DIRECT ELECTION

209

DOCKS AND HARBORS

See UNITED

DIPLOMATIC SERVICE. See UNITED

STATES.

DIRECT FIRE ALARM SYSTEM. See
FIRE PROTECTION.

DIRECT NOMINATIONS.
TION REFORM.

See NOMINA

tion, the direct election of Senators received of Maine, Ohio, and New York will speak in scarcely any support, as the present Senate re- the winter of 1910, which will be more than port points out, though Mr. Wilson was admit- sufficient. A bill was introduced in the 61st tedly one of the ablest men in the convention. Congress, and the indications at the close of The idea slept until 1826, when State constitu- 1910 were favorable for its passage. tions and State governments as well as the Fed- DIPHTHERIA. See ANTITOXIN. eral government were becoming more demo- DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS. cratic. In that year a resolution was offered STATES, Foreign Relations. in the House of Representatives. It came up a second time in 1835, but was not urged again until 1850, when Senator Jeremiah Clements, of Alabama, offered a resolution providing for this change. After the reconstruction period the movement for direct elections became more persistent. No less than six resolutions for the necessary constitutional amendment were offered in each of the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses and in the first session of the Fiftysecond there were twenty-five resolutions. The movement had its first success in the House of Representatives on January 16, 1893, when by a two-thirds vote a resolution for a constitutional amendment was sent to the Senate. The Fiftyseventh Congress in 1902 also gave a large majority to a similar resolution, the Fifty-third, Fifty-fifth and the Fifty-sixth having approved it by smaller majorities. In the Fifty-fourth Congress, on March 23, 1896, the change was favorably reported in the Senate, but was smothered in apathy or hostility.

This history of the movement for direct elections of Senators has been compiled by J. W. Perrin, who discusses the subject without taking sides in the North American Review for December, 1910. The demand for the amendnient has become nation-wide during the last ten years. Mr. Perrin mentions the referendum votes on the subject in California and Illinois. In the former State 187,953 votes were cast for the amendment and only 13,342 against it. In Illinois a similar amendment received 451,319 votes and only 76,975 against it.

PRESENT STATUS. In December, 1906, delegates of twelve States met in Des Moines at the summons of Governor Cummins and adopted resolutions calling on the States to take steps to bring about a constitutional convention, seeing that the Senate had regularly suppressed resolutions for submitting an amendment to the States. A constitutional convention was dẹprecated in the Des Moines meeting and resolutions as a dangerous experiment, nevertheless with favorable action on the part of four more State legislatures Congress will be compelled to call a second constitutional convention to frame a constitutional amendment providing for the election of United States Senators by direct vote of the people. The following is a roll of the twenty-seven States that have made the demand: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. California and Wyoming have asked Congress itself to frame an amendment. These States only need to restate their demand. Georgia is fully committed to the principle, and a year ago Massachusetts came within a very few votes of adding its mandate, and final action will undoubtedly be taken this winter by the newly elected progressive legislature of that State. It is also believed likely that the legislatures of the States

DIRIGIBLE BALLOONS. See AERONAUTICS. DISCOVERY. See POLAR RESEARCH AND EXPLORATION.

DISEASES. See MEDICINE.

DISEASES, OCCUPATIONAL. See OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. See UNITED STATES.

DITCHFIELD, P. H. See LITERATURE, ENG-
LISH AND AMERICAN, History.

DIVIDENDS, RAILWAY. See RAILWAYS.
DIVORCE. See NATIONAL CIVIL FEDERATION.
DIX, JOHN A. See NEW YORK.

DOCKS AND HARBORS. Improvements of existing harbors and quays, as well as the inception of new works in various seaports are to be noted during the past year and as usual there was more work of this kind in progress in Europe than in America.

BROOKLYN. At Brooklyn, N. Y., the Bush Terminal was put into use, complete, and fully equipped for receiving and storing direct from freight car or boat, in lofts, all kinds of goods and raw materials. It is of equal advantage for outgoing shipments. A city of the character and extent of greater New York is too congested to allow economical transport of goods in wagon or truck loads through its streets; and the Bush Terminal, by providing large manufacturing or storage buildings on the water-front at South Brooklyn, enables shippers to bring a car or lighter to the building where the articles to be forwarded are packed or assembled at a minimum cost for transportation and insurance.

DOVER. In Great Britain, at Dover, a new landing-stage was built for the cross-channel traffic, just adjoining the Admiralty Pier. This work is 780 feet long, built of stone and concrete, and cost £50,000, nearly $250,000. In connection with this, a sea-wall was under construction at the outer end of the pier, behind which a space of 11 acres was being reclaimed to be used as a site for a station to be built by the railways.

BELFAST. At Belfast, Ireland, the waterway was being enlarged to permit the safer launching of large ships. At the entrance to the port, West Twin Island was to be removed, which would leave a basin in which vessels up to 950 feet in length could be turned. This part of the improvement was estimated to cost £10,000 or almost $50,000. The river was to be dredged so as to widen the channel at bottom to 400 feet at a depth of 32 feet. The dredged material was to be used to form an embankment and reclaim 72 acres along shore. A new graving dock that was under construction for seven years, was finished and is one of the largest in the British Empire. The total available length is 886 feet, width of entrance 96 feet, and depth at the centre 37 feet below the level of high tide. The pumping plant installed with it is of 3000 horse

power and can empty the dock in one hour and
a half.
LIVERPOOL.

At Liverpool, the bar at the mouth of the Mersey is being dredged so as to give a channel 2100 feet wide and 32 feet deep at low water. During the year 1910 there were 184 million tons of sand removed.

SOUTHAMPTON. At Southampton, a 16 acre wet dock was building to accommodate the largest ships in the transatlantic service. It is 1700 feet long, 400 feet wide, and has a depth of water of 40 feet at low tide.

BORDEAUX, ST. NAZAIRE. In France, at Bordeaux, a dry-dock was built that had an available length of 594 feet and is 108 feet wide at the entrance. A number of fair-sized vessels are built here, and the dock is of great advantage to the port. Farther up the coast, at the mouth of the river Loire, there is a very important shipbuilding yard at St. Nazaire. Here the new transatlantic liners La France and Rochambeau were built, as well as some of the largest warships of the French navy. A dock crane, movable on a track, was built and put in use at the fitting-out dock. It is electric motor driven and has a capacity of 150 tons. A drydock was completed having an available length of 738 feet, 98 feet wide on the bottom, and 115 feet wide at the entrance.

SOUTH AFRICA. There was completed a large dry-dock and work-shops at the Cape of Good Hope, Africa. The yard and shops are comFletely equipped to repair and fit out large vessels, and the Selborne dock is very large and

of massive construction.

NEW ZEALAND. At Auckland, New Zealand, the so-called Queen's Pier was rebuilt and enlarged, the material used being reinforced concrete, which is about the only available thing that will resist the ravages of the teredo in these waters. Wooden piling is destroyed in a few months' time, in spite of the fact that attempts have been made to lengthen its life by the use of creosote and other preservatives.

MEXICO. In Mexico, one of the largest undertakings in harbor improvement was at the port of Manzanillo on the west coast, 500 miles south of Mazatlan and about half way between San Francisco and Panama. This place has a large shipping trade and is connected with the interior table-land of Mexico by railways. It has a large export grain traffic furnished in this way as well as important commerce of other kinds. The exposed situation of the town, however, made it necessary to build a breakwater of massive construction, behind which the harbor has been dredged and a sea-wall built, forming the basis of future improvements that will include the building of extensive piers and warehouses to accommodate the business and traffic that may reasonably be expected to follow the opening of the Panama Canal. The breakwater extends 1489 feet out into the Pacific, at such a location with respect to the coast line that the waves strike it at an angle of 36°, instead of 90°. From a quarry a few miles away, large granite blocks weighing from 30 to 60 tons were transported on a railway line built for the purpose, and laid down to form the base and foundation for this great wall. On the outer surface, next to the sea, concrete blocks, made in sizes of about 30 tons weight were laid, and on this a concrete cap was applied which forms a monolith of the full length of the breakwater, 27 feet wide and 12 feet high. At the base, the

wall is 315 feet wide, and owing to the depth of water at that place the whole structure is 87 feet high from base to crown. The harbor thus formed has been dredged to a uniform depth which even alongside the wharves is 281⁄2 feet at low water.

The sea wall referred to above is 6133 feet long, built of granite and concrete; and behind this a large area is now being reclaimed by filling in the material dredged out of the harbor. A short distance back from the shore and too near the town there was a malarial, mosquitobreeding lake or swamp called the Cuyutlan Lagoon. This is now being drained by the construction of a ditch or sluiceway that is expected to put an end to this menace to the health of the community. These improvements have been going on for about twenty years, and are an evidence of the liberal policy of the Mexican Republic towards the development of trade and commerce.

CONSTANTA. At the Rumanian port of Constanta, or Küstenje, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea, some interesting and important improvements are now about completed. This is a very prominent port, and situated as it is, near the mouth of the Danube, the facilities for shipment of various commodities have been increased by the installation of the most modern types of elevators and bulk conveyors. Of the entire exports about 85 per cent. consist of grain, petroleum, and lumber. Two storehouses for grain, holding together about 2,600,000 bushels, are served by a belt conveyor running in an elevated structure on the dock front for a distance of 1870 feet. This conveyor can transfer 200,000 bushels of grain from cars to the bins or from a vessel to the bins in one hour.

For petroleum and its products 25 storage tanks are provided, each tank holding about 176,000 cubit feet of oil. The oil is received in cars that are pulled up an incline to an elevated track 110 feet above the docks and a valve with hose connection is provided at intervals of 10 feet in a pipe line laid along the track on which the cars stand. This pipe leads to the tanks and is supplied with suitable branch-pipes and stop-valves in order that any one of the tanks may be filled as required. A central generating station supplies direct current on the threewire system at 220-440 volts. The prime mover is a 400 horse power Diesel engine using crude petroleum. All hoisting, unloading and conveying machinery is operated by direct current 440 volt motors; while the illumination of the docks and buildings is from the 220 volt circuit. The wharves and conveyors have been laid out on so liberal a scale that five large ships can load grain at one time.

The harbor itself is formed by three large breakwaters built of stone and concrete blocks, forming two harbors or basins of 35 and 148 acres extent, respectively, and the depth of water at low tide is from 26 to 30 feet.

FLOATING DOCKS. In 1910 the Vickers, Sons & Maxim Co., of Barrow-in-Furness, completed a large floating dock for the use of the Brazilian Navy for raising battleships. A dock of 6410 tons capacity was built for Liverpool by Swan, Hunter & Wegham Richardson, and one of 4000 tons was constructed for Berlin by the Messrs. Hamilton of Port Glasgow.

DODGE, THOMAS H. An American inventor and philanthropist, died February 12, 1910. He was born in Eden, Vt., in 1823. He was

the inventor of the cylinder printing press and overwork, especially in the congressional sesfor many years conducted a patent attorney's sions of 1910. office. He acquired considerable wealth through inventions, chiefly in cotton machinery.

of swamp land in the South Atlantic States badly alkalied lands has been drained as an also are being reclaimed under State drainage experiment. There are millions of acres of laws, taxing the lands benefited for the cost similar lands which can be reclaimed in the of the work, usually in proportion to the bene- same way, and it is probable that this will fits received. The lands are organized into prove to be the beginning of a great movement drainage districts which sell bonds, build the for the control of Chinese rivers and the reworks, and levy and collect the taxes to provide clamation of the lands overflowed by them. The maintenance, interest, and sinking funds. The great schemes for rehabilitating the valleys of greatest activity in the drainage of farm lands the Tigris and Euphrates include the protection to increase their productivity is in the upper of lands from overflow, as well as irrigation, Mississippi Valley, notably in Iowa. It is esti- and some of this work was undertaken in 1910. mated that 2,000,000 acres in that State alone Throughout the world there is great activity have been tilled during the year 1910. There in extending agricultural production. The is much activity in this line in Illinois, Indiana, greatest opportunities for extending cultivated and Kentucky, and also in New York and North areas lie in the lines of irrigation and drainage, and South Carolina in the East. This work is and there is rapid progress in both lines everydone under drainage districts, also, the dis- where. tricts building the outlets and the farm owners putting in the drains on their own farms.

DRAINAGE, CANAL. See CANALS.

DRAMA. Probably the keenest interest in BREAKING UP HARDPAN. In the western part dramatic affairs in the United States, during of the United States, where irrigation is prac- 1910 centered in the doings of the New Theatre ticed, there has been a considerable extension of New York, the opening of which was the of drainage to prevent the accumulation of great event in the record of the previous year. surplus water from irrigation, and more es- The theatre was built at a large cost by a compecially for the removal of alkali from irrigated pany of rich men whose ambition was to make lands. In irrigated lands there is a tendency it stand in this country for what the Théâtre to the formation of a hardpan which prevents Francais represents in France and the Burg the circulation of the water through the soil, Theatre in Austria-a house which should set preventing proper drainage, thus aggravating the accumulation of alkali. Experiments made by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in California have demonstrated the effectiveness of blasting to break up this hardpan and allow the water used in irrigation to pass down into drains and leach out the injurious salts. These experiments show the possibility of reclaiming large areas which have hitherto failed to respond to efforts for their reclamation.

NOVA SCOTIA. The department of agriculture of Nova Scotia has under consideration a scheme for assisting the farmers of that province in draining their lands. Under this scheme the government is to make the plans and advance the money for the work. The farmer is to pay 7 Fer cent. of the cost of the drainage each year for about 25 years, when the work will be paid for. This plan is similar to that adopted by the Australian and New Zealand governments for aiding farmers in improving their lands

BELGIUM. The Belgian government, also, is extending aid to the reclamation of wet lands. Where the principal object of the work is improvement in sanitary conditions the government is meeting the cost of the work. Where the object is improvement in agricultural conditions, the land owners must pay for it. This is similar to the work being done by the Italian government, under the law making large appropriations for aid to drainage for a long series of years ending in 1933.

OTHER FOREIGN COUNTRIES. The agricultural department of Iceland is experimenting in the reclamation and use of the great bogs of that country, which comprise about one-seventh of the entire area. So far, these experiments have not been successful. In Norway a society or ganized in 1902, for the purpose of promoting the reclamation of marsh lands, is engaged in making plans for the drainage of swamps, in conducting demonstrations, and in giving lectures on the subject. It is encourag ing private initiative in every way possible. A Chinese syndicate is experimenting in reclaiming large areas of swamped and alkalied lands in China, where an area of 140,000 acres of

the standard of stage work. While the establishment was expected to pay its way, artistic rather than commercial success was to be the supreme aim. Mistakes have of course been made during the New Theatre's first year. A few plays have proved of no value, artistically or otherwise. While the stock company was away the house has been opened to outside organizations that have not helped its prestige. But upon the whole the directors of the enterprise have reason to congratulate themselves. There have been rumors to the effect that they are dissatisfied with the financial results and that the theatre itself has been found unsuited for comedy. Nevertheless what is done in the New Theatre has come to be recognized as something which playgoers in New York and the thousands from other cities must take into serious account. All that it does has been inspired by sincerity and a worthy aim. The stock company of the house comprises such excellent people as Miss Edith Wynne Matthison, Miss Rose Coghlan, Miss Jessie Busley, Mrs. Sol Smith, Miss Olive Wyndham, Messrs. A. E. Anson, Louis Calvert, Robert Bruning, Ferdinand Gottschalk, E. M. Holland and Frank Gillmore.

Early in the year The Witch, a gloomy play from the German of Wiers-Jenssen, was produced with Mme. Bertha Kalisch, an actress of some power, in the leading rôle. It was too sombre. Another of the failures in this house came later when Miss Olga Nethersole and her own company presented Maeterlinck's Mary Magdalene. Sister Beatrice, also by the Belgian poet, had previously proved of much value. It is a so-called miracle play, in which a nun who forgets her vows is replaced for years in the convent life by the Virgin, who comes down from the altar for that purpose. When the erring sister returns, penitent and broken in spirit and body, the Virgin resumes her place. Miss Matthison in the title rôle gave a performance of admirable dignity and sweetness. Among the actors invited during the year to appear as guests with the New Theatre Company was Miss Annie Russell, who played as