JENKS

jenks, jeremiah whipple (1856- ), american economist, was born in st clair, michigan, on the 2nd of september 1856. he graduated at the university of michigan in 1878; taught greek, latin and german in mt. morris college, illinois; studied in germany, receiving the degree of ph.d. from the university of halle in 1885; taught political science and english literature at knox college, galesburg, ill., in 1886-1889; was professor of political economy and social science at indiana state university in 1889-1891; and was successively professor of political, municipal and social institutions (1891-1892), professor of political economy and civil and social institutions (1892-1901), and after 1901 professor of political economy and politics at cornell university. in 1899-1901 he served as an expert agent of the united states industrial commission on investigation of trusts and industrial combinations in the united states and europe, and contributed to vols. i., viii. and xiii. of this commission's report (1900 and 1901), vol. viii. being a report, written wholly by him, on industrial combinations in europe. in 1901-1902 he was special commissioner of the united states war department on colonial administration, and wrote a _report on certain economic questions in the english and dutch colonies in the orient_, published (1902) by the bureau of insular affairs; and in 1903 he was adviser to the mexican ministry of finance on projected currency changes. in 1903-1904 he was a member of the united states commission on international exchange, in especial charge of the reform of currency in china; in 1905 he was special representative of the united states with the imperial chinese special mission visiting the united states. in 1907 he became a member of the united states immigration commission. best known as an expert on "trusts," he has written besides on elections, ballot reform, proportional representation, on education (especially as a training for citizenship), on legislation regarding highways, &c. his principal published works are _henry c. carey als nationalokonom_ (halle a. s., 1885); _the trust problem_ (1900; revised 1903); _great fortunes_ (1906); _citizenship and the schools_ (1906); and _principles of politics_ (1909). jenne, a city of west africa, formerly the capital of the songhoi empire, now included in the french colony of upper senegal and niger. jenne is situated on a marigot or natural canal connecting the niger and its affluent the bani or mahel balevel, and is within a few miles of the latter stream. it lies 250 m. s.w. of timbuktu in a straight line. the city is surrounded by channels connected with the bani but in the dry season it ceases to be an island. on the north is the moorish quarter; on the north-west, the oldest part of the city, stood the citadel, converted by the french since 1893 into a modern fort. the market-place is midway between the fort and the commercial harbour. the old mosque, partially destroyed in 1830, covered a large area in the south-west portion of the city. it was built on the site of the ancient palace of the songhoi kings. the architecture of many of the buildings bears a resemblance to egyptian, the facades of the houses being adorned with great buttresses of pylonic form. there is little trace of the influence of moorish or arabian art. the buildings are mostly constructed of clay made into flat long bricks. massive clay walls surround the city. the inhabitants are great traders and the principal merchants have representatives at timbuktu and all the chief places on the niger. the boats built at jenne are famous throughout the western sudan. jenne is believed to have been founded by the songhoi in the 8th century, and though it has passed under the dominion of many races it has never been destroyed. jenne seems to have been at the height of its power from the 12th to the 16th century, when its merchandise was found at every port along the west coast of africa. from this circumstance it is conjectured that jenne (guinea) gave its name to the whole coast (see guinea). subsequently, under the control of moorish, tuareg and fula invaders, the importance of the city greatly declined. with the advent of the french, commerce again began to flourish. see f. dubois, _tombouctou la mysterieuse_ (paris, 1897), in which several chapters are devoted to jenne; also songhoi; timbuktu; and senegal.