WATER, PURIFICATION OF

great changes have occurred in waterworks procedures since 1910. they began with the successful chlorination of the lincoln water supply in 1905, consequent upon the typhoid epidemic there (about 50,000 inhabitants, over 1,000 cases of typhoid fever and 100 deaths). chlorination.—in the united states and canada chlorination, for some years past, has been the rule, not the exception. in england, progress has been much slower, but the world war greatly altered things, thanks to the initiative of men like hor- rocks and sims woodhead. further, the bold step taken by the metropolitan water board in chlorinating so huge a volume of water as over 100,000,000 gal. a day proved a great incentive to further investigation of this tremendous asset in the work of water purification. the “ chlorinators ”’ plead that inasmuch as they destroy practically all the non-sporing bacteria of intestinal origin they incidentally kill all the microbes associated with epidemic water- borne disease. it is a bold claim, but apparently sound on the basis of current knowledge. the “ anti-chlorinators ” urge that a ‘doped ”’ water is prima facie open to condemnation, and assert that there have been conspicuous failures in the chlorina- tion processes in the past due to break-downs in the plant, or to dangerous compromises between doses sufficient to sterilise the water and yet small enough to avoid taste troubles. they further claim that natural processes (e.g., storage and slow sand filtration) remove at least 98% of the total number of bacteria in the original water of whatever sort they may be, and that prolonged experience has shown that this is an absolute protec- tion from the diseases associated with the ingestion of impure water. a third school claims that all purification processes are merely a retrograde movement—that safety lies alone in choosing vir- gin, uncontaminated sources of water supply, requiring no sort of purification. it is possible to sympathise strongly with this exalted attitude of mind, but practically we must face, to an increasing extent, the necessity of rendering impure waters safe for domestic use. as regards the “ chlorinators ”’ and the ‘““ anti-chlorinators,”’ there is much to be said on both sides, and each case should be judged on its own merits. chlorination is an exceedingly cheap process; less than one shilling per 1,000,000 gal. of water treated may suffice. it is disputed how the chlorine acts. some say it has merely an oxidation effect, others claim that it has an intrinsic bactericidal action.! the dose is usually from 0:25 to o-5 of available chlorine per 1,000,000 (2-5 to § lb. of chlorine per 1,000,000 gallons). the time required for sterilisa- tion varies according to the dose and the quality of the water. a few minutes may suffice, but one to five hours, or even longer in certain cases, should be aimed at. administration.—the chlorine can be administered as a soluble hypochlorite (e.g., alkaline sodium hypochlorite), or as a solution of bleaching powder (chloride of lime), or as a solution made from the gas liquefied in and liberated from mietal cylin- ders. the latter process is now most extensively used, and there are some highly ingenious forms of apparatus for measuring accurately the gas as it flows from the cylinders through the chlorine apparatus on its way to the vessels or towers used for its final solution. whatever method is adopted, it 1s highly impor- tant that the mixture of the chlorine and the water to be treated should be rapid and complete. successes. —the success of the treatment is determined by the destruction of b. coli, a non-sporing excremental microbe, water, purification of slightly more hardy than the typhoid bacillus and the cholera vibrio. it is also gauged by the circumstance that there are places where the incidence of water-borne diseases has been modified to a most gratifying extent since, and apparently as a result of, the introduction of chlorination processes. taste objections —taste troubles have been a most serious factor in the problem. frequently, in consequence, the dose has been reduced below the limits of safe sterilisation. recently, however, knowledge has increased by leaps and bounds. it is now known that the presence of certain bodies (e.g., phenoloid substances) 1n excessively minute amount (less than 1 in 1,000 millions) may be the root of the trouble.* these impurities may arise from atmospheric contaminations, or be conveyed by liquid pollutions (e.g., washings from roads, etc.). fortunately, valuable remedies (taste preventers) have been found, e.g., potassium permanganate and ammonia (dose about o-2 per 1,000,000 the latter in terms of nitrogen). even the organic matter, naturally present in waters, is a taste preventer, or ‘‘ re- mover ” of real value. there is no reliable indication that chlorinated water has any deleterious effect on man, the lower animals, fish-life or horticultural operations. on the whole, the same may be said as regards its alleged injurious effect on metals. chlorination is a factor of great importance in water purifica- tion, although this admission may be coloured with certain cautious limitations. it can increase the margin of safety and can bring almost any water to any pitch of epidemiological per- fection required. in the language of “ the man in the street,” chlorine, in doses of 0-25 to o-§ per 1,000,000, can render dan- gerous waters safe without giving them (at all events in con- junction with taste removers) any unpleasant taste, or con- ferring on them any undesirable characteristics. beyond all question, chlorination has come to stay, although it may be wise to regard it as a most valuable adjunct to other purification processes rather than as an absolute panacea. excess lime process——in 1912 a new method of purification called the excess lime process was described.‘ in softening waters lime is added in amount equal to, or just short of, what ts necessary to combine with the dissolved carbonic acid in the water and with the bicarbonates. carbonate of lime is formed, which, being practically insoluble, is thrown down as a pre- cipitate. this mechanically purifies the water to a considerable extent, but does not produce a true bactericidal effect. in the excess lime method slightly more lime is added, so as to leave the water caustically alkaline, and this produces a marked bac- tericidal action. the amount of excess necessary depends on the duration of contact and the amount of impurities in the water, but one part of lime (as cao) per 100,000 parts of water is usually sufficient. the following quotation® may serve to illustrate the usefulness of the excess lime method:— ... the experiments carried out by us during the last two years at the langford experimental station of the southend water co., using water from two comparatively small rivers, show that by acting on sir a. ilouston’s suggestion to use excess lime better results can be obtained than by the use of chlorine, since chlorine does not remove any of the organic matter in solution, whereas the excess lime will remove at least 50°% of this. waters, therefore, which a few years ago would have been considered quite unsuitable for a supply, and which no system of purification then known would have rendered safe, can now be utilised. the method proved highly successful (1917) at accra (gold coast colony) in dealing with an impure swamp water used for water works purposes. its successful use in 1913 enabled aber- deen® to decide on the retention of the river dee as a source of water supply, thus saving over £100,000 on alternative schemes. in ror4 it was shown at sunbury that the raw river thames could be purified to a wonderful extent.’?. for example, the ten worst samples of the river water and of the outlet from the first tank gave, on the average, colour estimations of 155 and 37 respectively, a reduction of 76%. b. coli was found to be absent from 10,000 c.c. of the treated water, on ten separate days. the method has disadvantages: for example, the cost, the difficulties attendant upon the neutralisation of the excess of waterhouse—watterson caustic alkalinity and the problem of disposing of lime sludge in the case of hard waters. on the other hand, the advantages are considerable. questions of taste are eliminated. hard waters may be softened and soft waters hardened by the process. hard impure waters are not only softened and rendered safe bacteri- ologically but improved greatly, as judged by physical and chemical standards. water tests——the physical, chemical and_ bacteriological tests used in the examination of waters have not altered very materially during recent years. physically, observations are made of the colour (using a colour meter), turbidity (gravi- metrically, or with some form of turbidimeter) and opacity (as shown, for example, by passing a beam of light through the water), etc. chemically, the chief tests are still for ammoniacal, albuminoid and oxidised nitrogen, chlorides, oxygen absorbed from permanganate, hardness, etc., although new tests, like the determination of the hydrogen-ion concentration, are being used extensively. bacteriologically, the number of bacteria (especially at 37° c.) and the b. coli test still hold the field. in connection with the latter test, a vast amount of work has been done, but we are still uncertain what significance should be attached to the various races of b. coli encountered in water analyses. the tendency is to insist on the possession of, say, two positive attributes (lactose -+indol+) which characterise human faecal microbes and then judge the matter on a quantitative basis. on the whole, the attempts to differentiate between b. coli of human intestinal origin and those derived from the lower animals, fish and birds have been most disappointing. the modern teaching is that as it is economically possible, by ade- quate purification processes, to eliminate (or nearly so) all “ lactose+indol+ b. coli,” this standard should always be aimed at. speaking generally, nearly all are agreed that there should be no b. coli of the kind referred to in 100 c.c. of water in more than half of the samples examined. results.—the interpretation of results has altered consider- ably during recent years, especially in those cases where chlorina- tion is practised. the tendency is rather in the direction of condoning certain imperfections of quality (e.g., the amount of organic matter present) provided that b. colt is killed. it is considered that if b. colt is destroyed the occurrence of epidemic water-borne diseases is impossible and that therefore other inferential indices of safety lose much of their significance. but those who cling to past traditions regard chlorination as a short cut to apparent rather than real purity. natural methods.—these methods of purification have not been neglected of late years. the value of storage is being increasingly recognised. the three factors making for safety are equalisation, sedimentation and devitalisation. by equalisation is meant the dilution and averaging of any sudden access of pollutions to the water “ feeding” a storage reservoir. sedi- mentation means the settling out of solid impurities. devitalisa- tion implies the gradual extinction of undesirable bacteria under the conditions of storage which are unfavourable to the con- tinued vitality of pathogenic microbes. nature’s method of purification has certain disadvantages. just as some things die, so do others multiply, sometimes with embarrassing results. there are the diatoms, the protozoa, green and blue growths, etc. some of these growths give rise to taste troubles (e.g., tabellaria, synura, uroglena, etc.); others exercise a serious blocking or choking effect on sand filtration processes (e.g., asterionella, synedra, cyclotella, fragilaria, etc.). copper sul- phate (in doses of 0-1 to 1-0 per 1,000,000; 1 to 10 ib. per 1,000,000 gal.) has been proved to be a valuable algicidal agent. the smaller doses have no injurious action on fish, but with the max- imum doses great care must be exercised, especially in the case of trout. filiers —a new and interesting development is the suggestion that rapid (mechanical) filters should be used to remove nearly all the suspended matters (including algal and other growths) from water, and worked at the very rapid rate of 100-200 gal. per sq. ft. per hour. in order to cover the additional cost in- volved it is hoped that it may be feasible to work slow sand 995 filters at six instead of two gal. per sq. ft. per hour as a final filtration process. ‘the underlying idea is that slow sand filters might be worked considerably faster than is usual if rapid filters were used antecedentally to remove the bulk of the sus- pended matters. those who favour these departures usually advocate chlorination as an additional safeguard, or, at all events, as a stand-by measure. references.—(1) joseph race, chlorination of water (1918); (2) b. a. adams, ‘‘ the iodoform taste acquired by chlorinated water,” the medical officer, no. 869, vol. 33, no. 12 (1924); (3) nineteenth annual report of the director of water examination, metropolitan water board (1922); (4) ninth research report by the director of water examination, metropolitan water board (191 3); (5) j. c. thresh and j. f. beale, preface to 3rd ed., the examina- tion of waters and water sh rehes (1925); (6) james watt, “ purifi- cation of water supply by the excess lime method,” jour. of state medicine (aug. 1913); (7) tenth research report by the director of water examination, metropolitan water board (1914). bibliography.—s, rideal, water and iis purification (1902); j. don and j. chisholm, afodern methods of purification (1913); a. c. houston, siudies tn water supply (1914); a. c. houston, rural water supplies and their purification, and rivers as sources of ages eed (1918); a. h. hooker, chloride of lime in sanita- tion (1913). see also dr. r. j. reece's report to the local government board on the epidemic of enteric fever in the city of lincoln, 1904-5, no. 226 (1906); dr. a. houston, “ b. welchit, gastro-enteritis and water supply,” engineering news record, vol. 89, p. 484 (1921); the oficial circular of the british waterworks association gives the most up-to-date account of all matters of interest relating to water supplies, including purification. (a. c, ho.) waterhouse, john william (1847-1917), british painter (see 28.370), diced in london feb. 10 1917. waterlow, sir ernest albert (1850-19109), british painter (see 28.381), died at ilampstead, london, oct. 25 1919. water power: see hydroelectric engineering. waterways: see inland water transport. watson, john broadus (1878- ), american psycholo- gist, was born at greenville, s. c., jan. 9 1878. he graduated at furman university (a.m. 1900), continuing his studies at the university of chicago (ph.d., 1903). after serving as assistant and instructor in experimental psychology at the university of chicago, he was appointed professor of experimental and com- parative psychology at johns hopkins university in 1908, becoming also director of the psychological laboratory there. he became known as the leading exponent of behaviourism. in 1917 he served as major in the aviation section of the signal corps, u. s. reserves, and with the a. e. f. he was editor of zhe psychological review, 1908-15; became joint editor of the journal of animal behavior in 1910; and editor of the journal of experimental psychology in 1915. see behaviorism. watson wrote animal education (1903); behavior—an intro- duction to comparative psychology (1914); iloming and related activities of birds (1915); suggesttons of modern scientists concern- ing education (1917); psychology (1919); and behaviorism (1925). watson, john christian (:867— —+),_ australian poli- tician, was born at valparaiso, chile, april 9 1867, when his parents were on their way as emigrants to australasia. he was educated at the public school of oamaru, n. z., and as a boy began work as a compositor. he also made an early entrance into politics, attaching himself to the labour party, which came into prominence during the great strike of australian dock and transport workers. he was president of the sydney trades and labour council in 1890. from 1894-1901 he was a member of the n.s.w. legislature. in 1rgo0r he was elected to the common- wealth parliament, and for a short time in 1904, on the resigna- tion of deakin, he led a labour ministry. he resigned after a few months, though he continucd to lead the labour party until 1908, when he rctired from public life. watterson, henry (1840-1921), american journalist (see 28.418), was among the first to urge, in 1911, the nomination of woodrow wilson as democratic candidate for president. in aug. 1918, he retired from active editorship of the louisville (ky.) courier-sournal, remaining “ editor emeritus ”’ till april 1919, when he severed all connection with the paper because of its support of the league of nations. he died at jacksonville, 996 fla., dec. 22 1921. he was the author of old london town (1910); history of the manhattan club (1915); and “ murse henry’; an autobiography (1919). watts-dunton, walter theodore (1832-1914), british man of letters (see 28.422), died at putney, london, june 6 1914. wealth and income (sce 28.437).—before the world war fair progress had been made in different countries in the more accurate computation of annual income and in its capitalisation on sound lines in order to arrive at aggregate wealth. but the methods varied very widely. much depended on the degree of civilisation which had been attained, on the methods of taxation in force, and on the extent to which statistical measurement had been pursued; and even if the war had not intervened it would still have been impossible to get a complete picture of the total income or wealth of the world. such figures as have been offered are rich chiefly in speculation, and, as the following analysis of fundamental principles will show, they depend largely on the methods of investigation which have been adopted. i. general considerations in some respects the world war assisted research in this wide ficld of finance; in others it added substantially to its difficulty. everywhere (including countries nominally neutral in the strife) public debt was largely increased. acute disease, usually described as inflation, overtook the currency of the nations. valuation of almost anything, save within narrow limits, became hazardous; and the stress laid on monetary or nominal income, as opposed to real income (in the sense of purchasing power), was in itself a complication which rendered valid comparison almost impossible. for these reasons it would be idle to attempt any review of world income and wealth in the period since 19g10— the central feature of which must be the virtual revolution brought about by war conditions—without preliminary notice of certain basic principles. these principles throw important light on this form of public financial computation and comparison. the summary presented to the royal statistical society by sir josiah stamp in may 1919 endeavoured to present the posi- tion as in ror4. as he himself explained, it was a first attempt and necessarily elementary in character, but since then there has been no serious challenge of its main conclusions. in all problems of the kind there is the constant danger of partisan estimate. apparently competent authorities had argued that the wealth of the united kingdom in 1914 was approximately £10,000,000,000; others had placed it as high as £24,000,000,000. much depends on the use to which estimates of the national wealth are put. they are available as tests of progress, affording comparison with different years; they show the accumulation of capital, the distribution of wealth, and the effect of changes in the rate of interest or in the value of money. they may be employed to test the relative prosperity of resources of different nations; or for comparisons of income with capital and property; or to re- veal the distribution of wealth according to individual fortunes, with the changes in that distribution; or to facilitate the consider- ation of the applicability and probable yield of specific schemes of impost or taxation such as a capital levy; or for the purpose of dealing with questions relating to war indemnities, 1n which case even simple inquiry has shown that wealth or income at any given moment is not the sole test of ability to pay indemnity or make reparation; it is at best only a partial test. in such investigation there are innumerable intricate and highly technical problems. ‘the mass of recent work in different countries has emphasised the difficulty of careful and authorita- tive estimate. it is not easy to secure adjustment as at a unl- form date, 1914; in addition to the disturbing effects of war there is the abiding problem of the comparability of like subject mat- ter. reliable as it might be for broad purposes in 1914, it has since been subject to great variation, and the range of error at the present time is probably considerable. the wealth of a tribal community is not readily comparable with that of a people ad- vanced in civilisation, and although the illustration may be regarded as extreme the ramifications of war disturbance have watts-dunton—wealth and income been so great that the remark is still applicable in certain parts of the world. public debt. —but the substantial consideration is present-day effort to measure the aggregate of gross personal wealth and to make strictly accurate allowance for public debt and its conse- quent burden of taxation. for even if all the debt is held inter- nally, neglect of its influence, viewed as a capital obligation and the cause of heavy annual taxation, may lead to ridiculous results. although the debt is held within the state, it has been described as a concealed liability, through taxation, on income and capital generally. in this matter the usual method is to count as wealth the individual holdings in government stock and to deduct the debt as a mortgage on the property held by the state or the collective community. there is not, however, uniform practice in different countries. the magnitude of the problem which is raised by this apparently simple principle may be gathered from the following comparison of the pre-war and post-war public debt of the leading nations. public debt by countries post-war country a0 = : . pre-war year debt £000,000's £000,000’s omitted omitted the british emptre great britain ; 706 1923-4 7,706 india , 307 1923-- 585 canada . 69 1921-2 500 australia 335 1922- 923 new zealand 2 1922-3 219 south africa . 4 126 1921-2 179 + other countries united states 245 1921-2 4,715 france 1,315 1922-3 11,472 germany 1,055 i9iq 9,850 italy . 611 i919 3,124 belgium . : i85 i9i9 784 austria 510 i9i9 3,470 spain , e 382 192: 478 holland . 97 1924 286 japan. 272 1921 -2 323 russia 1,046 1917 3,415 portugal 130 1922-3 25 denmark ; 20 1922- 66 norway . : 20 1922-3 85 sweden | 36 1922-3 79 switzerland. ; 68 i9i9 148 greece. 48 1922 316 rumania , ; 66 i9ig 445 servia 27 iqi9 234 czecho-slovakia i i9gig 388 hungary 270 1919 1,587 poland , i i919 44o bulgaria 35 i9i9 218 turkey i51 i9i9 a412 bgypl. « «: <4 94 192 93 argentine rai 1919 i2 latvia i9i9 24 finland igig 74 china : 130 i919 172 chile : a3 1919 50 siam ; 6 i9i9 brazil 194 i9iq 180 total r805 |. 53,759 the various currencies have been converted into sterling at par of exchange, e.g., $4.867 =£1, or 25:225 fr.={1. definition of national wealth.—these statistics must be read in conjunction with the vital fact that the deduction of debt from state property will often give a minus quantity. in such ques- tions, there is still much confusion of thought. the wealth of a country may mean either the valuc of objects within its boundaries or the wealth of its inhabitants including foreign possessions, but excluding wealth within the country held by people abroad. this confusion was very well illustrated in the prolonged discus- sion of the taxable capacity of ireland; it constantly recurs in kindred problems at the present day, notably in the effort to arrive at working arrangements to avoid double taxation. again, wealth and income: wealth in private hands is not easily defined. in the various shades of ownership sir josiah stamp has summarised absolute personal disposition of the whole value, trust interests, collective ownership with only potential specific allocation to individuals, collective ownership without the possibility of individual allo- cation, communal wealth such as city and local property, and national property including even the instruments of defence. much controversy still attends the inclusion or the non-inclusion of the valuation of domestic service by members of families. and there are still many countries in which stock or produce occupies a large place in total valuation; in post-war fluctuation values have varied very widely at short intervals, rendering all the more difficult every effort to estimate aggregate wealth. estimates based on taxation.—it is important to notice also the various methods of computing wealth and income. many of them are necessarily based on data arising from taxation of in- come, especially collective taxation or taxation at the source. the immediate advantage of this system is the comprehensive result; on the other hand there is liability to error owing to tax evasion, omissions from the scheme of tax, and difference of practice in the basis of capitalisation, that is, in the number of years’ purchase adopted. many estimates rely on the taxation of income on individual returns. but there also arise the tendency to considerable evasion, the omission of all income held collec- tively, and the difficulty of determining the ratio of income to capital on the average, the last point making capitalisation no easy task. many estimates proceed on the basis of data arising from the annual taxation of capital. it varies on particular classes of property; and these particulars supply only a part of the whole capital valuation. other estimates have relied on material arising through the taxation of capital at irregular periods, such as the statistics of estates passing at death and chargeable with death duties. this method has always provoked controversy as to the multiplier which should be employed in order to indicate aggre- gate value. within recent years the multiplier has undoubtedly been greatly improved, but it is still open to doubt on certain essential points. in his review of the private wealth of australia, mr. g. h. knibbs described two methods. under the first there was determination of the average interval of time between the passing of estates to the successors in title, generally called the devolution-interval method; under the second there was ascer- tainment of the average rate of the passing of estates during any period under review, commonly called the devolution-rate method. further difficulties in the use of property returns for such a purpose include defects in administration, the evasion of a particular duty the statistics of which are being used, the effect of inter vivos gifts in keeping a certain proportion of wealth from passing with the frequency of ordinary intervals for estates as a whole, legal points affecting estate duties, the fact that vital statistics are constantly changing, the problems which are raised by the method compiling the vital statistics themselves, and the actual growth of wealth in the period under review. the census system.—of other methods, the inventory system aims at valuation in the aggregate of each form in which wealth is embodied without regard to ownership by individuals, com- panies or others. it is often called the objective method. toa large extent, however, it depends for success on the existence of statistical material compiled for other purposes, e.g., the statistics of imports and exports, local government taxation, the valuation of mineral and other resources and kindred material. the chief defects of this method are probably the impossibility of testing how far the ownership of the wealth is within the country or not, the difficulty of determining whether all forms of wealth have been included, the risk of overlapping, as in stocks and shares duplicated with real property owned by companies, the divorce from all tests of profit-earning capacity, and the task, where averages are employed as factors, of accurately determining them. in some countries, notably france, germany, spain, aus- tralia and the argentine, the inventory method has been applied by single observers; in the united states it summarises the col- lected results of many investigators, and is called a census. in -— 997 the census method proper a statement is taken from each individ- ual declaring the whole of his wealth and income. it depends very much on the completeness and efficiency of the tax in ques- tion. the british method of depending largely on taxation at the source (that is, by deduction before dividends or other payments are made to the recipients) is clearly very much more reliable than the tax system of other countries destitute of that feature. the occupational census method is used for dealing with wage- earning classes and smaller incomes to which ordinary income tax statistics are not applicable. in the net output or census of production method the total value of work done or goods pro- duced in a year is determined; the value of the raw materials is deducted; and the added value is taken as the fund which forms the income of the people. broadly speaking, in the british cen- sus of production in 1907 the net output was the gross output (selling value) less the cost of the materials used. the new census of production in which great britain is now engaged should be of substantial value in the next effort to estimate both aggregate income and aggregate wealth (see production, census of). il. the wealth of various countries with these fundamental principles in mind it is easier to follow such statistics of the wealth and income of the leading countries of the past 15 years as are available; their incomplete, and often irreconcilable character is already fully explained. great britain and the united states —bound together in a debt settlement covering the next 60 years, and closely associated in many of the post-war financial operations, it may be convenient to group great britain and the united states of america. be- fore the royal statistical society in 1914 mr. edgar crammond estimated british capital wealth at £16,472 millions; in british incomes and property, published in 1916, sir josiah stamp put the aggregate amount in 1914 at £14,319 millions. estimates of income are generally made up of the income of the income-tax paying classes, compiled from the tax statistics, the income of the wage-earning classes, and the income of others below the income-tax limit which was the subject of special inquiry by the british association some years ago. for rors sir josiah stamp put british income at £2,090 millions, of which almost exactly half was attributable to wages and small salaries, {926 millions to incomes over £160, and the rest derived from miscellaneous sources. on a similar basis the figure was £2,250 millions in 1913-4. that figure, rather than the £2,400 millions which was frequently in debate, was accepted in authoritative circles. since the world war estimates have varied enormously; in 1925 (in the absence of much of the reliable material for such an in- vestigation, they ranged from £2,500 millions to nearly {£4;000 millions, the latter being clearly extravagant. for more than three-quarters of a century america has relied on the census conducted by the washington bureau; but sir josiah stamp has pointed out that, although called a census, it is more strictly an inventory, “ as far as possible on a tax basis, for it does not require individual statements of personal wealth, but delegates the construction of the inventory to a large num- ber of officials for different areas, under careful, uniform instruc- tions.”’ expressed in sterling, the total national wealth of the united states was, in 1912, put at £38,577,000,000; the popula- tion was rather more than 95,000,000; and the national wealth per head of population £404. most of the leading authorities on the income of the united states have urged the practical impossibility of estimating with more than general accuracy. dr. king thought that it might be attempted either by test of the consumption of the people, or of the production of the nation. the second method was probably preferable, for information regarding retail prices was scanty and unreliable, and in such ‘“ consumption ” which takes place for purposes of further pro- duction there was the substantial difficulty of duplication. but in 1910 the total money income was placed at £6,272 millions, £68 per capita, £307 per family, or £5,861 millions on the basis of net goods consumed. | mr. david friday, dealing with the taxable increase of the united states, has estimated the income of the united states as 998 a whole for 1917 and 1918, and also as subject to excess profits and income taxation. by the net product method his figure was £13,400 millions. the hon. a. c. miller, of the federal reserve board, estimated the income for 1917 at more than {10,000 millions. other authorities have put it as high as £14,000 mil- lions, chieily by adopting the roro basis of dr. king, adding 31 % for increased production and 71 °% for increase in prices. in this work the subject is discussed by professor t. n. carver. (see unitep states; finance and wealth.) germany.—in the case of the german empire dr. helfferich, director of the deutsche bank, published in 1913 an analysis of aggregate income and capital. the total income of personal taxpayers and persons exempt appeared to be {1,092 millions, compared with {1,058 millions in tort. statistics later than 1913 should be used with caution, but for that year dr. hellf- ferich made an increase which brought the aggregate income to £2,105 millions. several of the leading british authorities con- tend that there may be 5°% crror in the estimate of tax-free in- comes either way, and that the 10% addition for evasion is a minimum figure which should probably be increased to 20 per cent or thereabouts. taking the statistics about the property tax in prussia as a basis in capital valuation dr. helfferich made a 20% allowance for taxable property omitted, analysed the position of private proper- ty legally exempted, dealt with the position of more than 5,590,- ooo owners, made certain allowances for furniture, utensils and clothing, and for property in impersonal ownership, and finally arrived at an aggregate of £7,850 millions. on the assumption of a like basis for the other states he concluded that the aggregate for the german empire was probably £12,750 millions, to which he made additions for state railways, profit-making under- takings of state and municipalities, schools, churches, parks and similar unproductive property, all of which, after deduction of public debts, gave a grand net total of £13,950 millions for rgrtt. but this total was checked by reference to fire insurance statistics for that year, which gave a total of more than {16,000 millions, and from further analysis of tax method and fire insurance method a final figure of £14,150 millions was derived. this may be taken therefore, as a fair estimate. france.—comprehensive treatment of the corresponding prob- lem in france by m. rene pupin, published in 1916, recognised, as regards income, four methods of computation. these were a coefficient giving a constant relation between rental values of premises and the incomes of their inhabitants; the reckoning of income from the amount of taxes paid; the classification of trades country year ee gs 2 a a a te and callings according to local areas, with a coefficient of pro- ductivity; and “ successive approximations ” under which an effort is made to reach the net income or annual produce from capital and work at the disposal of the french people after paying all the general expenses of their enterprises. in the period immediately preceding the outbreak of the world war pupin’s total of individual incomes in france was fr,280 millions, but to that sum substantial additions had to be made for the undistrib- uted profits of companies, the subsistence of nearly 5,000,000 persons living on the holdings of their farms, together with land belonging to the state and other territorial jurisdictions. for 1911 pupin’s estimate upon the direct method of the capital resources of the french people was £11,420 millions, compared with £11,380 as estimated by peret for 1912 and £12,100 millions national wealth of certain countries national wealth ~ wealth and income by thery for the same year. a later estimate by another author- ity, but dealing with 1913, was almost exactly £12,000 millions or approximately £300 per head. the following ten years prob- ably saw an increase in this figure, in spite of the tremendous losses caused by the world war. ttaly.—litaly is rich in computations of aggregate wealth, but weak in estimates of annual income. two ofthe leading authori- ties estimated that in ror4 the aggregate wealth of the italian people was £4,484 millions and £4,000 millions respectively; gini certainly took very great pains by local inquiry in each of the areas to ascertain the extent of the deficient valuation of land and buildings, a problem which, as most of the critics have contended, dominates the estimate. the weakness of italian tax data makes it practically impossible to offer reliable estimate of the national income of italy, nor is much assistance to be derived from the occupational census. in his survey of the direct costs of the world war bogart adopted a current estimate of £800,000,000. other counirics.—the statistical material of other countries varics very greatly, both in scope and reliability, but the follow- ing figures of annual income and aggregate wealth, together with the years to which they apply, are offered from such material as is available: — total wealth million £ (approx.) 2940 1050 iqi3 777 i9i3 = 18 iqii ac 184 i9t5 1643 1915 2285 iq 4 2.400 iqi4 2.400 total income million £ (approx. ) 228 country year spain holland sweden belgium norway australia canada japan . argentine i9i3 i9io war conditions which, as already indicated, interrupted the normal work of neutrals as well as belligerents have in many cases prevented the compilation of later and probably more accurate statistics. there are, however, certain broad general conclusions. the united states would appear to have a consider- able absolute lead in real wealth, and in the rapidity of its in- crease; the difference between the united kingdom and germany has probably been exaggerated; the effects of the thrift of the french people are readily traceable; and japan has made remarkable progress, allowing, however, for the fact that over in sterling at current rate of exchange in may 1926 current rate of exchange in may 1926 in sterling at par great britain 1923 | £ 20,000 millions =f £20,000 millions he canada. 1923 |$% 25,000 millions] £ 5,100 millions | £ 5,400 millions $4.465 = {1 india. ‘ 1922 | rs. 15,000 crores| £10,000 millions | £10,000 millions 15rs. = {i united states 1923 | $355,000 millions | £72,900 millions | £81,200 millions $4.37 ={1 france . 1923 | fr. 1,200,000 millions £47,600 millions | £14,400 millions 82:88 fr=f1 italy ——- 1923 |l.611,000 millions) £24,222 millions | £ 6,100 millions |100 15-32 lire = {1 60% of her population is engaged in agriculture and lives on an amount per head which would be regarded as impossible in europe. to complete the picture in such form as is possible, there should be offered the latest estimate of the national wealth of some of the chief countries. six of these are taken for our purpose, namely great britain, united states, france, italy, canada and india. cost of the war.—by the side of these figures must be sect the cost of the world war. the statistics on the following page deal with the six fiscal years rg14—9 inclusive; they do not cover the total outlay of the war period, but they are substantial repre- sentation of gross and net cost, a problem which is in process of constant adjustment as inter-allied debt arrangements are com- pleted:— wea ther—wiedekind cost of the war? oo the cost of the war—fintire period covering the six fiscal years 1914 to 19tq inclusive (in pounds ~ 000,000 omitted.) | net ee total, | gross net nations expendi- niet ee ture allied and ca ssociuited powers great britain 11,076-0 | 10,112°0 9, o01) australia 476-7 364-1 330°8 canada 762-7 520°3 521-9 india . 687-1 212-0 212-0 new zealand , 234-4 114-0 87-5 union of south africa 159-0 40:7 29-2 crown colonies [82-0 al-5 41-5 total british empire 13,577°9 11,40}°6 | 10,224°8 belgium —. : ; 411-8 284-8 i france. 7,926-2 6,894-8 5,785°9 greece ii5-i 67-0 8-6 italy 4,432°7 3,828-2 3,024°6 japan . 41g-i 115:9 115°9 portugal 2255% t40-5 112-9 rumania 308:°8 2234-3 139°5 russia 5,312°7 4,999°9 353550 serbia . 119-0 89-4 3 united states 8,105-0 7516-5 7435-0 total allies 40,963-6 | 34,666-9 | 30,212-2 central powers austria-hungary 4,068 +4 2,957°5 2,752-0 bulgaria ; 261-0 164-0 66:2 germany 10,341-1 9,666-7 9,666:7 turkey 451-8 260-3 143-0 total central powers . | 15,122-3 | 13,048-5 | 12,627-9 grand total . 56,086-9 | 47,715-4 12,840-1 ‘ adapted from inter-ally debts, by h. e. fisk, bankers’ trust company, n. y., 1924. bibliograpily.—w. i. king, wealth and income of the people of the united states (1915); sit j. stamp, british incomes and property (1916); a. l. bowley, the division of the product of industry: an analysis. of national income before the war (1919); g. f. shirras, the science of public finance (1924); sir j. stamp, studies in current problems in finance and government (1924). (w. gra.) weather: see meteorology. weaver, james baird (1833-1012), american lawyer and political leader (see 28.439), died at des moines, ia., feb. 6 1912. weaving: see textile machinery. . webb, sir aston (18.49- ), british architect, son of edward webb, engraver and painter, was born in london may 22 1849. his advance in the architectural profession was rapid, and he was elected president of the architectural association in 1884, and of the royal institute of british architects in 1902. one of his earliest commissions was the restoration of the beau- tiful church, st. bartholomew’s, smithficld, london. among many other public works of importance carried out by sir aston webb, who was knighted in r904 and made k.c.v.o. in 1914, were the building of the new front of buckingham pal- ace, and the design of the architectural settings for the queen victoria memorial there, as also the imposing admiralty arch at the other end of the mall, london. he was also responsible for the completion ,of the victoria and albert muscum, the royal college of science and other institutions at south ken- sington. in jan. 1919 he was elected president of the royal academy, being the second architect chosen to fill that post. he resigned the presidency owing to ill-health in 1925, when he was made g.c.yv.o. webb, sidney (1859- ), british writer and politician (see 28.455), from 1909 played, with his wife beatrice, an increas- ingly important part in moulding the opinion of british labour and supplying it with an intellectual armoury. mrs. webb was a member of the royal commission on the poor laws, whose minority report, issued in 1909, was the work of herself and her husband. they were concerned in the founding of the weekly new stafesman in 1913, and for some time before that had been busily promoting the development of the london school of economics and political science, a department of the university of london where mr. webb was professor of public administration. from ro1s—25, he was a member of the execu- tive of the labour party, for which he wrote labour and the new social order. in 1918, he stood unsuccessfully for london uni- versity as a parliamentary candidate; in 1922, after an extra- ordinary educational campaign by himself and mrs. webb, he was returned as m.p. for a durham mining constiluency, sea- ham harbour, with an immense majority, which was maintained at subsequent elections. in ror9g, mr. webb was a member of the royal commission on coal mines, and put before it a complete plan for the nationalisation of the industry; in the same year he served on the committee on trusts, set up under the profiteer- ing acts. tiiis inclusion in the first labour govt. was a mutter of course; but his presidency of the board of trade, an office which he held in 1922-23, was not marked by any strik- ing innovations. among the publications of mr. and mrs. webb after 1906, the following were the most important:-—huglish local government: the manor and the berough (1908); the break-up of the poor law and the public organisation of the labour murket (1909); english poor lace policy (gto); the state and the doctor (1910); the story of the king's highway (1913); the listory of trade unionism, new and revised ed. (1920); a constitution for the socialist commonwealth of great britain (1920) and the consumers’ co-operative movement (1921), and the decay of capitalist cretlization (1921) in which, after being active members of the labour and socialist movement for over 30 years they for the first time frame an indictment of the capitalist system. mr. webb also published grants 1n aid (1911); tlow to pay for the war (1916); the works afunager to-day (1917); and the story of the durham miners (1921). in 1926 mrs. sidney webb, who hefore her marriage was miss beatrice potter, issued an autobiographical work, afy apprenticeship. weber, max (1864-1920), german economist, was born at erfurt april 21 1864, and studied jurisprudence at heidelberg, strasbourg, berlin and gottingen. he took up the teaching of roman law and commercial law in berlin in 1892, and became professor of commercial law and german law at the university of that city in the following year. in 1894 he was appointed professor of national economy at freiburg (baden). three years later he was transferred to heidelberg, but resigned his appointment on grounds of ill-health in 1903, and lived in heidel- berg as a private individual until the revolution of 1918. he then accepted an invitation from the university of munich. during the ardent political disturbances of this period he proved himself in lectures and writings a most penetrating, practical and vigourous critic, whose opinion was backed by encyclopaedic knowledge. he died in munich june 14 1920. weber first became known for his works on roman and then german agrarian history. his first important work was die remische aprargeschichte in threr bedeutung fiir das staats—und priva- trecht (1891). later he occupied himself principally with soci- ology and social philosophy, as in die sostalen griinde des unter- gangs der antiken kultur (1895). other works are the rural community, lecture delivered before the international congress in st. louis (1904); russlands uebergang zum scheinkonstitutionalismus (1906). the following works were published after his death: gesammelte aufsitze zur religionssozio- logie (1920, 1921); gesamme}lte politische schriften, and gesammelte awufsdise zur wissenschaftslehre (1922); wirtschaft und gesellschaft (1921); wurtschaftsgeschichte (1923); gesammelte aufsdtze zur soztolo- gie und wurtschafts geschichte (1924); gesammelte aufsdtse zur soztologie und sozialpolittk (1924). wedekind, frank (1864-1918), german dramatist, was born in hanover july 24 1864, his father being a doctor. he was educated at his father’s chateau at lenzburg in switzerland, and in 1883 took up journalism. afterwards he became an advertis- ing manager and then, in 1890, secretary of a circus in paris and london. in 1896 he contributed political articles to sis plicissi- mus and in the following year he set up as an actor and producer in leipzig, moving in 1898 to munich. he acted in his own dra- mas with his wife, and a company on tour, which made yearly visits to berlin and performed at the deutsches theatre. wede- kind’s dramatic works deal mainly with erotic problems, sharp criticism being directed against middle class society. they in- clude aammersduger (1900); biichse der pandora (1904); hidalla (1906); oaha (1908), schloss wetterstein and franziska (1912). too0o the scenes are gencrally symbolic and the characters are repre- sentative of types rather than individuals. wedekind also wrote poctry, novels, afine-ljaha (1¢06), etc., and essays. he died in munich march 4 1918. see a. kutscher, frank wedekind (1924). wedmore, sir frederick (1844-1021), british art critic and man of letters (see 28.466), diced at sevenoaks, kent, feb. 25 1921. he was knighted in ror2. his later publications include memories (1912), painters and painting (1913) and a novel, brenda walks on (10916). weeks, john wingate (1860-1926), american public official, was born at lancaster, n.id., april 11 1860. he gradu- ated from the u.s. naval academy in 1881, served two years as midshipman, then resigned from the navy and became assistant land commissioner of the florida southern railroad. in 1886 he helped to organise the banking and brokerage firm of horn- blower and weeks, boston, mass., of which he was a member until 1912. in 1890 he joined the mass. naval brigade, and during the spanish-american war commanded the second division of the auxiliary u.s. naval force on the atlantic coast. from 1894 to r900 he was a member of the mass. military advisory board and of the military board of examiners. after serving as alcder- man of newton, mass., he was elected mayor (1903-4). in 1905 he was chairman of the mass. republican state convention. during 1905-13 he was a member of the national house of representatives and as a member of the committee on banking and currency took an active part in framing the aldrich- vreeland currency bill. in 1913 he entered the u.s. senate, but was defeated for re-election in 1919. he was a member of the senate committee on military affairs during the world war. in 1921 he entered the cabinet of president ilarding as secretary of war. in this office he served also in the cabinet of president coolidge, but resigned on account of ill-health oct. 12 1925. he died at his summer home, lancaster, n.ii., july 12 1926. wei-hai-wei (sce 28.404), a territory with an area of about 288 sq. m. to the west of the shantung peninsula leased to great britain by china under a convention of july 1 1898. the popu- lation is about 246 foreigners, including officials and naval and military detachments, and 154,146 chincse. the question of the rendition of the territory to china arose at the washington conference, when mr. (lord) balfour proposed to restore the district if it would facilitate the sino-japanese agreement in shantung. he made a definite offer on feb. 1 1922 after the announcement of the agreement in shantung to surrender the lease of wei-hai-wei, subject to the territory remaining avail- able as a summer resort for the british china squadron. in a letter addressed to the chinese delegations on the following day it was suggested that a joint commission should be set up to study the question on the spot and arrange the details of the transfer. provisional agreement was in fact reached on may 31 1923, under which the greater part of the british govt. property was to be handed over to the chinese govt., who were asked in return to provide facilitics for a trading and residential settlement and to leave certain buildings and an area of the harbour free for limited use by the british admiralty. objec- tions were raised by the chinese authorities to the details, and up to the end of 1925 no further steps had been taken in the matter. (see china.) weiner, leo (1885- ), hungarian musical composer, was born in budapest april 16 1885 and studied composition under hans koessler at the royal high school of music in that city, where he was subsequently (1907) appointed professor of composition, and later of chamber music. his works include the orchestral plays: serenade (1906, awarded the budapest lipet- varosi kaszine prize), carnival, scherzo and accompanying music to a play by michel veresmartz entitled csongor es tiinde. chamber music: two string quartets (the second of which gained the coolidge prize in america, 1922), two sonatas for violin and pianoforte, and a ballad for clarinet and pianoforte (also for or- chestra). weiner’s music shows great delicacy of feeling and a meticulous care for detail. his style is classical and he ignores both the romantics and the ultra-modern school. wedmore—welding weir, william douglas weir ist baron (1877- pe british politician and business man, was born may 12 1877, the son of james weir of over courance, dumfriesshire. his talents for business organisation were recognised by the coalition govt. during the world war, when he was appointed director of munitions for ireland, a post which he held in rg1r5-6. in 1917-8 he was controller of acronautical supplics and a member of the air board. in the same year (1918) he became director- gencral of aircraft production at the ministry of munitions, an appointment which he held in conjunction with a seat on the council of that department; and also (april—dec.) secretary of state and president of the air council. in 1919 he was appointed chairman of the advisory committee on civil aviation. lord weir was managing director of the engineering firm of g. & j. weir, lid., glasgow, which constructed the “‘ weir ” steel houses, about which there was a good deal of controversy in 1925 and 1926. he received a knighthood in 1917 and in the following year was raised to the peerage and sworn of the privy council. weismann, august (1834-1914), german biologist (see 28.499), died at i*reiburg-in-baden nov. 6 1914. his latest publications were an estimate of darwin’s work and die selek- tionstheorie, both published in 1909. see ernst gaupp, august weismann (1917). weiss, bernhard (1827-1918), german theologian (see 28-499), died in berlin jan, 14 1918. wekerle, santor (1848-1921), hungarian statesman, (see 28.500). during the world war he stood firm for union with austria and took office as prime minister for the third time in aug. 1917. in oct. of the following year, after the fall of fiume, he resigned. he died in budapest aug. 26 1921.