The World Almanac and Book of Facts

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1,200,000 troops, of which number 55,000 were killed, 15,000 died from sickness, and 300,000 were wounded. General Kuropatkin admitted that on October 2, 1905, the Russian strength available in the East was 1,037,000 men, of which 870,000 were in the field. Russian losses during the war are estimated at 352,412, the actual field casualties being: Killed, 23,008; wounded, 121,486; missing, 39,729.

1905

Although, through the efforts of President Roosevelt, Russia and Japan agreed to a peace parley in June, 1905, the first five months of the year were marked by bloody battles, following the capitulation of Port Arthur to the Japs on January 2. Among all, but the two warring nations, calm prevailed, and the year in the United States was an exceptionally quiet one. On January 28 Santo Domingo agreed that the United States should preserve order and assume charge of finances in the Dominican Republic, while guaranteeing territorial integrity. In pursuance with this agreement United States Minister Dawson arranged with Santo Domingo for the temporary collection of revenues by a United States Commissioner March 25; Theodore Roosevelt and Charles W. Fairbanks were inaugurated on March 4 as President and Vice-President of the United States for the term 1905-1909; the United States Supreme Court declared the Beef Trust illegal January 30; the investigation into the affairs of life insurance companies in New York began, the Equitable being the first company investigated, April 8; President Roosevelt left Washington for a two months' vacation visit to Texas and Colorado April 3, appointing a new Panama Canal Commisslon before starting; American Ambassador Joseph H. Choate was elected a Bencher of the Middle Temple, London, April 10; the body of John Paul Jones was discovered in Paris by Gen. Horace Porter April 14; it was brought with honors to the United States and was interred in a temporary tomb at Annapolis, Md., July 24; Andrew Carnegie gave $10,000,000 for a college professors' fund in the United States April 27; the International Railway Congress opened at Washington May 3, dynamite caused the death of 20 people and injured 100 others in a railroad wreck near Harrisburgh, Pa., May 11; a tornado at Snyder, Okla., killed 100 people and injured 141 others May 11; the Lewis and Clarke Centennial Exposition was opened at Portland, Ore., May 28; Mayor Weaver began a municipal reform movement in Philadelphia June 15: Herbert W. Bowen, Minister to Venezuela, was dismissed by the President for circulating alleged unfounded charges against Francis B. Loomis, Assistant Secretary of State, June 20; John D. Rockefeller gave $1,000,000 to the permanent endowment fund of Yale University June 28, and $10,000,000 to the General Education Board for the endowment of small colleges June 30; Charles J. Bonaparte succeeded Paul Morton as Secretary of the Navy July 1; Senator John H. Mitchell, of Oregon, was found guilty and recommended to leniency in the land fraud cases July 4; Elihu Root was appointed to succeed the late John Hay as Secretary of State July 6; Peary sailed from New York for the North Pole July 16; a Chinese boycott against American goods was declared July 19; the yellow fever broke out at New Orleans and subsequently extended to neighboring cities July 20; the explosion of a boiler on the U. S. S. Bennington in San Diego harbor killed 28 men and injured 100 others July 21; President Roosevelt addressed a large meeting of miners at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., August 10; the President conferred with leaders in college athletics with a view of improving standards October 9; on October 18 he departed from Washington on a tour of the Southern States, and on October 26 was enthusiastically received at New Orleans; Prince Louis of Battenburg arrived at Annapolis with the British cruiser squadron on a visit to American waters November 1; the same squadron visited New York November 9-15, where the Prince was warmly welcomed.

Some of the most noticeable events abroad in 1905 were: The Combes ministry in France resigned January 17; a saluting battery scattered grape shot in the direction of the Czar, at the ceremony of the Blessing of the Neva January 19; M. Rouvier, in France, formed a new Cabinet, retaining MM. Delcasse and Barteaux, January 22. Black Sunday in St. Petersburgh, Russia, came January 22, when Russian strikers attempted to present a

petition to the Czar, and were fired on by troops, from 300 to 4,000 being reported killed; the Czar appointed General Trepoff to be Governor-General of St. Petersburgh January 25; the largest diamond in the world was discovered in the Premier mine, South Africa, January 27; Warsaw, Poland, was under mob rule January 30; Soisalon Soinineu, ProcuratorGeneral of Finland, was assassinated at Helsingfors February 6; Grand Duke Sergius, uncle of the Czar, was assassinated at Moscow February 17; the Simplon Tunnel, the longest in the world, was opened from the Swiss and Italian sides April 2; the Cretan Assembly proclaimed a union of Crete with Greece April 21, and the Powers objected; King Alfonso arrived in London on a visit to King Edward June 5; M. Delcasse resigned as Foreign Minister in the French Cabinet June 6; the dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway was proclaimed by the Norwegian Parliament June 8; Theodorus P. Delyanius, the Prime Minister of Greece, was assassinated June 13; Warsaw was besieged, 200 persons were arrested, and street cars overturned to barricade shops and stores, June 26; a mutiny broke out on board the Russian battleship' Kniaz Potemkine in the harbor of Odessa June 28; the mutineers surrendered the vessel to Roumania July 8; a Franco-German agreement over Morocco was announced July 10; Major-General Count Shuvaloff, Prefect of the Moscow Police, was fatally shot July 11; the Czar of Russia and Emperor William of Germany held a conference off Borgo, Finland, July 23; Secretary Taft and party, en route for the Philippines, were enthusiastically received in Japan July 25; the vote in Norway 'on dissolution from Sweden was practically made unanimous on August 13; Lord Curzon resigned the Viceroyship of India, Earl Minto succeeding him, August 20; there was a massacre of Jews at Kichineff. Russia. September 6; Admiral Togo's flagship was destroyed by an explosion and 599 lives were lost September 13; the Czar proposed a second Peace Conference at The Hague September 18; France and Germany reached an agreement on their relations with Morocco September 26; England and Japan signed a treaty of alliance, including an agreement to maintain peace in Eastern Asia and India, and preserve the integrity of China. September 27; a railroad strike spread throughout the Russian Empire October 24; the Czar of Russia issued a manifesto assuring civil liberty, freedom of the press, extension of the suffrage and consent of the Duma in the enforcement of the laws October 30; Count Witte was appointed on the same day Chief Minister of Russia; in October and November there was an agitation in Hungary for concessions from Emperor Francis Joseph; 5,000 Jews were reported killed in Odessa during the riots November 2; the Korean Government transferred control to Japan November 18; the Norwegian Parliament unanimously elected Prince Charles of Denmark King of Norway; he assumed the title of Haakon VII., and took the oath of office November 27; the Balfour, ministry in Great Britain resigned December 1; the Sultan of Turkey submitted to the demands of the Powers concerning Macedonia December 14.

1906

Russia was the only great nation perturbed during the year 1906, and its troubles were internal. Especially during June, July and August there was a frequency of strikes, bomb throwing, assassinations of officials and other insurrectionary disturbances in Russia and in Poland. Among the more notable incidents of the twelve months in the Russian Empire were: Ex-Lieutenant Schmidt, the Russian naval mutineer, was executed at Sevastopol March 19; M. Witte resigned the Russian Premiership May 2; the Czar dissolved the Russian Duma July 21, and members of the Duma issued a manifesto from Viborg, Finland, July 23. This was followed July 31 by mutinies of Russian troops in Finland, which were suppressed with great loss of life. On August 25 a bomb explosion in the residence The Russian of the Russian Premier, Stolypin, killed and wounded fifty-four persons. At Siedlce, Poland, there General Min was assassinated by a girl at Peterhof August 26. Gen. Dmitri Trepoff, head of the Russian police was a massacre of Jews on September 8. Other events abroad in 1906 were: Armand Falsystem, died at Peterhof September 15.

lieres was elected President of the French Republic, the ballot in the National Assembly

being: Fallieres, 440; Doumer, 371; scattering. 28; the steamer Valencia was wrecked off Vancouver Island, 129 lives being lost and 29 saved, January 22; the Simplon Tunnel was opened to the public January 25; King Frederick VII. acceded to the throne of Denmark January 30; the Rouvier ministry in France resigned March 7; a mine disaster near Pas-deCalais, France, killed 1,000 miners March 10; an earthquake in Formosa killed thousands and destroyed $45,000,000 in property March 17; the Moroccan conference at Algeciras reached an agreement on policing Morocco March 27, and adjourned April 7; the volcano of Vesuvius was in violent eruption, causing destruction of lives and property, April 5-12; the International Exhibition at Milan, Italy, was opened April 29; revolutionary disturbances took place in Macedonia May 20-30; the International Postage. Congress at Rome adjourned May 26; King Alfonso of Spain and the Princess Victoria of England were married at Madrid May 31; King Haakon VII. and Queen Maud of Norway were crowned June 22; a railway wreck at Salisbury, England, killed twenty-three American passengers July 1; hostilities broke out between Salvador and Guatemala July 8, but were quickly ended by a treaty of peace, signed at San Jose, between Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala; Capt, Alfred Dreyfus was vindicated by the French court of last resort and restored to the army July 12; the fourteenth conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union began in London July 23; the Pan-American Conference of American Republics was opened at Rio de Janeiro July 23, and Secretary Root addressed the Conference July 27; King Edward VII. arrived in Berlin on a visit to the Kaiser August 15; an earthquake and fire at Valparaiso, Chile, caused great loss of life and property August 16-17; the Pope issued an encyclical concerning the law in France separating the Church and State September 1; the Shah opened the first Parliament of Persia September 12; a statue of George Washington was unveiled at Budapest September 15; the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia voted for secession of the State from the Commonwealth of Australia October 13; the Clemenceau ministry went into office in France, and General Picquart was appointed Minister of War October 20; anticlerical riots took place in Valencia, Spain, October 20; by the wrecking of 256 fishing boats off Boto Island, Japan, 800 persons were drowned October 28: the law separating Church and State in France took effect December 11; Emperor William dissolved the German Reichstag for refusing to vote supplies for the war in Southwest Africa December 13.

In the United States in 1906 the White House was the scene of a wedding which attracted wide attention on February 17, when Miss Alice Roosevelt, the President's oldest daughter, became the bride of Representative Nicholas Longworth, of Ohio; Meridian, Miss., was visited by a destructive cyclone on March 4; 600 Móros were killed in battle with American troops and constabulary near Jolo March 8; the United States Supreme Court decided that witnesses in anti-trust proceedings cannot be excused from testifying against their corporation March 12; the anthracite coal miners in Pennsylvania began a strike March 31 which lasted until May 8, when the strikers accepted the operators' terms; Greene and Gaynor, Government, embezzlers, were found guilty at Savannah, Ga., April 12; President Roosevelt, made an address at Washington on the "man with the muck-rake," and advocated an inheritance tax April 14; earthquakes and fire destroyed a large part of San Francisco, Cal., causing a loss of $400,000,000, April 18-19; the remains of John Paul Jones were reinterred at Annapolis April 24; the Benjamin Franklin Bi-Centenary was celebrated at Philadelphia April 27; the reunion of the Presbyterian Church (North) and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was effected at Des Moines, Ia., May 24; public schools, with half a million pupils, were opened in the Philippines June 11; the President signed the Oklahoma and Arizona Statehood bills June 16; the United States Sénate approved of the lock canal for Panama June 21; Japanese seal poachers were killed in Alaskan waters July 16; the Standard Of Company was indicted at Chicago for receiving rebates August 8; in a riot at Brownsville, Tex., several soldiers in the negro battalion of the Twenty-fifth United States Infantry killed and wounded a number of persons; after Investigation President Roosevelt issued an order November 21 disbanding the regiment "without honor" for complicity in the rioting; an insurrectionary movement in Cuba was begun August 20, and President Palma appealed to the United States for intervention in the island' September 8; on September 13 American marines were landed at Havana, but were withdrawn; on September 28 President Palma, of Cuba, resigned; on the following day Secretary Taft pro

claimed United States intervention in Cuba and himself as Provisional Governor; on October 12 Mr. Taft was succeeded in this office by Charles E. Magoon; the Standard Oil Trust was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury at Jamestown, N. Y., for accepting unlawful concessions in railroad rates August 24; President Roosevelt ordered a simplified form of spelling in the Government Printing Office-as official complications and much adverse criticism ensued, he withdrew the order December 14; William J. Bryan arrived in New York City from a long trip abroad and was given a popular reception August 30; a great naval demonstration off Oyster Bay was reviewed by the President September 8; Gen. James F. Smith was installed as Governor of the Philippine Islands September 20; anti-negro riots at Atlanta, Ga., resulted in lynchings, and the city was placed under martial law September 22; the Sugar Trust was indicted at New York for accepting railroad rebates October 2; contractors were invited to submit proposals for the completion of the Panama Canal September 10; a rehearing in the case of Senator Burton, of Kansas, was denied by the United States Supreme Court, and his imprisonment began October 15; the Japanese were excluded from the regular public schools of San Francisco October 15; the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad was convicted at New York of rebating rates in violation of law October 17, and two days later the Standard Oil Company of Ohio was convicted at Findlay of violating the Ohio Anti-Trust law; a drawbridge railway accident near Atlantic City, N. J., caused the loss of seventy lives October 28; President Roosevelt departed on a visit to the Isthmus of Panama November 8, reaching the city of Panama November 15, this being the first time a President of the United States passed beyond the jurisdiction of its flag. The President landed in Porto Rico November 21, and returned thence to Washington, where he arrived November 26.

The events of 1907, chronologically arranged, will be found on other pages of this issue of THE WORLD ALMANAC under the title, "Record of Events in 1907."

As is obvious, no attempt has been made to do more in the foregoing quarter-century review than to note in chronological order the dates of the most important happenings. Because of lack of space, the necrology of the years referred to has also been ignored, although death struck at many a shining mark. From year to year, however, THE WORLD ALMANAC has printed a record of the deaths of eminent people, and has also referred, by a special index, to valuable papers, reports and articles published in THE WORLD ALMANAC for preceding years. The student, therefore, who will use the "Quarter-Century Record" of THE WORLD ALMANAC as a guide to exhaustive study will find it exceedingly helpful, and will be led into many paths of learning-just as a reading of THE WORLD from day to day insures a liberal education, None of the events chronicled has escaped the attention of THE WORLD, and from THE WORLD'S columns the review has been made. Elsewhere in THE WORLD ALMANAC for 1908 will be found the remarkable story of the important part THE WORLD has played in national and international affairs, even to the shaping of destinies of universal interest since 1883. No other paper has been as prominent in history or received such widespread recognition by the rulers of the earth for the last two and a half decades, and it is inseparably connected with great occurrences, with progress and with publicity. Hence, the "Quarter-Century Record of Events," and THE WORLD'S own story, "Performance Is Better Than Promise," printed elsewhere in this issue of THE WORLD ALMANAC, should be read in conjunction.

It has likewise been impossible to include in the preceding quarter-century epitome many dates of interesting doings in the field of sports, the drama, music, the sciences, art, medicine, literature, and other avenues of thought and action. It would require the entire space of THE WORLD ALMANAC to even mention these. Annually, however, THE ALMANAC gives them proper place in its review of noteworthy incidents that have contributed to make the great total of mundane happenings worth recording. Thus, the purchaser of THE WORLD ALMANAC of 1908 who preserves this volume, and who, in future, supplements it by adding the yearly issues, will always have, in the most compact form ever published, an accurate, comprehensive and valuable history collaborated by the highest authorities.

THE astronomical calculations in this work were expressly made for it by Dr. J. Morrison, and are expressed in local Mean Time.

Chronological Eras.

The year 1908, which is a leap year, corresponds to the year 7416-17 of the Byzantine era; to 5668-69 of the Jewish era, the year 5669 commencing at sunset on September 25; to 2661 since the foundation of Rome according to Varro; to 2684 of the Olympiads (the fourth year of the 671st Olymplad commencing July 1, 1908); to 2568 of the Japanese era, and to the 41st of the Meiji; to 1325-26 of the Mohammedan era, the year 1326 commencing on February 4, 1908. The 133d year of the Independence of the United States of America begins on July 4, 1908.

Name.

Date of Beginning of Epochs, Eras, and Periods.

Grecian Mundane Era.....
Civil Era of Constantinople...
Alexandrian Era........
Julian Period.....
Mundane Era.......

Jewish Mundane Era....

Era of Abraham.........