William Crawford Gorgas, a physician and colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, was appointed chief sanitary officer for Havana. Gorgas set out to rid Havana of the filth and disease left by the war. As a result of his campaign, typhoid and dysentery were significantly reduced. Yellow fever temporarily declined but struck again in 1900, this time bypassing the filthiest areas, where the population had a high level of immunity from previous epidemics, and causing devastation in the cleaner sections of town, including the U.S. Army headquarters. It was at this time that Walter Reed was appointed to head a commission to study yellow fever in Cuba. The U.S. Army’s Yellow Fever Board was made up of Reed, Dr. James Carroll, Dr. Jesse William Lazear, and Dr. Aristides Agramonte y Simoni, a native Cuban. With the help of Gorgas, Finlay, and Dr. Henry R. Carter of the U.S. Public Health Service, the group was able, during a brief six months, to remove the veil of ignorance about yellow fever and provide an understanding of the disease that would lead to its eventual control. The Yellow Fever Board’s initial work was aimed at identifying the cause of the disease. The U.S. surgeon general had discouraged pursuit of the mosquito transmission concept, so the investigators went to work to isolate a bacterial agent. They thoroughly studied eighteen severe cases of yellow fever but were unable to isolate any microbial cause for the disease. They thus quickly reached an impasse and were forced to take a new approach. Reed knew of an outbreak of yellow fever in a military prison where there had been no possible direct contamination. It was also known that a ship leaving an infected port might be free of the disease for two to three weeks before an outbreak would occur at sea. The cases in Cuba would jump from one house to another even though the inhabitants had had no contact. Carter also pointed out that a study he did in Mississippi showed an average of twelve days between the first case of yellow fever in an area and a larger second wave. All these facts forced Reed to reconsider Finlay’s mosquito hypothesis.
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Reed Reports That Mosquitoes Transmit Yellow Fever
very near death for a time, he survived. A subsequent experiment on In this fragment of a letter that Walter Reed wrote to his wife, Emilie Lawrence another volunteer led to a second exReed, from Cuba on December 9, 1900, Reed’s excitement over his team’s sucperimental case; that volunteer also cess in isolating the cause of yellow fever is obvious. recovered. On September 13, Lazear was It is with a great deal of pleasure that I hasten to tell you that we have succeeded feeding one of the experimental mosin producing a case of unmistakable yellow fever by the bite of the mosquito. quitoes on a patient when another Our first case in the experimental camp developed at 11:30 last night, commosquito came through a window mencing with a sudden chill followed by fever. He had been bitten at 11:30 Deand landed on his hand. Rather than cember 5th, and hence his attack followed just three and a half days after the chance disrupting his experiment, he bite. As he had been in our camp 15 days before being inoculated and had no other possible exposure, the case is as clear as the sun at noon-day and sustains allowed the wild mosquito to feed on brilliantly and conclusively our conclusions. Thus, just 18 days from the time his blood. Five days later, Lazear dewe began our experimental work, we have succeeded in demonstrating this veloped symptoms of yellow fever. mode of propagation of the disease, so that the most doubtful and sceptical His condition deteriorated rapidly, must yield. Rejoice with me, sweetheart, as, aside from the antitoxin of diphand on September 25, 1900, he died. theria and Koch’s discovery of the tubercle bacillus, it will be regarded as the Reed returned to Cuba in October. most important piece of work, scientifically, during the 19th century. I do not He quickly realized that the experiexaggerate, and I could shout for very joy that heaven has permitted me to esmental cases, although certainly imtablish this wonderful way of propagating yellow fever. It was Finlay’s theory, portant, did not completely settle the and he deserves great credit for having suggested it, but as he did nothing to yellow fever issue, because either prove it, it was rejected by all, including General Sternberg. Now we have put it could have been exposed by some beyond cavil, and its importance to Cuba and the United States cannot be estimated. Major Kean says that the discovery is worth more than the cost of the means other than by a mosquito. He Spanish War including lives lost and money expended. He is almost beside requested approval to build an exhimself with joy and will tell General Wood when he goes to town in the periment station in an open field 1.6 morning. kilometers from the town of QueSource: Quoted in Blossom (Emilie M.) Reed, “Life and Letters of Dr. Walter Reed mados, Cuba. The remaining board by his Daughter, Blossom Reed,” in Philip S. Hench Walter Reed Yellow Fever members named this site Camp LaCollection, Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia. zear, for their lamented colleague. Established November 20, 1900, Camp Lazear consisted of seven floored hospital tents and support faAt the request of the Yellow Fever Board, on August cilities. The tents were made mosquito-proof, and each 1, 1900, Finlay supplied mosquito eggs for Reed’s studwas inhabited by one to three nonimmune volunteers. ies. Given that no animals were known to acquire yellow Each volunteer was paid one hundred dollars for particifever, the board members knew they must rely on human pation and another one hundred dollars if he developed experimentation. It was agreed that the first humans inyellow fever as a result of the experiments. From Novolved in the experiments must include the members of vember 20 through December 30, six volunteers were the board. That same week, Reed was recalled to Washbitten by infected mosquitoes. Five developed yellow feington to report on some earlier work he had done in ver, and all survived. Even though these carefully conCuba on typhoid fever. The board agreed to carry on in trolled experimental cases provided strong evidence that his absence. Lazear took charge of the mosquitoes, mosquitoes could carry yellow fever, Reed set out to dewhich were fed on yellow fever patients and then on nine termine if there were other ways the disease could be volunteers. None of these first volunteers became ill, transmitted. In his next series of experiments, three volprobably because the initial patients were too advanced unteers came down with yellow fever after being injected in their illness to have the yellow fever virus in their with blood from patients in the early stages of the disbloodstreams. On August 27, a mosquito that had twelve ease. On November 30, Reed began a third set of experidays earlier bitten a patient in his second day of illness ments to determine whether contaminated clothing and was allowed to feed on Carroll. Within three days, bedding could transmit yellow fever: Seven men slept Carroll became seriously ill with yellow fever. Although each night with soiled sheets, pillowcases, and blankets
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Reed Reports That Mosquitoes Transmit Yellow Fever taken from the fellow fever ward of the hospital. All seven men remained completely healthy. For his final experiment, Reed constructed a mosquitoproof frame building with a center wire screen partition. Each side of the building was occupied by a nonimmune volunteer, yet on one side of the partition mosquitoes that had fed on yellow fever patients were released. As expected, the volunteer bitten by the mosquitoes became ill while the one on the other side of the partition remained healthy. The Yellow Fever Board was now satisfied with its experiments. On February 4, 1901, Reed reported the results of the board’s findings at the Pan-American Medical Congress held in Havana. This report was then published in the February 16, 1901, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The mosquito was clearly established as the vector in the transmission of some unknown agent that produced yellow fever. (The discovery of the yellow fever virus was almost thirty years away.) Significance Given the Yellow Fever Board’s findings, it was clear that the way to control yellow fever was to eliminate exposure to mosquitoes. Gorgas quickly set out to do just that by protecting infected patients from mosquito bites and by eliminating places that encourage mosquitoes to breed. In March, 1901, Gorgas launched a house-tohouse attack on mosquitoes. All water containers were to be emptied, covered, or layered with kerosene. Failure to comply meant a ten-dollar fine. Gorgas’s tactics were first met with derision by the populace; however, during the summer of 1901, the number of yellow fever cases in Havana was drastically reduced, and by October, for the first time in decades, no cases were being reported. Within a few years, the entire Western Hemisphere was for the most part rid of yellow fever. One of the most significant consequences of the elimination of yellow fever was that it again became possible to consider building a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The French had started this project in 1881 but had abandoned it because of the deaths of more than twenty thousand workers from yellow fever. Gorgas was promoted to colonel and made the chief sanitary officer of the Canal Zone. In the spring of 1904, with the disease that had caused the defeat of the French no longer a major problem, the project was begun. Gorgas was there to see the first ship go through the Panama Canal in 1914. The work of Reed and the Yellow Fever Board had impacts far beyond the reduction of morbidity and mortality from yellow fever. Yellow fever was the first hu46
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 man viral disease extensively studied, and the Aëdes mosquito was the first insect determined to transmit a virus to other organisms. Additionally, the board’s work marked the first time that medical experimentation was performed following a sound scientific method. The board members carried out human experimentation only after careful consideration of other alternatives. All experiments were carefully controlled, and the researchers kept meticulous records. Not only did Walter Reed’s work establish a basis for subsequent studies on yellow fever, but his methods also served as a model for medical experimentation throughout the early part of the twentieth century. —Daniel W. Rogers Further Reading Andrewes, C. H. “Yellow Jack.” In Natural History of Viruses. New York: W. W. Norton, 1967. This exhaustive book presents basic facts of the chemical makeup and nature of viruses in general and explains how viruses spread, how they perpetuate themselves in nature, and how they survive in hard times. The chapter on yellow fever includes the natural history of the virus in the jungle environment. Bean, William B. Walter Reed: A Biography. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1982. This very complete biography includes discussions of Reed’s childhood and work in the Indian wars. The information is taken from approximately fourteen thousand pages of letters, papers, and writings of Walter Reed as well as other sources. De Kruif, Paul. “Walter Reed: In the Interest of Science—and for Humanity.” In Microbe Hunters. 70th anniversary ed., with new introduction by F. Gonzalez-Crussi. New York: Harvest Books, 2002. De Kruif was a prolific writer on the historical backgrounds of numerous developments in medicine. Although short on details and full of fictional narrative, this volume presents the work of Walter Reed in a very readable, human manner. Kelly, Howard A. Walter Reed and Yellow Fever. 3d rev. ed. Baltimore: Norman, Remington, 1923. Kelly was the first biographer of Reed and provides some interesting insight into his early years. The major portion of the book deals with the work on yellow fever and its implications. Pierce, John R., and Jim Writer. Yellow Jack: How Yellow Fever Ravaged America and Walter Reed Discovered Its Deadly Secrets. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2005. Focuses on the impact of yellow fever in
Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation
the United States. Describes the debates that took place over the cause of yellow fever and Reed’s work to determine its mode of transmission. Reed, Walter, James Carroll, and Aristides Agramonte y Simoni. “The Etiology of Yellow Fever.” Journal of the American Medical Association 36 (February, 1901): 431-440. Reed presented this landmark article at the Pan-American Medical Congress in Havana on February 4, 1901. It provides some background as well as detailed information on all phases of the Yellow Fever Board’s experiments. The article was reprinted in the August 5, 1983, issue of JAMA (pages 649-658). Williams, Greer. “Part Three: Costly Victory—Yellow
Fever.” In The Plague Killers. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1969. Greer has drawn on previously unpublished material from The Rockefeller Foundation archives for this volume. He catches the personalities of the scientists involved and imparts a sense of the massive human implications of their work. See also: Dec. 2-5, 1902: Founding of the International Sanitary Bureau; 1904-1905: Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control; Summer, 1904: Construction Begins on the Panama Canal; 1908: Chlorination of the U.S. Water Supply Begins; June, 1937: Theiler Develops a Treatment for Yellow Fever.
February 26, 1901
Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation Financier J. P. Morgan, seeking stability for his steel, railroad, and financial interests, purchased Carnegie Steel, creating U.S. Steel, the first billion-dollar corporation. Locale: New York, New York Categories: Trade and commerce; manufacturing and industry Key Figures J. P. Morgan (1837-1913), American financier Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), American industrialist and philanthropist Charles M. Schwab (1862-1939), American industrialist, partner of Carnegie, and president of Carnegie Steel and of U.S. Steel Elbert Henry Gary (1846-1927), associate of Morgan who served for years as U.S. Steel’s chairman of the board Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), chairman of Carnegie Steel and a U.S. Steel director George Woodward Wickersham (1858-1936), U.S. attorney general, 1909-1913 Summary of Event Formal incorporation of the United States Steel Corporation (U.S. Steel) on February 26, 1901, was an epochal event in American industrial and financial history, merging Andrew Carnegie’s steel empire—the country’s largest—into a giant holding company assembled by the manipulative genius of J. P. Morgan, the nation’s most
powerful financier. Preliminary talks between Morgan and Carnegie interests became a prelude to serious negotiations on December 12, 1900, at Manhattan’s University Club. With Morgan seated next to him, Charles M. Schwab, an intimate of Carnegie and president of Carnegie Steel, delivered a speech contrived for Morgan’s ears. Schwab spoke of the prospects of an orderly, stabilizing, more efficient organization of the nation’s steelmaking capabilities, a reorganization that would end cutthroat competition and cure the industry’s cyclical depressions. Morgan was interested and convened a meeting at his home on Madison Avenue early in January, 1901. Attending were Schwab, who at his own risk had not yet reported events to Carnegie, along with Morgan partner Robert Bacon and financial speculator John W. “Bet a Million” Gates. Their discussions lasted through the night, concluding with Morgan’s offer to purchase Carnegie Steel. Shamefaced, Schwab conveyed word of Morgan’s proposition to his boss, who laconically asked his junior associate to meet with him the following morning. Overnight, Carnegie scribbled his calculations and weighed his options. He was close to absolute dominance over the American steel industry, which included Morgan’s own Federal Steel, the National Tube Company, and American Bridge Company. The last of those, like many other competing facilities, was overcapitalized and dependent on Carnegie for steel ingots, and thus was vulnerable. Carnegie already was committed to the 47
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation construction of huge new steel and seamless tube plants and was planning a thousand miles of rail line to challenge Morgan’s railroad interests, over which the two men had clashed years earlier and about which Morgan had insulted Carnegie. Also weighing against a sale to Morgan was Carnegie’s pride in the unmatched quality and efficiency of his operations as well as in the relative solidity of their financing. On the other hand, Carnegie was sixty-five years old. For his own sake and his wife’s, he was eager to retire. His wealth was practically boundless, and he was eager to work as hard giving it away as he had earning it. His philanthropies, along with his golf, were passions. He wanted nothing more to do with the operations of, or financial holdings in, his industrial empire, desiring instead to convert his wealth into easily negotiable securities that would transfer simply to his existing and prospective charities, organizations, and endowments. With these things in mind, he decided to sell. Estimating that an acceptable price would be $480 million, he had Schwab deliver news of his decision to Morgan, who at once responded, “I accept this price.” Several days later, Morgan summoned Carnegie for a final meeting and handshake at the financier’s Wall Street office. Carnegie’s pointed response was a countersummons to Morgan for a meeting in Carnegie’s own West Fifty-first Street mansion. The two met there for exactly fifteen minutes, ending with Morgan congratulating Carnegie (erroneously) for being the richest man in the world. Details of the negotiation took a bit longer and were resolved by the principals’ respective boards and associates by February 26. On March 2, public announcements proclaimed creation of the United States Steel Corporation, a holding company trust. The U.S. Bureau of Corporations subsequently estimated the value of the U.S. Steel transaction at $682 million, but the declared capitalization in 1901 was $1.403 billion, making it the world’s first corporation of such immensity. What Morgan had sought in buying out Carnegie and fashioning the new trust was foremost, but not solely, restriction of competition. Morgan enjoyed a superior university education as well as considerable knowledge of Great Britain and of Europe. Only two years younger than Carnegie, the acknowledged leader of American capitalists, he was an accomplished banker-financier whose gold, loans, and securities offerings had launched, backed, or helped fight many of the country’s major industrial empires. In 1895, his actions had even saved the U.S. federal government from acute financial embarrassment. 48
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 A logical thinker, an orderly, meticulous planner with a penchant for bringing greater coherence and predictability to the country’s economic life while promoting his own legitimate profits, he detested cutthroat competition and the disorder and unpredictability attending it. Carnegie, in his opinion, was one of industry’s rogues, prone to underpricing his goods during economic downturns and forgoing profits to keep plants in operation while in the meantime driving his scrambling competitors to the wall. Moreover, Carnegie’s plans for a giant new pipe and tube plant at Conneaut Harbor, Ohio, and Morgan’s suspicion that Carnegie intended to shift his steel mills into production of finished products and build railroads confronted the financier with prospects of renewed industrial warfare, with its accompanying chaos and costs. The purchase also afforded Morgan opportunities to proceed with a full-scale rationalization and vertical integration of steelmaking and closely related industries. With his massive new cartel-like corporation and his ability to draft into its direction the tested capacities of such men as Schwab, Elbert Henry Gary, and Henry Clay Frick, Morgan appeared able to turn his priorities into realities. Under the rubric of U.S. Steel were half of the twenty major business combinations formed between 1897 and 1901, during the opening years of the nation’s greatest wave of mergers. Seven-tenths of the country’s steel concerns, including twelve of its biggest producers, had joined in Morgan’s grand merger. The capacities of these huge companies were augmented by the inclusion of 138 firms of varying size. Significance Despite its formidable potential, U.S. Steel was far from being a monopoly. At its inception, it controlled only 44.8 percent of American steel production. It had plenty of competition from those steel companies that still accounted for more than half of the industry’s products, among them Bethlehem, Jones and Laughlin, Lackawanna, Cambria, Colorado Fuel and Iron, and Youngstown Steel and Tube. Consequently, the primary objective of Morgan’s giant firm was to further the integration of its own facilities while avoiding the renewal or exacerbation of cutthroat competition. U.S. Steel underwent expansion between 1902 and 1908. The objective was to enhance its independence from the rest of the industry through vertical integration of its operations; that is, the aim was for U.S. Steel to own and manage every constituent of production through to the finished products, including land, ore deposits, coal
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
J. P. Morgan. (Library of Congress)
coal deposits. Of all the purchases, the most important was the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. With headquarters in Ensley, Alabama, it was the South’s largest steelmaker, specializing in the production of open-hearth steel rails and accounting for 59 percent of U.S. production of this item. Equally significant, Tennessee Coal owned more coal and iron ore than any firm except U.S. Steel, and with its raw materials literally on site it manufactured steel at lower cost than anyone else. When Gary negotiated the purchase, the Tennessee company posed a real threat, for it was planning to double its steelmaking capacities. U.S. Steel’s own expansion was extensive. It built a large steel mill at Duluth, Minnesota, close to iron ores of the Mesabi Range. Through a subsidiary, it constructed a huge cement mill near Chicago. Nothing, however, matched the cornerstone of its growth, the world’s largest steelmaking facility. Technically the peer of any, the plant in Gary, Indiana, cost more than $62 million to build. Despite the immensity of expenditures for its new acquisitions and mills, U.S. Steel was able to pay them out of its profits. It realized a return of about 12 percent on its investments while increasing its capitalization. Notwithstanding these achievements, U.S. Steel steadily lost its share of national steel production to other companies. Competitors marketed 60 percent of American steel by 1911. In the meantime, the price of steel, which had risen shortly after Morgan created the trust, remained relatively stable during these years. Clearly, the earlier era of cutthroat competition had given way— although fears of regression remained—to an era of price stability and intraindustry cooperation, as Morgan had hoped it would. U.S. Steel appeared to produce below its full capacity, accepting lower profits in order to forestall outbreaks of price warfare. Industrywide cooperation and the stabilization of steel prices have been imputed to a number of causes, two of which were singularly important: the “Pittsburgh plus” basing point system and the so-called Gary dinners. Both had drawn the attention of federal antitrust investigators prior to 1911 and figured in Attorney General George Woodward Wickersham’s suit filed against U.S. Steel. They had also brought running attacks on the corporation by muckraking journalists, congressmen, reformers, and members of President William Howard Taft’s administration. The “Pittsburgh plus” basing point system meant simply that no matter where a steel product was manufactured and no matter where it was delivered, the quoted price plus rail charges was the same as if the product had been made in Pittsburgh and delivered from 49
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and coking properties, transportation facilities such as iron ore railroads and Great Lakes shipping, plants to produce heavy steel ingots, and mills designed to satisfy various specialty steel orders. By 1901, it was a common belief within the steel industry that the limits of the technically possible were being approached. Schwab himself had called attention to this purported fact. It therefore became trade wisdom that additional efficiencies and profits would derive chiefly from precisely the type of reorganization planned by Morgan. Furthermore, expansion and vertical integration, paralleled by managerial changes, meant that U.S. Steel divisions would no longer pay their potential profits to other firms for transforming raw steel into the thousands of products and specialties (most steel was produced for specific orders) that characterized the industry. Gary, the former head of Morgan’s Federal Steel and one of the principals behind the assemblage of the giant trusts, led U.S. Steel’s expansion, both organizational and geographic, as chairman of its board of directors. Between 1902 and 1908, U.S. Steel purchased seven major steel-related companies, among them Union Steel and Clairton Steel, with their substantial iron ore and coking
Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation
Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation there. Producers used this basing system to stabilize prices, but for many customers it purportedly resulted in geographic price discrimination. The basing system remained a matter of contention between the corporation and the federal government until the 1920’s. The Gary dinners, eventually abandoned while suits against U.S. Steel were pending, began on November 20, 1907, and continued periodically over the next fifteen months. They were designed to bring steel executives together, first to fend off their possible reversion to price slashing as a result of the Panic of 1907 and subsequently, with Gary taking the lead, to exhort industry executives to share information, to work for price stability, and, above all, to cooperate. When government suits to dissolve U.S. Steel on grounds of monopolistic practices were decided in New Jersey’s federal district court and reaffirmed in 1920 by the U.S. Supreme Court, the corporation was exonerated. It had strived for a monopoly, yet the fact remained that 60 percent of the nation’s steelmaking capacity was in the hands of its competitors. Similarly, its intraindustry exchanges of price information and the like were ascertained to be reasonable business practices. Essentially, the judiciary found U.S. Steel to be a “good trust” rather than a harmful monopoly. —Clifton K. Yearley Further Reading Carosso, Vincent P. The Morgans: Private International Bankers, 1854-1913. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987. Massive, authoritative, and fine reading. Surpasses other studies in use of fresh primary sources. Excellent on historical context. Good photos, extensive notes to pages in lieu of bibliography, and a valuable index. Splendid and essential, with detailed materials on U.S. Steel. Jones, Eliot. The Trust Problem in the United States. New York: Macmillan, 1921. Old but useful analysis resting on public rather than private documentation. Chapter 9 deals with U.S. Steel in some detail. Sections discuss antitrust suits against the corporation. Informative notes and useful index. Ripley, William Z., ed. Trusts, Pools, and Corporations. Boston: Ginn, 1916. Valuable for U.S. Bureau of Cor-
50
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 poration documents and an essay by trust specialist Edward Meade. Chapters 6 and 7 concentrate on U.S. Steel’s organization, production, and prices. Useful for lay readers. Informative notes and good index. Sinclair, Andrew Corsair. The Life of J. Pierpont Morgan. Boston: Little, Brown, 1981. Briefer, breezier, and less authoritative than the Carosso book but a good journalistic review of Morgan and friends. In places warmer about the subjects than are more scholarly works. Interesting photos, chapter notes, and extensive select bibliography, useful index. Enjoyable and informative deployment of the Morgan papers. Strouse, Jean. Morgan: American Financier. New York: Random House, 1999. Comprehensive biography of Morgan offers insights into the culture, political struggles, and social conflicts of the Gilded Age. Explains in easy-to-understand language the financial controversies of Morgan’s time. Includes photographs. Wall, Joseph Frazier. Andrew Carnegie. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970. Authoritative; written sensitively and well. Easily one of the best biographies of Carnegie. The book’s length should not discourage readers, for Carnegie was not only one of the world’s most powerful private citizens but fascinating as well. Fine photos, extensive notes to pages, splendid index. Whitney, Simon N. Antitrust Policies: The American Experience in Twenty Industries. 2 vols. New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1958. Scholarly and authoritative. One of the best overviews of U.S. Steel’s organization and activities is in chapter 11. Updates events to the early 1950’s. Many notes and tables. No bibliography, but a fine working index. See also: May 12-Oct. 23, 1902: Anthracite Coal Strike; Aug. 12, 1902: Founding of International Harvester Company; Mar. 14, 1904: U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities; Oct.-Nov., 1907: Panic of 1907; Sept. 22, 1919-Jan. 8, 1920: Steelworkers Strike for Improved Working Conditions; Mar. 1, 1920: United States v. United States Steel Corporation.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Insular Cases
May 27, 1901
Insular Cases
Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Laws, acts, and legal history; diplomacy and international relations; expansion and land acquisition Key Figures Henry B. Brown (1836-1913), associate justice of the United States Melville W. Fuller (1833-1910), chief justice of the United States John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911), associate justice of the United States Edward D. White (1845-1921), associate justice of the United States Summary of Event In 1898, the United States acquired an overseas empire. Hawaii was annexed by joint resolution of both houses of Congress, and Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands were ceded to the United States by Spain under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the SpanishAmerican War. In a series of decisions known as the Insular Cases, the U.S. Supreme Court was called on to fashion a constitutional compromise whereby the territorial acquisitions desired by the national political forces would be rendered legitimate. The litigation is an excellent example of the flexibility of constitutional and statutory interpretation that the Supreme Court enjoys. The drive to acquire foreign territory was led by Republican chieftains such as Theodore Roosevelt and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, whereas opponents of “imperialism” were primarily Democrats. Much of the debate focused on the question of Senate advice and consent to the peace treaty negotiated by President William McKinley with Spain. One of the chief constitutional arguments used by the opponents of expansion was the slogan “The Constitution follows the flag,” which was designed to dramatize the impractical nature of the annexation of territory that offered no prospect of being organized into states. Anti-imperialists such as Senator George O. Vest of Missouri and Senator George Hoar of Massachusetts argued that the Constitution did not give the federal government the power to acquire territories to be held permanently in subjugation as colonies. The power to acquire territories, they claimed, was inextricably con-
nected with the responsibility to organize those territories into prospective states. Moreover, they argued that imperialism by its very nature was contrary to the republican form of government established under the Constitution. Anti-imperialists also cited the Declaration of Independence as a general indictment of colonial arrangements. Vest made another constitutional argument against acquisition of colonies when he interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment’s declaration that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” The advocates of expansion contended that the success of the United States in the Spanish-American War destined the nation for a major role in world affairs and that it was naïve to postpone the acquisition of colonies. Apologists for acquisition argued that colonies would provide the growing United States with outposts essential to the nation’s security, ensure its control of the seas, and underwrite the steady growth of its burgeoning industry. Arguments in what the Court called the Insular Tariff Cases were heard for six days in January, 1901, and the Court’s opinions were announced on May 27, 1901. The principles set forth at that time also determined the outcomes of two other cases that had been argued in December, 1899. In DeLima v. Bidwell, the Court divided five to four on the question of the application of the general tariff laws (the Dingley Tariff) to imports from Puerto Rico following the proclamation of the treaty with Spain. In stating the majority opinion, Justice Henry B. Brown said, “We are therefore of the opinion that at the time these duties were levied, Puerto Rico was not a foreign country within the meaning of the tariff laws but a territory of the United States, that the duties were illegally exacted, and that the plaintiffs are entitled to recover them back.” In a dissenting opinion, Justice Joseph McKenna, supported by Justices George Shiras and Edward D. White, contended that Puerto Rico’s status as a foreign or nonforeign country had nothing to do with whether the tariff laws were applicable. It was clear, argued McKenna, that the island was not a part of the United States, and therefore the tariff laws should apply. Justice Horace Gray wrote a separate brief dissent. The justices who dissented in DeLima v. Bidwell were joined by Justice Brown in the companion case of 51
1901
The U.S. Supreme Court determined the constitutional status of overseas possessions of the United States.
Insular Cases Downes v. Bidwell and, as if to dramatize the judicial confusion, Justice Brown again delivered the lead opinion. The question in Downes v. Bidwell concerned the validity of a special tariff law applicable only to Puerto Rico (the Foraker Act). Justice Brown concluded a long opinion surveying the applicable precedents and practices with the declaration that the judiciary must be careful not to impede the development of “the American Empire.” The annexation of distant possessions “inhabited by alien races, differing from us in religion, customs, laws, methods of taxation and modes of thought,” might some day be desirable. He continued: The question at once arises whether large concessions ought not to be made for a time, that, ultimately, our own theories may be carried out, and the blessings of a free government under the Constitution extended to them. We decline to hold that there is anything in the Constitution to forbid such action.
Brown went on to rule that Puerto Rico was a “territory appurtenant and belonging to the United States, but not a part of the United States within the revenue clauses of the Constitution” and that the Foraker Act was, therefore, constitutional. In a concurring opinion supported by Shiras and McKenna, Justice White introduced his theory of incorporation, which subsequently came to be the prevailing doctrine. According to White, “Whilst in an international sense Puerto Rico was not a foreign country, since it was subject to the sovereignty of and was owned by the United States, it was foreign to the United States in a domestic sense, because the island had not been incorporated into the United States, but was merely appurtenant thereto as a possession.” It followed from this, said White, that the constitutional requirement that duties be uniform throughout the United States was not applicable to Congress in legislating for the island. Justice Gray solitarily concurred and argued that the law was valid because Puerto Rico was in a transitional stage from conquered territory to statehood. Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller’s dissenting opinion in Downes v. Bidwell was supported by the three justices who, along with Brown, had made up the DeLima v. Bidwell majority: John Marshall Harlan, David J. Brewer, and Rufus W. Peckham. Fuller urged that the Constitution did indeed follow the flag, that Puerto Rico was not a foreign country, and that Congress had violated the constitutional requirement that all taxes, duties, and imposts be uniform throughout the United States. Justice 52
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Harlan wrote a separate dissenting opinion that, among other things, attacked the White theory of incorporation. Many constitutional scholars consider Harlan’s dissent to be one of the great opinions in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. Harlan asserted that it was not legitimate to argue, as the majority did, that Congress could take away some or any rights from territories of the United States. He held that the Constitution was in force wherever the U.S. flag had been planted. In the case of Puerto Rico and the Philippines, that meant residents of those islands had full constitutional rights and protections from the moment the Senate ratified the treaty making them U.S. possessions. That had been accomplished in 1899, with ratification of the treaty with Spain ending the Spanish-American War. Justice Harlan rejected the racist argument raised by some members of the Court, that the Filipinos and Puerto Ricans were “alien races” not covered by the Anglo-Saxon-inspired Constitution. He concluded his dissent with a warning: “The Constitution is not to be obeyed or disobeyed as the circumstances of a particular crisis in our history may suggest. . . . The People have decreed that it shall be the supreme law of the land at all times.” The majority did not accept Harlan’s view that once a territory becomes part of the United States, its people must have all the protections enjoyed by all citizens. Residents of the new island territories were denied equal protection of the law, chiefly because they were considered to be racially inferior and unready for most democratic rights. Thus, contrary to what Harlan believed to be the ideas of the Framers of the Constitution, the Court supported a policy that allowed people to be governed without their consent. Significance In subsequent cases dealing with the question of the Constitution’s applicability to territories, the Court was presented with questions having to do with the rights of criminal defendants within the rights of constitutional guarantees. Justice Brown again employed the extension theory in Hawaii v. Mankichi (1903) in finding that Congress had not extended the guarantees of the Bill of Rights to Hawaii. It was permissible, therefore, for Hawaii to try the defendant on the basis of any information instead of a grand jury indictment and to convict him on the strength of only nine guilty votes out of a jury of twelve. On the basis of his incorporation theory, Justice White agreed with this opinion, and this time he was joined by Justice McKenna. The next year, in Dorr v. United States, White’s incor-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Further Reading Cabán, Pedro A. Constructing a Colonial People: Puerto Rico and the United States, 1898-1932. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999. Addresses how the relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico was formed following U.S. acquisition of the territory. Includes discussion of the impacts of the Supreme Court’s decisions in the Insular Cases. Gould, Lewis L. The Spanish-American War and President McKinley. Lawrence: University Press of Kan-
sas, 1980. Provides useful background material on the acquisition of U.S. colonies. Discusses attitudes of U.S. leaders that led to denial of equal treatment for Filipinos and Puerto Ricans. Henkin, Louis. Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Constitution. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Discusses how interpretations of the Constitution affect the ways in which the United States conducts foreign affairs. Includes information on the impacts of the Insular Cases on U.S. policy. Kerr, James E. The Insular Cases: The Role of the Judiciary in American Expansionism. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1982. A detailed guide to the intricacies of the Court’s decision making. Discusses the attitudes of all nine justices. LaFeber, Walter. The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860-1898. 35th anniversary ed. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1998. Describes the attitudes and beliefs of the supporters of expansion. A good summary of events leading to the Insular decisions. Ringer, Benjamin B. “We the People” and Others: Duality and America’s Treatment of Its Racial Minorities. New York: Tavistock, 1983. Massive work discusses the constitutional significance of the denial of rights in the Insular decisions. Describes the impact of those decisions on the peoples in the Philippines and Puerto Rico. Thompson, Winfred Lee. The Introduction of American Law in the Philippines and Puerto Rico, 1898-1905. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1989. An excellent guide to the Supreme Court’s various decisions and to the impact of the Court’s views on the citizens of U.S. island possessions. See also: 1902: Philippines Ends Its Uprising Against the United States; 1909-1913: United States Begins “Dollar Diplomacy”; Mar. 2, 1917: Jones Act of 1917; Mar. 24, 1934: Philippine Independence Act.
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poration theory was adopted by a Court majority; it held that until the Philippines were incorporated into the United States by Congress, the latter could administer the territory under its general power to govern territory and without honoring all of the applicable constitutional guarantees. Subsequently, the Court held that Alaska had been sufficiently incorporated to warrant application of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Amendments; in Rasmussen v. United States (1905), the Court reversed a conviction of a defendant found guilty on the basis of a sixperson jury. In Dowdell v. United States (1911), the Court applied the same logic but reached the conclusion that the Philippines were not incorporated; therefore, it was permissible for territorial authorities to employ juries of fewer than twelve persons. Finally, in Puerto Rico v. Tapia (1918), the Court ruled that the congressional grant of citizenship to Puerto Ricans did not necessarily mean that these citizens were protected by the traditional constitutional guarantees. Alaska and Hawaii, the two territories that the Supreme Court found to have been incorporated, became states of the Union on January 3 and August 21, 1959, respectively. The Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands never were incorporated, although their inhabitants were declared U.S. citizens. Incorporation was never an issue insofar as the other minor possessions were concerned. —James J. Bolner and Leslie V. Tischauser
Insular Cases
Canada Claims the Arctic Islands
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
July 1, 1901
Canada Claims the Arctic Islands Following centuries of perilous explorations in the frozen islands and waterways by the United States, Norway, and Canada, Canadian explorer J. E. Bernier staked his claim on the Arctic at Melville Island. Locale: Canada; Melville Island, Arctic Archipelago (now in Canada) Categories: Expansion and land acquisition; exploration and discovery; diplomacy and international relations Key Figures J. E. Bernier (1852-1934), captain of the Arctic who placed a bronze plaque on Melville Island Sir Martin Frobisher (c. 1535-1594), English privateer and early searcher for the Northwest Passage John Davis (c. 1550-1605), British explorer who sailed past the entrance to Frobisher Bay and along the Labrador coast close to Newfoundland Sir William Edward Parry (1790-1855), British navigator who searched for the Northwest Passage Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), British admiral who searched for the Northwest Passage Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure (1807-1873), British explorer who reached Melville Island by sled in 1852 Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920), American civil engineer and explorer Matthew Alexander Henson (1866-1955), American explorer Summary of Event Canada’s claim to the Arctic received a significant boost when, on July 1, 1909, Captain J. E. Bernier placed a bronze plaque on Melville Island that declared the Arctic Archipelago to be Canadian territory. This action, however, was merely one of several that attempted to secure Canada’s claim to the frozen lands that extended from the Canadian mainland to the North Pole. The raising of flags and erecting of plaques, however, were largely symbolic events that carried little weight in international law. These lands were neither occupied nor administered by Canada. European exploration of the Arctic began in the time of Queen Elizabeth I of England, when Sir Martin Frobisher first looked for a shortcut—the Northwest Passage—to the East across the North American seas. During each of his three voyages (in 1576, 1577, and 1578), 54
Frobisher found the passage blocked by Baffin Island. He was followed by John Davis, who searched for a passage around the island in voyages during the period 1585-1587. During his trips, he found the area now known as the Cumberland Sound. With that discovery, Davis also found the entrance to a strait and sound through which Henry Hudson sailed in 1610. William Baffin and Robert Bylot returned to the Baffin Bay area in 1616 to explore the islands and channels leading westward, but because these channels, later named the Jones and Lancaster Sounds, were icy and foggy, the men believed that the bay did not allow passage. For nearly two centuries, this area went unexplored. In the late eighteenth century, however, Samuel Hearne and Alexander Mackenzie reached the Arctic headwaters on separate voyages. They learned nothing of the coastal areas adjoining either the Coppermine or Mackenzie Rivers and did not see any of the Arctic Archipelago, but they did see brief glimpses of Baffin Island’s east shore. The search for a Northwest Passage continued in 1818, when the British Admiralty sent John Ross back to Baffin Bay. Like Baffin, Ross believed that Lancaster Sound was a closed bay without passage into the continent. Sir William Edward Parry, however, proved that the sound was a western gateway to a sea that had been uncharted by previous European explorers. Parry sailed about 800 kilometers along the Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, and Viscount Melville Sound (known afterward as the Parry Channel), and he wintered on Melville Sound, where he could view the banks of the island across the ice-filled water. In a later voyage, Parry lost a ship to the ice as he entered Prince Regent Inlet. Up to that point, all exploration had been curtailed by the short, two-month summers, which created a very small window of opportunity in which explorers could search for a passage. Many locations were frozen for the entire year, and ships could be icebound for years at a time before they were released or splintered in the crushing ice flows. The ice, the harshness of the weather in general, scurvy, hunger, and all the other obstacles slowed attempts to find the Northwest Passage. From 1819 through 1839, canoe and boat parties farther south explored a channel along the shore from the Bering Strait to Boothia Isthmus. John Franklin sailed from English in 1845 with two Royal Navy vessels, and he attempted to enter Lancaster Sound from north of
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Canada Claims the Arctic Islands
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Baffin Island. After Franklin failed to return, numerous rescue parties were sent out from England, and a great deal of territory was mapped during the attempts to locate Franklin, who was never found. During the 1850’s, other explorers continued to map the continental shore, Somerset and Victoria Islands, and the southernmost coast of Devon, Bathurst, and Melville Islands. One dramatic voyage involved the Investigator and its captain, Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure. He discovered Prince of Wales Strait and traveled through the Northwest Passage. Unfortunately, however, he put his ship into an icepack at the place where Franklin had been stranded. The ship was buffeted by gale-force winds and thrown onto its side. In September of 1851, McClure made it to the Bay of Mercy on the north shore of Banks Island, where he and his crew were stuck for eighteen months. They would have starved were it not for the arrival of a detachment from England.
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Many others attempted to map regions of the Arctic and to reach the northernmost point, including Sir Francis Leopold McClintock, who filled in many of the gaps in others’ maps and traced almost all of the coasts of the archipelago (up to 77º north) during an 1859 expedition. Areas to the north of McClintock’s expedition were explored by both Americans and Scandinavians, and the channel between Greenland and Ellesmere Island and Ellesmere’s eastern shore were mapped in the 1870’s. In 1876, parties reached the top of Ellesmere and the northernmost point of what is now the Canadian territory of Cape Columbia. American explorer William Peary and others from Norway explored even more of the Arctic. Exploration of the Arctic regions had an air of competition. In 1903, a dispute between the United States and Canada over the Alaskan-Canadian boundary along the coast of British Columbia was resolved in favor of the United States, and this action only increased Canada’s 55
Booth Receives Patent for the Vacuum Cleaner interest in securing its sovereignty. J. E. Bernier left Quebec City, Quebec, on his ship the Arctic and sailed northward on 1908. His expedition claimed the North Pole for Canada on July 1, 1909, at Parry’s Rock on Melville Island. Shortly before that, on April 6, 1909, Robert Edwin Alexander Peary, Matthew Henson, and their Inuit guide had made their way north by dogsled to claim the North Pole at Ellesmere Island. Both nations continued to claim sovereignty throughout the twentieth century. Significance In attempts to improve the merit of its claims, Canada established Mounted Police posts on Herschel Island, Craig Harbor, Pangnirtung, and Dundas Harbor. In 1969, the United States sent the Manhattan through northern waters without permission and did so again in 1985 with the Polar Sea, implying its sovereignty. Travel in much of the region remained difficult, even with aircraft and icebreakers, and many impediments prevented the maintenance of significant settlements by either nation. Native peoples continuously occupied these northern areas, however, and began doing so long before Europeans began to arrive. — Lesa Dill
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading Bedesky, Baron. Matthew Henson and Robert Peary: The Race to the North Pole. New York: Crabtree, 2006. Account of the explorations of these two Americans aimed at young readers. Bertram, Colin. Arctic and Antarctic: A Prospect of the Polar Regions. Cambridge, England: W. Heffer & Sons, 1958. An older discussion of Arctic history and Antarctic and Arctic exploration. Confrey, Mick, and Tim Jordan. Icemen: A History of the Arctic and Its Explorers. New York: TV Books, 1998. Arctic history emphasizes explorers and their discoveries. Lopez, Barry. Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape. New York: Charles Scribner, 1986. Discussions of exploration of the Arctic as well as commentary about the natural history of the region. See also: Apr. 6, 1909: Peary and Henson Reach the North Pole; Dec. 2, 1911: Australasian Antarctic Expedition Commences; Dec. 14, 1911: Amundsen Reaches the South Pole.
August 30, 1901
Booth Receives Patent for the Vacuum Cleaner H. Cecil Booth’s invention of the vacuum cleaner reduced the hard labor of housecleaning and contributed to the improvement of health in homes and workplaces. Locale: London, England Categories: Science and technology; inventions Key Figures H. Cecil Booth (1871-1955), British civil engineer and inventor James Murray Spangler (1848-1915), American janitor and inventor William Henry Hoover (1849-1932), American industrialist Hiram H. Herrick (fl. late nineteenth century), American inventor Melville R. Bissell (1843-1889), American inventor Summary of Event During earlier centuries, carpets were hung on walls as decorations rather than used as floor coverings. Most 56
floors were of uncovered wood, stone, or dirt, and the best way to clean them was to sweep them with brooms. During the nineteenth century, industrialization brought the invention of textile looms that were able to massproduce heavy fabrics that could be used for carpeting materials. Soon, the cost of mass-produced carpets began to drop as availability increased, and the occasional rug was increasingly replaced by wide area rugs in every room of the house. Housewives and servants cleaned these early carpets using small, handheld whisk brooms; they also took the carpets outside periodically, placed them over clotheslines or something similar, and beat them with brooms, wooden paddles, or tools made especially for carpet beating that consisted of large loops of wood, cane, or wire attached to a handle. This technique was pure drudgery, and, over time, it damaged the carpet. Efforts to find mechanical means of cleaning floors can be traced back to the early nineteenth century. In 1811, English inventor Jane Hume received a patent for a device that was designed to make sweeping hard floors easier. It was a box on wheels attached to a handle that
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
England, in 1901. H. Cecil Booth received the British patent for the machine on August 30, 1901; Booth described it as a suction dust-removal machine. Booth’s vacuum cleaner bore more resemblance to a modern lawn mower than to the electric vacuum cleaner of the early twenty-first century. It was large, with a five-horsepower piston-driven motor mounted atop the front, and as it was extremely heavy, it was very awkward to use. It should be noted that large, mobile industrial vacuum cleaners were in use as early as the 1890’s. These large suction cleaners were mounted on wagons pulled by horses and connected to the vacuum nozzle by long, flexible hoses that were strung through doorways and windows to reach the surfaces to be cleaned. These machines were used primarily to provide cleaning services for schools, hotels, theaters, and other buildings that were sites for activities that involved high levels of foot traffic. There were also smaller, nonelectric pistondriven consumer models available before 1900 that created more work than they saved for the homemaker. As a result, they were never accepted. Others were hand operated, with bellows for pumping air. There were vacuumbased air blowers and some cleaners that ran on compressed air. Booth’s vacuum cleaner, although cumbersome and difficult to manage, provided the basis for advancements in suction technology that were to come. Ten years after the Booth patent was filed, lighter-weight and more powerful electric motors began to appear. This meant that vacuum cleaners could be powered by motors small enough to allow a greater degree of portability. In 1908, James Murray Spangler patented a much smaller and more popular version of the vacuum cleaner. He later formed a business partnership with a cousin, William H. Hoover, to market the machine; the new enterprise was called the Hoover Company. Almost a century later, the Hoover upright vacuum cleaner was still an industry leader and distributed worldwide. In 1924, the first hand-luggable vacuum cleaner appeared, originating in Sweden. This early portable came with a flexible hose that could be attached for cleaning hard-to-reach places, furniture, draperies, and wall hangings. Other attachments came along over the years to suit the needs of the times, some using pulsating air to loosen dust and dirt and others employing special rake brushes to clean deep-pile shag rugs. Unlike many home appliances that have come and gone or evolved into contraptions that scarcely resemble their earliest ancestors, today’s vacuum cleaners are very similar in design to the Booth vacuum of 1901. They op57
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contained a pulley for operating a brush in the box that was supposed to pick up dirt and sweep it into the box. Unfortunately, the device did not work as well as the broom it was designed to replace, and it was never marketed. The basic concept was revisited often, however, as carpets came off the walls and onto floors. The first patent for a device actually called a mechanical carpet sweeper was issued to Hiram H. Herrick of Massachusetts in 1858. Eighteen years later, Melville B. Bissell of Grand Rapids, Michigan, came up with a design that worked on floors and had the added advantage of working equally well on carpets. The Bissell carpet sweeper became extremely popular, in part as the result of Bissell’s marketing acumen in addition to its excellent design. In 1896, four Bissell models were listed for sale in the Sears, Roebuck catalog. The Bissell carpet sweeper continued to enjoy a niche in the floor cleaner appliance marketplace long after the vacuum cleaner became ubiquitous in homes and is still available worldwide. The advantage of the Bissell carpet sweeper was its simplicity. It had few moving parts and anyone could use it. It emerged in an era when carpets were used as much for ornamentation as for practical purposes; therefore, the demand for greater efficiency—the mechanism’s ability to pick up more debris over wider areas more often—did not emerge until later. By the end of the nineteenth century, electricity was becoming widely available in the United States and Europe, and with it came many new gadgets that utilized this clean and relatively inexpensive source of power to run motors, to create heat or cold, to provide light, and to perform many other tasks. Some were used in industry, others in the home. Among the many inventions that found application in both places was the vacuum cleaner. The operation of the vacuum cleaner is based on a simple principle of physics. As air is forced from one place to another through the blades of a fan, a partial vacuum is created, and this causes more air to rush in to fill the void. As the fan blades push air out, more air is drawn in. The movement of air is continuous until the fan stops. Inside a vacuum cleaner, a fan forces air through an output valve at the same time it draws air through an input valve—the nozzle or business end of the machine. The suction thus created brings with it loose dust and other particles that are caught up in the rush of air through the system. Beater bars, brushes, and other devices loosen dirt from the surface being cleaned so that it can be drawn into the machine, where it is trapped in a disposable bag or other vessel as the air rushes through the output valve. The first home vacuum cleaner appeared in London,
Booth Receives Patent for the Vacuum Cleaner
Booth Receives Patent for the Vacuum Cleaner erate on the same principle of suction and are used for the same purpose: to eliminate dust and small particles from living spaces. Over the years, vacuum cleaners have increased in popularity as wall-to-wall carpeting has become more common in homes as well as in many commercial and institutional settings. As the technology employed to clean floors in the modern home and office continues to evolve, it is doubtful that Booth’s invention will be pushed aside by some newer, better way of extracting dust and dirt from carpeting. Indeed, the evolution of wall-mounted carpets of centuries past to area rugs, which were, in turn, superseded by wall-to-wall carpeting, has continued with the development of new flooring materials made for use outdoors, on patios, pool decks, walkways, and other areas subject to the merciless elements as well as foot traffic. These new exterior surfaces and the wall-to-wall carpeting found in millions of homes are here to stay. H. Cecil Booth will remain high on the list of pioneers who provided the inspiration for the development of the most useful modern-day home appliances. Significance As electricity reached more and more homes during the early twentieth century, the vacuum cleaner became the carpet sweeper of choice. Modern home construction often included built-in vacuum systems that allowed the operator to plug a hose into receptacles placed strategically throughout the house. Because the electric motor and fan design can be configured to operate at a wide range of suction levels, applications were found quickly for the vacuum cleaner in industry. As with most home appliances, continuous evolution of the technology has brought new uses for the vacuum cleaner. Today, vacuum cleaners come in many sizes and configurations, including wall-mounted, rechargeable handheld appliances that are useful for cleaning small spaces such as kitchen cabinets and automobile interiors. Miniature vacuum cleaners are used in high-tech industrial applications for cleaning dust and particles from microcircuitry, and very large vacuum fans extract and collect particles from the air in and around industrial manufacturing areas to protect the health of workers. Booth’s vacuum cleaner was the forerunner of a long line
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 of innovations that made homes and workplaces cleaner and safer. — Michael S. Ameigh Further Reading Galvin, Vanessa, et al., eds. How It Works: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Vol. 19. London: New Caxton Library Service, 1977. Contains a good description, with illustrations, of the vacuum principle as applied in vacuum cleaner technology. Includes a series of early photographs showing horse-drawn vacuum machines and the first vacuum cleaner salesman. Grossinger, Tania. The Book of Gadgets. New York: David McKay, 1974. Interesting descriptions of a multitude of devices used in homes and offices. Includes a good discussion of the evolution of floor-cleaning technology. Includes index. Lifshey, Earl. The Housewares Story: A History of the American Housewares Industry. Chicago: National Housewares Manufacturers Association, 1973. Provides a detailed look at the evolution of the vacuum cleaner, its history, and its applications. Includes photographs, index. Newhouse, Elizabeth L., ed. Inventors and Discoverers: Changing Our World. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2000. A heavily illustrated survey of the evolution of technology from the steam age in the early nineteenth century to the modern age. Russell, Loris S. Handy Things to Have Around the House. Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 1979. An interesting survey of the history of a wide variety of household appliances, including vacuum cleaners. Includes numerous photographs and design specifications. Includes index and list of significant patents. See also: 1904-1912: Brandenberger Invents Cellophane; 1910: Electric Washing Machine Is Introduced; May 20, 1915: Corning Glass Works Trademarks Pyrex; 1917: Birdseye Invents Quick-Frozen Foods; Apr., 1930: Midgley Introduces Dichlorodifluoromethane as a Refrigerant Gas; Feb., 1935-Oct. 27, 1938: Carothers Invents Nylon.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President
September 14, 1901
Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President
Locale: Buffalo, New York; Washington, D.C. Categories: Government and politics; terrorism
Orville Platt (1827-1905), U.S. senator from Connecticut John Coit Spooner (1843-1919), U.S. senator from Wisconsin Leon Czolgosz (1873-1901), American anarchist who assassinated McKinley
Key Figures William McKinley (1843-1901), president of the United States, 1897-1901 Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), vice president under McKinley and president of the United States, 19011909 Marcus A. Hanna (1837-1904), U.S. senator from Ohio Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich (1841-1915), U.S. senator from Rhode Island William Boyd Allison (1829-1908), U.S. senator from Iowa
Summary of Event Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency after the death of President William McKinley. At Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, had shot and seriously wounded McKinley while the president was in a receiving line at the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition. When Vice President Roosevelt rushed to the side of the stricken chief executive, the president’s doctors informed him that, despite the severity of the bullet wound to the stomach, McKinley appeared likely to recover. In a move designed to restore public confidence, Roosevelt left shortly McKinley’s Assassin thereafter for a mountain-climbing President McKinley’s assassin was a withdrawn young man by the name of expedition in New York’s AdironLeon Czolgosz, an alienated anarchist who had used the alias “Fred Nieman” dacks. McKinley weakened during (meaning “no man” in German) to refer to his lack of acceptance by the far-left the next several days, however, and radicals among whom he sought acceptance. Suspicious of Czolgosz, Abraby September 13, Roosevelt learned ham Isaak, the editor of the radical periodical Free Society, issued a warning in from a special messenger that the his paper regarding the possibility that Leon Czolgosz might be a spy in their president was dying. Roosevelt midst: rushed back to Buffalo by buckboard and train, but he was unable to reach Attention! the city before McKinley’s death The attention of the comrades is called to another spy. He is well early on the morning of September dressed, of medium height, rather narrow shouldered, blond, and about 14. That afternoon, Theodore Roo25 years of age. Up to the present he has made his appearance in Chisevelt took the oath of office of presicago and Cleveland. In the former place he remained a short time, while dent of the United States. in Cleveland he disappeared when the comrades had confirmed themRoosevelt promised to carry forselves of his identity and were on the point interested in the cause, asking for names, or soliciting aid for acts of contemplated violence. If this ward McKinley’s policies; such a individual makes his appearance elsewhere, the comrades are warned in pledge was necessary because suspiadvance and can act accordingly. cions about Roosevelt’s reliability as a Republican pervaded the leaderIronically, Czolgosz was no government spy: Inspired by the assassination of ship of his party. During his rise to King Humbert I of Italy by another anarchist, Gaetano Bresci, Czolgosz benational stature in the 1890’s, Roolieved that the wealthy and rotund McKinley was indifferent to the plight of the sevelt had often disagreed with the working class and on September 6, 1901, shot McKinley at point-blank range party regulars over issues and tacas the president was greeting people in a receiving line during the Pantics, and he had gained a reputation American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley died eight days later, whereupon Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency, just a as an impetuous politician. Many few weeks before his forty-third birthday. party members saw him as too young and untested to succeed McKinley 59
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The assassination of President William McKinley required the young, exuberant vice president to assume the presidency.
Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
and win the presidency on his own in 1904. His heroism by federal authorities gave him an attractive but perilous in the Spanish-American War and his record as governor opportunity for leadership. He identified himself with of New York during 1899-1900 had brought him the the reform campaigns that historians have called Pronomination as vice president in 1900. Party elders had gressivism and became the national spokesman for the assumed that Roosevelt had been safely sidetracked for a effort to purify U.S. life of the excesses of industrializasecond McKinley administration. Now he was president tion. of the United States. President Roosevelt attacked his problems with skill In terms of immediate political realities, the new presand energy. He believed that Washington should address ident faced a complex situation. McKinley had been a economic issues, such as the rise of big business, with successful president who had enjoyed good relations national power to demonstrate the authority and supremwith Congress. The nation was at peace and prosperous. acy of the federal government. In March, 1902, he orRoosevelt could build on these political assets to his own dered the U.S. attorney general to file an antitrust suit unadvantage if he made a successful transition to the White der the Sherman Antitrust Act against the Northern House. Elevated to the highest office by tragedy, he Securities Company, a giant and unpopular holding comneeded to establish his capacity to govern effectively. pany for powerful railroads. The U.S. Supreme Court Within the Republican Party, he faced a possible chalsustained Roosevelt’s position in 1904. The initiative eslenge to his leadership from McKinley’s close friend tablished Roosevelt as an opponent of excessive corpoSenator Marcus A. Hanna of Ohio. Hanna disclaimed rate power. Later in 1902, he intervened personally in the any presidential ambitions, but Roosevelt was wary; he hoped to gain the senator’s support for his candidacy in 1904. Roosevelt knew of the power of the Republican senatorial leadership, embodied in “The Four”: Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich of Rhode Island, William Boyd Allison of Iowa, Orville Platt of Connecticut, and John Coit Spooner of Wisconsin. Roosevelt deferred to these party elders on such issues as the protective tariff and sought to work with Congress during his first years in office. Roosevelt came to power at a time when issues of political and economic reform were growing increasingly pressing in the United States. The rise of large industrial corporations and urban centers confronted the nation with the question of whether the national government should regulate business to produce a more just and equitable society. On the city and state levels, reform mayors and governors were advancing programs to pursue social justice for those left behind by the new industrial society. Roosevelt had been a President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a speech in New Castle, Wyoming, in 1903. leader in this process as governor of (Library of Congress) New York. The demand for action 60
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Significance Roosevelt proved to be a charismatic, strong president. He showed how a dynamic leader can use publicity and his personal popularity to deal effectively with Congress and function as a world leader. He succeeded in persuading the American people of the need at that time for a stronger national government. Perhaps his most visionary accomplishment was the advancement of the conservation movement, which alerted Americans to the need
to manage the nation’s natural resources with intelligence and foresight. In all these achievements, Roosevelt focused attention on the office of the presidency and himself, setting an example for future occupants of the White House. —Lewis L. Gould and Rex O. Mooney Further Reading Blum, John Morton. The Republican Roosevelt. 2d ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004. Good brief introduction to Roosevelt’s historical importance. Includes several interesting chapters on the impact of his presidency. Brands, H. W. T. R.: The Last Romantic. New York: Basic Books, 1997. Iconoclastic biography of Theodore Roosevelt. Cooper, John Milton. The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. 1985. Reprint. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 2004. A comparative study of the two major Progressive presidents. Presents insightful commentary about the impression Roosevelt made as president. Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991. Looks at the entire scope of Roosevelt’s presidential tenure. Extensive coverage of the transition from McKinley to Roosevelt. Harbaugh, William H. Power and Responsibility: The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. 1961. Reprint. Newtown, Conn.: American Political Biography Press, 1997. Excellent biography includes discussion of the impact of Roosevelt’s accession to the presidency in 1901. Morris, Edmund. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1979. Prizewinning account of Roosevelt’s early life ends with McKinley’s death and Roosevelt’s taking the oath of office as president. _______. Theodore Rex. New York: Random House, 2001. Focuses on Roosevelt’s presidential years. Makes use of Roosevelt’s private and presidential papers as well as other archives to create a complete portrait of the man. See also: 1902: Philippines Ends Its Uprising Against the United States; May 12-Oct. 23, 1902: Anthracite Coal Strike; June 17, 1902: Reclamation Act Promotes Western Agriculture; Feb. 14, 1903: Creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor; Mar. 14, 1903: First U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established; May, 1903: Roosevelt and Muir Visit 61
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Anthracite Coal Strike, a dispute that threatened fuel shortages during the winter, in a way that was evenhanded toward business and labor. He was the first president to recognize organized labor as a legitimate element in making governmental decisions. Roosevelt called this approach the Square Deal. These actions ensured that Roosevelt received his party’s presidential nomination in 1904 and defused a possible challenge from Senator Hanna. Roosevelt then secured a stunning landslide victory over his outmatched Democratic opponent, Alton B. Parker of New York, in the 1904 presidential election. He was, he said at the time, now president in his own right. Roosevelt also acted forcefully in foreign affairs. To speed the construction of a transoceanic canal, he backed the actions of a revolutionary junta in Panama in 1903 and cleared the way for the construction of the Panama Canal during his second term. In the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, announced in 1904, he claimed for the United States the right to intervene elsewhere in Latin America in order to maintain the status quo. Roosevelt also acted as peacemaker during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, a mediation that succeeded and won for him the Nobel Peace Prize. He mixed energy with acumen in foreign policy and achieved a central role on the international stage. He was careful in his use of power, however, and was less warlike than his later reputation suggested. As he put it in a famous phrase, he aimed to speak softly but carry a big stick. In his second term, Roosevelt carried forward a campaign of strengthening the authority of the national government to regulate business in the public interest. He pushed through legislation to curb the power of the railroads in the Hepburn Act of 1906, to oversee the quality of drugs offered for consumer purchase in the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, and to oversee the quality of meat sold in the Meat Inspection Act of 1906. Because of such policies, he came into growing conflict with a conservative Congress by the time he left the White House in 1909.
Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President
First Nobel Prizes Are Awarded
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Yosemite; Nov. 3, 1903: Panama Declares Independence from Colombia; Nov. 18, 1903: U.S. Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone; Jan. 3, 1905: Pinchot
Becomes Head of the U.S. Forest Service; Jan. 30, 1905: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust.
December 10, 1901
First Nobel Prizes Are Awarded On the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, the first prizes that his will established were awarded—the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature in Stockholm, and the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. Locale: Stockholm, Sweden; Oslo, Norway Categories: Science and technology; health and medicine; literature; organizations and institutions Key Figures Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), Swedish chemist, inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914), Austrian writer and peace activist Summary of Event The genesis of the Nobel Prizes has been traced to two newspaper items, an advertisement and an obituary. The advertisement, placed in a Vienna newspaper by Alfred Nobel in the spring of 1876, was for a woman with a knowledge of languages to come to Paris to serve as Nobel’s secretary and housekeeper. Countess Bertha Kinsky, then a thirty-three-year-old governess to the baronial Suttner family, had mastery of German, French, English, and Italian. After corresponding with Nobel, she went to Paris and charmed him, quickly becoming not only his secretary but also his friend. Although she left his employ after only a week (to marry Arthur von Suttner secretly in Vienna), she began a correspondence with Nobel that continued while she and Arthur were estranged from his family and, after the Suttner family finally became reconciled to their marriage, when she took up her position as Baroness von Suttner at the family estate. They corresponded about literature, which, next to science, was Nobel’s favorite interest (he not only read but also wrote poetry, dramas, and novels). Bertha von Suttner’s linguistic talents were much greater than Nobel’s, and her writings and involvement in the peace movement made her internationally famous. Through her letters, she shared with Nobel her hatred of militarism, and many scholars have seen her influence in this 62
area, both generally in the principles underlying the Nobel Prizes and specifically in the Peace Prize. The pacifism and idealism that Baroness von Suttner encouraged in Nobel received an added impulse from an obituary notice that appeared in 1888. Alfred’s brother Ludvig had died on April 12 of that year, but the author of the obituary confused Ludvig with Alfred, and so Alfred Nobel was able to read his own obituary. It was a disillusioning experience, for he found that people viewed him primarily as a merchant of death—not an inventor whose discoveries had been forces for good but one whose explosives had made war distressingly horrible. He had believed that his explosives would end war long before Baroness von Suttner’s peace congresses would, because these weapons would force nations to realize that increasingly horrible wars were ruinous ways of solving their problems. When he saw how the appetites of nations for wars were whetted rather than repelled by these new weapons, however, he came to agree with the baroness that more sophisticated and powerful explosives would not prevent wars. Nobel also began to think about how he could use his great fortune, amassed from selling explosives, to advance human understanding and love. In 1889, Bertha von Suttner published a novel, Die Waffen nieder! (Lay Down Your Arms, 1892), in which she depicted the devastating effects that war has on people’s lives. Her book was second only to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Or, Life Among the Lowly (1852) in the influence that it exerted on people, institutions, and nations of the nineteenth century. In his letters to the baroness in the years after the appearance of Lay Down Your Arms, Nobel referred to his weapons as “implements of hell” and called war “the horror of horrors.” Before 1889, he had derided most peace efforts, but by 1892, he was actively promoting various peace movements. In 1893, when he reached the age of sixty, his health started to deteriorate rapidly, so he hired Ragnar Sohlman as his assistant and drafted a will in which he left most of his estate to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Nobel’s will stipulated that the academy must annually use a part of the estate’s income to honor
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
the persons who had made the most important discoveries in science and, as Nobel put it in a letter to the baroness, to reward the person who had done most to advance the idea of general peace in Europe. While on a trip to Paris in 1895, Nobel canceled the 1893 will and wrote a new one that became the founding document for the Nobel Prizes. One of the notable differences between the new will and the old was the addition of a provision for a literature prize (Nobel wanted to honor idealistic writings). When the contents of this will were revealed after Nobel’s death on December 10, 1896, his relatives were shocked to discover that their share of his estate constituted a minuscule portion of Nobel’s total assets. Some of them brought suit to break the will, as did a woman who had had a relationship with Nobel, but these lawsuits never came to trial, as the claims were settled out of court through various grants. Finally, after three years of difficult negotiation, Sohlman, the chief executor, succeeded in getting the will accepted by Nobel’s relatives and in moving the prizeawarding institutions—the Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institute, and the Norwegian parliament—to establish specific mechanisms for nominating and selecting prizewinners. On
June 29, 1900, King Oscar II approved the statutes of the Nobel Foundation and the special regulations of the prize-giving institutions, and five Nobel committees began doing their work to select the first Nobel Prize winners. The Swedish Academy of Sciences gave the first Nobel Prize in Physics to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen for his discovery of X rays. Although this discovery had been made in 1895 and Nobel’s will stipulated that the prize be given for work done during the preceding year, the physics committee interpreted Nobel’s provision quite broadly to mean that past achievements could be rewarded, given that properly assessing a discovery’s importance often requires tracing its influence over a period of time. The award of the chemistry prize to Jacobus Henricus van’t Hoff was for discoveries in chemical thermodynamics and osmotic pressure made in the 1880’s; like their comrades in physics, the committee members for the chemistry prize felt that it can take longer than a year for a great chemical discovery to prove its worth. The first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was given to Emil von Behring for his discovery, ten years earlier, of the antitoxin against diphtheria. In the eyes of many critics and scholars, the award of the literature prize to Sully Prudhomme has proved to be the least worthy in this group of first Nobelists. The committee members mentioned Prudhomme’s “lofty idealism” in their justification of the award, but people throughout the world objected to the choice, pointing out the superior literary accomplishments of Marcel Proust, Paul Valéry, Thomas Hardy, Henrik Ibsen, and others. Close to home, forty-two Swedish authors and artists signed a tribute to Leo Tolstoy (who had not even been nominated). Many members of the French Academy had nominated Prudhomme, and their advice appears to have exerted a strong influence on the members of the Swedish Academy. Unlike the science and literature prizes, which were awarded in Stockholm, the Peace Prize was presented in Oslo by the chairman of the Peace Prize Committee in the presence of the Norwegian Royal Family. The recipients of the first Nobel Peace Prize were Jean-Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy. In 1864, Dunant had helped create, through his writings and other efforts, the International Red Cross, and this and his work for prisoners of war were seen by the committee as important contributions to world peace. Passy had founded an influential international peace society, and the committee probably chose him along with Dunant to emphasize the international character of the Peace Prize. The surprise at the 63
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Alfred Nobel.
First Nobel Prizes Are Awarded
First Nobel Prizes Are Awarded
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literature and peace awards were subject to more controversy than the Alfred Nobel laid the clear foundation for the Nobel Prizes in his will, which science prizes, because political facwas drawn up in Paris on November 27, 1895. tors sometimes affected decisions. Nevertheless, even for these awards, The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the followcommittee members saw it as their ing way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constiduty to recognize achievers who, actute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of cording to the consensus of the best prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatpeople in the respective fields, had est benefit on mankind. The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, done important, influential, and idewhich shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have alistic work. made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical disThe prestige of the Nobel Prizes covery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most grew rapidly, both because of the important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to pragmatic approach of the Nobel the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstandcommittees and because of the genuing work in an ideal direction; and one part to the person who shall have done ine needs that the Nobel Prizes met. the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reBefore the Nobel Prizes, most awards duction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace conwere local, national, or narrowly disgresses. The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish ciplinary. The Nobel Prizes, which Academy of Sciences; that for physiology or medical works by the Karolinska were intended to be truly internaInstitute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and tional, thus filled a niche, and the that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the prize committees became supranaNorwegian Storting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy tional arbiters of achievement in the shall receive the prize, whether he be Scandinavian or not. sciences, literature, and peace. The Nobel Prizes, however, were not alSource: Nobel Foundation. ways free from provincial or disciplinary prejudices. For example, several writers of national epics seem to first announcement of this award was its dual nature. The have been chosen for provincial reasons, and the rivalry idea of a divided prize was not in Nobel’s will but actubetween organic and physical chemists often played a ally originated with Nobel’s relatives, who tried to break role in the selection of winners of the chemistry prizes. the will and compromised in an out-of-court settlement. Nobel laureates have undoubtedly played an imporIn this settlement, they stipulated, among other provitant part in the development of the sciences and humanisions, that in no circumstances should a prize be divided ties. In an examination of the accomplishments of a very among more than three recipients. The selection commitsmall group of individuals and an even smaller number tee took advantage of this provision, which other prize of institutions, however, it is helpful to be aware of the committees have used many times since. richness and complexity of the evolution of science, literature, and peace. According to many scholars, the Nobel Prizes, taken alone, actually distort the understanding Significance of the histories of the various disciplines. In their deWhen the Nobel Prizes were first awarded, they did not fense, members of the various Nobel committees have have the great prestige that they later acquired. To help stated that their awards are not intended to give a balmake the prizes reliable symbols of significant accomanced picture of modern physics, chemistry, medicine, plishment in science, literature, and peace, committee literature, or peace. When the prizes are understood in members, during the formative period of the prizes, seterms of Nobel’s intention—to honor examples of the lected scientists, writers, and peace activists whose acprogress of human understanding and compassion— complishments had already brought them great fame. In they do give a sense of what achievements attained the this way, they added the glory of the winners to the prize greatest international recognition in their time. itself. This process was easiest to perform for the science The Nobel Prizes have honored only a limited meaprizes, as some objective measures of the greatness of sure of pivotal work in science, literature, and peace. In particular discoveries were available in these fields. The
Creating the Nobel Prizes
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the influence of Bertha von Suttner, that the evil consequences of his work seemed to outweigh the good, he resolved to set up prizes that would reward discoveries, writings, and activities that result in the progress of knowledge beneficial to humanity. Throughout his life, he felt that what really mattered was the quest for scientific knowledge and for creative expression in literary and human affairs. He called himself a superidealist and believed deeply that understanding would bring improvement; for him, growth in understanding and growth in love went hand in hand. Like Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843), Nobel was given a glimpse into the future evaluation of his life, and he was consequently able to change that life. As a result, each year on the anniversary of his death, prizes in his name are awarded that show concretely that his idealistic goals have an enduring ameliorative effect. — Robert J. Paradowski Further Reading Bergengren, Erik. Alfred Nobel: The Man and His Work. Translated by Alan Blair. New York: Thomas Nelson, 1962. The official biography of Nobel, written with the cooperation of the Nobel Foundation. Weaves anecdotes and analyses into a mostly reliable account of Nobel’s development as a chemical inventor and industrial entrepreneur. Also deals sensitively with Nobel’s relationship with Bertha von Suttner. Crawford, Elisabeth T. The Beginnings of the Nobel Institution: The Science Prizes, 1901-1915. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Crawford had access to the early papers of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and its Nobel committees for physics and chemistry and makes good use of the information. An inside look at how academy members selected prizewinners during the first decade and a half of the Nobel Prizes in Physics and in Chemistry. Leroy, Francis, ed. A Century of Nobel Prize Recipients: Chemistry, Physics, and Medicine. New York: Marcel Dekker, 2003. Following an opening chapter on Alfred Nobel, this book traces the discoveries and assesses the contributions of nearly five hundred scientists who have received the Nobel Prize in the fields of chemistry, physics, and medicine. Features chronological tables of recipients. Nobel Foundation. Nobel: The Man and His Prizes. 3d ed. New York: Elsevier, 1972. Written with the cooperation of the Nobel Foundation to commemorate the first fifty years of the prizes, this book’s editions have served as the institution’s official history. In addition 65
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itself, a prize guarantees neither the significance nor the immortality of the accomplishment honored. Indeed, in several cases the awards committees have been clearly wrong or wrongheaded. For example, over the years there have been many complaints about the Swedish Academy’s neglect of writers of the highest achievement—from France, Marcel Proust, Paul Valéry, and Paul Claudel; from Russia, Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, and Vladimir Nabokov; from Great Britain, Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, W. H. Auden, and Graham Greene; and from Scandinavia, Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg. Instead of choosing these preeminent writers, committee members selected such provincial writers, now largely unread and forgotten, as Rudolf Christoph Eucken, Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Henrik Pontoppidan, Carl Spitteler, and Erik Axel Karlfeldt. In response to these criticisms, committee members have defended their choices. For example, they stated that Ibsen was not chosen because of his negativism, Strindberg because of his iconoclasm, and Hardy because of his lack of ethical idealism. Despite the infelicity of some of the choices, the Nobel Prizes serve an important social function in that they provide the world with a way to recognize achievements that have helped to advance human understanding. In addition to bestowing honor on scientists, writers, and peace activists, the prizes encourage the development of certain disciplines, institutions, and ideologies. In this respect, the prizes in literature and peace particularly tend to fascinate the general public. Committee members in these areas have sometimes used the prizes to attack political movements they viewed as retrograde; for example, many observers saw the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the German journalist Carl von Ossietzky as the Nobel Committee’s way of attacking Adolf Hitler and Nazism. More recently, many viewed the award of the Peace Prize to former U.S. president Jimmy Carter as an implied criticism of President George W. Bush and his policies in Iraq. In literature, committee members often use the prize to call the world’s attention to neglected writers and movements. The durability of any achievement in science, literature, or peace ultimately depends on the depth of its influence on human progress. In a sense, the Nobel Prizes embody the paradoxes that characterized Alfred Nobel’s life and work. He made many important discoveries and hoped that they would be used to advance human welfare. What he witnessed, however, was the use of his discoveries by unscrupulous people and nations for ignoble and destructive ends. When he saw, particularly under
First Nobel Prizes Are Awarded
Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X Rays to histories of the individual prizes, the book contains a biographical sketch of Alfred Nobel by H. Schück and an essay on Nobel and the Nobel Foundation by Ragnar Sohlman. Riggan, William. "The Nobel Prize in Literature: History and Overview." In The Nobel Prize Winners: Literature, edited by Frank N. Magill. Vol. 1. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, 1987. Informative essay provides background on the influences involved in decision making regarding the Nobel Prize in Literature. Sherby, Louise S. The Who’s Who of Nobel Prize Winners, 1901-2000. 4th ed. Westport, Conn.: Oryx, 2002. Contains detailed information on Nobel Prize winners through 2000, organized chronologically by prize, as well as a brief history of the prizes. Entries include biographical details about recipients and lists of their relevant publications as well as summaries of their achievements. Features four indexes. Wasson, Tyler, ed. Nobel Prize Winners. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1987. Profiles the 566 men, women, and institutions that received the Nobel Prize between 1901 and 1986. Selective bibliographies of original and secondary sources available in English are included at the end of each sketch. Also includes prefa-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tory essays on Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Prizes, and the Nobel institutions. (Supplements to this volume have been published at five-year intervals since 1992.) Wilhelm, Peter. The Nobel Prize. London: Springwood Books, 1983. Presents incisive accounts of Alfred Nobel’s life and work and the history of the Nobel Foundation. Describes the foundation’s administrative functions, the nomination procedures, the selection process, and the ceremonies themselves. Also traces the personal odyssey of one Nobel Prize winner from the announcement of his award through the awards ceremony in Stockholm. Beautifully illustrated, with many color and black-and-white photographs. See also: Dec. 10, 1901: Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X Rays; Dec. 10, 1903: Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity; Dec. 10, 1906: Thomson Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering the Electron; June, 1917: First Pulitzer Prizes Are Awarded; Dec. 10, 1922: Nansen Wins the Nobel Peace Prize; Dec. 10, 1928: Undset Accepts the Nobel Prize in Literature; Dec. 10, 1938: Buck Receives the Nobel Prize in Literature.
December 10, 1901
Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X Rays Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was awarded the first Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of a new kind of radiation that was emitted by a cathode-ray tube. Locale: University of Würzburg, Germany Categories: Science and technology; physics Key Figures Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923), German physicist Philipp Lenard (1862-1947), German physicist Heinrich Geissler (1814-1879), German glassblower and instrument maker Summary of Event Although atomism had been proposed by philosophers in ancient Greece, it was not placed on firm scientific foundations until the nineteenth century, beginning with the work of the English chemist John Dalton. During the nineteenth century, scientists investigated various properties of matter; in physics, this period was marked by ex66
tensive developments in the areas of thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism, and optics. Nevertheless, until the last decade of the century, the atom remained the ultimate, indivisible particle that its name implies. In the 1890’s, three discoveries were made that led eventually to the awareness that atoms have structure: the discovery of X rays by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in 1895, the discovery of radioactivity by Antoine-Henri Becquerel in 1896, and the discovery of electrons by Sir Joseph John Thomson in 1897. The steps that led to the discovery of X rays began with the invention of the cathode-ray tube by Heinrich Geissler of Bonn, Germany, in 1857. The cathode-ray tube is a partially evacuated glass tube inside of which are sealed two metal electrodes. When a high voltage is applied across these electrodes, positive ions are attracted to the negatively charged electrode and the negative ions to the positive electrode. Because of the kinetic energy acquired by the ions, the molecules of the gas in the tube are excited and radiate electromagnetic energy
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
and their penetrating power. Consequently, in his first experiments he placed various obstructions in the path of the rays, such as a book and wooden and metal objects. He noted that the degree of fluorescence was little reduced by wood or by a book of about one thousand pages but that lead and platinum blocked the rays completely. Röntgen then placed his hand in the path of the rays and saw that there was a clear outline of the bones on the fluorescent screen. Replacing the fluorescent screen with a photographic plate, he produced the first X-ray photograph. Unable to identify these new rays clearly, he called them simply “X rays” to indicate that their exact nature was as yet unknown; in Germany, they became known as Röntgen rays. The first public announcement of Röntgen’s discovery was made in a brief note to the Physico-medical Society of Würzburg. Within the medical community, there was immediate recognition of the significance of this discovery for medical diagnosis. In January, 1896, an X-ray photograph was made in Paris of a hand with a bullet embedded in it. So impressive was the photograph that popular as well as technical journals immediately reproduced it.
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. (Library of Congress)
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of various wavelengths that are characteristic of the gas in the tube. Julius Plücker, also a professor at Bonn University and a physicist, became interested in Geissler’s tube and suggested a modification whereby the luminous discharge could be confined to a capillary part in the middle of the tube. Plücker was the first to observe cathodic rays (without identifying them) and their deflection in the presence of a magnetic field. Eugen Goldstein of the Berlin Observatory was the first scientist to use the term “cathode rays” in 1876 to describe the various kinds of radiation detected in the tube. Other scientists who used the Geissler tube were Johann W. Hittorf, Sir William Crookes, Heinrich Hertz, Philipp Lenard, and Thomson. Because Crookes had made significant improvements in the design of the tube, it became known as the Crookes tube. Röntgen began his auspicious academic career at the University of Utrecht in 1865, but he soon enrolled at the Swiss Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. There he worked under two famous physicists, Rudolph Clausius and August Kundt, the latter a brilliant experimentalist. After receiving the degree of doctor of philosophy in 1869 from the University of Zurich, Röntgen worked successively at the Universities of Würzburg, Strasbourg, and Giessen. Although his doctoral dissertation had been on the study of gases, he expanded his experimental work to research on pyro- and piezoelectric properties of crystals, surface phenomena of liquids, and dielectrics. In 1888, Röntgen returned to the University of Würzburg, having achieved a solid reputation as a physicist. By 1895, he had published forty-eight papers and had corresponded with eighty of the most prominent physicists of the time. In the 1890’s, Röntgen, like many of his contemporaries, decided to investigate phenomena associated with the cathode-ray tube. On November 8, 1895, Röntgen was working alone in the physics institute at the University of Würzburg, attempting to determine the effect of covering a cathoderay tube with a black cardboard box. He noticed that a paper treated with barium platinocyanide fluoresced, even though it was several meters away from the covered tube; as he was working at night and the laboratory was dark, he noticed the fluorescence easily. Lenard had discovered previously that cathode rays could penetrate a thin aluminum window at the end of a tube and cause fluorescence, but only up to a few centimeters from the tube. Aware of Lenard’s observation, Röntgen realized that he was observing a new, previously undetected kind of ray. He was impressed with the intensity of the new rays
Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X Rays
Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X Rays
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
After the initial discovery, Röntgen measured the properties of X rays: their penetrating power, their ability to cause fluorescence, the refractive index in various media, and their reflectivity. As a result of further experiments, he distinguished between “hard” X rays, those that would penetrate very dense materials such as bones, and “soft” rays, those that would penetrate materials such as human flesh. In addition, he discovered that, although any solid body could be made to generate X rays when bombarded by the cathode rays, the most penetrating rays were produced when platinum was the target. When Thomson identified cathode rays as electrons in 1897, the basic mode of production of X rays—that is, by striking targets with high-velocity electrons—was clearly understood. As is the case with so many other scientific discoveries, Röntgen’s discovery of X rays depended on a con-
siderable amount of work done by his predecessors, but it is still reasonable to credit Röntgen with the clear identification of these rays. Nevertheless, because so many of his contemporaries also worked with cathode-ray tubes, it is not altogether surprising that some of them had, in fact, detected X rays without identifying them. The three physicists who did this were Crookes, A. W. Goodspeed, and Lenard. In 1879, Crookes noted that photographic plates lying near his cathode-ray tube frequently became fogged, but his only reaction was to return the plates to the manufacturers as being faulty. In 1890, Goodspeed of the University of Pennsylvania had virtually the same experience, but he also failed to investigate the phenomenon further. Lenard, in his extensive work with cathode-ray tubes, undoubtedly dealt with X rays, but he failed to distinguish them from cathode rays, which were later identified as electrons. In view of the widespread reception of the discovery of X rays and its recognized signifiX Rays and Research cance, Röntgen was awarded the Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen’s discovery of X rays was just the beginning of first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. X-ray-related research. Among the many scientists who have been awarded Nobel Prizes as the result of their research using X rays are the following: 1915: William Henry Bragg and Lawrence Bragg received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the determination of crystal structures using X rays. 1917: Charles Glover Barkla received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the characteristic X-ray radiations of the elements. 1924: Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn received the Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries in the field of X-ray spectroscopy. 1936: Peter J. W. Debye received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the determination of molecular structures by X-ray diffraction in gases. 1962: Max Perutz and John Cowdery Kendrew received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the determination of the structure of hemoglobin and myoglobin. 1962: Francis Crick, James D. Watson, and Maurice H. F. Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material. 1964: Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the determination of the structure of penicillin and other important biochemical substances. 1979: Allan M. Cormack and Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the development of computerized tomography. 1981: Kai M. Siegbahn received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of high-resolution electron spectroscopy. 1988: Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Huber, and Hartmut Michel received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the determination of protein structures crucial to photosynthesis.
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Significance Röntgen’s discovery had an immediate and worldwide impact. The earliest record to appear in a scientific journal was published in the Electrical Engineer of New York on January 8, 1896, only two months after the discovery. In that year, more than a thousand books, pamphlets, and articles about X rays appeared. X rays’ mode of generation and their properties proved to be such fruitful areas for research that between 1896 and 1910, more than ten thousand publications were devoted to them. Röntgen and his contemporaries recognized the significance of X rays as a diagnostic tool for medicine. In addition to using X rays to examine broken bones, physicians began to employ them for other diagnostic purposes, such as to examine the spinal column for defects, to examine the skull to determine the cause of fainting or blind spells, to detect metal objects in the body, and to detect cavities in teeth. X rays helped
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Further Reading Beam Line: A Periodical of Particle Physics 25 (Summer, 1995). http://www.slac.stanford.edu/pubs/ beamline/pdf/95ii.pdf. Special issue titled “One Hundred Years of X Rays” is devoted to discussion of the history and uses of X rays. Articles include “Early History of X Rays” and “Medical Applications of X Rays.” Features photographs, diagrams, and reproduced newspaper articles from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. (Beam Line is published by
the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.) Bleich, Alan Ralph. The Story of X-Rays. New York: Dover, 1960. Provides a brief historical account of the discovery of X rays and their applications in medicine, art, crystallography, and industry. Intended for the general reader. Includes numerous illustrations, glossary, and index. Bragg, W. H., and W. L. Bragg. X-Rays and Crystal Structure. London: G. Bell & Sons, 1915. Written by the father-and-son team who pioneered the use of X rays to study the structure of crystals. Discusses the basic physics of X rays and crystals. Offers much information of historical interest. Includes many excellent photographs and illustrations. Dibner, Bern. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and the Discovery of X-Rays. New York: Franklin Watts, 1968. An excellent account of the discovery of X rays. Begins with the contributions made by Röntgen’s predecessors and the influence other physicists had on him. Intended for the general reader. Includes many fine illustrations and photographs. Michette, Alan, and Sawka Pfauntsch, eds. X-Rays: The First Hundred Years. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996. Collection of essays published in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of Röntgen’s discovery of X rays. Reviews the history of scientific work related to X rays as well as modern applications. Includes an extensive glossary. Thumm, Walter. “Röntgen’s Discovery of X Rays.” Physics Teacher 13 (April, 1975): 207-214. Shows why the common characterization of Röntgen’s discovery of X rays as an accident is not really tenable. Notes the care with which Röntgen examined the phenomenon and the failures of his contemporaries to make the discovery although they were working with the same equipment. See also: 1901: Hewitt Invents the Mercury-Vapor Lamp; Nov. 23, 1936: Fluorescent Lighting Is Introduced.
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doctors detect chronic conditions such as arthritis, tuberculosis, and bone demineralization. Eventually, it was discovered that X rays can have serious negative effects on the human body. For example, they can damage reproductive cells, thus causing genetic diseases in subsequent generations. Röntgen failed to determine the exact nature of X rays, a task that Max von Laue, another German physicist, accomplished in 1913. Along with Walter Friedrich and Paul Knipping, von Laue successfully demonstrated the diffraction of X rays by crystals and showed that X rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths be–7 –11 tween 10 and 10 meters. The work of these physicists was developed further by English physicist Sir William Henry Bragg and his son, Sir Lawrence Bragg, who used the newly discovered radiation to determine precisely the atomic arrangement of crystals. When X-ray spectra are produced, they consist of a continuous range of wavelengths as well as intense specific lines. The continuous portion, termed “braking radiation,” is caused by the decelerating electrons. The line spectra are given off by the atoms of the target metal as a result of the direct interaction of the bombarding electrons with the electrons of the target. The line spectra are known as “characteristic spectra” because their wavelengths are characteristic of the different target materials. From this fact, English physicist Henry Mosely concluded that X-ray spectra provide clues to the positions of elements in the atomic table. —Wilfred Theisen
Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X Rays
First Transatlantic Telegraphic Radio Transmission
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
December 12, 1901
First Transatlantic Telegraphic Radio Transmission Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic telegraph signal sent without a cable, demonstrating that long-distance electronic communication through open space was possible. Locale: Poldhu, England; St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada Categories: Science and technology; inventions; communications and media; radio and television Key Figures Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), Italian scientist and inventor James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), Scottish mathematician and physicist Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872), American portrait painter and scientist who invented Morse code Joseph Henry (1797-1878), American physicist and inventor Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894), German physicist Summary of Event On December 12, 1901, Guglielmo Marconi was in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, to receive a Morse code signal to be transmitted to him from Poldhu, Cornwall, England, a distance of 3,440 kilometers (2,137.5 miles) across the Atlantic Ocean. Humankind was about to enter the era of worldwide electronic communication. The principles of electric telegraphy had been discovered in the nineteenth century, and for years individuals had worked to send the electric signal further and further through various wire conductors. According to David A. Hounshell of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of History and Technology: “The word telegraph originally identified a visual, manually operated signaling system, or semaphore, used to communicate information rapidly over a large distance.” In the nineteenth century, however, as research into electricity progressed, the term was associated with signals sent and received over wires and then without wires. Samuel F. B. Morse was an American artist and inventor who had sailed to Europe in 1832 to study art. On the return voyage, a fellow passenger and American, the chemist Charles T. Jackson, introduced Morse to the principles of electromagnetism, the basis for the telegraph. In 1835, Morse created a transmission device and a code, now known as Morse code (a series of dots and dashes representing agreed-upon alphanumeric sym70
bols), to be transmitted as an electric signal through a wire and received at a distant location. On May 25, 1844, Morse demonstrated the principles of telegraphy by transmitting and receiving over an electric telegraph line that was 64 kilometers (39.8 miles) long, between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. From Washington, D.C., Morse transmitted this message in code: “What hath God wrought?” Morse was not alone in his work in telegraphy; he borrowed ideas from another American, the physicist and inventor Joseph Henry, who, in 1835, had invented an electrical relay that was the forerunner of Morse’s telegraph. Unfortunately, Henry did not patent his electrical relay, and Morse’s name is the one commonly heard today in association with the telegraph. The application of telegraphic principles proceeded on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1837, the Great Western Railway in England used an early telegraphic signal (with wires strung adjacent to railroad lines) to indicate train speeds. In 1852, Germany and France reached an agreement that allowed telegraph wires to cross their borders to carry messages. Morse and Henry as well as the Scottish mathematician and physicist James Clerk Maxwell and the German physicist Heinrich Hertz all made contributions to the achievement of Marconi. No researcher works in a vacuum; each builds on and borrows from the work of earlier researchers and contemporaries. Maxwell pointed out that electricity and magnetism are really an instance of a single form of electromagnetic radiation, and he demonstrated that what is called “light” results from electromagnetic vibrations of a certain wavelength. What followed from this mid-nineteenth century discovery was the further discovery that electromagnetic waves other than light waves could be propagated or transmitted through space. (In 1968, the International Astronomical Union adopted the figure of 299,792.5 kilometers per second as the speed of light.) As electric energy is transmitted through a wire, it does not travel at the speed of light; rather, it travels at speeds determined by the properties of the conducting medium and associated equipment. Materials such as copper and silver make excellent conductors, but resistance to the transmission of the electric energy is still present, as dictated by the laws of physics. If signals could be transmitted through space, without wires, they would be sent at the speed of light; this is what Marconi
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
First Transatlantic Telegraphic Radio Transmission
1901
To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
Guglielmo Marconi (left), with assistant George Kemp, receives the first wireless signals from across the Atlantic Ocean. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
accomplished across the Atlantic Ocean on December 12, 1901. After the initial successes of telegraphy by wire, individuals began to conceive of connecting networks of wires all around the globe. In 1850, a well-insulated copper wire was laid between France and England in the English Channel to carry telegraphic signals, and in 1854 individuals began to consider laying a wire cable across the Atlantic Ocean. According to James R. Chiles, “The first Atlantic cable, which took three attempts in 1857 and 1858 to lay, consumed 367,000 miles [590,503 kilometers] of iron wire and 300,000 miles [482,700 kilometers] of tarred hemp.” On August 13, 1858, President James Buchanan of the United States and Queen Victoria of England exchanged telegraphic messages via this first Atlantic cable. Queen Victoria’s ninety-word message took 16.5 hours to cross the Atlantic. The cable of 1858, however, worked for only one month, and in the 1860’s
two additional cables were laid across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1866, two functioning cables connected North America and England, and by the end of the nineteenth century more than ninety million telegrams were being transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean each year. In 1894, Marconi became familiar with Hertz’s work on generating electromagnetic waves through space by using a transmitter. Marconi conceived of the idea of using these waves through space as a transmission signal or a form of wireless telegraphy: The signals would go through space at the speed of light and not be impeded by the resistance of any wire conductor. While in Italy, Marconi worked on his transmitting and receiving equipment. After he received little support to continue his work on wireless telegraphy in Italy, he was persuaded to go to England to pursue his work. Marconi thought that the transmission of signals through space to be received by ships at sea would be of importance to a maritime nation. He went to 71
First Transatlantic Telegraphic Radio Transmission
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England because that nation was the world’s greatest cated his earlier test by conducting a series of transmismaritime power, and on June 2, 1896, he applied for and sion-reception tests between the origination station in received the first patent for wireless telegraphy in the Poldhu and the S.S. Philadelphia, which was 3,232 kiloworld. meters (2008.3 miles) away in the Atlantic Ocean, but From 1896 to 1901, Marconi continued to experiment still some people did not think highly of his achievewith transmitting and receiving wireless telegraph sigments. One of Marconi’s daughters wrote in 1989 that nals over greater distances, utilizing the code developed her father’s “scientific work has not been without critiby Morse. In 1894, Marconi had succeeded in sending cism” and that the point his critics seemed to have in and receiving a wireless telegraph transmission 2.4 kilocommon was that “Marconi, rather than an inventor of meters (1.5 miles). He gradually perfected his techniques new devices, achieved his major successes by incorpoand was soon sending and receiving wireless signals over rating components already invented by others.” distances of 6.4 kilometers (almost 4 miles), 14.5 kiloCritics and disbelievers notwithstanding, Marconi meters (9 miles), 19 kilometers (11.8 miles), 50 kilomecontinued with his experimentations and transmissions, ters (31.1 miles), 121 kilometers (75.2 miles), and fiand by the end of 1902 the first official messages, not test nally, in January, 1901, on the south coast of England, he transmissions, were being sent across the Atlantic sent and received a signal over a distance of 299 kilomeOcean. By the early part of 1903, newspaper stories from ters (185.8 miles). New York City were being sent for publication in The Individuals expressed great interest in the ability to Times of London by means of Marconi’s telegraphy, convey messages even greater distances, and Marconi atwhich was undeniably built on the work of Henry, tempted his transatlantic transmission at the end of 1901. Morse, Maxwell, Hertz, and other individuals. Success was not guaranteed, and many thought he was A Nobel Prize, however, is not given to a committee, trying to do the impossible. At the transmission site in and in 1909, Marconi and Karl Ferdinand Braun shared England, Marconi erected a transmission antenna 48 methe Nobel Prize in Physics. (Braun was honored for his ters (52.5 yards) tall, consisting of fifty copper wires suswork on the first cathode-ray tube, which he had intropended between two towers standing 60 meters (65.6 duced in 1897.) As Marconi stated in his 1909 Nobel lecyards) apart. In Canada, during a winter gale, Marconi ture in physics: sent aloft a kite that had a trailing antenna that was 152 meters (166.2 yards) in length. He received the letMarconi’s Vision ter S on December 12, 1901, when Soon after he succeeded in his attempt to send and receive the first transatlanthe signal was sent from Poldhu to tic radio transmission, Guglielmo Marconi wrote the following description of St. John’s, a distance of 3,440 kilothe event and his reaction to it: meters. Significance When Marconi received the letter S, the world was forever changed, because the transmission of information was no longer limited to a distinct physical medium; information could now be transmitted through space at the speed of light. Even though Marconi was successful on December 12, 1901, he was challenged immediately by individuals and corporations who claimed that he could not possibly have achieved a wireless transmission from Poldhu to Newfoundland. In February, 1902, Marconi repli72
Shortly before midday I placed the single earphone to my ear and started listening. The receiver on the table before me was very crude—a few coils and condensers and a coherer—no valves, no amplifiers, not even a crystal. But I was at last on the point of putting the correctness of all my beliefs to test. The answer came at 12:30 when I heard, faintly but distinctly, pip-pip-pip. I handed the phone to Kemp: “Can you hear anything?” I asked. “Yes,” he said. “The letter S.” He could hear it. I knew then that all my anticipations had been justified. The electric waves sent out into space from Poldhu had traversed the Atlantic—the distance, enormous as it seemed then, of 1,700 miles—unimpeded by the curvature of the earth. The result meant much more to me than the mere successful realization of an experiment. As Sir Oliver Lodge has stated, it was an epoch in history. I now felt for the first time absolutely certain that the day would come when mankind would be able to send messages without wires not only across the Atlantic but between the farthermost ends of the earth. Source: Quoted in Eyewitness to History, edited by John Carey (New York: Avon Books, 1987).
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Marconi’s telegraphic achievements coincided with other achievements occurring in electromagnetics. Sir John Ambrose Fleming became a scientific adviser to the company that Marconi founded, and in 1904 Fleming developed a “valve” that could control the flow of electrons in a tube. In 1906, Reginald Aubrey Fessenden invented a system to modulate electromagnetic radio waves that could be transmitted as a form of wireless telegraphy, and radio was thus invented. In 1908, the journal Nature published a brief letter by Alan A. Campbell Swinton titled “Distant Electric Vision,” and television as a form of “wireless telegraphy” eventually came about. The first public demonstrations of television occurred in England in 1926 and in the United States in 1927. Marconi’s contribution evolved into a global telecommunications system that allows virtually instant access to people anywhere in the world, providing they have the appropriate technology. Fiber optics now substitute for copper wires, and signals are transmitted through space at the speed of light to geosynchronous communications satellites orbiting the earth some 36,000 kilometers (22,369.4 miles) above the equator. Although the world has not diminished in size since Marconi’s time, it definitely has “shrunk” through the advances that have been made in the ways in which information can be exchanged and shared since that first transatlantic telegraphic transmission on December 12, 1901. —Charles F. Urbanowicz Further Reading Baker, W. J. A History of the Marconi Company. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1971. An excellent book about Marconi and the company he created; it also places telecommunications activities into the context of the times, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the 1960’s. Braga, Gioia Marconi. “Marconi and Instant Global Satellite Communications.” In Space Thirty: A Thirty Year Overview of Space Applications and Explorations, edited by Joseph N. Pelton. Alexandria, Va.:
Society of Satellite Professionals, 1989. A short summary of Marconi by his younger daughter in a volume that looks at global communications. Chiles, James R. “The Cable Under the Sea.” American Heritage of Invention and Technology 15 (Fall, 1987): 34-41. This article (in an excellent journal on invention and technology) about the copper cables of the nineteenth century concludes with information on contemporary fiber-optic cables across the Atlantic Ocean. Dunlap, Orrin E., Jr. Communications in Space: From Marconi to Man on the Moon. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. This easy-to-read volume, by an individual who built his first wireless station in 1912, provides an excellent overview of progress in communications from the time of Marconi to space exploration. Franco, Gaston Lionel, ed. World Communications: New Horizons/New Power/New Hope. Navara, Italy: Franco, 1983. This coffee-table-style trilingual publication (English, French, and Spanish) provides an outstanding visual presentation of worldwide communications, with information on basic scientific discoveries that have contributed to telecommunications activities. Also provides information on contemporary organizations that regulate worldwide telecommunications policies. Hong, Sungook. Wireless: From Marconi’s Black-Box to the Audion. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001. Draws on previously untapped archival evidence and recent work in the history of technology to provide a new perspective on the early days of wireless communication. Offers new insights into the relationship between Marconi and his scientific adviser, Fleming. Concludes with a discussion of Lee de Forest’s audion and the shift from wireless telegraphy to radio. Hounshell, David A. Telegraph, Telephone, Radio, and Television. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1977. This booklet provides just a small indication of the tremendous amount of information available from the institution that has been affectionately called “the nation’s attic.” In May of 1990, the National Museum of American History (part of the Smithsonian Institution) opened a new permanent exhibit titled “The Information Age” that covers the times from the work of Morse to twentieth century computers. Marconi, Degna. My Father, Marconi. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1962. For a warm and personal view of Marconi, this book by his older daughter cannot be 73
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The results obtained from these tests, which at the time constituted a record distance, seemed to indicate that electric waves produced in the manner I had adopted would most probably be able to make their way around the curvature of the Earth, and that therefore even at great distances, such as those dividing America from Europe, the factor of the Earth’s curvature would not constitute an insurmountable barrier to the extension of telegraphy through space.
First Transatlantic Telegraphic Radio Transmission
Completion of the Mombasa-Lake Victoria Railway surpassed. She points out that on the occasion of Marconi’s funeral in 1937, international wireless operators throughout the world halted their transmissions for two minutes in her father’s honor. Shiers, George, ed. The Development of Wireless to 1920. New York: Arno Press, 1977. Twenty articles are reprinted in this excellent volume, including the 1909 Nobel lectures in physics by Marconi and Braun. Contains papers from Fleming and Fessenden. The introductory essay on the “prehistory” period of 1876 to 1920 provides a very good overview of the technical aspects of broadcasting history. Weightman, Gavin. Signor Marconi’s Magic Box: The Most Remarkable Invention of the Nineteenth Century and the Amateur Inventor Whose Genius Sparked
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 a Revolution. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2003. In addition to describing Marconi’s experiments, this book focuses in large part on the competition that existed among the various inventors who were pursuing the goal of wireless communications at the same time as Marconi. Includes photographs. See also: Dec. 24, 1906: Fessenden Pioneers Radio Broadcasting; Oct. 21, 1915: First Demonstration of Transatlantic Radiotelephony; 1919: Principles of Shortwave Radio Communication Are Discovered; 1920’s: Radio Develops as a Mass Broadcast Medium; Aug. 20-Nov. 2, 1920: Radio Broadcasting Begins; Sept. 9, 1926: National Broadcasting Company Is Founded.
December 19, 1901
Completion of the Mombasa-Lake Victoria Railway The building of a railroad across Africa’s Rift Valley radically altered the lives of millions of people. It shifted the focus of British political and economic activity from the coast to the interior highlands and was a catalyst for bloody rebellions and a massive migration of people both within the region and from India to Africa. Also known as: Uganda Railroad; Rift Valley Railway; Lunatic Line; Lunatic Express Locale: Kenya Categories: Transportation; colonialism and occupation Key Figures William MacKinnon (1823-1893), British executive of the Imperial British East Africa Company who spearheaded the railroad’s proposal and pressured the government for support Lord Lugard (Frederick John Dealtry Lugard; 18581945), British officer who brought Uganda into the Empire and convinced the British public to support the railroad William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), prime minister of Great Britain, 1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886, and 1892-1894 Archibald Philip Primrose Rosebery (1847-1929), foreign secretary under Gladstone, 1892-1894, and prime minister of Great Britain, 1894-1895 Third Marquis of Salisbury (Robert Cecil; 1830-1903), 74
prime minister of Great Britain, 1885-1886, 18861892, and 1895-1902 Henry Du Pré Labouchere (1831-1912), British diplomat, journalist, and a radical liberal politician who served in Parliament and was famous for his wicked wit and sharp debates J. H. Patterson (1867-1947), British lieutenant colonel who supervised the building of the bridge over the Tsavo River and hunted the lions of Tsavo Summary of Event December 19, 1901, was a day of celebration for the British in present-day Uganda and Kenya: The last spike in the Uganda Railroad was hammered home by Florence Preston, the wife of one of the engineers. This event marked the completion of one of the most extraordinary railroad projects in the world, and soon afterward the little town of Kisumu on the eastern shores of Lake Victoria was renamed Port Florence. It had taken six years to build six hundred miles of track from the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa to the lake, and the railroad’s workers had been forced to contend with the dangers posed by lions and by the nearly vertical slopes on which parts of the railroad were constructed. Eventually, extensions to the original line were added, and the terminus recovered its name of Kisumu. Political manipulation and unsettled domestic issues dominated the British parliament at the end of the nineteenth century, and this had a significant affect on the
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Completion of the Mombasa-Lake Victoria Railway
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sionaries and further their evangelism. building of the railroad. Three different prime minisMacKinnon hoped that the many advantages he proters—William E. Gladstone, Archibald Philip Primrose posed would draw support from many quarters. UnfortuRosebery (fifth earl of Rosebery), and Robert Cecil nately, Salisbury’s government collapsed in 1892, and (third marquis of Salisbury)—alternated power during Gladstone became prime minister. The three million the last decade of the century in a topsy-turvy manner. pounds initially projected for construction costs required The streak began and ended with the third marquis of an act of Parliament, but Gladstone was against further Salisbury, a Conservative leader who pushed for expanexpansion of the empire and refused to bring the proposal sion of the empire. Gladstone served his last term during to a vote. Meanwhile, Lord Lugard worried that his efthe period between Salisbury’s final two terms; he ran a forts in Buganda would come to nothing if the governLiberal government that argued for better management ment did not intervene, and so he went on a lecture tour of the empire and resisted expansionist policies. Roseand wrote a popular book to rally support. The tour was bery served as Gladstone’s foreign secretary from 1892 successful: Lugard spoke to large crowds of people who to 1894, but he was an expansionist in the Liberal Party. lobbied the government on his behalf. His manipulation of the Uganda situation contributed to The railroad’s prospects were further improved by the the fall of Gladstone’s government, and as a result Rosefact that Rosebery, Gladstone’s foreign secretary, supbery served as prime minister for just a year. ported the project. Rosebery publicly demanded that the The story of the Mombasa-Lake Victoria Railway berailroad be built; if it was not, he said, he would resign gan with a petition to Salisbury’s government in Decemand take Parliament’s support with him. Gladstone ber of 1890 from William MacKinnon, the executive dicalled his bluff, a mistake that contributed to the collapse rector of the Imperial British East Africa Company of Gladstone’s government in 1894. Rosebery was able (IBEA). MacKinnon presided over an ailing company to succeed him as prime minister for about a year, and his that had a mandate to maintain a British presence in the first act in that position was to approve the rail project East African interior once Lord Lugard had defeated the (though its funds were limited). When Rosebery’s govkingdom of Buganda, near Lake Victoria in southeast ernment collapsed in 1895, Salisbury returned. With his Uganda. The cost of remaining in the region, however, support, sufficient funds were finally approved, and the was too much for the company to bear. To alleviate the project began in December of 1895. situation, MacKinnon proposed building a railroad with government subsidy. In his proposal to Salisbury’s government, MacKinnon outlined four Mombasa-Lake Victoria Railway, 1901 benefits that a railroad would bring Sudan Ethiopia to the British government. First, a railroad would allow Britain to mainLake Turkana tain a long-term hold on Uganda, Italian which would facilitate its efforts to Somaliland British Uganda control the headwaters of the Nile East Africa River. According to MacKinnon, a Protectorate Kampala position at the head of the Nile would Kisumu Nakuru assure protection of the Suez Canal, Lake an important link between Britain Victoria and its wealthy colonial holdings in Nairobi ya ate India and the East. Second, it would or contribute to the demise of the reI n d i a n gion’s massive slave trade, since trains would replace humans as forms German O c e a n Mombasa of transportation. Third, the railroad East Africa would create trade in a region that the Europeans had long considered a = Railway route wasteland, and fourth, it would proDar-es-Salaam tect the newly arrived Christian mis-
Completion of the Mombasa-Lake Victoria Railway Throughout the years, there had been a tremendous amount of debate on the merits of MacKinnon’s proposal. One of the most vocal dissenters was Henry Du Pré Labouchere, a journalist and multiterm member of Parliament. His sharp wit captured the public’s imagination: He called the project the “Lunatic Line” and correctly predicted that it would cost twice as much and take twice as long as early plans projected. The train’s nickname evolved from the “Lunatic Line” to the “Lunatic Express,” and though this term was originally used as a pejorative, it gradually became a term of endearment. Over thirty thousand laborers from India were brought in to work on the line, and only twenty-three miles of track were laid the first year. Building a bridge from the island of Mombasa proved a greater challenge than expected, and immediately after its construction workers were faced with continuing the railway through the harsh climate of the Taru Desert. Once they crossed the desert, progress improved dramatically despite several outbreaks of disease such as malaria and smallpox. Workers also faced constant attacks by local peoples who feared that the new “Iron Snake” would only bring them grief. As the railroad rose into the highlands and then across the great Rift Valley—first down the Kikuyu Escarpment and then up the Mau Escarpment, the summit of which rose eight thousand feet—extreme conditions confronted them at every turn. Each escarpment had a nearly vertical slope of more than a thousand feet, so special inclines had to be designed to move the laborers, equipment, and supplies needed to build the trains’ viaducts. Fortunately, the cooler air and abundance of water made for more pleasant working conditions. The construction of the bridge over the Tsavo River Valley proved to be the most difficult segment. Two lionesses began attacking the workers, and more than 140 people were killed; several laborers were snatched from their camp at night and dragged to the lionesses’ lair. An engineer for the bridge, J. H. Patterson, stopped construction to hunt down the lions and had several neardeath experiences in the process. The bridge was not completed until he killed the lions more than a year later. Significance The railroad had a profound effect on East Africa. As a result of its construction, hundreds of thousands of native African people, such as the Masai and Kikuyu, were dispossessed by Europeans who wanted to establish coffee plantations and small towns. One of these towns, Nairobi, would grow so dramatically that it replaced Mom76
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 basa as a center of trade and became the capital of Kenya. Many of the settlers in these towns were Indian laborers who remained in the area after their work on the railroad was complete, and many more migrated to the region to take advantage of the growing economy. By the end of World War II, Indians were the largest foreign minority in the region, and they played a significant role in helping the African people fight for independence. The railroad was critical to the acquisition of Britain’s last major colonial outposts. Unfortunately for the independent nations of Kenya and Uganda, the railroad could not be effectively used for further economic development because the tracks on the extensions were of different gauges, and all of the gauges were too narrow for modern locomotives. Trips were frequently run for tourists, but they could not support the cost of running the line, and it went deep into debt. In October of 2005, the line was sold to the highest bidder, the South African-led consortium Sheltam Trade Close Corporation, and it was renamed the Rift Valley Railway. — Carolyn V. Prorok Further Reading “All Aboard the Lunatic Express.” Economist 377 (October 22, 2005). Reviews the privatization of the railroad by Kenya and Uganda since the line was sold to a South African company. Jacobs, Francine. Fire Snake: The Railroad That Changed East Africa. London: William Morrow, 1980. Gives an overview of the construction of the railroad, that goes into detail concerning the social, political, and economic effects of the railroad in twentieth century East Africa. Miller, Charles. The Lunatic Express. New York: Macmillan, 1971. An in-depth analysis of British colonial politics in East Africa leading to the building of the railroad. Miller emphasizes the railroad’s extraordinary political and economic payoff and compares it to endeavors by other European colonies on the African continent. Patterson, J. H. The Man-Eating Lions of Tsavo. 1907. Reprint. New York: Kessinger, 2004. Nail-biting account of the famous hunt for the lions that terrorized the railroad workers for more than a year, by the hunter himself. See also: Mar. 28, 1911: Baro-Kano Railroad Begins Operation in Nigeria; 1916: Completion of the TransSiberian Railroad; Early 1920: Britain Represses Somali Rebellion; Aug. 3, 1940-Mar., 1941: Italy Invades British Somaliland.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity
1902
Bateson Publishes MENDEL’S PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY In his book Mendel’s Principles of Heredity, William Bateson clarified the importance of Gregor Mendel’s 1866 research findings concerning the inheritance of characteristics in plants.
Key Figures William Bateson (1861-1926), English geneticist and evolutionist Hugo de Vries (1848-1935), Dutch botanist and horticulturist Carl Erich Correns (1864-1933), German botanist Erich Tschermak von Seysenegg (1871-1962), Austrian botanist and plant breeder Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), Austrian teaching monk and botanist Summary of Event Before 1900, some investigators of heredity concluded that its mechanism is not a blending of characteristics, as was generally thought, but rather that the characteristics are particulate and unchanged by mixing with others, reappearing unchanged in future generations. That is, inheritance operates in a way similar to the combining of various colored balls rather than to the mixing of different colored liquids. In 1900, three of these scientists who were studying plant crosses, Hugo de Vries, Carl Erich Correns, and Erich Tschermak von Seysenegg, independently discovered that in 1866 Gregor Mendel had published a paper giving this particulate explanation along with the regular ratios for the appearance of contrasting characteristics in garden peas over several generations. In the first generation of such a cross, only one trait that was termed dominant, of a pair of contrasting ones, was found in all of the offspring. This is usually known as Mendel’s law of dominance. In the second and succeeding generations, the lost trait, termed recessive, would appear in some individuals. In the second inbred generation, it would show up in one-fourth of the offspring of self-pollinated (or selfed) plants. After the second generation, only twothirds of the dominant-appearing plants carried the recessive traits; the other one-third were pure dominants. Those that carried the recessive traits would have them
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Locale: Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Tübingen, Germany; Vienna, Austria Categories: Science and technology; biology; genetics
show up in one-fourth of their offspring when selfed. Those that were pure dominants would breed true and show only that trait in future selfed generations. Further, in crosses in which several traits were followed at the same time, each one of them was inherited independent of the others, and each showed these same ratios. This result is called Mendel’s law of independent assortment. As early as the eighteenth century, a number of plant hybridizers had noticed the uniformity of the first-generation offspring of a hybrid cross and the lack of uniformity in succeeding generations. None of them noticed that the individual traits were inherited in a systematic way that could be described as percentages or ratios. Mendel was thus unique in keeping careful records of each trait in each generation and in using mathematical ratios to characterize traits. He also noted that it did not matter which trait was examined; all traits behaved in the same manner. In the initial crossing of the two types, it did not matter from which parent the pollen or ovules came. De Vries, who in 1900 was a professor at Amsterdam University in the Netherlands, realized as early as 1889, when he published a book titled Intracelluläre pangenesis (Intracellular Pangenesis, 1910), that one could best discover the key to understanding plant heredity and evolution by hybridizing different types of plants and studying the characteristics of their offspring over several generations. In the following years, he made many such crosses using a wide variety of flowering plants in order to study his hypothesized “pangenes,” or particles that he thought carried the hereditary information. Also, he was interested in sudden changes in plants from one generation to the next, called saltation or mutation. He thought that new species could originate in that manner. In his crosses, de Vries found that the first generation exhibited only one of a pair of contrasting traits and that the second generation had about one-fourth with the lost trait. Sometime before March, 1900, he discovered that Mendel had explained this for peas in 1866; thus he had rediscovered Mendel’s ratios. In March, de Vries submitted a paper for publication in which he reported his ratios for many different kinds of plants and in a footnote referred to Mendel’s original publication. Because of this, he was the first person to be credited with the rediscovery. Correns, who in 1900 was teaching at Tübingen University in Germany, had been hybridizing different races of maize and peas. He was particularly interested in a
Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity
Mendel’s Pea Plants Dominant trait
Recessive trait
Round
Wrinkled
Yellow
Green
Purple flower
White flower
Inflated pod
Constricted pod
Green pod
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Axial flowers
Terminal flowers
Long stem
Short stem
Mendel evaluated the transmission of seven paired traits in his studies of garden peas.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 characteristic in maize heredity called xenia, in which the color of the endosperm of the grain is caused by the kind of pollen the plant received from the male parent. Correns, too, found that the “lost” traits in both types of plants reappeared in one-fourth of the offspring in the second inbred generation. Like de Vries, he independently discovered Mendel’s paper sometime before March, 1900, but he did not submit his paper for publication until April, after he had seen de Vries’ paper. He also gave Mendel full credit for the discovery of the ratios and their mechanism. Correns, however, reported cases where the first generation lacked dominance and showed some uniform intermediate state for a particular characteristic. He had questions about the universality of Mendel’s interpretation for all cases. Correns was a highly respected researcher, as was de Vries, and the papers of both men were disseminated widely, encouraging others to do research to test their explanations. Tschermak von Seysenegg, who had been breeding garden peas and studying their various traits, also noticed the regularity of the traits’ appearance in different generations. He, too, independently found Mendel’s paper when he was preparing to present a lecture on his breeding work as part of his new teaching position at the Land Cultivation University (Hochschule für Bodenkultur) in Vienna. He credited Mendel in a paper submitted for publication in April, 1900. He was a less well known scientist than either de Vries or Correns, and thus his research was less influential. William Bateson, in England, also had been studying actively discontinuous inheritance of characteristics in plants and animals. In 1894, he published a book titled Materials for the Study of Variation Treated with Especial Regard to Discontinuity in the Origin of Species. When he received a copy of Correns’s paper, with its reference to Mendel’s work, Bateson searched out Mendel’s paper immediately. He quickly realized the great value of Mendel’s findings for explaining discontinuous variation. Bateson became a strong promoter of Mendelianism, having Mendel’s paper translated into English and publishing it together with his own explanation of its importance for understanding heredity in the book Mendel’s Principles of Heredity: A Defence in 1902. Bateson presented his book on Mendel’s principles as a defense because at that time in England the study of inheritance was dominated by the biometric school founded by Sir Francis Galton. Galton’s explanation of heredity, proposed in 1897, was based on a continuous blending hypothesis in which each ancestor was credited with a certain proportion of the mix. That is, each parent
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Significance The modern science of genetics began with the rediscovery of Mendel’s explanation for inheritance. After 1900, de Vries, Correns, Tschermak von Seysenegg, and many other scientists began to explain their experimental results in terms of Mendelian ratios or exceptions to those ratios. Particulate inheritance, with genes
Defending Mendel In his preface to Mendel’s Principles of Heredity, William Bateson states clearly why he feels compelled to defend Mendel’s work and findings against the criticism leveled by zoologist Walter Weldon. In the Study of Evolution progress had well-nigh stopped. The more vigorous . . . had left this field of science to labour in others where the harvest is less precarious. . . . Of those who remained some still struggled to push towards truth through the jungle of phenomena: most were content supinely to rest on the great clearing Darwin made long since. Such was our state when two years ago it was suddenly discovered that an unknown man, Gregor Johann Mendel, had, alone, and unheeded, broken off from the rest—in the moment that Darwin was at work—and cut a way through. This is no mere metaphor, it is simple fact. Each of us who now looks at his own patch of work sees Mendel’s clue running through it: whither that clue will lead, we dare not yet surmise. It was a moment of rejoicing, and they who had heard the news hastened to spread them and take the instant way. In this work I am proud to have borne my little part. But every gospel must be preached to all alike. . . . Not lightly do men let their occupation go; small, then, would be our wonder, did we find the established prophet unconvinced. Yet, is it from misgiving that Mendel had the truth, or merely from indifference, that no naturalist of repute, save Professor Weldon, has risen against him? In the world of knowledge we are accustomed to look for some strenuous effort to understand a new truth even in those who are indisposed to believe. It was therefore with a regret approaching to indignation that I read Professor Weldon’s criticism. Were such a piece from the hand of a junior it might safely be neglected; but coming from Professor Weldon there was the danger—almost the certainty—that the small band of younger men who are thinking of research in this field would take it they had learnt the gist of Mendel, would imagine his teaching exposed by Professor Weldon, and look elsewhere for lines of work. In evolutionary studies we have no Areopagus. With us it is not . . . that an open court is always sitting, composed of men themselves workers, keenly interested in every new thing, skilled and well versed in the facts. Where this is the case, doctrine is soon tried and the false trodden down. But in our sparse and apathetic community error mostly grows unheeded, choking truth. That fate must not befall Mendel now.
1902
contributed half, each grandparent contributed onefourth, and so on backward by generations. The Mendelian explanation did not fit the biometricians’ laws of ancestral inheritance. This disagreement led to heated controversy. When one of the biometricians, the zoologist Walter Weldon, published an unfavorable review of Mendel’s work and that of those who followed, Bateson was compelled to respond. By doing so, he split the English biology community into two feuding factions, and as a result he had difficulty in getting his research published and in finding a university appointment. Nevertheless, his zeal for the new genetics— genetics was the name he gave the field in a public lecture in 1906—led others, particularly young botanists and zoologists, to join him in experimental research on heredity. Mendel’s paper was cited in 1881 in a major analytic reference book, W. O. Focke’s Die Pflanzen-Mischlinge (the plant hybrids), which reported that Mendel had found constant ratios for characters in second and succeeding generations of peas. Both Correns and Tschermak von Seysenegg found Mendel’s paper through this reference. De Vries may have first learned about Mendel’s work through the bibliography of a paper by the American horticulturist Liberty Hyde Bailey, who did not see the paper but included the reference from Focke’s book in 1892. It is also possible that de Vries first saw Mendel’s paper when a colleague sent him an offprint of it from his library because he thought it would be useful to de Vries in his work. De Vries was unclear about this when he later tried to recall the event. The literature about the rediscovery of Mendel’s experiments contains some controversy as to whether de Vries gave Mendel enough credit. Correns, for example, believed that de Vries never gave Mendel the credit he deserved. In any case, it is very clear that each of the rediscoverers came to an understanding similar to that of Mendel through his experiments before finding the Mendel paper. Both de Vries and Correns continued to do significant genetic research after 1900. Bateson became the strongest champion of the Mendelian explanation for all types of plant and animal inheritance.
Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity
Source: William Bateson, Mendel’s Principles of Heredity: A Defence (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1902).
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Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity on chromosomes, replaced the notion of blending inheritance. The appearance of offspring having characteristics of both parents now could be explained by the large number of characteristics involved, each one operating independently in a particulate manner except when linked together with another on the same chromosome. Within a few years, cytological data connected contrasting traits with sections of chromosomes. This connection, with the use of the term “gene” to describe the controlling unit, provided a physical basis for the particulate explanation of heredity. One early finding was that sexuality is controlled in a Mendelian fashion. Experimental work with various types of organisms showed that the three-to-one dominant-to-recessive Mendelian ratio for the second generation of inbred crosses is the normal situation. When these ratios were not found, further explanations were necessary and were produced, such as lack of dominance; more than two possible contrasting traits for the same chromosomal location, only two of which are present in normal cells; more than one pair of genes controlling the expression of a particular trait; linkage of genes on the same chromosome; and modifier genes that change the expression of a trait. Cytological studies quickly began to supplement breeding experiments. Genetics became a leading field of biological study and, in applied areas, an important and useful tool. Agriculturists used their understanding of Mendelian genetics to develop better plants and animals. This resulted in the discovery of hybrid vigor in corn and other crops, which significantly increased agricultural production. In medicine, it led to a better understanding of heredity diseases such as sickle-cell anemia. Genetics now plays a major role in the interpretation of data in other fields of biology, such as morphology, embryology, taxonomy, physiology, and evolutionary biology. The search for the nature of the gene led to the development of molecular biology. The twentieth century truly can be said to be the century of genetics in biological sciences. —Emanuel D. Rudolph Further Reading Bowler, Peter J. The Mendelian Revolution: The Emergence of Hereditarian Concepts in Modern Science and Society. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989. Documents the importance of Mendelian genetics after 1900 as well as the social and scientific impacts of the rediscovery of Mendel’s work. Provides good background information for an appreciation of Mendelian genetics. 80
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Carlson, Elof Axel. Mendel’s Legacy: The Origin of Classical Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2004. Based heavily on early twentieth century sources, this book traces the roots of genetics in breeding analysis and studies of cytology, evolution, and reproductive biology. Highly illustrated. Henig, Robin Marantz. The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Discusses Mendel’s life, including his work, in the context of his time and also relates the rediscovery of his work to developments in the constantly changing field of genetics. Mendel, Gregor J. Experiments in Plant Hybridisation. Translated by William Bateson. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1948. English translation of Mendel’s 1866 paper, supervised by Bateson and published in his book Mendel’s Principles of Heredity: A Defence in 1902. Provides a clear description of Mendel’s methods, results, and interpretation of those results, as well as background on breeding experiments conducted by other scientists. This work is basic to understanding why those who discovered it thirtyfour years later were so impressed with its insights. _______, et al. “The Birth of Genetics: Mendel, de Vries-Correns-Tschermak in English Translation.” Genetics, supp. 35 (September, 1950): 1-47. English translations of the original first papers of the three scientists who rediscovered Mendel’s work. Also includes translations of nine letters that Mendel wrote between 1866 and 1873 to Carl Nägeli, professor of botany at the University of Munich, explaining his pea experiments and his later experiments with crossing hawkweeds. _______, et al. Fundamenta Genetica: The Revised Edition of Mendel’s Classic Paper with a Collection of Twenty-seven Original Papers Published During the Rediscovery Era, edited by Jaroslav Kòímenecky. Oosterhout, Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1965. Twenty-eight papers in their original languages published between 1899 and 1904 give the flavor of excitement of the early Mendelian geneticists. A good source to find Bateson’s papers. An introductory essay in English about concepts before Mendel helps to explain why Mendel’s work was so revolutionary and was therefore ignored. Published to celebrate the centenary of the publication of Mendel’s paper. Olby, Robert C. Origins of Mendelism. New York: Schocken Books, 1966. A well-balanced discussion
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for any serious study of the origins of Mendelism. Stern, Curt, and Eva R. Sherwood, eds. The Origin of Genetics: A Mendel Source Book. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1966. Provides a good summary of Mendel’s work and its rediscovery. Includes English translations of Mendel’s papers on plant hybrids and those of de Vries and Correns. Contains a reprint of a paper by the English geneticist R. A. Fisher on the statistics in Mendel’s 1866 paper and why they seem too perfect. Sewall Wright, an American geneticist, responds to Fisher. See also: 1902: McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome; Dec., 1902: Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits; 1905: Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity; 1906: Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage; 1908: Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics; 1908-1915: Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory; 1909: Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype”; Fall, 1911: Sturtevant Produces the First Chromosome Map.
1902
Carrel Rejoins Severed Blood Vessels Alexis Carrel’s precise procedures for aseptically rejoining blood vessels increased the range of possible surgical procedures and contributed to the realization of organ transplantation. Locale: Lyons, France; Chicago, Illinois Category: Health and medicine Key Figures Alexis Carrel (1873-1944), French surgeon and biologist Charles Claude Guthrie (1880-1963), American surgeon Summary of Event As Alexis Carrel noted in 1908, “The idea of replacing diseased organs by sound ones, of putting back an amputated limb or even of grafting a new limb on a patient having undergone an amputation, is doubtless very old.” Despite the antiquity of the desire, however, the dream remained unrealized until surgeons were able to restore circulation through grafted organs and limbs. Carrel de-
veloped a procedure in 1902 for rejoining severed arteries; without this procedure, modern transplantation surgery would be impossible. On one level, it seems like an easy operation—simply take the two ends of severed vessels and sew them together. Blood, however, presents special difficulties. Although it normally clots quickly when exposed to air, it usually remains unclotted inside a vessel. Its ability to stay unclotted depends on an intact inner membrane of a vein or artery: the tunica intima. If this surface is unhealthy or has foreign bodies on it, blood clots may form in the vessel. This condition, called thrombosis, is fatal if the blockage occludes (closes) the entire vessel. Other surgeons before Carrel had attempted to rejoin severed vessels, but their attempts had usually ended in thrombosis and death. There were two general methods for these operations. Surgeons either sewed together the middle and outer layers of the vessel (the tunica media and tunica externa or adventitia) or inserted a fine magnesium tube into the lumen and joined the vessel together. The success of these operations depended on 81
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of the origins of Mendelism, considerations of other interpretations of heredity before and during Mendel’s life, and detailed explanation of the rediscovery of Mendel’s discovery. Clearly written without extensive quotes from original writings, which appear in a large appendix. _______. “William Bateson’s Introduction of Mendelism to England: A Reappraisal.” British Journal of the History of Science 20 (1987): 399-420. Documents the rediscovery of Mendel’s work, but mostly elaborates on Bateson’s role as an early defender of Mendelism. Claims that Bateson took several years to conclude that Mendelian principles were broadly applicable to inheritance in different kinds of organisms. Roberts, H. F. Plant Hybridization Before Mendel. 1929. Reprint. New York: Hafner, 1965. Classical presentation of the background of Mendel’s hybridizing experiments, Mendel’s work, and its rediscovery in 1900. Includes comments quoted from de Vries, Correns, and Tschermak von Seysenegg about their recollections of how they found Mendel’s paper. Includes a chapter on Bateson’s contributions. Essential
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Carrel Rejoins Severed Blood Vessels strict asepsis and an accurate union of the ends. Several experimental successes were achieved with these methods, but their translation into surgical practice was difficult to accomplish. According to most accounts, Carrel became interested in this procedure when Sadi Carnot, the president of France, was assassinated in 1894. The bullet that struck Carnot had severed an artery, and the president, despite the ministrations of surgeons, had bled to death. Carrel, who had demonstrated much scientific acumen as a youth, turned his attention to the problem of rejoining blood vessels. He mastered fine stitchery and asepsis and introduced paraffin-covered threads and needles. The key to his procedure was that he rolled back the ends of the vessels and sewed these ends together; the blood then continued to flow uninterrupted through the artery’s smooth inner surface. This step allowed for the resumption of circulation. Carrel finally succeeded in 1902. In that year, he later announced, he had transplanted kidneys in dogs on more than one occasion. Although all the animals died because of septic complications, the kidneys began to produce urine immediately, demonstrating that the joined vessels had, in fact, restored circulation through the organ. In 1905, working with Charles Claude Guthrie, Carrel transferred segments of a jugular vein into a carotid artery. The surgeons discovered that the vein soon underwent structural changes—the caliber of the lumen enlarged and the walls became thicker—to accommodate increased blood pressure. Vein-to-artery grafts often ended in thrombosis, however, so they devised methods to store arterial sections for later use. They discovered that segments chilled almost to freezing and then gently warmed were still viable after days or weeks of such treatment. In the course of these experiments, Carrel soon discovered the limits of grafting or transplantation. He noted that grafting pieces of blood vessels or organs taken from the same animal (he called them “autoplastic donors”) succeeded, whereas tissues from other animals (“heteroplastic donors”) were soon rejected by the host. The further away the species was genetically, the more rapid the rejection. He also noted that blood from unrelated donors usually was fatal to the recipient. Carrel used his surgical techniques to attempt ever more daring grafts and transplants. He and Guthrie continued to work on kidney transplants after 1905 and achieved much greater success than in Carrel’s 1902 attempts. They eventually transplanted other organs and limbs. Although the animals died, Carrel and Guthrie 82
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Alexis Carrel. (The Nobel Foundation)
demonstrated the technical feasibility of these operations on humans. Despite his surgical finesse, Carrel never engaged in clinical practice. All his work, done either at the University of Chicago in 1905 and 1906 or later at the Rockefeller Institute, was entirely devoted to research. The application of Carrel’s work to human subjects—or, more likely, the rediscovery of his work—depended on other surgeons. In 1912, Carrel was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the surgery of blood vessels. Significance Carrel’s development of a method for rejoining severed blood vessels was a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the realization of the ancient dream of organ transplantation. In order for that dream to be realized, medical professionals needed to understand the physiology of transplantation as well as its technique. Carrel rec-
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Further Reading Carrel, Alexis. Man, the Unknown. New York: Harper & Bros., 1935. Carrel presents his views on humanity’s future. Some saw this volume as prophetic when it was first published; others viewed it as unfounded speculation. _______. The Voyage to Lourdes. Translated by Virgilia Peterson. New York: Harper & Bros., 1950. A thirdperson narrative written by Carrel about his visit to Lourdes in 1903. Documents his earliest interests in the relationship between religion and science. Haeger, Knut. The Illustrated History of Surgery. Ottawa: Canadian Medical Association, 1998. Clearly describes Carrel’s achievement in the context of other surgical advances of the early twentieth century, such
as Rudolph Matas’s strengthening of arterial walls threatened by aneurysm and Friedrich Trendelenburg’s “high ligature” operation for varicose veins. Hardy, James D. “Transplantation of Blood Vessels, Organs, and Limbs.” Journal of the American Medical Association 250 (August 19, 1983): 954-957. JAMA reprinted Carrel’s 1908 article “Results of the Transplantation of Blood Vessels, Organs, and Limbs,” and Hardy commented on it. He reiterated what earlier critics of Carrel’s work had noted, that “the new investigator beginning arterial transplantation research would do well to check first to see if Dr. Carrel did not publish the proposed research at the turn of the century.” Majno, Guido. The Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the Ancient World. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975. A landmark book in the history of surgery that addresses, in clinical and surgical detail, wound management in antiquity. Describes how ancient surgeons manipulated vessels during surgery or closed wounds after it to avoid what is now known as shock, inflammation, and infection. Malinin, Theodore I. Surgery and Life: The Extraordinary Career of Alexis Carrel. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979. A popular account that examines the two main aspects of Carrel’s life: as a pioneer in surgical techniques and as a visionary for a political utopia. Nuland, Sherwin B. Doctors: The Biography of Medicine. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988. A popular history of medicine told from the perspective of its famous practitioners. The chapter on organ transplantation discusses Carrel’s early work as a necessary stage for the successes achieved in kidney transplantation in the 1950’s. Tilney, Nicholas L. Transplant: From Myth to Reality. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003. This book, suitable for both professionals and laypersons, traces the evolution of organ transplantation from its beginnings in the imaginations of human beings to its current status as accepted treatment. Describes early transplantation attempts, the evolution of surgical technique, the first successful kidney transplant (in 1954 between identical twins), the introduction of the concept of host tolerance, and scientific advances for suppressing the immune system. Wilson, Leonard G. Medical Revolution in Minnesota: A History of the University of Minnesota Medical School. St. Paul, Minn.: Midewiwin Press, 1989. Outside of Boston, most of the early clinical research and 83
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ognized this problem. He had noted, for example, that blood from nonrelated donors usually was fatal for recipients. Also, rejection phenomena had demonstrated that the underlying issues affecting the success of transplants were biological, not mechanical. Once these physiological issues were settled, Carrel’s techniques entered clinical surgery. Carrel’s work had to be complemented by many other discoveries before its impact on surgery could be fully realized. Karl Landsteiner’s discovery of blood types, published in 1901, solved the puzzle of why some transfused blood, but not all, was toxic to recipients. During the years between World War I and World War II, several scientists worked to devise reliable methods for the storage of blood. Peter Medawar’s insights into immunity explained heteroplastic rejection. Many of the techniques that Carrel developed in the early years of the twentieth century were not applied clinically until after World War II. The first documented cases of artery storage and transplantation occurred in the United States in 1948 and in France in 1952. Although the development of fabric grafts eventually ended most concerns about vessel storage, the use of such grafts would be impossible without Carrel’s technique. His discovery that veins could be grafted successfully to arteries is the foundation of much of the bypass surgery performed today. Carrel and Guthrie’s work on kidney and limb transplantations is a direct ancestor of current transplant procedures. The dazzling virtuosity that surgeons display during these operations depends on the careful suturing of vessels—a procedure first accomplished by Alexis Carrel. —Thomas P. Gariepy
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Cement Manufacturers Agree to Cooperate on Pricing attempts at transplantation were done at the University of Minnesota. The chapter titled “The Development of Organ Transplantation in Minnesota” documents this work based on Carrel’s surgical procedure.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: 1901: Discovery of Human Blood Groups; Dec., 1905: Crile Performs the First Direct Blood Transfusion; 1912-1914: Abel Develops the First Artificial Kidney.
1902
Cement Manufacturers Agree to Cooperate on Pricing Formation of the Association of American Portland Cement Manufacturers, a short-lived trade association, marked the beginning of manufacturers’ concerted efforts to cooperate on pricing to avoid harmful competition. Locale: United States Categories: Manufacturing and industry; trade and commerce Key Figures Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), president of the United States, 1913-1921 Frank A. Fetter (1863-1949), American economist Summary of Event In the century following the close of the American Civil War, three great waves of mergers—combinations of two or more previously independent enterprises into a single enterprise—swept the American economy. The first wave, which took place from 1899 to 1904, accounted for the disappearance of nearly thirteen hundred firms, a figure almost matched by the second wave, which commenced about 1926 and collapsed about five years later. A more modest wave with two crests washed over the business community between 1945 and 1955. Mergers are an ancient part of business history. The significance of these three waves was that each contributed substantially to the emergence of large enterprises that exercised salient or dominant positions within their industries and often within the economy as a whole. Although “bigness” has often been favored in the United States, the power that attends it has also been suspect. Power, particularly of business enterprises, therefore has been held to close scrutiny, as close as varying political climates have allowed. Accordingly, from the time of an initial upsurge of American industrial and financial expansion late in the nineteenth century, antimonopoly or antitrust campaigns have marked the nation’s economic growth. The evolution of the peculiarly American institution of antitrust laws is marked by the 84
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, the Robinson-Patman Act of 1936, and the Celler-Kefauver Act of 1950. Each sought to patch weaknesses in earlier laws and to strike at new variations on restraints of trade. The portland cement industry, of modest size but with a strategically important role in the economy, fell subject to all these acts. Named for its resemblance to Isle of Portland stone, portland cement was a British invention patented by Joseph Aspdin in 1824. Its manufacture spread to France in the 1840’s, to Germany a decade later, and by 1875 to several plants in Pennsylvania. The superiority of portland cement to natural cement was demonstrated at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, and portland cement began developing its own market shortly afterward. Businessman José Francis de Navarro secured American patent rights in 1888 and established his own mill in Coplay, Pennsylvania. Plants proliferated, first in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania and then elsewhere, spurred by Frederick Ransome’s development of the rotary kiln. Imports of portland cement exceeded domestic production until the mid-1890’s, but the unprecedented industrial surge that brought the American economy into the premier position in the world also propelled the expansion of American portland cement producers. Economists have argued that characteristics of the cement industry naturally predispose its operators toward collusive or cooperative behavior rather than competition. Its product is standardized; only the advertising and sales services of the mills differentiate one brand of portland cement from another. To average informed buyers, cement is cement. In addition, portland cement mills share relatively constant costs per additional unit and relatively large fixed, or overhead, costs. Mills tend to be widely separated geographically or in small clusters. Their product is of low value per pound, making transportation charges relatively high in comparison with price. Demand for cement tends to be “inelastic”—that is, unresponsive to changes in price. Although the maintenance of free and fair competi-
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Significance Legal probes of the cement industry began in 1916, well into the administration of President Woodrow Wilson.
Wilson had already shepherded an unprecedented bundle of reform legislation through Congress, including the Clayton Antitrust Act, which amended—some believed put teeth into—the Sherman Antitrust Act, and creation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC’s functions included investigation aimed at preventing corporate price discrimination among different customers, preventing corporations from holding stock in other corporations if the practice restrained competition, and ending interlocking directorates among companies serving the same markets. Two major cement industry trade associations were brought under examination. The AAPCM had changed its name to the Portland Cement Association and described itself as a research and advertising organization. After investigation, it was cleared of antitrust law violations. The Cement Manufacturers Protective Association (CMPA) was composed mainly of Lehigh Valley producers. It collected and disseminated monthly trade information on production, inventories, freight charges from each basing point, customer credit reports, and specifics on job contracts. A successful 1916 antitrust conviction and fining of nine West Coast mills for price fixing and apportioning markets led logically to antitrust suits against the CMPA and its members in 1919. They were charged with restricting production, fixing prices, and quoting uniform prices for their delivered orders— that is, for employing a multiple point basing system. The red flag that the CMPA waved in the face of antitrust investigators was implicit in its multiple point basing. By the time of the CMPA’s initial conviction in federal district court (New York) four years later, investigations had shown that purportedly innocent acquisition and circulation of trade information and statistics had resulted in cement supplies that lagged behind demand, thereby producing uniform, noncompetitive prices. Defeated in court, the CMPA was dissolved. In 1929, however, on the advice of an FTC commissioner, it emerged in another guise, mustering industry leaders under the fresh rubric of the Cement Institute. The Cement Institute promptly appealed the decision against the old CMPA to the U.S. Supreme Court. This was not a singular event, for the fate of eight interrelated cement cases hinged on the Supreme Court’s review, as did the fates of several other industries’ trade associations. By the time the Court considered the Cement Institute’s appeal, however, the reform enthusiasm of the Wilson administration had been supplanted by conservative, probusiness Republican presidencies such as Her85
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tion is a basic tenet of American belief and public policy, it had a ruinous ring in the cement trade at the opening of the twentieth century and during the price wars and mergers of the next few years. The structure of the industry, as outlined above, led firms to cut prices in attempts to gain market share. Ostensibly to escape cutthroat competition and stabilize their trade, several operators in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley who produced nearly 60 percent of the trade’s cement founded the Association of American Portland Cement Manufacturers (AAPCM) in 1902. By 1904, members of the organization had resolved to set their prices based on costs in the Lehigh Valley. This effort failed, but in 1907, a new trade organization— comprising sixteen firms headed by the Atlas Company—established a basing point price system. The trade organization failed, but the pricing system stayed in place. That system was similar to those developed in other industries, prominent among them the “Pittsburgh plus” basing point system of steel prices developed by U.S. Steel. Under a basing point system, mills quoted delivered prices to dealers as the mill price plus costs of transportation, but transportation costs included in this reckoning were not the actual costs. Instead, they were costs calculated from some given manufacturing area, known as a basing point. Manufacturers agreed to quote delivered prices that were identical, matched to the price from the nearest basing point. The multiple basing point system employed by the cement industry permitted each mill, wherever located, to quote its price to customers anywhere as the lowest delivered price from the nearest designated base point. Economist Frank A. Fetter, among others, noted that the multiple basing point system was the cement industry’s way of fixing noncompetitive prices. More than 300,000 pages of judicial documentation accumulated between 1916 and 1948 confirmed that the object of the five cement manufacturing “Big Brothers”—Universal, Lehigh, Lone Star, Penn-Dixie, and Alpha—was not to beat “competition” prices but merely to meet them. For decades, industry spokespersons argued that the pricing practices were essential for stability and were arrived at voluntarily. Many economists and lawyers, to the contrary, perceived monopoly price setting aimed at the restraint or elimination of healthy competition.
Cement Manufacturers Agree to Cooperate on Pricing
Cement Manufacturers Agree to Cooperate on Pricing bert Hoover’s. These administrations smiled on an unparalleled increase in the number of trade associations, encouraged another wave of mergers, and displayed marked complacency in discovering restraints of trade. The Court showed sensitivity to these conservative tendencies. In 1925, the Supreme Court reversed the CMPA’s federal conviction for restraint of trade. The Court seemed partially persuaded by evidence from some economists that the cement industry’s standardized product, standard freight rates, similar trade practices, and sales to informed buyers—that is, that the character of the industry—made price uniformity inevitable as a result of unrestrained competition. It is an oddity of antitrust study that uniform prices can result either from collusion or from intense competition among identical producers, competition that results in the lowest sustainable price. The Court concluded that the CMPA’s open collection, dissemination, and discussion of minute details of industry operations was voluntary and involved no concerted action regarding either production or prices, although the Court acknowledged that cement prices were uniform throughout the industry. Critics of the decision noted that market conditions naturally justifying price uniformity did not justify a pricing system that required such uniformity. Meanwhile, as cement producers sought to acquire mills closer to their markets, mergers continued through the 1920’s and for the next two decades. The trend toward concentration also continued. Major companies, in fact, operated chains of mills. By 1929, the eight leading producers owned half of the industry’s mills and accounted for half of the country’s cement production. Concentration among the largest firms increased slightly for the next two decades, then leveled off after passage of the Celler-Kefauver Act of 1950. What the Supreme Court left unconsidered in 1929, however, the FTC and the Justice Department pursued— namely, the multiple point basing system. The government had won its first cases against the steel industry’s single base point practices (“Pittsburgh plus”) in 1927 and then turned to multiple point systems. These attacks were interrupted only temporarily by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s waiver of antitrust actions, sanctification of trade associations (which revived basing point systems), creation of industrial code authorities, and tolerance of price fixing as integral parts of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. In 1937, the FTC targeted the cement industry’s basing system as the key to the industry’s activities in restraint of trade. By 1943, the FTC 86
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 had filed an order against the Cement Institute that, after some setbacks for the government, reached the Supreme Court in 1948. Speaking for the six-to-one majority, Justice Hugo Black vigorously swept aside a gamut of Cement Institute defenses and outlawed usage of basing point systems, with their freight absorption and “phantom freight” schemes, not only in the cement industry but also throughout American industry. — Clifton K. Yearley Further Reading Edwards, Corwin D. The Price Discrimination Law: A Review of Experience. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1959. Overview of political, industrial, and judicial battles at the center of pricing in the U.S. economy includes discussion of the portland cement industry. Extensive bibliographic notes, appendixes, and excellent index. Hovenkamp, Herbert. Federal Antitrust Policy: The Law of Competition and Its Practice. 2d ed. Eagan, Minn.: West, 1999. Covers nearly all aspects of U.S. antitrust policy in a manner understandable to people with no background in economics. Chapter 2 discusses “history and ideology in antitrust policy.” Nelson, Ralph L. Merger Movements in American Industry, 1890-1951. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1959. Brief and scholarly, with intelligent summations of materials confirmed by dozens of tables and charts. Invaluable resource on mergers and trends toward concentration in cement and related trades. Includes bibliographic notes and index. Peritz, Rudolph J. R. Competition Policy in America: History, Rhetoric, Law. Rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Explores the influences on U.S. public policy of the concept of free competition. Discusses congressional debates, court opinions, and the work of economic, legal, and political scholars in this area. Seager, Henry R., and Charles A. Gulick. Trust and Corporation Problems. 1929. Reprint. New York: Ayer, 1988. Scholarly and interesting, a solid work concerning older events. The portland cement industry’s practices and problems are discussed primarily in chapters 16 and 21. Includes extensive bibliography, table of cases, and index. Stocking, George W., and Myron W. Watkins. Monopoly and Free Enterprise. New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1951. Wonderful work, still invaluable. Interesting and authoritative, if in places controversial. Chapter 7 addresses the basing point system in the ce-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ment industry, and chapter 8 discusses cement trade associations. Ample bibliographic notes, tables of cases, index. Whitney, Simon N. Antitrust Policies: American Experience in Twenty Industries. 2 vols. New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1958. Clear, authoritative, interesting, and detailed. Chapter 19 concentrates on portland cement industry. Includes more than one hundred ta-
bles, including legal cases. Ample bibliographic notes and index. See also: Feb. 26, 1901: Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation; Oct., 1909: Canada Cement Affair Prompts Legislative Reform; Mar. 1, 1920: United States v. United States Steel Corporation.
1902
1902 HEART OF DARKNESS
Heart of Darkness Critiques Imperialism
Critiques Imperialism
Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness revealed the horrors behind the rhetoric of nobility and idealism in which Europeans cloaked their imperialism. Locale: Edinburgh, Scotland; London, England Categories: Literature; colonialism and occupation Key Figure Joseph Conrad (Jósef Teodor Konrad Naufcz Korzeniowski; 1857-1924), Polish novelist Summary of Event In 1874, seventeen-year-old Joseph Conrad left his Polish family to travel to Marseilles, France, to become a seaman. He sailed on vessels of several nations, but he became a British citizen in 1887. In 1890, he left the high seas to travel up the Congo River into the heart of Africa. His trip into the Congo Free State (later Democratic Republic of the Congo) inspired Heart of Darkness, which was published as a serial in Scotland in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine in early 1899 and in book form in London in 1902. The story opens at dusk on board the yawl Nellie, anchored in the Thames River at London. Five men are on board, all bound together by their connection with the sea. An unnamed primary narrator repeats to the reader a story told that evening by a seaman, Marlow. As the primary narrator looks out into the night, he thinks back to the days when men such as Sir Francis Drake sailed out from London. Suddenly, Marlow breaks into his reverie, saying, “And this also . . . has been one of the dark places of the earth.” Conrad thus signals to the reader that his story is not going to be a romantic song of praise to empire. Marlow goes on to recall Roman adventurers who came up the Thames nineteen hundred years before. They were only conquerors: “The conquest of the earth,
which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.” Marlow suggests that imperial adventures are justified only if they embody “efficiency” and “an idea.” Do efficiency and an idea, such as the carrying of European civilization into other areas, justify imperialism? Marlow seems to think so, but few assumptions remain unexamined as his story goes on. Earlier in his career, Marlow had been hired to command a steamboat for a Belgian company that traded on the Congo River. As he journeyed among company stations along the river, he quickly began to be stripped of his illusions regarding efficiency and idealism. He walked among the litter of abandoned, rusty machinery and noted the waste of aimless, inefficient railroad building. He found chain gangs of African workers dying in misery of starvation and disease. He met the company’s general manager, a greedy careerist unencumbered by either efficiency or ideas. He was surrounded by rootless European “pilgrims” who spoke the word “ivory” as though they were praying to it. Company employees were empty men: “To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their desire, with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe.” Marlow heard people talk of Kurtz, who ran the company’s Inner Station far up the river. They whispered his name in the worshipful tones they used to discuss ivory. His efficiency flooded the company with ivory, and his “idea” inspired others. Kurtz is a prodigy, a special being, one man said: “He is an emissary of pity, and science, and progress.” In contrast to the company men who surrounded him, Kurtz began to appear to Marlow as a beacon on a path toward a better world. Marlow moved on upriver into the heart of darkness, 87
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toward Kurtz. His boat carried twenty cannibals, cultursteadily at this truth, the horror that civilization hides ally rooted men with whom he worked and toward whom from itself. he felt gratitude, unlike the manager and pilgrims who The men on the Nellie sat quietly as Marlow finished also traveled with him. his tale. They silently watched the heart of darkness setAs the old steamboat slowly approached the Inner tling on London. Station, Marlow saw human forms moving along the tree line, decayed buildings filled with ivory, slim posts decoSignificance rated by little round balls—which he belatedly realized The twentieth century witnessed explosive change, yet were severed heads—and then a white man, a Russian, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, written at the begindressed in multicolored rags. While the company men ning of the century, retained its fascination for readers. scurried around loading the ivory, the Russian told MarWhat readers found in it changed as the century prolow that Kurtz was ill. The Russian was a Kurtz disciple, gressed, however. The book has been interpreted as a rocaptivated by Kurtz’s ability to articulate “an idea.” “He mantic adventure story, as a slashing attack on imperialmade me see things—things,” the Russian said. ism, as a conservative political manifesto that rejects They brought the dying Kurtz on board. The manager political idealism, as a manifesto for the left, as a psychowas distraught because Kurtz had organized the natives logical journey into the heart of the individual, as a reinto a personal army to drain the whole district of ivory. telling of the ancient myth of the hero’s quest, as an exisThe disruption of Kurtz’s leaving would force the comtential study of alienation and solitude, and as a pany to shut down operations there. Marlow found Kurtz modernization of classical literature’s theme of a descent horrifying—a man who pushed “the idea” to the point of into hell. One could construct a revealing intellectual insanity—but not as disgusting as the empty greed of the trek through the twentieth century just by tracing intermanager and his company. As Marlow brought the steamer back down the river, he spent as much time as he From HEART OF DARKNESS could with Kurtz and heard his last In this famous passage from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Marlow dewords: “The horror! The horror!” scribes his last moments with Kurtz and the announcement of Kurtz’s death Marlow returned to company that followed: headquarters at Brussels, Belgium, and visited Kurtz’s fiancé, the “In“One evening coming in with a candle I was startled to hear him say a little tended.” As he rang her doorbell, he tremulously, ‘I am lying here in the dark waiting for death.’ The light was seemed to hear whisperings of within a foot of his eyes. I forced myself to murmur, ‘Oh, nonsense!’ and stood Kurtz’s last words: “The horror! The over him as if transfixed. horror!” As he sat with her, he was “Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never aware of the death and destruction on seen before, and hope never to see again. Oh, I wasn’t touched. I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expreswhich his civilization was built, symsion of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror—of an intense and bolized by the ivory of the piano hopeless despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, keys in the quiet drawing room. The and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried Intended had known Kurtz, she said, in a whisper at some image, at some vision—he cried out twice, a cry that was in all of his nobility and idealism. no more than a breath: With every word spoken, the room “‘The horror! The horror!’ grew darker. She asked Marlow to “I blew the candle out and left the cabin. The pilgrims were dining in the repeat Kurtz’s last words; although mess-room, and I took my place opposite the manager, who lifted his eyes to he wanted to tell the truth, Marlow give me a questioning glance, which I successfully ignored. He leaned back, collected himself and told her that serene, with that peculiar smile of his sealing the unexpressed depths of his Kurtz’s last words had been her meanness. A continuous shower of small flies streamed upon the lamp, upon the cloth, upon our hands and faces. Suddenly the manager’s boy put his insoname. lent black head in the doorway, and said in a tone of scathing contempt: Marlow, who detested lies, had “‘Mistah Kurtz—he dead.’” learned on his journey into darkness that civilization is based on lies. Only Source: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (London: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1902). a few, like Kurtz, were able to look 88
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pretations of Kurtz’s words “The horror! The horror!” Critics have often moved far away from Conrad’s main focus, colonialism in the Congo. Conrad was one of the first Europeans to understand what was happening in the Congo. After explorers penetrated the region, European nations scrambled for a foothold in the resourcerich basin. In 1876, King Leopold II of Belgium proposed piercing “the darkness” of the Congo and bringing civilization and Christianity to the region. Such noble words fit the Europeans’ conception of their destiny and burden. In 1884, German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, alarmed at the possibility of war among the competing powers, called a conference in Berlin. The conferees turned the Congo over to Leopold as his personal property in return for his promise to open the region for the trade of all nations. Although Leopold skillfully cloaked his work in the rhetoric of humanitarian reform, he turned the Congo into a personal plantation and skimmed off such resources as ivory and rubber. He closed the region to out-
side competitors and used his army to reduce the Congolese to slavery. In the 1890’s, stories of atrocities began to leak out. Europeans read of chain gangs and slave labor, with people’s heads and hands being cut off if they failed to meet their quota of rubber or ivory. They read of a Captain Rom at Stanley Falls who used African heads to decorate his flower bed. By 1908, the Congo’s population had decreased by approximately three million. That year, the revelation of the horrors there finally forced Leopold to relinquish the colony to the Belgian government. Although most Europeans at the time still regarded colonization as an honorable civilizing mission, Conrad’s novel stripped away such illusions. Edmond Dene Morel, the leader of the Congo Reform Association, called Heart of Darkness the most powerful indictment ever written on the subject. Conrad provided one of the few literary attacks on imperialism in Great Britain before World War I. As the decades passed and the European empires crumbled, critics formulated brilliant social, economic, and psychological critiques of imperialism. Yet Conrad never passed out of fashion. He seemed to have anticipated every turn in anti-imperial analysis. Each generation found inspiration and reinforcement in Heart of Darkness. For example, in 1979, American film director Francis Ford Coppola used Heart of Darkness as the source of his antiwar film Apocalypse Now, with the story moved from the Congo to Vietnam and Cambodia. Not everyone wanted to confer anti-imperial sainthood on Conrad. One group of dissenters believed that Heart of Darkness was a Eurocentric work that portrayed Africans as dark and mysterious beings who threatened civilized humans. In 1975, Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe attacked Heart of Darkness as racist. Another group of critics argued that Conrad, or at least Marlow, deplored only Belgian imperialism, not colonialism generally. Conrad undoubtedly believed that Africans were inferior to white Europeans. Racism was almost unquestioned in Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century, and Conrad did not completely transcend his times. Yet Conrad’s indictment of European atrocities against Africans has seldom been equaled. He avoided turning Africans into stereotypical racial figures or into noble savages. Marlow saw the Africans as humans, not as criminals, enemies, or rebels. Marlow’s language, too, undercut the commonly accepted racism of his time and place. For example, he described the feeling of isolation and fright he felt in Africa: “The earth seemed unearthly. . . . It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman.” He backed away from completing 89
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Joseph Conrad. (Library of Congress)
Heart of Darkness Critiques Imperialism
Heart of Darkness Critiques Imperialism the thought with the racial cliché of his day, forcing the reader also to stop and, presumably, think. Conrad was a cultural relativist who believed that all cultures had the right to exist without disruption from the outside. Did Conrad and Marlow condemn only Belgian atrocities and support imperialism generally? That seemed to be what Marlow wanted to do as he began his story. He established efficiency and “an idea” as criteria that distinguish strong-arm conquerors from proper colonists. The Belgian company met neither criterion. Underneath his attack on Belgian exploitation of the Congolese was an indictment of imperialism generally. Marlow interrupted the primary narrator’s opening reverie about the glories of British imperialism by saying that England also had been one of the dark places of the world. Marlow later described finding Kurtz’s eloquent report to the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs; the report was inspired by the noblest expressions of the imperialist civilizing “idea.” Yet Marlow discovered that ideas (and people) uprooted from their culture become evil. At the bottom of his report, in an unsteady hand, Kurtz had scribbled: “Exterminate all the brutes!” Kurtz was a product of all Europe, Marlow said, not just Belgium. Kurtz had a British mother and a French father and had been educated partly in England. Nor is darkness found only in the Congo. Marlow ended his tale in the Intended’s darkening drawing room in Brussels, and the primary narrator ends the story in London with the five men sitting silently in “the heart of an immense darkness.” — William E. Pemberton Further Reading Brantlinger, Patrick. “Heart of Darkness: Anti-Imperialism, Racism, or Impressionism?” Criticism 27 (Fall, 1985): 363-385. This article breaks with most critics who read the novel as a savage attack on imperialism. Brantlinger argues that Conrad unintentionally sanctioned imperialism and racism by using an impressionistic writing style that raises the problem of imperial evil and then backs off under the cover of obscure language. Fleishman, Avrom. Conrad’s Politics: Community and Anarchy in the Fiction of Joseph Conrad. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967. Fleishman carefully traces the evolution of Conrad’s political thinking and places it within the context of his time. Conrad valued order and community, both of which were destroyed by greedy, shabby imperialists. 90
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Hawkins, Hunt. “Conrad and the Psychology of Colonialism.” In Conrad Revisited: Essays for the Eighties, edited by Ross C. Murfin. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1985. Hawkins finds that Conrad anticipated brilliant studies of the psychology of colonization by such researchers as O. Mannoni and Frantz Fanon. The colonist, unable to succeed in his own society, goes to a colony where, through no merit of his own, he achieves domination over others. He is cut off from both his own society and that of “the Other” and ultimately disintegrates psychologically. _______. “Conrad’s Critique of Imperialism in Heart of Darkness.” PMLA 94 (March, 1979): 286-299. Focuses on Heart of Darkness as a case study of imperialism in the Congo, but goes on to argue that Conrad rejected all varieties of imperialism, efficient and inefficient, benevolent and evil, British and nonBritish. Conrad, Hawkins says, believed indigenous cultures had the right to exist without disruption from outside. Hay, Eloise Knapp. The Political Novels of Joseph Conrad: A Critical Study. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963. Hay’s interesting study distinguishes between the views of Conrad and those of Marlow. She suggests that although Marlow may have sincerely used efficiency and idealism as criteria for judging imperialism, Conrad’s language undercuts Marlow’s views to condemn imperialism generally. Moore, Gene M., ed. Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”: A Casebook. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Contains materials intended to convey a deep understanding of the origins and reception of the novel, including Conrad’s own story “An Outpost of Progress,” a memoir by one of Conrad’s oldest English friends, a brief history of the Congo Free State by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and a parody of Conrad by Max Beerbohm. Also presents a wide range of theoretical approaches to examining Conrad’s text. Raskin, Jonah. “Imperialism: Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” Journal of Contemporary History 2 (April, 1967): 113-131. Raskin describes the fever of imperialism in the Western world at the beginning of the twentieth century. He asserts that Conrad attacks Belgian imperialism in terms that his British audience of that time could understand and accept; underneath, however, is a subtext that attacks imperialism generally. Swisher, Clarice, ed. Readings on “Heart of Darkness.” San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Collection of critical essays aimed at classes studying
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Conrad’s novel. Each selection includes a biography, a chronology, and useful introductory notes. The collection ends with the famous attack by Chinua Achebe in which he accuses Conrad of racism.
Hobson Critiques Imperialism See also: 1902: Hobson Critiques Imperialism; Nov. 1, 1908: Belgium Annexes the Congo; Jan.-June, 1916: Lenin Critiques Modern Capitalism; Oct. 7, 1929: The Sound and the Fury Launches Faulkner’s Career.
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Hobson Critiques Imperialism
Also known as: Imperialism: A Study Locale: England Categories: Publishing and journalism; economics; colonialism and occupation; expansion and land acquisition Key Figure John Atkinson Hobson (1858-1940), British journalist, teacher, and political activist Summary of Event John Atkinson Hobson’s Imperialism: A Study (1902), a collection of previously published magazine articles, was inspired by Hobson’s observations of British participation in the South African Boer War. He was highly critical of the pattern of “new imperialism” that began around 1870, in which Britain and other European powers seized control of less developed areas of the world, particularly in Africa and Asia. By 1902, this imperialism had become a highly competitive activity among the major powers, aggravating international tensions and causing the strengthening of military forces. Hobson was distressed that the newly acquired British territories were not allowed to govern themselves. Often, these territories were in areas that were unlikely to receive substantial numbers of European settlers because of tropical climates or unfavorable cultural conditions. British authority was put in place by violence and maintained by an expensive military establishment that governed densely populated ethnic groups regarded as “inferior.” Hobson denounced such racist attitudes; in his view, imperialism undermined democracy and civil liberty at home and abroad. British citizens who gained wealth and power in colonial activities returned home to lives of conspicuous opulence, contemptuous of demo-
cratic processes in both Britain and the overseas domains. In colonial areas, the repressive atmosphere spawned liberation movements that sometimes resorted to violent means. Treatment of indigenous peoples was sometimes tantamount to slavery, as in the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), where Belgium’s extremely paternalistic government ruled from 1908 to 1960. Hobson was distressed that a British subject in some foreign land could call for help and provoke an armed British intervention, and so he examined several of imperialism’s most common economic justifications. He found that the extension of British control was not accompanied by substantial increase in British colonial trade, and he emphasized that the net economic value of such trade was far smaller than the measured volume of imports or exports. Instead, Hobson noted that imperialism was closely linked to protectionism. While Britain was operating under a free trade regime, with no significant restrictions or taxes on imports or exports, there was a strong political move to create an empirewide tariff system. Hobson also dismissed the argument that the newly acquired areas provided a suitable outlet for “surplus population.” The British population was not outgrowing its food supplies, and very few persons migrated to such locations. Why, then, had Britain undergone so much violence and expense? Wealthy families sought overseas positions, civil or military, for younger sons who had been displaced by primogeniture. Missionaries needed protection to bring the prospect of salvation. Hobson, however, highlighted pressures from specific, well-organized sectors of the world of business and finance, such as manufacturers of armaments and other export specialties. His chief focus was on the flow of British capital into overseas investments, which had reached a high level in the nineteenth century. British military power was often used to force foreign borrowers to pay their debts, and in the Opium Wars (1839-1841), the Chinese were forced to permit the importation of opium from 91
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In Imperialism: A Study, John Atkinson Hobson identified unique features of imperialism, noted its damaging impact on participants, and traced its cause to the efforts of Western governments to facilitate the flow of capital into less developed regions.
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He admitted there were noneconomic motives for imperialism, from In his study of imperialism, John Atkinson Hobson addresses the future of imdesire for military glory to the wish to perial expansion: save souls. He was convinced, however, that finance capital was able to If Imperialism may no longer be regarded as a blind inevitable destiny, is it influence the news media (with which certain that imperial expansion as a deliberately chosen line of public policy he had considerable personal experican be stopped? ence) to whip up nationalistic fervor. We have seen that it is motived, not by the interests of the nation as a Why should there be such an outwhole, but by those of certain classes, who impose the policy upon the nation flow of capital? Why not invest the for their own advantage. The amalgam of economic and political forces funds domestically to enlarge producwhich exercises this pressure has been submitted to close analysis. But will the detection of this confederacy of vicious forces destroy or any wise abate tion? Here Hobson linked imperialism their operative power? For this power is a natural outcome of an unsound theto a process he had emphasized in preory in our foreign policy. Put into plain language, the theory is this, that any vious writings. Because of the severe British subject choosing, for his own private pleasure or profit, to venture his inequality among levels of incomes person or his property in the territory of a foreign State can call upon this naand wealth, domestic consumption tion to protect or avenge him in case he or his property is injured either by the could not grow fast enough to keep Government or by any inhabitant of this foreign State. Now this is a perilous pace with the rise of output needed to doctrine. It places the entire military, political, and financial resources of this make domestic investment profitable. nation at the beck and call of any missionary society which considers it has a The process was made more severe by peculiar duty to attack the religious sentiments or observances of some savindustrial mergers that created monopage people, or of some reckless explorer who chooses just those spots of earth oly power and monopoly profits. Rapid known to be inhabited by hostile peoples ignorant of British power; the speculative trader or the mining prospector gravitates naturally towards dangertechnological innovation added to the ous and unexplored countries, where the gains of a successful venture will be potential surplus supply of consumpquick and large. All these men, missionaries, travelers, sportsman, scientists, tion goods. traders, in no proper sense the accredited representatives of this country, but Here Hobson entered the debate actuated by private personal motives, are at liberty to call upon the British naover a question that had engaged maintion to spend millions of money and thousands of lives to defend them against stream economists for a century: Can risks which the nation has not sanctioned. It is only right to add that unscruputhere be too much saving? Hobson’s lous statesmen have deliberately utilised these insidious methods of enanswer was in the affirmative. Too croachment, seizing upon every alleged outrage inflicted on these private admuch saving periodically showed up venturers or marauders as a pretext for a punitive expedition which results in in the form of business depressions the British flag waving over some new tract of territory. Thus the most reckand unemployment, which in turn less and irresponsible members of our nation are permitted to direct our foreign policy. Now that we have some four hundred million British subjects, added to political pressures to proany one of whom in theory or in practice may call upon British arms to extrimote exports and foreign investment cate him from the results of his private folly, the prospects of a genuine pax through imperialism. This analysis led Britannica are not particularly bright. Hobson to plead for social reform meaSource: John Atkinson Hobson, Imperialism: A Study (London: K. Nesbit, 1902). sures that would reduce the inequality of incomes and wealth and stimulate domestic consumption. Ironically, the heavy government expenditures assoBritish territories. Relying on such backing, a powerful ciated with imperialism acted to crowd out such attempts investment banking community had grown and was profat reform. iting from securities issued to finance overseas projects. The fear that excess saving could lead to business deHobson recognized that Britain’s overseas investments pression was an old one. It was common in eighteenth could play a valuable role in promoting economic growth century mercantilism and had been prominent in the in low-income areas. However, he felt that this process writings of Thomas R. Malthus. Still, Hobson’s analysis should give more influence to the local population, and did not allow for the possibility that some saving could so he suggested creating some kind of international su“get lost.” He explicitly assumed (as did most contemporary economists) that saving would embody itself in expervisory agency.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 panded facilities of production, but that these would be redundant or misplaced.
China might turn the tables upon the Western industrial nations, and, either by adopting their capital and organizers or . . . by substituting her own, might flood their markets with her cheaper manufactures, and refusing their imports in exchange might take her payment in liens upon their capital, reversing the earlier process of investment until she gradually obtained financial control over her [former] patrons and civilizers.
—Paul B. Trescott
Further Reading Allett, John. New Liberalism: The Political Economy of J. A. Hobson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981. Gives a broad view of Hobson, discussing his social and political philosophy as well as his narrowly focused economic ideas. Cain, P. J. Hobson and Imperialism: Radicalism, New Liberalism, and Finance 1887-1938. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Brings the subject up to date, documenting the renewed interest in Hobson’s work in the early years of the twenty-first century. In chapter 6, Cain argues that the 1902 book was only a small and transitory part of Hobson’s views on imperialism, and he struggled with contradictory attitudes toward it. Hobson, John A. Imperialism: A Study. 1902. Reprint. London: Unwin Hyman, 1988. Reprint by the original publisher, with an excellent introduction by J. Townshend placing this book in the context of Hobson’s life and enormous published output. Lutz, Mark A. Economics for the Common Good: Two Centuries of Social Economic Thought in the Humanistic Tradition. New York: Routledge, 1999. Chapter 4 is on Hobson, and it leads into a wide-ranging analysis of the interplay between narrow economics and broad social and psychological dimensions of human welfare. Porter, Bernard. Critics of Empire: British Radical Attitudes to Colonialism in Africa, 1895-1914. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1968. Places Hobson’s critique of British policy in the context of the times. Schneider, Michael. J. A. Hobson. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996. A concise study focused on Hobson as an economist. Valuable in describing reactions to his work and subsequent empirical studies of aspects of imperialism. The economic analysis is sometimes overly technical. See also: 1902: Heart of Darkness Critiques Imperialism; May 31, 1902: Treaty of Vereeniging Ends the Boer War; Nov. 1, 1908: Belgium Annexes the Congo; 1911-1912: Italy Annexes Libya; Mar. 28, 1911: Baro-Kano Railroad Begins Operation in Nigeria; Apr. 14, 1911: Lever Acquires Land Concession in the Belgian Congo; Feb. 4, 1936: Keynes Proposes Government Management of the Economy. 93
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Significance Hobson was a prolific writer, lecturer, and political activist. His was one of many voices (others included Henry George and the Fabian Socialists) deploring the many harsh features of contemporary economic conditions. His work, however, did not impress the professional economists of the times because his theoretical analysis was superficial, and he did not go far enough in presenting empirical evidence for his positions. Still, his work did influence some very powerful people. Bolshevik leader Vladimir Ilich Lenin read and praised Hobson’s book in his own Imperializm, kak noveyshy etap kapitalizma (1917; Imperialism: The Latest Stage in the Development of Capitalism, 1924). Economist John Maynard Keynes also praised Hobson (with whom he exchanged correspondence) in his landmark book The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936), one of the most influential works on economics of the twentieth century. Keynes showed that there could indeed be excessive saving, and that when it was withdrawn from the spending stream to build up idle cash holdings, it could lead to deficient aggregate demand, depression, and unemployment. Hobson’s book was a startlingly perceptive anticipation of many major developments that came later in the twentieth century. The imperialism he deplored was a major factor in the unfolding of World War I, and the spirit of benevolent internationalism that he consistently displayed led to the creation of the League of Nations, the United Nations, and the internationalization of foreign economic aid and investment. He foresaw the difficulties that colonial territories would face when liberated, and he wrote an especially sensitive and perceptive analysis of imperialism in Asia, anticipating the types of conditions that would appear in daily headlines in the twentyfirst century:
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James Proposes a Rational Basis for Religious Experience
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James Proposes a Rational Basis for Religious Experience The Varieties of Religious Experience, by esteemed American philosopher and psychologist William James, is a foundational work in the psychology of religion and a hallmark of American individualism. Also known as: The Varieties of Religious Experience Locale: Cambridge, Massachusetts Categories: Religion, theology, and ethics; psychology and psychiatry; philosophy; publishing and journalism Key Figure William James (1842-1910), philosopher and psychologist who founded both the school of American philosophy called pragmatism and modern psychology in the United States Summary of Event William James was born on January 11, 1842, to Henry and Mary James, the eldest son in a very religious family. James’s grandfather, an Irish immigrant, was involved with the building of the Erie Canal and made his fortune while working on it. This left a sizable inheritance to Henry James, Sr., who led his family all over New England and Europe in search of the perfect education for his sons William and Henry, Jr., who later became a famous novelist. After publishing his landmark Principles of Psychology in 1890, James turned mostly to philosophical interests. Following his important work The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy in 1897 and his self-identification as a pragmatist during a lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, James was set to deliver his Gifford Lectures in Edinburgh, Scotland, which would become his monumental The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (1902). Inherent in the book’s subtitle is the idea that a religious connection is fundamental to human existence. With the importance of religious experience in mind, James stated from the start that his intent was not to defend religion through scientific proofs. Such an endeavor would be fruitless, in James’s mind, even if one could construct such a defense. Instead, the book refers to a skirmish in James’s war with the “absolute.” It is vital to note that The Varieties of Religious Experience is devoid of talk of religious absolutes—that is, religious institutions, ideas, ideals, or rituals—because 94
such absolutes never enter into concrete human experience. Instead, James was concerned with individuals’ religious lives: their feelings, acts, and experiences as they come to terms with their relation or relations to the divine. For his material, James used several examples and recollections from his own life, some labeled as his experiences, some surreptitiously penned as someone else’s. To supplement these examples, James used some data from a student’s study on the religious habits of the Harvard community. He added analyses from religious texts, history, and literature to these examples, creating a veritable treasure trove of instances. The sheer volume of The Varieties of Religious Experience made it appear somewhat scientific, almost authoritative, even though the text was not an especially systematic or rigorous work (a fact that James freely acknowledged). The book’s many examples added to its girth, but James’s definition of “religious experience” was sufficiently general that it required the many examples he provided. The topics discussed in The Varieties of Religious Experience were vast and detailed. In a famous chapter, James wrote about mysticism, although he was not concerned with mystical rituals or mystically based religions. Instead, his only interest was in individual mystic experiences, and he identified four characteristics that he claimed unify mystical experiences. First, mystical experiences are ineffable; they cannot be communicated satisfactorily to another person. Second, mystical experiences possess a noetic quality; that is, they appear to be connected to the intellect. Mystical experiences are also transient, and the subject usually remains passive while the experience somehow happens to him or her. In the chapter, James asked if these experiences might be windows through which humans see parts or aspects of reality that they might otherwise miss. James’s questions were indicative of his approach to talking about religious experience, in which he began with concrete examples and used them to make generalizations—but not laws or rules—that explain rather than govern the experiences to which they refer. In the conclusions to The Varieties of Religious Experience, James asserted that religious experience plays a fundamental role in human life. He even went so far as to say that desire for connection with the divine ranked among the most basic and vital of biological human needs, regardless of whether a religious experience was “true.” In fact, James was not concerned with the truth of
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William James. (Library of Congress)
is useful because it leads to beliefs that cause one to act in certain ways and makes a concrete difference in an individual’s life, broadening perspectives and creating possibilities for new experiences. Human beings need beliefs in order to avoid being tied to the realm of proofs and a bare, earthly, and material existence. Talking about religious experience in a purportedly philosophical manner while leaving out religious institutions left James open to sharp criticism. It was said that he wanted to give people the “right” to believe what they wanted to just to be happy, but that this was not philosophy, properly speaking. He was accused of speaking too loosely about serious matters and attacked for his studies’ lack of scientific rigor. Nonetheless, The Varieties of Religious Experience remains one of the most widely read texts in the philosophy and psychology of religion and in American philosophy as a whole. Significance In addition to his efforts to validate personal religious experience, James rescued religion from the clutches of absolutists. The Varieties of Religious Experience was a cornerstone of religious pluralism. By showing that all people have religious experiences of the personal sort, regardless of their religious affiliations—or lack of them—James showed how similar all people are and how minute the differences among many religions can be. The Varieties of Religious Experience is one of the most important works in the philosophy of religion, but it is also a seminal work in the psychology of religion. In his research, James examined not only outward experiences but also individual states of consciousness undergoing religious experiences. By emphasizing the value of a religious experience to the individual, James drew a strong connection between religion and psychology. While he never intended to prove religious truths scientifically, James did attempt to justify religious belief in a rational manner, arguing that belief helps human beings experience what is otherwise only imaginable. — John F. Gamber, Jr. Further Reading James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature. 1902. Reprint. New York: Modern Library, 1994. An essential text for anyone interested in religion. _______. The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy. New York: Dover, 1960. Collection of essays delivered in the rhetorical style popular at the time. 95
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these experiences, only with the experiences themselves. Religious experiences, James said, are useful precisely because they are moments in which human beings find themselves connected with some greater reality or greater part of the whole, since these experiences are not part of humans’ normal cognitive relations. In some ways, The Varieties of Religious Experience was an expansion of the themes found in James’s earlier essay “The Will to Believe” and was written for the same audience in the same style. The main argument of “The Will to Believe” centered on whether or not people have the right to religious belief in an increasingly scientific world. In short, it was an essay that justified faith, and in it, James claimed that there are times when belief in an outcome can help to bring about its reality. For example, a young man who wants to believe that a group of other young men are his friends might wait for this idea to prove itself true and in the process miss making friendships that will last a lifetime. By acting as if it were true, however, he meets the other young men halfway and helps to make the idea that they are his friends true. James argued that the power of belief—and of the religious experiences that engender it—is that it is an instrument of action, not merely a cognitive exercise. Religion
James Proposes a Rational Basis for Religious Experience
Johnson Duplicates Disc Recordings Menand, Louis. The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001. Intellectual history of American thought before World War I. Simon, Linda. Genuine Reality: A Life of William James. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1998. Biography examines both James’s life and his philosophy.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: 1904: Freud Advances the Psychoanalytic Method; 1907: Publication of James’s Pragmatism; 1912: Jung Publishes The Psychology of the Unconscious; Sept. 30, 1925: Chesterton Critiques Modernism and Defends Christianity; 1930’s: Jung Develops Analytical Psychology.
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Johnson Duplicates Disc Recordings Eldridge R. Johnson’s development of a method of duplicating recordings made on discs enabled the mass production of recordings of popular music. Locale: Camden, New Jersey Categories: Science and technology; inventions Key Figures Eldridge R. Johnson (1867-1945), American inventor and industrialist Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), American inventor Emile Berliner (1851-1929), German inventor Summary of Event Although Thomas Alva Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, the end of the nineteenth century marked little progress for the industry based on recorded sound. Cheap talking machines powered by spring motors were available in the 1890’s, but recordings, in both cylinder and disc format, were expensive and few in number. The problem lay in duplicating the recordings made in studios. The only method available in the nineteenth century was the pantograph system, a mechanical linkage between two recording machines that copied the spirals of sound from one recording to another. This process was time-consuming, and the recordings produced were of inferior quality. Duplication was so difficult that many companies paid musicians to make scores of recordings of the same song. Edison was the first to believe that the phonograph could be employed to bring popular music to the masses. He developed a simple talking machine that could play prerecorded cylinders, but he realized that there would be no market for recorded sound until companies had a means to make inexpensive copies of recordings. Subsequently, he began experimenting with record duplication in 1887. By this time, the fragile tin foil recording medium used for his first phonograph had been replaced by 96
a more durable wax cylinder. The hardness of the wax was an important factor in storing the signal of the sound wave in the phonograph cylinder. When sound waves vibrated the thin diaphragm of the phonograph, the recording stylus attached to the diaphragm cut a microscopic groove in the wax cylinder. This was called a hill-and-dale cut, because it was cut vertically, up and down in the groove. The vibrations of the reproducer stylus as it traveled along the groove were transmitted to the diaphragm to reproduce the original sound. As the groove cut into the cylinder was the positive impression of the sound wave, a cast of it would make a negative that could be used to make numerous positive copies. The problem was to find a method to make good negative casts from the soft wax of the recorded cylinder. After years of experiments, Edison found that the best cast of a recorded cylinder had to be made of metal, for only metal was strong enough to mold wax duplicates. The first step was to deposit a fine layer of gold onto the recorded cylinder. This was achieved by placing the cylinder in a vacuum and spraying it with gold dust. The gold particles settled into the hills and dales of the groove and assumed the shape of the sound waves engraved into the wax. Then, layers of copper or nickel were slowly electroplated on top of the gold, forming a metal negative—a matrix—of the original. After the original cylinder was removed from the matrix, the cylindrical metal matrix was cut into two pieces to make a mold. A blank wax cylinder was placed inside this mold, and a slight increase in temperature was enough to soften the wax to receive the impression of the groove. After the matrix cooled, it was possible to free the duplicated cylinder from the matrix. By 1899, experimenters in Edison’s laboratory had succeeded in making duplicates from metal matrices, but it took several more years to perfect the process for com-
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mercial use. Each metal matrix left a slightly raised line where the two parts of the mold met. A further problem was the poor sound quality of the duplicates, a result of the slight distortions in the grooves of the recorded cylinder caused by heating and cooling. As Edison was determined not to sacrifice any sound quality in record duplication, research work continued. In the meantime, other inventors succeeded in making acceptable duplicates from disc records. The disc-playing machine—the gramophone—had been invented by Emile Berliner in 1887. Berliner used a lateral cut to inscribe the signal of the sound wave into the groove, the recording stylus moving from side to side rather than up and down as in the Edison system. Berliner made his masters by recording the sound on a zinc disc covered with fatty film and then using acid to etch the sound waves marked in the film. Unfortunately, the duplicates made by this process had a fuzzy sound because the acid ate away some of the sound wave as it etched the signal into the master. The indistinct reproduction of the gramophone made its commercial future doubtful in the late 1890’s. Eldridge R. Johnson, proprietor of a small machine shop in Camden, New Jersey, advanced the technology of sound reproduction and made Berliner’s machine the leading form of recorded sound in the twentieth century. Like many other mechanics of the nineteenth century, Johnson considered himself an inventor, and he obtained several valuable patents. After winning a contract to manufacture spring motors for the Berliner gramophone, Johnson made some significant mechanical improvements to the machine. Concerned with the poor sound reproduction of the gramophone, he started to experiment with the process of duplicating recordings. In 1897, he obtained some test masters from Berliner and carefully examined the microscopic grooves made by the sound waves. His experiments convinced him that the way to make a better recording was to engrave the sound wave into the master rather than to etch it as Berliner had done. Instead of the steel needle Berliner used to record the sound, Johnson designed a miniature cutting tool much like the kind used on the lathes in his shop. A deeper cut meant more distinct sound reproduction and a more resilient impression to endure the wear and tear of the duplicating process. Johnson replaced the zinc disc covered with fatty film
Johnson Duplicates Disc Recordings
Eldridge R. Johnson. (Library of Congress)
with a solid wax disc. He took great care to ensure that the surface of the master was perfectly flat. Where others had used ordinary gramophones to record, merely shouting into the amplifying horn to vibrate the recording stylus, Johnson designed a special recording machine that had a rubber hose connecting the recording assembly with the horn used to pick up the sound. A carefully governed electric motor maintained the disc’s revolution at an exact speed, ensuring that the recording was made at an even pitch; even the slightest change in the speed of the disc affected the pitch of the reproduced sound. Once an acceptable master recording had been made, Johnson faced the problem of making a matrix from the 97
Johnson Duplicates Disc Recordings wax master—the same problem that Edison had confronted earlier. After more than two years of experiments, Johnson came up with much the same solution. His masters were first covered with a fine layer of metal dust, and then more metal was electroplated onto the primary layer to make the negative matrix. The matrix was then used to stamp the duplicate onto soft wax blanks. The resulting duplicates had none of the surface noise that spoiled the Berliner discs and much louder reproduction than the Edison cylinders. Johnson’s achievement was to transfer the technique that Edison had perfected for the cylinder to the disc. He borrowed from Edison’s prior experiments and used Edison equipment and wax in his duplicating process. By 1900, Johnson had edged ahead of Edison in the race to mass-produce sound recordings. Johnson quickly formed the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901 based on his patents and those of Berliner. The company began the manufacture of a line of gramophones and the mass duplication of recorded discs. The advantage of using the disc format was that it was much easier and cheaper to stamp out duplicates than to form them in cylindrical molds. Johnson found it easy to set up the equipment to duplicate thousands of discs a day. Within a short time, Johnson designed machines to stamp out the duplicates automatically. By 1902, the Victor Company had successfully established a large plant to duplicate recordings. It produced more than one million duplicates of recorded discs in that year. Significance The experiments that Edison and Johnson carried out produced a significant advance in the understanding of sound waves and the various elements in the spectrum of sound. Johnson’s innovation, however, marked no advance in the theory of sound or its reproduction; his approach, like Edison’s, was strictly empirical. Although both men used the scientific method in their research and took advantage of the latest equipment, especially microscopes and measuring instruments, their experiments were directed at commercial goals. They did not publish the results of their research, and Johnson did not patent his duplicating process, preferring to keep it a trade secret. The effects of his innovation are to be found in Western society and culture: He opened the way for the masses to enjoy recorded sound. The most immediate effect of Johnson’s innovation was that the trickle of recorded sound in the nineteenth century became a torrent in the twentieth. Once Edison had perfected his duplicating process in 1903, popular 98
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 music was available in both disc and cylinder formats and at a price that most could afford. Recordings that had once sold for more than a dollar each could now be purchased for fifty cents, and the price continued to drop in the years leading up to World War I, when records could be purchased for twenty-five cents. The drop in price made this technology more accessible. A talking machine, with its library of recordings, became as commonplace in the home as the electric light and the telephone. Both Edison and Johnson were concerned with the quality of recorded sound, for they deemed this to be the critical part of the public’s acceptance of the new technology. The excellent sound reproduction of Johnson’s duplicates enlarged the scope of recorded sound. Classical music made by great artists could now be captured on wax. Recorded sound was no longer the preserve of vaudeville artists and minstrel acts. In 1903, the great tenor Enrico Caruso made a series of historic recordings for Victor. Music lovers who had previously spurned the gramophone now rushed to buy one. Caruso was the first performer to sell a million recordings, making a fortune for himself and the Victor Company in the process. The disc-duplicating process was quickly diffused to Europe through Victor’s subsidiary companies. It was copied by the company’s competitors but not improved upon significantly. Johnson’s process was used throughout the industry until the late 1920’s, when electric recording and new record compounds brought changes in the ways sound was recorded and records were duplicated. Yet the basic method of coating the master with a thin layer of metal and then electroplating it to form a matrix remained unchanged. In the early twenty-first century, the matrix was still used to stamp out thousands of duplicates. After 1902, the technology of recorded sound advanced continuously, providing microgrooved, long-playing records made of vinyl, yet the method of duplication remained essentially the same as the one that Johnson devised in 1902. — Andre Millard Further Reading Chanan, Michael. Repeated Takes: A Short History of Recording and Its Effects on Music. London: Verso, 1995. Discusses the influence of audio recording on Western society, culture, and economy, and particularly on people’s relationships with music. Includes a brief history of the art of recording sound. Fagan, Ted, and William R. Moran, comps. The Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983. This reference work
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Johnson’s Victor Company. Compares the achievements of the two men. Vanderbilt, Byron. Thomas Edison, Chemist. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1971. One of the best books written about work in Edison’s laboratory, this volume is much more than an assessment of Edison’s chemical experiments. Provides an insightful and detailed account of the duplication experiments. Welch, Walter L., and Leah Brodbeck Stenzel Burt. From Tinfoil to Stereo: The Acoustic Years of the Recording Industry, 1877-1929. Rev. ed. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1994. Profusely illustrated and entertaining volume covers the history of the talking machine from Edison's invention to the development of stereo. Yorke, Dane. “The Rise and Fall of the Phonograph.” American Mercury 27 (September, 1932): 1-12. An amusing and well-written account of the early years of the phonograph business as seen by a contemporary. This article relates the general story of this technology in condensed form. See also: Apr. 11, 1902: Caruso Records for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company; Jan. 1, 1925: Bell Labs Is Formed.
1902
Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in Set Theory Beppo Levi acknowledged and criticized the axiom of choice in set theory and attempted to justify and carry out infinite choices. Locale: University of Turin, Italy Category: Mathematics Key Figures Beppo Levi (1875-1961), Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano (1858-1932), Italian mathematician and logician Felix Bernstein (1878-1956), German mathematician Georg Cantor (1845-1918), German mathematician Summary of Event The notion of infinity has been a perennial problem in both mathematics and philosophy. A major question in (meta) mathematics has been whether and in what form infinities should be admitted. The debate between
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Sir Isaac Newton on the use of the “infinitesimal” in seventeenth century differential calculus is only one of many possible examples of this problem. In most pre-twentieth century mathematics, infinities occur only in what might be called a “potential” (inactual, implicit) form. Potential infinity can be illustrated readily with a simple example from limit theory. There is no question of an actually infinitely great or infinitesimally small quantity to be computed or otherwise arrived at. As noted set theoretician Abraham A. Fraenkel has remarked, many nineteenth century mathematicians such as Carl Friedrich Gauss and AugustinLouis Cauchy considered infinity in mathematics to be largely a conventional expression showing the limits of ordinary language for expressing pure mathematical concepts. In addition to the less problematic notion of potential infinity, an equally old problem of “actual” infinity had 99
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contains a reproduction of B. L. Aldridge’s history of the Victor Company. Johnson, E. R. Fenimore. His Master’s Voice Was Eldridge Reeves Johnson. Milford, Del.: State Media, 1974. Written by Johnson’s son, this account draws heavily on primary sources and personal recollection. Although less than critical of Johnson, the accounts of his experimental and business activities are detailed and accurate. Josephson, Matthew. Edison: A Biography. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959. A classic account of the life and work of Thomas Alva Edison. It is the best of the many biographies of Edison, avoiding the excessive praise and harsh criticism that mar other books. Gives a clear account of the duplication experiments. Millard, Andre. America on Record: A History of Recorded Sound. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Covers everything from Edison’s invention of the phonograph to radios and the evolution of stereo systems, tracing the scientific and social developments that have influenced the progress of recorded music. _______. Edison and the Business of Innovation. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990. This study of Edison’s business activities centers on the phonograph industry and Edison’s struggle with
Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in Set Theory
Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in Set Theory long been faced by speculative philosophers and theologians such as Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, René Descartes, and Immanuel Kant, among many others. A major thematic front throughout nineteenth century mathematics and logic was precise clarification of the boundary and relations between actual and potential infinities, in foundational as well as applied mathematics. One of the earliest such efforts was that of Bernhard Bolzano, whose Paradoxien des Unendlichen (1851; Paradoxes of the Infinite, 1950) cataloged a large number of extant and novel conundrums as well as unclear and unusual properties of actual infinities in mathematics. A particular emphasis, to recur repeatedly in later set theory and logic, was the apparent paradox of the equivalence of an infinite set to a proper part or subset of itself, implying different levels or kinds of infinity where previously only one infinity was supposed. The term “set” was first employed in Bolzano’s text as an important mathematical concept. The first major developments in the formation of a consistent and comprehensive theory of actual infinities in mathematics were primarily the work of Georg Cantor. Between 1873 and 1899, Cantor sought to lay the foundations for a new branch of mathematics—called the theory of aggregates or sets—that would not only formalize the mathematically acceptable concepts of infinity but also serve as the foundation for every other mathematical theory and discipline employing infinities. Cantor’s set theory did not begin with philosophical speculations about infinity, but with the problem of actually distinguishing finitely and infinitely many “specified” points, such as the points of discontinuity in the theory of functions. Yet, despite many strenuous efforts, Cantor, as well as Richard Dedekind, Giuseppe Peano, and many other mathematicians, blurred or passed over unawares the distinction of choices implicitly or explicitly made by some kind of a rule or algorithm from which a given denumerable or indenumerable (uncountable) point set was defined. In particular, although the first n members of a subset were seen clearly as selected specifically by a selection or generative rule, neither Cantor nor anyone else explained how such a rule could actually be extended to define likewise the entire (actually infinite) subset. This problem was further complicated by the fact that many mathematicians of the era frequently made an infinity of arbitrary selections, not only independently but also where each given choice depended on the choices previously made. These questions not only undercut the proof method of using “one-to-one” mappings or correspon100
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 dences between different sets but also underscored the then-formulating foundational questions of whether “in the last analysis” mathematical entities such as sets are discovered or defined/created. In 1882, particularly, Cantor argued to Dedekind and others that his means of extending the (infinite) sequence of positive numbers by introducing symbols for infinity, such as ∞, ∞+1, and ∞+2, was not merely conventional but a legitimate number choice. Perhaps the simplest example of Cantor’s transfinite numbers is the model suggested by Zeno’s paradoxes of motion. Here, a runner uniformly traverses a road divided into intervals. Although the number of intervals is ∞, the time taken to traverse them is finite (hence the paradox). If the first interval is designated the ωth interval, the subsequent intervals will be the ω+1th, ω+2th, and so on. These numbers ω, ω+1, ω+2, and so on, are the transfinite ordinal numbers first designated by Cantor. Also called into question was Cantor’s related continuum hypothesis, which asserts that every infinite subset of the real numbers either is denumerable (countable by means of a finite procedure) or has the degree of infinity of the continuum. In Cantor’s sense, the continuum is defined by the assumption that for every transfinite number t, 2t is the next-highest number. Equivalently, the continuum hypothesis proposes that there is no (transfinite) cardinal number between the cardinal of the set of positive integers and the cardinal of the set of real numbers. These and other related developments left early twentieth century set theory with a network of fundamental, interlinked, and unsolved problems, all of which somehow involved the notions of selection or choice, linking well-known finite mathematics with the newer mathematics of actual infinities. Nevertheless, very few, if any, mathematicians explicitly considered all these questions from this viewpoint. Peano, an Italian mathematician responsible for the first symbolization of the natural number system of arithmetic, was also coming up against similar inconsistencies in his investigations of the conditions for existence and continuity of implicit functions. In 1892, one of Peano’s colleagues, Rodolfo Bettazzi, investigated conditions under which a limit point was also the limit point of a sequence. Bettazzi underscored the same underlying issue as Peano. The third mathematician to consider this problem of how to justify or actually carry out infinitely many choices was Peano and Bettazzi’s colleague Beppo Levi. Levi was completing his dissertation research, inspired by the set theory work of French mathematician René Baire, who had developed the novel notion of “semi-
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Significance Although Levi’s 1902 paper proved a catalyst for subsequent work by Bernstein, Hilbert, Ernst Zermelo, and many other mathematicians, the direct response to and recognition of the paper was very limited. Basically, although Levi explicitly recognized the axiom of choice embodied in the work of Cantor and Bernstein, he rejected its use in its extant form. This led ultimately to
Zermelo’s 1904 publication that proved the well-ordering principle by use of the axiom of choice. In his 1910 seminal paper on field theory foundations in algebra, Ernst Steinitz summarized the widespread attitude toward the axiom of choice in algebra, topology, and the like. Thus, although explicit examination of the axiom of choice was largely ignored for some time, from 1916 onward the Polish mathematician Waclaw Sierpinski issued many studies of implicit as well as open applications of the axiom of choice. Although Levi in 1918 offered what he called a “quasi-constructivist” improved alternative to the axiom, most mathematicians considered his alternative too limited and unwieldy. In 1927, American logician Alonzo Church sought unsuccessfully to derive a logical contradiction from the axiom. No alternative was developed until 1962, when two Polish mathematicians, J. Mycielski and H. Steinhaus, proposed their axiom of determinateness. Since then, it has been shown that a number of other propositions are equivalent to varyingly weaker or stronger forms of the axiom of choice, as originally recognized by Levi and positively employed as such by Zermelo. — Gerardo G. Tango Further Reading Dauben, J. W. Georg Cantor: His Mathematics and Philosophy of the Infinite. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979. A good rendering of Cantor’s original set theory papers. Undergraduate-level discussion. Fraenkel, Abraham A. Set Theory and Logic. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1966. Intermediate level. Includes math background material to the debate that arose about the axiom of choice as well as examples of the axiom’s contemporary use. Halmos, Paul R. Naive Set Theory. Princeton, N.J.: D. Van Nostrand, 1960. An introduction to Cantorian and contemporary intuitive, nonaxiomatized set theory for the general reader. Kanamori, A. “The Mathematical Development of Set Theory from Cantor to Cohen.” Bulletin of Symbolic Logic 2, no. 1 (1996): 1-71. An account of the history of set theory from its beginnings, with an emphasis on the heritage that current set theory has retained and developed. Rubin, Herman, and Jean E. Rubin. Equivalents of the Axiom of Choice. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1985. Although technical, this book includes accessible discussions of most of the subsequent theorems considered equivalent to the Levi-Zermelo axiom of choice. 101
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continuity” for point sets. In 1900, Levi published a paper extending Baire’s investigations of fundamental properties satisfied by every real function on any subset of the real numbers. Without proof, Levi proposed that every subset 1 is equal to the union of subsets 2 and 3 minus subset 4, where 2 is any closed set and 3 and 4 are “nowhere-dense” sets. Levi also asserted that every uncountable subset of the real numbers has the power of the continuum, essentially Cantor’s continuum hypothesis. In another dissertation of 1901, a student of Cantor and David Hilbert, Felix Bernstein, sought to establish that the set of all closed subsets of the real number system has the power of the continuum. In 1897, Bernstein had given the first proof of what is known as the equivalence theorem for sets: If each of two sets is equivalent to a subset of the other, then both sets are mutually equivalent. In his 1901 work, Bernstein remarked that Levi’s 1900 results were mistaken. As a response, in 1902 Levi published a careful analysis of Bernstein’s dissertation in which Bernstein’s use of choices in defining sets came into sharp and explicit critical focus. In Levi’s broad analysis of then-extant set theory, he questioned Cantor’s assertion that any set can be wellordered. Well-orderedness is the property whereby a set can be put systematically into a one-to-one correspondence with elements of another set. Levi pointed out that even though Bernstein had openly abandoned the wellordering principle, Bernstein had nevertheless employed an assumption that it appeared to be derived essentially from the same postulate of well-orderedness. This questionable assumption was Bernstein’s so-called partition principle; that is, if a set R is divided or partitioned into a family of disjoint (nonintersecting) nonempty sets S, then S is less than or equal to R. Following Levi’s proof that Bernstein’s partition principle was valid only whenever R was finite, Levi critically remarked that the example was applicable without change to any other case where all the elements s of S are well-ordered or where a unique element in each s can be distinguished. This statement is, essentially, a summary of what would be explicitly termed the axiom of choice.
Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in Set Theory
McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome Suppes, Patrick. Axiomatic Set Theory. Princeton, N.J.: D. Van Nostrand, 1960. Presents the basic principles of more rigorous set theory in terms of the ZermeloFraenkel and Newmann-Bernays-Gödel axioms. Van Heijenoort, Jean, ed. From Frege to Gödel: A Source Book in Mathematical Logic, 1879-1931. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967. Includes many English translations of works by Peano, Russell, Zermelo, Hilbert, and others relevant to set theory. A good introduction.
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See also: June 16, 1902: Russell Discovers the “Great Paradox”; 1904-1907: Brouwer Develops Intuitionist Foundations of Mathematics; 1904-1908: Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive Axiomatization of Set Theory; 1906: Fréchet Introduces the Concept of Abstract Space; July, 1929-July, 1931: Gödel Proves Incompleteness-Inconsistency for Formal Systems; 1939: Bourbaki Group Publishes Éléments de mathématique.
1902
McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome Clarence Erwin McClung’s suggestion that the “accessory,” or “X,” chromosome determines sex represented a significant contribution to the evolution of a chromosomal theory of inheritance. Locale: Chicago, Illinois; Lawrence, Kansas Categories: Science and technology; biology; genetics Key Figures Clarence Erwin McClung (1870-1946), American zoologist William Morton Wheeler (1865-1937), American entomologist Hermann Henking (1858-1942), German zoologist Nettie Maria Stevens (1861-1912), American cytologist Edmund Beecher Wilson (1856-1939), American cytologist Walter S. Sutton (1877-1916), American cytologist Theodor Boveri (1862-1915), German cytologist Summary of Event Since ancient times, observers have recognized that although offspring generally resemble their parents, they differ from them in particular characteristics. Most early attempts to explain these similarities and differences were not very successful. In 1866, Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, published a paper on the experimental breeding of garden peas in which he proposed explanations (now known as Mendel’s laws) for the inheritance of traits. Mendel referred to “factors” or units of heredity (genes) but did not realize that his factors were located on chromosomes in the cell nucleus. Because he published 102
his results in a relatively obscure journal, they went unnoticed until 1900. Meanwhile, cytologists (scientists who study cells) were taking advantage of improved instruments and staining techniques to observe the behavior of the chromosomes (darkly staining bodies in the cell nucleus) during cell division. These early cytologists, however, did not recognize that the behavior of the chromosomes was related to heredity. Experimental breeding and cytology appeared to be separate and unrelated areas of research. During the first decade of the twentieth century, however, the two apparently unconnected strands began to converge. By 1900, when three investigators independently discovered Mendel’s paper, it was possible to make such a synthesis, for cytologists had collected a considerable amount of information regarding the behavior of the chromosomes during body cell division (mitosis) and during the maturation of the egg and sperm cells (meiosis). They knew that chromosomes replicate before each cell division and that each daughter cell receives only one representative of each replicated chromosome found in the parent cell. This division results in two identical daughter cells. Investigators also observed that a second type of cell division occurs when gametes (eggs or sperm) are formed during meiosis. Instead of producing daughter cells identical with the parent, the number of chromosomes is reduced by half (haploid). When the egg and sperm fuse during fertilization, the set of chromosomes contributed by the egg match with the set contributed by the sperm, restoring the double (diploid) number. The chromosomes of the offspring, then, are derived equally from the egg and the sperm, assuring that each diploid pair of
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McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome and 1902, McClung postulated that the accessory chromosome is involved in the inheritance of sex. At the beginning of the twentieth century, biologists were divided on the issue of the inheritance of sex, with some asserting that it is determined by heredity and others arguing that it is determined by environment. One popular theory suggested that the fertilized egg exists initially in a sort of balanced state and that environmental factors, such as temperature or amount of food, determine whether it develops into a male or a female. Other investigators, however, insisted that external conditions do not affect sex ratios and that the determination of sex occurs at the time of fertilization or shortly thereafter. McClung’s observations were based on the second view. The “accessory” chromosome was present in all cells of the organism and was present in one-half the gametes of males. Therefore, at fertilization one-half the gametes contained the accessory chromosome and the other half lacked it. Because sex was the only characteristic that McClung could think of that would divide a species into two equal groups, he concluded that the accessory chromosome might be a sex determiner. Miscounting the number of chromosomes in the female Xiphidion, he erroneously concluded that spermatozoa possessing an accessory (X) chromosome were male determiners. In fact, the opposite situation is correct. A sperm bearing an accessory (X) chromosome is female-determining, and a sperm bearing either no accessory or a Y chromosome is male-determining. Although McClung’s misunderstanding of the way in which the accessory chromosome acts to determine sex was soon modified, his results did not resolve the controversy over the role of chromosomes in determining sex. Even McClung considered his ideas about the role of the accessory chromosome as a mere working hypothesis, not proof that sex is chromosomally determined. He recognized that his evidence was largely circumstantial, dependent on the presence or absence of the accessory chromosome in males or females. Given the tremendous variability within the animal kingdom and the scarcity of data on the subject, McClung was unwilling to generalize from his specific evidence to all animals. Even though he considered his evidence in grasshoppers compelling, he was not convinced of its truth for all species. McClung agreed with many of his contemporaries that the environment might play a role in the determination of sex in some species. He also believed in selective fertilization: that the egg could choose whether it was fertilized by a sperm carrying an accessory chromosome or one lacking it. McClung did not have all the answers. 103
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chromosomes in the offspring is composed of a maternal and a paternal representative. Mendel’s “factors” seemed to be distributed in the same way as the chromosomes, suggesting that the factors either were the chromosomes themselves or were located on the chromosomes. Chromosomes as the physical agents of heredity could explain why offspring show characteristics of both parents (because half of the chromosomes are contributed by the male and the other half by the female). As reasonable as such a hypothesis appeared, if it were to be confirmed, a specific trait would have to be traced from a parent’s chromosomes to those of the offspring. Although no trait had been traced from parent to offspring by the beginning of the twentieth century, investigators found a likely candidate in sex inheritance. Clarence Erwin McClung played an important role in this investigation. Although McClung had a wide range of biological interests—including microtechnique, vertebrate paleontology, and histology—he became interested in the role of the chromosomes when, as a graduate student at the University of Kansas, he spent the summer of 1898 working with William Morton Wheeler at the University of Chicago. Wheeler suggested that McClung study chromosome behavior in sperm production in a species of grasshopper. This introduction, as well as the semester McClung spent at Columbia University studying with cytologist Edmund Beecher Wilson, directed his attention to the behavior of the chromosomes. McClung’s studies resulted in a paper titled “A Peculiar Nuclear Element in the Male Reproductive Cells of Insects” (1899). This “nuclear element” had been described in 1891 by Hermann Henking, who followed the behavior of an unusual structure (he did not recognize it as a chromosome) in sperm formation of the fire wasp Pyrrhocoris. This structure, described by Henking as a “peculiar chromatin-element” (“X”) or an atypical “nucleolus,” did not appear to pair up with a partner during meiosis as did the other chromosomes. Henking noted that the male bug had an uneven number of chromosomes and the female an even number. During sperm formation, one-half of the sperm received the “X” body and the other half did not receive it. The half receiving it ended up with twelve chromosomes, whereas the half without it had only eleven. Henking, however, did not recognize the significance of the unpaired chromosome. McClung accomplished this step when, working on the formation of sperm in the grasshopper Xiphidion, he observed the “X” element that Henking had described. In his 1899 paper, he coined the term “accessory chromosome” for Henking’s “X” structure. In papers of 1901
McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome His creative speculations, however, based on accurate observations of a specific group of animals, provided his successors with an important tool they could use to establish a basis for the chromosomal theory of sex determination. Significance McClung’s suggestion that the accessory chromosome in insects functions as a sex determiner represented a significant stage in the evolution of a chromosomal theory of inheritance. His interpretation helped attribute purpose to the movements of chromosomes in general and specifically of the accessory chromosome in sperm formation. Even though his proposal was tentative, he was the first to suggest the relation of a particular chromosome to a particular characteristic. His work not only explained the one-to-one male-female ratio observed in most animals but also, more generally, provided the groundwork for a chromosomal theory of heredity. McClung’s work was acknowledged soon after it was completed by those who incorporated the work into their own research. Because the function of the behavior of the chromosomes was one of the major topics of interest within the early twentieth century biological “establishment,” cytologists were intrigued by new ideas. Thus McClung’s interpretation of the function of the accessory chromosome as a sex determiner was of vital interest to investigators such as Walter S. Sutton and Theodor Boveri, who were convinced that the chromosomes represented the physical basis for heredity but lacked evidence to prove it. Sutton, who had been a student of both McClung at Kansas and Wilson at Columbia University, published his paper “The Chromosomes in Heredity” in 1903, immediately after McClung’s major interpretive paper appeared in 1902. Sutton demonstrated that the behavior of the paired chromosomes during egg and sperm formation parallel exactly the segregation of the paired Mendelian factors in heredity. McClung’s contribution on the accessory chromosome’s importance in the inheritance of sex was important to the understanding of the way in which sex is determined. McClung’s interpretations were considered by Nettie Maria Stevens and Edmund Beecher Wilson, who collected additional data and provided extensive hypotheses of sex determination by chromosomes. From McClung’s cautious interpretation of his data that sex is determined by a chromosome in certain insects, others recognized the need to gather additional data. They soon realized that the situation could become quite complicated. In many groups of animals, males carry only one unpartnered accessory chromosome (des104
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ignated XO), but in others they have an accessory chromosome plus an additional element, the Y chromosome (designated XY). Females generally have two accessories (designated XX). In some groups of animals, such as birds and some insects, however, the situation is reversed, with males having two accessories (XX) and females one (XO or XY). McClung’s creative interpretation of his data provided other investigators with a starting point to unravel a most complex situation. — Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie Further Reading Allen, Garland E. Thomas Hunt Morgan: The Man and His Science. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1978. Although this book is basically concerned with the life and work of geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan, it provides a valuable context for understanding McClung’s contributions. Includes an excellent bibliographic essay. Carlson, Elof Axel. Mendel’s Legacy: The Origin of Classical Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2004. Based heavily on early twentieth century sources, this book traces the roots of genetics in breeding analysis and studies of cytology, evolution, and reproductive biology. Highly illustrated. Cummings, Michael. Human Heredity: Principles and Issues. 6th ed. Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 2002. Highly illustrated text aimed at nonscience students presents the complex topic of heredity clearly, without oversimplifying the concepts discussed. Dunn, L. C. A Short History of Genetics: The Development of Some of the Main Lines of Thought, 18641939. 1965. Reprint. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1991. Provides context for McClung’s ideas. Useful volume covers concisely the central ideas in classical genetics from Mendel’s paper up to 1939. Includes a glossary and bibliographies of both primary and secondary sources. Hughes, Arthur. A History of Cytology. 1959. Reprint. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1990. One section of this book considers theories of inheritance. Includes a discussion of the history of ideas on sex determination. McClung, Clarence E. “The Cell Theory: What of the Future?” American Naturalist 74 (1939): 47-53. McClung puts his own work and that of his contemporaries into context and speculates on the direction that future developments in cytogenetics might take. Wenrich, D. H. “Clarence Erwin McClung.” Journal of
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Morphology 66 (1940): 635-688. This work, published on the occasion of McClung’s seventieth birthday, represents one of the most complete biographical sources available. Also includes a complete bibliography of McClung’s work up to 1940. Wilson, Edmund B. The Cell in Development and Heredity. 3d ed. New York: Macmillan, 1937. The first edition of this book, published in 1896, was the outgrowth of a series of lectures Wilson gave at Columbia University in 1892-1893. A classic source, Wilson revised it as new data and interpretations emerged. Includes a massive literature list.
See also: 1902: Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity; Dec., 1902: Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits; 1905: Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity; 1906: Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage; 1908: Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics; 1908-1915: Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory; 1909: Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype”; Fall, 1911: Sturtevant Produces the First Chromosome Map. 1902
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Philippines Ends Its Uprising Against the United States Expansionism by the United States in the Philippines awakened feelings of ambivalence, selfishness, and altruism among the American people regarding treatment of Filipinos. Also known as: Philippine Insurrection Locale: Philippines Categories: Wars, uprisings, and civil unrest; atrocities and war crimes; expansion and land acquisition; independence movements Key Figures William McKinley (1843-1901), president of the United States, 1897-1901 Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Elihu Root (1845-1937), U.S. secretary of war, 18991904 Emilio Aguinaldo (1869-1964), leader of the struggle for Philippine independence Gamaliel Bradford (1863-1932), American historian Cornelius Gardener (1849-1921), U.S. Army major who served as U.S. governor of Tayabas Province in the Philippines Summary of Event The Spanish-American War of 1898 led to a number of direct territorial annexations by the United States. In December, 1898, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain officially turned over to the United States the islands of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. In the case of the Philippines, the United States paid Spain $20 million. Even with this remuneration, the taking of the
Philippines led to heated debates within President William McKinley’s administration: Should these islands be left to themselves, or should they receive “guidance” from the victorious American nation? In the end, the fate of the Philippines was left to President McKinley, who believed that the Filipinos were ignorant and childlike and therefore unfit for selfgovernment. McKinley chose to “educate, uplift, civilize, and Christianize” them by annexing the islands. Secretary of War Elihu Root was appointed official overseer of this process. He organized and charged the newly created Philippine Commission to maintain the “happiness, peace, and prosperity of the people” and committed the U.S. government to establish courts, municipal governments, a civil service, and schools in the Philippines. Under a policy of “benevolent assimilation,” Filipinos were to be integrated officially into Western culture as espoused and practiced by the United States. Implicit in this cultural ideal was the rhetoric of social Darwinism: natural selection and survival of the fittest. For the most part, Americans viewed Filipinos with a mixture of condescension and scorn, secure in the belief that Filipinos were incapable of managing their own affairs. Attitudes such as these began to manifest themselves in a blend of selfishness and altruism. Many believed that the acquisition of territory by the United States was always motivated by the highest ideals. On the other hand, the American articulation of expansionist policies in the Philippines, which promoted social Darwinist principles, often perpetuated racist notions such as the concept of the “white man’s burden.” This made the wearing of the mantle of expansionism a 105
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Social Darwinism Perhaps more profoundly than any other work, Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) and its sequel, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871), shaped the development of modern biology and, more broadly, the modern view of human nature. No longer was it possible to accept uncritically the biblical view of creation, with the implied special place of humankind in the divine order. Human beings became creatures among creatures, with a traceable evolution and descent from earlier hominid forms. Darwin’s ideas exerted a wide cultural influence, diffusing into politics, literature, and class relations, especially through Herbert Spencer’s concept of social Darwinism. It was not Darwin but Spencer—a laissez-faire economist and, ironically, a fragile individual—who coined the misleading phrase “survival of the fittest.” However, this misapplied evolutionary perspective was current before Darwin produced his famous work. Spencer was simply the most dogmatic in applying the principles of evolution and natural selection to society. Moreover, Spencer’s writings on competition in business influenced Darwin. Unfortunately, social Darwinism became embedded in much of the popular imagination. Darwin’s ideas were often mistakenly used to justify racism, discrimination, and repressive economic practices. Although Darwin drifted toward agnosticism and did not believe in a divinely sanctioned morality, he did not condone a world of amoral violence and brute struggle for domination. A gentle man who abhorred violence and cruelty, he would have been horrified at the political and social misapplications of principles linked with his name. At the same time, Darwin was not a Victorian liberal and accepted many of the unenlightened views of his age concerning “primitive” cultures.
somewhat difficult task for many Americans. Consequently, the American people responded to the entire Philippine incursion with a mixture of ambivalence, selfishness, and altruism. “Benevolent assimilation” began to be defined by those government officials who were implementing it, and American policy tended to confront public ambivalence with a good dose of patriotic selfishness. In the process, altruism was all but lost as benevolent assimilation was implemented more for American goals than for Philippine self-determination. American benevolence became a policy that thrived on the acquisition of territory for its own end. Any Philip106
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 pine opposition to this policy was seen as the failure of the Filipino culture to grasp the ideal of progress, a view that justified McKinley’s assessment of Filipinos’ unfitness for self-governance. American policy in the Philippines was always justified as humanitarian by design, especially when compared with the decidedly inhumane policies of the previous Spanish rule. For their part, the Filipinos apparently did not see any difference between the two outside ruling powers. In 1899, under the leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo, the Philippine Insurrection began. Aguinaldo had originally proposed Philippine independence within a U.S. protectorate in return for services the Philippines rendered to the United States against the Spanish during the war. The U.S. government rejected his proposal immediately following the removal of Spanish suzerainty over the islands. Instead of negotiating with the insurgents and assisting the Filipino people in their struggle for selfdetermination, the United States elected to go to war with the insurrectos, using seventy thousand American troops to crush the indigenous independence movement. The United States all but abandoned any pretext of rescuing the Filipinos from latent Spanish oppressive rule by the end of 1899. American ideals of peacefully “civilizing the uncivilized” were soon replaced with racist attitudes and policies that were implemented savagely. The Filipinos, even without significant weaponry, soon managed to return such savagery. This was a shortlived response, as the military and economic power of the United States was, in the long run, too much for the insurrectos. In 1902 the conflict came to an end. Beginning in July of 1901, Theodore Roosevelt’s presidential administration “elevated the application of extreme measures . . . into a policy that was official and acknowledged.” These measures were often brutal. Letters revealing to soldiers’ loved ones the harshness and wickedness of the insurrection began to find their way into print shortly after the Roosevelt policy was put into effect. Writing in the Springfield, Massachusetts, Daily Republican on April 9, 1902, publicist and historian Gamaliel Bradford described the savagery of the infamous “water cure” to his American readers: “placing a man on his back, forcing open his mouth and pouring into him a pail of water, till he swells up like a toad, and then squeezing it out again.” The New York Evening Post of April 8, 1902, described the water cure in more vivid detail: If the tortures I’ve mentioned are hellish, the water cure is plain hell. The native is thrown upon the ground, and, while his legs and arms are pinned, his head is raised par-
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tially so as to make pouring in the water an easier matter. An attempt to keep the mouth closed is of no avail, a bamboo stick or a pinching of the nose will produce the same effect. . . . A gallon of water is much but it is followed by a second and a third . . . a fourth and even a fifth gallon. . . . By this time the body becomes an object frightful to contemplate.
troublesome southern Luzon province of Batangas, had recently instituted new measures for the pacification of the Philippines. Veterans of this new campaign corroborated the resulting action by describing the herding of entire village populations into detention camps, where they were held under the surveillance and guard of American troops to “ensure the isolation of insurgent guerrillas.” According to Colonel Arthur Wagner, the American army officer in charge of isolating insurgent guerrillas in Batangas province, all civilians were to enter these camps with no belongings.
Associated Press dispatches from Manila in the last week of January, 1902, noted without comment that General J. Franklin Bell, U.S. Army commander of the
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Detention centers on average allowed a twelve-foot by six-foot area for each inhabitant. A soldier under General Bell’s command insisted that Bell’s inhumanity exceeded that of the hated Spaniards: “They were content with ‘concentrating’ the miserable women and children left after the devastation of farms and villages, but General Bell marks the husbands and fathers and brothers as criminals to be hanged when caught.” The people of the Philippines were not the only victims during the insurrection. The environment also suffered greatly. The American army, charged with the “extensive burning of barrios” so that the insurrectos could not find sanctuary, destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land in their attempts to pacify the natives. Testifying later before a U.S. Senate committee investigating wartime atrocities, Major Cornelius Gardener stated that environmental destruction on this scale was necessary if the army was going to induce a famine. Apparently, the insurgents—including any village suspected of housing or of even being related to an insurrecto— could not be allowed to find food anywhere. This campaign of starvation was relatively successful. Gardener went on to report that one-third of the population had died as the result of military slaughter, famine, and pestilence.
society at the beginning of the twentieth century and were actualized abroad by American forces in the Philippines. Many American troops looked at the Filipinos as being of one race and condition. Because the Filipinos had dark skin, these soldiers labeled them “niggers,” an extension of the contempt they had for African Americans back home. U.S. government proclamations complemented these feelings. By implying the inferiority of the Filipinos, many government edicts reflected the recently formalized Jim Crow codes of the American South and the segregationist practices of the cities and unions of the North. The individual American soldier in the Philippines became an overseer, a master to an inferior race that needed discipline and training so as to be properly integrated into the Western ideal. The name given to this training was “benevolent assimilation.” The force to implement this assimilation was imperialism, bothersome to many Americans because it showed a powerful nation being driven by brute expansionism, camouflaged by a cultural atmosphere of altruism. Despite these halting beginnings, American administration of the Philippines led eventually to the Commonwealth Constitution in 1935 and a deepening sense of comradeship owing to the common American and Filipino struggle during World War II, after the Japanese invasion of 1941. The eventual liberation of the Philippines from brutal Japanese occupation in 1944, as General MacArthur fulfilled his famous promise “I shall return,” was followed swiftly by Filipino acquisition of independence in 1946. Filipinos enjoyed generally good relations with Americans and with the American government in subsequent years. — Thomas J. Edward Walker and Cynthia Gwynne Yaudes
Significance Many Americans believed that the Philippine Insurrection had to be crushed. The United States had fought for the islands and had officially purchased them from Spain—why give them up to an undeserving indigenous population? Furthermore, if the United States did not control the islands, then the Germans or the British would most certainly colonize them. Finally, the duty to extend Christianity and civilization was part of the American mission to tutor backward peoples. These reasons, along with a foreign policy elite who believed that the United States must prove its power through aggressive policy abroad, help to explain why so little attention was paid to the inhumanity of this mission. To gloss over or cover up any wartime atrocities would show the United States to be weak; any nation that was weak would not expand, and any nation that did not expand would perish. In the eyes of American policy engineers, this attitude provided sufficient justification for the use of extreme measures. “It is not civilized warfare, [because] we are not dealing with civilized people. The only thing that they know and fear is force, violence, and brutality, and we give it to them.” These attitudes, fueled by social Darwinist principles, were pervasive in American 108
Further Reading Delmendo, Sharon. The Star-Entangled Banner: One Hundred Years of America in the Philippines. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2004. History of the troubled relationship between the United States and the Philippines in the twentieth century. Examines several issues, including the longterm effects of American imperialism. Includes illustrations, bibliography, and index. Feuer, A. B. America at War: The Philippines, 18981913. New York: Praeger, 2002. Employs previously unpublished letters, diaries, and photographs to present a look at the Philippine-American War from the point of view of American soldiers, sailors, and marines who participated.
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May, Glenn Anthony. Social Engineering in the Philippines: The Aims, Execution, and Impact of American Colonial Policy, 1900-1913. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980. Comparative history examines the impact of one set of values on another. Analyzes the values and goals of Americans who made Philippine policy and those of Filipinos on whom it was imposed. Challenges the widely held view of the United States as an essentially successful colonial power. Includes appendixes, index, and bibliographical essay. Miller, Stuart Creighton. Benevolent Assimilation: The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899-1903. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1982. Explores American imperialism as an aberration and as part of a historical continuum, focusing specifically on the conquest of the Philippines. Draws on a wide range of views from generals, presidents, and soldiers to analyze the war itself and its challenge to Americans’ sense of innocence. Includes bibliography and index. Schirmer, Daniel B. Republic or Empire: American Resistance to the Philippine War. Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman, 1972. Carefully researched study of the period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries during which the United States conclusively turned to an imperial course. Focuses on the American anti-imperialists who became active during this era and on the Philippine war they so vigorously opposed. Includes extensive examples from primary sources.
Storey, Moorfield, and Julian Codman. Secretary Root’s Record: “Marked Severities” in Philippine Warfare. Boston: George H. Ells, 1902. Valuable primary source documents the “actions and utterances” of President Roosevelt and Secretary Root during the Philippine-American War, as noted in the “Law and Facts Hearing.” Reprints telegraphic messages concerning American military tactics that traveled between the Philippines and Washington, D.C. Also provides some revealing commentary on this correspondence and on testimony from the hearing. Storey, Moorfield, and Marcial P. Lichauco. The Conquest of the Philippines by the United States, 18981925. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1926. Supplements and comments on Secretary Root’s Record (cited above). Suggests that the American people were led, through false statements and suppression of the truth, to support the taking of the Philippines and to believe in the “American mission.” Welch, Richard E., Jr. Response to Imperialism: The United States and the Philippine-American War, 1899-1902. 1979. Reprint. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987. Analyzes the responses of various sectors of American society to imperialism and to the Philippine-American War, revealing the strength of such social forces as racism and patriotism. Includes bibliography and index. See also: May 27, 1901: Insular Cases; 1909-1913: United States Begins “Dollar Diplomacy”; Mar. 24, 1934: Philippine Independence Act.
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Zsigmondy Invents the Ultramicroscope
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Zsigmondy Invents the Ultramicroscope Richard Zsigmondy’s development of the ultramicroscope allowed scientists to measure and identify individual particles in colloid solutions. Locale: Göttingen, Germany Categories: Science and technology; chemistry; inventions Key Figures Richard Zsigmondy (1865-1929), Austrian-born German organic chemist H. F. W. Siedentopf (1872-1940), German physicist and optician Summary of Event Richard Zsigmondy’s invention of the ultramicroscope grew out of his interest in colloidal substances. Colloids are tiny particles of a substance finely dispersed throughout a solution of another material or substance (for example, salt in water). Zsigmondy, whose father, Adolf, was a noted inventor of dental surgical equipment, first became interested in colloids while working as an assistant to the physicist Adolf Kundt at the University of Berlin in 1892. Although originally trained as an organic chemist, in which discipline he took his Ph.D. at the University of Munich in 1890, Zsigmondy became particularly interested in colloidal substances containing fine particles of gold that produce lustrous colors when painted on porcelain. He subsequently abandoned organic chemistry and devoted his career to the study of colloids. Zsigmondy began intensive research into his new field of interest in 1893, when he returned to Austria to accept a post as lecturer at the Technische Hochschule at Graz. He became especially interested in gold-ruby glass, the accidental invention of the seventeenth century alchemist Johann Kunckel. While pursuing the alchemist’s chimera of transmuting base substances into gold, Kunckel discovered instead a method of producing glass with a beautiful deep-red luster through the suspension of very fine particles of gold throughout the liquid silica before it was cooled to become glass. Zsigmondy also began studying a colloidal pigment called purple of Cassius, the discovery of another seventeenth century alchemist, Andreas Cassius. Zsigmondy soon discovered that purple of Cassius was a colloidal solution and not, as many chemists believed at the time, a chemical compound. This fact allowed him to develop techniques for glass and porcelain 110
coloring with potentially great commercial value, which led directly to his 1897 appointment to a research post with the Schott Glass Manufacturing Company in Jena, Germany. With the Schott Company, Zsigmondy concentrated on the commercial production of colored glass objects. His most notable achievement during this period was the invention of Jena milk glass, still prized by collectors throughout the world. While Zsigmondy was studying these substances, many European chemists insisted that purple of Cassius was a chemical compound. Zsigmondy devised experiments that convinced him that it was not a chemical compound but instead a colloidal substance. When he published the results of his research in professional journals, however, they were not widely accepted by the scientific community. Other scientists were not able to replicate Zsigmondy’s experiments and consequently denounced
Richard Zsigmondy. (The Nobel Foundation)
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Significance After Zsigmondy’s invention of the ultramicroscope and his subsequent observations concerning colloidal solutions, in 1907 the University of Göttingen appointed him professor of inorganic chemistry and director of the university’s Institute for Inorganic Chemistry. Using the ultramicroscope, Zsigmondy and his associates quickly refuted all the critics who had denounced his research on purple of Cassius, proving that it is indeed a colloidal substance. That finding, however, was the least of the spectacular discoveries that resulted from Zsigmondy’s invention. In the next decade, Zsigmondy and his associates found that color changes in colloidal gold solutions result from coagulation—that is, changes in the size and number of gold particles in the solution caused by particles bonding together. Zsigmondy found that coagulation occurs when the negative electrical charge of the individual particles is removed through the addition of salts. Coagulation can be prevented or slowed by the addition of protective colloids. These observations also made possible the determination of the speed at which coagulation takes place, as well as the number of particles in the colloidal substance being studied. With the assistance of the theoretical physicist Max von Smouluchowski, Zsigmondy worked out a complete mathematical formula of colloidal coagulation that is valid not only for gold colloidal solutions but also for all other colloids. Colloidal substances include milk and blood, which both coagulate, thus giving relevance to Zsigmondy’s work in the fields of medicine and agriculture. These observations and discoveries concerning colloids—in addition to invention of the ultramicroscope—earned Zsigmondy the 1925 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. After his appointment at Göttingen University, Zsigmondy assembled a research team and began intensive research into colloids using the ultramicroscope. He and his team developed another tool for their investigations, which Zsigmondy called ultrafiltration. Using the ultramicroscope and ultrafiltration, the scientists undertook a detailed study of gels, particularly silica and soap gels (which are essentially coagulated colloidal solutions). This research led to many important discoveries with numerous commercial applications, including the development of products such as shampoo, shaving cream, cold cream, suntan lotion, and deodorant soap. In later years, other scientists using the ultramicroscope and Zsigmondy’s ultrafiltration techniques succeeded in ascertaining the electrical conductivity of colloidal particles. This process led to the development of a 111
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them as flawed. The criticism of his work in the technical literature stimulated Zsigmondy to make his greatest discovery, the ultramicroscope, which he developed to prove his theories regarding the colloidal nature of purple of Cassius. Between 1900 and 1907, Zsigmondy pursued private research. During this period, he completed most of the work for which he was awarded the 1925 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In pursuing his investigations into colloids, he encountered a number of problems that were unresolvable with the scientific equipment available to him. Up to that time, scientists had attempted to study colloidal particles in organic solutions by observing a cone of scattered light, called the Faraday-Tyndall cone, shone into a solution. This method, however, did not permit the observer to see the individual particles suspended in the solution. Using the facilities and assisted by the staff (especially H. F. W. Siedentopf, an expert in optical lens grinding) of the Zeiss Glass Manufacturing Company of Jena, Zsigmondy developed an ingenious device that permitted direct observation of individual colloidal particles. This device, which its developers named the ultramicroscope, made use of a principle that was already known. Sometimes called dark-field illumination, the method utilizes a light (usually sunlight focused by mirrors) that is shone through the solution under the microscope at right angles from the observer, rather than directly from the observer into the solution. The resulting effect is similar to that seen when a beam of sunlight is admitted to a closed room through a small aperture. An observer standing back from and at right angles to such a beam can see, even with the unaided eye, many dust motes suspended in the air that otherwise are not visible. Zsigmondy and those who assisted him made a number of refinements and improvements in dark-field illumination procedures, and the result was the ultramicroscope. Zsigmondy’s device shines a very bright light through the substance or solution being studied. The microscope then focuses on the light shaft from the side. This process enables the observer using the ultramicroscope to view colloidal particles ordinarily invisible even to the strongest conventional microscope. To a scientist viewing purple of Cassius, for example, colloidal gold particles as small as one ten-millionth of a millimeter in size become visible. After Zsigmondy publicized his findings, scientists in a variety of disciplines adopted the ultramicroscope, finding many uses for it in fields as disparate as medicine and agriculture. It remains an important tool in many fields of scientific research.
Zsigmondy Invents the Ultramicroscope
Pavlov Develops the Concept of Reinforcement method for separating colloidal solutions from the admixed electrolytes, not only in gold solutions but also in other colloidal solutions. These new methods have had numerous commercial applications that have improved the quality of life for humankind. —Paul Madden Further Reading Hatschek, Emil, ed. The Foundations of Colloid Chemistry. London: Ernest Benn, 1925. Places Zsigmondy in the context of his predecessors. Intended for readers with some background in chemistry. Hauser, Ernst. Colloidal Phenomena. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1939. Explores the status of colloid research up to the late 1930’s. Requires a working knowledge of chemical terms and concepts. Kruyt, H. R. Colloids. London: Ernest Benn, 1930. A standard reference in colloid chemistry. Discusses Zsigmondy’s contributions to the field. McBain, James W. Colloid Science. Boston: D. C. Heath, 1950. Includes an extensive and admiring overview of Zsigmondy’s work and his contributions
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 to the field of chemistry. Intended for readers with background in chemistry. Sherby, Louise S. The Who’s Who of Nobel Prize Winners, 1901-2000. 4th ed. Westport, Conn.: Oryx Press, 2001. Provides detailed information on all winners of the Nobel Prize in the twentieth century, including Richard Zsigmondy. Each article includes a description of the laureate’s life and career, summarizes his or her important achievements, and provides a list of his or her publications as well as biographical resources on the individual. Four indexes enable readers to find laureates by name, education, nationality or citizenship, and religion. Zsigmondy, Richard Adolf. Colloids and the Ultramicroscope. Translated by Jerome Alexander. New York: Wiley, 1909. Zsigmondy’s account of the development and uses of the ultramicroscope. Somewhat technical, but a valuable source. See also: Sept., 1915-Feb., 1916: McLean Discovers the Natural Anticoagulant Heparin; 1924: Svedberg Develops the Ultracentrifuge.
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Pavlov Develops the Concept of Reinforcement Ivan Petrovich Pavlov advanced the concept of reinforcement, which provided a physicochemical explanation for learning. Locale: St. Petersburg, Russia Categories: Science and technology; biology Key Figures Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936), Russian physiologist I. M. Sechenov (1829-1905), Russian physiologist Edward L. Thorndike (1874-1949), American psychologist Charles Darwin (1809-1882), English naturalist Summary of Event In April, 1903, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov delivered a surprising address to an international medical conference in Madrid. It was thought that the noted Russian physiologist would discuss his research on digestion, but instead he described new investigations into the links between psychic and physiological processes. The focal point of these inquiries was the experience that begins, perpetuates, or eliminates a given kind of behavior. Although 112
Pavlov did not formally name that concept until the following year, he was referring to reinforcement, the key physicochemical event in the learning process. Physiologists had a general understanding of the structure and functions of the nervous system before Pavlov advanced the notion of reinforcement. They had not, however, answered the crucial question of how learning occurs—that is, how behavior changes on the basis of experience. One group, variously described as mentalists, vitalists, or subjectivists, maintained that thoughts and emotions are not subject to physical laws and that experimental attempts to penetrate the boundary between mind and body are useless. Their materialist opponents, generally called monists, insisted that concepts such as spirit, mind, and soul cloud the issue of higher brain functions; they maintained that explanations of all nervous activity should be sought in the laws of physics and chemistry. Before Pavlov’s work on reinforcement, however, monists lacked a cohesive theory supported by a convincing body of experimental data. They observed animals and drew valuable inferences, and they removed parts of animals’ nervous systems, noted the conse-
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To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (second from right) and his assistants demonstrate the theory of conditional reflex using a dog. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
quences, and reached conclusions. To gain real insight into learning, however, they required a clear approach combined with ways to measure the physical reactions of healthy subjects. Pavlov provided the solution to both problems. The quantifying technique that Pavlov used to address learned behavior was an offshoot of his 1889-1897 investigations into the effects of the nervous system on digestion. In that project, which won for him the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, he diverted the duct of a salivary gland (the parotid) to the outside of a dog’s muzzle so that he could collect the dog’s saliva from a funnel. This procedure, which produced measurable secretions from a healthy animal, underpinned Pavlov’s research into reinforcement. Pavlov’s basic approach to the exploration of brain functions also grew from his experiments on digestion. While monitoring the results of sham feeding (the removal of food from a dog’s slit esophagus after it was
swallowed but before it entered the stomach), he observed unexpected gastric secretions. As the vagus nerve (which originates in the medulla oblongata and enervates the abdominal cavity) had been severed during surgery, he concluded that part of the stomach’s neural control lay in the cerebral cortex. This led him to believe that secretions could provide information about higher neural activity. Thus, by 1897, Pavlov possessed a powerful leading idea and a technical procedure that could provide measurable data on the activity of the brain. He also drew on a number of working assumptions. Pavlov was influenced by I. M. Sechenov, a mechanical reductionist who argued that all behavior can be described in terms of reflexes (motor responses to stimulation), reflexes can be explained entirely in physicochemical terms, and an understanding of complicated human reflex behavior is best approached through the study of simpler animal reflex behavior. Pavlov also knew that Charles Darwin had advanced a complemen113
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order to escape from a puzzle box. Also, while doing research on the diIvan Pavlov had worked on the digestive tract before he worked on his thegestive system, he noticed an intriguory of reinforcement. Pavlov perfected a surgical technique of creating a kind ing occurrence: When the presentaof separate stomach in dogs, which made it possible for investigators to monition of food to a dog was regularly tor secretions and other activity of the digestive process. He was able to deterand closely preceded by an alerting mine the function of nerves in controlling digestion. In 1888 he discovered the signal, such as approaching footsteps, secretory nerves of the pancreas, and in 1889 he studied the functions of other the signal alone caused salivation. gastric glands. His work on digestion, not reinforcement, earned him the Nobel Pavlov directed preliminary investiPrize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904. It is his work on reinforcement, howgations into that type of behavior (the ever, for which he is remembered. conditional reflex) as early as 1897. At some point in the early 1900’s, Pavlov became absorbed with the effects In 1902, Pavlov applied himself of the brain on learned behavior, focusing attention on what came to be known as his theory of conditioned reflexes. He realized through his digestive studies completely to the study of the condithat dogs would secrete saliva and other digestive fluids before they actually tional reflex. The outlines of his thereceived food—such as when the dogs heard the approach of laboratory assisory of classical conditioning immeditants at feeding time. In one of the most famous scientific experiments ever ately took shape, for the basic ideas, conducted, Pavlov trained dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell when they much of the terminology, and the learned that the bell indicated that food was soon coming. investigative methods were almost Some critics immediately dismissed his theory, claiming that Pavlov had ready to present. Working in the wellsimply given terminology to what every dog trainer already knew. Pavlov’s acequipped physiological laboratory of complishment, however, was to demonstrate clearly that there is an explicit the St. Petersburg Institute of Experconnection between physiological function and learned behavior. His experiimental Medicine, he issued prelimiment left more of a mark on psychology than it did on physiology. By showing nary findings at Madrid in 1903 and that muscular reflexes of the nervous system could be expanded to include mental reflexes, he opened the question as to what extent human behavior is presented formal results of his recontrolled by learned mental patterns and responses. search in 1905. Beginning in 1918 and for several years thereafter, Pavlov studied the beAlthough his evidence was drawn havior patterns of several mentally ill patients in an attempt to treat them. He from experiments on dogs, Pavlov believed he could alter the behavior of the insane by removing the patients extended his conclusions to the hufrom physiological stimuli that might be considered harmful. Therefore, he man nervous system. He maintained treated insanity with quiet and solitude. that all animals have an inborn neuAt the end of his career, Pavlov used his beliefs about conditioned reflexes ral capacity (the unconditional reflex) to explore the differences between humankind and animals. He found that huto react to events necessary for surmans and animals share some, but not all, reflexive responses; humans, he bevival (the unconditional stimulus). lieved, are different from other creatures primarily because the human brain For example, the sight of food norand nervous system can accommodate more complicated, conditioned reflexes. He came to regard human language itself as the most advanced and mally produced a certain type and complicated form of conditioned reflex. amount of salivation in a dog. As long as the dog was allowed to eat food presented to it, the unconditional reflex endured. Eating the proffered tary viewpoint. Darwin’s evolutionary theory implied food reinforced the unconditional reflex, for the act of that mind had evolved through natural selection—and eating maintained (excited) a neural association between if mind had evolved, the brain and behavior had also the unconditional stimulus and the unconditional reflex. evolved. Darwin’s conclusions thus supported the reWhen a dog was repeatedly shown food but was not alductionist idea that animal behavior can provide insights lowed to eat, salivation weakened and eventually disapinto the workings of the human brain. peared. Pavlov interpreted this to mean that the associaFinally, information drawn from recent observation tion between the sight of food and salivation was actually sharpened Pavlov’s interest in the study of learned bea temporary neural connection that could be broken havior. He closely studied Edward L. Thorndike’s experthrough lack of reinforcement. On the other hand, an iments on instrumental conditioning, which required a unreinforced (inhibited) connection could be reactivated; resumption of eating overrode inhibition and recat to operate an instrument such as a lever or bobbin in
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Significance The importance of reinforcement was first recognized in Russia, where it affected the debate between monistic biologists and state-supported subjectivistic psychologists. The split between government and society during the late czarist period worked to Pavlov’s advantage: While state ideology opposed all brands of materialism, including mechanistic reductionalism, private funding allowed Pavlov to expand investigations into reinforcement. For example, in 1911, the Ledentsov Society financed a series of soundproofed chambers, known as the tower of silence, in which he could study the effects of time intervals on the coupling of conditional and unconditional stimuli. His reputation spread rapidly, and by 1914 he headed an influential school of experimental physiology. The revolutionary period disrupted Pavlov’s work,
but after 1921 the Soviet leadership vigorously supported his research for several reasons: Pavlov’s mechanical reductionism was compatible with the materialistic orientation of the new Marxist regime, his doctrine of reinforcement strengthened the arguments of nurture over nature at a time when the government wished to reeducate the citizenry, and the scientific triumphs of the Pavlovian school had propaganda value for socialism. With state sponsorship, Pavlov and his successors directed large research projects on complex aspects of association through reinforcement. Advances in cybernetics (the comparison of the communication and control systems of human-made devices with those in the nervous systems of animals) caused some Soviet scientists to question the validity of Pavlov’s conclusions. Nevertheless, his school dominated experimental biology, psychology, and cognitive theory in the Soviet Union, and his environmentally based concept of reinforcement undergirded Soviet educational practice. Largely because of the language barrier, non-Russians were unable to absorb Pavlov’s concept of reinforcement until the 1920’s. European reaction was unenthusiastic; continental investigators tended toward Gestalt psychology, a holistic approach to perception that emphasizes complexity and thus was at odds with reductionism. The British identified largely with Sir Charles Scott Sherrington’s efforts to confine reflex action to the spinal cord. The Pavlovian concept of reinforcement had a different reception in the United States, where it was compatible with behaviorism, an indigenous tradition opposed to introspection. Pavlov’s definition of reinforcement had to compete with Thorndike’s, however, as Thorndike had put forward a different definition in 1913 while developing his theory of instrumental conditioning. Thorndike defined reinforcement as any action that causes the appearance of an unconditional stimulus (such as pushing a lever to release a food pellet); according to Pavlov, reinforcement always follows the unconditional stimulus. The sharply differing terminology led to widespread confusion, with Pavlovian reinforcement sometimes described accurately, sometimes as the unconditional stimulus, and sometimes as rewards and punishments. Generally, Americans and Western Europeans admire Pavlov’s meticulous investigations into the conditions effecting reinforcement and associate his original concept with a specific kind of simple learning (classical, or passive, as opposed to Thorndike’s instrumental, or 115
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stored the extinguished link between salivation and the sight of food. That link could also be redirected. If an unrelated stimulus (for example, the sound made by a bell) immediately preceded the delivery of food over a long enough period, it could provoke salivation. In Pavlovian terminology, the coupling of a conditional stimulus (a bell tone) with an unconditional stimulus (the sight of food) produced a conditional reflex. In other words, the bell tone made the dog think of food and then salivate. Moreover, a dog was able to discriminate between similar types of reinforced and unreinforced food. For example, it would stop salivating at the sight of white bread it was forbidden to eat but continue salivating at the sight of brown bread that was regularly fed to it. The linchpin of Pavlov’s theory was thus the notion of reinforcement, which held that animals could associate any two occurrences if the first one promptly and reliably predicted the onset of the second. Reinforcement had a clearly adaptive function, for it provided an animal with a wide range of anticipatory responses to its changing environment. Pavlov’s experimental data, composed of precise, replicable measurements of the volume and rate of saliva in response to a variety of timed stimuli, confirmed the importance of that validating mechanism. The presence or absence of reinforcement, which created conditional reflexes and maintained, extinguished, or resurrected both conditional and unconditional reflexes, permitted an animal to modify its behavior on the basis of experience. Learning took place amid the forging and breaking of neural connections in reaction to changing circumstances.
Pavlov Develops the Concept of Reinforcement
Pavlov Develops the Concept of Reinforcement purposeful). Pavlovian reinforcement has constantly combined and recombined with various forms of behaviorism, and some of its aspects have been incorporated into theories of language formation and information processing, but it is only one of many currents affecting the course of Western psychological and cognitive theory. —Michael J. Fontenot Further Reading Babkin, Boris P. Pavlov: A Biography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949. An indispensable primary source rich in anecdotal material, this is a fond memoir by a close colleague. Includes otherwise inaccessible personal and professional information on Pavlov. Comprehensive in scope, although poorly organized and somewhat polemical. Sparsely illustrated and includes notes, a bibliography, and an index. Frolov, Y. P. Pavlov and His School: The Theory of Conditioned Reflexes. Translated by C. P. Dutt. New York: Oxford University Press, 1937. This key work by a Soviet physician who worked with Pavlov treats Pavlov’s career in a systematic fashion but contains ideologically motivated inaccuracies typical of the Stalinist period. It should be read in conjunction with Babkin’s biography. Contains charts, diagrams, photographs, and an index. Gantt, W. Horsley. “Russian Physiology and Pathology.” In Soviet Science, edited by Ruth C. Christman. Washington, D.C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1952. A somewhat dated but still valuable work by one of Pavlov’s American students. Contains interesting information on Pavlov’s attitudes toward contemporary scientists and scientific problems. Presents a somewhat argumentative but solid treatment of Pavlov’s school and its influence on various aspects of Soviet scientific and educational thought. Heavily footnoted. Graham, Loren R. Science, Philosophy, and Human Behavior in the Soviet Union. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987. This expanded version of Graham’s Science and Philosophy in the Soviet Union (1972) offers an excellent treatment of Pavlov’s contributions to Russian physiology and psychology. Includes chapters on the nature-nurture debate, biology and human beings, and cybernetics and computers. Lengthy, with notes, an extensive bibliography, and an index. Gray, Jeffrey A. Ivan Pavlov. New York: Viking Press, 1979. An excellent biography that draws extensively from Babkin and Frolov (previously cited). Particu116
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 larly strong on Pavlov’s intellectual background and research methodology. Pavlov’s work is evaluated in the light of physiological and psychological developments of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Includes diagrams, graphs, and an index. Martin, Irene, and A. B. Levey. “Learning What Will Happen Next: Conditioning, Evaluation, and Cognitive Processes.” In Cognitive Processes and Pavlovian Conditioning in Humans, edited by Graham Davey. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1987. An important and provocative essay that discusses the influence of Pavlovian reinforcement on contemporary cognitive theory. Particularly useful for readers interested in information processing. Traces Pavlov’s impact on behaviorism and outlines new directions in research. Pavlov, Ivan P. Experimental Psychology, and Other Essays. New York: Philosophical Library, 1957. A useful primary source that includes Pavlov’s autobiography, the 1903 Madrid speech that contained the first public reference to reinforcement, and the 1904 Nobel Prize speech in which Pavlov first outlined the major elements of classical conditioning. Also includes material on Pavlov’s later attempts to apply aspects of reinforcement to human personality disorders. Includes notes but no index. Todes, Daniel P. Pavlov’s Physiology Factory: Experiment, Interpretation, Laboratory Enterprise. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. Explores Pavlov’s early work in digestive physiology through the structures and practices of his laboratory, the physiology department of the Institute of Experimental Medicine. Examines Pavlov’s roles as laboratory manager, experimentalist, entrepreneur, and scientific visionary through his scientific notes and correspondence, unpublished memoirs, and laboratory publications. Vucinich, Alexander S. Science in Russian Culture, 1861-1917. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1970. Especially useful to readers interested in history. Places Russian science in the cultural and social context of the postemancipation era. Presents Pavlov’s school as part of a wide, uniquely Russian current in experimental biology. Should be read in conjunction with Graham’s book cited above. Includes notes, an extensive bibliography, and an index. See also: Apr.-June, 1902: Bayliss and Starling Establish the Role of Hormones; Apr.-May, 1904: Sherrington Clarifies the Role of the Nervous System.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Tiffany Leads the Art Nouveau Movement in the United States
1902-1913
Tiffany Leads the Art Nouveau Movement in the United States Louis Comfort Tiffany’s craftsmanship and design in glassmaking and then in jewelry making influenced artistic trends in the United States and abroad. Locale: New York, New York Categories: Fashion and design; arts
Louis Comfort Tiffany. (Library of Congress)
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Key Figures Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), American decorator and designer Charles Louis Tiffany (1812-1902), American jeweler Samuel Bing (1838-1905), French art dealer and entrepreneur John La Farge (1835-1910), American artist Arthur J. Nash (1849-1922), English-born glassblower
Summary of Event The demise of Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company in 1900 and its succession by Tiffany Studios was a logical development in the career of one of the most gifted and influential designers in the United States. Through his new company, Louis Comfort Tiffany hoped to realize his lifelong ambitions: to promote glass as an accepted, even ideal, artistic medium and to become a trendsetter in American artistic development. Headstrong and volatile, Tiffany at the age of eighteen informed his father, Charles Louis Tiffany, founder of the famous jewelry concern Tiffany & Co., that he wanted neither to go to college nor to secure a position in the family firm. He wanted to be an artist. Tiffany began training in the studio of George Inness, the famous American painter, but longed to expand his horizons. At Inness’s studio, Tiffany was introduced to leading artists of the day as well as to their ideas and philosophies, some of which made lasting impressions. The most influential of these was the Arts and Crafts movement associated with William Morris of England. It stressed honesty of craftsmanship and the importance of designs from nature. It made no distinction between artist and craftsman. Morris had also revived and improved upon the ancient art of working with stained glass as an artistic medium. Tiffany adopted so many of Morris’s ideas that he became known as the William Morris of America. Trips to France and Morocco profoundly changed Tiffany’s life. He was overwhelmed by the richness of color of the stained-glass windows of the great French cathedrals and equally impressed by the earthier colors and more exotic designs found in Morocco. His experiences confirmed his belief in the primacy of color in art, and thereafter he considered himself as much a colorist as an artist. For a time, Tiffany worked as a conventional artist, but he found the work too limited. Inspired by examples of the Arts and Crafts movement he saw at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876, Tiffany decided that interior decorating would offer a wider scope for his talents. He formed Louis C. Tiffany and Associated Artists, where he worked with other artists knowledgeable in porcelains, textiles, and exotic carvings. Tiffany added his growing interest in and knowledge of the decorative possibilities of glass. He recognized the potential of glass
Tiffany Leads the Art Nouveau Movement in the United States as a superb artistic medium, offering a forum for brilliant colors, and he had begun experimenting with glass as early as 1870. Creating more effective forms of glass became his life’s work and the means through which he achieved fame. Tiffany soon became America’s best-known interior decorator. He designed interiors for some of the country’s most famous homes, including the White House, for which he created an enormous decorative glass screen. The screen, which was greatly admired, was fashioned of “opalescent,” a new kind of glass Tiffany had developed in cooperation with artist John La Farge. Tiffany became increasingly involved in his research in glass, and in 1885 he abandoned interior decorating and formed the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company. He now could devote himself full-time to perfecting and utilizing glass as an artistic medium. Tiffany’s new com-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
pany was involved primarily in creating stained-glass windows. The cutting process, however, resulted in many leftover pieces of colorful and expensive glass. Seeking ways to utilize them, Tiffany began piecing the fragments together with lead strips in graceful, often stylized and free-form designs to form various objects, the most notable of which were lamp shades. Through his lamp shades, Tiffany became famous as one of the first industrial designers. Seeking further to concentrate his work on glass, Tiffany established his own furnaces in Corona, New York, in 1893. Along with skilled glassblowers, notably Arthur J. Nash, Tiffany developed a further refinement of opalescent glass. The new glass, called Favrile, was introduced to the public in 1896. Tiffany believed that he could realize his objective of becoming an arbiter of taste, bringing color and good design to the masses. Using his glass and the objects fashioned from it as a focal point, and building on his trainNotable Figures of the ing as an artist, craftsman, and inteArt Nouveau Movement rior designer, Tiffany founded Tiffany Studios in 1900. The studios The global Art Nouveau movement had enormous influence over the work of many major artists, designers, and architects in the early twentieth century, inoffered complete design services, cluding those listed below. ranging from interiors to architecture, from garden design to textiles Konstantin Korovin In architecture and jewelry. Craft workers in the stu(1861-1939) Émile André (1871-1933) dios produced most of the articles, Edvard Munch (1863-1944) Georges Biet (1868-1955) and what they could not make was Valentin Serov (1865-1911) Paul Charbonnier (1865-1953) commissioned. Everything, howKonstantin Somov (1869-1939) August Endel (1871-1925) ever, conformed to Tiffany’s ideas Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926) (1864-1901) Hector Guimard (1867-1942) concerning good taste. Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956) When his father died in 1902, TifIn glassware, mosaics, Victor Horta (1861-1947) fany gained control of Tiffany & Co. stained glass, and other Charles Rennie Mackintosh and merged Tiffany Studios into it. decorative arts (1868-1928) Tiffany & Co. already had a client Charles Robert Ashbee Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) list that included millionaires and (1863-1942) Eugène Vallin (1856-1922) William Bradley (1868-1962) celebrities, American presidents and Henry van de Velde Rubén Darío (1867-1916) European royalty. Although best (1863-1957) Antonin Daum (1864-1930) known for jewelry, Tiffany & Co. Otto Wagner (1841-1918) Auguste Daum (1853-1909) also dealt in porcelain, glassware, Auguste Delaherche In drawing and and other accessories. With the (1857-1940) graphic design merger, Tiffany solidified his place Émile Gallé (1846-1904) Léon Bakst (1866-1924) in the forefront of good taste and Jacques Gruber (1870-1936) Aubrey Beardsley high-quality craftsmanship. Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) (1872-1898) Tiffany’s fame also spread abroad, René Lalique (1860-1945) Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin in large part through the efforts of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1876-1942) Samuel Bing, the Parisian art dealer (1848-1933) Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) Philippe Wolfers (1858-1929) Gaston Gerard (1878-1969) credited with founding the Art Nouveau movement. Embracing radical
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Tiffany Leads the Art Nouveau Movement in the United States
Significance Louis Comfort Tiffany’s death on January 17, 1933, was scarcely noticed. Even Art News had little to say about his creative life other than that at one time his designs aroused considerable controversy. The post-World War I generation forgot Tiffany; it was the post-World War II generation that rediscovered him and recognized the influential role he had played in the development of twentieth century art and design. In the decades after the 1960’s, a growing field of literature was devoted to Tiffany and his work. The influence Tiffany exerted through his studios can be divided into four general areas: his influence on modern art, his perfection and promotion of glass as an artistic medium, his creation of new and dramatic forms of glass, and his role as a pioneer in industrial design. The Art Nouveau movement roughly coincided with the period of the greatest productivity and influence of Tiffany Studios. The movement was largely ignored by the post-World War I generation, but later art historians saw its radical departure from late Victorian formalism, its free forms and sensuous lines, and its lavish use of light and color as major influences in the development of modern art. Aside from the radical nature of many of his designs, what Tiffany had in common with modern art move-
ments such as Fauvism, post-Impressionism, and abstract expressionism was his emphasis on and treatment of color. It was precisely because of their unorthodox use and exaltation of pure color that the Fauves, or “wild ones,” were so named. Among the more famous Fauve artists were Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, and Georges Rouault. The post-Impressionists also exalted color but arrived at it in a manner similar to that used by Tiffany in glass. Georges Seurat, a leading post-Impressionist artist, achieved his remarkable gradations of color through a process called pointillism, in which dots of color are painted in juxtaposition and left to the eye to blend. Tiffany used the same process in both his opalescent and his Favrile glass. Varying colors in the forms of particles or strands within the glass itself produced an array of iridescent colors depending on the light. Tiffany used the same technique in his painting with mosaics, in which he arranged tesserae (bits of glass or tile) often nearly as small as Seurat’s dots in ways that achieved astonishing color effects. Tiffany’s influence on abstract expressionism in the United States was more direct. Artists such as Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell saw Tiffany as an early exponent of pure form and color in art expressed in glass. Tiffany’s greatest contributions to the world of design and art were his perfection, utilization, and promotion of glass as an artistic medium. He had no desire to imitate the techniques of the medieval masters of stained glass; rather, he wanted to improve on them. Before Tiffany, virtually no important artist used stained glass as a medium. Today it is associated with a growing list of important artists, including Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, and Marc Chagall. Although Tiffany worked on many forms of glass and patented several, the two for which he is best known and that found their fullest utilization in the products of Tiffany Studios are opalescent and Favrile. Opalescent glass was unique in that it contained color and design within it. Both effects were derived from opaque particles floating in suspension that created designs in addition to modifying the degree of transparency or opacity. The composition at the same time created color and scattered light in a unique, even mysterious, manner. Tiffany and La Farge also succeeded in achieving the iridescent quality seen in buried ancient glass. Tiffany’s greatest triumph was Favrile glass, with its incredible beauty and versatility. Its perfection came only after Tiffany had spent many hours in the study of glass chemistry and endless experimentation. Tiffany’s 119
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new designs and the extravagant use of light and color, Art Nouveau was in many ways the precursor of modern art. Tiffany became the leader of the Art Nouveau movement in the United States. In 1913, Tiffany was at the height of his career. Few American artists had earned as much admiration, and few were as well known in Europe. That year was also the year of the famous Armory Show in New York City, which exposed Americans to radical new movements in art such as Fauvism, post-Impressionism, and German expressionism. Many Americans were shocked or even outraged by what they saw, and Tiffany was among them. He railed against the modernists. The master who had done so much to change taste had lost touch; the world of art in which he had been a moving force had now passed him by. Tiffany clung to his theories, but his lush, extravagant designs could not survive World War I. Tiffany outlived two wives who played comparatively small roles in his professional life. His daughters married and left home, and his only son chose a career with the family’s jewelry firm. Louis Comfort Tiffany died in the bleak Depression year of 1933. It was left to later generations to appraise his true genius.
Tiffany Leads the Art Nouveau Movement in the United States skilled glassblowers, by fusing molten glass of various colors, exposing it to fumes produced through the vaporization of different metals, and skillfully manipulating the molten masses, including variations in the surface areas, produced an astonishingly wide range of colors and effects, from flesh tones to foliage, flowers, and intricate folds of garments. The designs, the colors, and even the textures of Tiffany’s subjects were in the glass itself. The establishment of Tiffany Studios must be seen as an important part of the early twentieth century’s pioneering work in industrial design. Simply stated, industrial design is the creation of handsome and useful objects that can be mass-produced at low cost for the general public. Although always a careful craftsman, Tiffany saw himself as an educator of the people, and he desired to bring beauty to the masses. He saw himself as among the first to design for an industrial age. The best examples of industrial design in his work are his lamp shades. Other practical items his studios produced included trays, tableware, inkstands, jardinieres, clocks, photograph frames, pincushions, goblets, plates, and plaques. For a time, no well-appointed American home would have been without objects of Tiffany design. Lamp shades were among the few items Tiffany massproduced, and they were what caused Tiffany’s name to remain in the public mind when his more elaborate and exotic creations had been forgotten. It may be in the field of industrial design that Tiffany Studios had its greatest impact. — Nis Petersen Further Reading Couldrey, Vivienne. The Art of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Secaucus, N.J.: Wellfleet Press, 1989. Lavishly illustrated and well-presented book spans Tiffany’s entire artistic career and includes illustrations of his early paintings. Links Tiffany to some of the movements in modern art, such as abstract expressionism. An interesting chapter debates whether his works are “kitsch or genius.” Duncan, Alastair, Martin Eidelberg, and Neil Harris. Masterworks of Louis Comfort Tiffany. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998. Comprehensive coverage of Tiffany’s works, including a series of his paintings and many of the objects he designed, by a decorative
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arts consultant and two historians. Splendid color photography. Includes a detailed chronology. Heller, Steven, and Seymour Chwast. Graphic Style: From Victorian to Digital. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001. Visual overview of graphic design style movements since the Victorian era. Includes more than seven hundred illustrations, time line, and selected bibliography. Koch, Robert H. Louis C. Tiffany: The Collected Works of Robert Koch. Atglen, Pa.: Schiffer, 2001. Koch can be considered a pioneer in the “Tiffany revival” of the 1960’s. A student of architecture, he arrived at Tiffany’s works through studying armories and grew fascinated with his subject. This volume contains Koch’s three well-respected books on Tiffany. McKean, Hugh. The “Lost” Treasures of Louis Comfort Tiffany. 1980. Reprint. Atglen, Pa.: Schiffer, 2001. McKean was one of the artists invited to study at Tiffany’s home and tends to be somewhat adulatory. Includes a useful chapter on the hallmarks of Tiffany’s creations. Many photographs. Potter, Norman, and Douglas Jackson. Tiffany Glassware. New York: Crown, 1988. One of the best introductions to Tiffany’s professional career available, even though the emphasis is on Tiffany’s glassware. Includes short biographies of various people who assisted or influenced Tiffany. Tiffany, Louis Comfort. The Art Work of Louis C. Tiffany. 1914. Reprint. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: Apollo, 1987. Reprint of a limited-edition book commissioned by Tiffany’s children in 1914. Covers the range of Tiffany’s creative work, including architecture and landscape, and offers interesting insight into how Tiffany was regarded at the time. Scarcely mentions the famous commercially produced lamp shades. See also: 1903: Hoffmann and Moser Found the Wiener Werkstätte; 1905: Hoffmann Designs the Palais Stoclet; Oct., 1907: Deutscher Werkbund Is Founded; 1910: Gaudí Completes the Casa Milá Apartment House; 1912: Kandinsky Publishes His Theory of Abstract Art; May-June, 1925: Paris Exhibition Defines Art Deco.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
French Expedition at Susa Discovers Hammurabi’s Code
January, 1902
French Expedition at Susa Discovers Hammurabi’s Code
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Summary of Event In January, 1902, French archaeologists, working under the supervision of Jacques de Morgan in the ruins of the ancient Elamite capital of Susa, unearthed several detached pieces of a black diorite block of stone. This block, which was covered on several sides by carved inscriptions, reached a height of nearly four meters (about thirteen feet) when reassembled. One side bore a representation of King Hammurabi of Babylon, who reigned over the lands stretching from the Mesopotamian Tigris and Ottoman Euphrates river valleys to the coast Empire of the Mediterranean between approximately 1792 b.c.e. and 1750 b.c.e. King Hammurabi was deve picted receiving a corpus of laws r Baghdad from the seated Babylonian sun god Shamash. The other sides of the massive stone bore the inscriptions, in cuneiform script typical of the literra tes River ate cultures of ancient Mesopotamia, of the law code that would become known as Hammurabi’s Code. The fact that the stone block was found in the ruins of Susa, and not in Babylon or a dependent city of the great Babylonian kings, seemed to have a logical explanation. Babylon and Susa were the seats of rival dynasties that were frequently at war
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Key Figures Jacques de Morgan (1857-1924), French archaeologist Vincent Scheil (1858-1940), professor at the French École des Hautes Études Georg Friedrich Grotefend (1775-1853), German schoolteacher George Smith (1840-1876), English Assyriologist
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Locale: Susa, Persia (now Iran) Categories: Archaeology; prehistory and ancient cultures; monuments
with each other, both before and after Hammurabi’s reign. It was assumed that, as a result of one or another of the military campaigns pitting Elamites against Babylonians sometime after the middle of the eighteenth century b.c.e., the former carried the possessions of the latter, including the enormous stone monument, to their home capital of Susa. Up until 1902, archaeologists had uncovered very little direct historical information concerning King Hammurabi’s reign. There were a few surviving written records, particularly from the archives at Mari, or Tell Hariri, in Mesopotamia, which was the political seat of Zimri-lim, a contemporary and rival of King Hammurabi. Before Hammurabi conquered Mari in the thirtythird year of his reign and destroyed its main palace (probably along with additional archival materials), Mari’s scribes had described certain aspects of the Babylonian king’s reign. This source provided incidental evidence of political and commercial relations and some information on Babylonian laws. With the de Morgan expedition’s discovery, the importance of Babylonian laws, and particularly Hammurabi’s Code, captured the attention of archaeologists.
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Discovery of the code of laws attributed to the Babylonian king Hammurabi provided evidence that the origins of Judeo-Christian concepts of justice were much older than had previously been thought.
French Expedition at Susa Discovers Hammurabi’s Code
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Hammurabi’s Code Hammurabi’s Code is one of the oldest sets of laws known to humankind. Scholars believe that the code was publicly displayed during Hammurabi’s reign (approximately 1792-1750 B.C.E.), but widespread illiteracy may have prevented fair application of the rules it laid down. Following are the first 8 of the code’s more than 280 rules: 1. If any one ensnare another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death. 2. If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser. 3. If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death. 4. If he satisfy the elders to impose a fine of grain or money, he shall receive the fine that the action produces. 5. If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from the judge’s bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgement. 6. If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death. 7. If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man, without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he take it in charge, he is considered a thief and shall be put to death. 8. If any one steal cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold therefor; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death. Source: The Code of Hammurabi, translated by L. W. King (1915).
On the obverse sides of Hammurabi’s monument, opposite the side bearing the inscription of the king and Babylon’s sun god, was a series of ordered columns of writing, apparently representing a list, or code, of laws. One side contained sixteen columns of writing with a total of 1,114 lines. Five columns had been obliterated from this face of the stone monument, presumably by the Elamite “victors” over Babylon, who likely intended to inscribe (but never did) a dedication to their own glory. An additional 2,500 lines in twenty-eight columns were 122
carved into the remaining sections of the surviving monument. Even before the work of concise transliteration and translation could be undertaken, it was apparent that an important section of the text (containing about seven hundred lines) was devoted to a description of Hammurabi himself, his titles, his qualities as a ruler, his dedication to the gods of Babylon, and, most important for archaeologists’ records, enumeration of the cities and districts under his rule. The text of Hammurabi’s Code was most important, not only in terms of numbers of columns and lines of writing but also for its impact on archaeologists’ knowledge of the main lines of Babylonian civilization. A translation of Hammurabi’s Code by Father Vincent Scheil of the École des Hautes Études was published in Paris in October, 1902, only ten months after the expedition to Susa discovered the monument. The content of the code was diverse, but its main concerns included contracts of sale or business (deposits, liabilities, and the like), farming and animal husbandry practices, and dowry and marriage contracts.
Significance The discovery of Hammurabi’s Code did not necessarily revolutionize archaeologists’ knowledge of ancient Babylonian or later Mesopotamian societies; it did, however, help that knowledge take on a much more comprehensive form in a short time. Evidence relating to Babylon’s place in the history of ancient Mesopotamian civilization had been accumulating steadily for more than a century before the French archaeologists discovered Hammurabi’s monument. This evidence should have advanced seriously beyond the realm of massive architectural ruins and pictorial monuments alone when specialists first unlocked the secret of ancient cuneiform writing. Although the first legible transcribed copies of fragments of cuneiform inscriptions had been brought back from the Near East as early as the late seventeenth century, by Cornelius de Bruin, it was not until 1802— exactly one hundred years before de Morgan’s find at Susa—that the cuneiform writing system was “decodified.” Georg Friedrich Grotefend, a modest school-
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This rather rarefied event generated so much interest in the importance of understanding the textual details that portions of a newly discovered treasure of several thousand clay tablets representing the content of Assyrian King Ashurbanipal’s (r. 669-627 b.c.e.) royal library at Nineveh were reexamined carefully. When George Smith, an assistant in the EgyptianAssyrian section of the British Museum, studied the tablets, he discovered the so-called Gilgamesh epic, a mixture of Babylonian religious mythology and history that altered the world’s view of a number of key ancient historical reference points. Primary among these was the epic’s reference, inscribed long before comparable citations in the Old Testament, to the Great Deluge and the role of Ut-napishtim, whom Smith identified as the Babylonian equivalent of the biblical Noah. After Smith undertook a successful search for missing sections of the Gilgamesh tablets amid the rubble at Nineveh, his thesis stood solid throughout the rest of the nineteenth century: Elements of the Bible had not been “tailored” without precedent to fit the original needs of Old Testament founders of the Jewish religion; some could be shown clearly to have been fashioned from preexisting Semitic traditions. Here, then, albeit in literary and religious, not yet legal, terms, lay one of the most important preparatory contributions that would increase the impact of the French 1902 expedition’s discovery of Hammurabi’s Code. It was shown, through translations, retranslations, comments, and recommendations, that the Mosaic code, as well as a number of other elements of legal practice associated with the Old Testament, probably had very distant precedents in ancient Mesopotamian history that had been reexamined and then reproduced in later stages in the history of the same region or other regions. Therefore, the sources for twentieth century scholars’ study of the origins of Judeo-Christian legal principles and practices were, after the discovery of Hammurabi’s Code, necessarily placed farther back chronologically and farther east, both geographically and culturally. It remains somewhat ironic that, despite a nearcontinuous eighteen-year on-site excavation project carried out in the ruins of locations associated with Hammurabi and other later monarchs of Babylon (between 1899 and 1917) by the German architect Robert Koldewey, no landmark textual discovery (as distinct from the uncovering of buildings and monuments) comparable in importance to that of Hammurabi’s Code was made in Babylon in the first part of the twentieth century. —Byron D. Cannon 123
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teacher from Göttingen, Germany, had accomplished this task, working from one of de Bruin’s transcriptions of ancient texts from Persepolis in Persia. Grotefend did not have any of the advantages of word-for-word comparative language texts that Jean François Champollion had when he deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics from the Rosetta stone in the same generation. Grotefend’s findings were announced formally before the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen late in 1802 and published as an appendix to a book on the ancient world authored by a recognized German scholar. The results of Grotefend’s work, employed to expand archaeological knowledge of neighboring and older Babylonian and Elamite civilizations, were not noted for nearly a generation. When attention turned eventually to the study of Babylon, serious advances were made because of English exploration missions interested in major architectural monuments rather than because of the work of philologically oriented scholars. Before his death in 1821, the amateur archaeologist Claudius James Rich had carried out the first serious excavations that attempted to reconstruct the history of the site of the Mesopotamian capital of Babylon. The nature of archaeological finds during Rich’s lifetime and for some years following shows the beginning of a significant, albeit gradual and uneven, trend that culminated only when the French expedition to Susa uncovered the legal texts inscribed in the name of King Hammurabi. Rich left behind in the collection of the British Museum a series of cuneiform tablets gathered in the ruins of Babylon, plus some drawings that would be used to estimate the topographical layout of the ancient city and to reconstruct the presumed appearance of the fabled capital of King Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605-562 b.c.e.), Hammurabi’s distant successor. Meanwhile, the magnificence of pictorial stone reliefs on the sides of public buildings and tombs attracted the attention of archaeologists. The meaning of the cuneiform inscriptions that often accompanied such reliefs seemed to be less immediately pressing as items of scholarly interest to report to European archaeological enthusiasts. Despite general concentration on nontextual vestiges and later Assyrian, not Babylonian, ruins, a significant debate over philological, or historical linguistic, approaches to the ancient past arose by the late 1850’s that would pave the way for recognition of the importance of the discovery of Hammurabi’s Code. A turning point came in 1857, when conflicting scholarly interpretations of an extensive cuneiform inscription attributed to Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria (r. 745-727 b.c.e.), were debated in the Royal Asiatic Society in London.
French Expedition at Susa Discovers Hammurabi’s Code
First Rose Bowl Game Further Reading Godbey, A. H. “Chirography of Hammurabi’s Code.” American Journal of Semitic Languages 20 (January, 1904): 137-148. Like other editorially authored scholarly announcements concerning the written accuracy of the inscriptions found on Hammurabi’s legal monument (see, for example, “Scribal Errors in Hammurabi’s Code,” in the same volume of American Journal of Semitic Languages, pp. 116-136), this study examines the peculiarities of writing techniques in Mesopotamia during the second millennium b.c.e. Hammurabi. The Babylonian Laws. Translated and annotated by G. R. Driver and John C. Miles. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1955. This annotated translation of Hammurabi’s Code is considerably more extensive than the original English translation listed below. The wealth of detailed information comes not only in attention to the text itself but also in an extensive section offering philological commentary on the words and phrases it contains. _______. The Oldest Code of Laws in the World: The Code of Laws Promulgated by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, B.C. 2285-2242. Translated by C. H. W. Johns. Edinburgh, Scotland: T. & T. Clark, 1903. Reprint. Clark, N.J.: Lawbook Exchange, 2000. The first English translation of Hammurabi’s Code, under-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 taken shortly after the original French translation in 1902. This volume contains a valuable introductory section that describes the actual circumstances surrounding the discovery of the stone bearing the Hammurabi inscriptions. “Hammurabi and Women.” Harper’s Bazaar, April, 1903, 403. Perhaps the earliest popularly oriented article providing factual information from the original French translation published a few months earlier. Addresses an interesting subsection of Hammurabi’s Code. Wooley, Sir Leonard. Digging Up the Past. 2d ed. London: Ernest Benn, 1954. A historical introduction to the field of archaeology. Wooley’s wide-ranging knowledge of Mesopotamian archaeology, based on his pioneer excavations at Sumerian Ur (now Muqaiyir, Iraq), earned for him “senior status” among archaeologists who not only carried out scientific research but also provided very readable accounts of significant stages in the progress of archaeology. See also: July 24, 1911: Bingham Discovers Machu Picchu; Nov. 4, 1922: Carter Discovers the Tomb of Tutankhamen; 1923-1939: Cambridge Ancient History Appears; Sept. 12, 1940: Lascaux Cave Paintings Are Discovered.
January 1, 1902
First Rose Bowl Game When the University of Michigan won a lopsided victory over Stanford University in the first “bowl” game in college football, organizers decided not to repeat the competition. However, an annual New Year’s game between western and eastern teams resumed in 1916. Eventually named the Rose Bowl Game, this event spawned many additional bowl games that made football a major part of the New Year’s Day celebrations across the United States. Locale: Pasadena, California Category: Sports Key Figures Fielding Harris Yost (1871-1946), coach of the University of Michigan football team William M. Heston (1878-1963), halfback on the Michigan team Neil Snow (1879-1914), fullback on the Michigan team 124
Summary of Event In 1890, residents of Pasadena, California, a town about seven miles northeast of Los Angeles that boasted a modest population of about five thousand, began attempting to attract free-spending visitors from the frigid Midwest and Northeast by staging an annual New Year’s Day spectacle. The event featured a parade in which horses and carriages were adorned with roses and other flowers, followed by such activities as footraces, polo games, greased-pig chases, and a Spanish game called the “tourney of rings,” which would later supply the name for the “Tournament of Roses.” In 1901, the Tournament of Roses Association decided that a game of football, a sport that was growing in popularity across much of the country, might induce larger numbers of people to visit from the eastern half of the country, especially if the contest featured an eastern team. Consequently, the association looked for two
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teams that would offer an appealing Rose Bowl Scores, 1902-1940 contest, one from the East, the other After 1902’s unevenly matched game, football was temporarily eliminated from the West. After much deliberafrom the Tournament of Roses. The game returned in 1916, and a new station, organizers settled on Stanford dium was built in 1923. Modifications in 1932, 1949, and 1972 gave the Rose University (the nearby team from the Bowl a capacity of approximately ninety-three thousand seats. Following University of Southern California had are the teams (winning teams listed first) and scores for all Rose Bowl Games done little to distinguish itself on the from 1902 through 1940. gridiron that year) and the powerful University of Michigan squad, generYear Teams Score ally considered the best team in the 1902 Michigan vs. Stanford 49-0 country. 1916 Washington State vs. Brown 14-0 Michigan, coached by Fielding 1917 Oregon vs. Pennsylvania 14-0 Harris “Hurry-Up” Yost (whose nick1918 Mare Island-USMC vs. Camp Lewis-U.S. Army 19-7 name conveyed his intensity) had won 1919 Great Lakes-U.S. Navy vs. Mare Island 17-0 all of its ten games in 1901, outscoring 1920 Harvard vs. Oregon 7-0 1921 California vs. Ohio State 28-0 its opponents 501-0. Michigan was 1922 California vs. Washington & Jefferson 0-0 known as the “point-a-minute” team 1923 University of Southern California vs. Penn State 14-3 because of its overwhelming offen1924 Washington vs. Navy 14-14 sive production. Stanford, by contrast, 1925 Notre Dame vs. Stanford 27-10 was hardly a powerhouse, having won 1926 Alabama vs. Washington 20-19 only half of its six games, but it pos1927 Stanford vs. Alabama 7-7 sessed an especially attractive charac1928 Stanford vs. Pittsburgh 7-6 teristic: Its previous coach, who had 1929 Georgia Tech vs. California 8-7 been pushed out after the 1900 season, 1930 University of Southern California vs. Pittsburgh 47-14 had been Fielding Yost. The organiz1931 Alabama vs. Washington State 24-0 ers of the event thought that Yost’s 1932 University of Southern California vs. Tulane 21-12 1933 University of Southern California vs. Pittsburgh 35-0 close connection to both teams would 1934 Columbia vs. Stanford 7-0 spark great interest, and they also 1935 Alabama vs. Stanford 20-13 hoped that Stanford’s experience with 1936 Stanford vs. Southern Methodist University 7-0 Yost’s coaching technique would of1937 Pittsburgh vs. Washington 21-0 fer the team an advantage that might 1938 California vs. Alabama 13-0 make up for its comparatively lacklus1939 University of Southern California vs. Duke 7-3 ter track record. 1940 University of Southern California vs. Tennessee 14-0 The Michigan team had to travel by train for a week to reach Pasadena. Their trip, however, was made more pleasant by the thirty-five hundred sand, approximately eighty-five hundred spectators dollars each team received, the three-dollar daily food alpushed into the park to watch the game, which was billed lowance for each of Michigan’s players, and the chance as a contest between the champions of the East and West. to escape the deep snow covering the Midwest as the Despite Michigan’s impressive offense, Stanford team departed for the West. After arriving, the Michigan held its own in the early part of the game, and for twentyplayers were featured in the parade, in which they were three minutes, neither team scored. Three times, Stanclad in new football uniforms and waved Michigan banford stopped Michigan one foot from the end zone, but ners from a large carriage. The Stanford players also parMichigan finally broke a long play. From the thirty-yard ticipated in the parade. line, Michigan ran a sweep to the right with halfback Thousands of spectators lined the route to TournaWilliam M. “Willie” Heston carrying the ball. Suddenly, ment Park on the campus of Throop Polytechnic Institute Heston reversed direction while the rest of the team (now the California Institute of Technology) on a warm continued right. This play would be named the “naked New Year’s Day; the temperature reached the high eighties. Although the stadium had seating for only one thoureverse” because the ball carrier runs uncovered, or un-
First Rose Bowl Game protected, by teammates. The move took Stanford’s defenders by surprise, and Heston reached the nine-yard line before being shoved out of bounds. Three plays later, All-American fullback Neil Snow powered his way from the six-yard line to the goal line for the first touchdown of the game, giving Michigan a 5-0 lead. According to the rules at that time, touchdowns and field goals both earned five points, and the extra point made the score 6-0. For the rest of the first half, Stanford remained scoreless, while Michigan gradually began to dominate. After a field goal by Ev Sweely, end Chris Redden returned a twenty-five-yard punt for a touchdown. The point-after kick made the halftime score 17-0. Michigan continued to dominate throughout the second half. Neil Snow carried for four more touchdowns, scoring on runs of two, eight, seventeen, and four yards, and the other halfback, Al Herrenstein, scored the final touchdown from twenty yards out. Several missed kicks after touchdowns kept the score under 50, but just barely. With Michigan leading 49-0 and about eight minutes left to play, Stanford captain Ralph Fisher offered to concede the inevitable, and Michigan captain Hugh White accepted. The Stanford team was not only hopelessly behind but also exhausted and injured. Guard William Roosevelt, a second cousin to President Theodore Roosevelt, had played fifteen minutes on a broken leg before being driven out of the game by broken ribs. Michigan, however, was unfazed, despite the team’s lack of familiarity with playing in such warm weather and its long train ride to reach Pasadena. Furthermore, the starting eleven players had played the entire game without any substitutions. Heston gained 170 yards on just eighteen carries, and Snow rushed for 107 yards and five touchdowns, establishing a Rose Bowl record for touchdowns that endured into the twenty-first century. Altogether, Michigan gained 527 yards rushing against Stanford’s 67 and racked up twenty-seven first downs to Stanford’s five. (There was no passing yardage because the forward pass had not yet been legalized.) In addition, the crushing Michigan defense, as good as its offense, recovered nine of Stanford’s fumbles, while the Michigan offense lost the ball only once. The game also proved a winner for the Tournament of Roses Association, which netted a profit of more than three thousand dollars even after paying the two teams. Nonetheless, the lopsided score convinced the organizers that future audiences might anticipate another mismatched contest and would turn out in smaller numbers. The association was also concerned by the threat of another large, unruly crowd, and so it decided not to stage 126
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 another football game in 1903. Other events were featured instead, including a polo match in 1903 and BenHur-style chariot races from 1904 through 1915. Football games between the East and West resumed in 1916. Significance The 1902 New Year’s Day game set the stage for the later institution of the game as an annual event. The contest was moved into a new 57,000-seat stadium in Pasadena in 1923; the stadium was christened the Rose Bowl, and the game was named the Rose Bowl Game. In the 1930’s, other warm-weather locales imitated the Rose Bowl contest by creating similar New Year’s bowls: the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Sun Bowl, and Cotton Bowl. Eventually, dozens of bowl games would spread over several weeks from mid-December through early January. Except for the most prestigious bowl games, excellence was no longer a criterion for a bowl invitation. Organizers and teams alike viewed the bowls as moneymakers, and the visibility created by televised bowl games helped teams recruit high school athletes. Starting in 1998, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system was put into place to determine the Division I-A national football championship. Four bowls (the Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta Bowls) rotated through a four-year cycle in which each stadium hosted the Bowl Championship Series national championship game, the final bowl game of the season. By the twenty-first century, bowl games had become big business and a major part of the holiday season for many Americans. — Edward J. Rielly Further Reading MacCambridge, Michael, ed. ESPN College Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Game. New York: ESPN Books, 2005. Massive volume includes a history of the bowls and a year-by-year record of each football team. Ours, Robert M. Bowl Games: College Football’s Greatest Tradition. Yardley, Pa.: Westholme, 2004. Provides in-depth analysis of the history and significance of the bowl games. Stiles, Maxwell. The Rose Bowl: A Complete Action and Pictorial Exposition of Rose Bowl Football. Los Angeles: Sportsmaster, 1946. Early work remains valuable for its history of the early years of the Rose Bowl. Whittingham, Richard. Rites of Autumn: The Story of College Football. New York: Free Press, 2001. A companion to the ten-hour television series presenting the history of college football since 1901. Includes a chapter on the bowls.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: Oct. 1-13, 1903: Baseball Holds Its First World Series; Jan. 12, 1906: American College Football Allows the Forward Pass; Aug. 20-Sept. 17, 1920: Formation of the American Professional Foot-
Anglo-Japanese Treaty Brings Japan into World Markets ball Association; July 6, 1933: First Major League Baseball All-Star Game; June 12, 1939: Dedication of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
January 30, 1902
Anglo-Japanese Treaty Brings Japan into World Markets
Locale: London, England Categories: Diplomacy and international relations; trade and commerce Key Figures Sir Francis Bertie (1844-1919), assistant undersecretary in the British Foreign Office, 1894-1903, and head of the Asiatic Department, 1898-1902 Third Marquis of Salisbury (Robert Cecil; 1830-1903), prime minister of Great Britain, 1885-1886, 18861892, and 1895-1902 Lord Lansdowne (1845-1927), British foreign secretary, 1900-1905 Hayashi Tadasu (1850-1913), Japanese minister to Great Britain, 1900-1905 Katsura Tarf (1848-1913), prime minister of Japan, 1901-1906 Komura Jutarf (1855-1911), foreign minister of Japan, 1901-1906 Summary of Event The Anglo-Japanese Treaty was signed on January 30, 1902, by Lord Lansdowne, the British foreign secretary, and Hayashi Tadasu, the Japanese minister to Great Britain. The treaty raised Japan from a second-class to a firstclass world power and signaled the end of Great Britain’s uncontested dominance of the industrial world and world trade. As the major European powers and the United States became increasingly industrialized in the latter half of the nineteenth century, their governments were spurred to search for, and secure, foreign markets for the goods pouring out of the new factories. The Far East was an area of particular attraction for both Great Britain and the United States. Since midcentury, both had been building commercial contacts and outlets, first in China, then later in Japan.
China in particular was ripe for plucking. After the British had forced their way in, in the 1840’s, they continued to expand their influence. They had already acquired Hong Kong in 1842, and they established trading centers in many other cities of China. Badly misgoverned, China was unable to withstand the demands for special status and favorable trade opportunities. Japan, although it had resisted contact with the West, was finally opened to Western influence by the naval expeditions of Commodore Matthew C. Perry in 1853 and 1854. In 1858, in the Edo Treaty, Japan extended trading privileges to a number of Western nations, along with some special privileges common in the Far East, particularly extraterritoriality, or the right of foreign nationals to be tried for criminal offenses by their own consular officials, not in courts of the land where the alleged offenses occurred. Japan experienced rapid Westernization during the Meiji era, beginning in 1868 and extending into the twentieth century. At the same time, Japan began to build a modern military machine, particularly a navy, about which the country sought British advice. Most of the ships added to the growing Japanese navy between 1870 and 1900 were built in British shipyards. The leading Japanese naval officers were sent to Great Britain for training, and British naval practice became the standard in the new Japanese navy. A mark of Japan’s modernization was a commercial treaty signed by Great Britain and Japan in 1894. This treaty provided for the ending of extraterritoriality for British subjects in 1899 (a major aim of the Japanese, for they regarded the concession of extraterritoriality as a mark of inferiority) and made possible the introduction of a modern ad valorem customs tariff, similar to that in use in Great Britain and other major industrial powers. Japan signaled its arrival on the world scene by invading China in 1894. Its modernized army quickly overwhelmed the backward Chinese, conquering both Korea (which previously had been a Chinese protectorate) and 127
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The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1902 ended Great Britain’s “splendid isolation” and brought Japan into the circle of great world powers.
Anglo-Japanese Treaty Brings Japan into World Markets parts of Manchuria as well as seizing Port Arthur. The Chinese sued for peace and concluded the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan in 1895. The European powers intervened to force Japan to give up some of its gains; they were anxious to preserve unrestricted trade access to all of China. This access was enshrined in the famous “open door” policy of the United States toward China, announced in 1899; all the other Great Powers nominally agreed to it. Meanwhile, in Europe, Great Britain was becoming increasingly conscious of its isolated state. Most of the European powers now had large industrial sectors of their own and competed with Great Britain for marketing outlets in what is now called the Third World. Great Britain was not seriously in competition with Japan. Great Britain was the major European nation trading with China and was anxious to preserve access to that market, but the possibility of an alliance with Japan began to look increasingly attractive as Great Britain found itself overstretched, particularly in naval strength. An alliance with Japan would enable significant elements of the British navy kept in the Far East to be returned to the European theater. There were advantages for Japan, too, in a close alliance with Great Britain. For one thing, it would assure Japan of access to British financial markets, a particularly important consideration at the turn of the century, because Japan’s successful war with China had almost totally depleted military and naval supplies, and the country would need outside financing to rebuild its military and naval resources. Many Japanese saw Japan as the Pacific counterpart of Great Britain, an island nation protected from invasion by the surrounding sea but needing the nearby continent for the natural resources largely lacking on the island. Of particular importance to Japan was Korea. Although Japan had secured recognition of its predominant influence there (Korea was nominally independent), it feared Russian desires. Above all, however, Japan wanted to join the “club” of the world’s Great Powers. Japan and Great Britain carried on an elaborate courtship. Circumstances in Japan were favorable. Both Prime Minister Katsura Tarf and Foreign Minister Komura Jutarf favored such a relationship. The Katsura government had just come to power, and the successful conclusion of an agreement with the world’s leading industrial nation would be a tremendous feather in its cap. Moreover, the Japanese minister in London, Hayashi, was also an ardent advocate of such an alignment. In mid-April, Hayashi telegraphed to his government the outlines of an agreement as he saw it. It would include 128
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 joint recognition of the “open door” in China, freedom of action for Japan in Korea, and military alliance. Should one party to the agreement become involved in war with a third power, the other power would remain benevolently neutral; but if one party should become involved in war with two other powers at the same time, the other party would come to the aid of its ally. The agreement would be confined to the Far East. In Great Britain, the idea of an alliance with Japan met with a favorable reception in two quarters. The British naval leaders, who had long advocated that Great Britain should maintain a navy equal in strength to that of any two other navies, were finding this a costly program. If they could secure naval protection in the Far East by an alliance, much of the British navy stationed there could be reassigned to Europe, where the buildup of the German navy was causing increasing concern. The idea of an Anglo-Japanese alliance also found a fervent supporter in one of the leading permanent officials of the Foreign Office, Sir Francis Bertie. In July, 1901, Bertie prepared a memorandum in which he outlined the advantages to Great Britain in such an alliance. It would forestall any agreement between the Japanese and the Russians for dividing up northern China between themselves. Great Britain could offer naval support to Japan to help protect its dominant position in Korea, and with British support Japan’s navy would far outrank the growing Russian naval presence in the Far East. In return, the Japanese would recognize Great Britain’s paramount commercial interest in the Yangtze Valley of China as well as in southern China; that is, Hong Kong and the adjacent mainland. Although the British doubted at first that the benefits to them of such an alliance would make it worthwhile, by November the notion was beginning to look more attractive. Lord Lansdowne had secured the approval of the prime minister, the third marquis of Salisbury, in October. In November, serious negotiations between Lord Lansdowne and Hayashi began. Great Britain added to the items under discussion a proposal that both navies would cooperate in providing dockyard and coaling facilities for each other. In the end, the public clauses of the treaty were rather general. Both parties agreed to maintain the status quo in the Far East. Both parties recognized the territorial integrity of both China and Korea. Great Britain recognized Japan’s special position in Korea, and Japan recognized Great Britain’s special position in the Yangtze Valley. Each party acknowledged the other’s right to act should public tranquillity in either area be threatened. Should ei-
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Significance Although the treaty resulted in no immediate and obvious business and commercial advantages, in a larger sense the pact had extensive long-range effects. The alliance had one important financial consequence: It made it much easier for the Japanese government, and for private businesses as well, to borrow money in Great Britain. There was still much to be done in rebuilding Japan’s military and naval resources, depleted by the war with China in 1894-1895, and a conflict with Russia over dominance in Korea and Manchuria was looming. The alliance had commercial advantages for the Japanese in the Far East as well. Japanese businesses were encouraged to develop the Korean market, and many Japanese emigrated to Korea, largely in connection with Japanese enterprises there. By 1903, thirty thousand Japanese were living in southern Korea. Japanese nationals had acquired numerous parcels of important waterfront real estate in Korea, although mostly as part of a Japanese government initiative to deny them to Russia, which sought land in Korea for a warm-water naval base. For Great Britain, the advantages were less obvious. To be sure, the fact that the Japanese and British fleets would now work together in the Far East meant that less money would have to be spent on maintaining a fullscale British naval presence there; that in turn would mean lower taxes. The British commercial presence in China was also now more secure; given that Great Britain had a larger trade with China than did all other foreign countries combined, that was a significant advantage. British firms in Hong Kong and Shanghai could look forward to the future with confidence. The risk that other European powers would challenge their dominance in the Yangtze Valley was effectively removed.
The alliance was more important for what it did to the constellation of world powers. It made it possible for the Japanese to challenge, and defeat, the Russians in the Far East in three short years, without fear of intervention by another Great Power, because such action would have triggered British intervention on Japan’s side under the terms of the treaty. Even though the mediation of President Theodore Roosevelt prevented the Japanese from reaping all the fruits of their victory, no one could now doubt that Japan was indeed a Great Power. The alliance was revised in the light of the Japanese victory over Russia. In 1905, a new, more extensive agreement was signed. Japan sought a tighter guarantee, fearing that Russia would seek revenge for its defeat. Great Britain, fearful that Russia would turn its expansive tendencies southward, toward Afghanistan and India, looked for an expansion of the Japanese commitment. Although the Japanese declined to be bound to provide a specific number of troops in the event India was attacked (in retrospect, many British military experts concluded that using Japanese troops in India would not be a good idea anyway), the area covered by the treaty was extended to include India, not only the Far East. Japan received Korea, in effect, as a colony. Each party agreed to assist the other were either of them attacked in the area of interest defined by the treaty, thus binding the two nations more closely in the event of war than had the treaty of 1902. This latter treaty was extended in 1911, continued automatically during World War I, and terminated in 1923 only as a result of the Washington Naval Conference in 1921. —Nancy M. Gordon Further Reading Dennis, A. L. P. “The Anglo-Japanese Alliance.” In University of California Publications in International Relations, edited by Edwin Landon and Frank M. Russell. Vol. 1. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1934. Presents a relatively brief account of the specifics of the negotiations leading up to the signing of the treaty, based on published sources only. Monger, G. W. “The End of Isolation: Britain, Germany, and Japan, 1900-1902.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th ser. 13 (1963): 103-121. Offers a brief summary of the events surrounding the treaty. For more extensive coverage, see the same author’s book, cited below. _______. The End of Isolation: British Foreign Policy, 1900-1907. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1963. Devotes a full chapter to the Anglo-Japanese Treaty 129
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ther party become involved in war with a third power, the other party agreed to remain neutral. The treaty, to last for five years, was signed on January 30, 1902. No ratifications were required, and the treaty became operative immediately. After five years, the treaty would continue, but each signatory would be entitled to terminate it on one year’s notice. Diplomatic notes were exchanged, providing for close naval collaboration. Although a few carping criticisms appeared in the British press when the alliance became public in February, generally the British press reacted favorably to the treaty. For the Japanese government, it was a triumph to be trumpeted. The favorable Japanese public reaction helped substantially to give the Katsura government an unusually long lease on power.
Anglo-Japanese Treaty Brings Japan into World Markets
Stieglitz Organizes the Photo-Secession and the alliance. Account is based on access to the British diplomatic records as well as on published sources. Nish, Ian. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance: The Diplomacy of Two Island Empires, 1948-1907. 2d ed. London: Athlone Press, 1985. Excellent work on the AngloJapanese alliance is based not only on British diplomatic records but also on Japanese records. Covers the period from 1894, the date of the Treaty of Commerce, to 1907, which saw the end of the RussoJapanese War and the completion of the second Anglo-Japanese Treaty. Treats all the negotiations in exhaustive detail. Nish, Ian, and Yoichi Kibata, eds. The Political-Diplomatic Dimension, 1600-1930. Vol. 1 in The History of Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1600-2000. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000. Collection of essays provides comprehensive coverage of diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Japan from the time
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 of earliest contact between the two nations. Includes index. O’Brien, Phillips, ed. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 1902-1922. New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. Collection of essays on various aspects of Anglo-Japanese relations in the period directly following the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty. Includes index. Steiner, Zara. “Great Britain and the Creation of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.” Journal of Modern History 31 (1959): 27-36. Straightforward account based only on British sources. See also: Feb. 9, 1904-Sept. 5, 1905: Russo-Japanese War; Oct. 25, 1906: Japan Protests Segregation of Japanese in California Schools; Mar. 14, 1907: Gentlemen’s Agreement; Aug. 22, 1910: Japanese Annexation of Korea; 1911: Hashimoto Founds the Nissan Motor Company; Feb. 24, 1933: Japan Withdraws from the League of Nations; Aug., 1940: Japan Announces the Greater East Asia Coprosperity Sphere.
February 17, 1902
Stieglitz Organizes the Photo-Secession The founding of the Photo-Secession established the preeminent school of American art photography at the beginning of the twentieth century and consolidated Alfred Stieglitz’s power as leader of the pictorial movement. Locale: New York, New York Categories: Arts; photography Key Figures Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946), American photographer and editor Edward Steichen (1879-1973), American painter and photographer Frank Eugene (1865-1936), American painter and photographer Gertrude Käsebier (1852-1934), American photographer Clarence H. White (1871-1925), American photographer and bookkeeper Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966), American photographer Summary of Event Alfred Stieglitz first experimented with photography while he was studying engineering in Berlin during the 130
1880’s. Stieglitz’s early work was in the “pictorial” style then popular in Europe—pastoral landscapes, rustic genre scenes, figure studies, and portraits of fashionable society types influenced by the popular painters of the day: those of the French Barbizon school, Camille Corot, James McNeill Whistler, and German genre painters such as Max Liebermann. By patiently submitting prints to exhibitions and competitions, Stieglitz developed an international reputation as a photographer. When Stieglitz returned to the United States in the 1890’s, he took control of the Camera Club of New York and elevated its journal, Camera Notes, to international prominence as a promoter of pictorial photography. Such moves created tensions within the club, most of whose members practiced the old, technically oriented style of photography, in which correct exposure and sharp focus were the principal criteria for success. The traditionalists called Stieglitz and his fellow pictorialists, most of whom suppressed detail for broad effect, “fuzzyographers.” It was this growing rift within the Camera Club of New York that led Stieglitz to think about forming a new group, one more in keeping with his own sentiments. He envisioned a group of pictorial photographers and their patrons, loosely organized and informal but in large part modeled after the British Linked Ring, an orga-
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Stieglitz Organizes the Photo-Secession
advance pictorial photography by bringing together likeminded photographers and their supporters and by holding exhibitions of the highest quality. Membership in the organization was divided into two categories: fellowship, which required acceptance based on the quality of one’s prints, and associateship, which required only a general sympathy with the aims and spirit of the movement. Among the well-known Photo-Secession fellows were Gertrude Käsebier, a professional photographer from New York known especially for her soft, evocative photographs of women and children; Edward Steichen, a trained painter as well as a photographer; Clarence H. White, a Newark, Ohio, bookkeeper; and Frank Eugene, who had studied painting in Munich. Less familiar today but also The Photo-Secession among the Photo-Secession’s foundOn April 10, 1902, the British magazine Amateur Photographer published the ing fellows were John G. Bullock, following description of the Photo-Secession, which had been founded less Robert Redfield, Edmund Stirling, than two months before. Eva Watson Schütze, William B. Dyer, Dallett Fuguet, Joseph T. Amongst the more advanced pictorial workers in America a definite moveKeiley, and John F. Strauss. Several ment has now taken place; comparable in some respects with the Link Ring of this latter group had been conmovement in this country of ten years or more ago, and at the invitation of the nected with the Photographic SociNational Arts Club of New York, an Exhibition of Photography is being held ety of Philadelphia, which had orgaby contributors who now for the first time come before the public as an organnized high-quality exhibits in the ised body; under the name of the Photo-Secessionists, the main idea of which is to bring together in America sympathetic spirits, whether active photographers 1890’s that had helped to establish or simply those interested in the movement. pictorialism in the United States. The Exhibition is in many respects unique, consisting as it does of “picked” Although no homogeneous Photoprints only, and representing only the very best work ever done in America. Secession style was promoted or enThis American movement is . . . an attempt . . . to produce pictures by means forced, several common denominaof photography. Pictures, that is to say, which shall stand the test of criticism; tors gradually emerged: emphasis on that one would apply to a picture in any other medium; that shall be satisfactory tonalism, on a blurring or softening in composition, colour quality, tone and lighting; that shall have esthetic charm of outlines, and on the suppression and shall involve some expression of the personal feeling of the photographer. of details. Some members of the The photographers who profess these high artistic aims and scrupulously group, including Stieglitz himself, live up to their principles and have the ability to practise them, are necessarily tended toward “straight” photografew in number, though steadily increasing; nor are they engaged in scholastic discussions as to whether photography can be reckoned among the fine arts, for phy, whereas others were dedicated they leave such theorising to the choppers of academic logic. It is not with manipulators, scratching or drawing phraseology they are concerned, but with facts. on their negatives or using “paint“Here is a print,” they say in effect; “has it any of the qualities that you find erly” photographic techniques such in a black and white; does it give you anything of the pleasurable feeling that as the gum bichromate process. The you experience before a picture in some other medium? If not, we try again; but range of styles and techniques pracif, on the other hand, it does, then at least to the extent in which this print has afticed by Photo-Secessionists thus fected you, pray acknowledge that there may be possibility of artistic exprestended to parallel pictorial photograsion in a pictorial photograph. How far the camera is responsible for the result phy in general rather than to define a or how far our own modification of its record, we venture to say is not the quesunique group approach. tion; the sole point, as between you and ourselves, being whether our prints Stieglitz was dedicated to the have aesthetic qualities and will stand the test of the kind of criticism that you apply to other pictures.” cause of establishing photography as a fine art, placing it on an equal foot131
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nization formed in London in 1892 by pictorialists disillusioned with the photographic establishment of their day. The Photo-Secession was officially founded on February 17, 1902, and it held its first exhibition at the National Arts Club in New York City from March 5 to 24 of that year. The exhibit included work by some thirty-two photographers, about half of whom never actually became members of the Photo-Secession. The group was a rather elite body, with only those considered worthy of the honor being elected to membership. Stieglitz had complete jurisdiction; the council of the Photo-Secession simply rubber-stamped his recommendations. The Photo-Secession’s purpose was to
Stieglitz Organizes the Photo-Secession ing with other printmaking methods such as etching and lithography. With this in mind, he wrote prolifically about photography and edited the journals Camera Notes (1897-1902) and Camera Work (1903-1917). He also served as the chief impresario for pictorial photography in the United States, organizing exhibitions, under the banner of the Photo-Secession, at important museums across the country. The critical acclaim that accompanied these shows quickly established the organization’s preeminence. Prior to the Photo-Secession era, photographic exhibitions tended to be organized by categories (such as landscape or portraiture) and often awarded prizes. Stieglitz was instrumental in bringing about shows in which works were included solely on the basis of artistic merit and were aesthetically displayed at eye level in exhibits punctuated by tasteful floral arrangements. He refused to have Photo-Secession photographs exhibited unless they were hung as a group in a setting that met his strict qualifications. Because it was difficult to enforce these exacting exhibition standards, Stieglitz, at Steichen’s suggestion, opened the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession at 291 Fifth Avenue (later known simply as 291) in New York City in November, 1905. There, in an intimate setting, on burlap-covered walls, Stieglitz exhibited first the work of Photo-Secession members and later, beginning in 1908, the work of avant-garde painters and sculptors as well. These shows, which included works by such important European modernists as Auguste Rodin, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso, provided Americans with an opportunity to see such work five years before the infamous Armory Show of 1913. In fact, it was Stieglitz’s increasing emphasis on modern painting and sculpture at 291 and in Camera Work that led to the unraveling of the Photo-Secession. Many members felt that Stieglitz was moving away from photography and therefore away from their interests. The last important Photo-Secession show was an exhibition organized by Stieglitz and held at the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, from November 3 to December 1, 1910. The show included 584 prints and filled eight galleries, drawing large crowds and positive press coverage. Stieglitz viewed it as the culmination of his dream to have photography recognized as a valid art medium by an important art museum. The Buffalo exhibit marked the end of the PhotoSecession’s major activities as a group. Opinionated and autocratic, Stieglitz quarreled with many of the photographer members, including Käsebier, White, and even 132
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Steichen. Although a notice calling for dues was sent out to Photo-Secession members in 1911, and no formal dissolution of the group is recorded, many of the members turned to professional photography as a livelihood and drifted away from Stieglitz. With the coming of World War I, the group effort that had been the heart and soul of the Photo-Secession perished. Stieglitz continued to show new photographic work when he believed it was important, such as the photographs of Paul Strand, which appeared in the final issue of Camera Work in June, 1917. Increasingly, however, Stieglitz took over the promotion of American modernist painters such as Georgia O’Keeffe (his future wife), Arthur Dove, John Marin, and Marsden Hartley. He remained active as a photographer, however, and his work, writings, and exhibitions mark an important step in the evolution of the art of photography. Significance Although Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession were not the lone pioneers of pictorial photography in the United States, they quickly became the most influential organization in the field. By the end of the nineteenth century, Stieglitz had already established himself as the leading spokesman for the promotion of photography as an art form. He was a master of the printed word as effective propaganda. Between 1887 and 1911, he published more than two hundred articles about photography; many more were penned by those who dedicated themselves to espousing his ideals. This wide dissemination of Stieglitz’s views established his international reputation. Stieglitz gained control of all phases of the pictorialist movement by organizing shows, having his friends review them in his own publications, and even controlling to some extent the sale of the work through 291. The impact of the Photo-Secession on art photography was, as a result, pervasive. During the early years of the organization, many aspiring pictorialists, with varying degrees of talent, signed on with the Photo-Secession. They quickly saw that Stieglitz’s group could promote them in a way no other body could. Also, a certain cachet was attached to belonging to the exclusive society. Stieglitz spoke of his group as the “chosen few” and believed that superior work by a handful of advanced workers could change the course of photography. He was also a tough opponent, with little sympathy for those who did not follow him unquestioningly. Stieglitz was well connected, both in the United States and abroad. He wielded great influence, for exam-
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Alvin Langdon Coburn, whom George Bernard Shaw considered to be the world’s greatest photographer, went on to publish several series of portraits of French and English celebrities, including Men of Mark (1913) and More Men of Mark (1922). He also pioneered in abstract photography, making his famous “Vortographs” in 1917. Coburn spent much of his later life living and traveling in Europe, and he became a British subject in 1932. Thus the Photo-Secession’s influence continued to be an important force, both in the United States and abroad. The most lasting impact of Stieglitz’s Photo-Secession was the growing acceptance of photography as an art form. Most modern museums collect and exhibit photographs on the strength of their aesthetic merits. No longer relegated to the realm of science and technology, photography—in large part because of Stieglitz’s vigorous promotion—is firmly established as a creative art. — Gillian Greenhill Hannum Further Reading Doty, Robert. Photo-Secession: Photography as a Fine Art. Rochester, N.Y.: George Eastman House, 1960. The first important study on the Photo-Secession. Reissued as Photo-Secession: Stieglitz and the Fine Art Movement in Photography (New York: Dover, 1978). Contains numerous photographs, notes to the text, a selected bibliography, a chronological list of exhibitions held at 291, and a listing of Photo-Secession members. Numerous photographs. Green, Jonathan. “Camera Work”: A Critical Anthology. Millerton, N.Y.: Aperture, 1973. Large-format book reproduces selected images and essays from Camera Work. Includes an introductory text, notes, brief biographies, bibliography, and various indexes to Camera Work. Homer, William I. Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession. 1983. Reprint. New York: Studio, 2002. One of the standard texts on the Photo-Secession. Includes photographs, a list of Photo-Secession members, notes, brief descriptions of processes used by pictorialists, extensive bibliography, and index. Longwell, Dennis. Steichen: The Master Prints. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1978. An elegantly presented text dealing with Steichen’s early years (1895-1914). Includes notes, plates with commentary, a catalog of plates, a brief essay on Steichen’s printing techniques, bibliography, and index. Lowe, Sue Davidson. Stieglitz: A Memoir/Biography. 1983. Reprint. Boston: MFA Publications, 2002. As the title suggests, this provides somewhat anecdotal 133
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ple, with the Linked Ring (of which he was a member) and with similar photographic organizations in France and Germany. He had set out to prove that American pictorialism was on a par with its European counterparts, and in this he fully succeeded. Stieglitz’s journal Camera Work became hugely influential despite its relatively small circulation. Noteworthy authors of the day, including George Bernard Shaw and Maurice Maeterlinck, contributed essays. The photographers featured in its elegant pages benefited from subsequent scholarship and are among the most well known from the era. Stieglitz and Steichen, in particular, are considered leading figures in American photographic history. Stieglitz’s own photographic style was constantly evolving, from the soft impressionism of the 1890’s to the realism commonly associated with such famous images as The Steerage of 1907. In 1910, he created a celebrated series of photographs depicting New York City. It was at this time that Stieglitz effectively abandoned pictorial photography and allied himself with the new practitioners of “straight” photography, such as Paul Strand. Later Stieglitz projects included his close-up portraits of Georgia O’Keeffe and his series of cloud studies, Equivalents, executed in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Stieglitz managed 291 until it closed in 1917 and later directed two other galleries, the Intimate Gallery (1925) and An American Place (1929-1946). Both were known for exhibiting avant-garde art. During World War I, Stieglitz served as chief of aerial photography in the American Expeditionary Forces. Later, between 1923 and 1937, he was a successful fashion and portrait photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair. He was in charge of overseeing all U.S. naval combat photography during World War II, and in 1947 he was appointed director of the Photography Department at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where, in 1955, he curated the celebrated Family of Man exhibition. White and Käsebier also continued to be active in photographic circles. White lectured on photography at Columbia University from 1907 on and later established the Clarence H. White School of Photography. Many of his students became prominent photographers themselves, including Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange, Paul Outerbridge, and Ralph Steiner. In 1916, both White and Käsebier became leading members of the newly formed organization Pictorial Photographers of America. For many disaffected Photo-Secessionists, White took over as leader of the pictorial movement, and Käsebier was his firm ally.
Stieglitz Organizes the Photo-Secession
Kennelly and Heaviside Theorize Existence of the Ionosphere coverage of Stieglitz’s life, written by a grandniece. Includes family photographs, a Stieglitz chronology, notes that draw heavily on unpublished correspondence, an extensive bibliography, a compilation of illustrations and articles in Camera Work, a list of exhibitions arranged by Stieglitz from 1902 to 1946, Stieglitz’s family tree, and other useful appendixes. Michaels, Barbara L. Gertrude Käsebier: The Photographer and Her Photographs. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1992. An exceptionally well-documented study of Käsebier’s life and work, including much interesting information about her interaction with Stieglitz and other members of the Photo-Secession. Excellent notes, bibliography, and index. Photographs. Stieglitz, Alfred. Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs and Writings. 2d ed. New York: Bulfinch, 1999. This book (the first edition of which was published in 1983, in conjunction with a major Stieglitz retrospective exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.) focuses on Stieglitz’s central vision of photography, which was increasingly about “antiphotographs,” or images that move beyond simple representation. Features seventy-three high-quality plates as well as many excerpts from Stieglitz’s writings. In-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 cludes fifty-six letters written by Stieglitz, selected and edited by Sarah Greenough, curator of photographs at the National Gallery of Art; Greenough also contributes an introductory essay. _______. “Camera Work”: A Pictorial Guide. Edited by Marianne Fulton Margolis. New York: Dover, 1978. Includes reproductions of all 559 Camera Work illustrations and plates, bibliography, glossary of terms, and separate indexes of authors, titles, and sitters. Weaver, Mike. Alvin Langdon Coburn: Symbolist Photographer. Millerton, N.Y.: Aperture, 1986. One of Aperture’s outstanding monographs, with chronology, notes, and bibliography. High-quality, lavish illustrations. White, Maynard P. Clarence H. White. Millerton, N.Y.: Aperture, 1979. Another Aperture monograph with brief text, notes, numerous plates, chronology, and selected bibliography. See also: Feb. 17-Mar. 15, 1913: Armory Show; 1921: Man Ray Creates the Rayograph; Nov. 17, 1931: Whitney Museum of American Art Opens in New York; Feb. 12, 1935: Exhibition of American Abstract Painting Opens in New York.
March and June, 1902
Kennelly and Heaviside Theorize Existence of the Ionosphere When Arthur Edwin Kennelly and Oliver Heaviside independently theorized the existence of an electrified layer in the upper atmosphere that reflects radio waves around the curved surface of the earth, their work stimulated new scientific understanding. Locale: Cambridge, Massachusetts; Newton Abbot, England Categories: Science and technology; physics; earth science Key Figures Arthur Edwin Kennelly (1861-1939), British American electrical engineer and Harvard professor Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925), English physicist and electrical engineer Balfour Steward (1828-1887), Scottish physicist Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), Italian electrical engineer and cowinner of the 1909 Nobel Prize in 134
Physics for demonstrating radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean Edward Victor Appleton (1892-1965), English physicist who won the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the ionosphere in 1924 Summary of Event On December 12, 1901, only thirteen years after German physicist Heinrich Hertz discovered radio waves, Guglielmo Marconi succeeded in transmitting radio signals from Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland, Canada. This historic event was difficult to explain, given that it was known that radio signals consist of electromagnetic waves that, like light, travel in nearly straight lines. Considerable discussion took place among scientists as to how Marconi’s signals could propagate around the curved surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Several scientists tried to show that electromagnetic waves of sufficiently long wavelength could bend around the earth’s
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regular way during the day and night, as well as over seasonal and solar cycles. Furthermore, the regular daily variations were disturbed during magnetic storms. These findings suggested that the scientific study of radio propagation could lead to new knowledge about the upper atmosphere. It soon became clear that daily and seasonal variations could be explained by the changing aspects of the Sun and its effect on the charge concentration in the postulated Kennelly-Heaviside layer in what came to be called the ionosphere. The first direct evidence for the existence of the ionosphere was obtained by Sir Edward Victor Appleton, with the assistance of Miles A. F. Barnett in 1924. At the University of Cambridge, Appleton had studied radio signals from the new British Broadcasting Company station in London and noticed the typical variations in their strength. When he took up a new position at the University of London in 1924, Appleton arranged to use the new British Broadcasting Company transmitter at Bournemouth after midnight, with receiving apparatus located at the University of Oxford. By varying the transmitter frequency, he hoped to detect a changing intensity at the receiver caused by changing interference (canceling of wave crests by the troughs of other waves) between the direct waves (along the ground) and the waves that he assumed would be reflected from the ionosphere. On December 11, 1924, Appleton and Barnett observed the regular fading in and out of the signal as the frequency of the transmitter was slowly increased. From the lowest and highest transmitted wavelengths and the corresponding number of intensity oscillations at the receiver, they calculated that the reflection was from a height of about 100 kilometers (62.1 miles). This confirmation of the Kennelly-Heaviside prediction was published in 1925 in the journal Nature under the title “Local Reflection of Wireless Waves from the Upper Atmosphere.” In later experiments, Appleton used an improved technique of rapid frequency changes so that variations in signal strength could be distinguished more clearly from natural fading because of changes in the ionosphere. In 1926, he found that the ionization of the Heaviside layer (E layer) was sufficiently reduced before dawn by recombination of electrons with positive ions to allow penetration by radio waves. Reflection, however, was still observed from a higher layer, where the air was too thin for efficient recombination. The height of what is now called the Appleton layer (F layer) was measured at about 230 kilometers (142.9 miles) above the earth. This result was published in Nature in 1927 under the title 135
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curvature by diffraction (the small tendency of waves to spread around obstacles). Calculations showed, however, that diffraction effects were inadequate to explain Marconi’s results. The correct explanation of radio wave propagation around the curved surface of the earth was suggested in 1902 almost simultaneously by Arthur Edwin Kennelly in the United States and Oliver Heaviside in England. These two men independently postulated the existence of an electrically conducting layer in the upper atmosphere that would reflect radio waves back to the earth. Successive reflections between this conducting layer and the surface of the earth could guide the waves around the curvature of the globe. Heaviside also suggested that the conductivity of this region might result from the presence of positive and negative ions in the upper atmosphere caused by the ionizing action of solar radiation. It is interesting to note that this hypothetical reflector was usually called the “Heaviside layer,” although it was Kennelly who first published the idea under the title “On the Elevation of the Electrically-Conducting Strata of the Earth’s Atmosphere” in the March, 1902, issue of Electrical World and Engineer. Heaviside was a brilliant but self-educated scientist who often had difficulty getting his work published. His ideas were more fully developed than Kennelly’s, but when he submitted an article to The Electrician, it was rejected; it then appeared in the Encyclopedia Britannica in June, 1902. In 1912, W. H. Eccles published the first theory of how charged particles affect the propagation of radio waves. Because he was aware of Heaviside’s rejected article, he apparently attempted to set the record straight by referring to the postulated reflecting region of the atmosphere as the Heaviside layer. In fact, the idea of such a conducting shell in the upper atmosphere had already been suggested by Balfour Steward twenty years earlier. In 1882, as part of his study of terrestrial magnetism, Steward had proposed that electrical currents flowing high in the atmosphere could explain the small daily changes in the earth’s magnetic field. Such variations would be caused by the tidal movements in the surrounding “sea of air,” which were caused by solar and gravitational influences. This explanation of fluctuations in the earth’s magnetism, combined with many peculiar features of shortwave radio propagation, seemed to confirm the existence of the KennellyHeaviside layer, but these phenomena provided only indirect evidence. After Marconi’s demonstration, commercial radio links were established across the Atlantic. Researchers then noticed that the strengths of the signals varied in a
Kennelly and Heaviside Theorize Existence of the Ionosphere
Kennelly and Heaviside Theorize Existence of the Ionosphere “The Existence of More than One Ionized Layer in the Upper Atmosphere.” Observations during a solar eclipse in 1927 indicated that the height of the Heaviside layer changed during that event, revealing that ionization is caused by solar radiation, as Heaviside had suggested. Significance The theorization and discovery of the ionosphere were important in stimulating new scientific understanding and advances in technology. Appleton’s magnetoionic theory of the ionosphere showed that electron density and the magnetic field at any layer in the ionosphere can be calculated from the critical frequency for penetrating that layer. In 1931, scientists began systematic experiments to determine the variation of electron densities in the ionosphere, revealing an increase in ionization as the Sun rises and low ionization at night, except for sporadic increases possibly caused by meteoric activity. Noon ionization was found to increase as the sunspot maximum of 1937 was approached, suggesting a correlation between sunspots and increases in the ultraviolet radiation that ionizes the upper layers of the atmosphere. This made it possible to measure the ultraviolet radiation from the Sun even though little of it reaches the ground. During the sunspot maximum of 1957-1958, the International Geophysical Year was established to study geophysical phenomena on a worldwide scale, including their relation to ionospheric variations. The study of the ionosphere has thus contributed to developments in other sciences, such as astronomy, meteorology, and geophysics. Appleton’s methods proved especially valuable in the development of radio communications, radar systems, and their applications in meteorology. Long-distance radio communications, in which the waves are guided around the earth by the ionosphere, became especially important during World War II. A worldwide network of more than fifty stations was established to monitor the ionosphere and to determine the most suitable frequencies for radio transmissions as ionospheric conditions changed. Discovery of the influence of the sunspot cycle made it possible to forecast ionospheric weather and thus to improve the reliability of radio communications. On the standard broadcast band (500-1,500 kilohertz), ground waves travel about 500 kilometers (310.7 miles), whereas sky waves are absorbed during the day but travel by reflection several thousand kilometers at night. At frequencies between 5 and 25 megahertz and distances greater than about 100 kilometers, radio transmission depends almost entirely on ionospheric reflections. On the 136
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 20-meter amateur radio band (14 megahertz), it is possible to reach some part of the world at almost any time of the day or night. The early development of radar was closely associated with studies of the ionosphere. The most powerful radar systems use the over-the-horizon technique of reflecting radar signals from the ionosphere to cover distances up to about 3,000 kilometers (1,864.1 miles), about ten times farther than conventional radar. For reliability, over-the-horizon radar systems depend on computers to chart the constantly changing intensity and thickness of the ionosphere and determine where conditions are best and which frequencies are needed for maximum performance. The ionosphere has thus become an indispensable tool for both communications and national security. — Joseph L. Spradley Further Reading Aitken, Hugh G. J. Syntony and Spark: The Origins of Radio. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1976. A good history of the early development of radio from the discovery of radio waves by Hertz to the work of Marconi. Makes only brief mention of the ionosphere proposal of Kennelly and Heaviside but provides more than one hundred references on the work of Marconi and many useful diagrams of early radio apparatuses. Anderson, Dave, and Tim Fuller-Rowell. “The Ionosphere.” Space Environment Topics SE-14, Space Environment Center, Boulder, Colo., 1999. http:// www.sel.noaa.gov/info/Iono.pdf. This brief report explains the characteristics of the ionosphere as well as ionospheric variability in a straightforward manner. Craig, Richard. The Edge of Space: Exploring the Upper Atmosphere. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1968. This small book is intended for secondary students and the lay public. It has a good chapter on the discovery of the ionosphere, along with helpful diagrams. Davies, Kenneth. Ionospheric Radio Propagation. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1965. This highly authoritative volume contains most of what is known about the ionosphere from both theory and worldwide measurements. Includes references and indexes. Hargreaves, J. K. The Solar-Terrestrial Environment: An Introduction to Geospace, the Science of the Terrestrial Upper Atmosphere, Ionosphere, and Magnetosphere. Reprint. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Begins with three chapters that provide
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tion to the Ionosphere and Magnetosphere. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970. A very readable and wellillustrated introduction to the history and applications of ionosphere research. An appendix provides background on electromagnetic waves, and a bibliography lists about twenty books on the ionosphere. See also: 1919: Principles of Shortwave Radio Communication Are Discovered; 1930-1932: Jansky’s Experiments Lead to Radio Astronomy; 1935: Chapman Determines the Lunar Atmospheric Tide at Moderate Latitudes. 1902
some basic physics and then covers the neutral and ionized upper atmosphere and the magnetosphere. Suitable for readers with a basic background in engineering or physics. Nahin, Paul J. Oliver Heaviside: Sage in Solitude. New York: IEEE Press, 1987. An interesting and welldocumented biography of Heaviside, with extensive discussion of his contributions to telegraphy, applied mathematics, and electrodynamics. The concluding chapter, “The Final Years of the Hermit,” describes his ionosphere prediction. Ratcliffe, John A. Sun, Earth, and Radio: An Introduc-
American Automobile Association Is Established
March 4, 1902
American Automobile Association Is Established The establishment of an organized national automobile club, the American Automobile Association, helped improve conditions for automobile drivers and increased popularity of the automobile. Locale: Chicago, Illinois Categories: Organizations and institutions; transportation Key Figures Frank C. Webb (fl. early twentieth century), treasurer of the Long Island Automobile Club Samuel A. Miles (fl. early twentieth century), manager of the Chicago Automobile Show and a founder of the American Automobile Association Winthrop E. Scarritt (1857-1911), first president of the American Automobile Association Frank C. Donald (fl. early twentieth century), president of the Chicago Automobile Club and first vice president of the American Automobile Association Summary of Event The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a national organization that was formed in 1902 by nine local automobile clubs. The AAA was created to be an advocate of the automobile driver and to work toward improving the conditions of highways and roads. Since it was established, the organization has become involved in every aspect of travel and has developed many services to aid travelers. Frank C. Donald, the president of the Chicago Automobile Club, and Samuel A. Miles, the manager of the Chicago Automobile Show, helped organize the first na-
tional meeting of automobile clubs in the United States. Until that time, automobile clubs had been only local organizations. Donald and Miles sent letters to all the automobile clubs in the United States, inviting members to attend a meeting in Chicago for the purpose of organizing a national association of clubs. The primary reason automobile clubs were formed in the early days of the automobile was hostility toward drivers. Most people in the late 1890’s and early 1900’s disliked the automobile, preferring the traditional horse and buggy. In 1902, there were some twenty-three thousand automobiles on American roads, compared with seventeen million horses. The general public regarded automobiles as unsafe because they traveled much faster than horse-drawn vehicles. The automobile driver had many problems to contend with, including getting stuck in mud or having a flat tire and thereby blocking traffic. In 1902, a driver could get a traffic ticket for blocking the road regardless of the reason. Adding to the dislike of automobiles was the fact that the noise they made frightened many horses, which caused accidents. When a driver joined an automobile club, driving became more pleasant. Club members went on trips together so that if one had a problem, the others were there to assist. Also, when several automobiles traveled together, the drivers were subject to fewer unpleasant runins with the drivers of horse-drawn vehicles. The clubs originally formed as social groups rather than service groups, but many soon became involved in working to improve driving conditions. Most roads were intended for the use of horse-drawn buggies and were not in good condition for automobiles. Few roadside signs 137
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Workers for the Automobile Club of Southern California, a member club of the AAA, install roadside signs marking the Lincoln Highway in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1918. (AP/Wide World Photos)
existed to indicate routes, as buggy drivers seldom went anywhere to which they did not already know the way. The advent of the automobile meant that people could travel much farther in a day, and travelers became more adventurous. Many clubs became involved in improving roads and installing signs. One difficulty some clubs experienced was that they could not provide signs showing the routes to all surrounding cities. The distances were too great, and creating and posting the signs became too expensive. Many clubs worked together to put up signs, but their efforts were limited. Although the local clubs did accomplish some things, the need for a national club became increasingly clear. At first, a New York automobile club wanted to establish control over the other clubs around the United States. When this proposal met with disapproval by other clubs, Frank C. Webb, treasurer of the New York club, suggested that a national association be formed in which all local clubs would have equal power. This proposition was received with more optimism, and the process of creating a national organization began. In the letter inviting clubs from across the United States to attend the Chicago meeting, several goals were 138
listed for a national organization. These included improving roads, sharing ideas, pushing for national regulations and laws for automobiles, protecting the rights of automobilists, and improving the automobile. The letter was sent under the aegis of the New York club (the Long Island Automobile Club), the Automobile Club of America, the Philadelphia Automobile Club, the Chicago Automobile Club, and the Rhode Island Automobile Club. The first meeting, held in Chicago on March 4, 1902, was attended by representatives from nine automobile clubs: the Chicago Automobile Club, the Automobile Club of America, the Automobile Club of New Jersey, the Long Island Automobile Club, the Rhode Island Automobile Club, the Philadelphia Automobile Club, the Princeton University Automobile Club, the Automobile Club of Utica, and the Grand Rapids Automobile Club. Dozens of other relatively large clubs failed to send any representatives. Those who took part in the meeting accomplished four main tasks. First, they established a constitution that kept the same priorities as the invitation letter. Second, they named the new organization the American Automobile Association. Third, they voted for officers, electing Winthrop E. Scarritt from the Automo-
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Significance The American Automobile Association continued to grow throughout the twentieth century and continued to add to the services offered to member clubs. In 1936, the AAA made the provision of emergency road assistance mandatory for all affiliated clubs, with services to include towing, opening locked vehicles, supplying gas, and fixing mechanical failures. By 1992, the AAA had contracted with more than thirteen thousand facilities to provide these services, and in that year, the nationwide
organization fielded approximately twenty-two million calls for emergency assistance. As the AAA grew, it became involved in every aspect of travel, applying its original goal of making travel easier for the automobilist to other means of travel. The AAA published its first guidebook in 1917, and by the end of the twentieth century, AAA travel agencies throughout the United States and Canada were providing maps and guidebooks to members. In 1932, the AAA began offering members maps for drivers that highlighted the best routes to their destinations. In 1992, the organization provided members with more than eight million such highlighted maps, with information on detours, driving time, ferries, and more. In addition to services for members, the American Automobile Association became involved in community service, offering training courses for driver education instructors as well as programs to educate the public about the dangers of drinking and driving. The AAA also sponsored traffic safety courses in high schools and organized safety patrol programs at elementary schools across the United States, greatly reducing the number of accidents involving child pedestrians. In 1985, the association’s board of directors voted to support the passage of mandatory seat belt laws. Shortly thereafter, the AAA started a program advocating the use of seat belts. In the twenty-first century, the AAA employs the latest technology to deliver services to members while it continues to fight for the improvement of roads and highways in the United States as well as to protect the interests of automobile drivers. —Dan Kennedy Further Reading Berger, Michael L. The Automobile in American History and Culture: A Reference Guide. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. Comprehensive collection of essays includes discussion of the establishment of the AAA and the organization’s influence on automobile-related laws and travel in the United States. Includes chronology, references, and indexes. Eng, Paul M. “Bits and Bytes.” BusinessWeek, August 12, 1991, 64D. Discusses the AAA’s use of technology to link data of service stations to provide better service for roadside emergencies. Gutfreund, Owen D. Twentieth Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Addresses how the advent of the automobile changed American cities. Includes illustrations, bibliography, and index. 139
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bile Club of America as president and Frank C. Donald as vice president. Finally, they scheduled a second meeting. On April 1, 1903, the American Automobile Association had its second meeting in New York City at the home of the Automobile Club of America. Members discussed a variety of topics related to motoring and came out in favor of the Brownlow-Latimer Bill, which would authorize the spending of some $24 million to improve roadways across the nation starting in 1904. The federal government was to pay half the cost, with states picking up the remainder. Following initial improvements, the states had to keep up the roads at their own expense. One of the AAA’s member clubs donated $10,000 to help promote the bill. The members also decided at this meeting not to focus their efforts on trying to persuade other clubs to join the AAA. The AAA made consistent progress in combating the public’s dislike of automobiles. When a bill was proposed in New York City that would have restricted any automobile from carrying gasoline within the city, the AAA worked successfully to defeat the bill. In 1907, the AAA started to offer some of the services for which it became well known, providing members with information concerning roads, laws, and facilities. Not long after, the AAA started producing its own road maps, as the organization found most of the maps then available—maps created for bicyclists—to be inadequate for automobile drivers. In 1915, the association began offering assistance to motorists in trouble. Some of the most common problems were flat tires and engine failures; motorists also often ran out of gas or found their vehicles stuck in mud. Local automobile clubs had been formed in large part to assist drivers with such problems, but having a national organization to help all members was a great accomplishment. Given that many drivers experienced difficulties with their automobiles while they were far from home, a national organization was a wonderful aid. Drivers no longer had to travel with local club members to be secure.
American Automobile Association Is Established
Rhodes Scholarships Are Instituted Partridge, Bellamy. Fill ’er Up: The Story of Fifty Years of Motoring. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1952. Presents the life of an automobile driver during the first fifty years of the automobile. Gives details on automobile clubs and the formation of the American Automobile Association. Describes hardships and setbacks experienced by automobile drivers and discusses laws concerning the automobile.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: Feb. 29, 1908: Cadillac Demonstrates Interchangeable Parts; 1911: Hashimoto Founds the Nissan Motor Company; Mar. 1, 1913: Ford Assembly Line Begins Operation; Jan. 5, 1914: Ford Announces a Five-Dollar, Eight-Hour Workday; Dec. 29, 1920: General Motors Institutes a Multidivisional Structure; 1927: Number of U.S. Automakers Falls to Forty-Four.
April, 1902
Rhodes Scholarships Are Instituted The Rhodes Scholarships were created according to the vision expressed in the will of Cecil Rhodes. Many Rhodes Scholars would go on to become well-known and important members of society. Locale: Oxford, England Categories: Education; humanitarianism and philanthropy Key Figure Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), diamond magnate who left a bequest to endow Rhodes Scholarships in perpetuity Summary of Event Cecil Rhodes’s life and legacy read like a Victorian imperial success story. Rhodes, the son of a vicar in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, did not go directly to college or into the military, as did his five brothers; instead, poor health motivated him to move to the Cape Colony (now known as the Republic of South Africa), where he initially worked on a cotton farm. He soon moved to Kimberley, the center of diamond mining in the region, and from 1871 to 1881 he spent approximately half of each year in the Cape Colony, digging for diamonds and purchasing competitors. During the other six months of the year, he pursued studies at Oriel College, Oxford, where he earned a degree in 1881. Rhodes treasured his undergraduate experience at Oxford, although his path through the university was hardly traditional. Oxford offers only three eight-week terms per calendar year—there are two six-week vacations between the first two terms, and the “long vacation” stretches from late June to early October. All three breaks, and especially the long vacation, are intended for Oxford students to broaden their studies and engage in reading a wider 140
range of material. While Rhodes might well have taken part in such programmatic reading, he spent most of those vacations in the Cape Colony. Rhodes participated in local politics in the Cape Colony in 1881, and throughout the remainder of that decade he developed strong political support among both expatriate British and Boer politicians. By 1888, he was the principal shareholder of De Beers Consolidated Mines, which by 1891 owned 90 percent of the world’s diamond mines. From 1890 to 1896, Rhodes served as prime minister of the Cape Colony. As leader, he acted on his imperialist belief in British superiority and hegemony, seeking unsuccessfully to “paint the map [of Africa] red” with a railway from Cairo to the Cape and even suggesting that the American colonies could be returned to the British Empire. Rhodes died from heart disease on March 26, 1902. His will, probated in April, 1902, left his fortune to Oxford University to support in perpetuity the funding of scholarships for young men, initially only for unmarried males between the ages of nineteen and twenty-five who were citizens of the United States, the British Commonwealth, or any of its colonies. Women became eligible for the competition in 1976, and candidates from Germany were eligible from 1903 to 1914, from 1930 to 1939, and again after 1970. The Rhodes Scholarships qualify successful applicants for admission to Oxford, but each applicant also needs to be accepted formally by one of the thirty-nine Oxford colleges. Rhodes Scholars generally spend two years in residence, and most earn either a second bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree, depending on their interests, courses of study, and previous academic preparation. It was the belief of Cecil Rhodes, as articulated in his will, that having young men from English-speaking nations take a degree at one of Britain’s two ancient uni-
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Rhodes Scholarships Are Instituted
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versities would create Anglophiles who might Some American Rhodes Scholars continue to disseminate Rhodes’s imperialist Among the many Rhodes Scholars who have gone on to make sigbelief in British superiority. nificant contributions to the world are these Americans: There are quotas for each qualifying country: Thirty-two scholars chosen from the United • Daniel J. Boorstin, historian and U.S. librarian of Congress, States, eleven from Canada, three from New 1975-1987 Zealand, and one from Hong Kong, among oth• Bill Bradley, professional basketball player and U.S. senator ers. Regardless of country of origin, however, • Wesley K. Clark, military officer and politician the four general criteria for selection, articu• Bill Clinton, president of the United States, 1993-2001 lated in Rhodes’s will, have always guided the • E. J. Dionne, journalist selecting committees: literary and scholastic • Russell D. Feingold, U.S. senator • J. William Fulbright, U.S. senator and founder of the Fulbright achievements; energy to use one’s talents to the Fellowship program full, as exemplified by fondness for and success • John M. Harlan II, associate justice of the United States in sports; truth, courage, devotion to duty, sym• Edwin Powell Hubble, astronomer pathy for and protection of the weak, kindness, • Jonathan Kozol, social activist and author unselfishness, and fellowship; and moral force • Kris Kristofferson, musician and actor of character and instincts to lead and to take an • Alain Locke, philosopher interest in one’s fellow beings. The second cri• Reynolds Price, novelist and poet terion is one of the factors that has always • Robert B. Reich, U.S. secretary of labor, 1993-1997 distinguished Rhodes Scholars; in addition to • Dean Rusk, U.S. secretary of state, 1961-1969 being exemplary and superior students, suc• Howard K. Smith, broadcast journalist cessful applicants also are expected to fulfill the • David Souter, associate justice of the United States • Lester Thurow, economist classical ideal of mens sana in corpore sano (a • Robert Penn Warren, poet and novelist sound mind in a sound body). Although world• Naomi Wolf, author and feminist social critic class athletes such as former professional basketball player and U.S. senator from New Jersey Bill Bradley have been Rhodes Scholars, more recreational and intramural-quality athletes, to and from Oxford, England, are covered by the Rhodes such as thirty-ninth U.S. president Bill Clinton—rejected trust, so that economic background or financial hardship by Balliol College but accepted by University College, should not disqualify compelling applicants. Although Oxford—have been more common. women and married men are now eligible to become Rhodes Scholars, the trust makes no additional accomSignificance modations for spouses or family members, seeking inAdmittedly, the first Rhodes Scholarships were limited stead to remain focused on the particular applicants and to men from the English-speaking world; such limiting their ability to benefit from an Oxford experience. criteria were of course consistent with Cecil Rhodes’s —Richard Sax worldview. Greater significance may lie in the fact that, nearly two decades before the League of Nations and a Further Reading half century before the formation of the United Nations, Aydelotte, Frank. The American Rhodes Scholarships. the Rhodes Scholarships represented a sense of how peoPrinceton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1946. ple from around the world could come together, joined Carefully researched overview of the American comby a common cause and the belief that they could make petitions for the Rhodes Scholarships up to the midthe world a better place through study, combined physi1940’s. cal exertion, and teamwork. If in fact collegiate studies Elton, Lord, ed. The First Fifty Years of the Rhodes Trust are intended to provide not only information but also and the Rhodes Scholarships. Oxford, England: Basil skills to help individuals lead thoughtful and productive Blackwell, 1955. This text, still generally available lives, then these criteria gauge an individual’s potential. though of course somewhat dated, reviews the first Rhodes believed that a successful life was one that included active use of both the mind and body. five decades of the annual Rhodes competitions. All costs of the two-year residency, including travel Harrison, Brian, ed. The Twentieth Century. Vol. 8 in
Bayliss and Starling Establish the Role of Hormones The History of the University of Oxford. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1994. This volume of the history of the university focuses on the twentieth century with an early chapter dedicated to the will and legacy of Cecil Rhodes. Kenney, Anthony, ed. The History of the Rhodes Trust, 1902-1999. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2001. Evenhanded study of the first century of Rhodes Scholarships. Lockhart, J. G., and C. M. Woodhouse. Cecil Rhodes. New York: Macmillan, 1963. Standard biography of Rhodes as a builder of financial and political empire, as diplomat, and as benefactor of the Rhodes Scholarships. Roberts, Brian. Cecil Rhodes: Flawed Colossus. New York: W. W. Norton, 1988. Critical biography of Rhodes as the personification of British imperialism in Africa. Draws largely from Rhodes’s personal papers.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 _______. The Founder: Cecil Rhodes and the Pursuit of Power. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Biographical study of Rhodes’s life that uses modern psychological theories and insights into character. Places special emphasis on his accumulation of wealth in South Africa and the legacy of his will. Schaeper, Thomas J., and Kathleen Schaeper. Cowboys into Gentlemen: Rhodes Scholars, Oxford, and the Creation of an American Elite. Providence, R.I.: Bergahn Books, 1998. Historical study of American Rhodes Scholars, how they were affected by their years at Oxford, and the effects they had on Oxford. See also: May 31, 1910: Formation of the Union of South Africa; Jan. 8, 1912: South African Native National Congress Meets; 1920: Advisory Councils Give Botswana Natives Limited Representation; Oct. 1, 1923: Great Britain Grants Self-Government to Southern Rhodesia.
April-June, 1902
Bayliss and Starling Establish the Role of Hormones William Maddock Bayliss and Ernest Henry Starling proved unequivocally that chemical integration can occur in the body without assistance from the nervous system. Locale: Cambridge, England Categories: Health and medicine; science and technology; biology Key Figures William Maddock Bayliss (1860-1924), English physiologist Ernest Henry Starling (1866-1927), English physiologist Arnold Berthold (1803-1861), German physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936), Russian physiologist Frederick G. Banting (1891-1941), Canadian physiologist Summary of Event Much information is available today concerning the control of secretin release and its targets, but this has not always been the case. At the beginning of the twentieth century, two English physiologists, Sir William Maddock Bayliss and Ernest Henry Starling, were interested 142
in ascertaining what triggers the pancreas to pour out digestive juices as soon as food arrives in the first part of the intestine. They hypothesized that a nerve signal from the intestine could order the pancreas to turn on the juice, and they set up an experiment to test their hypothesis. The investigators dissected the nerves of an animal’s upper intestine and injected stimulating material, such as food from the stomach. To their astonishment, pancreatic juices poured promptly into the intestine. This should not have happened, given that all nerves had been cut, yet some mysterious signal had reached the pancreas and roused it to action. Bayliss and Starling subsequently discovered that the signal is chemical in nature, not nervous. The arrival of acid-laden food causes the intestinal wall to secrete a substance called secretin, which oozes into the bloodstream. Physiologists know that secretin causes the pancreas to secrete a solution high in bicarbonate, which has the effect of buffering hydrochloric acid. Secretin also tends to inhibit motility of the stomach while stimulating the secretion of pepsin (an enzyme that breaks specific internal peptide bonds in a protein). Secretin is the single most important inhibitor of gastrin release and therefore of acid secretion. Starling first used the word “hormone” (from the
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lect the pancreatic and duodenal secretions. The gastric and duodenal secretions are collected separately; gastric juice is usually aspirated continuously through the use of a low-pressure vacuum pump, whereas the duodenal contents are aspirated periodically. Volume, pH, bicarbonate, and enzyme determinations are made on the samples collected from the duodenum. With normal function, there is a rapid increase in flow rate following secretin injection, the maximum flow rate usually being reached in twenty minutes. Aflow rate of 1 to 2 milliliters per kilogram of weight per thirty minutes is usually obtained in normal individuals. The bicarbonate concentration increases with the flow rate and may go as high as 140 to 150 milligrams per liter. As the flow rate increases, there is an associated decrease in enzyme concentration. When pancreozymin is used as a stimulus for pancreatic secretion to test pancreatic function, the procedure is the same as that described for the secretin test. Secretin increases the secretion of bile by the liver, although it does not cause the gallbladder to contract. The site of action of secretin is thought to be the small bile ducts, or ductules. The effect results in an increase in the volume of bile by addition of water and a marked increase in the bicarbonate concentration. The onset of effect is similar to that of the pancreas. Some evidence suggests that an electrolyte fraction may be secreted that is
William Maddock Bayliss. (Library of Congress)
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Greek hormon, meaning exciting, setting in motion) in 1905 with reference to secretin. Today, physiologists know that hormones may inhibit as well as excite. Hormones do not initiate metabolic transformations; rather, they merely alter the rate at which these changes occur. Bayliss and Starling also developed the concept that powerful chemical messengers exist in the common pool of blood and lymph. Secretin has been obtained in crystalline form and is a basic polypeptide. The hormone disappears rapidly from circulation owing to the destructive action of an enzyme called secretinase. Small amounts of the hormone are excreted in the urine. Many materials other than hydrochloric acid stimulate the release of secretin by the duodenal mucosa; water, alcohol, fatty acids, partially hydrolyzed protein, and certain amino acids are all effective. The crude extract that Bayliss and Starling used in their experiment caused the pancreas to secrete enzymes as well as water and bicarbonates. Because purified secretin seemed to stimulate only the output of water and bicarbonate, researchers began to look for the material in the extract that stimulated secretions of the enzymes. In 1943, A. A. Harper and H. S. Raper succeeded in separating a fraction that did not increase the volume of pancreatic juice but greatly increased the enzyme concentrations. This substance was called pancreozymin. In 1966, in the course of their purification of cholecystokinin (CCK), E. Jopes and V. Mutt demonstrated that this hormone and pancreozymin are the same polypeptide. Because CCK was discovered first, the hormone is generally known as cholecystokinin, although some researchers still refer to it as cholecystokinin-pancreozymin. It is now known that actions of secretin and CCK are not as completely separate as previously believed. Secretin augments the action of CCK on pancreatic enzyme secretions, and CCK augments the action of secretin on bicarbonate ion secretions. This augmentation is important in the stimulation of pancreatic fluid when the pH of the duodenum, which is well buffered, does not fall significantly with the entry of a meal into the upper gastrointestinal tract. After secretin and pancreozymin became available in injectable form, tests of pancreatic function were developed that use these hormones as stimuli. After secretin became available in a form pure enough for use in humans, researchers accumulated more experience with it. G. Agren et al. introduced the secretin test in 1936, and it has been used extensively in the United States and abroad. In this test, a double-lumen tube is passed through the patient’s nose or mouth into the stomach to drain gastric juice and into the duodenum to col-
Bayliss and Starling Establish the Role of Hormones
Bayliss and Starling Establish the Role of Hormones dependent on the active transport of sodium and is inhibited by inhibitors of ATPase. Secretin causes only a moderate increase in bile flow and none at all if the liver is secreting vigorously already. The pancreas is under the control of both nervous and humoral mechanisms. The nervous control of pancreatic secretion is provided by both the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system. Humoral control of pancreatic secretion is provided by the hormones secretin, CCK, and gastrin. Atropine is said to block the effects of sympathetic stimulations, causing an increase in flow rate, indicating that cholinergic secretory fibers are present in the sympathetic
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 innervation of the pancreas. Stimulations of the vagus, or parasympathetic innervation of the pancreas, result in the secretion of enzymes but have little or no effect on the secretions of bicarbonate. Acetylcholine is the mediator of the vagal effect. Vagotomy and atropine markedly depress the secretions of enzymes by the pancreas. Cholinergic drugs, such as pilocarpine, stimulate pancreatic secretion, whereas atropine and anticholinergic agents produce inhibitions.
Significance Bayliss and Starling’s discovery relative to the existence and manner of action (at the level of the whole organism) of the hormone secretin was farreaching. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, a Russian scientist and great pioneer in Hormones and Diabetes the study of conditioned reflexes, reDiabetes begins when the body is unable to utilize food properly. If food is peated the work of Bayliss and Starnot correctly metabolized, excess sugar accumulates in the blood, and the body ling in 1910 and obtained similar cannot access the energy needed to perform day-to-day functions. When the results. Subsequently, S. Kopec demkidneys are unable to keep up in the extraction of excess sugars from the body’s onstrated in 1917 that a hormone waste fluids, sugars tend to concentrate in the urine. Urine flow is abnormally from the brain controls pupation in increased, and the diabetic is constantly thirsty and consumes much fluid. Huncertain invertebrates (insects), which ger and fatigue are constant companions as the body’s demands for energy go illustrated for the first time that cenunmet. In advanced cases, the diabetic suffers other symptoms: blindness, intral nervous structures can perform fections of the extremities that can lead to gangrene, and a higher incidence of endocrine roles. other conditions, including heart disease. Without control of any kind, the diaThe islets of Langerhans are betic faces a dismal future; for children without treatment, the normal life expectancy following diagnosis is only one or two years. patches of tissue located in the panThe role of the pancreas in the process of digestion gradually became clear creas that produce the hormone insuin the mid-nineteenth century. French physiologist Claude Bernard discovered lin. In 1921, Sir Frederick G. Bantthe role of the liver in the processes of digestion, and some suspected that it ing, John J. R. Macleod, Charles H. played a role in diabetes. Degenerative damage to the pancreases of diabetics Best, and James Bertram Collip, led some to speculate that the pancreas, too, must play a role in the disease. Miworking in Toronto, Ontario, Cancroscopic studies of pancreatic tissue by the German student Paul Langerhans ada, isolated this hormone from the revealed the presence of two distinct types of cells: those that secrete the ordiembryos of animals. The insulin was nary digestive enzyme and islands of cells whose appearance was quite differnext injected experimentally into ent and distinctive. The islands of cells came to be known as the islets of dogs and then into humans (in 1922); Langerhans. There was a growing sense that the powerful protein-destroying it was found to be effective in relievcapacity of the external secretion might be involved in the destruction of the internal secretion in diabetics. ing the symptoms of diabetes. IndiSuch was the situation in October, 1920, when Fred Banting, a part-time viduals suffering from this disease lecturer in surgery at Western University who was interested in carbohydrate are unable to oxidize sugar in their metabolism, formulated the idea of causing the death of the digestive juice tissues. The sugar tends to accumucells and isolating their internal secretion to test its effectiveness against high late in the tissues, often with fatal reblood sugars. Banting contacted John J. R. Macleod, a professor of physiology sults. It is known that insulin reguat the University of Toronto, to propose his research idea. Along with Macleod lates the storage of sugars in the liver and their assistant Charles H. Best and later physician James Bertram Collip, and the oxidation of sugar by the they finally isolated the hormone insulin and prepared an injectable form for body. Diabetes is thus caused by the treatment of diabetes. On January 23, 1922, it was tested on a fourteen-year-old inability of the islets of Langerhans boy dying of diabetes. The injection controlled the boy’s blood sugar, and his to produce adequate quantities of inlife was saved. sulin. In 1923, Banting and Macleod
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Further Reading Grossman, Morton I. “Vitamins and Hormones.” In Advances in Research and Application, edited by Robert S. Harris. New York: Academic Press, 1958. Discusses vitamins and their sources, in addition to the discovery, distribution, and modes of action of the hormone secretin. Further addresses the fate of cholecystokinin produced by the duodenum.
Henderson, John. A Life of Ernest Starling. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Biography covers Starling’s many contributions to medicine and addresses the passionate views he held, and voiced, on many other subjects, including education, Germany, and the British government. Includes illustrations, appendixes, bibliography, and index. Jenkin, Penelope. “Discovery of Hormones.” In Monographs of Pure and Applied Biology, edited by J. E. Harris. New York: Pergamon Press, 1962. A panoramic view of the salient experiments of Berthold, Starling, Kopec, and others. Discusses the mechanism of hormone action as well as the role of the central nervous system. Morgan, Howard E. “Endocrine Control Systems.” In Best and Taylor’s Physiological Basis of Medical Practice, edited by John R. Brobeck. 10th ed. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1980. An excellent reference text for students in the health professions. Discusses all aspects of hormonal control systems, including hormonal control of growth and protein metabolism. Hormonal control of permeability is well documented for ions, glucose, and amino acids. Schauf, Charles L., et al. Human Physiology: Foundations and Frontiers, edited by Deborah Allen. St. Louis, Mo.: Times Mirror/Mosby, 1990. A conceptual approach to a complex subject. Presents concepts systematically to demonstrate how organ systems interact with one another. Includes diagrams where required for clarification of the reciprocal fields of histology (the study of tissues) and physiology (the study of functions). Stille, Darlene R. “Science and Technology: Internal Medicine.” In Science Year: The World Book Science Annual, edited by Harrison Brown et al. Chicago: Scott & Fetzer, 1980. Includes Science File, a section that provides the “News of the Year” in about fortyfive short articles alphabetically arranged by subject matter, from agriculture to zoology. The genetics section describes the research work of a team of scientists at City of Hope Medical Center who created a bacterial strain able to produce human insulin, a protein hormone used in treating diabetes. See also: 1902-1903: Pavlov Develops the Concept of Reinforcement; Apr.-May, 1904: Sherrington Clarifies the Role of the Nervous System; 1922: McCollum Names Vitamin D and Pioneers Its Use Against Rickets; Jan., 1928: Papanicolaou Develops a Test for Diagnosing Uterine Cancer. 145
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were corecipients of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of insulin as a treatment for diabetes. In 1949, Thomas R. Forbes reviewed the work of Arnold Berthold in a paper read before the Beaumont Club at Yale University. In the mid-nineteenth century, Berthold caponized six young cockerels and then returned single testes to the body cavities of some of the birds. The grafts, placed among the intestines, became vascularized. Berthold observed that the host birds continued to exhibit the sexual behavior and accessories of normal young roosters. At autopsy, he found that the nerve supply of the grafted testes had not been reestablished. He thus concluded that, as maintenance of sexual behavior and appearance could not have been accomplished by the nerves (which were severed), the results must have been caused by a contribution of the testes to the blood and then to the action of the added substance throughout the entire body. In the November, 1962, issue of the journal Today’s Health, Donald G. Cooley, an American physiologist, published an article titled “Hormones: Your Body’s Chemical Rousers,” in which he reviewed the experiments of Bayliss and Starling and presented an updated, salient summary concerning the mechanism of hormone action. In May, 1979, scientists at the National Institute of Dental Research in Bethesda, Maryland, reported strong evidence that a virus can cause juvenile-onset, or type 1, diabetes. The most serious variety of the disease, type 1 diabetes is characterized by a lack of insulin. Jiwon Yoon, Marchall Austen, and Takashi Orodern isolated the virus, called Coxsackie B4, from the pancreas of a ten-year-old boy who died of a sudden and severe case of diabetes. The researchers grew the virus in cultures and injected it into mice. Some strains of the mice then developed diabetes. This evidence indicated that the Coxsackie virus can be a causal factor in some cases of diabetes. Nevertheless, the fact that not all of the mice developed the disease indicated that a genetic factor may be needed to trigger development of the disease. —Nathaniel Boggs
Bayliss and Starling Establish the Role of Hormones
Caruso Records for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
April 11, 1902
Caruso Records for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company Enrico Caruso’s first serious attempt at recording operatic songs proved an overwhelming success, launching his career as one of the world’s major recording artists. Locale: Milan, Italy Category: Music Key Figures Enrico Caruso (1873-1921), Italian opera singer Frederick William Gaisberg (1873-1951), British executive for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company Nellie Melba (1861-1931), Australian opera singer Summary of Event During the early part of 1902, Enrico Caruso, a wellknown tenor star of European opera, experienced a particularly successful season in Monte Carlo. Opposite the renowned Australian soprano Nellie Melba, Caruso sang his way through countless famous operas. Melba had persuaded Caruso to sing at Covent Garden in London. Caruso had been reluctant to accept the engagement, which would be his first in England, but under considerable pressure from the persuasive Melba, he accepted. Before traveling to England, he returned to Milan to sing in Alberto Franchetti’s new opera, Germania. The opening night was a gala performance attended by royalty and aristocracy as well as by prominent artists of the day. Seated in the audience that night were such men as Giacomo Puccini, Umberto Giordano, and Gabriele D’Annunzio. Of more significance, however, was the fact that seated in the audience the next evening was Frederick William Gaisberg, the manager of London’s Gramophone and Typewriter Company. Along with his brother Will, Gaisberg had come to Milan to find new recording artists. Unable to get tickets to the premiere performance, Gaisberg was able to hear Caruso sing the part of Federico Loewe the following night. Despite the inherent weaknesses of the opera, Caruso sang magnificently. Gaisberg knew from that one evening that he had found a singer whose voice would be perfect for the young recording industry. Alfred Michaelis, the firm’s local representative, was asked to speak with Caruso and negotiate a fee. To everyone’s initial delight, Caruso agreed to make the record146
ings. In 1901, Caruso had briefly tried the new medium, but his first experiment was not a success. A year later, he was more than eager to try again. Caruso was also a canny businessman; in fact, one of the reasons he had hesitated to sing at Covent Garden was that the fee was less than he had been offered to perform elsewhere. Gaisberg and Caruso agreed on a fee of one hundred pounds, for which Caruso was to sing ten arias. Thinking that the London office would seize the opportunity to add Caruso to the Gramophone and Typewriter Company’s list of world-class recording artists, Gaisberg was surprised by the reply to his cable announcing the agreement. Officials at the company cabled back, “Fee exorbitant, forbid you to record.” Gaisberg had heard Caruso sing only once, but that was enough to convince him that he had experienced an unusual talent, and he decided to go through with the project despite what he was told. Years before, the celebrated Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini had remarked after hearing Caruso sing that the whole world would talk about him. Once Gaisberg had the recordings, the whole world would hear Caruso sing as well. A number of Caruso’s contemporaries tried to dissuade him from participating in such a novelty, but Caruso was not convinced. From their very first meeting, Caruso thought well of Gaisberg, and their friendship had much to do with Caruso’s willingness to sing. During their conversations, Gaisberg cleverly remarked that the recordings would be available during Caruso’s debut at Covent Garden. Caruso quickly grasped that this would widen his audience and perhaps endear him to the English audience that much quicker. Despite this seemingly businesslike approach, Caruso treated the entire recording session with enjoyment and a certain lightness. The session took place on the afternoon of April 11, 1902, at Gaisberg’s suite at the Grand Hotel di Milano. (By coincidence, the suite was directly above the one in which the famed Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi had died.) The ten arias included selections from half a dozen well-known operas. “Questo o quella” from Rigoletto began the session. For the next two hours, Caruso sang with his usual warmth and vibrancy such songs as “Una furtiva lagrima,” “E lucevan le stelle,” and “Celeste Aida.” The hotel room was converted into a makeshift recording studio; the tin horn that Caruso sang
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Caruso Records for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company
Enrico Caruso. (Library of Congress)
into hung five feet from the floor. The accompanist had to use a packing case as a piano stool. Caruso ignored the primitive conditions, and the recording session went smoothly. At the end, Caruso accepted his check, embraced the accompanist, and left hastily for a late lunch with his wife, Ada. One more crucial step still awaited Gaisberg; immediately after the session was over, he sent the waxes of the recordings to be copied. To his surprise, there was not a single failure among them. From this one recording session, the Gramophone and Typewriter Company would make nearly fifteen thousand pounds. When Caruso arrived in London for his debut, the recordings were selling extremely well. For many immigrant Italians who could not afford seats to Caruso’s performance, the newly released recordings provided some comfort. Up until that time, the phonograph industry had been continually plagued by the poor quality of the recordings available. The Gramophone and Typewriter Company
Significance Caruso was unaware that this one recording session would encourage phonograph companies to concentrate more on classical music than they had before. The success of the phonograph had previously stemmed entirely from recordings of popular songs. John Philip Sousa’s band had experienced success recording for Berliner, and singer Harry MacDonough’s renditions of “The Holy City” and “Lead Kindly Light” were two of the highest-selling recordings for Victor. The works of the major classical composers were sparsely represented in the record catalogs of the early 1900’s, however. Because each recording had to be fitted on one side of a twelve-inch record, most classical pieces that were recorded were severely truncated. By 1913, the largest classical entry in the Victor catalog, recordings of works by Ludwig van Beethoven, was limited to three short pieces. Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart received one recording apiece. By far the largest numbers of classical recordings available were those made by operatic singers, because recording a solo voice accompanied by piano was considerably easier than trying to record an entire orchestra. 147
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had been experimenting with wax cylinders at the end of the nineteenth century. Caruso had already had experience with recording on wax cylinders when, in late 1900 or early 1901, he had recorded three cylinders for the Pathé company. These recordings were far inferior to those Caruso completed for Gaisberg. After Caruso became famous, Pathé continued to keep these poorer-quality recordings in its catalog. In the later recordings, Caruso’s rich, melodic voice seemed to overcome much of the problem of surface noise, which had always been a concern of those trying to make accurate recordings. Although the technique used in the Pathé recordings was similar to that used by the Gramophone and Typewriter Company, the results were very different. Caruso’s name would soon dominate in classical recordings. By the time of his death, Caruso had received almost two million dollars in royalties from sales of his extensive recordings. The phonograph was already an important form of entertainment, and over the next thirty years this simple device would transform music and recordings. After Caruso’s London debut at Covent Garden Opera House, his success as an opera singer as well as a recording artist was assured.
Caruso Records for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company Despite Caruso’s recording successes, Nellie Melba— his leading lady in so many operatic performances— began her recording career reluctantly. Prior to 1904, the only recordings Melba had made were private performances for her father. After much persuasion, Melba agreed to release these private recordings, and she then continued to record for Gramophone on a regular basis until 1926. Such stellar performers gave the recording industry a more durable appearance than it had previously had. Like Gaisberg before him, Alfred Clark continued to add prominent performers and composers to Gramophone’s Red Label discs. Claude Debussy, Reynaldo Hahn, and Jules Massenet all became admirers of the phonograph and were pleased to record for the company. Caruso made his first recording with orchestral accompaniment in 1906 for Victor, performing five operatic arias: “Di quella pira” from Il trovatore, “Spirto gentil” from La favorita, “M’appari” from Martha, “Che gelida manina” from La Bohème, and “Salut! demeure chaste et pure” from Faust. Technological improvements had been made, but recording conditions were still primitive; musicians had to perch on high chairs to be heard properly. In spite of the spartan studio facilities, however, Caruso continued to make fine recordings. Caruso’s recording legacy stands as one of the finest among collections of operas and operatic arias. As a musician and businessman, Caruso always seemed to anticipate future trends. Long before radio ever began to challenge the popularity of the phonograph, Caruso participated in the first wireless transmission. Just as he had with the Milan recordings, Caruso was again making history. On April 9, 1909, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, Caruso’s voice was transmitted through two microphones placed in the footlights of the stage. The following year, Caruso sang in the first radio broadcast of operatic selections, again from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House. Radio, however, had yet to catch the imagination of the American public. The phonograph was still the dominant medium through which most listeners heard the famous voices and orchestras of the day. Radio began to challenge the supremacy of the phonograph only at the beginning of the 1920’s. Even Caruso never broadcast a complete opera, a feat first achieved by the British Broadcasting Company in 1926, when Mozart’s The Magic Flute was transmitted direct from a London concert hall. Spurred by the challenge of radio, recording companies continued with experimentation and research in an effort to improve recording quality. Improvement over the early wax cylinders and disc 148
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reproduction soon interested those musicians who had earlier stayed away from recording. One such skeptic was Arturo Toscanini. The Victor Company had approached him, and he agreed to record sixteen sides. Unfortunately, he was not pleased by the results, and he wanted the recording cylinders destroyed. Working with men and women whose musical standards were extremely high further motivated Victor to seek alternative designs. Through laborious trial and error, Victor’s engineers continued to perfect the disc. By the early 1930’s, they had succeeded in creating records of fourteen minutes per side by increasing the number of grooves per inch and reducing the speed of revolution. The resulting records played at 33 revolutions per minute (rpm) instead of at the much less reliable 78 rpm. Marketing these new discs proved difficult for Victor, however; the LP, or longplaying record, did not become commercially successful until Columbia Records launched its version in 1948. During the Great Depression, the phonograph was almost abandoned. Sales of discs dropped so dramatically that a recovery looked almost impossible. At this time Toscanini, although still disenchanted with the quality of recordings, agreed to complete a number of works before leaving the United States. The resulting recordings were judged to be technically the best that had ever been made. More important, these recordings, which at the time were incomparable, set a new industry standard. This unusual turn of events brought the phonograph industry back to public awareness and ensured that music would continue to be produced on disc. Caruso and Toscanini were close friends, and each admired the other’s talent and skill. Neither man regarded himself as anything other than a committed musician performing always at maximum effort. Between them, and almost incidental to what they sought to achieve in their performance of the great operatic and symphonic works, they provided a catalyst for the emerging recording industry. Caruso’s willingness to record those ten simple arias in Milan in 1902 provided the impetus for the reproduction of fine classical music for all to hear and enjoy. — Richard G. Cormack Further Reading Bolig, John R. Caruso Records: A History and Discography. Highlands Ranch, Colo.: Mainspring Press, 2002. This illustrated volume examines Caruso’s records and recording career in more detail than any previous work. Features a complete discography of Ca-
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Western society, culture, and economy, and particularly on people’s relationships with music. Includes a brief history of the art of recording sound. Gelatt, Roland. The Fabulous Phonograph, 1877-1977. 2d rev. ed. New York: Macmillan, 1977. Much of this book discusses the rise and fall in popularity of the phonograph. Notes all major events but tends to move back and forth between historic periods. Sets Caruso’s contributions in the context of the recordings of the time. Greenfeld, Howard. Caruso. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1983. A well-written, straightforward, and thorough account of Caruso’s life and achievements. Jackson, Stanley. Caruso. New York: Stein & Day, 1972. Includes no new material on Caruso’s life, but the presentation is novel. Jackson has studied Caruso’s career in great detail and is able to postulate some reasons Caruso remained aloof. Includes a comprehensive index. See also: 1902: Johnson Duplicates Disc Recordings; Jan. 1, 1925: Bell Labs Is Formed.
May 8, 1902
Mount Pelée Erupts The eruption of Mount Pelée, the deadliest volcanic eruption in the twentieth century, resulted in the deaths of approximately thirty thousand people. The event also generated an increased interest in volcanology, the study of volcanoes. Locale: Martinique, West Indies, Lesser Antilles, Caribbean Categories: Disasters; science and technology; earth science; geology Key Figures Gaston Landes (d. 1902), teacher of natural sciences in Saint-Pierre, Martinique Pierre Ange Marie Le Bris (1856-1940), commander of the French naval cruiser Suchet Louis Mouttet (1857-1902), governor of Martinique, 1901-1902 Summary of Event Prior to the eruptions in 1902, Mount Pelée had shown signs of increased activity as early as 1889. Earlier eruptions in 1792 and 1851-1852 caused no major damage. Residents of Saint-Pierre, which at the time was the larg-
est city on Martinique and was located approximately eight miles south of the volcano, were lulled into a false sense of security; residents believed that the volcano was extinct. Since late 1901, Gaston Landes, a teacher in SaintPierre, had watched for wisps of vapor from Mount Pelée. By early 1902, residents in Le Prêcheur, almost five miles north of Saint-Pierre and three miles west of Mount Pelée, reported sulfurous fumes. By early April, the fumes had become even thicker and more nauseating. Although Landes had more scientific training than anyone on the island, he knew very little about volcanoes. All of the books available indicated that the main concern was lava flows, which would not threaten SaintPierre or most of the towns and villages because of the deep gorges and ravines surrounding Mount Pelée. At the end of April, Mount Pelée began emitting columns of dust, ash, and steam. A large explosion on April 25 spewed hundred of tons of smoke and debris, including ash, steam, and boiling water mixed with rocks and tree trunks. On May 2, explosions, rumblings, lightning flashes, and darkening clouds of dust, ash, gas, and steam convinced many people to evacuate to Saint-Pierre. 149
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ruso’s recordings (both 78 rpm and cylinder format), newly discovered information on his early records, color illustrations of rare records, and extensive appendixes and indexes. Caruso, Dorothy. Enrico Caruso: His Life and Death. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1945. An extremely candid account by Caruso’s wife about what life with the great opera singer was like. Dates and places are hardly mentioned, but the omissions are more than made up for by descriptions of Caruso and revelations about how he viewed himself as an opera singer. Caruso, Enrico, Jr., and Andrew Farkas. Enrico Caruso: My Father and My Family. Portland, Oreg.: Amadeus Press, 1990. A scholarly treatment of the life of Caruso written by his son. Includes a comprehensive discography and a meticulously researched chronology of all Caruso’s appearances. One of the most complete biographies of Caruso. Chanan, Michael. Repeated Takes: A Short History of Recording and Its Effects on Music. London: Verso, 1995. Discusses the influence of audio recording on
Mount Pelée Erupts
Mount Pelée Erupts
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Martinique, West Indies
ceived word from Governor Mouttet that he needed transportation to Le States Prêcheur that afternoon, possibly to d e t Atlantic Ocean ni ANGUILLA Haiti evacuate the village. Mouttet enha Dominican ma Republic s couraged the villagers to stay, howPuerto Rico Cuba ever, again promising to evacuate if ANTIGUA AND Cen Jamaica necessary and to send more food. tr BARBUDA ean Sea al SAINT KITTS ribb Antigua Am The governor concluded that the Ca AND NEVIS er ica Montserrat mudflows indicated that the volcano MONTSERRAT South America was dying. He decided that he and GUADELOUPE Guadeloupe his wife would move temporarily to Saint-Pierre to reassure the citizens DOMINICA Dominica that the worst had passed. In the evening of May 6, Landes Mount Pelée noticed that Mount Pelée was expelMartinique Atlantic ling large boulders of molten rock MARTINIQUE Caribbean into the air. On May 7, the volcano Ocean SAINT LUCIA St. Lucia La Soufrière erupted on the British Sea island of Saint Vincent, ninety miles BARBADOS Barbados St. Vincent south of Martinique, killing more SAINT VINCET AND THE than fifteen hundred people and inGRENADINES juring another forty-two hundred. The people on Martinique were reasGrenada GRENADA sured by the news, because they believed that the other eruption had provided a release for some of the pressure that had been building in Mount Pelée. During that day, Mount Pelée produced Some residents of Saint-Pierre began moving into the loud explosions, lightning, and earthquakes, as well as nearby hills or going to Fort-de-France, the capital city. the first of the nuées ardentes (glowing clouds). These The small number leaving, however, was offset by the great clouds of scorching hot gas and volcanic fragthousands of refugees from other villages who entered ments, also called pyroclastic surges or flows, can travel the city. along the ground at speeds over three hundred miles an On May 3, as the ash continued to fall, Governor hour. Their temperatures can be higher than 932 degrees Louis Mouttet visited Saint-Pierre and charged a group Fahrenheit; their heat actually removes oxygen from the of scientists, included Landes, with studying the volcano atmosphere. These first nuées ardentes were small and and recommending a course of action in an attempt to reweak and did not reach any populated areas. assure the citizens of Martinique that the situation was Thursday, May 8, was Ascension Day, and most peobeing taken seriously. Mouttet then traveled to Le ple attended early mass. At 8:02 a.m., the telegraph wire Prêcheur to assess the damage and calm the villagers. between Fort-de-France and Saint-Pierre fell silent. AfThe first deaths from the volcano occurred on May 5, ter hundreds of small earthquakes before 8:00 a.m., when a series of mudflows, also known as a lahars, swept Mount Pelée exploded with a nuée ardente that swept todown the Rivière Blanche and destroyed a complex of ward Saint-Pierre, reaching the city in less than two minsugar and rum factories located between Saint-Pierre utes. Almost everything and everyone in the direct path and Le Prêcheur. The mudflows—a scalding mixture of were obliterated. The nuée ardente reached temperatures water, loose debris, mud, and boulders—flattened and between 392 and 842 degrees Fahrenheit, and it moved at buried the complex, killing twenty-five people who were an approximate speed of 311 miles per hour through the unable to escape the flood, which reached a speed of city. The cloud lasted only two or three minutes, but its nearly sixty miles per hour. destruction was phenomenal. Commander Pierre Ange Marie Le Bris docked the Many of the people in Saint-Pierre had their throats naval cruiser Suchet at Fort-de-France on May 5 and reBa
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Mount Pelée Erupts
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and lungs burned out by the superheated atmosphere, alSignificance Survivor accounts and the condition of the bodies from though their bodies remained intact. Some were steamed to death or charred black. Those who were lucky died inMount Pelée’s eruption befuddled volcanologists. Previously, volcanic eruptions had been confined to explostantly; many survivors suffered horribly until they died sions of molten lava and formations of huge dust clouds. moments or hours after breathing in the superheated gas No one knew of a volcano that burned people alive and and dust. Some people were buried or crushed as the suffocated most of its victims. Mount Pelée’s subsequent buildings collapsed, while others were burned by fires eruptions, however, allowed scientists to study the new that began as the temperatures sparked fires in buildings and exploded kegs of rum. The fires swept across Saintkind of activity. Based on the work of French geologist Alfred Lacroix, American geologist Angelo Heilprin, Pierre at temperatures around 1,652 degrees Fahrenheit American photographer and writer George Kennan, Britand burned for three days. More than twenty thousand ish photographer and geologist Tempest Anderson, and bodies—including Mouttet’s—were never found or identified. Fewer than forty-five hundred bodies, includBritish petrologist Sir John Smith Flett, the science of volcanology gained greater prominence. In 1903, Andering Landes’s, were recovered, and most could not be son and Flett published a report for the Royal Society identified. The total number killed, including estimates for refugees and people killed on the seventeen or eightitled On the Eruptions of the Soufrière and on a Visit to Montagne Pelée in which they proposed a new category teen ships destroyed in the bay, is generally placed beof eruptive action and outlined four distinct stages of the tween twenty-eight thousand and thirty thousand. eruptions. In 1904, Lacroix published the massive La Commander Le Bris was part of an immediate rescue Montagne Pelée et ses éruptions, which became a classic attempt that saved about thirty people from the bay at in the science of volcanology. Lacroix also revived the Saint-Pierre and another four hundred from a nearby vilterm nuée ardente to describe the gas clouds. lage. Initially, the rescuers believed that no one survived Because the kind of volcanic activity on Mount Pelée in Saint-Pierre. However, a cobbler named Léon Compère-Léandre survived at the southern limits of the city, which was at the far edge of the destruction, and a prisoner named Louis-Auguste Sylbaris was found alive in his cell, located in the direct path of the destruction, on May 11. In Le Prêcheur, the May 8 eruption claimed another eight hundred lives but spared the village. The remaining four thousand people were evacuated on May 10 and 11. All of the evacuees went to Fort-de-France, which was unprepared to meet the refugees’ needs. Aid poured in from all over the world, and this helped to ease the burden on Martinique’s government. This assistance was crucial, because Mount Pelée’s activity had not stopped. Its May 20 eruption sent another nuée ardente into Saint-Pierre and destroyed the few remaining structures there, and an eruption on August 30 sent gas clouds to the eastern and southern sides of the slopes, killing two thousand people and destroying four villages with A view from Orange Hill over the ruins of Saint-Pierre to steaming Mount Pelée. a dust cloud bigger than the one that (Library of Congress) struck Saint-Pierre.
Anthracite Coal Strike had never been seen before, such outbursts became known as Peléan eruptions. These violent eruptions, which tend to send material sideways, are often more lethal than vertical eruptions because of their nuées ardentes. Increased study of these types of events led volcanologists to believe that nuées ardentes were a major part of the eruptions of Vesuvius, Pompeii, Herculaneum (in Italy), and Krakatau (in Indonesia). —Virginia L. Salmon Further Reading Ferguson, James. “The Tragedy of St. Pierre.” Geographical 74 (May, 2002): 14-19. Briefly discusses the destruction of Saint-Pierre, including photographs and a sidebar with facts on the world’s most dangerous volcanoes. Morgan, Peter. Fire Mountain: How One Man Survived the World’s Worst Volcanic Disaster. London: Bloomsbury, 2003. Although it does include a few brief chapters about Sylbaris, the book focuses more on the disaster and on political and social situations in Martinique.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Scarth, Alwyn. La Catastrophe: The Eruption of Mount Pelée, the Worst Volcanic Eruption of the Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. An excellent, well-balanced book covering the events preceding and immediately following the eruption. Includes side articles with additional information. Soter, Steven. “Sifting Truth from Pelée’s Ashes.” Natural History 111 (October, 2002): 76, 78. Discusses some of the rumors and fabrications that are widely believed about the disaster. Zebrowski, Ernest, Jr. The Last Days of St. Pierre: The Volcanic Disaster That Claimed Thirty Thousand Lives. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2002. Balanced account of the events before, during, and after the eruption. Includes a chapter about the eruption of La Soufrière on Saint Vincent Island. See also: Apr. 18, 1906: San Francisco Earthquake; Dec. 28, 1908: Earthquake and Tsunami Devastate Sicily; Sept. 1, 1923: Earthquake Rocks Japan; July, 1931: Yellow River Flood.
May 12-October 23, 1902
Anthracite Coal Strike Presidential intervention to end a strike by coal miners set a precedent for future White House involvement in labor disputes. Locale: Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C. Categories: Trade and commerce; government and politics; business and labor Key Figures George Frederick Baer (1842-1914), mine operator and an owner of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad E. E. Clark (1856-1930), grand chief of the Order of Railway Conductors Marcus A. Hanna (1837-1904), U.S. senator from Ohio, 1897-1904 John Mitchell (1870-1919), president of the United Mine Workers J. P. Morgan (1837-1913), Wall Street financier Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Elihu Root (1845-1937), U.S. secretary of war, 18991904 152
William Alexis Stone (1846-1920), governor of Pennsylvania, 1899-1903 Summary of Event On May 12, 1902, 147,000 members of the United Mine Workers, led by their president, John Mitchell, walked out of the anthracite coal mines of Pennsylvania. The walkout precipitated one of the most important confrontations between labor and capital in U.S. history. Before the strike ended in October, 1902, the nation had reached the verge of panic, the president had nearly ordered federal troops into the coal mines, and influential members of the business community had come to fear widespread social upheaval. The settlement of the strike marked the first time that a president had successfully intervened in a labor dispute as an impartial arbitrator. Through his intervention, Theodore Roosevelt increased the power of the U.S. presidency and his chances of being elected as president in his own right in 1904. The episode also marked a significant step in the emergence of organized labor as a force in national politics. In 1902, the anthracite miners were among the most exploited groups of workers in the nation. With an average wage of about $560 a year, they suffered from irregu-
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Roosevelt Solves a Problem In his autobiography, Theodore Roosevelt wrote about the role he played during the Anthracite Coal Strike. In negotiating with the mine operators to include a mine workers’ union representative on the arbitration commission, he had an important insight: Mitchell and the leaders . . . , quite properly, insisted that there should be one representative of labor on the Commission, as all of the others represented the propertied classes. The operators, however, absolutely refused to acquiesce in the appointment of any representative of labor, and also announced that they would refuse to accept a sixth man on the Commission; although they spoke much less decidedly on this point. The labor men left everything in my hands. The final conferences with the representatives of the operators took place in my rooms on the evening of October 15. Hour after hour went by while I endeavored to make the operators through their representatives see that the country would not tolerate their insisting upon such conditions; but in vain. The two representatives of the operators were Robert Bacon and George W. Perkins. They were entirely reasonable. But the operators themselves were entirely unreasonable. They had worked themselves into a frame of mind where they were prepared to sacrifice everything and see civil war in the country rather than back down and acquiesce in the appointment of a representative of labor. It looked as if a deadlock were inevitable Then, suddenly, after about two hours’ argument, it dawned on me that they were not objecting to the thing, but to the name. I found that they did not mind my appointing any man, whether he was a labor man or not, so long as he was not appointed as a labor man, or as a representative of labor; they did not object to my exercising any latitude I chose in the appointments so long as they were made under the headings they had given. I shall never forget the mixture of relief and amusement I felt when I thoroughly grasped the fact that while they would heroically submit to anarchy rather than have Tweedledum, yet if I would call it Tweedledee they would accept it with rapture; it gave me an illuminating glimpse into one corner of the mighty brains of these “captains of industry.” In order to carry the great and vital point and secure agreement by both parties, all that was necessary for me to do was to commit a technical and nominal absurdity with a solemn face. This I gladly did. I announced at once that I accepted the terms laid down. Source: Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1913).
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lar employment, dangerous working conditions, and a cruel paternalism that gave life in company towns a feudalistic quality. As president of the United Mine Workers, Mitchell served as a spokesman for the hardpressed miners. In 1900, he had threatened a strike and won a 10 percent increase in wages, largely through the influence of Republican senator Marcus A. Hanna of Ohio, who persuaded the mine owners that a strike would hurt the reelection chances of President William McKinley. In 1902, despite several attempts at compromise, negotiations between the union and mine owners broke down, and a walkout ensued. The striking miners demanded recognition of their union, a nine-hour workday, more accurate weighing of the coal, and a 20 percent increase in pay. At that time, it was not recognized generally that plentiful bituminous coal could be substituted for anthracite fuel. As winter approached, fear of shortages became widespread among northern urbanites, who dreaded the impending severe weather. In September, the price of a ton of anthracite coal, previously five dollars, reached fourteen dollars. The poor, who bought coal in relatively small quantities, paid a penny per pound, or twenty dollars per ton. By October, schools began to close because they could not afford to buy coal for heat; the meager amount of coal that was available was selling for thirty and thirty-five dollars per ton. Mobs in the West began to seize coal cars from passing trains, and mayors across the nation appealed to the president for help. Republican politicians feared that their party might suffer at the polls in the November congressional elections if the crisis was not resolved quickly. In response to these developments, Roosevelt arranged for an unprecedented conference between coal mining labor and management representatives at the White House on October 1, 1902. George Frederick Baer, owner of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, represented the owners of the coal mines, and John Mitchell spoke for the striking miners. Baer already had infuriated much of the country when he had declared that the rights of laborers would be protected best “not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian men to whom God in his infinite wisdom has given the control of the property interests of this country.” Baer’s imperious demeanor contrasted sharply with the calm and goodwill shown by Mitchell. The daylong conference between the two antagonists failed to produce a settlement, and a peaceful resolution of the crisis seemed increasingly improbable. The operators claimed that the men wanted to return to the mines but feared union violence. However, when Pennsylvania
Anthracite Coal Strike
Anthracite Coal Strike governor William Alexis Stone called out the state militia to protect anyone who wished to work, most of the miners remained on strike. Roosevelt believed that strong presidential action was needed to end the impasse. Rejecting the view that he lacked the power to act, he formulated a scheme that called for federal troops to occupy the mines and operate them in receivership. At the same time, Elihu Root—Roosevelt’s secretary of war, a corporate lawyer, and a friend of the business community— tried to arrange a negotiated settlement. On Saturday, October 12, Root met with J. P. Morgan, the powerful New York financier whose railroads crisscrossed the coalfields. Working in tandem, the two men hammered out a possible compromise. On Sunday, Baer was summoned to New York, where he conferred with Morgan. By Tuesday, an agreement had been ratified by the coal mine operators. The Root-Morgan proposal specified the creation of a five-man independent commission with authority to arbitrate the dispute. The original blueprint did not allow for the appointment of a labor union representative to the arbitration panel, but the United Mine Workers insisted on the appointment of a union man as well as a Roman Catholic priest to the commission. Once again, a deadlock seemed unavoidable. The operators eventually agreed to the inclusion of a priest, but they adamantly opposed seating a union member. President Roosevelt’s creative thinking finally ended the political logjam between owners and workers. He saw that the coal mine owners wanted a face-saving way to have a union man on the commission without granting the union official recognition. Roosevelt named E. E. Clark, grand chief of the Order of Railway Conductors, as a sixth member of the commission. In order to mollify the coal operators, Roosevelt publicly labeled Clark as an eminent sociologist rather than a labor leader. To Roosevelt’s amusement, this subterfuge satisfied the owners and allowed the settlement process to go forward. Once established, the commission worked out a compromise solution for the anthracite strike. The United Mine Workers did not achieve recognition of their union, but the commission did award them a ninehour workday and a 10 percent pay raise. The arbitrators settled the weight dispute, and a board of conciliation was created to help resolve future difficulties. Significance Roosevelt later looked on the Anthracite Coal Strike settlement as a turning point in his administration. In contrast to the Pullman Strike of 1894, when President 154
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Grover Cleveland used his power to break the American Railway Union and end the walkout, Roosevelt acted as an honest mediator between the two sides. The technique embodied what he came to call the Square Deal. The settlement increased his popularity and enhanced his reputation as a spokesperson for the general welfare. At the same time, it demonstrated an appreciation for compromise on Roosevelt’s part that allowed his government to function as a successful intermediary between business and labor. Through his handling of the fuel crisis, Roosevelt took a long step toward making the national government and the presidency vital forces in American life. —Rex O. Mooney and Lewis L. Gould Further Reading Cornell, Robert J. The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902. 1957. Reprint. New York: Russell & Russell, 1971. One of the best single book-length studies of the coal strike. Uses the papers of John Mitchell and other primary sources to create a thorough and balanced narrative about the origins, development, and consequences of the coal walkout. Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991. Considers the coal strike in the context of Roosevelt’s efforts to enhance the power of his office and to secure election in his own right in 1904. Morris, Edmund. Theodore Rex. New York: Random House, 2001. Focuses on Roosevelt’s presidential years, 1901 through early 1909. Makes use of Roosevelt’s private and presidential papers as well as other archives to create a complete portrait of the twentysixth president of the United States. Phelan, Craig. Divided Loyalties: The Public and Private Life of Labor Leader John Mitchell. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994. Biography of the leader of the United Mine Workers in the 1902 coal strike that brings out the personal and ethical questions that surrounded his tenure as president of the union. Schaefer, Arthur M. “Theodore Roosevelt’s Contribution to the Concept of Presidential Intervention in Labor Disputes: Antecedents and the 1902 Coal Strike.” In Theodore Roosevelt: Many-Sided American, edited by Natalie Nayor et al. Interlaken, N.Y.: Heart of the Lakes, 1992. This investigation of Roosevelt’s role in the strike credits him with achieving a major enhancement of presidential power through the settlement. Wiebe, Robert H. “The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902: A Record of Confusion.” Mississippi Valley Historical
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Review 48 (September, 1961): 229-251. Argues that the coal strike need not have happened if bituminous coal had been used as a substitute for anthracite. Asserts that Roosevelt’s triumph has been overstated and that J. P. Morgan was the real winner in the contest. Zane, J. Robert. 1902! The Great Coal Strike in Shenandoah, PA. Frackville, Pa.: Broad Mountain, 2004. An interpretive historical account of incidents that took place in Shenandoah during the Anthracite Coal
Treaty of Vereeniging Ends the Boer War Strike of 1902, including murders, revenge, and court trial. See also: Sept. 14, 1901: Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President; Feb. 14, 1903: Creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor; June 27, 1905: Founding of Industrial Workers of the World; Spring, 1906: Lee Establishes the Field of Public Relations.
1902
May 31, 1902
Treaty of Vereeniging Ends the Boer War The peace treaty signed at Vereeniging ending the Boer War marked the high point of British intervention in South Africa and led to a slow British withdrawal. Although the Boers, or Afrikaners, did not win the war, the British retreat allowed the establishment of an Afrikaner government controlled by whites rather than native Africans. Also known as: South African War; Second Boer War Locale: South Africa; Great Britain Categories: Diplomacy and international relations; colonialism and occupation; government and politics; indigenous peoples’ rights; wars, uprisings, and civil unrest Key Figures Lord Kitchener (Horatio Herbert Kitchener; 18501916), British commander Frederick Sleigh Roberts (1832-1914), British general Louis Botha (1862-1919), general and negotiator for the Transvaal Alfred Milner (1854-1925), high commissioner and governor of British South Africa Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914), British secretary of state for the colonies Marthinus Theunis Steyn (1857-1916), president of the Orange Free State, 1896-1902 Jan Christian Smuts (1870-1950), negotiator for the Transvaal Christiaan Rudolf de Wet (1854-1922), commander and chief of the Orange Free State during the Boer War Jacobus Hercules De la Rey (1847-1914), general and negotiator for the Transvaal
James Barry Munnik Hertzog (1866-1942), negotiator for the Orange Free State Summary of Event After several years of tension throughout the late nineteenth century, the conflict between British aspirations for imperial control of the profitable gold mines and Afrikaner nationalism finally escalated to violence in 1899. In October of that year, the Second Boer War began between the British and the two Afrikaner republics, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The Afrikaners (South Africans of European, largely Dutch, descent) gained the upper hand early in the struggle, as many Afrikaners in British territories joined their compatriots and rebelled against British control. The Afrikaners, however, were not able to maintain their success. In 1900, the British sent reinforcements led by the generals Lord Kitchener and Lord Frederick Sleigh Roberts, and the British quickly regained the initiative. Hardly deterred, the Afrikaners turned to guerrilla tactics, and the war became bogged down for nearly two years. The conflict grew more vicious when the British introduced concentration camps and scorched-earth policies. Soon after, leaders on both sides began contemplating peace. In February, 1901, Lord Kitchener and General Louis Botha arranged a meeting at Middelburg to discuss an end to the war. Lord Kitchener outlined terms, many of which were favorable to the Afrikaners, including British aid for reconstruction and debt as well as official respect for the Dutch language and the Dutch Reformed Church. However, two other aspects of Kitchener’s plan were opposed by the British government. Many officials, led by Governor Alfred Milner, disagreed with the offer of amnesty to Afrikaner combatants, especially for those who lived in British colonies and were thus traitors to British 155
Treaty of Vereeniging Ends the Boer War rule. Second, Kitchener’s terms denied native Africans the right to vote until self-government was established. This move evoked negative responses from humanitarian groups in Britain, especially from Joseph Chamberlain, secretary of state for the colonies, who believed that the British had an obligation to protect African rights. On the Afrikaner side, most commandos balked at the idea of allowing the republics to be annexed by Britain as Crown Colonies, even if the future right to self-government was assured. This opinion was vehemently supported by Orange Free State president Marthinus Theunis Steyn. The Middelburg talks were fruitless, but they became the basis for future peace discussions. The war continued for another year before significant negotiations reemerged. In April, 1902, Jan Christian Smuts, Christiaan Rudolf de Wet, Steyn, and Botha took up Kitchener’s offer of a meeting in Pretoria. Milner soon joined them as the official representative of the British government. The attempt was stymied, however, by the Afrikaners’ resistance to the idea of surrendering their independence and Milner’s refusal to end a war he perceived to be close to victory. With Milner’s approval, the British government refused to accept any terms beyond those outlined at Middelburg. After this failed attempt, Afrikaner leaders met to form a committee responsible for negotiating terms with Britain. James Barry Munnik Hertzog and de Wet were chosen from the Orange Free State, and Botha, Smuts, and Jacobus Hercules De la Rey represented the Transvaal. Talks resumed in May, and with Kitchener’s persistence the stalemate was broken. If the Afrikaners agreed to British sovereignty and disarmament, Kitchener believed, the specifics could be settled later. Although many Afrikaners resisted, leaders like Botha made it clear that the Afrikaners were suffering and needed peace. Smuts and Hertzog met with a reluctant Milner to finalize the agreement, the end result of which was almost identical to the terms Kitchener had proposed a year before at Middelburg, except that this time the Afrikaners gained even more concessions. The British promised to prosecute only the Afrikaner rebel leaders in Cape Colony and agreed to pay more than three times the money they had previously offered for reconstruction. Additionally, the British government allowed the clause calling for the disenfranchisement of native Africans to stand; they were more interested in ending the costly conflict than in pursuing humanitarian goals. Milner’s attempts to block the treaty failed as the British government approved the amended treaty. The decision was now in the hands of the Afrikaner 156
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 delegates at Vereeniging. De la Rey agreed with Botha that the war must end, although staunch resisters such as Steyn and de Wet remained. Some Afrikaners hoped for a compromise that made the Afrikaner republics protectorates and not fully annexed colonies, but this idea was soundly rejected by both Milner and Kitchener. Even among those who opposed surrender, it was clear that the shortages of manpower and supplies and the burden on civilians could not continue indefinitely. More important, the African groups who had remained neutral throughout the war were beginning to stir, and the Afrikaners realized the weakness of their position. With these issues in mind, Botha and De la Rey convinced most of the other delegates, including de Wet, to vote in favor of the treaty, and on May 31 the delegation approved the document by a vote of fifty-four to six. Significance The war’s immediate effect was visible in the number of people killed and in the amount of money spent. More than 100,000 British soldiers were injured in the fighting, and roughly one-fifth of them died. The British also spent upward of £200 million on a war that pundits had originally expected to last only a few months. For the Afrikaners, the cost of suffering and destruction was higher. Approximately 7,000 Afrikaners died in the war, and at least 18,000 perished in concentration camps. Other effects of the war, however, were less tangible. Anti-imperialists used South Africa as an example of flawed colonial policy in action, and the British victory was viewed as a superficial one. This opinion was substantiated by British activities over the next few years: After expending such large amounts of resources, the British began to withdraw from South Africa. Milner had his unified South Africa, but the British did not maintain their authority. After the Liberal Party’s victory in Parliament three years later, South Africa was put on the fast track to self-government. By 1910, the British had all but left South Africa to its own devices, with power in the hands of the very people they had fought so hard a few years earlier. The greatest tragedy of the last Boer War and the Treaty of Vereeniging was the loss of native African life, property, and civil rights. Many Africans participated in both sides of the conflict, and few were compensated for property lost during the war. Moreover, thousands of Africans—both soldiers and noncombatants—died in the war, although no reliable estimate on the number of deaths was produced. While the British had initially defended African rights and seemed poised to force the is-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 sue on the Afrikaners, this pursuit was sacrificed in the interest of establishing a quicker peace. The British government relented, and the Treaty of Vereeniging promised to establish African freedoms after self-government was achieved. However, when the time came, this stipulation was ignored. At the Treaty of Vereeniging, the British left the issue of African rights to the Afrikaners, and in doing so they created a foundation for the statesponsored apartheid that marked South Africa for most of the twentieth century. —Branden C. McCullough
pilation of scholarly articles on the war, including a chapter on the African perspective before and after the war. Nasson, Bill. The South African War, 1899-1902. London: Arnold, 1999. Highly detailed yet concise account of the war. Includes useful chapters on the consequences of the war. Pakenham, Thomas. The Boer War. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979. Well-researched account full of specific information. The colorful language of the narrative belies the seriousness of the subject matter. Warwick, Peter. Black People and the South African War, 1899-1902. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983. One of the best accounts available of the role of Africans in the war and the effect of the end of the war on Africans. See also: Jan., 1904-1905: Herero and Nama Revolts; Apr. 8, 1904: Entente Cordiale; May 31, 1910: Formation of the Union of South Africa; Jan. 8, 1912: South African Native National Congress Meets; Oct. 1, 1923: Great Britain Grants Self-Government to Southern Rhodesia.
June 2, 1902-May 31, 1913
Expansion of Direct Democracy New measures increased the political tools of direct citizen involvement in government in the United States. Locale: United States Categories: Government and politics; laws, acts, and legal history Key Figures Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), president of the United States, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897 Simon Guggenheim (1867-1941), U.S. senator from Colorado, 1907-1913 Robert M. La Follette (1855-1925), governor of Wisconsin, 1901-1906 William U’Ren (1859-1949), American newspaper editor and legal reformer Summary of Event Although the Declaration of Independence asserts that all “men” are created equal, and, in later years, Abraham Lincoln movingly spoke of government “of, by, and for” the people, there was for many years a gap between such sentiments and political realities. Admittedly, by 1890
the franchise in the United States included all male citizens (women were excluded except in a few western states), but even the enfranchised found their prerogatives circumscribed: They were unable to vote directly for their U.S. senators, and they lacked legal methods to force recalcitrant legislatures to take specific action or to rid themselves of unsuitable elected public officials before those officials’ terms ended. Clearly something had to be done to make government at all levels more responsive to the will of the people. The Progressive movement provided the vehicle for change as it initially sought to bring about reforms on the municipal and state levels. Among those responsible for reform were Wisconsin’s Robert M. La Follette and the now virtually forgotten William U’Ren of Oregon, who has been described as the father of direct democracy. They were joined in their attempts to alter state government by hordes of urban reformers who realized that cities are so tied to their states that correcting fully the basic problems of the former would require changing the latter as well. In one respect the burden was eased by an earlier reform, the Australian (or secret) ballot, the ramifications 157
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Further Reading Farwell, Byron. The Great Boer War. London: Penguin Books, 1976. A worthy survey intended for a general audience. Hobson, John. The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Effects. 1900. Reprint. New York: H. Fertig, 1969. Excellent work explains both the British economic interests in the war and the attitudes of citizens in Britain toward the war. Lowry, Donal, ed. The South African War Reappraised. New York: Manchester University Press, 2000. Com-
Expansion of Direct Democracy
Expansion of Direct Democracy of which were just beginning to be recognized fully. This new form of voting replaced a system under which the political parties and independent candidates printed different-colored ballots and distributed them to the voters, who then deposited their selected ballots in the proper boxes under the watchful eyes of their employers’ representatives or the local political boss. Obviously, the old system protected those in power. Fraud, bribery, and corruption were rampant. In an attempt to end these evils, Massachusetts adopted the secret ballot in 1888. Through the efforts of such individuals as Grover Cleveland, the system was used nationwide by the election of 1910. Additionally, many Progressive states enacted corrupt-practices laws and limited the amount of money candidates could spend. Similar federal laws followed. The early twentieth century also saw the election of the first great reform governor when La Follette bested the ruling Republican machine in Wisconsin. During his years as governor, 1901-1906, he transformed that state into a Progressive commonwealth, a “laboratory of democracy.” One of his major accomplishments was to give voters increased control over the nomination of candidates for public office. On May 23, 1903, Wisconsin held the first statewide primary to select those who would run in the general election. The primary abolished the old boss-dominated party caucus that had previously chosen the candidates. La Follette’s actions seemed to trigger a chain reaction across the West. In 1904 a young reformer, Joseph W. Folk, smashed the unusually corrupt machine running Missouri to become governor. Slowly but surely, traditional frontier democracy, which had been lost in the Gilded Age, reasserted itself as some states enfranchised women and almost all enacted fundamental political reforms. Nowhere was this trend more apparent than in Oregon, home of the little-known William U’Ren, who indirectly affected national political life as did few of his more famous contemporaries. U’Ren, a blacksmith turned newspaper editor and lawyer, never held a major political office, yet because of his ability to marshal public opinion, he became the unofficial fourth branch of Oregon’s government. U’Ren first grew interested in direct democracy in the 1890’s, after reading of its use in Switzerland, and thereafter he spent a large part of his time working to introduce it into Oregon and the rest of the nation. Oregon adopted the initiative and referendum on June 2, 1902, the direct primary in 1904, and the recall in 1910, thereby putting direct democracy into practice. Initiative and referendum made it possible for the electorate, with a ma158
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Robert M. La Follette. (Library of Congress)
jority vote, to pass laws when the legislature was unable or unwilling to do so and to veto unpopular legislation. Recall allowed the voters to remove an elected official from office promptly if a majority of them were displeased with the person’s conduct. This device was most often adopted in states west of the Mississippi, where its threat was generally sufficient to bring officials into line. Initiative and referendum, being less tinged with “radicalism” than recall, were usually adopted by the more conservative eastern states. Another drive that occurred simultaneously was aimed at amending the U.S. Constitution to allow a direct vote for U.S. senators. The Constitution provided for the election of senators by state legislatures, as a means of removing the Senate from direct control by the “rabble.” By the late nineteenth century, however, the office of U.S. senator had become an item to be purchased like a loaf of bread. In 1907, Simon Guggenheim shocked the nation by publicly declaring what he had spent to gain the office in Colorado.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Significance With the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, all of the major political reforms proposed by the Progressives had been accomplished. The responsibilities of the electorate had been dramatically enlarged. Control over the quality of government was now in the hands of the voters. The only question remaining was how the voters would exercise their new powers. Over the years since 1913, Americans have developed two opposing views regarding the answer to this question. Critics of the initiative and referendum see these tools of direct democracy as increasingly monopolized by special interests that have the money to spend on signature gathering (to get initiatives on the ballot) and television advertising (to manipulate public opinion). Many also view the initiative process as a threat to public budgets. In contrast, those who champion the right of the voters to take direct action assert that the initiative and referendum make state politicians more responsive to the people and give political outsiders a point of access to the system. —Anne Trotter
Bowler, Shaun, Todd Donovan, and Caroline J. Tolbert, eds. Citizens as Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1998. Examines direct democracy in the United States in the late twentieth century to see if it has lived up to the expectations of the reformers of the early part of the century. Cronin, Thomas E. Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum, and Recall. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989. The tools of direct democracy are reviewed in this illustrated book. Includes bibliography and index. Goldman, Eric F. Rendezvous with Destiny. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952. Highly readable general account of the various democracy reform movements, their goals and accomplishments, from Populism to the New Deal. Hofstadter, Richard. The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F. D. R. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955. Provides a brilliant analysis of Progressivism and its leaders. La Follette, Robert M. Autobiography. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1911. Introduces the reader to the thoughts and career of one of the earliest and most important political reformers of the period. Mowry, George E. The California Progressives. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1951. Examines the struggles of California Progressives against the Southern Pacific Railroad in their effort to make state government responsive to the will of the majority. Nye, Russel B. Midwestern Progressive Politics, 18701958. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1959. A well-documented study of reform and Progressivism in eleven midwestern states. Includes extensive bibliographical information. Schmidt, David D. Citizen Lawmakers: The Ballot Initiative Revolution. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989. A history of the introduction of the ballot initiative. Includes bibliography and index.
Further Reading Bowler, Shaun, and Todd Donovan. Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct Democracy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000. An examination of how voters make decisions in direct referenda. The authors suggest that although direct democracy has some failings, the voters’ ability to make intelligent decisions about complex policy issues is not necessarily one of them.
See also: May 23, 1903: Wisconsin Adopts the First Primary Election Law; Jan. 16, 1907-Feb. 14, 1912: Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona Become U.S. States; Mar., 1909-1912: Republican Congressional Insurgency; Nov. 5, 1912: Wilson Is Elected U.S. President; Nov. 7, 1916: First Woman Is Elected to the U.S. Congress; Nov. 5, 1918-Nov. 2, 1920: Republican Resurgence Ends America’s Progressive Era.
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As a stronghold of special privilege, the Senate had opposed and often thwarted Progressive measures such as tariff revision, the abolition of child labor, and revision of the method for selecting U.S. senators. Realizing that passage of a constitutional amendment was out of the question, several western states began holding primary elections to select Senate nominees. In some states, the legislatures were bound to abide by the decision of the voters. In 1912, with twenty-nine states using this device to circumvent the Constitution and public pressure for change mounting, the Senate reluctantly yielded and submitted an amendment to the states. Official confirmation of the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, providing for direct election of senators, came on May 31, 1913.
Expansion of Direct Democracy
Australia Extends Suffrage to Women
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
June 12, 1902
Australia Extends Suffrage to Women In 1902, newly independent Australia became the second modern nation, after New Zealand, to extend suffrage to women, an example soon followed by many Western democracies. Also known as: Commonwealth Franchise Act Locale: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Categories: Social issues and reform; civil rights and liberties; women’s issues Key Figures Richard O’Connor (1851-1912), senator for New South Wales, Australia Sir William Lyne (1844-1913), Australian minister for home affairs, 1901-1903 Vida Goldstein (1869-1949), Australian feminist reformer and politician Summary of Event In 1902, Australia’s Commonwealth Franchise Act gave all women the right to vote in elections for the two houses of the new Commonwealth Parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the right to stand for election to Parliament (although the latter would not happen for another forty-one years). The act excluded “aboriginal natives of Australia, Asia, Africa or the Islands of the Pacific except New Zealand” unless they already had the right to vote at the state level. Across Australia, women had campaigned for the right to vote for years. Strong campaigns for woman suffrage had begun in the early 1880’s and were supported by a wide variety of organizations and movements, including the temperance movement and the Social Purity League. The Commonwealth Franchise Act, passed by Australia’s Parliament and signed into law by the governorgeneral on June 12, 1902, was intended to remedy the fact that Australia had no uniform system for voting. Any person who was enrolled and eligible to vote in a state election could also vote in a federal election, but all the states had different systems, using different criteria to determine who could vote. The act was first introduced in the Senate by Senator Richard O’Connor of New South Wales. It was one of the few pieces of major legislation ever introduced in the Senate before being introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill was debated in the Senate for three days before it was passed. The act was introduced into the House on April 23 by 160
Sir William Lyne, the minister for home affairs, who said he had not always been in favor of votes for women but that “some ten or twelve years ago I formed the conclusion that not only was it just to accord women the vote, but that it was in the best interests of the entire community.” The public was highly interested in the fate of the act, and women thronged the galleries and public seating areas on the floor of the House chamber to watch the proceedings. The act passed the House of Representatives on April 24, 1902. There were many objections to the idea of giving women the right to vote. Some politicians, such as Sir Edward Braddon, were concerned that the act would weigh voting in favor of married men, as it was assumed that wives would vote the way their husbands wished. Braddon declared himself puzzled by “the craze . . . for female suffrage which exhibits itself in these southern seas.” William Sawers protested that because there was a higher percentage of women in the cities, rural areas would be underrepresented. Others worried that the distribution of seats among the states in the House of Representatives, originally determined by the percentages of male voters in the states, would be skewed, with the number of seats held by South Australia and Western Australia increasing. Thomas Glassey of the Protectionist Party argued that “women would be influenced by the clergy, by good-looking candidates, and by young men” and that “the extension of suffrage to women would take away their beauty and their charm, and cause them to neglect their domestic affairs.” Despite such arguments, the act was approved by large majorities in both houses of Parliament. The relatively short act (two pages) included five sections, the third of which gave the federal vote to anyone over the age of twenty-one who had lived in Australia for six months, was a natural-born or naturalized subject of the British Empire, and was on the electoral rolls in any federal electoral division. Because women in the states of South Australia and Western Australia could vote at the state level, the act gave them the right to vote at the federal level. Women in the states of New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland, and Victoria achieved the right to vote at the federal level on December 16, 1903, under this act and won the right to vote at the state level in 1902, 1903, 1905, and 1908, respectively. One implication of the act that had not been discussed before its passage was the fact that it made women eligi-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Vida Goldstein. (National Library of Australia)
such candidates until World War II, when Enid Lyons of Tasmania was elected to the House of Representatives and Dorothy Tangney gathered enough votes to fill a vacancy caused by the death of a Western Australian senator. Tangney was the first woman to gain endorsement for the Senate from the Australian Labor Party. Significance Following the enfranchisement of Australian women, political parties and the press were eager to offer women voters advice. Several newspapers, such as the Melbourne Argus, provided guides for the new voters, and the electoral authorities of the Home Affairs Department published and distributed instructions on the voting process. Factories, offices, and shops employing women were urged to grant their employees time off on election days so that they could vote, and many did so. Increasing numbers of women began attending political meetings, many of which reserved sections of seats for them, and women also began holding their own meetings, inviting approved candidates to address them and holding mock elections in order to educate themselves on the process of voting. Although women exercised their new right to vote eagerly, they found limited opportunities as candidates, as the established political parties viewed men as being more likely to win votes. Many early woman suffragists in turn distrusted the major political parties, feeling that the parties were protective of men’s interests. Only twenty-six women in total were nominated to run for seats in the Australian parliament before 1943, when shifting attitudes about gender—caused in part by women’s changing participation in society during World War II—led to increased numbers of female candidates and successful elections. Women fighting for voting rights in other countries were encouraged by the success of the Australian women to continue their struggle. Many Australian suffragists, such as Vida Goldstein and Alice Henry, emboldened by their success at home, traveled to England and became involved in the woman suffrage movement there. In 1910, almost a decade after passage of the Commonwealth Franchise Act, the Australian Senate passed a resolution regarding woman suffrage that was then cabled to the British prime minister. It concluded: “Because the reform has brought nothing but good, though disaster was freely prophesied, we respectfully urge that all nations enjoying representative government would be well advised in granting votes to women.” —Cat Rambo 161
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ble to stand for election to Parliament. When, in 1903, at the first federal election after passage of the act, four women received nominations, a public furor arose. Vida Goldstein of Victoria and Nellie Martel and Mary Ann Moore Bentley of New South Wales stood for Senate election, and Selina Anderson stood for the seat of Dalley (New South Wales) in the House of Representatives. These women, all four of whom were ultimately defeated, were the first women nominated for any national parliament in the British Empire. At that time, the majority of Australian citizens felt that it was not respectable for a woman to have paid employment. Working women were concentrated in unskilled occupations and were expected to give up their jobs if they married. This may be one of the reasons that, although many Australian women exercised their right to vote, they were much slower to assume a place in Parliament. The major Australian political parties, which believed that neither male nor female voters would cast their ballots for female candidates, did not support any
Australia Extends Suffrage to Women
Russell Discovers the “Great Paradox” Further Reading Irving, Helen. The Centenary Companion to Australian Federation. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Provides a comprehensive overview and history of the federation in Australia. _______. To Constitute a Nation: A Cultural History of Australia’s Constitution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Thorough examination of the creation and development of Australia’s constitution. Includes information about women’s and minority issues. Oldfield, Audrey. Woman Suffrage in Australia. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Overview of the history of suffrage movements in Australia
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 compares the struggle with that of suffragists in England and the United States. Woollacott, Angela. To Try Her Fortune in London: Australian Women, Colonialism, and Modernity. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Discusses the migration of Australian women to London and their impact on the British Empire, including the English woman suffrage movement. See also: July 20, 1906: Finland Grants Women Suffrage; Sept. 20, 1917: Canadian Women Gain the Vote; Feb. 6, 1918: British Women Gain the Vote; Aug. 26, 1920: U.S. Women Gain the Right to Vote; July 2, 1928: Great Britain Lowers the Voting Age for Women.
June 16, 1902
Russell Discovers the “Great Paradox” Bertrand Russell discovered a paradox concerning the set of all sets: Is the set of all sets that are not members of themselves a member of itself? Also known as: Russell’s paradox Locale: Friday’s Hill, Haslemere, England Category: Mathematics Key Figures Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), English philosopher, mathematician, and social reformer Georg Cantor (1845-1918), German mathematician and logician who created set theory Gottlob Frege (1848-1925), German mathematician and philosopher who was the founder of modern mathematical logic Cesare Burali-Forti (1861-1931), Italian mathematician Henri Poincaré (1854-1912), French mathematician and philosopher of science Summary of Event The study of the foundations of mathematics can be traced as far back as Greek antiquity. Since then, three major crises have brought into question previously established areas of mathematics. Each of these crises challenged mathematicians either to revise their position or to leave mathematics resting on unstable ground. The first major crisis occurred in the fifth century b.c.e. and was brought about by the discovery that not all geometrical magnitudes of the same kind are commensurable 162
with one another. It was resolved around 370 b.c.e. by Eudoxus of Cnidus, whose revised theory of proportion and magnitude may be found in the fifth book of Euclid’s Stoicheia (Elements). More than two millennia passed before the second crisis in the foundations of mathematics arose. After the discovery of the calculus by Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the late seventeenth century, weaknesses in the foundations of analysis soon became evident. Only after the arithmetization of analysis in the nineteenth century was the second crisis thought to be resolved. After the resolution of this crisis, the whole structure of mathematics seemed to be redeemed and placed on unshakable ground. By 1900, mathematicians had seemingly imparted to their subject the ideal structure that Euclid had delineated in his Elements. Several branches were founded on rigorous axiomatic bases, the terminology had been subjected to close scrutiny, and deductive proofs replaced intuitively or empirically based conclusions. When the third crisis struck, its suddenness was surprising. The third crisis in the foundations of mathematics was brought about by the discovery of paradoxes, or antinomies, in the fringe of Georg Cantor’s general theory of sets. Because so much of mathematics is permeated by set concepts and, for that matter, can actually be made to rest on set theory as a foundation, the discovery of paradoxes in set theory naturally cast into doubt the validity of the whole foundational structure of mathematics. In 1897, the Italian mathematician Cesare Burali-
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Russell Discovers the “Great Paradox” concepts not only in their newer creations but also in the supposedly well-established older mathematics. They preferred to call these contradictions “paradoxes” because a paradox can be resolved, and the mathematicians wanted to believe these could be resolved. The technical word commonly used now is “antinomy.” When Bertrand Russell first discovered Cantor’s conclusion about the set of all sets, he did not believe it. In an essay published in 1901, he wrote:
Bertrand Russell. (The Nobel Foundation)
Forti brought to light the first publicized paradox of set theory. The essence of the paradox can be conveyed by a description of a very similar paradox found by Cantor two years later. In attempting to assign a number to the set whose members are all possible sets and to the set of all ordinals, Cantor discovered a fundamental paradox about sets. The basic idea is that for any given set, there is always a larger one; the set of all subsets in a given set is larger than the original one. Cantor showed that there are larger and larger transfinite sets and corresponding transfinite numbers. Cantor’s theory of sets proved that, for any given transfinite number, there is always a greater transfinite number, so that just as there is no greatest natural number, there is no greatest transfinite number. How can there be a transfinite number greater than the transfinite number of the set whose members are all possible sets, given that no set can have more members than this set? By 1899, Cantor thought that one could not consider the set of all sets or its number. This caused mathematicians to recognize that they had been using similar
Russell meditated on this matter and added to the problems of the times his own “paradox.” Some years later, when Russell reprinted his essay in Mysticism and Logic (1918), he added a footnote apologizing for his mistake, stating that Cantor’s proof that there is no greatest number is valid and that the solution of the puzzle is complicated and depends on a theory of types, which is explained in Alfred North Whitehead and Russell’s Principia Mathematica (1910-1913). Russell had studied the paradox of Cantor and, instead of finding a fallacy in it, had generated his own version. Whereas the Burali-Forti and Cantor paradoxes involve results of set theory, the “great paradox,” which Russell discovered in 1902, depends on nothing more than the concept of set itself. In order to understand Russell’s paradox, one must realize that sets either are or are not members of themselves. For example, the set of all sets is itself a set, but the set of all books is not itself a book. Likewise, the set of all comprehensible things is itself a comprehensible thing, whereas the set of all persons is not itself a person. Take the set of all sets that are members of themselves and call it S, and take the set of all sets that are not members of themselves and call it N. Is N a member of itself? If N is not a member of itself, then N is a member of N and not of S, and N is a member of itself. On the other hand, if N is a member of itself, then N is a member of S and not of N, and N is not a member of itself. Russell’s great paradox lies in the fact that, in either case, there is a contradiction. When Russell first discovered this contradiction, he thought the difficulty lay 163
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There is a greatest of all infinite numbers, which is the number of things altogether, of every sort and kind. It is obvious that there cannot be a greater number than this, because, if everything has been taken, there is nothing left to add. Cantor has a proof that there is no greatest number, and if this proof were valid, the contradictions of infinity would reappear in sublimated form. But in this one point, the master must have been guilty of a very subtle fallacy, which I hope to explain in some future work.
Russell Discovers the “Great Paradox” somewhere in the logic rather than in the mathematics. At first, he did not realize that this paradox strikes at the very notion of a set, a notion used throughout mathematics. It was the first of a number of troublesome mathematical paradoxes. Although Russell first published this paradox in The Principles of Mathematics (1903), he had communicated his discovery a bit earlier to the mathematician Gottlob Frege. Russell had sent a letter to Frege on June 16, 1902, in which he told Frege about the paradox. Frege received the letter while the second volume of his Grundgesetze der Arithmetik (1893, 1903; the basic laws of arithmetic) was at the printer. In this treatise on the foundations of arithmetic, Frege had used the theory of sets, which involved the very paradox that Russell noted in his letter. In effect, Russell’s letter broke the foundation of Frege’s work just as his treatise was finished—a project on which Frege had labored for more than twelve years. Russell’s great paradox has been popularized in many forms. One of the best known of these, the “barber paradox,” was introduced by Russell himself some years after his discovery of the great paradox. This paradox concerns the plight of a village barber who has advertised that he does not shave those persons who shave themselves, but he does shave all those persons and only those persons of the village who do not shave themselves. The paradoxical nature of this situation is revealed when the barber asks himself whether he should shave himself. If he does shave himself, then he should not because he has advertised that he shaves all those persons and only those persons of the village who do not shave themselves. If he does not shave himself, then he should, according to his claim to shave all those who do not shave themselves. The barber is in a logical predicament. Significance Although many mathematicians of the early 1900’s tended to disregard the paradoxes because they involved set theory, which was new and peripheral at the time, others were disturbed, recognizing that the paradoxes affected not only classical mathematics but also general reasoning. Russell’s great paradox had a catastrophic effect on the world of mathematics. Since its discovery, additional paradoxes in set theory have been produced in abundance. The existence of paradoxes in set theory clearly indicates that something is wrong. Much literature on the subject has been published, and numerous attempts at solutions have been offered. As far as mathematics is concerned, there seems to be an easy way out. One has merely to reconstruct set theory 164
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 on an axiomatic basis sufficiently restrictive to exclude the known antinomies. The first such attempt was made by Ernst Zermelo in 1908, and subsequent refinements have been made. This procedure has been criticized as merely avoiding the paradoxes; certainly it does not explain them. Moreover, this procedure does not guarantee that other kinds of paradoxes will not surface in the future. In 1905, Russell thought that the paradoxes of set theory arose from a fallacy he called the “vicious circle principle.” Simply stated, the principle says that whatever involves all of a collection must not be one of the collection. In other words, if to define a set of objects one must use the set of objects itself in the definition, then the definition is meaningless. This was accepted by Henri Poincaré in 1906, who called these definitions “impredicative.” An impredicative definition defines an object in terms of a set of objects that contains the object being defined. Such definitions are illegitimate; by restricting them, at least one can avoid the known paradoxes of set theory. The restrictions of Russell and Poincaré amount to restrictions on the notion of set, and, although heeding these restrictions provides a solution to the known paradoxes of set theory, there is at least one serious objection to this solution: Although some parts of mathematics contain impredicative definitions that may be circumvented, many others contain impredicative definitions that cannot be circumvented, and mathematicians are reluctant to discard these parts. For example, the least upper bound of a given nonempty set of real numbers is the smallest member of the set of all upper bounds of the given set. This is an impredicative definition that mathematicians are reluctant to give up. Mathematicians have made various attempts to solve the paradoxes of set theory. Some, for example, search for the cause of the paradoxes in logic, and this has brought about a rigorous investigation into the foundations of logic. In effect, Russell’s discovery of the great paradox led to a search for the causes and solutions to such paradoxes in an effort to restore the foundations of mathematics. —Jeffrey R. DiLeo Further Reading Jager, Ronald. The Development of Bertrand Russell’s Philosophy. 1972. Reprint. London: Routledge, 2004. A fine survey of the development of Russell’s philosophy. Part of the book is labeled “The Theory of Logic,” and a subsection of this part, titled “Set Theory and Paradoxes,” provides a good general account.
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Schilpp, Paul Arthur, ed. The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1944. A valuable collection containing essays by distinguished scholars on many aspects of Russell’s work. Useful information about the discovery of the paradox appears in a number of places throughout the volume, including statements by Russell on his discovery of the paradox and his attempts to resolve it. Van Heijenoort, Jean. From Frege to Gödel: A Source Book in Mathematical Logic, 1879-1931. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967. An important collection of classic selections on mathematical logic with introductory notes to each selection. Many are of interest to the general reader. Russell’s 1902 letter to Frege and Frege’s response to Russell are reproduced. See also: 1902: Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in Set Theory; 1904-1907: Brouwer Develops Intuitionist Foundations of Mathematics; 1904-1908: Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive Axiomatization of Set Theory; 1906: Fréchet Introduces the Concept of Abstract Space; July, 1929-July, 1931: Gödel Proves Incompleteness-Inconsistency for Formal Systems; 1939: Bourbaki Group Publishes Éléments de mathématique.
June 17, 1902
Reclamation Act Promotes Western Agriculture The 1902 Reclamation Act provided for federal development of irrigated agriculture and eventually transformed the American West. Also known as: Newlands Act Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Environmental issues; laws, acts, and legal history; natural resources Key Figures John Wesley Powell (1834-1902), geologist and director of the U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Ethnology Francis Griffith Newlands (1848-1917), U.S. congressman from Nevada, 1893-1903 Frederick Haynes Newell (1862-1932), civil engineer and chief hydrographer of the U.S. Geological Survey Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909
Summary of Event Before 1902, irrigation and reclamation policies in the arid western United States were mostly aimed at promoting private and state initiatives to develop irrigated agriculture. On June 17, 1902, the Reclamation Act (sometimes called the Newlands Act) became law after more than twenty years of discussion and failed federal land policy. The act represented the first of several conservation initiatives undertaken by Theodore Roosevelt’s administration and set a precedent for active federal investment and direction of natural resources management. In 1878, John Wesley Powell’s “Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States” laid the groundwork for land classification according to the land’s capability to produce different kinds of goods and services. Early federal land policy initiatives such as the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Desert Land Act of 1877 failed to grasp both the scope of the problem of aridity and the cooperative approaches that would be required to over165
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Kneale, William, and Martha Kneale. The Development of Logic. 1962. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. One of the best historical treatments of its subject. Philosophically oriented and accessible to the general reader. Chapter 11, titled “The Philosophy of Mathematics After Frege,” is an in-depth treatment of the paradoxes of the theory of sets and Russell’s theory of types as well as other solutions to the paradoxes of set theory. Highly recommended as a scholarly treatment of Russell’s paradox. Russell, Bertrand. My Philosophical Development. 1959. Rev. ed. New York: Routledge, 1995. An excellent basic account of the events surrounding the discovery of the paradox and of the paradox in general. Russell clearly articulates his influences and his attempts to resolve the paradox. Essential for the general reader. _______. The Principles of Mathematics. 1903. Reprint. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996. The work in which Russell first published his paradox. The fundamental thesis is that mathematics and logic are identical; that is, mathematics is merely later deductions from logical premises. The book does not contain much mathematical and logical symbolism and, as such, is accessible to the diligent general reader.
Reclamation Act Promotes Western Agriculture
Reclamation Act Promotes Western Agriculture come the problem. Powell proposed that federal lands be classified according to their best use and disposed of based on that classification. He suggested organizing lands and local governments on a watershed basis, providing homesteads of 2,560 acres that included a mix of irrigable land and rangeland, and creating cooperative irrigation districts. Powell’s ideas proved unpopular with Congress because they were at odds with the traditional image of the hardy, independent settler. However, the Reclamation Act of 1902, which was passed a few months before Powell’s death, incorporated many of his ideas. Publicland scholars have come to recognize his report as one of the most significant documents in American conservation history. In 1888, Congress authorized the first waterresources inventory of the arid West. Frederick Haynes Newell, an assistant hydraulic engineer with the U.S. Geological Survey (and later that agency’s chief hydrographer), took charge of the project and set out to measure water supplies, survey potential dam and canal sites, and calculate the area of potentially irrigable land. Congress had authorized Powell, the director of the U.S. Geological Survey, to reserve all such sites from entry under the public-land laws. Powell’s reservation of 127 reservoir sites and thirty million acres of potentially irrigable public land angered western congressmen. In 1890, Congress restored the right of entry to all the withdrawn land except that required for dam and reservoir sites. Private funding of irrigation efforts had largely come to a halt by the mid-1890’s. The most profitable sites had already been developed, and many private projects failed in the financial panic of 1893. State efforts to develop irrigation districts in California and Colorado met with little success. In 1894, Congress passed the Carey Act, which granted one million acres to each western state to promote irrigation. The grants resulted in few projects, however, because limited financing was available. A coalition that supported federal financing of reclamation projects eventually emerged among scientists such as Newell and Powell and economic development interests in the West. Francis Griffith Newlands came to Nevada in the late 1880’s to manage the estate of his wealthy father-in-law, Senator William Sharon. Nevada was rapidly losing population as a result of the end of the silver boom. Newlands recognized irrigated agriculture as one method to promote economic stability, and he became a principal in a privately financed project in the Truckee basin. The project failed, and Newlands suffered a financial loss; in 166
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 the process, however, he had investigated and acquired many of the potential reservoir sites in the state, which he offered to sell to water users’ associations. Upon his election to the U.S. House of Representatives, he became one of the principal promoters of federal financing of irrigation and a prominent member of the National Irrigation Congress, an influential interest group that promoted reclamation. Upon the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became president of the United States. Roosevelt had already become familiar with western land and water issues through his experience as a gentleman rancher in North Dakota. A progressive Republican, Roosevelt also recognized the political advantages that he might reap from running against large corporate interests and supporting public efforts to conserve natural resources. As governor of New York, he had advocated scientific management of natural resources and had already established relationships with Newell and with Gifford Pinchot, a leader of the forest-conservation movement. At the prompting of Newell and Pinchot, Roosevelt made reclamation and forest conservation a major theme in his first address to Congress. Given new support from the president, Newlands’s proposals gained momentum. His bill authorized federal funding of irrigation projects through a reclamation fund composed of proceeds from the sale of public lands in the West. The bill gave the secretary of the interior discretion in selecting and constructing projects and withdrew the reclaimed areas from all but homestead entries. To promote development of family farms, Newlands included a provision that limited each individual to water rights for eighty acres. His intent was to deny speculation in the federal projects and to reinforce the ideal of the yeoman farmer. Newlands’s bill was opposed by western congressional representatives who wanted a larger water-rights acreage limitation and also wanted the lands to be open to other than merely homestead entries. Newlands compromised and raised the limitation to 160 acres, but the bill was defeated in the House. A rival measure with few of Newlands’s provisions passed the Senate in early 1902, and Newlands introduced a new version of his bill. Roosevelt convinced the Senate to incorporate much of Newlands’s language into an amended Senate version, and the Reclamation Act became law on June 17, 1902. Significance Perhaps no single law has had a greater effect on the western United States than the Reclamation Act of 1902.
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Reclamation Act Promotes Western Agriculture
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The projects that eventually evolved Commissioners of Reclamation under the Bureau of Reclamation Although the Reclamation Act’s focus has largely shifted from construction of transformed the face and economy new facilities to maintenance of existing facilities, commissioners of the U.S. of half a continent. El Paso, Denver, Bureau of Reclamation have continued to play important roles in the developTucson, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and ment of the American West. Salt Lake City could not have grown into great metropolises without the Term Officer massive water development projects 1894-1907 Charles D. Walcott, director of the U.S. Geological and associated hydroelectricity made Survey possible by the act. The agricultural 1902-1907 Frederick H. Newell, chief engineer and manufacturing economies of the 1907-1914 Frederick H. Newell, director western states would also be wholly 1914-1923 Arthur Powell Davis, director different without the act and the work 1923-1924 David W. Davis, commissioner it engendered. The Bureau of Recla1924-1936 Elwood Mead, commissioner mation has constructed dams, power 1930-1936 Mae A. Schnurr, acting commissioner plants, and canals in seventeen west1936-1943 John C. Page, commissioner ern states. Its most widely known 1943-1945 Harry W. Bashore, commissioner projects include the Hoover Dam 1945-1953 Michael W. Straus, commissioner 1953 Goodrich W. Lineweaver, acting commissioner (Boulder Dam) on the Colorado 1953-1959 Wilbur A. Dexheimer, commissioner River and the Grand Coulee Dam on 1959-1969 Floyd E. Dominy, commissioner the Columbia River in Washington 1969-1973 Ellis L. Armstrong, commissioner State. 1973-1977 Gilbert G. Stamm, commissioner This transformation has come at 1977 Donald D. Anderson, acting commissioner a substantial environmental price, 1977-1981 R. Keith Higginson, commissioner however. The increased salinity of 1981 Clifford I. Barrett, acting commissioner irrigated lands, the degradation of 1981-1984 Robert N. Broadbent, commissioner the Colorado River delta, the demise 1984 Robert N. Olsen, acting commissioner of salmon stocks in the Pacific North1985 Clifford I. Barrett, acting commissioner west, and the loss of biological di1986-1989 C. Dale Duvall, commissioner 1989 Joe D. Hall, acting commissioner versity caused by the conversion of 1989-1993 Dennis B. Underwood, commissioner unregulated rivers to reservoirs are 1993-1995 Daniel Beard, commissioner some of the broader costs of irrigated 1995 Stephen P. Magnussen, acting commissioner agriculture and hydroelectric power 1995-2001 Eluid L. Martinez, commissioner production. These costs must be bal2001 J. William McDonald, acting commissioner anced against the benefits that the Beginning 2001 John W. Keys III, commissioner western states and the nation as a whole have derived from economic development. In 2005, the Bureau of Reclamation delivered water to ten policy of providing for a system of family farms. The act million acres of land inhabited by thirty-one million peoalso set a precedent for a growing, activist federal presple. One out of five farmers in the West received water ence in the West that directly controls or influences most from its projects. Its fifty-eight power plants generated forest, rangeland, and water resources in the region. more than forty billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, During the late 1940’s, federal subsidies to reclamaserving an estimated six million homes. tion programs became increasingly contentious. In the In addition to such obvious environmental impacts, early and mid-1950’s, the subsidy issue combined with the Reclamation Act of 1902 had a number of subtler but an awakening environmental movement to block the nevertheless important implications. Political scientists construction of the Echo Park Dam, which had been prohave observed that the concentration of political power posed for Dinosaur National Monument in western Colamong a “water aristocracy” in the western United States orado. was one result of the failure to implement the original
Reclamation Act Promotes Western Agriculture Like other conservation programs designed during the Progressive Era, the Reclamation Act of 1902 envisioned an independent, self-financing funding mechanism to pay for efficient projects. The act established a reclamation fund through the sale of western federal lands. Homesteaders would repay the fund for project construction costs (without interest) within ten years of the time that water became available to them, and the repayments would then allow new projects. By 1914, all projects that could be developed within the ten-year framework had been exhausted. In subsequent acts, Congress extended the period for repayment to twenty years in 1914, to forty years in 1926, and to fifty years in 1934. The last revision allowed for nonreimbursable allocation of project costs to flood control and navigation. This revision was subsequently interpreted to allow use of electricity-generation revenues to pay irrigation costs that were beyond the financial abilities of irrigators. Even with these provisions, however, the development and approval of projects by the secretary of the interior were limited by poor economic returns. When conservation groups, economists, and Southern California water interests combined to block construction of the Echo Park Dam and the larger Upper Colorado River Basin Project in the 1950’s, their action marked the end of an era and the once-potent dream of “making the desert bloom.” By the 1970’s, growing environmental awareness and poor economic feasibility left the Bureau of Reclamation vulnerable to political change. The Teton Dam, one of the bureau’s projects, failed on June 5, 1976, claiming eleven lives and causing damages estimated as high as two billion dollars. In November, 1976, President Jimmy Carter was elected on a platform that stressed environmental protection and governmental reform. In April, 1977, the Carter administration successfully proposed eliminating five of the largest reclamation projects and reducing several others. In addition, the administration proposed reduced budgets and several other reforms that substantially decreased the bureau’s powers. Despite a political ideology that favored western development, Carter’s successor, President Ronald Reagan, implemented budget reforms that further constrained the growth of federal reclamation projects. In the early 1980’s, controversy arose over the original act’s limitation on the size of farms that were eligible to receive federally subsidized water. The government failed to enforce the limitation of 160 acres per farm (320 acres per couple) and associated restrictions on leasing and residency. Attempts by the Carter administration to enforce the law led to the act’s revision during the Rea168
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 gan administration. The 160-acre limitation was raised to 960 acres, and growers were required to pay full cost for water used in excess of the 960-acre limit. By 1988, however, the General Accounting Office found that some farms that exceeded the limit had been divided into holdings of less than 960 acres but had continued to operate as single units. For example, the agency identified a 12,000-acre farm that had been divided into fifteen holdings so that it could continue to receive federally subsidized water at a savings of $500,000 per year. One environmental problem facing many reclamation projects has been that of increasing salinity. As fresh water used in irrigation evaporates, it may concentrate and deposit salt in the soil; the elevated salinity levels that result can retard or eliminate crop yields. By treaty, the United States must deliver water containing less than nine hundred parts per million of salt to Mexico from the Colorado River. Because salinity levels were exceeding the legal limit, the United States built an expensive desalination plant near Yuma, Arizona, to improve water quality. Construction on the plant was completed in 1992, but as of 2005 the facility was not being used; it had operated only for a few months of testing immediately after it was built. Abnormally high water levels in the West throughout the 1990’s meant that the United States could meet its treaty obligation to Mexico without operating the plant. In the early 2000’s, restarting use of the plant, given the expense it would represent, was a controversial topic among Arizona taxpayers. In the San Joaquin Valley of California, a related problem caused environmental concern. Increasing salinity prompted construction of a drainage system that concentrated farmland irrigation runoff water in the Kesterson Reservoir. The reservoir attracts many migratory waterfowl, and, in the early 1980’s, biologists observed that many of the birds were being sickened or killed; by the mid-1980’s, researchers confirmed that the cause was selenium poisoning. Selenium, an element occurring naturally in the region’s soils, was being carried from irrigated soils and concentrated in the reservoir. A joint statefederal effort was undertaken to investigate the drainagerelated problems and develop solutions, and in the 1990’s researchers from the University of California became involved in this work. In 2003, they reported some success in using artificially constructed wetland ponds to filter selenium from agricultural runoff. Overall, the Reclamation Act of 1902 proved successful in reaching its original goal of developing agriculture, commerce, and settlement in the American West. The environmental consequences of that development were
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 largely unforeseen at the time of the act’s passage, but they became increasingly problematic in the latter part of the twentieth century. —Donald W. Floyd
August, 1902 A TRIP TO THE
Pinchot, Gifford. Breaking New Ground. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1947. Personal recollections of the Progressive governor who was also the most influential early forester in the United States. Reisner, Marc. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. Rev. ed. New York: Viking Penguin, 1993. A pointed and thorough journalistic analysis of the costs of water development in the western United States. Stegner, Wallace. Beyond the Hundredth Meridian. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. An essential biographical source by an author whose works define the American West. Stratton, Owen, and Phillip Sirotkin. The Echo Park Controversy. University: University of Alabama Press, 1959. A detailed case study of the administrative policy process used in the Echo Park Dam decision. Wyant, William K. Westward in Eden: The Public Lands and the Conservation Movement. 1982. Reprint. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. An accessible, balanced treatment of the history of the conservation movement. See also: May 13-15, 1908: Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources; Sept. 8, 1933: Work Begins on the Grand Coulee Dam; Mar. 11, 1936: Boulder Dam Is Completed.
MOON Introduces Special Effects
Distributed nearly worldwide, Georges Méliès’s film A Trip to the Moon introduced audiences to special effects and championed the use of film for entertainment. Locale: Paris, France Category: Motion pictures Key Figures Georges Méliès (1861-1938), French magician and filmmaker Gaston Méliès (1852-1915), French film producer Auguste Lumière (1862-1954), French inventor, physician, chemist, and botanist Louis Lumière (1864-1948), French inventor and scientist Charles Pathé (1863-1957), French industrialist and film executive
D. W. Griffith (1875-1948), American filmmaker Edwin S. Porter (1870?-1941), American filmmaker Summary of Event When Georges Méliès showed his latest film, the extravagant science-fiction spectacle Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) to a Parisian audience in August, 1902, cinema was young and in search of an artistic identity. The international success of Méliès’s well-designed, entertaining fantasy fare, of which A Trip to the Moon was the best, quickly established audience demand for narrative films. It also made Méliès, the film’s producer, director, actor, and set designer, one of the founding fathers and creative shapers of cinema. Méliès had attended the now-famous first film presentation to a paying audience by the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière in Paris on December 28, 1895. Im169
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Further Reading Clarke, Jeanne Nienaber, and Daniel C. McCool. Staking Out the Terrain: Power and Performance Among Natural Resource Agencies. 2d ed. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996. A well-developed assessment of the rise and fall of natural resource bureaucracies in the United States. Includes illustrations, tables, bibliography, and index. Dana, Samuel T., and Sally K. Fairfax. Forest and Range Policy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. A rich chronological view of the evolution of U.S. conservation and environmental policy. Hays, Samuel P. Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency. 1959. Reprint. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999. Classic historical assessment of the Progressive conservation movement at the beginning of the twentieth century. Miller, Char. Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism. Washington, D.C.: Shearwater Books, 2004. Examines the life of Pinchot, a pioneering environmentalist and Progressive politician who teamed with Theodore Roosevelt to advocate multiple uses of the nation’s forested lands.
A Trip to the Moon Introduces Special Effects
A Trip to the Moon Introduces Special Effects mediately, the magician and theater owner was fascinated by the new art. When the Lumières refused to sell him one of their own projector/cameras, Méliès acquired the necessary equipment from British and French inventors and started to show films in his Théâtre RobertHoudin in April, 1896. Unhappy with the films he had to buy, and too much a creative genius to content himself with their storyless, unadorned recordings of reality, Méliès started to make films of his own. Between September, 1896, and March, 1897, he built the world’s second film studio (after Thomas Alva Edison’s Black Maria Studio in New Jersey) in Montreuil, near Paris. There, until 1914, his Star Film Company would produce about five hundred films—an output that made Méliès one of the biggest producers and directors of early motion pictures. In 1902, A Trip to the Moon splendidly showcased Méliès’s successful transformation from stage magician
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 to filmmaker. With its painted backdrops, different-scale models, trapdoors, wings, and wires, the film’s studio effects complemented its creator’s editing skills and mastery of photographic effects. All the special effects used in the film were unified by a dramatic story about a flight to the Moon. The fourteen-minute film opens with a view of the Astronomic Club, where President Barbenfouillis (played by Méliès) proposes a trip to the Moon. The technology utilized—a projectile fired by a big gun—had been imagined by novelist Jules Verne in 1865 and required little explanation. The tableau of the Astronomic Club dissolves to reveal the manufacture of capsule and cannon. This filmic dissolve, like the fade-out, was first created by Méliès, who superimposed with increasing luminosity the frames of the next scene over those of the first (or else slowly closed the lens for a fade). The technique of the painted backdrop employed in
A famous comic shot from A Trip to the Moon.
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close of his career in 1912, filmed theater. He thus missed a crucial shift in audience demand: His static camera never changed its position, which was head-on to the stage. By 1909, American audiences—three-fourths of the French film industry’s market—had turned away from fantasy fare and were demanding naturalistic drama. After a bitter forced sale of his studio and the demolition of his theater in 1923, Méliès found himself reduced to selling novelties in a tiny kiosk in Paris. He was rediscovered by film historians, however, and his work was treated to a gala retrospective in 1929; he was awarded the Cross of the French Legion of Honor by Louis Lumière in 1931. With honor also came financial rescue. By the time Méliès died in 1938, his early contribution to the development of narrative cinema and his technical inventions had become widely recognized. Significance The international success of A Trip to the Moon not only shaped audience expectations worldwide but also brought home Méliès’s problems with the piracy of his films, especially in the lucrative American market. To combat this abuse, his Star Film Company established an office under Gaston Méliès in New York City in 1903. Méliès also began to submit paper contact prints to the Library of Congress to protect his copyrights in the United States. Ironically, it was there, and in a private American collection, that most of Méliès’s films survived, rather than in Europe. In addition to distributing his brother’s films, Gaston Méliès began producing his own films for the family company in New Jersey in 1909. His outfit, which was relocated to San Antonio, Texas, in 1910 and to Santa Paula, California, in 1911, produced typical “American” fare, however—mostly Westerns shot out of doors. Gaston’s enterprise ceased operations in 1912; Gaston’s presence in the United States, however, ensured that Georges Méliès’s films were widely available there and were noticed by American filmmakers. Among these, pioneer Edwin S. Porter was impressed by Méliès’s emphasis on narrative and his use of special effects to propel the plot. The opening of Porter’s masterpiece, The Great Train Robbery (1903), for example, establishes its plot with a successful matte shot. Through the window of a railroad telegraph office that is taken over by two bandits, the target of the robbers, a train, is seen coming to a stop. Taking a lesson from Méliès, Porter created this scene by blacking out a part of the live studio action (the window) and superimposing on this “free” part of the frame a second film showing stock footage of a train. 171
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the film’s total of thirty tableaux was one Méliès borrowed from theater and fine-tuned to his new medium. He adapted such relatively conventional trompe l’oeil effects (that is, effects designed to deceive the eye) as the surface of the Moon to the specific optical qualities of his film stock. Because he painted backdrops and props in shades of gray instead of in true colors, the scenery had a plastic look on film. For the voyage itself, Méliès used both a model and a simulated tracking shot. Rather than moving his camera, which would later become common practice with mobile modern equipment, Méliès instead moved his set to show the projectile landing, in a well-executed matte shot, directly in the eye of the “Man in the Moon”—an actor peeping through a painted Moon. From this visual joke, Méliès dissolved to a second, “realistic” landing on the Moon’s surface. To show the scientists encountering the bellicose Selenites, or Moonfolk, Méliès relied heavily on the stop-camera technique, which, according to his memoirs, he discovered quite by accident. Before Méliès, no one had realized that it was possible to stop a camera while filming a scene and then later restart it. Characteristically, Méliès used this idea to give to the old magician’s trick of substituting one object for another a new aura of fantastic realism: The scientists’ umbrellas turn into mushrooms on Méliès’ Moon; when struck by Barbenfouillis’s umbrella, the hostile Selenites disappear in a puff of smoke. For the spaceship’s return to Earth, Méliès employed the rudiments of continuity editing. Every time the spaceship disappears at the bottom of a scene, it reappears at top in the next scene, simulating a long fall viewed from different camera positions. Upon their rescue from the sea, Méliès’s astronauts receive a triumphant welcome and bow to the film’s audience—a gesture carried over from the stage. Ironically, the very success of Méliès’s films, including A Trip to the Moon, contributed to his demise as a filmmaker. Cinema’s undisputed leader from 1896 to 1905—even, after 1903, the owner of an American branch led by his brother Gaston—Méliès found himself unable to adapt. The industrialization of film production, led by Charles Pathé in France, spelled doom for the qualityconscious artisan. In 1911, Méliès agreed to have his films distributed by Pathé; his granddaughter later charged that Ferdinand Zecca, the man in charge of Pathé’s studios, deliberately mutilated Méliès’s films to eliminate a rival. Méliès was aesthetically unwilling to evolve from a position of perfection, and his films remained, up to the
A Trip to the Moon Introduces Special Effects
A Trip to the Moon Introduces Special Effects Once Porter’s star was eclipsed for a lack of continuous filmic innovation, the most gifted American director of the early days of filmmaking, D. W. Griffith, rose to prominence. Griffith’s work, too, shows an indebtedness to Méliès; without the success of narrative films such as A Trip to the Moon, it is hard to imagine demand for Griffith’s highly complex dramatic films. Griffith developed a far more dynamic style of editing and camera work than those who preceded him, but his special effects were still firmly based on Méliès’s pioneering examples, on which Griffith built improvements. To demonstrate spatial movement, Méliès moved his set; Griffith instead changed his camera position and developed the true tracking shot. To track the riders of the Ku Klux Klan in The Birth of a Nation (1915), he even put his camera aboard a car. Griffith exuberantly acknowledged Méliès’s influence, to the point of stating that he owed everything to his French colleague. In Europe, the success of A Trip to the Moon led to two startlingly different developments at the level of national cinema. In France, the freshly founded Société Film d’Art took Méliès’s idea of filming action on a stage to its logical extreme and sought to appeal to intellectual taste by filming theater. Charles Le Bargy’s L’Assassinat du duc de Guise (1908; The Assassination of the Duke de Guise) was the first in a series of influential hits. Yet because the Société Film d’Art’s productions were so inherently stagey—and, indeed, sought to derive artistic legitimacy from their rather regressive form—French cinema lost its position as international leader by the early 1910’s. Whereas the selective adaptation of Méliès’s ideas by the French cinema lacked the artistic freshness necessary to recapture the world market from Hollywood after World War I, German filmmakers rose to international status by looking at Méliès’s work with different eyes. After a brief flirtation with Film d’Art, directors in Germany looked to Méliès’s film, from which they derived an emphasis on the fantastic. The closed world of Méliès’s studio was seen as resembling the human soul—this was incidentally also the reason for Méliès’s appeal to Surrealist filmmakers such as Luis Buñuel. For his popular fare, Danish filmmaker Stellan Rye used Méliès’s technique of superimposition in his haunting tale of a double, Der Student von Prag (1913; The Student of Prague); a huge success, the film was twice remade in Germany. German cinematic expressionism, including Robert Wiene’s masterpiece Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari (1920; The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), is unthinkable without Méliès. Unlike its inspiration, German cinema of the 1920’s proved very adaptive. With German audiences 172
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 developing an appetite for more naturalistic-looking fantasy tales, films such as Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s vampire tale Nosferatu (1922) followed another of Méliès’s many leads: Special effects were used for the “realism” they gave to illusion. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) mastered the form. It was this “realist” approach to special effects that brought American naturalistic film back into studios once the development of sound necessitated a tightly controlled production environment. Throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s, Hollywood became synonymous with studio films. Special effects, however, were more commonly used to simulate car rides than to animate fantastic monsters such as the star of the 1933 King Kong, a true successor of Méliès’s fantasy creatures. By the late 1950’s, with a final twist of irony, French (and some American) directors and critics had turned against the studio film. Instead, they championed cinema verité, a very strict form featuring pure, unstaged reality. Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin’s Chronique d’un été (1961; Chronicle of a Summer) popularized the movement, which appeared to take film back to the Lumière brothers’ original recording of reality. The movement toward realism, of which cinema verité represented the avant-garde, turned back once more with the rise of the science-fiction film. From Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) to George Lucas’s six Star Wars films (1977-2005), increasingly sophisticated special effects became the backbone of films with audience appeal as global as that of Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon, the first film to take humanity on a fantastic trip through space and time. —R. C. Lutz Further Reading Barnouw, Erik. “The Magician and the Movies.” American Film 3 (April/May, 1978): 8-63. Places Méliès in the context of primarily French and British magicians. Argues that the stage illusionist’s traditional skills were outmoded by film’s special effects and that magic did not translate successfully onto the screen. Includes illustrations. Cook, David A. “The Evolution of Narrative: Georges Méliès.” In A History of Narrative Film. 4th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004. Useful, readable overview. Argues that Méliès helped introduce the narrative, as opposed to documentary, use of film. Lists all thirty tableaux of A Trip to the Moon and reproduces twenty in illustrations. Emphasizes Méliès’s contributions to film.
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2002. Explores the history and cultural reception of special effects in film. Includes discussion of the work of Méliès and his contemporaries. Rickitt, Richard. Special Effects: The History and Technique. New York: Watson-Guptill, 2000. Highly illustrated guide to film special effects of all kinds. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the history of special effects and includes information about Méliès’s work. Features glossary, bibliography, and index. See also: Fall, 1903: The Great Train Robbery Introduces New Editing Techniques; 1907: Lumières Develop Color Photography; 1923: The Ten Commandments Advances American Film Spectacle; 1927: Lang Expands the Limits of Filmmaking with Metropolis; 1929: Hallelujah Is the First Important Black Musical Film; 1930’s: Hollywood Enters Its Golden Age; Aug. 17, 1939: The Wizard of Oz Premieres.
August 12, 1902
Founding of International Harvester Company The founding of International Harvester created a manufacturing giant and brought some order to the fiercely competitive farm machinery industry in the United States. Locale: New York, New York Categories: Trade and commerce; manufacturing and industry Key Figures Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809-1884), American inventor and manufacturer of mechanical reapers William Deering (1826-1913), American industrialist and manufacturer of harvesters and grain binders George W. Perkins (1862-1920), partner at J. P. Morgan & Company who was the architect of International Harvester and a member of its board of directors Elbert Henry Gary (1846-1927), attorney and chairman of the United States Steel Corporation Summary of Event After much deliberation and several failed attempts, International Harvester Company was formed on August 12, 1902. With assets valued in excess of $110 million and control of nearly 85 percent of harvester and reaper production in the United States, the company was a com-
bination of the McCormick Harvester Company, Deering Harvester Company, Plano Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee Harvester Company, and Warder, Bushnell & Glessner Company. The creation of International Harvester, along with similar mergers that led to the formation of Allis Chalmers in 1901 and Deere and Company in 1911, grew out of the severe economic hardships and uncertainty of the 1890’s and the fierce competition that had come to dominate the harvester and farm machinery industries in the United States. Competition had become so harsh and so damaging to its participants that the era is often referred to as that of the “harvester wars.” The consolidation of bitter rivals, most notably the union of McCormick and Deering, was an attempt to bring stability and ultimately profitability back to an industry reeling from years of cutthroat competition and costly patent disputes. The manufacture and distribution of harvesters and reapers was by the late nineteenth century one of the most conspicuous industries in the United States. It was also an industry dominated by a few large firms held within families, notably the McCormicks and the Deerings. The McCormicks had been in the reaper business from its inception. Cyrus Hall McCormick secured his first patent on a mechanical reaper in 1834 and began selling reapers in 1841. By 1847, he was building a fac173
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Frazer, John. Artificially Arranged Scenes: The Films of Georges Méliès. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1979. One of the best books on Méliès in English for students of film. Presents every known surviving film through synopsis, notes on special effects, and critical analysis. Also features a biography and description of Méliès’s cultural environment. Richly illustrated. Includes an excellent filmography, bibliography, notes, and index. Kovacs, Katherine Singer. “Georges Méliès and the Feerie.” Cinema Journal 14 (Fall, 1976): 1-13. Persuasively places Méliès in the tradition of a nineteenth century French spectacle show, the feerie. Part 1 discusses this tradition, and part 2 shows how Méliès’s films use it for their techniques, plots, and themes. Analyzes Méliès’s special effects clearly and emphasizes their popular appeal. Pierson, Michele. Special Effects: Still in Search of Wonder. New York: Columbia University Press,
Founding of International Harvester Company
Founding of International Harvester Company tory in Chicago that would help make him one of the nation’s most prosperous business leaders. William Deering was not an inventor, and he entered the harvester trade in 1870, a generation after McCormick, but through aggressive policies and business abilities he posed a formidable challenge to McCormick for leadership in the industry. Despite being challenged by Deering and a handful of other firms, and even after the death of Cyrus Hall McCormick in 1884, the McCormick Harvester Company remained the dominant force in the harvester industry. The heated rivalry that existed between McCormick and Deering had over the years taken its toll on the profits of both companies and had created costly inefficiencies in distribution, losses to dealers, and oversaturation of the domestic reaper and harvester markets. Even though the so-called reaper kings recognized that an end to their costly rivalry would in the end be in both of their interests, all earlier attempts at combination had failed. In 1891, in 1897, and again in 1901, some type of an agreement seemed close at hand, but the differences and old rivalries were always too great to overcome. When William Deering retired in 1901, his sons, Charles and James, took over the management of the company. This renewed hopes that some sort of an agreement finally could be reached in the harvester industry. The merger was accomplished with the intervention of outside business interests and the assistance of some of the nation’s most prominent business leaders, who had a vested interest in restoring and promoting economic stability in a leading American industry and also had personal ties with both the McCormick and Deering families. One of these businessmen was John D. Rockefeller, Jr., whose sister Edith had married one of the sons of Cyrus Hall McCormick, Harold, in 1895. Along with Elbert Henry Gary, chairman of the United States Steel Corporation and a former attorney for William Deering, Rockefeller helped foster the merger that ultimately brought an end to the harvester wars. Established business leaders had reason to fear the instability and destructiveness produced by price wars and cutthroat competition. In early 1902, Gary telephoned the McCormicks to discuss what he and others perceived as a disruptive development in the harvester industry. In an attempt to cut the rising cost of raw materials, the Deerings recently had purchased iron ore deposits and were building their own rolling mill. This development held the potential to prolong and intensify the harvester wars. Even worse for Gary and other industrialists, it could have broadened the type of predatory competition 174
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Cyrus Hall McCormick. (NARA)
that monopolies and established business leaders were eager to avoid. The last thing Gary and U.S. Steel wanted was large manufacturing firms beginning their own steel operations. It became apparent that a consolidation of the leading harvester companies held distinct economic advantages for firms in that industry as well as for others. The details of the merger were worked out over the summer of 1902 in various New York hotel rooms and in the Wall Street offices of J. P. Morgan & Company. The chief negotiator for Morgan was George W. Perkins, then the youngest partner at the firm. Perkins is widely credited with accomplishing what for so long had seemed beyond reach, the creation of a harvester trust. The merger that created International Harvester was organized by the Morgan firm and carried out by Perkins. It was even Perkins who suggested the name for the new corporation. The McCormicks and the Deerings both acknowledged the fact that overseas markets were going to be a large and profitable part of future expansion, prompting inclusion of the word “international” in the new company’s name. International Harvester was the sum of the assets of the five smaller harvester companies from which it was created. To avoid costly antitrust litigation, the merger called for the purchase of the physical assets of the companies rather than of stock in them. After the merger, to
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Significance The creation of International Harvester, like similar mergers in steel, electrical manufacturing, and other heavy industries, signaled both an end to the traditional, family-oriented firms that had dominated in the nineteenth century and the emergence of the modern corporations that would come to dominate in the twentieth century. Modern corporations tend to hire professional managers, exploit economies in production, operate across large markets, and rely on public and sophisticated methods of finance. Ultimately, International Harvester accomplished these things and became a modern corporation, but first it had to be forged out of the rivalries of the leading and distrustful harvester companies. The emergence of International Harvester also signaled the importance and the impact of the interactions among many of the leading industries in the United States. Industrialists attempted to protect their markets and tended to rely on large trusts to provide a more stable economic environment. Clearly, the involvement of Elbert Henry Gary in the negotiations to create International Harvester demonstrates that U.S. Steel, the nation’s largest steel manufacturer, was concerned about protecting its market. The list of prominent American bankers and industrialists involved in the creation of the harvester trust implies that many business leaders had influence and interests across industries.
The substantial role played by J. P. Morgan & Company in the formation of International Harvester emphasizes how the role of financing had changed by the beginning of the twentieth century. Because of the size and complexity of emerging corporations, the days of widespread internal and family-based financing were gone. Corporations and even the federal government had been turning to J. P. Morgan in the 1890’s and 1900’s to help settle financial problems. In addition to its role in the International Harvester merger, Morgan’s firm had played a role in the formation of General Electric, American Telephone and Telegraph, Federal Steel, and U.S. Steel. The formation of such large manufacturing enterprises as General Electric in 1891, U.S. Steel in 1901, and International Harvester in 1902 was indicative of the trend among American corporations to develop and exploit economies of production. Larger firms hoped that by increasing their scales of output they could accordingly lower their average costs of production, distribution, and financial management by avoiding duplication of tasks. After the merger, International Harvester pursued a policy of enlarging both its scale of production and its scope of operations. In the years after the merger, International Harvester expanded its own production facilities, acquired additional machinery shops, and developed new product lines. The development of new product lines was easier after the merger, because intense competition during the harvester wars had led to reductions in budgets for research and development. The company now could afford to devote resources to long-term research. It began experimenting with gasoline-engine tractors in 1905 and within a few years was marketing a successful line of tractors. Eventually, the company’s product lines included trucks, automobiles, construction and earthmoving equipment, lawn and garden equipment, compressors, generators, and pumps for mining natural gas. Another significant aspect of International Harvester was the company’s part in the movement of American manufacturing firms into international markets. In the period from 1903 through 1909, International Harvester opened production facilities in Canada, Sweden, Germany, France, and Russia. True to the name of the new corporation, it began to market its growing line of farm machinery aggressively across Europe, Africa, and South America. In four years, its volume of trade with Russia reached a level equal to the total volume of U.S. farm machinery exports at the time of the merger. The formation of International Harvester created a manufacturing giant but did not immediately end the 175
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provide continuity, to protect the new corporation from speculators, and to attempt to keep peace between the McCormicks and the Deerings, control of the new corporation was placed in a voting trust for the first ten years. This voting trust was given absolute control over the operation of the corporation and acted on behalf of all stockholders. The trust was made up of Cyrus Hall McCormick’s eldest son, Cyrus; William Deering’s eldest son, Charles; and George Perkins. The operation of International Harvester was at first a literal combination of the properties and departments of the five companies that had merged. The corporation’s executive officers were named to provide a balance of power among the old rivals, but given the initial leverage of the McCormick Harvester Company, the balance leaned somewhat in favor of the McCormick family. Cyrus McCormick was named the first president of International Harvester, and Charles Deering was named chairman of the board. Harold McCormick, James Deering, J. J. Glessner, and William H. Jones of the Plano Manufacturing Company all were named vice presidents of the new corporation.
Founding of International Harvester Company
Founding of International Harvester Company years of rivalry within the harvester industry. Although the merger technically created a harvester trust, the corporation retained the old companies as separate divisions of the new corporation. These separations were easy to define, as the new corporation kept the separate brand names as late as 1909. Despite the efforts of George Perkins, it became obvious that old rivalries were not going to disappear simply because of the merger. Unfortunately for International Harvester, it paid a price for the continuation of these old, and now internal, rivalries. The company’s early years did not produce the economic bounty that was expected. Profits were lower than anticipated, and production declined. Perkins, again with the help of Gary, sought in 1906 to negotiate a settlement between the McCormicks and the Deerings. This time the agreement meant a reorganization and restructuring of the company. After these reforms, which further reduced the direct influence of the family managers, the corporation went public in 1908. International Harvester then entered into an era of substantial expansion and prosperity marred only by a protracted antitrust battle with the U.S. Department of Justice. —Timothy E. Sullivan Further Reading Casson, Herbert N. The Romance of the Reaper. New York: Doubleday, Page, 1908. A history of the mechanical reaper in the United States. Tells the story of the McCormick, Deering, and International Harvester companies. Garraty, John A. Right-Hand Man: The Life of George W. Perkins. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1957. A well-written and thorough biography of the man who negotiated the creation of International Harvester. Presents a detailed and documented account of the formation of the harvester trust.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Hutchinson, William T. Cyrus Hall McCormick. 2 vols. New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1935. The standard and detailed biography of McCormick. The volumes are subtitled Seedtime, 1809-1856, and Harvest, 1856-1884. They deal with the invention of the reaper, the operation of the company’s factory in Chicago, numerous patent disputes, and various aspects of McCormick’s public and private lives. McCormick, Cyrus. The Century of the Reaper. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1931. A history of the reaper and farm equipment industry written by the grandson of Cyrus Hall McCormick. Roderick, Stella Virginia. Nettie Fowler McCormick. Rindge, N.H.: Richard R. Smith, 1956. The story of the life and times of the wife of Cyrus Hall McCormick, who played a significant role in the family business. In a different era, she likely would have become the McCormick company’s president after her husband’s death in 1884. Tarbell, Ida M. The Life of Elbert H. Gary: A Story of Steel. 1926. Reprint. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2003. A valuable biography of Gary, describing his career as one of the leading industrialists in the United States. Wendel, C. H. One Hundred Fifty Years of International Harvester. 1981. Reprint. Osceola, Wis.: Crestline, 1993. An insightful history of the reaper and the companies that came together to form International Harvester. Includes an impressive collection of pictures and diagrams that provide a wonderful overview of the farm equipment industry as illustrated by the evolution of its products. See also: 1905: Singer Begins Manufacturing Sewing Machines in Russia; Spring, 1906: Lee Establishes the Field of Public Relations.
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Tobacco Companies Unite to Split World Markets
September 27, 1902
Tobacco Companies Unite to Split World Markets The American Tobacco Company, a classic trust, and Britain’s Imperial Tobacco Company combined to form the British-American Tobacco Company and agreed to divide world markets. Locale: England; New York, New York Category: Trade and commerce
Summary of Event Establishment of the first American Tobacco Company (dissolved in 1911) and passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act occurred almost simultaneously in 1890. The two events revealed the two principal sides of the unprecedented thrust of the United States toward the premier position among the world’s industrial and financial giants. One side, manifested initially by evolution of the country’s great railroad empires during the last third of the nineteenth century and then by the trustification of scores of enterprises (tobacco among them), reflected individual as well as national pride in sheer size, productivity, power, and economic freedom, attended by all of their social, political, and economic consequences. The other side registered widespread populist inclinations and the fears of interest groups that perceived corporate trusts and monopolies as threats to themselves and to the U.S. economic system and its spirit of free competition. Within two decades, the American Tobacco Company became a classic trust with international ramifications. It sprang from the entrepreneurial drive and genius of James Buchanan Duke, who was born poor near Durham, North Carolina, in 1856. His family, particularly his father, Washington Duke, had considerable experience in the complexities of tobacco culture and marketing. When Duke finished his modest education at the Eastman Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York, he joined his father in 1878 in the business enterprise of W. Duke Sons and Company. The company devoted its manufacturing efforts chiefly to cigarettes, which had
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Key Figures James Buchanan Duke (1856-1925), industrialist and founder of the American Tobacco Company William Collins Whitney (1841-1904), financier, philanthropist, and principal director of the American Tobacco Company William Henry Wills (1830-1911), British financier, member of Parliament, and chairman of W. D. & H. O. Wills
gained popularity rapidly after the Civil War. Although the Dukes prospered, their sales for years regularly lagged far behind those of leading brands such as W. T. Blackwell’s famed Bull Durham line. What propelled the Duke firm to leadership among the nation’s cigarette manufacturers by 1890 was James’s gamble a few years earlier on the acquisition of secret contractual rights to James A. Bonsack’s cigarette-making machine, the first of several that would ensure the company’s technological edge on competitors. Eager to direct the firm’s interests personally, James Duke moved to New York in 1884. In 1890, he founded the American Tobacco Company (chartered in New Jersey), which represented a merger of five of the country’s principal cigarette makers. American Tobacco controlled 90 percent of the nation’s cigarette business and had annual profits exceeding $4 million. Duke’s subsequent campaigns were aimed at driving all manufacturers of tobacco products, competitors or not, either out of business or into sellouts, mergers, or other forms of control by his firm. Employing the profits from American Tobacco’s cigarette business, Duke sought primacy over the plug tobacco (compressed cakes of chewing tobacco) trade. A corporate battle from 1894 to 1897 involved American Tobacco’s purchase of five firms that produced smoking tobacco, snuff, cheroot, and plug tobacco. These firms provided the wedge for American Tobacco’s successful entrance into plug production. Continuing reliance on cigarette profits to finance his battle, Duke underpriced many competitors and so wearied others, such as Richard Joshua “Josh” Reynolds’s Liggett & Myers, that in 1898 he was able to absorb them into a new plug combination, the Continental Tobacco Company, essentially a holding company dominated by Duke and his American Tobacco directors. Almost simultaneously, powerful eastern financiers, including William Collins Whitney, Thomas Fortune Ryan, and P. A. B. Widener, acquired two major smoking tobacco firms, along with stock in others, to form the Union Tobacco Company. In this case too a deal was struck, and Union was sold to Duke for $12.5 million. The financiers obtained or retained directorships in American and in Continental, and Duke enjoyed access to the financiers’ vast capital resources. By 1900, Duke’s Continental Tobacco and American Tobacco were producing 62 percent of the nation’s plug tobacco, 59 percent of its smoking tobacco, 80 percent of its snuff, and
Tobacco Companies Unite to Split World Markets more than 92 percent of its cigarettes. Only cigar manufacturing, an anomaly because large cigars were handmade products, lay substantially outside Duke’s control. Integrating American Tobacco and Continental, Duke and his cohorts formed the Consolidated Tobacco Company (a holding company) in 1901. With augmented capital, the company turned to overseas markets. It was no stranger to these, for in the 1890’s Duke had established dealerships in Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, and England. Declining profits in England, however, persuaded Duke to mount a serious invasion of the British market that began with Consolidated’s purchase of Ogden’s Limited, a major British tobacco manufacturer. Instantaneously alarmed, thirteen of Britain’s largest tobacco manufacturers combined to form the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain and Ireland, Limited. These manufacturers included the formidable firms of W. D. & H. O. Wills, John Player and Sons, Lambert & Butler, Hignett’s Tobacco Company, and J. & D. MacDonald of Glasgow, led by William Henry Wills. To hold its turf, Imperial early in 1902 proffered bonuses to businesses that consented to boycott American To-
James Buchanan Duke.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 bacco’s products, hoping thereby to marshal the allegiance of Britain’s major retailers. Through Ogden’s, Duke countered by agreeing to distribute the entire net profits from his firm’s British sales over the next four years, plus an additional £200,000 annually to retailers who handled American’s products. Although Imperial initially threatened to counterattack by establishing factories in the United States, seven months after its formation it entered into a contractual agreement with American Tobacco. Under terms of the agreement, reached on September 27, 1902, the two great combinations parceled out world markets between them. Significance Negotiations between Duke’s trusts and the Imperial combination presided over by Wills produced two documents. The first provided for the transfer of Ogden’s and all of its assets to Imperial, so that the American trust and the British combination could proceed with profitable territorial divisions. To achieve this, a second document created a new corporation, the British-American Tobacco Company, Limited. The new company was subject to joint but unequal ownership by American (the controlling partner) and Imperial and controlled the export trade. Imperial retained the right to purchase and cure the U.S. tobacco leaf that was essential to its British operations but consented not to sell its products in the United States or in American dependencies, such as Cuba, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, except when in company with American or its subsidiaries. American Tobacco, in return, agreed to refrain from interference in Imperial’s domestic markets, except when and if Imperial interests invited it to do so. The British-American Tobacco Company, as the designated authority over international markets and exports of Imperial, Ogden’s, American Tobacco, Continental Tobacco, Consolidated Tobacco, and American Cigar Company, was authorized to purchase all the assets—tangible and intangible—of the export businesses already managed by these companies. These included, for example, W. D. & H. O. Wills’s Australian division as well as American Tobacco’s German subsidiary, George A. Jasmatzi Company, along with many others around the globe. Capitalized at $2.3 million, two-thirds of which in 1904 belonged to Duke’s American Tobacco, and further buttressed by the capitalization of constituent companies of the combination in excess of $235 million, BritishAmerican soon conducted export business of its constituent companies in every country in which tobacco was
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and most expansible export market for British-American Tobacco. The tobacco-smoking habit had come to China, as it had to the West, in the seventeenth century. By the early 1900’s, this habit was satisfied overwhelmingly in China by cigarettes, British-American’s specialty. The Chinese were witness, therefore, to every promotional tactic Duke had employed so successfully elsewhere, including massive advertising and the distribution of millions of free cigarettes to entice brokers, dealers, and customers. There was no lack of competition. The Chinese also manufactured cigarettes and other tobacco products. The Jian family’s Nanyang Tobacco Company, for example, capably withstood competition from British-American into the 1920’s. It finally failed as a result of tax policies of the Chinese government. British-American was a persistent, omnipresent force in many markets. When the Japanese, for example, opened the Manchurian port of Dalny (now known as Dairen), Duke’s export trust immediately opened for business there, offering substantially underpriced wares to beat the Japanese competition. British-American succeeded worldwide and continued to do so after its legal “dissolution,” along with that of the rest of Duke’s American Tobacco empire, by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1911. In fact, substantively very little changed as a result of the Supreme Court’s antitrust decision against American Tobacco. Between 1910 and 1920, Duke companies accounted for the lion’s share of U.S. exports of tobacco. — Clifton K. Yearley Further Reading Cox, Howard. The Global Cigarette: Origins and Evolution of British American Tobacco, 1880-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. An authoritative account of the British-American Tobacco Company’s evolution and growth until World War II. Based on archival materials from a wide variety of sources, including the company’s own records. Durden, Robert F. Bold Entrepreneur: A Life of James B. Duke. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2003. This scholarly biography of James Buchanan Duke includes information about his philanthropy and his avid pursuit of horticulture as well as his success in business. _______. The Dukes of Durham, 1865-1929. 1975. Reprint. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1987. A solid, engaging study of the fascinating James Duke, his family, and his intimates. Good material on 179
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not a state monopoly or in which tariffs or taxes—as in Germany, France, Italy, and Japan—largely precluded extensive or profitable sales. British-American enjoyed immense advantages in many international markets. When it commenced operation in 1903, it produced 89 percent of the world’s snuff, 84 percent of its cigarettes, about 76 percent of its finecut and its plug tobacco, and 67 percent of its smoking tobacco and little cigars. As time and market dictated, it sold its products under its own name or under the various brand names of the companies for which it exported. As had been the practice of both American Tobacco and Imperial, British-American showed no compunction about marketing its brands as if they were the products of independent companies or even of competitors’ manufacture. Advertising campaigns were heavily subsidized. Special, sometimes secret, incentives and rebates were offered to brokers and to dealers. British-American resorted to local price cutting through “fighting brands” when it wanted to undercut a competitor’s price. Competitive brands frequently were imitated, and customers themselves were beguiled by such bonuses as free cigarettes and coupons. James Duke’s irrepressible leadership marked every operation throughout his tobacco empire. With the affairs of American Tobacco and its ancillary trusts well in hand by 1903, he turned eagerly to the new prospects offered by British-American. Europe offered few profitable enticements for the enterprise, but the contrary was true of mainland Asia and nearby islands. Duke devoted close attention to the cultivation and expansion of markets in these areas. Like many American entrepreneurs in the years around the opening of the twentieth century, Duke shared the dream of almost limitless profits to be garnered from the dense populations of the Far East. The countries there did not present identical pictures of market potential. The tobacco trade in Japan was what the government decided it was. The markets of India and Australia, like those in nearly all parts of the British Empire, already had been richly developed by Imperial Tobacco prior to 1902. China was another matter. It was fast being carved into spheres of influence by Western as well as by Japanese governments and special interests during the last years of the nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth. Britain’s strongholds on mainland China centered on Shanghai and the access it afforded to the sixty to seventy million people who lived along the first thousand miles of the Yangtze River. This was the prime market and potentially the world’s richest
Tobacco Companies Unite to Split World Markets
Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits Duke’s dealings with Ogden’s and creation of BritishAmerican. Many excellent photos. Ample notes replace bibliography. Useful index. Jacobstein, Meyer. The Tobacco Industry in the United States. New York: Columbia University Press, 1907. A still useful, readable, and widely available study with extensive coverage of American Tobacco and British-American. Many statistical tables. Ample informative notes, but no bibliography or index. Jones, Eliot. The Trust Problem in the United States. New York: Macmillan, 1923. Old but very valuable. Chapter 8 is excellent on the development of the Duke empire and useful on British-American. Tables, ample notes, extensive and still-pertinent bibliography. Fine index. Solid, clear, objective approach. Ripley, William Z., ed. Trusts, Pools, and Corporations. Boston: Ginn, 1916. Useful because of its fine selection of documents on many of the great trusts. Chapter 8 deals with the Environmental Tobacco empire and its expansion by means of British-American, using U.S. Bureau of Corporations documents. Informative, easy to read, and valuable; a standby among scholars and laypersons alike. Includes tables and notes. Seager, Henry R., and Charles A. Gulick. Trust and Corporation Problems. 1929. Reprint. New York: Ayer, 1988. Chapters 1-6 provide splendid background on the emergence of trusts and the arguments for and
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 against them. Chapters 10 and 11 deal in detail with American Tobacco and its related companies, including the deal to form British-American. Some tables, full notes, extensive and still-valid bibliography, and fine index. Stevens, William S., ed. Industrial Combinations and Trusts. New York: Macmillan, 1913. Edited documents and commentary relevant to the development of major trusts. Chapters 7 and 8 are extremely valuable in that they include the Imperial-American Tobacco agreements. Tables, some notes, no bibliography or index. Whitney, Simon N. Antitrust Policies: American Experience in Twenty Industries. 2 vols. New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1958. Sophisticated and authoritative, yet readable. Chapter 11 deals with the Tobacco Trust, American Tobacco, Imperial, and BritishAmerican. Centers on the dissolution of American Tobacco. Useful notes replace a bibliography. Some tables and an excellent index. See also: Feb. 14, 1903: Creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor; Mar. 14, 1904: U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities; May 15, 1911: U.S. Supreme Court Establishes the “Rule of Reason”; May 29, 1911: U.S. Supreme Court Breaks Up the American Tobacco Company; Oct. 15, 1914: Clayton Antitrust Act; Mar. 1, 1920: United States v. United States Steel Corporation.
December, 1902
Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits Walter S. Sutton determined that Mendel’s inherited traits of organisms are physically located on chromosomes. Locale: Columbia University Medical School, New York, New York Categories: Science and technology; biology; genetics Key Figures Walter S. Sutton (1877-1916), American geneticist and surgeon Theodor Boveri (1862-1915), German biologist Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), Austrian monk and botanist Carl Erich Correns (1864-1933), German geneticist 180
Summary of Event Beginning in 1856, an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel initiated a series of experiments with garden peas that would revolutionize biology in the twentieth century. Mendel cross-pollinated different lines of peas bred for certain characteristics (purple or white flower color, wrinkled or smooth seeds, and the like). From his extensive experiments, he concluded that each garden pea plant carries two copies of each characteristic trait (flower color, seed texture, and so on). He called these traits genes. Diploid organisms have two copies of each gene that may or may not be identical. Different forms of the same gene are called alleles. For example, the gene for flower color may have two alleles, one conferring purple flower
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Mitosis Nucleoplasm Nucleolus Nuclear envelope Chromosome
(1) Early prophase
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color and the other conferring white flower color. In most cases, one allele is dominant over other alleles for the same gene. For example, a plant having two purple flower-color alleles has purple flowers; a plant having two white flower-color alleles has white flowers. A plant having one purple and one white flower-color allele, however, has purple flowers; the dominant purple allele masks the white allele. It was later demonstrated that the encoding of proteins by genes is responsible for dominance relationships among alleles. Because most plants and animals reproduce sexually through the fusion of pollen (or sperm) with egg, Mendel discovered the pattern of transmission of these genetic traits (that is, inheritance) from parents to offspring. Although each individual has two copies of every gene, an individual can transmit only one copy of each gene (that is, only one of two alleles) to each of its offspring. One copy of each gene is transmitted from the male parent and one copy is transmitted from the female parent to each of their offspring. If a parent has two different alleles for a given gene, there is a fifty-fifty probability of either allele’s being transmitted. This is true for each of thousands of different genes conferring different characteristic traits. The inheritance of either allele operates by chance, as in flipping a coin, and that is what makes each individual of a species unique. Mendel summed up the random chance inheritance of different alleles of a gene in two principles. The first principle, allelic segregation, maintains that the different alleles for a given gene separate from each other during the formation of germ line cells (that is, sperm and egg). The second principle, independent assortment, maintains that different alleles of different genes arrange themselves randomly during germ cell production. For example, a person inherits two alleles of the gene for eye color and two alleles of the gene for hair color, one of the two alleles for each gene coming from either parent. Each parent can contribute any combination of the alleles for each gene, such as a brown eyecolor allele and blond hair-color allele, blue eye-color allele and blond hair-color allele, and so on, depending on which alleles each parent possesses. Independent assortment requires that the genes in question lie on different chromosomes. It was only by luck that Mendel studied traits located on different chromosomes, because he did not know that chromosomes are the physical carriers of genetic traits. When Mendel published his results in the 1866 Proceedings of the Brünn Society for Natural History, they were scarcely noticed. Twenty years passed before the importance of his research was understood.
Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits
(2) Mid-prophase
Chromatids Centromere with kinetochores
(3) Late prophase/ prometaphase
Pole Spindle fiber
(4) Metaphase
Daughter chromosomes
(5) Anaphase Chromosome Nucleolus Phragmoplast Nuclear envelope
(6) Telophase (Kimberly L. Dawson Kurnizki)
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Meiosis: Selected Phases
(1) Early prophase I
(2) Prophase I
(3) Late prophase I
(4) Metaphase I
(5) Anaphase I
(6) Metaphase II
(7) Anaphase II
(8) Late telophase II (Kimberly L. Dawson Kurnizki)
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 From 1885 to 1893, the German biologist Theodor Boveri researched the chromosomes of the roundworm Ascaris. Chromosomes are molecules composed mostly of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and protein. They are located within the nuclei of the cells of all living organisms. Boveri studied under Pierre-Joseph van Beneden, who discovered that sperm and egg each carry one-half of the chromosomes needed to begin a new organism. In the late 1890’s, Walter S. Sutton studied chromosomes of the grasshopper Brachyostola magna under Clarence Erwin McClung, discoverer of the sexdetermining X chromosome. Sutton constructed very detailed diagrams of Brachyostola chromosomes during various phases of organismal development, including chromosomal behavior during mitosis (chromosome doubling and separating prior to cell division) and meiosis (chromosome dividing and splitting in sperm and egg production). Both Sutton and Boveri were independently attempting to understand chromosomal structure and function. The breakthrough came in 1900, when the German biologist Carl Erich Correns rediscovered Mendel’s work with garden peas. Correns boldly proposed that the chromosomes of living organisms carry the organisms’ inherited traits. Unfortunately, he did not provide an exact mechanism, nor did he provide detailed experimental data to support his hypothesis. Correns’s hypothesis eventually caught the attention of both Sutton and Boveri. With Correns’s hypothesis, Mendel’s data, and his own research on Brachyostola chromosome behavior, Sutton began to derive a mechanism for the chromosomal transmission of inherited traits. Brachyostola magna is a diploid organism—that is, it contains two copies of every chromosome within each cell of its body. During the process of mitosis for a single cell, these chromosomes duplicate, so that there are four copies of each chromosome. By the end of mitosis, the four copies of each chromosome have been sep-
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Significance The Sutton and Boveri chromosomal theory of inheritance represents a major landmark in the history of biological thought. It reestablished Mendelism and provided a definite physical mechanism for inheritance. It demonstrated the molecular basis of life and thereby launched two successive waves of biological research in the twentieth century: the pre-World War II genetic and biochemical revolution and the postwar molecular biol-
ogy revolution that continues today. The theory has also been very useful for the study of human genetic disorders. Following Sutton’s and Boveri’s work, many geneticists began concentrating on chromosomes and how chromosomal genes actually confer individual traits. The English biochemist Sir Archibald E. Garrod coined the phrase “inborn errors of metabolism” to describe certain inherited genetic disorders, such as phenylketonuria and alkaptonuria. He attributed these genetic disorders in certain individuals to the lack of production of specific enzymes (proteins). He correctly hypothesized that a defective gene in an affected individual causes a defective enzyme resulting in a particular disorder. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, George Beadle, Edward Tatum, and Boris Ephrussi verified that one gene encodes one enzyme by studying eye-color mutations in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and biochemical/nutritional mutations in the pink bread mold Neurospora crassa. Thomas Hunt Morgan and his associates generated hundreds of mutations in Drosophila melanogaster and mapped these mutations to specific chromosome locations, thereby verifying Sutton and Boveri’s theory. The researchers generated mutations by using either chemicals or high-frequency ionizing radiation (for example, ultraviolet light and X rays). This work demonstrated that exposing living organisms to radiation and certain chemicals can cause chromosome and gene damage, often resulting in severe abnormalities and/or death in the exposed individuals and their descendants. Chromosome studies also proved useful as a tool for understanding evolution. Evolution is the mutational changes that occur in organisms over time, thereby giving rise to new types of organisms and new species that are better adapted to the environment. Theodosius Dobzhansky, Alfred H. Sturtevant, and other eminent geneticists obtained evidence supporting Darwinian evolution through chromosome studies of many different species, including Drosophila and Zea mays (corn). In 1928, Frederick Griffith discovered that some substance, which he called the “transforming factor,” could be passed from dead smooth Diplococcus pneumoniae to live rough Diplococcus pneumoniae, converting the rough bacterium into a smooth bacterium. Obviously, the transforming factor was a chromosome, but the chemical composition of the genetic material in the chromosome was unknown. Some biologists believed that the chromosome genetic material was DNA; others thought that it was protein. In 1944, Oswald Avery isolated and purified the transforming factor from Dip183
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arated into two groups of two chromosomes each. The cell then divides into two cells, with each of the two newly formed cells having two copies of each chromosome similar to their single parent cell. If inheritable traits are located on chromosomes, then mitosis would appear to be a very effective mechanism for properly duplicating and dividing the genes up into daughter cells during cell division. Likewise, during the process of meiosis for a sperm or egg cell, the chromosome number is halved from two copies to one copy of each chromosome per cell. This would explain van Beneden’s observations that sperm and egg cells each contain one copy of each chromosome and Mendel’s assertion that each parent can contribute only one copy of each gene to its offspring. The behavior of chromosomes during meiosis explains Mendel’s principles of allelic segregation and independent assortment. Sutton’s conclusions were reported in an article titled “On the Morphology of the Chromosome Group in Brachyostola magna,” which appeared in the December, 1902, issue of the Biological Bulletin. Sutton proposed that chromosomes physically contain genes and that the process of meiosis for sperm and egg production is the basis of Mendel’s two principles. He supported his propositions with detailed diagrams of Brachyostola chromosomes during various stages of meiosis. Boveri followed in 1903 with the same conclusion from his earlier observations of Ascaris chromosomes. Together, the two scientists’ findings culminated in the chromosomal theory of inheritance, one of the basic tenets of genetics and modern biology. The chromosomal theory of inheritance makes four assertions. First, the fusion of sperm and egg is responsible for reproduction— the formation of a new individual. Second, each sperm or egg cell carries one-half of the genes for the new individual, or one copy of each chromosome. Third, chromosomes carry genetic information and are separated during meiosis. Fourth, meiosis is the mechanism that best explains Mendel’s principles of allelic segregation and independent assortment.
Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits
Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits lococci, discovering it to be DNA. In 1953, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase provided compelling evidence for DNAas the chromosome’s genetic material in experiments using radioactively marked viruses. The same year, James D. Watson and Francis Crick proposed a physical model for DNA and a chromosomal mechanism by which DNA duplicates itself. The study of chromosomal abnormalities is invaluable to the identification of human genetic disorders. An individual’s chromosomes can be studied from blood cell samples, and fetal chromosomes can be obtained from amniotic cells extracted from the mother’s womb (amniocentesis). Many disorders, such as Down syndrome, can be identified before birth. The Sutton and Boveri chromosomal theory of inheritance has pervaded all areas of biology and medicine. —David Wason Hollar, Jr. Further Reading Cummings, Michael. Human Heredity: Principles and Issues. 6th ed. Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 2002. This highly illustrated text aimed at nonscience students presents the complex topic of heredity clearly, without oversimplifying the concepts discussed. Also addresses the social, cultural, and ethical implications of the use of genetic technology. Gardner, Eldon J., and D. Peter Snustad. Principles of Genetics. 7th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1984. This introductory genetics textbook for undergraduates is a detailed, comprehensive survey of the field. Discussions of key concepts are very clear and are supported by excellent diagrams and illustrations. The first three chapters, “Historical Perspectives,” “Mendelian Genetics,” and “Cell Mechanics,” discuss the scientific details of Sutton’s and Boveri’s work. Goodenough, Ursula. Genetics. 2d ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978. This introductory genetics textbook for undergraduates is clearly written, with careful explanations of difficult topics. Includes outstanding diagrams, extensive references, and brief historical sketches of prominent geneticists. Chapter 3, “The Meiotic Transmission of Chromosomes and the Principles of Mendelian Genetics,” describes the genetic basis of the chromosomal theory of inheritance. Lewis, Ricki. Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. This text designed for students who are not science majors explains what genes are, how they function, and how they interact with the environment. Includes discus184
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 sion of how the understanding of genetics has changed since completion of the Human Genome Project. Moore, John Alexander. Heredity and Development. New York: Oxford University Press, 1963. This introductory textbook provides an uncomplicated presentation of genetics. The work of Sutton and Boveri is described, along with Mendel’s two principles of inheritance and chromosome behavior during meiosis. Pai, Anna C. Foundations for Genetics: A Science for Society. 2d ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984. This genetics textbook presents a very down-to-earth discussion of the subject for the layperson. Describes Mendelian inheritance and the Sutton and Boveri chromosomal theory of inheritance and presents very clear explanations of chromosome behavior, mitosis, and meiosis. Raven, Peter H., et al. Biology. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Outstanding introductory biology textbook for undergraduate biology majors. Clearly written and features beautiful photographs and other illustrations. Provides an excellent presentation of patterns of inheritance for lay readers. Sang, James H. Genetics and Development. New York: Longman, 1984. This textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students is a concise but thorough summary of how genes control the development of living organisms. Describes numerous important experiments and includes an extensive reference list. Chapter 3, “Active Chromosomes,” describes the organization of genes on chromosomes. Starr, Cecie, and Ralph Taggart. Biology. 5th ed. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1989. This introductory biology textbook provides a very clear, concise summary of all biological disciplines. Includes excellent photographs and illustrations. Chapter 13, “Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance,” is an outstanding discussion of Sutton and Boveri’s theory and its relationship to Mendelian inheritance. See also: 1902: Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity; 1902: McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome; 1905: Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity; 1906: Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage; 1908: Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics; 1908-1915: Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory; 1909: Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype”; Fall, 1911: Sturtevant Produces the First Chromosome Map.
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Founding of the International Sanitary Bureau
December 2-5, 1902
Founding of the International Sanitary Bureau The International Sanitary Bureau was formed by nations of the Western Hemisphere to discuss diseases and other health matters specific to the Americas.
Key Figures Walter Wyman (1848-1911), surgeon general of the United States, 1891-1911, and first director of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau Hugh S. Cumming (1869-1948), surgeon general of the United States, 1920-1936, and head of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, 1920-1947 Carlos Juan Finlay (1833-1915), U.S.-trained Cuban physician who investigated yellow fever Carlos Chagas (1879-1934), Brazilian physician influential in the treatment of malaria and discoverer of Chagas disease Summary of Event From December 2 through 5, 1902, the First International Sanitary Convention of the American Republics met in Washington, D.C., to promote health in the Western Hemisphere. The convention gave birth to the oldest continuously operating, region-specific health agency: the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, later known as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The convention’s first meeting involved eleven countries from North, Central, and South America that were brought together by common health concerns. European nations first recognized the need for a cooperative approach to the management of disease, and in the mid-nineteenth century, the chief health concern was the epidemics that swept through the Old World. The Black Plague had shaped the history of the European continent for centuries; cholera was the principal scourge at the time of the International Sanitary Conferences in Europe. The first and second conferences were held in Paris in 1851 and 1859, the third in Constantinople in 1867, and the fourth in Vienna in 1874. These conferences, however, were unsatisfactory for the participants from the New World, because the Europeans focused primarily on cholera, whereas the Americans
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Also known as: First International Sanitary Convention of the American Republics; Pan American Sanitary Bureau; Pan American Health Organization Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Health and medicine; organizations and institutions
were confronting different problems. Although at the time it posed little threat to Europe, yellow fever was a major threat to the Americas. In the 1870’s, a yellow fever epidemic swept through South America from Brazil to Paraguay; more than fifteen thousand died in Buenos Aires alone. By 1878, the epidemic had reached the United States, where it spread the length of the Mississippi River. The yellow fever outbreak resulted in about one hundred thousand cases and had a 20 percent fatality rate. By the time the Fifth International Conference was held, it was clear that world health concerns could not be limited to the Old World. The Fifth Conference was held early in 1881 in Washington, D.C., and control of yellow fever was one of the conference’s central concerns. Ten diplomats and medical experts from the Western Hemisphere served as delegates, and among them was Carlos Juan Finlay, a Cuban physician who had trained in New York, who served as delegate from Cuba and Puerto Rico. During the conference, Finlay announced his observations that yellow fever required an intermediate agent (or vector) to transmit the disease to humans. That vector was soon recognized as the Culex mosquito Aedes aegypti (then designated as Stegomyia fasciata). Scientific discoveries like this made it clear that an organization specific to the Americas was needed. In 1890, the First International Conference of American States met in Washington to discuss issues pertinent to the hemisphere; the Second Conference was convened in Mexico City in October, 1901. Because of the need for a region-specific organization, the conference recommended the formation of a bureau to represent the American republics, one that would be specifically charged with the formulation of sanitary or health agreements and regulations, including facilitating communication about diseases; studying their transmission, spread, and treatment; quarantining; and regularly holding health conventions to discuss relevant discoveries and treatments. The organization, called the International Sanitary Bureau of the Americas, would be officially known as the Pan American Sanitary Bureau and would have a permanent executive board headquartered in Washington, D.C. The first International Sanitary Convention (as opposed to the International Sanitary Conferences of the nineteenth century) met in Washington from December 2 to 5, 1902. Eleven member countries were represented, and U.S. surgeon general Walter Wyman was designated
Founding of the International Sanitary Bureau as the organization’s first chairman. In 1905, the second International Sanitary Convention again took place in Washington, D.C. Yellow fever continued to be the major focus of discussion; fortunately, efforts at controlling the disease had been successful in Cuba, Panama, and Mexico. Conference delegates decided that national
PAHO Member Countries The International Sanitary Bureau was renamed the Pan American Sanitary Bureau in 1924 and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in 1949. By then, twenty-two countries had signed the Pan American Sanitary Code, which established the organization’s political and budgetary guidelines.
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Member Government
Date of Admission
Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Bahamas Barbados Belize Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru St. Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago United States Uruguay Venezuela
September 20, 1982 November 14, 1924 October 8,1974 October 2, 1967 September 20, 1982 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 September 27, 1971 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 September 21, 1981 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 September 29, 1977 November 14, 1924 October 2, 1947 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 August 23, 1962 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 September 24, 1984 September 22, 1980 September 21, 1981 September 29, 1976 September 20, 1963 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924 November 14, 1924
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 health authorities were to manage disease control and quarantine for their respective regions and that such matters would not be determined by the bureau. This action proved to be an important precedent that showed the efficacy of local (rather than continental) control of diseases. The third convention met in Mexico City in 1907 and established the Office of International Public Hygiene, the primary responsibility of which was to control yellow fever in the Americas. The convention also established the Sanitary Information Committee, which was designed to collect and disseminate data about public health issues. The name of the next meeting was officially changed from the International Sanitary Convention to the International Sanitary Conference. It met in San José, Costa Rica, from December, 1909, to January, 1910. The change in nomenclature coincided with a change in the nature of the meetings, in which the focus shifted from quarantine issues to promotion of health as a whole. Vaccinations against smallpox and malaria, campaigns against tuberculosis, and promotion of national legislation involving tropical diseases, however, were also of central concern. The fifth International Sanitary Conference met in Santiago, Chile, in November of 1911, and recommended that delegates be recognized as authorities in sanitation and medicine in their individual countries. The sixth conference was scheduled for 1915 but was postponed because of World War I. Beginning in World War I and until the end of World War II, there were three recognized health authorities in the world: the Office of International Public Hygiene, the health section of the League of Nations, and the Pan American Sanitary Bureau. Of these, only the bureau would grow and endure. After the conference’s postponement during World War I, the sixth conference convened in Montevideo, Uruguay, in December, 1920. Several important events occurred during this meeting. U.S. surgeon general Hugh S. Cumming was elected to head the bureau, the first executive committee was created, and a pan-American sanitation bulletin was envisioned. The first bulletin contained articles from authorities throughout the Americas, including the famous Brazilian scientist Carlos Chagas. The articles covered such topics as leprosy, hookworm, tooth care, sanitary engineering, diphtheria, water disinfection, yellow fever, syphilis, tuberculosis, industrial hygiene, and malaria. Ad-
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Significance The last cases of smallpox were seen in 1971, and smallpox eradication provided a model for the eradication of other diseases by inoculation and vector control. In the last half of the twentieth century, PAHO’s emphasis shifted from communicable diseases to chronic diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, and asthma, and emerging diseases such as HIV/AIDS and the hemorrhagic fevers. Although the specific concerns of the Pan American Health Organization have evolved, it has continued its invaluable work and retained a unique identity as an organization devoted to promoting health in the Americas. —Lesa Dill Further Reading Johnson, Harold J. United Nations: U.S. Participation in Five Affiliated International Organizations. New York: Diane, 1999. Discusses the status of the organizations affiliated with the United Nations, including the PAHO. Pan American Health Organization. Pro Salute Novi Mundi: A History of the Pan American Health Organization. Washington, D.C.: Author, 1992. Provides a detailed account of the PAHO. _______. Public Health in the Americas: Conceptual Renewal, Performance, Assessment, and Tools for Action. 2 vols. Washington, D.C.: Author, 2006. Comprehensive reference work about health and medicine in the region. New editions are published every four years. See also: May 14, 1907: Formation of the Plunket Society; 1908: Chlorination of the U.S. Water Supply Begins; Aug. 14, 1912: U.S. Public Health Service Is Established; May 14, 1913: Rockefeller Foundation Is Founded; 1930’s: Wolman Begins Investigating Water and Sewage Systems.
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ditionally, there was a regular feature summarizing the presence of infectious diseases within the Americas. Once again, the name of the conference changed, this time to the International Sanitary Conference and Bureau of the Americas. The name of the bulletin also changed to reflect the different designation. The bureau grew in the two decades leading up to World War II, distinguishing itself as the clearinghouse for health information. Beginning in 1924, the group issued an annual report on health conditions in member countries, appointed epidemiological assistants, and promoted the careful collection of statistical data on member governments. The eighth conference, in 1927, increased the interval between meetings from twelve to eighteen months and proposed a constitution for the Pan American Sanitary Bureau. The constitution was approved in 1934 at the ninth Pan American Conference. Health conditions in the Americas grew increasingly complex during the 1930’s and 1940’s. There were several outbreaks: plague in Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, and Chile; yellow fever in Brazil; typhus in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and the United States; undulant fever in the United States; and onchocerciasis (caused by filarial worms) in Guatemala and Mexico. Malaria, tuberculosis, and smallpox were constant problems, and the cancer rate began to increase. The Pan American Sanitary Bureau continued its war on communicable diseases well after the end of World War II. After the creation of the United Nations, the Pan American Health Bureau recognized the need to cooperate on issues of world concern, but there was no desire for the group to be completely absorbed into the World Health Organization. In 1949, the bureau was converted into the Regional Office of the World Health Organization, and its name changed to the Pan American Health Organization, although it continued to maintain its autonomy.
Founding of the International Sanitary Bureau
Delaware Revises Corporation Laws
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1903
Delaware Revises Corporation Laws When the state of Delaware liberalized its corporation code to attract more companies to the state, it became a mecca for corporate headquarters, benefiting the state, the thousands of corporations eventually located there, and executives and board members seeking refuge from legal action. Locale: Delaware Categories: Government and politics; trade and commerce; laws, acts, and legal history; business and labor Key Figures Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), governor of New Jersey, 1910-1912 Alfred I. du Pont (1864-1935), chief executive of the Du Pont Corporation Ebe Tunnell (1844-1917), governor of Delaware, 1897-1901 Simeon Pennewill (1867-1935), governor of Delaware, 1909-1913 Charles R. Miller (1857-1927), governor of Delaware, 1913-1917 Summary of Event Under the leadership of Governor Ebe Tunnell, Delaware passed its original corporation law in 1899. The law was modified for the first time in 1903, after which the legislature made periodic changes to increase the state’s attractiveness to business owners outside Delaware. By 1915, Delaware had acquired a reputation as one of the easiest states in the country in which to incorporate. The legislature nurtured Delaware’s reputation as a businessfriendly state and continued to make changes to entice businesses. Many of these changes were encouraged by members of the state’s famed du Pont family. Others were prompted by outsiders, such as Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey, whose changes in New Jersey’s laws gave Delaware the chance to attract businesses that fled New Jersey. That the du Ponts would influence Delaware’s approach to incorporation was no surprise. Ever since Pierre du Pont established his thriving explosives business in Delaware in the early 1800’s, the family had influenced events in the state. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Du Pont organization had established a virtual monopoly in the explosives industry. In fact, the government filed an antitrust suit against the company in 188
1907. That suit forced Du Pont to compete with two new companies created in response to the government’s action, Atlas and Hercules. Both companies, however, were owned largely by members of the du Pont family. Both were incorporated in Delaware, but neither manufactured any explosives in the state. The du Ponts learned early how to circumvent antitrust laws, and they applied their knowledge to create liberal corporation laws in Delaware. Several members of the du Pont family, most notably Alfred, Pierre, and Henry, encouraged the revisions in the state’s corporation laws in the early 1900’s. For example, at the urging of Governor Simeon Pennewill, the legislature modified its corporation code in 1911 to permit incorporation of the Du Pont Boulevard Corporation, which formed to build and operate Delaware’s first cross-state highway as a private enterprise. This was one of the earliest indications that the state legislature would revise the corporation laws as necessary to attract businesses and the income they provided. Ironically, the governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson, inadvertently became one of the biggest benefactors to Delaware’s drive to attract businesses through liberalization of its corporation laws. New Jersey was one of the first states in the country to pass corporation laws. By the mid-nineteenth century, New Jersey, along with Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York, had passed general corporation laws that applied to manufacturing, banking, and transportation companies. The Delaware government, on the other hand, was in no hurry to lose control over businesses. In general, state governments in the late nineteenth century did not recognize, or chose to ignore, the benefits of corporations. They thought that corporations were by and large devices for making legal many acts that were detrimental to the public interest. In general, corporate leaders were viewed as people who used their power to exploit labor, stockholders, and the public, and there certainly was good cause for this view. For example, on October 8, 1882, in response to a reporter who asked whether he would compete with the Pennsylvania Railroad’s newly introduced express service, William H. Vanderbilt, president of the New York Central Railroad, allegedly said, “The public be damned.” He subsequently denied making the statement, after a popular uproar ensued. Whether he said it or not, the words typified the attitude of some tycoons toward business and the
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
most notably Delaware, to lure companies away. Before leaving office to assume the presidency of the United States, Governor Wilson induced the New Jersey legislature to pass laws that severely inhibited corporations domiciled in the state. For example, the acts forbade holding companies, curtailed interlocking directorates, and provided for the revocation of charters as penalty for infractions of the laws. The laws were not received well in New Jersey, but their passage was welcomed in Delaware. Corporate leaders believed that Wilson had transcended common sense in promoting these laws, which they viewed as personal affronts. Not only did the laws place severe restrictions on corporate activities, but they also attempted to make corporate guilt personal. One of Wilson’s goals was to make corporate leaders responsible for their companies’ misdeeds. This did not sit well with executives, who believed that corporate charters should protect them from responsibility. Faced with the possibility of personal culpability, corporate leaders preferred to move elsewhere. Delaware was a promising choice. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Delaware’s legislators had grown envious of New Jersey’s reputation as a home to corporations. Government leaders realized that tremendous financial potential lay in the liberalization of corporations laws. The turmoil in New Jersey presented them with a unique opportunity to lure companies to their state. New Jersey legislators were not about to lose, without a fight, their state’s status as a home to thousands of companies and the financial advantages they presented. In 1920, under the leadership of Democratic governor Edward I. Edwards, the New Jersey legislature repealed the laws Wilson had promoted, but the damage was already done. Delaware liberalized its corporation laws considerably during the early 1900’s in an effort to attract businesses. Governors such as Simeon Pennewill (19091913) and his successor, Charles R. Miller (1913-1917), pushed for new laws designed to facilitate incorporation. The legislature gave up its traditional method of incorporating one company at a time in recognition of the fact that the practice discouraged entrepreneurs from establishing businesses in the state. General incorporation quickly became the practice in Delaware. One of the by-products of the new approach was an easing of the severe limits on executives’ abilities to run their companies as they saw fit. The state’s new laws allowed managers to run things as they liked with little or no interference from stockholders, directors, or government officials. The laws also addressed the issue of exec189
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public, an attitude that accounted in part for Delaware’s reluctance to establish corporation laws. Legislators in Delaware, like their counterparts in many other states, preferred to pass a specific act to create each company instead of enacting general laws of incorporation. Therefore, more progressive eastern states, particularly New Jersey, more often became homes to large corporations. It took Delaware a while to recognize the benefits of general laws of incorporation. Once the state’s leaders did, however, Delaware became the home of thousands of corporations of all sizes engaging in a wide variety of businesses. Perhaps the biggest boost to Delaware’s switch from strict regulation of business to liberal corporation laws was the antitrust movement that swept the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There was a growing tendency to form trusts in many industries in the country in the late 1800’s. Perhaps the most significant trust was that formed by the Standard Oil Company. The company, incorporated in New Jersey, became a symbol of all that was wrong with trusts. John D. Rockefeller used his position as the head of the world’s largest oil company to squash competition ruthlessly, force railroads into giving him secret rebates, and influence political contests. By 1879, his company controlled 95 percent of the refining capacity in the United States. Rockefeller gave trusts a bad name. Under a trust agreement, the stockholders of the companies whose boards of directors formed the trust deposited their certificates of shares of common stock with a board of trustees and received in exchange certificates of deposit from trustees. Boards of trustees were invested with the power to vote the number of shares of the operating companies they held. This meant they were able to elect members of the boards of directors of the operating companies whose common stocks were deposited with them and thereby control those companies’ policies. These interlocking boards of trustees controlled entire industries, with trusts operating in railroads, tobacco, and oil. By December 31, 1903, 266 trusts were in existence, 234 of which had been formed between 1898 and 1903. The growth in trusts occurred despite the fact that federal laws such as the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) and Interstate Commerce Act (1887) had been put in place to curb them. The zeal to limit trusts filtered down to the state level. Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey was a staunch antitrust advocate. Consequently, he strove to reduce the powers of the large corporations incorporated in New Jersey. In so doing, he opened the door to other states,
Delaware Revises Corporation Laws
Delaware Revises Corporation Laws utive responsibility. The corporation code, which became the model for other corporation codes across the country, empowered companies to purchase and maintain insurance against liability for their executives in the event of any wrongdoing, “whether or not the corporation would have the power to indemnify [them] against such liability under the provisions” of the rest of the code. Loosely interpreted, Delaware’s code was an invitation to corporations to provide executives with insurance protection that went beyond the lax indemnification standards that had previously existed. This inclusion in the code provided added incentive for corporations seeking to move. Other provisions in the code cut back on stockholders’ interference in corporate operations. For example, the certificate of incorporation included the phrase “creating, defining, limiting and regulating the powers of . . . the stockholders . . . if such provisions are not contrary to the laws of this State.” The vague wording did not actually stipulate that stockholders could not inspect company books. It did, however, give the corporation the right to establish exactly when stockholders could inspect the books and for what purpose, limiting inspections to times when they did not interfere unreasonably with the company’s business. The laxity in the code encouraged executives to experiment with their corporate bylaws with an eye to letting the courts decide whether the provisions were legal. One company included in its bylaws a provision that its board of directors alone would have the power to determine when—if at all—stockholders would be able to inspect the company’s books. The specific bylaw stated explicitly that “except as provided above, no stockholder shall have any right to inspect any account, record, book or document of the Corporation.” The Delaware legislature imposed lower corporate franchise taxes than did competing states such as New York and Illinois. When corporate leaders in New Jersey looked for a new home, they did not have to search any farther than the state’s southern boundary. Companies made a mass exodus to Delaware from New Jersey as well as other states, and new companies increasingly made Delaware their legal home. Significance Applications for incorporation flooded Delaware, and the number of corporations headquartered there has continued to grow over the years. By 1974, 76,000 corporations were headquartered in the state, including such giants as General Motors, General Electric, and IBM 190
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 (International Business Machines). By 2005, more than 600,000 businesses had established their legal homes in Delaware. Many of the companies emigrated from other states to take advantage of Delaware’s liberal corporation code. As of 2005, more than half of U.S. publicly traded enterprises and nearly 60 percent of the Fortune 500 companies made Delaware their home. The state’s liberal corporation laws gave people engaged in all types of businesses the opportunity to incorporate without ever setting foot in the state. According to the state’s code, corporations do not have to have any employees. In fact, they do not even have to maintain a physical presence in the state. All they have to do is operate legally within the liberal provisions of the code and pay the necessary franchise taxes. That means simply that they must, according to the code, “engage in any lawful act or activity for which corporations may be organized.” The income Delaware derived from the liberalization of its laws represented an enormous benefit to the state and had a major effect on its tax structure. The franchise taxes collected as a result of the influx of corporations became the state’s second-largest source of revenue. In addition, liberalization of the code created a thriving business among lawyers and incorporating firms whose primary function was to assist people from outside Delaware in establishing their own corporations. Perhaps the biggest advantage to Delaware lay in the way the corporation code affected the state’s fiscal policies. In effect, the large number of corporations led to a two-tiered financial structure. The state government obtained its revenues mostly from business and corporate taxes. Local income, on the other hand, came primarily from property taxes. Eventually, the state’s tax structure changed to include a progressive income tax, but corporate franchise taxes continued to play an important role in Delaware’s finances. Moreover, as a large number of the corporations headquartered in Delaware did not maintain a presence in the state, there was no need for large numbers of government workers to process paperwork, and Delaware could operate on a budget smaller than the budgets of some major cities in the area, such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. Companies also benefited from the liberalized laws. Executives realized early that Delaware’s corporation code presented them with a set of well-established corporate law precedents. Over the years, many cases that reached the courts were settled quickly in management’s favor. The stability in the judicial system alleviated executives’ fears about falling prey to whimsical court deci-
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Further Reading Aranow, Edward Ross, and Herbert A. Einhorn. Proxy Contests for Corporate Control. 2d ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1968. This scholarly but easily understood book focuses on aspects of corporation life to which Delaware paid special attention. Cunningham, John T. New Jersey: America’s Main Road. Maps by Homer Hill. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966. Presents an excellent analysis of Woodrow Wilson’s governorship in New Jersey and
how his legislation encouraged Delaware to liberalize its corporation laws. Myers, William Starr, ed. The Story of New Jersey. 5 vols. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1945. This multivolume history thoroughly documents New Jersey’s status as a home to corporations and details Wilson’s role in driving companies to Delaware. Peirce, Neal R., and Michael Barone. The Mid-Atlantic States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Five Mid-Atlantic States and the Nation’s Capital. New York: W. W. Norton, 1977. Provides a concise history of Delaware with particular emphasis on the state’s corporation code. Stone, Christopher D. Where the Law Ends: The Social Control of Corporate Behavior. New York: Harper & Row, 1975. Provides an excellent description of the relationship between corporations and society and discusses the importance of corporate charters and the responsibilities of executives. Tuttle, Frank W., and Joseph M. Perry. An Economic History of the United States. Cincinnati: SouthWestern, 1970. An excellent overview of antitrust sentiment in the early 1900’s and how it contributed to Delaware’s rise as a home to major U.S. corporations. See also: Feb. 26, 1901: Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation; May 29, 1911: U.S. Supreme Court Breaks Up the American Tobacco Company; Oct. 15, 1914: Clayton Antitrust Act; Dec., 1930: Du Pont Introduces Freon; Feb., 1935-Oct. 27, 1938: Carothers Invents Nylon.
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sions and strengthened their resolve to remain in Delaware. This stability had a dual effect: It discouraged people such as disgruntled stockholders from filing lawsuits against corporations, and it provided managers with a knowledge of exactly what they could and could not do. Executives knew that if they did end up in court for some reason, decisions would be handed down quickly, generally in management’s favor. These were simply added incentives for corporations to move to Delaware. Delaware’s political and government leaders took advantage of other states’ shortsightedness at the beginning of the twentieth century to build a strong, lucrative corporate base. Their success led other states to emulate Delaware’s approach to liberalization in corporate codes. Consequently, competition among the states cut into Delaware’s success to some extent. The number of new incorporations in the state diminished somewhat over the years, but Delaware remained the acknowledged leader in providing a liberal home for corporations of all types. —Arthur G. Sharp
Delaware Revises Corporation Laws
Hoffmann and Moser Found the Wiener Werkstätte
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1903
Hoffmann and Moser Found the Wiener Werkstätte Through innovative and popular designs, the Wiener Werkstätte helped to lay the basis for the establishment of modern art in Central Europe. Locale: Vienna, Austria Categories: Fashion and design; arts Key Figures Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956), Austrian architect and designer Koloman Moser (1868-1918), Austrian designer Fritz Wärendorf (1869-1939), Austrian textile magnate Otto Wagner (1841-1918), Austrian architect Dagobert Peche (1887-1923), Austrian designer Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), Austrian artist Summary of Event In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the artistic establishment of Vienna, then the capital of a large empire, was conservative to the point of being reactionary. During the 1850’s and 1860’s, the medieval ramparts of the city had been demolished and replaced by a great circular avenue lined, to the dismay of progressive architects and artists, with grandiose buildings lacking in originality of design. The Künstlerhaus (House of Artists), which had been established to promote modern art, was governed by archconservatives hostile to innovative ideas of any kind. The Austrian Museum of Art and Industry and its School of Arts and Crafts, created to foster understanding between art and industry, was equally unprogressive. Abreak came in 1894, when Otto Wagner, a structural rationalist, became head of the Architectural School of the Academy of Fine Arts. Among his students were Josef Hoffmann, who became one of Austria’s leading modern architects, and Koloman Moser, a highly imaginative designer. Wagner encouraged both to develop in new and innovative ways. Another break in the conservative hold on art came three years later, when the avant-garde artist Gustav Klimt headed a challenge to the Künstlerhaus’s monopoly on modern art by forming a dissident group called the Secessionists. Both Hoffmann and Moser joined the Secessionists. That same year, the Museum of Art and Industry installed a new, more liberal director, Hofrat von Scala, who was also a member of the Secessionists. He, in turn, appointed the progressive Felician von Myrbach as director of the School of Arts and Crafts. Both 192
Hoffmann and Moser subsequently joined the school’s faculty. The way was now open to change. In addition to the Art Nouveau style, another influence on the development of modern art at the time was the Arts and Crafts movement developed in England under John Ruskin and William Morris. Dedicated to craftsmanship and individual creativity, the movement’s members hoped to counter the ugliness and uniformity of the machine age through the creation of handsome yet simple designs using honest materials. The movement had a pronounced effect on the Secessionists, who tended to divide into two groups, the stylists and the naturalists. The former were applied artists or designers, whereas the latter were studio or fine artists. Animosity developed between the two groups, in part because the studio artists considered themselves to be superior to applied artists. Hoffmann and Moser saw themselves both as designers and artists. As Hermann Bahr, a leading journalist of the day, stated, what was needed was an organization that would bridge the gap between art and craftsmanship, giving equality to artists and craftsmen alike. Hoffmann and Moser wanted to create such an organization, and Fritz Wärendorf, a wealthy textile magnate familiar with the Arts and Crafts movement from his frequent visits to England, offered financial support. They quickly established the Wiener Werkstätte (Viennese workshops), dedicated to the idea that the work of fine craftsmen, or artisans, is equal to the work of fine artists. A combination of the finest materials, superb craftsmanship, and innovative designs (largely created by Hoffmann and Moser) resulted in the Werkstätte’s producing a variety of beautiful objects that delighted a small but wealthy and influential segment of the Viennese bourgeoisie. A successful exhibition in Berlin in 1904 established the reputation of the Werkstätte outside Austria. At first largely confined to working in precious metals, ivory, and leather, the Werkstätte eventually expanded into furniture, enamel, bookbinding, graphics, knitwear, beadwork, embroidery, ceramics, glass, carpets, wallpaper, lacework, and woven, printed, and painted fabric. The objective was the creation of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or complete work of art. The concept already existed in opera, as exemplified especially by the music dramas of Richard Wagner, which combined music, theater, dance, literature, and the decorative arts.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Hoffmann realized the objective of Gesamtkunstwerk between 1905 and 1911 with the building of the Palais Stoclet in Brussels. Adolphe Stoclet, a wealthy Belgian industrialist, admired Hoffmann’s architectural designs, and when Stoclet inherited a huge fortune on the death of his father, Hoffmann persuaded him to commission the construction of a house in Brussels completely designed by the Wiener Werkstätte, with no consideration given to cost. The house became a landmark in modern architecture, admired even by Hoffmann’s critics. Every detail, down to the doorknobs, was designed by the Werkstätte. Some claimed it was the most perfect house ever designed. Moser resigned from the Werkstätte in 1907, discouraged by the group’s casual method of operation and the continual waste of expensive materials resulting from lack of planning and supervision. Hoffmann, however, refused to put any restraint on either the artists or the artisans, nor would he entertain the idea, despite repeated suggestions, that the Werkstätte design for the commercial market. The only exception was the Werkstätte’s creation of chairs designed by the firm of Thonet. Dagobert Peche replaced Moser as chief designer. His preference for a softer, more playful and decorative style was a definite influence on the development of Art Deco.
Because the cost of the Werkstätte’s items, although high, never covered the cost of production, benefactors constantly had to be found to cover the deficits. Nevertheless, its creations were increasingly admired and purchased, and the Werkstätte might have existed indefinitely had it not been for World War I. A number of the Werkstätte’s artists were killed during the war, including Klimt. More important, the defeat devastated Austria, leaving Vienna the impoverished capital of a truncated state. In 1920, the Werkstätte mounted an exhibition of items that seemed not only excessively costly but frivolous; it drew largely unfavorable comments and few customers. Peche died in 1923. Hoffmann, although increasingly occupied by his architectural practice, insisted that the Werkstätte’s customary method of operation continue even though customers who could afford the expensively crafted products grew ever fewer with the onset of the Great Depression. Supporters attempted to keep the Werkstätte alive by opening branches in Berlin and New York, but the effort failed. All the Werkstätte’s shops closed in 1932, and the remaining stock was sold at a bankruptcy sale. Hoffmann once commented that were its products to appear in every shopwindow, the Wiener Werkstätte would soon be forgotten. Individualistic styling, superb craftsmanship, and limited production are the characteristics that have made the creations of the Werkstätte increasingly valuable and appreciated and have kept its name alive. Significance It is difficult to establish any direct impact of the founding of the Wiener Werkstätte on the art world of the early twentieth century. The production of the Werkstätte was limited and followed no particular style. Its influence cannot be compared with that of movements such as Impressionism, expressionism, and Surrealism. The Wiener Werkstätte did have considerable indirect impact, however. The art world of Vienna in the last decades of the nineteenth century was almost moribund. Such style as existed was the “Makart style,” named for Hans Makart, who specialized in exuberant and eclectic historical paintings glorifying past achievements of the Habsburg Dynasty, which still ruled in Vienna. The founding of the Secessionist movement in 1897 and the ensuing establishment of the Wiener Werkstätte effected significant changes. Vienna in the decades before World War I was witness to an amazing flowering of modern art of which 193
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Josef Hoffmann.
Hoffmann and Moser Found the Wiener Werkstätte
Hoffmann and Moser Found the Wiener Werkstätte the Wiener Werkstätte was an integral part and to which the Werkstätte made lasting contributions felt not only in Vienna but outside Austria as well. Among the greatest composers of the new art was Gustav Mahler, who was also director of the Vienna Court Opera. Mahler’s father-in-law, Carl Moll, a member of the Secessionist movement, organized the first Wiener Werkstätte exhibition in Vienna. In 1902, Hoffmann designed a major exhibition honoring Ludwig van Beethoven for which Mahler wrote an arrangement of the Ninth Symphony and Klimt designed a frieze. Although technically sponsored by the Secessionists, the exhibition actually was the work of the Werkstätte, which was formally organized a year later. In the fine arts, three of the greatest Viennese artists of the day were Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Oskar Kokoschka, all of whom were associated with the Werkstätte. The Werkstätte commissioned and sold Schiele’s works when no other dealers would do so because of the works’ sexually explicit nature. The same support was given to Kokoschka, whose agitated style and “psychological portraits” disturbed even members of the avant-garde. Kokoschka left Austria for Germany to become part of German expressionism. The Werkstätte contributed to literature through bookbinding, lettering, and graphics; it contributed to fashion through textile, clothing, and jewelry designs; it designed the first loose-fitting dress to free women from corsets—a design admired and emulated by Paul Poiret, the Parisian couturier. When the playwright and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal wished the great Eleonora Duse to perform in his new play Elektra (pr. 1903), she agreed to do so only if the Werkstätte designed both her costumes and her jewelry. A connection can also be drawn between the theories of Sigmund Freud, the Viennese father of psychoanalysis, and the works of Schiele and Kokoschka. One of the reasons many of the designs of the Werkstätte were so popular was that they seemed sensuous and even mildly erotic. The greatest impact of the Wiener Werkstätte in the field of modern art and design, however, was inadvertent. In 1907, Joseph Maria Olbrich, the architect of the Secessionist headquarters, and Josef Hoffmann were among those who sponsored the Deutscher Werkbund (German alliance of craftsmen), the aim of which was to enhance the position of craftsmanship through cooperation among art, industry, and handicraft. Whereas the Art and Crafts movement and the Werkstätte had for the most part rejected methods of machine production, the Werkbund embraced them wholeheartedly. 194
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Among the members of the Werkbund was Walter Gropius, a young German architect. In 1911, the same year Hoffmann completed the Palais Stoclet, Gropius designed a building with revolutionary “curtain” walls. Whereas Hoffmann’s building was a magnificent private residence, Gropius’s was a factory that would serve as a prototype for what became known as the International Style in architecture, a style repeated thousands of times all over the world. In 1918, Gropius founded the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany, with the intent of creating good prototype designs that would be mass-produced to adorn the homes of the general public. The Wiener Werkstätte, in a sense, became the link between the Arts and Crafts movement of Ruskin and Morris and the Weimar Bauhaus of Gropius. The Wiener Werkstätte can be said to have been the midwife to the birth of modern industrial design. — Nis Petersen Further Reading Adlmann, Jan E. Vienna Moderne, 1898-1918. Houston, Tex.: Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery, 1978. Catalog for an exhibition of Wiener Werkstätte designs mounted by the University of Houston in 1979. Contains instructive short essays on the philosophy of design by authorities such as Friedrich Poppenberg and Walter Gropius. A valuable feature is a list of the initials used to identify works by the Wiener Werkstätte. Brändstatter, Christian. Wiener Werkstätte: Design in Vienna 1903-1932. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003. Offers as complete a record as possible of the Wiener Werkstätte’s creative work, from complex, integrated environments such as Hoffmann’s Palais Stoclet to individual objects such as enameled-glass stemware by Otto Prutscher and vibrantly colored postcards by Oskar Kokoschka. Heavily illustrated. Delano Greenridge Editions. Josef Hoffmann: Furniture, Design, and Objects. New York: Author, 2003. Provides a comprehensive look at Hoffmann’s designs for furniture, decorative objects, and printed material for the interiors of his visionary buildings. Kallir, Jane. Viennese Design and the Wiener Werkstätte. New York: George Braziller, 1986. Kallir is codirector of a New York gallery that specializes in the works of twentieth century German and Austrian artists, and so is knowledgeable about her subject, but some of her assertions, such as that the notion of Gesamtkunstwerk served as a starting point for the establishment of the Werkstätte, may be disputed. The book is divided into five parts: background, history,
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 architecture, fashion, and the graphic arts. Includes detailed notes and an excellent chronology. Neuwirth, Waltraud. Wiener Werkstätte: Avant-Garde, Art Deco, Industrial Design. Translated by Andrew Smith. Vienna: Neuwirth, 1984. Catalog of designs from the archives of the Wiener Werkstätte in the Austrian Museum of Applied Art in Vienna. Presents a wide range of styles, from Art Nouveau to proto-Art Deco, but most are uniquely the creations of the designers and artists. Includes examples of furniture, lace, pottery, jewelry, silver, enamel work, and graphics. Schweiger, Werner J. Wiener Werkstaette: Design in Vienna, 1903-1932. Translated by Alexander Lieven. New York: Abbeville Press, 1984. One of the most comprehensive works available in English on the Werkstätte. Schweiger, a native Austrian, is obviously enamored of his subject; this makes some of his
Scott Publishes The Theory of Advertising observations open to question. Includes brief biographies of artists associated with the Werkstätte. Profusely illustrated. Sekler, Eduard Franz. Josef Hoffmann. Translated by E. G. Sekler. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985. A comprehensive study of Hoffmann’s life, philosophy, and works. Focuses on Hoffmann’s architectural creations, with the Palais Stoclet receiving extensive coverage. Excellent appendixes, including considerable primary material concerning Hoffmann. Many detailed black-and-white photographs. See also: 1905: Hoffmann Designs the Palais Stoclet; Oct., 1907: Deutscher Werkbund Is Founded; Oct., 1909: Completion of the AEG Turbine Factory; 1919: German Artists Found the Bauhaus; 1937: Prouvé Pioneers Architectural Prefabrication; 1937-1938: Aalto Designs Villa Mairea. 1903
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Scott Publishes THE THEORY OF ADVERTISING By placing advertising on a scientific basis, Walter Dill Scott taught American businesspeople how to manipulate consumers’ tastes and buying habits. Locale: Boston, Massachusetts Categories: Marketing and advertising; publishing and journalism Key Figures Walter Dill Scott (1869-1955), American professor of psychology and education Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), German professor of psychology at the University of Leipzig Summary of Event Walter Dill Scott received his Ph.D. in 1900 at the University of Leipzig, where he studied under the famous Wilhelm Wundt, who was attempting to make an exact science of psychology. Scott was fascinated with the potential of this budding science and devoted his life to studying its principles. He was associate professor of psychology and education at the prestigious Northwestern University from 1901 to 1908, professor of psychology at Northwestern from 1908 to 1920, and president of that university from 1921 until he retired in 1939. Scott published many books on the application of scientific psychological principles to business practice. He
was imbued with the spirit of progress that characterized the early part of the twentieth century and sincerely believed that the free enterprise system would provide nothing but good things for the American people. Several of his books dealt with the subject of advertising, and all were popular with businesspeople because he offered advice that was badly needed and unavailable from other sources. Advertising was in its infancy in the early part of the twentieth century. Many businesspeople understood its awesome potential, but no one understood how to make it work effectively and predictably. It was not enough merely to attract attention to a product; businesspeople wanted to know how to make potential consumers remember their products and desire them to the extent that they would purchase them instead of competitors’ products, perhaps even paying a premium for the privilege. In Scott’s first book on advertising, The Theory of Advertising: A Simple Exposition of the Principles of Psychology in Their Relation to Successful Advertising (1903), he offered six fundamental rules for attracting attention. He went on to discuss in simple language how to make a product remembered, how to make it desirable, and how to motivate buyers to act. One reason for the success of Scott’s books on advertising was that they were copiously illustrated with ad195
Scott Publishes The Theory of Advertising vertisements taken from popular newspapers and magazines. Television did not yet exist, and radio advertising was insignificant until the 1920’s; print was thus the primary medium for advertising. Furthermore, advertising of the early twentieth century was mainly illustrated with line drawings or black-and-white sketches, because printing in colors and reproduction of photographs were both in primitive stages of development. Essentially, magazines published “institutional ads,” or ads designed to create appealing images of companies, and newspapers published “retail ads,” or ads designed to motivate people to make immediate purchases. The illustrations in Scott’s books show the dominant forms of advertising of the period. Scott’s first book on advertising had a powerful impact on American businesspeople for other reasons as well. Scott had a distinguished reputation as an innovator in both education and psychology. His book was well written, easy for laypersons to understand, and illustrated with actual advertisements that were often amusing as well as thought-provoking. Scott not only explained his theories in clear terms but also proved them, or at least illustrated their applicability, with numerous examples. Being an expert in the field of applied psychology, he knew how to apply his own psychological principles to influence his readers. Furthermore, he made it obvious that advertising as it existed in 1903 was very much a hit-and-miss operation. No one in the business world knew how to obtain results with advertising on a consistent basis. Readers could clearly see that Scott knew what he was talking about. If an ad he reprinted in his book was effective, he explained why it was effective; if an ad was ineffective or actually repellent, he explained exactly why this was the case based on the psychological principles he expounded. The ads reproduced in Scott’s books may seem quaint and innocuous to modern readers in comparison with dynamic television advertising campaigns that sometimes cost millions of dollars. The principles of psychological manipulation laid down by Scott and illustrated in these advertisements, however, can be seen at work even in the most recent products of twenty-first century advertising agencies. It is easy for modern readers of Scott’s books to understand why particular ads would have been effective and why others would have been a waste of the advertisers’ money. Scott discussed the importance of using direct commands in ads, such as “Buy it now!” In his explications of certain ads, he showed how the use of a picture of an au196
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 thority figure, such as a doctor, can enhance the effectiveness of direct commands. He discussed the art of using coupons and questionnaires in ads to help readers remember products through interaction with the products’ makers. He also pointed out the importance of repetition, one of the most annoying but also most effective aspects of modern advertising on television. In later books on advertising, Scott went even deeper into applied psychology. Probably his most portentous observations had to do with the notion of appealing to basic human instincts such as self-preservation, hunting, parenting, and gaining social status. It is now common practice for marketers to appeal to human instincts to sell almost any kind of product or service. For example, an ad that shows a group of happy and obviously affluent people drinking a certain brand of wine at a dinner party will probably appeal to the viewer’s desire to belong and to be important. Ads showing people buying their children expensive clothing or driving them to school in luxury cars appeal to the viewer’s parental instinct. Because advertising was still in its infancy at the time he was writing, the idealistic and well-meaning Scott did
Walter Dill Scott. (Library of Congress)
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could use advertising to raise profits by increasing demand without improving quality. It may truthfully be said that advertising, using psychological principles first enunciated by Scott, revolutionized American business. Beer provides some good examples of the power of advertising because it is such a heavily advertised product. At one time, thousands of small local breweries operated in the United States; with mass advertising, the market came to be dominated by only a few well-known brands. Large companies can afford expensive advertising campaigns to keep their names in the public’s mind. The world of franchising offers another good example of the power of advertising. It was mainly through advertising that the American landscape came to be covered with franchises of national firms, McDonald’s and other fast-food outlets prominent among them. Although these enterprises are independently owned, the owners have found it profitable to operate under a common name precisely because that common name can be made known to the public. Travelers in unfamiliar surroundings know what they will get at a McDonald’s restaurant; they do not have to risk trying a local establishment. Scott was essentially a scholar and idealist. He did not foresee the harmful ways in which his psychological theories could be used by entrepreneurs who are more interested in profit than in science. It was not long after The Theory of Advertising was published that outcries were heard against abuses of advertising. Over the years, critics of advertising have made many charges. They have claimed that advertising encourages materialism, greed, and selfishness; that it contributes to environmental decay by encouraging consumption and waste; that it promotes alcohol and tobacco consumption and thus contributes to the deaths of half a million Americans annually; that it perpetuates class differences by tempting low-income people to waste their money on lotteries, liquor, and other products; and that it encourages class hatred by creating dissatisfaction, envy, and insecurity. Advertisers defend themselves by noting that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees their freedom of speech. The sheer power of advertising to shape people’s minds, however, did bring about a counterreaction that gradually forced some measures of government regulation and self-regulation by the industry. In 1912, the Associated Advertising Clubs of America adopted the “Truth in Advertising Code” in an attempt to protect members from more stringent regulation by the government. In 1938, the Wheeler-Lea Act gave the Federal Trade Commission jurisdiction over false or mislead197
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Significance Many of Scott’s ideas on the use of applied psychology in advertising seem elementary and obvious to modern readers, who are bombarded by sophisticated television commercials and many other forms of advertising. In Scott’s time, however, the principles he expounded came as a revelation to many businesspeople, who knew that advertising was the secret of success but did not understand exactly how to use it. Within a short time after The Theory of Advertising was published, many companies began employing advertising experts rather than leaving ad creation up to their merchandising departments. Others found it expedient to employ the services of independent agencies that specialized in every aspect of advertising, including layout, illustration, copywriting, market testing, and deciding in which publications to place ads in order to reach specially targeted consumers. These agencies prospered because they could offer their services free of charge to their clients; they customarily received payment from the media—the newspapers and magazines, and later radio and television stations—in the form of a percentage of the fees charged to the clients. Advertising began to reshape Americans’ consciousness. People were conditioned to want more and better things. Automobile advertising is an interesting example. Manufacturers stopped bragging about the durability of cars and began appealing to such instincts as the desire for prestige and the desire to appeal to members of the opposite sex. Advertising helped produce the phenomenon of planned obsolescence by magnifying minor stylistic changes in automobile design in order to make older models seem undesirable. At first, advertising was largely confined to newspapers, magazines, and billboards. With the advent of radio and especially with television, advertising became a powerful force in manipulating not only American buying habits but also American voting habits. Political candidates found that they had to hire advertising experts to shape their public images and present them to the public in an appealing light. Advertising enabled some companies to grow so much that they were able to drive smaller competitors out of business. Many businesspeople learned that they
Scott Publishes The Theory of Advertising
Scott Publishes The Theory of Advertising ing advertising. In 1971, the National Advertising Review Council was established; this independent selfregulatory body for the advertising industry was formed through an alliance of the Council of Better Business Bureaus with the Association of National Advertisers, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, and the American Advertising Federation. In 1970, after considerable debate, cigarette ads were banned from U.S. radio and television. In 1976, the Federal Trade Commission issued a set of rules on the preparation of advertising directed at children. At the end of the twentieth century, some commentators began to raise questions about the ethics of direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs. Advertising on the Internet was a topic of discussion as well, one that is ongoing in the twenty-first century; although American advertisers are legally and ethically required to meet the same standards as those for other media when creating Internet ads, the nature of the Internet makes enforcement of those standards very difficult. The heated debate over advertising continues. Defenders of the rights of advertisers contend that government censorship limits the free circulation of ideas and could lead to consumers’ being misinformed or unaware of beneficial opportunities. Further, they claim that advertising stimulates the economy, creates jobs, encourages the creation of new goods and services, keeps the public informed of important developments in commerce and politics, and promotes wholesome competition for the consumer’s dollar. Those who blame advertising for a multitude of modern problems—including crime, pollution, and trade deficits—call for censorship and regulation. Psychoanalyst Erich Fromm went so far as to suggest that advertising could be responsible for insanity, because its overall effect is to create a false conception of reality, which leads to frustration and disorientation. The debate over advertising will not be settled by any easy solutions or compromises. Both the U.S. economy and the world economy are so heavily dependent on advertising that massive regulation of the advertising industry could easily plunge the entire industrialized world into economic depression. Still, governments, including that of the United States, have forced cigarette makers to include messages in their advertising about the adverse health effects of smoking, and, after court judgments against cigarette companies, many have been obliged not only to pay billions in settlements but also to advertise explicit information on the dangers of smoking. Many industries, sensing a need to be more socially conscious, 198
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 have voluntarily allied themselves with popular causes in their advertising. Oil companies, for example, have noted in their advertising how their drilling is compatible with caring for the environment. —Bill Delaney Further Reading Goulart, Ron. The Assault on Childhood. London: Gollancz, 1970. Discusses the many ways in which children are being psychologically manipulated to equate consumerism with success and happiness, along with being conditioned to crave useless products such as Pet Rocks and even harmful products such as cigarettes. Calls for greater public awareness of the growing problem and stronger government control. Jacobson, Jacob Z. Scott of Northwestern: The Life Story of a Pioneer in Psychology and Education. Chicago: L. Mariano, 1951. This first full-length biography of Walter Dill Scott has been criticized for being too laudatory of the subject’s contributions to the science of psychology. Based on notes compiled by Scott himself. James, William. Essays in Psychology. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983. Collection of writings on psychology by an author whose theories strongly influenced Scott. Shows the scope of psychological knowledge in the early twentieth century, its direction of inquiry, and James’s ideas about the practical application of psychological principles. Ogilvy, David. Confessions of an Advertising Man. Reprint. London: Southbank, 2004. The founder of one of the world’s largest advertising agencies discusses the psychological aspects of advertising and concludes with a chapter titled “Should Advertising Be Abolished?” in which he asserts that it should be reformed but not abolished. A witty, entertaining, and informative book. Scott, Walter Dill. The Psychology of Advertising. New ed. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1913. An enlarged version of Scott’s 1903 work, with additions and modifications. Contains many illustrations of magazine ads of the period, along with Scott’s analyses of their effectiveness. Sivulka, Juliann. Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes: A Cultural History of American Advertising. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1997. Examines how advertising both mirrors and creates American society. Discusses the growth of advertising, the introduction of products and brands, and how ads reflect and influence cultural trends. Illustrated with more than 150 advertisements.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: 1913: Fuller Brush Company Is Incorporated; Aug., 1913: Advertisers Adopt a Truth-inAdvertising Code; July, 1920: Procter & Gamble Announces Plans to Sell Directly to Retailers; 1923:
Shaw Articulates His Philosophy in Man and Superman A. C. Nielsen Company Pioneers in Marketing and Media Research; 1926-1927: Mail-Order Clubs Revolutionize Book Sales; Mar. 21, 1938: Wheeler-Lea Act Broadens FTC Control over Advertising.
1903
Shaw Articulates His Philosophy in MAN AND SUPERMAN George Bernard Shaw regarded the writing of plays as a means to communicate serious ideas as well as to entertain, and in Man and Superman he presented to his audiences notions of human behavior based in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Locale: London, England Categories: Theater; philosophy
Summary of Event When George Bernard Shaw wrote Man and Superman (pb. 1903), he found little interest among producers in London. The play was long and somewhat short on action. An actor once complained that Shaw’s plays lacked entrances and exits—that is, occasions for actors to storm on and off stage in tempests punctuated by soliloquies. In 1905, however, an American actor, Robert Loraine, successfully promoted a production of Man and Superman in New York, and in 1907 it had another successful run at Harley Granville-Barker’s Court Theatre in London. With the success of Man and Superman, Shaw was clearly established as a playwright of some note. The play has been called one of the best comedies of the first half of the twentieth century; it was certainly the first play in which Shaw began to espouse a Nietzschean philosophy built around the ideas of creative evolution and the life force (the élan vital of Henri Bergson). According to this philosophy, the life force (Shaw’s conception of God) permeates the universe and provides the impetus for creative development, or evolution. Shaw was also interested in biological evolution, to the point of advocating voluntary efforts at eugenics.
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Key Figures George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, socialist, and social commentator Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), German philosopher Harley Granville-Barker (1877-1946), English actor and comanager of the Court Theatre who premiered many new and controversial plays in London
These ideas are also clearly related to the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche concerning the Übermensch, or Superman. Nietzsche was convinced that modern culture was decadent and that the human race was losing its genius to the mediocrity of mass production and popular culture, and he presented these ideas in works such as Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft (1886; Beyond Good and Evil, 1907) and Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen (1883-1885; Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1896). Driven by the life force, the Superman would cast aside the restraints of decadent morality and custom and allow his instinctive urges to guide him to new heights of creativity. Such a person must reject all altruistic ethics, such as Christianity’s “turning the other cheek,” which Nietzsche regarded as weak and feminine. Ultimately, the Superman must regard his goal as too important to be compromised by concern about the means of achieving it. (Nietzsche was too sophisticated to allow this to become merely a matter of expediency, but his disciples have not always been capable of such distinctions.) Shaw once denied ever having read Nietzsche, but he published a positive review of an English edition of the philosopher’s works in 1896. Nietzsche’s epigrams were, Shaw said, “written with phosphorus on brimstone.” In his usual deprecatory way, he added, “The only excuse for reading them is that before long you must be prepared either to talk about Nietzsche or else retire from society.” Nietzschean ideas are scattered throughout Man and Superman, but those ideas are also parodied in the play; Shaw was unlikely to adopt anyone’s ideas slavishly. Man and Superman is a play in four acts. Acts 1, 2, and 4 chronicle the rather comical courtship and adventures of John Tanner and Ann Whitefield. Act 3, the most famous, is a dream of Hell, with Tanner and Don Juan and the other major characters as themselves or in recognizable form. It is in this act that Shaw provides a direct discussion of Nietzschean ideas, largely in dialogues between Don Juan and the Devil. Don Juan sees human
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Charlotte, celibate. Moreover, not only did Nietzsche regard the altruistic aspect George Bernard Shaw appended to the published version of Man and Suof human nature as feminine, but he was perman a piece titled “The Revolutionist’s Handbook and Pocket Comalso suffering from syphilis, a fate he panion,” purportedly written by one of the play’s characters, John Tanner, seems to have blamed on the woman “M.I.R.C.” (“Member of the Idle Rich Class”). Shaw used this work to arfrom whom he caught the disease and, ticulate further his philosophical beliefs, including those on marriage, as by extension, womankind. in this excerpt. Ultimately, the word battle is won by Tanner, who establishes that progress There is no evidence that the best citizens are the offspring of congenial depends on biological evolution. Only marriages, or that a conflict of temperament is not a highly important part when that occurs can intellectual creof what breeders call crossing. On the contrary, it is quite sufficiently probable that good results may be obtained from parents who would be exativity move to a new paradigm. Unfortremely unsuitable companions and partners, to make it certain that the extunately for him, the other characters, inperiment of mating them will sooner or later be tried purposely almost as tent on mouthing their own views, fail to often as it is now tried accidentally. But mating such couples must clearly notice. This is, perhaps, Shaw’s way of not involve marrying them. In conjugation two complementary persons saying that those who saw reality at the may supply one another’s deficiencies: in the domestic partnership of marbeginning of the twentieth century were riage they only feel them and suffer from them. Thus the son of a robust, the Cassandras of the day. cheerful, eupeptic British country squire, with the tastes and range of his Although the “Don Juan in Hell” epiclass, and of a clever, imaginative, intellectual, highly civilized Jewess, sode is usually the part of the play that is might be very superior to both his parents; but it is not likely that the Jewcited as Nietzschean, Shaw uses, and in a ess would find the squire an interesting companion, or his habits, his sense sends up, the philosopher’s ideas in friends, his place and mode of life congenial to her. Therefore marriage, whilst it is made an indispensable condition of mating, will delay the adthe rest of the play as well. Superficially, vent of the Superman as effectually as Property, and will be modified by acts 1, 2, and 4 are a romantic comedy. the impulse towards him just as effectually. Ann rejects the idealistic Octavius RobinThe practical abrogation of Property and Marriage as they exist at presson, who is deeply smitten by her charms, ent will occur without being much noticed. To the mass of men, the intelliand pursues Tanner. For most of the play, gent abolition of property would mean nothing except an increase in the the only one who perceives Ann’s intenquantity of food, clothing, housing, and comfort at their personal disposal, tions is Henry Straker, Tanner’s chaufas well as a greater control over their time and circumstances. feur. Straker clearly shares the role of Source: George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy Shavian hero, for he sarcastically ex(New York: Brentano’s, 1903). poses the truth and is amused by the fact that no one heeds him when he does. Ann, however, is the true Übermensch of the play. She does not hesitate to progress coming from the evolution of the artist and man scheme and lie to further her plans. She allows, even enof action into a Superman, but the Devil argues that escourages, poor “Tavy” (Robinson) to think he is her cape from the dreary world comes only in diversion. choice because she wishes to camouflage her real intenBoth agree that the morality and convention of society tions. If the Superman casts aside convention and allows are stultifying and must be ignored by those who expect instinct, the most direct contact people have with the life to grow. force, to guide conduct, then in Man and Superman, Ann Nietzschean/Shavian misogyny appears in the asseris the Superman. Male patronization comes through in tion that women are dominated by the reproductive inthe fact that Ann’s instinct is to use any means necessary stinct. There is no thought of women fleeing motherhood to establish a sexual relationship with the man who apor combining it with other creativity, although in Tanpears most likely to give her superior children, and her ner’s “Revolutionist’s Handbook” (which is appended to energies are not turned to any other sort of creativity. the play), it is suggested that marriage and childbearing Tanner, who is often seen as the Nietzschean figure in the should be separated. Instincts about mating should not be play, denounces convention and insists that he intends to blocked by convention and morality. It might be noted remain free of family and sexual obligations so that he can pursue his work of revolution. When the chips are that Shaw’s marriage was, at the insistence of his wife,
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down, however, he docilely accepts not only Ann but also marriage, ignoring his own handbook, in which he rejects the connection between mating and marriage. Perhaps his surrender is really to his own instincts concerning reproduction, but if so, the fact is ignored in the play. At the end of act 4, Tanner seems to be resigned to his fate and agrees to the conventional relationship that Ann expects—as, apparently, so does he.
Plays were becoming a means of political expression for Shaw. In 1884, he had joined the Fabian Society, a group of largely middle-class socialists who were inclined to think that the way to a socialist economy was mostly education; ultimately, the Fabian Society would be one of the major elements in the organization of the Labour Party. The elitism of Man and Superman, however, points up the idiosyncratic nature of Shaw’s socialism. Despite the working-class character of Straker, little of the play suggests that the author had much faith in the virtues of the proletariat. Nevertheless, Shaw was an effective publicist for and supporter of the Fabians for many years. Although the philosophy of Man and Superman may not have fit Shaw’s socialist principles perfectly, the play did have a part in introducing Nietzsche in England and the United States. Shaw introduced the word “Superman” into English. (He first tried “Overman,” which actually gives a better sense of the meaning of the Nietzschean term.) Shaw was particularly attracted to the ideas of the life force and hero in Nietzsche’s work, and Tanner’s “Revolutionist’s Handbook” is clearly modeled on parts of Beyond Good and Evil. The Shavian hero is often more practical than the sort of Superman Nietzsche seems to be describing, but he is the type who drives toward his goals with little concern for the mores and folkways of his own culture. Clearly, Nietzsche would approve. Shaw gave the Nietzschean life force something of an English twist. In Shaw’s plays, the life force is a matter of practical courage that might be founded on foolhardiness or preoccupation. Either might lead a hero to ignore danger. In neither Man and Superman nor his other Nietzschean play, Back to Methuselah (pb. 1921), does he drift into the contemplation of the eternal in the fashion of Nietzsche. Shaw’s Superman is practical and draws his ideas from common sense. He may, in good British fashion, muddle through. Man and Superman was an important work. St. John Erving suggests that it may be one of the three best comedies of the first half of the twentieth century. It helped to popularize Nietzschean philosophy in the Englishspeaking world and was part of the beginning of a movement to translate serious philosophical ideas into dramatic form. Finally, it was part of the burst of creative activity that established George Bernard Shaw as a major playwright and social commentator; previously, he had been generally regarded as clever but superficial. The published play was his first book success, with five printings in two years. Shaw would remain a respected
Significance The success of Man and Superman was part of a series of critical and economic successes for Shaw in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His plays of the period included Mrs. Warren’s Profession (pb. 1898), Captain Brassbound’s Conversion (pr. 1900), Candida: A Mystery (pr. 1897), John Bull’s Other Island (pr. 1904), and Major Barbara (pr. 1905). This burst of success resulted in Shaw’s never again having to worry about his place in the literary world or about his financial security. Shaw’s marriage in 1898, which provided him with personal and economic stability, seems to have been another factor in his productivity.
George Bernard Shaw. (Library of Congress)
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writer, philosopher, and critic, and by the time of his death in 1950, he had become one of the world’s bestknown writers. Revivals of his plays are common, and much of his work remains widely read. —Fred R. van Hartesveldt
of more than two hundred of Shaw’s contemporaries with whom he had significant associations. Holroyd, Michael. Bernard Shaw: The Pursuit of Power. New York: Random House, 1989. This is the second volume of an excellent three-volume scholarly biography. Thoroughly researched, very detailed, and quite insightful. Covers the years 1898-1918, and so is of particular importance to those interested in Man and Superman. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future. Translated with commentary by Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage Books, 1966. The most accessible of Nietzsche’s major works and the model for John Tanner’s “Revolutionist’s Handbook.” Excellent introduction to Nietzsche’s thought; provides a foundation for further study. Shaw, George Bernard. Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy. 1903. Reprint. Introduction by Stanley Weintraub. New York: Penguin Books, 2001. Complete edition of the play, including all four acts, the “Epistle Dedicatory to Arthur Bingham Walkley,” which stands as a preface, and “The Revolutionist’s Handbook.” The introduction in this edition is provided by a prominent scholar of Shaw’s work. Solomon, Robert C., ed. Nietzsche: A Collection of Critical Essays. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1973. A compilation of comments about Nietzsche by noted thinkers. Includes Shaw’s review titled “Nietzsche in English,” which was published in Saturday Review in 1896. Anyone interested in Nietzsche will find useful pieces in this volume.
Further Reading Bentley, Eric Russell. A Century of Hero Worship. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1944. This description of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries’ cult of admiration of great men devotes only a chapter particularly to Shaw. Bentley’s comments about other English thinkers, such as Thomas Carlyle, are valuable for the insights and background they provide to the ideas of Shaw. Durant, Will. “Friedrich Nietzsche.” In The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers. 2d ed. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1953. Although his work is perhaps marred by occasional oversimplification, Durant is greatly skilled at presenting the ideas of his subject in a readable form. Nietzsche’s thought is, to say the least, arcane, and an introduction such as Durant’s chapter is welcome. Erving, St. John. Bernard Shaw: His Life, Work, and Friends. New York: William Morrow, 1956. Erving was personally acquainted with Shaw and a successful critic himself. He admires his subject but is willing to be critical. He includes significant amounts of literary criticism about Shaw’s work, and his lengthy digressions into the lives of Shaw’s friends are both interesting and useful background. A readable and informative biography. Gibbs, A. M. A Bernard Shaw Chronology. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001. A comprehensive account of Shaw’s life, career, and associations. Draws on a wide range of published and unpublished material to describe Shaw’s extraordinary career as playwright, novelist, orator, political activist, social commentator, and avant-garde thinker. Includes brief sketches
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See also: Dec. 27, 1904: Abbey Theatre Heralds the Celtic Revival; Nov. 7, 1914: Lippmann Helps to Establish The New Republic; May 10, 1921: Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author Premieres; Jan. 2, 1933: Coward’s Design for Living Epitomizes the 1930’s.
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Tsiolkovsky Proposes Using Liquid Oxygen for Space Travel
1903
Tsiolkovsky Proposes Using Liquid Oxygen for Space Travel Konstantin Tsiolkovsky determined by mathematical calculation that the use of liquid propellants was necessary to launch rockets into space. Locale: Kaluga, Russia Categories: Science and technology; space and aviation Key Figure Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), Russian scientist
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Summary of Event Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is one of the three men most often credited with the formulation of rocket theory, along with Robert H. Goddard, an American, and Hermann Oberth, a German. Tsiolkovsky and Goddard both suffered severe diseases in childhood, both became teachers, and both maintained a total dedication to spaceflight. As a young child, Tsiolkovsky was known by the nickname “Bird” for his characteristic flitting movements and lightheartedness. When he was ten years old, however, he contracted scarlet fever, which left him deaf. As a result, he developed a severely limited view of life and buried himself in books. Tsiolkovsky credited to his deafness his dedication to rocket theory formulation and, therefore, his success in that endeavor. His isolation from other people meant that he never participated in most of the social aspects of life. Tsiolkovsky discovered that because of limitations in the literature, it was easier to prove his theories physically than to perform research with the available resources. The young scholar was sent to Moscow to study mathematics and physics; he then added astronomy to his areas of research. Tsiolkovsky believed that, through spaceflight, humans could claim the heavens. It was partially because he lacked funds for materials for experimentation that the young scientist proved his theories mathematically, recording his thinking in meticulously kept journals. When he did perform experiments, he financed them by cutting back on his food allowance, and after a time this caused him to weaken and become ill. Before he was sent home to recuperate, however, he had an experience that allowed him to envision his theory of spaceflight. He was sitting in a city park, watching a crowd of teenagers hopping off a hay wagon. As each youngster jumped off, the wagon lurched forward slightly. It was at that moment that Isaac Newton’s law of
action and reaction came to life for Tsiolkovsky, and he realized what would be needed to propel a rocket into space. In 1879, Tsiolkovsky passed a test for certification as a teacher without ever having attended school himself. As his deafness was a problem, most of his teaching consisted of lectures. When on a rare occasion he asked a question of one of his students, the pupil would have to stand at his side and shout a response into his left ear. Tsiolkovsky’s dedication extended to his expending his meager salary on experimental materials for his classes. His theorizing never ceased. He rose early to study, teach classes, and perform familial duties, and then he experimented in the evenings. Members of the Society for Physics and Chemistry in St. Petersburg heard of Tsiolkovsky through one of his papers, but unfortunately they became enraged because he seemingly had presumed to write a paper on a subject already proven and had called his work original. They later realized, however, that his work was indeed original—he apparently had not known that the theory he set out to prove had already been proven. He was saved by the fact that he had proved the theory using an approach that was entirely different from the original approach. In other words, he had reinvented a concept because of his nonsystematic self-teaching, which was not always well balanced and left gaps in his knowledge. Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev was impressed with Tsiolkovsky and led the drive to gain unanimous approval among the members for the young man’s acceptance into the elite scientific society. In 1885, Tsiolkovsky dedicated himself to aviation, and for two years he spent every moment theorizing about and creating an all-metal piloted balloon. He presented his first public lecture on this project, titled “The Theory of the Aerostat,” at the Polytechnical Museum in Moscow in 1887. Following his lectures and heavy twoyear workload, he contracted a serious illness and lost his voice for a year. He also lost his library and models when his house burned. The only work saved was the lecture he had presented in Moscow. In 1892, Tsiolkovsky moved to Kaluga, where he took up teaching posts at a high school and at a school for the daughters of clergy. This was an exciting move for him, as Kaluga was a busy industrial city with communications with the outside
Tsiolkovsky Proposes Using Liquid Oxygen for Space Travel world. For the first time since his illness, be regained his earlier vigor, and his scientific research escalated. In 1894 he presented “Aeroplan ili ptitsepodobnaya (aviatsionnaya) letatelnaya mashina” (the airplane or a birdlike flying machine), in which he discussed his design for a monoplane, a project that did not appear elsewhere for another twenty years. He also constructed the first wind tunnel in Russia in order to study aerodynamic principles of flight. In 1898 he presented “Issledovanie mirovykh prostranstv reaktivnymi priborami” (exploration of space with reactive devices). Unfortunately, this work was not published until 1903, partially because of its highly technical nature. There was little reaction, although Goddard’s paper “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes,” published in the same period of time, created a furor.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Between 1903 and 1933, ideas on the fundamentals of space travel flowed from Tsiolkovsky. His was a unique genius in that he could recognize the truth of an idea without requiring experimental testing. Whereas Goddard translated his ideas into tangible products, Tsiolkovsky usually had only his notebooks for proof of his endless creativity. Throughout his years of study and research, he repeatedly returned to the idea of an aerostat, a metalskinned balloon. Tsiolkovsky’s written works are numerous; however, in “Issledovanie mirovykh prostranstv reaktivnymi priborami” he proposed several unique advanced ideas. One of the most important theories included in this work is that only reaction devices would function both within the atmosphere and in space. He also proposed that the black-powder fuels in use at the time would not be suffi-
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky with a model of an early rocket. (Library of Congress)
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Significance Tsiolkovsky’s theories of spaceflight were the basis for actual early flight. Unfortunately, the scientific community did not recognize his work, even after the initial publication of his 1903 paper on liquid-fuel rockets and their design. It was not until 1924, when Oberth republished his work, in both German and Russian, that Tsiolkovsky was termed “the father of space travel.” It was his persistence that made the world examine the possibilities of spaceflight. This same kind of persistence has characterized all human efforts to conquer space.
Because of the remarkable accuracy of Tsiolkovsky’s theories on liquid-fuel rocketry and the success of the technology developed based on his theories, his more far-reaching, somewhat fantastical ideas have not been entirely dismissed. For example, his papers speculating about “unknown intelligent forces” have influenced some modern scientists to pursue the likelihood that there may be intelligent extraterrestrial life in the universe. Tsiolkovsky also predicted the possibility of the establishment of space stations that would serve as interplanetary way stations, servicing rockets en route between planets. He suggested that these could be constructed in space from prefabricated sections carried aloft by large rocket-powered spacecraft. The visionary scientist described his impression of weightlessness, which was remarkably accurate. He surmised that plants grown on a space station, in support of planetary cities and colonies, would grow quickly because of lack of gravity. Solar hothouses on a space station would be closer to the Sun and could grow food and regenerate air for colonization. Liquid-fuel rocket theory made human spaceflight possible. The reduction of mass in relation to velocity made escape from the earth’s gravity a reality. Using liquid as coolant and then as fuel lowered the lift-off weight as well. Both Tsiolkovsky’s “rocket train” and “rocket squadron” multistage configurations, using liquid fuel, made possible the immense thrust necessary to launch a manned spaceflight. From Tsiolkovsky’s observation of Soviet teenagers at play and his subsequent vision of reaction motion, locomotion of spacecraft within the vacuum of space is now a reality. The gliding reentry that Tsiolkovsky envisioned has been used routinely for the safe return of the American space shuttle. The memorial built in Tsiolkovsky’s honor following his death quotes his belief that “mankind will not remain bound to the earth.” Just three years before his death, Tsiolkovsky finally won renown as a Soviet national hero. His determination that humans should not remain earthbound and his persistence in proving the possibilities of space travel strongly influenced modern space technology, as evidenced by the U.S. government’s space shuttle program and by the global cooperation brought to bear in the development of the International Space Station. In fact, the full effects of his remarkable insight and genius have not yet come to fruition, as humankind continues to explore his visions. —Ellen F. Mitchum 205
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cient to carry a rocket into space. He went on to suggest the use of the best liquid propellants. Tsiolkovsky decided that hydrocarbons would be the best explosives, citing problems with hydrogen and the limitations of oxygen. Hydrogen would be difficult to store, because it evaporates quickly. It also absorbs energy when going to the gaseous state, when, at that point, energy is needed. Oxygen would be useful in that it could be used as a coolant in addition to providing air for pilots. It would be necessary in upper-atmospheric flight; it is also extremely combustible, giving off heat, not absorbing it like hydrogen. He discarded the notion of using high-pressure gases, because of the need for heavy, sealed containers that would increase the launch weight. He concluded that, although hydrocarbons would produce 20 percent less thrust, their volatility and lower container weight requirements made them the best fuel. He went on to suggest the use of superheated water for initial tests, cutting costs of launches, and predicted a maximum range of 60 kilometers (37.3 miles). Tsiolkovsky described the parameters of liquid-fuel rocket components, including the “explosion tube,” which, he suggested, should be a cone. In a cone with at least a one-degree angle, the combustion pressure would be exerted on the entire inner surface. The cone should be as long as possible, and the length could be assisted with bends in the structure when needed. Tsiolkovsky also noted the need to pump explosives into the combustion chamber to overcome the pressure of explosion. The fuel pump would actually require limited power and could be an airplane-type engine. He also detailed the control system, including three rudders that would function on takeoff, in space, and for a gliding reentry: horizontal rudder, direction rudder, and lateral stability rudder. Their sizes would correspond to the sizes of airplane rudders. In short, Tsiolkovsky described, in 1903, the fundamental systems that were used many years later for early rocket spaceflight.
Tsiolkovsky Proposes Using Liquid Oxygen for Space Travel
Hale Establishes Mount Wilson Observatory Further Reading Finney, B., V. Lytkin, and L. Finney. “Tsiolkovsky and Extraterrestrial Intelligence.” Acta Astronautica 46 (June, 2000): 745-749. Discusses Tsiolkovsky’s belief that life exists throughout the cosmos and that humans are surrounded by intelligent extraterrestrial species. Gruntman, Mike. Blazing the Trail: The Early History of Spacecraft and Rocketry. Reston, Va.: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004. Relates the events that paved the way for human beings to begin exploring space. Describes the early work in rocketry science of Tsiolkovsky and others. Ley, Willy. Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel. New York: Viking Press, 1951. The author is known as probably the most prolific writer of space history. This college-level text is very readable, yet it is dense with information. Details the history of rocketry from the early conceptions. Contains technical tables. Ordway, Frederick J., III, and Mitchell R. Sharpe. The Rocket Team. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1979. This is a detailed history of the development of the V-2 rocket, with developmental references to Tsiolkovsky. College-level reading, with fascinating black-and-white photographs. An excellent resource
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 for readers interested in the history of rocket development. Thomas, Shirley. Men of Space. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: Chilton, 1960. These detailed biographies of selected men shed light on their extraordinary work. Those featured in this collection were chosen for inclusion by their colleagues based on their contributions to space exploration. Some are well known, whereas others are acknowledged more by the scientific community than by the general public. Tsiolkovsky, K. E. Works on Rocket Technology. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1965. This is a NASA technical translation of a compilation of Tsiolkovsky’s work. The information is easy to follow; written for the college level. Winter, Frank H. The First Golden Age of Rocketry. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990. This is a history of the Congreve rocket and practical developments in the field of rocketry. This is another side of the story of rocketry, necessary for a complete understanding of the topic. Refers to Tsiolkovsky, in passing, as a dreamer. See also: Mar. 16, 1926: Launching of the First LiquidFueled Rocket.
1903-1904
Hale Establishes Mount Wilson Observatory George Ellery Hale built several telescopes that served as tools for observation and developed new techniques for building more powerful telescopes. Locale: Mount Wilson, California Categories: Science and technology; astronomy Key Figure George Ellery Hale (1868-1938), American astronomer and inventor Summary of Event In the late nineteenth century, observational astronomy had not advanced far beyond Galileo’s first telescope in either power or design. The majority of the powerful telescopes were still small, refracting designs. These telescopes were very similar to those used by ship captains; each contained a fixed eyepiece lens and an adjustable lens that could be positioned to focus the light of an image onto the eyepiece. Larger, more powerful reflect206
ing telescopes were being designed and built; in such a telescope a concave mirror is used to collect light from an object and focus the light onto a series of lenses or an adjustable eyepiece. The telescopes of this period were still individual instruments, primarily powerful eyes without any ability to analyze the visual information they received. Other instruments of physics and chemistry had not yet been coupled with telescopes to exploit their powerful view of the universe. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1890, George Ellery Hale moved to Chicago. At MIT, Hale had access to the 15-inch (38centimeter) refracting scope at Harvard and the experience of Harvard’s astronomers. In Chicago, Hale became involved in the building of a 40-inch (102centimeter) reflecting telescope. The telescope was built at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in conjunction with William Rainey Harper, president of the University of Chicago; major funding was provided by Charles Yerkes. In 1903,
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George Ellery Hale in his Mount Wilson office.
with the success of the Yerkes telescope, Hale left Chicago to establish an observatory at Mount Wilson, California. The building of an observatory at Mount Wilson was initially funded by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The decision to build the observatory atop Mount Wilson was based on the mountain’s elevation, terrain, and proximity to Pasadena. The elevation was considered ideal because it placed the observatory above the clouds, which otherwise would interfere with viewing. This location, more than a mile above the bordering valley, afforded the observatory additional clear days for observing. Another key feature of the mountain was the large amount of trees and other plant life growing there. This vegetation helped to absorb radiant heat; that is, most of the heat reflected from the earth was absorbed by the mountain’s abundant foliage. This ability of the mountain to absorb heat meant that the observatory could be designed for both stellar and solar observation. Solar observation is easily hindered by waves of heat reflecting
back from the earth and distorting the rays of light coming into a solar telescope. The Mount Wilson site minimized this problem. The third advantage of the Mount Wilson site was its proximity to Pasadena, home of the recently established California Institute of Technology. Pasadena was also a major city with access to rail transportation, many large manufacturing companies, and industrial shops. It was an ideal location for the workshops and business offices of the Mount Wilson Observatory. The first project Hale undertook was the moving of the Snow solar telescope to Mount Wilson. The telescope was disassembled at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, where it had been built, and the parts were shipped to Pasadena and transported up the mountain to be reassembled. The pieces arrived in Pasadena by train, but the trip up the mountain was a more primitive journey, involving mules and wagons struggling up winding dirt roads, often delayed by accidents along the route. When the Snow telescope was rebuilt and began ob207
Hale Establishes Mount Wilson Observatory servations near the end of 1903, Hale immediately encountered his first major design problem. The telescope was horizontally designed and rested on the ground in the midst of heat waves reflected off the earth. The California heat became so intense during the middle part of the day that the mirrors of the telescope expanded and distorted, and observation had to be limited to early morning and evening. Hale was disappointed by this brief amount of observation time and also by the quality of the images the telescope was producing. He hypothesized that elevating the telescope would bring it out of the most intense waves of heat and provide cleaner images. To test his idea, he climbed a tall evergreen with a small telescope in hand and compared the image he saw from the top of the tree with the one he had observed at its foot. The experiment convinced him that he was correct in his theory, and he began construction of a trial elevated solar telescope. This new telescope was built as a 60-foot (18-meter) tower. That is, the tower itself was the telescope, and its immovable nature required Hale to rethink traditional telescope designs. The final version of the telescope consisted of a rotating dome atop the tower that housed a mirror for gathering light. This light was reflected down a shaft to the base of the tower, where it was focused by a series of lenses and mirrors. Hale’s innovative design was a great success, allowing solar observers to track the Sun across its path for the duration of the day. In addition, the reduction in the waves of heat that reached the gathering mirror 60 feet above the earth provided observers with more detailed images than they had previously seen. The success of this tower led to the construction of a more powerful 150-foot (46-meter) tower. After building the solar towers, Hale added spectrographs to analyze the data collected by the telescopes. A spectrograph breaks light down into its component parts, which scientists can then analyze to determine the nature of the chemical reactions and components of the lightproducing bodies. The spectrographs at Mount Wilson allowed the scientists to observe the Sun and to see what it is made of. In order to maintain a constant temperature for the spectrographs, which is critical to their ability to function, Hale housed them in wells dug beneath the two towers. This not only provided a constant temperature but also gave the large spectrographs sufficient room to operate properly. Solar observation was not the only role of Mount Wilson Observatory, however. The success of the 40-inch telescope at Lake Geneva inspired Hale to build a 60inch (152-centimeter) telescope at Mount Wilson. This 208
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 telescope was built for its value in observation and to test designs for the building of a 100-inch (254-centimeter) telescope, the largest of its day. In 1906, Los Angeles businessman John Daggett Hooker provided the funds to build an 84-inch (213-centimeter) telescope. A short time later, Hooker increased his funding so the 100-inch telescope could be built. During a visit to Mount Wilson in 1910, Andrew Carnegie announced that he would provide half a million dollars to enable the observatory to mount and house the telescope. With adequate funding and the 60-inch telescope complete, Hale began construction of the 100-inch telescope. Using a modification of the design of the 60-inch telescope housing, Hale was able to construct the building that would house the larger telescope. In fact, the building of the 100-inch telescope was rather uneventful except for the most critical aspect: the telescope’s glass mirror. The glass that was to be used for the mirror was poured in France and imported. No one inspected the glass after it was poured and before it was shipped to the United States, and when it arrived at Mount Wilson, Hale and his colleagues were shocked and disappointed, not because the glass was made from green wine bottles but because it was full of bubbles. Hale was afraid that the bubbles would cause the glass to warp or crack when it expanded and shrank as the temperature changed. The group did not have many options, however, so they decided to take a chance with the glass and proceeded with the grinding and coating required to create the mirror. The bubbles turned out to be harmless, and the construction of the telescope was completed without incident. Significance Hale’s innovative designs for solar telescopes, coupled with the introduction of attached spectrographs, provided the foundation for intense solar research. There was now available a means to observe solar flares, solar storms, and other solar disturbances as well as a method to understand the internal chemical changes that occur with and precipitate these disturbances. The 100-inch telescope provided scientists with a view 200,000 times greater than the capability of the human eye. This great power of sight was soon exploited by astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble. At the time the 100inch telescope was completed, there was controversy among astronomers about the nature of the Milky Way galaxy: What were the “clouds” that could be seen in the Milky Way? Using the 100-inch telescope, Hubble discovered that these clouds are actually distant galaxies and that hundreds of galaxies exist that the naked eye had
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Further Reading Bracher, Katherine. “Fifty Years Ago: The 200-Inch Hale Telescope on Mount Palomar.” Mercury 27, no. 5 (September 1, 1998). A brief discussion of the importance of Hale’s 200-inch Palomar telescope, written on the occasion of the telescope’s fiftieth anniversary.
Brunier, Serge, and Anne-Marie Lagrange. Great Observatories of the World. Richmond Hill, Ont.: Firefly Books, 2005. Oversize volume presents profiles of thirty-six of the world’s leading observatories (including Mount Wilson), ten space-based telescopes, and eleven “observatories of the future.” Focuses on telescope technology. The many illustrations include photographs of the observatories themselves as well as of the celestial objects seen through their telescopes. Florence, Ronald. The Perfect Machine: Building the Palomar Telescope. New York: HarperPerennial, 1995. Account of the building of the 200-inch telescope at Mount Palomar in Southern California focuses on the incredible engineering and scientific achievement the telescope represented and also places that achievement within the social context of the time. Hale, George Ellery. Signals from the Stars. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1931. This is Hale’s account of the events that led to the founding of Mount Wilson Observatory and his later involvement in the construction of the Palomar Observatory. Gives an overview of the knowledge gained from the work by the many scientists at Mount Wilson. _______. Ten Years’ Work of a Mountain Observatory. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1915. Hale wrote this book as a defense of the construction of the 100-inch telescope. He goes into much detail about the advances in scientific knowledge, construction techniques, and methods of observing in the hope of convincing the scientific community of the practicality of the telescope. Macpherson, Hector. Makers of Astronomy. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1933. Written while Hale was still alive and active on the construction of Palomar Observatory, this book places Hale in historical context with the great astronomers. Provides some insight into how Hale’s contemporaries viewed him. Trefil, James S. The Moment of Creation. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1983. An overview of the origins of the universe focused on the big bang theory. Details Hubble’s work at Mount Wilson and explains the Doppler effect, the expansion of the galaxies, and how stellar distances are measured. Includes illustrations and bibliography. Woodbury, David O. The Glass Giant of Palomar. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1941. An excellent book detailing the creation of Hale’s two giants: the 100- and 200inch telescopes. Includes a brief biography of Hale, a history of the problems encountered at Mount Wil209
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not previously observed. Furthermore, Hubble analyzed the light spectra of these galaxies and discovered that the galaxies were traveling away from the Milky Way. After carefully analyzing the data, he determined that the galaxies farther away were traveling at a greater speed than those closer to the Milky Way. This was the first hard evidence for what would become known as the big bang theory. With the data collected using the 100-inch telescope, scientists were able to determine stellar distances, observe Doppler shifts in the light spectrum, and discover new galaxies. The success of this telescope and the success of Mount Wilson as the premier site from which to observe inspired Hale to build a larger telescope. He soon discovered that the 100-inch telescope provided information that provoked questions that could be answered only by a deeper look into space. In addition, he had proved that large telescopes could be built successfully and that the increased cost of construction was rewarded with an equivalent increase in scientific data. Because of this success, Hale began work on a 200-inch (508-centimeter) telescope in Palomar, California. The location of Mount Wilson had as much to do with the success of the observatory there as did Hale’s genius and the sophistication of the instruments, and the location attracted other astronomers throughout the years. The first infrared interferometer research was conducted at Mount Wilson because of its ideal location. Using two telescopes to observe the same star, the interferometer gives scientists a look at the physical changes a star undergoes as it burns out. Although land-based telescopes have become increasingly sophisticated and are now joined by space telescopes—such as the Hubble, the Compton, the Chandra, and the Spitzer, which capture data in the nonvisible ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum—in the twentyfirst century the Mount Wilson Observatory continues to host several of the most technologically advanced facilities in the world for studying astronomical objects. The 100-inch telescope there remains in active service, and the solar towers collect data daily, adding to the world’s longest continuous record of the Sun. —Charles Murphy
Hale Establishes Mount Wilson Observatory
Pogroms in Imperial Russia son, and the history of Palomar Observatory through its completion. Also examines the foundational work done at Mount Wilson. Illustrated, with a bibliography.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: June 26, 1908: Hale Discovers Strong Magnetic Fields in Sunspots; Nov., 1917: Hooker Telescope Is Installed on Mount Wilson; Dec. 13, 1920: Michelson Measures the Diameter of a Star.
1903-1906
Pogroms in Imperial Russia Pogroms in imperial Russia marked the outbreak of mob violence against Jewish communities as part of a rising wave of popular unrest in Russia that culminated in the Revolution of 1905. Locale: Russian cities in the Jewish Pale of Settlement, including Homyel’ (now in Belarus), Chilin1u (now in Moldavia), and Kiev, Odessa, and Zhytomir (now in Ukraine) Categories: Government and politics; atrocities and war crimes; wars, uprisings, and civil unrest Key Figures Alexander II (1818-1881), czar of Russia, r. 1855-1881 Alexander III (1845-1894), czar of Russia, r. 1881-1894 Nicholas II (1868-1918), czar of Russia, r. 1894-1917 Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Plehve (1846-1904), Russian minister of internal affairs Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev (1827-1907), chief procurator of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Sergey Yulyevich Witte (1849-1915), Russian minister of finance, later premier, 1905-1906 Summary of Event The early years of the twentieth century were a time of mounting popular unrest in Russia, as rapid and uneven economic change was producing serious social tensions. The peasants, who still made up about 70 percent of Russia’s population, had to cope with a series of disappointing harvests in the central agricultural region as well as high taxes imposed by Minister of Finance Sergey Yulyevich Witte to pay for his program of state-sponsored industrial development. Industrial workers, many of whom were unskilled or semiskilled peasants who sought factory work to supplement their agricultural earnings, faced harsh living and working conditions and low wages. A severe depression, which lasted from 1900 through the end of 1902, worsened their plight. These circumstances gave rise to a growing number of strikes by industrial workers and peasant attacks on the estates 210
of the landed nobility. A new round of mob assaults on Jewish communities in Russia took place against this backdrop of rising tension and confrontation. The situation of the Jews in Russia was difficult even without the threat of physical attacks. With few exceptions, Russia’s five million Jews (almost half of the world’s total number of Jews) were prohibited by law from living in the historical heartland of the Russian Empire. They were confined either to the portion of Poland that was under Russian control or to a region that had become known as the Jewish Pale of Settlement, which included Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova (Bessarabia), and the provinces immediately north of the Black Sea. Even in these territories, the Jews were a distinct and unpopular minority, constituting only 13 percent of the population. Most of the Jews lived in cities and larger towns. They earned their livelihoods as merchants or craftsmen, or they worked in the developing industrial sector. Jews rarely owned land, and those who lived in the countryside were under pressure from the government during most of the nineteenth century to abandon occupations, such as tavern keeping and the operation of mills, that brought them into close contact with the non-Jewish peasants. The government relaxed some of these coercive measures during the reign of Czar Alexander II (1855-1881), but this relatively liberal interlude ended with the assassination of the czar in March, 1881. His successors, Alexander III and Nicholas II, revived and even strengthened the discriminatory policies against the Jews, which remained in force until the overthrow of the monarchy in 1917. The assassination of Alexander II by revolutionary terrorists touched off the first massive wave of pogroms. Anti-Jewish riots had occasionally broken out in Russia in previous years; indeed, an 1871 disturbance that took place in the Black Sea port of Odessa was the first to become known as a “pogrom,” a term derived from a Russian verb meaning “to smash” or “to destroy.” What was new about the pogroms of 1881 was that they were not isolated eruptions of violence. An official report
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counted 259 pogroms in 1881; many Major Sites of Russian Pogroms, 1903-1906 of these spread like ripples from citHelsinki ies and large towns to nearby vilSt. Petersburg lages. Vologda Tallinn Novgorod The ripple effect was related to Parnu Tartu difficult economic circumstances that Pskov were afflicting Russia at the time. Jaroslavl Rostov The assassination of the czar took Riga R place during an industrial downturn Moscow Daugavpils u a that coincided with a series of poor Vitebsk Sovietsk s Kaunas harvests. Unemployed factory workSmolensk Kaluga aliningrad ers and hungry peasants seem to have Minsk Lida Olsztyn been responsible for the spread of the Mogilev pogroms as they wandered from Orel Homyel’ place to place in a desperate search Warsaw for new sources of income. Their Voronezh Voronezh frustrations fed on the shock of the Lutsk murder of the czar, the long-standing Kiev Dn akow antagonism toward Jews by the nonZhytomyr iep Lvov e r Kharkov Jewish majority in the Pale of SettleRi Vinnitsa ve ok Kosice r ment, and a consciousness of official Dnepropetrovsk discrimination against Jews, which Donetsk Miskolc Zaporozhye Krivoy Rog was distorted into a belief that the Botosani recen government approved of assaults on Odessa Cluj Frunze Chilinau Jews. Arad The rapid spread of the pogroms Timisoara Braila Simferopol Krasnodar ad took the government by surprise, so Bucharest its attempts to contain the violence elgrade Constanta were not effective at first. By 1882, o Sochi Mikhaylovgrad Pleven however, the new czar, Alexander III, l a c k S B Varna e Sofia a Burgas despite his personal hatred of Jews, kopje Stara Zagora ordered his provincial officials to take Titov Veles O t t o m a n stern measures to capture and punish Istanbul Zonguldak Xanthi those who attacked Jews and their E m Thessaloniki p i Ankara = Pogrom sites Bursa property. Once the government’s opr e annina position to pogroms became clear, Larisa anti-Jewish outbreaks once again became isolated occurrences. ander III’s stern measures after the 1881 pogroms, reThe second wave of pogroms began in Kishenev sponded in a weak and confused manner. (now Chilin1u), the provincial capital of Moldova, on The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, May 2 (April 19 by the Julian calendar then used in Rusheaded by Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev, ordered sia), 1903. Two days of rioting, which began on Easter all priests to preach against physical assaults on the Jews, Sunday and the last day of Passover, left nearly fifty Jews but the government did not vigorously prosecute the perdead and hundreds more injured. In addition, enormous petrators of the Kishinev and Homyel’ pogroms. Only damage was inflicted on Jewish-owned property. A seca handful of the hundreds of pogromists were convicted, ond pogrom took place in Homyel’, in Mahilyow provand almost all of them received lenient sentences. The ince, in September. The attackers encountered effective government prosecutors even suggested during the resistance from Jewish self-defense units, which limited Homyel’ trial that pogroms were actually the fault of the the damage done to the Jewish community. This time, Jews. however, the government, in marked contrast with Alexi
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Pogroms in Imperial Russia
Lenin Speaks Out Against Anti-Jewish Pogroms In late March of 1919, Vladimir Ilich Lenin gave this brief speech condemning the anti-Semitic pogroms that took place during the reign of Nicholas II. Anti-Semitism means spreading enmity towards the Jews. When the accursed tsarist monarchy was living its last days it tried to incite ignorant workers and peasants against the Jews. The tsarist police, in alliance with the landowners and the capitalists, organised pogroms against the Jews. The landowners and capitalists tried to divert the hatred of the workers and peasants who were tortured by want against the Jews. In other countries, too, we often see the capitalists fomenting hatred against the Jews in order to blind the workers, to divert their attention from the real enemy of the working people, capital. Hatred towards the Jews persists only in those countries where slavery to the landowners and capitalists has created abysmal ignorance among the workers and peasants. Only the most ignorant and downtrodden people can believe the lies and slander that are spread about the Jews. This is a survival of ancient feudal times, when the priests burned heretics at the stake, when the peasants lived in slavery, and when the people were crushed and inarticulate. This ancient, feudal ignorance is passing away; the eyes of the people are being opened. It is not the Jews who are the enemies of the working people. The enemies of the workers are the capitalists of all countries. Among the Jews there are working people, and they form the majority. They are our brothers, who, like us, are oppressed by capital; they are our comrades in the struggle for socialism. Among the Jews there are kulaks, exploiters and capitalists, just as there are among the Russians, and among people of all nations. The capitalists strive to sow and foment hatred between workers of different faiths, different nations and different races. Those who do not work are kept in power by the power and strength of capital. Rich Jews, like rich Russians, and the rich in all countries, are in alliance to oppress, crush, rob and disunite the workers. Shame on accursed tsarism which tortured and persecuted the Jews. Shame on those who foment hatred towards the Jews, who foment hatred towards other nations. Long live the fraternal trust and fighting alliance of the workers of all nations in the struggle to overthrow capital. Source: Vladimir Ilich Lenin, “Anti-Jewish Pogroms” (1919), in Collected Works, 4th ed., vol. 29 (Moscow: Progress, 1972).
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 These mixed signals reflected the government’s anxiety over its inability to stem the rising incidence of peasant and worker unrest produced by poor harvests and the recent depression. Although Russian officials, such as Vyacheslav Konstantinovich Plehve, the notoriously antiSemitic minister of internal affairs, did not, as was widely believed at the time, actually conspire in the organization of the pogroms, they were reluctant to impose severe penalties on the anti-Jewish rioters. They feared that such action would further anger the workers and peasants, thereby leading to additional violent outbreaks. They even regarded the pogroms as convenient diversions for popular discontent, which might otherwise be directed against government authorities. The government’s weak response to the Kishinev and Homyel’ pogroms did not succeed in calming restless workers and peasants. The outbreak of the RussoJapanese War in February, 1904, heightened the political and economic strains in Russia. Popular unrest of all kinds escalated in the summer and fall of 1904, exploding into revolution in the aftermath of the Bloody Sunday massacre of demonstrating workers in St. Petersburg on January 22, 1905. There were forty-three pogroms in 1904, and an average of about six a month took place in the first nine months of 1905. The announcement on October 30, 1905 (October 17 on the Julian calendar), of the October Manifesto, which granted limited constitutional reforms, ignited a massive eruption of violence, which included at least six hundred pogroms during the next two weeks. At least thirty-one hundred Jews died, and more than fifteen thousand were injured. The largest pogrom took place in Odessa, where about eight hundred Jews lost their lives and another five thousand suffered injuries. Significance Having broken the unity of the revolutionary opposition by issuing the October Manifesto, the government moved vigorously to suppress popular disturbances of all kinds: strikes, peasant uprisings, and pogroms. Once again, pogroms became only isolated occurrences rather than part of a general wave of popular unrest. However, the czarist regime had not succeeded in solving the underlying problems that had produced popular violence in the first place. The government still tacitly encouraged ethnic hostility by preserving, at the czar’s insistence, the Pale of Settlement and other discriminatory laws directed against Jews. In addition, the social and economic strains of World War I and the Russian Revolution touched off a new series of pogroms that began in 1917
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 and reached their height in 1919-1920, during the Russian Civil War. These continued attacks were a major factor in the emigration of large numbers of Jews from Russia to western Europe and the United States during the early years of the twentieth century. —Richard D. King
Löwe, Heinz-Dietrich. The Tsars and the Jews: Reform, Reaction, and Anti-Semitism in Imperial Russia, 1772-1917. Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1993. A revised edition of a book originally published in German in 1978. Rogger, Hans. Jewish Policies and Right-Wing Politics in Imperial Russia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. Explores government policies toward Jews, especially the issue of government complicity in the pogroms. Treadgold, Donald W., and Herbert J. Ellison. Twentieth Century Russia. 9th ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2000. Comprehensive volume includes discussion of anti-Semitism in Russia and the pogroms of the early decades of the twentieth century. Features maps and index. Wistrich, Robert S. Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred. 1991. Reprint. New York: Schocken Books, 1994. A lucid introduction to the history of anti-Semitism since ancient times, written as a companion volume to a three-part British television documentary. See also: Jan. 22, 1905: Bloody Sunday; Oct. 30, 1905: October Manifesto; May 10-July 21, 1906: First Meeting of the Duma; Aug. 31, 1907: Formation of the Triple Entente; 1909: First Kibbutz Is Established in Palestine; Sept. 14, 1911: Assassination of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin; Sept., 1913: Anti-Defamation League Is Founded; 1917-1920: Ukrainian Nationalists Struggle for Independence.
1903-1957
Vaughan Williams Composes His Nine Symphonies The nine symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams spanned nearly a half century and were instrumental in establishing a school of twentieth century English symphonists. Locale: England Category: Music Key Figures Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), English composer of symphonies and choral works Walt Whitman (1819-1892), American poet Summary of Event In 1903, Ralph Vaughan Williams began work on his First Symphony; his Ninth Symphony, his last, received
its premiere in 1958. For more than half a century, he was the principal figure in English music, at first a new voice and at the end the conservator and transmitter of a distinguished symphonic tradition. Vaughan Williams’s first three symphonies form a kind of triptych. Their composer did not number them, but assigned them titles. The first, A Sea Symphony, was written between 1903 and 1909 and premiered at the Leeds Festival in 1910. The second, A London Symphony, written in 1912 and 1913, premiered in 1914 and was revised in 1920 and 1933. The third, Pastoral Symphony, was completed in 1921 and premiered the following year. The three symphonies depict, respectively, the sea, the city, and the countryside, and they are large-scale works, comparable in their variety and 213
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Further Reading Baron, Salo W. The Russian Jew Under Tsars and Soviets. 2d ed. New York: Macmillan, 1987. Survey by a leading specialist in Jewish history pays scant attention to the pogroms but is a good introduction to the social, economic, and cultural aspects of Jewish history in Russia. Gitelman, Zvi. “History of Soviet Jewry.” In From Mesopotamia to Modernity: Ten Introductions to Jewish History and Literature, edited by Burton L. Visotzky and David E. Fishman. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999. Discusses the lives of Jews in Russia both before and after the revolution. Judge, Edward H. Easter in Kishenev: Anatomy of a Pogrom. New York: New York University Press, 1992. Case study of the Kishenev pogrom of April, 1903, illuminates the causes of the anti-Jewish riots and graphically illustrates their brutality. Klier, John D., and Shlomo Lambroza, eds. Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern Russian History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. A collection of scholarly essays on the waves of pogroms of 1881-1884, 1903-1906, and 1919-1921.
Vaughan Williams Composes His Nine Symphonies
Vaughan Williams Composes His Nine Symphonies scope to novels by George Eliot or Thomas Hardy. A Sea Symphony can be called a symphony only in the sense that it has four movements (the third of which is a scherzo) and is a large-scale composition. Innovative American poet Walt Whitman’s free verse, which provided the text for the symphony, does not lend itself well to tuneful settings, and Vaughan Williams set it as a kind of musical prose. The composer eschewed the use of such traditional symphonic structures as sonata form in the outer movements to avoid breaking the continuity of the verse. Whitman’s often overblown and pretentious language is sometimes reflected in the music. The movements are titled, respectively, “A Song for All Seas, All Ships”; “On the Beach at Night, Alone” (the most effective movement); “Scherzo—The Waves,” which can be done independently, without the chorus; and “The Explorers.” Because of the large orchestra specified, the need for organ and chorus, and the length of the work, this is the least frequently performed of Vaughan Williams’s symphonies. In contrast, A London Symphony is the most popular of Vaughan Williams’s symphonies. Although many musical landscapes and seascapes were written during the Romantic period, such as Ludwig van Beethoven’s Pastoral symphony (1808) and Felix Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides (1830-1832), urban musical portraits were rare. Frederick Delius’s Paris: The Song of a Great City (1899) was probably the first major musical cityscape. A London Symphony, which the composer began to sketch in 1912, follows the conventional outline of the four-movement symphony, with the first movement in sonata form and the third movement a scherzo-nocturne depicting London at night. One of the most innovative features of this symphony, and a trait that was to occur in several of Vaughan Williams’s subsequent symphonies, is the epilogue at the end of the marchlike last movement; the epilogue is quiet and repeats the “Westminster Chimes” harp motive of the opening of the symphony. A London Symphony also shows to best advantage Vaughan Williams’s artistic creed of writing music for the people, not for a highly select elite. Vaughan Williams began to sketch Pastoral Symphony in 1916 in northern France, where he was serving with the British Army during World War I. The work was completed in 1921, and the composer made slight revisions in the early 1950’s. In contrast to his preceding symphonies, it is quiet, contemplative, heavily scored only in the third movement, and characterized by modal melodies harmonized by chord streams. It is often considered a “war requiem,” given that many of the com214
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 poser’s younger friends were killed in the war. The first movement is in sonata form, the slow movement contains the specification for a natural trumpet (inspired by bugles heard at a distance during wartime), and the third movement corresponds to a scherzo, but the finale is a quietly pensive movement opening and ending with a distant and wordless soprano solo. The next three symphonies in turn form a triptych. Two modern and dissonant works frame the quiet and contemplative Fifth Symphony; these works were identified by their composer by keys rather than by titles or numbers. Vaughan Williams resented the imposition of programs, and he complained when the mood of his Fourth Symphony was interpreted as rage at the rise of fascism during the 1930’s, or when the bitterness of his Sixth Symphony was seen as a reaction against the optimism of the immediate postwar period. The Symphony in F Minor, better known as the Fourth Symphony, was begun in 1931 and first performed in 1935. It is surprisingly dissonant and violent to those who know only Vaughan Williams’s earlier symphonies. In many respects, it resembles the Fourth Symphony of Jean Sibelius (a composer whom Vaughan Williams highly esteemed and to whom he dedicated his
To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
Ralph Vaughan Williams. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
retains the episodic structure of the film score. In fact, it can more properly be called five programmatic movements for orchestra, each prefaced by a literary quotation, rather than a coherent symphony. The second movement, a scherzo, uses themes that were used in the film to depict whales and penguins; in this and other ways, the work is reminiscent of A Sea Symphony. The wordless vocal solo in the epilogue fifth and final movement is reminiscent of that of Pastoral Symphony. The third movement is the desolate “Landscape,” which culminates in fortissimo organ chords in alternation with the full orchestra. In contrast with the bleakness of the preceding symphony, the Eighth Symphony of 1956, written when the composer was eighty-three years old, is the most classical in structure and displays a good humor rarely seen in his postwar works. The first movement, “Fantasia,” is subtitled “Variations Without a Theme”; the martial second movement is scored for wind instruments alone; the third movement, “Cavatina,” is scored for strings alone and is one of the composer’s most peacefully expressive works; and the fourth, “Toccata,” makes extensive use of tuned percussion instruments. The Ninth Symphony, in E minor, was finished late in 1957 and given its premiere four months before the composer’s death at the age of eight-five. Coolly received at its first performance, it is perhaps Vaughan Williams’s most enigmatic symphony. The orchestration is quite unusual, including three saxophones and flügelhorn as well as an enlarged percussion section. It is closest in spirit, freedom of musical structure, and compositional techniques, although less complex, to his Sixth Symphony, and it resembles the earlier work in its abstract nature as well as in its use of an epilogue-like slow finale. Significance Vaughan Williams established the twentieth century English symphonic tradition at home and abroad. The English composers of symphonies who came after him— including Arnold Bax, Edmund Rubbra, William Alwyn, and Benjamin Britten—had their paths smoothed by the precedent he set. His influence was felt elsewhere in more subtle ways. For example, the American composer Aaron Copland compared Vaughan Williams’s Fifth Symphony to looking at a cow for forty-five minutes, yet he used its harmonic devices in his own Appalachian Spring (1944) and Third Symphony (1946). The American composereducator William Schuman (1910-1992) used some of the structural devices that unify Vaughan Williams’s Sixth Symphony in his own Sixth Symphony in 1949. Vaughan Williams’s roots were not only in the Anglo215
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Fifth Symphony) in its use of concentrated germ motives out of which the symphony is built. Cast in the traditional four movements, the basic germ motives are stated at the opening of the first movement. The bumptious scherzo is connected to the ironic fourth movement, which ends with an epilogue in which the principal germ motive is treated fugally. The symphony then concludes abruptly with statements of the main germ motives. Many commentators have asserted that this is Vaughan Williams’s greatest symphony, although it is not his most popular. In contrast to the Fourth Symphony, the Fifth Symphony, in D major (begun in 1938 and first performed in 1943), is a serene and contemplative work. Each of the movements bears a title: “Preludio,” “Scherzo,” “Romanza” (the slow movement), and “Passacaglia,” the term for a Baroque form built up on a repeated bassnote pattern. Its mood of affirmation will always be associated with Great Britain during World War II, yet much of it was inspired by John Bunyan’s seventeenth century morality tale The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678); Vaughan Williams worked for thirty years on an operatic setting of Bunyan’s book. One critic has compared the symphonic triptych to Bunyan’s tale, with the Fourth Symphony representing Vanity Fair and the Sixth Symphony the struggle with the demon Apollyon. The Sixth Symphony, which Vaughan Williams began in 1944 and revised numerous times before its premiere in London in 1948, is his most “modern” symphony, going beyond the Fourth in its use of sharp dissonance. The composer resented application of extramusical connotations such as “war symphony” to the work. It is not a triumphant composition; rather, it is ironic and, in places, even bitter. The four movements of the symphony are linked, with the entire fourth movement an epilogue in which the germ motives of the symphony are transformed into a highly contrapuntal work with a prevailingly soft dynamic level. This symphony received more than a hundred performances within two years of its premiere. Vaughan Williams’s final three symphonies also form a triptych, reflecting the composer’s interest in film music, which he did not begin to write until 1940. The seventh symphony, Sinfonia Antarctica, was derived from the music that Vaughan Williams wrote for the film Scott of the Antarctic (1948) in 1947 and 1948. In the following year, he began turning the film score into a symphony, which was completed in 1952 and given its premiere in Manchester in the following year. In five movements, and with a large orchestra that includes organ, wind machine, and women’s chorus, the symphony
Vaughan Williams Composes His Nine Symphonies
Vaughan Williams Composes His Nine Symphonies German tradition of Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford, and Edward Elgar, but also in English folk music (he was a longtime member of the English Folk Song and Folk Dance societies and attended their meetings until his eighties). He was also inspired by the traditions of English music of the Renaissance and Baroque music and by the rich tradition of English vernacular church music. His approach was evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Through his writing for amateur choirs, brass and wind bands, and school orchestras, he successfully raised the level of musical instruction. His lifelong credo was that a nation’s musical health is represented best not by its premier musical organizations in the major metropolitan areas but by the general level of music making throughout the country, and he conducted amateur musical groups until the state of his health no longer permitted him to continue. He sought to communicate music not merely to professionals but to unsophisticated performers and listeners as well, and he is one of the few composers of the twentieth century who completely succeeded in this endeavor. The symphonies of Vaughan Williams, as well as such other orchestral works as Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910) for double string orchestra and the music for Job (1930), have their greatest esteem in England, Australia, New Zealand, and the English-speaking nations of North America. Outside these orbits, performances of his symphonies have become infrequent, but his influence on twentieth century music is undeniable. — R. M. Longyear Further Reading Day, James. Vaughan Williams. Rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Presents the composer as a part of the post-Romantic reactionary movement in the company of composers such as Debussy and Stravinsky. Demonstrates that the circumstances of Vaughan Williams’s life are reflected in his wideranging, intense music. Douglas, Roy. Working with Vaughan Williams. London: British Library, 1988. From 1942 until the composer’s death in 1958, Douglas served as Vaughan Williams’s musical amanuensis by fashioning the composer’s difficult-to-read musical manuscripts into proper shape. Through the letters and conversations reproduced in this book, which is enriched with photographs and facsimiles of the composer’s writings, one gets a clear view of Vaughan Williams’s deep humanity. Heffer, Simon. Vaughan Williams. Boston: Northeastern 216
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 University Press, 2001. A useful introduction to the composer’s life and work. Also addresses what makes Vaughan Williams’s music both internationally admired and a source of particular pride to the English. Includes bibliography and selected discography. Kennedy, Michael. The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. 2d ed. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. A new edition of a book originally published in 1964. Discusses each of Vaughan Williams’s works in depth. Includes critical opinions of the time and presents a comprehensive picture of each major work. Musical knowledge is helpful but not essential for appreciating the insights of the text. Mackerness, Eric D. A Social History of English Music. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964. Provides a highly readable and nontechnical description of the social milieu from which Vaughan Williams’s music came and of the musical life of the country for which it was written. Vaughan Williams, Ralph. The Making of Music. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1955. Collection of lectures presented for a general audience at Cornell University in the fall of 1954 provides an excellent introduction to Vaughan Williams’s musical ideas and philosophy. Vaughan Williams, Ralph, and Gustav Holst. Heirs and Rebels. Edited by Ursula Vaughan Williams and Imogen Holst. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. The correspondence of Vaughan Williams and composer Gustav Holst, good friends from their student days in 1895 to Holst’s death in 1934, edited by the widows of the two composers. Includes some of Vaughan Williams’s early writings on music. Not only records a great musical friendship but also shows how the two composers worked and relied on each other’s advice. Vaughan Williams, Ursula. R. V. W.: A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams. 1964. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. An intimate biography of the composer by his second wife. Makes extensive use of letters and reminiscences by friends and colleagues and presents a vivid portrait of the composer as a person. Especially valuable as a record of his later years. See also: 1906: Publication of The English Hymnal; Dec. 3, 1908: Elgar’s First Symphony Premieres to Acclaim; Apr. 3, 1911: Sibelius Conducts the Premiere of His Fourth Symphony; 1921-1923: Schoenberg Develops His Twelve-Tone System.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
January 5, 1903 LONE WOLF V.
Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock
HITCHCOCK
In Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock the U.S. Supreme Court decided that Congress has plenary power over Native American property and may dispose of such property at its discretion. Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Laws, acts, and legal history; expansion and land acquisition
Summary of Event In 1887, after years of agitation and controversy, Congress passed the General Allotment Act (also known as the Dawes Act or Dawes Severalty Act). Under the terms of this legislation, the president was authorized to allot all tribal land in the United States to individual Native Americans. The standard share was 160 acres to each head of a family, with smaller amounts to unmarried men and children. Negotiations were to be carried on with Native American tribes for the sale to the federal government of the land remaining after the allotments were made and for the opening of the land to Euro-American settlement. The allotment policy, which dominated relations between the U.S. government and Native Americans for more than fifty years, proved to be disastrous for Native Americans. It transformed Native American landownership from collective to individual holdings, thus severing the Indians’ connections with communal tribal organizations, exposed Indians to wholesale exploitation by land speculators, pushed them onto land that was often arid and unproductive, and led ultimately to their loss of control over two-thirds of their lands. Deceit, duplicity, and coercion undermined the honest, but naïve, objectives of the U.S. reformers who espoused allotment prior to its enactment.
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Key Figures Edward D. White (1845-1921), associate justice of the United States, 1894-1910 Lone Wolf (c. 1820-1879), a Kiowa chief Ethan Allen Hitchcock (1835-1909), U.S. secretary of the interior, 1898-1907 William McKendree Springer (1836-1903), Lone Wolf’s attorney Hampton L. Carson (1852-1929), attorney with the Indian Rights Association and Springer’s cocounsel before the U.S. Supreme Court Willis Van Devanter (1859-1941), assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of the Interior
Tribal sovereignty, the allotment policy, and Native American treaty rights came before the U.S. Supreme Court in Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock in 1902. In 1867, the U.S. government had signed the Medicine Lodge Creek Treaty with the Kiowas and Comanches, whereby the two tribes relinquished claims to 90 million acres in exchange for 2.9-million-acre reservations in western Oklahoma. A separate treaty placed the plains Apaches on the same reservation. Article XII of the Medicine Lodge Creek Treaty provided that no further cession of any part of the new reservation could be made without the written consent of three-quarters of the adult male members of the three tribes. The commitment to Article XII of the treaty lasted twenty-five years. In 1892, the Jerome Commission, composed of a former governor of Michigan and two judges, was able—through fraud and counterfeit signatures—to secure the necessary three-quarters consent to an agreement for the allotment of land to individual tribesmen and for the purchase of 2.15 million acres of what was denominated as surplus land at a price of approximately ninety-three cents per acre. Almost immediately after the signing of the new agreement, representatives of the Kiowas, Comanches, and plains Apaches claimed that assent had been obtained through fraudulent misrepresentation of the agreement’s terms by the interpreters and that threequarters of the adult males had not consented to the cession. The U.S. House of Representatives ignored their arguments and voted to execute the agreement, but the Senate viewed their claims more sympathetically and defeated the bill in January, 1899. In July, 1900, however, Congress passed an act that allowed the United States to take title to 2,991,933 acres of the Kiowa, Comanche, and plains Apache reservation. After 480,000 acres were set aside as common grazing lands, 445,000 acres were allotted to individual members of the three tribes, and 10,000 acres were committed to agency, schools, and religious purposes, 2 million acres were left to be purchased by the federal government and opened to white settlement. Although some Native Americans approved of the act, Lone Wolf, a Kiowa chief, and others were intent on challenging the act’s constitutionality. They retained William McKendree Springer, formerly chief justice of the Court of Appeals for the Indian Territory, to litigate their case before the federal courts. Springer argued that
Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock the congressional act violated the property rights of the three tribes and was, therefore, repugnant to the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. After losing in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia and in the Court of Appeals for the district, Springer appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock was argued in the Supreme Court in October, 1901, and reargued the following year. The decision was handed down on January 5, 1903. In the Court, attorney Hampton L. Carson, a prominent member of the Indian Rights Association, joined Springer as cocounsel; the Department of the Interior was represented by Willis Van Devanter of Wyoming, who later became a U.S. Supreme Court justice. The unanimous decision of the Supreme Court, written by Associate Justice Edward D. White of Louisiana, was characterized by a later commentator as the “Indian’s Dred Scott decision,” and January 5, 1903, as “one of the blackest days in the history of the American Indians.” Justice White spoke of Native Americans in condescending terms, as an “ignorant and dependent race,” “weak and diminishing in number,” and “wards of the nation.” These contemptuous phrases were not original to White; they were epithets that had long been used in the opinions of Supreme Court justices in relation to Native Americans. More important, White ruled that Congress possessed a paramount authority over the property of Native Americans “by reason of its exercise of guardianship over their interests.” In exercising such power, Congress could abrogate provisions of a treaty with a Native American tribe. Justice White then went on to argue that the congressional act of 1900 represented only “a mere change in the form of investment of Indian tribal property from land to money” even though the price paid was below the market value. White held that Congress had made a good-faith effort to compensate the Kiowas for their lands; therefore, there was no violation of the Fifth Amendment. “If injury was occasioned,” White concluded, “which we do not wish to be understood to imply by the use made by Congress of its power, relief must be sought by an appeal to that body for redress and not to the courts.” Even before the Supreme Court had ruled in Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, President William McKinley issued a proclamation opening the Kiowa lands to white settlement on August 6, 1901. Lone Wolf watched with chagrin as thousands of potential settlers camped on Kiowa lands near Fort Sill, waiting to register for a lottery; during a two-month period, 11,638 homestead entries were made at the land office. 218
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Significance The importance of the Supreme Court decision in Lone Wolf should not be underestimated. Justice White’s opinion legitimated the long history of broken promises, of treaties made and treaties ignored, as well as the assertion of plenary authority of Congress over Indian lands. The opinion justified the alienation, between 1887 and 1934, of 86 million acres of Native American property; it also denied Native Americans recourse to the courts to seek redress for the coerced separation from their land and its purchase at bargain prices. In Lone Wolf, Justice White told the Kiowas and associated tribes that they would have to seek relief for their alleged injuries in Congress, and the Kiowas had no alternative but to go to the federal legislature to secure redress. It was not until 1955 that the Indian Claims Commission awarded the Kiowas, Comanches, and plains Apaches $2,067,166 in compensation for the lands taken under the congressional act of 1900. It was not until 1980, in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, that Justice Harry Blackmun, in a majority opinion, held that the Lone Wolf doctrine was “discredited” and “had little to commend it as an enduring principle.” —David L. Sterling Further Reading Clark, Blue. “Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock”: Treaty Rights and Indian Law at the End of the Nineteenth Century. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. A short but comprehensive study of the background and implications of the most significant Native American court case of the early twentieth century. Hagan, William T. The Indian Rights Association: The Herbert Welsh Years, 1882-1904. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1985. An account of the organization that participated in the litigation of the Lone Wolf case. Highsaw, Robert B. Edward Douglass White: Defender of the Conservative Faith. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981. An analysis of the judicial record of the writer of the Supreme Court opinion in Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock. Johansen, Bruce E., ed. Enduring Legacies: Native American Treaties and Contemporary Controversies. New York: Praeger, 2004. Represents an attempt to maintain a “national conversation” on Native American treaties through discussion of related contemporary laws and issues. Legters, Lyman, and Fremont J. Lyden, eds. American Indian Policy: Self-Governance and Economic De-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 velopment. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994. A collection of articles detailing trends in Native American life and law in the late twentieth century. Prucha, Francis Paul. American Indian Treaties: The History of a Political Anomaly. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. An exhaustive examination of the legal relationship between Native American tribes and the U.S. government since the time of the American Revolution. Wilkins, David E., and K. Tsianina Lomawaima. Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty and Federal
Creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor Law. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002. Reviews the often inconsistent federal legal precedents related to issues concerning Native Americans. Chapter 5, “‘Justices Who Bent the Law’: The Doctrine of Implied Repeals,” addresses the Supreme Court’s political policy-making role in Indian affairs, as particularly illustrated in Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock. See also: Oct. 12, 1912: First Conference of the Society of American Indians; June 2, 1924: Indian Citizenship Act; June 18, 1934: Indian Reorganization Act.
February 14, 1903
Creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor
Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Trade and commerce; government and politics; organizations and institutions Key Figures Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Carroll D. Wright (1840-1909), commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor, 1885-1905 George B. Cortelyou (1862-1940), secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor, 1903-1904 James Rudolph Garfield (1865-1950), commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Corporations, 1903-1907 Summary of Event The Department of Commerce and Labor Act of 1903 created the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor, a cabinet department within the executive branch of the federal government. The department included the Bureau of Corporations and the Bureau of Labor. The staffs of these bureaus were to investigate and provide information on corporations, industrial working conditions, and labor-management disputes. The creation of this department and its attendant federal agencies presaged an increasingly activist federal government in the twentieth century, one that would investigate, publicize, and intervene in the dealings of industry, labor-management disputes, and other matters deemed to be of importance to the national economy.
In June, 1884, Congress established a labor bureau as part of the Department of the Interior. In 1888, Congress gave that bureau independent status as the Department of Labor, but its commissioner did not have a position in the president’s cabinet. The commissioner reported directly to the president. When Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, public opinion was increasingly concerned with the growing power that large corporations, monopolies, and trusts had in American economic, social, and political life. The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902 (in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio), which lasted six months and threatened the nation’s coal supply, exacerbated public and political concern over industrial labor-management relations and was itself a major spur to the creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor. Political pressure from the public as well as from elected officials encouraged Roosevelt to try to arbitrate the coal miners’ dispute by inviting representatives from labor and management to the White House. Although the meeting did not resolve the crisis—the owners refused to accede to the union’s demands—it was significant in that the president had brought labor representatives to the negotiating table. Previous presidents had tended to take the side of business in labor-management disputes. Representatives from the railroads that owned the coal mines attended the meeting, as did Roosevelt’s commissioner of labor, Carroll D. Wright, and John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers (UMW). The crisis still unresolved, Roosevelt created an arbitration commission to investigate the strike. Although no official representatives of the UMW were part of this arbitration commission, as the operators refused such rec219
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With the establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903, the U.S. government became actively involved in matters of business, labor, and the national economy.
Creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor ognition, Wright as well as other unofficial labor representatives were part of the commission. With winter closing in, making coal supplies an increasing concern, pressure from public opinion, influential business leaders, and elected officials encouraged the strikers to go back to work on October 23, 1902, while the commission arbitrated the dispute. The commission finally forced a resolution on March 22, 1903, giving the coal miners wage increases but no official recognition of their union from the operators. The incident convinced Roosevelt of the need for a permanent federal agency to prevent or help resolve, through arbitration, any such future national economic crises. He also was convinced of the need for an increased federal role in the economy. It was in this context that in early January, 1903, Roosevelt called for the creation of a Department of Commerce and Labor, to include a Bureau of Labor and a Bureau of Corporations. The functions of those agencies would be to investigate the operations and conduct of corporations and to provide the federal government with information about business structure, operations, and working conditions. The bill creating the department also provided for six other bureaus within the department to deal with matters of immigration, the census, navigation, fisheries, standards, and business statistics. Roosevelt adroitly used the opposition of business leaders to enlist the support of the public and Congress for the bill. He publicized a letter from an attorney representing John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, written to Matthew Quay, a senator from Pennsylvania, protesting against such governmental interference. Roosevelt portrayed the opponents of the bill as those very forces of economic and industrial injustice that were increasingly worrisome to the public. By winning public support to his side, Roosevelt obtained overwhelming congressional backing. The bill to create the new department was passed on February 14, 1903. Roosevelt named George B. Cortelyou, his private secretary, as the first secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor. Roosevelt and Cortelyou did not view the new department as an agency the federal government could use to attack business but as an empowerment of government to expand services to businesses, particularly in providing market information. Cortelyou advised the president on labor disputes as well as on antitrust prosecution. He also advised Roosevelt on the issue of the union shop in the Government Printing Office. As the first commissioner of the Bureau of Corporations, James Rudolph Garfield used the agency to investigate many corporations. He shared Roosevelt’s view 220
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 that federal government should regulate businesses, not randomly break them up. Garfield received some outside criticism that the bureau was too lenient in dealing with the “trusts,” particularly regarding an investigation of the United States Steel Corporation, which he and the president thought was a “good” trust. He initiated stringent investigations of the beef and oil industries. The investigation of Standard Oil led to an antitrust suit, and ultimately the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil in 1911. Significance The creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor set an important precedent for the growing role of the federal government in the national economy. It was a significant departure from the policies of the legislative and executive branches in the late nineteenth century, which said that public agencies should not intervene in the private business sphere. The increased federal role in the economy was at times antagonistic to corporations. Investigations by the Bureau of Corporations led to antitrust litigation and dissolution of the American Tobacco Company and Standard Oil. For the most part, however, the Department of Commerce (which split from the Department of Labor in 1913) has by design functioned to help business and commerce in the United States. By distributing commercial and business statistics as well as agricultural and population censuses, the Department of Commerce makes available information that can help people involved in various industries or businesses learn about relevant markets in particular regions or across the nation. This type of comprehensive information, which would be prohibitively expensive for most businesses to collect privately, can be very important, particularly to individuals starting businesses. The department’s national standards for weights and measures facilitate interstate commerce by standardizing the basis for trade and ensuring honesty. The department also helps industry by protecting assets through patent and trademark registration. The Department of Commerce also provides information useful to the maritime and aviation industries by publishing nautical and aeronautical charts. Through its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the department sponsors the collection and dissemination of weather data, including severe storm warnings, and conducts research relative to coastal and marine resources and the environment. It also organizes emergency responses to oil spills and other environmental disasters. The department is
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Creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor
had differences on the issues of labor and corporation regulation, but both advocated continThe U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor existed from 1903 to uing government activism on these issues. 1913, when it was dissolved and the separate Departments of LaWilson came into the presidency in 1913 bor and Commerce were created, each of which was headed by a with a series of progressive commitments, chief cabinet-level secretary. Charles Nagel was the last secretary of among them an added focus on the rights of lacommerce and labor, and William B. Wilson was the first secretary bor. He worked with Congress to establish a of labor. separate Department of Labor, creating a new Term Secretary cabinet position for the secretary of labor. President Wilson’s choice for this position, WilFeb. 18, 1903-June 30, 1904 George B. Cortelyou liam B. Wilson, president of the UMW, reJuly 1, 1904-Dec. 16, 1906 Victor H. Metcalf flected his concern about the rights of labor Dec. 17, 1906-Mar. 5, 1909 Oscar S. Straus Mar. 6, 1909-Mar. 4, 1913 Charles Nagel organizations. William Wilson was the first laMar. 6, 1913-Mar. 4, 1921 William B. Wilson bor union representative to be named to the cabMar. 5, 1921-Nov. 30, 1930 James J. Davis inet. President Wilson wanted a representative Dec. 9, 1930-Mar. 4, 1933 William N. Doak from the ranks of labor to have the authority of a Mar. 4, 1933-June 30, 1945 Frances Perkins cabinet-level position in representing executive July 1, 1945-June 10, 1948 Lewis B. Schwellenbach branch efforts to arbitrate labor-management Aug. 13, 1948-Jan. 20, 1953 Maurice J. Tobin disputes. Secretary of Labor Wilson strengthJan. 21, 1953-Sept. 10, 1953 Martin P. Durkin ened the Labor Department’s Division of MediOct. 9, 1953-Jan. 20, 1961 James P. Mitchell ation and Conciliation and played a significant Jan. 21, 1961-Sept. 20, 1962 Arthur Goldberg role in President Wilson’s efforts to arbitrate Sept. 25, 1962-Jan. 20, 1969 W. Willard Wirtz the Ludlow, Colorado, coal mine strike of 1914. Jan. 22, 1969-July 1, 1970 George Shultz July 2, 1970-Feb. 1, 1973 James D. Hodgson President Wilson also pushed through Congress Feb. 2, 1973-Mar. 15, 1975 Peter J. Brennan the Keating-Owen Act, which barred from inMar. 18, 1975-Jan. 31, 1976 John Thomas Dunlop terstate commerce goods produced with child Feb. 10, 1976-Jan. 20, 1977 W. J. Usery, Jr. labor; the Adamson Act, which gave railroad Jan. 27, 1977-Jan. 20, 1981 Ray Marshall workers an eight-hour workday; and the WorkFeb. 4, 1981-Mar. 15, 1985 Raymond J. Donovan men’s Compensation Act, which provided Apr. 29, 1985-Oct. 31, 1987 William E. Brock workplace insurance to federal employees. The Dec. 17, 1987-Jan. 20, 1989 Ann Dore McLaughlin enforcement of these new laws became the reJan. 25, 1989-Nov. 23, 1990 Elizabeth Dole sponsibility of the Department of Labor. Feb. 22, 1991-Jan. 20, 1993 Lynn Martin The functions of the Department of Labor Jan. 22, 1993-Jan. 10, 1997 Robert B. Reich grew dramatically through the twentieth cenMay 1, 1997-Jan. 20, 2001 Alexis Herman Beginning Jan. 29, 2001 Elaine Chao tury. In the interests of workers, the department became responsible for enforcing laws regarding labor-management relations, child labor, equal pay, minimum wages, overtime, public also engaged in foreign commercial expansion, in the contracts, workers’ compensation, health and safety in promotion of international free trade agreements, and in the workplace, and industrial accidents. The department international emergency relief responses. All these acalso aided businesses by gathering and disseminating tions represent a desire by both politicians and businessmarket information, analyzing costs and standards of people to stabilize industry while promoting economic living, and analyzing trends in prices, employment, and growth. productivity. In addition, it created a number of agencies In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that designed to relieve unemployment, such as the Neighcreated the Department of Labor, separating it from the borhood Youth Corps, the Job Corps, and the Bureau of Department of Commerce. The presidential campaign of Apprenticeship and Training. 1912 had reflected growing public concern with indusIn 1914, President Wilson and Congress created the trial-labor relations and the rights and powers of labor Federal Trade Commission to replace the Bureau of Corunions. Presidential candidates Roosevelt and Wilson porations as the federal government’s primary antitrust
Secretaries of Commerce and Labor
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U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce and corporate investigatory agency. The Federal Trade Commission was the agency established to enforce the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914. That act also represented continuing and growing concerns over competition, economic opportunity, and antitrust that grew from the precedent of the creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903. — Bruce Andre Beaubouef Further Reading Babson, Steve. The Unfinished Struggle: Turning Points in American Labor, 1877-Present. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. A concise and comprehensive history of the American labor movement. Includes notes and index. Blum, John Morton. “Theodore Roosevelt and the Definition of Office.” In The Progressive Presidents: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson. New York: W. W. Norton, 1980. A good introduction to the Progressive politics and policies of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Concise, yet detailed in its analysis. Brands, H. W. T. R.: The Last Romantic. New York: Basic Books, 1997. Iconoclastic biography of Theodore Roosevelt. Gould, Lewis L. “Immediate and Vigorous Executive Action.” In The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.
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Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991. Excellent history of the foreign and domestic policies of both of Roosevelt’s administrations. Useful for students beginning study of the Progressive Era. Kolko, Gabriel. The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History, 1900-1916. New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1963. Excellent for those seeking an in-depth and challenging analysis of business-government relationships in the Progressive Era. Kolko contends that new regulations were not a victory for the “people” over the “interests.” Leaders of industry desired regulation that they could help to formulate and influence to avoid competition and stabilize their industries. Miller, Nathan. Theodore Roosevelt: A Life. New York: William Morrow, 1992. This book’s treatment of the Northern Securities case is particularly concise and well done, characteristics that hold for the book as a whole. Good for those with some familiarity with Roosevelt and the Progressive Era. See also: May 12-Oct. 23, 1902: Anthracite Coal Strike; Apr. 9, 1912: Children’s Bureau Is Founded; Sept. 26, 1914: Federal Trade Commission Is Organized; May 20, 1926: Air Commerce Act Creates a Federal Airways System; Mar. 21, 1938: WheelerLea Act Broadens FTC Control over Advertising.
February 23, 1903
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce The U.S. Supreme Court, through its broad interpretation of the commerce clause in the case of Champion v. Ames, sustained federal powers to prohibit and regulate commerce. Also known as: Champion v. Ames; Lottery Case Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Trade and commerce; laws, acts, and legal history Key Figures Melville W. Fuller (1833-1910), chief justice of the United States, 1888-1910 John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911), associate justice of the United States, 1877-1911 John Marshall (1755-1835), chief justice of the United States, 1801-1835 222
Albert J. Beveridge (1862-1927), U.S. senator from Indiana, 1899-1911 Summary of Event In 1903, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal government’s potential to prohibit or restrict commerce. The case of Champion v. Ames, also known as the Lottery Case, altered the delineation between interstate and intrastate commerce under Article I, section 8, clause 3, of the U.S. Constitution, the so-called commerce clause. The circumstances brought before the Court originated in 1895 with an act of Congress. This act made it illegal to transport or conspire to transport lottery tickets from state to state. On February 1, 1899, C. F. Champion sent two Pan-American Lottery Company lottery tickets from Dallas, Texas, to Fresno, California. The tickets were transported by a vehicle owned by the Wells-Fargo
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce ity. These cases continued to expand the essence of interstate commerce. Consequently, the Court resolved that commerce embraces navigation, intercourse, communication, traffic, the transit of persons, and the transmission of messages by telegraph. In the Lottery Case, the use of a vehicle from WellsFargo Express traveling from state to state was relevant. The Court held that this travel provided sufficient intercourse with interstate commerce to allow federal domination. Further, the Court viewed the congressional justification for the creation of the act as being rational. It determined that the federal government is the proper means for protecting U.S. citizens from the widespread pestilence of lotteries. The Court deemed that such an evil act of appalling character, carried through interstate commerce, deserves federal intervention. In his dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Fuller asserted that the Court had imposed a burden on the state’s powers to regulate for the public health, good order, and prosperity of its citizens. To hold that Congress has general police power would be to defeat the operation of the Tenth Amendment. This argument would constitute the foundation of many later dissenting opinions. This particular conviction never became the majority view. At the time of the Lottery Case, an escalating struggle was taking place between a desire for a strong federal government, called federalism or nationalism, and the states’ right to regulate themselves. This conflict goes as far back in U.S. history as the Constitution itself. After the Revolutionary War, the states regarded themselves as independent sovereigns. The Articles of Confederation allowed only minimal intrusion into states’ internal affairs by the Continental Congress. Faced with the inability of the confederation to function properly, provincial patriotism had to concede. The delegates at the Constitutional Convention, in an effort to fabricate a more concentrated federal government, made many compromises. They maintained within the Constitution, however, certain seemingly insurmountable limits on the federal government. As a consequence, the judiciary generally discerns the Constitution as being a limitation on federal power. Without an expressed or implied grant of authority from within the Constitution, the federal government cannot regulate. This policy is not easily implemented in cases concerning commerce. Under the commerce clause, Congress has the authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states and with Native Americans. The commerce clause seems to conflict with the Tenth Amendment, which assigns all rights 223
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Express Company. Champion was arrested in Chicago under a warrant based on his alleged violation of the act and was subsequently convicted. The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for final review, and on February 23, 1903, the Court upheld the conviction in a five-to-four decision. Justice John Marshall Harlan delivered the majority opinion of the Court, and Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller wrote the dissenting opinion. When the Lottery Case appeared before the Court, the power to regulate interstate commerce was a concurrent power shared by the states and the federal government. Prior to the Lottery Case, several Court decisions had begun the process of liberalizing the connotation of “interstate,” favoring federal control. One such case was Gibbons v. Ogden (1824). This decision played a major role in the Court’s final disposition of the Lottery Case by initiating a method for analyzing commerce issues. A review of the facts in Gibbons shows that the state of New York granted a monopoly to Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton in the operation of steamboats in the waterways of New York. Under the monopoly, Aaron Ogden managed two licensed steamboats that ferried between New York and New Jersey. Thomas Gibbons obtained a coasting license under a 1793 act of Congress and began competing with Ogden. Gibbons’s steamboat was not licensed to operate under the New York monopoly. The pressure of additional competition encouraged Ogden to bring action in a New York court to prohibit Gibbons from operating. Writing for the majority in Gibbons, Chief Justice John Marshall delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court, which held the New York monopoly law to be unconstitutional. In Gibbons, the Court aspired to denote interstate commerce. Gibbons’s attorneys argued that interstate commerce is traffic to buy and sell, or the interchange of commodities. The Court agreed that interstate commerce includes traffic but added the notion of intercourse. Generally, the term “intercourse” connotes exchange between persons or groups. With this notion, the Court reasoned that interstate commerce does not end at external boundary lines between states but may be introduced into the interior. The justices determined that commerce may pass the jurisdictional line of New York and act upon the waters to which the monopoly law applied, thus concluding that the transportation of passengers between New York and New Jersey constituted interstate commerce. In the Champion v. Ames decision, the Court went on to reference other decisions that sanction federal author-
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce to the states unless such control is prohibited or delegated to the U.S. government by the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment is said to contain the states’ police powers. Further, the Constitution does not expressly exclude states from regulating interstate commerce. It simply limits the federal government’s jurisdiction over interstate trade and precludes interference with purely local activities. To add another complication, consider the Constitution’s supremacy clause, Article VI, paragraph 2. This states that if legitimate state and federal powers are in conflict, then the national interest will prevail. This
The CHAMPION V. AMES Ruling
power is enhanced by the Court’s broad interpretation of the “necessary and proper clause” (Article I, section 8) in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819). This ruling gave Congress a discretionary choice of means for implementing implied powers. From a political perspective, it is notable that both the McCulloch and Gibbons cases came before the Court while John Marshall was chief justice. Marshall served under President John Adams as the secretary of state and was a devout federalist. During Marshall’s tenure as chief justice, the Court vested within its jurisdiction an unusual allotment of power. It assigned to itself final interpretation rights over the constitutionality of all federal and state laws brought before the Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Champion v. Ames, delivered by Justice John Marshall Harlan, includes this paragraph concerning the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce: It is said . . . that if, in order to suppress lotteries carried on through interstate commerce, Congress may exclude lottery tickets from such commerce, that principle leads necessarily to the conclusion that Congress may arbitrarily exclude from commerce among the states any article, commodity, or thing, of whatever kind or nature, or however useful or valuable, which it may choose, no matter with what motive, to declare shall not be carried from one state to another. It will be time enough to consider the constitutionality of such legislation when we must do so. The present case does not require the court to declare the full extent of the power that Congress may exercise in the regulation of commerce among the states. We may, however, repeat, in this connection, what the court has heretofore said, that the power of Congress to regulate commerce among the states, although plenary, cannot be deemed arbitrary, since it is subject to such limitations or restrictions as are prescribed by the Constitution. This power, therefore, may not be exercised so as to infringe rights secured or protected by that instrument. It would not be difficult to imagine legislation that would be justly liable to such an objection as that stated, and be hostile to the objects for the accomplishment of which Congress was invested with the general power to regulate commerce among the several states. But, as often said, the possible abuse of a power is not an argument against its existence. There is probably no governmental power that may not be exerted to the injury of the public. If what is done by Congress is manifestly in excess of the powers granted to it, then upon the courts will rest the duty of adjudging that its action is neither legal nor binding upon the people. But if what Congress does is within the limits of its power, and is simply unwise or injurious, the remedy is that suggested by Chief Justice Marshall in Gibbons v. Ogden, when he said: “The wisdom and the discretion of Congress, their identity with the people, and the influence which their constituents possess at elections, are, in this, as in many other instances, as that, for example, of declaring war, the sole restraints on which they have relied, to secure them from its abuse. They are the restraints on which the people must often rely solely, in all representative governments.” Source: U.S. Supreme Court, Champion v. Ames, 188 U.S. 321 (1903).
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Significance The ruling in the Lottery Case had an immediate influence on U.S. society. Social reformers quickly seized on the rationale provided by the Court and began prompting Congress to regulate. In 1906, Senator Albert J. Beveridge of Indiana successfully proposed a meat inspection amendment to an appropriations bill. The amendment, which prohibited the interstate shipment of meats that had not been federally inspected, received an influential recommendation from President Theodore Roosevelt. Additionally, Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle (1906) greatly intensified popular support for Beveridge’s cause. In The Jungle, Sinclair, an active socialist, characterized the life of a worker in the Chicago stockyards in such a compelling manner that President Roosevelt was induced to investigate the meatpacking industry. During the same term, Congress also approved the Pure Food and Drug Act. Later, Beveridge proposed another bill based on the commerce clause. This legislation attempted to exclude from commerce goods produced by child labor. Beveridge was certain that the Lottery Case settled the constitutionality of his proposal, but convincing his colleagues of this proved to be
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U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce The Court has applied various constitutional tests to interstate commerce throughout its history. Initially, the Court viewed interstate commerce as physical movement between states. Soon it began examining federal jurisdiction based on the direct versus indirect influences of the law in question on interstate commerce. By the middle of the twentieth century, the Court began examining whether the purely local activity had an appreciable effect on interstate commerce. Another offspring of the commerce clause is the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The ICC consists of experts who aspire to protect and represent the public in matters of transportation in interstate commerce. This agency has immense powers and is not without its opponents. The need to unite the country necessitated a strong centralized government, but debates persist over the effects ensuing from the expanding role of the federal bureaucracy. Some critics perceive the federal government as an inadequate regulator of business, particularly in the area of environmental protection. Other commentators reason that businesses have become dependent on the government as a form of protection from competition. Still others assert that business enterprises cannot mature and flourish because of excessive government control. The judiciary appears to recognize one conspicuous restriction on the federal government’s authority. Regardless of how significant the legal arguments are, most courts hesitate to make decrees that will prohibit major industries from operating. In addition, certain potentially negative economic effects, such as the loss of many jobs, particularly in the automotive, steel, and oil industries, act as subtle legal shields from overly zealous government intrusion. — Brian J. Carroll Further Reading Amar, Akhil Reed. America’s Constitution: A Biography. New York: Random House, 2005. Examines in turn each article of the Constitution and explains how the framers drew on English models, existing state constitutions, and other sources in structuring the three branches of the federal government and in defining the relationship of that government to the states. Breyer, Stephen. Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. In this book, which is based on the Tanner Lectures on Human Values that he delivered at Harvard University in November, 2004, Stephen Breyer, associate justice of the United States, defines the term 225
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arduous and unsuccessful. Congress finally passed the Child Labor Act in 1916, but the Court declared it unconstitutional in Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918). It would be another decade before such a law would be held valid under constitutional scrutiny by the Court. Despite this setback, the precedent established in the Lottery Case was adequate to sustain a wide variety of laws intended to limit the movement of harmful goods. During the early twentieth century, the Court upheld the exclusion from interstate commerce of impure foods, white slavery (involuntary prostitution), obscene literature, and articles designed for indecent and immoral use. With only some antithesis, the Court continued to reform the meaning of interstate commerce to enhance federal control. A greatly extended application of the clause can be found in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964). This case implicated the constitutionality of Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act strives to eliminate racial discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, and similar places. The owners of the Heart of Atlanta Motel disputed the constitutionality of the act. It was the motel’s policy to refuse lodging to people of color. It advertised in several surrounding states, and approximately 75 percent of its guests were from other states. The Court upheld the constitutionality of the act. The tests employed by the Court were whether the activity is commerce that concerns more than one state and whether the act showed a substantial relation to a national interest. The Court postulated that the operation of a motel might appear local in nature, but it does affect interstate commerce. The Court resolved that a motel accommodating interstate travelers is engaged in commerce that concerns more than one state. Again, as in the Lottery Case, the Court determined that the evil averted by the act was a legitimate national concern. The rationale offered by the Court in Heart of Atlanta Motel exhibits the accumulation of many years of precedents. The Court asserted that the same interest that led Congress to deal with segregation prompted it to control gambling, criminal enterprises, deceptive practices in the sale of products, fraudulent security transactions, improper branding of drugs, wages and hours, members of labor unions, crop control, discrimination against shippers, the protection of small business from injurious price cutting, and resale price maintenance at terminal restaurants. The Court affirmed that Congress, in many of these examples, was regulating against moral wrongs. It concluded that segregation is a valid moral issue that would support the enactment of the Civil Rights Act.
First U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established “active liberty” as a sharing of the nation’s sovereign authority with its citizens. He argues that the Constitution is a guide for the application of basic principles to a changing society rather than a rigid legal means for restricting that society. Presents examples in the areas of free speech, federalism, privacy, affirmative action, statutory interpretation, and administrative law. Cox, Archibald. The Court and the Constitution. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. A well-organized approach to major Court decisions. The author was a former solicitor general and the first Watergate special prosecutor. He details how the Court has kept the Constitution an important instrument. Fellmeth, Robert C. The Interstate Commerce Omission. New York: Grossman, 1970. Presents an encompassing view of the problems haunting the Interstate Commerce Commission. The Center for Study of Responsive Law produced the report, and Ralph Nader wrote the introduction. Gunther, Gerald. Cases and Materials on Constitutional Law. 10th ed. Mineola, N.Y.: Foundation Press, 1980. A well-written textbook that discusses the immense area of constitutional law. The text has remarkable
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 depth but has a tendency to ask more questions than it answers. Provides a superior foundation in beginning constitutional research. Hilsman, Roger. To Govern America. New York: HarperCollins, 1979. An admirable compilation of data describing all features of government, including many peripheral aspects, such as philosophy and the future of American democracy. Mason, Alpheus T., and Donald Grier Stephenson, Jr. American Constitutional Law: Introductory Essays and Selected Cases. 12th ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1998. Acommendable review and analysis of constitutional law. The authors present this complex subject in a clear manner. Tindall, George B. America: A Narrative History. 5th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. A constricted narrative that shapes U.S. history into an eventful story. Presents history organized in themes such as “judicial nationalism.” See also: June 30, 1906: Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act; Feb. 3, 1908: Danbury Hatters Decision Constrains Secondary Boycotts; Feb. 24, 1908: Muller v. Oregon; July 3, 1918: Migratory Bird Treaty Act; June 25, 1938: Fair Labor Standards Act.
March 14, 1903
First U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established The establishment of Pelican Island in Florida as the first national wildlife refuge in the United States began a movement toward increased concern with wildlife conservation. Locale: Pelican Island, Florida Categories: Environmental issues; organizations and institutions Key Figures Jay Darling (1876-1962), American artist, cartoonist, and wildlife preservationist Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 John Clark Salyer II (1902-1966), American biologist and wildlife preservationist Summary of Event At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was evident that serious wildlife conservation problems existed in the United States. Plume hunting—the killing of birds to 226
gather showy feathers for use as decorations on hats and dresses—was rampant, as the feathers often sold for almost five hundred dollars a pound. This practice was decimating bird populations throughout the nation. In addition, many fish-eating birds were being destroyed by fishermen who wanted to protect their own access to fish that they could catch and sell. President Theodore Roosevelt, an experienced outdoorsman, explorer, and hunter, was appalled at the slaughter of birds that was taking place. At the urging of the American Ornithological Union and other concerned groups and individuals, on March 14, 1903, he issued an executive order establishing Pelican Island on the east coast of Florida as a wildlife refuge. The new refuge was the first in what would become the largest and most comprehensive system of wildlife refuges in the world, preserving more than ninety million acres of wildlife habitat by the end of the twentieth century. Like most conservation actions, the establishment of the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System had a long, of-
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First U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established
ten turbulent gestation period. Federal withdrawal of lands to be protected for wildlife began in 1869, when the U.S. Congress established the Pribiloff Reservation off the coast of Alaska to protect the northern fur seal, which had been hunted almost to extinction. One of the first steps toward the establishment of a refuge system occurred in 1892, when President Benjamin Harrison established the Afognak Reservation in Alaska to protect local wildlife. The Lacey Act of 1900 gave the Bureau of Biological Survey true power as a conservation agency. Roosevelt used this legislation to place the federal refuges under the bureau’s control. In 1904, Roosevelt established by executive order fifty-one other national wildlife refuges in seventeen states and in the territories of Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. (By the end of the twentieth century, every U.S.
state had a national wildlife refuge within its borders.) More than sixteen million acres were protected as refuge lands on June 30, 1940, when the Bureau of Biological Survey was transferred to the Department of the Interior and renamed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Most of the early national wildlife refuges were either islands designated as sanctuaries for colonial nesting birds or game ranges intended to prevent the extermination of native big-game mammals such as elk and bison. On January 24, 1905, Congress authorized the president to set aside a portion of the Wichita National Forest in Oklahoma for the protection of game animals and birds. No funding was provided for this refuge, so the U.S. Forest Service managed it until 1935, when it was transferred to the Bureau of Biological Survey. The first national wildlife refuge specifically autho-
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge Gordon
Brewton Riverview Jay
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Warrington Gulf Shores
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Indiantown
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North Palm Beach
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Fort Myers Cape Coral Sanibel Bonita Shores Naples Park
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Belle Glade Lake Worth Lehigh Acres Boynton Beach Delray Beach Immokalee Boca Raton Sandalfoot Cove Margate Pompano Beach
Golden Gate Naples Manor
Fort Lauderdale Hollywood
Marco
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Tamiami Richmond Heights
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First U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established rized by Congress was the National Bison Range, which was created by a congressional act on May 23, 1908. On March 4, 1913, the National Elk Refuge was established. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, ratified in 1918 by Great Britain, Canada, and the United States, established the international framework for managing migratory waterfowl in North America. It also emphasized the acquisition and management of refuge lands. The first waterfowl unit of the system to be authorized and funded by Congress was the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. In 1924, Congress appropriated $1.5 million to purchase bottom lands along the Mississippi River between Wabasha, Minnesota, and Rock Island, Illinois, primarily to preserve waterfowl habitat. The Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929, authored by Senator Peter Norbeck and Congressman August H. Andresen, legislated the establishment of additional federal refuges, but Congress provided no funds for these acquisitions. Jay “Ding” Darling, as head of the Bureau of Biological Survey, obtained $8.5 million to purchase lands for the refuges from two of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, the Emergency Acts and the Works Progress Administration. The bureau had until June 15, 1935, to spend the money, and all of it had to be spent in the eighteen states designated as the drought belt. Darling hired biologist John Clark Salyer II to find, evaluate, and buy suitable lands for refuges by the deadline. Salyer did such an outstanding job in obtaining the needed lands that he remained as chief of the Division of Migratory Waterfowl in the Fish and Wildlife Service until he retired in the 1960’s. Senator Norbeck was so impressed with the progress that Darling and Salyer had made in establishing the National Wildlife Refuge System that he obtained another $6 million for the system from Congress by unanimous consent, a legislative feat usually reserved only for national emergencies. Funding for the purchase of national wildlife refuge lands remained uncertain and limited by the whims of congressional action until 1934, when the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act, also known as the Duck Stamp Act, was passed. Under this legislation, all waterfowl hunters sixteen years of age and older were required to buy “duck stamps” (sold at U.S. Post Offices), which they then signed and pasted onto the backs of their state hunting licenses. Revenues from the sale of the stamps were to be used to acquire and manage wetlands for waterfowl. Congress thus shifted the tax burden of funding refuges from general taxpayers to wa228
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 terfowl hunters. (Darling, who was an artist, designed the first duck stamp in 1934; each stamp sold for one dollar.) The Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of March, 1934, expanded the scope and authority of the Biological Survey by recognizing wildlife and recreational values on federal water development projects. At least seven major refuges were established by the Resettlement and Farm Security Administration’s program to purchase submarginal farmlands. The Inter-American Treaty of 1942 committed the United States to a continuing program of wildlife protection and husbandry. During World War II, the facilities of the National Wildlife Refuge System deteriorated badly, and no new lands were purchased for preservation. Problems with crop depredation by migratory waterfowl, however, led to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s resumption of land acquisitions. In 1948, Congress passed the Lea Act, authorizing the federal government to acquire lands in California for waterfowl management. Wildlife refuges were established on which crops were grown to lure migratory birds, and commercial crop losses were reduced dramatically. Colusa, Sutter, Merced, and Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuges were added to the refuge system because of the Lea Act. Eventually, revenues from the sales of duck stamps could not keep up with escalating land prices. In 1949, the cost of a duck stamp was increased from one dollar to two dollars (by 2005, the price was fifteen dollars). In 1961, Congress also authorized a seven-year accelerated program of purchasing wetlands with an advance of funds against future revenues from sales of duck stamps in the Wetlands Loan Act. In 1956, Congress passed the Fish and Wildlife Act, establishing a national fish and wildlife policy and authorizing the secretary of the interior to acquire refuge lands for all forms of wildlife. The Land and Water Conservation Fund, established in 1964, provided funds for this 1956 legislation. From 1956 to 1976, refuge acreage doubled through withdrawal of federal lands and through acquisition. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 reaffirmed the Fish and Wildlife Service’s role in conserving endangered and threatened species and authorized the use of Land and Water Conservation Fund moneys to acquire refuge lands for the protection of endangered species. Significance Since the 1960’s, the National Wildlife Refuge System has been the cornerstone of wildlife conservation activities in the United States. The enactment of the Wilder-
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tual management priorities and activities of each individual national wildlife refuge. By the early twenty-first century, opinions concerning the proper purposes of the National Wildlife Refuge System differed widely. Some believed that refuge lands should be public hunting grounds, whereas others argued they should be totally protected wilderness. Some saw them as nuisance areas harboring animals that destroy crops on private lands; others thought they should be public playgrounds where any activity should be permitted. Regardless of opinions, each refuge has a primary or dominating function, and the principle of compatibility determines what activities are acceptable on a specific refuge. The most important objective of land use in these areas continues to be the protection and husbandry of all animals and plants associated with the areas’ particular ecosystems. The entire refuge system continues to be based on the idea that the wildlife on refuges is for the enjoyment of the public. In 1997, the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act provided for the organic management of the refuge system, strengthening its mission, clarifying the compatibility standard for public use of refuges, and requiring the development of a comprehensive plan for each refuge. — David L. Chesemore Further Reading Butcher, Russell D. America’s National Wildlife Refuges: A Complete Guide. Lanham, Md.: Roberts Rinehart, 2003. Provides descriptions of all refuges in the U.S. system, including the species of animals found on each refuge. Also includes information on the accessibility of each refuge and the facilities available. Defenders of Wildlife. Putting Wildlife First: Recommendations for Reforming Our Troubled Refuge System. Washington, D.C.: Author, 1992. Provides many excellent suggestions for improving the management of national wildlife refuges. Fischman, Robert L. The National Wildlife Refuges: Coordinating a Conservation System Through Law. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2003. Presents the history of all legislation related to the National Wildlife Refuge System and offers a detailed breakdown of the 1997 National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act. Includes maps, a chronology, and index. Grove, Noel. Wild Lands for Wildlife: America’s National Refuges. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1984. Provides a wealth of infor229
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ness Act in 1964 led to the classification as wilderness of several million acres of system lands. The Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 formalized the use of National Wildlife Refuge System lands as a means of protecting threatened and endangered species. National refuge lands were added to protect such animals as bluntnosed leopard lizards and San Joaquin kit foxes. From 1940 to 1962, the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System shifted from an emphasis on protection and enhancement of wildlife numbers to an emphasis on the use of system lands for “outside” purposes. This shift occurred because of increased demand for outdoor recreation areas as well as pressures for the commercial exploitation of other natural resources on refuge lands. Since 1962, the system has emphasized compatibility of uses. All uses of national wildlife refuge lands must be compatible with the primary purposes for which their specific areas were established. The issue of compatibility, which first appeared in federal law in 1918, has been central to the administration of the refuge system since the early 1940’s, acquiring formal legal prominence with the enactment of the Refuge Recreation and Refuge Administration Act of 1962. This act recognized the need for the recreational use of refuges but emphatically stated that such recreation must be limited in type and scope so that it does not compromise the purpose for which refuges were created. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 more than doubled the size of the National Wildlife Refuge System, adding more than seventy-seven million acres to it. By the end of the twentieth century, the system included more than 477 refuges, waterfowl production areas, and cooperative projects covering more than ninety million acres. More than thirty million people visited lands in the system each year to hunt, fish, photograph, and enjoy the views that wildlife species provide. In the 1980’s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s approach to refuge lands changed from a focus on protection to a focus on expanding the lands’ uses. In 1989, activities harmful to the wildlife in these areas were occurring on nearly 60 percent of all national wildlife refuge lands. In 1992, a report by the Commission on New Directions for the National Wildlife Refuge System (Defenders of Wildlife) titled Putting Wildlife First provided an extensive outline of needed changes in the system. The authors of the report stressed that refuges must be protected from activities outside their borders, such as air and water pollution. They argued that biological principles, not economic pressures, must determine the ac-
First U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established
Roosevelt and Muir Visit Yosemite mation on the National Wildlife Refuge System. Illustrated with outstanding photographs and maps. Laycock, George. The Sign of the Flying Goose: The Story of the National Wildlife Refuges. Rev. ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press, 1973. One of the best histories of the National Wildlife Refuge System available, written in an enjoyable style. Includes detailed accounts of many key refuges. Murphy, Robert W. Wild Sanctuaries: Our National Wildlife Refuges—A Heritage Restored. New York: Dutton Press, 1968. Excellent coverage of the na-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tional wildlife refuges. Includes many details on specific refuges and their histories. See also: Jan. 3, 1905: Pinchot Becomes Head of the U.S. Forest Service; Jan. 11, 1908: Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from Mining Claims; May 13-15, 1908: Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources; Aug. 25, 1916: National Park Service Is Created; July 3, 1918: Migratory Bird Treaty Act; Jan., 1922: Izaak Walton League Is Formed; June 3, 1924: Gila Wilderness Area Is Designated.
May, 1903
Roosevelt and Muir Visit Yosemite Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir camped together in Yosemite, an event that contributed to the future preservation of Yosemite and the High Sierra. Locale: Yosemite National Park, California Categories: Environmental issues; government and politics Key Figures Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 John Muir (1838-1914), American naturalist and wilderness preservationist John Burroughs (1837-1921), American naturalist Chester H. Rowell (1844-1912), California state senator Benjamin Ide Wheeler (1854-1927), president of the University of California at Berkeley George Pardee (1857-1941), governor of California, 1902-1906 Robert Underwood Johnson (1853-1937), American conservationist and editor of Century Magazine Summary of Event In May, 1903, two of the most notable citizens of the United States took a walk in the woods and mountains of one of the nation’s natural monuments, California’s Yosemite National Park. John Muir, a self-educated, Scottish-born naturalist who had been reared in rural Wisconsin, and Theodore Roosevelt, a Harvard University-educated aristocrat from New York who had become president of the United States, spent a weekend together, communing not only with nature but also with each other. In spite of their vastly different backgrounds, 230
the two had much in common. They were both famous naturalists, essentially self-taught. Both loved the wilderness, with its beauty and challenges, and both were committed to preserving as much of that wilderness as they could. They found walking and talking among the glories of nature rewarding. Muir had spent most of the previous several decades hiking and climbing in his beloved Sierra and elsewhere. Roosevelt had camped in the north woods of Maine while still in college and had lived for months at a time in the Badlands of the Dakotas when he was a rancher. He had become a renowned big-game hunter, and, prior to his weekend with Muir, he had spent several days with another famous naturalist, John Burroughs, at another scenic wonder and national park, Yellowstone. For Muir and for Roosevelt, the wilderness had its own rewards. Both men had broadly political concerns. Roosevelt’s presidency coincided with a national reform movement called Progressivism. The conservation of natural resources was one of the Progressives’ major campaign themes, and Roosevelt, as the nation’s first Progressive president, had come to exemplify the conservationist cause, both as an activist and as a symbol. He had assumed the presidency in September, 1901, when William McKinley was assassinated, and in the following eighteen months he had little opportunity to escape from his official duties. He had hunted in the South in 1902, but his only reward had been the emergence of the Teddy Bear motif when he refused to shoot a small bear brought to him while he was in camp. A trip into the wilderness of the West would give him a needed break from presidential routine.
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Roosevelt’s reputation as a biggame hunter had led critics to refer to him as a butcher. Roosevelt vehemently disagreed—a hunter, he argued, is not a butcher. When Roosevelt first considered a trip West in the spring of 1903, however, he had written to the superintendent of Yellowstone Park, asking about the possibility of hunting mountain lions if they were not legally protected. Roosevelt’s request became known, and the result was much unfavorable publicity. Always the politician, Roosevelt abandoned his hunting plans and asked John Burroughs, an old friend, to accompany him to Yellowstone, where they spent two glorious weeks. Shortly before he left Washington, Roosevelt wrote to John Muir, indicating that he would like to spend a few days with him at Yosemite— just the two of them, with no politics involved. It is likely, however, that Roosevelt’s trip to Yosemite and his Theodore Roosevelt (left) with John Muir at Glacier Point, Yosemite Valley. (Library weekend with Muir combined perof Congress) sonal rewards as well as political considerations: Burroughs and Muir, with their national reputations as natwith a cook and two packers, left the other members of uralists, would soften the accusations against Roosethe presidential contingent, which included California velt’s hunting proclivities, and Roosevelt would get an governor George Pardee. The first night, they camped opportunity to escape the White House for the wilderunder the giant sequoias, the famous Big Trees in the ness. Mariposa Grove in Yosemite Valley, sleeping on everMuir was scheduled to take a trip to Europe and Asia green boughs. After a day’s rugged ride, they spent the in the spring of 1903. Chester H. Rowell, a California following night at Glacier Point, high above the valley state senator who, like Roosevelt, was a Progressive Refloor. The next morning, Sunday, they awoke covered publican, wrote to Muir in March and indicated that the with four inches of snow. Camp that night was at president was going to be in California and wished to Bridalveil Meadow, at the base of El Capitan, one of the spend a few days with Muir in the High Sierra. Muir at most recognizable of the massive rock formations that first thought he could not cancel his overseas journey, surround Yosemite Valley. Unfortunately, neither Roobut after an appeal from Benjamin Ide Wheeler, presisevelt nor Muir left an extensive record of their three dent of the University of California at Berkeley, and after days together. Roosevelt’s expertise was in birds and anreceiving a personal letter from Roosevelt, Muir yielded. imals; Muir’s primary interests were botany and geolBy spending a few days with the president, he comogy. Muir was impressed by Roosevelt’s command of mented, “I might be able to do some forest good in freely natural history, and he later commented to his wife, “I talking around the camp-fire.” The president and the never before had so interesting, hearty, and manly a compreservationist both loved the wild country for its own panion.” To an acquaintance he wrote, “Camping with sake, but each was also motivated by political and policy the President was a remarkable experience. I fairly fell in considerations. love with him.” On Friday, May 15, 1903, Muir and Roosevelt, along
Roosevelt and Muir Visit Yosemite
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
possible to prevent its destruction by lumber interests and other users of In his autobiography, Theodore Roosevelt described his 1903 visit to Yosemite the wilderness areas. One day after with John Muir: leaving Muir and Yosemite, Roosevelt ordered his secretary of the inteWhen I first visited California, it was my good fortune to see the “big trees,” the rior to extend the federal forest reSequoias, and then to travel down into the Yosemite, with John Muir. Of serves of the Sierras north to Mount course of all people in the world he was the one with whom it was best worth Shasta, near the Oregon border. while thus to see the Yosemite. He told me that when Emerson came to CaliforUnlike Muir, Roosevelt was not a nia he tried to get him to come out and camp with him, for that was the only way pure preservationist. For Muir, the in which to see at their best the majesty and charm of the Sierras. But at the time wilderness was a way of life, the best Emerson was getting old and could not go. John Muir met me with a couple of packers and two mules to carry our tent, way for humankind to achieve tranbedding, and food for a three days’ trip. The first night was clear, and we lay scendent happiness. Ralph Waldo down in the darkening aisles of the great Sequoia grove. The majestic trunks, Emerson, one of the leaders of the beautiful in color and in symmetry, rose round us like the pillars of a mightier Transcendentalist movement, had cathedral than ever was conceived even by the fervor of the Middle Ages. Hercome to Yosemite in 1871 and met mit thrushes sang beautifully in the evening, and again, with a burst of wonderMuir, but Muir’s spiritual feelings ful music, at dawn. about nature predated his acquainI was interested and a little surprised to find that, unlike John Burroughs, tance with Emerson. For Muir, the John Muir cared little for birds or bird songs, and knew little about them. The unspoiled wilderness was more spirhermit thrushes meant nothing to him, the trees and the flowers and the cliffs itual than a tamer landscape; Yosemeverything. The only birds he noticed or cared for were some that were very ite and the Sierras, Muir believed, reconspicuous, such as the water-ouzels always particular favorites of mine too. The second night we camped in a snow-storm, on the edge of the cañon walls, flected God’s truth more clearly than under the spreading limbs of a grove of mighty silver fir; and next day we went Henry David Thoreau’s near-suburdown into the wonderland of the valley itself. I shall always be glad that I was ban Walden Pond. Roosevelt, too, in the Yosemite with John Muir and in the Yellowstone with John Burroughs. was attracted to what he called “the Source: Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, hidden spirit of the wilderness . . . its 1913). mystery, its melancholy, and its charm.” Yet Roosevelt, a historian who wrote the six-volume The Winning of the West (1889-1896), Roosevelt was equally impressed, both with Muir and also believed physical confrontation with the wilderness with Yosemite, supposedly exclaiming at one point, could help humanity to resist the corrupting and debili“This is bully! Hurrah for Yosemite!” To Burroughs he tating influences of civilization. later wrote, “Both the Yosemite and the big trees were all The United States began to establish national parks that any human could desire. John Muir is a delightful and forest preserves in the late nineteenth century; Yelman . . . the pleasantest possible companion on a trip of lowstone Park, where Roosevelt had camped with Burthis kind.” Roosevelt noted Muir’s love of the trees and roughs before meeting Muir at Yosemite, was the first in the mountains as well as his personal commitment to 1872. As president, Roosevelt became noted for his the preservation of the wilderness. It was a rewarding conservation accomplishments in establishing numerous weekend, with good company in the most dramatic surnational parks and monuments, forest reserves, and wildroundings. life sanctuaries. Immediately after leaving Muir, Roosevelt commented that lying under the sequoia trees was like lying in “a temple grander than any human architect Significance could by any possibility build.” He added, however, that Although little is known of the specifics of the conversaother forests should be preserved not for reasons of tions Muir and Roosevelt had over those several days, beauty but for the economic use of future generations. conservation in general and the future of Yosemite and That was never Muir’s concern. the High Sierra in particular were undoubtedly major Muir, along with Robert Underwood Johnson of Centopics. According to one source, Roosevelt realized that tury Magazine, had been largely responsible for Yosemaction to preserve the region must be taken as soon as
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In February, 1905, the California legislature agreed to restore Yosemite Valley to federal control; Governor Pardee signed the law on March 3, 1905. The federal government did not take possession for another year and a half, however. The delay was partially the result of competing railroad proposals to access the park for visitors; before the competition was resolved, the park boundaries had been reduced by several thousand acres. Roosevelt signed the necessary federal legislation on June 11, 1906, and Yosemite Valley became the new heart of the national park. The story of Yosemite did not end there. In part because of the disastrous earthquake of 1906, the city of San Francisco requested that a reservoir be constructed in Hetch Hetchy Valley, which was within the boundaries of Yosemite National Park, in order to provide water for the city’s future needs. Muir adamantly opposed the proposal. Roosevelt was torn between Muir’s opinion and that of his leading conservation adviser, Gifford Pinchot, who believed that “conservation” means efficient use, not simply preservation. Pinchot urged the president to allow Hetch Hetchy Valley to be dammed. The final decision was not made until December, 1913, long after Roosevelt had left the White House in 1909. The preservationists lost. It was a bitter defeat for the aged Muir, who died the following year. Throughout the controversy, however, Muir and Roosevelt remained friends. After Muir’s death in December, 1914, Roosevelt praised him as “a dauntless soul . . . one brimming over with friendliness and kindness.” Together, the Scottish immigrant and the New York patrician had preserved for future generations the beauty of Yosemite Valley. — Eugene Larson Further Reading Bade, William Frederic. The Life and Letters of John Muir. 2 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1924. A comprehensive and sympathetic study by Muir’s authorized biographer. Bade personally talked to Roosevelt about his and Muir’s Yosemite weekend. Cutright, Paul Russell. Theodore Roosevelt: The Making of a Conservationist. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985. The author is the leading authority on Roosevelt as naturalist and conservationist. This work emphasizes the latter and includes a discussion of Muir’s relationship with Roosevelt. Fox, Stephen. John Muir and His Legacy: The American Conservation Movement. Boston: Little, Brown, 1981. An excellent and wide-ranging analysis of Muir 233
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ite’s becoming a national park in 1890. The story of Yosemite is a complicated saga. Yosemite Valley had been turned over to the state of California in 1864, during the administration of Abraham Lincoln. The valley was subsequently administered by state commissioners who were not always conservationists—at least not in the opinion of Muir and others like him. Yosemite National Park was created in 1890, establishing a federal reservation surrounding the state-controlled Yosemite Valley. To protect the region, Muir and others founded the Sierra Club in 1892, electing Muir its first president. In 1893, President Grover Cleveland proclaimed a larger Sierra Forest Reserve enveloping both the state-owned valley and the national park ring above the valley floor. Muir was concerned about two crucial issues. First, many private parties were less interested in preserving the wilderness than in making use of it. Second, Muir believed that California’s state commissioners were not sufficiently protective of Yosemite Valley. For Muir and others, the solution was to have California return Yosemite Valley to the federal government and incorporate it into Yosemite National Park. Muir had been actively urging Yosemite Valley’s recession—that is, its return to the federal government by the state—ever since the establishment of Yosemite National Park in 1890. While camping with Roosevelt in May, 1903, Muir pressed the president to agree to recession. Roosevelt had urged federal control of Yosemite long before becoming president, and he reaffirmed his commitment to Muir when they camped together. Yosemite Valley was in California’s possession, however, and the state thus had to initiate the return of the valley to the federal government. Many Californians refused to admit that the state could not administer Yosemite Valley as well as the federal government could. Moreover, federal supervision would mean that the park’s commissioners would lose their positions, and certain commercial interests would find their hopes thwarted. Others argued, however, that the financial burden of the state’s administration of the valley was too great. Some hoped to benefit from the tourism that would result from federal control, and still others, including Muir and his associates, believed that efficient administration and preservation of the valley would best be secured under the federal government. The recession campaign was spearheaded by the Sierra Club, with the support of such disparate interests as the State Board of Trade, the Native Sons of the Golden West, and the Southern Pacific Railroad. The support of the railroad company was crucial, as it had long dominated California politics.
Roosevelt and Muir Visit Yosemite
Platt Amendment and the American conservation movement. A chapter about Muir and Roosevelt appeared originally in the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. Harbaugh, William H. Power and Responsibility: The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. 1961. Reprint. Newtown, Conn.: American Political Biography Press, 1997. One of the best single-volume biographies of Roosevelt, covering all aspects of his career, including his interest in nature and conservation. Hays, Samuel P. Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency. 1959. Reprint. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999. Seminal study of the early history of conservation in the United States. The author argues that most early conservationists were dedicated to efficient use of natural resources rather than to preservation as an end in itself. Jones, Holway R. John Muir and the Sierra Club: The Battle for Yosemite. San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1965. This exhaustive work covers the history of Yosemite
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 from the days of Abraham Lincoln to the conclusion of the Hetch Hetchy controversy. Includes many illustrations. Nash, Roderick Frazier. Wilderness and the American Mind. 4th ed. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001. Brilliant intellectual history of Americans’ relationship with the wilderness begins with the earliest days of European contact. See also: Sept. 14, 1901: Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President; Mar. 14, 1903: First U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established; Jan. 11, 1908: Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from Mining Claims; Dec. 19, 1913: U.S. Congress Approves a Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley; Aug. 25, 1916: National Park Service Is Created; Feb. 26, 1917: Mount McKinley National Park Is Created; May, 1927: Indiana Dunes Are Preserved as a State Park; Jan., 1937-Feb., 1940: Adams Lobbies Congress to Preserve Kings Canyon.
May 22, 1903
Platt Amendment The Platt Amendment underscored Cuba’s independence from Spain and secured U.S. influence in Cuba for the next three decades. Also known as: Treaty of Relations Locale: Cuba Categories: Diplomacy and international relations; laws, acts, and legal history; independence movements Key Figures José Martí (1853-1895), father of the Cuban independence movement Gerardo Machado y Morales (1871-1939), president of Cuba, 1925-1933 William McKinley (1843-1901), president of the United States, 1897-1901 Orville Platt (1827-1905), Republican senator from Connecticut, 1879-1905 Elihu Root (1845-1937), U.S. secretary of war, 18991904 Summary of Event In 1895, Cuban revolutionaries initiated what was ultimately to become a successful revolt against Spanish colonial domination. The break from Spain was brought 234
about by a variety of factors, the two most critical being the repressive nature of Spain’s colonial rule and a change in U.S. tariff policy as a result of recessions and depressions in the United States during the 1890’s. The Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act of 1894 imposed a duty on Cuban sugar arriving in the United States, which previously had entered duty-free. With the economy of Cuba reeling from dwindling Cuba-U.S. trade because of the new tariff, Cuban dissidents, who had been waiting for an opportunity to act, launched a revolution. Led by José Martí, who had strong ties to the United States, the rebels who called for Cuban independence began a guerrilla war against the Spanish. Even after the death of Martí during the first year of fighting, the ranks of the Cuban rebel forces continued to increase. Spanish authorities responded to the groundswell of domestic support for the rebels by attempting to separate the rebels from their supporters in rural areas. Under a new policy known as reconcentration, more than a quarter of a million Cubans were interned in concentration camps guarded by Spanish soldiers. Thousands of Cubans died in the unfit camps, which served as breeding grounds for disease. U.S. sympathy for the Cuban rebels was stimulated by reports of atrocities occurring as a result of the new Spanish policy, and people in the United States be-
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The Platt Amendment, as the provisions came to be known, severely restricted Cuba’s ability to make treaties and its right to contract public debt. The United States also declared its right to intervene in Cuban affairs in order to preserve Cuban independence and maintain order. In addition, Cuba was expected to give the United States the right to maintain naval bases and coaling stations on the island. The Cuban government reluctantly appended the provisions of the Platt Amendment to the Cuban constitution. The last U.S. forces finally withdrew from Havana in 1902, and the Platt Amendment became a formal part of a U.S.-Cuba treaty on May 22, 1903. Significance The Platt Amendment formed the basis for relations between the United States and Cuba for sixty years, until Fidel Castro emerged as the leader of Cuba. Forced to submit to the will of the United States, Cuba was soon inundated with U.S. investment. Foreign investors controlled and manipulated Cuban politics as well as the nation’s economy. U.S. troops reoccupied Cuba from 1906 to 1909, under the authority of the Platt Amendment, following an uprising that protested, among other things,
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gan to call for an end to the conflict through reconciliation. The mysterious sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898, ended all hope of a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The sinking of the Maine, which had been ordered to Cuba in an effort to display U.S. concern for events unfolding on the island and to protect U.S. citizens, drew the United States further into the conflict. Naval investigators concluded that a Spanish mine had caused the explosion. U.S. president William McKinley responded to events by demanding that Spain grant Cuba independence. Finding the Spanish response to this demand unsatisfactory, on April 11, 1898, McKinley requested authorization from the U.S. Congress to stop the war in Cuba by force, if necessary. Following some debate, on April 19 Congress declared that Cuba was and should be independent, demanded an immediate withdrawal of Spain from Cuba, authorized the use of force by the United States to accomplish that withdrawal, and vowed not to annex the island. The vow not to annex Cuba, which was known as the Teller Amendment, was perhaps the most controversial of the issues debated. Despite the Teller Amendment, the entrance of the United States into the conflict initiated the beginning of an exploitative relationship between the United States and Cuba that was dictated by the former. As the war drew to an end and Spanish withdrawal began to be realized, the United States downplayed the role of the Cuban rebels in the success of the military campaign. The Treaty of Paris, which halted the conflict, required Spain to surrender all claims to Cuba, but the McKinley administration refused to recognize the former Cuban rebels as a legitimate government or the Cuban people as being capable of self-rule. For two years, the U.S. military performed the functions of government in Cuba. Although the U.S. military made substantial improvements in Cuba’s infrastructure and generally improved the quality of life on the island, Cubans resented the U.S. occupation. Many Cubans felt that they had traded one colonial master for another. In 1900, the United States allowed Cuba to draft a constitution and hold elections. The United States refused to withdraw its troops, however, until provisions were made for the continuation of U.S.-Cuba relations. Elihu Root, the U.S. secretary of war, proposed such provisions, which ultimately were included in a bill sponsored by Senator Orville Platt. Platt, a Republican from Connecticut, attached a rider to the Army Appropriations Bill of 1901 that essentially made Cuba a U.S. protectorate.
Platt Amendment
Platt Amendment U.S. involvement in Cuban affairs. The election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as U.S. president in 1933 initially brought little change in U.S.-Cuba relations, despite his Good Neighbor Policy, which was based on the belief that no state had the right to intervene in Latin America. Roosevelt was forced to deal with a Cuba in turmoil. President Gerardo “the Butcher” Machado y Morales, who had dominated Cuban politics for a decade, was forced to resign in 1933 because of popular opposition and U.S. pressure. His successor, Ramón Grau San Martín, was no more acceptable to the Roosevelt administration. Viewed as too radical by Roosevelt, Grau’s government was never recognized as legitimate by the U.S. administration. It was not until Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar led a coup and installed a government acceptable to the United States that the Roosevelt administration agreed to discuss revoking the Platt Amendment. The second Treaty of Relations, as it came to be known, eliminated the limitations on Cuban sovereignty imposed by the Platt Amendment. The new treaty did allow the United States to retain its naval base at Guantanamo Bay, a provision that could be revoked only by mutual consent of the two states. Despite the formal end of U.S. involvement in Cuba, the new Cuba, which was controlled by Batista, was no less tied to the United States financially or politically. Many international observers viewed Batista as a puppet for the U.S. government. Cuba attracted more U.S. investment under Batista than ever before. Many Cubans argued that despite the end of the Platt Amendment, Cuba was still a U.S. dependency. It was Cubans’ sense of frustration over their inability to achieve a true sense of sovereignty that served as a catalyst for Fidel Castro’s successful coup in 1959. —Donald C. Simmons, Jr.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading Abel, Christopher, and Nissa Torrents, eds. José Martí: Revolutionary Democrat. London: Athlone Press, 1986. A brief but comprehensive account of the life of the father of Cuban independence. Langley, Lester D. The Cuban Policy of the United States. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1968. An exceptionally detailed account of U.S. policy toward Cuba. Pérez, Louis A., Jr. Cuba and the United States: Ties of Singular Intimacy. 2d ed. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1997. Addresses the history and direction of relations between Cuba and the United States, examining political, economic, and cultural ties between the two nations. _______. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. An indepth look at Cuba’s history of economic and political relationships. _______. Cuba Under the Platt Amendment: 1902-1934. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986. A well-written account of Cuba during its early years of independence. _______. Intervention, Revolution, and Politics in Cuba, 1913-1921. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1978. A brief account of Cuban domestic and international politics during the period. Suchlicki, Jaime. Cuba: From Columbus to Castro. 3d rev. ed. Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s (U.S.), 1990. An excellent history of Cuba. Thomas, Hugh. Cuba: Or, The Pursuit of Freedom. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. One of the most extensive works written about Cuba. See also: 1909-1913: United States Begins “Dollar Diplomacy”; Mar. 4, 1933-1945: Good Neighbor Policy.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Wisconsin Adopts the First Primary Election Law
May 23, 1903
Wisconsin Adopts the First Primary Election Law The innovation of the primary election, beginning with Wisconsin in 1903, gave voters a more direct say in the selection of party candidates to stand for general election. Locale: Madison, Wisconsin Categories: Government and politics; laws, acts, and legal history Key Figures Robert M. La Follette (1855-1925), governor of Wisconsin, 1901-1906 Charles McCarthy (1873-1921), American political scientist and director of the first official legislative library in the United States Emanuel Philipp (1861-1925), Wisconsin politician
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Summary of Event In the United States, political parties’ nominees for public offices are selected through primary elections. Prior to Wisconsin’s adoption of the primary system in 1903, however, voters had no direct say in the parties’ nomination of candidates. Beginning in the early part of the nineteenth century, candidates for state and national offices in the United States were nominated at policy-making meetings, or caucuses, attended by members of their political parties. Eventually, due to abuses of the caucus system, the parties adopted nominating conventions as a means of choosing candidates, but this too came to be seen as an unsavory way to nominate candidates. Prompted by the perceived corruption and undemocratic nature of previous nomination systems, Wisconsin adopted the first statewide primary election law on May 23, 1903. The Wisconsin Progressives who supported the direct primary based their advocacy on the belief that nominating conventions invariably were ruled by political machines and party bosses. The primary was a direct assault on the power of the party bosses. The Wisconsin primary election law required a statewide direct election to nominate party candidates for all elective offices, with the exception of judges, the state superintendent of public instruction, and some minor local offices. The measure also required that the voting be done by secret ballot. It included no provision to allow the political parties to opt out of the primary. An important feature of the 1903 legislation that created the Wisconsin primary was its requirement of open balloting. There was no test of party affiliation in the
Wisconsin primary, meaning that voters could choose which party’s primary they would vote in on election day; this later came to be called an open primary. At the booth, the voter was to be handed the tickets of all parties and allowed to choose one on which to vote. This was originally one of the most criticized aspects of the primary law. Proponents argued that the advantage of the open primary was that it gave independent voters the right to cast their votes for the best candidate regardless of partisan affiliation. Opponents insisted that the open primary made it possible for one party’s members to sabotage a rival party by voting in its primary in sufficient numbers to nominate a weak candidate. Critics of the Wisconsin primary argued that the system would unduly undermine the strength of the political parties and lead to the election of incompetent candidates. The nonpartisan spirit prevalent in Wisconsin in the early 1900’s, however, encouraged adoption of the open primary, and this nomination system soon became very popular there. Wisconsin’s adoption of the direct primary was a major political victory for Republican governor Robert M. La Follette. Follette had become a pariah in his party after he refused to take a bribe from another prominent Wisconsin Republican to influence a judge. La Follette campaigned for governor as a strong advocate of the direct primary, and after two losing attempts he finally won the office in the election of 1900. Once he took office in 1901, La Follette advocated an ambitious number of progressive reforms, including tax reform, corporate regulation, and steeper railroad taxes, as well as the institution of a direct primary. As governor, La Follette developed what became know as the “Wisconsin Idea,” in which the state involved professors from the University of Wisconsin in the drafting of bills and the administration of the state regulatory apparatus created by the new laws. The Progressives who favored the direct primary linked themselves with the University of Wisconsin. One of the persons who was hired as part of the Wisconsin Idea was a political scientist named Charles McCarthy, who ended up playing a key role in the implementation of the Wisconsin primary. In his capacity as director of the nation’s first official legislative reference library in Madison, Wisconsin, McCarthy operated behind the political scenes to help devise the Wisconsin primary system, and he was one of the system’s strongest supporters once it was in place. McCarthy has been
Wisconsin Adopts the First Primary Election Law called the most important Wisconsin Progressive after La Follette. The Wisconsin primary was adopted despite strong political opposition. The leader of the anti-Progressive forces against the direct primary was Emanuel Philipp, who later became governor of Wisconsin (1915-1921). Philipp, like La Follette, was a Republican, but he represented the anti-Progressive Old Guard wing of the party, which was very hostile to La Follette’s reforms, including the direct primary. La Follette singled Philipp out as a corrupt businessman who opposed the direct primary because he was too close to the railroad and brewing industries. It is important to note, however, that despite his strong opposition to the direct primary when it took effect in 1903, Philipp did not attempt to abolish the primary when he became governor a decade later. He would have found such a move difficult, as by then the primary had become very popular with Wisconsin voters. Significance After Wisconsin adopted the direct primary in 1903, the primary election movement spread rapidly, and by the end of World War I in 1918, all but four U.S. states had instituted the use of primary elections for some or all statewide nominations. Today, Americans take primary elections for granted. Except for in a few southern states, where primaries are optional, primaries are now the required method of choosing the nominees for all state and local offices in the United States. It is worth noting, however, that the primary system has not caught on outside American borders; the legally regulated primary system remains peculiar to the United States. The biggest impact of the primary system has been that it has weakened the power of party bosses and thus the political parties in general. In the nineteenth century, in order to get a party’s nomination an individual had to have the support of the party establishment. Since the advent of the primary, however, a candidate can win a party’s nomination by appealing directly to the voters even if the candidate has no support from the party establishment. A person can place his or her name on a primary ballot by making a simple declaration of candidacy, by obtaining a nomination at a preprimary convention, or by gathering a particular number of voters’ signatures on a petition. Some experts have argued that this has had the unintended consequence of increasing the role of special interests as party strength and discipline have declined. The primary system has also played an important role in national politics through its influence on presidential
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 nominations. Today, both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party hold series of presidential primaries and caucuses in all fifty states. As a result, the nomination process for the office of president is very open, and nonestablishment candidates can potentially win a party’s nomination. —Patrick Fisher Further Reading Buenker, John D., and William Fletcher Thompson. History of Wisconsin: The Progressive Era, 1893-1914. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society, 1998. An account of Progressive Era reforms, including the direct primary, that made Wisconsin known nationally as a “laboratory of democracy.” McCarthy, Charles. The Wisconsin Idea. New York: Macmillan, 1912. A glowing account of the Progressive movement in Wisconsin from the perspective of the head of the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library. McGerr, Michael E. A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 18701920. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Argues that the ambitious battles fought by Progressive reformers such as La Follette changed the face of American politics and culture. Margulies, Herbert F. The Decline of the Progressive Movement in Wisconsin, 1890-1920. Madison: Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1968. Analyzes the rise and fall of the Wisconsin Progressive movement. Asserts that La Follette’s abilities as a director were responsible for Wisconsin’s reputation as the pioneer Progressive state and a showcase for the Progressive movement. Philipp, Emanuel. Political Reform in Wisconsin. Milwaukee: E. L. Philipp, 1910. Account of the politics behind the adoption of the primary as well as the adoption of taxation reform and railway regulation in Wisconsin from the perspective of an anti-Progressive leader. See also: June 2, 1902-May 31, 1913: Expansion of Direct Democracy; Jan. 16, 1907-Feb. 14, 1912: Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona Become U.S. States; Mar., 1909-1912: Republican Congressional Insurgency; Nov. 5, 1912: Wilson Is Elected U.S. President; Nov. 7, 1916: First Woman Is Elected to the U.S. Congress; Nov. 5, 1918-Nov. 2, 1920: Republican Resurgence Ends America’s Progressive Era.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Founding of the Weekly Indian Opinion
June 6, 1903
Founding of the Weekly INDIAN OPINION Mohandas Gandhi’s work at the newspaper Indian Opinion is part of the contribution of a generation of anticolonial journalists committed to improving the position of people of color in South Africa. Gandhi’s apprenticeship as a journalist marked the emergence of his early activism, and the newspaper itself played a significant role in postcolonial India by fostering senses of national identity and of an Indian community united across national boundaries. Locale: Durban, Natal, South Africa Categories: Publishing and journalism; colonialism and occupation; government and politics; social issues and reform
Summary of Event Many Indians migrated to Africa while the British Empire was expanding, but those who settled in South Africa endured economic and social uncertainty. Most were very poor and had come to the country as indentured laborers under a brutal system similar to slavery. When their terms of indenture expired, many stayed as laborers or small farmers. A smaller but more prominent group of Indians came, however, to engage in trade. They opened shops and warehouses, several of which became quite successful. One of these traders engaged Mohandas Gandhi as his attorney and asked him to come to South Africa on a temporary assignment in 1893. In his first thirteen years in South Africa, Gandhi represented Indian business interests and worked to reform Indians’ living conditions. In addition to his work on Indian Opinion, he helped form community organizations, including a hospital, and participated in other efforts to improve relations with the British, whose prejudicial policies limited Indians’ economic potential and general status in society. Gandhi was evicted from train carriages, barred from hotels, and beaten up as a result of racial intolerance, but he became increasingly vocal and began educating other Indians in South Africa about their
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Key Figures Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), Indian lawyer and future leader of India’s anticolonial movement Mansukhlal Hiralal Nazar (1862-1906), secretary of the Natal Indian Congress and first editor of Indian Opinion Madanjit Viyavaharik (fl. early twentieth century), owner of the International Printing Press
rights. In 1894, he opposed a bill designed to deprive Indians of their right to vote and rapidly became a skilled political activist. Although he did not defeat the bill, he succeeded in attracting widespread attention to the Indian cause. Indians’ first political mobilization came as a response to this attack on voting rights. In the South African province of Natal, nearly four hundred landowning Indians had the right to vote, but as soon as self-government was granted to the settlers in 1893, the British sought to disenfranchise these voters. The Franchise Amendment Bill of 1896 prohibited any future registration by Indians, although it did allow those already on the rolls to remain. The effect, however, was that the Indian vote was entirely eliminated within a few years. In response to this plan, a group of merchants asked Gandhi, their attorney, to stay. He did, and the Natal Indian Congress—the first Indian political organization—was established to counter this threat to voting. This conflict fueled the founding of Indian Opinion, and on June 6, 1903, after two months of planning, the first issue of the weekly newspaper appeared in the central business district of Durban, Natal. Founded by a small group of Indians living in South Africa, including Gandhi, the paper began by advocating Indian rights, although it also focused on the economic and social situation of other people of color in South Africa. Undeterred by a lack of equipment, Indian Opinion’s staff was determined to voice opposition to colonial discrimination. The first editor of Indian Opinion, Mansukhlal Hiralal Nazar, established the notion of voluntary service to the paper, an idea that proved to be vital. Another individual key to the paper’s production was Madanjit Viyavaharik, the owner of the International Printing Press. However, it was thirty-four-year-old Gandhi, then working as a lawyer in Johannesburg, who proved the main figure in the paper’s genesis. Gandhi directed the policy of Indian Opinion from his Rissik Street office, writing articles, providing leadership, and diverting earnings from his prospering law practice to support the paper. Initially, the task of producing the newspaper in four languages (English, Hindi, Gujerati, and Tamil) was one of the many challenges faced by Nazar and Viyavaharik, and Nazar had difficulty obtaining reliable, capable translators. Furthermore, materials were scarce, and at a time when newspaper type was still being set by hand, the paper had a shortage of type. At one point, Virji
Founding of the Weekly Indian Opinion Damodar Mehta (who would one day found Universal Printing Press) asked Nazar to limit his use of the Gujerati letter a. In addition, although he was the editor, Nazar did not know Tamil, so he had to trust the judgment of translators who spoke little English. Viyavaharik, the paper’s owner, handled the paper’s business
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
concerns, which included obtaining a license to operate and handling relations with advertisers and subscribers. Indian Opinion began by adopting a moderate tone that asserted faith in British justice. The editors were fully aware that the paper could be closed (as others had been) for speaking against British rule. To avoid that fate, Nazar and Gandhi vowed that Indians would seek redress via a temperate, constitution-based effort. Gandhi Protests the Asiatic Law Amendment Act In the beginning, Gandhi was anxIn a letter published on August 6, 1907, in Indian Opinion, Mohandas Gandhi ious to avoid offending white offiprotested the harassment Indians were experiencing at the hands of South Africials and hoped to secure their supcan police forces. The law mentioned in this excerpt, the Asiatic Law Amendport, but the content of Indian ment Act (1907), sponsored by Jan Christian Smuts, required that all males of Opinion still accurately reflected the Asian descent be registered, fingerprinted, and in possession of a special pass hardships that Indians suffered unat all times. der colonial rule. The paper provided an alternative to newspapers such as At present, an Asiatic child is free after reaching the age of eight. Under the the Natal Mercury, which were often new Act, even after having the required particulars endorsed as above, the hostile to Indian interests. Gradguardian is bound again to approach the Registrar and take out registration for such child, furnishing further particulars as to identification, etc. In case he ually, as Gandhi moved from politifails to do so, he will be liable to punishment. cal petitioning to active resistance, Asiatic children who are at present in the Transvaal are entitled to remain Indian Opinion became a valuable without a permit, and are not liable to leave the country on attaining majority. mobilization tool. After the paper’s Under the new Act, all such boys are liable to be deported unless they obtain inception, a campaign to end disfrom the Registrar registration certificates, the granting of which is at his discrimination was launched, and Gancretion. dhi later sent his friend Henry Polak At present, an Asiatic is free to bring with him a child under the age of six(editor of the paper from 1906 to teen without a permit for him. Under the new Act, any Asiatic doing so is liable 1916) to India to mobilize support. to imprisonment with hard labour, and to have his own registration cancelled. The paper became a means of bringAt present, any Asiatic can obtain a trading licence without production of a ing news about Indians in the colopermit. Under the new Act, he will have to produce his new register and furnish particulars of name, etc., and means of identification. Which means that if nies to the public in India while sithere are partners in an Indian firm, the Licensing Officer may insist upon the multaneously unifying Indians at presence of all the parties. In case they do not remain present, he can refuse to home and abroad. issue the licence. In 1904, Gandhi moved producAnyone submitting to such an oppressive law and obtaining registers, or tion of Indian Opinion to a one-huncausing others to obtain them, will be shedding the blood of Indians by robbing dred-acre farm named Phoenix just them as above. Is there any Indian who is not roused to fury by such a law? We outside Durban. In his design for this should very much like to know the Indian whose blood does not boil. And it is experimental community, Gandhi incredible to us that any Indian may want to submit to such legislation. This drew on Leo Tolstoy’s distaste for new Act is the extreme limit of slavery. And it is our earnest hope that no Indian city life, praise of agricultural labor, will accept it, whatever the benefit he may get thereby, but that everyone will and renunciation of wealth, and on resist it at all cost. What Mr. Kallenbach [Hermann Kallenbach, one of Gandhi’s followers] writes is quite true: that is, if we submit to such a law, we deJohn Ruskin’s ideas on the equality serve it. Everyone will believe so. It is to be borne in mind that this Act not only of all labor, whether that of the proinsults Indians but casts a slur on the religion of both Hindus and Muslims. For, fessional or that of the manual laHindus and Muslims who come from India are, as a matter of course, covered borer. At Phoenix, the press workers by it. But even the Muslims of Turkey (which is considered a part of Europe) were governed by a new work ethic: are brought within the mischief of the Act, as if the Transvaal Government will They would all have a share in the be in danger if Muslims not belonging to India are excluded. Christians from land and any profits, they would that country are not touched. grow crops to sustain themselves, and they would work jointly to pro-
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 duce Indian Opinion. As a result, the history of Indian Opinion became intertwined with that of Phoenix.
satyagraha, which Gandhi said would never have developed without Indian Opinion. —Kathleen M. Bartlett Further Reading Brown, Judith. Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1991. Brown, an Oxford historian, investigates Gandhi’s education in law and Hindu theology, his immersion in religion and politics, his manipulation of the media, and his policy of nonviolence. Dalton, Dennis. Mahatma Gandhi. 2d ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. Presents an analysis of the Gandhian concepts of satyagraha (passive resistance) and swaraj (Indian self-government), the connection between the two, and their use as tools for achieving Indian independence. Dhuphelia-Mesthrie, Uma. Gandhi’s Prisoner? The Life of Gandhi’s Son, Manilal. Cape Town, South Africa: Kwela Books, 2005. Gandhi’s great-granddaughter, an associate professor of history in South Africa, draws on family memories and letters between father and son to explore their relationship. See also: 1920-1922: Gandhi Leads a Noncooperation Movement; Aug., 1921: Moplah Rebellion; 19251935: Women’s Rights in India Undergo a Decade of Change; Mar. 12-Apr. 5, 1930: Gandhi Leads the Salt March; Mar. 5, 1931: India Signs the Delhi Pact; Sept. 25, 1932: Poona Pact Grants Representation to India’s Untouchables.
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Significance By its second year, Indian Opinion had 887 subscribers. Over its entire fifty-eight-year existence, it averaged about 2,000 subscribers annually; the highest number in any one year was 3,500. The significance of Indian Opinion, however, lay not in its size (which may be explained only partly in terms of the size of the Indian population) but in its content and its timing. In their quest for Indian rights, Gandhi and his colleagues established a longlasting forum for civil discourse on social injustice, publicized the discrimination practiced against people of color in South Africa, and began laying the groundwork for an independent India. Indian Opinion and its editors’ political activism became an established tradition, one that distinguished Indian Opinion from other newspapers that would arrive on the scene during the twentieth century. All but one of its editors spent some time in jail, a tradition that began during the satyagraha (active, nonviolent resistance) campaign from 1906 to 1913. In 1904 the newspaper’s aims had been to educate whites in South Africa about Indian needs and wants, but from1906 onward it became a vehicle for challenging state laws and urging defiance of these laws when they were clearly unjust. Its history of social activism elevates Indian Opinion from a small newspaper produced on a farm to one of world significance. The paper’s prestige only grew as it became irrevocably linked with Gandhi’s transformation from attorney to leader of a mass movement and his philosophy of
Founding of the Weekly Indian Opinion
First Tour de France
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
July 1, 1903
First Tour de France The first Tour de France bicycle race was contested in six stages covering 2,428 kilometers (more than 1,508 miles) over a twenty-day period. Since its founding, apart from breaks during the two world wars, the Tour de France has been an annual event. Also known as: La Grande Boucle; Big Loop Locale: France Category: Sports Key Figures Henri Desgrange (1865-1940), competitive cyclist, editor of L’Auto, and cofounder of the Tour de France Geó Lefèvre (1877-1961), cycling reporter for L’Auto and cofounder of the Tour de France Albert de Dion (1856-1946), industrialist and founder of De Dion-Bouton, an automobile manufacturer Pierre Giffard (1853-1922), editor of Le Vélo and organizer of the first Paris-Brest-Paris cycling race in 1891 Maurice Garin (1871-1957), winner of the first Tour de France Summary of Event The Tour de France is an annual cycling race run over a series of stages throughout France. Founded in 1903, the race is very much a product of the French belle époque (1890-1914), a period in which the French demanded and marveled at all types of spectacle; cabarets and circuses were very popular. At the same time, the bicycle became both affordable and practical, and nationalist sentiment was at a high point following defeat in the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871). The first Tour de France drew on all these elements. The Tour de France’s founding sprang directly from the Dreyfus affair. In 1894, a Jewish officer in the French army, Alfred Dreyfus, had been found guilty of passing military secrets to a German attaché in Paris and had been sentenced to life in prison. In 1906, Dreyfus was declared innocent; his name was cleared and the antiSemitism and corruption of the powerful people who had accused him were exposed. During the time between Dreyfus’s sentencing and his exoneration, however, France became polarized: Socialist, pro-Republic “Dreyfusards” opposed the imperialist, anti-Semitic, proestablishment “anti-Dreyfusards.” One anti-Dreyfusard was the French industrialist Albert de Dion, an automobile 242
manufacturer who used the sporting journal Le Vélo as the chief medium for his advertising. The editor of Le Vélo was Pierre Giffard, a passionate and vocal Dreyfus supporter. Their political differences caused de Dion to withdraw his backing from Le Vélo, and he and a group of other industrialists, including Èdouard Michelin (who cofounded the Michelin Tire Company with his brother André) and Adolphe Clément (a bicycle manufacturer), founded a rival sporting journal that was to be politically neutral. This daily was initially known as L’Auto-Vélo, and Henri Desgrange, who had been Clément’s publicist, became its first editor. Desgrange had been a legal clerk in the 1890’s, but he left this profession in order to devote himself entirely to his main passion: racing bicycles. In addition to his work for Clément, he had been a cycling reporter for ParisVélo, a sports paper that competed with Giffard’s Le Vélo, and managed a velodrome. The other members of L’Auto-Vélo were Victor Goddet, the magazine’s treasurer, and Geó Lefèvre, the journal’s lead cycling reporter. Although L’Auto-Vélo had been established to promote all sports (automobile racing, aeronautics, cycling, athletics, alpinism, boxing, fencing, gymnastics, horse racing, weight lifting, and yachting were all mentioned in its subtitle) it was first and foremost a cycling magazine. Giffard, who was now running Le Vélo with minimal financial backing, sued L’Auto-Vélo for trademark infringement. Giffard won the case in January, 1903, and L’Auto-Vélo was forced to become simply L’Auto. Desgrange’s circulation had dropped to alarming levels, and he feared that a title change would cause his cycling clientele to disappear altogether. He needed to take a drastic step to revive the paper, and a spectacular race seemed the perfect solution. Credit for devising the idea of a Tour de France belongs to Desgrange’s employee, Lefèvre. Over lunch with his boss, the twenty-three-year-old Lefèvre suggested a multiday road race, far longer than anything previously attempted, that would go through all the major cities of France. Key to the success of this idea was the race’s name: “Tour de France” was a phrase with several important connotations. The first of these referred to Le Tour de France de deux enfants (1877), written by G. Bruno (pseudonym of Madame Fouillée), a best-selling and very nationalistic book commonly used to teach French geography and history to children. The second reference was to the Tour de France des Compagnons: A
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
First Tour de France
Tour de France, 1903
to Giffard, Desgrange announced the race on the pages of the newly christened L’Auto. The race was touted as Bonn Brussels Liege the greatest cycling trial in the world. Plymouth Wiesbaden It would consist of six stages ranging Le Havre in distance from 268 kilometers Luxembourg Paris K (about 166.5 miles) to the monstrous Strasbourg 476-kilometer (295.8-mile) first St stage from Paris to Lyon. Given that these distances would require riders c e n to ride for as long as twenty hours at Zurich a Nantes Ber a stretch, multiday rest periods were planned between stages. After reGeneva ceiving only lukewarm interest from Clermont-Ferrand Atlantic riders, Desgrange dropped his initial Lyon Milan Ocean demand of a twenty-franc entry fee Bordeaux and promised a minimum of five Turi francs per day to each rider. In the end, he attracted a group of sixty proracers, tradesmen, and unBayonne Toulouse Mon fessional employed laborers. The race began Marseille Bilbao at the Café Reveil Matin outside Paris B Mediterranean Sea on July 1, 1903. Overall victory in the race went to d lid Maurice Garin, a five-foot, three-inch Italian-born chimney sweep who compagnonnage was a society for the training and mulived in Lens, in northeastern France. Lefèvre, however, tual support of workers, particularly men in the building might be the tour’s true hero. As the one-man race comtrades. These societies began in the seventeenth century missioner, organizer, and field reporter, he followed the but became popular in the early years of the nineteenth race closely, riding his bicycle or catching a train to officentury. As part of his training, a young worker would ciate at the finish line or at the next checkpoint. Garin’s tour France, traveling around the country and perfecting victory in Paris took place before a crowd of twenty thouhis trade at the stops along the way. Every trade followed sand paying spectators. In honor of the race, Desgrange its own particular circuit, although most left Paris and produced a special edition of L’Auto that sold 120,000 headed down the Rhône to the Mediterranean, and then copies, proving that the race’s first running had been a rethrough Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Tours, Orléans, sounding success. and back to Paris. Each tour always headed forward, never retracing its steps. A tradesperson would travel Significance alone on foot and was expected to be self-sufficient, exThe Tour de France owes some of its success to its initial changing labor for training, food, and lodging en route. appeal: Early on, cycling fans had passionate reactions to The concept of such a circuit and the self-sufficiency rethe difficult race, and riders were egged on by regional riquirement were both borrowed for the first cycling Tour valries and provoked by sensationalist journalists. Scande France. dals, such as the 1904 disqualification of the first four Desgrange presented the idea of a cycling tour to finishers for offenses ranging from accepting food from Goddet, who agreed to finance the twenty thousand spectators to taking the train for part of the course, have francs in prize money. Three thousand francs—about also helped generate interest. The race continues to be three years’ pay for an industrial worker at the time— one of the world’s premier sporting events, although a would go to the winner. Lefèvre surveyed the route and few key changes have cemented its success. In 1905, for made preliminary logistical arrangements, and on Januexample, mountains were included on the race route for ary 19, 1903, just four days after losing the trademark suit the first time. Cooperation between racers, first allowed Dover
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Ilinden Uprising in Macedonia in 1912 against Desgrange’s wishes, changed the race’s tactics. The publicity caravan, a gaudy parade of commercial floats that dispenses trinkets to the crowd in advance of the riders’ arrival, was first included in 1930 and roused the interest of spectators, and the race’s redesign into many more and much shorter stages meant that a larger number of cities were able to share the honor of hosting the tour. Since 1903, the Tour de France has found a place in French and European culture as the subject of songs, films, and literature. Its nationalist, sporting, cultural, and commercial elements have successfully captured the imaginations of its many supporters in France and around the world. —Margot Irvine and John P. Koch Further Reading Dauncey, Hugh, and Geoff Hare, eds. The Tour de France, 1903-2003: A Century of Sporting Structures, Meanings, and Values. London: Frank Cass, 2003. A collection of academic essays on the tour’s cultural significance.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Fife, Graeme. Tour de France: The History, the Legend, the Riders. Edinburgh, Scotland: Mainstream, 2005. A popular history of the tour with extensive descriptions of the events surrounding the race’s founding. Seray, Jacques. 1904: The Tour de France Which Was to Be the Last. Translated by Richard Yates. Denver, Colo.: Buonpane, 1994. A meticulous account of the 1904 tour based on contemporary newspaper accounts. Woodland, Les. The Unknown Tour de France: The Many Faces of the World’s Biggest Bicycle Race. San Francisco: Van der Plas, 2000. A popular history relating some of the lesser-known events in the history of the tour. See also: Jan. 1, 1902: First Rose Bowl Game; Oct. 113, 1903: Baseball Holds Its First World Series; June 26-27, 1906: First Grand Prix Auto Race; Aug. 20Sept. 17, 1920: Formation of the American Professional Football Association; June, 1922: New Wimbledon Tennis Stadium Is Dedicated; July 6, 1933: First Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
August 2-September, 1903
Ilinden Uprising in Macedonia An unsuccessful revolt in 1903 in the contested European region of Macedonia set the stage for massive foreign intervention in the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. Also known as: St. Elijah’s Day Uprising Locale: Macedonia; Ottoman Empire Categories: Wars, uprisings, and civil unrest; diplomacy and international relations Key Figures Ferdinand I (1861-1948), prince of Bulgaria, r. 18871908, and king of Bulgaria, r. 1908-1918 Abdülhamid II (1842-1918), powerful sultan of the late Ottoman Empire, r. 1876-1909 Summary of Event The Ilinden Uprising of 1903 took place in Macedonia, an important European province of the Ottoman Empire. This strategic region was divided among four Ottoman vilayets, or provinces, and it was home to a large number of different national and ethnic groups. Residents included Macedonian Slavs, Bulgarians, Serbs, Greeks, Albanians, Vlachs, Roma, Turks, and Jews. As national244
ism spread throughout the Ottoman Empire, outside powers advanced various claims to Macedonia, and many local groups agitated for autonomy. The 1903 uprising was led by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), and although the revolt was a costly failure, it sped the evolution of the Macedonian identity as a group that was Slavic in language and ethnicity. After many nearby provinces had split off or been taken from the Ottoman Empire over the course of the nineteenth century—including Serbia, Greece, Bosnia, Romania, and half of Bulgaria—Macedonia and Albania were two of the last European holdings in the sultan’s realm. Macedonia had fertile soil and was strategically very important; it sat astride notable road, river, and railway routes and was home to the great port of Thessaloníki. Unsurprisingly, then, Macedonia was coveted by all of its neighbors. Its ethnically diverse population had caused competition for educational and ecclesiastical control, especially among the Serbs, Greeks, and Bulgarians, and this meant that cohesive domestic political movements based on national identity were relatively slow to develop.
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time, they would have certainly lost to the Turks. An intervention would have also endangered the process of territorial acquisition of Eastern Rumelia, about half of present-day Bulgaria, which was still in Ottoman hands. After annexing Eastern Rumelia in 1908, when Istanbul was in the throes of the Young Turk movement, and after securing Russian support for the Balkan Pact in 1912, Ferdinand would eventually recalculate the odds and send Bulgaria to war over Macedonia. In 1903, however, the time was simply not right. The major world powers were not eager for the revolt to succeed, because it would upset the carefully regulated status quo in the Balkans and possibly create a scramble for Ottoman lands that could easily get out of control. Instead, countries such as Great Britain and Russia hoped to methodically and proportionately help themselves and their minor allies to territories that they would liberate from the Turks. The events of 1903 were well covered by the Western press, but public opinion in Europe and the United States was actually split between sympathy for Christians under Ottoman rule and outrage at the terror tactics IMRO had taken to using—which included assassination, kidnapping, and bombings—especially in the prominent port city of Thessaloníki. Significance The Ilinden Uprising took on almost mythical significance in the twentieth century, but its power as a symbol was dependent on a series of misunderstandings and contested interpretations. Extensive research demonstrated, for instance, that the uprising was not rooted in the general population. Although it did eventually include some peasants, leadership was largely limited to the powerful IMRO organization, which was split over whether to foment a mass uprising or terrorism carried out by secret cells. Furthermore, although some believed that the insurrection included all anti-Ottoman elements of the population, including Greeks, Albanians, Vlachs, and other groups, in reality it was centered on Slavic-speaking Christian groups. These Christian groups coexisted in the largely rural, illiterate provinces and were still in the process of creating distinct identities, and they represented a broad enough spectrum of political ideas to ensure the IMRO’s fragmentation after 1903. From that point on, the lion’s share of revolutionary activity in Macedonia was carried out by the pro-Bulgarian IMRO factions that came to be known as the Supremists or the External Committee and were actually based in Bulgaria. They became a rightradical or protofascist force and helped destabilize Bul245
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By 1903, the Ottoman Empire had gone through several decades of reforms aimed at both strengthening and improving the governance of its provinces. Some aspects of economic, social, and political life had truly improved in the Empire, but the police and military were also stronger, and Turkish nationalism was beginning to take shape. The celebrated Bulgarian novelist Dimiter Talev described 1903 as the year when the Ottoman Empire, a “frightened beast,” began to show its “bloody claws” again and lash out with great ferocity at the minority groups within its borders. The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization was formed in 1893 by Slavs who wanted to promote administrative autonomy in the region. The group changed names several times and split into various fractions that disagreed over tactics and goals, but by 1903 it was powerful and committed to an uprising that would focus Western attention on Macedonia. The rebels hoped to mobilize the mass of peasantry before the growing strength of Ottoman security forces or the ameliorative effects of Ottoman reforms deprived them of popular support. IMRO agents, called komitas, were formed into armed bands known as chetas. The fighting began on August 2, 1903, which is St. Elijah’s Day (Ilinden) in the Orthodox Christian calendar. It spread rapidly but collapsed just as quickly; many peasants passively supported it, but Turkish reprisals hit hard. There were more than two hundred armed engagements during the revolt, but the rebels charted few concrete successes. The most significant of these wins resulted in the creation of a short-lived republic at Krushevo, the population of which was largely Vlach (a group descended from Roman colonists) and anti-Turkish. Tens of thousands of people became refugees, and horrific acts were committed against civilians on both sides. Exact casualty figures are impossible to tabulate, but estimates of the dead run in the thousands for both civilians and fighters on both sides. Although more than twenty-six thousand rebels took part in this uprising, and the IMRO had grown considerably in numbers and resources over the past decade, the insurrection failed. Of key significance in the outcome was the fact that Bulgaria did not intervene to support the rebels. Bulgarian prince Ferdinand I chose not to do so, despite the great pressure on him from pro-Macedonian elements both in the population and in his army. For Bulgaria, intervention would have meant inviting the Ottomans to wage full-scale warfare on their new country, and since they had no firm allies in Western Europe at the
Ilinden Uprising in Macedonia
Ilinden Uprising in Macedonia garia through the 1930’s. Autonomist ideas that stressed the distinct identity of the region’s dominant Slavic group were eventually utilized by the Yugoslav communists to justify Macedonia’s inclusion in Yugoslavia. The uprising was important because it revealed the degree to which the Ottoman Empire, which by 1903 was heavily in debt and maintained very tense relations with both Russia and the Habsburgs (the German royal dynasty), was vulnerable to manipulation by the major world powers. On September 30, 1903, Emperor Francis Joseph and Czar Nicholas II imposed the Mürzsteg Reform Plan on Sultan Abdülhamid II, but this did little to pacify Macedonia. In its call for indemnities against the Ottoman government and in internationalizing the local gendarmerie, however, the plan represented another dizzying violation of Ottoman sovereignty. The plan also made it clear that Macedonia, however it was geographically and ethnically defined, would not push itself out of the Ottoman Empire but would have to be pulled out by its Balkan neighbors and the major world powers. This occurred during the Second Balkan War of 1913. The Ilinden Uprising was an important milestone in the history of modern Macedonia because it refined the question of self-definition. The majority of the region’s inhabitants were clearly Slavic, but the question of whether the region would become independent or part of Bulgaria remained in dispute. Questions about the Macedonians’ relationship to the many minority groups of their country, especially the Albanians, and of their approach to the fragile historical egos of their neighbors, especially the Greeks, continued well into the twentyfirst century. —John K. Cox
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading MacDermott, Mercia. Freedom or Death: The Life of Gotse Delchev. London: Journeyman Press, 1978. A renowned Balkanist’s biography of one of the leading organizers of IMRO. Perry, Duncan. The Politics of Terror: The Macedonian Revolutionary Movements, 1893-1903. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1988. Based on extensive documentation, this is among the most detailed studies available of the Ilinden Uprising and the growth of IMRO. Poulton, Hugh. Who Are the Macedonians? 2d ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000. Presents a lucid analysis of the various lands and peoples that have constituted Macedonia right up to today. Stavrianos, Leften. The Balkans Since 1453. New York: New York University Press, 2000. Magisterial work on Balkan history puts the Ilinden Uprising in regional and historical perspective. Well spiced with important data and insightful anecdotes. Talev, Dimiter. Ilinden: A Novel of the Macedonian Rebellion of 1903. Translated by Nadya Kolin. Sofia, Bulgaria: Foreign Languages Press, 1966. A readable tale of village life, told from a decidedly prorevolutionary point of view but containing much valuable information on ethnography and the ideas and tactics of the revolutionaries. See also: July 24, 1908: Young Turks Stage a Coup in the Ottoman Empire; Oct. 7, 1908: Austria Annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina; Oct. 18, 1912-Aug. 10, 1913: Balkan Wars; Dec. 1, 1918: Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes Declares Independence.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Pius X Becomes Pope
August 9, 1903
Pius X Becomes Pope In 1903, Pius X succeeded the world-oriented Pope Leo XIII, who was concerned with issues relating to social justice and the Roman Church’s place in international affairs. Pius X focused his pontificate on the Church’s internal workings and adopted a conservative approach to doctrine. Also known as: Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto Locale: The Vatican, Rome, Italy Category: Religion, theology, and ethics Key Figures Pius X (Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 1835-1914), Roman Catholic pope, 1903-1914 Leo XIII (Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci; 1810-1903), Roman Catholic pope, 1878-1903
Pope Pius X. (Library of Congress)
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Summary of Event Since the Enlightenment, the Roman Church—and organized religion in general—had been weakened by rationalism and the growth of science and democracy. Pius IX’s flirtation with liberalism in the 1840’s was transformed into staunch conservatism after he was forced to flee Rome in 1848 and was restored with the help of a French army in 1849. For the remainder of his pontificate, Pius IX worked to condemn Modernism, especially in the Syllbus Errorum (1864; Syllabus of Errors), and assert papal authority. In 1870 and 1871, Pius IX dominated the First Vatican Council, which promulgated the doctrine of papal infallibility. Pius IX was succeeded by Pope Leo XIII, who was more sympathetic to the trends of his time; he launched an aggressive campaign for social reforms described in Rerum Novarum (1891; The Condition of Labor). Although he was named a cardinal and patriarch of Venice by the progressive Leo XIII, Pius X did not share much enthusiasm for the agenda advanced by his predecessor. Rather, he feared that the Roman Catholic Church was in jeopardy because of its internal weakness, which he believed stemmed from its increasing worldliness. He launched a program of internal reforms and enacted a general defense of Roman Catholicism designed to protect it against the multitudinous threats inherent in Modernism. Pius X’s internal reforms included spiritual and structural changes, such as the new rule on access to Holy Communion by young children and the appointment of trusted allies to positions of authority in the Vatican and
throughout the Catholic world. These changes did not result in much controversy, but Pius X also targeted internal sympathizers who used Modernist approaches to Catholicism. Some Catholic leaders and clerics were attracted to the new Modernist philosophy and science, and these Modernists tended to view revelation subjectively and within the context of a complex view of humanity and nature. Such an approach endangered the traditional and orthodox view of revelation, which had come to form the centerpiece of Catholic teaching after the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century. Pius X did not hesitate to silence those who opposed his traditionalist views, and he freely used the power of excommunication. Several liberal Catholic periodicals in the United States were denounced and lost all formal Church support. Pius X also added new Modernist books to an updated version of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (1907; Index of Prohibited Books). Pius X defined his concerns about Modernism in a series of papal encyclicals and pronouncements. In Pieni l’Animo (July 28, 1906), he denounced Modernism as a
Pius X Becomes Pope danger to the faith; in Lamentabili Sane Exitu (1907; On a Deplorable Outcome), Pius X listed sixty-five errors that resulted from Modernism; and in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907; Feeding the Lord’s Flocks), he stated that Modernism was heresy. On November 18, 1907, in the pronouncement Praestantia scripturae (1907; Against
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Modernists), Pius X directed that all Catholics who failed to comply with his statements in Lamentabili and Pascendi would be in a serious state of sin and would be subject to censure. Pius X’s anxieties about Modernism reached a climax on September 1, 1910, when he decreed that all teachers and seminarians take an oath supporting Lamentabili and Pascendi and repudiating Modernism. In the broader context of the PASCENDI DOMINICI GREGIS Catholic Church and society, Pius X Pope Pius X’s encyclical on Modernism, issued on September 8, 1907, inopposed the Christian Democracy cluded this explanation of the Church’s new rules on censored material: movement, which argued that the rich had a responsibility to look out for But it is not enough to hinder the reading and the sale of bad books—it is also the interests of the poor, because of necessary to prevent them from being printed. Hence let the Bishops use the utits absence of hierarchical (papal) most severity in granting permission to print. Under the rules of the Constitucontrol. Also, he was concerned tion Officiorum, many publications require the authorisation of the Ordinary, about independent anti-Modernist and in some dioceses it has been made the custom to have a suitable number of movements, such as the Murri moveofficial censors for the examination of writings. We have the highest praise for ment in Italy and the Sillon movethis institution, and We not only exhort, but We order that it be extended to all dioceses. In all episcopal Curias, therefore, let censors be appointed for the rement in France. Both of these esvision of works intended for publication, and let the censors be chosen from poused positions on Modernism both ranks of the clergy—secular and regular—men of age, knowledge and similar to those taken by Pius X, but prudence who will know how to follow the golden mean in their judgments. It they acted outside the framework of shall be their office to examine everything which requires permission for pubthe hierarchy and were thus unaclication according to Articles XLI and XLII of the above-mentioned Constituceptable. Pius X focused much ention. The Censor shall give his verdict in writing. If it be favourable, the Bishop ergy on the condition of the Church will give the permission for publication by the word Imprimatur, which must in France, where the anticlericalism always be preceded by the Nihil obstat and the name of the Censor. In the Curia of the Third Republic had been eviof Rome official censors shall be appointed just as elsewhere, and the appointdent for years. French political leadment of them shall appertain to the Master of the Sacred Palaces, after they ers were determined to restrict the have been proposed to the Cardinal Vicar and accepted by the Sovereign Pontiff. It will also be the office of the Master of the Sacred Palaces to select the power of the Church in their country; censor for each writing. Permission for publication will be granted by him as they argued that the separation of well as by the Cardinal Vicar or his Vicegerent, and this permission, as above church and state was needed for the prescribed, must always be preceded by the Nihil obstat and the name of the state to be free from the influence— Censor. Only on very rare and exceptional occasions, and on the prudent decireal or imagined—of Roman Catholsion of the bishop, shall it be possible to omit mention of the Censor. The name icism. On December 9, 1905, the of the Censor shall never be made known to the authors until he shall have French government separated the given a favourable decision, so that he may not have to suffer annoyance either church and the state in a unilateral acwhile he is engaged in the examination of a writing or in case he should deny tion that dissolved the long-standing his approval. Censors shall never be chosen from the religious orders until the Concordat of 1801; some Church opinion of the Provincial, or in Rome of the General, has been privately obproperties were taken and given to tained, and the Provincial or the General must give a conscientious account of the character, knowledge and orthodoxy of the candidate. We admonish relilay associations that served social gious superiors of their solemn duty never to allow anything to be published by and benevolent purposes. any of their subjects without permission from themselves and from the OrdiWhile most French bishops and nary. Finally We affirm and declare that the title of Censor has no value and can clergy accepted the new reality withnever be adduced to give credit to the private opinions of the person who out much opposition, Pius X conholds it. demned the decision in the encycliSource: Pope Pius X, Pascendi Dominici gregis, Encyclical of Pope Pius X on the cals Vehementer Nos (On the French Doctrines of the Modernists. Given at St. Peter’s, Rome, on September 8, 1907. Law of Separation) on February 11, 1906, and Gravissimo Officii Munere
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 (On French Associations of Worship) on August 10, 1906. Pius X was opposing the historical force of Modernism and in so doing was viewed as a reactionary. Nonetheless, his eleven-year pontificate set the tone for much of the twentieth century history of the Church. Pius X believed that the laity needed to be involved in pastoral work under the direction of the clergy, and his reforms in the apostolic and spiritual life of the Church were dutifully enacted: Prayer books were improved, the Gregorian chant was reestablished within the Roman lexicon and rule, and the prayer life of priests and the religious was more carefully directed. Pius X was canonized a saint of the Roman Church on May 29, 1954. During the turbulent 1960’s, a separatist movement—displeased with the liberal reforms of the Second Vatican Council—took his name when it formed the Society of St. Pius X, but by the early twenty-first century, efforts to bridge the gap between this group and the Vatican had begun.
Council. His more moderate successor, Pope Benedict XV, found himself leading the church during a period of world war and economic distress; the papacy during that time was characterized by attempts at neutrality and loss of prestige. —William T. Walker Further Reading Chiron, Yves. Saint Pius X: Restorer of the Church. Translated by Graham Harrison. Kansas City, Mo.: Angelus Press, 2002. Thorough and sympathetic biography focuses on Pius X’s challenges to Modernism and the range of his spiritual and doctrinal reforms within the Church. Coppa, Frank J. The Modern Papacy Since 1789. New York: Longman, 1998. An excellent study of the papacy since the outbreak of the French Revolution. Presents Pius X as a traditionalist and anti-Modernist. Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. 2d ed. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2002. One of the best single-volume histories of the papacy available. Pius X emerges as a counterModernist who expanded papal power and enforced doctrinal allegiance. Excellent resource for general readers as well as students of the papacy. Forbes, F. A. Pope St. Pius X. Rockford, Ill.: Tan, 1987. A sympathetic yet critical life of Pius X that considers his policies and goals in light of the condition of the Roman Church at the beginning of the twentieth century. McBrien, Richard. Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to John Paul II. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2000. A important and critical study of the papacy by a priest-scholar whose interpretation of Pius X is representative of academia’s general perspective. Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard. The Papacy. Translated by James Sievert. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Important scholarly history of the papacy provides a critical analysis of Pius X and other modern popes. Includes useful bibliography. See also: June 7, 1912: Pope Pius X Condemns Slavery; May 16, 1920: Canonization of Joan of Arc; Dec. 8, 1933: Canonization of Bernadette Soubirous; Mar. 14, 1937: Pius XI Urges Resistance Against Nazism; Mar. 2, 1939: Pius XII Becomes Pope.
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Significance During the nineteenth century, the papacy shifted in its support for new reforms and active involvement of the Roman Church in the world. In the 1840’s, the pontificate of Pius IX focused on liberal reforms, but after Italy’s 1848 revolution, Pius IX abandoned such a direction and became an archconservative. Pope Leo XIII (whose papacy lasted from 1878 to 1903) restored a papal worldview and advanced an agenda centered on social justice and reformist Catholic teachings. Pius X was a critic of Modernism and its many ramifications; he viewed the Church and the truth of his faith as the victims of a Modernist attack. In particular, Pius X denounced all expressions of anticlericalism, especially state seizure of Church property, restrictions on priests and religious, and restrictions on Catholic education. In response, Pius X focused on the elimination of any internal expressions of Modernism within the Church, a revival of traditional Church practices (although he introduced the practice of having young children receive Communion), the reassertion of traditional doctrines, and, reminiscent of Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors, the issuance of a series of encyclicals that identified and denounced the elements of Modernism. Pius X argued that it was impossible to be a socialist and a Catholic at the same time, and many of his policies were sustained until the Second Vatican
Pius X Becomes Pope
Gillette Markets the First Razor with a Disposable Blade
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Fall, 1903
Gillette Markets the First Razor with a Disposable Blade The success of the first shaving razor with a disposable blade allowed the Gillette Safety Razor Company to become an important firm in the United States. Locale: Boston, Massachusetts Categories: Inventions; trade and commerce; manufacturing and industry Key Figures King Camp Gillette (1855-1932), American inventor and businessman William Painter (1838-1906), American inventor Steven Porter (fl. early twentieth century), American machinist William Emery Nickerson (1853-1930), American inventor of machines for mass production John Joyce (fl. early twentieth century), American businessman Summary of Event In 1895, King Camp Gillette first formulated the idea of a shaving razor with a disposable blade. Gillette spent years drawing different models, and finally Steven Porter, a machinist and associate of Gillette, created from those drawings the first three such razors that worked. Gillette soon founded the Gillette Safety Razor Company, which became the leading seller of disposable razor blades in the United States. George Gillette, King Camp Gillette’s father, had been a newspaper editor, a patent agent, and an inventor. He never invented a very successful product, but he loved to experiment. He encouraged all of his sons to figure out how things work and how to improve on them. King was always inventing new things and had many patents, but for a long time he was unsuccessful in turning any of them into profitable businesses. While Gillette was working as a traveling salesperson for Crown Cork and Seal Company, William Painter, the inventor of the crown cork, presented him with a formula for making a fortune: Invent something that would constantly need to be replaced. Painter’s crown cork, used to cap beer and soda bottles, was a tin cap covered with cork that formed a tight seal over a bottle. Each crown cork could be used only once, so soda and beer companies needed a steady supply. Gillette took Painter’s advice and began thinking about everyday items that needed to be replaced often. 250
King Camp Gillette. (Library of Congress)
After owning a Star safety razor for some time, King realized that the razor blade had not been improved for a long time. He studied all the razors on the market and found that both the common straight razor and the safety razor featured a heavy V-shaped piece of steel, sharpened on one side. King reasoned that a thin piece of steel sharpened on both sides would give a better shave and could be thrown away once it became dull. The idea of the disposable razor blade had been born. After making several drawings of the kind of razor he envisioned, Gillette made a wooden model to explain his idea more clearly. His first attempt to construct a working model was unsuccessful, as the steel used for the blade was too flimsy. Steven Porter, a Boston machinist, decided to try to make Gillette’s razor from his drawings. He produced three razors, and in the summer of 1899 King Camp Gillette was the first man to shave with a disposable razor blade.
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had the option of backing out. This deal enabled the company to start manufacturing and advertising in 1903, after spending $18,000 to perfect the machinery to produce the disposable razor blades and razors. Significance Originally, the company’s directors wanted to charge three dollars for a razor with twenty blades, but Joyce insisted on a price of five dollars. In 1903, five dollars was about one-third the average American’s weekly salary, and a high-quality straight razor could be purchased for about half that amount. The other directors were skeptical, but Joyce threatened to buy up all the razors if they charged three dollars and sell them himself for five dollars. He had the financial backing to make this promise good, so the directors agreed to the higher price. The Gillette Safety Razor Company contracted with Townsend & Hunt for exclusive sales. The contract stated that Townsend & Hunt would buy 50,000 razors with twenty blades each during a period of slightly more than a year and would purchase 100,000 sets per year for the following four years. The first advertisement for the product appeared in System Magazine in early fall of 1903, offering the razors by mail order. By the end of that year, only fifty-one razors had been sold. Because Gillette and most of the directors of the company were not salaried, Gillette had needed to keep his job as salesman with Crown Cork and Seal. At the end of 1903, he received a promotion that meant relocation from Boston to London. Gillette did not want to go and pleaded with the other directors, but they insisted that the company could not afford to put him on salary. The company decided to reduce the number of blades in a set from twenty to twelve in an effort to increase profits without noticeably raising the cost of a set. Gillette resigned the title of company president and left for England. Shortly thereafter, Townsend & Hunt changed its name to the Gillette Sales Company, and three years later the sales company sold out to the parent company for $300,000. Sales of the new type of razor were increasing rapidly in the United States, and Joyce wanted to sell patent rights to European companies for a small percentage of sales. Gillette thought that would be a horrible mistake and quickly traveled back to Boston. He had two goals: to stop the sale of patent rights, based on his conviction that the foreign market would eventually be very lucrative, and to become salaried by the company. He accomplished both goals and soon moved back to Boston. Despite the fact that Joyce and Gillette had been good friends for a long time, their business views often dif251
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In the early 1900’s, most people considered a razor to be a once-in-a-lifetime purchase. Many fathers handed down their razors to their sons. Straight razors needed constant and careful attention to keep them sharp. The thought of throwing a razor in the garbage after several uses was contrary to how people thought about razors. If Gillette’s razor had not provided a much less painful and faster shave than previous razors, it is unlikely the disposable blade would have been a success. Even with the new razor’s advantages, public opinion against the product was still difficult to overcome. Financing a company to produce the razor also proved to be a major obstacle. Gillette did not have the money himself, and potential investors were skeptical, both because of public perceptions of the product and because of the manufacturing process that was expected to be required. Mass production appeared to be impossible, and the disposable razor would never be profitable if it had to be produced using the methods required to manufacture its predecessor. William Emery Nickerson, an expert machine inventor, had looked at Gillette’s razor and said it was impossible to create a machine to produce it. He was convinced to reexamine the idea, however, and he finally invented a machine that could create a workable blade. In the process, Nickerson changed Gillette’s original model, improving the handle and frame so that it would better support the thin steel blade. In the meantime, Gillette was busy getting his patent assigned to the newly formed American Safety Razor Company, owned by Gillette and his partners Jacob Heilborn, Edward J. Stewart, and Nickerson. Gillette owned considerably more shares than anyone else. Henry Sachs provided additional capital, buying shares from Gillette. The stockholders decided to rename the company the Gillette Safety Razor Company. It soon spent most of its money on machinery and lacked the capital needed to produce and advertise its product. The only offer the company had received was from a group of New York investors who were willing to give $125,000 in exchange for 51 percent of the company. None of the directors wanted to lose control of the company, so they rejected the offer. John Joyce, a friend of Gillette, rescued the financially insecure new company. He agreed to buy $100,000 worth of bonds from the company for 60 cents on the dollar, purchasing the bonds gradually as the company needed money. He also received an equivalent amount of company stock. After an investment of $30,000, Joyce
Gillette Markets the First Razor with a Disposable Blade
Gillette Markets the First Razor with a Disposable Blade fered. Gillette set up a holding company in an effort to take back controlling interest in the Gillette Safety Razor Company. He borrowed money and convinced his allies in the company to invest in the holding company, and he eventually regained control and was reinstated as president of the company. One clear disagreement was that Gillette wanted to relocate the company to Newark, New Jersey, and Joyce thought such a move would be a waste of money. Gillette authorized company funds to be invested in a Newark site, but the idea was later dropped, costing the company a large amount of capital. Gillette was not a very wise businessman, and he made many such costly mistakes. Joyce even accused Gillette of deliberately trying to keep the stock price low so that Gillette could purchase more stock. Joyce eventually bought out Gillette, who retained his title as president but had little say over company business. With Gillette out of a management position, the company became more stable and more profitable. The biggest problem the company faced was that it would soon lose its patent rights and thus be vulnerable to competition. The company’s leaders realized they could compete with the lower-priced disposables that would inevitably enter the market either by cutting prices (and therefore profits) or by creating a new line of even better razors. They opted for the latter strategy; weeks before the patent expired, the Gillette Safety Razor Company introduced a new line of razors. During World War I and World War II, the company garnered big boosts in sales by contracting with the government to supply razors to almost all the troops. These transactions also served to introduce thousands of young men to the Gillette razor, many of whom continued to use Gillettes after they returned from war. Aside from its shaky start, the company experienced its worst financial difficulties during the Great Depression. Most Americans simply could not afford Gillette blades, and many used blades for extended periods and then resharpened them rather than throwing them away and buying new ones. If it had not been for foreign markets, the company would not have shown a profit during the Great Depression. Gillette’s obstinance about not selling patent rights to foreign investors proved to be an excellent decision. Gillette featured many celebrity endorsements in its advertising, especially from well-known baseball players. The company also sponsored sporting events. With the advent of television, before it became too expensive for one company to sponsor an entire event, Gillette was 252
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 the exclusive advertiser during World Series games, various boxing matches, the Kentucky Derby, and football bowl games. Sponsoring these events was costly, but sports spectators were the typical Gillette customers. The Gillette Company eventually created many products that complemented its lines of razors and blades, including shaving cream, women’s razors, and electric razors. The company also expanded into products such as women’s cosmetics, writing utensils, deodorant, and wigs. The company had learned during the Depression that a one-product company is less stable than one with a more diverse product line, especially in a volatile market. Gillette continued to thrive by following the principles the company had used from the start. The majority of Gillette’s profits came from foreign markets, and its employees looked to improve products and find opportunities in other departments as well as their own. —Dan Kennedy Further Reading Adams, Russell B., Jr. King C. Gillette: The Man and His Wonderful Shaving Device. Boston: Little, Brown, 1978. Biography of King Camp Gillette provides complete details about the Gillette Company, including the company’s major investments and profits. Dowling, Tim. Inventor of the Disposable Culture: King Camp Gillette, 1855-1932. London: Faber & Faber, 2001. Brief biography describes the development of the disposable razor blade as well as Gillette’s social utopian philosophical leanings. “Gillette: Blade-Runner.” Economist 327 (April 10, 1993): 68. Discusses the Gillette Company’s response to competition in the razor and pen markets. Describes acquisitions, improved products, and investments in better manufacturing. Maremont, Mark. “A New Equal Right: The Close Shave.” BusinessWeek, March 29, 1993, 58-59. Discusses the Gillette Company’s introduction of a new and very successful product, the Sensor razor for women. See also: Aug. 30, 1901: Booth Receives Patent for the Vacuum Cleaner; 1904-1912: Brandenberger Invents Cellophane; 1905-1907: Baekeland Invents Bakelite; 1910: Electric Washing Machine Is Introduced; May 20, 1915: Corning Glass Works Trademarks Pyrex; 1917: Birdseye Invents Quick-Frozen Foods; Nov., 1918-June, 1920: Demobilization of U.S. Forces After World War I.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
The Great Train Robbery Introduces New Editing Techniques
Fall, 1903 THE GREAT
TRAIN ROBBERY Introduces New Editing Techniques
Audiences and filmmakers were thrilled with Edwin S. Porter’s film The Great Train Robbery, which introduced new cinematic techniques while establishing the narrative pattern of Western films. Locale: United States Category: Motion pictures Key Figures Edwin S. Porter (1870?-1941), American film writer, director, photographer, and editor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), American inventor Georges Méliès (1861-1938), French magician and filmmaker
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Summary of Event In the fall of 1903, Edwin S. Porter, working for Thomas Alva Edison’s Edison Company in New Jersey, made a moving picture the likes of which had never before been seen in the United States. It bore similarities in technique to some films from England and some from France, particularly those made by Georges Méliès, a Paris magician who had begun making motion pictures of his magic acts in 1896 and whose experiments in special effects and artificially arranged scenes had caught Porter’s attention. Porter, however, went beyond all of his predecessors in the film medium when he recognized the narrative potential for cutting and splicing different shots—that is, editing. He had first employed this technique in making The Life of an American Fireman in 1903, after many years as a maker of motion pictures for Edison. He had combined stock film of a fire company in action with specially shot scenes that were artificially arranged. The result was the merging of discontinuous action into coherent narration. In his next significant film project, Porter calculated that he could invent his whole collection of material, not relying on stock footage at all, and thereby control his narrative even more. His plan, which included shooting interiors as well as exteriors of the New Jersey countryside, was to produce a smoothly flowing narrative of “cops and robbers,” with cowboys as his characters. In this early, if not the first, Western film, the standard plot form of the chase was embodied in the journalistic event of the train robbery. Porter’s genius was to recognize the potential of the Western genre for films. His social awareness led him to emphasize the powerful attraction of law-and-order themes.
Most important, however, was the technique he used for combining his discontinuously filmed shots. The Great Train Robbery would, by its artistic and commercial success, establish Porter as the leading director of his time and influence all later directors in their approach to the making of motion pictures. In fourteen shots (incomplete scenes), Porter presented a story with three lines of action that, through editing by intercutting the shots and using no dissolves or fades, he wove together to create an illusion of continuous narrative. In the first scene, a fixed long-shot interior of a railroad telegraph office, two masked men force the clerk to stop the next train, which is seen through the window of the office. This is one of the earliest innovative features of the film. Porter may have created it by building the set of the office near an actual railroad, or he may have used the technique of double exposing the film, superimposing the moving train on a blank in the first exposure. It is probably an example of Porter’s using back-projection, shooting the interior from one side while projecting the moving train from the other side onto the space for the window. While the train is departing, the robbers tie up the clerk and leave to catch up with the train. The next scene is an exterior shot of the railroad water tower, where the robbers hide before jumping onto the train, which is forced to stop beneath them. This cut from interior to exterior is Porter’s most creative act as director/editor. Because previous films had sought to keep narrative simple and continuous, most shots were complete scenes, with little intercutting between scenes and no intercutting between incomplete scenes (or shots). The action then shifts to a shot inside the mail car, where a clerk is accosted by the robbers, who shoot him and blow open the railroad safe, take its contents, and leave. The fourth scene is shot from atop the moving train, in effect a “moving” camera, looking across the tender and into the locomotive cab. Intentionally or not, the scene is cinematically exciting because the camera helps to create the action, moving rather than simply showing movement. One virtue of editing through crosscutting shots is the creation of the illusion that widely separated actions are occurring at the same time. Simultaneously with the robbery of the mail car, the action of this scene shows two more robbers seizing control of the locomotive, toss-
The Great Train Robbery Introduces New Editing Techniques
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
ing the body of the fireman from the train as they do so. In the final sequence of the narrative, three shots are The substitution of a dummy for the body of the fireman spliced together. In the first of these, the twelfth scene, is only natural (and humane), but the illusion that a man the robbers ride their horses in flight from the posse; one has been thrown from the train is important for the pace of the robbers is shot and falls from his horse. The action of this sequence. Porter demonstrates that he will improrequired a stuntman, but Porter had no such trained acvise in whatever way he must to sustain the vigor of the tors on whom to draw. In the next scene, the three refilm’s fast-paced action. maining bandits believe they have escaped, so they disThe next scene is shot from beside the halting train, mount and begin examining their loot. Suddenly they are with the engineer uncoupling the locomotive and sepasurrounded and attacked by the posse; all the robbers and rating it from the rest of the train. Another exterior shot a few members of the posse fall in the gun battle. The fifollows, in which the passengers are forced from the nal shot has no narrative function in the film. It is a closecoaches and lined up along the tracks, where the bandits range shot of the leader of the outlaw band, who points rob them. There are many passengers, and Porter may his pistol at the audience and shoots. This shot has not have recruited local citizens as extras. Use of extras been woven into the cause-effect narrative illusions crewould become increasingly necessary as films lengthated by the intercutting of the rest of the film, but it forceened their narratives and expanded the scope of their acfully testifies to the self-conscious artistry of Porter as he tion. One of the passengers runs toward the camera in an learned to master this medium. attempt to escape, is shot by the robbers, and falls to the Although he went on to make other interesting films ground. At the time, most film action involved actors for twelve more years, Porter did not make cumulative moving from left to right or right to left in front of a static advances on the achievement of The Great Train Robcamera. This movement directly into the camera is anbery. He used contrast editing in The Ex-Convict (1904) other mark of the film’s novelty. In the seventh scene, the and parallel editing in The Kleptomaniac (1905), and he robbers board the locomotive and force the engineer to used many photographic tricks, such as double exposure, drive it off, away from the camera. stop-motion, and dissolves, to make The Dream of a The next shot establishes some distance from the preRarebit Fiend (1906) in the tradition of Méliès’s trick ceding one as the robbers halt the engine and run off into films. Porter was burdened by the pressure to produce the wooded hills. To capture the movement of the robfilms on schedule for a demanding market, one enlarged bers, Porter’s camera pans to follow their action. Again the film exploits a technique, panning, that would become standard cinematic practice, although it was far from standard in 1903. The outlaws are shown in the ninth scene running across a stream to mount their horses and ride into the woods. The action then shifts abruptly to a distant location in the next shot, inside the telegraph office again. Here the clerk is seen struggling to his feet so that he can use his chin to operate the telegraph. A little girl comes in with a pail and cuts the clerk free. He runs out of the office. The next scene takes place in a dance hall, to which the clerk has rushed to sound the alarm. He enters while a tenderfoot is dancing a jig to the tune of gunshots at his feet. When the clerk arrives, all the men grab their One of the most famous images in The Great Train Robbery. (Library of Congress) guns and rush out of the dance hall. 254
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 by the multiplication of nickelodeons for mass public viewing. He made hundreds of films, but none was as influential as The Great Train Robbery.
illustrated the importance of style and arrangement, thus establishing moving pictures as an art form. He realized that one could shape vision by arranging the elements within it, and he used this principle in the intercutting of shots for scenes. It would take director D. W. Griffith to extend this by recognizing that a single scene can be made up of any number of shots. It is ironically appropriate that Griffith should have had his start in motion pictures as an actor in a film directed by Edwin S. Porter, Rescued from an Eagle’s Nest, in 1907. —Richard D. McGhee Further Reading Cook, David A. “The Discovery of the Shot: Edwin S. Porter.” In A History of Narrative Film. New York: W. W. Norton, 1981. Emphasizing the difference between Méliès’s method of arranging scenes and Porter’s arrangement of shots, Cook examines the narrative artistry of both The Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery. Uses illustrative stills from the films. Ellis, Jack C. “Birth and Childhood of a New Art: 18951914.” In A History of Film. 3d ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1990. Emphasizing Porter’s lack of experience with traditional art, Ellis explains the success of Porter’s work in films as commercial expediency. Praises The Great Train Robbery for unlikely achievements in form still valuable many years later. Fairservice, Don. Film Editing: History, Theory, and Practice. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 2001. Traces the development of film editing from the primitive forms of early cinema through the upheaval caused by the advent of sound. Fenin, George N., and William K. Everson. “The Primitives: Edwin S. Porter and Bronco Billy Anderson.” In The Western: From Silents to the Seventies. Rev. ed. New York: Grossman, 1973. Focusing on features of The Great Train Robbery that mark it as an early, although not the first, Western, Fenin and Everson examine Porter’s strengths and weaknesses as a director. Fulton, A. R. “Arranged Shots.” In Motion Pictures: The Development of an Art from Silent Films to the Age of Television. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960. Discusses significant differences between Porter’s arranged shots and Méliès’s arranged scenes, with focus on The Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery. Jacobs, Lewis. “Edwin S. Porter and the Editing Principle.” In The Emergence of Film Art, compiled by 255
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Significance Most American films before 1903, including those made at Edison’s studios and by Porter, had been very brief, one-shot moving pictures of such news events as the inauguration and funeral of President William McKinley. Interesting tricks of vision such as those made by Méliès in France were not yet made for the American market, although vaudeville skits and magicians’ tricks could be captured in such single-shot cinema. The first, although not the most important, influence of The Great Train Robbery was to show that there was a large commercial market for film narratives of all kinds, but especially for realistic Westerns. Although Edison had made some motion pictures of Western subjects, such as Cripple Creek Barroom (1898), no genuine continuing narrative of this kind existed before Porter’s film, which was 740 feet of visual action with no title cards, requiring a little more than twelve minutes to run. The commercial and popular success of The Great Train Robbery was so great that many other filmmakers sought to rival it. Sequels, imitations, and even outright copies of the film were produced, among which were films titled The Great Bank Robbery and The Little Train Robbery. Investors saw that there was money to be made in films. Beginning with the proliferation of nickelodeons, permanent movie houses were built to provide mass entertainment for a potentially huge profit. The Great Train Robbery was long a standard film in these establishments. Indeed, the very first nickelodeon opened in Pittsburgh in 1905 with Porter’s motion picture as its attraction. The more significant effects of Porter’s film were in the techniques that others borrowed to make their films, so that aesthetic form rather than the subject matter of films was influenced. Porter may have seen films made by the British directors G. A. Smith and James Williamson, who were experimenting with editing in their own ways, but it was Porter’s film, with its editing for continuity, that caused Smith, Williamson, and their followers to make full and artistic use of this technique, as in Cecil Hepworth’s critically acclaimed film of 1905, Rescued by Rover. The Great Train Robbery conveyed aesthetic energy and integrity through attention to techniques that were derived from the structure and mechanics of the medium itself. By manipulating the film and to some degree the camera, as well as the subjects of the filmic shots, Porter
The Great Train Robbery Introduces New Editing Techniques
Baseball Holds Its First World Series Lewis Jacobs. New York: Hopkinson and Blake, 1969. Porter’s career, from handyman for Edison in 1896 to independent producer in 1911, concluded with his directing a spectacular story of Rome in 1915. Jacobs notes that the keys to Porter’s success were innovative techniques, especially in editing, and sensitivity to social issues in narrative. Mast, Gerald. “Film Narrative, Commercial Expansion.” In A Short History of the Movies. 3d ed. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1981. Analyzes Porter’s work during the commercial expansion of film production, when melodrama and farce dominated theater. In The Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery, Porter’s editing practices were superior to those of his predecessors and prepared the way for more significant
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 contributions by Cecil Hepworth and D. W. Griffith. Robinson, David. From Peepshow to Palace: Birth of American Film. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. Provides an overview of the history of American film between 1893 and 1913. Includes 175 black-and-white and 16 color illustrations. See also: Aug., 1902: A Trip to the Moon Introduces Special Effects; Mar. 3, 1915: Griffith Releases The Birth of a Nation; 1923: The Ten Commandments Advances American Film Spectacle; Dec. 4, 1924: Von Stroheim’s Silent Masterpiece Greed Premieres; 1925: Eisenstein’s Potemkin Introduces New Film Editing Techniques; 1925-1927: Gance’s Napoléon Revolutionizes Filmmaking Techniques; 1927: Kuleshov and Pudovkin Introduce Montage to Filmmaking.
October 1-13, 1903
Baseball Holds Its First World Series After two years of hostile feuding and raiding one another’s rosters, the established National League and the upstart American League began to mend fences with a nine-game championship series between the powerful Pittsburgh Pirates, champions of the National League, and the Boston Pilgrims, winners of the American League pennant. Locale: Boston, Massachusetts; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category: Sports Key Figures Barney Dreyfuss (1865-1932), owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates Henry Killilea (1866-1929), owner of the Boston Pilgrims Bill Dinneen (1876-1955), pitcher for the Boston Pilgrims Cy Young (1867-1955), future Hall of Fame pitcher for the Boston Pilgrims Deacon Phillippe (1872-1952), pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates Honus Wagner (1874-1955), future Hall of Fame shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates Summary of Event For twenty-five years, the National League was the only professional baseball league in the United States. The 1901 birth of the American League ushered in a period of 256
bitter hostilities between the two leagues: Competing teams were placed in the same cities, and players were lured from one another’s rosters. As the 1903 season drew to a close, Barney Dreyfuss, owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Henry Killilea, owner of the Boston Pilgrims, joined forces in an attempt to reconcile the enmity between the leagues. They agreed to stage a ninegame postseason series between their teams, both of which were headed toward winning their respective league championships. For the Pirates, winners of three straight National League pennants, the series offered the opportunity to demonstrate the superiority of the National League, while the Pilgrims, winners of the American League by fourteen and a half games, hoped to prove the competitive worth of their upstart organization. The series seemed to be a mismatch. The Pirates possessed a powerful offensive lineup, led by future Hall of Fame shortstop Honus Wagner, playing manager Fred Clarke, and outfielder Ginger Beaumont, all of whom hit over .340. The Pilgrims, who would later be known as the Puritans, the Americans, and finally the Red Sox, had a solid lineup of their own, including American League home-run champion Buck Freeman, but they had presumably won their laurels against weaker competition. The series would eventually be decided by Boston’s pitching stars, including future Hall of Famer Cy Young and Bill Dinneen. Together they pitched sixty-nine of the seventy-one innings during the series, bettering Pirate workhorse Deacon Phillippe, who was forced to pitch
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Baseball Holds Its First World Series
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1903 Aerial view of the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds in Boston during the first World Series game between the Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburgh Pirates, October 1, 1903. (AP/Wide World Photos)
five complete games because of injuries and illnesses on the Pirates’ staff. The series opened in Boston and proved to be a wild affair, with more than sixteen thousand fans in bowler hats and three-piece suits crowding into the stadium and uncounted others perching on telegraph poles, sitting on rooftops, or swarming the outfield, confined only by fire hoses strung across the playing field just beyond the outfielders. One particularly rowdy group of supporters, the Royal Rooters, rallied before each game at a neighborhood bar before marching to the stadium playing rattles and drums and singing boisterous songs with lyrics written to insult the visiting players. Once the series moved to Pittsburgh, fans there responded in kind, throwing confetti at the Boston players and carrying the Pittsburgh players off the field on their shoulders. The series began as expected. The Pirates pounded Young for seven runs, and Phillippe threw a six-hitter to earn a 7-3 victory in Game 1. The next day, however, Dinneen demonstrated the pitching prowess that would
eventually secure Boston’s 3-0 win. The Pilgrims’ batting leader Patsy Dougherty slugged both of Boston’s home runs in the series to provide the offensive punch. Phillippe came back to pitch Game 3 and won again, 4-2, on a four-hitter, and when rain delayed Game 4, he returned to the mound and earned a 5-4 victory, giving the Pirates an advantage of three games to one. It would be Pittsburgh’s last win in the series. At that point, the Pilgrims’ bats came alive and, with the help of Young’s pitching, won Game 5 with a score of 11-2. Dinneen came back to win Game 6, 6-3, tying the series. Pittsburgh sent Phillippe out for Game 7 to recapture the momentum, but Boston pounded the tiring ace 7-3 to gain its first lead in the series, four games to three. Desperate for survival, the Pirates sent Phillippe out one more time for Game 8. The Pilgrims countered with Dinneen, who shut down the Pirates on four hits to give Boston a 3-0 victory. The Pilgrims won the world championship, five games to three. The Pilgrims had played an outstanding series. 257
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Pitching heroes Young and Dinneen won all five games for Boston and never allowed the powerful Pirates to get their offense moving. Pittsburgh’s frustration took its toll defensively as well. Wagner, the Pirates’ popular superstar shortstop, batted just .222 and made six errors in the
field. Luck seemed to be against the Pirates as well. Phillippe’s heroic pitching performance became necessary after Sam Leever, who had won twenty-five games for the Pirates, hurt his arm trapshooting, and Ed Doheny, who won sixteen games during the regular season, suffered a mental breakdown, was sent home, and was eventually committed to an asylum. The three-time NaWorld Series Results, 1903-1940 tional League champions would go The World Series has been held every year since 1903, except for 1904, when six more years before they would rethe president of the New York Giants, John T. Brush, refused to allow his team turn to the World Series. to play the “inferior” Boston Pilgrims. Listed below are the results for all World Series played from 1903 through 1940. Year
Winning Team
Losing Team
1903 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940
Boston Pilgrims, 5 games New York Giants, 4 games Chicago White Sox, 4 games Chicago Cubs, 4 games Chicago Cubs, 4 games Pittsburgh Pirates, 4 games Philadelphia A’s, 4 games Philadelphia A’s, 4 games Boston Red Sox, 4 games Philadelphia A’s, 4 games Boston Braves, 4 games Boston Red Sox, 4 games Boston Red Sox, 4 games Chicago White Sox, 4 games Boston Red Sox, 4 games Cincinnati Reds, 5 games Cleveland Indians, 5 games New York Giants, 5 games New York Giants, 4 games New York Yankees, 4 games Washington Senators, 4 games Pittsburgh Pirates, 4 games St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games New York Yankees, 4 games New York Yankees, 4 games Philadelphia A’s, 4 games Philadelphia A’s, 4 games St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games New York Yankees, 4 games New York Giants, 4 games St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games Detroit Tigers, 4 games New York Yankees, 4 games New York Yankees, 4 games New York Yankees, 4 games New York Yankees, 4 games Cincinnati Reds, 4 games
Pittsburgh Pirates, 3 games Philadelphia A’s, 1 game Chicago Cubs, 2 games Detroit Tigers, 0 games (one tie) Detroit Tigers, 1 game Detroit Tigers, 3 games Chicago Cubs, 1 game New York Giants, 2 games New York Giants, 3 games (one tie) New York Giants, 1 game Philadelphia A’s, 0 games Philadelphia Phillies, 1 game Brooklyn Robins, 1 game New York Giants, 2 games Chicago Cubs, 2 games Chicago White Sox, 3 games Brooklyn Dodgers, 2 games New York Yankees, 3 games New York Yankees, 0 games (one tie) New York Giants, 2 games New York Giants, 3 games Washington Senators, 3 games New York Yankees, 3 games Pittsburgh Pirates, 0 games St. Louis Cardinals, 0 games Chicago Cubs, 1 game St. Louis Cardinals, 2 games Philadelphia A’s, 3 games Chicago Cubs, 0 games Washington Senators, 1 game Detroit Tigers, 3 games Chicago Cubs, 2 games New York Giants, 2 games New York Giants, 1 game Chicago Cubs, 0 games Cincinnati Reds, 0 games Detroit Tigers, 3 games
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Significance The public loved the idea of a championship between the two leagues. Attendance at the eight games reached 100,429, pushing ticket revenues to $55,500. Dreyfuss and Killilea divided the money equally, and Dreyfuss created additional goodwill by allowing his players to split Pittsburgh’s entire share; Killilea, in contrast, kept half of Boston’s share himself. As a result, Pittsburgh’s players earned nearly $125 more per player than the victorious Pilgrims. The rash of errors and poor offensive performances early in the series led some to suggest that players on both sides were colluding to extend the series and raise gate receipts, but no one doubted that Boston’s dominant pitching determined the outcome. The series did not immediately resolve tensions between the two leagues. Some National League owners continued to consider the American League an upstart minor league or a renegade competitor for playing talent. The following year, 1904, John T. Brush, owner of the National League champion New York Giants and one of the league’s most influential executives, refused to play a World Series with the Pilgrims, who had again won the American League championship. He was angry that the new league had placed a team of its own in New York and refused to compete with what he considered a
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 representative of the inferior American League. By January of 1905, however, Brush had changed his mind and proposed to reinstate the series under a set of guidelines governing future competition and finances, including shortening the series to seven games and paying players only for the first four games. Within a decade, the World Series had become one of America’s premier sporting events. — Devon Boan
Masur, Louis P. Autumn Glory: Baseball’s First World Series. New York: Hill & Wang, 2003. A poetically written and sharply detailed account of the series, emphasizing not only the ebb and flow of the games themselves, but the personalities of the men who participated in them and the social context in which they occurred. Ryan, Bob. When Boston Won the World Series: A Chronicle of Boston’s Remarkable Victory in the First Modern World Series of 1903. New York: Running Press, 2004. An engaging look at the first World Series from the perspective of the Boston Pilgrims, with a focus on the players and their roles in the community and on the team. Written by a Boston sports reporter who used the firsthand accounts of the Boston Globe sportswriter who covered the series and knew its participants. See also: Jan. 1, 1902: First Rose Bowl Game; Jan. 12, 1906: American College Football Allows the Forward Pass; Oct. 1-9, 1919: Black Sox Scandal; Jan. 3, 1920: New York Yankees Acquire Babe Ruth; Aug. 20-Sept. 17, 1920: Formation of the American Professional Football Association; July 6, 1933: First Major League Baseball All-Star Game; June 12, 1939: Dedication of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
October 10, 1903
Pankhursts Found the Women’s Social and Political Union Through the use of civil disobedience and militant obstructionism, the Women’s Social and Political Union introduced the issue of women’s political rights into the mainstream of pre-World War I British politics. Locale: Manchester, England Categories: Women’s issues; social issues and reform; government and politics Key Figures Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), English suffragist Christabel Pankhurst (1880-1958), English suffragist Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847-1929), English suffragist Summary of Event Apart from the Middle Ages in parts of Western Europe, where egalitarian principles permitted the ownership of
property by women, the inclusion of women in voting (both in towns and in rural parishes), the ability of women of means to attain an education, and the important right to free choice in marriage, a norm increasingly demanded by the Church, there are few examples of women being treated as equal to men in the history of humankind prior to the mid-nineteenth century. Throughout much of the world, inequalities were the result of custom, religious teachings, prejudice, and law. Women lacked or systematically were denied, solely on the basis of their gender, educational opportunity, meaningful employment, the right to vote, basic human rights, and legal identity. In Europe from the fourteenth century onward, women’s abilities to serve as sovereigns (as in France, where Philip the Fair removed the right of monarchal succession to women) and to participate in scholarly ac259
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Further Reading Abrams, Roger I. The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2003. A short but engaging account of Boston’s ethnic and economic character during the early part of the twentieth century, examined as a backdrop for the first World Series. Dabilis, Andy, and Nick Tsiotos. The 1903 World Series: The Boston Americans, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the “First Championship of the United States.” Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2004. A gritty look at the social and financial stakes of the first World Series. The authors examine the lives of the players, some of whom, such as Honus Wagner or Cy Young, were household names, although others came from the working class.
Pankhursts Found the Women’s Social and Political Union
Pankhursts Found the Women’s Social and Political Union tivity (as had been previously the case in many convents) were substantially abridged. Parisian tax rolls show that in the thirteenth century women owned businesses and shops and pursued occupations; they were schoolmistresses, doctors, pharmacists, dyers, copyists, binders, and more. In France, this gradually changed in subsequent years, with the Napoleonic Code ultimately denying women rights they previously enjoyed in regard to property ownership. Thus, under the influence of classical Roman law, rights enjoyed by women were gradually eroded in the later Middle Ages. In 1593, women were for the first time in France excluded from government positions and functions. This process of reduced rights for women was further emphasized in the works of Enlightenment writers. This trend slowly began to change in Western societies as the result of the democratic and liberal ideas of the
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 later Enlightenment and as the result of the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century. Great Britain was the first nation to experience this revolution. Economic development led to demands for political change from the emerging middle class. The Reform Bill of 1832 extended suffrage to most middleclass males, and within one generation the Liberal Party emerged, representing the middle class and heir to the Enlightenment ideas of the rights of man. Reform bills in 1867 and 1884 extended the right to vote to most adult males in Britain. Social legislation provided for basic public education, improvement of factory conditions, and solutions to some of the social ills caused by industrialism. Very little of this legislation dealt with inequality based on gender, however. In the nineteenth century, British women were treated as inferior to men. Stereotypes and prejudices
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Emmeline Pankhurst is arrested outside Buckingham Palace on May 21, 1914, while trying to present a petition concerning woman suffrage to King George V. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). On October 10, 1903, the WSPU held its first meeting at the Manchester home of Emmeline Pankhurst. Little is known of the early meetings of the WSPU, as records of minutes, strategies, finances, and membership no longer exist. Two facts are clear: Men were excluded from membership, and the WSPU had a clear platform. A WSPU pamphlet dated December, 1903, stated that “for all purposes connected with, and having reference to, the right to vote at Parliamentary elections, words in the Representation of the People Act importing the masculine gender shall include women.” Simply translated, universal manhood suffrage should be understood to mean universal personhood suffrage. The statement of purpose by the WSPU was not new, but the group’s method of attracting attention to the issue was. Politics in Great Britain relied on the constitutional method—that is, formal procedures that were to be followed in a prescribed manner. Earlier reform campaigns occasionally had resorted to nontraditional political tactics, such as propaganda campaigns, mass rallies and marches, demonstrations, and civil disobedience. The problem was always one of attracting the attention of the establishment and achieving a goal before the nontraditional tactics alienated that same establishment. Prior to the WSPU, women’s suffrage groups had not only followed the unwritten rules of political activism but had also remained true to the stereotype of women. The Pankhursts observed that following the rules had achieved nothing. Over the next decade, the WSPU utilized every traditional and nontraditional tactic available. In addition to making speeches, holding rallies, and distributing printed materials, WSPU suffragists made press headlines by heckling and taunting politicians wherever possible. In October, 1905, two women were ejected forcibly from a Manchester meeting hall and then arrested. The incident taught the WSPU that militancy attracted far more publicity than did traditional tactics. At first, militancy was subordinate to constitutional methods. Occasionally women suffragists were arrested, and while they were in jail they held hunger strikes to call attention to the movement. When authorities resorted to force-feeding hunger strikers and several women were injured, the WSPU became more militant. In 1909, the first stone-throwing incidents occurred. These escalated by 1912 into even more violent acts, such as the smashing of shopwindows, arson, and vandalism of artworks. Government response to the militancy was predictable. Police raided WSPU headquarters and arrested suffragist leaders. Hunger strikes soon followed, and, in 261
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portrayed women as weak and incapable in most areas. Only after 1887 did married women have the right to own property and to enter into contracts on an equal basis with unmarried women. Most professions and occupations were closed to women by statute. The only professions that were socially acceptable for women were those of teacher, secretary, and homemaker. Industry, particularly the textile industry, employed women in large numbers but usually in nonskilled, low-paying jobs. There were some who believed that the Enlightenment ideas of the “rights of man” should apply to all people. A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft and The Subjection of Women (1869) by John Stuart Mill were early statements on the need for, and the right of, woman suffrage. In the 1860’s, small groups of educated middle-class women began forming to discuss the need for woman suffrage. The National Society for Women’s Suffrage (founded 1867), under the leadership of Lydia Becker, and the Women’s Franchise League (founded 1889), under the leadership of Richard and Emmeline Pankhurst, were the most important organizations advocating woman suffrage. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) was formed in 1897 under the leadership of Millicent Garrett Fawcett. This organization continued the policy followed by others in working within the existing political system to achieve the vote for women. The Liberal Party offered only nominal support for woman suffrage and made no serious attempt to introduce legislation granting women the right to vote. The Conservative Party was overtly hostile to the idea, and the House of Lords, with its right of veto, was dominated by Conservatives. With little to show for decades of working within constitutional guidelines, some suffragists proposed a more militant approach to the issue. The death of Richard Pankhurst in 1898 temporarily forced Emmeline Pankhurst to abandon political activity and to devote her efforts to providing a living for her family. Her daughter Christabel Pankhurst, who studied law but could not practice because of her gender, began working with the North of England Society for Women’s Suffrage, an organization primarily for working women. To the great irritation of the Pankhursts, the Manchester branch of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) refused to admit women to a meeting hall that was named for Richard Pankhurst. The ILP was the logical political home for the proposed group, but Labour politicians were largely disinterested in woman suffrage as an issue. The Pankhursts thus decided to form their own group, the
Pankhursts Found the Women’s Social and Political Union
Pankhursts Found the Women’s Social and Political Union
Pankhurst’s Prophetic Words In 1911, Sylvia Pankhurst, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and sister of Christabel, published a history of the woman suffrage movement in England from 1905 to 1910. The volume included this brief preface by Emmeline Pankhurst: This history of the Women’s Suffrage agitation is written at a time when the question is in the very forefront of British politics. What the immediate future holds for those women who are most actively engaged in fighting for their political freedom no one can foretell, but one thing is certain: complete victory for their cause is not far distant. When the long struggle for the enfranchisement of women is over, those who read the history of the movement will wonder at the blindness that led the Government of the day to obstinately resist so simple and obvious a measure of justice. The men and women of the coming time will, I am persuaded, be filled with admiration for the patient work of the early pioneers and the heroic determination and persistence in spite of coercion, repression, misrepresentation, and insult of those who fought the later militant fight. Perhaps the women born in the happier days that are to come, while rejoicing in the inheritance that we of today are preparing for them, may sometimes wish that they could have lived in the heroic days of stress and struggle and have shared with us the joy of battle, the exaltation that comes of sacrifice of self for great objects and the prophetic vision that assures us of the certain triumph of this twentieth-century fight for human emancipation. Source: Emmeline Pankhurst, “Preface by Mrs. Pankhurst,” in E. Sylvia Pankhurst, The Suffragette: The History of the Women’s Militant Suffrage Movement, 1905-1910 (New York: Sturgis & Walton, 1911).
1913, the government passed the Prisoners’ Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health Act. The “Cat and Mouse Act,” as it was quickly dubbed, allowed the government to release prisoners who were on hunger strike and rearrest them later. Also during this period, Emily Davison achieved martyrdom when she died after running into the path of the king’s horse at the 1913 Derby. The WSPU held a huge funeral procession through London to publicize her dedication. Despite the members’ efforts, the WSPU’s actions did far more to alienate potential supporters than they did to 262
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 gain support for woman suffrage. The government considered suffragists to be primarily an irritant and not a major problem. The outbreak of war in August, 1914, changed everything. Emmeline Pankhurst called an immediate halt to militancy, and the government released women suffragists from prison. Throughout World War I the WSPU, the NUWSS, and other women’s suffrage organizations worked for the war effort. Women filled traditional men’s occupations, thereby freeing men for the trenches. Largely because of women’s contributions to the war effort, limited suffrage was granted to women in Great Britain in February, 1918. Voting equality was finally achieved with the Representation of the People Act of 1928. Significance It is difficult to assess or quantify the exact impact of the WSPU, but the organization’s influence can be seen in three particular areas. First, limited suffrage was granted to women in 1918, and suffrage equality was achieved in 1928. Second, the civil disobedience and militant tactics practiced by the WSPU became a permanent feature of British politics. Third, the organization’s activities challenged the stereotype of the submissive female. The culmination of the women’s suffrage movement in Great Britain can be seen in the 1979 election of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister. It cannot be proven that the activities of the Pankhursts and the WSPU were either crucial or essential to women’s winning the vote. Indeed, it can be argued that their efforts actually were counterproductive. The WSPU overstepped the boundary of what was considered in that era to be acceptable political activist behavior. The group’s militant campaign alienated many potential supporters of woman suffrage in Great Britain. Moreover, it is probably accurate to state that women received the vote because of their war record between 1914 and 1918. The social changes brought about by the war resulted in political changes. It also can be argued that the efforts of the WSPU placed the issue squarely in the center of British politics, a place where it had never been before. Without such awareness, it is possible that woman suffrage would not have been granted in 1918. Politics itself was changing, and the relatively placid constitutional system would never be the same. At the same time that suffragists were resorting to arson and window smashing, Ulster Protestants, with the assent of Conservative Party leadership, were arming and preparing for civil war. Radical labor unions in Great Britain, throughout Europe, and elsewhere advocated violence
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Further Reading Barker, Dudley. “Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst.” Prominent Edwardians. New York: Atheneum, 1969. One of four biographical sketches presented to illustrate the age, which was one of glitter and unrest. Abrief introduction to the topic. Bartley, Paula. Emmeline Pankhurst. New York: Routledge, 2003. Biography of Pankhurst uses newly available archival material to examine her evolution into a militant leader of the women’s suffrage movement. Includes bibliography and index. Dangerfield, George. The Strange Death of Liberal England, 1910-1914. 1935. Reprint. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1997. A significant, albeit dated, book. Examines various political crises in Great Britain in the five years preceding World War I. Unsympathetic to women’s issues and harsh in judgment of the Pankhursts. Holton, Sandra Stanley. Feminism and Democracy:
Women’s Suffrage and Reform Politics in Britain, 1900-1918. 1986. Reprint. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Provides an overview of the women’s suffrage movement in Great Britain. Focuses primarily on the differences among the political groups within the suffragist movement. Hume, Leslie Parker. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, 1897-1914. New York: Garland, 1982. Studies the impact of the NUWSS, which coordinated the activities of a coalition of nonmilitant women’s suffrage organizations. Concludes that the conciliatory attitude of the NUWSS countered the negative effects of the WSPU’s militancy. Includes an excellent bibliography. Pankhurst, Emmeline. My Own Story. 1914. Reprint. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1985. Written at the beginning of World War I. Praises the militant wing of the women’s suffrage movement. Requires careful reading because of omissions and rationalizations. Pankhurst, Sylvia. The Life of Emmeline Pankhurst: The Suffragette Struggle for Women’s Citizenship. 1935. Reprint. New York: Kraus, 1969. This work reflects not only the devotion of a daughter to her mother but also the dedication of a suffragist to the cause of women’s rights. Pernoud, Régine. Those Terrible Middle Ages! Debunking the Myths. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000. An insightful critique of a number of fallacious modern ideas about the Middle Ages, including the inaccurate modern understanding that women had no rights during that period. Rosen, Andrew. Rise Up, Women! The Militant Campaign of the Women’s Social and Political Union, 1903-1914. 1974. Reprint. London: Ashgate, 1993. Scholarly overview of the WSPU utilizes numerous primary sources. Well documented. Rover, Constance. Women’s Suffrage and Party Politics in Britain, 1866-1914. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967. Excellent overview of the lengthy struggle for suffrage by women in Great Britain. Primarily a political analysis, and certainly not a paean to the personalities involved. Includes an excellent bibliography and numerous useful appendixes. Wright, Almroth E. The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage. 1913. Reprint. McLean, Va.: IndyPublish, 2003. A virulent attack on the women’s suffrage movement that conveys the resentment and antipathy faced by suffragists. Useful for understanding the fear and prejudice of the era. 263
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in strikes. Compared with other, later movements, the WSPU was quite tame in its militancy. Indeed, comparisons could be drawn between the WSPU and the civil disobedience of both Mahatma Gandhi in India and Martin Luther King, Jr., in the American South. Marches, demonstrations, debates, sit-ins, and protests were characteristic of all these movements, and all were concerned with basic human rights and human dignity. Perhaps the greatest impact of the WSPU can be seen in the change in the image of women in Great Britain. WSPU suffragists, unlike their predecessors, were certainly not meek, submissive women. The hunger strikes, the demonstrations and scuffles, the rational speeches, and the intelligence of the leadership demonstrated that the suffragists could not be dismissed as a group of hysterical females. The WSPU was well organized, determined, and efficient. That the members were willing to suffer imprisonment and even, in the case of Emily Davison, death, served to demonstrate that women were human beings who deserved equality. It cannot be said that the WSPU, or the Representation of the People Act, or any other individual event or act brought about equality for women in Great Britain. Margaret Thatcher, however, served as prime minister of Great Britain from 1979 to 1990, a period of service longer than that of any other prime minister since the eighteenth century. That she could even vote can be traced to the determination of the woman suffragists of the WSPU. —William S. Brockington, Jr.
Pankhursts Found the Women’s Social and Political Union
Henry James’s The Ambassadors Is Published See also: Nov. 7, 1916: First Woman Is Elected to the U.S. Congress; 1917: National Woman’s Party Is Founded; Sept. 20, 1917: Canadian Women Gain the Vote; Feb. 6, 1918: British Women Gain the Vote;
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Feb. 14, 1920: League of Women Voters Is Founded; Aug. 26, 1920: U.S. Women Gain the Right to Vote; Dec. 10, 1923: Proposal of the Equal Rights Amendment.
November, 1903
Henry James’s THE AMBASSADORS Is Published The Ambassadors, the first and greatest of Henry James’s three late novels that deal with international themes, represented the climax of James’s efforts at the subtle dissection of thought processes. Locale: New York, New York Category: Literature Key Figures Henry James (1843-1916), expatriate American writer William Dean Howells (1837-1920), American writer and friend of James Summary of Event By the time of the publication of The Ambassadors in 1903, Henry James had long been recognized as one of the premier American writers. However, over the years his readership had been dwindling to a select coterie, with the general public growing less inclined to support his work. Part of the reason for this disfavor was that his writing had grown increasingly intellectually challenging, but James had also lost popularity because he was unwilling to stay with the tried-and-true themes that had brought him initial success. In early novels such as The American (1876-1877) and The Portrait of a Lady (18801881), which were both popular and critical triumphs, he had described naïve, feeling Americans whose hearts were broken by scheming or class-prejudiced Europeans. When James resolutely turned to new themes, as in The Bostonians (1885-1886), which satirized Boston reformist and spiritualist circles, he began losing his audience. An attempt to write for the British stage, lasting from 1890 to 1895, was equally unsatisfactory. One play, Guy Domville (1895), was actually booed off the stage. After this signal theatrical failure, James moved from London, where he had been living, to the English countryside and returned to composing short stories and novels. He began to pour out a remarkable series of supernatural stories, such as The Turn of the Screw (1898), which experimented with point of view and the rendering of delicate 264
mental nuances. In 1900, incorporating these innovations into a longer work, he wrote a projected plan for The Ambassadors. The reaction of the staff of Harper’s Magazine, to which James submitted his plan in hopes that the book would be accepted for serialization, was a harbinger of the notice the novel would receive from the general public. The Harper’s reader advised against acceptance, stating, “It does not promise a popular novel. The tissues of it are too subtly fine for general appreciation.” James’s friend William Dean Howells, literary consultant to North American Review, helped James’s serial to publication in that journal, which was more high-toned but less widely read than Harper’s, in its twelve issues of 1903. The book was published the same year and, as could have been expected, did not take the world by storm. It did, however, intensely interest discerning reviewers, who noted James’s brilliant joining of the old and the new. An “old” component of the novel was James’s international theme of the contrasting manners of Europeans and Americans, a theme he had handled brilliantly in his earliest novels and to which he returned with increased awareness. Again a naïve American, here Chad Newsome, is made the prey of a worldly European, here Madame de Vionnet, although the moral and social issues are more complex than they had been in James’s earlier treatments. The American turns out to be less naïve and the European less jaded than each at first appears. New to the novel was James’s use of literary techniques he had been working up mainly in shorter fiction. First among these techniques was James’s complex employment of a single, constricted point of view from which to tell the story. The viewpoint is not Chad’s but that of a man, Lambert Strether, who is sent by Chad’s mother to extricate her son from the clutches of a European temptress. Before Strether can accomplish his mission, he must determine how deeply Chad is involved. Situated in Strether’s perspective, the reader undergoes with him the task of trying to unravel highly veiled ap-
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Henry James’s The Ambassadors Is Published
tions of human thought and motivation. In the opening paragraph of The Ambassadors, Henry James introduces LamWhere these two novels depart bert Strether, the highly sensitive character from whose constricted point of from The Ambassadors is in their view the reader experiences the events of the novel. treatment of point of view; The Ambassadors is told exclusively from Strether’s first question, when he reached the hotel, was about his friend; yet on Strether’s viewpoint, whereas the lathis learning that Waymarsh was apparently not to arrive till evening he was not ter novels are constructed from the wholly disconcerted. A telegram from him bespeaking a room “only if not intersecting viewpoints of a handful noisy,” with the answer paid, was produced for the inquirer at his office, so that of extremely articulate characters. In the understanding that they should meet at Chester rather than at Liverpool reone sense, then, these last two texts mained to that extent sound. The same secret principle, however, that had prompted Strether not absolutely to desire Waymarsh’s presence at the dock, improve on the style of the first, in that had led him thus to postpone for a few hours his enjoyment of it, now operthat the reader is allowed a more ated to make him feel that he could still wait without disappointment. They rounded view of the stories’ situawould dine together at the worst, and, with all respect to dear old Waymarsh— tions as they are surveyed by multiif not even, for that matter, to himself—there was little fear that in the sequel ple eyes. In another sense, however, they should not see enough of each other. The principle I have just mentioned as some critics have noted, the techas operating had been, with the most newly disembarked of the two men, nique makes for a diffuseness not wholly instinctive—the fruit of a sharp sense that, delightful as it would be to found in the more concentrated prefind himself looking, after so much separation, into his comrade’s face, his sentation of The Ambassadors. Of business would be a trifle bungled should he simply arrange that this countethe three novels, only the first apnance should present itself to the nearing steamer as the first “note,” for him, of peared as a serial; this fact, along Europe. Mixed with everything was the apprehension, already, on Strether’s part, that it would, at best, throughout, prove the note of Europe in quite a suffiwith the book’s use of a single concient degree. sciousness to filter the action, doubtless contributed to its tightness of Source: Henry James, The Ambassadors (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1903). construction. All three books exhibit an interesting interplay of plot and observapearances. Strether is tremendously sensitive, and so the tion, with a sordid and often tragic story forming a powpresentation of his consciousness entails the drawing of erful contrast to the delicate sensibilities of the embroiled superfine distinctions. Such nicety, a Proustian sensitivcharacters. The Ambassadors, although a model for the ity to delicate gradations of thought and human relationother final masterpieces in the James canon, stands out in ships, is a second major new element of James’s late its combination of these elements to create suspense and style. in the economy of means used to achieve its effects. The Ambassadors was to be the first in a trilogy of novels of similar themes and style that represent the Significance crowning glories of James’s career. Each deals with the The mannered, highly personal, almost idiosyncratic clashing lifestyles and philosophical outlooks of Ameriprose style of The Ambassadors was not one that another cans and Europeans, each involves the careful investigaauthor would have been likely to imitate. Yet the focus tion of moral questions, and each is told with a heighton a detailed examination of the subjective states of a ened awareness of the mind’s workings. The next book, small collection of characters and the presentation of the The Wings of the Dove, which was published in 1902 but story from the perspective of a single, limited participant, was written after The Ambassadors, concerns a young as in The Ambassadors, were to become hallmarks of American heiress, suffering from a fatal disease, whom much modern fiction. James’s one novel, of course, was an impoverished Londoner woos in hopes of inheriting not responsible for the sea change that moved the twentiher fortune. The last book in the series, The Golden Bowl eth century novel away from the broader canvas and om(1904), centers on the suspected infidelity of an Ameriniscient narration characteristic of its nineteenth century can heiress’s Italian husband. As in The Ambassadors, predecessor. However, The Ambassadors was one of a the rather uneventful plots of the novels become the basis number of novels of the time that shaped this change. of sometimes excruciating, often compelling exploraFurther, James’s handling of the theme of Americans
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Henry James’s The Ambassadors Is Published abroad in The Ambassadors foreshadowed and doubtless influenced the work of many post-World War I American writers. When James moved to southern England in 1895, he settled in an area where a number of other writers, including other American expatriates, were or would soon be living. Three of these writers, Stephen Crane, Joseph Conrad, and Ford Madox Ford, exerted influence on James and on one another (although Crane died before The Ambassadors was published). More important, each, along with James, was instrumental in moving the craft of fiction in a subjective direction. Crane, for example, sharing James’s interest in the refinements of psychology, composed a war novel, The Red Badge of Courage (1895), that paid more attention to the depiction of the soldier-hero’s mental states than to recording valiant deeds. Sharing James’s use of a restricted point of view, Conrad presented the narrative of Lord Jim (1900) not only by way of the unreliable remembrance of the central character, who is the source of the tale, but also through a second, possibly faulty, narrator who retells the first character’s tale. These and other writers of the group, with James as the greatest virtuoso of them all, helped to shrink (in scope) and deepen (in psychological insight) the purview of the novel. A glance at the work of such great modern authors as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and William Faulkner reveals how the lines set down by James and related writers were followed. Of the three, Woolf is the closest to James in technique. In her To the Lighthouse (1927), she created a work that, although much more concrete and tied to everyday life than The Ambassadors, was remarkably similar in its close scrutiny of the flittings of consciousness over a short period of time among a compact group. Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) had, as one of its many innovations, the representation of the “stream of consciousness,” that is, the moment-to-moment flux of thought in the minds of leading characters. Joyce’s work took the modern novel further into the exploration of psychic minutiae than even James had contemplated. Faulkner, taking much from Joyce, in The Sound and the Fury (1929) moved the stream-of-consciousness technique into new areas of abnormal psychology by examining such things as the minds of a mentally retarded character and of a youth on the verge of suicide. In exploring these minds, too, Faulkner limited the reader’s view to what these flawed consciousnesses perceived. The Ambassadors had been a major precedent for the employment of the limited point of view, but James had used the technique to present the perspective of a sensitive, intelligent char266
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 acter; Faulkner used the method, in one case, to render, literally, the mind of an idiot. James’s novel also pioneered in the presentation of American characters in Europe. By examining Americans in foreign lands, James was able to bring out the contrasting traits of personality developed in the Old and New Worlds. It is true that a number of earlier writers, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, had studied Americans in Europe, but the theme had always held a decidedly minor place in American letters. Not only did The Ambassadors lift the handling of this material to a new level of excellence, making it a subject to be reckoned with, but the book also problematized conventional literary stereotypes. James did not simply compare honest Americans to dissembling Europeans; rather, he showed that each had characteristics of the other. Later writers from the United States would go even further and reverse the traditional images altogether. In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises (1926), for example, the American expatriate war veterans are the ones who have seen it all and are wearied with life, whereas many European characters still have the zest for living that once would have been attributed to Americans. For Hemingway and other American writers such as Gertrude Stein and Henry Miller, the American experience could be fathomed fully only through the use of European life as a benchmark. In this, such writers were upholding a way of looking at matters that had been most forcefully presented by James. Literary influences proceed in various manners. The most superficial type manifests itself when one author imitates another whose prose and perspective seem congenial; Hemingway, for example, imitated Sherwood Anderson in this way at first. A more profound type of influence appears when one author sets the terms of ongoing literary discourse. This James did with The Ambassadors, so that many of his successors, although not touched by his prose style or his opinions on the world, felt obliged to take up his compositional methods and his major themes. — James Feast Further Reading Blackmur, R. P. Studies in Henry James. Edited by Veronica A. Makowsky. New York: New Directions, 1983. An important collection of essays and prefaces to James’s novels by a “New Critic” who is especially interested in a number of philosophical problems raised by James’s late novels. He questions how, for example, The Ambassadors can be written in such an abstract, formal style and yet at the same time ap-
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_______. The Art of Criticism: Henry James on the Theory and Practice of Fiction. Edited by William Veeder and Susan M. Griffin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. Includes James’s appreciations of contemporary authors, his prefaces to the New York editions of his novels, including The Ambassadors, and his essays on fiction. Chief among the latter is “The Art of Fiction,” in which James lays down his premises, involving both realism and experimentation, for judging literature. Includes index and bibliography. _______. The Complete Notebooks of Henry James. Edited by Leon Edel and Lyall H. Powers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. Contains James’s notebooks and diaries as well as his notes to publishers. Includes his first elaborate sketching out of the story and themes of The Ambassadors and the précis of the book that he sent to Harper’s in hope of having the novel serialized. Krook, Dorothea. Henry James’s “The Ambassadors”: A Critical Study. New York: AMS Press, 1996. A useful introductory guide to the novel, focusing particularly on the role of consciousness in James’s narrative approach. Matthiessen, F. O. Henry James: The Major Phase. New York: Oxford University Press, 1944. Offers a sensitive assessment of James’s later novels. Discussion of The Ambassadors focuses especially on James’s use of a single character as a center of consciousness. Also explores Strether’s relation to New England Puritanism. Includes appendix and index. See also: 1918: Cather’s My Ántonia Promotes Regional Literature; Oct. 7, 1929: The Sound and the Fury Launches Faulkner’s Career.
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proach so near to capturing the real flavor of life. Index. Edel, Leon. Henry James: The Treacherous Years, 18951901. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1969. _______. Henry James, the Master: 1901-1916. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1972. These books are the last two in Edel’s five-volume biography. The fourth volume covers James’s first work on The Ambassadors, and the fifth discusses the novel’s writing, serialization, and publication as a book. Gives a sense of James’s numerous friendships and devotion to craft. Notes and index. Hocks, Richard A. “The Ambassadors”: Consciousness, Culture, Poetry. Boston: Twayne, 1997. A detailed examination of the novel’s literary, sociocultural, and philosophical elements. Explores the literary theories and working principles of art and consciousness that drove James’s work. Holland, Laurence B. The Expense of Vision: Essays on the Craft of Henry James. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982. Both an examination of the themes of James’s novels and a presentation of the intellectual climate in which James worked. Looks into the complicated but discreet use of parallelism used to structure The Ambassadors. Includes appendix and index. James, Henry. The Ambassadors. Edited by S. P. Rosenbaum. 2d ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1994. Along with the text of the novel, this edition contains extracts from letters James wrote about his work, the novel’s plan, and essays from leading critics, including F. R. Leavis, E. M. Forster, and Ian Watt. Annotated, with bibliography.
Henry James’s The Ambassadors Is Published
Panama Declares Independence from Colombia
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
November 3, 1903
Panama Declares Independence from Colombia Maneuverings surrounding the construction of the Panama Canal sparked a revolution in Panama. Locale: Panama City, Republic of Panama Categories: Wars, uprisings, and civil unrest; independence movements Key Figures Manuel Amador Guerrero (1833-1909), leader of the Panamanian independence movement and the first president of Panama, 1904-1908 Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla (1859-1940), French engineer and head of the New French Canal Company Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 John Hay (1838-1905), U.S. secretary of state, 18981905 Summary of Event In the early nineteenth century, when other parts of the Spanish Empire declared independence, Panama, a part of the Spanish viceroyalty of Nueva Granada, remained loyal to the crown. For economic reasons, however, many Panamanians reconsidered their loyalty before the king of Spain, Ferdinand VII (r. 1808, 1813-1833), allowed free trade in 1813. Panama prospered until free trade was repealed. The repeal resulted in a resurgence of patriotic fervor that caused Spain to appoint governors who were determined to retain the Panamanian isthmus at any cost. Violations of civil and political rights occurred with regularity. The patriots’ cause benefited from the dissatisfaction created by the governors’ use of censorship, arbitrary arrests, and persecution of suspects. In October, 1821, Colonel José de Fábrega became the first native-born isthmian to serve as governor. The patriots guessed correctly that Fábrega would be reluctant to shed the blood of his fellow countrymen. On November 27, 1821, shortly after an uprising began in the interior towns, the citizens of Panama City invaded the main plaza and demanded a meeting of the cabildo (council) to decide the future of the isthmus. The next day the cabildo met, declared independence from Spain, and accepted union with Colombia. The union with Colombia led to much civil unrest. Political instability in Colombia, opposition to the dictatorship of Colombian ruler Simón Bolívar, and the breakup 268
of the extensive republic of Gran Colombia in 1830 gave the isthmus opportunities to express its desire for autonomy or independence. Unsuccessful rebellions occurred in 1827, 1830, 1831, and 1832. Both political and economic factors played a part in the uprisings. Panamanians could not accept the arbitrary exercise of power by officials from other areas and wanted free trade, free ports, and free transit. Panamanians responded to civil war in Colombia by proclaiming the Free State of Panama in November, 1840. External threats from England and Colombia, however, forced the Free State to sign a treaty of reincorporation after only thirteen months. Various projects for canals, roads, and railroads across Panama’s narrow isthmus had been proposed since early in the colonial period. Panamanians would have welcomed such projects and partially blamed Colombia’s government for lack of progress in this area. Colombia, however, thought the interest that France and England expressed in such projects was a threat to its control of the isthmus and signed the Bidlack Treaty of 1846 with the United States to guarantee the neutrality of the isthmus and Colombian sovereignty. Panama regarded the treaty as an attempt by the United States to increase its influence and power in the area. Nevertheless, a half century and many North American military interventions later, Panama turned to the United States for assistance in achieving independence and constructing a canal. The French, undeterred by the Bidlack Treaty, pursued their plans for a railroad across the isthmus but were unable to find financing. The settlement of Oregon in 1848 made people in the United States aware of the problem of transit. William H. Aspinwall, a U.S. citizen, organized the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and planned a trans-isthmian railroad. His efforts led to the organization of the Panama Railroad Company, which completed the railway on January 27, 1855. From the time of the completion of the railroad until the country’s independence, Panama experienced international, national, and local problems. Disputes between liberals and conservatives involving civil disturbances in Colombia, the withdrawal of local self-government by Bogotá, and economic and racial problems on the isthmus resulted in forty different administrations, fifty riots, five attempts at secession, and thirteen major interventions by the United States. By the end of the nineteenth
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century, Colombia had pushed Panama into indepenBunau-Varilla supplied Amador Guerrero with dence by refusing to consider the desires of the area’s money, a declaration of independence, military plans, populace, failing to provide security for property and and a national flag. When Amador Guerrero returned to persons, denying Panamanians the vote, conducting illePanama, he found his fellow revolutionaries unhappy gal arrests and detention, and imposing censorship as with Bunau-Varilla, timid, and unwilling to continue. well as arbitrary and excessive taxation. Resolute action by Amador Guerrero and his wife saved Asmall group of Panamanians became convinced that the revolution. Amador Guerrero arranged for the comPanama could never expect any permanent, satisfactory mander of the Colombian forces in Panama to aid the political arrangement or economic progress as long as movement in return for a generous financial arrangement Panama remained under the control of Colombia. The for him and his men. failure of two French canal companies between 1879 and The revolution started on November 3, 1903, after the 1898 convinced them that independence under the proU.S. warship Nashville docked in Colón. The U.S. militection of the United States was the only answer. The tary presence prevented the Colombian troops in Colón United States had a definite interest in a canal and, after from suppressing the revolt. The officials of the Panama the failure of the New French Canal Company, had asRailroad, who were citizens of the United States, also sumed the right to build one in Panama. contributed to the success of the revolt by arranging to In the first months of 1903, a group of influential Pankeep all railcars in Panama City, making it impossible for amanians began meeting secretly to plan an insurrection. Colombian troops to be transported across the isthmus. Captain James R. Beers, the port captain working for the The municipal council of Panama City declared Panrailroad company, was leaving for a vacation in the ama’s independence the same day and called a public United States, and the group asked him to ascertain the feelings of the railroad officials in New York. The group hoped that Beers could obtain promises of support and aid, perhaps even from the U.S. government. The answers Beers brought back were so encouraging that the insurrectionists sent Manuel Amador Guerrero, the railroad’s medical officer, to New York to make further inquiries. To view image, please refer to the After an unsuccessful trip, the print edition of this title. discouraged Amador Guerrero was preparing to leave New York when Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, the head of the New French Canal Company, arrived. Bunau-Varilla, believing that the United States was the only nation that could complete the canal, was determined to vindicate France and salvage his own reputation. He took control. After a series of “accidental” meetings with high U.S. government officials, including Secretary of State John Hay and President Theodore Roosevelt, he was able to assure Amador Guerrero Editorial cartoon from 1903 by Charles Green Bush, captioned “Go Away, Little that the United States would permit a Man, and Don’t Bother Me,” depicts President Theodore Roosevelt intimidating Corevolution to succeed in Panama and lombia to acquire the Panama Canal Zone. (The Granger Collection, New York) would recognize the new republic.
Panama Declares Independence from Colombia meeting for the next afternoon. The meeting selected a junta of three men as a provisional government. The junta provided for a constitutional convention and for presidential elections, in which Amador Guerrero was chosen as the first president. Panama was forced to pay a price for the assistance of Bunau-Varilla and the United States. As a condition of his support, Bunau-Varilla demanded appointment as Panamanian minister to the United States. He was replaced one month later by a Panamanian, but in that month he negotiated a canal treaty with the United States that was similar to one Colombia had rejected. The few new provisions in the treaty made it more favorable to the United States. Bunau-Varilla pointed out to the two Panamanian diplomats sent to help negotiate the treaty that any delay in accepting the treaty could lead to withdrawal of U.S. protection and to new negotiations for a canal treaty with Colombia. U.S. protection was essential for the preservation of Panamanian independence, and his arguments were not lost on the diplomats or on the Panamanian junta. The junta accepted the treaty, as did virtually every town council in the new republic. Significance When Panama became independent in 1903, the new government accepted the canal treaty with the United States, giving the United States a physical presence in the new nation and an interest that led to limitations on political action by the government of Panama. The average Panamanian citizen did not gain political power either. A small group of elite families controlled the republic until the end of the 1960’s, when the commander of the national guard seized control of the country. The United States ratified two new treaties in 1978 under which the Panama Canal was made permanently neutral and under which the Panamanian government regained full sovereignty and control on December 31, 1999. Observation of civil rights was not characteristic of the colonial period or of Colombian rule in Panama. Censorship, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, exile, illegal taxation, and physical abuse were commonly used against political opponents of the ruling regimes and against the poor. Independence improved the abusive conditions but did not eliminate them. The political patterns of electoral fraud, political violence, arbitrary decision making, suppression and abuse of opponents, and use of political control for economic benefit characteristic of the previous periods continued to be the norm. The masses, who had only rarely participated in the political process, remained passive. The poor were given no economic con270
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 sideration by the elite factions that dominated Panama. The construction of the railroad in the 1850’s and the later construction of the canal (which was completed in 1914) depended heavily on the recruitment of black laborers from the English-speaking Caribbean. Many blacks remained in Panama and congregated in their own sections of Panama City and Colón. They continued to speak English and to attend Protestant churches, and their racial and cultural differences from other Panamanians made them a conspicuous minority. Some economic development came with the construction and operation of the canal, but the more technical and higher-paying jobs were given to U.S. citizens during the first forty years of the canal’s operation. Over time, Panamanians reacted to the political and economic influence of the United States with increasing negativity, and nationalism increased. When U.S. interventions aroused Panamanian anger, the black immigrants became an easy target for protests; the United States itself was not so easily attacked. Blacks also competed with “native” Panamanians for jobs. The administration of the canal used the division between the blacks and other Panamanians to maintain an adequate and docile labor supply. The growth of Panamanian nationalism gained impetus from U.S. cultural influences on everyday life, which were pervasive and readily apparent to the average citizen. The canal remained closely tied to the independence of Panama and to the lives of the Panamanians. —Robert D. Talbott Further Reading Bishop, Joseph Bucklin. Theodore Roosevelt and His Time Shown in His Own Letters. 2 vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920. The author, who was secretary of the canal commission, paints a favorable picture of Roosevelt. Includes interesting insights about the canal and Roosevelt’s participation. Bunau-Varilla, Philippe-Jean. Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and Resurrection. London: Constable, 1913. This self-serving account of events vindicates the author and France. Includes some of the author’s letters. Diaz Espino, Ovidio. How Wall Street Created a Nation: J. P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt, and the Panama Canal. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2001. Argues that a combination of American imperialist attitudes and the prospect of financial gain led to the building of the Panama Canal. LaRosa, Michael, and Germán R. Mejía, eds. The United States Discovers Panama: The Writings of Soldiers,
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Scholars, Scientists, and Scoundrels, 1850-1905. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Collection of articles about Panama published from 1850 to 1905 in two of the most influential American periodicals of the time, Harper’s Monthly Magazine and The Atlantic Monthly. Illustrates the evolution of debates about Panama in the United States and how Americans came to view control of the isthmus as vital to U.S. economic and political well-being. McCullough, David. The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1977. A detailed account of events surrounding the creation of the canal and a brief summary of the pre-1903 period. Includes an extensive bibliography. Millander, G. A. The United States in Panamanian Politics: The Intriguing Formative Years. Danville, Ill.:
U.S. Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone Interstate Printers, 1971. Provides a good, brief explanation of the 1903 revolution. Includes an extensive annotated bibliography. Niemeier, Jean Gilbreath. The Panama Story. Portland, Oreg.: Metropolitan Press, 1968. Based on newspaper articles that appeared in the Panama Star and Herald. Perez-Venero, Alex. Before the Five Frontiers: Panama from 1821-1903. New York: AMS Press, 1978. Contains a good history of nineteenth century Panama but does not include the 1903 revolution. Extensive bibliography. See also: Nov. 18, 1903: U.S. Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone; 1904-1905: Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control; Summer, 1904: Construction Begins on the Panama Canal; Aug. 15, 1914: Panama Canal Opens.
1903
November 18, 1903
U.S. Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone The U.S. agreement to build a transoceanic canal in Panama revolutionized transportation and shipping. Locale: Panama Categories: Economics; expansion and land acquisition; science and technology; engineering; transportation Key Figures Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla (1859-1940), French engineer who was appointed minister of the Republic of Panama William Nelson Cromwell (1854-1948), American lawyer for the New Panama Canal Company John Hay (1838-1905), U.S. secretary of state, 18981905 José Manuel Marroquín (1827-1908), president of Colombia, 1900-1904 Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 John T. Morgan (1824-1907), U.S. senator from Alabama, 1877-1907 John Coit Spooner (1843-1919), U.S. senator from Wisconsin, 1885-1891, 1897-1907 Summary of Event On November 18, 1903, the minister of the new Republic of Panama, Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, and the U.S.
secretary of state, John Hay, signed the Hay-BunauVarilla Treaty. By the terms of the treaty, the United States agreed to pay $10 million cash and an annual rental fee of $250,000 in return for a canal zone ten miles wide and to grant “to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation and control” of that zone. The United States took possession of the canal site on May 4, 1904, and, at a cost of $375 million, built the canal that had previously defeated such experienced canal builders as Ferdinand de Lesseps’s Suez Canal Company. In the process, Colonel William Crawford Gorgas of the U.S. Army Medical Corps perfected techniques—many of which had originally been developed in Cuba during the Spanish-American War—for the prevention of the dreaded yellow fever. The Panama Canal opened for shipping on August 15, 1914, two weeks after World War I had begun in Europe. The dream of a canal through the Panamanian isthmus can be traced back to the early explorers of the American continent. Even in Christopher Columbus’s time, the attractiveness of a Central American shortcut to the Pacific was apparent. The strategic desirability of a canal through Panama became obvious during the SpanishAmerican War (1898), when the battleship Oregon almost arrived too late to take part in the war. The major obstacle to the popular goal of an American canal was the Anglo-American Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, which 271
U.S. Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone forbade either nation to build a canal without the participation of the other. Great Britain, eager to maintain its friendship with the United States, agreed to an allAmerican canal in the first Hay-Pauncefote Treaty in 1900. The U.S. Senate refused to ratify this agreement because it called for a neutral canal; the Senate demanded the right to defend and fortify the canal. Great Britain reluctantly agreed to that important amendment, and the second Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1901) was virtually an admission by the British that the United States was the primary power in the Caribbean. However, the canal battle was just beginning. The major debate concerned the route. Most members of the U.S. Congress and other Americans favored a route through Nicaragua, because they believed a canal could be built there as a sea-level channel without locks. The Isthmian Canal Commission appointed by President William McKinley supported this view, as did Senator John T. Morgan of Alabama, who was a member of the
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Senate Canals Committee. On January 9, 1902, the House of Representatives approved the Nicaraguan route, and it seemed certain the Senate would follow. At this point, two of the most improbable figures in the canal drama appeared on the scene. One was William Nelson Cromwell, the lawyer for the New Panama Canal Company, which had purchased the assets and rights of the defunct Lesseps company, which had failed to build its proposed canal. The other was Philippe-Jean BunauVarilla, an engineer with the Lesseps company, who was hoping to build a canal through Panama in order to vindicate both Lesseps and French engineering ability. Cromwell offered the rights to the Panama route to the United States for $40 million. Because the Panama route offered many engineering advantages and the proposed route through Nicaragua came uncomfortably close to an erupting volcano, and because Cromwell was an assiduous and effective lobbyist, President Theodore Roosevelt, the canal commission, and Congress all reversed themselves.
Observations on the Americans in Panama In his 1912 book The Americans in Panama, William R. Scott gives a history of French and North American involvement in the region and of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt’s role in the canal zone’s creation. The American-Panama Canal has risen phoenixlike out of the ruins of the French enterprise. For four centuries events have been shaping at Panama to make our final attempt successful. When we began, crude as the conditions were, the sting of the Isthmus, except its diseases, had been drawn. There was a beaten road from ocean to ocean, on every hand were landmarks to warn our footsteps from perilous paths, the lives that had been lost, the money that had been spent, all served to make our task achievable. We justly may be proud of our deeds, but we should not forget. It may be asserted that the exigencies of world convenience justified the manner by which we acquired the Canal Zone; but in declining thus far to make reparation to Colombia we are violating the essential ethics of Americanism. Certainly the American people cannot afford to dedicate their crowning achievement in this age with one single nation entertaining a sense of wrong because of it! . . . A perspective view of the whole enterprise shows that Theodore Roosevelt, by his individual actions, on at least three occasions, vitally affected the canal and its successful consummation. When he cut the Gordian knot of diplomacy and took the Canal Zone, he made the first long stride toward interoceanic communication. When he threw his
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weight into the scale for a lock type canal, he decided the most critical question that ever arose in the career of the enterprise. The third time his judgment prevented a great mistake was when the project definitely was taken from the possibility of private construction and placed in the hands exclusively of government supervision. There were lesser decisions of great moment, notably the order for widening the locks and the Culebra cut, and his whole connection with the project was such as to rank as the most brilliant phase of his administrations. . . . Panama now becomes the farthest outpost of Americanism in Latin America. The peoples of that continent have profited immeasurably by the practical demonstrations in sanitation, civil government, and engineering construction. They have learned, and so has the rest of the world, that the tropics are not necessarily deadly, that order can be maintained, not only among a homogeneous population, but among the heterogeneous races that have thronged the Isthmus, and they have seen that no natural obstacle is insuperable before the intelligence of man. The canal should be a means of cementing these lessons, or disabusing mutual prejudices between the Americans to the North and the Americans to the south. The American conquest of Latin America should be more through uplifting ideals than through bald commercialism leading to discord and unbrotherly relations. Source: William R. Scott, The Americans in Panama (New York: Statler, 1912).
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U.S. Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone
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The resultant legislation, known as Panama Canal Zone the Spooner Act because it was sponsored by Senator John Coit Spooner Caribbean Sea of Wisconsin, directed the president San Blas Islands COSTA Canal Zone Colón to build a canal through Panama if the RICA consent of Colombia, which owned Panama City the isthmian site, could be obtained. Panama Otherwise, the act specified, the NicPANAMA Canal araguan route would be taken. Darién The U.S. government began exerting extreme diplomatic pressure on the Colombian government to sign COLOMBIA Pa c i f i c O c e a n a canal treaty. Colombia was torn by internal strife that had reached almost revolutionary proportions. Colombia was ruled by José Manuel Department, could be taken to indicate that the United Marroquín, officially vice president, who had been eleStates had the right to guarantee the neutrality of, and vated to the position of chief executive when a coup defree passage through, the Panamanian isthmus. The State posed the president. The diplomatic correspondence beDepartment and President Roosevelt could now point to tween Bogotá and Washington was affected more by the the Colombian rejection as a denial of free passage. Colombian political situation than by Hay’s insistence The Colombian colony of Panama had long had sepaon a treaty. Finally, in a tangle of confused instructions ratist ambitions; indeed, it had been prevented from reand misunderstandings, the Hay-Herrán Treaty was nevolting on several occasions only by U.S. intervention on gotiated on January 22, 1903. It called for one payment behalf of Colombia. The State Department insisted that of $10 million and an annual rent of $250,000, beginning its intervention had been impartial, although perhaps it in nine years, for rights to a canal zone six miles wide. had benefited Colombia previously. It was a relatively Colombia also agreed not to ask for any of the $40 milsimple matter for Bunau-Varilla to encourage a Panamalion being paid to the French canal company. The U.S. nian revolution and to inform Roosevelt that a revolt Senate quickly approved the treaty on March 17, 1903, might be likely. It was equally simple for Roosevelt, unand the U.S. government awaited what it imagined would der the claim that he was guaranteeing the free transit of be automatic approval by the Colombian legislature. the isthmus, to ensure Colombia’s noninterference by Unfortunately, people in the United States, from the dispatching the cruiser Nashville to the scene. Panama president and the State Department on down, failed to City, on the Pacific side of the country, was taken by the comprehend the serious objections the proud Colombirevolutionaries on November 2, 1903. The Nashville ans had to the treaty. The treaty sacrificed Colombian landed U.S. forces at Colón on the Atlantic side to presovereignty at a time when the United States appeared to vent Colombian troops from passing across Panama to be in an expansionist mood, it failed to provide enough crush the rebels. In addition, engines from the Panama compensation for a route that had many engineering adRailroad were parked in the jungle between Colón and vantages and a profitable railroad, and it overlooked the Panama City so that Colombian troops could not use fact that the French canal company’s rights would expire them to go to the Pacific side, where the revolution was to in 1904. A slight delay would obviate the U.S. governoccur. When Colombia’s general allowed Bunau-Varilla ment’s need to pay $40 million for a defunct company’s to bribe him with money into leaving Colón, the revolutemporary rights, which contained nothing of substance. tion was a success. The revolution was primarily peaceThe Colombian Senate, with only three dissenting votes, ful, but, in a feeble attempt to defend Colombian soverrejected the treaty. eignty, the Colombian gunboat Bogotá fired five or six President Roosevelt likened this reasonable exercise shells into Panama City, killing a sleeping Chinese shopof legislative responsibility to a holdup and prepared to keeper and a donkey. proceed in his own way. He invoked an 1846 treaty The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty and the Panama Canal between the United States and Colombia (then New resulted from the revolution, as did a series of so-called Granada), one reading of which, suggested by the State
U.S. Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone good neighbor policies aimed at assuaging Latin American pride, which had been wounded by the apparent highhandedness of the United States in the entire transaction. The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., by John Hay, U.S. secretary of state, and Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, the French engineer who had been appointed minister of the Republic of Panama and had been given authority to negotiate until a delegation from Panama could be dispatched to Washington. Ironically, not one citizen of Panama was in attendance at the signing. A group of Panamanians were en route from New York to Washington for the event, but they arrived late—two hours after the treaty was signed. This fact created considerable embarrassment and anger among the Panamanian diplomats in the delegation, but in the end nothing was changed. Significance The bitterness that Panamanians felt toward the United States as a result of the events of 1903 lingered for decades, until the negotiation of the new Panama Canal Treaty in 1977, which was ratified by the United States in the following year. This treaty called for the complete U.S. handover of the canal to Panama that took place on December 31, 1999. The negotiations for the Panama Canal Zone mark one of the most controversial and colorful episodes in American diplomatic history. The real and perceived participation of the United States in the revolution that brought about the separation of Panama from the sovereign nation of Colombia has been debated since it occurred. Critics of the treaty and of U.S. involvement in the revolution have much ammunition for their argument, and much of their criticism is aimed at President Theodore Roosevelt, who in later years boldly stated, “I took the Canal Zone.” In 1921, the U.S. Senate voted compensation to the government of Colombia in the amount of $25 million in return for Colombian recognition of Panama. This was, in effect, a goodwill indemnity to Colombia for the “big stick” diplomacy employed by Roosevelt in 1903. The revolution—which was, at the very best, sanctioned by the United States—not only deprived Colombia of the province of Panama but also denied that nation a $10 million outright payment for the opportunity to build the canal. —Richard H. Collin and Kay Hively
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading Bunau-Varilla, Philippe-Jean. Panama: The Creation, Destruction, and Resurrection. London: Constable, 1913. Bunau-Varilla’s own memoir and history. Cooper, John Milton, Jr. The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. 1985. Reprint. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 2004. Argues that it is impossible to understand the history of the Panama Canal without understanding Theodore Roosevelt. Kitchel, Denison. The Truth About the Panama Canal. New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1978. A look at the history of the Panama Canal from a conservative point of view. LaRosa, Michael, and Germán R. Mejía, eds. The United States Discovers Panama: The Writings of Soldiers, Scholars, Scientists, and Scoundrels, 1850-1905. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Collection of articles about Panama published from 1850 to 1905 in two of the most influential American periodicals of the time, Harper’s Monthly Magazine and The Atlantic Monthly. Illustrates the evolution of debates about Panama in the United States and how Americans came to view control of the isthmus as vital to U.S. economic and political well-being. Mack, Gerstle. The Land Divided: A History of the Panama Canal and Other Isthmian Canal Projects. 1944. Reprint. New York: Octagon Books, 1974. A wideranging look at the history of the Isthmus of Panama, including the building of the canal, the establishment of the railroad, and other events. Miner, Dwight C. The Fight for the Panama Route. New York: Octagon Books, 1940. Examines the controversy surrounding the acquisition of the Canal Zone and Roosevelt’s role in it. Roosevelt, Theodore. Autobiography. New York: Macmillan, 1913. Includes Roosevelt’s defense of his Panama policy. See also: Nov. 3, 1903: Panama Declares Independence from Colombia; 1904-1905: Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control; Summer, 1904: Construction Begins on the Panama Canal; Aug. 15, 1914: Panama Canal Opens.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity
December 10, 1903
Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity Antoine-Henri Becquerel was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the phenomenon of natural radioactivity. Locale: Stockholm, Sweden Categories: Science and technology; physics Key Figures Antoine-Henri Becquerel (1852-1908), French physicist Marie Curie (1867-1934), Polish-French physicist and chemist Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940), English physicist Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894), German physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), British physicist Frederick Soddy (1877-1956), English chemist
Antoine-Henri Becquerel. (Library of Congress)
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Summary of Event The discovery of radioactivity is only part of the larger story of scientific investigations of the electromagnetic spectrum and is intimately connected with the discovery of X rays. During the final two decades of the nineteenth century, building on the theoretical foundations of James Clerk Maxwell, scientists explored the nature of a variety of electromagnetic radiation. If Maxwell’s theories were correct, it would be possible to produce electromagnetic radiation through a moving electrical charge. In 1887, Heinrich Hertz attempted such an experiment and was the first to identify radio waves. This largely completed the electromagnetic spectrum to include visible light, infrared radiation (discovered earlier by William Herschel), and ultraviolet radiation (discovered by Johann Wilhelm Ritter). By 1890, the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation extended from the long-wavelength radio waves to the extremely short-wavelength ultraviolet rays. The missing member of this family was X rays, which completed the electromagnetic spectrum. In 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, while experimenting with a cathode-ray apparatus, discovered a powerful ray that penetrated thick paper as well as thin metals. Called “X ray” because of its unknown composition, this radiation had the ability to penetrate materials, and its power and mystery captured the imagination of both the public and other scientists. Antoine-Henri Becquerel was one of the scientists whose imaginations were triggered by this event. For several generations, the Becquerel family had been involved closely with science in France. Becquerel’s
father and grandfather were both distinguished scientists, and he followed in their footsteps. Becquerel’s early research focused on optics; later, he shifted to infrared radiation and finally to the absorption of light in crystals. He completed his doctoral dissertation in 1888, and in 1889 he was elected to the Academy of Sciences. During the following years, Becquerel undertook few research projects but moved actively through the academic ranks. He held an unprecedented three chairs of physics at different institutions at the same time and became chief engineer for the Department of Bridges and Highways. By 1896, Becquerel was one of the most successful and powerful scientists in France, and yet none of his accomplishments could be considered a major contribution to the history of science. His interest in research was revived by Röntgen’s discovery of X rays. Becquerel concluded that, given that X rays were generated through the use of the cathode-ray tube along with visible light and that both X rays and light were found at the place where the beam produced a fluorescent pattern, X rays and light
Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
may be produced by the same mechThe Electromagnetic Spectrum anism. (It turned out that fluorescence Ultrawas purely incidental to the producviolet Infrared tion of X rays.) He began to search ↓ X-ray Gamma-ray Power Radio Microwave Visible ↓ for materials other than glass that could be made to fluoresce through the use of ultraviolet light. His earlier work with crystals brought to 10 6 10 4 10 2 10 0 10 –2 10 –4 10 –6 10 –8 10 –10 10 –12 10 –14 10 –16 mind a uranium-potassium-sulfate Wavelength (meters) compound that possessed such qualities. He exposed to sunlight a photo10 2 10 4 10 6 10 8 10 10 10 12 10 14 10 16 10 18 10 20 10 22 10 24 graphic plate wrapped in light-proof Frequency (hertz) papers with the uranium crystals placed on top. He had hoped that the ultraviolet rays of sunlight would trigger the crystals to produce X rays Becquerel and his student Marie Curie were awarded the and expose the photographic plate. On developing the Nobel Prize in Physics. plate, Becquerel found it blackened by some penetrating rays. One week later, Becquerel decided to set a control for Significance his experiment by repeating the procedure in total darkThe discovery of radioactivity opened up a new world of ness. Much to his surprise, the photographic plates were nuclear physics. At the Cavendish Laboratory in Enexposed again. This result violated his working hypothegland, Sir Joseph John Thomson and his colleague Ersis: that ultraviolet rays triggered the production of X rays nest Rutherford began to study the ionizing powers of the in the uranium crystal. In the weeks that followed, Becnewly identified rays. Rutherford discovered that uraquerel considered a number of alternative explanations nium exhibited two kinds of radioactive rays: alpha rays, for this contradictory result. He thought there was a poswhich had low penetrating powers, and beta rays, which sibility of residual effects from the initial experiment, so possessed greater abilities to penetrate metal foils. In he isolated his crystals in the dark for some time. The ef1898, Marie and Pierre Curie found that thorium had rafect, however, remained the same. Becquerel tested other dioactive properties, and in quick succession they added luminescent crystals, but he could not reproduce the repolonium and radium to the list of radioactive elements. sults. This led him to test nonluminescent uranium comMarie Curie also gave the name to the process whereby pounds, which produced penetrating rays, and finally he uranium gives off rays: radioactivity. As the list of radiotried a disk of pure uranium and found the penetrating active elements grew in confusing profusion, Rutherford radiation several times as intense. On May 18, 1896, and Frederick Soddy produced the theory of radioactive Becquerel announced the discovery of radioactivity. transformation through “decay” of one element to anIn 1897, Becquerel completed a series of studies to other. The concept of isotopes (a term coined by Soddy) separate other possible sources for this radiation and to also simplified the number of elements on the list. Ruthestablish the properties of this form of radiation. He was erford utilized the alpha particles to investigate the strucable to show that the presence of the penetrating rays was ture of the atom, which revolutionized the model of the a particular property of uranium. He also found that the atom. In 1900, Paul Villard observed a third ray more emission of the rays from the uranium was continuous powerful than X rays, called gamma rays, which were and independent of any external source. The discovery of emitted by radioactive substances. radioactivity produced a response equal to that of the By the first decade of the twentieth century, the initial discovery of X rays. Laboratories immediately began exexploration of radioactivity had opened the door to the tensive examination of this new phenomenon. After his study of nuclear physics, which changed the very condiscovery of radioactivity, Becquerel continued his piocept of the nature of the material world. In a series of neering work in nuclear physics with the identification of papers published in 1914, Rutherford described the hypothesis of a new atomic model that included the proton electrons in the radiation of radium and produced the first as the nucleus of the atom. The Rutherford model of evidence of the radioactive transformation. In 1903, 276
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Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity
the atom gained prominence through the work of Niels Bohr. Bohr saved this new model of the atom by proposing a quantum theory, whereby the energy of the spinning electron emits energy only in specific quanta. This means that during stable orbits of the electron, there is no emission of radiation, but when the electron jumps from one orbit to another through increasing or decreasing energy of the atom, radiation is emitted. Furthermore, the quantum numbers for the electrons are whole numbers. Although this model of the atom was later referred to as the “Bohr atom,” credit must be given to Rutherford for providing the basic structure. The stage was set for scientists to investigate further the structure of the atom, a process that involved a multinational effort through the twentieth century. In the history of science, no other single revolution is comparable to the discovery of radioactivity. — Victor W. Chen
See also: Early 20th cent.: Elster and Geitel Study Radioactivity; 1905-1907: Boltwood Uses Radioactivity to Determine Ages of Rocks; Feb. 11, 1908: Geiger and Rutherford Develop a Radiation Counter; Summer, 1928: Gamow Explains Radioactive Alpha Decay with Quantum Tunneling; 1933-1934: First Artificial Radioactive Element Is Developed.
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Further Reading Badash, Lawrence. “Becquerel’s Blunder.” Social Research 72 (Spring, 2005). This article, part of an issue devoted to “fruitful errors,” describes Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity. Broglie, Louis de. The Revolution in Physics: A Nonmathematical Survey of Quanta. Translated by Ralph W. Niemeyer. New York: Noonday Press, 1953. A highly recommended text for those seeking nontechnical information on quantum mechanics. Attempts to provide a popular explanation of the rapidly changing world of physics and makes the difficult subject of quantum mechanics accessible to the general reader. Crowther, J. G. The Cavendish Laboratory, 1874-1974. New York: Science History Publications, 1974. Covers the history of the laboratory. Various chapters cover Joseph John Thomson’s early years at the laboratory, his initial work as director, his assistants and students, his work on the electron, and the later period of his life, through the end of World War I. In addition, two chapters cover his predecessor, Lord Rayleigh, and eight chapters discuss his successor, Ernest Rutherford. Einstein, Albert, and Leopold Infeld. The Evolution of Physics: The Growth of Ideas from Early Concepts to
Relativity and Quanta. 1938. Reprint. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1966. Probably one of the most accessible single volumes of history on the development of modern physics available to the general reader. Employs few technical terms, and no knowledge of mathematics is required. The sections on the decline of the mechanical view and on quanta are highly recommended. Jammer, Max. The Conceptual Development of Quantum Mechanics. 2d ed. Los Angeles: Tomash, 1989. Traces both the physics and the conceptual framework of quantum theory. The sections covering the formative development of quantum theory are moderately accessible for the general reader. Rayner-Canham, Marelene F., and Geoffrey W. RaynerCanham. A Devotion to Their Science: Pioneer Women of Radioactivity. Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Foundation, 2005. Acollection of biographical essays on twenty-three women involved in atomic science research in the early part of the twentieth century, including Marie Curie as well as many lesserknown scientists whose stories are rarely told. Romer, Alfred. The Restless Atom: The Awakening of Nuclear Physics. 1960. Reprint. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 1982. This standard text on the early days of nuclear physics is highly recommended. Romer makes the details of this part of history easily accessible. Segrè, Emilio. From X-Rays to Quarks: Modern Physicists and Their Discoveries. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1980. Segrè was one of a handful of physicists who participated directly in nuclear physics, received a Nobel Prize for his work, and wrote a number of popular accounts on the history of physics. The earlier sections of this volume cover the discoveries and theories of those who produced a coherent picture of the atom.
Wright Brothers’ First Flight
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
December 17, 1903
Wright Brothers’ First Flight Wilbur and Orville Wright’s first successful flight marked the beginning of a new age for air transportation and technology. Locale: Kitty Hawk, North Carolina Categories: Science and technology; inventions; space and aviation; transportation Key Figures Wilbur Wright (1867-1912), American inventor and aviation pioneer Orville Wright (1871-1948), American inventor and aviation pioneer Octave Chanute (1832-1910), American aviation pioneer and friend of the Wrights Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906), American scientist and secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Otto Lilienthal (1848-1896), German aeronautical engineer and glider pilot Charles E. Taylor (1868-1956), American mechanic who worked with the Wright brothers Summary of Event On December 15, 1906, Scientific American editorialized, “In all the history of invention, there is probably no parallel to the unostentatious manner in which the Wright brothers of Dayton, Ohio, ushered into the world their epoch-making invention of the first successful aeroplane flying machine.” The periodical did not exaggerate. Wilbur and Orville Wright succeeded in their first powered flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, in front of five witnesses. Yet, for three years following that day, few seemed to realize that humankind’s dream of flying had been accomplished. As two of the seven children of Bishop Milton Wright, originally an itinerant minister from a midwestern Protestant sect, and Susan Koerner Wright, Wilbur and Orville were reared modestly. As the result of their family’s move from Indiana to Dayton, Ohio, neither boy finished high school. In 1892, the Wright brothers opened a bicycle shop in Dayton. They had always been interested in mechanical and scientific matters and were devoted tinkerers. In 1895, they began to build their own bicycles in a workshop above the store. They also experimented with numerous inventions. Their interest in flying was aroused by reports of the initial development of the automobile and of Otto Lilienthal’s experiments with gliders in Germany in the 1890’s. 278
The Wright brothers started their work as self-made aeronautical engineers in 1899 by writing to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., for suggestions about reading materials on the subject of human flight. They discovered that little was known about the subject, despite long interest in it. Octave Chanute and Dr. Samuel Pierpont Langley, recognized as a foremost scientist, were the leading U.S. experimenters, but the Wrights were especially influenced by aeronautical pioneer Lilienthal. The early experimenters had met a number of setbacks. Lilienthal and Percy Pilcher, a Scottish glider pioneer, were killed in similar accidents. Chanute had given up, and Langley was to see his first manned flying machine crash after takeoff. Unlike their better-educated predecessors, the two bicycle mechanics—with their gift for visualizing abstract principles and then bringing them into operation— discovered three essential elements of flight that proved to be immutable aerodynamic principles. These involved lift, drag, and, especially, control for balance and stability in the face of shifting wind patterns and drift. The brothers’ use of movable wingtips, a three-axis rudder, and other devices addressed the difficulty of control, which had caused the other pioneers grief. After experimenting with kites beginning in 1899, the brothers decided to build a glider and sought a site for test flights. They wrote to the U.S. Weather Bureau, which informed them that Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on a treeless and isolated barrier beach between the Atlantic Ocean and the coastline and dotted with sandy dunes, had suitable wind currents. The Wrights transported their glider from Dayton to Kitty Hawk. In 1900, they glided for a few minutes in this first man-carrying device. Then they refined their theoretical aerodynamic calculations, realizing that they had to reexamine every earlier finding. Chanute helped them with some advice and money. In 1901, the brothers built their first wind tunnel to test wings; this enabled them to draw up accurate tables of air pressures on curved surfaces. Successful glider experiments in 1901 and 1902 inspired the Wrights to create a powered flying machine, but no one could supply an engine to their specifications. Their determination led them to decide to build one themselves, and in this endeavor they were greatly and ably assisted by Charles E. Taylor, a mechanic. Taylor machined every component of the engine, except for the
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
day. Wilbur flew 195 feet in thirteen seconds. Orville covered 200 feet in fifteen seconds. Finally, shortly after noon, Wilbur flew 852 feet, lying prone at the controls, as usual, for fifty-nine seconds at thirty-one miles per hour against a twenty-one-mile-per-hour wind. Subsequently, a gust of wind damaged the plane while it was parked, and no more flying was possible that year. Significance Only a few American newspapers reported the Wrights’ flight on the day after their historic achievement. The skepticism that existed toward their success could be traced to several sources. For one thing, Simon Newcomb, a highly respected U.S. scientist, had published “proof” earlier that year that it would be impossible for heavier-than-air planes to fly. In addition, Lilienthal’s fatal crash in 1896 was still fresh in the public’s memory, and Langley’s prestigious machine had failed just nine days earlier. Even the brothers underestimated the value of their achievement, which they reported to have cost them more than a thousand dollars. For many years, the Smithsonian Institution refused to recognize theirs as the first powered flight, preferring to honor Samuel Langley’s attempt. Not until 1942 did the Smithsonian
The Wright Flyer, with Orville Wright at the controls and Wilbur Wright looking on, makes its first flight. (Library of Congress)
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crankcase, in the bicycle shop. This was the only aspect of the Wrights’ invention that someone else had a significant role in creating. The engine was crude even by the standards of the day, but it worked. The water-cooled, four-cylinder, thirteen-horsepower gasoline engine weighed less than 180 pounds and provided more power with less weight than any previous model. Its lightness enabled the brothers to keep the total weight of their 1903 Wright Flyer to 625 pounds of wood, fabric, and metal. Most important, the engine and the two chain-driven propellers enabled the craft to move through the air fast enough to generate lift on the wings to keep the machine airborne. On September 23, 1903, the Wright brothers transported their biplane, unassembled, from Dayton to Kitty Hawk. By December 14, a cold and clear day, they were ready to test the reassembled aircraft. They tossed a coin to decide who should try first, and Wilbur won. On leaving the sixty-foot wooden launching rail, the machine climbed a few feet before the engine stalled, and the craft landed after only three and a half seconds. The brothers worked on repairs until December 17. Orville then made an epochal flight of twelve seconds’ duration, covering a distance of 120 feet. Three more tries were made that
Wright Brothers’ First Flight
Wright Brothers’ First Flight finally publish an unequivocal statement crediting the Wrights with having invented the airplane. In 1904, the Wrights designed a new aircraft capable of sustained flight and of turning and banking maneuvers. The 1905 Wright Flyer could hold the air for thirtynine minutes, covering as many kilometers over Huffman Prairie near Dayton, a more convenient test site than Kitty Hawk and one at which the brothers now continued their experiments. In 1908, the U.S. War Department finally gave the Wrights a contract to build the first military aircraft. By the end of 1909, the brothers had won every flying competition around, and the Wright Company had received enough production orders to make them wealthy and famous men. Parades and medals greeted them everywhere they went. In 1932, a sixty-foot granite commemorative pylon was erected on the dune near Kill Devil Hills village, from whose slopes the initial flights had been launched. The Wright brothers’ story—of two high school dropouts with extensive intellectual curiosity, self-education, and a supportive environment who conquered the air for humankind—epitomizes the American legend of gifted amateurism and the rewards of hard work. Their achievement opened the door to a new era for transportation and technology. —Richard H. Collin and Peter B. Heller Further Reading Bilstein, Roger E. Flight in America: From the Wrights to the Astronauts. 3d ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. A thorough history of aviation in the United States by a leading historian in the field; the first chapter places the Wrights in the context of the era of early flight. Combs, Harry B., and Martin Caidin. Kill Devil Hill: Discovering the Secret of the Wright Brothers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979. A good source of information about aviation technology and the Wrights’ contributions to the field. Includes several helpful drawings and other illustrations. Corn, Joseph J. The Winged Gospel: America’s Romance with Aviation. 1983. Reprint. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. An interesting and lively account of many activities in aviation and the individuals, including the Wright brothers, involved in American flight during the first half of the twentieth century. Crouch, Tom. The Bishop’s Boys: A Life of Wilbur and
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Orville Wright. New York: W. W. Norton, 1989. Biography showing the effect of the brothers’ personalities on their approach to life and work. Distinguishes clearly between their human and inventive qualities. Hallion, Richard P., ed. The Wright Brothers: Heirs of Prometheus. Washington, D.C.: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1978. The illustrations alone make this volume worthwhile. Harris, Sherwood. The First to Fly: Aviation’s Pioneer Days. Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: McGraw-Hill, TABAero Division, 1991. A simple, chronologically arranged account of the early days of aviation. Includes excellent photographs. Jakab, Peter L. Visions of a Flying Machine: The Wright Brothers and the Process of Invention. 1990. Reprint. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. Jakab, a historian at the Smithsonian’s Department of Aeronautics, focuses on the Wright brothers’ thought processes along with providing a factual account. Good illustrations and bibliography. Kelly, Fred C., ed. Miracle at Kitty Hawk: The Letters of Wilbur and Orville Wright. 1951. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 2002. A collection of correspondence to and from the Wright brothers, authorized by Orville Wright. McFarland, Marvin W., ed. The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright. 2 vols. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1953. One of the most comprehensive collections of the brothers’ correspondence, original sketches, diary entries, and other documentation. Exhaustive bibliography. Pisano, Dominick A., ed. The Airplane in American Culture. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003. Explores Americans’ relationship with the airplane since the Wright brothers’ first flight. Contributions cover a range of topics, including aviation’s role in forming perceptions of the landscape as well as the airplane’s influence on literature and art and its significance to the culture of war. See also: July 25, 1909: First Airplane Flight Across the English Channel; Sept. 8, 1920: U.S. Post Office Begins Transcontinental Airmail Delivery; 19241976: Howard Hughes Builds a Business Empire; Feb. 2, 1925: U.S. Congress Authorizes Private Carriers for Airmail; May 20, 1927: Lindbergh Makes the First Nonstop Transatlantic Flight; May 20-21, 1932: First Transatlantic Solo Flight by a Woman; June 25, 1936: The DC-3 Opens a New Era of Air Travel.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Canadian Cultivation of Marquis Wheat
1904
Canadian Cultivation of Marquis Wheat Agricultural scientists’ development of Marquis wheat benefited Canadian farmers and enhanced the nation’s economy by providing early-ripening, high-yielding, high-quality grain compatible with the climate in the western provinces. The Marquis strain soon replaced most spring wheat varieties, extended acreage cultivated, increased exports, and created surpluses. Locale: Ottawa, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, Canada Categories: Agriculture; science and technology; trade and commerce Key Figures Sir Charles Edward Saunders (1867-1937), Dominion cerealist, Central Experimental Farm, 1903-1922 William Saunders (1836-1914), director of Dominion Experimental Farms, 1886-1911 Arthur Percy Saunders (1869-1953), chemist and agricultural scientist Angus MacKay (1841-1931), superintendent of Indian Head Experimental Farm, Saskatchewan, 1887-1914
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Summary of Event During the late nineteenth century, pharmacist William Saunders collected plant samples to propagate new varieties and taught his children horticultural techniques on their family’s farm in London, Ontario. In 1886, a parliamentary commission appointed Saunders director of the five original Dominion Experimental Farms, which were headquartered in Ottawa. He assisted in the development of agricultural investigations throughout Canada, improving crop types to increase agricultural production, quality, and profits. Saunders’s work also provided the foundation for his sons’ work in agriculture. Farmers in western provinces needed wheat that ripened prior to frosts, and so Saunders traveled to evaluate wheat varieties that thrived in cold and high-altitude regions. He tested Ladoga wheat imported from Russia, which matured quickly but lacked characteristics desired for baking. Saunders noted that Red Fife wheat, a variety derived from Ukrainian sources, possessed acceptable milling and baking qualities but was slower to ripen. While brothers Charles Edward Saunders and Arthur Percy Saunders completed chemistry doctorates at The Johns Hopkins University, they assisted their father during vacations to develop spring-wheat hybrids that exhibited the traits farmers demanded. The Saunders family started crossing samples in July, 1888, and they
devoted two decades to improving spring wheat for cultivation in northwestern Canada, where cold temperatures, wind, and drought often damaged existing wheat varieties. They wanted plants that could endure weather extremes and short summers. The Saunderses tested crosses between Red Fife and several wheat varieties that matured early enough to be planted and harvested prior to deadly frosts but were inferior for processing. Their efforts included selecting and crossing samples of Red Fife and an Indian import, Hard Red Calcutta, and they produced several generations in order to create adequate specimens. By 1892, Percy Saunders had developed seed for a cross between Red Fife and Hard Red Calcutta called Markham at the experimental farm at Agassiz in British Columbia, and this cross provided the genetic foundation for Marquis wheat. In the early twentieth century, the need for a better wheat strain intensified as railroads extended throughout western Canada and farmers, who were often immigrants recruited to move to Canada, settled those prairie provinces. The railroad reached the Pacific Ocean, which opened up possibilities for exporting grain beyond local markets, and so farmers wanted to be able to harvest larger yields. Wheat seed imported from Europe, the United States, and eastern Canada proved unsuitable because it required a longer time to germinate and mature. Meanwhile, demand for wheat flour increased as populations grew and milling technology improved. Hired by his father as a cereal expert in 1903, Charles Saunders focused on breeding experiments with Markham wheat at the Central Experimental Station in Ottawa. He examined wheat descended from his brother’s crosses: The best wheat for breeding, he found, had specific qualities, including short stalks and light color. He rejected types, jotting comments in notebooks for each generation he observed. During August, 1903, Charles Saunders picked a Markham sample—which had ripened several days earlier than other wheat and had the desired texture and quality for milling and baking—and he saved its seeds. In 1904, Saunders planted the Markham seeds, and he continued to test the wheat produced from that sample and succeeding generations in his laboratory during the following years. He chewed kernels to evaluate gluten quality and also milled grain into flour to bake bread. Saunders kept isolating particular specimens: those that
Canadian Cultivation of Marquis Wheat ripened early, produced strong elastic dough that absorbed sufficient water, and baked well. By 1906, he had identified two exceptionally promising wheat specimens, which he called Marquis A and B. For a time he kept evaluating samples, but eventually he concentrated all his investigations on Marquis B. During 1907, Saunders ground his chosen variety and baked it, proving that Marquis produced larger and more loaves than were produced from bread baked from equal amounts of other wheat varieties’ flour. Convinced his wheat strain consistently matured early and demonstrated expected quality, Saunders noted that it also outproduced Red Fife crops by as much as 40 percent. Saunders gave some seeds to Angus MacKay, the director of the experimental farm at Indian Head, and MacKay tested them in his fields in Saskatchewan. Saunders also distributed seeds to experimental farms in the eastern provinces. Eastern researchers reported minimal differences between the Marquis and other varieties, but MacKay stated that Marquis had the highest yields in tests and had ripened first. After more trials, MacKay agreed that Saunders’s hybrid-wheat seed was ready for distribution. Saunders named the new variety Marquis and began promoting it to agriculturists. By 1909, Canadian farmers, particularly in western prairie provinces, had gained access to Marquis wheat seed. Their satisfaction with its yields resulted in the spread of that strain to the east and south, and soon most wheat growers were planting Saunders’s hybrid. Marquis wheat soon replaced Red Fife in many fields, especially in Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, because it required five to ten fewer days to grow and could be harvested prior to autumn frosts, which threatened varieties that required longer growing periods. Most millers praised Marquis wheat’s processing qualities. Agricultural guides included advice for farmers growing it, and bread manufacturers and mills promoted it in booklets. The Canadian government supported Marquis wheat, and it became Canada’s standard wheat strain. In 1912, Parliament passed the Canada Grain Act, which regulated wheat trading, established a board of grain commissioners, and graded standards to assess quality and fair market pricing. Marquis wheat consistently represented the greatest percentage of wheat and received the highest grade. Many American agriculturists chose Marquis over other wheat varieties, and international exports of Marquis boosted Canada’s economy. Marquis wheat represented 80 percent of Canadian wheat produced in 1915 and 90 percent in 1920. During 1917, cultivation of Marquis wheat earned a total of $340 282
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 million in five Canadian provinces and $170 million in the United States. In 1918, farmers planted twenty million acres of Marquis wheat in North America. For a time, the number of acres planted with Marquis wheat increased every year. After World War II, however, Marquis’s vulnerability to stem rust led to its replacement by Marquis derivatives, and each year farmers planted several hundred million acres of Marquis descendants. Significance Marquis wheat dominated grain crops cultivated in western Canada during the early twentieth century. It generated billions of dollars during the first half of the twentieth century, because it was specifically bred to be compatible with prairie conditions. Marquis helped Canada become an international agricultural power that produced record-setting yields per acre. Furthermore, Marquis’s yields proved essential to agricultural economic growth and vitality in North America, and its cultivation generated more income than all other crops and livestock sold in Canada. Marquis wheat enabled Canadian wheat farmers to plant two hundred miles farther north, which invigorated western Canada’s economy. Farmers won awards at agricultural fairs in Canada and the United States for Marquis wheat, and judges designated Marquis wheat samples as the most outstanding wheat in the world. Marquis wheat became the source of breeding stock for most modern wheat grown for bread both in Canada and around the world, and scientists used Marquis genes to create hardier strains, such as Marquillo, that could withstand diseases. The use of Marquis wheat had impacts on many communities in Canada and abroad. Increased yields resulted in the building of more storage elevators, mills, train cars, and ships. Marquis wheat’s growing abilities lured immigrants to western Canada, more agriculture-related jobs became available in rural areas, and Canadian governments were able to use taxes from the sale of Marquis wheat to fund education. Marquis’s high yields helped Canada produce a surplus of wheat, which provided relief to Canada’s European allies during food crises in both World War I and World War II. —Elizabeth D. Schafer Further Reading Bonjean, Alain P., and William J. Angus, eds. The World Wheat Book: A History of Wheat Breeding. London: Intercept, 2001. Comprehensive essay collection documenting regional wheats, including a chapter featuring Canadian varieties. Discusses twentieth century
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 agricultural scientists’ genetically based strategies to devise improved strains. Buller, A. H. Reginald. Essays on Wheat, Including the Discovery and Introduction of Marquis Wheat, the Early History of Wheat-Growing in Manitoba, Wheat in Western Canada, the Origin of Red Bobs and Kitchener, and the Wild Wheat of Palestine. New York: Macmillan, 1919. Provides statistics and comprehensive information examining the development of Marquis wheat and varieties developed from that strain. Illustrations show experimental plots and comparisons of Marquis wheat stalks and bread with other varieties. Curtis, Byrd C., Sanjaya Rajaram, and H. Gómez Macpherson, eds. Bread Wheat: Improvement and Production. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2002. Volume in the FAO Plant Production and Protection Series that includes articles by agricultural researchers explaining strategies for breeding stronger wheat, especially for protection against diseases and insects.
First Practical Photoelectric Cell Is Developed Morrison, J. W. “Marquis Wheat: A Triumph of Scientific Endeavour.” Agricultural History 34, no. 4 (October, 1960): 182-188. Emphasizes how Charles Saunders carefully applied scientific plant breeding techniques to develop Marquis wheat instead of randomly discovering that strain (as many accounts depict). Includes reproductions of Saunders’s notebook entries evaluating test subjects and a bread trial record sheet. Pomeroy, Elsie M. William Saunders and His Five Sons: The Story of the Marquis Wheat Family. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1956. Excellent biographical account of how the Saunders family developed their plant breeding methods. Contains excerpts from their writings and personal photographs. See also: 1904-1908: Haber Develops Process for Extracting Nitrogen from the Air; 1907: Famine Strikes Russia; June 15, 1929: Agricultural Marketing Act; Sept. 8, 1930: Canada Enacts Depression-Era Relief Legislation; Dec., 1932-Spring, 1934: Great Famine Strikes the Soviet Union.
1904
First Practical Photoelectric Cell Is Developed
Locale: Wolfenbüttel, Germany Categories: Science and technology; physics; inventions Key Figures Julius Elster (1854-1920), German experimental physicist and teacher of mathematics and physics Hans Friedrich Geitel (1855-1923), German physicist Wilhelm Hallwachs (1859-1922), German physicist Summary of Event The photoelectric effect was known to science in the early nineteenth century when Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel in France wrote of it in connection with his work on glass-enclosed primary batteries. He discovered that the voltage of his batteries increased with intensified illumination and that green light produced the highest voltage. Becquerel researched batteries exclusively, however, and the liquid-type photocell was not discov-
ered until about ninety years later, when, in 1929, the Wein and Arcturus cells were introduced commercially. These cells were miniature voltaic cells arranged so that light falling on one side of the front plate generated a considerable amount of electrical energy. The cells were of short life, unfortunately; when subjected to cold, the electrolyte would freeze, and when subjected to heat, the gas generated would expand and explode the cell. What came to be known as the photoelectric cell, a device connecting light and electricity, had its beginnings in the 1880’s. At that time, scientists noticed that a metal plate charged negatively lost its charge much faster when it was subjected to light (especially to ultraviolet light) as opposed to darkness. Several years later, researchers demonstrated that this phenomenon was not an “ionization” effect because of the air’s increased conductivity, as the phenomenon took place in a vacuum but did not take place if the plate was positively charged. Instead, the phenomenon had to be attributed to the light, which excited the electrons of the metal and caused them to fly off: A neutral plate even acquired a slight positive charge under the influence of strong light. Study of this effect not only contributed evidence to an electronic theory of mat283
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Julius Elster and Hans Friedrich Geitel’s pioneering work on the photoelectric effect and photoelectric cells was of decisive importance in the development of the electron theory of metals.
First Practical Photoelectric Cell Is Developed ter—and, as a result of some brilliant mathematical work by Albert Einstein, later increased knowledge of the nature of radiant energy—but also further linked the studies of light and electricity. It even explained certain chemical phenomena, such as the process of photography. It is important to note that all the experimental work on photoelectricity accomplished prior to the work of Julius Elster and Hans Friedrich Geitel was carried out before the existence of the electron was known. After Sir Joseph John Thomson’s discovery of the electron in 1897, investigators soon realized that the photoelectric effect was caused by the emission of electrons under the influence of radiation. In 1905, Einstein put forward the fundamental theory of photoelectric emission on the basis of Max Planck’s quantum theory (1900). Thus it was not surprising that light was found to have an electronic effect. When the longer radio waves were known to shake electrons into resonant oscillations, and the shorter X rays could detach electrons from the atoms of gases, the intermediate waves of visual light would have been expected to have some effect on electrons—such as detaching them from metal plates and so setting up a difference of potential. The photoelectric cell that Elster and Geitel developed in 1904 was a practical device for making use of this effect. In 1888, Wilhelm Hallwachs observed that an electrically charged zinc electrode loses its charge when exposed to ultraviolet radiation if the charge is negative, but it is able to retain a positive charge under the same conditions. The following year, Elster and Geitel discovered a photoelectric effect caused by visible light; unlike Hallwachs, however, they used the alkali metals potassium and sodium for their experiments instead of zinc. The Elster-Geitel photocell (a vacuum emission cell, as opposed to a gas-filled cell) consisted of an evacuated glass bulb containing two electrodes. The cathode consisted of a thin film of a rare, chemically active metal (such as potassium) that lost its electrons fairly readily; the anode was simply a wire sealed in to complete the circuit. This anode was maintained at a positive potential in order to collect the negative charges released by light from the cathode. The Elster-Geitel photocell resembled two other types of vacuum tubes in existence at the time: the cathode-ray tube, in which the cathode emitted electrons under the influence of a high potential, and the thermionic valve (a valve that permits the passage of current in one direction only), in which it emitted electrons under the influence of heat. Like both of these vacuum tubes, the photoelectric cell could be classified as an “electronic” device. 284
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 The new cell, then, emitted electrons when stimulated by light and at a rate proportional to the intensity of the light, hence a current could be obtained from the cell. However, Elster and Geitel found that their photoelectric currents fell off gradually; they therefore spoke of “fatigue” (instability). It was discovered later that most of this change was not a direct effect of a photoelectric current’s passage; it was not even an indirect effect. Rather, the change was caused by oxidation of the cathode by the air. Given that all modern cathodes are enclosed in sealed vessels, that source of change has been completely abolished. Nevertheless, the changes that persist in modern cathodes often are indirect effects of light that can be produced independent of any photoelectric current. The chief sources of instability in the Elster-Geitel cell arose from changes in the cathode caused by change of temperature or bombardment by positive ions and changes in the field as a result of charges on the walls of the cell. These changes are connected with the incidence of light and the passage of a photoelectric current because light is usually accompanied by heat and because a photoelectric current may generate positive ions. As long as the constitution of a cathode is unchanged, its emission is independent of temperature within wide limits, except in the neighborhood of the threshold; however, change of temperature may alter its constitution by causing the evaporation or deposit of surface films. Positive ion bombardment may produce the same effects as rise of temperature as well as other effects. Those cathodes that are least stable are ones whose emission depends most closely on the presence of volatile surface layers. Plain metals are relatively stable. Metals sensitized by the Elster-Geitel process are very unstable. First, these metals are subject to chemical change. The alkali metal absorbs hydrogen on its surface during sensitization; this hydrogen tends to diffuse into the unchanged potassium below. If a cell is badly prepared, the hydrogen may diffuse away entirely, leaving the surface bright once more; although this diffusion does not occur in a well-prepared cell, progressive change in sensitivity—usually a loss—might occur over long periods of time. Second, heating of the cathode causes the alkali metal to distill to the cooler parts of the cell and produces an irreversible change in its sensitivity. Cooling of the cathode (less usual) may cause the reverse change, but not a restoration of the original sensitivity. Such changes of temperature of the cathode relative to the rest of the cell are most likely to occur when the cathode is supported in the center and is therefore highly insulated.
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ing search for alternative energy sources; for example, they have been used to transform solar radiation into other forms of energy. — Genevieve Slomski Further Reading Campbell, Norman Robert, and Dorothy Ritchie. Photoelectric Cells: Their Properties, Use, and Applications. 3d ed. London: Pitman, 1934. Although dated, this informative book discusses the theory of photoelectricity, contemporary technical advances in the field (including Elster and Geitel’s photocell), and applications that introduce or illustrate important principles. Includes illustrations, graphs, and references following each chapter. Lange, Bruno. Photoelements and Their Application. Translated by Ancel St. John. New York: Reinhold, 1938. An early digest of knowledge in the field of photoelectricity. Written for the layperson as well as the engineer or scientist, gives a useful historical introduction to the development of photoelectricity. Includes graphs, charts, illustrations, and bibliography. Morgan, Bryan. Men and Discoveries in Electricity. London: John Murray, 1952. Provides an overview of the history of electricity and magnetism. Focuses on the work of scientists whose work has shaped that history, discussing their work in the larger context of the history of ideas that led up to and followed their breakthrough discoveries. Includes copious illustrations and an appendix listing the most notable scientists in the field of electricity up to the 1950’s. Sommer, A. Photoelectric Cells. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Chemical Publishing, 1947. This very brief work is devoted entirely to photoelectric cells of the emission type, as opposed to cells of the barrier-layer and photoconducting types. A brief survey of the principles of photoelectric emission is followed by a more detailed description of the manufacture of photocathodes. Includes numerous graphs and illustrations as well as a bibliography. Summer, W. Photosensitors. London: Chapman & Hall, 1957. Presents useful information on the wide range of photoelectric devices that were in use at the time of publication. Also of interest is the discussion of the many applications of these devices to industry. Includes many illustrations and a bibliography. See also: Early 20th cent.: Elster and Geitel Study Radioactivity; Mar., 1905: Einstein Describes the Photoelectric Effect; Fall, 1905: Einstein States His Theory of Special Relativity. 285
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Significance The Elster-Geitel photocell was for some twenty years used in all emission cells adapted for the visible spectrum, and throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, the photoelectric cell had a wide variety of applications in numerous fields. For example, if products leaving a factory on a conveyor belt are passed between a light and a cell, they can be counted as they interrupt the beam. Personnel entering a building can be counted also, and if invisible ultraviolet rays are used, they can be detected without their knowledge. Simple relay circuits can be arranged to switch on streetlights automatically when it grows dark. The sensitivity of a cell with an amplifying circuit enables it to “see” objects too faint for the human eye, such as minor stars and certain lines in the spectra of elements excited by a flame or a discharge. The fact that the current depends on the intensity of the light made possible the development of photoelectric meters that can judge the strength of illumination without human error—for example, in order to get the right exposure for a photograph. Throughout the history of science, men and women have searched for devices more reliable than their own faculties for estimating size, weight, temperature, loudness, and so on; with the photoelectric meter, light joined the list. The cell also made talking motion pictures possible. The earlier systems for making films with sound had depended on gramophone records, but it was very difficult to keep the records in sync with the action on the film. With the development of the photocell, it became possible to record the waves of speech and music in a “sound track” by turning the sound into current through a microphone and then into light with a neon tube or magnetic shutter and photographing the variations in the intensity of this light on the side of the film. Through the reverse process of running the film between a light and a photoelectric cell, the visual signals could be converted back to sound. John Logie Baird used the photoelectric cell in developing the television process in the early 1920’s. In his “scanning” system, light from each part of the transmitted picture had to be taken in turn, sent through a single set of instruments, and built up again in the same order. This gave a steady-looking final image, despite the fact that at any one time only a single small area of it was lit, thanks to the persistence of vision of the human eye. If each picture succeeded the one before at the rate of about sixteen pictures per second, the viewer would have no more sense of discontinuity than when watching a film. Photoelectric cells have also played a role in the ongo-
First Practical Photoelectric Cell Is Developed
Freud Advances the Psychoanalytic Method
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Freud Advances the Psychoanalytic Method In his 1904 work The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Freud erected the third and final theoretical pillar of the future psychoanalytic movement by analyzing parapraxes: things we say, write, or do that are contrary to our conscious intentions. Also known as: Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens; The Psychopathology of Everyday Life Locale: Vienna, Austria Categories: Psychology and psychiatry; publishing and journalism Key Figures Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), founder of the international psychoanalytic movement Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893), celebrated neurologist with whom Freud studied Josef Breuer (1842-1925), prominent Austrian psychoanalyst and physiologist Ernest Jones (1879-1958), author of a detailed intellectual biography of Freud Carl Jung (1875-1961), Swiss psychologist and academic comparative anthropologist and Freud’s chosen successor Summary of Event Sigmund Freud claimed that parapraxes—actions, words, and ideas that emerge contrary to conscious intentions and that seem absurd, embarrassing, or self-defeating—betray the existence of a dynamic, independent unconscious life where infantile, inadmissible impulses from the id (the unconscious) rebel against the stifling censorship of the superego, the internalized conscience inculcated in people as children. The outcome of this lifelong struggle, Freud believed, was the creation of an internal compromise in which shameful, primitive parts of the self are concealed in symbolic forms. These disguises allow us to remain comfortably unaware of our impulses while providing clues that can unveil our hidden desires through conversations with a skilled cointerpreter, the analyst. Freud gradually developed the psychoanalytic movement. He was an intensely inquisitive thinker with wideranging interests, and he frequently revised his ideas. Until his mid-forties, he was profoundly influenced by a series of famous mentors, and he slowly synthesized what he had learned from them. As often happens, it was his disciples, not he, who became dogmatic. His pursuit 286
of his broad interests meant that Freud spent eight years (from 1873 to 1881) rather than five studying to become a doctor. During the last four of those years, he trained as a neurologist with the renowned Ernst Brücke, conducting research that anticipated modern views of neurons (nerve cells). From that time onward, Freud would follow many paths to find cures for the mental illnesses that we today call neuroses and personality disorders. (He never claimed to be able to treat psychotics.) As a resident at the Vienna General Hospital (1881-1886), Freud experimented with psychoactive drugs to alleviate depression. He found that cocaine relieved many symptoms of depression but was horrified when several of his patients became addicted and one died of an overdose. After his studies with Jean-Martin Charcot, who was well known for his interest in hypnosis, Freud opened a private practice in Vienna. At the same time, he researched hysteria with Josef Breuer; their collaboration lasted from 1886 to 1895. Freud published several papers on hysteria, which was first known as a “conversion disorder” and later came to be understood as the manifestation of inner conflicts. These conflicts, it was believed, were too deeply buried or too painful to be expressed in words, and so they took the form of physical symptoms such as rashes, convulsions, temporary blindness, or localized paralysis. Late nineteenth century views on hysteria, it is now known, were distorted, because most of the patients observed were wards of the state in public hospitals, usually indigent women who were often displayed to visitors on tours and secretly rewarded for interesting, spectacular displays of pathology. In recent years, the diagnostic category of hysteria has disappeared from standard psychiatric desk-reference works. Nevertheless, similar problems still occur, especially in victims of post-traumatic stress disorder. Freud hoped he had discovered an effective nonpharmacological treatment for hysteria when he watched the celebrated hypnotist Hippolyte Bernheim at work in Nancy, France, for several weeks during the summer of 1889. He realized that some forms of mental activity are performed unconsciously and began incorporating hypnotism in his own practice. When he discovered that the improvements it produced were not lasting, however, he became disillusioned, and he slowly replaced hypnosis with the “talking cure,” in which patients engaged in free association. Freud learned that such explorations often uncovered repressed sexuality and infantile thinking at
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Freud Advances the Psychoanalytic Method names, and so forth). He concluded that there were few true accidents and that most parapraxes were unconsciously caused by repressed wishes. Freud was named professor at the University of Vienna in 1902. His psychiatric practice expanded greatly, and he had no more financial worries. That fall, he founded a weekly discussion group with other psychiatrists, including Alfred Adler, who first posited the “inferiority complex.” Other prominent thinkers soon joined, such as Otto Rank (in 1906), Sandor Ferenczi (in 1908), and Hanns Sachs (in 1910). Carl Jung occasionally visited. The body grew into the Vienna Psycho-Analytical Society, and its twenty-two members maintained a substantial library until the group was outlawed and the books destroyed by the Nazis in 1938. After paying a heavy ransom, Freud and his family were allowed to emigrate to England.
Sigmund Freud. (Library of Congress)
Further Reading Beizer, Janet. Ventriloquized Bodies: Narratives of Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century France. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1994. A beautifully written, carefully researched account of gender bias in early 287
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the root of emotional problems. His hesitant development of psychoanalysis can be traced in his letters to a close friend, the Berlin doctor Wilhelm Fliess, from 1887 to 1902. During the period 1897-1900, Freud undertook intensive self-analysis from which many of his examples of dreams and parapraxes emerge; he would spend half an hour each day analyzing himself for the rest of his life. At the same time, he prepared his masterpiece, Die Traumdeutung (1900; The Interpretation of Dreams, 1913), published in November, 1899, but postdated 1900. In it, he concluded that the unconscious mental life revealed in dreams contained rich symbolic clues— inscribed in both personal and collective languages—to childhood experiences and to repressed feelings. In 1900, Freud coined the term “psychoanalyze” to characterize his analysis of the central core of the personality. His final step was to expand the theories concerned with the unintended acts of dream experiences to other areas of life: saying and writing things that are not intended, having accidents, and forgetting things one is supposed to do or objects that could help one do or remember such things (car keys, office keys, appointment books, shopping lists, telephone numbers, people’s
Significance The actual text of Freud’s Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens (1904; The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, 1914) is diffuse and anecdotal; the work reads more like clinical notes than a reasoned argument. Its homey examples, however, many of which came from Freud’s own lived experience, introduced both analysts and the general public to a widely and readily applicable method. Freud’s previous sources of psychological insight had been more limited: Hysteria was much less common than neurosis, and it was less likely to be found outside institutions. Furthermore, dreams were remembered only infrequently by most clients, and many of their details remained mysterious and required intricate, speculative interpretations that were not always convincing to outsiders. The self-inflicted accidents of everyday life, such as embarrassingly obvious slips of the tongue, were much harder to dismiss as meaningless, and they were relevant to the experiences of both well-adjusted and unhappy people. Therefore, the study of these parapraxes provided a broad, plausible base for psychoanalysis. From the 1920’s on, many British psychotherapists visited Freud in Vienna to be analyzed, and through them the movement spread to the United States during the 1930’s. Only in the late twentieth century, however, did Freud’s wish that lay (non-M.D.) analysts be allowed to practice become fulfilled widely in the United States. —Laurence M. Porter
Hartmann Discovers the First Evidence of Interstellar Matter perceptions of hysteria. This bias resulted in unsound conclusions by Freud and other early analysts. Bettleheim, Bruno. Freud and Man’s Soul. 1982. Reprint. New York: Vintage, 1984. Deliberate English mistranslations transform Freud from a homey, mystical philosopher into a science-oriented technologist. Bucci, Wilma. Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science: A Multiple Code Theory. New York: Guilford Press, 1997. Discusses Freud’s views of the many-stranded channels of perception that form our awareness of our world and ourselves. Ellenberger, Henri F. The Discovery of the Unconscious: The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychology. New York: Basic Books, 1970. Corrects Ernest Jones’s biography on many points; explains Freud’s importance in the history of ideas; treats rival psychoanalytic schools. Freud, Sigmund. The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. Translated by Alan Tyson, edited by James Strachey. New York: W. W. Norton, 1966. More convenient to use than the standard edition. Gossy, Mary S. Freudian Slips: Woman, Writing, the Foreign Tongue. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995. Relates such slips, including Freud’s
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 own, to issues raised by the female body eluding patriarchal control. Jones, Ernest. The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud. 3 vols. New York: Basic Books, 1953-1957. This definitive biography, by Freud’s lifelong associate, contains some errors based on Freud’s own statements. Miller, Laurence. Freud’s Brain: Neuropsychodynamic Foundations of Psychoanalysis. New York: Guilford Press, 1991. Discusses hysteria, dreams, and parapraxes (slips) as the three pillars of psychoanalytic theory. See parts 4 and 5. Neu, Jerome, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Freud. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. See chapters 5, on the unconscious, and 13, on Adolf Grünbaum’s attack on Freud’s theory of parapraxes. Porter, Laurence M. The Interpretation of Dreams: Freud’s Theories Revisited. Boston: Twayne, 1987. Explains the importance of dream research in the development of psychoanalysis, and evaluates later challenges to Freud’s theories. See also: 1902: James Proposes a Rational Basis for Religious Experience; 1912: Jung Publishes The Psychology of the Unconscious; 1930’s: Jung Develops Analytical Psychology.
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Hartmann Discovers the First Evidence of Interstellar Matter Johannes Franz Hartmann discovered the first indications that matter is present between the stars. Locale: Potsdam, Germany Categories: Science and technology; astronomy Key Figures Johannes Franz Hartmann (1865-1936), German astronomer Henri-Alexandre Deslandres (1853-1948), French astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard (1857-1923), American astronomer Vesto Melvin Slipher (1875-1969), American astronomer Edwin Brant Frost (1866-1935), American astronomer Summary of Event Astronomy changed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rather than studying only the mo288
tions and positions of heavenly bodies, astronomers utilized new tools that enabled them to learn about the physical composition of the heavens, from stars to Earth’s galaxy itself. Johannes Franz Hartmann found the first evidence that the Milky Way galaxy contains diffuse interstellar matter as well as the stars and planets, which form discrete objects. The discovery that matter exists between the stars had implications for many areas in astronomy, from the debate over the nature of the Milky Way to the question of the beginnings of the solar system. The work of many astronomers contributed to the knowledge of interstellar matter. Spectroscopy was among the new tools that were important to astronomy in this time period. The spectroscope is an instrument that breaks starlight down into its component parts (its spectrum) by passing the light through a prism or reflecting it from a finely ruled grating. Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was the first to realize that white light is composed of light of many colors, or
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Hartmann Discovers the First Evidence of Interstellar Matter Some double-star systems, such as Delta Orionis, appear edge-on or partially edge-on in the sky, and thus the stars in these systems, as they orbit one another, are moving alternately toward and away from Earth. This motion results in Doppler shifts alternately toward the redward and the blueward, such as those observed by Hartmann. Antonia Maury at Harvard College Observatory later used this information to identify as double stars those that display the Doppler shifts but visually do not appear double. The motion of the double stars explained the type of shift (redward and then blueward) observed for most of the spectral lines in Delta Orionis. It did not, however, explain the lines that had a different Doppler motion, one that did not move the lines from redward to blueward and back but moved the lines in the same direction and by the same amount in a constant manner. Hartmann called these lines stationary because they must be caused by matter that is stationary relative to the rest of the doublestar system. The obvious explanation was that the lines were caused by a massive component of the double-star system that was so heavy relative to the other components that, for practical purposes, it could be considered the center of mass around which the other stars revolved; at the same time, it remained essentially motionless with respect to the rest of the system. The unchanging Doppler shift would represent, then, the motion of the entire system with respect to Earth. Hartmann carefully ruled out this explanation, however, as well as the possibility that Earth’s atmosphere was responsible for producing the lines. The possibility remained that an immobile cloud of matter was producing the lines. Because the lines were of the appropriate wavelength for the element calcium, Hartmann concluded that a cloud of calcium gas was causing the lines. He was not sure where the calcium was located, however. He believed it could be situated somewhere between Earth and the double-star system and unconnected with the double stars, or it could be part of the double-star system. Other astronomers addressed and resolved these questions years after Hartmann’s original discovery. Hartmann had also observed stationary spectral lines in the spectrum of Nova Persei, a nova that occurred in 1901. He suggested that perhaps these lines were the product of clouds of matter that bore some relation to the dark clouds that Edward Emerson Barnard had observed in photographs of the Milky Way. Barnard experienced many years of doubt and confusion before he came to the conclusion finally that the dark spots he saw in his photographs indicated the presence of cold dark matter that 289
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wavelengths, which blend together and appear white. Astronomers can use the colors and dark bands of an object’s spectrum to determine its chemical composition and many other properties. In particular, the spectrum of a star reveals its velocity along a line of sight to the observer (its radial velocity) and the velocity with which it turns on its axis (its rotational velocity). The dark lines appearing in a star’s spectrum reveal the presence of particular elements, each of which produces its own distinctive pattern of lines at particular wavelengths in the spectrum. The atoms of each element can absorb light at several specific wavelengths only, and as light from a radiating object passes through a gas, the atoms of various elements in the gas absorb light at their own peculiar wavelengths. This absorption of light causes the dark bands, and once the wavelength at which a band occurs is measured, the element responsible for the band can be determined. Thus it is possible to identify the elements in a star’s atmosphere or in any other cloud of gas intervening between the observer and the rest of the star. In 1900, Henri-Alexandre Deslandres discovered that lines in the spectrum of the star Theta Orionis were undergoing rapid changes in their positions in relation to the rest of the spectrum. Hartmann followed up this observation at the Potsdam Astrophysical Observatory, where state-of-the-art spectrographs were well suited for studying this phenomenon. Hartmann found changes in position of spectral lines for the star Delta Orionis. He found slow shifts, however, rather than the rapid shifts described by Deslandres. He also discovered that some of the lines did not shift in the same way as the rest of the lines, but instead demonstrated a different type of motion relative to the motion of the other spectral lines. The reason for the motion of all the spectral lines turned out to be the Doppler effect. As an object that is emitting waves (for example, light waves) approaches an observer, the waves appear bunched together, and the wavelength appears shorter than it really is (light appears to have shorter wavelengths and looks bluer; sounds seem to be higher pitched). Conversely, as a waveemitting object recedes from an observer, the waves appear stretched out and the wavelength appears longer than it really is (light appears to have longer wavelengths and looks redder; sounds seem to be lower pitched). The amount by which the light or sound is shifted in wavelength is related to the velocity of the moving object. This effect, which can appear to shift the lines in a star’s spectrum either redward or blueward, is the tool astronomers use to measure the velocity of an individual star along the line of sight to the star (its radial velocity).
Hartmann Discovers the First Evidence of Interstellar Matter blocked out the light of stars behind them, rather than merely gaps in the sky where no stars were to be found. Barnard’s work was a long chapter in the discovery of interstellar matter; Hartmann’s discovery of stationary lines provided the first direct evidence for clouds of gaseous matter independent of any stars or star systems. Today, several areas of astronomy are aided by knowledge of gaseous and particulate interstellar matter and the ramifications of this matter. Unfortunately, the importance of Hartmann’s work essentially went unrecognized for many years. Significance Hartmann’s discovery of the stationary lines was only one step in a long story. Vesto Melvin Slipher at the Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Edwin Brant Frost at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin confirmed Hartmann’s work. Slipher made more observations of Delta Orionis and was the first to suggest that it was truly interstellar matter that was responsible for the lines. (Hartmann’s supposition had been that the matter was associated with the double-star system, although not linked to it.) In 1909, Frost observed other stars with spectra that also displayed stationary lines. Some astronomers disagreed with Hartmann, Slipher, and Frost about the nature of the lines and used several observations to argue that the lines were, in fact, connected with the stars in question rather than interstellar in nature. Reynold Kenneth Young noted in 1920 that stationary lines appeared only in the spectra of relatively young stars and argued from this relationship between stellar type and presence of the lines that there must be some connection between the star and the calcium gas causing the lines. Also, Oliver Justin Lee presented a doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago on the orbit of a double star in which he interpreted some of his data as evidence that the calcium gas was connected with the double-star system and could, in fact, explain some peculiarities in the way the velocities of the stars changed over time. This seemed to indicate that the lines were stellar rather than interstellar in origin. In the late 1920’s, Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington and Otto Struve presented work that finally settled the nature of the stationary lines and resolved the question of the existence of interstellar matter. Several papers that Struve wrote on the calcium lines in stellar spectra stimulated much discussion and led to the acceptance of interstellar matter as the most satisfactory explanation for the stationary lines. Eddington explained why the lines appeared only in relatively young stars by showing that 290
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 older stars have spectra that would not reveal the presence of the stationary lines easily, even when they were present. Eddington ignored Lee’s work, as no one had been able to confirm his findings. More than twenty years after Hartmann’s original discovery, astronomers accepted the existence of clouds of interstellar calcium. The presence of interstellar matter had ramifications for various studies in astronomy. For example, when interstellar matter appears in the form of dust, it absorbs some of the light from stars and makes stars appear dimmer (and more distant) than they really are. This knowledge affected the distance scale astronomers devised for the universe. Also, interstellar matter plays an important role in theories of how stars form because it provides the material for star formation. Because these clouds move around the galactic center, their motion, when measured, can give indications of the speed and direction of galactic rotation. Thus Hartmann’s seminal discovery had far-reaching effects on the science of astronomy. — Mary Hrovat Further Reading Asimov, Isaac. “Stellar Evolution.” In The Universe from Flat Earth to Quasar. Rev. ed. New York: Walker, 1971. Concise summary of interstellar matter’s detection and implications for theories of star formation, presented in Asimov’s enjoyable style. Clearly explains Hartmann’s work in the context of stellar formation from interstellar gas and dust. Includes diagram and list of suggested readings. Berendzen, Richard, Richard Hart, and Daniel Seeley. Man Discovers the Galaxies. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. Focuses on early twentieth century discoveries about the nature of the Milky Way and other galaxies. Presents some information on Hartmann’s work, set in the context of galactic studies at the time, as well as the work done by astronomers who followed up on Hartmann’s original discovery. Uses original documents to help bring the events described to life. Includes photographs, drawings, and graphs. Mitton, Simon, ed. The Cambridge Encyclopædia of Astronomy. New York: Crown, 1977. Several chapters of this standard handbook on astronomy discuss interstellar matter, both gaseous and dusty, its detection, and its role in star formation. Explains how absorption lines (such as the stationary lines) are formed. Includes many drawings, charts, and photographs, as well as an appendix containing brief explanations of
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 some of the physical concepts discussed in the text. Struve, Otto, and Velta Zebergs. Astronomy of the Twentieth Century. New York: Macmillan, 1962. Cowritten by Struve, who participated in some of the events connected with Hartmann’s work. Contains a chapter on interstellar matter and how it was discovered, including Hartmann’s work. One of the best sources for material on the history of twentieth century astronomy. Includes photographs (some of spectrographs in which “stationary lines” appear), graphs, drawings, and bibliography. Verschuur, Gerrit L. Interstellar Matters: Essays on Curiosity and Astronomical Discovery. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1989. Excellent, well-written history of the circuitous path astronomers took to arrive
Kapteyn Discovers Two Star Streams in the Galaxy at the present knowledge of interstellar matter, gaseous and dusty. Presents details about Hartmann’s work and how it was interpreted by other astronomers, as well as about many other astronomers’ contributions to the story of interstellar matter. Includes photographs, graphs, and drawings. Zeilik, Michael, and Stephen A. Gregory. Introductory Astronomy and Astrophysics. 4th ed. Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 1997. This introductory text provides a useful overview of general astronomy, including basic spectral issues. See also: Dec., 1913: Russell Announces His Theory of Stellar Evolution; July, 1926: Eddington Publishes The Internal Constitution of the Stars.
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Kapteyn Discovers Two Star Streams in the Galaxy Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn discovered that the proper motions of stars were not randomly distributed but tended in two opposite directions, implying the rotation of the Milky Way galaxy. Locale: Groningen, the Netherlands Categories: Science and technology; astronomy
Summary of Event Following several years of study of the structure of the Milky Way galaxy, Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn concluded, on the basis of exhaustive star counts in sampled portions of the sky, that the proper motions (perpendicular to the line of sight) of the stars were not randomly distributed. To his own satisfaction, Kapteyn confirmed previous perceptions of the Milky Way as a flattened ellipsoid (a lenslike shape). However, because gas and dust toward the center of the galaxy distorted his counting in that direction, he incorrectly placed the solar system relatively near the center of the Milky Way. Having constructed what he believed was a correct view of Earth’s galaxy, Kapteyn then measured the proper motions of many stars for the purpose of verifying
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Key Figures Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn (1851-1922), Dutch astronomer Harlow Shapley (1885-1972), American astronomer Heber Doust Curtis (1872-1942), American astronomer
that these were randomly distributed, as theory indicated. Instead, he discovered systematic departures from randomness, with the stars showing movement in opposite directions in different parts of the sky. The two streams of movement of the stars implied that the Milky Way is not static, with the Sun near the center of random individual stellar motions. Kapteyn’s discovery had major cosmological implications, most obvious among them being that the Milky Way is a rotating galaxy. The originator of this great discovery was well prepared, both in temperament and in education, to contribute to the development of modern astronomy. Kapteyn, one of fifteen children, was the son of a boarding school proprietor who stimulated his interest in physics. He studied at the University of Utrecht and was awarded a doctorate in physics in 1875. Following completion of his studies, he pursued a position at the Leiden Observatory, where he became a successful astronomer. By 1878, he had won a professorship in astronomy at the University of Groningen. When he arrived at Groningen, however, he was unable to raise funding to equip an observatory. Undaunted, he became a world leader in arranging collaboration with other astronomers, notably with Sir David Gill at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. From 1885 to 1899, he analyzed photographic plates taken by Gill and assisted in producing a star catalog with nearly a half million entries. He later continued studies as a visiting astronomer at the Mount Wilson Observatory near Pasadena, California.
Kapteyn Discovers Two Star Streams in the Galaxy While still at Leiden, Kapteyn became interested in the structure of the universe, a topic he pursued throughout his career. His primary method of study consisted of counting stars at the different levels of brightness, his underlying assumption being that the measured brightness of stars was a statistically reliable means of assessing their distance. Through this method he made the first major advance since the work of Sir William Herschel a century before. Herschel resolved some “nebulas” into star clusters and consequently believed that all nebulas would eventually be resolved, with some located outside Earth’s galaxy. Kapteyn also accepted the nebulas or unresolved patches of light in the sky as “island universes” outside our own galaxy. The thinning of star counts away from the plane of the Milky Way implied to Kapteyn an ellipsoid-shaped galaxy. In the midst of these studies, he found the two star streams. If the Milky Way were essentially a static collection of stars, then theoretically their motions across the line of sight (proper motions) ought to be randomly distributed.
Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn. (Yerkes Observatory, University of Chicago)
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Only those stars relatively close to the earth have measurable proper motions, but there were enough of these by the early part of the twentieth century that Kapteyn could analyze them statistically. The result was that he found consistent displacement in two opposite directions for neighboring stars. The motions, toward the constellations Orion and Sagittarius, implied what he called the “streaming” of stars or a pattern of movement that indicated that stars were moving in opposite directions. In 1904, Kapteyn announced his discovery at the International Congress of Science at the World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. Desiring to follow up these early discoveries, Kapteyn devoted much of his time after 1904 to attempts to organize the worldwide astronomical community in cooperative efforts to photograph and analyze 206 different portions of the night sky. These studies focused on magnitude, color, proper motion, radial velocity (along the line of sight), and spectral type. Before he was able to arrange for the full implementation of his plan, World War I largely ended international cooperation, but he did succeed in generating enough information to convince himself that he was correct about the ellipsoidal shape of the Milky Way. He estimated that the major axis and the minor axis of the ellipsoid were related by the ratio of five to one, the major axis measuring approximately 52,000 light years. His main concern about the accuracy of his model was the central location of the Sun, a point that also caused other astronomers to question the model because of this apparent favored position. Kapteyn was also deeply concerned about the effects on his model of the absorption of light by gas and dust. He realized that appreciable absorption in the direction of the galactic center would have caused his central position for the Sun to be wrong and, more important, would have caused him to underestimate the size of the Milky Way. As a result, he repeatedly sought some means of measuring the amount of absorption. Having failed to measure any sizable amounts by 1918, he convinced himself that it was negligible and his model accurate. Kapteyn’s inability to measure the effects of obscuration of light in the direction of the galactic plane did cause him to underestimate seriously the size of the Milky Way. Harlow Shapley, who was studying many of the same problems as Kapteyn at Mount Wilson in California, proposed a much larger universe on the basis of his study of clusters of stars (Globular clusters) and Cepheid variables (stars of fluctuating brightness). The superior equipment that had resolved the clusters into individual stars led Shapley to conclude that all the nebu-
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Significance Kapteyn’s efforts in the early part of the twentieth century demonstrate clearly that careful observation and experimentation have exceptional value, even if the interpretation is erroneous. On the basis of methodical observation and careful statistical analysis of star counts from sampled regions of the sky, Kapteyn constructed a model of the Milky Way in the shape of a lens. The galaxy was rotating, as demonstrated by his discovery of the two star streams, with the earth in a position near the center. The Kapteyn universe provided a framework for the explanation of astronomical observations that served scientists well at the beginning of the century. Kapteyn’s view of the universe dominated the first
two decades of the twentieth century. His work significantly affected the cosmology of the day, especially his view of the nebulas as “island universes” beyond the bounds of the Milky Way. When this perspective was combined with the high radial velocities of the nebulas, it eventually contributed to Georges Lemaître’s cosmology of the mid-1920’s, which was, in turn, an antecedent of the currently accepted big bang cosmology. His discovery of the two star streams contributed to the establishment of the rotation of the Milky Way, although he incorrectly placed the Sun at the center and believed the streams were the result of passage of stars on either side of Earth. Kapteyn’s model was inaccurate for a variety of reasons, the most important of which was the obscuring effect of gas and dust toward the center of the Milky Way. His failure to measure obscuration successfully caused him to be overly confident in his star counts in that direction, and he searched for alternative explanations for Shapley’s research findings and disputed those findings until his death. Shapley, in turn, erred in his interpretation of the nebulas because he depended on erroneous rotational measurements for the nebulas. In less than a decade, however, further research resolved the conflict of the early 1920’s. By the late 1920’s, as the result of work by Bertil Lindblad, Jan Hendrik Oort, and Edwin Powell Hubble, a more accurate picture emerged of our galaxy as a spiral rotating in the same fashion as the other exterior galaxies. In 1927, Oort, a former student of Kapteyn, demonstrated (once the Sun’s position near the edge of the Milky Way was established) that the apparent motion in one direction was the result of the Sun’s lagging behind stars nearer the center. The motion in the opposite direction was the result of slower outer stars’ falling behind the Sun. Kapteyn’s universe was superseded by research it had stimulated. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Kapteyn’s influence greatly enhanced interest in galactic astronomy, which had been somewhat eclipsed by emphasis on planetary studies at the end of the nineteenth century. Kapteyn also set a fine example of the advantages of cooperative efforts among astronomers. Although he was utterly confident in the value of his star counts and overly committed to his method (soon superseded by better methods and newer, more powerful equipment), he made an essential contribution to later cosmological studies. —Ivan L. Zabilka 293
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losities might eventually be resolved and that they could be a part of the galaxy. By 1914, Shapley had established that all the globular clusters were in one direction; thus he concluded that they surrounded the center of the Milky Way, and he necessarily placed the Sun at the edge. If the universe were the size Kapteyn indicated, the clusters would have been outside the Milky Way, but Shapley was confident in his distance measurements based on the brightest stars and the Cepheid variables. He was also confident in his interpretation of the cause of their asymmetrical location. The implication followed that the streaming of the stars, which was firmly established, would have to be reinterpreted in a new fashion to fit the data. The divergence of Shapley’s views from Kapteyn’s, including Shapley’s much larger estimates of the scale of the universe, led to conflict between Shapley and astronomer Heber Doust Curtis and resulted in a public debate at the annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., on April 26, 1920. Shapley presented his views while Curtis defended the perspectives of Kapteyn’s followers. Both sides, later discoveries would show, were partially right and partially wrong. Kapteyn’s view of the “nebulas” as island universes was eventually established (even by 1914 Curtis had already noted the high radial velocity of some of the spirals, implying their distance and recession from the earth), and Shapley’s views of the dimensions of the Milky Way were found to be more accurate. This debate served to place Kapteyn at the center of the cosmological questions of the day. His interpretation of the physical cause of the streaming effect may have turned out to be only partially correct, but that does not minimize the significance of his achievement in recognizing the reality of the streaming.
Kapteyn Discovers Two Star Streams in the Galaxy
Kapteyn Discovers Two Star Streams in the Galaxy Further Reading Berendzen, Richard, Richard Hart, and Daniel Seeley. Man Discovers the Galaxies. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. A major survey of historical cosmology. The first five chapters present a fairly complete picture of Kapteyn’s work as it relates to the work of other astronomers of the period. Kapteyn, Jacobus Cornelius. “Discovery of the Two Star Streams.” In Source Book in Astronomy, 1900-1950, edited by Harlow Shapley. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1960. This is an excerpt from a paper presented to the South African meeting of the British Association in 1905. It recounts briefly Kapteyn’s procedures for discovering the two star streams. _______. “First Attempt at a Theory of the Arrangement and Motion of the Sidereal System.” Astrophysical Journal 55 (1922): 302-327. Significant because it is the last and best statement of Kapteyn’s perspective on the significance of his discovery of star streaming. Unfortunately, given that Shapley turned out to be closer to the truth about the size of the Milky Way, it was already out of date when it was published. Somewhat technical, but accessible to the general reader. _______. “On the Absorption of Light in Space.” Astrophysical Journal 29 and 30 (1909): 47-54, 163-196. Kapteyn summarizes his efforts to establish the amount of absorption of light by gas and dust. Presents the evidence that encouraged him to maintain that the Sun was near the center of the Milky Way and that his interpretation of the two streams was correct. Moderately technical, but worth the effort to understand the seriousness with which he regarded the problem. _______. Plan of Selected Areas. Groningen, the Netherlands: Hoitsema Brothers, 1906. An explanation of what Kapteyn wished to accomplish by means of co-
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 operative surveys of 206 regions of the sky by observatories in various parts of the world. The project was to form a database for his statistical studies, which have caused some to call Kapteyn the father of statistical astronomy. Kapteyn, Jacobus Cornelius, and Pieter J. Van Rhijn. “The Proper Motions of the Cepheid Stars and the Distances of the Globular Clusters.” Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of the Netherlands 1 (1922): 37. Kapteyn’s main effort, an attempt to establish two classes of Cepheids, one dimmer than the other, to defend his position against the newer evidence Shapley was marshaling against Kapteyn’s model of the size of the universe and the location of the Sun, which affected the interpretation of the two star streams. Paul, E. Robert. “J. C. Kapteyn and the Early TwentiethCentury Universe.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 17 (August, 1986): 155-182. A major historical study of the significance of Kapteyn’s work. Presents an almost wistful regret that one who contributed so much to the development of statistical astronomy could have been incorrect about the shape and size of the Milky Way. Van Der Kruit, P. C., and Klaas Van Berkel, eds. The Legacy of J. C. Kapteyn: Studies on Kapteyn and the Development of Modern Astronomy. New York: Springer, 2000. Contributors address Kapteyn’s influence on the development of modern astronomy, including his leadership in establishing collaboration among astronomers around the world. Includes an inventory of Kapteyn’s correspondence. See also: Jan. 8, 1918: Shapley Proves the Sun Is Distant from the Center of Our Galaxy; July, 1926: Eddington Publishes The Internal Constitution of the Stars; 1927: Oort Proves the Spiral Structure of the Milky Way.
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Bartók and Kodály Collect Hungarian Folk Songs
1904-1905
Bartók and Kodály Collect Hungarian Folk Songs Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály began collecting Hungarian folk songs and were able to transcribe and analyze them accurately, initiating the scientific study of folk music. Locale: Hungary Category: Music Key Figures Béla Bartók (1881-1945), Hungarian classical composer and pioneer ethnomusicologist Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967), Hungarian classical composer and pioneer ethnomusicologist Béla Vikár (1859-1945), Hungarian ethnographer and expert in folk poetry
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Summary of Event In the summer of 1904, Béla Bartók heard a young girl singing Transylvanian folk songs in a small rural village and quickly wrote them down. A new world of sound opened up to him. Applying for a state grant to collect more songs, in 1905 he began to record on cylinders the authentic Magyar folk songs of the Hungarian people. Having fortuitously met fellow folk song enthusiast Zoltán Kodály in the same year, Bartók went out with Kodály to collect thousands of songs and dances among the peasants of Hungary over the next decade. Both men had been trained in the classical traditions of Western harmony and sonata form. Composers such as Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, and Richard Strauss had been their models in composition. The new worlds of melody and rhythm found in the Hungarian folk songs struck them like thunderbolts. Here in their own homeland was a different kind of music. As they amassed, separately and together, thousands of tunes from Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, and Bulgarian singers and instrumentalists, they realized that they had discovered the authentic folk music of Hungary and that it operated along tonal and rhythmic lines different from both the traditional classical music they had played and composed and the so-called Gypsy music that passed in Hungary and elsewhere at the time as folk music. Kodály became interested in folk song a bit earlier than did Bartók. In 1905, he finished a doctoral dissertation on the structure of Hungarian folk songs. He had begun to listen to the folk songs recorded in 1896 on cylinders by ethnographer Béla Vikár. After introducing Bartók to these earlier recordings, Kodály set about tran-
scribing their tunes with Bartók’s help. Kodály and Bartók were determined to carry on where Vikár had left off; they wanted to uncover the total body of living folk song in Hungary. They sensed that what passed for genuine folk song among the general public was basically watered-down fragments. Whether in the music of Gypsy bands playing for middle-class urban audiences in Hungary and abroad or in the appearance of folk-derived melodies in classical music, compromises had been made to fit the folk melodies within conventional harmonic bounds. Nationalistic composers of the nineteenth century had tried to incorporate some folk songs into their works. Popular pieces such as Brahms’s Hungarian Dances (1869) and Antonín Dvoòák’s Slavonic Dances (1878, 1886), as well as the efforts of other musical nationalists, indicated a willingness to explore roots and folk heritages, but for Bartók and Kodály, this movement was not enough. With their growing concern for establishing a distinctive Hungarian art apart from the generally accepted musical models emanating from Austria’s capital, Vienna, and from Germany, they believed that new materials and new manners of composing and listening had to be forged out of fieldwork, recording, and analysis. For a decade, beginning in 1905, Bartók and Kodály traveled the length and breadth of Hungary, sometimes together but often separately, trying to gather as much of the music as they could before it died out among the peasants, who would soon be modernized from creators and performers of music into more passive consumers of it. They discovered a harsh and ancient music that to them was a pure and natural part of the lives of rural people. Pentatonic and modal scales (similar to the old medieval church scales) were dominant in this music; only more recent, nineteenth century pieces featured conventional “Western” major and minor scales. More rigorously than others who were starting to record folk songs on cylinders, including the Englishman Ralph Vaughan Williams and the Australian Percy Grainger, they developed a method that remains the norm in the study of comparative musicology—as Bartók called it—or ethnomusicology. The first step in their method involved collecting widely and deeply in an ethnic enclave, recording everything. The next steps were to transcribe what they had recorded, using a notation system devised to indicate sound features beyond the standard notes on the music staff, and to systematize
Bartók and Kodály Collect Hungarian Folk Songs
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 sand items began to appear in the 1920’s. Kodály’s later work has been appearing since World War II in volumes produced by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Béla Bartók.
the collection of melodies. Finally, they analyzed melodic contours and scales, the minutely articulated rhythms and the frequent changes in them and in tempo characteristic of live folk song, in addition to analyzing the exact relation of words and melody. Bartók further stressed in his numerous essays during this period and later that the field-worker had to know the context before entering the field, including previous collections and the folk customs and rituals of the people to be studied. Field-workers also needed to use photography to record instruments and their detailed features, and, ideally, they would use film to capture folk dance. As pioneers in ethnomusicology, both men advocated a gestalt approach, a complete study of a culture and its music. They were also concerned with publishing their results so that a broad public would become aware of this heritage. In 1906, they issued piano arrangements of twenty Hungarian folk songs. Through the remainder of their lives they published a steady stream of essays and books; the flow continued even after their deaths. A massive corpus of folk song containing more than ten thou296
Significance Almost immediately after Bartók and Kodály began their research, their own work was affected and Hungarian musical life was turned upside down. The new harmonies and scales shocked the concertgoing public, and the two men’s vociferous advocacy of a reform of music making and even educational practice in the schools disturbed conventional ways of hearing music. Bartók, in particular, extended his research beyond Hungary to North Africa in 1913 and to Turkey in 1935. He was determined to trace Eastern European music styles to Asian styles, and he succeeded. In his many essays and in his own classical compositions, he fused Eastern European music with analogous Asian practice and brought to Western classical music a more worldwide sensibility. Like his contemporary Igor Stravinsky, who had delved into authentic Russian folk song, he was a revolutionary in composing tonally—but with new tonalities based on folk practice. Unlike the members of the Austriancentered atonal and twelve-tone schools, who rigorously avoided a tonal base in their practice, Bartók and Kodály always believed that some tonal system was essential if classical music was to be renewed, so that music would remain in a sense “within” cultures. To them, that meant a kind of music making that flowed from a people’s folk culture through to the composing of concert music. Neither man eschewed altogether the standard genres of classical music; rather, they renewed those genres from within. Bartók’s music from 1908 on reflects his research into folk song. With the inspiration of Claude Debussy and later Igor Stravinsky, who were working with wholetone scales and rhythms from folk music, Bartók began in works such as the piano pieces Allegro Barbaro (1911), the Fourteen Bagatelles (1908), and Two Rumanian Dances (1909-1910) to use pentatonic scales, the interval of the fourth, the minor third, and folk dance rhythms (especially Bulgarian ones) to alter his earlier musical practices, which were quite conventional in the line of Liszt, Brahms, and Strauss. Even the most conventional of his six string quartets (usually considered to be the greatest set of string quartets since Ludwig van Beethoven’s) reveals the influence of folk song. Most significant is his creation, in the period 1908-1909, of a piano manual in miniature, For Children, consisting of eighty-five graded pieces for students. Like Kodály,
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the vertical (harmonic) aspect of his composing, and in the horizontal (melodic) he tended to use short-phrased figures that were often in eighth-, sixteenth-, and dottednote configurations. All these features imparted to his major compositions a unique sound and style. In another light, Bartók’s Forty-Four Duos for Two Violins (1931) and the 153 pieces in Mikrokosmos for piano (1926-1939) reveal his concern for music education and his creation of what are in essence musical encyclopedias for a new corpus of music. In these collections, graded for teaching, he not only addressed music students in a practical way but also set forth an aesthetic rooted fundamentally in folk music. Using folk tunes he had collected as well as all the technical features inherent in required mastery of violin and piano playing, Bartók succeeded in bringing together explicit folk practice and more standard classical techniques, which are themselves derived in large part from folk practice of the past. Bartók’s double career represents a unique accomplishment for a composer. His methods are a model for the reinvigoration of twentieth century music. Whereas other methods seem to have petered out, his legacy points a way to a more democratic and truly international idiom of making music. — Frederick E. Danker Further Reading Abrahams, Roger D., and George Foss. Anglo-American Folksong Style. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: PrenticeHall, 1968. An introduction to ethnomusicology using familiar materials. Usefully illustrated to make each point with music and lyrics. Bartók, Béla. The Hungarian Folk Song. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981. A new edition of the master’s 1924 book with English versions of the lyrics. Contains nearly four hundred pages of detailed analysis and classification of tunes, all reproduced in Bartók’s meticulous and groundbreaking method. The book is difficult but worth study, and it is approachable by nonspecialists. A classic in ethnomusicology. Choksy, Lois. The Kodály Method: Comprehensive Music Education. 3d ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1998. A lucid and thorough step-by-step explanation of what Kodály wanted in terms of understanding both the fundamentals of music, through graded group singing and rhythmic exercises, and the folk heritage of each nation and its peoples. A manual with musical samples, diagrams, and suggested selections for classroom use. 297
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whose major interest became that of music education as reform method, Bartók committed himself to the spread of his ideas through publications for the general public. It was not until after World War I that Bartók and Kodály emerged as world figures and achieved mature styles and methods. Kodály wrote a number of concert works that have remained popular. His symphonic pieces based on folk tunes became world renowned. His two “folk” operas, Háry János (1926) and Spinning Room (1924-1932), were based on folk customs and used folk songs. His unyielding commitment to music education was stunning in its impact. He arranged folk songs for choruses of various types in order to revive group singing and developed what is now called the Kodály method of music instruction for schools from the elementary through secondary levels. Taught in institutes in Hungary and in other nations, his method of graded instruction in group singing and the fundamentals of music (intervals, rhythms), which incorporated elements of folk music, helped to renew interest in putting music into the educational system on an equal basis with other subjects. Both men continued their scientific analysis of folk song from the 1920’s on, with Bartók balancing his touring as a pianist (one of the most brilliant of the century) and composing of large-scale works with his research, which intensified from 1934 until his death in 1945. He also contributed to Kodály’s educational crusades with settings for chorus of folk songs he collected. From 1920 on, Bartók’s own compositions reflected a synthesis of various kinds of folk music with some features of other avant-garde composers. His study of baroque music and counterpoint in the 1920’s contributed another strain to his own music, one not fundamentally alien to the underlying folk aesthetic he had mastered. Counterpoint and baroque motor rhythms, with the repetition and variation of small phrases and motifs, did not clash with the similar methods of folk musicians, who used repetition and variation as fundamental structural principles. Alternation of slow and fast movements as well as polyrhythmic features within movements of large-scale compositions fit with folk performance practices, especially of folk dance tunes, which Bartók used widely. Vocal styles that included passing tones (or grace notes), melisma, and sudden leaps became part of his instrumental method. The often freely varied, essentially rhapsodic, and increasingly rapid ornamental style of folk fiddlers inspired nearly all of his mature works for orchestra. His percussive use of the piano stemmed from his knowledge of folk drumming in Africa and elsewhere. Combinations of modal scales were frequent in
Bartók and Kodály Collect Hungarian Folk Songs
Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control Eösze, László. Zoltán Kodály: His Life and Work. London: Collet’s, 1962. A general coverage of Kodály’s life and works, with some musical samples. Good for context and the author’s Hungarian perspective. Griffiths, Paul. Bartók. London: J. M. Dent, 1984. A moderate but thorough volume, current in its understanding of the many facets of Bartók’s accomplishment. Includes music examples, index, and lists of key personages and all works. Kodály, Zoltán. Folk Music of Hungary. Rev. ed. Budapest: Corvina Press, 1971. An enlarged edition of the 1952 original and the English version of 1960. Like Bartók’s book, it is a technical study of the music but is more focused on types classified by function in the culture. Includes descriptions and photos of instruments. Comprehensively illustrated with music examples. _______. The Selected Writings. London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1974. Brings together many short essays on folk song and other kinds of music. The vivid pieces provide easy access to the significance of Kodály and Bartók’s work and the contexts of the times.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Nettl, Bruno. Folk and Traditional Music of the Western Continents. 3d ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: PrenticeHall, 1989. A short but thorough study of folk music and a good example of how ethnomusicology can be accessible. Covers some of the same folk music studied by Bartók and Kodály. Suchoff, Benjamin. Béla Bartók: Life and Work. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 2002. A comprehensive biography of Bartók as man, composer, and folklorist. Includes discussion of the impact of his pioneering multinational investigations of folk song on music in general and on his own composed works. Ujfalussy, József. Béla Bartók. Boston: Crescendo, 1972. Translated from the original 1971 book in Hungarian. Possibly the most thorough book on Bartók’s life and his music as both cultural and social phenomenon. From a native’s perspective, it is always cogent and detailed and never specialist in approach. Delves into all important musical techniques, although musical examples are not included. See also: Jan. 16, 1920: Formation of Les Six; 1930’s: Hindemith Advances Music as a Social Activity.
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Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control Employing recent discoveries on the role of mosquitoes in the transmission of malaria and yellow fever, William Crawford Gorgas applied strict sanitary controls within the Panama region, enabling construction of the Panama Canal. Locale: Panama Canal Zone Category: Health and medicine Key Figures William Crawford Gorgas (1854-1920), American army surgeon and sanitarian Ronald Ross (1857-1932), English physician Walter Reed (1851-1902), American army physician and bacteriologist John Frank Stevens (1853-1943), American engineer Carlos Juan Finlay (1833-1915), Cuban physician Summary of Event With the discovery of gold in California in 1848, considerable interest quickly developed in the United States concerning the construction of a transoceanic canal 298
through Central America that would shorten the distance and thus the time then necessary to travel from the East Coast to the West Coast. Flush with his success in building the Suez Canal during the 1860’s, Ferdinand de Lesseps of France initiated efforts in the 1870’s to construct such a canal by organizing the necessary financial backing and arranging for preliminary surveys. After evaluating a number of potential routes, Lesseps and the leaders of his Panama Canal Company decided on a sealevel canal cutting through the narrow Panamanian isthmus between Colón and Panama City. They initially envisioned that the proposed canal would be 9 meters (29.5 feet) deep and 30 meters (98.4 feet) wide, and that it would cost a total of 658 million francs to build. The highly skilled French engineers faced formidable challenges when they arrived in Panama at the start of the project, in 1881. These challenges included taming the unpredictable Chagres River as well as overcoming obstacles to excavation at Culebra, where geological formations resulted in a continual problem with landslides. The most difficult and, indeed, insurmountable obstacle
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Gorgas employed this theoretical understanding of yellow fever in his practical public health efforts in Havana. He learned that water had typically been left standing inside the sickrooms of French engineers and workers at the Panama Canal Company’s hospital at Ancón, Panama, during the 1880’s, and, tragically, the water had served as a mosquito breeding ground. He ordered such water immediately disposed of or sealed off with wooden lids or screens. Further, following a suggestion made by entomologist Leland O. Howard, Gorgas directed that any water left standing was to be covered with a thin film of kerosene or oil whenever this method was feasible. In addition, adult mosquitoes were killed by the fumigation of every house in Havana where a case of yellow fever had appeared. The doors and windows of the houses were tightly sealed, and sulfur or powdered pyrethrum was burned in pots designed specifically for that purpose. Reed’s discoveries and Gorgas’s sanitation campaign in Cuba were great achievements of the day, and the results were dramatic. Because the insect had only a tenday life cycle, the Stegomyia population diminished rapidly. With this significant accomplishment, the stage was set for Gorgas’s work in Panama beginning in 1904. As a
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confronting French engineers and workers during the 1880’s, however, was the high incidence of various diseases, especially malaria and yellow fever. In 1889, a virtual epidemic on several occasions decimated the workforce and ultimately ended Lesseps’s venture. After eight years in Panama, the French had lost an estimated two thousand workers to yellow fever and more than fiftyfive hundred to other illnesses. A second brief attempt to continue excavation ensued during the 1890’s, but in the end Lesseps and the French failed. The episode was tragic testimony to a misguided, optimistic faith in science and technology that was incommensurate with the realities of the project. Despite the failure of the French, American interest in building a canal intensified after the Spanish-American War. Beginning in 1904, the United States embarked on a canal construction program that succeeded where the French had not. The reason for this achievement can be traced to advances in tropical medicine related to the eradication of malaria and yellow fever. Throughout the nineteenth century, most physicians thought that diseases were spread by odors; Panama, with its abundance of decomposing vegetation and animal carcasses, possessed conditions that supported this idea. This so-called miasma theory of disease was gradually refuted. In the case of malaria, it was disproved by the English physician Sir Ronald Ross, who worked in isolated Secunderabad, India. During the late 1890’s, Ross showed that the Anopheles mosquito spread the disease after it had fed on an infected patient, and he carefully investigated the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, in the mosquito’s stomach and salivary glands. It became obvious to Ross that in order to stamp out malaria, one had to isolate the mosquito from those infected, and he systematically outlined his sanitary ideas in his Mosquito Brigades and How to Organise Them, published in 1901. Concurrent with the publication of Ross’s book, a team of U.S. Army doctors, which included Walter Reed and William Crawford Gorgas, were eliminating yellow fever in Havana, Cuba, using similar public health techniques. Reed, building on the work of Cuban physician Carlos Juan Finlay, who first suggested that the mosquito was the carrier of yellow fever, had concluded that only one type of mosquito, Stegomyia fasciata, was responsible for the dreaded “yellow jack.” Once Reed and his colleagues had determined the particular pattern of incubation, it was clear that to eliminate yellow fever, one had to prevent the propagation of the insect by keeping the female Stegomyia fasciata from laying its eggs.
Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control
William Crawford Gorgas. (U.S. Army)
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Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control deeply religious man, Gorgas had long thought of his life experiences as ordered and ordained by God for the purpose of readying him for this one great task. Somewhat ironically, although Gorgas’s success in Cuba was derived from Reed’s scientific work, Gorgas had been extremely resistant to the idea that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes. Born in Mobile, Alabama, in 1854, he received his undergraduate education at the University of the South, located in Sewanee, Tennessee, and his medical degree at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital Medical College. Interested in medicine more as a means to enter the army than as a profession, Gorgas joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1880. He initially served at a number of outposts in the West, but with the onset of the Spanish-American War, he was sent to Cuba on the Santiago expedition, and later to Havana, where he was first placed in charge of yellow fever patients before his appointment as chief sanitation officer. In 1904, Gorgas was sent to Panama as the Isthmanian Canal Commission’s chief sanitary officer, charged with the elimination of two major obstacles to the completion of the American project there: malaria and yellow fever. However, despite the work of Ross and efforts in Cuba, most of the political leadership in Washington and key members of the commission, including Admiral John G. Walker and Governor George W. Davis, did not believe in the mosquito transmission theory. Gorgas’s arguments fell on deaf ears until a deadly epidemic hit the Canal Zone in the spring and early summer of 1905 and John Frank Stevens was subsequently appointed the commission’s chief engineer. Stevens, an engineer with considerable railroad experience, recognized that if the canal project were to succeed it had to be designed using locks and gates rather than constructed at sea level. Most significant, the excavation of the so-called Culebra Cut hinged on the removal of dirt using an extensive rail network. Above all, Stevens clearly perceived that before construction could begin effectively, diseases such as yellow fever and malaria had to be eliminated; he knew that Gorgas needed to receive unequivocal support in addressing this task. Thus, in 1905, Stevens’s engineering department stood behind Gorgas, who now had first priority in terms of men and materials. By the fall of 1905, Gorgas had more than four thousand men engaged in sanitation work, and his budget was increased dramatically. Supplies necessary for the eradication of mosquitoes were ordered and received in unprecedented quantities, including 120 tons of pyrethrum powder, 300 tons of sulfur, and 50,000 gallons of kero300
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 sene per month. Fumigation pots, screens, buckets, garbage cans, and brushes were soon in abundance; this equipment was used in the subsequent house-by-house campaign. As a result of these efforts, cases of yellow fever in the Canal Zone fell from sixty-two in June, 1905, to twenty-seven in August and one in December, with no further outbreaks in 1906. By using similar techniques to combat the Anopheles mosquito, Gorgas’s team was able to reduce malaria, but that disease was not totally eradicated because the Anopheles mosquito had a much broader range of flight and bred in a more widespread area than did the mosquito that transmitted yellow fever. Significance Gorgas’s measures to control the spread of mosquitotransmitted diseases in Panama had both short- and longterm significance. Although malaria proved to be much more difficult to contain than yellow fever, construction on the Panama Canal progressed steadily to its completion and the opening of the waterway to commercial traffic on January 1, 1915. For his pioneering efforts, Gorgas received numerous honors, including honorary degrees from the University of the South, the University of Alabama, Harvard University, and The Johns Hopkins University. In 1907, he was appointed to the Isthmanian Canal Commission by President Theodore Roosevelt, and the following year he was elected president of the American Medical Association. Promoted to the rank of brigadier general and named surgeon general of the U.S. Army in 1914, Gorgas played an influential role in sanitation work during World War I. When he retired from the army in 1918, he became the director of the yellow fever program for the International Health Board of the Rockefeller Foundation and traveled to Central America and Peru during the last two years of his life. He implemented preventive procedures in other areas that were often subject to periodic outbreaks of yellow fever. Gorgas’s methods were quickly implemented throughout South America and Africa. Considering the deadly nature of yellow fever, or vomito negro, an illness that typically claimed the lives of more than 50 percent of those afflicted, it was remarkable that between 1910 and 1925 no major epidemic occurred in temperate regions or in the traditional endemic regions located in Ecuador, Mexico, and Brazil. Furthermore, Gorgas’s practical sanitation techniques were subsequently complemented by scientific advances related to yellow fever. In 1918, researchers identified the microbe that caused the disease, Leptospira icteroides, a minute spiral organism that was studied extensively during the 1920’s.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Perhaps the most enduring legacy of Gorgas’s work is the Panama Canal itself, an undertaking that could not have been completed without his sanitation measures. During the first ten years of the canal’s operation, between 1915 and 1925, commercial transits increased from 1,072 to 4,673, and tolls rose from $4.3 million to $21.6 million. Because of the canal, shippers saved almost 12,900 kilometers (8,016 miles) sailing from New York to San Francisco, and almost 11,300 kilometers (7,021 miles) from New York to Honolulu. Use of the canal increased steadily before 1939, and in the post-World War II era traffic and tolls escalated dramatically, along with global trade and a dynamic international economy. —John A. Heitmann
Krieg, Joann. Epidemics in the Modern World. New York: Twayne, 1992. An overview of the epidemiology of diseases. Discusses the effects of yellow fever epidemics on societies, politics, literature, and cultures. McCullough, David. The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1940. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1977. One of the best historical works on the construction of the Panama Canal. Brilliantly portrays the main figures involved in the canal’s construction, including Gorgas, and perceptively explores broader historical themes related to the most massive engineering undertaking of the early twentieth century. Ross, Ronald. Memoirs, with a Full Account of the Great Malaria Problem and Its Solution. London: John Murray, 1923. A fascinating autobiography reflective of the role of public health efforts during the Age of Imperialism. Contains many letters and personal insights; a valuable source for anyone desiring to understand both Ross’s scientific achievement and the late Victorian society in which he lived. _______. Mosquito Brigades and How to Organise Them. New York: Longmans, Green, 1901. Written by the physician who won a Nobel Prize for his efforts in determining the role of mosquitoes in the transmission of malaria, this classic in the history of tropical medicine includes discussion of methods used to identify mosquitoes and organizational techniques aimed at waging a public health campaign to eradicate them. Concludes with a history of nineteenth century attempts to combat the disease and case studies of malaria control programs in different parts of the world. Wain, Harry. A History of Preventive Medicine. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas, 1970. Brief history of epidemiology and the spread of disease. One section is devoted to yellow fever in the Americas. Not particularly detailed, but provides a succinct overview. Williams, Greer. The Plague Killers. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1969. Excellent popular account of the campaigns against malaria and yellow fever. Focuses on the situation in mid-twentieth century Africa and includes useful description of epidemiological methods. See also: Feb. 4, 1901: Reed Reports That Mosquitoes Transmit Yellow Fever; Nov. 3, 1903: Panama Declares Independence from Colombia; Nov. 18, 1903: U.S. Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone; Summer, 1904: Construction Begins on the Panama Canal; Aug. 15, 1914: Panama Canal Opens. 301
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Further Reading Bishop, Joseph Bucklin. The Panama Gateway. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1913. Written by the secretary of the U.S. Panama Canal Commission, this authoritative and comprehensive work covers the history of the region and canal construction efforts from the Spanish colonial era to the completion of construction. Chapters describing Gorgas’s sanitation efforts and the technology employed in the canal’s design are extremely detailed. Gorgas, Marie D., and Burton J. Hendrick. William Crawford Gorgas: His Life and Work. 1924. Reprint. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2004. Although this hagiographic account must be read critically, it is an important source on Gorgas’s life. Sensitively cowritten by Gorgas’s widow, it includes many intimate family details and provides interesting perspectives on Cuba, Panama, and Gorgas’s work. Includes many anecdotes about historical figures as well as excerpts of several revealing letters. Gorgas, William Crawford. Sanitation in Panama. New York: D. Appleton, 1913. A definitive work describing the efforts of Gorgas and his sanitation department in Panama, this book is particularly valuable for its description of the campaign in Havana and the published correspondence between Walter Reed and William Gorgas. Many chapters include details concerning practical methods, hospital facilities, and quarantine procedures. Jasper, William F. “Taming Mankind’s Ancient Foes.” New American 21 (September 5, 2005): 37-40. Relates the story of Gorgas’s work in Panama, including his struggle to overcome bureaucratic opposition when he sought to employ the methods he had used successfully in Cuba to eradicate yellow fever.
Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control
Weber Posits the “Protestant Ethic”
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1904-1905
Weber Posits the “Protestant Ethic” Sociology cofounder Max Weber theorized that certain Protestant beliefs laid the groundwork for the development of modern capitalism. Also known as: Weberian hypothesis; Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus; The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Locale: Germany Categories: Religion, theology, and ethics; sociology; publishing and journalism Key Figures Max Weber (1864-1920), German academic and a founder of sociology Talcott Parsons (1902-1979), prominent sociologist, translator, and professor Marianne Weber (1870-1954), wife of Max Weber and German feminist Karl Marx (1818-1883), German-born revolutionary, academic, and a founder of sociology Émile Durkheim (1858-1917), French academic and a founder of sociology John Calvin (1509-1564), leader of Protestant reforms in Geneva and Switzerland whose theology called for a belief in predestination Summary of Event Max Weber was born to a prominent German family; his father belonged to the Reichstag, Germany’s national legislature. Weber studied law and became a professor at Heidelberg, Freiburg, and Vienna; he also traveled widely and was a voracious reader. His writings filled thirteen volumes and ranged widely in subject matter, including discussions of economic policy; philosophy; the ancient religions of India, China, and Palestine; the methodology of social science; social stratification; and the sociology of religion. He also wrote about German farm laborers and the stock exchange, and in these works and others, the rationalization and bureaucratization of modern societies was a central theme. Weber was a politically active nationalist who helped found the German Democratic Party, and his wife, Marianne Weber, was a leader of the German feminist movement. (She also arranged for the posthumous publication of many of Weber’s writings and wrote a biography of her husband.) In addition to all his other activities, Weber ran a military hospital during World War I and accompanied the German delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. 302
His productive life is particularly remarkable given that he was sometimes disabled by emotional illness. Weber’s most famous work, Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus (The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1930), was first published in 1904 and 1905 in the journal Archives for Social Science and Social Welfare, for which Weber served as a coeditor. Weber sought an explanation for the development of capitalism, and, like most German scholars, he looked to history for an answer. The journal issues sold rapidly, perhaps because the significance of the Protestant Reformation was a frequent source of debate among European academics, and in this work, Weber asserted that capitalism was an unanticipated consequence of certain Protestant beliefs. The essays were republished in 1920 as part of a series, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie (1920-1921; collected essays on the sociology of religion), that was not completed before Weber’s death. At the end of his life, Weber made some changes for that edition, and his many added footnotes
Max Weber. (Library of Congress)
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The Spirit of Capitalism Around the World In this excerpt from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber explores the nature of capitalism as it differs among world cultures. Thus the capitalism of to-day, which has come to dominate economic life, educates and selects the economic subjects which it needs through a process of economic survival of the fittest. But here one can easily see the limits of the concept of selection as a means of historical explanation. In order that a manner of life so well adapted to the peculiarities of capitalism could be selected at all, i.e. should come to dominate others, it had to originate somewhere, and not in isolated individuals alone, but as a way of life common to whole groups of men. This origin is what really needs explanation. Concerning the doctrine of the more naive historical materialism, that such ideas originate as a reflection or superstructure of economic situations, we shall speak more in detail below. At this point it will suffice for our purpose to call attention to the fact that without doubt, in the country of Benjamin Franklin’s birth (Massachusetts), the spirit of capitalism (in the sense we have attached to it) was present before the capitalistic order. There were complaints of a peculiarly calculating sort of profit-seeking in New England, as distinguished from other parts of America, as early as 1632. It is further undoubted that capitalism remained far less developed in some of the neighbouring colonies, the later Southern States of the United States of America, in spite of the fact that these latter were founded by large capitalists for business motives, while the New England colonies were founded by preachers and seminary graduates with the help of small bourgeois, craftsmen and yoemen, for religious reasons. In this case the causal relation is certainly the reverse of that suggested by the materialistic standpoint. But the origin and history of such ideas is much more complex than the theorists of the superstructure suppose. The spirit of capitalism, in the sense in which we are using the term, had to fight its way to supremacy against a whole world of hostile forces. A state of mind such as that expressed in the passages we have quoted from Franklin, and which called forth the applause of a whole people, would both in ancient times and in the Middle Ages have been proscribed as the lowest sort of avarice and as an attitude entirely lacking in self-respect. It is, in fact, still regularly thus looked upon by all those social groups which are least involved in or adapted to modern capitalistic conditions. This is not wholly because the instinct of acquisition was in those times unknown or undeveloped, as has often been said. Nor because the auri sacra fames, the greed for gold, was then, or now, less powerful outside of bourgeois capitalism than within its peculiar sphere, as the illusions of modern romanticists are wont to believe. The difference between the capitalistic and precapitalistic spirits is not to be found at this point. The greed of the Chinese Mandarin, the old Roman aristocrat, or the modern peasant, can stand up to any comparison. And the auri sacra fames of a Neapolitan cab-driver or barcaiuolo, and certainly of Asiatic representatives of similar trades, as well as of the craftsmen of southern European or Asiatic countries, is, as anyone can find out for himself, very much more intense, and especially more unscrupulous than that of, say, an Englishman in similar circumstances. Source: Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, translated by Talcott Parsons (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930).
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show his responses to critics who had, he said, misunderstood his concepts and his method of analysis. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism reflects Weber’s belief in the importance of ideas, showing that religious ideas and practices have had tremendous impacts on history. Weber began his essay by describing Western capitalism, commonly misunderstood as a system that mainly involves a desire to make a lot of money. Instead, Weber argued, it is an economic structure that relies on the rational organization of free labor and uses wealth and labor in a calculated way. Using a historical and comparative perspective, Weber showed that, economically speaking, Protestants fared better than Catholics. He attempted to explain this difference, concluding that there was an indirect connection between Protestant teachings and Protestant commercial success. He analyzed the “spirit of capitalism”—habits and ideas that favor the rational pursuit of economic gain— and he quoted Benjamin Franklin’s view that the creation of wealth is an end to which people are ethically bound. In contrast, the traditional Catholic view was that the pursuit of wealth is a sign of sinful avarice and vulgar indulgence. Overcoming this view was a formidable task, but it had been accomplished, Weber said, by the teachings of Martin Luther and John Calvin. Luther’s concept of a “calling” asserted that, in addition to religious devotion, worldly behaviors (such as spending habits) are important in God’s eyes. John Calvin taught the doctrine of predestination, the belief that people are inexorably foreordained by God to be saved or damned to hell. As a result of these teachings, seventeenth century Calvinists experienced a consequent “salvation anxiety.” They were tormented by the question of whether they were elected to go to heaven or were damned and tested their fate by assessing their daily activities. The Calvinists interpreted frugality, hard work, and eco-
Weber Posits the “Protestant Ethic”
Weber Posits the “Protestant Ethic” nomic success as signs that they were saved, and the result was the creation of a climate favorable to modern capitalism. Although not an intended result, a consequence of Protestant views of saving and investing money was that Calvinists became capitalists. Their religion taught them to carefully invest the fruits of their labor, and in doing so they made even more money, and money and piety became allies. Eventually, the spirit of capitalism became more widely accepted, and it no longer needed to be rationalized by religion. Furthermore, as secularization became more common, capitalists longed to make money for the sake of making money and did not worry about being avaricious. There was no turning back, Weber warned, from rationalized modern life. In the first years after its publication, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism was known only to German-speaking scholars of religious and economic history. It was not until the 1930’s that the larger sphere of academics read Weber’s translated work. Harvard sociology professor Talcott Parsons, a formidable figure in the field of sociology, translated and published The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1930, and his endorsement brought worldwide attention to Weber’s work. Parsons’s translation remained the most widely read version of Weber’s “Protestant ethic” essays, which are considered classics in the field of sociology. Weber’s other major works became available in English translation and many received acclaim (for example, his work on research methodology, bureaucracy, and social class), but The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism remains his best-known work. He came to be regarded as a founder of sociology, along with Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim. Significance The works of Weber, Durkheim, and Marx have frequently been compared with one another. All three men wrote about religion, but they approached the topic from differing perspectives. Durkheim and Weber agreed that religion is very important in society. According to Durkheim, societies are machines with interdependent parts in which control over conflict is desirable, and religion helps keep society balanced and integrated by instilling common values and giving people something with which to identify. Marx, however saw society as a field of conflict among groups with differing interests in which people are inevitably at odds. The ruling class promotes its interests through ideas, and religion is one set of ideas used to control the masses. Marx saw economic matters as forces dominating all other aspects of society: family, government, education, and religion. 304
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Weber agreed with Marx more than he agreed with Durkheim. Weber and Marx both saw conflict as endemic in society, and they agreed that religious beliefs are related to status and power structure. Societies are inherently unequal, Weber and Marx believed, and powerful groups use ideas as weapons to defend their positions. On other points, however, Weber and Marx had differing views. Weber did not share Marx’s utopian dream of a future without capitalism, and Weber did not agree that economic factors determine everything about a society. Government, religion, and education, Weber asserted, can also be important. Weber’s ideas became so famous that they acquired nicknames such as the “Weberian hypothesis” and the “PE thesis” (in which “PE” is short for “Protestant ethic”). His notions inspired hundreds of academic papers and books. Some of these sought to test the Weberian hypothesis with scientific research that continued Weber’s investigation of the differences between Protestant and Catholic spending and saving habits, while other works explored his ideas from a theoretical or historical perspective. —Nancy Conn Terjesen Further Reading Albrow, Martin. Max Weber’s Construction of Social Theory. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990. A challenging book, written by a British sociologist, about the deep meaning of Weber’s work. Giddens, Anthony. Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: An Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim, and Max Weber. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1973. Compares the three founding fathers of sociology. Käsler, Dirk. Max Weber: An Introduction to His Life and Work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. German sociologist describes the German society in which Weber wrote and explains the early reaction to The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Stark, Rodney. The Victory of Reason. New York: Random House, 2005. Baylor University sociologist argues against Weber, saying that the religion of the Middle Ages (Catholicism) did not stifle innovation or capitalism. Wallace, Ruth A., and Alison Wolf. Contemporary Sociological Theory: Continuing the Classical Tradition. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2005. Very readable presentation of the theories of Weber, Marx, and Durkheim.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Translated by Talcott Parsons. 1904. Reprint. Oxford, England: Routledge, 2001. The most famous English translation, by a prominent Harvard sociologist.
Brouwer Develops Intuitionist Foundations of Mathematics See also: Jan.-June, 1916: Lenin Critiques Modern Capitalism; 1923: Buber Breaks New Ground in Religious Philosophy; Sept. 30, 1925: Chesterton Critiques Modernism and Defends Christianity; 1932: Gilson’s Spirit of Medieval Philosophy Reassesses Christian Thought.
1904-1907
Brouwer Develops Intuitionist Foundations of Mathematics L. E. J. Brouwer pioneered the intuitionist reformulation of the logical foundations of mathematics. Locale: Amsterdam, the Netherlands Category: Mathematics Key Figure L. E. J. Brouwer (1881-1966), Dutch mathematician, logician, and epistemologist
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Summary of Event The first decade of the twentieth century was a crisis period in many areas of mathematics, particularly in geometry, arithmetic, set theory, and formal logic as well as their interrelations. These crises arose predominantly from a number of paradoxes in Georg Cantor’s theory of sets, from the attempted formalization of logic and arithmetic by Richard Dedekind and Giuseppe Peano, and from methodological disputes about the validity of different types of mathematical proof. From the mid1880’s, these contradictions indicated to many mathematicians that unforeseen defects were arising from various attempts to reformulate classical geometry, arithmetic, and logic in ways noncontradictory with respect to linguistic uses and ontological commitments about mathematical terms and referents. As a response to these crises, three main schools of mathematical philosophy arose: logicism, formalism, and intuitionism. Philosophical discussion of arithmetic and geometry in Immanuel Kant’s Kritik der reinen Vernunft (1781; Critique of Pure Reason, 1838) has been cited often as the earliest progenitor of mathematical intuitionism. Kant explicated his theory of the innate forms of spatial and temporal perception, respectively, as the intuitional basis of geometry and arithmetic. Kant argues that the way we first learn that 7 + 5 = 12 is precisely by a process like counting progressively from 7 to 12 via successive additions of 1, operating or constructed with a particular
example of objects first given in mental intuition. In an algebraic sense, the set of numbers generated by the above, or related, procedures is united with the natural counting numbers insofar as it has an initial element 0 and a successor relation 1. The algebraist, according to Kant, gets arithmetic results by manipulating representational symbols according to certain rules of construction, which, Kant claims, cannot be obtained without these prior intuitions. Kant posited this construction with intuitions as the chief source of clarity and evidence in the fundamentals of mathematics. In the mid-nineteenth century, German mathematician Leopold Kronecker published what many historians and philosophers of mathematics consider to be preintuitionist queries about the “existential proofs” of antiKantian mathematician-philosopher Bernhard Bolzano in the theory of differential equations. In particular, Kronecker doubted the utility and validity of proofs that assume without demonstrating the existence of solutions to classes of differential equations, insofar as formalists like Bolzano sought to establish the existence of mathematically permissible solutions by indirect deductive arguments, without either explicitly constructing or providing a finite procedure for finding such a solution. Between 1880 and 1906, a more extensive constructivist school of French mathematicians, including Émile Borel, Henri-Léon Lebesgue, and, notably, Henri Poincaré, likewise stressed the need of basic intuitions to define the sequence of integers and the general content on which all mathematics depends. Many of these issues came to a focus with the publication of David Hilbert’s Grundlagen der Geometrie (1899; The Foundations of Geometry, 1902) on one hand and Edmund Husserl’s Logische Untersuchungen (1900-1901; Logical Investigations, 1970) on the other, together with the subsequent acrimonious sessions on “logic and philosophy of science” at the Second International Congress of Philosophy in Paris in 1904. With this
Brouwer Develops Intuitionist Foundations of Mathematics background, Gerrit Mannoury’s views on the relations of ordinary language, psychology, and Kantian philosophy laid the foundations of mathematics. As a graduate student in 1904, L. E. J. Brouwer chose the foundations of mathematics as his dissertation topic. Brouwer closely reexamined the ongoing (1901 to 1906) debates among Poincaré, Louis Couturat, and Bertrand Russell on the relations of priority and independence between (symbolic) logic and (axiomatic) mathematics, and on the criticality of logical deduction versus psychological intuition in mathematical creation and proof. In his first semitechnical publication on the origins of mathematical thinking and its “objects,” Brouwer sought a way to keep the methodological autonomy, purity, and rigor of Hilbert, together with the links to philosophical and everyday thinking of Husserl, while avoiding the logical and linguistic puzzles of Russell. With Kant, Brouwer believed the ultimate foundation of mathematics is the subjective awareness of time, divided into past/before and future/after. This, for Brouwer, gives rise to a basic intuition of “bare twoness,” not itself a number but an absolutely basic and simple mental intuition from which it is possible to construct all finite ordinal numbers. As Brouwer developed in his doctoral dissertation of 1907, he regarded the starting point for mathematics to be neither abstract logical rules nor functional mathematical axioms, but the individual’s originative form of understanding, without language or logical concepts, of the sequence of positive integers vis-à-vis repeated duplication of temporally sequential unit constructions with |, ||, |||, and so on (which might be indexed books on a shelf, sticks in a row, or any other heuristically convenient placeholder concept). Some scholars consider Brouwer’s constructions with mental intuitions similar to the “thought experiments” of his contemporary the English philosopher Francis Herbert Bradley, whereas others see Brouwer’s as an implicit psychological theory of mentation. The paradoxes exist, Brouwer claimed, only because of logic and language and the fact that these symbolic and discursive concepts can never be made commensurate with temporal intuitions. In Brouwer’s intuitionist view, mathematics is apodictically certain and true precisely because it rests on this simple and direct mental awareness of self-evident temporal intuitions and constructs by the individual. Brouwer’s intuitionism sought to restrict mathematical knowledge to only that which can be actually and directly constructed in finite proofs: To know something mathematically is to have a specifically finite implementable proof based on temporal 306
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 intuitions without existence assumptions. Moreover, Brouwer denied Hilbert and Russell’s claim of being able to circumscribe the full extent of any formal systems of mathematics, radically implying that the previously timeless, absolute, and impersonal realm of logic and mathematics in some ways exhibits the character of historical time, factual incompleteness, and personal mental activity. Together with Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege’s, Hugo Dingler’s, and Husserl’s philosophies of mathematics, Brouwer’s intuitionism takes the component statements of a mathematical theory to be really meaningful. Also, Brouwer did not agree with Poincaré’s neointuitionism or Hilbert’s formalism, which denied genuine intrinsic content or meaning to a given mathematical proposition apart from the complete set of axioms of which it is a part. Brouwer concurs with Russell’s logicism, insofar as intuitionism identifies a particular axiom (versus those dependent only on an entire system of axioms). In 1906, Russell’s paper “The Paradoxes of Logic” acknowledged that logicism cannot eliminate but can only regulate the use of mathematical intuition. Thus, for Brouwer, although propositions in and about mathematics can be ordered and ranked in an asymmetrical hierarchy according to their complexity of derivation, on explicitly philosophical grounds, Brouwer denied that the possibilities of mathematical construction, what he called an “open system,” can be confined a priori, within the bounds of any formal closed system of statements, conceptually anticipating some of the implications of Kurt Gödel’s later undecidability-incompleteness theorems. Brouwer likewise demonstrated at least nine preand metalevels with respect to operational mathematics and logic (in contrast to Hilbert’s subsequently published three-level system). In his famous 1908 paper Over de Onbetrouwbaarheid der logische Principes (on the untrustworthiness of logical principles), Brouwer rejected radically the traditional belief (held by Aristotle, Kant, Bolzano, Russell, Frege, Hilbert, Husserl, and many others) that classical logic has unquestionable validity. This rejection included denying the universally accepted laws of double negation (for example, that “the opposite of the opposite of a true statement is a false statement”), which Russell and Hilbert associated with the equation –(–1) = 1. Also rejected was the law of the excluded middle (that no options are possible but true or false statements), which latter concept Alfred North Whitehead and Russell identify with the law of noncontradiction in their Principia Mathematica (1910-1913). To illustrate the not infre-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 quent inapplicability of the law of the excluded middle, Brouwer cited a number of constructionally incompletable sequences, such as algorithms to compute the final digit of pi or the second-to-last valid example of Pierre de Fermat’s conjecture, arguing that unless and until a proof is constructed to deduce their truth or falsity, the law of the excluded middle simply cannot be applied.
and Evert Willem Beth—have sought to reformulate Brouwer’s introspective notion of intuition from a purely subjective psychology of mental experience to a more general genetic, or heuristic, model for the historic or individual development of concrete empirical concepts facilitating understanding and using abstract mathematics. Many mathematicians and logicians do not consider Brouwer’s or subsequent intuitionist mathematics capable of ever being a self-sufficient and fully successful renovation of classical mathematics and logic. Nevertheless, in addition to intuitionism’s continuance as an identifiable school of thought with its own proceedings and journal, most acknowledge its many and lasting influences on mathematics, such as in the work of Gödel’s later recursive function theory and Paul Lorenzen’s efforts to develop Dingler’s notion of constructivist protologic for arithmetic, geometry, and other pure and applied mathematics. — Gerardo G. Tango Further Reading Beth, Evert W., and Jean Piaget. Mathematical Epistemology and Psychology. Translated by W. Mays. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: D. Reidel, 1966. A complementary approach that preserves and updates Brouwer’s psychology of mental intuitions. Brouwer, L. E. J. Collected Works. 2 vols. New York: Elsevier, 1975-1976. A critical complete edition of Brouwer’s collected and translated works. Volume 1 includes key sections of Brouwer’s 1907 thesis as well as several book and essay reviews on Kant, Frege, Russell, and others. Dummett, Michael. Elements of Intuitionism. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. This intermediate-level monograph is a philosophical reconstruction of basic concepts by Brouwer and Heyting by a longtime student of Russell’s and Frege’s logic. Offers an interpretation of Brouwer’s position. Fischbein, Efraim. Intuition in Science and Mathematics. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: D. Reidel, 1987. Offers a thorough synopsis of the diversified possible meanings of intuition in mathematics. Hesseling, Dennis E. Gnomes in the Fog: The Reception of Brouwer’s Intuitionism in the 1920s. Cambridge, Mass.: Birkhäuser Boston, 2004. Presents the foundational debate in mathematics that took place in the 1920’s, including both its contributions and its shortcomings. Kleene, Stephen C., and Richard E. Vesley. The Foundations of Intuitionistic Mathematics. Amsterdam: 307
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Significance Following Brouwer’s initial publications between 1904 and 1911, both formalist and logicist camps reexamined their criticisms, consistency, and opportunities in the light of intuitionism. Initially, it was objected that intuitionist rejection of the pure axiomatic approach of Hilbert and the classical and symbolic logics of Aristotle and Peano and Russell left unaccounted for a large body of well-established pure and applied mathematics. In 1918, in response to attacks against intuitionism’s alleged impoverishment, Brouwer explicitly set out to reconstruct classical mathematics in accord with his own intuitionist tenets, seeking greater natural clarity in construction without too great an increase in mental labor, proof duration, and complexity. Brouwer’s own positive contributions included a new theory of rational numbers, an intuitionist theory of sets and topology, and a theory of finite and transfinite ordinal numbers. Arend Heyting, Brouwer’s principal student, later contributed to extending intuitionist reconstruction into the theory of functions as well as formal and some classes of symbolic logic. Although working intuitionist analogues are still unavailable for many important areas of mathematics (for example, the implicit function theorem and the fundamental theorem of calculus), certain powerful and perplexing results can be proved in intuitionist theory that cannot be demonstrated in classical mathematics. Perhaps the most notable example of the latter is the intuitionist theorem that any real-valued function that is defined everywhere on a closed interval of the real number continuum is uniformly continuous on that interval. Since the 1950’s, a number of philosophical (metamathematical) objections have been raised to some intuitionist claims—notably, to the status of negative propositions referring to objects (such as a square circle) that do not exist and to occasional intersubjective conflicts between intuitionist mathematicians on whether a given intuitive proof is sufficiently self-evident. Some intuitionist-influenced mathematicians—such as Hermann Weyl, George Polya, Ferdinand Gonseth,
Brouwer Develops Intuitionist Foundations of Mathematics
Haber Develops Process for Extracting Nitrogen from the Air North Holland, 1965. Requires some background in formal logic and proof theory. Spells out intuitionist efforts as well as the relations of Brouwer’s formal insights to Gödel’s undecidability theorem. Van Heijenoort, Jean, comp. From Frege to Goedel. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967. Offers a carefully detailed outline of several stages in Brouwer’s early thought.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: 1902: Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in Set Theory; June 16, 1902: Russell Discovers the “Great Paradox”; 1904-1908: Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive Axiomatization of Set Theory; 1906: Fréchet Introduces the Concept of Abstract Space; July, 1929-July, 1931: Gödel Proves IncompletenessInconsistency for Formal Systems; 1939: Bourbaki Group Publishes Éléments de mathématique.
1904-1908
Haber Develops Process for Extracting Nitrogen from the Air Fritz Haber developed the first successful method for converting nitrogen from the atmosphere and combining it with hydrogen to synthesize ammonia, a compound used as a fertilizer in agriculture. Locale: Germany Categories: Science and technology; chemistry; agriculture Key Figures Fritz Haber (1868-1934), German chemist Carl Bosch (1874-1940), German chemist Carl Engler (1842-1925), German chemist Walther Hermann Nernst (1864-1941), German physicist and chemist Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932), German chemist Summary of Event The nitrogen content of the soil, essential to plant growth, is maintained normally by the deposition and decay of old vegetation and by nitrates in rainfall. If, however, the soil is used extensively for agricultural purposes, more intensive methods must be used to maintain soil nutrients such as nitrogen. One such method used by farmers is crop rotation, in which successive divisions of a farm are planted in rotation with clover, corn, or wheat, for example, or allowed to lie fallow for a year or so. Clover is able to absorb nitrogen from the air and deposit it in the soil from its root nodules. As population has increased, however, farming has become more intensive, and the use of artificial fertilizers—some containing nitrogen—has become almost universal. Nitrogen-bearing compounds, such as potassium nitrate and ammonium chloride, have been used for many years as artificial fertilizers. In the early twentieth century, much of the nitrate used, mainly potassium nitrate, 308
came from Chilean saltpeter; each year, approximately half a million tons of this material was imported into Europe and the United States for use in agriculture. Ammonia was produced through the dry distillation of bituminous coal and other low-grade fuel materials. Originally, coke ovens discharged this valuable material into the atmosphere, but more economical methods were found later to collect and condense these ammonia-bearing vapors. In the first decade of the twentieth century, the cyanamide process for using atmospheric nitrogen was developed by Adolf Frank and Heinrich Caro. The Frank-Caro process produced calcium cyanamide through the reaction of nitrogen from the air on calcium carbide, obtained from limestone and coal in an electric arc. Cyanamide can be converted readily into ammonia through reaction with water. Until 1904, however, the direct combination of nitrogen with hydrogen to form ammonia had not been accomplished on a commercial scale. William Ramsay and Sydney Young had conducted experiments in England in 1884 to do this, but with unsatisfactory results. In 1904, Fritz Haber and his coworkers began experiments on the conversion of nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia by passing various mixtures over catalytic agents, such as iron filings at temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius and at various pressures. (Catalytic agents speed up a chemical reaction without affecting it otherwise.) In the process, they studied the equilibrium conditions in the reaction and found that, at pressures of about 200 atmospheres and temperatures not above 500 degrees Celsius, the production of ammonia in practical yields from its elements could be carried out in a continuous process. Other catalysts, such as uranium and osmium, produced even higher yields but were considerably more costly than iron.
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Fritz Haber. (The Nobel Foundation)
the atmosphere (which is 80 percent nitrogen) was an obvious source. The combination of nitrogen and hydrogen to form ammonia could be induced through electrical discharge, but this required enormous amounts of electrical energy, then available only where there was hydroelectric power. When Haber began his experiments on ammonia production in 1904, there was no known method for the spontaneous conversion of nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia. Nitrogen and oxygen will combine in an electric arc to form oxides of nitrogen, as Walther Hermann Nernst had discovered. Because oxides of nitrogen can be converted readily into nitric acid and, in turn, into nitrates, this possibility aroused considerable interest as a process for “nitrogen fixation,” as the process of direct combination of atmospheric nitrogen into soluble compounds became known. The large amounts of electrical energy necessary to maintain the electric arc, and to heat large masses of air to high temperatures, imposed practical limits on this method. Haber spent many years studying the synthesis of nitric oxide by electrical discharge. Haber gave up the idea of fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere by oxidizing it to nitric oxide. He turned, instead, to reducing it with hydrogen to ammonia. First, he looked into combining nitrogen and hydrogen by corona discharge and by sparking, but he came to the conclusion that this method would not be the most advantageous. He decided to repeat the experiments of Ramsay and Young, who in 1884 had studied the decomposition of ammonia at about 800 degrees Celsius. They had found that a certain amount of ammonia always was left undecomposed. In other words, the reaction between ammonia and its constituent elements—nitrogen and hydrogen—had reached a state of equilibrium. Haber decided to determine the position of this equilibrium in the vicinity of 1,000 degrees Celsius. He approached the equilibrium from both sides, by reacting pure hydrogen with pure nitrogen and by starting with pure ammonia gas and using iron filings as a catalyst. Having determined the position of the equilibrium, he next varied the catalyst and found nickel to be as effective as iron, and calcium and manganese even better. At 1,000 degrees Celsius, the rate of reaction was enough to produce practical amounts of ammonia continuously, if it was to be washed out with water from the circulating system. Further work by Haber showed that increasing the pressure also increased the percentage of ammonia at equilibrium. For example, at 300 degrees Celsius, the percentage of ammonia at equilibrium at 1 atmosphere 309
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In 1910, a factory for the production of ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen by the Haber process was erected near Frankfurt, Germany; it had an annual production capacity of ten thousand tons of ammonia. Wilhelm Ostwald, the 1909 Nobel laureate in chemistry, had developed a method for converting ammonia into nitric acid, which, in turn, could be converted readily into calcium nitrate through reaction with limestone. A hydroelectric method of conversion was developed in Norway, but it required a cheap source of electric power. In areas where no such cheap source was readily available, including Germany, the Haber process for making ammonia was the preferred one. Germany had practically no source of fertilizer-grade nitrogen at the beginning of the twentieth century. Almost all of its supply came from the deserts of northern Chile. As demands for nitrates increased, it became apparent that they would exceed the calculated possible supply from these vast deposits. Other sources needed to be found, and the almost unlimited supply of nitrogen in
Haber Develops Process for Extracting Nitrogen from the Air
Haber Develops Process for Extracting Nitrogen from the Air pressure was only 2 percent, but at 200 atmospheres, the percentage of ammonia at equilibrium was 63 percent. Haber’s compressor would not provide pressures above 200 atmospheres, but with catalysts he was able to obtain rapid combination of nitrogen and hydrogen at about 700 degrees Celsius. He found that he could obtain a yield of several grams of ammonia per hour per cubic centimeter of heated pressure chamber and believed that such a process could be a commercial success. A pilot plant was constructed and was successful enough to impress a chemical manufacturing concern, Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (BASF), which agreed to study Haber’s process and to investigate different catalysts on a large scale. The company, however, substituted cheaper watergas hydrogen for the purer electrolytic hydrogen that Haber had used and so ran into difficulties because of impurities introduced with the impure hydrogen. Once the source of these difficulties was recognized and overcome, the process was a success. Significance Haber’s process for manufacturing ammonia from the nitrogen in the air was in such an advanced state of development when it left his laboratory that its success in industry was virtually assured. Even so, BASF did not see much promise in Haber’s method at first. It was through an old friend of Haber, chemist Carl Engler, who was a member of the BASF advisory council, that Haber’s process was accepted. In July, 1909, a BASF representative, Carl Bosch (later a cowinner of the 1931 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and inventor of methods for synthesis of gasoline) came to Karlsruhe to watch a demonstration of Haber’s process. In his usual thorough manner, Haber had not only carried out the investigations of the ammonia equilibrium but also invented a continuously circulating system whereby the mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen, under pressure, passed through a new gas mixture being added as the ammonia produced was removed from the system. Bosch was greatly impressed; within three years, he had a synthetic ammonia factory in operation. BASF soon built two huge plants. With the beginning of World War I, the need for nitrates for use in explosives became more pressing in Germany than the need in agriculture. After the fall of Antwerp, the Germans seized fifty thousand tons of Chilean saltpeter discovered in the harbor. Because the ammonia from Haber’s process could be converted readily into nitrates, it became an important war resource. Haber’s other contribution to the German war effort was his de310
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 velopment of gas warfare. He was responsible for the chlorine gas used in the attack on Allied troops at Ypres in 1915. He also directed research on gas masks and other protective devices. At the end of the war, Haber received the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of the process for making synthetic ammonia. Because the war was still fresh in everyone’s memory, it became one of the most controversial Nobel awards ever made. A headline in The New York Times for January 26, 1920, stated, “French Attack Swedes for Nobel Prize Award: Chemistry Honor Given to Dr. Haber, Inventor of German Asphyxiating Gas.” In a letter to the newspaper’s editor published on January 28, 1920, the Swedish legation in Washington, D.C., defended the award. Haber left Germany in 1933 under duress from the anti-Semitic policies of the Nazi authorities. He was invited to accept a position at Cambridge University in England, but he died on a trip to Basel, Switzerland, a few months later, a great man whose spirit had been crushed by the actions of an ungrateful regime. —Joseph A. Schufle Further Reading Berl, Ernst. “Fritz Haber.” Journal of Chemical Education 19 (May, 1937): 203-207. An account of Haber’s work in science by a personal friend. Includes Haber’s tribute to Justus von Liebig. Charles, Daniel. Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare. New York: Ecco Press, 2005. Sympathetic biography of Haber focuses on the conflicts he faced. The author calls Haber a “modern Faust,” “willing to serve any master who could further his passion for knowledge and progress.” Includes photographs, notes, bibliography, and index. Coates, J. E. “The Haber Memorial Lecture.” Journal of the Chemical Society (London) (1937): 1642-1672. A thirty-page biography of Haber published three years after his death. Describes his research in detail and laments the treatment Haber received from the Nazi regime in Germany. Haber, Fritz. Five Lectures. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1924. An account by Haber of his research on ammonia synthesis. Defends his wartime work on gas warfare. _______. Thermodynamics of Technical Gas Reactions. Translated by Arthur B. Lamb. London: Longmans, Green, 1908. A model of critical insight into the history of thermodynamics; discusses the problem of the
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Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive Axiomatization of Set Theory
indeterminate constant in the free-energy equation. Following Max Planck, Haber explains the constant in terms of heat capacity and entropy. Nearly anticipates Nernst in announcing the Nernst heat theorem. Jaenicke, Johannes. “The Gold Episode.” Die Naturwissenschaften 23 (1935): 57. Relates Haber’s unsuccessful attempt to extract gold from seawater, with the end of helping Germany pay the heavy reparations mandated by the Versailles treaty after World War I.
Stoltzenberg, Dietrich. Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laureate, German, Jew. Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Foundation, 2005. Biography of Haber abridged and translated by the author from his original work in German. Includes illustrations, notes, and index. See also: Apr. 22-27, 1915: Germany Uses Poison Gas Against Allied Troops; Apr., 1925-May, 1927: German Expedition Discovers the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
1904-1908
Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive Axiomatization of Set Theory Ernst Zermelo undertook the first comprehensive axiomatization of (Cantor’s) set theory, establishing key axioms as the basis of subsequent mathematics. Locale: University of Göttingen, Germany Category: Mathematics
Summary of Event Between 1895 and 1897, Georg Cantor published his chief papers on ordinal and cardinal numbers, the culmination of three decades of research on aggregates, collections, or sets. Because of its novel treatment of topics such as transfinite numbers, Cantor’s set theory also was effectively a new theory of the infinite in mathematics as a legitimate and consistently definable entity. However, many critics from logic, mathematics, and several schools of philosophy refused to accept Cantor’s set theory, not only because of several omissions on Cantor’s part (for example, inadequate discussion of his wellordering principle) but also because of a number of ambiguities and contradictions that apparently could be deduced from set theory.
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Key Figures Ernst Zermelo (1871-1953), German mathematician Georg Cantor (1845-1918), German mathematician David Hilbert (1862-1943), German mathematician Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), English philosopher and logician Abraham Adolf Fraenkel (1891-1965), German mathematician Thoralf Albert Skolem (1887-1963), Swedish mathematician Kurt Gödel (1906-1978), Austrian mathematician and logician
One of the earliest paradoxes arose about 1895 directly from one of Cantor’s theorems. According to the theorem, for every set of ordinal numbers (numbers that designate the order and position of numbers in a series: first, second, and so on), there is one ordinal number larger than all ordinal numbers of the set. An apparent contradiction arises when one applies this theorem to consider the set of all ordinal numbers, as Cantor described to David Hilbert. Greater problems resulted from Bertrand Russell’s antinomy of 1902, involving the set of all sets that do not contain themselves as a subset. Many aspects of these and other paradoxes arose because Cantor’s works gave no clear and consistent definition of the concept of ordinal versus cardinal numbers (integers one, two, and so on). Russell, Hilbert, and Giuseppe Peano, among others, saw the paradoxes as extremely threatening. Further problems with Cantor’s “naïve” set theory arose concurrently, when Cantor lost confidence that the well-ordering principle might be a necessary universal law of thought and concluded, instead, that it was in need of clarification and proof, a conclusion with which Hilbert strongly agreed. The well-ordering principle basically states that it is possible to select simultaneously or choose—in an abstract yet valid sense—sets with infinite elements without having to specify or carry out this selecting through actual operations or calculations. In his international conference review paper of 1900 on the major unsolved problems then facing mathematicians, Hilbert placed Cantor’s set theory at the top of his famous list of twenty-three problems. By 1902, Russell had convinced fellow logician Gottlob Frege that numerous other contradictions were inher-
Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive Axiomatization of Set Theory ent in Cantor’s set theory, some generalized criticisms of which appear in Russell’s 1903 The Principles of Mathematics. In 1903, Hungarian mathematician Jules Konig presented a paper that challenged Cantor’s claims for being able to order and proceed between different orders or levels of infinity and also attacked the more general claim that any set can be well-ordered. Within a day of Konig’s presentation, a student of Cantor and Hilbert, Ernst Zermelo, prepared a counterdemonstration that vindicated Cantor’s system by proving that Konig had improperly used a previous result from the work of Felix Bernstein that Beppo Levi had examined independently and attacked in his paper on Cantor’s axiom of choice. Nevertheless, in the face of questions from mathematicians such as Hilbert, Russell, Émile Borel, Henri-Léon Lebesgue, and W. H. Young, Zermelo (at the urging of Hilbert and Cantor) sought to establish more strongly the overall validity of Cantor’s set theory. Zermelo had already become well acquainted with many aspects and problems of Cantor’s theory. In 1899, Zermelo discovered Russell’s paradox and informed Hilbert. In lectures he delivered at the University of Göttingen in spring, 1901, Zermelo expressed doubts regarding extant validations by Cantor of some of his set theoretic axioms on cardinality. Assisted by Erhard Schmidt, Zermelo developed the background to what in 1904 would be his published proof of Cantor’s wellordering principle, using the controversial axiom of choice. In this much-criticized paper, Zermelo proved that in every set, an ordering principle can be introduced in the form of the relation “a comes before b.” Central to controversies around Zermelo’s proof was his argument that for every subset M, a corresponding element m can be imagined. Many doubted that such formal imaginatory postulation had any real meaning, unless, for example, a concrete procedure or algorithm for carrying out the one-to-one correspondence between members of two sets could be given. For Zermelo, Hilbert, and other “formalists,” however, such principles were irreducible and self-evident. The other key aspect of Hilbert’s formalism that influenced Zermelo’s efforts to clarify and reorder set theory was that of axiomatics. Hilbert’s Grundlagen der Geometrie (1899; The Foundations of Geometry, 1902) first made clear the benefits and economy derived from using a minimum system of primitive assumptions, combined through explicit axioms to redefine naïve/intuitive areas of mathematics such as geometry. Hilbert was interested in seeing a rigorous proof that the real number system is a consistent set, because in showing the com312
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pleteness and consistency of Euclidean geometry, Hilbert had assumed the consistency of the real numbers. In 1900-1901, Hilbert attempted a preliminary axiomatization of set theory. Proposing the basic concept of number as a given, Hilbert sought to determine the relation between this and other primitive concepts by introducing axioms such as the operations of arithmetic (+, !, H, ÷), the commutative and associative laws, several ordering relations, the “Archimedean” axiom of continuity, and a completeness axiom. Hilbert believed (but did not show in detail) that his systematization of set theory was consistent, complete, and noncontradictory with regard to all the then-known theorems about the real numbers. In his efforts at the axiomatization of set theory, Zermelo was motivated not solely by the logical paradoxes but also by his desire to continue Hilbert’s efforts. In mid-1908, Zermelo published two papers in Hilbert’s journal Mathematische Annalen in which he set out his own more comprehensive set theory axiomatics. He began, like Hilbert, with a specific domain of mathematical objects, including sets, with the defined relations of membership between objects of his domain as a key set theory relation. Zermelo then stated seven central axioms, which he asserted were mutually independent and consistent. Zermelo’s seven axioms can be simply described as the axioms of extensionality, elementary sets, separation, power sets, union, choice, and infinity. The axiom of choice validated a major means of proving inductively that a given property holds for all set elements if it holds for one element. Zermelo outlined how many extant axioms of arithmetic could be derived from these axioms, including operations of union, intersection, product, equivalence, and functionality. He devoted much of his discussion to developing a theory of cardinals (transfinite numbers) in terms of specific ordinal numbers, showing that the earlier Frege-Russell definition of cardinal numbers was incompatible with his and Hilbert’s system of arithmetic. Zermelo devoted minimal discussion to the paradoxes of Cantor, Russell, and others, as he believed that his “condition of definiteness of subsets” avoided any contradictory construction. Definiteness, or a definite property, E, of a set S is said to be one for which the seven axioms permit one to determine whether E holds for any element of S. Significance Zermelo’s axiom system for Cantor’s set theory was not acknowledged at first. Most initial attention focused almost exclusively on its weak points, such as Russell’s and Henri Poincaré’s suspicions that Zermelo’s formal
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Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive Axiomatization of Set Theory tem of ten other axioms was developed, taking “classes” as the basic variable, for which sets are those classes adequate for arithmetic with natural/real numbers and proper sets are those nonset classes for which contradictions can arise. Although others, such as Willard van Orman Quine in 1958, offered further alternative axiomatizations for set theory, to date the Zermelo-Fraenkel and von Neumann-Bernays-Gödel theories remain the only working options within mathematics. Despite the avoidance of earlier paradoxes, axiomatic set theory is by no means a closed subject. In 1963, Paul Cohen proved that each of Zermelo’s axioms is logically independent, a result that opened several avenues of continuing inquiries. Although the relative consistency of both set theories can be demonstrated with respect to other mathematical theories, any would-be absolute validation of axiomatic set theory is as yet unavailable. Because Gödel’s inconsistency and indecidability theorems apply to both set theories, such absolute verification may never be forthcoming. Most contemporary efforts are directed toward providing at least a more complete and comprehensive set theoretic description, a direction that was first pioneered by Zermelo. — Gerardo G. Tango Further Reading Cohen, Paul J. Set Theory and the Continuum Hypothesis. New York: W. A. Benjamin, 1966. An advanced and technical account of Cohen’s independence proof of the axiom of choice in the context of the ZermeloFraenkel set theory. Dauben, J. W. Georg Cantor: His Mathematics and Philosophy of the Infinite. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979. A rigorous yet nontechnical account of naïve set theory as Zermelo found it. Fraenkel, Abraham Adolf, and Yehoshua Bar-Hillel. Foundations of Set Theory. Amsterdam: NorthHolland, 1958. Fraenkel’s main work on axiomatic set theory. Contains key material and a discussion of his 1921 and 1922 papers. Halmos, Paul R. Naive Set Theory. Princeton, N.J.: D. Van Nostrand, 1960. A general undergraduate introductory-level text that addresses what is essentially Cantor’s original set theory. Hamilton, A. G. Numbers, Sets, and Axioms: The Apparatus of Mathematics. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983. An introductory survey of naïve set theory and the basics of axiomatic set theory in the context of prior and subsequent mathematics. Moore, Gregory H. Zermelo’s Axiom of Choice: Its Ori313
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system was inconsistent or employed methods or ideas improper for mathematics. Poincaré, in particular, objected to formal axiomatization as contrary to the constructive intuition and creation of mathematical entities. Russell’s criticism was that set theory, with arithmetic, is a part of logic and can be made consistent only when recast into symbolic logic. Russell and Alfred North Whitehead, in their Principia Mathematica (19101913), presented their theory of “types” to resolve the paradoxes of set theory. This established a hierarchy of types of sets, which includes the real numbers but also contains the unintuitive axiom of irreducibility. This states that for any property of types higher than order !0, there is a property over the same range of order !0 that can be shown as equivalent to the assertion that impredicative definitions are equivalent to predicative definition. (An impredicative definition is one made only in terms of the totality of which it is a part.) Despite Zermelo’s concise and clear exposition, his axiomatic set theory was largely ignored in favor of nonaxiomatic set theory until 1921. In that year, Abraham Adolf Fraenkel, in his efforts to demonstrate the independence of the axiom of choice from other axioms, first pointed out some shortcomings in Zermelo’s system as well as their remedies. Fraenkel objected that Zermelo’s axiom of infinity was too weak, that his property of definiteness was too vague, and that his total system was insufficiently categorical to encompass all of ordinal arithmetic and the transfinite numbers. This led Fraenkel to add what is now known as the axiom of replacement, which states that if each element of a set is associated with one and only one set, then the collection of associated sets is a set. In place of Zermelo’s notion of a definite property, Fraenkel proposed the notion of a new function. In 1923, the Swedish mathematician Thoralf Albert Skolem independently arrived at a similar result regarding “definiteness” as a property expressible in first-order logic. Skolem proposed that within any predicate calculus (first-order logic) it is impossible to establish an ultimate categorical system of axioms for the natural numbers by means of a finite set of axioms, a result suggestive of Kurt Gödel’s later theorems. With these modifications, Zermelo’s theory has become known as the Zermelo-Fraenkel system for set theory. In 1923 and 1925, John von Neumann published papers presenting, respectively, a new definition of ordinal number sets and an alternate axiomatic for set theory. Paul Bernays in 1937 and Gödel in 1940 published alternatives to the Zermelo-Fraenkel theory of sets. A sys-
Brandenberger Invents Cellophane gins, Development, and Influence. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1982. An exhaustive historicalconceptual treatment of some background and developmental aspects of Zermelo’s set theory axiomatics. Potter, Michael. Set Theory and Its Philosophy: A Critical Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. A comprehensive introduction to modern set theory. Includes extensive coverage of cardinal and ordinal arithmetic, equivalents of the axiom of choice, and other axiom candidates. Stoll, Robert Roth. Set Theory and Logic. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1960. A logical representation of Cantor’s set theory. Points out sources of the paradoxes and their avoidance by axiomatic set theory. Suppes, Patrick. Axiomatic Set Theory. Princeton, N.J.: D. Van Nostrand, 1960. An intermediate-level account of set theory from a logician’s perspective. Tiles, Mary. The Philosophy of Set Theory: An Historical Introduction to Cantor’s Paradise. Mineola, N.Y.:
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Dover, 2004. Begins with perspectives on the finite universe, classes, and Aristotelian logic and then examines, among many other topics, Cantor’s transfinite paradise, axiomatic set theory, and the constructs and reality of mathematical structure. Appropriate for undergraduate- and graduate-level readers. Watson, S., and J. Steprans, eds. Set Theory and Its Applications. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1989. An intermediate-advanced text on set theoretic applications in computer and engineering science. See also: 1902: Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in Set Theory; June 16, 1902: Russell Discovers the “Great Paradox”; 1904-1907: Brouwer Develops Intuitionist Foundations of Mathematics; 1906: Fréchet Introduces the Concept of Abstract Space; July, 1929-July, 1931: Gödel Proves IncompletenessInconsistency for Formal Systems; 1939: Bourbaki Group Publishes Éléments de mathématique.
1904-1912
Brandenberger Invents Cellophane Jacques Edwin Brandenberger’s successful casting of viscose cellulose from solution into thin, continuous, transparent sheets started the modern packaging era. Locale: Thaon les Vosges, France Categories: Science and technology; chemistry; inventions Key Figures Jacques Edwin Brandenberger (1872-1954), Swiss chemist Charles Frederick Cross (1855-1935), English chemist Edward John Bevan (1856-1921), English chemist Summary of Event The invention of cellophane, although it represented a tremendous amount of perseverance and insight on the part of Jacques Edwin Brandenberger, was not a major theoretical achievement. Instead, it was the result of a mere modification of an existing process, one of several processes for making cellulose plastics. Nor was the amount of cellophane, on a weight basis, particularly significant relative to other materials made from wood; at its peak, the production of cellophane was only 0.5 percent of the production of paper and less than 20 percent of the production of all cellulosic plastic materials. Cellophane 314
did, however, revolutionize the packaging industry as the first clear plastic film. The first successful cellulose plastic—indeed, the first synthetic plastic ever made—was created in 1846 by Christian Friedrich Schönbein of Switzerland when he formed nitrocellulose (also called cellulose nitrate, depending on its use) through the action of sulfuric and nitric acids on cotton. Nitrocellulose soon became very important and had a variety of applications. It was used as a propellant and an explosive by the Austrian army in 1852 (called guncotton or smokeless powder, the first plastic explosive), as the first modern lacquer in the United States in 1882 using amyl acetate as a solvent, in early photographic films (termed celluloid, as is cellulose acetate, which later replaced cellulose nitrate for this use), and in textiles as the first artificial silk by Count de Chardonnet in 1884 in France. Because its chemical composition includes a nitrate group (the same molecule group that supplies the oxygen in gunpowder), cellulose nitrate is highly flammable and is no longer used in textiles. Its unsuitability for use in textiles became apparent when the dress of a woman attending a cocktail party disappeared in a flash of smoke when ashes from her escort’s cigar ignited it. Shortly thereafter, in 1869, cellulose acetate was first made in
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 France. The technical difficulties associated with using this material were finally overcome, and by 1908, the Celluloid Company was producing acetate film for use around the world for photography. In 1914, the Lustron Company was set up by the Arthur D. Little Company to start manufacturing cellulose acetate textile fibers, which are called acetate rayon, or rayon for short. Cellulose nitrate was quickly replaced by cellulose acetate and other materials for all uses except explosives and propellants. In 1892, English chemists Charles Frederick Cross and Edward John Bevan developed the viscose rayon process. Except for a modification in the method of casting the solution into usable form, that process is the basis for cellophane manufacture. Cellulose from pulped wood fibers (very similar to cotton fibers, except the cellulose chains are about one-tenth the length) is treated
Brandenberger Invents Cellophane with sodium hydroxide solution (also called caustic soda) to swell the fibers in a process called mercerization. The Englishman John Mercer invented mercerization in 1844 as a method to shrink cotton and make it glossy. The mercerized, shredded pulp is aged for several days and then treated with carbon disulfide, which reacts with cellulose to form the viscous, orange-colored cellulose xanthate solution known as viscose. The viscose is aged for several days, filtered, and then forced through a thin hole into an acid bath containing salts that convert the cellulose xanthate back into cellulose. The regenerated cellulose is no longer soluble and forms a solid filament known as viscose rayon. Cross and Bevan used this process as a means of forming continuous carbon filaments for use in the newly invented lightbulb. In 1904, Brandenberger, reportedly frustrated by the
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To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
Du Pont chemist William Hale Charch reenacts the process of developing moisture-proof cellophane. The large cellophane bag on his left held water for weeks, whereas the other bags showed evaporation in a few days. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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Brandenberger Invents Cellophane sloppy tabletops in a local French café, desired to develop a protective material to prevent tablecloths from becoming stained. His employer, the Thaon Textile Company, encouraged him over the eight years it took him to develop cellophane. At first, Brandenberger used cellulose nitrate solutions, but these gave a film that was much too brittle and rigid to be useful for tablecloths. Later, he worked with the new viscose material that had been perfected by Cross and Bevan. He found that he was able to peel a transparent film from a treated tablecloth. Although viscose was not suitable for use in tablecloths, despite numerous attempts, Brandenberger pursued the idea of casting viscose into thin films from solution. Brandenberger filed a patent in 1908 on regenerated cellulose films from viscose using a water bath containing ammonium sulfate to coagulate the viscose and an acidic water bath to regenerate the cellulose. The final bath usually contains glycerol, which acts as a plasticizer; that is, it makes the cellophane much less brittle. The only significant difference from the viscose rayon process is that in the cellophane process, the viscose solution is cast through long, thin slots rather than small holes. It is much more difficult to handle the thin sheet compared with handling the filament; this is where most of the development took place. Casting it into a ringshaped slot results in a continuous tube, which is used in sausage casings. Until 1912, Brandenberger worked to perfect a machine that would produce a continuous film of cellophane. He filed for additional patents to protect his invention and tried to find uses for cellophane. During World War I, cellophane was used to make unbreakable eyepieces in gas masks. After the war, it was used as trimming for hats. With the backing of France’s largest rayon company, Brandenberger started the company La Cellophane, which literally translates as “the clear cellulose.” In 1920, the Du Pont Corporation, recognizing an important material, bought the North American rights to cellophane. On April 4, 1924, the first cellophane was manufactured in the United States at the Du Pont plant in Buffalo, New York. The original cellophane, although waterproof, was not water-vapor-proof. Bread and other moist materials wrapped in cellophane would dry out over time, and dry items would pick up moisture and become soggy. Much research and development went into solving this problem; in 1927, after trying hundreds of compounds, William Hale Charch of Du Pont found that a very thin wax coating could prevent the cellophane from “breathing.” Also, the original cellophane was not heat-sealable, which meant 316
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 that packaging had to be done by hand, so cellophane was used to wrap only expensive items, such as bottles of perfume. This problem was overcome with a coating that allowed cellophane to stick to itself with the application of heat and pressure by automated packaging machines. Ironically, this coating contained cellulose nitrate, the same material replaced by these new cellulose materials. Significance At first, cellophane was very expensive, about thirteen dollars per pound. Many vendors were said to store their stocks of the material in safes. As the process of making cellophane improved dramatically within the first year, however, prices dropped to about four and a half dollars per pound. Cellophane became popular very quickly. As the first wrapping material that was truly clear and allowed the contents of a package to be plainly visible, it soon replaced the waxed paper and glassine paper that had served as wrappings. The advantages of cellophane became an extremely important marketing tool that created the modern packaging industry. Soon, cellophane received expansive publicity, and people began wrapping everything in cellophane. Sales of ready-made food items such as baked goods and dried pastas increased by as much as tenfold as people could now easily see the products in their packages. Even through the Great Depression of the 1930’s and World War II, the production of cellophane continued to increase. Another product created with cellophane was clear tape used to mend paper and to attach items to each other. Although other materials are now used to make this kind of adhesive tape (often called Scotch tape, after the name of the most successful brand), it is still sometimes referred to as cellophane tape. Cellophane also was adapted for use in semipermeable membranes (membranes that allow small molecules to pass but block large molecules) for applications such as kidney dialysis. Cellophane is also used as a release agent in the manufacture of fiberglass and certain rubber products. As cellophane became popular, production increased quickly in the United States. By 1940, about 110.2 million pounds (50 million kilograms) were manufactured per year, and by 1960, its peak year of production, 440.9 million pounds (200 million kilograms) were made annually. By the 1960’s, cellophane’s competition from polyethylene, thermoplastic resins such as saran, and other materials derived from petroleum was intense, and this initiated a decline in production. Other materials replaced cellophane for many uses
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 because they had improved properties and were cheaper to manufacture, but these materials only filled the niche that cellophane defined. None of these replacement films created the same excitement in the marketplace that cellophane did when it first appeared. As the original transparent film, cellophane created the modern packaging industry. —Christopher J. Biermann Further Reading Battista, O. A. “Transparent Bonanza.” Science Digest 27 (April, 1950): 84-87. This brief, interesting article chronicles how Brandenberger invented cellophane, the early days of cellophane, and cellophane’s impact on packaging and marketing. “Cellophane: A Substitute for Paper.” Literary Digest 80 (February 2, 1924): 61-62. This article, written early in the first year that cellophane was produced in the United States, describes cellophane’s importance as a packaging material and as the basis for a new industry. “Competition Slows Cellophane’s Growth.” Chemical and Engineering News 39 (March 6, 1961): 32-33. This article, written at the peak of cellophane’s success, discusses the importance of polyethylene as the most inexpensive clear film and also mentions other
Herero and Nama Revolts materials that eventually captured more and more of the packaging film industry. Haynes, William. Cellulose: The Chemical That Grows. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1953. This is a fascinating, well-written account of the cellulose industry from the early 1800’s through the early 1950’s. Describes the important discoveries and how they were related. Peck, A. P. “Cellophane Is Born.” Scientific American 158 (May, 1938): 274-275. A two-page spread with nine pictures showing the process of making cellophane with captions describing the process. The best available pictorial on the process. Turbak, Albin. “Rayon.” In Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Engineering, edited by Herman F. Mark. 2d ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1985-1986. This is a fairly technical, in-depth discussion of viscose rayon and acetate rayon. Includes production and use figures for U.S. and worldwide production. See also: Aug. 30, 1901: Booth Receives Patent for the Vacuum Cleaner; 1905-1907: Baekeland Invents Bakelite; 1910: Electric Washing Machine Is Introduced; May 20, 1915: Corning Glass Works Trademarks Pyrex; Apr., 1930: Midgley Introduces Dichlorodifluoromethane as a Refrigerant Gas; Feb., 1935-Oct. 27, 1938: Carothers Invents Nylon.
1904
January, 1904-1905
Herero and Nama Revolts The attempts of both the Herero and the Nama peoples to extricate themselves from German colonial rule resulted in a protracted struggle between the native groups and the colonial army, although in the end both uprisings were brutally suppressed. In the period 1904-1905, both ethnic groups suffered imprisonment, starvation, and loss of life in concentration camps. Approximately 65 to 80 percent of the Herero people were killed in what many consider to have been a genocide. Locale: German Southwest Africa (now Namibia) Categories: Atrocities and war crimes; colonialism and occupation; indigenous peoples’ rights; wars, uprisings, and civil unrest Key Figures Lothar von Trotha (1848-1920), German general who commanded the German military in Southwest Africa, May, 1904-November, 1905
Samuel Maherero (c. 1854-1923), paramount chief of the Herero, r. 1890-1923 Hendrik Witbooi (c. 1825-1905), chief of the Nama people, r. 1888-1905 Theodor Leutwein (1849-1921), governor of Southwest Africa, 1898-1904 Bernhard von Bülow (1849-1929), German chancellor, 1900-1909 William II (1859-1941), German emperor, r. 18881918 Summary of Event In the years leading up to 1904, the German colonists in Southwest Africa attempted to consolidate and secure their power in the colony by executing “treaties of protection and friendship” with the various indigenous tribes. This divide-and-conquer policy initially served the Germans well. However, discontentment grew among the Herero people as they continued to find themselves dis317
Herero and Nama Revolts possessed of the land and cattle on which their economy was based. In contrast, the situation of the Namaqua, or Nama, people was somewhat different. They had a long history of animosity with the Herero, and when asked, they declined to support the Herero in their uprising. It was not until after the Herero rebellion was effectively quelled that the Nama decided to stage their own revolt. Some believe that this was in large part motivated by their comprehension of the brutality with which the German colonial government dealt with the Herero. There is debate as to whether the revolt of January, 1904, was intentionally initiated by the Herero or whether the conflict resulted from an escalating series of misunderstandings. Historians also speculate on the movement’s goal: Were the Herero intent on overthrowing the German colonial rule, or did they believe their society could not survive and so chose to fight to the death? Early in the war, the Germans were confident that their technological (if not numerical) superiority would lead them to certain victory. From January through July, 1904, however, the Germans were not able to garner a decisive victory over the Herero, and they acutely felt the loss of prestige. The stigma attached to being bested by people whom the colonial government considered mentally, morally, and militarily inferior was not one the Germans were willing to assume. Although Major Theodor Leutwein was willing to negotiate a peace with the Herero, Emperor William II found this policy untenable, and he replaced Leutwein with General Lothar von Trotha, who took command of German troops on June 11, 1904. Von Trotha believed that the conflict in German Southwest Africa had degenerated into a race war and that negotiation was impossible; only annihilation would resolve the Herero question once and for all. On August 12, 1904, the German troops encircled the Herero people, who had gathered against a mountain called Waterberg, and attempted to engage them in a decisive battle. The majority of the Herero men, women, children, and livestock were able to escape this circle through a gap in the east, and they fled in the direction of the Omaheke Desert. The military strength of the Herero was broken in this final battle, but von Trotha insisted that the German soldiers pursue the fleeing Herero farther into the waterless desert. The Herero population was effectively corralled inside the Omaheke. Most did not have the strength to cross it, and German military patrols prevented escape back into German Southwest Africa. Von Trotha followed this harsh action with his infamous Vernichtungsbefehl (extermination order) of October 2, 1904: “Within 318
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 the German borders, every Herero, whether armed or unarmed, with or without cattle, will be shot. I shall not accept any more women or children. I shall drive them back to their people—otherwise I shall order shots to be fired at them.” The Nama revolt also began in the early days of October, 1904. Although the most powerful Nama chief, Hendrik Witbooi, had remained on friendly terms with the Germans throughout the Herero rebellion and had even provided the colonial soldiers with a contingent of more than one hundred men, Witbooi realized that his people were headed for the same annihilatory treatment that had been meted out to the Herero. The German struggle with the Nama was even more protracted than that with the Herero had been. After seeing what had happened to his neighbors, Witbooi refused to meet the Germans in open battle. Instead, he utilized the Nama’s intimate knowledge of the terrain to employ guerrilla tactics with great effectiveness. Witbooi was the uniting force of the Nama people, and after he died of wounds sustained during a raid on the Germans, it was increasingly difficult for the Nama to unite around one figure. As a result, they became markedly demoralized. Increasingly bad publicity in Germany, including criticism from Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow, led the colonial military to seek an end to the war with the Nama. Von Trotha, reluctant as ever to negotiate with black Africans, was sent back to Germany in November, 1905. Although the subsequent surrender of various Nama leaders and their followers was arranged, the hardships of the native Southwest Africans were not over. As labor became increasingly short in supply, German colonists proposed that the Herero and Nama who had surrendered to von Trotha’s army be used as forced laborers. The surviving Herero were detained in collection camps in their inland home areas beginning after the extermination order was revoked in December, 1904; in 1905, many were deported to the much cooler coastal areas of Swakopmund. After their surrender, the Nama were also deported; some were sent to work in other German colonies such as the Cameroons, but the majority were sent to Southwest Africa’s coastal areas. Of the various camps for laborers, the cold and damp Shark Island was the most notorious. There, as well as in the other concentration camps, already emaciated Nama were starved and kept in shelters that were unable to keep out the cold Atlantic winds. In many cases, the death rate was 50 percent or more, and in time it became obvious that individuals kept under such conditions would not be fit for labor of any kind.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Significance The brutal suppression of the Herero and Nama revolts, which culminated in gross human rights abuses and genocide, had far-reaching implications. The postwar policies implemented in 1907 and 1908 sentenced the native inhabitants of German Southwest Africa to second-class citizenship; they were required to wear passes around their necks and their freedom of movement was restricted. The German conduct of the war and subsequent mistreatment of the indigenous peoples also provided fodder for British propaganda campaigns; during and immediately following World War I, the British leveraged evidence of German brutality to great effect, stripping Germany of its colonies and securing Southwest Africa for Great Britain. Although it was not until several years after World War II that South Africa became the official colonial proprietor of the territory, the German legacy of treating black Africans as second-class citizens only strengthened the power of apartheid. The connection between concentration camps in German Southwest Africa and those built by the Germans during World War II has been the source of a great deal of scholarship on race subjugation and extermination, although scholars are still studying the relationship between Germany’s brutal colonial policies in Southwest Africa and the Nazi-era atrocities and genocide. —Robin M. Krause
pects and government concerns but also on the policies’ psychological impact on natives and settlers. Bridgman, Jon. The Revolt of the Hereos. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981. Focuses on the military aspects of both revolts and updates some of the scenarios that Heinrich Drechsler suggested. Succinct and easy to read. Drechsler, Heinrich, and Bernd Zöllner. Let Us Die Fighting: The Struggle of the Herero and the Nama Against German Imperialism. London: Zed Press, 1980. Definitive work draws on sources from German Federal Archive. Suggests that the Herero and Nama revolted against insurmountable odds to preserve their way of life. Gewald, Jan Bart. Herero Heroes: A Socio-political History of the Herero of Namibia, 1890-1923. Oxford, England: James Currey, 1999. Challenges longstanding assumptions about the Herero revolt by providing alternate interpretations of several key events. Draws on broad source materials, including documentation from the National Archive of Namibia and religious institutions. Hull, Isabel V. Absolute Destruction: Military Culture and the Practices of War in Imperial Germany. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2005. Offers innovative treatment of the Herero genocide as well as long-term warfare policies of the German military. See also: Dec. 19, 1901: Completion of the MombasaLake Victoria Railway; May 31, 1910: Formation of the Union of South Africa; Jan. 8, 1912: South African Native National Congress Meets; Early 1920: Britain Represses Somali Rebellion; Aug. 7, 1925: West African Student Union Is Founded.
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Further Reading Bley, Helmuth. South West Africa Under German Rule, 1894-1914. Translated by Huth Ridley. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1971. Extremely detailed study that focuses not only on military as-
Herero and Nama Revolts
Russo-Japanese War
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
February 9, 1904-September 5, 1905
Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War resulted from the clashing imperial ambitions of Russia and Japan. Locale: Manchuria; Korea; Yellow Sea Categories: Expansion and land acquisition; wars, uprisings, and civil unrest Key Figures Evgeny Ivanovich Alexieff (fl. early twentieth century), Russian viceroy of the Far East Tamemoto Kuroki (1844-1923), commander of main Japanese forces in Manchuria Aleksei Kuropatkin (1848-1925), Russian minister of war and commander of Russian forces in the Far East Nicholas II (1868-1918), czar of Russia, r. 1894-1917 Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Zinovy Petrovich Rozhdestvensky (1848-1909), commander of the Russian Baltic fleet Heihachirf Togf (1848-1934), commander of the Imperial Japanese fleet Summary of Event By the end of the nineteenth century, the imperial ambitions of Russia and Japan focused on the same regions of the Far East: Korea, Manchuria, and the northeastern part of China. Japan was a relative newcomer as an imperialistic power, only emerging from its self-imposed isolation in the middle of the century. Although Japan modernized, its leaders still felt they lacked respect from the Western powers, and they were concerned with their nation’s security. For Japanese leaders, Korea became a key to the national expansion. To expand its influence over that neighbor, Japan engaged Korea’s more powerful neighbor, China, in war from 1894 to 1895. Among the concessions Japan wrested from China with its victory was control over the Chinese area of Manchuria contiguous to Korea. This acquisition alarmed the Western imperialists; France, Russia, and Germany—in what is known as the Triple Intervention—jointly protested this expansion, forcing Japan to relinquish territorial claims outside Korea. China’s defeat in the war led the Western imperialists, including Russia, to seek additional concessions of their own from China. As the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad progressed, Russia wrested from China the right to build a railroad across northern Manchuria and also gained possession of two 320
ports on the Liaotung Peninsula in southern Manchuria— Dairen (Ta-lien) and Port Arthur. Thus Russia gained without conflict much of what the Triple Intervention had denied to the victorious Japanese. One outcome of China’s humiliation was the growth of antiforeign feeling, marked by the appearance of the secret society popularly called the Boxers. Their attacks on foreigners in the Boxer Rebellion resulted in a multinational military intervention in northern China. During the course of this uprising, Russian troops had fanned out over Manchuria. Only strong protests by other nations forced a phased, but often delayed, withdrawal of the Russian troops. In 1902, isolated Japan signed a treaty with Great Britain. Under its terms, each participant would remain a friendly neutral if the other became engaged in a war. If additional nations involved themselves in the conflict, the treaty required armed intervention by the other signatory. With this treaty, Japan would not have to face the threat of a new Triple Intervention alone. In 1898, a Russian company secured from Korea the right to harvest timber along the Yalu River; the Russian royal family became financially involved in its operations, which a small Russian military force protected. These expansionist moves on the part of Russia alarmed Japan. Tensions reached such a peak that a series of negotiations between the two countries began in 1903. The negotiations were hampered by the activities of Admiral Evgeny Ivanovich Alexieff, Russia’s Far Eastern viceroy, who, because of racial prejudice, consistently underestimated the pride and strength of the Japanese. When no progress was made after several months, the Japanese recalled their ambassador on February 6, 1904. Two days later, Admiral Heihachirf Togf attacked the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in Manchuria. Suffering some damage, the Russian fleet remained in or close to that port until late in the war. At the same time Togf struck at Port Arthur, Japanese troops landed in Korea and quickly marched to the Yalu River against token Russian opposition. With the neutralization of the Russian Far Eastern fleet, Japan moved troops into Manchuria both to invest Port Arthur and to defeat the main Russian forces near Liaoyang under General Aleksei Kuropatkin. Because of the Japanese willingness to take casualties in attack and the weakness of the Russians in numbers and resolve, Japan won an unbroken series of victories. The major battles included those fought at Liaoyang and Mukden under General Tamemoto Ku-
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roki, and the successful siege of Port Arthur. Sent to change the balance of naval power in Asia, the Russian Baltic fleet, under Admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhdestvensky, was totally destroyed by Admiral Togf in the Battle of Tsushima, May 27-29, 1905. The unbroken series of Russian defeats contributed to growing unrest at home and led Czar Nicholas II to seek an end to the war. Although victorious at sea and on land, Japan was militarily and economically exhausted by the struggle. When President Theodore Roosevelt offered to help bring the war to an end, negotiators of the two belligerents met at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where a peace treaty was signed on September 5, 1905. Under its terms, Japan took possession of the Russian concessions in southern Manchuria and the railroad leading north to Mukden, gained official recognition of their predominance over Korea, and were given the southern
half of Sakhalin Island. The lack of a sizable indemnity led to some rioting in Japan. Significance The Russo-Japanese War has been overshadowed by World War I, which followed closely on its heels. In actuality, the struggle of 1904-1905 may have been one of the most significant conflicts of the twentieth century. With the exception of the defeat of the Italian army in Ethiopia at the battle of Adowa in 1896, the RussoJapanese War marked the first time in modern history that a major European power was decisively and completely defeated by a non-European nation. This event raised the hopes of nationalists in Asia and Africa that the days of European colonialism were numbered. Defeat for Russia also played a major role in bringing on an incomplete reformist revolution in that nation in 321
Russo-Japanese War 1905. That revolution so eroded feelings for the czar that it was a factor leading to the revolutions of 1917 and the emergence of the Bolshevik state. In addition, Japan’s failure to achieve all of its aims in the peace treaty fed a growing militarism among Japanese and the conviction that their legitimate goals were thwarted by the Americans. Japanese military planners became convinced that they could defeat a stronger power by destroying that power’s main naval forces at the very outbreak of war. —Hans Heilbronner and Art Barbeau Further Reading Borton, Hugh. Japan’s Modern Century. New York: Ronald Press, 1955. Includes a brief account of the war from the Japanese perspective. British General Staff. The Russo-Japanese War. 2 vols. London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1906-1908. History and analysis of the war by British observers, many of whom were sent to the scene because of Great Britain’s status as an unofficial ally of Japan. Hare, James H., ed. A Photographic Record of the Russo-Japanese War. New York: Collier & Son, 1905. Probably the best of the many contemporary accounts of the war in presenting a photographic account of the conflict. Jukes, Geoffrey. The Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905. Oxford, England: Osprey, 2002. Concise history of the war includes background regarding its beginnings and discussion of its eventual consequences. Features chronology and index. Malozemoff, Andrew. Russian Far Eastern Policy, 1881-1904: With Special Emphasis on the Causes of the RussoJapanese War. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1958. Attempts a revision of traditional interpretations of the war and its results, but displays a definite anti-Japanese bias. Martin, Christopher. The Russo-Japanese War. New York: Abelard-Schuman, 322
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The Treaty of Portsmouth The Russo-Japanese War came to an end when Russia and Japan signed the Treaty of Portsmouth in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on September 5, 1905. The first four of the treaty’s fifteen articles are listed below. The Emperor of Japan on the one part, and the Emperor of all the Russias, on the other part, animated by a desire to restore the blessings of peace, have resolved to conclude a treaty of peace, and have for this purpose named their plenipotentiaries, that is to say, for his Majesty the Emperor of Japan, Baron Komura Jutaro, Jusami, Grand Cordon of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun, his Minister for Foreign Affairs, and his Excellency Takahira Kogoro, Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure, his Minister to the United States, and his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, his Excellency Sergius Witte, his Secretary of State and President of the Committee of Ministers of the Empire of Russia, and his Excellency Baron Roman Rosen, Master of the Imperial Court of Russia, his Majesty’s Ambassador to the United States, who, after having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in good and due form, and concluded the following articles: Article I. There shall henceforth be peace and amity between their Majesties the Emperor of Japan and the Emperor of all the Russias, and between their respective States and subjects. Article II. The Imperial Russian Government, acknowledging that Japan possesses in Korea paramount political, military and economical interests engages neither to obstruct nor interfere with measures for guidance, protection and control which the Imperial Government of Japan may find necessary to take in Korea. It is understood that Russian subjects in Korea shall be treated in exactly the same manner as the subjects and citizens of other foreign Powers; that is to say, they shall be placed on the same footing as the subjects and citizens of the most favored nation. It is also agreed that, in order to avoid causes of misunderstanding, the two high contracting parties will abstain on the Russian-Korean frontier from taking any military measure which may menace the security of Russian or Korean territory. Article III. Japan and Russia mutually engage: First: To evacuate completely and simultaneously Manchuria, except the territory affected by the lease of the Liaotung Peninsula, in conformity with the provisions of the additional article I annexed to this treaty, and, Second: To restore entirely and completely to the exclusive administration of China all portions of Manchuria now in occupation, or under the control of the Japanese or Russian troops, with the exception of the territory above mentioned. The Imperial Government of Russia declares that it has not in Manchuria any territorial advantages or preferential or exclusive concessions in the impairment of Chinese sovereignty, or inconsistent with the principle of equal opportunity. Article IV. Japan and Russia reciprocally engage not to obstruct any general measures common to all countries which China may take for the development of the commerce or industry of Manchuria.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 1967. Recounts the events of the time in almost reportorial style. Unlike many earlier accounts, places the war in its historical setting, giving proper emphasis to its Asian causes rather than treating it as a minor episode of intrigue in Russian internal politics. A good starting place for interested readers. Steinberg, John W., et al., eds. The Russo-Japanese War in Global Perspective: World War Zero. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2005. Collection of essays explores the military, diplomatic, social, economic, and political contexts in which the war occurred. Draws on previously unavailable Russian sources as well as Japanese records. Includes illustrations, maps, and index.
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities White, John A. The Diplomacy of the Russo-Japanese War. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1964. Careful scholarly account of the war places the blame for the conflict on the Far Eastern aims of the two protagonists, each of which was threatened by the actions and desires of the other. See also: Sept. 14, 1901: Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President; 1903-1906: Pogroms in Imperial Russia; Apr. 8, 1904: Entente Cordiale; Jan. 22, 1905: Bloody Sunday; Oct. 30, 1905: October Manifesto; 1907: Famine Strikes Russia; Aug. 22, 1910: Japanese Annexation of Korea; July 7, 1937: China Declares War on Japan.
March 14, 1904
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities By prosecuting and ordering dissolution of the Northern Securities Company, the U.S. government showed that it would regulate corporations and set the precedent for later antitrust cases.
Key Figures Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Philander C. Knox (1853-1921), U.S. attorney general, 1901-1904 J. P. Morgan (1837-1913), American investment banker Edward H. Harriman (1848-1909), head of the Union Pacific Railroad James Jerome Hill (1838-1916), head of the Great Northern Railroad Summary of Event On March 14, 1904, the Supreme Court of the United States ordered the dissolution of the Northern Securities Company. One of the first large-scale holding companies, Northern Securities had been formed in November, 1901, by James Jerome Hill, Edward H. Harriman, and J. P. Morgan as a way to gain greater control over and increase the efficiency of three railroad companies: the
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Also known as: Northern Securities Company v. United States Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Trade and commerce; laws, acts, and legal history
Great Northern Railroad, the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad line. Responding to the general antitrust sentiment of the time, in March, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt instructed Attorney General Philander C. Knox to bring suit against the Northern Securities Company for violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. The case eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court and ultimately ended in 1904 with Northern Securities Company v. United States. The Supreme Court found the Northern Securities Company to be in violation of the Sherman antitrust law and ordered it to be dissolved. The Northern Securities case came at the end of a great consolidation period in U.S. business history; from 1896 to 1900, nearly two thousand business mergers occurred. General suspicion of large corporations had been growing among the American public, as evidenced by support for the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the growth of the reform-minded Populist Party. These concerns, and consequent political movements, had pressured Congress into passing the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which made illegal “every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce.” Any hopes that this law would control corporations, however, were undermined by the probusiness laissezfaire policies of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government at the time. The Sherman Act had very little real effect on corporations in the United States for more than a decade after its passage.
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities Between 1893 and 1903, the federal government initiated fewer than two dozen cases under the Sherman Act. Furthermore, the Supreme Court decision in the case of United States v. E. C. Knight Company (1895) undermined the strength and credibility of the Sherman Act. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that the American Sugar Company and its subsidiary, the E. C. Knight Company, although perhaps a monopoly in manufacturing, had not monopolized or restrained interstate commerce. This was a very strict and limited interpretation of the Sherman Act. In May, 1901, James J. Hill of the Great Northern Railroad and Edward H. Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad engaged in a competition to purchase controlling stock in the Northern Pacific Railroad. That railroad company in turn held a controlling interest in the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad, the tracks of which provided a highly desirable line into Chicago and ran throughout the northern Midwest region. Harriman worked through the Kuhn Loeb investment house, with the backing of the Rockefeller family; Hill enlisted the considerable financial services of J. P. Morgan. As Hill and Harriman fought for control of Northern Pacific, the price of its stock soared to one thousand dollars per share. In their efforts to obtain liquid capital to purchase Northern Pacific shares, Hill and Harriman dumped other holdings at very low prices. These actions caused stock prices to fluctuate wildly, generally disrupting the stock market. Neither Hill nor Harriman was able to gain a controlling interest in Northern Pacific, and the two men decided that cooperation would be preferable to market disorder. In November, 1901, they had Morgan arrange for the incorporation of the Northern Securities Company, a $400 million holding company that would, they hoped, bring order and efficiency to the northwestern railroad market by bringing their combined interests—the Great Northern Railroad, the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad line— under the aegis of one board of directors. Morgan had a history of improving rail systems through his own reorganization and consolidation efforts. In the sixteen years since 1885, Morgan had worked to make thousands of miles of railroads throughout the East more efficient, including saving the New York Central Railroad from financial collapse. In his book Highways of Progress (1910), Hill stated that the formation of the Northern Securities Company was “a device contributing to the welfare of the public by assuring in the management of great properties that security, harmony and relief from various 324
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 forms of waste out of which grow lower rates just as surely as dividends.” He argued that consolidation was in the public interest, as it contributed to efficiency. To the public and much of the rest of the business world, however, the actions of Hill, Harriman, and Morgan appeared to be the very worst of the disruptive, careless, and crude abuses of power attributed to the “robber barons” of that era. Public opinion was further enraged by the fact that the episode had resulted in one of the largest holding companies yet formed in this era of large business trusts. Even The Wall Street Journal criticized Harriman and Hill for their actions. Responding to these pressures, in March, 1902, President Roosevelt instructed Attorney General Knox to bring suit against the Northern Securities Company. Working with the governor and attorney general of Minnesota, the home of Hill’s Great Northern Railroad, Knox filed the federal suit in a circuit court in St. Paul on March 10, 1902. The federal circuit court ruled against the Northern Securities Company on April 9, 1903. The company then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on March 14, 1904, the Court found the Northern Securities Company to be in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. In a five-to-four decision, the Court affirmed the decision of the lower court and ordered the dissolution of the Northern Securities Company. Significance The prosecution and dissolution of the Northern Securities Company sent shock waves through the business world. It may have slowed the growth of mergers, but the trend continued through both of Theodore Roosevelt’s administrations. Mergers decreased dramatically from 1902 to 1904 but increased from 1904 to 1906. The fact that by 1909 just 1 percent of the industrial firms in the United States were producing nearly half of the nation’s manufactured goods illustrates how large the largest firms had become. By successfully prosecuting the Northern Securities Company, Roosevelt and Knox gave meaning and legitimacy to the Sherman Antitrust Act that it had not had since its passage in 1890. They also built up the legitimacy and the credibility of the Justice Department, which before the Northern Securities case had been nothing more than a small team of independent lawyers. In his efforts to prosecute the case, Knox built within the Justice Department the legal machinery necessary to bring antitrust suits in the future. Roosevelt stated that Knox had “done more against trusts and for the enforcement of the antitrust law than any other man we have ever had in
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
had disrupted the stock market, and the overwhelming pressure of public opinion provided a favorable arena for the reform philosophy of Roosevelt and Knox. Just after he announced the antitrust suit against the Northern Securities Company, Roosevelt said that the prosecution aimed to prevent violent fluctuations and disaster in the market. In April, 1902, Roosevelt stated that “after the combinations have reached a certain stage it is indispensable to the general welfare that the Nation should exercise . . . the power of supervision and regulation.” Roosevelt did not oppose the fact of large corporations. He believed that with their ability to provide economies of scale, vertically integrated operations, and consolidations that prevented ruinous competition, corporations could achieve a degree of organizational efficiency that smaller concerns could not. Roosevelt believed in an increased regulatory role for the federal government, one that involved policing corporate behavior and actions rather than size itself. A few days after he announced the suit against the Northern Securities Company, Roosevelt told J. P. Morgan, who was concerned for his much larger United States Steel Corporation, that U.S. Steel would be prosecuted only if it had “done something that we regard as wrong.” Perhaps because of Roosevelt’s accommodationist regulatory policy, the trend toward large corporations grew at the same time that the number of antitrust cases increased. The economic concentration that had increased dramatically in the late nineteenth century continued to rise in the early twentieth century. In addition, in the cases concerning Standard Oil and American Tobacco, the Supreme Court ruled that not every restraint of trade is illegal in terms of the Sherman Act, thus encouraging merger activity. In the case regarding Standard Oil, the U.S. Supreme Court noted that it would determine through the “rule of reason” whether combinations were restraining trade unreasonably and thus violating the Sherman Act. Congress passed the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 in part to eliminate interlocking directorates but also to create statutory specifics on antitrust prohibitions so that the government need not rely on the shifting opinions of the federal judiciary. The Clayton Act was supplemented by the Robinson-Patman Act of 1936, which sought to clarify and codify further the types of illegal price discrimination. The Celler-Kefauver Act of 1950 again sought to reinforce the Clayton Act, in much the same manner as had the Robinson-Patman Act. In 1976, Congress passed the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, also known as the Concentrated Industries Act, a mild reform law that attempted to 325
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public life.” Vigorous presidential action also influenced the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, making it more sympathetic to the cause of antitrust in the future. The dissolution of the Northern Securities Company opened the door for many other prosecutions by the Justice Department for antitrust violations. Just after the Justice Department brought suit against the Northern Securities Company in 1902, Roosevelt instructed Knox to bring suit against the “beef trust,” which was made up of a number of Chicago packinghouses, including Swift & Company. Like the Northern Securities case, the suit against the beef trust was supported by widespread public opinion, especially given that meat prices were on the rise. In the 1905 case of Swift & Company v. United States, the Supreme Court enjoined the beef trust from engaging in collusive practices that kept prices stable or rising. This case was significant in that it expanded federal jurisdiction to include manufacturing combinations whose products were later traded in interstate commerce, a line of argument that the Court had rejected in the E. C. Knight case. In 1906 and 1907, Roosevelt had the Justice Department bring suit against the American Tobacco Company, the E. I. du Pont Chemical Corporation, the New Haven Railroad, and the Standard Oil Company. The Supreme Court subsequently ordered the dissolution of American Tobacco (1910) and Standard Oil (1911). In the years between 1890 and 1905, the Department of Justice brought twenty-four antitrust suits. Theodore Roosevelt’s administrations brought fifty-four suits, and the single administration of William Howard Taft prosecuted ninety antitrust cases. In the decade from 1905 to 1915, at least eighteen antitrust cases were prosecuted each year. Perhaps the most important impact of the Northern Securities case was that it answered the question of whether the federal government had the ability and willingness to regulate large corporations aggressively. Roosevelt later wrote that in 1902 the question had not been how large corporations should be controlled. “The absolutely vital question,” said Roosevelt, “was whether the government had power to control them at all.” Before the federal government could compose the rules and create the agencies needed for regulation, it had to show that it had the willingness and ability to do so. The prosecution and dissolution of the Northern Securities Company proved that the federal government had both. In addition to proving that the federal government could regulate and punish large corporations, the Northern Securities case set the precedent for federal intervention in the national economy. The Hill-Harriman battle
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities strengthen provisions of existing antitrust laws. The trend toward business mergers and economic concentration continued. With the war efforts of both World War I and World War II, the federal government accepted the economic and industrial concentration necessary to keep production levels high. This also was true of the federal efforts to deal with the Great Depression in the 1930’s. The laissez-faire policies of the 1920’s were born of political philosophy rather than of necessity. Finally, the economic prosperity that followed World War II also lessened desire for antitrust regulation, as the system seemed to be working for the benefit of most. Several important antitrust cases, however, did reach the courts following the main period of antitrust prosecution. In 1945, the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) was found to be in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. In 1948, the federal government forced a number of major U.S. film studios to divest themselves of studio-owned movie theaters. In 1961, the Supreme Court ordered the Du Pont Corporation to divest itself of its holdings in General Motors Company. In 1967, the Federal Communications Commission ordered the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) to lower its rates. In 1982, under continuing federal pressure, AT&T agreed to be broken up, and a number of rival telephone companies entered the market to challenge AT&T’s control. In the late 1990’s, the federal government pursued legal action against Microsoft Corporation for monopolistic practices in the computer software and Internet browser industries. — Bruce Andre Beaubouef Further Reading Blum, John Morton. “Theodore Roosevelt and the Definition of Office.” In The Progressive Presidents: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson. New York: W. W. Norton, 1980. Good for an introduction to the Progressive policies and politics, as well as foreign policies, of Roosevelt and Wilson. Clark, John D. The Federal Trust Policy. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1931. Analytic, detailed, and still brief enough to be of use both to readers seeking an introduction to antitrust policy at the federal level and to those seeking to expand their knowledge of the subject. Gould, Lewis L. “Immediate and Vigorous Executive Action.” In The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991. Excellent history of the foreign and domestic policies of 326
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Roosevelt’s administrations. Good on the Northern Securities case. Focuses on the Roosevelt presidency, but also good for students beginning study of the Progressive Era. Hill, James Jerome. Highways of Progress. 1910. Reprint. New York: Books for Business, 2001. Hill’s own account of the process of railroad building in the United States is very useful. Provides an enlightening and different perspective on the Northern Securities case and the railroad industry in general. Meyer, Balthasar Henry. A History of the Northern Securities Case. Madison: Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, 1906. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1972. Meyer, a member of the Railroad Commission of Wisconsin, gives a valuable contemporary treatment of the Northern Securities case and the trust issue itself. Places the case in context by briefly describing the growth of the antitrust movement at the state and federal levels. Includes copies of relevant documents. Peritz, Rudolph J. R. Competition Policy in America: History, Rhetoric, Law. Rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Explores the influences on U.S. public policy of the concept of free competition. Discusses congressional debates, court opinions, and the work of economic, legal, and political scholars in this area. Thorelli, Hans B. The Federal Antitrust Policy: Origination of an American Tradition. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955. Comprehensive, indepth treatment of U.S. antitrust policy. Covers economic, social, and political formation of the antitrust movement in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For those seeking a highly sophisticated and detailed treatment of U.S. antitrust policy. See also: Feb. 14, 1903: Creation of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor; Jan. 30, 1905: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust; May 15, 1911: U.S. Supreme Court Establishes the “Rule of Reason”; May 29, 1911: U.S. Supreme Court Breaks Up the American Tobacco Company; Oct. 15, 1914: Clayton Antitrust Act; Mar. 1, 1920: United States v. United States Steel Corporation; 1924: U.S. Government Loses Its Suit Against Alcoa; Feb. 21, 1927: Eastman Kodak Is Found to Be in Violation of the Sherman Act; Nov., 1932: Antitrust Prosecution Forces RCA to Restructure.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Sherrington Clarifies the Role of the Nervous System
April-May, 1904
Sherrington Clarifies the Role of the Nervous System In a series of lectures at Yale University, Charles Scott Sherrington clarified the role of the nervous system in molding adaptive hierarchies of reflexes into purposeful behavior. Locale: Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut Categories: Science and technology; biology Key Figures Charles Scott Sherrington (1857-1952), English neurologist Marshall Hall (1790-1857), English physician and neurologist René Descartes (1596-1650), French philosopher Camillo Golgi (1843-1926), Italian histologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934), Spanish histologist Michael Foster (1836-1907), English physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936), Russian physiologist Edgar Douglas Adrian (1889-1977), student of Sherrington Henry Hallet Dale (1875-1968), student of Sherrington
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Summary of Event Charles Scott Sherrington’s publication of The Integrative Action of the Nervous System (1906) was the consummation of centuries of speculation and experimentation about reflexes and created a research agenda for another generation of neurophysiologists. Reflexes are stereotypical motor responses to sensory stimuli. Sherrington’s work clarified how purposeful behavior arises out of hierarchies of reflexes. Early ideas about reflexes were speculative, not experimental, and appeared as ancient philosophers and physicians tried to comprehend puzzling observations about humans in health and disease. They believed that injured organs affected other organs even though no connection was seen between them. Aristotle, for example, noted that sometimes there were “motions of the heart and of the penis; for often upon an image arising and without express mandate of the intellect these parts are moved.” Involuntary or sympathetic motions were distinguished from nonvoluntary motions such as falling asleep, waking up, and respiration, in which imagination and desire play no role. Heartbeats, on the other hand, were understood to be both sympathetic and nonvoluntary. One did not have to will one’s heart to beat, but passions affected
the rate of the heartbeat. Galen, a Greek physician, kept Aristotle’s distinctions and added other examples, such as the contraction of pupils when exposed to light, a response independent of the will. The regularity of such responses to stimuli puzzled ancient philosophers. René Descartes inherited these ideas about sympathy when he developed his mechanical model of the animal body in the seventeenth century. In Traité de l’homme (1664; Treatise of Man, 1972), he explained sympathy as well as all nervous activity in terms of a network of hollow nerves filled with a refined subtle matter, the “animal spirit.” A well-known illustration from the Treatise of Man closely approximates the definition of the reflex. A young boy stuck his foot into a fire, particles of fire forced animal spirit up a nerve to the brain, the brain redirected animal spirit down the nerve to the muscles of the foot, and the foot was withdrawn. Descartes concluded from this and several other “explanations” that animals, including humans, are capable of a large repertoire of complicated and purposeful behavior without the intervention of the will or intelligence. Stephen Hales was one of the earliest experimenters, as opposed to speculators, on reflexes. In the early 1730’s, he decapitated frogs and noted that irritating their rear legs still provoked hopping. If the spinal cord was damaged, however, motion ceased. Clearly, the brain was not responsible for all types of involuntary or reflex motions. Hales’s work led to the reevaluation of the functions of the spinal cord. Previously, it had been considered only a trunk line for communications to and from the brain and periphery, but now it was demonstrated to have independent functions. Robert Whytt advanced Hales’s work considerably. In An Essay on the Vital and Involuntary Motions of Animals (1751) and Philosophical Essays (1755), he systematized the previous work on reflexes and first defined modern terminology such as “stimulus” and “response.” Most of the major work leading to the modern understanding of the reflex followed from the Bell-Magendie law, named for Sir Charles Bell and François Magendie, which stated that the anterior root of the spinal cord governs motor functions and the posterior root governs sensory functions. Marshall Hall, who demonstrated conclusively that the spinal cord has a functional unity of its own, widened the scope of reflexes to include such activities as vomiting and parturition and studied the effects of poisons on reflexes.
Sherrington Clarifies the Role of the Nervous System As important as these physiological discoveries were, the microanatomy of the reflex remained hidden. Progress was impossible until theoretical advances such as cell theory and technological advances such as staining techniques and oil-immersion lens microscopes were applied to neuroanatomy. Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón y Cajal used these new technologies to uncover the details of nerve cells, but they interpreted their results differently. Golgi claimed that nerves form a patterned network and that nerve impulses spread wherever neural nodes overlap (reticularist model). Ramón y Cajal, on the other hand, saw individual nerves as approaching each other but never touching (neurone model). Both models had strengths and weaknesses that complemented each other: The neurone model offered clear pathways but no communication between nerves; the network offered communication but no clear pathways. By the 1890’s, physiological and anatomical pieces to the reflex puzzle abounded, but no one had crafted a synoptic vision to place them into a coherent whole. Sherrington confronted this confusion when he began his
Charles Scott Sherrington. (The Nobel Foundation)
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 work. He was well prepared for this task. He was educated as a physician, trained in physiology under Sir Michael Foster, and exposed to the best European physiologists. Despite his preparation, the enormity of the task astounded him. He eventually delineated the sensorimotor pathways of the macaque monkey. Foster had told his students that the nervous system functions as a unity, not as individual pieces, and Sherrington was determined to discover that unity. Yale University invited Sherrington to present his research in its prestigious Silliman Lecture series in the spring of 1904, and this opportunity allowed him to synthesize his ideas on the unity of nervous action. The lectures were published two years later in The Integrative Action of the Nervous System. Sherrington’s thesis in this work was that “the nervous synthesis of an individual from what without it were a mere aggregation of commensal organs resolves itself into co-ordination by reflex action.” In other words, how are distinct activities such as scratching, blinking, and maintaining posture coordinated with other activities such as breathing and walking to compose ultimately an individual animal? Sherrington stated this issue more clearly in a 1933 lecture at Cambridge University, “The Brain and Its Mechanisms”: “How a limited set of agents of the outside world working through the nerve and brain of the animal can produce from its muscles the thousand and one dexterous acts of normal behaviour is itself a problem.” His answer began with an analysis of the three functions of the nerve cell: to support its own life, to communicate with other cells, and to integrate sensorimotor activity into complex behavior. Only nerve cells carry on the last of these functions, so the nervous system regulates the interplay between any animal and its environment. Reflexes, Sherrington argued, are the most basic units of sensorimotor activity, and it is their coordination into purposeful behavior that defines the integrative action of the nervous system. Sherrington’s simplicity of experimental technique and clarity of argument ordered reflexology’s pieces into a coherent pattern. Sherrington introduced one of the most basic concepts in neurology: the synapse. He accepted Ramón y Cajal’s neurone theory and stipulated that nervous transmission occurs only across the small gap—synapse— between nerves. He did not know yet how impulses “jump” between nerves, but his own work bore out the neurone theory and the function of the synapse. Reflexes, Sherrington asserted, play an evolutionary, or adaptive, role. In terms he coined himself, he claimed that proprioceptive reflexes, which give an animal a
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Sherrington Clarifies the Role of the Nervous System
Structure of a Vertebrate Neuron Synaptic knobs Dendrites Myelin sheath Axon
Schwann cell
Terminal branches
sense of place, and nociceptive reflexes, which give a sense of pain, are necessary for the survival of any individual. Despite the progress represented by The Integrative Action of the Nervous System, Sherrington acknowledged that he had hardly begun to understand the complexities of human behavior.
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Significance One reviewer of The Integrative Action of the Nervous System likened Sherrington to Sir Isaac Newton; a former student of Sherrington compared him to William Harvey. Sherrington’s work was praised not only because it cleared up many neuroanatomical and neurophysiological questions but also because it raised those sciences to new levels and suggested new directions for research. Sherrington’s endorsement of Ramón y Cajal’s neurone theory and the postulation of the synapse stimulated his students to discover unsuspected chemical and electrical activities in the transmission of the nerve impulse across synapses. The newer vacuum tube technology allowed Edgar Douglas Adrian, along with others, to amplify minute electrical charge variations in nerves. This tool enabled researchers to explore afferent nerve impulses (impulses conveyed toward the central nervous system) and to discover the electrical coding of nerve signals. Sir Henry Hallet Dale, who later became director of the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratory, pioneered with others the recognition of acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter. Adrian’s work led to Hans Berger’s development of the electroencephalogram (EEG) in 1929; Dale’s work helped stimulate the rapidly expanding field of neurochemistry. The Integrative Action of the Nervous System en-
hanced Sherrington’s already high reputation and helped create the Sherrington School of Physiology. From Cell body all over the world, students flocked to the University of Oxford to work with Sherrington and then returned to their home institutions to continue the research they had begun with him. Several Nobel laureates were nurtured under Sherrington’s tutelage. Sherrington’s interpretation of reflex action raised old questions again about the relationship of philosophy and theology to the scientific understanding of human behavior. Sherrington often said that after twentyfive hundred years of examining the physiological foundation of behavior, researchers were still in basically the same position as Aristotle. Sherrington and several of his contemporaries had been trained in a materialist physiology that viewed advances in reflexology as pushing back the domain of vitalist or idealist doctrines. As he matured, however, Sherrington moved from materialistic monism to a body/mind dualism. He accepted the reality of an independent mind, for although he could not explain it physiologically, neither could he explain the complexity of human behavior—as opposed to animal behavior—only in terms of reflexes. In later essays, Sherrington expressed fear concerning the political and social ramifications of a too-hasty solution to these ancient problems. He deeply influenced John Carew Eccles, one of his students, who continued to reflect on these issues until his death in 1997. Certainly not all physiologists shared Sherrington’s views. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, Sherrington’s contemporary, remained staunchly materialistic. Pavlov believed that all behavior, including human behavior, could be reduced to reflexes. He concluded from his experiments on dogs that learning itself is a variety of sensorimotor activity. Surprised by Sherrington’s dualism in “The Brain and Its Mechanisms,” he wondered aloud to colleagues if Sherrington had become ill or senile. When in the 1930’s Sherrington looked back on his work, he admitted candidly that his reflex studies were limited and had served their purpose. Since that time, neuroscience has bloomed luxuriantly in fields with applications Sherrington could never have imagined, yet hardly any of its aspects do not owe something of their roots to The Integrative Action of the Nervous System. — Thomas P. Gariepy
Sherrington Clarifies the Role of the Nervous System Further Reading Clarke, Edwin, and L. S. Jacyna. Nineteenth-Century Origins of Neuroscientific Concepts. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. Modern scholarship places Sherrington’s achievement in the context of nineteenth century neurology. Eccles, John C. The Human Mystery. New York: SpringerVerlag, 1979. Presents Eccles’s Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh, 1977-1978. Reflects on themes Sherrington presented in his Gifford Lectures of 1937-1938, later published as Man on His Nature (1941). Eccles, John C., and William C. Gibson. Sherrington: His Life and Thought. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1979. Eccles, a former student, and Gibson, a historian of science, examine Sherrington’s scientific work after 1906 and his philosophical essays written in later life. Memoirs and interviews bring to life what it was like to work with Sherrington. Finger, Stanley. Minds Behind the Brain: A History of the Pioneers and Their Discoveries. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Relates the history of humankind’s understanding of the brain through the work of important individuals who have influenced progress in this area. Chapter 14 is devoted to discussion of Sherrington’s work on the nervous system. Granit, Ragnar. Charles Scott Sherrington: An Appraisal. London: Thomas Nelson, 1966. Memoir by one of Sherrington’s students takes a relatively personal approach to discussion of The Integrative Action of the Nervous System. Jeannerod, Marc. The Brain Machine: The Development of Neurophysiological Thought. Translated by David Urion. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985. A frankly materialistic historical interpretation of neurophysiology that contrasts with Sherrington’s view.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Liddell, Edward George Tandy. The Discovery of Reflexes. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1960. One of the earliest scholarly historical accounts of the background of Sherrington’s achievement, written by a member of his laboratory. Covers only the years up to publication of The Integrative Action of the Nervous System. Ramón y Cajal, Santiago. Recollections of My Life. Translated by E. Home Craigie with Juan Cano. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1989. Widely considered to be a particularly fine example of scientific autobiography. Original Spanish edition was reprinted often in Madrid between 1901 and 1917; first English edition appeared in 1937. Sherrington, Sir Charles Scott. The Integrative Action of the Nervous System. 1906. Reprint. New York: Ayer, 1973. Contains the complete text of the Silliman Lectures, expanded with charts, experimental protocols, and an immense bibliography. _______. Man on His Nature. 1941. Reprint. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1975. Contains the text of the Gifford Lectures presented at the University of Edinburgh, 1937-1938. Depicts a mature Sherrington reflecting on his life’s work and its significance. Swazey, Judith P. Reflexes and Motor Integration: Sherrington’s Concept of Integrative Action. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1969. Excellent scholarly examination of Sherrington’s work, especially The Integrative Action of the Nervous System. Includes lengthy discussion of the background of his work, clear diagrams (some from Sherrington), and abundant documentation. See also: 1902-1903: Pavlov Develops the Concept of Reinforcement; Apr.-June, 1902: Bayliss and Starling Establish the Role of Hormones.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Entente Cordiale
April 8, 1904
Entente Cordiale The Entente Cordiale settled long-standing disputes between England and France and began an era of improved relations that eventually made the two nations allies in World War I. Also known as: Franco-British Entente Cordiale; Anglo-French Entente Locale: London, England; Paris, France Category: Diplomacy and international relations Key Figures Théophile Delcassé (1852-1923), French minister of foreign affairs, 1898-1905 Sir Thomas Barclay (1853-1941), British official active in international relations Edward VII (1841-1910), king of Great Britain, r. 1901-1910 Émile-François Loubet (1838-1929), president of France, 1899-1906 Lord Lansdowne (1845-1927), foreign secretary of Great Britain, 1900-1905 Pierre Paul Cambon (1843-1924), French ambassador to Great Britain
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Summary of Event Rapprochement between Great Britain and France, culminating in 1904 in the Entente Cordiale, was born of the realization in both countries at the beginning of the twentieth century that each had more to gain by seeking the other’s friendship than by perpetuating hostile and dangerous imperialistic rivalry. Anglo-French conflict was possible at a number of places around the globe. In the Far East, tension was growing between Japan (an ally of Great Britain) and Russia (an ally of France). The outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 made it important for London and Paris to repair their damaged relations to avoid becoming involved in war against each other. The two nations had, in fact, already come into conflict in 1898 over the crisis at Fashoda (now Kodok), the climax of the struggle for the Sudan, but France was not in a very strong position at the time. A similar situation arose in North Africa, where Great Britain desired a free hand in Egypt while France wanted the same in Morocco; French financial interests in Egypt had long bothered Great Britain, whose large share of Moroccan trade was a source of major discomfort to France. Other minor problems, including the traditional dispute over the Newfoundland fisheries, also marred Anglo-French relations.
The British and French had been in dangerous competition in Africa for more than two decades. The French had an added burden in that they had been humiliated in the Franco-Prussian War and by the Treaty of Frankfurt of 1871. One aspect of the new imperialism of the late nineteenth century for France was a psychological one. Territorial annexation helped assuage some French sensibilities, but it also focused national ire on Britain, which had become France’s chief competitor in Africa. On both sides of the English Channel political rhetoric often became heated. In the wake of the Fashoda crisis, Théophile Delcassé, who became French foreign minister in the aftermath of the embarrassment on the Nile, wanted to proceed with caution in dealing with any new relationship with Britain. Inside Europe, the relations of both countries with Germany provided better reasons for mutual friendship. Great Britain no longer desired splendid isolation, and the nation made repeated attempts between 1898 and 1901 to enter into an alliance with Germany, but antiBritish feeling in Germany generated by the Boer War of 1899-1902 not only frustrated these attempts but also had the effect of bringing Great Britain closer to France. A number of British politicians distrusted Germany’s intentions on the Continent. Many, including Lord Salisbury, who was the British prime minister at the time of the Fashoda crisis, believed that Germany, if left unchecked under Emperor William II, would emerge as the undisputed power in Europe. William II was seen as aggressive, militant, and often erratic, and his nearparanoid distrust of England and King Edward VII was widely recognized. This was not a solid foundation on which to make a mutually beneficial alliance. On the other side, France, always fearful of Germany, came to realize by 1904 that an entente with England might compensate for its disappointing alliance with Russia, which had turned out to be a financial drain without visible returns on the diplomatic level. Both the British and the French governments appointed new officials to improve relations between their countries. In France, Delcassé, the new minister of foreign affairs, tried to persuade the British to acquiesce in French dominance of Morocco; for this he was willing to back down from a confrontation with British forces at Fashoda in 1898. On March 21, 1899, he reached agreement with Great Britain demarcating the French and English spheres of influence in Africa. A year later, Delcassé
Entente Cordiale gave his blessing to the efforts of Sir Thomas Barclay, a British official, to arrange for British chambers of commerce to visit the great Paris Exposition. Barclay also arranged for French chambers of commerce to visit England in return. On October 14, 1903, both states signed the AngloFrench Treaty of Arbitration, promising to submit most of their disputes to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. Barclay was as influential in arranging this treaty as he was in organizing an exchange of visits to the two capitals by King Edward VII and President ÉmileFrançois Loubet in 1903. Edward VII’s visit to Paris was a huge success, attracting large, friendly, and cheering crowds. The British king, who had always been popular in France, did much to warm relations between the two countries. Expressions of warmth and friendship on both visits helped to smother anti-British feeling in France stemming from the Boer War. Also, Delcassé accompanied
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Loubet on his visit to London and used the occasion to begin serious negotiations with the new British foreign secretary, Lord Lansdowne, to settle outstanding differences between the two governments. This led to the signing of the Entente Cordiale on April 8, 1904, by Lord Lansdowne and Pierre Paul Cambon, the French ambassador at London. Significance Although not a military pact, the Entente Cordiale reestablished good relations between Great Britain and France so that military cooperation was possible in the dark days of August, 1914. Among the minor disputes settled by the Entente Cordiale were disagreements regarding the Newfoundland fisheries, West African boundaries, Siam, Madagascar, and the New Hebrides Islands. Most important was the provision that France would allow Great Britain a free hand in Egypt in exchange for being allowed a free hand in Morocco. Under
King Edward VII rides in a carriage with French leader Émile-François Loubet in 1903. The two met as a prelude to the signing of the Entente Cordiale. (Library of Congress)
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Further Reading Andrew, Christopher. Théophile Delcassé and the Making of the Entente Cordiale. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1968. One of the best and most detailed accounts available of the events surrounding the signing of the Entente Cordiale. Dunlop, Ian. Edward VII and the Entente Cordiale. London: Constable & Robinson, 2004. Emphasizes the role played by the British monarch in establishing the Entente while describing all of the various individuals involved. Also reviews Britain’s earlier attempts to improve relations with France. Fay, Sidney B. The Origins of the World War. 2 vols. New York: Free Press, 1966. Revisionist study remains a classic. Provides detailed analysis of the background, signing, and results of the Entente Cordiale. Grey, Sir Edward. Twenty-Five Years, 1892-1916. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1925. Memoirs of an individual who was involved in great events from the Entente Cordiale to the outbreak of World War I provide good insight into the period. Hale, Oron J. The Grand Illusion, 1900-1914. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Addresses social as well as diplomatic crosscurrents of the period. Kennedy, Paul. The Rise of Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860-1914. London: Allen & Unwin, 1980. Provides extensive analysis of the factors leading up to the Entente Cordiale. Mayne, Richard, Douglas Johnson, and Robert Tombs, eds. Cross Channel Currents: One Hundred Years of the Entente Cordiale. New York: Routledge, 2004. Collection of essays on the Entente begins with discussion of how the agreement began and its immediate impacts. Also addresses the meaning and functions of the Entente in the years since World War I. See also: Mar. 31, 1905: Tangier Crisis; Aug. 31, 1907: Formation of the Triple Entente; June 28-Aug. 4, 1914: Outbreak of World War I.
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a secret convention of the Entente Cordiale, Great Britain agreed to an eventual partition of Morocco between Spain and France whereby the Spanish controlled the coastal area opposite Gibraltar while the French occupied the hinterland. Although it is correct to view the Entente Cordiale in the light of a warming of relations between France and Britain and a settling of long-standing colonial conflicts, the agreement’s military effects were important as well. The Entente gave the general staffs of France and Britain the opportunity to visit each other and discuss military matters of mutual interest. Although serious misunderstandings still existed between the two armies, they found certain common ground, and plans were slowly formulated for concerted action if war with Germany ever began. Despite obvious Russian weaknesses, made manifest by the Russo-Japanese War, it was clear that France was in a much better position militarily and diplomatically than it had been since the Franco-Prussian War. In Delcassé’s view, the primary purpose of this agreement with Great Britain, as it was for a similar one made with Italy in 1902, was to gain French ascendancy in Morocco. To an insulted Germany, whose Moroccan interests Delcassé believed he could ignore, the AngloFrench agreement took on far greater significance, especially given that France was already allied with Russia. For Germany, the balance maintained for ten years between the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy, and AustriaHungary) and the Franco-Russian Dual Alliance of 1894 had now shifted in favor of the newly emerging Triple Entente. The German foreign office was particularly angered by the fact that Great Britain and France had sealed their rapprochement at the expense of German interests in Morocco. German attempts to defend these interests in 1905 and 1911 touched off two serious Moroccan crises, which in turn led to the strengthening of the AngloFrench accord. The combined effect was to divide Europe into two armed camps that were to move against each other in 1914. — Edward P. Keleher and James J. Cooke
Entente Cordiale
L’Humanité Gives Voice to French Socialist Politics
April 18, 1904 L’HUMANITÉ
Gives Voice to French Socialist Politics
The founding of L’Humanité provided a means for the dissemination of socialist politics in France, particularly in Paris. The newspaper’s missions were to inform the working population and to elucidate the importance of socialist ideas in every aspect of life. Locale: Paris, France Categories: Publishing and journalism; government and politics; civil rights and liberties; social issues and reform Key Figures Jean Jaurès (1859-1914), French intellectual, socialist, and politician Léon Blum (1872-1950), French socialist, politician, and intellectual Lucien Herr (1864-1926), French socialist and Dreyfus supporter Daniel Halévy (1872-1962), French historian and literary critic Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (1857-1939), French philosopher and sociologist Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935), French army officer whose trial sparked great controversy during the Third Republic Émile Durkheim (1858-1917), French cofounder of sociology and Dreyfus supporter Summary of Event The end of the nineteenth century was a period of political, social, and intellectual unrest in France. Politicians, social activists, and intellectuals all examined the same issues: rights of workers, working conditions, equal rights and just treatment of all citizens, and ideologies of governing. Within this atmosphere, the socialist movement played an important role. It brought about serious attempts at cohesion among the various factions and yet at the same time was often the source of discord among them. The individuals attracted to socialism ranged all the way from moderate republicans to adherents of Marxism. Jean Jaurès, a member of the provincial bourgeoisie, became one of the leaders of the socialist movement and the founder of both the French Socialist Party and the French socialist newspaper L’Humanité. Jaurès was both a man of politics and an intellectual. He was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and then at the prestigious École Normale Supérieure. Upon graduation, he became 334
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a lycée teacher and then a lecturer at the University of Toulouse. His political career began in 1885 with his election as a republican deputy for the department of Tarn. During the following years, he completed a doctoral degree for which he wrote two dissertations and developed a reputation as an intellectual and a supporter of socialism. As he founded L’Humanité, Jaurès’s main supporters were other socialists, many of whom were friends and associates of Émile Durkheim. As a result of Durkheim’s influence, Jaurès became further committed to socialism and to the cause of Alfred Dreyfus. Dreyfus was a Jewish officer in the French army whose trial on specious charges was used to create the false impression that French Jews were disloyal to their nation. Dreyfus was eventually acquitted, but the conflict revealed deep schisms within France’s intellectual communities. At the time, Jaurès was the editor of the Petite République, in which he published “Les Preuves: L’Affaire Dreyfus” (1898). Being connected with the Petite République became a problem for Jaurès both politically and morally. The director of the paper apparently had some dubious political alliances and was involved in a business scandal; he owned a company that used prison and convent labor to manufacture driving coats that he sold at an incredibly low price. Jaurès was concerned about being associated with this kind of worker exploitation. He felt there was a need for a socialist newspaper, and he and his socialist friends discussed the possibility of establishing one. The idea of the paper became a frequent topic of conversation for the group at their meetings at the Bellais bookstore. Eventually encouraged by his close friends Léon Blum and Lucien Herr, Jaurès decided to found such a paper, and Blum and Herr immediately undertook a campaign to raise the necessary funds. Daniel Halévy helped to obtain the financial backing, and Lucien Lévy-Bruhl also assisted with the fundraising. They succeeded in raising 850,000 francs. The title L’Humanité was suggested by Herr. Jaurès invited all of the major individuals associated with the political or intellectual left to contribute articles to the paper, and his invitation was well received. Only two of the most notable political activists declined: Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue, who were both more militant then Jaurès and his group. Aristide Briand and Jean Alleman were among the politicians and intellectuals who accepted the invitation to write for the paper, and literary writers such as Anatole France and Jules Renard
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L’HUMANITÉ: “Our Goal” Jean Jaurès’s first editorial in L’Humanité included this description of the newspaper’s goals: The very name of this newspaper, in its breadth, spells out exactly what our party proposes. In effect, all socialists work for humanity’s fulfillment. Humanity doesn’t yet exist, or rather barely so: in the interior of each nation it is compromised and shattered by class antagonism, by the inevitable struggle between the capitalist oligarchy and the proletariat. Only socialism, in absorbing all classes in the common ownership of the means of labor, can resolve this antagonism and make of every nation, finally reconciled with each other, a parcel of humanity. Between nations there exists a barbaric regime of defiance, ruse, hatred and violence that still prevails. Even when they seem to exist in a state of peace, they bear the traces of yesterday’s wars, and the fear of tomorrow’s. How can we give the beautiful name of humanity to this chaos of hostile and wounded nations, to this pile of bloody scraps? The sublime effort of the international proletariat is to reconcile all peoples through universal social justice. Then and only then will there be a humanity that considers its superior unity within the living diversity of free and friendly nations. As democracy and reason develop within peoples and individuals, the need to have recourse to violence diminishes. Let universal suffrage affirm itself; let a vigorous secular education open spirits to new ideas and develop the habit of reflection; let the proletariat organize and group itself according to a law ever more fair and generous; let all this happen and the great transformation that will liberate mankind from oligarchic property will be accomplished without the violence that, 110 years ago, bloodied the democratic and bourgeois revolution, and which our great communist Babeuf grieved over in a beautiful letter. This necessary social evolution will be all the simpler because all socialists, all workers will be more firmly united. All of us here, at this newspaper, want to work for this union. I am well aware of the sharpness of all of the polemics against the socialists. I know of the conflicts surrounding methods and tactics, and it would be childish to pretend to cover up these divisions with an artificial and purely external unity. Unity cannot be born of confusion. We will always defend here, clearly and loyally, the means of action that seem to us the most effective and the most certain. But we don’t want to aggravate, by the prolonging of controversies and the venom of polemics, discords that were doubtless inevitable, and which the force of events will certainly resolve. For us, revolutionary socialists and reformist socialists are above all socialists. If there are groups that let themselves be dragged by a sectarian passion to play counter-revolution’s game, we will fight them with firmness. But we know that within both socialist factions strong feelings exist for the republic, free thought, the proletariat, and social revolution. Under various formulas, some of which seem to us to be out of date and, consequently, dangerous, all socialists serve the same cause. And when the time comes we’ll see to it that, without abandoning any of our own conceptions, we’ll try here to second the effort of all. Source: Jean Jaurès, “Our Goal,” L’Humanité, April 18, 1904. Translated by Mitch Abidor for the Marxists Internet Archive.
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became contributors. Both Lucien Herr and Léon Blum wrote for the paper; Blum’s column was titled “La Vie littéraire” and addressed the close relationship between social evolution and contemporary literary movements. He planned to alternate with Jean Ajalbert, Gustave Geoffroy, and Eugène Fournière; each would take a turn writing the column. Halévy was responsible for news coverage. Jaurès was very pleased with the response they received, and he remarked that the most talented of the Parisian writers were contributing to the paper. Only Briand cast a somewhat cautionary shadow on Jaurès’s jubilation, expressing concern over the lack of journalists. The paper was well staffed, Briand acknowledged, but was there not a need for men experienced in newspaper writing? The paper, which was located at 143, rue Montmartre in Paris, printed its first issue on April 18, 1904. It included the short story “La Vieille” by Jules Renard and sold 138,000 copies, a successful start. Jaurès stated that they needed to sell 70,000 copies to remain solvent, and, encouraged by early sales, he planned to publish 140,000 copies of each issue. Unfortunately, L’Humanité did not continue to enjoy the success promised by the first issue’s sales. The reason for its lack of success may have been poor management, or it may have been the overly intellectual tone of the paper, which failed to appeal to the majority of the working class (for whom it was intended). Whatever the reason, within a year of publishing its first issue, the paper experienced major financial problems, and Jaurès decided to stop publication by July 31, 1905. Jaurès contemplated offering the paper to the Socialist Party, but Blum insisted on trying to save it. He believed that a weekly editorial on foreign affairs written by Herr would be just the boost the paper needed. Although the paper was in financial trouble, Blum noted, it did have 40,000 francs that could be used to pay off its debts. Use of this reserve was probably a key factor in the paper being saved. Publication of the paper
L’Humanité Gives Voice to French Socialist Politics
International Agreement Targets White Slave Trade continued, and a further eighteen hundred articles appeared. Curiously enough, however, Blum stopped writing for the paper. Exactly why he stopped has remained a mystery, especially since his friendship with Jaurès continued until Jaurès’s assassination on July 31, 1914. The most widely accepted reason for Blum’s departure from L’Humanité was his ever-growing involvement and concern with unifying the Socialist Party, which took control of L’Humanité until the socialists split into a number of different factions in 1920. At that point, the paper was retained by the French Communist Party, which owns 40 percent of the paper and continues to publish it in the twenty-first century. Significance Jaurès’s founding of L’Humanité made the ideas and goals of socialism available to the public on a regular basis. Jaurès recognized the importance of sharing the socialist ideology with the working class, and although the paper apparently was not completely suited in tone and content to its target audience, its creation is evidence that Jaurès and other intellectual socialists were not simply theoreticians interested only in intellectual speculation. Instead, they were sincerely interested in socialism as a practical political ideology, one that would result in justice for the working class. The paper is also historically significant because it is the only French newspaper ever owned and published by a political party. —Shawncey Webb
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading Cahm, Eric. The Dreyfus Affair in French Society and Politics. London: Longman, 1996. Discusses the event that brought together many of the intellectuals involved in the creation of L’Humanité. Provides details on their involvement in the Dreyfus affair and its influence on their political and social thinking. Coddington, George A., Jr., and William B. Safran. Ideology and Politics: The Socialist Party of France. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1979. Excellent coverage of the formation, conflicts, splits, and reunifications of the Socialist Party in France. Specific information on Jaurès’s role in the creation of the Socialist Party. Goldberg, Harvey. The Life of Jean Jaurès. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003. Goldberg’s biography discusses Jaurès as an intellectual, a politician, and a socialist. Lacouture, Jean. Léon Blum. Translated by George Holoch. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1982. Follows Blum’s long political career. Includes extensive discussion of his relationship with Jaurès and his involvement in the founding of L’Humanité. See also: Sept. 5-8, 1915, and Apr. 24-30, 1916: Zimmerwald and Kienthal Conferences; Dec. 29, 1920: Rise of the French Communist Party; Aug. 1, 1932: Canada’s First Major Socialist Movement; 19361946: France Nationalizes Its Banking and Industrial Sectors; May 10-June 22, 1940: Collapse of France.
May 18, 1904
International Agreement Targets White Slave Trade Ratification of the International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic marked the first coordinated international effort to attack involuntary prostitution. Locale: Paris, France Categories: Women’s issues; laws, acts, and legal history Key Figures William Alexander Coote (1842-1919), secretary of the British National Vigilance Association for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic William Thomas Stead (1849-1912), British journalist and newspaper editor 336
Josephine Butler (1828-1906), secretary of the British and Continental Federation for the Abolishment of Government Regulation of Prostitution Summary of Event Involuntary prostitution, which came to be known as white slavery in the late nineteenth century, is an enduring phenomenon in human history. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw an increasing assault on this aspect of human society, and the 1904 Paris Conference on the White Slave Trade was the first internationally coordinated attempt by governments to suppress human trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation. During the early and mid-nineteenth century, many
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early leader of this movement was Josephine Butler, an upper-class British woman who became involved in social work with prostitutes in the mid-1860’s. She played a major part in the fight to repeal the Contagious Diseases Act, which was at the core of Britain’s regulation system. While upholding the goal of marriage, Butler argued that society was wasting the talents of many women who were unable to find husbands. She asserted that they were forced into prostitution to survive because the structure of industrialized society prevented them from gaining employment. She argued further that these women should not be punished while their clients went untouched. Butler’s efforts led to the foundation in 1875 of the British and Continental Federation for the Abolishment of Government Regulation of Prostitution. Soon afterward, she became involved in the battle against child and involuntary prostitution. At the instigation of publisher Alfred Dyer, she wrote a pamphlet, A Letter to the Mothers of England, assailing the white slave traffic between England and Belgium, which she blamed on Belgium’s corrupt regulatory system and the failure of British laws to protect young women. (The age of consent in Britain at the time was thirteen years.) Butler’s activism led to an investigation that resulted in the conviction of many agents of the Belgian morals police but few lasting results. In 1885, the editor of the evening newspaper the Pall Mall Gazette, William Thomas Stead, entered the fight against white slavery. The early efforts of Butler and others led him to investigate the problem, and with the help of Butler and the Salvation Army, he formed a secret investigation committee. The committee’s inquiry culminated when Stead, with the aid of a reformed procuress named Rebecca Jarret, staged a procuration to demonstrate that it was quite possible to carry off young girls to the Continent for immoral purposes without being caught or prevented from doing so. Beginning on July 6, 1885, Stead published in the Pall Mall Gazette a six-part series that revealed the results of the committee’s investigations under the title “The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon.” Stead himself was arrested because of legal complications arising from the demonstration procuration he had arranged, and his series produced a massive public outcry that led to the passage of a bill raising the age of consent to sixteen years. Stead also helped found the British National Vigilance Association for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, which, under the leadership of William Alexander Coote, became important in moving the battle against white slavery to the international level. 337
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nations took measures to regulate the practice of prostitution. The two major motives for this were the desire to keep under control a practice regarded as immoral but impossible to suppress and the wish to prevent the spread of venereal disease. Typically, prostitutes were required to dwell in certain districts of their cities, to register with their local governments, and to submit to periodic medical examinations. They commonly lived in licensed brothels. Prostitution was monitored by special police, often plainclothes officers, many of whom were corrupt. The system usually failed to regulate all prostitutes, and, as time passed, resistance to the system grew from several quarters. Although some women entered prostitution because of poverty and a lack of legitimate employment opportunities, others became prostitutes because of the sexual mores of the period. Many middle- and upper-class women who had been seduced into sexual relationships considered themselves ruined afterward and believed that they could not return to their families. This drove them into prostitution to survive. Others were tricked, trapped, or kidnapped into prostitution. The fear of venereal disease led to a high demand for virginal prostitutes. To meet this demand, pimps, procurers, and brothel keepers used a variety of methods to entice or entrap young women into a life of prostitution. Some women were ensnared by offers of marriage or of jobs in seemingly proper households. Another method involved placing job offers at employment agencies that found work abroad for women. Once the woman arrived at their place of work, they discovered that they had been deceived, but then it was usually too late for them to escape. Sometimes these women were forced to purchase various items, such as clothing, at the “workplace” and then were forced to stay in the brothel to work off the resulting debts. Often the procurers’ methods involved transporting women between nations (or between states in the United States), because this made it more difficult for the women to escape. This transportation, which became known as the white slave trade or traffic, was fairly widespread in the nineteenth century. Because of the corruption of its morals police, Belgium was a center for this traffic. The king of Belgium himself reportedly spent more than eighteen hundred pounds a year importing British girls from British procuresses. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the American and European public become more aware of this traffic, and activists began an assault on the regulation of prostitution and on the white slave trade. One
International Agreement Targets White Slave Trade
International Agreement Targets White Slave Trade
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
After several years of effort as the secretary of the British National Vigilance Association, Coote became frustrated with the meagerness of the results the organization had achieved while acting alone. The association’s success increased after 1898, when Coote was inspired to found cooperating vigilance associations in all of the nations plagued by the white slave trade. He realized that, as the trade was international, cooperation between nations would be required to destroy it. His efforts led to the calling of the International Congress on the White Slave Traffic in 1899 in London and to the foundation of vigilance associations in many nations. These organizations and Coote’s continuing work led the French government in turn to invite sixteen nations to send
delegates to Paris on July 25, 1902, to formulate an international agreement to fight the white slave trade. Thirtysix delegates represented the sixteen nations at the conference. After deliberating for five days, they hammered out a nine-article agreement. Thirteen nations (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland) ratified the agreement on May 18, 1904. Austria-Hungary, Brazil, and the United States later ratified the agreement. The International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic called for the signatory nations to take a variety of measures. Five of its articles detailed concrete actions to be carried out. Article 1 provided for the establishment of national authorities that would coordinate information regarding the white slave trade. Article 2 ar“We bid you be of hope!” ranged the keeping of watch over railway Preceding the Pall Mall Gazette’s running of the six-part series “The stations, ports, and similar locations for Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon,” which presented the findings of a the purpose of intercepting white slave secret committee assembled to investigate the problem of white slavery, traffickers and preventing procuration in editor William Thomas Stead published a note to readers to introduce these sites. Article 3 provided for investithe series. It began as follows: gations to discover the places of origin of foreign prostitutes in the signatory nations The Report of our Secret Commission will be read to-day with a shud(to aid in their eventual repatriation) and dering horror that will thrill throughout the world. After this awful picfor governmental assistance in repatriature of the crimes at present committed as it were under the very aegis of tion. Article 4 dealt with funding repatriathe law has been fully unfolded before the eyes of the public, we need not doubt that the House of Commons will find time to raise the age during tion. Article 6 concerned the supervision which English girls are protected from inexpiable wrong. The evidence of agencies that sought to provide employwhich we shall publish this week leaves no room for doubt—first, as to ment abroad for women. The agreement the reality of the crimes against which the Amendment Bill is directed, thus provided the first international frameand, secondly, as to the efficacy of the protection extended by raising the work for the battle against white slavery. age of consent. When the report is published, the case for the bill will be complete, and we do not believe that members on the eve of a general election will refuse to consider the bill protecting the daughters of the poor, which even the House of Lords has in three consecutive years declared to be imperatively necessary. . . . These revelations, which we begin to publish to-day, cannot fail to touch the heart and rouse the conscience of the English people. Terrible as is the exposure, the very horror of it is an inspiration. It speaks not of leaden despair, but with a joyful promise of better things to come. Wir heissen euch hoffen! “We bid you be of hope!” Carlyle’s last message to his country, the rhythmic with which Goethe closes his modern psalm—that is what we have to repeat to-day, for assuredly these horrors, like others against which the conscience of mankind has revolted, are not eternal. “Am I my sister’s keeper?” that paraphrase of the excuse of Cain, will not dull the fierce smart of pain which will be felt by every decent man who learns the kind of atrocities which are being perpetrated in cool blood in the very shadow of our churches and within a stone’s throw of our courts. Source: William Thomas Stead, “We Bid You Be of Hope,” Pall Mall Gazette, July 6, 1885.
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Significance The International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic led to additional international conventions, congresses, and agreements. A conference held in Spain in 1910 produced an agreement that procurement of women under twenty years old would be considered a criminal act under any conditions, and that for women twenty or older, procuration was illegal if fraud or violence was involved. After its founding, the League of Nations entered the battle, raising the age of consent to twenty-one and in 1921 organizing a system for monitoring international employment agencies. Further agreements were made in the years to fol-
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markedly in occurrence. The International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic was, however, only the beginning of the international assault on the sex trade. These efforts continued into the twentyfirst century, as human rights groups worked to combat the trafficking in women and children that still flourished in many parts of the world. In 2000, the United Nations Crime Commission opened a new Trafficking Protocol, which, together with the 2003 U.N. Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, included provisions to combat these invidious practices. —John W. Biles and Robert E. Biles Further Reading Bell, Ernest A., et al. Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls. Chicago: L. H. Walter, 1911. A typical example of the propaganda employed by anti-white slavery reformers in the United States during the early twentieth century. Includes a chapter by William A. Coote discussing the 1904 agreement, one of its most useful features for a contemporary reader. Bullough, Vern L., and Bonnie L. Bullough. The History of Prostitution. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1964. Discusses the history of prostitution from its origins to the early 1960’s. At the time of its writing, few serious histories of prostitution had been undertaken. Includes bibliography, endnotes, and index. _______. Women and Prostitution: A Social History. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1987. Discusses the history of prostitution from its origins to the mid1980’s. Notes the importance of the sexual double standard in the persistence of prostitution. Includes an excellent chapter on the history of the movements against government regulation of prostitution and white slavery. Includes bibliography, endnotes, and index. Decker, John F. Prostitution: Regulation and Control. Littleton, Colo.: Fred B. Rothman, 1979. A study of the various methods used through history to regulate or control prostitution. Provides a primarily legal rather than historical perspective. Includes index and bibliography. Donovan, Brian. White Slave Crusades: Race, Gender, and Anti-vice Activism, 1887-1917. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2005. Focuses on how the movement to end white slavery contributed to the creation of a racial hierarchy in the United States. Analyzes reformers’ use of “us versus them” narratives to clarify and enforce racial boundaries. 339
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low, including the amendment of the 1904 agreement by the United Nations in 1949. Such international agreements often proved difficult to enforce, as they depended on the willingness and capability of the signatory nations to carry them out. To some extent, private organizations took up some of the work and duties set forth in the agreements. Groups such as the International Catholic Associations for Railway Station Work, Les Amies de la Jeune Fille, and various national vigilance associations did their part to ensure that the agreements were carried out. During the first fifteen years of the twentieth century, public awareness of the existence of white slavery mounted. In the United States, this led to a veritable white slavery panic. Numerous books were published on the subject and several laws were passed, such as the 1910 Mann Act, which made it a crime to transport a woman across a state line “for immoral purposes.” The United States also proclaimed its adherence to the 1904 agreement. The public hysteria produced a reaction that sought either to deny the existence of the white slave trade or to show its occurrence to be less common than reformers claimed. The traffic in women did decline as the twentieth century progressed. The decrease in licensed prostitution and the end of regulatory systems helped to bring about a change in the methods of recruiting used in prostitution, which in turn contributed to a reduction in the traffic in women. The actual enforcement of the agreements also helped, to a lesser extent, to bring about a decline in the white slave traffic. Another important factor in the decline of the white slave traffic was the increasing liberation of women in the twentieth century. Women became better educated and more liberated in the area of sexual mores. Better education left them less vulnerable to the tricks of white slave traffickers, and freer sexual mores helped to create a decline in the demand for prostitutes and an increase in the proportion of prostitutes who chose their profession voluntarily. Economic necessity and inducements remained important factors in recruitment to prostitution, but deception, coercion, and international transportation declined in importance. Although involuntary prostitution has long been a part of human society, the twentieth century witnessed its significant decline. With the abolition of regulation systems, the international cooperation arising from the agreement of 1904 and the treaties that followed it, and the increasing liberation of women, white slavery ceased to be a matter of great public concern and decreased
International Agreement Targets White Slave Trade
Construction Begins on the Panama Canal Grittner, Frederick K. White Slavery: Myth, Ideology, and American Law. New York: Garland, 1990. Ably discusses the perception of white slavery by the American public from the nineteenth century to 1985. Shows how and why perceptions of the existence of white slavery grew in the early twentieth century and culminated in the white slavery panic of 1909-1914, the focus of this work. Includes index and bibliography. Niemoeller, Adolph Fredrick. Sexual Slavery in America. New York: Panurge Press, 1935. Surveys the many forms of sexual slavery that have existed since ancient times, with primary emphasis on their occurrence in the United States. Devotes an entire chapter to the structure and history of white slavery and the movements against it in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Also includes the texts of several relevant laws and treaties, including the text of the 1904 agreement. Sharp, Ingrid, and Jane Jordan, eds. Josephine Butler and the Prostitution Campaigns: Diseases of the Body Politic. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. A set of
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 comprehensive materials covering Butler’s campaigns that places her work in historical context. Includes reset versions of pamphlets, books, media responses to Butler’s activities, letters to newspapers, articles from newspapers and other periodicals, and private letters both to and from Butler. United Nations. International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, Signed at Paris on 18 May 1904 Amended by the Protocol Signed at Lake Success New York, 4 May 1949. Lake Success, N.Y.: Author, 1950. This is the actual text of the agreement signed in 1904 in Paris as modified after the creation of the United Nations. It also lists those who actually signed the treaty in 1904. The changes from the 1904 text are slight. See also: Apr. 28, 1919: League of Nations Is Established; Sept. 10, 1919: Saint-Germain-en-Laye Convention Attempts to Curtail Slavery; Sept. 25, 1926: League of Nations Adopts International Slavery Convention.
Summer, 1904
Construction Begins on the Panama Canal Construction of the Panama Canal was a ten-year engineering project that overcame numerous obstacles before it was completed. Locale: Panama Canal Zone Categories: Science and technology; engineering Key Figures George Washington Goethals (1858-1928), American army engineer William Crawford Gorgas (1854-1920), American army surgeon and sanitary officer John Frank Stevens (1853-1943), American engineer Walter Reed (1851-1902), American army surgeon and bacteriologist Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-1894), French politician Summary of Event The Isthmus of Panama is a narrow strip of land in Central America between Costa Rica and Colombia. At its narrowest point, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are separated by fewer than 50 miles (about 80 kilometers) of land. During the California gold rush in the early 1850’s, a railroad was built across the isthmus. Travelers from 340
the eastern United States could go by ship to the port of Colón on the Atlantic side, take a short train ride to Panama City on the Pacific side, and then continue by ship to San Francisco. In comparison, going across the United States to California by wagon train was a much more difficult journey, only for the hardiest travelers. The construction of a canal across Panama had long been viewed as very desirable for shipping because it would eliminate the need for ships to make the long and dangerous trip around South America. France made the first serious attempt to build the “big ditch” under the leadership of Ferdinand de Lesseps, who had successfully directed the building of the Suez Canal through the Egyptian desert. The Suez Canal, completed in 1869, made it possible for travelers from Europe to get to India and the Far East without going around the continent of Africa. Lesseps, a popular hero in France, made an inspection trip to Panama in 1879 and announced that a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans should be easier to build than the Suez Canal had been. The company that Lesseps formed to carry out the project raised money from private investors and began construction in 1881. Lesseps had greatly underestimated the magnitude
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of the task, however, and the work came to a halt in 1889. The French effort failed for several reasons. First, the French machinery was too small and lightweight for the job. Suez had sand, whereas Panama had rocks and mud. Second, yellow fever and malaria killed more than twenty thousand people in Panama, including men working on the canal, in eight years. The role of mosquitoes in transmitting these tropical diseases was not yet established, sanitation was inadequate, and working conditions were poor. Finally, Lesseps’s plan for a sea-level canal was not practical in Panama. In the middle of the isthmus, the mountains are more than 295 feet (90 meters) high and almost 7 miles (11 kilometers) wide. In order to make a channel down to sea level, the canal builders would have to blast a large amount of rock away with dynamite. The French did make considerable progress with this endeavor in the highest terrain in what was known as the Culebra Cut, but, unfortunately, frequent mud slides during the rainy season refilled some of the excavated area. In the United States, popular support for building a canal in Central America developed during the Spanish-American War from 1898 to 1900. The battleship Oregon was stationed in San Francisco in March, 1898, when the captain reDrawing on a magazine cover in June, 1904, praises Theodore Roosevelt for his ceived orders to bring his ship to Cuba as role in initiating construction of the Panama Canal. (Library of Congress) quickly as possible to participate in the blockade. At a maximum speed of sixteen knots, the Oregon traveled south land belonged to Colombia, however, and that nation along the coast of Chile, came around the tip of Argenturned down an American offer of ten million dollars for tina, and headed north toward the Caribbean. Along the the strip of land along the canal route. A so-called phony way, there were delays because of illness among the revolution took place on November 3, 1903, when the crew, a four-day storm, and Spanish warships. After ten Republic of Panama seceded from Colombia. Within long weeks, the battleship finally arrived off the coast of three weeks, the United States recognized the new counCuba. This dramatic voyage was publicized widely and try and obtained rights from Panama to a ten-mile-wide later became a rallying point in Congress for those who “canal zone” at the original price that had been offered to advocated federal funding for a canal because of its miliColombia. Twenty years later, the United States paid an tary necessity. indemnity of twenty-five million dollars to Colombia in The U.S. government under President Theodore Roosevelt negotiated an agreement in 1902 with the French compensation for this subterfuge. canal company to take over its unfinished project. The John Findley Wallace was appointed chief engineer
Construction Begins on the Panama Canal and coordinator of the building project in 1904, but he remained on the job only for about a year. Progress in excavation was too slow, and an outbreak of yellow fever in the spring of 1905 took many lives. President Roosevelt replaced Wallace with engineer John Frank Stevens and appointed William Crawford Gorgas, a U.S. Army doctor and sanitarian, to head a project to eradicate mosquitoes in the Canal Zone. In the late 1890’s, English physician Sir Ronald Ross had proved that malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes, and in 1900-1901, U.S. Army physician Walter Reed had found that yellow fever has the same mode of transmission. Previously, it was believed that these dreaded illnesses were caused by tropical climate and poor sanitation. Gorgas had worked as sanitation officer with Reed in Cuba, where his efforts led to a steep decline in yellow fever cases, and he knew what had to be done. He ordered the spraying of larvicide oil on standing water surfaces, where mosquitoes breed, and the installation of a sewage system where canal workers were living. He also trained exterminators to fumigate buildings and ordered sick patients placed in an isolation cage so mosquitoes could not get to them to feed and then spread the disease further. The campaign against mosquitoes was so effective that yellow fever was completely eliminated in the Canal Zone by 1906, and malaria cases were gradually reduced to the point where less than 10 percent of the workers contracted the disease. Under Chief Engineer Stevens, the design of the canal was changed from a sea-level route to one that would use a series of locks. The idea was to create a large lake well above sea level; ships would be raised up to the lake with three locks on one side and then lowered back down to the ocean with locks on the other side. The design was appropriately called “a bridge of water” going from ocean to ocean. Gatun Dam, which took more than six years to construct, eventually formed Gatun Lake, with an area of approximately 102 square miles (264 square kilometers). The lake, which ships could cross under their own power, provided the waterway for more than half of the canal route. Building the locks to raise and lower the ships was a mammoth project. Each was more than one thousand feet (305 meters) in length, requiring large quantities of cement and the construction of huge steel doors that had to swing open and shut to hold the water. President Roosevelt visited Panama for three days in 1906, the first time in history that an American president made a trip to a foreign country. Although Stevens was popular with the workers in the Canal Zone, he had some 342
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 disagreements with Roosevelt and resigned his position as chief engineer in 1907. Roosevelt immediately replaced him with Colonel George Washington Goethals, whose forceful leadership carried the canal project through to its successful conclusion. Goethals had to deal with the difficult problem of the Culebra Cut through the mountains, which was to be the passageway from Lake Gatun to the locks on the Pacific side. Goethals recognized that the speed of excavation was limited by the rate of rock removal. Up to thirty trains per hour carried rocks from Culebra to be dumped as a breakwater in the ocean. Workers had to shift the tracks daily as the steam shovels advanced. The biggest tragedy of the project was a premature dynamite explosion that killed twenty-three workers in 1908. Occasionally mud slides, especially during the rainy season, spoiled a month’s work in moments. Goethals segregated the labor force into a hierarchy with three distinct categories. First came the “gold employees,” about fifty-six hundred white Americans who were paid in gold, with an average salary of several thousand dollars per year. Next came the “silver employees,” about four thousand European laborers, mostly from Spain and Italy, who were paid about five hundred dollars per year in silver. At the bottom of the pay scale were about thirty thousand blacks from Jamaica and the Caribbean area, who received about three hundred dollars per year. All of the groups received higher income than they could have earned at home. Strict segregation between the groups was maintained in housing, quality of food, medical care, and transportation to the job site. To maintain good morale, Goethals saw to it that entertainment was provided in the form of motion pictures, band concerts, and baseball games. A locally produced weekly newspaper called the Canal Record spurred on competition between work crews. In the fall of 1913, Gatun Dam was finished and the lake behind it began to fill with water, extending into the Culebra Cut. On August 15, 1914, ten years after the start of construction, the first ship made the transit from ocean to ocean in slightly under ten hours. Goethals received a congratulatory telegram from the U.S. secretary of war in Washington, who declared that a “stupendous undertaking has been finally accomplished, and a perpetual memorial to the genius and enterprise of our people has been created.” Significance The Panama Canal Act of 1912 provided for the operation, maintenance, and protection of the canal. The tolls
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the countries of Latin America are important for U.S. national security. —Hans G. Graetzer Further Reading Barrett, John. Panama Canal: What It Is, What It Means. Washington, D.C.: Pan American Union, 1913. Written for the American public shortly before the canal was opened. Resembles an enthusiastic tourist guidebook of that era, telling the reader how to get there, where to stay, and which sights are the most spectacular. Cameron, Ian. The Impossible Dream: The Building of the Panama Canal. New York: William Morrow, 1972. Describes the personalities and contributions of the key figures, from Lesseps to Goethals. Quotes extensively from the Canal Record and gives a sense of an unfolding sequence of successes and setbacks. Goethals, George W. “The Panama Canal.” National Geographic 22 (February, 1911): 148-211. Text of an address presented by Goethals to the National Geographic Society; a progress report on the canal project that includes many interesting photographs. Emphasizes the military necessity of the project. Jasper, William F. “Taming Mankind’s Ancient Foes.” New American 21 (September 5, 2005): 37-40. Relates the story of Gorgas’s work in Panama, including his struggle to overcome bureaucratic opposition when he sought to employ the methods he had used successfully in Cuba to eradicate yellow fever. Keller, Ulrich, ed. The Building of the Panama Canal in Historic Photographs. New York: Dover, 1983. The National Archives in Washington, D.C., has a collection of more than ten thousand photographs showing the Panama Canal construction. About 160 of these historic pictures are reprinted, each with informative and interesting commentary by Keller. An outstanding documentary record. McDowell, Bart. “The Panama Canal Today.” National Geographic 153 (February, 1978): 279-294. Describes a transit through the canal, with historical notes and observations along the way. Ryan, Paul B. The Panama Canal Controversy. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, 1977. In 1977, President Carter negotiated a new treaty that eventually gave Panama control over the canal. This book describes the U.S. Senate debates concerning ratification of the treaty. Presents questions of U.S. national security versus Panama’s sovereignty from the politically conservative point of view. 343
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to be charged for commercial ships to pass through were set in proportion to their tonnage. American vessels used the canal for free at first because the construction costs had been paid for with tax money. During its first seventy-five years of operation, the canal served an average of ten thousand ships annually. In 1990, the toll charged for one transit of the 62,000-ton Star Princess of the Princess Cruise Line was $120,000. All of the canal’s operation and maintenance costs—including the cost of underwater dredging, which is necessary to maintain the proper depth of water—have to be covered by the tolls. In the early years of canal operation, three major benefits were attributed to the canal project. First was the major saving in distances traveled by commercial ships that previously had to go around South America. Second was the military advantage of moving U.S. Navy ships rapidly to protect either coast, thus reducing the costs of a two-ocean navy. Finally, the improvements in sanitation and the reduction of tropical diseases accomplished in Panama during the building of the canal served as an example of what could be done to improve living conditions in other tropical countries. After World War II, various countries that had been part of colonial empires struggled to win their independence. Among these were India, Indonesia, and Algeria. The Suez Canal, which had been administered by France and England for nearly one hundred years, was taken over by Egypt during the Suez crisis of 1956. In Panama, resentment began to build up against the United States for its “ownership” of the Canal Zone on Panamanian territory. This spirit of nationalism came to a climax in 1964 when Panamanian rioters entered the Canal Zone and clashed with U.S. troops. The fighting caused the loss of lives and destruction of property and led to a break in diplomatic relations between the United States and Panama. Over the next several years, difficult negotiations were conducted to draft a new canal treaty. The treaty of 1904 had promised the United States “perpetual jurisdiction” over the Canal Zone, but that clashed with the idea of national sovereignty and the goals of the American Good Neighbor Policy. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter oversaw U.S. ratification of a new treaty with Panama, which the U.S. Senate barely consented to by a twothirds majority. The new treaty provided for a period of joint administration of the Canal Zone, with a gradually increasing share of the leadership positions given to Panama until December 31, 1999, when all U.S. participation and control of the canal ceased. Some opponents of the treaty described it as a pure “giveaway,” but proponents took the long-range view that good relations with
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Lhasa Convention Is Signed in Tibet Salt, Harriet. Mighty Engineering Feats. Philadelphia: Penn, 1937. Describes ten major American engineering accomplishments, including the Panama Canal. Filled with interesting details. Snapp, Jeremy Sherman. Destiny by Design: The Construction of the Panama Canal. With photographs by Gerald Fitzgerald Sherman and Jeremy Sherman Snapp. Lopez Island, Wash.: Pacific Heritage Press, 2000. Photo essay and narrative combine to pay trib-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ute to one of the greatest engineering feats of the twentieth century. Features more than 160 photographs never published before, most taken by Sherman during the canal’s construction. See also: Nov. 3, 1903: Panama Declares Independence from Colombia; Nov. 18, 1903: U.S. Acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone; 1904-1905: Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control; Aug. 15, 1914: Panama Canal Opens.
September 7, 1904
Lhasa Convention Is Signed in Tibet After the British military expedition under the command of Colonel Francis Edward Younghusband opened Tibet, Britain stipulated the terms of the Lhasa Convention, including the establishment of a British protectorate over Tibet. Locale: Lhasa, Tibet Categories: Colonialism and occupation; military history; government and politics Key Figures Francis Edward Younghusband (1863-1942), British colonial frontier commissioner George Nathaniel Curzon (1859-1925), governor general and viceroy of India, 1899-1905 Thubten Gyatso (1876-1933), Thirteenth Dalai Lama, who presided over a period of great cultural and diplomatic change in Tibet Agvan Dorzhiev (1854-1938), emissary of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama to Czar Nicholas II of Russia and alleged Russian spy in Tibet James R. L. MacDonald (fl. early twentieth century), brigadier general in the British army Second Baron Ampthill (Arthur Russell; 1869-1935), governor of Madras, India, 1900-1905, and temporary viceroy of India, 1904 Summary of Event The signing of the Lhasa Convention on September 7, 1904, should have been widely viewed as a triumph of British foreign policy in Asia. The convention forced Tibet, a country that up to that point had never entered into negotiations with any foreign power other than China, let alone one from the West, to acquiesce to a series of demands that essentially made the nation a British protectorate. After being routed by a British expeditionary 344
force of about two thousand men carrying the latest in modern weaponry, the Tibetans at last agreed to a trade relationship with the British crown colony of India. More important, however, Tibet promised to maintain its virtual isolation from the outside world. The apparent contradiction inherent in mounting a military expedition to open an isolated country only to reinforce its isolation in the resulting treaty had its roots in the peculiarities of the rivalry between the Russian and British empires in Central Asia, a contest that author Rudyard Kipling (18651936) famously referred to as “the Great Game.” Britain and Russia had become rivals for spheres of influence in Central Asia during the nineteenth century. The Russian Empire was pushing its border southward, toward British India, and it appeared, at least to the hawks in the British colonial administration in Calcutta, that only the impassable and largely unknown mountain passes in the Hindukush and Karakoram mountain ranges prevented the Russian army from reaching the Indian Ocean. For the British viceroy and his government at their summer residence in Simla, India, Tibet seemed very close: It lay just over the majestic Himalayas. Although the area was inaccessible to all foreigners, it had started to figure prominently in the British Empire’s plans, because it appeared that control of this vast and unknown land would allow the British to outflank the Russians. Moreover, after Henry Morton Stanley and David Livingstone crossed Africa, Tibet was one of increasingly few unexplored areas on the Victorians’ world map. After 1865, a variety of British, Russian, and Japanese adventurers, explorers, missionaries, and spies had tried and failed to reach Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. When he was appointed governor general of India in 1899, George Nathaniel Curzon was already a veteran
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Early on, disagreements arose between Brigadier General James R. L. MacDonald, the commander of the escort, and Younghusband over the use of military force. As a diplomat, Younghusband was in favor of refraining from any hostile action that might make it difficult to secure the Tibetans’ goodwill, while MacDonald was concerned with protecting his troops. The first clash occurred on March 31, 1904, near the village of Guru, where the British forces killed more than six hundred illequipped Tibetans (the British troops suffered almost no casualties). Another battle, near Gyantse in early May, also resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of Tibetans. Historians generally hold MacDonald responsible for these massacres. Yet Younghusband indirectly benefited from these developments, as they provided him with a pretext to exceed his mandate and to push on to Lhasa. This he did with the explicit consent of the British secretary of state for India, John Brodrick, an old friend of Curzon who had been kept informed of the events by telegraph. After several more skirmishes, the British forces finally entered the Tibetan capital on August 3, 1904. The Dalai Lama had fled the city, accompanied by Agvan Dorzhiev, his adviser and the invasion’s unwitting cause. Younghusband negotiated with the Dalai Lama’s regent, and the two reached an agreement in a surprisingly short time. The Lhasa Convention’s official signing ceremony took place on September 7, 1904, in Lhasa’s Potala Palace. Tibet promised to respect the earlier Chinese-British border agreement, agreed to open several markets for trade with British India and to pay an indemnity of 7.5 million rupees, and accepted the British occupation of part of the access route to Lhasa. The last of the nine points of the agreement stipulated that Tibet was to have no contact with any third powers without British consent. This provision was implicitly directed against Russia, the only other foreign power with a possible design on Tibet, and effectively turned Tibet into a British protectorate. The lack of any official Russian reaction to the Lhasa Convention indicated, however, that British fears about massive Russian involvement in Tibet had been grossly exaggerated. Significance Curiously, the British government distanced itself almost immediately from the expedition to Tibet. The Lhasa Convention was ratified in November of 1904, by the then-acting viceroy, Second Baron Ampthill, who single-handedly reduced the indemnity by two thirds and softened some other provisions as well. Younghusband 345
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of the Great Game: He had traveled through Russiancontrolled Central Asia as early as 1888. Francis Edward Younghusband, a senior official in the Indian Political Service, shared Curzon’s hawkish views on Russia. He had been a member of the Royal Geographic Society since 1897, and he had made a name for himself through travels from Manchuria, in northeast China, to Ladakh, India. Both men were extremely concerned about Russian designs on Central Asia, particularly with regard to Tibet. Tibet was ruled by Thubten Gyatso, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, and although the region was nominally under Chinese suzerainty, Tibet remained closed to any foreign visitors. However, around the beginning of the twentieth century, the British administration in Calcutta learned that a close adviser to the Dalai Lama, Agvan Dorzhiev, had been traveling through British India on his way from Lhasa to St. Petersburg, where he was received by Czar Nicholas II of Russia. Although little was known about this enigmatic emissary, it soon became clear that he was from the area known as Buryatia. The Buryats lived in the Lake Baikal region of Russia and were subjects of the Russian Empire, but they were also Tibetan Buddhists and were thus not considered foreigners in Tibet. To the hawks in Calcutta it appeared as though the Russians were on the verge of gaining an important foothold in Tibet, and the British were frustrated that they had only learned about Dorzhiev from Russian newspapers and from a Japanese spy, Eisai Kawaguchi, who had managed to reach Lhasa in disguise in 1901. In 1902, Curzon was alarmed to hear that Younghusband had decided to use the issue of the disputed border between the Indian state of Sikkim and Tibet as a pretext for a more aggressive stance toward the Tibetans. Although a convention between China and Britain in 1890 had delineated the Tibetan border, their failure to consult Tibet on the issue meant that the Dalai Lama’s government did not consider itself bound by the agreement’s terms. Two letters by the viceroy to the Dalai Lama had been returned unopened, and an initial mission by the newly established Tibet Frontier Commission had been unsuccessful. Frustrated, Curzon received a carefully worded permission from the British government to “obtain satisfaction” by means of a military expedition in the late summer of 1903. This mission was to be an ostensibly diplomatic one, headed by a recently promoted Colonel Younghusband as commissioner, but it was accompanied by a large military escort. The group crossed into Tibet in December of 1903, with orders to advance to the Tibetan town of Gyantse and to negotiate with the Tibetan side there.
Lhasa Convention Is Signed in Tibet
Welsh Revival Spreads Pentecostalism was accused, not without justification, of exceeding his authority in the stipulation of the terms of the convention. Although he was knighted, he was left without further career prospects. Curzon, who had been on home leave for most of 1904, eventually resigned from his post as viceroy, a move that was at least partially in response to criticism over his handling of Tibet. The Lhasa Convention, then, was of limited practical concern to its contemporaries: Its primary importance was as the tangible result of the first Western diplomatic and military mission to Tibet. The problem it was designed to prevent— Russian interference in Tibet—existed mainly in the heads of politicians and explorers who had been staking their careers on playing the Great Game. —Ronald K. Frank Further Reading Fleming, Peter. Bayonets to Lhasa: The First Full Account of the British Invasion of Tibet. London: Oxford University Press, 1986. Originally published in 1961,
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 this remains an authoritative account of the Younghusband mission. Hopkirk, Peter. The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. New York: Kodansha International, 1994. A very accessible account of the entire history of the Great Game, with good coverage of the British invasion of Tibet. Meyer, Karl E., and Shareen Blair Brysac. Tournament of Shadows. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 1999. Comparable in scope to Hopkirk’s book, offers a slightly different perspective. Snelling, John. Buddhism in Russia: The Story of Agvan Dorzhiev, Lhasa’s Emissary to the Tsar. Rockport, Mass.: Element, 1993. The only book on the subject available in English offering a detailed account of Dorzhiev’s activities in Lhasa. See also: Dec. 17, 1933: End of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s Rule; Apr. 1, 1937: Britain Separates Burma from India.
October 31, 1904-1906
Welsh Revival Spreads Pentecostalism In October 1904, Evan Roberts began preaching a message of revival that quickly spread throughout Wales, leading to mass conversions. Its effects soon went beyond Welsh borders and became the context from which Pentecostalism emerged. Locale: Wales Category: Religion, theology, and ethics Key Figures Evan Roberts (1878-1951), Welsh preacher Jessie Penn-Lewis (1861-1927), English Christian author and editor Seth Joshua (1858-1925), Welsh preacher Summary of Event On Sunday, February 14, 1904, Florrie Evans, a young Welsh girl from New Quay, Cardigan, publicly declared at a church meeting that she loved Jesus with all her heart. That testimony had an unusually powerful effect that led others immediately to dedicate their lives to Christ, and news of that event spread throughout western Wales. On September 29, 1904, evangelist Seth Joshua— one of several preachers already actively working for revival—held a meeting in Blaenanerch, five miles north of Cardigan, that changed the life of a young man named 346
Evan Roberts. Joshua’s long-standing prayer that God would call a young working-class man to revive the churches in Wales seemed to be answered that Thursday morning when Roberts, a twenty-six-year-old coal miner from Loughor in western Glamorgan, prayed, “Bend me, Lord,” and experienced a deeper commitment to God. Roberts had just arrived at Newcastle Emlyn School on September 13 to prepare for ministry training. His experience at Joshua’s meeting, however, inspired him to leave school and preach a message of revival throughout Wales. The Welsh Revival is generally acknowledged to have begun on October 31, 1904, when Roberts held his first meeting at Moriah Calvinist Methodist Church, his home church in Loughor. Only sixteen young people were in attendance, but they were all deeply moved, and word spread quickly. On November 2, Roberts first preached his famous four-point message, which became the basis of the message for the whole revival: People should confess known sin, avoid doubtful habits, obey the Holy Spirit immediately, and confess Christ publicly. Such an intense response followed that the chapel was soon kept open twenty-fours hours a day for prayer. Within two weeks, the revival became national news and was followed daily by newspapers in Wales and England. Roberts soon began a preaching tour of southern
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the New Testament account of Pentecost in Acts 2, believers held that the Holy Spirit actively guided them and bestowed supernatural gifts on them to accomplish their mission. Roberts and others preached that a second experience after water baptism, known as the “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” empowered believers with the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel with signs and wonders. Roberts identified his experience during Joshua’s meeting at Blaenanerch as being “baptized in the Spirit.” Along with healings, one of the supernatural phenomena that occurred during the Welsh Revival was glossolalia, or speaking in tongues. Although Roberts downplayed instances of glossolalia because he feared they would be misunderstood, scholars documented reports of cases of farmers and uneducated youths singing and praying in ancient classical Welsh. News of the Welsh Revival and the Pentecostal experience of the “baptism of the Spirit” and the gifts of the Spirit soon spread throughout the world. People from all ranks of life and from many nations traveled to Wales to witness and experience the spiritual phenomena for themselves. Visitors from France, Turkey, Korea, India, Africa, Japan, and the Americas returned home with revival fire, and people began to experience revival in these other places as well. After two years, revival fervor began to wane. By the spring of 1906, the intensity of the Welsh Revival had taken its toll on Roberts, who experienced a serious physical collapse for the second time. He lived for the next few years in England under the care of the noted Christian writer Jessie Penn-Lewis and her husband. Together with Mrs. Penn-Lewis, Roberts coauthored a manual for Christians in ministry, War on the Saints (1912), and coedited a magazine titled The Overcomer from 1907 to 1914. He returned to Wales in 1928, but he rarely ever preached in public again. He devoted the remaining years of his life to prayer. Significance Although short-lived, the Welsh Revival had widespread effects. Despite the decline of mass conversions after 1906, the revival’s power and long-range influence remained. In addition to changes in Welsh life, the revival’s legacy included ongoing work by converts such as the formation of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church and the Elim movement. The revival was also a major influence on a number of prominent individuals, including David Lloyd George, a future prime minister of England. Some critics of the revival, both during and after its active years, dismissed it as promoting emotional excess. 347
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Wales and, in the following eighteen months, held more than two hundred meetings throughout the country. Although he became an instant celebrity through newspaper reports and word of mouth, the movement was led primarily by young, unknown, untrained, and unlicensed preachers. His brother, Dan Roberts, joined the movement after being healed of an eye condition; Roberts’s friend and former classmate at Newcastle, Sidney Evans, also conducted meetings throughout the country; Florrie Evans and her pastor, Joseph Jenkins, continued their visits to other churches. People who attended meetings returned home to hold their own meetings, and revival broke out even in places that were not visited by the main preachers. Welsh Revival meetings, like their young leaders, were unconventional, breaking traditional patterns of church services. The loosely structured meetings included spontaneous prayer, Bible reading, hymn singing, confessions of sin, and personal testimonies of newfound joy, healing, and transformation. Sermons were unscripted, and preachers delivered whatever messages they felt they had been given by the Holy Spirit—sometimes forgoing preaching entirely, depending on the atmosphere of a meeting. Contrary to the church custom of that time, teenage girls also led worship or preached as they felt inspired. Participants would stand, kneel, or sit, praying, singing, or sharing in meetings that lasted eight or nine hours, into the early hours of the morning. With no official leaders or central coordination, these revival services crossed denominational lines and occurred in Congregational, Baptist, and Methodist churches. In less than two years, more than one hundred thousand people experienced spiritual renewal throughout Wales, leading to immediate changes in Welsh society. The crime rate dropped, leaving judges and police with little work to do. Many reformed alcoholics now spent their money on their families, paying their bills, and contributing to charity rather than in pubs. The incidence of domestic abuse declined. Workers became more ethical and productive, and Bible studies and prayer meetings were held in coal mines and other places of work. Reconciliations took place between estranged spouses and among individuals and groups who had been involved in longstanding feuds. Even the use of foul language decreased dramatically. Life was transformed in Welsh homes, factories, schools, and public places, and more churches needed to be built to accommodate the new converts. The Welsh Revival gave prominence to teachings about the Holy Spirit and thus gave impetus to the movement that became known as Pentecostalism. Pointing to
Welsh Revival Spreads Pentecostalism
Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones Premieres
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Some objected to the lack of theological and biblical training of the young people who led the meetings, and some blamed ongoing media coverage for fueling fanaticism. However, the lives of many people who had been affected remained transformed, and all aspects of public and private life in Wales had visibly improved. The Welsh Revival’s most long-lasting legacy, however, is the Pentecostal, or charismatic, movement, which became an established worldwide phenomenon. Through the revival, people became familiar with Pentecostal terminology and experience. Leaders of the Azusa Street Revival in California in 1906 and of revivals in other countries had visited Wales, corresponded with Evan Roberts, or were inspired by revival accounts. Although Roberts never preached outside Britain, he is acknowledged by many as the first charismatic or Pentecostal leader of the twentieth century. From its small beginning in Wales, the spiritual tradition he began took up a permanent place in Pentecostal and traditional denominational churches around the world. —Marsha Daigle-Williamson Further Reading Anderson, Allan. An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Historical account and analysis of the theological development of Pentecostalism from its beginnings to the early twenty-first
November 7, 1904 Cohan’s LITTLE JOHNNY
See also: Apr., 1906-1908: Azusa Street Revival; July 26, 1931: International Bible Students Association Becomes Jehovah’s Witnesses.
JONES Premieres
George M. Cohan’s musical show Little Johnny Jones, along with its follow-up, Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway, helped to establish musical theater as a distinctive American art form. Locale: Liberty Theatre, New York, New York Categories: Theater; music; entertainment Key Figures George M. Cohan (1878-1942), American performer and writer, director, and producer of Broadway musicals Samuel Harris (1872-1941), American theatrical producer who became Cohan’s producing partner Summary of Event George M. Cohan’s family act, the Four Cohans, was a nationally prominent vaudeville act when, in 1900, 348
century. Covers both Western and non-Western nations. Includes bibliography and index. Duewel, Wesley. Revival Fire. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1995. Chronological overview of revivals in various nations from Old Testament times to the late twentieth century. Chapters 24-26 address the Welsh Revival. Includes index. Matthews, David. I Saw the Welsh Revival. 1905. Reprint. Chicago: Moody Press, 1951. The most famous eyewitness account by one of the revival’s participants. Synan, Vinson. The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997. Expanded version of the 1971 edition long considered the standard scholarly reference on the history of Pentecostalism, with a primary focus on the United States. Includes extensive bibliography and index. Towns, Elmer, and Douglas Porter. The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant, 2000. Lists and discusses revivals in order of their intensity and long-range effects; the Welsh Revival leads the list. Includes brief bibliography and index.
Cohan began to focus his ambitions as a playwright, songwriter, and performer on the New York theater. At the time, three strains of musical theater were predominant: the world of musical vaudeville (Cohan’s background), European-style operettas, and musical farce. Cohan drew on expanded vaudeville sketches in writing The Governor’s Son (pr. 1901) and Running for Office (pr. 1903), the latter of which was a musical farce that introduced the heavy use of contemporary slang in lyrics and dialogue and that incorporated colloquialisms adapted from vaudeville. These shows played at small downtown theaters. Cohan desired a starring vehicle for himself on Broadway, however, and the show he next designed—and produced with his new partner, Samuel Harris, who was to remain his partner for many years afterward—signaled a coalescence of the Broadway musical as a twentieth cen-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tury art form. With Little Johnny Jones in 1904 and then again with Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway in 1906, Cohan merged elements of the existing three strains of musical theater while also introducing innovations in structure, style, and focus. In doing so, he infused the work with his ambitious, democratic, self-aggrandizing, energetic, and flippant personality, nicely meeting the needs of an American society appreciatively reflecting on itself at a time when the nation was solidifying its position as a world power. Rather than developing a story around currently popular songs, as was a common practice in the writing of musicals, Cohan sketched out the plot of Little Johnny Jones first. The story combined melodrama with comedy: An American jockey in the British Isles is accused of cheating after losing the English Derby. Cleared of the charges in the second act, he returns to San Francisco’s Chinatown to search for his missing girlfriend, whom he be-
George M. Cohan as he appeared as the title character in Little Johnny Jones in 1904. (The Granger Collection, New York)
lieves has been kidnapped by a notorious gangster. Cohan included complicated subplots—disguises, machinations, intrigues—but the play moved rapidly, with grand musical spectacles providing crescendos in each act. With Cohan starring as Johnny Jones, the first act’s exposition built in anticipation of the jockey’s entrance. When he appeared, Johnny Jones counseled the assembled guests at the Hotel Cecil in London to bet on his horse, Yankee Doodle Dandy, a recommendation celebrated in a song-and-dance number. “Yankee Doodle Dandy” drew on the patriotic impulses of American theatergoers and gave Cohan an opportunity to display both his nasal singing and the dancing style he had perfected in vaudeville. The number was an instant success; during the New York opening at the Liberty Theatre, audience calls of “Encore!” necessitated the song’s repetition several times. The second act included a similarly wonderful production number that became the dramatic climax of the entire show. Johnny stood at a Southampton pier, bidding a ship bound for New York adieu. An undercover policeman had instructed the hero to wait for a flare from the ship as a signal that his nemesis (aboard the ship) had been exposed. Cohan, as Johnny, sang a sad, slow chorus of “Give My Regards to Broadway” as the vessel departed. The lights went down, and a miniature ship crossed at the back of the stage. When a rocket shot up from the ship, Cohan launched into a joyous, lively reprise of the memorable tune before the curtain fell to close the act. The scene, a watershed in American musical theater (the song became a staple in musical tributes to New York), was depicted in a mural in the theater Cohan himself built in 1911. The undercover policeman, a character named “the Unknown,” was played by Tom Lewis, half of a popular comedy team. Sam J. Ryan, the other half of the team, played an amiable Irish pal of Johnny. Using the Unknown for comic relief, Cohan gave him many of the best punch lines but no songs, a first in musical comedy. He rounded out the cast with burlesque singer Truly Shattuck and with members of his own vaudeville family: his parents, Jerry and Nellie Cohan, and his wife, singer and comedienne Ethel Levey. Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway followed in 1906. Although it lacked the trademark flag-waving element that appeared in Cohan’s simultaneously running George Washington, Jr. (the show that introduced the song “You’re a Grand Old Flag”), Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway still demonstrated Cohan’s emerging quintessential formula for the musical: fast, flashy, 349
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Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones Premieres
Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones Premieres
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mistic spirit many Americans shared as the United States funny language spoken in a slangy vernacular combined entered World War I; it quickly became the unofficial anwith several upbeat, exuberant songs and some sentithem of American involvement. Cohan was unpopular mental ballads. Cohan wrote the musical as a vehicle for with many actors, however, because he took an outspoFay Templeton, a popular light-opera star; the producken stand against unionism and was a leader in the ultition was financed by Abraham Erlanger, the dominant mately unsuccessful fight of the producers against the member of the Theatrical Syndicate, which virtually Actors’ Equity Association’s summer strike in 1919. controlled booking rates at almost all U.S. theaters— All agreed, however, that Cohan’s impact on the style both on Broadway and in the provinces—from 1896 to of the American musical was remarkable. Oscar Ham1910. Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway became the merstein II, himself a powerful voice in the evolution of biggest musical comedy hit in New York in forty years. the musical as an art form, wrote: “Never was a plant Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway starred Victor more indigenous to a particular part of the earth than was Moore as the sentimental, wisecracking hero. Again, George M. Cohan to the United States of his day. The Cohan molded a hero on his own personality traits. An important factor in the musical’s success was its celebration of the rural— or at least suburban—virtues of New One Critic’s Reaction to LITTLE JOHNNY JONES Rochelle, New York (later to be trumAlthough George M. Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones was a hit, it did have its peted in another medium on The Dick detractors. When Cohan took the show on a tour of major cities in the winter Van Dyke Show) in juxtaposition with and spring of 1905, the critic for the Providence Journal in Rhode Island had the glamour and glitter of New York a number of complaints: City. The show had two memorable tunes: “So Long, Mary” and “Mary’s a At the Providence Opera House last evening George M. Cohan, one of “the Grand Old Name.” The production Four,” with a good-sized company, began a week’s engagement in his latest used simple sets and included only six musical offense, “Little Johnny Jones.” The production still has “four songs, which, like those in Little Johnny Cohans,” although Josephine has deserted the fold. Father and mother are Jones, showed the influence of the fin still with the show and so is Ethel Levey, who is Mrs. George M. in private life. The combination shows its familiar styles of varied talents neither better de siècle musical farce playwright Edor worse than when last seen in this city and the entertainment is about of the ward “Ned” Harrigan. Cohan later clarusual Cohan standard, although there are features in this offering that have ified his appreciation of this Irish never been seen on any stage before. The extremely large audience present American in the tributary song “Harrileft no doubt as to its hearty approval of the whole affair. The applause was gan” in Fifty Miles from Boston (pr. frequent and there were curtain calls and a speech by the “author actor.” . . . 1908). Significance Little Johnny Jones and Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway established Cohan as a force to be reckoned with in American musical theater. The title of one of his shows, The Man Who Owns Broadway (pr. 1909), soon came to be a nickname for Cohan himself, who was not only writing, producing, directing, and starring in plays but also building and buying theater buildings. By the second decade of the twentieth century, responses to his forceful personality varied, especially between the general public and those engaged in the acting profession. Cohan’s composition “Over There” caught the opti350
According to the programme, George M. Cohan is responsible for about everything in “Little Johnny Jones.” He wrote the play, he wrote and composed the musical numbers and he enacts the title role and tries to sing some of his own concoctions. He disarmed all suspicion in his brief curtain speech by saying that he did not want anyone to take him seriously, either as actor, author or composer. He delivered his speech, however, from the corner of his mouth, which did not impart a tone of sincerity to his remarks. And, whatever he may say, before the curtain, it is a serious thing—this unloading of a conglomeration like “Little Johnny Jones” upon an innocent and too readily absorbent public. It must be treated seriously. In the first place young Mr. Cohan has done things to the “drama” that would cause even the audacious G. Bernard Shaw to gasp. “Musical comedies” are common, but this is the first known attempt to construct a “musical melodrama.” . . . [T]he result is as weird and “all to the bad” as could be imagined. There is more than a barrelful of plot, and it keeps cropping out in chunks in the middle of alleged music and eccentric dancing in a way to make a sane person hold his throbbing head. Any attempt to describe it would be futile; life is too short. Source: Frederick H. Young, review in the Providence Journal, April 11, 1905.
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Dandy, and more than half a century later that film is still widely viewed through television presentations. The day the motion picture opened in New York City was declared “George M. Cohan Day” by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. Eulogizing Cohan, who died in November of 1942, La Guardia noted, “He put the symbols of American life into American music.” All in all, Cohan’s contributions were prodigious. During his career he wrote dozens of plays, of which twenty-eight were musicals. He collaborated on at least forty others and participated in the production of many more. More than five hundred songs are credited to him. More important than his quantity, however, was the quality of his work, as he merged nineteenth century styles, innovating and overseeing the genesis of the modern musical. In recognition of Cohan’s important contributions, the American Guild of Variety Artists decided in 1970 to name its honorary awards Georgies. Perhaps the most appropriate tribute, however, occurred on Broadway itself. George M! (pr. 1968), a flag-waving hit produced by David Black, Konrad Matthaei, and Lorin E. Price, although fairly critical of the old master, employed the very form he helped to create more than sixty years earlier. — Scot M. Guenter Further Reading Bordman, Gerald. American Musical Comedy: From “Adonis” to “Dreamgirls.” 1982. Reprint. Charlotte, N.C.: Replica Books, 2001. Chapter 5, “American Musical Comedy Flexes Its Muscles,” historically contrasts the work of George M. Cohan with imports such as the Gaiety shows from London and operettas such as The Merry Widow from Vienna. Cohan’s success is credited to his dynamic personality and his flag-waving, which coincided with a rise in American nationalism. Cohan, George M. Twenty Years on Broadway. Reprint. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1971. Robust, self-congratulatory, romanticized autobiography. Not the best source for all the details of Cohan’s life, this volume nevertheless nicely conveys the vigor, optimism, ambition, and self-reliance that motivated Cohan and with which he imbued many of his male leads. Heavy use of slang and colloquialisms—as in his plays—establishes him as a true “common man.” Ewen, David. The Story of America’s Musical Theater. Philadelphia: Chilton, 1961. Chapter 4, “Musical Comedy,” credits Cohan with the creation of the American musical. 351
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whole nation was confident of its superiority, its moral virtue, its happy isolation from the intrigues of the old country, from which many of our fathers and grandfathers had migrated.” In 1958, Hammerstein led a successful movement to erect a statue in tribute to Cohan in New York’s Times Square. Critics tend to agree that Cohan’s lasting legacy was the bringing of a distinctly American quality to musical comedy. Important elements of Cohan’s work that helped to capture his cultural moment and to create an “American” style were his use of dialogue, his creation of archetypal heroes based on his own persona, and his unabashed patriotism—which, some argue, crossed the bounds of ethnocentrism in its celebration of perceived American superiority. The true heyday of Cohan’s success in the theater coincided with the expansion of film as recreational entertainment from 1906 through 1910. Early silent films could not adequately convey song-and-dance entertainment; as films began to draw crowds away from live melodrama and comedies, sometimes displacing the very theaters where such works had been performed previously, Cohan solidified the formula of using both strains in his musical productions. Cohan’s heavy use of slang and idiomatic expressions dated his works within twenty years; still, at the time of their origin, these shows conveyed a sense of currency and realism, a spirit of democracy and the common man. The ambitious optimism of his heroes and heroines, their nostalgic appreciation of a home in the countryside, their enjoyment of the entertainment possibilities afforded by urban life, their resolute commitment to Americanism— these were values that theatergoers identified with readily, and they would resurface again and again in American musicals of the twentieth century. The male lead in The Music Man (pr. 1957), for example, displayed many of the qualities of a Cohanesque hero. Oklahoma! (pr. 1943) espoused a love of the land. Guys and Dolls (pr. 1950) affirmed that love triumphs even amid the glitter and temptations of an urban environment and also demonstrated the continuing importance of slang and dialect in American musicals. Candide (pr. 1956) included a pivotal use of scenery—a sheep swimming in the ocean—in the dramatic tradition of the flare in Little Johnny Jones. A popular 1953 song by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, “That’s Entertainment,” paid tribute to Cohan’s penchant for incorporating patriotic pitches into musical production numbers. James Cagney received an Academy Award for his portrayal of Cohan in the 1942 film Yankee Doodle
Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones Premieres
Fleming Patents the First Vacuum Tube Kantor, Michael, and Laurence Maslon. Broadway: The American Musical. New York: Bulfinch, 2004. Comprehensive, lavishly illustrated volume on the history of the Broadway musical. Includes year-by-year list of significant shows, selected bibliography, and maps of the theater district at different periods. Companion book to a six-part PBS series. McCabe, John. George M. Cohan: The Man Who Owned Broadway. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1973. Accessible, standard biography on Cohan that conveys his style and substance as an entertainer. Includes well-chosen snippets from a range of his works and useful chronological appendixes of all his New York productions, stage appearances, and plays. Excellent collection of photographs. Index. Morehouse, Ward. George M. Cohan: Prince of the American Theater. 1943. Reprint. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1972. Early biography originally published soon after Cohan’s death. Morehouse’s personal admiration of the artist comes through; he draws on many personal interviews and has a fine
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 command of both language and details. Eighteen photographs. Appendix with chronology of important dates in Cohan’s life. Riddle, Peter H. The American Musical: History and Development. New York: Mosaic Press, 2004. A detailed exploration of the evolution and development of musical theater in North America. Traces American musical theater from its eighteenth century roots in Europe through its growth in the nineteenth century alongside other popular forms of entertainment. Vallillo, Stephen M. “George M. Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones.” In Musical Theatre in America, edited by Glenn Loney. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984. Eloquent and detailed overview of the musical’s innovative debut on Broadway in 1904, with systematic and clear explanation of how the subplots connect to the larger structure of the work. Includes four photographs from the 1904 run. See also: Dec. 27, 1927: Show Boat Is the First American Musical to Emphasize Plot; Oct. 10, 1935: Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess Opens in New York.
November 16, 1904
Fleming Patents the First Vacuum Tube John Ambrose Fleming found an application for the Edison effect as a detector for radio waves, starting the electronics industry. Locale: London, England Categories: Science and technology; inventions Key Figures John Ambrose Fleming (1849-1945), English physicist and professor of electrical engineering Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), American inventor Lee de Forest (1873-1961), American scientist and inventor Summary of Event A number of events occurred in the twenty years before the invention of the vacuum tube by Sir John Ambrose Fleming that are relevant to its development. It is often the case that numerous events that contribute to a discovery are later overlooked or forgotten, and this is especially true with regard to the vacuum tube. Since the mid-1800’s, many scientists had been working with the properties of electricity in glass apparatuses with most of the air removed. Because the concept of the electron had 352
not been formulated, and because the idea that electricity could consist of particles with one two-thousandth the mass of hydrogen was completely foreign, scientists had no obvious way of tying all their observations together and making predictions for systems not yet assembled. At that time, electricity was thought of only as a force and wave phenomenon and not as a particle. Among the earliest notable work leading to the discovery of the vacuum tube was that of AlexandreEdmond Becquerel, who, as early as 1853, had worked out many of the conductivity properties of gases at various temperatures and pressures but could offer no explanation for these properties. Certainly the most important discovery leading to the invention of the vacuum tube was the Edison effect, discovered by Thomas Alva Edison in 1884. While studying why the inner glass surface of a lightbulb (which, during this period, used a carbon thread for the filament) blackened, Edison inserted a metal plate near the filament of one of his lightbulbs. He discovered that electricity would flow from the positive side of the filament to the plate, but not from the negative side to the plate. Like other researchers, he made the observation but offered no explanation.
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effect starting in the early 1880’s, before the days of radio. Many years later, he came up with an application for the Edison effect as a radio detector when he was an electrical consultant for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company. Detectors (devices that conduct electricity in one direction but not another, just as diodes do, but at higher frequencies) were required to make the highfrequency radio waves audible by converting them from alternating current to direct current. Several types of detectors were available that relied on chemical reactions, physical actions, and properties of crystals, but they were not overly effective at high frequency. Fleming was able to detect radio waves quite effectively by using the Edison effect. Ironically, he used a device that was essentially identical to the one that Edison patented, but for a different purpose and with a different external circuit: as a radio detector. Indeed, he even had the Edison & Swan Electric Light Company make up twelve units to his specifications for testing. Like Edison, Fleming offered no explanation of how or why his device functioned. Fleming’s device was also essentially identical to, although not as refined as, Wehnelt’s device, except that Wehnelt did not apply his invention to radio waves. Fleming applied for a patent on his device in England on November 16, 1904. He called his device the thermionic valve; thermionic tubes are still called valves in England, whereas the American name is vacuum tube. The latter name reflects the fact that the device requires an internal vacuum in order to operate. In 1906, Lee de Forest refined Fleming’s invention by adding a zigzag piece of wire between the metal plate and the filament of the vacuum tube. The wire was later replaced by a screen called a grid, which allowed a small voltage to control a larger voltage between the filament and plate. It was the first complete vacuum tube and the first device ever constructed that was capable of amplifying a signal—that is, of taking a small voltage signal and making it much larger. De Forest named it the “audion” and was granted a U.S. patent on it in 1907. In 1907-1908, the ships of the U.S. naval fleet carried radios equipped with audions on their goodwill tour around the world. Although de Forest’s audion was useful as an amplifier of weak radio signals, it was not useful at that point for the more powerful signals of telephony. Other developments quickly followed as scientists realized the importance of the emerging fields of radio and telephony. Significance Although it took the world twenty years to understand the significance of the edison effect, it took only a short 353
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Edison had, in fact, invented the first vacuum tube, which was later termed the diode. However, as there was no use for the device at the time, the invention was not recognized for its true significance—it was a discovery much ahead of its time. A diode converts electricity that alternates in direction (alternating current) to electricity that flows in the same direction (direct current). Because Edison was a proponent of producing direct current in generators, he essentially ignored this aspect of his discovery. Like many other inventions and discoveries that are ahead of their time—such as the laser—the Edison effect was for several years “a solution in search of a problem.” The fact that the amount of electricity was proportional to the intensity of the filament, however, made it potentially useful as a control device for electric generators, and Edison was granted a patent on October, 1884, for this use of the Edison effect. He did not patent the use of his device as a diode. The explanation for why this phenomenon occurred would not come until after Sir Joseph John Thomson’s discovery of the electron in 1897. In retrospect, the Edison effect can be identified as one of the first observations of thermionic emission—that is, the “boiling off ” of electrons from hot surfaces. Electrons were attracted to the positive charges and collected on the positively charged plate, thus providing current, but they were repelled from the plate when it was made negative, and no current was produced. Because current flowed in only one direction, the effect was compared to a check valve used to allow a liquid to flow in only one direction. This analogy followed the popular practice of using the behavior of water as an analogy for electricity, and it is the reason the term “valves” became popular for vacuum tubes. Another interesting invention related to the vacuum tube was developed by Arthur Wehnelt, who was working with thermionic emission. On January 15, 1904, Wehnelt applied for a German patent on one of his tubes that converted alternating current into direct current. He did not mention its use at high frequency (that is, for radio waves), but only for low-frequency, powergeneration applications such as charging storage batteries. He was the first to apply for a patent for a vacuum tube that had an application for the rectification of alternating current to direct current. Unfortunately, as Wehnelt did not mention the applicability of his device for detection of radio waves, he was unable to sell it for use in radio sets after Fleming applied for his patent, although it was quite suitable for application in radio sets. Fleming, acting as adviser to the Edison Electric Light Company, had studied the lightbulb and the Edison
Fleming Patents the First Vacuum Tube
Fleming Patents the First Vacuum Tube time after that to develop the electronics industry, which was especially pushed by the need for communications during World War I. With many industrial laboratories working on vacuum tubes, improvements came quickly. For example, tantalum and tungsten filaments quickly replaced the early carbon filaments. In 1904, Wehnelt discovered that if metals were coated with certain materials, such as metal oxides, they emitted far more electrons at a given temperature. These materials have a lower “work function”; that is, electrons escape the surfaces of the metal oxides more easily than they escape the surfaces of metals. An analogy is the greater ease of pumping water from a shallow well compared with a very deep well. Later work by Bell Telephone Laboratories showed that oxides of barium or strontium are particularly effective; all vacuum tubes soon used these coatings, which increased thermionic emission and, therefore, tube efficiencies by a factor of one hundred. Another important improvement in the vacuum tube came with the work of Irving Langmuir of the General Electric Research Laboratory starting in 1909 and Harold D. Arnold of Bell Telephone Laboratories. They used new techniques such as the mercury diffusion pump to achieve higher vacuums. Original tubes had about one ten-thousandth the pressure of atmosphere, whereas new techniques introduced after 1910 allowed vacuums below one-millionth atmospheric pressure. Working independently, Langmuir and Arnold discovered that very high vacuum used with higher voltages increased the power these tubes could handle from small fractions of a watt to hundreds of watts. The de Forest tube was now useful for the higher-power audio signals of telephone. This resulted in the first trans-American speech transmission in 1914, followed by the first transatlantic speech transmission in 1915. In 1916, a long-standing conflict between the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, owner of the Fleming patent, and the de Forest Radio Company came to an end when a U.S. district court ruled that the de Forest audion, when used in any aspect of radio, violated the Fleming patent, although the audion could be used for telephony purposes. This gave Marconi a virtual monopoly in radio. In 1919, the domestically owned Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was formed to buy out the foreign-owned Marconi Company because radio was so important to national security in the United States. Over time, vacuum tubes became increasingly complicated, with additions of a second grid to produce the oscillation tube to accomplish the complicated purposes of future inventions. Vacuum tubes made the develop354
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ment of television, radar, radio, and numerous other inventions possible. From 1945 to 1950, vacuum tube sales in the United States exceeded two hundred million dollars each year. The invention of the transistor in 1947 by William Shockley, Walter H. Brattain, and John Bardeen ultimately led to the downfall of the tube. With the exception of cathode-ray tubes, such as those used in television picture tubes, transistors could accomplish the jobs of nearly all vacuum tubes much more efficiently. Also, the development of the integrated circuit allowed the creation of small, efficient, highly complex devices that would be impossible to duplicate with radio tubes. By 1977, the major producers of vacuum tubes had all ceased production. —Christopher J. Biermann Further Reading Bowen, Harold G. The Edison Effect. West Orange, N.J.: Thomas Alva Edison Foundation, 1951. A wellwritten, captivating account of the development of the vacuum tube. Accessible to the layperson. Fleming, John A. A Handbook for the Electrical Laboratory and Testing Room. 2 vols. London: “The Electrician” Printing and Publishing, 1901-1903. This laboratory manual is useful in that it illustrates the state of the art at the time the vacuum tube was invented. Although technical for its time, mostly in terms of equipment, it presents underlying theory that should be accessible for anyone who has had an introductory physics course. _______. The Thermionic Valve and Its Development in Radio-Telegraphy and Telephony. 2d ed. London: Wireless Press, 1924. The inventor of the first vacuum tube presents the history, development, and use of vacuum tubes in the early days. Some parts are very technical, others historical. Includes many figures and photographs. Hong, Sungook. Wireless: From Marconi’s Black-Box to the Audion. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001. Draws on archival evidence and recent work in the history of technology to provide a new perspective on the early days of wireless communication. Offers new insights into the relationship between Guglielmo Marconi and Fleming, who was his scientific adviser. Concludes with a discussion of de Forest’s audion and the shift from wireless telegraphy to radio. Stokes, John W. Seventy Years of Radio Tubes and Valves. Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press, 1982. A practical description of vacuum tubes from the earliest to those
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 of the 1960’s. Identifies tubes by manufacturer, type, and physical description, and includes hundreds of photographs. Very useful for collectors. Tyne, Gerald F. J. Saga of the Vacuum Tube. Indianapolis: Howard W. Sams, 1977. Comprehensive volume on the development of the vacuum tube including relevant observations of the 1700’s, 1800’s, and early 1900’s about the properties of electricity, the development of vacuum technology, and other related stud-
Duncan Interprets Chopin in Her Russian Debut ies. Includes illustrations of the first vacuum tubes and vacuum pumps as well as reproductions of pages from laboratory notebooks. See also: Dec. 12, 1901: First Transatlantic Telegraphic Radio Transmission; 1904: First Practical Photoelectric Cell Is Developed; Oct. 21, 1915: First Demonstration of Transatlantic Radiotelephony; Aug. 20-Nov. 2, 1920: Radio Broadcasting Begins.
December 26, 1904
Duncan Interprets Chopin in Her Russian Debut Audiences were startled and inspired by Isadora Duncan’s first performance in Russia, in which she introduced a unique style of movement danced to the music of Frédéric Chopin. Locale: St. Petersburg, Russia Categories: Dance; music Key Figures Isadora Duncan (1877-1927), American dancer Michel Fokine (1880-1942), Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929), Russian impresario who created and directed the Ballets Russes
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Summary of Event By 1904, Isadora Duncan was a riveting one-woman revolution in Europe in the art of the dance. Shamelessly rejecting traditional ballet, she shocked many conservative observers. Her style of movement, choice of music, scandalously scanty costume, and theories on dance, which she readily expounded, made her an object of acute interest. Her first performance in Russia in December, 1904, was no different. She startled and inspired those who witnessed her innovative program of dances to the music of Frédéric Chopin, including dancer-choreographer Michel Fokine and impresario Sergei Diaghilev. With these performances, Duncan emerged as a symbol of a new dance form in Russia, just as she was becoming in the West. Since first sailing from New York to London in 1899, Duncan had toured extensively in Europe. In each new place, she shared her theories of expressive dance and “natural” movement (as opposed to the “artificial” posturings of ballet) with initially intrigued and then adoring audiences. Her range of influence across Europe
among the artistic and cultural elite was broad, as is evidenced by the prolific responses of critics and the fact that the concert halls in which she appeared were typically sold out for her performances. Indeed, her Russian debut on December 26 was met with such acclaim by St. Petersburg audiences that a second performance was added three days later. Her arrival in St. Petersburg on the morning of December 25 followed a tearful parting from her new love interest, actor and stage designer Gordon Craig. Duncan and Craig had met earlier that month following one of her performances in Berlin. Instantly they discovered in each other a passionate soul mate, and for Duncan, separation from Craig on this Russian trip was torture. Nevertheless, she managed to rally enough to give an impressive performance. Her concert, which took place in the elegant Salle des Nobles (Hall of Nobles), was a benefit for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Hosted by Grand Duchess Olga, sister of the czar, the event was assured patronage by St. Petersburg’s artistic, intellectual, and social aristocracy. In addition, news of Duncan’s astonishing dance had traveled to Russia through published reviews and word of mouth, prompting attendance by a flood of curious theatergoers. Tickets for Duncan’s debut performance quickly sold out. Her surprising use of movement, music, and stage decor immediately captured the attention of her audience. What she termed “natural impulses” formed the basis of her dance, as she intently explored the gestures and movements that accompany various human emotions. For Duncan, dance was an art of personal expression, free from the formalized technique and stereotypical theatrics that were common in ballet. Like many of her contemporaries, she turned to the literature and art of ancient
Duncan Interprets Chopin in Her Russian Debut Greece for clues to this “natural” movement. She rediscovered such unastonishing activities as running, skipping, and making modest leaps, and her uplifting gestures and expressive face and hands transformed the simple into the heroic. Also startling was her choice of accompaniment, which included the classical music of Chopin and Ludwig van Beethoven and the operas of Richard Wagner and Christoph Gluck. For the St. Petersburg performance, she chose the mazurkas, polonaises, nocturnes, and waltzes of Chopin. Her daring use of classical compositions caused outrage among some viewers, who found her appropriation of such music to be improper, but Duncan’s use of and deep respect for this music revealed her artistry as well as her ambition. Interpreting music, instead of employing it as an accessory to the dance, was a concept unique to Duncan and foreign to the Russians (although Fokine was beginning to think along the same lines). Duncan’s dancing provided an additional dimension to the music’s rhythm as she used its phrasing to help structure her movements. For example, a decrescendo in the music might be accompanied by a fall to the floor. Repeated dance movements would correspond with repeated musical phrases. Duncan’s new form of dance and its relationship to music clearly distinguished her from other dancers of the day. Another distinguishing feature was her choice of decor. Her stage decorations consisted of simple blue curtains that traveled with her from stage to stage. Her costume was a flowing, transparent Grecian-style tunic that had a tendency to slip off one shoulder; gone were constricting corsets and stockings. She danced in sandals or barefoot, with bare legs, on a blue carpet. Audiences responded to Duncan’s singular expressiveness, which was all the more apparent because of her exposed arms, legs, and feet. Like her movement, her revealing tunic pointedly contrasted with the tights, toe shoes, and full-length dresses of her ballet counterparts. Duncan’s style of dress reflected her personal philosophy of life, which was as revolutionary as her style of dance. She lived by her own rules, constantly seeking freedom from convention and restricting traditions (as is apparent by her early avoidance of marriage and the birth of her children out of wedlock). Observers were quick to say, however, that her dancing was not offensive or sexual. One Russian critic rationalized Duncan’s physicality in this way: “This is not a nudité that arouses sinful thoughts but rather a kind of incorporeal nudity.” Duncan’s dancing was thus relegated to a spiritual, even ethereal, realm. 356
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Most viewers were enthusiastic about her performances, although some questioned her copying of “Greek” poses or found her dancing monotonous. Even more controversial, Duncan embodied an ongoing argument between tradition and change. She represented a challenge to the sacred and idealized ballet world by presenting an alternative dance form. This challenge had long-lasting repercussions. On the whole, however, Duncan’s first performance in Russia was met with loud applause. So successful was this concert and her encore on December 29 that she was invited to return to St. Petersburg and to appear in Moscow the following February. Diaghilev later summarized the significance of her success: “Isadora gave an irreparable jolt to the classic ballet of Imperial Russia.” This jolt would be felt intensely. Significance A critic who watched Duncan’s interpretations of Chopin’s music at her first St. Petersburg performance declared that she made a “shocking” first impression. With each step, however, he found the shock diminishing: “As Mme. Duncan became alive and began to dance, the first impression faded away. Before us was not a woman creating a sensation. Before us was an artist.” Duncan herself realized the phenomenon she was creating. She later recalled her Russian debut in her 1927 autobiography, My Life: How strange it must have been to those dilettantes of the gorgeous Ballet, with its lavish decorations and scenery, to watch a young girl, clothed in a tunic of cobweb, appear and dance before a simple blue curtain to the music of Chopin; dance her soul as she understood the soul of Chopin!
Certainly, her choices of movement, music, and decor were unusual for the time, as was such an outward display of one’s innermost soul. In fact, Duncan’s dance represented a dramatic departure from traditional dance of the day, dominated in European theaters by the Romantic, if formalized, ballet. It must have been strange for the Russian audience, indeed. Classical ballet was particularly entrenched in Russian society, where the Franco-Italian traditions of the Russian Imperial Ballet were safeguarded by venerated dance master Marius Petipa, and the czars paid dearly for extravagant productions of ballets such as The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. When Duncan arrived, the Imperial Ballet, in its famed Mariinsky Theatre (now the Kirov), boasted such stars as Fokine, Anna Pavlova,
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Isadora Duncan. (Library of Congress)
the twenty-five-year-old Fokine was a rising young dancer in the Imperial Ballet with an agenda for change of his own. Whereas Duncan was a revolutionary in her attempts to abandon the ballet, however, Fokine wanted to reform it. The same year that Duncan jolted Russian society, Fokine wrote his famous manifesto to the Imperial Ballet inveighing against artificiality and unquestioned tradition. He maintained that dancing should be interpretive rather than merely mimetic and that its expressive and rhythmic qualities should be glorified. The similarity between Fokine’s thinking and Duncan’s is evident. Although Fokine had not seen Duncan perform before he wrote his manifesto, it is probable that he had read of her theories or lectures as early as 1902 (the date of Duncan’s first public solo appearance in Europe). The extent to which Fokine’s initial dissatisfaction with the ballet was stimulated by what he read about Duncan prior to seeing her, however, cannot be determined. Even if Fokine arrived at his suggestions without awareness of Duncan’s work, her Russian performances certainly paved the way for the reforms he advocated. Duncan’s new style of dance psychologically prepared audiences and artistic authorities for Fokine’s desired changes. Before Duncan’s December engagement, Imperial Ballet directors had not even bothered to answer Fokine’s letter. Soon afterward, Fokine was allowed to present his first choreographic works, among them several that surely reflected Duncan’s influence: Les Sylphides (1909; originally called Chopiniana), with music by Chopin, and Acis et Galatée (1905), with a Greek theme. His Carnival (1910), without a literary subject, and Cleopâtre (1909), also with a Greek theme, seemed to be directly influenced by Duncan as well. In his choreography, Fokine utilized music that had not been originally composed for dance, and he incorporated free, expressive movement that was clearly reminiscent of Duncan. In 1907, Fokine presented his ballet Eunice, which dancer Tamara Platonovna Karsavina called a tribute to Duncan because of its Greek theme. (Even then, dancers were not permitted to dance barefoot as Fokine wished. Instead, they penciled in ten toes over their pink tights.) A Russian critic wrote in 1912 that “Fokine was the first independent propagator of these [Duncan’s] principles on a wider scene. Fokine’s Eunice not only does not move away from Duncanism, but indeed bears manifest traces of it.” Diaghilev, creator and director of the legendary company the Ballets Russes, whose innovative performances and extensive tours had helped to revive the art of ballet, 357
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Mathilde Kschessinska, and Tamara Platonovna Karsavina. Vaslav Nijinsky would appear shortly thereafter. Closely connected with the ballet were painters Léon Bakst and Alexandre Benois, as well as producer Sergei Diaghilev. The courageous Isadora made her debut in Russia against this backdrop of popular talent and established art. Her simple, expressive movements stood in sharp contrast to the acrobatic feats, pirouettes, and toe dancing of the Imperial Ballet’s stars. Undoubtedly, the revelation that such simple movement could be powerful influenced Fokine and Diaghilev. Also influential was Duncan’s choice of music. Russian audiences were accustomed to seeing evening-long spectacles performed to music made to order for the dance—literally measure for measure—by Léo Delibes, Ludwig Minkus, or Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky. Duncan presented a new option and a new theory: that dance and orchestral, symphonic, or operatic music could exist side by side. Fokine and Diaghilev’s later productions clearly reflected this new outlook. At the time of Duncan’s first Russian performance,
Duncan Interprets Chopin in Her Russian Debut
Duncan Interprets Chopin in Her Russian Debut agreed that Duncan’s influence was significant in Fokine’s reforms and his own later theatrical experiments. Moreover, observer and writer Prince Peter Lieven credited Duncan with inspiring a new spirit in the Russian ballet: “The beginning of the new outlook must be ascribed to Isadora Duncan. She was the first to dance the music and not to dance to the music. She altered the whole direction of the dance.” Duncan’s new form of movement juxtaposed to classical music, her theory that dance is an art of self-expression, and her refreshing sense of simplicity in design made her a front-runner in the revolution that was soon to be called modern dance. She dramatically set the stage for its next pioneers, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Duncan’s sweeping impact on the art and attitudes of a changing society, along with her direct influence on Fokine and Diaghilev, are significant legacies. Her vital performances, including the one in St. Petersburg’s elegant Salle des Nobles, cast new light on an art form that would never again be the same. —Alecia C. Townsend Further Reading Blair, Fredrika. Isadora: Portrait of the Artist as a Woman. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. A readable biography that represents thorough scholarship on Duncan. Blair places Duncan’s debut in Russia in 1904, unlike previous accounts that use the date 1905 or later. Chronicles Duncan’s life, work, and loves and also provides a social and historical framework for her dance and range of influence. Contains extensive notes and bibliography. Daly, Ann. Done into Dance: Isadora Duncan in America. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2002. Daly examines Duncan’s international fame as well as her profound influence on a generation of American women. Includes black-and-white photographs. Duncan, Irma, and Allan Ross MacDougall. Isadora Duncan’s Russian Days. London: Victor Gollancz, 1929. Cowritten by one of Duncan’s adopted daughters, this lengthy book focuses on Duncan’s life in
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Russia in the 1920’s. The dancer had hoped to begin a school in postrevolutionary Russia but instead met with political turmoil and opposition to her ideas. Duncan, Isadora. My Life. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1927. Duncan’s autobiography, released after her tragic death by strangulation in 1927, provides revealing and intimate description of her thoughts, theories, and love affairs. Some dates and events are obscured through recollection and may have been edited, but the whole offers valuable insight into the dancer’s personality and purpose. MacDougall, Allan Ross. Isadora: A Revolutionary in Art and Love. Edinburg, N.Y.: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1960. The author, once Duncan’s secretary, writes an inspiring biography. He offers the date 1905 for Duncan’s first visit to Russia, moving it up from previously accepted accounts that set the event in 1907 or 1908. MacDougall places her performance in historical context and aptly describes her legacy. Roseman, Janet Lynn. Dance Was Her Religion: The Spiritual Choreography of Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, and Martha Graham. Prescott, Ariz.: Hohm Press, 2004. This book explores the pioneering approaches to spiritual choreography of the three women named in the title, all of whom believed in the sacred and liberating aspects of dance. Includes quotes about and interviews with the subjects. Seroff, Victor. The Real Isadora. New York: Dial Press, 1971. A lengthy and detailed biography that includes an interesting account of Duncan’s Russian performances (although this author places her Russian debut in 1905, immediately following the tragic “Bloody Sunday”). Includes captivating photos of Duncan, her pupils, and her lovers. See also: Dec. 22, 1907: Pavlova Performs The Dying Swan; May 19, 1909: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Astounds Paris; June 2, 1909: Fokine’s Les Sylphides Introduces Abstract Ballet; Summer, 1915: Denishawn School of Dance Opens; July 3, 1932: Jooss’s Antiwar Dance The Green Table Premieres.
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Abbey Theatre Heralds the Celtic Revival
December 27, 1904
Abbey Theatre Heralds the Celtic Revival After years of discussion, planning, and performing at other venues, several writers and actors dedicated to both art and Ireland founded the Abbey Theatre. Locale: Dublin, Ireland Category: Theater Key Figures William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet and playwright Lady Augusta Gregory (1852-1932), Irish patron of the arts, author, and collector of folklore John Millington Synge (1871-1909), Irish playwright Annie Horniman (1860-1937), English patron of the Abbey Theatre William George Fay (1872-1947), Irish actor and manager of acting companies Frank J. Fay (1870-1931), Irish accounting clerk and authority on acting
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Summary of Event On December 27, 1904, the Abbey Theatre opened its doors in Dublin, Ireland. The event was the culmination of years of discussions and dreams and was, for many, the capstone of what has come to be called the Celtic Revival. That movement, which included not only artistic but also political, social, economic, and even athletic aspects, saw persons of various faiths and backgrounds attempt to establish an Irish identity separate from the English civilization that seemed to them to be destroying Irish culture and thus Ireland itself. The Celtic Revival was broad based and complex, and the establishment of a theater that would produce Irish drama was one of the movement’s primary goals. The founding of the Abbey Theatre seemed to fulfill that aim. The theater itself was less than ideal. In the past, the location had been the site of various buildings, including one that had served as a morgue. There had been recent renovations, but the result was not imposing. The small theater seated slightly more than five hundred persons, and the stage was so shallow that actors who needed to exit from one side of the stage and enter later from the other side had to pass along an outside lane at the back. The theater was near the River Liffey, but on the north bank, the less fashionable side of the river. Originally the site of a medieval abbey, the area had become Lower Abbey Street; from the abbey and the street, the Abbey Theatre took its name.
The two plays that opened the Abbey Theatre were On Baile’s Strand, a verse play by William Butler Yeats, and Lady Augusta Gregory’s comedy Spreading the News. Dublin newspapers of all political persuasions praised the opening of the theater and the productions, and it was appropriate that the first plays presented were by Yeats and Lady Gregory, since both had played major roles in establishing the theater. Yeats, already a famous poet, had been fascinated with the social and artistic possibilities of the stage for many years, particularly in portraying Irish subject matter. In 1899, his The Countess Cathleen (pb. 1892) inaugurated the Irish Literary Theatre, and in 1902 Maud Gonne, Yeats’s unrequited love who was noted for her anti-English opinions, played the title role in his Cathleen ni Houlihan. Lady Gregory, like Yeats, was from the Protestant Anglo-Irish ascendancy class and had long been interested in Irish folklore. At Coole Park, her estate in the west of Ireland, she had brought together at various times Yeats, John Millington Synge, George William Russell (known as Æ), Edward Martyn, Douglas Hyde, and others committed to restoring Ireland’s past glories through such means as fostering the Irish language, discovering and saving the folktales of Irish peasants, and rewriting the myths of heroic Ireland. Yeats and Lady Gregory were not alone; George Moore and Edward Martyn were also committed to the idea of an Irish theater. All four had been founders of the Irish Literary Theatre, which had been established with the aim of producing Celtic or Irish drama. Martyn, a wealthy Irish Catholic, was inspired by the plays of Henrik Ibsen, whose Norway stood in the same subordinate relationship to Denmark as Ireland did to England. Moore, a versatile man of letters, was also an Irish Catholic. He had spent much of his literary career in London and on the Continent. Neither man, however, played any direct role in the founding of the Abbey Theatre. Personal and artistic considerations—Yeats argued that Martyn’s dramas were not sufficiently artistic and that Moore’s style lacked poetic quality, whereas Martyn feared that Yeats’s Celtic mythic dramas bordered on being anti-Catholic—led Martyn and Moore to part company with Lady Gregory and Yeats. After three years, the Irish Literary Theatre disbanded. The Abbey Theatre is often considered a writer’s theater. Not only Yeats but also Synge and, later, Sean O’Casey were publicly associated with the fortunes of
Abbey Theatre Heralds the Celtic Revival the Abbey. Actors, however, were equally influential; stage drama is not only the play but also the performance. In the founding of the Abbey, brothers Frank J. Fay and William George Fay played major roles. Unlike their literary colleagues, the Fays had little formal education. Both, however, had a love of the theater. Frank, the eldest, was an accounting clerk by profession who through self-study became an authority on speech and acting styles. A part-time drama critic, in 1901 he urged the creation of a national theater using Irish actors. For many years, W. G. Fay had toured with small companies throughout the British Isles, and although he had a talent for comedy, he never had much success. Returning to Dublin, he and Frank founded several amateur acting groups. In 1902, the Fays joined with Yeats in producing his Cathleen ni Houlihan and Æ’s Deirdre. The Irish National Theatre Society was established in early 1903. Yeats became president and Russell, Hyde, and Gonne were vice presidents. W. G. Fay was the stage manager, and the Fays and the other actors were given a say in the running of the society, including which plays were to be produced. In May, 1903, the as-yet-obscure company put on several plays in London to the praises of English critics. In October, 1903, Synge’s In the Shadow of the Glen made its debut in controversy. Arthur Griffith, the founder of the Irish nationalist movement Sinn Féin, criticized the play as a slander on the Irish peasants and thus a slander on Ireland itself. During the first performance, Maud Gonne and several others walked out; art and patriotism were not inevitably compatible. One of the difficulties faced by the Irish National Theatre Society was the lack of a suitable playhouse. Between 1899 and 1903, Yeats and his fellow writers and the Fays and their amateur actors had resorted to at least six different Dublin halls. Having their own theater seemed a necessity; ironically, the group attained a playhouse through the financial support of an Englishwoman who loathed politics, particularly Irish politics. A member of a wealthy family, Annie Horniman had known Yeats for many years and was dedicated to furthering his art. In 1902, she told Yeats that she might finance a theater in Dublin if her economic circumstances warranted it. In early 1904, Horniman acted. She acquired a ninetynine-year lease, paid for the remodeling herself, and in April turned over to Yeats, as president of the Irish National Theatre Society, free use of the theater. A license was obtained, and the society was warned against producing anything immoral, antireligious, or highly political. On December 27, 1904, the Abbey Theatre opened. The dream had become a reality. 360
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Significance Dublin critics praised the opening-night productions at the Abbey Theatre. After a performance several nights later, however, an observer noted that there were fewer than fifty persons in the theater. It was several months before the Abbey again saw a capacity audience, and then it was not for a play by Yeats, Lady Gregory, or Synge, but for a less demanding and more accessible drama by William Boyle, The Building Fund. The play lacked the artistic metaphors and complicated language of Yeats and Synge, but the audience came in greater numbers. Attendance continued to be sparse throughout the remainder of 1905. One reason was that Horniman had placed a requirement in her gift that there be no cheap seats in the Abbey—she believed that true art was primarily the province of the upper classes. Horniman was committed to Yeats and to art, but her definition of art did not include Irish cultural concerns. Yeats, while totally dedicated to art—one of his criticisms of Martyn’s plays was that they were not art—disagreed with Horniman about Ireland. In his commitment to the drama as an art form, Yeats saw his Irish theater as emulating, and not only in literary form, the drama of ancient Greece. There—and, Yeats hoped, in modern Ireland—individuals brought together in the common environment of the theater would collectively absorb the mythic history from their common past and experience a spiritual regeneration. In addition, Richard Wagner’s evocation of the Germanic heroic past in his operas served as a kind of paradigm for Yeats. Lady Gregory, whose interest was in the Irish folklore of the peasants of western Ireland, was less knowledgeable about continental drama, past and present. Her plays, unlike the mythic histories of Yeats, were primarily comedies. Still, she and Yeats worked well together. Synge was the other major literary figure of the early Abbey years. He spent much time in the west of Ireland, particularly in the Aran Islands, and the results were a number of dramas, culminating in The Playboy of the Western World, which was first produced at the Abbey Theatre in 1907. Synge’s plays were rooted in present and peasant Ireland, not in the heroic Celtic past of Yeats, and his plays were not always initially well received. When The Playboy of the Western World was first performed, many members of the audience vociferously objected to a play in which an Irishman could claim to murder his father and thus become a hero, and that a character in the play could refer to a woman’s “shift” (an undergarment) was regarded as an unacceptable slur on female chastity. Yeats was not present at the first performance of The
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doubted the importance, for good or perhaps ill, of Irish drama. In one of his later poems, “The Man and the Echo,” written after the Easter Rising of 1916 in reference to his play Cathleen ni Houlihan, he wrote: “I lie awake night after night/ And never get the answers right./ Did that play of mine send out/ Certain men the English shot?” — Eugene Larson Further Reading Ellmann, Richard. Yeats: The Man and the Masks. 1948. Reprint. New York: Macmillan, 1999. One of the most important studies of Yeats’s life and career available, by an author who also produced biographies of James Joyce and Oscar Wilde. Fay, Gerard. The Abbey Theatre. New York: Macmillan, 1958. The author, the son of Frank Fay, tells of the contributions of his father and his uncle to the establishment of the Abbey. Balances the traditional interpretation that the Abbey was solely the creation of the playwrights. Fitz-Simon, Christopher. The Abbey Theatre: Ireland’s National Theatre—The First Hundred Years. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003. Tribute volume from a former Abbey Theatre artistic director and literary manager, published on the occasion of the Abbey’s centennial. Highly illustrated, with production photographs of many of the plays produced at the Abbey as well as reproductions of posters and newspaper articles from the theater’s early years. Flannery, James W. W. B. Yeats and the Idea of a Theatre. Toronto: Macmillan, 1976. This excellent study traces Yeats’s long interest in the drama. Unlike some critics, the author takes seriously Yeats’s commitment to the art of the drama. Hunt, Hugh. The Abbey: Ireland’s National Theatre, 1904-1978. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979. Authorized by the directors of the Irish National Theatre Society. An excellent summary of the first seventy-five years of the Abbey Theatre. Includes a list of all the Abbey productions. Kohfeldt, Mary Lou. Lady Gregory: The Woman Behind the Irish Renaissance. New York: Atheneum, 1985. A well-written account of Lady Gregory, her contribution to the Abbey Theatre, and her relationships with the major figures of the Celtic Revival. Mikhail, E. H., ed. The Abbey Theatre: Interviews and Recollections. London: Macmillan, 1988. An excellent summary of the remembrances of many important figures in the history of the Abbey Theatre from the earliest days to the 1980’s. 361
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Playboy of the Western World, but he soon returned to Dublin. In a famous incident on the Abbey stage, he defended Synge and his play and condemned the audience for its intolerance. Yeats repeated the act years later, in 1926, after another Abbey audience hissed the first production of Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars. Yeats’s art was not necessarily that of either Synge or O’Casey, but he defended their works against widespread audience disapproval whether on patriotic, religious, or moral grounds. For Yeats, Lady Gregory, and Synge, the Abbey Theatre combined both art and Irish culture, and outside forces would not be allowed to dictate what would be presented, or not presented, on the Abbey stage. Predictably, however, in 1906 the majority, including the actors, lost the right to decide what plays were produced at the Abbey. The sole criterion was to be that a play be good art, and Yeats and his literary colleagues would make the decisions. The Fays and Horniman soon terminated their relationship with the Abbey. The former were interested in bringing and keeping an audience; they were less concerned about a policy of art for art’s sake. In 1908, the Fays left the Abbey and its literary directors. Horniman’s continued funding kept the Abbey doors open for the first several years, but in 1910 Horniman finally abandoned her commitment to the Abbey and sold her rights to Yeats and Lady Gregory. In both cases, the separation was bitter. The Abbey’s reputation for excellence and controversy continued. Yeats himself remained active in Abbey affairs as new actors and playwrights stepped onto the stage, most notably Sean O’Casey. Synge died in 1909, Lady Gregory in 1932. Yeats survived until 1939. The decline and fall of the Abbey Theatre was predicted numerous times, but, like the legendary phoenix, it always sprang again from the ashes, literally so after the theater burned in 1951. In 1924, the Abbey became the first state-subsidized theater in the English-speaking world. Through the years, many non-Irish works were produced there, including plays by William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, Eugene O’Neill, Bertolt Brecht, Harold Pinter, and Tom Stoppard. The Abbey retained its Irish roots, however, not only in the many revivals of plays by Yeats, Gregory, Synge, and O’Casey, but also in works by George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Brendan Behan, Samuel Beckett, and Brian Friel. The Abbey also remained an actors’ theater; the Fays were followed through the years by Barry Fitzgerald, Siobhan McKenna, and Cyril Cusack. If the Abbey did not entirely fulfill Yeats’s intentions, he never
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Baker Establishes the 47 Workshop at Harvard Welch, Robert. The Abbey Theatre, 1899-1999: Form and Pressure. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. History of the theater places the personalities involved and the plays produced in political and historical context. Presents synopses of the major plays produced at the Abbey as well as information on the
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 theater’s artistic directors over the years. Includes bibliography and index. See also: Jan. 26, 1907: The Playboy of the Western World Offends Irish Audiences; 1917: Yeats Publishes The Wild Swans at Coole.
1905
Baker Establishes the 47 Workshop at Harvard George Pierce Baker, a teacher and writer, opened his celebrated 47 Workshop, a forum for aspiring playwrights that became an important creative incubator for modern American drama. Locale: Cambridge, Massachusetts Categories: Theater; literature Key Figures George Pierce Baker (1866-1935), writer, editor, and Harvard University scholar Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953), dramatist and Baker’s most important student in the 47 Workshop Edward Sheldon (1886-1946), dramatist and collaborator whose play The Nigger created a furor because of its thematic focus on miscegenation Philip Barry (1896-1949), playwright best known for his comedies dealing with society’s upper crust S. N. Behrman (1893-1973), writer of plays, film scripts, and short fiction known largely for his comedies of ideas John Mason Brown (1900-1969), drama critic, lecturer, essayist, and war correspondent who wrote influential critical essays on theater John Dos Passos (1896-1970), novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright remembered principally for his fiction Sidney Howard (1891-1939), playwright critically praised for his dramas of social realism Robert E. Sherwood (1896-1955), playwright, critic, and biographer Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938), writer of fiction and plays best known for his sprawling novels Summary of Event In 1905, George Pierce Baker, a professor of English and forensics at Harvard University (from which he had graduated in 1887), began offering a course in dramatic composition. The course, English 47, was first offered at 362
Radcliffe College and was added to the curriculum at Harvard College two years later, a change that was considered by many to be a minor miracle. Higher education at the beginning of the twentieth century, especially in private colleges, remained rather rigidly classical, and the idea that the teaching of playwriting had a proper place in the halls of academe was anathema to some of Harvard’s more traditional administrators. Had Baker not already established a reputation as a fine scholar and teacher and as the inspirational force behind Harvard’s formidable debating teams, he most certainly would not have been allowed to try his unusual experiment. As it was, he had to make concessions, including the noncredit, extracurricular status of the 47 Workshop, which he added to the basic drama writing course in 1913. Although Baker advanced his theory of dramatic composition in the course, its success ultimately depended on the practical application of that theory, which became the crux of the 47 Workshop. To some of his befuddled colleagues, Baker’s evolving method seemed to have more in common with laboratory courses in science than with typical courses in literature or drama, which conventionally took a historical approach. Baker insisted that his students prepare plays for the stage, an insistence that stemmed from the strong conviction that a play’s text was not a play until it was transformed into a live production utilizing the skills of various interpretive artists. Baker was a tough-minded and pragmatic man who was conversant with both stagecraft and the realities of commercial theater. He required that his students write for actual audiences, not for a literate elite prone to favor poetic dramas that would never be produced. Among other things, he preached the idea that dramatic characters talk and act like real people. Thus, from its beginnings, English 47 involved both readings and performances of student works, initially in the theater at Agassiz House on the Radcliffe College campus. There,
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Howard, and Robert E. Sherwood. Others who studied under Baker earned their fame in other genres, notably fiction, including novelists Rachel Field, John Dos Passos, and Thomas Wolfe (who would later caricature Baker as Professor Hatcher in his 1935 novel Of Time and the River). Other important students from English 47 or the 47 Workshop would gain renown as critics, journalists, teachers, editors, essayists, or associates of the theater, including Robert Benchley, Van Wyck Brooks, John Mason Brown, Walter Pritchard Eaton, Theresa Helburn, Robert Edmond Jones, Frederick H. Koch, Kenneth Macgowan, Hiram Moderwell, Lee Simonson, John V. A. Weaver, and Maurice Wetheim. Many of Baker’s students, most notably O’Neill, came into prominence in the 1920’s, when the American theater itself finally came of age. Despite Baker’s great success, Harvard never became entirely hospitable toward his program, and he left for a more promising arrangement at Yale University. There, with a fully equipped theater donated by Edward S. Harkness, he taught playwriting, dramatic criticism, and courses in technical theater to, among others, Elia Kazan, the eminent director and cofounder of the famous Actors Studio. Before his death in 1935, he helped to establish the growing reputation of Yale’s highly regarded graduate school of drama. Significance In a letter written to The New York Times shortly after Baker’s death, Eugene O’Neill credited his teacher and mentor with having been one of the prime movers in bringing the American theater out of its “dark age,” claiming that his influence “toward the encouragement and birth of modern American drama” was “profound.” That praise, coming from the first great American dramatist, himself a major force in maturing the national drama, emphatically stated what O’Neill and other students of Baker knew was true: that Baker had been an extremely important catalyst in the process. Before World War I, despite some promising exceptions, theatrical productions in the United States lacked vigor and freshness and, at least in their play texts, revealed few sparks of true creative genius. Although realism in theater had been advocated by various writers, notably William Dean Howells, it had made slow progress in the face of the popularity of melodramas, with their outlandish, contrived plots, artificial language, and simplistic morality. For new writers wishing to experiment, the commercial theater was, as O’Neill noted, a “closed shop.” It was dominated by star actors and actresses who, 363
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Baker’s students were afforded the valuable opportunity of seeing their plays performed by fellow students, providing an important test of the works’ stageability. Baker’s 47 Workshop, the English 47 laboratory, was to become highly selective in its enrollment. It was typically not even open to the younger undergraduate student body, because Baker believed that typical baccalaureate students had too little life experience to write with understanding or conviction. He preferred to enroll students who had either already graduated or had worked for a living, or who, like Eugene O’Neill, his most celebrated student, had roamed for several years. Prospective students were also required to submit plays and to earn their seats by virtue of their writing promise. Baker would then make his selection from among the writers of the best submitted works. The workshop was also limited to twelve students, which enabled Baker to give each of his writers a great deal of individual attention. In addition, a few volunteers from outside the university audited the workshop sessions and attended the stagings, which they critiqued in writing and discussed with Baker and his student playwrights. Thus, in this invaluable practicum, the aspiring playwright could write and revise works under Baker’s guiding hand, then stage them and have them reviewed by qualified critical jurors. Because Baker’s students had to prepare their works for performance and participate in their staging, they also had to learn the essentials of various theater arts, including acting, scene design, lighting, and costuming. In this way, the 47 Workshop was a course in theater arts. Within three years of its inception, admission to English 47, the parent course of the 47 Workshop, became intensely competitive. Edward Sheldon’s Salvation Nell (pr. 1908), which was written while Sheldon was Baker’s student, partly accounted for its growing appeal. Sheldon’s play had a very successful commercial staging starring the popular and progressive actress Minnie Fiske. Sheldon’s next work, The Nigger (pr. 1909), had a daring and controversial plot that brought some helpful notoriety to Baker’s Harvard program; by the time the 47 Workshop was added, Baker’s program had become a principal enticement for several students enrolling at the school. Some of these, notably O’Neill, went to Harvard solely to learn the craft of playwriting or to become better at it. Before leaving Harvard in 1925, Baker nurtured the writing and critical acumen of dozens of important figures in American belles lettres. In addition to Sheldon and O’Neill, Baker’s graduates included playwrights George Abbot, Philip Barry, S. N. Behrman, Sidney
Baker Establishes the 47 Workshop at Harvard
Baker Establishes the 47 Workshop at Harvard often with their own traveling troupes, engaged in what O’Neill derided as the “amusement racket.” O’Neill’s own father, James O’Neill, was one of these stars, and the elder O’Neill’s career reflected the system. Like most other stars, he became known for his interpretation of a specific role, that of Edmund, the Count of Monte Cristo. For him and for other headliners of the day, plays were merely vehicles for their acting, and their chief task was to thrill an audience, not to raise people’s consciousness or make them think. The younger O’Neill’s work, some of which James had an opportunity to see staged just prior to his death in 1920, simply dismayed him. He found its brooding intensity and naturalistic bias distressing. For him, theater had no business depicting ugly truths or depressing its audience. Baker’s efforts to make playwrights move away from a romantic escapism toward a more honest depiction of life bore full fruit by the early 1920’s, when Eugene O’Neill’s meteoric career was on the rise. However, although Baker’s 47 Workshop was a major influence, it was not the solitary springboard to the radical change in the American theater. Instead, many important factors made important contributions to the new American theater, including the foreign influence of, among others, Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw, Anton Chekhov, August Strindberg, and Émile Zola; the scenic design of David Belasco; the earlier plays by Americans such as James A. Herne’s Margaret Fleming (1890) and Shore Acres (1892); the impact of World War I; the theories of Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud; the conversion of many theaters that formerly hosted traveling stock companies into motion-picture houses; and the development of the little-theater movement and of such groups as the Provincetown Players, the Washington Square Players, and the Theatre Guild. More clearly, Baker’s teaching methods exerted an important influence that can be traced directly to his famous course. He legitimated the workshop approach to playwriting and pioneered other practical courses in theater, providing models that began to be emulated at various schools in the United States. For example, in 1918, Frederick Koch, a graduate of the 47 Workshop, started a playwriting course at the University of North Carolina, and in 1919 he established the renowned Carolina Playmakers. A creative teacher who stressed the use of folk materials in drama while using some of Baker’s workshop techniques, Koch was also important in the growth of the little-theater and regional-theater movements. Others followed in Baker’s pedagogical track, including Walter Eaton at Yale and Kenneth Macgowan at 364
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 the University of California. Within a generation, these teachers helped to broaden college and university curricula, putting in place courses that provided practical training not merely in playwriting but in all the theater arts. Central to their philosophy was the belief that plays should be interpreted for performance, not just as fossilized pieces of dramatic literature. In addition to playwriting, at Yale Baker himself taught courses in stage design, costuming, lighting, and theater criticism, all stressing a practical, problem-solving approach. Thus, right up to 1933, when sickness forced his retirement, Baker continued to play a vital role in the creation of departments of theater, as distinct from such traditional disciplines as literature or speech. It was, however, Baker’s great energy and enthusiasm for theater that mattered most. His true gift lay in his ability to infuse that same enthusiasm in others—to inspire them. Looking back from the perspective of the 1950’s, John Mason Brown noted that it was in such intangible contributions that Baker had a truly durable impact. According to Brown, most of the plays written in the 47 Workshop classes were actually very bad, even the ones written by playwrights who would later become very good at their craft, but Baker’s great patience and encouragement helped his charges through a painful artistic infancy and left them with a lasting faith in themselves. In his earlier eulogy on Baker, O’Neill made a similar assessment. In addition to giving O’Neill and his fellow students a belief in their work, Baker gave them hope. As O’Neill wrote, this was a gift for which “we owe him all the finest we have in memory of gratitude and friendship.” —John W. Fiero Further Reading Baker, George Pierce. Dramatic Technique. 1919. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2005. A handbook for playwrights, stressing techniques learned from studying established works and their compositional design. Still regarded as a classic, it has influenced many succeeding guides to the playwright’s craft. Gelb, Arthur, and Barbara Gelb. O’Neill: Life with Monte Cristo. New York: Applause Theater Books, 2002. The definitive biography on Eugene O’Neill. A good source for readers interested in learning more about Baker’s influence on his most famous student. Kinne, Wisner Payne. George Pierce Baker and the American Theatre. 1954. Reprint. New York: Greenwood Press, 1968. A rare book-length study of Baker and his significance in the development of the Ameri-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 can theater, written by one of his students. Includes an important introduction by George Mason Brown, the texts of several letters, and a bibliography of Baker’s works. Meserve, Walter J. An Outline History of American Drama. Totowa, N.J.: Littlefield, Adams, 1965. A good, expanded checklist of playwrights, works, trends, and influences in the history of American drama, placing Baker’s contributions in the larger context of theater in the United States from its beginnings forward. Excellent for reviewing the history of drama in the United States. Minimal bibliography. Sarlós, Robert Károly. Jig Cook and the Provincetown Players. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1982. An account of the founding and history of the theater in which Eugene O’Neill first gained recognition. Serves as an informative parallel study to Kinne’s book. Includes an index to the persons involved and a chronology of works staged from 1915 through 1922.
Einthoven Begins Clinical Studies with Electrocardiography Wilson, Garff B. Three Hundred Years of American Drama and Theatre, from “Ye Baare and Ye Cubb” to “Hair.” Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973. An overview of the development of drama and theater in the United States to the 1960’s, but in greater depth than Meserve’s work. A recommended guide for serious students of American drama, also placing Baker and the 47 Workshop in proper focus. Includes a helpful selective bibliography. See also: 1903: Shaw Articulates His Philosophy in Man and Superman; Nov. 7, 1904: Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones Premieres; Jan. 21, 1908: The Ghost Sonata Influences Modern Theater and Drama; May 10, 1921: Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author Premieres; 1931-1941: The Group Theatre Flourishes; Feb. 19, 1935: Odets’s Awake and Sing! Becomes a Model for Protest Drama; Aug. 29, 1935June 30, 1939: Federal Theatre Project Promotes Live Theater; Feb. 4, 1938: Our Town Opens on Broadway.
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Einthoven Begins Clinical Studies with Electrocardiography Willem Einthoven led the study of the electrical currents of the heart by inventing the string galvanometer, which evolved into the modern-day electrocardiogram. Locale: Leiden, the Netherlands Categories: Health and medicine; inventions
Summary of Event In the late 1800’s, there was substantial research interest in the electrical events that took place in the human body. Scientists studied many organs and systems in the body, including the nerves, eyes, lungs, muscles, and heart. As a result of the lack of necessary technology, this research was very tedious, and the results were frequently inaccurate. Therefore, the development of appropriate instrumentation was as important as the research itself.
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Key Figures Willem Einthoven (1860-1927), Dutch physiologist Augustus D. Waller (1856-1922), German physician and researcher Clément Ader (1841-1926), French electrical engineer Thomas Lewis (1881-1945), English physiologist
The initial work on the electrical activity of the heart (detected from the surface of the body) was conducted by Augustus D. Waller and published in 1887. Many credit Waller with the development of the first electrocardiogram. He used a Lippmann’s capillary electrometer to determine the electrical changes in the heart, recording the changes by placing a series of small tubes on the surface of the body. The tubes contained mercury and sulfuric acid, and as an electrical current passed through them, the mercury expanded and contracted. The images this process produced were projected onto photographic paper, creating the first cardiograph. Despite the contributions Waller made to science, he failed to use his device for any clinical applications. As a result, he did not pursue this area of study. In the early 1890’s, Willem Einthoven, who became a good friend of Waller, began using the same type of capillary tube to study the electrical currents of the heart. Einthoven also had a difficult time working with the instrument. His laboratory was located in an old wooden building near a cobblestone street, and passing teams of horses pulling heavy wagons would cause his laboratory to vibrate. This vibration affected the capillary tube,
Einthoven Begins Clinical Studies with Electrocardiography
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An early electrocardiographic device that required the patient to immerse both hands and one foot in a salt solution.
causing the cardiographs to be unclear. In his frustration, Einthoven began to modify his laboratory. He removed the floorboards and dug a hole ten to fifteen feet deep. He then lined the walls of the hole with large rocks to stabilize his instrument. When this failed to solve the problem, Einthoven abandoned the Lippmann’s capillary tube, but he did not abandon the idea. Instead, he began to experiment with other instruments. In order to continue his research on the electrical currents of the heart, Einthoven began to work with a new device, the d’Arsonval galvanometer. This instrument had a heavy coil of wire suspended between the poles of a horseshoe magnet. Changes in electrical activity would cause the coil to move; however, Einthoven found that the coil was too heavy to record the small electrical changes found in the heart. Therefore, he modified the instrument by replacing the coil with a silver-coated quartz thread (string). He found that he could record the movements by transmitting the deflections through a mi366
croscope and projecting them on photographic film. Einthoven called the new instrument the string galvanometer. Einthoven’s development of the string galvanometer was very important for science. Some have questioned whether the invention was Einthoven’s original idea. In 1897, Clément Ader, a French electrical engineer, reported his development of a device similar to the string galvanometer. Ader was working with telegraph recorders, and he also found a need to replace the slow coil in the galvanometer with a lighter component: a wire. Both scientists needed to make their respective instruments more sensitive, and both chose to use a wire in place of the coil. Yet there were some fundamental differences between the two instruments. The major difference lay in the size of the wire. Ader used a wire that was ten times the diameter of Einthoven’s. It is believed that Ader’s instrument would not have been sensitive enough to detect the electrical currents in the heart. Although Ader devel-
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Bosscha published a study that showed the function of the forces involved in measuring small amounts of electricity. He proposed the idea that modifying a galvanometer by hanging a needle from a silk thread could make it more sensitive for determining the minute currents in the heart. Einthoven and Ader both studied Bosscha’s work, and this was responsible, in part, for the development of their instruments. Also, it was Bosscha’s suggestion to link the hospital with Einthoven’s laboratory. Therefore, Bosscha assisted Einthoven by providing both theoretical and practical ideas for his work that led to the development of the electrocardiogram. The electrocardiogram was not created in a short period of time. The work of many people over many years was required to produce a workable instrument, and additional years of study were then needed to determine the clinical significance of the instrument’s output. Although the forerunner to the electrocardiogram was first created in 1901, a reliable instrument was not used clinically for several years after that. Significance As Einthoven published additional studies on the string galvanometer in 1903, 1906, and 1908, greater interest in his instrument was generated around the world. In 1910, one of the instruments, now called the electrocardiograph, was installed in the United States. It was the foundation of a new laboratory for the study of heart disease at The Johns Hopkins University Hospital. The electrocardiograph was used to diagnose various types of heart problem that previously had been very difficult to diagnose. In 1924, Einthoven visited the United States to discuss the electrocardiograph with researchers and clinicians. Among other lectures, he spoke at Harvard University as part of a lecture series founded in memory of Dr. Edward K. Dunham. During his visit to the United States, Einthoven was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Because he was on a lecture tour at the time, he was unable to attend the awards ceremony. He accepted the award one year later, and he took the opportunity to present his Nobel lecture. In this presentation, he discussed the string galvanometer and its use in electrocardiography, helping to promote the instrument for clinical purposes. Through the 1920’s, Einthoven’s instrument included four electrodes, one placed on each limb. One of the electrodes acted as a ground, and the other three could be combined in several ways to make three different leads. These three leads were used to diagnose many heart problems. In the 1930’s, researchers at the University of 367
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oped the concept first, he was not given credit for developing the forerunner to the electrocardiogram because his instrument could not be used for studying the heart. After developing the string galvanometer, Einthoven began work to validate the string galvanometer with the instrument accepted at the time: the capillary tube. Using both instruments on the same subjects, he made comparisons between the two outputs. He was able to identify the similarities in the wave changes between the two instruments. The waves on tracings from the capillary electrometer had been labeled A, B, C, and D. Einthoven labeled the waves on his galvanometer P, Q, R, S, and T. He changed the labels on the waves because, in geometry, points on curved lines begin with P and points on straight lines begin with A. As the output was obviously a curve, he chose to use a new system. Einthoven’s labels became universally known and continue to be used in electrocardiography. By 1905, Einthoven had improved the string galvanometer to the point that he could begin using it for clinical studies. In 1906, he had his laboratory connected to the hospital in Leiden by a telephone wire. With this arrangement, he was able to study in his laboratory electrocardiograms that were derived from patients in the hospital located one mile away. With this source of subjects, Einthoven was able to use his galvanometer to study many heart problems. As a result of these studies, Einthoven identified the following heart problems with his galvanometer: blocks in the electrical conduction system of the heart, enlargements of the various chambers of the heart, and premature beats of the heart, including two premature beats in a row. He was also able to study the heart during the administration of cardiac drugs. These studies and studies conducted by other researchers with the string galvanometer added to the knowledge that has made the electrocardiogram an important diagnostic tool. A major researcher who communicated with Einthoven about the electrocardiogram was Sir Thomas Lewis. Lewis is credited with developing the electrocardiogram into a useful clinical tool. One of his important accomplishments was his identification of atrial fibrillation, the overactive state of the upper chambers of the heart. During World War I, Lewis was involved with studying soldiers’ hearts. He designed a series of graded exercises that he used to test the soldiers’ ability to perform work. Based on the results of this study, he was able to use similar tests to diagnose heart disease and screen recruits who had some heart problems. Throughout his career, Einthoven was influenced by one of his professors, Johannes Bosscha. In the 1850’s,
Einthoven Begins Clinical Studies with Electrocardiography
Einthoven Begins Clinical Studies with Electrocardiography Michigan, led by Dr. Frank N. Wilson, developed a system that combined the same four electrodes into three new leads. They also added six new electrodes, which created six new leads to make a total of twelve leads. The addition of the nine leads to Einthoven’s three leads significantly improved the diagnostic capabilities of the instrument. As time passed, the use of the electrocardiogram—or ECG, as it is now known—increased substantially. The major advantage of the ECG is that it can be used to diagnose problems in the heart without incisions or the use of needles. It is relatively painless for the patient. Also, in comparison with other diagnostic techniques, it is relatively inexpensive. Therefore, Einthoven’s invention has resulted in an important diagnostic tool that can be widely used. Recent developments in the use of the ECG include work in the area of stress testing. Many heart problems are not apparent on the ECG while a patient is idle, so the ECG is used on a patient who is exercising, when the heart is working much harder. The clinician gradually increases the intensity of work the patient is doing (usually walking or running on a treadmill) while monitoring the patient’s heart with the ECG. The electrocardiogram is a very important diagnostic tool. It is continually being improved, and researchers are constantly examining new applications. Although the electrocardiogram was initially developed at the beginning of the twentieth century, it is still an integral part of the fight against heart disease and other heart problems. —Bradley R. A. Wilson Further Reading Barold, S. S. “Willem Einthoven and the Birth of Clinical Electrocardiography a Hundred Years Ago.” Cardiac Electrophysiology Review 7 (January, 2003): 99104. This article describes Einthoven’s work on the string galvanometer, from its initial development through its establishment as a useful diagnostic tool. Barron, S. L. “The Development of the Electrocardiogram in Great Britain.” British Medical Journal 1 (1950): 720-725. This article focuses on how the ECG was developed in Great Britain. The work of Sir Thomas Lewis is an important element in this account, which is directed at an audience with an appropriate science background. Burch, George E., and Nicholas P. De Pasquale. A History of Electrocardiography. Chicago: Year Book
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Medical Publishers, 1964. This book traces the history of the development of the electrocardiogram through the 1960’s. Discusses the work of the major contributors, including Einthoven. Includes a wealth of references. Cooper, James K. “Electrocardiography One Hundred Years Ago.” New England Journal of Medicine 315 (August, 1986): 461-464. This article, written in celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the invention of electrocardiography, discusses the history of electrocardiography, beginning with the contributions of Waller and concluding with the works of Einthoven. Concise and understandable. Includes references. Einthoven, Willem. “The String Galvanometer and the Measurement of the Action Currents of the Heart.” Nobel lecture, December 11, 1925. http://nobel prize.org/medicine/laureates/1924/einthoven-lecture .pdf. This is the address that Einthoven gave on the occasion of his receiving the 1924 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The Nobel Foundation makes this and other Nobel lectures available online. Ershler, Irving. “Willem Einthoven: The Man.” Archives of Internal Medicine 148 (February, 1988): 453-455. This article features the experiences of Dr. George E. Fahr during the years he worked with Einthoven, beginning in 1909. The author obtained much of the information from Fahr while they worked together from 1935 to 1938. Light, easy reading. Mehta, Nirav J., and Ijaz A. Khan. “Cardiology’s Ten Greatest Discoveries of the Twentieth Century.” Texas Heart Institute Journal 29, no. 3 (2002): 164171. This article summarizes the ten cardiologic developments and discoveries of the twentieth century that the authors deem to be most important. Their list includes electrocardiography, preventive cardiology, coronary care units, coronary angioplasty, and openheart surgery. Snellen, H. A. Two Pioneers of Electrocardiography: The Correspondence Between Einthoven and Lewis from 1908-1926. Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Donker Academic Publications, 1983. This book highlights the correspondence between two of the major researchers in electrocardiography. May be too technical for some lay readers. See also: 1929-1938: Berger Studies the Human Electroencephalogram; Fall, 1934-May 6, 1953: Gibbon Develops the Heart-Lung Machine.
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Hertzsprung Notes Relationship Between Star Color and Luminosity Ejnar Hertzsprung discovered that the color of a star is related to its luminosity, and this led to his presentation of the first Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Locale: Denmark Categories: Science and technology; astronomy Key Figures Ejnar Hertzsprung (1873-1967), Danish astronomer and photographer Henry Norris Russell (1877-1957), American astronomer
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Summary of Event In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the science of astronomy was changing. Up until that time, astronomy had been devoted chiefly to the study of the motions of heavenly bodies and the mechanical laws and forces that govern those motions. With the advent of spectroscopy and photography in the late nineteenth century, astronomers began to study the nature of the stars and other bodies rather than merely their motions. Spectroscopy is the study of the spectra of stars. A star’s spectrum is the band of colored light and dark lines that results when the star’s light is spread out by a prism or grating. The patterns of lines can be used to classify a star and provide clues to the star’s properties, such as what it is made of, how hot it is, and whether it is rotating and at what speed. Scientists used photography to record these spectra in order to study and compare them and to work out the relationships between a star’s spectrum and its properties. As data were gathered for large numbers of stars, scientists could begin to search for order and patterns in the data and for relationships among various properties of stars. Ejnar Hertzsprung’s work was part of this quest to understand the nature of stars as revealed in their light. Hertzsprung was well suited to work in the emerging study of stars as revealed through their spectra, as he had studied chemistry and specialized in photochemistry. He began the study of astronomy in 1902, after several years of working as a chemist. He was drawn to astronomy by his interest in observing how black body radiation relates to the radiation of stars. (Black body radiation is the radiation emitted by a body that absorbs all wavelengths of light and radiates all wavelengths when heated. It shows a relationship between the temperature of the body and
the wavelength at which the most radiation is emitted; the wavelength is related to the color of the body.) He studied stellar spectra photographed in Denmark and star classification work done at Harvard College Observatory, and he wrote two papers, in 1905 and 1907, both titled “Zur Strahlung der Sterne” (on the radiation of stars). Hertzsprung presented several results that would prove important to the growing science of astrophysics. His findings included the discovery that there are two different types of stars: giants and dwarfs. He had studied the colors, brightnesses, motions, and distances of stars to arrive at this discovery, which led to his development of a diagram plotting the intrinsic brightness against the temperature for a group of stars. This type of plot, which was developed independently in the United States by Henry Norris Russell and presented in 1913, is known as a Hertzsprung-Russell, or H-R, diagram and is a basic tool of astrophysics today. Hertzsprung first made such a plot in 1906 and did further work to investigate the relationship between the color of a star and its brightness, or luminosity. Hertzsprung used open star clusters in his determination of the relationship between a star’s brightness and its color. An open star cluster is a group of stars clustered together in one place in the sky; it seems reasonable to assume that the stars in a cluster are in roughly the same spatial location. When observing a star’s brightness, one usually cannot know what the intrinsic brightness of the star is; one only knows how bright the star appears from Earth. To know the intrinsic brightness, one must apply a correction for the distance of the star; stellar distances are not easy to discover. Yet stars in a cluster can be assumed to be at about the same distance, so one does not need to worry about making the distance correction to arrive at the absolute brightness, as the distance correction will be roughly the same for all members of the cluster. Hertzsprung studied the colors of stars in several clusters whose spectra he had photographed at the Urania Observatory in Copenhagen. He was able to measure the wavelength of peak light emission from individual stars, and then he used this wavelength as an index to the stars’ colors. (The wavelength is the distance from crest to crest of each electromagnetic wave making up the light; these wavelengths are very small. Red light has a longer
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A Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram
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H-R diagram is still an essential tool of astrophysicists today. Spectral Class Another area in which Hertz0 B F G K M A sprung contributed was that of the 1,000,000 –10 determination of stellar distances, Supergiants –5 100R 10,000 which has traditionally been a difficult problem in astronomy. HertzGiants 0 100 sprung made a discovery that led to 10R the use of a star’s spectrum to deter+5 mine its absolute brightness and, 1 1R from that, its distance. +10 0.01 At Harvard College Observatory in the late nineteenth century, re0.1R White +15 0.0001 searchers studied hundreds of photoDwarfs graphic plates of spectra and classiBrown & +20 fied hundreds of thousands of stars. 0.000001 0.01R Black Protostar In particular, Antonia Maury develDwarfs Nebulas oped a sophisticated system involv10,000 40,000 8000 5000 3500 2500 1000 ing twenty-two categories of stars, Effective Temperature (Kelvin) with three subdivisions for each category designating the width of spec= Main sequence stars = Solar radius R tral lines. Hertzsprung used her classifications in his spectral work. He found that stars that had Maury’s designation c for their narrow specwavelength than green light, which, in turn, has a longer tral lines had high absolute brightnesses. A star’s apparwavelength than blue light. The wavelength is related to ent brightness as seen from the earth depends on its disthe color.) Once he had indexed the stars’ colors, he contance; its absolute brightness is a measure of how bright structed a diagram in which he plotted the color versus it actually is. Once the absolute brightness of a star is the magnitude (brightness) for the stars in two star clusknown, it can be compared to the apparent brightness and ters, the Pleiades and the Hyades. the star’s distance can be calculated. (The process is simIn 1911, these diagrams were the first of their type to ilar to the way in which the distance of a lightbulb would be published, when Hertzsprung was a senior staff asbe estimated based on how bright it appears and the tronomer at the Astrophysical Observatory at Potsdam, knowledge that it is a 100-watt bulb.) Later studies elabEast Germany. On these two plots, Hertzsprung made the orated on this method, and it became the method of specimportant observation that stars do not appear in all postroscopic parallax, which enables one to determine a sible combinations of color and brightness (that is, the star’s distance from its spectrum. points are not scattered all over the plot), but there is a relationship between how bright a star is and what color it Significance is. Thus the brightnesses and colors of stars in the two Hertzsprung continued his work on the color-luminosity clusters form a narrow diagonal band across the plot. The relationship by comparing the H-R diagrams for the band stretches from bright blue stars in the upper left corPleiades, Hyades, and Praesepe star clusters, and he noner to dim red stars in the lower right corner. This band ticed differences in the types of stars in the three clusters. was called the main sequence, or sometimes the dwarf Astronomers today interpret these differences as indicasequence, to differentiate it from the giant sequence of tions that the stars in the Pleiades are younger than those large stars, which was revealed on other H-R diagrams. in the other two clusters and are able to use H-R diagrams The discovery of this relationship gave astronomers maas a tool for determining the ages of clusters. It is now known that the brighter and bluer a star is, the shorter its jor data about the population of the heavens. The task of lifetime; therefore, a cluster with bright blue stars still determining the relationship between color and brightleft in it must be younger than the maximum age such ness was to keep astronomers occupied for years. The
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Hertzsprung Notes Relationship Between Star Color and Luminosity
Further Reading Abell, George O. Realm of the Universe. 5th ed. New York: Saunders College Publishing, 1994. Introduc-
tory college textbook. Contains sections on properties of stars and development of the H-R diagram and on the uses of the diagram in the study of stellar evolution, in particular the application of the diagram to the determination of the ages of star clusters. Includes glossary and bibliography as well as numerous diagrams, drawings, and color plates. Chaisson, Eric, and Steve McMillan. Astronomy Today. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2001. Chapter 17, titled “Measuring the Stars,” includes discussion of Hertzsprung’s work and explains how H-R diagrams are constructed and used to identify stellar properties. Degani, Meir H. Astronomy Made Simple. Rev. ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976. Chapter 7 contains useful information on H-R diagrams and on the stellar properties, such as brightness, that are used in constructing the diagrams. Contains drawings and graphs, glossary, and exercises for self-motivated learners. Moore, Patrick. Patrick Moore’s History of Astronomy. 6th rev. ed. London: Macdonald, 1983. The chapter titled “Exploring the Spectrum” gives background on some of Hertzsprung’s spectral work and introduces the reader to the complexities of analyzing a star’s radiation. The chapter titled “The Life of a Star” introduces the H-R diagram and its applications to stellar evolution studies. Written for the average reader. Includes a list of landmarks in the history of astronomy. Pannekoek, A. A History of Astronomy. 1961. Reprint. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 1989. The chapter titled “Common Stars” discusses the development and uses of spectroscopy and the construction of H-R diagrams by Hertzsprung and Russell. Also discusses the uses of H-R diagrams in studies of stellar evolution. Rigutti, Mario. A Hundred Billion Stars. Translated by Mirella Giacconi. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1984. Part 2 contains useful information on stellar classification and on the H-R diagram. Part 3, on stellar evolution, discusses the application of the H-R diagram to the problem of stellar evolution in general and to the ages of star clusters in particular. Includes diagrams and some black-and-white photographs. Struve, Otto, and Velta Zebergs. Astronomy of the Twentieth Century. New York: Macmillan, 1962. Cowritten by an astronomer who has direct knowledge of some of the events described, this book offers a good overview of the development of the H-R diagram and the understanding of the relationships between a star’s spectrum and its other properties. Includes drawings 371
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stars would reach. In general, by seeing the brightness and color of the stars highest on the main sequence (closest to the bright blue end) for a given cluster, one can estimate an upper limit to the age of the cluster. In addition, a method was later developed in which the brightnesscolor diagram for a cluster is compared with that of another cluster at a known distance; this comparison can yield an estimate of the distance to the first cluster. In working on the Pleiades cluster, Hertzsprung did related work on the stars’ spectra that involved making many measurements of wavelength and led to estimates of the total mass of the cluster. H-R diagrams thus provide a rich source of information about star clusters. Hertzsprung’s plot of stars on the main sequence, together with his demonstration that a giant sequence exists, provided support to Russell as well as information that Russell used in formulating his theory of stellar evolution based on the H-R diagram. Russell’s evolutionary picture turned out to be mistaken and to require drastic overhauls in the light of later knowledge of nuclear processes. Yet it was an important first step in the use of H-R diagrams to plot the distribution of stars and to determine the significance of this distribution for stellar evolution. Hertzsprung also showed that there is a gap, today called the Hertzsprung gap, separating main-sequence stars from giant-sequence stars on an H-R diagram. The discovery of a connection between spectral type and luminosity was followed up by Walter Sydney Adams and Arnold Kohlschütter at Mount Wilson Observatory in California. They found differences in the ratios of intensities of certain lines in the spectra of giants and dwarfs and used these differences for stars of known difference to calibrate a plot of ratio versus magnitude (brightness). Therefore, if one measured the ratio for a star, one could consult the plot and determine the star’s absolute brightness and then use the apparent brightness to arrive at an estimate of the star’s distance. This distance technique proved to be a powerful one. Hertzsprung’s work with stars’ spectra and their colors yielded results that were vital for the further studies conducted in astrophysics in the twentieth century. The recognition of a color-luminosity relationship was a first step toward understanding the reasons behind the relationship, reasons that have had profound implications for ideas on stellar formation and evolution. —Mary Hrovat
Hoffmann Designs the Palais Stoclet and other illustrations, a time line of twentieth century astronomy, a glossary, and a bibliography. Vaucouleurs, Gerard de. Discovery of the Universe. London: Faber & Faber, 1957. Sections 6 through 9 contain an overview of astronomy from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Gives more information on applications of the H-R diagram and follow-ups to Hertzsprung’s work, including spectroscopic parallax. Contains diagrams, drawings, and an annotated bibliography. Zeilik, Michael, and Stephen A. Gregory. Introductory
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Astronomy and Astrophysics. 4th ed. Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 1997. This introductory text provides a useful overview of general astronomy, including basic spectral issues and the use of H-R diagrams. See also: 1907: Hertzsprung Describes Giant and Dwarf Stellar Divisions; 1912: Slipher Obtains the Spectrum of a Distant Galaxy; Mar. 3, 1912: Leavitt Discovers How to Measure Galactic Distances; 1913: Hertzsprung Uses Cepheid Variables to Calculate Distances to the Stars; Dec., 1913: Russell Announces His Theory of Stellar Evolution.
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Hoffmann Designs the Palais Stoclet The Palais Stoclet was Josef Hoffmann’s architectural masterpiece, and the building set a precedent for domestic architecture. Locale: Brussels, Belgium Category: Architecture Key Figures Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956), Austrian architect Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), Austrian artist Adolphe Stoclet (1871-1949), Belgian banker Summary of Event By 1905, Josef Hoffmann had become one of Vienna’s more successful so-called Secessionist architects, who had abandoned the ornate and imitative styles of traditional Austrian architecture. Hoffmann’s chief inspiration was his former professor, Otto Wagner, the head of the Architectural School of the Austrian Academy of Fine Arts. Wagner had developed an austere, rectilinear style that Hoffmann admired and further developed, and the style became known as the Austrian version of Art Nouveau. Hoffmann had obtained commissions to build several villas in a fashionable suburb being developed on the outskirts of Vienna. One such villa was for the designer Koloman Moser, with whom Hoffmann had established the Wiener Werkstätte (Viennese workshops), dedicated to creating decorative objects of original designs and the finest workmanship. Adolphe Stoclet, a Belgian banker who was living in Vienna at the time, greatly admired the villa. Introduced to Hoffmann by Moser, Stoclet was prepared to commission the architect to design a villa for him at the same location. 372
In 1904, circumstances changed. Stoclet’s father, a Belgian industrialist, died, leaving his son immensely wealthy. A house by Hoffmann was still to be built, but now it was to be in Brussels, where Stoclet’s business was located. Hoffmann, motivated by the talent available to him through the designers of the Wiener Werkstätte and Gustav Klimt, an artist whom he greatly admired, prevailed on Stoclet to let him design a house that would be perfect in every detail—one of the exquisite creations of the Wiener Werkstätte in macrocosm. Money was to be no object. Stoclet gave Hoffmann a free hand and carried the knowledge of the real cost of his house with him to the grave. The house was designed as a piece of sculpture, so perfect that nothing could be added or taken away without severely altering the creation. The basic design of the house was planar, a series of interconnecting squares and rectangles, with black and white the dominant colors. The house was placed so that it presented a unified, artistic composition from wherever it was viewed. Hoffmann employed optical illusions in the construction of the house, the most obvious being its “atectonic” appearance, which resulted in a seeming denial of the load-support relationships. The walls of the house, or palais (palace), as it was soon called because of its costly construction, were covered with slabs of white Norwegian marble of crystalline purity. Carved moldings of darkly gilded bronze cascaded down from a square tower topped with an open-work design of flowers and surrounded by four Herculean figures of beaten copper. The moldings followed and delineated both the vertical and horizontal edges of the building and gave the illusion that the walls were thin sheets of marble delicately held to-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 gether by the gilded moldings, which also served to protect the edges. To mask the basically heavy-masonry construction of the building further, the windows were placed flush with the outside walls. The lightweight effect was almost ethereal. If the exterior was austere black, white, and gold, the interior glowed with rich colors. Entering the Palais Stoclet was an experience. The entrance began with a narrow covered walkway and revealed in successive stages the splendors within. The street door opened into an austere, windowless anteroom clad in white marble. This opened into a somewhat larger vestibule clad in dark-green marble and dimly lit through soft lights directed at a series of small golden urns placed on top of the marble walls. Turning left, the visitor entered the great hall—a stupendous room stretching the entire width of the house and, supported on slender honey-colored marble columns, soaring two stories to the roof level. At one end, a bay window enclosing a fountain added to the length of the hall; on the other end, glass doors extended
Hoffmann Designs the Palais Stoclet the hall into a landscaped garden. The muted colors of the great hall provided an unobtrusive background for parts of Stoclet’s famed art collection, which was placed or hung throughout the area. The salon, or drawing room, usually the principal room in a great house, was insignificant. The two dominant rooms—both entered from the great hall, one entrance opposite the other—were the music theater and the dining room, which celebrated what the architect Peter Behrens called “life’s greatest festivities.” The walls of the music theater were of polished, strongly veined black marble, the floor was made of dark teak squares surrounded by coralwood, and the coverings and draperies were crimson-purple. A gallery on one side permitted viewers to look down on the luxurious patterns formed below. The dining room was the most celebrated room. It was forty-five feet in length, and its wall combined the honey-colored marble of the great hall with the black of the music theater. The glory of the room—the most
To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
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The Palais Stoclet as seen from the garden. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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Hoffmann Designs the Palais Stoclet costly feature of an incredibly costly house—was a set of great mosaics by Gustav Klimt, which almost entirely covered the two long walls; a smaller mosaic covered a third wall opposite the bay window overlooking the garden. The mildly erotic themes of the great mosaics centered on the gardens of art and of love. The small mosaic on the wall opposite the garden windows was a stylized version of a garden that never fades. This room, too, employed visual deceptions. The walls receded in stages, thereby achieving a threedimensional effect and permitting the lower parts to be used as sideboards, on which were displayed silver pieces created by the Wiener Werkstätte. The mosaics, constructed of rare marbles, enamels, semiprecious stones, and precious metals, were two-dimensional in the Byzantine manner, made the more interesting by rich, raised ornamentation. The garden, as carefully planned as the rest of the house, was an extension of the interior. The two great bays extending into the garden seemed like open arms inviting the viewer into the house through an elegant loggia opening into the great hall. On a moonlit night, the effect could be overwhelming, causing a famous museum director to exclaim that such a work of maturity and artistic grandeur as the Palais Stoclet had not been seen since the days of the Baroque. Significance The completion of the Palais Stoclet established Josef Hoffmann as one of Europe’s leading architects. Hoffmann probably would have become still better known had he written about his art, but he believed, as did the noted Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí, that art is not to be intellectualized; it is to be felt. Hoffmann was to become better known as an “architect’s architect,” one of the founders of modern architecture and design. Walter Gropius, Peter Behrens, Hendrik Petrus Berlage, and Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, among others, all admired him. Hoffmann directly influenced Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Frank Lloyd Wright had long conversations with Hoffmann, and the similarity of their essentially planar designs is obvious. Although he was a prolific architect, working to the year of his death, Hoffmann never again achieved a triumph such as the Palais Stoclet. Had he built it and nothing else, however, he still would have been regarded as one of the great architects of the twentieth century. Another effect of the building of the Palais Stoclet was that, perhaps more than any other artistic creation of its time, it became the outstanding example of Gesam374
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tkunstwerk, or complete work of art. Such a creation was the idealistic goal of artists ranging from the composer Richard Wagner to the architect Gaudí. Both Adolphe Stoclet and his wife were aware of the concept and purposely worked to achieve it. The house, an artistic triumph in itself, could be compared to an elegant vitrine housing a great art collection. The collection, mostly in the form of primitive art from all over the world, blended happily with the polished polychrome modernity of the house. Combining theatrical and musical production with the brilliant conversation of their guests and fine food in the fabled dining room, Adolphe and Suzanne Stoclet created artistic experiences equal to that of viewing the house and its art collection. Seldom accepting outside invitations, the Stoclets created their own world by having as guests or performers some of the greatest artists of the time, including the pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the choreographer Sergei Diaghilev, the musician Igor Stravinsky, the actor and playwright Sacha Guitry, and the writer Anatole France. The greatest impact of the Palais Stoclet was in the context of architectural, social, and intellectual history. The Palais Stoclet was the right building at the right time in the right place. Intellectual historians sometimes refer to the nineteenth century as the Bourgeois Century, “bourgeois” meaning capitalist in the Marxist-Leninist sense. Dominating the nineteenth century both politically and economically, the bourgeoisie had yet to develop its own cultural identity in architecture, resorting instead to borrowing from earlier styles. Although Hoffmann lived in a Vienna that was an imperial capital, he made no effort to cultivate the patronage of the nobility. His architectural designs, as well as those of the Wiener Werkstätte, were for the wealthy bourgeoisie. The Palais Stoclet was evidence of the bourgeoisie’s architectural coming-of-age. Their style generally was known as Art Nouveau, although the style varied greatly depending on the locale, with Hoffmann’s version verging on austere classicism. Pre-World War I Brussels, flush with wealth from banking, industrial expansion, and colonial exploitation, became the site of some of the most spectacular creations in the bourgeois Art Nouveau style, and the Palais Stoclet set the ultimate example. Some cultural historians maintain that this search for a new style by the bourgeoisie was a form of escapism, as if they knew their world would end—as indeed it did in 1914, with the coming of World War I. Although he survived the war by nearly four decades, Hoffmann never designed another Palais Stoclet. Even if he had found another patron, it is doubtful that the egalitarian postwar
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 world would have tolerated such an ostentatious display of affluence. The luxurious creations of the American designer Louis Comfort Tiffany, intended for the same upper-middle-class clientele, were to meet a similar fate. Just as Europe’s great medieval cathedrals stand as expressions of the piety of their time, so the Palais Stoclet is palpable evidence of a now-vanished era of rampant capitalism. As such, the building, although it has influenced subsequent architectural designs, remains unique— a source of pleasure, even wonder, for those interested in architecture, but also a primary document for architectural, social, and intellectual historians alike. —Nis Petersen
Kokoschka, and architects such as Josef Hoffmann, Adolph Loos, and Otto Wagner, the city at the time equaled, if not surpassed, Paris, London, and Berlin as a center of Western culture. The creation of the Palais Stoclet, which Schorske calls a “Viennese house,” must be seen against this richly varied cultural and artistic background. Of particular interest is a comparison of a frieze Klimt created for a Beethoven Exhibition in 1902 and the later frieze for the Palais Stoclet. Schweiger, Werner J. Wiener Werkstaette: Design in Vienna, 1903-1932. Translated by Alexander Lieven. New York: Abbeville Press, 1984. No study of the Palais Stoclet could be complete without a concurrent study of the Wiener Werkstätte, the design group cofounded by Hoffmann. Indeed, the Palais Stoclet has been described as a permanent Wiener Werkstätte exhibition. Includes excellent illustrations of the Palais Stoclet and its Wiener Werkstätte creations. Sekler, Eduard Franz. Josef Hoffmann, the Architectural Work: Monograph and Catalog of Works. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985. This extensively illustrated book permits the evaluation of Hoffmann as an architect and decorator. It notes the influence of classicism, cubism, and expressionism on his work. A two-hundred-page catalog lists all of Hoffmann’s known works both as an architect and as a designer. Includes an index and comprehensive bibliography, mostly in German. _______. “The Stoclet House by Josef Hoffmann.” In Essays on the History of Art Presented to Rudolf Wittkower, edited by Douglas Fraser, Howard Hibbard, and Milton J. Lewine. Vol. 2. London: Phaidon Press, 1967. Considering the fame of the Palais Stoclet, comparatively little literature is available on it, possibly because it was completed shortly before the outbreak of World War I. Sekler is an authority on Hoffmann, and this is undoubtedly one of the best monographs available on the Palais Stoclet. The coverage is thorough and lovingly detailed; includes a precise description of the materials used in and the names of artists who contributed to the construction of the house. Excellent color photographs give an idea of the polychrome richness of the interior. See also: 1903: Hoffmann and Moser Found the Wiener Werkstätte; Oct., 1907: Deutscher Werkbund Is Founded; Oct., 1909: Completion of the AEG Turbine Factory; 1919: German Artists Found the Bauhaus; 1937: Prouvé Pioneers Architectural Prefabrication; 1937-1938: Aalto Designs Villa Mairea. 375
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Further Reading Brändstatter, Christian. Wiener Werkstätte: Design in Vienna 1903-1932. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003. Heavily illustrated book offers as complete a record as possible of the Wiener Werkstätte’s creative work, from complex, integrated environments such as Hoffmann’s Palais Stoclet in Brussels to individual objects such as enameled-glass stemware by Otto Prutscher and vibrantly colored postcards by Oskar Kokoschka. Delano Greenridge Editions. Josef Hoffmann: Furniture, Design, and Objects. New York: Author, 2003. This volume provides a comprehensive look at Hoffmann’s designs for furniture, decorative objects, and printed material for the interiors of his visionary buildings. Frampton, Kenneth. Modern Architecture: A Critical History. 3d ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1992. Just as Carl Schorske’s volume (cited below) sets Hoffmann’s Palais Stoclet masterpiece against Vienna at the close of the nineteenth century, Frampton sets both the architect and his works within the broader framework of Western architecture. The chapter relating to Hoffmann is titled “The Sacred Spring,” referring to the pool of artistic talent to be found in Vienna at the time. It is interesting to compare the Palais Stoclet with the Secession Building, the first structure in the austere new style that was the Viennese version of Art Nouveau. Schorske, Carl E. Fin de Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture. New York: Vintage Books, 1981. Increasingly, Vienna at the close of the nineteenth century is being recognized for its amazing cultural and artistic achievements. With musicians such as Arnold Schoenberg, Richard Strauss, and Gustav Mahler, artists such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Oskar
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Introduction of the First Injectable Anesthetic
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
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Introduction of the First Injectable Anesthetic Novocaine—the trade name for procaine—was synthesized by the German chemist Alfred Einhorn and introduced by the German surgeon Heinrich Braun. It was the first injectable synthetic anesthetic to be used safely in surgery and became the most frequently used local anesthetic in dentistry and minor surgical procedures. Locale: Germany Categories: Chemistry; health and medicine; science and technology Key Figures Alfred Einhorn (1857-1917), German medicinal chemist Heinrich Braun (1862-1934), German surgeon Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), German physician and biochemist Karl Koller (1857-1944), Austrian ophthalmologist William Stewart Halsted (1852-1922), American surgeon Robert Heinz (1865-1924), German pharmacologist and pathologist Richard Willstätter (1872-1942), German organic chemist Guido Fischer (1877-1959), German dental professor August Karl Gustav Bier (1861-1949), German professor of surgery Summary of Event The applied science of local anesthesia dates from its discovery by Alfred Einhorn, a chemist at the University of Munich who found that esters of 4-aminobenzoic acid exhibit anesthetic properties. (An ester is a functional group in organic chemistry that results from the combination of an alcohol with a carboxylic acid.) Einhorn synthesized numerous variations of this chemical structure, and by 1905 he had submitted a compound for clinical trials that was to become the standard against which other local anesthetics were compared for nearly fifty years. This compound, Novocaine, has had a legacy so great that many still use its name as a generic term for all local anesthetics. During the first half of the nineteenth century, scientists developed procedures to induce unconsciousness through use of general anesthesia, in which patients inhaled volatile or gaseous anesthetics such as diethyl ether, nitrous oxide (also known as laughing gas), and the highly 376
toxic chloroform. Not all surgical procedures required an unconscious patient, however, so scientists sometimes employed local (or regional) anesthetics to numb specific areas of the body. These types of compounds have much more complex chemical structures, and they can be injected with a hypodermic syringe or applied topically as creams, lotions, or aerosol sprays. Cocaine was used as a topical anesthetic during eye surgery in 1884 by Karl Koller, a house surgeon at the Wiener Allgemeines Krankenhaus (Vienna’s general hospital), at the suggestion of his young colleague Sigmund Freud. Later that year, William Stewart Halsted employed cocaine to produce the first nerve block by local injection. However, cocaine’s toxicity, cost, and addictive properties, in addition to the fact that the anesthesia it induced was of short duration, encouraged the search for a substitute. Paul Ehrlich is credited as the first to relate the chemical structure of a molecule to its effectiveness as a medicine. To draw this connection, Ehrlich employed a multistep methodology common in medicinal chemistry: Isolate the active ingredient of a known herbal remedy or other medicinal of natural origin; determine its chemical structure, including stereochemistry (the threedimensional arrangement of atoms); deduce the simplest portion of this chemical structure that retains the physiological effect; and use sequential chemical reactions to prepare derivative compounds for pharmacological testing. In 1860, pure cocaine was isolated as the active principle in leaves of the Erythroxylon coca bush by Albert Niemann, a graduate student working in the chemistry laboratory of Friedrich Wöhler at Göttingen University. Alfred Einhorn proposed in 1890 that the portion of the cocaine molecule promoting anesthetic activity was a benzoate ester moiety, and he proceeded to prepare a series of analogs containing this anesthesiophoric unit. In 1896, Robert Heinz found one of these compounds, methyl 4-amino-3-hydroxybenzoate, to be an effective local anesthetic during clinical trials; it was subsequently marketed by the German chemical company Farbwerke Höchst under the trade name Orthoform. Unfortunately, Orthoform possessed very limited solubility in water, so it was administered as a powder into open wounds. In 1900, E. Ritsert at Farbwerke Höchst submitted another topical anesthetic for clinical trials called benzocaine (ethyl 4-aminobenzoate); this compound remains a popular ingredient of throat lozenges.
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Heinrich Braun published his influential Local Anesthesia: Its Scientific Basis and Practical Use in 1905 (the book went through seven editions in Braun’s lifetime), and, in 1909, Einhorn finally published the details of his synthetic procedures as a series of papers in volume 371 of Justus Liebig’s Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie. August Karl Gustav Bier, a professor of surgery at the University of Berlin and pioneer of spinal anesthesia, employed Novocaine in 1908 to cause a loss of feeling in an entire limb using the new technique of intravenousregional anesthesia (now referred to as Bier’s block). Einhorn promoted surgical applications of Novocaine until his death in 1917, and he especially encouraged its use for amputations and other procedures necessitated by the wounds suffered by soldiers during World War I. He was dismayed, however, that military field surgeons were reluctant to employ Novocaine. Dentists embraced it with enthusiasm, but Einhorn felt that dental drilling and tooth extraction were mundane applications of his noble innovation. Eventually, Novocaine was displaced by Xylocaine (the trade name for lidocaine) and other anesthetics. Significance Prior to the introduction of anesthesia, patients had been tied down or otherwise immobilized on operating tables while surgeons rushed to perform nightmarish procedures. Only crude techniques were possible under these conditions, and barbers’ razors were as likely to be used as medical doctors’ knives. The availability of effective and reliable anesthetic agents gave relief to patients and also allowed for the development and expansion of techniques and procedures in surgery and dentistry. The development of Novocaine also played an important role in fostering the emergence of the modern pharmaceutical industry, which originated in the syntheticdye factories established in Germany during the 1860’s. Companies such as Farbwerke Höchst developed working relationships with research scientists at universities, and this led to several important medical advancements. Much of the credit for achievements in the field of pharmaceuticals prior to World War I is owed to collaborations with recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine such as Emil von Behring (1901), Robert Koch (1905), and Paul Ehrlich (1908). — Martin V. Stewart Further Reading Burger, Alfred, ed. Medicinal Chemistry. 3d ed. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1970. Chapter 63 extensively covers the primary literature of Einhorn’s con377
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The complete chemical structure of cocaine was finally established in 1898 at the University of Munich by Richard Willstätter, a former student of Einhorn and Nobel laureate in 1915. Einhorn modified the structures of his target benzoate esters so that they more closely resembled cocaine and received a patent titled “Verfahren zur Darstellung von p-Aminobenzoësäurealkaminestern” on November 27, 1904. His patent described the synthesis of eighteen alkylamino esters of 4-aminobenzoic acid prepared for Farbwerke Höchst. These compounds were tested at the Pharmacological Institute in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland), and the most promising one, procaine, was sent to Heinrich Braun at Leipzig for clinical trials in 1905. Procaine (2-diethylaminoethyl 4-aminobenzoate) becomes water-soluble when converted to a hydrochloride salt. Braun observed that procaine hydrochloride caused much less tissue irritation than existing agents, but he noted that the resulting anesthesia was brief unless very strong solutions were employed. He also discovered that procaine’s effect was greatly increased when it was mixed with the hormone epinephrine (also called adrenaline) as a vasoconstrictor, narrowing the blood vessels. Another injectable synthetic anesthetic of similar molecular structure was Stovaine, which was prepared concurrently by the French chemist Ernest Fourneau in 1904, but it was found to be less potent and considerably more irritating. Alfred Einhorn was associated with Farbwerke Höchst (formally called Meister, Lucius, and Brüning), a chemical factory at Höchst in Hesse, central Germany, which later became the industrial district of Frankfurt. Founded in 1863, the company began producing pharmaceuticals in 1883, and it was the first to manufacture procaine hydrochloride, which it marketed under the trade name Novocaine (meaning “new cocaine” and derived from the Latin novus plus caine). The overall safety, low toxicity, lack of irritancy, and efficacy when combined with epinephrine ensured that Novocaine would dominate the field of local anesthesia for nearly half a century. It was introduced in the United States in 1907 and popularized by Guido Fischer from the Königlich Zahnärztlichen Universitäts-Instituts (now the School of Dental Medicine at the Philipps University of Marburg), in Marburg, Germany. Fischer, with support from Farbwerke Höchst, made an instructional film in 1914 for use during lectures that demonstrated injection techniques for dental surgery to large professional audiences. With Richard H. Riethmueller, Fischer published the book Local Anesthesia in Dentistry (1912) in English.
Introduction of the First Injectable Anesthetic
Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity temporaries, unlike subsequent fourth (1981), fifth (1997), or sixth (2003) editions. Burnham, Bruce S., Iris H. Hall, and Alex Gringauz. Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry: How Drugs Act and Why. 2d ed. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 2006. The chemistry, pharmacology, and history of anesthetics are included in this update to the 1997 edition by Alex Gringauz. Dunsky, Joel L. “Alfred Einhorn: The Discoverer of Procaine.” Journal of the Massachusetts Dental Society 46, no. 3 (Fall, 1997): 25-26. Arare article focusing on Einhorn’s contribution to anesthesiology. Lasslo, Andrew. Molecules, Miracles, and Medicine. St. Louis, Mo.: Warren H. Green, 2000. Procaine is one of eight common drugs whose histories are summarized. Ruetsch, Yvan A., Thomas Böni, and Alain Borgeat. “From Cocaine to Ropivacaine: The History of Local Anesthetic Drugs.” Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 1, no. 3 (August, 2001): 175-182. A review
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 article with ninety-seven references on both classic and modern anesthetics. Sneader, Walter. Drug Prototypes and Their Exploitation. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996. Structureactivity relationships of local anesthetics are included in chapters 18 and 19. Vertosick, Frank T. Why We Hurt: The Natural History of Pain. New York: Harcourt, 2000. A physician presents a broad review of the subjects of pain and pain management. See also: 1901: Discovery of Human Blood Groups; 1902: Carrel Rejoins Severed Blood Vessels; Dec., 1905: Crile Performs the First Direct Blood Transfusion; Spring, 1907: Development of Nerve Fibers Is Observed; 1912-1914: Abel Develops the First Artificial Kidney; Sept., 1915-Feb., 1916: McLean Discovers the Natural Anticoagulant Heparin; July, 1929: Drinker and Shaw Develop a Mechanical Respirator.
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Punnett’s MENDELISM Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity In his book Mendelism, Reginald Crundall Punnett introduced diagrams to explain how traits are inherited and thus helped to popularize Mendel’s work. Also known as: Punnett squares Locale: Cambridge, England Categories: Science and technology; genetics; biology Key Figures Reginald Crundall Punnett (1875-1967), English geneticist Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), Austrian teaching monk and botanist William Bateson (1861-1926), British geneticist Hugo de Vries (1848-1935), Dutch plant physiologist Carl Erich Correns (1864-1933), German botanist Erich Tschermak von Seysenegg (1871-1962), Austrian botanist Summary of Event In 1905, Reginald Crundall Punnett’s landmark book Mendelism was published. It was the first textbook on the subject and was so popular that the Westminster Gazette listed it along with a novel by Marie Corelli as the best 378
seller of the week. The small book stated clearly the principles of heredity espoused by Austrian monk Gregor Mendel in his classic paper of 1866. As understanding of the application of Mendel’s ideas increased, the book’s subsequent editions expanded in size. In the first edition, Punnett included simple graphic devices to demonstrate the results expected when a single set of characteristics (monohybrid) or two sets of characteristics (dihybrid) are considered in a cross. The diagrams were explicit, simple, and visually convincing. Such representations, which came to be called “Punnett squares,” soon became valuable tools for beginning genetics students. When Mendelism first appeared, the subject was unknown to most investigators. Mendel’s original paper of 1866, long ignored because it had been published in an obscure journal, had been rediscovered independently in 1900 by three botanists: Hugo de Vries, Carl Erich Correns, and Erich Tschermak von Seysenegg. Although Mendel’s ideas were intriguing, early twentieth century biologists did not agree on the universality of his “laws” of heredity. They searched for an understanding of the significance of the Mendelian patterns. Punnett’s book became an excellent learning tool for the rediscovered Mendelism.
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Punnett formed a fruitful partnership with A Punnett Square Showing William Bateson, whose rejection of tradiFlower Pigmentation tional Darwinism caused him to be out of favor with the academic establishment. In White × White 1910, Bateson resigned from the inadeCCpp ccPP ↓ quately funded, temporary chair of biology at Purple the University of Cambridge. The chair beF1 CcPp came adequately endowed in 1912 and was given to Punnett, who became the first Arthur ↓ CP Cp cP cp Balfour Professor of Genetics at the University of Cambridge. CCPP CCPp CcPP CcPp Undoubtedly, Punnett’s work on the MenCP purple purple purple purple delian explanation of sex determination, sex linkage, complementary factors and factor CCPp CCpp CcPp Ccpp Cp interaction, autosomal linkage, and mimicry purple white purple white resulted in important scientific accomplishF2 CcPP CcPp ccPP ccPp ments. His practical achievement during cP purple purple white white World War I, when he devised a scheme to distinguish sex in very young chickens, was CcPp Ccpp ccPp ccpp ingenious. (By looking for sex-linked plumcp purple white white white age-color factors that would appear only in male chicks, researchers could distinguish and destroy unwanted males so that food When white-flowered sweet pea plants were crossed, the first-generation would not be wasted on them.) Also imporprogeny (F1 ) all had purple flowers. When these plants were self-fertilized, the tant, but in a different way, was Bateson and second-generation progeny (F2 ) revealed a ratio of nine purple to seven Punnett’s joint founding of the Journal of Gewhite. This result can be explained by the presence of two genes for flower pigmentation, P (dominant) and p (recessive) and C or c. Both dominant netics in 1911; the journal contributed signifforms, P and C, must be present in order to produce purple flowers. icantly to the advancement of genetics. Punnett’s simple diagrammatic scheme, now called the Punnett square, helped ensure the plants produced only dwarfs, the tall plants produced two success of Mendelism during the first decade of the different kinds of seed, some giving rise to tall plants twentieth century and has continued to contribute to the only and others producing both talls and dwarfs in a 3:1 understanding of classical genetics. proportion. By breeding subsequent generations, MenMendel used the pea plant, Pisum, to investigate the del demonstrated that pure dominants and recessives inheritance of individual characteristics such as seed pod breed true, but that impure dominants always produce color, height, flower color, and pod shape. In one set of dominants and recessives in a constant proportion of 3:1. experiments, he investigated only the heights of the Because pure dominants are only half as numerous as implants. When he crossed pure tall plants (one to two mepure dominants, when impure dominants are crossed ters high) and pure dwarf plants (half a meter to one mewith each other they produce pure dominants, impure ter high), all of the offspring (Fl generation) were tall. dominants, and recessives in the ratio of 1:2:1. Mendel applied the term “dominant” to the tall plants and The case considered above involves only a single set “recessive” to the dwarf plants. Next, he collected the of characteristics (in this example, height) and is known seeds from the Fl plants. When he sowed them the folas a monohybrid cross. Mendel ascertained that when the lowing year, both tall and dwarf plants appeared in the original parents differ in two pairs of characters, such as offspring (F2 generation), but each individual was either tall or dwarf, with no intermediates. In one set of experiseed color and height (a dihybrid cross), the two traits are ments, out of a total of 1,064 of these F2 plants, 787 were assorted independent of each other. When a tall yellowtall and 277 were dwarf, approximately a ratio of 3:1. seeded pea is crossed with a dwarf green-seeded plant, The next year, Mendel planted the seeds of the F2 generthe Fl plants all exhibit the dominant character of each ation. He found that although the seeds from the dwarf pair and are tall yellows. In the F2 generation, talls and
Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity dwarfs appear in the ratio of 3:1, and yellows and greens also appear in a 3:1 ratio. Consequently, out of the total sixteen plants, twelve will be tall and the other four dwarf. Out of every four talls, three will be yellows and the remaining one green. Out of the twelve talls, therefore, nine will be yellow and three will be green. Out of the four dwarfs, three will be yellow and one will be green. Consequently, the F2 generation arising from the cross will result in nine yellow talls, three green talls, three yellow dwarfs, and one green dwarf. For every sixteen plants, nine will show both dominants, two classes of three each will show the dominant character of one pair and the recessive of the other, and one plant will show both recessive characters. This principle holds true for three sets of characters and can be extended indefinitely for any number of pairs of characteristics. After describing the crossing procedure and results, Punnett showed his simple graphic way of viewing the probabilities from these crosses. In Punnett’s square, he used Aa and Bb to represent two sets of unit characteristics (in the above example, height and seed color). The capital letters represent dominant characteristics, and the lowercase represent recessive characteristics. A = dominant a = recessive
B = dominant b = recessive
If a parent pure (homozygous) for the dominant A characteristic is crossed with a parent pure (homozygous) for the recessive a character (AA H aa), all of the offspring (Fl generation) resemble the dominant A parent but carry the recessive a (Aa). If two of these Fl individuals are crossed (Aa H Aa), the ratio of their offspring (F2 generation) will be 1 (AA), 2 (Aa), and 1 (aa). To demonstrate this 1:2:1 ratio, Punnett drew a large square divided into four cells. One A and one a is assumed to appear across the horizontal axis, and one A and one a down the vertical axis (Punnett did not explicitly complete this step). When the A and the a from the horizontal axis are multiplied by the A and the a from the vertical axis, the four cells of the large square indicate one individual with AA, two with Aa, and one with aa, as Mendel predicted. If a second set of characteristics Bb H Bb is considered, the result will be the predicted 1:2:1. To demonstrate the disposition of the B and b factors, Punnett divided each of the four original cells into four again. In each of the new cells, one individual is BB, two are Bb, and one bb—again, the predicted 1:2:1 ratio for a monohybrid cross. A Punnett square can also be used to illustrate a dihybrid cross, in which two sets of characters are considered 380
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 simultaneously. If in the first parental cross (P1) one parent is pure (homozygous) for both dominants (AABB) and the other parent is pure (homozygous) for both recessives (aabb), the Fl generation will be heterozygous, having both A and a and B and b. P1 cross
AABB H aabb
F1 generation
AaBb
F1 cross
AaBb H AaBb
Of the sixteen squares necessary to illustrate this cross, nine contain both A and B, three contain A but not B, three contain B but not A, and one contains neither A nor B. The ratio illustrated by the diagram is the 9:3:3:1 expected from a dihybrid cross. Although this method can be used to consider three or more characteristics, the numbers of squares required in such cases makes it cumbersome. Illustrating a trihybrid cross would require 64 squares, and considering four different characteristics would require 256 squares. Significance Punnett’s book Mendelism, in which he created a simple way to illustrate Mendel’s ratios visually, played a vital role in popularizing Mendel’s work. Through this book, Punnett launched an aggressive propaganda campaign for Mendel’s ideas. Even after 1900, when Mendelism was rediscovered, it was by no means universally known or, where known, universally accepted. Rules that worked for the inheritance of color in pea plants did not seem to apply to the inheritance of comb types in chickens or to apparent cases of blending inheritance in certain traits. Using his clear diagrams, Punnett engaged in a crusade for Mendelism, showing how apparent exceptions could be explained within the framework of Mendel’s conclusions. Punnett’s emphasis on the importance of Mendelism inspired a biological revolution, but one that he never joined. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, cytologists (those who study cells) observed the peculiar way in which chromosomes are distributed during ordinary body cell division (mitosis) and in the special divisions that produce egg and sperm. They proceeded in their microscopic studies, totally unaware of the significance of Mendel’s work for their own observations. In the meantime, botanists such as Correns and de Vries, cast in the Mendelian mold of plant hybridizers, continued with their breeding experiments equally unaware of the studies on chromosomes that were being undertaken at the same time.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Although some late nineteenth century cytologists suspected that chromosomes might play a part in heredity, they had no evidence as to how traits were distributed among offspring. Mendel, of course, had already determined some of these relationships, but his ideas were unavailable to cytologists until after 1900. In the period before Mendel’s laws were rediscovered, many competing theories of heredity were developed. No one theory could be taken as the paradigm, or the accepted “establishment” point of view. Mendel’s theory on its own was not sufficient to represent a complete paradigm until it was fused with the cytological ideas that placed Mendel’s “factors” on the chromosomes. Between 1900 and 1910, evidence mounted to indicate that chromosomes represented the physical basis for Mendel’s observed ratios. Punnett worked only on one side of this problem, the Mendelian. Throughout his career, he remained a Mendelian and was not affected by the development of the theory of the gene and of cytogenetics. Nevertheless, his brilliant work on the Mendelian aspects of heredity, including his clear ways of presenting his data (through his diagrammatic approach), made possible the fusion between Mendelian genetics and cytology and the establishment of the new paradigm that occurred around 1910. —Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie
work in context. Includes a glossary and a bibliography of both primary and secondary sources. Henig, Robin Marantz. The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Discusses Mendel’s life, including his work, in the context of his time and also relates the rediscovery of his work to developments in the constantly changing field of genetics. Olby, Robert C. The Origins of Mendelism. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985. Evaluates Mendel’s work and considers the consequences of its rediscovery for early twentieth century biology. Punnett, Reginald Crundall. “Early Days of Genetics.” Heredity 4 (April, 1950): 1-10. In this paper—an address delivered at the one hundredth meeting of the Genetical Society in Cambridge, England, on June 30, 1949—Punnett provides an entertaining look at the early development of Mendelian genetics in England. _______. “Reginald Crundall Punnett.” Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 13 (1967): 323-326. This memoir contains the most complete biographical treatment of Punnett as well as a complete bibliography of his writings. Sturtevant, A. H. A History of Genetics. 1965. Reprint. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2001. Summarizes general theories of heredity and helps put Punnett’s work into context. See also: 1902: Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity; 1902: McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome; Dec., 1902: Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits; 1906: Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage; 1908: Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics; 1908-1915: Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory; 1909: Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype”; Fall, 1911: Sturtevant Produces the First Chromosome Map.
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Further Reading Carlson, Elof Axel. Mendel’s Legacy: The Origin of Classical Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2004. Based heavily on early twentieth century sources, this book traces the roots of genetics in breeding analysis and studies of cytology, evolution, and reproductive biology. Highly illustrated. Dunn, L. C. A Short History of Genetics: The Development of Some of the Main Lines of Thought, 18641939. 1965. Reprint. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1991. Summarizes the general history of theories of heredity and places Bateson’s and Punnett’s
Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity
Singer Begins Manufacturing Sewing Machines in Russia
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1905
Singer Begins Manufacturing Sewing Machines in Russia The Singer Manufacturing Company developed a major factory to make sewing machines in Podolsk, Russia, in response to consistently growing Russian sales. Locale: Podolsk, Russia Categories: Manufacturing and industry; trade and commerce Key Figures Walter F. Dixon (fl. early twentieth century), Englishborn civil engineer Albert Flohr (fl. early twentieth century), German who served as managing director of Kompaniya Singer, 1902-1915 George Neidlinger (b. 1843?), Singer’s general agent in Hamburg, Germany, 1865-1902 Summary of Event In 1905, the Podolsk factory of Kompaniya Singer, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Singer Manufacturing Company in the United States, began making sewing machines (called machine heads, to distinguish them from the cast-iron stands) for the Russian market. The development of this factory, which within a few years would be Singer’s third-largest manufacturing plant, was the natural outgrowth of the growing size and importance of the Russian market for Singer machines. The Singer Company had its roots in the 1850’s, when Isaac Singer brought together the elements that were central to any successful design of a sewing machine and his partner Andrew Clark developed an effective marketing approach using a form of installment credit. Singer quickly sought foreign markets, establishing general agents first in London, in 1862, and then in Hamburg, in 1865. The Hamburg agent, George Neidlinger, quickly established links to Russia, selling through an independent agent. During the 1870’s, Singer perfected its marketing approach, using myriad small shops with door-todoor canvassers, and decided to take direct control of all its sales, whether in the United States or abroad. In 1877, Neidlinger was put in charge of Russian sales and began building an organization nearly identical to that already in place in the United States, Great Britain, and parts of Western Europe. Sales of Singer sewing machines in Russia grew steadily through the 1880’s and early 1890’s. With the quickening tempo of Russian economic development in 382
the 1890’s, it was increasingly likely that Russia would develop into a major market, perhaps second only to that of the United States. To position the company to take advantage of this opportunity, Singer’s management in New York City decided to create a wholly owned subsidiary in Russia and to develop a factory there to help supply the rapidly increasing needs of the Russian sales organization. Neidlinger incorporated Kompaniya Singer in 1897, soon acquired what was perhaps the finest commercial location on St. Petersburg’s premier business street, Nevskii Prospekt, and began an intensive search for a site suitable for a major factory. In the spring of 1900, Kompaniya Singer acquired its preferred site in the town of Podolsk, twenty-six miles south of Moscow. To supervise construction of the new factory and then to manage its operation, Neidlinger hired Walter F. Dixon, an English-born civil engineer with extensive industrial experience, first in the United States and then for seven years in Russia. Dixon proceeded cautiously, following the pattern that Singer had used in developing factories in Scotland and Germany. At first, the Podolsk factory made only the easily fabricated cast-iron stands for sewing machines, which were then assembled with imported machine heads. This permitted slow and careful development of a skilled workforce. Neidlinger and Dixon knew that Russia did not have the kind of skilled industrial workers available in the West. They brought experienced workers from Singer’s plant near Glasgow to begin operations. Each of these worked in tandem with a single Russian worker until the Russian knew how to do the work precisely, then each would take on another Russian. To guard against bringing in bad practices from other Russian factories, Dixon hired only peasants with no previous industrial experience. His approach was remarkably successful: The Podolsk plant achieved quality and productivity levels near those of its sister factories in New Jersey and Scotland and was, according to one official American survey, the only factory in Russia to approach Western standards. In 1905, the Podolsk factory employed only 398 people. It was able to produce nearly 150,000 stands, coming close to satisfying the needs for the Russian market. The well-trained workforce then began making machine heads. The first 450 were ready by April. During 1907, the factory made 190,000 stands and shipped nearly 100,000 machine heads. In 1908, the Podolsk plant em-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ployed more than 1,300 workers and was by far the largest machinery producer in the Moscow region; in 1912, with nearly 3,000 employees, output reached 245,000 stands and 425,000 machine heads. This extraordinary growth required almost continuous additions to the factory, leading to the acquisition of nearly forty adjacent acres to accommodate expansion. The scale of output created pressure in another quarter— the need for lumber for machine covers. In 1912, Dixon sought and eventually won approval to buy 186 square miles of forest in the Vetluga district, four hundred miles northeast of Podolsk. The prodigious expansion of output at Podolsk did not, however, keep up with growth in sales of sewing machines in Russia. Russia was Singer’s largest growth market between 1902 and 1914. Sales grew threefold, jumping from 15 percent of Singer’s total sales to 30 percent, and Russia became the most important market after the United States. The man who directed this remarkable
Singer Begins Manufacturing Sewing Machines in Russia achievement was Albert Flohr, a German who had begun working for Neidlinger in the 1890’s and had taken control of Kompaniya Singer and the Russian marketing organization in 1902. Flohr was an uncommonly skillful leader, energetic, creative, and tough. By 1914, he headed a sales organization that was the largest nongovernmental organization in Russia. It had 27,000 employees supervised through fifty district offices and working out of nearly five thousand retail shops.
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Significance The growth and evolution of Singer’s Russian sales and manufacturing organization followed a pattern typical of many major American industrial firms. As firms grew, they often found that sales in their existing markets were growing slowly or were even stagnant; in order to sustain growth, they needed to develop new markets. Singer was unusual only in that it began this process so early, driven in significant measure by the disruptions the American Civil War brought to the company’s domestic market. Singer quickly discovered how profitable foreign sales could be, and by the 1870’s it was committed to selling machines everywhere in the world that it could find markets. In some countries, such as Austria and Canada, it found that it had to do some local production, either to escape heavy tariffs or to protect patent rights, and thus established small foundries that made only stands. In larger markets such as Great Britain, Germany, and Russia, Singer recognized that it had to have local manufacturing caTo view image, please refer to the pacity to retain its competitive position and susprint edition of this title. tain growth. Its American facilities simply could not meet the demand. Indeed, Singer’s first overseas production began on the initiative of the company’s London agent, who could not get enough machines from the United States following the Civil War. This evolution from developing a market to supporting that development with local manufacturing is a pattern that many other firms followed, including Ford and Eastman Kodak. Singer’s Russian experience is interesting because of the virtual absence of government involvement. Historians have often characterized late Imperial Russia, especially under Finance Minister Sergey Yulyevich Witte in the A woman uses a Singer sewing machine, model 66, which was manufac1890’s, as vigorously courting foreign investured in 1902. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) tors and promoting industrialization. That pic-
Singer Begins Manufacturing Sewing Machines in Russia ture finds absolutely no confirmation in the Singer experience, however, nor do Singer records suggest any significant problem with official venality, another common theme in histories of the period. The internal logic of Singer’s marketing strategy and its remarkable success in expanding Russian sales, rather than governmental encouragement, drove the decision to manufacture at Podolsk. The second great multinational company active in Russia at the time was International Harvester. Its principal predecessor, McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, had developed strong overseas sales but had not developed any overseas manufacturing capacity at the time of the 1902 merger that created International Harvester. Believing the American market to be largely saturated, the new company paid particular attention to developing foreign markets. By 1906, in response to the strength of some European competitors and the difficulty in competing effectively from a North American base, International Harvester had bought an old factory in Norrköping, Sweden. It soon followed up with factory acquisitions in France, Germany, and Russia. As with Singer, concerns about tariffs, licensing, and other issues sometimes helped focus attention on the question of the appropriateness of local manufacturing, but the fundamental driving force behind the development of local factories in Russia and elsewhere was the necessity of providing adequate quantities of goods to meet rapidly growing sales. Unlike Singer, International Harvester did get deeply involved with the Russian government when it decided that it ought to develop manufacturing capacity in Russia. The prospect of government bounties for the manufacture of complex modern harvesting equipment and the possibility of facing stiff duties on imported machines led senior managers at International Harvester to open negotiations with top Russian officials. The company ultimately reaped no benefits from these negotiations; in fact, they distracted management from the critically important supervision needed to make the Russian factory a success. Ultimately, International Harvester’s experience in Russia confirmed the lessons of Singer’s history there: There was very little the Russian government would or even could do for a market-oriented investor. The challenge was to manage the marketing organization and its supporting manufacturing plant with skill and insight. —Fred V. Carstensen
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading Bissell, Don. The First Conglomerate: 145 Years of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Brunswick, Maine: Audenreed Press, 1999. Business history of the Singer Company from the perspective of company presidents since the organization’s founding. Chapter 7 discusses the establishment of the Russian factory. Includes select bibliography and index. Carstensen, Fred V. American Enterprise in Foreign Markets: Studies of Singer and International Harvester in Imperial Russia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984. Detailed case studies of Singer and International Harvester (and its principal predecessor, McCormick Harvesting Machine Company) in Russia. Based on rich archival sources. Provides analysis of how these two transnational corporations developed. Chandler, Alfred D., Jr. The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1977. Authoritative history of the rise of hierarchical corporate management in American firms between 1850 and 1920. Provides excellent context for understanding the processes at both Singer and International Harvester. Davies, Robert B. Peacefully Working to Conquer the World: Singer Sewing Machines in Foreign Markets, 1854-1920. New York: Arno Press, 1976. A good general description of Singer’s overseas development, including materials on Singer in Japan, China, India, South America, and Europe. Weak on the critical marketing developments of the 1870’s. McKay, John. Pioneers for Profit: Foreign Entrepreneurship and Russian Industrialization, 1885-1913. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970. One of the best summaries available of foreign enterprises active in Russia. Wilkins, Mira. The Emergence of Multinational Enterprise: American Business Abroad from the Colonial Era to 1914. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1970. Authoritative and comprehensive survey of American transnational companies operating prior to World War I. See also: Aug. 12, 1902: Founding of International Harvester Company; 1903-1906: Pogroms in Imperial Russia; Jan. 22, 1905: Bloody Sunday; Oct. 30, 1905: October Manifesto.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Baekeland Invents Bakelite
1905-1907
Baekeland Invents Bakelite Leo Hendrik Baekeland developed the first totally synthetic thermosetting plastic, which paved the way for modern material science. Locale: Yonkers, New York Categories: Science and technology; inventions; chemistry Key Figures Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944), Belgian-born American chemist, consultant, and inventor Christian Friedrich Schönbein (1799-1868), German chemist Adolf von Baeyer (1835-1917), German chemist George Eastman (1854-1932), American industrialist and inventor
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Summary of Event In the 1860’s, the firm of Phelan and Collender offered a prize of ten thousand dollars to anyone who could produce a substance that could serve as an inexpensive substitute for ivory, which was somewhat difficult to obtain in large quantities at reasonable prices. At the time, the amount of the prize represented a sizable sum of money, and many tinkerers and inventors sought to win it. Christian Friedrich Schönbein laid the groundwork for a breakthrough in the quest for a new material in 1846 with his serendipitous discovery of nitrocellulose, more commonly known as guncotton, which was produced by the reaction of nitric acid with cotton. A number of scientists explored the properties of this material, among them Alexander Parkes, who had hopes of developing rubberlike materials that would be more colorful and thus more appealing than rubber. The first public display of his new material, dubbed Parkesine, took place at an 1862 exposition in London. Although Parkesine was colorful and had potential for a wide variety of uses, it was not a commercial success, as Parkes could not overcome various shortcomings of the material. While Parkes struggled with Parkesine, an American inventor named John Wesley Hyatt was tinkering with a similar substance. Hyatt was already in the synthetic materials business, owning a factory that produced dominoes from a material made of shellac and wood pulp. In his investigations of nitrocellulose, Hyatt found the key that had eluded Parkes. His discovery was that the addition of camphor to nitrocellulose under certain conditions led to formation of a white material that could be
molded and machined. He dubbed this substance celluloid, and this product is now acknowledged as the first synthetic plastic. Celluloid won the Phelan and Collender prize for Hyatt, and he promptly set out to exploit his product. Celluloid was used to make baby rattles, shirt collars, dentures, and other manufactured goods. Ultimately, the properties of celluloid led to the realization that it was more suited for other things. As a billiard ball substitute, for instance, it was not really adequate for various reasons. First of all, it is a thermoplastic—in other words, it softens when heated and so can be easily deformed or molded at high temperatures. Also, it is highly flammable, hardly a desirable characteristic. A widely circulated, perhaps apocryphal, story claimed that celluloid billiard balls detonated when they collided. One of the more interesting uses of celluloid was in the making of motion-picture film, as it could be produced in a thin layer. It was used almost exclusively for this purpose, despite its flammability, until it was displaced by a less flammable substitute. A class of materials related to celluloids are thermosetting compounds. As the name implies, thermosetting materials are initially fluid and harden when heated, assuming the shapes of their containers. These thermosetting reactions are generally nonreversible, meaning the products tend to be stable. The first product of this class was developed in 1897 from the reaction of formaldehyde with milk protein. This was the first example of what are known as casein plastics, and the resulting material was widely used in the production of small items. It is significant in that it was the first human-made thermosetting plastic. Although celluloid and casein plastics were significant achievements, both were derivatives of natural products and thus were not completely synthetic substances. Therefore, the stage was set for a breakthrough into a totally new area of manufactured goods: synthetic plastics. Leo Hendrik Baekeland is recognized as the first person to produce a completely artificial plastic. Born in Ghent, Belgium, Baekeland emigrated to the United States in 1889 to undertake applied research, a pursuit not encouraged in Europe at the time. Baekeland worked in the photographic industry until his good reputation allowed him to start his own consulting firm in 1891. He also pursued his research interests and achieved commercial success by developing Velox, a photographic paper. Industrialist George Eastman purchased the rights to
Baekeland Invents Bakelite
To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
Leo Hendrik Baekeland. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Velox from Baekeland for one million dollars, and with this wealth, Baekeland purchased a home in Yonkers, New York, constructed a laboratory there, and continued his research efforts. One area in which Baekeland hoped to make inroads was in the development of an artificial shellac, as he knew there would be a wide market for any reasonably priced substitute for shellac, an expensive natural product. Baekeland’s research scheme, begun in 1905, focused on finding a solvent that could dissolve the resinous products from a certain class of organic chemical reaction. The particular resins he used had been reported in the mid-1800’s by the German chemist Adolf von Baeyer. These resins were produced by the condensation reaction of formaldehyde with a class of chemicals called phenols. Baeyer found that frequently the major product of such a reaction was a gummy residue that was virtually impossible to remove from glassware. Baekeland focused on finding a material that could dissolve these resinous products, believing that such a substance would prove to be the shellac substitute he sought. His efforts proved frustrating, however, as he failed to find an adequate solvent for these resins. After repeated attempts, Baekeland shifted the orientation of his work. Aban386
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 doning the quest to dissolve the resins, he set about trying to develop a resin that would be impervious to any solvent, reasoning that such a material would have useful applications. Baekeland’s experiments involved the manipulation of phenol-formaldehyde reactions through precise control of the chemical proportions, addition of catalysts, and manipulation of the temperature and pressure at which the reactions were performed. Many of these experiments were performed in a reactor vessel that was 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) tall, which he called a Bakelizer. In 1907, his meticulous experiments paid off when he opened the reactor to find that he had created a clear solid that was heat resistant, nonconducting, and machinable. Experimentation proved that the material could be dyed practically any color during the manufacturing process, with no effect on its physical properties. Baekeland filed a patent for this new material in 1907. (Ironically, his patent was filed one day before that of James Swinburne, a British electrical engineer who had developed a similar product in his quest to create an insulating material.) Baekeland dubbed his new creation Bakelite and announced its existence to the scientific community on February 15, 1909, at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society. The following year, the General Bakelite Corporation was formed, and the Bakelite it produced was used in many different industries. Among the first uses was in the manufacture of ignition parts for the rapidly growing automobile industry. At the time of Baekeland’s death in 1944, annual production of Bakelite was more than 125,000 tons, and the material was being used to produce an incredible variety of manufactured goods. Significance Baekeland’s synthesis of Bakelite paved the way for the development of a great variety of novel human-made products, some of which are similar to natural materials and some of which have no parallel in nature. Bakelite was introduced at the very time the automobile industry was in need of parts fabricated from such a material. This provided a firm industrial base for the material that is still retained. In synthesizing Bakelite, Baekeland drew on both his theoretical knowledge of chemistry and, to a large extent, his practical knowledge based on years of experience. He did not fully understand the structure of his product on a molecular level. Bakelite proved to be the first of a class of compounds called synthetic polymers. Polymers are long chains of molecules that are linked together chemi-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Further Reading Asimov, Isaac. Asimov’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 2d rev. ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1982. A user-friendly text that contains biographical information on more than fifteen hundred scientists and inventors. Extensive cross-
referencing enables interested readers to learn much about both scientific discoveries and the personalities and accomplishments of the scientists involved. Canby, Thomas Y. “Reshaping Our Lives: Advanced Materials.” National Geographic 176 (December, 1989): 746-781. Presents a comprehensive overview of modern material science, including detailed discussions of polymers, ceramics, composites, and other materials. Also contains information on yearly production figures, theoretical background, and manufacturing techniques. Color photographs. Chiles, James R. “On Land, Sea, and in the Air, Those Polymer Invaders Are Here.” Smithsonian 16 (November, 1985): 76-86. Informative article gives a brief summary of the history of plastic and an excellent overview of modern plastic materials. Includes several good photographs of plastics manufacturing processes. Fenichell, Stephen. Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century. New York: Collins, 1996. Traces the history of plastics and discusses their sociological importance as they revolutionized many fields, from fashion to medicine. Friedel, Robert. “AWorld of New Materials.” In Inventors and Discoverers: Changing Our World, edited by Elizabeth L. Newhouse. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1988. Presents a historical survey of materials science, including detailed history of such materials as rubber, celluloid, and plastics. Includes interesting photographs illustrating the broad potential of plastics touted to a receptive public. Also includes an excellent biographical profile of Baekeland. Mossman, Susan, ed. Early Plastics: Perspectives 18501950. New York: Continuum, 2000. A collection of essays by historians of art and technology on all aspects of the social history of the first century of plastic. Includes twenty color plates. Williams, Trevor I. A Short History of TwentiethCentury Technology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. An excellent overview of technology from 1900 to 1950, this work compresses an incredible amount of material into a small text. Includes a chapter on chemicals with a section devoted to plastics that places twentieth century achievements in synthetic plastic research in perspective. See also: 1901: Creation of the First Synthetic Vat Dye; 1901-1904: Kipping Discovers Silicones; Jan., 1913: Burton Refines Petroleum with Thermal Cracking; Feb., 1935-Oct. 27, 1938: Carothers Invents Nylon. 387
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cally. There are many natural polymers, such as cotton. The discovery of synthetic polymers led to vigorous research into the field and attempts to produce other useful artificial materials. These efforts met with a fair amount of success; by 1940, a multitude of new products unlike anything found in nature had been developed. These included such materials as polystyrene and low-density polyethylene. In addition, polymer chemists sought to create artificial substitutes for natural polymers, such as rubber. One of the results of this research was the development of neoprene. Industries also were interested in developing synthetic polymers to produce materials that could be used in place of natural fibers such as cotton. The most dramatic success in this area was achieved by Du Pont chemist Wallace Hume Carothers, who also developed neoprene. Carothers focused his energies on forming a synthetic fiber similar to silk, resulting in the synthesis of nylon. Plastics were widely used in World War II because of their properties, as in the case of Bakelite, and as substitutes for natural products in short supply, as with nylon. Postwar development in the plastics industry yielded many useful new products, such as high-density polyethylene, for which Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Research and development of novel synthetic materials in more recent years produced such innovations as Kevlar, and the area remains one of intense competition. Synthetic polymers constitute one branch of a broad area known as material science. Novel, useful materials produced synthetically have allowed for tremendous progress in many areas. Examples of these new materials include high-temperature superconductors, composites, and ceramics as well as plastics. These materials have wide-ranging uses as structural components of aircraft, artificial limbs and implants, tennis rackets, garbage bags, and more. Unlike most natural products, plastics are extremely persistent in the environment. Growing awareness of this characteristic has led to the implementation of recycling technology as well as research aimed at developing agents that facilitate the biodegradation of these materials. —Craig B. Lagrone
Baekeland Invents Bakelite
Boltwood Uses Radioactivity to Determine Ages of Rocks
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1905-1907
Boltwood Uses Radioactivity to Determine Ages of Rocks Bertram Borden Boltwood pioneered the radiometric dating of rocks, giving impetus to the use of nuclear methods in geology and establishing a new chronology of the earth. Locale: Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut Categories: Science and technology; earth science; geology; physics Key Figures Bertram Borden Boltwood (1870-1927), American scientist Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), British physicist who won the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Baron Kelvin (William Thomson; 1824-1907), British mathematician and physicist who formulated the second law of thermodynamics Summary of Event Bertram Borden Boltwood, educated at Yale University and in Germany, began his career as an instructor of analytic chemistry at Yale University. He remained at Yale until 1890, when he left to establish a private laboratory (Pratt and Boltwood, Consulting Mining Engineers and Chemists) in New Haven, Connecticut. He was interested in radium and was fascinated by the theory of radioactive disintegrations proposed in 1903 by two McGill University scientists, Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy. According to that theory, radioactivity is always accompanied by the production of new chemical elements on an atom-by-atom basis. In 1904, Boltwood impressed Rutherford by demonstrating that all uranium minerals contain the same number of radium atoms per gram of uranium. This confirmation of the theory of radioactivity marked the beginning of a close collaboration between the two scientists. Actually, Boltwood’s involvement with research in radioactivity can be traced to 1899, when he was supervising a student project on the extraction of radium from uranium ores by Marie Curie’s method. The significance of Boltwood’s work is best appreciated in the light of a chronological controversy raging at that time between geologists and physicists. It had been accepted generally that the earth, at some time in its history, had been a liquid ball, and that its solid crust was formed when the temperature was reduced by cooling. The geological age of the earth was defined, thus, as the 388
period of time necessary to allow it to cool down from the melting point to the present temperature. Several estimates of that time were made in the second half of the nineteenth century by the famous physicist Baron Kelvin, Sir William Thomson (known as Lord Kelvin), who claimed that the age of the earth did not exceed 100 million years. In 1897, Lord Kelvin specified that the actual figure was probably close to 20 million and certainly not as large as 40 million. His calculations were mathematically correct, but they did not take into account radioactivity, which had been discovered the year before. Geologists believed that 40 million years simply was not enough time to create continents, erode mountains, and supply oceans with minerals and salts. Studies of sequences of layers (stratigraphy) and of fossils (paleontology) led them to believe that the earth was older than 100 million years, but they were not able to prove it. Boltwood and Rutherford proved that geologists were right.
Bertram Borden Boltwood. (Yale University Library)
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Decay of Uranium 238 This came as a by-product of their research on the nature of radioactivity. The gaseous element helium played Uranium Thorium an important role in that line of re234 92 238 Radium search. Rutherford knew that helium 234 92 91 230 is always present in natural deposits 234 90 Radon 90 of uranium, and this led him to beBismuth Uranium 226 lieve that in radioactive minerals, al88 Polonium Polonium Protactinium pha particles somehow are turned 222 Lead Thorium 86 210 into ordinary atoms of helium. Ac214 84 218 84 210 cordingly, each rock of a radioactive 206 84 214 83 82 83 mineral is a generator of helium. The 210 214 82 accumulation of the gas proceeds 82 Key Lead Polonium more or less uniformly, so that the = Total number of protons and neutrons 238 Bismuth age of a rock can be determined from 92 = Number of protons Lead the amount of trapped helium. In that = Electron emission (beta decay) sense, radioactive rocks serve as natural clocks. = Alpha emission = Stable In line with this model, and knowing how much helium is produced Uranium 238 decays naturally, over a predictable period of time, to form lead. from each gram of uranium per bilBoltwood realized that the accumulation of lead in rocks could be used to determine lion years, Rutherford and his coltheir age. laborators were able to see that naturally radioactive rocks are often older than 100 million years. The accumuonce trapped, it becomes part of a solid structure. lated amounts of helium in the rocks they studied were Motivated by these ideas, Boltwood proceeded with simply too large to allow other interpretations. The ages the development of the uranium-lead method of dating. of some of the samples exceeded 500 million years. To accomplish this, he had to determine the rate at which Moreover, Rutherford was aware that the ages they aslead is produced from uranium. That rate is about 0.15 signed would have to be revised upward in order to acgrams of lead per gram of uranium, per billion years. count for helium that was escaping from the rocks. Suppose, for example, that a chemical analysis of a rock Impressed by these results, and trying to eliminate the yields 0.03 grams of lead for each gram of uranium. The uncertainties associated with leakage of helium, Boltage of the rock can be found by setting 0.03 = 0.15 H t, wood decided to work on another method of dating the where t is the age of the rock, in billions of years. The sorocks. This resulted from his earlier attempts to demonlution of this simple equation is t = 0.2, or 200 million strate that, as in the case of radium, all uranium minerals years. A slightly smaller t, 192 million, would be decontain the same number of atoms of lead per gram of duced if the exponential nature of radioactive decay were uranium. Chemical data, however, did not confirm this taken under consideration. expectation; the measured lead-to-uranium ratios were Boltwood was aware that even the most carefully perfound to be different in minerals from different locations formed experiments can lead to highly unrealistic conon the earth. Yet this still needed to be interpreted. Acclusions. In his case, two sources of interpretational ercording to Rutherford and Soddy’s theory, a spontaneous rors were possible, one having to do with the preexisting transformation of uranium into a final product proceeds (nonradiogenic) lead and another having to do with the through a set of steps in which alpha particles and elecfact that chemicals can migrate through rock boundaries. trons are emitted, one after another. Boltwood realized Suppose, Boltwood argued, that 50 percent of the lead that lead must be the final product and that its accumulafound in a sample was already there at the time of solidition could be used to date minerals. By focusing on lead fication, but a researcher was not aware of that fact. In rather than on helium, he hoped to reduce the uncertainsuch a case, the derived age of the sample would be exagties associated with the leakage. He reasoned that lead is gerated by a factor of two. In other words, preexisting less likely than helium to escape from rocks because,
Boltwood Uses Radioactivity to Determine Ages of Rocks lead would make rocks appear older than they actually were. On the other hand, the opposite would be true if one-half of the lead generated from uranium were able to escape through the rock boundaries. Recognizing the dangers of interpretational errors, Boltwood was very careful in selecting samples. He analyzed only deep portions of samples to minimize uncertainties associated with the possibility of lead leakage. Boltwood started his investigations in 1905, and before the end of the year he had analyzed twenty-six samples. One of them was identified as 570 million years old. In a formal publication that appeared in 1907, he described forty-six minerals collected in different locations; their reported ages were between 410 and 2,200 million years old. Similar results had been reported earlier by Rutherford, from his laboratory in Montreal, and by Robert John Strutt (also known as Fourth Baron Rayleigh), from the Imperial College in London. It is true that similarities were mostly qualitative, rather than quantitative; however, all data showed that the absolute time scale was undeniably longer than anticipated, even by some geologists. In other words, the large margins of error that characterized early results did not interfere with the basic overall conclusion that many rocks were at least ten times older than Lord Kelvin had calculated. It was significant that helium and lead methods, based on different chemical procedures and applied to a large number of very different minerals, yielded similar results at three institutions. Significance The main result of Boltwood’s pioneering work and that of his successors was the realization that geological time must be expressed in hundreds and thousands of millions of years rather than in tens of millions, as advocated by Lord Kelvin. This was particularly significant for the acceptance of the theory of evolution and, in general, for better understanding of many long-term processes on the earth. Geochronology (the study of geological time) has been used, for example, in investigations of reversals of the terrestrial magnetic field. Such reversals occurred many times during the earth’s geological history. Scientists discovered and studied them by dating pieces of lava that were naturally magnetized during solidification. The most recent reversal took place approximately 700,000 years ago. It is clear, in retrospect, that the discovery of radioactivity affected geochronology in two ways: by providing tools for radiometric dating and by invalidating Lord Kelvin’s thermodynamic calculations. These calcula390
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tions were based on the assumption that the geothermal energy lost by the earth is not replenished. The existence of radioactive heating, discovered in 1903 in France, contradicted that assumption and prepared scientists for the acceptance of Boltwood’s findings. Lord Kelvin died in the same year in which these findings were published, but he knew about Rutherford’s findings as early as spring, 1904. He was very interested in radioactive heating but never came forward with any public retraction of his earlier pronouncements. In its modern form, the uranium-lead method of dating is very different from what it was at the beginning of the twentieth century, primarily because radioactive transformations are better understood and because instruments have been developed that were not available in Boltwood’s day. The most important tool of modern geochronologists is the mass spectrometer. Its widespread use after World War II is responsible for the development of new methods of dating. The availability of several methods is important when redundancy can be used to minimize, and sometimes eliminate, the kinds of interpretational errors recognized by Rutherford, Strutt, and Boltwood. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, a large number of samples from different geological strata, all over the world, plus lunar samples and meteorites, had been dated by modern methods. The data showed that the oldest known terrestrial rocks solidified 3.7 billion years ago; this is 0.9 billion years less than the ages of lunar samples. The ages of most meteorites, between 4.5 and 4.7 billion years, are essentially the same as the ages of lunar samples. This is consistent with the overall picture, also backed by astronomical data, that the earth’s solar system was formed 4.7 billion years ago, and that the earth remained liquid in the first 0.9 billion years of its existence. Boltwood would be proud to be counted among the contributors to that knowledge. — Ludwik Kowalski Further Reading Asimov, Isaac. Exploring the Earth and the Cosmos. New York: Crown, 1982. Provides excellent description of the ways researchers learn about the world. Twenty-three chapters cover the entire panorama of findings in astronomy, biology, chemistry, geography, and physics. Chapters 13 and 14 are devoted to chronology and to the age of the earth. Badash, Lawrence. “Bertram Borden Boltwood.” In Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie. New York: Charles Scribner’s
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Sons, 1970. Biography of Boltwood includes a detailed description of his family background, professional activities, and private life. _______. Radioactivity in America. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979. A good account of the history of the early (pre-1920) research in radioactivity and of practical applications of that research, primarily in the United States. Boltwood’s life and professional activities, including his work on radiometric dating, are described in chapters 4, 5, and 6. Chapters 9 and 10 are devoted to medical applications of radium and to the marketing of that material. _______, ed. Rutherford and Boltwood: Letters on Radioactivity. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1969. Good reading for those who wish to experience the scientific excitement of these two friends and collaborators. Of particular interest is a letter, dated November 18, 1905, in which Boltwood recognizes Rutherford as the initiator of the uranium-lead method of dating minerals. Burchfield, Joe D. Lord Kelvin and the Age of the Earth. New York: Science History Publications, 1975. An excellent book for all who are interested in the evolution of geochronologies, both before and after Lord Kelvin. The last chapter describes the dramatic effects of the discovery of radioactivity on geoscience. Highly readable; excellent bibliography. Eicher, Don L. Geologic Time. 2d ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976. The author of this short but very informative book, an earth scientist from the University of Colorado, places the concept of geological time in historical perspective. Focuses on significant discoveries that contributed to the growth of scientific geology and describes various methods of dating geological formations. Includes photographs, sketches, and maps.
Boltwood Uses Radioactivity to Determine Ages of Rocks Faul, Henry. Ages of Rocks, Planets, and Stars. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966. Written by a geophysicist with extensive experience using modern methods of nuclear geochronology, this book provides the general scientific background that readers need to understand these methods, together with clear explanations of different techniques and descriptions of interesting findings. Friedlander, Gerhart, et al. “Nuclear Processes in Geology and Astrophysics.” In Nuclear and Radiochemistry. 3d ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1981. Useful introduction to the quantitative aspects of various methods of geochronology for those with some background in general physics and chemistry. Includes numerous references. Gorst, Martin. Measuring Eternity: The Search for the Beginning of Time. New York: Broadway Books, 2001. Discusses how human understanding of time, and specifically the age of the universe, has changed over the centuries as scientific knowledge has increased. Includes index. Hellman, Hal. “Lord Kelvin Versus Geologists and Biologists: The Age of the Earth.” In Great Feuds in Science: Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998. Focuses on the human side of the debate about the age of the earth between proponents of Lord Kelvin’s calculations and scientists such as Boltwood and Rutherford. See also: Early 20th cent.: Elster and Geitel Study Radioactivity; Dec. 10, 1903: Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity; Feb. 11, 1908: Geiger and Rutherford Develop a Radiation Counter; Summer, 1928: Gamow Explains Radioactive Alpha Decay with Quantum Tunneling; 19331934: First Artificial Radioactive Element Is Developed. 1905
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Pinchot Becomes Head of the U.S. Forest Service
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
January 3, 1905
Pinchot Becomes Head of the U.S. Forest Service As the nation’s chief forester, Gifford Pinchot combined crusading zeal with scientific analysis and administration to encourage the conservation of American resources. Locale: United States Categories: Environmental issues; organizations and institutions; natural resources Key Figures Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), American conservationist Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Richard Achilles Ballinger (1858-1922), U.S. secretary of the interior, 1909-1911 Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), president of the United States, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897 George W. Vanderbilt II (1862-1914), American millionaire who was interested in conservation James Rudolph Garfield (1865-1950), U.S. secretary of the interior, 1907-1909 Summary of Event Calls for the planned management of U.S. national resources in order to safeguard land, water, forests, and mineral deposits from exploitation, waste, and neglect are as old as the country. During the nineteenth century, President Thomas Jefferson, author Henry David Thoreau, naturalist John Muir, explorer John Wesley Powell, and ecologist George Perkins Marsh were among the prominent personalities who, although differing in their approaches, advocated informed private action and vigorous governmental policies to protect the nation’s resource heritage. However, on a continent seemingly blessed with unbounded resources, and within a society dedicated to individual liberty as well as to the generally free pursuit of economic interests, these cries for husbanding national resources were raised outside the mainstream of American life. Nevertheless, by the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when the extent and uniqueness of the nation’s resources were carefully documented, the influence of naturalists and conservationists began affecting federal policy. So, too, did the views of scientists inside the federal scientific community informed by findings of the Coast (and Geodetic) Survey and the reports of the early Geological Survey. As the federal government was 392
charged with responsibility for the ownership, lease, or sale of by far the greatest share of the nation’s lands, forests, and remaining metal and mineral resources, the importance of these influences was immense. By 1891, for example, the U.S. Congress empowered the president to withdraw forest lands from sale and to establish “public” forests. Accordingly, between 1891 and 1901, presidents Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, and William McKinley set aside 46 million acres denominated as national forest, a figure that rose to 148 million acres during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt. Many U.S. states already had begun taking similar actions. After 1890, Gifford Pinchot, who would make “conservation” a household word and who won renown both as the father of scientific resource management and as one of the chief philosophers of conservationism, was deeply involved in many of these events. Born into a wealthy family in Simbury, Connecticut, in 1865, Pinchot came from a cosmopolitan and patrician background. Trained at the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy, he subsequently attended Yale University, graduating in 1889. He would later return to Yale as a professor. In the absence of American schools of forestry, Pinchot spent three years after his college graduation studying forestry under experts in France, Germany, and Switzerland. When he returned to the United States, he established a private consultancy in New York and began doing business as the nation’s first professional forester. In 1892, millionaire George W. Vanderbilt II engaged Pinchot’s services to initiate forest management on Vanderbilt’s estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Gaining repute as an expert, Pinchot became a member of the National Forest Commission, a body designated to assess the nation’s forest resources, in 1896. Two years later, he won appointment as chief forester to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Division of Forestry, a position in which he succeeded German-born forester Bernhard E. Fernow. Pinchot’s career and cause vaulted to prominence under the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt between 1901 and 1909. Both background and temperament inclined Roosevelt toward conservation; historians would ultimately identify his conservation measures as among the most enduring contributions of his presidency. Like Pinchot, Roosevelt recognized that the nation’s resources were not inexhaustible. He had long dissented from the prevalent public view that national
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Pinchot Becomes Head of the U.S. Forest Service
Pinchot’s Fight for Conservation In his 1910 book The Fight for Conservation, Gifford Pinchot makes a passionate case for his vision of conservation, which focuses on “the art of producing from the forest whatever it can yield for the service of man.”
Gifford Pinchot. (Library of Congress)
Source: Gifford Pinchot, The Fight for Conservation (New York: Doubleday, Page, 1910).
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resources should continue to be open to exploitation mainly for the profit of large private interests. Rather, he believed, the public domain should be organized and managed in accord with what he regarded as the general welfare. Amid rising tides of reformist Progressivism, which emphasized an expanding role for government, the application of scientific principles to cope with public problems, and administrative efficiency, Roosevelt recognized the potential popularity—and hence political importance—of conservation issues. Disillusioned by the McKinley administration, Pinchot, whose interests had expanded from trees to encompass a wide range of natural resources, sought support from Roosevelt while Roosevelt was governor of New York. The two men became friends, and after his inauguration as president, Roosevelt inducted Pinchot into his “tennis cabinet,” an informal but influential body within which Pinchot expressed his views on policy making far more effectively than his official rank would have allowed. In 1905, Roosevelt appointed Pinchot to lead the newly created U.S. Forest Service. For a
We, the American people, have come into the possession of nearly four million square miles of the richest portion of the earth. It is ours to use and conserve for ourselves and our descendants, or to destroy. The fundamental question which confronts us is, What shall we do with it? That question cannot be answered without first considering the condition of our natural resources and what is being done with them to-day. As a people, we have been in the habit of declaring certain of our resources to be inexhaustible. To no other resource more frequently than coal has this stupidly false adjective been applied. Yet our coal supplies are so far from being inexhaustible that if the increasing rate of consumption shown by the figures of the last seventy-five years continues to prevail, our supplies of anthracite coal will last but fifty years and of bituminous coal less than two hundred years. From the point of view of national life, this means the exhaustion of one of the most important factors in our civilization within the immediate future. Not a few coal fields have already been exhausted, as in portions of Iowa and Missouri. Yet, in the face of these known facts, we continue to treat our coal as though there could never be an end of it. The established coal-mining practice at the present date does not take out more than one-half the coal, leaving the less easily mined or lower grade material to be made permanently inaccessible by the caving in of the abandoned workings. The loss to the Nation from this form of waste is prodigious and inexcusable. The waste in use is not less appalling. But five per cent of the potential power residing in the coal actually mined is saved and used. For example, only about five per cent of the power of the one hundred and fifty million tons annually burned on the railways of the United States is actually used in traction; ninetyfive per cent is expended unproductively or is lost. In the best incandescent electric lighting plants but one-fifth of one per cent of the potential value of the coal is converted into light. Many oil and gas fields, as in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the Mississippi Valley, have already failed, yet vast amounts of gas continue to be poured into the air and great quantities of oil into the streams. Cases are known in which great volumes of oil were systematically burned in order to get rid of it. The prodigal squandering of our mineral fuels proceeds unchecked in the face of the fact that such resources as these, once used or wasted, can never be replaced. If waste like this were not chiefly thoughtless, it might well be characterized as the deliberate destruction of the Nation’s future.
Pinchot Becomes Head of the U.S. Forest Service time, Pinchot’s views also received sympathetic support from Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield. By 1907, Pinchot’s newly constituted Forest Service had launched a number of ambitious conservation programs and was budgeting more than five million dollars annually. A zealous reformer whose thinking and tactics were years ahead of those of most bureaucrats, Pinchot understood the importance not only of managing resources but also of managing public opinion. His office became a fount of educational publicity and propaganda, engaging in political lobbying and exerting pressure on lawmakers. Pinchot’s objective was to shift decisions about the utilization of the country’s natural resources from private decision makers to public policy makers. With federal supervision, Pinchot believed, the uses of natural resources could be and should be determined according to scientific principles, thereby eliminating waste and neglect. He had no desire to see national resources “locked up”; indeed, both he and Roosevelt thought the use of resources to be essential to the nation’s economic growth. Like most Progressives, however, he had a strong animus against the corporate trusts and monopolies of the day. What he sought was a more equitable distribution of resources that favored individuals and more competitive enterprises. Significance The National Conservation Commission’s report of 1909 lent urgency to what Pinchot described as the virile evolution of his conservation campaign. With Pinchot as its chairman, the commission tried to produce a scientific inventory of the nation’s principal resources. Its conclusions were sobering: Much of the country’s stock of gold, silver, copper, lead, nickel, and other metals and minerals was in private hands and was rapidly being depleted. In addition, the commission foresaw early exhaustion of the nation’s coal, oil, and high-grade iron ores—the vital material of an industrial society—at thencurrent rates of exploitation and production. Because many state governments, particularly in the West, had earlier voiced alarm over resource depletion, the federal commission’s report almost immediately encouraged the tightening and enforcement of existing land and mineral laws, with the result that more efficient mining practices were swiftly introduced. Pinchot’s leadership of the commission, therefore, has been judged the high point of his career in federal government; however, it by no means ended his public presence. A change in the political climate soon occurred: The 394
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 moderate Progressive presidency of Roosevelt yielded to the conservatism of President William Howard Taft, and Pinchot’s insider role and presidential support were swept away. As a consequence, Pinchot and other conservationists were soon at odds with their administrative superiors. In 1910, Pinchot and other officials brought accusations against Taft’s secretary of the interior, Richard Achilles Ballinger, a former Seattle businessman and politician. Pinchot publicly accused Ballinger of granting powerful private interests water and power rights on lands in Montana and Wyoming that the Roosevelt administration had withdrawn from public sale. Almost simultaneously, Pinchot defended a federal land office investigator who had been fired because he had charged Ballinger with favoring a corporate syndicate’s claim to Alaskan coal lands. Not surprisingly, Pinchot was also dismissed. The effects of the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy over conservation issues and Pinchot’s dismissal proved important. Aroused public opinion led to joint congressional investigation, and although the committee’s findings exonerated Ballinger, his position was made untenable, and he too resigned. Subsequently, a federal court substantiated the significant portion of Pinchot’s charges when it ruled that the private syndicate’s claim to Alaskan coal lands was indeed fraudulent. These controversies further weakened a Republican Party already divided by personal clashes between Taft and Roosevelt, fueling the open rupture that produced Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party in 1912. While these events were unfolding, Pinchot in 1910 published The Fight for Conservation, a manifesto that effectively summarized the goals of many Progressives who believed in conservation and that enunciated the basic strategies embraced by many conservationists ever since. An optimistic work aimed at augmenting the public’s growing awareness of conservation, the book bristled with Pinchot’s righteous fervor. To Pinchot, conservation above all presented U.S. citizens with moral choices, a theme he stressed repeatedly. In simple, straightforward prose, Pinchot’s book discussed such topics as the basis of national prosperity through home building, better times on the farms (where most Americans then lived), waterways, business, public spirit, children and the future, the prospects of advancing equality through conservation, and the identification of conservation with patriotism. It also summarized conservationists’ ongoing struggles. Several major arguments emerged from his treatment of these subjects. In reply to critics, Pinchot emphasized that national resources were
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cates of “deep ecology” developed philosophies that rejected Pinchot’s rational, technocratic, and utilitarian approach to the handling of national resources. Others, however, including Roderick Nash, Barry Commoner, and Murray Bookchin, continued to draw on and amend Pinchot’s philosophy. In 1949, three years after Pinchot’s death, the Columbia National Forest in southwest Washington was renamed the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in honor of his leadership in the Forest Service. The forest includes the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, established by Congress in 1982, which is living testimony to the tremendous destructive powers of nature as well as the rapid recuperative power of forest life. —Clifton K. Yearley Further Reading Fausold, Martin L. Gifford Pinchot: Bull Moose Progressive. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1961. A scholarly study that concentrates on Pinchot’s political values and activities. Places Pinchot’s conservationism within the broader context of Progressivism. Clearly written and insightful. Includes notes, bibliography, and index. Hays, Samuel P. Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency. 1959. Reprint. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999. A seminal work on the early history of conservation. Argues that the movement began as a search for greater efficiency in resource management, not as a democratic crusade against supposed business rapacity. McGeary, M. Nelson. Gifford Pinchot, Forester-Politician. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1960. Fine biography illuminates Pinchot’s chief goal of bringing economic equality and greater justice into American life through conservation. Despite a sympathetic treatment, it also notes Pinchot’s rashness and frequent instabilities. Includes photographs, notes, bibliography, and index. Mann, Alpheus Thomas. Bureaucracy Convicts Itself. New York: Viking Press, 1941. Clearly written study concentrates on the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy and is enriched by interviews with the principals. Includes illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. Miller, Char. Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism. Washington, D.C.: Shearwater Books, 2004. First full-length biography of Pinchot in forty years draws on previously unavailable materials to illuminate his life and times. Includes notes and index. 395
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for use and should not be withheld. They were integral, he believed, to the nation’s growth and prosperity. He insisted, however, on the intelligent, rational, and efficient—that is, scientific—utilization of resources. Furthermore, he condemned unnecessary exploitation and waste, arguing that conservationists could develop and apply scientific methods to the use of all resources. Finally, voicing his fears about glaring economic inequalities in the United States, he argued for far more widely dispersed ownership of the nation’s natural resources. The Fight for Conservation marked neither the end of Pinchot’s writings in behalf of Progressive causes nor his political swan song. In 1928, he published The Power Monopoly, which attacked the vast and intricate holding companies that dominated the production of water and electric power. He recounted a lifetime of reformist experiences in Breaking New Ground (1947), which was published posthumously. Having failed to bring Roosevelt back into the White House as the Progressive candidate in 1912, Pinchot pursued political office for himself; he served two divided terms (1923-1926 and 1931-1934) as governor of Pennsylvania. Having known Pinchot well, Theodore Roosevelt praised him as the most valuable of all the public officials who had served in his administration. A generation later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s secretary of the interior, Harold Ickes, remarked that there was no one in public life for whom he had greater admiration than the still-active Pinchot. Critics, however, often characterized Gifford Pinchot as cranky, overzealous, self-righteous, technocratic, and moralistic. A number of others thought he claimed too much, recognizing that Pinchot was not the first significant personality to question traditional attitudes toward the nation’s natural resources or American perceptions of nature. Nor was he the first to urge a reformulation of these attitudes or to seek change in the practices that flowed from them. Even during his lifetime, there were many approaches to conservation and many divergent philosophies and opinions about how to proceed. Nevertheless, during the first half of the twentieth century no one did a better job than Pinchot of making conservation a household term and a popular cause, the liberal goal of which was to bring greater equality and justice into American life. Few other ecologists, environmentalists, or conservationists, moreover, have been credited by historians with equal displays of political vision. During the remainder of the century, many environmentalists, naturalists, pastoralists, Greens, and advo-
Pinchot Becomes Head of the U.S. Forest Service
National Audubon Society Is Established Nash, Roderick Frazier. Wilderness and the American Mind. 4th ed. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001. Intellectual history of Americans’ relationship with the wilderness, beginning with the earliest days of European contact. Includes bibliography and index. Penick, James L., Jr. Progressive Politics and Conservation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968. A study of the Ballinger-Pinchot affair that examines the relationships between the conservation movement and the trust issue. Pinchot viewed conservation as an instrument of control, whereas Ballinger believed that the movement favored the trusts. Includes extensive notes and excellent index. Pinchot, Gifford. The Fight for Conservation. 1910. Reprint. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1967. Pinchot uses simple, forceful prose and many telling examples to make his case. Reprint includes a useful introduction and a biographical sketch of Pinchot.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Taylor, Bob Pepperman. Our Limits Transgressed: Environmental Political Thought in America. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992. An outstanding, clearly written scholarly analysis of environmental thinking in the United States. Invaluable for its extensive treatment of Pinchot’s values, views, and objectives in their proper historical context. Includes notes, bibliography, and index. See also: Jan. 11, 1908: Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from Mining Claims; May 13-15, 1908: Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources; 1910: Steinmetz Warns of Pollution in “The Future of Electricity”; Dec. 19, 1913: U.S. Congress Approves a Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley; Aug. 25, 1916: National Park Service Is Created; Feb. 25, 1920: Mineral Act Regulates Public Lands; 1923: Federal Power Commission Disallows Kings River Dams.
January 5, 1905
National Audubon Society Is Established The uniting of state Audubon Societies into a national organization gave vitality and permanence to the infant bird-protection movement in the United States. Locale: New York, New York Categories: Environmental issues; organizations and institutions Key Figures John James Audubon (1785-1851), American hunter and painter of birdlife George Bird Grinnell (1849-1938), American naturalist William Dutcher (1846-1920), American businessman and first president of the National Audubon Society Frank Chapman (1864-1945), founder of Bird-Lore magazine and first treasurer of the National Audubon Society T. Gilbert Pearson (1873-1943), first secretary of the National Audubon Society Guy Bradley (1870-1905), Florida game warden Summary of Event The National Audubon Society was established in 1905 to provide protection for the U.S. bird population. The society was named for John James Audubon, a nine396
teenth century hunter and painter of American birdlife. Audubon’s major contribution to the work of the National Audubon Society is his artistic and scientific record of the American wildlife of his time. The concept of bird protection, however, which is at the heart of the National Audubon Society, was completely unknown to him, as the sheer number of birds on the American continent during the nineteenth century prevented any realization of the need for their protection. Audubon’s home on the Hudson River had significant influence on the development of Audubon Societies across the United States. It was there that Audubon collected the trophies of his bird-hunting expeditions. The home became the center of Audubon Park, later a major residential area of New York City. The most important name in the founding of the birdprotection movement in the United States is that of George Bird Grinnell. Like Audubon, Grinnell was a hunter. He was also a naturalist, an explorer, and the publisher of a hunting and fishing magazine called Forest and Stream. Unlike Audubon, Grinnell became greatly alarmed by the wanton slaughter of birds in the United States, which was undertaken primarily to collect skins and plumage. He feared the total destruction of many valuable species.
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society was not going to be effective, he gave up. The December, 1887, issue of the Audubon Magazine marked the end of both the magazine and the society. In spite of this failure, Grinnell had laid the foundation for a strong bird-protection movement in the United States. The movement experienced rapid growth in the succeeding years, and in 1896 states began establishing their own Audubon Societies. Massachusetts led the way, followed by nine other states and the District of Columbia. Each of these societies, and the others that came later, has its own unique history. The next significant leader of the Audubon movement was William Dutcher, a wealthy New York City businessman. New York was the center of the millinery industry, the strongest opponent of bird-protection laws. Dutcher began a national campaign to outlaw the slaughter of the birds that supplied feathers for the millinery industry. One result of his efforts was the Lacey Act, passed by Congress in 1900, which sought to limit interstate trade in bird plumage. By 1901, thirty-six autonomous Audubon Societies were operating in the United States. That year saw the first attempt to give a unified direction to the movement. At Dutcher’s urging, a loose federation was formed and named the National Committee of the Audubon Societies of America. Additional direction was provided by the Auk, the journal of the American Ornithologists’ Union, and by Bird-Lore, a publication founded by Frank Chapman in 1899. In 1940, Bird-Lore was renamed Audubon. The Florida Everglades became one of the most bitter battlegrounds between bird hunters and bird protectionists. It was there that, on July 8, 1905, the murder of Guy Bradley, a game warden working closely with Dutcher and Chapman, created the first martyr for the Audubon movement. Two similar murders occurred in 1908. The work of Grinnell, Dutcher, Chapman, and many others came to a climax on January 5, 1905, when the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals was incorporated in New York City. Grinnell was a member of the board of directors, Dutcher was the president, and Chapman was the treasurer. Later, the organization was renamed the National Audubon Society. Significance During its early years, much of the success of the National Audubon Society can be credited to the efforts and energy of T. Gilbert Pearson. Pearson was the first secretary of the national organization, and he became its 397
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A connection between Audubon and Grinnell was established in 1857, when Grinnell’s family moved to Audubon Park. Lucy Audubon, widow of the painter, still lived in the house filled with the mementos of her husband’s work. She operated a school in her home for the children of the area, which was several miles north of New York City; Grinnell attended the school as a boy. The time he spent in the home of John James Audubon stimulated Grinnell’s fascination with wildlife, but his interest was oriented toward hunting rather than preservation. He saw many of the artifacts of Audubon’s expeditions, including boxes full of bird skins. Boys at the school often spent their free time trying to kill birds, especially passenger pigeons, in the woods and along the banks of the Hudson River. The passenger pigeon was once the most numerous bird in North America, possibly in the world, with numbers estimated in the billions. In 1813, Audubon recorded seeing a flock that took three days to pass. A century later, in 1914, the last passenger pigeon died at the Cincinnati Zoo. After receiving a degree from Yale in 1870, Grinnell took part in several expeditions to the West before becoming editor and publisher of the weekly Forest and Stream. Although he continued the magazine’s format devoted to hunting and fishing, Grinnell began inserting strong editorials about the abuse of wildlife, especially the wholesale killing of game for restaurants and hotels. In 1883, the American Ornithologists’ Union was formed and became a part of the bird-protection movement. Grinnell joined the organization, which added a professional aspect to the movement, addressing such questions as the economic importance of birds and the role of birds in ecology. In February, 1886, Grinnell launched a campaign for a private organization that would work for the preservation of American birds. In an editorial in Forest and Stream, he proposed calling the organization the Audubon Society, for John James Audubon, whom he still greatly admired. Membership in the society was to be free to all who would work for the following goals: to prevent the killing of wild birds except for food, to protect the nests and eggs of wild birds, and to prohibit the use of feathers on clothing and hats. Grinnell’s infant society existed entirely on paper, first in Forest and Stream, and then in 1887 in the Audubon Magazine, a new publication produced by Grinnell. Initial enthusiasm for the society was widespread, but the members were neither willing nor able to take concrete action. Grinnell did not have adequate resources to support the society, and, after two years, realizing that the
National Audubon Society Is Established
National Audubon Society Is Established primary troubleshooter. As local issues developed involving the state societies, Pearson offered advice and support from the national association. A New Jersey assemblyman, for example, introduced a bill in his state’s legislature to declare the mourning dove a game bird, with an open season between August 15 and October 1. Many of the assemblyman’s constituents were glassblowers, and the sole reason for the bill was that glassblowers were on vacation between August 15 and October 1, and they wanted something to shoot during that time. With Pearson aiding the opposition, the bill was defeated. To combat the killing of plume birds, the National Audubon Society advocated the use of ostrich feathers, which could be gathered without causing the deaths of the ostriches. In the late nineteenth century, William Dutcher had encouraged ostrich farming to provide the needed quantity of feathers, and ostriches were imported from South Africa in 1882. By 1900, there were about three thousand ostriches on farms in California, Arizona, Florida, Arkansas, and North Carolina. Meetings of local Audubon societies displayed “Audubon millinery,” with hats adorned with ribbons and ostrich feathers. The ostrich farms did not produce enough feathers to meet the demands of the millinery industry, however, and Dutcher had to turn to other means of accomplishing Audubon goals. By 1908, the national association’s hopes of achieving its aims seemed more distant than ever. The opponents of bird-protection laws were launching attacks on every front. Dutcher, Pearson, and other national Audubon leaders found themselves rushing from state to state to help the individual Audubon Societies combat a succession of bills to legalize the killing of birds for sport, for feathers, or simply to eliminate undesirable species, such as English sparrows. When Dutcher’s ability to work was ended by a stroke in 1910, Pearson became the driving force of the Audubon movement. With a small and poorly paid New York City staff, he was able to keep the national society active until broader support brought the separate state societies closer together. Gradually, the goals of the Audubon Society gained the support of such political leaders as Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, but it was an educational program that eventually brought Audubon goals closer to fruition. George Bird Grinnell had recognized the value of enlisting children into the movement. Later Audubon presidents, such as John Baker (1944-1959) and Carl Buchheister (1959-1967), en398
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 hanced the educational program to reach the general population of the United States. Baker’s most valuable asset was Roger Tory Peterson, who is often given credit for making birdwatching a national pastime. Peterson was reared in Jamestown, New York, where a seventh-grade teacher aroused his interest in birds and brought him into a Junior Audubon Club. This teacher also discovered Peterson’s talent for drawing. Baker, who tried to lure professionals into the national association, secured Peterson’s artistic services. Baker’s years as president of the organization also marked its transition from an association to a true National Audubon Society. Buchheister, who replaced Baker as president in 1959, greatly enhanced that national image through education and membership, which stood in excess of thirty thousand at that time. The growth of the environmental movement accelerated during the 1970’s, and the Audubon Society was particularly pleased about the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973. In the 1980’s, under the leadership of its eighth president, Russell W. Peterson, the Audubon Society began international environmental advocacy. In 1987, Audubon boasted five hundred chapters. In 1990, the society participated in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the International Biodiversity Treaty was drafted. Despite its uncertain beginning in 1905, the National Audubon Society had profound impacts on conservation in general and on bird protection in particular. Beginning with the Lacey Act in 1900, the U.S. Congress and individual state legislatures passed many bird-preservation laws. Bird plumage ceased to be a major element of the clothing and millinery industries. Many Americans came to admire birds more for their grace and beauty than for their flesh and feathers. In the twenty-first century, the National Audubon Society remains a vocal supporter of national and international environmental causes. —Glenn L. Swygart Further Reading Audubon, John James. Audubon, by Himself. Edited by Alice Ford. New York: Natural History Press, 1969. Audubon’s own writings, selected to give a broad view of his life and experience. Emphasizes Audubon’s expeditions to various parts of North America. Buchheister, Carl, and Frank Graham. “From the Swamps and Back: A Concise History of the Audubon Movement.” Audubon 74 (January, 1973): 4-45. Provides excellent historical information on the early years of the society. Includes photographs.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Doughty, Robin. Feather Fashions and Bird Preservation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975. Discusses the widespread use of bird plumage in fashions, the early debate over the plumage trade, and the opposition to that trade. A helpful appendix lists milestones in British and American bird protection from 1868 to 1922. Also includes lists of protected and unprotected birds during that era. Graham, Frank. The Audubon Ark: A History of the National Audubon Society. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. Comprehensive history of the Audubon movement, with good coverage of the work of the individuals who have served as presidents of the National Audubon Society. _______. Man’s Dominion: The History of Conservation in America. New York: M. Evans, 1971. Presents a view of conservation and bird protection far beyond the scope of the National Audubon Society. Includes an interesting chapter on the work and murder of Guy Bradley and surveys the work of other game wardens, especially those seeking to enforce bird-protection laws. Grinnell, George Bird. The Passing of the Great West: Selected Papers of George Bird Grinnell. Edited by John Reiger. New York: Winchester Press, 1972. Details Grinnell’s life in New York City and his travels in the West, including his exploration of the Black
Bloody Sunday Hills with General George Custer in 1874. Chapter 1 explores the influence of Grinnell’s early years in Audubon Park. Includes photographs. Merchant, Carolyn. The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Discusses how humans and environment have interacted throughout American history, including human impacts on animal species. Includes an environmental history time line and an extensive guide to resources. Mitchell, John. “A Man Called Bird.” Audubon 89 (March, 1987): 81-104. Presents a comprehensive view of the Audubon movement in general and George Bird Grinnell in particular. Describes Grinnell’s interests as a sportsman, scientist, publisher, pioneer conservationist, and advocate of bird preservation. Schorger, W. A. The Passenger Pigeon: Its Natural History and Extinction. 1973. Reprint. Caldwell, N.J.: Blackburn Press, 2004. Well-researched and welldocumented account explains clearly how a species can be brought to the brink of extinction. See also: Mar. 14, 1903: First U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established; Mar. 4, 1913: Migratory Bird Act; Sept. 1, 1914: Last Passenger Pigeon Dies; July 3, 1918: Migratory Bird Treaty Act; Feb. 4, 1936: Darling Founds the National Wildlife Federation.
January 22, 1905
Bloody Sunday
Locale: St. Petersburg, Russia Categories: Government and politics; wars, uprisings, and civil unrest; atrocities and war crimes Key Figures George Gapon (1870-1906), Russian Orthodox priest Nicholas II (1868-1918), czar of Russia, r. 1894-1917 Sergey Yulyevich Witte (1849-1915), Russian finance minister Sergei Vasilyevich Zubatov (1864-1917), head of the Moscow security police
Summary of Event The popular demonstration of Sunday, January 22, 1905 (January 9 by the Julian calendar used at the time in Russia), which ended in its bloody suppression, was a reaction not only against the deplorable conditions prevailing in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century but also against the government’s studied inability and reluctance to do anything about them. Foremost among those who opposed change and whose conservative policies created widespread discontent were Czar Nicholas II and a number of his close advisers, including Sergey Yulyevich Witte, the minister of finance. Nicholas II was determined to preserve his autocratic power against demands for representative government. Witte had implemented a program of rapid industrial growth, which he believed was imperative if Russia was to remain a great power. After the severe depression of 1900-1902, the op399
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Bloody Sunday marked the violent suppression of a demonstration of unarmed workers in St. Petersburg, precipitating revolutionary unrest throughout Russia that forced Czar Nicholas II to grant limited constitutional reforms.
Bloody Sunday position of these leaders to badly needed political and social reform encouraged acts of desperation. Between 1900 and 1905, unemployment increased in large centers of industry such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, and workers went on strike over low wages and long hours. Peasant unrest also increased dramatically during these years. Burdened by high taxes and a rapidly growing population, the peasants saw the seizure of the estates of the landed nobility as the answer to their problems. This growing discontent received encouragement from illegal political parties that were seeking radical political and social change. The underground Union of Liberation organized demonstrations in the fall of 1904 to protest government incompetence in waging the RussoJapanese War and to demand constitutional reforms and representative government. The Socialist Revolutionary Party supported the peasants’ desire for land; it was also responsible for the assassination of numerous government officials. A Marxist party, the Social Democrats, hoped to transform the strike movement into a revolutionary upheaval that would overthrow the autocracy and capitalism. Sergei Vasilyevich Zubatov, a former revolutionary who had become head of Moscow’s security police, believed that the workers were more interested in tangible
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 improvements in their living and working conditions than in Marxist ideology or a political reform program. They would, he argued, support the czar rather than the Social Democrats if the government would support their economic demands against their employers. To further this goal, Zubatov founded the Council of Workers of Mechanical Factories of the City of Moscow in 1901. Similar “police unions” were set up in other industrial cities, including Odessa and St. Petersburg. Witte, however, opposed government support for striking workers as harmful to his vision of rapid industrial growth, and this “police socialism” collapsed. It soon reappeared in St. Petersburg, however, under the leadership of a Russian Orthodox priest, Father George Gapon. Father Gapon’s organization, the Assembly of Russian Factory and Mill Workers of the City of St. Petersburg, also received government recognition as being nonpolitical in nature, which it was at first, but by 1904, when its membership had grown to eight thousand, many workers inclined to the more militant, revolutionary tactics of the Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries. Many laborers became more and more disgusted with their working conditions. The dismissal of workers in January, 1905, by a large factory in the capital led to a strike that became general within a few days.
Drawing created in 1905 depicts the clash between protesters and czarist troops on Bloody Sunday. (Library of Congress)
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Significance This episode, which came to be known as Bloody Sunday, was a debacle for the czarist regime. Liberal agitation for constitutional reforms, the rising wave of workers’ strikes and peasant uprisings, and public disgust with the lack of success in the war with Japan had already raised tensions in Russia to a high level. News of the massacre
in St. Petersburg unleashed the first Russian revolution in the twentieth century and presaged the still more radical revolution that the Bolsheviks would unleash in October, 1917. Father Gapon managed to escape from the capital and flee into exile, where he issued an open letter to the czar that denounced him for having refused to accept the petition: “Let all blood which has to be shed fall upon thee, hangman, and thy kindred.” In this statement, Gapon expressed the real historical significance of Bloody Sunday, namely, that the Russian people had now completely lost faith in the czar. Indeed, the Bloody Sunday massacre exposed to all Russians the intransigence and incompetence of the Romanov autocracy. The government was able to contain the revolutionary outbreaks only when Nicholas II reluctantly agreed to conclude an unfavorable peace with Japan and to grant constitutional reforms, including the establishment of a representative assembly, the Duma. The czar’s concessions, although made grudgingly, satisfied some of the revolutionary opposition and enabled the government to begin the work of reestablishing order in Russia. However, the czar’s manifest reluctance to relinquish even a portion of his enormous power did not bode well for the success of Russia’s new constitutional government. —Edward P. Keleher and Richard D. King Further Reading Ascher, Abraham. The Revolution of 1905. 2 vols. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988-1992. A fine history of the first Russian revolution of the twentieth century. _______. The Revolution of 1905: A Short History. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2004. A concise history of the Russian Revolution of 1905 by a highly respected scholar. Lincoln, W. Bruce. In War’s Dark Shadow: The Russians Before the Great War. 1984. Reprint. De Kalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2003. A noted scholar offers a highly readable portrait of Russia during the years 1891 to 1914. Sablinsky, Walter. The Road to Bloody Sunday: Father Gapon and the St. Petersburg Massacre of 1905. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1976. A detailed history of the workers’ organization founded by Father Gapon and of the tragic demonstration of January 22, 1905. Schneiderman, Jeremiah. Sergei Zubatov and Revolutionary Marxism: The Struggle for the Working Class in Tsarist Russia. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University 401
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In a series of meetings held in January, 1905, members of Gapon’s organization agreed that he should lead a march of workers to the czar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and present Nicholas II with a petition that reaffirmed the loyalty of the petitioners to the czar but called on him to lift from their shoulders the yoke of oppression placed on them by his corrupt officials. The workers and the radical intellectuals who helped to draft the petition demanded an end to the war as well as better treatment from officials and factory owners. The petitioners, moreover, called on the czar to institute sweeping civil and political reforms, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of association; a broadened franchise for local elections; equality before the law; and, above all, the creation of a representative assembly. These reform demands, given the nature of the country in which they were made, were truly revolutionary. Although Father Gapon was personally opposed to making political demands at that time, he agreed to include the demands in the petition rather than lose the trust of the workers. Consequently, the bitter cold Sunday morning of January 22, 1905, found him leading his followers to the Winter Palace. Clad in his priestly robes, Father Gapon personally led one of the several long columns of workers from the outskirts of St. Petersburg toward the center of the city and the Winter Palace. The march was intended as a peaceful demonstration, and some marchers were accompanied by their families; some bore icons and portraits of the czar. Nicholas, however, decided to stay away from the city and left the handling of the crisis to his police and military officials. Having failed in an attempt to arrest Gapon, these officials stationed military forces on the large square in front of the Winter Palace and at key points along the anticipated routes of the march. Despite this show of force, which included some instances of shooting, the military patrols failed to prevent the crowds from pressing on toward Palace Square, and when the workers surged toward the Winter Palace and refused to disperse, the troops fired on them. At least 130 of the demonstrators were killed, and hundreds more were injured.
Bloody Sunday
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust Press, 1976. Traces the rise and fall of the “police union” movement, which served as the inspiration for Father Gapon’s organization in St. Petersburg. Verner, Andrew M. The Crisis of Russian Autocracy: Nicholas II and the 1905 Revolution. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990. A fine analysis of Nicholas II’s personality as well as his role in Bloody Sunday and its aftermath. Von Laue, Theodore H. Why Lenin? Why Stalin? Why Gorbachev? The Rise and Fall of the Soviet System. 3d ed. New York: Longman, 1997. A classic interpre-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tive essay that situates the events of 1905 in the larger context of modern Russian and Soviet history. See also: 1903-1906: Pogroms in Imperial Russia; Oct. 30, 1905: October Manifesto; May 10-July 21, 1906: First Meeting of the Duma; Sept. 14, 1911: Assassination of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin; 1917-1918: Bolsheviks Suppress the Russian Orthodox Church; Mar.-Nov., 1917: Lenin Leads the Russian Revolution; Nov. 6-7, 1917: Bolsheviks Mount the October Revolution.
January 30, 1905
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust The U.S. government’s successful prosecution of the beef trust represented an early and notable antitrust victory from which sprang an important new legal concept concerning interstate commerce. Also known as: Swift & Company v. United States Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Trade and commerce; laws, acts, and legal history Key Figures Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Gustavus F. Swift (1839-1903), American meatpacking company owner Philip Danforth Armour (1832-1901), American meatpacking company owner Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935), associate justice of the United States, 1902-1932 Philander C. Knox (1853-1921), U.S. attorney general, 1901-1904 Upton Sinclair (1878-1968), American novelist Summary of Event Still new in his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt wrote to a U.S. senator in 1902 that he was fully aware that the American people were “very bitter” about operations of the “beef trust.” Roosevelt was accurate. Independent butchers, businesspeople, farmers, and consumers had complained since the 1880’s that the large packinghouses, led by Gustavus F. Swift, Nelson Morris, Philip Danforth Armour, Jonathan Ogden Armour, and the Cudahy family, were preserving their meats with poisons. In the decade following passage of the Sherman 402
Antitrust Act of 1890, two federal indictments had been brought against the “pooling” arrangements of meat exchanges, commission dealers, and stockyard operators. Each indictment was overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court on grounds that pooling—a practice in which businesses strike agreements not to compete—comported with current business philosophy and that stockyard transactions, which were local, formed no part of interstate commerce. Although the Supreme Court had ruled against legal arguments of federal attorneys, those rulings had neither resulted in a slackening of press campaigns against the beef trust nor allayed the public’s disquiet about prospects of a monopoly or exercise of monopoly power. From his service in the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt had firsthand knowledge of the scandal about the “embalmed beef” supplied to American forces. Complaints from businesses and consumers continued to pour into the office of Philander C. Knox, the U.S. attorney general, about the rising prices of beef trust products and about the big packers’ collusion with railroads. More directly, Knox was bombarded by demands from influential members of the House of Representatives to reveal the government’s intentions in regard to actions against this trust. By 1902, therefore, at Roosevelt’s initiative, Knox launched antitrust inquiries concerning activities in the meatpacking industry. The evidence subsequently amassed showed the six leading meatpackers (the “big six”) to be engaged in price fixing, conspiracies to divide markets in regard to purchases of livestock and meat sales, blacklisting of competitors or of businesses failing to conform to trust practices, false bidding in dealings
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with public institutions, and acceptance of rebates from railroads. The six companies brought under federal scrutiny were Swift, Armour, Morris, Cudahy, Wilson, and Schwartzchild, all of which consorted in pooling agreements. Together, the big six controlled about half of the American beefpacking industry, a proportion that rose in the eastern United States to as much as 60 percent in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, 75 percent in New York City, and 85 percent in Boston. The overall industrial reach was far more extensive, and the industrial importance of these meatpackers was much greater than their substantial trade in beef, because they also handled calves, hogs, and sheep. They drew significant parts of their $700 million yearly business from the purchase, storage, and sales of dairy and poultry products. Furthermore, in most major cities they owned packing plants, stockyards, and grain elevators. They all had subsidiaries that dealt in or manufactured by-products such as hides, fats, animal foods, fertilizers, glue, soap, and canned fruits, and they owned Editorial cartoon shows President Theodore Roosevelt hunting down the beef trust. refrigeration plants as well as rail(Library of Congress) road refrigerator cars for transporting their wares. Capitalized in the aggregate at meatpacking and meat-processing center. The meat$93 million in 1903, these industry leaders could boast packers’ outraged response to government action, typiimpressive achievements for their firms as well as for fied by Jonathan Ogden Armour’s Saturday Evening consumers. Philip Armour, originally based in MilwauPost articles defending his industry, was predictable if kee, Wisconsin, and Nelson Morris, nearby in Chicago, not commendably accurate. Illinois, had profited from government Civil War conSaddled with Sherman Act injunctions in May, 1902, tracts. With the postwar projection of railways into the for pooling agreements and for taking railroad rebates, prairies, they had stimulated the great cattle drives from Swift, Armour, and Morris dissolved their pool, deTexas to the transcontinental railroads. In so doing, they stroyed its records, and contracted to merge their firms contributed to the existence and prosperity of many praiinto one. Cudahy and Schwartzchild quickly consented rie communities. Gustavus Swift, arriving in Chicago to join, and many other meatpacking companies were from Massachusetts in 1875, revolutionized the industry through the regular employment of refrigerator cars and rapidly purchased by these three companies. Failing to through efforts, soon followed by other packers, to attain secure adequate financing from Wall Street to expand the efficiencies of vertical integration. He played a large their merger, they formed the National Packing Compart in making Chicago famous as the world’s greatest pany in 1903. National’s leaders were the same figures
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust who had dominated the previous pool, and they continued meeting to regulate their trade. In response, the federal injunctions were made permanent. The government’s equity proceeding was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1905, shortly after the Roosevelt administration’s much-heralded victory in the Northern Securities case of 1904. The Court’s decision in that case had broadened the meaning of interstate commerce and provided a favorable context for a decision against the beef trust. In Swift & Company v. United States, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., spoke for the Court. Holmes took his cues from the narrow interpretation of interstate commerce propounded in United States v. E. C. Knight Company (1895) as modified by the Northern Securities decision and broadened the concept of interstate commerce. Granting that many sales and transactions by the enjoined meatpackers occurred as local ones, Holmes emphasized the steady movement of animals and meat products in and out of stockyards and localities to and from all parts of the nation. The reality was that they were actually a part of the “stream of commerce.” Having concluded that this was true, Holmes asserted that activities of the beef trust fell under federal jurisdiction, as did all matters pertaining to interstate commerce, and were therefore in violation of the Sherman Act. The Supreme Court’s decision was unanimous. Significance The Swift decision had several ramifications. The Roosevelt administration clearly had won a political victory against an unpopular trust, even though the trust’s leaders were heavy Republican contributors. Roosevelt, who was basically a moderate conservative, earned respectful enmity in corporate circles while gaining a reputation as an ardent reformer in many other quarters. His action in the beef trust prosecution, strengthened by forty more antitrust suits during his tenure in office, also contributed to the public’s impression that the federal government was becoming an effective umpire of the nation’s economic affairs. Roosevelt’s position on trusts, which constituted a significant step toward a stronger, more interventionist federal government, helped establish precedents for later presidencies. The Supreme Court also contributed to foundations of the modern state in advancing Holmes’s “stream of commerce” doctrine. In the short run, this doctrine encouraged the federal government to pursue other antitrust cases, many of which were prosecuted successfully. Over the long term, the “stream of commerce” doctrine 404
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 became a working concept basic to expanded understandings of the federal government’s control of commerce. During the late 1930’s, judicial applications of the doctrine served to break down earlier Supreme Court decisions that had isolated manufacturing from commerce. In so doing, they allowed federal authorities to initiate a vast array of economic legislation and a broad spectrum of social programs. Government prosecution of the beef trust focused on the trust’s business practices, their effects on competition, and restraints of trade. Health and working conditions within the industry lay beyond the scope of these government inquiries. Such limitations, however, did not inhibit journalists (“muckrakers”) and writers whose attention was directed to the beef trust by government injunctions or by judicial decisions. A series of articles written by Charles Edward Russell, appearing in Everybody’s Magazine during 1904 and 1905, condemned the trust as greedy while impugning a number of public officials as its dupes. More impressive and influential was novelist Upton Sinclair’s dramatic exposé of specific sanitary and working conditions in Chicago packing plants in his 1906 book The Jungle. Forced to address the public alarm generated by Sinclair’s novel, government officials characterized its depictions as misleading and false. These and similar exposures of practices of the meatpacking industry led to the passage of both the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906. These acts greatly augmented federal inspection powers, and both came to be ranked, less for immediate effectiveness than for precedents set, among the most memorable legislation of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. Because its products were items of daily consumption in the nation’s households, the meatpacking industry remained under government investigation and attack long after the Swift decision was rendered and reform legislation had been passed. Federal criminal and civil charges, for example, were filed against officials of the National Packing Company and additional companies in 1910. The companies were charged with infractions ranging from rigged agreements on livestock purchases to use of uniform accounting practices and the establishment of market quotas by trust members. National’s officers won acquittal, but they were defeated by the firm’s own inefficiencies and dissolved it in 1912. A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into the meatpacking industry initiated by President Woodrow Wilson in 1917 gathered a mass of evidence on unfair competition, and the FTC subsequently recommended government ownership. By 1920, after their pur-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 chase of thirty-one smaller companies, the industry’s leaders were confronted once more by FTC and Justice Department charges that they had violated antitrust provisions of the Sherman Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914. Responding to what became a famous antitrust consent decree, the companies disposed of substantial holdings in stockyard companies, stockyard railroads, and trade newspapers. They also agreed to abandon dealing in 114 nonmeat and dairy products as well as to give up their retail outlets. Authorities on the industry, in concert with its spokespersons, later acknowledged that these federal antitrust measures had redounded to the ultimate benefit of the industry. The principal result of the FTC’s investigation and the consent decree was the passage of the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921, which brought the meatpacking and related industries under federal regulation. The act placed stockyard markets and those operating with them under federal rules and supervision by the U.S. secretary of agriculture. In effect, the industry could thereafter be perceived as a kind of public utility. The act also comprehensively forbade anyone manufacturing or preparing meats to engage in price fixing, price discrimination, or the apportionment of markets. On balance, the federal investigations and antitrust suits, and the judicial decisions arising from them, left the meatpacking industry with an oligopolistic concentration of leading firms but with access to the industry much more open to smaller competing firms. Antitrust proceedings beginning in 1902 destroyed the industry leaders’ pool and helped prevent the evolution of such agreements into something approximating a genuine monopoly. —Clifton K. Yearley
Purdy, Harry L., Martin L. Lindahl, and William A. Carter. Corporate Concentration and Public Policy. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1942. Good survey filled with specifics. Chapter 23 deals with the meat industry and provides good background material in a balanced account that takes note of the industry’s problems. No bibliography, but ample page notes. Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. New York: New American Library, 1906. A classic of literary realism. Sinclair had firsthand experience in Chicago packing plants. This graphic and engaging novel is stronger on conditions in the meatpacking industry than on character development. Thorelli, Hans B. The Federal Antitrust Policy: Origination of an American Tradition. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955. Scholarly and dense but very valuable. Chapter 7 is excellent on the development of Theodore Roosevelt as a trust buster and his decision to pursue the beef trust. Many page notes, bibliography, table of cases, and good index. Good for context on the antitrust movement in general. Whitney, Simon N. Antitrust Policies: American Experience in Twenty Industries. 2 vols. New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1958. Clear and authoritative treatment written by a scholar and FTC official. Concentrates on meatpacking in chapter 1. Superb on post-1920 developments. Includes page notes and a table of cases. Wiebe, Robert H. The Search for Order, 1877-1920. New York: Hill & Wang, 1967. A fine interpretive history, well written and informative. Offers perspectives on the antitrust and antimonopoly movement throughout. Excellent for explanations of concepts and context on trusts. Bibliographical essay for each chapter. Index. See also: Mar. 14, 1904: U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities; May 15, 1911: U.S. Supreme Court Establishes the “Rule of Reason”; May 29, 1911: U.S. Supreme Court Breaks Up the American Tobacco Company; Oct. 15, 1914: Clayton Antitrust Act; Mar. 1, 1920: United States v. United States Steel Corporation; 1924: U.S. Government Loses Its Suit Against Alcoa; Feb. 21, 1927: Eastman Kodak Is Found to Be in Violation of the Sherman Act; Nov., 1932: Antitrust Prosecution Forces RCA to Restructure.
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Further Reading Crunden, Robert M. Ministers of Reform: The Progressives’ Achievement in American Civilization, 18891920. New York: Basic Books, 1982. Clear, informative reading. Chapter 6 is excellent on muckraking journalists and especially on Upton Sinclair and his influence on the Pure Food and Drug Act. Includes a useful index. Hovenkamp, Herbert. Federal Antitrust Policy: The Law of Competition and Its Practice. 2d ed. Eagan, Minn.: West, 1999. Covers nearly all aspects of U.S. antitrust policy in a manner understandable to people with no background in economics. Chapter 2 discusses “history and ideology in antitrust policy.”
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust
First American Service Organization Is Founded
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
February 23, 1905
First American Service Organization Is Founded In 1905, Paul Harris shared his idea for the first American service organization, the Rotary Club, with Silvester Schiele, Gus Loehr, and Hiram Shorey. Rotary’s genesis occurred within the context of the Progressive Era, which was a period of massive social, economic, and political reforms. Also known as: Rotary Club Locale: Chicago, Illinois Categories: Organizations and institutions; social issues and reform; humanitarianism and philanthropy Key Figures Paul Harris (1868-1947), Chicago attorney who founded the first Rotary Club Silvester Schiele (1870-1945), coal dealer and cofounder of the Chicago Rotary Club Gus Loehr (1864-1918), mining engineer, promoter, jeweler, and cofounder of the Chicago Rotary Club Hiram Shorey (1862-1944), tailor and cofounder of the Chicago Rotary Club Summary of Event The Rotary Club, the first American service organization, began as a progressive reform campaign aimed at civic improvement. In the early 1900’s, massive political, economic, and social reforms were taking place, and for this reason historians often classified this phase in American history as the Progressive Era. Like other reformers of the period, the founding Rotarians—Paul Harris, Silvester Schiele, Gus Loehr, and Hiram Shorey— wanted to address social problems and hoped to revitalize American civic life. The Progressive Era was associated with numerous reform efforts that drew popular figures such as Theodore Roosevelt, who were interested in redressing social or economic problems, as well as those interested in bettering conditions for the disenfranchised and underprivileged. They were responding to developments in corporate and consumer culture in an attempt to provide a moral foundation for community members, embrace service projects, advocate character development, and promote the benefits of a traditional Christian value system. The Progressive Era was also associated with efforts to revitalize democracy. In the early twentieth century, Chicago seemed to be a hub of such social reform efforts. Famous activists Jane 406
Addams and John Dewey both lived in the city during this period, and it was within this context that Paul Harris, an attorney, and three other Chicago businessmen— Gus Loehr, a mining engineer, Hiram Shorey, a merchant tailor, and Silvester Schiele, a coal dealer—started a new kind of service organization. Rotary’s philosophy emphasized equality among Rotary members and the need to participate in the civic arena. Through the Rotary Club, members from diverse professions could come together for fellowship and to collaborate on communityoriented projects. The group was dedicated to the ideal of “service above self,” and it met for the first time on February 23, 1905, in Loehr’s office in room 711 in the Unity Building on Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago. Harris envisioned a group that would promote the congenial, small-town atmosphere he had enjoyed as a youth in the small New England town of Wallingford, Vermont, where neighbors had close relationships and there was a rich heritage of civic participation. He suggested that the club include professionals from diverse sectors of the business community and that meetings take place at members’ offices on a rotating basis. This practice inspired the name “Rotary.” The club fostered a kind of internal support network that effectively became a professional mentoring program. Interest in the welfare of fellow Rotarians was the foundation of Rotary’s service-oriented mission, and concern for other club members easily extended to those in the local community, nation, and world. This global perspective ultimately came to be represented in the Rotary Club’s emblem, the wheel. Although the significance of the wheel is not officially defined by the Rotary Club, the Rotary’s Handbook, Adventure in Service, suggests that the wheel represents the modern industrial world, given that the wheel formed the backbone of the mechanized work of the twentieth century. Furthermore, the wheel represents a circle of friendship and the interconnectedness, equality, and unity among club members around the globe. In Rotary’s early days, members realized that a club focused solely on members’ mutual interests would not hold busy professionals’ attention for long. Consequently, the organization’s focus expanded to community-service projects: Helping those in need provided a compelling incentive for club participation. In 1907, the Rotary completed its first service project: The group gave a horse to a poor preacher. The second service project also occurred
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 in 1907, when the Chicago Rotary constructed the first public restrooms in Chicago’s City Hall. Other Rotary Clubs quickly developed: By 1908, the second Rotary Club had formed in San Francisco, and in 1909, another club began in Oakland, California. By the summer of 1910, sixteen clubs had formed, and the first Rotary Convention met in Chicago, in August of 1910. Nearly fifteen hundred members attended. Rotary Clubs also began developing outside the United States. In 1910, Rotary had reached Canada, and by 1911 the Rotary had organizations in Great Britain and Ireland. As a result, in 1912 the organization changed its name to the International Association of Rotary Clubs. By 1921, Rotary had one thousand clubs on six continents, and that same year Rotary held its first international convention in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the organization’s name was simplified to Rotary International. Gradually, Rotary’s objectives were distilled to the Four Avenues of Service: club, vocational, community, and international. Rotary’s motto originated from a phrase a Rotarian coined at the 1910 Rotary convention: “Service above self—he profits most who serves best.” In 1911, at the second Rotary convention, Rank Collins, president of the Minneapolis Rotary, used the phrase “Service, not self,” which also became a popular motto. In addition to the Four Avenues of Service, Rotary International embraced a code of ethics called the Four-Way Test, which was developed by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor in 1923. The test was designed to help members make ethical decisions about club policies and business practices. The Rotary Club officially adopted the Four-Way Test in 1943. When Rotary founder Paul Harris died in 1947, Rotarians contributed approximately $2 million in his memory to the Rotary Foundation. This fund helped
Rotarian (and later Rotary International president) Herbert J. Taylor developed the Four-Way Test in 1932; the test become an official part of Rotary International’s philosophy in 1943. Of the things we think, say or do: • Is it the truth? • Is it fair to all concerned? • Will it build goodwill and better friendships? • Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
launch the Rotary Foundation’s graduate fellowship program, now the Ambassadorial Scholarship fund. Harris was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Blue Island, Illinois, next to his fellow Rotarian and friend, Silvester Schiele. Significance Rotary International continued to thrive. In the early twenty-first century it had more than thirty-two thousand clubs in 168 countries, and its membership included approximately 1.2 million men and women. Rotary International has collaborated with other humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization. Rotary’s service projects have included humanitarian programs addressing problems of poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and disease, particularly the eradication of polio. By the time Rotary celebrated its centennial in 2005, the club’s Polio Plus program had contributed approximately $500 million to eradicating the disease. — Renée Love Further Reading Charles, Jeffrey A. Service Clubs in American Society: Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993. Describes the rise of the Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions clubs from 1900 to 1940. Emphasizes social and cultural contexts and the complex relationship between the business and service organizations. Harris, Paul. The Founder of Rotary. Chicago: Rotary International, 1928. Records Harris’s reflections on Rotary’s development. McCleary, Elliot, ed. The World of Rotary. Chicago: Rotary International, 1975. Highlights international service activities and includes pictorial history of Rotary projects and events. Rotary International. Adventure in Service. 14th ed. Chicago: Author, 1965. Provides information on Rotarian history as well as on the club’s organization and mission. See also: May 14, 1907: Formation of the Plunket Society; Aug., 1907: Baden-Powell Establishes the Boy Scouts; Nov. 25, 1910: Carnegie Establishes the Endowment for International Peace; May 14, 1913: Rockefeller Foundation Is Founded; Apr. 30, 1917: Formation of the American Friends Service Committee; Mar. 15-May 9, 1919: Formation of the American Legion; Jan. 1, 1936: Ford Foundation Is Established.
Source: Rotary International. http://www.rotary.org.
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Rotary’s Four-Way Test
First American Service Organization Is Founded
Einstein Describes the Photoelectric Effect
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
March, 1905
Einstein Describes the Photoelectric Effect Albert Einstein postulated that the process by which electrons are liberated from a metal surface by incident light can be understood if the light is considered to be composed of particles called light quanta, which later became known as photons. Locale: Bern, Switzerland Categories: Science and technology; physics Key Figures Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German physicist Max Planck (1858-1947), German physicist Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894), German physicist Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940), English physicist Summary of Event The photoelectric effect is the process by which electrons are ejected from a metal surface when light of the appropriate frequency is shined on that surface. Because it requires energy to remove an electron from a metal, it is clear that this energy is coming from the incident light. In 1905, a number of mysteries were associated with this process, all of which were solved by Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect in terms of light quanta. By 1905, scientists had discovered a variety of physical phenomena associated with the photoelectric effect. In 1887, Heinrich Hertz had discovered that light incident on a metal surface can produce visible sparks if that surface is in the presence of an electric field. The sparking action demonstrated that something was being removed from the metal surface, although nobody knew what it was. In 1888, Wilhelm Hallwachs showed that shining light on a surface can cause an uncharged body to become positively charged. In 1899, Sir Joseph John Thomson, who had discovered the electron two years earlier, stated that the photoelectric effect involved the emission of electrons from the metal. This explained Hertz’s observation: The emitted electrons were accelerated by the electric field until they gathered enough energy to create a spark. It also explained Hallwachs’s results: The emitted electrons were carrying negative charge away from the metal body, thus leaving it with a net positive charge. In 1902, Philipp Lenard showed that the energy of the ejected electrons—or, equivalently, their speed—did not depend on the intensity of the incident light. It was shown in 1904, however, that the energy of the ejected electrons depended on the frequency, or color, of the light: The higher the frequency of the inci408
dent light, the greater the speed of the escaping electrons. The photoelectric effect posed serious problems for classical physics. According to the classical theory, light was an electromagnetic wave that carried energy based on its intensity. When this energy was transmitted to the irradiated body, the electrons in the body would gain energy gradually, or “heat up,” until eventually they became energetic enough to escape from the body. If the incident light was very intense, the electrons should be escaping with a large supply of energy. The experimental observations were inconsistent with this explanation, however; they showed that the energy of the ejected electrons depended on the frequency of the incident light but not on its intensity. Yet the question of why a dim source of high-frequency light resulted in the ejection of electrons with a higher energy than a bright source of lowfrequency light still remained. In 1905, Albert Einstein published three revolutionary papers. The most famous was on relativity, another was on Brownian motion as evidence for the existence of atoms, and the third was on the photoelectric effect. Einstein postulated that one could understand the photoelectric effect by discarding certain key concepts from classical physics and replacing them with radical new ideas, which were to become known as modern physics. One of these radical ideas was the concept of light quanta, which Max Planck had tentatively proposed in 1900 to explain the distribution of radiation from hot bodies. Planck had suggested that light is emitted from a glowing body in discrete bundles, which he called light quanta. As an aid to understanding, Einstein postulated that the incident light of the photoelectric effect should be viewed not as a classical wave but rather as a collection of particles, which he called light quanta and which were later renamed photons. Each of these photons carried a discrete amount of energy that was proportional to its frequency: E = hf, where E is the energy of the photon, f is the frequency, and h is a proportionality constant that had been discovered by Planck. In Einstein’s conception, a beam of light is more closely analogous to a flock of birds than to a stream of water. By viewing the incident light as a collection of photons, Einstein was able to explain the photoelectric effect as follows: When a photon is incident on a metal surface, there is a strong chance that it will penetrate through the surface and encounter the free electrons that are known to lie within the metal. When a photon encoun-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Einstein Describes the Photoelectric Effect
Young Einstein When Albert Einstein described the photoelectric effect in 1905, he was a young man in his mid-twenties. In 1902, he had been hired as a technical expert in the Swiss patent office in Berne, where he was to remain for seven years; in 1903, he had married Mileva Maric, a friend from his student days in Zurich, and in 1904 the first of their two sons was born. In 1905, Einstein published three major papers, any one of which would have established his place in the history of science. The first, which was to bring him the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1921, explained the photoelectric effect and formed the basis for much of quantum mechanics. It also led to the development of television. The second concerned statistical mechanics and explained the phenomenon known as Brownian motion, the erratic movement of pollen grains when immersed in water. Einstein’s calculations gave convincing evidence for the existence of atoms. It was the third paper, however, containing the special theory of relativity, that was to revolutionize our understanding of the nature of the physical world. The theory stated that the speed of light is the same for all observers and is not dependent on the speed of the source of the light, or of the observer, and that the laws of nature (both the Newto-
First, the intensity is irrelevant if an electron absorbs only a single photon. Higher intensity means more photons that might eject more electrons but will not increase the energy of any specific electron because, at most, one photon is absorbed. Second, the energy of the ejected electrons increases with the frequency of the incident light, because higher-frequency photons impart more energy to the electrons. The photoelectric effect was no longer a mystery. Einstein was also able to make two predictions: The energy of a photoejected electron can never exceed hf, the energy of the photon, and, if hf is less than the work function of the metal P, no electrons will be ejected no matter how intense the incident light. Einstein’s predictions were experimentally verified. Einstein’s explanation for the photoelectric effect came at a time when classical ideas were still strong and the notion of light quanta seemed radical and mysterious. Even Planck had never fully accepted the reality of the quantum that he had discovered in 1900. Einstein, by calling his ideas “heuristic,” indicated that he had reservations about the physical reality of the light quanta. In fact, it was almost two decades before these important ideas were universally accepted. 409
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ters an electron, it will typically transfer all of its energy to the electron. In the language of modern physics, it is said that the photon is “absorbed” by the electron. In general, an electron can absorb only one photon, but it will always absorb this photon in its entirety. The electron, which had very little energy before it absorbed the photon, now has an amount of energy hf. If this energy is high enough, the electron will be able to escape out of the metal. An electron will typically expend a certain amount of energy as it escapes. This energy is characteristic of the specific metal and is known as its work function, P. The work function is the “energy cost” of the escape. If the electron is going to escape, then the energy provided by the photon, hf, must be greater than P. Einstein proposed the formula E = hf – P, which states that the energy possessed by a photoejected electron is equal to the energy of the incident photon minus the energy of the work function. By analogy, one could say that the money possessed by an escaping convict is equal to the money that was smuggled in to arrange his escape less the amount he spent bribing relevant prison officials to arrange his escape. Einstein postulated the curious relationship between the energy of the ejected electrons and the incident light:
nian laws of mechanics and Maxwell’s equations for the electromagnetic field) remain the same for all uniformly moving systems. This theory meant that the concept of absolute space and time had to be abandoned because it did not remain valid for speeds approaching those of light. Events that happen at the same time for one observer do not do so for another observer moving at high speed in respect to the first. Einstein also demonstrated that a moving clock would appear to run slow compared with an identical clock at rest with respect to the observer, and a measuring rod would vary in length according to the velocity of the frame of reference in which it was measured. In another paper published in 1905, Einstein stated, by the famous equation E = mc2, that mass and energy are equivalent. Each can be transferred into the other because mass is a form of concentrated energy. This equation suggested to others the possibility of the development of immensely powerful explosives. Such was Einstein’s achievement at the age of twenty-six. There had not been a year like it since Sir Isaac Newton published his Principia in 1687. The scientific world quickly recognized Einstein as a creative genius—yet his most important work, on general relativity, still lay before him.
Einstein Describes the Photoelectric Effect Significance The first three decades of the twentieth century witnessed the overthrow of classical physics and the birth of quantum mechanics, which has been the foundation for most of the physics developed since that time. Like many revolutions in science, the quantum revolution was accomplished through a series of small steps that eventually led to an entirely new way of looking at the universe. Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect in 1905 was one of the small steps along the road to the radically new world into which physics was about to enter. The light quanta hypothesis became an important part of several larger theories. In 1911, Niels Bohr began to use the idea of light quanta to account for the emission spectra of atoms. It was known that atoms, when excited, give off light with certain characteristic frequencies that differ from one atom to the next. The famous “Bohr model of the atom” stated that this frequency could be understood as the frequency of the light quantum, or photon, given off by an atom when an electron jumps from a large orbit to a smaller one. The energy of the emitted photon would be equal to the energy difference between the two orbits. In 1923, Arthur Holly Compton performed some very significant experiments in which he studied the collision of photons with electrons. By treating the photon as if it was a particle rather than a wave, he was able to demonstrate the transfer of energy and momentum from a particle of energy to a particle of matter. These experiments helped to confirm the existence of photons, which still was not universally accepted. At the same time that Compton was colliding photons with electrons, Louis de Broglie was pondering the apparent wave-particle duality of light. De Broglie recognized that light, which certainly had been demonstrated to behave like a wave, also behaved like a particle at times. If this “dual character” were true, then should not electrons, which had always been understood as particles, also behave like waves? De Broglie proposed his famous concept of wave-particle duality, which stated that light and matter have both a wave character and a particle character. The idea of light quanta was slow to catch on, however. In 1911, Einstein still was calling attention to the tentative nature of his hypothesis. Even as the explanation was verified experimentally and became widely accepted, there was still hesitation about the physical reality of light quanta. As late as 1924, Bohr coauthored a paper that still argued that the photon was not real and that the concept would eventually be replaced by an improved understanding of matter and radiation. Nevertheless, it was rapidly becoming clear to the physics 410
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 community that the quantum revolution had arrived. Eventually, all the opposition ceased, and the photon became one of the most important concepts in physics, universally accepted, and a model for later developments in other areas of physics. —Karl Giberson Further Reading Gamow, George. Thirty Years That Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966. This classic book by one of the principal physicists of the twentieth century is a charming and insightful survey of the revolution that produced the modern theory of quantum physics. Halliday, David, and Robert Resnick. Fundamentals of Physics: Extended Version. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1988. This popular general physics text is typical of the many excellent books that discuss the photoelectric effect in their treatment of elementary modern physics. Pais, Abraham. Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. This highly acclaimed book, first published in 1982, is written by a physicist who knew Einstein very well. Somewhat technical in parts, it nevertheless presents an absolutely authoritative discussion of Einstein and his ideas. Rigden, John S. Einstein 1905: The Standard of Greatness. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005. An account of the new insights and turmoil engendered among physicists by the five groundbreaking research papers that Albert Einstein published in 1905. Accessible to lay readers. Includes simple diagrams and reproductions of the front pages of the five papers. Rosenthal-Schneider, Ilse. Reality and Scientific Truth: Discussions with Einstein, von Laue, and Planck. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1980. Consists of correspondence and discussions with three eminent scientists: Albert Einstein, Max von Laue, and Max Planck. Topics covered include “the universal constants of nature,” “concepts of substance and conservation,” and “the smallest length.” Wolfson, Richard, and Jay M. Pasachoff. Physics: Extended with Modern Physics. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman, 1989. Chapter 36, “Light and Matter: Waves or Particles,” does a very complete job of explaining the photoelectric effect and its significance for physics. See also: Early 20th cent.: Elster and Geitel Study Radioactivity; 1904: First Practical Photoelectric Cell Is
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Developed; Fall, 1905: Einstein States His Theory of Special Relativity; Nov. 25, 1915: Einstein Completes His Theory of General Relativity; Nov. 6, 1919: Einstein’s Theory of Gravitation Is Confirmed
Tangier Crisis over Newton’s Theory; 1923: De Broglie Explains the Wave-Particle Duality of Light; Feb.-Mar., 1927: Heisenberg Articulates the Uncertainty Principle.
March 31, 1905
Tangier Crisis The German emperor’s visit to Tangier, where he gave a speech challenging French control of Morocco, set off an international crisis. The controversy was only partially resolved at the 1906 Algeciras Conference, and Germany initiated a second international crisis over Morocco in July, 1911. Locale: Tangier, Morocco; Algeciras, Spain Categories: Diplomacy and international relations; colonialism and occupation; government and politics Key Figures William II (1859-1941), emperor of Germany, r. 18881918 Théophile Delcassé (1852-1923), foreign minister of France, 1898-1905, 1914-1915 Bernhard von Bülow (1849-1929), German chancellor, 1900-1909 4Abd al-4Aztz (1878/1881-1943), sultan of Morocco, r. 1894-1908 Sir Edward Grey (1862-1933), foreign secretary for Great Britain, 1905-1916 Maurice Rouvier (1842-1911), premier of France, January, 1905-March, 1906
1905
Summary of Event When German emperor William II decided to interrupt a restful Mediterranean cruise on his imperial yacht and head toward Tangier, his decision signified much more than a change in vacation plans. Germany’s chancellor, Bernhard von Bülow, had decided that the time was right to block French colonial and diplomatic ambitions, which Germany found disturbing. France’s nationalistic and longtime foreign minister, Théophile Delcassé, had recently crafted an agreement of friendly accommodations with Great Britain (the Entente Cordiale of 1904) and was preparing to detach Italy from the German sphere. The Franco-Russian Alliance was in its tenth year, and Russia was distracted by upheaval caused by the disastrous Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). In the mean-
time, Germany was already finalizing the Schlieffen Plan of 1905, which called for a six-week campaign against France. The Germans considered the plan infallible, because if a short preventive war were to be fought against France, Russia would be helpless to intervene. Consequently, Bülow believed that Germany had everything to gain by having the emperor dock at Tangier on March 31, 1905, to deliver a speech declaring German support of Moroccan territorial integrity and an open door policy for German commercial interests in Morocco. Delcassé had been careful to get many of his diplomatic ducks in order before moving to bring Morocco into the French sphere. In June, 1904, he created a financial crisis in Morocco by lending large sums to Sultan
Emperor William II of Germany. (Library of Congress)
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Tangier Crisis 4Abd al-4Aztz, a compulsive gambler and lavish spender, and then committing him to place a large munitions order from Cruezot, the major French munitions manufacturer. The sultan soon defaulted on the loan payments, which were backed by 60 percent of Moroccan customs revenues. By the imperial standards of the time, France had an overriding interest in restructuring Moroccan finances. In April, 1904, France had agreed to support British interests in Egypt in return for English support of French interests in Morocco, and in October a secret agreement was made with Spain over Morocco. Delcassé remained calm during the brewing crisis. He firmly believed that Germany was being obstructionist to produce discord in the Anglo-French entente and to project its own image as a leading world power. Above all else, he believed that Germany was bluffing. Throughout 1904, the French minister to Morocco, Saint-René Taillandier, had sent him information pointing to the fact that Germany had no real political designs on Morocco. However, many of France’s more influential ambassadors, and most of Premier Maurice Rouvier’s other cabinet ministers, did not share in this certainty. Rouvier was suspicious of Delcassé’s judgment, since the foreign minister had not foreseen the disastrous defeats that Russia would suffer at the hands of both the Japanese army and naval forces and the resulting losses that would be suffered by French banks. Rouvier preferred to take the safer path and come to an accommodation with Germany. Throughout April and May of 1904, the crisis in Morocco became a major issue in French, German, and (to a lesser extent) English newspapers. In an age of mass literacy, the nationalist “yellow presses” increased their circulation with sensationalist reporting. In late April, Germany called for an international conference to settle the Moroccan crisis, and the French refused to attend. Tensions reached a height as France canceled all military leaves (on June 18) and Germany threatened to conclude a defensive alliance with Morocco (on June 22). At the height of the crisis, Delcassé was called to explain his policy before the French legislature. He continued to advocate a strong stand, assuring the legislature that Germany was merely testing the diplomatic waters. Fearful of a war for which they were ill prepared, cabinet members voted against Delcassé’s position and forced him to resign. Rouvier soon agreed to an international conference, which was to be held at Algeciras, Spain, at the start of the new year. The dismissal of Delcassé and the French acquiescence made it appear that Germany had won a major diplomatic victory and that France had accepted a bitter humiliation. French 412
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 public opinion was enraged at the sacrifice of Delcassé to appease Germany, and French concessions seemed even more misguided when the threat of war did not disappear. Preceding the opening of the Algeciras Conference, Germany summoned its reserves, and France responded by moving a significant number of its troops to the German border. The Algeciras Conference was attended by seven European powers and the United States. While Russian support of France was expected, Germany was surprised to see strong support of the French position by the new Liberal government in Britain and by Italy, Spain, and the United States. In the three months of negotiations that followed, support of Germany was given only by Austria-Hungary. France’s special rights in Morocco, including the right to reorganize the Moroccan financial system, were given international recognition. France and Spain were given the right to organize the Moroccan police, but their power was subject to supervision by a Swiss inspector general. Recognition of Morocco as a politically independent country and protection of general German economic rights in North Africa did little to detract from the evident reality that an internationally isolated Germany had been handed a serious policy defeat. Significance Instead of weakening the recent Anglo-French entente, the German policy gamble over Morocco served only to strengthen it. Staff talks about military cooperation between the English and the French began during the crisis and continued thereafter. The crisis also provided France with the opportunity to work out its differences with Great Britain and Russia, and it accelerated resolution between competing spheres of influence in Tibet, Afghanistan, and Persia (now Iran), leading to the formation of the Triple Entente in August, 1907. Supported only by Austria-Hungary, Germany appeared isolated. As a consequence, the German government realized that it could no longer trust international conferences to settle disputes in the country’s interests. The period of peace established by the 1815 Congress of Vienna, in which European national borders were reestablished, was dealt a serious blow by the Algeciras Conference of 1906. Another major conference would not occur until after World War I. While the dismissal of Delcassé was a source of shortterm humiliation for France, the leader’s departure served only to harden the country’s resolve to invest in Russia’s industrial-military recovery and to strengthen its own military. Germany’s response was to heighten its
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 military response by affirming its commitment to the Schlieffen Plan and producing super-battleships to rival England’s dreadnoughts. The Germans’ use of a military solution is evident in their precipitation of a second Moroccan crisis in July, 1911, when the German gunboat Panther docked in Agadir, Morocco, on the pretext of protecting German business interests during a native uprising. Conflict was avoided only by France’s willingness to give Germany parts of the French Congo and to internationalize Tangier. After the Tangier crisis of 1905, Europe became increasingly divided into two heavily armed camps. International conferences lost their popularity as methods for settling disputes, and international anarchy reigned supreme. —Irwin Halfond Further Reading Hayne, M. B. The French Foreign Office and the Origins of the First World War, 1898-1914. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1993. A brilliant study of French foreign policy based on extensive archival research. Extensive footnotes, bibliography, and index. Lafore, Laurence. The Long Fuse: An Interpretation of the Origins of World War I. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1997. A readable short analysis of the major issues and crises that led to the outbreak of
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law World War I. Footnotes, index, and annotated bibliography. Lerman, Katharine A. The Chancellor as Courtier: Bernhard von Bülow and the Governance of Germany, 1900-1909. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. A study of German policy under Chancellor von Bülow, including unpublished archival sources. Chapter 4 is on the Tangier crisis of 1905-1906. Illustrations, index, and select bibliography. Mombauer, Annika. The Origins of the First World War: Controversies and Consensus. New York: Longman, 2002. An interpretive study of the policies and crises preceding and leading to World War I. Footnotes, index, and annotated bibliography. Williamson, Samuel R. The Politics of Grand Strategy: Britain and France Prepare for War, 1904-1914. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1969. The standard study of British and French diplomacy in the decade preceding the Great War. Footnotes, index, and bibliography. See also: July 1, 1911: Agadir Crisis; June 28-Aug. 4, 1914: Outbreak of World War I; June 28, 1914-Nov. 11, 1918: World War I; Oct. 30, 1914: Spain Declares Neutrality in World War I; Apr. 6, 1917: United States Enters World War I.
April 17, 1905
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law By ruling that maximum hours laws were unconstitutional in Lochner v. New York, the Supreme Court upheld the freedom of contract and severely limited the ability of states to enact workplace reform legislation.
Key Figures Rufus W. Peckham (1838-1909), associate justice of the United States, 1895-1909 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935), associate justice of the United States, 1902-1932 John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911), associate justice of the United States, 1877-1911 Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), American scientist and philosopher
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Also known as: Lochner v. New York Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Business and labor; laws, acts, and legal history
Summary of Event On April 17, 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled five to four in the case of Lochner v. New York that maximum hours laws were an unreasonable interference with the liberty of contract. The Court ruled that the power of the state to regulate did not outweigh the freedom of contract. The ruling struck down an 1895 New York statute that had limited the number of work hours for any employee in any bakery or confectionery establishment to no more than ten hours in a day or sixty hours in a week. New York’s labor law was an example of the aggressive interventionist and experimental policies that several states had begun pursuing around the beginning of the twentieth century. The Court held that New York’s experiment had been a “meddlesome interference” and an undue infringement on the right of free contract and thus of the private rights of the employer. In a powerful and eloquent dissent, Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., held that the states had the authority to pur-
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
sue their own social experiments and The LOCHNER V. NEW YORK Decision enact reform legislation. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Lochner v. New York struck New York’s Bakeshop Act had down a law setting a maximum number of work hours. The decision, written by been enacted in an effort to regulate Justice Rufus W. Peckham, concluded as follows: and improve the often dreadful working and health conditions in the state’s It is manifest to us that the limitation of the hours of labor as provided for in this cramped bakeshops, establishments section of the statute under which the indictment was found, and the plaintiff in that often employed only a handful error convicted, has no such direct relation to, and no such substantial effect of workers and frequently were loupon, the health of the employee, as to justify us in regarding the section as recated in the basements of tenement ally a health law. It seems to us that the real object and purpose were simply to buildings. Passed as an act to regulate regulate the hours of labor between the master and his employees (all being men, Sui juris), in a private business, not dangerous in any degree to morals, or the manufacture of flour and meal in any real and substantial degree to the health of the employees. Under such food products, the Bakeshop Act escircumstances the freedom of master and employee to contract with each other tablished maximum hours and rein relation to their employment, and in defining the same, cannot be prohibited quired that bakeries be drained and or interfered with, without violating the Federal Constitution. plumbed; that products be stored in The judgment of the Court of Appeals of New York, as well as that of the dry and airy rooms; that walls and Supreme Court and of the County Court of Oneida County, must be reversed floors be plastered, tiled, or otherand the case remanded to the County Court for further proceedings not inconwise finished; and that inspections sistent with this opinion. be carried out by officials. Source: U.S. Supreme Court, Lochner v. People of State of New York, 198 U.S. 45 The law was not the first attempt (1905). to set limits on hours worked. Among the earliest efforts to regulate hours of work was an executive order signed stituted an unjustified and inefficient disruption of the by President Martin Van Buren in 1840 that limited the free market. daily hours of labor in government navy yards to ten. Joseph Lochner owned and operated a small bread Most early efforts to set limits on hours of labor conbakery in Utica, New York. After being twice found cerned the employment of women and children. Massaguilty of violating New York’s Bakeshop Act, he was chusetts and Connecticut both passed laws limiting the fined $50. He appealed his conviction to the New York number of hours for children employed in manufacturing Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals, losestablishments as early as 1842. By the late nineteenth ing each time. His case ultimately made its way to the century, laws limiting hours for women, children, or both U.S. Supreme Court. Why this case emerged as the test had been passed in New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvacase for a host of reform legislation is unclear; Lochner’s nia, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, bakery was a small and relatively obscure establishment. and Wisconsin. An ongoing clash between Lochner and the Utica branch Those who supported limiting the hours of work arof the journeyman bakers’ union may have led to his fine gued that doing so would enhance the efficiency or proand kept this case alive on appeal. ductivity of labor and improve public health. Proponents The majority opinion in Lochner was written by Assoof maximum hours legislation asserted that limits on the ciate Justice Rufus W. Peckham. Peckham was known length of daily labor would lead to qualitative as well as for his staunch support of laissez-faire policies and his quantitative improvements. Clearly, any bakeshop lacontempt for government regulation, stances that would borer who toiled long hours in cramped sweatshop conlead others to link Peckham with the writings of Herbert ditions stood to gain some benefit, but proponents argued Spencer, an influential scientist and philosopher who that there were also potential benefits for the consumers was one of the most outspoken champions of social Darof baked goods. The principal arguments against such winism. In the Court’s ruling in the 1897 case of Allgeyer legislation were simply that it was an overextension of v. Louisiana, Peckham had written the opinion that held a the police powers of the state and that it infringed on the law unconstitutional for depriving a person of liberty of right of freedom of contract. Moreover, proponents of contract. Any contract suitable to the operation of a lawthe theories of social Darwinism and laissez-faire ecoful business was thus afforded protection under the Fournomics insisted that such government intervention con414
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Significance The immediate impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Lochner was to restrict, or at least postpone, the ability of states to regulate such economic issues as maximum hours and minimum wages. Exactly how the Court
would define the regulatory role of the states was an issue of great interest to reform-minded legislatures as well as to employers and their employees. The use of legislative reform was becoming more common, but such legislation often faced hostile review by the generally conservative courts. Within a matter of a few years, the movement for shorter hours appeared to have won, lost, and then won again in significant cases before the Supreme Court. In 1898, the Court upheld a limitation on hours for Utah miners and smelters in Holden v. Hardy. In 1905, it reversed Joseph Lochner’s conviction as an illegal and unwarranted interference with the liberty of contract, but in 1908 it upheld an Oregon law limiting hours for women in factories and laundries in Muller v. Oregon. The Court’s majority apparently viewed Lochner differently from the other two cases because its members saw no good reason bakers should be singled out; if bakers’ hours were regulated, then regulations on others would follow. Exceptions could be made for inherently dangerous occupations or in the case of women and children, but a general limitation on hours was not yet to be accepted. A 1917 ruling, in Bunting v. Oregon, accepted a ten-hour day for men and women on the grounds of preserving the health and safety of workers, but only because the legislation did not apply to all workers; it applied only to workers in certain inherently dangerous industries. The implications of the Court’s ruling in Lochner obviously extended far beyond Joseph Lochner and the treatment of bakers in Utica bakeshops. The Court’s decision signified an ardent acceptance by the Court majority of the doctrine of laissez-faire capitalism and a belief that reform legislation and the regulatory movement could be suspended by the courts. By ruling against the state of New York, the Court sent a clear message of hostility to any reform-minded legislative body. Liberty of contract, in this case the right of Joseph Lochner to make his own contracts and control his property, took precedence over the right of the state to exercise its police powers. Up until the economic crisis of the Great Depression, the mostly conservative justices of the Supreme Court used the doctrine of liberty of contract to limit the ability of states to enact workplace reform legislation. Specific contracts could always be struck down, but only in those cases with narrowly defined public purposes. A notable example of prevailing judicial temperament can be seen in the 1908 case that outlawed “yellow-dog contracts,” Adair v. United States. A law protecting union members 415
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teenth Amendment. The doctrine of liberty of contract, established in Allgeyer, was advanced in Lochner. In Lochner, Peckham held that there was no reasonable ground for interfering with the liberty of a person or the right of free contract by determining the hours of labor in this particular case. Although he acknowledged the power of states to protect the health and morals of citizens in specific situations, he questioned the need for protection of bakers. Laboring long hours in a bakery, although perhaps unpleasant and posing some health risks, was neither as arduous nor as unsafe as working at many other occupations. By restricting the freedom of contract, New York’s Bakeshop Act had violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and as such was unconstitutional. Because the connection between bakeries and health remained shadowy, the states were not free to exercise police or regulatory powers under the guise of conserving morals, health, or safety. In a dissenting opinion, Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan held that New York’s Bakeshop Act was not in conflict with the Fourteenth Amendment and that the states had the “power to guard the health and safety of their citizens by such regulations as they in their wisdom deem best.” Justice Harlan held that it was clearly within the discretionary power of the states to enact laws regarding health conditions and that such statutes should be enforced unless they could be demonstrated to have plainly violated the “fundamental law of the Constitution.” In Harlan’s opinion, the use of the Fourteenth Amendment to invalidate New York’s statute would in effect cripple the states in their ability to ensure the well-being of their citizens. In a forceful and eloquent dissent, Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., held that the majority decision in Lochner was based on an economic theory rather than on law and that a “constitution is not intended to embody a particular economic theory.” In this well-known dissent, Justice Holmes criticized the majority for extending the doctrine of liberty of contract and for defining too narrowly the states’ police power. Holmes went on to write that a constitution is written for people of fundamentally differing views and that the “Fourteenth Amendment does not enact Mr. Herbert Spencer’s Social Statistics.”
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law by prohibiting yellow-dog contracts, under which employees promised not to join a union, was judged by the Court to be an unreasonable invasion of personal liberty and property rights. This reliance on liberty of contract and devotion to laissez-faire economic doctrines remained a marked feature of the Court for some years. However, not all scholars agree that the Court was as hostile to regulatory legislation and as antilabor as a few of these decisions might imply. The decision in Lochner ranks among the most famous of all Supreme Court rulings, but for dubious reasons. Many consider it now, as Justice Holmes considered it then, an insensible ruling that ignored the hardships of sweatshop labor and launched a misguided assault on reform legislation. The premise of the decision later came into question. Rather than removing labor relations from the domain of politics, the decision resulted in eventual general acceptance of the notion that public debate and legislative action on economic issues are appropriate uses of police powers. Social change is often a difficult and lengthy process. The necessary adjustments of an emerging industrial and increasingly urban society, with their resulting conflicts in labor relations, raised perplexing issues. Progressive reformers, and later New Dealers, who sought change through legislative enactments found, as in Lochner, that the courts were often unsympathetic. The realities and the pressures of the Great Depression led to a pervasive revision of judicial, political, and economic philosophies. New and inventive attempts were made to revitalize the economy, and legislatures were generally given more freedom to exercise regulatory powers. —Timothy E. Sullivan Further Reading Commons, John R., ed. History of Labor in the United States, 1896-1932. Vol. 3 in History of Labor in the United States. New York: Macmillan, 1935. Includes Don D. Lescohier’s “Working Conditions” and Elizabeth Brandeis’s “Labor Legislation,” which are particularly helpful for placing Lochner v. New York in context. Thoroughly documented, with extensive bibliography and index. The set of which this volume is a part is a pioneering work of American labor history. Hall, Kermit L., ed. The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Provides a detailed and useful outline of the history of the Court, major decisions 416
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 and doctrines that have guided and influenced Court rulings dating back to 1789, and brief biographies of every justice who has served on the Court as well as other historically significant characters. Concise but detailed entries help to make landmark cases and legal terms accessible to a variety of users. _______. The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Multiauthored collection of essays on more than four hundred significant Court decisions, with supporting glossary and other aids. Kens, Paul. Judicial Power and Reform Politics: The Anatomy of “Lochner v. New York.” Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1990. Presents a well-written and well-documented analysis of the issues surrounding the Lochner case, bakeries at the beginning of the twentieth century, the politics of reform legislation, and the ramifications of the Court’s decision. Lerner, Max, and Robert G. McCloskey. “The Supreme Court and American Capitalism.” In Essays in Constitutional Law. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957. Originally published in 1933, this is an interpretation of the Supreme Court as the institution that links the nation’s supreme law and its economic system of capitalism. Not quite a theory of economic determinism, it fit the Lochner era well and explained the views of justices Holmes and Harlan, as well as Peckham, but would not accommodate an activist, rights-oriented Court such as existed in the 1960’s. Nichols, Egbert Ray, and Joseph H. Baccus, eds. Selected Articles on Minimum Wages and Maximum Hours. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1936. Outlines and defines the debate over whether Congress has the power to fix minimum wages and maximum hours for workers. Reprints of editorials and comments offer a variety of legal, political, and economic interpretations. Siegan, Bernard H. Economic Liberties and the Constitution. 2d ed. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 2005. An examination of changing judicial policy and the Court’s review of economic legislation. Offers an explanation of alternative views of substantive due process and the protection of economic liberties. Skocpol, Theda, and Gretchen Ritter. “Gender and the Origins of Modern Social Policies in Britain and the United States.” Studies in American Political Development (Spring, 1991): 36-93. This long, welldocumented article explains how differing governmental and class structures led to paternalistic social policies in Great Britain and maternalistic social poli-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 cies in the United States in the early twentieth century. In relation to the United States, it offers an interesting discussion of the role of women’s clubs. U.S. Supreme Court. “Lochner v. New York.” United States Reports 198 (1905): 45. The case itself is the best source of information on the views of the justices. It is relatively brief and within the grasp of readers without a legal background.
First Nickelodeon Film Theater Opens U.S. Supreme Court. “Muller v. Oregon.” United States Reports 208 (1908): 412. This case regarding maximum hours for women is also worth reading. See also: Feb. 3, 1908: Danbury Hatters Decision Constrains Secondary Boycotts; Feb. 24, 1908: Muller v. Oregon; Apr. 9, 1923: U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Minimum Wage Laws.
June, 1905
First Nickelodeon Film Theater Opens The proliferation of storefront theaters created a revolution in film exhibition and provided the foundation for an entertainment industry based on motion pictures. Locale: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Categories: Entertainment; trade and commerce; motion pictures Key Figures Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), American inventor and businessman Carl Laemmle (1867-1939), American nickelodeon operator Adolph Zukor (1873-1976), American entrepreneur William Fox (1879-1952), American independent exhibitor and distributor of films
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Summary of Event The American public was introduced to the wonders of moving pictures through peep-show machines installed in penny arcades. The kinetoscope, developed by inventor Thomas Alva Edison, was introduced around 1893 and soon became commonplace in large cities. The invention of the film projector at the end of the 1890’s sent technology in a different direction and disrupted Edison’s plans to keep motion-picture exhibition within the framework of individual machines for public places or the home. The projector enabled businesses to entertain larger groups of people at the same time. Operators of penny arcades and music halls adopted film projectors, as did traveling shows. In June, 1905, businessmen Harry Davis and John P. Harris opened a storefront theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to show projected motion pictures. Their “store show” had about two hundred seats. The admission price was five cents, leading to the name “nickelodeon.” This
was not the first time that motion pictures had been shown to groups of people in one place, but the theater concentrated on film exclusively, rather than mixing it with other forms of entertainment. Davis and Harris offered continuous exhibition of films and frequent changes of programs, directing their services to the working classes. Under the management of Harry Cohen, the Davis and Harris nickelodeon achieved astounding success. The shows started at 8:00 a.m. and ran to full houses until midnight. The operation was estimated to be making a profit of nearly one thousand dollars per week. Soon there were hundreds of nickelodeons in the Pittsburgh area, as storefronts and penny arcades were converted into film theaters. Nickelodeons first became established in cities of the Midwest, where there were plenty of well-paid blue-collar workers, and spread to other cities in the Northeast and West. After two years of “nickel madness,” most American cities had at least one film theater, and big cities typically had twenty or thirty. By 1910, more than nine thousand film theaters were operating in the United States. This number grew to almost thirteen thousand in 1912, with about thirty million tickets sold each week. The nickelodeon had created a large business in film exhibition. The nickelodeon also created the moviegoer, a customer for motion pictures who did not view them in other venues such as vaudeville shows or amusement parks. Moviegoers were devoted to the motion picture and expected a constant flow of new films at the nickelodeon. They soon became more experienced and consequently more critical in their viewing of films. Expectations for narrative plots, professional acting, and convincing settings increased. Film producers had to make longer films with strong story lines to keep the customers of the nickelodeons happy. With motion pictures now a form of mass entertain-
First Nickelodeon Film Theater Opens ment, filmmakers had to increase production to meet the new levels of demand created by the success of the nickelodeon. They began to build larger studios and organize production facilities to maintain a constant output of films. Studios were custom-built so that filmmakers could film more than one scene at a time and to bring all the elements of film production under one roof. The system of production in which the cameraman did all the nonacting work was replaced by a division of labor that established the director in overall charge of making the film, with camera work, lighting, and other tasks carried out by specialized workers. Edison’s invention of the motion-picture camera gave him a strong patent position, which his company exploited to drive competition from the field. This policy
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 was part of a common strategy in American business, that of achieving a monopoly based on control of patents. During the 1890’s, Edison’s lawyers had attempted to eliminate smaller film producers, but they met with limited success. Companies such as Biograph and American Vitagraph obtained their own patents and fought back. Extensive litigation in the 1890’s brought constant disruptions to film production and discouraged entrepreneurs from entering the field or investing in it. Film production was dominated by a few large companies with strong patent positions, such as the Edison and Biograph organizations, and numerous small companies that operated outside the law. Their inability to meet the demand for films encouraged foreign film producers to enter the American market.
To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
Barkers and ticket takers pose outside the entrance of a nickelodeon theater where three films are advertised. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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With motion pictures now a large and The Success of the Nickelodeons profitable business, Edison set out to orJust two years after the first nickelodeon opened, the Saturday Evening ganize manufacturers around his patents. Post published an article by Joseph Medill Patterson that described the An agreement was reached in 1907 to ofpopularity of this new kind of theater: fer manufacturing licenses to the largest film producers: Biograph, Vitagraph, Three years ago there was not a nickelodeon, or five-cent theatre devoted Lubin, Selig, Pathé, Méliès, and Kalem. to moving-picture shows, in America. To-day there are between four and Biograph refused the offer and did not befive thousand running and solvent, and the number is still increasing rapcome part of the Association of Edison idly. This is the boom time in the moving-picture business. Everybody Licensees. The continuing warfare beis making money—manufacturers, renters, jobbers, exhibitors. Overtween Edison and Biograph maintained production looms up as a certainty of the near future; but now, as one press-agent said enthusiastically, “this line is a Klondike.” an atmosphere of uncertainty in film proThe nickelodeon is tapping an entirely new stratum of people, is develduction, because an adverse court decioping into theatregoers a section of population that formerly knew and sion might invalidate patents. It was clear cared little about the drama as a fact in life. That is why “this line is a that peace was the key to stability and Klondike” just at present. prosperity. George Kleine of Kalem took Incredible as it may seem, over two million people on the average atcharge of the negotiations that finally tend the nickelodeons every day of the year, and a third of these are chilbrought the warring companies together dren. and led to the creation of the Motion PicLet us prove up this estimate. The agent for the biggest firm of film ture Patents Company (MPPC) in 1908. renters in the country told me that the average expense of running a nickThe MPPC organized film producers elodeon was from $175 to $200 a week, divided as follows: under the pooled patents of Edison, BioWage of manager 25 graph, and Vitagraph. It gave licenses to Wage of operator 20 nine producers: the original members of Wage of doorman 15 the Association of Edison Licensees (miWage of porter or musician 12 nus Méliès), Biograph, the Kleine OptiRent of films (two reels changed twice a week) 50 cal Company, and the Edison concern. Rent of projecting machine 10 Interlocking agreements were made with Rent of building 40 Music, printing, “campaign contributions,” etc. 18 Eastman Kodak (the main supplier of Total $190 film stock), projector manufacturers, film importers, and film exchanges and exhibMerely to meet expenses, then, the average nickelodeon must have a itors. The film trust, as it was called, creweekly attendance of 4000. This gives all the nickelodeons 16,000,000 a ated a monopoly of film production and week, or over 2,000,000 a day. Two million people a day are needed beestablished minimum prices that ensured fore profits can begin, and the two million are forthcoming. It is a big thing, this new enterprise. healthy profits. As in numerous other trusts formed at this time, power over a Source: Joseph Medill Patterson, “The Nickelodeons,” Saturday Evening Post, whole industry fell into the hands of a few November 23, 1907. large concerns. The MPPC also took the lead in selfregulation of the industry to ensure that Significance motion pictures would provide respectable entertainLike the phonograph before it, the motion-picture proment. This was intended to head off growing criticism of jector created a large entertainment industry within the low moral tone of films. The MPPC also took the retwenty years of its invention. The explosive growth of sponsibility of policing the nickelodeons to reduce fire nickelodeon theaters signaled to the business community and safety hazards in the buildings. that there was a great opportunity in film exhibition. The The formation of the MPPC opened a period of rapid success of the nickelodeon idea brought many entrepregrowth and high profits in the film industry. Film producneurs into the business. Until 1905, most attention in the ers established a schedule of regular releases to ensure fledgling film industry had been focused on the process that exhibitors would be able to change programs regularly. of filmmaking. Many of the people who would later fig-
First Nickelodeon Film Theater Opens ure prominently in the history of motion pictures got their start in film exhibition. Adolph Zukor, a successful Chicago furrier, invested three thousand dollars in a penny arcade in New York in 1903 and took advantage of the “nickel madness” to turn it into a nickelodeon in 1906. In that same year, Carl Laemmle opened his store theater in Chicago and William Fox acquired a storefront arcade in Brooklyn with a nickelodeon over it for about one thousand dollars. All of these three men went on to create powerful film studios: Universal (Laemmle), Paramount (Zukor), and Twentieth Century-Fox. The nickelodeon brought immediate profits to film exhibitors and many changes to the business. The increased demand for films supported film exchanges, which rented reels of film to exhibitors. This replaced the expensive practice of buying films and made it possible for nickelodeon operators to offer greater selections of films. In many cases, the exchanges were established by entrepreneurs who already owned nickelodeons, such as Carl Laemmle and William Fox, who started exchanges to serve their strings of theaters. At the same time film producers were banding together, exhibitors and film exchanges were also organizing themselves into trade groups to protect their interests. They wanted to eliminate price cutting and stop the practice of “duping,” or unauthorized copying, of films. The renters of films organized themselves into the Film Service Association (FSA) in 1907 and agreed to acquire film from Edison licensees only. They committed to buying a certain amount of film per week at a fixed price, providing the producers with a secure and predictable market. Both sides agreed to do business only with one another; thus independent filmmakers could not sell their products to members of the FSA, and the Edison licensees promised to sell their output exclusively to FSA exhibitors. This made it very difficult for independent concerns to operate in the motionpicture industry, but many did. The process of consolidation among both producers and exhibitors had the immediate effect of eliminating smaller, unaligned concerns from the business. The number of companies making or renting films decreased, and those that remained in business grew larger. Although the nickelodeons received better prints under the new system, their costs were higher, and many increased the admission charge to ten cents. The formation of the MPPC accelerated consolidation and gave film producers more power over exhibitors. Each group obtained a license from the MPPC to use film cameras or projectors. The MPPC held all the im420
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 portant patents for film projectors, and under the new system the exhibitors had to pay a royalty fee of two dollars each week. This caused dissension and led to the first defections from the MPPC. Carl Laemmle announced his withdrawal from the organization in 1909. He was followed by several other film exchanges, which began buying films from independent producers. The MPPC issued injunctions against patent infringers but was powerless to prevent all of them from operating, especially those that left the New York City area—the center of the film industry—and moved to Southern California. The independent film exchanges provided more business to the independent film producers, but uncertain supply and low quality of films pushed exhibitors and renters into making their own films. Carl Laemmle was again a pioneer in 1909, this time in the backward integration of film exhibitors into film production. He was followed by Zukor, who launched the Famous Players Film Company in 1911. It was clear to exhibitors and renters that the film producers had both the means and the ambition to move into their business. The MPPC-licensed film producers in 1910 created their own film exchange, the General Film Company, which quickly took over other renters, including George Kleine. By 1912, the company had acquired fifty-seven of the largest licensed exchanges in the country. Film renters that refused to sell out to the General Film Company found that their licenses were revoked by the MPPC. William Fox was one renter who refused to sell. He successfully fought the General Film Company in the courts. The monopolistic practices of the General Film Company and its parent, the MPPC, were well documented and resulted in the U.S. government bringing an antitrust suit against them in 1912. In 1915, the courts found the General Film Company guilty of violations of antitrust laws. This was followed by an even more damaging defeat in 1917, when the U.S. Supreme Court held that the MPPC could not enforce the use of licensed film on patented projectors in theaters. This was clearly the end of the film trust, but it did not end the conflict between producers and exhibitors. One important consequence of the failed attempt to create a monopoly in the film industry was the policy of integration, in which one organization was set up to manufacture, distribute, and exhibit films. Many of the powerful film studios that dominated Hollywood in the first half of the twentieth century traced their origins to the nickelodeon. — Andre Millard
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading Balio, Tino, ed. The American Film Industry. Rev. ed. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985. Collection of scholarly articles about the film industry written by experts in the field. Contains sections on nickelodeons and the Motion Picture Patents Company. Bowser, Eileen. The Transformation of Cinema: 19071915. Reprint. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. Covers the history of the film business from the nickelodeon era to the construction of the first “picture palaces,” large and ornate film theaters. Describes the emergence of the studio and star systems. Melnick, Ross, and Andreas Fuchs. Cinema Treasures: A New Look at Classic Movie Theaters. Osceola, Wis.: Motorbooks International, 2004. Lavishly illustrated history of the American movie theater, from the nickelodeon through the megaplex. Musser, Charles. Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. Exhaustively researched, definitive account of the early years of the film industry. Covers filmmaking and exhibition up to 1915. Provides a wealth of information and excellent analysis of the content of films and the responses of audiences. Profusely illustrated.
Avant-Garde Artists Form Die Brücke _______. The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907. Reprint. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. A detailed and thoroughly researched account of the formation of the film industry by a leading authority on early American film. Ramsaye, Terry. A Million and One Nights. 1926. Reprint. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986. An entertaining account of the film industry. The author worked from firsthand accounts and primary sources, and the book was approved by Thomas Edison. Captures the essence of the early days of film production and exhibition, although somewhat biased in Edison’s favor. Sklar, Robert. Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies. Rev. ed. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. A concise and perceptive general history of the motion-picture business that places it within the context of culture and entertainment. An excellent short overview of the American film industry by one of its most respected scholars. See also: Aug., 1902: A Trip to the Moon Introduces Special Effects; Fall, 1903: The Great Train Robbery Introduces New Editing Techniques; 1909-1929: Pickford Reigns as “America’s Sweetheart”; Aug., 1912: Sennett Defines Slapstick Comedy; 1913: Edison Shows the First Talking Pictures; Oct. 6, 1927: The Jazz Singer Premieres as the First “Talkie.”
Summer, 1905
Avant-Garde Artists Form Die Brücke The artists’ group Die Brücke created a shocking new style, using deliberately distorted images and antinaturalistic, dissonant colors, which became known as expressionism.
Key Figures Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), German multimedia artist who was a cofounder of the Brücke and the group’s self-proclaimed leader Erich Heckel (1883-1970), German painter, printmaker, and sculptor who was a cofounder of the Brücke and the group’s business manager Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976), German printmaker, painter, and sculptor who was a cofounder of the Brücke and named the group
Summary of Event One of Germany’s first avant-garde artists’ groups, Die Brücke (the bridge) was founded in Dresden by a group of young architectural students in the summer of 1905. The group was made up of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Fritz Bleyl, all of whom shared an interest in art. Inspired by the writings of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who 421
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Also known as: German expressionism Locale: Dresden, Germany Category: Arts
Fritz Bleyl (1880-1966), German architect and graphic artist who was a cofounder of the Brücke Emil Nolde (1867-1956), German painter and graphic artist who was briefly a member of the Brücke Max Pechstein (1881-1955), German painter who joined the Brücke in 1906 and was the catalyst for the group’s dissolution Otto Müller (1874-1930), German painter and graphic artist who joined the Brücke in 1910
Avant-Garde Artists Form Die Brücke stressed the importance of artistic creativity, SchmidtRottluff chose the group’s name as an allusion to a passage from Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen (1883-1885; Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1896): “What is great in man is that he is a bridge and no end.” The Brücke’s members set out to express their creative visions and convictions by using irrational, unrealistic symbolic images in defiance of the principles of idealized, academic German art and Impressionism. Believing that the art of their day lacked a sense of passion and commitment, they rejected rigid and narrow artistic standards. They emphasized spontaneous self-expression in their work and aspired to move German art in a radical new direction. Rather than imposing any restrictions on style, the Brücke embraced a diversity of international sources and influences. The group’s members assimilated the flatness of late medieval German woodcuts, the deliberate coarseness of Paul Gauguin’s woodcuts, the simplified forms of Edvard Munch’s graphics, the subjectively colored and thickly painted canvases of Vincent van Gogh, and the antinaturalistic, brilliantly colored paintings of the French Fauves. They also admired African sculpture and Oceanic art, which they studied at Dresden’s Ethnographic Museum, and incorporated such influences into their own work. Rejecting middle-class values, the Brücke’s members consciously detached themselves from their own middle-class backgrounds. They settled into a renovated butcher shop in a working-class section of Dresden that became their communal studio. Protesting materialism and mass-produced objects, the group’s members believed that art was too alienated from contemporary life. Wanting to incorporate art with life, they furnished their studio with hand-carved items. In their studio, they employed diverse media—painting, sculpture, lithography, woodcuts, etchings, and furniture—to express their creativity. Initially, they seldom dated their works, freely painted on one another’s canvases, and often shared the same models. The Brücke’s early works included portraits, cityscapes, mood-evoking landscapes, and nudes. During the summer months, the members painted numerous images of nudes by the lakes surrounding Moritzburg, near Dresden. Their depictions of nudes frolicking in the landscape reflected their generation’s interest in a more simplified life and a return to nature. The Brücke’s pictorial style eliminated all extraneous details and emphasized flatness, the angular use of lines, distortion of form, and clashing, dissonant colors. 422
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Printmaking also played an important role in the Brücke’s stylistic development. Jagged patterns, diagonals, and an emphasis on two-dimensional flatness were characteristics of the group’s early graphic works. Each of the Brücke’s artists contributed his knowledge of a particular printmaking technique: Kirchner of wood engraving and etching, Heckel of wood carving, and SchmidtRottluff of lithography. Heckel stated that it was “difficult to determine what each of us brought to the others in stimulation, because it was reciprocal and often in common.” The simplified forms of their graphic works were technically innovative and helped to affirm their position at the forefront of the contemporary German avantgarde. The members also used their graphics as a vehicle to reach out to a wider audience. For the nominal fee of twelve marks per year, passive members were allowed to join the Brücke; in return, these paying, nonactive members received a yearly progress report on the group’s activities and a folder of their graphics, which later became quite valuable and highly sought after. The Brücke also extended membership to other artists who wished to participate in the group’s exhibitions. In 1906, Kirchner executed a woodcut that expressed the group’s desire to attract young, revolutionary artists who shared the members’ beliefs and wished to participate in exhibitions. That year, the Brücke’s members were joined by the established artist Emil Nolde, who remained a member for only eighteen months. The Brücke admired Nolde’s use of brilliant colors and spontaneous brushwork. Although Nolde quickly spurned the Brücke’s communal working method and lifestyle, he learned the printmaking process of etching from the group, a process that remained a staple in his oeuvre. The painter Max Pechstein also became a member in 1906. Trained as a decorator and a painter, Pechstein created work that was more naturalistic and decorative than that of the other Brücke artists. He used large, bold planes of color and did numerous paintings of nudes in the landscape. The Brücke also tried to include foreign artists, and in 1908 the members asked Kees van Dongen to exhibit with them. In 1911, the Prague artist Bohumil Kubista joined the Brücke, but he had little contact with the other members. Cuno Amiet, a Swiss painter, became a corresponding member and contributed works to the Brücke’s early exhibitions. Remaining in Switzerland, Amiet had no direct contact with the Brücke artists until 1912. In 1910, Otto Müller became the last artist to join the group. His paintings of bathers in nature were more tranquil and less vibrantly colored than the works of the other Brücke artists.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 When Pechstein moved to Berlin in 1908, he remained an active member of the Brücke. During summers, he continued to paint with the Brücke artists in the Dresden countryside. In 1910, the works of Pechstein, Nolde, Müller, and many other artists were rejected by the jury of the Berlin Secession, Germany’s most prestigious art association. The jury members rejected the works of the Brücke because they deemed the works too shocking and modern. Angered by the Secession’s rejection, Pechstein founded the New Secession and became its president. Consequently, the Brücke members agreed never again to exhibit their work individually, because the welfare of the group was always to be put above that of its individual members. The following year, Pechstein ignored the Brücke’s pact and showed his work independently at the Berlin Secession. By shifting his allegiance back to the more prestigious Berlin Secession, Pechstein attempted to advance his career without regard for the other Brücke artists, and Kirchner immediately expelled Pechstein from the group. Shortly after Pechstein’s expulsion, the group began to drift apart. In 1913, the Brücke disbanded and the members went their separate ways.
tortion was a characteristic of all German art, both past and present. He proposed that northern European art was a distinctly unique phenomenon that was conditioned by its particular culture. Worringer suggested that Germanic art had always been antirealistic and anticlassical, unlike the art of Italy and Greece. He argued that alienation from the harsh conditions of the real world was a major characteristic of northern artists, who turned to their inner fantasies and expressive feelings in the creative process. Worringer’s influential writings helped to define and shape the new style called expressionism. The term “expressionism” aptly described the work of the Brücke’s members and of several other German artists, including the members of the Blaue Reiter group as well as the work of Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele in Austria. The term became widely used to define northern European art that altered the world of visual appearances. After World War I, expressionism changed dramatically. Much of postwar German art was concerned with social problems. The November Group was a radical association of intellectuals and artists who joined forces in the utopian belief that art could change society. Pechstein was a member of the November Group, and he designed posters and pamphlet covers urging workers to unite with artists in a joint endeavor to reconstruct Germany after the war. The long-range effects of the Brücke’s work can be seen in the works of such second-generation German expressionists as George Grosz, Max Beckmann, and Otto Dix. Grosz initially used the same garish colors and emotional intensity in his paintings as the Brücke artists had. He was more interested in social concerns than the Brücke artists had been, however, and he depicted the decadence and corruption of postwar German society. Grosz’s 1916 painting The Big City shows a chaotic German city street filled with wounded beggars, prostitutes, and wealthy capitalists. Beckmann’s grim reaction to war was manifested in his painting The Night (19181919). A brutalized depiction of human suffering and torture, it shows the violence inflicted on a family by three cutthroats who have forced their way into the family’s home. Beckmann’s angular use of line, distortion, and exaggeration of detail in the painting anticipated the style known as New Objectivity, which was in theory a reaction against abstraction and expressionism. Dix’s work The Match Seller (1920) shows a blinded and maimed war casualty slumped on a sidewalk. Stripped of his ability to earn a living, the match seller symbolizes the indecencies of postwar life. Dix was a major figure in 423
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Significance When the Brücke moved to Berlin in 1911, its members firmly established their reputations as the German avantgarde. Berlin had a wider and more sophisticated audience than Dresden, and the city became a showcase for the group’s work. In Berlin, the Brücke’s thematic interest shifted from the nude in nature to images of emotionally isolated people in a radically changing world. The group’s artists depicted circus and cabaret performers, prostitutes, and tension-charged street scenes teeming with humanity. They participated in numerous Berlin exhibitions, and their woodcuts were used as illustrations for the pages of Herwarth Walden’s influential literary journal Der Sturm, which helped to disseminate the Brücke’s style. The most obvious confirmation of the group’s achievement came in the summer of 1912, when the Brücke was invited to participate in the large Sonderbund Exhibition in Cologne. The Sonderbund was a huge gathering of Europe’s vanguard artists and presented a broad survey of modern art. The critics took notice and began to write positive reviews about the Brücke’s works, dubbing the group’s members “expressionists.” Expressionism became a major cultural phenomenon, in part as the result of the writings of the art historian Wilhelm Worringer. Worringer argued that the expressionists’ tendency toward abstraction, subjectivity, and dis-
Avant-Garde Artists Form Die Brücke
Avant-Garde Artists Form Die Brücke the New Objectivity, which retained the expressionist characteristic of distortion to emphasize a subjective view of the world. When Adolf Hitler came to power in the 1930’s, he virtually eradicated expressionism. Despising modern art, especially the works of the Brücke artists, Hitler censored all German expressionist artists, and their works were removed from art galleries and museums. After World War II, however, expressionism gained international acceptance. In the 1980’s, a new wave of German expressionism, the third generation, was launched. The neoexpressionist artists Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, and Anselm Kiefer were indebted to the Brücke’s expressive, subjective style and determination to change the status quo in art. Although the concerns of the neoexpressionists were different from those of the Brücke’s artists, the influence of the earlier group was visible in the neoexpressionists’ return to figurative painting and shift away from the dominant styles of abstract and minimalist art. —Carmen Stonge Further Reading Carey, Frances, and Antony Griffiths. The Print in Germany, 1880-1933. New York: Harper & Row, 1984. Although limited to the prints in the British Museum, this is a good general study of German expressionist prints. One essay is devoted to the Brücke’s printmaking innovations and techniques. Discusses the Brücke’s graphics in relation to cultural and historical influences. Includes numerous black-and-white reproductions of Brücke graphics. Dube, Wolf-Dieter. The Expressionists. Translated by Mary Whithall. 1972. Reprint. London: Thames and Hudson, 1985. The first half is devoted to the Brücke, both as a group and as individual artists. Provides a general history of the Brücke and the group’s style. An excellent short introductory book on expressionism. Recommended for students of expressionism and for the general reader. Gordon, Donald E. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968. Pioneering major study on Kirchner. Examines Kirchner’s art in the context of the Brücke and of expressionism in general. Filled with biographical information. Includes numerous interesting photographs of the Brücke’s Dresden studio. Good bibliography. _______. “German Expressionism.” In “Primitivism” in Twentieth Century Art. Vol. 2, edited by William Rubin. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1984. 424
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Gordon’s excellent essay examines some of the nonWestern sources that the Brücke’s members incorporated in their work. Includes interesting photographs and good color reproductions of the Brücke’s work. Recommended for students as well as the novice. Herbert, Barry. German Expressionism: Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1983. The first half of this book is devoted to the Brücke. Provides a basic introduction to the Brücke artists and their work and gives a brief overview of the group’s history. Primary emphasis is on the Brücke’s work and stylistic characteristics. Includes many illustrations. Lloyd, Jill. German Expressionism: Primitivism and Modernity. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1991. Examines the impact of non-Western art on the Brücke’s artists. Not only discusses the Brücke’s assimilation of these images but also examines what prompted the group’s interest in nonWestern art. Contains interesting photographs and numerous reproductions of the Brücke’s artwork. Good bibliography. Lloyd, Jill, and Magdalena Moeller. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: 1880-1938. London: Royal Academy Books, 2003. One of very few publications in English devoted to the life and work of Kirchner. Presents almost 150 of Kirchner’s paintings, prints, and sculptures, together with essays by leading art scholars. Selz, Peter Howard. German Expressionist Painting. 1957. Reprint. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974. The first study of German expressionism in English that focused on the Brücke, its impact, and its critical reception. Traces the evolution of the Brücke to its demise in 1913. Important source for students of expressionist art and the Brücke. Excellent bibliography. West, Shearer. The Visual Arts in Germany, 1890-1937: Utopia and Despair. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2001. Discusses movements in the visual arts in Germany from the early years of German unification until the beginning of World War I, including Secessionism and expressionism. Relates the movements in art to the wider cultural and social issues specific to German modernism. See also: Oct., 1905: Fauves Exhibit at the Salon d’Automne; 1906-1907: Artists Find Inspiration in African Tribal Art; Sept., 1911: Der Blaue Reiter Abandons Representation in Art; 1925: New Objectivity Movement Is Introduced.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Founding of Industrial Workers of the World
June 27, 1905
Founding of Industrial Workers of the World With the founding of the radical workers’ organization Industrial Workers of the World, labor joined socialism. Also known as: Wobblies Locale: Chicago, Illinois Categories: Business and labor; organizations and institutions Key Figures Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926), founder of the Socialist Party in the United States and a founder of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890-1964), a founder of the IWW Bill Haywood (1869-1928), secretary of the Western Federation of Miners and a founder of the IWW Joe Hill (1879-1915), Swedish-born American labor agitator Mother Jones (1830-1930), United Mine Workers organizer and a founder of the IWW
425
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Summary of Event The years preceding the formation of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were filled with turmoil for workers who attempted to earn a fair wage in good working conditions. Influenced by the Populist movement and the Knights of Labor, the Western Federation of Mines (WFM) organized in 1893, with a membership of U.S.-born white men only. Demanding safety legislation and money instead of scrip, the WFM was associated briefly with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) but split with the AFL when that organization did not assist in the WFM’s 1894 strike at Cripple Creek, Colorado. The Cripple Creek strike erupted when miners’ wages were cut. Mine owners hired gunmen, and the governor brought in the state militia. After the strike, the WFM began to establish its own mines. Strikes in 1903 and 1904 brought miners in the West to the realization that they must combine with workers in the East. The eastern wing began with Eugene V. Debs, who had combined railway workers into the American Railway Union (ARU). The ARU was not craft-exclusive; it was open to almost all who worked for railway companies. The ARU believed in a brotherhood that included all workers, with the exception of African Americans. As head of the eastern IWW, Debs tried but failed to combine the eastern and western organizations in 1902.
On June 27, 1905, in Chicago, the WFM, ARU, and anti-AFL unionists, socialists, and anarchists joined forces to combine into the IWW. “Big Bill” Haywood chaired the meeting and called for a working-class movement that could control economic powers. Considered to represent revolutionary industrial unionism, the IWW combined an ideology of Marxist, Darwinian, and Socialist elements in one large union that encompassed men and women of all races. It was an alternative union to the AFL, the capitalism and selective membership of which were in direct opposition to IWW directives. The IWW was considered to be a radical movement, one of daring imagination. Members did not want to be a working-class political party; rather, they wanted the IWW to be a force that could make economic and political change through revolutionary tactics. Charging low dues, the union committed itself to impoverished workers and operated as thirteen big groups that held sit-ins and performed street theater to gain members and support. The IWW became noted for large numbers of strikes and was not trusted by the general public, who thought the group’s members to be “syndicalists,” or people who were capable of overthrowing the government. One of the IWW’s most powerful tactics was the use of direct action, even to the point of violating the law. IWW members believed that such action offered the only way for them to gain publicity and support for the organization. In the West, they held “free speech” fights, which were banned. Members seeking arrest protested and were jailed. Because they had an antireligious approach, they were unable to get permits to hold meetings. Instead, the IWW intruded into meetings of the permitholding Salvation Army. Noted for its egalitarian system, the IWW welcomed women, who were incorporated into male industrial unions except for certain strike meetings. Mary “Mother” Jones, an immigrant dressmaker and organizer of the United Mine Workers, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn both helped to organize the IWW. Although never top officeholders in the union, women were very active strikers. No other labor union could boast the number of women who were actively speaking or raising funds as could the IWW. Membership included the skilled and unskilled, men and women, African Americans, Mexicans, Chinese, and Japanese. The racially and ethnically diverse membership became known as the Wobblies.
Founding of Industrial Workers of the World
Haywood on Industrial Unionism “Big Bill” Haywood defined the aims of the labor movement, as he saw it, in a speech during the IWW founding convention in 1905: Now, are there any of you who feel that your interests and the capitalist’s interests are identical? Don’t you know that there is not an employing capitalist or corporation manufactory in this country that if it were possible would not operate his or its entire plant or factory by machines and dispose of every human being employed? The corporation does not hire you. The employer never looks at your face; he never looks you in the eye. He cares nothing about your feelings. He does not care anything about your surroundings. He cares nothing about your twinges of anguish or your heartaches. He wants your hands and as much of your brain as is necessary to attach yourself to a machine. . . . The machine is rapidly taking your place, and it will have you entirely displaced pretty soon, and it is a question as between you and the capitalist as to who is going to own and control and manipulate and supervise that machine. That is the purpose of this industrial union. . . . We propose to say to the employing class what the hours of labor shall be and what the remuneration shall be. We are the people who do the work, and we have got tired of those who do nothing but shirk, reaping all of the benefits. That is the definition of industrial unionism; the absolute control and supervision of industry. And when the working class are sufficiently well organized to control the means of life, why then . . . the ownership of legislatures and senates and militias and police will be of little avail to them. . . . We are going to say to the employer: You must take your place in the productive system of this country or you will starve. . . . So I have come back to Chicago, and am still on the frontier; that is, on the frontier of this industrial union movement, which I hope to see grow throughout this country until it takes in a great majority of the working people, and that those working people will rise in revolt against the capitalist system as the working class in Russia are doing to-day.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 later, an additional twenty thousand workers of forty different nationalities joined them. IWW leaders, including Flynn, hurried to Massachusetts to help the strikers. Workers were instructed to conduct mass pickets, a method to avoid arrest by forming an unbroken human chain. In Lawrence, the chain consisted of between five thousand and twenty thousand workers walking continuously for twenty-four hours in nonviolent action. The workers were organized according to nationality, and translated literature aided in the continued strike. When a woman picketer was shot and killed, some IWW officials were arrested, although they had been miles away at the time. Martial law was declared, meetings were banned, and police were called into action. When a fifteen-year-old Syrian boy was killed by the state militia, strikers sent their children out of Lawrence, which generated much publicity. When companies tried to block the move, the country was outraged and the mill owners were forced to settle the strike, granting the workers raises, overtime pay, and other benefits.
Significance The Lawrence strikes, although they successfully joined immigrant workers, did not have the impact of a widespread moveSource: “Big Bill, IWW Leader,” in The 1905 Proceedings of the Founding ment. The wage gains were offset by inConvention of the Industrial Workers of the World (New York: New York creased use of mill machinery. Public outLabor Company, 1905). cry erupted in Lawrence as the Roman Catholic Church campaigned against the Wobblies, and the Citizens Association atThe economic depression of 1907-1908, factionaltacked the IWW as atheistic anarchists. A spy network ism, harassment from the government, and the WFM’s brought harassment to the victorious workers. A subseleaving the union created problems for the fledgling quent strike in New Jersey did not meet with success, as IWW. Then, in 1909, skilled workers joined unskilled laborers fought against one another. The depression of immigrant strikers at a Pennsylvania steel car company 1913-1914 further hurt the IWW movement. over an incentive pay system. The plant shut down, and, A revitalization occurred with the initiation of the Agwhen a split occurred between the groups, IWW leaders ricultural Workers Organization (AWO), a branch of mitook charge. The show of force resulted in the owners’ grant farm laborers who fought for immediate demands. breaking down and settling. The results were an increase in pay and better working In 1912, one hundred women workers already on a conditions for harvest workers. In 1916, northwestern plant speed-up conducted a massive textile strike in Lawlumber workers greatly benefited the Wobblies’ organirence, Massachusetts, when their wages were cut. The zation when the strikers tenaciously held out against powomen were mostly immigrants less than eighteen years lice brutality and shootings. of age and suffering from malnutrition. Only two days In 1914, IWW labor agitator Joe Hill was charged 426
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 with the murders of two Salt Lake City men. His subsequent conviction and execution made him a symbolic martyr. Martyrdom could not save the Wobblies, however, as lawmen pursued the IWW’s members. Although the IWW had gained worker support, it had lost any endorsements to the AFL. Despite an effort to downplay antiwar criticism after World War I began, the IWW’s refusal to endorse the fighting brought fierce government attacks, especially when the IWW began to encourage young men not to serve their country. To American nativists, the mainly immigrant members of the IWW made the union appear dangerous. These antiIWW feelings helped the growth of the AFL. Finally, during the Red Scare of 1919-1920, many Wobblies were put on trial for having communist leanings. Although the union virtually died, interest in the IWW has waxed and waned over the years. IWW membership fluctuated as the organization concentrated on doing educational work, then renewed its radicalism in the 1960’s when singer Joan Baez popularized “The Ballad of Joe Hill.” The organization printed a newsletter for three thousand in the 1980’s; more recently, the newsletter has been published for a paying membership reduced to mere hundreds. —Marilyn Elizabeth Perry
as Peter Kuper, Harvey Pekar, and Seth Tobocman. Conlin, Joseph Robert. Bread and Roses Too: Studies of the Wobblies. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1969. Six essays analyze the problems encountered by IWW members during their struggles for better working conditions. Dubofsky, Melvyn. We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1969. A large volume about the IWW, with excellent profiles of union leaders and an absorbing history of the movement. Foner, Philip S., ed. Fellow Workers and Friends: I.W.W. Free Speech Fights as Told by Participants. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1981. A collection of personal histories of IWW workers as they relate to their fight for free speech. Kornbluh, Joyce L., ed. Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology. 1964. Reprint. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 1998. A chronologically ordered anthology combining narratives, cartoons, songs, and other memorabilia to form a picture of IWW solidarity. Renshaw, Patrick. The Wobblies: The Story of the IWW and Syndicalism in the United States. Rev. ed. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1999. Describes the formation of the IWW and discusses the union’s goal of bringing together workers from around the world. Winters, Donald E., Jr. The Soul of the Wobblies: The I.W.W., Religion, and American Culture in the Progressive Era, 1905-1917. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1985. This look at the IWW takes the perspective that its solidarity was comparable to a religious belief. See also: Apr. 13, 1917: U.S. Curtails Civil Liberties During World War I; June 15, 1917, and May 16, 1918: Espionage and Sedition Acts; Aug., 1919-May, 1920: Red Scare; Jan. 19, 1920: American Civil Liberties Union Is Founded.
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Further Reading Bird, Stewart, Dan Georgakas, and Deborah Shaffer, comps. Solidarity Forever: An Oral History of the IWW. Chicago: Lake View Press, 1985. A collection of essays and oral histories revealing the dedication of IWW members to the union’s cause. Buhle, Paul, and Nicole Schulman, eds. Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World. London: Verso, 2005. This collaboration between historians and graphic novelists presents the history of the IWW through comic-book-style art (along with connective essays) by such contributors
Founding of Industrial Workers of the World
Founding of the Niagara Movement
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
July 11, 1905
Founding of the Niagara Movement The Niagara Movement, which was founded by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter, attempted to elevate the position of African Americans in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century. Also known as: Niagara Falls Conference Locale: Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada Categories: Civil rights and liberties; social issues and reform; organizations and institutions Key Figures W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963), African American historian, sociologist, and newspaper editor Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), influential African American leader and founder of the Tuskegee Institute Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 William Howard Taft (1857-1930), president of the United States, 1909-1913 Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), American steel manufacturer and philanthropist William Monroe Trotter (1872-1934), American newspaper editor Summary of Event The Niagara Movement was formed largely as a response to the indifference of local, state, and federal authorities to the plight of blacks in the United States. Despite the promises of the Civil War and Reconstruction, lynching and mob violence went unchecked throughout the South during the Jim Crow period (1881-1914). Outbreaks of rioting were also common in the North at this time. By the end of the nineteenth century, interracial violence had become a national problem. In the first two decades of the twentieth century, the three most important spokesmen for the rights of blacks in the United States were Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and William Monroe Trotter. Washington, who was an adviser to Theodore Roosevelt and a friend to white millionaires, counseled blacks to practice accommodation. He drew sharp attacks from Du Bois, editor of the newspaper The Crisis, and Trotter, editor of the Boston newspaper The Guardian, for his insistence that blacks should settle for vocational education instead of striving for higher education. The philosophical division between Washington’s 428
supporters, known as the Bookerites, and his detractors, the anti-Bookerites, became even more apparent after a riot that took place in Boston. Trotter had arranged to confront Washington at a public meeting to be held in the Columbus Avenue African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. When Washington was introduced to the two thousand people in attendance, a riot ensued in which one person was stabbed and Trotter himself was arrested. As a result of the exaggerated coverage given to the event in the newspapers, the anti-Bookerites received considerable support. Trotter had become, in effect, a martyr for the radical left. In 1903, Washington began to perceive the need for a militant and unified organization of black Americans. In February, he informed Du Bois of his plan to unite all black spokesmen. With the financial assistance of his
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friend Andrew Carnegie, Washington Principles of the Niagara Movement arranged for a conference to be held at At the Niagara Movement’s founding meeting in July, 1905, the members Carnegie Hall in New York during the signed a “Declaration of Principles” that stated beliefs and set forth certain first week of January, 1904. Invitademands in nineteen different areas, including suffrage, public opinion, tions were sent to twenty-eight influhealth, protest, oppression, and agitation. The declaration began with the ential blacks, only eight of whom were following five principles. anti-Bookerites. Trotter was not invited. The planned meeting was kept Progress: The members of the conference, known as the Niagara Movesecret from the public. ment . . . congratulate the Negro-Americans on certain undoubted evidences Essentially, the conference of 1904 of progress in the last decade, particularly the increase of intelligence, the set the groundwork for a more perbuying of property, the checking of crime, the uplift in home life, the advance in literature and art, and the demonstration of constructive and executive abilmanent organization. The Bookerites ity in the conduct of great religious, economic, and educational institutions. and anti-Bookerites who attended the Suffrage: At the same time, we believe that this class of American citizens meeting arrived at a compromise poshould protest emphatically and continually against the curtailment of their sition. They also agreed to appoint a political rights. We believe in manhood suffrage; we believe that no man is so permanent committee, known as the good, intelligent or wealthy as to be entrusted wholly with the welfare of his Committee of Twelve, at a later date. neighbor. Although the conference gave the apCivil Liberty: We believe also in protest against the curtailment of our pearance of harmony, this facade was civil rights. All American citizens have the right to equal treatment in places shattered later by comments made in of public entertainment according to their behavior and deserts. the press by Washington and Du Bois. Economic Opportunity: We especially complain against the denial of Du Bois became disillusioned with equal opportunities to us in economic life; in the rural districts of the South this amounts to peonage and virtual slavery; all over the South it tends to the Committee of Twelve when, in crush labor and small business enterprises; and everywhere American prejuJuly, 1904, it adopted a more conserdice, helped often by iniquitous laws, is making it more difficult for Negrovative platform than had been agreed Americans to earn a decent living. on in January and appointed WashEducation: Common school education should be free to all American ington as its chairman. After resignchildren and compulsory. High school training should be adequately proing from the Committee of Twelve vided for all, and college training should be the monopoly of no class or race in March, 1905, Du Bois, with the in any section of our common country. We believe that, in defense of our own support of Trotter, set about forming institutions, the United States should aid common school education, particua more radical organization. Trotter larly in the South, and we especially recommend concerted agitation to this suggested forming a “strategy board” end. We urge an increase in public high school facilities in the South, where that would become a national antithe Negro-Americans are almost wholly without such provisions. We favor well-equipped trade and technical schools for the training of artisans, and the Washington organization. After reneed of adequate and liberal endowment for a few institutions of higher edusolving that no expenses were to be cation must be patent to sincere well-wishers of the race. paid by any white benefactors, Du Bois and Trotter met with F. L. McGhee of St. Paul and C. E. Bentley of Chicago to plan a meeting to be held that sumgeneral treasurer. Both men worked in conjunction with mer in western New York. Invitations were mailed to an executive committee made up of the chairmen of black leaders in seventeen states. the individual states’ local chapters. Work was divided On July 11, 1905, twenty-nine black men from all among special committees, the most important of which, over the United States gathered at Fort Erie, Ontario, on the Press and Public Opinion Committee, was headed by the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, and christened their Trotter. The state committees were assigned the roles of organization the Niagara Movement. Having learned securing just legislation for blacks and of carrying out their lesson from the Committee of Twelve, the men creeducational and propaganda functions. ated an executive system of overlapping jurisdictions for The Niagara Movement’s “Declaration of Princitheir organization to prevent domination by any one ples,” drafted by Du Bois and Trotter, was a radical documember. Du Bois was elected general secretary, and ment that was the foundation for a radical organization. George Jackson, a lawyer from Cincinnati, was elected
Founding of the Niagara Movement In blunt language, the document accused the white race of “ravishing and degrading” the black race and pleaded for the cooperation of all men of all races. It also demanded that whites grant blacks suffrage as well as equal civil rights, equal economic opportunities, and equal educational opportunities. Du Bois and Trotter hoped that their fledgling organization would confront Booker T. Washington and his white supporters. The Tuskegee Machine, led by Washington, opposed the Niagara Movement from the outset. Washington’s supporters infiltrated the Niagara Movement and tried to isolate it. Although Washington agreed almost entirely with the Declaration of Principles, he did not agree with the founders’ plans for achieving their goals, which included a political emphasis, agitation, and demands for an immediate end to all racial discrimination and lacked attention to economic development. In spite of the harassment from Tuskegee, the Niagara Movement made considerable progress during its first year. In December, 1906, Du Bois reported to the group’s 170 members in thirty-four states that the organization had distributed more than one thousand pamphlets. State chapters across the country had worked in conjunction with local protest groups in such major cities as New York and Philadelphia and in the District of Columbia. Members had also demonstrated against a segregated exposition in Jamestown, Virginia, and had protested an amendment to the Hepburn railroad rate bill that legalized segregated passenger seating in trains. When the Niagara Movement convened in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, in August, 1906, for its second annual conference, the organization’s only serious problem seemed to be a lack of funds. Problems, however, had already begun to surface in the months preceding the meeting, and they continued throughout the year. Early in 1906, Du Bois had angered Trotter by forming a women’s auxiliary of the movement. In the fall, a serious breach developed between Trotter and Clement Morgan, the secretary of the Massachusetts state branch. Trotter objected vehemently when Morgan accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for a seat in the legislature, thereby violating the movement’s rule forbidding members to hold office. In a show of protest, Trotter resigned from the Committee on Arrangements. Trotter’s final break from the Niagara Movement came in the fall of 1906, as plans for another meeting took shape. Trotter proposed that Du Bois be replaced as general secretary and that the head of the Massachusetts branch should be elected, not appointed. After Du Bois and Morgan rejected Trotter’s proposals, Trotter for430
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 mally withdrew his membership in the Niagara Movement in 1908. Trotter’s departure was the beginning of the end for the Niagara Movement. Du Bois admitted that his inexperience as a political leader was an obvious factor in the organization’s decline. Encouraged by the rift between the founders of the movement, the Tuskegee Machine escalated its attacks against Du Bois in black newspapers. The lack of any formal national headquarters and a regular paid staff also contributed to the movement’s decline. After Trotter’s resignation, the group held two more meetings, neither of which had a large attendance. In 1910, the Niagara Movement ceased operations altogether when Du Bois encouraged its members to join the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Significance Before the Niagara Movement disbanded, this relatively small organization had a significant impact on American politics. Ever since its founding in 1905, it had denounced President Theodore Roosevelt for his wellpublicized view that blacks were racially inferior. The Niagara Movement’s opposition to Roosevelt reached its peak when soldiers from the all-black Twenty-fifth Infantry regiment had been accused of running rampant through the streets of Brownsville, Texas, killing one man and wounding two others. Roosevelt himself had denounced the soldiers and encouraged his chosen successor, William Howard Taft, to do the same during the presidential campaign of 1908. In the summer of 1907, at its meeting in Boston, the Niagara Movement set the theme for the coming presidential election by calling on the five hundred thousand black voters of the North to use their votes to defeat Taft. The organization supported Senator Joseph Benson Foraker’s bid for the Republican nomination as a gesture of gratitude for his dissent from the majority report by the Committee on Military Affairs on the Brownsville incident. Even though Foraker did not win the nomination, the movement’s supporters built up enough political momentum both during and after the election of 1908 to help Woodrow Wilson win the election of 1912. Although the Niagara Movement ceased to exist after the formation of the NAACP in 1910, it had a definite effect on the formation of the latter organization. The majority of the black founders, including Du Bois and Trotter, came to the NAACP from the Niagara Movement and became the dominant black constituency within the organization. The memory of the financial problems that
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 had plagued the Niagara Movement convinced many of these former members of the need to secure support from liberal whites. The Niagara Movement also served as a catalyst in the shift of the consensus of black thought from the Bookerite doctrine to the protest tradition that was first endorsed by the movement and later adopted by the NAACP. Finally, many of the goals of the Niagara Movement, particularly the emphasis on higher education, material advancement, and voting rights, were adopted by the NAACP. Although it can be said that the Niagara Movement was too radical for its time, the NAACP was undoubtedly an organization whose time had come. The Niagara Movement’s most important legacy, however, was the awareness it fostered among whites of the seriousness of the plight of blacks in the United States. For the first time in the twentieth century, whites were told, in strong language, by blacks themselves that blacks were not inferior beings and that they were entitled to all the rights enjoyed by other Americans. By employing such effective methods as editorializing in black newspapers and organizing local demonstrations, the Niagara Movement prepared the way for the national protest movements of the 1960’s. —Alan Brown
roles played by Washington and Du Bois. Also provides a lengthy explanation for the demise of the movement. Hoemann, George H. What God Hath Wrought: The Embodiment of Freedom in the Thirteenth Amendment. New York: Garland Press, 1987. A social history of the time in which the amendment that gave African Americans their freedom was written. Also dissects the meanings of words within that amendment. Logan, Rayford W., ed. W. E. B. Du Bois: A Profile. New York: Hill & Wang, 1971. The Niagara Movement is discussed at length in an article by William H. Ferris titled “The Emerging Leader: A Contemporary View.” Written before the demise of the movement, the article paints a deceptively harmonious and optimistic picture of its inner workings. McKissick, Floyd B. Three-Fifths of a Man. New York: Macmillan, 1969. An examination of how the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Emancipation Proclamation have influenced race relations in the United States. Marable, Manning. W. E. B. Du Bois: Black Radical Democrat. Boston: Twayne, 1986. Manning places the Niagara Movement within the context of the American political scene of its time and demonstrates how it evolved into the NAACP. Moore, Jacqueline M. Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and the Struggle for Racial Uplift. Lanham, Md.: SR Books, 2003. Provides a detailed overview of the debate between Washington and Du Bois concerning their different approaches to the problems of segregation and discrimination against blacks. Morris, Aldon D. Origins of the Civil Rights Movement. New York: Free Press, 1984. Stressing the militant side of the Niagara Movement, Morris illustrates the similarity between the goals of the movement and the goals of the NAACP. Nieman, Donald G. Promises to Keep: African-Americans and the Constitutional Order, 1776 to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. A constitutional history of the United States with special focus on the impact of the Constitution on U.S. social history. Rampersad, Arnold. The Art and Imagination of W. E. B. Du Bois. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976. In chapter 5, titled “The Mantle and the Prophet,” Rampersad gives a philosophical overview of the similarities between the tenets of the Niagara Movement and Du Bois’s own personal position as he stated in his writings. 431
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Further Reading Blaustein, Albert P., and Robert Zangrando, eds. Civil Rights and the American Negro. New York: Trident Press, 1968. This episodic account of the Civil Rights movement asserts that the Niagara Movement was a natural response to the injustices of the Jim Crow period. Burns, W. Haywood. The Voices of Negro Protest in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1963. Discusses twentieth century protest movements, highlighting the NAACP. Du Bois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk: One Hundred Years Later. Edited by Dolan Hubbard. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003. Reprint of Du Bois’s powerful 1903 statement about the problem of the twentieth century, which he defined as the problem of the color line. In a direct challenge to Booker T. Washington’s program of gradualism, Du Bois argues that black U.S. citizens will progress only through challenge, struggle, and political protest. Fox, Stephen R. The Guardian of Boston: William Monroe Trotter. New York: Atheneum, 1970. Chapter 3 provides one of the most comprehensive accounts of the Niagara Movement available. Although the emphasis is on Trotter, the author gives attention to the
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Lowell Predicts the Existence of Pluto Tuttle, William M., ed. W. E. B. Du Bois. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973. In the chapter titled “Radicals and Conservatives,” Kelly Miller offers an interesting explanation of the significance of the cities chosen by the Niagara Movement’s founders as the sites for their meetings. Washington, Booker T. Up from Slavery. 1901. Reprint. New York: Gramercy Books, 1993. Washington’s seminal work, in which he describes his idea of the “talented tenth” and how black citizens of the United States will achieve full equality gradually, through hard work and demonstrating their worthiness. A direct contrast to the more aggressive platform of Du Bois.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Zuckerman, Phil, ed. The Social Theory of W. E. B. Du Bois. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Pine Forge Press, 2004. A collection of Du Bois’s writings from a wide variety of sources, including newspaper articles, speeches, and selections from his books, both well known and lesser known. Emphasizes Du Bois’s theoretical contributions to sociological thought. See also: Feb. 12, 1909: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Is Founded; 19101930: Great Northern Migration; May, 1917: Universal Negro Improvement Association Establishes a U.S. Chapter; Aug. 7, 1925: West African Student Union Is Founded.
August, 1905
Lowell Predicts the Existence of Pluto Percival Lowell instituted an observational search for the ninth planet he believed to exist in Earth’s solar system. Locale: Flagstaff, Arizona Categories: Science and technology; astronomy Key Figures Percival Lowell (1855-1916), American astronomer, mathematician, and businessman Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1835-1910), Italian astronomer Vesto Melvin Slipher (1875-1969), American astronomer Earl Carl Slipher (1883-1964), American astronomer Carl O. Lampland (1873-1951), American astronomer Clyde William Tombaugh (1906-1997), American amateur astronomer Summary of Event Percival Lowell, a member of a prominent New England family, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 13, 1855. Although his family was associated with textile mills, Percival pursued his formal education (at Harvard University) in mathematics with a personal interest in astronomy. In 1877, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli began an observational study of Mars that led to his announcement that he had discerned complex and detailed surface patterns on the planet. He called these features canali, a word incorrectly translated into 432
the English word “canals,” which proved to be a source of subsequent confusion. Lowell followed Schiaparelli’s discoveries with keen interest and imagined many great Martian civilizations. In the early 1890’s, Schiaparelli’s eyesight had deteriorated and he could no longer make telescopic observations. Determined to continue Schiaparelli’s research, Percival founded the Lowell Observatory (opened on June 1, 1894) in Flagstaff, Arizona, and devoted it to the study of Mars and the other planets. Lowell made personal observations of the so-called Martian canals and imagined them as irrigation channels built by an intelligent and desperate civilization striving to retain its water supply from the polar caps of Mars. In 1898, Lowell founded a journal in which he published his thoughts about Mars to the scientific community, where they were met with varied receptions. His theories on Martian life were generally well received by science-fiction writers and the broad public but ridiculed by professional astronomers. Lowell became frustrated and sought ways to improve his credibility among his colleagues. The mathematical prediction of the planet Neptune and its subsequent discovery in 1846 gave rise to the possibility that additional remote planets remained undiscovered in the solar system. Lowell thought that if he could predict the location of a ninth planet, beyond Neptune, this accomplishment would improve his reputation as an astronomer. In August, 1905, he inspired his colleagues at the Lowell Observatory to begin the first systematic photographic and visual search for “Planet X.”
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could not accurately calculate aberrations in its motion. Also, any deviations in the motion of Uranus were expected to be further minimized because of its great distance from Planet X; these additional errors were introduced into his calculations. In addition, Lowell studied the perturbations of comets and suggested that a distant planet could gravitationally affect a cometary orbit. Lowell’s rigorous mathematics led him to assume that Planet X would have a mass seven times that of Earth, an inclination (with respect to the ecliptic) of 10 degrees, and an average distance of forty-three times the distance between Earth and the Sun. He also believed that the undiscovered planet would have a low density and a high albedo (the ratio of sunlight received versus sunlight reflected), as in the case of the four largest planets. In addition, Lowell expected the planet to appear faint because of its great distance from Earth and could only generally predict its location to be in or near the constellation of Gemini. Originally, he had predicted the location to be within the constellation of Libra. In his attempt to locate the ninth planet, Lowell pushed himself very hard, and this overwork may have
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He expected this distant planet to be very similar to Neptune in density, size, and magnitude (brightness) and therefore easy to spot. Lowell began his first search, from 1905 to 1907, by photographing star fields with a camera 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) in aperture (a 5-inch Brashear lens of 35inch, or 89-centimeter, focal length). Lowell’s assistants took more than two hundred photographic plates, photographing each sky area twice to record faint stars. All of the three-hour-exposure plates were centered on the ecliptic (the plane of the solar system) and varied at intervals of 5 degrees longitude. Lowell personally examined each plate with a handheld magnifying glass. His technique was based on the assumption that a comparison of two photographs taken of the same star field would show movements of nonstellar objects such as comets, asteroids, and planets. In 1911 and 1912, Lowell oversaw the making of a sequence of photographic plates using the observatory’s 42-inch (107-centimeter) reflecting telescope. Lowell used a Zeiss blink-microscope comparator (a device that superimposes two photographic plates of the same region for direct comparison), which greatly expedited studies of multiple photographic plates. Unfortunately, this intensive search for Planet X also proved unsuccessful. Assisted by Carl O. Lampland, Lowell continued his search from 1914 to 1916 with a 9-inch (23-centimeter) Brashear lens. The researchers examined almost one thousand photographic plates under the blink comparator, but with negative results. By this time, Lowell realized that it would be difficult to discover the ninth planet observationally and attempted to compute its orbital and physical characteristics through mathematical calculations and statistical methods. He admitted that his theory would be limited and would contain some positional uncertainty, as his calculations were based on errors embedded within observations of the distant planets Uranus and Neptune. On January 13, 1915, Lowell presented his theory on Planet X to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His book on the subject, Memoir on a Trans-Neptunian Planet, was published in the spring of that year. Using methods of celestial mechanics and mathematics, Lowell studied minute perturbations in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. He attributed the irregularities in their motions to a trans-Neptunian planet—that is, a planet with an orbit intersecting that of Neptune. Unfortunately, Neptune’s orbit was not well known at the time (its revolution had been observed for only fifty years), so Lowell
Lowell Predicts the Existence of Pluto
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Lowell Predicts the Existence of Pluto contributed to his death from a stroke on November 12, 1916, at the age of sixty-one. He left an endowment of more than one million dollars for the Lowell Observatory to continue his search. His wife challenged the will, however, and a legal battle ensued for almost a decade. Court fees depleted much of the endowment, and the observatory could not afford to maintain Lowell’s work. The search for Planet X was thus interrupted for thirteen years, but Lowell’s staff retained their enthusiasm for the search and continued it when they were able. In 1925, A. Lawrence Lowell, Percival’s brother, provided the observatory with funds for the purchase of a 13-inch (33-centimeter) telescope with a focal length of 66 inches (168 centimeters). The new telescope began operation in 1929, at which time self-taught astronomer Clyde William Tombaugh was hired to work as an assistant at the observatory. On February 18, 1930, Tombaugh used the Zeiss blink comparator and discovered Lowell’s Planet X on photographic plates taken on January 21, 23, and 29, 1930. Astronomers Carl Lampland, Vesto Melvin Slipher, and Earl Carl Slipher took additional photographic plates on February 18, 1930, to confirm the sighting. Soon thereafter, they announced the discovery of the trans-Neptunian planet, as originally predicted by Lowell. Significance The press and general public were intrigued by Lowell’s search for and the eventual discovery of a ninth planet. When the discovery was announced, Lowell Observatory staff received hundreds of congratulatory telegrams and letters. Before his death, Lowell was more recognized by astronomers in Europe than by those in the United States. Many of his American colleagues never acknowledged him as a professional astronomer; they considered him to be an anxious amateur. Unfortunately, the controversy that Lowell had begun earlier with his observations of Martian canals made him and the Lowell Observatory outcasts among much of the scientific community. This changed with the discovery of the ninth planet, however. With the exception of magnitude, the planet’s location and basic characteristics were so similar to Lowell’s prediction that astronomers did not assume its discovery came about by mere chance. In fact, Vesto Slipher stated that the discovery was simply the conclusion of a search program set forth in 1905 by Lowell and his theoretical work on the dynamical evidence of a ninth planet. Professional astronomers contacted Lowell Observatory and requested specific coordinates of the new planet 434
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 in order to compute its orbital path around the Sun. Early calculations suggested that the planet took several thousand years to orbit the Sun, but this value decreased as more observations were recorded, and today the orbit’s duration is known to be about 248 years. The discovery of the ninth planet prompted astronomers at other institutions to begin their own searches for more distant planets. Tombaugh personally assisted in a continued search program at Lowell Observatory until the start of World War II. Since Pluto’s discovery, however, no other distant planets have been detected. Lowell’s work in astronomy contributed to the advancement of science, not least through his establishment of the Lowell Observatory. The observatory’s equipment made possible not only the search for Pluto but also observations of Mars, Saturn and its rings, and the atmospheres of Jupiter and Uranus. Similar studies continue among astronomers worldwide. Since its discovery, Pluto has been the subject of additional research. In the 1970’s, spectral observations suggested that Pluto had frozen methane on its surface, but it is now known that Pluto’s frozen surface consists of 98 percent nitrogen, with traces of methane and carbon monoxide. In 1978, an astronomer from the U.S. Naval Observatory examined some photographic plates taken from Flagstaff, Arizona, and found that in some images Pluto appeared slightly elongated; this observation led to the discovery of Pluto’s moon, Charon. Given a moon and a planet, astronomers are able to calculate the masses of these bodies using Newton’s laws. When Pluto was first discovered, astronomers believed its mass to be roughly equal to that of Earth; however, later measurements suggested that Pluto is actually smaller than Earth's moon. From the mid-1990's onward, new discoveries made possible by improvements in technology led to debates among astronomers concerning whether particular bodies in our solar system should be classified as planets. In 2006, the members of the International Astronomical Union voted to reclassify Pluto as a “dwarf planet,” reducing to eight the official number of bodies in the solar system defined as true planets. The decision was itself the source of controversy, and the debate continued. Outside the scientific community, Lowell’s early ideas of intelligent life on Mars and his search for a transNeptunian planet spawned excitement. Many newspaper reports were published on the new planet, and educators gave presentations at local observatories on observing the night sky. The Adler Planetarium in Chicago first opened its doors to the public in the midst of an atmo-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 sphere of wonder about what other planets might be hidden against the starry background sky. The discovery of Pluto undoubtedly inspired many people to look up toward the stars and to learn about astronomy. —Noreen A. Grice
equations and a list of his predictions on the planet’s mass and distance from the Sun. Parker, Barry. Alien Life: The Search for Extraterrestrials and Beyond. New York: Plenum, 1998. Takes a scientific approach to the subject of the possibility of intelligent life on other planets, avoiding personal speculation. Chapter 5 includes discussion of Schiaparelli’s observations of Mars and Lowell’s subsequent theorizing about life on that planet. Includes glossary, bibliography, and index. Shapley, Harlow, ed. Source Book in Astronomy, 19001950. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1960. Excellent source for information on many great historical moments in astronomy during the first half of the twentieth century. Chapter 14, “The Discovery of Pluto,” describes the search for the ninth planet. Tombaugh, Clyde William. “Reminiscences of the Discovery of Pluto.” Sky and Telescope 19 (March, 1960): 264-270. Tombaugh’s own thoughts about Lowell’s search for Planet X and his own years of investigation, including the final discovery of Pluto. Includes photographs of Lowell Observatory, Percival Lowell, the Slipher brothers, Carl Lampland, Tombaugh, and the Zeiss blink comparator. Tombaugh, Clyde William, and Patrick Moore. Out of Darkness: The Planet Pluto. Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1980. Very readable work for the general reader provides a good review of all aspects of the search for planets in general and the personalities surrounding the discovery of Pluto. Whyte, A. J. The Planet Pluto. New York: Pergamon Press, 1980. A relatively technical work for readers who wish to dig into the details of the discovery of Pluto. Provides an objective view of the process. Includes a historical review. See also: 1912: Slipher Obtains the Spectrum of a Distant Galaxy; Early 1920’s: Slipher Presents Evidence of Redshifts in Galactic Spectra; Feb. 18, 1930: Tombaugh Discovers Pluto.
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Further Reading Binzel, Richard. “Pluto.” Scientific American 262 (June, 1990): 50-58. Provides information on the physical characteristics of Pluto. Illustrations of Pluto and its moon, Charon, are helpful in explaining why this system is often considered to be a double planet. Includes the photograph that led to the discovery of Charon in 1978. Croswell, Ken. “Pluto: Enigma on the Edge of the Solar System.” Astronomy 14 (July, 1986): 7-22. Discusses Lowell’s strategy for the search of Planet X and Tombaugh’s actual discovery of the planet. Provides a summary of physical data for Pluto as well as information on the discovery of Pluto’s moon. Also features a concise biography of Lowell. Freedman, David H. “When Is a Planet Not a Planet? Arguments for and Against Demoting Pluto.” Atlantic Monthly, February, 1998. Reviews the debate that arose in the mid-1990’s regarding the status of Pluto as a major planet, given new discoveries. Hoyt, William G. Planet X and Pluto. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1980. Comprehensive work documents the transition between Lowell’s work and Tombaugh’s. Agood source for the interested reader. Lowell, A. Lawrence. Biography of Percival Lowell. New York: Macmillan, 1935. Biography by Percival Lowell’s brother contains minute details of both the professional and the personal sides of the astronomer’s life. Provides an excellent chronology of Lowell’s career. Lowell, Percival. Memoir on a Trans-Neptunian Planet. Lynn, Mass.: Press of T. P. Nichols and Son, 1915. The definitive source for information on Lowell’s search for Planet X. Includes Lowell’s mathematical
Lowell Predicts the Existence of Pluto
Armstrong Committee Examines the Insurance Industry
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
August-December, 1905
Armstrong Committee Examines the Insurance Industry Evidence of chicanery on the part of the insurance industry sparked a New York State investigation that prompted the passage of reform legislation. Locale: New York, New York Categories: Trade and commerce; laws, acts, and legal history; crime and scandal Key Figures Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948), American attorney J. P. Morgan (1837-1913), American investment banker William A. Read (1858-1916), American investment banker James Hazen Hyde (1876-1959), vice president of the Equitable Life Assurance Society William W. Armstrong (1864-1944), New York State senator Summary of Event Late in 1904, Thomas W. Lawson, a former Wall Street speculator turned muckraking journalist, charged that powerful investment banks were using the assets of several major insurance companies to manipulate the stock market. This caused an uproar in New York’s state capital of Albany, followed by demands for an investigation. A brief inquiry was mounted that came up with no evidence to substantiate the charges, but something was stirring. New York Life Insurance president John McCall resigned suddenly and without explanation, causing brief but intense speculation in the newspapers. Interest in the subject mounted. These developments were followed by rumors of a shakeup at the Equitable Life Assurance Society that gave some credence to Lawson’s allegations. What attracted the press’s attention were the activities of the flamboyant James Hazen Hyde, who five years after graduating from college was earning $100,000 a year as vice president of the Equitable, which had been founded by his father. Hyde became majority shareholder of the Equitable upon his father’s death in 1899. It was a sizable, wealthy company, with 600,000 policyholders and assets of $400 million. Hyde lived ostentatiously. He was famous for his many elaborate parties, all of which were paid for by the Equitable. One of these, held on January 31, 1905, caused a sensation. Hyde had a restaurant redecorated to 436
resemble Versailles at the time of the reign of King Louis XIV, hired a French actress to recite lines from the plays of French dramatist Racine for the guests, and served a lavish and expensive meal. The entire cost, as estimated by reporters, came to $200,000. The event had political repercussions. Alarmed at the impact of Hyde’s spendthrift ways on the insurance company’s image, company president James W. Alexander and thirty-five other officers and agents brought charges of malfeasance against him, engaging the services of Charles Evans Hughes, who would soon become one of the country’s leading attorneys but then was about to initiate an investigation of the state’s natural gas business. The directors demanded that the Equitable be converted to a mutual company, one therefore owned and controlled by policyholders. This would have resulted in Hyde’s departure. In the war for control of the company that followed, E. H. Harriman and J. P. Morgan clashed, albeit indirectly. Both men hoped to use the Equitable’s cash reserves to finance some of their deals. The battle ended when Hyde sold his Equitable shares to Thomas Fortune Ryan, a Morgan ally, for $2.5 million. This maneuver resulted in increasing demands for an official investigation. On August 1, 1905, the state of New York established an investigatory committee to be chaired by state senator William W. Armstrong, who promptly offered Hughes the position of chief counsel to the committee. Although he had just completed his investigation of the gas industry and was at the time in Europe on a vacation, Hughes accepted the offer and returned home. In September, the Armstrong Committee opened an investigation that lasted until December 30. It began with the Equitable situation, but its inquiries soon spilled over to other insurance companies as well. During the course of the investigation, Hughes uncovered many episodes of mismanagement, fraud, falsified statements, and bribery of public officials. Among other things, he reported that since 1896 Mutual Life had maintained a “house of mirth” in Albany for the entertainment of state legislators. Over the next few months, insurance industry scandals, as they were called, dominated the news. Each week another lurid illustration of corporate chicanery turned up. Prominent politicians were found to be involved with Hyde. Senator Thomas Platt confessed that most of the city’s large insurance companies had each paid him $10,000, which he turned
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
James Hazen Hyde. (Library of Congress)
banks to report inflated figures for outstanding loans and holdings. When the fiscal year ended, the insurance companies would repay the loans and make payments for the sales, and the banks would receive fees for their services. Jacob Schiff, both a Kuhn Loeb partner and an Equitable director, admitted having sold almost $50 million in securities to the insurance company for this purpose during a period of five and a half years. These actions on the part of a company officer were in clear violation of state law. Before Hughes was finished, he had demonstrated flagrant infractions of law and ethics involving scores of prominent politicians and businesspeople. In November, the name of Vermilye and Company, a relatively small but respected investment bank that recently had gone out of business, was dragged into the investigation. Building on what had been revealed about Kuhn Loeb, Hughes attempted to show that the Metropolitan Life Assurance Company had made large loans to Vermilye at interest rates lower than those prevailing in the market and that these were used to mask irregularities. He introduced evidence that two loans, one for $200,000 and the other for $1 million, had been made the previous year. In addition, Hughes claimed that Metropolitan had sold stock either to or through Vermilye below market prices, after which Metropolitan’s president, John R. Hegeman, received a substantial rebate. Hughes thus suggested that some of the principals at Vermilye had engaged in duplicitous practices for personal gain. They stood in infraction of state law and, in the matter of rebates, in violation of New York Stock Exchange regulations. If proven, these allegations could have resulted in the lodging of criminal charges against those involved. William A. Read, a former head of Vermilye, denied all implications of wrongdoing and demanded specifics and proof of the claims. These appeared to come the following month, when a Metropolitan vice president, Haley Fiske, testified that Vermilye had sold Metropolitan 3,333 shares of Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, then quoted at $400 per share, for $350 per share, and that Vermilye did not receive a commission from the buyer on the transaction, but rather obtained one from the seller. This last matter would have been a violation of law and New York Stock Exchange rules, because Vermilye would have been serving both buyer and seller as agent, without the former knowing of the relationship with the latter. In other words, the Metropolitan would not have known that Vermilye had that incentive from the seller. Following these developments, nothing further was heard for a while about the commissions. Apparently Hughes lacked evidence to corroborate allega437
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over to the Republican State Committee for use in the election campaigns of individuals supportive of the industry. Senator Chauncey Depew, who had ties with the Morgan bank, spoke of having received an annual retainer of $20,000 from the Equitable, of which he was a director. Other politicians also came forward and, under Hughes’s skillful interrogation, all but conceded that they were on the payrolls of one or more insurance companies. It was not long before investment bankers were drawn into the investigation. Hughes uncovered the fact that, in order to conceal bribes and losses, several investment banks, Kuhn Loeb being the most prominent, had made year-end loans to and sales for several insurance companies. These actions increased reported cash balances for the insurance companies and enabled the investment
Armstrong Committee Examines the Insurance Industry
Armstrong Committee Examines the Insurance Industry tions of wrongdoing on that score. He turned instead to the matter of price movements in the Lake Shore stock and the spread between the bid and offer prices. Read answered the assertions. In a letter to the editor of the New York Daily Tribune, he pointed out that Fiske had not complained about the price. Rather, the Metropolitan officer had informed the Armstrong Committee, “I do not want to do any injustice to Mr. Read. He is quite certain that his transaction was entirely justified by the rules of the Street and by right dealing.” Alluding to the half-forgotten matter of the commission, Read added, “Whether or not the commission was reasonable is comparatively immaterial, but it is vital to my reputation in the community that the refutation of the charge that I took a commission without the knowledge of my client be given equal publicity with the charge itself.” He might also have added that Lake Shore was a thinly traded issue and that large changes in price were fairly common when substantial blocks of stock changed hands. With this, the matter was dropped. Clearly Hughes thought that he lacked sufficient evidence to continue. Still, doubts and suspicions remained. Even if Read were not guilty of having acted improperly in the matter of the Lake Shore stock, the issue of rebates given to Metropolitan by Vermilye required further investigation. Were there rebates, and, if so, who gave them? Hughes said that he had proof of Vermilye’s involvement and indicated that the evidence would be introduced at the proper time. It was not until the following year that the public learned just who was culpable. It was not Read but rather Donald and George Mackay. The father and son received a hearing before the New York Stock Exchange Governing Committee, were charged with violation of exchange rules forbidding rebates, and, on January 5, 1906, were found guilty. By inference, Read was found blameless. This was not the end of the matter. The Mackays sued Read, charging that he had improperly retained commissions earned in the Metropolitan transactions. A month later, Read issued a statement in which he attempted to clarify the situation. He charged the Mackays with attempting to appropriate for themselves commissions of slightly less than $50,000 that he had earned through dealings with Metropolitan during the last few months of Vermilye’s existence. He stated: Acute differences then existed between the partners, and Messrs. Mackay, Fish, and Hollister were engaged in an effort to appropriate to themselves the name and good-
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 will of the firm of Vermilye & Co., excluding me from any interest therein. Under these circumstances I undertook and carried out on my individual account the three transactions which are the subject of this lawsuit. The acts of my partners prevented me from doing the business in any way but individually. As to all of these matters, I acted under the advice of counsel, and am content to abide by the decision of the court.
With this the matter ended. The Mackays did not initiate a lawsuit against Read, which may be taken as evidence that their claims were without foundation. Read came out of the situation with his honor and reputation intact, and the Mackays might have considered themselves fortunate for having received little more than a rap on the knuckles, perhaps because of Donald Mackay’s age and former eminence—he had served as president of the New York Stock Exchange. Significance The Armstrong Committee’s investigations affected the ways in which Wall Street and the insurance industry conducted business. The revelations prompted demands for reform and regulation that intensified after the committee’s report was made public on February 22, 1906. The committee stunned the financial community by announcing its intention to “revolutionize” the way new securities issues were awarded to underwriters. Up until that time, all new issues were placed on a negotiated basis, which is to say that the company issuing a security would approach a banker or vice versa. The bank and the company would then work out the terms of the financing, including price, amount, and maturity and interest rates. The committee proposed that all future underwritings for companies over which it had authority be placed on a competitive basis, with any investment bank able to bid for the business, which would presumably go to the bank making the best offer. The concept was rejected, but it remained a source of contention. As it was, the old ways prevailed, with banks wooing customers on the basis of personal relationships, service, placement power, and reputation. However, New York and other states did prohibit insurance companies from participating in investment banking. In addition, Hughes helped draft new legislation that prohibited insurance companies from making contributions to political campaigns and also required registration of lobbyists and curbed their activities. Congress followed his lead, passing the Corrupt Practices Act of 1907 and giving credit to Hughes for inspiration. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Hughes managed
Armstrong Committee Examines the Insurance Industry
to transform the insurance business from “a public swindle to a public trust.” The Armstrong Committee investigations also led to changes in the way insurance companies were run. The investigations revealed that some of the larger companies were run as autocracies, with trustees having little control over management. High corporate officers often received salary increases without the knowledge of trustees. In addition, the committee uncovered problems in the incentives offered to general sales agents. The agents earned commissions on all policies sold and often had large territories; this led them to sell as many policies as possible with little follow-up and little concern for the long-term welfare of the buyers. Following the committee’s report, general agents were made salaried workers, and policy salespeople were required to take training courses in how best to serve customers. The Armstrong Committee did much to inform the public of how and why Wall Street bankers conducted their affairs. The shock of learning how much money was involved and the fees earned for various services helped accelerate the movement toward reform, which previously had been lagging. As for the Equitable itself, its joint ownership of National Bank of Commerce, New York’s second-largest financial institution, was challenged. Equitable and Mutual Life Insurance were obliged to sell their control shares, which were purchased by J. P. Morgan, First National Bank, and National City Bank. Ironically, by enabling this move, the Armstrong investigation, which was aimed at limiting financial concentration, further consolidated the power of the Morgan group. Hughes went on to run for the New York State governorship in 1906, defeating Democrat William Randolph Hearst. One of his programs as governor involved the establishment of the Public Service Commission, which was granted investigative and regulatory powers, including the authority to review all new utilities issues. On the basis of his record, Hughes received the Republican nomination for president in 1916; he narrowly lost the election to Woodrow Wilson. He later served as U.S. secretary of state (1921-1925) and as chief justice of the United States (1930-1941).
Hyde left the country and wound up in Paris two days before the conclusion of the Armstrong Committee investigation. He denied any intentions of relinquishing his citizenship, saying, “I am too good an American for that. That report was circulated by enemies to injure me, but they have failed.” He remained in Paris for the next thirty-five years, devoting much of his time to FrancoAmerican relations. He returned to the United States for visits after World War II, and he died in Saratoga, New York, in 1959. —Robert Sobel Further Reading Beebe, Lucius. The Big Spenders. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966. Contains a colorful sketch of James Hazen Hyde and the backdrop for the Armstrong investigation. Carosso, Vincent. Investment Banking in America. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1970. The classic history of American investment banking, with a section on the Armstrong investigation. James, Marquis. The Metropolitan Life. New York: Viking Press, 1947. Contains an account of the Armstrong investigation from the vantage point of the Metropolitan. Logan, Sheridan. George F. Baker and His Bank, 18401955. New York: Author, 1981. A view of the Armstrong investigation from the point of view of an ally of J. P. Morgan. Pusey, Merlo. Charles Evans Hughes. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1951. Volume 1 has a chapter on the Armstrong investigation, explored from Hughes’s point of view. Roe, Mark J. Strong Managers, Weak Owners: The Political Roots of American Corporate Finance. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994. Argues that politics has always played a key role in the ownership structure of large U.S. firms. Chapter 6, on insurers, includes discussion of the Armstrong Committee investigations. Bibliography and index. See also: Feb. 26, 1901: Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation; Aug. 5, 1909: Tariff Act of 1909 Limits Corporate Privacy.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Einstein States His Theory of Special Relativity
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Fall, 1905
Einstein States His Theory of Special Relativity Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity challenged Newtonian physics, replacing the theory of threedimensional space and one-dimensional time with the theory of space-time. Locale: Bern, Switzerland Categories: Science and technology; physics Key Figures Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German physicist Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), English mathematician and physicist Albert A. Michelson (1852-1931), American physicist Summary of Event Albert Einstein first articulated his special theory of relativity in an article in 1905 in the German journal Annalen der Physik under the title “Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper” (on the electrodynamics of moving bodies), in which he did not mention the formula now so closely associated with his name: E = mc2 (energy = mass times the speed of light squared). In this article, Einstein points out that time cannot be viewed as an absolute. He asserts, rather, that time is relative and broaches the question of simultaneity, which one must consider when one contemplates events occurring in time and space. Because it takes an infinitesimal amount of time for the light that illuminates an event that occurs near a person to travel to the perceptor, the event necessarily is perceived after it happens rather than when it happens. It was not until later in 1905 that Einstein published in the same journal the three-page article containing his famed formula: “Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhängig?” (Does the inertia of a body depend on its energy content?) In the normal course of earthly events, the slight discrepancy between when an event occurs and when it is perceived matters little. The discrepancy usually can be measured in milliseconds. Considering this matter in cosmic terms, however, Einstein clearly demonstrated that the discrepancy may become significant. Related to this observation is what was then a new way of viewing the correlations between time and space. According to Einstein, the speed of light is a constant; no matter how fast one may pursue it, it always travels at the same speed, now measured to within one hundredthousandth of 1 percent (0.00001 percent) at 299,792.456 kilometers, or about 186,330 miles, per second. In 1882, 440
Albert A. Michelson’s experiments led him to measure the speed of light more accurately than anyone had up to that time, and it has been measured even more accurately since then. Michelson’s finding that light travels at 299,853 kilometers, or 186,320 miles, per second proved indispensable to Einstein as he moved toward devising his special theory of relativity. Einstein postulated that nothing can move faster than the speed of light. He further conjectured that as objects accelerate toward the speed of light, they will become shorter in the direction they are traveling, their mass will become greater, and time will pass more slowly for them. This hypothesis has been demonstrated in various ways, notably by physicists who carried finely tuned atomic clocks with them on around-the-world commercial jet flights and then checked the clocks against other comparable clocks in their laboratories on their return. They found that the clocks they had carried with them had, indeed, lost time, totally in accordance with their predictions based on Einstein’s theory.
To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
Albert Einstein. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
as measuring the distance from one’s front door to one’s garage. If, however, one wants exact measurements of an area whose boundaries are Montreal, Tierra del Fuego, Auckland, and Seoul, the curvature of space-time must be taken into account for the calculations to be wholly accurate. The inaccuracy of the measurement increases as the size of what is being measured increases if a flat space-time methodology is used. The special theory of relativity is comparable to Euclidean geometry, whereas the general theory of relativity is comparable to the geometry of curved surfaces. Fundamental to Einstein’s concept of relativity is the notion that energy (the E in his equation) and mass (the m) are really the same: All energy has mass; all mass, if conditions are right, can be converted to energy. Indeed, it can be converted into energy sufficient to cause the fission that, with the splitting of the atom, has resulted in the creation and harnessing of nuclear energy. Einstein’s study of Brownian motion led him to the basic conclusion that such moving particles as protons and electrons travel in waves and are intimately connected with photons. This conclusion led to the development of the field of wave mechanics in physics and was a fundamental element in Einstein’s work on the photoelectric effect, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Although the prize did not come as recognition for his work in relativity, certainly his best-known contribution, it was his work with Brownian motion that contributed substantially to his special theory of relativity and that resulted in his later research on the photoelectric effect. Certainly, the special theory of relativity established Einstein as the most compelling and influential physicist of his day. It led to a total rethinking of the entire field of physics. Significance When Einstein entered the Eidenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, Switzerland, after completing his secondary school education, he followed the advice of his elders and concentrated on mathematics rather than physics because, according to his advisers, little remained to be done in physics. Many believed that all that was significant in the field of physics had already been discovered; it was regarded as a scientific specialty in which no new worlds remained to be conquered. It is ironic, therefore, that Einstein was the person who, more than any other, brought insights to the field that were so compelling as to cause a complete restructuring of the discipline. Because all activity in the various subspecialties of physics—optics, electromagnetism, mechanics— 441
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If it were possible physically for an object to travel in excess of the speed of light, that object would predictably move backward in time. Because objects do not move at anything approaching the speed of light, the loss of length and time and the gaining of mass that rapidly moving objects incur is barely perceptible. An object moving at the incredible speed of one-seventh the speed of light—26,614 miles, or slightly more than one circumnavigation of the globe at the equator every second— would change in mass, length, and time measurement by only 1 percent. Drastic alterations take place, however, as the object approaches the speed of light more closely. When the velocity is six-sevenths the speed of light, the mass is twice what it is when the object is at rest, and the length and time measurements are cut in half. Were the velocity of the object to equal the speed of light, its mass would become infinite. In terms of Einstein’s theory of relativity, if a person were in a vehicle capable of coming within 99.995 percent of the speed of light, the mass of the person and the vehicle would be increased one thousand times and time would pass for them at one onethousandth of the normal rate, so that each year of such travel would be equivalent to one thousand years of time, as scientists normally measure it. Einstein’s findings generally have been verified by various means, ranging from carrying clocks on commercial jet flights, as mentioned above, to experiments with high-speed electrons that, under laboratory conditions, frequently achieve ten thousand times their normal mass as their speed increases. Central to Einstein’s special theory of relativity is his shattering of the Newtonian theory that space is threedimensional and that time is one-dimensional. Rather than thinking of time and space separately, Einstein viewed space-time as a coordinated, four-dimensional system. Time cannot be conceived of outside the spatial context; space cannot be conceived of outside the temporal context. The two exist simultaneously and interdependently as a coordinated system. The only major physical phenomenon that Einstein could not explain using his special theory of relativity was gravity; this led him, in 1915, to the articulation of his general theory of relativity. The reason that gravity requires a special explanation is that space-time is curved, so that when scientists consider its vastness, their calculations are necessarily affected by this curvature. The flat space-time concept of the special theory of relativity, despite the curvature of space-time, is still serviceable when one is making local measurements, such
Einstein States His Theory of Special Relativity
Einstein States His Theory of Special Relativity takes place in a space-time continuum, Einstein’s postulation of a four-dimensional space-time context affected every aspect of the discipline and moved it into areas that had not only important scientific implications but also highly significant philosophical implications. The special theory of relativity left unanswered many of Einstein’s salient questions. In moving beyond his early work in relativity in 1905, Einstein formulated his general theory of relativity, which, in 1915, responded to many questions regarding gravity that his earlier hypothesis had not answered to his satisfaction. The two theories corrected some of Sir Isaac Newton’s crucial scientific hypotheses that had, to that time, been sacrosanct among many physicists. It freed physicists to pursue studies that led to the splitting of the atom, to the development of nuclear energy, to space exploration, to the development of a theory of superconductivity, and to countless other accomplishments that have helped humankind explore the universe and understand it in greater depth than had previously been possible. One can point to no area of modern science that has not been affected by Einstein’s work in relativity, the heart of which is found in his initial work on the special theory of relativity. Einstein redefined space and time, and his definition of space-time as a coordinated system has withstood the thousands of tests to which it has been put. His hypothesis has not been diminished by the extensive tests to which researchers have subjected it. Einstein, as a scientist who continually searched and constantly questioned, certainly never foreclosed the possibility that his hypotheses might one day be disproved. Were he alive today, he would be at the forefront of testing them scrupulously and unfailingly as he did in his work, with Johann Jakob Laub, on black body radiation and in his subsequent work in the direction of evolving a unified field theory of physics. The astrophysical research into black holes, which now teeters on the brink of explaining much about the origins of the solar system and of the entire universe, is one of the direct offshoots of Einstein’s early work in relativity. The implications of such research are, perhaps, as important as those of any exploration being conducted in the field of physics. —R. Baird Shuman Further Reading Bernstein, Jeremy. Einstein. New York: Viking Press, 1973. One of the most popular studies of Albert Ein2 stein for laypersons. Chapter titled “E = mc ” is particularly lucid in its presentation of Einstein’s theory of special relativity. Includes annotated bibliography. 442
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Clark, Ronald W. Einstein: The Life and Times. 1971. Reprint. New York: Avon Books, 1984. Detailed biography provides substantial information on Einstein’s role in world affairs. Accessible to lay readers. Includes many historical photographs. Crease, Robert P., and Charles C. Mann. The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in TwentiethCentury Physics. Rev. ed. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1996. Readable volume follows the development of physics from its nineteenth century roots to the mysteries of the late twentieth century. Examines characters and personalities as well as issues of physics. Includes discussion of Einstein’s work. Eddington, A. S. Space, Time, and Gravitation. 1920. Reprint. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Of Eddington’s several books about Einstein and relativity, this one deals most valuably with the theory of special relativity and is especially clear in its presentation of how Einstein departed from Newtonian physics and the implications of that departure for the discipline of physics. Recommended for well-informed readers. Frank, Philipp. Einstein: His Life and Times. Translated by George Rosen. 1947. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 2002. Biography has not been supplanted by any of the subsequent studies of Einstein that have appeared, although it was first published before Einstein’s death. Well written, with scientific explanations that are as lucid as possible, given the inherent complexity of Einstein’s work. Highfield, Roger, and Paul C. Carter. The Private Lives of Albert Einstein. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993. Presents carefully researched information on Einstein’s everyday life and the personal relationships that may have influenced his work. Hoffmann, Banesh, and Helen Dukas. Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel. New York: Viking Press, 1972. Presents “the essential flavor of the man and his science.” Dukas was Einstein’s personal secretary for many years, and she offers some interesting insights. Includes many historical photographs. Katz, Robert. An Introduction to the Special Theory of Relativity. Princeton, N.J.: D. Van Nostrand, 1964. Excellent, exhaustive work focuses specifically on Einstein’s theory of special relativity. Intended for readers with background in physics. Pais, Abraham. Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein. 1982. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Meticulously referenced
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 biography places Einstein’s scientific achievements within the context of the other aspects of his life. Features detailed chronology of Einstein’s life, good subject index, and exhaustive name index. Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986. Comprehensive, highly detailed volume describes the physical discoveries leading up to the first nuclear weapons and Einstein’s role in the decision to develop the atomic bomb. Rigden, John S. Einstein 1905: The Standard of Greatness. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
Stein Holds Her First Paris Salons 2005. An account of the new insights and turmoil engendered among physicists by the five groundbreaking research papers that Albert Einstein published in 1905. Accessible to lay readers. Includes simple diagrams and reproductions of the front pages of the five papers. See also: Mar., 1905: Einstein Describes the Photoelectric Effect; Nov. 25, 1915: Einstein Completes His Theory of General Relativity; Nov. 6, 1919: Einstein’s Theory of Gravitation Is Confirmed over Newton’s Theory; Apr., 1932: Cockcroft and Walton Split the Atom; 1934: Discovery of the Cherenkov Effect.
Fall, 1905
Stein Holds Her First Paris Salons Expatriate American writer Gertrude Stein and her brothers established Paris salons at which innovative artists, writers, and musicians gathered and exchanged ideas. Locale: Paris, France Categories: Arts; literature Key Figures Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), American writer Leo Stein (1872-1947), American writer and art collector Michael Stein (1865-1938), American art collector and railroad manager Sarah Samuels Stein (1870-1953), Michael Stein’s wife Alice B. Toklas (1877-1967), companion and lover to Gertrude Stein
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Summary of Event Gertrude Stein is known less for her own work as an author than for her association with the writers and artists of whom she said, according to Ernest Hemingway’s epigraph to The Sun Also Rises (1926), “You are all a lost generation.” Although her innovative style of writing has prompted numerous critical studies, her manner of living remains more intriguing, and her influence on many major figures of her era is inarguable. The salons that Stein, her brothers, and her sister-in-law established were the center of artistic fusion and fission. The assemblage of the era’s most avant-garde writers, artists, and musicians, and their sharing of theory and practice, was an important force in the formation of modernism.
It was Leo Stein, Gertrude’s closest brother in age, who leased the apartment-studio at 27, rue de Fleurus in Paris that would become the center of so much activity. Gertrude joined him there in 1903 after failing four courses at The Johns Hopkins University and being denied her degree in medicine. Their eldest brother, Michael Stein, and his wife, Sarah, also moved to Paris in 1903, renting an apartment at 58, rue Madame, near Gertrude and Leo. Later, the group was completed by Alice B. Toklas, who came to Paris in 1907 but did not move in with Gertrude and Leo until 1910. Upon settling in at 27, rue de Fleurus, Gertrude Stein at once began the two activities that would determine the rest of her life: art collecting and writing. Over the many years of the Stein tenancy, the walls of the apartment displayed the works of Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, Georges Braque, and other contemporary artists, as well as paintings by Pierre Renoir, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and most of the other recognized Impressionists. At the same time, Gertrude began writing, at first in a relatively conventional although naturalistic style (perhaps she was still looking through the would-be doctor’s eye) and then working toward the controversial, fragmented, repetitious narrative style she eventually developed. Collecting paintings of current artists naturally brought the Steins into contact with the many artists based in Paris. Paris, of course, was already a center for artistic license. The Paris Salon d’Automne in October, 1905, displayed a controversial Matisse painting, Woman with the Hat, that was criticized by the conservative art establishment for its brashness. Gertrude and
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estranged, partly because her artistic judgments were wildly divergent from In 1933, Gertrude Stein published The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. his and partly because he was never In the first chapter, she introduces herself, purportedly as seen through very enthusiastic about Gertrude’s own Toklas’s eyes: writings. Leo moved permanently to Italy in 1912, at which time Gertrude I was at this time living with my father and brother. My father was a quiet virtually cut off her relationship with man who took things quietly, although he felt them deeply. The first terrible him. Gertrude remained at the rue de morning of the San Francisco fire I woke him and told him, the city has been Fleurus with her lover, secretary, and rocked by an earthquake and is now on fire. That will give us a black eye in friend Alice B. Toklas until 1938, when the East, he replied turning and going to sleep again. . . . the apartment’s owner wanted the space As I was saying we were all living comfortably together and there had been in my mind no active desire or thought of change. The disturbance of for his son; the two women then moved the routine of our lives by the fire followed by the coming of Gertrude to 5, rue Christine. All during the years Stein’s older brother and his wife made the difference. Gertrude lived there, the rue de Fleurus Mrs. Stein brought with her three little Matisse paintings, the first modapartment was a center for artists and ern things to cross the Atlantic. I made her acquaintance at this time of genwriters, and many of those who passed eral upset and she showed them to me, she also told me many stories of her through became household names. life in Paris. . . . Within a year I also had gone and I had come to Paris. There I During the Steins’ tenancy, the walls went to see Mrs. Stein who had in the meantime returned to Paris, and there of 27, rue de Fleurus were covered from at her house I met Gertrude Stein. I was impressed by the coral brooch she floor to ceiling with paintings, many of wore and by her voice. I may say that only three times in my life have I met a them unframed. Friendships waxed and genius and each time a bell within me rang and I was not mistaken, and I may waned. Picasso supplanted Cézanne as say in each case it was before there was any general recognition of the quality of genius in them. The three geniuses of whom I wish to speak are Gerfavorite son when Cézanne’s prices skytrude Stein, Pablo Picasso and Alfred Whitehead. I have met many imporrocketed and the Steins could no longer tant people, I have met several great people but I have only known three first afford his paintings. (Gertrude felt that class geniuses and in each case on sight within me something rang. In no one Cézanne owed it to an old friend to ofof the three cases have I been mistaken. In this way my new life began. fer old-customer prices.) All the major Source: Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (New York: movements of a volatile era were exHarcourt, Brace, 1933). hibited and expounded at the Stein salons. Musicians and photographers were part of the circle. In fact, everyone remotely connected with the art world Leo’s purchase of this canvas both made their reputalonged, usually in vain, to be invited. The details of Gertion as art collectors and gained them the friendship of trude’s salons were taken care of smoothly by Toklas, Matisse, who began visiting them at their home. Other spouse, secretary, and even “bouncer,” who told people artists came with him. The Steins followed the French whose speech or behavior gave offense (Ernest Hemingcustom of receiving guests on a specified day, and their way was one) that they were not welcome to come back. Saturday get-togethers of artistic luminaries rapidly beThe salons were discussed, praised, and caricatured came famous throughout the community. Sarah and Mithroughout Europe and the United States; Gertrude Stein chael held similar salons and also entertained Matisse was truly a legend in her time. and collected his work. Popular opinion held that Sarah and Michael had better food, but the more discerning Significance conversation and more avant-garde art were to be found The salons of the Steins had a major influence on Gerat 27, rue de Fleurus. Certainly, the artists of the Paris trude Stein’s own work and on that of the artists who scene frequented both homes. participated in them. Stein’s first novel, Quod Erat Initially, Leo Stein was the major force in the rue de Demonstrandum (or Q.E.D., written in 1903 but not pubFleurus salons, giving lectures on art while Gertrude relished until 1950 under the title Things as They Are), mained in the background. As Gertrude’s expertise grew mostly written before she became acquainted with Paris and her opinions became pronounced, however, she artists, was new in content but traditional in form. It told came out of the shadows. Gertrude and Leo became the story—her own story—of a lesbian triangle in which
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 the main character is the loser; the book fictionalized events that took place before Stein’s move to Paris. The novel utilized a relatively straightforward, linear narrative. After meeting Cézanne, however, Stein translated his practice into her own work. Three Lives (1909) puts into words a decentered reality in which no single theme, person, or idea predominates. The book is made up of three sections, each of which subtly characterizes a servant girl and shows her powerlessness in the face of her controlling environment and determining character. According to Stein, she used Cézanne’s advice to painters as well as the example of his practice to create a new writing style that focused on nuances of voice and that created a flat, seamless surface. She referred to her approach as “the continuous present.” After Cézanne, Picasso became a major influence on Stein’s work. At the time when he became Stein’s friend, Picasso was moving toward cubism. She did not try to capture Picasso’s angular style in words but rather dwelled on his method of manipulating objects to represent his vision. “I was very much struck . . . with the way Picasso could put objects together and make a photograph of them,” she once wrote, adding that “by the force of his vision it was not necessary that he paint the picture.
To have brought the objects together already changed them to other things, not to another picture but to something else, to things as Picasso saw them.” She tried to achieve similar manipulations with words, through fracturing syntax and violating expectations in her bold word portraits (one of which was called “Picasso”). Her goal was “to kill the nineteenth century,” and she believed the methods of the avant-garde artists would allow her to do it. The effects of Stein’s salons and her personality on the artists she entertained are less easy to pin down than the artists’ effects on her, which she eagerly and voluminously documented. (It is, of course, true that she selected from their words and works what agreed with her own theories.) First, she was a very colorful figure, with an eccentric way of dressing and a lifestyle shocking to most of her contemporaries. Her image appealed greatly to artists, who produced numerous paintings and photographs of her. Probably the most famous of these is Picasso’s portrait of her; he also painted her brother Leo. Gertrude Stein was also painted by Francis Picabia, Pierre Tal Coat, Marie Laurencin, and others. Generally, these paintings emphasize her stockiness and at the same time suggest her uncompromising intelligence. Stein seems to have achieved the status of a mythic figure among these artists. The lively interchange among the artists and writers at the salons allowed them to share each other’s techniques and attempt to apply them to different media, as Stein herself attempted to translate Matisse’s and Picasso’s art techniques into writing. Moreover, the concept of art itself became more plastic and flowing, as artists of various disciplines saw parallels that eliminated barriers between them. Stein encouraged this notion of a plastic art through the various pronouncements she made on artistic subjects. Her views were generally taken very seriously, although often they were merely disguised versions of others’ theories. Of course, the artistic movements of the beginning of the twentieth century—Fauvism, cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, and others—were involved with fragmenting experience and demolishing traditional art forms; the desire for experiment and revolution was in the air. How much of this was actually connected with Stein’s salons is open to conjecture. It can only be said with certainty that a large percentage of the early twentieth century’s avant-garde artists passed through the doors of 27, rue de Fleurus. The Stein salons were a part of the image of the art community for a number of years and were the subject of scandal, jokes, complaints, envy, and admiration. Their 445
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Gertrude Stein. (Library of Congress)
Stein Holds Her First Paris Salons
Stein Holds Her First Paris Salons presence contributed to the public’s growing belief that a vast gulf exists between elitist and popular art. — Janet McCann Further Reading Bloom, Harold, ed. Gertrude Stein. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. This selection of critical essays includes writers from Stein’s time as well as later ones. An essay by Judith Saunders about Paris and another by Jayne Walker about Stein’s first decade as a writer are particularly useful for those interested in Stein’s salons. Helpful chronology concludes the collection. Dubnick, Randa. The Structure of Obscurity: Gertrude Stein, Language, and Cubism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984. This difficult but rewarding book shows the interplay between Stein’s work and avantgarde literary and art movements. Helps connect Stein with current literary theory. For advanced students of Stein and modernism. Includes bibliography and index. Hobhouse, Janet. Everybody Who Was Anybody: A Biography of Gertrude Stein. 1975. Reprint. New York: Anchor, 1989. Gossipy biography filled with colorful anecdotes of Stein’s life and times. Good for an overall impression. Voluminous, excellent illustrations, including photographs of Stein, her literary friends, and her apartment. Good color reproductions of Steininfluenced paintings. Includes index. Hoffman, Michael J. Gertrude Stein. Boston: Twayne, 1976. Clear, concise critical study, one of the better books in Twayne’s United States Authors series. Most of the study analyzes Stein’s writing, but the opening chapter gives an account of the Paris salons. Notes, bibliography, index. Kellner, Bruce, ed. A Gertrude Stein Companion: Con-
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tent with the Example. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1988. A highly informative, strangely constructed book containing, among other things, brief analyses of Stein’s writings, critical essays, thumbnail biographies of famous Stein associates, important Stein quotations, and poems about Stein. Good photographs. Annotated bibliography and index. Knapp, Bettina. Gertrude Stein. New York: Continuum, 1990. Straightforward, well-written introduction to Stein. Divided into two parts, “The Life” and “The Work”; first part gives details of Stein’s relationships with Paris artists. Notes, bibliography, and index. Mellow, James R. Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein and Company. 1974. Reprint. New York: Henry Holt, 2003. Describes Stein’s life in Paris from 1903 to the end of World War II, with emphasis on the salons for which she was famous. Includes index. Toklas, Alice B. What Is Remembered. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963. A memoir of Toklas’s life with Gertrude Stein. Impressionistic and somewhat inaccurate, as memoirs often are, this book is nevertheless worth reading for its wit and for the often astonishing vignettes of Paris life. Wineapple, Brenda. Sister Brother: Gertrude and Leo Stein. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. Adual biography that tells the story of the relationship and rivalry between Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo. Includes bibliography and index. See also: 1906-1907: Artists Find Inspiration in African Tribal Art; Summer, 1908: Salon d’Automne Rejects Braque’s Cubist Works; Apr. 10, 1925: Fitzgerald Captures the Roaring Twenties in The Great Gatsby; Oct. 22, 1926: Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises Speaks for the Lost Generation.
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Fauves Exhibit at the Salon d’Automne
October, 1905
Fauves Exhibit at the Salon d’Automne Young artists exhibiting at the 1905 Salon d’Automne in Paris shocked the art community with their use of bright colors and aggressive painting styles, earning the nickname of “les Fauves” (wild beasts). Locale: Paris, France Category: Arts Key Figures Henri Matisse (1869-1954), French artist Henri-Charles Manguin (1874-1949), French artist Albert Marquet (1875-1947), French artist Georges Rouault (1871-1958), French artist Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958), French artist André Derain (1880-1954), French artist
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Summary of Event Fauvism as a movement in painting first captured the attention of the Parisian art world in October, 1905. At the annual Salon d’Automne held in the Grand Palais, an architectural feature built for the 1900 Universal Exposition, a number of young artists, most notably Charles Camoin, André Derain, Henri-Charles Manguin, Albert Marquet, Maurice de Vlaminck, and Kees van Dongen, had their works placed around those of Henri Matisse. With the exception of Vlaminck, none of the artists intended to shock the art world with his entries. Matisse’s painting Woman with the Hat (1905) was a regally posed portrait of his wife wearing a large hat, a type of stylish headwear worn by many women who strolled in the Bois de Boulogne. Critics considered the work to be a provocative public insult. Matisse also was accused of demeaning his wife by using her as his model. Georges Rouault’s submission, Monsieur and Madame Poulot, was classified by some viewers as a spitefully devised affront. This watercolor and gouache work depicted two stylized figures, a man and a woman, bourgeois characters of satiated smugness. The images that Rouault placed on his canvas were invoked by literary figures in Léon Bloy’s fiction. Rather than praising Rouault for his attempt to give visual life to two of his characters, Bloy was horrified when he saw Monsieur and Madame Poulot. He agreed with critics that the painting was an attempt to vilify French citizens by depicting them graphically as physically ugly and spiritually devoid human beings. Vlaminck, assigned membership in the group of young painters who were judged to be conspirators in a
plot to scandalize the Parisian art world, was motivated by a desire to shock the public. A self-taught artist who was scornful of academy-trained painters and often did not have enough money to buy paints and canvases, Vlaminck presented his work Picnic in the Country (1905) as a personal protest against the weightiness of tradition-bound guidelines for acceptance. The painting radiated with energetic slashes of shimmering vermilion, orange, ultramarine, and cobalt; rather than infusing viewers with dispassionate serenity, the landscape inflamed and unleashed negative passions in those who paused to study it. Its emotional eloquence was lost in critics’ rush to label it as a violently crude piece of work undertaken by a cultural nonconformist. André Derain, Albert Marquet, and Henri-Charles Manguin were three other artists whose paintings were singled out and vigorously condemned. Derain, later to be recognized as one of the first and most artistically competent of the Fauves, whose canvases radiated with pure color, was accused of producing a tasteless piece of work, his entry Sun Reflected on Water. The beauty created by the harmony he achieved between subject matter and color was not appreciated. Marquet’s sensitively haunting cityscape, Le Quai des Grands Augustins, was classified as stridently unrealistic. Manguin’s The Fourteenth of July at Saint-Tropez was rejected as artistically primitive and garish. Overlooked was his ability to blend blues with reds, oranges, and greens, as Paul Cézanne was able to do. The public and art critics found little of artistic value in the paintings that Matisse and his cohorts exhibited at the 1905 Salon d’Automne. Collectively labeled barbaric, the various works were subjected to detailed criticism. What was particularly noticeable in them was brilliance of color, vigorous brushwork, similarity in subject matter, and outlining of objects. In a review of the exhibit in the November 4, 1905, issue of L’Illustration, a Paris newspaper, art critic Louis Vauxcelles referred to the painters as les Fauves, or the wild beasts, a name that was adopted to identify the artists and the movement they invoked. Shortly thereafter, Vauxcelles identified Matisse as “Fauve-in-chief” and his cohorts as Donatellos among the Fauves. The young Fauve painters did not consider themselves to be members of a group. Their association, in fact, was short-lived, unlike that of the Impressionists, and they did not publish a manifesto as did their contemporaries in Germany who were in the process of establishing Die
Fauves Exhibit at the Salon d’Automne Brücke. Many had met at the École des Beaux-Arts, where director Gustave Moreau, a Symbolist, had attempted to alter the staid and tradition-laden policy of the school and encouraged their artistic innovativeness. He introduced his students to sound techniques, such as draftsmanship, but he also encouraged their individuality and exposed them to the creative talents of contemporary artists. One of the significant painters they met and listened to was Matisse. Older than the other students, Matisse rejected many of the norms of Mediterranean classicism and experimented with expressionism and the use of color to record reality. He saw in the work of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin artistic elements that could lead to a new direction in painting. What he constructed was an abstraction and synthesis of Gauguin’s bold color usage and van Gogh’s emotional rhythmic linear concepts. Cézanne’s skillful use of color also did not escape his attention. Matisse’s paintings, especially Open Window, Collioure (1905) and Woman with the Hat, served as models from the pre-Fauve to Fauve stages of the movement. Perhaps of all Matisse’s works, it was his canvas Joy of Life (1905-1906), one of the 5,552 paintings exhibited at the 1906 Salon des Indépendants, that established his position as Fauve-in-chief. Significance The many and confusing forces of the age in which Matisse and the other Fauves lived produced in them similar patterns of thought that led to an amazing commonality of responses. Each, largely independent of the others, sought to express a view of the world through the utilization of intense color and certain types of brushstrokes. Sometimes referred to as the masters of tomorrow, Matisse, Derain, and the other Fauves, who now included Othon Friesz, Raoul Dufy, and Georges Braque, rebelled against the artistic parameters established by the more conservative academic art centers, but they did not attempt to disassociate themselves from the era in which they lived. None of them escaped (or desired to escape) the impact of the components of thought that infused their world with a heady energy and optimism. Like many of their cohorts in other fields, most notably literature, the Fauves wanted to express the richness of the belle époque, with its emphasis on pleasure, nature, brotherhood, and analysis of traditional ideas and concepts. Cardinal to their thought and thus to their work was their unswerving belief that humankind could grasp reality and the intricacies of its nature. They believed that they could play a role in determining the reality of the next moment in time. Although the initial reactions to 448
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 their efforts were shock and outrage, they quickly won favor with the public and even critics, who perceived the meaning of Fauvism to be more than glaring colors violently brushed onto canvases. Fauve artists spoke in visual form of the aspirations of modern humankind. The Fauve artistic expression was shaped by two other forces that had entered the world of European thought and culture by the end of the nineteenth century. The influence of African masks, as well as other objects of art often referred to as primitive works, captured the attention of Vlaminck and, shortly thereafter, Derain and Matisse. The three European painters saw in the African carvings elements that differed greatly from the form and content of traditional European art. Their investigation of African artifacts sparked in them a desire to go beyond the boundaries of European artistic legacies. The subtle and dramatic naturalism constructed in the masks through the distortion of the human body and the creation of color and structural harmonies could not be ignored. African masks, projecting a sense of mass and presence, intrigued them. The other force that served to fuel the minds and actions of the Fauves stemmed from the discipline of psychology, especially the psychology of perception. Academicians had demonstrated by the end of the nineteenth century that humans are emotionally affected by color and structure, including color contrasts and spacing between colors. Many artists were familiar with studies of the psychology of perception; those who did not read the academic writings acquired the information, in whole or in part, from their colleagues. Such information influenced the work of the expressionists as well as that of many of the Fauves. The Fauves charged themselves with the artistic task of recording on canvas the immediate emotional response to a setting, an object, or a person. The techniques they employed included use of color contrast, linear elements, and drawn elliptical and color-produced lines. What particularly distinguished the Fauve painters was their rejection of such techniques as chiaroscuro, modeling, and classical perspective. Cardinal to their work and central to their need to express reality was their use of pure color, the central feature of all their efforts. They utilized pure colors in ways very rarely used by prior painters. They brushed pure color onto canvas energetically and boldly to create brilliant broad expanses or what appeared to be color-infused flattened areas. Hot, blazing colors—reds, oranges, and yellows—were accented by cool colors such as greens, violets, and blues. They used purple or red for shadows. Their washes also radiated with the purity of the colors they selected. Their
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 palettes exploded into a harmony of sensations produced by the placement of color pigments. By 1906, the Fauves, especially Matisse and Derain, undertook a change in style. They returned to a more precise draftsmanship, as illustrated in the use of marked contours, decorative symbols, subjective distortions, and subtle but masterfully and intriguingly executed arabesques. Matisse and Derain also began to experiment once again with color usage. They did not negate the purity of color, but they also made use of shades of gray and ocher. Just as quickly as Fauvism surfaced in France, it began to wane. By 1907, the Fauves began to display their individuality within the movement. The artists who were instrumental in beginning the movement moved on, but many others, some less talented, attempted to capture Fauvism forever in artistic law. Matisse and his cohorts made no attempt to devise a permanent system of expression, nor did they desire to establish artistic dogmas that would live on. They believed that painting, as a visual representation of reality, is constantly evolving. Painters should distill from a style only those elements that they can use in the search for ways to express a continually changing reality. Many European artists experimented with Fauvism on their way to other forms of expression, such as cubism. Fauvism thus gained attention and continued as a style. German and Eastern European artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Alexey von Jawlensky, August Macke, Franz Marc, Gabriele Munter, and František Kupka entered the movement. In 1913, duplicating the artistic effort of the French, the Germans created their own exhibition of Fauve and expressionist paintings. What had begun in France in 1905 as an artistic revolt against traditional norms and values led to the establishment of a movement out of which the varied expressions of modern art evolved. —Loretta E. Zimmerman
dle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2003. Sets the Fauvism movement within the context of late nineteenth and early twentieth century art. Includes numerous plates, some in color, with discussion of individual works. Diehl, Gaston. The Fauves. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1975. An insightful and stylistic history of Fauvism. Discusses the varied forces that gave rise to Fauvism. Includes short biographical sketches of major Fauve artists as well as color plates of their drawings, watercolors, and prints. Lynton, Norbert. The Story of Modern Art. 1980. Reprint. London: Phaidon Press, 1994. Exceedingly stylistic study by an art historian who describes the many forces that gave rise to Fauvism and its place in the context of the development of modern art. Includes more than three hundred illustrations, many in color. Muller, Joseph-Emile, and Ramon Tio Bellido. A Century of Modern Painting. New York: Universe Books, 1986. Assesses Fauvism in the context of the art heritage of Europe. Offers a technically clear description of the components of the Fauve style. Illustrated. Zelanski, Paul, and Mary Pat Fisher. The Art of Seeing. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2004. Presents a concise but insightful account of Fauvism. Includes illustrations and glossary. _______. Color. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002. Underscores various intellectual approaches, such as scientific, aesthetic, and psychological, to understanding the uses and effects of color. Includes informative and interesting comments by various artists on use of color. Employs a few of the paintings of the Fauves as illustrations. See also: 1902-1913: Tiffany Leads the Art Nouveau Movement in the United States; Summer, 1905: Avant-Garde Artists Form Die Brücke; 1906-1907: Artists Find Inspiration in African Tribal Art; Summer, 1908: Salon d’Automne Rejects Braque’s Cubist Works; 1913: Apollinaire Defines Cubism; Feb. 17Mar. 15, 1913: Armory Show.
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Further Reading Arnason, H. H. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography. 5th ed. Upper Sad-
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Norway Becomes Independent
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October 26, 1905
Norway Becomes Independent Norway dissolved its union with Sweden after an almost century-long effort that involved heated debate, ongoing compromise, and persistent political maneuvering. Locale: Norway; Sweden Categories: Diplomacy and international relations; government and politics; independence movements Key Figures Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832-1910), leader of the Norwegian nationalistic literary revival Johan Sverdrup (1816-1892), president of the Storting, 1871-1881, and prime minister of Sweden, 18841889 Oscar II (1829-1907), king of Sweden, r. 1872-1907, and king of Norway, r. 1872-1905 Erik Gustaf Boström (1842-1907), prime minister of Sweden, 1891-1900 and 1902-1905 Christian Michelsen (1857-1925), first premier of independent Norway, 1905-1907 Haakon VII (1872-1957), king of Norway, r. 1905-1957 Summary of Event Norway successfully dissolved its union with Sweden in 1905, becoming completely independent for the first time since 1380. Norway had entered into dynastic union with Denmark in 1380, a union that lasted until 1814. After the Vienna Settlement ending the Napoleonic Wars, Finland was taken from Sweden and given to Russia. In return, Czar Alexander I promised to support Swedish annexation of Norway, which was accomplished by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814 between Sweden and Denmark. Norway, however, refused to become a pawn in the game of international politics. On May 17, 1814, a Norwegian constituent assembly adopted a liberal constitution providing for a unicameral parliament, the Storting. It also denied to the king both the right of absolute veto and the right to dissolve the Storting. The constituent assembly then proceeded to elect unanimously Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark as king of Norway. This independent course of action prompted Sweden to invade Norway, which then had no choice but to submit to Swedish rule. The Norwegians refused to abandon their independence altogether, however. On November 4, 1814, the Storting declared Norway to be “a free, independent, and indivisible kingdom, united with Sweden under one king.” In 1815, Sweden accepted this declara450
tion and, by implication, Norway’s constitution by a special act of union called the Riksakt. It remained, in the wake of later unsuccessful attempts to revise it, an illdefined agreement, something more than a merely personal bond but less than a complete union. Its vague character was particularly evident in the administration of foreign affairs for the two countries. The Swedish government conducted foreign affairs for both, but the consular service was a joint arrangement. It became increasingly evident that Norway and Sweden were incompatible. Norway’s population consisted primarily of fishermen and a free peasantry; in Sweden, by contrast, a landed aristocracy prevailed over a dependent peasantry. By the middle of the nineteenth century, Sweden was becoming highly industrialized, but Norway remained predominantly an agricultural and commercial state. During the second half of the nineteenth century, Norway increased its maritime commerce tenfold, leaving Sweden far behind in this area. Politically, the liberal structure of Norway’s government was altogether different from the conservative and aristocratic bent of Sweden’s government, over whose parliament the king exercised an absolute veto. The steady growth of Norwegian nationalism after 1815 underscored these differences and contributed to the eventual dissolution of the union. The publication of national histories and collections of folk songs, together
The Storting Votes for Dissolution After Christian Michelsen’s government resigned, the Norwegian Storting unanimously passed the following resolution in favor of Norway’s union with Sweden on June 7, 1905. In response, Sweden agreed to hold a plebiscite to settle the issue. Since all the members of the cabinet have resigned their positions; since His Majesty the King has declared his inability to obtain for the country a new government; and since the constitutional monarchy has ceased to exist, the Storting hereby authorizes the cabinet that resigned today to exercise the powers held by the king in accordance with the Constitution of Norway and relevant laws—with the amendments necessitated by the dissolution of the union with Sweden under one king, resulting from the fact that the king no longer functions as a Norwegian king.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Norway Becomes Independent
Scandinavia, 1905
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1902, Sweden decided to accept the Radical Party’s demand for separated consular services. Chances for setArctic tlement of the question seemed to Ocean improve with the fall of the Radical government in 1903, but the advent Reykjavik of the uncompromising Erik Gustaf ICELAND Boström as prime minister of Sweden more than offset any advantage gained by the momentary decline of ` Torshavn FINLAND the Norwegian Radicals. During SWEDEN 1904, Boström insisted on certain Helsinki Atlantic NORWAY “dependency clauses” in any agreeOslo Stockholm Ocean ment with Norway, which would North have effectively nullified the real inGoteborg Sea dependence of a separate Norwegian DENMARK Copenhagen l t i c consular service relative to the forBa eign ministry of Sweden. On February 7, 1905, both governments finally announced that negotiations had formally closed. Boström had succeeded in uniting the people of Norwith Norwegian dictionaries and grammars, created the way as never before against Sweden. In March, the prologue for the great Norwegian literary revival of the Radicals returned to power under the leadership of last third of the nineteenth century, led by playwright Christian Michelsen. Henrik Ibsen, among others, and especially by BjørnPrime Minister Michelsen and the Radical-dominated stjerne Bjørnson, who aroused considerable antiunionist Storting now moved to destroy the union. Rejecting new sentiment among the youth of Norway. Politically, the Swedish offers for negotiations on the consular issue, the young nationalists were drawn to the Liberal Party, led Storting passed a bill in May, 1905, that called for the esby Johan Sverdrup, which emerged after 1870 as the tablishment of a separated Norwegian consular service. champion of Norwegian democracy and greater freedom When the king vetoed the bill, the entire Norwegian minfor Norway within the union. By 1890, however, the istry resigned. King Oscar II refused to accept the resigmost militant Norwegian nationalists had gone over to nation and was reluctant or unable to form a new governthe Radical Party, which came to advocate dissolution of ment in Norway. As a result, the Storting declared on the union with Sweden. June 7 that royal power had ceased to function. The Norway’s growing disaffection with the union was reStorting requested the ministry to remain in office and to flected in a number of serious disputes after 1859 beexercise the authority of the Swedish king. In a plebiscite held on August 13, the voters approved the dissolution of tween the Storting and the Swedish crown. In each case, the union by the overwhelming majority of 368,208 to Norway successfully challenged key prerogatives of the 184. The Swedish parliament reluctantly accepted the monarch, King Oscar II, and thereby undermined the separation on September 24. A month later, on October foundations of the union. 26, 1905, the two states signed a formal treaty dissolving The Radicals, upon assuming control of the ministry the union. After the union was dissolved, Norway beand the Storting in 1891, proceeded to raise the issue that stowed the Norwegian crown on Prince Charles of Denultimately ended the union, the demand for a separate mark, grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark. Norwegian consular service. As had been the case with Charles ruled Norway until 1957 as King Haakon VII. previous issues debated with the Swedish crown, the Radicals believed that the question of a separate consular service was purely a Norwegian affair. In this view, the Significance Radicals encountered the opposition of both the Swedish At least in part as a result of their national experience, government and the Norwegian Conservative Party. In Norwegians as a group place a very high value on liberty,
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October Manifesto independence, and democracy. This was reflected in the resistance movements that were active in Norway against the German occupying forces during World War II and has remained a part of the Norwegian character. Evidence of Norwegians’ distaste for being dictated to by other nations is found in the fact that as of the end of the twentieth century, Norway’s citizens had twice rejected the proposal that their country join the European Union. — Edward P. Keleher and John Quinn Imholte Further Reading Barton, H. Arnold. Sweden and Visions of Norway: Politics and Culture, 1814-1905. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2003. Examines the period of the union between Norway and Sweden, with an emphasis on Norway’s political and cultural influences on Sweden. Derry, Thomas K. A History of Modern Norway, 18141972. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. Objective, well-written history addresses social, economic, literary, and artistic developments as well as political events. Depicts Norway as aspiring to political democracy, social reform, economic growth, and cultural accomplishment. Greve, Tim. Haakon VII of Norway: The Man and the Monarch. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1983. Biography of the first modern Norwegian monarch in-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 cludes discussion of the dissolution of Norway’s union with Sweden. Hayes, Carlton J. H. Contemporary Europe Since 1870. Rev. ed. New York: Macmillan, 1958. Provides a brief, reliable account of Norway’s move toward independence. Heidar, Knut. Norway: Elites on Trial. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2001. Discussion of Norway’s political system includes historical background on the nation’s former union with Sweden. Larsen, Karen. A History of Norway. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1948. Survey of Norwegian history to World War II provides a straightforward recitation of the facts. Chapters 18 and 19 are especially informative regarding the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden. Lindgren, Raymond E. Norway-Sweden: Union, Disunion, and Scandinavian Integration. 1959. Reprint. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1979. Fine presentation of reasons for the dissolution of the Swedish-Norwegian union includes discussion of nonpolitical events and ideas. Focuses primarily on the final phase of the union’s history. See also: Dec. 10, 1901: First Nobel Prizes Are Awarded; Aug. 14, 1925: Norway Annexes Svalbard; Apr. 9, 1940: Germany Invades Norway.
October 30, 1905
October Manifesto The October Manifesto outlined Czar Nicholas II’s grudging concessions to political reform in the wake of massive civil discontent and revolutionary activity in Russia. Locale: St. Petersburg, Russia Categories: Laws, acts, and legal history; wars, uprisings, and civil unrest Key Figures Aleksandr Dubrovin (1855-1918), leader of the Union of the Russian People Vladimir Ilich Lenin (Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov; 18701924), leader of the Bolshevik Party Pavel Miliukov (1859-1943), Russian historian and leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party Nicholas II (1868-1918), czar of Russia, r. 1894-1917 Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein; 1879-1940), leader of the Soviet of Workers’ Deputies 452
Sergey Yulyevich Witte (1849-1915), prime minister of Russia, 1905-1906 Summary of Event In January, 1905, the czar of Russia’s troops ruthlessly fired on a peaceful procession of petitioners in the capital city of St. Petersburg in what came to be known as Bloody Sunday. This tragedy, combined with the disasters that befell Russia during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, sparked the Revolution of 1905. The revolution proved to be largely abortive, but out of it came one famous document: the October Manifesto promulgated by Czar Nicholas II. This document marked, at least at face value, Russia’s first departure from czarist autocracy in favor of a constitutional government with substantial limits on the monarch’s authority. The October Manifesto also revealed Nicholas II’s begrudging and belated concessions to the growing demands of the peo-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
The October Manifesto Czar Nicholas II’s issuance of the manifesto of October 30, 1905 (October 17 by the Julian calendar, which was in use in Russia at that time), marked the end of unlimited royal power in Russia. The manifesto guaranteed basic civil liberties and ensured the creation of the Duma, czarist Russia’s legislative body. We, Nicholas II, By the Grace of God Emperor and Autocrat of all Russia, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland, etc., proclaim to all Our loyal subjects: Rioting and disturbances in the capitals [i.e., St. Petersburg and the old capital, Moscow] and in many localities of Our Empire fill Our heart with great and heavy grief. The well-being of the Russian Sovereign is inseparable from the well-being of the nation, and the nation’s sorrow is his sorrow. The disturbances that have taken place may cause grave tension in the nation and may threaten the integrity and unity of Our state. By the great vow of service as tsar We are obliged to use every resource of wisdom and of Our authority to bring a speedy end to unrest that is dangerous to Our state. We have ordered the responsible authorities to take measures to terminate direct manifestations of disorder, lawlessness, and violence and to protect peaceful people who quietly seek to fulfill their duties. To carry out successfully the general measures that we have conceived to restore peace to the life of the state, We believe that it is essential to coordinate activities at the highest level of government. We require the government dutifully to execute our unshakeable will: 1. To grant to the population the essential foundations of civil freedom, based on the principles of genuine inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association. 2. Without postponing the scheduled elections to the State Duma, to admit to participation in the duma (insofar as possible in the short time that remains before it is scheduled to convene) of all those classes of the population that now are completely deprived of voting rights; and to leave the further development of a general statute on elections to the future legislative order. 3. To establish as an unbreakable rule that no law shall take effect without confirmation by the State Duma and that the elected representatives of the people shall be guaranteed the opportunity to participate in the supervision of the legality of the actions of Our appointed officials. We summon all loyal sons of Russia to remember their duties toward their country, to assist in terminating the unprecedented unrest now prevailing, and together with Us to make every effort to restore peace and tranquility to Our native land. Given at Peterhof the 17th of October in the 1905th year of Our Lord and of Our reign the eleventh. Nicholas Source: Nicholas II, “Manifesto of October 17, 1905,” translated by Daniel Field, in Documents in Russian History: An On-Line Sourcebook (South Orange, N.J.: Seton Hall University, Russian and East European Studies Program).
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ple for sweeping reforms. From January through October, 1905, Russia experienced strikes in the industrial centers, peasant revolts in the countryside, periods of national and ethnic unrest in the western border areas, and mutinies in the army and navy. In order to conciliate his people, Czar Nicholas proclaimed in August the establishment of the Duma, or Russian parliament, to advise the monarch concerning legislation. Although it was an elective body, the Duma was chosen by a limited and indirect franchise, and its function was solely consultative. Announcement of its creation proved to be completely ineffective in quieting the general unrest and the antagonism of political organizations. In October, a widespread general strike paralyzed the entire country for about ten days, forcing Nicholas to decide on his options in the crisis. As he noted in a letter to his mother dated November, 1905, he had two choices: one was to use military force to impose ruthless control within the major cities and across the nation; the other was to make concessions to the opposition. On October 30 (October 17 by the Julian calendar still in effect in Russia at that time), the czar made his decision. He reluctantly agreed to issue an imperial manifesto promising a constitution that would include a stronger Duma and also place limits on the royal authority. This document was largely the work of Count Sergey Yulyevich Witte, the czar’s former finance minister and now prime minister. The October Manifesto promised the institutions and procedures of a constitutional limited monarchy in Russia. The government promised to make significant concessions: to guarantee fundamental civil liberties (including freedom of speech, assembly, and conscience; freedom of the press; freedom from arbitrary arrest; and the right to form trade unions), to extend the franchise for elections to the Duma to those excluded under the previous decree made in August, to guarantee that no law would be enacted without the
October Manifesto
October Manifesto
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A Moscow crowd celebrates the freedoms promised by Czar Nicholas II in the October Manifesto. (Library of Congress)
consent of the Duma, and to provide that the Duma should have the right to decide on the legality of decisions of the czar’s administrators. A second body, the State Council, was created later to serve as the upper house of the promised parliament. The government hoped that publication of the October Manifesto would quell unrest, but in fact it ushered in fresh waves of disorder throughout the country. The enthusiasm of those supporting the manifesto was matched by elements of the population who demonstrated against the government for what they saw as high-sounding but meaningless promises. Many viewed the document as no more than a clever trick intended to divide the opposition. Indeed, the October Manifesto did accentuate the divisions that already existed in the ranks of the revolutionary movement, and it helped the government to restore much of its autocratic authority by late 1905 and early 1906. Significance Broadly speaking, the responses to the October Manifesto differed according to whether individuals and groups fell on the right, the center, or the left of the political spectrum. On the extreme right, conservative advo454
cates of the czar’s absolute power urged Nicholas to make no concessions to the reformers and revolutionaries. Reactionaries in the service of the government and the Russian Orthodox Church organized the Union of the Russian People under the presidency of Dr. Aleksandr Dubrovin. Elements from this group, to which Czar Nicholas himself belonged, led gangs of toughs known as the Black Hundreds in demonstrations on behalf of the czar and against supporters of the manifesto. During the week after the manifesto’s publication, the Black Hundreds launched a wave of violent riots known as pogroms against the traditional scapegoats, the Jews, many of whom suffered loss of life or property. Meanwhile, moderate rightists fully in accord with the principles of the October Manifesto created a new political party known as the Octobrists and hailed the concessions as the climax of a successful revolution. They now gave their support to the government. Those in the center established another new party in the fall: the Constitutional Democratic Party, led by the historian Pavel Miliukov. This party wanted to move forward rapidly on such matters as land reform and also wanted more certain guarantees of parliamentary authority and meaningful civil rights. The leftist parties rejected the manifesto outright as
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mediocre leadership had cut itself off from reality and the growing discontent of the Russian people. — Edward P. Keleher and Taylor Stults Further Reading Ascher, Abraham. The Revolution of 1905: A Short History. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2004. Concise history by a highly respected scholar explores the factionalism among the regime’s opponents as well as that within the Russian government itself. Ferro, Marc. Nicholas II: The Last of the Tsars. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Provides informative background on Nicholas in the 1905-1906 period, drawing on his diary and family correspondence. Harcave, Sidney. First Blood: The Russian Revolution of 1905. New York: Macmillan, 1964. Readable account of the revolution provides solid coverage of a complex period. Mehlinger, Howard D., and John M. Thompson. Count Witte and the Tsarist Government in the 1905 Revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1972. Focuses on Witte’s role during this critical period in Russian history. Miliukov, P. N. Political Memoirs, 1905-1917. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1967. Revealing recollections by the founder of the Constitutional Democratic Party, who was at the center of events during the Revolution of 1905. Verner, Andrew M. The Crisis of Russian Autocracy: Nicholas II and the 1905 Revolution. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990. Traces the responses of the czar’s government in the face of growing opposition to autocracy. Von Laue, Theodore H. Why Lenin? Why Stalin? Why Gorbachev? The Rise and Fall of the Soviet System. 3d ed. New York: Longman, 1997. Classic interpretive essay situates the events of 1905 in the larger context of modern Russian and Soviet history. Witte, Sergey. The Memoirs of Count Witte. Translated and edited by Sidney Harcave. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1990. Translation of the self-serving but informative memoirs of one of the central decisionmaking leaders of the Russian government in the early years of the twentieth century. See also: 1903-1906: Pogroms in Imperial Russia; Jan. 22, 1905: Bloody Sunday; May 10-July 21, 1906: First Meeting of the Duma; Sept. 14, 1911: Assassination of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin; Mar.-Nov., 1917: Lenin Leads the Russian Revolution; Nov. 6-7, 1917: Bolsheviks Mount the October Revolution. 455
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unsatisfactory, if not an outright deception, and they attempted to continue the revolution. In St. Petersburg, the Soviet, or Council, of Workers’ Deputies included members of the Social Revolutionary, Bolshevik, and Menshevik Parties. It had been established several days before the manifesto’s publication. Vladimir Ilich Lenin, the Bolshevik leader, was not in Russia at the time but sent frequent messages to his group demanding continued militancy and violence against the authorities. After the manifesto’s appearance, the leaders of the Soviet, among them Leon Trotsky, made plans for new strikes they hoped would expand into an armed uprising. Although encouraged by continuing peasant revolts and sporadic troop mutinies, by November the radicals had clearly begun to lose their hold over the workers. The program of strikes failed, and by mid-December the government made many arrests. In Moscow, the Soviet of Workers’ Deputies attempted an armed uprising in December, but by the end of that month the government was able to muster sufficient loyal troops to put it down. Severe measures, including prison and several executions, were taken against the most militant of the government’s opponents. The Revolution of 1905 was over. The czarist monarchy had survived the crisis. The authority of Nicholas II was shaken, but he now began to restore his traditional autocratic rule at the expense of the promises he had made in the October Manifesto. Witte, reluctantly willing to consider some limits on the monarchy, resigned as prime minister in the spring of 1906. The new constitution, known as the Fundamental Laws, went into effect at the same time. The Revolution of 1905 was a prologue to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In a sense the Revolution of 1905 was not a revolution at all: The czar remained on his throne, the throne remained autocratic despite promises made in the October Manifesto, and most of the army remained loyal. In 1917, however, the czar fell, partly because massive numbers of troops went over to swell the ranks of the revolutionaries. In 1905, concessions to the contrary notwithstanding, the czarist autocracy prevailed over the demands of the moderates and the radicals; in 1917, czarism gave way to a moderate regime that was in turn overthrown by Bolshevik radicals. The two revolutions are nevertheless similar in some respects. Both began when Russia was severely weakened by military disasters in unsuccessful wars. Both the Russo-Japanese War and World War I underscored long-standing political, social, and economic grievances that could not be redressed within the framework of government then in existence. Both revolutions took place partly because
October Manifesto
Reinhardt Becomes Director of the Deutsches Theater
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
November 24, 1905
Reinhardt Becomes Director of the Deutsches Theater By taking over Berlin’s major theater from Adolph L’Arronge, the young director Max Reinhardt was poised to become Germany’s foremost theater artist and entrepreneur. Locale: Berlin, Germany Category: Theater Key Figures Max Reinhardt (Max Goldmann; 1873-1943), Austrian-born actor and director Adolph L’Arronge (1838-1908), German theatrical author and producer Otto Brahm (1856-1912), German theater critic, director, and proponent of naturalism Summary of Event The Deutsches Theater was long the most prestigious commercial theater in Berlin. Owned by impresario Adolph L’Arronge, it had from 1894 on, under the direction of Otto Brahm, become Germany’s aesthetically and socially most progressive theatrical venue, championing the work of Henrik Ibsen and naturalist playwrights such as Gerhart Hauptmann. In 1904, L’Arronge refused to extend Brahm’s contract, as L’Arronge believed that naturalism was giving way to a new, lusher Impressionist style associated closely with the then thirty-one-year-old director Max Reinhardt. Reinhardt had studied acting in his native Vienna before he joined Brahm’s theater in 1894. There he became steeped in Brahm’s ensemble style and gained an understanding of the literary qualities of the drama. He found Brahm’s vision too confining, however, and in 1901 Reinhardt first branched out with a satirical cabaret named Schall und Rauch (sound and smoke), which in 1902 mutated into the Kleines Theater. In 1903, he found backers to buy the Neues Theater, where he began a string of successful productions as a director with Maurice Maeterlinck’s Pelléas et Mélisande (pb. 1892; Pelléas and Mélisande, 1894). In 1905, L’Arronge, out of commercial as much as artistic considerations, offered Reinhardt the direction of the Deutsches Theater with a long-term lease. When it became clear to L’Arronge that Reinhardt planned major renovations to update the aging theater (which was constructed in 1883) and to incorporate state-of-the-art scene technology such as a revolving stage and a cyclorama, the producer agreed to sell the property to Rein456
hardt. L’Arronge’s condition was that Reinhardt give up his two other venues, so as to prevent the accumulation of a theater monopoly. In fact, the acquisition of the Deutsches Theater was the first step for Reinhardt in the creation of a commercial theater empire that dominated Berlin until 1932. Although Reinhardt signed the purchase contracts on November 24, 1905, his first production at his new theater premiered on October 19 of that year. The inaugural production, a play by the Romantic dramatist Heinrich von Kleist, was not well received. Reinhardt’s first great commercial success at the Deutsches Theater came later that year with a production of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (pr. c. 1596-1597) that enjoyed more than two hundred performances. Although he had been a director for only four years, by the time he took over the Deutsches Theater Reinhardt was hailed as the next great German visionary of the theater. His reputation was such that audiences flocked to his productions
Max Reinhardt. (Library of Congress)
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soon unhappy with its limitations. In 1906, he opened an adjacent three-hundred-seat chamber theater, the Kammerspiele, a concept that proved trendsetting in Europe (inspiring, for example, the creation of August Strindberg’s Intimate Theater in Stockholm). In 1919, Reinhardt finally realized his dream of building a “theater of five thousand” with his gigantic Grosses Schauspielhaus. After fifteen years at the helm, in 1920 Reinhardt turned over the direction of his Berlin theaters to his longtime dramaturge Felix Hollaender so that he could concentrate on his activities in Salzburg, Austria. Even though he regained control of the theaters nine years later (only to surrender them again to the Nazis in 1933), the formative Reinhardt era in Berlin had come to a close. Significance Reinhardt’s acquisition of the Deutsches Theater laid the foundation for his considerable influence on the modern theater. Reinhardt demonstrated that even during extremely difficult economic times, challenging literary theater could exist and thrive within a commercial framework. Reinhardt took pride in never having accepted subsidies, and even throughout wartime and periods of inflation, he never compromised his artistic standards. Reinhardt’s literary taste was eclectic, and he brought to the stage of the Deutsches Theater plays of every era and every nation, creating a veritable world theater. From the first, he provided an outlet for young and at times risqué work such as Frank Wedekind’s tragicomedies of sex and Oscar Wilde’s Salomé (pb. 1893), and he developed an audience for Maeterlinck and Strindberg in Germany. His work with the neo-Romantic Austrian dramatist Hugo von Hofmannsthal constituted perhaps his most symbiotic and enduring collaboration. He attended equally to the classical repertoire and to the writers of the avant-garde. In the 1913-1914 season, he directed a highly acclaimed cycle of ten Shakespearean plays (the cycle idea has since been imitated many times, including in the 1980’s by Joseph Papp in New York and Ariane Mnouchkine in France). No achievement at the Deutsches Theater was more influential, however, than Reinhardt’s productions of a number of new expressionist plays under the heading “Das junge Deutschland” (young Germany) from 1917 to 1920. These plays, many mixing angry and feverish condemnations of war with ecstatic cries for human brotherhood, gave rise to a new, stark visual style to which Reinhardt’s scenographer Ernst Stern and his actors proved more than equal. The Deutsches Theater was instrumental in 457
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(the auditorium had been duly enlarged as well), and he could afford to stage only five new plays during his first season. His overwhelming success as an artist was complemented by his acute business sense and by his good fortune in having a younger brother, Edmund, to take care of the day-to-day running of his affairs. The remodeling of the Deutsches Theater, with the addition of a revolving stage more than fifty feet across and a sophisticated lighting system, bore witness to Reinhardt’s innovative aesthetic concepts, in particular his insistence on plasticity instead of scene painting. Reinhardt’s idea at the time was to use the revolving stage both as an efficient means of changing scenery and as a dramaturgical tool. His aversion to painted scenery had been kindled by his exposure to the new theorists of scene design; in particular, he was influenced by the writings of Adolphe Appia and the bold scenic experiments of Edward Gordon Craig and Georg Fuchs. Earlier in 1905, still at his Neues Theater, Reinhardt had directed a celebrated production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (pr. c. 1595-1596) set entirely on a revolving stage. (The play became a signature piece for Reinhardt; he directed it twelve times on the stage and finally on film for Warner Bros. in 1935.) This production, which played more than three hundred times and was revived in 1913, featured a fully articulated forest set that virtually defined the early, neo-Romantic Reinhardt style: lavishly poetic and illusionistic, with a kind of magical playfulness that fused realistic and symbolistic elements. In early October, 1905, Reinhardt opened an acting school that was physically and administratively connected to the Deutsches Theater. Himself an actor, Reinhardt always emphasized the centrality of the actor to his theater (“It is to the actor and to no one else that the theater belongs”) and was acknowledged as a great teacher. At the Deutsches Theater, he succeeded in assembling Germany’s best performers, including Max Pallenberg and Albert Bassermann, and in training a new generation that dominated the German stage for years: Tilla Durieux, Gertrud Eysoldt, Friedrich Kayssler, Alexander Moissi, Paul Wegener, and many others studied with him. It became an honor to be known as a “Reinhardt actor.” In spite of the alterations, the Deutsches Theater was a conventional proscenium-stage theater that seated an audience of approximately one thousand. Although it remained the center of his growing empire (which some referred to as the “Reinhardt Machine” because of its technical sophistication and sheer size), Reinhardt was
Reinhardt Becomes Director of the Deutsches Theater
Reinhardt Becomes Director of the Deutsches Theater the breakthrough of expressionism as a theatrical form. In addition, according to film historian Lotte Eisner (The Haunted Screen, 1952), the German silent films of the 1920’s, from Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari (1920; The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) to Metropolis (1927), would have been unthinkable without these Reinhardt productions. Although Reinhardt largely followed his own instincts in matters of programming, his theaters employed an army of dramaturges (literary managers), the most important of whom were Felix Hollaender and Arthur Kahane at the Deutsches Theater. That the institution of the dramaturge has become virtually standard in the European theater today is a consequence of Reinhardt’s respect for the literary text. Ironically, some of Reinhardt’s most severe later critics and directorial opponents, such as Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator, briefly worked as dramaturges for him in the 1920’s. In his restless search for new venues, Reinhardt might justifiably be called a pioneer of environmental theater. In effect, he attempted to find a suitable spatial arrangement for each play he directed. Because the Deutsches Theater was conventionally configured, he staged intimate and poetic plays in the Kammerspiele, where every small gesture or whisper was perceptible. Productions calling for grand tableaux, great pathos, and surging masses, such as Greek tragedies and historical spectacles, occupied the Grosses Schauspielhaus. Reinhardt also transcended the theater space altogether, first by letting his actors spill into the auditorium in a 1911 production of Oedipus Rex, then by transposing his plays into congenial settings. For example, he turned London’s Olympia exhibition hall into a giant Gothic cathedral for a 1911 presentation of the pantomime The Miracle by Karl Vollmoeller, staged Hofmannsthal’s Everyman adaptation in front of the Salzburg cathedral in 1920, had Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust (pb. 1808) take place on a life-sized city set (the “Fauststadt”) built into an open-air riding arena in 1933, and realized Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice on a Venetian square in 1934. Although such experiments were then not widely imitated, this amplification of theatrical possibilities set precedents that found their fulfillment especially in the avant-garde theater movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Undoubtedly, Reinhardt’s greatest influence was on the idea of directing in the twentieth century. He is perceived by many as the avatar of the age of the director. Together with the Russian Konstantin Stanislavsky— whose disposition was quite different—Reinhardt set the 458
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 guidelines for the profession. Although he was not the first director of international stature, Reinhardt became a truly European director (his productions, particularly the famed Miracle, traveled abroad frequently). He finally even exerted considerable influence on the theater scene in the United States, both before and after his emigration to that nation in 1938. Among the theater artists directly inspired by Reinhardt were Harley Granville-Barker in England and Robert Edmond Jones and Lee Simonson in the United States. It is noteworthy that prior to Reinhardt’s time, the name of a play’s director was rarely even mentioned in theater reviews. The complete professionalization of the directorial office is largely Reinhardt’s achievement. His career marks the transition from the nineteenth century stage manager, who was concerned with little more than the technical problems of the production, to the modern-day regisseur, who exercises total artistic control. In that sense, a direct line can be construed between Reinhardt and more recent directors such as Peter Brook, Peter Stein, and Peter Sellars. Reinhardt’s productions were meticulously prepared and planned out. Before rehearsals began on a play, Reinhardt created a prompt book in which he set down every music and light cue, indicated every tone of voice and gesture for speeches, and sketched ground plans marking entrances and exits. He often worked over a prompt book several times. Some of these books are still in existence today, and each represents an inventory of Reinhardt’s ideas about the play as well as a kind of “score” of atmospheric, psychological, and technical details for its staging. Few directors have modeled themselves explicitly on Reinhardt, who proclaimed no methodology of his own. His strength and authority as a director seemed to flow from his personality, not from theories. In rehearsal, the shy Reinhardt was often silent, but actors attested to his catalytic ability to summon from them depths of feeling of which they were themselves unaware. What emerges from Reinhardt’s scattered writings is a high regard for the theater as a place of almost religious importance in which humans are given the necessary freedom to play. During his years at the Deutsches Theater, Reinhardt was not without his critics. The sumptuousness and unashamed theatricality of his often baroque spectacles and his distaste for politics did not sit well with those who saw the theater as a medium for ideological agitation and activism. Bertolt Brecht’s famous condemnation of the “culinary” bourgeois theater and his development of an alternative, “epic” form were clearly provoked by his exposure to Reinhardt fare. Yet even Reinhardt’s critics
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 maintained a core of respect for the man who was dubbed “the great magician” of the theater. —Ralf Erik Remshardt Further Reading Braun, Edward. “Max Reinhardt in Germany and Austria.” In The Director and the Stage: From Naturalism to Grotowski. 1982. Reprint. London: Methuen, 2003. Braun gives Reinhardt shorter shrift than he deserves in this chapter, but taken in the context of the whole book, the essay manages to position Reinhardt within the history of the profession. Recommended strictly as introductory reading. Garten, Hugh F. Modern German Drama. London: Methuen, 1959. Discusses Reinhardt’s work in the context of German neo-Romanticism. Gives information about the playwrights with whom Reinhardt worked. Reinhardt, Gottfried. The Genius: A Memoir of Max Reinhardt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979. Rather chatty but very readable narrative of Reinhardt’s life by his son Gottfried, himself a theater and film director. Gives personal insight into Reinhardt’s later career and life (Gottfried was not born until 1913), simultaneously humanizing the director and contributing to his myth. Sayler, Oliver M., ed. Max Reinhardt and His Theater.
Sinn Féin Is Founded New York: Brentano’s, 1924. Although dated by virtue of having been published almost twenty years before Reinhardt’s death, this book compiles translations of important early essays and materials on Reinhardt, mostly written by collaborators of the director and sympathetic critics. Coinciding with Reinhardt’s sensational 1924 American tour of the pantomime The Miracle, the book was later (1926) put out in an edition that included the entire prompt book and color plates of scene and costume designs. Styan, J. L. Max Reinhardt. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1982. The first book-length study of Reinhardt in English. Provides a wellresearched and useful overview of Reinhardt’s many theatrical activities but is too brief to do Reinhardt’s work full justice. The structure is thematic rather than chronological and touches on the major productions. Well illustrated. Includes a complete list of Reinhardt productions. See also: Jan. 21, 1908: The Ghost Sonata Influences Modern Theater and Drama; 1920: Premiere of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; May 10, 1921: Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author Premieres; 1934: Lubitsch’s The Merry Widow Opens New Vistas for Film Musicals.
November 28, 1905
Sinn Féin Is Founded
Locale: Dublin, Ireland Categories: Colonialism and occupation; organizations and institutions; social issues and reform Key Figure Arthur Griffith (1872-1922), Irish journalist and nationalist political organizer Summary of Event Arthur Griffith was born in Dublin and was educated by the Roman Catholic Christian Brothers. He began his career as a journalist by working as a printer, his father’s
trade, as a very young man. Barely in his teens, while working for the Irish Independent newspaper, Griffith was introduced to the Young Ireland Society, a popular organization dedicated to reviving the political and cultural national separatist spirit of the original Young Irelanders of the 1840’s. At about the same time, he joined the underground and largely moribund Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood (IRB; later renamed the Irish Republican Brotherhood), sometimes known as the Fenians, which was dedicated to the use of violence to sever Ireland’s political ties to England. Griffith joined a third nationalist group, the Gaelic League, shortly after its founding in 1893. This group devoted itself to establishing a Celtic or Gaelic cultural identity—including the use of the Gaelic language—around which a new Irish state might develop. All of these organizations sought an independent political existence for Ireland, but none of them had a politi459
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Dismayed by the failure of both the formal politics of John Redmond’s Irish Parliamentary Party and the violence of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, Arthur Griffith created first Cumann na nGaedheal and then Sinn Féin to gather and galvanize the varied Irish nationalist cultural and political movements.
Sinn Féin Is Founded
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Sinn Féin’s Leaders In 1923, several members left Sinn Féin and formed the Cumann na nGaedheal, and Eamon de Valera left the party in 1926 to form Fianna Fáil. The party remained intact until 1970, when it divided into two factions: Official Sinn Féin (now known as the Workers Party) and Provisional Sinn Féin (commonly known as Sinn Féin). The leaders of Sinn Féin and their years of leadership are listed below. Arthur Griffith Eamon de Valera John Joseph O’Kelly Brian O’Higgins Michael O’Flanagan Cathal Ó Murchadha Margaret Buckley Pádraig Mac Lógáin Tomás Ó Dubhghaill Pádraig Mac Lógáin Tomás Mac Giolla Ruairí Ó Brádaigh Gerry Adams
1908-1917 1917-1926 1926-1931 1931-1933 1933-1935 1935-1937 1937-1950 1950-1953 1953-1954 1954-1962 1962-1970 1970-1983 Beginning 1983
cal presence at the London-based seat of the United Kingdom in Westminster. Parliamentary politics in Ireland was virtually monopolized by the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), which was headed by John Redmond. The party had an aging and increasingly ineffective political voice that was increasingly dependent on English reassurances that home rule—the establishment of a separate Irish government subordinate to Britain—was imminent. The nationalist groups of the 1880’s and 1890’s rejected these halfway measures and despised the IPP’s impotence, but they produced no viable alternative. More moderate than not, Griffith had been drawn to the IPP before the political humiliation, fall, and death of its great leader Charles Stewart Parnell in 1891. He sank even deeper roots in the Irish cultural movements, whose members formed his circle of friends. When the South African Boers, whites of Dutch extraction, began their war with the English colonial government in the later 1890’s, Griffith sailed to join the fray. After his brave conduct on behalf of the Boer cause, Griffith returned to Dublin in 1898. This was the centenary of the storied Irish Rebellion of 1798, and in the spirit of the movement, he and William Rooney, a writer and member of the Celtic Literary Society, founded a newspaper named for the 1798 rebels called the United Irishman. Its pages 460
were filled with militant nationalist sentiment that harked back to earlier periods of rebellious activity and voiced contemporary dissatisfaction with feckless politicians and the impotent cultural movement. Griffith demanded nothing less than an Irish republic and called for a gathering of all the nationalist organizations into one party centered on this goal. Although he did not reject parliamentary politics altogether, he condemned the dangling carrot of home rule. The United Irishman supported the Boers, the proBoer Irish Transvaal Committee, and the Irish Brigade of John MacBride, with whom Griffith had fought. It also preached resistance to English efforts to recruit Irish soldiers. Among many Irish, however, this last stance was unacceptable, since many families had sons and brothers fighting for Great Britain in South Africa. Despite a lack of wide popular support, Griffith used the Irish Transvaal Committee as a nucleus around which he created a new organization, Cumann na nGaedheal (League of the Gaels). Griffith gave the league a broad charge. He sought to promote Irish history, culture, and language study, using the Gaelic League and Irish sports organizations such as the Gaelic Athletic League as models, and he also aimed at promoting Ireland’s economic development and independence in a manner similar to that of the IRB and Ulster’s later nationalist Dungannon Clubs. Cumann was to be an amalgamation of as many of the existing cultural nationalist groups as possible. These included the Celtic Literary Society and the early feminist Daughters of Ireland, which had been recently founded by John MacBride’s fiery wife Maud Gonne. The Gaelic League and IRB were supportive, but they remained aloof. Symbolically, the league’s first president, elected at its first public convention in November, 1900, was the old Fenian John O’Leary, and John MacBride was chosen as vice president. The organization adopted the Gaelic motto first coined by economic nationalists in the 1880’s and later adopted by the Gaelic League: Sinn Féin, which translates as “we ourselves” or “ourselves alone.” Griffith insisted on having no exclusionary principles for membership, although some wanted to set requirements for ethnicity (Gaelic or Anglo-Irish), command of Gaelic, or dedication to violence. Despite the wide net, Cumann had few members, although its main voice, the United Irishman, had thirty thousand subscribers and many more readers. At Cumann’s Third Convention, Griffith announced its first positive political plank: the establishment of a dual monarchy for Britain and Ireland that would mirror that established by the Hungarians in the 1860’s in the
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Significance From these rather inauspicious beginnings, Sinn Féin grew into a powerful force that supported the drive for independence from 1916 to 1922. In the 1910’s, its identification with violent republicanism earned the rebels of the 1916 Easter Rising the pejorative nickname
“shinners.” In 1918, when the newly declared Irish Republic held general elections led by Eamon de Valera, Sinn Féin garnered nearly half a million votes and 73 of the 105 seats. Sinn Féin’s connection with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) helped it survive the Irish war for independence in the early 1920’s, which ended with the Treaty of Westminster. The civil war that followed, which pitted party members against each other, left deep and splintering ruptures. Once the fighting had stopped, the majority (protreaty Sinn Féin members) formed the core of the new Cumann na nGaedheal party, which was headed by William T. Cosgrave after 1923, while the opposition, led by de Valera, emerged as Fianna Fáil in 1926. In the six counties of Northern Ireland, the party coalesced with the IRA, which remained relatively active there and agitated for union with the southern Republic. In the wake of the demonstrations for civil rights and resultant violence in the late 1960’s, Sinn Féin reemerged as a radical political party associated with the IRA, Catholic nationalism, and Marxist critiques of society and politics. In 1970, it split once again, into an Official Party of constitutional Marxists and a Provisional Party (sometimes known as the IRA’s “political wing”) directly associated with the IRA and its republican ideology. —Joseph P. Byrne Further Reading Feeny, Brian. Sinn Féin: A Hundred Turbulent Years. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003. A popular and complete history that discusses the early Sinn Féin as an example of a popular-front nationalist movement. Kee, Robert. The Green Flag. New York: Penguin Books, 2001. Vigorous narrative history of the roots and flowering of the party in the context of the failures of contemporary Irish political and cultural movements. Younger, Calton. Arthur Griffith. Dublin: Gill, 1981. The standard and most readily available biography of Sinn Féin’s founder. See also: Sept. 15, 1914: Irish Home Rule Bill; 19201921: Ireland Is Granted Home Rule and Northern Ireland Is Created; Dec. 11, 1931: Formation of the British Commonwealth of Nations; Mar. 9, 1932: De Valera Is Elected President of the Irish Dáil.
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Austrian Empire. The monarch would essentially wear two crowns: one in Westminster and another as monarch in Dublin. Although this fell short of true independence, it went well beyond home rule and provided a distinctive and potentially popular position for Griffith’s organization. In 1904 he published the successful Resurrection of Hungary, in which he outlined a plan for a new Irish parliament, one that would consist of the 103 members then sitting at Westminster and of new representatives drawn from across Ireland. At about the same time, he created a political party, the National Council, which was to challenge not only British authority but IPP candidates as well. The impetus for the new party’s introduction was provided by a visit to Dublin by King Edward VII, an event that Cumann and the new party vociferously protested. As a way of presenting the party, Griffith publicized the dual-monarchist model in the pages of United Irishman and in his book The Sinn Féin Policy (1904). The National Council grew, and by January, 1905, it could hold a General Council of County Councils, at which the delegates called for the implementation of Griffith’s plan, still generally called the “Hungarian Policy.” Beginning in May, this rather un-Irish moniker was replaced by the title “Sinn Féin.” At the National Council’s First Convention, which opened in Dublin on November 28, 1905, delegates adopted the slogan, and the Sinn Féin party was born. To reinforce the fledgling party and its connections with Cumann, Griffith changed the name of the United Irishman to Sinn Féin in 1906, after Liberal Party victories in England all but ensured the tabling of home rule for the foreseeable future. This neutralized the IPP and weakened its appeal, creating what should have been a power vacuum. Indeed, an increasingly wide circle of disaffected cultural nationalists and even republicans were drawn to Sinn Féin, and this in turn led to a revitalization of the IRB in 1907. By 1908, however, Sinn Féin candidates had won only one election, and in 1909 the party agreed not to challenge the IPP in the 1910 elections.
Sinn Féin Is Founded
Crile Performs the First Direct Blood Transfusion
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
December, 1905
Crile Performs the First Direct Blood Transfusion George Washington Crile performed the first artery-tovein blood transfusion and developed a device that established the technique as a practical surgical procedure. Locale: Cleveland, Ohio Categories: Health and medicine; science and technology Key Figures George Washington Crile (1864-1943), American surgeon, author, and brigadier general in the U.S. Army Medical Officers’ Reserve Corps Alexis Carrel (1873-1944), French surgeon Samuel Jason Mixter (1855-1926), American surgeon Summary of Event It is impossible to say when and where the idea of blood transfusion first originated, although descriptions of this procedure are found in ancient Egyptian and Greek writings. The earliest documented case of a blood transfusion is that of Pope Innocent VII in April, 1492. The pope, who was gravely ill, received transfusions of the blood of three young boys. As a result, all three boys died, and the procedure did not bring any relief to the pope. Evidence from the centuries that followed includes occasional descriptions of blood transfusions, but it was not until the middle of the seventeenth century that the idea of transfusion gained popularity following William Harvey’s publication of his discovery of the circulation of the blood in 1628. In the medical thought of those times, blood transfusion was considered to have a nourishing effect on the recipient. In many early experiments, the human recipient received animal blood, usually from a lamb or a calf. Blood transfusion was tried as a cure for many different diseases, mainly those that caused hemorrhages, but also other medical problems and even marital problems. Blood transfusions were dangerous procedures, causing many deaths of both donor and recipient as a result of excessive blood loss, infection, passage of blood clots into the circulation of the recipients, passage of air into the blood vessels (air embolism), and transfusion reaction as a result of incompatible blood types. In the midnineteenth century, blood transfusions from animals to humans stopped after scientists discovered that the serum of one species agglutinates and dissolves the blood cells of other species. A sharp drop in the use of blood transfusion came with the introduction of physiologic 462
salt solution in 1875. Salt solution was simple to use and safer than blood. In 1898, when George Washington Crile began his work on blood transfusions, the major obstacle he faced was the problem of blood clotting during transfusions. He realized that salt solutions were not helpful in severe cases of blood loss, when there is a need to restore the patient to consciousness, steady the heart action, and raise the blood pressure. At that time, he was experimenting with indirect blood transfusions by drawing the blood of the donor into a vessel and then transferring it into the recipient’s vein by tube, funnel, and cannula, the same technique used in infusion of saline solution. The solution to the problem of blood clotting came in 1902 when French surgeon Alexis Carrel developed the technique of surgically joining severed blood vessels (anastomosis). Crile learned this technique from Carrel and used it to anastomose the peripheral artery in the donor to a peripheral vein of the recipient. Because the transfused blood remained in contact with the inner lining of the vessels, blood clotting did not occur. Crile thought that blood transfusion would be an effective method of treating hemorrhage and shock, unlike the infusion of saline solution. He started experimenting with blood transfusions on dogs in the Laboratory of Surgical Research of Western Reserve University in 1904, and he performed the first direct human blood transfusion in December, 1905. The patient, a thirty-five-yearold woman, was transfused by her husband but died a few hours after the procedure. In his autobiography, Crile wrote, “This was the first case in which . . . a transfusion of blood by direct anastomosis of the vascular system of one human being to another was ever attempted.” The second transfusion, and the first successful one, was performed on August 8, 1906. The patient, a twentythree-year-old male, suffered from severe hemorrhage following surgery to remove kidney stones. After all attempts to stop the bleeding were exhausted with no results and the patient was dangerously weak, transfusion was considered as a last resort. One of the patient’s brothers was the donor. Following the transfusion, the patient showed remarkable recovery and was strong enough to withstand surgery to excise the kidney and stop the bleeding. When his condition deteriorated a few days later, another transfusion was done. This time, too, he showed remarkable improvement, which continued until his complete recovery.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
both recipient and donor were at risk; and second, it necessitated the sacrifice of the donor’s artery. Significance Crile’s method was the preferred method of blood transfusion for a number of years. Following the publication of his book on transfusion, several modifications to the original method were published in the medical journals of the time. In 1913, Edward Lindeman developed a method of transfusing blood by simple needle puncture, making transfusion for the first time a nonoperative procedure. This method allowed medical personnel to measure the exact quantity of blood transfused. It also allowed a donor to serve in multiple transfusions. This development opened the field of transfusions to all physicians, and the elimination of the need to sacrifice an artery in the process of transfusion rapidly increased the number of willing donors. Lindeman’s needle-andsyringe method also eliminated another major drawback of direct blood transfusion: the need for donor and recipient to be in close proximity. In April, 1915, American surgeon Richard Lewisohn developed the citrate transfusion, later known as Lewisohn’s method. Lewisohn showed that mixing low doses of citrate solution with blood could prevent the blood from clotting without making it toxic for the recipient. This development made indirect blood transfusions a practical method. During World War I, the citrate method became the standardized practice in the treatment of military personnel. Blood transfusions were applied for the first time by a large, specially trained transfusion team, with the result that the lives of many wounded soldiers were saved. In the 1940’s, the method of preserving blood with citrate was refined and modified. Acid citrate dextrose was developed, which made possible the preservation of red cells in whole blood for up to twenty-one days. This development made practical the collection, storage, and distribution of blood. It enabled transfusion medicine to fulfill its lifesaving potential. Because the importance of blood group compatibility had been scientifically established, and given that quick and reliable tests for blood type had been developed, transfusion was considered for a long period to be almost free of risk to the patient. As a result, transfusion practice grew rapidly. For the health care system to be able to realize fully the benefits of transfusion, it was necessary to arrange for a supply of donor blood that would be available at all times. This need gave the push to the establishment of blood banks, in which large quantities of blood are stored in refrigerators. 463
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For his first transfusions, Crile used the Carrel suture method, which required using very fine needles and thread. It was a delicate and time-consuming procedure. At the suggestion of surgeon Samuel Jason Mixter, Crile developed a new method using a short tubal device with an attached handle to connect the blood vessels. He called this the “cannula method of blood-vessel anastomosis.” In this method, 3 to 4 centimeters (a little more than an inch) of the vessels to be connected are surgically exposed, clamped, and cut, just as was done under the previous method. Instead of the blood vessels’ being sutured, however, the recipient’s vein is passed through the tube and then cuffed back over the tube and tied to it. The donor’s artery is then slipped over the cuff. The clamps are opened, and blood is allowed to flow from the donor to the recipient. In order to accommodate different-sized blood vessels, Crile had tubes of four different sizes made, ranging in diameter from 1.5 to 3 millimeters (0.06 to 0.12 inch). Still, even after Crile’s method was accepted, blood transfusion continued to be a procedure performed only by a surgeon in an operating room. It required a full operating room staff, with two assistants, three nurses, and an orderly. Both donor and recipient were sedated with morphine, and local anesthesia was applied to the surgery site. Although some of the risks of earlier transfusions were greatly reduced as a result of surgical and sterile technique, blood transfusion was neither a safe nor a simple procedure. In 1900, Karl Landsteiner first reported the discovery of three different blood groups—A, B, and C (later renamed O)—and the agglutinating effect that occurs when incompatible blood groups are mixed. It took eleven years before cross-agglutination was first used as a test before blood transfusion. Crile did not apply this test to his transfusion subjects; therefore, transfusion reaction, sometimes fatal, continued to be a serious risk. Although Crile made some use of laboratory tests before transfusion, he did not consider them reliable. He wrote, “In the interpretation of results and their clinical application, experience has shown that the occurrence of hemolysis in vitro before transfusion does not necessarily indicate that it will occur in the vascular system of the recipient after transfusion.” This conclusion, published in Crile’s most authoritative book on transfusion, led many physicians to overlook the importance of compatibility tests before transfusion. Direct blood transfusion had two additional disadvantages: First, Crile’s method did not allow for an accurate measurement of the amount of blood transfused, thus
Crile Performs the First Direct Blood Transfusion
Crile Performs the First Direct Blood Transfusion Among the major developments that occurred in transfusion medicine following World War II were methods for separating and preserving the formed elements of blood—methods for freezing, thawing, and washing blood cells. These developments enabled the use of transfusions to support patients undergoing more aggressive therapy. In the 1980’s, transfusion medicine faced its most serious challenge since the days of Crile with the discovery that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can be transmitted by blood. Major efforts were undertaken to make blood transfusion a safe mode of therapy once again. —Gershon B. Grunfeld Further Reading Bernheim, Bertram M. Adventure in Blood Transfusion. New York: Smith & Durrell, 1942. A fascinating book about the personal experience of Bernheim, a professor of surgery at The Johns Hopkins Medical School, with blood transfusion. Bernheim was the first to apply and modify the Crile method at his hospital in 1909. Illustrated. Crile, George Washington. “Direct Transfusion of Blood in the Treatment of Hemorrhage.” Journal of the American Medical Association 47 (November, 1906): 1482-1484. A short but very influential article in the modern history of blood transfusion. This and “The Technique of Direct Transfusion of Blood” are the first published reports of Crile’s experiments with animals and his clinical cases. They contain the first detailed descriptions of the Crile method of direct blood transfusion and the patients Crile treated. _______. George Crile, an Autobiography. Edited by Grace Crile. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1947. This book, edited by Crile’s daughter, is recommended for those interested in the life of George Crile, one of the most prominent American surgeons at the beginning of the twentieth century. Among Crile’s many other achievements, it discusses the first direct blood transfusion. Illustrated and indexed.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 _______. Hemorrhage and Transfusion: An Experimental and Clinical Research. New York: D. Appleton, 1909. This book is divided into two major parts: The first is an examination of the problem of hemorrhages, and the second is dedicated to a detailed study of blood transfusions. Provides a thorough examination of the different aspects of blood transfusion, stressing the pioneering stage at which this technique stood in 1909. Includes many descriptions of experiments with dogs in addition to exact explanations of the two major techniques of direct blood transfusion. Illustrated. _______. “The Technique of Direct Transfusion of Blood.” Annals of Surgery 46 (September, 1907): 329-332. This and “Direct Transfusion of Blood in the Treatment of Hemorrhage” contain the first detailed descriptions of the Crile method of direct blood transfusion and the patients Crile treated. Maluf, N. S. R. “History of Blood Transfusion.” Journal of the History of Medicine 9 (January, 1954): 59-107. This is one of the best articles on the history of blood transfusion from ancient history up to the early decades of the twentieth century. Provides detailed description of the different and changing applications of blood transfusions as well as the techniques and tools used. Includes many excellent illustrations and an extensive bibliography. Starr, Douglas P. Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. A study of the role blood has played throughout human history. The chapter titled “A Strange Agglutination” includes discussion of the discovery of blood types and the effect of that discovery on blood transfusions. See also: 1901: Discovery of Human Blood Groups; 1902: Carrel Rejoins Severed Blood Vessels; Sept., 1915-Feb., 1916: McLean Discovers the Natural Anticoagulant Heparin; Fall, 1934-May 6, 1953: Gibbon Develops the Heart-Lung Machine.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
December 9, 1905 Strauss’s SALOME
Strauss’s Salome Shocks Audiences
Shocks Audiences
When Richard Strauss’s one-act musical drama Salome premiered in Dresden, it shocked many with its eroticism and took music beyond conventional tonality. Locale: Dresden, Germany Categories: Music; theater Key Figures Richard Strauss (1864-1949), German composer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish playwright Ernst von Schuch (1846-1914), German conductor Marie Wittich (1868-1931), German soprano
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Summary of Event Richard Strauss firmly planted opera in the new century with Salome (pr. 1905), the third of his fifteen operas. Strauss opened the door to the explicit depiction of morbid psychological states, probing the dark recesses of the human mind through music. Determined to conquer the operatic stage with his first opera of the twentieth century, Strauss boldly chose Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé (pb. 1893) as the text with which to make his mark; in the process, he created a wholly new type of opera, drawing on the programmatic elements of his tone poems such as Don Juan (1889) and Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (1894-1895; Till Eulenspiegel’s merry pranks) and on the Wagnerian system of leading motives, in which characters announce themselves through distinctive musical themes. To these, he added a quite un-Wagnerian urgency and speed. Although previously successful operas had been based on biblical subjects, none had involved so provocative a setting or so audacious a topic as Salome’s dance for King Herod and the subsequent beheading of John the Baptist. Strauss chose Oscar Wilde’s controversial drama, which conspicuously links female sexuality and death. Wilde’s play was perceived as immoral because of its rendering of a tale of shocking depravity in symbolist poetry, in which the cool surface of events only hints at appalling emotions and behavior. Strauss ignored the artificial beauty of the poetry in favor of a full-blooded musical depiction of the shocking behavior at the court of King Herod. Wilde’s play came to Strauss’s attention some time after its German premiere in Breslau in 1901; the Breslau performance was followed by successful performances in Berlin. Strauss adapted Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the play (minus roughly 40 percent of Wilde’s original text).
At its most basic level, the opera concerns the gruesome results of the thwarted will of a spoiled adolescent female who is denied the object of her sexual desire. In the corrupt court of her stepfather, King Herod, where spiritual values are seen as incomprehensible, Salome is accustomed to the instant gratification of her materialistic desires. Overwhelmed with desire for the visionary prophet Jokanaan (the biblical John the Baptist), the spoiled Salome demands his head on a silver platter as her reward for performing a salacious dance for her lustful stepfather. Although Jokanaan rejected her in life, after his death she is determined to kiss his mouth. Horrified by her behavior, Herod calls for her death at the opera’s conclusion. Herod is in some ways the most provocative character in the opera; he is simultaneously voyeur, aesthete, overattentive stepfather, indecisive leader, and stern man of action. In his famous cry, “Salome, tanz für mich” (“Salome, dance for me”), he speaks for the audience as well as himself in demanding instant erotic visual gratification; his mistake is in promising Salome anything she wants in exchange for the dance. Salome, who in the biblical accounts is said merely to have danced to please her mother, is rendered with deep psychological complexity. She is by turns bored, sulking, fascinated to the point of obsession, and appallingly vindictive. Strauss later told one soprano that, to play the part correctly, she should impersonate a sixteen-year-old with the voice of Richard Wagner’s character Isolde from the opera Tristan und Isolde (1859, pr. 1865). None of Herod’s vulgarly materialistic rewards for her dancing (such as jewels and peacocks) can dissuade her from her goal, and she eventually makes seven separate demands for the head of the prophet, based on two musical themes. The twin climaxes of the opera are Salome’s notorious dance of the seven veils, in which exhibitionistic actions take the place of words, and her long concluding aria, known as the “Schlussgesang” (final song), which reflects Strauss’s lifelong emphasis, as an opera composer, on the power of the female voice. The dance consists of a variety of the opera’s musical motives and constitutes the work’s only attempt at “orientalism,” thus satisfying the period’s fondness for exotic operatic ballets, and it also serves as the opera’s prurient climax. The “Schlussgesang” allows Salome to explain in words her fascination with the body, and now the head, of Jokanaan. Salome assumes wrongly of Jokanaan that “if
Strauss’s Salome Shocks Audiences you had seen me, you would have loved me,” and she asserts the primacy of the erotic and materialistic over the spiritual. Her key words are actually the one statement on which she and the Christian prophet might agree: “The glorious secret of love is mightier than is the secret of death.”
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the clarinet in C-sharp minor but within two measures switches to the major mode; Salome sings her long concluding monologue largely in C-sharp, but Herod’s frightened condemnation of Salome and his call for her violent death are barked out in C minor. Jokanaan, with a simpler musical language that is strikingly different from that of the corrupt Herodians, stays close to his chosen key of C major. Strauss uses short, urgent motives to deSignificance The score of Salome is one of the most dazzling and dispict the seething psychological disturbances about to boil over in such characters as Salome and Herod. When tinctive achievements of twentieth century music, a fact Strauss played through the score of the opera for his ageven Strauss’s harshest detractors admit. Critic Joseph ing father, the latter reportedly complained, “Oh God, Kerman has noted that “the whole is bound together with the greatest skill in a form comparable to that of the symwhat nervous music. It is exactly as if one had one’s trousers full of May bugs.” phonic poem.” Strauss’s score demonstrated the ability The true climax of the opera coincides with Salome’s of the operatic theater to achieve the psychological depth of the late nineteenth century novel and the case histories successful kiss on the mouth of the severed head—a moment rendered by what has often been called the most of Sigmund Freud. appalling chord in all opera, a gruesomely dissonant The score nervously shuttles between the keys of Cexplosion. The sound superbly renders the audience’s sharp and C. The opera opens with a chromatic scale for sense of horror at Salome’s misguided obsession, and it also hints at the main impression that audiences carry away from the opera: that there is a coldness, a clinical detachment, and a lack of empathy at the heart of this fascinating but oddly soulless work. This is not to deny the admiring words of one of Strauss’s best critics, William Mann, who has commented that “Salome is the most brilliant and far-reaching of all Strauss’s works.” Strauss began drafting the score for the opera in September, 1904, and finished the full orchestral score in June, 1905. Ernst von Schuch conducted the world premiere of the opera in Dresden on December 9, 1905. Marie Wittich, who created the role of Salome, allowed a ballet dancer to perform the dance of the seven veils, although at later performances she undertook the dance herself. Salome reached Berlin on December 5, 1906, and had its first performance outside Germany in Turin (in Italian) on December 22, 1906. Capitalizing on the already scandalous reputation of the opera, Heinrich Conreid, the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, staged the first American performance of Salome as part of the Metropolitan’s own annual benefit, at doubled prices, on January 22, 1907. The outcry of the New York press, typified by the complaint of a critic from the New York Sun that “the whole story American soprano Marcella Craft in costume as the title character in wallows in lust, lewdness, bestial appetites, and Richard Strauss’s opera Salome, in which she appeared in Munich in abnormal carnality,” limited the first American 1910. (Library of Congress) production to a single performance. No further 466
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Strauss operas were heard in New York for seven years, and Salome itself was not readmitted to the Metropolitan Opera until 1934. Strauss’s worldwide success with Salome and Elektra (1909) revitalized German opera and put him in the vanguard of Western music. With his decision to consolidate his style into a voluptuous but markedly more conservative form in his subsequent operas Der Rosenkavalier (pr. 1911; the knight of the rose) and Ariadne auf Naxos (pr. 1912; Ariadne on Naxos), Strauss quickly surrendered his claim to musical progressivism to such younger composers as Arnold Schoenberg, Béla Bartók, and Igor Stravinsky. The far greater scandal attending Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps (pr. 1913; The Rite of Spring) allowed audiences to forget how richly Strauss had developed the vocabulary of the late Romantic style. If Strauss slammed the door shut on the leisurely operatic structures of the nineteenth century, such as French grand opera and Wagnerian music drama, he invited further explorations of the psychopathology of the human mind, such as Alban Berg’s Wozzeck (pr. 1925) and Lulu (pr. 1937). Twentieth century operatic composers owe an enormous debt to Strauss, and particularly to Salome, for encouraging opera to explore through music the darker corners of the human experience. —Byron Nelson Further Reading Conrad, Peter. Romantic Opera and Literary Form. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982. Provocatively uses Salome to support the general thesis that, rather than consolidating and merging words and music, opera demonstrates the antagonism between them. Gilliam, Bryan. The Life of Richard Strauss. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Biography covers
Strauss’s Salome Shocks Audiences Strauss’s musical development, including his emergence as a tone poet in the late nineteenth century and his work in opera at the beginning of the twentieth century. Kennedy, Michael. Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Large-scale, in-depth biography draws on much previously unpublished material to place Strauss in the context of his times. Kerman, Joseph. Opera as Drama. 50th anniversary rev. ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. Kerman’s zestful dismissals of any number of operatic favorites make for enjoyable reading, even when his judgments are amusingly wrongheaded. An example: “No less insensitive than Puccini, Strauss adds an intellectual pretentiousness to Puccini’s more innocent kinds.” Mann, William. Richard Strauss: A Critical Study of the Operas. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966. One of the best single-volume sources of analysis of each of Strauss’s fifteen operas, written with genuine respect and affection for Strauss. Puffett, Derrick, ed. Richard Strauss: Salome. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Detailed technical analysis of the opera from a musicologist’s viewpoint. Schmidgall, Gary. Literature as Opera. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977. Includes a fine essay on the transformation of Wilde’s decadent symbolist drama into Strauss’s expressionistic shocker. See also: 1908-1909: Schoenberg Breaks with Tonality; Apr. 3, 1911: Sibelius Conducts the Premiere of His Fourth Symphony; May 29, 1913: The Rite of Spring Stuns Audiences. 1905
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Anschütz-Kaempfe Invents the First Practical Gyrocompass
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Anschütz-Kaempfe Invents the First Practical Gyrocompass Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe designed and manufactured the first practical gyroscopic compass, a device capable of detecting changes in the orientation of a moving vehicle, which greatly enhanced navigation at sea. Locale: Kiel, Germany Categories: Science and technology; inventions; transportation Key Figures Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe (1872-1931), German inventor and manufacturer Léon Foucault (1819-1868), French experimental physicist Elmer Ambrose Sperry (1860-1930), American engineer and inventor Summary of Event The invention of the gyroscopic compass, or gyrocompass, a major step in the development of modern navigational instrumentation, followed naturally from the revolutionary progress in transportation technology that took place during the nineteenth century. Although complex in mathematical detail, the principle of gyroscopic motion is intuitively easy to grasp and to demonstrate. A spinning body such as a wheel tends to retain its orientation with respect to the two axes perpendicular to the plane of rotation, the force required to change its orientation being proportional to the angular momentum of the spinning body. Furthermore, when a disturbing torque is applied, the spinning body reacts by slowly rotating (precessing) in a direction at right angles to the direction of the torque. Gyroscopic effects were employed in the design of various objects long before the theory behind them was formally known. A classic example is a child’s top, which balances, seemingly in defiance of gravity, as long as it continues to spin. Boomerangs and Frisbees derive stability and accuracy from the spin imparted by the thrower. Likewise, the accuracy of rifles improved when barrels were manufactured with internal spiral grooves that caused the emerging bullet to spin. One can get a qualitative impression of the characteristics and strength of gyroscopic force by causing a detached bicycle wheel to rotate rapidly in the vertical plane, then, while holding it, attempting to tip it sideways and to turn in place. Both 468
motions are surprisingly difficult, although there is no impediment to walking in a direction parallel to the spinning wheel. In 1852, the French inventor Léon Foucault built the first gyroscope, a measuring device consisting of a rapidly spinning wheel within concentric rings that allowed the wheel to move freely about two axes. This device, like the Foucault pendulum, was used to demonstrate the rotation of the earth around its axis, as the spinning wheel, which was not fixed, retained its orientation in space while the earth turned under it. The gyroscope had a related interesting property: As it continued to spin, the force of the earth’s rotation caused its axis to precess gradually until it was oriented parallel to the earth’s axis, that is, in a north-south direction. It is this property that enables the gyroscope to be used as a compass. It differs from a magnetic compass in two important ways: It operates independent of the earth’s magnetic field and any magnetic disturbances in the immediate surroundings, and it designates true north (the earth’s axis) rather than magnetic north. Foucault also developed a mathematical analysis of gyroscopic forces. The gyroscope attracted immediate attention as the demonstration of an interesting physical principle and as a popular children’s toy. Gyroscopic forces act to some extent in any moving object with spinning parts; with the development of motorized transportation systems, the magnitude of these forces increased dramatically and became important in vehicle engineering. In bicycles and paddle-wheel steamers, the wheels are oriented so as to act as stabilizers. In early automobiles, the flywheel had to be reoriented when it was discovered that the original orientation inhibited steering. (Unlike a train or steamship, an automobile is constantly changing direction, and gyroscopic forces that tend to keep the vehicle moving in a straight line are undesirable.) It became evident that the gyroscopic properties of spinning wheels could be used to advantage in designing vehicles that would resist tilting. In 1906, Otto Schlick patented a design for a gyroscopic stabilizer for steamships in which the stabilizing properties of a rapidly spinning horizontal wheel were used to reduce the pitch and roll of a ship. From 1908 to 1910, Louis Brennan attracted attention with a prototype monorail balanced by an internal gyroscopic stabilizer. The ability of a gyroscope to resist deflection is also
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shaft and also served as one electrical contact for the motor. Reorientation around this shaft enabled the axis of the spinning gyroscope to orient itself along the earth’s axis. The shaft was connected to a compass card visible to the ship’s navigator. Motor, gyroscope, and suspension system were enclosed in a set of gimbals that permitted the apparatus to retain its vertical orientation with respect to the earth despite the pitch and roll of the ship. Later versions introduced an electromagnet to correct for the latitude and direction of motion of the ship. In 1912, Anschütz-Kaempfe and Max Schuler introduced a model with three rotors mounted in an equilateral triangle; this model was less subject to error on a rolling ship and was the principal type used on German submarines during World War I. In 1906, the German navy installed a prototype of the Anschütz-Kaempfe gyrocompass on the battleship Undine and subjected it to exhaustive tests under simulated battle conditions: sailing the ship under forced draft and suddenly reversing the engines, changing the position of heavy turrets and other mechanisms, and firing heavy guns. In conditions under which a magnetic compass would have been worthless, the gyrocompass proved a satisfactory navigational tool, and the results were impressive enough to convince the German navy to undertake installation of gyrocompasses in submarines and heavy battleships, including the battleship Deutschland. Although these developments took place against a background of increasing international tension that culminated in World War I, the Anschütz Gyrocompass Company was a private commercial venture that obtained international patents. No shroud of military secrecy obscured the development of the first gyrocompass, although subsequent refinements, both in Germany and in the United States, were subject to wartime restrictions on strategic information. Elmer Ambrose Sperry, a New York inventor who was intimately associated with pioneering electrical development, was independently working on a design for a gyroscopic compass at about the same time. In 1907, he patented a gyrocompass consisting of a single rotor mounted within two concentric shells, suspended by fine piano wire from a frame mounted on gimbals. The rotor of the Sperry compass operated in a vacuum, which enabled it to rotate more rapidly, and the suspension system eliminated some problems associated with drag and turbulence in the mercury trough used in the suspension system of the Anschütz-Kaempfe compass. The Sperry gyrocompass was in use on larger American battleships and submarines on the eve of World War I. 469
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useful in sensors that detect when a moving object changes course. This property formed the basis for a simple German device (patented in 1898) for keeping a torpedo on course. When the torpedo was set in motion, a rotor was activated simultaneously; if the course of the torpedo changed sufficiently, the rotor exerted pressure on the valve controlling the compressed-air propellant on that side, creating an asymmetrical propulsion force sufficient to turn the torpedo back toward its original course. More sophisticated gyroscopic deflection sensors were installed in the World War II era in V-l and V-2 rockets and in early guided missiles. These sensors communicated with ground bases by radio, enabling navigators on the ground to plot and correct missile courses. From 1904 to 1905, Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe, a German manufacturer working in the Kiel shipyards, became interested in navigation problems of submarines used in exploration under the polar ice cap. By 1905, efficient working submarines were a reality, and it was evident to all major naval powers that submarines would play an increasingly important role in naval strategy. Submarine navigation posed problems, however, that could not be solved by instrumentation designed for surface vessels. A submarine needs to orient itself under water in three dimensions; it has no automatic horizon with respect to which it can level itself. Navigation by means of stars or landmarks is impossible when the submarine is submerged. Furthermore, in an enclosed metal hull containing machinery run by electricity, a magnetic compass is worthless. To a lesser extent, increasing use of metal, massive moving parts, and electrical equipment had also rendered the magnetic compass unreliable in conventional surface battleships. It was logical for Anschütz-Kaempfe to turn to the gyroscopic effect to produce an instrument that would both designate true north and sense changes in the submarine’s orientation. Although simple in principle, production of a gyroscopic compass that would function accurately on a moving ship posed significant engineering problems; namely, the device needed to be suspended in such a way that it was free to turn in any direction with as little mechanical resistance as possible (at the same time being strong enough to withstand the inevitable pitching and rolling of a ship at sea), and it needed a continuous power supply to keep the gyro rotating at high speed. The original Anschütz-Kaempfe gyrocompass consisted of a pair of spinning wheels connected by an electric motor. This apparatus was suspended via a shaft from a float consisting of a hollow ring immersed in mercury, which allowed free rotation around the axis of the
Anschütz-Kaempfe Invents the First Practical Gyrocompass
Anschütz-Kaempfe Invents the First Practical Gyrocompass Significance Both the German and the American naval authorities recognized that the gyrocompass was a valuable navigational tool and were quick to undertake a program of installing the compasses on major submarines and surface vessels. The ability to navigate submerged submarines was of critical strategic importance in World War I, when submarine warfare first played a major role in war at sea. Initially, the German navy had an advantage both in the number of submarines at its disposal and in their design and maneuverability. The German U-boat fleet declared all-out war on shipping by the Allied Powers, and, although German efforts to blockade England and France were ultimately unsuccessful, the tremendous toll inflicted by the U-boats helped maintain the German position and prolong the war. To a submarine fleet operating throughout the Atlantic and in the Caribbean, as well as in near-shore European waters, effective longdistance navigation was critical. Related gyroscopic devices sensing pitch (vertical movement of nose relative to tail), roll, and yaw (horizontal deviations of nose relative to tail) became important in aircraft instrumentation. A World War I-era aircraft pilot had less need of the compass function of a gyroscope than did a submarine captain because the pilot could depend on landmarks for orientation, but a device giving rapid feedback on changes in orientation by the aircraft was a distinct advantage in a battle. Gyrocompasses were standard equipment on submarines and battleships, and, increasingly, on larger commercial vessels during World Wars I and II and the period between the wars. Although refinements were incorporated that made the compasses more accurate and easier to use, the fundamental design differed little from that invented by Anschütz-Kaempfe. Gyroscopic sensors detecting deviations from course were part of the equipment of the German V-1 and V-2 rockets and guided missiles. Two additional devices employing gyroscopic principles are the laser gyroscope and the nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscope. The former employs two laser beams traveling in opposite directions within a rapidly spinning mirrored cavity; differences in the apparent velocity of light in the beam traveling in the direction of spin relative to the beam traveling in the opposite direction produce a change in wavelength, which in turn is used to measure changes in rotational angle. A nuclear magnetic resonance gyro functions because individual atomic nuclei spin; this spin produces the magnetic moment of the nucleus, and externally applied magnetic fields act on 470
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 spinning nuclei in a manner analogous to the effects of gravity and mechanical deflection on a conventional gyroscope. Conventional gyrocompasses continue to be used extensively in marine navigation, and gyroscopic deflection sensors are part of the standard instrumentation of modern aircraft, which are typically equipped with three spring-mounted gyroscopic rotors to detect the amount and speed of deflection in three dimensions. One gyroscopic rotor design suspends the spinning element electrostatically, eliminating drag from mechanical suspension elements. The technology pioneered by Anschütz-Kaempfe and Sperry has enjoyed enduring practical application. — Martha A. Sherwood Further Reading Collins, A. Frederick. “The Gyroscope as a Compass.” Scientific American 96 (April 6, 1907): 294-295. Reports the development of the Anschütz-Kaempfe gyrocompass, with detailed descriptions of the design of the device, illustrations of a preliminary and improved model, and an account of field testing performed by the German navy in 1906 and 1907. Crabtree, Harold. An Elementary Treatment of the Theory of Spinning Tops and Gyroscopic Motion. London: Longmans, Green, 1914. A general reference; gives a good perspective on the increasing importance of gyroscopic motion and devices employing it during the early years of the twentieth century. Includes a simple introduction to the theory of the gyroscope and detailed descriptions of the Anschütz-Kaempfe and Sperry gyrocompasses, the Schick gyroscopic stabilizer, the Brennan monorail, and gyroscopic forces in motor vehicles. Demel, Richard F. Mechanics of the Gyroscope. New York: Macmillan, 1929. An engineering text that explains the theory of the gyroscope and the theory and construction of gyroscopic devices in some detail. Covers both the Anschütz-Kaempfe and Sperry gyrocompasses and the differences between them, with more attention given to the Sperry model. Extensive mathematical treatment of precession errors. “The New Navy Gyroscopic Compass.” Scientific American 106 (June 29, 1912): 588-589. A clear account, with diagrams, of the Sperry gyroscopic compass. Includes a nonmathematical description of the operation of the device and a discussion of the difficulties of using conventional compasses in early twentieth century submarines and battleships. Useful for visualiz-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ing the contemporary impact of the discovery of a practical gyroscope. Parson, N. A. Guided Missiles. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1958. A nontechnical introduction to guided missiles; includes a section on how a gyroscope functions as a steering device in a radiocontrolled flying object. Rawlings, A. L. The Theory of the Gyroscopic Compass and Its Deviations. New York: Macmillan, 1944. A textbook designed for the engineers of firms manufacturing gyrocompasses and for shipboard personnel responsible for using and maintaining them. Contains
Barkla Discovers the Characteristic X Rays of the Elements diagrams and descriptions of the Anschütz-Kaempfe gyrocompass and its modifications. Tall, Jeffrey. Submarines and Deep-Sea Vehicles. San Diego, Calif.: Thunder Bay Press, 2002. Highly illustrated history of submarines. The first chapter discusses the pioneers who built and sailed in undersea vehicles, including those who contributed to the technology of navigation. Includes bibliography and index. See also: Aug. 4, 1906: First German U-Boat Is Launched; Oct., 1915-Mar., 1917: Langevin Develops Active Sonar; 1934-1945: Radar Is Developed.
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Barkla Discovers the Characteristic X Rays of the Elements By studying the interaction between X rays and matter, Charles Glover Barkla succeeded in determining important physical characteristics of X rays and the atomic structure of matter. Locale: University College, Liverpool, England Categories: Science and technology; physics Key Figures Charles Glover Barkla (1877-1944), English physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923), German physicist George Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903), British mathematician and physicist Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940), English physicist and teacher
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Summary of Event For several decades in the nineteenth century, physicists studied cathode rays. For an even longer time, scientists had known of the existence of atoms. Nevertheless, during the last decade of the nineteenth century, scientists still had great difficulty in comprehending the physical nature of either cathode rays or atoms. Apparently, atoms of some chemical elements were heavier and others were lighter. It was not known why. The reason could have been that atoms consisted of different materials or that the heavier ones had more of the same materials. Chemical facts gave clues about the existence of atoms. Cathode rays appeared to be “tentacles” originating from the atom. In December, 1895, a sequence of clues, and tentacles, began to emerge. First, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen
reported from the University of Würzburg that he had discovered X rays. In 1896, Antoine-Henri Becquerel announced to the French Academy of Sciences his finding that uranium spontaneously emitted invisible radiation that would blacken a photographic plate yet seemed different from X rays. In 1898, Pierre Curie and Marie Curie detected two new elements that apparently also emitted the same types of radiation. At the same time, in England, Sir Joseph John Thomson made remarkable progress in the study of cathode rays. He startled scientists by announcing his experimental confirmation that these rays consisted of charged particles more than one thousand times lighter than the smallest atom. He declared that these particles were “matter in a new state” and that the chemical elements were made up of matter. By the beginning of the twentieth century, therefore, scientists were confronted with a number of intriguing questions about the nature of X rays, how one could account for radioactivity, and how one could reconcile the apparent endlessness of radioactive emanations with the conservation of energy. It was in this atmosphere of challenging scientific inquiry that Charles Glover Barkla began his scientific career. From 1899 to 1902, he conducted research with Thomson. In 1902, he attended University College in Liverpool and began his lifelong study of X rays. The veteran mathematician and physicist George Gabriel Stokes proposed the “ether pulse” theory about the nature of X rays. He hypothesized that X rays are irregular electromagnetic pulses created by the irregular accelerations of cathode rays when they are stopped by the at-
Barkla Discovers the Characteristic X Rays of the Elements
Charles Glover Barkla. (Library of Congress)
oms in the target of the X-ray tube. Using this theory, Thomson derived a mathematical formula expressing the scattering of X rays by electrons. Barkla’s first research project was to test Stokes’s and Thomson’s theories experimentally. Five years previously, Georges Sagnac had experimented in France on the absorption of X rays by solids— a phenomenon that is directly related to scattering. Sagnac found that the secondary scattered radiation was of distinctly greater absorbability. Barkla showed that the secondary radiation from light gaseous elements was of the same absorbability as that of the primary beam. He worked on air first, then extended the investigation to hydrogen, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide. He used an electroscope to test for the presence of the secondary radiation, based on the assumption that the amount of ionization should be proportional to the intensity of the radiation passing through the instrument. To check the absorbability of the rays—primary and secondary—Barkla used a thin aluminum plate. He pub472
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 lished the results in 1903. At the time, the fact that scattering did not modify the absorbability of the radiation appeared to be strong support for the ether pulse theory. From the same set of experiments, Barkla demonstrated that “this scattering is proportional to the mass of the atom.” This was a highly satisfying result because it supported the theory that the atoms of different substances are different systems of similar corpuscles, where, in the atom, the number is proportional to its atomic weight. These similar corpuscles, according to most physicists of the time, constituted Thomson’s “matter in a new state.” In 1904, Barkla began a new series of experiments that would disclose additional physical characteristics of X rays. Because ordinary light, as the propagation of electromagnetic oscillations, is a transversal wave, it can be polarized relatively easily: When it is scattered in the direction at right angles to the incident (primary) beam, the transverse vibrations constituting the light are confined to a plane perpendicular to the primary beam. Barkla was researching the question of whether X rays could be polarized in the same way so that they could be confirmed as electromagnetic waves. This proved to be a serious challenge. It took Barkla two years to perform the difficult experiment and arrive at a clear conclusion that the scattered beam was highly polarized; thus X rays were most probably transversal waves, like ordinary light. While investigating the intensity in different directions of the secondary radiation, Barkla found that light elements, such as carbon, aluminum, and sulfur, showed marked variation in intensity with direction; calcium showed much less. With iron and even heavier elements, there was practically no difference in intensity in different directions. This salient phenomenon led Barkla to investigate more closely the relation between atomic weight and absorbability. His experiments showed that for light elements, the scattered radiation closely resembled the primary radiation, but for elements heavier than calcium, the scattered radiation was quite different from the primary. When Barkla examined the scattered (secondary) radiation more closely, he found that the secondary radiation from metals contained not only scattered radiation of the same character as the primary but also homogeneous radiation that was characteristic of the metallic element itself. Meanwhile, Barkla also discovered an X-ray phenomenon that was analogous to a discovery made by Stokes: Fluorescent substances fluoresced only when exposed to light of shorter wavelength than that of the fluorescent light emitted by the substances. This is known as
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Stokes’s law. Barkla found that the emission of the homogeneous (secondary) radiation occurred only when the incident X-ray beam was harder than the characteristic radiation itself. Moreover, he found some revealing facts about the homogeneous characteristic radiations. Beginning with calcium and moving toward the heavier elements, the characteristic X-ray radiations form one of two series. From calcium (atomic weight 40) to rhodium (atomic weight 103), there appeared a K series; from silver (atomic weight 108) to cerium (atomic weight 140), there appeared a K series and an L series; from tungsten (atomic weight 184) to bismuth (atomic weight 208), there appeared an L series only. K radiations were softer; L radiations, harder. The heavier the atom, the harder its characteristic radiations. Such phenomena, closely correlating atomic weight to characteristic X rays, showed that the latter must have originated from the atom. In fact, Barkla’s discoveries anticipated the assignment to each chemical element an atomic number, which, in general, was recognized as about one-half the element’s atomic weight.
Barkla Discovers the Characteristic X Rays of the Elements Bragg created the ionization spectrometer for measuring the exact wavelengths of X rays; Lawrence Bragg derived the influential equation now named after him. The Bragg equation tells at what angles X rays will be most efficiently diffracted by a crystal layer. The second stage of Barkla’s achievements was the discovery that X rays interact with atoms, especially heavy atoms. Henry Moseley used the Bragg spectrometer soon after its introduction to study the characteristic X rays from the atom. With the new, powerful instrument, Moseley turned to Barkla’s line of investigation. Moseley could now measure Barkla’s K series and L series with exactness. Significantly extending such measurements, he made wonderful discoveries that led to what has since been called Moseley’s law: the mathematical formula that relates the X-ray spectrum of an element to its atomic number. Moseley also made a series of verifiable predictions about the periodic table of elements. Tragically, Moseley was killed in World War I. Later, Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn took up the study of X-ray spectroscopy and its interpretation, work for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1924. The third stage in Barkla’s achievements was the finding that X rays interact with light atoms—that is, free electrons. Barkla was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1917, and when he delivered his Nobel lecture in 1920, he declared that in the phenomena of scattering, there is strong positive evidence against any quantum theory. Three years later, in 1923, Arthur Holly Compton
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Significance Following these discoveries in 1906, Barkla and other physicists researched interactions between X rays and matter and achieved historic results. These achievements, accomplished from 1909 to 1923, may be categorized in three stages: First, X rays were found to interact with crystal lattices. In 1909, Max von Laue attended the University of Munich and was influenced by Röntgen and mineralogists who informed him of theories on the structure of crystal solids. Von Laue proceeded to comBarkla and the Nobel Prize bine the study of X rays with the In 1917, Charles Glover Barkla received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his disstudy of solid structures. He develcovery of Röntgen radiation of the elements. Before Barkla’s speech at the Nooped a mathematical theory based on bel Banquet, Professor A. Gullstrand, a member of the Nobel Committee for the assumption that crystal lattices Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, explained to the audience could serve as “diffraction gratings” why Barkla’s discovery was so important: (instruments used in optical experiments that demonstrate the wave Professor Barkla! Before it was known that the nature of X-rays is the same as character of light) for X rays. This that of light, with a difference only in wave-length, you had found a form of poidea was experimentally confirmed, larization of those rays, and by your investigation of their absorption you had and that confirmation has been highly developed a form of spectroscopy, before it was known that there is a spectrum in the real sense of the word. You discovered a kind of secondary X-radiation praised, as it opened vast potentials that is independent of the chemical constitution, but characteristic of the elefor studying the nature of X rays and ment, and this characteristic X-radiation, now known as a line spectrum, has the structure of crystal solids. Shortly proved a phenomenon of fundamental importance. after von Laue’s publication of his Source: “Charles Glover Barkla: The Nobel Prize in Physics, 1917—Banquet work in 1912, William Henry Bragg Speech,” in Les Prix Nobel en 1914-1918, edited by Carl Gustaf Santesson and his eldest son, Lawrence Bragg, (Stockholm: Nobel Foundation, 1920). founded the science of crystallography. In particular, William Henry
Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage was to prove the folly of Barkla’s statement. He followed Barkla in experimenting on the comparison of secondary X rays with primary X rays, especially when the former were scattered from light atoms. Compton experimented with the spectrometer and theoretically with the concept of photons; he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1927 for his discovery of the change in wavelength of scattered X rays. —Wen-yuan Qian Further Reading Allen, H. S. “Charles Glover Barkla, 1877-1944.” Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society of London 5 (1947): 341-366. A substantial biography written by a colleague Barkla. Includes a complete list of Barkla’s publications. Suitable for nonspecialists. Beam Line: A Periodical of Particle Physics 25 (Summer, 1995). http://www.slac.stanford.edu/pubs/beamline/ pdf/95ii.pdf. Special issue titled “One Hundred Years of X Rays” is devoted to discussion of the history and uses of X rays. Articles include “Early History of X Rays,” “Medical Applications of X Rays,” and “The X-Ray Universe.” Features photographs, diagrams, and reproduced newspaper articles from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. (Beam Line is published by the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.)
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Forman, Paul. “Charles Glover Barkla.” In Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970. This brief biography is forthright in making critical comments on Barkla’s scientific outlook and attitude. Valuable for nonspecialists because of its sharp and accurate comments. Heathcote, Niels Hugh de Vaudrey. Nobel Prize Winners in Physics, 1901-1950. New York: Henry Schuman, 1953. Although the “physics” included in this book covers fifty years, the subject matter bears close relevance to Barkla’s discoveries. Michette, Alan, and Sawka Pfauntsch, eds. X-Rays: The First Hundred Years. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996. Collection of essays published in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of Röntgen’s discovery of X rays. Reviews the history of scientific work related to X rays as well as modern applications. Includes an extensive glossary. See also: Dec. 10, 1901: Röntgen Wins the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of X Rays; Dec. 10, 1903: Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity; 1912-1915: X-Ray Crystallography Is Developed by the Braggs; 1923: Discovery of the Compton Effect.
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Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage William Bateson and Reginald Crundall Punnett discovered that certain hereditary characters behave as if they are physically linked, adding one of the important pieces to the puzzle of heredity and the gene theory. Locale: Cambridge, England Categories: Science and technology; biology; genetics Key Figures William Bateson (1861-1926), English biologist Reginald Crundall Punnett (1875-1967), English biologist Summary of Event In December, 1903, a six-year partnership began that would lead to the discovery of genetic linkage. William Bateson, a scientist studying heredity, wrote to Reginald Crundall Punnett, a fellow of Gonville and Caius Col474
lege, to invite him to join his research team at Grantchester, Cambridge. The team consisted of a small group of volunteers, and their “laboratory” was the gardens and paddocks surrounding the Bateson house, along with a plot of land on the Cambridge University farm. Bateson offered Punnett the small sum of eighty pounds to join the team, all that Bateson could afford from the few small grants that he received. The letter illustrated the two extremes of the scientific endeavor: the excitement and significance of the experimental work and the severe financial restrictions that plagued Bateson for most of his career. Punnett eagerly accepted, but he refused the eighty pounds, having an income of his own. He was twenty-eight years old at the time, tolerant and friendly. Bateson was forty-two, forceful, and stern. It was a combination that engendered mutual respect. Bateson and Punnett concentrated their efforts on breeding experiments using sweet peas and poultry. They were searching for answers about laws of inheri-
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Mendel’s Law of Segregation Round – pea parent
Wrinkled – pea parent
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Generation 2 Mendel’s law of segregation is demonstrated by an initial cross between true-breeding plants with round peas and plants with wrinkled peas. The round trait is dominant, and the wrinkled trait is recessive. The second generation consists of round-pea plants and wrinkled-pea plants produced in a ratio of 3:1.
Bateson’s first major victory was bringing Mendel’s work to the attention of the English-speaking world. Although Mendel had published his findings in 1866, the work had been buried in the obscure literature until 1900, when it was rediscovered independently by several scientists. As Bateson’s wife recorded the occasion in her memoirs, Bateson became aware of it as he was riding the train to London to deliver a lecture. He had taken along a copy of Mendel’s paper and read it for the first time on the train. Bateson always meticulously planned his lectures, but in this case he was so taken by Mendel’s work that he completely rewrote his presentation in order to incorporate Mendel’s studies. Upon his return home, he had Mendel’s paper translated into English and republished with footnotes, and in the following year he published a book titled Mendel’s Principles of Heredity: A Defence (1902). The book was, in large part, Bateson’s reaction to a fierce attack on Mendelism launched by a 475
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tance, such as how characters of inheritance are distributed among offspring and whether there are predictable patterns. Before they could discover linkage, they had to establish a framework of theory concerning inheritance. Bateson had formulated a number of ideas already. He was convinced that characters are inherited as discrete units and are not “blended” in the offspring, as others were proposing. He called these unit characters “allelomorphs,” a term that survives in shortened form as “alleles,” referring to individual forms of a gene. Bateson also gave the name “genetics” to the field of hereditary science. When Bateson and Punnett started their work, the field of genetics was in its infancy. Built on two great discoveries—Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and Gregor Mendel’s law of segregation—the field was still awaiting the discovery of the material of inheritance. The work that would lead to linkage was based primarily on Bateson’s fight to get Mendelism recognized. Mendel was an Austrian monk who had pursued scientific studies of peas in the gardens of the monastery in the midnineteenth century. With insight and patience, he discovered that characters of inheritance, such as tall or dwarf, are carried as individual packets of hereditary information. Moreover, information for traits such as tall and dwarf could be carried simultaneously in a single plant and passed on to future generations, even though the plant itself expresses only one of these traits. The expressed trait is said to be “dominant” over the unexpressed, or “recessive,” trait. In the light of modern molecular genetics, these packets of information can be explained as being “genes.” Each trait, such as tall and dwarf, represents a different allelic form of a gene. Genes are carried on chromosomes, which are housed in the nucleus of each cell. Most organisms are “diploid,” carrying two complete sets of chromosomes, one set contributed by the father and the other by the mother. Alleles, therefore, exist in maternally and paternally inherited pairs. In passing the hereditary material to offspring, the organism contributes only one allele from each pair. This is the great law of segregation. When gametes (eggs and sperm) are formed, traits (alleles) for a particular character segregate from each other. A gamete thereby receives only half of the hereditary (genetic) material of the parent. At fertilization, two gametes join, combining their genetic material to make a full complement. In this way, organisms avoid doubling their hereditary material during sexual reproduction. Mendel’s work revealed this law in the absence of any knowledge of chromosomes.
Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage
Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage colleague and formerly close friend, Walter Weldon. Ironically, after the victory with Mendelism, Bateson and Punnett, along with E. R. Saunders, a longtime colleague of Bateson, began to accumulate data that were not in strict accordance with Mendelian principles. Mendel had demonstrated independent sorting of characters during gamete formation. If, for example, a tall plant with round seeds was also a carrier of the recessive traits of dwarf size and wrinkled seeds, the plant made gametes that carried any combination of the two traits—tall with wrinkled, dwarf with round, and so on. This independent sorting occurred only because the characters Mendel had chosen happened to be carried on separate chromosomes. It is chromosomes that sort independently during gamete formation. Characters occurring on the same chromosome, being physically linked, move together. It was this linkage behavior that Bateson, Punnett, and Saunders reported in 1906, although their interpretation did not associate heritable characters with chromosomes. In their breeding experiments with sweet peas, for example, they showed that if plants with purple flowers and long pollen grains were crossed with plants having red flowers and round pollen grains, the two characters were always passed together to the offspring. The characteristic of purple flowers was always passed with long pollen grains and red flowers with round pollen grains. Bateson and Punnett called this linkage “gametic coupling.” They were unaware that it represented physical linkage of alleles by virtue of their being carried on the same chromosome. In fact, although the chromosomal theory of inheritance was being formulated by others at the time, Bateson remained skeptical of it throughout his career. Bateson was the dominant figure in the BatesonPunnett collaboration. His genius in experimentation was not in the novelty of his ideas but in his dogged attention to details. “Treasure your exceptions!” he once said in a lecture at Cambridge. “Exceptions are like the rough brickwork of a growing building which tells that there is more to come and shows where the next construction is to be.” It was this attention to exceptions that led to the discovery of linkage. Linkage would become part of the “rough brickwork” in the chromosomal theory of inheritance. It is ironic, however, that Bateson was blind to the growing building of which his own “brickwork” was a part. Significance It is the nature of science that data can outlive the theories to which they have been applied. In this case, Bateson and Punnett’s discovery of linkage was used by other sci476
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 entists as part of the fabric of incorrect theories. Its connection with the chromosomal theory of inheritance was not immediately understood, although it can be seen now that it lent strong support to the theory. Linkage, in fact, is the manifestation of the physical connection between genes carried on the same chromosome. It helps to verify that the chromosomes are indeed the repository of the hereditary material. At the time, however, few scientists were ready to accept this theory. Even Bateson stated that the idea of particles of chromatin conferring all properties of life surpassed the rational. It was this inability to imagine hereditary material solely as particulate material that prevented the full appreciation of the implications of linkage. The international community of scientists, in general, was divided on theories of inheritance. In France, for example, a strong preference was shown for the Lamarckian view that acquired characteristics could be passed on to offspring. In Germany, scientific sentiment resisted acceptance of the chromosome theory of heredity, preferring the claim that the cytoplasm, which lies outside the nucleus, played the vital role in inheritance. In Denmark, the famous botanist Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen, who rejected Lamarckian views and coined the term “gene,” was unwilling to consider that the gene might correspond to particulate matter in the chromosome. An American scientist, Thomas Hunt Morgan, was the major proponent of the chromosomal theory of inheritance, showing in 1910 that the behavior of chromosomes obeyed the law of segregation and could explain linkage. Yet Morgan was slow to accept Mendelism. Bateson did not accept Morgan’s chromosome theory until 1921, when, after visiting Morgan’s laboratory, Bateson gave it tentative acceptance, only to return to his criticism in his last paper in 1926. The certainty of the connections among Mendel’s principles, linkage, and the chromosomes would not come until 1953, when James D. Watson and Francis Crick finally broke the genetic code. Bateson was fully cognizant of the advantages his work could have for agriculture. If characters within a population could be manipulated through planned breeding, then superior hybrids of cash crops could be produced. Bateson worked hard to convince the English government that this type of research should be supported with government funds. He even developed a strain of sugar beet that would not bolt early and a strain of flax that contained especially long fibers. Government policies did shift, and this marked the beginning of the government’s taking an active role in support of scientific research.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 The unraveling of genetic theory also helped to establish the study of eugenics, the manipulation of genes in human populations. Even Bateson, although he never advocated applying eugenics, wondered what biologists would do with the knowledge. He wondered if it could help to produce “healthier, wiser, or more worthy” people. It took the application of eugenics in the horrific experiments of Nazi Germany to still enthusiasm for the idea. That was ample warning that the field of genetics— the science named by Bateson—must never be used to manipulate the genes within a human population through selective breeding. — Mary S. Tyler
etry.” Journal of the History of Biology 6 (1973): 1-36. The main body of this article is fairly technical, but an appended section describes the experimental notebooks of Bateson and Punnett, with photographs of selected pages, including several on which Bateson and Punnett scribbled in the margins wagers they had made on the outcome of certain experiments. Crowther, J. G. British Scientists of the Twentieth Century. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1952. Includes a very readable chapter on Bateson’s life. Discusses Bateson’s scientific work in nontechnical terms, including the discovery with Punnett of linkage. Dunn, L. C. A Short History of Genetics: The Development of Some of the Main Lines of Thought, 18641939. 1965. Reprint. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1991. Summarizes the general history of theories of heredity and places Bateson and Punnett’s work in context. Includes a glossary and a bibliography of both primary and secondary sources. Kevles, Daniel. “Genetics in the United States and Great Britain, 1890-1930.” Isis 71 (1980): 441-455. Provides an excellent summary of Bateson’s professional career and his influence on scientific thought in England and the United States. Mayr, Ernst. The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982. A monumental work on the history of genetics and evolution. Mayr is a world-famous expert in the field, and his thoughtprovoking prose is as stimulating to the professional in the field as it is accessible to the average reader. Includes a full set of references and an excellent index. Considered a classic in biology. Punnett, Reginald Crundall. “Early Days of Genetics.” Heredity 4 (April, 1950): 1-10. This was an address delivered at the one hundredth meeting of the Genetical Society in Cambridge, England, on June 30, 1949. It is a delightful account of Punnett’s collaborative work with Bateson, with details that reveal the personalities of the two men and the daily routines of their work. Rothwell, Norman V. Understanding Genetics. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. A wellwritten college text that discusses genetics in general, allowing the reader to put linkage into context. Includes an extensive glossary, problem sets with answers, numerous diagrams and photographs, and chapter bibliographies. Sturtevant, A. H. A History of Genetics. 1965. Reprint. 477
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Further Reading Bateson, Beatrice. William Bateson, F.R.S. Naturalist. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1928. A memoir by William Bateson’s wife, written after his death. Includes a number of Bateson’s letters and lectures, with commentary by the author. Bateson, William, E. R. Saunders, and Reginald Crundall Punnett. “Experimental Studies in the Physiology of Heredity.” Reports to the Evolution Committee of the Royal Society, Report III (1906): 1-53. This is the original paper announcing the discovery of linkage. Its long columns of data are testimony to the changes that have occurred in science publishing. Today, journal articles normally include only summarizing graphs and charts of original data. Also, a “Miss” or “Mrs.” was required to identify any woman author; therefore, the second author is identified as “Miss” E. R. Saunders in this paper. Interesting reading for those who seek information on the history of genetics. Bowler, Peter J. The Mendelian Revolution: The Emergence of Hereditarian Concepts in Modern Science and Society. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989. Documents the importance of Mendelian genetics after 1900 as well as the social and scientific impacts of the rediscovery of Mendel’s work. Provides good background information for an appreciation of Mendelian genetics. Includes an extensive bibliography. Carlson, Elof Axel. Mendel’s Legacy: The Origin of Classical Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2004. Based heavily on early twentieth century sources, this book traces the roots of genetics in breeding analysis and studies of cytology, evolution, and reproductive biology. Highly illustrated. Cock, A. G. “William Bateson, Mendelism, and Biom-
Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage
Cottrell Invents the Electrostatic Precipitation Process Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2001. Summarizes general theories of heredity and helps put Bateson and Punnett’s work into context. See also: 1902: Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity; Dec., 1902: Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits; 1905: Pun-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 nett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity; 1908: Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics; 1908-1915: Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory; 1909: Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype”; Fall, 1911: Sturtevant Produces the First Chromosome Map.
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Cottrell Invents the Electrostatic Precipitation Process Frederick Gardner Cottrell’s development of the electrostatic precipitator led to the use of this technology to remove particulates and fumes from atmospheric emissions for pollution control. Locale: University of California, Berkeley Categories: Science and technology; inventions; chemistry; manufacturing and industry Key Figures Frederick Gardner Cottrell (1877-1948), American educator and scientist E. S. Heller (fl. early twentieth century), American attorney and businessman Edmond O’Neill (1859-1933), American professor of chemistry Henry East Miller (fl. early twentieth century), American chemist Walter A. Schmidt (1883-1962), American chemical engineer Summary of Event The advent of the Industrial Revolution led to the development of severe air-pollution problems in industrializing nations. Prior to that time, there were periods when coal burning was forbidden in some urban areas, but these restrictions came about mainly for aesthetic reasons. Large-scale industrialization resulted in much more serious environmental problems. By the early 1900’s, various methods of pollution control were available, including the use of “tall stacks” to dissipate pollutants and the use of baghouses to contain particulates through the use of filtering mechanisms very similar to those in vacuum cleaners. Although some success was achieved using these techniques, many pollutant streams could not be treated successfully through these methods. It was evident that new techniques were needed. 478
In 1824, M. Hohlfeld, a German mathematics teacher, first suggested the precipitation of smoke particles by electricity. In the 1880’s, Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge attempted to commercialize this phenomenon. In tests along the Mersey River in England, where the fogs periodically disrupted Liverpool shipping, Lodge employed a single-electrode process to dissipate the fogs. The resulting electrical discharge was sufficient to clear the air within a radius of 15 meters (49.2 feet) around the electrode, the moisture coalescing into small flakes of snow. In 1884, however, when Lodge attempted to apply his ideas at the Dee Bank Lead Works in Willington Quayon-Tyne, Wales, the process failed. As a youth, Frederick Gardner Cottrell exhibited a wide range of interests. During the early 1890’s, when he was in his young teens, he advertised himself as a landscape photographer, printer, electrician, chemist, and telegraph operator. These early enthusiasms, particularly his interest in electricity and electrical apparatus, provided Cottrell with the seed of an idea for one of his most important contributions to science and technology, electrostatic precipitation. The Christmas, 1890, issue of the Boys’ Workshop (a weekly publication that Cottrell edited) contained an article titled “The Progress of Science” that referred to “two very important applications of electricity.” The first application was welding, and the second, alluded to only briefly, was “the deposition of smoke and dust by electrical aid.” Cottrell’s later interest in air-pollution control was sparked in 1905 by the difficulties experienced by the Du Pont plant near Pinole, California, which produced explosives and acids. Sulfuric acid was produced by the newly developed “Mannheim process,” a contact method in which gaseous sulfur dioxide and oxygen are passed through an iron oxide catalyst to produce sulfur trioxide, which is converted to concentrated sulfuric acid. An undesired by-product was arsenic, which poi-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 soned the catalyst. Cottrell’s first solution was to develop a centrifuge, a tube 76 centimeters (about 30 inches) long and 3.8 centimeters (about 1.5 inches) in diameter that was rotated at high speed to separate the arsenic from an acid mist. In spite of the success attained in the laboratory, the pilot plant using the centrifuge at Pinole was a dismal failure. Working in his laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, Cottrell pursued another idea. In early 1906, he applied electricity to the problem of sulfuric acid mists. Cottrell’s efforts differed from Lodge’s previous attempts in three major ways: the use of rectified alternating current (AC), the introduction of a “pubescent” discharge electrode, and the application of a negative polarity to the discharge electrode. Cottrell’s first tests required that one of his students learn to smoke a pipe. The pipe smoke was blown into a glass jar containing a pubescent discharge electrode, a cylindrical wire screen around which were wrapped several turns of asbestos sewing twine. The walls of the jar served as the collecting electrode. Subsequently, Cottrell made a miniature sulfuric acid plant from odds and ends around his laboratory and tested the process on acid mist.
When a high voltage was applied across the electrode and the jar sides, electrons were emitted from the highly charged discharge electrode. These electrons then collided with the surrounding gas molecules, ionizing them. The negative gas molecules migrated to the relatively positive collection electrode and, in doing so, collided with and transferred their negative charge to the entrained smoke or sulfuric acid mist particles. The negative smoke, or mist particles, then migrated to the collection electrode, where they were neutralized and collected at the sides and bottom of the jar. Cottrell soon discovered that to handle large volumes of moving gases, it was necessary to use a direct current (DC) rather than alternating current. To attain the high voltages necessary for these tests, he transformed the 120-volt lighting system in the chemistry building to 10,000 volts, then commutated the AC to intermittent DC through a homemade rotating contact maker. To develop and commercialize the process, Cottrell, along with Henry East Miller, E. S. Heller, and Edmond O’Neill, formed two companies, International Precipitation Company and Western Precipitation Company. The former obtained and held all the patents, and the latter was the operating unit. Cottrell then returned to the Du Pont powder works at Pinole for pilot tests, to redeem his failure with the centrifuge. The new precipitator was able to treat successfully 30-60 cubic meters (about 1,0592,119 cubic feet) per minute of gas. Before negotiations regarding licensing of the process could be concluded with the Du Pont plant, Selby Smelting and Lead Company contacted Cottrell. The smelter was in deep environmental trouble. Gases from smelter operations can contain substances such as sulfur dioxide, sulfur trioxide, and arsenic, zinc, lead, copper, and antimony salts. Since 1905, there had been complaints about odor, decreased grain production, and increased corrosion of window screens and wire fences in the vicinity. The company was taken to court. The Selby management heard of the work at nearby Pinole and were anxious to obtain the process. The Selby smelter had three separate stacks with three separate problems. Each had to be handled individually. The first stack emitted lead fumes from the lead blast furnace. These emissions were collected successfully by a known process, a baghouse. The second stack emitted sulfuric acid mists from the refinery, where the acid was used to dissolve silver from the gold/silver alloy extracted from the lead. Cottrell developed a lead flue, 1 meter by 1 meter (3.28 feet by 3.28 feet) in size, in which several rows of vertical lead plates were suspended. Each 479
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Frederick Gardner Cottrell. (Library of Congress)
Cottrell Invents the Electrostatic Precipitation Process
Cottrell Invents the Electrostatic Precipitation Process was 10 centimeters (about 3.94 inches) wide and 1 meter long, and the plates were placed 10 centimeters apart. Between every two plates was a lead-covered iron bar with pointed projections of mica, which served as the negative discharge electrode. By October, 1907, the precipitator was declared a success. A heavy white plume was converted into an occasional, almost imperceptible, thin white puff. The third stack discharged 15,240 cubic meters (about 538,196 cubic feet) per minute of a dense white mixture of sulfur dioxide gas, sulfuric acid fumes, and arsenic and lead salts from the roasters. Cottrell and his colleagues spent more than two years attempting to solve this problem, with no real success. Eventually, the smelter had to install new roasters. By 1910, Cottrell discarded the pubescent electrode idea. The Riverside Portland Cement Company, emitting 100 metric tons per day of high-temperature, partially processed cement dust, was under an injunction for destroying the nearby orange groves. In an attempt to handle these dusts, the pubescent electrode was replaced by a bare wire of moderate diameter developed by Walter A. Schmidt, one of Cottrell’s former pupils. In 1912, Cottrell founded the Research Corporation, a nonprofit organization that supported basic research at colleges and universities. He assigned his precipitator patents to the corporation as an endowment. Significance The electrostatic precipitator had an immediate impact on many industries, not only regarding their emissions but also in a completely unexpected way. Prior to World War I, the United States imported from Germany about 1 million tons of potash annually for fertilizer. In 1915, three years after the Riverside installation was completed, Germany embargoed these exports. Until the U.S. potash industry could be developed, the potash in cement dust proved to be an exceedingly valuable byproduct. The dust, collected by precipitator, was processed to extract the potash, which, in turn, was sold to area farmers at a cost that, at that time, exceeded the value of the cement being produced. Over the years, the value of the by-products in the materials collected proved to be a major incentive for the use of precipitators. Although other collection devices, such as wet scrubbers, can collect more than 99 percent of the particulates or fumes emitted from a stack, for many applications, a dry process is preferred. In the cement industry, for example, on the average one-third of the raw materials are converted to dust. Without recycling, this would result in losses of approximately 150 480
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 metric tons per day per kiln of partially processed materials. Even at the Riverside plant, it is estimated that Cottrell’s original precipitator, during its thirty-eight-year lifetime, collected more than 1 million tons of dust. A dry process, such as a precipitator, produces a dust product that is eminently suitable for recycling directly back to the kiln. The same situation exists for many other industries. Many times, the emissions contain substances that have significant economic value and can be recovered. For example, many years after an older smelting plant in Montana closed, the soil surrounding it was stripped off and processed at a nearby newer plant of the Anaconda Smelting and Refining Company. The topsoil was sent through the concentrator and smelted at the new plant with a reported recovery of more than $1 million in copper and other metals. Today, many of the metals and sulfur oxides in smelter emissions can be collected on-site and reprocessed immediately. The impacts of the use of precipitators are not restricted to the value of the collected particulates. Reducing the quantity of air emissions not only improves the environment aesthetically but also has major economic impacts. It has been estimated that for every $90 spent on air-pollution control in the United States, $240 is saved in damages to health and property. Further, if air pollution could be reduced to safe levels in all U.S. factories and power plants, the result would be a 75 percent decline in illness and, consequently, a savings of $16 billion in health costs annually. Precipitators are the pollution control method of choice in many industries. They are versatile and efficient, often approaching 99.9 percent efficiency. They permit collection of very fine, hot, and/or corrosive particles. In addition, the costs of operating and maintaining precipitators are low in comparison with the costs associated with other high-efficiency collectors. The 1970 Clean Air Act forced many U.S. industries to reduce their air emissions. Nevertheless, even with the increased emphasis on new, efficient, and economical techniques of pollution control, no significant innovations in air-pollution control have been developed in the years since Cottrell’s work. Iron and steel companies, nonferrous smelters, foundries, power plants, cement and lime kilns, and pulp and paper mills are merely a few of the industries that often employ electrostatic precipitators for collection of their dusts, fumes, and/or mists. — Nancy J. Sell
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading Cameron, Frank. Cottrell: Samaritan of Science. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1952. Well-researched biography provides insights into Cottrell’s life, work, and personality. Includes index. Colls, Jeremy. Air Pollution. 2d ed. New York: Spon Press, 2002. Comprehensive textbook covers all aspects of the causes, effects, and control of air pollution. Provides a brief description of electrostatic precipitation. Includes index. Cottrell, Frederick. “Electrical Precipitation: Historical Sketch.” Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers 34 (January, 1915): 387-396. Focuses on the early history and development of the precipitation process, including the work of Hohlfeld and Lodge, and on Cottrell’s smoke abatement work at the Mellon Institute. Discusses Cottrell’s preliminary ideas of using precipitation for fog abatement. Sell, Nancy J. Industrial Pollution Control: Issues and Techniques. 2d ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992. Explains in relatively nontechnical language not only the advantages, limitations, and operating principles of precipitators but also their uses in a vari-
Fréchet Introduces the Concept of Abstract Space ety of industries. Suitable for readers with some minimal background in physical science. Includes index. Weiner, Ruth F., and Robin Matthews. Environmental Engineering. 4th ed. Burlington, Mass.: Elsevier Science, 2003. Textbook intended for use by students with some physical science or engineering background provides a brief but informative section on electrostatic precipitator design. Includes illustrations, useful appendixes, bibliography, and index. Yost, Edna. Modern Americans in Science and Technology. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1962. Collection of nontechnical essays on thirteen American scientists devotes a chapter to Cottrell. Provides a good summary of the early applications of the precipitation process, the savings attained through dust recovery, and the establishment of Cottrell’s Research Corporation. Includes index. See also: June 27-29, 1906: International Association for the Prevention of Smoke Is Founded; 1910: Steinmetz Warns of Pollution in “The Future of Electricity”; June 7, 1924: Oil Pollution Act Sets Penalties for Polluters; 1930’s: Wolman Begins Investigating Water and Sewage Systems; Apr. 15, 1935: Arbitration Affirms National Responsibility for Pollution.
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Fréchet Introduces the Concept of Abstract Space Maurice Fréchet allowed points in abstract sets to be lines or curves, rather than geometric points, and defined a notion of distance between such objects, thereby generalizing the notion of distance in Euclidean three-dimensional space. Locale: Paris, France Category: Mathematics Key Figures Maurice Fréchet (1878-1973), French mathematician Frigyes Riesz (1880-1956), Hungarian mathematician Jacques-Salomon Hadamard (1865-1963), French mathematician Vito Volterra (1860-1940), Italian mathematician
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Summary of Event By the late nineteenth century, abstraction and generalization had become significant trends in mathematics research. In his 1906 doctoral thesis, Maurice Fréchet considered abstract sets containing elements of a “general
nature.” Prior to this, sets were regarded as collections of specific objects, such as numbers or points in the plane or collections of curves. In addition, Fréchet introduced a generalized notion of distance on his sets, which allowed him to use ideas from geometry in new ways. The combination of an abstract set and a distance on it (that is, an abstract metric space) was the starting point for two major areas of twentieth century mathematics: functional analysis and topology. The term “space” as used in mathematics usually refers to a set’s having some geometric structure. (Fréchet continued to use the term “abstract set,” ensemble abstraite, rather than “abstract space,” espace abstraite, until the mid-1920’s.) One can understand abstract space most easily by considering a sequence of problems. A single algebraic equation in one unknown usually has a solution consisting of a single number. When solving two equations in two unknowns, a solution may consist of a pair of numbers, which is considered as a point in the plane. Similarly, with three equations in three unknowns,
Fréchet Introduces the Concept of Abstract Space a solution will often be three numbers and can be considered as a point in Euclidean three-dimensional space. If there are n equations in n unknowns, it is reasonable to look for n numbers as a solution and call the result a point in n-dimensional space. By the time of Fréchet, a generalization of this problem known as an integral equation was receiving attention. A solution to an integral equation is a function. (A function is a rule that takes input from one set and produces output in a possibly different set. A common example is the function that takes a number and produces the square of the number.) The set of functions that are solutions to integral equations can be thought of as an infinite dimensional space. Fréchet’s ultimate goal was to study functionals— that is, functions defined on spaces of functions. (An example is the functional that takes a curve and produces its length.) His novel approach was to ignore initially the individual aspects of the classes of functions and work instead on abstract sets. His first task was to impose some geometric structure on an abstract set. Geometry is involved because functions can be represented often by lines or curves in the plane or as surfaces in three dimensions. Although the idea of giving a class of functions a “geometrical” structure can be traced back to George Bernhard Riemann’s doctoral thesis in 1851, Fréchet’s contribution was to use ideas from ordinary three-dimensional geometry as motivation to ask questions about spaces of larger (and even infinite) dimension. As with most new ideas in mathematics, Fréchet’s ideas were motivated by the problems of the day. One such source was the work of Vito Volterra in the calculus of variations. An early problem in this area was to find the curve in the plane having a fixed length that encloses the largest area. The answer was a circle, but the rigorous verification of this (and the solution of related problems) was far from obvious. It was necessary to take an arbitrary closed curve (with a fixed perimeter) and compute the enclosed area. This process described a function: For each curve, produce its area. This is an example of what Volterra called a “function of lines” (now called a functional) and is a typical example of a functional acting on an abstract set. Fréchet wrote his thesis, “Sur Quelques Points du calcul fonctionnel” (1906; on some points of functional calculation), in Paris at the École Normale Supérieure under the direction of Jacques-Salomon Hadamard, who was known for his work in partial differential equations. The first of two parts consisted of the preliminary steps toward what is now called point set topology. The goal was to be able to define the limit of a sequence of ele482
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ments in an abstract set. Fréchet did this in three ways of varying generality. His third approach—and the only one that has flourished—was through what Fréchet called an écart. This construction is now called a metric, so named by Felix Hausdorff in his famous book on set theory and topology, Grundzüge der Mengenlehre (1914; fundamentals of set theory). For each pair of points x and y in a set, a metric assigns a nonnegative number to represent the distance between the points. This number (that is, distance) is denoted by d(x, y). Fréchet’s notation is simply (x, y). It satisfies the following simple properties: The distance from x to y is the same as that from y to x; d(x, y) is equal to zero if and only if x equals y; and the triangle inequality—the distance from x to y is less than (or equal to) the sum of the distances from x and y to another point z. Using this idea of distance, Fréchet was able to define continuity in abstract sets, which enabled him to apply his new ideas to some classical spaces of functions. (A function is continuous if input points that are “close together” produce output that is “close.” Geometrical properties of the input are transferred to the output by continuous functions.) The topological concepts of compactness, completeness, and separability were important elements of Fréchet’s thesis. The first of these is especially important for solutions of equations in infinitely many unknowns. If a sequence of elements in a set is converging, the limiting element is guaranteed to exist in the set if the set is known to be compact. This allows one to solve equations by producing a sequence of approximate solutions; the actual solution is then the limit of the approximations. This idea was used long before Fréchet, and several conditions were known to guarantee the existence of the limit solution. The works of Cesare Arzelà and Giulio Ascoli on equicontinuity had great influence on Fréchet’s thesis in this regard, but it was Fréchet who was able to isolate the essential ideas and unite them in an abstract framework. Fréchet also applied the abstract concepts of compactness, completeness, and separability to concrete examples of spaces of functions. Another important mathematician who was influential in creating the notion of abstract space was Frigyes Riesz. His 1907 paper on the origins of the concepts of space was in large measure a quasi-philosophical paper on a mathematical model for the geometry of space as needed in physics. Riesz, however, introduced the concepts of derived set, neighborhood, and connectedness, which came to be standard ideas in Hausdorff’s topology. Fréchet’s work was an important stimulus for future work of Riesz in his development of the notion of the
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 function space consisting of square integrable functions and a metric on this space of functions. Both Fréchet and Riesz published theorems providing concrete representations of certain kinds of abstract linear functionals. This early work of Riesz and Fréchet, motivated by Hadamard, was the beginning of a fruitful area of modern mathematics known as functional analysis.
ics. It is important for the development of functional analysis to have an abstract view of the problems so as to extract their essential and common elements. It is precisely this point of view that Fréchet helped popularize. —Michael McAsey Further Reading Dieudonné, Jean. History of Functional Analysis. New York: North-Holland, 1981. The author is one of the important mathematicians of the twentieth century. Several of the later chapters in this book contain technical material, but the other chapters are for the most part accessible to nontechnical readers. Fréchet, Maurice. “From Three-Dimensional Space to the Abstract Spaces.” In Great Currents of Mathematical Thought, edited by François le Lionnais. New York: Dover, 1971. One of the few papers written by Fréchet available in English. Provides basic background and motivation for considering abstract space. Also includes a discussion of metric spaces, topological vector spaces, and applications to functional analysis. Kline, Morris. Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times. Vol. 3. 1972. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. This third volume of a monumental, well-written work contains two chapters relevant to Fréchet’s work. Chapter 46 gives background and an outline of functional analysis, and chapter 50 treats the beginnings of topology. Suitable for both the general reader and the professional mathematician. Taylor, Angus E. “A Study of Maurice Fréchet: I. His Early Work on Point Set Theory and the Theory of Functionals.” Archive for the History of Exact Sciences 27 (1982): 233-295. Contains a wealth of information about Fréchet’s life and work as well as about other mathematicians of his time. Temple, George. One Hundred Years of Mathematics: A Personal Viewpoint. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1981. The first few sections of chapter 9 discuss the origins of topology, and some later sections of the chapter treat the foundations of functional analysis. More technical than biographical, but still accessible to the interested nonspecialist. See also: 1902: Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in Set Theory; June 16, 1902: Russell Discovers the “Great Paradox”; 1904-1907: Brouwer Develops Intuitionist Foundations of Mathematics; 1904-1908: Zermelo Undertakes Comprehensive Axiomatization of Set Theory; July, 1929-July, 1931: Gödel Proves Incompleteness-Inconsistency for Formal Systems; 1939: Bourbaki Group Publishes Éléments de mathématique. 483
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Significance The immediate effect of Fréchet’s thesis was to initiate the study of point set topology and provide tools for early work in functional analysis. Fréchet’s definition of metric space is the one used today, and the study of metric spaces is still ongoing. Not all of the concepts that Fréchet defined were sufficiently powerful to solve the relevant problems of the day; they needed further refinement by others. For example, his notion of compactness was not powerful enough to treat convergence problems outside of metric spaces, and other mathematicians (for example, Hausdorff) needed to generalize the concept. It was also found that basing the concept of convergence on sequences was too restrictive, and the idea of neighborhood proved more fruitful. (Fréchet, Riesz, Hausdorff, and others made advances in this direction between 1906 and 1920.) Rather than being remembered for his theorems and their applications, Fréchet is instead best known for the objects he defined and his approach to abstract space. Although he continued to work in the field of topology and analysis until about 1930 (at which time he moved into the study of probability), Fréchet never produced another work that was more influential than his thesis. The abstract, axiomatic approach to mathematics that is evident in Fréchet’s thesis continued and reinforced a growing tendency in mathematics. “Axiomatics” refers to the development of mathematics through precise statements of axioms and definitions followed by the logical consequences of the axioms—careful statements and proofs of theorems. Classical Euclidean geometry has been presented axiomatically for centuries, but the rest of mathematics did not begin to develop this way until the late nineteenth century. Beginning in earnest with the work of David Hilbert at the beginning of the twentieth century, mathematics developed axiomatically. The axiomatic aspect of Fréchet’s work was especially important for the future of functional analysis. This area of mathematics, originating in the early 1900’s, is characterized by the application of the abstract approaches of algebra and topology to problems in classical mathematics, such as differential and integral equations, as well as to parts of physics, such as quantum mechan-
Fréchet Introduces the Concept of Abstract Space
Hopkins Postulates the Presence of Vitamins
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1906
Hopkins Postulates the Presence of Vitamins Frederick Hopkins suggested that trace ingredients in food other than carbohydrates, proteins, and fat are essential to the diet of humans, leading to the concept of vitamins. Locale: Cambridge, England Categories: Science and technology; biology Key Figures Frederick Hopkins (1861-1947), English biochemist Christiaan Eijkman (1858-1930), Dutch physician Casimir Funk (1884-1967), Polish biochemist Summary of Event Sir Frederick Hopkins’s pioneering work in the field of diet and nutrition led to the discovery of vitamins. Vitamins are organic molecules that the body needs in minute quantities; they are thus called micronutrients. Vitamins play a vital role in the biochemical reactions that take place in the cells of the body by aiding enzymes, which catalyze (speed up) biochemical reactions. They are essential to the diet of humans. The existence of the substances we now call vitamins has been known since the time of the ancient Greeks. Aristotle knew that raw liver contained an ingredient that could cure night blindness, which is caused by a deficiency of vitamin A. An early account of the cure of scurvy, which stems from a vitamin C deficiency, was recorded in 1535 during the voyages of Jacques Cartier to Newfoundland. Captain Cook was also aware of the antiscurvy properties of lime juice in the 1700’s. Thirteen vitamins are now known to be required in the diet of human beings for normal growth and development. Vitamins are divided into two classes: watersoluble and fat-soluble. The water-soluble vitamins include the vitamin B complex (thiamine, riboflavin, pantothenic acid) and vitamin C (ascorbic acid). The fatsoluble vitamins are vitamins A, D, E, and K, which are not soluble in water. Hopkins was an English biochemist working at the forefront of biochemical thought and the combining of chemistry with the metabolism of the body. His research brought together these two diverse areas. Hopkins was trained early as an analytic chemist; he entered biochemistry relatively late in his career but in the infancy of the biochemistry field. Using his analytic chemistry skills, he had an enormous impact on the field of experimental biochemistry. Hopkins was invited to Cambridge Uni484
versity in September, 1898. By 1914, he was appointed the first professor of biochemistry at Cambridge. In his early research concerning uric acid, his ability as an analytic chemist allowed him to develop and improve the method for uric acid determination in the urine. His interest in diet and uric acid excretion led to his interest in proteins. In the early 1900’s, Hopkins and Sydney W. Cole, a student, described in a series of articles the isolation of the first essential amino acid, tryptophan. After Hopkins had published several more papers on proteins, he began studying diet and metabolic function. In his 1906 address to the Society of Public Analysts titled “The Analyst and the Medical Man,” Hopkins alluded to some trace substance that might be required in the diet in addition to proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
Frederick Hopkins. (The Nobel Foundation)
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Significance After Hopkins’s address in 1906 about the existence of vitamins, many researchers worked to isolate these trace substances. In 1912, Casimir Funk, a Polish biochemist, purified a substance that he thought cured beriberi. He coined the term “vitamine” (from “vital amine”) for the substance. It turned out that he had actually isolated nicotinic acid (niacin), a cure for pellagra, that was contaminated with thiamine. Hopkins’s pioneering research laid the groundwork for other researchers to study the vitamin hypothesis. Research in the United States during World War I by Thomas Osborne and Lafayette Benedict Mendel, as well as that by E. V. McCollum and his colleagues, led to the distinction of water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. In 1920 skepticism still existed about the vitamin hypothesis, but by 1923 even the staunchest disbelievers had finally come around to accept it. Eventually, in 1929, Hopkins and Eijkman were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on vitamins and the vitamin hypothesis. A large amount of Hopkins’s work on diet and metabolic function was initiated because of the outbreak of World War I. During the war years, Hopkins served on the Royal Society Food Committee. Food rationing’s effects on nutrition were his primary concern. Butter was a scarce and expensive food commodity, whereas margarine was cheap and readily available. Considerable discussion arose about the nutritional quality of margarine in comparison with butter. This discussion evolved because of Hopkins’s work on accessory food factors (or vitamins). In 1917, Hopkins initiated research on behalf of the margarine industry to determine the nutritional quality of margarine. His results showed clearly that margarine was nutritionally inferior to butter because it lacked vitamin A (later, it became clear that margarine also lacked vitamin D). After the war, Hopkins acted as a consultant to the margarine industry. His research continued with investigation of the possibility of introducing vitamins into margarine. J. C. Drummond surveyed natural sources for vitamins A and D, and by 1926-1927, vitamins A and D were introduced into margarine as a commercial product. In 1928, vitamin-enriched margarine received certified approval from the Pharmaceutical Society. Now standard in supermarkets, such margarine is most likely not at all inferior to butter in caloric value or vitamin quality. Hopkins then turned to other areas of research. By the 1920’s, biochemistry had begun to be taught at the entry level in colleges throughout the English university 485
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He stated: “No animal can live upon a mixture of pure protein, fat, and carbohydrate, and even when the necessary inorganic material is carefully supplied, the animal still cannot flourish.” Hopkins believed that rickets and scurvy may be caused by this missing dietary factor. Christiaan Eijkman had done pioneering work on beriberi (which is caused by a deficiency of thiamine, a B vitamin), and Hopkins interpreted Eijkman’s findings in the same manner. Eijkman entered the field of vitamin research in 1886, working in the Dutch East Indies. When a disease broke out among chickens being used for research, Eijkman, trained in microbiology, tried to find the germ responsible for the outbreak but was unsuccessful. He traced the symptoms finally to a diet of highly polished rice that the chickens had been eating. He switched their diet to whole rice or to highly polished rice mixed with husks, and the symptoms cleared up. Eijkman was thus the first scientist to notice that dietary deficiency was the cause of a disease. He did not understand the significance of his findings, however; it was not until Hopkins undertook his work that the existence of vitamins became established. In 1912, Hopkins published a paper in the Journal of Physiology titled “Feeding Experiments Illustrating the Importance of Accessory Factors in Normal Dietaries.” These experiments showed that animals cannot grow when fed a synthetic diet of pure proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and salts. When Hopkins added milk in minute quantities to the diet of the animals in his sample, they were able to utilize the synthetic food mixture for growth. Hopkins concluded that some substance is present in normal foodstuffs in trace quantities, and only small quantities are required for growth. Looking back at his research in a 1922 Chandler Medal Address at Columbia University, Hopkins talked about his pioneering work on what are now called vitamins. He at first expressed disbelief that in a synthetic diet of pure proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and salts, there was some other substance required for growth of the animal. “So much careful scientific work upon nutrition had been carried on for half a century and more—how could fundamentals have been missed?” Hopkins realized that the pure foodstuffs might not be as pure as scientists had thought. Even after Hopkins published his results, the significance of vitamins was not universally accepted. Other researchers experimented with feeding rats purified substances and found that the rats could grow quite well on this diet. The synthetic diets they employed, however, may not have been quite as pure as that used by Hopkins.
Hopkins Postulates the Presence of Vitamins
Hopkins Postulates the Presence of Vitamins system. In 1925, Hopkins was knighted, and he was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1926. His most impressive distinction, however, came in 1929 when he shared the Nobel Prize with Eijkman. In addition to his work on vitamins, Hopkins actively conducted research in many other fields of biochemistry and physiology. His research with Walter Fletcher showed that muscle activity and lactic acid production are correlated. In his later studies Hopkins examined sulfur-containing vitamins. He discovered a tripeptide (three amino acids linked together) and published a series of papers on the structure and function of the molecule. Hopkins’s work has had a far-reaching impact on the field of biochemistry. After years of dietary research, scientists are now quite certain that they have identified all of the vitamins required by the human body. Much of the research after Hopkins was concerned with identifying the structures of various vitamins and their functions within the cell. In the twenty-first century, research continues regarding the amounts of different vitamins that humans require, and official recommendations for daily dosages of vitamins for adequate growth and maintenance of health are the subjects of ongoing debate. —Lonnie J. Guralnick Further Reading Asimov, Isaac. “Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins.” In Asimov’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. 2d ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1982. Useful contribution to a volume containing brief, easy-to-read biographies of more than fifteen hundred scientists from ancient times to the early 1980’s. Some of the biographies are cross-referenced to major advances in the subjects’ fields. Baldwin, Ernest. “Frederick Gowland Hopkins.” In Dic-
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie. Vol. 6. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972. Well-written, detailed biography of Hopkins for nontechnical readers. Includes references. Carpenter, Kenneth J. “A Short History of Nutritional Science: Part 2 (1885-1912).” Journal of Nutrition 133 (April, 2003): 975-984. This second part of a four-part series examines the period in the history of nutritional science when Hopkins was conducting his groundbreaking research. Places Hopkins’s work in the context of nutritional science in general. Lehninger, Albert L. “Human Nutrition.” In Principles of Biochemistry. New York: Worth, 1982. Well-written chapter in an elementary biochemistry college textbook. Written for the beginner who has little understanding of biochemistry. Includes references. Needham, Joseph, and Ernest Baldwin, eds. Hopkins and Biochemistry. Cambridge, England: W. Heffer & Sons, 1949. Presents Hopkins’s uncompleted autobiography and other works by Hopkins, including excerpts from a paper with commentaries and selected addresses. An interesting collection for the nontechnical reader. Williams, Trevor I., ed. “Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins.” In A Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. 3d ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1982. Brief, easyto-read biography for the nontechnical reader. Includes references. See also: 1901: Grijns Suggests the Cause of Beriberi; 1901: Hopkins Announces the Discovery of Tryptophan; 1922: McCollum Names Vitamin D and Pioneers Its Use Against Rickets; 1924: Steenbock Discovers Sunlight Increases Vitamin D in Food; 1928-1932: Szent-Györgyi Discovers Vitamin C.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Markov Discovers the Theory of Linked Probabilities
1906
Markov Discovers the Theory of Linked Probabilities Andrey Andreyevich Markov’s formal development of linked probabilities (Markov chains) provided new computational models for a wide variety of random processes. Locale: St. Petersburg, Russia Category: Mathematics Key Figure Andrey Andreyevich Markov (1856-1922), Russian mathematician
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Summary of Event Before Pafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev, Andrey Andreyevich Markov, and Andrey Nikolayevich Kolmogorov, a number of individuals, mainly natural scientists applying statistical methods, had offered oblique working definitions of key statistical properties. These definitions, however, frequently did not coincide with one another, and in some cases they were even contradictory. This was also true of basic statistical methods such as the use of histograms in count data analysis. A histogram is constructed through the division of the horizontal axis into segments or classes of a certain data value (such as size or temperature) that cover the entire range of data values. Over each segment, a rectangle is constructed whose height is proportional to the number of data points in each class segment. Such a histogram shows the relative class frequencies, which in the limits of smaller subdivisions and larger numbers of samples approaches the underlying probability density distribution for the population. A key example of functional, yet vague, statistical concepts awaiting further development was Jakob Bernoulli’s so-called law of large numbers. Formally stated, Bernoulli’s theorem asserts that frequencies of occurrence for independent chance events must converge eventually in the limit of large numbers of observation to the underlying probability law. In other words, this theorem states basically that the experimental histogram of samples from a statistical population will match the theoretical probability distribution function more closely, defining a given population as the number of selected samples increases without bound. Even by the late 1880’s, satisfactory proofs under general assumptions had not been found for the large number law, nor had its limits of applicability been well determined. This was particularly true for the case of
events whose statistical independence or relation was not known or determinable beforehand. Thus, for example, the German statistician Wilhelm Lexis, although arguing for the conceptual modeling of statistical interpretation of natural events on the results of a notional urn drawing, did not believe that evolutionary or otherwise linked or connected series were susceptible to formulation in terms of quantitative probability theory. As numerous investigators pointed out near the beginning of the twentieth century, in its original (chiefly heuristic) form, the large number law provided nothing useful about the precise manner or function form in which statistical averages approach their limit. Many statisticians believed the law of large numbers to be true only for statistically independent events or trials. Nevertheless, without a more rigorous law of large numbers, probability theory would lose its common intuitive foundations, and so the issue could not simply be dismissed. In contrast to the German and French schools of statistics, Russian statisticians (almost exclusively at the University of St. Petersburg) were strongly theoretical in focus, more interested in formal existence and consistency conditions than in applications of statistical laws. It was precisely the members of this group who, from their own perspective, addressed the problems of consistently defining the interpretation and applications scope of the law of large numbers. In 1867, Chebyshev found the first elementary proof of the law of large numbers as well as the “central limit theorem.” As an advanced graduate student of Chebyshev, Markov in 1884 published a shorter and more perspicuous reformulation of Chebyshev’s proofs, which began a series of exchanges and further clarifications of the basic concepts underlying, and scope of application of, the large number and central limit theorems to linked events as well as to totally independent events. From a purely theoretical perspective, Markov approached these questions indirectly by considering whether the law of large numbers applied equally to dependent and independent random variables. Then, using the Markov model of (weak/linked/conditional) dependence to verify the law of large numbers, he examined whether sums of dependent variables satisfy the central limit theorem. Specifically, in subsequent work Markov focused closely on the theoretical laws governing what is in effect the convergence of empirical histograms to theoretical
Markov Discovers the Theory of Linked Probabilities “probability distribution functions” for a variety of conditions of weak statistical dependence, or sample interlinking, as well as independence. The general classes of weakly linked statistical events that Markov considered originally can be viewed as a generic mathematical model of a random process with only specifically delimited aftereffects or with a very short-term memory. This model describes any physical or other system in which the probability of change or transition from one state to another depends only on the state of the system at the present or immediately preceding time and not on the longer prior history of the process. A perennial problem by the end of the nineteenth century, related to the issue of independent versus dependent statistical data, was that of estimating the statistical variance of time or space averages of ocean, weather, geological, or other statistically measured data that could not, strictly speaking, be assumed as totally independent, random, or unconnected by virtue of their (causal) adjacency. One of many practical examples of events that both common sense and science describe as linked are meteorologic observations. In 1852, French mathematician Adolphe Quetelet proposed what is probably the first probabilistic model to fit weather observations of consecutive rainy (or cold) and dry (or warm) days. To account for the frequent persistence, or temporal linkedness, of rainy (or dry) weather, Quetelet devised a simple mathematical formula that explicitly captures an apparently random element but also exhibits the influence or effect of one or more previous elements on subsequent events. Neither Quetelet nor other largely empirical science-oriented statisticians of the era pursued further the more general possibilities of accounting for linked events or processes. Markov stumbled onto the formal properties, and applications potential, of a general method for describing events with linked probabilities at the beginning of the twentieth century. In his 1906 paper “Extension of the Law of Large Numbers,” Markov proved for the first time that both the number of occurrences of a studied event and the sequence of its associated random variables obey the law of large numbers. Assuming a simple one-link only (first-order) chaining of events and an unconditional normalized total probability for the event of p, Markov first derived the mth-order transition probabilities, or probability of a change of binary-determined states between temporally adjacent events, to be given by the relation Rm = p + (l – p)( p1 – p2 )m. This relation can be interpreted as linking the general conditions under which a system of equations has a unique solution with the spe488
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 cific parameters defining the chaining of events. As Markov stated in his 1907 paper “Extension of the Limit Theorems of Probability Theory to a Sum of Variables Connected in a Chain,” these weakly dependent, or linked, sequences are definable as “numbers connected into a chain in such a manner that, when the value of one of them becomes known, subsequent numbers become independent of the preceding ones.” Likewise, in publications in 1908 and from 1910 to 1912, Markov considered more complex (higher-order) linkings or chainings of events whose probabilities of occurrence depend on the outcomes of two or more prior trials. In modern probability theory, a sequence is considered to be a Markov chain if the probability distribution function governing its underlying process can be said to have connection, link, or memory extending to one or more prior events. In other words, in the Markov model, given the present, the future is independent of the past. More generally, random processes having dependence between successive terms as an intrinsic property of the underlying process are defined as Markov processes. The classical example of a (multiple) Markov chain, as a semiserious test of the efficiency of information transfer originally given by Markov himself, is that of the written (Russian) language in Alexander Pushkin’s novel Evgeny Onegin (1825-1833; Eugene Onegin, 1881). Here, letters of the alphabet are subdivided into type states, denoted by 0 if a vowel and 1 if a consonant, so that a page of written text appears as a sequence of the occurrence of 0’s and 1’s. The vowels and consonants form a first-order Markov chain if, given any string of letters, the probability for the next letter to be a vowel or consonant (0 or 1) is the same as the probability that the next letter will be a vowel or consonant if one knows only the last letter of the entire story. Although there is no direct evidence that the St. Petersburg school’s original work to theoretically validate probability theorems to the case of dependent variables was motivated by prior publications by Lexis or his contemporaries between 1907 and 1911, Markov and a colleague repeatedly referred to several examples and applied problems from their publications. In addition, Markov and his colleagues generally indicated several other examples of physical phenomena exhibiting linked probabilistic behavior. These included the theories of molecular random (“Brownian”) motion of Albert Einstein and Paul Langevin, biological theories of the extinction of genetic families, and the so-called random walk problem. (The random walk, paradigmatic for
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 many probability applications, is defined generically by the motion along a straight line that, at each unit time, can move one unit left or right or not at all, whose probabilities depend only on position.) Significance Almost since their discovery, Markov chains have proven to be a powerful method for modeling a wide variety of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena involving time-dependent/transient and long-run/steady-state behaviors. As early as 1908, A. K. Erlang carried out studies of the steady-state behavior of commercial telephone exchange traffic (theory of queues), deriving what is now known as the Kolmogorov equations for a finite Markov process. In addition to stock exchange speculation, and particularly telephone, mail, and road traffic, similar Markov queue models have been applied widely to the landing of aircraft and ships, assembly-line component breakdown, scheduling and checkout for clinics and supermarkets, and inventory maintenance. In the first three decades of the twentieth century, researchers considered problems of quantitative epidemic spreading and population growth using a second-order Markov model. In addition to the theory of elementary particle collisions and cascades, the theory of statistical mechanics describing the physics of molecules—an important Markov chain application—is the so-called nearest neighbor system used, for example, as models for crystal lattices; likewise in chemistry, for treating chemical kinetics and diffusion-controlled reactions. During the past decades, following the work of Ludwig von Mises, a number of researchers in operations research have combined the methodologies of Markov models and Bayesian decision analysis to facilitate quantitative solution of complex problems in economic and military equipment procurement and deployment. As exhaustively detailed in Albert T. BharuchaReid’s advanced monograph, thousands of papers have been published on specialized applications of temporal and spatial Markov series. Theoretically, the mathematical methods initiated by Markov were extended later and formalized by Aleksandr Khinchin, Norbert Wiener, and
Markov Discovers the Theory of Linked Probabilities notably Kolmogorov, establishing probability theory as an identifiable and rigorously founded subdiscipline. —Gerardo G. Tango Further Reading Bartos, Otomar J. Simple Models of Group Behavior. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967. Examines several applications of Markov process models to the prediction of the persistence of specific behaviors in small-group settings studied by sociology. Bhanscha-Reid, Albert T. Elements of the Theory of Markov Processes and Their Applications. 1960. Reprint. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 1997. An encyclopedic presentation of basic and advanced Markov theory and applications to physical, chemical, astronomical, biological, engineering, and other sciences. Damerau, Frederick J. Markov Models and Linguistic Theory. The Hague: Mouton, 1971. An important theoretical study concerning the degrees of approximation to the English language by Markov models of progressively higher order. Gani, Joseph M., ed. The Craft of Probabilistic Modeling. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1986. Includes sufficient theory and applications. Remains within the scope of general undergraduate readers. Gigerenzer, Gerd, et al. The Empire of Chance: How Probability Theory Changed Science and Everyday Life. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Extensive discussions of empirical probability rules and applications in the natural sciences throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Gray, Robert M., and Lee D. Davisson. Random Processes: A Mathematical Approach for Engineers. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1986. Provides a clear and concise introduction to discrete random processes. See also: 1909: Steinitz Inaugurates Modern Abstract Algebra; 1919: Mises Develops the Frequency Theory of Probability; 1935-1936: Turing Invents the Universal Turing Machine; 1939: Bourbaki Group Publishes Éléments de mathématique.
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Pareto Analyzes the Distribution of Wealth
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1906
Pareto Analyzes the Distribution of Wealth Studying economic data at the beginning of the twentieth century, Vilfredo Pareto discovered that 80 percent of the wealth was owned by 20 percent of the people, a finding that later became the basis of Joseph M. Juran’s theory of quality management. Also known as: Pareto principle Locale: Geneva, Italy Categories: Economics; sociology Key Figures Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), Italian economist and sociologist Joseph M. Juran (b. 1904), Romanian American engineer Summary of Event Vilfredo Pareto was a pioneer in applying mathematical principles to economics, contributing to the development of a general equilibrium theory—that is, a theory of how the balance between people’s desires and the obstacles to satisfying them result in economic equilibrium regardless of the social organization of the society. An aspect of this equilibrium theory is the assumption that there is a relative stability in wealth distribution such that about 80 percent of a society’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of 20 percent of its population. This observation, which Pareto noted in his pioneering work Cours d’économie politique (1896-1897; course in political economy), implied that far from being random, wealth distribution follows a universal pattern throughout the history of any society. Pareto based his theory on data obtained from several European countries and cities, including Britain, Prussia, Saxony, Paris, and several Italian cities. He concluded that the gap between the elites and the masses may be slightly wider or narrower at any given time in any given society, but the structure of inequality is relatively stable, indicating a universal pattern in which a minority of the people own the majority of the wealth. Even if a redistribution of the wealth were to occur through political or economic changes, the equilibrium would inevitably reestablish itself, resulting in the formation of new elites. Pareto followed up with his most influential work, Manuale d’economia politica (handbook of political economy), in 1906. Grounding their work in Pareto’s theory of wealth distribution, economists constructed the notion of the Pareto index, which is a measure of the in490
equality in income and wealth distribution in a given society. The larger the Pareto index, the smaller the proportion of the wealthy to the poor, and as wealth increases in size through economic development in a given society, the index is expected to become larger. His discovery of the “80-20” law led Pareto to examine the social dynamics between the elites and the masses. This resulted in another influential work, Trattato di sociologia generale (1916), a sociological classic, which was published in English under the title of Mind and Society (1935). Pareto claimed that economics fails to make predictions because people make choices largely on nonrational grounds. His attention to nonrational factors in his study of society increasingly moved his focus, toward the end of his career, from economics to sociology. In the 1930’s, the fascists bestowed honor and praise on Pareto, and they co-opted his ideas on the role of elites in a society to support their ideology. Joseph M. Juran, a Romanian-born American engineer who began his career in 1924 in the Inspection Department of the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois, was inspired by Pareto’s 80-20 law of wealth distribution. As an officer responsible for the statistical control of the quality of manufactured products, Juran had an interest in Pareto’s law that did not reside in economics or sociology, but rather in the law’s usefulness for improving product quality. He displayed an uncommon ability for generalization when he made the intellectual leap from Pareto’s law of wealth distribution to the practical issues of improving product quality. In the process, he laid the foundations for the principles and practices of modern quality-improvement programs. Juran is credited with coining the term “Pareto principle” for the 80-20 law. In its universal form, the Pareto principle states that a minority of factors are responsible for the majority of the total effects in any given situation. As early as 1937, Juran viewed the Pareto principle as the basis for distinguishing the vital few from the trivial or useful many. The principle underpinned his approach to quality and he referred to it in numerous publications, including Quality Control Handbook (1951), Managerial Breakthroughs (1964), and Juran on Planning for Quality (1988). Juran advised managers to create “Pareto charts” to distinguish the vital few from the trivial or useful many. In such a chart, groups of data are arranged in a table or a diagram so that they are ranked according to the
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 magnitude of each factor’s contribution, expressed as a percentage, to the total, cumulative effect. The Pareto principle can be applied to the quality process in a variety of ways. For instance, it helps managers to classify a company’s customers into the vital few and the trivial (or useful) many so that they can respond according to the customers’ importance to the company. It serves as a tool for manufacturers, who can use it to tabulate and identify their major competitors as well as key product features in order to improve quality and increase market share. Organizations interested in reducing the costs of goods and services may use the Pareto principle to focus on the few vital factors that account for the majority of the costs, and institutions seeking to reduce human errors may apply the principle to isolate the major error types in order to target them for action. In the interest of improving operational efficiency, organizations may also use the principle to distinguish steps that are vital from those that are trivial.
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Vilfredo Pareto. (The Granger Collection, New York)
troubling questions concerning priorities other than those involving business or financial success. For instance, is it socially responsible for a corporation to neglect its smaller customers only to enhance its bottom line? Can a hospital choose to reduce the services it provides to the 20 percent of patients who cannot pay and yet consume the majority of its resources? What should a school do with the 20 percent of students who have learning problems and take up to 80 percent of the teachers’ time in the classroom? Should a pastor neglect 80 percent of the parishioners who generate only 20 percent of the church’s income? If the Pareto principle were the only criterion for decision making, many people might never receive the services necessary to maintain a minimum quality of life; such application of the principle would have the unintended consequence of espousing a form of elitism in the name of quality. It has also been noted that if an organization were to push the Pareto principle to its logical limits, it could not ultimately survive, because the 80-20 rule would still ap491
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Significance Vilfredo Pareto’s mathematical approach to economics contributed much to the development of econometrics, and his theory of wealth distribution is the basis for the Pareto index, a vital tool for comparing the economic development of societies. Juran’s rediscovery and expansion of the 80-20 rule, which he called the Pareto principle, spawned a vast amount of literature on management and leadership. The principle helps decision makers to prioritize and focus on what is vital in order to achieve more with less. Juran is often cited as the father of quality management programs. Going beyond other innovators, he shifted the focus of quality from statistical control to the entire production process, including its human dimensions, and thus founded the total quality movement. It is interesting to note, however, that Juran tested his ideas in Japan by training Japanese engineers and managers in the practice of quality management, thus contributing to Japan’s industrial competitiveness after World War II. The quality movement took root in the United States only belatedly, in part as a response to Japan’s competitiveness. The Pareto principle is not without its problems. Critics have pointed out, for instance, that the principle may help describe the present, but it cannot be used to predict the future. It is nearly impossible to tell in advance which 20 percent are the vital few because today’s vital few may turn out to be tomorrow’s trivial many, and vice versa. Blind use of the Pareto principle can also raise
Pareto Analyzes the Distribution of Wealth
Publication of The English Hymnal ply to the remaining vital few, and so on, ad infinitum, until very few, if any, customers are left. An organization can avoid such a dilemma only by recognizing that what it selects as the vital few must depend also on the core values of the organization—a point that Juran would readily acknowledge. — Mathew Kanjirathinkal Further Reading Juran, Joseph M. Architect of Quality: The Autobiography of Dr. Joseph M. Juran. New York: McGrawHill, 2004. Describes Juran’s life as a journey that began in Romania in poverty and continued through the hardships of growing up in Minnesota and establishing his career as an engineer, finally achieving fame and corporate success. Moving and enlightening. _______. Juran on Planning for Quality. New York: Free Press, 1988. Systematic introduction to quality management summarizes Juran’s “quality trilogy”: quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Juran, Joseph M., and A. Blanton Godfrey. Juran’s Quality Handbook. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999. Describes in great detail the quality control process, benchmarking, total quality management, training for quality, and other quality concepts as they apply to a variety of industries in the United States and elsewhere. Pareto, Vilfredo. The Rise and Fall of the Elites: An Application of Theoretical Sociology. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 1991. Classic work describes the rise and fall of the elites and serves as an introduction to Pareto’s sociological ideas. Sanders, Robert. “The Pareto Principle: Its Use and Abuse.” Journal of Services Marketing 1, no. 2 (Fall, 1987): 37-40. Brief and accessible explanation of the absurdities that can result when the 80-20 rule is pushed to its ultimate logical limits. See also: Mar., 1914: Gilbreth Publishes The Psychology of Management; 1938: Barnard Publishes The Functions of the Executive.
1906
Publication of THE ENGLISH HYMNAL The English Hymnal, a collaborative project undertaken by a team of clerics, scholars, and musicians led by the liturgical scholar Percy Dearmer and the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, reintroduced some of England’s most ancient sacred music. The hymnal was widely adopted throughout the Church of England and became a key element in the Anglo-Catholic revival. Locale: England Categories: Music; religion, theology, and ethics; publishing and journalism Key Figures Percy Dearmer (1867-1936), English clergyman, scholar, and general editor of The English Hymnal Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), English composer and music editor of The English Hymnal Cecil Sharp (1859-1924), English musician and collector of folk songs and dances William John Birkbeck (1859-1916), English liturgical scholar, theologian, and Slavophile, who both edited and compiled the chant melodies for The English Hymnal 492
Summary of Event At the beginning of the 1900’s, there was a fundamental difference of opinion among members of the Church of England concerning the relative importance of ritual and the value of England’s musical heritage. The Anglo-Catholic movement advocated the preservation and reestablishment of formal ritual, while adherents to the evangelical trend were willing to adapt to the popular tastes of the Victorian era and were less interested in ritual. Within the Anglo-Catholic community, there was a further division between those who favored the Roman style of liturgy and a few who still practiced the ancient Sarum rite that had been utilized in England before the Reformation. In 1901, Percy Dearmer, an influential clergyman, prolific writer, and political activist whose views combined a passion for traditional English liturgy with liberal social ideals, became vicar for the Church of St. Marythe-Virgin in Primrose Hill, London. Two years before that, he had published The Parson’s Handbook (1899), a detailed guide to liturgical practice. Dearmer’s interests encompassed all of the arts, including fabrics, vestments, painting, architecture, and music. He felt that liturgy should be beautiful and that consistent guidelines should be followed.
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Dearmer and his carefully selected group made sure that their hymnal would be a significant scholarly work as well as a functional one. Often a melody that had changed over time was restored to its originally published form, and there were profuse notes that identified musical sources and composers, with one important exception: Vaughan Williams set some of the hymn lyrics to his own melodies and listed the composer as anonymous. Many other musicians and scholars also contributed to The English Hymnal and were mentioned in its prefaces. The texts of the hymns were equally well documented and had notes and information about authors and sources. The range of material in The English Hymnal represented an exceptionally diverse group of time periods and geographic areas. Along with melodies from Germany, France, and other European nations, the British Isles were well represented in the collection, which included tunes from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England. Most of the chant-based melodies were derived from the pre-Reformation Sarum rite, and rather than copying them onto a modern staff, Birkbeck presented them in medieval plainsong notation. In doing so, he made a very direct statement on the value of Great Britain’s musical heritage. After the hymnal was published, there was some disagreement from those who challenged Dearmer’s authority to dictate aesthetic taste. He did not hesitate to use his office to defend that authority and wrote a great deal about the theological basis for his views. Some of the popular hymns from the Victorian era were also included in the 1906 hymnal, and there was enough of this material so that congregations that favored nineteenth century musical styles could still utilize the book. Dearmer eventually prevailed over most of his critics, and the hymnal was widely adopted. Significance The preparation and publication of The English Hymnal was an important chapter in the evolution of relations among the fine arts, religious faith, and cultural awareness. Aside from a few minor changes, the hymnal remained in use for more than three-quarters of a century, and it helped to affirm the value of tradition in both a religious and national sense. Beyond England, the hymnal found use in many English-speaking countries. In the broader context of the collaborators’ works, the hymnal affirmed Vaughan Williams’s assertion of an English musical identity and Dearmer’s belief in the value of ritual and historical consciousness to faith. Vaughan Williams’s setting of “For All the Saints” and other melodies 493
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At this time, the most popular hymnal of the time was Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861). Some of the hymns in this book had been set to sentimental melodies in a popular Victorian style, in keeping with trends that appealed to simpler tastes. Although he shared a desire to communicate with people of all classes and sympathized with victims of economic inequities, Dearmer was greatly dissatisfied with the old hymnal, and he felt that believers should have access to great music from a much wider range of time periods and traditions, including the rich heritage of the British Isles. He set about assembling a team of scholars, theologians, and musicians to compile and create a new hymnal. One of Percy Dearmer’s associates was Cecil Sharp, a musician who shared Dearmer’s love of tradition. Sharp collected folk songs and dances, and he had already published A Book of British Songs for Home and School in 1902. Among Sharp’s friends was Ralph Vaughan Williams, a composer who was also interested in folk songs from the British Isles. As part of his lifelong search for a distinctly English musical voice, Vaughan Williams had collected several folk songs on his own, and he had some experience as a church organist and choir director, although he was an agnostic. Sharp recommended Vaughan Williams as the new hymnal’s music editor, and Dearmer engaged him in the project. Although Vaughan Williams did not consider himself a believer, he and Dearmer held common social and aesthetic views. Both were interested in historical accuracy and in the roots of English religious music, held liberal political views, and sought to influence the nation’s culture. Vaughan Williams was as conscious of England’s elite musical traditions as he was of its folk songs, and he had studied the music of William Byrd and other great English Renaissance composers. Although he worked on the project for two years, Vaughan Williams did not regret the time away from his classical compositions and regarded the study and composition of hymns as a highly rewarding activity. Another important member of the team was William John Birkbeck, who collected and edited the hymnal’s many plainsong melodies and helped with both the translation of texts and the interpretation of medieval music notation. A scholar as well as a musician, Birkbeck spoke and read many languages. He admired the ritual practices and historical continuity of the Eastern churches and even wanted to unite the Church of England with the Eastern Orthodox Church. Like Dearmer, Birkbeck was interested in the restoration of High Church features such as the use of incense.
Publication of The English Hymnal
Artists Find Inspiration in African Tribal Art first introduced in the 1906 hymnal eventually found their way into hymnals around the world. Dearmer encouraged the rigorous application of historical musicology, and the work of Cecil Sharp and other early twentieth century folk music collectors in Dearmer’s circle contributed to developments in the field of ethnomusicology. — John Myers Further Reading Bradley, Ian. Abide with Me: The World of Victorian Hymns. London: Trinity Press, 1997. Includes many anecdotes and considers the hymnal’s social and political significance. Emphasizes lyrics rather than music. Dearmer, Percy, ed. The English Hymnal. London: Oxford University Press, 1906. Includes many alternate settings, extensive documentation of musical adaptations and texts (other than Vaughan Williams’s own melodies), and indexes of first lines. Heffer, Simon. Vaughan Williams. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2001. A comprehensive biography that includes details of the composer’s relationships
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 with Dearmer and other members of the Church of England. Williams, Ralph Vaughan. National Music, and Other Essays. 1934. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. Essays by the composer, including mention of his work on The English Hymnal. Yates, Nigel. Anglican Ritualism in Victorian Britain, 1830-1910. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. A comparative, highly detailed study of ritualism that includes the Church of England as well as other Christian denominations during the period just before and during the publication of The English Hymnal. Appendixes. Zon, Bennett. The English Plainchant Revival. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Describes an important movement in Anglican Church music that preceded and influenced the content of The English Hymnal. See also: 1903-1957: Vaughan Williams Composes His Nine Symphonies; Aug., 1930: Lambeth Conference Allows Artificial Contraception.
1906-1907
Artists Find Inspiration in African Tribal Art European artists in search of new means of expression discovered them in African tribal art, altering the course of twentieth century painting and sculpture. Locale: Paris, France Category: Arts Key Figures Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954), French artist André Derain (1880-1954), French artist Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958), French artist Summary of Event Several collections of tribal art had been established in Paris during the latter half of the nineteenth century. France owned extensive colonies in Africa and Oceania, and expeditions to these colonies had returned with statuettes, masks, headdresses, musical instruments, and other artifacts. These pieces were seen as “primitive”— that is, crude in conception and execution. In turn, their apparent primitiveness illustrated, at least to the satisfaction of most European viewers, the savagery of the groups producing them. 494
By the early twentieth century, examples of tribal art had thus been accessible to the French public for several decades. Three factors contributed to their “discovery” in about 1906 by avant-garde painters in Paris. First, dealers in antiquities and curiosities had begun featuring tribal art in their display cases and windows—in other words, at the street level, where their aesthetic qualities were more striking than in poorly arranged documentary displays in museums. A second factor was the change in public attitudes toward colonization. By 1905, evidence of incredible brutality on the part of the French and the Belgians in central Africa had become public. Newspapers condemned the atrocities, and politically radical artists such as Pablo Picasso, Kees van Dongen, and František Kupka—some of whom drew political cartoons—joined in the attack. As a result, collecting and studying African art became a means of establishing solidarity with the oppressed. The third and perhaps most important factor was the situation of art itself at the beginning of the century. It was felt that the movement known as Impressionism, which attempted to reproduce the actual experience of seeing, had exhausted the possibilities of realistic paint-
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the viewer to make a direct emotional appeal. They felt that African sculpture operated in the same fashion. Matisse’s work shows a more direct influence. In its apparent crudeness and emphasis on breasts and buttocks, his small sculpture La Vie (1906) clearly recalls African models. The same influence is apparent in a larger sculpture created in 1907, Reclining Nude I, and a major painting of the same year, The Blue Nude. All these works show a rejection of conventional nineteenth century European standards of beauty and proportion, and they mark a clear advance over his Still Life with African Sculpture. It was only when he came face-to-face with tribal art, said Picasso, that he realized “what painting was all about.” At the time, he was a successful if relatively unknown painter, and his study of ancient Spanish and Egyptian sculpture and the work of Gauguin had allowed him to move beyond the somewhat sentimentalized paintings of his blue and rose periods. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), however, marked not only a break with his own past but also a total rejection of the European tradition. This large (almost eight-square-foot) painting of five prostitutes seemed intentionally ugly to those who first saw it. The figures’ limbs are distorted and broken into planes. Their faces are as blank as masks, their lozenge-shaped eyes staring past the viewer. The faces of the figure on the left and of the two on the right are literally masklike (although experts disagree over their specific tribal prototypes) and savagely crosshatched. Long after its recognition as a key work of the twentieth century, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon continues to shock. Significance So-called primitive art had a major influence on Western culture during the twentieth century. As used broadly, the term “primitive” has been used to refer not only to tribal art but also to the work of children and the insane and to the output of self-taught “naïve” painters. Sometimes even a tendency to extreme simplification has been called primitive. Within this complex of factors, African and Oceanic tribal art made its influence felt widely and early. In addition to the Fauves, Matisse (who exhibited for a time with the Fauves), and Picasso, a number of other artists were affected. The Romanian Constantin Brancusi began to produce African-inspired sculpture about 1913, as did the Italian Amedeo Modigliani, better known today as a painter. Both lived in Paris and so were affected by the same conditions as other Parisbased artists. 495
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ing. In this context, a retrospective exhibition of works by French painter Paul Gauguin in 1906 came at just the right moment. Gauguin had visited Tahiti in 1891 and had eventually settled and died in the nearby Marquesas Islands. The exhibition featured canvases that seemed barbaric in their bright colors and subject matter: idealized native scenes, “pagan” idols, and other exotic themes. Gauguin had rejected purely realistic art, and artists in search of new means of expression found inspiration in his work. Gauguin’s insight into non-European cultures has been questioned, but he paved the way for the appreciation of African and Oceanic art by his younger colleagues. Accounts of how European artists discovered and began acquiring African sculpture differ. French painter Henri Matisse recounted that he bought a piece from Emile Heymann’s shop in Paris and that he subsequently showed it to his new acquaintance from Spain, Pablo Picasso, in 1906. The piece has since been identified with some certainty as a Vili statuette from a region of Africa that would later become the Republic of the Congo. The figure, of a seated man impudently sticking out his tongue, appears in an unfinished oil painting by Matisse, Still Life with African Sculpture, dating from 1906 or 1907. Another French painter, Maurice de Vlaminck, told a different story. He said that he noticed pieces of African tribal sculpture in a bar, and he bought them for the price of a round or two of drinks. The exact date is hard to establish—it may have been anywhere from 1903 to 1906. Later, a friend gave him several more pieces, one of which, a wooden Fang mask from what would later become Gabon, he sold to fellow artist André Derain. According to this story, it was this mask, which was on display in Derain’s Paris studio, that constituted the introduction to African tribal art for both Matisse and Picasso. Picasso himself was guarded in explaining his art and its inspiration. He once claimed complete ignorance of African art at that stage of his life, but he later stated that he had studied examples at the Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro (rechristened the Musée de l’Homme) in Paris in 1907. In any case, he began buying pieces on visits to the flea market, eventually assembling a large collection that he maintained throughout his life. The influence of tribal art was far greater in some cases than in others. Vlaminck and Derain seem to have found little more than confirmation of their own attitudes. As members of the Fauve movement, they painted in bright, even harsh, colors, bypassing the intellect of
Artists Find Inspiration in African Tribal Art
Artists Find Inspiration in African Tribal Art Collections of African and Oceanic tribal art were not unique to France. Larger collections had been established in Germany, although that country had been acquiring colonies for a much shorter period of time. These collections were accessible to a major group of Germanbased artists, Die Brücke (the bridge), which had been formed in 1905. That group’s most important member was Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. For a while, Fauve painter Kees van Dongen and Swiss artist Cuno Amiet, who had been a friend of Gauguin, were also associated with the group. The Fauves were a major influence, as was tribal art. Kirchner was already painting from live black models when he began studying African and Micronesian (North Pacific islander) art at the Dresden Ethnographic Museum in 1910. His work is more harshly colored and far more angular than that of the Fauves, as if he were straining to express the emotional, “primitive,” nonEuropean side of his character. It was through the work of Matisse and particularly Picasso, however, that the tribal art of Africans and other non-European peoples had its most significant impact on the mainstream of Western painting. Matisse integrated the elements so subtly that they became difficult to identify, especially after his initial burst of interest in 1906 and 1907. Only toward the end of his life did the influence again become obvious, in a series of “cutouts,” highly decorative collages of brightly painted paper. The portfolio of these works that he completed in 1947, appropriately called Jazz (after the popular black American music form), is the culmination of his career. Several of Picasso’s works from the period of 1907 take the experiment of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon a step further, especially two paintings sharing the title Nude with Raised Arms. Here the degree of stylization and near abstraction is marked. Whatever minimal perspective remained in Les Demoiselles d’Avignon has vanished. Picasso was on the verge of forging the most revolutionary style of the century, cubism. This new style was actually the mutual creation of Picasso and his colleagues Georges Braque and Juan Gris; Derain and Matisse took part, but less enthusiastically. In its simplest sense, cubism was a solution to the problem faced by all painters: representing three dimensions (height, width, and depth) on a surface that has only two. As Gauguin had been an influence a few years before, now French painter Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) became an important example. Cézanne had reduced objects and landscapes to their essential geometric components. To perceptive artists such as Picasso, the angularity of African tribal art, with its seemingly violent juxtaposition of 496
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 stylized features, must have seemed the result of a similar process. To reduce these elements still further to the flat surface of a canvas was to carry the process to its logical conclusion. Directly or indirectly (through the medium of cubism), tribal art influenced almost every important European artist of the twentieth century. After Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, its most important manifestation may have been the 1923 Paris premiere of the ballet La Création du monde (the creation of the world). This production combined numerous aspects of black culture, some more authentic than others, and capitalized on intense French interest in everything African. The score by Darius Milhaud is generally credited with being the first orchestral use of jazz (although the relationship between jazz and genuine African music has been debated). The scenario by writer and impresario Blaise Cendrars was based on African creation myths. Choreographer and principal dancer Jean Börlin adapted his movements from African models. The costumes and backdrop were designed by Fernand Léger, a painter who had taken part in the cubist movement and who now combined cubist and more obviously tribal elements into one harmonious and awe-inspiring whole. Léger based many of his designs on illustrations from Marius de Zayas’s African Art: Its Influence on Modern Art (1916), a pioneering work on the subject. The set featured three tall, freestanding figures representing presiding deities and illustrated the emergence of various stages of life. The costumes were highly stylized and managed to be both expressive and lighthearted. Around them all wound Milhaud’s ingratiating, sinuous music. When European artists discovered African tribal art in 1906 or 1907, they were impressed as much by its psychological aspects (its “magic”) as by its aesthetic dimensions. Picasso’s shocking Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and the lyrical collaborative effort of La Création du monde define the far-reaching impacts of that discovery. — Grove Koger Further Reading Bois, Yve-Alain. “Kahnweiler’s Lesson.” Representations 18 (Spring, 1987): 33-68. Discussion of critic and art dealer C. H. Kahnweiler’s theory of the relationship between African tribal art and cubism. Kahnweiler had maintained that while African art was important to the development of Picasso and of cubism, its impact on Picasso’s painting Les Demoiselles
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Oldham and Mohorovi5i6 Determine the Earth’s Interior Structure
d’Avignon was negligible. For the serious student of art history. Illustrations, substantial notes. Flam, Jack, ed. Primitivism and Twentieth-Century Art: A Documentary History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. A collection of essays by artists, literary figures, museum curators, art collectors, and others focusing on the encounter between Western artists and what has historically been called primitive art. Includes illustrations, an extensive bibliography, and a chronology of events, exhibitions, and publications. Goldwater, Robert. Primitivism in Modern Art. Rev. ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 2002. The classic study, discussing “primitivism” in all its manifestations. First published in 1938 and revised in 1966; this “enlarged” edition adds two supplementary chapters. Still the best introduction for the general reader. Black-and-white illustrations, detailed notes, chronology of “ethnographical museums and exhibitions,” index. Le Coat, Gerard G. “Art Nègre and Esprit Moderne in France (1907-1911).” In Double Impact: France and Africa in the Age of Imperialism, edited by G. Wesley Johnson. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1985. Examines the “discovery” of African tribal art by artists in Paris and compares the accounts of the various participants. The collection as a whole provides a broad context for the interested student. Maps, some
black-and-white illustrations, notes, select bibliography, index. Leighten, Patricia. “The White Peril and L’Art nègre: Picasso, Primitivism, and Anticolonialism.” Art Bulletin 72 (December, 1990): 609-630. Detailed analysis of the reaction of artists to accounts of atrocities in French and Belgian colonies in Africa. Black-andwhite illustrations, including reproductions of newspaper cartoons. Notes, list of frequently cited sources. Rubin, William, ed. “Primitivism” in Twentieth Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern. 1984. Reprint. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2002. A lavish, two-volume treatment for browsers and experts alike. Particularly pertinent chapters include “From Africa,” by Jean-Louis Paudrat (on the arrival of African tribal objects in the West); “Matisse and the Fauves,” by Jack D. Flam; “Picasso,” by William Rubin; “German Expressionism,” by Donald E. Gordon; and “Léger: ‘The Creation of the World’” by Laura Rosenstock. Heavily illustrated, with many of the illustrations in color. Each chapter carries detailed notes, but there is no overall bibliography or index. See also: Summer, 1905: Avant-Garde Artists Form Die Brücke; Oct., 1905: Fauves Exhibit at the Salon d’Automne; Summer, 1908: Salon d’Automne Rejects Braque’s Cubist Works; 1913: Apollinaire Defines Cubism; July, 1937: Picasso Exhibits Guernica.
1906-1910
Oldham and Mohorovi%i^ Determine the Earth’s Interior Structure Richard Dixon Oldham, Andrija Mohorovi5i6, and other seismologists, using data from earthquakes, revealed the layered internal structure of the earth. Also known as: Mohorovi5i6 Discontinuity Locale: England; Croatia Categories: Science and technology; earth science; geology
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Key Figures Richard Dixon Oldham (1858-1936), Irish seismologist Beno Gutenberg (1889-1960), German American seismologist Andrija Mohorovi5i6 (1857-1936), Croatian meteorologist Inge Lehmann (1888-1993), Danish seismologist
Summary of Event Scientists must rely on indirect evidence to create a picture of the deep interior of the earth. This picture has thus changed over time as new evidence has become available. Only in the twentieth century, with the development of new measurement techniques, did a clear picture of the earth’s interior structure begin to emerge. The preeminent geological text of the later half of the seventeenth century, German Jesuit and scholar Athanasius Kircher’s Mundus Subterraneus (1664), described the earth with a fiery central core from which emerged a web of channels that carried molten material into fire chambers or “glory holes” throughout the “bowels” of the earth. The “contraction” theory, popular through the first half of the nineteenth century, held that the earth had
Oldham and Mohorovi5i6 Determine the Earth’s Interior Structure
Earth’s Discontinuities Mohorovicic Discontinuity Crust Mantle
Outer Core
Inner Core Gutenberg Discontinuity
formed from material from the Sun and had since been slowly cooling, creating a solid crust. As the fluid cooled, it would contract, and the crust would collapse around the now smaller core, causing earthquakes and producing wrinkles that formed the surface features of mountains and valleys. Physicists in the 1860’s, however, pointed out several physical consequences of the contraction model that appeared to be violated. For example, the gravitational force of the Moon, which creates tides in the ocean, would produce tides also in a fluid interior. The resulting effect should either cause the postulated thin crust to crack and produce earthquakes whenever the Moon was
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overhead or, if the crust were sufficiently elastic, cause tides in the crust as well. Instruments were developed to detect crustal tides, but no such tides were discovered. By the beginning of the twentieth century, geologists were forced to abandon the contraction theory and conclude that the earth probably was completely solid and “as rigid as steel.” Thus when the German geophysicist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener suggested the idea of continental drift in 1912, it was dismissed on this basis as being physically impossible. Ironically, the very measuring instruments that overturned the simple liquid interior contraction theory would, in turn, disprove the solidearth view that had challenged and replaced it. Seismographs—such as the inverted pendulum seismograph invented in 1900 by German seismologist Emil Wiechert—would provide a completely new source of information about the internal structure of the earth. In 1900, Richard Dixon Oldham published a paper that established that earthquakes give rise to three separate forms of wave motion that travel through the earth at different rates and along different paths. When an earthquake occurs, it causes waves throughout the earth that fan out from the earthquake’s point of origin or “focus.” Primary (P) waves emanate like sound waves from the focus, successively compressing and expanding the surrounding material. Whereas P waves can travel through gases, liquids, and solids, secondary (S) waves can travel only through solids. S waves travel at about two-thirds the speed of P waves. Surface waves, the third type of seismic wave, travel only near the earth’s surface.
The Mohorovicic Discontinuity
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Oceanic Crust Continental crust
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Lithosphere (70-100 kilometers deep)
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Oldham and Mohorovi5i6 Determine the Earth’s Interior Structure
Seismologists now speak of seismic data as being able to provide an X-ray picture of the earth. In his groundbreaking 1906 article “The Earth’s Interior as Revealed by Earthquakes,” Oldham analyzed worldwide data on fourteen earthquakes. He also observed that within certain interior earth zones, P waves behaved differently from what he expected. In 1912, Beno Gutenberg was able to establish that at a certain depth the velocity at which the seismic waves traveled changed sharply. He estimated this depth to be about 2,900 kilometers (roughly 1,802 miles—almost half of the earth’s radius). Oldham had also recognized in his own data the suggestion of a thin outer crust, but his data were insufficient to determine its depth. This estimation was to be made by Andrija Mohorovi5i6, a professor at the University of Zagreb, from an analysis (published in 1910) of an earthquake that had hit Croatia’s Kulpa Valley in late 1909. Mohorovi5i6 had noticed that at any one seismic station, both P and S waves from the earthquake appeared in two sets, but the time between the sets varied according to how far away the station was from the earthquake’s focus. Based on these different arrival times, Mohorovi5i6 reasoned that waves from a single shock were taking two paths, one of which traveled for a time through a “faster” type of rock. He calculated the depth of this change in material. His estimate fell within the now-accepted figure of 20 to 70 kilometers (12.4 to 43.5 miles)—the crustal thickness varies under the continents and shrinks to 6 to 8 kilometers (about 3.7 to 5 miles) under the ocean. This boundary between crust and mantle is now called the Mohorovi5i6 Discontinuity, or the Moho.
Further Reading Brush, Stephen G. “Inside the Earth.” Natural History (February, 1984): 26-34. Historical overview provides a good introduction to the topic for the lay reader. Explains clearly the various theories about the nature of the interior of the earth that have been proposed since the seventeenth century. Includes photographs of some of the scientists who made important contributions to this area in the twentieth century. Bullen, K. E. “The Interior of the Earth.” In Adventures in Earth History, edited by Preston Cloud. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1970. Reprint of a 1955 Scientific American article is a good source for details regarding the layered structure of the earth as revealed by seismic data. Presents information chronologically and notes persons who were most important in the development of the field, from those involved in the development of seismographs to the seismologists who interpreted the data. Features photographs of early seismometers, graphs, and diagrams. Davison, Charles. “Richard Dixon Oldham: 18581936.” Obituary Notices of the Fellows of the Royal Society 2, no. 5 (1936): 110-113. One of very few published sources of biographical data on Oldham. Covers the major events of Oldham’s life, briefly describes his most important research, and includes a photograph. Jeanloz, Raymond. “The Earth’s Core.” Scientific American 249 (September, 1983): 56-65. Discusses theoretical and experimental work on the nature of the earth’s core up to the early 1980’s. Does an excellent job of highlighting the lines of evidence for and against alternative hypotheses regarding the composition and development of the core. Explains views on how the core generates the earth’s magnetic field and how data on the field can provide information about the core. Clear diagrams highlight important concepts. Mather, Kirtley F., ed. Source Book in Geology, 19001950. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967. Collection of historically important original articles on geological subjects from the first half of the twentieth century includes major portions of Oldham’s “The Constitution of the Interior of the Earth as 499
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Significance The use of seismic data to plumb the earth’s interior produced an outpouring of research, both theoretical and experimental. By the mid-1920’s, seismologists had learned to make subtler interpretations of their data and realized that no S waves had been observed to penetrate through the core. Given that S waves cannot pass through liquid, there was reason to think that the core was liquid. Independent support for this hypothesis came from rigidity studies. Seismic waves could be used to determine the rigidity of the mantle; it was revealed to be much greater than the average rigidity of the earth as a whole (the existence of a low-density fluid region would account for this discrepancy). In 1936, however, Inge Lehmann was able to show that P waves passing close to the earth’s center changed velocity slightly, and she cor-
rectly inferred the existence of an inner core to account for this phenomenon. The current picture of the earth now includes a liquid outer core surrounding a solid inner core about 1,200 kilometers (745.6 miles) in radius. —Robert T. Pennock
Willstätter Discovers the Composition of Chlorophyll Revealed by Earthquakes” (omitting only the data sections) and a very brief biographical sketch of Oldham. Also includes Gutenberg’s article “Mobility of the Earth’s Interior” (1941). Stein, Seth, and Michael Wysession. An Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes, and Earth Structure. New York: Blackwell Science, 2002. Introductory textbook intended for advanced undergraduate and firstyear graduate courses in seismology. Heavily illustrated. Includes suggestions for further reading and index.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Tarbuck, Edward J., and Frederick K. Lutgens. The Earth: An Introduction to Physical Geology. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2004. Introductory-level text offers a very good overview of the earth’s interior. Well written and illustrated with color graphics. See also: 1913: Gutenberg Discovers Earth’s MantleOuter Core Boundary; Jan., 1935: Richter Develops a Scale for Measuring Earthquake Strength; 1936: Lehmann Discovers the Earth’s Inner Core.
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Willstätter Discovers the Composition of Chlorophyll Richard Willstätter unified thought concerning the material responsible for photosynthesis in plants and showed that this activity is the result of two basic chlorophyll molecules. Locale: Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland Categories: Science and technology; chemistry Key Figures Richard Willstätter (1872-1942), German professor of organic chemistry Arthur Stoll (1887-1971), Swiss chemist Summary of Event When Richard Willstätter fled from the Gestapo in Nazi Germany to Switzerland in 1939, one of the few items he took with him was his highly cherished 1915 Nobel Prize certificate honoring him for chemical research. This work had resulted in the establishment of the composition and partial structure of chlorophyll, and the certificate was, very appropriately, decorated around its border with green leaves, blue cornflowers, scarlet geranium blossoms, and cherry-red berries. It was the presence of these and other colors in the plant kingdom that had stimulated the initial observations that led to this very productive phase of Willstätter’s research. In hindsight, it is clear that Willstätter’s life as a chemist prior to this work was very direct preparation for the success he enjoyed. As a doctoral student under Adolf von Baeyer and Alfred Einhorn, Willstätter learned and practiced the techniques then available for structural characterization by working on cocaine, tropine, and other molecules extracted from plants. The 500
general method available at the time involved a series of chemical reactions in which compounds of known composition were reacted with the original material (or a material derived previously from the original), with the goal of degrading the original into smaller fragments. These reactions were followed by tedious purification of the products, often formed in very low yields, until a simple molecule of known structure resulted. Once these derivatives were identified, the researcher had to follow the series of reactions backward to determine the structure of the starting material that could be responsible for the observed results. For the most part, the reconstructed trail was neither direct nor clear, and the researcher had to rule out many sideline possibilities by performing further reactions before a definitive answer could be found. The answers were also very open to challenge and, unless the researcher exercised utmost care at each step of the way, could be easily refuted. The heart of Willstätter’s research for the remainder of his active career consisted of modifying, adapting, and refining these basic tools so as to establish a clearer trail leading to the structure of molecules. After completing research for his doctoral degree, Willstätter continued in the area of organic structure research but shifted to applying the degradation and derivatization techniques to synthetic quinones, which formed the chemical basis of the German dye industry. Upon accepting a position as full professor at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in 1905, Willstätter inaugurated a new research effort directed at understanding how photosynthesis (the conversion of light energy and inorganic material into plant tissue) occurs. The first step in this major research effort was the study of chloro-
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solutions as a means of following the course of the separations and also as a means of assessing the purity of the fractions. At this point in the purification, the chlorophyll was not a single substance, but rather a mixture of the two chlorophyll forms. One investigation began with 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of dried leaves and, following nearly a dozen extractive steps using a variety of solvents, produced slightly less than 1 gram (less than 0.03 ounce) of a mixture of the two chlorophylls. Further extraction using methanol and a low-molecular-weight hydrocarbon produced the separation of the two, with the alpha form being more soluble in the hydrocarbon and the beta in the alcohol. The culmination of Willstätter’s work was the establishment of the chemical composition of these two forms of chlorophyll. Magnesium, previously postulated by others to be an impurity, was shown to be an integral part of the molecule. Phosphorus, thought by others to be a part of the molecule, was shown to be an impurity. The two chlorophylls were shown to be magnesium com-
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phyll. Willstätter produced twenty-four journal articles in conjunction with his students as well as a book (now a classic), Investigations on Chlorophyll: Methods and Results, written with the collaboration of Arthur Stoll, another student. At the time Willstätter began studying photosynthesis, very little was known about the source of color in plants; however, the generally accepted view was that each variation of green observed was the expression of a unique chemical molecule. Therefore, it was thought that a vast multitude of molecules must be responsible. These were, as a group, referred to as chlorophylls and were postulated to be the sites at which photosynthesis occurs. Willstätter worked in an area where there was scant guidance from earlier research. Building on the meager knowledge available, he created techniques to extract plant material and to recover, unchanged, the constituent chemical substances. The raw material for developing these processes was the dried leaves of plants. With the raw extract in hand, he worked to invent, improve, and characterize methods that enabled him to separate and to purify the chemical substances resulting from the extractions. Some of these methods involved the use of enzymes, a then poorly understood class of biological catalysts; others used the technique of adsorption chromatography, which was just being developed. Of particular interest is Willstätter’s finding that, rather than the myriad forms previously projected, there are but two chlorophylls: a blue-green, or alpha, form and a yellow-green, or beta, form. All the hues of green observed result from only these two molecules. Willstätter demonstrated this simplicity in the presence of diversity by extracting and analyzing the green parts of more than two hundred species of plants. He found only the two types of chlorophyll. Further, he was able to show that the two forms always existed in a near constant ratio to each other, regardless of the plant source. The extractive fractionation methods that Willstätter used can be described as depending on the selective solubility of the various plant components in different solvents at different acidities. For illustration, consider the final step in the separation of chlorophyll. This separation resulted when an alcohol solution containing the refined plant extract was treated with petroleum ether. Pure chlorophyll is not soluble in the petroleum ether, and it crystallized from the solution in good yield. Other components remained in either the alcohol solution or the petroleum ether solution. Willstätter used the intensity of color in the various
Willstätter Discovers the Composition of Chlorophyll
Richard Willstätter. (The Nobel Foundation)
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Willstätter Discovers the Composition of Chlorophyll plexes of dicarboxylic acids esterified with methanol and a new unsaturated alcohol, named phytol. Each chlorophyll form is a very large molecule. The alpha form contains fifty-five carbon atoms, seventy-two hydrogen atoms, four nitrogen atoms, five oxygen atoms, and a magnesium atom. The beta form differs by having one fewer oxygen atom and two fewer hydrogen atoms. Willstätter also established the similarity of these molecules to hemoglobin, with the magnesium of chlorophyll and the iron of hemoglobin playing similar structural roles. This similarity had been intuitively conceived as early as 1851, but Willstätter’s work was the earliest to establish the idea as fact.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 delve into the composition of many biologically important molecules. Recognition of the uniqueness of the chlorophyll molecule, its composition, and the role it plays in the photosynthetic process has had significant impact on the human condition. Willstätter’s work, and the extensions made from it by others, has allowed an understanding of plant growth that has guided agriculturists in their search for greater plant productivity. Of most direct impact has been the understanding of the important role of magnesium as a plant nutrient. As an integral part of the chlorophyll molecule, magnesium must be readily available to any growing plant. This means that this essential element, along with others, must be supplied by fertilization in soils that show a magnesium deficiency. Understanding this connection has allowed successful crop production on land previously thought to be too poor for farming and, in consequence, has led to an increase in food available for the world’s increasing population. Although Willstätter is most recognized for research on chlorophyll, his contributions to the definition of the role of teacher and investigator should not go unmen-
Significance Willstätter’s research may be seen as the beginning of the understanding of the process by which simple sugars aresynthesized from carbon dioxide and water through utilization of the energy of sunlight. This is the process known as photosynthesis. Willstätter’s contribution also marks the point from which knowledge of the structure of large, biologically important molecules stems. The importance of this series of experiments is illustrated by the fact that several Nobel Prizes in Chemistry The Photosynthetic Cycle have been awarded for contributions depending directly on Willstätter’s earlier work. The 1930 award was given to Hans Fischer for work toward a further understanding of the composition of chlorophyll and hemin, the oxygen-carrying component of blood. In 1961, the prize was Carbon dioxide Sunlight awarded to Melvin Calvin for research leading to an understanding, Oxygen at the molecular level, of the process of photosynthesis. Robert Burns Woodward received the Nobel in 1965 for his work on the complete synthesis of chlorophyll. Less directly, the award to Sir Robert Robinson in 1947 for investigation of materials of biological importance Food derived from plants is also related to Willstätter’s work. This sequence Water and minerals makes clear the idea, often expressed The processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration are complementary: Oxyin science, that researchers “stand on gen released into the atmosphere, a by-product of photosynthesis, is breathed in by the shoulders of giants” who preanimals, which in turn breathe out carbon dioxide, the gas that is essential for photoceded them. Others have used methsynthesis. (Kimberly L. Dawson Kurnizki) ods contributed by Willstätter to 502
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tioned. Each of his writings on chlorophyll was accomplished with a student as a collaborator. Willstätter was a member of a small group of chemists who pioneered the field of organic chemistry by breaking new ground and by devising new methods of experimentation. Because of this effort, Willstätter is often referred to as one of the fathers of organic chemistry. —Kenneth H. Brown Further Reading Armstrong, Henry E. “Scientific Worthies: XLV. Richard Willstätter.” Nature 120 (July 2, 1927): 1-5. One of a series of articles on the contributions and lives of scientists written by one who knew Willstätter personally and who conducted research in the same field. Summarizes Willstätter’s work on chlorophyll and other pigments as well as his life and scientific background. Provides a philosophical look at the impact of Willstätter and his work on the chemistry of the day. Hall, D. O., and K. K. Rao, Photosynthesis. 6th ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Concise presentation of the process of photosynthesis aimed at undergraduate students in all fields of the biological sciences. Discusses the details of photosynthetic processes and also addresses the role of photosynthesis in food production and the global environment. Includes numerous line illustrations and color plates. Huisgen, Rolf. “Richard Willstätter.” Journal of Chemical Education 38 (January, 1961): 10-15. Abiography emphasizing Willstätter’s chemical career. Sections deal with his graduate school research on alkaloids, his early work on quinones, his work with a variety of plant pigments and with photosynthesis, and his late
Willstätter Discovers the Composition of Chlorophyll work on enzymes. The chemistry presented is written at a level accessible to an interested layperson. Rabinowitch, Eugene, and Govindjee. Photosynthesis. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1969. Provides a broad introduction to the physicochemical mechanism of the primary process in photosynthesis and the enzymatic mechanisms closely related to it. Also discussed is the role of photosynthesis in nature. Shows the place that Willstätter’s work holds in modern understanding of the subject. Suitable for interested readers with a high school background in science. Robinson, Robert. “Willstätter Memorial Lecture.” Journal of the Chemical Society (1953): 999-1026. Address presented to the Chemical Society in London on the tenth anniversary of Willstätter’s death. The chemistry included may be too complex for most laypersons, but the address also deals with Willstätter’s connections to others in the scientific community and presents several reminiscences that allow an understanding of the style of the man as a citizen and as a scientist. Willstätter, Richard. From My Life: The Memoirs of Richard Willstätter. Translated by Lilli S. Hornig. New York: W. A. Benjamin, 1965. Arthur Stoll collected partially completed notes that Willstätter had prepared for a biography and published them after Willstätter’s death. Presents a clear look at Willstätter’s scientific life and his life as a Jew in Germany during the early part of the twentieth century. See also: 1905: Introduction of the First Injectable Anesthetic; 1938: Hofmann Synthesizes the Potent Psychedelic Drug LSD-25.
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Founding of the Monist League Leads to the Eugenics Movement
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January 11, 1906
Founding of the Monist League Leads to the Eugenics Movement Monism, a pantheistic philosophy that considered all things, animate and inanimate, as connected in some mystical way, was central to the philosophy of the biologist Ernst Haeckel. Members of the Monist League believed that the universe operated entirely by natural law and that human societies should strictly apply these laws. Although the Monist League was dissolved in 1933, the Nazis used the tenets of monist philosophy to justify racist and eugenic principles. Locale: Germany Categories: Philosophy; organizations and institutions Key Figures Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), biologist, physiologist, and writer who popularized Darwinism and was the major force behind the formation of the Monist League Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), leader of the Nazi Party and chancellor of Germany, 1933-1945 Alfred Ploetz (1860-1940), physician, biologist, and eugenicist known for introducing the concept of Rassenhygiene (racial hygiene) Summary of Event Ernst Haeckel, a prominent biologist and proponent of Darwinism, believed that science was superior to religion as a source of understanding of nature and the human condition. He saw the study of nature as the highest form of intellectual endeavor and considered that all matter, both organic and inorganic, was infused with a unifying life force. His philosophy was based on monism, a pantheistic-like belief, and he considered Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection to be scientific proof of monism’s truth. Because humans are a part of nature, Haeckel believed that human society should operate by the laws of nature as he saw them. Haeckel viewed religion and nature as antithetical, and he suggested that religion be replaced with a more “primitive” religion of nature. Haeckelian monism stressed the struggle for existence based in nature and advocated applying Darwinian principles to society. Haeckel was convinced that the various human races were different species, some of which were superior to others. The Aryan race—especially the German race—was, he thought, the most advanced. Unfortu504
Ernst Haeckel. (Library of Congress)
nately, Haeckel said, intermarriage with other races and poor breeding practices had forced the Aryan race into decline. To remedy this issue, Haeckel determined that racial purity should be a German goal. The egalitarian nature of democratic political systems was considered contrary to natural law. An autocratic and fascist-style government was seen as more natural, in that it theoretically allowed wise leaders to oversee society, which was viewed as a single body composed of individual citizens, much in the way that the human body is composed of individual cells. Just as different types of cells perform different functions in the body, each citizen’s inborn talents could be used to determine his or her assigned role in society. Women were seen as nurturers, and their primary role was to bear children and raise them
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Founding of the Monist League Leads to the Eugenics Movement
to become productive members of society. As in nature, those individuals with more skilled or more important roles were given greater advantages. Eugenics, a form of science focused on improving a given race, was a direct outgrowth of monism. In theory, application of eugenics to humans involves strengthening the population by selective breeding. Those with superior genetic traits would be encouraged to reproduce, and those with less desirable genetic traits could be discouraged, or even prevented, from reproducing. Awarding greater resources to those with more important roles in society, then, would encourage reproduction by genetically superior members of society. Haeckel even advocated such extreme approaches as sterilization of inferior individuals (such as the mentally ill or physically handicapped) and the euthanizing of infants born with serious defects. He even suggested that treating seriously ill individuals would be a waste of resources. At the time the Monist League was founded, Haeckel was seventy-two years old. Although not active in the organization’s administration, he continued to give popular lectures on Darwinism and monism. After Haeckel’s death in 1919, the Monist League persisted until 1933, when it was disbanded. Its dissolution was not the result of philosophical differences between the organization and the Nazis or Nazi leader Adolf Hitler; clearly, Hitler
incorporated many monist principles into Nazi philosophy. The heir to the Monist League was the Ernst Haeckel Association, or Ernst Haeckel Gesellschaft. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Rassenhygiene (German Society for Racial Hygiene) was established by Alfred Ploetz in Berlin in 1905. Like the Monist League, its philosophy centered on Aryan racial superiority and eugenics, and it was also a potent force in the development of Nazism and the National Socialist movement. As a physician, Ploetz actively advocated his so-called principles of racial hygiene and defended traditional notions of the German family. He was especially concerned about the “parasitic burden” of the degenerate and mentally ill and believed that such “impurities” needed to be cleansed from German society. Although Haeckel was only able to propose eugenics as a way to improve the Aryan race, the Nazis and individuals like Ploetz were actually able to apply eugenics to the German population. The government gave certain physicians and geneticists permission to apply eugenic principles, and biometric data were gathered from the population to improve racial planning and to help support the contention that the Aryan race was superior to others. Interestingly, Hitler considered Jews to be relatively “fit” in a Darwinian sense: They had, after all, been able to survive centuries of harsh conditions. Their
Monism Explained One of Ernst Haeckel’s goals in Monism as Connecting Religion and Science was to explain the differences among the different types of thinking and sentient beings.
Source: Ernst Haeckel, Monism as Connecting Religion and Science: The Confession of Faith of a Man of Science, translated by J. Gilchrist (London: A. & C. Black, 1894).
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That we may rightly appreciate what this Monism is, let us now, from a philosophico-historical point of view cast a comprehensive glance over the development in time of man’s knowledge of nature. A long series of varied conceptions and stages of human culture here passes before our mental vision. At the lowest stage, the rude—we may say animal—phase of prehistoric primitive man, is the “apeman,” who, in the course of the tertiary period, has only to a limited degree raised himself above his immediate pithecoid ancestors, the anthropoid apes. Next come successive stages of the lowest and simplest kind of culture, such as only the rudest of still existing primitive peoples enable us in some measure to conceive. These “savages” are succeeded by peoples of a low civilisation, and from these again, by a long series of intermediate steps, we rise little by little to the more highly civilised nations. To these alone— of the twelve races of mankind only to the Mediterranean
and Mongolian—are we indebted for what is usually called “universal history.” This last, extending over somewhat less than six thousand years, represents a period of infinitesimal duration in the long millions of years of the organic world’s development. Neither of the primitive men we have spoken of, nor of those who immediately succeeded them, can we rightly predicate any knowledge of nature. The rude primitive child of nature at this lowest stage of development is as yet far from being the restless Ursachenthier (cause-seeking animal) of Lichtenberg; his demand for causes has not yet risen above that of apes and dogs; his curiosity has not yet mounted to pure desire of knowledge. If we must speak of “reason” in connection with pithecoid primitive man, it can only be in the same sense as that in which we use the expression with reference to those other most highly developed Mammals, and the same remark holds true of the first beginnings of religion.
Founding of the Monist League Leads to the Eugenics Movement strength, however, only made their eradication more essential. According to Hitler’s Darwinian model, Aryans were in competition with Jews, and the superior race needed to apply the laws of nature to win. Although eugenics was firmly rooted in monism and Darwinism, the form it took after the Nazis gained political power only partly incorporated these philosophies. The idea of the Aryan race’s superiority was difficult to reconcile with the monist contention that humans evolved from lower primates. Consequently, the purely naturalistic components of monism were largely minimized, except for eugenics, which was seen to have practical benefits for society. The Nazis believed that proper application of eugenics would propel the Aryan race toward complete domination over other races. Significance Haeckel’s Monist League was intended as the platform for dissemination of monist philosophy. Central to monist dogma was the belief that nature obeyed a single, unified law, the law of struggle for existence, as proposed by Darwin. Because humans were considered a part of nature, it was assumed that human society should operate by the laws of nature. Although Haeckel did not see the fruition of his ideas, later individuals—most notably Hitler—applied monist principles to Nazism. An integral part of the Nazi system was a belief in Aryan supremacy over other races and in eugenics as a way to purify the German race and improve it, and these ideas were lifted almost directly from Haeckelian monism. —Bryan Ness Further Reading Gasman, Daniel. The Scientific Origins of National Socialism. Somerset, N.J.: Transaction, 2004. A thor-
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ough analysis of monism and its roots in nineteenth and early twentieth century Germany that shows its connection with Nazi eugenics programs. Haeckel, Ernst. The Evolution of Man. 2 vols. 1879. Reprint. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2004. Haeckel’s own theories about the origin of humankind and its relation to monism. _______. Monism as Connecting Religion and Science. 1894. Reprint. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2004. Based on a talk given by Haeckel at the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Naturforschende Gesellschaft des Osterlandes (Natural Research Society of the Eastern Region) in which he outlined the basic ideas of his monist philosophy. Hau, Michael. The Cult of Health and Beauty in Germany: A Social History, 1890-1930. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Deals with the German obsession with physical culture, which was at the root of German acceptance of the principles of eugenics. Weindling, Paul. Health, Race, and German Politics Between National Unification and Nazism, 1870-1945. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1993. A broad overview of the gradual changes in medicine and social programs in Germany that led to a comprehensive eugenics program as the Nazis consolidated their control of German politics. See also: 1919-1933: Racist Theories Aid Nazi Rise to Political Power; July 18, 1925-Dec. 11, 1926: Mein Kampf Outlines Nazi Thought; Jan. 30, 1933: Hitler Comes to Power in Germany; Mar., 1933: Nazi Concentration Camps Begin Operating; May 16, 19401944: Gypsies Are Exterminated in Nazi Death Camps.
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American College Football Allows the Forward Pass
January 12, 1906
American College Football Allows the Forward Pass The creation of a 1906 rule allowing the forward pass in American college football significantly reduced the number of serious injuries and contributed to the game’s increasing popularity. It helped sports administrators overcome the dangerous and injuryplagued rugby style of play that had resulted in several players’ deaths. The changes to the rules also encouraged the formation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Locale: New York, New York Categories: Sports; organizations and institutions Key Figures Henry Mitchell MacCracken (1840-1918), chancellor of New York University, 1891-1910 Jesse Harper (1884-1961), football coach at the University of Notre Dame, 1913-1918 John Heisman (1869-1936), football coach at Georgia Institute of Technology, 1904-1919 Palmer E. Pierce (fl. early twentieth century), officer at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and first president of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909
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Summary of Event American football evolved largely as a result of collegelevel games played in the 1800’s, and its rules were heavily influenced by the European games of soccer and rugby. The first official college-level game played in the United States took place on November 6, 1869, between Princeton and Rutgers Universities. At that time, however, the game’s rules were evolving toward the dangerous and injury-plagued rugby style, in which eleven to fifteen players from each side would mass together in a V shape and try to push the ball through the defense. This tactic sometimes resulted in head-on collisions between defensive players trying to slow the offense’s forward momentum. The rugby style of play resulted in many serious injuries and a few player deaths from head injuries, and many of the college administrators considered discontinuing the sport. President Theodore Roosevelt was one of forty-three thousand spectators at the 1905 game between Yale and Harvard in which six players were seriously injured. The game’s violent results led to a meeting
at the White House between the president and representatives from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton Universities on October 9, 1905, and from that point on, it became clear that changes would have to be made by the colleges or by the nation’s lawmakers. At the end of the 1905 college football season, the Chicago Tribune reported in large print that, over the course of the season, 18 players had died and 159 had been seriously injured. On December 28 and 29, 1905, Henry Mitchell MacCracken, the chancellor of New York University, hosted a meeting of representatives from sixty-two colleges and universities. At that meeting, Captain Palmer E. Pierce from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point recommended the creation of a new, formal organization for college athletics, and the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) was formed. Seven years later, the organization was renamed the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Captain Pierce served as the organization’s president from 1905 to 1912 and again from 1916 to 1930. At Pierce’s urging, the new IAAUS committee on football’s rules met with Walter Camp, head of the Intercollegiate Football Association, on January 12, 1906. William T. Reid, Harvard University’s head football coach, was elected secretary of the IAAUS, an action that turned the Intercollegiate Football Association into a seven-member IAAUS committee. At the same meeting, several rule changes were approved, including the legalization of the forward pass. This approval, however, required that certain conditions be met. Hash marks were drawn at five-foot intervals down the length of the field in order to create a gridiron, because a pass could be thrown only when the thrower had moved five or more yards from the center of the line of scrimmage. Furthermore, a new rule made an uncaught, or incomplete, pass subject to the same treatment as a fumble: Either team could recover it and have offensive possession. If an incomplete pass traveled out of bounds, possession would be given to the defense at the field’s center. In addition, the yardage necessary to receive a first down was increased from five to ten yards. The institution of the forward pass was due largely to the efforts of John Heisman, head football coach at Georgia Institute of Technology (also called Georgia Tech). Also important, however, was Harvard University’s 1903 construction of the first concrete stadium, a move that gave permanent dimensions to the Harvard
American College Football Allows the Forward Pass football field and in so doing rejected the main alternative to the forward pass, which was a proposed widening of the field by forty feet. Halfback Bradbury Robinson of Saint Louis University made the first attempt to throw a forward pass on September 5, 1906, at the start of a game against Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. It would take several years before coaches and players at all colleges would develop the passing skills and strategies that characterize the modern game. The football-watching public and all the coaches took special note in 1913 when the undefeated University of Notre Dame team, coached by Jesse Harper, defeated a bigger, stronger Army team 35-13 before a large crowd on the military academy’s home field. Notre Dame was a small, relatively unknown school, and the headline in The New York Times the next day was “Notre Dame Open Play Amazes Army.” Using his small, 145-pound body, Notre Dame senior quarterback Gus Dorais sidestepped and avoided huge Army tacklers and lofted thirteen out of seventeen attempted pass completions to several receivers for 243 passing yards. One of his favorite targets that day was senior Knute Rockne, his dormitory roommate and frequent practicing partner during the previous summer. Rockne scored a key fourth-quarter touchdown by faking a leg injury—after limping around, he suddenly sprinted beyond his defender, caught the pass, and scored. Before 1906, the football was round, like the rugby and soccer balls from which it was descended. It would take many years for the rules committee to adopt a lighter, narrower ball with seams that allowed the aerodynamic, spiral-spinning flight of the modern throw. The earliest passes were thrown end over end, or the ball was thrown with an upward pushing motion high and soft into the air, and offensive players would run downfield and defend and block for the receiver while he tried to catch the ball. Significance The founding of the organization that became the NCAA changed American college football from the dangerous and injury-plagued game it had been before 1906. Through the efforts of this organization, rules were created that both made the game safer and increased spectator interest. The innovation of the forward pass was one of these rules.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Most college football teams began implementing the forward pass soon after it was made legal, but it was not until the relatively small Notre Dame team of 1913 decisively triumphed over the Army team that the potential of the pass play gained significant media attention. From that time on, coaches’ strategies, offensive players’ throwing and catching skills, and rules began to evolve into the modern game, in which passing and catching have equal prestige. —Alan Prescott Peterson Further Reading Falla, Jack. NCAA: The Voice of College Sports. Mission, Kans.: National Collegiate Athletic Association, 1981. A historical biography of the NCAA that explains how the 1906 changes in football rules, including those related to the forward pass, significantly contributed to the formation of the NCAA. Lazenby, Roland. The Pictorial History of Football. San Diego, Calif.: Thunder Bay Press, 2000. Primarily a historical account of football’s development. Includes many photographs as well as a factual written account of the forward pass’s legalization. Walsh, Christy, ed. Intercollegiate Football: A Complete Pictorial and Statistical Review, from 1869 to 1934. New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1934. Historical biography includes analysis and photographs of the players and coaches who had impacts on football’s evolution. Walters, John. Notre Dame: Golden Moments. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 2004. A pictorial and written summary recounting the author’s opinions on the twenty most important games in the history of Notre Dame football, including the 1913 game against the Army, when the much smaller Notre Dame team conquered the powerhouse Army using the forward pass. Whittingham, Richard. Rites of Autumn: The Story of College Football. New York: Free Press, 2001. Companion book to the video series of the same name. Details the historical development of college football. See also: Jan. 1, 1902: First Rose Bowl Game; Oct. 113, 1903: Baseball Holds Its First World Series; Oct. 1-9, 1919: Black Sox Scandal; Aug. 20-Sept. 17, 1920: Formation of the American Professional Football Association; July 6, 1933: First Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Sinclair Publishes The Jungle
February, 1906
Sinclair Publishes THE JUNGLE Upton Sinclair’s novel about labor exploitation and unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry shocked the American public and expedited governmental reforms. Locale: Chicago, Illinois Categories: Literature; business and labor; social issues and reform Key Figure Upton Sinclair (1878-1968), American author
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Summary of Event In the early years of the twentieth century, the combination of laissez-faire capitalism and the Industrial Revolution was creating monopolistic industries in the United States and generating huge fortunes for those who controlled them. The captains of industry sincerely believed that mass production would benefit humanity by making consumer goods cheap and abundant. They believed that business competition was a good thing because it stimulated innovation and efficiency. Their aim was to get the maximum production from the minimum investment in labor and raw material. The theory of social Darwinism appealed to their needs precisely. This is a theory that the struggle for existence improves the human species because the stronger thrive while the weaker perish. The extrapolation from Charles Darwin’s theories regarding the evolution of plant and animal life seemed to justify driving workers to the limits of human endurance, encouraging unrestricted immigration to swell the labor pool, and using corporate profits to control federal, state, and local governments and make it virtually impossible for workers to put up any organized resistance. Big business interests also controlled public opinion through their control of newspapers and magazines. Many of these publications were owned outright by powerful capitalists; most others were dependent on advertising revenue derived from business interests and did not dare to offend them. The attitude of the money barons of the period is succinctly expressed by a character in the motion picture Citizen Kane (1941). The film’s fictional protagonist, Charles Foster Kane, owner of vast financial interests, including a chain of newspapers, declares, “The public will think what I tell them to think.” Mechanization and mass-production methods tended to replace skilled labor and resulted in a tremendous demand for unskilled workers who could be taught to do re-
petitive tasks. Employers hired efficiency experts to study their operations and break down the entire production process into the simplest possible components. The essence of the system was that the worker was not free to move around the factory but had the product conveyed to him or her by mechanical apparatus. The great comedian and movie producer Charles Chaplin satirized this dehumanizing procedure in his classic film Modern Times (1936), a work modeled on Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. The general public tended to believe in the system because it seemed to represent progress: It was producing an abundance of cheap goods that seemed to be raising everyone’s standard of living. An example was Henry Ford’s mass-produced Model T, which was making it possible for the average American to own an automobile, a wonderful machine that opened up the world for recreation and exploration, a machine that formerly had been a symbol of upper-class status. The newly developing art form of advertising presented only the positive aspects of modern industrial production and ignored what went on behind the scenes. The demand for labor attracted illiterate, impoverished immigrants from all over Europe. They came to the United States with the dream of attaining a quality of life that was unthinkable in their native countries. Most of them were absorbed by the factory system, where they found themselves working even harder than they had in their homelands. They tried to organize unions, but there were many problems: religious differences, a variety of languages, competition from the influx of immigrant workers, and political corruption. Employers often had politicians and police on their side. Strikes were broken up by “goons” (hired thugs) and “scabs” (strikebreakers), aided and abetted by the police. Labor organizers were jailed on trumped-up charges. Worst of all, the flood of immigration created such relentless competition for jobs that workers were deprived of bargaining power. This naturally created a considerable amount of hostility among the various ethnic groups, making it difficult for workers to organize effectively. Inspired by his discovery of socialism, the idealistic young author Upton Sinclair selected the meatpacking industry as an example of capitalistic exploitation of human labor. He spent two months investigating working and living conditions in and around the Chicago packinghouses and presented his findings in the form of a novel, focusing on the career of a single immigrant laborer
Sinclair Publishes The Jungle named Jurgis Rudkus. What happens to Jurgis is intended to symbolize what happens to working people generally under laissez-faire capitalism. Jurgis begins his working career as a powerful young man full of optimism and ambition. He and his young wife believe in the American Dream—the dream of acquiring their own home and living a comfortable life through hard work, honesty, and thrift. Jurgis is gradually broken down by the excruciating work in the slaughterhouse. He also becomes disgusted by the greed and corruption that destroy human lives and result in incredibly filthy methods of handling of meat. Diseased animals and putrefying meat are regularly sold to the American public and exported all over the world. The packinghouses are infested with rats, which often get mixed in with the sausage meat. Sinclair piles one horrible detail on top of another. His most memorable example combines the exploitation of labor by big business and its disregard for the consumer in the pursuit of profit: Some
To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
Upton Sinclair. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 workers, exhausted by the long hours and speeded-up tempo dictated by the merciless machinery of mass production, actually fall into cooking vats and become part of the product that is sold to the public as “pure leaf lard.” Jurgis works hard and continues to cling to the American Dream until he injures himself on the job. After recuperating for two months, he finds that he has been replaced by younger, stronger men and can only get a job in a fertilizer plant, where he works under the most appalling conditions. His career continues on a downhill course. He becomes addicted to alcohol, is thrown in jail, is blacklisted, drifts from one temporary job to another, and becomes a strong-arm robber and a strikebreaker. His wife, son, and father all die tragically. Finally, all alone and in despair, Jurgis happens to attend a meeting where he hears a brilliant socialist speak on the evils of capitalism. Jurgis’s whole life is turned around by the realization that he is not really alone—rather, he shares the same problems as millions of other workers. Socialism becomes a substitute for religious faith. Sinclair hoped that his prescription would be accepted by the masses. Sinclair had started his literary career as a hack writer of fiction for young people. This experience taught him how to write in simple language. The Jungle became famous because it was easy to read and easy to understand. Almost immediately, other writers began to publish novels exposing other branches of American business. The exposé novel became and remained a popular genre of fiction. Significance The most immediate effect of The Jungle was that it expedited the passage of the federal Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which prohibited the shipment of adulterated foods and drugs in interstate commerce and required honest labeling. The Meat Inspection Act was passed in the same year. Enforcement of these acts led to the creation in 1930 of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, an agency that gradually acquired more and more supervisory control over production and sale of consumer goods. This legislation helped to establish a precedent for further government control of business operations. Government control of business had a strong, usually positive, effect on consumer rights. The nation’s health was better, and consumers felt less anxious about what they were eating and feeding their children. It would be hard to imagine living in a civilized society without such safeguards. This, however, was not the effect Sinclair had tried to achieve. In his autobiography, he wrote, “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
The Making of Sausage This description of packinghouse practices from Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle illustrates why many readers of the novel became vocal in their support of passage of the federal Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act: There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there would come all the way back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was mouldy and white—it would be dosed with borax and glycerine, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption. There would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs. There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it. It was too dark in these storage places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats. These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned bread out for them, they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together. This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit. Source: Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (New York: Doubleday, Page, 1906).
plied to big business, this might be translated into the modern term “corporate responsibility.” In the long run, The Jungle was most important in the influence it had on other artists. The book was a best seller in the United States and Great Britain and made Sinclair famous. He went on to write influential propagandistic fiction and nonfiction for sixty years. His works were translated into at least forty-seven languages in thirty-nine countries. He showed how complex economic and political ideas can be presented effectively in dramatic form to appeal directly to the masses. In Sinclair’s model, a viewpoint character is broken by an oppressive system and finally comes to realize the need for political action. The reader identifies with the viewpoint character and thereby shares in that character’s conversion to an ideology. Variations of The Jungle have appeared throughout the world because the novel proved to be such a valuable propaganda tool. Because Sinclair’s model can be used just as effectively to arouse public anger against socialistic bureaucracy as against capitalistic megalopoly, novelists in the Soviet Union, China, and Eastern Europe have attacked the evils of socialism with the same tool that Sinclair forged to promote it. In Mammonart (1925), a nonfiction work, Sinclair’s thesis is that all art is propaganda, that it cannot help but be propaganda, and that modern artists should not feel squeamish about using their work as propaganda to agitate for the betterment of humankind. The most important effect of The Jungle and its many imitations was that they undermined the popular belief that the ambitious individual can find happiness and financial success through hard work and thrift—the socalled American Dream. Instead, these works helped to promote a mass consciousness of the need for joint action to effect improvement in human affairs. —Bill Delaney Further Reading Agee, James. “A Mother’s Tale.” In James Agee: “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” “A Death in the Family,” Shorter Fiction, edited by Michael Sragow. New York: Library of America, 2005. Intriguing and highly unusual short story describes the whole process of raising and butchering cattle from the point of view of an animal who managed to escape from a slaughterhouse. Arthur, Anthony. Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair. New York: Random House, 2006. Biography emphasizes Sinclair’s interest in social reform, including his political ambitions. Provides interesting coverage of 511
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stomach.” The public was much more concerned about the food it ate than about the plight of the workers who produced it. What people remembered about the book was “rats in the sausage.” The history of The Jungle symbolizes the main problem of socialism as a solution to the world’s problems. Human nature is arguably more selfish than cooperative. It is impossible to get an entire population to work hard for an ideal: People want tangible personal rewards, and these are the things that capitalism has provided more effectively than has socialism. The unrest in the Soviet Union, China, and Eastern Europe in the early 1990’s demonstrated that socialistic dictatorships may start off with idealistic principles but are forced to resort to guns and concentration camps to motivate their constituents to produce. Sinclair himself lost his zest for socialism in his old age and changed his credo to “social justice.” As ap-
Sinclair Publishes The Jungle
Sinclair Publishes The Jungle the author’s life after publication of The Jungle. Includes photographs. Asch, Peter. Consumer Safety Regulation: Putting a Price on Life and Limb. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Analysis of the major arguments advanced for consumer protection laws by an economist concerned with regulation. Argues that consumer protection laws often have perverse consequences, although the right to safety must also be considered. Includes discussion of the effect of publication of The Jungle in promoting disclosure laws. Bloodworth, William A., Jr. Upton Sinclair. Boston: Twayne, 1977. Brief volume addresses Sinclair’s career as an idealistic writer and reformer. Focuses on Sinclair’s place in American social and literary history, with special emphasis on his significance as a voice in pre-World War I reform. Dell, Floyd. Upton Sinclair: A Study in Social Protest. 1927. Reprint. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2005. Brief but balanced survey of Sinclair’s life from his youth to his late forties. Includes a brief discussion of The Jungle. Goodwin, Lorine Swainston. The Pure Food, Drink, and Drug Crusaders, 1879-1914. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1999. Survey of the history of lobbyists and elected officials who fought for legislation to protect the public from dangerous food and drug products. Harris, Leon. Upton Sinclair: American Rebel. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1975. Biography relies heavily on Sinclair’s extensive correspondence as well as on numerous interviews with individuals who knew him. Devotes two chapters to discussion of The Jungle.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Hilts, Philip J. Protecting America’s Health: The FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. Documents the history of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from its establishment during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Emphasizes the FDA’s regulatory role and its battles against entrenched business interests. Mookerjee, R. N. Art for Social Justice: The Major Novels of Upton Sinclair. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1988. Intelligent overview of Sinclair’s career devotes a chapter to The Jungle. Includes extensive footnotes and bibliography. Sinclair, Upton. The Autobiography of Upton Sinclair. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962. Provides the best introduction to Sinclair’s philosophy and his unique personality. Includes a great deal of information about the writing of The Jungle and describes many of the famous people the author came to know during his lifetime. _______. The Jungle. 1906. Reprint. New York: Modern Library, 2002. The novel that brought corrupt food industry practices to international attention is one of the first major media exposés in U.S. history. See also: Feb. 23, 1903: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce; Jan. 30, 1905: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust; June 30, 1906: Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act; 1910: Euthenics Calls for Pollution Control; 1927: U.S. Food and Drug Administration Is Established; 1933: Kallet and Schlink Publish 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Establishment of the British Labour Party
February 12, 1906
Establishment of the British Labour Party The formation of the Labour Party, with its trade unionist and socialist principles, created a voice for the lower classes in a leading industrial and capitalist society. Locale: London, England Categories: Business and labor; government and politics Key Figures Keir Hardie (1856-1915), first leader of the Labour Party Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937), first secretary of the Labour Representation Committee, later first Labour prime minister of Great Britain John Burns (1858-1943), first working-class person to become a cabinet minister in Great Britain Ben Tillett (1860-1943), founder of the London dockworkers’ union Henry Mayers Hyndman (1842-1921), leader of the Socialist Democratic Federation
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Summary of Event The lower classes of any society rarely, if ever, have the opportunity for direct access to the primary decisionmaking bodies, let alone the chance to obtain control of the reins of government in a collective manner. The creation of the British Labour Party in 1906 was one of the first significant steps toward direct, purposeful links to working-class objectives for political action and leadership in any industrial country to that time. That this event occurred in Great Britain, the country of origin of both capitalism and modern industrialism, makes it all the more significant. The Labour Party evolved out of a series of attempts by workers, socialists, and trade unionists to play a direct role in the British parliamentary system. Class privilege was at the heart of the British political tradition. Attempts to change the electoral system dated to the Reform Act of 1832. Efforts such as Chartism during the 1830’s and 1840’s failed to gain the vote for workers or to make Parliament more accessible to persons of the lower classes. Although the Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884 extended the ballot to males, first in the industrial and then in the agricultural sector, a supporting role was still the only means by which the newly enfranchised, but still largely powerless, workers could attempt to affect political outcomes. By the end of the nineteenth century,
such a strong informal coalition had been formed between labor groups and the Liberal Party that candidates with dual support were referred to as Lib-Labs. The rapid industrialization of Great Britain had created serious problems that society either ignored or only slowly addressed. Various groups claimed to possess the needed solutions and used these plans as a means of attracting followers. Trade unionists and socialists were two of the more significant camps out of which a variety of organizations emanated in the nineteenth century. The Labour Party would finally emerge from the efforts of these groups. At times these bodies worked independently, and at other times they formed coalitions. All played varying roles in heightening awareness of particular issues and attempting to draw members into supporting class-based political stances and organizations. Principal among these were the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), the Fabian Socialists, and the Independent Labour Party (ILP). One of the primary groups from which the Labour Party emerged was the TUC, formed in 1868 partially as an outgrowth of the extension of the vote to male workers the previous year. The TUC was particularly concerned with working conditions and workers’ compensation for work-related illness, disability, and unemployment. As a federation of unions, the TUC concentrated on union issues more than on political candidates. Some of its members were politically active, however. Keir Hardie, one of the first trade unionist representatives elected to Parliament, was a leader within the TUC. Hardie, with roots in Scottish trade unions and socialist ideology, would more than any other individual influence the progression of events that led to the formation of the Labour Party. The ability of the lower classes to address grievances and to seek gains was limited and worsening. A number of conflicts had widened the gulf between labor and management. These confrontations heightened trade unionist and socialist leaders’ awareness of their lack of political power. One major success by labor, the London Dock Strike of 1889, heightened expectations of what might be achieved. Broad-based support, widespread publicity, and effective leadership from such figures as John Burns and Ben Tillett demonstrated what was possible. Both Burns and Tillett emerged as leaders in the TUC as a consequence. The drive toward political independence began a few years later, with the creation of the Independent Labour
Establishment of the British Labour Party
Keir Hardie. (Library of Congress)
Party (ILP) in January, 1893. Spearheaded by Hardie, representatives of the SDF, Fabians, various trade unions, and other organizations convened to establish a mechanism for more direct support of candidates who would be independent of other parties and directly committed to trade unionism and socialism. This new organization—yet another coalition—was a major step toward the eventual creation of the Labour Party. The formation of the new group, while intensifying collective efforts and heightening public awareness of a common agenda, was on a relatively small scale and without major public fanfare. The group lacked a cause that would ignite the public’s imagination and create sufficient support for the autonomous political faction. That event occurred in 1900, when railroad workers struck the Taff Vale Railway Company. The company sued and won damages for lost revenue. The court decision, which was upheld by the House of Lords in 1901, represented a fundamental threat to workers’ ability to act collectively in labor-management disputes. The drive to reverse this decision was the essential galvanizing force that forged 514
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 the coalition of various labor and socialist elements that previously had worked in splintered fashion on separate trade-specific or ideologically divergent programs. Coalition building was difficult, given the idiosyncrasies of some of the leaders of the various organizations. Debate over the best strategy and the question of whether to include socialists in the aims of labor had long kept the major players in the trade unionist and socialist camps from coalescing for action. The socialists were split among various groups, with the likes of the SDF, led by Henry Mayers Hyndman, on the more radical end of the spectrum contrasted with the middle-classsupported Fabian Socialists. The Fabians, with Beatrice and Sidney Webb and George Bernard Shaw among their leaders, called for gradual, evolutionary political introduction of socialist policies and programs. A more direct step, with concrete measures for supporting independent candidates, had been taken on February 27, 1900, when Hardie organized the creation of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), supported by the TUC, the ILP, Fabians, and the SDF (the SDF would drop out shortly thereafter). Many historians view the establishment of the LRC as the pivotal step in the creation of the Labour Party. The events of 1906 were but a culmination of the decisions to act made in 1900. The LRC went beyond the efforts of any of the separate organizations that established it and extended previous efforts at political action. The sole purpose of the LRC was to achieve political victories in parliamentary elections for candidates tied to labor. The composition of this new body guaranteed that both trade unionism and socialist principles would be fused in the solutions offered to the nation by candidates identified with the LRC. Trade unions were initially slow to respond to the new organization, which initially provided endorsements and encouragement only to those candidates directly identified as labor candidates. However, the uproar that arose over the Taff Vale case contributed to a rapid increase in the LRC’s popularity, and membership in the organization reached 847,000 by 1903. Ramsay MacDonald, who later would become Great Britain’s first Labour prime minister, served as the first secretary of this new political coalition. In 1903, the LRC established a political fund. In a firm stand for independence, it demanded that LRC candidates not be affiliated with other political parties.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 The final step toward political autonomy came with the election of January, 1906. In the midst of an overwhelming victory by the Liberals, twenty-nine out of fifty candidates sponsored by the LRC were elected to Parliament. Of these, only three were opposed by Liberals. A sufficient number of Labour candidates were elected to form a new parliamentary Labour Party caucus. On February 12, the newly elected representatives met and selected officers, including Keir Hardie as the first chair. Three days later, the slate and the decision to name the organization the Labour Party were carried by the conference of the LRC. This name change was the end of one era and the beginning of a new phase of a Labour opposition party, voicing lower-class, trade unionist, and socialist aspirations in Parliament. The Labour Party would gain control of the government several times during the twentieth century.
Among the immediate consequences of the establishment of the Labour Party was the reversal of the implications of the Taff Vale case by passage of the Trade Disputes Act of 1906. Unions gained some rights, although the challenges, both legislative and otherwise, to actions taken during collective bargaining were not fully removed. The coalition backing Labour began to broaden significantly when the miners voted in 1908 to affiliate with the Labour Party. The Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1906 nearly doubled the number of those covered, from seven to thirteen million, by expanding the list of diseases included under the legislation. In 1908, Parliament established an eight-hour workday for miners and provided for statesupported pensions for some workers. Female workers benefited in 1909 from the establishment of a minimum wage for certain sweatshop-type employment. In addition to pension and workers’ compensation provisions, some elements of a broadening state responsibility for society, but especially the lower classes, began to be enacted. These measures demonstrated socialist concerns that extended beyond union or work activities. Primary among these early acts were those that required medical inspection of schoolchildren (1907) and enabled, although did not mandate, school food programs. The Housing and Town Planning Act of 1909 targeted urban slums. These legislative actions, although important, still required the support of the Liberal Party, which was in control of the government. Labour’s electoral achievements of 1906 spurred others to be more attentive to a large segment of society that had gone too long without a platform in the national government. Other pieces of the Labour demands would begin to emerge in subsequent years. The successes of 1906 were encouraging to Labour’s supporters; however, these gains did not resolve the ideological and class conflict inherent in a modern industrial society. —Daniel J. Doyle Further Reading Cole, G. D. H., and Raymond Postgate. The British People, 1746-1946. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1961. A pioneering classic in working-class history. Provides extensive information on social, labor, and political history from 1746 to 1946. Hinton, James. Labour and Socialism. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1983. Examines the relationship between trade unionism and the range of working-class interests and distinguishes the nature of London politics and unionism from that in other re515
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Significance The decision to form the LRC in 1900, the election victory in January, 1906, and the final, formal establishment of what is now known as the Labour Party demonstrated the growing social divisions in British society and the commitment of an increasing segment of the electorate from the lower and middle classes to support an agenda tied to implementing some of the demands of Labour’s constituency. The electoral successes in 1906 are significant as demonstration that social and labor issues could not be ignored easily. Legislation was passed during the next few years that rectified some of labor’s pressing concerns and began to implement what would later be called the British welfare state. Efforts at political activism that dated from the 1830’s were finally realized. One significant difference from the Chartist agenda was the inclusion of socialist representatives and principles in the Labour Party. The supporters of candidates identified with Labour rose from more than 300,000 in 1906 to 500,000 in 1910 and 4.5 million in 1922. Labour achieved control of Parliament for the first time in 1924, with Ramsay MacDonald as prime minister. The Labour Party became a major force in British politics after World War II and continued to hold significant power until the 1970’s. Then, after eighteen years of Tory government, Labour regained power with a landslide victory in 1997 under the leadership of Tony Blair. Labour won three successive elections under Blair, although in the third-term elections of 2005, Labour support declined to a slim majority compared with its more robust domination of parliamentary seats in the previous two election cycles.
Establishment of the British Labour Party
Lee Establishes the Field of Public Relations gions. Covers the period from 1867 to 1974 in a tone critical of failures of Labour. Howell, David. British Workers and the Independent Labour Party: 1888-1906. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 1983. One of the most comprehensive studies available on one of the key forerunners of the Labour Party. Analysis of the significance of the ILP forms the concluding chapters of this major work. McBriar, A. M. Fabian Socialism and English Politics, 1884-1918. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1962. Extensive study of the Fabian Socialists, with concluding chapters on Fabian influence on the origins of the Labour Party. Presents a reasonably complete picture of the issues and forces from which Labour emerged. McKibbin, Ross. The Evolution of the Labour Party, 1910-1924. 1974. Reprint. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1984. Examines early successes of the party in the context of local and parliamentary politics and traces the rise of Labour along with the decline of the Liberals. Claims that socialism was not vital to Labour’s popularity. Martin, Ross. TUC: The Growth of a Pressure Group, 1868-1976. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1980. A broad overview of the Trades Union Congress, which was one of the key players in setting the agenda that Labour adopted.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Pelling, Henry. The Origins of the Labour Party, 18801900. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1965. The classic study on the topic. Focuses primarily on the Independent Labour Party, establishing a general evolution of Labour rather than raising critical questions or providing class analysis. Pugh, Martin. The Making of Modern British Politics, 1867-1945. 3d ed. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 2002. Sophisticated account of British political history from the 1860’s to the outbreak of World War II. Includes discussion of the evolution of the Labour Party in the late twentieth century. Reid, Alastair J., and Henry Pelling. A Short History of the Labour Party. 12th ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Covers the period from 1906 forward. Includes an annotated bibliography. Reid, Fred. Keir Hardie. London: Croom Helm, 1978. A brief analysis of the first labor and socialist representative elected to Parliament. Raises critical questions as to Hardie’s real attitude toward the working class. See also: 1903: Shaw Articulates His Philosophy in Man and Superman; Sept. 4-15, 1911: Students Challenge Corporal Punishment in British Schools; 19201925: Great Britain Establishes Unemployment Benefits; May 3-12, 1926: British Workers Launch General Strike; July 2, 1928: Great Britain Lowers the Voting Age for Women.
Spring, 1906
Lee Establishes the Field of Public Relations By cooperating with the press during a labor dispute involving the Anthracite Coal Roads and Mines Company, Ivy Ledbetter Lee established open disclosure as a public relations philosophy. Locale: Pennsylvania Categories: Business and labor; publishing and journalism Key Figures Ivy Ledbetter Lee (1877-1934), American public relations consultant George Frederick Baer (1842-1914), leader of the anthracite coal mine operators and the Philadelphia and Reading Railway John Mitchell (1870-1919), leader of the United Mine Workers 516
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 George F. Parker (1847-1928), American public relations consultant Alexander J. Cassatt (1839-1906), president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Summary of Event In 1906, as a second major strike in four years threatened to paralyze mining operations and further encourage federal regulation, George Frederick Baer and his coal mining associates (all affiliated with J. P. Morgan’s financial empire) retained an up-and-coming young publicist named Ivy Ledbetter Lee to help manage the potentially explosive situation. Instead of following standard corporate procedures and suppressing information flows
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 to the public, Lee adopted what was then a radical approach. He candidly announced that he was a publicity consultant who had been hired by the anthracite coal mine management to handle publicity, then invited the press to ask questions. Lee actively distributed information through press releases that were written according to the standard style guidelines followed by journalists of the time, another departure from the normal procedure for corporations. His open disclosure and dissemination of information in an easily used form effectively promoted his client as cooperative, open, and honest. Grasping the moment, Lee sent his now-legendary “Declaration of Principles” to appropriate newspaper editors. These principles set the tone for the practice of modern public relations and still serve as the standard for ethics in the industry. Lee stated: This is not a secret press bureau. All our work is done in the open. We aim to supply news. This is not an advertising agency; if you think any of our matter ought properly to go to your business office, do not use it. Our matter is accurate. Further details on any subject treated will be supplied promptly, and any editor will be assisted most cheerfully in verifying directly any statement of fact. Upon inquiry, full information will be given to any editor concerning those on whose behalf an article is sent out. In brief, our plan is, frankly and openly, on behalf of the business concerns and public institutions, to supply to the press and public of the United States prompt and accurate information concerning subjects which it is of value and interest to the public to know about.
vestigative journalists made a living exposing corruption in business and government. Articles and books published during this period by authors such as Lincoln Steffens, Frank Norris, Ida Tarbell, and Upton Sinclair resulted in legislation that continues to influence American society, such as the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. President Theodore Roosevelt strongly believed that the federal government had a responsibility to protect the public’s welfare when conflicts arose among management, labor, and consumers. A master of publicity himself, Roosevelt maintained a high profile in the popular press and used it to pursue his policies effectively. Although a Republican, Roosevelt had progressive views. He successfully challenged huge corporations such as the Northern Securities Company, Pennsylvania Railroad, Standard Oil, and United States Steel through use of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and impeded their attempts to concentrate economic power. His well-publicized conservation policies saved many American resources from excessive exploitation. Business leaders reacted by trying to use the same weapons to their own advantage. They turned in increasing numbers to publicity to help defeat what they considered to be harsh and unfair regulatory attempts. Baer’s hiring of Ivy Lee in 1906 was one such attempt to use publicity, although one arrived at with difficulty. As coal mining operations had consolidated into a few huge organizations during the 1890’s, the United Mine Workers (UMW) union had expanded as well. In 1902, the UMW’s 150,000 members went out on strike in the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania. This spectacular strike lasted from May until October and threatened the nation’s major source of heating fuel as winter approached. President Roosevelt was determined to halt the dispute and threatened to operate the mines under the supervision of federal troops. Management did a poor job of handling the situation, remaining aloof and seemingly unconcerned about Roosevelt, worker demands, and the public’s fear of freezing to death with winter coming on. Baer made only one statement to the press during the entire ordeal, and when it was published, it angered the American people. He essentially told the press that labor rights were the responsibility of the men to whom God had seen fit to give control of the nation’s property interests, and not the responsibility of labor agitators. On the other hand, John Mitchell, the head of the UMW, demonstrated model press relations during the turmoil. He treated reporters with respect, providing them with trustworthy information concerning the 517
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A Princeton graduate, Lee had been a newspaper journalist from 1899 to 1903, when he began taking on clients as a publicist. In 1904, Lee and George F. Parker formed Parker and Lee, one of the nation’s first publicity agencies. In contrast to Lee, Parker was somewhat of a traditionalist in the field. He was much older and more experienced, however, and had a number of important connections in the business and political arenas, with such men as George Westinghouse and Thomas Fortune Ryan. Parker’s contacts enabled Lee to take on work that established his reputation. Although Parker and Lee held together for less than four years, the firm was a major springboard from which Lee launched his illustrious and often controversial career. The late 1800’s and early 1900’s constituted an era of social consciousness, and big business and government were ill equipped to deal with that fact. The Populist political party grew from distrust of capitalist power brokers and corrupt government officials. Muckraking in-
Lee Establishes the Field of Public Relations
Lee Establishes the Field of Public Relations UMW’s point of view. Some accused the press of showing a pro-union bias in coverage of the strike. Mitchell made complete statements to reporters, whereas the mine operators maintained silence; thus it was primarily the UMW’s perspective that appeared in print. As a result of this one-sided communication flow and the disastrous statement made by Baer, the public was influenced to sympathize with labor rather than with management. With public opinion turned against the coal mine operators and President Roosevelt threatening to send in federal troops, management was forced to compromise. Labor won a shorter workday, a 10 percent pay increase, and other union rights. By 1906, another major UMW strike was imminent, but this time the anthracite coal operators seemed to understand that their response must be different from that of four years before under similar circumstances. They retained Lee, who immediately announced to all newspapers that the coal mine operators realized the public’s interest in the situation and would supply the press with all information possible. The statements released by Lee during the period that followed were sent as signed notes from the men he represented, the Coal Operators’ Committee of Seven, which included Baer, W. H. Truesdale, J. B. Kerr, E. B. Thomas, J. L. Cake, David Willcox, and Morris Williams. Lee’s activities on behalf of the Coal Operators’ Committee of Seven represented a radical departure from the behavior exhibited by these men in the past. Instead of attempting to prevent journalists from gathering information, Lee saw to it that their work on the coal strike story was simplified. Reporters were given advance notice when a press conference was being held, including its place, time, and topic. A complete summary of the proceedings was distributed to the press within a short time after each meeting had adjourned. Lee knew what was newsworthy as well as the proper format in which to write his releases, so he was able to get many news articles published concerning positive aspects of the coal trust. Press officials were relieved to have such cooperation and welcomed input from the coal operators. As a result, the public received a more balanced treatment of the issues involved than they did during the 1902 strike. The situation was worked out more equitably and rationally than in 1902. Significance Lee’s success in getting favorable press coverage for the anthracite coal operators led to the retention of Parker and Lee by Alexander J. Cassatt, president of the Penn518
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 sylvania Railroad, in the summer of 1906. Lee immediately reinforced the direction he had established for the practice of public relations by boldly transforming the railroad’s policy of secrecy. When accidents coincidentally occurred at about the same time on a Pennsylvania Railroad line and a New York Central route, Lee arranged for reporters to travel to the scene of the Pennsylvania mishap at railroad expense, then helped them to take photographs and write their stories. Meanwhile, proceeding as usual, the New York Central line attempted to minimize reportage on its accident. As a result, the Pennsylvania Railroad management received enthusiastic praise for its handling of the situation, whereas the competition foundered in a wave of public criticism. The Pennsylvania Railroad was the acknowledged management leader in its industry at that time, much the same as General Motors would become in the 1950’s, and Lee’s position with such a prestigious and respected firm was highly visible. His unquestioned success in dealing with the accident was an important stride not only for his own career but also for the future of the public relations profession. Lee came to view his job not only as interpreting the organization to the public but also as interpreting the public to the organization. He wrote that the Pennsylvania Railroad management was pursuing a broad policy of common sense, which entailed doing as much for the public as possible because if it did so, the public would reward the firm with its loyalty. Lee attempted to humanize the company by relating many human-interest stories about company officials to the public through the use of pamphlets, press releases, and speeches. These stories told of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s contributions to agricultural education, college scholarships, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), and pension plans. He portrayed the company as one big happy family. Other firms realized the efficacy of Lee’s methods. International Harvester gave him the opportunity to prove his philosophy in the face of a Senate resolution to investigate the company for its alleged monopolistic practices. Lee wrote that International Harvester’s management welcomed such an investigation because it had done no wrong and that company officials would facilitate the proceedings in every manner possible. By expressing confidence in itself, the firm gained the goodwill of the public and government personnel. Lee soon had many imitators. Newspaper reporters looking to change careers realized that they had the skills necessary to recognize newsworthy events and report them clearly and objectively, and these individuals real-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Lee Establishes the Field of Public Relations
ized that business and governmental organizations needed such skills to promote themselves effectively. As a result, the modern practice of public relations was born and grew. It is interesting to note that Lee did not use the term “public relations” during this period to refer to his work; he used the term “publicity” instead. It was not until the mid-1910’s at the earliest that Lee began to refer to the tasks he performed as “public relations.” According to Ray E. Hiebert, a Lee biographer, Lee depended heavily on the works of others such as Andrew Carnegie, Woodrow Wilson, and Walter Lippmann and was not a great original thinker. He did possess, however, a unique ability to put the ideas of many others together and use the collection in original ways. Although Lee was not alone in establishing the field of public relations, he was the first to practice in it as an independent agent. Most important, Lee was the first to attempt to explain his occupation to the public. The 1906 anthracite coal mine strike was the first in a series of highly publicized events that gave Lee the opportunity to set good examples for a fledgling profession to follow. His success not only defined sound public relations practice but also illustrated the worth of such practice to management. Lee knew that a favorable public opinion toward a firm must be rooted in that firm’s ethical behavior. His ability to communicate this fact successfully to corporate management resulted in a more socially responsible business environment. —William T. Neese
widely used textbooks in public relations education. Provides accurate and comprehensive coverage of the profession. Henry, Kenneth. “Social History and Significance of Public Relations.” In Defenders and Shapers of the Corporate Image. New Haven, Conn.: College & University Press, 1972. Discusses the historical development of public relations in the United States. Hiebert, Ray E. Courtier to the Crowd: The Story of Ivy Lee and the Development of Public Relations. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1966. Major biographical work focuses primarily on Lee’s career rather than his private life. _______. “Myths About Ivy Lee.” In Perspectives in Public Relations, edited by Raymond Simon. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966. Dispels myths about Lee and analyzes the important contributions he made to the practice of public relations. Seitel, Fraser P. The Practice of Public Relations. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2003. Comprehensive textbook written from the practitioner’s perspective. Includes discussion of the evolution of the business of public relations. Tedlow, Richard S. Keeping the Corporate Image: Public Relations and Business, 1900-1950. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 1979. One of the most complete histories available of corporate public relations for the period covered. Recommended as a starting point for interested readers.
Further Reading Cutlip, Scott M., Allen H. Center, and Glen M. Broom. Effective Public Relations. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1999. One of the most
See also: Sept. 14, 1901: Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President; May 12-Oct. 23, 1902: Anthracite Coal Strike; Aug. 12, 1902: Founding of International Harvester Company.
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Azusa Street Revival
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
April, 1906-1908
Azusa Street Revival From a follower’s porch and later from an abandoned church in Los Angeles, African American pastor William Joseph Seymour launched what would become one of the best-known series of revival meetings held in the United States in the twentieth century. Also known as: Apostolic Faith Mission Locale: Los Angeles, California Category: Religion, theology, and ethics Key Figures William Joseph Seymour (1870-1922), American pastor who was the early leader of the Azusa Street congregation Jenny Evans Moore Seymour (1883-1945), leader of the Azusa Street congregation along with William Seymour, whom she married in 1908 Frank Bartleman (1871-1935), evangelist and writer who chronicled the Azusa Street Revival Charles Fox Parham (1873-1929), Seymour’s teacher, sometimes called “the grandfather of Pentecostalism” Summary of Event In February, 1906, a church in Los Angeles was looking for a new pastor. Two members, Neely Terry and Julia Hutchins, suggested William Joseph Seymour, who had attended Charles Fox Parham’s Bible school in Houston, Texas. Under Parham’s tutelage, Seymour had accepted the idea of sanctification, or second baptism, as a spiritual step beyond salvation. One of the signs of sanctification was speaking in tongues, also known as glossalia, which was described in the biblical book of Acts, in a scene in which the Holy Spirit comes to Jesus’ apostles after the Crucifixion. Seymour considered the ability to speak in tongues to be a great gift, and he preached about it at his first and only sermon at Terry’s and Hutchins’s church. Most members of the congregation disliked the message so intensely they locked Seymour out of their church, but the idea resonated deeply with some of Seymour’s listeners. One couple, Richard and Ruth Asberry, opened their home to Seymour and his meetings, and people from area Baptist and Holiness churches came to hear the message. Ultimately, crowds grew so large that the front porch of the Asberrys’ home collapsed. In April, Seymour’s associate Jennie Evans Moore— who would later become his wife—and Edward Lee, 520
who was providing Seymour with lodging, started speaking in tongues. Within a week, Seymour had followed suit. Curious, various spiritual seekers quickly flocked to the emerging group, prompting the need for a larger meeting space. The Apostolic Faith Mission, as Seymour’s group called itself, moved from the Asberrys’ home on Bonnie Brae Street to an old building on Azusa Street. This structure had previously been used as a warehouse, a livery stable, and an African Methodist Episcopal church. Services were held nearly continuously seven days a week, and many people, including Seymour, claimed the gift of tongues. Other signs of religious ecstasy included laughter, shaking, and jerking, physical manifestations that have been seen in other revivals and have parallels with spirit possession in other cultures and religious traditions. Revival witnesses reported hearing various songs and different stanzas being sung simultaneously. Sometimes Seymour would preach, but this was somewhat rare. For the most part he remained in silent prayer as others spoke and sang, and he reportedly kept his face in a box to limit distraction. In the beginning, there was no order of service. Anyone who wanted to preach at Azusa could stand up and do so. This openness would later cause conflict with some other Christians, who were concerned that not all the people speaking at Azusa were presenting sound Christian doctrine. As with many nascent religious groups, the powerful experience of divine presence was privileged over issues of authority and doctrine. In fact, the Azusa doctrine can be summed up in five basic points: It stressed salvation, sanctification or holiness, the ability to speak in tongues (as evidence that a believer had been baptized in the spirit), divine healing, and the return of Christ at some time in the very near future. This last element brought a sense of urgency as well as a validation of the group’s activities. The Azusa congregants viewed themselves as twentieth century parallels to the first Christians, whose dramatic experiences they studied in the Book of Acts. In both, speaking in tongues and participating in spontaneous worship while feeling filled with the spirit of God were common experiences. Preachers from around the world came to witness and bring some of the Pentecostal excitement back to their own congregations. Missionaries were also sent out from Azusa to spread the word and start new congregations. Among these missionaries was Frank Bartleman, an
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 evangelist and author, who wrote extensively about the movement in religious newspapers. Bartleman had been inspired and encouraged by the Welsh Revival taking place in Europe at about the same time, and he wrote that he had prayed for revival in California before the Azusa Street phenomenon began. Seymour and Clara Lum also used the printed word to diffuse the movement. Their newspaper Apostolic Faith was distributed free to thousands of pastors during the revival’s three years. The secular press also reported the story, focusing on the physical oddities of spiritual ecstasy and the growing crowds. The group’s leadership and makeup were unconventional for the time: African Americans and whites kneeled, danced, and spoke together. Rich and poor, educated and working-class joined together on makeshift pews. Women held positions of authority at Azusa, including Jennie Moore, who was the group’s copastor. Seymour had attended a female-pastored church before he moved to Los Angeles, and so the notion of women in positions of spiritual power did not bother him. Some later Pentecostal groups, however, would draw back from this egalitarianism, reserving priestly authority for men. The mixing of races did not sit well with some, including Seymour’s old mentor Parham, who spoke out against both the racial inclusion and physical manifestations at the Azusa Street Revival. After being invited to speak at Seymour’s revival—and then disinvited once his views became known—Parham unsuccessfully tried to start a rival church nearby. The church on Azusa Street lasted years after the intense revival period ended. Numbers did decline, however, especially after Seymour’s death in 1922. Moore pastored the group alone after her husband’s death, but the congregation lost its building in 1931, and the group folded shortly thereafter. The Azusa Street Revival, however, lives on as a vital part of Pentecostalism’s history.
Charles Fox Parham. Still, the Azusa Street Revival is an important focal point in the history of Pentecostalism, which has had a tremendous impact on American cultural and religious history and on Christianity around the world. — Elizabeth Jarnagin Further Reading Bartleman, Frank. Azusa Street. 1925. Reprint. New Kensington, Pa.: Whitaker House, 1982. A firsthand account of an evangelist and author active in the Azusa Street Revival. Perhaps unsurprisingly, much of the work reads like a sermon on the urgency of spreading the Pentecostal message. Despite the book’s title, not all the work focuses on that revival; it centers more on Bartleman’s life and work outside of it. Cox, Harvey. Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century. Reading, Mass.: Perseus Books, 1995. Cox sees Azusa Street as the real beginning of Pentecostalism. After giving a history of the revival, he describes a number of contemporary Pentecostal services and discusses the forms this movement has taken in Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the United States. Martin, Larry Edward. Doctrines and Disciplines of the Azusa Street Apostles. Colorado Springs: Christian Life Books, 2000. Martin takes material from William Seymour’s only book, published in 1915, and organizes the material for modern readers. Seymour’s focus is on providing policies, doctrines, and rituals for churches inspired by the Azusa movement. Martin has also written extensively on Seymour’s life and Azusa’s history. Wacker, Grant. Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001. Explores the history, lives, and beliefs of everyday Pentecostals from 1900 to 1925 and questions the stereotypes often attributed to this group. See also: Oct. 31, 1904-1906: Welsh Revival Spreads Pentecostalism; 1919: Founding of the World Christian Fundamentals Association; July 26, 1931: International Bible Students Association Becomes Jehovah’s Witnesses.
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Significance The Azusa Street Revival is an important historical event for two main reasons. First, the movement cut across lines of gender, race, and social standing, at least in its early stages. Second, many American Pentecostals point to the Azusa Street Revival as the founding of their faith. Some scholars of religion, however, question this claim by pointing to earlier events, such as the Topeka outpouring of 1901, which was led by Seymour’s teacher
Azusa Street Revival
San Francisco Earthquake
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
April 18, 1906
San Francisco Earthquake One of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history spawned a new era in urban planning and building regulation. Locale: San Francisco, California, and vicinity Categories: Disasters; urban planning Key Figures Eugene E. Schmitz (1864-1928), mayor of San Francisco Harry Fielding Reid (1859-1944), American geologist Dennis Sullivan (d. 1906), fire chief of San Francisco Frederick Funston (1865-1917), acting commander of the U.S. Army’s Pacific Division Summary of Event In 1906, San Francisco’s population was an estimated 410,000. The city developed rapidly after the California gold rush of 1849; it prided itself both on its museums and other cultural institutions and on the flamboyant, openly criminal Barbary Coast and Tenderloin districts. Eager for economic growth, developers ignored the San Andreas fault eight miles from the center of San Francisco, although significant earthquakes had been recorded along that fault in 1836, 1857, 1865, and 1868. The city also had suffered major fire damage six times between 1849 and 1851. Despite this history, developers extended the city into the bay, using as filler garbage, junk, rotting wood, and even abandoned ships. By 1906, approximately a quarter of the city’s population lived on the filled or “made” land. As early as 1868, experts had warned of the danger of earthquake damage to this land. In 1905, the National Board of Fire Underwriters had warned of major fire hazards, and Fire Chief Dennis Sullivan urged repairs of cisterns, development of a saltwater system for fire protection, and training of personnel in the use of explosives to provide firebreaks. These reports were ignored by city officials in a government noted for its corruption. At 5:12:05 a.m., Wednesday, April 18, 1906, a fortyfive-second shock wave was felt in the city and recorded as far away as Tokyo; ten to twelve seconds later, the heaviest jolt was felt. A third severe quake occurred at 8:14, and twenty-four aftershocks had been recorded by 7:00 p.m. The heaviest quake was recorded as a 9 on the de Rossi-Forel scale of intensity (a 10-point scale then in use); it has been estimated that the quake would have registered at 8.25 or 8.3 on the modern Richter scale. Every 522
brick building collapsed in Santa Rosa, about twenty miles away; to the south, near San Jose, some hundred residents and employees of Agnew’s Asylum for the mentally disturbed were killed. Palo Alto was severely damaged, as were other nearby towns. In San Francisco, eyewitnesses later reported, the streets heaved and rocked. Collapsing buildings raised clouds of dust. The largest concentration of dead and injured was in a twelve-by-six-block area south of Market Street near City Hall, an area of cheap frame rooming houses and hotels, stores, and restaurants. According to the 1900 census report, this area was second in population density only to Chinatown. City Hall, then the largest building west of Chicago, had been built on filled land. Portions of the building collapsed. Elsewhere in the area, the collapse of buildings into each other created widespread structural damage. Water conduits and telephone, telegraph, and fire alarm systems were destroyed, although the Signal Corps reestablished communication lines for the coordination of military efforts. Gas mains were shut off, but gas explosions still occurred. Everywhere, aftershocks, fires, and explosions sent crowds massing in the streets, some working with rescuers and some impeding rescue efforts. As fires broke out, many of the injured had to be left to die in the wrecked buildings as rescuers fled the flames. Fire Chief Sullivan was fatally injured in the first quake, thus firefighters were deprived of a centralized authority. In addition, the damage to fire stations had trapped equipment and allowed terrified horses to run away. Although the city’s firefighters lacked basic communication systems, they attempted to rescue victims from collapsed buildings and to respond to some fifty fires reported within seventeen minutes of the quake. Fires continued to break out. The worst of these, which came to be known as the “ham and eggs fire,” was supposedly started by a woman cooking breakfast in a house with a damaged chimney; the actual cause of the fire was never determined. This Hayes Valley fire spread rapidly toward City Hall and Mechanics Pavilion, to which patients from the earthquake-damaged Central Emergency Hospital had been evacuated. The 354 patients at the pavilion again were evacuated. Eyewitnesses reported that stacked bodies were left to the flames. Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz and Brigadier General Frederick Funston independently attempted to take charge of the city. Both apparently issued unconstitu-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
San Francisco Earthquake
To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
View of a section of San Francisco, looking east across Grant Avenue toward Yerba Buena Island, shows the level of devastation caused by the 1906 earthquake and the fires that followed. (AP/Wide World Photos)
fective firebreaks. The most effective help came from U.S. Navy vessels. Navy personnel, working with California state fireboats, provided hospital assistance and pumps that could draw salt water from the bay for firefighters on shore and could condense the fresh water needed to keep boilers heated on fire department engines. The Navy also removed some 30,000 persons to safety. Together with the 225,000 evacuated by the Southern Pacific Railroad, this constituted the largest peacetime evacuation of any U.S. city up to that time. The last fire was extinguished at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 21. Thirty schools, eighty churches and convents, a business section, and a quarter million homes had been lost. Fire had burned 2,831 acres, more than six times the area burned in the legendary 1666 fire of London. The best estimate of financial loss was between $350 million and $500 million, about twice the amount spent by the entire federal government that year. Financial matters dominated the postdisaster period. Official estimates of damages and deaths were kept low; 523
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tional orders for the shooting of looters. Many people other than criminals were gunned down, and police and military personnel sometimes joined the looters. After the disaster, residents and businesspersons complained that they had been allowed no chance to protect property or rescue goods; patrols ordered them to evacuate or be killed. In some areas where residents and workers were able to remain, damage from fire was minimal. Six men saved the Long Syrup Warehouse. The U.S. Mint, the courthouse, and the post office similarly were saved; ten postal employees successfully used dampened mail sacks to beat down the flames in their building. The Ferry Building, vital as an evacuation point, was preserved. Dynamite blasts set off by untrained personnel caused many of the fires. Funston authorized extensive dynamiting; Schmitz authorized the use of dynamite only when buildings already were about to burn. No coordinated effort was possible. Few of those setting off the blasts were trained in the use of explosives, and buildings were dynamited too soon or too late or too randomly to provide ef-
San Francisco Earthquake
“I thought the end of the world had come” G. A. Raymond was a guest at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco when the earthquake struck. He later gave this account: Outside I witnessed a sight I never want to see again. It was dawn and light. I looked up. The air was filled with falling stones. People around me were crushed to death on all sides. All around the huge buildings were shaking and waving. Every moment there were reports like 100 cannons going off at one time. Then streams of fire would shoot out, and other reports followed. I asked a man standing next to me what happened. Before he could answer a thousand bricks fell on him and he was killed. A woman threw her arms around my neck. I pushed her away and fled. All around me buildings were rocking and flames shooting. As I ran people on all sides were crying, praying and calling for help. I thought the end of the world had come. I met a Catholic priest, and he said: “We must get to the ferry.” He knew the way, and we rushed down Market Street. Men, women and children were crawling from the debris. Hundreds were rushing down the street and every minute people were felled by debris. At places the streets had cracked and opened. Chasms extended in all directions. I saw a drove of cattle, wild with fright, rushing up Market Street. I crouched beside a swaying building. As they came nearer they disappeared, seeming to drop out into the earth. When the last had gone I went nearer and found they had indeed been precipitated into the earth, a wide fissure having swallowed them. I was crazy with fear and the horrible sights. How I reached the ferry I cannot say. It was bedlam, pandemonium and hell rolled into one. There must have been 10,000 people trying to get on that boat. Men and women fought like wildcats to push their way aboard. Clothes were torn from the backs of men and women and children indiscriminately. Women fainted, and there was no water at hand with which to revive them. Men lost their reason at those awful moments. One big, strong man beat his head against one of the iron pillars on the dock, and cried out in a loud voice: “This fire must be put out! The city must be saved!” It was awful.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ham Ruef, were under investigation for bribery and extortion at the time of the earthquake. When President Theodore Roosevelt denounced the proposed segregation, the matter was allowed to die. More lasting controversies were caused by the refusal of many insurance companies to meet claims and by accusations that much of the six million dollars in aid sent to the city had found its way into the hands of corrupt city leaders. No exact figure can be given for the loss of life caused by the earthquake and fires. Official accounts estimated up to 550 known dead, but many others may have been buried by the quake, burned in the fires, or sickened by the outbreaks of typhoid, smallpox, plague, and meningitis that occurred in the refugee camps. Fatality figures did not include those who died as a result of lengthy illness and mental trauma. Counting the residents, sometimes illegal, of immigrant sections such as Chinatown, the transient residents of areas of cheap hotels and rooming houses, and the anonymous criminal and prostitute populations of the Tenderloin and Barbary Coast, actual loss of life may have been in the thousands.
Significance One of the greatest impacts of the 1906 earthquake was its contribution to modern seismic thinking, as expounded in detail in the State Earthquake Investigation Commission Report: the development of the elastic rebound theory. Geologist Harry Fielding Reid reevalSource: Quoted in The San Francisco Calamity by Earthquake and Fire, uated previous data in the light of the 1906 edited by Charles Morris (Philadelphia: J. C. Winston, 1906). data and demonstrated how earthquakes function. He showed that stresses build up slowly, putting rocks under increasing strain. Evengovernment and business interests wanted to encourage tually, the stresses obtain a critical level with respect to new investment and development. Fires, authorities reathe rock strength. When the rock strength is exceeded, soned, could be prevented. Earthquakes could not, and the rock fails, releasing energy, and the rock “snaps” fear of earthquakes might inhibit economic growth. The back to an unstrained position. This effect, known as disaster also was used unsuccessfully as an excuse to reelastic rebound, is the principle behind earthquake melocate Chinatown at Hunter Point and thus remove Chichanics. Sixty years later, the theory of plate tectonics nese from possession of some of the city’s most valuable was developed, giving new support to Reid’s theory. land, while the San Francisco Board of Education San Francisco dealt with its water-supply problem afplanned to rebuild with schools in which Asian students ter the earthquake. Fire Chief Sullivan had tried for years would be segregated. Both plans caused international to get an auxiliary system functioning, but the city’s incidents. Mayor Schmitz and his political patron, Abramoney had always gone to other projects. After the 524
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 quake, two saltwater pumping stations were established near the San Francisco Bay to tap that resource, more than one hundred cisterns under the city were refitted for use, and several reinforced concrete reservoirs were created in the hills around the city. Unfortunately, Sullivan did not live to see his ideas come to fruition. The earthquake also brought various potential problems to light. It demonstrated that building on soft, unconsolidated sediments and fill constitutes a great seismic hazard. The destruction of Santa Rosa, a town built on alluvium, and the direct correlation between collapsed buildings and fill and soft-sediment building sites were significant pieces of evidence. The quake also helped to show that building design is important in quake-prone areas; poorly constructed buildings sustained the greatest damage. After the 1906 quake, some communities in the state of California revised their building codes, but it was not until after the 1925 Santa Barbara and 1933 Long Beach quakes that serious attention was directed to creating building codes aimed at reducing earthquake-related damage. Even with the advances in construction and readiness that were made following the 1906 quake, when San Francisco was struck by a magnitude 7.1 quake on October 17, 1989—its second-worst quake since 1906—fires once again broke out throughout the city, especially in the heavily damaged Marina District, which was built on unstable soil. As in 1906, with water mains cut, citizens formed bucket brigades. An aftershock destroyed portions of Interstate 280 and the Embarcadero Freeway. Although a great deal of property damage occurred, the loss of life was substantially less in 1989 than that seen in 1906, with sixty-two fatalities in all of the affected areas of central California, including San Francisco. —Betty Richardson
Gilbert, Grove K., Richard L. Humphrey, John S. Sewell, and Frank Soulé. The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of April 18, 1906. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 324. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1907. Account of the San Francisco quake produced for the U.S. Geological Survey. Discusses the quake and fire phenomena and their effects on individual buildings in San Francisco and the surrounding area. Includes many photographs. Hansen, Gladys, and Emmet Condon. Denial of Disaster: The Untold Story and Photographs of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. San Francisco: Cameron, 1989. Detailed, profusely illustrated study corrects earlier histories and emphasizes the structural weaknesses and political scandals in San Francisco that led to avoidable damage. Includes extensive bibliography and index. Iacopi, Robert L. Earthquake Country: How, Why, and Where Earthquakes Strike in California. 4th ed. Tucson, Ariz.: Fisher Books, 1996. Details earthquake activity in California, providing excellent descriptions of quake phenomena for lay readers. Includes many photographs, diagrams, and maps. Lawson, Andrew C. The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1908. First part of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission’s report provides details on every facet of the quake and its effects. Includes hundreds of firsthand accounts as well as many diagrams and photographs. Morris, Charles, ed. The San Francisco Calamity by Earthquake and Fire: A Complete and Accurate Account of the Fearful Disaster Which Visited the Great City and the Pacific Coast, the Reign of Panic and Lawlessness, the Plight of 300,000 Homeless People, and the Worldwide Rush to the Rescue Told by Eye Witnesses. 1906. Reprint. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1986. A valuable collection, reissued without additions or corrections. Paananen, Eloise. Tremor! Earthquake Technology in the Space Age. New York: Julian Messner, 1982. Discusses earthquakes and volcanoes: their causes, their locations, how they are studied, and how people react to them. Includes photographs and brief bibliography. Reid, Harry F. The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906. Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1908. Second part of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission’s report discusses quake mechanics and introduces the elastic rebound 525
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Further Reading Bronson, William. The Earth Shook, the Sky Burned: A Photographic Record of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. 1959. Reprint. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2006. Vivid illustrated account of the events focuses on the chronology and on individuals caught in the catastrophe. Ditzel, Paul C. “San Francisco: Leather-Lungs Dougherty.” In Fire Engines, Firefighters: The Men, Equipment, and Machines from Colonial Days to the Present. New York: Crown, 1977. Brief account of the San Francisco disaster is valuable for its illustrations of the machines and other equipment available for firefighting and rescues at the time.
San Francisco Earthquake
First Meeting of the Duma theory. Covers many specifics about the quake and includes seismic data collected from around the world. Saul, Eric, and Don Denevi. The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, 1906. Millbrae, Calif.: Celestial Arts, 1981. Mostly a photographic account of prequake San Francisco, the quake, the fires, and the rebuilding of the city. Plenty of text and many firsthand accounts. Good bibliography. Smith, Dennis. San Francisco Is Burning: The Untold Story of the 1906 Earthquake and Fires. New York:
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Viking Penguin, 2005. Exhaustive, detailed account of the San Francisco disaster by a former firefighter. Includes index. See also: 1906-1910: Oldham and Mohorovi5i6 Determine the Earth’s Interior Structure; Dec. 28, 1908: Earthquake and Tsunami Devastate Sicily; Sept. 1, 1923: Earthquake Rocks Japan; Jan., 1935: Richter Develops a Scale for Measuring Earthquake Strength.
May 10-July 21, 1906
First Meeting of the Duma The first meeting of the Duma increased the political clout of Russian radical liberals, who lobbied for full parliamentary government and unsuccessfully pressured Czar Nicholas II to abandon attempts to preserve his personal autocratic rule. Locale: St. Petersburg, Russia Categories: Government and politics; organizations and institutions Key Figures Ivan Logginovich Goremykin (1839-1917), premier of Russia, May-July, 1906 Aleksandr Ivanovich Guchkov (1862-1936), leader of the Octobrists Pavel Miliukov (1859-1943), leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party Nicholas II (1868-1918), czar of Russia, r. 1894-1917 Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin (1862-1911), premier of Russia, July, 1906-1911 Sergey Yulyevich Witte (1849-1915), first constitutional premier of Russia, November, 1905May, 1906 Summary of Event The first Duma, or Russian parliament, met in May of 1906 to consolidate the constitutional government that had ostensibly been created by Czar Nicholas II by means of the October Manifesto of 1905. The czar granted the manifesto in the hope of avoiding further violence such as that witnessed during the Revolution of 1905. Events, however, disappointed him. Less than two months after promulgating the October Manifesto, the czar was forced to suppress uprisings in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and elsewhere in Russia. The relative ease with 526
which Nicholas handled the rebellions indicated that he still held supreme power in Russia and made him cautious about granting further concessions to the constitutionalists. Thus, as 1906 dawned, two ideologies competed for political supremacy in Russia. These ideologies pitted a revised constitutional monarchy against the continuation and invigoration of an absolute monarchy. While enthusiastic but inexperienced and uncompromising politicians prepared for the elections to the first Duma, the czar and his supporters were moving to undermine and circumvent the power of the soon-to-be elected parliament. Drawn up by the czar’s appointee, Count Sergey Yulyevich Witte, on the basis of guidelines announced in an imperial decree in August of 1905, the election laws provided for indirect elections of representatives, a large proportion of whom were assigned to the rural elements of the population. The government believed that these landowners and peasants would adhere to more conservative views than would townspeople and industrial workers. In another attempt to ensure that conservative ideas were upheld, the czar elevated the State Council to an upper legislative chamber with powers equal to those of the Duma. Half the members of the State Council were appointed directly by the czar, and the other half were elected by traditionally conservative groups such as the clergy, provincial zemstvos or assemblies, the nobility, and managers of businesses, the universities, and the Academy of Sciences. Finally, in the week before the first meeting of the Duma, the government issued the “Fundamental Laws,” which specified the powers—or, more accurately, the lack of powers—of the legislative body. Although Russia would now have an elected legislature, Nicholas II insisted on keeping the title of autocrat. The Fundamental
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erally more conservative and was critical of the land Laws consequently proclaimed: “The All-Russian Emexpropriation scheme of the Cadets. The Octobrists were peror possesses Supreme and Autocratic power. To obey willing to work within the constitutional framework esHis authority not only from fear but also from conscience tablished by the Fundamental Laws and Witte’s election is ordered by God Himself.” These laws stipulated that laws. With some exceptions, the radical Socialist Revono bills could become law until they were passed by both lutionaries and the Social Democrats boycotted the elechouses and were signed by the czar. There was provision tions. When the votes were counted, the Cadets had won for the Duma to override the czar’s veto of legislation. 180 of the 520 seats, whereas the Octobrists secured only The czar’s ministers were responsible to him alone and 12. In all, the first Duma comprised some forty political not to the Duma. Control of the budget was not to rest groups. with the Duma alone; if the two houses approved differWith a speech from the throne, Nicholas II formally ent budget figures, the czar could accept either. If no budconvened the first meeting of the Duma on May 10, get passed the legislature, the government could con1906, in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. From the tinue to use the one adopted the previous year. The czar outset, it was clear that the government had no intention retained absolute control over foreign policy, appointof permitting the Duma to exercise any real authority. ments, censorship, the armed forces, the police, and the The government was especially disturbed by the fact that summoning and dismissal of the Duma. When the Duma the conservative elements failed to elect a single deputy was not in session, the czar could rule by decree, theoretito the Duma, which the czar naïvely believed would be cally subject to review by the Duma when it reconvened. largely conservative in tone. Hence he was surprised Altogether, Witte’s election laws, the expansion of when the Duma, shortly after its convocation, presented the State Council into a conservatively oriented upper an “address to the throne” in which it demanded unihouse, and the Fundamental Laws had the collective reversal suffrage, direct elections, abolition of the upper sult of seriously compromising the October Manifesto chamber, parliamentary government, and extensive land and the constitutional government it had promised to reform based on the expropriation of large estates. establish. The czar’s attitude did not bode well for the Witte resigned as premier and was succeeded by Ivan success of even limited representative government in Logginovich Goremykin. On May 26, Goremykin delivRussia. ered an address to the Duma in which he categorically reMeanwhile, the various political parties and factions jected all these demands. Undaunted, the Duma persisted that had emerged in the wake of the Revolution of 1905 in its demands for extensive reforms during the two were making preparations for elections to the first Duma, months it was allowed to remain in session. During this planned for March of 1906. The two leading political parties, both of which could be described as moderate, were the Constitutional Democratic Party, or the Cadets, and the Union of October 17, or the Octobrists. Founded late in 1905, these two parties competed vigorously with each other in the election campaigns. The Cadets, led by the distinguished Russian historian Pavel Miliukov, championed the establishment of a parliamentary government under a constitutional monarchy, full participation of the Duma in framing a new constitution, and the expropriation of large estates, whose owners were to be compensated, in order to make more land available to the peasants. The program of the Octobrists, led by AlekArtist’s representation of the first meeting of the Duma in 1906. (Library of Congress) sandr Ivanovich Guchkov, was gen-
First Meeting of the Duma period, a vacillating Nicholas considered a proposal to bring Cadets into the government as a means of quelling opposition in the Duma. However, the reluctance of Miliukov to accept such a compromise, combined with the reservations of the minister of the interior, Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin, led Nicholas to dissolve the Duma on July 21. Stolypin, appointed on the same day to succeed Goremykin, pursued a reactionary course in the wake of the Duma’s fall.
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Significance Some two hundred deputies refused to accept the dissolution of the Duma. Crossing the border into the grand duchy of Finland, they gathered in the town of Viborg and there signed the so-called Viborg Manifesto, an appeal drawn up by Miliukov. In this document, the deputies rejected the government’s dissolution of the Duma as illegal. They further insisted, without any legal foundation for their claims, that the government could not collect taxes or draft conscripts for military service without the consent of the Duma. What is truly significant about this appeal is that it earned its supporters a three-month term in prison. Their imprisonment then marked them as criminals and made them ineligible to stand for reelection to any further Dumas, the second of which was to meet early in 1907. Deprived of some of its most competent political leaders, the cause of constitutionalism declined considerably in the years preceding the outbreak of the great Revolution of 1917. When the second Duma turned out to be even more radical than the first, Stolypin quickly dissolved it and, in June of 1907, carried out a virtual coup d’etat against the Fundamental Laws. He had the czar use his emergency power to enact legislation when the Duma was not in session to issue a decree that redesigned the election system. Stolypin’s alteration of the election laws in this fashion was a violation of the Fundamental Laws. By increasing the representation of the nobility, Stolypin succeeded in producing a conservative majority in subsequent Duma elections, but the unconstitutional method he used to effect this change further undermined the viability of constitutional government in czarist Russia. — Edward P. Keleher and Richard D. King
explores the factionalism among the czar’s opponents as well as that within the Russian government itself. Also discusses the restoration of order in 1906 and 1907. Emmons, Terence. The Formation of Political Parties and the First National Elections in Russia. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983. Scholarly monograph analyzes the workings of the liberal political parties and their election to the first Duma in 1906. Healy, Ann Erickson. The Russian Autocracy in Crisis, 1905-1907. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1976. Study of the 1905 revolution includes a detailed account of the meetings of the first Duma. Mehlinger, Howard D., and John M. Thompson. Count Witte and the Tsarist Government in the 1905 Revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1972. Focuses on the months between the October Manifesto and Witte’s resignation in April, 1906. Includes an informative discussion of the writing of the Fundamental Laws. Rawson, Don C. Russian Rightists and the Revolution of 1905. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Focuses on the emergence of Russian right-wing groups that opposed liberal constitutionalism and radical social reform. Includes illustrations, tables, bibliography, and index. Riha, Thomas. A Russian European: Paul Milliukov in Russian Politics. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1969. Political biography of the most prominent leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party focuses on the period from 1905 through 1917. Rogger, Hans. Russia in the Age of Modernisation and Revolution, 1881-1917. London: Longman, 1983. Focuses on the period of Russian history during the reigns of the last two czars, Alexander III and Nicholas II. Includes maps, selected bibliography, and index. Verner, Andrew M. The Crisis of Russian Autocracy: Nicholas II and the 1905 Revolution. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990. Traces the responses of the czar’s government in the face of growing opposition to autocracy.
Further Reading Ascher, Abraham. The Revolution of 1905: A Short History. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2004. Concise history by a highly respected scholar
See also: 1903-1906: Pogroms in Imperial Russia; Jan. 22, 1905: Bloody Sunday; Oct. 30, 1905: October Manifesto; Sept. 14, 1911: Assassination of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin.
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First Grand Prix Auto Race
June 26-27, 1906
First Grand Prix Auto Race The inaugural Grand Prix automobile race, hosted by the Automobile Club of France, laid the foundation for the successful future of international Grand Prix auto racing. Locale: Le Mans, Sarthe, France Categories: Sports; organizations and institutions; transportation Key Figures Ferenc Szisz (1873-1944), Hungarian race car driver Felice Nazzaro (1881-1940), Italian race car driver Vincenzo Lancia (1881-1937), Italian race car driver Vincenzo Florio (1883-1959), Italian race car driver and founder of the Targa Florio race
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Summary of Event The first Grand Prix auto race was the result of an earlier international competition known as the Gordon Bennett Cup. The decades of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the formation of a number of international automobile racing events that quickly gained both notoriety and popularity. Among these were the Gordon Bennett Cup races, which were sponsored by wealthy New York newspaper owner James Gordon Bennett, Jr. The races took place at different venues throughout Europe, and each participating country was limited to only three entries in a single race. The French did not like this restriction; given that France had more automobile manufacturers than any other nation (ten separate companies producing twenty-nine competitive models), they believed they should have the right to more entries. When it was time for France to host the Gordon Bennett race in 1905, the Automobile Club of France (ACF) proposed that another race, to be known as the Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France, be held simultaneously. The Grand Prix would allow for proportionate representation of manufacturers. This idea raised considerable controversy, and eventually it was decided that the two events would be held separately. (It should be noted that the name of this race can be a cause of some confusion, because the French often referred to eight earlier city-to-city races sponsored by the ACF as “grand prix” races and included the words grand prix—that is, “large prize”—in the titles of those races. However, the 1906 Grand Prix is considered the true first international auto racing competition to have the term “Grand Prix” figuring prominently in its title. Nevertheless, occasion-
ally the 1906 race is labeled the IX Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France.) By 1906, the Gordon Bennett races were no more, as the newspaperman had turned his attention to aviation and no challenge was put forth to the French winners of the 1905 trophy. With the absence of the Gordon Bennett Cup, the stage was set for the ACF to promote its Grand Prix race as a replacement. The publisher of L’Auto magazine put up a purse of 100,000 francs for the winner, and a location was chosen in northwestern France in the department of Sarthe near the town of Le Mans. The racing circuit was designed as a triangle about 64 miles (103 kilometers) long, connecting the towns of Le Mans, SaintCalais, and La Ferté-Bernard. The racers were to run the circuit counterclockwise twelve times over two daily sessions for a total of approximately 768 miles (1,236 kilometers). Natural roadway provided the majority of the racing surface, but the shortest leg of the course consisted of a plank boarding surface through a forest. This area contained a very narrow stretch that many observers considered to be a death trap. The ACF spent a great deal of money on laying out the circuit, but the expenditure was offset by entry fees and grants from the city of Le Mans and local hoteliers. Every detail of the race was carefully organized and rehearsed, from the general marshaling guidelines, which utilized flag signals (blue for caution and yellow for stop), to the horses that would bring the cars to the starting line, which were repeatedly exposed to engine noise so they would not be startled on the day of the race. The guidelines for entry specified that each factory could be represented by three cars, a rule that was viewed with a bit of cynicism by countries other than France. The entries included three cars from each of the French manufacturers Darracq, Panhard, Renault, Brasier, LorraineDietrich, Clément-Bayard, and Hotchkiss. Two cars representing Vulpès and one Gobron-Brillié rounded out the French entries. Italy sent three-car teams from both Itala and Fiat, and the German manufacturer Mercedes fielded three cars. All of these cars were basically similar in design, with four-cylinder engines in the front (to allow for larger size); the exception was the Gobron-Brillié, which had eight opposed cylinders. The most significant technical novelty debuting in the race was the detachable rim to facilitate quick tire changes. The rules stated that only the driver and his riding mechanic were permitted to work on their car, so
First Grand Prix Auto Race some teams made use of detachable rims, which allowed them to make a tire change in two to five minutes rather than the nearly fifteen minutes it took to change a tire without such a rim. Not all teams utilized this new technology, as a complete set increased the weight of a car by about 80 pounds (about 36 kilograms), and some cars, such as the Itala, were already dangerously near the weight limit of 2,205 pounds (1,000 kilograms). Among the well-known drivers in the race were local French driver Victor Hémery; Paul Baras, a onetime tricycle champion; Italian Vincenzo Lancia, who later founded the Lancia motorcar company; Italian Vincenzo Florio, the founder of the Sicilian auto race the Targa Florio, which had been held earlier that month; and popular Italian racer Felice Nazzaro. The race began at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 26, in front of a full crowd. The cars were numbered according to teams in the fashion of 1A, 1B, 1C, and most were painted in national colors. The cars were started individually in ninety-second intervals. The first driver to start the Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France was Fernand Gabriel in car 1A for the Lorraine-Dietrich team. Lancia led the first lap with a time of 53 minutes, 42.4 seconds, with Ferenc Szisz second and Baras third. On the third lap of the race, Szisz took the lead, which he held for the remainder of the day’s racing. Just before noon, he completed his sixth lap and acknowledged the yellow flag. Sixteen additional cars completed the sixth lap to join Szisz’s Renault in the enclosed locked area where the cars were guarded overnight to prevent anyone from attempting any sabotage or repair work. The race was grueling, with the drivers and mechanics suffering from the stinging of dust and tar in their eyes. All the drivers had their eyes treated by a doctor during the night. One of the Mercedes drivers decided he could not face another day and opted for a replacement. Lorraine-Dietrich driver Henri Rougier, who had finished last, barely recovered from his fourteen tire changes in time to meet his starting time on Wednesday. The starting times on the second day were determined by the racing times on the first. Seventeen cars were left to start the second day’s racing circuit. Szisz started first, and Rougier, in last place, set out 2 hours and 47 minutes later. Szisz held his lead and completed his final lap at 4:30 p.m. As his Renault crossed the finish line, the Hungarian and his riding mechanic, M. Marteau, were cheered on by a significant crowd, although fewer were in attendance than had been on the first day. Nazzaro, at the wheel of his Fiat, finished second and Albert Clément was third in a Clément-Bayard. Eleven of the thirty-four 530
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 cars slated at the beginning of the race finished, with the Brasiers being the only complete team. The fastest lap of the race was set by Baras, who completed the lap in 52 minutes, 25.4 seconds, at 117.94 kilometers per hour (about 73.28 miles per hour). Significance The Grand Prix de l’Automobile Club de France was considered to be a success, despite opinions that the racecourse itself had been too long. The race both established the tradition of the Grand Prix and secured the sustainability and future of international motor racing. The direct descendant of the Grand Prix is the modernday international Formula One series, which is the pinnacle of motor racing, both in status and in technology. The two-day format of the Grand Prix also inspired the future endurance race known as the Twenty-Four Hours of Le Mans. Technological innovations that debuted at the 1906 Grand Prix, such as the detachable-rim wheels created by Michelin, hydraulic dampers invented by Louis Renault, and high-tension magneto ignition, became staples of later model race cars. These innovations also served to promote the advancement of automobile technology in general. —Amanda J. Bahr-Evola Further Reading Dick, Robert. Mercedes and Auto Racing in the Belle Epoque, 1895-1915. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2005. Presents a window into automobile racing during the early twentieth century through the development of one car manufacturer. Scholarly work provides extensive coverage of technical and engineering developments. Includes photographs. Garrett, Richard. The Motor Racing Story. London: Stanley Paul, 1969. One of the best books available for information on the development of the idea of the French Grand Prix. Includes an excellent section on the Gordon Bennett trophy races. Hilton, Christopher. Grand Prix Century: The First One Hundred Years of the World’s Most Glamorous and Dangerous Sport. Yesvie, England: Haynes, 2006. Uses extensive archival materials to re-create the hundred-year history of the Grand Prix. Includes an excellent compilation of statistics and driver biographies. Hodges, David. Classic Racing Cars: Grand Prix and Indy. London: Regency House, 1995. Covers the rules and technical innovations of each race in detail and provides an overall history of the development of the sport.
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International Association for the Prevention of Smoke Is Founded
_______. The French Grand Prix. London: Temple Press Books, 1967. The definitive book on the French Grand Prix. Contains charts of all circuits, participating drivers, and statistics for all the courses and entries. An excellent quick reference source on any as-
pect of the Grand Prix through 1966. Includes a good selection of photographs. See also: July 1, 1903: First Tour de France; Aug. 19, 1909: First Auto Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
June 27-29, 1906
International Association for the Prevention of Smoke Is Founded The founding of the International Association for the Prevention of Smoke, the world’s first major organization dedicated to combating air pollution, marked a new awareness of the problem. Locale: Detroit, Michigan Categories: Environmental issues; organizations and institutions Key Figures John M. Fairgrieve (fl. early twentieth century), chief smoke inspector for Detroit, Michigan, and first president of the International Association for the Prevention of Smoke J. M. Hartman (fl. early twentieth century), founding member of the International Association for the Prevention of Smoke John Krause (fl. early twentieth century), smoke inspector for Cleveland, Ohio Paul P. Bird (fl. early twentieth century), chief smoke inspector for Chicago, Illinois, 1907-1911 Frank A. Chambers (fl. early twentieth century), executive secretary of the International Association for the Prevention of Smoke, 1915-1950 R. C. Harris (fl. early twentieth century), founding member of the International Association for the Prevention of Smoke
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Summary of Event From June 27 through June 29, 1906, fifty-five smoke inspectors and other municipal officials from thirteen American and Canadian cities met in Detroit, Michigan, to discuss ways to abate the smoke that was plaguing many North American urban areas. The meeting was organized by John M. Fairgrieve, Detroit’s chief smoke inspector, and chaired by J. M. Hartman, a civic-minded Philadelphia millionaire; participants included John Krause, Paul P. Bird, Frank A. Chambers, and R. C. Harris. The meeting resulted in the creation of the Interna-
tional Association for the Prevention of Smoke, an organization that would play a leading role in curbing the emission of smoke in urban areas during the twentieth century. The roots of the association lay in the efforts of residents of Chicago to fight the nuisance of smoke in their city. A citizens’ association organized in 1874 helped to convince the city to adopt a smoke ordinance in 1881 that fined industries for emitting dense smoke. Inspired by Chicago’s example, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, and St. Paul adopted similar ordinances. In 1891, Chicagoans created the Society for the Prevention of Smoke to help clean the city’s air for the multitudes who would visit the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. The Chicago society’s efforts centered primarily on teaching engineers and those who fed the furnaces of various industries the best methods of burning bituminous coal. In 1907, the history of air-pollution control in the United States reached a turning point. Several important developments occurred in Chicago. The city’s mayor appointed the Smoke Abatement Commission, consisting of eight businessmen, to help him determine city policy. The commission’s efforts led Chicago to create the Department of Smoke Inspection, to mandate that the city’s chief smoke inspector hold a college degree in mechanical engineering, and to adopt an ordinance that required all those desiring to install fuel-burning equipment to submit plans and obtain permits. Meanwhile, the International Association for the Prevention of Smoke held its first annual meeting in Milwaukee. Fearing that railroads, stoker companies, and other potential adversaries might attempt to control their organization, delegates decided to limit active membership to municipal smoke inspectors. They adopted a resolution calling on state governments to pass legislation to regulate smoke within their jurisdictions and asked each participating municipality to help pay the association’s expenses.
International Association for the Prevention of Smoke Is Founded At subsequent annual meetings, experts on smoke control and representatives of the companies that manufactured equipment relating to smoke abatement presented papers about different aspects of air pollution and proposals for purifying the air. At the 1909 meeting, for example, the chief engineer of the technological branch of the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that smoke caused $600 million damage each year in the United States, and New York City’s health commissioner delivered a paper titled “Smoke as a Public Nuisance.” A major early concern of the organization was the curbing of smoke emitted by railroad locomotives. In 1912, the association held a “Railroad Day,” a custom it followed for many years, to discuss issues relating to the problem. At the 1913 meeting—held in Pittsburgh, a center for the manufacture of smoke-prevention appliances—the association modified its bylaws to extend membership to all those who had engineering or professional experience in smoke abatement. Conferees toured the Pressed Steel Wheel Company of McKees Rocks, the Homestead plant of the Carnegie Steel Company, and several Westinghouse plants in East Pittsburgh to examine smoke emissions and new appliances for smoke abatement. By 1913, the association membership included smoke inspectors from more than two hundred North American and European cities. A typical paper at an early association meeting was the one presented in 1914 by John O’Conner, senior fellow of smoke investigation at the Mellon Institute of the University of Pittsburgh. O’Conner’s presentation included slides that illustrated his contentions. In regions such as Pittsburgh where soft coal was burned, he lamented, a pall of soot cut off sunlight, retarded the growth of vegetation, caused the deterioration of buildings and home furnishings, ruined clothing and increased laundry bills, produced widespread discomfort, lowered human vitality, and contributed to premature deaths. The association encouraged cities to hold a Smoke Abatement Week, as Pittsburgh did beginning in 1915. That year, the organization changed its name to the Smoke Prevention Association (SPA) and invited all those interested in its objectives to join. At the 1917 meeting, members adopted a resolution urging fuel conservation on a national level. They called on the federal government to appoint a fuel conservator in each state and offered their own services as combustion experts. Each of these early annual meetings was attended by a few hundred people, primarily municipal smoke inspectors and employees of power plants but including a few college professors and a handful of representatives of 532
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chemical, metal, mining, and refinery establishments. The association focused on reducing the smoke and fly ash emitted by chimneys, locomotives, power plants, incinerators, and heating plants. Its members sought to convince industries to shift from the common practice of randomly shoveling bituminous coal onto updraft stationary grates (a practice that produced dense smoke) to carefully planned, downdraft shoveling of anthracite and low-volatile content bituminous coal or coke. They also encouraged businesses to use automatic stokers, pulverized coal firing, gas- and oil-burning furnaces, and more electricity. During its first decade, the association paid little attention to particulate and gaseous effluents from the chemical, metal, and coke industries. Significance From the time of its establishment in 1906, the International Association for the Prevention of Smoke (which eventually underwent several name changes) played a leading role in improving the quality of air in North America, especially in urban areas. The association established a clearinghouse in 1921 to provide information on air pollution, undertaking the collection, tabulation, and dissemination of information to city councils, industries, and interested individuals. In 1923, the directors of the Boiler Association invited the association’s leaders to work with them to set standards for furnace heights, furnace geometry, and boiler settings. During the 1920’s, the Smoke Prevention Association (as the organization was called from 1915 to 1940) distributed thousands of copies of articles on issues relating to air pollution. In addition, an association committee evaluated the effectiveness of new locomotives in reducing exhaust, and members spoke to hundreds of community organizations about air-quality matters. In the 1930’s, the association called attention to the pollution caused by airplanes. During that decade, the annual meetings began to include evening sessions designed for different groups, including power engineers, superintendents, plant managers, coal dealers, merchants, mine operators, railroad officials, real estate agents, industrial officials, and home owners. In 1940, the organization changed its name to the Smoke Prevention Association of America. When the United States became involved in World War II, the association strongly supported efforts to conserve the nation’s coal. During the mid-1940’s, the association worked to standardize the installation and operation of incinerators and combustion equipment and to formalize methods of measuring air pollution. At the 1948 meeting, members
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International Association for the Prevention of Smoke Is Founded tion Prevention Associations (IUAPPA), which was created in 1964 to help coordinate worldwide efforts to stem air pollution; the IUAPPA has sponsored several International Clean Air Conferences to further its aims. The APCA also engaged in both confrontation and cooperative programs with the federal government. One of the organization’s meetings with federal officials led directly to the 1958 formation of a national air-pollution advisory committee that included government officials, industry representatives, and control professionals. In 1989, the APCA once again changed its name. Reflecting the increasing concern of its members for rational control of the growing problem of solid-waste materials, especially hazardous waste, the organization became the Air and Waste Management Association. As of 2005, this nonprofit technical and educational organization served more than nine thousand environmental professionals in sixty-five countries. Its stated goal was to provide a forum where technical, scientific, economic, social, political, and public health viewpoints on environmental management would all receive equal consideration. The association provided a context in which government officials, industrial leaders, and academicians could discuss technical information and practical concerns about air pollution and waste management. Through its structure, program, and activities, the association sought to influence public policy on air-pollution control, environmental management, waste processing and control, and pollution prevention. Governed by a fifteen-member board consisting of five members each from industry, government, and academia, the association conducted an annual environmental conference featuring a five-day technical program and a three-day exhibition. It also held hundreds of specialty conferences, workshops, seminars, section and chapter meetings, and continuing education courses each year and published periodicals, books, technical papers, and training manuals. Before 1950, the association primarily labored to combat the pollution produced by smoke and fly ash. In the years from 1950 to 1970, it broadened its focus to address problems caused by smog, sulfur dioxide, hydrocarbons, and oxidants. After 1970, the association was required to interact with large federal regulatory agencies (most notably the Environmental Protection Agency) and dealt increasingly with the technical and scientific aspects of air pollution. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the organization founded in 1906 still concerned itself with pollution prevention, but its agenda had also come to include such contemporary is533
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urged the association to broaden its interest beyond smoke and combustion problems and to focus on all forms of air pollution. This concern was intensified by an air temperature inversion that killed eighteen people that year in Donora, Pennsylvania, focusing national attention on air pollution. In 1950, the organization moved its headquarters from Chicago, where it had been located since 1907, to Pittsburgh, where for many years it enjoyed a cooperative relationship with the Mellon Institute. In July, 1951, the association founded a quarterly journal titled Air Repair to publish the proceedings of its annual meetings. In 1952, the organization was renamed the Air Pollution Control Association (APCA). In 1954, Air Repair began to include discussions of the papers presented at the annual meetings, and in 1955 the publication’s title was changed to Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association. In the 1950’s, the APCA made a concerted effort to attract companies as members, and board meetings frequently erupted into shouting matches between control officials and industry representatives over the best way to deal with the air-pollution issues faced by both industry and government. The APCA thus served as a forum where differing points of view were presented and debated; until the 1970’s, however, the organization was reluctant to adopt position statements on behalf of its members. The events of 1969 and 1970 marked a second turning point in efforts to control air pollution in the United States. The Earth Day activities held in April, 1970, and the widespread media discussion of a growing “ecological crisis” greatly increased public concern and profoundly affected the nation’s efforts to abate air pollution. Another major event was the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970, which focused on automobile emission standards, testing, and certification. Some APCA members protested that this national program exalted administrative expediency over rational control of air pollution. During the second half of the twentieth century, the APCA promoted its objectives through a variety of other channels. Beginning in the early 1950’s, the APCA sought to stimulate local communities to combat air pollution by holding a “Cleaner Air Week.” APCA members used posters, balloons, meetings, educational activities, and media coverage to publicize their goals and to motivate people to fight pollution. By the early 1970’s, more than 125 American communities were holding Cleaner Air Week programs. The APCA played the leading role in the formation of the International Union of Air Pollu-
Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act sues as ozone depletion and the health of the global environment. —Gary Scott Smith Further Reading Christy, William G. “History of the Air Pollution Control Association.” Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association 10 (April, 1960): 126-138. Account of the development of the association from its inception until 1960. Focuses on the organization’s annual meetings, key leaders, major concerns, and significant contributions. Goudie, Andrew. The Human Impact on the Natural Environment: Past, Present, and Future. 6th ed. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2006. Excellent general reference accessible to lay readers. Chapter 7 discusses air pollution. Includes glossary, bibliography, and index. Gruber, Charles W. “The Pioneers: Frank A. Chambers, 1885-1951.” Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association 30 (April, 1980): 402-403. Assesses the role played by the man who served as the organization’s executive secretary from 1915 to 1950 and chaired its Standards Committee for more than thirty-five years.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Lagarias, John S. “The Story of the Air Pollution Control Association: Seventy-Five Years of Growth.” Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association 32 (January, 1982): 31-43. Reviews the successes and failures of the association during its first seventy-five years. Written by an engineer who held many of the organization’s offices, including its presidency. Focuses on the changing emphases of the organization and its executive secretaries. Stern, Arthur C. “History of Air Pollution Legislation in the United States.” Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association 32 (January, 1982): 44-61. Succinct examination of air-pollution legislation written by a professor of environmental and engineering sciences who was actively involved in the association. See also: 1906: Cottrell Invents the Electrostatic Precipitation Process; 1910: Euthenics Calls for Pollution Control; 1910: Steinmetz Warns of Pollution in “The Future of Electricity”; June 7, 1924: Oil Pollution Act Sets Penalties for Polluters; 1930’s: Wolman Begins Investigating Water and Sewage Systems; Apr. 15, 1935: Arbitration Affirms National Responsibility for Pollution.
June 30, 1906
Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act With the support of President Theodore Roosevelt and a diverse consumer movement, the U.S. Congress passed two watershed laws that provided Americans with some protection in the purchase of food and drugs. Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Health and medicine; business and labor; laws, acts, and legal history; trade and commerce Key Figures Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Harvey W. Wiley (1844-1930), chief chemist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and author of the Pure Food and Drug Act Upton Sinclair (1878-1968), American reformer and writer James Wilson (1835-1920), U.S. secretary of agriculture Samuel Hopkins Adams (1871-1958), American journalist 534
Albert J. Beveridge (1862-1927), U.S. senator from Indiana, 1899-1911 Summary of Event In the United States during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, food processing was becoming highly industrialized, with dubious chemicals used to preserve food and to improve its taste. At the same time, urbanization and the modernization of transportation were resulting in impersonal national markets that lacked the direct contact between consumer and producer that was common in an earlier age. In response to these new conditions, an emerging consumer movement called for the federal government to regulate the purity and quality of food and drugs sold in interstate commerce. In 1879, Senator Algernon Paddock of Nebraska introduced the first comprehensive bill to regulate food and drugs on a national scale. The Paddock bill passed the Senate but failed in a House committee, blocked by a powerful coalition of states’ rights Democrats and “Old Guard” Republicans who were committed to protecting
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the Ladies’ Home Journal, and especially influential among these was Samuel Hopkins Adams’s series titled “The Great American Fraud,” published in Collier’s Weekly from October, 1905, to February, 1906. Adams’s well-researched articles concentrated on the unscrupulous sale of nostrums that were either ineffective or dangerous, such as cure-all medicines that contained cocaine and other addictive substances. When the series was published in book form by the American Medical Association, it created a sensation among the reading public. By that time, Roosevelt was convinced of the “righteousness” and popular appeal of food and drug legislation, and he recommended such a law to Congress in his state of the union address of December 5, 1905. The day after the president’s speech, Senator Weldon Heyburn of Idaho and Representative James Robert Mann of Illinois introduced versions of the Hepburn-Hansbrough bill into Congress. Recognizing a change in public opinion, Senator Aldrich decided to allow a vote on the Senate floor, and the bill was passed on February 21, 1906, by a vote of sixty-three to four. In the House, however, there were long hearings about the bill, with organized opposition from whiskey distillers and food processors. Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon, a leader of the Old Guard, kept the bill from being placed on the House calendar, and by early March it appeared to be dead. By coincidence, however, Upton Sinclair’s muckraking book The Jungle appeared for sale on February 16, 1906. Having investigated the Chicago packinghouses, Sinclair hoped to arouse sympathy for the conditions of the workers in those establishments and to promote the cause of socialism, but in the process he also included graphic descriptions of the filth and poisons that were introduced into canned meats. Sinclair was disappointed that the public read The Jungle as an appeal for food legislation. In his autobiography, he lamented, “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” The Progressive senator from Indiana, Albert J. Beveridge, read Sinclair’s book and, recognizing its value for promoting food legislation, sent a copy to the president. Although Roosevelt reacted negatively to Sinclair’s “ridiculous socialistic cant,” he was horrified at the book’s descriptions of the packinghouses, and he instructed the secretary of agriculture to investigate the matter. He also appointed Charles Neill, a commissioner of the Department of Labor, and James Reynolds, a lawyer and settlement house leader, to visit Chicago to determine whether Sinclair had described the packinghouses accurately. In May, the two-man commission reported that the deplor535
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vested interests and the status quo. By 1906, some 160 food and drug bills had been introduced into Congress, and eight limited laws had been passed, mostly dealing with imports and exports. Consumer advocates were somewhat more successful with state legislatures, with about half the states adopting some regulations. Standards of enforcement, however, varied greatly from state to state. The most energetic and influential crusader for federal regulation was Harvey W. Wiley, the chief chemist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1883 to 1912. Wiley emphasized the need for accurate labeling of all dangerous chemicals. His most famous project, the so-called poison-squad experiments, lasted from 1902 to 1907. A dozen young men volunteered to act as test subjects for experiments on the effects on food of borax and other preservatives. The results provided quantitative evidence of the negative effects of many preservatives. After this project, journalists often referred to Wiley as “Old Borax.” Early in the twentieth century, reformers known as Progressives placed a high value on the issue of consumer rights, and they looked to the expansion of the federal government as a means of improving the general welfare. By that time, moreover, medical and chemical scientists had achieved impressive accomplishments, resulting in a widespread appreciation for the role of modern science. Conditions were thus increasingly favorable for a resurrection of the Paddock bill. The public was shocked in 1901 when twenty children died from the effects of inoculation against diphtheria. The following year, Congress passed and President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Biologics Control Act, which required makers of vaccines and antitoxins to be licensed by the federal government. Manufacturers lobbied in favor of the law in an effort to restore public confidence and eliminate unfair competition. With public opinion sympathetic to more general legislation, Senator William Hepburn of Iowa and Congressman Henry Hansbrough of North Dakota introduced a bill to regulate all food and drugs sold in interstate commerce. The Hepburn-Hansbrough bill passed in the House, but in the Senate the Old Guard, led by Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich of Rhode Island, was able to prevent the measure from being reported out of committee. Reforming journalists, called “muckrakers” by Roosevelt, were determined that the issue not be allowed to die. Numerous articles describing food- and drug-related horrors appeared in such magazines as McClure’s and
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The Influence of a Journalist
able conditions depicted in The Jungle did not misrepresent the industry. Informed of the Neill-Reynolds report, Senator Beveridge met with Department of Agriculture officials and formulated a bill that would require federal inspectors to enforce sanitary standards in packing establishments and approve of the quality of meat and its additives before the meat could be sold in interstate commerce. On May 25, Beveridge presented the bill as an amendment to the agricultural appropriations bill, and it passed the Senate without a dissenting vote. In the House, however, the Beveridge bill faced strong opposition; it had to get through the Agriculture Committee, which was chaired by Representative James Wadsworth of New York, a stock raiser himself. When Wadsworth introduced amendments that weakened the bill, Roosevelt released the Neill-Reynolds report to the press. After a public outcry, members of the House worked out a compromise that charged the government rather than the industry for the costs of inspection and put limits on the judicial review of federal inspectors. With the approval of Speaker Cannon, the compromise bill passed the House on June 19. After Beveridge and other Progressives reluctantly accepted the compromises, the conference version of the bill was approved quickly by both chambers. On June 30, 1906, President Roosevelt signed the measure into law. Meanwhile, the public support in favor of the Beveridge bill had put irresistible pressure on the House to vote on the pure food and drug bill, and on June 20, Speaker Cannon finally allowed the bill to be reported out of the Rules Committee. Three days later, it was approved by a vote of 241 to 17 and then went to a conference committee, where it was strengthened. The resulting “Wiley law” forbade the sale or transportation of adulterated or fraudulently labeled foods or drugs within interstate commerce. Along with the meat inspection law, it was ready for Roosevelt’s signature on June 30, 1906.
In October, 1905, Collier’s Weekly magazine began publishing a series of articles sharply critical of the advertising claims made by the makers of patent medicines. The articles, written by Samuel Hopkins Adams and collectively titled “The Great American Fraud,” were preceded by an introductory note that made it clear that “the object of the series is to make the situation so familiar and thoroughly understood that there will be a speedy end to the worst aspects of the evil.” Adams opened the series, which helped to influence Congress toward passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, with these blunt statements: Gullible America will spend this year some seventyfive millions of dollars in the purchase of patent medicines. In consideration of this sum it will swallow huge quantities of alcohol, an appalling amount of opiates and narcotics, a wide assortment of varied drugs ranging from powerful and dangerous heart depressants to insidious liver stimulants; and, in excess of all other ingredients, undiluted fraud. For fraud, exploited by the skilfulest of advertising bunco men, is the basis of the trade. Should the newspapers, the magazines and the medical journals refuse their pages to this class of advertisement, the patent medicine business in five years would be as scandalously historic as the South Sea Bubble, and the nation would be the richer not only in lives and money, but in drunkards and drug-fiends saved. “Don’t make the mistake of lumping all propriety medicines in one indiscriminate denunciation,” came the warning from all sides when this series was announced. But the honest attempt to separate the sheep from the goats develops a lamentable lack of qualified candidates for the sheepfold. External remedies there may be which are at once honest in their claims and effective for their purposes; they are not to be found among the much advertised ointments or applications which fill the public-prints. Cuticura may be a useful preparation, but in extravagance of advertising it rivals the most clamorous cure-all. Pond’s Extract, one would naturally suppose, could afford to restrict itself to decent methods, but in the recent epidemic scare in New York it traded upon public alarm by putting forth “display” advertisements headed, in heavy black type, “Meningitis,” a disease in which witch-hazel is about as effective as molasses. This is fairly comparable to Peruna’s ghoulish exploitation, for profit, of the yellow fever scourge in New Orleans, aided by various Southern papers of standing, which published as news an “interview” with Dr. Hartman, president of the Peruna Company.
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Significance Historians emphasize that the issue of food and drug regulation became increasingly relevant as modernization progressed. When U.S. society had been predominantly rural, with local markets, consumers tended to have faceto-face acquaintance with their sources of food. In contrast, the large-scale preservation of foodstuffs to be sold on a national market made it impossible for individuals to have personal knowledge of consumer products. The combination of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act greatly extended the power of the federal government to regulate goods in interstate
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lated environment. In general, the two laws of 1906 serve as examples of the constructive effects of moderate governmental intervention. —Thomas Tandy Lewis Further Reading Anderson, Oscar E. The Health of a Nation: Harvey W. Wiley and the Fight for Pure Food. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958. Emphasizes Wiley’s role, the importance of scientific investigations, and the publication of the findings of those investigations in technical journals, especially in the 1880’s and 1890’s, in bringing about medical and expert calls for national food and drug regulation. Bloodworth, William A., Jr. Upton Sinclair. Boston: Twayne, 1977. Biography analyzes Sinclair’s work as a muckraker and political figure, including his role in the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act. Braeman, John. Albert J. Beveridge: American Nationalist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971. Excellent study of the life and career of the Progressive senator who wrote and sponsored the meat inspection bill. Brands, H. W. T.R.: The Last Romantic. New York: Basic Books, 1997. Iconoclastic biography of Theodore Roosevelt. Burrow, James G. Organized Medicine in the Progressive Era. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977. Stresses the medical community’s efforts at professionalization, its success with public relations strategies, its alliances with state authorities, and its links with Progressive reformers who wished to apply scientific findings to address social problems. Crunden, Robert. Ministers of Reform: The Progressives’ Achievement in American Civilization, 1889-1920. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1982. One of the best treatments of the Progressive movement, concentrating on the civic religion and the moral indignation within the movement’s culture. Chapter 6 is devoted to the muckrakers and passage of the 1906 legislation, with anecdotes about the people involved. Goodwin, Lorine Swainston. The Pure Food, Drink, and Drug Crusaders, 1879-1914. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1999. Survey of the history of lobbyists and elected officials who fought for legislation to protect consumers. Gould, Louis. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991. A scholarly and balanced treatment of Roosevelt’s policies and ideas while he was president. Presents a useful account of Roosevelt’s role in both the passage and the early 537
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commerce, and, concomitantly, the two laws represented a decline in the idea that state governments alone could exercise police powers in the public interest. At the time, a number of states’ rights proponents, using a strict interpretation of the Tenth Amendment, questioned the constitutionality of the laws, but in Hipolite Egg Company v. United States (1911), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the laws were permissible under the authority of Congress to tax and regulate commerce. In the short term, Progressives were often disappointed that enforcement of the laws was not more rigorous. Because the Pure Food and Drug Act was cast in broad language, federal regulators had to conduct lengthy and complex proceedings to establish standards for chemical preservatives, whiskey, and other items. Harvey Wiley was among those who wanted more energetic enforcement. Within a year after passage of the law, he and President Roosevelt strongly disagreed about whether saccharin is injurious to health. Wiley was even more dissatisfied with the policies of President William Howard Taft, and during the election of 1912, Wiley, although long a Republican, publicly resigned from the Department of Agriculture in protest, supporting the candidacy of Woodrow Wilson. Since 1906, many debates have taken place regarding the specifics of food and drug regulation, but there has never been any serious suggestion that the two laws should be repealed. It was probably inevitable that the early enforcement of the laws would be rather weak, but over the course of the twentieth century the trend moved toward greater control. In 1938, Congress made a number of significant changes in the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, with additional requirements passed in 1958, 1962, and 1965. The 1906 legislation was an important landmark in the movement toward consumers’ rights in the United States. Framers of the two laws rejected the extreme ideologies of socialism and laissez-faire, and they believed that government could provide adequate protection from harmful merchandise without destroying the benefits of the competitive marketplace. The Meat Inspection Act was based on the premise that the government has the responsibility to protect consumers from harmful products unfit for human consumption, and the Pure Food and Drug Act emphasized that consumers have the right to make informed judgments based on the accurate labeling of products’ contents. Contrary to some fears at the time, the laws did not lead to a government takeover of the food and drug industries, and businesspeople in those industries quickly learned how to prosper within a regu-
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Finland Grants Women Suffrage administration of the 1906 laws, with analysis of the various interpretations of the Progressive movement. Harris, Leon. Upton Sinclair: American Rebel. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1975. Highly personal biography of Sinclair details his relationship with President Theodore Roosevelt and the congressional machinations surrounding the Meat Inspection Act. Includes a helpful account of Sinclair’s ideology and his correspondence with Roosevelt. Hilts, Philip J. Protecting America’s Health: The FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. Documents the history of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from its establishment during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Emphasizes the FDA’s regulatory role and its battles against entrenched business interests. Root, Waverly, and Richard de Rochemont. Eating in America: A History. New York: Ecco Press, 1995. Food historian Root chronicles U.S. eating customs through history, including the advent of the foodprocessing industry and the public outrage that led to the Pure Food and Drug Act. Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. 1906. Reprint. New York: Modern Library, 2002. The novel that brought corrupt food industry practices to international attention is one of the first major media exposés in U.S. history. Sullivan, Mark. “The Crusade for Pure Food.” In America Finding Herself. Vol. 2 in Our Times. New York:
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1927. A lively and interesting account of the personalities and controversies that led to the 1906 laws. As a journalist and major editor of the period, Sullivan was able to consult with individuals such as Sinclair, Wiley, and Adams. Wiebe, Robert H. Businessmen and Reform: A Study of the Progressive Movement. 1962. Reprint. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1989. Provides an influential explanation of various reasons business interests supported or opposed Progressive reforms, with emphasis on entrepreneurs’ desire to promote efficiency and predictability through governmental action. Utilizes in great detail the records of national business groups as well as publications of local chambers of commerce. Young, James Harvey. Pure Food: Securing the Federal Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1989. Examines passage of the act in detail. Illustrates the process of publicizing the findings of governmental and scientific investigators. See also: Sept. 14, 1901: Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President; Feb. 23, 1903: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Powers to Regulate Commerce; Jan. 30, 1905: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Prosecution of the Beef Trust; Feb., 1906: Sinclair Publishes The Jungle; Aug., 1913: Advertisers Adopt a Truth-in-Advertising Code; 1927: U.S. Food and Drug Administration Is Established.
July 20, 1906
Finland Grants Women Suffrage Finland’s franchise law of 1906, which made the small country the first European state to grant suffrage to women, was part of a reform effort by leaders of the Swede-Finn movement. Locale: Helsinki, Finland Categories: Women’s issues; social issues and reform Key Figures Nicholas II (1868-1918), czar of Russia, r. 1894-1917 Johan Vilhelm Snellman (1806-1881), Finnish philosopher and politician Sergey Yulyevich Witte (1849-1915), Russian minister of finance, 1892-1903, and premier during the 1905 revolution 538
Alexandra Gripenberg (1857-1913), leader of the Finnish Women’s Association in the 1880’s Summary of Event It was against the background of increased Russification that Finnish nationalism developed dramatically after 1890 and led to the 1906 reforms that brought voting rights to women as well as several other liberating changes. Russia had acquired control of Finland in 1809 after a century of rivalry with Sweden over control of the country. From 1809 until the Russian Revolution of 1917, Finland remained under Russian control. Russification of Finnish culture characterized the entire period, but it intensified in the late nineteenth century under Czar Alexander III (r. 1881-1894) and his successor Nicho-
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lishment was a significant innovation. As these events unfolded in Russia, the crisis spread into Finland in the form of a new wave of labor unrest and popular resistance known as the Great Strike. All social classes were involved, heightening the sense of unified resistance. This united front depended ultimately on the maintenance of a solid coalition of various groups. A belief common to most of the resisting parties was that the Finnish Diet should be transformed into a highly democratic legislature based on broad popular support. Before the end of 1905, the four estates that constituted the Diet drew up a constitutional model that would extend the vote to all citizens, both male and female, over the age of twenty-four. By early 1906, Nicholas II was ready to reverse the Russification policy, at least temporarily, and to urge the Finns to replace their outmoded legislative system with a more democratic unicameral parliament elected by universal suffrage. The fact that the czar was not so much interested in establishing democracy as in mitigating unrest did not detract from the importance of the constitutional reforms, which included not only a broader franchise but also a genuine legislative role for the new parliament, the Eduskunta. That women were included in the larger electorate was a result both of the reformers’ need for mass support and of women’s own efforts to improve their condition. With increased industrialization of the economy after 1860, women had entered the workforce in greater numbers and were developing means to express their needs related to family life, property, and education. In 1884, the Finnish Women’s Association was founded; this organization provided a labor exchange, educational programs, and lobbying in behalf of women’s interests. One of its principal goals was greater access for women, including those in the poorer segments of the working class, to university education. Women had been admitted on a restricted basis as early as 1871, but by the 1890’s women held some instructorships not only in the university but also in certain normal schools. The Women’s Association also established international visibility when its principal leader, the Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg, attended the 1888 Women’s Congress in Washington, D.C., which founded the International Council of Women. Several other women’s advocacy organizations developed in Finland as well, especially during the decade preceding World War I. Although Finnish women had become significant to the workforce and broader social life of Finland by 1906, enfranchisement was crucial to their further develop539
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las II. Russia’s efforts to impose its own language and culture stimulated Finland’s citizens’ interest in the Finnish and Swedish languages as a focus of resistance to Russification and otherwise stimulated national solidarity to preserve Finnish cultural identity and autonomy. With this came heightened interest in constitutional reforms aimed at broadening the rights of citizens, including women, in order to achieve the necessary unity to withstand pressures from Russia. Throughout the century of Russian hegemony, Finland remained largely autonomous politically and managed to enter the industrial age with vigor. The rise of factories and enlargement of trade brought into the Finnish workforce increasing numbers of women who, in turn, sought better educational opportunities and certain social reforms that would protect their property and personal rights. They found sympathy among some national reform leaders who saw democracy as an essential prerequisite of national independence, because it would link divergent groups in a common front. Language played a key role in the development of Finnish nationalism. One branch of the national movement promoted the Swedish language as the quintessential feature of Finland’s identity. Swedish was, and is, spoken by about 7.5 percent of Finland’s population. Known as the Swede-Finn or Svecoman movement, this element of Finnish nationalism was fostered notably by Axel Olof Freudenthal, a professor of language and literature at the University of Helsinki. The son of a Swede who had migrated to Finland in 1798, Freudenthal promoted language-related nationalism until his retirement in 1904, arguing that Swedish culture was superior to Finnish. An even more influential cultural nationalism known as the Fennoman movement saw Finnish language and literature as the mark of Finland’s identity. The roots of this movement lay in the eighteenth century work of Professor Henrik Gabriel Porthan of the University of Turku (later moved to Helsinki). In the nineteenth century, its leading proponent was Johan Vilhelm Snellman. Both of these language-related national movements were important to the development of Finnish nationalism in the period of militant Russification and thus contributed to the setting of the 1906 constitutional reforms. The 1905 revolution in Russia interrupted Russification, as Nicholas II’s government was forced to make major concessions. After months of strikes, Russian premier Sergey Yulyevich Witte urged the czar to issue the October Manifesto, which promised civil liberties and an elected legislative body, the Duma. Although the Duma would be increasingly restricted in later years, its estab-
Finland Grants Women Suffrage
Finland Grants Women Suffrage ment. The fact that there was little resistance to enfranchising women in 1906 was a reflection of both women’s importance in the economy and the consensus supporting democratization. The greatest degree of sympathy for women’s rights came from the Finnish Social Democratic Party, known before 1903 as the Finnish Labour Party. Its reform program of 1906 included the vote for women as well as equal pay for equal work. Two generations of steady advocacy by women’s rights groups had prepared the way for political equality. Without the right to vote, women’s gains since 1860 had remained limited. Women’s admission to university education and professorships, their right to divorce and parental rights, and their access to assistance with economic and other needs had depended on educating the public and lobbying legislatures. Finnish women’s inclusion in the 1906 franchise opened the door to their direct involvement in the political process on which further reforms depended. Significance The most immediate effect of the 1906 reforms was the increased presence of women in the political process. Nineteen women, mostly supporters of the Social Democrats’ program calling for extensive social reform, were elected in 1907 to the Eduskunta. The Social Democrats won approximately 40 percent of the legislative seats in 1907 and proceeded to advocate a wide range of reforms, many of them pertinent to the needs of women. Renewed Russification after 1908 limited the actual results, but Russian rule was entering its last decade. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Finland won its independence. Thereafter, women continued to be a significant part of Finnish political life, eventually accounting for about onethird of the lawmakers. Women served in the Finnish military during World War I and beyond in a special women’s auxiliary organization known as the Lotta Svard. They were ready to do their share in both politics and defense. The 1906 enfranchisement was inspirational to both Finnish women and women of other countries. In a sense, Finnish women were in a privileged position as the first European women to gain the vote. At the same time, they faced new challenges. They entered into reform efforts vigorously, especially after Finland declared independence in 1917 and established itself as a republic. The reforms most desired by Finnish women after enfranchisement included enhancement of their role in coeducational schools and universities, greater access to civil service jobs and the judicial bench, and rights of legal guardianship in divorce cases and for unmarried 540
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 mothers, as well as several reforms related to economic security. Eventually, progress was made on all these fronts. A law enacted in 1924 required that either the principal or the assistant principal in every coeducational school be a woman, and in the period from 1922 to 1936 a series of laws provided for equal status for children born out of wedlock. By 1927, full professorships were opened to women, and in the same year women were permitted to become judges and to enter diplomatic and consular service on an equal basis with men. Finnish women also became as well educated as the country’s men and eventually slightly outnumbered men in higher education. Their legislative role contributed to the establishment of an extensive welfare program, including provisions for women’s and children’s rights and equal rights with men in determining children’s citizenship. By the 1980’s, Finland was widely recognized as one of the best places in the world for women to live and work. A Population Crisis Committee report of 1988 cited Finland as second only to Sweden and slightly ahead of the United States. The major criteria were economic and legal conditions, health conditions, and educational opportunities. This exemplary status resulted from a number of factors, among them the fact that early in the twentieth century constitutional reforms that accompanied heightening nationalism in Finland brought women into the voting public several years, and in some cases decades, before women in most other countries. — Thomas P. Peake Further Reading Jackson, Hampden J. Finland. New York: Macmillan, 1940. This older study of Finland is still valuable for its demonstration of the balance among social classes and the sexes in Finland. Finnish resistance to Russification by the regime of Nicholas II is given clear treatment, providing the reader with perspective on the sweeping reforms of 1906 that included the enfranchisement of women. Includes selected notes and index. Jutikkala, Eino. A History of Finland. New York: Praeger, 1962. A highly analytic history that provides strong coverage of continuity and discontinuity in Finnish society. One of the most essential studies available on Finland’s modern development. Several chapters focus on the modernization of Finland, particularly its quest for freedom and identity in the period of Russian domination. Women’s acquisition of the franchise is set in the context of that struggle. Includes an index.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Lundin, C. Leonard. “Finland.” In Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Finland, 1855-1914, edited by Edward C. Thaden. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1971. A compact summary of Russia’s policy, especially during the reigns of Alexander III and Nicholas II, of imposing Russian culture in the Baltic region. Offen, Karen. European Feminisms, 1700-1950: A Political History. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2000. A comprehensive account of the development of feminism in European societies, including Portugal, Poland, Greece, Spain, Ireland, and Finland, and the growth of international and transnational feminist organizations. Aims to change readers’ perceptions by placing gender at the center of European history. Includes chronology, bibliography, and index. Senkkonen, Sirkka, and Elina Haavio-Mannila. “The Impact of the Women’s Movement and Legislative Activity of Women MPs on Social Development.” In
First German U-Boat Is Launched Women, Power, and Political Systems, edited by Margherita Rendel. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1981. Shows the long-range results of women’s political and social liberation in Finland, demonstrating that progress was accompanied by continuing problems. Wuorinen, John Henry. A History of Finland. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971. A general history with an unusual grasp of the underlying social and economic driving forces of Finland’s modernization. Shows that the emancipation of women rested on more than two generations of concerted efforts. Includes selected notes and documents, select bibliography, and index. See also: June 12, 1902: Australia Extends Suffrage to Women; Sept. 20, 1917: Canadian Women Gain the Vote; Feb. 6, 1918: British Women Gain the Vote; Aug. 26, 1920: U.S. Women Gain the Right to Vote; July 2, 1928: Great Britain Lowers the Voting Age for Women.
August 4, 1906
First German U-Boat Is Launched Germany’s launching of its first U-boat led to the development of a submarine fleet that proved to be the catalyst that brought the United States into World War I, ensuring Germany’s ultimate defeat. Locale: Danzig, Germany Categories: Science and technology; engineering; transportation Key Figures Raymondo Lorenzo d’Equevilley-Montjustin (18601931), Spanish engineer Maxime Laubeuf (1864-1939), French engineer Alfred von Tirpitz (1849-1930), German admiral William II (1859-1941), emperor of Germany, r. 18881918 Gustav Krupp (1870-1950), German industrialist
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Summary of Event The launching of Unterseeboot-eins (underwater boat number 1), or U-1, at Danzig, Germany, on August 4, 1906, hardly appeared to any observer as an epochal event. The German navy was a relative latecomer in the new era of submarine warfare. The English, the French, the Russians, and the Americans already possessed oper-
ational submarine fleets before the architect of the German high-seas fleet, Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, finally consented to divert some of the resources of the German navy to the building of submarines. Despite its unprepossessing beginnings, however, the U-boat had enormous influence on the course of world events. Submarines were not new in 1906. Cornelis Drebbel, a Dutch inventor, conducted the first recorded successful test of a submarine vessel in the River Thames in England in 1620. Over the next four years, he successfully navigated his craft approximately thirteen to sixteen feet (four to five meters) below the surface of the river, once (according to tradition) with King James I as a passenger. During the eighteenth century, inventors patented fourteen designs for submersible vessels in England alone. The first recorded attempt to use a submarine as a weapon of war occurred during the opening phases of the American Revolution. David Bushnell, a student at Yale University, built an oval-shaped submersible vessel named the Turtle, in which he proposed to approach an English ship in Boston Harbor, attach an explosive charge to its hull, and sink it. The Turtle succeeded in approaching the English ship unobserved, but its one-man crew was unable to attach the charge to the copper bot-
First German U-Boat Is Launched
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To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
In this 1917 photograph, a midget submarine pulls up beside a German U-boat. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
tom of the English warship. The first successful submarine attack on a surface ship also occurred in the United States, during the Civil War. On February 17, 1864, a Confederate submarine named Hunley (after its inventor, H. L. Hunley) attacked and sank the Union vessel Housatonic. The Hunley’s crew used a device called a spar torpedo (a powerful explosive charge attached to a long pole) to dispatch the Union craft. In order to sink the Housatonic, the Hunley had to approach so near to the enemy vessel that it, too, sank in the ensuing explosion. Interest in submersible vessels grew in Germany during the mid-nineteenth century, spurred by the heroics of Sebastian Wilhelm Valentin Bauer. In 1850, Bauer built for the government of Schleswig-Holstein a submarine vessel incorporating all the essential elements of later military submarines. Bauer’s vessel, named Brandtaucher (sea diver), sank during its first test in the Baltic Sea in February, 1851. It remained on the sea bottom until 1887, when the Imperial German government had it raised. After a restoration program that took nineteen years, it was placed on display in the Berlin Naval Museum. Bauer later emigrated to England, where he was 542
instrumental in initiating the English submarine development program. He then went to Russia, where he built and successfully tested an enlarged version of his original Brandtaucher for the Russian navy. The Russians, however, never deployed the vessel in a combat role. In the 1870’s, the locus of research into development of submersible vessels adaptable to military uses shifted once again to the United States. John P. Holland, generally recognized as the father of modern military submarines, made several important innovations in submarine design from 1875 to 1900. These innovations included a workable electric engine for driving a submarine while under water, water ballast to facilitate diving, and horizontal rudders to enable the boat to dive. In 1900, Holland delivered to the U.S. Navy the Plunger, a vessel incorporating all of his innovations. The English navy ordered several submarines of the same class as the Plunger, some of which saw action in World War I. After the unification of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 under the leadership of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, German military planners assigned a secondary role to the nation’s naval forces. Pri-
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government first, but the French navy bought and developed an almost identical design offered by a Frenchman named Maxime Laubeuf, who had worked closely with d’Equevilley-Montjustin in Paris. Which of the two men actually designed the submarine is uncertain. The Krupp firm approached Tirpitz for financial support to develop the submarine, but Tirpitz declined, voicing the opinion that submarines could never compete in offensive operations against surface vessels. Consequently, the Krupp firm began development of d’Equevilley-Montjustin’s design using its own resources in February, 1902. Krupp completed the prototype of d’EquevilleyMontjustin’s vessel on June 8, 1903, but financial constraints had forced abandonment of many of the original features of the submarine. Krupp’s boat measured 42.65 feet (13 meters) and was capable of a surface speed of 4 knots. Driven by a 65-horsepower electric motor, the boat could make 5.5 knots submerged. Krupp invited the emperor to observe tests of the vessel in 1904. Both William II and his sons displayed considerable interest in the boat, but Tirpitz remained opposed to spending scarce naval funds for further development of a vessel unproven in combat. With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, Krupp managed to convince the Russian government to buy not only his prototype but also three more boats of the same design (which came to be called the Karp class). During the building of the submarines for the Russian navy, Krupp’s engineers greatly improved on the original model. Tirpitz was finally won over by the improved submersibles, and in 1905 he agreed to appropriate 1.5 million marks for submarine development and agreed to purchase several of the vessels for the German navy. Tirpitz’s decision resulted in the launching of the U-1 on August 4, 1906. The U-1 measured 137.8 feet (42 meters) and displaced 234 tons; it carried a crew of twenty men and officers. Armed with an 18-inch (46-centimeter) bow torpedo tube with three self-propelled torpedoes and a 3.5-inch (88-millimeter) deck gun, the boat could make 10.8 knots on the surface and 8.7 knots submerged. With a cruising range of 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers), the U-1 had definite offensive capabilities. The German navy had acquired an important new weapon. Significance The launching of the U-1 made no particular impression in 1906, even on the other naval powers of the world. The Germans entered the race to develop submarine technology late, for military purposes, and progressed slowly. 543
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marily responsible for coastal defense, the German navy had only limited offensive capability. That situation began to change in the 1880’s with Germany’s acquisition of overseas colonies. German industrialists, in need of raw materials and new markets for their manufactured products, began to pressure the German government to build a high-seas fleet capable of protecting German commerce. Industrialists organized groups such as the Naval League and the Colonial League to propagandize in favor of a massive naval building program. Bismarck opposed these groups with some success as long as he was chancellor of the empire. In 1888, William II ascended the German throne as emperor (kaiser). Whereas his grandfather, William I (r. 1871-1888), had been content to delegate the responsibility for governing the German Empire to Bismarck, William II was determined to rule as well as reign. Naïvely enthusiastic about colonial expansion, William clashed with Bismarck on that and other issues; their disagreements ultimately resulted in Bismarck’s dismissal in 1890. After the old chancellor’s departure, William immediately abandoned Bismarck’s diplomatic strategy, which had virtually assured that there could be no general European war. The new emperor enthusiastically began to cooperate with industrialists who advocated the creation of a German high-seas fleet and the expansion of German colonial holdings into a worldwide empire rivaling that of England. The naval rivalry with England and William’s new “world policy” were important links in the chain of events that led to World War I. By 1905, the German naval building program reached a level sufficient to represent a legitimate threat to English naval hegemony. The British Admiralty’s position at the time was that the English fleet must be at least as large as the fleets of the three next-largest naval powers in Europe combined in order to ensure the security of the home islands and English commerce. Because of the expanding German navy, English government officials were compelled to increase their own naval building program in order to comply with the Admiralty’s position. Faced with the massive expansion of the English navy, Tirpitz agreed finally in 1905 to support the development of submarines capable of offensive operations. Because of Gustav Krupp’s efforts, very little time expired before Germany had an operational submarine fleet. Raymondo Lorenzo d’Equevilley-Montjustin, a Spanish engineer, had approached the Krupp firm in 1901 with plans for a double-hulled submarine capable of long-range offensive operations. D’EquevilleyMontjustin actually had offered his designs to the French
First German U-Boat Is Launched
First German U-Boat Is Launched When World War I began, Germany was well behind the other Great Powers, both in numbers of submarines and in submarine technology (France had 123 submarines, England had 72, Russia had 41, the United States had 34, and Germany had only 26). Nevertheless, the German submarine fleet quickly became controversial. On September 22, 1914, the U-9, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Otto Weddigen, sank three English armored cruisers in a naval engagement lasting less than one hour. Weddigen’s demonstration of the offensive capabilities of submarines and their effectiveness against surface vessels revolutionized naval strategy. The engagement forced the British Admiralty not only to acknowledge the vulnerability of its surface warships and change the way they were deployed but also to face the inevitability of submarine attacks on English commercial vessels. Because England had been importing most of its food for more than a century, the specter of certain defeat loomed if the German submarines could sufficiently curtail the number of merchant ships that were able to reach the British Isles. On October 14, 1914, the U-17 sank an English steamer. Despite the agreement reached between the Great Powers at Geneva in 1907 regulating submarine warfare and prohibiting surprise attacks on civilian ships, the German high command declared a submarine blockade of the British Isles and proceeded to sink everincreasing numbers of commercial vessels into 1915. Desperate to combat the submarine campaign that threatened to take England out of the war, the British Admiralty launched a propaganda campaign in the United States against the German actions. The German government, anxious to avoid American entry into the war on the side of its enemies, tried to avoid doing anything that might antagonize the United States. On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat sank the English passenger liner Lusitania, and 1,198 civilian lives were lost. Among the casualties were 124 Americans, despite the fact that the German embassy in the United States had taken out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times prior to the Lusitania’s departure warning potential passengers that the Lusitania was carrying matériel of war into a zone of war and was liable to be attacked by German submarines. English propagandists in the United States made much of the incident, even insisting that the U-boat had deliberately launched a second torpedo into an already sinking vessel while the civilians were trying desperately to abandon ship. In actuality, the second explosion resulted from the ignition of the ammunition being carried illegally by the Lusitania. The vehe544
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ment American protest about the Lusitania incident and several similar occurrences during 1915 ultimately resulted in the German abandonment of unrestricted submarine warfare out of fear of antagonizing the United States. By 1917, Germany’s military situation became desperate. General Erich Ludendorff and Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, the virtual military dictators of Germany by that time, decided to chance American entry into the war in a risky gamble designed to force England to capitulate. They hoped that a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare could knock out England before the United States could be mobilized sufficiently to affect the outcome of the war. Accordingly, the German navy resumed unrestricted attacks on all vessels sailing in proximity to the British Isles in February, 1917. After the sinking of three American merchant vessels, the U.S. government broke off diplomatic relations with Germany. A month later, when President Woodrow Wilson asked the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war against Germany, he cited the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare as the primary cause. The entry of the United States into the war ensured Germany’s ultimate defeat. The lasting antagonism between the two nations engendered by wartime propaganda was a major factor influencing U.S. entry into World War II, again ensuring defeat for Germany. Thus the seemingly innocuous launching of the first U-boat in 1906 was an integral factor in the outcomes of two of the greatest conflicts that shaped the political and social organization of the contemporary world. —Paul Madden Further Reading Botting, Douglas. The U-Boats. Alexandria, Va.: TimeLife Books, 1979. An entertaining account of U-boat development from its beginning to the end of World War II. Includes numerous photographs and tables showing the dimensions and specifications for most U-boats. Friedman, Norman. Submarine: Design and Development. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1984. Places German submarine development into context with that of other nations of the world. The section on pre-World War I U-boat evolution is short but informative. Gibson, R. H., and Maurice Prendergast. The German Submarine War, 1914-1918. 1931. Reprint. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2003. A surprisingly objective account of the U-boats in World War I, in-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 cluding an estimate of their effectiveness in the conflict. Alengthy section discusses the development and evolution of the U-boat before World War I and speculates about the effectiveness of submarines in future conflicts. Keatts, Henry, and George Farr. U-Boats. Kings Point, N.Y.: American Merchant Marine Museum Press, 1986. Enjoyable reading for anyone interested in the development of submarine warfare. Pays particular attention to German submarines sunk in U.S. waters, including accounts of amateur and U.S. Navy efforts to explore their wreckage. Replete with rare photographs and specifications for most German submarines launched between 1906 and 1945. Manchester, William. The Arms of Krupp, 1587-1968. 1968. Reprint. Boston: Back Bay Books, 2003. A scholarly chronicle of the evolution of the Krupp firm into the world’s largest producer of arms. Contains a short but illuminating section on Krupp’s role in the development of the U-boat and places it in the context of the firm’s other activities. Möller, Eberhard, and Werner Brack. The Encyclopedia of U-Boats: From 1904 to the Present. London: Greenhill Books, 2005. Comprehensive reference volume covering the full history of the German U-boat. In-
Bern Convention Prohibits Night Work for Women cludes detailed information on individual boats’ service records, crew strengths, locations, and more. Rössler, Eberhard. The U-Boat: The Evolution and Technical History of German Submarines. Translated by Harold Erenberg. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1981. Intended for readers with an interest in very specific technical details of German U-boats. Laden with figures concerning cruising speed, thickness of armor, engine specifications, number and explosive power of torpedoes, and the like. Many rare photographs. Tall, Jeffrey. Submarines and Deep-Sea Vehicles. San Diego, Calif.: Thunder Bay Press, 2002. Highly illustrated history of submarines includes discussion of Germany’s U-boat fleet. Features bibliography and index. See also: 1906: Anschütz-Kaempfe Invents the First Practical Gyrocompass; June 28, 1914-Nov. 11, 1918: World War I; Sept. 22, 1914: Germany Begins Extensive Submarine Warfare; Oct. 30, 1914: Spain Declares Neutrality in World War I; May 7, 1915: German Torpedoes Sink the Lusitania; Oct., 1915Mar., 1917: Langevin Develops Active Sonar; May 31-June 1, 1916: Battle of Jutland.
September 19, 1906
Bern Convention Prohibits Night Work for Women For the first time in European history, nations agreed collectively to advance an international standard for labor forbidding the employment of women at night. Locale: Bern, Switzerland Categories: Business and labor; women’s issues; diplomacy and international relations
Summary of Event The gathering of representatives of fourteen European nations in Bern, Switzerland, in September of 1906 and
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Key Figures Emile Frey (1845-1917), Swiss political leader William II (1859-1941), emperor of Germany, r. 18881918 Sidney Webb (1859-1947), British Fabian Socialist Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), British Fabian Socialist Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847-1929), British suffragist
their agreement to act in concert to ban night work for women marked not only the culmination of labor reformers’ efforts to protect female workers and advance their welfare but also the establishment as operative the principle of international agreement and action in the field of industrial reform and workers’ rights. Although this international convention was the first of its kind, and partly for that reason was limited in its scope, it set the standard for increasingly rigorous international labor legislation in the twentieth century. After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles took up where the Bern Convention left off. The League of Nations, through its International Labor Organization, committed itself to the advancement of international standards for economic and social democracy and continued to reaffirm that night work for women and children had no legitimate place in modern industrial society. Ironically, even until 1930, the leading industrial nation in the world, the United States, continued to defy this principle.
Bern Convention Prohibits Night Work for Women The Bern Conference of 1906 and the night-work treaty it forged was the culmination of a movement that had been active in Europe for more than a generation. This international agreement was the product of the prolonged public-spirited efforts of feminists, labor reformers, Social Democrats, and Marxian socialists. These groups were the first to respond to the physical and economic abuses of the factory system, especially as these assaulted the welfare of women and children. In the nineteenth century, women who worked at night were unusually burdened and threatened—by the generally unhealthy conditions in the factory, by the night-work hours that rarely provided for breaks or rest periods, and by the accumulated fatigue that came from their responsibilities as mothers and wives during the day in addition to the “unnatural” hours of night employment. The result was, too often, neglect of family, ill health, high accident rates at home and on the job, and high morbidity. The English were the first to legislate on behalf of female and child workers, directing themselves particularly to the grueling and unhealthy conditions in mining and addressing both the length of and specific hours worked. The increasingly popular sentiment was to “protect” women and children from “hard” labor, as found in the mines, from excessively long hours, and from “unnatural” and potentially immoral employment outside the home at night. In the English Factory Act of 1844, children under the age of thirteen were limited to six and one-half hours of work per day, and women were limited to twelve, with a provision prohibiting work between 8:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. The 1847 Ten Hours Act reduced the workday for women in textile mills to ten hours and continued to stipulate the specific hours of the workday, which were to be between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. The pioneering efforts to prohibit night work for women in England were taken up by the Swiss at midcentury. The Swiss Confederation was advanced in social legislation compared to most European nations. The confederation in 1877 adopted a law, first enacted in 1864 by the single canton of Glarus, that prohibited night work for all workers. Although employers made repeated efforts to repeal or amend this act, the political consensus upheld the prohibition of night work. By the end of the nineteenth century, several other European nations had legislated some form of night-work prohibition for women: Austria and Russia in 1885, the Netherlands in 1889, Germany in 1891, and France in 1892. At the same time, support for this reform began to affect communities outside Europe. New Zealand prohibited night 546
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 work for women in 1881, and Massachusetts was the first in the United States to endorse the principle, in 1890. The growing political consensus opposed to night work for women in the nineteenth century was generated by diverse individuals and groups. Although European feminists such as Millicent Garrett Fawcett, leader of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, supported and advanced protective labor legislation for women and children, they were primarily concerned with political, and not economic or social, rights for women. Middle-class political feminists tended to oppose night work on moral grounds, seeing it as a major threat to healthy family life and often equating it, at least rhetorically, with prostitution. The strongest proponents for night-work reform were labor unionists and those on the political left, particularly the broad range of European socialists, including Fabians and Labour Party members in England such as Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb, Social Democrats in England, France, and Germany, and Marxian socialists. Female socialists in particular were often divided on the issue of protectionism, with some feminist socialists arguing that true equality for women should eschew protective legislation. Despite the divisions within the socialist ranks, these reformers generally agreed on the need to protect all citizens from the destructive effects of industrial capitalism and consequently advanced night-work reforms as but one part of the new economic and social order to be wrought by socialism. The increasing political pressure from the left resulted in the movement from unilateral, national legislation to the consideration of a multinational or international agreement on labor standards. In 1890, the emperor of Germany, William II, became an unexpected advocate of this kind of social and economic reform, calling for international cooperation and a conference on labor in Berlin. The emperor’s sudden leadership in the arena of labor reform at this time was a defensive response to the growing strength of the socialist movement in Germany and across Europe, as well as to the threat of strikes in the Ruhr. His purpose was to moderate if not undermine the political influence of the working-class movement. The calling of the Berlin Conference successfully marshaled official and diplomatic support for cooperative labor reform that European nations had previously been reluctant to give. The Swiss, in particular, and their Federal Council president, Emile Frey, had repeatedly issued calls for international treaties for the uniform regulation of labor during the previous two decades but had consistently met with official indifference. In the process of organizing
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Although the terms of the convention required ratification by the participating parties no later than December 31, 1908, the date was later extended to January 14, 1910. By January of 1912, all parties had ratified the agreement, and it came duly into force. For female industrial workers, it marked the beginning of a European economic community that recognized and protected their rights to earn a living without the major risks of ill health and neglect of family responsibilities. Significance The Bern Convention acted as a stimulus to ever-increasing rigor among the European nations in protecting women from employment at night. States that traditionally had been reluctant to embrace such reforms—for example, Belgium and Spain—passed appropriate legislation, and those nations that had already passed nightwork laws made it a point of pride to advance beyond the requirements of the convention. The treaty also extended night-work reforms beyond the continent, as it came to be applied to European colonies, possessions, and protectorates. The standard set by the signatories influenced nonparticipating nations as well. Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, and Greece had legislated against night work for women by 1912, and the beginnings of protective legislation in industry were advanced in Japan, India, and Argentina. By 1914, the success of the Bern Conference had encouraged the scheduling of a second meeting, but this meeting was canceled as a result of the outbreak of World War I. The war constituted a serious setback to the accomplishments of Bern. As a force majeure, it abrogated previous reforms, and under emergency war powers most labor legislation throughout Europe was disregarded. Work hours were lengthened, and overtime and night shifts became common. Even England, after almost a century of prohibition, revived the practice of night work for women. Moved by patriotic ardor, labor, at least at the beginning of the conflict, acquiesced in its loss of protective standards. By the last years of the war, however, it became apparent to both workers and policy makers that increasing work hours was ultimately counterproductive, as it resulted in diminished returns. By 1916, several European nations had moved to restore the protective provisions of labor legislation operative before the war. The principles and agreements of the Bern Convention were reaffirmed at war’s end. The Treaty of Versailles devoted a special chapter to labor, committed the signatories to the principles of social justice, and created an agency within the League of Nations, the Interna547
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their own conference in 1889, the Swiss acknowledged the superior ability of German leadership to effect commonly held objectives and quickly supported the emperor. The Berlin Conference brought representatives of the major European powers together to consider the needs of workers, the first time that such a meeting had occurred. The agenda for the Berlin Conference was too broad, diverse, and ambitious to be effective. The conference proved disappointing to many reformers because it did not result in any binding agreement among the fourteen participating nations. It did, however, establish the goal of setting international labor standards and set Europe on the road to international action and treaty making. The conference’s recommendation against night work for women resulted in France, Germany, and Italy legislating against the practice. More important, the conference made clear the need for an international instrument to effect both research and action on the front of labor reform. By 1900, the International Association for Labor Legislation had been established, and its creation, the International Labor Office, directed its efforts toward the specific problem of night work. In 1903, it requested the Swiss Federal Council to initiate an international conference. Organizers had learned the lessons of Berlin, and the proposed conference was to focus on only two of the most grievous abuses in industry: night work and the use of white phosphorus in the match industry. Memoranda on the two issues were sent to the fourteen European governments in the spring of 1904, and in September of 1906, in Bern, the first international labor treaty and the first article of the International Labor Code were endorsed by Germany, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland. The Bern Convention of 1906 forbade two things: the use of white phosphorus in the match industry and the employment of women for night work. With regard to the latter, the treaty made clear that the major European nations would no longer tolerate the pernicious and debilitating effects of night work on women. It forbade the practice without distinction of age and required that the night’s rest should have a minimum duration of eleven consecutive hours, to include the hours from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. The prohibition was to apply to all industrial undertakings employing more than ten workers, except those that employed only members of the proprietor’s family. Exceptions were allowed, in particular those resulting from “force majeure” (events beyond control) or those in which night work was necessary to prevent losses, as when certain materials deteriorated quickly.
Bern Convention Prohibits Night Work for Women
Bern Convention Prohibits Night Work for Women tional Labor Organization, to direct and enforce labor standards protecting workers in industry. At a conference held in Washington, D.C., in 1919, delegates took up the issues of protective legislation at the point where Bern had left off and went beyond the earlier provisions in prohibiting night work for women in all public and private industrial undertakings. In addition, the process of ratification and enforcement was quickened. The new convention was implemented on June 21, 1921. The experience of the war and the almost universal commitment to international cooperation in the quest for peace and social justice made the acceptance and implementation of this second night-work convention more rapid than that of the first. By 1928, thirty-six countries had abolished night work for women in industry or had taken steps toward its prohibition. These included all the European nations with the exception of three (Monaco, Albania, and Turkey), India, Japan, several European dependencies in Africa, the British dominions, and nine countries in Central and South America. Because the United States did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles and embrace the League of Nations, it became the most significant exception to the collective and universal condemnation of night work for women. On the eve of the Great Depression, only onethird of U.S. states had any legislation prohibiting the employment of women for night work, and where such laws had been passed, they proved to be limited and ineffective. Ultimately, the Depression itself forced state and federal lawmakers to address the rights and needs of all workers, including women, and to prohibit night work for women under the auspices of New Deal labor legislation. —Nancy A. White Further Reading Anderson, Bonnie S., and Judith P. Zinsser. A History of Their Own: Women in Europe from Prehistory to the Present. Rev. ed. Vol. 2. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Comprehensive history of women in Europe offers excellent treatment of the social and political circumstances bearing on working women and the forces that propelled labor reform during the early twentieth century. Sections titled “Women of the Cities” and “Traditions Rejected” are particularly informative on these topics. Boxer, Marilyn, and Jean H. Quataert, eds. Socialist Women: European Socialist Feminism in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. New York: Elsevier North-Holland, 1978. Collection of essays addresses various aspects of socialist feminism dur548
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ing the period when socialism was gaining strength throughout Europe. Particularly informative concerning the conflicts among women, who were often torn between their commitment to socialism and their commitment to feminism, and the diverse approaches to protective legislation for working women. Kelley, Florence. Modern Industry in Relation to the Family, Health, Education, and Morality. 1914. Reprint. New York: Hyperion, 1975. Excellent example of the works produced by social and labor reformers at the time of the Bern Conference. Kelley, an American socialist with ties to European reformers, presents a polemic typical of those who condemned industrial capitalism as antiwoman and antifamily. Lewenhak, Sheila. Women and Trade Unions: An Outline History of Women in the British Trade Union Movement. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1977. Offers an excellent overview of women’s organizations and objectives in the trade union movement in Great Britain, the nation that advanced the first protective legislation for working women. Offen, Karen. European Feminisms, 1700-1950: A Political History. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2000. Comprehensive account of the development of feminism in European societies and the growth of international and transnational feminist organizations. Aims to change readers’ perceptions by placing gender at the center of European history. Thönnessen, Werner. The Emancipation of Women: The Rise and Decline of the Woman’s Movement in German Social Democracy, 1863-1933. Glasgow: Pluto Press, 1976. Interesting and informative national study of the women’s movement in Germany, especially the various programs for labor reform. Provides insight into the role of William II as a social reformer. Tilly, Louise A., and Joan W. Scott. Women, Work, and Family. 1978. Reprint. New York: Routledge, 1987. Excellent factual and analytic presentation of the impact of the rise of industrialism in Europe on women and the family. Provides a fine overview of both the causes and the effects of the increasing employment among women. See also: Oct. 10, 1903: Pankhursts Found the Women’s Social and Political Union; May 18, 1904: International Agreement Targets White Slave Trade; Feb. 24, 1908: Muller v. Oregon; Mar. 25, 1911: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire; Apr. 28-May 1, 1915: International Congress of Women; Apr. 28, 1919: League of Nations Is Established.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Persia Adopts a Constitution
October, 1906-October, 1907
Persia Adopts a Constitution Persia’s Fundamental Law and Supplementary Fundamental Law instituted a very short-lived constitutional monarchy. Based on the Belgian constitution, the Persian documents attempted to give the people a voice in government. They also guaranteed individual religious freedom and allocated parliamentary seats to religious minorities, but they forbade non-Muslims from holding cabinet posts. Also known as: Fundamental Law; Supplementary Fundamental Law Locale: Persia (now Iran) Categories: Government and politics; civil rights and liberties; social issues and reform Key Figures Mo,affar od-Dtn Sh3h (1852-1907), shah of Persia, r. 1896-1907 Mowammad 4Alt Sh3h (1872-1925), shah of Persia, r. 1907-1909 Mirza Malkam Khan (1831-1908), Persian royal minister Fazlullah Nnrt (1841-1909), Persian religious scholar Jam3l ad-Dtn al-Afgh3nt (1838-1897), leading PanIslamicist
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Summary of Event In the second half of the nineteenth century, Persia became increasingly enmeshed in international politics. The Russian Empire was expanding to the southeast, while the British in India were moving toward the northwest. Persia was the unwilling buffer between those two imperial giants. Persia’s population at that period was approaching ten million people. More than one-third of that number, however, were nomadic or seminomadic tribal peoples. The rest of the country’s inhabitants were scattered over the countryside in villages and hamlets. Under the :afavid Dynasty (ca. 1500-1727), Persia had been a major force in the Middle East, but the fall of the :afavids was followed by seventy years of civil war and political chaos. The Q3j3r Dynasty, which claimed the throne in 1796, never enjoyed the prestige of the :afavids. The Q3j3rs exerted real authority only in their capital, Tehran, and in a few other cities. To govern the rest of the country, the Q3j3rs depended on an intricate series of alliances with tribal chiefs and local landlords. The weakness of the Q3j3r government meant that the dynasty was comparatively poor. Their extortionate pol-
icies were much resented, but the Q3j3rs were never able to gain sufficient wealth to sustain their imperial pretensions. Their poverty made them an easy mark for European entrepreneurs eager to gain a commercial advantage in exchange for a comparatively small contribution to the royal purse. In this way, Europeans began to exert more control over Persia’s economy. Persia’s merchant class (the b3z3ris) was especially hurt by the influx of relatively cheap European goods. Traditional patterns of production and distribution were disrupted. Europe’s influence was further emphasized in March, 1890, when the Q3j3r shah granted the British a monopoly over the production, processing, and sale of tobacco in Persia. Persians were avid smokers, and the crop was widely grown. Farmers, petty manufacturers, and shopkeepers all faced the prospect of losing control over this valuable cash crop. All classes of Persian society therefore protested the granting of the tobacco concession. A few individuals who had been educated in Europe or in Persia’s few European-style schools led the way by complaining that the Q3j3rs were selling out to British imperialists. They carried on their protest through pamphlets and newspapers printed in England or Russia and smuggled into Persia. At the same time, the community of religious scholars, or ulema, also began to involve itself in the controversy. The ulema, educated in the Islamic religious sciences, far outnumbered those trained in modern schools. Also, the ulema of the Imami branch of Shiism, which the :afavid emperors had made the majority sect in Persia, enjoyed a particularly close relationship with the masses, especially the merchants. Many scholars came from mercantile families and found their most devoted followers in that group. Although they were contemptuous of the Q3j3rs, they did not trust those educated in European schools. To the ulema, the liberals seemed to be as bad as the imperialists. As the tobacco controversy heated up, some of the liberals approached Jam3l ad-Dtn al-Afgh3nt, a PanIslamist who was on an extended visit to Persia. AlAfgh3nt convinced the liberals that they had to express their opposition to the Q3j3rs in Islamic terms. Only then would the ulema and the b3z3ris join them. The liberals followed his advice, and al-Afgh3nt began writing to the scholars, arguing that they and the liberals both wanted the same Islamic reforms. Religious scholars had greater access to the masses than did the liberals. Many of them
Persia Adopts a Constitution were preachers in mosques, and soon their sermons were filled with attacks on the Q3j3rs. The protest grew so strong that Shah Mo,affar od-Dtn Sh3h was forced to withdraw the tobacco concession. He expelled al-Afgh3nt for his participation in the controversy. Al-Afgh3nt’s work in bringing the liberals and religious scholars together, however, set the stage for more serious political change. Throughout his reign as shah, Mo,affar dragged Persia further into foreign debt. Mo,affar was a sickly man, and he made several trips to famous European spas. In order to finance those expeditions, Mo,affar floated a number of large loans from the Russians. Scattered protests continued. The Persian Revolution began in December of 1905. The governor of Tehran had several prominent merchants publicly beaten for refusing to cooperate with his economic policies. In protest, a crowd of b3z3ris and ulemas (the community is the collective plural “ulema,” but several individuals are “ulemas”) went to the Royal Mosque. In turn, a government minister hired a mob to drive them out. Several merchants and scholars were roughed up. The throng then proceeded to a shrine outside the city, where they claimed religious sanctuary. They issued a number of demands to the shah, but these were not specifically formulated. Mo,affar fired the governor of Tehran, and revolutionary fervor abated temporarily. By the end of the summer of 1906, the protests had reached dramatic proportions. Several thousand prominent citizens left Tehran for the city of Qom, a famous religious center. Another fourteen or fifteen thousand people took refuge on the grounds of the British embassy. Life in Tehran came to a standstill. This time the protesters demanded an elected parliament (majlis). The shah was forced to concede. The first majlis met in October of 1906, and one of its committees set about drafting a constitution, known as the Fundamental Law. In the throes of his final illness, Mo,affar signed the document in December of 1906. The Fundamental Law was a fairly brief document, much of it patterned on the constitution of Belgium. Unlike Great Britain, Belgium was not a threat to Persia, so the framers of the law thought a constitution based on the Belgian one would not inspire much opposition. In October, 1907, a much larger document, the Supplementary Fundamental Law, was reluctantly approved by the new shah, Mowammad 4Alt Sh3h. This second portion of the constitution reflected some of the tensions that had emerged between the liberals and the religious scholars. After the initial success of the constitutional revolution, some members of the ulema began to suspect that they and the modernizers did not mean quite the same 550
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 thing when speaking of Islam. One of the prominent scholars, Sheikh Fazlullah Nnrt, said, “What is the use of a constitution cooked in a British stew pot?” The question of the rights of religious minorities was a case in point. Although the :afavids had made Imami Shiism the dominant religion of Persia, large numbers of Sunnis (who formed the majority in the Islamic world outside Persia) remained in the country. Sunnism was particularly strong among the tribal groups. No one considered banning Sunni participation in government, because Sunnis’ minority status made it unlikely that any Sunnis would find their way to high office. Christians of several sects, Jews, and Zoroastrians also lived in Persia, mostly in the cities. During the nineteenth century, European missionary and benevolent organizations began working with the Jewish and Christian groups. They built schools and hospitals that generally improved the social and economic position of the minorities. That development, however, raised the suspicion that Jews and Christians were agents of European imperialists. In the majlis, religious minorities had reserved seats. Their representatives were supposed to take care of the needs of their communities. The liberal constitutionalists wanted to ensure absolute equality among all Persians, but the ulema opposed that measure on several grounds. Having non-Muslims ruling over Muslims was to them a doctrinal and practical impossibility; moreover, they suspected Jews and Christians of having imperialist sympathies. As a compromise, the liberals conceded the principle that only Muslims could hold high government office and agreed to ban any missionary attempts to convert Muslims. As the missionaries had never been successful in attracting converts from Islam, this did not amount to a serious denial of rights. The constitution did, however, guarantee personal religious freedom. Jews and Christians continued to practice their faiths without government interference. The constitution’s ban on nonMuslims in the cabinet did not rouse any significant opposition among the religious minorities, perhaps because these groups had never had much influence in any of Persia’s previous governments. Indeed, the prevalence of monarchy meant that even Shiites had not had much say in the way they were governed. The revolution of 1905 and the constitution were attempts to give ordinary Persians some influence on the policies of the state. Significance Persia’s constitutional experiment ultimately failed. Mowammad 4Alt Sh3h was driven into exile in 1909. He
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They believed that both Great Britain and the United States would attempt to crush them. Once again, Jews and Christians in Iran were suspected of harboring antirevolutionary sentiments. In the years after 1980, however, that suspicion diminished. Many Jews and Christians fought in the war with Iraq. Those who died were given martyr status alongside that accorded Iranian Muslims killed in the war. In many ways, the Iranian Revolution of 1978-1979 was a continuation of the one that began in 1905. It resolved some of the tensions between liberals and ulema in favor of the latter. The ulema still appeared to command the loyalty of the Iranian masses as well as that of the b3z3ris. — Gregory C. Kozlowski Further Reading Afary, Janet. The Iranian Constitutional Revolution. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. A detailed, scholarly account of the formation of the first Persian constitution and of the Persian constitutional revolution. Includes a chronology, glossary, and bibliography. Arjomand, Saïd Amir, ed. Authority and Political Culture in Sht4ism. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988. A collection of articles covering every aspect of Shiism’s relationship to politics. Some concern the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which were crucial in the formation of Persian Shiism. Also contains translations of texts, including two tracts on the 1906-1907 constitution. Keddie, Nikki. Iran: Religion, Politics, and Society. Totowa, N.J.: Frank Cass, 1980. Keddie is one of the most prominent among a comparatively small number of Euro-American scholars who really seem to understand Iranian history. In part, this is a result of Keddie’s extensive use of Persian sources. This collection of some of her shorter articles covers a number of aspects of the 1905 revolution and its aftermath. _______. Roots of Revolution: An Interpretive History of Modern Iran. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981. This work is a genuine tour de force. Keddie manages to make sense of Iran’s history from the nineteenth century through the revolution of 1978-1979. Covers the period between the tobacco protest and the revolution very well. Nashat, Guity. The Origins of Modern Reform in Iran, 1870-1880. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982. Although the works of Keddie and Arjomand cited in this bibliography cover the backgrounds of 551
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had tried twice to overthrow the parliament and on the second attempt succeeded, but after his ouster a coalition of landlords even more reactionary than the shah took control in Tehran. A few constitutionalists, including the prominent religious scholar Sheikh Fazlullah Nnrt, held out in Tabriz, but eventually the Russians took the city and turned them over to the government. Many, like Nnrt, were given the briefest of trials and hanged. During World War I, Persia was occupied by British and Russian troops. Although the latter withdrew following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Great Britain retained a considerable amount of influence after the war. The British were not interested in reinstating the constitution. Their policy focused on keeping Persia stable so that the British could control Persia’s expanding oil industry. Persia had never had a strong military tradition. Before the late nineteenth century, kings had relied on tribal levies when they needed an armed force. In 1879, a Cossack brigade was established. The troopers were Persians, and the officers were Russians. Their primary duty was to protect the shah. In 1917, the Russian officers withdrew, and their Persian subordinates succeeded them as the unit’s commanders. One of these, Reza Khan, staged a military coup in 1921. Although Reza was anti-British, he accepted British help in taking over the government. In 1928, Reza declared himself sh3han sh3h (shah of shahs, or king of kings) and founded the Pahlavi Dynasty as Reza Shah Pahlavi. It was during Reza’s rule, in 1935, that the name of Persia was officially changed to Iran. He and his son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, were to be its only monarchs. Throughout the rule of the Pahlavis, the constitution of 1906-1907 was, in theory, the law of the land, but the Pahlavis observed it only when it served their political purposes. When the revolution of 1978-1979 began, an alliance of Western-educated liberals and religious scholars emerged, similar to that formed in 1890. Both sides looked back to the tobacco protest and the constitutional movement for heroic models. The names of Jam3l adDtn al-Afgh3nt and Fazlullah Nnrt were invoked constantly. Although the new constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran was built more thoroughly on Islamic principles than that of 1906-1907, it still guaranteed religious toleration for Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians. Like the earlier document, the new constitution did not allow religious minorities to hold high government office. The revolutionaries of 1978-1979 were also fearful of foreign interference. They looked on Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi as a puppet of the British and Americans.
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Launching of the Dreadnought the ulema, Nashat’s book pays attention to the liberal constitutionalists, giving them due credit for their contribution to modern Iran. Schirazi, Asghar. The Constitution of Iran: Politics and the State in the Islamic Republic. Translated by John O’Kane. New York: I. B. Tauris, 1997. Detailed examination of the formation and evolution of the Persian constitution. Includes useful bibliography. Wilber, Donald N. Iran Past and Present. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981. Although
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 some of Wilber’s views now appear dated, this book remains a handy single-volume introduction to the long and complex history of Iran. Places the first constitution of Iran in the context of the many events that led to it and that have flowed from it. See also: Jan., 1902: French Expedition at Susa Discovers Hammurabi’s Code; Aug. 31, 1907: Formation of the Triple Entente; May 26, 1908: Oil Is Discovered in Persia; 1925-1979: Pahlavi Shahs Attempt to Modernize Iran.
October 6, 1906
Launching of the DREADNOUGHT The launching of the Dreadnought ushered in a new era in naval technology and improved Britain’s edge in the contest for naval superiority among the European powers. Locale: Portsmouth, England Categories: Science and technology; transportation Key Figures Vittorio Cuniberti (1854-1913), Italian naval designer John Fisher (1841-1920), admiral in the Royal Navy Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914), U.S. naval theorist William II (1859-1941), emperor of Germany, r. 18881918 Summary of Event By the twentieth century, the battleship was firmly established as the dominant weapon of the world’s navies. The battleship had evolved from the clumsy U.S. Civil War ironclads of the 1860’s into a relatively large and heavily armed vessel. The development of naval technology had been generally consistent in those nations building warships, so the battleships of different navies shared many characteristics. A typical battleship was armed with four main battery guns (generally of 12-inch, or 30.48-centimeter, caliber) backed by a multitude of secondary guns in the caliber range of 6 to 8 inches (15.24 to 20.32 centimeters) that were protected by armor belts 9 to 12 inches (22.86 to 30.48 centimeters) thick and propelled by piston engines. Naval technology was about to take a huge leap forward, however, as circumstances around the world influenced naval architecture. By 1900, three elements combined to create an atmosphere in which naval innovation could thrive. The most important of these was the growing international tension 552
between Germany and its European neighbors. Having unified only in 1870, Germany was a late participant in the imperialism of the late nineteenth century. Germany could only watch as France and Great Britain carved up Africa and Asia between them. Having emerged as a European industrial power, Germany believed it was being denied a leading role in world affairs because it lacked an overseas empire. Without foreign possessions, the German emperor, William II, opted in 1897 to use naval power as a means to wield influence, with plans to double the size of the imperial navy in seven years. England, whose economy relied on sea communications, could not allow a threat to its century-old naval domination, and so it prepared to answer Germany’s challenge to a naval arms race. The second element was navalism, a philosophy that equated naval power with national status. The prophet of navalism was a U.S. officer, Alfred Thayer Mahan, whose book The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890) provided naval officers and politicians around the world with justification to build large fleets. Mahan claimed that the most successful societies have been naval powers, with their ability to control sea communications and commerce. To ensure control, navies needed battleships and colonies around the world as supply bases. Because Mahan justified the acquisition of empires and large navies, Europe, the United States, and Japan seized on his theories to ensure large naval budgets. Naval technology was the final element, as several innovations were perfected at the beginning of the twentieth century, primarily fire control and propulsion. The largest problem facing naval gunnery in 1900 was range finding. Gunners had difficulty hitting targets that were obscured by smoke and constantly moving on a feature-
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Launching of the Dreadnought
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range. Second, Cuniberti’s swift battleship could decide less ocean. Anticipated battle range was approximately when and under what conditions battle would occur. The 4,000 yards (3,657.6 meters), the effective range of a Italians, with their limited naval budget, rejected Cunitelescopic sight. Battleships thus carried many secondberti’s design, but the project caught the attention of the ary guns, as battles would take place well within their driving force behind Great Britain’s Royal Navy, Admilimited range, much less the longer range of the four ral Sir John Fisher. main battery guns. New inventions, such as optical range Fisher was a man receptive to new ideas. Having risen finders and mechanical plotting boards (essentially methrough the ranks from cabin boy to commander of the chanical computers), allowed accurate fire to beyond Royal Navy, Fisher was not constrained by traditional 10,000 yards (9,144 meters), the range of the main batmethods of doing things. Cuniberti’s design intrigued teries, by 1905. Propulsion also benefited from new inhim, for it seemed to fulfill two objectives: The new batnovation. Turbine engines, which had fewer moving tleship would ensure Great Britain’s technological domiparts and were thus more reliable than piston machinery, nance over the encroaching Germans, and it would inwere first experimented with in 1897, and smaller warcrease the Royal Navy’s firepower. To refine Cuniberti’s ships began to be fitted with turbines by 1905. design, Fisher created the Committee on Designs in DeWith these three elements together, an atmosphere cember, 1904, to produce a final blueprint for a ship to be existed in which a technological leap was not only possinamed Untakeable. In addition to Fisher, the committee ble but probable. The only thing missing was an event consisted of naval designers, civilian scientists, gunnery that would shape how the next battleships would appear. officers, and representatives from naval intelligence who That event took place on May 27, 1905, in the Tsushima reported on the latest German naval efforts. Strait, between Korea and Japan. Russian and Japanese Untakeable’s design emerged from committee in competition for influence in Manchuria and Korea had May, 1905, and it reflected not only Cuniberti’s theories led to war in February, 1904, and, following the destrucbut also particular British requirements. The ship had ten tion of Russia’s Asiatic Fleet, its Baltic Fleet was ordered 12-inch guns, which were sited to allow heavy fire in any to the Pacific. In May, 1905, the outmaneuvered Russian direction. Fisher had insisted on maximum firepower fleet was decisively defeated by the faster Japanese navy. Naval observers hurried to determine the lessons of the Battle of Tsushima and emerged with two conclusions: Accurate firepower at long range was absolutely vital, and the faster fleet had many tactical advantages. Coupled with international tension, navalism, and emerging technologies, the lessons of Tsushima formed the theoretical basis of the dreadnoughttype battleship. The first person to attempt to put theory into practice was Vittorio Cuniberti, a naval architect in the Italian navy. In 1903, Cuniberti published plans for a swift battleship armed with no less than twelve 12inch guns and no secondary armament. Influenced by the Battle of Tsushima, Cuniberti designed the ship on two premises. First, the large number of heavy guns, aimed by the new range-finding devices, could destroy The powerful battleship Dreadnought featured turbine engines. (Naval Historical any current battleship before its secCenter) ondary batteries could come into
Launching of the Dreadnought ahead, presuming that in battle the Royal Navy would have to chase fleeing German ships. Untakeable thus had three twin turrets pivoting on the centerline, with two twin turrets on either side of the bridge, allowing six guns to fire ahead or astern and eight guns to fire on the broadside. Prominent in Untakeable’s blueprint was a fire control tower, where officers could employ the new range-finding systems. The only other armament would be several small, rapid-fire guns to counter enemy torpedo boats; all other armament was dispensed with, causing some controversy among naval traditionalists. Controversy also arose over the choice of propulsion systems. In order to give Untakeable a speed advantage over contemporaneous battleships (which traveled at about sixteen knots), the Committee on Designs wanted a top speed of twenty-one knots. Piston engines could not achieve this speed; the only way to attain the desired speed on a hull weighing eighteen thousand tons was to use the new turbine engines. Using such a new technology on a project as important as this one caused the committee great concern, but the advantages outnumbered the risks, and Untakeable received turbine engines. As the ship was laid down at the Royal Navy Dockyard in Portsmouth, Fisher declared that it would be built in one year. A battleship typically required three years for construction, but Fisher had several reasons for wanting to hurry. First, a rapid construction time would generate good public relations for the new ship. Second, completion would forestall opposition to the new design. Finally, the sudden arrival of the new ship might deter the Germans. The keel of the ship was laid on October 2, 1905, and the hull was ready for launching on February 10, 1906. Rather than using the name Untakeable, King Edward VII christened the ship Dreadnought, the eighth Royal Navy ship to bear the name. (The first had fought the Spanish Armada in 1688, and a later Dreadnought had served with Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar.) The ship then received its guns, engines, and other internal systems before leaving Portsmouth for sea trials on October 6, 1906, missing Fisher’s deadline by only one day. Significance The successful completion of this new type of battleship had important effects on naval construction among all the world’s Great Powers. The initial announcement of the Dreadnought’s successful trials was the equivalent of saying that all the other battleships of the world were now obsolete. As a result, most countries stopped constructing battleships while they designed more modern ships. 554
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 The building of the Dreadnought has remained a turning point in naval architecture. The ship’s name was appropriated for the battleship types that followed: Any subsequent battleship armed with a single-caliber battery became known as a dreadnought, and those battleships that came before 1905 were pre-dreadnoughts. Dreadnoughts remained the focus of naval doctrine until the emergence of the aircraft carrier during World War II. —Steven J. Ramold Further Reading Hodges, Peter. The Big Gun: Battleship Main Armament, 1860-1945. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1981. Discusses battleship armament from the first ironclads to the last dreadnought, with an emphasis on the adoption of single-caliber armament in 1906. Massie, Robert K. Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War. 1991. Reprint. New York: Vintage Books, 2003. A voluminous study of the political and military impact of the Anglo-German naval arms race. Padfield, Peter. Battleship. Rev. ed. Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2001. A complete history of the battleship by a wellrespected naval historian. _______. The Great Naval Race: The Anglo-German Naval Rivalry, 1900-1914. New York: David McKay, 1974. The standard reference on this topic of naval history. Roberts, John. The Battleship Dreadnought: Anatomy of the Ship. Rev. ed. London: Conway Maritime Press, 2003. A highly technical study of the Dreadnought’s design, with many illustrations of internal systems. Sandler, Stanley. Battleships: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. Denver, Colo.: ABC-Clio, 2004. Covers wooden battleships circa 2000 b.c.e. through steamships, dreadnoughts, and later ships, focusing on the impact of the ships on warfare style and effectiveness. Simkins, Peter J. Battleship: The Development and Decline of the Dreadnought. London: Imperial War Museum, 1979. A study of the dreadnought era, from its inception to its replacement by the aircraft carrier. See also: 1906: Anschütz-Kaempfe Invents the First Practical Gyrocompass; June 28, 1914-Nov. 11, 1918: World War I; May 7, 1915: German Torpedoes Sink the Lusitania; May 31-June 1, 1916: Battle of Jutland; Nov. 12, 1921-Feb. 6, 1922: Washington Disarmament Conference; June 14, 1940: United States Begins Building a Two-Ocean Navy.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Japan Protests Segregation of Japanese in California Schools
October 25, 1906
Japan Protests Segregation of Japanese in California Schools The San Francisco Board of Education’s decision to segregate Japanese from other students in city schools exacerbated tensions between the United States and Japan. Locale: San Francisco, California Categories: Diplomacy and international relations; education; immigration, emigration, and relocation Key Figures Aoki Shuzo (1844-1914), Japanese ambassador to the United States Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Elihu Root (1845-1937), U.S. secretary of state Saionji Kimmochi (1849-1940), prime minister of Japan, 1906-1908 Eugene E. Schmitz (1864-1928), mayor of San Francisco
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Summary of Event On October 11, 1906, scarcely six months after Japan had magnanimously donated more than $246,000 in aid (exceeding the combined donations of the rest of the world) to help alleviate the suffering caused by the San Francisco earthquake, the San Francisco Board of Education repaid Japan’s kindness by voting to segregate Japanese children from “white” children in its schools. The Japanese government was at first stunned by this blatant expression of racial bigotry. The Japanese hoped that cooler and wiser heads would prevail in California and that the order would quickly be rescinded. After waiting for two weeks, Japanese prime minister Saionji Kimmochi instructed his ambassador to the United States, Aoki Shuzo, to deliver a note of protest into the hands of American secretary of state Elihu Root on October 25, 1906. The note reminded the government of the United States that Japanese citizens were guaranteed equal rights by treaty and that the “equal right of education is one of the highest and most valuable rights.” Saionji went on to say that even if the “oriental schools” provided for Asian children were to be equal to other schools, the segregation of Japanese children “constitutes an act of discrimination carrying with it a stigma and odium which it is impossible to overlook.” The Japanese government cautioned its citizens against any anti-American retribution in Japan and coun-
seled the Japanese in San Francisco to bear the insults and discrimination “with equanimity and dignity.” Japanese newspapers, although outraged at the school board’s blatant racial insult, generally suggested that the wisest course for Japan to take would be to appeal to the American sense of honor and fair play. President Theodore Roosevelt was both embarrassed and outraged at the San Francisco action and promised Aoki and the Japanese government that the matter soon would be resolved. Roosevelt began a propaganda campaign in the press to try to marshal national pressure against San Francisco and to give the Japanese the impression that he was actively engaged in resolving the issue. Much to his horror, however, several southern congressmen sprang to the defense of their fellow racists in California. They interpreted the issue as being one of states’ rights and reminded Roosevelt that the recent Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Supreme Court ruling allowed the individual states to maintain “separate but equal” public education facilities. For their part, the members of the San Francisco Board of Education were somewhat at a loss to understand the extent and importance of the international crisis they had caused. At that time, Chinese had been excluded as immigrants to the United States for nearly thirty years, and those Chinese who happened to be residents of California had been denied virtually all political and civil rights as a matter of course. Native American, African American, Mexican, Chinese, Korean, “Hindoo,” and other children routinely had been segregated from white children. The school board members did not understand why their action should cause such an uproar. The anti-Japanese bigotry was the result of a series of unfortunate coincidences. First, Japanese immigration to California previously had been but a minor irritant compared with the problems posed by the influx of Chinese laborers in the 1870’s and 1880’s. Fewer than ten thousand Japanese had come to California before 1900, and perhaps only half of them remained as residents. California labor contractors, however, discovered the industrious Japanese laboring in Hawaiian sugar cane fields after the Hawaiian Revolution of 1894. The contractors lured thousands of these workers to California, where they found ready employment in the developing agricultural sector. As their numbers increased, so did their economic
Japan Protests Segregation of Japanese in California Schools influence at nearly every level. By 1905, organized labor in California had mounted a campaign against Japanese immigration based on the fact that Japanese workers undercut American workers by working longer hours for less money. Second, the 1906 earthquake had contributed to the general malaise and sense of anomie in San Francisco in much the same irrational way that citizens of Tokyo would later turn against helpless, innocent Koreans in the aftermath of the great Kanto earthquake of 1923. White San Franciscans who lost their homes in the earthquake were outraged, quite irrationally, that a handful of Japanese had survived with their homes and businesses intact. Even worse, a few enterprising Japanese set up thriving cheap restaurants that catered to the workers involved in the urban recovery. In the eyes of the bigots, the Japanese seemed to be prospering at the expense of the suffering whites. Third, the San Francisco Chronicle, perhaps in an attempt to outdo the sensationalism of William Randolph Hearst’s Herald, chose that time to mount an irresponsibly provocative campaign against Japanese immigration. It published unsubstantiated and patently absurd charges that Japanese were spying on American coastal defenses for Japan and that they were acquiring huge tracts of land in the Central Valley, not only for its rich farmland but also for strategic military purposes. Without question, the worst fear they dredged up was the horror of racial miscegenation. They claimed that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of adult Japanese men were routinely placed side by side with young, innocent “white maidens” in the city’s schools. Actually, some twenty-three Japanese males, none older than sixteen years of age, were dispersed throughout the city schools, placed temporarily in lower grades until their English-language skills improved. In response to the increasing anti-Japanese sentiment, the Japanese Exclusion League was formed during the late summer of 1906; the organization was led, ironically, by four recent European immigrants to the city. Pickets in front of Japanese restaurants handed out matchboxes printed with the message “White people, patronize your own race.” Gangs of thugs assaulted lone Japanese in the streets and threw stones at the windows of Japanese residents. Petitions were circulated urging the exclusion of Japanese immigrants. A final factor in the bigotry directed against the Japanese was the rabidly racist campaign of San Francisco’s mayor, Eugene E. Schmitz. Schmitz was facing an imminent indictment for bribery and corruption by a reformist 556
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movement and hoped to use the growing anti-Japanese hysteria to gain political support. He joined the Japanese Exclusion League at a series of outdoor public meetings. Before long, this unprincipled political opportunist had further inflamed the already irrational bigots. The result was that the school board yielded to the demands of the rabble and voted to establish a separate school for all “orientals,” including the Japanese. After a few months, the more responsible citizens of the city managed to bolster enough support to force another vote in the school board, but not before many Japanese children were denied the right to an education in their neighborhood schools and not before many Japanese adults were assaulted, threatened, and coerced to pay “protection money” by the local police. President Roosevelt met several times with city and state leaders and reached a tacit agreement that the school segregation crisis could be resolved if some agreement could be reached to restrict the immigration of Japanese laborers. Ambassador Aoki was receptive to Roosevelt’s invitation to discuss the issue but reminded him that Japan already restricted the number of passports granted to persons wishing to emigrate to the United States. He suggested that it would be better if the United States would restrict immigration from Hawaii and Mexico, because apparently most Japanese who came to California arrived from those countries. After months of discussion, Roosevelt and the Japanese arrived at what came to be known as the Gentlemen’s Agreement, which severely limited the number of Japanese immigrants. For the time being, ninety-three Japanese children returned to their neighborhood schools, and San Francisco and California settled down to await nervously the next wave of xenophobic hysteria. Unfortunately, they did not have long to wait. Significance The effect of the San Francisco school segregation incident was most directly felt by the ninety-three children who had their education interrupted for a year. Their required travel to the “oriental school”—in some cases, from one side of the city to the other—was at least inconvenient and at times dangerous. The greatest impact came from the denial of these children’s human and civil rights. To be singled out for discrimination on the basis of race was a demeaning insult. The only thing that ameliorated and stopped the discrimination was the fact that Japan, by 1906, had become a powerful military world power. Japan could not be insulted with impunity.
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Japan Protests Segregation of Japanese in California Schools
Regrettably, the Japanese Exclusion League did not simply evaporate with the hysteria. Like the irrational xenophobia that fed the crisis, the league continued, nurtured by fear and resentment. It surfaced again in 1913, when the California legislature passed the Alien Land Act, which denied landowning to people (such as the Japanese) who could not become citizens. It flourished again in 1921 and 1924, when the U.S. Congress passed immigration acts favoring immigrants from northern and western Europe and restricting the number of Japanese immigrants to fewer than one hundred per year. Some historians have argued that the discriminatory tendencies evident in the San Francisco school segregation crisis of 1906 were precursory to the xenophobia that would sanction the incarceration of loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry in 1942 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that plunged the two countries into a battle for control of the Pacific during World War II. Curiously, within the so-called Gentlemen’s Agreement that resolved the school segregation crisis was the basis for a somewhat different but perhaps more dangerous problem. That agreement allowed for those Japanese already resident in the United States to bring their families to join them. The citizens of California were startled to discover that male Japanese residents used this rule to bring their parents and sometimes women whom they had married “by proxy” to live with them. The children born to Japanese immigrants in the United States were natural-born citizens. The state of California could deny political and civil rights to aliens, but it could not deny such rights to their citizen children. —Louis G. Perez
See also: Mar. 14, 1907: Gentlemen’s Agreement; May 20, 1913: Passage of the First Alien Land Law; Feb. 5, 1917: Immigration Act of 1917; Nov. 13, 1922: Ozawa v. United States.
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Further Reading Bailey, Thomas A. Theodore Roosevelt and the Japanese-American Crisis: An Account of the International Complications Arising from the Race Problem on the Pacific Coast. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1934. Solid account places the crisis within the context of the greater history of U.S.-Japan foreign relations. Includes bibliography and index. Boddy, E. Manchester. Japanese in America. 1921. Reprint. San Francisco: R&E Research Associates, 1970. Brief monograph written to counter the arguments of the Japanese Exclusion League. Examines and refutes each argument with California and federal census and immigration statistics. Dated, but valuable for its glimpse of the visceral quality of the debate. Daniels, Roger. The Politics of Prejudice: The Anti-
Japanese Movement in California and the Struggle for Japanese Exclusion. 1974. Reprint. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. Masterful treatment of the politics of racial bigotry depicts the leaders of the “nativist” movement in California with chilling clarity. Includes valuable bibliography of primary sources. Iriye, Akira. Pacific Estrangement: Japanese and American Expansion, 1897-1911. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1972. Brilliantly written examination of the mutual animosities between two imperialist states. Of particular interest are chapters 5 and 6, “Confrontation: The Japanese View” and “Confrontation: The American View.” Lauren, Paul Gordon. Power and Prejudice: The Politics and Diplomacy of Racial Discrimination. 2d ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1996. Examines the impacts of racial prejudice on international relations, immigration policies, and military conflict. Includes discussion of immigration exclusion laws. Neu, Charles E. An Uncertain Friendship: Theodore Roosevelt and Japan, 1906-1909. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967. Solid revisionist interpretation uses Roosevelt’s extensive personal correspondence to portray him as a shrewd politician whose own racial prejudices made him more sympathetic to the Japanese Exclusion League than to the Japanese. Good use of primary documents. Solid bibliography. Nimmo, William F. Stars and Stripes Across the Pacific: The United States, Japan, and the Asia/Pacific Region, 1895-1945. New York: Praeger, 2001. Examines economic, diplomatic, and military relations between the United States and Japan, as well as other Asian nations, from late in the nineteenth century to World War II. Penrose, Eldon R. California Nativism: Organized Opposition to the Japanese, 1890-1913. San Francisco: R&E Research Associates, 1973. Sophisticated examination of the exclusionist movement uses newspapers and correspondence of the principal participants to examine the politics of the movement and the background of its leaders. Includes appendixes containing the text of various anti-Asian exclusion acts.
Thomson Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering the Electron
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
December 10, 1906
Thomson Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering the Electron Joseph John Thomson’s discovery of the electron enabled scientists to explain the nature of cathode rays, provided other explanations for problems with currents in gases, and paved the way for advances in understanding atomic structure. Locale: Stockholm, Sweden Categories: Science and technology; physics Key Figures Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940), English physicist, professor, and director of the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (1869-1959), Scottish physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923), German physicist Philipp Lenard (1862-1947), Hungarian-born German physicist and professor Summary of Event In his celebrated work Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873), James Clerk Maxwell stressed the need to study the complex processes involved in electric discharge in gases in order to understand the nature of the charge and the medium. In 1879, an English chemist, Sir William Crookes—who had invented the “Crookes tube” and was the first to observe radiations emitted from a cathode in an evacuated glass tube through which electric discharges occurred—published an extensive list of attributes of these rays. Crookes noted that, among other properties, cathode rays cast shadows and were bent by a magnetic field: He concluded that they were made up of particles. At the suggestion of Hermann von Helmholtz, Eugen Goldstein of Berlin studied cathode rays exhaustively and published an impressive paper in the English Philosophical Magazine in 1880, firmly convinced that these rays were a form of waves. Thus, in 1880, the divergence of opinion regarding the nature of cathode rays became a central problem. Crookes and the leading English physicists believed that cathode rays consisted of electrified particles, whereas the German physicists, led by Heinrich Hertz, were certain that the rays were waves. In 1883, Hertz found that one could bend cathode rays by applying a magnetic field outside a discharge tube. His attempt to measure the magnetic field caused by the 558
discharge inside the tube (between two parallel glass plates, which enabled him to determine the current distribution therein) gave no significant correlation to the direction of the cathode rays. Further, Hertz applied static electric fields both inside and outside the tube through parallel conducting plates connected to batteries up to 240 volts. This would presumably produce a force perpendicular to the direction of the rays, deflecting them if they were composed of charged particles. In both situations, he obtained a null result. His long series of experiments seemed to confirm the basic premise with which he had started—namely, that cathode rays were waves. His pupil, Philipp Lenard, continued the study of cathode rays, concentrating on their properties outside the tube, which made them easier to handle. He showed that once out of the tube, the rays rendered the air a conducting medium and blackened the photographic plates; moreover, the distance they traveled depended on the weight-perunit area of matter, not on its chemical properties, and the magnetic deflection was independent of the gas inside the tube. Like Hertz, Lenard believed that he was dealing with a wave phenomenon. In 1895, Jean-Baptiste Perrin, repeating Crookes’s experiment with improved equipment, succeeded in collecting from cathode rays negatively charged particles in an insulated metal cup. This appeared to cast doubt about their wave aspects and consequently, by late 1895, two divergent views prevailed among the leading physicists as to the nature of electric charges. One group thought of them as portions of fluids consisting of large numbers of “molecules of electricity,” or electrons. The other group regarded the “charge” as a result of an unknown form of stress in ether, attached to matter being rendered visible. Therefore, the nature of the cathode rays still remained to be resolved. In 1895, at the University of Würzburg, while studying discharges produced by an induction coil in an evacuated Crookes tube, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen accidentally discovered X rays produced by cathode rays as they impacted a platinum target. Among other properties, such as penetrability through matter, X rays were found to ionize gaseous media, making it conduct, which accelerated the study of conductivity in gases. Sir Joseph John Thomson’s use of the property of X rays proved to be the pivotal point in guiding him toward the discovery of the electron.
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Thomson Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering the Electron
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In the hope of resolving the controversy “Carriers of Negative Electricity” on the nature of cathode rays, Thomson reIn his Nobel lecture, Joseph John Thomson explained the method by peated Perrin’s experiment with minor which he discovered the electron. This excerpt is from the introduction modifications in the collection and meato his lecture: surement of the charges. Using a magnetic field to bend the rays, he collected them in a The first place in which corpuscles were detected was a highly exmetal cup placed away from the direct line. hausted tube through which an electric discharge was passing. When He found that the charge in the cup reached an electric discharge is sent through a highly exhausted tube, the sides a steady state after attaining a maximum of the tube glow with a vivid green phosphorescence. That this is due to value, which he correctly explained as something proceeding in straight lines from the cathode—the electrode caused by leakage into surrounding space. where the negative electricity enters the tube—can be shown in the following way (the experiment is one made many years ago by Sir WilHertz had failed to observe electric deflecliam Crookes): A Maltese cross made of thin mica is placed between tion of the cathode rays. Thomson, using the cathode and the walls of the tube. When the discharge is past, the two conducting plates between the cathode green phosphorescence no longer extends all over the end of the tube, rays within the tube, applying an electroas it did when the cross was absent. There is now a well-defined cross in static field between the plates, and utilizing the phosphorescence at the end of the tube; the mica cross has thrown a a better vacuum technique compared to that shadow and the shape of the shadow proves that the phosphorescence is available to Hertz, was able to observe dedue to something travelling from the cathode in straight lines, which is flection of the rays, showing that they were stopped by a thin plate of mica. The green phosphorescence is caused composed of negatively charged particles. by cathode rays and at one time there was a keen controversy as to the He correctly explained that Hertz’s failure nature of these rays. Two views were prevalent: one, which was chiefly to observe electric deflection of the cathode supported by English physicists, was that the rays are negatively electrified bodies shot off from the cathode with great velocity; the other rays was caused by their ionizing property view, which was held by the great majority of German physicists, was in excess amount of gas in the tube, thus that the rays are some kind of ethereal vibration or waves. shielding them from the very field meant to The arguments in favour of the rays being negatively charged partideflect them. By the simultaneous applicacles are primarily that they are deflected by a magnet in just the same tion of the electric and magnetic fields to the way as moving, negatively electrified particles. We know that such cathode rays, Thomson obtained the velocparticles, when a magnet is placed near them, are acted upon by a force ity v of the cathode-ray particles. On the aswhose direction is at right angles to the magnetic force, and also at right sumption that the particles carried a charge angles to the direction in which the particles are moving. e and had mass m, Thomson succeeded in Thus, if the particles are moving horizontally from east to west, and obtaining the crucial ratio of charge to mass, the magnetic force is horizontal from north to south, the force acting on that is, e/m, showing that it was seventeen the negatively electrified particles will be vertical and downwards. hundred times the corresponding value for Source: Joseph John Thomson, “Carriers of Negative Electricity,” in Nobel hydrogen atoms. He further showed that the Lectures, Physics 1901-1921 (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1967). constant e/m was independent of velocity v, the kind of electrodes used, and the type of gas inside the cathode-ray tube. bombarded by ultraviolet light, and in a variety of gasUsing Charles Thomson Rees Wilson’s newly develeous discharge phenomena. Thomson’s discovery that oped “cloud chamber,” Thomson was able to obtain the the cathode-ray particle is universal and fundamental to value of the charge e; from the ratio e/m, it was simple to the understanding of the structure of all matter unraveled compute the numerical value of m. Hence the smallness of the puzzling aspect of conductivity of gases, the nature of the mass, combined with the relatively large velocity of electricity, and the wave-particle controversy. the cathode-ray particles, also explained Hertz’s observation, namely, that the rays penetrated thin sheets of metals. Obviously, massive particles could not do so. From Significance Lenard’s result of constancy of magnetic deflection of the Thomson’s discovery of the electron—as well as the recrays and independence of chemical properties, Thomson ognition of the fact that it carried a natural unit of charge soon realized that he had discovered a universal module and was a universal component of all atoms—marked the of atoms found in radioactive substances, alkali metals beginning of a new and exciting period in atomic research.
Thomson Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering the Electron Further confirmation concerning the particle nature of cathode rays came from other quarters. For example, Pieter Zeeman’s observation of the widening D lines in the spectrum of sodium, explained by Hendrik Antoon Lorentz’s theory, caused by changed electron configurations of the atoms in the presence of a magnetic field, gave a value of e/m, comparable to those obtained by Thomson. Based on his discovery and a study of mechanical stability of the electrons under the influence of the electrostatic force, Thomson showed that the electron must circulate about the atom’s center, constrained to move in concentric circles. Calling the cathode-ray particles “corpuscles” and speculating that their number increased proportionally to the atomic weights, Thomson attempted to explain the structure of the chemical elements and their properties. From this early model, he drew several important conclusions. First, because the electrons must accelerate as they move in circles around the atomic center, they will radiate. Therefore, such an arrangement of electrons cannot be stable, because n, the number of electrons, was assumed to be of the order of one thousand times the atomic weight A. Because experimental work on alpha, beta, and gamma scattering, performed under the supervision of Thomson at the Cavendish Laboratory to verify his theory and obtain n of chemical elements, had led to negative conclusions, this served as a basis for Ernest Rutherford’s model of the nuclear atom. Additionally, Thomson’s discovery of the order of n fostered the development of the scattering theory, which was to play an important role in the evolving research work in atomic and nuclear physics. The instability of his model atom was instrumental in the formulation of the quantum hypothesis and the discovery of the atomic quantum levels. Finally, Thomson’s electron distribution in atoms provided analogies to the behavior of the chemical elements and in particular the population of electrons in the atoms of contiguous elements in the periodic table that differed by unity. —V. L. Madhyastha Further Reading Buchwald, Jed Z., and Andrew Warwick, eds. Histories of the Electron: The Birth of Microphysics. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001. Collection of essays on Thomson and on the early physics of the electron, produced by the Dibner Institute. Bibliographic references and index. Crowther, J. G. The Cavendish Laboratory, 1874-1974. New York: Science History, 1974. Leads readers from the origin of the Cavendish Laboratory through 560
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 its period of rapid growth to its present-day organization, discussing the crucial role of the personnel of this unique research laboratory. This volume, in addition to providing a complete account of the researchers at Cavendish and their achievements, contains an exhaustive list of references. Kim, Dong-Won. Leadership and Creativity: A History of the Cavendish Laboratory, 1871-1919. Boston: Kluwer, 2002. A condensed version of the author’s dissertation, this volume details Thomson’s research at the Cavendish Laboratory, as well as his role as a leader and inspiration of other physicists. Nobelstiftelsen, ed. Physics, 1901-1921. New York: Elsevier, 1967. Includes Sir Joseph John Thomson’s Nobel lecture of 1906, detailing his discovery of the electron, which is relatively short, easy to follow, and by far the best source of information on the subject. His biographical sketch, although brief, contains a complete list of honors bestowed on him. Strutt, Robert John, Fourth Baron Rayleigh. The Life of Sir J. J. Thomson. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1942. At Cavendish in 1899, Strutt began his research work on ionization produced by radiations from various radioactive substances and was close to Thomson’s own research activities. This biography of Thomson is the authoritative text that is often quoted, for good reason. One begins to appreciate the contribution of Thomson and the people he inspired in the field of science after reading this work. Thomson, George Paget. J. J. Thomson and the Cavendish Laboratory in His Day. London: Thomas Nelson, 1964. George Paget Thomson, the son of Sir Joseph John Thomson, an eminent physicist, who received the Nobel Prize for his work on the diffraction of electrons in crystals in 1937, narrates the life and achievements of his famous father and those who worked with him at the University of Cambridge. This volume contains not only the story of Thomson’s life and work but also a lucid account of the history of the development of physics at the beginning of the twentieth century in England and Europe. Thomson, J. J. Cathode Rays. Stanford, Calif.: Academic Reprints, 1954. This classic scientific paper, originally published in the Philosophical Magazine (1897), in which Thomson methodically details his findings concerning the cathode rays and his discovery of the electron, provides a proper historical perspective and an understanding of the working of a powerful mind. Although the subject matter is technical, the reader should find it highly rewarding.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 _______. Recollections and Reflections. London: G. Bell & Sons, 1936. An autobiography is necessarily “recollections and reflections” in the true sense of the words. Thomson was an accomplished writer, scholar, and teacher accustomed to scrupulously accurate recording of his thoughts and observations. In this last work, Thomson gives a candid account of his many achievements, preserving a balanced historical perspective. This volume spans the history of physics at its most exciting period and is a pleasure to read.
Fessenden Pioneers Radio Broadcasting See also: 1904: First Practical Photoelectric Cell Is Developed; Mar., 1905: Einstein Describes the Photoelectric Effect; 1910: Thomson Confirms the Possibility of Isotopes; 1919: Aston Builds the First Mass Spectrograph and Discovers Isotopes; 1923: Discovery of the Compton Effect; Apr., 1932: Cockcroft and Walton Split the Atom; 1934: Discovery of the Cherenkov Effect; Nov., 1934: Yukawa Proposes the Existence of Mesons; Dec., 1938: Hahn Splits the Uranium Atom.
December 24, 1906
Fessenden Pioneers Radio Broadcasting Reginald Aubrey Fessenden revolutionized radio broadcasting by transmitting music and voice for the first time. Locale: Brant Rock, Massachusetts Categories: Science and technology; communications and media; radio and television; inventions Key Figures Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (1866-1932), American radio engineer Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), Italian physicist and inventor
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Summary of Event The first person in the United States to conduct major experiments with wireless radio was Reginald Aubrey Fessenden. This transplanted Canadian was a skilled, self-made scientist, but unlike Thomas Alva Edison, he lacked the business acumen to gain wealth and full credit for his pathbreaking work. Guglielmo Marconi is most often remembered as the person who invented wireless (as opposed to telegraphic) radio, but there is a fallacy in the Marconi claim. The contributions of Marconi and Fessenden differ significantly. Marconi limited himself to experiments with radio telegraphy; that is, he sought to send messages through the air in the form in which they had been sent by wire up to that point—as dots and dashes. Fessenden sought to perfect radiotelephony: voice communication by wireless. Fessenden pioneered the essential precursor to modern radio broadcasting. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he spent much time and energy publicizing his experiments, thus promoting interest in the new science of radio broadcasting.
Fessenden had a varied background. He worked with Edison as well as at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation and the U.S. Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture. The three years he spent working with Edison shaped his values about the process of invention. He sought to make a name for himself, aspiring to become as famous for the miracle of radio as Edison had become for the phonograph, the electric lightbulb, and the motion picture. Fessenden began his career as an inventor while working for the Weather Bureau. He set out to invent and innovate a system by which to disseminate weather forecasts to users on land and on the sea—by radio. Fessenden believed that his technique of continuous waves in the radio frequency range would provide the power necessary to carry Morse telegraph code yet be effective enough to handle voice communication. He turned out to be correct. He conducted experiments as early as 1900 at Rock Point, Maryland, about fifty miles (eighty kilometers) south of Washington, D.C., and registered his first patent in the area of radio research in 1902. In 1900, Fessenden asked the General Electric Corporation to produce a high-speed generator of alternating currents—or alternator—to serve as the basis of his radio transmitter. This proved to be the first major request for wireless radio apparatus useful for projecting voices and music. It took the engineers three years to design and deliver the alternator. Meanwhile, Fessenden worked on an improved radio receiver. To fund his experiments, Fessenden piqued the interest of financial backers, who put up one million dollars to create the National Electric Signaling Company in 1902. He and a small group of handpicked scientists worked at Brant Rock on the Massachusetts coast south of Bos-
Fessenden Pioneers Radio Broadcasting ton. Fessenden followed the methods he had learned under Edison, creating a small, crude shop and learning by trial and error. His intent was to work outside the corporate system and then seek fame and glory based on his own work, not something owned by a corporate patron. Fessenden’s moment of glory came on December 24, 1906, with the first announced broadcast of his radiotelephone (this occasion followed a private demonstration a month earlier). Using an ordinary telephone microphone and his special alternator to generate the necessary radio energy, Fessenden alerted ships up and down the Atlantic coast with his wireless telegraph and arranged for newspaper reporters to listen in from New York City. In his “broadcast” from Brant Rock, Fessenden made himself the center of the show. He played the violin, sang, and read from the Bible. Anticipating what would become standard practice fifty years later, Fessenden also transmitted the sounds of a phonograph recording. He ended this first broadcast by wishing those listening a merry Christmas. A similar, equally well publicized demonstration was presented on December 31. If one considers the audience of telegraph operators on the ships of the day and newspapers as a means of mass dissemination, then this public display in late 1906 represented the first radio broadcast. It was a scheduled event, and listening required no special knowledge of code because the sounds consisted of voice and music. Newspaper reporters wrote about shipboard radio operators “hearing” the voices of angels rather than the usual static and Morse code. Although Fessenden was skilled at drawing attention to his inventions and must be credited, among others, as one of the engineering founders of modern principles of radio, he was far less skilled than others at making money with his experiments, and thus his long-term impact was limited. The National Electric Signaling Company had a fine beginning, and for a time it was a supplier to the boats of United Fruit Company. The financial setback of the Panic of 1907, however, wiped out an opportunity to sell the Fessenden patents—at a vast profit—to a corporate giant, the American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation. Fessenden found himself deserted by his original backers. As had been the case with Edison, backers loved the promise of his experiments but avoided being associated with failure. Fessenden was not a rich man; once his financial support dried up, he was isolated. Thereafter, his career went downhill. Much like Edison, in the twentieth century Fessenden spent more and more of his time in court trying to protect his inventions. His laboratory career was 562
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 over. Eventually, this led to a series of extended lawsuits and, in the end, the sale of patents to Westinghouse Electric Corporation following World War I. Fessenden’s experience again proved that simple invention (and skilled promotion) was not enough. One also had to be an innovator, able to develop a product that could sell in the economic marketplace and then display the skills to market it. Fessenden’s invention, spectacular in its day, required massive apparatus that was too cumbersome to use permanently. Thus, along with a handful of others, Fessenden had to be satisfied with knowing he had helped to spawn the modern age of radio and television communications. Significance In many countries, several scientists and inventors claimed to be the first radio broadcaster. How can one know which was the first radio broadcast? As an industry, radio broadcasting as it is currently known did not commence until late in 1920, when the Westinghouse Electric Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, established its station, KDKA. Many experiments and demonstrations preceded KDKA. Of these experiments, Fessenden’s broadcast of December 24, 1906, to ships along the Atlantic seaboard ranks as a pioneering effort. Fessenden’s transmission was intended for the audience of the day. Had more receiving equipment been available and in place, a massive audience could have heard Fessenden’s voice and music. Fessenden had the correct idea, even to the point of playing a crude phonograph record. Yet neither Fessenden nor Marconi, nor any of their many other rivals, was able to establish a regular series of broadcasts on a permanent basis. Their “stations” were experimental and promotional. At best, they performed a series of demonstrations. Fessenden, however, became better known than most through his skills in generating favorable publicity, and his equipment was more powerful. Fessenden was what one might consider today an amateur radio operator. Indeed, in the years immediately preceding World War I, the creation of a growing community of amateur radio hobbyists across the nation must be judged the principal effect of the Fessenden experiments. These early radio enthusiasts rarely ventured into voice or musical broadcasting; rather, they continued to use point-topoint communication through Morse code. Nevertheless, this development marked the beginning of modern mass communication. It took the needs of World War I to encourage broader use of wireless radio based on Fessenden’s experiments.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Suddenly, the ability to communicate from ship to ship or from ship to shore became a matter of life or death. Generating publicity was no longer necessary. Governments fought over crucial patent rights. The Radio Corporation of America pooled vital knowledge. Ultimately, RCA came to acquire the Fessenden patents. Radio broadcasting commenced, and the radio industry, with its multiple uses for mass communication, was off and running. Pioneers such as Fessenden were left for the history books. Fessenden’s is another case of an independent inventor who tried to go against the modern science trend toward confining invention within corporate laboratories. One could not work outside the given institutional relations and hope to succeed. Fessenden proved that Edison ended an era, the age of the inventor as lone wolf. —Douglas Gomery Further Reading Aitken, Hugh G. J. The Continuous Wave: Technology and American Radio, 1900-1932. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985. The author, a longtime student of radio history, analyzes the technical shifts that led to the configuration of modern radio. A highly specialized and difficult work, but the standard for technological history. Barnouw, Erik. A Tower in Babel. Vol. 1 in A History of Broadcasting in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966. Barnouw’s work stands as the standard multivolume history of broadcasting in the United States. He covers the coming of radio in this first volume. Douglas, Susan J. Inventing American Broadcasting: 1899-1922. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987. A richly illustrated account of an important era in media history. Identifies the use of
Fessenden Pioneers Radio Broadcasting newspaper and magazine publicity as crucial for the cultural evolution of radio, as the press legitimated the new technology. Fessenden, Helen M. Fessenden: Builder of Tomorrow. 1940. Reprint. New York: Arno Press, 1974. The inventor/promoter’s wife argues after his death for his proper role in the creation of modern radio. Includes index. Head, Sydney W., Thomas Spann, and Michael A. McGregor. Broadcasting in America: A Survey of Electronic Media. 9th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. The standard introduction to the institutions of radio and television in the United States. Begins with an analysis of the invention of wireless radio broadcasting. Lichty, Lawrence W., and Malachi C. Topping. American Broadcasting: A Source Book on the History of Radio and Television. New York: Hastings House, 1975. Contains articles and documents concerning the history of radio and television. Treats the invention of radio transmission in some detail. Sterling, Christopher H., and John Michael Kittross. Stay Tuned: A History of American Broadcasting. 3d ed. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001. The standard one-volume history of radio and television in the United States. A good beginning point. See also: Dec. 12, 1901: First Transatlantic Telegraphic Radio Transmission; Oct. 21, 1915: First Demonstration of Transatlantic Radiotelephony; 1919: Principles of Shortwave Radio Communication Are Discovered; 1920’s: Radio Develops as a Mass Broadcast Medium; Aug. 20-Nov. 2, 1920: Radio Broadcasting Begins; Sept. 9, 1926: National Broadcasting Company Is Founded.
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Muslim League Protests Government Abuses of Minority Rights in India
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December 30, 1906
Muslim League Protests Government Abuses of Minority Rights in India The All-India Muslim League was established in 1906 to promote the political, educational, social, and economic interests of colonial India’s minority Muslim community. Locale: Dacca, India Categories: Organizations and institutions; indigenous peoples’ rights; civil rights and liberties Key Figures Aga Khan III (Sultan Sir Mohammed Shah; 18771957), first president of the All-India Muslim League Lord Minto (Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound; 1845-1914), viceroy of India Mohsin-ul-Mulk (Sayyid Mahdi Ali; 1837-1907), a founding member of the All-India Muslim League Khwaja Salimullah (1871-1915), a founding member of the All-India Muslim League Summary of Event On December 30, 1906, a meeting of delegates to the Muhammadan Educational Conference gathered to establish the Muslim All-India Confederacy. The site of the formation of what would be known thereafter as the All-India Muslim League was Dacca, the capital of the newly formed, predominantly Muslim province established by the 1905 partition of Bengal. Delegates to the conference, more than three thousand from all of India, answered a call by Khwaja Salimullah to discuss establishing a political organization that would safeguard Muslim social, economic, and political interests from unfair competition and influence by majority Hindus in British India. Muslim leaders perceived encroaching disenfranchisement from European-ruled India. Thus was born an association conceived because of the perception of a duality of interests and goals between British India’s two main communities, Hindus and Muslims. The league would later facilitate not only Indian independence but also the partition of the subcontinent into two sovereign countries, India and Pakistan. That partition would have its origins in the communal and political diversity of Indian Hindus and Indian Muslims during the period from 1857 to 1947, which came to be known as the nationalist era. Muslim separatism and the “two-nations principle” derived from the idea that Indian Muslims were cultur564
ally and politically distinct from India’s Hindus. Indian Muslims, however, comprised many ethnic groups, reflecting the nations of the subcontinent’s invaders. They were Arabs, Turks, Afghans, and Persians as well as indigenous South Asians who were converts from Hinduism. These ethnic groups constituted a syncretic Indian Islam influenced by varying cultural traditions; India’s Muslims did not, therefore, constitute a monolithic group except in terms of their communal differences with the Hindu majority. After 1857, cultural and religious nationalism became especially important to Indians, especially Muslims. Hindus had tended to adapt better to their invaders, stressing their distinctiveness as a community less than Muslims did and assimilating more easily. With the political advent of the East India Company, Muslims and several martial ethnic groups such as the Rajputs, Sikhs, and Marathas found themselves jockeying for position to fill the political void left by faltering Moghul imperial rule. Several of these groups vied with one another and with the British and the French in an attempt to fill that void. After the Indian Mutiny of 1857, the British made tangible what had been true since the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and formally established the British raj (rule). The events of 1857 reflected badly, justifiably or not, on the Muslims, as they were perceived as having the most to gain by disrupting British rule in northern India. For a brief time after the conflict, however, because both Hindus and Muslims had been involved, there was a sense of Indian nationalism; for some it meant simply “antiBritish.” Indian nationalism was cemented when Queen Victoria of England became empress of India and India was proclaimed the “jewel in the British crown.” When the British officially announced their political hegemony, Indian nationalism became interlocked with culture, religion, and politics, most noticeably between Hindus and Muslims. With the government in the hands of foreigners who needed indigenous bureaucrats and administrators to operate it, there was keen competition for economic and political representation and influence. Muslims, shouldering a greater part of the burden in 1857 and having been defeated by the British in governance of India, fell behind more progressive Hindus who eagerly sought positions within the British raj. Hindus also adapted more readily to the British educational system,
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Muslim League Protests Government Abuses of Minority Rights in India between Muslim subjects and British officialdom. He saw the Congress as antigovernment and as a vehicle only for protest and “agitational” politics. To this end, he established the Joint Committee of the Friends of India, opposing the Congress’s goals and objectives. All these political machinations, as well as the 1905 partition of Bengal, which created a new province in which Muslims increased their representations on legislative bodies, led to the deputation to Simla of thirty-six influential Muslims to see Lord Minto, the viceroy of India, on October 1, 1906. The delegation, led by Aga Khan III, included Muslim landowners, lawyers, nobles, and merchants addressing the viceroy on “communal interests of diverse Indian communities.” The delegation advised the government that the relative numerical strength of a community should not be an issue for the government but instead the “political importance and value” of each community should be considered. In detailing the distinctiveness of Indian Islam, the delegation built on the recent partition of Bengal, which would have worked in Muslims’ political favor had Hindu protests not nullified it in 1911. Two months after the delegation, Mohsin-ul-Mulk explained the difference between the newly formed Muslim League and the Congress. The league did not seek to emulate the agitational politics of the Congress but to submit any demands to the government with due respect. The league stressed a (Muslim) national duty to be loyal to the British rule, to defend the British Empire, and to give the enemy (Hindus) a fight in doing so. Significance The establishment of the All-India Muslim League provided Indian Muslims with a national political and communal voice different from the usual regional cultural and educational organizations, which were not as effective in political lobbying. The league, however, largely represented the interests of prosperous and influential Muslims wanting equal input into the governance of India along with influential Indian Hindus. With the Indian National Congress, it was a major negotiating factor in the bid for svaraj (self-government), a Congress goal announced in 1906, and later in the bid for independence and, finally, in the establishment of Pakistan. The league was in place to protest the nullification of the partition of Bengal in 1911, which depleted Bengali Muslim representation on legislative and advisory boards and councils. The league’s purpose was also to harness and focus the political and economic interests of subcontinent Muslims. It was not, however, a grassroots 565
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and educated Hindus were the first chosen when opportunities for Western education and government and military employment were opened to Indians. If this were not enough, the influence of the British extended even to social matters, affecting the lives of the indigenous governed in terms of religious and cultural practices and even language usage. This trampling on social traditions had led directly to the conflict of 1857. Accompanying Hindu participation in the British raj was a Hindu renaissance reviving the symbols, myths, heroes, and history of ancient Hindu rule in India. Such organizations as the Brahmo Samaj and the Arya Samaj suggested to non-Hindus that Indian nationalism reflected only the interests of the majority. Muslim revival and reassessment was one response to this. The nineteenth century Muslim community was reflected by two main schools of thought, the Aligarh and Deoband movements. Both looked toward Islamic revitalization, but the Aligarh movement, founded by Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was progressive, looking toward Western traditions and science to uplift the Muslim community rather than the orthodox revival desired by the Deoband movement. In 1875, Ahmad Khan founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh. Unlike some other Muslims, he saw British India not as a Dar al-harb, a country of the enemy, but as Dar al-Islam, a country of peace. Within the latter, Ahmad Khan believed Muslims and Islam could flourish and prove loyal to the government. In 1867, Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanawtawi founded the Deoband movement. Members of this group had been very active during 1857. Both Ahmad Khan and Nanawtawi saw education as paramount to cultural revival and survival under British rule. Whereas Ahmad Khan more than accommodated Western learning, Nanawtawi did not. His curricula reflected more orthodox Muslim learning and focused on Islamic distinctiveness. It did not reflect an interest in equipping its students for participation in a government believed to be hostile to Muslims. Further straining communal harmony was the birth in 1885 of an institution instrumental in bringing about Indian independence from British rule in 1947—the Indian National Congress. With it came the beginnings of a political separation that would evolve into partition of the subcontinent. Although Muslims were members and officials of the Congress, many were concerned that it did not adequately reflect their interests and would work only to the advantage of its predominantly Hindu membership. Ahmad Khan was very much against the Congress, in part because he wanted to foster better relations
Muslim League Protests Government Abuses of Minority Rights in India movement, as the Congress became under the guidance of Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Its impact on the lives of average Muslims was thus negligible until 1947, when the partition of India led to mass migrations of Hindus and Muslims and to a painful and often deadly refugee problem. The league, however, provided a regional voice on world problems affecting the status of Muslims, particularly the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the resultant Indian Khilafat movement. The league and its leaders became symbols of pan-Islamism. As a political voice of Muslim leadership, the AllIndia Muslim League was necessary to the passage of the Minto-Morley Reforms under the Indian Councils Acts of 1909, which provided the foundation for a set of constitutional safeguards for Muslims and other groups. These safeguards included separate electorates and proportional representation, instruments to strengthen the political influence of Muslims on government. The league also addressed nationalist inclinations, especially as it became clear that gradual self-government would eventually lead to political independence from Great Britain. It would be the Muslim League and its leader, former congress member Mohammed Ali Jinnah, that would usher in the Islamic state of Pakistan, with Jinnah as qaid-i-azam (supreme leader) of the new country. It is safe to say that without the political machinations of both, there would be no Pakistan. It was Jinnah, as president of the league, who articulated most effectively the two-nation policy that finally convinced the British that there would have to be a division of the subcontinent upon their leave-taking. In August, 1947, Pakistan became a reality—the embodiment of minority rights politics in India. —Nancy Elizabeth Fitch Further Reading Aga Khan III. Aga Khan III: Selected Speeches and Writings of Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah. Edited by K. K. Aziz. New York: Kegan Paul International, 1998. Collection of the speeches and writings of Aga Khan from 1902-1955. Provides comprehensive exposure to the ideas of this first president of the All-India Muslim League. Ahmad, Aziz. Studies in Islamic Culture in the Indian
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Environment. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1964. Excellent study looks at Indian Islam in a regional way, highlighting its evolution and development in a non-Muslim environment. Discusses the “long story of divided coexistence of Hindus and Muslims in India, leading to divided existence as India and Pakistan in the twentieth century.” Faruqi, Ziya-ul-Hasan. The Deoband School and the Demand for Pakistan. New York: Asia Publishing, 1963. Rare monograph on the Deoband school, which—like the better-known Aligarh movement—contributed to the sense of separatism among prosperous Muslims during the Indian nationalist era. Includes a helpful glossary. Gopal, Ram. Indian Muslims: A Political History, 18581947. New York: Asia Publishing, 1959. History begins with the military conflict of 1857 at Meerut and the events that transpired as a result of it. Concludes that the separatism between Hindus and Muslims was not communally based but rather the result of divideand-conquer strategies by the British colonial powers. Metcalf, Barbara, and Thomas Metcalf. Concise History of India. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Provides a brief yet comprehensive overview of the people and events that shaped India’s history. Includes a chapter on colonial India, a glossary, and a bibliographic essay. Mujeeb, M. The Indian Muslims. London: Allen & Unwin, 1967. Encyclopedic cultural, social, and religious study of Indian Muslims provides a comprehensive look at this community up to 1960. Good resource for the specialist. Rajput, A. B. Muslim League: Yesterday and Today. Lahore, Pakistan: Muhammad Ashraf, 1948. Important and rare monograph on the history of the All-India Muslim League. Very light on the history of the league’s inception but includes strong coverage of personalities and the last twenty years of British India. A definite polemic, but very useful. See also: Aug., 1921: Moplah Rebellion; Mar. 5, 1931: India Signs the Delhi Pact; Sept. 25, 1932: Poona Pact Grants Representation to India’s Untouchables.
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Bergson’s Creative Evolution Inspires Artists and Thinkers
1907
Henri Bergson addressed the fact that at the beginning of the twentieth century, people were already speaking of evolution as something of the past, as though they considered modern humans exempt from evolution’s workings. Also known as: L’Évolution créatrice; Creative Evolution Locale: Paris, France Categories: Publishing and journalism; philosophy Key Figures Henri Bergson (1859-1941), French professor of philosophy Charles Darwin (1809-1882), English naturalist who was the leading proponent of the theory of biological evolution Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), English philosopher Édouard Le Roy (1870-1954), French philosopher and mathematician Summary of Event Henri Bergson was born in Paris on October 18, 1859— the year Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was published. Bergson was of Jewish ancestry; his father was a talented Polish musician, and his mother was a cultured Anglo-Irish woman. His education was typically Parisian French, beginning at the Lycée Fontane (subsequently renamed the Lycée Condorcet). His early education was divided between the sciences and the humanities, and he received a prize for his mathematics studies in 1876. He chose to focus his studies on philosophy, however, and he trained to become a university teacher at the École Normale Supérieure. Bergson’s serious reading of the works of the English philosopher Herbert Spencer gave a mechanistic bent to his developing thought, although he also became acquainted with the sociology of Émile Durkheim. At the École Normale Supérieure from 1878 to 1881, Bergson successively received at the end of each of three years the licentiate, the definitif (diploma), and second place in the agrégation (oral examinations). These enabled him to lecture, first outside Paris at Angers (18811883) and at Clermont-Ferrand (1883-1888), before returning to Paris and the Collège Rollin. During that time, he prepared his Essai sur les données immédiates de la conscience (1889; Time and Free Will: An Essay on the
Immediate Data of Consciousness, 1910) and a dissertation, in Latin, on Aristotle, for which he received a doctorate from the University of Paris. With the publication of his theses, Bergson became professor for advanced students at the Lycée Henri IV in Paris, and in 1891 he married Louise Neuberger, a cousin to the novelist Marcel Proust. He had also met the poet and literary journalist Charles Péguy, who established the journal Cahiers de la quinzaine in 1900 and who became Bergson’s pupil. Research into the interrelationships of body and mind followed, and Bergson published his findings in 1896 as Matière et mémoire: Essai sur la relation du corps à l’esprit (Matter and Memory, 1911). It was customary in French academia at the beginning of the twentieth century for a professor to name and pay half salary to a substitute for a given year, during which the professor took research leave from lecturing duties. Bergson substituted at the Collège de France from 1897 to 1898 as a professor of Greek and Latin philosophy. In 1899, he was appointed as a permanent professor of Greek and Latin philosophy, and in 1904 he was able to transfer to the more appropriate post of professor of modern philosophy. In the interim, Bergson published several books, including Le Rire: Essai sur la signification du comique (1900; Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic, 1911) and Introduction à la métaphysique (1903; An Introduction to Metaphysics, 1912). The former illustrated Bergson’s contention that laughter is a release of tension, and the latter defended the use of intuition. Because An Introduction to Metaphysics pointed to the forthcoming work for which Bergson is best known, it remains the best place to begin a reading of his work. These publications provided the setting for L’Évolution créatrice (1907; Creative Evolution, 1911). What is now that book’s final part developed out of a course of lectures on the history of the idea of time in which Bergson compared the mechanism of conceptual thought to cinematography. In 1905, he named his own substitute so that he might prepare Creative Evolution for publication. Part 1 of the book drew on the discussion of evolution as it had developed up to the work of Charles Darwin and its subjection to criticism by Darwin’s successors in biology. Recalling the conclusions of Matter and Memory, Bergson summarized the result of the inquiry, which 567
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Bergson’s CREATIVE EVOLUTION Inspires Artists and Thinkers
Bergson’s Creative Evolution Inspires Artists and Thinkers sought to discover both the mechanism and the purpose of evolution. He referred to this key concept as élan vital, or the “vital impetus.” Part 2 considered the divergent directions of evolution, with special reference to torpor, intelligence, and instinct. Bergson developed these within his concept of intuition and drew his discussion toward the apparent place of the human within the natural world through references to both life and consciousness. In part 3, Bergson attempted to relate life and matter through common origins. Here, the culmination of the book was stated, in terms of the life of the body and the life of the spirit. Bergson developed his ideas about the inseparability of the theories of knowledge and of life in this section. The final, fourth part sketched Bergson’s and academic philosophy’s interest in precedent systems, including those of Plato, Aristotle, René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, and especially Spencer. Antiquity’s philosophical issues of immutability, “no-thing,” form, and “becoming” were placed against the seventeenth century’s metaphysical foundations of modern science, thereby concluding the volume at the point from which Bergson initiated part 1. What Bergson described in his original thought and within his eloquent and precise language were the certainty of evolution and the necessity of creativity in propelling the evolutionary process. In no meaningful sense does Bergson’s Creative Evolution present a single systematic philosophy; rather, his work is descriptive. Significance Biographers recall Bergson as being at odds with the philosophical establishment, especially as represented by those at the Sorbonne, across the Rue Saint Jacques from the Collège de France. Coming as he did through the École Normale Supérieure, Bergson exerted an influence on those students who had studied with him and who themselves went forth to teach. Thus his works were being read as they appeared, and on his appointment to the Collège de France in 1900 his lectures became an even greater draw—so much so that by 1911, students already referred to the Collège de France as the “house of Bergson.” From 1900 to 1914, Bergson lectured to packed halls. His lectures were attended not merely by academics and students but also by the general public, including members of the elite who sent their servants early to keep places for them and tourists taking in the attractions of Paris. Many who wished to hear Bergson speak were turned away; others would arrive at lecture locations so 568
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Henri Bergson. (The Nobel Foundation)
early that they would sit through someone else’s prior lecture merely to secure a seat to hear Bergson. From 1914 until 1921, Édouard Le Roy functioned as Bergson’s “permanent substitute” while Bergson served on French diplomatic missions to Spain and to the United States. Thereafter, Bergson took early retirement, partially in exasperation at his own success; his strenuous lecturing duties, he said, “demanded a great deal of meditation and a serious attempt at perfection.” In 1922, he published his attempt to relate his own theory of time as inner duration to Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. He acted as president of the committee on international cooperation of the League of Nations from 1921 to 1926. He also continued his philosophical work while acting as a diplomat, and in 1932 he published his last book, Les Deux Sources de la morale et de la religion (The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, 1935). Another measure of Bergson’s impact is visible in the response of the Roman Catholic Church to his work. In 1914, the Church placed all of Bergson’s writings, but most especially Creative Evolution, on the list of books devout Catholics were forbidden to read or possess. The Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin discussed physical
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Bergson’s Creative Evolution Inspires Artists and Thinkers
Bergson’s work also provided a rationale for the Surrealist movement in art, and his ideas influenced the novelist Marcel Proust, the essayist Albert Thibaudet, the poet Paul Valéry, and the existentialists Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. Bergson’s own literary genius was recognized with the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1927. Two philosophical traditions of the twentieth century received their impetus from Bergson. Although Bergson was not the innovator of the existentialist movement, the fourth part of Creative Evolution, with its stress on the role of the philosophical concepts of “not-being” and Instinct and Human Evolution “becoming” as well as on Bergson’s In the following passage from Creative Evolution, Henri Bergson explores the pervasive concern for time as “durarole of instinct as it applies to the history of human evolution: tion,” had implications that can be followed in the works of Martin BuIf instinct is, above all, the faculty of using an organized natural instrument, it ber, Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel, must involve innate knowledge (potential or unconscious, it is true), both of and Martin Heidegger. In addition, this instrument and of the object to which it is applied. Instinct is therefore inBergson’s concern to reclaim the vanate knowledge of a thing. But intelligence is the faculty of constructing unorlidity of metaphysics within modern ganized—that is to say artificial—instruments. If, on its account, nature gives philosophy made him one of the stimup endowing the living being with the instruments that may serve him, it is in uli for the development of “process order that the living being may be able to vary his construction according to circumstances. The essential function of intelligence is therefore to see the way philosophy.” Specifically, Alfred out of a difficulty in any circumstances whatever, to find what is most suitable, North Whitehead, who came to phiwhat answers best the question asked. Hence it bears essentially on the relalosophy from mathematics and phystions between a given situation and the means of utilizing it. What is innate in ical science, expanded Bergson’s nointellect, therefore, is the tendency to establish relations, and this tendency imtions of duration and evolution from plies the natural knowledge of certain very general relations, a kind of stuff that their original, restricted applications the activity of each particular intellect will cut up into more special relations. to organic life into the broader physiWhere activity is directed toward manufacture, therefore, knowledge necescal realm. sarily bears on relations. But this entirely formal knowledge of intelligence has Bergson also made an impact an immense advantage over the material knowledge of instinct. A form, just through his own courageous perbecause it is empty, may be filled at will with any number of things in turn, sonal stand. Although intellectually even with those that are of no use. So that a formal knowledge is not limited to what is practically useful, although it is in view of practical utility that it has long attracted to Catholicism, Bergmade its appearance in the world. An intelligent being bears within himself the son had remained a Jew, and after the means to transcend his own nature. surrender of France to the Nazis in He transcends himself, however, less than he wishes, less also than he imag1940, he was required by the Vichy ines himself to do. The purely formal character of intelligence deprives it of the government to register as a Jewish ballast necessary to enable it to settle itself on the objects that are of the most citizen of Paris. Given his old age, powerful interest to speculation. Instinct, on the contrary, has the desired mateinfirmity, and fame, Bergson could riality, but it is incapable of going so far in quest of its object; it does not specucertainly have obtained an exemplate. Here we reach the point that most concerns our present inquiry. The differtion, but he insisted on registering to ence that we shall now proceed to denote between instinct and intelligence is show his support for other Jews. Alwhat the whole of this analysis was meant to bring out. We formulate it thus: though ill, he stood in line to regisThere are things that intelligence alone is able to seek, but which, by itself, it will never find. These things instinct alone could find; but it will never seek ter on a cold, damp day, and as a rethem. sult contracted a lung inflammation. He died shortly thereafter, on JanuSource: Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution, translated by Arthur Mitchell (New ary 4, 1941. York: Henry Holt, 1911). —Clyde Curry Smith 569
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anthropology and paleontology in terms derived from Bergson’s Creative Evolution and was himself subjected to discipline from Rome. Yet, peculiarly, Bergson helped to provide the impetus for a Catholic revival by inspiring such Catholic intellectuals as the art critic Henri Focillon; the literary critic Charles de Bos; the poets Anna de Noailles, Paul Claudel, and Charles Péguy; and Jacques Maritain, a Protestant convert who led many intellectuals back to the Catholic tradition and who was mentor to Pope Paul VI.
Famine Strikes Russia Further Reading Bergson, Henri. Creative Evolution. Translated by Arthur Mitchell. 1911. Reprint. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 1998. The treatise that helped set the tone for twentieth century thought. The translation was revised by Bergson. Detailed index. _______. The Creative Mind. Translated by Mabell L. Andison. New York: Philosophical Library, 1946. Incorporates ten of Bergson’s essays. Also includes an introduction, which serves as a brief intellectual biography. Bowler, Peter J. Evolution: The History of an Idea. 3d ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. A survey of the idea of evolution by one of its leading scholars. Places Bergson’s thought within its largest context. Extensive bibliography and index. Bradbury, Malcolm, and James McFarlane, eds. Modernism: A Guide to European Literature, 1890-1930. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1976. Collection of essays useful for tracing the wider influence of Bergson on literature and art. Includes chronology of events, brief biographies, extended bibliography, and detailed index.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Chevalier, Jacques. Henri Bergson. Translated by Lilian A. du Long Clare. New York: Macmillan, 1928. An extensive study that places Bergson within the intellectual developments in France during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Index. Hanna, Thomas, ed. The Bergsonian Heritage. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962. Collection of essays by French and American scholars reflecting on Bergson’s life and evaluating the meaning of his work. Includes bibliography. Pilkington, Anthony Edward. Bergson and His Influence: A Reassessment. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976. A reevaluation of Bergson from the perspective of the 1970’s. Index. Russell, Bertrand. The Philosophy of Bergson. Chicago: Open Court, 1912. An early, highly critical view of Bergson from an alternate philosophical perspective of logical analysis. See also: 1913-1927: Proust Publishes Remembrance of Things Past; May 17, 1925: Thérèse of Lisieux Is Canonized; May, 1926: Durant Publishes The Story of Philosophy; 1927: Heidegger Publishes Being and Time.
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Famine Strikes Russia Czarist Russia’s failure to modernize its agricultural system and meet the basic survival needs of its population was obvious when the disruption produced by the Russo-Japanese War, coupled with adverse growing conditions, produced a devastating famine that killed approximately one million people. Locale: Russia Categories: Agriculture; disasters Key Figures Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin (1862-1911), Russian minister of the interior and prime minister, 19061911 Sergey Yulyevich Witte (1849-1915), Russian minister of finance, 1892-1903, and the first constitutional prime minister of Russia, 1905-1906 Nicholas II (1868-1918), last czar of Russia, r. 18941917 Vladimir Ilich Lenin (Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov; 18701924), Bolshevik leader and revolutionary leader of Russia, 1917-1924 570
Summary of Event Even under normal conditions, the threat of starvation was ever present in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. By 1900, only one in ten peasant households had enough surplus grain to make it through the winter. In those areas outside the Ukrainian breadbasket, hunger was a constant companion during winter months and early spring. Other factors also made life difficult for peasants. Taxes, often paid in grain, were due at fall harvest time, when grain prices were the lowest. (An avalanche of wheat on the world market from the United States and Canada tended to keep prices low.) Yet the world’s highest tariff kept grain imports out of Russia. Western nations were using fertilizers and modern agricultural machinery to boost productivity, but Russian agricultural techniques had remained the same for centuries. There was little surplus capital for agriculture and even less incentive. Most peasants owned land in common and were organized into mirs, village groups that shared large plots of divided land. Private landownership was not introduced as part of the 1861 emancipation of
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of the October Manifesto of 1905, which promised a parliament (Duma), and the Fundamental Laws in 1906 (which limited the representative nature of the Duma) was some degree of normality reestablished. Unfortunately, weather conditions similar to those in 1891 prevented a complete return to normality. By the time the second Duma met in February, 1907, Russia was in the midst of another horrible famine. Sixteen million peasants faced the threat of starvation, and another fortyfive million suffered from hunger bordering on starvation. In desperation, peasants took part in numerous scattered uprisings in the countryside, but the Duma’s debates on agrarian policy issues failed to reach agreement on any single policy. On June 3, 1907, during the time of ideal springtime planting conditions, the second Duma was dissolved. Nearly one million Russians had already died of malnutrition or disease, although relief grain shipments from Europe and the United States helped prevent even more deaths. As the famine of 1907 approached, there was a concerted effort among peasant representatives to the Duma to nationalize the large landed estates of Russian nobles, which were often used for nonagricultural purposes, and to divide them among the land-hungry peasant communes. In fact, peasant demands were militant enough for the Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Ilich Lenin, to revise Marxist doctrine, asserting that peasants as well as the proletariat could act as a revolutionary force. The opposite conclusion was reached by the czar’s conservative minister Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin, who as minister of the interior instituted a ruthless policy of repression to rid Russia of radicalism. (The hangman’s noose was commonly referred to as “Stolypin’s necktie.”) Yet in his other role as prime minister, Stolypin advocated the transformation of peasant communes into privately owned farms. He hoped that the desire for individual capitalist profit would turn the inefficient peasant into a kulak, a productive and possibly wealthy farmer. Stolypin believed that Russian agricultural production would dramatically increase after privatization. Perhaps more significant, however, was his conviction that private landownership would turn peasants into a bulwark of conservative support for the institution of czarism. Stolypin’s plan was initiated by emergency decree in November, 1906. The slow changeover to private ownership, a plan that had little support either in czarist inner circles or in the Duma, did little to lessen the impact of the famine of 1907. However, by 1916, 2.5 million households owned their own farms. The years 1909 to 1913 produced bumper crops, thanks to more favorable 571
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serfs, and so profit taking among the peasants was not the norm. Furthermore, poor soil and difficult growing conditions in many regions conspired to make poverty and hunger a constant threat. By 1900, 84 percent of the Russian population still depended on farming to make a living. Since the mid-1880’s, an industrializing Russia had exported an increasing proportion of its wheat crop to produce a favorable balance-of-trade deficit that would attract foreign investments. By 1891, Russia had actually achieved a budget surplus, but hard frosts, a bitter winter, and a drought-ridden, stifling summer produced the worst crop failure since 1848. Owing in large part to the lack of a well-developed railroad system and a road system capable of handling traffic during muddy spring thaws, approximately four hundred thousand peasants starved to death in spite of concerted (although belated) government efforts to distribute rye to famine-stricken regions. The region south of Moscow stretching southeast to the Volga basin was particularly hard hit. During the famine, Russia continued to export wheat. The policy of increasing wheat export continued under Sergey Yulyevich Witte, the czar’s finance minister from 1892 to 1903. Under Witte’s leadership, Russian industry increased its output during the 1890’s by an average of more than 7 percent each year. Russia’s urbanization and industrial growth were among Europe’s highest. In 1897, Witte committed Russia to the gold standard, making its currency stable but limited in supply, which took a particularly hard toll on the lower classes. Still, the pace of agricultural development did not change, and the onset of another famine was inevitable. Climatic conditions, coupled with sociopolitical turmoil, would result in the famine of 1907 and the loss of an estimated one million lives. The depression of 1900 slowed Russian economic development and caused a great deal of suffering, especially for the lower classes. Recovery was under way when, in December, 1904, Russia became involved in what it thought would be a short war against Japan. Instead, Russian forces were decimated on both land and sea. A month after the outbreak of war, the shooting of a large crowd of peaceful demonstrators in the capital (an event still remembered as Bloody Sunday) catalyzed an empirewide revolution against the corrupt and incompetent regime of Czar Nicholas II. Strikes in the major cities were coupled with the seizure of land and the burning of about 15 percent of Russia’s manor houses. Both Russia’s industrial and agricultural output were seriously affected by the continued upheaval. Only after the issuance
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Famine Strikes Russia weather conditions, and the price of wheat rose on the world market. Also, industrial production advanced with impressive rapidity. When famine and anarchy next struck, brought on by World War I and a major civil war, it would be on a scale far more cataclysmic than that of the famine of 1907. Significance The famine of 1907 brought Russia’s lingering agricultural problem to the forefront and made it painfully obvious that Russia needed to modernize its agricultural sector to meet its food needs. The country’s evident inability to compensate for the frequently poor growing conditions, or to avoid systemic breakdown when faced with major war, should have led the czarist regime to enact major changes to ensure its own political survival. It did lead one official, Pyotr Stolypin, to put forth a comprehensive plan to turn Russian peasants, who were prone to uprisings, into entrepreneurial farmers with a vested interest in the stability of czarist rule. Stolypin’s reforms, however, received little support from the czar’s inner circle or from reformist elements in the Duma, and he was assassinated in 1911. The only other official with any sort of grasp of the need for economic modernization, Witte, had been sent into forced retirement five years earlier. When war came to Russia in 1914, the inefficient and largely unreformed czarist regime became subject to food shortages and uprisings that dwarfed the negative effects of the Russo-Japanese War. Food shortages along with the inability to control peasant uprisings and huge urban strikes caused the czar’s fall in March of 1917. Continuation of the war effort by the new provisional government, which sought reform after the war, caused Lenin to put forth the simple slogan of “Peace, Land, and Bread.” The continuation of anarchy provided the opportunity for Lenin’s Bolsheviks to seize power in October, 1917. — Irwin Halfond
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading Figes, Orlando. A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924. New York: Penguin Books, 1998. A massive, narrative-style analysis of the individuals, events, and movements of the late czarist and early revolutionary period. Contains maps, illustrations, glossary, footnotes, bibliography, and index. Harcave, Sidney. Count Sergei Witte and the Twilight of Imperial Russia: A Biography. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2004. A study of Witte’s life, works, and time by the author who translated Witte’s memoirs into English. Footnotes, bibliography, and index. Lieven, Dominic. Nicholas II: Emperor of All the Russias. London: John Murray, 1993. A sympathetic and detailed biography of Nicholas II. Index, footnotes, and bibliography. Lincoln, W. Bruce. In War’s Dark Shadow: The Russians Before the Great War. New York: Dial Press, 1983. A very readable history of the period from 1891 to 1918, filled with fascinating details. Copious footnotes, bibliography, and index. Waldron, Peter. Between Two Revolutions: Stolypin and the Politics of Renewal in Russia. De Kalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1998. A scholarly analysis of Stolypin’s attempts to save czarism by making the peasants a bulwark of conservative support for the state. Index, footnotes, and bibliography. See also: 1903-1906: Pogroms in Imperial Russia; Sept. 14, 1911: Assassination of Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin; 1916: Completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad; 1917-1924: Russian Communists Inaugurate the Red Terror; Mar.-Nov., 1917: Lenin Leads the Russian Revolution; 1918-1921: Russian Civil War; 1921-1923: Famine in Russia Claims Millions of Lives; Dec., 1932-Spring, 1934: Great Famine Strikes the Soviet Union.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Haldane Develops Stage Decompression for Deep-Sea Divers
1907
John Scott Haldane developed a method that allowed deep-sea divers to ascend to the surface without suffering decompression sickness. Locale: Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, London, England Category: Health and medicine Key Figures John Scott Haldane (1860-1936), English physiologist and science philosopher Arthur Edwin Boycott (1877-1938), English pathologist Guybon C. C. Damant (fl. early twentieth century), lieutenant in the Royal Navy Summary of Event It has long been known that individuals who have been subjected to high atmospheric pressure cannot be returned rapidly to normal pressure without risking painful symptoms. During the mid-1840’s, miners who worked in coal mines pressurized to keep out water frequently suffered muscle pains on ascending to the surface. These symptoms were first studied in 1854, when it was noted further that a return to compressed air alleviated the pain. In 1878, the French physiologist Paul Bert wrote a landmark book titled La Pression barométrique (Barometric Pressure, 1943) in which he presented evidence that the so-called decompression sickness results from the formation of nitrogen gas bubbles, which block the circulation. Deep-sea diving had been plagued by decompression sickness (also known as compressed air disease or “the bends,” because of the slightly bent, limping posture of its sufferers) since diving attire for individuals was developed in the early 1800’s. By the beginning of the twentieth century, no safe method for retrieving a person from deep dives had yet been achieved. England’s Royal Navy used divers in its routine operations. Intent on finding a way to spare these men the risks of pain, paralysis, and even death as a result of decompression sickness, the navy commissioned John Scott Haldane—a physician and man of letters who was famous for his studies of respiratory physiology—to develop a decompression schedule that could be written down in tabular form and distributed to its fleet divers. Haldane was a scientist with a strongly philosophical na-
ture. He disapproved of the generally accepted line between “pure” science, or science carried out for its own sake, and applied science, or science in the service of useful technology. He was a laboratory scientist who envisioned the results of his labors as being linked intimately to the general welfare. As such, he was eager to apply his theories and insights to the human working environment. Already famous for his studies of the composition of the air in schools and dwellings and for his identification of carbon monoxide as the cause of death in coal mining disasters, he accepted the Royal Navy’s commission with alacrity and began his studies of what came to be known as stage decompression. It was standard knowledge that as a diver descends through a body of water, every 33-foot (10-meter) increment of depth exerts an additional pressure of one atmosphere. A diver at a depth of 33 feet thus experiences two atmospheres of pressure (the pressure of the air plus the extra atmosphere of the 33 feet of water), a diver at 66 feet (20 meters) is subjected to three atmospheres, and so on. Haldane was aware that cases of decompression sickness never occurred, even with rapid decompression, when a diver suddenly ascended from two atmospheres to one. He reasoned that it must, therefore, be equally safe to decompress suddenly from four atmospheres to two, or from six to three, as long as the two-to-one ratio is maintained. Thereafter, in order to avoid the bends, a diver would have to proceed more slowly through the ascent to give nitrogen that had been dissolved in the tissues under pressure the necessary time to emerge from the blood and be vented by the lungs. Haldane’s method therefore consisted in an initial reduction of pressure to one-half as rapidly as possible, followed by continued, slower decompression in a series of stages designed to prevent the rapid bubbling of nitrogen out of the blood. Haldane carried out his first live experiments on goats in a steel compression chamber at the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in London. He was assisted in this work by pathologist Arthur Edwin Boycott and by Lieutenant Guybon C. C. Damant of the Royal Navy. They exposed several of the animals for long periods to 6 atmospheres of pressure (equivalent to a dive of 165 feet, or just over 50 meters) and then decompressed them suddenly to 2.6 atmospheres with no ill effects. When the animals were dropped from 4.4 atmospheres to 1 atmo573
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Haldane Develops Stage Decompression for Deep-Sea Divers sphere (far in excess of the two-to-one proportion), 20 percent of them died and 30 percent experienced the bends. Immediately after the animal experiments, Lieutenant Damant volunteered to be the first human experimental subject. He crawled into the chamber, experienced rapid pressure differentials, and emerged with no symptoms. Haldane had proved conclusively that it was quite safe to halve the absolute pressure rapidly, regardless of the depth of the dive. Haldane realized, however, that he had only part of the solution. The danger of decompression sickness lay in what remained of the ascent after the pressure on the diver’s body had been rapidly halved. This required the painstaking working out of decompression tables that took into account not only the depths to which a diver had descended but also the amount of time the diver had remained underwater. These factors taken together actually determine the degree of saturation of body tissues with nitrogen. To appreciate the complexity of the task of formulating accurate decompression tables, consider that the various tissues of the body absorb nitrogen at different rates. The rapidity with which a given tissue becomes saturated with nitrogen is dependent on two factors: the solubility of nitrogen in that tissue and the rate at which nitrogen is transported to the tissue by the blood. Nitrogen is very soluble in fatty tissues, for example, but much less so in nonfatty, or aqueous, tissues. Conversely, fat is served poorly by the circulation, so the rate of nitrogen saturation of that tissue is slow, whereas aqueous tissues quickly reach their nitrogen saturation points because they are well supplied with blood vessels. Haldane therefore divided human tissues into two types: slow (those, such as fat, that are poorly vascularized but have a high capacity for storing nitrogen) and fast (those parts of the body, such as the brain, that are well vascularized and quickly become saturated with nitrogen). In drawing up his decompression tables, Haldane realized that saturation rates for the various tissues vary from seconds to hours. Because the rate of saturation also changes as the individual tissues take up nitrogen, it was impossible to determine on paper when exactly a given tissue would be fully saturated. Haldane struck upon the idea of “half-time tissues.” A tissue half-time is the time required for nitrogen to reach half its saturation value. Because it was not possible to assign precise half-times to real tissues, he arbitrarily chose to designate five-, ten-, twenty-, forty-, and seventy-five-minute half-time tissues for mathematical convenience in predicting the up574
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take and elimination of nitrogen. Although he realized that the longest half-time tissue in the body is sixty minutes, it is typical of Haldane’s conservatism and his emphasis on safety that seventy-five minutes represented the longest half-time tissue in his decompression schedules. It was these carefully worked-out calculations of the rates at which fast and slow tissues eliminate their nitrogen that made Haldane’s tables so valuable. With them, divers were able to regulate the rate of decompression so that no parts of their bodies were at any point so supersaturated with nitrogen that bubbles would begin to form in the circulation. Haldane’s method of ascent by stages replaced the previous method of continuous decompression, which took much longer and seldom left divers fully decompressed by the time they reached the surface. Haldane, Boycott, and Damant coauthored a report on these findings, and the Royal Navy immediately adopted the Haldanian decompression tables. Significance After Haldane’s experiments at the Lister Institute, Lieutenant Damant made numerous deep dives at sea with the use of the Haldanian decompression tables. He achieved a maximum depth of 35 fathoms (210 feet, or about 64 meters). Following stage decompression, he showed no symptoms of the bends. Haldane’s method of stage decompression immediately altered diving practice, and his schedules were universally adopted. After the Royal Navy published his tables, decompression sickness virtually disappeared among the navy’s divers. One of the most notable tests to which the tables were put involved the recovery of an American submarine off Honolulu in 1915. The diving crew descended to a depth of 50 fathoms (15 fathoms more than Lieutenant Damant’s deepest test dive) and completed the salvage operation without any cases of decompression sickness. Stage decompression can be a lengthy process, a slow ascent in stages after an initial rapid decompression being its underlying principle. Bodily nitrogen that has been subjected to high pressure must be given adequate time to leave the blood and be exhaled from the lungs as a diver ascends to the surface. Even after it is gone from most areas of the body, nitrogen tends to linger in the fatty tissues, where it is especially soluble. A diver who has been at a depth of 190 feet (about 58 meters) for sixty minutes, for example, must be decompressed for about three hours before being brought to the surface. Although primitive decompression chambers existed in
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Haldane Develops Stage Decompression for Deep-Sea Divers
Further Reading Douglas, C. G. “John Scott Haldane.” Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society of London 2 (December, 1936): 115-139. Given Haldane’s accomplishments and his stature as one of the foremost scientific movers of his time, it is surprising that this is one of very few sources of detailed biographical information on him. A fitting and comprehensive tribute to Haldane, the scientist and the thinker. Guyton, Arthur C. Textbook of Medical Physiology. 6th
ed. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1980. The classic text for students of animal physiology. Contains a detailed chapter on aviation, space, and deep-sea diving physiology. Clearly written and detailed, and with abundant references, it is an invaluable source of information for the reader desiring a grounding in the principles of diving physiology. Haldane, John Burdon Sanderson. Adventures of a Biologist. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1940. Son of John Scott Haldane, J. B. S. Haldane was an accomplished man who made major contributions in widely disparate areas of knowledge. Provides the most personal portrait in existence of his father, including his routine participation as a human subject in his own experiments. Haldane, John Scott. Respiration. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1922. Haldane’s monumental work on the physiology of respiration, a compilation of lectures he gave at Yale in 1916. Provides a detailed account not only of what was known about respiration in Haldane’s time but also of the author’s pioneering experiments. Still considered a classic of respiratory physiology. Norton, Trevor. Stars Beneath the Sea: The Pioneers of Diving. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2000. Norton, a marine biologist, presents brief portraits of thirteen scientists, inventors, archaeologists, and others who pioneered in the field of deep-sea diving, including both John Scott Haldane and J. B. S. Haldane. Strauss, Michael B., and Igor V. Aksenov. Diving Science: Essential Physiology and Medicine for Divers. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics, 2004. Written by two experts in diving medicine and physiology and designed for use by sport divers. Presents information on the physical, physiological, and psychological stresses that divers encounter. Includes detailed equipment recommendations. Strauss, Richard H. Diving Medicine. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1976. A highly readable textbook, valuable for its clear presentation of both the history and the physics of diving, including Haldane’s contributions. Although intended as an introduction to the medical aspects of diving for physicians, this work assumes little prior knowledge of human biology and is accessible to the interested reader. See also: July, 1929: Drinker and Shaw Develop a Mechanical Respirator; June 6, 1930-Aug. 27, 1934: First Manned Bathysphere Dives.
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Haldane’s time, they were often difficult to control, so Haldane favored resubmergence to appropriate depth in those cases where divers were experiencing symptoms of the bends. Because decompression was such a lengthy process, questions were raised about ways to cut down on the time involved. “It appears that the times cannot be cut down without risk of trouble,” wrote Haldane in his monumental book Respiration (1922), “unless the divers are placed in the [decompression] chamber as a matter of routine after each dive.” Although Haldane never actively promoted this technique as a method for shortening in-water decompression times, it is in common use today in cases when a diver needs to be removed as quickly as possible from badly polluted waters or when the weather threatens a normal decompression. This method involves bringing the diver to the surface immediately and placing him or her in a decompression chamber within five minutes. The pressure is then reapplied and the diver is decompressed. The actual period of time required for decompression remains about the same. Haldane’s original schedules were found to be highly accurate over their middle range, but divers soon learned that they could cut corners on short, shallow dives without risking the bends. Conversely, they found that Haldane’s schedules were not conservative enough on longer, deeper dives. The schedules have therefore been modified through experience over the years to resolve these difficulties. Haldane’s spirited commitment to the constructive application of scientific principles for society’s wellbeing characterized his investigations not only in deepsea diving but also in mining and tunneling. The fact that his method of stage decompression has allowed humans to persist in these environments has earned for Haldane a reputation as the prime mover of modern times in respiratory physiology. —Robert T. Klose
Hertzsprung Describes Giant and Dwarf Stellar Divisions
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1907
Hertzsprung Describes Giant and Dwarf Stellar Divisions Ejnar Hertzsprung devised a classification system in which stellar objects are categorized by size versus stellar spectral type. Locale: Denmark Categories: Science and technology; astronomy Key Figures Ejnar Hertzsprung (1873-1967), Danish astronomer Karl Schwarzschild (1873-1916), German astronomer Henry Norris Russell (1877-1957), American astronomer Summary of Event By the beginning of the twentieth century, astronomers had turned their telescopes on the stars and had begun the exceptionally arduous task of cataloging them. This work was an extension of the work of Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer who cataloged the stars (one thousand entries) in 130 b.c.e. His catalog contained the brightest of the few thousand stars he could make out on any clear night with his unaided eye. When astronomers of the early 1900’s began their task, they used powerful telescopes and recorded their observations on sensitive photographic films. Through the combination of these methods, suddenly millions of stars became visible, making the task of cataloging one of the most challenging and demanding undertakings in science. The first detailed stellar catalogs of the nineteenth century included star identifications (names or numbers), positions, and motions. By 1875, new scientific techniques had been developed and added even more information about stars. The technique of spectral photography and analysis enabled astronomers to tell much about the composition of stars through the analysis of spectral shifts; they could even determine the motion and velocity of stars in the line of sight. Astronomers Angelo Secchi and William Huggins determined that there were only a handful of basic stellar spectral types in a broad series that appeared to flow from one type to another, so Secchi proposed a spectral classification scheme that included four main types. In 1901, Antonia Maury and Annie Jump Cannon of the Harvard College Observatory proposed that the classification system of stars include seven spectral types, indexed and classified by letters. Maury proposed a classification system different from Cannon’s. In Cannon’s scheme, 576
which is still used today, stars are classified by letters: O, B, A, F, G, K, and M. The Harvard College catalog became known as the Henry Draper Catalog, in honor of Henry Draper, a pioneer in stellar spectrophotometry. The Draper Catalog contained information on more than 225,000 stars. Unable to make a good living in astronomy, Severin Hertzsprung encouraged his son, Ejnar, to pursue a degree in chemical engineering. Ejnar Hertzsprung graduated from the Polytechnical Institute in Copenhagen in 1898 without any formal education in astronomy. His father died four years later, and, upon his death, all of his astronomy books were sold. Ejnar Hertzsprung would later state with some irony, “Nobody imagined that I should become an astronomer.” He became a chemist in St. Petersburg, then in 1901 seized the opportunity to follow an interest he held in photochemistry. He traveled to Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald’s laboratories in Leipzig, Germany, and during his stay there, he decided he wanted to pursue a career in astronomy. Because of his engineering and photochemistry background, Hertzsprung brought to his astronomy career an interesting variety of useful talents and knowledge, but he had no idea what the duties of an astronomer were. Hertzsprung began his apprenticeship at the Copenhagen University’s observatory under the tutelage of H. E. Lau, who taught him the fundamentals of observational astronomy; he also did some work at the Urania Observatory in Frederiksberg, Denmark. With his training in photographic techniques and use of specific emulsions, which was likely better than that of most other astronomers, Hertzsprung brought a unique variety of talents to bear on photographing stellar fields at the observatories where he worked. He began to collect and study the distribution of stellar images from these plates. At this time, Hertzsprung was considered an amateur astronomer, an apprentice at best, but it was during this period that he would make the pivotal contribution of his life. Based on a collection of observations, Hertzsprung published two papers in Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Photographie, a photophysics and photochemical journal, in 1905 and 1907. The papers, both of which were titled “Zur Strahlung der Sterne” (on the radiation of stars), used Maury’s star catalog and her spectral classification techniques. Hertz-
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distance to the Small Magellanic Cloud, an accomplishment for which he was awarded the Royal Astronomical Society’s Gold Medal in 1929. Significance Hertzsprung established an important link between observational and theoretical astronomy. Through his careful analysis of the data he was collecting (largely in a cataloging effort), Hertzsprung forged a link between the color of a given star and many other key properties, including its intrinsic (natural) brightness, its temperature, and even its size. As Hertzsprung discovered through the cataloging efforts of the staff at the Harvard College Observatory, in the relative handful of star spectral classes, there were other key features of stars that could be linked and plotted on a relatively simple graph. At first glance it seemed probable that the kinds of stars in the universe were as infinitely diverse as were their profuse numbers, yet, by establishing links between stars’ characteristics, Hertzsprung organized and constrained the very boundaries of the science of stellar astronomy. Hertzsprung discovered that a significant population of stars existed outside the “main sequence” of stars (of which the Sun is one). He called these giant and dwarf stars because they were significantly different in characteristics from the main-sequence stars. With the establishment of the main sequence, the unique nature of the giant and dwarf stars became strikingly clear. Such a sequencing method would point later to important evolutionary aspects of stellar development and also to the amount of time each star could exist. Such an incredible diversity of science has emanated from the use of the H-R diagram that there are few areas of modern astronomy that do not rely on the diagram as a fundamental cornerstone. One of the vital aspects of theoretical astronomy that emerged as a corollary to the H-R diagram is the idea that, given that the kinds of stars depicted on and classified by the diagram are apparently universal, a ubiquitous process of stellar development and evolution must be occurring everywhere. This has, in turn, led to speculations of how the Sun will behave and what the duration of the Sun’s lifetime will be. Looking at other stars on the H-R diagram, one can follow the Sun’s evolutionary position from birth to death as a red giant star. Another important aspect of the diagram is that it allows astronomers and other scientists to understand much about the environment of any star and near space, so that the conditions on any theoretical planet in orbit 577
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sprung demonstrated that stars in a certain class (which Maury called the c class) were more luminous than the remainder. Later, this idea would be developed to form the concept of “spectroscopic parallax,” which has become one of the primary means by which the distances to stars and galaxies are determined. Most significant, however, these papers also contained Hertzsprung’s profound discovery of giant and dwarf stars among the dense masses of star points on his photographic plates. Hertzsprung made the fundamental discovery that all stars could be categorized into two series of stars, one series that has become known as the main sequence and the other containing the high-luminosity stars, or giant stars. Later, a diagram would be made of Hertzsprung’s discovery and would bear his name. This diagram has become one of the fundamental tools of modern astronomy. Hertzsprung began a correspondence with Germany’s most famous astronomer, Karl Schwarzschild, and sent him copies of his papers. Schwarzschild immediately recognized the importance of Hertzsprung’s findings and invited Hertzsprung to visit him at the University of Göttingen in 1909. Later that year, Hertzsprung was appointed lecturer at Göttingen. He resigned after only a few months, however, to join Schwarzschild, who had become director of the Astrophysical Observatory at Potsdam. Hertzsprung was hired as senior staff astronomer at the observatory. Largely because of Schwarzschild’s mentorship, Hertzsprung’s professional career in astronomy was established. In 1913, American astronomer Henry Norris Russell presented a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society in London in which he presented his ideas—based on his own independent findings—on giant and dwarf stars. The work done earlier by Hertzsprung was unknown to him. Later, the detailed findings of both astronomers were graphically depicted in what has become known as the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. The modern Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (also known as the H-R diagram) plots star types on a graph showing spectral classes (such as those defined by Cannon), absolute magnitude, luminosity, and temperature. Hertzsprung’s 1907 work on the relationship between the radiation of a star and its color based on stars located within a cluster is often overlooked. This information would later establish the age of the stars of the Pleiades and stars in the neighborhood of the Sun. With his method, Hertzsprung later published the first colormagnitude diagram ever released. Using the information on spectroscopic parallax, Hertzsprung determined the
Hertzsprung Describes Giant and Dwarf Stellar Divisions
Hertzsprung Describes Giant and Dwarf Stellar Divisions around any star can be theorized. From this speculation and knowledge of the population distribution of each type of star on the diagram, complex theories have been developed, such as how many of each class of star could support conditions for the development of life in the universe. —Dennis Chamberland Further Reading Asimov, Isaac. Extraterrestrial Civilizations. New York: Crown, 1979. Makes use of stellar types and classes to detail how life could evolve and survive around different types of stars (including giant and dwarf). A good example of how deeply the H-R diagram had woven its way into all aspects of astronomy. Bok, Bart I., and Priscilla F. Bok. The Milky Way. 5th ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1981. The definitive book on the Milky Way galaxy, written by two of the world’s experts on the subject. Well written and easy to understand. Includes a detailed deliberation of the H-R diagram and its relevance to the discussion of the nearer stars in the vicinity of the Sun. Illustrated. Chaisson, Eric, and Steve McMillan. Astronomy Today. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2001. Chapter 17, titled “Measuring the Stars,” includes discussion of Hertzsprung’s work and explains how H-R diagrams are constructed and used to identify stellar properties. Cornell, James, and Alan P. Lightman, eds. Revealing the Universe. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1982. Discusses in some detail specific areas of observational and theoretical astronomy. The H-R diagram is included in some of the discussions, specifically on how the shape of stellar interiors predicts the shape of
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 the H-R diagram. Somewhat technical; aimed primarily at readers with a scientific background. Illustrated. Hartman, William K. Astronomy: The Cosmic Journey. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth, 1978. Addresses all the basic features of astronomy. Offers detailed discussion of not only the H-R diagram but also giant and dwarf stars. For general readers, especially those with a minimal grounding in science. Heavily illustrated. Harwit, Martin. Cosmic Discovery. New York: Basic Books, 1981. Presents a fascinating expedition through the history and foundation of astronomy. Discusses some of the history of Hertzsprung’s development of the H-R diagram and his use of the classification data from the Harvard College Observatory. For a wide audience. Illustrated. Kaler, James B. “Journeys on the H-R Diagram.” Sky and Telescope (May, 1988): 483-485. Offers a concise view of the H-R diagram and its many uses. Presents a complete discussion of the giant and supergiant classes and why they lie outside the main sequence. Illustrated. Zeilik, Michael, and Stephen A. Gregory. Introductory Astronomy and Astrophysics. 4th ed. Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 1997. Introductory text provides a useful overview of general astronomy, including basic spectral issues and the use of H-R diagrams. See also: 1905: Hertzsprung Notes Relationship Between Star Color and Luminosity; 1912: Slipher Obtains the Spectrum of a Distant Galaxy; Mar. 3, 1912: Leavitt Discovers How to Measure Galactic Distances; 1913: Hertzsprung Uses Cepheid Variables to Calculate Distances to the Stars; Dec., 1913: Russell Announces His Theory of Stellar Evolution.
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Lumières Develop Color Photography
1907
Lumières Develop Color Photography
Locale: Lyons, France Categories: Science and technology; inventions; chemistry; photography Key Figures Louis Lumière (1864-1948), French inventor and scientist Auguste Lumière (1862-1954), French inventor, physician, physicist, chemist, and botanist Alphonse Seyewetz (fl. early twentieth century), French scientist Summary of Event In 1882, Antoine Lumière, painter, pioneer photographer, and father of Auguste and Louis, founded a factory to manufacture photographic gelatin dry plates. After the Lumière brothers took over the factory’s management, they expanded production to include roll film and printing papers in 1887 and also carried out joint research that led to fundamental discoveries and improvements in development and other aspects of photographic chemistry. Although recording and reproducing the actual colors of a subject was not possible at the time of photography’s inception (about 1822), the first practical photographic process, the daguerreotype (silver halide process invented by Jacques Daguerre in 1837), was able to render both striking detail and good tonal quality. The desire to produce full-color images, or some approximation of realistic color, occupied the minds of many photographers and inventors—including Louis and Auguste Lumière— throughout the nineteenth century. In the course of their research in the area of color photography, the Lumière brothers attempted to make the Lippmann interference process (a method of recording full-color images directly by means of interference between wavelengths, without the use of dyes or colorants, which was invented by Gabriel Lippmann in 1891) commercially possible as early as 1892. Although they became the most successful investigators and developers of the process, it never became a practical technique, because the emulsion was at least 100,000 times slower than that of ordinary films. Reproducing the colors of nature by indirect means,
however, was found to be possible; this was done either through the addition of colored lights or through the mixture of various pigments. Although both were proposed at the same time, the first process that met with any practical success was based on the theory, expounded by James Clerk Maxwell in 1861, that any color can be created through the adding together of red, green, and blue light in definite proportions. This theory of additive color holds true only for colored light; the subtractive color process, on the other hand, is based on the mechanical mixture of pigments. Whereas white light is produced by the reflection or adding of all the light rays that fall on it (namely, the additive primary colors: red, green, and blue), black absorbs or subtracts all the rays falling on it (namely, the subtractive primary colors: cyan, magenta, and yellow). Maxwell, taking three negatives through screens or filters of these additive primary colors and projecting slides made from them through the same filters onto a screen so that their images were superimposed, found that it was possible to reproduce the exact colors as well as the form of nature. Unfortunately, because colors could not be recorded in their tonal relationships before the end of the nineteenth century, Maxwell’s experiment was unsuccessful. Although in 1892 Frederick E. Ives of Philadelphia optically united three transparencies so that they could be viewed in proper register (exact matching in position of the filter and the plate) through a peephole, viewing the transparencies was still not as simple as looking at a black-and-white photograph. The first practical method of making a single color photograph that could be viewed without any apparatus was devised by John Joly of Dublin in 1893. Instead of taking three separate pictures through three colored filters, he took one negative through one filter minutely checkered with microscopic areas colored red, green, and blue. The filter and the plate were exactly the same size and were placed in contact with each other in the camera. After the plate was developed, a transparency was made, and the filter was permanently attached to it. The white and black areas of the picture allowed more or less light to shine through the filters; if the picture was viewed from a proper distance, the colored lights blended to form the various colors of nature. Thus, although the principles of additive and subtractive color and their potential applications in photography had been discovered and even experimentally 579
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Louis and Auguste Lumière introduced the autochrome plate, the first commercially successful process in which a single exposure in a regular camera produced a color image.
Lumières Develop Color Photography demonstrated by 1880, a practical process of color photography utilizing these principles could not be produced until a truly panchromatic emulsion was available, because all methods depended on making a record of the primary color content of light from the subject. This necessary improvement in emulsion response was achieved from 1903 to 1906 and was immediately applied to color photography by the Lumière brothers. Louis and Auguste Lumière, along with their research associate Alphonse Seyewetz, succeeded in creating a single-plate color process in 1903. It was introduced commercially as the autochrome plate in 1907 and was soon in use throughout the world. Autochrome was a random-dot screen process that created its effect through the additive color synthesis. A glass plate was coated with a double layer of starch grains dyed to act as primary additive color filters; spaces between grains were filled with carbon dust so that no unfiltered light would degrade the image. After the filter layer was coated with a panchromatic emulsion, the plate was exposed through the base (glass) side so that the subject colors were analyzed by the filter layer before the emulsion was ex-
Auguste (left) and Louis Lumière.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 posed. Reversal processing developed the emulsion to a black-and-white negative image and then converted it to a positive transparency. When viewed from the emulsion side (to correct for the left-right reversal caused by the camera lens), the filter layer colored the transmitted light, and the positive image modulated the intensities; the eye blended the additive color sensations thus received to produce a full-color image. Later versions of the plate used resin globules instead of the starch and carbon particles. In order for details of the image to be analyzed in red, green, and blue, the filter elements of the screen needed to be extremely small. They were, in fact, dyed particles that averaged 0.015 millimeter (approximately 0.0006 inch) in size. Various particle materials were used at different times, including yeasts, dried ferments, bacilli, and powdered enamels; however, potato starch grains were the most successful in early versions of the process. Separate batches of particles were dyed red, green, and blue and were blended to produce a mixture with a uniformly neutral (gray) appearance. A glass plate was covered with a thin layer of transparent varnish, and the particle mixture was dusted on. When dry, this layer was coated with varnish and a second layer was dusted on. Finally, carbon black (powdered charcoal) was dusted on to fill any remaining spaces between the colored particles of the second layer. The carbon particles blocked any light from passing completely through the screen in areas where spaces in both layers coincided, or through only the grains of the lower layer below spaces in the upper layer; either case would permit unwanted light to degrade the final image. When the screen was completed, it was coated with a panchromatic emulsion. Exposure was through the base side of the plate so that the screen could analyze the light before it affected the emulsion. The processed image was viewed from the emulsion side to counteract the leftright reversal produced by the camera lens. Although this method entails color separation through the three filters, each separation “negative” is the size of one tiny starch grain. Through special chemical treatment after development, the image is transformed from negative to positive, thus becoming a transparency of full photographic values, plus the colors supplied by the starch grains. This process is one of the many that takes advantage of the limited resolving power of the human eye. Grains or dots too small to be recognized as separate units are accepted in their entirety and, to the sense of vision, appear as tones and continuous color. Every grain of filter color in
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Significance The Lumières’ autochrome plate paved the way for the commercial success of color photography. Prior to their work, color photography involved the difficult process of producing three negatives to form one color image. By obtaining the three necessary color exposures on one plate, the Lumière brothers made color photography accessible to everyone with an ordinary camera. The autochrome plate was rivaled eventually by other processes, especially Agfa, which has a granular screen quite similar to the autochrome; Dufaycolor, which is a flexible film, but one in which the color screen is a very fine mosaic instead of an unsymmetrical arrangement of grains; and the Finlaycolor process, in which the color screen is not integral with the color plate but is located on a separate glass. In this last process, the color screen is placed in contact with the sensitive plate in the plate holder, and the exposure made through it results in the usual minute color separations; however, the plate is developed and fixed as a negative after the color screen has been removed. The Finlay screen is also a symmetrical mosaic of color elements; when transparent positives are made from the negative, the mosaic image on the negative becomes symmetrically duplicated on the positive. Color is supplied through the use of a viewing screen, which has identical color arrangement and can be registered with the transparency. Because these viewing screens can be purchased in quantities and matched up with additional positives, duplicate color transparencies can be obtained from one negative. Aligning a Finlay screen over a transparency requires great care; misalignment causes either a moiré (wavy) pattern or inaccurate colors. Although the autochrome plate remained one of the
most popular color processes until the 1930’s, soon this process (as well as other additive color processes, including Agfa, Dufay, and Finlay) was superseded by subtractive color processes. Leopold Mannes and Leopold Godowsky, both musicians and amateur photographic researchers who eventually joined forces with Eastman Kodak research scientists, did the most to perfect the Lumière brothers’ advances in making color photography practical. Their collaboration led to the introduction in 1935 of Kodachrome, a subtractive process in which a single sheet of film is coated with three layers of emulsion, each sensitive to one primary color. A single exposure produces a color image. Color photography is now commonplace. The amateur market is enormous, and snapshots are nearly always taken in color. Commercial and publishing markets use color extensively. Even photography as an art form, which has been dominated by black-and-white images for most of its history, has turned increasingly to color. With the advent of digital cameras in the 1990’s, color photography was once again revolutionized as computer-generated images obviated the need for chemical processing to produce color photographs. —Genevieve Slomski Further Reading Eder, Josef Maria. History of Photography. Translated by Edward Epstean. Reprint. New York: Dover, 1972. In this lengthy and excellent work, the author discusses the Lumières’ autochrome process in the context of the historical development of color photography. Includes a brief biography of the author, extensive notes, and numerous reproductions. Mees, C. E. Kenneth. From Dry Plates to Ektachrome Film: A Story of Photographic Research. New York: Ziff-Davis, 1961. Mees, a scientist at Kodak, discusses the Lumière brothers’ contribution to photographic science in a chapter devoted to color photography. Includes numerous illustrations and photographs. Newhall, Beaumont. The History of Photography: From 1839 to the Present. 5th rev. ed. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1982. This standard work on the historical development of photography offers a brief discussion of the development of the autochrome process. Presents the history of a medium rather than a technique. Contains many black-and-white illustrations. Ostroff, Eugene, ed. Pioneers of Photography. Springfield, Va.: SPSE, 1987. The Lumière brothers’ work is described in several essays in this excellent collection. The autochrome process is discussed in its 581
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the autochrome screen serves two purposes: First, it separates the colors of the subject for photographic purposes, and then it permits itself to be seen in its allotted space. One drawback to the autochrome plate was that it required forty to sixty times more exposure than did the best black-and-white plates. In addition, although it was possible theoretically to contact print one plate onto another, or to copy it with a camera, in practice, the results generally were unacceptable. Sharpness suffered because the plates could not be placed emulsion-to-emulsion (if they were, light exposing the second plate would not be screened), the grain factors of the two screens multiplied to produce a grainier image, and colors changed because the transmission characteristics of the screens were not perfect and tended to differ from batch to batch. Therefore, each autochrome plate was unique.
Lumières Develop Color Photography
Meinecke Advances the Analytic Method in History historical context rather than in extensive technical detail. Bibliographic entries after each essay and numerous illustrations and photographs. Sandler, Martin W. Photography: An Illustrated History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Presents a chronological overview of the major figures in the history of photography and their artistic and technical contributions. Chapter 8, devoted to the innovation of color photography, discusses the work of the Lumière brothers. Includes many photographs as well as a chronology, a bibliography, and a list of photography museums around the world and Web sites devoted to photography. Sipley, Louis Walton. Photography’s Great Inventors. Philadelphia: American Museum of Photography,
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 1965. This slim but informative volume devotes one section to the work of the Lumière brothers. Presents biographical information as well as a brief discussion of the autochrome process in the context of the brothers’ contribution to phototechnology. Short bibliography follows each entry. Wood, John. The Art of the Autochrome: The Birth of Color Photography. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1993. Presents some of the work of early twentieth century photographers who used the autochrome process developed by the Lumières. Includes seventy-five color plates. See also: Aug., 1902: A Trip to the Moon Introduces Special Effects; 1921: Man Ray Creates the Rayograph.
1907
Meinecke Advances the Analytic Method in History Friedrich Meinecke became a prominent historian when he published Cosmopolitanism and the National State, an important and timely history of the unification of Germany under Otto von Bismarck. Along with Ernst Troeltsch and Wilhelm Dilthey, Meinecke advanced the analytic school of political intellectual history. Also known as: Weltburgertum und Nationalstaat; Cosmopolitanism and the National State Locale: Germany Categories: Historiography; government and politics; publishing and journalism Key Figures Friedrich Meinecke (1862-1954), German historian Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886), German historian Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), prime minister of Prussia, 1862-1890, and chancellor of the German Empire, 1871-1890 Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923), German historian and sociologist Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911), German philosopher and historian Summary of Event When he published Weltburgertum und Nationalstaat: Studien zur Genesis des deutschen Nationalstaates (1907; Cosmopolitanism and the National State, 1970), Friedrich Meinecke made it clear that he was an important 582
academic historian. He had already published a very wellreceived biography of a Prussian military reformer before he turned his attention to the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the popular revolutions of 1848 in an attempt to compose a history of the formation of the German nation-state. His guiding principles were, for the most part, an extension of Rankean positivism, a school founded by German historian Leopold von Ranke that promoted rigorous examination of source materials and a focus on interactions among nation-states, the relationship between nation-states and cultural character, and the uniqueness and spontaneity of historical phenomena. Meinecke’s modifications to the historicist program marked the beginning of a new approach to historiography: the analytic school of political history. Essentially, this school sought to analyze the causes of social change and their consequences for nations around the world. In his book, Meinecke attempted to construct an explanation of the timing and structure of the process of national unification as it occurred within the German Confederation (1815-1866). In a manner that would become the defining characteristic of his analytic style, Meinecke framed the period in terms of two opposing intellectual currents and then built his narrative around the force generated by their contradictions. In this case, the two conflicting concepts were cosmopolitanism and nationalism. Meinecke’s cosmopolitanism is a set of beliefs centered on the notion of the fundamental unity of all humankind. This unity, however, has different implications
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man cultural makeup, Meinecke argued, was a fundamental reason for the failure of the 1848 revolution and thus arrested the development of a unified Germany for another generation. It was only the emergence of Otto von Bismarck and the predominance of Prussia in military affairs that tipped the balance in favor of national unity and territorial consolidation. Bismarck’s nationalist leadership liberated the culture from the cosmopolitan spirit that had inhibited the natural emergence of a strong German state. Meinecke acknowledged that coercive power was sometimes necessary for states to achieve their goals. He was convinced that Germany was a highly developed state that could utilize its power to best serve its cultural values and to promote individualism. The use of violence was not criminal, he said, if it was the only way the unification process could be accomplished, and this idea effectively displaced the rational ideals of the Enlightenment in favor of Romantic nationalism. Meinecke altered his views on state violence in the wake of the horrors of World War I, however, and his later works reversed his earlier stance on the moral basis for the use of force by the nation-state. He went from adherence to monarchism to a belief in the necessity (if not the sufficiency) of a popular republican system, and in the process he became disenchanted with the potential for improving human welfare by the use of force. Significance The enduring impacts of Meinecke’s contributions are evident in the important relationship between the history of ideas and diplomatic history. Meinecke laid the foundations for the development of the modern field of international political economy, and he showed the dialectic method’s power as a tool for dealing with historical outcomes. While he did not succeed in solving or dissolving these many antinomies, he did more than any thinker of his time to expose the contradictory forces at work in the international arena and to devise intellectual tools that were adequate to the analytic tasks at hand. Meinecke’s version of the historicist methodology came to define the frontier of sophisticated discourse on the nature of historical knowledge and on the determination of the appropriate units of analysis for historical inquiry. His combination of the subjects and techniques of intellectual and social history opened a novel and highly productive field of investigation, and the questions and problems Meinecke raised continued to be highly relevant to later scholars. — Ivan Weinel 583
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depending on whether it is considered from a cultural, moral, political, or economic point of view. Unity of cultural practices worldwide is not conceivable in a world where uniformity would necessarily entail the extinction of some cultural practices in favor of others. This problem is real and present; many in the poorest nations already believe that the powerful Western nations are crowding out the cultural space formerly allotted to them. This is sometimes called cultural imperialism. These issues and others are part of the complex of events, trends, and peoples referred to under the heading of “globalization.” If everyone and every group are considered to be equal from the moral perspective, then everyone is equally able to lay claim to sympathy and substance, irrespective of ethnicity, creed, or place of residence. This is the Enlightenment spirit of kinship and tolerance for all of humanity. Thus the moral principle that underpins cosmopolitan beliefs also forms the basis for the concept of “human rights.” Further consideration of the political and economic spheres leads in the direction of global systems of governance and wealth creation that undertake to reduce present levels of global inequality and increase the access of the poorest nations to resources, goods, and services. Nationalism, on the other hand, connotes identity with and loyalty to one’s nation; this becomes the paramount virtue. Nations are believed to be the natural units for social and cultural organization and are seen as having a superior claim to the right of self-governance relative to any other principled grouping. Although members of a particular nation may not share the same geographic location, they frequently share an ideology that creates a sense of common identity even as members migrate. Modern nations frequently exclude potential members on the basis of religion or ethnicity, and it is possible for two groups of people to occupy a common geography and still retain radically different nationalist beliefs. Meinecke began his account by tracing the history of the two concepts, showing how contradictory elements from each were embedded in the works of such German intellectuals as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, and Leopold von Ranke. The fact that these contradictions lay at the very foundations of German political thought helps to explain the tardiness of the development of a unified German nation. It was also a major factor in early difficulties encountered in dealing with the implications of the distribution of power among the members of the European political economy. The presence of a cosmopolitan current of thought in the Ger-
Meinecke Advances the Analytic Method in History
Plague Kills 1.2 Million in India Further Reading Boyd, Kelly, ed. Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writings. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999. Great source for further background on the characters and their interconnections. Conversi, Daniel. “Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism.” In Encyclopaedia of Nationalism, edited by Athena S. Leouessi and Anthony D. Smith. Oxford, England: Transaction Books, 2000. Excellent, concise introduction to the relevant concepts and historical background of this controversy. Iggers, Georg G. Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge. Hanover, N.H.: Wesleyan University Press, 1997. Masterful overview of the various approaches to historical investigation from the beginning of modern historical studies to the postmodernist critique.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Kelley, Donald R. Faces of History: Historical Inquiry from Herodotus to Herder. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1998. Engagingly written and accessible to beginners. Narrative places the spotlight on the major personalities and schools and gives a flavor of the interactions among ideas and events that have driven the evolution of historical theory and practice. See also: 1910: Angell Advances Pacifism; Summer, 1918: Rise of Cultural Relativism Revises Historiography; 1922: First Meeting of the Vienna Circle; 1923-1939: Cambridge Ancient History Appears; Sept. 30, 1925: Chesterton Critiques Modernism and Defends Christianity; 1932: Gilson’s Spirit of Medieval Philosophy Reassesses Christian Thought; 1934: Toynbee’s Metahistorical Approach Sparks Debate.
1907
Plague Kills 1.2 Million in India The most recent widespread attack of the bubonic plague peaked in 1907 in India, where it killed 1.2 million persons. During this outbreak, designated the Third Pandemic, researchers learned much about the biology of plague—its cause, reservoirs, vectors, and mechanisms of attack—as well as some human defensive strategies against the disease. Despite these advances in understanding, the plague continued to expand its geographic range and remained a dangerous disease. Locale: Worldwide Categories: Health and medicine; science and technology; biology Key Figures Alexandre Yersin (1863-1943), Swiss bacteriologist Paul-Louis Simond (1858-1947), French bacteriologist Shibasaburo Kitasato (1852-1931), Japanese bacteriologist Waldemar Mordecai Wolff Haffkine (1860-1930), Russian bacteriologist Summary of Event In 1907, more than 1.2 million people died of plague in India. Plague deaths were lower in preceding years and declined again in subsequent years, although they were substantial in both time periods; more than 12 million In584
dians died of plague during the entire period known as the Third Pandemic. Peak years for plague deaths fell around 1900 in many countries involved in the Third Pandemic, and, as the term “pandemic” connotes, most countries in the world were involved. A pandemic is the spread of a disease throughout the known world. The first plague pandemic occurred in the sixth century; this pandemic is known as the Justinian Plague because Justinian was the Roman emperor at the time. The second plague pandemic included the catastrophic Black Death of the fourteenth century and continued, by some definitions, through the London Plague of 1665. Between the pandemics, plague occurred much less frequently, with occasional epidemics springing up. (An epidemic is a local outbreak of a disease, not nearly as widespread as a pandemic, but locally often as deadly.) The Third Pandemic started in the 1850’s in China; it subsequently spread to Hong Kong and India and then throughout the world. It peaked in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and ended in the 1950’s. Both the pandemic’s starting and ending dates are necessarily imprecise, and some authorities argue that the Third Pandemic continued into the twenty-first century. During the Third Pandemic, researchers made great advances in understanding and dealing with the plague. In addition to its tragic effects, the Third Pandemic should be remembered for this dramatic increase in understanding. How-
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Twentieth Century Plague Outbreaks The plague outbreak of 1907 fell in the middle of a worldwide episode known as the Third Pandemic. Many countries, including the United States, were significantly affected by the plague during this period, which lasted from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century and significantly affected the following locales: 1882 1894 1894 1896 1896-1898 1898 1898 1899 1899 1899 1899 1899 1899-1902 1900-1905 1900-1927 1901 1904 1905 1907 1908 1908 1912
Pakhoi, China Canton, China Hong Kong, China Formosa (Taiwan), China Bombay (now Mumbai), India Calcutta, India Madagascar Egypt Hawaii, United States Manchuria, China Paraguay San Francisco, United States South Africa Australia Russia/Soviet Union Fukien Province, China Thailand Burma Tunisia Bolivia and Brazil Trinidad, Venezuela, Peru, and Ecuador Cuba and Puerto Rico
passive antiserum, although it had serious side effects and was not as effective as immunization has been against other diseases, smallpox for example. Late in the Third Pandemic, researchers found that sulfa drugs could destroy the plague bacterium. Several antibiotics—streptomycin, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol—were also discovered that were even more effective against Yersinia. These drugs had to be administered early in the progress of the disease for maximum effectiveness. During the Third Pandemic it was also discovered that many mammals other than rats were attacked by the plague bacterium. Many rodents—marmots, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, rats, mice, and voles—were found to be susceptible to plague parasitism, as were many other mammals (including cats and dogs). Most species were decimated by the parasite, as rats and hu585
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ever, in addition to the mortality it caused in its old haunts, during the Third Pandemic the plague spread to continents that had not previously experienced its decimation. During the Third Pandemic, scientists Alexandre Yersin and Shibasaburo Kitasato, working independently, discovered the bacterium that causes the plague, now known as Yersinia pestis. Yersin called it Bacterium pestis, and it was renamed twice (Bacillus pestis and Pasteurella pestis) before it was changed again in 1970 to honor Yersin’s role in its discovery. Identification of this causative organism gave scientists a target for the development of defensive strategies against the plague as well as something precise to identify in diagnosing the disease. Rats (Rattus rattus) associated with human populations had long been linked with the plague. Large numbers of rats died in most plague epidemics, but they were thought to be fellow victims of the outbreak, not part of the problem. During the Third Pandemic, Yersin and others suggested that rats might play a more direct role in plague epidemics and pandemics, acting as the source of the bacterium during these times. Researcher Paul-Louis Simond, working in Bombay (Mumbai), India, demonstrated that rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) transferred the plague bacterium from rat to rat and from rats, especially dead rats, to humans. His work was rejected, however, because entrenched wisdom held that plague was spread through contaminated food or entered the body through cuts in the skin, and that rat fleas did not bite humans. Eventually, studies in Australia and Bombay confirmed his conclusions in all important details. This discovery gave health workers two targets to exploit in blocking the spread of plague: rat and flea populations. Bacteriologist Waldemar Mordecai Wolff Haffkine, also working in Bombay during the Third Pandemic, developed immunological tools for treatment of and protection from the plague. He developed a plague antiserum, a passive immunity technique, in which antibodies that fight the plague bacterium were produced in other animals and then injected into humans as a defense against a plague infection in progress. The antiserum had a number of undesirable side effects and was ineffective, so Haffkine turned to active immunization, in which killed Yersinia pestis cells were injected into humans as protection against an anticipated future attack by the bacterium. In response to the dead plague cells, vaccinated humans make their own antibodies against the bacterium. This approach proved to be more effective than the
Plague Kills 1.2 Million in India
Plague Kills 1.2 Million in India mans were, but a few were relatively resistant to the plague bacterium. The reservoir for plague, the place it “hid” between pandemics, was found in the relatively resistant ground squirrels and marmots of the central Asian plains. Similar reservoirs were established on all continents except Australia and Antarctica during the Third Pandemic. Fleas other than the rat flea were also found to harbor and transmit the plague bacterium, although transmission by these other fleas was not generally as efficient as that by the rat flea. The versatility of the plague bacterium in the number of mammalian hosts and flea vectors it used, and in other regards, made it apparent that plague would not be an easy opponent to vanquish. Before the Third Pandemic, plague had been restricted to Eurasia and northern Africa. During the Third Pandemic, however, it was dispersed to North and South America, southern Africa, Madagascar, and Australia— essentially worldwide—and it became established in all those places except Australia. The Third Pandemic stands as the most widespread of the plague pandemics. Significance Scientists came to understand the plague during the Third Pandemic, which was epidemiologically centered in India and China, and temporally centered on the 1907 peak of deaths in India. The causative organism, the reservoirs in which plague lurked between pandemics, and the disease’s alternate hosts, vectors, and mechanisms of transmission were all discovered during the Third Pandemic. This knowledge suggested several targets for control of plague outbreaks. Control of rat and flea populations proved helpful, but so many species of rodents and fleas were involved that it was difficult to eliminate plague using this tactic alone. Immunological attempts, although helpful, were not as effective as they have been in combating some other diseases. Sulfa drugs and certain antibiotics proved to be very effective when administered early in the progression of the disease, but plague is often misdiagnosed, and it progresses so rapidly that even these powerful tools proved to be less useful than initially hoped. In addition, Yersinia pestis, like many other troublesome bacteria, readily develops resistance to drugs. Perhaps the most important (and discouraging) thing learned from the Third Pandemic concerns the versatility of Yersinia pestis, which makes it very unlikely that plague can be eliminated as smallpox has been. It is such a dangerous disease organism that several countries have
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 attempted to develop plague into a biological weapon. Yersinia pestis engineered to be resistant to antiplague drugs would be a fearsome weapon. Despite the pessimism caused by the plague bacterium’s versatility and its potential as a weapon, the knowledge derived from the Third Pandemic may allow scientists to prevent a fourth plague pandemic. —Carl W. Hoagstrom Further Reading Catanach, I. J. “The ‘Globalization’ of Disease? India and the Plague.” Journal of World History 12, no. 1 (2001): 131-153. Explores the dispersal of diseases using the spread of plague in the Third Pandemic, especially in India, as a central example. Chandavarkar, Rajnarayan. “Plague Panic and Epidemic Politics in India, 1896-1914.” In Epidemics and Ideas: Essays on the Historical Perception of Pestilence, edited by Terence Ranger and Paul Slack. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Considers the cultural and political conflicts during the most intense years of the Third Pandemic in India. Echenberg, Myron. “Pestis Redux: The Initial Years of the Third Bubonic Plague Pandemic, 1894-1901.” Journal of World History 13, no. 2 (2002): 429-449. Explores the early stages of the Third Pandemic, which led to 1907’s peak in the death count. Gregg, Charles T. Plague: An Ancient Disease in the Twentieth Century. Rev. ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1985. Considers all three plague pandemics and emphasizes the continued danger of plague as a natural disease and as a biological weapon. Orent, Wendy. Plague: The Mysterious Past and Terrifying Future of the World’s Most Dangerous Disease. New York: Free Press, 2004. Describes the three pandemics and emphasizes the plague’s potential as a biological weapon. See also: Feb. 4, 1901: Reed Reports That Mosquitoes Transmit Yellow Fever; 1904-1905: Gorgas Develops Effective Methods of Mosquito Control; Nov.Dec., 1908: Ehrlich and Metchnikoff Conduct Pioneering Immunity Research; 1913: Schick Introduces a Test for Diphtheria; Mar., 1918-1919: Influenza Epidemic Strikes; 1930: Zinsser Develops an Immunization Against Typhus; June, 1937: Theiler Develops a Treatment for Yellow Fever.
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Publication of Busoni’s Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music
1907
Publication of Busoni’s SKETCH FOR A NEW AESTHETIC OF MUSIC
Also known as: Entwurf einer neuen Ästhetik der Tonkunst Locale: Berlin, Germany Categories: Music; publishing and journalism Key Figures Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), Italian-German pianist, composer, and musical intellectual Hans Pfitzner (1869-1949), German composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), Austrian composer and music theorist Summary of Event At the beginning of the twentieth century, Ferruccio Busoni was recognized as one of the world’s leading pianists, a composer of substance, and a prolific writer whose ideas reflected the dissatisfaction with prevailing musical styles shared by most of his contemporaries among the musical intelligentsia. His Entwurf einer neuen Ästhetik der Tonkunst (1907; Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music, 1911) was not so much a treatise on aesthetics as a presentation of a melange of musical principles reflecting Busoni’s own concerns for the present state of music and offering carefully considered ways of freeing music from lasting traditions that he regarded as redundant. Busoni maintained that the spirit of a musical artwork is ageless, its essence remaining the same throughout many years. Thus, he wrote, there is nothing properly old or new, only expressions of an enduring idea that have come into being earlier or later. The performance of music cast in the mold of another age is inherently inconsistent, for if the musical idea is indeed the enduring factor, the imposition of stereotypical forms or procedures brings forth nothing new, only a refurbishment of statements already achieved. The function of the creative artist lies in the formation of new laws rather than in following laws already made; the true creator seeks after the perfection of a musical expression that achieves a rapprochement between the natural qualities of the basic musical idea and the composer’s own individuality. A musical work is to be shaped by the natural qualities of
the underlying idea (however that may be defined) and its most natural expression as perceived by the creative artist. Busoni regarded established musical forms as strictures that impede natural expression. In the history of music, form has served as an element of consistency, establishing an element of balance and order and allowing the imagination free rein. Over time, however, form came to be an end in itself; Busoni argued that fidelity to traditional forms should be set aside in favor of the expression that is the most natural to any given musical material. He pointed out the inconsistency of expecting overall originality of a composer and yet expecting conventionality in matters of form. Program music, he wrote, was equally faulty in that a story or series of events replaced form and imposed on music a framework extraneous to the seeds of expansion inherent in each motive. According to Busoni, musical notation, too, needed to be reconsidered. Notation had developed as an expedient means of preserving a fleeting inspiration for the purpose of later exploration and reinterpretation. Musical lawgivers, however, had required the interpreters of written music to reproduce the fixed connotations of the written symbols, confusing notation with music itself. The limitation of notation is closely allied with the instruments for which it is intended; for Busoni, the implied tonal color, range, and pitch system around which modern instruments were built imposed additional limitations on natural musical expression. Anything written for a specific instrument necessarily remains committed to a certain timbre or color. A possible solution to such difficulties might be offered by electronic tone production, and Busoni was quite interested in reports of Thaddeus Cahill’s invention of the dynamophone, one of the earliest electronic musical instruments. Busoni’s concern for expanding what he considered a narrow tonal range led to a series of scales intended to replace the traditional major-minor system. The new scales were derived from a process wherein subsequent tones within the octave were systematically lowered within each permutation; Busoni’s manuscript copy illustrated the 113 scales to which he referred in his text, but a logical extension of his procedure would produce at least 148 scales. These concerns led him to a refined gradation of the acoustic octave in which he described a tripartite tone (third of a tone) in place of the usual semitone, leading to 587
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In Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music, Ferruccio Busoni was among the first to articulate a rational foundation for the dramatic changes in musical style that took place in the early years of the twentieth century.
Publication of Busoni’s Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music
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Ferruccio Busoni. (Library of Congress)
a scale of eighteen pitches. Transposing this same plan to the next set of traditional tones produced another tripartite set of eighteen, or an acoustic octave encompassing a total of thirty-six pitches. For all these, he proposed an appropriate system of new musical notation. The new scales and more minutely defined pitch materials were among the most widely discussed of Busoni’s theses. He was drawn into an extended dialogue with contemporaries, during the course of which he came to be recognized as one of the leading musical intellectuals of the time. An attempt to clarify his ideas in a second, expanded edition of Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music drew more commentary than the initial publication. Arnold Schoenberg, a prominent composer and music theorist, declared much sympathy with the substance of Busoni’s writing if not with all of its applications. In contrast, German composer Hans Pfitzner attacked Busoni’s work in Futuristengefahr (1917; the danger of futurism). Pfitzner defended the nineteenth century value system of feeling and inspiration against what he perceived to be calculating intellectual processes, expressive paralysis, and a threat to the values of German music. The last 588
charge caught the attention of German nationalists immersed in the heat of World War I. Busoni, the son of an Italian farmer and a German mother, had spent all of his adult life in Germany, but his Italian surname cast suspicion on him as a foreigner and, for those inclined to such beliefs, lent some credence to Pfitzner’s charges. Busoni’s works before 1907 followed in the tradition of late nineteenth century Romanticism and, to a lesser degree, Impressionism. Starting with the Six Elegies (1908), however, his own style of composing turned toward a more sparse and pervasively contrapuntal texture, colored by progressive harmonies. There is no clear evidence of either the scales or the tripartite tones described in Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music. Among pianists, Busoni’s name will always be linked with his transcriptions of works by Johann Sebastian Bach and others. Although some purists have derided these as musical transgressions, the process is very much in keeping with Busoni’s premise that basic musical ideas endure and can be expressed in many ways without substantive loss, and that any notation represents but one of many ways of defining any given material.
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term around 1919 and that he wished to distinguish between classicality and classicism as it is conventionally understood. In later attempts to clarify “young classicality,” he described it as an assimilation of all earlier experiments and their inclusion in new musical forms of greater strength. Busoni’s idea has often been confused with neoclassicism as it was represented in the works of Igor Stravinsky during the decades following World War I and has been largely forgotten in the prevailing currency of the latter term. Young classicality is best viewed as a comprehensive aesthetic of music that may include a variety of styles and techniques; neoclassicism stands as one of those many styles. Busoni’s concept, represented by the term “young classicality,” thus anticipated, or at least described, the multistylistic quality of most twentieth century music. — Douglas A. Lee Further Reading Beaumont, Antony. Busoni the Composer. London: Faber & Faber, 1985. A thorough and comprehensive study of Busoni’s work. Supplemented with abundant photographic plates, musical illustrations, biographical and creative chronologies, a catalog of transcriptions and cadenzas, and a select bibliography. Valuable for its attention to detail and comprehensive treatment of the subject. Busoni, Ferruccio. The Essence of Music and Other Papers. Translated by Rosamond Ley. London: Rockliff, 1957. A panoply of Busoni’s writings. Some address his concepts of music of the future and young classicality; others discuss the composers who were central to his pianistic repertory, his piano playing, and a miscellany of his musical interests. A valuable collection reflecting Busoni’s intellectual fecundity. _______. Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music. Translated by Th. Baker. New York: G. Schirmer, 1911. The original American version of Busoni’s work. (Also available in Contemplating Music: Source Readings in the Aesthetics of Music, edited by Ruth Katz and Carl Dahlhaus. Hillsdale, N.Y.: Pendragon Press, 1988.) Couling, Della. Ferruccio Busoni: A Musical Ishmael. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 2004. Full-length biography contains material not available to earlier biographers. Draws extensively on Busoni’s correspondence with family members and friends. Includes a selected list of compositions, bibliography, and index. Dent, Edward J. Ferruccio Busoni: A Biography. London: Oxford University Press, 1933. Early study of 589
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Significance At a time of great ferment in the musical world, Busoni’s essay Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music was among the first attempts to present a rational defense for many of the extraordinary changes taking place in music during the first two decades of the twentieth century. The exchanges generated by Busoni’s ideas marked the beginning of literary explanations and justifications for new music that continued until well past midcentury. Those who saw music in a state of decadence could, with an open mind, find in Busoni reasons for and order behind what some described as cacophony. The emancipation of dissonance, a premise generally attributed to Schoenberg, found its first widely circulated expression in Busoni’s work; Busoni, with some success, defined the difference between atonality and cacophony as a matter of the listener’s comprehension. The systematic approach to the creation of the 113 scales provided a point of departure for similar efforts later in the century. The scale structures of Josef Hauer and Olivier Messiaen, although not direct extensions of Busoni’s plan, reflect his influence in their rational, instead of acoustical, approach to the arrangement of pitch materials; many other names could be added to such a list. The new notation Busoni proposed to accommodate his tripartite pitch series saw no direct imitators, but it did introduce the concept of new signs for new sounds. The manifestations of this approach led to many different procedures, particularly after the middle of the century. The fundamental concept is Busoni’s premise that a musical idea exists on its own and can be expressed through any pattern of notation appropriate to the material, an approach reflected in the scores of Messiaen and Krzysztof Penderecki, among others. The search for a source of more plastic and more finely graduated pitch material has been mirrored in the efforts of many composers to expand their tonal resources, not only in matters of pitch but in timbre and color as well. Edgard Varèse, who achieved much in both percussion ensembles and electronic music, stressed his allegiance to Busoni in several lectures as well as in the very substance of his works such as Amériques (pr. 1926) and Poème électronique (pr. 1958). Several years after the appearance of Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music, Busoni referred to his ideas, in the most comprehensive vein, as junge Klassizität, a term that has been widely mistranslated as “young classicism” and, in that context, frequently misunderstood. In a letter to his son, Busoni made it clear that he had coined the
Publication of Busoni’s Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music
Publication of Busoni’s Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music Busoni and his works by a personal acquaintance. Valuable for personal insights and minutiae of biography, but dated in its treatment of Busoni’s creative work. Mason, Robert M. “Enumeration of Synthetic Musical Scales by Matrix Algebra and a Catalogue of Busoni Scales.” Journal of Music Theory 14 (Spring, 1970): 92-126. A technical, systematic exploration of the scale system proposed by Busoni. Copiously illustrated with charts and diagrams exploring possible applications of Busoni’s fundamental concept in matters of pitch organization. Morgan, Robert P. Twentieth-Century Music: A History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America. New York: W. W. Norton, 1991. Presents one of the most succinct summaries available of Busoni’s ideas on music in the modern age and offers examples of important composers who may have come under his influence. Raessler, Daniel M. “The ‘113’ Scales of Ferruccio Busoni.” Music Review 43 (February, 1982): 51-56. Devoted to a study of Busoni’s proposed scale system and its musical applications, this publication is most valuable for its musical illustrations of the scales as they appear in Busoni’s manuscript copy. The author expands the system to its logical conclusion of 147 scales. _______. “Schoenberg and Busoni: Aspects of Their Relationship.” Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute 7 (June, 1983): 6-27. Based on letters exchanged between Busoni and Schoenberg between 1903 and 1919. The correspondence makes clear that these innovators shared a mutual respect and a con-
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 viction that the course of music had to change, but neither completely understood the other’s view of what the new direction should be. Rimm, Robert. The Composer-Pianists: Hamelin and the Eight. Pompton Plains, N.J.: Amadeus Press, 2003. Discusses the work of eight legendary composer-pianists, including Busoni, and the interpretation of their work by pianist Marc-André Hamelin. Explores the relationships among the composers in their music, their ideas, and their lives. Roberge, Marc-André. Ferruccio Busoni: A Bio-Bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991. A bibliographic reference tool more than a substantive exploration of Busoni’s ideas or compositions. The annotated bibliography, one of the most extensive available, is valuable for its listing of published works by and about Busoni. Stuckenschmidt, Hans H. Ferruccio Busoni. Translated by Sandra Morris. London: Calder and Boyars, 1970. An overview of Busoni’s ideas and influences by one of the principal commentators on modern music. Generally deals with description more than with analysis or evaluation; most useful for its perspective of Busoni within the context of twentieth century musical styles. See also: 1908-1909: Schoenberg Breaks with Tonality; Mar. 31, 1913: Webern’s Six Pieces for Large Orchestra Premieres; 1921-1923: Schoenberg Develops His Twelve-Tone System; Dec. 14, 1925: Berg’s Wozzeck Premieres in Berlin; July 17, 1927: Brecht and Weill Collaborate on the Mahagonny Songspiel; 1930’s: Hindemith Advances Music as a Social Activity.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Publication of James’s Pragmatism
1907
Publication of James’s PRAGMATISM
Locale: New York, New York Categories: Publishing and journalism; philosophy Key Figures William James (1842-1910), American philosopher Summary of Event In November and December, 1906, William James delivered a series of lectures at the Lowell Institute in Boston that he repeated in January, 1907, at Columbia University in New York City. The lectures were later published without notes or any further explanation as Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking. This volume marked the end of James’s development as a philosopher and the beginning of a significant departure in the history of philosophy in twentieth century America. Understanding the evolution of James’s thought is made complex by the fact that James developed his theory of radical empiricism in a series of essays written in 1904 and 1905; those essays were collected and published posthumously in 1912 as Essays in Radical Empiricism. As James observed in the preface to Pragmatism, however, no logical connection existed between the two concepts; the two ideas were independent of each other. The subtitle of Pragmatism indicated that James believed that the pragmatic method was of long duration and that, in fact, many people used the method without recognizing it as an expression of philosophy. Truth, pragmatic style, grew out of all finite experience. It was what people had done in their daily lives for centuries. Pragmatism was first presented to a nonprofessional audience as lectures and then as relaxed essays to popular or general readers. The book included eight lectures. Given and written in an informal style, the work was very much that of a singular individual, William James. In the first lecture, “The Present Dilemma in Philosophy,” James made his now-famous distinction between the “tender-minded” and the “tough-minded,” a distinction he traced to arguments between the rationalists and the empiricists. This distinction was vital to James’s presentations, as he believed that every individual is a philosopher whose creed often reflects the whims of individual temperament.
“What Pragmatism Means” was the next lecture. With his usual gracious manner, James, with strong figures of speech and commonplace examples, described pragmatism as a method that can satisfy the rationalists and empiricists by its modest claim that a test of reality is possible using the pragmatic method. Belief and acting on a particular belief were key elements in defining pragmatism. Because this belief had a religious element in James’s world, the following lecture, “Some Metaphysical Problems Pragmatically Considered,” dealt with that element; in the lecture, James rejected the argument that the existence of God can be perceived in the design of the universe. The evidence for God’s existence, James argued, is in inner and personal experiences. James’s fourth lecture, “The One and the Many,” discussed how philosophy has historically expressed a desire for both unity and totality. The varied answers were unsatisfactory to James. Pragmatism is not a gnostic enterprise, James maintained in his fifth lecture, “Pragmatism and Common Sense.” James’s point was a historical one. From their earliest history, he maintained, humans had developed the pragmatic method; the survival of the earliest humans depended on their using knowledge of the past in conjunction with their own immediate experience. When the two elements were joined, common sense (or wisdom) was achieved. As he explained in his next lecture, “Pragmatism’s Conception of Truth,” truth is expedient thinking that grows over time and with increased experience. Ideas that can be assimilated, validated, corroborated, and verified are true; false ideas cannot be used in such a manner. James made quite clear in his next-to-last lecture, “Pragmatism and Humanism,” that an absolutely independent reality is difficult to find. People create reality. Ideas arrived at through individual and collective experience create reality against the backdrop of a morally indifferent nature. Once again, pragmatism offered a middle way between rationalism and empiricism. In his eighth and last lecture, “Pragmatism and Religion,” James returned to a concern, religious belief, that had provoked him throughout his career. His final evaluation was that pragmatism offers a solution to religious dilemmas, because people may create reality. He ended his presentation where he began it, with concluding remarks about tender-minded and tough-minded approaches to religion. Yet pragmatism came from a cul591
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The publication of Pragmatism was a significant event for both the personal development of William James as a philosopher and the course of philosophy in the twentieth century.
Publication of James’s Pragmatism
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“The Present Dilemma in Philosophy” In his first lecture in Pragmatism, James outlined the distinction between the “tender-minded” and the “tough-minded,” which he traced to arguments between the rationalists and the empiricists—and hence the need for “pragmatism,” which reconciles the two: The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments. . . . a more sentimental or a more hard-hearted view of the universe. . . . Now the particular difference of temperament that I have in mind in making these remarks is . . . expressed in the pair of terms “rationalist” and “empiricist,” “empiricist” meaning your lover of facts in all their crude variety, “rationalist” meaning your devotee to abstract and eternal principles. . . . Historically we find the terms “intellectualism” and “sensationalism” used as synonyms of, “rationalism” and “empiricism.” Well, nature seems to combine most frequently with intellectualism an idealistic and optimistic tendency. Empiricists on the other hand are not uncommonly materialistic, and their optimism is apt to be decidedly conditional and tremulous. Rationalism is always monistic. It starts from wholes and universals, and makes much of the unity of things. Empiricism starts from the parts, and makes of the whole a collection—is not averse therefore to calling itself pluralistic. Rationalism usually considers itself more religious than empiricism, but there is much to say about this claim, so I merely mention it. It is a true claim when the individual rationalist is what is called a man of feeling, and when the individual empiricist prides himself on being hard-headed. . . . I will write these traits down in two columns. I think you will practically recognize the two types of mental make-up that I mean if I head the columns by the titles “tender-minded” and “tough-minded” respectively. The Tender-Minded Rationalistic (going by “principles”) Intellectualistic Idealistic Optimistic Religious Free-willist Monistic Dogmatical
The Tough-Minded Empiricist (going by “facts”) Sensationalistic Materialistic Pessimistic Irreligious Fatalistic Pluralistic Sceptical
. . . You want a system that will combine both things, the scientific loyalty to facts and willingness to take account of them, the spirit of adaptation and accommodation, in short, but also the old confidence in human values and the resultant spontaneity, whether of the religious or of the romantic type. And this is then your dilemma: you find the two parts of your quaesitum hopelessly separated. You find empiricism with inhumanism and irreligion; or else you find a rationalistic philosophy that indeed may call itself religious, but that keeps out of all definite touch with concrete facts and joys and sorrows. . . . I offer the oddly-named thing pragmatism as a philosophy that can satisfy both kinds of demand. It can remain religious like the rationalisms, but at the same time, like the empiricisms, it can preserve the richest intimacy with facts. I hope I may be able to leave many of you with as favorable an opinion of it as I preserve myself.
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ture of science that offered the ideal of freedom as combined with the notion of American achievement. Despite the emergence of other philosophical positions, pragmatism endured because it was modern in its appeal to science and old in that it was the method that led to material success in the United States. Significance The publication of Pragmatism was a major event for James as an individual philosopher and for the course of philosophy in the twentieth century. In an important sense, James had prepared all of his life for the book to appear. James was born in New York City in 1842 to Mary and Henry James, Sr., wellto-do and somewhat eccentric parents. The family fortune was a gift of William’s grandfather, who had made wise investments in the Erie Canal. In time, the family included three brothers, one of whom was the famous novelist Henry James. The final child was Alice James, whose health problems, real and imagined, limited her life experiences; she did, however, keep a first-rate journal. William’s formal education was irregular, but through his father he visited with many of the outstanding writers and artists of the day. Henry James, Sr., encouraged William to find himself; therefore, any interest that the young boy expressed was encouraged by his father, who at the same time warned William not to close out any other possibilities. The results were mixed. After attending many private schools in both the United States and Europe, William studied painting, but, determining that he had only mediocre talents, he quit and turned to science. By 1861, he was a member of the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University. After studying chemistry, comparative anatomy, and physiology, he transferred to the medical school, from which he graduated in 1869. He never practiced medicine, however. He
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fort to place philosophy on the same secure basis as mathematics. It is not unusual for more recent philosophers to be antifoundationalist and anti-Cartesian, largely because James and his early associates Chauncey Wright and Charles Sanders Peirce successfully challenged claims for philosophical certitude. The acceptance of this position meant that James’s thought led to the boundaries of existentialism, but without the atmosphere of individual and cultural despair associated with that philosophical position. During the 1930’s and the 1940’s, pragmatism was thought of as a protopositivism, anticipatory of the logical positivism that flourished in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Although this interpretation was in fact an incorrect historical analysis, it did indicate the degree to which some scholars believed that pragmatism had affected later philosophical developments. Finally, James’s Pragmatism continued a de facto tradition of idealism in American thought, accepting the truths of science and harmonizing them with religious sentiment in an effort to create a better life and creed. Supported by science and religion, James’s creed solved issues of long metaphysical concern and helped countless people to handle the immediate task of living day to day. —Donald K. Pickens Further Reading Allen, Gay Wilson. William James: A Biography. New York: Viking Press, 1967. A first-rate biography with an emphasis on James’s travels. Offers little in interpretation, but the factual content is valuable. Barzun, Jacques. A Stroll with William James. 1983. Reprint. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. An interesting account of how James influenced the life of a leading historian. Barzun stresses James’s humanity and how James’s pragmatism was the product of a fully realized human being. Feinstein, Howard M. Becoming William James. 1983. Reprint. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2000. An analysis of how James overcame his many psychological problems and concerns to become a mature and engaging human being. Rich in detail, this psychobiography connects James’s life experiences to the creation of his books and philosophy. Where the Allen book explores the “outer” James, this volume maps the “inner” James. James, William. Writings, 1902-1910. Edited by Bruce Kuklick. New York: Viking Press, 1987. This fine edited volume of James’s writings for the last eight years of his life includes the complete text of Pragmatism 593
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then toured the Amazon basin with a scientific expedition; his eyes were weakened by the experience. He subsequently lived for a time in Germany, studying experimental physiology. After bouts of illness and retirement, William began teaching physiology and anatomy at Harvard in 1873. His teaching included psychology and, by 1879, philosophy. His twin interests in science and religious matters guided James toward a career as professor of philosophy. His religious interest, however, was much more vital and bore directly on James’s philosophy and life experience. The issues of free will and religious monism shaped his thoughts; after contemplating suicide, James decided, as an act of the will, to believe in free will. In a real sense, James’s pragmatism was thus born. His marriage in 1878 to Alice Howe Gibbens was very successful. He was a happy man—a productive scholar and a first-rate teacher. He published his masterpiece The Principles of Psychology in 1890. In 1902, he published The Varieties of Religious Experience. His last book was A Pluralistic Universe (1909), published a year before his death and based on a series of lectures given at the University of Oxford. Whereas James’s philosophy fulfilled a personal need, over the course of the twentieth century Pragmatism played a key role in several areas. In the area of reform politics, the midcentury American educator John Dewey directly used James’s ideas in the construction of his creed of instrumentalism. It is not an exaggeration to state that the ideas of pragmatism expressed the essence of progressivism and other twentieth century democratic creeds. Dewey’s instrumentalism was a secular, social, and reform adaptation of James’s pragmatism. It is interesting to note that James came to construct his philosophy through the study of Immanuel Kant, whereas Dewey began his philosophical journeys with the study of Georg Hegel. Politicians of the twentieth century often misrepresented their own opportunism as expressions of toughminded pragmatism. Italy’s Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, for example, invoked James’s philosophy in seeking out intellectual support for his policies. During U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, a camp for the government-sponsored self-help organization the Civilian Conservation Corps was named after James; this second example of the political use of James’s prestige, however, was much closer to the spirit of the philosopher’s thought. Pragmatism’s relationship to formal philosophical developments was more complex. James was an “antifoundational” thinker; he rejected René Descartes’s ef-
Publication of James’s Pragmatism
Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona Become U.S. States along with A Pluralistic Universe and other occasional pieces. A good starting point for understanding James’s ideas. Kloppenberg, James T. Uncertain Victory: Social Democracy and Progressivism in European and American Thought, 1870-1920. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. The best general history of the ideas of the period. Provides a meaningful context for pragmatism and an explanation of how and why the philosophy came into being. Provides good historical reasons pragmatism was destined to be the creed underlying much American reform. Kuklick, Bruce. The Rise of American Philosophy: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1860-1930. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1989. This history of the Harvard University Department of Philosophy reveals how James came to be a professional philosopher and what his legacies were to the school. A rich account of James and his contemporaries; basic to any understanding of James and his world. Lewis, R. W. B. The Jameses. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1991. A massive achievement, this book is a full treatment of the James family. Reveals how the individual members related to one another and how they turned their family experiences into the literary, artistic, and philosophical products of their adult years. A balanced treatment of this remarkable group of people.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Marcell, David W. Progress and Pragmatism. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1974. Traces the impact and consequences of pragmatism on the thought of various reformers and reforms. The creed was often an American expression of the idea of progress. This book clearly illustrates how pragmatism was in the American grain. A clear statement about the importance of pragmatism in the history of ideas. Myers, Gerald E. William James: His Life and Thought. 1986. Reprint. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001. With a fine balance between biographical description and textual analysis, this work presents the whole man in all of his achievements. Some readers might quarrel with some of Myers’s observations, but this book is one of the best single-volume biographies of James written in the past fifty years. An invaluable source for understanding James as man and philosopher. Simon, Linda. Genuine Reality: A Life of William James. Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt, 1998. One of few full-scale biographies of James. Covers the principal events and relationships in James’s life, including his travels, the influences of his family, and his contributions to philosophy. Includes bibliography and index. See also: 1902: James Proposes a Rational Basis for Religious Experience; 1916: Dewey Applies Pragmatism to Education.
January 16, 1907-February 14, 1912
Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona Become U.S. States When Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona achieved statehood, they completed the expansion of the contiguous United States and brought regions that had been territories and frontiers to a status equal to that of the other forty-five states. Locale: Oklahoma; New Mexico; Arizona Categories: Expansion and land acquisition; government and politics Key Figures William Howard Taft (1857-1930), president of the United States, 1909-1913 Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 George W. P. Hunt (1859-1934), first governor of the state of Arizona, 1912-1917 594
Charles Nathaniel Haskell (1860-1933), first governor of the state of Oklahoma, 1907-1911 William C. McDonald (1858-1918), first governor of the state of New Mexico, 1912-1917 Summary of Event The United States of America expanded to include fortyeight contiguous states when first Oklahoma (in 1907) and then both New Mexico and Arizona (in 1912) became states. All three states had at one time been designated as territories, and, as such, they were controlled by principles established by the Continental Congress’s Northwest Ordinance of 1787. This ordinance was originally drawn up to apply to the region known as the Old Northwest (lands north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River). It stated that a district with a free
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The area that is now Arizona was also part of this new territory. In 1853, the land south of the Gila River was acquired through the Gadsden Purchase and became part of the New Mexico Territory. New Mexico had tried to achieve statehood as early as 1876. Because of concerns about civil rights legislation, however, New Mexico’s periodic bids for statehood were denied for more than three decades. In June, 1910, President William Howard Taft signed a bill authorizing the New Mexico Territory to call a constitutional convention, and that October, delegates from every county in the territory met in Santa Fe to draw up a constitution approved by voters on January 21, 1911. New Mexico became a state on January 6, 1912, with William C. McDonald as its first governor. Arizona’s journey to statehood was just as bumpy as New Mexico’s. In 1856, six years after its region became part of the New Mexico Territory, its citizens petitioned the federal government to become a separate territory. After some postponements, the Civil War, and preoccupation with establishing viable railroad routes to bountiful California, territorial status was given to Arizona in 1863. For nearly fifty years, the citizens of Arizona tried to gain statehood. Finally, in 1910 they were authorized by Congress to draft a constitution. When the constitution, approved by the citizens, was sent to Congress and the president for approval, President Taft refused to grant his consent because the constitution included a clause that permitted the recall of any officials, including judges. Taft, perhaps because of his own background as lawyer and judge, was opposed to the recall of judges, and he would not approve Arizona’s application for statehood as long as the recall clause was included in the constitution. The Arizonans, eager for statehood, removed the clause, and Taft approved the revised constitution. Arizona became the forty-eighth state on February 14, 1912; its first governor was George W. P. Hunt. One of the first acts of the newly elected Arizona legislature was to put the removed clause about recalling judges to the state’s voters. The voters approved the measure, and the clause was returned to the constitution. The voters also gave women the right to vote in all elections on the local, state, and national levels. Significance Even before 1907, the United States had expanded its domain from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. However, there were still areas classified as territories that, as such, created continual dilemmas for the federal government. The govern595
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male population of five thousand would be considered sufficiently settled for the federal government to appoint a governor to administer its business and provide for a locally elected legislature. Once the district or territory reached a population of sixty thousand, it could write its own constitution and apply to Congress for statehood. As long as the constitution guaranteed certain civil liberties, provided for some kind of public education for the state’s citizens, and made certain concessions about slavery, there was little likelihood that the application for statehood would be denied. Oklahoma became a territory in 1890 after some sixty thousand settlers participated in a land run into what was then Indian Territory set aside for the Five Civilized Tribes: the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole. Another land run in 1893 saw one hundred thousand homesteaders move onto approximately six million acres of Cherokee land. The 1887 Dawes Act, or Indian General Allotment Act, gave the federal government the right to parcel out 160-acre plots of Indian Territory land to individual Native Americans. This allowed the government to open up the rest of the unassigned land for settlement by non-Indians. In 1896, Greer County, Texas, was added to the Oklahoma Territory. As the territory became settled, so many accusations of fraud, cheating, and instances of preferential treatment (mostly involving land developers) occurred that the land had to be distributed by lottery. Oklahoma’s cattle business had begun to burgeon, and there was promise of a lucrative oil industry. The population grew with the influx of non-Indian settlers to the territory looking for the proverbial pot of gold—or at least a better life than they had experienced elsewhere. The population increased beyond the size needed to apply for statehood, and the Native American tribes decided to throw in their lot with the non-Indian citizens and press for statehood. In 1907, the combined population of the Oklahoma and Indian Territories was about fifteen million. They applied for and were granted statehood, and Charles Nathaniel Haskell became the first governor of the forty-sixth state. They chose the name Oklahoma, which derives from two Choctaw words: okla, meaning “people,” and humma, meaning “red.” New Mexico and Arizona became the forty-seventh and forty-eighth states, respectively, in 1912. The New Mexico lands had been annexed from Mexico in 1846, and a temporary government was set up under U.S. Army colonel Stephen Kearney. In 1850, the lands were organized into the New Mexico Territory after it was ceded to the United States by Mexico following the Mexican War.
Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona Become U.S. States
Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona Become U.S. States
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ment could use its territorial lands to raise revenues by selling land and encouraging settlement in the areas. However, it also had to deal with the get-rich-quick schemes of unscrupulous land speculators and greedy land companies that snapped up huge parcels of land for their own self-serving purposes. Moreover, the government had the responsibility of appointing governors and judges for the territories and for approving any legislation passed by the territorial assemblies. Thus it was very much to the federal government’s advantage to have the territories settled by populations large enough to allow them to achieve statehood. Once the last continental territories became the states of Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona, the burden of administration was shifted to the new states, while the flow of state revenues was readily regulated and collected. Diverse groups of settlers—whites, African Americans, Native Americans, Mexicans, and European immigrants—all flocked to the new states, and these hardworking, ambitious, innovative, and creative Americans helped rebuild the country, which was still recovering from the Civil War. The growth of railroad lines, widespread commercial infrastructure, farming productivity, and increased industry helped make the new states appealing places to live and strengthened national pride. —Jane L. Ball
as Indian Territory and the cultural, political, social, and industrial concerns of both the territory and the state. Farrand, Max. Legislation of Congress for the Government of the Organized Territories of the United States, 1789-1895. Buffalo, N.Y.: William S. Hein, 2000. Discusses how the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 applied to the territorial governments and how the administration of the territories varied over time. Gonzales-Berry, Erlinda, and David Maciel, eds. The Contested Homeland: A Chicano History of New Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000. An anthology of twelve historical essays that examine New Mexico’s nineteenth and twentieth century history from a Chicano perspective. Sheridan, Thomas E. Arizona: A History. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1995. Covers the history of Arizona from its earliest Native American inhabitants to modern times, with particular attention to its commercial and industrial enterprises. Willoughby, William F. Territories and Dependencies of the United States: Their Government and Administration. New York: Century Press, 1905. Discusses the administration of U.S. territories as well as the history and structure of territorial governments.
Further Reading Dale, Edward Everett. History of Oklahoma. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1948. Covers the early history of Oklahoma from the time of Spanish and French claimants through the period of its designation as a territory, its formation as a state, and into the mid-twentieth century. Chapters are devoted to the state’s earlier status
See also: June 2, 1902-May 31, 1913: Expansion of Direct Democracy; Jan. 11, 1908: Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from Mining Claims; Mar. 15, 1916-Feb. 5, 1917: Pershing Expedition; June 26, 1923: Oklahoma Imposes Martial Law in Response to KKK Violence; June 3, 1924: Gila Wilderness Area Is Designated.
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January 26, 1907 THE PLAYBOY OF THE
The Playboy of the Western World Offends Irish Audiences
WESTERN WORLD Offends Irish Audiences
Locale: Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Ireland Category: Theater Key Figures John Millington Synge (1871-1909), Irish playwright William George Fay (1872-1947), Irish actor and director William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet and dramatist and Abbey Theatre founder Lady Augusta Gregory (1852-1932), Irish patron of the arts who was instrumental in the creation of the Abbey Theatre Summary of Event By the time The Playboy of the Western World opened at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre on January 26, 1907, the young Irish National Theatre Society already had staged three of John Millington Synge’s plays, two of which provoked hostile reactions that foreshadowed the troubles that would beset his fourth work. In 1903, his first play, the one-act In the Shadow of the Glen, was denounced as being libelous of women and for having been derived from pagan, anti-Christian works, although it was essentially a dramatization of a story Synge had heard in the Aran Islands. The following year, Riders to the Sea (pb. 1903), also a one-act work, was the only Synge play not subjected to audience attacks during his lifetime; its 1904 opening was uneventful, probably because the play does not deal with the conflicting demands of individuals and society. Irish nationalists were offended, however, by his third play, The Well of the Saints (pr. 1905), which was damned as un-Irish. Annoyed by the attacks on his work, Synge decided to retaliate; he reportedly remarked to a friend, “Very well, then, the next play I write I will make sure will annoy them.” Actually, he had been trying for seven years to fashion a drama out of another Aran story, writing at least ten drafts and revising each many times; he went through thirteen rewrites of the third act alone before finally completing The Playboy of the Western World. When William George Fay, an Abbey Theatre director and actor, read the finished manuscript, he thought audiences
would be offended, particularly because of the depiction of women, but the play was staged as written. The action spans twenty-four hours at Michael James Flaherty’s pub (or “shebeen”) in western Ireland’s rural Country Mayo. Pegeen Mike, Flaherty’s daughter and publican in his absence, is attractive, quick-witted, and independent. Betrothed to her cousin Shawn Keogh, a boorish farmer, she is planning her trousseau, but she treats Shawn scornfully while they await a church dispensation to marry. Just before Flaherty and others leave for an all-night wake, a stranger arrives, “a slight young man . . . very tired and frightened and dirty.” The man, named Christy Mahon, claims to be a fugitive fleeing the authorities after having murdered his father, “a dirty man . . . old and crusty,” by hitting him over the head with a club. Instead of turning on Christy, the men praise his bravery and fearlessness; they leave him with Pegeen and go to the wake, confident that she is safe “with a man killed his father holding danger from the door.” Flaherty decides that Christy’s success in eluding the police is evidence that the authorities must fear him, so he hires Christy, ostensibly as “pot-boy” but really in hopes that his presence may deter the police from snooping into the publican’s illegal operations. Left alone, Christy and Pegeen are attracted to each other, but the Widow Quin unexpectedly appears; she is a nosy harridan of about thirty who is believed to have murdered her husband. The widow wants to take Christy home, ostensibly because of the impropriety of the young people being alone, but really because she has designs on him. Christy decides to remain at the pub, so Pegeen forces the widow out and then tells him she “wouldn’t wed [Shawn] if a bishop came walking for to join us here.” Settling in for the night, an increasingly confident Christy marvels about “two fine women fighting for the likes of me” and tells himself “wasn’t I a foolish fellow not to kill my father in the years gone by.” In the morning, girls bearing gifts come to the pub to meet the “man killed his father,” and they are joined by the Widow Quin, who asks Christy how he came to murder his father. Savoring the attention, he tells how his father wanted him to marry “a woman of noted misbehavior,” a “walking terror” of “two score and five years.” When he refused, the older man threatened him with a scythe, and Christy raised a club and “hit a blow on the ridge of his skull, laid him stretched out, and he split to the knob of his gullet.” The credulous women bless him, 597
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The first audiences to see John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World were offended by the play’s language and depiction of Irish peasants, especially women, and they hissed and rioted throughout its weeklong run.
The Playboy of the Western World Offends Irish Audiences call him a marvel, and drink to him, one of “the wonders of the western world.” Obviously smitten with the newcomer, Pegeen warns Christy against bragging about the murder and reveals that the authorities have no report of it. Shawn attempts to get rid of his rival by bribing Christy with a ticket to America and sundry articles of clothing. Making no commitment, Christy borrows the clothes for the sporting events of the day and is delighted with himself, preening and strutting, and convinced he has found an ideal new home. He is then staggered by what appears to be “the walking spirit of my murdered da.” Old Mahon, his head swathed in bandages and plaster and very much alive, tells the Widow Quin about his son, the very antithesis of the swaggering ladies’ man Christy has become. She does not betray Christy but sends Old Mahon on a wildgoose chase. Although scandalized by Christy’s unforgiving attitude toward his father, she again woos the youth, but he is determined to win Pegeen, so Quin promises her silence for a small payoff. Later, when some of the men return from Kate Cassidy’s wake, Old Mahon also comes back to the shebeen and tells his tale, but cheers for “the champion Playboy of the Western World” interrupt him. His son, it seems, is victor in the beach mule race; the others convince Christy’s father that he is mad and send him away. Christy comes in, and, when the crowd leaves, he proposes to Pegeen. A drunk Flaherty, supported by Shawn, finally comes home from the wake, with news that the dispensation has come from Rome. When Pegeen says she intends to wed Christy, Shawn—prodded by Flaherty— pleads his case, which provokes Christy to threaten: “Take yourself from this, young fellow, or I’ll maybe add a murder to my deeds to-day.” Shawn flees, and Flaherty decides that perhaps Christy would be a better son-inlaw; after all, he says, a “daring fellow is the jewel of the world.” This celebration ends with Old Mahon’s return, followed by a crowd of supporters; in the ensuing turmoil, Christy chases his father outside, club in hand. He returns alone, in a daze, and the men confirm that Old Mahon has been killed. Pegeen, her father, and a newly emboldened Shawn tie up Christy and secure him to a table; when he protests and threatens, Pegeen tortures him with burning sod. Into this melee crawls Old Mahon, again back from the dead. He unties his wayward son, and the reconciled pair leave together, Christy pausing for a valediction: “Ten thousand blessings upon all that’s here, for you’ve turned me a likely gaffer in the end of all, the way I’ll go romancing through a romping lifetime from this hour to 598
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 the dawning of the judgment day.” The last words of the play, however, are Pegeen’s; after dismissing Shawn (who assumes they now will marry), she breaks into wild lamentations: “Oh my grief, I’ve lost him surely. I’ve lost the only Playboy of the Western World.” Among the play’s characters, only Christy and Pegeen are dynamic, fundamentally changed by their experiences; the others are static. When he first arrives, Christy is shy, a frightened young man in a strange place; pressed into telling his story of patricide, he becomes a hero to the country folk, who admire, indeed envy, his daring. This first heroic pose, to be sure, is a sham, convincing though it is to the crowd; but his successive triumphs—athletic and amorous—unify appearance and reality, and when he leaves with his father at the end, Christy is a different person. He is the “gallant captain,” Old Mahon “his heathen slave”; the son is “master of all fights from now.” Pegeen, materialistic and realistic, is the only one of the shebeen group who appreciates the dimensions of their experiences. She sees that just as Christy’s arrival brought a measure of needed romance to a depressed community, so his departure causes the debilitating despair to return. In other words, her enlightenment presages gloom, whereas Christy’s circular journey from home and back is one of self-discovery and concomitant growth. As for the others, they first embrace Christy as a wayward adventurer whose story of far-off heroism is enticing, but they turn on him when he tries to kill his father again on their turf, for such a deadly reality in their midst is more than they can accept. Once he is gone, his story will be part of the local myth, a twenty-four-hour interlude to sustain their imagination but the significance of which they do not understand. Significance “Play great success” read the telegram sent to William Butler Yeats (an Abbey director and defender of Synge’s works) after the first act of The Playboy of the Western World on its opening night, for the audience had applauded at the first curtain. The judgment was premature, however, because during the third act there was hissing, and a wire to Yeats later that night reported: “Audience broke up in disorder at the word shift.” The play was scheduled for a week, and the Abbey was determined to meet its commitment; according to Lady Augusta Gregory, another director, “It was a definite fight for freedom from mob censorship.” Indeed, there were mobs the rest of the week. At the second performance, an organized group of forty men with tin trumpets drowned out the actors be-
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The Playboy of the Western World Offends Irish Audiences
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lenge this credo in The Playboy of the Western World, ginning with the second act (the cast continued, unand fiercely nationalistic theatergoers were so offended heard). Police had been called, but they merely stood by that they failed to see beneath the surface to the substanand watched. On subsequent evenings, however, suptive dramatic greatness of his work. porters of the play (mainly from Trinity College) tangled Synge was not discouraged by his masterpiece’s hoswith the trumpet-bearing protesters, so the police intertile reception, however. In a letter to his fiancé after the vened, and newspapers reported each day of trials before play’s tumultuous opening night, he wrote, “It is better magistrates who invariably were unfamiliar with Synge’s any day to have the row we had last night, than to have provocative play. The Dublin press clearly fanned the your play fizzling out in half-hearted applause.” flames of the controversy, with one newspaper review —Gerald H. Strauss calling the play an “unmitigated, protracted libel upon Irish peasant men and, worse still upon Irish peasant girlFurther Reading hood. . . . No adequate idea can be given of the barbarous Bloom, Harold, ed. John Millington Synge’s “The Playjargon, the elaborate and incessant cursing of these reboy of the Western World.” New York: Chelsea pulsive creatures.” House, 1988. Eight studies of the play follow the ediThe audience had many problems with the play. They tor’s introductory essay on the relationship between did not like the Widow Quin, a murderer of a different sort from Christy, although his seemingly coldhearted second attempt to kill Old Mahon was difficult for Synge’s Earthy Poetry them to accept. They also objected to In his brief preface to the published version of The Playboy of the Western Christy’s biting of Shawn’s leg in World, John Millington Synge asserts that the play realistically depicts the the third act. Pegeen’s burning of poetic language and imagination of the common people of Ireland. The prefChristy also bothered spectators, who ace is dated January 21, 1907—prior to the play’s negative reception at its considered the act a meanness unbeDublin opening. coming a woman (and inconsistent with her character). What most proIn writing The Playboy of the Western World . . . I have used one or two words voked the audience, however, was only that I have not heard among the country people of Ireland, or spoken in Christy’s comment that he would not my own nursery before I could read the newspapers. A certain number of the “care if you brought me a drift of chophrases I employ I have heard also from herds and fishermen along the coast from Kerry to Mayo, or from beggar-women and ballad-singers nearer Dublin; sen females, standing in their shifts and I am glad to acknowledge how much I owe to the folk imagination of these itself.” The offensive word here is fine people. Anyone who has lived in real intimacy with the Irish peasantry will “shifts”; this reference to women’s know that the wildest sayings and ideas in this play are tame indeed, compared undergarments was viewed as dewith the fancies one may hear in any little hillside cabin in Geesala, or meaning the traditional, idealized Carraroe, or Dingle Bay. All art is a collaboration; and there is little doubt that view of Irish womanhood. It also rein the happy ages of literature, striking and beautiful phrases were as ready to called the use of a shift as a symbol the story-teller’s or the playwright’s hand, as the rich cloaks and dresses of his years earlier to mock Charles Stewtime. It is probable that when the Elizabethan dramatist took his ink-horn and art Parnell, the Irish nationalist leader sat down to his work he used many phrases that he had just heard, as he sat at whose political career was destroyed dinner, from his mother or his children. In Ireland, those of us who know the because of his adultery. people have the same privilege. . . . This matter, I think, is of importance, for in countries where the imagination of the people, and the language they use, is Such objections to characterizarich and living, it is possible for a writer to be rich and copious in his words, and tions, language, and actions are perat the same time to give the reality, which is the root of all poetry, in a comprehaps more clearly understood in the hensive and natural form. . . . On the stage one must have reality, and one must light of this statement from the manihave joy. . . . In a good play every speech should be as fully flavoured as a nut or festo of the Irish National Theatre apple, and such speeches cannot be written by anyone who works among peoSociety: “We will show that Ireland ple who have shut their lips on poetry. is not the home of buffoonery and of Source: John Millington Synge, The Playboy of the Western World: A Comedy in easy sentiment, as it has been repreThree Acts (Boston: J. W. Luce, 1911). sented, but the home of an ancient idealism.” Synge seemed to chal-
Romanian Peasant Revolt Christy’s self-transformation and his language. The varied pieces are far-ranging in their approaches to character, meaning, and genre. Gerstenberger, Donna. John Millington Synge. Rev. ed. New York: Twayne, 1990. A thorough evaluation and analysis of the full range of Synge’s work, including his poetry and prose as well as his drama. Also functions as a sound biography. The chapter on The Playboy of the Western World discusses the play’s genesis, the first performances, later productions, and its U.S. reception. Gonzalez, Alexander G., ed. Assessing the Achievement of J. M. Synge. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1996. Collection of fourteen essays on Synge’s plays reaffirms their relevance for contemporary audiences and readers. Gregory, Lady Augusta. Our Irish Theatre. New York: Capricorn, 1965. First published in 1913, these reminiscences by a leader of the Irish national theater movement are useful for chapters on Synge and The Playboy of the Western World, including one on the 1911-1912 American performances. Of special interest is an appendix that reprints U.S. newspaper accounts of the controversial American tour. Grene, Nicholas. Synge: A Critical Study of the Plays. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1975. Introductory chapters on Ireland in general and the Aran Islands in particular provide useful background and place Synge’s plays in their proper context. The chap-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ter on The Playboy of the Western World is unusually frank about ambiguities of meaning that confront a critic while at the same time being thorough and balanced. McCormack, W. J. Fool of the Family: A Life of J. M. Synge. New York: New York University Press, 2001. Biography of Synge draws in large part on previously unpublished material. Places Synge and his work in the context of the complex religious and social environment in which he wrote. Skelton, Robin. J. M. Synge. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1972. By the general editor of Synge’s collected works. This brief book, which begins with a short biographical sketch, has a helpful chapter in which The Playboy of the Western World is compared with other Synge plays. Whitaker, Thomas R., comp. Twentieth Century Interpretations of “The Playboy of the Western World.” Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1969. Beginning with classic studies of Synge and his plays by William Butler Yeats and Una Ellis-Fermor as background, this collection reprints essays that present varied views of Christy, Synge’s idiom, and his themes. Of special interest is the piece by Cyril Cusack, the Abbey Theatre director and actor. See also: Dec. 27, 1904: Abbey Theatre Heralds the Celtic Revival; 1917: Yeats Publishes The Wild Swans at Coole.
March, 1907
Romanian Peasant Revolt Peasants in Romania revolted against high rents and lack of personal property. Many of their attacks were against Jewish landlords of gentry-owned land. The army crushed the revolt. Locale: Romania Categories: Wars, uprisings, and civil unrest; government and politics Key Figures Dimitrie Alexandru Sturdza (1833-1914), Liberal prime minister of Romania at time of the revolt Alexandru Averescu (1859-1938), commander of the Romanian army who put down the revolt Vasile Kogalniceanu (1863-1941), Walachian reformer and author of the Peasant’s Gazette 600
Carol I (1839-1914), prince of Romania, 1866-1881, and king, r. 1881-1914 Iuliu Maniu (1873-1953), leader of the National Peasant Party and prime minister of Romania, 19281930, 1930, and 1932-1933 Summary of Event Romania was formed from the provinces of Walachia and Moldavia in 1858 and gained its independence from Turkey in 1878. At the time of its creation, it was divided among the peasant masses (who constituted 80 percent of the population), the landed gentry (who owned half the farmland), and the urban bourgeoisie. Almost two-thirds of the peasants had no land or inadequate holdings. There were also large numbers of non-Romanians, many of
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Romanian Peasant Revolt
Romania, 1907
March 15, 1907, near Botsai. A huge peasant army arose and marched on Iasi, the Moldavian capital. Romanian troops met the peasants but reRussian e r treated as the masses advanced. Agikolc i p Empire Em including Orthodox priests, K tators, Botosani n egged the peasants on, claiming that a i Isli the rebellion was a holy war between M Christians and Jews. (Many of the Cluj Odess leaseholders were Jewish.) In one Bacau Tr a n s y l v a n i a notorious case in several of eastern Arad Romania’s Moldavian counties, three-quarters of the land called Timisoara Fischerland was leased by the AusBraila trian Jewish Fischer family. In Târgovilte R o m a n i a Wa l ac March of 1907, Mochi Fischer reTurnu Severin hi a fused to sign contracts with his tenBlack Bucharest ade ants, whose fears that they would be Craiova Serbia Constanca Sea pushed off their farms led them to revolt. In fact, only one-quarter of the haylovgrad Pleven B u l g a r i a leaseholders were Jews, and the Ot tom peasants attacked all the estates rean Empire Varna gardless of the ethnicity or religion Burgas of the lessee. Shops were vandalized throughout the region, and the revolt whom were Jews or Roma (also known as Romany, an rapidly spread through Moldavia and into Walachia. itinerant group from northern India sometimes referred The uprising was not the first manifestation of peasant to as Gypsies). Power was divided between the gentry, discontent. In fact, professors and statesmen had prewho controlled the Conservative Party, and the urban dicted the jacquerie of 1888, and Spiru Haret, the Liberal merchants and industrialists, who ran the Liberal Party. Party’s minister of education, warned of the political Before 1914, the peasants had no voice and little land of danger of a seething, uneducated peasantry in 1905. The their own, and they were forced to work as hired labor or liberal author Constantine Stere from Bessarabia, which tenants on the great estates that belonged to the gentry was part of Russia at the time, defended the peasant cause and absentee landlords. The gentry leased the land to in the pages of the journal Viata romanescu. The peasindividuals and corporations that recouped profits by ants, he argued, enabled Romania to increase its grain excharging high rents. High taxes and the drought of 1906 ports by 600 percent, but they were forced to live in bleak poverty and to pay unreasonably high rents and taxes. made conditions worse for the peasants. Initially, the rioting in Walachia was not as furious as On February 21, 1907, the peasants began a series of in the east, but teachers and priests urged protesters to delarge meetings in northern Moldavia, where they drew mand land reform. Vasile Kogalniceanu, son of the faup petitions of grievances. Peasant movements were mous statesman Michael Kogalniceanu and an advocate growing throughout Eastern Europe, especially in neighof peasant education and the cooperative movement, beboring Bulgaria, where Alexander Stamboliski turned came the ideological spokesman for the revolt. He wrote the Peasant Union into the country’s most popular politia pamphlet called the Peasant’s Gazette, which outlined cal party. Alongside the peasant parties and associations, a land-reform program and summarized the struggles a growing cooperative movement appeared in Eastern that had taken place in Moldavia. The publication of the European economies that sought to eliminate the need Peasant’s Gazette catalyzed mobilization among the for middlemen in business. Romania, which remained in peasants in Walachia, and it inspired revolutionary acthe grip of the gentry and bourgeoisie, lagged behind on tion and military reprisals that were even greater than both accounts. those in Moldavia. Anarchist manifestos circulated, and The first signs of Romanian rebellion occurred on
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Romanian Peasant Revolt the situation became increasingly complicated for the Conservative government of Gheorghe Cantacuzino when his foreign minister, General Alexander Lahovary, died on the fifteenth day of rioting. The prime minister and the party’s parliamentary leader, Take Ionescu, argued over the best way to deal with the situation until Cantacuzino resigned on March 25, 1907. King Carol I turned the reins of power over to the Liberal Party, appointing Dimitrie Alexandru Sturdza prime minister. Sturdza declared a state of emergency and ordered the army, which was commanded by General Alexandru Averescu, to regain control. Four thousand peasants marched toward the capital, while others burned the estates of some of the greatest landowners in the provinces. Averescu declared that the country was under a state of siege and placed 140,000 troops around Bucharest. He also had guards stationed at the banks. In the parliament, Peter Carp, a renowned author from the gentry and leader of the Young Conservatives, called for the government to take draconian measures against the peasants, and the representatives passed legislation calling for an end to the violence. Averescu divided the country into military regions and prepared to attack the peasants with rapidly moving flying battalions and mounted artillery. One hundred thousand peasants, armed with guns, axes, scythes, and hammers, engaged the troops in pitched battles. Although the peasant soldiers were reluctant to fire on their own, the officers were quick to take disciplinary measures, and the army was unforgiving in its reprisals. In only three days, whole villages were destroyed and ten thousand peasants were killed. Meanwhile, Austrian and Russian troops assembled on the borders. The revolt was quelled by the middle of April, but by that time more than eleven thousand peasants had been killed and another ten thousand arrested. In fact, because the king ordered the records destroyed to protect the political leaders, the exact numbers of those killed are unknown. The government arrested peasant advocates such as Vasile Kogalniceanu and the noted historian Professor Nicolae Iorga, and other activists were deported. The government recognized that the peasants required some measure of recompense, and so the Romanian parliament passed a land-reform bill that distributed four million hectares in lots ranging from one to more than sixty hectares. The gentry and landlords, however, still held three million hectares. The government also introduced laws regulating child labor and minimum wage laws, established a bank that specialized in lending money to peasants, and created district councils with peasant rep602
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 resentatives. Still, many considered the reforms to be insufficient, and several of them were made less effective by later legislation. Significance The revolt and the inadequacy of the reforms it inspired encouraged the growth of the peasant movement in Romania, especially after World War I, when Transylvania became part of the country, and the charismatic Iuliu Maniu made the National Peasant Party a powerful force in Romanian politics. General Averescu served as prime minister of Romania for two brief periods after World War I. After the war, the government introduced more radical land-reform efforts that took a great deal of land from the Hungarian gentry in Transylvania. This exacerbated the tense relationship between the Romanian and Hungarian governments, and most farmers still had inadequate holdings. The world depression made the peasants’ situation even more desperate. The anti-Semitism displayed during the 1907 revolt grew during the period between world wars. While Maniu himself was not an anti-Semite, other anti-Semitic peasant parties appeared, as did the fascist Iron Guard. From 1930 to 1941, this political group operated killing centers in Romania, making it the only country other than Germany that allowed state-sponsored murder. In addition, the government passed various anti-Semitic laws, but since Romania was allied with Germany in World War II, a large number of Jews from Moldavia and Walachia were able to survive and emigrate to Israel. After 1967’s Six-Day War in Israel, Romania broke ranks with the Soviet Union by maintaining diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv. —Frederick B. Chary Further Reading Eidelberg, Philip Gabriel. The Great Romanian Peasant Revolt of 1907: Origins of a Modern Jacquerie. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 1974. The best English monograph on the revolt. Concentrates on the causes and circumstances surrounding the revolt rather than the events. Ilincioiu, Ion, ed. The Great Romanian Peasant Revolt of 1907. Bucharest, Hungary: Editura Academiei Romane, 1991. Acollection of documents and articles on the events. Klepper, Nicolae. Romania: An Illustrated History. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2002. An excellent study of the country with more than eighty illustrations, maps, and charts. Ideal for students and others interested in learning about Romania. Chapter 8 covers
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den, Conn.: Archon Books, 1963. Classic work provides detailed descriptions of events. See also: Oct. 18, 1912-Aug. 10, 1913: Balkan Wars; 1918-1919: Germans Revolt and Form a Socialist Government; Jan. 19-21, 1919: Paris Peace Conference Addresses Protection for Minorities; Nov. 16, 1919: Horthy Consolidates Power in Hungary; Apr. 15, 1936-1939: Great Uprising of Arabs in Palestine.
March 14, 1907
Gentlemen’s Agreement The Gentlemen’s Agreement limited immigration from Japan to the mainland United States to nonlaborers, laborers already settled in the United States, and their families. Locale: United States; Japan Categories: Diplomacy and international relations; business and labor; immigration, emigration, and relocation Key Figures Hayashi Tadasu (1850-1913), Japan’s foreign minister Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Elihu Root (1845-1937), U.S. secretary of state Aoki Shuzo (1844-1914), Japanese ambassador to the United States Luke E. Wright (1846-1922), American ambassador to Japan Summary of Event From 1638 to 1854, Japan maintained a policy of isolation from the rest of the world, both to preserve peace, which it had not enjoyed for several hundred years, and to protect Japanese cultural values and feudal institutions from foreign influence. This long period of seclusion changed in 1852, when Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived in Yedo, Japan, to deliver a letter from U.S. president Millard Fillmore to the emperor. Diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States began on March 31, 1854, when a treaty was signed opening two Japanese ports to U.S. ships and permitting the United States to receive any future concessions that might be granted to other powers. For the next thirty years, trade flourished between the two countries. A treaty of commerce and navigation in 1884 retained the most-favorednation clause in all commercial matters.
Until 1868, Japan prohibited all emigration. Without obtaining their government’s permission to leave Japan, a group of Japanese laborers, the gannenmono (first-year people), arrived in Hawaii on May 17, 1868. Japan was in transition during the 1870’s and 1880’s. During the Meiji Restoration period following the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867), Japan’s economy and government had been modernized extensively. However, rapid industrialization in urban areas was not accompanied by similar developments in agricultural areas. By 1884, overpopulation, compounded with high unemployment, conditions of drought, crop failure, and famine, had engendered political upheaval and rioting. These changed circumstances led to the legalization of emigration in 1885. The first Japanese immigrants who arrived in California in 1871 were mostly middle-class young men seeking opportunities to study or improve their economic status. By 1880, there were 148 resident Japanese in the United States. Their numbers increased to 1,360 in 1891, including 281 laborers and 172 farmers. A treaty between the United States and Japan in 1894 ensured mutual free entry, although it allowed limitations on immigration based on domestic interests. By 1900, the number of Japanese recorded in the U.S. Census had increased to 24,326. They arrived at ports on the Pacific coast and settled primarily in the Pacific states and British Columbia. An increase in the demand for Hawaiian sugar in turn increased the demand for plantation labor, especially Japanese labor. An era of government-contract labor began in 1884, ending only with the U.S. annexation of Hawaii in 1898. Sixty thousand Japanese in the islands then became eligible to enter the United States without passports. Between 1899 and 1906, it is estimated that between forty thousand and fifty-seven thousand Japanese moved to the United States via Hawaii, Canada, and Mexico. 603
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the peasant revolt. The author was born in Romania. Pop, Ioan Aurel. Romanians and Romania: A Brief History. Boulder, Colo.: East European Monographs, 1999. Brief but comprehensive history of Romania from ancient to modern times. Written from a conceptual point of view. Seton-Watson, Robert W. History of the Roumanians from Roman Times to the Completion of Unity. Ham-
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Gentlemen’s Agreement On the Pacific coast, tensions developed between Asians and other Californians. Although the Japanese immigrant workforce was initially welcomed, antagonism increased as the immigrants began to compete with U.S. labor. The emerging trade union movement advocated a restriction of immigration. An earlier campaign against the Chinese had culminated in the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which suspended immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States for ten years. This act constituted the first U.S. law barring immigration based on race or nationality. A similar campaign was instigated against the Japanese. On March 1, 1905, both houses of the California state legislature voted to urge California’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., to pursue the limitation of Japanese immigrants. At a meeting in San Francisco on May 7, 1905, delegates from sixtyseven organizations launched the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League, known also as the Asian Exclusion League and as the Japanese Exclusion League. President Theodore Roosevelt, who was involved in the peace negotiations between Japan and Russia, observed the developing situation in California. George Kennan, who was covering the Russo-Japanese War, wrote to the president: It isn’t the exclusion of a few emigrants that hurts here. . . it’s the putting of Japanese below Hungarians, Italians, Syrians, Polish Jews, and degraded nondescripts from all parts of Europe and Western Asia. No proud, high spirited and victorious people will submit to such a classification as that, especially when it is made with insulting reference to personal character and habits.
Roosevelt agreed, saying he was mortified that people in the United States should insult the Japanese. He continued to play a pivotal role in resolving the JapaneseRussian differences at the Portsmouth Peace Conference. Anti-Japanese feeling waned somewhat until April, 1906, when, following the San Francisco earthquake, an outbreak of crime occurred that included many cases of assault against Japanese. A boycott of Japanese restaurants was also organized. The Japanese viewed these acts as especially reprehensible. Their government and Red Cross had contributed more relief for San Francisco after the earthquake than all other foreign nations combined. Tensions escalated. The Asian Exclusion League, membership in which was estimated to be 78,500 in California, together with San Francisco’s mayor, pressured the San Francisco school board to segregate Japanese schoolchildren. On October 11, 1906, the board passed 604
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 its resolution. A protest filed by the Japanese consul was denied. Japan protested that the act violated mostfavored-nation treatment. In Tokyo, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, Luke E. Wright, reported Japan’s extremely negative feelings about the matter to U.S. secretary of state Elihu Root. This crisis in Japanese-American relations brought the countries to the brink of war. On October 25, Japan’s ambassador, Aoki Shuzo, met with Root to seek a solution. President Roosevelt, who recognized the justification of the Japanese protest based on the 1894 treaty, sent his secretary of commerce and labor to San Francisco on October 26 to investigate the matter. In his message to Congress on December 4, President Roosevelt paid tribute to Japan and strongly rebuked San Francisco for its anti-Japanese acts. He encouraged Congress to pass an act that would allow naturalization of the Japanese in the United States. Roosevelt’s statements and request pleased Japan but aroused further resentment on the Pacific coast. During the previous twelve months, more than seventeen thousand Japanese had entered the mainland United States, two-thirds coming by way of Hawaii. Roosevelt recognized that the basic cause of the unrest in California—the increasing inflow of Japanese laborers—could be resolved only through the limitation of immigration. Negotiations with Japan to limit the entry of Japanese laborers began in late December, 1906. Three issues were involved: the rescinding of the segregation order by the San Francisco school board, the withholding of passports to the mainland United States by the Japanese government, and the closing of immigration channels through Hawaii, Canada, and Mexico by federal legislation. The Hawaiian issue, which related to an earlier Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1900, was the first resolved through the diplomacy of Japan’s foreign minister, Hayashi Tadasu, the American and Japanese ambassadors, and Secretary of State Root. Before Japan would agree to discuss immigration to the mainland, it was necessary for the segregation order to be withdrawn. In February, 1907, President Roosevelt invited San Francisco’s entire board of education, the mayor, and a city superintendent of schools to Washington, D.C., to confer on the segregation issue and other problems related to Japan. On February 18, a pending immigration bill was amended to prevent Japanese laborers from entering the United States via Hawaii, Mexico, or Canada. Assured that immigration of Japanese laborers would be stopped, the school board rescinded its segregation order on March 13. An executive order issued by the president on March
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Significance As reported by the commissioner general of immigration in 1908, in accordance with the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907, the Japanese government issued passports for travel to the continental United States only to nonlaborers; laborers who were former residents of the United States; parents, wives, or children of residents; and “settled agriculturalists.” A final provision prevented secondary immigration into the United States by way of Hawaii, Mexico, or Canada. Because of the Gentlemen’s Agreement, new supplies of Japanese labor were cut off, and many employers in Hawaii and California recruited Filipinos to take their place. Filipinos were also recruited to work in the Alaskan fishing industry. As U.S. nationals, Filipinos could not be prevented from migrating to the United States. Aside from the issue of labor supplies, the events that led up to the signing of the Gentlemen’s Agreement, in particular the San Francisco school board’s actions, contributed to long-term tensions between Japan and the United States. —Susan E. Hamilton Further Reading Boddy, E. Manchester. Japanese in America. 1921. Reprint. San Francisco: R&E Research Associates, 1970. An account of Japan’s emergence from a feudal state. Discusses Japanese immigration and U.S. prejudice toward the Japanese.
Esthus, Raymond A. Theodore Roosevelt and Japan. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1967. Extensive, detailed examination of Roosevelt’s relationship with Japan. Herman, Masako, ed. The Japanese in America, 18431973. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana, 1974. An extended chronology and collection of documents. Kikumura, Akemi. Issei Pioneers: Hawaii and the Mainland, 1885 to 1924. Los Angeles: Japanese American National Museum, 1992. A brief but well-researched text, with photographs that accompanied the first exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum. Lauren, Paul Gordon. Power and Prejudice: The Politics and Diplomacy of Racial Discrimination. 2d ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1996. Examines the impacts of racial prejudice on international relations, immigration policies, and military conflict. Includes discussion of immigration exclusion laws. Nimmo, William F. Stars and Stripes Across the Pacific: The United States, Japan, and the Asia/Pacific Region, 1895-1945. New York: Praeger, 2001. Examines economic, diplomatic, and military relations between the United States and Japan, as well as other Asian nations, from late in the nineteenth century to World War II. U.S. Department of State. Report of the Hon. Roland S. Morris on Japanese Immigration and Alleged Discriminatory Legislation Against Japanese Residents in the United States. 1921. Reprint. New York: Arno Press, 1978. Correspondence regarding the Gentlemen’s Agreement. See also: Oct. 25, 1906: Japan Protests Segregation of Japanese in California Schools; May 20, 1913: Passage of the First Alien Land Law; Feb. 5, 1917: Immigration Act of 1917; Nov. 13, 1922: Ozawa v. United States.
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14, 1907, put into effect the restrictions on passports. Subsequently, the Japanese government agreed to conclude the Gentlemen’s Agreement. In January, 1908, the Japanese foreign minister agreed to the terms of immigration discussed in December, 1907. On March 9, Secretary of State Root instructed Ambassador Wright to thank Japan, thus concluding the negotiations begun in December, 1906.
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Publication of The Catholic Encyclopedia
March 19, 1907-April, 1914 Publication of THE
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
Publication of The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church was a milestone in history: For the first time, members of the Catholic hierarchy produced an officially sanctioned English-language reference source that added the Roman Catholic perspective to a substantial number of topics. Locale: New York, New York Categories: Publishing and journalism; religion, theology, and ethics Key Figures Charles George Herbermann (1840-1916), editor in chief of the encyclopedia, Latin professor, and librarian at the City College of New York John J. Wynne (1859-1948), associate editor of the encyclopedia, editor of the Messenger, and professor at Boston College Edward Aloysius Pace (1861-1938), associate editor of the encyclopedia, professor, and dean of philosophy at the Catholic University Condé Benoist Pallen (1858-1929), managing editor of the encyclopedia, author, lecturer, and educator Thomas Joseph Shahan (1857-1932), editor of the encyclopedia and professor of Church history and petrology at the Catholic University Summary of Event In June of 1902, Father John J. Wynne published a lengthy review titled “Poisoning the Wells” in the Catholic newspaper the Messenger. In the article, Wynne condemned portions of the revised edition of Appleton’s Universal Cyclopaedia and Atlas (1903) and called for changing its inaccurate, deficient, and derogatory information on the Catholic Church. Over the next two years, this criticism prompted editors of several general encyclopedias to make additional adjustments to works that were under revision, but the modifications failed to meet Catholic needs. In 1903 and 1904, Father Wynne and several of his contemporaries realized that there was a great lack of writings on Catholicism available in English. The best way to fill this void, they decided, was to create a Catholic encyclopedia. On December 8, 1904, Dr. Charles George Herbermann, the Very Reverend Edward Aloysius Pace, Dr. Condé Benoist Pallen, the Right Reverend Bishop Thomas Joseph Shahan, and the 606
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Reverend John J. Wynne agreed to organize the Robert Appleton Company, the exclusive purpose of which would be to publish a Catholic encyclopedia, and to meet early the next year as editors of The Catholic Encyclopedia. On January 11, 1905, Herbermann, Pace, Pallen, and Shahan joined Wynne at his office at the Messenger on New York City’s West Sixteenth Street for their first formal editorial meeting. Sixteen days later, the editors presented an official proposal to New York archbishop John Murphy Farley, who blessed and endorsed the contract on February 25, 1905. On that same day, public announcements in publications such as The New York Times began promoting the encyclopedia. Advancenotice display ads notified the public of the encyclopedia’s production, announced its endorsement by the archbishop, and promoted the archbishop’s enthusiastic support for the work and its editors. The encyclopedia was to be an original, up-to-date work written with authority and scholarship on all matters pertaining to the Catholic Church and its membership. Contributions were requested from around the world, and writers were chosen based on their expertise. Because the writers were to be authorities on particular subjects, not necessarily experts on writing encyclopedia articles, the editors created standards and guidelines for the contributors to ensure consistency among various subject categories. Submissions written in languages other than English would be translated, doctrinal writings would be scrutinized by approved authorities, and all articles would be assessed by the editors. The editors divided the work into thirty-two departments, and each editor was assigned to specific areas of management. All decisions regarding content, however, were returned to the entire board. During 1905 and 1906, the editors met bimonthly (after 1906, meetings were held monthly) to discuss the encyclopedia’s design, content, organization, and development. In addition to its text, the encyclopedia would include bibliographies, illustrations, and maps; both the text and maps would be original and include ecclesiastical, geographic, and political regions. Determining the structure and content of the work was important, but the editors also knew that soliciting contributions from the best scholars, publishing the volumes, and carefully promoting sales were essential. In February, 1906, the editors published a promotional pamphlet that included sample articles outlining
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dia, but the editors did not stop their work. They successfully published a sixteen-volume encyclopedia that included more than thirty thousand subjects, nearly twelve thousand articles, and almost six thousand crossreferences. Contributions came from 1,452 authors from forty-three countries, and 151 editorial assistants, 51 translators, and more than 400 business-administration employees were involved in producing the finished work. Although its broad span made some criticism inevitable, for the most part The Catholic Encyclopedia was internationally welcomed as a successful work of scholarship. By 1920, nearly sixty thousand copies had been sold. A single supplemental volume updated the set in 1922. Significance The Catholic Encyclopedia was primarily an American endeavor created by Catholic scholars whose initiative and perseverance in crafting and editing the massive work filled a major gap in authoritative Englishlanguage literature on Catholicism. The editors created a generally fair and just encyclopedia at a time when Catholics had been persecuted and misrepresented for their beliefs and when the Church was tightening its stance on its intellectual philosophy. For more than fifty years, the encyclopedia was considered to be the most outstanding work on Catholicism in English, but changes and time led to publication of The New Catholic Encyclopedia in 1967. Although the print edition of The Catholic Encyclopedia was superseded by The New Catholic Encyclopedia and its second edition (2002), the original text provides vital historical information that its successors lack. Because many of The Catholic Encyclopedia’s philosophical, theological, biographical, and medieval history articles are still germane today, and because the work’s copyright has passed into the public domain, the text of the original volumes is widely available on the Internet. From 1993 to 1997, Kevin Knight and volunteers from several different countries worked to produce the online version of the encyclopedia, titled New Advent. —Cynthia J. W. Svoboda Further Reading Brann, Henry A. “Catholic Encyclopedia.” New York Times Saturday Review of Books, April 13, 1907, BR233. This article, written by a priest, reviews and evaluates the encyclopedia in historical context. “The Catholic Encyclopedia.” College and Research Library News 58 (December, 1997): 811. Reviews the online encyclopedia and highlights its current value. 607
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the work’s purpose and distinctive qualities. They demonstrated the encyclopedia’s value as a work of serious scholarship and proved its relevance in the international spectrum. Newspaper ads pledged that the encyclopedia would fill a gap in scholarly libraries and offered early subscribers a onetime opportunity to receive a low-cost, deluxe edition with their names included as original sponsors. Later ads announced that the special offer would end on February 4, 1907, but there was still time to join the “cultivated” group who would be listed as “original promoters.” The pamphlet, display ads, and other promotional literature created demand that led to the printing of seven thousand copies of the first volume. On March 19, 1907, the day the first volume was published, public notices announced the encyclopedia’s release and emphasized its uniqueness, originality, and authenticity. These notices stressed the importance of Catholics in history and underscored the value of the encyclopedia to the general public and professionals. Two volumes were published each year for the next two years, and one volume was published each year from 1910 to 1913. In 1912, the publishers changed the name of their publishing house to the Encyclopedia Press. The encyclopedia’s index volume was added in 1914. Throughout the encyclopedia’s production, the editors worked to assure excellence. They conducted 134 formal meetings, held several additional informal meetings, and exchanged written correspondence. As each volume was published, display ads and reviews continued to depict the reference work’s high standards and distinctive niche. Quotes from Pope Pius X, Archbishop Farley, judges, and reviewers promoted the work’s value, and the publishers continued to offer opportunities for special purchases. Review articles heralded the encyclopedia as a scholarly, well-written, and well-crafted work that exceeded all expectations. Promotion of The Catholic Encyclopedia was an essential element of its success, both because it raised sales figures and because it assured the project’s publication. The volumes were produced at a time when few Englishlanguage writings were released under the auspices of the Catholic Church and when progressivism and conservatism were in competition in the Church. Pope Pius X strongly opposed Americanism and Modernism and called for stricter adherence to Catholic doctrine. The editors of the encyclopedia needed to balance these guiding principles with more temperate views to create a resource that would be used by a wide audience. Anti-Catholic attitudes, ecclesiastic beliefs, and the strains of World War I all had impacts on the encyclope-
Publication of The Catholic Encyclopedia
Development of Nerve Fibers Is Observed The Catholic Encyclopedia and Its Makers. New York: Encyclopedia Press, 1917. This volume summarizes the encyclopedia’s creation from 1905 to 1914 and provides biographical sketches of all contributors. Some black-and-white pictures are included. Fox, James J. “The Catholic Encyclopedia.” Catholic World 85 (July, 1907): 522-528. A lengthy review of the encyclopedia. Johnson, Rossiter. “Completion of The Catholic Encyclopedia.” Literary Digest 46 (February 15, 1913): 349. Examination of the encyclopedia by a noted reviewer of encyclopedias. Linehan, Paul H. “The Catholic Encyclopedia.” In Catholic Builders of the Nation, edited by Constantine E. McGuire. New York: Catholic Book Company, 1935. Excellent overview of the history and making of the encyclopedia.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Reher, Margaret Mary. Catholic Intellectual Life in America: A Historical Study of Persons and Movements. New York: Macmillan, 1989. An examination of Catholic intellectual life and leadership from 1780 through the mid-1980’s. Rubenstein, Ernest H. “The ‘New’ New Catholic Encyclopedia.” Commonweal 131 (October 22, 2004): 22-25. Overview of the second edition of The New Catholic Encyclopedia briefly discusses the previous editions. See also: Aug. 9, 1903: Pius X Becomes Pope; June 7, 1912: Pope Pius X Condemns Slavery; May 16, 1920: Canonization of Joan of Arc; Dec. 8, 1933: Canonization of Bernadette Soubirous; Mar. 14, 1937: Pius XI Urges Resistance Against Nazism; Oct. 5, 1938: Death of Maria Faustina Kowalska; Mar. 2, 1939: Pius XII Becomes Pope.
Spring, 1907
Development of Nerve Fibers Is Observed Using the new technique of tissue culture, Ross Granville Harrison observed the development of nerve fibers from neural tissue removed from a frog embryo. Locale: Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut Categories: Health and medicine; science and technology; biology Key Figures Ross Granville Harrison (1870-1959), American zoologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934), Spanish histologist Wilhelm His (1831-1904), Swiss anatomist Victor Hensen (1835-1924), German neurophysiologist Theodor Schwann (1810-1882), German biologist Summary of Event With the formulation of the cell theory by Theodor Schwann in 1839, the cellular nature of differentiated tissues such as those found in the nervous system became apparent. During the ensuing decades, the nature of the nervous system underwent extensive investigation, and an overview of its embryonic development was firmly established as the nineteenth century drew to a close. It was clear that during early stages of embryonic development, the neural cleft, or tube, consists of histologically identical cells. As differentiation proceeds, peripheral 608
nerve fibers begin to extend from the neural tube in the form of elongated structures called axons, the ends of which are characterized by an extensive network of fine processes. The nature of the formation of these nerve fibers, the development of which results in the formation of cell connections within the nervous system, was the source of considerable controversy among scientists who studied neural biology. Three major theories had been advanced that attempted to account for their formation. Two of these hypotheses were based primarily on observations during the embryonic stage of development and were limited by the extent of nineteenth century experimental technology. During the latter part of the 1830’s, Schwann discovered the presence of a membranous sheath surrounding certain forms of nerve fibers, the source of which came to be called the Schwann cell. It was suggested that the nerve fiber was, in fact, derived from the Schwann cell. Further observations eventually demonstrated the separate nature of the fiber and its surrounding sheath, but the theory did hold sway among a number of investigators. A second, more credible theory suggested that nerve fibers result from the differentiation of a preformed set of protoplasmic connections, or bridges, the nature of which was somewhat nebulous. The major proponent of this theory, Victor Hensen, was himself a prominent
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foreign medium. By 1907, Harrison had solved this problem by developing a method for growing animal cells or tissues in culture outside the organism. Initially, Harrison placed sections of tissue, extracted from frog embryos at a stage prior to nerve fiber development, in drops of nutrient fluid at physiological concentrations on the underside of a microscope slide. When the material was sealed with paraffin, the preparation could be observed over a period of several days. Under these conditions, no differentiation of nerve tissue could be observed. Harrison achieved better results when he introduced a solid gelatinous substrate suitable for attachment and cell movement. The rationale was that clotted serum would best resemble chemically the natural embryonic environment. Harrison was aware also of earlier experiments carried out by Leo Loeb, who in 1902 transplanted within the bodies of animals small fragments of epidermal tissue that had been embedded in agar or clots of blood. Initially, Harrison tried clotted chicken serum as a substrate, but he then found frog lymph to be more useful. Using careful, aseptic techniques, he found he was able to maintain his specimens as long as four weeks in culture. After considerable manipulation of experimental techniques, Harrison was finally able to devise a procedure that allowed him to carry out the necessary observations, ultimately involving more than two hundred preparations. Within isolated pieces of undifferentiated nerve tissue, Harrison observed protoplasmic (amoeboid) movement that resolved itself into numerous fibers extending into the surrounding clot of frog lymph. He noted the enlarged, swollen ends of the fibers, which closely resembled those found in sections from normal embryos at an analogous stage of development. The rate of growth of the axons was particularly striking. In his original paper of 1907, Harrison observed the formation of one fiber, 20 microns (0.00079 inch) in length, in less than thirty minutes. The largest fibers measured at that time were 0.2 millimeter (0.0079 inch) in length. Repeated observations refined these calculations further. He found the rate of lengthening of the nerve fiber to vary considerably, ranging anywhere from 16 microns (0.00063 inch) per hour to a maximum rate of 56 microns (0.0022 inch) per hour. The largest fiber measured reached a length of 1.15 millimeters (0.0453 inch); Harrison noted that development was followed over its entire period of growth, a total of fifty-three hours. Harrison was concerned that it be firmly established that what he observed in culture was a true analogy of the situation within the embryo. Consequently, he followed the activities in culture of several types of embryonic tis609
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neurophysiologist. Although Hensen acknowledged a role for protoplasmic movement in the formation of the nervous system, he argued that there was insufficient evidence to suggest that such movement results in the outgrowth of nerve processes. In 1906, Hans Held published a modification of Hensen’s theory in which he suggested that the protoplasmic bridges observed by Hensen serve as a type of scaffold, or “substratum,” into which the protoplasmic material from the neural cells extends. As Ross Granville Harrison pointed out in 1910 in his classic paper on the subject, Held’s treatment of Hensen’s theory was in reality a refutation. The third theory of fiber development, initially the work of Wilhelm His but more extensively developed by histologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal, suggested that the formation of the fibers results from protoplasmic outgrowths of preexisting cells within the nerve ganglia. Although the latter two schools of thought on fiber development were, to some extent, mutually exclusive, they represented differences of opinions based on observations of minute histological detail, often using material prepared in an identical manner. It was clear that a correct understanding of the process was dependent on a new experimental approach. In 1901, while at The Johns Hopkins University, Harrison began a series of experiments in which he observed the formation of peripheral nerves during the early stages of frog embryo development. First, he was able to establish that only nerve cells were involved in axon formation and that the Schwann cell was clearly extraneous. In a series of experiments that he continued after joining the faculty at Yale University in 1907, Harrison also demonstrated that nerve ganglia constitute the “one essential element in the formation of the nerve fiber.” Axons never developed following removal of the nervous system from embryos; when nerves in the tadpole fin were severed, additional fibers extending from the severed nerves could be observed. Further, when ganglia were transplanted into other areas of the embryo, the development of nerve fibers could be observed in those areas. These experiments persuaded Harrison that the theories promoted by His and by Ramón y Cajal were probably correct. The primary difficulty in establishing the validity of these theories was the lack of a way to study fiber development in the absence of extraneous tissue. It was necessary to test the ability of the undifferentiated nerve cell, the neuroblast, to develop nerve fibers outside local influences, particularly other types of tissue. If the neuroblast was the source of the axon, it should still be capable of forming a nerve fiber even when in the presence of a
Development of Nerve Fibers Is Observed
Development of Nerve Fibers Is Observed sue. In all cases, he found that each type of isolated tissue underwent development in a manner similar to what was known to occur in the animal. Also, it was readily apparent that similar procedures could be applied to the study of the influences of various experimental conditions on the development of the tissue. Harrison reported his results in 1907, and the work immediately received considerable public acclaim. Significance The 1907 publication of Harrison’s research into cultivation of animal tissues in culture quickly made an impact on the work of other cell biologists. The popular media proclaimed Harrison’s findings to be a notable scientific discovery. Originally, Harrison had chosen the frog, a cold-blooded animal, because of the relatively low incubation temperature necessary to maintain the cells. Interest began to develop into research on tissues from warmblooded animals, however. Montrose Burrows, a student of Harrison, attempted to grow explants from chick embryos in blood plasma, with limited success. By 1912, Burrows had joined the laboratory of Alexis Carrel, where it was found that explants could be made to grow indefinitely through periodic passage into fresh media. Carrel also developed a glass vessel, the Carrel flask, in which the cells could be maintained. For some years, Harrison continued his research in tissue culture. Generally, his experiments involved modification of various factors, such as the forms of solid support or type of fluid medium. Harrison’s publication of this work in 1914 marked an end to his studies on the subject. In 1917, the Nobel Committee recommended that Harrison be presented the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for his discovery of the development of the nerve fibers by independent growth from cells outside the organism.” Unfortunately, because of World War I, the committee ultimately decided not to award a prize that year. Harrison was nominated for a Nobel Prize again in 1933, but at that time the committee refused to recommend an award for his work, ironically citing the justification that his experimental methods were by then of “limited value.” Adaptation of Harrison’s methods continued. In 1943, Wilton Earle developed a mouse cell line that had the ability to grow indefinitely in the laboratory. Katherine Sanford, Gwendolyn Likely, and Earle demonstrated the possibility of growing single cells in laboratory vessels when they cloned Earle’s mouse cells in 1948. Even human cells were shown to grow in culture; in 610
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 1952, George Gey established a cell line developed from an explant of cervical carcinoma. Normal human cells could be maintained in culture also; in 1961, Leonard Hayflick described the characteristics of human cells derived from fetal tissue and provided an extensive comparison of these cells with their counterparts in “immortal,” often cancerous, cell lines. The impact of this technology on research in the biological sciences cannot be overestimated. The effects of chemical and environmental changes on cells can be monitored easily. Genetic defects can be determined through the growth of cells extracted by amniocentesis, and even research at the molecular level can be carried out. Perhaps the greatest impact has been in the field of virology. Because viruses are intracellular parasites, in the past they could be grown only in living animals. With the development of cell and tissue culture, however, growth of viruses could be carried out in laboratory vessels. In 1949, John Enders and his coworkers were able to propagate poliovirus in culture, an event that culminated in the development of the polio vaccine within a decade. By the end of the twentieth century, vaccines against most major viral illnesses had been developed in a similar manner. —Richard Adler Further Reading Harrison, Ross Granville. “The Cultivation of Tissues in Extraneous Media as a Method of Morphogenetic Study.” Anatomical Record 6 (1912): 181-193. By 1912, Harrison had completed most of his work on growth and differentiation of tissue in culture. This work, originally presented as a lecture for a symposium on tissue culture held in 1911, describes the theoretical basis for his earlier experiments and their relationship to morphogenesis. _______. Organization and Development of the Embryo. Edited by Sally Wilens. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1969. Includes a thorough description of Harrison’s work on embryonic development, especially the importance of biological symmetry. A chapter on the role of tissue culture provides background to his early work. _______. “The Outgrowth of the Nerve Fiber as a Mode of Protoplasmic Movement.” Journal of Experimental Zoology 9 (1910): 787-846. Harrison’s classic work on the subject. Provides a complete description of his work, including the procedures he followed as he became the first person to grow animal tissues outside the body. Nicholas, J. S. “Ross Granville Harrison.” Biographical
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the Living Cell. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Presentation of advances in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology aimed at the general reader. Chapter 1 briefly discusses Harrison’s work. Includes glossary and index. Sapp, Jan. Genesis: The Evolution of Biology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. History of the science of biology over the past two hundred years provides an introduction to many aspects of the field and places developments within their social contexts. Includes index. See also: Apr.-May, 1904: Sherrington Clarifies the Role of the Nervous System; 1925: Whipple Discovers Importance of Iron for Red Blood Cells.
May 14, 1907
Formation of the Plunket Society As part of a push throughout much of the Western world to improve infant mortality rates, Dr. Frederick Truby King formed the Plunket Society, which was based on his doctrines on nutrition and child care. Primarily organized and maintained by women volunteers, the society provided support and education for mothers in New Zealand. Also known as: Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children Locale: Dunedin, New Zealand Categories: Health and medicine; education; social issues and reform; women’s issues Key Figures Frederick Truby King (1858-1938), supervisor at a mental hospital who organized the Plunket Society Lady Victoria Plunket (fl. early twentieth century), wife of the governor-general, mother of eight children, and patron of the society Isabella King (d. 1927), cofounder of the Plunket Society and wife of Frederick Truby King Summary of Event In the early twentieth century, new mothers in New Zealand had few places to turn for useful advice. As a result, infant mortality was high. Because hygiene was poor and few mothers breast-fed, seventy-three babies in every thousand died from infant diarrhea. Mothers gave newborns diluted cream, buttermilk, barley water, and bread
and milk. At that time, cow’s milk was not pasteurized or tested for tuberculosis, and the means of delivery encouraged contamination, since milk was dipped from cans into any available container. Babies were also denied fresh air, which was believed to be harmful. In response to these wretched conditions, the Plunket Society began in Dunedin, New Zealand, on May 14, 1907. Dr. Frederick Truby King, the organization’s founder, believed that his newly developed doctrines on nutrition and infant care would reduce the escalating death rate among babies and children, and he felt that addressing this challenge was essential to the nation’s health. King called a public meeting during which he gained the backing of influential local women who pledged to form a society to sponsor a health program based on the support and education of mothers. Shortly afterward, two babies discovered in a stable were whisked off to King’s house in Karitane for care, and a new hospital began there. When a dozen more babies arrived, King’s strict regime of weighing, measuring, and recording became Plunket practice. Early in 1908, the Karitane Home for Babies opened in Dunedin. The home accepted babies and toddlers who were not being treated in the general hospital system, and by the end of its first year, four branches of the Plunket Society had been formed. Lady Victoria Plunket, the wife of the governor-general and a mother of eight children, offered to be the society’s patron, and in 1912 a lecture tour by Dr. King and his wife, Isabella King, led to 611
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Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 35 (1961). Outstanding biography offers a concise yet thorough synopsis of Harrison’s career. Includes a discussion of the controversy that arose over the failure of the Nobel Committee to award a prize to Harrison for his work. Pollack, Robert, ed. Readings in Mammalian Cell Culture. 2d ed. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1981. A compilation of articles covering the history of mammalian cell culture. Includes Harrison’s 1907 article “Observations on the Living Developing Nerve Fiber,” the work that established firmly that nerve fibers develop from central nerve cells. Rensberger, Boyce. Life Itself: Exploring the Realm of
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Formation of the Plunket Society the formation of sixty additional branches, each of which employed a Plunket nurse. In addition, six Karitane hospitals provided several vital functions: They served as support centers for home and clinic visits, training facilities for Karitane nurses, and care units for babies that needed special attention. Dunedin’s Karitane Harris Hospital also operated as the training center for Plunket nurses. During home and clinic visits, mothers were educated in subjects such as domestic hygiene and parenting skills, which included lessons on infants’ feeding, sleeping, and digestive habits. Dr. King’s successful organization of the Plunket Society in New Zealand and its volunteers rested on his professional and personal ideals and personal experience. As a child, King had nearly died from diarrhea and primitive medical practices and was often sick as a result. At the age of twenty-eight, he graduated from Edinburgh University with a medical degree, and soon afterward he married Isabella King. His relationship with his wife would sustain him as he poured his energies into numerous causes. By the age of thirty, King was superintendent of Wellington Hospital, an underfunded and understaffed mental institution. King designed and oversaw the implementation of better meal service, a new sewage system, and a nurses’ training school. From Wellington, King went to Seacliff Asylum, where as medical superintendent he also instituted changes to alleviate deplorable conditions. At Seacliff, he was in charge of fifty staff members and five hundred patients, and he remained there for the next thirty years. In addition to his hospital work, King established a successful timber mill, ran rail service with steampowered lines, grew highly productive gardens, and ran technically advanced dairy farms. King and his wife remained childless until, in 1905, they adopted a baby they called Mary. While waiting for the adoption to clear, the Kings traveled to Japan, and it was there that they became interested in baby-feeding practices. King was impressed with the success Japanese mothers seemed to have as a result of breast-feeding their babies much longer than European mothers did, and he became a proponent of breast-feeding. At the same time, Mary King was not thriving, and Isabella King set her husband to the task of finding a more nourishing food for their child. In response to this challenge, King created his own infant formula. Although King believed in the benefits of breast milk, he considered his concoction—a blend of cow’s milk, lactose sugar, water, and fat— equally good. King wrote new rules for raising infants: strict four612
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 hour feeding schedules, no night feedings, potty training at an early age, and fresh air. Mothers were urged to breast-feed, but if they were unable to do so they were to use his formula in proportions based on the infant’s age and weight. His ideas were not welcomed by all mothers: It was common practice to feed babies on demand. Many mothers ignored his advice and went back to feeding their newborns crushed biscuits mashed with water. Against this resistance, King continued his crusade to lower infant death rates and built a factory to make his humanized milk. By forming the Plunket Society, King fulfilled his dream: He created a group of specially trained women to take his parenting advice into every home in New Zealand. Gradually, the Plunket philosophy became parenting practice. King’s first popular book on parenting, Feeding and Care of Baby (1913), was translated into Polish, Russian, and Spanish. A syndicated column, “Our Babies,” written by Isabella King under the pseudonym Hygeia, was published in fifty newspapers by 1914. King’s The Expectant Mother and Baby’s First Months, both published in 1916, were given to every couple who applied for a marriage license. The Kings made many public appearances, during which they emphasized the power of the Plunket Society’s childrearing methods in reducing infant mortality rates. King was knighted in 1925, and when he died on February 10, 1938, he left behind a society run by and for women that continues to provide services for mothers and children in the twenty-first century. Significance Thanks to the work of the Plunket Society, by 1931 the infant death rate in New Zealand had become the lowest in the world. By 1946, an incredible 85 percent of all babies were seen by one of nearly two hundred Plunket nurses who made 220,000 home visits. A further 500,000 visits by new mothers were made to specially designed Plunket rooms. The Plunket Society’s success in lowering New Zealand’s infant death rates during the first half of the twentieth century was a source of great national pride. The society’s creation of access to advice on breast-feeding and hygiene in the home contributed to New Zealand’s ability to maintain the world’s lowest infant mortality rate at a time when digestive problems were a major cause of infant death. From its inception, the Plunket Society, consistently one of New Zealand’s largest voluntary organizations, was concerned with more than preventing deaths. The organization’s leaders viewed it as a health-maintenance
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Further Reading Bryder, Linda. A Voice for Mothers: The Plunket Society and Infant Welfare, 1907-2000. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press, 2003. Examines the public role of women as welfare providers. Also looks at maternal and child health provision and parenting roles and practices. Chapman, Lloyd. In a Strange Garden: The Life and
Times of Truby King. Auckland, New Zealand: Penguin Books, 2003. Biography discusses King’s work in mental hospitals (particularly in the Seacliff Lunatic Asylum) and Victorian-era attitudes toward the mentally ill. Powell, Joyce. Plunket Pioneers: Recollections of Plunket Nurses, from 1940 to 2000. Auckland, New Zealand: Heritage Press, 2003. Collection of personal stories of women who served in various positions in the Plunket Society. See also: June 12, 1902: Australia Extends Suffrage to Women; Apr. 9, 1912: Children’s Bureau Is Founded; July 10, 1912: Massey Is Elected Prime Minister of New Zealand; 1921: First Woman Elected to Australian Parliament; Nov. 27, 1935: New Zealand’s First Labour Party Administration.
August, 1907
Baden-Powell Establishes the Boy Scouts Following the success of his manual on scouting, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell decided to rewrite the book for the members of England’s youth organizations. He held a camp to test his ideas in 1907 and published Scouting for Boys in 1908. Scout troops were soon formed by independent boys around the world, and Scouting was organized in England in 1909. Locale: Brownsea Island, Dorsetshire, England Categories: Education; organizations and institutions Key Figures Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (1857-1941), decorated military hero of Great Britain who founded the international Scouting movement Agnes Baden-Powell (1858-1945), sister of Robert Baden-Powell and first leader of the Girl Guides William Dickson Boyce (1858-1929), Chicago publisher and founder of the Boy Scouts of America Summary of Event Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell was born in Paddington, London, on February 22, 1857, the son of a professor of geometry at Oxford University. After completing his education, he joined the Thirteenth Hussars in India before serving in Africa in 1895 and again in India in 1897, where he commanded the Fifth Dragoon Guards. Baden-Powell became a seasoned scout while working
among Zulu tribesmen in the 1880’s in Natal, South Africa. Some years later, he wrote the popular manual called Aids to Scouting (1899). The book was partly a training manual for newly recruited scouts and partly a summary of everything Baden-Powell had learned about military scouting through experience and training. Baden-Powell witnessed the famous siege of Mafeking in South Africa, during the Boer War, and it was there that he saw a cadet corps for young men below fighting age. The corps carried messages, aided in hospitals, and performed other tasks in order to free the infantry to perform more soldierly tasks. Impressed, BadenPowell used these boys as an example in the beginning of his Scouting for Boys (1908). Upon his return to England from Africa, BadenPowell visited William Alexander Smith (who was later knighted) and his Boys’ Brigade in Glasgow, Scotland. Baden-Powell, a general in the army, was there to inspect seven thousand boys on the occasion of the brigade’s twentieth anniversary. Smith proudly declared that his movement’s total membership was fifty-four thousand strong, and Baden-Powell remarked that it could be ten times that if the training were more appealing to the interests of young boys. Smith asked Baden-Powell to rewrite his Aids to Scouting for a youth readership, and BadenPowell agreed. In order to rework Aids to Scouting to suit young men’s and boys’ abilities and potential, Baden-Powell 613
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society and aimed to provide support for ordinary mothers and fathers who had no previous child-rearing experience. The society also provided an organizational framework through which women could build alliances and become involved in public issues while simultaneously establishing social networks and creating a sense of empowerment. — Kathleen M. Bartlett
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Baden-Powell Establishes the Boy Scouts decided to hold an experimental camp for twenty-two boys from assorted social backgrounds. His chief aim in assembling this group was to test the viability of some of his ideas. The group of boys were from Eton, Harrow, and London’s East End, although there were also some boys from shops and the country; Baden-Powell wanted to see how his ideas on scouting would interest young men from different backgrounds and areas. A friend allowed Baden-Powell to use a piece of her property in Dorsetshire, on Brownsea Island, since Baden-Powell wanted a place away from the British press and other
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell. (Library of Congress)
The Scout Law In the United States, the Boy Scouts of America have consistently cleaved to the ideals set forth by William Dickson Boyce in 1910. This includes adhering to the tenets of the Scout Law: A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. • Trustworthy: A Scout tells the truth. He keeps his promises. Honesty is part of his code of conduct. People can depend on him. • Loyal: A Scout is true to his family, Scout leaders, friends, school, and nation. • Helpful: A Scout is concerned about other people. He does things willingly for others without pay or reward. • Friendly: A Scout is a friend to all. He is a brother to other Scouts. He seeks to understand others. He respects those with ideas and customs other than his own. • Courteous: A Scout is polite to everyone regardless of age or position. He knows good manners make it easier for people to get along together. • Kind: A Scout understands there is strength in being gentle. He treats others as he wants to be treated. He does not hurt or kill harmless things without reason. • Obedient: A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobey them. • Cheerful: A Scout looks for the bright side of things. He cheerfully does tasks that come his way. He tries to make others happy. • Thrifty: A Scout works to pay his way and to help others. He saves for unforeseen needs. He protects and conserves natural resources. He carefully uses time and property. • Brave: A Scout can face danger even if he is afraid. He has the courage to stand for what he thinks is right even if others laugh at or threaten him. • Clean: A Scout keeps his body and mind fit and clean. He goes around with those who believe in living by these same ideals. He helps keep his home and community clean. • Reverent: A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others. Source: Boy Scouts of America National Council. http://www.scouting.org.
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nosy people. Here Baden-Powell and the boys camped for a fortnight, together with Major Clan MacLaren and Percy Everett. Together, the three men taught the boys camping, hiking, boating, cooking, patriotism, and all manner of scouting skills. This experience taught Baden-Powell about the possibilities for training in scouting, and he incorporated what he learned in his Scouting for Boys, which was first published in installments in early 1908. Baden-Powell hoped his book would be a useful aid in training boys’ groups such as the Boys’ Brigade, the Church Lads’ Brigade, and the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).
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where he learned much about this infant movement. Although Scout troops in the United States had already sprung up spontaneously, William Dickson Boyce filed incorporation papers in Washington, D.C., on February 8, 1910, and this date is celebrated as the date of the Boy Scouts of America’s official founding. No one ever knew the name or whereabouts of the boy in the story, but the American Scouts erected a statue of a buffalo at the British Scout Training Center at Gilwell Park, England, to honor the unknown Scout who inspired the official movement in the United States. Significance From its beginnings at a small camp in England in 1907, the Boy Scouts grew into one of the world’s largest international youth groups. Many distinguished leaders have passed through Scouting’s ranks, including several members of the U.S. Congress and at least one president, Gerald R. Ford. In wartime, Great Britain’s Boy Scouts were known for performing a number of services in support of war efforts, such as mounting metal drives and running errands. Although historians continue to debate whether Baden-Powell intended to form a paramilitary organization—and whether those intentions changed over time—the Boy Scouts and its sibling organization the Girl Scouts have been an important character-building influence on millions of young people. —John F. Gamber, Jr. Further Reading Baden-Powell, Robert. Scouting for Boys: The Original 1908 Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Areprint of the famous book that started it all. Boy Scouts of America. Boy Scout Handbook. 11th ed. Irving, Tex.: Author, 1998. Modern-day handbook for members of the Boy Scouts of America. Jeal, Tim. Baden-Powell: Founder of the Boy Scouts. 1989. Rev. ed. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001. Biography describes Baden-Powell’s founding of the Scouting movement. Rosenthal, Michael. “Knights and Retainers: The Earliest Version of Baden-Powell’s Boy Scout Scheme.” Journal of Contemporary History 15, no. 4 (October, 1980): 603-617. Claims that Baden-Powell’s original ideas for the Scouting movement were published in 1904 and that his intentions at that time were for an overtly militaristic organization. Springhall, John. “Baden-Powell and the Scout Movement Before 1920: Citizen Training or Soldiers of the Future?” English Historical Review 102, no. 405 (1987): 934-942. Account of the debate over whether 615
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He did not intend the book to be the first step in the creation of a Scouting movement, but that is exactly what happened. Baden-Powell began receiving letters from boys who had read his book and found it not only useful but also inspiring. Young men all over England, most of whom did not have any connection with existing organizations for young people, started their own Scout patrols and troops and convinced grown men to act as their Scoutmasters, and the Scouting movement was born. Baden-Powell called a meeting for all Scouts at the Crystal Palace in London in 1909. When he arrived, he was astonished to find that eleven thousand youths were in attendance. Later, he was careful to mention that the boys who made up this tremendous group had become Scouts of their own accord. Truly, Scouting essentially started itself out of the initiative and spirit of the young people who began their own troops and patrols without any direct adult involvement. At the Crystal Palace rally, Baden-Powell first encountered Girl Scouts. The creation of the Girl Scouts was an unexpected consequence of the publication of Scouting for Boys. He later wrote a book for girls, calling them the Girl Guides to distinguish them from the guides for his male Scouts. Baden-Powell was a bit uncomfortable with the idea of female Scouts, so he and his sister Agnes founded the Girl Guides in 1910. Instead of promoting the type of manly character the Scouts sought to instill in boys, the Girl Guides aimed to train girls to be good mothers and wives. During its beginning stages, the Girl Guides did not share the rapid growth enjoyed by the Scouts. However, membership numbers boomed during World War I, when the girls’ training began to resemble more closely that of their male counterparts. In 1912, Robert Baden-Powell toured the United States (where he visited twenty-four states), Canada, Australia, and South Africa. During his travels, he talked about Scouting, and in his wake troops and similar movements sprouted up all over the world. There was some disagreement, however, about Scouting’s origins in the United States. According to one famous story, the wealthy Chicago publisher William Dickson Boyce was visiting England in August, 1909, when he lost his way in London’s fog. Just as he was losing hope, Boyce was approached by an adolescent boy carrying a lantern; the boy offered his assistance and helped Boyce reach his destination. Boyce offered the boy a shilling, but the boy refused, saying that he was a Scout and that Scouts did not accept rewards for their good turns. Boyce became henceforth fiercely interested in the Scouting movement. The Scout took Boyce to the headquarters of the British Scouts,
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Formation of the Triple Entente Scouting is a paramilitary organization aimed at producing soldiers or a group devoted to producing good citizens. Voeltz, Richard. “The Antidote to ‘Khaki Fever’? The Expansion of the British Girl Guides During World War I.” Journal of Contemporary History 27, no. 4 (October, 1992): 627-638. Article on the explosion of the Girl Guides in Britain in World War I.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: Jan. 5, 1905: National Audubon Society Is Established; Feb. 23, 1905: First American Service Organization Is Founded; Apr. 30, 1917: Formation of the American Friends Service Committee; Mar. 15-May 9, 1919: Formation of the American Legion; Jan., 1922: Izaak Walton League Is Formed; Apr. 5, 1933: U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps Is Established.
August 31, 1907
Formation of the Triple Entente The Triple Entente encouraged Great Britain and Russia to set aside their differences and come together as allies with France to counter Germany and the Triple Alliance. Locale: London, England; St. Petersburg, Russia Category: Diplomacy and international relations Key Figures Edward VII (1841-1910), king of Great Britain, r. 1901-1910 Aleksandr Petrovich Izvolsky (1856-1919), Russian foreign affairs minister, 1906-1910 Sir Edward Grey (1862-1933), British foreign secretary, 1905-1916 Sir Charles Hardinge (1858-1944), permanent undersecretary at the British foreign office, 19061910 Sir Arthur Nicolson (1849-1928), British ambassador to Russia, 1906-1910 Summary of Event The mutual desire of Great Britain and Russia to settle their imperialistic rivalry in southern Asia can be traced to developments in international affairs of interest to both parties during 1904 and 1905: the rapprochement between Great Britain and France, the latter an ally of Russia; the deterioration of Anglo-German relations, underscored by the first Moroccan crisis and the growth of the German navy; and Germany’s efforts to establish an alliance with Russia. Great Britain’s pursuit of an entente with Russia dated from April, 1904, when conversations took place between King Edward VII and Aleksandr Petrovich Izvolsky, then Russia’s envoy to Denmark. The British government had been an ally of Japan since 1902 and was concluding the Entente Cordiale with France. Although 616
Russia had been at war with Japan since February, 1904, their agreement called for mutual aid only if one of the signatories was at war with two other powers. Consequently, Great Britain did not enter the conflict and was free to pursue its aim of rapprochement with Russia. Among leading British officials who sought accord with Russia were Sir Edward Grey, the British foreign secretary since 1905, and Sir Charles Hardinge, the permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office who had been ambassador to Russia from 1904 to 1906. Both these statesmen earnestly desired to settle Great Britain’s outstanding differences with Russia in Persia and regarding India. They feared that continuing disagreement over these problems might cause Russia to accept the serious bids being made by Germany for a general alliance, especially since the signing of the Björkö Treaty in July, 1905, by William II, emperor of Germany, and Nicholas II, czar of Russia, on each other’s yachts had provided for mutual aid in case of attack by another European power. Germany had been prevented from extending the terms of the pact only by opposition from the Russian Foreign Office and the refusal of the French government to go along with such an agreement after the German emperor had precipitated the first Moroccan crisis. Grey and Hardinge were also aware of the expansion of the German navy, and in 1907 their attempts to reach agreement with Russia were aided by Sir Arthur Nicolson, who had succeeded Hardinge as British ambassador to the Russian court at St. Petersburg. Nicolson worked tirelessly to draft an agreement acceptable to the Russian government, which had been represented since May, 1906, by Izvolsky as minister of foreign affairs. Izvolsky had for some years been a leading proponent in Russia of rapprochement with Great Britain. He believed that an Anglo-Russian entente would accomplish at least four things for Russia, some of which comple-
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Significance The entente dealt exclusively with conflicting AngloRussian interests in the Middle East, specifically Af-
ghanistan, Tibet, and Persia. By securing the Russian promise that each should respect the territorial integrity of Tibet (under Chinese sovereignty) and Afghanistan, Great Britain gained the assurance that these two viable buffer states would safeguard India from any future Russian advance. Even more important was the agreement of both parties to recognize the “independence” and “integrity” of Persia while proceeding to divide it into three spheres of influence. Russia received the northern zone, which was the largest but did not include the Persian Gulf, declared to be a neutral zone. The British received a desert wasteland in the south that contained roads leading to India. Nothing in the agreement bound the parties to mutual military obligations of the type that existed between France and Russia in the event of attack by an aggressor. Nevertheless, the Anglo-Russian agreement completed a network of treaties that bound together Great Britain, France, and Russia in what the press in these countries began to call the Triple Entente. An entente in the sense of close cooperation and understanding on a wide range of issues it was certainly not. Great Britain’s commitments to France and Russia were limited, and the agreement was confined geographically to Asia. Although of somewhat questionable value to Great Britain, the agreement did eliminate some of the causes of friction between the two countries. What happened between 1908 and 1914, against the background of recurring crises in Morocco and the Balkans, was gradual solidification of cooperation among Great Britain, France, and Russia in opposition to the Triple Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. The members of the Triple Entente began to coordinate their military and naval preparedness in anticipation of a clash with the Central Powers, preparations that served them well when they entered World War I as allies in 1914. —Edward P. Keleher and John Quinn Imholte Further Reading Gilbert, Felix, and David Clay Large. The End of the European Era: 1890 to the Present. 5th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2002. A both broad and detailed account of the destruction of European centrality and its impact on the twentieth century. Joll, James. The Origins of the First World War. 2d ed. New York: Longman, 2000. Ageneral examination of the causes of World War I, emphasizing the international system, strategic planning and the arms race, domestic politics, international economics, and imperial rivalries. 617
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mented the thinking in London. First, Russia could effect a genuine reconciliation with Japan, which in August, 1905, had renewed its alliance with Great Britain, thereby underscoring the Russian defeat in the Far East. Second, Izvolsky believed, an Anglo-Russian entente would strengthen the Russian alliance with France and complement the Entente Cordiale of 1904. Third, it was as much in Russia’s interest as in Great Britain’s to bring about settlement of major differences over Persia (now Iran), India, and other sensitive areas in Asia. Finally, elimination of these sources of friction with Great Britain would in turn eliminate the need for an alliance with Germany, which would in any case be incompatible with the Franco-Russian alliance. Altogether, once its eastern and southern flanks were protected, Russia could once again assert itself in the Near East, where, with the assistance of Great Britain and France, it could thwart Austrian ambitions in the Balkans, oppose those of Germany in Turkey, and eventually open the Dardanelles to Russian warships. Indeed, the question of these straits was uppermost in Izvolsky’s mind when he agreed to negotiate an entente with Great Britain. Negotiations began in June, 1906, but dragged on until August, 1907, slowed by the air of mutual suspicion that prevailed between the two countries. Nicholas II, an autocratic czar, could not accept British Liberalism or the outcry raised by the British Liberal press against Russian pogroms and the suspension of the Duma. The talks moved forward slowly. Izvolsky pressed for the Dardanelles to be opened to Russian warships; from Grey he won the dubious and negative concession that in the future Great Britain would not oppose Russia on this issue. Grey, Hardinge, and Nicolson managed in turn to win more realistic concessions from Izvolsky. First, he accepted London’s demand for the partition of Persia into British and Russian spheres of influence, despite Russia’s earlier insistence on retaining domination over the whole of Persia in order to obtain access to the Persian Gulf. Second, the British government insisted that Russia should simultaneously negotiate a reconciliation with Japan, and on July 30, 1907, Russia signed a treaty with Japan under which both powers agreed to respect the status quo and the rights of each other in the Far East. A month later, on August 31, Izvolsky and Nicolson signed the convention that established the Anglo-Russian entente.
Formation of the Triple Entente
Deutscher Werkbund Is Founded Kennedy, Paul M. “The Coming of a Bipolar World and the Crisis of the ‘Middle Powers’: Part One, 18851918.” In The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. New York: Random House, 1987. Places the Triple Entente in its historical context. Focuses on the impact on the Great Powers of the interaction between economics and strategy. Lee, Dwight E. Europe’s Crucial Years: The Diplomatic Background of World War I, 1902-1914. Hanover, N.H.: Clark University Press, 1974. Suggests that each state acted in desperation to defend its own presumed interests. Lieven, D. C. B. Russia and the Origins of the First World War. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983. Argues that the failure of Russian deterrence policy was the result of the czarist government’s structure and the pressure of internal political factions. Massie, Robert K. “The Anglo-Russian Entente and the Bosnian Crisis.” In Dreadnought: Britain, Germany,
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 and the Coming of the Great War. 1991. Reprint. New York: Vintage Books, 2003. Describes the shift in British diplomacy from splendid isolation to the Triple Entente. Emphasizes prominent personalities and the importance of growing German naval power. Schmitt, Bernadotte E. Triple Alliance and Triple Entente. New York: Howard Fertig, 1971. A detailed description of the background, substance, and results of the Triple Entente. An informative basic summary. Steiner, Zara S., and Keith Neilson. Britain and the Origins of the First World War. 2d ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. A thorough analysis and investigation of the influences of external and diplomatic factors as well as domestic politics in largely determining British foreign policy leading to war. See also: Apr. 8, 1904: Entente Cordiale; Mar. 31, 1905: Tangier Crisis; June 28-Aug. 4, 1914: Outbreak of World War I.
October, 1907
Deutscher Werkbund Is Founded The Deutscher Werkbund envisioned an ideal of a revitalized industrial Germany expressed through a total approach to architecture and the applied arts. Locale: Munich, Germany Categories: Architecture; fashion and design; arts Key Figures Hermann Muthesius (1861-1927), Prussian architect Henry van de Velde (1863-1957), Belgian-German architect and lecturer Friedrich Naumann (1860-1919), German artistic and political activist Peter Behrens (1868-1940), German architect and designer Walter Gropius (1883-1969), German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), German architect Summary of Event During the first week of October, 1907, the inaugural meeting of the Deutscher Werkbund (the name means “German alliance of craftsmen”) took place in Munich. Munich was chosen as the meeting place because it was the home of the Werkbund’s first president, Theodor Fischer; later, the Werkbund would be moved to Berlin. 618
Only one of the Werkbund’s founding fathers, Friedrich Naumann, was present at that first meeting. The Werkbund was a society of architects, craftsmen, and manufacturers that formed a new ideal of German industrial design. The organization was originally supposed to last eight years, and its founders intended it to raise the quality of life of the German public. The aim of the Werkbund was to promote functionalism in German life by producing designs for the newly evolving mechanized Germany. Prior to the founding of the Werkbund, the Jugendstil movement (the German version of Art Nouveau) was influential in Germany, but Jugendstil promoted an aversion to the machine. It became the mission of the Werkbund to compete with England in the production and export of industrially produced goods. The founding of the Werkbund marked a move to combat conservative trends in architecture; moreover, the architects who were involved in the Werkbund viewed architecture in terms of total concepts, not only as the design of buildings. That is, they saw architecture as including a building’s interior space and the objects that would be utilized within the space. In terms of the applied arts, one only has to look at the lighting fixtures designed by Peter Behrens to discover their architectonic structure.
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Werkbund and made no mention of Muthesius or Naumann. Friedrich Naumann, who had been present at the first meeting of the Werkbund, was a former pastor who was politically active in the German parliament and as a founder of the National-Social Party. It was Naumann who wrote the Werkbund’s first pamphlet, which laid out the organization’s principles. Naumann also was a proponent of the idea that economic and political growth increase together. It should be noted that he had artistic aspirations before the formation of the Werkbund, as he was associated with the Dresdener Werkstätte (Dresden workshops). During his time with the Dresdener Werkstätte, he was in close contact with one of the members, Karl Schmidt-Hellerau. Schmidt-Hellerau had spent time in England and had been exposed to the Arts and Crafts movement; he had witnessed the progress being made in design and educational techniques. Naumann developed ideas for the Werkbund based on his dealings with Schmidt-Hellerau. Muthesius, Velde, and Naumann, the primary founders of the Werkbund, were all strong personalities, and each had a different point of view concerning what the Werkbund could be. Before the founding of the Werkbund, German architecture was highly conservative, except for the emergence of Jugendstil. The Werkbund broke with conservative ideas of architecture even more radically than Jugendstil had. Significance After the Werkbund was founded, the organization’s members held many exhibitions, and slowly the targeted public began to get more and more involved. In 1909, Behrens, the architect and designer who had been associated with the Künstler Kolonie in Darmstadt and was then a member of the Werkbund, became the artistic director for the Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG), one of the world’s largest manufacturing concerns. Behrens designed both applied arts and architecture for the AEG, including a large turbine factory in Berlin. The turbine factory design was initially considered a reworking of the neoclassic form, as strong, externally visible beams and concrete piers were used to support large panels of glass, yet Behrens’s design utilized glass and iron as expressive materials. The factory’s interior was equally revolutionary, exemplifying a new concept of space in its use of a large, uninterrupted central hall and an overhead gantry. This engineering aesthetic meant freedom from the old tradition and was highly praised by the Werkbund. 619
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Other design movements in Germany preceded the Werkbund, such as the Künstler Kolonie (artists’ colony) in Darmstadt, which was founded by Ernst Ludwig, grand duke of Hesse. The group of artists involved with the Künstler Kolonie included Joseph Maria Olbrich, from the Wiener Werkstätte (Viennese workshops), and Peter Behrens, who would later play a great role in the Werkbund. The Künstler Kolonie mainly utilized elements of Jugendstil, yet it was still a center for emerging industrial design. The Wiener Werkstätte were important to the founding of the Werkbund as well, because the Werkstätte had direct contact with the English Arts and Crafts movement and with British Art Nouveau through the visits to Vienna of Charles Rennie Macintosh, a highly influential architect and designer from Scotland. The Werkstätte promoted experimentation and collaboration among artists and craftsmen. Hermann Muthesius, a Prussian civil servant and architect, was the foremost spiritual father of the Werkbund. He spent a great deal of time in England, practically as an industrial spy, taking notes on design, architecture, and even art education. His activities brought about social and educational reforms in Germany, and his experiences in England were eventually published in three volumes. Muthesius foresaw the totality of design that would be a visual elevation of the German culture, an elevation in everything from architecture to table service. He wanted to form a link between German artists and industry in emulation of the English Arts and Crafts movement. Muthesius’s vision influenced artists to work together as a whole to reflect German culture. His views were well defined, and they exerted a strong presence over the fledgling Werkbund; Muthesius, however, chose to stay away from the organization’s first meeting in Munich for fear of unduly influencing its character. Henry van de Velde, an architect, designer, and lecturer, was another founding member of the Werkbund. He was Belgian by birth and had come to Germany in the 1890’s; he quickly became one of Germany’s leading designers. Velde helped give birth to the Jugendstil movement, and he saw himself as cast from the same mold as William Morris, the founder of the English Arts and Crafts movement. He initiated reforms in Germany that dealt with art education and helped incorporate applied and decorative arts into art curricula. Velde was appointed head of the Weimar Art Academy in 1902, and while in that position he promoted a dialogue between artisans and manufacturers. In his autobiography, however, he claimed to be the true spiritual father of the
Deutscher Werkbund Is Founded
Deutscher Werkbund Is Founded Walter Gropius, an architect associated with the Werkbund, lauded Behrens’s aesthetic vision. Gropius finished his apprenticeship in Behrens’s offices and claimed that the designs made by the members of the Werkbund helped him to grasp the nature of what a building could be. In 1911, Gropius designed the Fagus shoe-last factory. An internal steel-and-reinforced-concrete skeleton was visible in Behrens’s turbine factory, which represented a decidedly nontraditional approach to form and construction. Gropius’s Fagus factory, in contrast, had no support visible from the exterior walls. The panels of glass appeared as though they were hanging, and so they were called collectively a “glass curtain.” In keeping with his vision of design, Gropius used no corner piers of concrete but only the simple, clean enframements of the glass panels. The interior of the Fagus factory, like that of the turbine factory, served the building’s function well. The Fagus factory housed large, well-lit work areas, and the whole building was efficiently ventilated. Another important Gropius design for the Werkbund was the pavilion for the 1914 exhibition of the Werkbund in Cologne. The pavilion was to house examples of the new German ideals in industrial art. The entrance portion of the building reflected a neoclassic scheme, except that it was flanked by two glass-curtained staircases. Nothing like it had been designed before. The pavilion was dignified, yet it expressed the engineering aesthetic favored by the Werkbund. The central hall again was designed with an eye to emphasizing space. Attached to it, and thus breaking up the external horizontal planes, was the Deutzer Gasmotorin pavilion, which held (as though it were a sacred object) a gas-driven turbine engine. The shape of this pavilion was a cross between a tempietto and a stepped pyramid. Once again, Gropius utilized the glass curtain. During the Cologne exhibition, the Werkbund almost disintegrated over a debate sparked by then-president Muthesius and Velde that quickly developed into a standoff. The essence of the debate was the division of the Werkbund between members who were advocates of freedom of creation and experimentation, represented by Velde, and those who, like Muthesius, held that all artists and craftsmen should work together to attain greater quality of existing designs, making experimentation unnecessary. Muthesius’s desire was to perfect and refine forms already in existence, whereas Velde saw Muthesius’s stance as stagnation and believed that new forms and solutions were needed. Young, vital artists such as Gropius disagreed with Muthesius’s view and found themselves in alignment 620
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 with the “old guard” from the Jugendstil period such as Velde. There were calls for Muthesius’s resignation and, finally, a bid for secession strongly backed by Gropius. Even Velde, however, did not want to break up the Werkbund; he merely wanted to steer it to his views. Behrens helped bring about some calm within the Werkbund, but as it turned out, what perhaps ultimately saved the Werkbund as an idea was the outbreak of World War I, which cut short the Cologne exhibition of 1914. The formation of the Bauhaus was a direct result of the Werkbund. In 1919, Gropius established the Bauhaus at Weimar as a blending of two existing institutions: the Kunstgewerbeschule (industrial arts school), of which Velde was a founder, and the old Academy of Fine Arts. The Bauhaus held to the ideas of the Werkbund concerning a visual experience of the German culture; however, the Bauhaus was more realistic about pursuing its intentions, especially after World War I. Gropius promoted the ideal of collective thought, using as an example the Gothic cathedral as a symbol for collective thought in the Middle Ages. In fact, the word “Bauhaus” originally meant a stonemasons’ workshop set up at the base of a cathedral construction site. Another major aim of the Bauhaus was to unite everyday life with the industrial ideal. One building that expresses the aims of Bauhaus architecture and functionalism is the Bauhaus building at Dessau, which opened in 1926. Gropius designed the Dessau building to encompass the variety of activities held within it, from photography to cabinetmaking. The interior space was designed with movable walls and dormitory rooms that served as studio space as well. The support structure was of reinforced concrete, and the external walls were composed of glass curtains. In 1927, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was appointed first vice president of the Werkbund. Under his guidance, the group participated in the Weissenhof Siedlung (Weissenhof homestead) exhibit in Stuttgart. The Werkbund section of the exhibition was called “Wohnung und Werkraum” (living and working areas). Originally, all the areas were to flow together. Major young architects participated, including Gropius, Behrens, and Le Corbusier. Mies van der Rohe’s apartment house, for which he adapted the steel skeleton to the housing arena, dominated the whole area. Some of the steel supports could be seen in the interiors of the apartments. Elements such as this freed the architecture of Weissenhof from the traditional. All the works at Weissenhof, moreover, were designed to be quintessentially functional and economical, as the amount of living space in these dwellings was not great.
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Further Reading Benton, Tim, and Charlotte Benton, eds. Architecture and Design, 1890-1939. New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1975. Anthology of original articles, including the writings of Muthesius, Velde, and Gropius. Of particular interest are the writings of Muthesius and Velde concerning the 1914 argument in Cologne. Includes many articles by Gropius, among them “The Development of the Modern Industrial Architecture” and “Programme of the Staatliche Bauhaus in Weimar, April, 1919.” Burckhardt, Lucius, ed. The Werkbund: History and Ideology. Woodbury, N.Y.: Barron’s, 1980. A collection of thirteen essays on different aspects of the Werkbund, such as social reform, architecture, and the organization’s aspirations. Essays of particular note are “Between Art and Industry: The Deutsche Werkbund” by Julius Posener, which offers an overview of the Werkbund, and “The Thirties and the Seventies: Today We See Things Differently,” by Burckhardt. Supplemented with black-and-white photographs and architectural drawings. Campbell, Joan. The German Werkbund: The Politics of Reform in the Applied Arts. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1978. Ascholarly work detailing the history of the Werkbund from its founding in 1907 to 1934. Highly informative in terms of the political and personal struggles that took place within the Werkbund. Includes appendixes concerning leadership of the Werkbund, statistics on annual meetings and membership, and principal Werkbund publishers.
Giedion, Sigfried. Space, Time, and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition. 5th ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003. Contains a chapter that covers Gropius in the Werkbund and the Bauhaus. Also discusses the influence on Gropius of other artists, such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Pablo Picasso. The chapter on Mies van der Rohe contains solid information on the Weissenhof Siedlung. Gropius, Walter. The New Architecture and the Bauhaus. Boston: Charles T. Branford, 1955. To read this informative book is to have a conversation with Gropius himself. The slant is toward the Bauhaus, but Gropius discusses the Werkbund as well. He explains his rationalization of architecture, his use of nontraditional materials, his Bauhaus curriculum, and even his views on town planning. This personal philosophy is supplemented by excellent black-and-white photographs of the Fagus factory and the Bauhaus that aid in the understanding of the impact of the glass curtain. Jaeggi, Annemarie. Fagus: Industrial Culture from Werkbund to Bauhaus. Translated by Elizabeth M. Schwaiger. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000. Focuses on Gropius’s design for the Fagus shoe-last factory, a seminal building in the history of modern architecture. Presents materials from the factory’s archives, including original correspondence and blueprints. Numerous photographs. Sembach, Klaus-Jurgen. Henry Van de Velde. New York: Rizzoli, 1989. Offers insight into Velde’s work from the applied arts to architecture. The chapter titled “Permanence in Changing Times” provides thorough information on Velde’s Werkbund theater for the Cologne exhibition of 1914. Excellent photographs and architectural plans. See also: 1903: Hoffmann and Moser Found the Wiener Werkstätte; Oct., 1909: Completion of the AEG Turbine Factory; 1919: German Artists Found the Bauhaus.
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The Werkbund lasted until World War II, although it took a hiatus from late 1915 through 1918, during World War I. The Werkbund brought together artists and craftsmen with different personalities who shared similar ideals, and together they laid the groundwork for modern architecture and design. —Tom Dewey II
Deutscher Werkbund Is Founded
Panic of 1907
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October-November, 1907
Panic of 1907 A run on the Knickerbocker Trust Company caused a general financial panic in the United States, precipitating intervention by a team of powerful New York bankers led by J. P. Morgan. Locale: United States Categories: Banking and finance; economics Key Figures J. P. Morgan (1837-1913), American financier James Stillman (1850-1918), American financier George F. Baker (1840-1931), American financier Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 F. Augustus Heinze (1869-1914), American copper speculator Charles W. Morse (1856-1933), American financial speculator and banker Benjamin Strong (1872-1928), secretary of Bankers Trust and a chief Morgan investigator during the 1907 panic Summary of Event Coming on the heels of an international liquidity crisis, a run on some of the most prominent trust companies in New York City in October, 1907, sent shock waves through the American economy. J. P. Morgan, senior partner of J. P. Morgan & Company, a private international investment bank, responded by setting up a syndicate of the most powerful banks in New York. For three weeks, his syndicate acted as a central bank by providing liquidity (ready cash) to affected trust companies. When the crisis cooled in mid-November, the financial community credited Morgan with saving the nation, even as many people criticized the power he wielded. Almost all Americans had been shaken by the panic, and the public demanded reforms of the financial system. The seeds of the 1907 panic can be found in the world’s growing credit crunch after 1900. Sharp increases in the rate of economic growth, the number of government security issues, and the amount of stock market speculation strained the existing supply of capital, bidding up interest rates in most countries. By 1907, major bank failures occurred in Tokyo, Hamburg, Alexandria, Genoa, and Santiago. Most countries also witnessed declines in their stocks of gold, average stock prices, and money supplies as the year wore on. In some countries, including Great Britain and France, rapid cen622
tral bank intervention counteracted the impending crisis by increasing liquidity, boosting the sagging confidence of the investment communities. In other countries, such as Germany, financial regulation dampened speculative activity and thus eased pressures on the money supply. The United States, in contrast, had no central bank. More important, financial regulation was irregular or nonexistent. This was especially true in terms of the trust companies that had increasingly moved into general banking business since 1900. Banks generally faced high reserve requirements—that is, stipulations on the amount of cash they had to keep available to meet demands for withdrawals. Trust companies did not face these requirements. Because they did not need to keep so much cash on hand, cash that did not pay a return, they could offer higher rates of interest to depositors, attracting them away from banks. The trust companies then loaned these deposits out. Many borrowers used securities (stocks and bonds) as collateral for loans, which they in turn used to buy even more securities. In this way, the trust companies increased the supply of money, but on the unstable basis of financial speculation. When stock prices began to fall in early 1907 in response to international conditions, credit automatically contracted, and trust companies were forced to call in their more speculative loans, leading to further falls in the money supply. This instability made it possible for one incident to break investor confidence and cause a major run on deposits in banks and, more significant, in the trust companies involved in speculative ventures. The incident was F. Augustus Heinze’s failed attempt to corner the copper market. Before 1906, Heinze was the owner of a copper smelter in Montana. He sold out as a millionaire, moved to New York City, and teamed up with Charles W. Morse, a bank proprietor with a notorious reputation for speculative dealing. By using their funds to buy a controlling interest in commercial banks such as the Mercantile National, Heinze and Morse gained access to large amounts of deposit funds. They used these, in turn, to gain control of trust companies unfettered by reserve and loan restrictions. This pyramidal financial structure gave Heinze and Morse control over a vast sum of funds, which they used for speculative investments, the most important of which was their scheme to corner the copper market. When their scheme backfired in mid-October, the resulting decline in copper share prices prompted depositors to with-
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$18.95 million available for call loans at interest rates as low as 10 percent. The next day, the loans were renewed, and the syndicate issued a further $9.7 million of liquidity to Wall Street. Morgan, Baker, and Stillman, along with their newly created banking and trust committees, then worked through the weekend trying to shore up all possible defenses. Morgan even called in the city’s religious leaders and asked them to reassure churchgoers on Sunday. On Monday, October 28, however, the unexpected struck. New York City was not able to find buyers for its warrants abroad because Europeans were withdrawing their money from American investments. The city needed an immediate loan of $30 million to avoid default by the end of the week. Morgan came up with an ingenious solution: As issuing bonds through normal channels was impossible, he arranged for Baker and Stillman each to take a portion of the bonds and turn them over to the New York Clearing House, which paid for them with certificates credited to the city’s accounts at the First National and National City Banks, controlled by Baker and Stillman. The next week saw more trust companies and brokerage firms in trouble, including Moore and Schley, a prominent Wall Street investment house that owed $25 million. Morgan agreed to help Moore and Schley if he received something in return. The firm owned a majority of the stock of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (TCI&R), and Morgan wanted United States Steel, the company he had set up in 1901, to gain control by exchanging its gold bonds for the majority stock of TCI&R held by Moore and Schley. Arguing that Moore and Schley’s failure would result in further brokerage house and trust company bankruptcies, Morgan agreed to have U.S. Steel buy TCI&R’s shares if the trust companies set up their own trust rescue fund. He then sent his U.S. Steel emissaries to Washington to tell President Theodore Roosevelt that the Moore and Schley bailout and the trust company rescue fund were contingent on a promise by the U.S. government not to launch an antitrust suit against U.S. Steel. Roosevelt agreed not to interfere, and the deal went through. The trust company rescue fund helped restore confidence, and Wall Street began a gradual recovery. Significance Although the financial distress of 1907 was a worldwide phenomenon, it led to a financial panic of immense proportions only in the United States. In terms of the degree of decline in credit, share prices, and output growth, as well as the number of bank and trust company failures, 623
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draw their funds. These “runs” occurred not only on banks and trust companies associated with Heinze and Morse but also on other institutions. Their main bank, Mercantile National, was saved through the intervention of the New York Clearing House. Trust companies, however, were not eligible for clearinghouse assistance, and their customers were more easily frightened into demanding the return of their deposits. By Friday, October 18, a run had begun at New York’s third largest trust, the Knickerbocker Trust Company. All of Wall Street was aware of the fact that the trust was connected to Heinze and Morse through its president, Charles Barney. J. P. Morgan was in Richmond, Virginia, attending the Triennial Episcopal Convention when he received word about Knickerbocker Trust’s difficulties. Concerned about the possibility of runs spreading to other banks and trust companies, Morgan returned to New York a day ahead of schedule. His arrival ushered in a series of meetings, during which he put together a rescue team that included two of the nation’s most powerful bankers: George F. Baker, Morgan’s longtime financial ally and president of the First National Bank of New York, and James Stillman, Morgan’s sometime rival and president of the National City Bank (later Citibank). The purpose of the rescue team was to lend money to otherwise solvent institutions suffering runs on deposits. To determine solvency, Morgan, Baker, and Stillman put together an investigative staff led by Benjamin Strong, then secretary of Bankers Trust. On Monday, October 21, the run continued at Knickerbocker Trust, and the institution asked Morgan’s rescue team for help. Strong was sent in to assess whether Knickerbocker was worth saving, but it was bled dry of deposits before he could complete his investigation. Knickerbocker’s failure set off runs at other trust companies, which were forced to call in their loans, many of which had been issued to brokers for speculative purposes. One indication of the extent of the problems is that when Charles Barney asked for Morgan’s help two weeks later and Morgan refused to see him, Barney shot himself. Morgan’s rescue team stepped in to assist the Trust Company of America after Strong had judged it worthy, but others were not so lucky. As a consequence, money became so difficult to come by on Wall Street that the call (very short-term) interest rate escalated to 150 percent by Thursday, October 24. Many brokers were on the edge of bankruptcy, and trading had virtually ceased on the New York Stock Exchange. Morgan brought together a large syndicate of commercial banks that immediately made
Panic of 1907
Panic of 1907 the United States fared far worse than did other countries. This resulted from a number of factors, including the lack of trust company and securities regulation, the lack of deposit insurance, and the absence of a central bank that could take timely preventive measures. Reactions to the Morgan-led rescue efforts were widely divergent. On Wall Street, Morgan, Baker, and Stillman were seen as heroes who had saved the country from imminent financial collapse. Morgan, the financial community believed, had acted like a one-man central bank. Nevertheless, Wall Street and the wider financial community realized that some reforms would be needed to prevent similar panics in the future. Congress responded almost immediately by passing the AldrichVreeland Act, a temporary compromise intended to make more credit available in future emergencies, and by setting up the National Monetary Commission, which had a mandate to study the defects of the existing system of finance and propose permanent solutions. Many Americans outside the financial community, however, were concerned about both the amount of power held by Morgan, Baker, and Stillman and the manner in which they used that power. Beginning in March, 1908, Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin began a series of speeches against what he called the “money trust.” He and other Progressive politicians began to call for an investigation of the money trust and the ways in which it had abused its tremendous power. In particular, they were upset about U.S. Steel’s acquisition of TCI&R and how Morgan had personally profited from what they now called the “Bankers’ Panic.” The government, already pursuing John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil trust, came under increasing pressure to attack the Morgan trusts. It would take another four years, but eventually the government reacted by launching an antitrust suit against U.S. Steel. The speculative side of the 1907 financial panic caused Americans to reassess Wall Street and spurred Populists and Progressives across the United States to turn to political action. In 1911, Kansas was the first state to pass a “blue-sky law” creating a state commission that determined which securities could be sold or traded within the state. Twenty-five states soon followed Kansas’s lead in an attempt to prevent speculative activity in securities, the root cause of the 1907 financial panic, according to many observers at the time. In February, 1912, the Banking and Currency Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives began an investigation into the money trust that would become known as the Pujo Inquiry. Hearings began later in the 624
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 year. The alleged members of the inner core of the money trust—Morgan, Baker, Stillman, and their respective financial institutions—were identified in large part because of their actions during the preceding panic. The highlight of the hearings was Morgan’s testimony, in which he explained the rescue team’s actions during the panic. The most permanent legacy of the Panic of 1907 was the establishment of a decentralized central banking system, as proposed by the National Monetary Commission. The commission’s proposal was eventually adopted, although with many amendments, in the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. As the governor of the powerful Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Benjamin Strong, who investigated banks during the 1907 panic, became the dominant voice in the direction of the new system and remained so until his death in 1928. —Gregory P. Marchildon Further Reading Carosso, Vincent P. The Morgans: Private International Bankers, 1854-1913. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987. One of the most scholarly works available on J. P. Morgan’s investment banking activities. Contains a detailed and reliable account of Morgan’s activities during the 1907 financial panic. Chernow, Ron. The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990. A broad and accessible account of the Morgan dynasty, from the creation of the investment bank until 1990. Devotes one short chapter to the 1907 panic. Cowing, Cedric. Populists, Plungers, and Progressives. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1965. A general intellectual history of the opposition to Morgan, Wall Street, and the increasing concentration of economic power. Provides an insightful guide to the Populist and Progressive critiques of American finance capitalism. Kindleberger, Charles P. Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises. 4th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000. A general survey of financial speculation and monetary crises from the eighteenth century to the late twentieth century. Also provides a general theory of the boom-and-bust nature of economic development. Sobel, Robert. Panic on Wall Street: A History of America’s Financial Disasters. 1988. Reprint. New York: Beard Books, 1999. An accessible history of financial disasters in the United States, written in an entertain-
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versies of Morgan’s time. Includes photographs. White, Eugene Nelson. The Regulation and Reform of the American Banking System, 1900-1929. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983. Deals with the 1907 financial panic as a backdrop to the issue of banking reform in the United States. Contains a wealth of information on the American banking system before passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. See also: Feb. 26, 1901: Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation; Feb. 25, 1913: U.S. Federal Income Tax Is Authorized; Dec. 23, 1913: Federal Reserve Act; Dec. 11, 1930: Bank of United States Fails; May 8, 1931: Credit-Anstalt Bank of Austria Fails.
October 18, 1907
Second Hague Peace Conference The Second Hague Peace Conference of 1907 revised and expanded the rules developed during an 1899 conference to mitigate suffering and protect the rights of persons involved in international war. Locale: The Hague, the Netherlands Categories: Diplomacy and international relations; atrocities and war crimes Key Figures Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Nicholas II (1868-1918), czar of Russia, r. 1894-1917 Wilhelmina (1880-1962), queen of the Netherlands, r. 1890-1948 Summary of Event In the second half of the nineteenth century, advances in weapons technology were rapidly making nations’ use of force more destructive. As a result, there was a growing need to limit what states were allowed to do in the course of armed conflict. The laws and customs of war needed to be revised and expanded, and a number of international agreements began to do that. For example, the 1864 Geneva Convention sought to improve the condition of wounded soldiers in the field, and the 1874 Brussels Declaration attempted to codify the norms of land warfare. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, the expansionist drive of the Great Powers made the outbreak of war increasingly likely, and codifying the standards of
civilized warfare became more urgent. The initiative came from Czar Nicholas II, who invited all nations maintaining diplomatic relations with the Russian government to meet for the purpose of seeking the most effective means of preserving peace, limiting armaments, and regulating the conduct of war. The Hague was selected as the site for this conference, and, at Russia’s request, the Dutch monarch issued the invitations. Twentysix governments participated in the First Hague Peace Conference from May 18 to July 29, 1899. That first conference failed to provide new approaches to peace, and it failed to limit armaments. It did produce, however, among other things, new rules of international law to protect both combatants and noncombatants from the effects of war; it also provided the foundation for the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907. The second conference, in fact, had been expected to meet sooner. The participants in the 1899 negotiations saw the effort as useful, and the diplomats involved supported reconvening within a relatively short span of time. More urgent problems intervened, however, as Russia found itself at war with Japan, and plans for the next conference were set aside. The Interparliamentary Union (an organization of representatives of parliaments of sovereign states working for international cooperation) decided in 1904 to urge U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt to convene the Second Hague Peace Conference. He accepted and immediately sounded out the governments represented at the first conference. All responded positively. The termination of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, 625
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ing style. Devotes one complete chapter to the 1907 financial panic. Sprague, O. M. W. History of Crises Under the National Banking System. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1910. This is the report of the National Monetary Commission, which was created as a direct result of the 1907 panic. Remains the most detailed account and analysis of the panic. Available in many university libraries. Strouse, Jean. Morgan: American Financier. New York: Random House, 1999. Comprehensive biography of Morgan offers insights into the culture, political struggles, and social conflicts of the Gilded Age. Explains in easy-to-understand language the financial contro-
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however, led the czar to resume the iniConvention Respecting the Laws and tiative. It was on his invitation that Queen Customs of War on Land Wilhelmina of the Netherlands convoked The Second Hague Peace Conference produced a series of agreements the Second Hague Peace Conference. that took effect on January 26, 1910. The fourth section of the conference’s This time, forty-four nations particiConvention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land included pated in the proceedings, from June 15 to the following explanation: October 18, 1907. Once again, the participants failed to devise effective ways of Seeing that, while seeking means to preserve peace and prevent armed preserving peace or controlling armaconflicts between nations, it is likewise necessary to bear in mind the case ments. They did, however, draft an unwhere the appeal to arms has been brought about by events which their precedented number of agreements aimed care was unable to avert; at setting limits to the conduct of hostiliAnimated by the desire to serve, even in this extreme case, the interests of humanity and the ever progressive needs of civilization; ties, safeguarding human rights, and reThinking it important, with this object, to revise the general laws and ducing the brutality and destructiveness customs of war, either with a view to defining them with greater precision of war. The most important of these was or to confining them within such limits as would mitigate their severity as Convention IV, a revision and expansion far as possible; of one of the conventions written in 1899. Have deemed it necessary to complete and explain in certain particuIt provided the most comprehensive set lars the work of the First Peace Conference, which, following on the of rules to that date for military operaBrussels Conference of 1874, and inspired by the ideas dictated by a wise tions on land. The regulations, as they and generous forethought, adopted provisions intended to define and govwere called in the convention, were of ern the usages of war on land. considerable significance for the protecAccording to the views of the High Contracting Parties, these provition of human rights. sions, the wording of which has been inspired by the desire to diminish the evils of war, as far as military requirements permit, are intended to serve as On a personal level, many of the rules a general rule of conduct for the belligerents in their mutual relations and promised to protect individuals in a variin their relations with the inhabitants. ety of ways. The regulations stated that It has not, however, been found possible at present to concert regulaprisoners of war must be humanely tions covering all the circumstances which arise in practice; treated. Specific rules established, often On the other hand, the High Contracting Parties clearly do not intend in very detailed manner, the extent of their that unforeseen cases should, in the absence of a written undertaking, be protection, such as the kind of work they left to the arbitrary judgment of military commanders. could be ordered to do and their compenUntil a more complete code of the laws of war has been issued, the High sation for it. The sick and wounded must Contracting Parties deem it expedient to declare that, in cases not included be treated according to the Geneva Conin the Regulations adopted by them, the inhabitants and the belligerents vention, revised in 1906. Some of the remain under the protection and the rule of the principles of the law of nations, as they result from the usages established among civilized peoples, means and methods of combat were also from the laws of humanity, and the dictates of the public conscience. regulated. For example, the use of poisoned weapons was forbidden, as was the killing of soldiers who had laid down their weapons. A belligerent occupying the debtor state refused or failed to reply to an offer of arenemy territory was allowed to exercise its authority, but bitration or failed to comply with the result of the arbitral with a number of restrictions. For example, the occupant proceedings. This was a small step in the attempt to remust respect the rights of the people living there, their pristrict the sovereign right of states to use armed force, a vate property, and their religious practices. Pillage was goal that eventually was achieved on a much larger scale forbidden. The states that were party to this convention by the League of Nations, the 1928 Pact of Paris (the agreed that they would issue instructions to their armed Kellogg-Briand Pact), and the United Nations. forces ensuring compliance with these regulations. Another 1907 Hague convention specified the rights Other conventions specified that hostilities between and duties of neutral states, essentially protecting them states must not begin without prior and explicit warning. from the destruction of war in return for their concerted They prohibited the use of armed force for the purpose of efforts not to be of assistance to any of the belligerents. recovering contract debts owed by a government unless 626
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fore, that a third peace conference should be held in about eight years. The lack of urgency they showed is astounding in the light of the growing international tensions and increasing risk of war during the period. By 1915, the scheduled date of the third conference, World War I was under way. The third conference never took place. Significance The 1907 conference substantially clarified and expanded the law of war. The participants showed a concern for curbing the brutality of armed conflict and reducing the suffering of both combatants and noncombatants. Although rapid technological developments soon thereafter made war infinitely more devastating, and human suffering reached unprecedented heights, the humanitarian rules of behavior formulated at The Hague nevertheless saved millions of human beings from inhumane treatment. The conventions concerning legal norms of behavior, although far from evenly or generally applied, were sufficiently respected that large numbers of prisoners were taken and cared for. The wounded were attended to, medical facilities were, more often than not, given some protection, and some restraint was shown in the conduct of military operations. Undeniably, what was needed was a better way of preserving international peace, but human rights would have been infinitely more imperiled without the rules developed at The Hague. It must be remembered that the conference took a small step toward limiting the sovereign right of states to go to war, prohibiting states from doing so for the collection of international debts under some conditions. The League of Nations, the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, and the United Nations would later go much further. A new philosophy on the lawful use of force was emerging. Humanitarian agencies, particularly the International Red Cross, have played an important role in encouraging the application of legal norms of behavior in war. By conducting relentless visits and inspections (on battlefields, in military hospitals, and in prisoner-of-war camps), their representatives have been able to document violations and to apply pressure for better observance of the laws. Such agencies’ exposure of violations has occasionally led to public outcries and sanctions (for example, the war crimes trials following World War II). Contrary to what some people believe, most armies and most governments are not eager to violate the international law of war. Every war involves leaders, commanders in the field, and lesser combatants who refuse to surrender to inhumanity. The norms of behavior during war defined by interna627
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Some of the rules protected specific human rights. If, for example, some of the armed forces of a belligerent entered the territory of a neutral power, the latter was obligated to intern them for the duration of the war and provide the food, clothing, and relief required by humanity. After the war, the neutral power would be entitled to compensation for the internment expenses incurred. The last eight conventions written at The Hague in 1907 regulated naval warfare. They included provisions ensuring the security of maritime trade against the sudden outbreak of war and, to this end, protected against seizure of merchant vessels belonging to one of the belligerents found in an enemy port at the beginning of a war. Other provisions distinguished merchant ships converted into warships, protected the freedom of sea-lanes in times of war, and ensured the safety of vessels not involved in a conflict by forbidding the laying of unanchored contact mines, which are indiscriminate. The Hague regulations developed for land warfare were made applicable to naval bombardment. This was meant to protect the populations of undefended ports, towns, or villages and to preserve buildings used for artistic, scientific, or charitable purposes and otherwise reduce the destructiveness and harshness of war. Some of the provisions developed in 1899 were meant to adapt to maritime warfare the principles of the Geneva Convention for the protection of sick and wounded personnel. These were revised and expanded in 1907, specifying the conditions under which hospital ships and medical personnel could carry out their humanitarian mission. The conventions further elaborated the rules of capture in naval warfare, exempting from capture postal cargoes and vessels used exclusively for fishing along the coast as well as those employed in local trade or engaged in religious, scientific, or philanthropic activities. The conventions set up the International Prize Court to ensure greater justice in the capture of merchant ships and their cargo. Finally, rules were made to protect the rights of neutral powers in naval war. For example, the kinds of activities belligerent ships could engage in while in neutral ports were specified, as was the length of time belligerent ships could stay in neutral ports. The rules and regulations written in 1907 were significant, but the nations represented at The Hague were aware that further development was needed. The Second Hague Peace Conference failed to create institutions to preserve international peace and reduce armaments. The delegates were convinced, however, that their efforts had been useful and that this work should continue. They agreed, there-
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Second Hague Peace Conference tional conferences such as the Second Hague Peace Conference give them instruments to justify their restraint. The rules that came out of the 1907 conference were tied to a particular period of history and its values and priorities. War rapidly changed after that period, and technology created drastically new problems in the conduct of warfare. International society changed just as much, requiring the law to be revised periodically, particularly under the sponsorship of the International Red Cross and the United Nations. Anumber of the rules written in 1907, however, remain a part of today’s law of war. Even though the texts that emerged from the 1899 and 1907 conferences never formally entered into force as treaties, they strengthened and helped develop the growing emergence of customary norms of law. The 1907 conference showed that large-scale codification is feasible. It demonstrated a widely shared conviction that, difficult as the task may be, nations can develop legal restraints on their behavior during war. It was important that the conference participants affirm or reaffirm standards of humane conduct. This did not solve the problem of war, but it demonstrated the value placed on protecting basic human rights, even (or perhaps especially) in wartime. —Jean-Robert Leguey-Feilleux Further Reading Best, Geoffrey. Humanity in Warfare. New York: Columbia University Press, 1980. Reviews the history of the principles and rules of war and the influence of specific periods on their evolution. Serious and thoughtful; attempts to approach this difficult subject with objectivity. Very helpful in clarifying the role of restraints in war. Provides a useful chronological guide to the formulation of the law of war and a substantial bibliography. Detter, Ingrid. The Law of War. 2d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Succinct presentation of the law of war, including its special characteristics and the place of the Hague rules in the modern system. Provides a clear overview of the norms of this body of law and explains their evolution and application. Includes an extensive bibliography.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 McKercher, B. J. C., ed. Arms Limitation and Disarmament: Restraints on War, 1899-1939. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1992. Examines the history of efforts to limit warfare. Includes a chapter on the Second Hague Peace Conference. Oppenheim, L. International Law. 7th ed. Vol. 2 in Disputes, War, and Neutrality, edited by H. Lauterpacht. London: Longmans, Green, 1948-1952. Presents the Hague law in the context of the evolution of the law of war. Discusses the application of specific rules developed at The Hague and their subsequent revision and expansion. Provides a useful and sufficiently compact review of the war crimes trials. Rosenblad, Esbjörn. International Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflict. Geneva: Henry Dunant Institute, 1979. An excellent statement of the practical need for a continuing development of humanitarian law applicable in wartime. Reviews the contemporary problems involved and the various efforts to overcome them. Provides a useful context for the study of the Hague rules. Includes an extensive bibliography. Scott, James Brown. The Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1909. The most basic work on the Hague conferences. Volume 1 gives an excellent account of the two conferences and an extensive discussion of the conventions negotiated there. Volume 2 provides the full text of all documents as well as diplomatic materials concerning the two conferences. Extremely useful. Walzer, Michael. Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical illustrations. 3d ed. New York: Basic Books, 2000. A remarkably interesting and insightful study of restraints in war, both moral and legal, demonstrating their relevance and applications even in the bitter armed conflicts of recent history. Also discusses the limitations of restraints. Includes many historical examples and case studies. See also: Apr. 28, 1919: League of Nations Is Established; Dec. 13, 1920: Permanent Court of International Justice Is Established; June 17, 1925: Geneva Protocol Is Signed.
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Ringling Bros. Buys Barnum and Bailey Circus
October 22, 1907
Ringling Bros. Buys Barnum and Bailey Circus
Locale: New York, New York Categories: Organizations and institutions; entertainment Key Figures James A. Bailey (1847-1906), cofounder of the Cooper and Bailey Circus in the 1860’s P. T. Barnum (1810-1891), American showman and founder of P. T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Circus John Ringling (1866-1936), cofounder of the Ringling Bros. Circus Charles Ringling (1864-1926), cofounder of the Ringling Bros. Circus Albert C. Ringling (1852-1916), cofounder of the Ringling Bros. Circus Alfred T. Ringling (1862-1919), cofounder of the Ringling Bros. Circus Henry Ringling (1869-1918), cofounder of the Ringling Bros. Circus August G. Ringling (1854-1907), cofounder of the Ringling Bros. Circus Otto Ringling (1858-1911), cofounder of the Ringling Bros. Circus Summary of Event In 1907, the Ringling Bros. Circus purchased its largest competitor, Barnum and Bailey Circus, creating the world’s largest circus. The seven Ringling brothers were divided as to whether or not they should make the purchase, but John and Charles Ringling persisted, and finally the circus was purchased for $410,000, after a year of discussion and negotiation. The event signified the merger of the three largest circuses in operation in the United States. The first circuses in the United States had appeared in the late eighteenth century and were primarily traveling menageries. By the nineteenth century, the circus had become a firm tradition. Barnum had founded his Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Circus in 1870 at the persuasion of Dan Castello and William C. Coup, who wanted Barnum’s name and financial backing for their circus. Barnum’s show combined animal and human exhibits and featured the first human side-
shows. Coup had been noted for his innovative business practices, and he was the first circus proprietor to use circus trains to move his circus from town to town. Barnum’s show eventually evolved into the most wellknown circus of the nineteenth century. The Barnum and Bailey Circus was created by Barnum and James A. Bailey, who had merged their individual circuses in 1881. The endeavor was so successful that it grossed $400,000 in its first year of operation, and by 1882 it was billing itself as “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Bailey and James E. Cooper had formed the Cooper and Bailey Circus in the 1860’s and secured such exhibits as the first electric light, Little Columbia, in 1879; the first baby elephant born in an American circus; and the Great Wallaces, the first bicycle troupe to appear in the United States. The combined Barnum and Bailey show was enormously successful and featured such acts as Jumbo, the world’s largest elephant (and the source of the adjective “jumbo”) in 1882. Despite Bailey’s retirement from the partnership in 1885, the combined circus continued to be highly profitable and successful. After Barnum’s death on April 7, 1891, Bailey bought the circus from Barnum’s widow, Nancy, and continued to run it, taking it on a European tour from 1897 to 1902 and expanding it to five rings and additional stages. When Bailey died in 1906, his widow had a British syndicate manage the show, but she was unsatisfied with the management and was prepared to sell when her arrangement with the syndicate expired. She approached the Ringling brothers, the only showmen who had both the money and the inclination to acquire such an enterprise. The Ringling Bros. Circus had begun in 1884 as a tent show under the name Yankee Robinson and Ringling Brothers. It was started by five of the brothers, Albert, August, Alfred, Charles, and John. The brothers had witnessed John Stowe & Company’s Great Western Circus in 1869 after receiving a free ticket from one of its performers, and the boys had been fascinated by the phenomenon. After the creation of their circus, the five brothers toured the American Midwest and Northeast, moving from town to town in small, animal-drawn caravans. They acquired their first elephant in 1888, and as the show grew, they changed the mode of transport to train. In 1889, they purchased railroad cars and parade equipment from Adam Forepaugh, a fellow circus owner. By 1890, their circus was the largest travel629
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The two largest circuses in the United States merged when the Ringling Bros. Circus bought its largest competitor, the Barnum and Bailey Circus, in 1907.
Ringling Bros. Buys Barnum and Bailey Circus ing show of its time, and the other brothers, Henry and Otto, eventually joined the circus as well. When Barnum and Bailey launched their European tour in 1897, the Ringling brothers were quick to seize the opportunity to expand, and they captured the audiences that Barnum and Bailey had left behind in the United States. The Ringlings named their circus the Ringling Brothers United Monster Shows, Great Double Circus, Royal European Menagerie, Museum, Caravan, and Congress of Trained Animals. One of the distinguishing marks of the circus was its attitude toward the public. The Ringlings insisted that their enterprise’s public dealings be fair and honest; they would not allow ticket sellers to shortchange customers and prohibited games such as three-card monte. The Ringlings were of divided opinions when Bailey’s
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 widow first approached them regarding a possible sale of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. John Ringling, the sixth of the Ringlings’ seven sons, was the most well known and successful of the brothers, and he and his brother Charles pushed for the merger of the circuses, arguing that beyond the advantage of expanding their own show, they would be assimilating their largest and most prominent competitor. Other members of the family feared that they would be overstretching the company’s finances and taking on too much work. When the other brothers gave in and allowed the sale, John and Charles were proved correct, and the endeavor was enormously profitable. Significance Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus became the largest and most successful of the American circuses.
A poster advertising the Barnum and Bailey Circus a few years before it was purchased by Ringling Bros. (Library of Congress)
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Further Reading Cook, James W. The Arts of Deception: Playing with Fraud in the Age of Barnum. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001. Analysis of mass entertainment in nineteenth century America. Focuses on P. T. Barnum as one of the most skillful manipulators of the public imagination. Davis, Janet M. The Circus Age: Culture and Society Under the American Big Top. Raleigh: University of
North Carolina Press, 2002. Well-illustrated and well-written history of the circus as it appeared in the United States in the late nineteenth century. Discusses how the circus reflected changes in the overall culture and how similar contemporary entertainments are played out in locations such as Disneyland and Las Vegas. Durant, John. Pictorial History of the American Circus. New York: A. S. Barnes, 1957. Well-researched historical account of the American circus that focuses on individual details rather than attempting to provide a broad overview. Ringling, Alf. Life Story of the Ringling Brothers. Boston: R. R. Donnelley, 1900. Biography of the Ringling brothers. Sloan, Mark. Wild, Weird, and Wonderful: The American Circus Circa 1920 as Seen by F. W. Glasier. Boston: Quantuck Lane Press, 2002. Contains promotional photographs taken by Glasier, a Boston-based commercial photographer who shot promotional photos of circuses that came through that city. Sutton, Felix. The Big Show: A History of the Circus. New York: Doubleday, 1971. Comprehensive overview of circus history from ancient times to the present day. Taylor, James. James Taylor’s “Shocked and Amazed”: On and Off the Midway. Boston: Lyons Press, 2002. Essays taken from the Shocked and Amazed journal, which documented carnival and midway lore and legends through interviews and essays. The essay on P. T. Barnum is comprehensive and useful. See also: June, 1905: First Nickelodeon Film Theater Opens; 1909-1929: Pickford Reigns as “America’s Sweetheart”; Aug., 1912: Sennett Defines Slapstick Comedy; Sept. 8, 1921: First Miss America Is Crowned; 1930’s: Americans Embrace Radio Entertainment.
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The Ringling brothers shaped and help define the circus tradition. The two circuses were at first run separately; they were not combined until 1919, when John and Charles Ringling, who were largely responsible for the circuses’ management, decided they were no longer able to run the shows separately. On March 29, 1919, they debuted the merged show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The circus was the largest and most spectacular in the United States: The main tent had a capacity of ten thousand people, and the show employed more than twelve hundred employees and required one hundred double-length railroad cars to transport it. The resounding success of the combined circuses made John Ringling one of the richest men in the world. In 1926, Charles Ringling died, and John Ringling moved the circus’s winter quarters to Sarasota, Florida, where he built a thirty-room Italian villa. In 1929, John Ringling, by then the only survivor of his family, bought the American Circus Corporation for $1.7 million. In doing so he absorbed five major shows: Sells-Floto, Al G. Barnes, Sparks, Hagenbeck-Wallace, and John Robinson, making him the owner of nearly every major circus in the United States. After Ringling’s death in 1936, the circus was operated by his nephew, John Ringling North. In 1967, North sold the circus to Irvin Feld, a former manager of the company. The Feld family sold the circus to the Mattel company in 1971, retaining production control, but bought it back in 1982. —Cat Rambo
Ringling Bros. Buys Barnum and Bailey Circus
Pavlova Performs The Dying Swan
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December 22, 1907
Pavlova Performs THE DYING SWAN Anna Pavlova’s memorable solo performance in Michel Fokine’s The Dying Swan symbolized a new era in ballet to appreciative audiences around the world. Also known as: Le Cygne; The Death of the Swan Locale: St. Petersburg, Russia Category: Dance Key Figures Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), Russian ballet dancer Michel Fokine (1880-1942), Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929), Russian impresario who created and directed the Ballets Russes Isadora Duncan (1877-1927), American modern dancer Solomon Hurok (1888-1974), Russian American impresario Summary of Event On December 22, 1907, Anna Pavlova premiered The Dying Swan, a miniature ballet that was to influence multitudes. The two-minute solo quickly became her favorite and most successful piece. Its expressive and lyrical choreography, by Pavlova’s colleague Michel Fokine, was a telling synthesis of the classical ballet tradition and “modern” reforms. Pavlova’s emotional interpretation of this synthesis, embodied in the Swan, is nothing short of legendary. Through her independent tours to cities across six continents between 1909 and 1931, Pavlova came to symbolize the new Russian ballet for a vast, appreciative audience. The Dying Swan was created in response to an invitation by the Imperial Opera. A benefit concert was being given in St. Petersburg’s magnificent Mariinsky Theatre (now the Kirov), and Pavlova was asked to participate. Fokine recommended the music—“Swan” from the 1886 work Carnaval des Animaux by Camille SaintSaëns—realizing that this composition for mandolin would be an ideal vehicle for the thin and graceful Pavlova. Excited by the suggestion, she asked him to create the dance. The Dying Swan was born. The ballet’s conception was simple. Wearing a traditional white tutu embellished with down feathers (designed by artist Léon Bakst) and a feathered headpiece, Pavlova portrayed the noble bird’s struggle between life and death in an uncomplicated series of actions. Crossing 632
the stage sur les pointes (on the tips of her toes), as if it were a shimmering pool of water, the Swan fluttered her arms in preparation for flight. Reaching the edge of an invisible precipice, she stopped short in the classic position of attitude (balancing on one pointe, the other leg extended back and bent at the knee). Suddenly, the Swan experienced sharp jolts of pain. She clasped her arms to her chest, moving haltingly to the footlights. There, she made a curving descent to the ground and, after protracted quivers, found everlasting rest. Fokine later recalled that the dance was choreographed in minutes, as he demonstrated the movements while Pavlova imitated him from behind. She then attempted it alone as he corrected her gestures and poses. The simple movements brilliantly combined classical ballet technique with a new emotional expressiveness. Rather than trying to amaze the audience with technical or acrobatic feats, the choreography consisted of a sequence of traditional pas de bourrées, or patterned steps, and sustained balletic positions. If the movements of the feet were traditional, however, the movements of the arms were decidedly untraditional. Gone were the static and controlled arm gestures of nineteenth century ballet, devoid of meaning and corresponding only with specific positions of the feet. In their place were animate appendages that contributed to, rather than supported, the choreography. True to the character of the Swan, Pavlova’s arms were transformed into airy wings. Almost improvisatory, the dance allowed Pavlova the freedom to impose her own mood on its movements, so that each performance was different and uniquely powerful. Pavlova revealed possibilities of expression through her movements that were previously unknown. Fokine remembered it this way: “It was like a proof that the dance could and should satisfy not only the eye, but through the medium of the eye should penetrate into the soul.” Unlike other ballets of the day, Pavlova’s Swan did not depend for its effect on a sophisticated plot or lavish decor. Answering detractors who called the dance trivial, English dance critic Cyril Beaumont wrote: “Those who never saw her dance may ask what she did that made it so wonderful. It is not so much what she did as how she did it. The emotion transferred was so overpowering that it seemed a mockery to applaud when the dance came to an end.” Similar descriptions of The Dying Swan have been
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recorded by countless critics, observers, and fans. Pavlova had long been known for her emotional portrayals, often being compared to the lyric Romantic ballet dancers of the nineteenth century. She had been a principal dancer with the Russian Imperial Ballet since 1905, graduating from the Imperial Ballet Academy in 1899 and working her way up through the ranks of the company. (She was allowed to bypass the corps de ballet, however, achieving the status of soloist from the start.) Although her technical ability was limited by a frail body and weak ankles (often documented by critics as “her extreme femininity”), her reputation as a character dancer was established immediately. Clearly, she compensated for any technical deficiencies by developing and maximizing her expressive powers. Michel Fokine was one of her childhood classmates, frequently partnering her in the traditional nineteenth century classical ballets. Typically, the choreography was designed to show off Pavlova’s pirouettes (turns) and Fokine’s grand jumps. This rigid formula, which emphasized fixed poses and stereotypical plots, generally lacked dramatic unity. As in most ballets of the time, the music merely signaled the starting and stopping of the
dance. Rarely did it provide impetus or support for the movement itself. Pavlova loved the applause that their duets invariably received, but Fokine was less than satisfied with the content of their performances. Gradually he began to choreograph for the Imperial Ballet on a regular basis, and his new ideas about the dance unfolded. In particular, he contemplated expressive over simply impressive movement and a more purposeful relationship of the dance to music. Whereas Fokine’s reforms were the products of careful deliberation, Pavlova instinctively unified movement and music when she danced. Because of this intuitive understanding, she was the perfect instrument to communicate Fokine’s emerging ideas. The premiere performance of The Dying Swan was the first of many. Pavlova continued to dance until her death from pneumonia at the age of forty-nine, presenting The Dying Swan to audiences throughout Europe, Australia, South Africa, Asia, and North and South America. Her signature piece became one of the most famous solos of the century and symbolized a new era in ballet. Although this new era began in Russia, Pavlova’s inexhaustible tours introduced possibilities for expression through dance to people well beyond her homeland. For this, Pavlova is included among the pioneers of twentieth century dance. Significance In Russia, The Dying Swan was instantly recognized as a departure from traditional ballets. Its unadorned movement, its expressive use of the arms, and its use of classical, rather than made-for-ballet, music set the dance apart from well-known favorites such as La Bayadere or Giselle (two ballets with which, incidentally, Pavlova also had tremendous success in Russia). The Dying Swan represented a new direction for the Russian ballet, one that sought to elevate the dance to the level of symphonic music. It is probable that these changes were inspired, or at least helped, by modern dancer Isadora Duncan’s performances in Russia during the same period. Pavlova and Duncan had met and observed each other at work as early as 1904, the time of Duncan’s first visit to Russia. It is likely that Pavlova and Fokine both were influenced by the American dancer’s unrestricted, emotion-filled movement. In fact, writer Gennady Smakov has described the improvisatory and expressive nature of The Dying Swan as “Duncanism on pointe.” The Dying Swan unified all aspects of its production, from music to movement, from Pavlova’s costume to her 633
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Anna Pavlova. (Library of Congress)
Pavlova Performs The Dying Swan
Pavlova Performs The Dying Swan hairstyle. As Fokine intended, it managed this while staying within the confines of classical technique (a difference between Pavlova’s work and Duncan’s). Pavlova supported Fokine’s stance against the classical formula of nineteenth century ballet; more than anyone else, she was responsible for presenting his ideas of reform to early twentieth century audiences through her countless performances of The Dying Swan. She was less enthusiastic about the innovations of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, however, and spent only one season with that company in Paris, although Fokine was then its principal choreographer. She returned briefly at that time to the Imperial Ballet, only to resign in 1913. Her real ambition was to travel alone. Pavlova’s influence ultimately extended across an estimated 350,000 miles and into the imaginations of millions of observers through some four thousand performances. In 1914, she organized and trained a small company of dancers who became her personal corps de ballet. The group toured regularly from then on; Pavlova’s mission was to reach as many as possible with her art. “I want to dance for everybody in the world,” she declared. Historian Arthur H. Franks has calculated that during one American tour in 1925, Pavlova’s company appeared in seventy-seven towns during twenty-six weeks, performing a total of 238 times. Between 1913 and 1925, Pavlova’s group was the only dance company regularly touring the United States. This constant visibility greatly contributed to the popularization of ballet in America. During the early years of Pavlova’s travels, the United States was only beginning to accept dance as a legitimate pursuit, let alone an art form. Acceptance came only following tremendous resistance. Partly because of the country’s conservative Puritan origins and partly because of the relatively recent rise of cities and towns (with their reputation for roughness and corruption), Americans were likely to associate dancers with saloons, gambling, and even prostitution. Pavlova herself wrote that she had never realized how protected dancers were in Russia. She was astonished to discover that in the United States when people spoke of a woman becoming a dancer, “they used the same tone they would have whispered of her entrance into the oldest profession in the world.” Without doubt, Pavlova stirred an appreciation and interest in ballet that contributed to a gradual change in its professional and artistic image. This paved the way for further developments in the dance of the twentieth century. American impresario Solomon Hurok promoted Pavlova in the United States, where she eventually com634
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 manded large fees for her performances. At first, however, she danced for meager crowds. Her American debut took place at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House with partner Mikhail Mordkin in 1910. Fearing little interest or even scorn, promoters advertised her performances as bringing “an art new to America” rather than stating outright that it was a ballet presentation. In other cities, Pavlova often performed in vaudeville houses on the same programs with trained animal acts, jugglers, and comedians. Despite this indignity, she persevered, certain that Americans would eventually respond to the ballet’s enchantment. In many cases, Pavlova provided the first glimpse of ballet that her audiences had ever experienced. She was the first significant female ballet dancer to tour the United States since Fanny Elssler in 1841, and Pavlova’s travels encompassed more ground. Whereas Russian observers recognized a radical departure from nineteenth century ballet in The Dying Swan, audiences in the United States and other parts of the world saw first and foremost the magic of ballet dance performed by a fairylike creature. Pavlova can be credited with sharing this magic with countless people who previously had little, if any, experience with theatrical dance. Certainly, she inspired the next generation of American ballet stars. Pavlova changed the concept of the dance and the image of the dancer. Her ability to express the pathos of creatures such as The Dying Swan, her dynamic stage presence, and her compelling desire to share her dance even to her death made her one of the most famous dancers of the twentieth century. In her depiction of The Dying Swan, she demonstrated the expressive powers of an art form that was just beginning to be recognized in the United States, and she heralded a new era of Russian ballet to those who had long loved the old. — Alecia C. Townsend Further Reading Fonteyn, Margot. Pavlova: Portrait of a Dancer. New York: Viking Press, 1984. A beautiful book featuring passages of Pavlova’s own writing interspersed with historical commentary by dancer Fonteyn. Lavishly illustrated with photographs, performance programs, and drawings from throughout Pavlova’s career. Also includes a selective chronology of the dancer’s life. Franks, Arthur H., ed., in collaboration with the Pavlova Commemoration Committee. Pavlova: A Biography. London: Burke, 1956. This small volume contains ten selections about Pavlova written by, among others, her promoter Sol Hurok, critic Arnold Haskell, dancer
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Written by the founders of the Pavlova Society, this book describes each dance in Pavlova’s repertoire and briefly explains its historical significance. Includes a biographical sketch, an essay discussing the use of photographs as historical evidence, and an extensive bibliography. Smakov, Gennady. “Anna Pavlova.” In The Great Russian Dancers. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984. Offers a valuable historical perspective on Pavlova’s life and art. The author, a Russian émigré critic, places Pavlova in the context of other Russian dancers and achievements. See also: May 19, 1909: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Astounds Paris; June 2, 1909: Fokine’s Les Sylphides Introduces Abstract Ballet; June 25, 1910: The Firebird Premieres in Paris; May 29, 1913: The Rite of Spring Stuns Audiences; Dec. 6, 1934: Balanchine’s Serenade Inaugurates American Ballet.
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Chlorination of the U.S. Water Supply Begins Water treatment plants in the United States began to use chlorination to kill bacteria that had been causing epidemics. Locale: United States Categories: Health and medicine; science and technology; biology Key Figures John Snow (1813-1858), British anesthesiologist Robert Koch (1843-1910), German doctor and bacteriologist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), French chemist James Simpson (1799-1869), British waterworks engineer Hamilton Young Castner (1858-1899), American chemist Summary of Event Before the introduction of chlorine into drinking-water supplies, epidemics of infectious diseases caused by waterborne microorganisms were common. Such epidemics occurred regularly in the United States and the rest of the world, particularly in urban areas. Mortality rates in the United States rose through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, peaking in the 1860’s and 1870’s. This rise in mortality was primarily a
result of increasing urbanization. As population density increased in the cities, two interrelated problems developed: increasing demand for (along with decreasing supply of) clean water and a lack of means for disposing of human waste. As human waste entered drinkingwater supplies, several types of disease-causing bacteria spread throughout the population. This spread caused a number of epidemics, including repeated occurrences of cholera and typhus. The United States experienced epidemics throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; yellow fever epidemics occurred in 1853, 1878, and 1905, and repeated cholera epidemics included a major outbreak in the Mississippi River Valley in 1873. The initial medical and governmental responses to such outbreaks consisted of the quarantine of carriers. In particular, ships arriving in port from epidemic areas were quarantined. This response probably reduced the transmission of disease, but it did not address the role of sanitation in preventing the spread of disease. It had long been understood that water-supply problems contribute to disease; such concerns, however, had to do with the quantity of water rather than the quality. It was generally believed that communities could minimize diseases by watering down dusty streets and alleys. Any concerns with water quality tended to emphasize 635
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and choreographer Michel Fokine, and one of her partners, Laurent Novikov. Includes a useful introductory biographical sketch of Pavlova’s life (although some dates are inaccurate). Garafola, Lynn. Legacies of Twentieth-Century Dance. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2005. A selection of essays and reviews by one of the most influential scholars of the history of dance. Covers the transformation of dance, especially ballet, since the early twentieth century. Includes many photographs. Ivchenko, Valerian. Anna Pavlova. Translated by A. Grey. Paris: Brunhoff, 1922. Reprint. New York: Dover, 1974. This elegant book describes Pavlova’s life and repertoire in detail and provides lengthy quotations about Pavlova by various observers. Includes seventy-five photographs and drawings, some in color. Lazzarini, John, and Roberta Lazzarini. Pavlova: Repertoire of a Legend. New York: Schirmer Books, 1980.
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Chlorination of the U.S. Water Supply Begins clarity and smell of drinking water, rather than its biological cleanliness. During a 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, more than seventeen thousand people—more than 10 percent of the city’s population—contracted the disease. This event led to the establishment in Philadelphia in the late 1790’s of the first municipal waterworks in the United States. The creation of the waterworks not only led to a decrease in epidemic diseases in Philadelphia but also signaled a shift to the notion that water supply should be a public utility function. The quality of water supplies was first addressed in England in 1829, when James Simpson, the engineer of the Chelsea waterworks, invented and constructed the first water-filtering system. Simpson’s sand filters were designed to remove visible dirt from the water supply, which they did, but as an invisible and unrecognized side benefit, the filters also removed some disease-causing bacteria. The concept of filtration slowly caught hold, and by 1852 all water companies supplying water for domestic use in London and drawing their water from the River Thames were required to use filters. The first person to recognize that the incidence of disease was directly related to drinking-water supplies was the English anesthesiologist John Snow, who proved that cholera outbreaks in 1849 and 1854 were related to water sources. He showed definitively that the cholera outbreak in London in 1854 resulted from the drinking of water from the Broad Street pump, the waters of which were polluted with human excrement. He surmised that a poison was responsible for the cholera, but he could not identify the poison. The French chemist Louis Pasteur developed the science of bacteriology in the 1860’s and expounded the germ theory of disease. He proved that diseases do not spread when the bacteria that cause them are killed. Robert Koch, a German country doctor and bacteriologist, first identified the bacterium that causes cholera in 1883. In the 1870’s, standard testing of water began, but the tests were aimed at finding only chemical, not biological, impurities. In the mid-1880’s, biological testing began, and it became apparent that filtration removed about 98 percent of the bacteria in water. Filtration, which had been developed for the biologically contaminated waters of Europe, was a more difficult process for the silt-laden waters in the United States. By 1900, the common water treatment method in the United States was chemical coagulation, usually achieved by the application of aluminum sulphate, followed by filtration. This removed most, but not all, of the disease-causing bacteria. 636
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 The American chemist Hamilton Young Castner developed a process for manufacturing sodium hydroxide from seawater in 1894; Castner’s process created chlorine as a by-product. The chlorine thus produced was initially used primarily as a bleaching agent in the paper and fabric industries, but this ready supply of chlorine would ultimately play a crucial role in destroying bacteria in drinking water. Chlorine and chlorine compounds had been used since the beginning of the nineteenth century as deodorants and as preservatives of organic matter. These compounds had been used on raw sewage but had not been used as disinfectants for drinking water. In 1896, chlorine was used for the first time to destroy bacteria in a drinking-water supply, successfully stopping a typhoid epidemic. As a result of the increased knowledge about bacteria, their role in causing disease, and their vulnerability to chlorine, the modern method of water treatment evolved over the following ten years. By 1908, standard methods of water treatment had been developed and were coming into use in major U.S. metropolitan areas. The water treatment methods included the application of a chemical coagulating agent to aid filtration; the filtration itself, which removed suspended particles and most bacteria; and a final treatment with chlorine or a chlorine compound to kill remaining bacteria. Significance The introduction of chlorine to the water treatment process to destroy waterborne bacteria nearly eliminated disease caused by bacteria from drinking water in the United States and the rest of the developed world, with a consequent reduction in mortality rates. This was a combined effect of the technology available to destroy the bacteria and the establishment of laws and regulations to ensure the technology is used. Today, isolated instances of bacterial infection caused by polluted water still occur in the developed world, but they are rare. Epidemics attributable to waterborne bacteria no longer occur in the developed world, although they still occur in less developed countries where water supplies are polluted. As a part of the bureaucracy that developed to regulate the quality of U.S. water supplies, the U.S. Public Health Service was established in 1912. Among its activities were the development of standards for drinking water and the education of the public about the dangers of drinking polluted water. Early successes in destroying disease-causing bacteria in the water supply fostered a false belief in the clean-
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health effects of such pollutants differ from those of bacteria; the health dangers of bacteria are severe and acute, whereas the dangers of chemical pollution build up over long periods. The dangers and effects of longterm chemical pollution are much more difficult to isolate than the dangers of exposure to bacteria. The human population is exposed to numerous chemical compounds over time, and it is difficult to assign a degree of danger to each individual chemical. Chemical pollutants in water can be partially removed through chemical filtering, but the risks posed by residual amounts of chemicals are still undetermined. In the second half of the twentieth century, the bulk of the work on water treatment centered on the elimination of sources of chemical pollution rather than on the removal of chemicals from the water supply. In the 1970’s, a new source of chemical pollution of the water supply was discovered. The chlorine that was being used to destroy bacteria combined with organic matter in the water to form trihalomethanes (THMs), which in high concentrations can cause cancer. Thus chlorine, which had been used to make water safe, was shown to introduce a new risk. This discovery raised a new set of questions. If water is not disinfected, waterborne diseases that could be deadly may result, and the effects would be rapid. If chlorine is used to disinfect water, the short-term results are favorable, but the longterm effects are unclear. Large concentrations of THMs are known to cause cancer, but the effects of small concentrations are unknown, and there is no clear threshold concentration below which humans are safe. The THM findings left in their wake a debate as to the best method for disinfecting water. As of the early twenty-first century, major options for water treatment include chlorination, with its proven effectiveness in eliminating disease caused by bacteria but its unknown long-term effects; other chemical treatments, including the application of ozone, that have varying effects on bacteria and that may have unknown side effects; and nonchemical treatments, such as disinfection with light, heat, or nuclear particles. —Robert E. Haag Further Reading Baker, M. N. The Quest for Pure Water. New York: American Water Works Association, 1949. A historical look at water treatment, especially in the United States. Includes descriptions of various techniques and equipment. Degremont, G. Water Treatment Handbook. 6th ed. New 637
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liness of water in the United States. Officials believed that as long as water could be disinfected to destroy harmful bacteria, there were no problems with the water supply. This assumption led to increasing pollution of rivers, streams, and groundwater, because people believed that filtration and disinfection would make water safe. The pollution took two forms: biological pollution, caused by sewage emitted into rivers and streams, and chemical pollution, caused by industrial and agricultural emissions. Filtration and disinfection methods can, in most cases, counteract the effects of biological pollutants in water supplies, but these methods do not reduce chemical pollution—in fact, they contribute to it. In the first half of the twentieth century, two technologies related to the chlorination of water were constantly and incrementally improved: the technology for controlling the amount of chlorine added to water and the technology for testing water for bacterial contamination. Combined, these allowed a reduction in the amount of chlorine added to water supplies, lowering costs for water-supply companies, minimizing the chlorine smell and taste of treated water, and ensuring the biological cleanliness of the water. Depending on its source, water may contain a number of dissolved minerals as impurities. Two of these minerals, calcium and magnesium, are the main minerals that cause water hardness, which can leave mineral deposits on plumbing fixtures and increases the amount of soap needed to mix with water to achieve cleanliness. These minerals may be a nuisance, but, unlike disease-causing bacteria, they are not harmful to humans. In the 1870’s, standard tests for minerals in water were established, and by the end of the nineteenth century, chemical means had been developed to remove some dissolved minerals. These included the addition of small amounts of lime to remove calcium and the addition of sodium and potassium salts to remove other minerals. In 1906, the principle of ion exchange was developed, whereby dissolved nuisance minerals were replaced by other chemical ions that were considered less troublesome. These methods, however, were used only to remove natural impurities that did not pose a danger to humans. Successful water treatment to counteract the effects of biological pollution and natural minerals gave officials and the public a false sense of security about the safety of water supplies. In the second half of the twentieth century, concerns were raised about chemical pollution of the water supply. A large number of different chemical pollutants can enter the water supply from two main sources: agricultural runoff and industrial waste. The
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Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics York: Springer-Verlag, 1991. A complete technical discussion of the biological, chemical, and physical aspects of water and water treatment. Includes photographs and diagrams. Gottlieb, Robert. A Life of Its Own: The Politics and Power of Water. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988. A good history of the politics of water supply in the western United States. Includes good descriptions of changes in attitudes and concerns. Mughat, F. H. “Chlorination of Drinking Water and Cancer: A Review.” Journal of Environmental Pathology 7 (September 1, 1992): 287-294. A review of research regarding chlorination of drinking water and the incidence of cancer in humans. Powledge, Fred. Water: The Nature, Uses, and Future of Our Most Precious and Abused Resource. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982. A detailed treatment of water and the supply of water from the standpoints of both quality and quantity.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Smith, Norman Alfred Fisher. Man and Water: A History of Hydro-technology. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975. A good history of water-supply technology. Bibliography. White, George Clifford. Handbook of Chlorination and Alternative Disinfectants. 4th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998. Reference work on all aspects of water purification with chlorine and other disinfectants. Aimed at professionals in industries such as water treatment, toxicology, environmental engineering, and food packaging. See also: 1910: Euthenics Calls for Pollution Control; 1910: Steinmetz Warns of Pollution in “The Future of Electricity”; July, 1916: New York City Institutes a Comprehensive Zoning Law; Jan., 1922: Izaak Walton League Is Formed; 1930’s: Wolman Begins Investigating Water and Sewage Systems; Apr. 15, 1935: Arbitration Affirms National Responsibility for Pollution.
1908
Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics G. H. Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg formalized the first model for evaluating changes in gene frequency within a population, thus giving birth to the field of population genetics. Locale: Stuttgart, Germany; Trinity College, Cambridge, England Categories: Science and technology; genetics; biology Key Figures G. H. Hardy (1877-1947), English mathematician Wilhelm Weinberg (1862-1937), German physician, geneticist, and medical statistician Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), Austrian monk and botanist Charles Darwin (1809-1882), English naturalist Summary of Event Within a few decades following the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1859) by Charles Darwin, the theory of natural selection had gained considerable approval in the scientific community and had revolutionized the way biologists 638
viewed the natural world. Darwin’s work provided a comprehensive explanation for both the origin and maintenance of the seemingly endless variation in nature. Stated simply, natural selection is the differential reproduction of heritable characteristics within a population, which ultimately leads to evolutionary change. Despite almost immediate acceptance, the theory was incomplete in that it failed to account for a mechanism of heritability and an explanation for how such a mechanism could translate into the kinds of changes in populations and species that Darwin’s theory of evolution originally predicted. The first of these problems was overcome in 1900, when the earlier work of Gregor Mendel was rediscovered independently by several researchers. In his quantitative assessment of breeding experiments on garden peas, Mendel demonstrated that many inherited traits in diploid organisms (those containing two sets of chromosomes) are determined by two factors, which are known now as genes (segments of chromosomes). From the frequency of traits in his populations of pea plants, Mendel reasoned that an organism receives one gene from each parent for all such heritable traits. In addition, he argued that alleles (alternate forms of the same gene) separate independently and randomly from
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Third, there must be no spontaneous changes in alleles (mutations). Finally, there must be no differential success (selection) of certain alleles. Alleles must share equal probability of transmission to the next generation. For example, if some individuals possess alleles or combinations of alleles that, under certain environmental conditions, enhance their chances of survival and subsequent reproduction, then their genes will be represented more than those of others in the next generation, gene and allelic frequencies will change, and the population will adapt to environmental conditions. Such differential success of alleles is the essence of Darwin’s theory of natural selection and the primary mechanism by which evolutionary changes proceed. Given these conditions, the Hardy-Weinberg law asserts, changes in gene frequency in a population (evolution) will not occur. When any one or more of these conditions are violated, however, gene frequencies will be altered, and evolution will take place. Thus, by demonstrating the conditions necessary for evolution not to occur, Hardy and Weinberg were able to illustrate those factors that actually contribute to evolutionary change.
G. H. Hardy.
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one another when gametes (egg and sperm) form but combine again during fertilization. Almost immediately following the rediscovery of Mendel’s laws of inheritance, several scientists began to realize the implications of these laws for the study of population genetics and evolutionary change. The first observations were noted by William E. Castle in 1903, and more complete analyses were presented in 1908 by the English mathematician G. H. Hardy and the German physician Wilhelm Weinberg. These later works, which came to be known collectively as the Hardy-Weinberg law (or equilibrium), eventually became the foundation for the study of population genetics. The law of population genetics, credited to Hardy and Weinberg, was discovered and published independently, but almost simultaneously, by the two scientists. Weinberg was a physician with research interests in multiple births, medical statistics, and population genetics. Between 1908 and 1910, he published four critical papers relating Mendel’s laws of inheritance to genetic changes in populations. Because of this work, some consider him to be the father of population genetics. Hardy was a prominent mathematician who invested most of his time in the study of pure mathematics, on which he published nearly 350 papers. In late 1908, however, he deviated slightly from his main research interests when he published a short note to the editor of the journal Science, in which he made several observations concerning the relevance of Mendel’s laws to populations that were very similar to those pointed out by Weinberg. The Hardy-Weinberg law states that, given simple patterns of Mendelian inheritance, the frequency of alleles in a population will remain constant from generation to generation, assuming that certain ideal conditions are met. In other words, if these conditions hold true, allelic frequencies will not change, the genetic structure of the population will remain constant over time, and evolutionary change will not occur. These ideal conditions are as follows. First, the population must be a large, randomly breeding, or panmictic, population. In other words, all individuals in the population must have equal reproductive success. If this condition is not met, and certain individuals experience greater reproductive success than others, or if nonrandom breeding occurs as a result of small population size, then certain genes will be overrepresented in the next generation and the population’s gene frequencies will change. A second necessary condition is that the population must be closed; that is, there must be no immigration or emigration of individuals into or out of the population.
Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics
Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics In addition to the qualitative discussion of their argument, Hardy and Weinberg also presented their model in a purely mathematical form. To illustrate this quantitative expression of their model, it is easiest to consider a hypothetical population with a single gene and two alleles, represented by A and a. Recall also that each individual in the population possesses two alleles for this gene. Furthermore, let the frequency (numerical proportion) of the A and a in the population equal p and q, respectively, and assume that p + q = 1. As an example, assume that p and q equal 0.8 and 0.2; that is, the proportion of the A allele in the population is 80 percent and that of the a allele is 20 percent. Hardy and Weinberg reasoned that if Mendel was correct and these two alleles separate randomly and independently as discrete units during formation of the egg and sperm, the frequency of allelic combinations in the next generation could be predicted mathematically. They stated that if p and q are known, and if all conditions of the model hold true, then the frequency of allelic combinations in the next generation could be calculated easily from p2 + 2pq + q2, where p2 is the frequency of individuals with two A alleles, 2pq is the frequency of individuals with one A and one a allele, and q2 the frequency of individuals with two a alleles. This mathematical expression of allele combinations, or genotypic frequencies, follows from a simple rule of mathematical probabilities, which states that the joint probability of two independent events is equal to the product of their individual probabilities. Thus, in the example above, the probability of acquiring two A alleles (or the proportion of individuals acquiring two A alleles) is equal to 0.8 × 0.8, or 0.64. Similarly, the probability of acquiring one A allele and an a allele in any order is p × q × 2, or 0.32. In the absence of nonrandom mating, mutation, immigration, emigration, and selection, these frequencies will remain fixed at these values in all subsequent generations. This mathematical treatment allowed biologists to predict the frequencies of allelic combinations in a population from the individual allelic frequencies. In a similar way, they could calculate frequencies of each allele by working backward from the allelic combinations. The value of this model, however, is not in its applicability to the real world. In fact, biologists believe that natural populations rarely, if ever, meet all the ideal conditions required by the model. Instead, the Hardy-Weinberg equation is a conceptual model that clearly illustrates how evolutionary change occurs at the population-genetic level. Although this model is limited in that the behavior of some alleles is not governed by Mendelian laws of in640
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 heritance, it is an important starting point for the study of population genetics. Significance The Hardy-Weinberg law was a critical breakthrough in evolutionary biology that effectively linked Mendel’s laws of inheritance with Darwin’s theory of natural selection. It demonstrated clearly how cellular mechanisms of inheritance can translate into the microevolutionary changes that Darwin predicted. This synthesis was accomplished in two ways. First, by defining the conditions necessary for a population to remain genetically unchanged indefinitely, Hardy and Weinberg were able to specify those conditions that contribute directly to evolutionary change. In the absence of mutation, gene flow in and out of the population, and natural selection, a large, randomly breeding population will remain at equilibrium with respect to its allele or gene frequencies. When any one of these conditions is violated, gene frequencies will change in subsequent generations. Hardy and Weinberg’s model thus helped biologists to understand how changes in gene frequencies can occur and that such changes are, in fact, smallscale evolutionary events. In addition, the equilibrium model helped identify mechanisms of evolutionary change that were not obvious from Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Although most biologists agree that differential reproduction of alleles, or natural selection, is the primary force driving evolution, it became clear from Hardy and Weinberg’s work, and is still widely accepted, that other factors—such as random events and differing degrees of gene flow between populations— contribute also to evolutionary change. The second important observation to emerge from the Hardy-Weinberg law was that sexual reproduction alone does not result in a reduction in genetic variability or in genetic change. One of the problems that Darwin faced was how to explain the maintenance of genetic variability. Darwin correctly assumed that genetic variability is the essential raw material on which natural selection acts. In the absence of an accurate mechanism of inheritance, however, he had incorrectly assumed that the inheritance process must result in a constant blending of genetic material and a loss in genetic variability as well. His insistence that variability is necessary for natural selection posed a serious problem. From Mendel’s work, it soon became clear that genetic material is transmitted in discrete units and therefore is not mixed during reproduction. A short time later, Hardy and Weinberg demonstrated that, under ideal conditions, gene frequencies and
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Further Reading Arms, Karen, et al. Biology: A Journey into Life. 4th ed. Fort Worth, Tex.: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1995. A general biology text for the layperson that provides a clear and concise description of the HardyWeinberg law and its implications. Well illustrated; includes a glossary of general biology terms. Hanson, Earl D. Understanding Evolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. A basic text on evolutionary biology that devotes considerable attention to population genetics and its relevance to evolutionary processes. Gives thorough coverage to Mendel’s laws of inheritance and the Hardy-Weinberg law. Includes modest historical accounts of other relevant events. Well illustrated, with limited references. Merrell, David J. Ecological Genetics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1981. A college-level
text, best used as a reference. One of the first attempts to synthesize ecological processes with those of population genetics. Gives the Hardy-Weinberg law moderate coverage. Includes extensive references and a few diagrams and figures. Mettler, Lawrence E., Thomas G. Gregg, and Henry E. Schaffer. Population Genetics and Evolution. 2d ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1988. A modern text on population genetics that assumes a certain basic level of understanding. Provides a complete overview of current research efforts in the field. Well referenced, with short chapter summaries. Provine, William B., comp. The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. Provides a comprehensive overview of the history of population genetics, including the Hardy-Weinberg law. Raven, Peter H., et al. Biology. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Comprehensive introductory college text on the science of biology. Covers the basic concepts of genetics and heredity and includes a detailed account of Mendel’s laws of inheritance. Discusses the Hardy-Weinberg law and provides a summary of the kinds of natural events that violate this law and thereby alter population genetics. Illustrations and detailed glossary. Wilson, Edward O., and William H. Bossert. A Primer of Population Biology. Stamford, Conn.: Sinauer Associates, 1971. Intended for the beginning biologist. A small, concise handbook, perhaps one of the best introductory texts on classic population genetics. More than half the book concerns the basis of genetic change in populations. A strong mathematical orientation, but problems are explained clearly. Well illustrated, with suggested readings and a short glossary of technical terms. See also: 1902: Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity; 1902: McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome; Dec., 1902: Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits; 1905: Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity; 1906: Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage; 1908-1915: Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory; Fall, 1911: Sturtevant Produces the First Chromosome Map.
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genetic variability will remain fixed indefinitely. Their work finally resolved a major problem in the theory of natural selection. The synthesis of Mendel’s and Darwin’s work resulted in renewed interest in evolutionary biology and soon gave birth to the new field of population genetics. This field was advanced greatly during the 1920’s with the work of Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, Sewall Wright, and John Burdon Sanderson Haldane; it continues to be one of the major fields of biological research. In addition to its impact on basic research, the HardyWeinberg law has had several practical applications. Perhaps the most important of these is its use as a conceptual teaching model. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is employed in nearly every college-level biology text as a starting point for discussions on evolution, adaptation, and population genetics. In essence, it is a teaching tool that is as useful for beginning students in the twenty-first century as it was for evolutionary biologists at the beginning of the twentieth century. A second important application derived from the model concerns the manner and degree to which deleterious alleles manifest themselves within a population. The Hardy-Weinberg model shows how lethal alleles, such as those that code for fatal genetic diseases, can be maintained in a population at low frequencies. This simple conceptual model had a tremendous impact on the study of evolutionary biology. —Michael A. Steele
Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics
Hughes Revolutionizes Oil Well Drilling
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Hughes Revolutionizes Oil Well Drilling When oil well drillers and inventors Howard Hughes, Sr., and Walter B. Sharp developed the rotary cone rock bit to accelerate drilling through hard rock formations, they revolutionized oil well drilling. Locale: Houston, Texas Categories: Science and technology; inventions Key Figures Howard Hughes, Sr. (1869-1924), American lawyer, drilling engineer, and inventor Walter B. Sharp (1860-1912), American drilling engineer and inventor Summary of Event The earliest oil well drilling was accomplished through the use of various adaptations of the cable tool or the rodand-drop percussion tool. As the oil-bearing formations investigated became progressively deeper, the limits of these two techniques became increasingly apparent. Although the hydraulic rotary drilling system was conceived of and in limited use as early as the 1880’s, the growth and spread of this system was almost concurrent with the Texas Spindletop well of 1901, one of the first deep wells penetrating harder rock formations as well as softer clay and sand. Arotary drill rig of the early twenty-first century is basically unchanged in its essential components from earlier versions of the 1900’s. A drill bit is screwed to a line of hollow drill pipe. The latter passes through a square hole on a rotary table, which acts essentially as a horizontal gear wheel driven by an engine. The drill bit itself at the hole bottom is rotated by the connected sections of the above-lying pipe in contact with the rotating table. While being rotated, the drill bit and stem are free for feeding wash water, usually an oil and mud mixture stabilized with flocculating montmorillonite clay that increases its specific gravity, to prevent side caving and to seal off water and oil-bearing subsurface strata. The mud-laden water is pumped under high pressure down the sides of the rotary drill pipe and jets out with great force through small holes in the rotary drill bit against the bottom of the borehole. This fluid then returns outside the drill pipe to the surface, carrying with it rock material cuttings from the subsurface. Circulated rock cuttings and fluids (“shale shaker”/“mud logger”) are regularly examined at the surface for evidence of the precise type and age of rock formation and for signs of oil and gas. 642
This continual washing of drill cuttings notably reduces rig downtime compared with cable and impact tools. Rotary drilling rates usually increase as additional drillcollar weights are applied to the drill bit through the careful adjustment of drill pipe tension at the surface. A key part of the total rotary drilling system is the drill bit, encompassing sharp cutting edges of some design that make direct contact with the geologic formations to be drilled. The first bits used in rotary drilling were paddlelike “fishtail” bits, fairly successful for softer formations, and tubular coring bits for harder geologies. In 1893, M. C. Baker and C. E. Baker brought a rotary drill rig for water wells to Corsicana, Texas, for modification to deeper oil drilling. This rig led to the discovery of the large Corsicana-Powell oil field in Navarro County, Texas. This success also motivated the rig’s operators, the American Well and Prospecting Company, to begin the first large-scale manufacture of rotary drilling rigs for commercial sale. In the earliest rotary drilling for oil, short fishtail bits were the tool of choice, insofar as they were at that time the best configured to “make hole” over a wide range of geologic strata without needing frequent replacement. Even so, in the course of drilling any given oil well in the Gulf coast region, many bits were typically required. Especially when they encountered locally harder rock units, such as limestone, dolomite, and gravel beds, fishtail bits would typically either curl backward or break off in the hole, requiring workers to undertake the timeconsuming tasks of pulling out all drill pipe and “fishing” to retrieve fragments and clear the hole. Because of the frequent bit wear and damage, numerous small blacksmith shops were established near drill rigs, where bits were dressed or sharpened by hand forge and hammer. Each bit-forging shop had its own particular ways of shaping bits, producing a wide variety of three- and fourwinged bits of numerous long and short bit designs. Nonstandard bit designs were frequently modified further as experiments to meet the specific requests of local drillers encountering specific drilling difficulties in given rock layers. In the early 1900’s, no consensus existed as to which drill bit shape was best for a given type of subsurface rock. For example, although short, one-wing fishtails drilled holes faster and cleaner in soft shales, they offered less cutting edge and less reliability than did multiwinged bits in the same material. Within a few years,
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heat. A less noticeable but equally essential innovation, not included in other cone bit patents, was an ingeniously designed gauge surface that provided strong uniform support for all the drill teeth. Force-fed oil lubrication, another new feature also included in Hughes’s patent and prototypes, reduced the power necessary to rotate the bit by 50 percent over that of prior mud or water lubricant designs. Significance Within six years of their patents and first manufacturing, the Hughes Tool Company’s cone drill bits were being widely used with great success in the drilling of both oil and water wells in numerous U.S. states as well as in other countries. The period 1908-1925 was one of intensive innovation in rotary drilling and bit designs. In 1913, a patent was filed on the first cross-roller rock bit. During his sixteen remaining years as chief of manufacturing and research of rotary rock bits, Hughes developed and tested many more ideas and obtained an additional seventy-three patents, which assured his company of a secure leadership role for many years. As oil wells were drilled progressively deeper and through harder formations, a new variety of the rolling cone bit, the so-called reaming roller, was required to ensure a stable and uniformly sized drill hole. Although roll-cutter rock bits did not come into wide and regular use before the development of high-powered circulating pumps specifically for oil field service in 1915, cone bits and rotary rigs gradually replaced other drilling technologies. This trend was notably furthered when, in 1925, the first superhard facings were used on cone drill bits. In addition, the first so-called self-cleaning rock bits appeared from Hughes, with significant advances in roller bearings and bit tooth shape translating into increased drilling efficiency. The much larger teeth made the bits more adaptable to drilling in a wider variety of geological formations than were earlier models. In 1928, Hughes metallurgists introduced tungsten carbide as an additional bit facing hardener. This, together with other improvements, resulted in the Hughes “ACME” tooth form, which has been in almost continuous use since 1926. To further efforts in reducing drill bit wear, the Hughes company established an active and continually funded research team of mechanical engineers and metallurgists to develop methods of preparing and testing new alloys and treatments for improving the all-critical bit contact-face cutting edges. These required extensive 643
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several prototypes for new bits were patented; these bits variously sought to combine short cutting bases with numerous smaller cutting teeth. In 1907 and 1908, patents were obtained in New Jersey and Beaumont, Texas, for steel, cone-shaped drill bits incorporating a roller-type coring device with many serrated teeth. Later in 1908, both of these patents were bought by lawyer-drillerinventor Howard Hughes, Sr. In 1906, with his business partner Walter B. Sharp, Hughes successfully drilled the first oil well in overpressured shales using controlled drilling mud weights. Directly motivated by his petroleum-prospecting interests, Hughes sought by trial and error to combine the best features of older and newer drill bits into one overall design that would provide greater reliability and flexibility. The general subsurface geologies encountered at the Corsicana and Spindletop fields often included complex sequences of argillaceous, arenaceous, and calcareous layers, in addition to thin stringer layers of hard anhydrites, gravels, and salt from diapiric intrusions. Between 1885 and 1937, the American geologist R. T. Hall (of the U.S. Geological Survey) worked tirelessly to establish the primary exploration stratigraphic nomenclatures for the highly variable lithofacies of the East Texas/Gulf Coastal Plain areas. The type of rock and total rock layer thickness were the primary controls on drilling rate and efficiency. For example, although comparatively weak rocks like sands, clays, and soft shales could be drilled rapidly (at rates exceeding 30 meters, or approximately 98 feet, per hour), in harder shales, lime-dolostones, and gravels, drill rates of 1 meter (3.28 feet) per hour or less were not uncommon. Conventional drill bits of the time had average operating lives of three to twelve hours. Economic drilling mandated increases in both bit life and drilling rate. Hughes undertook what were probably the first recorded systematic studies of drill bit performance as a function of specific rock physical properties. Although many improvements have been made to the Hughes cone bit, in both detail and materials, since its inception in 1908, its basic design has remained in use in rotary drilling. One of Hughes’s major innovations was the much larger size of the cutters, symmetrically distributed as a large number of small individual teeth on the outer face of two or more cantilevered bearing pins. In addition, hard facing was employed to increase the usable life of the drill bit teeth. Hard facing is a metallurgical process that basically consists of welding a thin layer of a hard metal or alloy of special composition onto a metal surface to increase its resistance to abrasion and
Hughes Revolutionizes Oil Well Drilling
Schoenberg Breaks with Tonality ongoing tests over many years, a process that was comparatively uncommon in the boom-and-bust oil industry, where research and development had traditionally been the first department to be cut. In 1932, the American Petroleum Institute recommended mandatory practices for hard-facing rotary drill bits largely derived from the Hughes company’s test results. Even after Hughes’s death in 1924, part of the reason for the continued success of his rotary drill bits was his company’s ongoing effort to improve both engineering design and metallurgical composition through research. Eventually, rotary cone rock bits increased footage drilled per hour by more than 80 percent over original figures. Many improvements in other drilling support technologies, such as drilling mud, mud circulation pumps, blowout detectors and preventers, and pipe properties and connectors, have enhanced rotary drilling capabilities to new depths (exceeding 5 kilometers, or 3.1 miles, in 1990), even permitting horizontal drilling since the mid-1980’s with the advent of down-hole motors and rotary drilling capabilities. Hughes’s successful experiments in 1908 were critical precursors to these later developments. —Gerardo G. Tango Further Reading Brantly, John Edward. History of Oil Well Drilling. Houston, Tex.: Gulf, 1971. The primary source for the history of the developments in rotary and other drilling methods. Very well referenced and illustrated.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Cernica, John N. Principles of Rock Fragmentation. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982. An advanced undergraduate reference. Gives the theory as well as comparative laboratory field results for rock fracture under various conditions of loading and drill rotation. Isler, C. Well-Boring for Water, Brine, and Oil. London: E. & F. N. Spon, 1902. Notes independent and concurrent developments in rotary drilling. Jackson, Elaine. Lufkin: From Sawdust to Oil. Houston, Tex.: Gulf, 1982. Accurately recounts much of the economic and personal history of the early growth of the Texas oil industry. Jeffrey, Walter H. Deep Well Drilling. 2d rev. ed. Houston, Tex.: Gulf, 1925. Chapter 5 indicates the sequences of technical improvements associated with the wider adoption of the steel-toothed cone rotary bit. Paxson, Jeanette. Basic Tools and Equipment for the Oil Field. Austin, Tex.: Petroleum Extension Service, 1982. Part of a specially designed self-tutoring course on the principles and practices of rotary drilling. Sidorov, N. A. Drilling Oil and Gas Wells. Chicago: Imported Publications, 1986. A technical treatment of rotary drilling. Includes discussions of some of the deepest wells drilled on land. See also: Jan. 10, 1901: Discovery of Oil at Spindletop; 1924-1976: Howard Hughes Builds a Business Empire.
1908-1909
Schoenberg Breaks with Tonality By composing Das Buch der hängenden Gärten, Arnold Schoenberg demonstrated that melody and harmony could be liberated from traditional tonal controls. Locale: Vienna, Austria Category: Music Key Figures Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), Austrian composer Alexander von Zemlinsky (1872-1942), Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), Bohemian-Austrian composer Richard Strauss (1864-1949), German composer Anton von Webern (1883-1945), Austrian composer Alban Berg (1885-1935), Austrian composer 644
Summary of Event The world of classical music was ripe for revolution in the early twentieth century. Insurrections of various grades of severity broke out nearly everywhere and continued in the years preceding and immediately following World War I. Vienna was no exception. As capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vienna was in the vanguard of the German-speaking cultural world, the inheritor of the tradition of such great composers as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, and Johannes Brahms. It represented the cultural dignity of Old World Europe. Even that tradition was split, however. Since the 1870’s, patrons of music had been bitterly divided over the choice between the structurally conservative Johannes Brahms and the shock-
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Schoenberg to devote himself to music alone, and one day in 1895 he came home to announce, “My boss has gone bankrupt; I will never work in a bank again.” Supporting himself by conducting various workers’ choruses and by scoring operettas and arranging others’ compositions, Schoenberg concentrated on composing. His first major success came with his String Quartet in D of 1897-1898, which he never published, although it won widespread praise. After struggling spiritually and emotionally, he followed this with a breakthrough, Verklärte Nacht (1899; transfigured night), for string sextet. Both works transferred the symphonic poem to the chamber music level and expanded Wagnerian tonal ambiguity. For the next ten years, Schoenberg published a series of works that led directly to the revolutionary Das Buch der hängenden Gärten and the theoretical book Harmonielehre (1911; The Theory of Harmony, 1947). First came the Gurrelieder (1900-1911; songs of Gurre) for solo voices, speakers, choirs, and a vast orchestra. This monumental two-hour work, part song cycle, part oratorio, part melodrama, part symphonic opera, was remarkable even in its original form; however, Schoenberg revised its orchestration in 1911 to emphasize its transition from Wagner to the new, free-tonal world of the twentieth century. This work brought him to the attention of Strauss, who both secured him his first teaching appointments and recommended that he set Maurice Maeterlinck’s 1892 drama Pelléas et Mélisande to music. The resulting massive symphonic poem of 1903, Pelleas and Melisande, expanded Schoenberg’s use of counterpoint (the interweaving of separate melodic lines), opening new harmonic possibilities. At that time, Schoenberg and Zemlinsky founded the Society of Creative Musicians, which included Strauss and Mahler as well as Schoenberg’s new students Anton von Webern and Alban Berg. The organization pioneered radical new works, especially Schoenberg’s own. His String Quartets in D Minor and F-sharp Minor of 1906 and 1907 provoked hostile reactions, to the point of being hissed off the stage. The final break came with the 1909 composition and 1910 performance of Das Buch der hängenden Gärten, a setting of fifteen poems from Stefan George’s collection of the same title. In this work, Schoenberg attempted to discover a musical equivalent to George’s poetic expressionism, which distorted normal language to force new, otherwise unrealizable perceptions and to express extreme states of feeling. Schoenberg accomplished this by abandoning the conventional concepts of keys and tonal relationships and exploiting the potentialities for dissonance in the previ645
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ingly innovative and grandiose Richard Wagner. Disputes between the factions had led to actual brawls in the streets. The conflict was probably more emotional than substantive, having more to do with generation gaps and changing fashions than anything else, but part of it was technical. The conservatives preferred the old-fashioned harmonic progressions supposedly practiced by Brahms; many apparently did not hear his decidedly nonstandard enhanced chords. Brahms’s music seemed somehow stable, like the bedrock of the old standard hymnals. Wagner’s music, in contrast, could not be related to this context at all. It seemed to wander from key to key, and Wagner’s resolutions did not provide the sense of finality found in Brahms. Furthermore, since Wagner’s death in 1883, things had gotten worse. New composers such as Anton Bruckner, Richard Strauss, and Gustav Mahler— to say nothing of the Frenchman Claude Debussy— aggressively sided with Wagner in expanding the standard harmonic range. Into this rift the young Arnold Schoenberg wedged; early in his career, he lifted the conflict to a new orbit with the composition of Das Buch der hängenden Gärten (1908-1909; the book of the hanging gardens). The son of a Jewish shoe seller of the Czech tradesman class, Schoenberg began violin lessons at age nine and started composing duets spontaneously, without formal instruction. At first, he was aided in this by his teacher, who used duets in lessons and encouraged the boy to bring his own. Shortly afterward, having learned from a biography of Mozart that his hero composed in his head, Schoenberg began imitating this. Upon entering Realschule (nonclassical high school for nonprofessionals) at eleven, he found a cultural climate that was even more encouraging. There he met Oskar Adler, who provided lessons in elementary theory and ear training and invited him to compose and arrange for a string trio. This trio eventually became a quartet, with Schoenberg trying all the parts and writing the group’s music from encyclopedias. Forced to leave school before graduation by the death of his father, Schoenberg began clerking at a bank (a job he hated), but he continued composing and playing. In 1893, a new director, the young Alexander von Zemlinsky, took over the amateur orchestra Polyhymnia, for which Schoenberg was the cellist; the two became lifelong friends. Zemlinsky was able to apply his formal conservatory training to help Schoenberg fill in the gaps in his theoretical education, but the pupil soon left the instructor behind. Before long, a few commissions enticed
Schoenberg Breaks with Tonality
Schoenberg Breaks with Tonality ously unused “accidental” tones within keys. He thus invented a musical parallel to George’s dislocations of language. The result revolutionized music. Schoenberg followed this up in 1911 by publishing Harmonielehre, which provided a theoretical justification for his innovations and created an unrestricted tonal basis for postnineteenth century music. Significance By making it possible for musicians to use the entire tonal spectrum in their compositions rather than having to restrict themselves to conventional, predetermined patterns, Schoenberg revolutionized classical music. He accomplished a break with musical traditions as radical as the parallel movements in art and literature from Impressionism to expressionism and from representation to nonrepresentation. It was a stunning feat. Like many revolutions, it transcended and repudiated what had seemed to be standards of conventional propriety. To the established, it looked like the replacement of order by chaos, and the reaction was furious. Schoenberg seemed to have destroyed the foundations of classical music and to have subverted the reassurances of traditional harmony. Dissonance (an ambiguous term) would reign; the specter of lawless atonality grinned ominously, although Schoenberg explicitly rejected the term, preferring “polytonality” to suggest the opening up of new possibilities rather than the rejection of the past. Of all the great modernist innovators of the World War I period—T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, and Franz Kafka in literature; Marcel Duchamp and Wassily Kandinsky in painting; Frank Lloyd Wright in architecture; Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky in music—Schoenberg provoked the greatest and most lasting hostility, and he gained less eventual acceptance, even among professionals. Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (1913), for example, which caused a riot at its first performance, became a modern classic; during the late twentieth century, at least forty recordings of the piece were in print simultaneously. In contrast, throughout the twentieth century there were never been more than two recordings of Das Buch der hängenden Gärten available at any one time, and at times there were none. Schoenberg’s big sellers have been the late Romantic works with which he began. Similarly, although Harmonielehre has regularly been in print, it remains a great unread testament. Schoenberg resembles a prophet without much of a following. Part of the reason for this neglect is the lack of appeal of much of the music produced by those following Schoenberg’s methods. Although in retrospect this does 646
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 not hold true for his own music and that of his leading adherents, such as Alban Berg and Anton von Webern, the idea of generating music from an arbitrary sequence of tones treated as a fixed melodic and harmonic unit struck most listeners as mechanical and sterile. It looked as if it would create music that was formulaic, routine, abstract, and dead, if not officiously offensive. Furthermore, the immediate public response to the actual music was to reject it outright. Complex historical and social reasons lay behind this reception; those on the Brahms side of the musical rift, for example, had become so entrenched that they reacted adversely to any innovation. They had already been howling about Debussy’s deviations, most of which are quite inoffensive to later ears. At the outset of World War I, much of Europe already seemed to be searching for enemies. For all this, Schoenberg ended up affecting twentieth century music more profoundly than any other person. Even Stravinsky, who prided himself on leading in musical innovations, eventually came under the sway of Schoenberg’s theories; he recognized ultimately that removing tonal limitations modified music more deeply than any other new technique. Schoenberg had proposed the most radical change possible—the abolition of tonality-centered music. That is, he argued that the conventional theory of diatonic harmony, developed since the time of Johann Sebastian Bach and ensconced in every music conservatory in the Western world, should no longer be practiced. To Schoenberg, diatonic harmony had reached a dead end; within that system, little new could be done. Composers were doomed to repeat endlessly the same lifeless chordal patterns. In fact, his theory in part merely acknowledged what composers in practice had long been doing. Wagner, Mahler, Strauss, and Modest Mussorgsky, as well as the composers of the Schoenberg circle, had long exploited the so-called accidental tones of the keys, abandoning definite tonal centers and building chords on forbidden intervals. Schoenberg did more than merely legitimate experimentation, however; he laid a basis for a totally new kind of music, and he did this, in part, by returning to the roots of Western music. So profound was this change that it dominated the teaching and conception of classical music from 1925 to 1950. No composer working during that generation could operate without at least acknowledging Schoenberg’s influence. Furthermore, no one working after that time could ignore the implications of the revolution he accomplished, for he had changed the way music was understood. By that time, it could finally be seen that he was not simply a theoretical crank promoting a
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Further Reading Auner, Joseph. A Schoenberg Reader: Documents of a Life. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003. Collection of Schoenberg’s essays, letters, and other writings, as well as paintings and drawings, many previously unpublished or untranslated. Extensive commentary places these materials in context and addresses important themes throughout Schoenberg’s career. Berg, Alban. “Why Is Schönberg’s Music So Hard to Understand?” Music Review 13 (August, 1952): 187196. Provides one of the simplest and clearest nontechnical explanations available of Schoenberg’s ideas as reflected in his music. Pitched primarily at the lay listener; fresh and direct. Written by a friend, student, and colleague of Schoenberg. Grout, Donald J., and Claude V. Palisca. “Atonality, Serialism, and Recent Developments in TwentiethCentury Europe.” In A History of Western Music. 6th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2000. Accessible to the nonspecialist, although found within a textbook for college music majors. Covers the full range of Schoenberg’s innovations and offers explanations that are models of clarity. Provides a balanced overview with examples, illustrations, and bibliography. MacDonald, Malcolm. Schoenberg. London: Dent, 1976. One of the best sources on Schoenberg, covering all aspects of his life and work. Focuses directly on the pivotal period of Das Buch der hängenden Gärten, showing how his work led up to and then
away from that moment. Includes photographs and copious musical examples. Morgan, Robert P. “The Atonal Revolution.” In Twentieth-Century Music: A History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America. New York: W. W. Norton, 1991. Covers the musical and aesthetic aspects of Schoenberg’s work and relates them to the course of the entire century. Includes examples, bibliography, and complete index. Rosen, Charles. Arnold Schoenberg. 1975. Reprint. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Standard musicological biography of Schoenberg successfully translates technical material into understandable terms. Includes photographs, illustrations, musical examples, bibliography, and index. Schoenberg, Arnold. Style and Idea. Translated by Leo Black, edited by Leonard Stein. London: Faber, 1975. Schoenberg’s attempt to explain himself to the general reader. Rich material reveals why he had a reputation as a brilliant and encouraging teacher. Shawn, Allen. Arnold Schoenberg’s Journey. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. A brief introduction to Schoenberg and his music intended for the lay reader. Covers the highlights of Schoenberg’s life and their relation to his major works. The final chapter analyzes Schoenberg’s influence on twentieth century music. Smith, Joan A. Schoenberg and His Circle: A Viennese Portrait. New York: Schirmer Books, 1986. One of the most complete accounts available of Schoenberg’s social and intellectual relationships. Smith is particularly acute in drawing connections between musical theory and Schoenberg’s cultural milieu. Includes photographs, musical examples, illustrations, bibliography, and index. Webern, Anton von. The Path to the New Music. Translated by Leo Black, edited by Willi Reich. Bryn Mawr, Pa.: T. Presser, 1963. Webern’s version of the evolution of Schoenberg’s theories, along with discussion of the contributions of Berg and himself. Good anecdotal and theoretical material, but some aspects of the book are not complete, as the manuscript was not finished before Webern’s death (and not recovered until a while after). See also: Mar. 31, 1913: Webern’s Six Pieces for Large Orchestra Premieres; 1921-1923: Schoenberg Develops His Twelve-Tone System; Dec. 14, 1925: Berg’s Wozzeck Premieres in Berlin; June 2, 1937: Berg’s Lulu Opens in Zurich. 647
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freak, a lunatic scientist reborn as a monster musician. He had recognized that counterpoint, abandoned since Bach in favor of diatonic harmony, was saturated with unexplored potential, whereas standard harmony was rapidly running out of possibilities. Schoenberg was undoubtedly a pivotal figure in twentieth century music. The extent of his influence can be seen in the fact that he remained controversial and provocative several generations after he made his first proposals. The most profound musical theoretician of the century, he also created an enduring body of masterworks, including the much-undervalued Das Buch der hängenden Gärten. Ultimately, the theoretical foundation established by Schoenberg in Harmonielehre would be developed by him and others into the system of twelve-tone, or serial, music, an important aspect of modern music but one tangential to the main thrust of Schoenberg’s revolution. —James Livingston
Schoenberg Breaks with Tonality
Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1908-1915
Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory Thomas Hunt Morgan’s experiments on Drosophila led to the discovery of the principles of the genechromosome theory of hereditary transmission. Locale: New York, New York Categories: Science and technology; genetics; biology Key Figures Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945), American geneticist and professor of experimental zoology Calvin Blackman Bridges (1889-1938), American geneticist Alfred H. Sturtevant (1891-1970), American geneticist Hermann Joseph Muller (1890-1967), American geneticist Summary of Event In 1904, Thomas Hunt Morgan, a young professor of biology, was invited by E. B. Wilson to join him at Columbia University as professor of experimental zoology. The new position would allow Morgan more time for laboratory research. That same year, through a friend, Jacques Loeb, Morgan met Hugo de Vries, the Dutch biologist who had been one of the trio of scientists who in 1900 had rediscovered the work of Gregor Mendel. (Mendel’s work had been largely ignored when he first propounded it in 1866, and it was soon thereafter forgotten.) De Vries had a theory that new species originate through mutation. The rediscovery of Mendel and the contact with de Vries influenced Morgan to initiate experiments to try to discover mutations and to test the Mendelian laws. He began to experiment with Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, an enormously propitious choice for a laboratory animal. It bred rapidly and ate little, and Morgan and his students found that thousands of these minuscule experimental animals could be contained in a small collection of milk bottles that they “borrowed” from the Columbia cafeteria. In 1908, Morgan had one of his graduate students, Fernandus Payne, perform an experiment in which he bred generations of Drosophila in the dark, in an attempt to produce flies whose eyes would atrophy and become dysfunctional. On Morgan’s advice, Payne secured his experimental animals by capturing some of the flies that were attracted to bananas he had left on the ledge of a window of the laboratory. Nothing came of the experiment, however; after sixty-nine generations of fruit flies, the last could see as well as the first. 648
Morgan’s second experiment on Drosophila was an attempt to induce mutations by subjecting flies to X rays and other environmental stimuli, such as wide ranges of temperature, salt, sugars, acids, and alkalies. Again, the results were negative. (Why these results were negative is unexplained, as Hermann Joseph Muller later demonstrated that X rays do produce mutations.) Morgan’s experiments did not reveal mutations, nor did they bear out the Mendelian laws; rather, they turned up enough exceptions that Morgan began to doubt the validity of the laws. One day in 1910, however, he found a single male fly with white eyes instead of the standard red. Morgan bred the white-eyed male with a red-eyed female, and the first-generation offspring were all redeyed, suggesting that being white-eyed was a Mendelian recessive factor. He then bred the first-generation flies among themselves, and those in the second generation were red-eyed and white-eyed in a three-to-one ratio,
Thomas Hunt Morgan. (The Nobel Foundation)
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory
Thomas Hunt Morgan’s Experimental Work with Fruit Flies A.
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Morgan’s experiments revealed such results as the following: A. A red-eyed female is crossed with a white-eyed male. The red-eyed progeny interbreed to produce offspring in a ratio of ¾ to ¼. All the white-eyed flies are male. B. A white-eyed male is crossed with its red-eyed daughter, giving red-eyed and white-eyed males and females in equal proportions. (Electronic Illustrators Group)
appearing to confirm that white eyes were Mendelian recessive. Morgan noted that all the white-eyed flies were males. He had discovered sex-limited heredity. The Mendelian factor, or gene, that determined white eyes was located on the same chromosome as the gene that determined male sex, or, as it turned out, on the male chromosome. Chromosomes—which appear as stringlike structures within cells—had been discovered by cell researchers in the 1850’s. Scientists had theorized, without much hard evidence, that they were involved in heredity. Mendelian theory originally had nothing to do with chromosomes (Mendel did not know about chromosomes). By the first decade of the twentieth century, when Mendelian chromosome theories had been suggested, again without much hard evidence, Morgan had considered such theories and rejected them. Meanwhile, researchers had discovered an odd-shaped chromosome (all other chromosomes occurred in similarly shaped pairs) that seemed to be related to male sex (now called the Y chromosome). The discovery of sex-limited heredity revealed the association of Mendelian genes with chromosomes and the function of chromosomes in heredity.
Following the discovery of sex-limited heredity, Morgan saw that a concerted effort would be required to expound fully the Mendelian chromosome theory, and he therefore enlisted a group of exceptional students to share the work in his so-called fly room. Calvin Blackman Bridges, Alfred H. Sturtevant, and Hermann Joseph Muller formed the nucleus of the group. From 1910 to 1915, Morgan and his team developed and perfected the concepts of linkage, in which various genes are found to be located on the same chromosome and the appearance of their associated characteristics in the offspring occur together, and crossing-over, in which paired chromosomes break and rejoin during meiosis. Crossing-over produces an effect contrary to that of linkage. That is, characteristics that would be expected to appear in the offspring because they are associated with genes on the same chromosome will not appear because during meiosis (when the paired chromosomes split apart, whereupon only half of the pair is conveyed to the new cell) part of the chromosome and the genes on that part are replaced by a portion of the paired chromosome. Using their understanding of linkage and crossingover, the team members were also able to create chromo649
Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory some maps, plotting the relative locations and distances of the genes on the chromosomes. That is, the occurrence of combinations and recombinations (the latter produced by crossing-over) of linked characteristics indicates the relative locations of the genes for those characteristics on the chromosome. The frequency of recombinations should be proportional to the distance between the genes for the recombined characteristics. The culmination of the work of Morgan’s team was the publication in 1915 of The Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity, coauthored by Morgan, Sturtevant, Muller, and Bridges. For the next twelve years, the strictly genetics studies were performed mainly by Sturtevant and Bridges and other team members, while Morgan returned to his previous areas of interest of embryology and evolution, pursuing connections between those areas and the new discoveries in genetics. Morgan also was occupied in publicizing the new views of heredity and their ramifications through publications and lectures. By the late 1920’s, Morgan was acknowledged as the world’s leading geneticist. In 1927, Robert Andrews Millikan was reorganizing the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena to make it one of the premier scientific schools in the country, and he asked Morgan to organize the Division of Biology. Morgan accepted and joined a staff that included physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and chemist Linus Pauling. In 1933, Morgan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (the first Nobel Prize in the field of genetics) for his work on hereditary research. Significance The discovery and demonstration that genes reside on chromosomes was the key to all further work in the area of genetics. Mendel, who in 1866 discovered genes, was extremely fortunate in the design of his experiments in that each of the characteristics he investigated in his pea plants happened to reside on a separate chromosome. This facilitated discovery of the Mendelian hereditary principles but made for experimental results that were rather tidy. When a larger number of characteristics is investigated, because of linkage of genes located on the same chromosome and crossing-over of chromosomes, the results are much more complicated and do not reveal the Mendelian pattern so clearly. This is what happened in Morgan’s early experiments. It was only through careful examination—using tweezers and magnifying glass— of generation after generation of the tiny Drosophila that Morgan began to discern the mechanism of inheritance. Although Morgan did not pursue medical studies, his 650
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 research laid the groundwork for all genetically based medical research. As the presenter of the Nobel Prize to Morgan stated, without Morgan’s work, “modern human genetics and also human eugenics would be impractical.” It is generally accepted that Mendel’s and Morgan’s discoveries are responsible for all subsequent advancement in the investigation and understanding of hereditary diseases. The darker side of genetics research is that it also laid the groundwork for Adolf Hitler’s iniquitous eugenics experiments and associated fantasies of racial purity. Morgan was always extremely distrustful of any such experiments on the human species, however. In his Nobel acceptance speech, he noted that through suitable breeding, geneticists were now able to produce populations of species of animals and plants that were free from hereditary defects. He went on to say, however, that it would not be advantageous to perform genetic experiments on humans, except to attempt to correct hereditary defects to improve human health. Morgan believed that any attempt to “purify” the human race would be improper. — John M. Foran Further Reading Allen, Garland E. Thomas Hunt Morgan: The Man and His Science. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1978. Scholarly yet readable biography of Morgan and exposition of his work. One of the most thorough works on Morgan available. Includes an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary works. Carlson, Elof Alex. The Gene: A Critical History. 1966. Reprint. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1989. Rather than a standard, comprehensive review of the subject, this book is thematic in outline. The chapter titled “The Drosophila Group: An Enigmatic Appraisal” provides Muller’s perspective on Morgan, which gives less credit to Morgan and more to his assistants for the ideas of the group after Morgan’s initial discoveries. Cummings, Michael. Human Heredity: Principles and Issues. 6th ed. Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 2002. This highly illustrated text aimed at nonscience students presents the complex topic of heredity clearly, without oversimplifying the concepts discussed. Also addresses the social, cultural, and ethical implications of the use of genetic technology. Dunn, L. C. A Short History of Genetics: The Development of Some of the Main Lines of Thought, 18641939. 1965. Reprint. Ames: Iowa State University
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Laboratory Press, 2001. Afirsthand view of the development of classical genetics by a major participant. Rather technical in approach. An interesting feature for a book in the area of heredity is an appendix on the intellectual pedigrees (presenting “genealogical” charts) of the scientists and philosophers involved in the development. Sturtevant, Alfred H., and G. W. Beadle. An Introduction to Genetics. 1939. Reprint. New York: Dover, 1962. This textbook on genetics from 1939 is useful as a historical document. Beadle was a Nobel Prize winner in 1958. See also: 1902: Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity; 1902: McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome; Dec., 1902: Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits; 1905: Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity; 1906: Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage; 1908: Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics; 1909: Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype”; Fall, 1911: Sturtevant Produces the First Chromosome Map.
January 11, 1908
Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from Mining Claims President Theodore Roosevelt used his executive authority to withdraw the Grand Canyon from mining claims, thus protecting it until Congress created the Grand Canyon National Park in 1919. Locale: Arizona Categories: Environmental issues; government and politics; natural resources Key Figures Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), chief of the U.S. Forest Service John Muir (1838-1914), American naturalist and wilderness preservationist Summary of Event President Theodore Roosevelt had long considered the “Canyon of the Colorado” to be the site of the most impressive scenery he had ever seen. In a personal letter in
1903, he described it as “beautiful and terrible and unearthly.” The Grand Canyon, he wrote, made him feel as if he were gazing at “a sunset of strange and awful splendor.” Roosevelt realized the need for greater conservation in the United States, and as soon as he became president, he began working toward that end. As early as his annual message to Congress in 1901, he emphasized the need for greater stewardship in the use of the expanses of the West. Roosevelt’s friendships with Gifford Pinchot, a man dedicated to the cause of conservation, and with John Muir, the famous Sierra Nevada naturalist, encouraged him to stress the preservation of the wilderness for posterity. Despite congressional opposition, Roosevelt worked continually to further the cause of conservation. In February, 1907, the Agricultural Appropriations Bill prohibited additional forest reserves in the six states of the Pacific Northwest. Before signing the bill, Roosevelt, by executive decree, established twenty-one new forest re651
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Press, 1991. Summarizes the general history of theories of heredity and gives a sense of the multifaceted nature of the search for the principles of genetics. Intended more for the specialist than for the general reader. Includes a glossary and a bibliography of both primary and secondary sources. Morgan, Thomas Hunt, Alfred H. Sturtevant, Hermann Joseph Muller, and Calvin Blackman Bridges. The Mechanism of Mendelian Heredity. Rev. ed. New York: Henry Holt, 1922. The classic text in which Morgan and his students describe their Drosophila research. Shine, Ian, and Sylvia Wrobel. Thomas Hunt Morgan: Pioneer of Genetics. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1976. This very readable biography and popular treatment of Morgan’s work focuses on his likable personality and contains many personal anecdotes. Covers Morgan’s interesting family history: His uncle was a Confederate Civil War hero, and his father, as U.S. consul to Italy, discarded protocol and fought at the side of Garibaldi. Sturtevant, Alfred H. A History of Genetics. 1965. Reprint. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor
Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from Mining Claims
Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from Mining Claims
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
and many of the men stayed on as guides or hotel keepers. Tents, a post In a famous speech delivered at the Grand Canyon on May 6, 1903, President office, stores, orchards, and a school Theodore Roosevelt exhorted Americans to preserve the Grand Canyon as a all appeared; civilization was comnatural wonder: ing to the canyon. The Santa Fe Railroad reached the canyon in 1901 and In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which, so far as I know, is automobiles in 1902. in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask In 1893, President Benjamin Haryou to do one thing in connection with it in your own interest and in the interest rison created the Grand Canyon Forof the country—to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is. est Reserve by proclamation, and in I was delighted to learn of the wisdom of the Santa Fe railroad people in de1906 Roosevelt proclaimed the area a ciding not to build their hotel on the brink of the canyon. I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel, or anything else, to game reserve. Soon thereafter, plans mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of were being made to build a railroad the canyon. through the Grand Canyon along the Leave it as it is. You can not improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, Colorado River. The Grand Canyon and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children, your Scenic Railway Company proposed a children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights twenty-five-mile train route only one which every American if he can travel at all should see. hundred feet from the canyon’s rim. We have gotten past the stage, my fellow-citizens, when we are to be parA tunnel was planned as well, along doned if we treat any part of our country as something to be skinned for two or with a proposed fifteen-hundred-foot three years for the use of the present generation, whether it is the forest, the elevator down to the river. It was water, the scenery. Whatever it is, handle it so that your children’s children will during the period when these things get the benefit of it. were being discussed, proposed, and planned that Roosevelt established Grand Canyon National Monument, serves, amounting to more than sixteen million acres, in effectively preventing that scale of development from the Pacific Northwest. Some complained that the federal marring of the natural beauty of the canyon. government had thus become an “alien landlord.” Later in 1908, President Roosevelt invited all of the A year earlier, Congress had passed the Antiquities state governors, his cabinet members, the U.S. Supreme Act, which authorized the president to declare federally Court justices, and leaders in science, education, and polowned historic landmarks, structures, and other objects itics to a conservation conference at the White House. of historic or scientific interest to be national monuThis conference focused the attention of the people of the ments. The law was designed to preserve artifacts and arUnited States on the need for serious conservation of chaeologically important sites, especially in the desert their natural resources. Gifford Pinchot was appointed Southwest. Roosevelt saw the absolute uniqueness of the head of a national commission to inventory the natural Grand Canyon, and, knowing how slowly Congress usuresources of the United States. ally moved to pass laws creating national parks, in 1908 he used the Antiquities Act as the means of preserving it. Significance He stated his hope that nothing would ever “mar the wonThe struggle for conservation in the United States at the derful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beginning of the twentieth century took place in the beauty of the canyon,” and he counseled Americans to midst of a period of dynamic development. Conserva“keep it for your children, your children’s children, and tionists were quick to point out that they were not against for all who come after you.” development and constructive use of natural resources; Roosevelt established Grand Canyon National Monurather, they were against the reckless exploitation of ment on January 11, 1908. As early as 1882, bills had those resources. Pinchot wrote in 1910 that the first great been introduced in Congress to establish a Grand Canyon principle of conservation is development. He believed national park, but they did not become law. Tourists were that people should preserve resources for future generabeginning to visit the area by horse, buggy, and stagetions, but they should also make use of the resources coach. Prospectors arrived with their burros and built available to them. Roosevelt agreed with that concept. trails, bridges, and trams. The mines were not profitable, John Muir’s emphasis was on preservation of the pris-
“Leave it as it is . . .”
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Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. 1961. Reprint. Newtown, Conn.: American Political Biography Press, 1997. One of the best single-volume biographies of Roosevelt, covering all aspects of his career, including his interest in nature and conservation. Hays, Samuel P. Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency. 1959. Reprint. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999. Seminal study of the early history of conservation in the United States. The author argues that most early conservationists were dedicated to efficient use of natural resources rather than to preservation as an end in itself. Nash, Roderick Frazier. Wilderness and the American Mind. 4th ed. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001. Intellectual history of Americans’ relationship with the wilderness. Begins with the earliest days of European contact. Sutton, Ann, and Myron Sutton. The Wilderness World of the Grand Canyon: “Leave It as It Is.” Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1971. Descriptions of the beauty and physical characteristics of the Grand Canyon, with an overview of its history and climate. Relates tales of adventure in the canyon. Wallace, Robert. The Grand Canyon. New York: TimeLife Books, 1985. Remarkable photography enhances this description of the canyon. Discusses the geology, history, and flora and fauna of the canyon. Wiley, Farida A., ed. Theodore Roosevelt’s America: Selections from the Writings of the Oyster Bay Naturalist. New York: Devin-Adair, 1955. Insights into Roosevelt’s thinking from his own writings and from essays by people who knew him. Emphasizes conservation themes. See also: May, 1903: Roosevelt and Muir Visit Yosemite; Aug. 25, 1916: National Park Service Is Created; Feb. 26, 1917: Mount McKinley National Park Is Created; May, 1927: Indiana Dunes Are Preserved as a State Park; Feb. 4, 1936: Darling Founds the National Wildlife Federation; Jan., 1937-Feb., 1940: Adams Lobbies Congress to Preserve Kings Canyon; 1938: John Muir Trail Is Completed.
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tine wonder of the untouched wilderness. He envisioned people “sauntering in rosiny pinewoods or in gentian meadows, brushing through chaparral, bending down and parting sweet, flowery sprays; tracing rivers to their sources . . . and rejoicing in deep, long-drawn breaths of pure wildness.” Protecting the Grand Canyon was part of that vision of preservation. The 43 million acres designated as forest reserves by U.S. presidents Harrison, Cleveland, and Roosevelt represented the beginning of the national forest system. At first, the forest reserves were managed by the General Land Office of the Department of the Interior. In 1905, the Forest Service was formed within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and that agency took over the job of managing the forest reserves. Pinchot was appointed to head the Forest Service, which he did until 1910. The responsibility for administration of the Grand Canyon was in the hands of the Forest Service because the 800,000 acres of the Grand Canyon National Monument fell within the Coconino National Forest. The National Park Service was established on August 25, 1916, and President Woodrow Wilson signed the law that established Grand Canyon National Park on February 26, 1919. The Grand Canyon would have been immeasurably changed had it not been for the efforts of Harrison, Roosevelt, Pinchot, Muir, and other conservationists who expended vast amounts of energy to save the area from commercialization. Roosevelt’s actions also established historical precedents that made it easier for later conservationist-minded presidents to preserve part of the nation’s natural heritage for those yet to be born. — William H. Burnside Further Reading Dolan, Edward F. The American Wilderness and Its Future: Conservation Versus Use. New York: Franklin Watts, 1992. Tries to balance the need for conservation with the need to use natural resources. Topics include replanting of forests, soil conservation, and the wise use of minerals. Discusses the roles of the National Park Service, the Forest Service, and other government agencies. Harbaugh, William H. Power and Responsibility: The
Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from Mining Claims
The Ghost Sonata Influences Modern Theater and Drama
January 21, 1908 THE GHOST SONATA
Influences Modern Theater and Drama
August Strindberg’s The Ghost Sonata was a critical and commercial failure when first produced, but the play was later recognized as a masterpiece and had a strong effect on the development of modern drama. Locale: Stockholm, Sweden Category: Theater Key Figures August Strindberg (1849-1912), Swedish novelist and playwright August Falck (1882-1938), Swedish actor and director Summary of Event In 1907, the year in which he wrote and published his play Spöksonaten (The Ghost Sonata, 1916), fifty-eightyear-old August Strindberg was the preeminent Scandinavian dramatist alive; Henrik Ibsen had died the previous year. Strindberg’s plays, like Ibsen’s, had been recognized (although not unequivocally) as masterpieces by critics, but they were far from receiving equitable treatment in the theater. His early, fairly realistic plays had been produced with some success mostly in other countries—including Denmark, France, and Germany—but the plays he composed in the highly productive phase following his “Inferno” period (a period of mental breakdown between 1894 and 1897) were both more personal and theatrically more challenging. Till Damaskus, forsta delen (pb. 1898; To Damascus I, 1913) had only one (unsatisfactory) staging in 1900, and the seminal Ett drömspel (pb. 1902; A Dream Play, 1912), which was considered unstageable, was not produced until 1907. Inspired by a European movement toward smaller, more intimate playing spaces that had begun with André Antoine’s Théâtre Libre in Paris in 1887 and culminated in the opening of Max Reinhardt’s Kammerspiele (chamber theater) in Berlin in 1906, Strindberg was searching for a way to produce his plays independently. He began to develop a form of drama suited to such a confined environment: the chamber play. At the same time, the young actor August Falck had formed a touring company and given Strindberg’s controversial Fröken Julie (pb. 1888; Miss Julie, 1912) its first successful Swedish production. When he brought the production to Stockholm, Falck discussed with Strindberg the possibility of creating a small theater dedicated to the playwright’s work. 654
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In late 1907, the plans for the Intimate Theater began to take shape. Falck rented a tiny space that had to be altered extensively. The theater was outfitted with 161 seats in fifteen rows and had a stage that measured approximately thirteen by twenty feet. The interior was appealingly decorated (with a large bust of Strindberg in the foyer), and the stage was framed by reproductions of Arnold Böcklin’s pictures The Island of the Living and The Island of the Dead, the latter of which would become the final image of The Ghost Sonata. Strindberg stipulated (against the conventions of the time) that the theater would have no bar and allow no smoking, that performances were to last less than two hours, and that the texts of plays performed were to be on sale at the theater. The theater’s original company was made up of about twenty actors, among them Anna Flygare, Manda Björling, and Helge Wahlgren (who played the lead role of the student in the production of The Ghost Sonata). The actors, although excited about their association with Sweden’s most famous author, were young and relatively inexperienced, as was Falck. The Intimate Theater, the first small theater to concentrate exclusively on the works of one playwright, opened on November 26, 1907, with a production of Strindberg’s chamber play Pelikanen (pb. 1907; The Pelican, 1962). The immediate response was less than enthusiastic, and Falck had to substitute a revival of Miss Julie when two other chamber plays were also ill received. On January 21, 1908, the Intimate Theater first presented The Ghost Sonata. Again, critics were baffled by the play, which they found highly eccentric and even suspected of being a practical joke on Strindberg’s part. A critical and commercial failure, it lasted a mere fourteen performances and was not staged again until 1916, when Max Reinhardt proved, with a boldly expressionistic production in Berlin, that the play was not only highly theatrical but also one of the key plays of the modern canon. In The Ghost Sonata, a young student, Arkenholz, who is gifted with “second sight” and is able to see apparitions hidden to others, falls in love from afar with a young lady named Adèle, who is the daughter of a respected colonel and who lives in a house in Stockholm. (The play is set in front of and inside two rooms of this house.) An old man, Hummel, wins the young man’s confidence and arranges his invitation to a supper at the colonel’s house, but it soon becomes clear that the inhabitants of the house—the colonel, an old spinster, a
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
August Strindberg. (Courtesy, D.C. Public Library)
student into the pain and mystery of human existence and emphasizes Strindberg’s belief in the necessary reconciliation between life and death through the shedding of all illusions and guilty secrets. Strindberg wrote The Ghost Sonata rapidly, in about two weeks in March of 1907. It is designated as “opus three” of the chamber plays, which he consciously modeled on Ludwig van Beethoven’s sonatas; The Ghost Sonata, accordingly, follows Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 17 in D Minor. Indeed, the play’s three movements can be shown to possess a definite likeness, in mood, tempo, and thematic treatment, to the sonata scheme of exposition, execution, repetition, and coda. Following a musical logic and a kind of dreamlike associative technique liberated Strindberg from the customary considerations of intrigue, psychology, and plot, and he created a very complex and idiosyncratic texture of experience. Significance The failure of The Ghost Sonata in its first outing convinced directors that the play was unstageable. In spite of Reinhardt’s demonstrative rehabilitation of the work on that score, few professional productions have been undertaken since, and very few successful ones. Despite its less-than-illustrious production history, The Ghost Sonata is one of the first truly modern dramas, and perhaps the quintessential modern play. It is not by chance coincident with other developments that shaped modernity: Sigmund Freud’s analysis of dreams and the unconscious, Pablo Picasso’s experiments with cubism, and Albert Einstein’s postulates for the general theory of relativity. In The Ghost Sonata, a host of unconscious motivations are brought to light and a kind of causal and temporal relativity that could be called “cubist” is at work. Strindberg had put it thus in his Öppna brev till Intima Teatern (1911-1912; Open Letters to the Intimate Theater, 1959): “No predetermined form is to limit the author, because the theme determines the form.” This statement nonchalantly refuted a century of well-made plays and opened the path for a drama of great formal freedom, a drama of images, moods, and symbols that follows a spiritual rather than an external pattern of truth. What is more, the chamber plays seemed to anticipate the development of film long before it was recognized as a separate form or as an art. The Ghost Sonata is genuinely cinematic in its structure; acts 2 and 3 are set up like reverse-angle shots of each other, and the short, pointed scenes seem to anticipate film narrative. Accordingly, the Swedish film and theater director Ingmar Bergman has characterized The Ghost Sonata as the greatest 655
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mummy who sits in a closet and babbles like a parrot, a recently dead consul, a manservant, and others—are mutually tied together by a web of hypocrisy and lies: They are “ghosts” of their own pasts. As Hummel imposes himself on their “ghost supper” and proceeds to “strip” them of their self-deceptions, he himself is suddenly revealed to be not the benevolent crusader for truth he has pretended to be but instead a kind of monster, bloodsucking and murderous. Faced with his guilt, he is forced to commit suicide. In the final scene, Adèle and the student share a few moments of happiness, but they are interrupted by a vampiristic cook, who torments the family by depriving them of nourishment. Adèle finally succumbs to an illness, which is a reflection of the corruption surrounding her; as the student prays for her, she dies. The final image is of Böcklin’s Island of the Dead. The Ghost Sonata rests on a syncretistic philosophy informed by the mystical theology of Emanuel Swedenborg (who saw humans as passing through a series of unmaskings or “vastations” after death) but also by the concepts of Buddhism, particularly maya (the veil of illusion that masks life) and samsara (the wheel of eternal rebirth). This “spiritual” action of the play initiates the
The Ghost Sonata Influences Modern Theater and Drama
The Ghost Sonata Influences Modern Theater and Drama Swedish play and one of the ten most important plays in dramatic literature; he himself has directed it three times. Together with other Strindberg plays, such as To Damascus I and A Dream Play, The Ghost Sonata became a decisive precedent for the German expressionist theater movement between 1910 and 1925. The play’s subjective viewpoint, episodic structure, and concern with spiritual redemption closely align it with plays by Oskar Kokoschka, Georg Kaiser, and Ernst Toller. In its unmediated mixture of the trivial and the supernatural, the realistic and the fantastic, however, The Ghost Sonata also points toward the Surrealist theater (for example, the work of Guillaume Apollinaire). The great theater theorist and visionary Antonin Artaud considered The Ghost Sonata one of the few plays worthy of being produced at his short-lived Théâtre Alfred Jarry. In the United States, Strindberg’s influence was unexpectedly profound. Eugene O’Neill was so impressed with Strindberg that many of his early plays are virtual paraphrases of Strindberg’s work; some of his later famous plays, such as The Emperor Jones (pr. 1920) and Desire Under the Elms (pr. 1924), are Strindbergian in tone or topic. O’Neill initiated the first American production of The Ghost Sonata in New York at the Provincetown Playhouse in 1924. He declared Strindberg “among the most modern of moderns,” and in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1936, he credited Strindberg with inspiring his dramatic career. Even the plays of Tennessee Williams reflect Strindberg’s heritage more than Ibsen’s; Edward Albee’s work, too, is deeply indebted to Strindberg. Although it may be said (as Martin Esslin has argued) that The Ghost Sonata represents a “direct source” for the plays of the Theater of the Absurd, its metaphysical conclusion is altogether different. Read carefully, the play is not a manifesto of existential hopelessness and despair but rather an affirmation of a moral order and of spiritual transcendence. The two playwrights associated most closely with the Theater of the Absurd, Eugène Ionesco and Samuel Beckett, denied any influence from Strindberg. Strindberg, however, was highly esteemed by Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, two French authors who were the originators of the existentialist philosophy that nurtured the Theater of the Absurd; Camus and Sartre, in fact, were founders of a Strindberg society. Yet it is in Harold Pinter’s drama, where the irrational and inexplicable lurk under the guise of the realistic, that one can locate the same insecurities of language and truth, the same dread notion that reality itself is inaccessible to casual perception, as one finds in Strindberg. In spite of all overt and implied influence, The Ghost 656
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Sonata as such stands alone. Strindberg’s vision was too personal, his style and voice too distinctive, to find many direct imitators, yet modern drama is unthinkable without The Ghost Sonata. —Ralf Erik Remshardt Further Reading Bryant-Bertail, Sarah. “The Tower of Babel: Space and Movement in The Ghost Sonata.” In Strindberg’s Dramaturgy, edited by Göran Stockenström. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988. BryantBertail’s is the standout article among several in this scholarly collection that address the play. Not intended for the casual reader, but the article repays the effort needed to read it. Offers clear and persuasive insight into the sign systems and hidden meanings at work in The Ghost Sonata. Marker, Frederick J., and Lise-Lone Marker. Strindberg and Modernist Theatre: Post-Inferno Drama on the Stage. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Detailed critical analysis of the stagings of Strindberg’s major works written after his “Inferno” period. Meyer, Michael. Strindberg. New York: Random House, 1985. By far the most carefully researched and exhaustive of all Strindberg biographies; considered the authoritative narrative of his life. Based largely on Strindberg’s voluminous output of letters, which are quoted at length. Sticks to facts and avoids speculation. Illustrations are sparse but sufficient; includes a brief bibliography. Morgan, Margery. August Strindberg. New York: Grove Press, 1985. A brief but competent overview of Strindberg’s life and work, best suited as introductory reading for those unfamiliar with him. Contains a solid ten-page discussion of The Ghost Sonata, its motifs, and its meanings. A good place to start before going on to the Meyer biography. Rothwell, Brian. “The Chamber Plays.” In Strindberg: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Otto Reinert. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971. One of the quintessential essays on all four of Strindberg’s chamber plays; puts The Ghost Sonata into the context of its less successful (but equally interesting) “sister” plays. Analyzes the themes of guilt and redemption and the mystic thinking that pervades Strindberg’s late plays. Stockenström, Göran. “’Journey from the Isle of Life to the Isle of Death’: The Idea of Reconciliation in The Ghost Sonata.” Scandinavian Studies 50 (Spring, 1978): 133-149. Made somewhat less than accessible
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Törnqvist, Egil. Strindbergian Drama: Themes and Structure. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1982. Meticulous, scholarly analysis of themes and references in Strindberg’s work; succeeds in decoding the complex structure of The Ghost Sonata and making sense of some of its darker passages. A very interesting chapter compares and evaluates the nine existing translations of The Ghost Sonata, an important consideration for English-language readers. _______. Strindberg’s “Ghost Sonata.” Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2000. Examines various English translations of the play and then focuses on particularly memorable stagings by Reinhardt, Bergman, and others as well as radio and television productions. Includes a rehearsal diary from Bergman’s 1973 staging of the play and an annotated list of productions. See also: 1905: Baker Establishes the 47 Workshop at Harvard; Nov. 24, 1905: Reinhardt Becomes Director of the Deutsches Theater; May 10, 1921: Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author Premieres; 1929-1930: The Bedbug and The Bathhouse Exemplify Revolutionary Theater.
January 27, 1908
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows Yellow-Dog Contracts In Adair v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a provision of the 1898 Erdman Act that prohibited “yellow-dog” labor contracts. Also known as: Adair v. United States Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Business and labor; laws, acts, and legal history Key Figures Constantine Jacob Erdman (1846-1911), U.S. congressman from Pennsylvania, 1893-1897 John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911), associate justice of the United States, 1877-1911 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935), associate justice of the United States, 1902-1932 Joseph McKenna (1843-1926), associate justice of the United States, 1898-1925 Summary of Event To understand the importance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Adair v. United States for the evolution
of labor relations, one must understand the nature of the employment relationship examined in that case. “Yellowdog contracts” were agreements between employers and prospective employees that the employees did not belong to and would not join any labor union. Through such agreements, employers were able to make the promise not to join a union a condition of employment, effectively barring unions from the workplace. These contracts might be arrived at individually between a worker and an employer, or they might take the form of collective agreements between employers and groups of workers. The earliest collective agreements, in the printing trades in 1795 and in the iron industry in 1866, were little more than wage scales, but over time the subject matter of agreements extended to cover other aspects of the employer-employee relationship, including provisions precluding union membership and union organizing activity. Yellow-dog contracts increased in frequency in response to the growing use of the strike by unions in the railroad industry, use that culminated in the Pullman Strike of 1894, one of the most violent strikes of the period. The Erdman Act of 1898 (named for its principal 657
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only by the fact that the text is quoted in the Swedish original, this excellent essay provides a very convincing explanation of the religious and metaphysical motifs in The Ghost Sonata and gives an interpretation of the “spiritual” action of the play. Requires familiarity with the text. Strindberg, August. The Ghost Sonata. In Selected Plays. Translated by Evert Sprinchorn. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986. One of several translations of The Ghost Sonata, Sprinchorn’s is both readily available and quite reliable—although the tone is perhaps too often colloquial, or Americanized, to satisfy philologists. _______. Open Letters to the Intimate Theater. Translated by Walter Johnson. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1966. These letters, memoranda that Strindberg sent to August Falck and the actors at the Intimate Theater because he disliked attending rehearsals, represent the author’s thinking on matters of acting, theater, and drama (his own and others) during the period of the chamber plays. Essential clues to Strindberg’s mind, art, and method.
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows Yellow-Dog Contracts
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows Yellow-Dog Contracts sponsor, Congressman Constantine Jacob Erdman of Pennsylvania) attempted to strengthen the ability of employers and employees to resolve conflicts between themselves, but it also provided for federal mediation and conciliation. It outlawed discrimination against employees based on union membership, in effect rendering yellow-dog contracts illegal. In addition, many states passed legislation making it illegal for an employer to force workers to agree not to join a union as a condition of employment. These issues came to the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court in October, 1907, when Adair v. United States was argued. William Adair was a supervisor for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad when O. B. Coppage, a member of the Order of Locomotive Firemen, was discharged. The only apparent reason for the discharge was Coppage’s union membership. In a ruling issued on January 27, 1908, the Supreme Court affirmed the discharge of Coppage. The Court, in the majority opinion written by John Marshall Harlan, concluded that the prohibition of yellow-dog contracts was a violation of the property right of the employer to hire and fire, a right protected by the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. Adair had a responsibility to prescribe conditions of employment that were in the best interests of his business. As long as those conditions were not injurious to the public interest, the Court ruled, legislation should not interfere with individual freedom. The Court also made two additional points. First, there had been no stated or implied length of employment agreed to between the employer and the employee, so that the dismissal was not a breach of contract. In addition, although Congress had the right to regulate interstate commerce, that right extended only to those aspects of the employer-employee relation that affected interstate commerce. Membership in a labor organization had nothing substantive to do with how commerce was conducted or with the ability of workers to perform their function. Congress did not have the right to prescribe conditions of union membership, as such a prescription did not fall within its constitutional powers to regulate commerce among the states. In the same way that a worker may choose whether to accept a job, an employer has a reciprocal right to specify the terms and conditions of employment. The Court’s decision was a significant blow against unions on two fronts. First, it made organizing workers more difficult, because the very fact of union membership might lead to dismissal. Second, it greatly diminished the bargaining power of the unions by lessening the 658
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 effectiveness of strikes. Striking workers could be replaced with workers who would agree not to join the union. In workplaces that were unionized, the employer could, by precipitating a strike, effectively eliminate the union by replacing the striking union workers with nonunion workers. Two justices wrote dissenting opinions in Adair v. United States. Joseph McKenna expressed the view that the intent of the Erdman Act was to resolve industrial conflict in the workplace. This end could be served better if the employer dealt with members of a labor organization rather than with separate individuals. The potential gains to society from the law thus overrode any losses of individual freedom to the employer. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., presented the second dissenting opinion. He saw the outlawing of yellow-dog contracts as a means of protecting the worker, usually the weaker party in an employment contract, from the potentially discriminatory exercise of power by the employer. The rights of the employer are not without bound, and the interest of the public welfare takes precedence over that of the employer. Foreshadowing future events, Holmes concluded that even if the only outcome of the Erdman Act was to promote the growth of organized labor in railroads, that would be sufficient justification for passage. A strong union was in the best interests of the individual workers, the railroad industry, and society as a whole. In 1915, the Court found illegal a state statute prohibiting yellow-dog contracts, in Coppage v. Kansas. In this case, the Court held that the state statute violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although the individual had the right to join or not join a union, the employer was not obligated to hire or to continue to employ a union member. In the same way that the individual does not have the right to join the union without the consent of the union organization, the individual does not have the right to be employed without the consent of the employer. Significance In the early 1900’s, the United States faced a question that would shape the nation’s political and social structure. The issue was whether workers should have the right to bargain collectively. In the laissez-faire world of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, employers bargained individually with workers. The rights of the employer were relatively unbounded, although workers did have access to the court system when they believed they had been wronged. The technological advances that accompanied the Industrial Revolution brought workers
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U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows Yellow-Dog Contracts
together in factories, where the same terms and conditions of employment affected many people. These common concerns inevitably led to collective mechanisms to resolve conflicts with employers. Previously, if conditions in the workplace were unacceptable, an employee’s main recourse was to quit; now there was the possibility of groups of employees having a voice. Unions offered the possibility of affecting the terms and conditions of employment, and the threat of the strike gave unions bargaining power. Social acceptance of the right of unions to bargain collectively implied a jurisprudence in the workplace separate from that in the courts. Although the right of the employer to bargain with individual employees over the preconditions of employment may be acceptable in the abstract, it may not hold universally. In other words, private contracting may not be in the public’s best interest because it denies workers the right to a voice; it denies them democracy in the workplace. The yellow-dog contract might be in the interests of the employer and possibly even of the worker directly involved, but it is not in the best interests of society. Adair v. United States set the stage for a dramatic change in legislation concerning unions. The yellow-dog contract served as an effective tool for employers to keep out unions and, in the event of a strike, to replace union workers with workers who promised not to join a union. The idea of “employment at the will of the employer,” however, was being slowly circumscribed. The majority and dissenting opinions in this case, especially that of Holmes, highlight the complexity of the issue. The right to bargain over the terms and conditions of employment was assured by the Fifth Amendment. In that context, yellow-dog contracts can be viewed in two quite different ways. On one hand, their prohibition by Congress ensured that employers, assumed to have the greater power in the bargaining context, would not be allowed to use that power to exploit an individual worker and indirectly all workers or
The ADAIR V. UNITED STATES Ruling In the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Adair v. United States, Justice John Marshall Harlan explained why “yellow-dog” labor contracts had to be permitted:
Source: U.S. Supreme Court, Adair v. United States, 208 U.S. 161 (1908).
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While, as already suggested, the right of liberty and property guaranteed by the Constitution against deprivation without due process of law is subject to such reasonable restraints as the common good or the general welfare may require, it is not within the functions of government— at least, in the absence of contract between the parties—to compel any person, in the course of his business and against his will, to accept or retain the personal services of another, or to compel any person, against his will, to perform personal services for another. The right of a person to sell his labor upon such terms as he deems proper is, in its essence, the same as the right of the purchaser of labor to prescribe the conditions upon which he will accept such labor from the person offering to sell it. So the right of the employee to quit the service of the employer, for whatever reason, is the same as the right of the employer, for whatever reason, to dispense with the services of such employee. It was the legal right of the defendant, Adair—however unwise such a course might have been—to discharge Coppage because of his being a member of a labor organization, as it was the legal right of Coppage, if he saw fit to do so—however unwise such a course on his part might have been—to quit the service in which he was engaged, because the defendant employed some persons who were not members of a labor organization. In all such particulars the employer and the employee have equality of right, and any legislation that disturbs that equality is an arbitrary interference with the liberty of contract which no government can legally justify in a free land. These views find support in adjudged cases, some of which are cited in the margin. Of course, if the parties by contract fixed the period of service, and prescribed the conditions upon which the contract may be terminated, such contract would control the rights of the parties as between themselves, and for any violation of those provisions the party wronged would have his appropriate civil action. And it may be—but upon that point we express no opinion—that, in the case of a labor contract between an employer engaged in interstate commerce and his employee, Congress could make it a crime for either party, without sufficient or just excuse or notice, to disregard the terms of such contract or to refuse to perform it. In the absence, however, of a valid contract between the parties controlling their conduct towards each other and fixing a period of service, it cannot be, we repeat, that an employer is under any legal obligation, against his will, to retain an employee in his personal service any more than an employee . . . can be compelled, against his will, to remain in the personal service of another. So far as this record discloses the facts the defendant, who seemed to have authority in the premises, did not agree to keep Coppage in service for any particular time, nor did Coppage agree to remain in such service a moment longer than he chose. The latter was at liberty to quit the service without assigning any reason for his leaving. And the defendant was at liberty, in his discretion, to discharge Coppage from service without giving any reason for so doing.
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows Yellow-Dog Contracts the labor movement. Given that the prohibition of union membership was not essential to the performance of the job and did not alter the worker’s productivity, it should not be permitted and in fact was discriminatory because it was unrelated to job performance. Yellow-dog contracts would be illegal because they were coercive on the part of the employer or because such subject matter was beyond the scope of legitimate contracts. The alternative view was that Congress was interfering with the rights of individuals to engage in potentially mutually advantageous trades. The private property rights of the employer made union membership a legitimate matter for contracting, and the right of the prospective employee to refuse the job offer precluded coercion. This right of the employer was affirmed in the 1917 U.S. Supreme Court case of Hitchman Coal and Coke Company v. Mitchell. A yellow-dog contract was in effect when union agents attempted to organize the employees and become their exclusive bargaining agent. The Court determined that the employer could seek injunctive relief against the union. Justice Mahlon Pitney asserted that the right of the employer to make union membership a condition of employment is as sacrosanct as the right of the employee to join the union and that these rights derive from the constitutional rights of private property and individual freedom. In another 1917 case, Eagle Glass & Manufacturing Company v. Rowe, the Court ruled that the employer could enjoin the officers and members of the union from conspiring to induce employees to violate such a preemployment contract. At the federal level, the change in public attitude toward unions is symbolized by the Railway Labor Act of 1926, which forbade the use of yellow-dog contracts by employers and rendered invalid any such existing contracts. The constitutionality of the act was affirmed in the 1930 Supreme Court case of Texas & N.O.R. Company v. Brotherhood of Railway & Steamship Clerks. The Court sustained a decision of a lower court that workers discharged because of union membership must be reinstated. The Court reconciled its decision in this case with those in Adair v. United States and related cases by making a subtle distinction. The employer’s right to hire whom it wanted was not being interfered with. The employees, however, had a right to be represented by individuals of their own choosing. The law was not limiting the right of the employer; rather, it was ensuring the right of employees to choose their own representatives. The employer does not have a constitutional right to limit the right of workers to choose their representatives. The Court’s opinion in Adair v. United States stated 660
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 that the worker and the employer were equal parties in the contracting process, that unions inhibited individual rights, and that unions were in some cases conspiracies in restraint of trade that could be enjoined. These legal ramifications were changed by the Norris-La Guardia Act (the Anti-Injunction Act) of 1932. The main focus of the act was to prevent employers from seeking injunctive relief against striking unions, but it also acknowledged the helplessness of individual workers in bargaining with employers. Section 3 of the Norris-La Guardia Act made yellow-dog contracts nonenforceable and not subject to injunctive relief. The prohibition of the use of the injunction was extended to railroads the next year. In 1933, Congress amended the Bankruptcy Act to prevent railroad carriers in bankruptcy from using yellow-dog contracts to circumvent unions. This prohibition was extended and reinforced in the Emergency Railroad Transportation Act of 1933 and in the 1934 amendments to the Railway Labor Act. The change in the public’s attitude toward unions from one of tolerance to one of encouragement culminated in the passage of the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) in 1935. The opinions articulated in Adair v. United States defined the terms in the debate concerning the role of organized labor in the American economy. The Court’s decision represents one of the last times the Court has ruled that the rights of the employer to freedom and to private property dominate the rights of the worker. In Adair v. United States, the Court saw the role of the union as negatively affecting private rights without consideration of the public good. Implicit was the eighteenth century view that the private good is compatible with the social good. Holmes challenged this attitude of individual rights in his minority opinion, in which he stated that in the interest of the public good and the collective social well-being, the unilateral right of the employer must be limited. The unrestricted right of the employer limits the right of the employee and is not in the best interests of society. Once this view was accepted, the institution of unionism could no longer be seen as an obstructionist conspiracy contrary to the Constitution. Unions instead became recognized as vehicles to safeguard individual rights. — John F. O’Connell Further Reading Commerce Clearing House. Labor Law Course. 24th ed. New York: Author, 1976. A complete summary of the law governing labor relations. Both topic and legal case indexes are provided. Major legislation and court opinions are presented and cross-referenced.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Herman, E. Edward, and Gordon S. Skinner. Labor Law: Cases, Text, and Legislation. New York: Random House, 1972. An introduction to labor law. Each major topic is summarized. The principal legislation is presented, and the most important legal cases are excerpted. Myers, A. Howard, and David P. Twomey. Labor Law and Legislation. 5th ed. Cincinnati: South-Western, 1975. Uses both essays and legal cases to trace the evolution of societal views on labor relations, beginning with British common law.
Danbury Hatters Decision Constrains Secondary Boycotts Taft, Phillip. Organized Labor in American History. New York: Harper & Row, 1964. One of the best descriptions of the role of unions in the United States prior to 1960. Analyzes the influence of yellow-dog contracts and labor legislation on union growth. See also: Apr. 17, 1905: U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law; Oct. 15, 1914: Labor Unions Win Exemption from Antitrust Laws; May 20, 1926: Railway Labor Act Provides for Mediation of Labor Disputes; Mar. 23, 1932: Norris-La Guardia Act Strengthens Labor Organizations. 1908
February 3, 1908
Danbury Hatters Decision Constrains Secondary Boycotts The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision subjecting a trade union’s secondary boycott to prosecution under the Sherman Antitrust Act imperiled the existence of all labor unions. Also known as: Loewe v. Lawlor Locale: Danbury, Connecticut; Washington, D.C. Categories: Business and labor; laws, acts, and legal history Key Figures Melville W. Fuller (1833-1910), chief justice of the United States, 1888-1910 Samuel Gompers (1850-1924), president of the American Federation of Labor William Howard Taft (1857-1930), chief justice of the United States, 1921-1930 Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Summary of Event On February 3, 1908, Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, a lifelong Democrat and President Grover Cleveland’s appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court, delivered the Court’s unanimous opinion in the case of Loewe v. Lawlor, soon dubbed the Danbury Hatters case. Along with all other American labor leaders, Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), the nation’s largest trade union, awaited the Court’s ruling with apprehension. Organized labor was under widespread assault from the business community and had already suffered reversals in several lower federal court rulings. Union leaders consequently anticipated that any Supreme Court decision would be significant. The Danbury
Hatters ruling was epochal, but it also realized all of their fears. The Court declared illegal a secondary boycott mounted by the Danbury, Connecticut, United Hatters of North America against nonunion hat manufacturers. The Court did so by bringing trade unions under provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. The Sherman Act was a response to public reactions against the proliferation of trusts and monopolies spawned by the unprecedented expansion of industrial and finance capitalism in the United States after 1880. In effect federalizing legislation previously enacted in many states, the Sherman Act sought to maintain competition in the marketplace by prosecuting conspiracies that were judged to be in restraint of trade or commerce. Until the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt, the act, appearing toothless, was seldom employed. Roosevelt sensationalized the act by launching and winning several major trust prosecutions, but during the act’s first eighteen years the Supreme Court limited its jurisdiction to cases involving business or industrial combinations. Never, until 1908, had the Court indicated that the act also applied to the country’s trade unions, although lower courts had invoked it to justify injunctions issued in the celebrated case involving labor leader Eugene V. Debs in 1895. Unions feared that if they were subjected to the Sherman Act and exposed to charges that they conspired to restrain trade, then the full gamut of trade union weaponry—propaganda, organizing campaigns, picketing, walkouts, strikes, and boycotts—could be cast aside as illegal. It was a reasonable presumption in these circumstances that the American organized labor movement faced extinction. The Danbury Hatters’ Union was interested in one 661
Danbury Hatters Decision Constrains Secondary Boycotts kind of restraint of trade. The union asserted jurisdiction over the country’s eighty-two major manufacturers of felt hats. By 1908, in some instances through collusion with manufacturers themselves, the Danbury Hatters had unionized seventy of these firms. In the course of trying to bring the closed shop—a workplace that hires only union members—to the holdout companies, the Hatters had initiated a series of strikes, one of them in 1901 against Dietrich E. Loewe’s Danbury hat factory. When the Loewe strike eventually failed, the union tried another tack. With additional assistance from the AFL, its affiliates, and a number of local unions, the Hatters called on members and the general public to boycott Loewe’s products, the bulk of which were shipped out of Connecticut to twenty-eight other states. The union branded Loewe’s firm as “unfair,” urging merchants and the public to cease purchasing Loewe hats. To lend substance to their campaign, the Hatters likewise threatened similar boycotts—called secondary boycotts—against dealers who refused to aid them in their fight against Loewe. The union’s nationwide boycott succeeded in reducing Loewe’s sales significantly. In 1903, having meanwhile secured the covert aid of the business-funded American Anti-Boycott Association, Loewe filed two suits against individual members of the Danbury Hatters’ Union, including Martin Lawlor. Filing suit against individuals rather than against the union was a legal innovation. Both suits sought redress for Loewe under the Sherman Antitrust Act. One claimed the triple damages the act allowed, amounting to $240,000. The other charged union members with engaging in a criminal common-law conspiracy to interfere, by means of their secondary boycott, with interstate commerce. Loewe claimed losses as a consequence of interference with his shipments of goods from as well as into Connecticut. This involvement of interstate commerce allowed the Court to find jurisdiction under the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution and authority to apply the Sherman Act. Whether the Sherman Act applied to organized labor had been debated since its enactment. Seven cases invoking the Sherman Act against labor, all prosecuted by railroad companies, had been heard by lower federal courts by 1895. It was in one of these cases that the Supreme Court found its precedent for doing likewise. It therefore accepted Loewe’s contention that the stoppage of his orders outside Connecticut, in addition to union interference with his ability to fill orders within the state, constituted a restraint of trade or commerce under the meaning 662
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 of section 1 of the Sherman Act. On this basis, the Court declared the Danbury Hatters’ boycott illegal while simultaneously awarding Loewe his damages. Secondary boycotts would remain illegal for the next six decades. Significance Controversial even in 1908, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to subject the Danbury Hatters’ Union to the Sherman Act has remained so among legal scholars. Few would deny the Court’s power to employ the act, but most would agree that in so doing the justices engaged in their own brand of legal artistry. The intent of Congress, as made clear in congressional discussions and debates, was that the Sherman Act be aimed at the practices of the then much-feared industrial combinations rather than at labor unions. Industrial combinations continued to be targeted by antitrust prosecutions throughout the twentieth century. It appears to most legal scholars that common-law prohibitions against restraint of trade and commerce were applied erroneously by the Court in the Danbury Hatters case. The language of the Sherman Act is broad, but legal authorities generally agree that the act’s phraseology was not intended by Congress to apply to interference with interstate commerce. In effect, the Court assumed virtual powers of legislation and in so doing exercised judicial interference with the development of the nation’s economic policy. Gompers and other labor leaders, shocked and dismayed by the decision, broke with their traditions of political nonpartisanship. After a series of national conferences, they decided to organize politically to reward politicians who favored them and punish those who did not. American labor leaders in this respect were borrowing from the actions of their British counterparts. Following the discriminatory Taff Vale Railway decision (like the Danbury ruling, it had subjected unions to charges of conspiracy and combination), British workers formed the Labour Representation Committee, which soon elected fifty members of Parliament. American labor found ample incentive to follow suit, as the Danbury Hatters decision came almost simultaneously with other foreboding judicial news. In 1905 alone, for example, the Massachusetts Supreme Court rendered an opinion that could have doomed the union shop; a Cincinnati, Ohio, court decision appeared to declare that employers had rights regarding workers similar to rights regarding property; the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the famous Lochner v. New York case that New York State’s legislative limits on hours of labor were illegal; and a judge in
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Congress confirmed the swing in attitude in favor of labor with the reforms embodied in the Norris-La Guardia Act of 1932 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. Continuing in heated legal and political debate, however, was the issue of whether the nation’s antitrust laws ought to apply to organized labor and, if so, in what ways. — Clifton K. Yearley Further Reading Foner, Philip S. The Policies and Practices of the American Federation of Labor 1900-1909. Vol. 3 in History of the Labor Movement in the United States. New York: International Press, 1964. Scholarly and substantive, with a strong prolabor bias. Provides excellent discussion of organized labor’s views of the Sherman Act as used by employers and the federal government. Extremely interesting and informative on the Danbury Hatters decision and its context. Extensive endnotes and splendid index. Gregory, Charles O. Labor and the Law. New York: W. W. Norton, 1946. Intelligently interpretive synthesis by a noted law professor. Good pithy reading with appropriate insertions of the author’s views on the Danbury Hatters case and related decisions involving applications of the Sherman Act to labor. Includes two appendixes, reference notes, a table of authorities (list of cases cited), and an index. A fine read not yet out of date on basic issues. Millis, Harry A., and Royal E. Montgomery. Organized Labor. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1945. Continues to stand the test of time. The authors were outstanding economists and public servants. Rich in overviews and detail. Excellent on the Danbury Hatters case and others under the Sherman Act. Abundant informative notes and fine index. Minda, Gary. Boycott in America: How Imagination and Ideology Shape the Legal Mind. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1999. Examines the history, legal interpretation, and understanding of boycotts in the United States, approaching the subject from the viewpoints of labor, antitrust, and constitutional law. Peritz, Rudolph J. R. Competition Policy in America: History, Rhetoric, Law. Rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Explores the influences on U.S. public policy of the concept of free competition. Discusses congressional debates, court opinions, and the work of economic, legal, and political scholars in this area. 663
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Chicago, Illinois, prevented peaceful picketing or any moral suasion on the part of Typographical Union strikers to bring nonunion workers into their fold. A little more than a week before ruling on Loewe v. Lawlor, the Supreme Court negated the Erdman Act of 1898 in its decision in Adair v. United States. The Adair decision allowed railroad companies to discriminate against their workers because of their union membership. Meanwhile, the nation’s courts continued employing blanket injunctions against labor’s use of its principal weapons: picketing, striking, propagandizing, and boycotting. President Roosevelt publicly proclaimed it unwise to inhibit the judiciary’s authority in this regard. Organized labor’s subsequent efforts and, just as important, the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson’s sweeping reform administration contributed to passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, hailed as labor’s Magna Carta. The Clayton Act was designed in part to amend the Sherman Act by acknowledging the right of unions to exist, with federal recognition of their additional right to picket or strike peacefully. Secondary boycotts remained illegal. Although union leadership hailed the Clayton Act as exempting unions from the force of the Sherman Act, the amending act changed little. The Supreme Court demonstrated this in 1921 in Duplex Printing Press Company v. Deering by confirming a lower court’s restraining order against Duplex strikers as well as by limiting the strike to Duplex’s Michigan plant, thereby condemning sympathetic strikes or threats of strikes or boycotts by unionists in New York State. Disappointing as the Danbury Hatters decision was to labor leaders, by the early 1920’s trade unions were established as one of the tenacious realities of industrial life. It is therefore of interest that a lifelong Republican and conservative former U.S. president, William Howard Taft, delivered an opinion as chief justice of the United States in the United Mine Workers v. Coronado Coal Company case of 1922. The decision offered labor distant hope by skirting allegations that a mine workers’ strike had so interfered with interstate commerce as to subject the union to the Sherman Act. Taft implicitly acknowledged that by the 1920’s nearly all union actions affected interstate commerce, and that to decide against unions on this basis would strip them entirely of their weaponry. This was not a viable course, either socially or politically. The Court’s determination that there had been only an indirect restraint of interstate commerce, restraint insufficient for the Court to apply the Sherman Act, strengthened the cause of labor, although the Court condemned use of the boycott.
Danbury Hatters Decision Constrains Secondary Boycotts
Geiger and Rutherford Develop a Radiation Counter Seager, Henry R., and Charles A. Gulick, Jr. Big Business: Economic Power in a Free Society. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1929. Authoritative and detailed account, excellent on applications of the Sherman Act. Notes, bibliography, and index are all extensive. Thorelli, Hans B. The Federal Antitrust Policy: Origination of an American Tradition. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955. One of the most detailed works on the subject. Best used selectively. Essential but dense reading that reflects confusions of antitrust policies themselves. Extensive notes, seven appendixes, exhaustive bibliography, lengthy table of cases, and detailed index.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Wilcox, Clair. Public Policies Toward Business. 3d ed. Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin, 1966. One of the finest syntheses of its kind. Wonderful context for the Sherman Act’s applications to business and labor. Indexes of cases, names, and subjects are all excellent. See also: Apr. 17, 1905: U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law; Jan. 27, 1908: U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows Yellow-Dog Contracts; Feb. 24, 1908: Muller v. Oregon; Oct. 15, 1914: Labor Unions Win Exemption from Antitrust Laws; Apr. 9, 1923: U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Minimum Wage Laws; Mar. 23, 1932: Norris-La Guardia Act Strengthens Labor Organizations.
February 11, 1908
Geiger and Rutherford Develop a Radiation Counter Hans Geiger and Ernest Rutherford developed the first electronic radiation counter able to detect atomic particles. Locale: Manchester University, England Categories: Science and technology; physics Key Figures Hans Geiger (1882-1945), German physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), British physicist Sir John Sealy Edward Townsend (1868-1957), Irish physicist Sir William Crookes (1832-1919), English physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1845-1923), German physicist Antoine-Henri Becquerel (1852-1908), French physicist Summary of Event When radioactivity was discovered and first studied, researchers used rather simple devices. In the 1870’s, Sir William Crookes learned how to create a very good vacuum in a glass tube. He placed electrodes in each end of the tube and studied the passage of electricity through it. This simple device became known as the Crookes tube. In 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was experimenting with a Crookes tube. It was known that when electricity went through such a tube, one end of the tube might glow. Certain mineral salts placed near the tube would also glow. In order to observe such glowing salts carefully, Röntgen darkened the room and covered most of the Crookes tube with dark paper. Suddenly, a flash of 664
light caught his eye. It came from a mineral sample placed some distance from the tube and in a direction shielded by the dark paper, yet when the tube was switched off, the mineral sample went dark. Experimenting further, Röntgen became convinced that some ray from the Crookes tube caused the mineral to glow. Because light rays were blocked by the black paper, he called it an X ray, the X standing for “unknown.” Antoine-Henri Becquerel heard of the discovery of X rays, and in February, 1886, he set out to discover whether nature might also reverse the process—that is, whether glowing minerals might emit X rays. Some minerals begin to glow when activated by sunlight. If they are then placed in the dark, the glow fades; the swiftness of the fading depends on the mineral involved. Such minerals are called phosphorescent. Becquerel’s testing procedure was to wrap photographic film in enough black paper that setting it in the sun all day would not expose it. He then placed various phosphorescent minerals on top of the film package and left them in the sun. Becquerel soon learned that those phosphorescent minerals containing uranium would expose the film. To make certain that the film was not being exposed by chemicals from the uranium minerals, he covered the film with glass and also placed various pieces of metal on the film. He discovered that metal seemed to protect the film from exposure. The greatest surprise, however, came during a series of cloudy days. Eager to continue his experiments, he decided to develop film from a test that had not been exposed to sunlight. He was astonished to discover that the film was deeply exposed. Some ema-
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nation had to be coming from the uranium, and it had nothing to do with sunlight. Natural radioactivity was thus discovered with a simple piece of photographic film. Ernest Rutherford joined the world of international physics at about the same time radioactivity was discovered. He came from New Zealand for advanced study in physics at Cambridge in 1895. His previous work had been with radio waves, but now he plunged into a study of radioactivity. A remarkably talented man, he became a dominant figure in the field in only a few years. Studying the “Becquerel rays” emitted by uranium, Rutherford eventually distinguished three different types of radiation, which he named alpha, beta, and gamma (from the first three letters of the Greek alphabet). He showed that alpha particles were easily stopped by a few thin metal foils. Later, he proved that an alpha particle is the nucleus of a helium atom (a group of two neutrons and two protons tightly bound together). More thicknesses of metal foil were necessary to stop beta particles. It was later shown that beta particles are electrons. Gamma rays proved to be far more penetrating than either alpha or beta particles. Eventually, it was shown that gamma rays
are similar to X rays, but they have higher energies. Rutherford became director of the associated research laboratory at Manchester University in 1907, and Hans Geiger became an assistant there. Up to that time, Rutherford had been unable to prove his conjecture that the alpha particle carries a double positive charge, but he would soon prove it with Geiger’s assistance. The obvious way to proceed would be to allow a stream of alpha particles to fall on a target and to measure the electric charge the particles brought to the target. By dividing that charge by the total number of alpha particles, one would have the charge of an alpha particle. The problem lay in counting the particles and in proving that every particle had been counted. Basing their design on work done by Sir John Sealy Edward Townsend, a former colleague of Rutherford, Geiger and Rutherford constructed an electronic counter. It consisted of a long brass tube, sealed at both ends, from which most of the air had been pumped. A thin wire, insulated from the brass, was suspended down the middle of the tube. This wire was connected to batteries producing about thirteen hundred volts and to an electrometer, a device that could measure the voltage of the wire. This voltage could be increased until a spark jumped between the wire and the tube. When the voltage was turned down a little from this “sparkover” value, the tube was ready to operate. An alpha particle entering the tube would ionize (knock some electrons away from) at least a few atoms. These electrons would be accelerated by the high voltage and, in turn, would ionize more atoms, which freed new electrons. These would ionize still more atoms and so on, until a veritable avalanche of electrons would strike the central wire and the electrometer would register the voltage change. Two key points became evident: First, because the tube was nearly ready to arc because of the high voltage, every alpha particle, even if it had very little energy, would initiate a discharge. Second, because of the electron avalanche, each electric discharge would be several thousand times larger than the alpha particle alone could have caused and would be easily measured with the electrometer. Geiger and Rutherford completed their apparatus by connecting their alpha-detector tube to a “firing tube” that was 4.5 meters (approximately 14.8 feet) long. The air had been evacuated from the firing tube, and a small film of radium was fixed at the far end. Only a few alpha particles per minute were headed in the right direction to travel the length of the firing tube, pass through a small hole in a stopper, and pass through a thin mica window 665
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Hans Geiger. (Courtesy, AIP Niels Bohr Library)
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Geiger and Rutherford Develop a Radiation Counter into the detector tube. There they traveled parallel with the central wire while they lost energy to ionization, which in its turn caused an electron avalanche. It was necessary to restrict the number of alpha particles to a few per minute because the electrometer was somewhat slow to respond and to recover. On February 11, 1908, Geiger and Rutherford reported on their electrical method of counting alpha particles to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. The most complex of the early radiation detection devices—the forerunner of the Geiger counter—had just been developed. Significance Geiger and Rutherford’s first measurements showed that one gram of radium emitted 34 thousand million alpha particles per second. Soon, they refined the number to 32.8 thousand million per second. Next, they measured the amount of charge emitted by radium each second. Dividing this number by the previous number gave them the charge on a single alpha particle. Just as Rutherford had anticipated, the charge was double that of a hydrogen ion (a proton). This proved to be the most accurate determination of the fundamental charge until Robert Andrews Millikan’s classic oil-drop experiment in 1909. Another fundamental result came from a careful measurement of the volume of helium emitted by radium each second. Using that value, other properties of gases, and the number of helium nuclei emitted each second, Geiger and Rutherford were able to calculate the Avogadro number (which enables the calculation of the number of atoms in a given amount of material) more directly and accurately than had previously been possible. One of the most important applications of the “proto” Geiger counter was in proving that a different way to count alpha particles worked. In 1903, Crookes invented a device he called a spinthariscope, or “spark viewer.” It consisted of a tiny spot of radium mounted several millimeters in front of a small glass screen coated with a fluorescent mineral—zinc sulfide with a trace of copper. When the screen was observed in a darkened room through a magnifying glass, tiny flashes of light, called scintillations, could be seen as the alpha particles struck the screen. Using both photographic film and an advanced model of the spinthariscope, Geiger and Rutherford noted that a beam of alpha particles tended to spread out after penetrating a thin mica window or a metal foil. Rutherford came to see this as a key to the structure of the atom. His approach could be compared to that of a traveler in unfa666
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 miliar territory. Suppose the traveler suddenly comes to a fog bank so thick that he cannot see anything that lies ahead, whether trees, a cliff, or a haystack. The traveler could throw pebbles into the fog to learn what lies ahead. That is, by throwing pebbles in various directions and listening to hear whether they strike something, the traveler could gain some notion of what is there. In just this fashion, Rutherford threw alpha particles at atoms. Using a zinc sulfide screen, he could observe where the alpha particles came out after interacting with the atoms of a target foil. The “proto” Geiger counter was used to prove that when appropriate precautions were taken, observers could accurately count the alpha particles that struck the zinc sulfide screen. In 1911, Rutherford announced that the atom must consist of a tiny but relatively massive nucleus surrounded by a vast space through which the electrons move. The true Geiger counter evolved when Geiger replaced the central wire of the early counter’s tube with a needle whose point lay just inside a thin entrance window. This counter was much more sensitive to alpha and beta particles and also to gamma rays. By 1928, with the assistance of Walther Müller, Geiger made his counter much more efficient, responsive, durable, and portable. Today, few radiation facilities in the world do not have at least one Geiger-Müller counter or one of the compact modern relatives of this device. As for the other early instruments, X-ray-sensitive film is still used today. Both the television tube and the X-ray tube are direct descendants of the Crookes tube. The zinc sulfide screen is closely related to the phosphorcoated television screen, which glows under a beam of beta particles. — Charles W. Rogers Further Reading Andrade, Edward Neville da Costa. Rutherford and the Nature of the Atom. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1964. This delightful book is easy to read but does not stint on science. Andrade, a physicist, joined Rutherford’s group from 1913 to 1914, about the time Geiger changed the “proto” Geiger counter into the Geiger counter. Includes some interesting photographs. Highly recommended. Berks, I. B., ed. Rutherford at Manchester. London: Heywood, 1962. This volume resulted from a commemorative conference held at Manchester University in 1961 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Rutherford’s discovery of the nucleus. Presents several speeches by colleagues of Rutherford who reminisce about him
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complete descriptions of some of the early experiments in the discovery of radioactivity, including the work of Geiger and Rutherford. Readers with some background in physics, chemistry, and algebra will be most likely to appreciate this work. Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986. Presents brief descriptions of the key experiments by Geiger and Rutherford, placing them in historical context and including interesting personal details. Written for a wide audience. Rowland, John. Ernest Rutherford. New York: Philosophical Library, 1957. An easily read biography of Rutherford. Describes his work with Geiger and the advent of the Geiger tube. See also: Early 20th cent.: Elster and Geitel Study Radioactivity; Dec. 10, 1903: Becquerel Wins the Nobel Prize for Discovering Natural Radioactivity; 19051907: Boltwood Uses Radioactivity to Determine Ages of Rocks; 1914: Rutherford Discovers the Proton; 1933-1934: First Artificial Radioactive Element Is Developed.
February 24, 1908 MULLER V. OREGON In Muller v. Oregon, the U.S. Supreme Court established the validity of “sociological jurisprudence,” the principle that economic and social considerations are as significant as legal precedents in deciding the constitutionality of social legislation. Also known as: Brandeis brief Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Business and labor; laws, acts, and legal history; women’s issues Key Figures Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941), American attorney David J. Brewer (1837-1910), associate justice of the United States, 1889-1910 Josephine Goldmark (1877-1950), American social reformer Florence Kelley (1859-1932), American social reformer Summary of Event In his famous brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Muller v. Oregon in 1908, Louis D. Brandeis of
Boston established the validity of “sociological jurisprudence” in the determination of constitutional questions. According to sociological jurisprudence, economic and social considerations are as significant as legal precedents in judicial decision making concerning the constitutionality of social legislation. In Muller v. Oregon, Brandeis (who later served on the Supreme Court himself) presented a brief that became a legal model for lawyers, judges, and social welfare proponents who were determined to humanize industrial working conditions. Under attack was an Oregon law that limited a workday for women workers in an industry to ten hours. The law’s critics claimed that it was unconstitutional because it contradicted legal precedent as established by the case of Lochner v. New York (1905). Because many members of the bar and the judiciary were hostile toward social welfare legislation, it was expected that the courts would uphold the claim of unconstitutionality. Many, if not most, lawyers and judges at the beginning of the twentieth century believed in natural economic laws and the primacy of property rights over human rights. For the government to attempt to control the use of property, 667
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and his work as well as several key scientific papers by Rutherford and Geiger. Includes historical photographs, a complete bibliography of Rutherford’s publications, and a bibliography of papers published by other members of his group. Chown, Marcus. The Magic Furnace: The Search for the Origins of Atoms. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. A history of humankind’s attempts to understand the atom. Discusses all of the major theories and experiments that have furthered knowledge in this area. Includes glossary, select bibliography, and index. Keller, Alex. The Infancy of Atomic Physics: Hercules in His Cradle. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1983. Describes the works of Rutherford, Geiger, and many others. The major portion of the book deals with the time period from about 1880 to 1920. Places the scientists’ works within the individuals’ cultural and historical backgrounds. Includes a useful bibliography. Mann, Wilfrid B., R. L. Ayres, and S. B. Garfinkel. Radioactivity and Its Measurement. 2d ed. Elmsford, N.Y.: Pergamon Press, 1980. Presents exceptionally
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Muller v. Oregon they maintained, was not only unconstitutional but also contrary to the natural order. Judges in the United States are entitled to review legislation to determine whether it violates state or federal constitutions; as a result, advocates of social welfare legislation viewed the decisions of judges who opposed such legislation as the greatest threat to progress. Federal courts had frequently nullified social welfare legislation enacted by the states. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court had embraced the concept that corporations had the status of persons under the Fourteenth Amendment. No state, the Court held, could deprive a corporation—in this case, a particular industry—of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. In social welfare legislation, “liberty” generally meant the freedom to contract. In 1905, the Supreme Court set specific limitations on how far a state could go in legislating hours and other working conditions for its industrial laborers. In Lochner v. New York, the Court ruled that New York laws that limited bakers to working ten hours per day and sixty hours per week were “mere meddlesome interferences with the rights of the individual.” A state could not interfere with the freedom of the employer and employee to make a labor contract unless obvious and overriding reasons existed, such as matters of health. The Court asserted that if the state had been able to prove that longer hours had negative health effects on the workers, the Court would have upheld the statute. The stage was thus set for litigation of the Oregon tenhour law for women. Two social justice reformers, Florence Kelley, who was chief factory inspector of Illinois and general secretary of the National Consumers League, and Josephine Goldmark, a leader of the National Consumers League and Brandeis’s sister-in-law, hired Brandeis to defend the law. Known as “the people’s attorney,” Brandeis had tried for years to minimize what Thorstein Veblen had called the “discrepancy between law and fact.” The law, Brandeis argued, often did not correspond to the new economic and social facts of life in the United States. Lawyers and judges who blindly adhered to legal precedents and arguments about natural law actually knew little about twentieth century industrial conditions. Lawyers who did not understand economic and social realities were apt to become “public enemies.” In his brief in Muller v. Oregon, which was researched in large part by Kelley and Goldmark, Brandeis sought to make clear the economic and social realities of the women workers’ lives. Brandeis’s legal argument took up merely two pages of his brief. He devoted more than one hundred pages to 668
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 demonstrating that Oregon had adopted its ten-hour law in order to safeguard the public health, safety, and welfare of women. “Long hours of labor are dangerous for women,” Brandeis contended, because of the physiological differences between men and women. “Overwork . . . is more dangerous to the health of women than of men, and entails upon them more lasting injury.” Fatigue in working women, Brandeis asserted, often resulted in general deterioration of health, anemia, the destruction of nervous energy, difficulties in childbearing, and industrial accidents. He further argued that the effect of overwork on morals was closely related to poor health. A breakdown in the health and morals of women, moreover, would inevitably lower the entire community physically, mentally, and morally. The rise of infant mortality was an obvious example. In contrast, the good of the entire community was actually promoted by women’s working hours that did not cause the deterioration of health and morals. Brandeis marshaled his economic and social data so impressively that the Court was convinced to uphold the Oregon ten-hour law for women. In his majority opinion, delivered on February 24, 1908, Justice David J. Brewer made reference to the uniqueness and efficacy of the Brandeis brief.
Florence Kelley. (Library of Congress)
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The Impact of the Brandeis Brief In Muller v. Oregon, the U.S. Supreme Court responded to arguments made by attorney Louis D. Brandeis and established the validity of the principle that Court decisions concerning the constitutionality of social legislation may take into account economic and social factors as well as legal precedents. In the Court’s opinion, Justice David J. Brewer wrote: In patent cases counsel are apt to open the argument with a discussion of the state of the art. It may not be amiss, in the present case, before examining the constitutional question, to notice the course of legislation, as well as expressions of opinion from other than judicial sources. In the brief filed by Mr. Louis D. Brandeis for the defendant in error is a very copious collection of all these matters. . . . The legislation and opinions referred to . . . may not be, technically speaking, authorities, and in them is little or no discussion of the constitutional question presented to us for determination, yet they are significant of a widespread belief that woman’s physical structure, and the functions she performs in consequence thereof, justify special legislation restricting or qualifying the conditions under which she should be permitted to toil. Constitutional questions, it is true, are not settled by even a consensus of present public opinion, for it is the peculiar value of a written constitution that it places in unchanging form limitations upon legislative action, and thus gives a permanence and stability to popular government which otherwise would be lacking. At the same time, when a question of fact is debated and debatable, and the extent to which a special constitutional limitation goes is affected by the truth in respect to that fact, a widespread and long-continued belief concerning it is worthy of consideration. . . . That woman’s physical structure and the performance of maternal functions place her at a disadvantage in the struggle for subsistence is obvious. This is especially true when the burdens of motherhood are upon her. Even when they are not, by abundant testimony of the medical fraternity continuance for a long time on her feet at work, repeating this from day to day, tends to injurious effects upon the body, and, as healthy mothers are essential to vigorous offspring, the physical well-being of woman becomes an object of public interest and care in order to preserve the strength and vigor of the race.
Further Reading Source: U.S. Supreme Court, Muller v. State of Oregon, 208 U.S. 412 (1908). Blumberg, Dorothy R. Florence Kelley: The Making of a Social Pioneer. New York: Augustus M. Kelley, Hughes, and Donald R. Richberg; introduction by 1966. Biography provides little information about Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Muller v. Oregon but traces the influences that caused Goldmark, Josephine. Impatient Crusader: Florence Kelley to become a social reformer. Kelley’s Life Story. Urbana: University of Illinois Carrington, Paul D. Stewards of Democracy: Law as a Press, 1953. A sympathetic study of the militant and Public Profession. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, socially conscious women reformers who pioneered 1999. Discusses the role of lawyers in U.S. social and efforts for the abolition of child labor and shorter political history. Focuses on a number of individual hours and higher pay for women. attorneys who have practiced law with an awareness Mason, Alpheus Thomas. Brandeis: A Free Man’s Life. of a responsibility to the public. Chapter 15 is devoted New York: Viking Press, 1946. An intimate portrait to Brandeis. Includes references and index. of Brandeis and the four stages of his career. Concise Frankfurter, Felix, ed. Mr. Justice Brandeis. New Hadescription of his participation in Muller v. Oregon. ven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1932. Articles Paper, Lewis J. Brandeis. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: by Felix Frankfurter, Max Lerner, Charles Evans 669
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Significance Brandeis’s brief opened the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to examine factors other than legal precedents in reaching decisions. These other factors—social and economic data—which Brandeis called “what any fool knows,” became part of subsequent briefs propounding equitable labor conditions. In the long term, it was not only in labor cases that sociological jurisprudence became an accepted principle in the law. In 1954, in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Court relied on sociological data in determining that segregation of the races in education is unconstitutional. Several years after Muller v. Oregon, Felix Frankfurter called the case “epoch-making” because of Brandeis’s approach. This approach, based on “the logic of facts,” has been an intrinsic part of legal and constitutional practice ever since, paving the way for socalled judicial activism and the entry of the courts into the “political thicket.” Opponents of this trend see judicial activism as the judicial system’s usurpation of the powers of the legislative and executive branches of government. —William M. Tuttle and Jennifer Eastman
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Cadillac Demonstrates Interchangeable Parts Prentice-Hall, 1983. A detailed biography with an accurate account of Brandeis’s involvement with Muller v. Oregon. Sklar, Kathryn Kish. Florence Kelley and the Nation’s Work: The Rise of Women’s Political Culture, 18301900. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995. Biography covers the first forty years of Kelley’s life and also serves as a political history of the United States during a time when women were becoming increasingly active in opposition to workplace abuses.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Strum, Philippa. Louis D. Brandeis: Justice for the People. New York: Schocken Books, 1984. Discusses Brandeis and his importance in the legal world. Includes an in-depth account of Muller v. Oregon and the Brandeis brief. See also: Apr. 17, 1905: U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Maximum Hours Law; June 5, 1916: Brandeis Becomes the First Jewish Supreme Court Justice; Apr. 9, 1923: U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Minimum Wage Laws; Dec. 10, 1923: Proposal of the Equal Rights Amendment.
February 29, 1908
Cadillac Demonstrates Interchangeable Parts Henry M. Leland, a master of precision techniques, introduced automobile manufacturers to the use of interchangeable parts, providing a key element necessary to the implementation of mass production. Locale: Brooklands, England Categories: Science and technology; manufacturing and industry; transportation Key Figures Henry M. Leland (1843-1932), American engineer and automobile manufacturer Frederick Bennett (fl. early twentieth century), British agent for Cadillac Motor Car Company Henry Ford (1863-1947), American engineer and automobile manufacturer Summary of Event The methodology of mass production became widespread in the twentieth century, but it is based, for the most part, on nineteenth century ideas. It is a phenomenon that, although its origins were mostly American, changed the entire world. The innovation of the use of interchangeable parts, the feasibility of which was demonstrated by the Cadillac Motor Car Company in 1908, was instrumental in making mass production possible. The British phase of the Industrial Revolution saw the application of division of labor, the first principle of industrialization, to capitalist-directed manufacturing processes. Centralized power sources were connected through shafts, pulleys, and belts to machines housed in factories. Even after these dramatic changes, the British preferred to produce unique, handcrafted products formed one step at a time using general-purpose machine tools. 670
Seldom did they make separate components to be assembled into standardized products. Stories about American products that were assembled from fully interchangeable parts began to reach Great Britain. In 1851, members of the British public saw a few of these products on display at an exhibition in London’s Crystal Palace. In 1854, they were informed by one of their own investigative commissions that American manufacturers were building military weapons and a number of consumer products with separately made parts that could be easily assembled, with little filing and fitting, by semiskilled workers. English industrialists had probably heard as much as they ever wanted to about this so-called American system of manufacturing by the first decade of the twentieth century, when word came that American companies were building automobiles with parts manufactured so precisely that they were interchangeable. During the fall of 1907, Frederick Bennett, an Englishman who served as the British agent for the Cadillac Motor Car Company in Detroit, Michigan, paid a visit to the company’s factory and was amazed by what he saw. He later described the assembling of the relatively inexpensive Cadillac vehicles as a demonstration of the beauty and practicality of precision. He was convinced that if his countrymen could see what he had seen, they would also be impressed. Most automobile manufacturers at the time claimed that their vehicles were built with handcrafted quality, yet at the same time they advertised that they could supply repair parts that would fit perfectly. In actuality, machining and filing were almost always required when parts were replaced, and only shops with proper equipment could do the job.
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looking trio, with fenders, doors, hoods, and wheels of mixed colors. All three were then driven five hundred miles around the Brooklands track. The British were amazed. Cadillac was awarded the club’s prestigious Dewar Trophy, considered in the young automobile industry to be almost the equivalent of a Nobel Prize. A number of European and American automobile manufacturers began to consider the promise of interchangeable parts and the assembly-line system. Cadillac’s precision-built automobiles were the result of a lifetime of experience on the part of Henry M. Leland, an American engineer. Known in Detroit as a master of precision, Leland became the primary connection between a series of nineteenth century attempts to make interchangeable parts and the large-scale use of precision parts in mass-production manufacturing during the twentieth century. The first American use of truly interchangeable parts had occurred in the military, more than seventy-five years before the test at Brooklands. Thomas Jefferson had written from France about a demonstration of uniform parts for musket locks in 1785. A few years later,
To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
Henry M. Leland in 1930, standing beside a 1905 Cadillac Osceola. (AP/Wide World Photos)
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When Bennett returned to London from Detroit, he convinced the Royal Automobile Club to sponsor a test of the precision of automobile parts. A standardization test was set to begin on February 29, 1908, and all of the companies then selling automobiles were invited to participate. Only the company that Bennett represented, Cadillac, was willing to enter the contest. Three one-cylinder Cadillacs, all painted different colors, were taken from stock at the company’s warehouse in London to a garage near the Brooklands race track. The cars were first driven around the track ten times to prove that they were operable. British mechanics then dismantled the vehicles, placing their parts in piles in the center of the garage, making sure that there was no way of identifying from which car each internal piece came. Then, as a further test, eighty-nine randomly selected parts were removed from the piles and replaced with new ones straight from Cadillac’s storeroom in London. The mechanics then proceeded to reassemble the automobiles, using only screwdrivers and wrenches. After the reconstruction, which took two weeks, the cars were driven from the garage. They were a motley-
Cadillac Demonstrates Interchangeable Parts
Cadillac Demonstrates Interchangeable Parts Eli Whitney attempted to make muskets for the American military by producing separate parts for assembly using specialized machines. He was never able to produce the precision necessary for truly interchangeable parts, but he promoted the idea intensely. It was in 1822 at the Harpers Ferry Armory in Virginia, and then a few years later at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts, that the necessary accuracy in machining was finally achieved on a relatively large scale. Leland began his career at the Springfield Armory in 1863, at the age of nineteen. He worked as a tool builder during the Civil War years and soon became an advocate of precision manufacturing. In 1890, he moved to Detroit, where he began a firm, Leland & Faulconer, that would become internationally known for precision machining. His company did well supplying parts to the bicycle industry and internal combustion engines and transmissions to early automobile makers. In 1899, Leland & Faulconer became the primary supplier of engines to the first of the major automobile producers, the Olds Motor Works. In 1902, the directors of another Detroit firm, the Henry Ford Company, found themselves in a desperate situation. Henry Ford, the company founder and chief engineer, had resigned after a disagreement with the firm’s key owner, William Murphy. Leland was asked to take over the reorganization of the company. Because it could no longer use Ford’s name, the business was renamed in memory of the French explorer who had founded Detroit two hundred years earlier, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. Leland was appointed president of the Cadillac Motor Car Company, which, under his influence, soon became known for its precision manufacturing. He disciplined the company’s suppliers, rejecting anything that did not meet his specifications, and insisted on precision machining for all parts. By 1906, Cadillac was outselling all of its competitors, including Oldsmobile and Ford’s new venture, the Ford Motor Company. After the Brooklands demonstration in 1908, Cadillac became recognized worldwide for high quality at a reasonable price. Significance The Brooklands demonstration went a long way toward proving that mass-produced goods could be durable and of relatively high quality. It showed that standardized products, although often less costly to make, were not necessarily cheap substitutes for handcrafted and painstakingly fitted products. It also convinced many people that, through the use of interchangeable parts, the job of 672
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 repairing such complex machines as automobiles could be made comparatively simple, moving maintenance and repair work from the well-equipped machine shop to the neighborhood garage or even to the home. Because of the international publicity Cadillac received from the demonstration, others in the automobile industry began to emulate Leland’s methods. His precision manufacturing, as his daughter-in-law would later write in his biography, “laid the foundation for the future American [automobile] industry.” The successes of automobile manufacturers quickly led to the introduction of mass-production methods in many other American businesses, along with strategies designed to promote the necessary corollary mass consumption. In 1909, Cadillac was acquired by William Crapo Durant as the flagship firm of his new holding company, which he labeled General Motors. Leland continued to improve his production methods while also influencing his colleagues in the other General Motors companies to implement many of his techniques. By the mid-1920’s, General Motors had become the world’s largest manufacturer of automobiles. Much of its success resulted from extensions of Leland’s ideas. The company began offering a number of brand-name vehicles in a variety of price ranges for marketing purposes while still keeping the costs of production down by including in each design a large number of commonly used, highly standardized components. Henry Leland resigned from Cadillac during World War I after trying to convince Durant that General Motors should play an important part in the war effort by contracting to build Liberty aircraft engines for the military. He formed his own firm, named after his favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, and went on to build about four thousand aircraft engines in 1917 and 1918. In 1919, ready to make automobiles again, Leland converted the Lincoln Motor Company into a car manufacturer. Again he influenced the industry by setting high standards for precision, but in 1921 an economic recession forced his new venture into receivership. Ironically, Lincoln was purchased at auction by Henry Ford. Leland retired, his name overshadowed by the names of individuals to whom he had taught the importance of precision and interchangeable parts. Ford, who went on to become one of America’s industrial legends by applying the standardized parts concept, is just one example. In 1913, Henry Ford, relying on the ease of fit made possible through the use of machined and stamped interchangeable parts, introduced the moving assembly line to the automobile industry. He had begun production of
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machines designed for high-speed use in performing particular specialized steps in the production process. Many more machines were now required, one for each step in the production process. Each machine had to be simpler to operate, with more automatic features, because of an increased dependence on unskilled workers. The machine tool industry became the foundation of modern production. The miracle of mass production that followed, in products as diverse as airplanes, communication systems, and hamburgers, would not have been possible without the precision on which Henry Leland insisted in the first decade of the twentieth century. It would not have come about without the lessons learned by Henry Ford in the use of specialized machines and assembly methods, and it would not have occurred without the growth of the machine tool industry. Cadillac’s demonstration at Brooklands in 1908 proved the practicality of precision manufacturing and interchangeable parts to the world. It inspired American manufacturers to continue to develop these ideas, and it convinced Europeans that such production was possible. For better or for worse, it played a major part in changing the world. — Robert G. Lynch Further Reading Hill, Frank Ernest. The Automobile: How It Came, Grew, and Has Changed Our Lives. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1967. Tells the story of the automobile industry and its growth. Includes a number of discussions of Leland’s work. Provides details on the Brooklands demonstration and discusses its consequences. Hounshell, David A. From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984. Discusses Leland’s early life, his work at the Springfield Armory, and his management of Brown and Sharpe’s sewing machine department. Provides an excellent picture of how Leland became enamored of the idea of precision manufacturing. Leland, Ottilie M., and Minnie Dubbs Millbrook. Master of Precision: Henry M. Leland. 1966. Reprint. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1996. The primary biography of Henry Leland, coauthored by his son’s widow. Tells the story of one of the most important industrial entrepreneurs in U.S. history, an individual who played a pivotal role in the development of mass production by teaching the automobile industry the importance of interchangeable parts. Marcus, Alan I., and Howard P. Segal. Technology in 673
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the Model T in 1908 using stationary assembly methods, bringing parts to assemblers. After having learned how to increase component production significantly through experiments with interchangeable parts and moving assembly methods in the magneto department, he began to apply this same concept to final assembly. In the spring of 1913, Ford workers began dragging car frames past stockpiles of parts for assembly. Soon a power source was attached to the cars through a chain drive, and the vehicles were pulled past the stockpiles at a constant rate. From that time on, the pace of tasks performed by assemblers would be controlled by the rhythm of the moving line. As demand for the Model T increased, the number of employees along the line was increased and the jobs were broken into smaller and simpler tasks. With stationary assembly methods, the time required to assemble a Model T had averaged twelve and one-half person-hours. Dragging the chassis to the parts cut the time to six person-hours per vehicle, and the powerdriven, constant-rate line produced a Model T in only ninety-three minutes of labor time. Because of these amazing increases in productivity, Ford was able to lower the selling price of the basic model from $900 in 1910 to $260 in 1925. He had revolutionized automobile manufacturing: The average family could now afford an automobile. Soon the average family would also be able to afford many of the other new products being advertised in magazines and newspapers. At the beginning of the twentieth century, many new household appliances, farm machines, ready-made fashions, and prepackaged food products were on the market, but only members of the wealthier class could afford most of these items. Major consumer goods retailers such as Sears, Roebuck and Company, Montgomery Ward, and the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company were eager to find lowerpriced versions of these products to sell to a growing middle-class constituency. The methods of mass production that Henry Ford had popularized seemed to carry promise for these products as well. During the 1920’s, by working with such key manufacturers as Whirlpool, Hoover, General Electric, and Westinghouse, these large distributors helped introduce mass-production methods into a large number of consumer-product industries. They changed class markets into mass markets. The movement toward precision also led to the birth of a separate industry based on the manufacture of machine tools. A general-purpose lathe, milling machine, or grinder could be used for a number of operations, but mass-production industries called for narrow-purpose
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Harvard University Founds a Business School America: A Brief History. 2d ed. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1998. Discusses the importance of interchangeable parts in the evolution of mass-production processes in the automobile, home appliance, and agricultural implement industries. Nevins, Allan, and Frank Ernest Hill. The Times, the Man, the Company. Vol. 1 in Ford. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1954. Discusses Leland’s various relationships with Henry Ford, the Henry Ford Company, and Ford Motor Company. Briefly discusses the Brooklands demonstration. Vance, Bill. Reflections on Automotive History. Vol. 1. Rockwood, Ont.: Eramosa Valley Publishing, 2000.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Covers a wide range of subjects in the history of the automobile and features more than sixty black-andwhite photographs. Contains a brief chapter devoted to Cadillac’s early engineering achievements, including the development of interchangeable parts. See also: Mar. 4, 1902: American Automobile Association Is Established; 1911: Hashimoto Founds the Nissan Motor Company; Mar. 1, 1913: Ford Assembly Line Begins Operation; Jan. 5, 1914: Ford Announces a Five-Dollar, Eight-Hour Workday; Dec. 29, 1920: General Motors Institutes a Multidivisional Structure; 1927: Number of U.S. Automakers Falls to Forty-Four.
April 8, 1908
Harvard University Founds a Business School The Harvard Business School’s innovative instructional methods helped professionalize management and the way managers are educated. Locale: Cambridge, Massachusetts Categories: Business and labor; education; organizations and institutions Key Figures Edwin F. Gay (1867-1946), founding dean of the Harvard Business School Arch W. Shaw (1876-1962), American publisher and lecturer at the Harvard Business School Melvin T. Copeland (1884-1975), professor and historian of the Harvard Business School Charles William Eliot (1834-1926), president of Harvard University Summary of Event The emergence of the multiunit form, a vision that institutions of higher education could serve a utilitarian purpose, and a popular desire to professionalize most occupations encouraged the development of collegiate business education in the late nineteenth century. An early participant in this exciting experiment in higher learning was the Harvard Business School, founded in 1908. Although preceded by the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth, the Harvard Business School inaugurated a change in the education of professional managers through its innovative instructional methods and the high priority it placed on business research. 674
An emphasis on framing business problems, class discussion, written case analysis, and a climate that encouraged confident decision making were seen from the outset as vital to the development of top managers. It soon became apparent, however, that a rather large breach existed between the school’s educational aspirations and its ability to achieve them. Few teachers were trained in business administration, and scholarship in the form of published works was almost nonexistent. In fact, course offerings, materials, and textbooks were sparse until the 1920’s. Early professors of business administration both at Harvard and elsewhere were drawn from a wide variety of academic disciplines. Economists such as Simon N. Patten were influential teachers and scholars at the Wharton School. The economics department also dominated academic life at the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth. Business educators in this nascent stage of development were also drawn from less closely allied fields. Of the two accounting courses offered at Wharton, for example, one was taught by a professor of journalism who also instructed in business practices and banking. The other course was taught by a political scientist. The recruitment of faculty proved to be the most challenging aspect of running the fledgling Harvard Business School for its first dean, Edwin F. Gay. Convinced that the education of professional managers required a unique approach, he eschewed teachers from undergraduate business programs and scholars from the traditional social science disciplines. This represented a departure from accepted practice. The business school, in fact, had been envisioned as a school of diplomacy and government by
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keting discipline, perhaps more than any other in the business curriculum, was constrained as a result of meager real-life data. Even the trade journals of the day gave scarce attention to selling or marketing problems. The collection of business information and data for course materials, cases, and textbooks proceeded in an ad hoc fashion through individual professors and in a more organized manner through bureaus of business research. J. E. Hagerty, an early marketing professor at Ohio State University, for example, was frustrated by the paucity of textual material in his discipline and attempted to fill this breach by interviewing local businesspeople. He discovered that these individuals gave freely of their time and information because of their curiosity about his research effort. They wondered why anyone would want to learn about their organizations, methods, procedures, and business problems. The Harvard Bureau of Business Research was begun at the urging of Arch W. Shaw shortly after the business school was founded. Although its principal mission was to gather data to aid instruction in the school, especially in marketing, it was hoped that research results would prove beneficial to students and teachers in other schools and to individuals in the wider business community. The findings of the bureau’s first study, which examined the shoe industry, received wide distribution in trade papers and other business publications and aroused interest in the activities of the school. Soon, studies of the operating expenses of grocers, department stores, and variety chains were produced. Later, scholarly investigations of labor unions, the distribution of textiles, cotton mill hedging practices, and interstate power transmission not only provided a wealth of teaching material but also encouraged further exploratory work in other business schools throughout the United States. Significance The founding and the early success of the Harvard Business School had a significant effect on the professionalization of management, which in turn had consequences for the education of managers. With its bold and innovative instructional methodologies and scholarly climate, Harvard became a model for all other business schools to follow in the early twentieth century. It soon became common for business careers to begin after formal education in business administration. General education preceded professional course work. Students took a core of business subjects that gave coherence and content to their professional studies. These subjects included business law, statistics, marketing, ac675
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Harvard University president Charles William Eliot. Gay quickly set out to establish a core faculty and to recruit practicing managers from New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. William Morse Cole and Oliver Mitchell Sprague joined the regular faculty to teach accounting and banking, respectively. Paul Terry Cherington, who would make seminal contributions in the field of marketing education through his work Advertising as a Business Force: A Compilation of Experience Records (1913), joined the faculty from the Philadelphia Commercial Museum. Lincoln Frederick Schaub became the school’s first full-time instructor of commercial law. These individuals, along with two part-time instructors, eight parttime lecturers, and fifty-five outside (guest) lecturers, composed the school’s first teaching staff. Over the next decade, the permanent faculty grew, and as the case method became more widely used, the need for outside lecturers waned. Initial courses at Harvard were analogous to those provided at the older business schools. The required firstyear courses in accounting, commercial contracts, and economic resources of the United States (later marketing) were augmented by electives in industrial organization, corporate insurance, and banking. These traditional courses were seen as essential prerequisites of a career with a multiunit firm. Second-year courses examined the intricacies of management in specialized industries such as railroading, foreign trade, banking, and insurance. The school made a marked advance toward achieving its unique mission of educating professional managers through a “problems” or “case method” approach with the addition of Arch W. Shaw to its faculty. Shaw was the energetic publisher of System, a journal that crusaded for more efficient business practices. Upon his appointment to the faculty at Harvard, he turned his energies to developing a course in business policy using the case approach. His use of “real-life” cases animated his classes, and in time his course became the capstone for the school. His book An Approach to Business Problems (1916) and colleague Melvin T. Copeland’s Problems in Marketing (1920) did much to advance their respective specialties as well as business education in general in the United States. These textbooks, along with other seminal contributions to the business literature by Cherington, Charles Edward Russel, Bruce Wyman, and Walter Dill Scott, became required reading in every business school and program soon after publication. Despite these works, however, there was a dearth of business information and research material needed for the development of cases and advanced course work. The development of the mar-
Harvard University Founds a Business School
Harvard University Founds a Business School counting, money and banking, and corporate finance. The problem approach superseded rote memorization of formulas and data. Written and oral communication were stressed for future business leaders, and the discovery of new business knowledge through research and investigation of active organizations was encouraged. Classroom instruction and theoretical knowledge were augmented by internship experiences in business. The formal education of managers did not necessarily terminate in the nascence of their careers, as professional education for practicing managers was introduced. Each of these innovations was a bold step. Each served to convince prospective students as well as academic and business leaders that the business site and academe could be connected through a business school or program. Within two decades of the opening of the Harvard Business School, numerous major public and private universities established similar ventures, including Ohio State (1916); Alabama, Minnesota, and North Carolina (1919); Virginia (1920); Indiana (1921); and Kansas and Michigan (1924). Private institutions that established business schools during this period included Columbia University (1916) and Stanford University (1925). In addition, it was not long before an even larger number of public and private institutions established business programs “in town” to educate future business leaders living and working in large metropolitan areas. The revolutionary changes in the education of future managers were the result of a courageous decision to foster the development of an educational experience free of the intellectual control of other long-established academic disciplines. Gay believed that the aims of a graduate school of business should be instillation of a rational method of attacking business problems and development of intellectual respect for the management profession. This also entailed appreciation for the social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of the field. Harvard’s early commitment to developing a business administration paradigm that could stand on its own energized stakeholders to find new ways and means of educating a new profession, that of management. The case method, with its attendant vigorous analysis and discussion of companywide problems together with scholarly investigation of living organizations, was an important part of this philosophy of education. Case studies adopting the companywide problems approach benefited students, teachers, and practitioners alike. Students benefited by seeing that rational decisionmaking processes could be applied to problems encountered in a wide variety of business settings. Professors 676
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 gained because cases gave flexibility as well as content and depth to their courses. Well-researched and wellwritten cases provided a wealth of information about industry practices and technical matters in the process of teaching problem-solving skills. Perhaps most important, practicing managers benefited from their training in the case method. As business school graduates, they enjoyed a common basis for communication and a better understanding of mutual problems. In short, managers trained in this analytic method could relate better to their peers. Business research, like the case method, can trace its origins to the first years of the Harvard Business School. It reached its full instructional potential some years later. Harvard’s pioneering Bureau of Business Research had substantial pedagogical value to the academic community in the school and elsewhere while also providing strategic information to managers in industry. The work of the bureau helped make class discussions and teaching materials more interesting and relevant for the first students in the school and, in time, became the foundation for instruction conducted there. The style and method of research carried out in the early days of the Harvard Business School also had important consequences for the conduct of business research in general. The bureau, with its strategy of focusing its efforts on a small area of business and studying it thoroughly to achieve notable results in a brief period, its refusal to be commercialized, and its aspiration to be at a level equal to Harvard’s other schools, became a model for other researchers and institutions to imitate. — S. A. Marino Further Reading Chandler, Alfred D., Jr. The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1977. Seminal work by a distinguished historian of business examines the rise of modern business enterprise and its managers during the formative years of modern capitalism, from the 1850’s to the 1920’s. A superb book for anyone interested in the profession of management. Copeland, Melvin T. And Mark an Era: The Story of the Harvard Business School. Boston: Little, Brown, 1958. An important study of the founding and development of the Harvard Business School through its first half century. Written by a distinguished member of the school’s faculty during the period addressed. An essential work for understanding the development of collegiate business education in the United States. Heaton, Herbert. A Scholar in Action: Edwin F. Gay. New York: Greenwood Press, 1968. A biography of
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Veysey, Lawrence R. The Emergence of the American University. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965. Authoritative study of the social and cultural forces that helped transform the American university into a modern institution at the beginning of the twentieth century. Places business education in its larger cultural and intellectual context. Suitable for both serious scholars and generalists. See also: Mar., 1914: Gilbreth Publishes The Psychology of Management; 1920’s: Donham Promotes the Case Study Teaching Method at Harvard; 1925: McKinsey Founds a Management Consulting Firm; 1938: Barnard Publishes The Functions of the Executive.
May 13-15, 1908
Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources President Theodore Roosevelt invited the nation’s governors and other dignitaries to Washington, D.C., for the first major conference on conservation issues in the United States, raising public awareness of those issues. Also known as: White House Conservation Conference; Governors’ Conference Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Environmental issues; government and politics; economics; natural resources Key Figures Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), chief forester of the United States Frederick Haynes Newell (1862-1932), head of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation William J. McGee (fl. early twentieth century), American scientist and mathematician Summary of Event On May 13, 1908, the first U.S. conference devoted to conservation issues convened in Washington, D.C. The Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources, often called the Governors’ Conference, was convened by President Theodore Roosevelt and organized by his conservation advisers. The governors of all the U.S. states and numerous other dignitaries were invited to the conference, which lasted three days and led to a broad
agreement on conservation principles as well as a proposed course of action. Roosevelt had become president in 1901, coinciding with the broad reform movement called Progressivism. Roosevelt, a Republican, was the nation’s first Progressive president. Conservation of the nation’s natural resources soon became a cornerstone of the new administration. By Roosevelt’s second term, however, considerable opposition to his conservation program had developed in Congress, which imposed limitations on portions of the president’s proposed policies. Some congressmen demanded that the country’s resources be left in the hands of the individual states. Others objected to the direction and domination of conservation policies by the executive branch, an approach that bypassed Congress and stretched federal laws beyond what narrow constitutional constructionists believed proper. Many objected to the administration’s reliance on experts rather than elected representatives in conservation matters. A few believed that conservation was unnecessary and even un-American. The conference’s immediate origins resulted from Roosevelt’s creation of the Inland Waterways Commission in February, 1907. The commission, which reflected the administration’s reliance on presidential commissions, also embodied a commitment to a multiple-use approach to water use (irrigation, waterpower, navigation, flood control, and soil conservation). The commission was staffed by experts long connected with Roosevelt’s own approach to resource management. The politically astute Roosevelt also appointed several congressmen to 677
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the bold, imaginative, and scholarly first dean of the Harvard Business School. Provides interesting background information about this educational administrator whose early advocacy for the problem approach and business research aided the development of the profession of management. Pierson, Frank C., et al. The Education of American Businessmen. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959. Chapter 3 provides excellent historical information about American business schools from their origins through the early 1950’s. Valuable as an overview while also providing interesting insights into the origin and growth— and often decline—of early American collegiate business schools.
Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources
Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources the Inland Waterways Commission, including the commission chairman, Theodore E. Burton of Ohio. William J. McGee, one of the major theorists of the conservation movement and a proponent of the conservation-for-use ideology, was the commission’s secretary. In May, 1907, commission member Frederick Haynes Newell, director of the Bureau of Reclamation in the U.S. Department of the Interior and the architect of the federal water development program, suggested that a conference on the conservation of all national resources should be held in the near future in Washington, D.C. The other commission members concurred, and Congressman Burton and Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot, Roosevelt’s principal adviser on conservation, brought the commission’s request to Roosevelt, who gave it his enthusiastic backing. Conservation of resources was important in its own right, but a national conference might also generate public support for the administration’s conservation policies. To maximize the effect and to garner as much publicity and political support as possible, Roosevelt invited all the nation’s governors. In October, Roosevelt, the commission, and several governors traveled down the Mississippi River from Iowa to Memphis, Tennessee, where, on October 4, 1907, Roosevelt announced that a conservation conference would meet in Washington from May 13 to 15, 1908, noting that “the conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all others.” Formal invitations to the conference were issued in November. Pinchot, Newell, and McGee were members of the conference organizing committee; Pinchot, who was independently wealthy, paid most of the conference’s costs. In order that the conference should attain the results desired by the administration, McGee and the other committee members made themselves available to assist participants in the writing of speeches, and many of the speeches later delivered were composed by McGee. The Governors’ Conference began on May 13, 1908, in the East Room of the White House. The overwhelming majority of governors attended in person; others sent representatives. Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the president’s cabinet were represented, as were more than seventy organizations connected with issues related to natural resources. Also in attendance were such national figures as industrialists Andrew Carnegie and James Jerome Hill, labor leader John Mitchell, and William Jennings Bryan, Democratic presidential candidate in 1896 and 1900. Former president Grover Cleveland was invited but was too ill to attend. 678
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Roosevelt delivered the keynote address, which, although it was drafted by McGee, was typically Rooseveltian, reflecting both the modernist and the moralistic attitudes of the Progressive Era. After welcoming remarks, the president for fifty minutes discussed the importance of conservation, claiming that “it is the chief material question that confronts us, second only—and second always—to the great fundamental questions of morality.” Roosevelt stated that although modern civilization consumes increasing amounts of natural resources, the populace had lost awareness of its dependence on nature. In their use and consumption of natural resources, Roosevelt noted, Americans at the time of the Revolution of 1776 had more in common with the earliest civilizations than with Americans of the early twentieth century. The current world was more dependent on resources than ever before, and many resources were in imminent danger of exhaustion. Many historians consider this speech to be among Roosevelt’s most influential. Neither Roosevelt nor Pinchot was a preservationist; both believed that natural resources should be used, but used with efficiency and with planning. “Efficiency” was a key term in the vocabulary of many reformers, and in his speech Roosevelt referred to the “problem of national efficiency.” Roosevelt was an advocate of national parks, and he established many parks and wildlife sanctuaries, but wilderness preservationists such as John Muir were not invited to the Governors’ Conference, where the efficient utilitarian use of resources, rather than their absolute preservation, was the stated goal. In justifying conservation, Roosevelt claimed that “we should exercise foresight now, as the ordinary prudent man exercises foresight in conserving and wisely using the property which contains the assurance of well-being for himself and his children.” The day of unrestricted individualism was over, but there could be no turning back to a simpler past. Over the following three days, the conference participants attended sessions on iron and coal resources, land and forest conservation, and irrigation and livestock grazing on public lands. Roosevelt also hosted a dinner for the governors at the White House and a garden party for the delegates on the White House lawn, and Pinchot held a large reception at his home. A few conference participants defended the rights of the states over the powers of the federal government, but most supported the administration’s approach. The concluding declaration of the governors, influenced by McGee, who was the recording secretary, recognized the importance of conser-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 vation and firmly stated that the nation’s resources exist for the benefit of the people and not for that of private monopolists. Each state was urged to appoint a commission on the conservation of natural resources and to cooperate with other states and with the federal government. The report concluded with the plea, “Let us conserve the foundations of our prosperity.” As Roosevelt had hoped, the conference received wide press coverage, even abroad, and commentary was overwhelmingly supportive. Pinchot later noted in his autobiography that “conservation became the commonplace of the time.”
presented its report in three volumes. A second conference of governors accepted the report, and for the first time there was an accurate estimate of the country’s existing natural resources. The work of the National Conservation Commission led to Roosevelt’s calling the North American Conservation Conference. A much smaller gathering than the Governors’ Conference, it convened on February 18, 1909, and included representatives from Canada, the colony of Newfoundland, and Mexico. Representing the United States were Pinchot and Secretary of the Interior James Garfield. In his opening statement, Roosevelt noted the interrelationships among all the world’s peoples and stated that conservation issues “may become of the utmost importance to the world at large.” Even before the North American Conservation Conference assembled, the Roosevelt administration had begun exploring the possibilities for a world conservation conference. Invitations were sent to fifty-eight nations to meet in The Hague, the Netherlands, in September, 1909. By that time, however, Roosevelt was out of office, and his successor, William Howard Taft, did not pursue the idea. The National Conservation Commission further polarized relations between Congress and the Roosevelt administration. Roosevelt, Pinchot, and others had long doubted the ability of elected legislative representatives to make proper decisions on complex matters. They believed that elected politicians lacked the necessary expertise and were subject to conflicting political pressures. A legislative body could establish broad parameters, but, in the view of Roosevelt and his allies, the executive must retain the power to implement and initiate. Roosevelt also believed that it was not Congress but the president, elected by all the people, who was best able to serve as the representative of the public’s interests. For its part, Congress had long resented Roosevelt’s creation of numerous commissions to report on various national problems. When the National Conservation Commission was established, this resentment culminated, in February, 1909, in congressional approval of an amendment— aimed at officials such as Pinchot—stating that no federal official could assist or serve on any executive commission that had not been authorized by Congress. In a larger sense, however, Roosevelt and Pinchot had triumphed over their enemies in Congress. A new public interest in conservation resulted from activities such as the Governors’ Conference of 1908, involving persons who had not previously been directly affected by resource policy. Many of the new enthusiasts for conservation were members of the increasingly influential urban 679
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Significance One of Roosevelt’s chief aims in convening the Governors’ Conference was to create public awareness and support for conservation issues. Until then, conservation policies had been primarily the province of politicians, the users of the nation’s resources, and—more recently— the professional experts generally connected with the presidency. Pinchot and Roosevelt hoped that the conference would generate popular support against their congressional opponents and thus bring a new element into conservation debates. The publicity given to the conference fulfilled that aim, and within a few months more than forty states had appointed conservation commissions. The public was aroused, but not merely in support of the qualities of efficiency and planning that the administration had previously advocated. Roosevelt’s keynote speech had presented the issues of conservation partially in moralistic terms, and the declaration of the governors posed the issue as one of the people against monopolies. The issue of conservation had been put in the context of a democratic crusade against selfish interests, not as merely a choice of alternative policies. Roosevelt followed the Governors’ Conference and its recommendations by appointing the National Conservation Commission, which comprised fifty members from government, industry, and science. This body, chaired by Pinchot and with McGee as a major influence, was to work with state commissions to inventory the natural resources of the United States. The undertaking was another example of the quest for efficient planning; Roosevelt stressed the need for the government to know accurately what resources were available, not for the abstract purpose of preservation but for the purpose of planning future use. Fifty thousand dollars was requested for the commission’s work, but Congress refused the request because of its continuing antagonism toward the administration’s conservation policies. Nevertheless, the commission went forward and, in December, 1908,
Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources
Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources middle class. Many had been active in other Progressive reform movements and organizations. For them, possibly in reaction to industrial and urban trends in the United States, conservation was often more a matter of morality or aesthetics than of efficiency, a means and a method of restoring and maintaining spiritual values under threat from an increasingly materialistic society. Roosevelt backed the efficient use of resources during his presidency, but he also fostered the concept of the ameliorative elements of nature, as his friendship with preservationists such as John Muir and his creation of parks and wildlife sanctuaries suggest. Given the nature of American society in the early twentieth century, it was foreseeable that conservation would become of great importance to the public at large, as much for its moral and social implications as for its economic realities. The Governors’ Conference was a watershed event that carried conservation into the realm of the public’s awareness; no longer would debates and decisions concerning conservation policy be left only to the users of natural resources, scientific experts, and politicians. Public interest in conservation matters has fluctuated in the ensuing decades, but since Roosevelt’s presidency, conservation debates have invariably included discussion of the moral and aesthetic dimensions of the people’s rights as opposed to those of so-called special interests. —Eugene Larson Further Reading Cutright, Paul Russell. Theodore Roosevelt: The Making of a Conservationist. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1985. Concentrates on the years before Roosevelt was president but nevertheless contains a full discussion of Roosevelt’s lifelong interest in nature and conservation. _______. Theodore Roosevelt, the Naturalist. New York: Harper & Row, 1956. Discusses Roosevelt’s interest in and study of natural history. Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1991. One of the most satisfactory descriptions available of Roosevelt as president, including his conservation policies. Harbaugh, William H. Power and Responsibility: The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. 1961. Reprint. Newtown, Conn.: American Political Biography Press, 1997. Excellent one-volume biography of Roosevelt. Covers all aspects of his career, including his contributions to conservation.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Hays, Samuel P. Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency. 1959. Reprint. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999. A seminal work on the early history of conservation. Argues that the movement began as a search for greater efficiency in resource management, not as a democratic crusade against supposed business rapacity. McGeary, Martin N. Gifford Pinchot, Forester-Politician. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1960. Sympathetically covers both Pinchot’s political career and his interest in forestry and conservation. Includes discussion of Pinchot’s contribution to the Governors’ Conference. Pinchot, Gifford. Breaking New Ground. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1947. In this posthumously published autobiography, Pinchot discusses his life’s work through 1910 and his controversies with the Taft administration. Includes commentary on the Governors’ Conference of 1908. Reisner, Marc. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. Rev. ed. New York: Viking Press, 1993. A look at how government manipulates natural resources (especially water) in contrast to the philosophies of early conservationists. Roosevelt, Theodore. Autobiography. New York: Macmillan, 1913. Roosevelt’s own story, which documents his deeply held beliefs about conservation. Thayer, William Roscoe. Theodore Roosevelt: An Intimate Biography. 1919. Reprint. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2005. The story of Roosevelt’s personal and public life, told by a friend of forty years. Turner, Frederick W. John Muir: Rediscovering America. 1985. Reprint. New York: Perseus Books, 2000. This book, first published under the title Rediscovering America: John Muir in His Time and Ours, provides an in-depth look at the most important conservationist in the West. Muir greatly influenced Theodore Roosevelt’s decision to protect the natural resources of the United States. See also: Mar. 14, 1903: First U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Is Established; Jan. 3, 1905: Pinchot Becomes Head of the U.S. Forest Service; Jan. 11, 1908: Roosevelt Withdraws the Grand Canyon from Mining Claims; 1910: Steinmetz Warns of Pollution in “The Future of Electricity”; Mar. 4, 1913: Migratory Bird Act; Aug. 25, 1916: National Park Service Is Created; May 20, 1919: National Parks and Conservation Association Is Founded.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Oil Is Discovered in Persia
May 26, 1908
Oil Is Discovered in Persia
Locale: Masjed Soleym3n, Persia (now Iran) Categories: Trade and commerce; diplomacy and international relations; government and politics; energy; natural resources Key Figures William Knox D’Arcy (1849-1917), British entrepreneur Mo,affar od-Dtn Sh3h (1853-1907), Q3j3r shah, r. 1896-1907 Reza Khan (1878-1944), nationalist and secular reformist shah of Iran, 1925-1941 Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919-1980), shah of Iran, 1941-1979 Mohammad Mosaddeq (1880-1967), nationalistic prime minister of Iran, 1951-1953 Sir Percy Sykes (1867-1945), British general in charge of protecting Persian oil fields during World War I George B. Reynolds (fl. early twentieth century), leader of D’Arcy’s oil drilling team Summary of Event During the last half of the nineteenth century, Persia (modern-day Iran) was of interest to Europeans mainly for its fine carpets and for whatever monopolies could be gained from monetary gifts to the corrupt shahs (emperors) of the Q3j3r Dynasty. By 1900, Russian interests controlled the five northern Persian provinces, while the British sphere was in the south and controlled monopolies for commodities such as tobacco. It was business as usual when Mo,affar od-Dtn Sh3h sold a concession to a wealthy Englishman, William Knox D’Arcy, who had made his fortune mining gold in Queensland, Australia. For ten thousand pounds, D’Arcy purchased the rights to explore, develop, and sell natural gas, petroleum, and asphalt in all of Persia, except for the five northern provinces controlled by Russia, for the next sixty years. After
two years, D’Arcy was required to form a company and give the shah twenty thousand additional pounds and twenty thousand pounds in shares of the company’s stock. The shah was also to receive 16 percent of any profits from annual oil revenues. The natural seepage of oil from the ground in Persia, which had been used for centuries to caulk boats and bind bricks, attracted European interest in the 1870’s as technology for oil drilling developed. Baron Julius de Reuter (founder of Reuters News Agency) made two unsuccessful efforts to locate oil, and in the early 1890’s a French geologist surveyed western Persia and published a scientific paper on the region’s oil-producing potential. These efforts sparked D’Arcy’s interests and resulted in his 1901 purchase of the shah’s concession. That year, D’Arcy hired George B. Reynolds, one of the few Englishmen with experience in oil exploration, and sent him to find oil fields in western Persia. From 1901 to 1905, Reynolds drilled for oil without success. Harsh weather conditions, difficult terrain, and the shortage of skilled labor slowed progress. Running low on capital, D’Arcy signed an agreement with the Burmah Oil Company, a British corporation, to gain the funding necessary to continue exploration. Reynolds began drilling in southern Iraq, but through 1906 and 1907 he continued to lose money. The venture was close to collapse when, at 4:00 p.m. on May 26, 1908, oil began to gush over the top of oil rig number one at Masjed Soleym3n, rising to a height of fifty feet above the rig. Two more wells were sunk, with equally productive results. The first major oil strike in the Middle East had been made. Today, a small outdoor museum preserves what is known as Well Number One, which still retains its original rig, boiler, and pump. In 1909, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was founded. D’Arcy led the company, and by the time of his death in 1917 he had made a massive fortune, despite the fact that he never set foot in Persia and operated only through his agents. The company began construction in October, 1909, and by 1911 the number of employees had risen to twenty-five hundred. The export of oil began in 1912, and by 1914, thirty oil wells had been drilled at Masjed Soleym3n. The British government took an active interest in D’Arcy’s venture: The internal combustion engine was becoming increasingly important, and the British navy had discovered that diesel oil was far cheaper than coal 681
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The discovery of oil in Persia by an Englishman who had purchased oil concession rights gave Great Britain control of Persian oil, making Persia of tremendous strategic importance during two world wars. The discovery also initiated the opening of the Middle East to oil exploration and development, making the region of vital importance to the world economy. Initial Western control of oil production produced an anti-imperialist reaction that remained for many decades.
Oil Is Discovered in Persia
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
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but Britain placed a high priority on protection of its oil fields. In 1917, Sir Percy Sykes led the South Persian Rifles to defend British interests in Persia. After World War I, Reza Khan, a Persian Cossack formerly under Russian command, founded the Pahlavi Dynasty. A secular reformer and ardent nationalist, Reza attempted to obtain an equal division in oil profits from the British Petroleum Company. He was able to secure a more favorable settlement as Depression-ridden Britain left the gold standard in April of 1933, but the reallocation was still far from an even split. For Reza, Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany seemed to offer Persia (officially renamed Iran in 1935) the possibility of total control of its oil fields. A large number of Gulf of German officials were present in Oman Iran at the outbreak of World War II, and this was a major source of concern for the British. After Reza ignored a demand for the expulsion of all German officials, Great Britain occupied Iran on August 25, 1941. Reza was forced to abdicate, but the dynasty remained. His cooperative young son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, continued the Pahlavi Dynasty as the British maintained control of Iranian oil, the lifeblood of the British war effort. Although the British had uncovered what they believed were vast oil fields in Saudi Arabia, these could not be developed during World War II. After World War II ended, the British needed cheap oil to rebuild their infrastructure, but Iran’s political situation became increasingly complicated after 1951, when a nationalist named Mohammad Mosaddeq became premier of Iran. After failing to obtain the long-requested fifty-fifty split, he threatened to nationalize Iranian oil. The shah left Iran as the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and British Intelligence organized a coup, called Operation Ajax, to overthrow Mosaddeq. When the shah returned, it was to a new arrangement: A conglomerate of U.S. companies would control 40 percent of oil production, and the British Petroleum Company would control another 40 percent. The shah would receive 20 percent. The Iranian crisis convinced the British Petroleum Company to invest its resources in areas outside Iran, and
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and that ships powered by diesel oil could go longer distances between fuelings. In 1910, the British government bought one square mile of land on an island in the Shatt al-Arab region of the Persian Gulf, where it planned to build an oil refinery and shipping point. The British also negotiated a concession to run a 130-mile-long pipeline from the oil fields to the refinery. As a result, oil extraction, refining, and shipping could be handled in one efficient operation. By June of 1914, the British government had purchased D’Arcy’s shares in the company, although he retained his position as company director. The AngloPersian Oil Company was renamed the British Petroleum Company, and Great Britain owned 51 percent of its shares. This was a timely development: Britain became involved in World War I in August, 1914, and as George Nathaniel Curzon, viceroy of India, aptly stated, “the war was won on the waves of oil.” Significance During World War I, both Russia and Great Britain sent troops to Persia to protect their interests. Since 1911, Persian nationalists had looked to Germany for help in freeing Persia from Russian and British economic control, 682
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 the company started explorations in Kuwait, Libya, and Iraq. Outside the Middle East, British Petroleum found huge oil reserves at home in the North Sea, and it helped develop the biggest oil field in the United States at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The overthrow of the shah in 1979 by a nationalist and fundamentalist Shiite movement was, in part, a strong reaction against the Western control of Iranian oil that began at Masjed Soleym3n in 1908. —Irwin Halfond
maps, appendixes, biographical details, index, and bibliography. Ghani, Cyrus. Iran and the Rise of Reza Shah: From Qajar Collapse to Pahlevi Power. New York: I. B. Tauris, 1998. A detailed analysis based on primarysource documents of the events in twentieth century Iran that led to the coming to power and the policies of Reza Khan. Bibliography, footnotes, and index. Keddie, Nikki R. Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003. An excellent and readable history of modern Iran by a noted scholar in the field. Illustrations, footnotes, select bibliography, and index. See also: Jan. 10, 1901: Discovery of Oil at Spindletop; 1908: Hughes Revolutionizes Oil Well Drilling; Dec. 14, 1922: Oil Is Discovered in Venezuela; June 7, 1924: Oil Pollution Act Sets Penalties for Polluters; Sept. 17, 1928: Oil Companies Cooperate in a Cartel Covering the Middle East; Mar. 3, 1938: Rise of Commercial Oil Industry in Saudi Arabia; Mar. 18, 1938: Mexico Nationalizes Foreign Oil Properties.
Summer, 1908
Salon d’Automne Rejects Braque’s Cubist Works The Salon d’Automne’s rejection of six paintings by Georges Braque led to the launch of cubism, the most revolutionary art movement of the twentieth century. Locale: Paris, France Category: Arts Key Figures Georges Braque (1882-1963), French painter Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1884-1976), German art dealer Louis Vauxcelles (1870-1943), French art critic Henri Matisse (1869-1954), French painter Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), French painter Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist Summary of Event In February of 1907, Georges Braque’s work was a success when it was presented at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. Braque caused a stir with his Fauve-like creations such as The Port of Antwerp (1906), The Port of Ciotat (1907), and Little Bay at La Ciotat (1907). The Fauves, or “wild beasts,” a group of prominent artists including Henri Matisse, André Derain, Maurice de Vla-
minck, Albert Marquet, and Othon Friesz, used pure, wild colors for expressive purposes; Braque, an admirer of the Fauves’ work, emulated their style. Less than two years after Braque’s success at the Salon des Indépendants, however, his newer canvases would be rejected by these same men, who objected to Braque’s evolving Cézanne-influenced style. After the death of Paul Cézanne in 1906 and the exhibition of a huge number of Cézanne’s works at the Salon d’Automne in 1907, Braque became a fervent disciple of the great post-Impressionist. In fact, at L’Estaque, a coastal village near Marseilles where Cézanne had completed many of his post-Impressionistic, architectonic landscapes, Braque began emphasizing, in the manner of Cézanne, geometric construction and color not as emotive or decorative forces but as means of creating an intellectual aura through strong, simplified planes. Braque’s Terrace of Hotel Mistral (1907), for example, demonstrates his fondness for Cézanne’s conception of nature as a series of planes, cones, and spheres and for the artist’s use of heavily outlined forms with a great deal of height or with an upward, thrusting placement. A further influence on Braque’s earlier, accepted 683
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Further Reading Farmanfarmaian, Manucher. Blood and Oil: Inside the Shah’s Iran. New York: Modern Library, 1999. A detailed account of the development of twentieth century Iran by a princely insider, with particular attention given to oil politics. Maps, footnotes, and index. Ferrier, Ronald W. The Developing Years, 1901-1932. Vol. 1 in The History of the British Petroleum Company. London: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Massive scholarly analysis of the history of the British Petroleum Company draws on company archives and other unpublished primary sources. Illustrations,
Salon d’Automne Rejects Braque’s Cubist Works
Salon d’Automne Rejects Braque’s Cubist Works Fauve-like style was his introduction in the spring of 1907 to Pablo Picasso at Picasso’s studio in rue Ravignan, where Picasso was coincidentally completing his revolutionary Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. According to Jean Leymarie, Braque was overwhelmed by Picasso’s similar Cézannesque style, his decimation of a traditional, naturalistic approach to subject matter, and his stylistic influences, which included Hellenistic painting, Iberian sculpture, African masks, and works from Oceania. By the time Braque painted his Standing Nude in December, 1907, heavier volumes and thick outlines, foreshortened space, a toned-down palette of grays and browns, distinct anatomical distortions, and the rhythms of African art were visible in his work. In the early summer of 1908, when Braque returned for the third time to L’Estaque to paint landscapes, his style was radically different from the one he had demonstrated at the Salon des Indépendants in February, 1907. His Houses at L’Estaque, for example, reflected a structural approach to landscape, a dissociation of form and color, multiple volumes with numerous vanishing points, planes of darks truncating light areas, and a palette of muted purple-grays, greens, and warm ochres— features resembling Picasso’s earlier style. Therefore, Braque was angry and disappointed when, after he had enthusiastically decided to show his six unorthodox canvases at the Salon d’Automne in late summer of 1908 instead of at the Salon des Indépendants (where almost anyone could exhibit new work), his work was promptly rejected. Although two paintings were “reclaimed”—the prerogative of each voting juror if he chose—Braque withdrew entirely from the Salon d’Automne. Shortly thereafter, Braque accepted the invitation of a friend, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, a leading German art dealer, to exhibit his works. Thus, from November 9 to November 28, 1908, Braque displayed twenty-seven works in a one-man show at Kahnweiler’s gallery. The exhibition gave the French public its first glimpse of the movement that would soon be labeled cubism. Matisse criticized Braque’s strange paintings with “cubes,” and Louis Vauxcelles, a famous Parisian art critic of the period, derided the paintings, calling Braque’s human subjects deformed and metallic-looking. In a review published November 14, 1908, Vauxcelles remarked that Braque “despises form and reduces everything, landscapes and figures and houses, to geometric patterns, to cubes.” In reviewing an exhibit of Braque’s works at the Salon des Indépendants in the spring of 1909, Vauxcelles again described Braque’s work in terms of “cubic oddities” and as a style of “Peru684
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 vian Cubism”—the first use of the word “cubism” itself. Braque’s Harbor in Normandy (produced in the early spring of 1909), one of the two Braque paintings exhibited at the show, illustrates clearly his new style of cubist fragmentation. Not until later was this style associated with Picasso, although the public grew to associate cubism primarily with Picasso (probably because of the Spaniard’s more dominant, aggressive nature, which tended to eclipse the more retiring, less socially forceful personality of Braque). Significance Thanks to Braque, still life as a genre of painting regained the prominence it had enjoyed during the period of Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne. Suddenly, the human world and humankind’s needs were elevated to the status of fit subjects for art. Receptacles of food and drink, newspapers, playing cards, musical instruments, and books became prime subject matter, as they had been during the seventeenth century’s golden age of the still life and in later works by the famous genre painter Jean Siméon Chardin. Works such as Still Life with Musical Instruments (1908) and Guitar and Fruit Dish (1909) are examples of Braque’s revitalization of the still life. Braque’s rejection by the Salon d’Automne in 1908 indirectly gave birth to cubism, especially the earlier Cézanne phase, or so-called analytical phase, which began in 1909. The analytical style is characterized by the depiction of pictorial planes that are opened, with a concomitant buildup of space and volume, by fragmentation of form (or subject matter), often with a series of crisscrossing, moving verticals and diagonals, and by an avoidance of color, with a strong emphasis on multiple perspectives of an object from diverse angles and on refracted light from multiple sources. Examples of Braque’s works of this phase include Glass on a Table (1910), Violin and Palette (1909-1910), and Piano and Mandola (1909-1910). Budding cubism also intensified the Braque-Picasso bond, which was an unusual happening in the art world. This meeting of two great artistic minds gave birth to the painting ideology that shook the early twentieth century. Between 1909 and 1914, Braque and Picasso frequently lived near each other; in fact, the two artists, upon returning to Paris in the late summer of 1909, had studios together in Montmartre. During the summer of 1910 they worked apart (Braque at L’Estaque again and Picasso at Cadaquès on the Costa Brava), but their collaboration throughout the rest of the year produced works that were very similar.
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include Paul Klee of the Blaue Reiter group of German expressionists; Kazimir Malevich, a Russian cubist who formulated Suprematism; Piet Mondrian, a Dutch artist whose theories introduced “neoplasticism”; Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi; and Russian sculptor Aleksandr Archipenko. Frenchman Marcel Duchamp created a scandal at the 1913 New York Armory Show with the “dynamic cubism” of his Nude Descending a Staircase. Cubism seeped into other artistic media in the early twentieth century as well. Cubistic theatrical sets and costumes designed by Picasso became stylish, and cubism influenced much early twentieth century architecture and interior design, including the design of furniture and textiles. Cubism’s influence was also seen in fashions, graphics, typography, cartoons, and even cuisine. David Smith’s huge, environmental sculptural-cubism works and Andy Warhol’s pop art carried Braque’s ideology into postmodern times. In 1922, Braque was finally invited to exhibit at the Salon d’Automne, fourteen years after the salon had first rejected his radical creations. In the course of those years, Braque had helped revolutionize not only the international art scene and much of modern culture but also the way in which people saw their world. His pictorial masterpieces captured the new dynamism and psychological complexity of a highly technological, multifaceted modern age and people. By the time Braque was asked to exhibit at the Salon d’Automne, the viewing audience and society were ready. Not only were all of the fourteen recent works he submitted sold, but he also became, finally, a huge success with the ordinary French public—as well as with the citizens of the world. — Constance A. Pedoto Further Reading Antliff, Mark, and Patricia Leighten. Cubism and Culture. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2001. Scholarly work discusses the innovations of cubism and their relation to cultural, political, philosophical, and scientific changes taking place in French society at the time. Includes many illustrations (more than fifty in color), bibliography, and index. Danchev, Alex. Georges Braque: A Life. New York: Arcade, 2005. First full-length biography of Braque explores in detail his life and work, including his marriage, his military service, and his friendship with Picasso. Flanner, Janet. “Master.” In Men and Monuments: Profiles of Picasso, Matisse, Braque, and Malraux. 1957. 685
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In the summer of 1911, Braque and Picasso painted together at Ceret in the French Pyrenees. The heavily abstracted works of Braque—for example, The Portuguese (1911) and Woman Reading (1911)—appear almost indistinguishable from Picasso’s works of the period, such as his famous painting dedicated to their mutual art dealer, Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1910). The only significant stylistic differences between the artists at the time are found in Picasso’s emphasis on form and on the human body (unlike Braque’s spatial concerns) and his love of browns and earth tones (in contrast to Braque’s use of greens). Later, Braque even experimented with new materials worthy of artistic expression, creating a whole new art form, papier collé. Scraps of wallpaper, matchbooks, pieces of cardboard, and string intermingled with the drawing medium; real scraps coexisted with illusory sketched objects in works by Braque such as Fruit Dish and Glass (1912) and Still Life with Playing Cards (1913). Picasso, sharing Braque’s art ideology, created the first collage in 1912 by adding a piece of oilcloth to a painting, a technique he later extended to include the use of cards and stamps. As important as cubism was in the art world, the movement led by Braque and Picasso was only one aspect of a broad cultural revolution that saw similar experimentation occur in almost every intellectual discipline. Cubism found parallels in the novel spatiotemporal explorations of the writer James Joyce, the composers Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, and even the physicist Albert Einstein. Schoenberg’s adoption of the twelve-tone chromatic scale and Stravinsky’s elevation of atonality and polytonality were analogous to the breaking of a traditional-historical presentation of reality in the works of Braque and Picasso. Joyce’s and Einstein’s very different experiments with multiple time and movement were both in many ways similar to the cubists’ use of simultaneity of vision (in which many facets of an object are presented simultaneously from diverse angles). Sigmund Freud’s perception of divided consciousness also relates well to the principles of fragmentation implicit in cubism. Cubism (and the works of Braque) also influenced other famous art groups and artists of the modern period. The English cubist movement led to the formulation of vorticism, Italian artist Umberto Boccioni incorporated cubistic philosophy into his school of Futurism, and Fernand Léger experimented with pipe-shaped cubism, which he labeled “tubism.” Other leading international painters and sculptors who were influenced by cubism
Salon d’Automne Rejects Braque’s Cubist Works
Hale Discovers Strong Magnetic Fields in Sunspots Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1990. Excellent chapter gives an in-depth look at Braque, including information about his artist friends, his major relationships, and his war service. Somewhat dated; leaves the last decade of Braque’s life uncovered. Includes black-and-white photographs. Leymarie, Jean. Braque. Translated by James Emmons. Paris: Éditions d’Art Albert Skira, 1961. A thorough, precise commentary on the diverse styles of Braque. Very fine color plates of the major works of the artist’s major phases. Includes a useful chronological survey. _______. Georges Braque. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1988. Published in conjunction with the exhibition Georges Braque held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, June-September, 1988. Features three outstanding introductory essays and excellent
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 color plates (with accompanying critical commentary) of eighty-five paintings, twenty-five drawings, and three works of sculpture. Richardson, John. Georges Braque. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1961. An inspiring introduction to Braque and his major pictorial phases. Great interjections of Braque’s own comments to the author during various interviews throughout the years. Fine color plates (thirty-four) and black-andwhite plates (forty-three) along with pertinent critical commentaries. Includes a useful index of plates. See also: Oct., 1905: Fauves Exhibit at the Salon d’Automne; 1906-1907: Artists Find Inspiration in African Tribal Art; Feb. 20, 1909: Marinetti Issues the Futurist Manifesto; 1913: Apollinaire Defines Cubism; Nov. 8, 1929: New York’s Museum of Modern Art Opens to the Public.
June 26, 1908
Hale Discovers Strong Magnetic Fields in Sunspots George Ellery Hale discovered that magnetic fields are associated with sunspots, giving astronomers valuable information about the formation of sunspots. Locale: Mount Wilson, California Categories: Science and technology; astronomy Key Figures George Ellery Hale (1868-1938), American astronomer Pieter Zeeman (1865-1943), Dutch physicist Henry Augustus Rowland (1848-1901), American physicist Summary of Event In the seventeenth century, Galileo first observed dark spots on the surface of the Sun with a small telescope. Since that time, astronomers have invented new ways to observe the Sun and have used these new methods to learn more about what causes the spots and other features of the Sun. In the early twentieth century, George Ellery Hale developed several solar-observing instruments and used them to determine that the dark spots on the Sun exist in an intense magnetic field. This discovery fueled further research and theorizing about the nature and causes of the spots and about the magnetic fields of the Sun in general. In 1908, Hale observed the solar disk with a special 686
instrument he had developed called the spectroheliograph. This instrument worked essentially by filtering the light of the Sun so that the Sun’s various surface features, such as sunspots, could be viewed in the light of one particular wavelength. This was useful for studying the processes going on in the Sun, because each wavelength represents a particular atomic process in a particular type of atom. When Hale observed the Sun in a wavelength coming from hydrogen atoms, he noted the very interesting fact that there appeared to be huge swirls of hydrogen gas resembling a terrestrial storm or tornado. These “vortices” seemed to be associated with the formation of sunspots. Hale considered what the consequences of this rotating motion might be. Research by the English physicist Joseph John Thomson had shown that hot bodies emit electrons, and, as the Sun is very hot, Hale thought that perhaps the Sun was emitting electrons, which, if caught up in this whirling motion, might create a magnetic field in the sunspots. (Henry Augustus Rowland had proven earlier that a moving electric charge acts magnetically in the same way as an electric current. Hans Christian Ørsted had discovered earlier that electric currents affect magnets, and electromagnetic theory explains that electric currents produce a magnetic field.) Hale had a way to check this hypothesis. Astar’s spectrum (the pattern of bright light and dark lines that results
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ground. The underground room where the final image was obtained had a nearly constant temperature, thus avoiding possible air currents caused by changes and differences in air temperature. Moving air and warped mirrors distort and muddy the images obtained from telescopes, so the net result of all these precautions was to produce an image that was unusually steady and sharp compared with previous images from solar telescopes. Hale used this tower telescope to observe the Sun’s spectrum and its surface and, in particular, to search for the Zeeman effect of splitting of lines in the Sun’s spectrum. A doubling of certain lines in the spectrum had been observed previously, but this result had been misinterpreted at the time and no one, until Hale, had been able to observe the lines with sufficient precision to arrive at other ideas about why they appeared split. Hale, an energetic and active man, spent much of the summer of 1908 running up and down the ladder of the telescope tower in the course of his work. He was fortunate in having a period of clear skies during the second half of June, 1908, which enabled him to spend much of his time observing. On June 26, 1908, Hale observed a doubling of spectral lines that he thought was caused by the Zeeman effect. He was greatly excited and immediately compared his observations of the Sun with his laboratory observations of the effect. He found a correlation between the two sets of observations. For the first time, an extraterrestrial magnetic field had been detected and related to laboratory observations. Hale wanted to be absolutely certain of his discovery, so he continued to make observations for two more weeks. By July 6, he was confident that what he had found was indeed the Zeeman effect, indicative of magnetic fields in sunspots. Zeeman considered Hale’s results and agreed that Hale’s hypothesis was the best explanation for the observed phenomena. Astronomers in general were impressed by Hale’s results and excited about the possibilities they raised for further study of the Sun’s magnetic properties. Significance One important effect that Hale’s discovery had on astronomers was that it enabled them to extend their application of the relatively new field of electromagnetic theory to the cosmos at large. Astronomers work by understanding processes that can be observed on earth and applying them in the heavens. With Hale’s discovery, astronomers realized that they could apply their knowledge of terrestrial magnetic and electric phenomena to the distant stars; this gave them a new tool to use. Zeeman had found—in addition to the fact that spec687
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when the star’s light is passed through a prism or reflected from a grating) can reveal much about the temperature of the star’s constituent gases, the velocity of its rotation, and other information. In 1896, Pieter Zeeman discovered that if a source of light is placed in a magnetic field, the lines in the spectrum of the light source will be split into two or more components. Zeeman discovered this phenomenon (known as the Zeeman effect) in the laboratory, but it proved valuable in deducing even more information from a star’s light. When Hale learned of the Zeeman effect, he conducted laboratory work of his own to observe what the effect looked like in certain test cases. He carried out observations of light from an iron arc (or spark) from other sources and recorded much diversity in the splitting of the spectral lines from the different materials. Some lines split into two parts, some into three, and one even into twenty-one components. Once he had this information, he was ready to compare any observed splitting behavior in solar spectral lines to the laboratory results; if there was a magnetic field associated with sunspots, he could expect a close match between the solar line splitting and the laboratory line splitting. Each dark line in the spectrum represents a particular element undergoing a particular process; therefore, Hale could recognize and identify solar elements by the distinctive wavelengths of light at which their characteristic dark lines appeared in the spectrum. Because the Sun is much closer and thus much brighter to the earth than other stars, its spectrum can be photographed and examined in greater detail than can be done for other stars. The Sun emits light at many wavelengths, each associated with a different color of light. White light is seen from the Sun because the colors of these many wavelengths are all blended and viewed together; to spread the light back into its separate colored components, one must use a prism or finely spaced grating. With enough care and effort, it is possible to spread the light and observe detail in the dark lines. Hale expended much care and effort in building a 60foot (18-meter) tower telescope on Mount Wilson. This tower had mirrors on the top to catch the Sun’s light and reflect it through a telescope lens down to a spectrograph about 30 feet (9 meters) underground. At the spectrograph, the light was spread out into a spectrum. Because the mirrors that collected the sunlight were high above the ground and were fairly thick, they were not subjected to as much distortion from the Sun’s heat as previous solar telescopes had been, and the height of the mirrors also helped to avoid some of the warm air currents near the
Hale Discovers Strong Magnetic Fields in Sunspots
Hale Discovers Strong Magnetic Fields in Sunspots tral lines split in the presence of a magnetic field—that the distance between the components of the split line is directly proportional to the strength of the magnetic field causing the split. Hale measured the separations in lines split in the laboratory by a magnetic field of known strength, measured the separations in split lines in the spectrum of a sunspot, and derived the strength of the sunspot’s magnetic field. He found impressively large magnetic fields. Also, Hale was able to study how the strength of the field varied at different places in a sunspot; he discovered that the magnetic field is strongest at the center and weakest toward the edges. This finding has implications for what the structure of a sunspot might be like. Hale then turned his attention to the question of whether the Sun has an overall magnetic field in addition to the fields associated with sunspots. Although Hale worked at this question periodically for the rest of his life, he was never able to answer it. Later astronomers not only determined that the Sun has a magnetic field overall but also learned how this field changes over the Sun’s twenty-two-year sunspot cycle, how the field is affected by the Sun’s rotation, and the role that the field has in sunspot formation and other types of solar activity. Magnetic fields have poles (like the north and south poles of magnets), and astronomers have worked on discovering the polarity of the Sun’s magnetic field. Understanding the Sun’s magnetic properties has been crucial in understanding the Sun’s activity. Another question Hale considered was whether the magnetic fields associated with sunspots could be strong enough to cause magnetic storms on Earth. Hale was not in a position to answer this question, given that he would have needed records on both solar and terrestrial magnetic events over a period of time. The question, however, indicates why the study of the Sun is important to astronomers. Sunspots are associated often with energetic events on the Sun’s surface, which can send charged particles and energetic radiation out into space to interact with the earth’s atmosphere. This interaction can cause benign phenomena such as the aurora borealis, or northern lights, and it can also interfere with terrestrial communications systems. In the future, the radiation from solar flares could prove hazardous to inhabitants of long-term space colonies. Astronomers are interested in studying the magnetic processes that drive sunspot and flare formation because of the effects of these phenomena on humans. —Mary Hrovat 688
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading Bhatnagar, Arvind, and William Livingston. Fundamentals of Solar Astronomy. Hackensack, N.J.: World Scientific Publishing, 2005. Presents a history of solar astronomy and then discusses basic methods and techniques used in the field. Provides information that amateur astronomers can use to build simple solar telescopes. Includes glossary, bibliography, and index. Kaufmann, William J. Discovering the Universe. New York: W. H. Freeman, 1987. Intended as a textbook for an introductory descriptive course on astronomy, this volume discusses Hale’s discovery and considers other solar features as well as sunspots and the role that magnetic fields play in these features. Includes photographs and drawings as well as various study aids, such as chapter summaries, review questions, and a glossary. Mitton, Simon, ed. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy. New York: Crown, 1977. Includes a section on sunspots that discusses Hale’s participation in discovering the role that magnetic fields play in sunspots and other solar disturbances. Discusses current ideas on solar magnetism. Includes many photographs and drawings, as well as a brief physics primer at the end of the book that gives a concise overview of the magnetic and hydrodynamic facts used to explain solar activity. Noyes, Robert W. The Sun, Our Star. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982. Describes Hale’s discovery of the magnetic field in sunspots as well as his work with the spectroheliograph and discusses the Sun and its magnetic properties. Intended for both scientists and nonscientists. Includes photographs, drawings, and graphs. Struve, Otto, and Velta Zebergs. Astronomy of the Twentieth Century. New York: Macmillan, 1962. Coauthor Struve witnessed some of the astronomical events this book covers. Contains a chapter on the Sun that discusses Hale’s work and its implications for theories of solar magnetic fields and their effects. Discusses the growth of the solar observing facilities at Mount Wilson. Wentzel, Donat G. The Restless Sun. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. Discusses the Zeeman effect and gives a thorough presentation of current views on the Sun’s magnetic field. Includes diagrams, drawings, and black-and-white photographs. Presents a good discussion of solar physics, written for the nonscientist.
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Relying heavily on photographs and original documents, this collection of material on Hale’s astronomical work includes the text of an address Hale gave in 1909, “Solar Vortices and Magnetic Fields.” Also valuable for the letters, photographs, and newspaper clippings about Hale and his work. See also: Mar. and June, 1902: Kennelly and Heaviside Theorize Existence of the Ionosphere; 1903-1904: Hale Establishes Mount Wilson Observatory; Nov., 1917: Hooker Telescope Is Installed on Mount Wilson; 1930: Lyot’s Coronagraph Allows Observation of the Sun’s Outer Atmosphere.
July 24, 1908
Young Turks Stage a Coup in the Ottoman Empire After more than five hundred years of rule under despotic sultans, a group called the Young Turks declared the Ottoman Empire to be a constitutionally limited multinational monarchy. Also known as: Young Turk movement; Committee of Union and Progress Locale: Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey) Category: Wars, uprisings, and civil unrest Key Figures Ahmed Rtza (1859-1930), propagandist for the Committee of Union and Progress Enver Pala (1881-1922), head of the military branch of the Committee of Union and Progress and virtual dictator of the Ottoman government, 1913-1918 Ziya Gökalp (1876-1924), best-known interpreter of Turkish nationalism during and after World War I Abdülhamid II (1842-1918), sultan of the Ottoman Empire, r. 1876-1909 Midhat Pala (1822-1883), head of the Young Ottoman movement of the late 1860’s Summary of Event Although autocratic rule had for centuries been a mark of sultanic government in the Ottoman Empire, the last quarter of the nineteenth century probably stood out as the most despotic period of modern times. Experiences earlier in the century—first Napoleon I’s occupation of Sultan Selim III’s Egyptian province (1798-1802), then loss of Greece following local insurrection and European
intervention (in the 1820’s), and nearly complete separation of several Eastern Mediterranean provinces (Egypt and Greater Syria) in the 1830’s—had forced a number of important changes during the period known as the Tanzimat (Reorganization), from 1839 to 1876. Many imperial reforms involving new legal codes, tax laws, and some moves toward local administration by councils were announced as aiming at better government for Ottoman subjects of all nationalities. The fact that the Ottoman sultanate ruled peoples of different nationalities and religious backgrounds complicated Tanzimat aims considerably. The main ethnic nationalities were Turks and Arabs, but there were also Kurds, Balkan Slavs, and Armenians. The first two of these minority groupings were Muslim, and the last two were Christian. In addition, the so-called Arab provinces contained populations that, while ethnically more or less homogeneous, were divided into distinct religious communities, or millets. This was the case in Egypt, with a significant Coptic Christian minority, and especially Syria, with different Christian religious minorities (Maronites, Greek Orthodox, and Catholics). In addition, Jews existed as a separate millet in almost every province. Internal multinationalism and multisectarianism definitely complicated Ottoman reform efforts during the Tanzimat, but foreign interventionism was also a factor. A number of foreign-imposed treaties or conventions, not only political and military but also commercial in nature, caused defenders of the legitimate sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire to despair. Among these “agreements” were the London Convention of 1841, which re689
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Wright, Helen. Explorer of the Universe: A Biography of George Ellery Hale. 1966. Reprint. Melville, N.Y.: American Institute of Physics Press, 1994. Drawing heavily on letters and diaries written by the participants in the events described, this engaging book is an excellent source for the story of Hale’s discovery of the magnetic field associated with sunspots. Includes drawings and photographs of sunspots and solar spectra as well as bibliographies. Wright, Helen, Joan N. Warnow, and Charles Weiner, eds. The Legacy of George Ellery Hale: Evolution of Astronomy and Scientific Institutions, in Pictures and Documents. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1972.
Young Turks Stage a Coup in the Ottoman Empire
Young Turks Stage a Coup in the Ottoman Empire gained Ottoman rule in Egypt and Syria but laid down limiting restrictions in a number of areas; the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Crimean War in 1856 but initiated a new series of indirect control factors (especially in the form of foreign loans); and the international Congress of Berlin in 1878, which would become very important for the group that would become the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). The Congress of Berlin came at a very critical time, just after the closing of the Tanzimat period in 1876. Ostensibly the reason for ending the Tanzimat had been the adoption of a formal Ottoman constitution. This was done at the bidding of a group of liberal reform thinkers called the Young Ottomans, led by a former provincial governor, Midhat Pala. At that time, the newly installed sultan, Abdülhamid II, rose to the Ottoman throne only after promising to respect the Young Ottoman constitution. Empirewide elections were to be held for the first all-Ottoman parliament, which would have the responsibility of representing all subgroups, whether ethnic or sectarian, on the basis of a single “national” electoral law. One could argue that the very short-lived experiment barely scratched the surface in terms of representational democracy. What seems to have occurred was an elitist-oriented process of selection of representatives to serve in the Istanbul parliament; individual prestige and influence, more than actual dedication to representing the political aspirations of a wider constituency, characterized the parliamentary qualifications of various provincial leaders at this time. It was the reaction of the empire’s age-old enemy, czarist Russia, that caused the first Ottoman parliament, and with it the nascent principles of representative government in the Ottoman Empire, to founder. In 1877, Russia launched a military campaign against Abdülhamid, claiming that, whatever the value of the new representative basis for government in Istanbul, the Turks were mistreating their Bulgarian subjects (Slavic “cousins” to the Russians). Ostensibly to stop the Russians from benefiting from their aggression, the all-European Congress at Berlin intervened in 1878 to “correct” the terms reached by war. Soon after the Congress of Berlin’s benevolent “corrections,” which provided for an international administrative responsibility for a symbolically restored Bulgaria, Cyprus fell under British control and Bosnia and Herzegovina (later part of Yugoslavia) under Austrian. Several years later, Tunisia was occupied by France (1881) and Egypt by Britain (1882). Such blatant foreign interventionism gave the sultan an excuse to suspend both the 1876 constitution and the 690
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 parliament. In Abdülhamid’s mind, such conditions of menace against the Ottoman throne would never end. In fact, even when the Young Turk successors to the Young Ottomans succeeded in restoring the 1876 constitution, their presumed devotion to maintaining the integrity of the empire would be seriously hampered, between 1908 and 1914, by interventionist and exploitative pressures that were not at all dissimilar to those Abdülhamid used to rid himself of the first Ottoman constitution. When the Committee of Union and Progress, or Young Turks, emerged in the early 1890’s, no one could predict the future impact of bitter realities originating either inside the empire or among its foreign neighbors. Originally formed by students of mixed national origins studying in Istanbul, the CUP gradually attracted a wide variety of supporters among groups disgruntled about the effects of the sultan’s absolutist rule. Ottoman writers in exile, notably Ahmed Rtza, published articles devoted to analysis of parliamentary government in Europe, the principle of a free press, respect for individual rights and property, and other potential reforms. Political causes taken up by the CUP, however, came from other sources. One such source was the eminent essayist devoted to a reflourishing of “true” Islamic values in Ottoman society, Ziya Gökalp. Although Gökalp inspired CUP members with lofty idealism in the period before the 1908 coup, the strained circumstances that followed reestablishment of the 1876 constitution would eventually cause him to alter the universalist orientation of his writings in favor of a clearer Turkish ethnic (or pan-Turkish) bias. This latter feature in Gökalp’s profile was also reflected in the contribution of perhaps the most important wing of the Young Turk movement, composed of revolutionary cells in the Ottoman military. In fact, it was this link with the military that made it possible for the Young Turks to realize their theoretical aims through definitive action. On July 24, 1908, disgruntled elements of the Ottoman army supporting the Young Turk movement carried out the coup that compelled Abdülhamid II to restore the constitution of 1876 and to prepare for empirewide elections to an Ottoman parliament. The moment this happened, various individuals and groups within the empire braced for the effects constitutional government might have on their respective interests. Unlike the brief constitutional experience of 1876-1877, the Young Turk constitution enjoyed several specific foci of support within the wider ranks of Ottoman society. At the same time, however, it faced some equally specific internal sources of opposition.
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Significance The Young Turk coup of 1908 was generally greeted as a blow for freedom of expression and democratic representation. Side effects, however, indicated troubles yet to come. Almost immediately after the coup, politically interested “foreign” groups took advantage of transitional confusion to declare obvious advantages for themselves at the expense of the new Istanbul regime. AustriaHungary annexed the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (under their protection since 1878), and Bulgaria (under international administrative supervision since 1878) declared itself independent from any further Ottoman control. Armenian separatists also hoped for an opportunity to declare their independence and boycott any Armenian participation in the all-Ottoman parliament. Despite these events, the Young Turk regime moved quickly to restore parliamentary government in the Ottoman Empire. By the time parliamentary representatives were elected, however, signs of conservative resistance to the new government had emerged. A countercoup was attempted in 1909. Although this anti-Young Turk movement did not go very far, one might suppose that its supporters would have preferred to maintain the separate communal spheres, or millets, for Jews, Christians, and other non-Islamic religious groupings. Such convictions ran counter to the spirit of civic universalism that Young Turk supporters hoped to establish in Ottoman representative government. Successful reversal of the coup attempt of 1909 depended on loyal military support, something that foreshadowed the movement toward stricter central control. By 1910, a number of prominent political leaders both from the capital and from the provinces had gained a forum for expressing views on the future of constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire. Paramount among the former were the so-called centralists, under the leadership of Ahmed Rtza, and their political opponents, the decentralists, who had been inspired by the contributions of Ottoman prince Sabaheddin to the Young Turk movement as early as 1900. CUP leaders soon realized that diverse options for charting the future of the empire were causing splits within their own ranks. Emergence of the so-called Liberal Union within the movement threatened to prepare the way for a second party that could and did contest votes in the parliament. Pressures to control divergent political views mounted. These were given convenient justification when, in 1911, Italian forces invaded Tripoli, necessitating rapid moves toward a wartime budget
Young Turks Stage a Coup in the Ottoman Empire
Enver Pala. (Library of Congress)
and conscription. In the rush of events connected with the conflict, excuses could be made, especially by the centralist wing of the CUP, for the restriction of political activity. Soon, the Liberal Union found its members being silenced and the results of important elections altered at their expense. The CUP was finally forced out of office in July, 1912, when the army showed hostility to the government. The Liberal Union took over briefly. In the interim between the 1912-1913 Balkan War and a second round later in 1913, the Young Turk leader and military chief Enver Pala carried out what amounted to an executive coup in January, 1913. Many political opponents were removed, extraordinary powers were granted to the executive branch to prepare to defeat the Balkan enemies, and a campaign of pan-Turkism was adopted to bolster Turkish (but not necessarily other imperial subject nationalities’) morale. It was this policy of pan-Turkism, combined with the strong-arm internal po691
Bureau of Investigation Begins Operation litical and police tactics adopted by the 1913-1918 “triumvirate” leaders (Enver Pala, Mehmed Talât Pala, and Ahmed Cemal Pala), that turned the last stage of the Young Turk regime into a veritable military dictatorship. Seen in this light, the Ottoman pact with the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary and Germany) in World War I—a fateful alliance that led to the destruction of the Ottoman Empire in 1918—can be called a reflection of the eventual alignment of the military wing of the Young Turk movement with antidemocratic forces for whom constitutions were just so much paper. —Byron D. Cannon Further Reading Ahmad, Feroz. The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics, 1908-1914. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1969. Brief but detailed study of the period of actual Young Turk government, not planned revolution. Scholarly and authoritative. Haniolu, M. Lükrü. Preparation for a Revolution: The Young Turks, 1902-1908. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Study of the formative years of the Young Turk movement makes extensive use of archival materials. Includes select bibliography and index. Lewis, Bernard. The Emergence of Modern Turkey. 3d
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Broad textbook covering the traditional government of the Ottoman Empire. Provides discussion of the Tanzimat period, the 1876 and 1908 constitutions, and the aftermath of the Young Turk period. Mardin, Serif. The Genesis of Young Ottoman Thought: A Study in the Modernization of Turkish Political Ideas. 1962. Reprint. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2000. Primarily a study of intellectual trends and figures associated with the making of the 1876 constitution. Provides necessary background on the factors influencing the Young Turks by the 1890’s. Ramsaur, Ernest E. The Young Turks: Prelude to the Revolution of 1908. 1957. Reprint. New York: Russell & Russell, 1970. The earliest detailed study of the Young Turks. Emphasizes the events and influences that occurred between the 1876 constitution and its restoration by the Young Turk coup in 1908. See also: Oct. 7, 1908: Austria Annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina; 1911-1912: Italy Annexes Libya; Oct. 18, 1912-Aug. 10, 1913: Balkan Wars; Apr. 24, 1915: Armenian Genocide Begins; July 18, 1926: Treaty of Ankara; Aug. 11-13, 1933: Iraqi Army Slaughters Assyrian Christians.
July 26, 1908
Bureau of Investigation Begins Operation
Also known as: Federal Bureau of Investigation Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Civil rights and liberties; crime and scandal; organizations and institutions
William Howard Taft (1857-1930), president of the United States, 1909-1913 Stanley W. Finch (1872-1951), first director of the Bureau of Investigation, 1908-1912 A. Bruce Bielaski (1884-1964), second director of the Bureau of Investigation, 1912-1919 Harlan Fiske Stone (1872-1946), attorney general who appointed J. Edgar Hoover director of the bureau J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972), director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1924-1972
Key Figures Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 Charles Joseph Bonaparte (1851-1921), U.S. attorney general, 1905-1909, and founder of the Bureau of Investigation George Woodward Wickersham (1858-1936), U.S. attorney general, 1909-1913
Summary of Event During the nineteenth century, investigations involving violations of law that affected the U.S. government were largely more political than professional. These investigations were typically adjudicated by the Department of Justice, which was headed by the U.S. attorney general. The Justice Department employed well-trained Secret Service personnel to conduct investigations, but this pro-
The Bureau of Investigation was formed within the U.S. Department of Justice in response to President Theodore Roosevelt’s call for a special agency to investigate land grabs in the western United States and the growth of trusts in the East.
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Directors of the Bureau of Investigation, 1908-1972 The Bureau of Investigation was created on July 26, 1908, and was renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935. During the 1908-1940 period, the agency had six directors: 1908-1912 1912-1919 1919 1919-1921 1921-1924 1924-1972
Stanley W. Finch A. Bruce Bielaski William E. Allen (acting director) William J. Flynn William J. Burns J. Edgar Hoover
violations, generally came under the jurisdictions of state or local enforcement agencies, although in some cases federal agents assisted them. Roosevelt, who strove to provide equal service to his full constituency—laborers, blue-collar and white-collar workers, and businesspeople alike—was disturbed by the incursions big business was making into American society. He called for stricter government regulation of business and set out to abolish trusts, or at least to restrict their activities substantially. To the dismay of the business world, he initiated legal action against the powerful Northern Securities Company. At the same time, Roosevelt was strenuously working for more governmental control of public lands, which were being shamelessly exploited by oil and mining interests. He urged Congress to put the good of the public ahead of private and highly profitable business interests. During his term in office, Roosevelt doubled the number of national parks in the United States, adding five parks to those already in existence, and designated fiftyone areas as wildlife refuges. Roosevelt’s solution to the problem of corporate greed despoiling much of the West was to declare large wilderness areas in public lands. His interests in conservation and in controlling trusts led him to establish the Bureau of Investigation. To do so, Roosevelt called upon his attorney general, Bonaparte, to create an organization that would focus on thwarting the illegal land grabbing occurring in the West and on controlling the development of trusts within the business communities in the East. Bonaparte responded to Roosevelt’s mandate by forming an agency staffed by thirty-four specialized agents who were authorized to deal with the problems the president had identified. This small group, which grew into the Bureau of Investigation, began operations on July 26, 1908. The initial staff of thirty-four was made up mostly of men who were chosen based on the experience they had gained working in the Department of Justice. They were exceptional investigators who had not been required to present any specific academic credentials but who had proven themselves in the field. Later, when Attorney General Harlan Fiske Stone appointed J. Edgar Hoover director of the Bureau of Investigation in 1924, strict rules were established regarding an agent’s qualifications. These rules, however, were not in effect during the bureau’s first decades. Initially, many members of the U.S. Congress had serious concerns about establishing this new agency, identified as the “special-agent force,” within the Department of Justice. They feared that the executive branch of the 693
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cess had obvious drawbacks. Employing such operatives was very expensive, so economic considerations sometimes thwarted investigations that needed to be conducted more fully. Furthermore, members of the Secret Service reported directly to the director of the Secret Service rather than to the Department of Justice and the attorney general. In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became president of the United States after the assassination of President William McKinley. Roosevelt, at that time the youngest person ever to serve as president, believed in a strong and active executive branch of government. Throughout his term of office, he focused on environmental conservation, an issue that meant a great deal to him. In 1905, Roosevelt appointed Charles Joseph Bonaparte to the position of attorney general; Bonaparte shared the administration’s progressive, reformist spirit. Bonaparte wanted complete control of the investigations carried out on his watch, so he supported Congress’s passage, on May 27, 1908, of a law that prohibited the Department of Justice from hiring Secret Service personnel to carry out the kinds of investigations previously conducted by the Secret Service. This paved the way for the founding of an agency within the Department of Justice specifically designed to investigate federal crimes. After the establishment of the Bureau of Investigation (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI), some federal violations continued to be investigated by the agencies most directly affected by them. Infringement of postal regulations, for example, fell under the purview of postal authorities. Customs violations and counterfeiting, although federal infractions, were investigated by the Department of the Treasury. Local violations, which occurred much more frequently than federal
Bureau of Investigation Begins Operation
Bureau of Investigation Begins Operation federal government was establishing a secret police force that might eventually infringe on citizens’ individual freedoms and constitutional guarantees. Nevertheless, by passing the 1910 White-Slave Traffic Act (also called the Mann Act), Congress gave this cadre of special investigative personnel (which by 1909 had grown to sixty-four agents and nine support staff) much more power than it had at its inception. The Mann Act prohibited the transportation of women across state lines for immoral purposes, making such activities infractions of federal rather than state or local laws. Prostitution was usually viewed as a local matter, but the transportation of women from state to state for immoral purposes became a federal offense. The agency operated without an official name until 1909, when Bonaparte’s successor, George Woodward Wickersham, who was appointed by President William Howard Taft, named the agency the Bureau of Investigation. Its first chief was Stanley W. Finch, who served for four years and was succeeded by A. Bruce Bielaski, who served for seven years. During the second and third decades of the twentieth century, when mob activity and the illegalities associated with Prohibition swept the nation, the FBI increased in size and gained considerable power. During World War I, the FBI was charged with the enforcement of the Selective Service Act and with investigating and prosecuting violations of the Espionage Act. Its scope was again broadened in 1919, when enforcement of the Interstate Transportation of Stolen Motor Vehicles Act fell to the bureau. Significance The establishment of a special bureau to investigate and prosecute specific legal violations became essential as American society grew increasingly complex. Significant advances in communication and transportation facilitated the growth of criminal activities that were less localized than they had been during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Other circumstances, including the involvement of the United States in World War I and the enactment of Prohibition in 1919, led to sit-
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First Issue of Pravda Appears
October 3, 1908
First Issue of PRAVDA Appears Leon Trotsky published his newspaper Pravda in Vienna, Austria, from 1908 to 1912. Vladimir Ilich Lenin then took the name for his paper later in that year. Locale: Vienna, Austria Categories: Publishing and journalism; government and politics
Summary of Event After a great deal of planning, the Russian Social Democratic Party was finally organized in 1903. It immediately fractured into several factions. The most important was the majority Bolshevik faction, led by Vladimir Ilich Lenin, and the minority Menshevik faction, led by Julius Osipovich Martov. Leon Trotsky was another important figure who led a small group of intellectuals. All three leaders worked together on the editorial board of the Social Democratic newspaper Iskra (the spark), which took the lead in organizing the party. While the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks fought each other for the loyalty of the Russian workers, Trotsky gained international fame as the president of the Soviet (council) of Workers’ Deputies, which had been established by the party during the 1905 revolution. After the revolution, the Social Democratic leaders went into exile. Trotsky was sent to Siberia but escaped (for the second time) in 1907. Trotsky was an orthodox Marxist who believed that socialism could come about only through the armed revolution of the urban proletariat. He argued that the revolution of 1905 in Russia was the first bourgeois revolution in the stages of history predicted by Karl Marx. Both
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Key Figures Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein; 1879-1940), Russian Social Democratic leader who founded Pravda Vladimir Ilich Lenin (Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov; 18701924), Bolshevik leader who appropriated the name Pravda for his own newspaper Lev Borisovich Kamenev (Lev Borisovich Rosenfeld; 1883-1936), onetime editor of Pravda who fought with Trotsky over editorial policy Julius Osipovich Martov (Yuly Osipovich Tsederbaum; 1873-1923), leader of the Mensheviks, the non-Leninist wing of the Russian Social Democratic Party
Lenin and Martov agreed with this theory. However, while the Mensheviks argued that the revolution was a success and the proletarian revolution would not take place for generations as capitalism in Russia grew, Lenin and Trotsky, who at that time still opposed each other within the movement, thought the bourgeoisie were too weak and that the 1905 revolution had been a failure. Lenin believed that the urban proletariat and the Russian peasants (who made up the bulk of the population) should unite and complete the revolution. Trotsky worked out his interpretation and ideology, called “permanent revolution,” with Alexander Galfand, a German economist. According to Trotsky and Galfand, the downtrodden Russian masses would provide a spark that would ignite a socialist revolution among the bourgeoisie in Europe and around the world. Russia and the international proletariat would then pass through the bourgeois stage right into the socialist stage. The small Ukrainian Menshevik organization Spilka began publication of the newspaper Pravda (the truth) in 1905, but it had little success. On the group’s suggestion, Trotsky took over in October, 1908, and made Pravda into a major Russian socialist paper. The group soon dissolved, but Trotsky continued publication. He moved the newspaper, which reported on events related to struggle for socialism in Russia and Europe, to Vienna in order to avoid Russian censorship. (Copies were smuggled into Russia from Vienna.) The paper’s other editors included some of the most brilliant socialists from Trotsky’s group, including Adolf Joffe, Moisei Uritsky, Matei Skobelev (the paper’s secretary), Victor Kopp, David Ryazanov, and Semyon Semkovsky. Joffe and Skobelev came from wealthy families, and they helped to bankroll the paper. Even with their assistance, however, Pravda was often in desperate straits, and finding money for printing was always difficult; once, an issue was held up for lack of fifty rubles. Trotsky poured his earnings from his books and journal articles into the paper’s production. Trotsky’s fiery writing style became very popular, and he used the paper to advocate union among socialist factions, especially the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. In 1910, a brief conciliation between these two groups took place, and the Central Committee of the party voted to accept Pravda as an official organ and to support it with 150 rubles a month. Lev Borisovich Kamenev, Trotsky’s brother-in-law and a high-ranking member of the Bolshevik faction, joined the editorial board as part
First Issue of Pravda Appears of the agreement. That same year, an edition began printing in St. Petersburg. Kamenev, however, began to take the Bolshevik hard line against the Mensheviks after Lenin’s group managed to gain control of the Central Committee. Trotsky opposed this position, so Kamenev left the editorial board. Trotsky appealed to the Second International to keep control of the funds. A committee made up of Franz Mehring, Karl Kautsky, and Clara Zeitlin—all wellknown socialists in the international movement—formed a commission to judge the issue, but Lenin, who established the separate Bolshevik Party in 1912, would not release the funds that he now controlled. The editors continued the publication on an intermittent basis until April, 1912, when their group dissolved. In May, Lenin began his own party paper with the name Pravda. Lenin’s Pravda began publication in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for distribution in Russia. Lenin’s Pravda proved to be very popular among the Russian workers, and it soon gained a circulation greater than that of the Menshevik papers and became a powerful organizing tool for Lenin’s party. Trotsky attacked Lenin for his use of the name Pravda in stinging articles and letters that he would later regret writing. Ironically, he did not know that the first editor of the Bolshevik Pravda was none other than a minor Georgian Bolshevik named Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, more commonly known as Joseph Stalin, who fifteen years later would battle Trotsky for leadership of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) after Lenin’s death. In 1922, at the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the Bolshevik Pravda, Trotsky wrote a congratulatory article in which he did not mention that his paper previously had the name. Significance The Russian government banned Pravda at the beginning of World War I. After the February Revolution in 1917, the democratic provisional government in Russia permitted it to reopen. Lenin and Trotsky returned to Russia and joined forces that summer, when Trotsky joined the Bolsheviks (renamed the Communist Party). In November, the provisional government tried to close down Pravda, but it was too late. The Communists carried out a swift and almost bloodless revolution in the succeeding days and put Lenin and Trotsky into power. The new government in Russia was based on the workers’ and soldiers’ soviets, which were reestablished during the revolutions, and these councils established the newspaper Izvestia (news) in 1917. In 1922, after a civil 696
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 war, Lenin’s government combined with other political groups. Pravda, which remained the Communist Party paper, and Izvestia continued as the two most important dailies in the country, and they retained their status as long as the Soviet Union existed. Many other local and organization-oriented papers also bore the word Pravda in their titles. In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed and was replaced by the Republic of Russia, Pravda’s readership declined. Foreign investors took control, and it continued until 1996 with a nationalistic conservative editorial policy. Izvestia continued as a liberal, independent daily paper. —Frederick B. Chary Further Reading Deutscher, Isaac. The Prophet Armed: Trotsky, 19211929. 1954. Reprint. New York: Verso, 2003. One of the best biographies of Leon Trotsky. This first volume of a three-volume biography contains the details of his founding of Pravda and his struggle with Lenin. Schapiro, Leonard. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union. New York: Vintage Books, 1964. The best history of the Russian Communist Party in English. Gives details of the founding of Pravda. Tariq, Ali. Trotsky for Beginners. New York: Pantheon, 1980. Part of a series on political, economic, and sociological subjects by Trotsky ‘s academic admirers. It presents his life and ideas in a simplified (but academically rigorous) comic-book fashion. Thatcher, Ian D. Trotsky. New York: Routledge, 2003. A clear study of Trotsky using new documents. Reexamines his role in both the 1905 and 1917 revolutions. Stresses his importance as a political thinker. Trotsky, Leon. My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1970. Trotsky’s autobiography. He writes about Pravda’s early days and defends his position in his struggle with Lenin. Volkogonov, Dmitri. Trotsky: The Eternal Revolutionary. Translated by Harold Shukman. New York: Free Press, 1996. Unfavorable biography of Trotsky by a former Soviet general and military historian. Uses documents released in the 1990’s and contains important information, although it also has some factual errors. See also: Sept. 5-8, 1915, and Apr. 24-30, 1916: Zimmerwald and Kienthal Conferences; Jan.-June, 1916: Lenin Critiques Modern Capitalism; Mar.-Nov., 1917: Lenin Leads the Russian Revolution; Mar. 2-6, 1919: Lenin Establishes the Comintern; Mar., 1921: Lenin Announces the New Economic Policy; Jan., 1929: Trotsky Is Sent into Exile.
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Austria Annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina
October 7, 1908
Austria Annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina Austria’s annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina created an international crisis that laid the groundwork for the start of World War I. Locale: Balkans Categories: Expansion and land acquisition; government and politics
Summary of Event Since the sixteenth century, the Balkan peninsula had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Turks had pushed their holdings westward into Europe until 1683, when their advance was stopped at the gates of Vienna by an army composed largely of Poles under their king, Jan Sobieski. Since that time, the Turkish hold had been gradually reduced, chiefly by the Habsburg rulers, who had successfully reclaimed Hungary in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, the Turkish hold on the Slavic inhabitants of the Balkans continued to weaken. Serbia had achieved de facto independence in 1829 and de jure independence in 1878. Increasingly, Russia had become a sponsor of the Slavic ethnic groups in the Balkans, particularly in Serbia. Under the stimulus of the pan-Slavic movement in Russia, the Serbs in Serbia began to dream of a great Slavic country in the Balkans with Serbia as its center. In 1876 Russia had gone to war with Turkey, largely to assist the Slavic ethnic groups in the Balkans to free themselves from Turkish control. The Russian victories in the war with Turkey, and the revelation of Russian plans for the reorganization of the Balkan peninsula under Russia’s aegis, alarmed the other powers. Under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor of the German Empire, an international congress met in Berlin in 1878 to revise the terms of the settlement the victorious Russians had planned to impose on the defeated Turks. While that settlement recognized the end of Turkish rule over large parts of the Balkans, it was concerned with preventing the extension of Russian control, particularly over the western Balkans. To pre-
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Key Figures Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal (1854-1912), foreign minister of Austria-Hungary Aleksandr Petrovich Izvolsky (1856-1919), foreign affairs minister of Russia Alexander (1876-1903), king of Serbia, r. 1889-1903 Peter I (1844-1921), king of Serbia, r. 1903-1921
vent the expansion of Serbia, the Congress of Berlin assigned the two principalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria to administer, although Turkish sovereignty was theoretically preserved. The occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Austrians was generally beneficial to the inhabitants of the principalities. The Austrians developed Bosnia’s infrastructure and provided administrators who replaced the rampant corruption of the older Turkish administration with relative honesty. In addition, the incorporation of the occupied principalities into the Austro-Hungarian economy provided increased economic opportunities for the Slavic inhabitants. Nevertheless, the Slavic inhabitants of the Balkans, particularly the neighboring Serbs, resented Austria’s occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia’s army was no match for the Austro-Hungarian forces, and as long as the empire retained effective control of the two principalities, the radical Serbs would have difficulty realizing their dream of a greater Serbia. Tensions were muted during the early years of the occupation, as the rulers of Serbia followed a policy of cooperating with the Austrians in return for economic advantages, notably an export market in Austria for Serbia’s agricultural produce. In 1903, however, the pro-Austrian king of Serbia, Alexander, was assassinated by radical elements and his place taken by Peter I, a member of the hostile, antiAustrian Karageorgevic Dynasty. Under Peter I, Serbia veered away from the cooperative policy of his predecessor and actively promoted anti-Austrian propaganda directed at arousing the Slavic sensibilities of the inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this new departure, the Serbs were encouraged by the pan-Slavic movement in Russia. Austria felt threatened by this propaganda effort, fearing the loss not only of the occupied territories but also of other Slavic lands within the empire, such as Croatia and Slovenia, which the Serbs hoped to incorporate into a greater Serbia or Yugoslavia. Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal, who had been appointed foreign minister of Austria-Hungary in 1906, believed that annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Dual Monarchy would frustrate Serbian machinations. In Russia, Aleksandr Petrovich Izvolsky, the newly appointed minister of foreign affairs, sought to recoup Russian international standing following Russia’s defeat by Japan in 1905 through a dramatic stroke in the European
Austria Annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina theater. Acting secretly, with the knowledge of Czar Nicholas II but not that of the ministers of the government, he informed Aehrenthal that Russia would be willing to support the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary if in return the Dual Monarchy would sanction the opening of the Dardanelles to Russian warships. The straits had been closed to foreign warships since the Straits Convention of 1841. Aehrenthal reacted favorably to Izvolsky’s proposition, and the two statesmen awaited the right moment to seal their bargain. That moment came in the summer of 1908 with the outbreak of the Young Turk movement, which sought to modernize the corrupt and ineffective government of the Ottoman Empire. While the Turks were preoccupied with civil war, Aehrenthal and Izvolsky met in Buchlau in Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic) on September 15 and orally reiterated their earlier agreement to support Austria-Hungary’s annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the opening of the Dardanelles to Russian warships. Unfortunately, they drew up no written account of their decisions, nor did they set a date for the annexation. The result was that within three weeks a serious misunderstanding and a grave international crisis arose. Izvolsky left the conference with the impression that nothing would be done immediately (or so he later claimed). He set out to visit the European capitals in order to obtain the consent of the other Great Powers to the change in the status quo affecting the Dardanelles. Meanwhile, Aehrenthal was preparing for the annexation. He informed Bulgaria that the time was ripe for it to proclaim its independence from the Ottoman Empire, which it did on October 5. Two days later, Aehrenthal announced to Europe that Austria-Hungary had annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. Significance The storm of protest aroused by the annexation brought Austria to the brink of war with the other European nations. Serbia and Montenegro (then still an independent principality but closely allied with Serbia) were outraged over the move, viewing it as a deliberate effort to frustrate their dream of establishing a great South Slav state, a Yugoslavia. The Young Turks resented Austria’s violation of Ottoman sovereignty. In Russia, where pan-Slav sentiment was strong, Austria’s annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Izvolsky’s role in helping to make it possible were vociferously condemned. Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin, the Russian premier, ordered Izvolsky to oppose the annex698
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ation. He did so by denying any involvement and by calling on Great Britain and France to aid the Turks, but neither would do so. They were opposed in principle to the annexation as a violation of international agreements reached at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, but they recognized the fact that Austria had been in control of Bosnia and Herzegovina for some thirty years, so that consequently the status quo in the western Balkans would not really be changed much by the formal incorporation of these districts into the Dual Monarchy. Sir Edward Grey, the British foreign secretary, did reject Izvolsky’s plea for the opening of the Dardanelles to Russian warships. The crisis lasted for almost six months. Serbia, with the reluctant support of Russia, drew near to war with Austria. The crisis was protracted by Izvolsky’s insistence that the dispute be submitted to an international conference. Aehrenthal refused, and Great Britain and France, anxious to avoid war, declined any firm support to Russia. Finally, Germany backed Austria and Izvolsky was forced to accept the annexation, and on March 31, 1909, an isolated Serbia did likewise. Austria had previously compensated the Turks with a financial indemnity on February 26, 1909. Peace was thus restored to the Balkans, but it was a precarious one. Relations between Austria and Serbia steadily deteriorated until they culminated in the assassination of the Austrian archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, in July of 1914. The uneasy truce that Austria and Russia had maintained in the Balkans from 1878 to 1908 was now shattered beyond repair. In the long run, the Austrian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina raised more problems than it solved, complicating an already delicate situation in a region where ethnic divisions would continue to simmer and ignite into wider conflicts throughout the twentieth century. —Edward P. Keleher and Nancy M. Gordon Further Reading Bartlett, C. J. The Global Conflict: The International Rivalry of the Great Powers, 1880-1990. 2d ed. New York: Longman, 1994. Chapter 3 discusses the events leading up to World War I, including the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Includes maps, illustrations, bibliography, and index. Bridge, F. R. From Sadowa to Sarajevo: The Foreign Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1866-1914. 1972. Reprint. New York: Routledge, 2001. Covers the Bosnian annexation within the context of Austro-Hungarian foreign policy. Jelavich, Barbara. History of the Balkans. 2 vols. New
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Ehrlich and Metchnikoff Conduct Pioneering Immunity Research Sugar, Peter F. The Industrialization of Bosnia-Hercegovina, 1878-1918. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1963. Discusses the social and economic background to the Austrian administration of the two principalities. See also: July 24, 1908: Young Turks Stage a Coup in the Ottoman Empire; 1911-1912: Italy Annexes Libya; Oct. 18, 1912-Aug. 10, 1913: Balkan Wars; June 28, 1914-Nov. 11, 1918: World War I; Apr. 24, 1915: Armenian Genocide Begins; July 18, 1926: Treaty of Ankara; Aug. 11-13, 1933: Iraqi Army Slaughters Assyrian Christians.
November-December, 1908
Ehrlich and Metchnikoff Conduct Pioneering Immunity Research Development of the concepts of phagocytosis as a defense mechanism of the body and the mechanism of action of antitoxins and cell receptors provided a springboard for future advances in knowledge concerning immunity. Locale: Pasteur Institute, Paris, France; Royal Prussian Institute for Experimental Therapy, Frankfurt, Germany Categories: Health and medicine; science and technology; biology Key Figures Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), German research physician and chemist Élie Metchnikoff (1845-1916), Russian biologist, microbiologist, and pathologist Carl Claus (1835-1899), Austrian zoologist Summary of Event In 1796, Edward Jenner introduced the first vaccination against smallpox—so named to distinguish it from syphilis, the “Great Pox”—by employing exuded matter from cowpox pustules as the inoculant. In so doing, he used a principle of animal biology with which he and others were not familiar. Jenner’s success rested on the principle of immunity to prevent disease. Immunity can be defined simply as the state of protection against disease, particularly infectious disease. It is the response of the animal body and its tissues to an assault by a variety of antigens. In the context of present-
day knowledge, understanding, and research in the field of immunity, this definition is as uninformative as a definition of life. The weakness of the definition is not in what it covers, but rather in what it leaves out for the sake of brevity. In the context of late nineteenth century science, the field of immunity, aside from being young, was fraught with seemingly incongruous results. Élie Metchnikoff and Paul Ehrlich, who shared the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in immunity, provided two significant insights that opened the door to the understanding and direction of research in immunity. Their work paved the way for the effective development and use of vaccination, chemotherapeutic treatment of infectious disease, and even organ transplants. Metchnikoff correctly interpreted and advanced the concept of phagocytosis as a major mechanism by which the animal organism combats foreign particles and disease organisms invading the body. He first used the term “phagocyte,” derived from the Greek, in Carl Claus’s Arbeiten (1893; work); Claus, a zoologist, was keenly interested in the phagocytosis theory. Metchnikoff was educated as a zoologist, but his studies led him increasingly into the field of pathology. In 1865, he made the first observation that would lead to his concept of phagocytosis as a disease-fighting mechanism. He examined the intracellular digestion in the roundworm Fabricia, which compared with that of protozoans. Although this phagocytic-type process was originally discovered and 699
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York: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Volume 2 includes a brief but useful discussion of the administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria. _______. Russia’s Balkan Entanglements, 1806-1914. 1991. Reprint. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Contains a detailed account of the negotiations between Aehrenthal and Izvolsky. Includes maps, illustrations, bibliography, and index. Schmitt, Bernadotte E. Annexation of Bosnia, 1908-09. 1937. Reprint. New York: Howard Fertig, 1970. Provides an account of the diplomatic maneuvers associated with the annexation based on diplomatic documents published after World War I.
Ehrlich and Metchnikoff Conduct Pioneering Immunity Research noted in 1862 by Ernst Haeckel, it was Metchnikoff who correctly interpreted the relationship between phagocytic digestion and phagocytic defense mechanisms. In 1882, while studying transparent starfish larvae, Metchnikoff observed mobile cells engulfing foreign bodies introduced into the larvae. He noted that these cells arose from the mesoderm layer (middle layer) of the embryo rather than the endoderm layer, which is associated with the digestive system. Metchnikoff examined the degeneration of the tadpole tail and observed that it occurred by the phagocytic process also. These observations led him to spend the next twenty-five years in developing and advancing his theory of phagocytosis. The need for phagocytosis in an actively diseased animal led him to study a fungus infection of the water flea, daphnia. Metchnikoff demonstrated that human white blood cells also develop from the mesodermal layer and serve the role of attacking foreign bodies, particularly bacteria. These ideas were revolutionary because, at the time, one school of thought held that the leukocytes were responsible for nurturing and spreading bacterial infection throughout the body. Indeed, the observation of many white blood cells in the blood of patients who died of infection added resistance to Metchnikoff’s phagocytosis theory. As advanced by Julius Cohnheim, the theory concerning inflammatory response was that such response was operative only in higher animal life-forms that possessed cardiovascular systems. Metchnikoff had demonstrated the principle of inflammatory response in lower life-forms that had no such systems. It was in the study of the higher animal systems that Metchnikoff faced his most significant challenge in understanding phagocytosis and disease. His choice of infection was the anthrax bacillus. His observations appeared to conflict because phagocytosis seemed to be limited depending on virulence—very virulent bacilli were not attacked, whereas weaker bacilli were. Complicating Metchnikoff’s study was the observation that resistant animals exhibited active phagocytosis and susceptible stock displayed no phagocytosis. Metchnikoff was up against the multifaceted complexity of immunity—the humoral versus cellular dichotomy—and the basis of his day’s confusion and controversy in immunity studies. Beginning in 1883, Metchnikoff’s ideas were published in Rudolf Virchow’s Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie, und für klinische Medizin (archives for pathological anatomy and physiology and clinical medicine). By 1892, phagocytosis in combating disease was established, and the knowledge was published in The Comparative Pathology of Inflammation. 700
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Metchnikoff wrote a comprehensive book in French in 1901, L’Immunité dans les maladies infectieuses, that reviewed both comparative and human immunology and proved a defense of his phagocytosis theory. The book was translated into English in 1905 under the title Immunity in Infective Diseases. While Metchnikoff wrestled with establishing phagocytosis as a mechanism of defense in disease, Ehrlich studiously examined antitoxins. His first major accomplishment was the improvement of the effectiveness of the diphtheria antitoxin discovered and developed by Emil von Behring. He also performed fundamental experiments that led him to his views on active and passive immunity. His research on antitoxins and immunity led to the development of his side-chain theory, a concept of specific cellular responses toward toxins and antitoxins. This theory led Ehrlich to the concept of cell receptors— the basis of the cell’s chemical specificity for certain chemical substances. Whereas Metchnikoff studied the factors associated with phagocytosis and thus the cellular aspect of immunity, Ehrlich studied the factors associated with the humoral aspects of immunity—immunity embodied in the bodily fluids. Ehrlich’s research on toxins and antitoxins aided later studies and the development of an understanding of antigens and antibodies (immunoglobulins). Ehrlich’s accomplishments included the introduction of quantification and graphical representations of the relationships existing between toxins and antitoxins. Additionally, he introduced practical and appropriate in vitro systems within which to study these complex associations, selecting erythrocytes as the simplest case in testtube experiments. Ehrlich reproduced essentially the same effects in these test-tube experiments as observed in the animal body, particularly in the case of the plant toxin ricin. Most important, a complex series of experiments established that the lethality of a toxin and its ability to bind to antitoxin are two separate and independent properties of the toxin. Ehrlich’s work with ricin established that animals can build an immunity to such toxic substances when they are administered initially minute doses of the substances, with the size of the doses gradually increasing over time. Furthermore, he demonstrated in mice the transference of this immunity to the offspring through maternal milk. From his work on diphtheria toxin, he developed a quantitative standardization method for antitoxin dosage characterization. Ehrlich’s work in immunity arose from his study of blood, particularly staining with various dyes. His find-
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Ehrlich and Metchnikoff Conduct Pioneering Immunity Research
ings convinced him that the cell does bind certain dyes by distinct chemical affinities. The variously discovered blood components and the differential staining methods Ehrlich developed not only prepared him for his immunity researches but also marked him as the founder of modern hematology. Additionally, the Wassermann test for syphilis, developed by August von Wassermann in 1906, was a direct outgrowth of Ehrlich’s immunological research and views.
The Response of the Immune System to Bacterial Infection Bacteria enter through break in skin
Nonspecific defense response
Antibody-mediated immune response
Macrophages destroy bacteria through phagocytosis
B cell Helper T cell
Virgin B cells are sensitized
Plasma cell
B cell
Differentiation
B memory cell
Information is provided to helper T cells
Helper T cells stimulate the production of sensitized B cells
Antibodies are released into the bloodstream
(Hans & Cassidy, Inc.)
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Significance Prior to the phagocytosis doctrine advanced by Metchnikoff, the commonly held view was that resistance to bacterial infection resided in chemical properties of the blood. This view enjoyed reinforcement because antibodies in blood had been demonstrated. In 1903, the English scientists Sir Almroth Edward Wright and Stewart Douglas demonstrated the presence of substances
(opsonins) in blood that seem to prepare bacteria for phagocytosis by white blood cells by binding to the bacterial surface. The phagocytosis doctrine thus appeared to require a precondition, a precoated bacterium that was engulfed. In the ensuing years, the role of phagocytosis and antibody formation became better defined. Phagocytosis is but one mechanism of defense offered by the host against infection. Its activation depends on whether the infective organism is within the cell (intracellular) or outside the cell (extracellular). Phagocytosis is most pronounced in acute (extracellular) infection, although bacteria protected by a capsular coat are not readily attacked. Phagocytosis is of limited importance in the case of intracellular infections, such as viruses. In the early stages of infection antibody production has not yet begun, thus phagocytosis is the first defensive action initiated against foreign microorganisms. The administration of antibiotics slows bacte-
Ehrlich and Metchnikoff Conduct Pioneering Immunity Research rial growth and multiplication, permitting phagocytic blood cells to kill these small populations. Today it is understood that several types of cells are involved in defense against infection. A division of labor exists in which some cells detect by-products of infectious organisms and release immunoglobulins to inactivate the toxic properties of these antigens. Cells of this type, B cells, are usually short-lived. Cells that kill foreign cells are known as T cells. Cytotoxic T cells (or killer T cells) eliminate foreign cells directly. TH cells help B cells to differentiate and proliferate. TA cells amplify differentiation and proliferation of the T cells. TS cells suppress the immune response and are important in policing the body’s own attack on itself. Ehrlich’s work in immunity had far-reaching consequences for general medicine. His studies provided the earliest methods of standardization of bacterial toxins and antitoxins, which are still employed, essentially unaltered from his original methods. Ehrlich demonstrated further that the lethal action of toxin and its antitoxin-binding potential are actually two separate and distinct properties of the toxin. Additionally, with ricin, he showed that a lag time exists between exposure to a toxin and the manufacture of antibodies against it. Furthermore, Ehrlich distinguished clearly between the concepts of active immunity and passive immunity during his studies of immunity transmission through milk and placenta. Through these studies—all of which rested on his fundamental belief in chemical affinities between a cell and chemical substances—Ehrlich went on to study ways of curing disease by chemical means. His early work and successes with trypanosome infection utilizing trypan red and atoxyl derivatives led to his most celebrated application of Salvarsan, an arsenical, as a cure for syphilis. Armed with the knowledge and insight into the mechanics of immunity and chemotherapy to which Ehrlich’s and Metchnikoff’s work contributed, along with ongoing advances in biotechnology, modern medicine can fight microorganisms on their own ground—the molecular level—and win. —Eric R. Taylor Further Reading Glasser, Ronald J. The Body Is the Hero. New York: Random House, 1976. Several chapters provide in simple language the historical and scientific basis of knowledge concerning the major cellular components of the human immune system. Marks, Marguerite. “Paul Ehrlich: The Man and His Work.” McClure’s, December, 1910, 186-200. Avoids 702
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scientific jargon and relates in simple terms the work done by Ehrlich and its historical importance. An excellent source to review before examining more scientifically based commentaries on Ehrlich. Marquardt, Martha. Paul Ehrlich. London: William Heinemann Medical Books, 1949. Marquardt, Ehrlich’s secretary, provides glimpses into the man and his work. Presents a picture of his thinking, his mannerisms, and his temperament. Uses a minimum of technical jargon. Metchnikoff, Élie. Immunity in Infective Diseases. Translated by Francis G. Binni. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1905. Written by Metchnikoff himself in French and translated to English. A treatise of Metchnikoff’s views and findings in his research on immunity. The seventeen chapters contain few illustrations. For readers who are relatively well versed in science and seek insight into the thinking of the researcher himself. Metchnikoff, Olga. Life of Élie Metchnikoff. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1921. The second wife of Élie Metchnikoff provides a record of his life from childhood to his death at the Pasteur Institute. Discusses his family and his own development; depicts Metchnikoff’s loves, dislikes, and weaknesses. An excellent book for those more interested in the man than in his studies. Silverstein, Arthur M. A History of Immunology. New York: Academic Press, 1989. Covers the study of immunology from its beginnings in the first decades of the eighteenth century. Discusses the work of Ehrlich and Metchnikoff as well as other early immunologists and examines the controversies over competing theories as the field developed. Includes appendixes, glossary, and indexes. _______. Paul Ehrlich’s Receptor Immunology: The Magnificent Obsession. New York: Academic Press, 2001. Focuses on Ehrlich’s many contributions to the field of immunology, placing them in the context of their times. Includes appendixes and indexes. Tauber, Alfred I., and Leon Chernyak. Metchnikoff and the Origins of Immunology: From Metaphor to Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Biography of Metchnikoff explores his influences, including how his development as an embryologist prepared him to study immunity and the impact of Darwin’s theory of evolution on his research progress. Places Metchnikoff’s work within the context of late nineteenth and early twentieth century debates on vitalism, teleology, and mechanism.
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Wood, Barry W., Jr. “White Blood Cells v. Bacteria.” Scientific American 184 (February, 1951): 48-52. Written for readers with some general background in biological science. Examines the role of white blood cells in acute infection. Places particular emphasis on Metchnikoff’s theory of phagocytosis in disease states. See also: 1905: Introduction of the First Injectable Anesthetic; Apr., 1910: Ehrlich Introduces Salvarsan as a Cure for Syphilis; 1921: Tuberculosis Vaccine BCG Is Developed; 1930: Zinsser Develops an Immunization Against Typhus; 1932-1935: Domagk Discovers That Sulfonamides Can Save Lives.
November 1, 1908
Belgium Annexes the Congo As a consequence of the international outcry over the treatment of Africans under the rule of King Leopold II, the Belgian government assumed control of the Congo and initiated reforms. Locale: Brussels, Belgium Categories: Indigenous peoples’ rights; social issues and reform; colonialism and occupation; expansion and land acquisition Key Figures Leopold II (1835-1909), king of Belgium, r. 1865-1909 Edmond Dene Morel (1873-1924), British journalist Sir Edward Grey (1862-1933), foreign secretary of the United Kingdom, 1905-1916 Jules Renkin (1862-1934), first minister of colonies of Belgium, 1908-1918 Summary of Event The Congo Independent State (also called the Congo Free State; now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) was unique among European imperial ventures in Africa. Although it resembled a European colony, technically the Congo State was a sovereign country, recognized as such since 1885 by most of the major powers. Its ruler was King Leopold II of Belgium, but there was no constitutional connection between Belgium and the Congo State until 1908. The state was run largely as Leopold’s private business concern. From the start of his African venture in the 1870’s, Leopold had portrayed his motives in acquiring the Congo watershed as humanitarian. He stated his inten-
tions to suppress the slave trade and to bring commerce, prosperity, and “civilization” to the Africans. He adhered to the 1885 Berlin General Act, which included a pledge to “watch over the preservation of the native tribes and to care for the improvement of their moral and material well-being.” Although the Congo State did take measures to end the slave trade, Leopold in fact exhibited little concern for the rights of Africans in the Congo. The rule of the Congo Independent State was imposed and maintained, where necessary, by military force. All land that was deemed unoccupied was confiscated by the state. Taxation, especially in the early years, was left to the discretion of local officials and assumed various forms. A considerable amount was collected in the form of export commodities (ivory, groundnuts, and especially wild rubber). Women were required to provide cassava bread for the state’s workers and soldiers. Residents also had to provide government stations with meat and fish. Taxes were also payable in labor for the government: cutting wood for the river steamers, transporting officials in canoes, providing porter labor on expeditions, and working on various public projects. These impositions were spread unevenly, with villages located near government stations bearing the heaviest burdens. Payment of taxes in currency was prohibited in most cases, a policy often criticized as retarding the development of a money economy in the territory. Taxation was enforced with collective penalties, detentions, and corporal punishment. Such policies were not atypical of the early years of European rule in Africa, but the Congo State came under criticism for being much harsher and 703
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Vernon-Roberts, B. “Phagocytosis, Pinocytosis, and Vital Staining.” In The Macrophage. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1972. Provides a fine overview of phagocytosis, covering chemotaxis, mechanical factors, recognition of foreign substances, ingestion, the cytochemical changes of significance to ingestion, and the fate of ingested or engulfed materials. Woglom, William H. “Phagocytosis.” In Discoverers for Medicine. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1949. Describes the theory of phagocytosis and how Metchnikoff strove to establish it. Begins with a brief description of Metchnikoff’s life and education.
Belgium Annexes the Congo
Belgium Annexes the Congo more exploitative than other colonies in Africa. It was the state’s financial weakness that led to the increasingly brutal treatment of the Africans. As an independent state, Leopold’s Congo had no metropolitan power to support it financially, and those who had invested money, including Leopold, sought to profit quickly. Leopold, beginning in the early 1890’s, made concessions of vast territories to various private firms in order to exploit the Congo’s resources. The most notorious of these firms were the Société Anversoise du Commerce du Congo (known as Anversoise), the AngloBelgian India Rubber and Exploring Company (Abir), and the Compagnie du Kasai (created in 1901). The state held a large proportion, usually half, of the stock in these companies, and state officials sat on the firms’ governing
King Leopold II of Belgium. (Library of Congress)
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 boards. Company agents were often hired by the state and had few restrictions on their powers. Most of the territory not parceled out in concessions was assigned to the so-called private domain, which was to be exploited directly by the state. In the 1890’s, wild rubber replaced ivory as the main focus of economic activity in the Congo, and it was in the rubber industry that the worst abuses of the Africans occurred. Neither the state nor the concession firms were strongly capitalized, and they relied on crude extraction in order to turn a profit. Local officials were given goals to meet; they in turn set the quota of wild rubber each village was required to produce and received a commission on the amount gathered. In addition, private competition was excluded to keep the purchase price of rubber low. European officials often used African assistants, commonly known as capitas, to enforce the quotas. Missionaries reported that the taking of hostages (especially women), whipping, and mutilation (especially the amputation of hands) were not uncommon methods of enforcing the quotas. The practice of mutilation was said to derive from the requirement that (African) soldiers had to account for each bullet used by bringing back the hand of the victim. Over time, reports of such atrocities, mostly provided by Protestant missionaries, led to criticism of the Congo State in the outside world. The publication in 1904 of the findings of an investigation by the British consul Roger Casement, which Leopold tried to block, created an uproar in Britain and led journalist Edmond Dene Morel to found the Congo Reform Association (CRA). Morel’s campaign soon spread to other countries and became particularly strong in the United States. In the face of increasing international condemnation, and prodded by the British Foreign Office, Leopold convened an independent commission of inquiry to look into Casement’s charges. The commission failed to find any evidence of mutilation or murder by European officials and attributed the cases of mutilation to an “inveterate native custom” of taking a trophy from the dead or those believed dead. On several issues, such as the use of labor taxes, the commission approved of the government’s policies while criticizing aspects of their implementation. Nevertheless, the resulting report, released in 1905, substantiated most of Casement’s findings. It found abuses in the tax system, unauthorized military expeditions by the concession companies, and improper supervision over the companies. Leopold set up a second commission to recommend proper reforms. Soon after the commission of inquiry had made its
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Belgium Annexes the Congo
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pold in that year, including the termination of the Abir and Anversoise concessions, were deemed inadequate by Morel and the CRA, who Chad argued that no true reforms could be expected so long as Leopold conAnglotrolled the Congo. In November, Egyptian Grey told a delegation of reformers Sudan that he favored a Belgian annexation Abyssinia of the Congo. In December, the Bel(Ethiopia) gian parliament debated the Congo Came roo issue and voted to examine the quesns Mbini tion of annexation. Stanleyville After many months of difficult Ug Bel gia East Africa negotiations with Leopold, the treaty Middle n Protectorate that transferred the Congo to BelCongo C Léopoldville German East Zanzibar gium and the acts establishing a new Africa Protectorate colonial charter were passed by the South K ata n g a Belgian Chamber in August and SepNyasaland Atlantic tember, 1908. The annexation came Angola into force on November 1, 1908, alOcean though it was not announced in the Rhodesia ue iq Congo until November 16. The annexation did not satisfy Morel. The king retained limited powers in the newly renamed Belgian Congo. Existing concessions remained, although the administrative powers of Indian Ocean the companies were curtailed. Forced labor was not outlawed under the new colonial law, and most of Leopold’s officials continued in their report, Sir Edward Grey, a known critic of Leopold’s jobs. Morel and the CRA convinced the British and Congo, became foreign secretary of Great Britain. By American governments to withhold recognition of the 1906, the Hearst newspapers in the United States had annexation until the system had been completely retaken up the campaign against Leopold. A reform moveformed and the rights of Africans were protected. ment also appeared in Belgium itself, drawing on the growing strength of the Socialist Party in the Belgian Significance parliament. Even the Catholic Party, previously LeoOn paper, the Belgian annexation did little to change the pold’s main supporter in Belgium, began to distance itsituation in the Congo. The Leopoldian system was gradself from his policies. ually dismantled, however, because of continued presBelgian public opinion had always been somewhat sure by Morel and the efforts of Jules Renkin, the new ambivalent toward Leopold’s imperial ambitions, and minister of colonies. Renkin introduced his reform promany Belgians saw little reason for the government to gram in October, 1909. Free trade was to be introduced become involved in them. The idea of annexing the area by area over three years, and the importation of conCongo had been raised twice previously, in 1895 and sumer goods for Africans would be encouraged. At the 1901, but the Parliament had voted against it, primarily same time, payment of taxes in currency was to be introbecause the king was opposed. By 1906, the strength duced, and taxation in the form of provisions was abolof international opinion left little alternative to Belgian ished. Morel was still unimpressed and held the most dramatic rally for reform organized up to that time, with annexation. The reform measures introduced by Leo-
Belgium Annexes the Congo the archbishop of Canterbury on the dais, in November. Although Morel held out for strong guarantees for African property rights, world interest in the Congo soon flagged. Leopold’s death in December, 1909, left the reformers without a convenient target for their outrage. Leopold’s successor, Albert I, favored a humane policy in Africa and had even visited the colony himself, something Leopold never did. In 1912, Renkin was 1`granted the authority to remove officials who were known to be corrupt or who had misbehaved under the old regime. That same year, the old governor, Baron Théophile Wahis, a staunch supporter of Leopold, was also replaced. Renkin also established a training academy for colonial officials that included courses emphasizing ethics and toleration for local customs. In June, 1913, the Congo Reform Association dissolved itself, having determined that its job was done. The United States and Great Britain granted recognition to the Belgian Congo. Underlying many of the improvements in the Congo after 1908 was a shift in the focus of commercial exploitation from forest products to mining and plantations. The wild rubber industry was on the decline after 1907, largely as the result of the use of destructive methods to tap the trees. Elephant herds were being exterminated. Copper, cobalt, and diamonds began to replace rubber and ivory at the top of the list of exports. The big mining concerns, notably the Union Miniére du Haut Katanga, came to realize that they needed a steady, experienced workforce and could not rely on forced labor or seasonal levies. In the 1920’s, they adopted a more benevolent policy toward their workers, providing housing, health care, food, and education for them and their families. The crude exploitation of the red rubber era became a thing of the past, to be replaced by a more subtle, and more profitable, approach. Gradually, the Belgian Congo came to resemble other European colonies in Africa, which is to say that it was paternalistic. Africans still had few legal rights, faced open discrimination, and had no voice in government, but outright brutalization was curbed. Forced labor remained but was more closely regulated. In later decades, the government required Africans to grow specific crops. Although the government encouraged mission schools through subsidies, producing in the long run a relatively high literacy rate, it discouraged advanced education for Africans. When independence came suddenly in 1960, the tensions implicit in this more humane, paternalistic colonial system found their outlet in a bloody civil war. —T. K. Welliver 706
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading Anstey, Roger. King Leopold’s Legacy: The Congo Under Belgian Rule, 1908-1960. London: Oxford University Press, 1966. An excellent companion volume to the Slade book listed below. Particularly useful for its emphasis on social trends in addition to economic and political developments. Index and bibliography. Brausch, Georges. Belgian Administration in the Congo. 1961. Reprint. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986. A concise work, written by a former Belgian administrator. Although his concern is mainly to defend Belgium’s record in the Congo, the author provides useful information about changes in policy, particularly after World War II. Brief bibliography, no index. Cookey, S. J. S. Britain and the Congo Question, 18851913. New York: Humanities Press, 1968. A detailed account of British diplomacy regarding the Congo. Well documented, using both Belgian and British archival materials. Includes a solid account of the reform campaign and the political debates on the issue. Not concerned with events in the Congo except as they affected relations between Britain and Belgium. Bibliography and index. Edgerton, Robert B. The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2002. Documents the history of the Congo from the fifteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Chapter 5 is devoted to the Belgian Congo. Includes map, bibliography, and index. Gann, Lewis H., and Peter Duignan. The Rules of Belgian Africa, 1884-1914. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1979. Concerned mainly with the backgrounds, motivations, and experiences of colonial officials. Also strong in discussions of economics and of changing colonial policies, but not on the whole concerned with the African perspective. Includes a critical examination of some of the accusations against the Congo Independent State. Index and good bibliography. Hochschild, Adam. King Leopold’s Ghost. New York: Mariner Books, 1999. Focuses on the exploitation of the Congo’s resources and the abuses of Africans by Leopold’s regime as well as on the reform efforts of Edmond Morel and others. Draws on many eyewitness accounts. Includes illustrations, bibliography, and index. Martelli, George. Leopold to Lumumba: A History of the Belgian Congo, 1877-1960. London: Chapman & Hall, 1962. A well-written book, at times dramatic and at times polemical in defense of the European rec-
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November 28, 1908 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
Slade, Ruth. King Leopold’s Congo: Aspects of the Development of Race Relations in the Congo Independent State. London: Oxford University Press, 1962. The standard political and diplomatic history in English of the Congo Independent State. The subtitle is somewhat misleading, as race relations are not the main focus of the work. Index, bibliography, and map. See also: 1902: Heart of Darkness Critiques Imperialism; Apr. 14, 1911: Lever Acquires Land Concession in the Belgian Congo; Sept. 10, 1919: Saint-Germainen-Laye Convention Attempts to Curtail Slavery.
MONITOR Is Founded
The appearance of the Christian Science Monitor marked a major effort by a religiously sponsored publishing group to report news events in a style marked by scrupulously nonsectarian objectivity. Locale: Boston, Massachusetts Category: Publishing and journalism Key Figures Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), American founder of the Christian Science religion Erwin D. Canham (1904-1982), American newspaper correspondent and editor Summary of Event The Christian Science Monitor published its first edition on November 28, 1908. Foremost among the newspaper’s creators was Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science religion. The philosophy on which Eddy’s religious movement was based exercised a significant influence on the newspaper’s nature and evolution. Among the key elements underlying Christian Science is the belief that humankind is created in the image of God and that this inherently spiritual human nature, being a reflection of an infinitely good Creator, is endowed with the intelligence to overcome evil and material limitation. Prayer and spiritual healing are also essential components of the church’s teachings. Eddy envisioned the Christian Science Monitor as an important tool for fulfilling the healing mission she had established for her church, in that it would confront and address the social and moral problems that face the world.
By bringing national and international events into clearer focus for its readers through spiritually enlightened, problem-solving journalism, the newspaper would combat the apathy, indifference, and despair that are common responses to world affairs. Although religious teachings per se were never considered to be among the essential goals of the Christian Science Monitor, the newspaper’s founders did, from the outset, reserve a special section of each issue, called the “Home Forum,” for editorials on a wide variety of religious subjects. The first of these was written and signed by Eddy herself, but policy underwent a change almost immediately. Soon after the November, 1908, issues were published, this key section of the paper began to appear with no author’s name. In this respect, the Monitor was quite different from its earliest forerunner, the Christian Science Journal, which Eddy had founded in 1883 as a monthly publication with the specific mission of airing and developing denominational questions. Eddy established a second, somewhat different, periodical, the Christian Science Sentinel, in 1898. Although devoted to religious articles, this weekly publication included a substantial number of news stories. The emphasis placed on the major issue of the day, the Spanish-American War, was an early indication of what the public at large would see when the Monitor appeared a decade later: a notable sensitivity to issues that had worldwide importance, especially questions concerning peace between nations. One of the main problems in the expansion of journalism during the first decade of the twentieth century was publishers’ increasing use of sensationalism to attract the 707
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ord in Africa. Strongest on the Congo Independent State, particularly its founding, but offers only superficial discussion of the Belgian period. Index, map. Morel, Edmond Dene. E. D. Morel’s History of the Congo Reform Movement. Edited by W. Roger Louis and Jean Stengers. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1968. Morel’s own history of his campaign up to 1904 provides an interesting insight into the personality of Leopold’s nemesis. The editors have added chapters carrying the story to 1913, as well as a series of critical discussions of several of Morel’s more controversial claims.
Christian Science Monitor Is Founded
Christian Science Monitor Is Founded
Mary Baker Eddy. (Library of Congress)
attention of readers and to guarantee large circulation numbers. The trend was associated with two major figures in American journalism, William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. This phenomenon was unattractive to many people who, without necessarily wishing to retreat to religiously sponsored publications, might be interested in a newspaper dedicated to higher standards in the choice of subjects discussed and in methods of presenting the news. When the idea of the Christian Science Monitor was first broached, therefore, the paper’s primary emphasis was drawn from principles suggested to Eddy by fellow churchman and Boston newspaperman John L. Wright in a March, 1908, letter: “Many would like a paper that takes less notice of crime, etc., and gives attention . . . to the positive side of life, to the activities that work for the good of man and to the things really worth knowing.” Wright emphasized the need for “daily newspapers that will place principle before dividends.” Given such considerations, the unique features of the first issues of the Christian Science Monitor are 708
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 more easily understood. The paper gave a considerable amount of attention, for example, to the issue of the U.S. arms budget and its discussion in Congress. The Monitor was careful to try to view this subject with attention to all of its ramifications (for employment in economic sectors that were not specifically military, for example) rather than to offer a simple journalistic summary. Similarly, the Monitor’s coverage of a locally vital issue, the Charles River dam project in Boston Bay, was accompanied by consideration of the wider implications of such environmental control systems. The paper also discussed the dam’s effect on the river’s banks, as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was one of the first institutions to be founded on the reclaimed areas of Boston’s Back Bay. Such emphasis on major news events and their wider repercussions did not prevent the Christian Science Monitor from also providing more popular forms of information, most notably sports news. From its earliest issues and for a number of years, page three of the paper was reserved for news of sporting events. As soon as a publication structure existed in Boston, the Monitor was in a position to internationalize its sources for news information through the organization of the Christian Science Church. A notable example of this was the contribution of Frederick Dixon, the head of the church’s Committees on Publication for Great Britain and Ireland. Until the Monitor grew large enough to send salaried correspondents to foreign capitals, it relied on church committee heads such as Dixon to send regular clippings from the foreign press that could be integrated (with acknowledgment of the sources) into the news columns of the Boston paper. Significance The death of Mary Baker Eddy in December, 1910, posed no immediate transitional problems for the recently established newspaper. In 1914, however, it fell to Archibald McLellan, a former editor of the Monitor and director of the Christian Science Church following Eddy’s death, to confront the future by confirming his support for the editorial leadership of Dixon, a man who had earlier served as an associate editor at Eddy’s suggestion. Although the paper maintained steady progress in providing quality news from different points around the world over the next few years, its second decade witnessed some tensions, particularly where questions of possible censorship were concerned. Because the Monitor would not limit itself to hiring only Christian Scien-
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years, there is no doubt that the Christian Science Monitor succeeded in maintaining and expanding its image as a highly professional and objective newspaper. This success was marked by the pattern of the paper’s street circulation figures and, increasingly, the growth in the number of regular subscribers paying for mail delivery of the Monitor to their homes in many countries around the world. The paper’s first circulation records from April, 1909, showed a total of 43,000 subscribers. This figure nearly doubled by 1917 (to 81,558) and then rose to 123,080 in 1919. The immediate postwar figures were considerably lower, but growth in circulation became marked after the mid-1920’s, largely because of the effective efforts of Colonel Herbert Johnson, who applied his prior experience as a business executive to the task of circulation management at the Monitor from 1927 to 1942. By the mid-1950’s, circulation exceeded 170,000. However, in the 1980’s and 1990’s, the paper experienced financial difficulties that necessitated cuts in staff and changes in format. By the end of the twentieth century, with the advent of the Internet, the situation of the Christian Science Monitor began to improve again. It was among the first U.S. newspapers to establish an online presence, a move that enabled it to expand readership even as print circulation declined to about 71,000 in 2005. With 1.7 million unique visitors to its Web site per month as of 2005, the Monitor became one of the top ten U.S. papers in terms of online readership. —Byron D. Cannon Further Reading Canham, Erwin D. Commitment to Freedom. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1958. A comprehensive history of the Christian Science Monitor, from several decades before its actual founding in 1908 to its fiftieth anniversary in 1958, by a longtime Monitor editor. Includes many vignettes concerning the personal characteristics of individuals associated with the paper’s first fifty years of operation. Childs, M. W. “The Christian Science Monitor.” Saturday Evening Post, September 15, 1945, 14-15. Published soon after the end of World War II, this article commended the Monitor for its ability to adhere to high standards of journalism in a very difficult environment for international news. “Downsized.” The Nation, December 5, 1988, 588. Discusses the resignation of Kay Fanning, editor of the Monitor and first woman president of the American 709
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tists to carry out the business of gathering and editing the news, some reporters objected when the paper’s authorities suggested wording changes in articles in order to avoid the appearance of acceptance of “morally questionable” practices that were being reported. Specific efforts were made to ensure that staff and higher editorial personnel maintained journalistic standards without imposing moral judgments. Nevertheless, as late as the mid-1950’s, certain terms were consciously avoided in the Monitor’s pages. “Passing on” was used instead of “death,” for example, because the former reflected more closely the Christian Science religious belief concerning the end of life. Another area that reflected the Christian Science Monitor’s concern for maintaining different standards from those of more typical daily newspapers was its treatment of “society news.” Only organizational activities of recognized social groups were considered worthy of news coverage; practically nothing appeared in the newspaper’s columns about the social activities or honors of prominent individuals or families. The one area in which the Monitor’s particular philosophy can be seen most visibly overlapping with editorial policy toward the news is that of the discussion of medical questions. Because Christian Science places strong emphasis on freedom of individual decision in confronting the effects of disease, the paper tended on several occasions to devote major attention to issues that might affect such individual rights. This was the case, for example, in the early 1940’s, when policy makers in the United States were considering the adoption of national medical health programs. The paper’s keen interest in such subjects, and particularly in questions of medical ethics, mounted steadily as issues such as genetic engineering, euthanasia, and abortion increasingly became topics of international debate toward the end of the twentieth century. Although it would be inaccurate to suggest that Christian Science religious policies ever dominated the content of Monitor articles or editorials, tension sometimes occurred between church directors and those placed in the highest positions of responsibility for the paper’s management. One such case occurred less than a decade after Eddy’s death and hastened the retirement of editor Frederick Dixon; another case occurred nearly seventy years later, when budgetary cuts and shifts in emphasis toward different media audiences precipitated the resignation of another highly respected editor, Kay Fanning. Whatever effects internal debates may have had on key personnel appointments and retirements over the
Christian Science Monitor Is Founded
Boule Reconstructs the First Neanderthal Skeleton Society of Newspaper Editors, over drastic cuts in the Monitor’s staff and the number of pages it could contain. Gill, Gillian. Mary Baker Eddy. New York: Perseus Books, 1998. Comprehensive biography of the founder of the Christian Science Church. Briefly discusses the establishment of the Christian Science Monitor. Includes index. Helm, Leslie. “The Church That Would Be a Media Mogul.” BusinessWeek, September 26, 1988, 53-54. Discusses a major and controversial shift in publications emphasis on the part of the Christian Science Church:
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 introduction of a Christian Science documentary information program for television and the launching of World Monitor as a subscription magazine. Quint, W. D. “Telling the Good Men Do.” New England, September, 1909, 98-104. An early article about the Christian Science Monitor in a regional magazine specializing in issues of interest to New Englanders. Covers both the founding philosophy and responsible personnel of the Monitor, which was less than a year old at the time. See also: 1913: Fuller Brush Company Is Incorporated; Feb., 1922: Reader’s Digest Is Founded.
December, 1908
Boule Reconstructs the First Neanderthal Skeleton Marcellin Boule’s reconstitution of a near-complete Neanderthal skeleton sparked controversy over the possibility of identifying the presumed “missing link” between higher apes and humans. Locale: Paris, France Categories: Archaeology; anthropology; prehistory and ancient cultures Key Figures Marcellin Boule (1861-1942), French paleontologist Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902), German professor of anatomy Amédée Bouyssonie (fl. early twentieth century), French priest Jean Bouyssonie (fl. early twentieth century), French priest L. Bardon (fl. early twentieth century), French priest Summary of Event Late in the fall of 1908, the French paleontologist Marcellin Boule carried out a project that would contribute to a series of reactions against a “school” of hominid (human) evolutionary thought with which he came to be identified. The project was Boule’s reconstitution of a nearly complete skeleton of Homo neanderthalensis, drawn from fossil remains found in a cave at La Chapelleaux-Saints in the Corrèze in France. Three priests who were already recognized for their research into prehistoric archaeology—Amédée Bouyssonie, Jean Bouyssonie, and L. Bardon—had discovered the remains and transferred them to Boule’s laboratory in Paris. The fossil bones consisted of a skull (cranium and 710
quite massive lower jaw), twenty-one vertebrae (some fragmented), twenty ribs, a collarbone, two upper arm bones, two fragmented lower arm bones, two incomplete upper leg bones, two kneecaps, portions of two lower leg bones, an ankle bone, a heel bone, five right metatarsals (instep bones), fragments of two left metatarsals, and one toe bone. The layers in which the bones were found contained artifacts (dressed flint tools) that could be identified in archaeological terms as Mousterian, a time period (extending roughly from 100,000 to 40,000 b.c.e.) that fit well with certain paleontologists’ views of how Homo neanderthalensis should be placed in human evolutionary terms. The archaeologists who delivered the skeletal remains to Boule reported that the fossil body was found in a narrow trench approximately one foot deep. It appeared, therefore, that a grave had been prepared for a burial ceremony, a fact that might have explained the nearby concentration of chipped flint implements associated with another assumed Neanderthal ceremonial ritual: the hunt. Indeed, animal remains in the same archaeological layer included bones of the woolly rhinoceros as well as reindeer, cave hyena, and marmot bones. When Boule set out to assemble as complete a skeleton as possible from the fossils, he had very few firm points of reference to guide him. Earlier Neanderthal discoveries were much less extensive, and he had no comparative models to help him reconstruct the skeleton. Subsequent to the work Boule carried out in 1908, a number of other discoveries would be made, notably at Le Moustier and La Ferrassie, both in Dordogne, in 1909; at La Quina in French Charente district in 1911; and others
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Skull Comparison
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis
Homo sapiens sapiens
to accentuate basic simian (apelike) features that have disappeared in Homo sapiens. Boule knew that considerable support existed for views expressed on Homo neanderthalensis in the midnineteenth century by the German anatomist Rudolf Virchow. Briefly stated, proponents of the Virchow school argued that Neanderthal remains should be assigned a place along with fossils of Homo sapiens, essentially as a contemporaneous “cousin” of what has come to be known as the modern human. If Homo neanderthalensis became an extinct species of human, this could be explainable in terms of Neanderthal’s relative disadvantages for survival in comparison with Homo sapiens. It was wrong, the Virchow school maintained, to push the prime period of Homo neanderthalensis back, limiting it to the Mousterian age, mainly to facilitate an argument in support of the prevailing Darwinist interpretations of evolution. Had Virchow lived to confront Boule over the Chapelle-aux-Saints skeleton, he most likely would have objected to Boule’s implication that Homo neanderthalensis was too “primitive” to be placed on a comparable evolutionary level with Homo sapiens. Evolutionists, including Boule, were eager to find a pre-sapiens link between apes and Homo sapiens. To a significant degree, Boule’s reconstruction of the Chapelleaux-Saints skeleton seemed to respond to this need, as did his eventual separation of Homo neanderthalensis from the three fossil human predecessors of modern Homo sapiens. Regardless of whether it was Boule’s intention initially to lend support to a particular school of thought concerning the place of Homo neanderthalensis in evolutionary theory, his work sparked a debate that— although mainly a popular one—involved a number of paleontologists of different camps, at least into the late 1950’s. Significance The role that Boule would play in the seemingly unending controversy over presumed “links” in the evolutionary chain leading to Homo sapiens was in some ways prepared well before the specific contribution he made in 1908. In fact, soon after discovery of the first remains of Homo neanderthalensis near Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1856, several schools of thought concerning the evolution of modern humans tried to either adopt or reject assumptions that would make Boule’s reputation (or notoriety) as a human paleontologist. A debate arose in the generation after the first fossils were unearthed. Several features of the first Neanderthals (and others discovered later, at Spy, Belgium, in 1886, 711
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in Palestine and on the Italian peninsula in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The book Boule published with fellow paleontologist Henri Vallois (L’Homme fossile; fossil man) makes it clear that, over the years, Boule believed he would have no trouble assimilating observable characteristics of Neanderthal fossils found later to the image and theory he originally set forward in 1908. When Boule finished piecing together the Chapelleaux-Saints fossil, characteristics emerged that he and others considered to be evolutionary gaps between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. These included a bentover skeletal posture supporting an inordinately largejawed skull. The latter had a prominent brow ridge and a sloping forehead, with a large nasal construct and little or no chin structure. Finally, the curvature of the leg bones, as well as a certain “pigeon toe” effect in the feet, tended
Boule Reconstructs the First Neanderthal Skeleton
Boule Reconstructs the First Neanderthal Skeleton
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More important as a source of future controversy over the Chapelle-aux-Saints Neanderthal reconstruction was the mid-nineteenth century contribution of the German anatomist Virchow. Unlike Huxley, Virchow refused to see Homo neanderthalensis as belonging to a species separate from Homo sapiens, thus perturbing evolutionists who needed proof of a separate, lower link from which Homo sapiens might have sprung. Virchow came to the conclusion that certain of Neanderthal’s apelike characteristics could be explained by “ailments”— specifically the effects of rickets from malnutrition— suffered by the (basically human) individuals. Ironically, Virchow’s student Ernst Haeckel would soon take a theoretical position that seemed to be reflected in Boule’s 1908 Neanderthal reconstruction and in his defensive writing some years later. Haeckel tended to seek in hominid fossils such as Homo neanderthalensis an evolutionary link between humans and apes. The most notable prototype associated with Haeckel’s name was the so-called Pithecanthropus alalus, or “speechless apeman,” but he was also part of the debate in the 1890’s over the “humanlike transitional form” of the Java man, Pithecanthropus erectus, discovered by the Dutch paleontologist Eugène Dubois. With the passage of time and discovery of additional Neanderthal specimens, however, the scientific community grew skeptical of Boule’s insistence on placing Homo neA Little Neanderthal in Some of Us? anderthalensis next to Homo sapiens. A Paleoanthropologists continue to debate the degree to which Neanderculmination was reached in 1957, when thals contributed to modern humans, with some arguing for strict reW. L. Strauss and A. J. E. Cave reexamplacement and others citing evidence for the mixing of Neanderthals with ined the skeleton Boule had reconstructed. other early human species. In 2004, paleoanthropologist Milford Wolpoff Combining alternative views that had preand his colleagues cited evidence against strict replacement: existed Boule’s 1908 contribution with studies of more recently discovered NeSpecifically, the evidence of skeletal anatomy, mitochondrial DNA, anderthal remains, they essentially put morphology and genetics of speech, and archaeological evidence of beBoule’s theory to rest. Not only did they havior all suggest that Neandertals are indeed among the ancestors of reopen the question of bone structure dissome modern human populations. This does not mean that the modern humans are Neandertals, or that the Neandertals are the only ancestors of torted by natural causes (namely, disease), any group of modern humans. The existence of differences between but they also questioned the accuracy of Neandertals and modern humans is repeatedly advanced as evidence for Boule’s work of skeletal reconstruction, the impossibility of Neandertal ancestry in modern populations. . . . This particularly in the foot area, where Boule is a straw man. While we certainly recognize a number of such differmay have exaggerated angles to accentuences, they are fully consistent with an evolving lineage: ancestors are ate simian features. never identical to their descendants. Do modern Europeans have a single Strauss and Cave’s refutation of Boule unique African ancestry, or are European Neandertals among their ancesgenerally held throughout the second half tors? . . . [T]he hypothesis that Neandertals are a significant part of the anof the twentieth century, with the effect of cestry of Europeans is well supported, and . . . it has not been disproved. elevating Homo sapiens neanderthalensis Source: Milford Wolpoff et al., “Why Not the Neandertals?” World to the status of a branch of Homo sapiens. Archaeology 36, no. 4 (2004). If Neanderthal communities tended to dis-
and then in fairly substantial numbers in southwestern France at the beginning of the twentieth century) suggested that they were closer to the presumed simian ancestors of humans than any previously studied paleontological prototype. At some point in the mid-nineteenth century, for example, a sufficient number of Neanderthal sites had been identified to place them in the Mousterian period, well before the time of Homo sapiens cultures. This posed a problem of linkage: whether it was possible that Homo sapiens could be the biological descendant of Homo neanderthalensis. Boule implied that Homo sapiens had replaced Homo neanderthalensis. The other theory was that the two species existed side by side until the superior adaptive qualities of Homo sapiens guaranteed their continuation while Homo neanderthalensis declined in numbers and eventually disappeared. Well before Boule’s time, unwillingness to accept Homo neanderthalensis as an evolutionary “cousin” of Homo sapiens had divided opinions among prominent representatives of the nineteenth century scientific world, including the biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, who insisted on the Charles Darwin-dominated 1860’s view of the essentially “bestial” characteristics of Homo neanderthalensis, which he associated with later apes, not early humans.
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 appear, it was because of a loss of security in a limited competitive ecological arena in which Homo sapiens had the upper hand, not because they occupied a distinctly lower level on the biological evolutionary ladder. Today, paleoanthropologists continue the debate, with some arguing that Neanderthals were simply replaced by modern Homo sapiens and others citing genetic and anatomical evidence for a mixing of the gene pools. —Byron D. Cannon
Jordan, Paul. Neanderthal: Neanderthal Man and the Story of Human Origins. Stroud, Gloucestershire, England: Sutton, 2001. Explores the evidence to present a picture of the world in which Neanderthals lived and their relationship to Homo sapiens. Includes illustrations and index. Keith, Arthur. “The Relationship of Neanderthal Man and Pithecanthropus to Modern Man.” Nature 89 (April, 1912): 155-156. Shows that, despite criticisms leveled at Boule’s presumed bias by later critics, the scientific community first reacted to his theory of Homo neanderthalensis in terms that were very balanced. Shackley, Myra. Neanderthal Man. London: Gerald Duckworth, 1980. Comprehensive overall view of evidence on Neanderthals. Includes chapters on tools and technology as well as rituals and habitations that have been tied to Neanderthal communities in various areas of the globe. Tattersall, Ian. The Last Neanderthal: The Rise, Success, and Mysterious Extinction of Our Closest Human Relatives. Rev. ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999. Focuses on the relationship between Neanderthals and modern humans. Provides information on fossil dating and other background for lay readers. Illustrated. See also: Summer, 1923: Zdansky Discovers Peking Man; Summer, 1924: Dart Discovers the First Australopithecine Fossil; Fall, 1937-Winter, 1938: Weidenreich Reconstructs the Face of Peking Man; Sept. 12, 1940: Lascaux Cave Paintings Are Discovered.
December 3, 1908
Elgar’s First Symphony Premieres to Acclaim When Edward Elgar’s First Symphony premiered in Manchester, England, it provided a new foundation for English symphonic music. Locale: Manchester, England Category: Music Key Figures Edward Elgar (1857-1934), English composer Hans Richter (1843-1916), German conductor Charles George Gordon (1833-1885), Victorian military hero whose death inspired Elgar Summary of Event Edward Elgar’s determination to write a symphony helped to revitalize the nearly moribund tradition of seri-
ous English music as well as to inspire the next generation of English composers, which included such figures as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Havergal Brian. Still widely perceived as the composer of imperialistic England, Elgar was himself a contradictory mixture of bluff self-assurance, naïve patriotism, and Victorian heartiness on one hand and incisive introspection, remorseful nostalgia, and painful regret on the other. Born to a middle-class Roman Catholic family, he struggled hard to rise above neglect, class and religious prejudice, and his own quixotic personality to earn a position as the foremost English composer since Henry Purcell at the end of the seventeenth century. Having first achieved international attention for his Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma) in 1899, 713
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Further Reading Boule, Marcellin. “L’Homme fossile de la Chapelleaux-Saints.” Comptes rendues de l’Académie des sciences, December 14, 1908, 1012-1017. Boule’s first publication describing the Neanderthal skeleton he had reconstituted. Bowden, M. Ape-Men: Fact or Fallacy? Bromley, England: Sovereign, 1977. Asemischolarly work that reviews the controversies that have surrounded a number of famous fossil finds, ranging from the clearly “invented” Piltdown man to Java man. Includes discussion of the complex issues involved in Neanderthal paleontology. Finlayson, Clive. Neanderthals and Modern Humans: An Ecological and Evolutionary Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Argues that Neanderthals went extinct because of their inability to adapt to changing environmental conditions rather than as the result of direct competition with Homo sapiens. Includes references and index.
Elgar’s First Symphony Premieres to Acclaim
Elgar’s First Symphony Premieres to Acclaim Elgar consolidated his position as a great orchestral writer with his First Symphony (1908), which confirmed his status as the greatest English composer of his time and England’s first great symphonic writer. Elgar grew up in a culture that was not conducive to the writing of opera, and he poured much of his youthful creative impulse into the creation of religious and patriotic oratorios. Elgar’s characteristic mood, however, was introspective and lyrical rather than extroverted and dramatic. Elgar had long dreamed of writing a symphony in commemoration of the heroic death of General Charles George “Chinese” Gordon at Khartoum in the Sudan in 1885. Although no explicit reference to Gordon survives in the final form of the First Symphony, it is easy to hear in the music the aspects of Gordon’s character that appealed to Elgar: heroism, dignity, massive reserve, and Christian suffering. The most striking features of the symphony, such as the mercurial changes of disposition and the nostalgia bordering on melancholy, seem to owe more to Elgar’s own temperament than to the general’s. As a friend of Richard Strauss, Elgar could be said to have written his own version of Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (1897-1898; a hero’s life) in the First Symphony, although without Strauss’s swaggering and overt humor. One British critic, noting the symphony’s similarity to Strauss’s work, has remarked that “in both we see a personality struggling against opposing elements.” Unlike Strauss, however, Elgar never was confident enough to seize the opportunity to shock and outrage, nor did he adapt on a regular basis to shifts in taste, as Igor Stravinsky did. Like Gustav Mahler, his great contemporary fellow symphonist, he was drawn almost neurotically to nostalgia for a lost childhood and the expression of melancholy emotions. Elgar completed the composition of the symphony on September 25, 1908, and dedicated the score to German conductor Hans Richter. The Halle Orchestra of Manchester gave the premiere on December 3, 1908. The symphony appeared with no specific “program,” or explanatory ideas, Elgar having given up any specific association with General Gordon. As he explained to a friend, “There is no programme beyond a wide experience of human life with a great charity (love) and a massive hope in the future.” Elgar chose not to verbalize emotions that were clearly and artfully woven into his music. The symphony’s first movement begins quietly, with a drumroll that introduces a dignified melody in A-flat major, presented first quietly, with the simplicity of a hymn tune, and then with the volume and dignity to jus714
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tify Elgar’s expressive marking “nobilmente e semplice” (nobly and simply). Over an A-flat held by the basses, a new, vigorous tune in the contrasting key of D is introduced, and the remainder of the long first movement is, in a sense, a competition between the A-flat and D tunes, in which the initial A-flat tune prevails in the subdued conclusion. The second movement, in F-sharp minor, has the effect of the traditional symphonic scherzo. The first violins play a sixteenth-note figure that will reappear in the third movement with a new rhythmic configuration; this is superseded by a brisk, marchlike figure that has an ominous quality. This, too, yields to a new passage in B-flat major in which the woodwinds chirp out a more hopeful tune. The movement ends with a sustained F-sharp that leads, without interruption, into the third movement, which is one of the finest, most reflective pieces in all of Elgar’s music and which constitutes a wistful, philosophical reflection. A drooping, nostalgic theme for the clarinets offers the most poignant moment in the entire symphony, as it efficiently distills the prevailing sense of nostalgia and regret. It is fair to say that the final movement does not fully unify all the rich strands of the symphony. The first movement is unusually full of ideas, and the third movement achieves a level of spiritual resignation that makes the final movement seem slightly redundant, if not actually anticlimactic. The final movement begins in D minor and quickly switches to a brisk, rhythmically aggressive section, thus forming an obvious contrast to the philosophical mood of the third section. The symphony ends with an elaborate summing up of earlier thematic materials and a strong restatement of the original motto theme, in the symphony’s opening key of A-flat major. Significance Throughout his career, Elgar was torn between the demand for boisterous musical exercises and the nostalgic, introspective pieces he preferred. Both aspects of Elgar’s stance as a professional composer are evident in the First Symphony. Elgar learned how to pour his subjective feelings into relatively strict musical genres. As one of his most sympathetic critics, Diana McVeagh, has noted, “The symphonies are his dramas.” Although deeply attracted to the music dramas of Richard Wagner, with their long melodic lines and capacity for the leisurely exposition of philosophical ideas, Elgar retained the formal discipline of the great composers in the German symphonic tradition, such as Johannes Brahms and Antonín DvoÍák.
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The symphony’s finale is complicated, containing references to earlier themes in the symphony and perhaps overly ambitious in attempting to work out the formal design according to the German symphonic tradition. Another friendly critic, Basil Maine, has noted that “Elgar often begins with a profusion of ideas and works towards their reconciliation.” Elgar had good reasons for presenting an elaborate finale: The work was his first and perhaps overdue contribution to the symphonic tradition, and Elgar, who was largely self-taught rather than formally trained, was eager to show his mastery of the form. Also, Elgar was a late Romantic composer, enjoying his most creative period at the very moment when contemporary composers were accustomed to working with massive forces. For example, Gustav Mahler, with his Symphony of a Thousand (1906-1907), and Arnold Schoenberg, with his Gurrelieder (1900-1911), were simultaneously creating works that required unusually large orchestral and choral forces. Within a few years, deliberately modernist composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Erik Satie, and Edgard Varèse would make a point of replying to the lush, overlong late Romantic masterpieces with short, sardonic sketches.
Achieving two hundred performances in the year following its premiere, Elgar’s First Symphony obviously found a sympathetic audience in its composer’s homeland. One of Elgar’s biographers observed that “no English work had ever before received such rapturous and immediate acclaim.” Remarkably, the symphony enjoyed one hundred performances in England in the first year of its existence, with eighty-two performances around the world in 1909 alone. It was acclaimed by Hans Richter, Elgar’s sympathetic interpreter, as “the greatest symphony of modern times, written by the greatest modern composer.” Given that such great symphonic writers as Mahler, Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen, and Sergei Rachmaninoff were all alive and active at the time, it is easy to dismiss Richter’s compliment as partisan zeal. Yet Elgar’s First Symphony, like his other masterworks, has a distinctive voice that has kept it near the front rank of the symphonic repertory. Through his success, Elgar inspired the next generation of English composers to write symphonies and find sympathetic audiences for them. Ralph Vaughan Williams found a way to incorporate folk tunes in his nine symphonies, and Havergal Brian proved even more industrious in his symphonic output. Two other English composers who shared Elgar’s birth year of 1857, Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius, were not drawn to writing symphonies, but they certainly profited from the way in which Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma) brought new prestige to the English orchestral tradition. English composers born in the twentieth century, such as Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett, likewise profited from the audience for serious orchestral and choral music that Elgar helped to create. Elgar quickly began work on his Second Symphony (1910-1911). The Second Symphony does not enjoy the high critical esteem of the First Symphony, although it is possible that its finale is superior, as Elgar allowed his personal voice to take precedence over formal considerations. In the tone poem Falstaff (1913), Elgar discovered that William Shakespeare’s fat knight was probably a more liberating role model than General Gordon had been. Elgar collected sketches for yet another symphony, but he never got around to assembling them into a coherent work following the creative decline he experienced after the shocks of World War I and his wife’s death in 1918. Playwright George Bernard Shaw and others urged Elgar to proceed with the Third Symphony, but Elgar preferred to indulge in a new phase of his career. He concentrated on preserving performances of his great 715
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Edward Elgar. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Elgar’s First Symphony Premieres to Acclaim
Cairo University Is Inaugurated works on recordings, and he was one of the earliest of the great composers to comprehend the potential impact of the phonograph. He left deathbed instructions that no one should try to assemble the fragments of the Third Symphony into a performing version, and his wishes were long respected. In the 1990’s, however, with the permission of Elgar’s heirs, British composer Anthony Payne undertook an “elaboration” of the sketches that Elgar had collected for the symphony. The result was a successful work that received fifteen performances in the two years following its premiere. —Byron Nelson Further Reading Kennedy, Michael. The Life of Elgar. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Biography of Elgar draws on documents, including personal correspondence, that did not become available until the late 1970’s. Analyzes the effects of the composer’s complicated personality on his musical work. _______. Portrait of Elgar. 2d ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1997. A substantial and sympathetic study, although largely superseded by the work of Jerrold Moore. McVeagh, Diana. “Edward Elgar.” In The New Grove Twentieth-Century English Masters. New York: W. W. Norton, 1986. Provides a solid, quick survey of the composer’s life and work.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Maine, Basil. Elgar: His Life and Works. 1933. Reprint. Bath, England: Cedric Chivers, 1973. The earliest long critical analysis of Elgar’s music, written in the twilight of Elgar’s life and overly defensive about its subject. Moore, Jerrold Northrop. Edward Elgar: A Creative Life. 1984. Reprint. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1999. The authoritative life of England’s greatest composer after Purcell, sensitive to his artistic achievement and contradictory personality. Simpson, Robert, ed. Elgar to the Present Day. Vol. 2 in The Symphony. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1967. Provides a good overview of the historical development of the tradition of the symphony. Includes a good short study of Elgar by David Cox. Stasny, John, and Byron Nelson. “From Dream to Drama: The Dream of Gerontius by Newman and Elgar.” Renascence 43 (Fall, 1990/Winter, 1991): 121-135. A psychological study of Elgar’s breakthrough work, in which Elgar confronted the implications of his introversion, his Catholicism, and his admiration for General Gordon. See also: 1903-1957: Vaughan Williams Composes His Nine Symphonies; Apr. 3, 1911: Sibelius Conducts the Premiere of His Fourth Symphony; 1916: Ives Completes His Fourth Symphony.
December 21, 1908
Cairo University Is Inaugurated After years of discussion, Cairo University was funded through government and private donations and inaugurated in 1908. Created under the protection of Prince Awmed Fu$3d, the university’s first decades were marked by instability resulting from its relations with nascent Egyptian nationalism and forces for government control of higher education. Also known as: Egyptian University (1925); Fu$3d University (1936); University of Cairo (1953) Locale: Giza, Egypt Categories: Education; organizations and institutions Key Figures Awmed Fu$3d (1868-1936), chair of the university committee and later sultan and king of Egypt, r. 1917-1922, 1922-1936 716
Sa4d Zaghlnl (1857-1927), moderate Egyptian nationalist First Earl of Cromer (Evelyn Baring; 1841-1917), consul general in Egypt, 1883-1907 4Abb3s II (4Abb3s Wilmt Pasha; 1874-1944), last khedive of Egypt, r. 1892-1914 J. E. Marshall (b. 1864), British judge and early supporter of the university Muwammad 4Alt Pasha (c. 1769-1849), Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, 1805-1848 Summary of Event Education had been seen as an essential component of Egypt’s modernization as early as the seventeenth century governorship of Muwammad 4Alt Pasha. It was not, however, until the later years of the British occupation of Egypt (which technically ended with Egypt’s formal in-
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hance his power and reputation in Egyptian and international politics. He reshaped the committee, eliminating most of its nationalist supporters, and he positioned himself as both a government benefactor who encouraged large donations and as a defender of university autonomy. Whatever his personal ambitions, he actively promoted the project: He toured Europe in search of donations, and on December 21, 1908, he held a lavish inauguration ceremony. Fu$3d served as university president until 1913. In 1917, he assumed the sultan’s powers, and in 1922 he was named king of Egypt. At the time of the inauguration, however, the university occupied rented quarters in the Palazzo Giancalis (later to become the administration building of the American University in Cairo). It employed five faculty and offered fewer than ten courses. It did not bring earlier schools of practical higher education under its aegis; instead, it was limited to the humanities. Many early nationalists had regarded the humanities, particularly history and literature, as critical studies for the development of a national Egyptian identity. Unlike the earlier technical schools, it established a curriculum that was designed to be nonutilitarian—that is, not leading directly to government employment. The university did, however, employ a number of significant European scholars of Islam, and it therefore became a center of early twentieth century orientalist thought. After years of neglect and decline, King Fu$3d I reorganized the university and renamed it the Egyptian University in 1925. Upon Fu$3d’s death in 1936, the university was named for him, but this name was changed to the University of Cairo after Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power in 1952. Cairo University was the product of Egyptian nationalism, and its inauguration encouraged further nationalist sentiment. However, under Fu$3d’s control, the university did not immediately become a powerful institution. Its humanities faculty and student body were politically quiescent until after World War I, when political rivalry between Sa4d Zaghlnl (now the minister of education and leader of a parliamentary nationalist party) and Fu$3d energized both students and faculty. In the interwar period, the faculty and students were politically active, and debates about issues such as who should hold the position of dean became fraught with larger political meaning. As in other countries, in Egypt education became a critical ingredient in the expansion of women’s rights. Opportunities for primary and secondary education had been nonexistent, but slowly Egyptian women were admitted to foreign schools and then, in 1873, to state 717
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dependence in 1922) that various factions within Egyptian society began to discuss the need for founding an Egyptian university. Under the leadership of the first earl of Cromer, the consul general, the British had largely ignored the country’s educational needs, either out of benign neglect or because of Lord Cromer’s belief that an educated populace would be more difficult to control. Still, Egyptian nationalists of differing political stripes and various agendas were united by their belief in the need for such an institution. Dominance in the region’s politics constantly shifted within a triangle of forces: British colonials, Egyptian nationalists, and the remnants of the descendants of Muwammad 4Alt Pasha, who had been the Ottoman ruler in the area. The complexity of the situation and British disinterest in educating Egyptians brought the efforts to nil. By 1900 Egypt had several higher-level technical schools, and it also had a premier institution of higher learning, Al-Azhar. Al-Azhar was, however, a religious school whose aims and methods in 1900 were largely the same as they had been in 1300. It trained religious and Qur$3nic scholars to tend to Muslims’ spiritual needs. What Egypt lacked was a university built on the Western model: an institution of free inquiry into a range of secular, religious, technical, and cultural subjects. In 1906, a university committee was created to remedy this problem. It was led by Sa4d Zaghlnl, a moderate and proWestern nationalist who went on to become minister of education and a major voice for educational reform throughout the first quarter of the century. While this group supported the creation of a university, neither the colonial powers nor the palace was supportive, and these political realities slowed fund-raising efforts. Before long, however, J. E. Marshall, a British judge in Egypt, had added his voice to those calling for improved higher education in the nation, and his ideas eventually found some support. The colonial power recognized the university committee and added three government representatives, including Marshall. At this point, the palace’s Ottoman governor also took up the cause, although this probably had more to do with an interest in blocking efforts by Ottoman rivals than an interest in advancing education. In October of 1907, the khedive (the Egyptian ruler who acted on behalf of the sultan of Turkey), 4Abb3s II, offered five thousand Egyptian pounds as a charitable bequest to support the founding of a university. He appointed his cousin, Awmed Fu$3d, as chair of the university committee. Fu$3d was an ambitious and astute politician. He used the early and intermittent support for the university to en-
Cairo University Is Inaugurated
Cairo University Is Inaugurated schools. A vocational school for women was opened in 1910, and the Cairo University broke new ground when it opened a Women’s Section in 1911 and admitted women to lectures. Some of the lecturers, however, advocated increases in women’s rights that clashed with prevailing social values, and demonstrations closed the section in 1913. However, women were again admitted in small numbers in the 1920’s, and the first degrees were awarded to women of Fu$3d University in 1933.
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Significance Education in the Middle East became a central component of most of the debates that shaped the region and Muslim-Western relations. Discussions of education immediately evoked questions of traditionalism versus modernizatiom, religion versus secularism, and nationalism versus Westernization. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, investments in higher education in Egypt were always associated with a desire to modernize the country and to make it competitive with American and European nations. In a period in which foreign schools dominated in Islamic lands, the University at Cairo became a model of the national university, and it gradually developed one of the largest student enrollments of any university. Many important world leaders—including former Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and former secretary-general of the United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali—were students at Cairo University. —Jean Owens Schaefer
ern education at the primary, secondary, and college levels with recommendations for foreign investment. Erlich, Haggai. Students and University in Twentieth Century Egyptian Politics. London: Frank Cass, 1989. A detailed study of the personalities and parties involved in Egyptian politics. Complex investigation of motivations and rivalries and of students’ role in promoting government stability and instability. Goldschmidt, Arthur, Jr. Biographical Dictionary of Egypt. Cairo, Egypt: American University of Cairo Press, 2000. Profiles the major actors involved in early twentieth century Egyptian politics. Gorman, Anthony. Historians, State, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Egypt: Contesting the Nation. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. A good discussion of Egyptian politics and of the relationship between Egypt and Great Britain. Reid, Donald M. Cairo University and the Making of Modern Egypt. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2002. A thorough if laudatory history of the university that uses many archival documents. An assessment of its contributions to Egyptian culture and politics. Szyliowicz, Joseph S. Education and Modernization in the Middle East. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1973. An assessment of education in three Middle Eastern countries—Egypt, Turkey, and Iran—and its role in economic and social development. Informative, but somewhat dated.
Further Reading Cochran, Judith. Education in Egypt. London: CroomHelm, 1986. A study of the history and state of mod-
See also: Mar., 1928: Muslim Brotherhood Is Founded in Egypt; May 26, 1937: Egypt Joins the League of Nations.
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First Black Heavyweight Boxing Champion
December 26, 1908
First Black Heavyweight Boxing Champion Heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson’s victory over Tommy Burns alarmed whites, who had dominated boxing, and immediately triggered a quest for a “Great White Hope” to defeat Johnson. This championship boxing match ushered in a new era in American sport history as well as a new period in American race relations.
Key Figures Jack Johnson (John Arthur Johnson; 1878-1946), American boxer and heavyweight champion Tommy Burns (Noah Brusso; 1881-1955), Canadian boxer and heavyweight champion James Jackson Jeffries (1875-1953), American boxer and heavyweight champion Jack London (1876-1916), American journalist and author Summary of Event The fight between Tommy Burns and Jack Johnson was the biggest news in boxing since the sport’s transformation from savage, bare-knuckle prizefighting in the early nineteenth century into the more respectable art of combat. While colorful personalities such as John L. Sullivan, Theodore Roosevelt, and Mike Donovan represented the more gentlemanly aspects of boxing among high society, racial diversity in the squared arena was virtually nonexistent. Jack Johnson represented the destruction of this color barrier. Born in Galveston, Texas, Johnson remained a relatively obscure figure in American sporting culture until the first decade of the twentieth century. After realizing that his large size limited his abilities as a horse jockey, Johnson turned to boxing, even though post-Civil War segregation laws forbade African American participation in sporting events with whites. He relied on work as a janitor and a sparring partner for most of his income, and in the process he gained a formidable reputation in the Texas boxing community. By 1901 he had decided to leave Galveston for a professional career as a boxer. For the next several years, Johnson won fights against fellow African American boxers and lesser-known white pugilists, although the widespread racial prejudices of the time meant that most white heavyweight champions and contenders avoided Johnson and other African American fighters.
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Locale: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Categories: Sports; social issues and reform
Born in Ontario, Canada, Noah Brusso also came from a poverty-stricken background and held several jobs before deciding on a boxing career. He changed his name to Tommy Burns in order to keep his mother from reexperiencing the embarrassment she felt after her son had brutally pummeled an opponent. In 1906, Burns was crowned the heavyweight champion of the world after the retirement of James Jackson Jeffries in 1905. Jeffries had quit the sport because of declining revenues and the growing movement bent on outlawing prizefighting. Burns tried to avoid fighting Johnson: He fought matches with white opponents and went abroad to defend his title in England, Ireland, France, and Australia. Johnson followed, fighting several matches in England and pressuring boxing officials to schedule a championship match with Burns. Burns’s demand of thirty thousand dollars to fight Johnson was one of the major stumbling blocks, but eventually a fight promoter in Australia agreed to the price. In contrast, Johnson was to be paid five thousand dollars, a sum he grudgingly accepted. As in the United States, racial divisions and discriminatory practices were common in Australia, and the prefight news coverage was replete with racial slurs against Johnson. Controversy surrounded the match from both sides; one of the biggest arguments was over who would serve as referee, especially given that the fight was to be filmed (an attempt to garner additional revenue). Although the fight was scheduled for 11:00 a.m., huge crowds amassed as early as 6:00 a.m. to witness the spectacle at Rushcutter’s Bay in Sydney. Sports enthusiasts and gamblers placed odds in Burns’s favor. Entering the ring first to a round of racial insults, Johnson appeared in his familiar faded gray robe and boxing attire; he remained cool and only smiled in response to the venomous verbal abuse. The champion, by contrast, came to the ring in a blue suit, which he removed and placed delicately in a suitcase. Johnson extended his hand to Burns, but the latter refused to shake it. As the men stood face-to-face in the ring, issues regarding bandaged elbows and other potential illegalities immediately arose. However, after consultation with the officials, the match began at 11:07 a.m. Despite the prefight controversies and troubles, the contest was clearly a mismatch. Johnson, who towered over his opponent, dominated the fight, and Burns was
First Black Heavyweight Boxing Champion knocked down several times. Johnson clearly wanted to punish and humiliate Burns, who was confident in his abilities to defeat his African American opponent. Each player taunted the other throughout the rounds; Burns levied some especially vulgar slurs. Burns, a white supremacist, believed that black fighters had weaker stomachs, less endurance, and smaller brains than white fighters. At the time, “scientific” theories of race and physicality reinforced Burns’s beliefs, and many people thought that Burns’s racial heritage would help guarantee his victory. In the first round, Burns immediately charged toward Johnson, who delivered a right uppercut, his best punch,
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Jack Johnson. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 and put Burns on the mat for an eight count. Throughout the match, Johnson toyed with Burns, landed punches at will, and refrained from scoring an early knockout. As a result, Johnson proved himself to be the more adept and skilled fighter. By the end of the second round, Burns’s right eye was visibly swollen and his mouth was bleeding profusely. During the middle rounds, Johnson continued to punish Burns, whose blood began to cover his shoulders and the ring’s canvas. Spectators began calling for the contest to end in the thirteenth round, and police entered the ring to stop the fight. However, protests from Burns convinced the referee to let the fight continue. In the fourteenth round, Johnson continued his vicious onslaught, and the police once again entered the ring. This time, the referee stopped the fight—over Burns’s desperate cries of protest—because the bloody, battered Burns could no longer defend himself against Johnson’s brutal assault. With approximately twenty thousand people in attendance and tens of thousands outside the arena, spectators could not believe what had happened—an African American had won the world heavyweight championship. Reporting for the New York Herald, noted author Jack London expressed his disdain for Johnson’s victory and called for the return of James Jeffries, who London said could return the crown to the white race. Like most of his contemporaries, London accepted pseudoscientific notions of white supremacy and believed that Johnson’s victory was a great stain on the history of the white race. London’s disgust and his cry for Jeffries to return to the ring began the quest for the “Great White Hope”: a boxer who would defeat Johnson and restore boxing’s title and prestige to white men. Significance The heavyweight championship fight between Johnson and Burns challenged theories about racial superiority and helped break the color line in boxing, especially in championship bouts. African Americans heralded Johnson’s victory, which increased black pride, threatened theories of white supremacy, and forever altered the racial makeup of the sporting world. The Johnson victory also led to a renewed interest in prizefighting as some boxing fans hoped for a white heavyweight champion. After numerous challenges from white contenders, including a devastating victory over Jeffries in 1910, Johnson lost the heavyweight title in 1915 to Jess Willard—who was younger, bigger, and white—in round twenty-six of a contest in Havana, Cuba. —Nathan Wilson and Raymond Wilson
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Ward, Geoffrey C. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. Popular biography published to accompany a PBS documentary on Johnson’s life. Provides analysis of the fight and its significance. See also: July 1, 1903: First Tour de France; Oct. 1-13, 1903: Baseball Holds Its First World Series; May 5July 27, 1912: Stockholm Hosts the Summer Olympics; Oct. 1-9, 1919: Black Sox Scandal; Jan. 3, 1920: New York Yankees Acquire Babe Ruth; Sept. 27, 1930: First Grand Slam of Golf; Aug. 1-16, 1936: Germany Hosts the Summer Olympics.
December 28, 1908
Earthquake and Tsunami Devastate Sicily More than one hundred thousand lives were lost and the cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria, along with many villages, were destroyed by one of Europe’s deadliest earthquakes and the tsunami that followed. The rescue effort and aftermath of the disaster attracted worldwide attention. Locale: Messina, Sicily, and Reggio Calabria, Italy Categories: Disasters; science and technology; earth science Key Figures Francesco Mazza (fl. early twentieth century), military governor of the disaster area Giuseppe Micheli (fl. early twentieth century), parliamentary deputy who administered the relief effort Luigi Barzini, Sr. (1874-1947), one of Italy’s most distinguished journalists Arthur S. Cheney (d. 1908), American consul at Messina who was killed in the earthquake Summary of Event On December 28, 1908, at 5:20 a.m., an earthquake that would have measured a magnitude 7.5 on the modern Richter scale struck both coasts of the Strait of Messina, wreaking havoc on the Sicilian city of Messina and on the southern Italian town of Reggio Calabria. At that hour, most of the city’s inhabitants were indoors in their beds, and many were immediately killed by falling walls and buildings. Those who survived the initial tremor ran out into freezing rain in their nightclothes. Ten minutes
after the earthquake, a tsunami, or tidal wave, engulfed the lower part of both cities and destroyed many coastal villages. In Messina, the quake and tsunami were followed by fires. The losses from the disaster were enormous. Figures are varied and imprecise, mainly because most of the local records were destroyed, but estimates of deaths range from one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand. Messina, Reggio Calabria, and the surrounding villages and towns were almost totally destroyed. Half the towns’ inhabitants were killed, and 95 percent of the buildings were destroyed or unusable. Infrastructure and communications systems were destroyed, and government and law enforcement were nonexistent, since most of the officials had been killed. The American consul, Arthur S. Cheney, and his wife died in their bed, buried under thirty-five feet of rubble. Their bodies were recovered eighteen days after the disaster. Relief was slow to come to the destroyed cities and their survivors. Many died of suffocation while trapped inside collapsed buildings and under rubble. Others lacked food, water, and clothing and died of injuries, starvation, or disease. Ships anchored in Messina’s harbor provided the first relief, evacuating the first of those rescued to Catania, Palermo, and Naples. When news reached the rest of the world, ships from England, the United States, and Russia sailed for Messina with medical supplies, food, and clothing. King Victor Emmanuel and Queen Elena of Italy arrived within days from Rome and worked among the ruins, digging for trapped survivors and distributing food. 721
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Further Reading Hietala, Thomas R. The Fight of the Century: Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, and the Struggle for Racial Equality. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2002. Places the fight between Johnson and Burns in the larger historical context of American race relations in the twentieth century and the emerging Civil Rights movement. Roberts, Randy. Papa Jack: Jack Johnson and the Era of White Hopes. New York: Free Press, 1983. The standard historical biography of Jack Johnson. Contains excellent coverage of the 1908 championship fight and the continuing search for the “Great White Hope.”
Earthquake and Tsunami Devastate Sicily
Earthquake and Tsunami Devastate Sicily The Italian government declared martial law under the command of Lieutenant General Francesco Mazza. In an effort to stop looting and the spread of disease, Mazza ordered evacuation of survivors who were still searching for trapped loved ones or digging out their homes. Both looters and frightened, grief-crazed survivors were ordered shot or arrested. The government and military were criticized for the long delay in sending ships and were charged with heartlessness and incompetence. At the same time, however, many acts of selflessness and heroism were recognized. As supply and hospital ships began to arrive, media reports galvanized public response to the apparent collapse of civilization and social order caused by the devastation. Urgent short-term needs included help in burying the dead and medical supplies and food for the survivors. The International Red Cross, the U.S. and British navies, private charities, and private individuals (including diplomats and doctors) rushed to Messina and Reggio to help evacuate the survivors, bury the tens of thousands of dead who lay in the streets, and clear the rubble. Journalists sent back detailed reports to newspapers in Italy and around the world. Luigi Barzini, Sr., of the Milan daily Corriere della sera was one of the most famous roving correspondents in Italy at the time. Stationed on a ship anchored in Messina harbor, he wrote daily columns describing the aftermath of the disaster, the responses of individuals and the military officials, and the stench of the unburied dead. Images of the disaster—particularly those of the ruined streets of Messina—were reprinted for several weeks in newspapers, rapidly produced books, and documentary films. The world was horrified by the sight of the crazed survivors and of the rotting dead. Grief and mourning were widespread in the United States as well as in Italy; many members of the Italian immigrant population in the United States came from Sicily and southern Italy. Shelter for the survivors and those who came to their aid was needed urgently needed, but order and organization came at a slow pace. Giuseppe Micheli, a parliamentary deputy from Parma, set up a tent city with funds from a bank in Parma. Eventually, the tent city included a church, a post office, an infirmary, a records office, and a printing press, and it acted as a distribution center for food and supplies. Micheli worked with General Mazza to administer permits to survivors so that they could search for belongings and the dead, and Micheli was able to use his influence with the general to improve conditions and distribution of rations. Mazza was criticized for his inhumanity, but Micheli was admired by the population. 722
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 The cities of Messina and Reggio were plagued by fears of contagion and infection from the thousands of unburied dead. Few inhabitants remained: Many survivors were sent by ship to other Italian cities and to the United States. The region’s economy was destroyed, and there was talk of razing and abandoning the cities. The Italian bureaucracy was slow to respond to the crisis, and major efforts to clear the rubble did not begin until May, 1909. As the international relief effort got under way, tents were replaced with wooden shelters. Help came from groups such as the American Village, which was funded and staffed by Americans living in Italy, by the U.S. Navy, and by the diplomatic corps. In April, 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt visited Messina to give moral support and to view the progress of the relief effort. Queen Elena supported another such model village, Villaggio Regina Elena. Massive long-term efforts were needed to rebuild the region. Gradually, new regulations for earthquake-proof building were formulated, and rebuilding became the driving force behind the area’s economy. For decades, politicians fought over control of reconstruction funds while Messina and Reggio remained full of destroyed buildings and temporary wooden huts. Some important government buildings were not rebuilt until the 1920’s. Significance By the early twentieth century, the importance of the newspaper correspondent as a personality had become firmly established in the Italian popular press. Barzini and others were striking examples of correspondents who provided personal reactions that were avidly read by the public. In Messina, these journalists found a rich mine of material and images that gave the impression that the social order had collapsed in the disaster area. The media shaped public reaction, and the disaster’s aftermath became a national and international drama. As a result, the relief effort was vast and significant on an individual as well as an international level. In addition, the devastation in Sicily and southern Italy and the collapse of the regional economy increased emigration to other European cities, South America, and the United States. — Susan Butterworth Further Reading Dickie, John, John Foot, and Frank M. Snowden, eds. Disastro! Disasters in Italy Since 1860: Culture, Politics, Society. New York: Palgrave, 2002. Sociological and political study of the impact of disasters on Italy’s modern history. Includes a comprehensive and informative chapter on the 1908 earthquake.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Elliott, Maud Howe. Sicily in Shadow and in Sun: The Earthquake and the American Relief Work. Boston: Little, Brown, 1910. Firsthand account of an American living in Rome at the time of the disaster who traveled to Sicily to help in the relief effort. Includes photographs and drawings. Miller, J. Martin. The Complete Story of the Italian Earthquake Horror. Chicago: J. T. Moss, 1909. Illus-
First Kibbutz Is Established in Palestine trated contemporary narrative of the disaster and its aftermath. Journalistic style, descriptions, and interviews with survivors reflect the interest this event held for the reading public of the time. See also: Apr. 18, 1906: San Francisco Earthquake; Sept. 1, 1923: Earthquake Rocks Japan; Jan., 1935: Richter Develops a Scale for Measuring Earthquake Strength.
1909
First Kibbutz Is Established in Palestine Partly inspired by the writings of Theodor Herzl, Jewish pioneers established the first permanent settlement, known as a kvutza or kibbutz, at Deganya, near Hadera, in what was then Palestine. Most of the settlers came from Russia, and early settlements represented collectives modeled on a socialist system.
Key Figures Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), Jewish writer who proposed the formation of a Jewish state Arthur Ruppin (1876-1943), director of the Palestine Land Development Corporation Aaron David Gordon (1856-1922), mentor of the Zionist labor movement Joseph Bussel (1891-1919), Zionist pioneer who developed the idea of the kibbutz Summary of Event Modern immigration of Eastern European Jews to Palestine was spurred by pogroms and Russian anti-Semitism in the 1880’s and 1890’s. During this period, around fifty thousand people—most of whom knew very little about farming—established a dozen communities in Palestine. These people were part of the Zionist movement, which was based on the concept of the Jewish people’s return to their ancestral home. The movement originated in the work of several early nineteenth century writers, but it was the Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl who brought these ideas to fruition. As a young man, Herzl believed that religious and racial prejudice would gradually disappear, but several later events convinced him otherwise. The late nine-
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Locale: Deganya, Galilee, Palestine (now Israel) Categories: Expansion and land acquisition; colonialism and occupation; government and politics
teenth century rise of nationalism was accompanied by waves of anti-Semitism, and one of Herzl’s friends committed suicide as a result of this discrimination. Herzl gradually came to the conclusion that assimilation was impossible and that only the establishment of a Jewish homeland could solve the problem. In 1896, Herzl penned Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State, 1896), a pamphlet in which he argued for a return to the ancestral homeland of Zion. That year he convened the First Zionist Congress, which gave rise to the formation of the World Zionist Organization. Herzl died eight years later at age forty-four, but his dream continued among a majority of his followers, who called themselves Zionists. Herzl favored the outright purchase of land in Palestine, which was then ruled by the Turks as part of the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) was founded in December, 1901, during the Fifth National Congress at Basle, Switzerland. Fund members quickly planned to purchase land in both Palestine and Syria. From 1902 to 1907, the JNF was administered in Vienna, and it was during this period that the most recognizable fund-raising mechanisms were established: JNF labels were issued, the blue collection box was created (this symbol continued to be used into the twenty-first century), and the organization began to record large donations in a “Golden Book.” In 1904, the JNF purchased its first tract of land, at Kefar Hittim in the Lower Galilee, and in 1908 and 1909 the organization bought land for the settlements of Ben Shemen, Hildah, and Deganya. The wave of immigration into Palestine took place primarily in the period 1904-1914 and became known as the Second Aliyah. The movement was inspired by several writers and pioneers, including Aaron David Gordon and Joseph Bussel. Gordon, a writer and a leader of the Zionist labor movement, emphasized that selfrealization could come from land settlement. In 1904, he
First Kibbutz Is Established in Palestine
The Jewish Question The publication of Theodor Herzl’s Der Judenstaat (1896; The Jewish State, 1896), in which he proposed the creation of a Jewish state, made the author the leading spokesperson for the Zionist movement. In this excerpt from chapter 2 of The Jewish State, Herzl lays out his plan: The whole plan is in its essence perfectly simple, as it must necessarily be if it is to come within the comprehension of all. Let the sovereignty be granted us over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation; the rest we shall manage for ourselves. The creation of a new State is neither ridiculous nor impossible. We have in our day witnessed the process in connection with nations which were not largely members of the middle class, but poorer, less educated, and consequently weaker than ourselves. The Governments of all countries scourged by Anti-Semitism will be keenly interested in assisting us to obtain the sovereignty we want. The plan, simple in design, but complicated in execution, will be carried out by two agencies: The Society of Jews and the Jewish Company. The Society of Jews will do the preparatory work in the domains of science and politics, which the Jewish Company will afterwards apply practically. The Jewish Company will be the liquidating agent of the business interests of departing Jews, and will organize commerce and trade in the new country. We must not imagine the departure of the Jews to be a sudden one. It will be gradual, continuous, and will cover many decades. The poorest will go first to cultivate the soil. In accordance with a preconceived plan, they will construct roads, bridges, railways and telegraph installations; regulate rivers; and build their own dwellings; their labor will create trade, trade will create markets and markets will attract new settlers, for every man will go voluntarily, at his own expense and his own risk. The labor expended on the land will enhance its value, and the Jews will soon perceive that a new and permanent sphere of operation is opening here for that spirit of enterprise which has heretofore met only with hatred and obloquy. If we wish to found a State today, we shall not do it in the way which would have been the only possible one a thousand years ago. It is foolish to revert to old stages of civilization, as many Zionists would like to do. Supposing, for example, we were obliged to clear a country of wild beasts, we should not set about the task in the fashion of Europeans of the fifth century. We should not take spear and lance and go out singly in pursuit of bears; we would organize a large and active hunting party, drive the animals together, and throw a melinite bomb into their midst. If we wish to conduct building operations, we shall not plant a mass of stakes and piles on the shore of a lake, but we shall build as men build now. Indeed, we shall build in a bolder and more stately style than was ever adopted before, for we now possess means which men never yet possessed. Source: Theodor Herzl, The Jewish State, translated by Sylvie D’Avigdor (New York: American Zionist Emergency Council, 1946).
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 came to Palestine to till the land, even though he had never farmed before. Bussel came to Palestine in 1908 from Russia, where he had been one of the cocreators of the idea of the kvutza (kibbutz). He also helped establish the settlement at Kinneret, where the concept of the independent agricultural collective began. Kinneret had been among the first holdings acquired by the JNF. In 1908, Arthur Ruppin, the JNF’s director of land acquisition, established a training farm there for Jewish laborers. Administrators, however, regarded the workers simply as wage earners and argued that it would be cheaper to hire Arab laborers. In response, the Jewish workers began a strike. Eager to test whether a collectivist settlement was practical—or even possible—Ruppin purchased some 1,200 dunam (approximately 13,000 square feet) of land near the shores of Lake Galilee. The initial attempt was less than successful, as workers developed malaria and suffered under the intense heat. In 1909, Ruppin sent seven additional workers east of the nearby Jordan River, where they established a 75acre settlement in the area known as UmJuni. Bussel named this settlement Deganya, which means “God’s corn.” The first workers were paid a monthly salary of forty-five francs each, and they shared half of any profit earned by the settlement. In 1909, Deganya had a profit of four thousand francs. The next year, a second small group replaced the previous group of workers, and each worker was paid fifty francs a month. Initially, Deganya was governed by a principle of cooperative labor, but the founders’ socialist backgrounds led to the evolution of a communal system—the first kibbutz—in which everything was shared equally. While men cultivated the land, women shared duties such as taking care of the animals, cooking, and child care. The population of the kibbutz doubled over the next two years, and permanent housing replaced the original huts. By 1911, the harvest proved successful, and kibbutz members were able to purchase additional livestock as well as land. After the community at
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Deganya proved its viability, other settlers purchased land using JNF funds. By 1914, fourteen similar collectives had been established, and they all operated on the principle that members shared ownership of the land.
Further Reading Ben-Gurion, David. The Jews in Their Land. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966. History of Israel from biblical to modern times, written by one of the founders of the state. Includes numerous photographs and maps. Gavron, Daniel. The Kibbutz. Boston: Brown & Littlefield, 2000. Describes both the theory and the difficulties associated with establishment and maintenance of kibbutzim, particularly the challenges associated with attempts to keep youth on the farms. Gilbert, Martin. Israel: A History. New York: William Morrow, 1998. Sir Martin Gilbert is considered among the outstanding historians of our times, and in this book he gives an excellent description of the events that created the state of Israel. Near, Henry. Origins and Growth, 1909-1939 . Vol. 1 in The Kibbutz Movement: A History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Covers the origins of the kibbutz and the roles played by Russian socialists that resulted in the collective farms. Sachar, Howard. A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976. Considered one of the authoritative twentieth century works on the subject. Significant emphasis is placed upon the work of Theodor Herzl and the evolution of Zionism. See also: 1903-1906: Pogroms in Imperial Russia; Nov. 2, 1917: Balfour Declaration Supports a Jewish Homeland in Palestine; July 24, 1922: League of Nations Establishes Mandate for Palestine; Aug. 23, 1929: Western Wall Riots; 1939-1945: Nazi Extermination of the Jews.
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Significance The kibbutz was clearly based on a socialist model, which was not surprising given the founders’ European origins. For decades prior to the establishment of the state of Israel, most Jewish immigrants to Palestine came to live at kibbutzim. In addition to the sense of camaraderie that life on the settlement fostered, farm life inspired a connection between residents and the land on which they worked. This affinity would prove crucial during later years, as regional boundaries were drawn and redrawn, and kibbutzim became a central element of the labor movement in the growing region. In the beginning of the twentieth century, Palestine was an undeveloped, primarily arid land with few population centers. Survival necessitated the ability to grow one’s own food, and it was not a coincidence that the first settlers at Deganya were farmers. The survival of Deganya demonstrated that Zionism was practical and that the kibbutz was a viable concept. Fleeing from persecution in Russia and other Eastern European countries, immigrants came by the thousands, and many of them wanted to establish socialist communities. Some flocked to the kibbutzim, but most settled in the first towns established in the region in two thousand years. Gradually, the romance of the kibbutz faded; after the establishment of Israel in 1948, immigration moved toward the cities, and fewer young people chose to remain on the farms. — Richard Adler
First Kibbutz Is Established in Palestine
Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype”
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1909
Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype” Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen helped found the science of genetics with his creation and experimental support for the concepts of the gene, genotype, and phenotype. Locale: Copenhagen, Denmark Categories: Science and technology; biology; genetics Key Figures Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen (1857-1927), Danish plant physiologist and chemist Herbert Spencer Jennings (1868-1947), American zoologist Raymond Pearl (1879-1940), American geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945), American embryologist and geneticist Summary of Event Natural selection, one of the mechanisms for evolutionary change, was first formulated by Charles Darwin in 1859 in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Darwin described a process in which certain individual organisms are better able to survive and reproduce offspring relative to other individual organisms because of inherited differences. Over time, the inherited properties of a population change gradually and continuously, and sometimes the changes lead to a new population of organisms (speciation). Darwin also tried to account for the origins of inherited differences with his concept of “provisional hypothesis of pangenesis,” featured in a chapter in The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868). He integrated a variety of ideas into his theory and believed that environment sometimes could directly influence the inherited characteristics passed to offspring (soft inheritance). Not even some of Darwin’s strongest supporters, such as the biologists Thomas Henry Huxley and August Weismann or the biostatistician Francis Galton, accepted all the parts of his theory. Weismann was a strong supporter of natural selection but rejected soft inheritance. He believed in the continuity of the “germ plasm,” which was separated from the body (soma). Galton also argued that the inherited properties, or “stirps,” were passed from generation to generation with little change. Both Galton and Huxley questioned Darwin’s emphasis on small, heritable differences and continuous change. 726
They argued instead for selection of “sports,” or mutations, and believed that evolution proceeds through rapid, discontinuous jumps. Galton also developed the “law of filial regression,” in which offspring tend to exhibit the average of the race or type to which they belong rather than the average of their parents for quantitative characteristics such as height. Thus two very short parents would tend to have taller children. The rediscovery of Gregor Mendel’s theory of heredity in 1900 only exacerbated the disputes. Karl Pearson and Walter Weldon, founders of the biometrical school, considered themselves to be followers of Galton but rejected Galton’s belief in discontinuous evolution. They sided with Darwin in favor of natural selection of small, heritable variations and rejected Mendel’s theory. Early Mendel supporters opposed the biometricians and argued that evolution proceeds by discontinuous leaps. The Mendelians believed that differences in continuous traits are too small to generate sufficient selection pressure to cause evolutionary change. Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen played a significant role in helping to bridge the gap between the opposing camps. Johannsen was trained as a pharmacist and attended lectures in botany at the University of Copenhagen but never obtained a degree. In 1881, he joined the chemistry department of the newly established Carlsberg laboratory. He resigned his post in 1887 but continued his research there and discovered a method of reviving dormant winter buds. The success of this discovery helped him gain a position as lecturer in botany and plant physiology at the Copenhagen Agricultural College in 1892. Johannsen was affected profoundly by Galton’s work on heredity and was influenced also by Darwin’s writings on natural selection. He decided to try to distinguish between Galton’s ideas on selection, which had been experimentally supported by the plant physiologist Hugo de Vries, and Darwin’s theory of natural selection, as defended by Pearson and Weldon. De Vries considered selection to be ineffective, whereas Pearson and Weldon believed selection to be a continuous force for population change. Unlike his predecessors, Johannsen chose for his experiments a species that reproduces by self-fertilization, so that “pure lines” consisted of all individuals descended from a single self-fertilized individual. In the
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Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype”
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tion. Although individuals might vary for a particular autumn of 1900, Johannsen randomly selected 5,000 continuous trait within a pure line, the inherited characprincess bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) seeds. The following teristics do not vary. He coined the term “phenotype,” spring, he planted 100 of the seeds that were of average defining it as the statistical average of the environmenweight relative to the total of 5,000. He also planted 25 tally influenced variable appearances of individuals. each of the smallest and the largest seeds by weight. AfJohannsen also recognized a need to characterize the ter the fall harvest, he discovered that, whether described inherited properties of an organism. The nature of the inin terms of the original groups (25 small, 100 average, 25 herited material was controversial. Physicalists such as large) or as a combined total of 150, he got normal distriJohannsen wanted to interpret biological processes in butions. When he then reclassified the groups of large terms of forces. They rejected any efforts to tie Mendeland small beans according to the average weight of their ian segregation patterns to cytologists’ discoveries about own offspring, however, he discovered that selection had chromosomes and cellular division. Embryologists faresulted in larger and smaller average weights, respecvored a corpuscular inherited factor. De Vries called the tively, when compared with the average for the original inherited units either factors or pangens, after Darwin. total population. Later, in 1902, he applied selection to Johannsen borrowed from de Vries and coined the term the offspring of a single plant and found no change in av“gene” as a unit of calculation or accounting. He wanted erage values. This indicated that selection on pure lines had no effect. Johannsen presented the findings from his three years of experiments at the meeting of the Royal Danish Scientific Society on February 6, 1903, and published an article in both Danish and German in the same year. Johannsen described his views on the evolutionary process in his book titled Om arvelighed og variabilitet (on heredity and variation). An extended version of that book, retitled Arvelighedslaerens elementer (the elements of heredity), was published in 1905. In 1906, Johannsen presented a paper at the Third International Conference on Genetics in which he extended his conclusions to hybridized lines on the basis of one incomplete experiment. In 1908, Herbert Spencer Jennings at Harvard and Raymond Pearl at the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station conducted pure-line studies on the microorganism Paramecium and in fowls, respectively. Although the researchers’ conclusions were partly erroneous, both sets of experiments were considered to provide support for Johannsen’s pure-line theory. Johannsen then wrote an even larger version of his textbook in German and published it in 1909 under the title Elemente der exakten Erblichkeitslehre (elements of an exact theory of heredity). He provided many statistical analyses of quantitative traits and discussed his experimental work. He noted how general Wilhelm Ludvig Johannsen (left) with English geneticist William Bateson in populations represent mixtures of many pure 1924. (Courtesy, California Institute of Technology) lines, each with a different inherited constitu-
Johannsen Coins the Terms “Gene,” “Genotype,” and “Phenotype” a term unconnected to any of the contemporary theories about its nature, and, as Frederick B. Churchill has noted, he used the term “gene” as if it referred to a chemical or physiological process rather than a thing. Johannsen then discussed the relationship of phenotypic and genotypic differences in terms of populations. The term “genotype” in this context refers to the inherited differences among pure lines. Johannsen did not distinguish between transmission of traits and their development, nor did he apply his genotype-phenotype distinction to individuals. Significance Elemente der exakten Erblichkeitslehre was the first and most influential textbook of genetics on the European continent. In it, Johannsen introduced the new science and defined its key concepts. Although there were a few critics of his pure-line work, most geneticists in 1910 accepted his theory and rejected any significant role for natural selection in the evolutionary process. From 1908 to 1911, however, while Johannsen, Jennings, and Pearl were criticizing Darwinian selection, three sets of experiments were performed that helped to bring the work of Darwin and that of Mendel into harmony. First, the geneticist William E. Castle experimentally demonstrated the action of selection. Second, Edward Murray East and Herman Nilsson-Ehle showed how Mendelism accounted for continuous variation and apparent blending in the offspring of parental traits. (East also noted that Johannsen’s genotype-phenotype distinction was essentially a later version of Weismann’s somatoplasm-germplasm dichotomy.) Finally, experimentation by Thomas Hunt Morgan and his students with the fruit fly Drosophila showed how the Mendelian factors or genes might be tiny variations. Morgan’s group also showed how genes are carried on the chromosomes (color-staining bodies in the nucleus of cells). Morgan’s chromosome theory may have hastened the acceptance of the contemporary definitions of genotype and phenotype—that is, the distinction between the expressed and outward appearance of an individual (phenotype) and the genetic information stored in the germ plasm (genotype). In the third edition of Elemente der exakten Erblichkeitslehre, published in 1926, Johannsen used the modern definitions of genotype and phenotype and incorporated cytological discoveries and the work of Morgan’s group. He still rejected a corpuscular gene, however. He was not alone in this; disputes about the composition of the genetic material continued until Oswald Avery, Cohn 728
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MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty showed in 1944 that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the genetic material for almost all organisms, and James D. Watson and Francis Crick demonstrated in the 1950’s how hereditary information is encoded in the DNA. The science Johannsen helped found, genetics, has thrived. Since his discoveries, an ever-increasing number of behavioral, anatomical, and physiological traits have been shown to have inherited components. Knowing how specific traits (including genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis) are transmitted permits genetic counselors to advise couples about the risk of passing particular conditions on to any children they conceive together. By the early years of the twenty-first century, research on the molecular biology of the gene and chromosome (the genotype) had proliferated. Such research included the manipulation of the genetic material of food plants and animals in order to increase production or resistance to disease; identification of potent mutagens, particularly those affecting DNA, in the sperm or egg; and mapping of specific genes’ locations on particular chromosomes. In addition, studies concerning how traits are phenotypically expressed by organisms may eventually provide avenues through which scientists can mediate that expression—for example, by curing genetic diseases or by preventing viruses (such as the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV) from exploiting individuals’ genetic machinery to reproduce themselves. —Joan C. Stevenson Further Reading Bowler, Peter J. The Mendelian Revolution: The Emergence of Hereditarian Concepts in Modern Science and Society. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989. Provides details about the work and life of Johannsen and his intellectual milieu. Good bibliography. Carlson, Elof Axel. Mendel’s Legacy: The Origin of Classical Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2004. Based heavily on early twentieth century sources, this book traces the roots of genetics in breeding analysis and studies of cytology, evolution, and reproductive biology. Highly illustrated. Churchill, Frederick B. “William Johannsen and the Genotype Concept.” Journal of the History of Biology 7 (Spring, 1974): 5-30. An interesting analysis of Johannsen’s central ideas and the consistency in his work during two time periods: from the pure-line studies until publication of Elemente der exakten
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Mecklenburg-Schwerin Admits Women to University Education
Erblichkeitslehre and after publication of the text’s third edition. Dunn, L. C. A Short History of Genetics: The Development of Some of the Main Lines of Thought, 18641939. 1965. Reprint. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1991. A clear, very readable description of the important personalities (including Johannsen) and discoveries that contributed to the origins of the field of genetics. Bibliography includes most of Johannsen’s major works. Mayr, Ernst. The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982. A superb history of conceptual developments (including gene, genotype, and phenotype) and the people responsible for them by one of the great evolutionary biologists of the twentieth century. Good bibliography. Provine, William B., comp. The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics. 2d ed. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2001. Excellent coverage of the “war” between the biometricians and the Mendelians. Details Johannsen’s role in that dispute. Roll-Hansen, Nils. “Drosophila Genetics: A Reductionist Research Program.” Journal of the History of Biology 11 (Spring, 1978): 159-210. Describes the philosophical and scientific biases of Morgan, his students, and his colleagues, including Johannsen. See also: 1902: Bateson Publishes Mendel’s Principles of Heredity; 1902: McClung Contributes to the Discovery of the Sex Chromosome; Dec., 1902: Sutton Proposes That Chromosomes Carry Hereditary Traits; 1905: Punnett’s Mendelism Includes Diagrams Showing Heredity; 1906: Bateson and Punnett Observe Gene Linkage; 1908: Hardy and Weinberg Present a Model of Population Genetics; 1908-1915: Morgan Develops the Gene-Chromosome Theory; Fall, 1911: Sturtevant Produces the First Chromosome Map. 1909
1909
Mecklenburg-Schwerin Admits Women to University Education The duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was the last German state to deny university admission to women. When it relented, the decision brought to an end a debate over higher education for women in Germany that had begun in the 1860’s. The debate and its eventual conclusion highlighted the highly gendered nature of German society and the ongoing conflict between conservative and progressive German states. Locale: Rostock, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German Empire (now Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Germany) Categories: Civil rights and liberties; education; social issues and reform; women’s issues Key Figures Helene Lange (1848-1930), German writer and advocate of higher education for women Hedwig Kettler (1851-1937), German journalist, writer, and founder of the Association for the Reform of Women’s Education Louise Otto (1819-1895), German journalist, writer, and founder of the General German Women’s Association
Summary of Event After the founding of the German Empire in 1871, rapid economic development pushed single, middle-class women out of the home and into a number of kinds of jobs, with many becoming governesses or teachers in girls’ schools. To have access to higher-level occupations, they were required to have university educations. However, the nine-year secondary school, called a “gymnasium,” that prepared students for a university education was for boys only, and students had to pass the Abitur, the final exam of the gymnasium, in order to be admitted to a German university. A women’s movement for higher education arose in reaction to this situation, and, combined with a number of contributing factors, it resulted in the German educational system being opened to women on a state-by-state basis. This process was completed in 1909, when the German duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the final holdout, allowed female students to matriculate at the University of Rostock, the oldest university in northern Europe. The forerunners of the women’s campaign for higher education can be traced back to writings in the eighteenth century. On the Civil Improvement of Women, written by Theodor von Hippel in 1792, was a landmark book, and 729
Mecklenburg-Schwerin Admits Women to University Education the General German Women’s Association, founded by Louise Otto in 1864, was the first German women’s organization to raise the issue of female students. From 1888 to the beginning of the twentieth century, the association petitioned repeatedly for female higher education. The Association for the Reform of Women’s Education, founded by Hedwig Kettler in 1888, argued for women’s admission to university study on the ground of economic opportunities for single, middle-class women. Like the other association, it regularly sent petitions to the state ministries of education and state governments on behalf of girls’ education. Helene Lange, the most famous advocate of female higher education in Germany, put the issue in a wider political context. Her pamphlet Die höhere Mädchenschule und ihre Bestimmung: Begleitschrift zu einer Petition an das preussische Unterrichtsministerium und das preussische Abgeordnetenhaus (1887; the higher girls’ school and its mission, known later as the “Yellow Brochure”) sparked public interest in female education and was often used to accompany campaign petitions. In addition to calling for general education for women, Lange proposed university-track education for those women who wished to be trained in medicine and teaching. Women’s university study met strong opposition from academics and state officials. An influential argument was based on differences between males and females. Professor of anatomy Theodor von Bischoff claimed women had smaller brains and consequently inferior intellectual ability. The presence of women at the university was also considered dangerous to the moral wellbeing of the male students. Professor of political economy Lorenz von Stein considered female emancipation as disruptive to the social order and argued that when women left the domestic sphere to enter the workplace, they would drive down male workers’ earnings. Although the validity of these arguments was challenged by professors sympathetic to the women’s movement, other arguments were difficult to dispute because German universities, as professor of law Otto Gierke declared, were institutions for men only. First, because a girls’ school did not prepare students for university study, it could not provide them with an Abitur. Universities found it impossible to accept students without an Abitur, because no equivalent standards existed. Second, since university education was tied to the job demands at all governmental levels, female graduates from universities would pose a threat to the male monopoly on government employment and the vote. Finally, the purpose of university study—to form an educated middle class— 730
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was geared toward male students only. The mission of university education, as one professor described it, was to find out if there was a man inside the student. Another professor declared universities were established for the male youth and adapted to the male mind. A number of universities allowed women to audit courses in the late 1860’s and early 1870’s. At Heidelberg, for example, women could audit with the professor’s permission after 1869. Some women audited without even official permission at Berlin in the early 1870’s. However, in 1878 the Prussian Ministry of Education allowed women to audit only after they had permission from the ministry, the university senate, the faculty, and the individual professor. As a result of this decree, most women were unable to audit courses. By the 1890’s, most universities allowed women to audit again, and only the university’s or professor’s permission was required. Heidelberg, which had banned women after 1873, allowed them to audit courses in the faculty of mathematics and natural sciences in 1891 and in the faculty of philosophy in 1895. Berlin opened its door to women in 1892; seventy women audited in the 18951896 semester. At Prussian universities, 223 women were allowed to audit in the 1896-1897 semester. The first state-controlled girls’ equivalent to the boys’ gymnasium was opened in Baden in 1894. This German state was also the first to admit female university students, in 1900. Other states followed suit: Bavaria in 1903, Wurttemberg in 1904, Saxony in 1906, Thuringia in 1907, and Prussia in 1908. The last university to admit female students, in 1909, was the University of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The duchy’s intransigence to their admission could be traced back to 1897, when a professor at Rostock defended his position on the women’s campaign for university study. Felix Lindner, professor of Romance and English philology, believed that women, due to their nature, were not fit for university study. He argued that women could not maintain a broad perspective because they paid more attention to petty things, and women could not absorb themselves as deeply in their studies as men. Since university study was established for men, women could not benefit from it. Mecklenburg-Schwerin also defended its uncompromising position in 1906, when it declared that universities not only taught facts but also trained students in masculine excellence. A couple of contributing factors aside from the pressure from women’s organizations could explain why such a state as Mecklenburg-Schwerin finally decided to admit female students. First, the long-established tradi-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tion of liberalism in southern German states (Baden and Wurttemberg, for example) gradually prevailed over the weakening influence of Prussian militarism in northern Germany. Second, Germans finally realized that their educational system was no longer one of the most advanced in the world, at least in terms of advancement of women’s education. In America, women had been admitted to universities since 1853; in France, since 1861; and in England, since 1878.
Further Reading Frevert, Ute. Women in German History: From Bourgeois Emancipation to Sexual Liberation. New York: Berg, 1989. Provides a synoptic account of two hundred years of women’s history in Germany and investigates the legacy of inequality between the sexes. Herminghouse, Patricia A., and Magda Mueller, eds. German Feminist Writings. New York: Continuum, 2001. Provides a selection from the spectrum of German feminist thought over the last 250 years. The writings are grouped into five clusters: art and literature, education, work, politics, and gender. Mazon, Patricia M. Gender and the Modern Research University: The Admission of Women to German Higher Education, 1865-1914. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2003. Focuses on women’s long fight to be admitted to German universities, pointing out the fundamental characteristics that shaped the universities and imperial politics. See also: July 20, 1906: Finland Grants Women Suffrage; Sept. 11, 1915: Women’s Institutes Are Founded in Great Britain; Nov. 7, 1916: First Woman Is Elected to the U.S. Congress; Feb. 6, 1918: British Women Gain the Vote; Aug. 26, 1920: U.S. Women Gain the Right to Vote; 1921: First Woman Elected to Australian Parliament.
1909
Steinitz Inaugurates Modern Abstract Algebra Ernst Steinitz’s studies of the algebraic theory of mathematics provided the basic solution methods for polynomial roots, initiating the methodology and domain of abstract algebra. Locale: Technical College, Breslau, Germany Category: Mathematics Key Figures Ernst Steinitz (1871-1928), German mathematician Leopold Kronecker (1823-1891), German mathematician Heinrich Weber (1842-1913), German mathematician Kurt Hensel (1861-1941), German mathematician Joseph Wedderburn (1882-1948), Scottish American mathematician Emil Artin (1898-1962), French mathematician
Summary of Event Before 1900, algebra and most other mathematical disciplines focused almost exclusively on solving specific algebraic equations, employing only real, and less frequently complex, numbers in theoretical as well as practical endeavors. One result of the several movements contributing to the so-called abstract turn in twentieth century algebra was much-increased technical economy through introduction of symbolic operations, which was accompanied by a notable increase in generality and scope. Although the axiomatic foundationalism of David Hilbert is rightly recognized as contributing the motivation and methods to this generalization by outlining how many specific algebraic operations could be reconstructed for greater applicability using new abstract 731
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Significance With its decision to admit women to its university, Mecklenburg-Schwerin brought a final success to German women’s campaign for access to higher education. German women were legally able to study at the same places and for the same degrees as men. Their presence revolutionized the old German concept of what it meant to be educated. German universities, like universities the world over, fashioned students into citizens based on a particular, culturally specific model of citizenship. Moreover, as with other universities in other nations and eras, the physical presence of people who differed from the dominant image of the citizen—then assumed to be male—represented an inherent, visible challenge to that model. Thus the admission of women to German universities questioned German assumptions about gender roles as well as the role of class in citizenship and the proper functioning of the state. — Anh Tran
Steinitz Inaugurates Modern Abstract Algebra
Steinitz Inaugurates Modern Abstract Algebra definitions of elementary concepts, the other “constructivist” approaches—of Henri-Léon Lebesgue, Leopold Kronecker, Heinrich Weber, and especially Ernst Steinitz—had an equally concrete impact on the redevelopment and extensions of modern algebra. Kronecker had unique convictions about how questions on the foundations of mathematics should be treated in practice. In contrast to Richard Dedekind, Georg Cantor, and especially Karl Weierstrass, Kronecker believed that every mathematical definition must be framed so as to be tested by mathematical constructional proofs involving a finite number of steps, whether or not the definitions or constructions could be seen to apply to any given quantity. In the older view, solving an algebraic equation more or less amounted only to determining its roots tangibly via some formula or numerical approximation. In Kronecker’s view, the problem of finding an algebraic solution in general was much more problematic in principle since Évariste Galois’s discoveries about (in)solvability of quartic and higher-order polynomials. For Kronecker, it required constructions of “algorithms,” which would allow computation of the roots of an algebraic equation or show why this would not be possible in any given case. The question of finding algebraic roots in general had been of fundamental import since the prior work of Galois, Niels Henrick Abel, and Carl Friedrich Gauss. In particular, these efforts led Abel and Sophus Lie to formulate the first ideas of what is now known as the “theory of groups.” Later, Dedekind introduced the concept of “field” in the context of determining the conditions under which algebraic roots can be found. Kronecker was the first to employ the idea of fields to prove one of the basic theorems of modern algebra, which guarantees the existence of solution roots for a wider class of polynomials than previously considered. The novelty of the field approach is seen from the introduction to Weber’s contemporaneous paper “Die allgemeinen Grundlagen der Galois’chen Gleichungstheorie” (the general foundations of Galois theory). Weber first proved an important theorem stated by Kronecker, which relates the field of rational numbers to socalled cyclotomic, or Abelian, groups, a subsequently important area of the development of field theory. Weber also established the notion of a “form field,” being the field of all rational functions over a given base field F, as well as the crucial notion of the extension of an algebraic field. Although the main part of Weber’s paper interprets the group of an algebraic equation as a group of permutations of the field of its algebraic coefficients, 732
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Weber’s exposition is complicated by many elaborate and incomplete definitions, as well as a premature attempt to encompass all of algebra, instead of only polynomials. In his noted 1893 textbook on algebra, Weber calls F(a) an algebraic field when a is the root of an equation with coefficients in F, equivalent to the definition given by Kronecker in terms of the “basis” set for F(a) over a. A central concern of Weber and other algebraists was that of extending the idea of absolute value, or valuation, beyond its traditional usage. For example, if F is the field of rational numbers, the ordinary absolute value |a| is the valuation. The theory of general algebraic valuations was originated by Kronecker’s student Kurt Hensel when he introduced the concept of p-adic numbers. In his paper “Über eine neue Begründung der algebraischen Zählen” (1899; on a new foundation of the algebraic numbers), Weierstrass’s method of power-series representations for normal algebraic functions led Hensel to seek an analogous concept for the newer theory of algebraic numbers. If p is a fixed rational prime number and a is a rational number not zero, then a can be expressed uniquely in the form a = (r/s) pn, where r and s are prime -n to p. If φ (a) = p , for a =/ 0, φ (a) is a valuation for the field of rational numbers. For every prime number p, there corresponds a number field, which Hensel called the padic field, where every p-adic number can be represented by a sequence. At this time, the American mathematician Joseph Wedderburn was independently considering similar problems. In 1905, he published “A Theorem on Finite Algebra,” which proved effectively that every algebra with finite division is a field and that every field with a finite number of elements is commutative under multiplication, thus further explicating the close interrelations between groups and fields. Two years after Hensel’s paper appeared, Steinitz published his major report, “Algebraische Theorie der Körper” (1909; theory of algebraic fields), which took the field concepts of Kronecker, Weber, and Hensel much further. Steinitz’s paper explicitly notes that it was principally Hensel’s discovery of p-adic numbers that motivated his research on algebraic fields. In the early twentieth century, Hensel’s p-adic numbers were considered (by the few mathematicians aware of them) to be totally new and atypical mathematical entities, whose place and status with respect to then-existing mathematics was not known. Largely as a response to the desire for a general, axiomatic, and abstract field theory into which p-adic number fields would also fit, Steinitz developed
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Significance Although Steinitz announced further investigations— including applications of algebraic field theory to geometry and the theory of functions—they were never published. Nevertheless, the import and implications of Steinitz’s paper were grasped quickly. It was soon realized that generalized algebraic concepts such as ring, group, and field are not merely formally analogous to their better-known specific counterparts in traditional algebra. In particular, it can be shown that many specific problems of multiplication and division involving polynomials can be simplified greatly by what is essentially the polynomial equivalent of the unique factorization theorem of algebra, developed directly from field theory in subsequent studies. In 1913, the concept of valuation was extended to include the field of complex numbers. An American algebraist, Leonard Dickson (1874-1957), further generalized these results to groups over arbitrary finite fields. Perhaps most notably, the French and German mathematicians Emil Artin and Otto Schreier in 1926 published a review paper that, in pointing out pathways in the future development of abstract algebra, proposed a program to include all of extant algebra in the abstract framework of Steinitz. In 1927, Artin introduced the notion of an ordered field, with the important if difficult conceptual result that mathematical order can be reduced operationally to mathematical computation. This paper also extended Steinitz’s field theory into the area of mathemati-
cal analysis, which included the first proof for one of Hilbert’s twenty-three famous problems, using the theory of real number fields. As noted by historians of mathematics, further recognition and adoption of the growing body of work around Steinitz’s original publication continued. Major texts on modern algebra, such as that published by Bartel Leendert van der Waerden in 1932, already contained substantial treatment of Steinitz’s key ideas. As later pointed out by the “structuralist” mathematicians of the French Nicolas Bourbaki group, the natural boundaries between algebra and other mathematical disciplines are not so much ones of substance or content, as of approach and method, resulting largely from the revolutionary efforts of Steinitz and others such as Emmy Noether. Thus the theory of algebraic fields after the 1960’s is most frequently presented together with the theory of rings and ideals in most textbooks. The theory of algebraic fields is not only an abstract endeavor but also, since the late 1940’s, has proven its utility in providing practical computational tools for many specific problems in geometry, number theory, the theory of codes, and data encryption and cryptology. In particular, the usefulness of algebraic field theory in the areas of polynomial factorization and combinatorics on digital computers led directly to code-solving hardware and software such as maximal-length shift registers and signature sequences, as well as error-correcting codes. Together with Noether’s theory of rings and ideals, Steinitz’s field theory is at once a major demarcation between traditional and modern theory of algebra and a strong link connecting diverse areas of contemporary pure and applied mathematics. —Gerardo G. Tango Further Reading Artin, Emil. Algebraic Numbers and Algebraic Functions. 1951. Reprint. Basel, Switzerland: Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, 1994. Discusses Artin’s work on furthering Steinitz’s field theory. Budden, F. J. The Fascination of Groups. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1972. Represents modern efforts at elementary and intermediatelevel treatments. A unique introductory treatment of groups using numerous examples for art, geometry, and music. Dickson, Leonard E. Algebras and Their Arithmetics. 1938. Reprint. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 1972. Contains some of the first simplified discussions of Steinitz’s work. 733
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the first steps in laying the foundations for a general theory of algebraic fields. Steinitz constructed the roots of algebraic equations with coefficients from an arbitrary field, in much the same fashion as the rational numbers are constructable from the integers (aX = b), or the complex numbers from 2 real numbers (x = –1). In particular, Steinitz focused on the specific question of the structure of what are called inseparable extension fields, which Weber had proposed but not clarified. Many other innovative but highly technical concepts, such as perfect and imperfect fields, were also given. Perhaps most important, Steinitz’s paper sought to give a constructive definition to all prior definitions of fields, therein including the first systematic study of algebraic fields solely as “models” of field axioms. Steinitz showed that an algebraically closed field can be characterized completely by two invariant quantities: its so-called characteristic number and its transcendence degree. One of the prior field concepts was also clarified.
Steinitz Inaugurates Modern Abstract Algebra
United States Begins “Dollar Diplomacy” Kline, Morris. Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times. Vol. 3. 1972. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Part of a multivolume survey of developments in mathematics since its beginnings. Chapter 49 describes the emergence of abstract algebra, including Steinitz’s work. McEliece, Robert. Finite Fields for Computer Scientists
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 and Engineers. Boston: Kluwer Academic, 1987. Advanced text details the practical applications of the algebraic field theory. See also: 1902: Levi Recognizes the Axiom of Choice in Set Theory; 1910-1913: Principia Mathematica Defines the Logistic Movement; 1921: Noether Publishes the Theory of Ideals in Rings.
1909-1913
United States Begins “Dollar Diplomacy” During William Howard Taft’s presidential administration, financial intervention began to characterize U.S. foreign policy in China and the Caribbean. Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Diplomacy and international relations; economics Key Figures Philander C. Knox (1853-1921), U.S. secretary of state, 1909-1913 William Howard Taft (1857-1930), president of the United States, 1909-1913 Summary of Event “Dollar diplomacy,” a term first used to characterize the foreign policy of President William Howard Taft, has since become a favorite expression of those who criticize U.S. foreign policy as being the tool of Wall Street capitalists. Such financiers, critics argue, have manipulated U.S. foreign affairs to assist them in initiating, expanding, and above all protecting their investments abroad, regardless of the impact of such intervention on the foreign governments and people involved. Although this characterization is partially correct, it does not do justice to the original concept and implementation of dollar diplomacy as conceived by the founders of the policy. Taft was unusually well prepared to manage the foreign policy of the United States in the Caribbean and Asian areas when he assumed the presidency in 1909. He had served in key diplomatic positions in these areas from 1901 to 1908. First as chairman of the Philippines Commission and then, by 1901, as civil governor of the Philippines, he had acquired valuable knowledge of the interests of the United States in Asia. When he was appointed secretary of war in 1904, he took on the duties of a roving ambassador. He had primary responsibility for 734
the Isthmian Canal Commission, which dealt with the complex and, for U.S. policy interests, critical implications for the building of the Panama Canal. He had returned to Asia in 1905 and laid the diplomatic foundation for the settlement of the Korean issue with Japan. In 1906 he was again in the Caribbean, this time in Cuba. Following the fall of the regime of Cuba’s first elected president, Tomás Estrada Palma, Taft acted as provisional governor of Cuba. The chief architects of dollar diplomacy were President Taft and his secretary of state, Philander C. Knox. Knox was a Pennsylvania lawyer sympathetic to big business but equally concerned with U.S. political and economic interests abroad. Knox and Taft believed that U.S. commerce would best be served in areas where political and economic stability reigned and that the best way to secure both was to employ U.S. capital and financial expertise where instability was the rule. U.S. intervention would be peaceful—dollars instead of bullets— and would bring benefits not only to U.S. business but also to the local populations. In 1910, Taft articulated his position and that of his administration: There is nothing inconsistent in the promotion of peaceful relations, and the promotion of trade relations, and if the protection which the United States shall assure to her citizens in the assertion of just rights under investments made in foreign countries, shall promote the amount of such trade, it is a result to be commended. To call such diplomacy “dollar diplomacy” . . . is to ignore entirely a most useful office to be performed by a government in its dealings with foreign governments.
Knox echoed the president’s views. He declared, “The problem of good government is inextricably interwoven with that of economic prosperity and sound finance; financial stability contributes perhaps more than any other one factor to political stability.”
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1909
The Taft administration employed dollar diplomacy in two areas: the Caribbean and China. In the Caribbean, Taft and Knox adopted as their model the program instituted by Theodore Roosevelt’s administration in the Dominican Republic. Because of the political disorder of that state and the fear of foreign intervention in its affairs, in 1905 Roosevelt had negotiated an arrangement by which the Dominican government secured a loan from U.S. banks to pay off its outstanding debts. In exchange for the loan, the U.S. president was allowed to appoint the head of the customs service, which, as in all Caribbean states, was the chief source of government revenue. This arrangement seemed to work perfectly. After the United States took over the collection of customs revenue, the Dominican Republic enjoyed a period of internal peace and financial solvency that lasted through most of the Taft administration. Taking their cue from the success of the Dominican experiment, Taft and Knox applied the same principles to Nicaragua in what is regarded as the best example of dollar diplomacy at work. After supporting the overthrow of the powerful dictator José Santos Zelaya in 1909, the administration sent its veteran troubleshooter Thomas C. Dawson to Nicaragua to assist the new government in restoring order. Dawson secured the adoption of a plan to install a U.S. collector of customs and float a loan by New York bankers with the tacit guarantee of the U.S. government. Although the U.S. Senate repeatedly refused to consent to the ratification of this accord, Taft appointed a collector of customs by executive order, and the New York bankers made several loans, taking as additional security a controlling interest in the Nicaraguan National Bank and the state railways. Despite these efforts to establish financial stability, however, in 1912 the majority political party of Nicaragua staged a revolt against the U.S.-supported president, Adolfo Díaz, and the Taft administration reacted by sending warships and Marines to keep Díaz in power. Dollars and bullets, rather than dollars only, were needed to ensure order in Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan experience showed that, although Taft and Knox had sincerely believed that financial stability would ensure political stability in the Caribbean, they had held overly simple expectations of Latin American political behavior; they had assumed that ending unrest would be merely a matter of retiring debts and balancing budgets. Political rivalries, struggles for prestige
United States Begins “Dollar Diplomacy”
William Howard Taft. (Library of Congress)
and power, social inequalities, and resentment of U.S. intervention undermined the administration’s policy from the beginning. Even the model case of dollar diplomacy, in the Dominican Republic, had achieved stability not because of U.S. policy but because of an able president, Ramón Cáceras, whose murder unleashed a new wave of unrest that ended only in 1916 with the occupation of the capital city and other centers by U.S. Marines. The other area that felt the effects of dollar diplomacy was China, but the Chinese situation was quite different from that of the Caribbean. Not only was active competition with other Great Powers more evident, but also the other foreign powers had far more influence in China 735
United States Begins “Dollar Diplomacy” than did the United States. In addition, Far Eastern policy in the United States under Roosevelt had depended on good relations with Japan, whose friendship was regarded as necessary to protect the newly acquired Philippines as a U.S. possession. Dollar diplomacy in China constituted reversing this policy by seeking advantages in competition rather than through cooperation with Japan. Significance The Taft-Knox method of increasing U.S. influence in China focused on pumping U.S. capital into that country. The tactics never changed. The administration demanded the admission of U.S. banking groups, on terms of equal participation with other powers, into every foreign loan floated by China; where the demand for funds was lacking, the administration sought to inspire it artificially. In the case of China, however, the New York financiers on whom the administration relied for the actual investments lacked both the interest and the accumulation of capital to provide loans of the size demanded. To raise the money, U.S. banks had to rely on loans they had floated in the money markets of England and France. This practice in many ways defeated the whole purpose of the U.S. investment in China. In fact, dollar diplomacy in China did not mean pressure of capitalists on the government to protect their investments abroad, but pressure of the government on the capitalists to invest in an area where the administration believed future U.S. political and economic interests would be at stake. Because of the difficulty in securing U.S. funds and the opposition posed by the other major foreign powers, the Taft administration abandoned its aggressive financial policies in China in 1912 and reverted to the more moderate “open door” approach of earlier administrations. Dollar diplomacy was by no means as successful as some of its promoters claimed or as sinister as some of its critics have portrayed it. However, in addition to promoting stability in some parts of the world, this form of foreign policy did much to cast the United States in the role of an imperialistic power in the era prior to World War I. —Karl A. Roider and Ann Thompson Further Reading Anderson, Donald F. William Howard Taft: A Conservative’s Conception of the Presidency. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1973. Avaluable addition to earlier works because the author had access to the Taft
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 papers, which were opened to scholars and the public in 1960. Burton, David H. William Howard Taft: Confident Peacemaker. Philadelphia: St. Joseph’s University Press, 2005. Focuses on Taft’s foreign policy ideas and initiatives throughout his entire career as a statesman, including his experiments with dollar diplomacy. Coletta, Paolo E. The Presidency of William Howard Taft. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1973. Includes an informative chapter on dollar diplomacy. Haley, P. Edward. Revolution and Intervention: The Diplomacy of Taft and Wilson with Mexico, 1910-1917. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1970. This book’s introduction gives a clear, direct description of the motivation for and scope of dollar diplomacy. Minger, Ralph Eldine. William Howard Taft and United States Foreign Policy: The Apprenticeship Years, 1900-1908. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975. Discusses Taft’s public service record, especially his diplomatic appointments in Latin America and Asia immediately before he became president. Munro, Dana G. Intervention and Dollar Diplomacy in the Caribbean, 1900-1921. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1964. One of the most complete and comprehensive treatments of dollar diplomacy available. Pringle, Henry F. The Life and Times of William Howard Taft: A Biography. 2 vols. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1939. The definitive biography of Taft. Chapter 35, in volume 2, discusses dollar diplomacy. Rosenberg, Emily S. Financial Missionaries to the World: The Politics and Culture of Dollar Diplomacy, 1900-1930. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2004. Examines the scope and significance of dollar diplomacy in early twentieth century U.S. foreign policy. Addresses the controversies surrounding the policy, including arguments that it fostered exploitation of other nations. Scholes, Walter V., and Marie V. Scholes. The Foreign Policies of the Taft Administration. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1970. Provides detail on the policy of dollar diplomacy in Asia and the Caribbean. See also: Mar., 1909-1912: Republican Congressional Insurgency; Aug. 5, 1909: Tariff Act of 1909 Limits Corporate Privacy; Aug. 4-Nov., 1912: U.S. Intervention in Nicaragua.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Pickford Reigns as “America’s Sweetheart”
1909-1929
Pickford Reigns as “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford rose from anonymity to become “America’s Sweetheart,” Hollywood’s most famous and influential female star of the silent-film era. Locale: United States Category: Motion pictures
Summary of Event Mary Pickford’s meteoric rise to the position of “America’s Sweetheart” is one of the great sagas of the freewheeling boom years of the silent-film era. Although a relatively brief period, spanning the years 1896 to 1927, this tumultuous time witnessed the rapid rise of the motion picture from the lowly status of a flickering, vaudeville novelty to a position at the center of a major American industry. The baby girl the world would soon know as Mary Pickford was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on April 8, 1892, as Gladys Louise Smith. Young Gladys became her family’s principal breadwinner at the age of five, when an acquaintance of Charlotte Smith, the girl’s widowed twenty-four-year-old mother, suggested putting Gladys, her younger sister, Lottie, and her younger brother, Jack, on stage as a means of staving off poverty. In spite of the young mother’s initial concerns about the theater’s unsavory reputation, desperation drove her to take Gladys to an audition. On September 19, 1898, the diminutive Gladys made her theatrical debut with the Cummings Stock Company at Toronto’s Princess Theatre. Her compensation, eight dollars a week for six evening performances and two matinees, was sufficient to turn Charlotte into one of the era’s most calculating stage mothers and young Gladys into an ambitious, stagestruck child actor. During the next decade, the Smiths barnstormed through North America in a variety of traveling theatrical troupes. For
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Key Figures Mary Pickford (1892-1979), American film actor and producer David Belasco (1853-1931), American playwright and entrepreneur Charles Chaplin (1889-1977), English film actor Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. (1883-1939), American film actor D. W. Griffith (1875-1948), American film director Adolph Zukor (1873-1976), American film company executive
Gladys, the Smiths’ main source of support, Broadway loomed as the big prize, the goal that, once achieved, would bring unqualified professional and economic success. After the Smiths spent the summer of 1906 trying to arrange an interview with David Belasco, then Broadway’s most flamboyant and prestigious entrepreneur, Belasco finally consented to hear Gladys read. The fourteen-year-old’s straightforward yet winsome manner won over the impresario, who hired her. Belasco found the name Gladys Louise Smith unappealing, however; so, too, did Gladys. Belasco, after hearing the youngster run through a list of family names, selected Pickford; when they got to first names, Gladys offered Marie, which she had wanted to use in place of Louise. The master showman quickly changed Marie to Mary, and Mary Pickford was born. After her rechristening, the excited girl sent a telegram to her mother in Toronto: “Gladys smith now mary pickford engaged by david belasco to appear on broadway this fall.” In 1909, at the age of sixteen, Pickford sought to supplement her stage earnings with a bit of film work. Although motion pictures were regarded as an artistically inferior medium, they nevertheless offered a bit of easy money for an actor. Therefore, when Pickford auditioned for D. W. Griffith, the principal director at Biograph Studios, it was essentially a matter of financial necessity rather than artistic compulsion. Indeed, at the time, Griffith still harbored dreams of becoming a successful playwright. That these two cinematic pioneers linked up at the beginnings of their respective film careers, just as the motion picture was about to catapult into the front ranks of the entertainment industry, remains one of the great strokes of happy coincidence in show business history. Pickford, with her petite frame, blond curls, and youthful vigor, as well as her aura of virginal purity and natural Irish spunk, was a perfect fit for Griffith’s Victorian paradigm of idealized feminine beauty. It is not surprising, then, that Pickford’s earliest work for Griffith, such as her portrayal of the oldest of three sisters in The Lonely Villa (1909) and her starring role in The New York Hat (1912), still resonates with freshness and dramatic power. Although Biograph, like the other pioneering film companies, did not identify actors by name, fearing that such publicity would fuel actors’ demands for higher wages, Pickford’s golden curls made her readily identifi-
Pickford Reigns as “America’s Sweetheart”
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
able to film fans. Indeed, theater managers, sensing a new strategy for attracting audiences, began promoting her Biograph films by advertising the “Girl with the Golden Hair.” Pickford was also known to nickelodeon audiences as “Little Mary,” an appellation derived from the name of a character she played in one of her earliest Biograph films. By 1916, Pickford, now a bona fide star and international celebrity, was making more than a million dollars a year for Adolph Zukor’s Famous Players Company. Riding the waves of the rapidly evolving star system and applying her negotiating skills as well as those of her mother, Pickford was well positioned to continue her reign as Hollywood’s most influential female star and producer throughout the duration of the silent-film era. Significance Mary Pickford’s career provides a salutary example of an extremely bright and talented woman who fought assiduously to maintain economic and artistic control of her various enterprises. Quite simply, she was a woman well ahead of her time. Indeed, Pickford’s fierce quest for independence, while most obvious in her business dealings, also manifested itself in quite palpable form in the roles she undertook in her some two hundred films. Pickford was ambitious, and as the industry’s moguls came to rely more and more heavily on the star system’s capacity to guarantee box-office returns, the “Little Girl with the Curls” instinctively knew her worth. Her ambition was further fueled by a strong sense of competitiveness; in her negotiations with Zukor, she made it a point to underscore the latest contract coup of actor Charles Chaplin as a wedge to boost her own income and control. In 1916, Pickford was earning a handsome guaranteed salary. Zukor had also been compelled to set Pickford up as her own producer, a move formalized with the establishment of Pickford’s own company, Artcraft Pictures. Pickford commanded both a salary of ten thousand dollars per week and a 50 percent take of her films’ profits. As historian Richard Koszarski has pointed out, Pickford was, in effect, Zukor’s partner, but, given that everyone involved was making money, and lots of it, no one really complained. A majority of critics now agree that Pickford’s most enduring work was created during her several years at Artcraft, a productive period that yielded twelve fulllength releases. In the 1920’s, when Pickford and her husband, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., presided over Hollywood’s social life from Pickfair, their Beverly Hills estate, Pickford’s output had slowed to only one release 738
Mary Pickford. (Library of Congress)
per year. Although more time and higher budgets were lavished on production values in Pickford’s films of the 1920’s, these films tend to betray a sense of selfimportance that is entirely missing from the more hastily produced and streamlined Artcraft features. The Artcraft films benefited from the substantive contributions of directors such as Maurice Tourneur (The Poor Little Rich Girl, 1917), Cecil B. DeMille (The Little American, 1917), and Marshall Neilan (Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 1917). Walter Stradling and Charles Rosher were among Pickford’s favorite cameramen, and scripts tailored to the Pickford persona were carefully crafted by Frances Marion and Jeanie Macpherson. Pickford’s films also enjoyed the production values derived from the services of Ben Carré and Wilfred Buckland, two of Hollywood’s best art directors. By late 1918, the success of Pickford’s Artcraft releases led to an even bigger contract and greater creative
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Pickford Reigns as “America’s Sweetheart”
control, but at First National rather than with Zukor. In 1919, Pickford helped to mastermind the organization of United Artists with her erstwhile rival Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith (her former boss at Biograph), and her soon-to-be husband and fellow screen idol, Douglas Fairbanks. United Artists would be the corporate shelter under which Pickford would operate for the duration of an eminent acting career that concluded with the desultory sound film Secrets (1933). In assessing Pickford’s impact as a businesswoman, it is fair to state, as Scott Eyman does in his masterful Pickford biography, that “Mary Pickford, in fact, was the first female movie mogul.” The most important consequence of her keen yet always straightforward dealings
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was the solidification of her capacity to maintain the kind of creative control she felt necessary to her artistic as well as her commercial success. Her greatest challenge, however, involved coping with the perception that the public would be satisfied only with seeing her play variations of her seminal role as “America’s Sweetheart.” Indeed, Pickford’s love-hate relationship with the composite character of “Little Mary” gives retrospective examinations of her career a mordantly bittersweet, if not tragic, touch. Pickford did make attempts to alter her persona by taking on more mature roles, such as those of the title characters in Rosita (1923) and Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (1924); these were, however, less than successful. Pickford had become an icon of American popular culture, an idealized embodiment of the cute, lovable, Pickford’s Press feisty girl-woman. This was what This introduction from a 1914 magazine interview with Mary Pickford illusPickford’s public had come to extrates the tone of the press coverage that supported the public’s adoration of pect, even in the jangling Jazz Age. the star: Indeed, the charming, even naïve innocence of her roles in such films A flash of sunlight across a dark room, a white moth glimmering in the dusk, a as My Best Girl (1927), by invoklily swaying at the edge of a pool—these were the first phrases that flashed ing the values of a rapidly fading yet across one’s mind as Mary Pickford crossed the big stock room of the Famous still significant Victorian sensibility, Players’ studio in West Twenty-sixth street, New York. helped to provide a reassuring emoThe day was one of those periods of gray fog that the ocean flings upon New tional and psychological refuge for York in the summer. Outer Twenty-sixth street sagged under the burden of its gloom. The studio, denied of activity by the darkness of the skies, sank into apthose seeking at least momentary reathy. Around the stock room actors and actresses, in groups of twos and threes lief from the moral ambiguities of and fours, talked listlessly, mostly of the intruding weather that forced upon the Roaring Twenties. them the undesired idleness. Then the door opened to reveal a girl standing on Pickford’s “America’s Sweetthe threshold, a girl whose rioting golden curls seemed to have caught all the heart” was much more than a mere sunlight that should have been gladdening Manhattan, and whose eyes held the two-dimensional caricature. Indeed, deep blues of the hidden skies. An ultra-fashionable little straw hat topped the Pickford’s films almost always incurls, and a costume that matched the smartness of the headgear emphasized cluded working-class issues and perthe slender beauty of one of the best known and best loved of all the motion picspectives, Dickensian qualities that ture actresses. For the girl of the golden curls was Mary Pickford, and there is were still prominent in such later only one Mary Pickford in the universe. works as My Best Girl. Although Reams have already been written about Mary Pickford, whose sensational success in motion pictures has made her more conspicuous on Broadway than Pollyannaish elements were present any of the newer actresses of the legitimate drama. Cornell University graduin her roles, these were countered ates voted her the most popular actress of the year. She is getting a salary of by an aggressive, spunky determina$26,000 a year, and Daniel Frohman, who has the authority, says that her new tion to right wrongs and get ahead. contract will give her $50,000 next year. She has been called repeatedly the Indeed, as film critic Molly Haskell most beautiful woman in the world. When she appears at a public place, crowds has noted, Pickford was “no Amerthrong for a glimpse of her. Her pictures on the films draw the same enthusiasican Cinderella or Snow White”; tic crowds that used to go to Maude Adams’ performances of “The Little Minrather, she was a rebel who “champiister” and “Peter Pan.” And—Mary Pickford is only twenty years old. Think oned the poor against the rich, the of it! scruffy orphans against the prissy Source: Katherine Synon, “The Unspoiled Mary Pickford,” Photoplay, September, rich kids.” 1914. —Charles Merrell Berg
Pickford Reigns as “America’s Sweetheart” Further Reading Brownlow, Kevin. “Mary Pickford.” In The Parade’s Gone By . . . . New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1968. Argues that Pickford’s appeal was based essentially on her talents as a comic actor. An interview includes discussion of Pickford’s professional relationships with D. W. Griffith, David Belasco, Adolph Zukor, Edwin S. Porter, Cecil B. DeMille, and Ernst Lubitsch. _______. Mary Pickford Rediscovered: Rare Pictures of a Hollywood Legend. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999. Comprehensive volume brings together more than two hundred black-and-white photos and motion-picture stills of Pickford with text that reviews her career in chronological order. Includes synopses of her films and material from interviews with Pickford and other actors of the period. Eyman, Scott. Mary Pickford: America’s Sweetheart. New York: Donald I. Fine, 1990. Definitive and superbly written biography successfully plumbs the psychological as well as the artistic and business dimensions of Pickford’s tough yet vulnerable persona, revealing an individual driven by insecurities born of childhood tragedy. Includes bibliography, filmography, and poignant photos culled from the Pickford archives. Haskell, Molly. From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. Provides a refreshingly lucid and readable account of the roles of women in film. Herdon, Booton. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks: The Most Popular Couple the World Has Ever Known. New York: W. W. Norton, 1977. Lively and carefully researched work includes a useful bibliography and a variety of revealing photographs and production stills. Jacobs, Lewis. The Rise of the American Film: A Critical History. 1939. Reprint. New York: Teachers College Press, 1968. Masterful chronicle includes repeated references to Pickford, including a compelling argument for appreciating Pickford as the primary personification of the era’s “Pollyanna philosophy.” Koszarski, Richard. “Mary Pickford.” In An Evening’s Entertainment: The Age of the Silent Feature Picture, 1915-1928. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1990. Argues that Pickford’s composite character,
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 while radiating sweetness and light, also provided a role model for ambitious young women. Also includes discussion of Pickford’s business attainments. Niver, Kemp R. Mary Pickford, Comedienne. Edited by Bebe Bergsten. Los Angeles: Locare Research Group, 1969. A revealing chronicle of Pickford’s apprenticeship under the tutelage of D. W. Griffith, with an emphasis on her comedic roles. Includes a careful selection of frame enlargements, a synopsis for each film, and reprints of promotional handbills sent to theater owners. Pickford, Mary. Sunshine and Shadow. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1955. A surprisingly limited account of Pickford’s motion-picture experiences. Reflecting her growing postretirement conservatism and self-imposed exile at Pickfair, Pickford complains about such troublesome aspects of post-World War II society as unions, communism, and immorality. Whitfield, Eileen. Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1997. Detailed biography traces Pickford’s life from her childhood in poverty to her reign as “America’s Sweetheart” and beyond. Discusses the importance of her position as the first major female film studio executive. Includes bibliography, filmography, and index. Windeler, Robert. Sweetheart: The Story of Mary Pickford. New York: Praeger, 1974. Candid and carefully researched biography remains an invaluable and indispensable resource. Includes a number of illuminating photographs and a complete filmography. Zukor, Adolph. The Public Is Never Wrong: The Autobiography of Adolph Zukor. Edited by Dale Kramer. London: Cassell, 1954. Zukor’s warm recollections of Pickford’s contributions to the motion-picture industry reveal a deep respect for her business achievements as well as her artistic ones. See also: June, 1905: First Nickelodeon Film Theater Opens; Aug., 1912: Sennett Defines Slapstick Comedy; Mar. 3, 1915: Griffith Releases The Birth of a Nation; 1920: Premiere of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; 1923: The Ten Commandments Advances American Film Spectacle; Dec. 4, 1924: Von Stroheim’s Silent Masterpiece Greed Premieres; June 26, 1925: Chaplin Produces His Masterpiece The Gold Rush; Dec., 1926: Keaton’s The General Is Released.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Millikan Conducts His Oil-Drop Experiment
January-August, 1909
Millikan Conducts His Oil-Drop Experiment By measuring electrical charges on tiny oil drops, Robert Andrews Millikan determined that the electron is the fundamental unit of electricity. Locale: Chicago, Illinois Categories: Science and technology; physics Key Figures Robert Andrews Millikan (1868-1953), American physicist and professor Harvey Fletcher (1884-1981), American physicist
Summary of Event The first measurement of the electric charge carried by small water droplets was made in 1897 at Cambridge, England. The method timed the rate of fall of an ionized cloud of water vapor inside a closed chamber. The experiment was improved in 1903 through the use of a beam of X rays to produce the cloud between horizontal plates charged by a battery. The rate of descent of the top surface of the cloud between the plates was measured with an electric field switched on and off. The procedure, although an improvement, suffered from instabilities and irregularities on the top of the cloud. The cloud surface was difficult to delineate, with the result being measurements that fluctuated as much as 100 percent. In 1909, Harvey Fletcher, a young graduate student at the College of Chicago (later the University of Chicago) went to Professor Robert Andrews Millikan to receive suggestions for work on a doctoral thesis in physics. Millikan suggested improving on the measurement of Millikan’s Oil-Drop Experiment electronic charge previously performed at Cambridge. Millikan’s initial plan was to use an electric field Air not only strong enough to increase the speed of fall of the upper surface Oil Drops of the ionized cloud but also powerAtomizer ful enough to keep the cloud surface top stationary when the electric Light Source field was reversed. This would allow the researcher to observe the rate of evaporation easily and compenBattery Conducting plates sate for it in the computations. This technical improvement would perObservational mit the researcher, for the first time, Apparatus (microscope) to make measurements on isolated droplets and eliminate the experi-
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mental uncertainties and assumptions involved in using the cloud method. Millikan’s improvement included the construction of a 10,000-volt small cell storage battery with enough strength to hold the top surface of the cloud suspended long enough to allow the measurement of the rate of evaporation of the droplets. When the electric field was turned on, however, the result was a complete surprise to Millikan. The top of the cloud surface instantaneously dissipated, and, because the experimental result assumed a rate of fall for the ionized cloud, Millikan saw this result as a complete failure. Repeated tests showed that whenever the cloud was dispersed, a few droplets remained. By nature, however, these droplets had the proper charge-to-mass ratio to allow the downward force of gravity or weight of the droplet to be balanced by the upward pull of the electric field on the droplet’s charge. This procedure became known as the “balanced drop method.” With practice, Millikan found that he could reduce evaporation by turning off the field just prior to the point when certain droplets in the field of view changed motion from slow downward to upward. This allowed timing of the motion for a longer period. From Stokes’s law, he found the weight of the droplet. Also, by knowing the strength of the electric field, he was able to calculate the electric charge necessary to balance the droplet’s weight. He noticed that the calculated electric charges came out to within the limits
Millikan Conducts His Oil-Drop Experiment of error on his stopwatch and in multiples of whole integers (1, 2, 3, 4, and so on). The experimenters soon realized that the droplets always carried multiples of wholenumber charges and never fractional amounts. The actual experimental arrangement that Millikan and Fletcher used consisted of a small box with a volume of 2-3 cubic centimeters (0.12-0.18 cubic inches) fastened to the end of a microscope. A tube extended from the box to an expansion chamber secured by an adjustable petcock valve that allowed a rapid expansion of air to form a water-vapor cloud in the box. On the ends of the box were two brass conducting plates about 20 centimeters (7.87 inches) in diameter and 4 millimeters (0.16 inch) thick. A small hole was bored into the top plate to allow the oil mist from an atomizer to enter the region between the two plates, which were separated by approximately 2 centimeters (0.79 inch). A small arc light with two condensing lenses created a bright narrow beam that was in turn permitted to pass between the plates. An instrument called a cathetometer was placed on the microscope so that the microscope could be raised or lowered to the proper angle with the light beam for best illumination (which from practice turned out to be about 120 degrees). The plate separation allowed the researchers to apply a potential difference and produce an electric field. They operated the apparatus by turning on the light, focusing the microscope (which was placed about 1 meter, or 3.28 feet, from the plates), and then spraying oil over the top plate while switching on the battery. When viewed through the microscope, the oil droplets appeared like “little starlets” that had the colors of the rainbow. Millikan and Fletcher noticed that when the electric field was first switched on, the droplets would move at different speeds; some moved slowly upward whereas others moved downward more quickly. Superimposed on the droplets’ downward fall was a small random backand-forth motion (known as Brownian movement) caused by the collisions of the tiny droplets with thermally agitated air molecules within the chamber. When the researchers reversed the electric field by changing the polarity of the battery, the same droplets that had been moving downward moved upward, and vice versa. They deduced that the nature of this motion indicated that some of the droplets were negatively charged, whereas the others carried a positive charge. Through the timely application of a polarity to the electric field, they were able to keep selected droplets in the field of view for longer periods of time to obtain values for the calculation of electronic charges. For this condition, the electric field interacting with the charge on the 742
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 droplet created an upward force that compensated only for the weight of the droplet or the downward force. The electronic charge calculation depended on a suitable balance between the intensity of the electric field and the amount of electrical charge on the droplet that overcame its weight. One major experimental problem remained, however; the water composing the droplet evaporated so quickly that visibility was initially limited to only about two seconds. After some discussion about this problem, Millikan and Fletcher substituted several other substances, including mercury and oil. Oil had an advantage, as it was easy to obtain and to handle, and its rate of evaporation was much slower than that of water. In time, the researchers refined the experiment to obtain greater precision. The metal plates were machined more accurately, and the air between the plates was enclosed to prevent air drafts. Also, X-ray and radium sources were aimed into the chamber, producing greater ionization and more charged droplets than an atomizer could produce. Significance From their examination of the smallest experimental values obtained, it became apparent to Millikan and Fletcher that the charges on tiny oil droplets occur only in multiples of the smallest possible charge; no fractional amount of this basic charge was ever observed—only whole-number increments. This implied that the unit charge obtained could not be subdivided into smaller charges and was independent of the droplet size. These exact values showed that the electronic charge was not merely a statistical mean, as previous experimenters believed. The experiment, in fact, provided direct evidence for the existence of the electron as a finite-sized particle carrying a fundamental charge. It also enabled researchers to examine the attractive or repulsive properties of isolated electrons and to determine that electrical phenomena in solutions and gases are caused by electrical units that have fundamentally the same charge. The oil-drop experiment was an improvement over previous measurements in that Millikan was able to control the strength of the electric field with accuracy while varying the droplet size. He also demonstrated that the oil droplet when completely discharged fell at the same rate as an uncharged droplet with the electric field on. This indicated that something fundamental, which Millikan chose to call electricity, could be placed on or removed from the droplet only in exact amounts. Reversing the electric field to allow it to pull the droplets upward rather than downward permitted the researcher
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Further Reading Fletcher, Harvey. “My Work with Millikan on the OilDrop Experiment.” Physics Today 44 (June, 1982): 43-47. In this reminiscence, Fletcher relates his experiences while working with Millikan. Photographs, a diagram, and a detailed description of how the experiment was performed will interest the lay reader. Fraser, Charles G. Half-Hours with Great Scientists: The Story of Physics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1948. Informative descriptions for a general audience of the great discoveries in physics. The chapter titled “Story of Electricity and Magnetism” provides not only a short summary of experimental results but also discussion of how Millikan’s work related to previous efforts.
Heathcote, Niels Hugh de Vaudrey. “Robert Andrews Millikan.” In Nobel Prize Winners in Physics, 19011950. New York: Henry Schuman, 1953. This chapter on Millikan is organized into three sections: a biographical sketch, a description of the prizewinning work, and a summary of Millikan’s contribution to science. Provides an informative description of the experiment along with diagrams of the oil-drop apparatus. Millikan, Robert A. Autobiography. 1950. Reprint. New York: Arno Press, 1980. Millikan describes his life from early childhood and education through his later work on projects at the California Institute of Technology. An entire chapter is devoted to the oil-drop experiment, with tables, procedures used, and a detailed illustration. This book is a must for the lay reader who desires more than a cursory summary of Millikan’s work. Niaz, Mansoor, and María A. Rodríguez. “The Oil Drop Experiment: Do Physical Chemistry Textbooks Refer to Its Controversial Nature?” Science & Education 14 (January, 2005): 43-57. The authors of this article argue that Millikan’s oil-drop experiment was (and still is) difficult to perform and generated considerable controversy in the early twentieth century, yet this information is rarely mentioned in modern-day physical chemistry textbooks. The article reports on their findings from an evaluation of the discussions of the experiment in twenty-eight such texts. Oldenberg, Otto. Introduction to Atomic and Nuclear Physics. 3d ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961. Many physics texts provide brief descriptions of Millikan’s experiment, but few explain the technique and results as well as this one does. Readers with a basic background in mathematics should be able to understand this book. Romer, Alfred. “Robert A. Millikan, Physics Teacher.” Physics Teacher 78 (February, 1978): 78-85. A unique view into the character of Millikan from the perspective of a graduate student who knew him. Provides a brief description of the oil-drop experiment and an example of Millikan’s insight and originality. See also: Feb. 11, 1908: Geiger and Rutherford Develop a Radiation Counter; Aug. 7 and 12, 1912: Hess Discovers Cosmic Rays; 1920-1930: Millikan Investigates Cosmic Rays; Sept., 1932: Anderson Discovers the Positron.
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to freeze the motion of single droplets, giving more precise charge calculations than the method of trying to follow whole cloud motion, which was based only on statistical methods and could not give exact numbers. As a result of Millikan’s determination of the absolute charge on the electron and the previously known ratio of charge to mass, combined with the knowledge of the exact charges on ionized atoms from previous positive-ray analysis or electrolysis, the absolute masses of both the electron and the atom could be determined with great precision. With knowledge of the charge on the electron, a new unit of energy—the electronvolt—could be defined. The kinetic energy of particles of unit charge that had moved through a potential difference now could be computed with the known mass of the particle entering the equation. Another outcome of the oil-drop experiment was the calibration of a correction factor used for Stokes’s law. Millikan realized that Stokes’s law, tested only for the larger spheres, would require a correction factor when used with droplets so small that their size became comparable to the mean free path of the air molecules executing Brownian movement in a gaseous state. These smallest droplets, viewing through a microscope confirms, are affected by this Brownian movement, which interferes with the droplets’ rate of rise or fall and would otherwise introduce significant error into the charge computation. The measurements obtained from the oil-drop experiment thus served a dual purpose: as a means to determine the electronic charge and as a correction for Stokes’s law. — Michael L. Broyles
Millikan Conducts His Oil-Drop Experiment
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Is Founded
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
February 12, 1909
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Is Founded With the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, African Americans gained a major advocacy organization. Locale: New York, New York Categories: Civil rights and liberties; social issues and reform; organizations and institutions Key Figures W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963), African American historian, sociologist, and newspaper editor Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), African American educator and founder of the Tuskegee Institute William Monroe Trotter (1872-1934), African American journalist and newspaper editor Oswald Garrison Villard (1872-1949), American journalist and newspaper editor William English Walling (1877-1936), American journalist and labor organizer Mary White Ovington (1865-1951), American civil rights activist Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993), African American attorney Summary of Event By the beginning of the twentieth century, many of the civil rights achieved by African Americans during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period were under severe attack. Supported by rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court—such as in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which affirmed the constitutionality of racial segregation— southern states enacted laws that effectively disfranchised most African American voters and barred their access to public institutions on an equal basis with whites. In the North, racial discrimination was not sanctioned as openly, but it remained an underlying assumption of society. Tensions between the two races sometimes flared into violence, taking the forms of lynchings and urban riots. In these confrontations, African Americans were accorded little sympathy by the mainstream press, the courts, or law-enforcement agencies. Reactions to the deterioration of individual rights varied within the African American community. The most prominent spokesperson for African Americans, educator Booker T. Washington, had adopted a policy of accommodation in the 1890’s, urging African Americans to abandon temporarily their drive for civil and political 744
rights and to concentrate instead on acquiring the economic skills that would enable them to find a place in an industrialized United States. Washington believed that if African Americans demonstrated their competence through hard work, American society eventually would grant them the same rights that whites enjoyed. Washington’s policies were supported widely by wealthy white philanthropists. Washington’s position, which historians call “gradualism,” was countered, although ineffectively at first, by W. E. B. Du Bois, a professor at Atlanta University and founder in 1905 of the Niagara Movement, an organization composed of educated African Americans. Du Bois agonized over the steady erosion of African Americans’ rights and viewed protest rather than acquiescence as the most appropriate avenue to equality. Support for this second point of view, called “immediatism,” crystallized among both African Americans and whites in 1909 and led to the launch of an organization dedicated to combating racial discrimination in all areas of American life. The immediate catalyst for the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was a bloody race riot that took place in Springfield, Illinois, in August, 1908, during which white mobs destroyed much of the black section of Springfield and lynched two African Americans. The riot left more than fifty African Americans dead or injured, and two thousand African American residents fled the city. The fact that Abraham Lincoln’s hometown could be the site of such violence made it clear that racial discrimination and its accompanying violence were not just southern problems. A group of white liberals began to consider how to rekindle the spirit of moral indignation that had animated the pre-Civil War abolitionists and then channel that indignation into constructive action. William English Walling, a Kentucky journalist and labor organizer, wrote several articles in the Independent condemning the Springfield riot and called for a powerful body of citizens to come to African Americans’ aid. Early in 1909, Walling met with Mary White Ovington, the socialist descendant of an abolitionist family, and Henry Moskovitz, a New York social worker, to discuss ways of attracting support for his idea. They invited the grandson of William Lloyd Garrison, Oswald Garrison Villard, to join
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Is Founded
The Lincoln’s Birthday Call In 1914, in How the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Began, Mary White Ovington told the story of how Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, was chosen as the founding date and how Oswald Garrison Villard, president of the N.Y. Evening Post Company, drafted the “Lincoln’s birthday call,” reprinted here:
them, and the group soon expanded to more than fifteen, including two prominent African American clergymen, Bishop Alexander Waters and the Reverend William Henry Brooks. After initial discussions, the members of this planning committee decided to draw attention to their cause by holding a conference in New York City. On February 12, 1909, sixty prominent African Americans and EuroAmericans signed a “call” to the gathering, which was titled the Conference on the Status of the Negro and was scheduled to be held May 31-June 1, 1909; the call pointed to the discrimination and violence that afflicted
African Americans and urged northerners to cast off the “silence that means tacit approval.” Three hundred men and women, including many white liberals, attended the two-day meeting, where they set up a permanent organization and listened to scientific refutations of arguments that persons of African descent were genetically inferior. The most notable African American in attendance was Du Bois, who suggested in a speech that African Americans’ problems were as much political as economic. Villard had invited Booker T. Washington to the conference but had told him that the new organization was to be an aggressive one. Under the 745
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The celebration of the Centennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, widespread and grateful as it may be, will fail to justify itself if it takes no note of and makes no recognition of the colored men and women for whom the great Emancipator labored to assure freedom. Besides a day of rejoicing, Lincoln’s birthday in 1909 should be one of taking stock of the nation’s progress since 1865. How far has it lived up to the obligations imposed upon it by the Emancipation Proclamation? How far has it gone in assuring to each and every citizen, irrespective of color, the equality of opportunity and equality before the law, which underlie our American institutions and are guaranteed by the Constitution? If Mr. Lincoln could revisit this country in the flesh, he would be disheartened and discouraged. He would learn that on January 1, 1909, Georgia had rounded out a new confederacy by disfranchising the Negro, after the manner of all the other Southern States. He would learn that the Supreme Court of the United States, supposedly a bulwark of American liberties, had refused every opportunity to pass squarely upon this disfranchisement of millions, by laws avowedly discriminatory and openly enforced in such manner that the white men may vote and that black men be without a vote in their government; he would discover, therefore, that taxation without representation is the lot of millions of wealthproducing American citizens, in whose hands rests the economic progress and welfare of an entire section of the country. He would learn that the Supreme Court, according to the official statement of one of its own judges in the Berea Col-
lege case, has laid down the principle that if an individual State chooses, it may “make it a crime for white and colored persons to frequent the same market place at the same time, or appear in an assemblage of citizens convened to consider questions of a public or political nature in which all citizens, without regard to race, are equally interested.” In many states Lincoln would find justice enforced, if at all, by judges elected by one element in a community to pass upon the liberties and lives of another. He would see the black men and women, for whose freedom a hundred thousand of soldiers gave their lives, set apart in trains, in which they pay first-class fares for third-class service, and segregated in railway stations and in places of entertainment; he would observe that State after State declines to do its elementary duty in preparing the Negro through education for the best exercise of citizenship. Added to this, the spread of lawless attacks upon the Negro, North, South and West—even in the Springfield made famous by Lincoln—often accompanied by revolting brutalities, sparing neither sex nor age nor youth, could but shock the author of the sentiment that “government of the people, by the people, for the people; should not perish from the earth.” Silence under these conditions means tacit approval. The indifference of the North is already responsible for more than one assault upon democracy, and every such attack reacts as unfavorably upon whites as upon blacks. Discrimination once permitted cannot be bridled; recent history in the South shows that in forging chains for the Negroes the white voters are forging chains for themselves. “A house divided against itself cannot stand”; this government cannot exist half-slave and half-free any better today than it could in 1861. Hence we call upon all the believers in democracy to join in a national conference for the discussion of present evils, the voicing of protests, and the renewal of the struggle for civil and political liberty.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Is Founded circumstances, Washington declined to attend. Washington’s absence did not mean the participants were in complete agreement on the course to be taken, however. Heated arguments preceded the selection of the Committee of Forty on Permanent Organization and the passage of resolutions demanding equal rights and protection against violence for African Americans. Leading the opposition to Villard’s proposals were William Monroe Trotter, editor of the Boston newspaper The Guardian, and J. Milton Waldron, president of the National Negro Political League. Both advocated more radical positions than those favored by the majority. In the end, they were not included in the Committee of Forty. Throughout the year that followed, Villard and a handful of other committee members struggled to raise funds and plan for a second conference. Despite general indifference from the white press and open disputes with Booker T. Washington, the committee succeeded in formulating an organizational framework for presentation to the conference. The National Committee, which comprised one hundred members, was charged with raising funds and giving prestige to the organization; the smaller Executive Committee, composed primarily of members of the former Committee of Forty, would direct the organization’s activities. In an executive session held on May 14, 1910, the group, now bearing the name National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, approved this arrangement. Significance At the NAACP’s second conference, Du Bois was appointed director of publicity and research, a move that underscored the aggressive direction the delegates sought to follow. For Du Bois, the post represented an opportunity to redeem his years of frustration with the Niagara Movement. He resigned his faculty position at Atlanta University and moved to New York City. Within six months, he had launched the NAACP magazine, The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races, which soon became a major organ for molding opinion on race issues. The inaugural press run of one thousand copies sold out, and within five years the publication’s circulation exceeded fifty thousand. The NAACP continued to grow throughout the twentieth century. NAACP attorneys, including the future U.S. Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, mounted numerous legal challenges to the institutional segregation that plagued the United States. Marshall argued thirty-two civil rights cases before the Supreme Court on behalf of the NAACP, of which he won twenty746
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nine. In cases such as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), Marshall and other attorneys with the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund worked to demolish inequality in education, employment, and access to facilities such as restaurants and hotels. The NAACP’s efforts to help African American plaintiffs fight racial discrimination on the job and elsewhere continue in the twenty-first century. The NAACP’s successes in fighting racial discrimination have occasionally been accompanied by problems within the organization. In the 1930’s, a major rift developed between founder Du Bois and newer members such as Walter White. Internal dissension almost tore the organization apart. Du Bois left, but the organization survived. Similar problems developed in the 1990’s. Following the 1993 retirement of Benjamin L. Hooks as executive director of the NAACP, the organization endured two stormy years of controversy and dissension. The new executive director, Benjamin F. Chavis, found himself under attack following the disclosure that he used organization funds to settle a lawsuit brought by a former employee. Chavis was fired in 1994, and under the guidance of board chair Myrlie Evers-Williams, the NAACP managed to weather the controversy, although both financial contributions and overall membership declined. In January, 1996, the NAACP announced that Kweisi Mfume, a forty-seven-year-old African American congressman from Baltimore, Maryland, had accepted the position of chief executive officer. With Mfume assuming a leadership role, the NAACP appeared confident that it would continue to fight for racial equality for many years to come. Mfume suffered some personal controversy, however, and during the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, the NAACP’s open support for the Democratic Party brought into question its official nonpartisan status. Mfume was succeeded by Bruce S. Gordon in June, 2005. The founding of the NAACP marked the first major attempt since Reconstruction to make African American rights the focus of national reform efforts. The manner of the organization’s birth displayed many of the same strengths and weaknesses that characterized it in its early years: a substantial proportion of white leadership and dependence on white financial support, a program emphasizing political and civil rights and seeking change through legislation and judicial decisions, and criticism from within the black community concerning both of these points. In the early years, the protests were loudest from those, such as Washington, who found the new or-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ganization too militant, but even at the outset other critics, such as Trotter, felt it did not go far enough. Despite numerous victories, such as those in the court cases of Brown v. Board of Education and Keyes v. Denver School District No. 1 (1973), those same criticisms continued. Despite the competing demands for aggressive action and for moderation, however, the NAACP managed to move race relations steadily forward for most of the twentieth century. — John C. Gardner and Nancy Farm Mannikko
cinating, detailed biography of Du Bois’s early life includes discussion of his interactions with Booker T. Washington and his evolution into an activist. Meier, August. Negro Thought in America, 1880-1915: Racial Ideologies in the Age of Booker T. Washington. 1963. Reprint. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988. Provides a general context for the debate among African Americans in the early twentieth century concerning accommodation versus aggressive activism. Moore, Jacqueline M. Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and the Struggle for Racial Uplift. Lanham, Md.: SR Books, 2003. Provides a detailed overview of the debate between Washington and Du Bois concerning their different approaches to the problems of segregation and discrimination against blacks. Zangrando, Robert. The NAACP Crusade Against Lynching, 1909-1950. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1980. Describes the NAACP’s efforts to eliminate the horrors of lynching from the U.S. South. See also: July 11, 1905: Founding of the Niagara Movement; 1910-1930: Great Northern Migration; Mar. 19, 1928: Amos ’n’ Andy Radio Show Goes on the Air; Mar. 25, 1931-July, 1937: Scottsboro Trials.
February 20, 1909
Marinetti Issues the Futurist Manifesto Futurism established itself as the most aggressive artistic movement of its age, and its initial manifesto provoked international attention. Also known as: “Manifeste de Futurisme” Locale: Paris, France Categories: Arts; literature Key Figures Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944), Italian poet Giacomo Balla (1871-1958), Italian artist Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916), Italian artist Carlo Carrà (1881-1966), Italian artist Francesco Balilla Pratella (1880-1955), Italian composer Luigi Russolo (1885-1947), Italian artist Gino Severini (1883-1966), Italian artist Summary of Event Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was a well-known literary figure in France and Italy among avant-garde poets and
artists when his “Manifeste de Futurisme” (futurist manifesto) was published on February 20, 1909, on the front page of Le Figaro, the newspaper that served as the battleground of artistic theories and allegiances in Paris. “Manifeste de Futurisme” is a prose poem describing an intellectual journey that is separated into three parts, each symbolic of a different stage of artistic development in modern Italy. The first part is designated as the pseudoscientific, from which the artist escapes at dawn in an automobile; the second represents the immediate future and announces the Futurist program; and the third looks forward to the more distant future, when a new generation of artists will repeat the ruthless emancipatory process of the present Futurists. Marinetti’s manifesto established the general terms for the theory and practice of the entire Futurist movement and became a rallying cry for artistic revolutions among artists of the younger generations. Although “Manifeste de Futurisme” had a bombshell effect, it was based on traditional aspects of artistic rebellions as well. 747
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Further Reading Jonas, Gilbert. Freedom’s Sword: The NAACP and the Struggle Against Racism in America, 1909-1969. New York: Routledge, 2004. History of the NAACP’s first sixty years provides comprehensive coverage of the organization’s accomplishments. Includes photographs. Kellogg, Charles Flint. NAACP: A History of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1909-1920. 1964. Reprint. Bodmin, England: Bodmin Books, 1997. History of the early years of the NAACP. Lewis, David Levering. W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919. New York: Henry Holt, 1993. Fas-
Marinetti Issues the Futurist Manifesto
Marinetti Issues the Futurist Manifesto
The Futurists’ Intentions Filippo Tommaso Marinetti’s “Manifeste de Futurisme” declared these eleven “high intentions”: 1. We intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness. 2. Courage, audacity, and revolt will be essential elements of our poetry. 3. Up to now literature has exalted a pensive immobility, ecstasy, and sleep. We intend to exalt aggressive action, a feverish insomnia, the racer’s stride, the mortal leap, the punch and the slap. 4. We say that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty; the beauty of speed. A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents of explosive breath—a roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot—is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace. 5. We want to hymn the man at the wheel, who hurls the lance of his spirit across the Earth, along the circle of its orbit. 6. The poet must spend himself with ardor, splendor, and generosity, to swell the enthusiastic fervor of the primordial elements. 7. Except in struggle, there is no more beauty. No work without an aggressive character can be a masterpiece. Poetry must be conceived as a violent attack on unknown forces, to reduce and prostrate them before man. 8. We stand on the last promontory of the centuries! . . . Why should we look back, when what we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible? Time and Space died yesterday. We already live in the absolute, because we have created eternal, omnipresent speed. 9. We will glorify war—the world’s only hygiene—militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman. 10. We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind, will fight moralism, feminism, every opportunistic or utilitarian cowardice. 11. We will sing of great crowds excited by work, by pleasure, and by riot; we will sing of the multicolored, polyphonic tides of revolution in the modern capitals; we will sing of the vibrant nightly fervor of arsenals and shipyards blazing with violent electric moons; greedy railway stations that devour smoke-plumed serpents; factories hung on clouds by the crooked lines of their smoke; bridges that stride the rivers like giant gymnasts, flashing in the sun with a glitter of knives; adventurous steamers that sniff the horizon; deep-chested locomotives whose wheels paw the tracks like the hooves of enormous steel horses bridled by tubing; and the sleek flight of planes whose propellers chatter in the wind like banners and seem to cheer like an enthusiastic crowd. Source: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism” (1909), in Marinetti: Selected Writings, translated by R. W. Flint and Arthur A. Coppotelli, edited by R. W. Flint (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972).
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 In its appeal to the young artists of the day, Futurism followed many of the precepts of Romanticism, particularly in its challenge to the artist to seek inspiration in contemporary life. The manifesto demanded emancipation from the crushing weight of tradition, the socalled graveyard of culture, and exhorted the artist to reject existing academies, museums, libraries, and all similar institutions devoted to maintaining traditional values in art. Marinetti’s disdain for the status quo was apparent not only in his rejection of tradition but also in his incitement of the artist to show contempt for prevailing middle-class values and standards of taste. Although the manifesto’s call for young artists to shake the foundations of traditionbased cultural institutions was itself revolutionary, the most significant contribution on the part of the Futurist agenda lay in its articulation of the concept of dynamism, which, according to Futurist dogma, was to be the basis for the arts. In fact, initially Marinetti wavered between “Dynamism” and “Futurism” as potential names for the new movement. As a concept, dynamism represented a rejection of static, changeless reality. Futurism urged artists to abandon the life of passive contemplation and to take a place in the center of the universe’s ceaseless activity. Movement, activity, and change were to supplant the static representation of realism and Impressionism in order to project the dynamic movement and rapid locomotion of the new age of the automobile and the airplane. Not only did Futurism address itself to the physical realm, but it also glorified intellectual exertion and agitation. Conflict, violence, misogyny, anarchism, and, ultimately, even war were viewed as positive examples of universal dynamism. At the same time, the strong language, harangues, changes of images, exaggerations, and insults of Marinetti’s manifesto gave it a vitality related to the spirit of dynamism. In Marinetti’s vision, the artist was to become an agitator who would not only overthrow the cultural institutions of society but also participate in agitation for political change. Thus in choosing a manifesto as the form in which he called for
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ists’ all-encompassing program for dynamic change in the arts had an incalculable impact on international artistic movements. Significance Once the Futurists issued their manifestos, they attempted to put the new aesthetics into practice, and their experiments culminated in the 1912 Exhibition of Futurist Painters in Paris. Widespread publicity accompanied the exhibition, and many of the paintings were reproduced in newspapers and art journals as examples of Futurist notions of movement and simultaneity. The exhibition was supplemented by a range of other events, including discussions, press conferences, concerts, and encounters with rival art movements. In addition, the publicity events were accompanied by “Futurist Evenings” during which Marinetti incited audiences by hurling insults at them. These evenings usually ended in riots as spectators attempted to attack the Futurists, and the rioting and brawling frequently spread out into the surrounding streets and bars. Because of the notoriety the Futurists attained in Paris, they were met with even more provocations when the exhibition toured Brussels, London, and Berlin. The media coverage these events generated gave a sense of urgency to the concepts of the Futurists, and the speed of the publicity surrounding the Futurists’ escapades brought their ideas to the attention of people all around the world almost simultaneously. The concepts of universal dynamism and simultaneity emphasized in the 1912 Futurist exhibition were also explored in the early works of the cubist painters Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, whose work would in time modify some of the wildly exaggerated claims of the Futurists. At the same time, the Futurists’ focus on movement affected the work of Marcel Duchamp and Robert Delaunay, who went on to synthesize Futurist aesthetics in their work. The Futurists thus influenced a variety of approaches in art by calling attention to the disjointed feelings and chaotic sensations inherent in rapidly changing twentieth century society. Although Marinetti did not visit Russia until 1914, the ideas of the Futurists stimulated such Russian artists as David Burliuk and Kazimir Malevich and the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, who responded by generating their own Futurist-inspired programs. Malevich ultimately passed beyond Futurism to the absolute abstraction of Suprematism, but his awareness of Futurist images of movement and flight contributed to his explorations of nonobjective space. Burliuk and Mayakovsky presented 749
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an artistic revolution, Marinetti used the methodology of propaganda to politicize the arts. Although “Manifeste de Futurisme” addressed itself to all aspects of creative endeavor, it concentrated primarily on the effect of Futurism in literature. Consequently, Marinetti extended the range of the Futurist program by publishing more specific statements, such as a 1910 manifesto of Futurist painters signed by the Italian artists Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo, and Gino Severini. The painters’ manifesto appealed to artists to adopt a more honest and aggressive approach to art and focused on the rejection of representation. It encouraged artists to provide fresh angles of perception in their work to break down the traditional psychological distance between the aesthetic object and the spectator. The Futurists drew much of their inspiration from psychophysics and the psychophysiology of visual perception, which provided analogues that were to represent the dynamism of movement and change. Marinetti and the other Futurists extended their efforts to revitalize the other arts as well by issuing additional manifestos. In a 1913 manifesto, Marinetti urged dramatists to abandon traditional aspects of theatrical representation, such as logical plot development and believable characters, and instead foreground the illogical and absurd. The plays written by the Futurists were concerned with speed and motion, and the proper work of the playwright was seen as the synthesizing of facts and ideas in the least number of words. Brevity, distillation, and condensation were encouraged; Marinetti approved the staging of Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal (1882) in forty minutes. He also suggested the presentation of all the Greek, French, and Italian tragedies in a single evening as fragments and the reduction of the whole of William Shakespeare’s work to a single act. Similarly, the Futurists attempted to alter structure in music. A 1911 manifesto issued by Francesco Balilla Pratella promoted music that exploited small changes in pitch and complicated, changing, and subtle rhythms in order to crush the domination of dance rhythm. In a 1913 manifesto discussing the “art of noise,” Russolo took Pratella’s demands for nonharmonic music as a point of departure and extended the limits of traditional music to include all of the sounds of everyday life. In order to realize the new music, Russolo invented new instruments and a new kind of musical notation. Ultimately, the Futurists also extended their demands for dynamism, condensation, and simultaneity into experiments in the cinema and radio. As a result, the Futur-
Marinetti Issues the Futurist Manifesto
Marinetti Issues the Futurist Manifesto Futurist-inspired recitals intended to provoke spectators. In particular, the Russian constructivists decorated public squares, trains, and theaters with agitprop decorations using dynamic forms similar to those in the paintings of Boccioni, Balla, and Russolo. Ultimately, the spectacle of the Russian Revolution seemed to the Futurists to be the culmination of their agitation for the total destruction of tradition and order, a realization of their dreams. On the surface, Futurism appeared to prosper in terms of the influence it had on other movements, but after three years of feverish activity the Italian Futurists showed signs of exhaustion from the demands of collective activity. At the same time, jealousies and conflicting interests split the group into new alignments with redefined goals. The outbreak of World War I further jeopardized the cohesiveness of the Futurist cause, particularly given that Marinetti’s manifestos became increasingly nationalistic and thereby subverted the very nature of Futurist universality. In 1920, Marinetti, despite the defection of many of the most talented Futurists, generated the Second Futurism, which lasted until the outbreak of World War II. This movement, despite its explorations of tactile art and radio theater, never gained the notoriety whipped up by the original Futurists. Instead, it was left to other movements to engender new ideologies in art. Although Futurism itself expired as an international movement, Dadaism, the disruptive antiart phenomenon born in Zurich in 1916, appropriated a number of Futurist techniques. The first issue of the Dada review Cabaret Voltaire contained a free-word poem by Marinetti, but Dada did not merely reject the past, it was also uninterested in the future, and Marinetti’s violent optimism was totally negated. The influence of Futurism can be seen, however, not only in the irreverence of the Dadaists but also in their approach toward the disruption of perception by means of nonsense poetry, collage, chaotic performances, and subversive satire. Ultimately, almost every twentieth century attempt to subvert representation in art and language from traditional conventions and restrictions can be traced back to the original manifestos of the Futurists. In particular, the attention the Futurists paid to speed, absurdity, and disruption in order to dislocate the spectator and break down traditional modes of perception had in it the germs of contemporary street theater, pop art, “happenings,” and antitheater. —Christine Kiebuzinska Further Reading Apollonio, Umbro, ed. Futurist Manifestos. Boston: MFA Publications, 2001. Translations of the manifes750
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 tos, many of which have not been available widely in English for many years. Includes black-and-white illustrations. Berghaus, Gunter, ed. International Futurism in Arts and Literature. New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2000. Collection of essays discusses the influence of Futurism on art and literature throughout the world. Includes a comprehensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources. Clough, Rosa Trillo. Futurism: The Story of a Modern Art Movement. New York: Greenwood Press, 1961. Two-part analysis of the history of Futurism aimed at readers with some background in the subject. Traces the aims, methods, and theories of the Futurists in literature, painting, architecture, and music, and then analyzes the influence of Futurism on the arts from 1942 to 1960. Features black-and-white illustrations and an extensive bibliography. Humphreys, Richard. Futurism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Brief introduction to Futurism explains the movement’s origins and addresses its influence on twentieth century art in general. Includes bibliography and index. Kirby, Michael, and Victoria Nes Kirby. Futurist Performance. New York: PAJ, 1986. Analyzes the origins of Futurist performance, with discussions on theoretical foundations as well as more practical information on scenography, acting, costumes, and Futurist cinema and radio theater. Includes an appendix with translations of manifestos and play scripts, a chronology of Futurist performances, and an extensive bibliography. Kozloff, Max. Cubism/Futurism. New York: Charterhouse, 1973. Discusses cubism and Futurism as parallel movements. Provides a lengthy, well-illustrated exploration of cubism and its heritage, its relevance as an avant-garde movement, and its characteristics. The discussion of Futurism develops theory and practice, and the conclusion provides an overview of similarities and differences. Includes a brief bibliography and illustrations. Markov, Vladimir. Russian Futurism: A History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968. Extensive exploration of Russian Futurism and its variants addresses the influence of the Futurist manifestos on Russian art and poetry and describes Marinetti’s visit to Russia in 1914. Traces Russian Futurism from its beginnings through its flowering and decline, noting parallels to the history of Italian Futurism. Includes extensive notes and a bibliography of sources in English and Russian.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Martin, Marianne W. Futurist Art and Theory: 19091915. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1968. Provides a historical perspective on Italian Futurism, tracing its roots from the painting and sculpture in Italy during the late nineteenth century to the decline of Futurism at the outbreak of World War I. Explores the relationship between Marinetti’s life and his launching of Futurism. Includes individual overviews of Boccioni, Carrà, Russolo, Severini, and Balla. Features excellent bibliography, index, and black-andwhite reproductions.
Republican Congressional Insurgency Tisdall, Caroline, and Angelo Bozzolla. Futurism. 1978. Reprint. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1985. Comprehensive historical discussion of Futurism explores provocative aspects of the theory and practice of Futurism and addresses the relationship of Futurism to both women and fascism. Includes a brief bibliography and 169 plates. See also: Spring, 1912: Pound Announces the Birth of the Imagist Movement; 1913: Apollinaire Defines Cubism; 1913: Duchamp’s “Readymades” Redefine Art; Dec. 17, 1915: Malevich Introduces Suprematism.
March, 1909-1912
Republican Congressional Insurgency Dissent from midwestern Republicans in Congress contributed to tensions that split the party in 1912.
Key Figures Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), president of the United States, 1901-1909 William Howard Taft (1857-1930), president of the United States, 1909-1913 Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich (1841-1915), U.S. senator from Rhode Island Robert M. La Follette (1855-1925), U.S. senator from Wisconsin James Rudolph Garfield (1865-1950), U.S. secretary of the interior, 1907-1909 Richard Achilles Ballinger (1858-1922), U.S. secretary of the interior, 1909-1911 Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), chief forester of the United States Joseph Gurney Cannon (1836-1926), U.S. congressman from Illinois and Speaker of the House Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), president of the United States, 1913-1921 Summary of Event Early in the twentieth century, two U.S. presidents successfully identified themselves with the cause of reform. Both Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson established reputations as representatives of Progressive political tendencies at the national level. Still, Progressivism was not entirely dependent on presidential leader-
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Locale: Washington, D.C. Category: Government and politics
ship. During the crucial period from 1909 to 1911, congressional proponents of reform, primarily Republican congressmen and senators from the Midwest, battled President William Howard Taft to determine how the Republican Party would respond to the issues of the tariff, conservation, and corporate regulation. In March, 1909, Theodore Roosevelt handed over the reins of government to incoming president Taft. The new chief executive believed that his duty was to work with the Republican majority and administer Roosevelt’s reform programs with more effectiveness. Although he entered office as Roosevelt’s designated successor, Taft had none of Roosevelt’s boundless energy or ability to communicate his ideas to the public. He preferred the company of lawyers to that of reformers, and conservative attorneys soon came to dominate his administration. From the start, Taft moved in a direction that foretold trouble with reform-minded members of Congress. The new president’s first difficulties centered on the tariff question. Early in 1909, the House of Representatives approved a downward revision of the existing tariff rates, in compliance with the Republican platform of 1908. Republican senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich of Rhode Island found that such a strategy did not command the support of a majority of Republican senators. To achieve a viable coalition, he added approximately eight hundred amendments to the bill, most of which took tariff rates back toward those of the Dingley Tariff Act of 1897. For eleven weeks, Senate Progressives such as Robert M. La Follette argued against the Aldrich amendments. Taft stood closer to the Progressives than he did to Aldrich on the issue, and he used his influence to reduce rates on some products. When Congress finally approved
Republican Congressional Insurgency the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, which reenacted much of the Dingley law, Taft called the resulting measure the best tariff bill the Republican Party had ever passed. The midwestern Republican Progressives in Congress were outraged. Problems involving the conservation of natural resources added to Taft’s political burdens. When the new president assumed office, he failed to reappoint James Rudolph Garfield, Roosevelt’s secretary of the interior. Instead, he named Richard Achilles Ballinger, a Seattle lawyer and former commissioner of the General Land Office, to the post. Ballinger soon clashed with Gifford Pinchot, the chief forester of the United States and another Roosevelt intimate. The conflict between the two men reached crisis proportions when Pinchot accused Ballinger of involvement in a plot to defraud the government of coal lands in Alaska. The public accusation led to a congressional investigation that revealed no serious wrongdoing but damaged the prestige of the Taft ad-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ministration and further weakened its ties with reformoriented elements. A fight over the rules that governed the House of Representatives widened the rift between Taft and Insurgent Republicans in Congress. Many reformers saw Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon of Illinois as the main legislative obstacle to enactment of their program. The Insurgents wanted House rules changed to reduce Cannon’s power as House Speaker. Taft disliked Cannon, but he knew that the Speaker had the support of the House Republicans on whom the president depended to pass his program. Accordingly, Taft refused to challenge the Speaker’s authority. When the Insurgents overthrew the Illinois legislator, Taft again appeared to be at odds with the prevailing spirit of reform. Despite these setbacks, Taft did achieve legislative successes during the 1910 session of Congress, including the Mann-Elkins Act to regulate the railroads. The congressional elections in 1910 exacerbated the tensions between Taft and the Insurgents. The president worked for the election of conservative Republicans in several states in which the reformers dominated. Roosevelt entered the campaign in an effort to bridge the gap between the chief executive and the Republican Party. Neither Taft nor Roosevelt proved to be a successful strategist, and for the first time in sixteen years, the Democrats won control of the House of Representatives. They also gained seats in the Senate, where a small group of Progressives held the balance of power. Significance The battles fought by the Republican Insurgents in Congress sustained the momentum of the reform movement. Despite its conservative leanings, the Taft administration failed to slow the rate of change. After the 1910 elections, presidential hopefuls such as Senator La Follette, Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey, and Theodore Roosevelt sought the allegiance of reform-oriented voters. In 1912, the Republican “Old Guard” denied Roosevelt a presidential nomination. At the same time, the split in the Republican Party that the Insurgents had initiated ensured Wilson’s election, and the Progressive movement began a new, more dynamic phase. —Rex O. Mooney and Lewis L. Gould
Joseph Gurney Cannon. (Library of Congress)
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Further Reading Allen, Howard W. Poindexter of Washington: A Study in Progressive Politics. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1981. A thorough, informative study of one of the key figures of the Insurgent movement.
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cal treatment of a member of the Insurgent bloc from Wisconsin. Miller, Karen A. J. Populist Nationalism: Republican Insurgency and American Foreign Policy Making, 1918-1925. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999. Focuses on the eventual effects of the Republican Insurgency on U.S. foreign policy, with an emphasis on the political maneuvering of politicians William E. Borah and Hiram Warren Johnson. Includes select bibliography and index. Sarasohn, David. The Party of Reform: Democrats in the Progressive Era. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1989. Argues that the Democrats were more important in the development of progressive ideas than were the Republican Insurgents. See also: Sept. 14, 1901: Theodore Roosevelt Becomes U.S. President; June 30, 1906: Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act; Aug. 5, 1909: Tariff Act of 1909 Limits Corporate Privacy; Feb. 25, 1913: U.S. Federal Income Tax Is Authorized; Dec. 23, 1913: Federal Reserve Act.
March 4, 1909
U.S. Congress Updates Copyright Law The Copyright Act of 1909 was the end product of hundreds of years of common and statutory copyright law. Also known as: Copyright Act of 1909 Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Business and labor; laws, acts, and legal history Summary of Event Under copyright law in general, authors or creators of original works have the exclusive right to reproduce (or authorize others to reproduce) those works and are protected against unlawful copying, which is known as plagiarism or piracy. “Original” does not mean “unique.” An original work is one created through the author’s own intellectual or creative effort, as opposed to having been copied. Copying all or part of a work without permission of the author (or any agency the author has authorized for copying) constitutes copyright infringement. Willful unauthorized copying for the purpose of making a profit is a criminal offense punishable by fine or imprisonment. When authors suspect infringement but have no grounds
for charging criminal intent, they can bring civil action against alleged offenders. Under certain circumstances, parts of authors’ works can be copied without permission according to what is known as the doctrine of fair use. Works are protected by copyright for a specific length of time. At the end of that time, a work is said to be in the public domain and can be copied without permission. Ever since the concept of the right to copy was established and codified, copyright has existed under both common and statutory law. Common law is unwritten law, based on tradition and precedent. Statutory law is written law passed by a legislative body, such as Great Britain’s Parliament or the U.S. Congress. In general, common law protects a work before it is published and statutory law protects it after it is published. In both common and statutory law, it is assumed that what is written or created is property. The creator of a work has sole ownership of the work and the right to dispose of it as he or she would any other type of property; that is, the owner may sell it, lease it, transfer it, or leave it in a will. Upon publication of a work, the author gives up some of the ownership rights granted by com753
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Gould, Lewis L. Reform and Regulation: American Politics from Roosevelt to Wilson. 2d ed. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1986. An analytic survey of U.S. politics between 1900 and 1921 that considers the impact of the Republican Insurgents on party politics. Harrison, Robert. Congress, Progressive Reform, and the New American State. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Presents a series of case studies of congressional reform legislation in the early twentieth century. Chapters 6 and 7 in particular discuss the Republican Insurgency. Includes tables, an appendix containing analysis of roll calls, and index. Holt, James L. Congressional Insurgents and the Party System, 1909-1916. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968. A New Zealand scholar offers one of the best modern treatments of the Republican rebels’ fight against the existing congressional leadership. Margulies, Herbert F. Senator Lenroot of Wisconsin: A Political Biography, 1900-1929. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1977. An excellent biographi-
U.S. Congress Updates Copyright Law
U.S. Congress Updates Copyright Law mon law but is given monetary rewards for doing so. The law is based on two sometimes conflicting principles: Authors should be rewarded for their labors, and knowledge should be made readily available to the public for the good of society as a whole. Much of the history of copyright law is concerned with attempts to reconcile these two principles. The concept and fundamental issues of copyright date back at least as far as the fifteenth century. With the invention of printing, copies of both ancient and contemporary works began to proliferate and become readily available to the public. Early English copyright law began to address the questions of what should be printed, who ultimately owned the works and for how long, how the owners should be compensated for them, and who should be authorized to copy them. By the sixteenth century, printing had developed throughout Europe from an unregulated cottage industry of craftsmen to a full-fledged profession and a thriving large-scale industry. Usually, the printers of books were also the vendors of them. In England, the printing and selling of books was done by a monopoly called the Stationers’ Company. Copyright at that time was a license given to the Stationers’ Company by royal decree. The decree gave the company exclusive rights to print all works the government deemed proper to print. The law was for the benefit of publishers and booksellers more than for authors. Furthermore, as the license to publish was granted on the basis of what the government decided could or could not be published, it was actually a form of censorship. It bore little resemblance to the laws that followed, but it did recognize that what was written in a book was as much property as the book itself. Authors, who had previously been supported by wealthy, interested patrons rather than by sales of their work, could now earn money (although hardly a living wage) apart from patronage by selling their manuscripts to printers, who paid a lump sum for each. It was generally accepted that once a manuscript was sold, the work was no longer the property of the author. Copyright infringement, which frequently consisted of the printing of unauthorized works outside the Stationers’ monopoly, was more an offense against the publisher, or those who licensed the publisher, than against the author. By the late seventeenth century, the English press was generally liberated from the dictates of the authorities. Censorship had decreased, and licenses to the Stationers’ Company were no longer renewed. Freedom of the press destroyed the Stationers’ monopoly, for now anyone could print virtually anything. An unfettered press also 754
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 meant a lack of protection for authors from piracy and plagiarism. Literary piracy long had been considered an outrage, if not actually a criminal offense, and was supposed to be prevented by common law, but few means of enforcing common law existed. Both authors and booksellers pressured Parliament for legislation that would protect authors from piracy and provide booksellers with enough security to allow them to stay in business. In 1710, Parliament responded with the Statute of Anne, named for the reigning queen. The Statute of Anne established time limits, with renewals, on how long a published work would be protected before it went into the public domain and outlined penalties for copyright infringement. The law was not clear, however, on how long an unpublished work was protected by common law or whether common law was superseded by statutory law after a work was published. It also did not answer the question of whether an author gave up all rights to a work after it was published. Many cases arose in which publishers freely copied works for which the statutory term of protection had expired. When the authors of the works complained that this free copying was a violation of their common-law rights, the English courts decided that once a work had been published and the term of protection had expired, common-law rights no longer applied. This conflict sparked long and heated debates over ownership and the balance between authors’ rights and the public good. Such debates continued through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. Limited and controversial as it was, the Statute of Anne became the pattern for all subsequent copyright legislation in both England and the United States. Twelve of the thirteen original U.S. states adopted copyright statutes before the federal Constitution was drawn up. These statutes were summarized in article 1, section 8 of the Constitution, which says: “Congress shall have power . . . to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” The first U.S. copyright law, enacted in 1790, was revised in 1831 and 1879. On March 4, 1909, Congress passed a new copyright law that remained in effect until revisions were made in 1976. The 1909 law stated that the purpose of copyright is “not primarily for the benefit of the author, but primarily for the benefit of the public.” Although unpublished works were still held to be covered by common law, publication was necessary in order for a work to be covered by statutory law, and an author’s rights under statutory
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 law were substantially different from what they were under common law. Under the 1909 law, there was no general protection of unpublished works. Omission of or serious error in a copyright notice or failure to deposit a copy in the Copyright Office resulted in loss or forfeit of copyright. The Copyright Office, located in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., was established by the 1909 law to keep records and register works. The law outlined procedures for registration of copyright, detailed circumstances of and penalties for infringement, and listed fourteen categories of works that could be copyrighted. It codified the standard of copyrightability of a work as being original by the author and not copied from other work. It also lengthened the duration of copyright to twenty-eight years, renewable for twenty-eight more.
The doctrine of fair use, which was applied even in early copyright law, is based on the constitutional principle of public benefit from authors’ works. In 1961, while the 1909 law was still in effect, the Copyright Office listed what could be copied without permission and for what purpose under the doctrine of fair use. Research, instruction, and literary review, for example, were purposes that received relatively broad rights to copy. Fair use was not codified in the United States until the copyright law revision of 1976. As technology improved and became more varied, the 1909 law’s provisions became increasingly inadequate. For example, the law’s description of the classes of works that were copyrightable showed that the lawmakers had been concerned largely with works produced using the technology of the printing press. The law protected the “writings” of an author, whereas later law protects “original works of authorship,” thus broadening the definition of “author” and lengthening the list of what can be considered to be authors’ works. Although the 1909 law listed motion pictures and sound recordings among the classes of copyrightable works, it made inadequate provision for the protection of what was disseminated through these new technologies and no provision at all for infringement issues arising from the use of photocopy machines, television, videotape, computers, or cable and satellite communications. Beginning in 1955, several attempts were made to revise U.S. copyright law, but it was not extensively revised until 1976 (effective in 1978). The most significant impact of the Copyright Act of 1909 on the writing and publishing world and on society in general, as beneficiary of authors’ work, came from the fact that it was specific, whereas prior legislation had been general. By establishing a Copyright Office, listing the kinds of works that could be copyrighted, and outlining how they could be protected, the law sought to resolve the ongoing conflict between rewarding creators and benefiting their audiences. This issue persisted, however, becoming only more complicated with the globalization of information and information technology in the early twenty-first century. The perceived need to elevate copyright law to the international level was evidenced by the establishment in 1961 of the World Intellectual Property Organization, a specialized United Nations agency and the successor to the Berne Convention International Bureau, which, in turn, had its roots in the 1886 Berne Conference for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. —Christina Ashton 755
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Significance Just as the Statute of Anne had responded to the implications of the new technology of the printing press, so the Copyright Act of 1909 tried to respond to the new technology of the early twentieth century. The law grew out of centuries of political upheaval, factional controversy, technological development, and legislative compromise. As English government swung from monarchy to republic and back to monarchy again up to the early eighteenth century, written work was first strictly censored and then liberated to the point of anarchy. Printing had made works of all kinds widely available, and once the press was liberated in England, the rights of publishers, authors, and the public came into sharp conflict. Some of the conflicts were resolved by the Statute of Anne, which served as a pattern for American copyright law. In the spirit of the original state laws and the federal copyright law of 1790, the 1909 law stated its purpose as being “primarily for the public,” thus favoring the rights of the public over the rights of authors but allowing for reward to authors in order to encourage them to continue producing. In this way, the law seemed to reconcile the conflicting principles of rewards to creators and the “promotion of progress in science and useful arts” for the common good. By extending the term of copyright coverage, it gave more protection to authors than previous legislation had. It provided no protection, however, for unpublished work, and it tended to supersede common law, given that publication was a necessary condition for copyright. Further, the law did not address the special issues of copyright involved for writers as employees or contractors, such as newspaper reporters and freelance writers, who do what is known as “work for hire.”
U.S. Congress Updates Copyright Law
Parliament Act Redefines British Democracy Further Reading Bettig, Ronald V. “Critical Perspectives on the History and Philosophy of Copyright.” In Copyrighting Culture: The Political Economy of Intellectual Property. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1996. Presents the history of copyright in the United States as an introduction to an analysis of copyright from a political and cultural point of view. Bunnin, Brad, and Peter Beren. “What Is Copyright?” In The Writer’s Legal Companion: The Complete Handbook for the Working Writer. 3d ed. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1998. Practical legal advice for writers concerning copyright. Compares the constitutional foundation of copyright with current law and compares the 1909 and 1978 laws in outline form. Dible, Donald M., ed. What Everybody Should Know About Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights. Fairfield, Calif.: Entrepreneur Press, 1978. Provides historical background on copyright law and practical guidelines regarding what copyright is and how it is obtained. Includes the full text of the 1978 law. Goldfarb, Ronald L., and Gail E. Ross. “What Every Writer Should Know About Copyright.” In The
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Writer’s Lawyer. New York: Times Books, 1989. Contains only brief historical background to copyright but provides important information on later developments in copyright law. Johnston, Donald F. Copyright Handbook. 2d ed. New York: R. R. Bowker, 1982. Describes and interprets every element of copyright law in detail. Includes the full text of both the 1909 and the 1978 laws. Kaplan, Benjamin. An Unhurried View of Copyright. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967. Three lectures analyzing judicial decisions regarding copyright issues from the fifteenth century through the 1960’s. Wincor, Richard, and Irving Mandell. “Historical Background: Copyright Law.” In Copyright, Patents, and Trademarks. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana, 1980. A concise, thorough, and extremely readable history of copyright from its origins to the status of the law in the 1970’s. See also: Feb. 13, 1914: ASCAP Forms to Protect Writers and Publishers of Music; Oct. 22, 1938: Carlson and Kornei Make the First Xerographic Photocopy.
April, 1909-August, 1911
Parliament Act Redefines British Democracy The Parliament Act of 1911 helped make Britain a democracy by regulating the relations between Lords and Commons by statute, allowing the House of Lords to delay legislation only for a short time. Locale: London, England Categories: Government and politics; laws, acts, and legal history Key Figures Arthur Balfour (1848-1930), member of Parliament, 1906-1911 David Lloyd George (1863-1945), Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1908-1915 Lord Lansdowne (1845-1927), member of the House of Lords Winston Churchill (1874-1965), member of Parliament and British home secretary, 1910-1911 H. H. Asquith (1852-1928), prime minister of Great Britain, 1908-1916 George V (1865-1936), king of England, r. 1910-1936 756
Summary of Event The Parliament Act of 1911 was a major constitutional statute that limited the power of the House of Lords (the upper house of the Parliament) so that it could never again challenge the supremacy of the House of Commons (the lower house). The act eliminated the theoretical equality of the upper and lower houses and allowed the democratic process to guide Great Britain from the House of Commons almost entirely unimpeded. Up until 1911, both houses of Parliament had to pass a bill before it became law. The only exceptions were money bills, which had to originate in the House of Commons and were not supposed to be rejected by the Lords. After the Parliament Act of 1911, the Lords had to accept all bills passed in three successive sessions of the House of Commons. This meant that the Lords’ veto over bills passed in the Commons had been canceled, and henceforth the longest the upper house could delay legislation would be for approximately two years. Since 1911, therefore, Britain’s legislature has been functionally unicameral, or one-chambered, and much more effective
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
budget had been brought forward in the Commons to help pay for old-age pensions and battleships. It imposed taxes on land and high incomes, a move loathed by numerous members of the House of Lords. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was David Lloyd George, a brilliant Welsh politician who bitterly resented the hereditary privilege embodied in the House of Lords. It has been suggested that Lloyd George designed the budget for the express purpose of bringing on a constitutional crisis with the House of Lords; however, no evidence has come to light that supports that assertion. The justification for the Lords’ rejection of the budget was included in an amendment fostered by Conservative leader Lord Lansdowne, which declared that the Lords could not vote for such a controversial measure until it had been “submitted to the judgement of the country.” In other words, the Lords called for another election to be fought over the issue of the budget. Beyond this issue was the greater question of the relationship between Lords and Commons. The atmosphere of this period was charged by a steady barrage of criticism against the House of Lords in the House of Commons by numerous Liberals, particularly Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, who was himself the grandson and nephew of a duke. Ridicule from the lower house had the effect of goading many members of the upper house into outraged resistance. The election of 1910 left the Liberals only two seats ahead of the Conservatives and made them dependent on the Irish Nationalists and Labour members for a clear majority over the Conservatives. Nevertheless, the House of Lords passed the budget on the grounds that the election had confirmed the will of the electorate to have them do so. What they feared was legislation to alter the constitution, and this came along promptly in the form of resolutions for a bill to limit the powers of the House of Lords permanently. The resolutions were introduced by Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, and they passed resoundingly because the Irish Nationalists knew that legislation for Irish home rule would go through once the obstacle of the Lords was removed. In essence, the resolutions that became the Parliament Act of 1911 only allowed the Lords to delay legislation. Money bills, certified as such by the Speaker of the House, could be held up for only one month, and other bills could be delayed only for two years. If three successive sessions of the House of Commons passed a bill, it would become law automatically, without the approval of the upper house. Another provision of this Parliament Bill was that general elections had to be held at least ev757
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than it had been previously in responding to the will of the electorate. The drive for democracy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had made the House of Commons increasingly representative of the will of the majority of the British people at the same time that the House of Lords appeared increasingly anachronistic—that is, belonging to another era long past. Most of the Lords inherited their seats as leaders of wealthy landholding families. Some were leaders of families who had gained considerable riches recently and who had distributed some of their fortunes to help the campaigns of leading politicians. Whether they were the heads of newer or ancient noble families, members of the House of Lords tended to be strongly Conservative regardless of the inclination of the majority in the House of Commons. As long as the Conservative Party held a majority in the House of Commons, cooperation between the houses could be maintained, but when the Liberal Party took over, either by itself or in alliance with the smaller Labour Party and Irish Nationalist Party, the two houses could easily become deadlocked. Trouble that had been simmering between the Lords and Commons came to a head after the Liberals came to power in the House of Commons in 1906 with a large elected majority. The House of Lords rejected several bills passed by the House of Commons on such important matters as education and voting qualifications. Although both the Liberal and Conservative Parties were supposed to be fairly represented in the House of Lords, the Conservatives in that house far outnumbered the Liberals by the early twentieth century. This meant that the majority in the House of Lords followed the leadership of Arthur Balfour, the leader of the Conservatives in the House of Commons, even when he was in charge of a minority in opposition. Therefore, when Balfour unsuccessfully opposed a measure in the Commons it was likely to be tossed out by the House of Lords. The situation gave rise to one of the most celebrated quips of the era: The House of Lords as the “watchdog of the constitution” had become “Mr. Balfour’s poodle.” Resentment of the Lords focused dramatically after the House of Lords rejected the so-called People’s Budget of 1909 and thus violated the British constitution as it was then interpreted. Money bills were regarded as the special responsibility of the House of Commons, and the Lords were supposed to accept all such bills. The People’s Budget passed in the House of Commons by a vote of 379 to 149 and was then rejected by the Conservative majority in the Lords by an overwhelming 350 to 75. The
Parliament Act Redefines British Democracy
Parliament Act Redefines British Democracy ery five years instead of the seven years that had prevailed for centuries. The death of King Edward VII intervened before the issue could be fought out. In Great Britain, whenever a monarch dies new elections must be held, so Edward’s death necessitated the second general election of 1910. The results were much the same as in the first: Liberals and Conservatives both had 272 seats, and a majority for the Parliament Bill was guaranteed by Irish Nationalist and Labour votes in the Commons. Given the inflamed passions among the legislators over the constitutional issue, it is curious that outside Parliament the issue generated little interest. The new king, George V, was persuaded to give assurances that he would support the Liberals’ plan to swamp the Conservative majority in the Lords by creating new members. This prerogative right was the famous “safety valve of the constitution,” which was once applied in the early eighteenth century and used as a threat during the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832. Faced with the prospect of inundation by newly minted lords, many in the upper house were willing to accept defeat, but a number of diehards, called “Ditchers” because they would resist to the last ditch, would not vote for the Parliament Bill when it came up to the House of Lords. Nevertheless, the act passed by a vote of 131 to 114. In 1949, another Parliament Act revised downward the capacity of the Lords to delay acts of the Commons, from three sessions and two years to two sessions and one year. This amendment was supplemented by the Salisbury Convention, in which the Lords agreed not to oppose legislation mentioned in the election manifesto of the ruling party upon its second reading. The Lords could still propose reasonable amendments not intended to wreck legislation. This compromise came at a time when the Lords were dominated by Conservatives generally opposed to the new Labour government’s efforts to enact provisions for nationalization and welfare state policies. Significance In the period since the 1911 Parliament Bill became law, the House of Lords has almost always cooperated with the House of Commons. Delay has been invoked on only a few occasions, and the House of Lords has sometimes
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 succeeded in convincing the House of Commons to amend legislation distasteful to the Lords. In addition, the House of Commons has made legislation on a few occasions despite sustained opposition from the House of Lords, including the War Crimes Act of 1991 and the European Parliamentary Elections Act of 1999. —Henry G. Weisser Further Reading Allyn, Emily. Lords Versus Commons: A Century of Conflict and Compromise, 1830-1930. New York: Century, 1931. A University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. thesis that provides rich detail on all aspects of the topic. Arnstein, Walter L. Britain Yesterday and Today: 1830 to the Present. 8th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Popular text treats the subject of the Parliament Bill with great clarity, particularly for American readers. Handcock, W. D., ed. English Historical Documents, 1874-1914. Vol. 12, part 2. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1977. Includes key speeches by Asquith and Balfour regarding the Parliament Act of 1911 as well as the complete statute itself. Jenkins, Roy. Mr. Balfour’s Poodle: People v. Peers. 1954. Reprint. London: Pan Macmillan. Very readable, detailed account is entirely devoted to describing the subject rather than arguing a thesis. Laybourn, Keith. Fifty Key Figures in TwentiethCentury British Politics. New York: Routledge, 2002. Collection of biographical sketches includes entries on all the individuals who played important roles in the events surrounding passage of the Parliament Act of 1911. Essays are cross-referenced, and suggestions for further reading are provided. Lloyd, T. O. Empire, Welfare State, Europe: History of the United Kingdom, 1906-2001. 5th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Presents a detailed and solid account of the events surrounding the Parliament Bill aimed at British readers. See also: Sept. 15, 1914: Irish Home Rule Bill; 19201921: Ireland Is Granted Home Rule and Northern Ireland Is Created.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Peary and Henson Reach the North Pole
April 6, 1909
Peary and Henson Reach the North Pole Six North American explorers became the first people to reach the geographic North Pole. Locale: Geographic North Pole Category: Exploration and discovery Key Figures Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920), American civil engineer and explorer Matthew Alexander Henson (1866-1955), American explorer Frederick Albert Cook (1865-1940), American physician and explorer
Robert Edwin Peary. (Library of Congress)
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Summary of Event European exploration of the North American Arctic region began in the late fifteenth century, with the search for a northwest passage to Asia as the primary goal. By the nineteenth century, it was clear that an easily navigable northern route to Asia did not exist, and attention gradually shifted toward efforts to reach the North Pole. Early American Arctic explorers, including Elisha Kent Kane and Charles Francis Hall, became involved in polar explorations as part of the search for information on the fate of the 1845 British expedition led by Sir John Franklin. The Franklin party, consisting of two ships and 133 men, was the last major effort by the British to find a northern passage through the Canadian Arctic. The last contact with Franklin occurred shortly after he entered Baffin Bay, and it was later discovered that, after terrible hardships, Franklin and all members of his party had perished. The main contribution that Kane and Hall made to Arctic exploration was the realization that the use of Eskimo clothing as well as Eskimo hunting and travel techniques greatly improved explorers’ ability to survive in the harsh Arctic environment. In 1881, as part of a scientific research program connected with the First International Polar Year, a U.S. Army expedition led by Lieutenant Adolphus Greeley established a camp on Ellesmere Island. The next year, two members of the Greeley party, Lieutenant James Lockwood and Sergeant David Brainard, along with their Eskimo sled driver, reached 83º24N north latitude. This set a new record for the closest approach to the North Pole, the
first time in three centuries that the record for traveling the farthest north was held by a non-British exploration party. However, the Greeley expedition ended in disaster in 1884, with eighteen of the twenty-four members of the party dying before the rest were rescued. By this time, several other Americans had become interested in Arctic exploration. Chief among them was Robert Edwin Peary, who at the time of his first visit to Greenland in 1886 was an engineer in the U.S. Navy. In 1891, Peary returned to Greenland as head of an expedition that included Frederick Albert Cook, a doctor from Brooklyn, and Matthew Alexander Henson, an African American who acted as Peary’s servant. Both Cook and Henson would become noted explorers over the next several years. During the second year of his stay, Peary, accompanied by the Norwegian explorer Eivind Astrup, made an eleven-hundred-mile journey across northern
Peary and Henson Reach the North Pole
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
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Greenland. The journey established Peary as a leader in polar exploration. After a brief fund-raising visit to the United States, Peary returned to Greenland in 1893 to search for routes to the North Pole. During his three-year stay, Peary, along with Henson and Hugh Lee, another member of his party, retraced Peary’s previous path across Greenland. Peary also recovered two of three large meteorites that had served as sources of iron for the Eskimos in the region. A new Peary expedition returned to the Arctic in 1898 and remained until 1902. Peary’s previous exploration of the Greenland ice cap had convinced him that an alternative route to the North Pole was needed, and he therefore spent most of his time on Ellesmere Island. On one early journey, Peary suffered severe frostbite and lost most of 760
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the toes on both of his feet. Undaunted, he made a four-hundredmile trip across northern Greenland in 1900, proving that Greenland is an island. In 1902, the last year of the expedition, Peary attempted to reach the North Pole, but he was able to travel only to 84º17N north latitude. This represented Peary’s closest approach to the pole up to that time, an attempt that fell short of the latitude R achieved by Umberto Cagni, an Italian explorer, in 1899. After three years of preparation, Peary launched a new Arctic expedition in 1906. Winter quarters for the party were established at Cape Sheridan, on the northeastern tip of Ellesmere Island. Peary was again accompanied by Henson. On March 6, 1906, Peary set out on what he believed would be his last attempt to reach the North Pole. Once again, he failed to reach his objective, although he did set a new record for farthest north, at 87º06N north latitude. Peary returned to the United States, determined to make one final attempt to reach the pole. Financial difficulties delayed him, and it was not until July 6, 1908, that he again departed for the Arctic. He again chose Cape Sheridan as the base from which he would launch his journey. During the winter of 1908-1909, Peary and his party moved provisions from Cape Sheridan to Cape Columbia, a more northerly part of Ellesmere Island, from which the trip to the pole would begin. On February 28, 1909, the first supply party set off from Cape Columbia toward the pole. Remaining supply parties, then Peary himself, soon followed. Open water on the polar ice cap delayed their progress, but by April 1, Peary had moved to within 150 miles of the pole. At this point, the last supply party moved south, and Peary began the final part of his journey accompanied by Henson and four Eskimos whose names were Egingwah, Ookeah, Oatah, and Seegloo. Five days later, on April 6, 1909, Peary and his companions reached the North Pole. They set up camp and stayed for thirty hours. After a three-week journey, the party returned to Cape Columbia on April 23.
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Further Reading Abramson, Howard S. Hero in Disgrace: The Life of Arctic Explorer Frederick A. Cook. New York: Paragon House, 1991. A thorough account of Cook’s life and explorations, although biased in favor of Cook’s claim to have been the first person to reach the North Pole. Berton, Pierre. The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the
Northwest Passage and the North Pole, 1818-1909. 1988. Reprint. New York: Lyons Press, 2000. An impartial and informative history of nineteenth and early twentieth century Arctic explorations. Chapter 13 examines Peary’s and Cook’s claims to have reached the North Pole. Cook, Frederick Albert. My Attainment of the Pole. 1913. Reprint. New York: Cooper Square Press, 2001. A reprint edition of Cook’s own account of his Arctic expedition and his claim to have been the first to reach the North Pole. Features illustrations and a new introduction by Robert M. Bryce. Fleming, Fergus. Ninety Degrees North: The Quest for the North Pole. New York: Grove Press, 2001. Describes the major Arctic expeditions undertaken from 1845 to 1969 in exhaustive detail, using excerpts from journals and other documents to flesh out the characters involved. Includes photographs, chronology of major expeditions, maps, bibliography, and index. Goetzmann, William H. New Lands, New Men: America and the Second Great Age of Discovery. 1986. Reprint. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1995. A general history of exploration from the seventeenth century to the early twentieth century. Chapter 11 discusses the Cook and Peary polar expeditions. Henderson, Bruce. True North: Peary, Cook, and the Race to the Pole. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. Uses the accounts of Arctic exploration recorded by Peary, Cook, and others to examine the rivalry between Peary and Cook. Includes illustrations, bibliography, and index. Henson, Matthew A. A Negro Explorer at the North Pole. 1912. Reprint. Montpelier, Vt.: Invisible Cities Press, 2001. A reprint edition of Henson’s first-person account of the North Pole expedition. Includes photographs and a new introduction by S. Allen Counter. Herbert, Wally. The Noose of Laurels: Robert E. Peary and the Race to the North Pole. New York: Atheneum, 1989. A detailed and critical history of the explorations of Peary and Cook by an author with extensive personal experience in the Arctic. Weems, John Edward. Peary: The Explorer and the Man. 1967. Reprint. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1988. A well-written but uncritical biography. Makes extensive use of Peary’s personal papers and writings. See also: July 1, 1901: Canada Claims the Arctic Islands; Dec. 2, 1911: Australasian Antarctic Expedition Commences; Dec. 14, 1911: Amundsen Reaches the South Pole. 761
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Significance The race to become the first person to reach the North Pole was driven more by the challenge involved than by any practical benefits from the accomplishment itself, although many Arctic expeditions carried out specific scientific and geographic measurements. The prestige attached to being the first to reach the pole accounted for the controversy in which Peary found himself when he returned to civilization. Frederick Cook, who had been a member of one of Peary’s early expeditions to Greenland, claimed that he and two Eskimo traveling companions had reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908, almost a full year before Peary’s visit. Cook’s claim already had been recognized by the University of Copenhagen, and Cook had received congratulations from a number of other polar explorers as well as a massive amount of popular support. For the next several months, the competing claims of Peary and Cook sparked controversy. However, Cook’s story gradually fell apart. The Eskimos who accompanied Cook testified that during their journey, their party had never left sight of land. More damaging, it was found that a previous claim by Cook to have been the first person to climb Mount McKinley was fraudulent. Cook also failed to present convincing proof to support his story of reaching the pole. Cook’s claim was gradually disbelieved, and Cook fell into disfavor and died a pauper in 1940. Doubts remain, however, concerning Peary’s trip to the North Pole. A committee of the National Geographic Society unanimously confirmed Peary’s account of his journey, but the British Royal Geographical Society, which also examined Peary’s records, supported his story by a vote of eight to seven, indicating some skepticism. Peary’s case was not helped by the fact that several of his previous geographic discoveries, including “Jesup Land” and “Crocker Land,” turned out to be in error. Further doubts were raised by discrepancies in Peary’s written records of his polar journey. Although Peary is generally recognized as having led the first expedition to the North Pole, it is unlikely that it will ever be known for certain whether he was in fact successful in his trip. —Jeffrey A. Joens
Peary and Henson Reach the North Pole
Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Astounds Paris
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
May 19, 1909
Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Astounds Paris From its inception, Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes revitalized the art of ballet through revolutionary innovations in choreography, set design, and musical scores. Locale: Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France Categories: Dance; music Key Figures Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929), Russian impresario Michel Fokine (1880-1942), Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Léon Bakst (1866-1924), Russian French artist Alexandre Benois (1870-1960), Russian painter Vaslav Nijinsky (1890-1950), Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Nikolay Konstantinovich Roerich (1874-1947), Russian painter Tamara Platonovna Karsavina (1885-1978), Russian ballet dancer Summary of Event On May 19, 1909, in the newly refurbished Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the curtain rose on the premiere performance of the Ballets Russes. The audience, made up of the city’s dignitaries, artists, and social elite, was astounded by the spectacular decor and costumes, the passionate bravura dancing, and the atmosphere of exoticism that enveloped the performance. The “wild Asiatic horde” electrified Parisian audiences and began a twenty-year assault on every artistic convention associated with theatrical dance presentation. The guiding force and creative center of this artistic phenomenon was Sergei Diaghilev. Diaghilev’s early education provided him with an appreciation of the arts, and, although he enrolled in the law school of St. Petersburg University, his ambition was to become a singer or composer. Through his association with his cousin Dmitry Filosov, Diaghilev was accepted into a group of young men who shared similar viewpoints about art and the world. First called the Nevsky Pickwickians, the group formed the nucleus of what would become the artistic society Mir Iskusstva (world of art). A strong voice in Russian art criticism, Mir Iskusstva produced a journal of the same name, which Diaghilev edited. In an essay titled “Complicated Questions,” Diaghilev stated the group’s views: Art should be expres762
sive, synthetic, and individual. It should communicate “higher truths” and express the elusive ideal of beauty. Mir Iskusstva was critical of the narrow, canon-based art of the academies and of the prevalent “social realism” style of painting. Through the collaborative efforts of Diaghilev, Michel Fokine, Léon Bakst, and Alexandre Benois, the aesthetics championed by Mir Iskusstva were soon applied to the presentation of ballet. The 1909 premiere season of the Ballets Russes marked the fourth time Diaghilev had presented Russian art to Parisian audiences. In 1906, he had organized an exhibition of Russian art that toured Paris, Berlin, and Venice. In 1907, he had brought Russian music to Paris in the form of five historical concerts that included the music of Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Aleksandr Scriabin. His next venture was a 1908 production of Modest Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov (1874) at the Paris Opera, featuring the famous Fyodor Chaliapin. Each presentation was a triumphant success, whetting the European taste for Russian spectacle. Diaghilev cultivated his audiences, creating an obsession for things “à la Russe.” Ever a perfectionist, Diaghilev insisted that the Théâtre du Châtelet be completely overhauled prior to the Ballets Russes opening night. His concern for perfection in even the smallest production details was at once a measure of his genius and a major contributing factor to the economic peril that constantly threatened the company. New crimson carpet was laid, the foyers and auditorium were cleaned and repainted—all without regard to cost. Even the audience on opening night was not left to chance; fifty-two of the most beautiful actresses in Paris were invited to sit in the dress circle in the first balcony. Blonds were alternated with brunettes. Theater manager Gabriel Astruc later claimed that on seeing these women, “the whole house burst into applause.” The ballets performed that first season were Le Pavillon d’Armide, the “Polovtsian Dances” (from the opera Prince Igor), Le Festin, Les Sylphides, and Cléopâtre. Choreographed by Fokine, the ballets featured music by Russian composers: Nikolay Tcherepnin, Aleksandr Borodin, Mikhail Glinka, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Mussorgsky. Costume designs and set decor were created by Diaghilev’s Mir Iskusstva companions Alexandre Benois, Léon Bakst, Konstantin Korovin, and Nikolay Konstantinovich Roerich. Accustomed to the banal and effete lethargy of Euro-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Astounds Paris
The Paris Seasons of the Ballets Russes Sergei Diaghilev’s tremendous eye for spotting talent and Michel Fokine’s gift for choreography led to several seasons in Paris that would have a huge impact on the development of modern ballet. Year Ballet (choreographer/composer)
Year Ballet (choreographer/composer)
1909 Les Sylphides (Fokine/Chopin) Le Pavillon d’Armide (Fokine/Tcherepnine) Le Festin, suite de danses (Fokine/various Russian composers) “Polovtsian Dances” from Prince Igor (Fokine/ Borodine) Cléopâtre (Fokine/Arensky and various Russian composers)
1917 Parade (Massine/Satie) Les Femmes de bonne humeur (Massine/Scarlatti) Contes russes (Massine/Liadov)
1910 Les Orientales (Fokine/various Russian composers) Carnaval (Fokine/Schumann) Schéhérazade (Fokine/Rimsky-Korsakov) Giselle (revised by Fokine/Adam) L’Oiseau de feu (Fokine/Stravinsky)
1912 Le Dieu bleu (Fokine/Hahn) L’Après-midi d’un faune (Nijinski/Debussy) Daphnis et Chloé (Fokine/Ravel) Thamar (Fokine/Balakirev) 1913 Jeux (Nijinski/Debussy) Le Sacre du printemps (Nijinski/Stravinsky) 1914 La Légende de Joseph (Fokine/Strauss) Le Coq d’or (Fokine/Rimsky-Korsakov) 1915 Soleil de nuit (Massine/Rimsky-Korsakov)
pean ballet, Parisian audiences went wild over the virtuosic, athletic vigor of dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, the delicate beauty of dancers Tamara Platonovna Karsavina, Anna Pavlova, and Ida Rubinstein, and the innovative choreography of Fokine. They were equally stunned by the vibrantly passionate, hauntingly pagan, and radically new set decor and costume designs for the ballets. Two ballets in particular captivated audiences: the “Polovtsian Dances” and Cléopâtre. The “Polovtsian Dances” represented a true novelty for the jaded Parisian audiences. Fokine’s innovative use of the corps de ballets as a living ensemble of individuals replaced the conventional static posing, and Roerich’s lyric, brooding decor and costumes evoked an aura of pa-
1920 Pulcinella (Massine/Stravinsky) Astuzie femminili (Massine/Cimarosa) Le Chant du rossignol (Massine/Stravinsky) 1923 Les Noces (Nijinska/Stravinsky) Les Tentations de la bergère (Nijinska/Montéclair) 1924 Les Biches (Nijinska/Poulenc) Le Train bleu (Nijinska/Milhaud) Les Fâcheux (Nijinska/Auric) 1925 Zéphyr et Flore (Massine/Dukelsky) Les Matelots (Massine/Auric)
1909
1911 Petrushka (Fokine/Stravinsky) Le Spectre de la rose (Fokine/Weber) Narcisse (Fokine/Tcherepnine) Sadko (Fokine/Rimsky-Korsakov)
1919 La Boutique fantasque (Massine/Rossini-Respighi) Le Tricorne (Massine/De Falla)
1926 Jack in the Box (Balanchine/Satie) Pastorale (Balanchine/Auric) Barabau (Balanchine/Rieti) Romeo et Juliette (Nijinska/Lambert) 1927 La Chatte (Balanchine/Sauguet) Le Triomphe de Neptune (Balanchine/Berners) Pas d’acier (Massine/Prokofiev) 1928 Ode (Massine/Nabokov) Apollon musagète (Balanchine/Stravinsky) 1929 Le Fils prodigue (Balanchine/Prokofiev) Le Bal (Balanchine/Rieti)
gan mystery. Audiences were swept up in the frenzied finale; one historian has written that “at the end, when Sophia Fedorova led the dance like one possessed, her companions, too, [were] utterly in the grip of the music’s frenetic rhythm . . . while the audience jumped and shouted for joy.” Cléopâtre introduced the exotic Ida Rubinstein and the artfully authentic decor and costumes of Bakst and created a passion in Paris for everything Egyptian. With Cléopâtre, Fokine created a concise choreographic drama in one act, integrating pantomime with the dancing. In combination with Bakst’s carefully researched design, Fokine achieved a “scenic realism” that stunned the audience. 763
Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Astounds Paris The total effect of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes presentations on Parisian audiences was overwhelming. The combination of innovations in choreography, set decor and costume design, brilliant dancing, and exotic music took Paris by storm and began two decades of artistic innovation that revolutionized theatrical dance presentations worldwide. Significance When Diaghilev presented his “saison Russes” in Paris in 1909, he not only created an appetite for Russian ballet, but he also began a revolution in choreography, scene design, musical composition, and ballet technique. More important, that first season changed forever the way audiences perceived dance and dancers, established a completely new process of and standard for artistic collaboration, and thrust dance into a vanguard position among the arts. That first season had both immediate and longlasting effects on a variety of artistic, social, and cultural spheres. In much the same way that Diaghilev and Mir Iskusstva condemned Russian art for being overly academic and parochial, Fokine’s choreographic reforms were aimed at liberating ballet from its academic straitjacket. Fokine jettisoned the formulaic conventions of his predecessor, Marius Petipa, and created ballets that were concise, with costuming, design, and movement appropriate to their setting, and forged a new ensemble to replace the static and merely decorative corps de ballet of Petipa. Fokine’s interest in individual expression can be seen in his transformation of the corps de ballet into a moving, liberated group of individuals with their own personalities, gestures, and emotions. While not abandoning classical technique as did his contemporary Isadora Duncan, Fokine revitalized and expanded the classical vocabulary, freeing the dancers’ arms from static conventional poses and their spines from rigid adherence to the vertical. Many of his innovations, although present in the season of 1909, were not fully realized until such ballets as Schéhérazade (1910), The Firebird (L’ Oiseau de feu; 1910), Petrushka (1911), and Le Dieu bleu (1912). Fokine’s choreographic reforms substantially influenced Nijinsky, Diaghilev’s next choreographic protégé. In the realm of art, Diaghilev’s influence spread from his immediate circle of Mir Iskusstva friends to the major painters of the twentieth century. Natalya Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Robert Edmond Jones, Giacomo Balla, Pablo Picasso, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Juan Gris, Maurice Utrillo, and Joan Miró all created set 764
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 and costume designs for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Picasso’s designs for The Three-Cornered Hat (Le Tricorne; 1919), Pulcinella (1920), and especially Parade (1917) are considered masterpieces. In the program notes for Parade, Guillaume Apollinaire wrote, “Until now, scenery and costumes on the one hand, and choreography, on the other, have had only an artificial connection, but their fresh alliance in Parade has produced a kind of Surrealism [that] promises utterly to transform arts and customs alike.” Before Diaghilev, scene painting and costume design were left primarily in the hands of professional craftsmen who worked according to conventional formulas. With the artistic collaboration of easel painters, the productions of the Ballets Russes catapulted reforms in stage decor into the public eye, making design an integral and unified part of any production and transforming into reality the aesthetics of Mir Iskusstva and Richard Wagner’s concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art. Diaghilev’s dedication to novelty guaranteed that the Ballets Russes would be in the forefront of artistic expression. Nowhere was that more visible than in the roster of composers Diaghilev invited to create scores for his new ballets. Diaghilev had a genius for recognizing fresh currents in artistic expression and an instinct for selecting artistic pioneers. From its inception, the Ballets Russes embodied the modern spirit and bold confidence of its founder. The popularity of the Ballets Russes transformed public opinion about Russian music and rescued ballet scores from the antipathy of composers. Diaghilev’s commitment to a unified and balanced production, with each component of equal artistic caliber, led him to commission music that could match the spectacular dancing, choreography, and decor of his ballets. Occurring simultaneously with a rising neonationalist sentiment among Russian composers, Diaghilev’s desire for novelty, unity, and artistic collaboration connected him irrevocably and providentially to the young Igor Stravinsky. In collaboration with Diaghilev, under the auspices of the Ballets Russes, Stravinsky went on to create masterpieces of musical composition. The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps; 1913) attest to the brilliant outcome of this partnership. As radical and uncompromisingly original as Stravinsky’s scores were, the nature of Diaghilev’s collaboration with Stravinsky led to an even more important transformation: the upgrading of the role of the ballet composer. This influenced the genre to such a degree that, as one historian has noted, it led to a “miraculous
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Further Reading Fokine, Michel. Fokine: Memoirs of a Ballet Master. Translated by Vitale Fokine, edited by Anatole Chujoy. Boston: Little, Brown, 1961. Fokine’s account of his early life, ballet training, and rise to stardom as a choreographer. Garafola, Lynn. Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. 1989. Re-
print. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Examines the entire enterprise of the Ballets Russes from a broad and fresh perspective. Analyzes the concurrent artistic, economic, social, and cultural trends and conditions that influenced and were influenced by Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Scholarly, well written, and thorough. _______. Legacies of Twentieth-Century Dance. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2005. A selection of essays and reviews by one of the most influential scholars of the history of dance. Covers the transformation of dance, especially ballet, since the early twentieth century. Includes many photographs. _______, ed. The Ballets Russes and Its World. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1999. Collection of fourteen essays on the history and importance of the Ballets Russes by dance and music scholars and critics. Includes illustrations and bibliography. Haskell, Arnold Lionel. Diaghileff: His Artistic and Private Life. 1935. Reprint. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2005. Written in conjunction with Diaghilev’s contemporary Walter Nouvel. Dated, romantic, and gossipy; interesting (if suspect) details of Diaghilev’s private life and behind-the-scenes drama at the theater. Appendixes include catalog of productions and company roster through the years. Kochno, Boris. Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Translated by Adrienne Foulke. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. Contains excerpts from letters, program notes, and unpublished essays by Diaghilev and his contemporaries, including Benois, Jean Cocteau, Picasso, and Stravinsky. Excellent resource for information about specific ballets, dancers, designers, and musicians from 1909 to 1929. Amazing photographs, sketches, and anecdotes about every ballet produced under the auspices of the Ballets Russes. Pozharskaia, Militsa, and Tatiana Volodina. The Art of the Ballets Russes. Translated by V. S. Friedman. New York: Abbeville Press, 1990. Emphasizes costume, set, and stage design rather than choreography or dancing. Minimal but informative text accompanies beautiful photographs, many in color. Arranged chronologically to display the productions of the Ballets Russes in its Paris seasons from 1908 to 1929. Includes a foreword by Clement Crisp and an annotated list of artists. Van Norman Baer, Nancy, comp. Art of Enchantment: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, 1909-1929. New York: Universe Books, 1988. Catalog of an exhibition of Ballets Russes artifacts at the Fine Arts Museum of 765
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and altogether unexpected resurgence” and the genre’s “dramatic upgrading in the twentieth-century scale of values.” In addition to Stravinsky, Diaghilev commissioned scores from a multitude of history’s most celebrated composers, including Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, Claude Debussy, Richard Strauss, Manuel de Falla, Sergei Prokofiev, and Darius Milhaud. The 1909 season of the Ballets Russes fundamentally changed the way audiences perceived ballet and ballet dancers. Instead of an endless display of stilted positions and static groupings, the ballet ensemble of Diaghilev’s company pulsed, swirled, and leapt. Gone were the symmetrical groupings of identically clad women who did nothing more than frame the stage. Absent, too, were the listless young men who appeared as occasional supports for their balancing partners. Nijinsky, Adolph Blom, Léonide Massine, and Mikhail Mordkin reestablished the primacy and splendor of the male dancer at a time when men were all but extinct on the ballet stage. The overall effect produced a completely different kind of dance drama, one that left the audience demanding more. As influential as the Ballets Russes was on the individual careers of the artists, dancers, choreographers, and composers who were directly associated with it, its legacy can be seen in other areas as well. Diaghilev’s insistence on the highest standards for all the artistic components of production elevated ballet and theatrical dance presentation to the equal of theater, visual arts, and music. No longer the inferior stepchild of opera, dance became recognized as legitimate artistic expression. Additionally, Diaghilev’s process of collaboration (carried forth from the early Mir Iskusstva days), which illustrated that superb artistic work could be created outside the academy, opened doors for many independent artists. Without Diaghilev’s model of a touring company with new repertory each season, it is doubtful that many of the fine ballet companies of today would have come into existence. Indeed, American ballet owes a tremendous debt to the Ballets Russes, from which it received not only dancers, teachers, and choreographers but also the vision of what twentieth century ballet could be. —Cynthia J. Williams
Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Astounds Paris
Fokine’s Les Sylphides Introduces Abstract Ballet San Francisco. Excellent articles by ten different authors accompany photographs of the exhibit material. Elena Bridgman’s essay on the Mir Iskusstva origins of the Ballets Russes and Joan Aceola’s essay on Nijinsky are exceptional. Includes a chronological table of Ballets Russes productions.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: June 2, 1909: Fokine’s Les Sylphides Introduces Abstract Ballet; June 25, 1910: The Firebird Premieres in Paris; May 29, 1912: L’Après-midi d’un faune Scandalizes Parisian Audiences; May 29, 1913: The Rite of Spring Stuns Audiences; Oct. 18, 1923: Stravinsky Completes His Wind Octet.
June 2, 1909
Fokine’s LES SYLPHIDES Introduces Abstract Ballet Michel Fokine took ballet into new dimensions when he elevated the male role and showed that ballet could be beautifully abstract. Locale: Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France Categories: Dance; music Key Figures Michel Fokine (1880-1942), Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky (1890-1950), Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), Russian ballet dancer Tamara Platonovna Karsavina (1885-1978), Russian ballet dancer Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929), Russian impresario who created and directed the Ballets Russes Olga Preobrajenska (1871-1962), Russian ballet dancer Alexandre Benois (1870-1960), Russian painter and theatrical set designer Summary of Event While browsing through some pieces at a music shop, choreographer Michel Fokine found a suite titled “Chopiniana,” orchestrated by Aleksandr Glazunov. Fokine considered arranging a ballet to the suite, but he first decided to add a waltz to the piece, and he asked Glazunov to orchestrate this as well. The resulting ballet, Réverie romantique, which was performed by the Russian Imperial Ballet in 1907, represented Fokine’s attempt to return ballet to the conditions of its highest development. The ballet’s first piece, a polonaise, was performed in a ballroom setting by dancers in rich Polish costumes. The second piece, a nocturne, was turned into a scene from the life of Frédéric Chopin in which the composer (portrayed by Alexei Bulgakov) was shown working at a piano in a deserted monastery. Ill and assailed by vague fears, Chopin was suddenly tormented by the ghosts of dead monks. Recoiling in terror and then collapsing in a half faint, he was rescued by his muse, a dancer in white 766
who appeared out of the darkness to drive away the haunting visions and ease him back to his piano, where he resumed his composition. The third piece, a mazurka, portrayed the interruption of a young peasant girl’s wedding to an old man and her flight from the scene with her former lover. The waltz, a classical pas de deux, followed. The final piece, a tarantella, was an ensemble dance set in a square somewhere in Naples, with Mount Vesuvius looming in the distance. On April 6, 1908, Fokine presented a new version of the ballet, titled Second Chopiniana, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Glazunov’s waltz was retained in the new production, but the rest was now orchestrated by Maurice Keller. Part of a double bill with a ballet that showcased the dancers’ use of profile positions, angular lines, and flat palms throughout, Second Chopiniana was deliberately different in style. Dissatisfied with irrelevant acrobatic feats and toe dance in ballet, Fokine sought to create a romantic mood piece that was plotless but at the same time infused with emotion. He also wanted to show that he was not destroying the old ballet styles but was, rather, interpreting them differently from his contemporaries—one of whom, Marius Petipa, had succeeded in creating a dominant fashion. Sergei Diaghilev, creator and manager of the Ballets Russes, rechristened the work Les Sylphides in homage to La Sylphide (1832), the first of the great Romantic ballets, and he chose it to be part of the repertory for his first Ballets Russes season in Paris. In its final form—which took Fokine only three days to choreograph—Les Sylphides premiered in Paris on June 2, 1909. A plotless, abstract piece with a delicate suite of music, the ballet looked deceptively simple, although this was primarily because of the exceptionally talented leads—Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Tamara Platonovna Karsavina, and Olga Preobrajenska—whose innate musicality, lightness of foot, and soft arm movements created an elegiac, wistful poetry. Scenarist Alex-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Significance Les Sylphides crowned the 1909 season of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. It was close enough to the tradition of
French ballet so as not to surprise the Parisians, and its exceptional execution delighted critics and audiences alike. The production also offered a series of revelations. For instance, audiences discovered that a ballet did not have to be more than one act in length. Moreover, the work demonstrated that ballet’s subject matter could be abstract so long as a dancer’s whole body (rather than merely legs or torso) moved to convey emotion or sensation. The corps de ballet was part of the plastic sequence of movements, and their varied groupings were more than simply decorative. Audiences also discovered that music could have a more intimate relationship to dance than had ever before been demonstrated. The participation of Nijinsky as a soloist was another novelty and a revelation all its own, for he created a new image for the male ballet dancer: No longer merely a partner for a woman, he could display his own acrobatic and athletic virtuosity without feeling apart from the thrilling whole. Les Sylphides quickly lent justification to Fokine’s new tenets of ballet. A dancer in his own right who had partnered Pavlova, Karsavina, and other noted dancers, Fokine sought to have dance keep up with the changing tenor of the times. Classical dance was far too static for his liking; he believed that dance tradition subjugated all periods, styles, and characters to its own imperious decrees. As he complained in his memoirs, “Everything was sacrificed for one form, one style, so that the artists might display the dance, the technique, in the manner in which it had been prepared—once and for all.” In such old-style performances, everything was focused on the dancer’s personal appearance and technique instead of on the dancer’s ability to express emotion. In short, Fokine viewed many traditional ballets of the time as marked by stale self-exhibitionism instead of by creative energy. He also decried the fact that such ballets had no real unity of action, for performances could be interrupted by applause and a dancer’s grateful bows. Moreover, Fokine complained about prevailing techniques of dance expression (some dancers would interpret stories with their hands, others with their feet) and about lapses in costume style; some ballets used historically correct costumes, whereas others employed special ballet attire. Taking advantage of his position as a teacher at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, Fokine was gradually able to introduce his views of ballet to those who would create the Russian ballet’s future. It was really as a choreographer, however, that he was most successful in promulgating his views. Fokine’s ideas met 767
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andre Benois had designed a mournful, romantic setting, a deserted, ruined place. The nocturnal darkness was relieved by a glowing dark green hue and quivering patches of simulated moonlight. The ballet’s dominant mood was set by the overture, which evoked a haunting tenderness. The ballet proper began with a nocturne danced by the whole company, their hair adorned with white flowers and their chests decorated with small bunches of forget-me-nots. This female corps de ballet looked like soft white anemones or like snowflakes gathering into cool masses of deliquescent beauty. Next came a valse executed by Karsavina with a rare romanticism and beautiful extensions. Pavlova flew across the stage in the first mazurka, and although her leaps were not particularly high, her slim body and midair positions created the impression of light, lyrical flight. Nijinsky, the sole male dancer, shone next in his mazurka. Clothed in black and white and wearing a blond wig that hung down to his shoulders, he seemed to be almost weightless, and he demonstrated his extraordinary ability to seem to pause in midflight. With exceptional speed, yet enviable lightness, he moved from the front of the stage to the back at a single bound, and he fused pauses and successive movements into a vibrant whole. His dancing had a continuous, weaving rhythm, and although his technique was meticulously worked out, his dance instinct and imagination made the choreography seem beautifully natural. The prelude was danced by the diminutive Preobrajenska, who demonstrated an exceptional sense of balance. Her dancing on point was virtually ethereal— especially her ability to freeze on the toes of one foot— and although she was a champion of the style of dancing extolled by Petipa, she put her sense of traditionalism at Fokine’s revolutionary service. The waltz’s pas de deux, performed by Nijinsky and Pavlova, ended with Pavlova performing a pas de bourrée, a running step on her toes. The ballet concluded with a final waltz danced by the entire company in an expressive play of configurations. The huge ovation that greeted the conclusion of Les Sylphides was a tribute to Fokine’s pure vision and to his dancers’ creation of a fantastic atmosphere. The dancers were not simply exhibiting themselves; they were, instead, expressing a spiritual mood that grew out of Chopin’s pieces.
Fokine’s Les Sylphides Introduces Abstract Ballet
Fokine’s Les Sylphides Introduces Abstract Ballet with contempt from the conservative Mariinsky Theatre authorities; his views received their proper due only after he joined forces with Diaghilev in 1909. Through a series of classic productions with the Ballets Russes, Fokine demonstrated his principles in action. Dance steps and movements corresponded to the periods and characters presented. Dancing and mimetic gesture expressed the dramatic action and were directly connected to theme. The whole body was used as an instrument of expression, and this expression extended from the individual to the ensemble. Every element on the stage—decor, costuming, lighting, choreography, mime, music—harmonized into an integral whole. Les Sylphides quickly became part of every major ballet company’s repertoire, yet it did not always have successful presentations. The ballet displays dance for its own sake, and it requires delicate, precise dance; it cannot be successful if the performing ensemble is not tremendously skilled. Only the very greatest ballet companies with the greatest stars (such as Margot Fonteyn, Lynn Seymour, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov) are able to evoke the beauty of the work. Fokine was not the first to use Chopin’s music for ballet; Isadora Duncan had danced to Chopin in 1904 during her Russian tour. Ever since Fokine, however, other choreographers and dancers have exploited Chopin. Pavlova used Chopin’s music in 1918 for her Autumn Leaves. Nineteen years later, Bronislawa Nijinska created a performance to a Chopin concerto. Fokine continued to inspire American and English choreographers well into the second half of the twentieth century. Jerome Robbins used Chopin for several ballets, particularly for Dances at a Gathering (1969), a suite of plotless dances growing out of eighteen piano pieces that is directly linked to Les Sylphides. Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country (1976), a supremely bittersweet drama about the foibles of the human heart, used John Lanchbery’s arrangements of Chopin. John Neumeier’s full-length Lady of the Camellias (1978) also used Chopin’s music. Les Sylphides was not the last word on the subject of abstract dance. Future choreographers carried forward the innovations of Fokine’s work and added their own, and by the late twentieth century, many of the elements that had seemed revolutionary in Fokine’s time had begun to seem almost quaint. There is no denying the powerful effect of Les Sylphides on modern ballet, however, and the work has assumed an honored place in the classical repertory alongside the other masterworks of twentieth century choreography. — Keith Garebian 768
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Further Reading Balanchine, George, and Francis Mason. Balanchine’s Complete Stories of the Great Ballets. Rev. ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977. Standard, classic reference contains the stories of more than four hundred ballets. Also presents Balanchine’s personal thoughts on dancing, careers in ballet, and ballet for children. Includes a brief history of ballet, a chronology of outstanding events from 1469 to 1976, an illustrated glossary, and more than seventy-five photographs. Beaumont, Cyril W. Complete Book of Ballets: A Guide to the Principal Ballets of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1938. Contains a very brief biographical sketch of Fokine’s career, a list of his productions all over the world, and synopses of his major ballets, along with cast lists and brief commentaries. Fokine, Michel. Fokine: Memoirs of a Ballet Master. Translated by Vitale Fokine, edited by Anatole Chujoy. Boston: Little, Brown, 1961. An account of Fokine’s early years, his training at the Imperial Ballet School, and his own sense of his awakening genius. Translated from his journals. Garafola, Lynn. Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. 1989. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Examines the entire enterprise of the Ballets Russes, including Fokine’s work, and analyzes the concurrent artistic, social, and cultural trends and conditions that influenced and were influenced by Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Scholarly, well written, and thorough. _______. Legacies of Twentieth-Century Dance. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2005. A selection of essays and reviews by one of the most influential scholars of the history of dance. Covers the transformation of dance, especially ballet, since the early twentieth century. Includes many photographs. Robertson, Allen, and Donald Hutera. The Dance Handbook. 2d ed. New York: Routledge, 2006. Practical guide consists of entries on influential works, choreographers, dancers, and companies along with essential facts and critiques. Includes illustrations, references, glossary, and index. Sokolova, Lydia. Dancing for Diaghilev: The Memoirs of Lydia Sokolova. Edited by Richard Buckle. New York: Macmillan, 1961. A fascinating record of the Ballets Russes written by the company’s principal character dancer. Offers vignettes of Nijinsky, Karsavina, Léonide Massine, Fokine, and many other famous ballet figures.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 See also: Dec. 26, 1904: Duncan Interprets Chopin in Her Russian Debut; May 19, 1909: Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes Astounds Paris; June 25, 1910: The Firebird Premieres in Paris; May 29, 1912: L’Après-midi d’un faune Scandalizes Parisian Audiences; Summer,
First Airplane Flight Across the English Channel 1915: Denishawn School of Dance Opens; Oct. 18, 1923: Stravinsky Completes His Wind Octet; July 3, 1932: Jooss’s Antiwar Dance The Green Table Premieres.
July 25, 1909
First Airplane Flight Across the English Channel Louis Blériot accomplished the first international airplane flight when he flew from France to England across the English Channel. Locale: Calais, France; Dover, England Categories: Space and aviation; transportation; science and technology
Summary of Event In 1908, Wilbur Wright presented demonstrations of powered flight in France that caused an uproar throughout Europe. Wright’s ability to control his airplane astonished European pilots and other observers. One of these was the aeronautical correspondent for the Daily Mail, an English newspaper owned by Alfred Harmsworth, a man with a deep interest in aviation. To spur the interest of others in his country, Harmsworth offered a prize of five hundred pounds for the first flight across the English Channel, in either direction, in a heavier-than-air device unsupported by any lifting agent; the flight was to be completed between sunrise and sunset. This was not the first time Harmsworth had attempted to interest the people and government of England in aviation. In 1906, he had offered a prize for the first flight from London to Manchester; ironically, it was won, in 1910, by a Frenchman, Louis Paulham. No one stepped forward in response to the prize offered by the Daily Mail, so late in 1908 Harmsworth increased the sum to one thousand pounds, an amount that succeeded in bringing out contestants. The first to announce his intentions was Hubert Latham, a debonair young flyer of French and English descent who immedi-
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Key Figures Louis Blériot (1872-1936), French inventor, businessman, and aviator Alfred Harmsworth (Viscount Northcliffe; 1865-1922), English newspaper publisher Hubert Latham (1883-1912), French English big-game hunter, boat racer, race car driver, and aviator
ately won the hearts of the public. Even after other contestants had declared themselves, Latham remained the favorite. Like many early aviators, he was wealthy; his money allowed him to pursue a variety of interests, from big-game hunting to racing boats and automobiles to aviation. He had, in fact, already flown the Channel, from England to France, by balloon; he had decided to become an airplane pilot after witnessing some of Wright’s demonstrations. Latham chose to fly an Antoinette, a beautiful but rather unstable monoplane designed and built by Leon Levavasseur. Latham and the designer set up an airfield in France at Sangatte, not far from Calais, in the summer of 1909. The weather over the English Channel, known for its unpredictability, was worse than normal: High winds, rain, fog, and mist conditions precluded any attempt until mid-July. On July 19, at 6:42 a.m., Latham finally took off for his first attempt to cross the Channel, escorted by the destroyer Harpoon. Seven minutes into the flight, his engine failed, and he landed in the Channel, unhurt. The crew of the Harpoon rescued him and attempted to bring his airplane on board, but unfortunately in the process the machine was damaged beyond repair. Once on shore, Latham ordered another plane to be sent right away. It arrived in a short time and was quickly assembled, and he was ready for another try. In the meantime, however, word of Latham’s attempt had reached the ears of his most serious competitor, Louis Blériot, who traveled to Calais immediately to challenge Latham. Blériot, a Frenchman, was heavyset and dour-looking, with a large, red mustache. His less-than-dashing appearance, together with his no-nonsense attitude, made him less popular with the public than Latham. He had amassed a fortune through the business of designing, manufacturing, and selling acetylene headlights for automobiles, and, having become infatuated with flying, he spent most of his fortune on aviation. From 1901 to 1909, Blériot had designed and built a number of airplanes, evolving from devices with flapping wings to biplanes
First Airplane Flight Across the English Channel and, eventually, monoplanes, culminating in his Blériot No. XI. It has been estimated that Blériot had invested approximately $150,000 in building airplanes by the time he came up with his No. XI, the plane that would bring him fame and more fortune. Arriving in Calais, Blériot chose as his airfield site a farm near Les Baraques, a small village not far from Sangatte. His plane—driven by a 25-horsepower Anazini engine, crude in design, and not known for its reliability—was carted to the farm. Both aircraft were now standing ready for the flight, but the two pilots could only fret while the weather over the English Channel kept them grounded. On July 24, it appeared that there might be a change in the unfriendly weather; accordingly, that night M. Charles Fontaine, a reporter for the Paris newspaper Le Matin, took the night ship to Dover, England. His job was to find a safe landing place for Blériot and to signal him by waving the French flag. At 2:30 a.m. on July 25, Blériot was awakened and given the news that the weather seemed to be improving. He dressed and ate a quick breakfast, then went to the field to prepare for departure while his wife went to Calais to alert the escort ship Escopette to Blériot’s forth-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 coming departure. At 4:10 a.m. he made a short test flight, and by 4:35 he was ready to leave, waiting only to make sure that his takeoff would be after sunrise. According to witnesses, just before he took off he asked, “Au fait, ou est-ce exactement, Douvres?” (By the way, where is it exactly, Dover?) After a short time airborne, Blériot passed over his escort ship; now he was alone, flying through patches of mist. Suddenly, fog engulfed him, obscuring everything. With no instruments on board his airplane to guide him, not even sure he was heading in the right direction, Blériot released the controls, letting the airplane fly itself. He flew this way for ten minutes, during which his engine began to overheat, intermittently losing and then recovering power, causing him to lose altitude. The aircraft’s descent took it through a small rain shower, which seemed to resolve his problem: The engine cooled down and regained full power. A few minutes later, the mist and fog began to thin, and Blériot could see the coast of England. He realized that the winds had blown him off course: He was near St. Margaret’s Bay, east of Dover. He turned and headed for the Dover lighthouse, visible through the haze, noting
Louis Blériot (standing on plane) and helpers start the engine of Blériot’s airplane for the first flight across the English Channel. (Library of Congress)
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The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 that the winds had increased in velocity and turbulence. Flying over the English fleet, which was anchored in Dover Harbor, he proceeded along the cliffs looking for Fontaine. Spying the reporter standing in a depression above the cliffs, Blériot made a half circle and headed toward him. Once over the cliffs, the airplane experienced severe turbulence, which spun it around. Blériot responded by cutting the engine, and the plane descended rapidly from approximately eighteen meters, making a “pancake” landing that smashed the landing gear and broke the propeller. Thirty-seven minutes after taking off from Calais, Blériot had survived his fifty-first crash, won the coveted Daily Mail prize, and secured his place in aviation history.
became obvious that national borders, as drawn on maps, had lost much of their effectiveness as obstacles to the movement of people and goods between countries. No longer was it necessary to stop at the border and gain permission to enter or pass through a country. While the general public was still caught up in the excitement and joy of Blériot’s successful flight across the English Channel, many leaders in England and continental Europe were quick to realize the political and military significance of the accomplishment. For hundreds of years, England’s security had been guaranteed by two things: the English Channel and the Royal Navy. Blériot’s flight had negated both of these as the country’s protectors. Harmsworth was the first to predict that in the future, the airplane would play a dominant role in England’s survival. Although his efforts to spur the development of aviation in England were supported by other farsighted leaders and reporters, as well as the general public, they were for a number of years thwarted by the Royal Navy’s domination of the English military establishment. Observers on the Continent, meanwhile, pointed out that airplanes could fly in both directions, hence it was not England alone that had lost a measure of security. As a result, while England vacillated, France took the lead in nurturing the development of aviation, followed closely by Germany. By the time World War I broke out, the military establishments of both countries had fledgling aviation branches, and the outstanding fighter planes produced by Blériot’s company, the Société Pour l’Aviation et ses Dérivés (better known by its acronym, SPAD), played an important part in the Allies’ eventual victory. It was not until World War II, however, that Harmsworth’s prediction concerning the crucial role of the airplane in England’s defense against attack would come true—in 1940, when the Royal Air Force defeated the German Luftwaffe in what later became known as the Battle of Britain. As the first international airplane flight and the first flight over a large expanse of water, Blériot’s 1909 English Channel crossing demonstrated the potential of the airplane for transporting people and goods. It may, therefore, be considered the forerunner of both military and peaceful commercial flight between countries. —P. John Carter Further Reading Dick, Ron, and Dan Patterson. The Early Years. Vol. 1 in Aviation Century. Erin, Ont.: Boston Mills Press, 2003. Highly illustrated history details the progress of 771
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Significance Although the Wright brothers had proved that sustained, controlled flight was possible, most people in the early 1900’s viewed the airplane as a frail, unreliable, dangerous device, a rich person’s toy with no practical use. Blériot’s flight across the English Channel was not particularly noteworthy for its length in either time or distance, but as the first airplane flight to traverse national boundaries and to cross a large body of water, it awakened awareness in both governments and the general public that this new invention could be something more than a passing fad—it could, in fact, have practical uses. The worldwide fame that Blériot achieved through his successful flight, together with his investment of the prize money in his recently acquired aviation company, established him as the leading European airplane designer and manufacturer of the time and for many years thereafter. Although debates over the relative superiority of biplane versus monoplane would continue for a number of years, Blériot’s monoplane was the most widely accepted design of that era and would become the prototype for most twentieth century airplanes. France was quick to capitalize on the excitement and fervor surrounding Blériot’s achievement. Within a month after his English Channel crossing, the champagne industry, in cooperation with the municipality of Reims, had organized the world’s first international air meet, bringing together most of the leading aviators of the day to compete for prize money. The Reims air meet was soon followed by other tournaments and crosscountry air races, events that fed the technological development of the airplane much as early automobile races fed the development of the automobile. Within two years, air races had become international in scope. With contestants flying from one country to another, it soon
First Airplane Flight Across the English Channel
Tariff Act of 1909 Limits Corporate Privacy aviation from 1900 to 1939, analyzing why developments in flight took the directions they did and presenting information on the individuals who created the world’s aviation industry, including Blériot. Features bibliography and index. Gwynn-Jones, Terry. “1909—Lord Northcliffe’s Channel Challenge: The Dawn of Air Racing.” In The Air Racers: Aviation’s Golden Era, 1909-1936. London: Pelham Books, 1984. Detailed account of the rivalry between Latham and Blériot. Illustrated with colorized reproductions of black-and-white photographs. Prendergast, Curtis. “The Great Show at Reims.” In The First Aviators. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1980. Presents a brief but excellent account of Blériot’s flight. Includes a series of illustrative photographs. Taylor, Michael J. H. Aviators: A Photographic History of Flight. New York: Collins, 2005. Photographs document the development of aviation from Kitty Hawk in 1903 to the early twenty-first century. Includes coverage of Blériot’s Channel crossing. Thomas, Lowell, and Lowell Thomas, Jr. “A TwentyTwo-Mile Flight That Startled the World.” In Famous First Flights That Changed History: Sixteen Dramatic Adventures. 1968. Reprint. New York: Lyons Press, 2004. Focuses on Blériot’s accomplishment in
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 being the first to fly the English Channel while giving credit to Latham for his failed attempt. Villard, Henry Serrano. Contact! The Story of the Early Aviators. 1968. Reprint. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 2002. Traces the first decade of powered flight, from Kitty Hawk to World War I. Offers a detailed description of the first crossing of the English Channel by airplane and of the people involved; also provides insight into events that followed. An excellent source for anyone interested in the early development of aviation. Wallace, Graham. Flying Witness: Harry Harper and the Golden Age of Aviation. London: Putnam, 1958. An outstanding history of early aviation, as seen by Harry Harper, who was employed by Harmsworth as the world’s first aeronautical correspondent. Two chapters, “Gallant Failure” and “Across the Channel,” treat the contest between Latham and Blériot to be the first to cross the English Channel by airplane. See also: Dec. 17, 1903: Wright Brothers’ First Flight; Sept. 8, 1920: U.S. Post Office Begins Transcontinental Airmail Delivery; 1924-1976: Howard Hughes Builds a Business Empire; May 20, 1927: Lindbergh Makes the First Nonstop Transatlantic Flight; May 20-21, 1932: First Transatlantic Solo Flight by a Woman; June 25, 1936: The DC-3 Opens a New Era of Air Travel.
August 5, 1909
Tariff Act of 1909 Limits Corporate Privacy The Tariff Act of 1909 forced corporations, for the first time, to open their books to the U.S. government for inspection and audit. Also known as: Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act Locale: Washington, D.C. Categories: Government and politics; trade and commerce; laws, acts, and legal history Key Figures William Howard Taft (1857-1930), president of the United States, 1909-1913 Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich (1841-1915), U.S. senator from Rhode Island Sereno Elisha Payne (1843-1914), U.S. senator from New York 772
Summary of Event The Tariff Act of 1909, also known as the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, can be characterized as one part of a growing progressive reaction against rapid concentrations of wealth in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Social forces were driven by sentiment against business tycoons who were perceived as reaping exorbitant profits at the expense of the masses of laborers. In the meantime, political figures, determined to address the concerns of their constituents, were also challenged by growing federal deficits. The need to finance and eradicate the national debt while circumventing the appearance of imposing an income tax, declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, was imperative. The direct result was an excise tax on corporate forms of businesses. An indirect result was the authorization for the Internal Revenue Service to
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
Morgan family bought the Morse shipping interests, a competitor to the Morgan New Haven Railroad. Morgan’s United States Steel Corporation bought the troubled Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. Monopolies and highly concentrated markets were formed as a result of this financial concentration. For example, by 1900, 95 percent of the railroad track in the United States was owned by six investment groups. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was designed to defuse monopoly power by breaking large monopolies into smaller, diversely owned entities. The government enforced the Sherman Act only loosely, however, and corporations often appeared to have more wealth and political power than did the government. Industrialists circumvented antitrust law by breaking up their consolidated corporations and creating holding companies, which evaded antitrust legislation but in substance were essentially the same form of entities. On the labor side, the experiences of the 1880’s and 1890’s brought a maturity to organized labor, which became strong enough to begin challenging corporate sovereignty. The oppression of labor through low wages, poor working conditions, and long hours encouraged the formation of labor unions. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) grew to a membership of approximately half a million by 1898 and more than 1.6 million by 1906, accounting for more than three-fifths of all trade union workers. The unity of labor, demonstrated by strikes, caused industrialists to become conciliatory toward labor, and corporate concessions were made. For example, the United Mine Workers won an unprecedented victory in 1897 when mine owners met the conditions of 100,000 striking mine workers, including a 20 percent pay increase, an eight-hour workday, abolition of company stores, recognition of the union, and a provision for annual joint conferences with the mine operators. This newfound success encouraged labor to move toward a socialist philosophy; labor’s aim was not to abolish capitalism but to share in corporate profits. U.S. states also began exercising power over corporations by passing prolabor legislation in the early 1900’s. All states passed child protection laws, and many also passed laws to protect laborers, particularly women, from unsafe working conditions. Workers’ compensation laws were passed in Maryland (1902), Montana (1909), Massachusetts (1909), and New York (1910). These laws were declared unconstitutional shortly thereafter but were constitutionally reinstated before 1920. Finally, the federal government saw that the mood in the 773
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audit corporate records with respect to enforcing compliance with the excise tax. The invasion into corporate records and accounting practices, which were until that time considered highly guarded secrets, was as traumatic to business as was the tax itself. Section 38 of the Tariff Act of 1909 authorized a special excise tax on net incomes of domestic corporations, joint stock companies, associations organized for profit and having capital stock represented by shares, insurance companies, and foreign corporations operating in the United States or U.S. territories. The tax was 1 percent of net incomes in excess of five thousand dollars after deductions were allowed for ordinary and necessary operating expenses, losses, depreciation charges, interest and taxes paid, and dividends received from organizations subject to this new tax. All taxable incomes were assessed on a calendar-year basis, with tax returns due on March 1 of the following year. Penalties were determined for fraud, failure to file, and late returns. Fraud carried a corporate penalty of 100 percent of the tax due and a fine that ranged from a minimum of one thousand dollars to a maximum of ten thousand dollars. Individuals responsible for fraud were subject to fines of up to one thousand dollars, imprisonment of up to one year, or both. Failure to file a return carried a corporate penalty of 150 percent of the tax due and a fine that ranged from a minimum of one thousand dollars to a maximum of ten thousand dollars. Responsible individuals were subject to the same fines and imprisonment terms as set forth for fraud. Corporations were assessed a penalty of 5 percent of the tax due plus 1 percent interest, per month, of the tax due for late returns. The period from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s was one in which the United States experienced a transition from an agricultural economy to an industrial one. This transition caused a population shift from rural areas to the cities. Wealth became concentrated among the few who were fortunate enough to own businesses. The business climate was ripe for increases in wealth for going concerns, as business was favored by cheap immigrant labor and raw materials, an expanding market, and high protective tariffs against imports, such as those imposed by the Dingley Tariff Act of 1897. Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller reached their financial zeniths during this period in the steel, banking, and railroad industries, among others. The recessions of 1893 and 1907 also contributed to wealth concentration, as they allowed or encouraged large corporations to buy out smaller firms that were unable to weather the financial storms. For example, the
Tariff Act of 1909 Limits Corporate Privacy
Tariff Act of 1909 Limits Corporate Privacy country was right for a challenge to the power of corporate America. The convergence of social, political, and legal sentiment against large corporations led to the Tariff Act of 1909, which was sponsored by Senator Sereno Elisha Payne and Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich. Aldrich was a particularly powerful member of the Senate who wished to mitigate or repeal certain tariffs contained in the Dingley Tariff Act of 1897 pertaining to favored special-interest groups. To offset the revenue reductions, however, new taxes had to be imposed to meet the federal deficit, which stood at $100 million. Opposed to an income tax, Aldrich included an inheritance tax in the act. A coalition of Republican Party dissidents demanded that an income tax be included. To prevent a split within the Republican Party, President William Howard Taft stepped in and worked out a compromise. The result was the Tariff Act of 1909, which authorized an excise tax on the privilege of operating corporate forms of business, with the excise based on corporate net income. Significance The immediate, and most significant, impact of the Tariff Act of 1909 was the intrusion of government into corporate financial affairs. Through the act, government established implicit control of corporations, at least in principle. The Internal Revenue Service was authorized to audit corporate records if it had reason to believe returns were incorrect or not filed as required. The government was also authorized to use the courts to force compliance. The special tax, which looked more like an income tax than an excise tax, was challenged in Flint v. Stone Tracy Company in 1911 and was affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court as constitutional. The Court ruled that it was an indirect tax, not a direct tax, on individuals through stock ownership and therefore was not subject to apportionment according to the population. The Court expounded that there were distinct advantages to operating in the corporate form of entity and that Congress had the right to attach an excise tax to that privilege. The tax could be based on any component of a corporation that Congress saw fit, including income. The 1911 Supreme Court decision made it apparent that corporations had no further recourse. For the first time in history, records of U.S. corporations were open to outside inspection. Laissez-faire no longer applied. Furthermore, the requirement to report corporate income on standardized government forms set in motion a standardization of accounting principles and an accountability to 774
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 shareholders that had been virtually nonexistent before. Prior to 1909, corporate records were guarded closely by the few principal corporate owners. Most investment bankers and stockholders were uninformed regarding the financial positions and operations of corporations. They relied on the reports of the principals, sometimes to their detriment. Moreover, investors were generally unsophisticated in financial matters and were therefore willing to accept the reports in blind faith. When investment bankers asked for audited financial statements, some corporations refused to sell securities through those individuals. Reporting behavior changed as a result of the excise tax. It was not uncommon for corporations to keep two sets of records, one for tax reporting and one for reporting to stockholders and other users of financial statements. Lower, and probably more accurate, earnings were reported to the government. Despite this new accountability to the government, shareholders had no protection from securities fraud until the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Depreciation policy received greater attention as a result of the Tariff Act of 1909 because this was the only expense deductible against income that could be based on estimates rather than determined on a cash basis. Before the act’s passage, no method of depreciation allocation was prescribed, and, accordingly, firms used a multitude of methods. For example, Standard Oil Company applied depreciation rates of 6 to 35 percent around 1905, depending on the equipment, but the rates were not necessarily applied in proportion to the normal lives of the assets. John D. Rockefeller, the company’s principal owner, thought that the company assets were undervalued around the time of the Tariff Act. Consequently, the public records of Standard Oil show “depreciation restored.” It is uncertain whether this short-lived practice was used to recapitalize asset values for later tax deductions. Although the Tariff Act of 1909 required no standard method of depreciation, later tariff acts narrowed the methods acceptable for reporting purposes. The corporate excise tax became a corporate income tax in 1913 with the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allowed for direct taxation not apportioned according to population. The difference between the income tax of 1913 and the excise tax before 1913 was one of name only. The reporting requirements were the same. As later tariff acts refined income and expense reporting requirements, tax planning became an important corporate management function. When the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 created the Securities and Exchange
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Commission to regulate the accounting of corporations that publicly traded securities, the commission adopted many of the accounting methods established by the tariff acts, such as depreciation methods and inventory costing methods. The Tariff Act of 1909 thus formed a basis for generally accepted accounting principles to be used by publicly owned corporations. —Paul A. Shoemaker
Modern America. 3d ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1984. Presents a descriptive account of the beliefs, assumptions, and values that shaped the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. Provides indirect evidence of social forces influencing and leading to the Tariff Act, with accounts of attitudes and events during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Faulkner, Harold U. The Decline of Laissez Faire, 18971917. 1951. Reprint. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1977. Comprehensive history of economic, business, and technological progress during this period. Entire chapters are devoted to manufacturing, railroads, and agriculture. Includes illustrations. _______. The Quest for Social Justice, 1898-1914. 1931. Reprint. New York: Franklin Watts, 1971. Presents a history of social thought and attitudes during this period. Explains the dynamics of attitudes and practices of business and labor, providing many examples. Ratner, Sidney. Taxation and Democracy in America. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1967. Excellent source for information on the social, political, and economic history of taxation in the United States up to World War II. Chapters 12 and 13 provide excellent coverage of the Tariff Act of 1909. Seligman, Edwin. The Income Tax: A Study of the History, Theory, and Practice of Income Taxation at Home and Abroad. 2d ed. 1914. Reprint. Clark, N.J.: Lawbook Exchange, 2004. Relatively general in nature. Provides a theoretical perspective on the history of taxation. See also: Mar., 1909-1912: Republican Congressional Insurgency; Feb. 25, 1913: U.S. Federal Income Tax Is Authorized; Sept. 8, 1916: United States Establishes a Permanent Tariff Commission; June 6, 1934: Securities and Exchange Commission Is Established.
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Further Reading Anderson, Donald F. William Howard Taft: A Conservative’s Conception of the Presidency. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1973. Examines all aspects of Taft’s presidency. Chapter 4 discusses the political bargaining Taft used to secure passage of the Tariff Act of 1909, particularly the instrumental support gained from Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon and from Senator Aldrich, who opposed corporate income taxation. Beth, Loren P. The Development of the American Constitution: 1877-1917. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Provides insight into the political, economic, and social events surrounding constitutional reform in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Chapter 5 sheds light on the attitude of the U.S. Supreme Court toward business in the areas of labor relations and taxation. Carson, Gerald. The Golden Egg: The Personal Income Tax—Where It Came from, How It Grew. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977. Chronicles the political events surrounding and perpetuating income taxation. Primarily concerned with the income taxation of individuals, but chapters 4 through 7 provide insight into the politics leading to the corporate excise tax. Entertaining reading for those interested in political behavior. Degler, Carl N. Out of Our Past: The Forces That Shaped
Tariff Act of 1909 Limits Corporate Privacy
First Auto Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
August 19, 1909
First Auto Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Carl G. Fisher and three colleagues built the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and sponsored the first auto racing in the United States. This modest investment and dangerous venture led to the building of a brick track, the venue of the first Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day, 1911. As a result of this event, auto racing quickly gained popularity in the United States. Also known as: Indianapolis 500 Locale: Indianapolis, Indiana Categories: Sports; organizations and institutions; transportation Key Figures Carl G. Fisher (1874-1939), principal investor in the building and development of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway James Allison (fl. early twentieth century), engineer and one of four investors involved in building and developing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Frank Wheeler (fl. early twentieth century), one of four investors involved in building and developing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Arthur Newby (fl. early twentieth century), one of four investors involved in building and developing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Summary of Event When auto racing began in France in the late nineteenth century, it was considered a sport for rich young men because they were the only ones who could afford to buy automobiles. The first officially recorded auto race was held in France in 1894: It stretched approximately 70 miles, from Paris to Rouen, and the competing cars traveled at less than 12 miles per hour. The following year, a much longer race was held, beginning in Paris and ending in Bordeaux. The year 1906 saw the establishment of the French Grand Prix, which included drivers from several European countries. Auto racing’s reach also extended to Great Britain in that year, when an English aristocrat built the Broadlands Race Track on his property. Inspired by the races at Broadlands, Carl Fisher and three other investors, James Allison, Frank Wheeler, and Arthur Newby, made plans to build the first American track for automobile racing. The men bought 328 acres of land on the outskirts of Indianapolis, Indiana, where they intended to make a test facility for racing cars. The men also planned to hold periodic races on the track in 776
order to introduce the public to the new and fast-growing automotive industry and to lead the way in advancements that would ultimately lead to both modern motor racing and modern automobile design. The new 2.5-mile-long rectangular speedway consisted of four turns that were highly banked and joined by long, straight stretches of track. The speedway’s original surface combined crushed rock and tar, but this substance tended to break apart during races and posed significant dangers to drivers, and it was quickly replaced with more than three million paving bricks. The bricks were placed in sand and secured with mortar to make a more stable and safer racing surface. This change was completed in December of 1909 and led to the track’s nickname: the Brickyard. The first race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway took place on August 19, 1909. It was a short, two-lap, 5-mile race that drew a crowd of more than twelve thousand spectators and opened three days of auto and motorcycle races. Although the races were relatively short, there were numerous accidents and six deaths involving drivers, mechanics, and spectators. The number of accidents, injuries, and deaths in both the automobile and motorcycle races at this inaugural event led the track’s owners and managers to make significant changes to the track’s surface. Afterward, Fisher and his partners continued to refine and improve the events at their racetrack. In December of 1909, shortly after the track was repaved with bricks, extremely cold weather forced the cancellation of a planned series of races scheduled for that month and forced the owners to wait until May to begin racing on the new surface. As a result of low attendance at the newly resurfaced track, Fisher and his colleagues decided to present a much larger and more ambitious plan. The first 500-mile race took place on May 30, 1911, and it immediately became a major fixture in auto racing. Less than two years after the first motor racing took place at Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway held its first 500-mile race in front of an audience of eighty thousand. Forty drivers competed, and the winner, Ray Harroun, averaged just under 75 miles per hour to win the race in a little less than seven hours. Significance In spite of its early difficulties, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway became the home of what is now known
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
First Auto Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
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1909
as “the greatest spectacle in racing.” The sport went through a series of changes and improvements in the years after the speedway’s first winner completed the 200-lap race. As a testament to the sport’s appeal, racTo view image, please refer to the ing at Indianapolis survived a series print edition of this title. of difficulties, including track disasters and deaths, the Great Depression, organizational feuds, and many advances in technology. With a seating capacity of more than four hundred thousand, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway became one of the best-attended venues in sports. By the end of the twentieth cenRay Harroun wheels his Marmon Wasp racer to the finish line in the inaugural Indy tury, the speedway began to make 500-mile race on May 30, 1911. (AP/Wide World Photos) some significant changes to its schedule and policies. In 1994, Tony George, the speedway’s president, the development of Western cultures. One chapter welcomed the National Association for Stock Car Auto deals specifically with the history of auto racing. Racing (NASCAR) to Indianapolis by adding the Fisher, Jerry M. The Pacesetter: The Untold Story of Brickyard 400 to the speedway’s schedule. Four years Carl G. Fisher. Fort Bragg, Calif.: Lost Coast Press, later, George again made history by adding Formula One 1998. Biography of the primary creator of the Indy racing to the list of races held at the Indianapolis Motor 500. Details his relationships with such men as Henry Speedway, and the first U.S. Grand Prix was held at the Ford, Harvey Firestone, and Eddie Rickenbacker. historic track in 2000. Women began to make a signifiMartin, James A., and Thomas F. Saal. American Auto cant impact on the sport when drivers such as Lyn St. Racing: The Milestones and Personalities of a CenJames, Sarah Fisher, and Danica Patrick were accepted tury of Speed. New York: McFarland, 2004. An exas race competitors. In 2005, Danica Patrick made hiscellent resource that covers the history of auto racing tory in her rookie season by leading the Indy 500, a first from its beginning in France. Discusses the different for a woman driver at the speedway. kinds of automobile racing and the people and events Since the first successful 500-mile race at the Indiathat make the sport one of the most popular in the napolis Motor Speedway, both the race speeds and popuUnited States. larity have experienced significant increases. The Indy Taylor, Rich. Indy: Seventy-Five Years of Racing’s 500 came to be considered the most prestigious race in Greatest Spectacle. New York: St. Martin’s Press, the sport, and the speedway was widely recognized as the 1991. A thorough history of the Indianapolis Motor most famous track in the world. With race speeds reguSpeedway that traces its existence from 1909 to 1991. larly topping 200 miles per hour in races at the beginning Includes numerous pictures, race results from each of the twenty-first century and with the increased status year, and a wealth of technical information about the and popularity of Indy 500 winners, this event has earned sport. its reputation and fame. —Kimberley M. Holloway See also: Mar. 4, 1902: American Automobile Association Is Established; July 1, 1903: First Tour de Further Reading France; June 26-27, 1906: First Grand Prix Auto Baker, William J. Sports in the Western World. Urbana: Race; 1927: Number of U.S. Automakers Falls to University of Illinois Press, 1988. Discusses the influForty-Four. ence of a variety of sports, including auto racing, on
Canada Cement Affair Prompts Legislative Reform
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
October, 1909
Canada Cement Affair Prompts Legislative Reform The formation of the Canada Cement Company began the first great Canadian merger wave and precipitated a financial and political scandal that reached its peak during the 1911 election. Locale: Canada Categories: Trade and commerce; government and politics Key Figures William Maxwell Aitken (1879-1964), president of the Royal Securities Corporation Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915), director of the Canadian Pacific Railway and president of the Western Canada Cement and Coal Company Sir Edward Seaborne Clouston (1849-1912), general manager and vice president of the Bank of Montreal Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1841-1919), prime minister of Canada, 1896-1911 William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874-1950), labor minister of Canada, 1909-1911 Robert Laird Borden (1854-1937), prime minister of Canada, 1911-1920 Summary of Event Consolidated in October, 1909, the Canada Cement Company was formed through one of the first of about forty major industrial mergers that swept Canadian business during a four-year period. The company’s size and the alleged monopoly power it created made the merger the most publicized of the era. Canada Cement’s promoter, William Maxwell Aitken (later Lord Beaverbrook), would be lionized in the establishment press as a financial wizard and pilloried in the populist press as a maker of trusts. Sentiment against Canada Cement and other mergers ran so high that Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s government was pressured into passing an antitrust law targeting mergers. When the general public became aware of a business dispute between Aitken and Sir Sandford Fleming, a prominent and respected member of Canadian society, their struggle became part of the intense political campaign then being waged over a prospective free trade agreement between Canada and the United States. As in the case of Great Britain’s Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers merger in 1900, the origins of Canada Cement lay in the technological revolution sweeping the portland cement industry at the end of the 778
nineteenth century. Large rotary kilns fired by pulverized coal produced better and cheaper cement (and thus better and cheaper concrete), which was rapidly becoming the building material of choice throughout the advanced industrial world. This technological change, coupled with the unparalleled economic growth that Canada experienced during the first decade of the twentieth century, resulted in the establishment of dozens of new portland cement plants throughout the country to supply the booming construction industry. This new mass-production technology, however, created a glut of cement during the industrial downturn that followed the financial panic of 1907. Operations that were just coming onstream in 1908 were hardest hit. One of these companies, the Western Canada Cement and Coal Company, with its plant at Exshaw, Alberta, found that the only way to prevent bankruptcy was to dilute its debt in a merger with a number of other, more solvent, cement companies. After consulting with Sir Edward Seaborne Clouston, the general manager and vice president of the Bank of Montreal, Canada’s largest and most powerful financial institution, Western Canada Cement’s board members called on Aitken, then a young Montreal investment banker, to lead the merger syndicate. Clouston, whose own bank was owed hundreds of thousands of dollars by Western Canada Cement, believed that Aitken was the man to execute the merger properly and thereby protect the Bank of Montreal’s interest. He thought so highly of Aitken that he had been a regular member of Aitken’s underwriting syndicates and had become a shareholder in Aitken’s investment bank, the Royal Securities Corporation. Aitken started work on the merger negotiations in April, 1909, and by the summer he had convinced the owners of every modern plant in the country, as well as some older but larger cement producers, to join his consolidation. He hoped that the resulting company would be able to eliminate overproduction and prevent the price of cement from falling any further. Although the chief shareholders of the companies joining the merger were enthusiastic supporters of Aitken’s strategy, some were forced to accept less than they thought their companies were worth. Aitken was particularly hard on Fleming, the president of two companies entering the merger, who not only had to accept less for his International Portland Cement Company shares but also had to reduce the debt load carried by his Western Canada Cement Company
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
The Bank of Montreal had also lost money on the Western Canada Cement sale. Determined to recoup at least a portion of the bank’s debt, Clouston sued Fleming and members of Fleming’s family on the basis of personal guarantees they had given the bank for loans to Western Canada Cement. Clouston’s position in the lawsuit was complicated, however, by his involvement as an underwriter and part owner of the investment bank promoting Canada Cement as well as by his role in bringing two other Bank of Montreal officers into the promotional syndicate. If this conflict of interest were revealed, the Bank of Montreal’s reputation as a pillar of financial respectability would be destroyed in a scandal sure to rock the normally sedate and conservative business establishment. Significance Fleming’s allegations set off a storm of popular protest against mergers and monopolies in general and against Canada Cement and Aitken in particular. Populists and other opponents of big business and finance came out in favor of Laurier’s proposed reciprocal free trade agreement between the United States and Canada. They had pressured his Liberal government into acting against trusts the previous year, when Laurier had called on his labor minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, to design a piece of legislation that could be used against mergers. King’s response was the Combines Investigation Act, a complex antitrust law that used publicity as its main sanction against monopoly behavior. King’s legislation did not satisfy the populists who wanted to see Canada Cement prosecuted in the same way that the U.S. government had prosecuted the Standard Oil trust. In the summer of 1910, Laurier visited western Canada, where he was met by a wave of populist and antimonopoly sentiment. King’s antitrust legislation had not satisfied Laurier’s western constituents. Because the populists viewed tariffs as the chief cause of trusts, Laurier began secret negotiations with the United States to lower some of the Canadian tariffs preventing American exports to Canada. Ironically, at the same time, farm activists organized a protest in which hundreds of their representatives traveled east by train and then swarmed into the House of Commons in what they would call the “Siege of Ottawa.” For one day, Laurier was forced to listen to petition after petition about the evils of the “eastern trusts.” He did not reveal that the tariff negotiations were going better than expected. To his surprise, Laurier found the United States eager to negotiate a comprehensive free trade agreement with 779
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before it would be allowed to join the merger. This reorganization proved difficult, and by the time of Aitken’s deadline of February, 1910, Western Canada Cement found that the majority of its bondholders in Great Britain were unwilling to reduce the value of their securities. At this point, Fleming began to pressure Canada Cement into accepting his plant on easier terms. As honorary president and one of the original incorporators of the newly merged company, Fleming should have been in a strong position to extract some concession from Canada Cement, but Aitken, working behind the scenes with other Canada Cement directors and his own lawyers, argued against this course of action. Facing an unexpected wall of opposition, Fleming tried to pressure his fellow directors into settling with Western Canada Cement by alleging that Canada Cement had overissued $12 million worth of securities to Aitken as remuneration for his promoting services. Fleming threatened to go public with his allegations. In an effort to prevent the damage that such bad publicity would inflict on Canada Cement, the company’s board gave Fleming more time to reorganize Western Canada Cement’s debts and agreed to order an investigation into Aitken’s promotion of the company, allowing Fleming’s lawyer to act as one of the two investigators. Their report, submitted in July, 1910, revealed that Canada Cement had not been “robbed” by Aitken, as Fleming had alleged. Fleming did not accept the report, however, nor did he attempt to write down Western Canada Cement’s debt in order to meet his new deadline. Instead, he presented a proposal to Western Canada Cement’s English bondholders to allow him to reorganize the company and run it as a rival to the new merger. Meanwhile, Aitken, who had just moved to London, met directly with the bondholders and convinced them that they would be better off selling their interest in Fleming’s company at a discount to Canada Cement. The sale took place in January, 1911, forcing the liquidation of Western Canada Cement and its transfer to Canada Cement for the bargain price of less than $1.5 million. Fleming vowed revenge, as the sale had left him out in the cold. He distributed a circular criticizing the actions of both Aitken and Canada Cement and publicly resigned from his position as honorary president of the company. He then petitioned the prime minister of Canada, demanding a government inquiry into the affair. Prime Minister Laurier met with Fleming but stalled on ordering an inquiry because of the presence of influential members of his own party on the Canada Cement board.
Canada Cement Affair Prompts Legislative Reform
Canada Cement Affair Prompts Legislative Reform Canada. To protect Canadian manufacturers and his political support in central Canada, however, Laurier restricted the agreement predominantly to natural goods. When this proposal, known as the reciprocity agreement, was presented in Parliament in January, 1911, Laurier thought he had a perfect deal. The removal of dozens of tariffs would dampen the antimonopoly sentiment of the western populists, while the exemption of manufactured goods would satisfy the manufacturers of central and eastern Canada. Laurier soon found, however, that most Canadian businesspeople opposed the proposed trade deal. The Canadian Manufacturers Association in particular feared that an agreement on natural goods would eventually lead to a steady northward stream of manufactured goods as a result of a comprehensive free trade agreement between the two countries. These sentiments were heartily supported by Conservative Party leader Robert Laird Borden, who led a crusade against the reciprocity agreement, and by Aitken, who had opposed the dismantling of the Canadian tariff since 1909 by publishing antireciprocity and anti-American propaganda in his weekly magazine, Canadian Century. Aitken threatened to enter the political fray by becoming one of Borden’s chief election managers, much to Laurier’s chagrin. In December, 1910, Aitken had been elected a Unionist (pro-imperialist) member of Great Britain’s Parliament, but he continued to keep in touch with Borden. In April, 1911, Borden wrote to Aitken to tell him that an election on reciprocity was imminent and that he expected Aitken to return to Canada and help him defeat Laurier by organizing the Conservative campaign in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. To prevent Aitken from returning, Laurier gave the impression that he might order the public inquiry into Canada Cement that Fleming demanded. Aitken himself wanted to explain his side of the story in public to defend his own reputation, but many of his business associates, some closely connected to Clouston and the Bank of Montreal, urged him not to do so. They reached a compromise in which Aitken would remain in Great Britain on the condition that Laurier would agree to prevent a government inquiry into the Canada Cement affair. Aitken’s associates urged him to accept the deal, arguing that the press campaign being waged against him would last only a few days and never do permanent harm to his reputation. Aitken reluctantly agreed, mainly to protect Clouston, to whom he felt great loyalty for past support. As a consequence, the nature of Canadian finance capitalism in general and Aitken’s activities in particu780
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 lar were never subjected to government investigation. Nevertheless, newspaper coverage of the affair permanently scarred Aitken’s reputation. Aitken would never be able to dispel the prevalent image of himself as a crook, despite the fact that he had not taken even onefifth of what Fleming alleged as his profit for promoting Canada Cement. Clouston, along with the two Bank of Montreal officers involved in the Canada Cement promotion, resigned and devoted more of his time and energy to his investments in the Royal Securities Corporation. Clouston died of a heart attack in the offices of the Royal Securities Corporation the following year while talking to Arthur Doble, his old executive secretary at the bank and now general manager of Royal Securities in Canada. Despite Laurier’s best efforts, he lost the election of September, 1911, to the Conservative Party under Borden. As a result of reciprocity’s defeat, free trade between Canada and the United States remained a political impossibility until 1988. During the interwar years, the polarization and western alienation evident during the merger wave of 1909-1913 resulted in new forces of opposition to the “eastern” monopolies and financiers. These forces included western political parties, such as the Progressive Party, the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, and the Social Credit Party, that would challenge the hegemony of the established parties. Throughout it all, the Canada Cement affair remained the central focus of popular criticism against the Canadian business and financial establishment. —Gregory P. Marchildon Further Reading Bliss, Michael. Northern Enterprise: Five Centuries of Canadian Business. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1987. Survey of the history of Canadian enterprise puts the first Canadian merger movement into historical perspective and briefly addresses the role of Aitken and the Royal Securities Corporation. Chisholm, Anne, and Michael Davie. Beaverbrook: A Life. London: Hutchinson, 1992. One of the most objective and well-written biographies of Aitken available. Provides a brief summary of his Canadian financial career and includes an appendix on the Canada Cement affair. Creighton, Donald Grant. Dominion of the North: A History of Canada. Rev. ed. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1972. Focuses on significant events in Canadian history. Provides useful context and background for an understanding of the Canada Cement affair.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Lamoreaux, Naomi R. The Great Merger Movement in American Business, 1895-1904. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Provides a good explanation of how capital-intensive production processes and rapid growth around the end of the nineteenth century resulted in overproduction and declining prices, helping to create a merger wave. Focuses on the United States, but the principles discussed are applicable to the Canadian case. McMenemy, John. The Language of Canadian Politics: A Guide to Important Terms and Concepts. 3d ed. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2001. Collection of more than five hundred brief essays on a wide range of topics related to the Canadian
Completion of the AEG Turbine Factory system of government, Canadian political history, Canadian laws and legal history, and more. Naylor, R. T. The History of Canadian Business, 18671914. 1975. Reprint. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1997. Presents a largely negative view of Aitken, Canada Cement, and the impact of the merger movement on Canadian business and society. See also: Feb. 26, 1901: Morgan Assembles the World’s Largest Corporation; 1902: Cement Manufacturers Agree to Cooperate on Pricing; Mar. 14, 1904: U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Northern Securities; 1911-1920: Borden Leads Canada Through World War I.
October, 1909
Completion of the AEG Turbine Factory
Locale: Berlin, Germany Categories: Architecture; manufacturing and industry Key Figures Peter Behrens (1868-1940), German artist, designer, and architect Paul Jordan (1854-1937), German engineer and corporate executive Karl Bernhard (b. 1854), German engineer Oskar Lasche (1868-1923), German engineer and factory manager Summary of Event The relation between industry and creative design was a troubling issue in European culture at the start of the twentieth century. The huge scale and utilitarian motives of the age’s new structures—steel bridges, railroad sheds, factories—mocked the idea that applying traditional ornamentation to them would humanize them. Beyond that, the mysterious processes of industry itself met no standard model for humanistic culture. Traditional designs were out of sync with the new machine world, but that world seemed too given over to utility and exploitation to be worth celebrating with new forms. The Deutscher Werkbund, an organization of craftsmen founded in 1907, declared that the problem had to be
fought at its source: Workers, managers, and consumers should have their spirits elevated through factories and products designed by great artists. Peter Behrens’s designs for the AEG (Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft, or German General Electric Company) gave stylistic expression to the Werkbund’s ambition. At first, Behrens thought that industrial standardization had to be fought through the bizarre, individualistic forms of Art Nouveau (called Jugendstil in Germany). He soon decided, however, that Art Nouveau’s extremism betrayed the nature of architecture, which is based on utility, geometry, solidity, and rhythm. He also decided (based on his reading of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche) that it was his responsibility as an artist to seek out, embrace, and transform the most powerful force of the age. For Behrens, as for the Werkbund, that force was technology; he believed, therefore, that the great modern architect must design in accordance with industry’s characteristics—matter-of-factness, forcefulness, monumental scale, standardization, and repetition—without losing his identity to the machine. The directors of the electrical conglomerate AEG accepted the Werkbund’s ideas about art and industry. The corporation was so successful and powerful that its leaders felt a responsibility to make it a cultural force for good commensurate with its economic might. Paul Jordan, AEG’s director of factories, thought the corporation should do this by making AEG’s products and factories works of art, spreading aesthetic awareness to their users. In 1907, AEG hired Behrens as its artistic adviser. 781
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Peter Behrens’s design for a modern factory building proved that functionalism and creativity could coexist in the architecture of the industrial age.
Completion of the AEG Turbine Factory Behrens first brought his new simple, geometric style to AEG’s brochures and casings for its small appliances. Their simplicity and unity of style, he said, were analogies for the functionalism and mass-produced repetition of the products themselves. In 1908, AEG factory director Oskar Lasche invited Behrens to take part in the design of a new turbine factory on Huttenstrasse in Berlin. This marked the first time that Behrens had the opportunity to shape an AEG product from its inception. His ambition was to create a factory that would be an artistic statement without hiding its functionalism behind ornament. The heart of the building was a pair of fifty-ton cranes, designed by civil engineer Karl Bernhard, that carried turbine components down the center of the factory. The 660-foot-long double line of supports for the cranes determined the shape of the building. Behrens incorporated the supporting frame into the exterior surface of the building, a row of load-bearing columns designed on the principle of the Greek temple. Where the row stopped at Huttenstrasse, the box shape suggested by the frame required symmetrical, monumental expression. Behrens shaped this end to suggest both the force and the smoothness of machine operations, giving it a plain, six-sided gable over a huge central window. The barrel-vaulted roof required for the gable was Behrens’s only interference in Bernhard’s functional plans. The steel frame, its concrete footing, and the glass window infill determined all visible materials for the building. There would be no decorative brick or stone disguise on this factory. Behrens’s design—built in six months and completed in October, 1909—was a huge, stark-looking, but perfectly balanced expression of industrial forces. On the side elevation, exposed steel columns set thirty feet apart, resting on austerely crafted hinges on concrete bases, marched inexorably down the building’s length. Their finely tuned proportions turned Behrens’s image of industry—endless repetition creating a standardized world—into a dignified colonnade. The inner faces of the steel frame sloped inward to meet the crane’s stresses, which Behrens expressed by setting the great windows between the columns at a slant as well. This threw the colonnade into even greater prominence, making clear that it was the building’s essential structure, and brought out the horizontal sweep of the overhanging roof. Behrens’s imagery changed on the Huttenstrasse front, which was eighty-two feet square. He accentuated the templelike appearance of the gable end by making the building’s corners into massive, rounded concrete py782
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 lons, which were grooved with horizontal steel bands to carry the side elevation’s impression of endless length around the corner. The concrete was only a curtain wall between the steel beams, and Behrens revealed this by sloping the pylons inward at the top, as he did with the side windows. Nevertheless, the pillars and the concrete gable gave a weighty dignity to the building’s most visible side. The gable end was Behrens’s metaphor for modern industry, transforming brutal utility into a simple, dignified shrine to humanity’s powers. Significance The AEG turbine factory created a sensation among architects, business leaders, and the public. For the first time, a famous architect had combined forces with the machine age instead of trying to hide from it. For architects and critics, the lesson was of enormous importance. Behrens had applied personal creativity to the impersonal demands of functionalism; he had created a building that was a servant of modern industry but was shaped by the values of the artist. The success of the AEG turbine factory fulfilled the company directors’ hopes for bringing art into industry. Behrens became director of all the corporation’s design projects, and his work for AEG, which lasted through World War I and continued intermittently afterward until his death in 1940, extended beyond factories and consumer products to housing for company employees. Other German companies hired avant-garde architects, notably Werkbund member Hans Poelzig and Behrens’s former assistant Walter Gropius, to design objects, shops, and factories. For the first time, radical architecture was solidly identified with the machine age. Behrens’s prestige meant that his work for AEG added sales value to the company’s products. AEG benefited from the increased attractiveness of the items he designed, and the reputation for cultural sensitivity that his factory designs brought to AEG made for excellent public relations. The turbine factory’s fame only reinforced the idea that hiring an advanced artist or architect to apply “industrial design” to products paid off. Behrens’s faithful, inspired application of Werkbund goals for the AEG brought the concept of product styling, and the notion that avant-gardism could be a lifestyle accessory, into the marketplace. The other part of Behrens’s success made the architect a major participant in social and cultural policy. Behrens designed employee housing because Jordan’s goal in hiring him was to improve the quality of life for all who came in contact with AEG. Putting workers’ living space
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
defying and free, a reflection of human potential in the new age. The deepest lessons of Behrens’s architecture came out after World War I, when the old world had been swept away. Gropius brought his vision of a new world of basic industrial shapes, directed by Behrens’s vision of the architect redesigning the entire world, into the founding of the Bauhaus school in 1919. In 1926, Gropius transformed the vision of a dematerialized, abstract, steel-and-glass architecture into one of the masterpieces of the 1920’s, the Bauhaus building in Dessau. Two other former Behrens employees, Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, pushed Behrens’s discoveries even further to create a new style. Mies van der Rohe refined industrial building down to the classically simple steel frame; Le Corbusier applied an artist’s eye to functionalist “types” to create pure forms. The idealism behind Behrens’s decision to serve industry created the sense of purpose with which the modern movement of the 1920’s transformed architecture. Although modern architecture’s shapes and immediate ends became different from Behrens’s, the goal—to comprehend, control, and ennoble the forces of modernity—continued the lesson of the AEG factory. — M. David Samson Further Reading Anderson, Stanford. Peter Behrens and a New Architecture for the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000. Places Behrens and his work in architecture within the cultural context of the times. Includes illustrations, a list of Behrens’s architectural works, bibliography, and index. Buddensieg, Tilmann. Industriekultur: Peter Behrens and the AEG. Translated by Iain Boyd Whyte. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1984. The essential source on the subject and an invaluable guide to debate on art and industry after 1900 in Germany. Excellent photos of Behrens’s buildings, products, and illustrations. Includes catalog of designs, appendixes, bibliography, and index. Campbell, Joan. The German Werkbund: The Politics of Reform in the Applied Arts. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1978. History of the Werkbund’s ideas, organization, and influence. Gives little attention to specific works of architecture or to architects except as they participated in Werkbund leadership. Clarifies the different influences on architectural avant-gardism in Germany. Includes chronological summary and index. 783
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under the direction of a sensitive artist would, in theory, make employees more spiritually healthy, in the same way that turning the factory into a work of art would make them more in harmony with their labor. The idealistic notion of architecture behind this hope had implications beyond the simple fostering of good employee relations. It implied that the avant-garde architect should be the master coordinator of the new industrial world, rebuilding both its public and private sides, physically and spiritually. Behrens himself constantly referred to the philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Georg Hegel, with their claims that the artist gives form to the deepest impulses of the age, as his sources. Such theories combined with German architectural critics’ obsession with the deeper purpose of art to encourage a messianic vision of architecture. Behrens’s example pushed Werkbund-inspired architects to test his ideas still further. The major question raised by the turbine factory was whether its success owed more to obedience to function and standardization or to personal artistic vision. Debate on the topic split the Werkbund in 1914 between the antistandardization, Jugendstil individualists and the profunctionalist backers of the anonymous “type” in architecture. The very success of Behrens’s design forced the issue of how completely the architect could surrender to industry’s needs and remain an artist. The question was revived at the end of World War I in the battles between “expressionists” and “functionalists” in modern architecture. In the end, the hope of being useful to society in a chaotic time led most radical architects to embrace functionalism; however, Behrens’s initial goal of transforming function into a symbolic representation of the machine age never fully disappeared. In addition, in the 1920’s, few avantgardists wanted to serve big business as Behrens had; it was necessary to find some more democratic purpose for utilitarianism, such as public housing. Some architects viewed the AEG turbine factory as old-fashioned and dishonest in the way it placed art before function. The gabled roof was unnecessary, the concrete corners created a false image of a massive stone building, and the building sides not visible to the public had been left ugly and inharmonious. Behrens’s former employee Walter Gropius applied the idea of a simple, cubic architecture based on industrial materials even more ruthlessly. Gropius’s 1911 Fagus shoe-last factory was an asymmetrical complex with a flat roof and, instead of concrete pillars, sheets of glass wrapping around the corners of a light steel-frame box. The rigid, heavy industrial aesthetic discovered by Behrens became gravity-
Completion of the AEG Turbine Factory
Garbage Industry Introduces Reforms Curtis, William. Modern Architecture Since 1900. 3d ed. London: Phaidon Press, 1996. Textbook history includes a chapter on the Werkbund and follows its and Behrens’s later influence on Gropius, Le Corbusier, and Mies van der Rohe. A good balance of art history and the history of architectural theory. Index. Frampton, Kenneth. Modern Architecture: A Critical History. 3d ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1992. The author’s sensitivity to the impact of industrial capitalism on architecture makes the chapter on the Werkbund outstanding. Includes select bibliography and index. Pevsner, Nikolaus. Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius. Rev. ed. New Ha-
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 ven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2005. Revision and enlargement of a work first published in 1936 as Pioneers of the Modern Movement. Treats architectural and design history after 1850 as the background to Gropius’s Bauhaus concepts. Dated and biased on that account, but unity of argument and attention to the applied arts help clarify Behrens’s context. Includes index. See also: 1903: Hoffmann and Moser Found the Wiener Werkstätte; Oct., 1907: Deutscher Werkbund Is Founded; 1919: German Artists Found the Bauhaus; 1937: Prouvé Pioneers Architectural Prefabrication.
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Garbage Industry Introduces Reforms Responding to pressure from public health officials, municipal authorities reduced urban waste problems by implementing systems of centralized collection and disposal along with industrial recycling. Locale: United States Categories: Environmental issues; health and medicine; government and politics Key Figure William F. Morse (fl. early twentieth century), American engineer Summary of Event In the early twentieth century, a major shift occurred in the way American cities dealt with their solid waste. The time-honored tradition of dumping in the vicinity of dwellings (and thus providing materials for future archaeologists) was replaced by municipal efforts at centralizing collection and disposal. These municipal efforts included the expansion of methods of burning garbage to reduce it and sorting garbage to find reusable or recyclable resources. The new approach stemmed from the fact that expanding populations were concentrating in urban areas. An important public health movement had already begun working for the establishment of housing standards and other efforts to clean up the growing and increasingly polluted and unhealthy industrial cities. Untended trash was only one of several indications of the need for new ways to protect human health in urban settings. Passage 784
of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 was the federal government’s first step toward controlling indiscriminate dumping into the nation’s navigable waters. Although the municipal solid waste of the time did not include disposable diapers, single-service packaging, or fast-food residues, it did contain roughly the same percentages of paper, organic waste (such as food), and miscellaneous other materials as does modern solid waste. As a result of heating with coal, each household unit accumulated approximately one ton of ash every year. In addition to ash, urban solid waste contained street sweepings, including by-products of animal transportation such as horse manure and dead animals, and household garbage. At that time, the main distinction drawn concerning solid waste was between materials that putrefied, or “garbage,” and those that remained dry, or “trash.” Disposal of garbage was the greatest concern; dry materials were often dumped close to homes. “Refuse” was the term used for a combination of garbage and trash; the most comprehensive term, covering both refuse and construction materials, was “rubbish.” Population growth in U.S. cities in the early twentieth century came from mass immigration from eastern and southern Europe. Rural populations were also beginning to move to urban areas in ever-increasing numbers, changing the United States from a predominantly rural society to an urban one. The high rate of national population growth notwithstanding, cities grew at a rate seven or eight times faster than rural areas.
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innovation that boiled animal carcasses and discarded materials to yield by-products of fat and a residuum used as fertilizer. This type of facility was adapted in various ways in the United States; the typical U.S. adaptation was a press that extracted fats for resale. These facilities were most effective in areas where a large portion of the waste was organic; consequently, most were found near cities such as Milwaukee, St. Paul, Chicago, Denver, and Cleveland. Cities were often the losers when they paid reduction facilities to take solid waste, for reduction operations were often profitable for those who ran them; in addition, the process often had a negative impact on surrounding municipal areas. Nearly two hundred incinerators were built in cities throughout the United States in the second decade of the twentieth century. Most were simply burn facilities, and all were funded by local governments or by user fees. According to a survey of the 1880 U.S. census, at that time about 50 percent of rubbish was dumped or buried in land or water, 25 percent was disposed of through farm use, and the remaining 25 percent was disposed of by a variety of methods, of which burning represented only 1 percent. By 1913, land disposal continued to dominate, but the use of incineration had increased significantly. By the time World War I began, however, incineration had begun to decline again. Incineration remained an important disposal method, but fewer than one hundred incinerator facilities were in operation. Another small boom in incineration came from the implementation of the “destructor” concept, an effort to secure by-products such as heat from the burn. Before incinerators began to be used, less than half of all major U.S. cities had municipal collection of garbage, but by 1913 nearly all had some system in place. Significance Public concerns about the dangers of improperly handled garbage motivated the search for solutions. That search gradually extended beyond the efforts of individuals to municipal authorities, a development common in environmental improvement efforts generally. Health officials had only an imperfect understanding of pathology, and disagreements existed concerning exactly how diseases are spread and the contribution of insects to the problem. Germ theory was developing, but even before exact causal relationships had been identified, common sense dictated that authorities take certain actions. To some extent, the municipal response to the garbage problem was eclipsed by the contributions of sanitary engineers, practitioners of a profession that emerged in re785
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The problems created by the accumulation of garbage were similar to others encountered by the sanitary reform movement. This epoch of U.S. history, the so-called Progressive Era, was also labeled the period of “sewer-pipe socialism.” Social reformers sought to improve housing quality, reduce crowding, and improve municipal services to reduce the unhealthy conditions of urban neighborhoods. One strategy that began to be implemented was the removal of the workplace—along with its congestion and effluents—from residential areas. In response to the dumping of garbage and other solid waste in densely settled areas, which caused noxious byproducts such as disease-carrying vermin and flies, central authorities began to assume responsibility for this environmental problem. Invoking the need to protect public health and safety, government authorities used their police power and municipal funds to solve the problems that were adversely affecting public health. The methods of rubbish reduction used at the time included dumping and systematic combustion. Dumping was usually done in relatively remote locations, where it encouraged scavenging and reclamation of materials, especially rags, paper, and metals. Away from urban areas, rubbish was also reduced through open burning in dumps, a practice that was standard until the late twentieth century. The idea of industrial facilities devoted to rubbish reduction came from Europe. One such facility, using an incinerator, or “cremator,” was built by the U.S. Army, and others were later built in several cities, including Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Wheeling, West Virginia; and Des Moines, Iowa. One effort was undertaken by the Engle Sanitary and Cremation Company, whose agent, William F. Morse, became a major innovator in incineration disposal. Companies began to promote a standard burning-reduction facility in which a combustible material was added to the wet garbage so that it would burn. The main intent was to reduce or dispose of waste; producing heat was secondary. The operation of such facilities required a level of technical knowledge and skill not available until the late nineteenth century. Often, these early incinerators were abandoned because fuel costs and the facilities’ overall inefficiency made running them too expensive. Later, an incinerator known as the “destructor,” an improved version of the early cremator modified from an English model, became a success. More than one hundred of these incinerators were built, and they stayed in operation longer than the cremators had. Another method of rubbish reduction was a European
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Handy Ushers in the Commercial Blues Era sponse to the problems defined by sewer-pipe socialism. As a result of the growth of municipal presence and the work of sanitary engineers, large numbers of people could live in close proximity without fear of disease and contamination. Whatever form their rubbish disposal took, most cities had initiated municipal waste collection programs by 1913. With such programs in place, solid waste was separated into categories, with the principal emphasis on garbage (that part of the waste that would putrefy and reduce). Individuals still separated rubbish into categories for reuse and recycling, and collectors contributed their share to the reuse of certain types of items. This system remained in place until the last quarter of the twentieth century, when sanitary landfilling procedures and new laws required that rubbish material be totally disposed of and covered every day. —Nancy R. Bain Further Reading Blumberg, Louis, and Robert Gottlieb. War on Waste: Can America Win Its Battle with Garbage? Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1989. A history and sociology of the management of solid waste in the United States from the beginning of the twentieth century through the 1980’s. Well documented; includes index. Kharbanda, O. P., and E. A. Stallworthy. Waste Management: Towards a Sustainable Society. New York: Auburn House, 1990. An overview of waste management efforts around the world. Includes notes, tables, and index.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Melosi, Martin V. Garbage in the Cities: Refuse, Reform, and the Environment. Rev. ed. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004. Emphasizes developments in garbage management during the Progressive Era and provides information critical to understanding the sanitation movement. Murarka, Ishwar P., ed. Solid Waste Disposal and Reuse in the United States. 2 vols. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 1987. A useful reference on the production, disposal, and reuse of solid waste. Includes photographs, tables, and index. Rathje, William, and Cullen Murphy. Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage. 1992. Reprint. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2001. Summarizes the history of garbage and includes a discussion of the authors’ long-term garbage project. Royte, Elizabeth. Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash. Boston: Little, Brown, 2005. Blends science, anthropology, and journalism to examine Americans’ relationship with their garbage. Follows the separate journeys of the author’s household trash, compostable matter, recyclables, and sewage to illustrate the realities of waste management. See also: June 27-29, 1906: International Association for the Prevention of Smoke Is Founded; 1910: Euthenics Calls for Pollution Control; 1910: Steinmetz Warns of Pollution in “The Future of Electricity”; 1926: Vernadsky Publishes The Biosphere; 1930’s: Wolman Begins Investigating Water and Sewage Systems.
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Handy Ushers in the Commercial Blues Era W. C. Handy transformed the native music of the backwoods, work camps, and cotton fields of the American South into a commercial craze. Locale: United States Categories: Music; entertainment Key Figures W. C. Handy (1873-1958), American composer and an originator of popular blues Blind Lemon Jefferson (1897-1929), American bluesman and authority on the blues Bessie Smith (1894-1937), American blues singer Ma Rainey (1886-1939), American blues singer 786
Summary of Event Along the lower Mississippi River, from Memphis down to New Orleans, the blues evolved during the post-Civil War years. At a train station in Tutwiler, Mississippi, a black musician named W. C. Handy “rediscovered” the blues in 1903 while listening to a guitarist use a knife to strum a song that Handy subsequently wrote down as his own “Yellow Dog Blues.” The occasion reminded him that, eight years before, he had heard another lone singer “hollering” his blues. Handy’s full enlightenment about this aspect of the Delta cultures surrounding him came as his band, the Knights of Pythias, was playing for a Cleveland, Mississippi, dance later in the year. As bandleader, he was asked to perform “native” music—that is, to play
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 blues. Unable to comply, he allowed three ragged local musicians to do so; when they brought the house down, he realized the music’s commercial value. The event changed his career. Handy later laid legitimate claim to the title “father of the blues,” and the rest of the nation, within a few decades, would embrace the music. Although blues music has been identified accurately as part of jazz, its provenance historically, although murky, was separate. Jazz represented a southern confluence of multiracial and multiethnic urban influences that initially were geographically specific to cities of the southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The spread of jazz and its fusion with other musical forms was another continuing story. Blues music, in contrast, has African origins. The music underwent transformation in the rural areas and small towns of the lower Mississippi, and by the late 1890’s it was specific to people who performed harsh physical labor in the cotton fields of the large Delta plantations, in mining and logging camps, in levee and railroad construction, in freight loading, and in the perpetually debt-
W. C. Handy. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
ridden, segregated, unlettered, and depressed worlds of crop-lien and sharecrop farming. The blues were powerfully emotive, and the sole instrument capable of rendering “blue notes” (sung usually between the third and seventh degrees of the scale) was the human voice. Accompaniment, when there was any, was generally by guitar, which merely filled in as a second voice. In their archaic form, the blues’ twelve-bar stanzas of three lines each did not even lend themselves to musical notation; the rhythm, rhyme, and subtle poetry were the singer’s to provide. Raw, rural, and steeped in subsistence-level living— although their range of subjects was vast—the blues dealt mainly with inevitabilities: hard labor, death, bad crops, sex, loss of a lover, sickness, low wages, scarce money, drink, jail, and a world awash in other troubles. Nevertheless, there sometimes was also an implicit and wry shared humor in the music, as the purpose of the blues was to alleviate distress by means of the traditional open and candid vocal expression especially common to isolated, segregated, and—in formal terms—unschooled people. Handy himself did not come from such a background. Born in Florence, Alabama, the son of a Methodist minister, he was reared in a household that discouraged music and condemned the life of musicians. Nevertheless, thanks to his teachers, he had by the age of ten shown some musical precocity. Following high school, he spent a year as a cornet player with several bands and with Chicago’s Mahara Minstrels; he also spent two years as an instructor at Teacher’s Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes in Huntsville, Alabama. After that came the revelations in Tutwiler and Cleveland and several more years as a bandleader in Mississippi and Tennessee. As late as 1907, when Handy and the lyricist-singer Harry Pace started a music publishing business near Memphis’s thriving black music center on Beale Street, Handy was still refraining from publishing his own compositions, although he had behind him a quarter century of acquaintance with all types of music and was enamored of the blues. His “Memphis Blues,” written on request expressly for the Memphis mayoral campaign of flamboyant Ed Crump in 1909, however, rocked the city and established Handy’s songwriting reputation. It was while he was reminiscing about an earlier visit to the notorious Targee Street in St. Louis that he composed what proved to be his world-famous “St. Louis Blues” in 1914. As a sophisticated and urbane musician, Handy effectively added the fruits of his own experience to the ar787
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To view image, please refer to the print edition of this title.
Handy Ushers in the Commercial Blues Era
Handy Ushers in the Commercial Blues Era chaic rural blues that had captured his imagination in the Mississippi Delta. When he and Pace moved their business to New York in 1918, Handy became the first man to compose the blues formally as well as the first to popularize them commercially. Significance The excitement that attended Handy’s “Memphis Blues,” the influence of which was initially local, swept New York by 1912. His spectacularly successful “St. Louis Blues,” which enjoyed an even more fervent reception in Harlem and soon became nationally popular, introduced the American public to a secondhand and sophisticated blues music that was removed from its rural origins. Blues such as Handy’s, which represented the compositions of rather worldly musicians and vaudevillians, became popular throughout the United States. Such music was sung by urbanized cabaret and torch singers, including Ohio’s Mamie Smith, whose origins were neither rural nor southern. What mattered most in catapulting the blues into general recognition and popularity was their recording, and Handy’s successes unquestionably encouraged his imitators to move in that direction. Perry Bradford, who had moved from Alabama to Harlem, was foremost in persuading the General Phonograph Company to record Mamie Smith singing his “Crazy Blues” in 1920. This first vocal blues recording, which sold more than a million copies in six months, is regarded as a milestone by music historians. Reaching an immense audience, it constituted a cultural event. Instantly, it brought forth from black communities across the country, where superb music had flourished locally for years, a host of blues composers, singers, and bands who performed for the enjoyment of eager audiences. The success of Smith’s record further encouraged recording companies to tap the hunger of American blacks for reproductions of their authentic music. The subsequent spate of “race records”—a designation that carried proud, rather than pejorative, connotations for the increasingly self-conscious blacks of the 1920’s—not only whetted racial pride but also stimulated a search for more genuine blues songs and singers. No one filled the bill better than Chattanooga’s magnificent, if tragic, Bessie Smith, soon to reign as “Empress of the Blues.” Before her death in an auto accident, Smith sang with her uniquely poignant voice among a constellation of singers and performers who made the blues a national treasure. Among these personalities were Ma Rainey and several of her protégés, including 788
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Bertha “Chippie” Hill and Ida Cox, and a number of young jazz musicians who would use blues as a base for their idiom, including Fletcher “Smack” Henderson, James P. Johnson, and Louis Armstrong. In addition, Bessie Smith and her blues interpretations were direct inspirations to later great blues, jazz, and gospel singers such as Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, and Mahalia Jackson. Bessie Smith’s “down-home” genius also helped to focus attention on the need to record original and authentic forms of rural, or archaic, blues and their variations, including the field “hollers,” before those who sang them were gone. A major catalyst in this quest was the remarkably knowledgeable Blind Lemon Jefferson, a Texas blues singer who moved from regional to national fame by way of his recordings. The efforts of Jefferson and others brought recognition to musicians such as Daddy Stovepipe and Pappa Charlie Jackson—both of whom recorded in 1924—as well as to Delta bluesman Charley Patton, the unaccompanied field hollerer Texas Alexander, Ragtime Henry Thomas, gospel blues performer Blind Willie Johnson, and not least to Jefferson’s proclaimed protégés Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter), Josh White, and Sam “Lightning” Hopkins. Others who recorded their way to prominence during the 1920’s were Mississippi’s Lonnie Johnson and Big Bill Broonzy, hillbilly bluesman Coley Jones, and Jelly Roll Morton, who composed his “New Orleans Blues” in 1902 and subsequently gained fame for melding blues, ragtime, and brass band music. Such performers composed, played, and sang more than two thousand variously styled blues recordings during the blues boom that followed Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” in 1914 and soared to a peak during the 1920’s. By the 1930’s, the blues in their variety had launched the careers of numerous outstanding singers, composers, and musicians and had been intensively recorded. The blues had likewise served as a vehicle for bringing black music into the American mainstream, simply because the music conveyed emotions that members of all races could feel and appreciate. Equally important, the blues lived on in their original forms at the same time they were also woven into the fabric of jazz, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and country music. — Clifton K. Yearley Further Reading Charters, Samuel Barclay. The Blues Makers. New York: Da Capo Press, 1991. Volume reprints two works: The Bluesmen: The Story of the Music and the
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story. Includes a chronological list of his compositions, arrangements, and books along with a brief index. Malone, Bill C., and David Stricklin. Southern Music/ American Music. Rev. ed. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003. A fine study, engagingly written, broad in range and rich in detail. Integrates information about the blues into a discussion of the evolution of all southern music, including hillbilly, Cajun, gospel, country, rock, and soul. Chapters proceed chronologically, so there is a sense of the historical relationships among these various musical forms. Includes photographs, bibliographical notes, and index. Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans: A History. 3d ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997. Excellent scholarly account of the subject provides both background and important detail. Includes a splendid critical bibliography and discography as well as numerous selections from scores and an extensive index. Wardlow, Gayle Dean. Chasin’ That Devil Music: Searching for the Blues. San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 1998. Describes the author’s search for early recordings and documentation of the stories and songs of blues artists (many of which appear on an accompanying CD). Focuses on Delta blues singers of the early twentieth century. See also: 1920’s: Harlem Renaissance; Feb. 15, 1923: Bessie Smith Records “Downhearted Blues”; Nov., 1925: Armstrong Records with the Hot Five; 1930’s: Guthrie’s Populist Songs Reflect the Depression-Era United States; 1933: Billie Holiday Begins Her Recording Career.
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Men Who Made Blues and Sweet as the Showers of Rain. Discusses the origins of the blues as well as individual musicians and songs from Alabama, Mississippi, and East Texas. Includes many fine illustrations and photographs, brief notes, and index. _______. The Roots of the Blues: An African Search. 1981. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1991. Describes the author’s search for sources of blues: men, instruments, and songs from portions of West Africa from which slaves were taken to the United States. Augmented by two volumes of recordings. Includes many photographs. Dale, Rodney. The World of Jazz. Oxford, England: Phaidon, 1980. Chapter 3 deals specifically in survey fashion with the evolution of the blues and provides thumbnail biographies of some of the great blues singers and players, with accompanying photographs. Good introduction to the subject. Deals well with the blues’ integration into jazz. Includes appendixes, notes on musicians’ specialties, and brief index. Ferris, William R. Blues from the Delta. New York: Da Capo Press, 1984. Places Delta blues in social and historical perspective, from the early days to B. B. King, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf. Includes many blues lyrics and reproduces conversations, letters, and marvelous photos to provide a feel for the region’s blues folk. Includes notes, bibliography, extensive discography, filmography, and index. Handy, William Christopher. Father of the Blues: An Autobiography. 1941. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1985. Interesting and useful, if only because it is one of the lengthiest and most detailed autobiographies of its kind. A better composer by far than a writer, Handy nevertheless presents a fascinating life
Handy Ushers in the Commercial Blues Era
Angell Advances Pacifism
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940
1910
Angell Advances Pacifism By articulating a liberal basis for antiwar views, the publication of The Great Illusion brought to broad publics the thesis that war among European powers was a futile exercise that would advance neither the economic interests nor the moral needs of modern peoples. Also known as: The Great Illusion Locale: Paris, France; London, England Categories: Diplomacy and international relations; government and politics; publishing and journalism Key Figures Norman Angell (1872-1967), British journalist and author Alfred Harmsworth (Lord Northcliffe; 1865-1922), influential British publisher and anti-German propaganda minister Lord Robert Cecil (1864-1958), British statesman Summary of Event In the first decades of the twentieth century, European intellectuals and much of the public hungered for alternatives to war. Journalist Norman Angell engaged these appetites in editorial columns, in essays (such as his 1909 essay “Europe’s Optical Illusion”), and in the best-selling book ever published in the field of international relations, his masterpiece The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relation of Military Power to National Advantage (1910). The book brought liberal, pacifist arguments against war to more than two million readers, energized efforts by British pacifists to promote alternatives to war, and contributed to the construction of an intellectual foundation that ultimately led to the creation of an international organization, the League of Nations, to prevent wars. Norman Angell was a self-taught Englishman of middle-class background. He had not studied at a university, and he received no military training. Instead, Angell’s perspective was informed by a seven-year stint as a manual laborer and newspaper reporter in California. When he returned to Europe in 1905, Lord Northcliffe (Alfred Harmsworth) appointed him editor of a new, Paris-based edition of Northcliffe’s British newspaper the Daily Mail. Angell had become a naturalized American citizen, and his second experience as an expatriate pushed him further from appeals to patriotism and other forms of nationalistic fervor. Seven years in France, a country still strongly divided by anti-Semitism 790
Norman Angell. (The Nobel Foundation)
associated with the trial against French army officer Alfred Dreyfus, convinced Angell that the nationalistic consciousness behind state rivalries had become a dangerous anachronism. Angell delivered a broad challenge to the two key assumptions about international relations: that state rivalries were inevitable and that national prosperity depended ultimately on preponderant military force. Without using substantial economic data or equations to sustain his views, he argued that military power served no social or economic purpose and that war was pointless, even when it seemed to guarantee desired material or ideological outcomes. Angell based his analysis on the absence of clear gain for most German people after that state regained Alsace from France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), and he supplemented his arguments with insights gleaned from other conflicts, including the Boer War (1899-1902), which Britain had fought in South Africa. Angell’s generalizations resonated with a broad readership. An early version of his argument appeared in
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 the self-published essay “Europe’s Optical Illusion,” and it appealed to confidants of the British king Edward VII. With this encouragement, Angell greatly expanded and polished his argument into The Great Illusion, a work of more than four hundred pages and the third—and most famous—of Angell’s forty-one books. The central fallacy that Angell identified was that of conquest: No ruler, Angell insisted, had ever successfully transferred wealth through fighting, and for this reason war is irrational. This argument directly countered the Marxists’ economic views, which postulated that war is a feature necessary to the growth of international capitalism. Angell also faulted those who saw war primarily as a product of nonrational forces governing human behavior: War is not, he argued, ingrained in human nature. He also dismissed explanations that locate war’s causes in the desire for prestige and the need for power, saying that these types of justifications are unworthy of the changed, modern world at hand. His position placed him firmly against the views of realists, a leading school of thought in international relations that saw the potential for war as a permanent condition of all
Angell Advances Pacifism states in a lawless world. Angell explicitly rejected the realists’ central metaphor, which drew parallels between international relations and the relationships among humans under the “law of the jungle.” Angell’s thinking closely reflected the reigning assumptions of many educated persons in the late nineteenth century. He believed that all problems among humans could be resolved and that reason would ultimately triumph over prejudice. In the light of the atrocities that occurred during the twentieth century, Angell’s ideals were sometimes perceived as naïve, and some of his predictions proved to be completely inaccurate (including, for example, his theory that most Germans would never experience war). Still, Angell’s ideas remained tremendously appealing well into the twenty-first century: Readers continued to be attracted to an author who could assure them that war’s limitations will only increase as communications among states improve.
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Significance The publication of The Great Illusion launched Angell into the sphere of public influence. The Garton Foundation was established to promote the book’s guiding ideas, and Angell’s lectures were extremely popular in paciAngell’s Psychological Case for Peace fist circles, notably with the Peace In The Great Illusion, Norman Angell argued not only that peace was a viaSociety. Within six years, Angell’s inble alternative to war but also that it seemed inevitable—at least at the turn fluence had become so significant that of the twentieth century. Both the general public and Great Britain’s leadat the height of World War I the British ing politicians were fascinated by Angell’s arguments. This excerpt is from government denied him a passport bea chapter titled “The Psychological Case for Peace.” cause it feared the impact that his pacifistic ideals might have on Britain’s alNational entities, in their birth, activities, and death, are controlled by the lies, especially the still-neutral United same laws that govern all life—plant, animal, or national—the law of strugStates. Ironically, Lord Robert Cecil, gle, the law of work; to show, among other things, that in the changing charthe minister who blocked Angell’s travacter of men’s ideals there is a distinct narrowing of the gulf which is supposed to separate ideal and material aims. Early ideals, whether in the field els to the United States in 1916, later of politics or religion, are generally dissociated from any aim of general feted him after he was knighted in 1931. well-being. In early politics, ideals are concerned simply with personal alleIn the 1920’s and 1930’s, Angell giance to some dynastic chief, a feudal lord, or a monarch; the well-being of was widely and correctly credited with a community does not enter into the matter at all. Later the chief must emhaving predicted that any general Eurobody in his person that well-being, or he does not obtain the allegiance of a pean war would have ruinous consecommunity of any enlightenment; later, the well-being of the community quences for both the victor and the vanbecomes the end in itself, without being embodied in the person of an heredquished. Briefly, during the early years itary chief, so that the people realize their efforts, instead of being directed to of the Great Depression, Angell served the protection of the personal interests of some chief, are as a matter of fact as a Labour Party member in the House directed to the protection of their own interests, and their altruism has beof Commons. The pacifist theses Ancome communal self-interest, since the self-sacrifice of the community for the sake of the community is a contradiction in terms. gell advanced only continued to gain influence from 1918 to 1939: His idea Source: Norman Angell, The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relation of Military that the human community has a comPower to National Advantage (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1910). mon interest in preventing war rein-
Electric Washing Machine Is Introduced forced the purposes of the League of Nations, which he supported, and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1933. International pacifism’s heyday was in some substantial measure built on the popularization of the sentiment Angell did most to advance, the belief that humankind is “showing less and less disposition to fight” because of a “changing conception of collective responsibility.” —Gordon L. Bowen Further Reading Ceadel, Martin. Semi-detached Idealists: The British Peace Movement and International Relations, 18541945. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Explains the political context in which The Great Illusion generated its wide appeal. Concludes that the book had a surprisingly small direct impact on British government policy in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Treats Angell and the idealist organizations associated with his arguments as ideological protagonists who helped construct durable, new ways of thinking about international relations. Laity, Paul. The British Peace Movement,1870-1914.
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Draws on newly available materials from Peace Society archives to place Angell and his activism within the diverse traditions of British opponents of war that assembled in the Peace Society. Includes discussion of the crucial years in which Angell guided new thinking about how to avert the coming of World War I. Miller, John D. B. Norman Angell and the Futility of War: Peace and the Public Mind. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1986. Definitive biography examines Angell’s life and thought. Provides a comprehensive and analytic overview of his writings, arguments, and influence on pacifist organizations and public. See also: Dec. 10, 1901: First Nobel Prizes Are Awarded; Nov. 25, 1910: Carnegie Establishes the Endowment for International Peace; Apr. 28-May 1, 1915: International Congress of Women; Apr. 30, 1917: Formation of the American Friends Service Committee; Apr. 28, 1919: League of Nations Is Established; Dec. 13, 1920: Permanent Court of International Justice Is Established; Dec., 1936: InterAmerican Conference for the Maintenance of Peace.
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Electric Washing Machine Is Introduced When American manufacturers married electric power with the old technology of hand-operated washtubs and wringers, both the labor and the time involved in washing clothes were significantly reduced. Locale: United States Categories: Science and technology; inventions Key Figures O. B. Woodrow (fl. early twentieth century), American bank clerk and inventor Alva J. Fisher (1862-1947), American washing machine designer and founder of the Hurley Machine Company Howard Snyder (fl. early twentieth century), American washing machine designer Summary of Event Until the development of the electric washing machine in the twentieth century, washing clothes was a tiring and time-consuming process. With the development of the washboard, patented in the United States in 1833, dirt was loosened by rubbing. Clothes and washtubs had to be car792
ried to a water source, or the water from a stream or well had to be carried to the tubs and clothes. After washing and rinsing, clothes were hand-wrung, hung up to dry, and then ironed with heavy irons that were heated on stoves. In the nineteenth century, laundering clothing became more arduous with the greater use of cotton fabrics that resulted from the expansion of the textile industry. In addition, the invention and industrial application of the sewing machine resulted in the mass production of inexpensive ready-to-wear cotton clothing. With more clothing, more washing was necessary. One advancement in dealing with laundry was the hand-operated washing machine. The first American patent for such a machine was issued in 1805. By 1857, more than 140 patents had been issued, and by 1880, between 4,000 and 5,000 patents had been granted. Although most of the devices patented were never produced, they are evidence of the desire to find a mechanical means to relieve the burden of washing clothes. Nearly all of the early types prior to the Civil War were based on the principle of rubbing the clothes against a washboard. One of these, patented in 1846, employed a
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Alva J. Fisher’s “Thor” electric washing machine, patented in 1910. (NARA)
soap. The inner-ribbed design of the rotating cylinder raised the clothes as the cylinder turned. Once the clothes reached the top of the cylinder, they dropped down into the soapy water. The rotary motion and dropping action created the agitation by which the clothing was washed. An important advance took place in 1863, when Hamilton Smith patented a belt-driven reciprocating revolving drum, thereby demonstrating the importance of reversible action in washing machines. The first underwater agitator-type machine was patented in 1869. In this machine, four blades at the bottom of the tub were attached to a central vertical shaft, which was turned by a hand crank on the outside. The agitation created by the blades washed the clothes by driving the water through the fabric. Of the five types of handoperated washing machines that were modified for electric power, the underwater agitator type was the last to be successfully marketed as an electric machine. It was not until 1922, when Howard Snyder of the Maytag Com793
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swinging curved, inverted T-shaped piece that passed over clothes placed on a curved bed of rollers. It must have worked fairly well—this basic model resembles machines advertised in an early twentieth century Sears, Roebuck catalog as the “Quick and Easy Washer” and in a 1927 Montgomery Ward catalog as “Our Famous Old Faithful.” Washing machines based on the rubbing principle had two limitations: They could wash only one item at a time, and the constant rubbing was hard on clothes. A major conceptual breakthrough took place when designers moved away from the rubbing principle and began to design machines that cleaned by forcing water through a number of pieces of clothing at the same time. Electric washing machines eventually used five different designs to create the washing action needed to force water through fabric: suction, oscillating tub, dolly, horizontal rotary cylinder, and underwater agitator. All of these designs were developed in the nineteenth century for handoperated machines. An early suction machine utilized a plunger fastened to a fulcrum that was attached to a washing tub. When a person raised one end of the handle, a plunger at the other end dropped into the tub, forcing water through the clothes. Later, electric machines were made with two to four suction cups, similar to plungers, attached to arms that went up and down and rotated on a vertical shaft. The cups pushed the water through the clothes on the downstroke and then sucked the water through the clothes on the upstroke. Another hand-operated washing machine used oscillating action by rocking a tub on a frame. The rocking action threw water through the clothes and then the clothes through the water. An electric motor was later substituted for the hand lever that rocked the tub. A third hand-operated washing machine was the dolly type. The dolly, which looked like an inverted three-legged milking stool, was attached to the inside of the tub cover and turned by a two-handled lever on the top of the enclosed tub. Clothes were washed by being pulled through the hot, soapy water in a tub with corrugated sides that increased agitation. The dolly type was the most popular of the manually operated machines and the first to be adapted for electric power. The hand-operated machines that would later dominate the market as electric machines were the horizontal rotary cylinder and the underwater agitator types. In 1851, James King patented a machine that utilized two concentric half-full cylinders. Water in the outer cylinder was heated by a fire beneath it, and a hand crank turned the perforated inner cylinder that contained clothing and
Electric Washing Machine Is Introduced
Electric Washing Machine Is Introduced pany developed an underwater agitator with reversible motion, that this type of machine was able to compete with the other electric machines. Reversible action was central to the machine’s function. If the blades in this machine had turned in only one direction, clothes would soon be wrapped around the blades and cleansing agitation would be significantly reduced. Until the nineteenth century, getting water out of clothing required hand wringing. As was true of handoperated washing machines, the development of handoperated wringing machines provided the basic designs later used in electric machines. The term “wringer” was first used to refer to an 1847 device that used a hand crank to twist wet clothes that were placed in a sack suspended between two posts. Later, the term was used in reference to the two-roller innovation marketed in 1861 that became the basic model for motor-powered machines. This innovation featured two adjustable parallel rollers, one above the other. Water was extracted as the clothing was pressed between the rollers, one of which was turned by hand crank while the other turned freely. In the twentieth century, motors underneath washing tubs were connected by belts to the wringer apparatus. The basic wringer design was completed in 1910, when a patent was issued for a reversible, swinging wringer. Reversible rollers allowed the operator to correct improper loading and to withdraw clothes that had wrapped around one of the rollers. The swinging wringer allowed the operator to move the wringer so that it could be over the wash tub, over the rinse tub, or out of the way when either was being loaded. In the twentieth century, motor-powered machines would also extract water by the centrifugal force of rapid spinning. Like other developments in washing machines, this one preceded the application of electricity. A machine patented in 1873 featured an inner clothing basket that was made to spin very rapidly by the use of a hand crank. Unfortunately, turning the crank fast enough to get sufficiently rapid spinning action required a great deal of manual labor. It was not until about 1900 that hand-operated washing machines began to replace washboards in American homes. By 1905, washing machines were being advertised that were operated by other than hand power. Small gasoline engines—used at that time for a variety of purposes—were being used to power washing machines. They were popular in homes that did not have electricity. Washing machines powered by water motors were advertised for homes with sufficient water pressure. For those homes wired for electricity, an electric washing machine was soon available. 794
The Twentieth Century, 1901-1940 Claims concerning the development of the first electric washing machine were made by O. B. Woodrow, who founded the Automatic Electric Washer Company, and by Alva J. Fisher, who developed the Thor electric washing machine for the Hurley Machine Company. Both Woodrow and Fisher made their innovations in 1907 by adapting electric power to modified handoperated, dolly-type washing machines. As only 8 percent of American homes were wired for electricity in 1907, the early machines were advertised as adaptable to electric or gasoline power and could be operated manually if the power source failed. Soon, electric power was being applied to machines of rotary cylinder, oscillating, and suction designs. Separate belts were attached to wringers so that they could be operated by electric power. In 1910, a number of companies, including Woodrow’s Automatic Electric Washer Company, introduced washing machines with attached wringers that could be operated by electricity. Maytag’s 1911 electric washing machine, developed by Snyder, featured the Maytag swinging wringer. Significance By 1907, the year electricity was first adapted to washing machines, some American homes were already using electric power to operate fans, ranges, coffee percolators, and sewing machines. As more and more homes were wired for electricity, more and more families bought electric appliances, including washing machines. By 1920, nearly 35 percent of American residences were wired for electricity; by 1941, nearly 80 percent were wired. By 1941, a majority of American homes had electric washing machines; by 1958, the proportion had risen to an estimated 90 percent. The growth of electric household appliances, especially washing machines, is directly related to the decline in the numbers of domestic servants in the United States. In 1910, some 1.83 million domestic servants were employed in American homes, of whom 520,000 were laundresses. With immigration down as a result of World War I and new employment opportunities opening for women, by 1920 the number of domestic servants had declined to 1.4 million, of whom 385,000 were laundresses. This indicates that the development of the electric washing machine in this decade was, in part, a response to a decline in servants, especially laundresses. Although conditions changed in the 1920’s, and by 1930 the number of domestic servants increased to 2 million, the number of laundresses actually declined. Rather than easing the work of laundresses with technology, Ameri-
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Further Reading Allen, Edith. Mechanical Devices in the Home. Peoria, Ill.: Manual Arts Press, 1922. Although dated, provides an interesting look at the kinds of electric washing machines that were expected to be industry leaders at the time. Includes chapters on laundry equipment, wringers, and water motors that describe how these technologies actually worked. Cowan, Ruth S. More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave. New York: Basic Books, 1983. Impor-
tant study of the relationship between household technologies and housework shows how “labor-saving” devices may actually reorganize the work process and increase the amount of labor involved in housework. Examines why alternative approaches to housework, such as commercial laundries and cooperative kitchens, have failed in the United States. Davidson, Caroline. A Woman’s Work Is Never Done: A History of Housework in the British Isles, 1650-1950. London: Chatto & Windus, 1983. Includes a chapter on laundry that presents an excellent survey of the history of clothes washing in England since 1650. Particularly useful for an understanding of why England lagged behind the United States in adopting electric washing machines. Du Vall, Nell. Domestic Technology: A Chronology of Developments. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1988. Survey of developments in domestic technologies is helpful for placing most of the major innovations in washing machines, irons, and laundry aids in context. Unfortunately, provides only very brief descriptions. Giedion, Sigfried. Mechanization Takes Command. 1948. Reprint. New York: W. W. Norton, 1969. Fascinating volume places the development of the washing machine within the overall development of mechanization in the nineteenth century. Brief discussion of the washing machine includes some of the most insightful comments written on the topic. Clearly shows how agitator and cylinder washers of the twentieth century were based on concepts developed in the nineteenth century. Horsfield, Margaret. Biting the Dust: The Joys of Housework. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Entertaining look at housework examines the topic from social, historical, and literary perspectives. Chapter 9, titled “Improvement and Irony,” briefly discusses the introduction of the washing machine in the context of supposedly labor-saving innovations. Includes index. Katzman, David M. Seven Days a Week: Women and Domestic Service in Industrializing America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. Impressive survey of domestic service in the United States between 1880 and 1930 describes changing patterns of service in various parts of the United States during this period, when the electric washing machine was being introduced. Robertson, Una A. The Illustrated History of the Housewife, 1650-1950. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999. Uses illustrations and many primary materials to address how the role of housewife changed during 795
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can families replaced their laundresses with washing machines. Commercial laundries were also affected by the growth of electric washing machines. Commercial laundries used steam and pioneered the development of rotary washing and spin drying. At the end of the nineteenth century, laundries were operating in every major city and were utilized by people of all incomes. Observers have noted that just as spinning, weaving, and baking had once been done in the home but were eventually taken over by commercial establishments, laundry work had begun its move out of the home. Commercial laundry business grew impressively, doubling total receipts each decade, until the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Many Americans, responding to intense advertising by manufacturers, purchased electric washing machines in the belief that the overall cost of owning a machine would be lower than using a commercial laundry service. Although the commercial laundry industry grew after World War II, its business centered more and more on institutional laundry rather than residential laundry, which they had lost to the home washing machine. The return of residential laundry to the home is the only example of a household task that began to move out of the home and then returned. This occurred in part because of technological developments. Each advance— electric machines over hand-powered machines, spin drying and rotary driers over wringers—meant that the operator no longer had to give constant attention to each segment of the laundering process. Bendix’s introduction of automatic washers in 1937 meant that washing machines could change phases without any action on the part of the operator. Some scholars have argued that the return of laundry to the home was also the product of marketing strategies that developed the image of the American woman as someone who is in the home, operating her appliances. —Thomas W. Judd
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Euthenics Calls for Pollution Control the three hundred years up to the mid-twentieth century. Discusses the labor of laundry in chapter 7. Includes index. Strasser, Susan. “Blue Monday.” In Never Done: A History of American Housework. 1982. Reprint. New York: Owl Books, 2000. Describes the arduous nature of laundry work in the nineteenth century and how American women sought relief through the use of laundresses, commercial and cooperative laundries, and electric washing machines. Includes excellent illustrations that capture the demanding nature of laundry work. Swisher, Jacob. “The Evolution of Wash Day.” Iowa
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Journal of History and Politics 38 (January, 1940): 349. Historical survey of innovations in washing machines, wringers, irons, and commercial laundries focuses primarily on developments in Iowa, where many early washing machine companies were located. See also: Aug. 30, 1901: Booth Receives Patent for the Vacuum Cleaner; 1904-1912: Brandenberger Invents Cellophane; May 20, 1915: Corning Glass Works Trademarks Pyrex; 1917: Birdseye Invents QuickFrozen Foods; Apr., 1930: Midgley Introduces Dichlorodifluoromethane as a Refrigerant Gas; Feb., 1935-Oct. 27, 1938: Carothers Invents Nylon.
Calls for Pollution Control
In her book Euthenics, Ellen Swallow Richards called on women to control urban pollution to protect health and home. Locale: Boston, Massachusetts Categories: Publishing and journalism; environmental issues; women’s issues Key Figures Ellen Swallow Richards (1842-1911), American sanitary chemist, university professor, and author Jane Addams (1860-1935), American social reformer Carry Nation (1846-1911), American temperance crusader Summary of Event In 1910, Ellen Swallow Richards published Euthenics: The Science of Controllable Environment, which, even in the neologism in its title, suggested that national progress is not to be expected from an improvement in the population stock (that is, through eugenics) but from an upgrading of the humanly constructed environment. In making this argument, Richards moved to the forefront of those who were warning of the dangers of urban congestion and air and water pollution. She joined other Progressive writers in arguing that the enhancement of social arrangements required a greater emphasis on science and efficiency and a greater role for women and the state. The word “euthenics” was meant to recall and stand in contrast to “eugenics.” Eugenics, the study of ways to improve humankind by managing reproduction, was the centerpiece of late nineteenth century “racial science.” 796
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The European deans of this discipline concentrated on showing, through such contributing fields as anthropology, criminology, and phrenology, how the peoples of northern Europe were allegedly slightly better than those of southern Europe and were worlds apart, in intellectual capacity and other capabilities, from the races of the undeveloped world. Eugenicists believed that humanity could be improved through a governance of marriage that would produce an increasingly better quality of human; they hoped to prevent northern peoples from having their blood “polluted” through mixed marriages with members of the lower groups. In contrast, euthenics—a term derived from the Greek words eu (wellness) and the (to cause)—preaches that better human beings can be created through the adjustment and improvement of the environment, especially through the elimination of pollution. According to Richards, any benefits of eugenics policy would come in the long term. Euthenics, which would concentrate on such projects as cleaning up air and water, would bear immediate fruit and could be gotten to work on right away. Richards expected that the fact that the benefits of euthenics would emerge quickly would motivate average persons to take an interest in the idea. In relation to the point that work to eradicate pollution could begin at once, Richards averred that women and government should take the lead in getting the movement off the ground. The state’s coercive power would be needed, because adults who had been schooled to follow bad practices would need to be forced to learn good habits. Richards advocated the imposition of large fines for
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by arguing that the new organizations would be costefficient. Similarly, Richards applied business standards to ecological matters. Eschewing humanist and religious arguments, she based her call for pollution control on its dollar value. She noted, for example, that many hours of production were lost to sickness caused by unhealthy environments. She emphasized how sickening conditions can deplete an individual’s lifelong earning capacity. The task, as Richards saw it, was to draw citizens into an authentic movement to clean up the environment; the guide was to be science. Richards, who was the head of the Social Economics Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and had written such scientific works as Industrial Water Analysis (1909), believed that everyday life would be optimized if its practices were scientifically elucidated. From this perspective, she looked closely at the home, arguing that everything in it—from the light and air in the bedrooms to the nutritional components of meals—should be subjected to expert scrutiny. She assumed that what went on in the fam-
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bad behaviors, citing the case of Boston, which had instituted a fine of one hundred dollars for spitting in street cars. Within two days of the announcement of the fine, she asserted, “the car floors became practically free without a single fine being collected.” The role of women in Richards’s plan was to provide the younger generation with healthy homes and to use the home as a touchstone in ecological pedagogy. Richards saw value in children’s doing chores, such as washing dishes and preparing meals, both because these actions lightened a mother’s work and because the euthenic mother could use such chores to instruct her children in hygiene and nutrition. Richards’s handling of the question of who would be responsible for society’s renovation linked her to major themes of the Progressive movement, a broad-based middle-class reform movement prominent in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Progressivism emphasized such issues as control of big business, the Americanization of immigrants, relief of poverty, reform of machine politics, and pollution abatement. Many Progressive campaigns were spearheaded by women; the settlement house movement is one example. Settlement houses were reformers’ outposts in the hearts of big-city slums; the houses provided multiple services for their poor neighborhoods. Settlement houses such as Hull House, cofounded by the social activist Jane Addams in Chicago, helped residents to negotiate bureaucracies, fought for better local services, counseled individuals and families, and gave classes in English and other subjects. Insofar as the female social workers in the settlement houses advised their clients on how to fight pollution—Addams, for example, fought city hall over poor garbage collection—they can be seen as models of the women Richards summoned to the euthenics struggle. Another group of Progressives looked to the state to solve social ills. Reformers who were worried about the tyrannical power of large corporations called on the federal government to regulate railroad rates, evaluate the purity of food and drugs, and control irresponsible firms in other ways. Although reformers believed that business needed to be carefully watched, they did not find its basic principles to be objectionable. On the contrary, Progressives, including Richards, believed that commercial values such as efficiency and probity should supplant older, less rational values. The Progressives, for example, made their case for civil service reform—which they hoped would replace graft-choked government bureaucracies with streamlined, reasonably managed systems—
Euthenics Calls for Pollution Control
Ellen Swallow Richards. (Library of Congress)
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Euthenics Calls for Pollution Control ily domicile would be immeasurably improved through scientific analysis. Richards was not aiming for a technological utopia in the home (she wrote little about new appliances, for instance); rather, she advocated a home under the sway of a technocracy—that is, under experts, including housewives who would hold college degrees and who would turn daily life into a scientific enterprise.
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couraging a general climate of opinion that would be more accepting of changes in life practices guided by a pragmatic science. In contrast to immediate effects, such as those produced by The Jungle, the revelations of which contributed to the passage of laws regulating food processing, the effects of Euthenics were more diffuse and atmospheric. Moreover, Sinclair’s and Steffens’s attacks were addressed to the average middle-class reader, and both writers used dramatic presentations to give their Significance Euthenics did not cause the stir produced by other Prowritings an emotional charge; in contrast, Richards’s gressive classics such as Lincoln Steffens’s The Shame of work was aimed at a more select audience of reformers, the Cities (1904), which portrayed rampant political corso she did not use such heightened language. ruption in a dozen American cities, or Upton Sinclair’s It is nevertheless possible to trace the influences of The Jungle (1906), which exposed unsanitary condiRichards and others on the questions she raised. First, Richards’s brand of environmentalism must be isolated tions in Chicago’s meatpacking industry. Whereas these from two other major ecological currents of her time: books alerted the public to abuses, Richards’s purpose was more philosophical. She was concerned with enconservationism, which was concerned with the preservation and wise use of parklands and natural resources; and scientific ecology, which explored the relaA Plea for Better Living Conditions tions among plants, animals, and The title page of Ellen Swallow Richards’s Euthenics describes the book as “a geography in different ecosystems. plea for better living conditions as a first step toward higher human effiRichards’s type of environmentalism ciency.” Richards begins chapter 3 with these observations: differed from these in that it concentrated on the city rather than the The real significance of biological evolution has not been grasped by the peocountryside, it was more immediple in general. It is that man is a part of organic nature, subject to laws of deately practical, and it was strongly velopment and growth, laws which he cannot break with impunity. It is his feminist. Its province was the fight business to study the forces of Nature and to conquer his environment by subagainst urban pollution and the promitting to the inevitable. Only then will man gain control of the conditions vision of a sterile, ecologically atwhich affect his own well-being. Sickness, we know, is the result of breaking some law of universal nature. tractive home. This struggle was What that law may be, investigators in scores of laboratories are endeavoring connected to two other mainstays of to determine. In most diseases they have been successful. Those remaining are Progressivism, however: the battle being attacked on all sides, and it may be confidently predicted that a few years against political corruption, because will see success assured. corruption allowed contractors to Why, then, does sickness continue to be the greatest drain upon individual build substandard housing; and the and national resources? Because man, through ignorance or unbelief, will not Americanization of immigrants, beavail himself of this knowledge, or is behind the times in his method. Where cause it was the female newcomers wisdom means effort and discomfort, many feel it folly to be wise. who most needed reformers’ advice The individual may be wise as to his own needs, but powerless by himself to on how to cope with city life. secure the satisfaction of them. Certain concessions to others’ needs are alAs a result of the efforts of Richways made in family life. The community is only a larger family group, and social consciousness must in time take into account social welfare. Moreover, a ards and others, social work was esneighbor may pollute the water supply, foul the air, and adulterate the food. tablished as a profession, and welfare This is the penalty paid for living in groups.
