M. ARISTIDE BRIAND, PREMIER OF FRANCE

will undertake the duties of government, pending the elections to a union Parliament. The question of Briton, Boer, and Zulu, and their respective rights and disqualifications, is the main one agitating the South African people, and it will require all of Lord Gladstone's delicacy and diplomacy to handle it. His first task was to select a leader to be the executive of the new nation, and to perform the duties of government until the elections are held. Mr. J. X. Merriman, the Prime Minister of Cape Colony, who advocates the perpetuation of existing parties; General Botha, the former Bocr leader, and Dr. Jameson, who made the famous raid into the Transvaal before the war, the two latter representing the new parties, were the possible leaders. General Botha was finally selected.

66

officially opened the gates of the Brussels Universal International Exhibition. This is the fifth exposition that has been held in the little kingdom during the past quarter-century, and is a remarkable testimony to the ability of the Belgians to conceive and carry out successfully enterprises of this kind. A feature of the exposition is the rather close grouping of the buildings with a view to saving time and trouble to the sightseer. At Shepherd's Bush, a suburb of London, there was held two years ago a Franco-British Exposition," which proved very interesting and popular. With great ingenuity these same grounds and buildings have been transformed into a Japanese-British Exposition. Workmen and artists from the Mikado's empire have far outstripped their British rivals and have made the fair truly Japanese, giving an intimation of what the world may expect to see in Tokio in 1917. China has also caught this exposition fever, and in the old city of Nanking her first world's fair has been staged, as is set forth in our article on page 691. In Venice, also, there is being held another of those international art exhibitions for which that city is noted, many works by American artists being represented. Before this issue of the REVIEW reaches its readers there will have been opened to the public the greater portion of the comprehensive scheme of exhibitions which have been arranged in Buenos Aires to commemorate the centenary of Argentine independence.

The Comet

Have Learned

It is doubtful whether in many and What We years there has been as much written and printed in the newspapers, with less foundation in exact truth, as the reports and the speculation which have appeared in the periodical press of the entire world during the past few weeks on the subject of Halley's comet and its appearance and behavior on its present visit to our skies. It may be said, even if it sounds somewhat paradoxical, that most of the recent additions to our knowledge of these erratic, astronomical bodies known as comets, are negative. In past ages, mankind has known or surmised a great deal about comets that was not so. There has always been speculation as to the direct results that would happen if a comet should strike our earth, or fall into the sun, or, as has been particularly feared just now, if our globe should pass through the tail of Halley's comet in particular. What we know about this particular comet may be very briefly put. It has a periodicity

or time of passage around its orbit of seventyfive or seventy-six years. There are historical records of its having been seen at such regular intervals back to a century or more before the beginnings of the Christian era. In our issue for April Professor Mitchell describes comets, particularly the one named after Halley, at length. This comet has a head or nucleus which is generally computed by astronomers as slightly larger than the bulk of our own earth. It has, or had, what is known as a tail, which, during the period of observation, when first, as a teloscopic object it was discovered last September, until the eighteenth of last month, when, in accordance with the calculations of the astronomers, the head made its transit over the sun's disk, varied in length from 20 to 50 millions of miles. Eminent astronomical authorities all over the world believed that on the evening of May 18 the earth, traveling in one direction at the rate of approximately 20 miles a second, would pass through this tail, which, if it kept pace with the speed of the head, would be going in the other direction at twice that rate. But whether the calculations were at fault, or whether after all there be such a thing as a

comet's tail, instead of, as some astronomers believe, merely a reflected light in its wake, the fact remains that there was no visible evidence of our passage through the so-called tail on the date set by the astronomers. By the time this issue of the REVIEW reaches its readers, it is confidently predicted, the comet will have been for a week a brilliant spectacle in the evening sky. Undoubtedly when the observations of the astronomers all over the world, made through the finest of modern instruments, are digested and published we will know a good deal more about the comet than we now know. Probably as has already been intimated we will have to unlearn a good deal that we now think we know. Owing to exaggerated reports and the age-long superstition of ignorant people there was much apprehension as to what would happen to the earth at its closest proximity to the comet. Many negroes of our own Southern States, particularly, are reported to have been in a state of mind bordering on frenzy of fear. The results of this appearance of the comet will probably be very good. Certainly superstition has received another blow, and a general interest in astronomy has been aroused.

PROCEEDINGS IN CONGRESS

April 21-23-The Senate discusses the Administration's Interstate Commerce bill and the inquiry into the cost of living.

April 25-In the Senate, Mr. Lodge (Rep., Mass.) withdraws his resolution for an appropriation of $65,000 to continue the cost-of-living inquiry.

April 27-In the Senate, Messrs. Rayner (Dem., Md.) and Bailey (Dem., Tex.) criticise the Republican "insurgents" for "flirting" with the Democratic party.

April 28-In the House, the Insurgent-Democratic coalition forces the passage of an amendment to the Interstate Commerce measure, including telegraph and telephone companies within its scope.

April 29-In the House, the combined "Insurgents" and Democrats amend the Interstate Commerce bill so as to provide for the physical valuation of railroads.

May 2-The Senate passes the bill creating a bureau of mines in the Interior Department and

confirms the nomination of Governor Hughes to the Supreme Court bench.

ministration's Interstate Commerce bill the secMay 3-The Senate strikes out from the Adtions authorizing traffic agreements and railroad mergers.... The House withdraws the section of the Interstate Commerce measure relating to traffic agreements, but retains the long-andshort-haul clause.

May 4-The Senate passes the Pension Appropriation bill ($155,000,000) and the bill providing for the raising of the Maine.

May 6.—The Senate passes the Post-Office Appropriation bill ($241,000,000).... The House strikes out from the Interstate Commerce measure the section authorizing mergers.

May 10.-The House, by vote of 200 to 126, passes the Administration's Interstate Commerce bill as amended.

ment on the long-and-short-haul clause of the May 13.-In the Senate, a compromise amendrailroad bill which creates a Court of Commerce In the House, Mr. Fordney (Rep., Mich.) defends the Payne-Aldrich tariff.

May 16. The Senate passes the clause of the railroad bill which creates a Court of Commerce with jurisdiction over appeals from decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission....In the House, the resolution to change the date of inauguration is defeated.

May 18.-The Senate amends the House provision of the Railroad bill relating to suits before the Interstate Commerce Commission.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT-AMERICAN

April 25.-President Taft appoints Governor Charles E. Hughes, of New York, to be associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, succeeding the late David J. Brewer.

April 26.-The President appoints Gen. Nelson H. Henry as Surveyor of the Port of New York....The New York Court of Appeals declares constitutional the law limiting the labor of railway telegraphers to eight hours a day. April 27.-The United States marshal and a district attorney in Alaska are dismissed by President Taft for incompetency.

April 28.-The Democratic State Convention at Indianapolis indorses John W. Kern as candidate for United States Senator.

April 29.-The Rhode Island Legislature opposes the imposition of a federal income tax. April 30. In a special message to Congress President Taft urges the completion of Panama Canal defenses by 1915....A Democratic member of the Illinois Legislature declares that he received $1000 from his party leader for voting for the election of William Lorimer as United States Senator.

May 3.-The New York Assembly for the second time votes against the income-tax amendment to the federal constitution.

May 4-The Massachusetts House votes against the income-tax amendment.

May 6.-The Democratic leader of the Illinois House and three other persons are indicted in Chicago in connection with the bribery charges.

May 10. The Massachusetts House passes a resolution favoring a constitutional amendment providing for popular election of United States Senators....Senators Dolliver and Cummins address a meeting of the new Progressive party in Iowa.

May 17. The New York State Senate indorses the income-tax amendment.

May 20.-The taking of testimony in the Ballinger-Pinchot investigation is completed.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT-FOREIGN

April 24-The general election in France passes off quietly, resulting in a slightly increased government majority.

April 27-Juan Vincente Gomez is elected by Congress as president of Venezuela....The Finance bill passes the British House of Com

mons.

April 28.-The House of Lords, without division, passes the British Finance bill....The program of the new Italian ministry includes extension of the suffrage, state primary schools, and a liberal ecclesiastical policy.

April 29.-The British budget received royal assent and becomes a law.

April 30.-Turkish troops defeat the Albanian forces, clearing Katchanik Pass.

May 4.-The Turkish chamber reverses its recent action and grants the usual allowances to husbands of princesses, the ministers thereupon withdrawing their resignations.

May 5-The Argentine parliament is opened with a message from President Alcorta.

May 6.-King Edward VII. died at Buckingham Palace, London, after a short illness (see page 689).

May 7.-George Frederick, only son of the late King Edward, is proclaimed King George V. of England....The Finnish Diet defies the Czar to exert his authority over Finland.

May 8.-Premier Canalejas and his supporters are returned to power in the Spanish elections. May 10.-The German Reichstag passes the bill limiting the production of potash, in spite of American protest.

May 14-The Norwegian Oldesthing votes increased suffrage rights for women.

May 17.-The body of King Edward VII. is borne on a gun carriage from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.

May 19.-The privy council of Japan adopts a convention for the protection of copyrights.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

May 5-Secretary Knox and Ambassador Bryce exchange ratifications of the new waterway treaty with Canada.

May 8-The Bureau of the American Republics, at Washington, receives an appeal, indorsed by 90 per cent. of Nicaragua's land-holders, requesting the United States to intervene in the affairs of the republic.

May 14.-It is announced at Washington that the Chinese railroad loan has been successfully settled, England, France, Germany, and the United States participating equally....King George, of England, has been asked by the United States and Chile to arbitrate the Alsop claim....Secretary Knox proposes to the Canadian Government that tariff negotiations be commenced at an early date.

May 16.-Germany objects to the Anglo-Russian note on Persian loans and railway concessions....Troops are being massed near the frontier by Peru and Ecuador.

May 18-It is announced that consent has been obtained from Brazil and Argentina to join with the United States in an offer of mediation between Ecuador and Peru.

May 20.-Chile decides to accept a loan of $13,000,000 from the Rothschilds, of London.

OTHER OCCURRENCES OF THE MONTH

April 22.-The general strike of the building trades in Berlin is ended by arbitration.... Eighteen men are killed by a gas explosion in a coal mine near Amsterdam, Ohio.

April 23.-Theodore Roosevelt delivers an address before the University of Paris on the duties of a citizen of a republic....King Albert opens the international exposition at Brussels....Snow and freezing temperature through

out the Middle West and South destroy fruit, cotton, and other crops.... Fire sweeps over a great part of Lake Charles, La., rendering 2000 people homeless.

April 25-$10,000,000 in gold is engaged in New York for export to London.

April 26.-The new building of the International Bureau of the American Republics is dedicated at Washington.... The common stock of the United States Steel Corporation is placed on a 5 per cent. basis.

April 27-Oscar Hammerstein retires from the grand-opera field, the Metropolitan Opera House taking over his interests.

April 28.-Louis Paulhan flies from London to Manchester (185 miles) with one stop, winning the Daily Mail's $50,000 prize.

April 29.-Theodore Roosevelt and his party are guests of Queen Wilhelmina of Holland. May 2.-Ex-President Roosevelt and his party are guests of the Danish Crown Prince at Copenhagen.... The first prize in the art exhibit of the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, is awarded to William Orpen, of London, and the second to Karl Anderson, of New York (see page 696).... Edward Payson Weston arrives in New York City, having walked across the continent from Los Angeles in 78 days, excluding Sundays.

May 3. The funeral of Björnstjerne Björnson is held at Christiania, the King and Queen of Norway attending.

May 4-Colonel Roosevelt is warmly welcomed at Christiania by the King and Queen of Norway....The Royal Geographical Society presents a gold medal to Commander Peary, at London.

May 5-Theodore Roosevelt delivers an address on international peace before the Nobel Prize Committee at Christiania....The city of Cartago, Costa Rica, is almost totally destroyed by an earthquake, the loss of life amounting to more than 1500....Seventy miners are killed in a mine-explosion near Birmingham, Ala.

May 10.-Ex-President Roosevelt is a guest of the German Emperor at Potsdam.

May 12-Mr. Roosevelt lectures before the University of Berlin on "The World Movement . The battleship Florida, of 21,800 tons, is launched at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. . An explosion in the Wellington Coal Mine, near Manchester, England, causes the death of 137 men.

May 14-The Japanese-British Exposition is opened in London.

May 16.-Ex-President Roosevelt arrives in London.... Receivers are appointed in Columbus for the Hocking Valley Railroad.

May 18. The body of King Edward, lying in State in Westminster Hall, is viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.... An explosion of 3000 pounds of dynamite demolishes the barracks of the Rural Guards at Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and kills more than 100 persons.

May 20-The funeral of King Edward is held with great ceremony in London, ex-President Roosevelt and nine reigning monarchs attending.

OBITUARY

April 21.-Samuel Langhorne Clemens ("Mark Twain"), the author, 74 (see page 702)....Charles Edwin Hurd, the New England editor and author, 76....Simeon Brownell, a noted Abolitionist and Prohibitionist, 82.

April 23.-John B. Alcott, the grass expert, 80. April 25-Björnstjerne Björnson, the Norwegian poet, dramatist, and novelist, 77... Henri Barboux, an eminent French lawyer, 76. April 26.-Gustav Tietgens, head of the Hamburg-American Steamship Line, 72.

April 27-Baron Robert Melvil van Lynden, secretary of the permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, 67.

April 28.-Rev. Henry Harris Jessup, D.D., for fifty-three years a Presbyterian missionary noted Confederate soldier and writer, 74. in Syria, 78.... Gen. Edward P. Alexander, a

U. S. A., retired, 85.
April 29.-Brig.-Gen. Nathan A. M. Dudley,

May 1-John Q. A. Ward, the sculptor, 79 (see page 694). Nord Alexis, formerly president of Haiti, 90.... Rear-Admiral Philip Hichborn, U. S. N., retired, 71.... Gen. J. P. S. Gobin, a former commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, 73.

May 2.-John W. Wheeler, a pioneer sewingmachine manufacturer, 77.

May 3-John L. Beveridge, ex-Governor of Illinois, 86....John H. Converse, president of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, 69....Judge Edward T. Bartlett, of the New York Court of Appeals, 69.

May 4.--Dr. Horace B. Silliman, of New York, contributor of large sums to educational and religious institutions, 84.

May 5-Dr. George Fisk Comfort, well known as an art critic and educator, 76.... Rev. Alexander McLaren, D.D., a prominent English clergyman, 84.

May 6.-King Edward VII. of England, 68 (see page 689)....Rear-Admiral Bowman H. McCalla, U. S. N., retired, 66.

May 7.-Thomas F. Byrnes, formerly chief of police of New York City, 68.

May 8-Walter C. Kerr, president of Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co., 51.

ical educator and author, 52. May 10.-Benjamin Cutter, a prominent mus

May 13-Edward B. Garriott, chief forecaster of the Weather Bureau, 57.

May 14-Sir William Huggins, the noted English astronomer, 86.

May 15-James W. Van Cleave, ex-president of the Manufacturers' Association and a leader in the fight against boycotts, 60.

May 16.-Rev. Thomas W. Silloway, a prominent architect, 81....George Aitchison, R. A., the English architect.

May 18-John A. Kasson, formerly United States minister to Austria and to Germany, 88. ...Franz Skarbina, the German painter, 61.... Isaac Chauncey Wyman, generous donor to Princeton University, 82.

May 19-Michael Brinkman, M.D., an expert in hydrotherapy, 83.