MEDITERRANEAN SEA

in 1rg1o0 the lands which bound the southern and eastern parts of the eastern basin of the mediterranean were under real or nominal turkish control. in theory, that is to say, the sultan of turkey was suzerain of the area extending from the frontier of french tunisia, that is from the gulf of gabes, to the gulf of alexandretta, and owned also the island of cyprus. at the present time tripoli, which abuts on tunisia, is italian; egvpt forms an independent king- dom; the mandated territories of palestine and syria are attached to britain and france respectively, and cyprus has been an- nexed to britain. from the whole of this long stretch, therefore, the turk is now excluded. political changes.—in the northern part of the eastern basin and in its connected subsidiary seas, conditions were more com- plicated. the whole of asia minor was and remained politically turkish: from the ethnic and economic standpoint indeed it was more definitely turkish in 1926 than it was in 1910. but the changes in the european littoral of the aegean sea were great. in 1910 greece was but a small state, though at the same time greeks were widely distributed around all the shores of the aegean and within the adjacent lands and had great economic influence there. crete was still turkish, as was the whole of thrace, together with the region vaguely called macedonia: this meant that politically the aegean was chiefly a turkish sea. in 1926 crete was greek, and turkey had also lost the whole of macedonia and all but an eastern fragment of thrace. in other words, greece in 1926 included almost the whole of the european littoral of the aegean, and to her previously existing ports had been added that of salonika, which had ac- quired great significance. the interchange of populations be- tween greece and turkey in 1923-4 meant further that the acquired area was in process of becoming ethnically more greek than it had been in the past. on the other hand, greek influence in western asia minor disappeared, and with it the port of smyrna jost much of its former trade. the changes on the adriatic littoral and on the adjacent parts of the ionian sea had been great. in 1910 turkey held in the epirus area a frontage on the ionian sea and had also a wide window on the adriatic. the extension of greece to the north and the establishment of the independent state of albania, were territorial changes which preceded the outbreak of the world war; but that war resulted in others of even greater importance. prior to its outbreak, austria-hungary, which had annexed bosnia-herzegovina from turkey in 1908, held the eastern coast of the adriatic, from the edge of the very narrow strip which was montenegrin to beyond the isonzo. the peace treaties gave the greater part of the littoral to the serb-croat-slovene state, and the smaller part to italy, and left a cause of discord between the two in regard to the fate of the port of fiume. in the western basin, save for agreements in the case of morocco, there were no territorial changes: a certain amount of political equilibrium had been reached there long prior to the period under consideration. on the other hand, the new position within continental europe gencrally brought about by the war lead to fresh developments within the mediterranean zone. france, italy and, to a minor extent, spain made definite at- tempts to develop their trans-mediterranean possessions, and to establish themselves more firmly on the shores of that sea. since spanish action was limited to a coastal belt in morocco, it may be brieily dismissed. in 1912, the year in which the french protectorate was accepted by the sultan of morocco, france and spain reached an agreement as to the limits of their respective zones within that country. spanish attempts to make occupation effective in their own zone were probably influenced primarily by the french advance: other influences were the loss of the remnants of the former colonial empire of spain and the continuous emigration to algeria, which had acquired a large mehta—meierovics spanish element in its population. the convention of 1923 be- tween great britain, spain and france in regard to tangier, then placed under a regime of permanent neutrality, indicated the growing importance of france in the western basin of the mediterranean. the refusal of italy to recognise the agreement, on the ground that she was not represented at the convention was similarly an indication that that state, now freed from anxiety as regards her northeastern frontier, was directing her policy more and more definitely towards mediterranean affairs. french policy in the west.—if the developments in morocco were the chief events in the west since 1910, yet other signs were not wanting of the new orientation of french policy there. as contrasted with italy and even with spain, there is in france no surplus population seeking new lands for settlement. thus the fact that the north african territories, particularly algeria, give opportunities for european colonisation is not of much direct importance to that country. on the other hand, there is great need of man-power, particularly for the army. though the territories of the mediterranean littoral are not densely peopled, they do form a recruiting ground, and algeria, tunisia and mo- rocco all furnish divisions to the french army. but these lands are but the margin of a vast area which, interrupted politically only by smaller exclives, and physically by the sahara desert, now extends to the gulf of guinea and, further eastward, to far beyond the equator. parts of this area contain a virile coloured population, whose members make good soldiers. in this con- nection it may be noted that senegalese regiments have formed a part of the french army since 1911, and that in ro1g the na- tive element in the army was greatly increased. the bearing of these facts is twofold. in the first place it is essential that facilities for transverse traffic between the french and the north african coast opposite should exist in peace, and that so far as possible the safety of the routes should be assured in time of war. secondly, schemes are in contemplation for overcoming the obstacle presented by the sahara, in such a way as to ensure easy land communication between the littoral possessions and those further south, in order that the two may develop in combination. a railway connecting french west africa directly to the mediterranean coast would have great strategic importance in time of war, while the feasibility of motor communication had already been demonstrated. these possibilities increase the significance of the mediterranean ports. bizerta, algiers and oran are already important naval stations and submarine bases, and the french are making great efforts to develop and strengthen all the ports on this littoral, as centres of trans-mediterranean traflic. this emphasis on cross-routes is not only significant in itself, but is something entirely modern. new role of the mediterranean.—previously, as is well shown by the long-drawn-out row of british stations at gibraltar, malta and aden, the mediterranean was primarily of impor- tance as a longitudinal thoroughfare. up till the post-war period, between malta and aden, there was in egypt a country under british influence. with the establishment of an inde- pendent kingdom there, and the changes just noted, it is obvious both that great britain’s position in the mediterranean has been weakened, and that a new set of traffic routes is being super- imposed on the old. it may be added that if, as is sometimes stated, french withdrawal from egypt in 1883 was due to the fear of renewed attack on the northeastern frontier of france, then french acceptance of the mandate in syria is an indication that this reluctance to extend her extraterritorial commitments has ceased to exist under the new conditions. italian policy in the mediterranean area since the war had been influenced by somewhat different motives. italy has a steadily increasing population and the emigration laws in the united states tended to restrict one of the pre-war outlets for the surplus. thus italian policy was directed towards attempts to promote home industry and commerce in order to attract a part of the dense rural population from the land, and also to find new areas of possible settlement. the latter motive led to efforts to develop tripoli, obtained from turkey in 1912, while the former affected italian policy in the eastern part of the 865 adriatic. by the acquisition of the peninsula of istria, with the ports of trieste, pola and fiume, and of zara and the island of lagosta, italy obtained both complete protection for the east- ern coast of the peninsula and opened up possibilities of notable commercial developments. the italian advance meant that austria and hungary lost all outlets on the adriatic, and thus had no direct access to the mediterranean sea. the collapse of the former ottoman empire resulted in the rise in the eastern mediterranean of states which were either actually new, as are the kingdom of egypt, yugoslavia and the much smaller state of albania, or, as in the case of turkey and greece had undergone such radical modification—territorial, political and ethnical—as to be to all intents and purposes new. such states were for the most part characterised by a strongly na- tionalistic spirit which retarded economic recovery from the effects of the war. the result was that the chief ports at first showed decay rather than advance. this was particularly true of constantinople and smyrna, and even salonika, where the yugoslav state had had a free zone since 1923, did not make notable progress. despite their long adriatic littoral also, the yugoslavs were not able to develop an adequate outlet there. by an agreement reached with italy in 1924 the port of fiume became italian and the adjacent one of port baross, yugoslav. the friendly adjustment of this difficult question is probably an indication of future closer economic connection between the two powers. this summary account of conditions up to 1925 makes it clear that political developments, especially in the southern and eastern parts of the mediterranean area, took place between 1g10-25 with a rapidity all the more startling in view of the long antecedent period of complete or partial stagnation. but the apparent suddenness of the political and territorial changes was due to the fact that they were the consequences of cumulative economic changes which had been going on for a long period of time. in particular, the increased production of cereals for export in central and eastern europe, and the discovery and working of oil-fields alike along the carpathian border and in the caspian region, gave to outlets to the eastern mediterranean an importance which they did not possess in earlier times, and made readjustments inevitable. the mediterranean sea was no longer what the opening of the suez canal and the associated growth of european influence in the far east had made it— primarily a thoroughfare for world commerce. it was becoming also an important outlet for the developing lands round its southern and eastern shores. present strategic conditions in the mediterranean region are dis- cussed in d. h. cole’s imperial military geography (london, 1928). see also m. i. newbigin, geographical aspects of balkan problems (london, 1915); 1. bowman, the new world: problems in political geography (london, 1925). (m.n.) mehta, sir pherozeshah merwanji (1845-1015), indian municipal reformer, was the son of a bombay merchant. educated at the elphinstone college, he was the first parsee m.a. of bombay university and coming to london to read at lincoln’s inn was also the first parsee to be called 10 the english bar (1868). with dadabhai naoroji he founded the organisa- tion which grew into the east india association. returning to bombay he rapidly made a name as an advocate. appointed in 1869 as justice of the peace, he served on the new bombay cor- poration from 1872 till his death. he also served for over 30 years on the bombay legislature. for the last few months of his life he was vice-chancellor of bombay university. created a c.i.e. in 1894, he was advanced to the knighthood of the order 10 years later. he died in bombay nov. 5 1015. see the political biography by h. p. mody,sir pherozeshah mehta, 2 vol. (1921). much light is thrown on mehta's services to his native city in rrse and growth of bombay municipal government (1913), by his most intimate co-worker, sir dinshah edalji wacha. meierovics, zigfrids (1887-1925), latvian statesman, was born jan. 24 1887, the son of a country doctor in courland, and was educated at the riga polytechnic. he first worked in an insurance company and afterwards in an agrarian bank. 866 this training gave him an insight into financial problems and prepared him for the prominent part he was to play in the sta- bilisation of latvian currency. in nov. 1918 he became the first foreign minister of independent latvia and, as delegate to the peace conference, he secured latvia’s recognition and later succeeded in gaining her admission to the league of nations. from 1918 until his death he held office almost continuously as foreign minister and was once prime minister. he was killed in a motor accident on aug. 22 1925. shortly after this date a well-known student of the movement for independence in the baltic states expressed the opinion that of all the leaders of that movement in the various states involved, zigfrids meicrovics was at once the most statesmanlike and the most influential. he was a man gifted with an unusual power of looking ahead; and he was able to recognise the real problems facing the baltic states in the years immediately following the world war with probably greater facility and clarity than any of his colleagues in leadership. one of the foundations of his foreign policy was the conviction that estonia, latvia and lith- uania possessed many interests in common and should therefore endeavour to co-operate for the common good of all three states. the confidence which he inspired in his own countrymen is abundantly proved by the insistence with which the latter kept him in office from 1918 onwards. meighen, arthur (1874- }, canadian statesman, was born at anderson, in the county of perth, ontario, june 16 1874, the son of joseph and mary meighen. he was educated at st. mary’s collegiate institute and at toronto university, and became a barrister-at-law. he married in 1904 jessie isabel cox, daughter of the late charles cox of granby, quebec. his political career began in 1908 when he was elected to the house of commons as the conservative member for portage la prairie in the province of manitoba. ilis talent as a debater was at once recognised. in 1913 he became solicitor-general in the government of sir robert borden; and in oct. 1917 secretary of state and minister of mines. later he became minister of the interior. in 1918 he accompanied the canadian prime minister to england to attend the imperial conference, and on sir rob- ert borden’s retirement mr. meighen became prime minister and secretary of state for external affairs on july 10 1920. in june 1921 he attended the conference of prime ministers in london, where his representations were said to have had a notable effect upon the political groups in canada. mr. meighen held the office of prime minister until the general elections in 1921, when the conservative party was defeated; he then be- came the leader of the opposition, and for four years was a vigourous opponent of the liberal government. he supported the disarmament resolution introduced by the prime minister, mr. mackenzie king. the military service act, under which conscription was enforced in 1917, was largely, in so far as its legal preparation was concerned, the work of mr. mcighen, and the vigour with which he supported it in parliament drew upon him the hostil- ity of all those opposed to that measure. as the sentiment against conscription was especially strong in quebec, the feeling against him in that province was intense, and prevented the policy of his party from receiving the due consideration of the electors. mr. meighen consistently repelled the personal attacks made upon him as the enemy of the french canadians, but without much success. in the elections of 1925 the conserva- tives, under the leadership of mr. meighen, were overwhelm- ingly victorious in ontario and the maritime provinces, but with a practically solid quebec against him it was impossible to obtain a majority, and the government remained in the hands of the liberals. in june 1926, on the resignation of mr. mackenzie king, mr. meighen took office as premier, but his government was immediately defeated and a general election took place. the adoption by the united states of protection, as well as the great industrial development of that country, placed canada, in mr. meighen’s view, at a disadvantage. he therefore strongly advocated protection for his own country, in order to prevent the meighen—mellon united states from capturing the home markets. he was con- vinced also of the necessity for preserving the natural resources of canada, particularly the almost unlimited water power so envied by the bordering states, as well as the products of the forests. he resisted all attempts made by the united states to secure for their territories electrical power generated from water- courses in canada. mr. meighen made constant efforts to bring about a fusion of the diverse elements in the canadian population. he was made a member of the imperial privy council in oct. 1920. (a. g. d.) melbourne, victoria (see 18.90), the temporary seat of the federal govt. and the capital of victoria, australia, with a population of 816,800 (852,850 including suburbs), contains more than half the population of the whole state, and has grown with great rapidity. the formation of a greater melbourne council was decided upon in 1925. the city has been much im- proved in appearance by the planting of trees on the banks of the river and in the chief streets. there were 714 m. of electric tramways in 1923, and the suburban railways have been electrified. in 1916 a mint for silver and bronze coins was established here. in 1924 it was decided to build a large temple in & commanding position in the city as an australian war memorial. in 1917 a commonwealth shipping board, with its interstate headquarters at melbourne, was set up to deal with all questions concerning shipping, but it was not altogether a success. melbourne has a large trade, and 35% of the total wool export of australia is dealt with in sales. large sums have been spent on dredging and reclamation of land in the river and bay. meline, felix jules (1838-1925), french statesman (see 18.94), died in paris dec. 21 1925. mellon, andrew william (1855- ), american banker and public official, was born in pittsburgh, pa., march 24 185¢. after graduating from the university of pittsburgh, he entered the banking house of thomas mellon and sons, and later became a partner. the business developed into three large institutions, the mellon national bank, the union trust company and the union savings bank, all of pittsburgh. mr. mellon was elected president of the first mentioned in 1902, and was vice-president of the other two. he was interested in the development of the coal, coke and iron industry of western pennsylvania and was often associated in various enterprises with henry c. frick. he founded the town of donora, pa., and established a large steel mill there. another of his enterprises was to promote the build- ing of the first independent pipc-line, in competition with the standard oil co., through pennsylvania. he was a director in numerous corporations, and was a conservative republican, opposing the league of nations. in 1921 he was appointed secretary of the treasury in the cabinet of president harding, and continued to hold this office under president coolidge. he was chairman of the pennsylvania delegation to the republican national convention held at cleveland, o., june 10 1924. as chairman ex-officio of the world war foreign debt com- mission mr. mellon had a large share in formulating the policy of the united states in regard to funding the war debts of foreign governments owed to the u.s. government. he stressed the importance of debtor nations preserving the sanctity of their respective obligations but laid down that no nation can be asked to pay to another government sums in excess of its capacity, and further, that no settlement which is oppressive and retards the recovery and development of the foreign debtor is to the best interests of the united states or of europe. in this spirit he conducted negotiations with the various european debtor states which resulted in funding agreements being arrived at with belgium, czechoslovakia, estonia, finland, great britain, hungary, italy, latvia, lithuania and poland. the principal obligations funded under these various agreements amounted to $6,383,411,669, in addition to accrued interest, $1,006,502,331. in the management of the large internal debt of the u-s. govt. resulting from the world war, mr. mellon was equally successful. he laid down and rigidly adhered to a policy of providing for debt redemption annually out of current revenues. as the floating debts and the liberty loans fell due they were in memel—mendelism part paid off, in part refunded, at a lower rate of interest. asa result the u.s. national debt fell from $24,3 30,889,731 in 1920 to $20, 298,358,156 in 1925. mr. mellon was a strong advocate also of tax reduction, especially in the case of the surtax rates on incomes, maintaining that these should not exceed a maximum of 20% and that such reduction would be a great aid to general business and promote widespread prosperity. under mr. mellon’s prompting, congress gradually lowered the income tax rate untilin 1926 the surtax was reduced to 20%, yet without any corresponding fall in the amount of tax receipts. mr. mellon, who has written for this hucyclopde@ia, is the author of taxation: the people’s business (1924). memel (see 18.104), a port on the baltic coast at the mouth of the river memel or niemen, with an economic hinterland extending across lithuania into poland and soviet russia, the principal export being timber floated down the waterway. politically, memel is now an autonomous district of lithuania. the population of the town, approximately 25,000, is almost entirely german, and has been so since the 13th century, when memel, like riga and revel, was founded as a german trading station. before the world war the town of memel, with a strip of territory east of the river, belonged to germany, while the hinterland belonged to the russian empire. under the ver- sailles treaty (article 99), germany ceded all her territory east of the river to the allied and associated powers and undertook to accept whatever disposal they made of it. upon the ratifica- tion of the treaty the allies occupied the territory and took over the administration. this provisional regime lasted three years, owing to the dispute between the two new states of lithuania and poland over vilna (wilno) (¢.2.), and the conse- quent delay in the official recognition of the lithuanian govern- ment. the conference of ambassadors did not take up the question of memel till the autumn of 1922, and meanwhile it had been suggested that memel might be given a status in regard to lithuania like that which had been given to danzig in regard to poland. this was unacceptable to the lithuanians, since the population of the country districts of memel territory was lithuanian in nationality, while the port was almost the only possible maritime outlet and inlet for lithuania herself. accord- ingly the lithuanians, imitating the conduct of the poles at vilna, seized memel by a surprise attack on jan. 15 1923, and forced the french garrison to surrender and evacuate. on feb. 16 the conference of ambassadors proposed that the allies should transfer the sovereignty over the territory to lithuania, subject to local autonomy and to freedom of transit for poland. in the working out of the details so many difficulties were raised by both poland and lithuania that in sept. 1923 the case was referred to the league of nations. the council appoint- ed a commission of enquiry under the chairmanship of an american citizen, mr. norman davis, and the proposed con- vention for giving memel autonomy within lithuania with freedom of transit for poland, as revised by the davis com- mission, was eventually accepted by all parties, and signed in may 1924. in march 1924 the commission presented a dralt convention to the council. this convention constituted the memel territory as a unit within the sovereignty of lithuania with a clearly defined measure of administrative and financial autonomy and with a governor to be appointed by the presi- dent of the lithuanian republic. the port was defined as a port of international concern to which the provisions of the league’s barcelona transit conference apply, and was placed under a harbour board including a technical expert of neutral nationality appointed by the league. brbliogrrapity.—british white paper, command 2235 of 1924: lithuanian ministry for foreign affairs: the question of memel (london 1924, lithuanian information bureau). a. j. toynbee: survey of international affairs 1920-3, pp. 256-61. (se jeb memorials: see arciitecture; sculpture. memphis, tenn., u.s.a. (see 18.107), developed into a dis- tributing centre covering the entire south after the reopening of the mississippi river transport by the establishment of the 867 federal barge line in 1918. the population in 1910 was 131,- 105; in 1920, 162,351, of whom 61,181 were negroes and 5,844 foreign-born; and in 1925, 174,533, this being the census bureau estimate. annexations in 1919 (4:6 sq. m.) and 192§ (1-2 sq. m.) brought the city area up to 26-5 square miles. the output of factories within the city limits was valued at $30,242,000 in 19093 $117,718,000 in 1919; $95,537,305 in 1923. by 1925 there were ooo industrial plants in or near memphis, with an output esti- mated at $200,000,000. the greatest industrial development during the period from 1910 has been in hardwood products, cotton-seed products, heavy bags, steel and iron and auto- mobiles, including an assembly plant of the ford motor co., established in 1924, with a daily capacity of 350 cars. noteworthy improvements include the municipal rail and water terminal (1913); the harahan bridge (1917); the union belt railway; a new water pumping station (1923-5), multiply- ing by four the potential supply; a municipal auditorium seating 12,000 (1924); and the improvement and expansion of the elec- tric service. hydroelectric power will be available from the muscle shoals district of alabama and the white river project in arkansas. a city planning commission, created in 1921, se- cured the preparation of a comprehensive plan and the adoption of zoning ordinances. he cost of living in memphis is high. the west tennessee state teachers college was established at memphis in ro9r2. in sept. 1925 southwestern college, a presbyterian institution, founded in 1875, moved from clarksville to memphis. | mencken, henry louis (1880-— ), american critic, was born at baltimore, md., sept. 12 1880. ife attended the balti- more polytechnic institute, and in 1899 became a reporter on the baltimore aforning herald. he left that paper as editor in 1906, and joined the staff of the baitimore sun, to which he continued to be attached while engaged in many additional literary activities. in 1908 he became literary critic for the smart set, and was also joint editor 1908-23. in 1921 he became contributing editor of the nation, and in 1924 was one of the two founders of the american afercury, of which he became sole editor in 1925. he isa satirist rather than a critic, and represents the viewpoint of the extreme anti-academic element in the literary world. among his numerous publications are george bernard shaw: his plays (1905); the philosophy of friedrich nietzsche (1908); a book of buricsques (1916); damn; a book of calumny (1917); a book of prefaces (1918); the american language (1918); in defence of women (1918); prejudices (five series, 1919-26); and americana (1925). he has also written critical prefaces to the works of brieux, swift, stephen crane, cabell, nietzsche, ibsen and wilde. (see american literature.)